When, he grows so brutal as that, Molly, I never utter a word. 'T is n't to-day nor yesterday that I learned to be a martyr; so that all I did was to wait a minute or two, and then go off in strong hysterics! and, indeed, I don't know anything that provokes him more.
I give you this as a slight sample of the way we lived, with occasional diversions on the subject of expense, the extravagance of James, his idleness, and so forth; pleasant topics, and amusing for a family circle. Indeed, Molly, I'm ashamed to own that my natural spirit was beginning to break down under it. I felt that all the blood of the M'Carthys was weak to resist such inhuman cruelty; and whether it was the climate, or what, I don't know, but crying did n't give me the same relief it used. I suppose the fact is that one exhausts the natural resources of one's constitution; but I think I 'm not so old but that a good hearty cry ought to be a comfort to me.
This is how affairs was, when, about a week ago, came a servant on horseback, with a letter for K. I. I was sitting up at my window, with the blinds down, when I saw the man get off and enter the inn, and the first thought that struck me was that it was Mrs. G. herself sent him. "I 've caught you," says I to myself; and throwing on my dressing-gown, I slipped downstairs. It was K. I. and James were together talking, so I just waited a second at the door to listen. "If I had a voice in the family,"—it was K. I. said this,—"if I had a voice in the family," said he, "I 'd refuse. These kind of things always turn out ill,—people calculate so much upon affection; but the truth is, marrying for love is like buying a pair of Russia-duck trousers to wear through the year. They 'll do beautifully in summer, and even an odd day in the autumn; but in the cold and rainy reason they 'll be downright ridiculous."
"Still," said James, "the offer sounds like a great one."
"All glitter, maybe. I distrust them all, James. At any rate, say nothing about it to your mother till I think it over a bit."
"And why not say anything to his mother?" says I, bouncing into the room. "Am I nobody in the family?"
"Bedad you are!" said K. I., with a heavy sigh.
"Haven't I an opinion of my own, eh?"
"That you have!" said he.
"And don't I stand to it, too!—eh, Kenny James?"