No honest man could do anything else.' He conducted Hyacinth to one of the old squares on the north side of the city.

When the tide of fashion set southwards, spreading terraces and villas from Leeson Street to Killiney, it left behind some of the finest houses in Dublin.

Nowadays for a comparatively low rent it is possible to live in a splendid house if you do not aspire to the glory of a smart address.

Miss O'Dwyer's house, for instance, boasted a spacious hall and lofty sitting-rooms, with impressive ceilings and handsome fireplaces; yet she paid for it little more than half the rent which a cramped villa in Clyde Road would have cost her.

Even so, it was somewhat of a mystery to her friends how Miss O'Dwyer managed to live there.