if fully preoccupied, he turned and left the
room.

CHAPTER XXXV

A DRIVE AT SUNRISE

The little basket-carriage in which Nina made her excursions, and which
courtesy called a phaeton, would scarcely have been taken as a model at
Long Acre. A massive old wicker-cradle constituted the body, which, from a
slight inequality in the wheels, had got an uncomfortable 'lurch to port,'
while the rumble was supplied by a narrow shelf, on which her foot-page
sat _dos a dos_ to herself--a position not rendered more dignified by his
invariable habit of playing pitch-and-toss with himself, as a means of
distraction in travel.

Except Bob, the sturdy little pony in the shafts, nothing could be less
schooled or disciplined than Larry himself. At sight of a party at marbles
or hopscotch, he was sure to desert his post, trusting to short cuts and
speed to catch up his mistress later on.

As for Bob, a tuft of clover or fresh grass on the roadside were
temptations to the full as great to him, and no amount of whipping could
induce him to continue his road leaving these dainties untasted. As in Mr.
Gill's time, he had carried that important personage, he had contracted the
habit of stopping at every cabin by the way, giving to each halt the amount
of time he believed the colloquy should have occupied, and then, without
any admonition, resuming his journey. In fact, as an index to the
refractory tenants on the estate, his mode of progression, with its
interruptions, might have been employed, and the sturdy fashion in which
he would 'draw up' at certain doors might be taken as the forerunner of an
ejectment.

The blessed change by which the county saw the beast now driven by a
beautiful young lady, instead of bestrode by an inimical bailiff, added to
a popularity which Ireland in her poorest and darkest hour always accords
to beauty; and they, indeed, who trace points of resemblance between
two distant peoples, have not failed to remark that the Irish, like the
Italians, invariably refer all female loveliness to that type of surpassing
excellence, the Madonna.

Nina had too much of the South in her blood not to like the heartfelt,
outspoken admiration which greeted her as she went; and the 'God bless
you--but you are a lovely crayture!' delighted, while it amused her in the
way the qualification was expressed.

It was soon after sunrise on this Friday morning that she drove down the
approach, and made her way across the bo