ure of that." In saying
which, however, he referred to the doings of the Molletts down at
Kanturk, rather than to any amatory proceedings which might have
taken place between the young man and his daughter.

On the following morning Mr. Mollett senior awoke with a racking
headache. My belief is, that when men pay this penalty for drinking,
they are partly absolved from other penalties. The penalties on
drink are various. I mean those which affect the body, exclusive of
those which affect the mind. There are great red swollen noses, very
disagreeable both to the wearer and his acquaintances; there are
morning headaches, awful to be thought of; there are sick stomachs,
by which means the offender escapes through a speedy purgatory; there
are sallow cheeks, sunken eyes, and shaking shoulders; there are very
big bellies, and no bellies at all; and there is delirium tremens.
For the most part a man escapes with one of these penalties. If he
have a racking headache, his general health does not usually suffer
so much as though he had endured no such immediate vengeance from
violated nature. Young Aby when he drank had no headaches; but his
eye was bloodshot, his cheek bloated, and his hand shook. His father,
on the other hand, could not raise his head after a debauch; but
when that was gone, all ill results of his imprudence seemed to have
vanished.

At about noon on that day Aby was sitting by his father's bedside. Up
to that time it had been quite impossible to induce him to speak a
word. He could only groan, swallow soda-water with "hairs of the dog
that bit him" in it, and lay with his head between his arms. But soon
after noon Aby did induce him to say a word or two. The door of the
room was closely shut, the little table was strewed with soda-water
bottles and last drops of small goes of brandy. Aby himself had a
cigar in his mouth, and on the floor near the bed-foot was a plate
with a cold, greasy mutton chop, Aby having endeavoured in vain
to induce his father to fortify exhausted nature by eating. The
appearance of the room and the air within it would not have been
pleasant to fastidious people. But then the Molletts were not
fastidious.

"You did see Sir Thomas, then?"

"Yes, I did see him. I wish, Aby, you'd let me lie just for another
hour or so. I'd be all right then. The jolting of that confounded car
has nearly shaken my head to pieces."

But Aby was by no means inclined to be so merciful. The probability