cleared his voice a
couple of times, and loosed the tie of his cravat. 'This room is
oppressively hot.'

'I protest to God,' said Father Tom, 'my heart is in my mouth, and there
isn't a bone in my body that's not aching.'

'I don't wonder,' chimed in the Doctor; 'you are another of them, and
you are a surprising man to go on so long. Sure, it is two years ago I
warned your niece that when she saw you fall down she must open a vein
in your neck, if it was only with a carving-knife.'

'The saints in heaven forbid!' said the priest, cutting the sign of the
cross in the air; 'it's maybe the jugular she'd cut!'

'No,' drawled out the Doctor, 'she needn't go so deep; and if her hand
doesn't shake, there won't be much danger. Good-evening to you both.'

So saying, with his knees bent, and his hands crossed under the skirts
of his coat, he sneaked out of the room; while the others, overcome,
with fear, shame, and dismay, sat silently, looking misery itself, at
each side of the table.

'That fellow would kill a regiment,' said the Major at length. 'Come,
Tom, let's have a little punch; I 've a kind of a trembling over me.'

'Not a drop of anything stronger than water will cross my lips this
blessed night. Do you know, Bob, I think this place doesn't agree with
me? I wish I was back in Murranakilty: the mountain air, and regular
habits of life, that's the thing for me.'

'We are none of us abstemious enough,' said the Major; 'and then we
bachelors--to be sure you have your niece.'

'Whisht!' said the priest, 'how do you know who is listening? I vow to
God I am quite alarmed at his telling that to Mary; some night or other,
if I take a little too much, she'll maybe try her anatomy upon me!'

This unhappy reflection seemed to weigh upon the good priest's mind, and
set him a-mumbling certain Latin offices between his teeth for a quarter
of an hour.

'I wish,' said the Major, 'Hinton was able to read his letters, for here
is a whole bundle of them--some from England, some from the Castle, and
some marked "On His Majesty's service."'

'I'll wait another week anyhow for him,' said the priest. 'To go back to
Dublin in the state he is now would be the ruin of him, after the shake
he has got. The dissipation, the dining-out, and all the devilment
would destroy him entirely; but a few weeks' peace and quietness up at
Murranakilty will make him as sound as a bell.'

'You are right, Tom, you are right,' said the Major; 'the po