The herald., 1897-02-15
YYYYYYYYYYvYY
! NORA BRADY'S
J LOVE AFFAIR

Nora Brady was In love. The f1rSt
way in which this state revealed itself
was when she, in the language OF her
social set, ''shook her steady" Jim
Hoolihan, with his coarse, red knucklcs
and his unctuous barkeeper's laugh,
grew suddenly distasteful to her. So
she banshed him from her presence
with a directness and force that even
Jim's not over-receptive mind UNDER
stood. She elected thereby to be one Of
the great unsought, the unlimited, the
undanced-with, the generally unfestiv1
rather than be the victim of Jim's at
tentions, suddenly discovered to be ops
pressive and offensive.
There We're other ways In which he's
passion revealed itself. She became q
person of moods. Some days the tene>
ment would echo with o foolish song,
that came back to her memory after
years of forgetfulness-a song she dimly
recalled hearing in her childish days In
Balconnel, when the young girls walked
together in the twilight. or the matrons
crooned above their babies. Only tho
plaintve melody and few lines re-
manned with her, and these she sang
loudly as she polished the tins in tbs
early morning, softly as she looked out
among the roofs and chimneys at even-
ing. Foolish, foolish lines they were,
that rang:
Castles are sacked in war;
Captves are scattered far;
Love is fixed star,
Eileen Aroon.
She developed also another eccentric
ity. She began haunting the Mission ol
the Society of Universal Brotherhood.
on avenue c. She was conscious of a
hot self-shame when she found herself
attending lectures on housekeeping by
young philanthropists. who couldn'k
sweep, and stereopticon views Of Pales-
fine and loan ntCfIIrf ChnWc a aI
with an involuntary but not the less gall
Ing patronage, but she couldn't keep
away from them. She felt utter debase-
ment when young Mr.. Carrinway, as
sistant head worker at the mission,
called on her mother and gave semi,
pedagogic discourses on the beauty Of
temperance and the necessity for neat
ness. But, on the whole, the months
when he made no such instructive visit
were the harder to bear
Nora mad read practically no poetry.
and as result she had not CLASSIFIED her
emotions She did not know that the
sudden stopping of her heart when young
Mr.. Carrinway called, and its more sud-
den resumption of violent beating meant
love.
Still less did young Mr.. Carrinway.
who was combining practical phIlan-
thropy ana study of social economics,
guess that he was Nora Brady's uncoh-
scious ideal. She was to him one of the
club of thlrtythree young women to
whom that adorable Miss Van de Peys-
ter was teaching domestic science. She
was also the daughter of that disgrace
ful feminine reprobate, Bridget Brady.
who passed life in a state OF constant
boozing and was given to a mealy-
mouthed form of beggary most distaste-
ful to young Mr.. Carrinway and all his
eminent people associates, whose chief
dread was that they might unwittingly
encourage pauperism among paupers
Immediately after Christmas Nora
was laid off" at the factory where she
had been engaged in rolling cigarettes.
Although this gave her more time to reA
duce the tenement to a state Of hospital
like cleanliness against the next tour Of
inspection on the part of young Mr. Car.
runway. 1T also lessened the chances that
she would be able to keep the tenement
until that time. She scrubt|S and poll
ished and rebuked her mother for SLOW
enliness and drunkenness with great
vigor. She became a member of more
classes than ever at the mission and was
day by day filed with a deeper scorn Of
those who could pass their time In such
make believe work in a world where
there were facts to be faced, landlords to
be paid or placated and coal to be bought.
But somehow the assistant head worker
escaped in her sweeping mental denun-
citation.
One day after she had been out looking
for work she returned to find her mother
gloating over some crisp, green bills.
LUX, darlint, luk." cried that worthy
lady. See what Oive here! Shure, it's
enoof to pay the months rint. Thet
young blatherskoite. Misthur Carrip-
way hes been here. an Oi tould him thet
we'd be turned out if OF cudn't pay the
~. ;,,sx 1T, I,1 Ax.p T..
laves me this. Shure, he's the koind
young feller fur all his impittence."
"Impittence?" said Nora questioning
ly, feeling sense of physical illness
such as one might feel in whose face
heavens gates were swung irrevocably
closed.
"Yis, impittence is what OF call 1t whin
amy man, lit alone a-young man an a
bach'ler at thet, passes remarks on the
way OF kape house. Or tells me that IL
ye git job ye must pay back the loan
he's lint us. Shure he was as finnicky
as an ole maid about the bit NV dirt an
as afraid NV losin' his foive dollars as a
moiser. Shure Oim an honest woman,
an Ord not be beholdin' to amy wan,
if OF cud hilp it."
A realization of the vastness of the
distance that separated her from the
assistant head worker of the mission
came over Nora as she listened duly.
He was of another race, a race of be-
ings prosperous, orderly, commanding.
He despised where he helped She shud-
dered at her mothers recital.
"Oim goin' out for a minnit or two"
said Mrs. Brady, uneasily looking at her
daughter. But for once Nora was
neither inquisitive nor otherwise unfilial.
When her mother had gone, however.
she stepped to the tin safe where the
money had been deposited in an old tea
pot. She extracted it gingerly. Then
fishing out a scrap of paper and an en-
young Mr.. Carrinway that her mother
would noS need the money she had bor-
rowed because the cigarette factory was
to resume full work the next week.
In the family row which followed Mrs.
Brady's discovery of her daughters per-
fidy much damage was done. For Mrs.
Brady's temper, never mild, was In
famed by mixed drinks consumed on
the strength of the financial standing
given her by the loan. The quarrel final
ly reached proportions where ne1ghbor
who disliked the Bradys felt JUSTIFIED in
summoning police assistance. SO that
Noras quixotic performance might
have ended badly but for the friendly
interference of Jim Hoolihan, who
lounged over from his barroom to send
the officer away, to tender Mrs. Brady
further assistance, and to whistle softly
in Nora's neighborhood the song ne mad
heard her sing. So that when his frlend-
ly missions were performed and he
broke in on Love is a Fixed star TO
ask Nora If she wouldn't be train him
.-~sx q ri