I was never a "political lady," and, apart from him, I have never felt the slightest interest in politics, either Irish or English, and I can honestly say that except for urging him to make terms with the Government in order to obtain his liberation from prison, I did not once throughout those eleven years attempt to use my influence over him to "bias" his public life or politics; nor, being convinced that his opinions and measures were the only ones worth consideration, was I even tempted to do so. In my many interviews with Mr. Gladstone I was Parnell's messenger, and in all other work I did for him it was understood on both sides that I worked for Parnell alone. KATHARINE PARNELL. _Brighton, April_, 1914. {xiii} CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. MY EARLY LIFE 2. VISITORS AT RIVENHALL 3. MY FATHER'S DEATH AND MY MARRIAGE 4. A DAY ON THE DOWNS 5. MORE FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES 6. CAPTAIN O'SHEA ENTERS POLITICAL LIFE 7. MR. PARNELL AND THE IRISH PARTY 8. THE FIRST MEETING WITH MR. PARNELL 9. AT ELTHAM 10. THE LAND LEAGUE TRIALS 11. PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATIONS 12. HOBBIES AND A CHALLENGE 13. ASTRONOMY, "SEDITION," AND ARREST 14. KILMAINHAM DAYS 15. MORE KILMAINHAM LETTERS 16. THE "KILMAINHAM TREATY" 17. THE PHOENIX PARK MURDERS AND AFTER 18. ENVOY TO GLADSTONE 19. THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL 20. MR. PARNELL IN DANGER--FOUNDING OF NATIONAL LEAGUE {xiv} 21. A WINTER OF MEMORIES 22. HORSES AND DOGS 23. SEASIDE HOLIDAYS 24. LONDON REMEMBRANCES 25. THE PARNELL COMMISSION 26. BRIGHTON HAUNTS 27. THE DIVORCE CASE 28. A KING AT BAY 29. PARNELL AS I KNEW HIM 30. MARRIAGE, ILLNESS AND DEATH INDEX {1} Charles Stewart Parnell CHAPTER I MY EARLY LIFE "_Go forth; and if it be o'er stoney way Old Joy can lend what newer grief must borrow, And it was sweet, and that was yesterday. And sweet is sweet, though purchased with sorrow._" F. THOMPSON. My father, Sir John Page Wood, was descended from the Woods of Tiverton, and was the eldest of the three sons of Sir Matthew Wood, Baronet, of Hatherley House, Gloucestershire. He was educated at Winchester and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and after entering into holy orders, before he was twenty-four years of age, was appointed private chaplain and secretary to Queen Caroline, performing the last offices for her at her death in 1820, and attending her body to its final resting-place in Brunswick. He then became chaplain to the Duke of Sussex, and in 1824 was appointed by the Corporation of London to the rectory of St. Peter's, Cornhill.