His eyes were congested with the unavailing
rage that possessed him, as he thought of his parish left leaderless.
Had the "Ballad of the Bull" then been written, and had Dr. Mangan
been acquainted with it (which seems unlikely) he might have again
proved his culture by remembering the injunction to pity "this fallen
chief," as he saw the impotent wrath in Father Tim's bovine
countenance.
"Don't worry yourself now, Father," he said, consolingly, "I'll
undertake to say it will be all right about the site for the chapel,
and what's more, I'll undertake to say there'll be nothing done about
it, or the tenants, or anything else, till you're well. The people
will do nothing without you!"
He looked at his huge, old-fashioned gold watch.
"Oh, b' Jove, I must be off! Tell me, did you hear they have Larry
Coppinger chosen to be the candidate, when Prendergast retires, as he
says he will, before the next election? There won't be much talk of
tea-parties for Larry at Mount Music then! Any tea-party there that
he'd go to once he was a Nationalist M.P., I think he'd be apt to get
'his tay in a mug!'"
The Doctor got up and moved towards the door.
"I'll support him, so!" Father Sweeny called after him.
CHAPTER XXII
There are families, as there are nations, that are like those ships
that, launched under a lucky star, sail their appointed courses ever
serenely and eventlessly, and though they may indeed look on tempests,
yet are never shaken by them.
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