"Sure, your reverence, there's terrible work going on in the village, and I had to stop to listen to Mrs M'Shane. Kate Kavanagh, that was, has gone to America, and she shut her door on him last night, saying he was drunk."
"What's this you're telling me?"
"If your reverence will listen to me—"
"I'm always listening to you, Biddy M'Hale. Go on with your story."
It was a long time before he fully understood what had happened, but at last all the facts seemed clear, and he said:—
"I'm expecting Pat Connex."
Then his thoughts turned to the poor husband weeping in the backyard, and he said:—
"I made up this marriage so that she might not go away with Pat Connex."
"Well, we've been saved that," said Biddy.
"Ned Kavanagh's marriage was bad enough, but this is worse. It is no marriage at all."