“Good-by, Jemmy Murray, I hope you’ll change your mind still; your daughter never could got any one that loves her as I do, or that could treat her with more tendherness and affection.”

“Be off, you darlin’ vagabone,” said Mrs. Murray, “the heavens be your bed, you villain, why don’t you stay where you is, an’ not be malivogin an undacent family this way.”

“Art Maguire,” replied Murray, “you heard my intention, and I’ll never change it.”  Art then withdrew.

Our readers may now anticipate the consequences of the preceding conversation.  Murray and his wife having persisted in their refusal to sanction Margaret’s marriage with Maguire, every argument and influence having been resorted to in vain, Margaret and he made what is termed a runaway match of it, that is, a rustic elopement, in which the young couple go usually to the house of some friend, under the protection of whose wife the female remains until her marriage, when the husband brings her home.

And now they commence life.  No sooner were they united, than Art, feeling what was due to her who had made such and so many sacrifices for him, put his shoulder to the wheel with energy and vigor.  Such aid as his father could give him, he did give; that which stood him most in stead, however, was the high character and unsullied reputation of his own family.  Margaret’s conduct, which was looked upon as a proof of great spirit and independence, rendered her, if possible, still better loved by the people than before.  But, as we said, there was every confidence placed in Art, and the strongest hopes of his future success and prosperity in life expressed by all who knew him; and this was reasonable.  Here was a young man of excellent conduct, a first-rate workman, steady, industrious, quiet, and, above all things, sober; for the three or four infractions of sobriety that took place during his apprenticeship, had they even been generally known, would have been reputed as nothing; the truth is, that both he and Margaret commenced life, if not with a heavy purse, at least with each a light heart.  He immediately took a house in Ballykeerin, and, as it happened that a man of his own trade, named Davis, died about the same time of lockjaw, occasioned by a chisel wound in the ball of the thumb, as a natural consequence, Art came in for a considerable portion of his business; so true is it, that one man’s misfortune is another man’s making.  His father did all he could for him, and Margaret’s sisters also gave them some assistance, so that, ere the expiration of a year, they found themselves better off than they had reason to expect, and, what crowned their happiness—­for they were happy—­was the appearance of a lovely boy, whom, after his father, they called.  Arthur.  Their hearts had not much now to crave after—­happiness was theirs, and health; and, to make the picture still more complete, prosperity, as the legitimate reward of Art’s industry and close attention to business, was beginning to dawn upon them.