she knew it, for I had not mentioned it.

"'Then I can tell you whom you saw,' she exclaimed; 'it must have been
one of the old Miss Fitzgeralds--the eldest one. The description suits
her exactly.'

"I was quite puzzled. We had never heard of any Fitzgeralds at Ballyreina.
I said so to the lady, and asked her to explain what she meant. She told
me all she knew. It appeared there had been a family of that name for
many generations at Ballyreina. Once upon a time--a long-ago once upon
a time--the Fitzgeralds had been great and rich; but gradually one
misfortune after another had brought them down in the world, and at the
time my informant heard about them the only representatives of the old
family were three maiden ladies already elderly. Mrs. Gordon, the lady
who told me all this, had met them once, and had been much impressed by
what she heard of them. They had got poorer and poorer, till at last
they had to give up the struggle, and sell, or let on a long lease,
their dear old home, Ballyreina. They were too proud to remain in
their own country after this, and spent the rest of their lives on the
Continent, wandering about from place to place. The most curious part of
it was that nearly all their wandering was actually _on foot_. They were
too poor to afford to travel much in the usual way, and yet, once torn
from their old associations, the travelling mania seized them; they
seemed absolutely unable to rest. So on foot, and speaking not a word of
any language but their own, these three desolate sisters journeyed over
a great part of the Continent. They visited most of the principal towns,
and were well known in several. I daresay they are still remembered at
some of the places they used to stay at, though never for more than a
short time together. Mrs. Gordon had met them somewhere, I forget where,
but it was many years ago. Since then she had never heard of them; she
did not know if they were alive or dead; she was only certain that the
description of my old lady was exactly like that of the eldest of the
sisters, and that the name of their old home was Ballyreina. And I
remember her saying, 'If ever a heart was buried in a house, it was that
of poor old Miss Fitzgerald.'

"That was all Mrs. Gordon could tell me," continued Lady Farquhar; "but
it led to my learning a little more. I told my brother what I had heard.
He used often at that time to be in Ireland on business; and to satisfy
me, the next time he went he