George A. Birmingham

“ Billing, “and start at once.”
“Doctor,” said Gallagher anxiously, “what’ll I do when he starts asking me questions about the General?”
“Answer him, of course,” said Dr. O’Grady.
“How can I, when I never heard tell of the General till to-day. For the love of God, doctor dear, will you tell me who he was?”
“Thady,” said the doctor, “I’m ashamed of you. Aren’t you a politician? You are, and well you know it. Aren’t you a newspaper editor? You are, there’s no use denying it. Don’t you spend your whole life either talking or writing on subjects that you know nothing about? You do. ”

“ He’s a boy she never looked at, nor wouldn’t.”
“Shut up, Moriarty,” said Dr. O’Grady. “If you won’t call her, Doyle, I must do it myself. Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen, come here!”
“What’s the use of calling Mary Ellen?” said Doyle. “The girl knows well enough she’s not the niece nor the grandniece of any General. As soon as ever you face her with the American gentleman she’ll be saying something, be the same more or less, that’ll let him know the way things are with her.”
“If I know anything of Mary Ellen,” said Dr. O’Grady, “she’ll not say a word more than she need on any subject. ”

“ It’s not right to be maliciously and wantonly unkind, Major, even to dumb animals; and I can’t imagine anything more cruel than to tell Billing that he’s made a mistake. In the next place, why on earth should we miss the chance of getting a statue in Ballymoy? We haven’t got one at present, and a good statue—we’ll get quite a respectable one for Billing’s £100, even if we don’t subscribe a penny ourselves—will be a great ornament to the town. You may not care for statues, Major, but all really cultivated people love them. Look at Dublin! ”

“ I needn’t tell you, Doyle, that the earnest desire of every Lord-Lieutenant is to assist the material and intellectual advancement of Ireland. He’s always getting opportunities of opening technical schools and industrial shows of one sort or another. They’ve quite ceased to attract him. But we’re displaying an entirely new spirit. By erecting a public statue in a town like this we are showing that we’ve arrived at an advanced stage of culture. ”

“ O’Grady. “If there was a drop of whisky in the house I’d give it to you. I’ll look in a minute. There might be some left in the bottom of the bottle. A man who can tell a lie like that on the spur of the moment——”
“It was true enough about the sweat,” said Doyle. “You could have wrung my shirt into a bucket, though it wasn’t running did it, for I didn’t run. It was the way she was looking at me. I’m not overly fond of Mr. Ford, and never was; but I don’t know did ever I feel as sorry for any man as I did for him when she was looking at me.” ”

“ He found Sergeant Colgan asleep in the living-room. He woke him at once.
“I’ll be even with that doctor,” he said, “before I’ve done with him.”
“That’s threatening language,” said the sergeant, who was not pleased at being wakened, “and it’s actionable; so you’d better mind yourself, Moriarty. There’s many a better man than you has gone to jail for less than that. I knew a Member of Parliament one time that got three weeks for no more than saying that he’d like to see the people beating the life out of a land grabber. What has the doctor been doing to you?”
“It’s about Mary Ellen.” ”