222 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



appertained would be added to Miss Currigan's, if 

 she, Biddy, swore falsely ; and Mrs. Donahoo jingled 

 the old iron, and showed that she was '* awake to time," 

 and had left nothing on her part undone that could 

 give effect to the ceremonial. Miss Currigan, with 

 a step and bearing that might silence slander, advanced 

 under the direction of the otter-killer : — like a maid " in 

 the pride of her purity," she devoutly placed her hand 

 upon the skull — and Andy Bawn was made a happy man 

 for ever ! 



That the saints are often and scandalously overreached 

 by sinners, is a fact which must be admitted, and 

 lamented. One case of base dishonesty has but recently 

 occurred in the establishment of my cousin. A cook, 

 whom he had procured through the agency of a friend, 

 has proved a heavy defaulter, and, as Antony says, 

 *' scandalized the family." For a considerable time 

 her conduct was unquestionable : she went regularly 

 to Mass, gave half-a-crown at Easter, never missed Con- 

 fessions, and, better still, conducted the culinary 

 department with excellent propriety, — so much so, that 

 Father Andrew declared from the altar that she was 

 an exemplary artiste and a capital Christian. " Frailty, 

 thy name is woman ! " This paragon of cooks levanted 

 one frosty night with a travelling pedler. Then, and 

 not till then, was the dark side of her character exhibited. 

 ** She did not value Lent a traneein — had shared a rasher 

 with Sir Charles's man upon a blessed Friday — and, 

 if a skillet went astray, she would promise a pilgrimage 

 to the Reek for its recovery, without the least intention 

 of ever laying a leg upon that blessed hill." 



The morning after her disappearance, her sins were 

 freely canvassed in the kitchen. '* The Lord forgive 



