“‘Go ‘long wid the house, Dr. Dudeen, dear,’ interrupted the lieutenant; ‘sure can’t you see we’re all dying to know what happened to sweet Miss Fionguala, God be good to her, when I was after getting her safe up-stairs—’
“‘Faith, then, I can tell ye that myself, Mr. O’Connor,’ exclaimed the major, imparting a rotary motion to the remnants of whisky in his tumbler. “Tis a question to be solved on general principles, as Colonel O’Halloran said that time he was asked what he’d do if he’d been the Book o’ Wellington, and the Prussians hadn’t come up in the nick o’ time at Waterloo. ‘Faith,’ says the colonel, ‘I’ll tell ye—’
“‘Arrah, then, major, why would ye be interruptin’ the doctor, and Mr. Keningale there lettin’ his glass stay empty till he hears—The Lord save us! the bottle’s empty!’
