236 The Real Charlotte. 



" Is it he lonesome afther her ? No, nor if he berrid ten 

 Hke her." 



" She was a spent little woman always, and 'tis she that 

 doted down on him." 



" And ne'er a child left afther her ! Well, she must be 

 exshcused." 



" Musha, I'd love her bones ! " shouted Nance the Fool, 

 well aware of the auditor in the dog-cart, " there wasn't one 

 like her in the nation, nor in the world, no, nor in the town 

 o' Galway ! " 



Towards the end of the street, at the corner of a lane 

 leading to the quay, something like a fight was going on, 

 and, as he approached, Christopher saw, over the heads of 

 an admiring audience, the infuriated countenance of a 

 Lismoyle beggar-woman, one of the many who occasionally 

 legalised their existence by selling fish, between long bouts 

 of mendicancy and drunkenness. Mary Norris was ap- 

 parently giving what she would call the length and breadth 

 of her tongue to some customer who had cast doubts upon 

 the character of her fish, a customer who was for the 

 moment quiescent, and hidden behind the tall figure of her 

 adversary. 



" Whoever says thim throuts isn't leppin' fresh out o' the 

 lake he's a dom liar, and it's little I think of teUin' it t'ye 

 up to yer nose ! There's not one in the counthry but knows 

 yer thricks and yer chat, and ye may go home out o' that, with 

 yer bag sthrapped round ye, and ye can take the tay-leaves 

 and the dhrippin' from the servants, and huxther thim to feed 

 yer cats, but thanks be to God ye'll take nothing out o' my 

 basket this day ! " 



There was a titter of horrified delight from the crowd. 



" Ye never spoke a truer word than that, Mary Norris," 

 replied a voice that sent a chill down Christopher's back ; 

 *' when I come into Lismoyle, it's not to buy rotten fish from 

 a drunken fish-fag, that'll be begging for crusts at my hall- 

 door to-morrow. If I hear another word out of yer mouth 

 I'll give you and your fish to the police, and the streets'll be 

 rid of you and yer infernal tongue for a week, at all events, 

 and the prison'U have a treat that it's pretty well used to ! " 



Another titter rewarded this sally, and Charlotte, well 

 pleased, turned to walk away. As she did so, she caught 



