for one, but a lot iv other places as well. He was brought up at the Castle where the' ould Earrl always lived afther he lift Parlimint; and whin he was a boy he was the wildest young dare-devil iver ye seen. Faix, the County Roscommon itself wasn't big enough for him. When he was a young man he wint away shootin' lions and tigers and elephants and crockodiles and such like. Thin he wint into th' army an began to settle down. He has a whole lot av different houses, and he goes to them all be times. He says that no man has a right to be an intire absentee landlord—even when he's livin' in his own house!"
"But what sort of man is he personally?" she asked persistently. The Irishwoman's answer was direct and comprehensive:
"The bist!"
"How do you know that?"
"An' how do I know it! Amn't I a Roscommon woman, borrn, an' wan av the tinants? Wouldn't that be enough? But that's only the beginnin'. Shure wasn't I his fosther-mother, God bless him! Wasn't he like me own child when I tuk him to me breast whin his poor mother died the day he was borrn. Ah, Miss Hayes there's nothin' ye don't know about the child ye have given suck to. More, betoken, than if he was yer own child; for he might be thinkin' too much of him an puttin' the bist consthruction on ivery little thing he iver done, just because he was yer own. Troth I didn't want any tellin' about Athlyne. The sweetest wean that iver a woman nursed; the tindherest hearted, wid the wee little hands upon me face an his rosebud av a moutli puttin' up to me for a kiss! An' yit the pride av him; more'n a King on his throne. An' th' indepindince! Him wantin' to walk an' run before he was able to shtand. An' ordherin' about the pig an' the gandher, let alone the dog. Shure the masterfullest man-child that iver was, and the masterfullest man that is. Sorra wan like him in the whole wide wurrld!"
