r. Thady? shure an't it your dinner time
at the house? and remimber you've to be at the wedding to-night."

"Oh! d----n the wedding. Do you think I'd be playing the fool at
weddings to-night, afther what just took place? I want to see Father
John; and I'll go and catch him before he goes down to your sisther."

"What, Mr. Thady! to tell about the blow, and the dishonour the
ruffian put on you and Miss Feemy?--shurely you wouldn't be doing
that."

"And why not?--won't all Carrick have it before long?"

"That's no rule why you should be going and telling Father John about
it yourself. And won't he be putting you against revenging yourself;
and you wouldn't, Mr. Thady, with the owld blood in your veins, and
in Miss Feemy's--may the divil's curse blacken him for the name he
give her!--you wouldn't be putting up quiet and aisy with what he's
done?--and the like of him too!"

By this time Thady had stopped, and was beginning to waver in his
determination of going to the priest. He felt that what Brady said
was true--that the priest would implore him not to avenge himself, in
the manner in which his heart strongly prompted him to do. He felt
he could not forego the impulse to inflict personal punishment on
Keegan. And after all, what could Father John do for him?

"Besides, Mr. Thady, now I think of it, Father John an't in it at
all, for he was to be at Drumsna before the wedding; and I know he's
to dine with Mrs. McKeon; he does mostly when he's in Drumsna this
time of day, so I'm sure he arn't in it."

Satisfied by this, Thady allowed himself to be led back again; and
they walked together in silence a little way.

"You've only to say the word," continued Pat, in a low voice, "you've
only to say the word to them boys as 'll be there to-night, and
they'll see you righted with Keegan."

"What boys--and how righted?"

"How righted! why how should you be righted afther what he's afther
doing?--and I tell you them's the boys as will not see your father's
son put upon that way."

"Which them d'ye main, Pat?"

"Oh! there's a lot of them up to anything. There's Jack Byrne and
Joe Reynolds is mad to be having a fling at Ussher; you know their
brothers is in gaol about the malt they found away at Loch Sheen; and
there's Corney Dolan, and McKeon, and a lot more of them; I knows
them all, and it'll be jist as good to them to be making a job of
Keegan, as the other."

"I wouldn't have the ruffian murthered, Pat; you don't