inkin' out in the evenin' late.
Faith, I'd twenty minds in me heart agin quittin' little Katty, and she
that bad. Howane'er they swore black and white that me father'd be
spendin' all manner of money on her when he got us out of it, and we
were to be writin' for them to come after us as soon as we were settled,
and iverythin' agreeable--so I went along. But if I did, ma'am, sure
when they'd got the bits of furniture sold, the on'y notion they had was
to be settin' off to make fortins in the States, and ne'er a word about
Katty and th' ould man. Och they had me disthracted; outrageous they
were; and that ould thief of the world, Tishy, allowin' me sorra a
penny, so as I mightn't ha' been bound to stop wheriver they was. But
one day they thought they had me asleep in the room-corner, and the two
of them was colloguin' away at the table, so all of suddint Tishy whips
out me poor father's bag, that I knew the look of right well, when he
used to keep his 'baccy in it, and down she slaps it, and it jinglin'
wid money. 'What's that for you?' sez she, and: 'The laws bless us,' sez
Martha, 'is it after takin' that you are? And what's to become of them
crathurs up at Lisconnel?' 'Och blathers,' sez Tishy, 'you needn't be
lettin' on you didn't well know all this while I had it. Sure th'ould
one might ha' plinty more hidden away on us. Anyway, I left them
somethin' to get along wid,' sez she."

"The five shillin's," said the widow. "Och but that one's a caution."

"Rael hard-workin' and industhrious she is," observed Andy.

Tom resumed his narrative: "'Them two'll do as well inside as out,' sez
Tishy. 'I'll just be countin' the bit of silver,' sez she. But bedad I
was fairly past me patience, and up I leps, and I grabbed a hould of the
little bag. Och it's a quare fright I gave them that time, and they not
thinkin' I was mindin', rael terrified they were," said Tom, sitting up
more erect, and recalling this rare experience with evident complacency.
"And 'Lave that, you omadhawn,' sez Tishy, wid the look of a divil on
her,' what foolery are you at now?' 'You thievin' miscreant,' sez I to
her, 'it's shankin' off to the polis I'll be, and layin' a heavy charge
agin you for robbin' and stealin', and you after lavin' the innicent
child there and th' ould man to starve widout a penny to their names,'
sez I. 'Faugh!' sez she, 'for that matter the fever's liker to have took
her off agin now wid no throuble to be starvin', and maybe a good