was agreed upon to decide the question; so that when
Nance had the first plunder of the chest which held all their clothes in
common, and Biddy made the second grab, poor Kitty had little left but
her ordinary rags to appear in. But as, in the famous judgment on Ida's
Mount, it is hinted that Venus carried the day by her scarcity of
drapery, so did Kitty conquer by want of clothes: not that Love sat in
judgment; it was Plutus turned the scale. But, to leave metaphor and
classic illustration, and go back to Mat Riley's cabin--the girls were
washing, and starching, and ironing all night, and the morning saw
them arrayed for conquest. Flanagan came, and breakfasted, and saw the
three girls. A flashy silk handkerchief which Nancy wore put her _hors
de combat_ very soon; she was set down at once, in his mind, as
extravagant. Biddy might have had a chance if she had made anything
like a fair division with her youngest sister; but Kitty had been so
plundered, that her shabbiness won an easy victory over the niggard's
heart: he saw in her "the making of a thrifty wife;" besides which, she
was possibly the best looking, and certainly the youngest of the three;
and there is no knowing how far old Flanagan might have been influenced
by those considerations.

[4] A half-holy, half-merry meeting, held at some certain place,
on the day dedicated to the saint who is supposed to be the
PATRON of the spot--hence the name "PATTERN."

He spoke very little to any of the girls; but, when he was leaving the
house, he said to the father, as he was shaking hands with him, "Mat,
I'll do it;" and, pointing to Kitty, he added, "That's the one I'll
have."

Great was the rage of the elder sisters, for Flanagan was notoriously a
wealthy man; and when he quitted the house, Kitty set up such a shout
of laughter, that her father and sisters told her several times "not to
make a fool of herself." Still she laughed, and throughout the day
sometimes broke out into sudden roars; and while her sides shook with
merriment, she would throw herself into a chair, or lean against the
wall, to rest herself after the fatigue of her uproarious mirth. Now
Kitty, while she laughed at the discomfiture of her greedy sisters,
also laughed at the mistake into which Flanagan had fallen; for, as her
father said of her, she was, "'cute," and she more than suspected the
cause of Flanagan's choice, and enjoyed the anticipation of his
disappointment, for sh