The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

40 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL [1865-69
the early morning the master's bell was vigorously rung,
and old Peter and his wife came up. Parnell lay in
bed wide awake, looking nervous and distressed. ' I
am sorry/ he said, ' to ring you up, but the fact is I am
not well, and have not slept all night. I am better
now, but feel nervous, and would like someone to stop
with me for awhile.' Old Peter remained, and Parnell
talked away on a variety of domestic topics until a
couple of hours had passed, when he fell quietly asleep.
His somnambulistic habits also continued after he left
school and college. But he ultimately cured himself
by tying his leg to the bed, an inconvenient but effectual
remedy. He was at all times -very fond of dogs, but
very much afraid of hydrophobia. One day a favourite
dog jumped on him in play, and pressed his teeth
through the sleeve of his coat. Feeling the pressure
he thought he was bitten, and ordered a car to drive
for the doctor. ' But,' said his old housekeeper,
* perhaps the dog has not bitten you at all.' And on examination that was found to be the case. ' Ah! I am glad, Mary,' said he, * for I would not like to kill him, which they say you should do if a dog bites you.3
* And foolish to say so/ tirged Mary, 'for the harm is done.' £ You are very wise, Mary/ said Parnell, and he went off with the dog for a ramble over the fields.
In July 1865 Parnell went to Cambridge University. * He was entered/ says a correspondent, ' as a pensioner on the boards of Magdalene College, Cambridge, July 1, 1865, and came into residence the following October. The rooms allotted to him were on the ground floor of the right cloister in tlie Pepysian buildings, looking out on the college close and immediately beneath the famous Pepysian Library. Before Parnell came up, Mrs. Parnell forewarned the