40 The Real Charlotte. 



Just beyond the bridge, a repulsive-looking old man was 

 sitting on a heap of stones, turning over the contents of a 

 dirty linen pouch. Beside him were an empty milk-can, 

 and a black-and-white dog which had begun by trying to be 

 a collie, and had relapsed into an indifferent attempt at a 

 grey-hound. It greeted the riders with the usual volley of 

 barking, and its owner let fall some of the coppers that he 

 was counting over, in his haste to strike at it with the long 

 stick that was lying beside him. 



" Have done ! Sailor ! Blasht yer sowl ! Have done ! " 

 then, with honeyed obsequiousness, '^yer honour's welcome, 

 Mr. Lambert." 



'^ Is Miss Duffy in the house? " asked Lambert. 



'* She is, she is, yer honour," he answered, in the nasal 

 mumble peculiar to his class, getting up and beginning to 

 shuffle after the horses; " but what young lady is this at all ? 

 Isn't she very grand, God bless her ! " 



"She's Miss Fitzpatrick, Miss Mullen's cousin, Billy," 

 answered Lambert graciously ; approbation could not come 

 from a source too low for him to be susceptible to it. 



The old man came up beside Francie, and, clutching 

 the skirt of her habit, blinked at her with sly and swimming 

 eyes. 



"Fitzpatrick is it? Begob I knew her grannema well ; 

 she was a fine hearty woman, the Lord have mercy on her ! 

 And she never seen me without she'd give me a shixpence 

 or maybe a shillin'." 



Francie was skilled in the repulse of the Dublin beggar, 

 but this ancestral precedent was something for which she 

 was not prepared. The clutch tightened on her habit and 

 the disgusting old face almost touched it, as Billy pressed 

 close to her, mouthing out incomprehensible blessings and 

 entreaties. She felt afraid of his red eyes and clawing 

 fingers, and she turned helplessly to Lambert. 



" Here, be off now, Billy, you old fool ! " he said ; 

 " we've had enough of you. Run and open the gate." 



The farm-house, with its clump of trees, was close to 

 them, and its drooping iron entrance-gate shrieked resent- 

 fully as the old man dragged it open. 



