nal reciprocity, and the order to conceal every hoof
and horn pending discovery of the right answer to this last atrocity
has been punctually obeyed, the local papers slanging landlord and
agent, but seemingly unable to find the proper countermine. No end of
details and of incident might be given, but no substantial increase
could be made to the information, given in this and my preceding
letter. The tenants say that the landlord perversely refuses the
reductions allowed in better times, and the landlord says that as a
practical farmer he believes that those upon whom he has distrained or
attempted to distrain are able to pay in full. He declares that he has
not proceeded against those who from any cause are unable to meet
their obligations, but only against the well-to-do men, who, having
the money in hand, are deliberately withholding his just and
reasonable due, taking advantage of the disturbed state of the country
and the weakness of the Government to benefit themselves, regardless
of the suffering their selfishness entails on innocent people.

In striking contrast to the turbulence of the Bodyke men is the
peaceful calm of the Castleconnel people. I have had several pleasant
interviews with Lady de Burgho, whose territory embraces some sixty
thousand acres, and who, during a widowed life of twenty-two years,
has borne the stress and strain of Irish estate administration, with
its eternal and wearisome chopping and changing of law, its
labyrinthine complications, its killing responsibilities. Lady de
Burgho is, after all, very far from dead, exhibiting in fact a
marvellous vitality, and discoursing of the ins and outs of the
various harassing Land Acts, and the astute diplomacy needful to save
something from the wreck, with a light, airy vivacity, and a rich
native humour irresistibly charming. The recital of her troubles,
losses, and burdens, the dodgery and trickery of legal luminaries, and
the total extinction of rent profits is delivered with an easy grace,
and with the colour and effervescence of sparkling Burgundy. To be
deprived of nine-tenths of your income seems remarkably good fun; to
be ruined, an enviable kind of thing. Lady de Burgho commenced her
reign with one fixed principle, from which nothing has ever induced
her to deviate. Under no conceivable circumstances would she allow
eviction. No agent could induce her to sign a writ. "I could not sleep
if I had turned out an Irish family," says Lady de Bu