OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN 



complete darknessfor there was only a partial glimmer 

 from one carriage-lamp half the way, which then became 

 extinct altogether it is something of an enterprise ! But 

 it was worth it to find such a welcome at the end ! 

 A " Gothic " mansion, dating from the early part of last 

 century, Kilcoultra is outwardly a very grand pile and 

 stands nobly in the midst of a rolling park, reclaimed from 

 the wild stony land of Galway. And inside, the first impres- 

 sion is like stepping in to the glories of a missal page. The 

 whole house is homogeneous and entirely successful in its 

 mediaeval colouring. On the walls are gorgeous enamel 

 blues, peacock greens or yet carmine crimsons appropri- 

 ately set with fleurs-de-lis, maltese cross or some other 

 conventional device in gold / ceiling and cornices are richly 

 illuminated to correspond. To find this glow of colour in 

 the midst of the melancholy greys and greens of the western 

 landscape, under the low drifting cloud-ridden skies, has a 

 great charm / it has a poetic Maeterlinckian atmosphere. 

 There is something too of the delicate sadness of an old 

 romance in the lives of these kindly ladies who rule so 

 wisely over the lands left to them by their brother the last 

 of his name. He was a man round whom justly centred 

 unusual hopes and ambitions. Now he, who had so great 

 a heart and so splendid a mind, lies in the ruined chapel in 

 the park, alone. The chapel is roofless. It is a nobly 

 solitary and fit resting-place for one who was nobly apart 

 from the petty aims of his contemporaries ,- who lived and 

 died true to his ideals ,- whose work still prospers in the 

 freed lands of his people. He gave up much for Ireland, 

 and Ireland gave him nothing at all in return . . . except that 

 wonderful sleeping-place with the changing sky overhead. 

 278 



