CHAPTER XV.
THE EMPTY HOUSE We had rooms on the sunny side of St.Stephen's Green, not far from the Shelbourne Hotel and the Clubs, and, what interested me more, the Grafton Street shops.

I was nineteen years old, and I had never seen any shops but those of Quinn, our country town, and these very seldom; so it may be imagined what wonderful places the Dublin shops appeared to me, although my godmother assured me they were not a patch on those of London and Paris.

In fact, the town seemed quite strange and wonderful altogether, with the people hurrying hither and thither and the traffic in the streets and the fine stir of life.

I thought I never could be tired of it all; and I was quite sure I should never be tired of the shops.
My godmother was well pleased at my delight, while she laughed at me, assuring me that Dublin was a dead city as compared with others.
"It is a Sleeping Beauty which wakes once a year," she said, "and that is in Horse-Show Week.

Time was when I came up every year for the show.
Now I think I shall revive the custom for your sake, Bawn.