So Aunt Becky, with Lily's leave, called in Dominick, to examine him
touching the soundness of Pat Doolan's mind, and the honest footman had
no hesitation in pronouncing him wholly _non compos_.
'Pleasant praying with a chap like that, by Jove, as drunk as an owl,
and as mad as a March hare! my dear Ma'am,' whispered Toole to Lilias.
'And, Lily dear', there's poor Gertrude all alone--'twould be good
natured in you to go up and drink a dish of tea with her; but, then,
you're cold--you're afraid?'
She was not afraid--she had been out to-day--and it had done her all the
good in the world, and it was very good of Aunt Becky to think of it,
for she was lonely too: and so off went the elder Miss Chattesworth,
with her doctor and Dominick, in their various moods, on their mission
of mercy; and Lily sent into the town for the two chairmen, Peter Brian
and Larry Foy, the two-legged ponies, as Toole called them.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
NARRATING HOW MISS LILIAS VISITED BELMONT, AND SAW A STRANGE COCKED-HAT
IN THE SHADOW BY THE WINDOW.
At that time, in every hall of gentility, there stood a sedan-chair, the
property of the lady of the house; and by the time the chairmen had
arrived and got the poles into their places, and trusty John Tracy had
got himself into his brown surtout, trimmed with white lace, and his
cane in his hand--(there was no need of a lantern, for the moon shone
softly and pleasantly down)--Miss Lilias Walsingham drew her red riding
hood about her pretty face, and stepped into the chair; and so the door
shut, the roof closed in, and the young lady was fairly under weigh.
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