‘And I’ll tell you what, Mr. B.,’ cried Quin, bristling up:  ’I’ve been insulted grossly in this ’ouse.  I ain’t at all satisfied with these here ways of going on.  I’m an Englishman I am, and a man of property; and I—­I’—­’If you’re insulted, and not satisfied, remember there’s two of us, Quin,’ said Ulick gruffly.  On which the Captain fell to washing his nose in water, and answered never a word.

‘Mr. Quin,’ said I, in the most dignified tone I could assume, ’may also have satisfaction any time he pleases, by calling on Redmond Barry, Esquire, of Barryville.’  At which speech my uncle burst out a-laughing (as he did at everything); and in this laugh, Captain Fagan, much to my mortification, joined.  I turned rather smartly upon him, however, and bade him to understand that as for my cousin Ulick, who had been my best friend through life, I could put up with rough treatment from him; yet, though I was a boy, even that sort of treatment I would bear from him no longer; and any other person who ventured on the like would find me a man, to their cost.  ‘Mr. Quin,’ I added, ’knows that fact very well; and if he’s a man, he’ll know where to find me.’

My uncle now observed that it was getting late, and that my mother would be anxious about me.  ‘One of you had better go home with him,’ said he, turning to his sons, ’or the lad may be playing more pranks.’  But Ulick said, with a nod to his brother, ’Both of us ride home with Quin here.’

‘I’m not afraid of Freny’s people,’ said the Captain, with a faint attempt at a laugh; ‘my man is armed, and so am I.’

‘You know the use of arms very well, Quin,’ said Ulick; ’and no one can doubt your courage; but Mick and I will see you home for all that.’

’Why, you’ll not be home till morning, boys.  Kilwangan’s a good ten mile from here.’

‘We’ll sleep at Quin’s quarters,’ replied Ulick:  ’We’re going to stop A week there.’

‘Thank you,’ says Quin, very faint; ‘it’s very kind of you.’

‘You’ll be lonely, you know, without us.’

‘Oh yes, very lonely!’ says Quin.

‘And in another week, my boy,’ says Ulick (and here he whispered something in the Captain’s ear, in which I thought I caught the words ‘marriage,’ ‘parson,’ and felt all my fury returning again).

‘As you please,’ whined out the Captain; and the horses were quickly brought round, and the three gentlemen rode away.

Fagan stopped, and, at my uncle’s injunction, walked across the old treeless park with me.  He said that after the quarrel at dinner, he thought I would scarcely want to see the ladies that night, in which opinion I concurred entirely; and so we went off without an adieu.