Part 45 (1/2)

It's lucky, girls, that you have the telegram there to tell you what's coming.'

'It would have been more piquant, papa, if he had made his message say, ”I propose for Nina. Reply by wire.”'

'Or, ”May I marry your daughter?” chimed in Nina quickly.

'There it is, now,' broke in Kearney, laughing, 'you're fighting for him already! Take my word for it, Mr. Daniel, there's no so sure way to get a girl for a wife, as to make her believe there's another only waiting to be asked. It's the threat of the opposition coach on the road keeps down the fares.'

'Papa is all wrong,' said Kate. 'There is no such conceivable pleasure as saying No to a man that another woman is ready to accept. It is about the most refined sort of self-flattery imaginable.'

'Not to say that men are utterly ignorant of that freemasonry among women which gives us all an interest in the man who marries one of us,' said Nina. 'It is only your confirmed old bachelor that we all agree in detesting.'

''Faith, I give you up altogether. You're a puzzle clean beyond me,' said Kearney, with a sigh.

'I think it is Balzac tells us,' said Donogan, 'that women and politics are the only two exciting pursuits in life, for you never can tell where either of them will lead you.'

'And who is Balzac?' asked Kearney.

'Oh, uncle, don't let me hear you ask who is the greatest novelist that ever lived.'

''Faith, my dear, except _Tristram Shandy_ and _Tom Jones_, and maybe _Robinson Crusoe_--if that be a novel--my experience goes a short way. When I am not reading what's useful--as in the _Farmer's Chronicle_ or Purcell's ”Rotation of Crops”--I like the ”Accidents” in the newspapers, where they give you the name of the gentleman that was smashed in the train, and tell you how his wife was within ten days of her third confinement; how it was only last week he got a step as a clerk in Somerset House. Haven't you more materials for a sensation novel there than any of your three-volume fellows will give you?'

'The times we are living in give most of us excitement enough,' said Donogan. 'The man who wants to gamble for life itself need not be balked now.'

'You mean that a man can take a shot at an emperor?' said Kearney inquiringly.

'No, not that exactly; though there are stakes of that kind some men would not shrink from. What are called ”arms of precision” have had a great influence on modern politics. When there's no time for a plebiscite, there's always time for a pistol.'

'Bad morality, Mr. Daniel,' said Kearney gravely.

'I suspect we do not fairly measure what Mr. Daniel says,' broke in Kate.

'He may mean to indicate a revolution, and not justify it.'

'I mean both!' said Donogan. 'I mean that the mere permission to live under a bad government is too high a price to pay for life at all. I'd rather go ”down into the streets,” as they call it, and have it out, than I'd drudge on, dogged by policemen, and sent to gaol on suspicion.'

'He is right,' cried Nina. 'If I were a man, I'd think as he does.'

'Then I'm very glad you're not,' said Kearney; 'though, for the matter of rebellion, I believe you would be a more dangerous Fenian as you are. Am I right, Mr. Daniel?'

'I am disposed to say you are, sir,' was his mild reply.

'Ain't we important people this evening!' cried Kearney, as the servant entered with another telegram. 'This is for you, Mr. Daniel. I hope we're to hear that the Cabinet wants you in Downing Street.'

'I'd rather it did not,' said he, with a very peculiar smile, which did not escape Kate's keen glance across the table, as he said, 'May I read my despatch?'

'By all means,' said Kearney; while, to leave him more undisturbed, he turned to Nina, with some quizzical remark about her turn for the telegraph coming next. 'What news would you wish it should bring you, Nina?' asked he.

'I scarcely know. I have so many things to wish for, I should be puzzled which to place first.'