SIR PEARCE [sitting down again, exhausted by his feelings]. Well,
I never could have believed this. Never. What do you suppose will
happen when she finds out?
O'FLAHERTY. She mustn't find out. It's not that she'd half kill
me, as big as I am and as brave as I am. It's that I'm fond of
her, and can't bring myself to break the heart in her. You may
think it queer that a man should be fond of his mother, sir, and
she having bet him from the time he could feel to the time she
was too slow to ketch him; but I'm fond of her; and I'm not
ashamed of it. Besides, didn't she win the Cross for me?
SIR PEARCE. Your mother! How?
O'FLAHERTY. By bringing me up to be more afraid of running away
than of fighting. I was timid by nature; and when the other boys
hurted me, I'd want to run away and cry. But she whaled me for
disgracing the blood of the O'Flahertys until I'd have fought the
divil himself sooner than face her after funking a fight. That
was how I got to know that fighting was easier than it looked,
and that the others was as much afeard of me as I was of them,
and that if I only held out long enough they'd lose heart and
give rip.
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