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diff --git a/3616-h/3616-h.htm b/3616-h/3616-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d64b877 --- /dev/null +++ b/3616-h/3616-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1310 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The O'Conors of Castle Conor, by Anthony Trollope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The O'Conors of Castle Conor, by Anthony +Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The O'Conors of Castle Conor + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3616] +[This file was first posted on June 15, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE O'CONORS OF CASTLE CONOR*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman & Hall “Tales of +All Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE O’CONORS OF CASTLE CONOR, COUNTY MAYO.</h1> +<p>I <span class="smcap">shall</span> never forget my first +introduction to country life in Ireland, my first day’s +hunting there, or the manner in which I passed the evening +afterwards. Nor shall I ever cease to be grateful for the +hospitality which I received from the O’Conors of Castle +Conor. My acquaintance with the family was first made in +the following manner. But before I begin my story, let me +inform my reader that my name is Archibald Green.</p> +<p>I had been for a fortnight in Dublin, and was about to proceed +into county Mayo on business which would occupy me there for some +weeks. My head-quarters would, I found, be at the town of +Ballyglass; and I soon learned that Ballyglass was not a place in +which I should find hotel accommodation of a luxurious kind, or +much congenial society indigenous to the place itself.</p> +<p>“But you are a hunting man, you say,” said old Sir +P— C—; “and in that case you will soon know Tom +O’Conor. Tom won’t let you be dull. +I’d write you a letter to Tom, only he’ll certainly +make you out without my taking the trouble.”</p> +<p>I did think at the time that the old baronet might have +written the letter for me, as he had been a friend of my +father’s in former days; but he did not, and I started for +Ballyglass with no other introduction to any one in the county +than that contained in Sir P—’s promise that I should +soon know Mr. Thomas O’Conor.</p> +<p>I had already provided myself with a horse, groom, saddle and +bridle, and these I sent down, en avant, that the Ballyglassians +might know that I was somebody. Perhaps, before I arrived +Tom O’Conor might learn that a hunting man was coming into +the neighbourhood, and I might find at the inn a polite note +intimating that a bed was at my service at Castle Conor. I +had heard so much of the free hospitality of the Irish gentry as +to imagine that such a thing might be possible.</p> +<p>But I found nothing of the kind. Hunting gentlemen in +those days were very common in county Mayo, and one horse was no +great evidence of a man’s standing in the world. Men +there as I learnt afterwards, are sought for themselves quite as +much as they are elsewhere; and though my groom’s top-boots +were neat, and my horse a very tidy animal, my entry into +Ballyglass created no sensation whatever.</p> +<p>In about four days after my arrival, when I was already +infinitely disgusted with the little Pot-house in which I was +forced to stay, and had made up my mind that the people in county +Mayo were a churlish set, I sent my horse on to a meet of the +fox-hounds, and followed after myself on an open car.</p> +<p>No one but an erratic fox-hunter such as I am,—a +fox-hunter, I mean, whose lot it has been to wander about from +one pack of hounds to another,—can understand the +melancholy feeling which a man has when he first intrudes +himself, unknown by any one, among an entirely new set of +sportsmen. When a stranger falls thus as it were out of the +moon into a hunt, it is impossible that men should not stare at +him and ask who he is. And it is so disagreeable to be +stared at, and to have such questions asked! This feeling +does not come upon a man in Leicestershire or Gloucestershire +where the numbers are large, and a stranger or two will always be +overlooked, but in small hunting fields it is so painful that a +man has to pluck up much courage before he encounters it.</p> +<p>We met on the morning in question at Bingham’s +Grove. There were not above twelve or fifteen men out, all +of whom, or nearly all were cousins to each other. They +seemed to be all Toms, and Pats, and Larrys, and Micks. I +was done up very knowingly in pink, and thought that I looked +quite the thing, but for two or three hours nobody noticed +me.</p> +<p>I had my eyes about me, however, and soon found out which of +them was Tom O’Conor. He was a fine-looking fellow, +thin and tall, but not largely made, with a piercing gray eye, +and a beautiful voice for speaking to a hound. He had two +sons there also, short, slight fellows, but exquisite +horsemen. I already felt that I had a kind of acquaintance +with the father, but I hardly knew on what ground to put in my +claim.</p> +<p>We had no sport early in the morning. It was a cold +bleak February day, with occasional storms of sleet. We +rode from cover to cover, but all in vain. “I am +sorry, sir, that we are to have such a bad day, as you are a +stranger here,” said one gentleman to me. This was +Jack O’Conor, Tom’s eldest son, my bosom friend for +many a year after. Poor Jack! I fear that the +Encumbered Estates Court sent him altogether adrift upon the +world.</p> +<p>“We may still have a run from Poulnaroe, if the +gentleman chooses to come on,” said a voice coming from +behind with a sharp trot. It was Tom O’Conor.</p> +<p>“Wherever the hounds go, I’ll follow,” said +I.</p> +<p>“Then come on to Poulnaroe,” said Mr. +O’Conor. I trotted on quickly by his side, and before +we reached the cover had managed to slip in something about Sir +P. C.</p> +<p>“What the deuce!” said he. “What! a +friend of Sir P—’s? Why the deuce didn’t +you tell me so? What are you doing down here? Where +are you staying?” &c. &c. &c.</p> +<p>At Poulnaroe we found a fox, but before we did so Mr. O’ +Conor had asked me over to Castle Conor. And this he did in +such a way that there was no possibility of refusing +him—or, I should rather say, of disobeying him. For +his invitation came quite in the tone of a command.</p> +<p>“You’ll come to us of course when the day is +over—and let me see; we’re near Ballyglass now, but +the run will be right away in our direction. Just send word +for them to send your things to Castle Conor.”</p> +<p>“But they’re all about, and unpacked,” said +I.</p> +<p>“Never mind. Write a note and say what you want +now, and go and get the rest to-morrow yourself. Here, +Patsey!—Patsey! run into Ballyglass for this gentleman at +once. Now don’t be long, for the chances are we shall +find here.” And then, after giving some further +hurried instructions he left me to write a line in pencil to the +innkeeper’s wife on the back of a ditch.</p> +<p>This I accordingly did. “Send my small +portmanteau,” I said, “and all my black dress +clothes, and shirts, and socks, and all that, and above all my +dressing things which are on the little table, and the satin +neck-handkerchief, and whatever you do, mind you send my +<i>pumps</i>;” and I underscored the latter word; for Jack +O’Conor, when his father left me, went on pressing the +invitation. “My sisters are going to get up a +dance,” said he; “and if you are fond of that kind of +things perhaps we can amuse you.” Now in those days I +was very fond of dancing—and very fond of young ladies too, +and therefore glad enough to learn that Tom O’Conor had +daughters as well as sons. On this account I was very +particular in underscoring the word pumps.</p> +<p>“And hurry, you young divil,” Jack O’Conor +said to Patsey.</p> +<p>“I have told him to take the portmanteau over on a +car,” said I.</p> +<p>“All right; then you’ll find it there on our +arrival.”</p> +<p>We had an excellent run, in which I may make bold to say that +I did not acquit myself badly. I stuck very close to the +hounds, as did the whole of the O’Conor brood; and when the +fellow contrived to earth himself, as he did, I received those +compliments on my horse, which is the most approved praise which +one fox-hunter ever gives to another.</p> +<p>“We’ll buy that fellow of you before we let you +go,” said Peter, the youngest son.</p> +<p>“I advise you to look sharp after your money if you sell +him to my brother,” said Jack.</p> +<p>And then we trotted slowly off to Castle Conor, which, +however, was by no means near to us. “We have ten +miles to go;—good Irish miles,” said the +father. “I don’t know that I ever remember a +fox from Poulnaroe taking that line before.”</p> +<p>“He wasn’t a Poulnaroe fox,” said Peter.</p> +<p>“I don’t know that;” said Jack; and then +they debated that question hotly.</p> +<p>Our horses were very tired, and it was late before we reached +Mr. O’Conor’s house. That getting home from +hunting with a thoroughly weary animal, who has no longer +sympathy or example to carry him on, is very tedious work. +In the present instance I had company with me; but when a man is +alone, when his horse toes at every ten steps, when the night is +dark and the rain pouring, and there are yet eight miles of road +to be conquered,—at such time a man is almost apt to swear +that he will give up hunting.</p> +<p>At last we were in the Castle Conor stable yard;—for we +had approached the house by some back way; and as we entered the +house by a door leading through a wilderness of back passages, +Mr. O’Conor said out loud, “Now, boys, remember I sit +down to dinner in twenty minutes.” And then turning +expressly to me, he laid his hand kindly upon my shoulder and +said, “I hope you will make yourself quite at home at +Castle Conor, and whatever you do, don’t keep us waiting +for dinner. You can dress in twenty minutes, I +suppose?”</p> +<p>“In ten!” said I, glibly.</p> +<p>“That’s well. Jack and Peter will show you +your room,” and so he turned away and left us.</p> +<p>My two young friends made their way into the great hall, and +thence into the drawing-room, and I followed them. We were +all dressed in pink, and had waded deep through bog and +mud. I did not exactly know whither I was being led in this +guise, but I soon found myself in the presence of two young +ladies, and of a girl about thirteen years of age.</p> +<p>“My sisters,” said Jack, introducing me very +laconically; “Miss O’Conor, Miss Kate O’Conor, +Miss Tizzy O’Conor.”</p> +<p>“My name is not Tizzy,” said the younger; +“it’s Eliza. How do you do, sir? I hope +you had a fine hunt! Was papa well up, Jack?”</p> +<p>Jack did not condescend to answer this question, but asked one +of the elder girls whether anything had come, and whether a room +had been made ready for me.</p> +<p>“Oh yes!” said Miss O’Conor; “they +came, I know, for I saw them brought into the house; and I hope +Mr. Green will find everything comfortable.” As she +said this I thought I saw a slight smile steal across her +remarkably pretty mouth.</p> +<p>They were both exceedingly pretty girls. Fanny the elder +wore long glossy curls,—for I write, oh reader, of bygone +days, as long ago as that, when ladies wore curls if it pleased +them so to do, and gentlemen danced in pumps, with black +handkerchiefs round their necks,—yes, long black, or nearly +black silken curls; and then she had such eyes;—I never +knew whether they were most wicked or most bright; and her face +was all dimples, and each dimple was laden with laughter and +laden with love. Kate was probably the prettier girl of the +two, but on the whole not so attractive. She was fairer +than her sister, and wore her hair in braids; and was also +somewhat more demure in her manner.</p> +<p>In spite of the special injunctions of Mr. O’Conor +senior, it was impossible not to loiter for five minutes over the +drawing-room fire talking to these houris—more especially +as I seemed to know them intimately by intuition before half of +the five minutes was over. They were so easy, so pretty, so +graceful, so kind, they seemed to take it so much as a matter of +course that I should stand there talking in my red coat and muddy +boots.</p> +<p>“Well; do go and dress yourselves,” at last said +Fanny, pretending to speak to her brothers but looking more +especially a me. “You know how mad papa will +be. And remember Mr. Green, we expect great things from +your dancing to-night. Your coming just at this time is +such a Godsend.” And again that soupçon of a +smile passed over her face.</p> +<p>I hurried up to my room, Peter and Jack coming with me to the +door. “Is everything right?” said Peter, +looking among the towels and water-jugs. +“They’ve given you a decent fire for a wonder,” +said Jack, stirring up the red hot turf which blazed in the +grate. “All right as a trivet,” said I. +“And look alive like a good fellow,” said Jack. +We had scowled at each other in the morning as very young men do +when they are strangers; and now, after a few hours, we were +intimate friends.</p> +<p>I immediately turned to my work, and was gratified to find +that all my things were laid out ready for dressing; my +portmanteau had of course come open, as my keys were in my +pocket, and therefore some of the excellent servants of the house +had been able to save me all the trouble of unpacking. +There was my shirt hanging before the fire; my black clothes were +spread upon the bed, my socks and collar and handkerchief beside +them; my brushes were on the toilet table, and everything +prepared exactly as though my own man had been there. How +nice!</p> +<p>I immediately went to work at getting off my spurs and boots, +and then proceeded to loosen the buttons at my knees. In +doing this I sat down in the arm-chair which had been drawn up +for me, opposite the fire. But what was the object on which +my eyes then fell;—the objects I should rather say!</p> +<p>Immediately in front of my chair was placed, just ready for +may feet, an enormous pair of shooting-boots—half-boots +made to lace up round the ankles, with thick double leather +soles, and each bearing half a stone of iron in the shape of +nails and heel-pieces. I had superintended the making of +these shoes in Burlington Arcade with the greatest +diligence. I was never a good shot; and, like some other +sportsmen, intended to make up for my deficiency in performance +by the excellence of my shooting apparel. “Those +nails are not large enough,” I had said; “nor nearly +large enough.” But when the boots came home they +struck even me as being too heavy, too metalsome. +“He, he, he,” laughed the boot boy as he turned them +up for me to look at. It may therefore be imagined of what +nature were the articles which were thus set out for the +evening’s dancing.</p> +<p>And then the way in which they were placed! When I saw +this the conviction flew across my mind like a flash of lightning +that the preparation had been made under other eyes than those of +the servant. The heavy big boots were placed so prettily +before the chair, and the strings of each were made to dangle +down at the sides, as though just ready for tying! They +seemed to say, the boots did, “Now, make haste. We at +any rate are ready—you cannot say that you were kept +waiting for us.” No mere servant’s hand had +ever enabled a pair of boots to laugh at one so completely.</p> +<p>But what was I to do? I rushed at the small portmanteau, +thinking that my pumps also might be there. The woman +surely could not have been such a fool as to send me those tons +of iron for my evening wear! But, alas, alas! no pumps were +there. There was nothing else in the way of covering for my +feet; not even a pair of slippers.</p> +<p>And now what was I to do? The absolute magnitude of my +misfortune only loomed upon me by degrees. The twenty +minutes allowed by that stern old paterfamilias were already gone +and I had done nothing towards dressing. And indeed it was +impossible that I should do anything that would be of +avail. I could not go down to dinner in my stocking feet, +nor could I put on my black dress trousers, over a pair of +mud-painted top-boots. As for those iron-soled +horrors—; and then I gave one of them a kick with the side +of my bare foot which sent it half way under the bed.</p> +<p>But what was I to do? I began washing myself and +brushing my hair with this horrid weight upon my mind. My +first plan was to go to bed, and send down word that I had been +taken suddenly ill in the stomach; then to rise early in the +morning and get away unobserved. But by such a course of +action I should lose all chance of any further acquaintance with +those pretty girls! That they were already aware of the +extent of my predicament, and were now enjoying it—of that +I was quite sure.</p> +<p>What if I boldly put on the shooting-boots, and clattered down +to dinner in them? What if I took the bull by the horns, +and made, myself, the most of the joke? This might be very +well for the dinner, but it would be a bad joke for me when the +hour for dancing came. And, alas! I felt that I +lacked the courage. It is not every man that can walk down +to dinner, in a strange house full of ladies, wearing such boots +as those I have described.</p> +<p>Should I not attempt to borrow a pair? This, all the +world will say, should have been my first idea. But I have +not yet mentioned that I am myself a large-boned man, and that my +feet are especially well developed. I had never for a +moment entertained a hope that I should find any one in that +house whose boot I could wear. But at last I rang the +bell. I would send for Jack, and if everything failed, I +would communicate my grief to him.</p> +<p>I had to ring twice before anybody came. The servants, I +well knew, were putting the dinner on the table. At last a +man entered the room, dressed in rather shabby black, whom I +afterwards learned to be the butler.</p> +<p>“What is your name, my friend?” said I, determined +to make an ally of the man.</p> +<p>“My name? Why Larry sure, yer honer. And the +masther is out of his sinses in a hurry, becase yer honer +don’t come down.”</p> +<p>“Is he though? Well now, Larry; tell me this; +which of all the gentlemen in the house has got the largest +foot?”</p> +<p>“Is it the largest foot, yer honer?” said Larry, +altogether surprised by my question.</p> +<p>“Yes; the largest foot,” and then I proceeded to +explain to him my misfortune. He took up first my top-boot, +and then the shooting-boot—in looking at which he gazed +with wonder at the nails;—and then he glanced at my feet, +measuring them with his eye; and after this he pronounced his +opinion.</p> +<p>“Yer honer couldn’t wear a morsel of leather +belonging to ere a one of ’em, young or ould. There +niver was a foot like that yet among the +O’Conors.”</p> +<p>“But are there no strangers staying here?”</p> +<p>“There’s three or four on ’em come in to +dinner; but they’ll be wanting their own boots I’m +thinking. And there’s young Misther Dillon; +he’s come to stay. But Lord love you—” +and he again looked at the enormous extent which lay between the +heel and the toe of the shooting apparatus which he still held in +his hand. “I niver see such a foot as that in the +whole barony,” he said, “barring my own.”</p> +<p>Now Larry was a large man, much larger altogether than myself, +and as he said this I looked down involuntarily at his feet; or +rather at his foot, for as he stood I could only see one. +And then a sudden hope filled my heart. On that foot there +glittered a shoe—not indeed such as were my own which were +now resting ingloriously at Ballyglass while they were so sorely +needed at Castle Conor; but one which I could wear before ladies, +without shame—and in my present frame of mind with infinite +contentment.</p> +<p>“Let me look at that one of your own,” said I to +the man, as though it were merely a subject for experimental +inquiry. Larry, accustomed to obedience, took off the shoe +and handed it to me.</p> +<p>My own foot was immediately in it, and I found that it fitted +me like a glove.</p> +<p>“And now the other,” said I—not smiling, for +a smile would have put him on his guard; but somewhat sternly, so +that that habit of obedience should not desert him at this +perilous moment. And then I stretched out my hand.</p> +<p>“But yer honer can’t keep ’em, you +know,” said he. “I haven’t the ghost of +another shoe to my feet.” But I only looked more +sternly than before, and still held out my hand. Custom +prevailed. Larry stooped down slowly, looking at me the +while, and pulling off the other slipper handed it to me with +much hesitation. Alas! as I put it to my foot I found that +it was old, and worn, and irredeemably down at heel;—that +it was in fact no counterpart at all to that other one which was +to do duty as its fellow. But nevertheless I put my foot +into it, and felt that a descent to the drawing-room was now +possible.</p> +<p>“But yer honer will give ’em back to a poor +man?” said Larry almost crying. “The +masther’s mad this minute becase the dinner’s not +up. Glory to God, only listhen to that!” And as +he spoke a tremendous peal rang out from some bell down stairs +that had evidently been shaken by an angry hand.</p> +<p>“Larry,” said I—and I endeavoured to assume +a look of very grave importance as I spoke—“I look to +you to assist me in this matter.”</p> +<p>“Och—wirra sthrue then, and will you let me go? +just listhen to that,” and another angry peal rang out, +loud and repeated.</p> +<p>“If you do as I ask you,” I continued, “you +shall be well rewarded. Look here; look at these +boots,” and I held up the shooting-shoes new from +Burlington Arcade. “They cost thirty +shillings—thirty shillings! and I will give them to you for +the loan of this pair of slippers.”</p> +<p>“They’d be no use at all to me, yer honer; not the +laist use in life.”</p> +<p>“You could do with them very well for to-night, and then +you could sell them. And here are ten shillings +besides,” and I held out half a sovereign which the poor +fellow took into his hand.</p> +<p>I waited no further parley but immediately walked out of the +room. With one foot I was sufficiently pleased. As +regarded that I felt that I had overcome my difficulty. But +the other was not so satisfactory. Whenever I attempted to +lift it from the ground the horrid slipper would fall off, or +only just hang by the toe. As for dancing, that would be +out of the question.</p> +<p>“Och, murther, murther,” sang out Larry, as he +heard me going down stairs. “What will I do at +all? Tare and ’ounds; there, he’s at it agin, +as mad as blazes.” This last exclamation had +reference to another peal which was evidently the work of the +master’s hand.</p> +<p>I confess I was not quite comfortable as I walked down +stairs. In the first place I was nearly half an hour late, +and I knew from the vigour of the peals that had sounded that my +slowness had already been made the subject of strong +remarks. And then my left shoe went flop, flop, on every +alternate step of the stairs. By no exertion of my foot in +the drawing up of my toe could I induce it to remain permanently +fixed upon my foot. But over and above and worse than all +this was the conviction strong upon my mind that I should become +a subject of merriment to the girls as soon as I entered the +room. They would understand the cause of my distress, and +probably at this moment were expecting to hear me clatter through +the stone hall with those odious metal boots.</p> +<p>However, I hurried down and entered the drawing-room, +determined to keep my position near the door, so that I might +have as little as possible to do on entering and as little as +possible in going out. But I had other difficulties in +store for me. I had not as yet been introduced to Mrs. +O’Conor; nor to Miss O’Conor, the squire’s +unmarried sister.</p> +<p>“Upon my word I thought you were never coming,” +said Mr. O’Conor as soon as he saw me. “It is +just one hour since we entered the house. Jack, I wish you +would find out what has come to that fellow Larry,” and +again he rang the bell. He was too angry, or it might be +too impatient to go through the ceremony of introducing me to +anybody.</p> +<p>I saw that the two girls looked at me very sharply, but I +stood at the back of an arm-chair so that no one could see my +feet. But that little imp Tizzy walked round deliberately, +looked at my heels, and then walked back again. It was +clear that she was in the secret.</p> +<p>There were eight or ten people in the room, but I was too much +fluttered to notice well who they were.</p> +<p>“Mamma,” said Miss O’Conor, “let me +introduce Mr. Green to you.”</p> +<p>It luckily happened that Mrs. O’Conor was on the same +side of the fire as myself, and I was able to take the hand which +she offered me without coming round into the middle of the +circle. Mrs. O’Conor was a little woman, apparently +not of much importance in the world, but, if one might judge from +first appearance, very good-natured.</p> +<p>“And my aunt Die, Mr. Green,” said Kate, pointing +to a very straight-backed, grim-looking lady, who occupied a +corner of a sofa, on the opposite side of the hearth. I +knew that politeness required that I should walk across the room +and make acquaintance with her. But under the existing +circumstances how was I to obey the dictates of politeness? +I was determined therefore to stand my ground, and merely bowed +across the room at Miss O’Conor. In so doing I made +an enemy who never deserted me during the whole of my intercourse +with the family. But for her, who knows who might have been +sitting opposite to me as I now write?</p> +<p>“Upon my word, Mr. Green, the ladies will expect much +from an Adonis who takes so long over his toilet,” said Tom +O’Conor in that cruel tone of banter which he knew so well +how to use.</p> +<p>“You forget, father, that men in London can’t jump +in and out of their clothes as quick as we wild Irishmen,” +said Jack.</p> +<p>“Mr. Green knows that we expect a great deal from him +this evening. I hope you polk well, Mr. Green,” said +Kate.</p> +<p>I muttered something about never dancing, but I knew that that +which I said was inaudible.</p> +<p>“I don’t think Mr. Green will dance,” said +Tizzy; “at least not much.” The impudence of +that child was, I think, unparalleled by any that I have ever +witnessed.</p> +<p>“But in the name of all that’s holy, why +don’t we have dinner?” And Mr. O’Conor +thundered at the door. “Larry, Larry, Larry!” +he screamed.</p> +<p>“Yes, yer honer, it’ll be all right in two +seconds,” answered Larry, from some bottomless abyss. +“Tare an’ ages; what’ll I do at all,” I +heard him continuing, as he made his way into the hall. Oh +what a clatter he made upon the pavement,—for it was all +stone! And how the drops of perspiration stood upon my brow +as I listened to him!</p> +<p>And then there was a pause, for the man had gone into the +dining-room. I could see now that Mr. O’Conor was +becoming very angry, and Jack the eldest son—oh, how often +he and I have laughed over all this since—left the +drawing-room for the second time. Immediately afterwards +Larry’s footsteps were again heard, hurrying across the +hall, and then there was a great slither, and an exclamation, and +the noise of a fall—and I could plainly hear poor +Larry’s head strike against the stone floor.</p> +<p>“Ochone, ochone!” he cried at the top of his +voice—“I’m murthered with ’em now +intirely; and d— ’em for boots—St. Peter be +good to me.”</p> +<p>There was a general rush into the hall, and I was carried with +the stream. The poor fellow who had broken his head would +be sure to tell how I had robbed him of his shoes. The +coachman was already helping him up, and Peter good-naturedly +lent a hand.</p> +<p>“What on earth is the matter?” said Mr. +O’Conor.</p> +<p>“He must be tipsy,” whispered Miss O’Conor, +the maiden sister.</p> +<p>“I aint tipsy at all thin,” said Larry, getting up +and rubbing the back of his head, and sundry other parts of his +body. “Tipsy indeed!” And then he added +when he was quite upright, “The dinner is sarved—at +last.”</p> +<p>And he bore it all without telling! “I’ll +give that fellow a guinea to-morrow morning,” said I to +myself—“if it’s the last that I have in the +world.”</p> +<p>I shall never forget the countenance of the Miss +O’Conors as Larry scrambled up cursing the unfortunate +boots—“What on earth has he got on?” said Mr. +O’Conor.</p> +<p>“Sorrow take ’em for shoes,” ejaculated +Larry. But his spirit was good and he said not a word to +betray me.</p> +<p>We all then went in to dinner how we best could. It was +useless for us to go back into the drawing-room, that each might +seek his own partner. Mr. O’Conor “the +masther,” not caring much for the girls who were around +him, and being already half beside himself with the confusion and +delay, led the way by himself. I as a stranger should have +given my arm to Mrs. O’Conor; but as it was I took her +eldest daughter instead, and contrived to shuffle along into the +dining-room without exciting much attention, and when there I +found myself happily placed between Kate and Fanny.</p> +<p>“I never knew anything so awkward,” said Fanny; +“I declare I can’t conceive what has come to our old +servant Larry. He’s generally the most precise person +in the world, and now he is nearly an hour late—and then he +tumbles down in the hall.”</p> +<p>“I am afraid I am responsible for the delay,” said +I.</p> +<p>“But not for the tumble I suppose,” said Kate from +the other side. I felt that I blushed up to the eyes, but I +did not dare to enter into explanations.</p> +<p>“Tom,” said Tizzy, addressing her father across +the table, “I hope you had a good run to-day.” +It did seem odd to me that young lady should call her father Tom, +but such was the fact.</p> +<p>“Well; pretty well,” said Mr. O’Conor.</p> +<p>“And I hope you were up with the hounds.”</p> +<p>“You may ask Mr. Green that. He at any rate was +with them, and therefore he can tell you.”</p> +<p>“Oh, he wasn’t before you, I know. No +Englishman could get before you;—I am quite sure of +that.”</p> +<p>“Don’t you be impertinent, miss,” said +Kate. “You can easily see, Mr. Green, that papa +spoils my sister Eliza.”</p> +<p>“Do you hunt in top-boots, Mr. Green?” said +Tizzy.</p> +<p>To this I made no answer. She would have drawn me into a +conversation about my feet in half a minute, and the slightest +allusion to the subject threw me into a fit of perspiration.</p> +<p>“Are you fond of hunting, Miss O’Conor?” +asked I, blindly hurrying into any other subject of +conversation.</p> +<p>Miss O’Conor owned that she was fond of +hunting—just a little; only papa would not allow it. +When the hounds met anywhere within reach of Castle Conor, she +and Kate would ride out to look at them; and if papa was not +there that day,—an omission of rare occurrence,—they +would ride a few fields with the hounds.</p> +<p>“But he lets Tizzy keep with them the whole day,” +said she, whispering.</p> +<p>“And has Tizzy a pony of her own?”</p> +<p>“Oh yes, Tizzy has everything. She’s +papa’s pet, you know.”</p> +<p>“And whose pet are you?” I asked.</p> +<p>“Oh—I am nobody’s pet, unless sometimes Jack +makes a pet of me when he’s in a good humour. Do you +make pets of your sisters, Mr. Green?”</p> +<p>“I have none. But if I had I should not make pets +of them.”</p> +<p>“Not of your own sisters?”</p> +<p>“No. As for myself, I’d sooner make a pet of +my friend’s sister; a great deal.”</p> +<p>“How very unnatural,” said Miss O’Conor, +with the prettiest look of surprise imaginable.</p> +<p>“Not at all unnatural I think,” said I, looking +tenderly and lovingly into her face. Where does one find +girls so pretty, so easy, so sweet, so talkative as the Irish +girls? And then with all their talking and all their ease +who ever hears of their misbehaving? They certainly love +flirting, as they also love dancing. But they flirt without +mischief and without malice.</p> +<p>I had now quite forgotten my misfortune, and was beginning to +think how well I should like to have Fanny O’Conor for my +wife. In this frame of mind I was bending over towards her +as a servant took away a plate from the other side, when a +sepulchral note sounded in my ear. It was like the memento +mori of the old Roman;—as though some one pointed in the +midst of my bliss to the sword hung over my head by a +thread. It was the voice of Larry, whispering in his agony +just above my head—</p> +<p>“They’s disthroying my poor feet intirely, +intirely; so they is! I can’t bear it much longer, +yer honer.” I had committed murder like Macbeth; and +now my Banquo had come to disturb me at my feast.</p> +<p>“What is it he says to you?” asked Fanny.</p> +<p>“Oh nothing,” I answered, once more in my +misery.</p> +<p>“There seems to be some point of confidence between you +and our Larry,” she remarked.</p> +<p>“Oh no,” said I, quite confused; “not at +all.”</p> +<p>“You need not be ashamed of it. Half the gentlemen +in the county have their confidences with Larry;—and some +of the ladies too, I can tell you. He was born in this +house, and never lived anywhere else; and I am sure he has a +larger circle of acquaintance than any one else in it.”</p> +<p>I could not recover my self-possession for the next ten +minutes. Whenever Larry was on our side of the table I was +afraid he was coming to me with another agonised whisper. +When he was opposite, I could not but watch him as he hobbled in +his misery. It was evident that the boots were too tight +for him, and had they been made throughout of iron they could not +have been less capable of yielding to the feet. I pitied +him from the bottom of my heart. And I pitied myself also, +wishing that I was well in bed upstairs with some feigned malady, +so that Larry might have had his own again.</p> +<p>And then for a moment I missed him from the room. He had +doubtless gone to relieve his tortured feet in the +servants’ hall, and as he did so was cursing my +cruelty. But what mattered it? Let him curse. +If he would only stay away and do that, I would appease his wrath +when we were alone together with pecuniary satisfaction.</p> +<p>But there was no such rest in store for me. +“Larry, Larry,” shouted Mr. O’Conor, +“where on earth has the fellow gone to?” They +were all cousins at the table except myself, and Mr. +O’Conor was not therefore restrained by any feeling of +ceremony. “There is something wrong with that fellow +to-day; what is it, Jack?”</p> +<p>“Upon my word, sir, I don’t know,” said +Jack.</p> +<p>“I think he must be tipsy,” whispered Miss +O’Conor, the maiden sister, who always sat at her +brother’s left hand. But a whisper though it was, it +was audible all down the table.</p> +<p>“No, ma’am; it aint dhrink at all,” said the +coachman. “It is his feet as does it.”</p> +<p>“His feet!” shouted Tom O’Conor.</p> +<p>“Yes; I know it’s his feet,” said that +horrid Tizzy. “He’s got on great thick nailed +shoes. It was that that made him tumble down in the +hall.”</p> +<p>I glanced at each side of me, and could see that there was a +certain consciousness expressed in the face of each of my two +neighbours;—on Kate’s mouth there was decidedly a +smile, or rather, perhaps, the slightest possible inclination +that way; whereas on Fanny’s part I thought I saw something +like a rising sorrow at my distress. So at least I +flattered myself.</p> +<p>“Send him back into the room immediately,” said +Tom, who looked at me as though he had some consciousness that I +had introduced all this confusion into his household. What +should I do? Would it not be best for me to make clean +breast of it before them all? But alas! I lacked the +courage.</p> +<p>The coachman went out, and we were left for five minutes +without any servant, and Mr. O’Conor the while became more +and more savage. I attempted to say a word to Fanny, but +failed. Vox faucibus haesit.</p> +<p>“I don’t think he has got any others,” said +Tizzy—“at least none others left.”</p> +<p>On the whole I am glad I did not marry into the family, as I +could not have endured that girl to stay in my house as a +sister-in-law.</p> +<p>“Where the d— has that other fellow gone +to?” said Tom. “Jack, do go out and see what is +the matter. If anybody is drunk send for me.”</p> +<p>“Oh, there is nobody drunk,” said Tizzy.</p> +<p>Jack went out, and the coachman returned; but what was done +and said I hardly remember. The whole room seemed to swim +round and round, and as far as I can recollect the company sat +mute, neither eating nor drinking. Presently Jack +returned.</p> +<p>“It’s all right,” said he. I always +liked Jack. At the present moment he just looked towards me +and laughed slightly.</p> +<p>“All right?” said Tom. “But is the +fellow coming?”</p> +<p>“We can do with Richard, I suppose,” said +Jack.</p> +<p>“No—I can’t do with Richard,” said the +father. “And will know what it all means. Where +is that fellow Larry?”</p> +<p>Larry had been standing just outside the door, and now he +entered gently as a mouse. No sound came from his footfall, +nor was there in his face that look of pain which it had worn for +the last fifteen minutes. But he was not the less abashed, +frightened and unhappy.</p> +<p>“What is all this about, Larry?” said his master, +turning to him. “I insist upon knowing.”</p> +<p>“Och thin, Mr. Green, yer honer, I wouldn’t be +afther telling agin yer honer; indeed I wouldn’t thin, +av’ the masther would only let me hould my +tongue.” And he looked across at me, deprecating my +anger.</p> +<p>“Mr. Green!” said Mr. O’Conor.</p> +<p>“Yes, yer honer. It’s all along of his +honer’s thick shoes;” and Larry, stepping backwards +towards the door, lifted them up from some corner, and coming +well forward, exposed them with the soles uppermost to the whole +table.</p> +<p>“And that’s not all, yer honer; but they’ve +squoze the very toes of me into a jelly.”</p> +<p>There was now a loud laugh, in which Jack and Peter and Fanny +and Kate and Tizzy all joined; as too did Mr. +O’Conor—and I also myself after a while.</p> +<p>“Whose boots are they?” demanded Miss +O’Conor senior, with her severest tone and grimmest +accent.</p> +<p>“’Deed then and the divil may have them for me, +Miss,” answered Larry. “They war Mr. +Green’s, but the likes of him won’t wear them agin +afther the likes of me—barring he wanted them very +particular,” added he, remembering his own pumps.</p> +<p>I began muttering something, feeling that the time had come +when I must tell the tale. But Jack with great good nature, +took up the story and told it so well, that I hardly suffered in +the telling.</p> +<p>“And that’s it,” said Tom O’Conor, +laughing till I thought he would have fallen from his +chair. “So you’ve got Larry’s shoes +on—”</p> +<p>“And very well he fills them,” said Jack.</p> +<p>“And it’s his honer that’s welcome to +’em,” said Larry, grinning from ear to ear now that +he saw that “the masther” was once more in a good +humour.</p> +<p>“I hope they’ll be nice shoes for dancing,” +said Kate.</p> +<p>“Only there’s one down at the heel I know,” +said Tizzy.</p> +<p>“The servant’s shoes!” This was an +exclamation made by the maiden lady, and intended apparently only +for her brother’s ear. But it was clearly audible by +all the party.</p> +<p>“Better that than no dinner,” said Peter.</p> +<p>“But what are you to do about the dancing?” said +Fanny, with an air of dismay on her face which flattered me with +an idea that she did care whether I danced or no.</p> +<p>In the mean time Larry, now as happy as an emperor, was +tripping round the room without any shoes to encumber him as he +withdrew the plates from the table.</p> +<p>“And it’s his honer that’s welcome to +’em,” said he again, as he pulled off the table-cloth +with a flourish. “And why wouldn’t he, and he +able to folly the hounds betther nor any Englishman that iver war +in these parts before,—anyways so Mick says!”</p> +<p>Now Mick was the huntsman, and this little tale of eulogy from +Larry went far towards easing my grief. I had ridden well +to the hounds that day, and I knew it.</p> +<p>There was nothing more said about the shoes, and I was soon +again at my ease, although Miss O’Conor did say something +about the impropriety of Larry walking about in his stocking +feet. The ladies however soon withdrew,—to my sorrow, +for I was getting on swimmingly with Fanny; and then we gentlemen +gathered round the fire and filled our glasses.</p> +<p>In about ten minutes a very light tap was heard, the door was +opened to the extent of three inches, and a female voice which I +readily recognised called to Jack.</p> +<p>Jack went out, and in a second or two put his head back into +the room and called to me—“Green,” he said, +“just step here moment, there’s a good +fellow.” I went out, and there I found Fanny standing +with her brother.</p> +<p>“Here are the girls at their wits’ ends,” +said he, “about your dancing. So Fanny has put a boy +upon one of the horse and proposes that you should send another +line to Mrs. Meehan at Ballyglass. It’s only ten +miles, and he’ll be back in two hours.”</p> +<p>I need hardly say that I acted in conformity with this advice, +I went into Mr. O’Conor’s book room, with Jack and +his sister, and there scribbled a note. I was delightful to +feel how intimate I was with them, and how anxious they were to +make me happy.</p> +<p>“And we won’t begin till they come,” said +Fanny.</p> +<p>“Oh, Miss O’Conor, pray don’t wait,” +said I.</p> +<p>“Oh, but we will,” she answered. “You +have your wine to drink, and then there’s the tea; and then +we’ll have a song two. I’ll spin it out; see if +I don’t.” And so we went to the front door +where the boy was already on his horse—her own nag as I +afterwards found.</p> +<p>“And Patsey,” said she, “ride for your life; +and Patsey, whatever you do, don’t come back without Mr. +Green’s pumps—his dancing-shoes you know.”</p> +<p>And in about two hours the pumps did arrive; and I don’t +think I ever spent a pleasanter evening or got more satisfaction +out of a pair of shoes. They had not been two minutes on my +feet before Larry was carrying a tray of negus across the room in +those which I had worn at dinner.</p> +<p>“The Dillon girls are going to stay here,” said +Fanny as I wished her good night at two o’clock. +“And we’ll have dancing every evening as long as you +remain.”</p> +<p>“But I shall leave to-morrow,” said I.</p> +<p>“Indeed you won’t. Papa will take care of +that.”</p> +<p>And so he did. “You had better go over to +Ballyglass yourself to-morrow,” said he, “and collect +your own things. There’s no knowing else what you may +have to borrow of Larry.”</p> +<p>I stayed there three weeks, and in the middle of the third I +thought that everything would be arranged between me and +Fanny. But the aunt interfered; and in about a twelvemonth +after my adventures she consented to make a more fortunate man +happy for his life.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE O'CONORS OF CASTLE CONOR***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3616-h.htm or 3616-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/1/3616 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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