‘My dear Maggie,’ returned the young man, laughing outright, ‘why, of course you may. Even if you detected the immortal bard in an error it would be no business of mine to defend him.’
‘I should think not, indeed,’ muttered Mr. Erin.
‘What I was thinking,’ said Margaret, ‘was that if you, Willie, or Mr. Talbot (who informed us the other night, you know, that he was a poet) had written those lines about spreading her wings over her little brood, it would have been considered plagiarism.’
‘What then?’ inquired Mr. Erin contemptuously. ‘It is the peculiar province of a genius such as Shakespeare’s to make everything his own. He improves it by addition.’
‘The idea in question, however, is taken from the New Testament,’ observed Maggie.
To most people, this remark, which was delivered with a demureness that did the young lady infinite credit, would under the circumstances have been rather embarrassing. It did not embarrass Mr. Samuel Erin in the least.
‘What piety it shows! What knowledge of the Holy Scriptures!’ he ejaculated admiringly. ‘How appropriate, too, when we take the subject into consideration—a confession of faith!’
‘True. I am not quite sure, however, whether the substitution of a chicken for a hen is an improvement.’
‘Now, there I entirely differ from you,’ exclaimed Mr. Erin; ‘just mark the words “O cheryshe usse like the sweete chickenne thatte under the coverte offe herre spreadynge wings receyves herre lyttle Broode and hoverynge over themme keepes themme harmlesse and in safetye.” What tenderness there is in that “sweete chickenne.” Whereas a hen—a hen is tough. We must understand the expression of course as a general term for the female species of the fowl. None, to my mind, but the most determined and incorrigible caviller can have one word to say against it. I have settled that matter, I think, my dear, to your satisfaction; and do not suppose that what you say has annoyed me. If anything else strikes you, pray mention it. Objections from any source—provided only that they are reasonable’—a word he uttered very significantly—‘will always have my best attention; I welcome them.’