"'Lave that to me,' says Jack; 'by the powers, you won't lose a drop of
your darling blood for it. Have you got a pen-knife about you? and I'll
soon show you how you won't.'

"'What do you want with the knife?' she inquired.

"'What do I want with it?--Why to give you the best toe on both my feet,
for the one I lost on you; do you think I'd suffer you to want a toe,
and I having ten thumping ones at your sarvice?--I'm not the man, you
beauty you, for such a shabby trick as that comes to.'

"'But you forget,' says the lady, who was a little cooler than Jack,
'that none of yours would fit me.'

"'And must you die to-morrow, _acushla?_' asked Jack, in desperation.

"'As sure as the sun rises,' answered the lady 'for Your master would
know at once that it was by my toes the nest was robbed.'

"'By the powers,' observed Jack, 'he's one of the greatest ould vag--I
mane, isn't he a terrible man, out and out, for a father?'

"'Father!' says the darling,--'he's not my father, Jack, he only wishes
to marry me and if I'm not able to outdo him before three days more,
it's decreed that he must.

"When Jack heard this, surely the Irishman must come out; there he
stood, and began to wipe his eyes with the skirt of his coat, making
out as if he was crying, the thief of the world. 'What's the matter with