torn away by the shoulder, where one o' the men had clawed her.

"There was a pretty dido goin' on atween the dree, an' all talkin'
together--the two men mobbin' each other, an' the girl i' the middle
callin' em every name but what they was chris'ened, wi'out
distinction o' persons, as the word goes.

"'What's the uproar?' asks Ould Wounds, stoppin' the tap-tap o' his
crop, as they comes up.

"'The woman b'longs to me,' says the first. 'I've engaged to make
her my lawful wife; an' I won't go from my word under two gallon o'
fourpenny.'

"'You agreed to hand her over for one gallon, first along,' says
t'other,' an' a bargain's a bargain.'

"Says the woman, 'You're a pair o' hair-splitting shammicks, the pair
of 'ee. An' how much beer be I to have for my weddin' portion?'
(says she)--'for that's all _I_ care about, one way or t'other.'

"Now Ould Wounds looked at the woman; an' 'tis to be thought he found
her eyeable, for he axed up sharp--

"'Would 'ee kick over these two, an' marry me, for a bottle o' gin?'

"'That would I.'

"'An' to be called My Lady--Countess o' Bellarmine?'