Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/151

 "Fie! fie! Andy, for shame; you talk as if they were cattle or pigs."

"Begor, there's only wan kind iv fat an' lane that I knows of; but av ye like I'll call it thick or thin; which is it?"

"Not too fat, but certainly not skinny." Andy held up his hands in mock horror:—

"Yer 'an'r shpakes as if ye was talkin' iv powlthry."

"I mean Andy," said I with a certain sense of shame, "she is not to be either too fat or too lean, as you put it."

"Ye mane 'shtreaky'!"

"Streaky!" said I, "what do you mean?" He answered promptly:—

"Shtreaky,—thick an' thin—like belly bacon." I said nothing. I felt certain it would be useless and out of place. He went on:—

"Nixt, fair or dark?"

"Dark, by all means."

"Dark be it, surr. What kind iv eyes might she have?"

"Ah! eyes like darkness on the bosom of the azure deep!"

"Musha! but that's a quare kind iv eye fur a girrul to have intirely! Is she to be all dark, surr, or only the hair of her?"

"I don't mean a nigger, Andy!" I thought I would be even with him for once in a way. He laughed heartily.