Lord Robert was huntin' in the
hills, an' he come down towards the bog an' seen O'Connor's cabin, an'
says to his man 'Bedad, I wondher if they've a dhrop to shpare here, I'm
mortial dhry.' So in they wint, an' axed, an' got thim their dhrink, an'
thin he set the wicked eyes av him on the girl an' at wanst remimbered
her.

"'It's a mighty fine girl ye are,' says he to Kathleen thin, an' fit fur
the house av a prince.'

"'None o' yer deludherin' talk to me, Sorr,' says Kathleen to him. 'I know
ye, an' it's no good I know av ye,' says she to him. 'Twas the good girl
she was an' as firm as a landlord in a bad year when she thought there was
anny avil intinded.

"So he wint away that time an' come agin an' agin when he was huntin' an'
always had some impidince to say at her. She towld her parrents av it, an'
though they didn't like it at all, they wasn't afeared fur the girl, an'
he'd spind more in wan dhrinkin' than they'd take in in a week, so they
were not sorry to see him come, but ivery time he come he wint away more
detarmined to have the girl, an' whin he found he cudn't get her be fair
manes he shwore he'd do it be foul. So wanst, whin she'd been cowlder to
him than common an' wouldn't have a prisint he brought her, he says to
her, 'Begob, I'll bring ye to terms. If ye won't accept me prisints, I'll
make ye bend yer will widout prisints,' an' he wint away. She got
frighted, an' whin she saw Tim Maccarty, she towld him av Lord Robert an'
phat he said. Well, it made Tim mighty mad. 'Tatther an' agers,' says he,
'be the powers, I'll break every bone in his body if he lays a finger on
yer showldher; but, fur all that, whin Tim got to thinkin', he got skairt
av Kathleen.

"'Sure,' says he to himself, 'ain't wimmin like glass jugs, that'll break
wid the laste touch? I'll marry her immejitly an' take out av Clare into
Kerry,' says he, 'an' let him dare to come afther her there,' says he, for
he knewn that if Lord Robert came into the Kerry mountains, the boys 'ud
crack his shkull wid the same compuncshusness that they'd have to an egg
shell. So he left aff the job an' convaynienced himself to go to Kathleen
that night an' tell her his belafe.

"'Amn't I afeared fur ye, me darlin',' says he, 'and wouldn't I dhrownd me
in the say if anny harm 'ud come to ye, so I think we'd betther be married
at wanst.'

"So Kathleen consinted an' made a bundle av her Sunday gown, an' they
shtarted fur the saint's cave, that bein' th