At length Hanna looked at
her sister, and simply said, "dear Kathleen!"
"He has done," replied the latter, in a low voice, "what I had not the
generosity to do--he has defended the absent."
"Darling Kathleen," Hanna whispered, and then pressed her once more to
her heart. "You must have it, Mr. O'Finigan," said she--"you must have
it, and that immediately;" and as she spoke, she proceeded to a cupboard
from which she produced a large black bottle, filled with that peculiar
liquid to which our worthy pedagogue was so devotedly addicted.
"Ah," said he, on receiving a bumper from the fair hand of Hanna,
"let the M'Mahons alone for the old original--indeed I ought to
say--aboriginal hospitality. Thanks, Miss Hanna; in the meantime I will
enunciate a toast, and although we shall not draw very strongly upon
sentiment for the terms, it shall be plain and pithy; here is 'that the
saddle of infamy may be soon placed upon the right horse,' and maybe
there's an individual not a thousand miles from us, and who is besides
not altogether incognizant of the learned languages, including a
tolerably comprehensive circle of mathematics, who will, to a certain
extent, contribute to the consummation of that most desirable event;
here then, I repate, is the toast--'may the saddle of infamy soon be
placed upon the right horse!'"
Having drunk off the glass, he turned the mouth of it down upon his
corduroy breeches, as an intimation that he might probably find it
necessary to have recourse to it again.
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