I tell you what, boys, I think I'll buy a fiddle myself.

I'll make more money that way than blackin' boots." "A great fiddler you'd make, Tim Rafferty." "Can't I play, then?
Lend me your fiddle, Johnny, till I try it a little." Phil shook his head.
"Give it to me now; I won't be hurtin' it." "You'll break it." "Then I'll pay for it." "It isn't mine." "Whose is it, then ?" "The padrone's." "And who's the padrone ?" "The man I live with.

If the fiddle is broken, he will beat me." "Then he's an ould haythen, and you may tell him so, with Tim Rafferty's compliments.

But I won't hurt it." Phil, however, feared to trust the violin in unskillful hands.

He knew the penalty if any harm befell it, and he had no mind to run the risk.