over there to make
me an American; but they did nothing to unmake me as an Irishman. And
there I am, member for Cavan; and it will go hard with me if I don't
break that Speaker's heart before I've done with him. What! I ain't
to say that he goes wrong when he never goes right by any chance?"

"Have you come here this morning, Mr. O'Mahony, to abuse the
Speaker?"

"By no means. It was you who threw the Speaker in my teeth."

Lord Castlewell did acknowledge to himself his own imprudence.

"I came here to tell you about my daughter, and upon my word I
shall find it more difficult than anything I may have to say to the
Speaker. I have the most profound contempt for the Speaker."

"Perhaps he returns it."

"I don't believe he does, or he wouldn't make so much of me as to
turn me out of the House. When a man finds it necessary to remove an
enemy, let the cause be what it may, he cannot be said to despise
that enemy. Now, I wouldn't give a puff of breath to turn him out of
the House. In truth, I despise him too much."

"He is to be pitied," said the lord, with a gentle touch of irony.

"I'll tell you what, Lord Castlewell--"

"Don't go on about the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony,--pray don't."

"You always begin,--but I won't. I didn't come here to speak about
him at all. And the Chairman of Committees is positively worse. You
know there's a creature called Chairman of Committees?"

"Now, Mr. O'Mahony, I really must beg that you will fight your
political battles anywhere but here. I'm not a politician. How is
your charming daughter this morning?"

"She is anything but charming. I hardly know what to make of her,
but I find that I am always obliged to do what she tells me." There
was another allusion to the Speaker on the lord's tongue, but he
restrained himself. "She has sent me here to say that she wants the
marriage to be broken off."

"Good Heavens!"

"She does. She says that you intend to marry her because she's a
singing girl;--and now she can't sing."

"Not exactly that," said the lord.

"And she thinks she oughtn't to have accepted you at all,--that's the
truth." The lord's face became very long. "I think myself that it was
a little too hurried. I don't suppose you quite knew your own minds."

"If Miss O'Mahony repents--"

"Well, Miss O'Mahony does repent. She has got something into her head
that I can't quite explain. She thought that she'd do for a countess
very well as long as she was on the boards of