n' me
a year's rent an' more."

"Didn't I tell ye I would work it off, little by little?" said Mike,
who had suddenly become very pale. "It was me poor mother bein' sick
last year that thrun us back, an' you said ye would have patience wid
us."

"Then ye had a right to behave better," returned Rorke. "How dar' ye
go make up to my granddaughter, you young villain? I'd have ye to know
that Miss Rorke is not for the likes of you."

All poor Mike's pride and valour seemed to have deserted him since
Peter's threat.

"Sure, Roseen an' me was always fond of one another," he said
pleadingly. "I couldn't remember a time when we wasn't. Her an' me was
ould playfellows, and she used to be as much at our place as at home."

"It won't be your place much longer," retorted Peter curtly. "Out o'
this ye may all go, bag an' baggage, the whole pack of yous."

"Me father hasn't stirred out o' that chimley corner for years an'
years," urged Mike; "an' me mother, God help her! she's near as bad as
him wid the weakness an' the terrible cough she has this while back.
It 'ud be the death of her out an' out--sure, where could the cratur's
go?"

"Let them go to the poor-house, unless you can make a livin' for them
somewhere out o' this. I'll not have ye here, mind. Ye needn't come
an' work to-morrow, an' ye may tell your father an' mother to be
gettin' ready to march, for they'll be havin' the bailiff in on them
as soon as I can get him."

A deep flush replaced Mike's pallor and a shiver of indignation shook
him from head to foot.

"Mr. Rorke," he cried, "ye don't mane what ye are sayin'. Ye'd never
have the heart to turn them two ould craturs out on the roadside to
die?"

"Wouldn't I though?" retorted Peter; "ye'll soon find out for
yourselves whether I would or not."

He turned and was hastening homewards, when Mike called after him. The
old man faced him, still sneering.

"This will not bring you luck," cried Mike, his young voice quivering,
his face working with emotion, his usually merry eyes ablaze with
passion. "I tell you it'll bring a curse on you. You'll live to rue
the day you turned on us that way--an' maybe it won't be long before
ye are sorry."

Peter's only answer was an ironical laugh, and he once more resumed
his homeward journey, leaving Mike standing pale and trembling beside
the hedge.

Peter entered the house, flushed with triumph, and, calling loudly for
Roseen, informed her that he was after sendin' th