i f6c06dd9cf3fe221 by Unknown (the false prince .TXT) 📕

... that's my Christmas box to you, and I must keep the other to get the books."

"Kate, lass, I'll not take it."

"Don't be silly, ma; I don't want it. With all my new clothes and everything, there's nothing I want.... And I've another bit of news I'm getting. a two-shilling-a- week rise next year."

"No!"

I am. "

Sarah sat down on the kitchen chair.

"You know, lass, all the good things are happening together. God's good," she added. Then, as if to question the Deity, her thoughts swung to Tim upstairs. But even the thought of him could do nothing to dim her gladness this day; it even evoked a spasm of pity.

"Would you mind, lass," she asked, 'if I bought him an ounce of baccy out of this? " She motioned to the sovereign in her hand.

"No," said Kate, without looking at her mother.

"How is his leg?"

"Just about the same; it doesn't seem to heal up. The doctor said he should be in hospital; but you know he won't go because they'll send him to Harton. The doctor explained it wouldn't be the workhouse side, but it's no use, he just won't go."

"Will he walk again?"

"Oh yes; the bone isn't broken; only the dirt got in, with him dragging himself home from the docks and

having to wait until the doctor came. "

They both started slightly as a knock sounded on the front-door.

"That's the doctor, now," said Sarah, running her hand over her tightly drawn hair and smoothing her white apron.

Kate stood by the table and watched her mother go through the front-room. She felt embarrassed and shy;

she had not seen the doctor since a fortnight after Annie had been born, when she sat, swathed in a blanket, before the bedroom fire, and here she was now all dressed up.

The front-door opened and a voice said, "Morning to you, Mrs.

Hannigan. "

Sarah answered, "Oh, good morning, Father," in a toneless voice.

The priest entered the kitchen, and the pin-points of his eyes through the thick glasses took in all before him in their slow movement from right to left. They saw the table laden with food, and not ordinary food; they saw the fur-trimmed coat and hat lying on a chair; and, in the centre of the kitchen, dressed in rich doth and silk, with the fire-light playing on the shining coils of her hair, piled high in no respectable fashion, they saw a tall girl, who had sinned, and who, doubtless, by the evidence of his eyes, was still sinning. The thin lips parted. "Well, Kate!"

"Good morning. Father," said Kate, her colour rising slowly under his cold stare. Sarah had no need to look at the priest's face, or to hear his tone, to know what was in his mind.

"Do have a chair. Father, and have a look at all the lovely things Kate's mistress has sent us for Christmas;

and look. Father," Sarah said, holding out Kate's coat and hat across her arms.

"Miss Tolmache had this costume made, and the hat too. And look at the shoes that she bought, and the blouse."

The priest did not take his eyes from Kate.

"Your mistress bought you all these things, Kate?"

"Yes, Father."

"She is indeed kind; a most unusual mistress. No, Mrs. Hannigan, I won't sit down." He motioned away the chair that Sarah held out.

"Is she a Catholic, Kate?"

"No, Father."

"No? Then of what religion is she?"

Kate glanced from the priest's face to her mother's, then back to the priest's again. She straightened her back and lifted her head from its respectful droop.

"No religion Father."

There was a pause during which the priest and Kate stared at each other, and Sarah tried to signal Kate to silence by the entreaty of her eyes.

"No religion 1 An atheist! And you are content to work there?"

"They are very kind. Father."

"So is the Devil, when he sets himself out."

"They are good. Father!" Kate's voice had risen.

"They are wonderful people; they are better than anyone I've ever known."

"Kate means they are kind. Father," Sarah put in anxiously; 'she means"

"I know what Kate means, Mrs. Hannigan," answered the priest, without looking at Sarah; "I know quite well. When were you last at confession, Kate?"

"Three months ago. Father."

"Three months 1 Father Bailey and I myself will be hearing confession from six until eight tonight. I'm just giving you the times in case you've forgotten, Kate. Perhaps I'll see you at the altar rails at Midnight Mass, and I hope you will have a happy and holy Christmas....

And now, Mrs. Hannigan' he turned to Sarah " I will go up and see Tim, for, with all his faults, it will be a great sorrow to him not being able to attend Midnight Mass. "

The priest opened the stairway door and his short, spare figure disappeared into the dimness. Sarah watched him climb the stairs, and when he reached the top she softly dosed the door and turned to Kate, who stood now, with one foot on the fender and her arm along the brass rail below the high mantelpiece, staring down into the fire.

"Oh, lass!" said Sarah, 'you should have said you didn't know what religion they were; you know what he is. Now, if it had been Father Baily, he'd have understood. "

"Classing them with the devil!" muttered Kate.

"They're the kindest and best people on earth." She curned to her mother: "Mr. Bernard talked to me about God one night, ma. And he said if I found faith in God through the Catholic religion, I had to hang on to it with all my might; for the greatest disaster in life was to lose one's faith. And then, him a priest, speaking of them like that!"

Sarah stared at her daughter. Yes, Kate was changing; she was talking differently