"What's in the saucepan?" asked Winnie.
"Gruel," replied Rosie. "It's got to be stirred all the time, and then Nessa's going to toast the scraps of bread when the fire gets brighter."
After that the children employed themselves with poking bits of wood into the blaze, and listened at first almost mechanically to what Mrs. Daly was saying.
"He was as kind as a body could want yesterday morning," she said, "and went up to Mr. Plunkett's to tell about the child being gone; but now I suppose it's in with some of his bad companions he is, for he's never been back since. And then, Ma'am, it's not like as if Theresa was his own child. Of course, he hasn't the feelings for her that a father might have, an' she makes him mad with her flighty ways, till what with the drink an' the anger he beats her sometimes till she can scarce stan' up on her legs.
"She lost the goat up on the mountains, an' he nearly murthered her entirely. She lay moanin' there on the straw all night fit to make your heart bleed. But for all that he's a very kind man; by nature I mean, Ma'am. It's all for her good he thinks he's doing it, and with the drink—"
All this was said in detached sentences, interrupted often by a cough, or a few words from Nessa.
The children scarcely dared even to look at one another. They strained their ears to catch every word. Poor Theresa! it seemed to them that she might almost as well live with a wild beast as with such a stepfather. No wonder she was afraid to come home.
But talking exhausted Mrs. Daly, and Nessa came soon to the fire to see if the gruel were ready. Then the bread had to be toasted, and a cup and plate and spoon had to be found and washed. In a very few minutes Mrs. Daly, propped up in her bed, was partaking of the most comfortable meal she had tasted for days.
Nessa would not let her speak any more, but in order that she might not feel hurried over her gruel began to talk herself, and amuse the children as much as Mrs. Daly by an account of her journey from Brittany to Ballyboden.
Mrs. Daly was cheered by the pleasant chatter, and the children were quite sorry when the gruel was finished. But it was time to go home, and after asking if Mrs. Daly would like her to come again to-morrow, Nessa took her leave.