"Plaze, sorr, would ye help a poor man to's dinner. I've walked from Ovoca the day an' devil a bit or a sup is in me."
A beggar!
The idea of a man who never saw me before asking me and evidently expecting me to help him to a dinner.
But of course when you meet a fellow out in the country away from professional beggars you naturally feel like helping him, particularly if the Irish weather is so fine that it hasn't rained for a quarter of an hour—
Thatched Cottage, Wicklow
"Oh, thank ye, sorr. May your bed in heaven be aisy an' may ye oversleep on the day of judgment."
A kind wish.
As I walked on I couldn't help thinking how similar was his case to my own. In all probability he had the price of a meal in his pocket when he met me and I too had the price of several meals in my pocket and even as he had "braced" a total stranger, so I was about to do the same thing, only I expected intellectual talk, a dinner, possibly a drive around the country, and when all was said and done I wouldn't be able for my quid pro quo to call down such a blessing as he had given me.