But Margot took no notice of the blush, nor did she observe that the
Rev. Samuel Flannigan had moved a trifle out of hearing. Margot gravely
cracked her fingers. After a time she looked solemnly at young-old Aunt
Norah and said:
"You'll have ten. They'll come out of the hearts of cabbages, and I'll
order them for you one at a time, if you like; I'll go straight home
now and begin to make the baby clothes."
"Margot, you are the most awful pushkeen in the wide world," said Aunt
Norah. "You have made himself feel so ashamed that he can't look me in
the face."
"All because of the dear little babies," said Margot. "I am more than
surprised."
"Listen," exclaimed Norah, "no young girl ever talks on those subjects
before marriage."
"Don't she? But why? I thought it was _so_ interesting."
"It isn't, pushkeen; it isn't done."
"Have you told granddad yet that you are going to marry Mr. Flannigan?"
inquired Margot.
"No; we don't want him to know yet. It would spoil the fun; and dear
Samuel is so sensitive."
"I suppose so; I never thought it before, but if he's frightened of a
wee thing like a babe, he must be. But, young-old Aunt Norah, you ought
to tell granddad."
"I will, in good time, child; only it must be in my own way and in my
own time. Samuel is the most blessed and holy man in the whole world."
"Well, I don't think he's quite that; for if he were he wouldn't
play games like _puss-in-the-corner_ and _round the mulberry tree_
and _blind-man's buff_; and then, Aunt Norah, you _can't_ call him
handsome. His nose, it cocks right up, and there's very little of it;
and his mouth is _so_ wide; and he has teeny eyes; and his head is
getting bald. Do you want to marry a man with a bald head, Aunt Norah?
I'll tell you how I found it out. I saw you and him and Aunt Bridget
talking and laughing and giggling the other day, and I thought it
wasn't to say--well! what old-youngs did."
"You little prude," said Aunt Norah in an angry voice.
"Well, but it _wasn't_, old-young Aunt Norah."
"You are not to call me 'old-young'; I won't have it."
"Well, old, then."
"I'm not old."
"Whatever am I to call you, for you are not young?"
"Bless the child; she'll break me to bits," said Aunt Norah. "Pushkeen,
you don't know what you are talkin' of."
"I do; I know quite well. You sent me to your bedroom the other day
and I saw a very long plait of hair that wasn't yours lying on the
dressing table. If you were young the hair would sprout like bulbs out
of your head, and on the day that I watched you and Aunt Bride and Mr.
Flannigan playing in the garden, I thought I'd find out about him, so
I got Joe, the garden boy, to fetch me a ladder, and he did so, and I
climbed up and sat in the bough of a tree, and Samuel's hair was all
bald on the top, so you are neither of you young, and you oughtn't to
pretend; it is wrong."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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