Such was the present cause of disturbance, and such the reason for Dan's loud denunciations on the “black north,” uttered with a volubility and vehemence that pertain to a very different portion of the empire. Twice had Miss Daly rung the little hand-bell that stood beside her to enforce order, but it was unnoticed in the clamor of the fray, while louder and louder grew the angry voice of Dan Nelligan, which at length was plainly audible in the hall.
“Look now, see then, may the divil howld a looking-glass to your sins, but I 'll show it to the mistress! I may, may I? That 's what you 're grumbling, ye ould black-mouthed Prasbytarien! 'T is the fine supper to put before a crayture wet to the skin!”
“Dinna ye hear the bell, Nelly?” This was an epithet of insult the little man could not endure. “Ye 'd ken the tinkle o' that, av ye heard it at the mass.”
“Oh, listen to the ould heretic! Oh, holy Joseph! there 's the way to talk of the blessed ould ancient religion! Give me the dish; I 'll bring it into the parlor this minit, I will. I 'll lave the place,—my time's up in March. I would n't live in the house wid you for a mine of goold!”
“Are ye no goin' to show the fish to the leddy?” growled out the cook, in her quiet barytone.
At this moment Miss Daly's bell announced that endurance had reached its limit, and Dan, without waiting to return the fire, hastened to the hall, muttering as he went, loud enough to be heard, “There, now, that's the mistress ringing, I 'm sure; but sorra bit one can hear wid your noise and ballyragging!”
“What is the meaning of this uproar?” said Miss Daly, as the little man entered, with a very different aspect from what he wore in the kitchen.
“'Tis Mrs. M'Kerrigan, my Lady; she was abusin' the ould families in the county Mayo, and I could n't bear it; and because I would n't hear the master trated that way, she gives me nothing but fish the day after a black fast, though she does be ating beef under my nose when I darn't touch meat, and it's what, she put an ould baste of a cod before me this evening for my supper, and here 's Lent will be on us in a few days more.”
“How often have I told you,” said Miss Daly, sternly, “that I 'll not suffer these petty, miserable squabbles to reach me? Go back to the kitchen; and, mark me, if I hear a whisper, or muttering ever so low in your voice, I 'll put you to spend the night upon the rocks.”
Dan skulked from the room like a culprit remanded to jail; but no sooner had he reached the kitchen than, assuming a martial air and bearing, he strutted up to the fire and turned his back to it.