BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



the ironmonger had ahke thought better of it, there 

 was a shuffling of many feet in the hall, and the 

 door opened to its widest to admit an immense 

 old lady, advancing with the solemnity of a hearse, 

 while two daughters of some fifty-five or sixty 

 hard-won years moved beside her like pall-bearers, 

 supporting each a weighty elbow on their lean 

 arms. A third daughter walked behind, carrying 

 a white dog of the Spitz breed. As a foundation- 

 stone sinks to its resting-place, so, and with a like 

 deliberation, was the old lady lowered into the 

 largest and, indeed, the only possible chair ; one 

 daughter shut the window, another rang the bell, 

 and a meal of fried beef-steak, onions, and bottled 

 stout was ordered. The temperature of the room 

 seemed perceptibly to rise, and Miss O'Flannigan 

 and I communed by glances as to whether we 

 had energy to get up and go away. 



" Eh ! it's warm, vera warm," said the old lady, 

 addressing the company in general, but ceaselessly 

 examining Miss O'Flannigan and me with eyes as 

 blue and bright as those of any heroine of inex- 



