its vitality by shaking its ears. Then he poured some water into the
basin and washed his hot face, scrubbing his lips with the sponge.

Yet, to his infinite annoyance, he seemed still to feel the pressure
of Tishy's warm mouth on his.




CHAPTER XII


It is, or should be, superfluous to say that Miss Frederica Coppinger
viewed with disfavour, that was the more poignant for its
helplessness, Larry's adoption and assimilation by the Mangan family.

"Disastrous!" she said in a tragic voice, to the Rector of Knockceoil
parish. "If he were a Protestant it wouldn't matter so much; but, as
things are, for _him_ to be thrown among these second-rate,
Nationalistic, Roman Catholics--!"

The intensity of Miss Coppinger's emotions silenced him. She had
indeed beaten her biggest drum, and she knew it.

The Rector, the Reverend Charles Fetherston, nodded his head with
solemnity, and made a conscientious effort to remember what she was
speaking of. He was not much in the habit of attending to what was
said to him, finding his own thoughts more interesting than those of
his parishioners. The parishioners, being aware of this peculiarity,
put it down, very naturally, to eccentricity for which he was rather