"Is?" he would say.
"Is what, Dick?"
"Is the darling starling a pretty pet?"
"No doubt about that."
He had the habit of combining his words in various ways, and one day asked:
"Is the darling doctor a rascal?"
"Just as you think," was the reply.
"Tse! tse! tse! Whew! whew! whew!" sang Dick, finishing with Duncan Grey and part of The Sprig of Shillelah.
He had been taught to say, "Love is the soul of a nate Irishman," but was often heard to vary it in such ways as "Love is the soul of a nate Irish starling," or "Is love the soul of a darling pretty Dick," and so on.