Flora L. Shaw

“ You, Miss Blair, a stranger, can have little conception of all that we have been forced to suffer from Murtagh and his brother and sisters, but now it passes a matter of inconvenience. Impertinence and annoyance I could and would have endured, but to have my child hurt, to have her life, her reason endangered, to gratify the caprice of an insolent boy—"
He was transformed; he was no longer the correct Mr. Plunkett that Nessa knew. His face was pale, his eyes full of a strange light; he was a man,—a man struggling with a violent emotion. ”

“ Mr. Murtagh, ye won't betray us; Miss Winnie, asthore? Ye're only children, but ye won't say a word?"
"You needn't be afraid," cried Winnie and Murtagh together. "They won't get a word out of us."
"But," continued Murtagh, "how will you manage?"
"God bless yez, God bless yez," she answered warmly. And then in a different tone: "Let me alone for bamboozling the polis if they come here after him. All he'll want will be a couple of hours. If he gets till this evening, never a man o' the polis will lay a hand on him." ”

“ Rosie! Bobbo! Winnie! and Murtagh!" she added in astonishment. "How in the world did you get into this room? Did you send for them, James? What have they been doing? You know, dear, the doctors said you were not to be excited."
"It is of little use for doctors or for any one to lay down rules while such children as these are allowed to run wild," replied Mr. Plunkett.
"Though you have confessed it yourselves," he continued, turning to Murtagh, "I can scarcely believe that you can have behaved in a manner so totally devoid of all Christian feeling. But it is the old story: mischief is your god. ”

“ Nessa looked at him in some surprise. She had expected to find him prostrated with grief in some out-of-the-way corner, but here he was standing up by a blazing fire, his cheeks flushed, and his eyes bright with excitement. He really was incomprehensible.
"Our hut gone!" exclaimed Bobbo in dismay, standing still and surveying the ruins. "He can't have been so mean—To take it to-day!" And with the remembrance of all the day's troubles the tears came into his eyes.
"Yes," said Murtagh. Then in a hurried loud voice he continued: "Never mind; let us go home. Get on the stones and help Nessa down." ”

“ This life of Theresa's seemed to them something that could not be true. They had often been in and out of cottages; they had seen men tipsy in the village; but they had never realized before what it meant.
"How kind you are!" said Rosie, gently, coming close to Nessa, after they walked about half a mile. "Mustn't Mrs. Daly be very glad we went?"
"Poor woman!" said Nessa, her eyes filling suddenly with tears. "She is very good. I wonder why God made us so happy."
"Yes," said Murtagh, who had been considering Rosie's words. "I think you're very kind; I think you like helping people." ”

“ Murtagh looked puzzled and disappointed.
"What shall we do?" he asked at length, turning to the followers.
"Make her princess over us, anyhow, Mr. Murtagh. It can't be helped," cried Pat O'Toole, magnanimously, and the other followers by their acclamations seconded his request.
"Yes, do! yes, do!" cried Winnie, Bobbo, and Rosie.
Murtagh took the wreath of shamrocks and would have placed it on Nessa's head; but she drew back and said, "No; I do not think I can be your princess." ”

“ Rosie looked at her in despair for a moment.
"Quick, quick, Winnie, the needles and thread," she said; and then she and Winnie tacked a garland of white heather round the hem of the frock, looped it up over the short, scarlet linsey petticoat, and placed bunches of white heather on the breast and shoulders with such effect that when Murtagh crowned the child's golden head with a wreath of the same white flowers, Winnie cried in delight, "Oh, Ellie, you do look like a little fairy, so you do." ”

“ Can you say any plan, Murtagh?"
"The only thing we can do," said Rose, suddenly stopping her tears, "is just to take Theresa back to Mrs. Daly's now, and tell her all about it. I'm sure it's much the best plan. We haven't got anywhere to put Theresa. She can't stay here in the laurel all night. Soon Donnie'll be asking what we do with all the scraps she gives us, and I don't believe if we keep her here till doomsday that we'll ever get the money from Mr. Plunkett."
"Oh, Mr. Murtagh!" exclaimed Theresa, piteously, "ye won't be sending me home now without the rent." ”

“ Murtagh cried, tossing the money-box up to the ceiling as a glittering half-sovereign fell out upon the table. "It's just right now."
"We want one halfpenny more," said practical Winnie.
"Ellie's dot a ha'penny, too," exclaimed the child, in delight, wriggling herself down on the floor, "out in the darden."
"That's a rum place for halfpennies," remarked Bobbo.
"It's planted," said Ellie. "For seed," she added gravely, seeing the others inclined to smile.
The children all began to laugh, and Rosie exclaimed, "You little silly! you don't suppose money grows from seed, do you?" ”

“ Murtagh, dear. There'll be a stop put then, maybe, to some o' the doings goes on now. Every one hunted out o' their homes, and no more account made of it than if they was wild animals."
"There!" said Murtagh; "they all say just the same thing."
"And I don't wonder," replied Bobbo; "when he could do what he did yesterday, he could do anything. Why, if it wasn't for him being so unjust, poor Royal would be safe away with you, instead of—"
"I don't think he has ever done anything but make people unhappy all his life!" said Winnie, her tears overflowing again as she spoke. ”

“ And—and you won't forget all about me, because I do love you so!" His voice faltered, and neither Winnie nor Murtagh could speak. "I will always remember you there," he added in a still lower whisper; "being dead can't make me forget."
One last silent kiss from both the children, and he went slowly towards the carriage trying to hide his emotion from his mother and sister. Murtagh and Winnie forgot that any one was there, and tears trickled unheeded over their cheeks as they stood together on the threshold watching the little wasted figure descend the steps. ”

“ Rosie thought it was. Everything was ready except the feast, and so with many rejoicings over this most delightful of birthdays, they got into the cart again and rattled home to fetch Nessa.
"Three cheers!" cried Murtagh, tossing his hat into the air. "I can hardly believe the time is really come. It seems too good to be true. I don't know which I like best, the ceremony or the feast."
"One's as good as the other, and they're both the most deliciousest plans that ever were invented," said Winnie in ecstasy. ”

“ Murtagh saw that Winnie had no longer any doubt, and the knowledge of her conviction made his own only the more certain.
What was to be done? It was all his temper that had brought Pat into this scrape, and now every word he said in his own defense would be a means of preventing the boy from escaping the consequences. To shield Pat now was all that he could do. And yet he had to fight hard with the proud indignation stirred up in him by being falsely accused. It was not pleasant to let Mr. Plunkett triumph. ”

“ There were gaps in the thickness of the hedge, and Murtagh could see the pair quite distinctly. The child's head rested lovingly upon her father's shoulder, the golden hair scattered a little over his sleeve. One arm was round his neck, and the delicate little face was illumined by that look of perfect contentment which is almost more beautiful than a smile.
"Mr. Plunkett was walking along the Path on the Other Side of the Hedge."
"How nice it is that you are so strong, Fardie," she said caressingly, as they passed close by Murtagh.
"Are you comfortable, dear?" asked Mr. Plunkett. ”

“ Only he never dreamt anything for himself; perhaps, poor little fellow, it did not seem to him worth while. He would lie for hours upon the sofa, picturing to himself Murtagh walking up before assembled rows of schoolboys to receive impossible numbers of first prizes; Murtagh winning cricket-matches, or Murtagh leading troops to battle. There was no wonderful feat in history that Murtagh had not outdone many a time in Frankie's ambitious imagination.
Troubled as Murtagh and Winnie were at their share in this misfortune, it was very soothing to their sore consciences to talk with Frankie. ”

“ But you must cheer up, you know; you won't think us so bad, I expect, when you get accustomed to us, and it's a dear old place. There's a beautiful river full of rocks, and real wild mountains with heather on them."
"I'm sure I shall like everything," she replied warmly.
"Well, you know," said Murtagh, thoughtfully, "we're awfully rampageous and everything. That's why people don't like us. You see we can't help it exactly, we're always that way." ”

“ There dear old Donnie was taken into counsel, and with small regard for principles of justice they hatched between them a plot—well, a plot for which the best excuse they could find was, that, as Nessa said, "It was such a pity not to be happy on a birthday."
"Never you fear, Miss Nessa," replied Mrs. Donegan. "It's me is housekeeper here, thank the Lord, and not Mr. Plunkett; and the children shall have a better feast than ever they'd buy with their poor little bit of money. Bless their hearts! they don't know the value of things. ”

“ Yesterday evening Pat had crushed the dawning of this thought by the assertion that it was a doubt only worthy of a child, and by the tales of injustice with which he had so adroitly proceeded to fill Murtagh's mind. But it was impossible, quite, to shake off the conviction that it must be cowardly to shoot at a man in the dark when he suspects no danger. ”

“ We'd have ponies, and ride about, and we'd have a secret hiding-place, and be like good fairies to all the villages round. If any one was in trouble, we would carry them off and hide them and feed them till the trouble was over, and some day we would rise and set Ireland free. Oh, I would like to be queen of a tribe, lead them into battle, and shout 'For Ireland and Liberty!'"
At first no one had paid attention to what Winnie and Murtagh were saying, but as Winnie grew excited she spoke louder, and her last words were received with a general cheer. ”

“ Plunkett's step was heard.
"Whisht!" cried Murtagh. "Here comes the man-eater! where's his pill?" Bobbo exploded with laughter, and Murtagh desperately hunting in all his pockets had but just time to find the half-sovereign before Mr. Plunkett entered the room. Nessa feared for a moment that the children were going to turn the whole affair into a joke, but at sight of Mr. Plunkett every sign of laughter vanished from their faces. ”

“ The notion was by no means so agreeable to Theresa; but at the thought of going home the terror of her stepfather came over her again. She dared not face him without the rent; the remembrance of her last beating was too fresh in her mind.
"I think I'd better drown myself and have done with it!" she exclaimed, relapsing into her former state of despair.
"What in the world should you drown yourself for?" asked Winnie. "You have nothing to do except to stay here; then we'll come up with the rent, and we'll all go home to your house together; the night goes quite quickly when you're asleep." ”

“ Daly now all about Theresa. We can't possibly keep her there forever, and we shall be getting into an awful row, for the police always find things out."
"What is the good of talking like that, Rosie?" interrupted Winnie, impatiently. "Just as if we didn't know as well as you that we're getting into an awful row. You keep on telling us the same thing over and over again, as if that would help us out of it."
"Well, but I do tell you a way out of it," replied Rose.
"Yes, just like a sneaking woman's way," said Murtagh. "Of course, you're never to stick to any one when it gets to be any trouble." ”

“ The door-handle had more effect than all Bobbo's eloquence, and Rosie moved away from the window as she answered again, "I don't want to go where I'm not wanted."
"Don't be a duffer. Come along: you'll get round old Plunkett better than any of us," and Bobbo, seeing that he had gained his point, began to walk away.
"I'm sure I want to help Theresa just as much as any one," said Rosie, as she followed him, "but Winnie and Murtagh don't like me to interfere."
"I hope to goodness there will be no women in heaven," ejaculated Murtagh. ”

“ She told me myself, Miss Blair, that he ought to be ashamed to be so hard on poor little fatherless, motherless children, who were pining for a bit of love. I was quite upset after she went away. But my husband never minds those things. He does his duty, and he doesn't mind what anybody says. He spoke to Murtagh himself next day, and told him how sinful it was to give way like that to every fanciful feeling that came over him,—one minute pining and miserable, and the next rampaging like wild animals all about everywhere, not minding a word anybody said to them. ”

“ As she spoke she slipped to a sitting position, but Murtagh remained standing, and steadied himself against her shoulder while a smothered laugh burst from the crowd, and one incautious—"It's like his impudence," was distinctly heard.
"I tell you what it is, young gentleman," returned Mr. Plunkett, now thoroughly angry, "your disobedience and impertinence have gone on too long. It is time such behavior was stopped, and stopped it shall be in one way or another. Were you aware when you took that horse and the cart that I had given orders for them to be employed elsewhere?" ”