THE O'CONORS OF CASTLE CONOR, COUNTY MAYO.
FROM "TALES FROM ALL COUNTRIES"

by Anthony Trollope




I shall never forget my first introduction to country life in
Ireland, my first day's hunting there, or the manner in which I
passed the evening afterwards. Nor shall I ever cease to be grateful
for the hospitality which I received from the O'Conors of Castle
Conor. My acquaintance with the family was first made in the
following manner. But before I begin my story, let me inform my
reader that my name is Archibald Green.

I had been for a fortnight in Dublin, and was about to proceed into
county Mayo on business which would occupy me there for some weeks.
My head-quarters would, I found, be at the town of Ballyglass; and I
soon learned that Ballyglass was not a place in which I should find
hotel accommodation of a luxurious kind, or much congenial society
indigenous to the place itself.

"But you are a hunting man, you say," said old Sir P- C-; "and in
that case you will soon know Tom O'Conor. Tom won't let you be dull.
I'd write you a letter to Tom, only he'll certainly make you out
without my taking the trouble."

I did think at the time that the old baronet might have written the
letter for me, as he had been a friend of my father's in former days;