FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41  
42   43   44   45   46   47   48   >>  
l tell you,' she said, 'for I am going to leave you, and you ought to know.' And then, instead of telling her, the poor woman burst into tears. 'Don't cry, mother, don't cry,' said the child; 'don't tell me if you'd rather not.' 'But I _must_ tell you, Poppy,' she said, as she dried her eyes and looked into the fire. 'Poppy, I loved your father more than I can tell you, and he loved me, child; yes, he _did_ love me; never you believe any one who tells you he didn't love me. He loved _me_, and he loved _you_, Poppy; he was very good to you, wasn't he, my child?' 'Yes, mother, very good,' said Poppy, as she remembered how kind he always was to her when he came in from work. 'But he got into bad company, Poppy, and he took to drinking. I wouldn't tell you, dear, only I'm going away, and so I think you ought to know. Well, bit by bit he was led away. Sometimes, dear, I blame myself, and think perhaps I might have done more to keep him at home; but he was always so pleasant with all his mates, and they made so much of him, and they led him on--yes, Poppy, they led him on--they did, indeed. And I saw him getting further and further wrong, and I could not stop him, and there were things which I didn't know about, dear--horse-racing, and card-playing, and all that sort of thing. And one day, Poppy,' said her mother, lowering her voice ('I wouldn't tell you, my dear, if I wasn't going away), one day he went out to his work as usual. I made him a cup of hot coffee to drink before he started; I always made him that, dear, if he was off ever so early. 'Well, he was ready to go, but he turned round at the door, and says he, "Is Poppy awake?" "No, the bairn was fast asleep when I came down," says I. He put down his breakfast-tin by the door, and he crept upstairs, and I could hear his steps in the room overhead, and then, Poppy, I listened at the foot of the stairs, and I heard him give you a kiss. I didn't say anything, child, when he came down, for I thought maybe he wouldn't like me to notice it, and he hurried out, as if he was afraid I should ask him what he was doing. 'Well, dear, dinner-time came, and I always had it ready and waiting for him, for I think it's a sin and a shame, Poppy, when them that works for the meat never has time given them to eat it. But the dinner waited long enough that day, child, for he never came home. I began to think something must be wrong, for he always came home of a dinner-hour. I
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41  
42   43   44   45   46   47   48   >>  



Top keywords:

dinner

 

wouldn

 

mother

 

upstairs

 

breakfast

 
started

turned

 

asleep

 

waiting

 
waited
 

listened

 

stairs


thought
 

afraid

 

hurried

 

coffee

 

notice

 

overhead


drinking

 
company
 

Sometimes

 

father

 

looked

 

remembered


racing

 

playing

 

things

 
lowering
 

telling

 

pleasant