Murphy's Master, and Other Stories (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Mttlvaney's. The rest of their journey was soon ended: Murphy stopped at an inn, where he saw the mare rubbed down and fed, with his own eyes, ere he took his young companion to the lodgings hard by, which Kavanagh had indicated. Mulvaney's was an eating-house of humble exterior, situated in a secluded street, whereof the houses were old and gabled, and mostly built of wood: a piece of streaky bacon and some potatoes appealed to hungry stomachs in the ground-floor window; while above, the words ' Good Beds ' addressed themselves to tired limbs. The inside of this house, which modestly drew back a little from its neighbours, was of more pretension than the outside: though the rooms were small?with the exception of the public one, which was divided into boxes, shining with grease and age?they were very numerous, and wainscoted with oak. Most persons finding it in VOL. I. so humble a place, would have taken this panelling for discoloured deal, but Chesney, familiar with timber, knew better, and marvelled at it. The staircase .was of the same material, its steps broad and shining: its balustrades curiously carved with fruit and flowers, though these were hardly discernible for the dirt that begrimed them. The mansion had doubtless been the residence of some rich and thrifty citizen in the olden time; it had been the pride of some Dame Margery to keep the oak well polished, and to see that the sleeping- rooms smelled of dried lavender. But Dame Margery had been dead these hundred years and more; and if Widow Mulvaney, who reigned in her stead, had a preference for any odorous herb above another, it was for onions. The smell of onions always arising from the kitchen, like a perpetual incense, pervaded the whole establishment, which was impregnated with it. You...