Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/147

 her, is t' ask him to write her a letther, an' thin she has him—tight."

"How so, Andy?"

"Well, ye see, surr, when you're writin' a letther to a girrul, ye can't begin widout a 'My dear' or a 'My darlin' '—an' thin she has the grip iv the law onto ye! An' ye do be badgered be the councillors, an' ye do be frowned at be the judge, an' ye do be laughed at be the people, an' ye do have to pay yer money—an' there ye are!"

"I say, Andy," said I, "I think you must have been in trouble yourself in that way—you seem to have it all off pat!"

"Oh, throth, not me, yer 'an'r. Glory be to God! but I niver was a defindant in me life—an' more betoken, I don't want to be—but I was wance a witness in a case iv the kind."

"And what did you witness?"

"Faix, I was called to prove that I seen the gintleman's arrum around the girrul' s waist. The councillors made a deal out iv that—just as if it warn't only manners to hould up a girrul on a car!"

"What was the case, Andy? Tell me all about it."

I did not mind his waiting, as it gave me an excuse for staying on the top of the hill. I knew I could easily get rid of him when she came—if she came—by sending him on a message.

"Well, this was a young woman what had an action agin Shquire Murphy iv Ballynashoughlin himself