s really extraordinary! And, Phoebe, have you not received
a pair of Limerick gloves?"

"Yes, I have," said Phoebe, "but what then? What have my Limerick gloves
to do with the ball?"

"A great deal," replied Jenny. "Don't you know that a pair of Limerick
gloves is, as one may say, a ticket to this ball? for every lady that has
been asked has had a pair sent to her along with the card; and I believe
as many as twenty, besides myself, have been asked this morning."

Jenny then produced her new pair of Limerick gloves, and as she tried
them on, and showed how well they fitted, she counted up the names of the
ladies who, to her knowledge, were to be at this ball. When she had
finished the catalogue, she expatiated upon the grand preparations which
it was said the widow O'Neill, Mr. O'Neill's mother, was making for the
supper, and concluded by condoling with Mrs. Hill for her misfortune in
not having been invited. Jenny took her leave to get her dress in
readiness: "for," added she, "Mr. O'Neill has engaged me to open the ball
in case Phoebe does not go; but I suppose she will cheer up and go, as
she has a pair of Limerick gloves as well as the rest of us."

There was a silence for some minutes after Jenny's departure, which was
broken by Phoebe, who told her mother that, early in the morning, a note
had been brought to her, which she had returned unopened, because she
knew, from the handwriting of the direction, that it came from Mr.
O'Neill.

We must observe that Phoebe had already told her mother of her meeting
with this gentleman at the poor widow's, and of all that had passed
between them afterwards. This openness on her part had softened the
heart of Mrs. Hill, who was really inclined to be good-natured, provided
people would allow that she had more penetration than any one else in
Hereford. She was, moreover, a good deal piqued and alarmed by the idea
that the perfumer's daughter might rival and outshine her own. Whilst
she had thought herself sure of Mr. O'Neill's attachment to Phoebe, she
had looked higher, especially as she was persuaded by the perfumer's lady
to think that an Irishman could not but be a bad match; but now she began
to suspect that the perfumer's lady had changed her opinion of Irishmen,
since she did not object to her own Jenny's leading up the ball at Mr.
O'Neill's.

All these thoughts passed rapidly in the mother's mind, and, with her
fear of losing an admirer for her Phoebe, the v