"I will not," said Doyle firmly.

"So we'd be glad of your opinion, Mr. Gallagher."

"If his price is satisfactory," said Gallagher, "we may as well give him the preference. I'd be in favour of supporting local talent when possible, and although Mr. Aloysius Doyle isn't a resident among us at present, his family belongs to Ballymoy."

"Carried unanimously," said Father McCormack. "And now about the price.

What will that nephew of yours do us a statue for, Doyle? And mind you, it must be done well."

"Before we go into that," said Dr. O'Grady, "I'd like the committee to hear a letter which Mr. Doyle has received from his nephew. I thought it well, considering how short the time at our disposal is??"

"Ten days," said the Major. "Ten days to make a statue??"

"The letter which we are just going to read," said Dr. O'Grady, "will meet the Major's difficulty. I thought it well to get into communication with Mr. Aloysius Doyle at once so as to have everything ready for the committee."

"I wonder you haven't the statue ready," said the Major.

"I wrote to him, or rather I got Doyle to write to him, the day before yesterday, and the letter you are now going to hear is his reply. I may say that we laid the circ.u.mstances full before him; especially the shortness of the time. You're not the only person who thought of that difficulty, Major. Just read the letter, will you, Doyle?"

Doyle took up the letter which lay on the table in front of him and unfolded it. He glanced at it and then put it down and began to fumble in his pocket.

"Go ahead," said Dr. O'Grady.

"I can't," said Doyle. "This isn't that letter, but another one altogether."

He drew his packet of papers from his pocket again and began to go through them rapidly. There was a light tap at the door.

"Who on earth's that?" said Dr. O'Grady. "I said specially that this meeting was not to be disturbed."

"Possibly Doyle's nephew," said the Major, "with a sample statue. He ought to submit samples to us."

"Come in whoever you are," said Dr. O'Grady.

Mary Ellen half opened the door and put her head into the room. Dr.

O'Grady realised the moment he saw her that something must have gone wrong in the dressmaker's shop. He a.s.sumed, without enquiry, that Mrs.

Ford had been making herself objectionable.

"What has Mrs. Ford done now?" said Dr. O'Grady. "I can't go to her till this meeting is over."

"Mrs. Ford's off home this half hour," said Mary Ellen. "She said she wouldn't put up with the nonsense that was going on."

This was a relief to Dr. O'Grady. If Mrs. Ford had gone home the difficulty, whatever it was, must be capable of adjustment.

"Then what on earth do you want? Surely you and Mrs. Gregg haven't been quarrelling with each other."

"Mrs. Gregg says??" said Mary Ellen.

Then she paused, looked at Dr. O'Grady, looked at Doyle, and finally took courage after a glance at Father McCormack.

"She says, is there to be white stockings?"

"Certainly not," said Dr. O'Grady. "White stockings would be entirely out of place. If we're dressing you as an Irish colleen, Mary Ellen, we'll do it properly. Go and tell Mrs. Gregg that your stockings are to be green, bright green. Did you ever hear such a silly question?" he added turning to the other members of the committee. "Who ever saw an Irish colleen in white stockings?"

"While you're at it, O'Grady," said the Major, "you'd better settle the colour of her garters."

Mary Ellen, grinning broadly, withdrew her head and shut the door.

"What's that about green stockings for Mary Ellen?" said Father McCormack.

"Oh, it's all right," said Dr. O'Grady. "The stockings will scarcely show at all. Her dress will be right down to her ankles, longer by far than the ones she usually wears. I needn't tell you, Father McCormack, that I wouldn't consent to dressing the girl in any way that wasn't strictly proper. You mustn't think??"

"I wasn't thinking anything of the sort," said Father McCormack.

"You very well might be," said Dr. O'Grady, "Anyone would think we intended her to appear in a ballet skirt after that remark of the Major's about her garters."

"All I was thinking," said Father McCormack, "was that if you dressed the girl up in that style she'll never be contented again with ordinary clothes."

"I'd be opposed, so I would," said Gallagher, "to anything that wouldn't be respectable in the case of Mary Ellen. Her mother was a cousin of my own, and I've a feeling for the girl. So if you or any other one, Doctor, is planning contrivances??"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Thady," said Dr. O'Grady.

"I tell you she'll be all right. Now, Doyle, will you read us that letter from your nephew? If we don't get on with our business we'll be here all night."

CHAPTER XV

"I can't find the letter high or low," said Doyle.

"Maybe now," said Father McCormack, "it's not in your pocket at all."

"It should be," said Doyle, "for it was there I put it after showing it to the doctor here yesterday."

"It doesn't matter," said Dr. O'Grady, "you can tell us what he said in your own words."

"What I told my nephew," said Doyle, "when I was writing to him, was that the committee was a bit pressed in the matter of time, owing to next Thursday week being the only day that it was convenient for the Lord-Lieutenant to attend for the opening of the statue. Well, gentlemen, by the height of good luck it just happens that my nephew has a statue on hand which he thinks would do us."

"He has what?" said the Major.

"A statue that has been left on his hands," said Doyle. "The way of it was this. It was ordered by the relatives of a deceased gentleman, and it was to have been put up in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin."

"That shows," said Dr. O'Grady, "that it's a first rate statue. They wouldn't let you put up anything second rate in a cathedral like that."

"It must be a good one, surely," said Father McCormack.

"But when the relatives of the deceased party went into his affairs,"

said Doyle, "they found he hadn't died near as well off as they thought he was going to; so they told my nephew that they wouldn't take the statue and couldn't pay for it. It was pretty near finished at the time, and what my nephew says is that he could make sure of having it ready for us by the end of this week at the latest."