lty in keeping or obtaining domestic
servants. No doubt the maids liked having two or three stalwart
constables always hanging about the place, and capital odd job men they
made.

A constable neatly humbugged a footman, and I may here mention the
incident, though it is subsequent to the episode of this chapter.

One house we took in London was in Glendower Place, and when the
servants arrived, my wife found that the footman's face was covered with
sticking-plaster. He was a regular gossoon, though shaped like a fine
specimen of the pampered menials who condescend to open the front door
of large mansions to their betters.

A constable had hoaxed him into believing that he could never walk in
the London streets without using firearms, and having advised him to
learn to do so, the idiot put the weapon against his cheek, and the
first kick had knocked away a voluminous portion of his countenance.

At the end of November 1884, we were packing up to leave, and all the
big cases were in the stable-yard ready to be carted away. There were
five policemen at the time in the house, and two of them were on sentry
duty all through the night.

None of us had had good nights for some time past, but on the evening of
November 29th I came back from the meeting of the Board of Guardians at
Listowel, and said to my wife as we sat down to dinner:--

'After all, we are starting for England to-morrow morning without any
necessity, for I do believe the country is beginning to settle down.'

This is the only occasion on which I ever ventured on a cheerful
prophecy since Ireland came under the baneful spell of Mr. Gladstone,
and it was the most foolish remark I ever made.

That night came the explosion, but I prefer to let the press tell the
tale.

The _Manchester Guardian_ relates:--

'The explosive matter was placed under an area in the basement story,
dynamite being the agent employed for the outrage. A large aperture was
made in the wall, which is three feet thick. Several large rents running
to the top have been made, and it now presents a most dilapidated
appearance. The ground-floor, where the explosion occurred, was used as
a larder, and everything in it was smashed to pieces, the glass
window-frames and shutters being shivered into atoms. On the three
stories above it, the explosion produced a similar effect. To the right
of it, one of Mr. Hussey's daughters was sleeping, and the window of her
room was entirely destroyed. M