es, leaving them, as I did the Castle Richmond
family, to come forth upon the canvas as opportunity may offer. But
there is another homestead in this same barony of Desmond, of which
and of its owner--as being its owner--I will say a word.

Hap House was also the property of a Fitzgerald. It had originally
been built by an old Sir Simon Fitzgerald, for the use and behoof
of a second son, and the present owner of it was the grandson of
that man for whom it had been built. And old Sir Simon had given
his offspring not only a house--he had endowed the house with
a comfortable little slice of land, either cut from the large
patrimonial loaf, or else, as was more probable, collected together
and separately baked for this younger branch of the family. Be that
as it may, Hap House had of late years been always regarded as
conferring some seven or eight hundred a year upon its possessor, and
when young Owen Fitzgerald succeeded to this property, on the death
of an uncle in the year 1843, he was regarded as a rich man to that
extent.

At that time he was some twenty-two years of age, and he came down
from Dublin, where his friends had intended that he should practise
as a barrister, to set up for himself as a country gentleman. Hap
House was distant from Castle Richmond about four miles, standing
also on the river Blackwater, but nearer to Mallow. It was a
pleasant, comfortable residence, too large no doubt for such a
property, as is so often the case in Ireland; surrounded by pleasant
grounds and pleasant gardens, with a gorse fox covert belonging to
the place within a mile of it, with a slated lodge, and a pretty
drive along the river. At the age of twenty-two, Owen Fitzgerald came
into all this; and as he at once resided upon the place, he came in
also for the good graces of all the mothers with unmarried daughters
in the county, and for the smiles also of many of the daughters
themselves.

Sir Thomas and Lady Fitzgerald were not his uncle and aunt, but
nevertheless they took kindly to him;--very kindly at first, though
that kindness after a while became less warm. He was the nearest
relation of the name; and should anything happen--as the fatal
death-foretelling phrase goes--to young Herbert Fitzgerald, he would
become the heir of the family title and of the family place.

When I hear of a young man sitting down by himself as the master of
a household, without a wife, or even without a mother or sister to
guide him, I