before he rowl'd
himself into the bed. But, begorra, whin they seen it was raly Bill
Malowney himself that was in it, it was only who'd be foremost out
agin, tumblin' backways, one over another, and his raverence roarin' an'
cursin' them like mad for not waitin' for him.

Well, my dear, it was betther than half an hour before Billy Malowney
could explain to them all how it raly was himself, for begorra they were
all iv them persuadin' him that he was a spirit to that degree it's a
wondher he did not give in to it, if it was only to put a stop to the
argiment.

Well, his raverence tould the ould people then, there was no use in
sthrivin' agin the will iv Providence an' the vagaries iv love united;
an' whin they kem to undherstand to a sartinty how Billy had a shillin'
a day for the rest iv his days, begorra they took rather a likin'
to him, and considhered at wanst how he must have riz out of all his
nansinse entirely, or his gracious Majesty id never have condescinded
to show him his countenance that way every day of his life, on a silver
shillin'.

An' so, begorra, they never stopt till it was all settled--an' there was
not sich a weddin' as that in the counthry sinst. It's more than forty
years ago, an' though I was no more nor a gossoon myself, I remimber it
like yestherday. Molly never looked so purty before, an' Billy Malowney
was plisant beyont all hearin,' to that degree that half the girls in it
was fairly tarin' mad--only they would not let on--they had not him
to themselves in place iv her. An' begorra I'd be afeared to tell ye,
because you would not believe me, since that blessid man Father Mathew
put an end to all soorts of sociality, the Lord reward him, how many
gallons iv pottieen whisky was dhrank upon that most solemn and tindher
occasion.

Pat Hanlon, the piper, had a faver out iv it; an' Neddy Shawn Heigue,
mountin' his horse the wrong way, broke his collarbone, by the manes
iv fallin' over his tail while he was feelin' for his head; an' Payther
Brian, the horse-docther, I am tould, was never quite right in the head
ever afther; an' ould Tim Donovan was singin' the 'Colleen Rue' night
and day for a full week; an' begorra the weddin' was only the foundation
iv fun, and the beginning iv divarsion, for there was not a year for ten
years afther, an' more, but brought round a christenin' as regular as
the sasins revarted.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Purcell Papers, by Joseph Sheridan Le