ant to quarrel with Doyle,
who provided him with a good deal of bottled porter, but he did not
want to identify himself with a public welcome to the Lord-Lieutenant,
because he had hopes of becoming a Member of Parliament. The idea of
conferring a benefit on the town attracted him as offering a way out of
his difficulty.

"I might------" he repeated slowly. "I wouldn't say but it's possible that
I might."

"And you will," said Doyle soothingly, "you will."

"I'll not be a party to any address of welcome from the Urban District
Council," said Gallagher.

"We wouldn't ask it of you. Doesn't everybody know that you wouldn't
consent to it?"

"It's the Major put you up to it," said Gallagher.

"It was not then."

"If it wasn't him it was Mr. Ford, the R.M."

"If you'd seen Mrs. Ford when she heard of it," said Doyle, "you
wouldn't be saying that. Tell me this now, Thady. Have you your speech
ready for the meeting on Tuesday? Everybody's saying you'll be making a
grand one."

"I haven't it what you'd call rightly ready," said Gallagher, "but I
have it so as it will be ready when the time comes."

"It's you the people will be wanting to hear," said Doyle. "It's you
they'd rather be listening to than any other one even if he was a member
of Parliament: It's my opinion, Thady, and there's more than me that
says it--it's my opinion there's better men that isn't in Parliament than
some that is. I'll say no more presently; but some day I'll be doing
more than say it."

CHAPTER X

The public meeting was a very great success, in spite of the absence
of the Members of Parliament, who certainly gave poor value for their
salaries. The town band, headed by young Kerrigan, who played the
cornet, paraded the streets for half-an-hour before the meeting. It
played "The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" three times over, "The
Boys of Wexford" twice, and "God Save Ireland" four times. This served
to remind the people that something of an interesting and patriotic kind
was going to happen. A band is much more effective in attracting public
attention than a town crier, and it ought, one may suppose, to arrange a
kind of code of tunes by means of which people would be able to tell
at once without verbal inquiry what sort of event was intended. For an
auction of household furniture, for instance, a thing which takes place
when a family leaves the locality, the band might play "The Harp
that Once Through Tara's Halls." E