Page 70 - The snake's pass

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CHAPTER IV.
THE SECRETS OP THE BOG.
Some six weeks elapsed before my visits to Irish friends
were completed, and I was about to return home. I
bad had everywhere a hearty welcome ; the best of sport
of all kinds, and an appetite beyond all praise—and one
pretty well required to tackle with any show of success
the excellent food and wine put before me. The west
of Ireland not only produces good viands in plenty and
of the highest excellence, but there is remaining a keen
recollection, accompanied by tangible results, of the
days when open house and its hospitable accompani-
ments made wine merchants prosperous—at the expense
of their customers.
In the midst of all my pleasure, however, I could
not shake from my mind—nor, indeed, did I want to
the interest which Shleenanaher and its surroundings
had created in me. Nor did the experience of that
strange night, with the sweet voice coming through
the darkness in the shadow of the hill, become
dim with the passing of the time. When I look
back and try to analyse myself and my feelings