Paddy Finn | Page 6

affection
for me. He also--notwithstanding his rough outside--possessed a talent
for music, and could not only sing a capital song, but had learned to
play the violin from an old fiddler, Peter McLeary, who had presented
him with an instrument, which he valued like the apple of his eye. He
now carried it in its case, strapped carefully on behind him. We rode on
too fast to allow of his playing it, as I have seen him do on horseback
many a time, when coming from marriages or wakes, where he was
consequently in great request. We made a long day's journey, having
rested a couple of hours to bait our horses; and not reaching the town of
Kilmore till long after sundown.
The assizes were taking place. The judge and lawyers, soldiers, police,
and witnesses, filled every house in the town. Consequently the only
inn at which we could hope to obtain accommodation was crowded. All
the guests had retired to their rooms; but the landlady, Mrs Mccarthy,
who knew my uncle, undertook to put us up. Larry took the horses
round to the stables, where he would find his sleeping place, and we
entered the common room. Mrs McCarthy was the only person in the
establishment who seemed to have any of her wits about her. The rest
of the inmates who were still on foot had evidently imbibed a larger
amount of the potheen than their heads could stand, she herself being
even more genial than usual.
"Shure, major dear, there are two gentlemen of the bar up-stairs who

don't know their feet from their heads; and as your honour will be
rising early to continue your journey, we'll just tumble them out on the
floor, and you can take their bed. We'll put them back again before they
wake in the morning; or if we're after forgetting it, they'll only think
they have rolled out of their own accord, and nobody'll be blamed, or
they be the worse for it; and they'll have reason to be thankful, seeing
that if they had really tumbled on the floor, they might have broken
their necks."
My uncle, who would on no account agree to this hospitable proposal,
insisted on sitting up in an arm-chair, with his legs on another, assuring
Mrs McCarthy that he had passed many a night with worse
accommodation.
"Shure, then, the young gentleman must go to bed," observed the
hostess. "There's one I've got for him in the kitchen,--a little snug
cupboard by the fireside; and shure he'll there be as warm and
comfortable as a mouse in its hole."
To this the major agreed, as the bed was not big enough for both of us,
and indeed was too short for him.
Supper being ended, my uncle composed himself in the position he
intended to occupy, with his cloak wrapped round him, and I
accompanied Mrs McCarthy into the kitchen, which was in a delightful
state of disorder. She here let down, from a little niche in which it was
folded, a small cupboard-bed, on which, though the sheets and blankets
were not very clean, I was not sorry to contemplate a night's rest. The
landlady, wishing me good-night, withdrew to her own quarters. Molly,
the maid-servant, I should have said, long before this, overcome by the
sips she had taken at the invitation of the guests, was stowed away in a
corner somewhere out of sight.
Pulling off my boots and laced coat and waistcoat, which I stowed for
safe keeping under the pillow, I turned into bed by the light of the
expiring embers of the fire, and in a few seconds afterwards was fast
asleep. I was not conscious of waking for a single moment during the
night; and had I been called, should have said that only a few minutes

had passed since I had closed my eyes, when, to my horror, all at once I
found myself in a state of suffocation, with my head downwards,
pressed closely between the bolster and pillow, and my feet in the air.
Every moment I thought would be my last. I struggled as violently as
my confined position would allow, unable, in my confusion, to
conceive where I was, or what had happened. I in vain tried to shout
out; when I opened my mouth, the feather pillow filled it, and no sound
escaped. I felt much as, I suppose, a person does drowning. Thoughts
of all sorts rushed into my mind, and I believed that I was doomed to an
ignominious exit from this sublunary scene, when suddenly there came
a crash, and, shot out into the middle of the room, I lay sprawling on
the floor, unable to rise or help myself, my head feeling as if all the
blood in