dues.

Between McGovery and Pat Brady he had succeeded in getting two
thirty-shilling notes, which lay in the bottom of the plate, and
formed a respectable base for the little heap of silver which he
would collect; and if he did not get as much as the occasion would
seem to warrant, the deficiency arose from no delicacy in asking, or
want of perseverance in urging.

"Now, Captain, you're the only Protestant among us; show these
Catholics of mine a liberal example--show them what they ought to do
for their priest,"--here Captain Ussher put a couple of half-crowns
in the plate. "There, boys, see what a Protestant does for me. Well,
Feemy, I never ask the ladies, you know, but I shan't let Thady off;
though he ain't here, I shall settle that in the rent."

"Oh, yes, Father John; make Thady pay for himself and me; Mrs.
Brennan has got all my money."

"But where's Thady, Feemy dear? I hope you and he are good friends
now."

"Oh yes, Father John; that is, I didn't see him since morning."

"But will he be here to-night?"

"He said he would; but you'd best ask Pat, he knows most about him."

This conversation took place in an under tone, and the priest walked
on with his plate.

"Come, Mr. Tierney, how's yourself? I see you're waiting there, quite
impatient, with your hands in your pocket. It's nothing less than a
crown piece, I'll go bail."

"'Deed then, crown pieces a'nt that plenty in the counthry, these
days, Father John; the likes of them"--and he put half-a-crown in the
plate--"are scarce enough."

The speaker was an old man, rather decently dressed in knee-breeches
and gaiters; he was one of those who, even in bad times, manage by
thrift and industry to get, among the poor, the reputation of
comparative wealth.

"And that's true for you, Mr. Tierney, and thank you kindly; they do
however say, that however scarce they are in the country, you've your
share of them."

"Go on, Father John, go on, you do be saying more than you know."

And by degrees the priest went through them all. From most of them he
got something; from some a shilling, from some only sixpence; some
few gave nothing at all: these in general endeavoured to escape
observation behind the backs of the donors, but Father John let none
of them off; and those who were unprepared, and who alleged their
poverty, and their inability, he reproved for their idleness, and
hinted rather strongly that their visits to Mrs. Mulready's, or
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