ot give her a gown to go
to the dance?" And then, forgetting that old Margaret could not
understand her, she told her that the servants were having a dance at
the Big House, and had asked Molly to come to it. "But what can I do?
She has got no gown to go in. Even if I had the money there would not
be time to send for one now, nor to make one. And there are a number of
English servants stopping at the house; there are people from all parts
of the country, they have brought their servants with them, and I am
not going to see my girl worse dressed than the others, so she cannot
go. She has heard all this, she knows it.... I've never seen her so
tiresome before." Mrs. O'Dwyer continued to chide her daughter; but her
mother's reasons for not allowing her to go to the ball, though
unanswerable, did not seem to console Molly, and she sat looking very
miserable. "She has been sitting like that all day," said Mrs. O'Dwyer,
"and I wish that it were to-morrow, for she will not be better until it
is all over."

"But, mother, I am saying nothing; I will go to bed. I don't know why
you are blaming me. I am saying nothing. I can't help feeling
miserable."

"No, she don't look a bit cheerful," the old woman said, "and I don't
like her to be disappointed." This was the first time that old Margaret
had seemed to understand since she came to live with them what was
passing about her, and they all looked at her, Mrs. O'Dwyer and Alec
and Molly. They stood waiting for her to speak again, wondering if the
old woman's speech was an accident, or if she had recovered her mind.
"It is a hard thing for a child at her age not to be able to go to the
dance at the Big House, now that she has been asked. No wonder Molly is
unhappy. I remember the time that I should have been unhappy too, and
she is very like me."

"But, Granny, what can I do? She can't go in the clothes she is
wearing, and she has only got one other frock, the one she goes to Mass
in. I can't allow my daughter--"

But seeing the old woman was about to speak Alec stopped his wife.

"Let us hear what she has to say," he whispered.

"There is my wedding-gown: that is surely beautiful enough for anyone
to wear. It has not been worn since the day I wore it when the bells
were ringing, and I went over the hill and was married; and I have
taken such care of it that it is the same as it was that day. Molly
will look very nice in it; she will look as I looked that day."

No one spoke