; and it will recall to me my uncle, and my
thirteen aunts in Ireland."

"I don't want you to wear it in _that_ way!" shrieked Mrs. Hoggarty,
"with the hair of those odious carroty women. You must have their hair
removed."

"Then the locket will be spoiled, Aunt."

"Well, sir, never mind the locket; have it set afresh."

"Or suppose," said I, "I put aside the setting altogether: it is a little
too large for the present fashion; and have the portrait of my uncle
framed and placed over my chimney-piece, next to yours. It's a sweet
miniature."

"That miniature," said Mrs. Hoggarty, solemnly, "was the great Mulcahy's
_chef-d'oeuvre_" (pronounced _shy dewver_, a favourite word of my aunt's;
being, with the words _bongtong_ and _ally mode de Parry_, the extent of
her French vocabulary). "You know the dreadful story of that poor poor
artist. When he had finished that wonderful likeness for the late Mrs.
Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty, county Mayo, she wore it in her bosom at the
Lord Lieutenant's ball, where she played a game of piquet with the
Commander-in-Chief. What could have made her put the hair of her vulgar
daughters round Mick's portrait, I can't think; but so it was, as you see
it this day. 'Madam,' says the Commander-in-Chief, 'if that is not my
friend Mick Hoggarty, I'm a Dutchman!' Those were his Lordship's very
words. Mrs. Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty took off the brooch and showed
it to him.

"'Who is the artist?' says my Lord. 'It's the most wonderful likeness I
ever saw in my life!'

"'Mulcahy,' says she, 'of Ormond's Quay.'

"'Begad, I patronise him!' says my Lord; but presently his face darkened,
and he gave back the picture with a dissatisfied air. 'There is one
fault in that portrait,' said his Lordship, who was a rigid
disciplinarian; 'and I wonder that my friend Mick, as a military man,
should have overlooked it.'

"'What's that?' says Mrs. Hoggarty of Castle Hoggarty.

"'Madam, he has been painted WITHOUT HIS SWORD-BELT!' And he took up the
cards again in a passion, and finished the game without saying a single
word.

"The news was carried to Mr. Mulcahy the next day, and that unfortunate
artist _went mad immediately_! He had set his whole reputation upon this
miniature, and declared that it should be faultless. Such was the effect
of the announcement upon his susceptible heart! When Mrs. Hoggarty died,
your uncle took the portrait and always wore it himself. His sisters
said i