128
TOMLINSON
‘We have handled him, we have dandled him, we have seared him to the bone,
‘And sure if tooth and nail show truth he has no soul of his own.’
The Devil he bowed his head on his breast and rumbled deep and low:—
‘I’m all o’er-sib to Adam’s breed that I should bid him go.
‘Yet close we lie, and deep we lie, and if I gave him place,
‘My gentlemen that are so proud would flout me to my face;
‘They’d call my house a common stews and me a careless host,
‘And—I would not anger my gentlemen for the sake of a shiftless ghost.’
The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that prayed to feel the flame,
And he thought of Holy Charity, but he thought of his own good name:
‘Now ye could haste my coal to waste, and sit ye down to fry:
‘Did ye think of that theft for yourself?’ said he; and Tomlinson said ‘Ay!’
‘And sure if tooth and nail show truth he has no soul of his own.’
The Devil he bowed his head on his breast and rumbled deep and low:—
‘I’m all o’er-sib to Adam’s breed that I should bid him go.
‘Yet close we lie, and deep we lie, and if I gave him place,
‘My gentlemen that are so proud would flout me to my face;
‘They’d call my house a common stews and me a careless host,
‘And—I would not anger my gentlemen for the sake of a shiftless ghost.’
The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that prayed to feel the flame,
And he thought of Holy Charity, but he thought of his own good name:
‘Now ye could haste my coal to waste, and sit ye down to fry:
‘Did ye think of that theft for yourself?’ said he; and Tomlinson said ‘Ay!’
