The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of HimFord, Paul Leicester
General
The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him
Ford, Paul Leicester
Labor movement -- Fiction; Love stories; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Political fiction; Tenement houses -- Fiction
“Papa,” cried Leonore, “don’t you see it’s killing me? I can’t bear
it—” and Leonore stopped.
“Yes, Watts, we must,” said Mrs. D’Alloi.
Two hours later they were all three rolling towards New York. It was a
five hours’ ride, but Leonore sat the whole distance without speaking,
or showing any consciousness of her surroundings. For every turn of
those wheels seemed to fall into a rhythmic repetition of: “If I had
only said ‘good-bye.’”
The train was late in arriving, and Watts tried to induce Leonore to go
to a hotel for the night. She only said “No. Take me to him,” but it
was in a voice which Watts could not disregard. So after a few
questions at the terminal, which produced no satisfactory information,
Watts told the cabman to drive to the City Hall Park.
They did not reach it, however, for at the corner of Centre Street and
Chambers, there came a cry of “halt,” and the cab had to stop.
“You can’t pass this line,” said the sentry. “You must go round by
Broadway.”
“Why?” asked Watts.
“The street is impassable.”
Watts got out, and held a whispered dialogue with the sentry. This
resulted in the summoning of the officer of the watch. In the mean time
Leonore descended and joined them. Watts turned and said to her: “The
sentry says he’s here.”
Presently an officer came up.
“An’ what do the likes av yez want at this time av night?” he inquired
crossly. “Go away wid yez.”
“Oh, Captain Moriarty,” said Leonore, “won’t you let me see him? I’m
Miss D’Alloi.”
“Shure,” said Dennis, “yez oughtn’t to be afther disturbin’ him. It’s
two nights he’s had no sleep.”
Leonore suddenly put her hand on Dennis’s arm. “He’s not killed?” she
whispered, as if she could not breathe, and the figure swayed a little.
“Divil a bit! They got it wrong entirely. It was that dirty spalpeen av
a Podds.”
“Are you sure?” said Leonore, pleadingly. “You are not deceiving me?”
“Begobs,” said Dennis, “do yez think Oi could stand here wid a dry eye
if he was dead?”
Leonore put her head on Dennis’s shoulder, and began to sob softly. For
a moment Dennis looked aghast at the results of his speech, but
suddenly his face changed. “Shure,” he whispered, “we all love him just
like that, an that’s why the Blessed Virgin saved him for us.”
Then Leonore, with tears in her eyes, said, “I felt it,” in the most
joyful of voices. A voice that had a whole _Te Deum_ in it.
“Won’t you let me see him?” she begged. “I won’t wake him, I promise
you.”
“That yez shall,” said Dennis. “Will yez take my arm?” The four passed
within the lines. “Step careful,” he continued. “There’s pavin’ stones,
and rails, and plate-glass everywheres. It looks like there’d been a
primary itself.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account