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Manners, J. Hartley, 1870-1928

"Peg O' My Heart"

She averted her
eyes and said nothing.
"Will you write to me?" he urged.
"What for?"
"I'd like to hear of you and from you. Will you?"
"Just to laugh at me spellin'?"
"Peg!" He drew near to her.
"Sir Gerald!" she corrected him and drew a little away. "Peg, my
dear!" He took both of her hands in his and bent over her.
Just for a moment was Peg tempted to yield to the embrace.
Had she done so, the two lives would have changed in that moment.
But the old rebellious spirit came uppermost, and she looked at him
defiantly and cried:
"Are you goin' to propose to me, too?"
That was the one mistake that separated those two hearts. Sir Gerald
drew back from her--hurt.
She was right--they were not equals.
She could not understand him, since he could never quite say all he
felt, and she could never divine what was left unsaid.
She was indeed right.
Such as this could never be a home for her.
Jarvis came quietly in:
"Mr. Hawkes says, Miss, if you are going to catch the train--"
"I'll catch it," said Peg impatiently; and Jarvis went out.
Peg looked at Jerry's back turned eloquently toward her, as though
in rebuke.
"Why in the wurrld did I say that to him?" she muttered. "It's me
Irish tongue.


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