was fond of boasting he had
seen under the sod,--once fine intelligent men, who might have lived out
their natural course of years in health and happiness, with everything
to make their lives pleasant, had it not been for the drinking habits so
general among their class. After the greetings with my family were
over, I went into the servants' hall to have a talk with the old
domestics. Larry was in the height of his glory, just getting out his
fiddle to give them a tune in honour of our return. They all crowded
round me, each eager to grasp my hand, and congratulate me on having
escaped the dangers of the wars. I felt myself more of a hero than I
had ever done before. The moment I retired I heard Larry's fiddle
going, and the boys and girls beginning to make use of their feet, for
it was impossible to keep them quiet while such notes sounded in their
ears. After a visit to my chamber, which had long been prepared for me,
accompanied by Denis, who wanted to hear all I had got to tell him, I
returned to the drawing-room. I there found the family assembled, fully
as anxious as my brother to have a narrative of my adventures. My
mother, taking my hand, which she held in hers, led me to the sofa, and
fondly looked in my face as I described the battles I had been engaged
in and the shipwrecks I had encountered. My uncle nodded approvingly as
I described the actions in which I had taken a prominent part. My poor
father, who had been wheeled into the room, stared with lack-lustre
eyes, evidently only comprehending a portion of what I said. The rest
of the family occasionally uttered exclamations of surprise and
astonishment, now and then putting questions to help me along, when I
stopped for want of breath or to recollect myself. I had never in my
life talked so much at a stretch.

At last we went in to supper. My poor father, lifting his glass with
trembling hands to his lips, drank my health. My brothers-in-law,
Maurice and Denis, followed his example. The major kindly nodded.

"You have done well, Terence, and I'm proud of you," he exclaimed; "and
though the war is over, I hope you'll still find means to climb up the
rattlings, as you say at sea."

Several neighbours looked in, hearing of my arrival, to congratulate me
and my family. The whisky-toddy flowed fast. I as usual drank but
little; in truth, I had no taste for the stuff, though probably it would
have grown upon me, as it does upon others.

My un