CHAPTER XXX

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 34, 18 December 1885, Page 5

CHAPTER XXX

When the old woman come to the end of her weary iournev and wa Iked np the garden-path, e he saw the blinds w7re ßrfdSSta the cottage at Monasteries and she knew that May was no better "ban when she had left her. So Bid crept round to the back door as before and stepped noiselessly into the kitchen. This time Bridge* had no need to put her finger on her lip, for Bid's spirits were fo crushed and^tt^Tnffa^Str «"**■»*«»«* her prUn^, -atl^tl^^ S^ old * p o , i" °w m^ dde ar. r '" * he Baid > " there's little use in goin' to look for £ LS \ 7 ab ° Ut 7 ° n hi " 8 like a lamb that 9 lost its mother. He doesnt know you nor me, nor e'er a wan belongin' till him took him away wid her out o' here ; an' she walking about afther him like a cat afther a mouse. But a woman might as well marry hersel' till our poor Con at home. God sees it'athe black woX to SsTnse^noTatol?" 7 " "*>** °" *»««■«£ £ tv,« *ft y Bat iQ h , er bed devouriQ g every word that fell from BH her on th W eT P o? * * heF ** ' f Bhe feared the newß wou " d «li Bid stared at her vacantly. I h a ; e O no' tfme t d o c ?o r S e d '' n ' fc HUFry ' d ° What J tell ?™> «» T o£^»\^™^^ w^nfthtrfver S £ ll a uth gUP W b 6d ' and BM holdiDg a baßin of <™P »>« Miss Martha was very busy at this time. It was the hay-makine season^ and she had got to look after her laborers. So Bid fi ?ayed with May ; she sat by her bedside during the long summer day te hng her .tone, of the pleasant summer iorld outlf dTrs She talked, just as if she bad got a sick child to nurse, of how the rive? was laughing on the stones became the sun was trying to dry it ip but the source in the mountains was too plentiful for that How the cock was scolding his wives because the chickens were one about walking, and the young ducks were goiug off iv search of water S have b. swim Nothing Ba d did Bid tell to May ; but every^le had life in it, and a sparkle of fun and joy 7 sittin^Th^nwfndow Ma^P -d dressed, and great l°^X anTlSn't^orTK sicf "We a to do'?^ ank G ° d yy ° U are bCtter> my darlins ; but what have we got "In the first place, there are all these people who are to be driven TLeViflTes^ *? -^hing for th^ she JSSf Sys;^?. " m ~ dy t0 d 0 what J caQ »" " Bid has gone to the mountain," said May, " to see how thines ar. going She will be back here in the morning with the news F&ton^ 1 18 an ° ther lhi °Z-y™ and J havf got to ZepZ thJ'J? a ° W < my loVe> f ° rgive me ; but J will not bear a word about Mays face had become as white as the mountain mow. She 61 " th ' m tigh " r - *— *»* iv.il\ Aiia !'- UU * Tih *icf ]ll * th<m said ' "y° u bave not understood me. I will explain mj self better, and you will aot refuse to listen to me I ?eeH^ t hP ° St lUS mmd ' aDd he i 8 in tbe P° wer of an enemy I feel that he will never recover, never be the man God intended him I A th hi, f S hCr I ID t^ S CoUntry > UDder the Bbadow of the curse which he has so feared. If he were away in some bright, new country onthtTo f7> d n^K 1 ? ; and he m'Bhtm 'B ht tbere hve hiß l«e as he v^f b i c L"- ?° n \ beheve X wish him here tha t I may hear his vo-ce and ccc his face, for I am a truer woman than you think me. What 1 ask is this-do you take Paul to France, or to Italy if you like ?wS ? m J T h ! m . wlth g° od P^Pl^ aad leave him there to God. I will manage here during your absence, and will be happy, feeling we have tried to save him. Now you know what I mean, aunty, win you do this thing for the sake of your little May ?" V Miss Martha jerked a tear or two out of her eye. She was impatient with horself for not feeling sterner c,-™ "J M^iT y , fine> " sbe said ; " but how am Ito tak e posses:™ry°l^Xt y c™f™ nl Amlt ° ride t0 Camlo « May had no longer any smiles for her aunt's fidgety little fiXfh? * cr *?"e™d strangely out of the window with that fixed bleak look whicb they had taken when Paul was expected and tnatruHgTve-ttmTo?/ 11^ °P SCCki^ iJ^ '•I do not know how that will be." she said ; » I do not know yet." bhe closed her eye P , and Miss Martha thought she slept; but she wa pondering all the time over that difficult problem-how could Paul be earned out of the country and saved ? She had no doubt at

all that his present state was directly owing to the influence of the curse. Anxiety must have caused that sudden and mysterious illness which has left his mind a wreck. She thought of him happy and light-hearted as she had first seen him. Had he stayed ia that foreign country to which an honest impulse had driven him, he would not now stand blighted in his prime. It was she who had brought him into danger, she who had kept him under the cloud ; and now she must send him away from her, so that his troubles might come to an end. It was only a poor comfort to her to know that it would cost sneTd P not B dare h to thS"™ "" ° f her ° Wn futUre «M i!^ Bß^ 3l^' 8 t . hou j4 tß on tbe Bub i e ct were very different. The old lady did not quite believe in the story of Paul's loss of memory and suspected that Katherine had bewiiched him, and thaThThad thr, 8B?8 B ? \ V - at Camlou g h - She not, however, the heart to leS b e C lie°v P eToT " *" ChiM beUeVed him mad ' P P nnf™r While }** *"**"* ° D tte eVe ° f & **? <* affliction. People were passing from one cabin to another, saving sad farewells TheKrn lngt ° gether ?W? W ?e? c WOe that was coufe among them: *X% £ * Z ere - C ? Ty J ng their small Possessions into a cave under ?w 1 5-^ he^, tbe ? 11 * ntendedto livetill the 7 could sell their pig and their little bits of furniture. With the few pounds that such sale would bring they must start by and by, a sad and timid band of SOSES' SV"* tb « ir f ° rt u UneS ° r mißf °'tunes in some unknown and dreaded town. Some others were doing likewise, thanking God as they worked, that things were not worse with them bare its the summer sky we have over our heads," said one. If a body must sleep on the grass, it's good to have it dhry." You say well, said another; "we're bettber off nor the old Si 7h aVeDS be the " bed ! W^t debate could me an' the baby make if the snow was blindin' our eyes, and freezin' our hearts." The Lord wouldn't let that happen twicet," said a third pw2m T e W T °L he [ 8 , Who could DOt make an to be cheerful ; the people who had their bick and their dying to provide w ? th a V? d TlßlB ° ld father and little Bride's crippled grand! mother do but die on the side of the hill ? There was patient Norab in the last stage of consumption, and there was a mother of many children who had been bedridden for years. The children clung to their mother, who could not move, and moaned over the horror which the morrow was to bring to them ; and the woman with the sick daughter sat with her arms round her dying child, and prayed with fmntic earnestness that God would take her home before the cruel hour should come. Sympathising sufferers passed in and out of the cabins, and wept a htte with one and wept a little with another: herself * neighbour for tbe despair which she felt Bundles were packed, and Sunday clothes put on. In most cases where there was a strong healthy father or brother, he had gone away already to look for work in the nearest town, or in some other »iTth°, \ °T tT I ' J^ Wh ° were t0 be g in their }°urnev were all the weak, if not the helpless. People were dressed already for their travel; for there was no thought of sleeping on that last ever-to-be-remembered night before they left the homes that bad sheltered £p W er i °,f c ? m raore - Tbey walkiQ g about visiti °g each other all the short summer night; sitting around the fires fo? the few dark chill hours talking over their past, or trying to pred.ct the future. Con sat by the fire in ihe Kearney's cabin, his face dark with gloom, his hands clamping his knees under bis chin, his eyes rolling from the red hearth to Nan, and from Nan back to the hearth The girl was busy meanwhile, making jackets for tbe little brothers and cloaks for the small half-naked sisters, out of every ratr of stuff she could find, including the bed-clothes. The little ones sat around oMriXn^iSwS 1 hUSh> aUd WatChi " g ° Very St ' tCh Wlth the eyeS wake'famil^r * Ye! ' "^ * visiting nei ghbour, " but ye're the long Nan threw her head back, and stifled a groan desave M mcr r PM PaU ' ! " Said ' " thlQwl >y did you devil'?^^ 13 Wh ' St '" Sald thG nei S hbour • " could he carcumvint the " Mick 1 the daylight's c -min'. Will you run ami thry if you can see a sight o' Bid ? " y The neighbour went out sighing. " Well, well, well ! but the obstinate hope is in that girl !" "She ought to be ha' come back," said Naa ; "she ought to ha' come back. Here Bid and the house-mother entered the cabin together The on h7r wa° detainedj condolin g a& d helping in many houses work" WW ° ll! " ° ried NaD> spiingin g to her feet > and dropping her "The curse is down on Paul," said Bid solemnly; "ye have ne'er a wan to look at but the Lord !" J Nan crouched on the floor, and buried her face in her gown Uet up girl, get up! There's worse off nor you. Ye've all got yer feet undher y e, an ' young blood in yer veins " g her la enou Ph 1 ' wailed Nan, as a toddling child tumbled into >, ♦♦*!' Y ?w ma^ c yer mother break down -" Baid Bid - " I lo «ked for betther things from ye. Ye haven't the sick and the dyin' to take on yer shoulders Get up now, and be a woman, Nan Kearney ; an' I'll SZ^nAl&d^ Can ' tStir ' aQ ' her little girsheens all {To be Continued.')