started and the women and girls--the carriage was filled with
them--had settled down into their places, I could see I caused great
curiosity, as it was too late in the year for even an odd tourist,
and on this line everyone is known by sight.

Before long I got into talk with the old man next me, and as soon as
I did so the women and girls stopped their talk and leaned out to
hear what we were saying.

He asked first if I belonged to Dingle, and I told him I did not.

'Well,' he said, 'you speak like a Kerry man, and you're dressed
like a Kerry man, so you belong to Kerry, surely.'

I told him I was born and bred in Dublin, and that I had travelled
in many places in Ireland and beyond it.

'That's easy said,' he answered, 'but I'd take an oath you were
never beyond Kerry to this day.'

Then he asked sharply: 'What do you do?'

I answered something about my wanderings in Europe, and suddenly he
sat up, as if a new thought had come to him.

'Maybe you're a wealthy man?' he said. I smiled complacently.

'And about thirty-five?'

I nodded.