nose and began to brag:

"There's thim in high places as looks afther the likes o' me, sorr.
There's thim that thrusts me, thim that depinds on me----"

"Have you another job?"

Soane's scorn was superb:

"A job is ut? Misther Barres, dear, I was injuced f'r to accept a
_position_ of grave importance!"

"Here in town?"

"Somewhere around tin thousand miles away or thereabouts," remarked
Soane airily.

"Do you mean to take Dulcie with you?"

"Musha, then, Misther Barres, 'tis why I come to ye above f'r to ax ye
will ye look afther Dulcie av I go away on me thravels?"

"Yes, I will!... Where are you going? What is all this stuff you're
talking, anyway----"

"Shtuff? God be good to you, it's no shtuff I talk, Misther Barres!
Sure, can't a decent man thravel f'r to see the wurruld as God made it
an' no harrm in----"

"Be careful what company you travel in," said Barres, looking at him
intently. "You have been travelling around New York in very suspicious
company, Soane. I know more about it than you think I do. And it
wouldn't surprise me if you have a run-in with the police some day."

"The po-lice, sorr! Arrah, then, me fut in me hand an' me tongue in me
cheek to the likes o' thim! An' lave them go hoppin' afther me av
they like. The po-lice is ut! Open y'r two ears, asthore, an' listen
here!--there'll be nary po-lice, no nor constabulary, nor excise, nor
landlords the day that Ireland flies her flag on Dublin Castle! Sure,
that will be the grand sight, with all the rats a-runnin', an' all the
hurryin' and scurryin' an' the futther and mutther----"

"_What_ are you gabbling about, Soane? What's all this boasting
about?"

"Gabble is ut? Is it boastin' I am? Sorra the day! An' there do be
grand gintlemen and gay ladies to-day that shall look for a roof an' a
sup o' tay this day three weeks, when th' fut o' the tyrant is lifted
from the neck of Ireland an' the landlords is runnin' for their
lives----"

"I thought so!" exclaimed Barres, disgusted.

"An' phwat was ye thinkin', sorr?"

"That your German friends at Grogan's are stirring up trouble among
the Irish. What's all this nonsense, anyway? Are they trying to
persuade you to follow the old Fenian tactics and raid Canada? Or is
it an armed expedition to the Irish coast? You'd better be careful;
they'll only lock you up here, but it's a hanging matter over there!"

"Is it so?" grinned Soane.

"It surely is."

"Well, then, be aisy, Misther Barres,