Roberts: “Why, I didn’t know the cook by sight, you see. My wife had engaged her up-town, and appointed her to meet me here, without reflecting that I had never seen her, and wouldn’t know who she was, when I did see her; she partly expected to be here herself, and so I didn’t reflect, either.”
McIlheny, with signs of an amicable interest: “An’ she lift ye to mate a lady ye never had seen before, and expicted ye to know her by soight?”
Roberts: “Precisely.”
McIlheny, smiling: “Well, that’s loike a wooman, Mary; ye can’t say it ain’t.”
Mrs. McIlheny, grinning: “It’s loike a mahn, too, Mike, by the same token.”
McIlheny: “Sure it’s no bad joke on ye, sor.”
Campbell, interposing: “I was having my laugh at him when your good lady here noticed us. You see, I know his wife—she’s my sister—and I could understand just how she would do such a thing, and—ah, ha, ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! I don’t think I shall ever get over it.”
McIlheny: “Sure it is good! Hu, hu, hu, hu! Mary, it’s what ye’d call a bull, if it was Irish, I’m thinkun’; an’ it’s no bad bull as it is, my dear.”
Mrs. McIlheny, laughing: “Ye’re right there, Mike. It’s as fine a bull as ever there was.”
Campbell: “And my friend here insisted on going over and speaking to the lady, in hopes she could help him out of the difficulty. I suppose he bungled it; he only wanted to ask her if she’d seen a cook here, who had an appointment to go out of town with a gentleman. I’d been joking him about it, and he thought he must do something; and I fancy he made a mess of it. He was a good deal worked up. Ha, ha, ha! Ah, ha, ha, ha!” Mr. and Mrs. McIlheny join in his laugh, and finally Roberts himself.