'Captain Hinton, I believe,' said the Major, as he held out his hand in welcome.
'Mr. Hinton,' said I, bowing.
'Ay, yes; Father Tom, there, doesn't know much about these matters. What regiment, pray?'
'The Grenadier Guards.'
'Oh, a very good corps—mighty respectable corps; not that, between ourselves, I think overmuch of the regulars; between you and me, I never knew foreign travel do good to man or beast. What do they bring back with them, I'd like to know?—French cookery and Italian licentiousness. No, no; give me the native troops! You were a boy at the time, but maybe you have heard how they behaved in the west, when Hoche landed. Egad! if it wasn't for the militia the country was sacked. I commanded a company of the Roscommon at the time. I remember well we laid siege to a windmill, held by a desperate fellow, the miller—a resolute character, Mr. Hinton; he had two guns in the place with him.'
'I wish to the Lord he had shot you with one of them, and we 'd have been spared this long story!' said the priest.
'I opened a parallel——'
'Maybe you 'd open the pie?' said the priest, as he drew his chair, and sat down to the table. 'Perhaps you forget, Bob, we have had a sharp ride of it this evening?'
'Upon my conscience, so I did,' replied the Major good-humouredly. 'So let us have a bit of supper now, Mr. Hinton, and I'll finish my story by-and-by.'
'The Heavens forbid!' piously ejaculated the priest, as he helped himself to a very considerable portion of the lobster.