Part 34 (1/2)
”Do you wear a hat in the street?” Denis asked laughingly; ”and a coat; or have you descended to the habits of your ancestors and eschewed clothes on a hot day?”
”No, ood man, and for an excellent reason I have no desire to run counter to the law,” replied Desmond
”Precisely my reason for abstinence on Friday; but my law is a moral one, and my justice of the peace that stern fellow, conscience Don't talk to me of traditions and superstitions You, free men, are more bound by superstitions than ho profess to be servants to a kindly mistress I will share your flat and your wonderful ent conversation on one condition We will swear a truce of God, neither shall run atilt at the other's convictions until he is invited to do so Is it an understanding?” said Denis
”Agreed! Go your oay and leave me in peace,” said Desmond
Thus did it come about that these two men shared the sah their vieere diaathered a Bohemian band of companions, of all creeds and every condition of life Lawyers, doctors, actors, journalists, and politicians; if they were decent, straight-living ht for that which they received, the Bachelors' flat in Collins Street, as it was termed, was open to the ”The Freelance” a power in the land He set himself to found a school of journalists rote for the love of truth and scorned the s of life As with ”The Mercury,” Denis Quirk an a censor of all that is contemptible
Desmond O'Connor, for his part, lived the parti-coloured life of other men, business and pleasure in equal portions Occasionally he assisted Quirk with a black and white sketch for ”The Freelance” He still retained his old power as an artist, and Denis Quirk turned to hiular staff when he desired a particularly striking sketch
”Just sit down, Desmond, and illustrate this article The initials, D
O'C, are always appreciated,” he would say
”So I have every reason to believe I a, even undesired artistic fae you,” Desmond would answer
He had a heartfelt admiration for Denis Quirk, whose fate it was to win the love or hate of those who knew him None who cath of his personality, and he threw himself resolutely on the side of truth Those who lived on injustice and untruth would willingly have destroyed him because he exposed thehtforward placed him on a pedestal as a just htness of life in those days
CHAPTER XX
GREAT IS THE TRUTH
”Bachelors' Flat,” in Collins Street, was peculiarly silent The customary visitors paused in the hall downstairs and did not venture to ascend to the third floor of the e to the caretaker, a few parting words of hope, or a shake of the head, and they passed on into the busy world outside
In the flat itself men and women walked with quiet feet and spoke to one another in whispers, saving in the darkened rooly, and now shouted or laughed in the wildness of deliriuentle little lady, never hurried yet never sloays patient, with a coaxing manner and a soft voice When he was sensible Desel of Mercy; in his delirius, when he muttered and shouted sentences he had heard from the lips of others and never sullied his own lips with, he was always respectful to her
Kathleen O'Connor and Molly Healy ith her as untrained auxiliaries to take her place and ier be denied To thehest praise in her pohen she rely:
”You should have been nurses, both of you”
Denis Quirk had resigned his room to the nurses, and when he slept stretched hi anxiously for his friend'swhen Deseranted to Father Healy the permission to attend Desht, as soon as the telephone carried the expected e, the parish priest of Grey Toas prepared to hasten in a one on to the dread third week, where death crouches beside the patient's sick bed, and Desn The doctor ca the brand of anxiety plainly printed on his face; the nurse had curtailed her hours of sleep to the e had not been sent
”Why will he not surrender?” sighed Kathleen O'Connor ”I have asked him to see Father Healy, and he always answers, 'No'”
”The good God is just trying us,” said Molly Healy ”He wishes to see how far our faith will go But I a that mine will stretch a little further yet; for it needs to be elastic in times like this”