saying that he had not the least possible bit of

the brogue.

"Have I the brogue, my darlin?” he would say to me, when we got acquainted.

Gertrude and I often walked to the town where Dr. O'Clonnaghan lived, (which was only three miles from the castle,) and would call in and rest at his house, which was the best in this dirty little town.

I had never till now been inside of a real Irish house, where there were no English servants; and I was greatly amused, and, to confess the truth, sometimes rather disgusted, at what I saw. Mrs. O'Clonnaghan was a very fat, indolent person, who did nothing but read novels all day long. She never entered her kitchen or gave any directions to her domestics, who were numerous and dirty, therefore, as may be supposed, her ménage was but ill regulated. Her eldest daughter, a thoughtless young woman of five-and-twenty, was married to her first cousin, (her mother's nephew,) who. together with their five children, were inmates of the house. The uproar caused by these un

managed and unmanageable young creatures, their servants, and the servants' children, was beyond all conception.

The placid doctor had to provide for all these; his cunning son-in-law, who had originally come on a visit to his aunt when his wife was confined of her first child, having never left the house since that event. He spent all his time in smoking and drinking whiskey, and had appropriated to himself the best sitting room, while the master of the house was banished to the surgery. One day, when Gertrude and myself called there, we found the good doctor superintending the building, or rather patching up, of a small room or closet over his surgery, and upon our asking what he was about to do, he replied,

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"O! me darlins, I'm making meself a bit of a bed-room, you see. My dear son-in-law wishes to have my room, as it's more convanent for him than his own, so he advised me to run up a bit of a place for meself over the surgery." With the most perfect good humour he added that it would soon be finished. Thus this kind

creature was by degrees turned out of his own house.

He then asked us to partake of some pancakes, as it was "Shrove-Tuesday," at the same time taking us into the kitchen. Three or four bare-legged boys and girls (the children of the servants) were lounging about, while a dirty woman was frying herrings and onions. As soon as she had finished her task, she tossed all into a dish, and commenced frying her pancakes in the same pan, without any previous washing. It may be guessed that we did not partake of the pancakes after we had seen this.

While we were still in the kitchen, an elderly and very slovenly man entered, with at black great coat without buttons pinned up to his throat. He seated himself, and without ceremony helped himself to the fish, onions, and pancakes. The servants called him his

reverence," and I soon found that he was a Roman Catholic priest; and though the master of the house was a Protestant, this person came in and out when he liked, and helped himself

to whatever struck his fancy. He seemed from his conversation to be a very illiterate and vulgar person; but the domestics, who were all papists, treated him with the greatest deference.

We were always glad to see Dr. O'Clonnaghan, but neither Gertrude nor myself could either like or respect his selfish wife and sonin-law; therefore, when we called, we seldom went beyond the surgery, on the top of which the contented doctor had erected his bedchamber.

To many persons Castle Armel might have appeared a banishment, as it was out of the high road, and no one except the doctor ever broke in upon our solitude. I was, however, far from disliking it, for I had rest and peace, which was all I now wished or hoped for.

As spring advanced, we extended our walks; and when Mrs. Blake saw that her niece improved daily under my care, she left us a great deal to ourselves.

The first week in June, as Gertrude and myself were entering the gates of the castle

after a long walk on the beach, we were surprised to see a carriage and four in the court-yard, and upon entering a sitting-room found two young men in conversation with Mrs. Blake, who appeared exceedingly disconcerted and out of humour. The strangers turned round at our entrance, and one of them asked Mrs. Blake, without ceremony, who we were. Her niece and her companion, she answered.

"Ah!" exclaimed one of the young men, "is that the little girl I remember was with you when I was here with my father ten years ago? How she is grown and improved. Pray introduce me, Mrs. Blake."

That lady complied, I thought, very unwillingly, as she named Lord Fitz-Armel and his cousin, Captain Fitz-Armel, to her niece.

They were both handsome and fashionablelooking young men. The viscount announced his intention of staying some days at the castle.

"I thought your lordship said you had kept the carriage, as you proposed proceeding im