1829.] Walks in Ireland. 63 



the door. Something had happened to tickle their fancies^ for they were 

 laughing boisterously, and continued in noisy merriment lor a few minutes 

 before any of them thought of knocking. During this time,, I watched 

 the face of my mysterious hostess, without taking my eyes from her 

 for a second ; tliough she never interrupted her melancholy, moaning lay, 

 yet her eyes, fixed on the door as if they would pierce through it, her 

 erect attitude of watchful attention, and the air of coolness and prompti- 

 tude with Vv'hich she had made her simple preparation for defence, satis- 

 fied me, that be my dangers what they might, treachery was not among 

 the number — at last one of the party knocked for admittance — " Who's 

 there ?" said my companion, in the same harsh tone with which she had 

 first addressed me. " It's me — it's all of us," growled a brutal voice 

 from without. " Open the door, an' be damned t'ye, an' dont be keepin' 

 us in the could rain." — " Ye can't come in, Larry," replied my hostess, 

 coolly. " An't he dead yit ?" exclaimed the other : " blood an' turf, 

 let us in quick, v/e've got wliat'll put life in him in a hurry." — " The 

 breath's lavin' him v/hile ye're spakin'," ansv/ered my companion, " an' 

 nothin' ye have can stop id, an' the sight o' ye will brin' bad loock; 

 divil resave the one o' ye'll see him till he's laid out, thin yez can do 

 no harm."* — " Ye'll not let us in — ye'll not let us in, wont ye ?" shouted 

 lialf-a-dozen voices ; " brake the door, boys." — " An' then iv ye do," 

 cried the Avoman in the same tone, springing to her feet, and snatching a 

 blunderbuss from under the bed, " ye'll go out stiffer nor ye come in ; 

 for, by the cross, I'll blow the head off the first o' ye that stirs a fut in 

 here this blessed night." As she passed to the door, with the cool, 

 fierce look of one determined to execute her threat, she turned foi- an 

 instant tov/ards me. Notwithstanding her sneer at my effeminate chains, 

 I bad better means of protecting them than she imagined. I never go 

 altogether unarmed on a wild pedestrian ramble, for as my habits on 

 those occasions are very erratic, I cannot even guess where, or in what 

 strange scene nightfall may find me : so that on the present occasion I 

 had v,rithin my waistcoat an antient and trusty friend, namely, a dirk : 

 not a midshipman's miniature sword, but a small, stout, substantial eight- 

 inch blade, that a strong hand might drive through a deal plank — and 

 I need hardly tell a cool active man that such a weapon is the best pos- 

 sible one in a scuffle. When she saw me with this unsheathed in my 

 hand, prepared to second whatever she might do, her eyes actually 

 flashed fire. " Stab the tall black-lookin' one first," whispered she, her 

 mouth so close to my ear that her voice sounded within my head like an 

 uttered thought of my own mind, rather than an advice from without ; 

 " make sure ov him iv they brake in, he's the activest an' the worst ov 

 all. Boys," said she, when close to the door, " what do yez want ? is it 

 proper or dacent for yez to be wantin' to come into the place vvhere the 

 corjise is, the minute the breath's out ov it ? it id be fittei- for ye to go an' 

 sind Biddy Oulaghan to me to help an' lay it out, nor to come rioting 

 this away afore the wake." — " Throth, an' that's thrue forye," replied 

 anotlier and a graver voice ; " an' divil a one o' the best o' ye, boys, 

 I'll let stir in to-night till the wimin lays him out, and makes him dacent 

 an' fit to be seen — so come along an' sind Biddy ;" and instantly, though 



• In Ireland, tlic corpse is never exposed to view until it lia.s been v-'aslied and dressed, 

 or, to sjjcuk in the usual pliiaiu, " laid out ;" any iutrusiou bel'urc tluit time, is counted to 

 I lie last degree indelicate. 



