property, as is so often the case in Ireland; surrounded by pleasant
grounds and pleasant gardens, with a gorse fox covert belonging to
the place within a mile of it, with a slated lodge, and a pretty
drive along the river. At the age of twenty-two, Owen Fitzgerald
came into all this; and as he at once resided upon the place, he
came in also for the good graces of all the mothers with unmarried
daughters in the county, and for the smiles also of many of the
daughters themselves.

Sir Thomas and Lady Fitzgerald were not his uncle and aunt, but
nevertheless they took kindly to him;--very kindly at first, though
that kindness after a while became less warm. He was the nearest
relation of the name; and should anything happen--as the fatal
death-foretelling phrase goes--to young Herbert Fitzgerald, he
would become the heir of the family title and of the family place.

When I hear of a young man sitting down by himself as the master of
a household, without a wife, or even without a mother or sister to
guide him, I always anticipate danger. If he does not go astray in
any other way, he will probably mismanage his money matters. And
then there are so many other ways. A house, if it be not made
pleasant by domestic pleasant things, must be made pleasant by
pleasure. And a bachelor's pleasures in his own house are always
dangerous. Thre is too much wine drunk at his dinner parties. His
guests sit too long over their cards. The servants know that they
want a mistress; and, in the absence of that mistress, the language
of the household becomes loud and harsh--and sometimes improper.
Young men among us seldom go quite straight in their course, unless
they are, at any rate occasionally, brought under the influence of
tea and small talk.