Prev | Current Page 366 | Next

Manners, J. Hartley, 1870-1928

"Peg O' My Heart"

"
"Sendin' for me won't bring me poor mother back to life, will it?"
"At least we must respect his intentions. He desired that you should
be given the advantages your mother had when she was a girl."
"'Ye've made yer bed; lie in it'! That was the message he sent me
mother when she was starvin'. And why? Because she loved me father.
Well, I love me father an' if he thought his money could separate us
he might just as well have let me alone. No one will ever separate
us."
"In justice to yourself," proceeded Jerry, "you must know that he
set aside the sum of one thousand pounds a year to be paid to the
lady who would undertake your training."
Mrs. Chichester covered her eyes to hide the tears of mortification
that sprang readily into them.
Alaric looked at Jerry in absolute disgust.
Hawkes frowned his disapproval.
Peg sprang up and walked across to her aunt and looked down at her.
"A thousand pounds a year!" She turned to Jerry and asked: "Does she
get a thousand a year for abusin' me?"
"For taking care of you," corrected Jerry.
"Well, what do ye think of that?" cried Peg, gazing curiously at
Mrs. Chichester. "A thousand pounds a year for makin' me miserable,
an' the poor dead man thinkin' he was doin' me a favour!"
"I tell you this," went on Jerry, "because I don't want you to feel
that you have been living on charity.


Pages:
354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378