No,--bad manners to it! no,--you're not widout a home anyway. The
family's in my barn, brave and comfortable, compared to what your own
house was, that let in the wather through the roof like a sieve; and,
while the same barn's to the fore, never say you want a home."
"God bless you, Frank, for that goodness to them and me; if you're not
rewarded for it here you will in a betther place. Och, I long to see
Kathleen and the childher! But I'm fairly broken down, Frank, and hardly
able to mark the ground; and, indeed, no wondher, if you knew but all:
still, let God's will be done! Poor Kathleen, I must bear up afore her,
or she'll break her heart; for I know how she loved the golden-haired
darlin' that's gone from us. Och, and how did she go, Frank, for I left
her betther?"
"Why, the poor girsha took a relapse, and wasn't strong enough to bear
up aginst the last attack; but it's one comfort that you know she's
happy."
Owen stood for a moment, and, looking solemnly in his neighbor's face,
exclaimed, in a deep and exhausted voice, "Frank!"
"What are you goin' to say, Owen?"
"The heart widin me's broke--broke!"
The large tears rolled down his weather-beaten cheeks, and he proceeded
in silence to the house of his friend. There was, however, a feeling
of sorrow in his words and manner which Frank could not withstand.
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