The old couple were once more disposed to be mirthful; but Phelim confirmed his assertion with such a multiplicity of oaths, that they believed him.  Nothing, however, could wring the secret of her name out of him.  He had reasons for concealing it which he did not wish to divulge.  In fact, he could never endure ridicule, and the name of Sally Flattery, as the person whom he had “deluded,” would constitute, on his part, a triumph quite as sorry as that which he had achieved in Father O’Hara’s.  In Ireland no man ever thinks of marrying a female thief—­which Sally was strongly suspected to be—­except some worthy fellow, who happens to be gifted with the same propensity.

When the proper hour arrived, honest Phelim, after having already made arrangements to be called on the following Sunday, as the intended husband of two females, now proceeded with great coolness to make, if possible, a similar engagement with a third.  There is something, however, to be said for Phelim.  His conquest over the housekeeper was considerably out of the common course of love affairs.  He had drawn upon his invention, only to bring himself and the old woman out of the ridiculous predicament in which the priest found them.  He had, moreover, intended to prevail on her to lend him the hat, in case the priest himself had refused him.  He was consequently not prepared for the vigorous manner in which Mrs. Doran fastened upon the subject of matrimony.  On suspecting that she was inclined to be serious, he pleaded his want of proper apparel; but here again the liberality of the housekeeper silenced him, whilst, at the same time, it opened an excellent prospect of procuring that which he most required—­a decent suit of clothes.  This induced him to act a part that he did not feel.  He saw the old woman was resolved to outwit him, and he resolved to overreach the old woman.

His marriage with Sally Flattery was to be merely a matter of chance.  If he married her at all, he knew it must be in self-defence.  He felt that her father had him in his power, and that he was anything but a man to be depended on.  He also thought that his being called with her, on the Sunday following, would neutralize his call with the housekeeper; just as positive and negative quantities in algebra cancel each other.  But he was quite ignorant that the story of Flattery’s imprisonment was merely a plan of the daughter’s to induce him to marry her.

With respect to Peggy Donovan, he intended, should he succeed in extricating himself from the meshes which the other two had thrown around him, that she should be the elected one to whom he was anxious to unite himself.  As to the confusion produced by being called to three at once, he knew that, however laughable in itself, it would be precisely something like what the parish would expect from him.  Bouncing Phelim was no common man, and to be called to three on the same Sunday, would be a corroboration of his influence with the sex.  It certainly chagrined