"Mike," said Mrs. Muldoon, one noon, when Mike came for his lunch, "I
know th' opinion ye have of Dagos, and niver a-one have I took into me
house, and I think the same of thim meself--dirthy things, an' takin'
the bread away from th' honest Amercan laborin' man--and I would not be
thinkin' of takin' one t' board at this day, but would ye tell me
this:--is a Frinchmin a Dago?"

Flannery raised his knife and laid down the law with it.

"Mrs. Muldoon, mam," he said, "there be two kinds of Frinchmin. There be
the respictible Frinchmin, and there be th' unrespictible Frinchmin.
They both be furriners, but they be classed different. Th' respictible
Frinchmin is no worse than th' Dutch, and is classed as Dutch, but th'
other kind is Dagos. There is no harm in th' Dutch Frinchmin, for thim
is such as Napoleon Bonnypart and the like of him, but ye want t' have
nawthin' t' do with th' Dago Frinch. They be a bad lot."

"There was a Frinchmin askin' would I give him a room and board, this
mornin'," said Mrs. Muldoon.

Flannery nodded knowingly.

"I knowed it!" he cried. "'T was apparent t' me th' minute ye spoke,
mam. And agin th' Dutch Frinch I have nawthin' t' say. If he be a Dutch
Frinchmin let him come. Was he that?"

"Sure, I don't know," said Mrs. Muldoon, perplexed. "He was a
pleasant-spoken man, enough. 'T is a professor he is."