Up wid it here, a colleen."
"The never a one o' the man but's doatin' downright, so he is," observed
the wife, "to go to fill the tired child's stomach wid plash. Can't you
wait till he ates a thrifle o' some-thin' stout, to keep life in him,
afther his hard journey? Does your feet feel themselves cool an' asy
now, ahagur?"
"Indeed," said Jemmy, "I'm almost as fresh as when I set out. 'Twas
little thought I had, when I came away this mornin', that I'd meet wid
so much friendship on my journey. I hope it's a sign that God's on my
side in my undertakin'!"
"I hope so, avourneen--I hope so, an' it is, too," replied the farmer,
taking the pipe out of his mouth, and mildly whiffing away the smoke,
"an' God'll be always on your side, as long as your intentions are good.
Now ate somethin'--you must want it by this; an' thin, when you rest
yourself bravely, take a tass into a good feather-bed, where you can
_sleep rings round you_. (* As much as you please.) Who knows but you'll
be able to say mass for me or some o' my family yit. God grant that, any
way, avick!"
Poor James's heart was too full to eat much; he took, therefore, only
a very slender portion of the refreshments set before him; but his
hospitable entertainer had no notion of permitting him to use the free
exercise of his discretion on this important point. When James put away
the knife and fork, as an indication of his having concluded the meal,
the farmer and his wife turned about, both at the same moment, with a
kind of astonishment.
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