d's poor, wint to the saint
like a child to its mother an' towld him the whole o' their heart.

"While the blessed saint lived here, over acrass the hill an' beyant the
peat-bog there was a hedger an' ditcher named O'Connor. He was only a poor
laborin' man, an' the owld woman helped him, while his girl, be the name
o' Kathleen, tinded the house, fur I must tell ye, they kept a boord in
the corner beways av a bar an' a jug wid potheen that they sowld to thim
that passed, fur it was afore the days av the gaugers, bad cess to thim,
an' ivery man dhrunk phat he plazed widout payin' a pinny to the
govermint. So O'Connor made the potheen himself an' Kathleen sowld it to
the turf-cutters, an' mighty little did they buy, bekase they'd no money.
She was a fine girl, wid a pair av eyes that 'ud dint the hearts av owld
an' young, an' wid a dacint gown fur the week an' a clane wan fur the
Sunday, an' just such a girl as 'ud make an owld felly feel himself young
agin. Sorra the taste av divilmint was there in the girl at all, fur she
was good as the sunshine in winther an' as innycent as a shpring lamb, an'
wint to church an' did her jooty reglar.

"She was afther fallin' in love wid a young felly that done ditchin' an'
they were to be marr'd whin he got his house done an' his father gev him a
cow. He wasn't rich be no manes, but as fur feelin' poverty, he never
dhreamt o' such a thing, fur he'd the love o' Kathleen an' thought it a
forchune.

"In thim times the castle at the foot o' the hill was kept be a lord, that
wid roomytisms an' panes in his jints was laid on his bed all the time,
and the son av him, Lord Robert, was the worst man to be runnin' afther
girls iver seen in the County Clare. He was the dandy among thim an' broke
the hearts o' thim right an' lift like he was shnappin' twigs undher his
feet. Manny a wan he desaved an' let go to the dogs, as they did at wanst,
fur whin the divil gets his foot on a woman's neck, she niver lifts her
head agin.

"Wan day, Lord Robert's father's roomytism got the betther av him an' laid
him out, an' they gev him an iligant wake an' berryin', an' while they
were at the grave Lord Robert looked up an' seen Kathleen shtandin' among
the people an' wondhered who she was. So he come into the eshtate an' got
a stable full av horses an' dogs, an' did a power o' huntin', an' as he
was a sojer, he'd a shwarm av throopers at the cassel, all the like av
himself. But not long afther the berryin',