CHAPTER II. — “SOME MORE OF THE LAND MUST GO.”
Squire O'Shanaghgan was a tall, powerfully built man, with deep-set eyes and rugged, overhanging brows; his hair was of a grizzled gray, very thick and abundant; he had a shaggy beard, too, and a long overhanging mustache. He entered the north parlor still more noisily than Nora had done. The dogs yelped with delight, and flung themselves upon him.
“Down, Creena! down, Cushla!” he said. “Ah, then, Nora, they are as bewitching as yourself, little woman. What beauties they are growing, to be sure!”
“I reared them,” said Nora. “I am proud of them both. At one time I thought Creena could not live; but look at her now—her coat as black as jet, and so silky.”
“Shut the door, won't you, Patrick?” said his wife.
“Bless me! I forgot,” said the Squire. He crossed the room, and, with an effort after quietness, closed the door with one foot; then he seated himself by his wife's side.
“Better, Eileen?” he said, looking at her anxiously.
“I wish you would not call me Eileen,” she said. “I hate to have my name Irishized.”
The Squire's eyes filled with suppressed fun.
“Ah, but you are half-Irish, whether you like it or not,” he said. “Is not she, colleen? Bless me, what a day it has turned out! We are getting summer weather at last. What do you say to going for a drive, Eileen—Ellen, I mean? Black Bess is eating her head off in the stables. I want to go as far as Murphy's place, and you might as well come with me.”