“The sorra one o' me seen him,” replied Paddy: “I was lookin' at his Reverence, sthrivin' to know what he was sayin'.”
“Pether, did you?” another inquired. “Me! I never seen a stim of him till he was standin' alone on the flure! Sure, when he didn't see or find himself goin', how could another see him?”
“Glory be to God!” exclaimed Mave; “one ought to think well what they say, when they spake of the clargy, for they don't know what it may bring down upon them, sooner or later!”
“Our Denis will be able to do that yet,” said Susan to her elder sister.
“To be sure he will, girsha, as soon as he's ordained—every bit as well as Father Finnerty,” replied Mary.
The young enthusiast's countenance brightened as her sister spoke: her dark eye became for a minute or two fixed upon vacancy, during which it flashed several times; until, as the images of her brother's future glory passed before her imagination; she became wrapt—her lip quivered—her cheek flushed into a deeper color, and the tears burst in gushes from her eyes.
The mother, who was now engaged in welcoming Father Finnerty—a duty which the priest's comic miracle prevented her from performing sooner—did not perceive her daughter's agitation, nor, in fact, did any one present understand its cause. Whilst the priest was taking Brian Buie's seat, she went once more to watch the return of Denis; and while she stood upon the stile, her father, after having put up the horse, entered the house, “to keep his Reverence company.”
“An' pray, Docthor,” he inquired, “where is Father Molony, that he's not wid you? I hope he won't disappoint us; he's a mighty pleasant gintleman of an evenin', an', barrin' your Reverence, I don't know a man tells a better story.”
“He entreated permission from me this morning,” replied Father Finnerty, “and that was leave to pay a visit to the Bishop, for what purpose I know not, unless to put in a word in season for the first parish that becomes vacant.”
“Throth, an' he well desarves a parish,” replied Denis; “an' although we'd be loath to part wid him, still we'd be proud to hear of his promotion.”