Archibald Green, on a business trip to County Mayo, contrived, at a fox-hunt, to scrape acquaintance with Thomas O’Conor, well known for his hospitality. The hoped-for invitation was so immediately given that a return to the inn for clothing was impossible, and, on learning that the daughters of the house were planning a dance, Green ordered his dancing pumps sent from the inn. Instead, some clumsy hobnailed boots arrived, which he forced the old butler to exchange for his down-at-the-heel slippers. The clatter of the boots while the butler served dinner, his grimaces of pain because they were too small, and finally a clatter of broken dishes as the poor servant tripped over his own feet ‘ made an explanation imperative. The family received the story as an excellent joke, and the dancing was postponed until the pumps could be delivered by special messenger.
Notes
"The O'Conors, a transcript of his own early Irish observations, had a remarkable American success, partly because a certain adventurous breeziness of movement as of style exactly suited a public whose passing taste had for the moment been more or less formed, not only by Charles Lever, but by those who had been before him, as Fenimore Cooper and Captain Marryat."-Escott