corner of
the wood, and the tall, dark figures of the Royal Irish Constabulary
guarding the gate and doorstep. At present the house, the farm, and
the neighbouring village are occupied by the police, and it has been
thought necessary to increase the strength of the garrison in order to
assure the safety of the servants who, to their infinite credit in
such times as these, remain true to their master.

It is not pretended for an instant that either Mr. W. Bence Jones or
his son, who are as gigantic of stature as they are resolute of mind,
need fear personal attack. They are known to be armed to the teeth,
and the chances are that the weak-minded labourers who have deserted
them are far more afraid of "the masters" than they are of them. The
household of Lisselan consists for the time being of the Messrs. Bence
Jones, father and son. Miss Bence Jones, their English house servants,
two labourers--whereof one is English and the other Irish--Mr. Law,
the Scotch bailiff, and an Irish housemaid, who has remained faithful,
and helps Miss Bence Jones to milk the cows and to attend to the
dairy. The road is slippery on the high ground hard by, and it is
debated at Lisselan House whether the farrier of the Dragoon Guards
shall not be asked to "sharpen" the shoes of the animals employed
there, for no local workman will touch them.

As I pass by the dairy, one of those in which collectively Mr. Bence
Jones makes 1,000l. worth of butter yearly, I see the trim housemaid,
dressed in cotton print, milking a cow, and am presently aware of "the
master's" son and daughter, who have been up since the dawn feeding
and penning cattle and sheep, and milking the cows. Since Monday the
strike among the Irish employed on the house and the farm has, with
the exceptions already mentioned, been rigidly maintained. The men,
about forty in number, were "noticed" on Friday; on Saturday they
announced their intention of working no more for Mr. Bence Jones, and
on Monday deserted the place as if it were plague-stricken.

On Monday morning Mr. Law stood aghast at the sight of a farm of a
thousand acres with nobody to work it; but he soon recovered himself,
and with the help of his own work, that of a couple of labourers left,
and the co-operation of the master's son and daughter, matters went on
despite the strike. Mr. Law is, of course, as a good Scotch bailiff
should be, greatly distressed at the state of his cow-houses,
feeding-stalls, and stockyar