The Sin of Jasper Standish by Eliza Margaret Jane Humphreys

There was great talk in the little town of Rathfurley when it was known that the Hermitage had been taken by an English family.

In the first place the house had been tenantless for many years, and falling into decay and desolation. In the next it was never supposed that the Mallorys, who were a good old family, and only as poor as the "raal gintry" of Ireland generally contrived to be, would ever demean themselves by letting their ancestral acres to anyone else. So when the rumour got about, Judy McGee had a good deal to say on the subject to her crony Bridget Mooney, who kept the sweet-stuff shop at the corner of Slancy-street, and Judy's son was a gardener, and was told to keep his eye on the situation, for he might be having as good a chance of it as anyone else. Mrs. Mooney was blessed with a daughter christened Honora, a fine strapping girl, brought up to service, and at present out of employ. The English family would no doubt be wanting a housemaid, and Honora was advised to be first in the field. If one or both of these applicants were successful, there would be little doubt but that the whole business, pedigree, position, and income of the intruder would soon be in the hands of the two most notable gossips in Rathfurley.