Paddy field

“ From this she was somewhat suddenly and forcibly awakened by the apparition of a stalwart form, not in the least ethereal or dream-like, with a gun on his shoulder and two brace of snipe in his hand. He had, moreover, emerald green on his stockings, a tan waistcoat, and a pale green tie instead of a terra cotta one that had raised such objections in the morning; and whatever Paddy or anyone else might like to say, he formed as pleasing a picture of a typical young Briton as any one need wish. ”

“ Paddy's eyes twinkled [Page 5] when he first saw it. It was right then that he made up his mind to stay in the Green Forest.
So now that he was ready to begin his dam he went up the Laughing Brook to a place where alders and willows grew, and there he began work; that work was the cutting of a great number of trees by means of his big front teeth which were given him for just this purpose. And as he worked, Paddy was happy, for one can never be truly happy who does no work. ”

“ Meanwhile the little ladies at the Parsonage looked anxiously out into the fog, and wondered that Paddy should have gone to Mourne Lodge on such a night.
“I suppose they will keep her until to-morrow,” Miss Jane remarked; “but I am rather sorry she went. It is just the weather to take cold.”
And at Mourne Lodge Mrs Blake said: “How odd of Lawrence to stay at the Parsonage so late. Did you say he went home with Paddy, Doreen?” ”

“ Colonel Masterman will have to come by the next train to try and lure you both home again.”
Ted Masterman’s expression had a “wait-till-I-catch-you” air, but she only went off into an airy description of her youthful admirer on the tennis court, which lasted until the two elder ones retired to their books, leaving her and Ted to amuse each other over their coffee in the conservatory. Paddy at once opened fire with a cross-examination.
“So you live in London?” she remarked; “seems to me one might as well live in a coal mine.”
“Oh, come! that’s rather strong; London is a grand place.” ”

“ In the afternoon he meant to go and look for her by the loch; he believed she would be waiting for him—and if not, well he would go to the Parsonage and claim her.
He went over the interview in his fancy, detail by detail, as it might be, as he would like it to be.
Paddy would be shy, that was a delicious thought to him. He had known too many of the women who meet a man half-way without the slightest qualm, and practically thrust his first kiss upon him, thinking of it only as one of many to follow. How different it would be with Paddy! ”

“ Now Paddy the Beaver loves the Green Forest as dearly as you and I do, and perhaps even a little more dearly. You see, it is his home. Besides, Paddy never is wasteful. So he cuts down a tree so that he can get all the bark instead of killing a whole lot of trees for a very little bark, as he might do if he were lazy. There isn't a lazy bone in him—not one. The bark he likes best is from the aspen. When he cannot get that, he will eat the bark from the poplar, the alder, the willow, and even the birch. But he likes the aspen so much better that he will work very hard to get it. ”

“ A dark-eyed girl, enjoying the scrimmage immensely, rescued one from the gutter, while the man with her succeeded in getting three from various directions, and when Paddy at last turned to thank them, a lovely colour in her cheeks and a bewitching roguishness in her eyes, she found herself face to face with Lawrence Blake and his companion, each offering her a tomato. ”

“ He just looks after you all the time and doesn’t bother to talk. I shall come and fetch you in the brougham in the afternoon and go to Euston, and see you both off myself.”
She did so, and Paddy’s good aunt was immensely impressed by the magnificence of the livery and horses of the equipage, that drew up in the dingy Shepherd’s Bush street that December afternoon, outside the doctor’s highly coloured front door. ”

“ It really is a very fine foundation, Peter; it really is. But what I can't understand is what Paddy is thinking of by building that great pile of mud right in the middle. When he gets his walls built, where will his bedroom be? There won't be any room at all. It won't be a house at all—just a big useless pile of sticks and mud.
Peter scratched his head and then pulled his whiskers thoughtfully as he gazed out at the pile in the water where Paddy the Beaver was at work.
"It does look foolish, that's a fact," said he. "Why don't you point out to him the mistake he is making, Jerry? ”

“ Basil had no mind to reveal his ignorance upon sport generally, so he tried another tack, asking: “I suppose you have read all the new novels.”
“I have ready scarcely anything, except ‘The Jungle Tales,’ ‘A Voyage in the Cachalot,’ and the Bible. I never had time to read.”
“Never had time!” he echoed. “I thought people who lived in the country had no other way to kill time.”
Paddy did not reply, so he asked, “What did you do beside shoot, then!”
“Oh, I could sail a bit, and fish a bit, and climb a bit. Then there was the hockey club, and tennis club, and golf club. ”

“ He took the larger branches, on which there was sweet, tender bark, in the same way, for Paddy is never wasteful.
After a while he went over to his storehouse, which, you know, was nothing but a great pile of aspen logs and branches in his pond close by his house. He studied it very carefully. Then he swam back and climbed up on the bank of his canal.
"Mr. Jay," said he, "I think our work is about finished."
"What!" cried Sammy, "Aren't you going to cut the rest of those aspen trees?"
"No," replied Paddy. "Enough is always enough, and I've got enough to last me all winter. ”

“ I’ve wanted a boy all my life, but there’s no doubt I’ve got the very next best thing.” Then he went off to the Parsonage to tell Miss Jane and Miss Mary O’Hara, while Paddy slipped in the back way and was smuggled up to the bathroom by a faithful old housekeeper who worshipped any flesh and blood related to the General, whom she had known ever since he joined the Dublin Fusiliers, and embarked on the career that made his old regiment as proud and as fond of him, as he, to his last gasp, was of them. ”

“ A spell of beautiful autumn weather brought Lawrence often to the beach as of old to get his boat, but Kathleen and Doreen no longer accompanied him. They were not asked, and had they been would have declined the honour. A nameless feud was waging between the dilettante brother and the two lively Irish girls, scarcely less wild than Paddy, who resented his cool superiority and cutting sarcasms to their inmost core. ”

“ At the church gate they met the sexton, old Robert Morony, a sort of monument of longevity to the village.
“I’ve been to see the restorations, Robert,” cried Paddy joyously. “Doesn’t the church look lovely!”
“It do, indaid, Miss Paddy,” answered the old man, shaking hands with unmistakable pleasure. “Faith! did ye iver see sich a luvely place o’ warship afore? An’ everythin’ so compact lik’! What I mean, nothin’ stunted.”
“I should think not, Robert. Trust Aunt Jane and Aunt Mary to do a thing thoroughly if they undertake it. ”

“ When that is accomplished the ground must be sown by hand without delay, with paddy which has already sprouted, and being merely scattered lightly on the surface of the thick mud, will grow at once. The preparation of the paddy for this purpose is one of the duties of the women, who soak it in water, and spread it a few inches thick on large mats laid on the floor of the shed or the veranda. ”

“ Lawrence said, when they would listen. “My motor is here. How do, O’Hara! You look as if South America suited you.”
“It did A1,” answered Jack, not even noticing Lawrence’s ill-concealed anger—as indeed he had small occasion to. “What shall we do, Paddy, walk or drive?”
“Oh, ride on the back of the train, of course!” she cried, “and home through the garden, just like we did as children. Oh, Jack, I’ve had to be so grown-up for two years. I absolutely refuse to be grown-up this Christmas holiday—we will—we must be children.” ”

“ The country to the north of the hills is extremely fertile, and large areas are taken up in the cultivation of paddy. The broad expanse of the valley is dotted here and there with small farmhouses and fields of paddy, while at the base of the hills, and ascending for some little distance up the slopes, are tiny rice fields arranged in terraces one above the other. Primitive ploughs, drawn by carribous, are used in these fields, and irrigation is carried out by hand. Chinese women work in the fields, which are usually covered with water several inches deep. ”

“ It’s as much Lawrence’s fad as anyone’s. When Kathleen and I go out with him he likes us to be lined with silk,” and she laughed merrily, adding, “But what a swell you are, Paddy, and how pretty you have grown!”
“It’s only my hair,” answered Paddy. “I spend ten minutes on it now instead of two. It’s awfully jolly to find you just the same, Doreen. What a heap we’ve got to tell each other. Are we going to say in this ‘throne-room’ or what?”
“Don’t you like it? We can sit on the rug by the fire, and no one will come. ”

“ It is, we are happy to say, a becoming and prominent feature in Paddy's character; for, to do him justice in his virtues as well as in his vices, we repeat that he cannot be surpassed in his humanity to the lonely widow and her helpless orphans. He will collect a number of his friends, and proceed with them in a body to plant her bit of potato ground, to reap her oats, to draw home her turf, or secure her hay. ”

“ It was, in consequence, more irritating than ever that Lawrence not only proved quite amenable, but appeared in a wholly new light that separated them effectually the whole day. For the first time in any one’s recollection, he assumed, with his most ingratiating charm, the rôle of host. He was absolutely indefatigable in attending to the wants of his guests, most particularly all the elderly ladies and quiet ones. The rowdy faction, with Paddy at their head, he ignored just as far as was compatible with his new rôle. Paddy herself he never once addressed. ”

“ So as he worked he kept his ears open, and he smiled to himself as he heard a little rustle here and then a little rustle there. He knew just what those little rustles meant. Each one meant another visitor. Yes, Sir, each rustle meant another visitor, and yet not one had shown himself.
Paddy chuckled. "Seems to me that you are dreadfully afraid to show yourselves," said he in a loud voice, just as if he were talking to nobody in particular. Everything was still. There wasn't so much as a rustle after Paddy spoke. He chuckled again. ”

“ It was memorable also how disappointed he had been when told that “being a man” never meant spanking little girls at all, even when they were mischievous.
He would, doubtless, not have waited for any verdict on the present occasion, only just then the hearty old General entered the room, and Paddy, the father’s darling, flew to him for protection. A general chattering and laughing ensued, and, presently seeing her opportunity, Eileen rose from her seat in the window, and with a curious subdued glow in her wonderful eyes glided silently from the room. ”

“ Basil laughed outright then with great enjoyment.
“It’s such fun to tease you, Paddy,” he said. “You do get so deliriously wild about nothing. Good-night,” as they reached her door. “Don’t fling the plates about when you get in, it’s such an expensive amusement,” and he went off down the road.
All evening Paddy remained moody and preoccupied, revolving in her mind how to tell Eileen about Lawrence. ”

“ While the other woman’s doing her hair, and arranging her dress, and thinking what to say, Paddy’ll be getting there. She won’t need to stop and think. She’ll be just herself, and if I’m not much mistaken, the men’ll go down before her like ninepins. O Lord!—and she’ll snap her fingers in their faces, and go rampaging on, like a real, thoroughbred Irish Fusilier.
“But I shall not be there to see,” dropping his voice suddenly to a note of sadness. “Take my advice, Lawrence, and marry young. I married too late, and when everything is just at its best, I shall get my summons to go.” ”

“ Any time at all that ale or wine are wanting, come here and draw. Farewell, now; go to sleep, and come again to me to-morrow night."
Paddy went to bed, and it wasn't long till he fell asleep.
On the morning of the day on the morrow, Paddy went home, and brought his wife and children to the big house, and they were very comfortable. That night Paddy went down to the cellar; the little man welcomed him and asked him did he wish to dance?
"Not till I get a drink," said Paddy.
"Drink your fill," said the little man; "that barrel will never be empty as long as you live." ”

“ What your riv'rince would have me be afther."
"Why, then," says his rev'rence, "you sin-blinded owl,
Give back to the man that you stole from his fowl:
For if you do not, 'twill be worse for your sowl,
Paddy O'Rafther."
Says Paddy, "I ask'd him to take it—'tis thrue
As this minit I'm talkin', your riv'rince, to you;
But he wouldn't resaive it—so what can I do?"
Says Paddy, nigh choken with laughter.
"By my throth," says the priest, "but the case is absthruse;
If he won't take his hen, why the man is a goose:
'Tis not the first time my advice was no use,
Paddy O'Rafther." ”

“ And Miss Jane did—having her own cry out later by herself—while the steamer started into the black, wintry night, and Jack stood watching it from Greenore pier, with a mist before his eyes and a queer huskiness in his throat. Just when life was opening for him with all its sweetest and best, it seemed hard, indeed, that Paddy—his old chum and playmate—should be assailed with this trouble of which she would not speak, and in which apparently none of them could help her. ”