"
Having dined, her worthy son mixed a tumbler of punch, and while
drinking it, he amused himself, as was his custom, by singing snatches
of various songs, and drumming with his fingers upon the table; whilst
every now and then he could hear the tones of his mother's voice in high
altercation with Hogan and his brothers. This, however, after a time,
ceased, and she returned to the parlor a good deal chafed by the
dispute.
"There's one thing I wonder at," she observed, "that of all men in the
neighborhood, Gerald Cavanagh would allow sich vagabonds as they an Kate
Hogan is, to put in his kiln. Troth, Hycy," she added, speaking to him
in a warning and significant tone of voice, "if there wasn't something
low an' mane in him, he wouldn't do it."
"'Tis when the cup is smiling before us.
And we pledge unto our hearts--'
"Your health, mother. Mr. Burke, here's to you! Why I dare say you are
right, Mrs. Burke. The Cavanagh family is but an upstart one at best;
it wants antiquity, ma'am--a mere affair of yesterday, so what after all
could you expect from it?"
Honest Jemmy looked at him and then groaned. "An upstart
family!--that'll do--oh, murdher--well, 'tis respectable at all events;
however, as to havin' the Hogans about them--they wor always about them;
it was the same in their father's time.
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