I was nineteen years old, and I had never seen any
shops but those of Quinn, our country town, and these very seldom; so it
may be imagined what wonderful places the Dublin shops appeared to me,
although my godmother assured me they were not a patch on those of
London and Paris. In fact, the town seemed quite strange and wonderful
altogether, with the people hurrying hither and thither and the traffic
in the streets and the fine stir of life. I thought I never could be
tired of it all; and I was quite sure I should never be tired of the
shops.

My godmother was well pleased at my delight, while she laughed at me,
assuring me that Dublin was a dead city as compared with others.

"It is a Sleeping Beauty which wakes once a year," she said, "and that
is in Horse-Show Week. Time was when I came up every year for the show.
Now I think I shall revive the custom for your sake, Bawn. We can
bespeak these rooms if they are not already bespoken. I assure you, in
Horse-Show Week, Bawn, people are glad to sleep anywhere. Even the
bathrooms of houses and hotels are turned into bedrooms."

"I could not imagine a greater crowd than this," said I, for which she
laughed at me, again calling me a country mouse.

Although the Castle season was over there was still a good deal going
on, dinners and dances and many outdoor amusements, such as races and
regattas and flower-shows, to many of which we went. And it was only
when I saw how she enjoyed it all and how glad her old friends were to
see her that I realized what a dull life she spent with us, always
looking after that selfish invalid, her cousin, when she was not with
old people like Lord and Lady St. Leger.

Also I realized, when I saw her in her fine gowns, what a stately,
handsome woman she was still, and with an air of youth, although she had
put away the things of youth from her.

Indeed, after the first, our lives seemed to me a whirl of gaiety, and
although I went to no big balls, not having been presented, there were
a good many young girls' dances and garden-parties and such things open
to me, all of which I enjoyed greatly.

But one day, as it happened, my godmother was not very well, and our
engagement for the afternoon had to be abandoned.

I remembered then that half our visit was over and I had not yet been to
see Bridget Kelly, Maureen's sister, nor our old house which was in a
sad and forsaken part of the city that hitherto we had not visited. I
had had a grea