The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-02-13


rye stayed long enough with you and |
Tom? | ought"
"Now listen to her!" cried Mrs |
flynn, apostrophizing the furniture. |
Will We listen to the wicked old
woman! Do We want to break my
heart entirely?"
q just thought" went on the soft |
voice but more family, that | ought |
to be movin' on an lookin'-" the |
yoice broke and then continued brave
ly-"Iookin' for-for-him.'
There was a peculiar expression of
mingled Indignation and tenderness
On young Mrs. Flynn's face. How
often have / told We, mother, that it's
10 use? Pat knows where to find ye
at least he knows where Tom and
live. And to think that he never has
written word to us in ten years an
that you're still eatin' your heart out
Tor hint just makes me boil-ft
loes indeed"
|. She busted herself with her work,
)ut her eyes were misty with the
bought of her brother, the little play
nate she had called my Pat" in
baby days-the 'black Sheep" but
such deer black sheep-ah, how they
10 get themselves mixed up in ones
1eart-strings, these troublesome ones!
She thought Of the day, twelve years
before, when she and Pat had said
goodbye to Ireland and to their par
ents, brothers and sisters and with
youthful faces agloW had come out
to America together Pat had given
| his solemn promise to look after" the
colleen and to be careful about Mass
and the Sacramento. He had found
| a good place for his sister and had
| visited her frequently. 1t was he who
had introduced Tom Flynn to Mary,
and after a few years Tom married
Pats pretty sister. But during these
years the friends became estranged.
Flynn was a rising young mechanic,
and willing to do all in his power to
| help his brother-in-law. But Pat got
in with bad company and began to
\ drink. His letters home, with their
enclosures of money, became less and
less frequent, and finally ceased.
| When Mary received word from one
of her sisters that her father had died,
she did not know where to find Pat
to tell him. In answer to many plead
ing letters she was obliged to admit
to her mother that the boy had dis
appeared. The widow suffered and
prayed, despaired and hoped, for
years, and at last, in spite of the en-
treaties of her married son and
daughter, took her meagre savings and
came OUT to look for her boy-her
youngest and bestbeloved.
Its his soul I'm bothered about"
she cOnfided to Mary IF | knew he
had died, even, and had the Sacra-
ments at the end, it's contented, I'd
be- But with the life he was leadin'
Mary, oh, Mary dear, pray God to
spare me until | know Pats soul is
not lost. And He will, know He will
some way he'll fix it so that | can
be sre."
That evening, when Mary sat sew
ing, and Tom read the newspaper in
the light of the dining-room lamp, she
began to talk Tom lowered his paper
and regarded her curiously. Her eyes
had a feyerish brightness, and her
voice held a quality strange to it.
Pat was always good lad she
began, leaning forward and looking
into the dusky space. beyond the lamp
light "He was q bit wild, but always
good to Ais mother.
Mother, alauna,' says he when he
was no higher than that table, I'm go
ing to buy you a silk dress some day.
says he.
"And, Mary, do We mind the time
! some lad in the school leased we, an
how Pat knocked him down, an how
the master separated the two of them
Pat could hardly speak with the blood
from his nose and the tears from his
| eyes, but do we mind how he told the
, master nobody was going to bully his
: sister,"
! Mary remembered. The memory OF
: that engaging scamp, Pat Halloran
: seemed to pervade the room. Even
| Tom Flynn was living over again his
| brief acquaintance with Pat.
AN do We mind" continued the
: mother, dreamily, ''how he used tC
, wait at night, in his little night-shirt
, 'or his father to punish him if he'd
; been bad? One time-she turned
| eonyersationally to Tom-"one time
when he was no more than four years
Of age, his, father went to whip him
/ for some little thing, and that bit OF
gossoon stood there and smiled al
] him, an the father couldn't raise q
> hand to him. The eyes of him! An
do We mind the curls, Mary? Faith, by
/ the time he was eighteen, every col
9 leen in the town was wild about him.
' The voice trailed off into silence
After while she rose, and bidding
, Mary and Tom goodnight, went off
, to bed. Her daughter looked anxious
q ly at her husband
Tom" she answered nervously, 81
1 never knew her to talk so much about
i him before"
e Flynn lowered his voice, glancing
! toward the bedroom Mrs. Halloran
a had entered.
: Il didn't want to excite her." he
2 said, "but l found a trace of Pat to
! day"
: The color ebbed out Of Mrs. FIynn's
: checks. TONI" she murmured.
3 Il wouldn't speak of it for fear il