I must be
particular, sir, in order that you may understand the difficulty I'm
in."
"Proceed, madam," said the conjurer. "If I were young I certainly would
envy Charley Mulvany--but proceed."
"Well, sir, I replied to him: 'Paul, dear,' said I, 'that was a kiss of
friendship--and the reason of it was, that poor Charley was near crying
when he heard that you were going to die and to leave me so lonely.'
'Well,' said he, 'that may be--many a thing may be that's not
likely--and that may be one of them. Go and get a prayer-book, and come
back here.' Well, sir, I got a book and I went back. 'Now,' said he,
'if you swear by the contents of that book that you will never put a
ring on man after my death, I'll leave you my property.' 'Ah, God pardon
you, Paul, darling,' said I, 'for supposing that I'd ever dream of
marrying again'--and I couldn't help kissing him once more and crying
over him when I heard what he said. 'Now,' said he, 'kiss the book, and
swear that you'll never put a ring on man after my death, and I'll leave
you every shilling I'm worth.' God knows it was a trying scene to a
loving heart like mine--so I swore that I'd never put a ring on man
after his death--and then he altered his will and left me the property
on those conditions.
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