nishing news that the Government actually proposed to pay people,
and to pay them well, for not working. The thing struck her as too good
to be true, and she suspected that there must be some saving clause,
some hidden trap which would destroy the value of the whole scheme.

After she had put Sir Tony to bed she went back to the smoking-room and
opened the paper from which the news had been read. It took her some
time to find the paragraph. Her search was rendered difficult by the
fact that the editor, much interested, apparently, in a subject called
the League of Nations, had tucked this really important piece of news
into a corner of a back page. In the end, when she discovered what she
wanted, she was not much better off. The print was small. The words were
long and of a very unusual kind. Lady Corless could not satisfy herself
about their meaning. She folded the paper up and put it safely into a
drawer in the kitchen dresser before she went to bed.

Next day, rising early, as she always did, she fed her fowls and set the
morning's milk in the dairy. She got Sir Tony's breakfast ready at
nine o'clock and took it up to him. She saw to it that Danny, who was
inclined to be lazy, was in his pantry polishing silver. She made it
clear to Sarah, Susy, and Molly that she really meant the library to
be thoroughly cleaned. It was a room which was never occupied, and the
three girls saw no sense in sweeping the floor and dusting the backs of
several thousand books. But their sister was firm and they had learnt to
obey her.

Without troubling to put on a hat or to take off her working apron, Lady
Corless got on her bicycle and rode down to her father's forge. She had
in her pocket the newspaper which contained the important paragraph.

Old Malone laid aside a cart-wheel to which he was fitting a new rim and
followed his daughter into the house. He was much better educated than
she was and had been for many years a keen and active politician. He
took in the meaning of the paragraph at once.

"Gosh!" he said. "If that's true--and I'm not saying it is true; but, if
it is, it's the best yet. It's what's been wanted in Ireland this long
time."

He read the paragraph through again, slowly and carefully.

"Didn't I tell you?" he said, "didn't I tell everyone when the election
was on, that the Sinn Feiners was the lads to do the trick for us?
Didn't I say that without we'd get a republic in Ireland the country
would do no good?