Mike,
and was permitted to remain. For a woman who was notorious as a virago
and bully, who had beaten little Kate from her babyhood and abused and
hammered her Michael until, between her and drink, he was but the wreck
of a stalwart manhood, Mrs. Clancy had developed a degree of devotion
that was utterly unexpected. In all the dozen years of their marital
relations no such trait could be recalled; and yet there had been many
an occasion within the past few years when Clancy's condition demanded
gentle nursing and close attention,--and never would have got it but for
faithful little Kate. The child idolized the broken-down man, and loved
him with a tenderness that his weakness seemed but to augment a
thousandfold, while it but served to infuriate her mother. In former
years, when he was Sergeant Clancy and a fine soldier, many was the time
he had intervened to save her from an undeserved thrashing; many a time
had he seized her in his strong arms and confronted the furious woman
with stern reproof. Between him and the child there had been the
tenderest love, for she was all that was left to him of four. In the old
days Mrs. Clancy had been the belle of the soldiers' balls, a
fine-looking woman, with indomitable powers as a dancer and
conversationalist and an envied reputation for outshining all her rivals
in dress and adornment. "She would ruin Clancy, that she would," was
the unanimous opinion of the soldiers' wives; but he seemed to minister
to her extravagance with unfailing good nature for two or three years.
He had been prudent, careful of his money, was a war-soldier with big
arrears of bounty and, tradition had it, a consummate skill in poker. He
was the moneyed man among the sergeants when the dashing relict of a
brother non-commissioned officer set her widow's cap for him and won. It
did not take many years for her to wheedle most of his money away; but
there was no cessation to the demand, no apparent limit to the supply.
Both were growing older, and now it became evident that Mrs. Clancy was
the elder of the two, and that the artificiality of her charms could not
stand the test of frontier life. No longer sought as the belle of the
soldiers' ball-rooms, she aspired to leadership among their wives and
families, and was accorded that pre-eminence rather than the fierce
battle which was sure to follow any revolt. She became avaricious,--some
said miserly,--and Clancy miserable. Then began the downward course. He