d the mysterious aura which draws men and children as to a
warm hearth-fire.

So much the worse, thought Lady O'Gara, and commented to herself that
Patsy must have stripped his own house bare. Those jugs were his, the
gay crockery, and the pictures of the Saints and patriots--she wondered
what appeal these might have for Susan--and that shelf of books in the
corner. Patsy had a taste, laughed at by his fellows, for book-buying,
whenever the occasion arose. He was well-known at auctions round about
the country, where he bought miscellaneous lots of books, with some few
ornaments as well. She could see the backs of two books Patsy had a
great admiration for, "Fardarougha the Miser" and "Charles O'Malley";
and, on the chimney-piece, there were two large pink shells and a
weather house which she had often seen on Patsy's chimney-piece. The
more solid pieces of furniture and some of the plain crockery had been
sent down from Castle Talbot.

"I see Patsy's been lending you his treasures," she said.

"Yes, indeed, m'lady. I asked him not to, but he wouldn't take any
notice of me. He said he'd no use for the things. He's stripped
himself bare, m'lady. I didn't know men were like that. Small wonder
the dumb beasts love him. I wonder he has anything left to give."

She spoke with such fervour that Lady O'Gara was touched.

"You've had a sad experience of men, my poor Susan," she said. "But
you are quite right about Patsy. There are few men as gentle as he is.
We all look on Patsy as a dear and valued friend. I must find him some
other things to keep him from missing these. Not books--I know his
house is piled with books. He won't miss those, though he has given
you the ones he like best. I wonder whether I could find pictures like
those. I think I have seen that Robert Emmet, or something like it, in
a shop-window in Galway."

"I don't know who the gentlemen are," Susan said, looking from one
patriot to another, "and I didn't want to have them taken from his
walls. I expect they've left a mark on the wall-paper where they were
taken down, for he said he'd got to do some papering for himself."

It was on Lady O'Gara's tongue to utter a gentle warning that Patsy
must not be too much about the South lodge, but the warning remained
unspoken.

"He's the best man I ever knew," said Susan, "I didn't know there was
his like in the world. It's a strange thing, m'lady, that men can be
so different. Listen, m'l