The Irish standard., 1893-05-27
'THIE IRISH srANDARD: ';sAT URDAY, MAY p ~


!, !, "1t is pitiable, father y she went on,
impetuously, ITO see q parent drop his
eyes before child-a helpless girl at
that! But was it right, father, to leave
me in ignorance all this time that Sib-
ley had written to you, telling youif
you would relinquish your absurd vow,
and take your proper place at home. he
would come back and help you?"
| 'Sibley is an unruly, tempestuous fell
low-troublesome. did not want him. I"
mot so easily trodden under foot as
girl. But he is coming back, father.
he and Dennis are good friends Dennis
! faced him like man, and Sibley had to
confess that he was as ignorant as the
rest of us. But out there in the breezy,
fresh current Of life that those two
move in this poor, ragged old scare
crow that you and the older Lorimers
have been shaking at each other all
these years tumbled all to pieces. It
had no substance of its own. found
that out for myself to-day, father"
"How?' the old man asked, doggedly.
"By kneeling at the bedside of a sick
woman and asking her to tell me If, as
her vision grew larger and clearer, the
fret and the worry of this whole miser-
able business did not grow in
fnitesimally small. She said it did.
And she told me all that wanted to
know. I told her, father, that / had
promised Dennis to marry him and go
| away with him, to make a home for
ourselves, if he would find ,Sibley and
| bring him back here to take this un-
just burden from my shoulders. told
| her should not feel comfortable at the
thought that we had kept it all from
her. She had right to know that we
were going to be married in spite of
her, in spite Of you, in spite of the mis-
cradle old threadbare vendetta. And
came in here to tell you the same, ia
ther''
"What did she say2" He ignored the
! closing sentence.
''She put her arms around my neck.
She kissed me, father, and sho called
me daughter. She told me to tell you
that there would soon be no one left
for you to hate--to let the old, WORKOUT
feud be buried in her grave"
"No one left for me to hate! And-I
have loved her all my life-her, and NO
other woman, ever!'
''Father!'
His gray head had fallen forward on
| his breast. His lids were closed and
| impurpled He stretched out his hands
blindly, gropingly. He was trying to
saw something Ida knelt close by the
side of his chair.
s'My brave, brave child! I am glad it
has ended so! Give Sibley my love
and Dennis
It was so sudden, SO utterly incompre-
| hensible, that even when the family
physician told her that he had known
for years that her father must eventual
| ly 60 in just that sudden fashion from
heartrfailure, she found it hard to be-
| heve that he was no longer there at
Glenburnie, wasting his manhood, ig-
noring his responsibilities, demanding
| daily tribute of her, bodily, mentally
and morally.
t'Thank God, he died with blessing
on his lips for a Lorimer," she wrote to
Sibley, and sealed the letter with a
black impress of martlet.
II am sorry he did not know about
Sibley's child, Dido" she said that
night. reaching out her hand for a touch
of the hard faithful one that had never
yet failed her. II meant to have told
| him But"
"You done it all for the best. It amt
all cleared up yet. And he had mighty
turn FOR pesterin' about things. 1t
would have just given him lot of ques-
tions to ask which nobody but your
brother could answer
"Sibley will be here in a day or two"
''Thank the Lord for all His 1nercies!!'
'"And Deunis too"
A wan smile fitted over her white
face, and, closing her tired eyes, she fell
asleep with her lovers name on her lips
and her hand lying like snowflake in
black Dido's clasp.
CHAPTER XIV.
Why should not one derive all the
satisfaction that could possibly be ex-
tracted from grumb]ing to ones hearts
content, when there was ready to ones