"O Bruin, Bruin; oh, you darling!" exclaimed Bridget. "I can tell you how sorry I am! I can tell you how mean and horrid and contemptible I feel! Kiss me, Bruin; let me love you, you darling! you darling! You'll never tell that you found me like this, will you, Bruin?"
"Never!" said Bruin's eyes. "Of course not; what can you be thinking about? And now cheer up, won't you?
"Yes, I will," said Bridget, answering their language. "Oh, what a great comfort you are to me, Bruin, my dog!"
CHAPTER XX. THE SQUIRE AND HIS GUESTS.
The great bell clanged out its hospitable boom for supper. Supper was a great institution at the Castle. It was the meal of the day. A heterogeneous sort of repast, at which every conceivable eatable, every available luxury, graced the board. From tea, coffee, and bread and butter to all sorts of rich and spiced dishes, nothing that the good-humored Irish cook could produce was absent from the squire's supper table.
It was the one meal in the day at which he himself ate heartily. The squire ate enough then to satisfy himself for the greater part of the twenty-four hours; for, with the exception of a frugal breakfast at eight in the morning, which consisted of tea, bread and butter, and two new-laid eggs, he never touched food again until the great evening meal, which was tea, supper, and dinner in one.
People had easy times at Castle Mahun. There was no stiffness anywhere. The rule of the house was to go where you pleased, and do what you liked. Once a visitor there, you might, as far as Squire O'Hara was concerned, be a visitor for all the rest of your natural life. Certainly no one would think of hinting at the possibility of your going. When you did take it into your head to depart, you would be warmly invited to renew your visit at the first available opportunity, and the extreme shortness of your stay, even though that stay had extended to months, would be openly commented upon and loudly regretted. But, as in each fortress there is one weak spot, and as in every rule there is the invariable exception, the Squire did demand one thing from his own family and his visitors alike, and that was a punctual attendance in the lofty dining hall of the Castle at suppertime.