ther, for
it was he, "is this the way you're preparin' yourself for the church?
Comin' over that innocent colleen of a daughter o' mine before you
set out," he added, taking Denis a second thwack across the
shoulders--"before you set out for Maynewth!!"

"Why, you miserable vulgarian," said Denis, "I scorn you from the head
to the heel. Desist, I say," for the father was about to lay in another
swinger upon his kidney--"desist, I say, and don't approximate, or I
will entangle the ribs of you!"

"My sowl to glory," said the father, "if ever I had a greater mind
to ate my dinner, than I have to anoint you wid this cudgel, you
black-coated skamer!"

"Get out, you barbarian," replied Denis, "how dare you talk about
unction in connection with a cudgel? Desist, I say, for I will
retaliate, if you approximate an inch. Desist, or I will baptize you in
the well as Philip did the Ethiopian, without a sponsor. No man but a
miserable barbarian would have had the vulgarity to interrupt us in the
manner you did. Look at your daughter's situation!"

"The hussy," replied the father, "it's the supper she ought to have
ready, instead of coortin' wid sich a larned vag----Heavens above me!
What ails my child? Susy! Susy, _alanna dhas!_ what's over you? Oh, I
see how it is," he continued--"I see how it is! This accounts for her
low spirits an' bad health for some time past! Susy, rouse yourself,
avourneen! Sure I'm not angry wid you! My sowl to glory, Denis
Shaughnessy, but you have broke my child's heart, I doubt!"

"Owen," said Denis, "your indecorous interruption has stamped you with
the signature of genuine ignorance and vulgarity; still, I say, we must
have some conversation on that subject immediately. Yes, I love your
daughter a thousand times better than nay own life."

"Faith, I'll take care that we'll have discoorse about it," replied the
father. "If you have been a villain to the innocent girl--if you have,
Denny, why you'll meet your God sooner than you think. Mark my words.
I have but one life, and I'll lose it for her sake, if she has come to
ill."

"Here,", said Denis, "let me sprinkle her face with this cool water,
that we may recover her, if possible. Your anger and your outrage, Owen,
overcame the timid creature. Speak kindly to her, she is recovering.
Thank God, she is recovering."

"Susy, avourneen," said the father, "rouse yourself,' ma colleen; rouse
yourself, an' don't thrimble that way. The sorra one o' me'