The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-10-19
A Weird Story OF
Trse1, love
5 BY NORA PERRY

"Your wife sent for me yesterday, Kir
wan. She tells me that you would not
answer the last letter She wrote you.
What is it makes you so unforgiying,
Maurice Kirwan|
81 thought you knew my wife" Mau-
rice Kirwan said, with his eyes on the
ground.
81 know your wife married her fathers
shepherds son, but know nothing more,
except that she was the prettiest colleen
and you the best piper on the Shannon
side"
"She said once had piped her down
from her right place"
Did you!'
"Sure Father Hackctt, and it was no
fault of mine. She put the comcther on
me, not me on her, and when | saw she
was tired Of me did not give her all the
freedom | could with a heart and
half"
"Wcll. her freedom has not contented
her Kirwan. Your wife is dying"
"Nora-Nora dying"
"Will you go to her? She wants you"
said the priest gently
aye. will CO." Maurice Krwan an
swered, with his eyes still on the ground: .
''I'll go at once What's that in the yard
yonder, father?" flushing deeply under
his tan. Did Nora send the car for me :?
You are going to her again maybe?"
Yes; we may as well drive to Cash
laun-na-gecha together"
'You may drive. father; I'll 60 TO Nora
on my own feet Your reverence can
tell her so when you see her"
Il will give her kinder message than
= you send. kirwan," the father said Sc
verely. "and | hope to find you more for
giving when we meet at Cashlaun. Do
not delay on the road, however, if you
wish to find your wife alive"
Mora must wait for me-" Maurice Kir-
wan muttered as he took his way along
the CaShlaun road half an hour later
God knows I've waited long enough for
' her. Seven years next Hollandtide since
we set eyes on each other last. and never
scarf Of pen on paper between US since
God save you kindly. Jimmy Dolan: a
fine soft day indeed" Ito a passing beg
gar)-"till now, that is And the father
says it's dying she is. And what is it
she wants with me, | wonder? Is it to
put more bitter words on me? But dy-
ing woman must have her will, and if she
puts curse on me it's little care My
days are none so merry now. And hows
the old mother, Donncll? And have you
heard yet from Larry in Dublin? And
Cad save you kindly, Mary Comedy.
And which road are you going this soft
morning.
I'm going my lone" said the old wom-
an he addressed. getting up slowly from
her seat on fallen bowlder But it's
the longest road you're going that you've
ever gone yet and the btterest. | can
see that much, Maurice avick. though it
is no wise woman | am. Go on wild you;
go on to your fine wife, Maurice ayick-
"oh. young she is. and fair she is and would be
crowned queen
II the kings home again with Kathleen
Ny-Houlahan." a..
The cracked old voice quavered out
into silence, and Maurice Kirwan took
up the song almost unconsciously as he
went rapidly on his way striking off
from the highway upon the green, smooth
esker that was the nearest path to Cash
laun- a-geeha. Then he remembered how
his wife used to sing the same song in
the days before their i'll assorted marriage
crumbled in ruins around their fallen
house of love, and he stopped abruptly.
tits hard / am, as the father says, to be
singing my lone and she lying sick to
death. Never fear, Nora bawn! I'll
sing no more"
"Who is it speaks? Well. Piper of
Cashlaun, what's your will with me?'
The speaker, one of two bare footed
girls seated in a grassy hollow of the
esker, with measure of blackberries be-
tween them looked up with a challenge
in her dark eyes and flung berry with
true aim at the pper's heart. whats
your will with me, Sighie or with Onoir
hereY nodding at her companion, who
was as fair as she was dark, but who
did not lift her eyes from the measure OF
berries. \ blackberry branch lay across
her knees. which she was slowly strip
ping. You walk on tired feet. piper.
Have We danced too long to your own
music. as Una bawn did once upon
timer"
mo" Maurice Kirwan said dreamily.
"But maybe | trod on the hungry grass"
"0r on the other grass, the sorrowful
grass that grows on all the eskers,"
said the girl.
Maybe I've been treading on the sor-
ry grass all my life, | think" Maurice
said YEARLY, "and the mold would be
merrer walking"
II
ding her dark head gravely at him. And
s may be that the sorry grass grows
even on the hills of Tir-nan'Og, piper"
MAY it be long, avourneen, till you
60 there to find out"
"Oh, | have been there already" she
said lightly. And the hills are hard
climbing, viper But there are valleys,
too-valleys galore and green, green are
they. Are you so tired, piper? Come,
eat and drink. Here are blackberries
ripper than you'll find on any bush within
a mile Of Cashlaun, and here is milk for
you in a cup of hollywood for luck.
Drink, Maurice Kirwan."
81 drink" the piper said as he gave
bNck the empty cup, ''and ! bless the
COW that gave the milk and the hand
that MIXED her."
"Your wife has many cows in her
byres, but none yields such milk as this"
said the dark girl, laughing softly. Nay,
but sit down again. What would you
dol? as Maurice Kirwan stumbled to his
feet.
"Nora," he said vaguely, "shame to me
for forgetting her!'
"Worse shame to you for taking food
and drink of me without payment, said
the dark girl, laughing still, 'and my
brothers pipes lying in reach of you
all the while"
"You have put a charm on me with
your milk and berries" said the piper,
trying tn shake off the hand she had