its being received by the
Sheriff. Upon this (not before! mark the craft of even a well-disposed
Irish tenant in those evil days), I was asked to go into the house. I
went in and entered the parlour. There the tenant told me he would pay
the year's rent and the costs, amounting to L50. He had risen from his
seat to fetch the money, when, lo! Father Egan (the priest upon whose
head the widow of the murdered Finlay called down the curse of God in
the open street of Woodford) appeared in the doorway. He had come in on
a pretence of seeing the old mother of the tenant, who had (for that
occasion) taken to her bed. The bedroom lay beyond the parlour, and was
entered from it. The tenant actually shook with fear as Father Egan
passed through, and I thought all hope of a settlement gone, when
suddenly the officer of the police came in, passed into the bedroom, and
told Father Egan he must withdraw. This Father Egan refused to do,
whereupon the officer said very quietly, 'I shall remove you forthwith
if you do not go out quietly.' Upon this Father Egan hastily left. The
tenant then went into the bedroom and soon reappeared with the L50 in
bank-notes, which he paid me. All this was dramatic enough. But the
comedy was next performed in front of the house, where all could see it,
of handing to the Sheriff the alleged doctor's certificate, and of my
saying aloud that 'in the circumstances' I had no objection to his
receiving it! After this all the forces proceeded to take their luncheon
on the green bank sloping down to the Shannon in front of the
farm-house. There is a fine orchard on the place, and it recalled to me
some of the farms I saw in Virginia.

"I had gone into the house again, and was standing near the fire in the
kitchen, where some of my escort were taking their luncheon. It is a
large kitchen, and perhaps a dozen people were in it, when in came
Father Egan again and called to the tenant Fahey, 'Put out those
policemen, and do not suffer one of them to remain.'

"The sergeant instantly said, 'We are here on duty, Father Egan, and if
you dare to try to intimidate this tenant, I shall either put you out or
arrest you.'

"'Yes,' I interposed, looking at the sergeant, 'you are certainly here
on duty, and in the name of the law, and it is sad to see a clergyman
here in the interest of an illegal, criminal, and rebellious movement,
and of the immoral Plan of Campaign.'

"'Oh!' exclaimed Father Egan, 'the opinion of the a