"I know you would not have cabled to us as you did unless you had very
strong reasons for your opinion that the shares were going up; that, and
the fact that your father had an offer for them--oh, Nell, he is telling
Denis about that! He very nearly accepted it!--well, this makes me hope
that we shall be able to return to our home. Won't we all be willing to
economise? Bread and potatoes and Kilbrannan are not to be despised,
are they, asthore? You and Denis must make your friend, Ted Lancaster,
promise that, if we only can go back, he will look upon it as a second
home. Tell him we shall want as much of his time as he can spare to be
spent at Kilbrannan, and we'll manage to add a trout or two, perhaps
even a salmon, to the bread and potatoes when he is with us. With these
extras, and the hearty welcome he will receive from us all, I hope he'll
find Kilbrannan so bearable that all his vacations will be given to us!"
Ted grew very red as he perused the letter. He handed it back in
silence.
"Well?" Nell laughed.
"I say--er--why, it's no end kind--"
"That'll do. You needn't say anything, except--you will, Teddie, won't
you?"
"By Jove, yes!" he said.
He stood looking out of the window. He felt then the first liking for
Mrs. O'Brien that afterwards developed into such devotion that she
always declared she had two sons.
Once he approached Nell.
"I say," he said, "you know--I--I mean a lot!"
She gave a little laugh.
"So do I," she said. "Oh, Ted--"
"But you say it!" he remonstrated, and strode across to Sheila Pat,
whose pig-tail he proceeded to pull. But Sheila Pat was very dignified.
"Please don't intrude. I'm thinkin'."
Presently she came to Nell.
"Nell," she whispered, "Kilbrannan's very healthy, isn't it?"
"Why, yes, sweet!"
"I'm thinkin' maybe it'll make Tommy's left leg grow as long as the
other one!"
"I'm afraid it won't do that, asthore."
Her face fell.
"I'm glad I didn't mention it to him," she said earnestly. "I didn't on
purpose, because I wasn't wantin' to give false hopes to him, you see."
Nell bent and kissed her.
"It will make him strong and well, anyway."
Sheila Pat nodded. She went across to James O'Driscoll.
"In a fortnight and two days we'll introduce you to your cousin!" she
said.
That evening Nell went into her bedroom. She came upon an absorbed
Atom, kneeling before her treasure box.
"What are you doing, Sheila Pat?"
Sheila Pat lifted her head; her small face was full of a restless joy.
She said staidly:--
"Sure, Nell O'Brien, and what would I be doin' then? _I'm packin'_!"