you let the fire alone?--there's coal enough on it; the
devil burn 'em all--Egan, Murphy, and all o' them! What do you stand
there for, with the tongs in your hands, like a hairdresser, or a stuck
pig? I tell you, I'm as hot as a lime-kiln; go out o' that."

The daughter retired, and the spoon was left to its fate; the ladies did
not dare to utter a word; O'Grady continued his gaze on the ceiling and
his whistle; and Furlong, very uncomfortable and much more astonished,
after sitting in silence for some time, thought a retreat the best move
he could make, and intimated his wish to retire.

Mrs. O'Grady gently suggested it was yet early; which Furlong
acknowledged, but pleaded his extreme fatigue after a day of great
exertion.

"I suppose you were canvassing," said O'Grady, with a wicked grin.

"Ce'tainly not; they could sca'cely pwesume on such a thing as that, I
should think, in _my_ pwesence."

"Then what fatigued you?--eh?"

"Salmon-fishing, sir."

"What!" exclaimed O'Grady, opening his fierce eyes, and turning suddenly
round. "Salmon-fishing! Where the d----l were you salmon-fishing?"

"In the wiver, close by here."

The ladies now all stared; but Furlong advanced a vehement assurance,
in answer to their looks of wonder, that he had taken some very fine
salmon indeed.

The girls could not suppress their laughter; and O'Grady, casting a
look of mingled rage and contempt on the fisherman, merely uttered the
ejaculation, "Oh, Moses!" and threw himself back in his chair; but
starting up a moment after, he rang the bell violently. "What do you
want, my dear?" said his poor wife, venturing to lift her eyes, and
speaking in the humblest tone--"what do you want?"

"Some broiled bones!" said O'Grady, very much like an ogre; "I want
something to settle my stomach after what I've heard, for, by the
powers of ipecacuanha, 't is enough to make a horse sick--sick, by the
powers!--shivering all over like a dog in a wet sack. I must have
broiled bones and hot punch!"

The servant entered, and O'Grady swore at him for not coming sooner,
though he was really expeditious in his answer to the bell.

"Confound your lazy bones; you're never in time."

"'Deed, sir; I came the minit I heerd the bell."

"Hold your tongue!--who bid you talk? The devil fly away with you!--and
you'll never go fast till he does. Make haste now--go to the cook----"

"Yes, sir."

"Curse you! can't you wait till you get your message? Go to the