"I wonder what would be in that letter. Let me see?"
"Oh, 'tis only a letter in a big envelope. Aren't you the inquisitive woman now, Mrs. Brannagan?"
"What'll you have, Thomas?"
"Ah, another pint, Mrs. Brannagan, thanks!"
His second drink had been despatched with his own celebrated speed.
Mrs. Brannagan was a notably hard woman, and he could not let the opportunity of having her stand him a drink go by. She was the hardest woman in Garradrimna. Her childlessness had made her so. She was beginning to grow stale and withered, and anything in the nature of love and marriage, with their possible results, was to her a constant source of affliction and annoyance.
Her heart was now bounding within her breast in curiosity.
"Drink that quick, Thomas, and have another before the boss comes down." But there was no need to command him. It had already disappeared.... The fourth pint had found its way to his lips. He was beginning to grow mellow now and to lose his cross-sickness of the morning.
"Will ye let me see the letter?"