Hyacinth

which will enable him to move to some more congenial part of Ireland. A Dublin suburb is the ideal residence; failing that, the next best thing is a country town within easy reach of

e Shannon. The dispensary doctor dines off a table which once graced the parlour of a parish priest. The inspector of police boasts of the price he paid for his easy-chair, recently upholstered, at the auction of a departing bank manager, the same mahogany frame having once supported the portly person of an o

y of whom we read that they readily devour the remains of a fallen member of their own pack. The natives also collect together-publicans and shopke

ly because they were exceedingly curious to see the inside of a house whose doors had never been open to them during the lifetime of the owner. It was always possible, besides, that though the 'magnificently upholstered suites 'existed only in the auctioneer's imagination, treasures of silver spoons or candlesticks plated upon copper might be discovered among the effects of a man who lived as queer a life as Mr. Conneally. When men and women put themselves to a great deal of inconvenience to attend an auction, they do not like to return empty-handed. A day is more obviously wasted if one goes home with nothing to show than if one brings a table or a bedstead purchased at twice

ider the important topic at his leisure, he hired the only lodging in Carrowkeel-the apartment (it was both bed and sitting room) over Mr. Rafferty's public-house. The furniture had suffered during the tenancy of a series of Congested Districts Board officials. An engineer, who went to sleep in the evenings over the fire, had burnt a round hole in the hearthrug. An instructor in fish-curing, a hilarious young man, had cracked the mirror over the mantelpiece, and broken many ornaments, in

h's meditations to a definite point w

a schoolmaster in an English preparatory school or to seek ordination from some Bishop. As you are probably aware, none of our Irish Bishops will accept a man who has not completed his divinity course. Several English Bishops, however, especially in the northern province, are willing to ordain men who have nothing more tha

tical opinions, which, stated nakedly, were likely to beget a certain prejudice in the well-balanced epi

seriously and carefully, but it was no use. He could not conceive himself as likely to be either useful or ha

t sat beside the fire for more than an hour chatting in a desultory manner. He drank tea

king of doing, Mr. Conneally,

telling you,' said Hyacinth, 'if I kne

hands in his pockets. Hyacinth sat down, and during the pause which followed contemplat

priest. 'I'm not blaming you in the least. There's men that studying suits,

heology in his Maynooth student days. Then he walked over and closed the door, returned, dr

ucky one. She made over five hundred pounds last year, besides the share the Board took. She was built at Baltimore, and the Board spent over two hundred pounds on her, nets and gear and all. There's only one yea

ishermen with boats and nets to understand Father Moran's rather involved statement of Durkan's financial position.

t,' said the priest, 'for one

lay hold upon Hyacinth. Perhaps he expected an

put in a word myself both with Thady and the inspector. Faith, the times is changed since I was a young man. I can remember when a priest was no more thought of than a barefooted gossure out of a bog, and now ther

u,' said

of her. But sure you know that as well as I do

inth, 'and whatever comes of it

at I've said to you. People are queer, and if Father Joyce down in Clifden came to hear that I was working for a Pr

ecially considering who I am-I mean

ing in newspapers about "sourfaces" and "saved." Maybe that's the reason that I'm stuck down here at the other end of nowhere all my life, and never got promotion or praise. But what do I care as long as they let me alone to do my work for the peopl

iling, 'if you go on like this, I shall e

nd to be prosperous; but the dearest wish of my heart for you is that I might

seem to him to be pure or ennobling. At one time he was on the verge of deciding to do what the priest wished. Walking day by day along the shore or through the fields, he came to think that life might very well be spent without ambitious or extended hopes in quiet toil and unexciting pleasures. What held him back was the recollection, which never ceased to haunt him, of his father's prophecy. The thought of the great fight, declared to be imminent, stirred in him an emotion so strong that the peace and monotony he half desired became impossible. He never made it clear to himself that he either believed or disbelieved the prediction. He certainly did not expect to see an actual gathering of armed men, or that Ireland was to be the scene of a battle l

nth's affairs. She told him with evident delight that she had enlisted no less than ten recruits for the Boer army. She had collected sufficient money to equip them and pay their travelling expenses. It was arranged that they were to proceed to Paris, and there join a body

ing lessons, and must be got somehow to understand the mechanism of a rifle. Tim Halloran has been in a sulk ever since I told him what I thought of his conduct at the Rotunda. He never comes near me, and Mary O'Dwyer

onfident that the cause of freedom and nationality would ultimately triumph, and she foresaw the intervention of some C

s and degrading, but the actual war which was being waged in South Africa, the struggle of a people for existence and liberty, could be nothing but noble. He saw quite clearly what his own next step