He knew she would think he was with the fairies. He knew she, too, would think this big city fairyland if she were here with him.
So he smiled to himself as he wrote to her. And the smiles tumbled down from his lips to the paper on which he wrote.
And when Eileen received the letters those same smiles jumped up and settled on her own two pretty lips. She liked to think that her Shaun was in a fairy city. He knew she would like to think it.
So he went on telling her about the wonders, without ever saying he was in the city of New York.
It was a simple jest. He would not have deceived her for worlds. But that twinkle made him play with her. It made him write letters that read like fairy tales.
And sometimes he wrote verse like this:
Towers tall
Make Shauneen small
Feel like nothing
At all, at all!
Years went by. One day a very small girl came into the shoemaker's shop.
Shaun was growing to be a tall boy now. He was tall and manly. But the Irish bloom was still on his face, with the smile of his country.
A very small girl came into the shop with her nurse. While the nurse talked to Pat O'Leary, the little miss came over and sat upon a stool by the side of Shaun O'Day.