"Kill me?"
"We would, your reverence."
"You would really put me to death?"
"We would not, your reverence."
"And what's the difference between killing and putting to death?"
"Och, sure there's all the difference in the world. Killing manes
only a good big bating, such as every Irishman is used to, and
which your reverence would get over long before matins, whereas
putting your reverence to death would prevent your reverence from
saying mass for ever and a day."
"And you are determined on having a blessing?"
"We are, your reverence."
"By hook or by crook?"
"By crook or by hook, your reverence."
"Before I bless you, will you answer me a question or two?"
"I will, your reverence."
"Are you not a set of great big blackguards?"
"We are, your reverence."
"Without one good quality?"
"We are, your reverence."
"Would it not be quite right to saddle and bridle you all, and ride
you violently down Holyhead or the Giant's Causeway into the
waters, causing you to perish there, like the herd of swine of
old?"
"It would, your reverence."
"And knowing and confessing all this, you have the cheek to come
and ask me for a blessing?"
"We have, your reverence."
"Well, how shall I give the blessing?"
"Och, sure your reverence knows very well how to give it."
"Shall I give it in Irish?"
"Och, no, your reverence - a blessing in Irish is no blessing at
all."
"In English?"
"Och, murder, no, your reverence, God preserve us all from an
English blessing!"
"In Latin?"
"Yes, sure, your reverence; in what else should you bless us but in
holy Latin?"
"Well then prepare yourselves."
"We will, your reverence - stay one moment whilst I whisper to the
boys that your reverence is about to bestow your blessing upon us."
Then turning to the rest who all this time had kept their eyes
fixed intently upon us, he bellowed with the voice of a bull:
