in his hand.

"'Mortuary Sculptor,'"

"Sculptor!" said Dr. O'Grady. "You hear that, Major, don't you?
Sculptors are people who make statues."

"Mortuary sculptors, I suppose," said the Major viciously, "make statues
of dead men."

"The General's dead anyway," said Doyle, "so that's suitable enough."

"'Address--The Monumental Studio, Michael Angelo House, Great Brunswick.
Street, Dublin,'" read Father McCormack. "That'll be where your nephew
lives, Mr. Doyle?"

"It's where he has his works," said Doyle. "He lives down near
Sandymount."

"'Celtic Crosses, Obelisks and every kind of Monument supplied at the
shortest notice,'" said Father McCormack, still reading from the
card. "'Family Vaults decorated. Inscriptions Cut. Estimates Free. Low
Prices'."

"I don't see that we could possibly do better than that," said Dr.
O'Grady.

"Even Doyle's nephew can't make a statue in ten days," said the Major.

"He says 'shortest notice' on his card. You ought to believe the man,
Major, until you've some evidence that he's a liar."

"I don't care what he says," said the Major. "He can't make a statue in
ten days."

"We'll get to that point in a minute," said Dr. O'Grady. "The first
thing we have to decide is whether Mr. Aloysius Doyle is a suitable man
to be entrusted with the work."

"There's no other tenders before us," said Father McCormack, "so I
suppose we may as well----"

"Excuse my interrupting you, Father," said Doyle, "but before you take
the opinion of the meeting on this point, I'd like to say that I'm
offering no opinion one way or the other; and what's more I won't give a
vote either for or against. I wouldn't like to do it in a case where my
own nephew is a candidate."

"You needn't tell us that, Mr. Doyle," said Father McCormack. "We all
know that you're not the kind of man who'd be using his public position
to further the interests of his relatives. What do you say now,
gentlemen? Is Mr. Aloysius Doyle to be given the contract for the statue
or not? What do you say, Major?"

"If he can make a full-sized statue of a General in ten days," said the
Major, "he's a man who deserves every encouragement we can give him."

"Now, doctor," said Father McCormack, "what's your opinion?"

"I'm for giving him the job," said the Doctor.

"Mr. Doyle won't vote," said Father McCormack.

"I will not," said Doyle firmly.

"So we'd be glad of your opinion, Mr. Gallagher."

"If his price is satisfactory," sai