The occupant of the car was flung into the arms of an expectant waiter, who, true to the instincts of that remarkable race, had scented his prey from afar, and calmly awaited its approach. This Ganymede was attired in a cast-off evening dress-coat frescoed in grease; a shirt bearing traces of the despairing grasp of a frantic washerwoman; a necktie of the dimensions of a window-curtain, of faded brocade; and waistcoat with continuations of new corduroy, which wheezed and chirruped with every motion of his lanky frame. His nose and hair vied in richness of ruby, and his eyes mutely implored every object upon which they rested for a sleep—or a drink.
“You got my note?” said the traveller interrogatively.
“Yes, sir, of course, sir.” Of course they had it. The post in the west of Ireland is an eccentric institution, which disgorges letters just as it suits itself, and without any particular scruple as to dates.
“Have you a table d’hôte here?”
This was a strange sound, but the waiter was a bold man.
“Yes, sir, of course, sir! Would you like it hot, sir?”
“Hot! Certainly.”
“Yes, sir, of course, sir! With a taste of lemon in it?”
“I said—Pshaw! Is dinner ready?” said the traveller impatiently.
“Yes, sir, of course, sir; it’s on the fire, sir,” joyously responded the relieved servitor, although the fowls which were to furnish it were engaged in picking up a precarious subsistence at his very feet, and the cabbage to “poultice” the bacon flabbily flourishing in the adjoining garden.