80

75

his air a la Militaire, the manner of his touching his
hat as we passed, Altho dressed in bourgeois, it struck
me immediately that he could be no other than the
young Sergeant from the fort, whom our friend the Irish
Priest that we met in the forest had that [strikethrough] that [/strikethrough] morning
united in holy wedlock to Pat Hughes' eldest daughter.
The moment I entered the hut, which the little
bustling woman called her castle, I perceived one of
the girls had a small bow of white satin not so large
as a shoe ribbon tied to the top of her stays, the whole
group were dressed in their best, the table laid out
and no work going forward no sound of the Axe was
to be heard, the hatches and dogs were laying together
outside the door, there was no work going forward, all
seemed holliday, joy, festivity, and pleasure, which
no doubt had been occasioned by the welcome visit
they had received that morning, whom we had met on his
return to Kingston, and from whom we had learnt
all the news.

At one glance I immediately perceived
the cause of all this holiday, white dresses, bows, and
fussing of the little woman, had been occasioned by the
visit of the Irish priest, who had directed us the way to
the mineral Spring.

The young folks were struck dumb in perfect
astonishment at my divination, the little woman
was pleased beyond measure and never ceased fussing
about, from the cupboard to the table in a continued fight
putting out a cake and the refreshment which she took
care to tell us were all made at home how fortunate it was