Part 5 (2/2)
”I don't claim any credit,” reer which so often antecedes, and possibly generates, lapse
”I never could see that swearing did any good; so I just say to myself, 'You'd like to come out, would you?--well, then, once for all, you won't'”
”You're a happy looht up careful, but I've turned out a (adj) failure nobody would think, seeing ot ot ether” He paused, evidently battling feebly with that impulse which bids us ease the loaded breast, even when discovery's pain His voice was even lower and sadder as he resumed:
”My father he ell off, with a comfortable place of his own on the Hawkesbury; an' there was on'y ht when I was about twelve or fourteen, and Molly she was hardly so old If you was to travel the country, you wouldn't ht call”----
”My farther he was a sojer,” interposed Dixon ”He could whack any ht in the 40th Las' word he says to me: 'Bob,' says he; 'be a man--an' keep Injun ink off o' yer arht do' ”
”Not many sters in the natur' an' adhtened to dress the knots off o' theht 'William,' says he to me; 'if I catch a oath out o' your mouth, I'll welt the (adj) hide off o' you ;' an' many's the time he done it 'Always show respect to an ole man or an ole woman,' says he; 'an' never kick up a roith nobody; an' when you see a row startin', you strike in an' squash it, for blessed be the peaceh at a drunk man; an' never take your Maker's name in vain, or by (sheol) He'll make it hot for you'
That was my father's style with y-trace on the table, after supper: 'There, Molly,' says he; 'that's for girls as goes gallivantin' about after night ;'
an' ot for flyin' round in the rowed up to be the best girl, an' the cleverest, in the district The other girls eeds aside of her; she stood inches higher nor any o' the as whalebone, she was, an' not a lazy bone in her body
She was different froard o' learnin', for she always liked to have her nose in a book, an' she went a lot to school An' as for singin'
or playin' anything in the shape o' music--why, there was nobody about could hold a candle to her She was fair mad on it; an' my ole dad he sent her to Sydney for over a year o' purpose to fetch her out
Peanner, or flute, or fiddle, or the curliest instrument out of a brass band, it was all one to her; it co Pore Molly!” Cooper paused awhile before he resumed----
”She never took up with none o' the fellers I knowed fellers try to kiss her; but her style was to stiffen them with a clip under the ear, an' they sort o' took the hint, an' never come back But by-'n'-by a ht the place next ours but one; an' our two faot acquainted Wonderful clever ole feller he was, in regard o' findin' out new gases, an' so off like a cannon if you looked at it
This cove had got one son an' two daughters, an' hischap, about e at the time”----
”An' how old was you then?” demanded Mosey
”About two-an'-twenty He seehtforrid, well-edicated young feller; an' reat cronies; an' by-'n'-by I seen he was collared on Molly, an' she was collared on hiot a curse on hiet rid of in a hurry
Thank God for that much!”
”Ruined her?” queried Mosey briskly
Cooper passed the question with unconscious dignity, and resus went on this way for a couple o' year; an' this feller's people was agreeable; an', tostory short, the time was fixed for two reeable, of course?” said Thompson
”He was dead,” replied Cooper reverently ”Gone to eternity, I hope
He deserved to go there if ever any livin' man did He died about a year after these people co feller's name?” queried Mosey
”Never youstory short, one day pore Molly wanted to go somewhere, an' she jumped on-to a horse I'd just left in the yard, an' she shoved her foot in the stirrup-leather; an' the horse he was a reg'lar devil; an' he played up with her in the yard; an' her heel went through the loop o' the leather, an' she co by her ankle; an' the horse he was shod all round, an' he kicked her in the face”--Cooper paused
”Killed her?” suggested Mosey
”I caught the horse, an' got her clear, an' carried her into the house, all covered with blood, an' just like a corp; an' I left her there with the married woman we had, while I went for the doctor Well, there she laid for weeks, half-ways between dead an' alive, an' me like a feller in a drea but the has I used to take off of her, an' set her cryin' I would n't go through that lot agen, not if I got a pension for it Well, by-'n'-by she got her senses coin' about the house every day, sayin' nothing to nobody; but when she begun to coht in regard o' health, but she was disfigured for life; she had to wear a crape veil down to herfeller he used to come sometimes an' just shake hands with her, but otherways he would n't touch her with a forty-foot pole Then he begun to stop away altogether; an' by-'n'-by he suddenly got irl out o' the lowest pub for ten mile round; an' his father--real decent ole bloke he was--he told hien But there was no end o' go in him He had an uncle in Sydney, middlin' rich, a shi+p-chandler, an' this”--