A PROUD LOVER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14538, 25 November 1907, Page 10

A PROUD LOVER.

(By KATHARINE TYNAN.) [All Rights Reserved.] - It had been one thing for Hugh M'Naught en to wco Brigid Donelly when she had been as poor as himself. It was another matter when her Imcle Dan, who had sworn jthat never a r -pehny piece should go to his brother Michael or Michael's daughter, falsified his own words by dying and leaving no will, so that everything cmu® unreservedly to Brigid, his next of kin. It was a very comfortable little pro--perty to come to anyone —a pleas ant house »nd a farm, well-tilled and tuUy stocked, and a good sum in bank as well—how much no one knew exactly, for Brigid was one to keep her own

counsel. . , The house needed putting m order, fcr old Dan had been served by one Blattern after another, and the dirt "had. accumulated woefully in the many years during which it had had no mistress. , _, But Brigid-soon altered all that. She ■Has a notable housewife. She entered into possession of her property the day ■-• of Dan's .funeral, and for many days - after that the house was given oyer to tne "Smell of soap-suds, the swishing or ■water, the whitewash brush, and other _euoh utensils. There was Brigid with her sleeves palled up above her elbow and her pretty person wrapped in a big holland overall, Brigid i working like ten women. There were also a. couple of assistants whom Brigid could trust. Later on there wore the thatcbor, and the handy-man •'to paper the parlour and the bedrooms. Brigid had vowed the house should bo in order by Easter, • »nd she had her way, as she usually ■•had it. By Easter Sunday morning, when the sun danced in a tub of water ; outside her kitchen door, according to immemorial custom, the house was as -.-clean and sweet as Brigid herself. And . how clean and sweet that was none know better than Hugh M'Naughten, ■who thought Brigid, in her new black frock, which enhanced the fairness of '"" heT complexion and the red-gold of her ; hair, as pretty as any flower in the April pastures. Yet such is human perversity, ho "kept away from Brigid. She was no l&dS, but ra comely "woman in the early thirties, and she expected Hugh M'Naughten to oomo to her ia her own house and continue there the court- " ing he had begun when she was a poor girl, earning her living at the lacemaking. ( But day after> day went by,' and he never came. He only, Brigid complained to her heart, never came. For Brigid had many wooers. She tras, in fact, beset with them. People who had looked on her with indifference when she was living in the poor cottage had hardly cared to bid her the time of day, found it shamelessly easy now to, lay siege to hex heart. They wore always coming on one pretext or another. They wanted to borrow a farming implement from Brigid, or they thought she might want to borrow one from them. There was something she had, pigs or calves, or hay, or corn, they wanted to buy. They were willing to transact hei/business for her iff fair or market. I It was wonderful the goodwill they all had fcr Brigid since she had come into her Uncle Dan's fortune. < It came to this that there was always or nearly always, a burly, red-faced pereon smelling of the byre or the stall, sitting in Brigid's neat parlour, talking - business at first indeed, but proceeding rapidly to an ardour, which Brigid, her heart and mind being full of Hugh M'Naughten, found very unpleasant. The number of proposals that fell to •her share in the three months following her heiress-ship was amazing. ' Pretty well all the marriageable farmers of the pountry-side, with a sprinkling of shop- - keepers, had proposed to Brigid and been rejected. Only Hugh M'Naughten never came. Something of a shadow came on -' Brigid's bright comeliness. Was she going to lose the only man she had ever cared for because of the farm where ■ they two might be in heaven together? She had made her modest advances to Hugh M'Naughten, and he had taken no notice of them. He looked tragically worn and sad when she caught an occasional glimpse of him, before the • sight of her would bring the blood rushing to his delicately handsome face. One day Judy Blake, her servant, a notorious gossip, brought her word that Hugh M'Naughten was going to America. It sent her rushing off for a friend's advice, wild with fear. This was something she had never anticipated. She had thought that there was plenty of time for Hugh to come to his right mind. "When he saw that she wouldn't look at any of the others he would surely recognise that he himself was chosen. But that he should, go away out of it and leave her to be lonely for ever 1 That was something Brigid " could not endure.

The manager of the hank, Mr Fletcher, had heen very kind to Brigid. He was a shrewd, kindly, elderly man, with a fatherly manner; and to he sure he was professionally a keeper of secrets, almost as much as Father Phil, to whom Brigid might have carried her secret if it were not that only a couple of days hefore he -*ad interceded with her for another suitor. Mr Fletcher knew that half the oountry-sido was after Brigid- and had bantered her gently about it. , '. He was sitting in his private office, with his . two fox terriers _ under his-desk, when she was shown in. He looked up with a twinkle in his eye as the door shut behind her and stood up to give her a chair. "Any more proposals, Miss Donelly?" he asked. "Plenty," said Brigid, with a hot flash, "but not, the right one." "Ah!" The/bank manager was interested. He had not suspected a romance. " So there is a right one." "There is so," said Brigid, her eyes fluttering shyly. "But he won't ask jQOi eir." . "And may I ask why not?" Bngid was handsomer than ever in her new Shyness. "'Tis the farm," said Brigid. "I could wish I'd never seen it. He's poor, and he's proud, and he's never looked at mo sinoo. He'll be off to America 1 ! and leave me to these farmhunters. It isn't me they want hut the land. He was the only one thought of mo when I was poor."; " H'm P' Mr Fletcher considered, whiie Brigid, now that she had broken tsilence, poured out her story in a flood. " H'm I Hugh M'Naughten, I know hhn.. A good, steady fellow with a turn for mechanics. He'd do well in America. Still, as you've a fancy for him! Supposing—supposing—you were to lose the farm and the money?" "I only wanted tnem fox him," Brigid faltered. "Tour Uncle Dan always said he'd leave Ms money to tihe Grown. Supposing his will were to be found, hey? Then you could go back to your cottage and this foolish young man would fear no longer to be taken for a fortunehunter. Then, when it was all right between, you—why he would forgive the trick. who had been staring at him, suddenly understood. " I've only to tell Judy Biake," ehe »aid. "And it'll run through the barony like the wind. I'm obliged to you, Mr Fletcher. I'll leave Judv in charge till something's settled. l'va the key of the cottage still. Many, a time I've wanted to be back in it. If he doesn't look for me there " her sbeelu went red su&l white—" you'll

forget, sir, that ever I spoke to you P" " I've girls of my own," Mr Fletcher said, going with her to the door. Ballyknock had few sensations, so it was ail the more delightful when the news spread that Brigid Donelly was out of " Ould Dan's," and that the farm and all belongings to it was to be Crown property. The neighbours flocked in a continuous stream to Brigid's cottage, where Brigid sat, as though she had never left it, making lace on tho pillow.

T>ey wanted to talk it all over with Brigid, to condole with her, while being secretly pleased at her misfortune; but Brigid's manner was not encouraging. In fact she showed the gossips the door. There was a general agreement that her spell of prosperity had made her uppish, and when someote suggested that tho Crown would make her refund the money she had spent during her supposed ownership it was an opinion eagerly adopted. Meanwhile Brigid's rejected suitors went about rubbing their hands. The self-gratulation of one flowed over When he accidentally encountered Brigid on her way to the village shop for her few necessaries. " 'Twias well you didn't say yos to me after all, Brigid Donelly," ho said, adding: "I never liked a red-haired woman."

" "Twas the land you liked, Andrew Shea," Brigid said, going on her way unmoved. Two whole days had gone before tho shadow she looked' for darkened the door. It was evening, and she was leaning to catch the last rays of light cin her pillow. Her red-gold hah - became her like a , queen's crown, and looking up as she saw him the expression of her face dazzled him. "Brigid asthoreen," he said, "I've heard of the misfortune. Sure 'tis none to mo. Maybe you'd be thinking of me, Brigid, now you're a poor girl?" He pulled a stool in front of her and sat down.

" Sure, I was thinking of you when I was rich, Hughie," said Brigid, in a wonderful voice—"ever and always thinking of you aDd wondering if you'd come." " Tho boyß were round you like bees round a flower. They had' things to offer you poor Hughie M'Naughten hadn't. He had only his heart, Brigid." " Only his heart! Sure his heart was the thing I was wanting all the time." Down went the pillow on the earthen floor as the two Jovens rushed together. It was lucky Brigid's cottage was down a green lane with only a prospect' of a green hill; and bu+ a couple of goats fecamg on it to observe them. "I thought you'd never ask me, Hughie," said Brigid. coming laughing and rosy out of his fierce embrace, and putting up her hands to smooth her ruffled hair. " Sure I couldn't think you wanted me." , "It was plain enough to be seen. I thought at times everyone must know it." - - ■ " You'll come to America with me, Brigid?" "Sure, why would I be coming to Amerioa? Don't I want a man to manage the farm?" "'JLhe farm!" he repeated in stupefaction. "Isn't the farm gone from you,?" ! ■ ■ "It isn't then." She flung her arms about his neck, and her voice coaxed him from possible resentment. " Sure I had to do it, Hughie, or you'd never have spoken. A word to Judy Blake did it. I didn't all out tell a lie about it; a hint was enough for Judy. Oh, HughieJ the house is so pleasant. And I used to think of you and me in it, and what that 'ud be like. There never was such a darling little house a» it'll be when we go home to it together." She hid her face on his breast. .."You did it for me, Brigid, to coax me to you, and all the time I was sick with jealousy of this one and that one they said you were going to marry; fie to!kill myself and them, so I was." " Weren't you the foolish fellow," said' Brigid, "andil lost for you all the time!" " j '