“I’m not goin’ for to deny it to him, but me mother.”
“Your pretty young mother was, it is true, a peasant by birth, but she was well educated in a convent school, and, compared to you, was a lady. She did everything that her husband told her. I saw her once, Peggy; it was shortly before you were born, and I was touched with her sweetness and gentleness. She would not have dreamed of saying ‘your mightiness,’ or ‘your honour,’ or ‘bedad,’ or ‘wurra,’ or ‘begorra,’ or any of those words. Now, Peggy, I want to ask you if you will help me?”
“To be sure I will, Uncle Paul, if I may call ye that.”
“Yes, that will do splendidly. I should like you to call me Uncle Paul.”
“I’ll manage yer hins an’ milk yer cows. How will that do?” said Peggy.
“My dear little girl, that won’t do at all. I don’t want you to manage hens or to milk cows. It was quite right for you to do those things when you were living in the cabin with the O’Flynns; but now that you are here you must act differently; you must allow yourself to be trained, you must dress nicely and speak nicely, and obey those who know better than yourself. At present you are so shockingly ignorant that I am positively ashamed of you. Do you know that you might have been killed to-day when you got on that bull’s back?”
“Oh, wurra wisha, not at all, your mightiness, there wasn’t a sthroke o’ malice in the poor crayture.”
“Now, Peggy, there you are again! Your language is to be completely altered. How could I introduce a little girl like you to my friends? If you love your father I will give you his letter as a reward; but I will not give it to you until you have proved your love by learning how to speak nicely, how to eat properly—in short, how to be a worthy daughter of Peter Desmond. I don’t mean to punish you, I don’t wish to be unkind to you; and in order to help you I have asked a great friend of mine, Mary Welsh, to come here for the next fortnight.”
“I niver heard her name before. I’m moithered intirely wid the lot o’ fresh people ye’re bringin’ round me, Uncle Paul.”
“I think you will like Mary Welsh, and I will tell you why. She’s an Irishwoman.”