sure every thing I have either came or comes from your hand; and if I
can't thank you, God will do it for me, and that's betther still."

"No more about that, Molly--not a word more. Your long residence with my
poor mother, and your affection for her in all her trials and troubles,
entitle you to more than that at the hands of her son."

"Mrs. Buckley," observed Fergus, "this is a quiet-looking little place
you have here."

"And it is for that I like it," she replied. "I have pace here, and the
noise of the wicked world seldom reaches me in it. My only friend and
companion here is the Almighty--praise and glory be to his name!"--and
here she devoutly crossed herself--"bar-rin', indeed, when the
light-hearted _girshas_ (young girls) comes _a kailyee_* wid their
wheels, to keep the poor ould woman company, and rise her ould heart by
their light and merry songs, the cratures."

*This means to spend a portion of the day, or a few hours of
the night, in a neighbor's house, in agreeable and amusing
conversation.

"That must be a relief to you, Molly," observed Reilly, who, however,
could with difficulty take any part in this little dialogue.

"And so indeed it is," she replied; "and, poor things, sure if their
sweethearts do come at the dusk to help them to carry home their
spinning-wheels, who can be angry with them? It's the way of life, sure,
and of the world."