ne man for the English liquor. My
lord there,' said he, pointing to the portrait, 'sent an account of it all
to _Saunders_' newspaper.'

While he left the room to fetch the ale, the travellers both fixed
their eyes on the picture, and Walpole, rising, read out the
inscription--'Viscount Kilgobbin.'

'There's no such title,' said the other bluntly.

'Lord Kilgobbin--Kilgobbin? Where did I hear that name before?'

'In a dream, perhaps.'

'No, no. I _have_ heard it, if I could only remember where and how! I say,
landlord, where does his lordship live?' and he pointed to the portrait.

'Beyond, at the castle, sir. You can see it from the door without when the
weather's fine.'

'That must mean on a very rare occasion!' said Lockwood gravely.

'No indeed, sir. It didn't begin to rain on Tuesday last till after three
o'clock.'

'Magnificent climate!' exclaimed Walpole enthusiastically.

'It is indeed, sir. Glory be to God!' said the landlord, with an honest
gravity that set them both off laughing.

'How about this club--does it meet often?'

'It used, sir, to meet every Thursday evening, and my lord never missed
a night, but quite lately he took it in his head not to come out in the
evenings. Some say it was the rheumatism, and more says it's the unsettled
state of the country; though, the Lord be praised for it, there wasn't a
man fired at in the neighbourhood since Easter, and _he_ was a peeler.'

'One of the constabulary?'

'Yes, sir; a dirty, mean chap, that was looking after a poor boy that set
fire to Mr. Hagin's ricks, and that was over a year ago.'

'And naturally forgotten by this time?'

'By coorse it was forgotten. Ould Mat Hagin got a presentment for the
damage out of the grand-jury, and nobody was the worse for it at all.'

'And so the club is smashed, eh?'

'As good as smashed, sir; for whenever any of them comes now of an evening,
he just goes into the bar and takes his glass there.'

He sighed heavily as he said this, and seemed overcome with sadness.

'I'm trying to remember why the name is so familiar to me. I know I have
heard of Lord Kilgobbin before,' said Walpole.

'Maybe so,' said the landlord respectfully. 'You may have read in books
how it was at Kilgobbin Castle King James came to stop after the Boyne;
that he held a "coort" there in the big drawing-room--they call it the
"throne-room" ever since--and slept two nights at the castle afterwards?'

'That's something to see, Walp