Page:Shiana - Peadar Ua Laoghaire.djvu/186

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172
SHIANA
they.—"She was," said he, "a ghost of a pig, in the form of the vamp of a stocking."
Kate.—Oho! Why, what had he seen, Nora?
Nora.—That is exactly what they were all asking each other, when who should walk in but Jack's father, with his big grey coat on, and his striped cap. No sooner did Jack see him than he roared, "Oh! here she is coming in to ye!" "Oh, shut your mouth, you fool!" said the father.
Kate.—And where was the pig, then?
Nora.—Really, I don't know, Kate. All I know is that that's the account he gave of the ghost he saw.
Peg.—I dare say he used to hear people saying that a ghost in the shape of a pig was worse to see than one in the shape of any other animal, and that in his terror he thought it was a thing in the shape of a pig that was before him.
Kate.—And sure he said himself it was a thing "in the shape of the vamp of a stocking" that he saw, when he saw the striped cap and the big grey coat!
Nora.—I really don't know what he saw, or what he imagined it to be, but that was what he said: "a ghost of a pig, in the shape of the vamp of a stocking," said he.
Kate.—Oh, bad manners to him, the ape! But for his being a fool I should say it would be a just deed to give him some of that whip we were speaking of. It might put a stop to some of his ravings.
Sheila.—Didn't I hear you say, Peg, that the priest said that fortune-tellers have no knowledge of the future, but that they only pretend to have it?