me fist on it, in writin', at Freddy Tarlton's office, wid a blotch av
red an' the Queen's head at the bottom. McGuire!" he said again, and
paused, puffing his lips through his beard.

Pierre looked at him a moment, then waving his fingers idly, said, "So,
my straw-breaker! Then tomorrow morning at ten you will fetch your
wedding-gift. But come so soon now to M'sieu' Tarlton's office, and we
will have it all as you say, with the red seal and the turn of your
fist--yes. Well, well, we travel far in the world, and sometimes we see
strange things, and no two strange things are alike--no; there is only
one Macavoy in the world, there was only one Shon McGann. Shon McGann was
a fine fool, but he did something at last, truly yes: Tim Macavoy,
perhaps, will do something at last on his own hook. Hey, I wonder!" He
felt the muscles of Macavoy's arm musingly, and then laughed up in the
giant's face. "Once I made you a king, my own, and you threw it all away;
now I make you a slave, and we shall see what you will do. Come along,
for M'sieu' Tarlton."

Macavoy dropped a heavy hand on Pierre's shoulder. "'Tis hard to be a
king, Pierre, but 'tis aisy to be a slave for the likes o' her. I'd kiss
her dirty shoe sure!"

As they passed through the door, Pierre said, "Dis done, perhaps, when
all is done, she will sell you for old bones and rags. Then I will buy
you, and I will burn your bones and the rags, and I will scatter to the
four winds of the earth the ashes of a king, a slave, a fool, and an
Irishman--truly!"

"Bedad, ye'll have more earth in yer hands then, Pierre, than ye'll ever
earn, and more heaven than ye'll ever shtand in."