As they passed out of the gate a man evidently the worse for drink rolled in, and staggering up the little path noisily entered the cottage.
Nessa turned quite white.
"Are you afraid?" asked Bobbo.
"I—I can't bear people who drink," she replied, recovering herself.
"Mustn't it be dreadful to live with him?" said Rosie, as they walked on.
No one answered her. The children were inclined to be very silent. This life of Theresa's seemed to them something that could not be true. They had often been in and out of cottages; they had seen men tipsy in the village; but they had never realized before what it meant.
"How kind you are!" said Rosie, gently, coming close to Nessa, after they walked about half a mile. "Mustn't Mrs. Daly be very glad we went?"
"Poor woman!" said Nessa, her eyes filling suddenly with tears. "She is very good. I wonder why God made us so happy."
"Yes," said Murtagh, who had been considering Rosie's words. "I think you're very kind; I think you like helping people."
"When I was little," replied Nessa, turning to him with a smile, and falling into the children's train of thought, "I had a nurse called Aimée. She used to be very unhappy because I could not go to her church, and on Sunday afternoons she always took me to try and help some one. She used to tell me that that was my way to heaven. Wasn't it a pretty thought?"