PENELOPE'S IRISH EXPERIENCES by Kate Douglas Wiggin. Published 1901. To my first Irish friend, Jane Barlow. Contents. Part First--Leinster. I. We emulate the Rollo books. II. Irish itineraries. III. We sight a derelict. IV. Enter Benella Dusenberry. V. The Wearing of the Green. VI. Dublin, then and now. Part Second--Munster. VII. A tour and a detour. VIII. Romance and reality. IX. The light of other days. X. The belles of Shandon. XI. 'The rale thing.' XII. Life at Knockarney House. XIII. 'O! the sound of the Kerry dancin'.' XIV. 'Mrs. Mullarkey's iligant locks.' XV. Penelope weaves a web. XVI. Salemina has her chance. Part Third--Ulster. XVII. The glens of Antrim. XVIII. Limavady love-letters. XIX. 'In ould Donegal.' XX. We evict a tenant. XXI. Lachrymae Hibernicae. Part Fourth--Connaught. XXII. The weeping west. XXIII. Beams and motes. XXIV. Humours of the road. XXV. The wee folk. Part Fifth--Royal Meath. XXVI. Ireland's gold. XXVII. The three chatelaines of Devorgilla. XXVIII. Round towers and reflections. XXIX. Aunt David's garden. XXX. The quest of the fair strangers. XXXI. Good-bye, dark Rosaleen! XXXII. 'As the sunflower turns.' Part First--Leinster. Chapter I. We emulate the Rollo books. 'Sure a terrible time I was out o' the way, Over the sea, over the sea, Till I come to Ireland one sunny day,-- Betther for me, betther for me: The first time me fut got the feel o' the ground I was strollin' along in an Irish city That hasn't its aquil the world around For the air that is sweet an' the girls that are pretty.' --Moira O'Neill. Dublin, O'Carolan's Private Hotel. It is the most absurd thing in the world that Salemina, Francesca, and I should be in Ireland together. That any three spinsters should be fellow-travellers is not in itself extraordinary, and so our former journeyings in England and Scotland could hardly be described as eccentric in any way; but now that I am a matron and Francesca is shortly to be married, it is odd, to say the least, to see us cosily ensconced in a private sitting-room of a Dublin hotel, the table laid for three, and not a vestige of a man anywhere to be seen. Where, one might ask, if he knew the antecedent circumstances, are Miss Hamilton's American spouse and Miss Monroe's Scottish lover?