Barney Casey must go among the tenants, too, and order them all into the
town. Mat Mulcahy, the inn-keeper, must give us his best room; and, my
life to yours, we will have a pleasant night of it."

"George," exclaimed his wife, in a tone of querulous remonstrance, "you
know how expensive--"

"Confound the expense and your penury both," exclaimed her husband;
"is it to your own son, on his return to us after such an absence, that
you'd grudge the expense of a blazing bonfire?"

"Not the bonfire," replied his wife, but--"

"Ay, but the cost of drink to the tenants. Why, upon my soul, Harry,
your mother is anything but popular here, you must know; and I think
if it were not from respect to me and the rest of the family she'd
be indicted for a witch. Gadzooks, Jenny, will I never get sense
or liberality into your head? Ay, and if you go on after your usual
fashion, it is not unlikely that you may have a tar-barrel of your own
before long. Go, you and Harry, and tell your secrets to each other
while we prepare for the jubilation. In the meantime, we must get up an
extempore dinner to-day--the set dinner will come in due time, and be a
different affair; but at all events some of the neighbors we must have
to join us in the jovialities--hurroo!"

"Well, George," said she, with her own peculiar smile, "I see you are in
one of your moods to-day."

"Ay, right enough, the imperative one, my dear."