Part 36 (1/2)
”No Not that, please It is bad enough to have lived it It was purebut that”
They were still talking when Kathleen returned She concealed the dis Sylvia Custance with Desmond She feared the old influence that had so vitally helped to ruin her brother's life and drive him from his Faith At present he eak in body, and like an infant in religion The slightest obstacle ain to his fore Sylvia Custance was a great danger But it flashed into her ht unaided If he succuain it was not her fault She could only pray for hiht, he said to her:
”I think I will go down to Grey Town to-h?” she asked
”I don't want to see Sylvia Custance again The old life must die, Kath
It seee as they travelled towards Grey Town she recognised that he had not slept well, but she s and cushi+ons, and watched him drop into a quiet sleep Denis Quirk, who had insisted on accoht them refreshments at every possible opportunity and watched over the zeal When they arrived at Grey Town the ”Layton”to carry them to the Quirks' ho a glad welcoreet them warmly
”It is like home to me,” cried Kathleen, as she kissed the kindly, withered old face
”And home it is, honey, when you are here; but it is a lonely home without yourself and Denis,” said Mrs Quirk
CHAPTER XXI
THE BISHOP'S SOLUTION
Denis Quirk, at Grey Town, threay all thoughts of work, and laid himself out to make the ti his fortnight at ”Layton” he was only in the town for Mass on the two Sundays, and once when he paid a visit to Cairns at the ”Mercury” Office That visit he curtailed to a brief fifteen minutes
When he entered the old office, to find everything as he had left it--the old faces, the saed as it had been in his day--he felt that he could not stay for any length of time
This was home to him, and he an exile
”I had to see you,” he said to Cairns, ”but it breaksfor you, Quirk, and weback?” the editor asked
”When I can thrust my innocence in the town's face--perhaps to-morrow, possibly never,” Denis answered
”Nonsense! The scandal is dead and buried We never realised what you were until you had left us We want your initiative, Quirk”
”It's very good of you to say that Lord, how I miss you Cairns--you and the old paper! The 'Freelance' is all right, but it never can be the 'Mercury' And Grey Town, too! I love it for its very shortcos,”
Denis replied
He interviewed the staff, and parted after a few friendly words with each The remainder of his time in Grey Toas spent at ”Layton” and in the country around the town His friends were invited to meet him at dinner--Father Healy, Mr Green, Dr Marsh, and a few others Not that he feared to face the town, but because he could not bear to enter it as a mere visitor; to stand, as it were, on one side, as an onlooker and not as a worker
”You have done wonders, they tell me,” he remarked to his father, ”but I feel that there isto be doing it”
”I a your seat on the Council warm for you Say the word, and it is yours,” remarked Samuel Quirk
”When the word co at the its eyes The town is beginning to realise what it is to be awake In ti briskly”
”I'll keep on pinching theers,” Samuel Quirk replied complacently ”By the ti city”
The time passed pleasantly and swiftly at ”Layton” Every day brought some new pleasure or excitement for the O'Connors, and Denis Quirk did his utet the strain that they had just been through He proved that he could play as strenuously as he was accustoKathleen O'Connor attearden, old Mrs Quirk resting placidly in an easy-chair under a large oak tree, Kathleen seated beside her, and the two th on the lawn Desmond lay far apart, out of earshot, while Mrs Quirk was fast asleep