There was a certain part of Wennott which its own residents were wont to
think was _the_ part of town in which to live. Sometimes in
confidence they even congratulated themselves over their own good
fortune and commiserated the rest of the town who lived upon the flat
lands.
The rest of the town were not discontented in the least. They thought
northeast Wennott was a little far out, themselves. And it was a good
three-quarters of a mile from the public square. But the knolls were not
to be had any nearer, and those who owned them felt repaid for the walk
it took to reach them. The places were larger, the air was fresher and
sweeter, and there was only one knoll to rent among them all. Beyond the
knolls were the northeast suburbs, built upon as flat land as any the
town afforded, and farther on stretched rolling prairie, picturesquely
beautiful. It was upon one of the knolls that Mrs. Brady lived, in a
square house of an old-fashioned build, having a hall running through
the center with rooms on each side. It fronted the west. To the left, as
one entered, was the dining-room; to the right, the parlor, whose always
open folding doors made the pleasant sitting-room a part of itself.
There was a bay window in the east end of the sitting-room, and one's
first glance in at the parlor door from the hall always traveled past
everything else to rest on the mass of green and blossoms in the bay
window. For Mrs. Brady was an expert at floriculture. Here and there on
the lawn, not crowded, but just where it seemed natural to find them,
were rosebushes of different varieties that waited patiently all winter
for the appreciation of their beauty which summer was sure to bring, and
among them were some of the kinds Mrs. Brady had loved in the Eastern
home of her girlhood.
One stepped out from the south door of the sitting-room to find narrow
beds for all sorts of summer blooms hugging the house, and looked about
to see farther on occasional other beds. Everything was represented in
her flower garden, from sweet alyssum and mignonette to roses and
lilies, just as a little of all sweet qualities mingled themselves in
her disposition. She was no longer young, and she had come to be quite
frail.
"I hope he will come," she said as she let herself in at the front door.
From the shanty she had come the back way, a part of which followed the
railroad track, and the walk had not been very long, but wearily she
sank down to rest.
"He's such a handy boy," she thought. "If he shouldn't come!"
And down at the shanty Mrs. O'Callaghan, as she washed vigorously for
her boys, was thinking, too.
"It's wishin' I am 'twas avenin'," she cried at last, "and then 'twould
be off my moind, so 'twould. I can't tell no more than nothin' what
Pat'll be sayin'. And what's worse, I can't tell what I want him to be
sayin'. 'Tis the best I want him to be doin', but what's the best? If he
don't go, there's a chance gone of earnin' what we need. And if he does
go, I'll be at my wits' ends to kape him from settlin' that Jim Barrows.
It's widows as has their trials when they've sivin b'ys on their hands,
and all of 'em foine wans at that."
It was a very uncertain day. Cloud followed sunshine, and a sprinkle of
rain the cloud, over and over again.
"Sure an' the weather an' me's as loike as two peas the day. We're
nayther of us to be depinded on, so we ain't, not knowin' what we want.
Look at my clothes not dryin' an' me a-frettin'. What's the use of it
all? Let Pat do as he will, I'll think no more of it."
The little woman was capable. She could work; she could control her
boys, though sometimes, when it seemed best, she could give control of
them into their own hands, and she could govern her thoughts with some
measure of success. So, casting her worries behind her, she went about
brightly and cheerily as if nothing of an anxious nature lay before her,
amusing Larry with chatter suited to his years, and making him contented
to stay indoors while she toiled. For Mrs. O'Callaghan was as young as
her youngest child, and as old as her oldest. It was easy for the boys
to get close to mother. Only once did her mind revert to the forbidden
theme. Dinner was over and she stood watching Pat, who was fast
disappearing on his way to school.
"There's toimes to be spakin', and toimes to be kapin' still," she said.
"Niver a word must I be sayin' till the rest of 'em's abed, and it's
hard waitin', so it is. It's my belafe that's what makes some b'ys so
unruly--takin' 'em at the wrong toime. Sure and b'ys has their feelin's
loike the rest of the world. Spake to 'em by their lone silves when
you've aught to say to 'em. There's niver a man of 'em all, not even
Gineral Brady himsilf, would loike bein' bawled at in a crowd about
somethin' that needed thinkin' over. And Gineral Brady's the foine man,
too. Big and straight he walks, a-wearin' his plug hat, and old and
young is plazed to meet him. Well, his business is done. There's no more
foightin'. But he was a brave foighter! My Tim saw him at it more'n
wanst. Tim was a long way behind the Gineral, but Tim, he done his duty,
too. Sure some has to be behoind, and if that's your place, 'Make that
place respicted,' says I."
She turned from the door and went back to her work.
"There's some as thinks the Gineral has a business," she went on.
"There's them that calls him a banker. But what sort of a business is
that now? Jist none at all. All he does is to take in the money, and put
it in a safe place where nobody won't steal it, and hand it out again
when it's needed, and lend a little now and then to somebody that wants
it and is loikely to be payin' it back again. Anybody could do that.
There's no work to it. And, by the same token, it's no business. When
the war was over, the Gineral's business was done, I say, and it's
hopin' I am it'll soon be evenin', for I'm wantin' to hear what Pat'll
say."
It was, in the main, a quiet supper at the shanty, and, for the most
part, a silent evening. One by one the boys went to bed, and Pat and his
mother were left alone.
"Pat," began Mrs. O'Callaghan, in a tremble of eagerness and
apprehension, "who do you think was here the mornin'?"
"Sure and I couldn't guess, mother dear. You'll have to be tellin' me."
"And so I will," was the prompt reply. "'Twas Mrs. Gineral Brady, then.
And she loikes your work that well, Pat, she wants you to go to her
house to live."
At first the boy looked bewildered. Then a light of understanding
flashed over his face, and he blushed as if with shame. To go out to
service like a girl! He couldn't do it, and he wouldn't. But even in his
fierce young indignation he restrained himself. He had suffered so much
of late that he was growing very careful about inflicting suffering upon
others, especially upon his mother. He covered his eyes with his hand
and sat quite still for a few moments before he inquired, "What did you
tell her?"
"I told her I'd ask you, Pat. Only that." The boy wheeled round in the
old Windsor chair in which he sat, threw his arms over the top of its
back and buried his face. They had been in town now six weeks. Pat had
learned by his experience in cooking how fast supplies went in a large
family. Two weeks before, the generous contributions of their country
neighbors had given entirely out, and Pat, as marketer, had learned how
much money it took to buy with. Four dollars a week would not, could
not, support the family even in summer time. Hard knowledge was this for
a boy of fifteen to have, and hardly had it been learned. If he went,
there was Jim Barrows and his set with more jeers and insults which he
must not avenge. If he did not go--all at once he remembered that ride
home from Wennott with his mother, when he had asked her what he could
do and what Mike could do to help. Was this the answer? Was he to live
out like a girl, and Mike to take his place with the work at home?
He lifted his face, and his blue eyes had a pleading look that went to
the widow's heart. "Mother, tell me what I must do," he said.
"I can't, Pat dear. You must say for yoursilf."
There was loving sympathy in look and tone, but the little woman's
determination was clear. Pat must decide for himself. And the young head
went down again.
Ten long minutes went by before Pat spoke again, and his voice had a
muffled sound, for his face was not lifted. "Mother, are you willin'?"
he asked.
"I am, Pat, my son."
Heavier the dreadful prospect pressed upon him. He could trust his
mother, and she was willing. Then it must be right.
More minutes went by. Pat had a telltale voice. Clear and musical, it
had ever revealed to the mother the heart of her son. And its sadness
and submission smote upon her as he said at last, "You may tell her I'll
go, mother."
"I always knowed you was brave, Pat," said Mrs. O'Callaghan. Then a
rough little hand was laid on his head--the hand of an honest
washerwoman--and in a reverent tone came the words, "Your father was
brave."
The boy looked up gratefully. To be likened to his father was dear to
him.
"Yes, Pat," went on Mrs. O'Callaghan. "'Most anybody can take a noice
payin' job as suits 'em, but it's the brave wans that takes the work
they don't want to do and does it good, too."
And then the mother who had the courage to battle cheerfully for her
children, and the son who had the courage to do what seemed best in the
face of contempt and ridicule, went to their rest.