"Musha then, but he's a niggardly baste!" soliloquised Biddy, "not to
give me the sign of a bit of money, after waiting there for him these
two hours by the road-side, and me with his sacret and all, that
could ruin him if I chose to spake the word, only I wouldn't for Miss
Feemy's sake. But maybe it was the hurry and all that made him be
forgitting, for he was niver the man for a mane action. I wish he may
trate her well, that's all; for he's a hard man, and it's bad for her
to be leaving the ould place without the priest's blessing."
Ussher was at the gateway; but when he got there, he could not see
Feemy. He waited about a minute, and then whistled--a minute more,
and he whistled again. What should he do? It would be so foolish now
for him to go without her! He knew the horse was steady and would
stand; so he got out and walked up the avenue till he saw the figure
of Feemy, still sitting on the root of the tree where we left her.
There was a light colour in her shawl, and the little white collar
round her neck enabled him to see her at some distance; and she saw,
or at any rate heard him, but she neither moved to or from him.
She had caught, some time since, the sound of the gig wheels; but
just as she did so, she again saw the figure of Thady as he came
round from the stables; and he evidently had heard it also, for he
stood still on the open space before the house. He was smoking, for
she caught the smell of the tobacco, and she plainly heard the stones
on the pathway rattle as he now and then struck them with the stick
in his hand. He didn't move towards her; but there he stood, as if
determined to ascertain whether the vehicle which he must have heard,
would pass along the road by the gate.
Then the sound ceased. It was when Biddy was putting in it the cloak
and bundle, and again it continued closer and closer. The road came
round the little shrubbery through which the avenue passed; the gig
was therefore at one time even nearer to Feemy than it would be when
it stopped at the avenue gate; and when it passed this place, she
fancied she could hear Ussher moving in his seat. She did not dare to
stir, however, for there still stood Thady, listening like herself to
the sounds within forty yards of her; and had she risen he must have
seen her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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