"Well, in troth," said he, "but, first and foremost, I haven't the
pleasure of knowin' yer name."
"Nancy Gallaher's my name, then," she replied.
"Ah," said Dandy, suspending the fork and an immense piece of ham on the
top of it at the Charybdis which he had opened to an unusual extent
to receive it; "ah, ma'am, it wasn't always that, I'll go bail. My
counthrymen knows the value of such a purty woman not to stamp some of
their names upon her. Not that you have a married look, either, any more
than myself; you're too fresh for that, now that I look at you again."
A certain cloud, which, as Dandy could perceive, was beginning to darken
her countenance, suggested the quick turn of his last observation. The
countenance, however, cleared again, and she replied, "It is my name,
and what is more, I never changed it. I was hard to plaise--and I am
hard to plaise, and ever an' always had a dread of gettin' into bad
company, especially when I knew that the same bad company was to last
for life."
"An ould maid, by the Rock of Cashel," said Dandy, to himself.
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