e."

'So says I, "Let the poor beast live, for he does no harm."

'Then says he, "But it's harm he does taking the children's meat and
their place by the fire."

'And says I, "Are ye not afraid to hurry an innocent creature into the
next world?" for the dog had that sense he was like one of the children
to me.

'Then said Terry O'Brien, for he had a wit of his own, "And if he's an
innocent creature he'll fare well where he goes."

'Then said I, "He's done his sins, like the rest of us, no doubt."

'Then says he, "The sooner he's put where he can do no more the better."

'So with that he put a string round the poor thing's neck and took him
away to where there was holes in the ice of the canal, just as there is
to-day, for it was the same season of the year, and the children all
cried; and thinks I to myself, "If it was the dog that was going to put
their father into the water they would cry less." For he had a peevish
temper in drink, which was most of the time.

'So then, I knew what I would do. 'Twas for the sake of the children
that were crying about me that I did it, and I looked up to the sky and
I said to God and the holy saints that for Terry O'Brien and his
children 'twas the best deed I could do; and the words that we said
about the poor beast rang in my head, for they fitted to O'Brien
himself, every one of them.

'So you see it was just the time when the ice was still thick on the
water, six inches thick maybe, but where anything had happened to break
it the edges were melting into large holes. And the next night when it
was late and dark I went and waited outside the tavern, the way O'Brien
would be coming home.

'He was just in that state that he could walk, but he hadn't the sense
of a child, and we came by the canal, for there's a road along it all
winter long, but there were places where if you went off the road you
fell in, and there were placards up saying to take care. But Terry
O'Brien hadn't the sense to remember them. I led him to the edge of a
hole, and then I came on without him. He was too drunk to feel the pain
of the gasping. So I went home.

'There wasn't a creature lived near for a mile then, and in the morning
I gave out that I was afraid he'd got drowned, so they broke the ice and
took him up. And there was just one person that grieved for Terry
O'Brien. Many's the day I grieved for him, for I was accustomed to have
him about me, and I missed him like, and I said in my heart,