1 82 GARRYOWEN 



really in the position of a bachelor, so you'll only 

 have to invite men." 



Mr French looked troubled for a moment, then 

 he said, " I was going to have told you some- 

 thing — " He stopped and lit a cigarette. 



"Well?" 



"Dashwood— " 



-Well?" 



*' Well, he said — In fact, he said that these old 

 English folk round here are such a lot of stuck-up 

 old fools that, as a matter of fact, you'd have a 

 bad time here as a governess. So he said he said 

 to a man that lives here I was bringing my niece 

 with me. D'you see? " 



Miss Grimshaw laughed. She knew at once 

 what French meant. Over in clean Ireland no 

 one thought anything of a pretty young governess 

 living in the house of a widower and looking after 

 his daughter; but here it was different. The 

 morals of the rabbit-hutch, which are the morals of 

 Enghsh society, had to be conformed to. She had 

 never thought of the matter before, and lo and 

 behold! Bobby Dash wood had thought of the 

 matter for her. 



" But I'm not your niece." 



" No," said French, " but, sure, you might be. 

 And how are they to know? Lot of old fools, they 

 think the position of a governess beneath them — 

 not that you are a governess. Sure," finished he, 

 apologetic and laughing, " we're all at sixes and 

 sevens, and the easiest way out is to cut the knot 



