And many`s the pound she had made for her parents at that counter. Michael Moran says to the father, `Now, what fortune are you going to give with Julia?` And the father says there was many a man who would take her without any; and that`s how they spoke, and Julia listening quietly all the while at the opposite counter. For Michael didn`t know what a spirited girl she was, but went on arguing till he got the father to say fifty pounds, and thinking he had got him so far he said, `I`ll never drop a flap to her unless you give the two heifers.`Julia never said a word, she just sat listening. It was then that the priest came in.And over he goes to Julia. `And now,` says he, `aren`t you proud to hear that you`ll have such a fine fortune, and it`s I that`ll be glad to see you married, for I can`t have any more of your goings-on in my parish. You`re the encouragement of the dancing and courting here, but I`m going to put an end to it.` Julia didn`t answer a word, and he went over to them that were arguing about the sixty pounds. `Now, why not make it fifty-five?` says he.
Father Tom
So the father agreed to that, since the priest had said it, and all three of them thought the marriage was settled. `Now what will you be taking, Father Tom?` says Cahill, `and you, Michael?` Sorra one of them thought of asking her if she was pleased with Michael; but little did they know what was passing in her mind, and when they came over to the counter to tell her what they had settled, she said, `Well, I`ve just been listening to you, and `tis well for you to be wasting your time talking about me,` and she tossed her head, saying she would just pick the boy out of the parish that pleased her best.And what angered the priest most of all was her way of saying it—that the boy that would marry her would be marrying herself and not the money that would be paid when the book was signed or when the first baby was bom. Now it was agin girls marrying according to their fancy that Father Madden had set himself. He had said in his sermon the Sunday before that young people shouldn`t be allowed out by themselves at all, but that the parents should make up the marriages for them.
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