she was so modest so expressive she had looked so soft in her thin white gown that he felt he had acted however it could not be helped and turning and bending himself to a rapid walk he dismissed the subject from his mind ill as for she did not so easily the incident from her consideration she had no spirit to dance again for a long time though she might have had plenty of partners but ah they did not speak so nicely as the strange young man had done it was not till the rays of the sun had absorbed the young stranger s retreating figure on the hill that she shook off her temporary sadness and answered her would be partner in the affirmative she remained with her comrades till dusk and with a certain zest in the dancing though being heart whole as yet she enjoyed treading a measure for its own sake uttle when she saw the soft the bitter sweets the pleasing pains and the agreeable of those girls who had been and won what she herself was capable of in that kind the struggles and of the lads for her hand in a were an amusement to her � no more and when they became fierce she them she might have stayed even later but the incident of her father s odd appearance and manner returned upon the girl s mind to make her anxious and wondering what had become of him she dropped away from the dancers and bent her steps towards the end of the village at which the parental cottage lay while yet many score yards off other sounds than those she had quitted became audible to her sounds that she knew well � so well they were a regular series of from the interior of the house occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradle i the maiden upon a stone floor to which movement a feminine voice kept time by singing in a vigorous the favorite of spotted cow � i saw her lie do � own in yon � der green � come and tell you the cradle rocking and the song would cease simultaneously for a moment and an exclamation at highest pitch would take the place of the melody god bless thy eyes and thy cheeks and thy cheery mouth and thy s and every bit o thy blessed body after this the rocking and the singing would and the spotted cow proceed as before so matters stood when opened the door and paused upon the mat within it surveying the scene the interior in spite of the melody struck upon the girl s senses with an unspeakable from the of the field � the white gowns the the willow the whirling movements on the green the flash of gentle sentiment towards the stranger � to the yellow melancholy of this one spectacle what a step besides the jar of contrast there came to her a chill self reproach that she had not returned sooner to help her mother in these instead of indulging herself doors there stood her mother amid the group of children as had left her hanging over the monday washing tub which had now as always lingered on to the end of the week out of that tub had come the day before � felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse � the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly about the skirt on the grass � which had been wrung up and by her mother s own hands as usual mrs was balanced on one foot beside the tub the other being engaged in the of the business of rocking her youngest child the cradle had done hard duty for so many years the weight of so many children on that floor that they were worn nearly flat in consequence of which a huge jerk accompanied each swing of the cot flinging the baby from side to side like a s as mrs excited by her song trod the with all the spring that was left in her after a long day s in the nick knock nick knock went the cradle the candle flame stretched itself tall and began up and down the water from the matron s elbows and the song galloped on to the end of the verse mrs regarding her daughter the while even now when with a young family was a passionate lover of tune no floated into from the outer world but s mother caught up its in a week there still faintly beamed from the woman s features something of the freshness and even the of her youth rendering it probable that the personal charms which could boast of were in main part her mother s gift and therefore i ll rock the cradle for ee mother said the daughter gently or i ll take off my best frock and help you up i thought you had finished long ago her mother bore no ill will for leaving the house work to her single handed efforts for so long indeed seldom her at any time feeling but slightly the lack of s assistance whilst her instinctive plan for herself of her labours lay in them to night however she was even in a mood than usual there was a a an exaltation in the maternal look which the girl could not understand the maiden well i m glad you ve come her mother said as soon as the last note had passed out of her i want to go and fetch your father but what s more n that i want to tell ee what have happened y u be enough my when th st know mrs habitually spoke the dialect her daughter who had passed the sixth standard in the national school under a london trained mistress spoke two languages the dialect at home more or less 