“Why,” said the father, “if I thought he would get you into”—­

“Correct, quite correct:  the cardinal point there is the if.  If he does, give him the horse; but if not, reclaim the quadruped without hesitation.  I am not to be kept back, if profundity and erudition can substantiate a prospect.  Still, father, the easiest way is the safest, and the shortest the most expeditious.”

The embarrassing situation in which the other members of the family were placed, imposed upon them a profound silence, in reference to the subject of conversation.  Yet, while Denny delivered the aforesaid harangue from the chimney-corner, every eye was fixed upon him with an expression of pride and admiration which escaped not his own notice.  Their deportment towards him was affectionate and respectful; but none of them could so far or so easily violate old habits as to address him according to his own wishes; they therefore avoided addressing him at all.

The next morning Father Finnerty paid them his purposed visit, and, as he had promised, arrived in time for breakfast.  A few of Denis’s relations were assembled, and in their presence the arrangements respecting the colt and Denny’s clerical prospects were privately concluded.  So far everything was tight; the time of Denny’s departure for Maynooth was to be determined by the answer which Father Finnerty should receive from the bishop; for an examination must, of course, take place, which was to be conducted by the prelate, or by some other clergyman appointed for that purpose.  This and the necessary preparation usual on such occasions, were the only impediments in the way of his departure for Maynooth, a place associated with so many dreams of that lowly ambition which the humble circumstances of the peasantry permit them to entertain.

The Irish people, I need scarcely observe, are a poor people; they are, also, very probably, for the same reason, an imaginative people; at all events, they are excited by occurrences which would not produce the same vivacity of emotion which they experience upon any other people in the world.  This, after all, is but natural; a long endurance of hunger will render the coarsest food delicious; and, on the contrary, when the appetite is glutted with the richest viands, it requires a dish whose flavor is proportionably high and spicy to touch the jaded palate.  It is so with our moral enjoyments.  In Ireland, a very simple accession to their hopes or comforts produces an extraordinary elevation of mind, and so completely unlocks the sluices of their feelings, that every consideration is lost in the elation of the moment.  At least it was so in Denis O’Shaughnessy’s family upon this occasion.