"On me sowl, ye will kape yer own counsel on this matter?" mumbled Pat.
"Patrick, you insult me by your prevarication; speak straight out, ancl don't be silly," said the deacon.
"I will, yer honor; an' do ye tink it, Miss Armington bees in great dishtress becase ye do not axe her to marry ye?" said Pat.
"I am confounded with delight," meditated the deacon, and continued aloud:
"Pat, how do you know all this? Who told you?"
"Och, an' don't me darlin, Judy McCrea, tell me awl aboot it; yis, an' what's more, the ould gintleman wants his daughter to set her cap fur that Mr. Juno chap, what has saved me young lady whin me horses runned away wid me, an' almost killed us all. Now, yer honor, that young man bees a grate man in the eyes of the gineral," said Pat.
"Curse that Juno," meditated the deacon, and mildly asked Pat:
"Do you think Miss Armington loves Mr. Juno?"
"Well, yer honor, ye must know that she luv yer honor; but then she be a fathful daughter; an' should the gineral persist in the incouragment of Mr. Juno, she might turn her affectins from ye to him," said Pat. The deacon was'almost frantic with delight about Miss Armington loving him at last; but, again, he was in agony about the general being favorable to this infernal Victor Juno. In sooth, the Irishman's conjuring proved effectual, in creating in the deacon renewed ambition to gain the hand of Miss Armington, whilst his determination to destroy Victor Juno was becoming more desperate.
