men,' said
Miller; 'Captain Gorman O'Shea, of the Imperial Lancers of Austria. I know
you have heard of, if you have not seen him.'

A round of very hearty and demonstrative salutations followed, and O'Gorman
was well pleased at the friendly reception accorded him.

Austria was a great country, one of the company observed. They had got
liberal institutions and a free press, and they were good Catholics, who
would give those heretical Prussians a fine lesson one of these days; and
Gorman O'Shea's health, coupled with these sentiments, was drank with all
the honours.

'There's a jolly old face that I ought to remember well,' said Gorman, as
he looked up at the portrait of Lord Kilgobbin over the chimney. 'When I
entered the service, and came back here on leave, he gave me the first
sword I ever wore, and treated me as kindly as if I was his son.'

The hearty speech elicited no response from the hearers, who only exchanged
significant looks with each other, while Miller, apparently less under
restraint, broke in with, 'That stupid adventure the English newspapers
called "The gallant resistance of Kilgobbin Castle" has lost that man the
esteem of Irishmen.'

A perfect burst of approval followed these words; and while young O'Shea
eagerly pressed for an explanation of an incident of which he heard for the
first time, they one and all proceeded to give their versions of what had
occurred; but with such contradictions, corrections, and emendations that
the young man might be pardoned if he comprehended little of the event.

'They say his son will contest the county with you, Mr. Miller,' cried one.

'Let me have no weightier rival, and I ask no more.'

'Faix, if he's going to stand,' said another, 'his father might have taken
the trouble to ask us for our votes. Would you believe it, sir, it's going
on six months since he put his foot in this room?'

'And do the "Goats" stand that?' asked Miller.

'I don't wonder he doesn't care to come into Moate. There's not a shop in
the town he doesn't owe money to.'

'And we never refused him credit---'

'For anything but his principles,' chimed in an old fellow, whose oratory
was heartily relished.

'He's going to stand in the National interest,' said one.

'That's the safe ticket when you have no money,' said another.

'Gentlemen,' said Miller, who rose to his legs to give greater importance
to his address:--'If we want to make Ireland a country to live in, the
only par