Page:The Country-House Party.djvu/55

Rh Work!" said she. "I wonder the word does not choke you, you don't know the meaning of it; you never did a day's work in your life, nor never will."

It's hard enough work for any man sitting here listening to you," says he, puffing away at his pipe, and enjoying himself, as I could see by the gleam in his eye. "It's a dog's life I am leading," he said, bending to caress the terrier that lifted its head and slowly winked at him. "Never a cow did you bring to me or a bit of land: I wonder what I saw in you at all, at all?" Mrs. O'Dwyer grew red at that and began to raise her voice.

And is it my father's daughter that is not good enough for you, Mike O'Dwyer? one of the oldest families in Connaught. John D'Arcy of D'Arcy's town. He was none of your common Darcys. He was Mr. D. with an apostrophy Darcy."

He may have been all that," says Mike, "but I'd as soon he had given me a woman with a cow, or two or three acres of land, and I'd never have said a word about wanting the apostrophy."

And who are you, anyhow," says she in a white rage, "that's talking? Hav'n't I worn my