Jamie's heart beat fast as he entered the hall. Again he was greeted
by a chorus of welcomes from the company--"Here comes Jamie Freel!
welcome, welcome, Jamie!"
As soon as the tumult subsided, the little woman said, "You be to
drink our health, Jamie, out o' this glass in my hand."
Jamie snatched the glass from her and darted to the door. He never
knew how he reached his cabin, but he arrived there breathless, and
sank on a stove by the fire.
"You're kilt surely this time, my poor boy," said his mother.
"No, indeed, better luck than ever this time!" and he gave the lady
three drops of the liquid that still remained at the bottom of the
glass, notwithstanding his mad race over the potato-field.
The lady began to speak, and her first words were words of thanks to
Jamie.
The three inmates of the cabin had so much to say to one another, that
long after cock-crow, when the fairy music had quite ceased, they were
talking round the fire.
"Jamie," said the lady, "be pleased to get me paper and pen and ink,
that I may write to my father, and tell him what has become of me."
She wrote, but weeks passed, and she received no answer. Again and
again she wrote, and still no answer.
At length she said, "You must come with me to Dublin, Jamie, to find
my father."
"I ha' no money to hire a car for you," he replied, "an' how can you
travel to Dublin on your foot?"
But she implored him so much that he consented to set out with her,
and walk all the way from Fannet to Dublin. It was not as easy as the
fairy journey; but at last they rang the bell at the door of the house
in Stephen's Green.
"Tell my father that his daughter is here," said she to the servant
who opened the door.
"The gentleman that lives here has no daughter, my girl. He had one,
but she died better nor a year ago."
"Do you not know me, Sullivan?"
"No, poor girl, I do not."
"Let me see the gentleman. I only ask to see him."
"Well, that's not much to ax; we'll see what can be done."
In a few moments the lady's father came to the door.
"Dear father," said she, "don't you know me?"
"How dare you call me your father?" cried the old gentleman, angrily.
"You are an impostor. I have no daughter."
"Look in my face, father, and surely you'll remember me."
"My daughter is dead and buried. She died a long, long time ago." The
old gentleman's voice changed from anger to sorrow. "You can go," he
concluded.
"Stop, dear father, till you look at this ring on my finger. Look at
your name and mine engraved on it."
"It certainly is my daughter's ring; but I do not know how you came by
it. I fear in no honest way."
"Call my mother, _she_ will be sure to know me," said the poor girl,
who, by this time, was crying bitterly.
"My poor wife is beginning to forget her sorrow. She seldom speaks of
her daughter now. Why should I renew her grief by reminding her of her
loss?"
But the young lady persevered, till at last the mother was sent for.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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