server if you did not notice certain qualities of character indicated
in his face and form which suggested the thought that there was good
stuff in the lad, and that if he had a chance he might turn out to be
of some use despite his unpropitious surroundings.

He had a bright, pleasant countenance of the genuine Irish type,
thickly dotted with deep-tinted freckles; a pair of frank, brown eyes;
a mop of hair with a decided tendency towards curls and redness; and a
well-knit, full-sized frame, whose every muscle was developed to its
utmost capacity, and within which there beat a big warm heart, although
that might seem to be doubtful sometimes when its owner was in a
particularly mischievous mood.

"Sure, an' I don't know what's ever to be the end of ye," said Mrs.
Ahearn one day, in a more thoughtful tone than was usual with her,
after scolding her son for one of his pranks which she had just found
out. "Ye've got wits enough to be a gentleman, if ye only had a mind
to it; but never a bit do ye seem to care, so long as there's a bite
for ye to eat."

Terry's response was so surprising that it fairly took his mother's
breath away; for, drawing himself up to his full height, and putting on
a look of the utmost determination, he exclaimed,--

"And it's a gentleman I mean to be some day, and then it's yourself
that will ride in a carriage with glass sides, as fine as Miss
Drummond's."

Mrs. Ahearn's eyes and mouth opened wide with astonishment. What had
come over her boy that made him talk in that style? Ride in a carriage
indeed! Faith, the highest expectation she ever permitted herself to
entertain was of deliverance from the drudgery of the wash-tub. If
that could only be accomplished in some other way than by dying, she
would be well content.

"Listen to him!" she cried. "It's crazy the boy is. Me ride in a
carriage! Sure the only ride I'll ever get in a carriage with glass
sides will be when I'm going to the cimitry."

Then Terry did a still more remarkable thing. Whether it was his
mother's reference to the hearse, or something in his own mind that
stirred him, can only be conjectured, but running up to Mrs. Ahearn he
caught her round the waist and gave her a hearty hug, saying,--

"Ye'll have many a ride in a carriage, and with glass sides too,
mother, before that."

Then he darted off down the stairs, whistling "St. Patrick's Day in the
Morning" with all his might, while his mother fell into a cha