Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/441

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444
THE STRAND MAGAZINE.

there still remains evidence of a wound on the left cheek in the shape of a scar, the history of which I am to know by and by. He talks rapidly, earnestly, and speaks with all the force of a man who means what he says. One could not help connecting his training as a soldier with the ease of his posture when conversing. He would stand talking for a couple of hours without moving his position an inch. He is frank and honest in all he says, he has no fear of giving utterance to his convictions, and he says nothing which is not worth remembering. He throws his whole heart and soul into a conversation, with all the zeal and ardour he would put into a campaign.


Lord Wolseley.
From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry.

We went from room to room of his delightful quarters, now and again joined by Lady Wolseley—to whose artistic ingenuity every piece of furniture owes its place. What a work it was! When Lord Wolseley received his appointment in Ireland—a position he will hold for five years—it was close on a year before the house was ready to receive Lady Wolseley and her daughter, the Hon. Frances Wolseley. Each article of furniture—every chair, cabinet, cushion, and footstool, was labelled in London by Lady Wolseley, and allotted to the very corner it was to occupy, so that when they entered the place it was like walking into their old home imported bodily from town.

"During that year of re-decoration," Lord Wolseley merrily remarked, "I was to be found at a hotel." The manner in which that little remark was made told that Lord Wolseley loved—home.

The entrance hall has on its walls some fine armour—designs are ingeniously executed with the aid of cutlasses, breastplates, pistols, and sabres. The walls are of terra