ings Fenian. He listened, and then shook himself out of his
melancholy.

Parnell was not a society man--he did not know women--all petty small
talk was outside of his orbit. He regarded women as chatterers,
children, undeveloped men. He looked at Kitty O'Shea and listened. She
had coal-black, wavy hair, was small, petite, and full of nervous
energy. She was not interested in Parnell; she was interested in his
cause. They loved the same things. They looked at each other and talked.
And then they sat silent and looked at each other, realizing that people
who do not understand each other without talk, never can with. To
remain silent in each other's presence is the test. Within a week
Parnell called at the O'Shea's, with Dillon, and they drank tea out of
tiny cups.

Parnell was thirty-four, and bachelors of thirty-four either do not know
women at all, or else know them too well. Had Parnell been an expert
specialist in femininity, he would never have gone to see Mrs. O'Shea
the second time. She was an honest woman with a religious oneness of
aim, and such are not the ladies for predaceous holluschickies.

Parnell went alone to call on Mrs. O'Shea--he wanted to consult with her
about the Land League. By explaining his plans to her, he felt that he
could get them more clearly impressed on his own mind. For he could
trust her, and best of all, she understood--she understood!

* * * * *

About six months after this, London was convulsed with laughter at a
joke too good to keep: One Captain O'Shea had challenged Charles
Parnell, the Irish Leader, to a duel. Parnell accepted the challenge,
but the fight was off, because Thomas Mayne had gone to O'Shea and told
him he "would kick him the length of Rotten Row if he tried to harm or
even opened his Galway yawp about Parnell."

O'Shea had a valise which he said he had found in his wife's room, and
this valise belonged to Parnell! The English members talked of Parnell's
aberration and carelessness concerning his luggage; and all hands agreed
that O'Shea, whoever he was, was a fool--a hot-headed, egotistical
rogue, trying to win fame for himself by challenging greatness.

"Suppose that Parnell kills him, it is no loss to the world; but if
O'Shea kills Parnell, the Irish cause is lost," said John Dillon, who
went to see O'Shea and told him to go after some pigmy his own size.

Sir Patrick O'Brien said to O'Shea, "You dress very well, Captain
O'Sh