“Oh, Dr. O’Grady,” she said, “I’m so glad you’ve come. This girl won’t go away and I can’t make out what she wants.”
“It was Constable Moriarty bid me come,” said Mary Ellen.
“It’s all right,” said Dr. O’Grady. “I arranged for her to be here. I’ll explain everything in one moment. Is that the only frock you own, Mary Ellen?”
“It is not; but I have another along with it.”
“I don’t expect the other is much better,” said Dr. O’Grady. “Just look at that dress, will you, Mrs. Gregg?”
Mrs. Gregg looked at Mary Ellen’s clothes carefully. She did not appear to admire them much.
“There’s a long tear in the skirt,” she said. “It might be mended, of course, but—and she has only one button on her blouse, and her boots are pretty well worn out, and she’s horribly dirty all over.”
“In fact,” said Dr. O’Grady, “you couldn’t very well present her to the Lord-Lieutenant as she is at present.”
“The Lord-Lieutenant!” said Mrs. Gregg.
“Perhaps I forgot to mention,” said Dr. O’Grady, “that Mary Ellen must be presented. She’s the grand niece of General John Regan.”