DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 263 



our beds. These females, fresh ones every day, 

 worried me with their loud talk of how to manage 

 things. Now and then a sweeter female voice from 

 amongst the crowd would catch the ear and call 

 the eye, but, oh, my ! what variations in voice 

 and gesture the masculine, travelling woman has. 

 There was a large assembly of them at the dinner- 

 table on the third day after our arrival, and we 

 might have been much edified by their conversation, 

 up to a certain period, had the ladies been content 

 to talk one at a time ; but when that period came 

 we were given something to think about that con- 

 cerned us personally. The waiter, with a hand on 

 Emery's chair and one on mine, with his head 

 craned forward in the space above our shoulders 

 to watch the effect of his words, spoke to us in his 

 most Irishly-persuasive voice : " Shure thin you 

 jintlemin will be shlaping on the dhrawing-room 

 flure to-night." 



Pat made much of " dhrawing-room flure," as no 

 doubt he desired us to know it was a very superior 

 place and then, after a pause, and with a slight 

 bend of his head, he added : " and it will be ladies 

 thimselves that will be shlaping in the beds." 

 I assure all and sundry that it was quite a shy eye 

 that ran round the table to see which amongst the 

 many ladies was to occupy my berth. Of course 

 I was baffled in my search but I gallantly deter- 

 mined I would say to either of them as I was in 

 duty bound "Madam, take my bed, take my 

 room, you are welcome to both as I have a fancy 

 for the 'dhrawing-room flure' to-night." Then 

 I turned to Emery and from his face I guessed that 

 his thoughts were with the landlord who had sent 



