These accidental meetings between Denis and the pretty daughters of the
neighboring farmers were, somehow, very frequent. Our hero, however, was
always extremely judicious in tempering his gallantry and moral advice
to his young female acquaintances. In the beginning of the conversation
he was sly and complimentary, afterwards he became more insinuating,
then more direct in his praises of their beauty; but as his timidity on
the point of character was known, the mischief-loving girls uniformly
ended with a threat of exposing him to the priest, to his friends, or to
the neighbors, as the whim directed them. This brought him back to his
morality again; he immediately commenced an exhortation touching their
religious duties, thus hoping to cover, by a trait more becoming
his future destination, the little harmless badinage in which he had
indulged.

The girls themselves frequently made him the topic of conversation, a
proof that he was not altogether indifferent to them. In these little
conclaves he came very well off. Among them all it was admitted "that
there was a rogue in his coat;" but this was by no means uttered in a
tone of voice that betrayed any disrelish to him. On the contrary, they
often said--and many of them with an involuntary sigh--that "he was too
purty to be made a priest of;" others, that "it was a pity to make a
priest of so fine a young man;" others, again, that "if he must be a
priest, the colleens would be all flockin' to hear his sarmons." There
was one, however, among them who never mentioned him either in praise or
censure; but the rapid changes of her expressive countenance gave
strong indications to an observing eye that his name, person, and future
prospects were capable of exciting a deep and intense interest in her
heart.

At length he began to appear on horseback; and as he had hitherto been