The priest here caught the Counsellor's eye, and gave him a dry wink, not unperceived, however, by the Bishop, who could scarcely repress a smile.
“You should have known me better, Mr. Finnerty, than to suppose that any motive could influence me in deciding upon the claims of candidates for Maynooth, besides their own moral character and literary acquirements. So long as I live, this, and this alone, shall be the rule of my conduct, touching persons in the circumstances of young O'Shaughnessy.”
“My gracious lord,” said Denis, “don't be angry wid Mr. Finnerty. I'll bear it all, for it was my fau't. The horse is mine, and say what you will, out of your stable I'll never bring him. I think, wid great sibmission a man may do what he pleases wid his own.”
“Certainly,” said the Bishop; “my consent to permit your son to goto Maynooth is my own. Now this consent I will not give if you press that mode of argument upon me.”
“My Reverend Lord, as heaven's above me, I'd give all I'm worth to see the boy in Maynooth. If he doesn't go afther all our hopes, I'd break my heart.” He was so deeply affected that the large tears rolled down his cheeks as he spoke.
“Will your Lordship buy the horse?” he added; “I don't want him, and you, maybe, do?”
“I do not want him,” said the Bishop, “and if I did, I would not, under the present circumstances, purchase him from you.”
“Then my boy won't get in, your lordship. And you'll neither buy the horse, nor take him as a present. My curse upon him for a horse! The first thing I'll do when I get home will be to put a bullet through him, for he has been an unlucky thief to us. Is my son aquil to the others, that came to pass your lordship?” asked Denis.
“There is none of them properly qualified,” said the Bishop. “If there be any superiority among them your son has it. He is not without natural talent, Mr. Finnerty; his translations are strong and fluent, but ridiculously pedantic. That, however, is perhaps less his fault than the fault of those who instructed him.”
“Are you anxious to dispose of the horse?” said the Counsellor.