“Yes, I know the seven languages; but what is all that compared to the cardinal virtues. This world is a mere bird of passage, Miss Norali; and it behooves us to be ever on the wing for futurity and premeditation. Now, will you remember the excellent moral advice I have given you?”
“Indeed I will, sir,” replied the roguish minx, tripping away; “particularly that you promised to marry me for nothin' if I'd give you a kiss!”
“Give up everything like levity, Miss Norah. Attend your du—”
“You're a fool, Misther O'Shaughnessy! Why didn't you take the kiss, an' spare the king's English?”
On making this observation she redoubled her pace, and left Denis now perfectly sensible that he was a proper subject for her mirth. He turned about, and called after her—
“Had I known that you were only in jocosity, Miss Nora, upon my classicality, I'd have given you the k——.”
He now perceived that she was beyond hearing, and that it was unnecessary to finish the sentence.
These accidental meetings between Denis and the pretty daughters of the neighboring farmers were, somehow, very frequent. Our hero, however, was always extremely judicious in tempering his gallantry and moral advice to his young female acquaintances. In the beginning of the conversation he was sly and complimentary, afterwards he became more insinuating, then more direct in his praises of their beauty; but as his timidity on the point of character was known, the mischief-loving girls uniformly ended with a threat of exposing him to the priest, to his friends, or to the neighbors, as the whim directed them. This brought him back to his morality again; he immediately commenced an exhortation touching their religious duties, thus hoping to cover, by a trait more becoming his future destination, the little harmless badinage in which he had indulged.