t perhaps the
last bottle contributed to this effect, for he certainly stood amazed
and confounded at a degree of magnificence and splendor with which he
had never seen anything to compare. Vainly endeavoring to peer through
the dubious half light, and see into the remote distance of the chamber,
Ffrench reached the middle of the room, when he heard, or thought he
heard, the rustling sounds of silk. It was in the days of hoops and
ample petticoats. He turned abruptly, and there stood directly in front
of what, in his own description, he characterized as "the elegantest
crayture ye ever set eyes upon." Young, beautiful, and most becomingly
dressed, it is no wonder if my mother did produce a most entrancing
effect on his astounded senses. Never for a moment suspecting that his
presence was the result of an accident, my mother courtesied very low,
and, with a voice and a smile of ineffable sweetness, addressed him.
Alas! poor Bob's mystifications were not to end here, for she spoke in
French, and however distinguished the City of the Tribes might be in
many respects, that language was but little cultivated there. He could,
therefore, only bow, and lay his hand on his heart, and look as much
devotion, respect, and admiration as it was in his power to express at
that late hour of the evening.

"Perhaps you'll accept of a cup of tea?" said she at length, leading the
way towards the table; and as Ffrench said, afterwards, that he never
declined drink, no matter what the liquor, he readily consented, and
took his place beside her on the sofa. Full of all my father's lessons
and precepts about the civilities she was to bestow on the Irish
gentlemen and their wives, the importance of creating the most favorable
impression on them, and ingratiating herself into their esteem, my
mother addressed herself to the task in right earnest. Her first care
was to become intelligible, and she accordingly spoke in the slowest
and most measured manner, so as to give the foreigner every possible
facility to follow her. Her second was to impose as little necessity on
her companion for reply as it was possible. She accordingly talked on
of Ireland, of the capital, the country, the scenery about them, the
peasantry,--everything, in short, that she could think of, and always in
a tone of praise and admiration. The single monosyllable "oui" was the
whole stock of old Bob's French, but, as he often remarked, "we hear
of a man walking from Ballinasloe