Leave her to the girls. There, she
is recoverin'."
She did soon recover; but weak and broken down as she was, no persuasion
nor even authority could prevail upon her to remain at home. Jemmy
Burke, who had intended to offer Kathleen a seat upon his car, which, of
course, she would not have accepted, was now outmanoeuvred by his
wife, 'who got Dora beside herself, after having placed a sister of Tom
M'Mahon's beside him.
At length, the coffin was brought out, and the keene raised over it, on
the conclusion of which it was placed in the hearse, and the procession
began to move on.
There is nothing in the rural districts of this country that so clearly
indicates the respect entertained for any family as the number of
persons which, when a death takes place in it, attend the funeral. In
such a case, the length of the procession is the test of esteem in which
the party has been held. Mrs. M'Mahon's funeral was little less than a
mile long. All the respectable farmers and bodaghs, as they call them,
or half-sirs in the parish, were in attendance, as a mark of, respect
for the virtues of the deceased, and of esteem for the integrity
and upright spirit of the family that had been deprived of her so
unexpectedly.
Hycy and his friend, Harry Clinton, of course rode together, Finigan,
the schoolmaster, keeping as near them as he could; but not so near as
to render his presence irksome to them, when he saw that they had no
wish for it.
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