none the worse on that account, who has already been introduced in
these pages as Father Bernard M'Carthy. He was the parish priest of
Drumbarrow; and as his parish comprised a portion of the town of
Kanturk, he lived, not exactly in the town, but within a mile of it.
His sister had married Mr. O'Dwyer of South Main Street, and
therefore he was quite at home in the little back parlour of Mick
O'Dwyer's house in Kanturk. Indeed Father Bernard was a man who made
himself at home in the houses of most of his parishioners,--and of
some who were not his parishioners.

His companions on the present occasion were two ladies who seemed to
be emulous in supplying his wants. The younger and more attractive
of the two was also an old friend of ours, being no other than Fanny
O'Dwyer from South Main Street. Actuated, doubtless, by some
important motive she had left her bar at home for one night, having
come down to Kanturk by her father's car, with the intention of
returning by it in the morning. She was seated as a guest here on
the corner of the sofa near the fire, but nevertheless she was
neither too proud nor too strange in her position to administer as
best she might to the comfort of her uncle.

The other lady was Mistress O'Dwyer, the lady of the mansion. She
was fat, very; by no means fair, and perhaps something over forty.
But nevertheless there were those who thought that she had her
charms. A better hand at curing a side of bacon there was not in the
county Cork, nor a woman who was more knowing in keeping a house
straight and snug over her husband's head. That she had been worth
more than a fortune to Mick O'Dwyer was admitted by all in Kanturk;
for it was known to all that Mick O'Dwyer was not himself a good
hand at keeping a house straight and snug.