CHAPTER III.--Jemmy Burke Refuses to be, Made a Fool Of

--Hycy and a Confidant


Hycy Burke was one of those persons who, under the appearance of a
somewhat ardent temperament, are capable of abiding the issue of
an event with more than ordinary patience. Having not the slightest
suspicion of the circumstance which occasioned Bryan M'Mahon's
resentment, he waited for a day of two under the expectation that his
friend was providing the sum necessary to accommodate him. The third
and fourth days passed, however, without his having received any reply
whatsoever; and Hycy, who had set his heart upon Crazy Jane, on
finding that his father--who possessed as much firmness as he did of
generosity--absolutely refused to pay for her, resolved to lose no more
time in putting Bryan's friendship to the test. To this, indeed, he was
urged by Burton, a wealthy but knavish country horse-dealer, as we said,
who wrote to him that unless he paid for her within a given period, he
must be under the necessity of closing with a person who had offered
him a higher price. This message was very offensive to Hycy, whose
great foible, as the reader knows, was to be considered a gentleman, not
merely in appearance, but in means and circumstances. He consequently
had come to the determination of writing again to M'Mahon upon the same
subject, when chance brought them together in the market of Ballymacan.

After the usual preliminary inquiries as to health, Hycy opened the
matter:--

"I asked you to lend me five-and-thirty pounds to secure Crazy Jane,"