t as it was,
and in course the hait smashed the glass, and why wouldn't it, and
the broth was all spilt? But isn't the jug just as good for the
sperits, yer honers?"

"Well, well; boiling mutton broth over a turf fire, in my cut
decanter! '_optat ephippia bos piger_.' That'll do, Judy, that'll
do."

And the old woman retreated with a look of injured innocence.

Father John sniffed the whiskey. "'_Fumum bibere institutae_;' it's
the right smell of the smoke. Come, Cullen, make your punch; come,
Thady, don't be sitting there that way;"--and he proceeded to make a
most unpalatable-looking decoction of punch in his tea-cup, to which
the moist sugar gave a peculiarly nasty appearance.

But all Father John's attempted jovialities and preparations for
enjoyment could not dispel the sadness from Thady's face, or the
settled solemnity from Father Cullen's visage; he never joked, and
rarely conversed; when he did speak, it was usually to argue or
declaim; and Thady, even in his best times, was but a sorry companion
for such a man as Father John. There the three of them sat, with
their eyes fixed on the fire, all drinking their punch, it is true,
but with very little signs of enjoying it.

How long they remained thus, I am unable to say; but Father John was
getting very tired of his company, when they were all three startled
by a sharp rap at the hall door, and before they had had time to
surmise who it was, Captain Ussher walked in.

Now, though neither Father John nor his curate were very fond of
Ussher, they both were tolerably intimate with him; indeed, till
lately, when the priest began to think the gallant Captain was
playing his fair parishioner false, and the opinion was becoming
general that he was acting the tyrant among the people, Father John
had rather liked Ussher than not. He was lively;--and if not well
educated, he had some little general comprehension of which no others
of those the priest knew around him could boast. He had met him
first very frequently at Ballycloran, had since dined with him at
Mohill, and had more than once induced him to join the unpretending
festivities of the cottage. There was nothing, therefore, very
singular in Captain Ussher's visit; and yet, from what was uppermost
in the mind of each of the party, it did surprise them all.

Father John, however, was never taken aback. "Ah, my darling, and how
are you? come to see we are drinking parliament and not cheating the
king."

Alt