I came up to him, 'and indeed Kilpeddar is a dear place, for it's
three-pence they charged me for it; but I suppose there must be a
profit from every trade, and we must all live and let live.'

When we had talked a little more I asked him if he had been often in
Dublin.

'I was living in Dublin near ten years,' he said; 'and indeed I
don't know what way I lived that length in it, for there is no place
with smells like the city of Dublin. One time I went up with my wife
into those lanes where they sell old clothing, Hanover Lane and
Plunket's Lane, and when my wife--she's dead now, God forgive
her!--when my wife smelt the dirty air she put her apron up to her
nose, and, "For the love of God," says she, "get me away out of this
place." And now may I ask if it's from there you are yourself, for I
think by your speaking it wasn't in these parts you were reared?'

I told him I was born in Dublin, but that I had travelled afterwards
and been in Paris and Rome, and seen the Pope Leo XIII.

'And will you tell me,' he said, 'is it true that anyone at all can
see the Pope?'

I described the festivals in the Vatican, and how I had seen the
Pope carried through long halls on a sort of throne. 'Well, now,' he
said, 'can you tell me who was the first Pope that sat upon that
throne?'

I hesitated for a moment, and he went on: