First and foremost, you're handsome--remarkably handsome." "Come, come, no nonsense, Donnel; get along, will you, ha! ha! ha!--handsome indeed! Never you mind what the world says--well!" "Why," replied the other, gravely, "there's no use in denyin' it, you know; it's a matther that tells for itself, an' that a poor girl with eyes in her head can judge of as a rich one--at any rate, if you're not handsome, you're greatly belied; an' every one knows that there's never smoke without fire." "Well, confound you!--since they'll have it so, I suppose I may as well admit it--I believe I am a handsome dog, and I have reason to know that, that----" here he shook his head and winked knowingly: "Oh, come Donnel, my boy, I can go no further on that subject--ha! ha! ha!" "There is no dispute about it," continued Donnel, gravely; "but still I think, that if it was not for the mention made of the dress, an' grandeur, and state that she was to come to, she'd hardly turn round as she did.

Dalton, you know, is the handsomest young fellow, barring yourself, in the parish; an' troth on your account an' hers, I wish he was out of it.

He'll be crossin' you--you may take my word for it--an' a dangerous enemy he'll prove--that I know." "Why?
what do you mean ?" Here the prophet, who was artfully trying to fill the heart of his companion with a spirit of jealousy against Dalton, paused for a moment, as if in deep reflection, after which he sighed heavily.

"Mane!" he at length replied; "I am unhappy in my mind, an' I know I ought to do it, an' yet I'm loth now after sich a length of time.

Mane, did you say, Masther Richard ?" "Yes, I said so, and I say so; what do you mean by telling me that young Dalton will be a dangerous enemy to me ?" "An' so he will; an' so he would to any one that he or his bore ill-will against.