Married and Single

KILMENY.

Sir Percy Fitzgerald's property was situated in one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland, on the shores of a lough, stretching for twenty miles inland. In some parts it was several miles wide, but in others scarcely a mile across. The country on each side was beautifully wooded, the trees reaching down to the water's edge, while little islands covered its surface, some large enough to be inhabited. The inhabitants living on the shores of the lough were accustomed to an almost aquatic existence, the poorer class being composed chiefly of fishermen and boatmen, who conveyed passengers and goods from the islands to the mainland. Their richer neighbours possessed yachts, and sailing and rowing boats of various kinds, and Lady Katherine Fitzgerald declared she had no longer any use for horses and carriages, as every one seemed to live on the water.

Oriel Court, the Fitzgeralds* place, was situated on a hill overlooking the lough, a fine deer-pa