"Am I, sir? Well, I don't want you to tell me what I am, and what I am not."
"Then you listen to me," said Malachi. "The Desmond is next door to a king, and he lives in his kingdom, and I'm his son, Malachi. Be the powers! I wonder if you're the father of that nasty little bit-thing that stuck pins in the saddle of Starlight. I wouldn't be a scrap surprised if you were, nor flustered neither. You've got the same malicious gleam of the eye. We have cats at Desmondstown and I'm one."
"You are a very big cat," said Joshua.
"Well, I'm one when I like. Do ye want to see The Desmond or do ye not?"
"There isn't such a name, it is silly," said the coal-merchant.
"Don't ye talk in that sort of way in old Ireland," said Malachi, "for at a wink from me, the cat, we'll have all the boys out with their shillelaghs. You'd best be careful what you say in our country. The Desmond is The Desmond, and he is royal king of Desmondstown. By the same token, here's our train. Are ye coming along with me or are ye not?"
"I'm coming along," said Joshua. "I'm a man of my word. It's a wild, bad country, but I'm coming along all the same. I want to knock 'The' out of a certain person and I'll do it my own way."
"We'll see about that," said Malachi. "Remember the big cat never sleeps."
"Oh, you are all mad in this dreadful place," said Joshua. "I can't make out what you are driving at, but I'll come with you, for I think I can take down your pride a bit."
"Oh, to be sure, that's a fine thing to do," said Malachi. "Here's an empty, third-class carriage we can have all to ourselves. You might begin pulling out my pride at once. It is stuck very deep, its roots go far and they twist and they turn; and by the powers; they twist and turn again. But if ye give a long pull and a strong pull maybe ye'll have some of them out before I begin to scratch."