THE EDITOR'S STORY. 145 



O'Brien called them "laders,") in the week, 

 and in controlling the movements of a solitary 

 reporter, who " did " the petty sessions, meet- 

 ings of boards of guardians, and such musical 

 and dramatic criticism as arose out of the 

 occasional visit of a travelling theatrical com- 

 pany, or a concert of Castletown amateurs. 



" Mrs. Brady is mighty stiff and stuck up ; 

 ye'll see but little of her., We've both to dine 

 there to-day, though, and you can judge for 

 yourself." 



The opinion I formed of Mr. O'Brien was 

 that he was a clever idle fellow ; and I could 

 perceive that he was not in the least annoyed 

 at having to surrender his post to me. 



Mrs. Brady resided outside the town, which 

 contained, I should think, about ten thousand 

 people, and was a prosperous place enough, as 

 such towns went. Her house was prettily 

 situated, with a short lawn running down to 

 the river. As we were walking up to the 

 house, Mr. O'Brien (who wore a string of 

 artificial flies round his hat) told me he had 

 landed many a three and four pound trout on 

 the grass quite close to us. 



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