CHAPTER XXIX. THE CHILD OF HIS HEART.
Janet ran quickly toward the house. On her way she met one of the servants, a man of the name of Doolan; she stopped to say a few words to him eagerly, then, running on, found herself in the great hall, where Lady Kathleen, Pat, Gerald, and Sophy were all assembled.
Lady Kathleen uttered a scream when she saw her.
"Oh, how glad I am——" she began.
Janet interrupted her hastily.
"Dear Lady Kathleen," she said, "I will speak to you presently. I will tell you all my adventures presently; but please, please let me go up to my room now with Sophy; I want to say a word to Sophy. Please let me pass."
There was an expression about Janet's face which caused Lady Kathleen to fall back, which arrested a torrent of words on the lips of each of the boys, and which made poor, frightened Sophy follow her sister out of the room without a word.
"Come upstairs with me, and be as quick as ever you can," said Janet.
She took her sister's hand as she spoke, rushed up the stairs with her, and entered the large room which the girls shared together.
"Now, Sophy," said Janet, "how much money have you got? Don't attempt to prevaricate. I know you received a letter yesterday from Aunt Jane, and she—she sent you a five-pound note; I know it—don't attempt to deny it."
"I don't want to deny it," said Sophy. "You—you frighten me, Janet; we have all been so miserable about you. I could not eat any breakfast; I was crying as if my heart would break, and now you come back looking like I don't know what, and you speak in such a dreadful way."
"Never mind how I speak," said Janet; "pack your things; be quick about it, for we must be out of this place in ten minutes."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you presently. Pack, pack, pack! Fling your things into your trunk, no matter how—anything to get away. If you are not packed, with your hat and gloves on, in ten minutes, you shall come away without your finery, that is all."
"But how are we to get away?" said Sophy. "We can't walk to the station; it is twenty miles off."
"I know that, but I have arranged everything. Mike Doolan will have the jaunting car at the top of the back avenue in fifteen minutes from now. I only want to pack and lock our boxes; they must follow us by and by. Now, don't waste another moment talking."
Janet's words were so strong, her gestures so imperious, that Sophy found herself forced to do exactly what she was told. The ribbons, laces, trinkets, which she and Janet had amassed out of poor Bridget's stores during their stay at Castle Mahun were tossed anyhow into their trunks; the trunks were locked and directed, and the two girls had left the house without saying a word to anyone long before Squire O'Hara and Bridget returned to it.
Janet was worthless through and through; Sophy was very little better. The curtain drops over them here as far as this story is concerned.
What more is there to tell?
How can I speak of those events which immediately followed the departure of Janet May and her sister?—the wonder and consternation of Lady Kathleen Peterham; the astonishment and curiosity of the retainers; the secret triumph of Norah Maloney and Pat Donovan; the intense amazement of the boys!
Amazement had its day, curiosity its hour, and then the memory of the English girls faded, and the waters of oblivion, to a great extent, closed over them. Lady Kathleen sent their trunks to the address which Janet had put upon them. They were addressed to a Miss Jane Perkins, and Lady Kathleen concluded that she was the Aunt Jane of whom Janet stood in such wholesome dread.
The squire made an important discovery on that unhappy day. It was this: O'Hara of Castle Mahun could brook no dishonor in the person of his nephew, or sister, or cousin; but the child of his heart could be forgiven even dishonor.
"I will myself write to Mrs. Freeman," he said, after he and Bridget had concluded their long conference. "O Biddy, child! why did you not tell me before; could anything, anything turn my heart from thy heart? But listen, acushla macree, your Aunt Kathleen and Pat and Gerald must never know of this."
Of Bridget's future history, of her many subsequent adventures, both at school and at home—are they not written in the book of the future?
Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.