n he see Flaherty, 'twas his custom to run him up an
alley, so that th' little tailor man niver had a minyit iv peace. Ivry
wan supposed he lived in a three most iv th' time, to be out iv th'
way iv O'Grady.

"Well, wan day O'Grady he seen Flaherty walkin' down th' sthreet with
a pair iv lavender pants f'r Willum Joyce to wear to th' Ogden Grove
picnic, an' thried to heave a brick at him. He lost his balance, an'
fell fr'm th' scaffoldin' he was wurrukin' on; an' th' last wurruds he
said was, 'Did I get him or didn't I?' Mrs. O'Grady said it was th'
will iv Gawd; an' he was burrid at Calvary with a funeral iv eighty
hacks, an' a great manny people in their own buggies. Dorsey, th'
conthractor, was there with his wife. He thought th' wurruld an' all
iv O'Grady.

"Wan year aftherward Flaherty begun makin' up to Mrs. O'Grady; an'
ivry wan in th' parish seen it, an' was glad iv it, an' said it was
scandalous. How it iver got out to O'Grady's pew in th' burryin'
ground, I'll niver tell ye, an' th' Lord knows; but wan evenin' th'
ghost iv O'Grady come back. Flaherty was settin' in th' parlor,
smokin' a seegar, with O'Grady's slippers on his feet, whin th' spook
come in in th' mos' natural way in the wurruld, kickin' th' dog. 'What
ar-re ye doin' here, ye little farryer iv pants?' he says. Mrs.
O'Grady was f'r faintin'; but O'Flaherty he says, says he: 'Be quite,'
he says, 'I'll dale with him.' Thin to th' ghost: 'Have ye paid th'
rint here, ye big ape?' he says. 'What d'ye mane be comin' back, whin
th' landlord ain't heerd fr'm ye f'r a year?' he says. Well, O'Grady's
ghost was that surprised he cud hardly speak. 'Ye ought to have
betther manners thin insultin' th' dead,' he says. 'Ye ought to have
betther manners thin to be lavin' ye'er coffin at this hour iv th'
night, an' breakin' in on dacint people,' says Flaherty. 'What good
does it do to have rayqueem masses f'r th' raypose iv th' like iv
you,' he says, 'that doesn't know his place?' he says. "I'm masther iv
this house,' says th' ghost. 'Not on ye'er life,' says Flaherty. 'Get
out iv here, or I'll make th' ghost iv a ghost out iv ye. I can lick
anny dead man that iver lived,' he said.

"With that th' ghost iv O'Grady made a pass at him, an' they clinched
an' rowled on th' flure. Now a ghost is no aisy mark f'r anny man, an'
O'Grady's ghost was as sthrong as a cow. It had Flaherty down on th'
flure an' was feedin' him with a book they call th' 'Christyan
Martyrs,' w