238 Kate Oshorne. [May, 



as it was closed, the jury promptly returned a verdict for the defendant. 

 Then another shout went up, and the warmest friendly greetings of his 

 neighbors were showered on Farmer Osborne. He was now to^ highly 

 delighted to remain ; he wanted to get home to tell Kate — to tell Peter — 

 to tell ' Bose ' ! so, calling to Dick to ' come on,' they rode homeward 

 together. 



As they proceeded the Colonel was lavish of commendation, and urged 

 Dick to buy a farm and settle down in their neighborhood, offering to 

 loan him all the money he needed to buy with. After a silence of some 

 minutes, Quirk respectfully replied by informing Mr. Osborne, that a 

 mutual attachment had sprung up between himself and the Colonel's 

 daughter ; and begged to know whether, though poor himself, the father 

 would consent to their marriage. 



" The attachment's mutual, you say ? Well, then, by zangs, Dick, 

 she's yours ; and then, you see, Dick, you'll have a farm without buying 

 it — a noble one, too — that's all right! " Then, after riding on for a 

 minute in silence, the farmer resumed, " All the objection I have, is to 

 your name, Dick : how funny it will sound — * Mr. Dick Quirk — Mrs. 

 Kate Quirk ! ' That won't do — it sounds like a sick gobbler's soliloquy ; 

 but we can petition to have it changed, eh? Dick ? " Mr. Quirk smiled 

 and replied, that no doubt but that the difficulty could be remedied. 



On reaching home Dick went immediately about his evening chores ; 

 and as soon as he reached the house the Colonel began to shout for Kate ; 

 she was not far off, and soon answered the call. A single glance sufficed 

 to show her that, as her father expressed himself whenever intensely 

 satisfied, ' it's all right.' "VYhen Kate came, her father, seating himself, 

 took his daughter upon his knee, as though she were yet an infant, and 

 caressingly told her of all the marvels of the day, in a manner so pictu- 

 resque and grotesque, as to bring tears of laughter and joy to Kate's 

 eyes. At length, as the topic of the homeward ride occurred to him, he 

 lowered his voice almost to a whisper, and made known to his daughter 

 Mr. Quirk's request for his consent to their marriage : " He has it, Kate, 

 always provided that such is your choice, my dear girl — is it so, my 

 daughter?" Kate warmly kissed her father's cheek, and hid her 

 blushing face on his shoulder. " Yes — well, that's all right. He is a 

 splendid fellow, Kate, and will make a splendid farmer, and here's a 

 splendid farm for you and him. I'm glad, Kate, it turns out so; 

 because now you are clear from the clutches of that lazy yankee petti- 

 fogger, that your aunt Katy wrote about. But now it's all right, Kate ; 

 it's all right." Then Kate learned how her father knew Mr. Clinton's 

 name and profession. 



