"I'm able now."

"'Deed y're not, an' as for bein' beholdin', God knows we don't grudge it to you, an' you shouldn't grudge takin' it."

Whisht, now," said Mary. "Sure, Jim isn't as bad as ye make out. I tell ye what, I've been his wife this seventeen year, and his heart's as soft as butther.” "I've not found it so."

"That was bekase you wint provokin' him; but me b'leef is of both of ye, that yer bark's worse than yer bite, but I won't stay here argying anny longer. You ax the docther to-morrow, an' see what he thinks."

When Jim came in to supper his wife said to him,- That craythure upstairs is mad to get away. She thinks we begrudge her the bit she ates." Jim was silent.

"But ye've niver how she's going on.

Then he said,—“ Sure, annythin' that's bad she'll b'leeve ov uz.” been up to see her. Slip into the room now, an' ax her Let bygones be bygones in the name of God."

"I won't," said Jim.

"Oh yes, ye will. Sure afther all, though ye didn't mane it, ye're the cause ov it. Go to her now."

Half pushed by Mary, Jim made his way up the steep stair, and knocked at the door of Mrs. Macfarlane's attic.

"Come in," said a feeble voice, and he stumbled into the room.

When Mrs. Macfarlane saw who it was, a flame lit in her hollow eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, with grim politeness, "that ye find me here, Misther O'Kane; but it isn't my fault. I wanted to go a while ago, an' your wife wouldn't let me."

"An' very right she was; y're not fit for it. Sure, don't be talkin' ov goin' till y're better, ma'am," said Jim awkwardly. "Y're heartily welcome for me. I come up to say-to say, I hope y'll be in no hurry to move."

"Yu're very good, but it's not to be expected I'd find myself easy under this roof, where I can assure you I'd never have come of my own free will, an' I apologise to you, Misther O'Kane, for givin' so much trouble-not that I could help myself.”

'Sure, 'tis I that should apologise," blurted out Jim. "An' rale sorry I am— though maybe ye won't b'leeve me, that ever I dhruv the customers out."

For a long time Mrs. Macfarlane did not speak.

"I could forgive that easier than your rootin' up my lilies," she said, in a strained voice.

"But that I never did. God knows an' sees me this night, an' He knows that I never laid a finger on thim. I kem out, an' foun' the dog there scrattin' at thim, an' if this was me last dyin' worrd, 'tis thrue."

"An' 'twas really the dog?"

"It was, though I done wrong in laughin' at him, an' cheerin' him on; but sure ye wouldn't mind me whin I told ye he was at me roses, an' I thought it sarved ye right, an' that ye called him " King William' to spite me."

"So I did," said Mrs. Macfarlane, and she added more gently, "I'm sorry now.” "Are ye so?" said Jim brightening. "Faith, I'm glad to hear ye say it. We was both in the wrong, ye see, an' if you bear no malice, I don't."

"You have been very good to me, seein' how I misjudged you," said Mrs. Macfarlane.

"Not a bit ov it; an' 'twas the wife annyhow, for I was hardened against ye, so I was."

"An' you've spent yer money on me, an' I—”

"Sure don't say a worrd about id. I owed it to you, so I did, but ye won't have to complain ov wantin' custom wanst y're mended."

“I hadn't taken a shillin' for a fortnight," said Mrs. Macfarlane in a low voice. Jim got very hot, and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.

"Oh, sure I know why, and there's too much of it in the worrld, God help uz, espicially in this misfortunit counthry, but we'll live and let live. Sure people isn't half as bad as ye think whin ye don't know thim."

"I tell you what," said Mrs. Macfarlane, "I'll not call the dog 'King William' eny more."

"An' why not?" said Jim in his repentance.

"Sure I don't mind, as long as

'tisn't done to anger me. 'Tis as good a name as another."

:

a

"I had no right ever for to call him that, an' you objectin'." 'Begorra," said Jim, "I'll tell ye what I think mesel' King William was betther man anny day than King James-to his own side-but 'twas the feelin' ov the thing that vexed me. An' now I want to tell ye not to be down-sperrited. Y'll soon be about an' makin' heaps o' money."

Mrs. Macfarlane smiled wanly.

"No chance o' that, I'm afraid. What with my illness an' all that went before it, business is gone. Look at the place shut up this three weeks an' more."

"Not it," said Jim. "Sure sence y've been sick I put our wee Kitty in charge of the place, an' she's made a power o' money for ye, an' she o'ny risin' sixteen, an' havin' to help her mother an' all. She's a clever girl, so she is, though I sez it, an' she ruz the prices all round. She couldn't manage with the cakes, not

knowin' how to bake thim like yerself; but sure I bought her plenty ov biscuits at Connolly's, and her mother cut her sandwidges an' made tay, an' the dhrinks was all there as you left them, an' Kitty kep count ov all she sould."

Mrs. Macfarlane looked at him for a moment queerly; then she drew the sheet over her face, and began to sob.

Jim, feeling wretchedly uncomfortable, crept downstairs.

"Go to the poor thing, Mary," he said. "Sure she's cryin'. We've made it up,-an' see here, let her want for nothin'."

Mary ran upstairs, took grim Mrs. Macfarlane in her arms and actually kissed her; and Mrs. Macfarlane's grimness melted away, and the two women cried together for sympathy.

Now, as the trains come into Ballyrennan station, Jim goes from carriage to carriage making himself a perfect nuisance to passengers with well-filled luncheon baskets. "Won't ye have a cup o' tay, me sure we've the finest tay here that you'll get on this side o' Dublin. A glass o' whiskey, sir? Watt's if ye prefer that, and fine sherry wine. after this. Cakes, ma'am, for the little ladies? they'll be hungry, an' apples. Apples is mighty good for childher. She keeps fine apples, if ye like thim."

lady? There's plinty ov time, an the line. There's nothin' like it There's John Jamieson or Andy Ye'll get nothing till Portadown 'Tis a long journey, an' maybe

Mrs. Macfarlane has now grown quite fat, is at peace with all mankind, takes the deepest interest in the O'Kane family, and calls her dog "Billy."

HAL GODFREY.