OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN 



"I hope/' says Miss Carrie apologetically, "that you 

 don't mind his being out of livery/' 



" The fact is, Regan had an accident last night/' explains 

 Miss Margaret. "He fell into the old gravel pit going 



back home and cut his head open, and " 



" It was my fault entirely," interrupts Miss Caroline in 

 distressed accents. "I had to send him in to Galway 

 town, and to tell him to wait and bring back Captain 

 Blake. And that meant loitering an hour." 

 " Dear, dear ! " Miss Margaret clacks her tongue. " That 

 was very unfortunate ! He such a steady man ! But an 

 hour in Galway town . . . ! " 



" It's only what might have been expected," Miss Caroline 

 concludes. "I blame myself entirely.! generally," she 

 adds, turning to me, " avoid leaving him any time in the 

 town, you know." 



And the best of it is that Regan remains in their minds 

 " the steady man." How impossible it is for the stranger 

 to understand Ireland and Ireland's ways ! How much 

 humour must you have and what unlimited patience! 

 There is nothing, of course, that so conduces to patience 

 as a pleasant sense of humour. 



The ladies are the Providence of the district. There is a 

 room at the back of the great gallery filled nearly to the 

 ceiling with rolls of homespun made by the peasant women 

 in the villages. Whenever a cottage mother is in want of 

 money she runs up to Miss Margaret or Miss Caroline, 

 bringing or promising the product of her loom. A good 

 deal of money is advanced/ a good deal paid in this 

 manner, chiefly out of the ladies' generous pockets. 



"Of course, poor things, you must know the way to 

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