all this was as well as well could
be; but it was customary when Sir Phelim id go anywhere out iv the
country, for some iv the tinants to sit up to watch in the ould castle,
just for a kind of compliment to the ould family--an' a mighty unplisant
compliment it was for the tinants, for there wasn't a man of them but
knew there was something quare about the ould castle. The neighbours
had it, that the squire's ould grandfather, as good a gintlenlan--God
be with him--as I heer'd, as ever stood in shoe-leather, used to keep
walkin' about in the middle iv the night, ever sinst he bursted a blood
vessel pullin' out a cork out iv a bottle, as you or I might be doin',
and will too, plase God--but that doesn't signify. So, as I was sayin',
the ould squire used to come down out of the frame, where his picthur
was hung up, and to break the bottles and glasses--God be marciful to us
all--an' dthrink all he could come at--an' small blame to him for that
same; and then if any of the family id be comin' in, he id be up again
in his place, looking as quite an' as innocent as if he didn't know
anything about it--the mischievous ould chap.

'Well, your honour, as I was sayin', one time the family up at the
castle was stayin' in Dublin for a week or two; and so, as usual, some
of the tinants had to sit up in the castle, and the third night it kem
to my father's turn. "Oh, tare an' ouns!" says he unto himself, "an'
must I sit up all night, and that ould vagabone of a sperit, glory be
to God," says he, "serenadin' through the house, an' doin' all sorts iv
mischief?" However, there was no gettin' aff, and so he put a bould
face on it, an' he went up at nightfall with a bottle of pottieen, and
another of holy wather.

'It was rainin' smart enough, an' the evenin' was darksome and gloomy,
when my father got in; and what with the rain he got, and the holy
wather he sprinkled on himself, it wasn't long till he had to swally a
cup iv the pottieen, to keep the cowld out iv his heart. It was the ould
steward, Lawrence Connor, that opened the door--and he an' my father wor
always very great. So when he seen who it was, an' my father tould him
how it was his turn to watch in the castle, he offered to sit up along
with him; and you may be sure my father wasn't sorry for that same. So
says Larry:

'"We'll have a bit iv fire in the parlour," says he.

'"An' why not in the hall?" says my father, for he knew that the
squire's picthur was hung in the p