_First Edition_ 1908 _Second Impression_ 1909 _Third Impression_ 1909 _Fourth Impression_ 1910 _Fifth Impression_ 1916 _Sixth Impression_ 1917 [_All rights reserved_] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS I. WHERE THE WILD GEESE FLY II. PATSY III. THE FORM IN THE WOOD IV. CON COGAN V. THE MAN IN THE TREE VI. THE HIRING OF PATSY VII. MRS FINNEGAN’S BOY VIII. THE BATTLE IN THE YARD IX. A FACE AT THE WINDOW X. THE GHOST CARRIAGE XI. THE FIRST GUEST XII. MR FANSHAWE XIII. THE MEET OF THE HOUNDS XIV. A KISS ON THE STAIRS XV. GOING IN TO DINNER XVI. IN THE “SCRUBBERY” XVII. THE STORY OF THE PIG XVIII. AN INTERRUPTED FEAST XIX. SHAN XX. THE MEET OF THE BEAGLES XXI. MR BOXALL GETS IN THE WAY XXII. LOVE XXIII. THE WILD DUCKS XXIV. NAILING UP THE HOLLY XXV. A POTENTIAL POET XXVI. THE SPIRIT OF IRELAND XXVII. MIDWINTER NIGHT’S DREAM XXVIII. MR LYBURN XXIX. THE TRAP XXX. “PUT THE DONKEY TO” XXXI. THE FOX AND THE HOUNDS XXXII. THE FOX TAKES EARTH XXXIII. BILLY CROOM XXXIV. MR MURPHY IN EXCELSIS XXXV. INFLUENZA XXXVI. PREPARATIONS XXXVII. FLIGHT XXXVIII. THE OFF HUB XXXIX. A MAN OF RESOURCE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PATSY CHAPTER I WHERE THE WILD GEESE FLY A flock of wild geese flying across the sunset far away, remote, fantastic, the only living things visible in a world filling with shadows, lent the last touch of beauty to the vast and lonely moors. “They’re makin’ for the pools of Cloyne, sir,” said the keeper. Mr Fanshawe watched the flock pass and vanish in the amber distance like a wreath of smoke. Away to the left, covering themselves with night and gloom, stood the hills of Glynn, where the golden eagle still has its eyrie, and the wild goat its home. From there, away to the west, the great moors stretched to the hills of Cloyne. It was a typical Irish winter’s evening, the sky threatening and forgetting to rain, the air damp and filled with the scent of the earth, near things indistinct in the gathering twilight, and far things seeming near.