Pat marries your sister he will find himself cut off with a
shilling."

"She's been agin us all the while," said Ned. "Her money has made
her proud, but I don't blame her. If I had the fine house she has,
maybe I would be as proud as she."

"Maybe you would," said the priest. "But what I am thinking of is
your sister Kate. She will never get Pat Connex. Pat will never go
against his mother."

"Well, you see he comes up and plays the melodion on Saturday
night," said Ned, "and she can't stop him from doing that."

"Then you think," said the priest, "that Pat will marry your
sister?"

"I don't think she wants to marry him."

"If she doesn't want to marry him, what's all this talk about?"

"She likes to meet Pat in the evenings and go for a walk with him,
and she likes him to put his arm round her waist and kiss her,
saving your reverence's pardon."

"It is strange that you should be so unlike. You come here and ask
me to speak to Mary Byrne's parents for you, and that I'll do,
Ned, and it will be all right. You will make a good husband, and
though you were drunk last night, you have taken the pledge to-
day, and I will make a good marriage for Kate, too, if she'll