k was short and fat, very sentimental, and a
little bit of a _gourmet_; his desk stuffed with amorous sonnets and
receipts for side-dishes; he, always in love, and often in the kitchen,
where, under the rose, he loved to direct the cooking of critical little
_plats_, very good-natured, rather literal, very courteous, _a
chevallier_, indeed, _sans reproche_. He had a profound faith in his
genius for tragedy, but those who liked him best could not help thinking
that his plump cheeks, round, little light eyes, his lisp, and a certain
lack-a-daisical, though solemn expression of surprise, which Nature, in
one of her jocular moods, seemed to have fixed upon his countenance,
were against his shining in that walk of the drama. He was blessed, too,
with a pleasant belief in his acceptance with the fair sex, but had a
real one with his comrades, who knew his absurdities and his virtues,
and laughed at and loved him.

'But hang it, there 'th no uthe in doing things by halves. Melpomene's
the most jealous of the Muses. I tell you if you stand well in her
gratheth, by Jove, Thir, you mutht give yourthelf up to her body and
thoul. How the deuthe can a fellow that's out at drill at hicth in the
morning, and all day with his head filled with tacticth and gunnery,
and--and--'

'And 'farced pigeons' and lovely women,' said Devereux.

'And such dry professional matterth,' continued he, without noticing,
perhaps hearing the interpolation, 'How can he pothibly have a chance
againth geniuses, no doubt--vathly thuperior by nature'--(Puddock, the
rogue, believed no such thing)--'but who devote themthelveth to the
thtudy of the art incethantly, exclusively, and--and----'

'Impossible,' said O'Flaherty. 'There now, was Tommy Shycock, of
Ballybaisly, that larned himself to balance a fiddle-stick on his chin;
and the young leedies, and especially Miss Kitty Mahony, used to be all
around him in the ball-room at Thralee, lookin', wondhrin', and
laughin'; and I that had twiste his brains, could not come round it,
though I got up every morning for a month at four o'clock, and was
obleeged to give over be rason of a soart iv a squint I was gettin' be
looking continually at the fiddle-stick. I began with a double bass, the
way he did--it's it that was the powerful fateaguin' exercise, I can
tell you. Two blessed hours a-day, regular practice, besides an odd
half-hour, now and agin, for three mortial years, it took him to larn
it, and dhrilled a dim