Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-26

startling incident happened. The old
Lord Raa of Castle Raa, head of the
! O'Neills, the same that had sworn at
! my grandmother, after many years in
which he had lived a bad life abroad
where he had contracted fatal mala-
dies, returned to ELAN to die. Being
a bachelor, his heir would have been
Captain O'Neill, but my mothers IA
Their had died during the previous
winter, and in the absence or direct
male issue it seemed likely that both
title and inheritance (Which. by the
conditions of an old patent, might
have descended to the nearest living
male through the female line) would
go to a distant relative, a boy. IA
years of age. Protestant, who was
then at school at Elton.
Unexpected Happens.
More than ever now my father
chewed the cud of his great disap-
poitnment. But it is the unexpected
that oftenest happens, and one day In
the spring DR.. Conrad, being called
to see my mother, who was indis-
posed, announced that she was about
to bear a child.
My fathers delight was almost deli
rious, though at first his happiness
was tempered by the fear that the
child that was to be born to him
might not prove a boy. Even this
danger disappeared from his miod
after time, and before long his van-
ity and his uncomfortable will had so
triumphed over his common sense
that he began to speak OF his unborn
child as a son, just as if the birth of
a male child had been prearranged.
With my mother, with DR.. Conrad,
and above all with Father Dan he
sometimes went the length Of discuss
ing his sons name. 1t was to he
Hugh, because that had been the
name of the heads of the O'Neiils
through all the ages, as far back as
the legendary days in which, as i
was believed. they had been the Kings
of ELAN.
My mother was no less overJoyed.
She had justified herself at last, and
if she was happy enough at the be-
ginning in the tingling delight of the
woman who is about to know the
sweetest of human joys, the joy of
bearing a child, she acquiesced at
length in the accepted idea that her
child would be a boy. Perhaps she
was moved to this merely by desire
to submit to her husbands will, and
to realize his hopes and expectations
Or perhaps she had another reason,
secret reason, a reason that came OF
her own weakness and timidity as a
woman, namely, that the man child to
be born of her would be strong and
! brave and free.
All went well down TO the end of
autumn, and then alarming news
came from Castle Raa. The old lord
had developed some further malady
and was believed to be sinking rapid
ly. DR.. Conrad was consulted and he
gave it as his opinion that the patient
could not live beyond the year. This
threw my father into a fever of anx-
iety Sending for his advocate, he
took counsel both with him and with
Father Dan.
A Race of Souls.
Come now, let us get the hang of
this business" he said; and when he
realized that according to the terms
of the ancient PatenD if the old lord
died before his child was born, his
high built hopes would be in the dust.
his eagerness became a consuming
| fire.
For the first time in his life his ex-
citement took forms of religion and
benevolence. He promised that if
everything went well he would give Il
| new altar to Our Lady's Chapel in
| the parish church of St. Mary, ton
of coal to every poor person within q
radius of five miles and a supper to
every inhabitant of the neighboring
village who was more than 60 years
| of age. 1t was even rumored that he
went so far in secret as to provide