Burke, would be the making of her--my word and
honor it would."
"Hem!--ahem!--do you think so, Hycy?"
"Tut, mother--that indeed!--can there be a doubt about it?"
"Well then, in that case, I think she may stay--that is, if the father
will consent to it."
"Thank you, mother, for that example of protection and benevolence. I
feel that all my virtues certainly proceed from your side of the house
and are derived from yourself--there can be no doubt of that."
"Indeed I think so myself, Hycy, for where else would you get them? You
have the M'Swiggin nose; an' it can't be from any one else you take your
high notions. All you show of the gentleman, Hycy, it's not hard to name
them you have it from, I believe."
"Spoken like a Sybil. Mother, within the whole range of my female
acquaintances I don't know a woman that has in her so much of the
gentleman as yourself--my word and honor, mother."
"Behave, Hycy--behave now," she replied, simpering; "however truth's
truth, at any rate."
We need scarcely say that the poor mendicant was delighted at the notion
of having his daughter placed in the family of so warm and independent a
man as Jemmy Burke. Yet the poor little fellow did not separate from the
girl without a strong manifestation of the affection he bore her. She
was his only child--the humble but solitary flower that blossomed for
him upon the desert of life.
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