Finigan, swollen with an indignation which he could no longer suppress, and stimulated by a glass or two of whiskey, took three or four of the neighbors over to a corner, where, whilst his eyes rested on Dennis with a most withering expression of scorn, he exclaimed--"Here, hand me that manual, and get out o' my way, you illiterate nonentity and most unsufferable appendage to religion." He then took the book, and going over to the coffin, read in a loud and sonorous voice the _De Profundis_ and other prayers for the dead, casting his eyes from time to time upon the unfortunate clerk with a contemptuous bitterness and scorn that, for force of expression, could not be surpassed.

When he had concluded, he looked around him with a sense of lofty triumph that was irresistible in its way.

"There," said he, "is something like accent and quantity for you--there is something that may, without derogation to religion, be called respectable perusal--an' yet to say that a man like me, wid classical accomplishments and propensities from my very cradle, should be set aside for that illiterate vulgarian, merely because, like every other janius, I sometimes indulge in the delectable enjoyment of a copious libation, is too bad." This in fact was the gist of his resentment against O'Grady.

He had been in the habit for some time of acting as clerk to the priest, who bore with his "copious libations," as he called them, until common decency rendered it impossible to allow him any longer the privilege of taking a part as clerk in the ceremonies of religion.
When this was over, a rustic choir, whom the parish clerk had organized, and in a great measure taught himself, approached the body and sang a hymn over it, after which the preparations for its removal began to be made.
Ever since the death of his wife, Thomas M'Mahon could not be prevailed upon to taste a morsel of food.

He went about from place to place, marked by such evidences of utter prostration and despair that it was painful to look upon him, especially when one considered the truth, purity, and fervor of the affection that had subsisted between him and the inestimable woman he had lost.