# Pat Connell — Short Fiction character guide

> Pat Connell in Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Connell, Pat, old Martha, Martha

**First appearance:** 0073-the-banshee

## Snapshot

Pat Connell, known in some households as old Martha, a servant whose banshee lore carries the weight of a life spent among the dead and the devout.

## Who they are

Pat Connell belongs to the class of Irish retainers whose Catholic faith and oral tradition place them at odds with their Protestant or careless masters. Like Molly Doyle, the tall, lean, religious servant who tends Lady Emily and is hated by the Captain for her cursed stories, Connell is a keeper of the old knowledge. The banshee tale he tells is not superstition to him but inheritance — and the story's power depends on our sensing that he has heard it before, and believed it every time.

## In the story

### [The Drunkard's Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/the-drunkard-s-dream)

A carpenter and reformed drunkard who experiences a terrifying dream and later dies from a fall.

### [Billy Malowney's Taste of Love and Glory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/billy-malowney-s-taste-of-love-and-glory)

Mentioned as the piper who had a favor out of the wedding celebration.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/pat_connell
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters