The feeling of townsmanship had triumphed over religious difference; the two trains had joined; and the two processions had come forth mingled in one. To harm the Protestants now it would be necessary to attack the Catholics; and the two together made a formidable mouthful.
Still in dead silence down the centre of the avenue they went. And the mood of the crowd wavered to this side and to that. But when the banners had nearly reached the head of the cut, that sense of humor which is never far distant from an Irish mob rose to the surface, and a great wave of laughter broke and surged down the banks of men.
High above the tumult rose the roar of Dan's great bass,—
'Troth, they have the laugh ov us this time anyway. Three cheers for the Belrush boys.'
The crowd yelled, then broke and rushed in upon the procession, and smote the band upon the back until it had no breath left in it, and carried it away to have a drink. And they all trooped off to the shebeens and public-houses, orange and green together, and got royally drunk after their kind.
But now that the crisis was safely past, Kitty sat in her phaeton and wept as though her heart would break.
ANDY KERRIGAN'S HONEYMOON
'There's Andy Kerrigan, the crathur, in the yard,' said Anne the cook. 'He lukes just starved wid the could, an' it an Aist wind that ud cut ye in two, an' him just afther buryin' his wife the day.'
'Well, take him into the kitchen and give him some dinner,' said I, seeing what was expected of me.