MRS. O'FLAHERTr AND LIZZ
how all of the fellows liked her. Oh Mother, my heart is just sick to
think of it," Lizz said.
"Well mine isn't," Mrs. O'Flaherty snapped.
"Why Mother, what do you mean?"
"She, never going to church, God's own house, to mass. She is
getting the punishment of the Lord. You cannot flout His will. He
says be good, be decent. She is not good. Don't tell me that she's a
decent girl. God is a hard man. You can't fool Him. He's a hard
man, And He won't stand for her monkeyshines," Mrs. O'Flaherty
said.
"That's the truth. And to think she would do what she's
done, having such a good woman as you for a mother. Mother, you
must be heart-broken," Lizz said.
"Heart-broken be damned! Let her stew in her juices. She made
her bed. Let her sleep in it. I'm heart-broken in a pig's back end,"
themother said.
"It's a crying shame, a pity!"
"If my Louise had lived, she never would have been a chippy
likeher sister," Mrs. O'Flaherty said.
"My poor dead sister Louise, she was such an angel. An angel.
She was purer than the flowers, she was. Why she was an angel
{romGod's kingdom," sighed Lizz.
"Indeed she was," Mrs. O'Flaherty said.
The tears welled in Lizz's eyes.
"God took her because she was too pure, too good for this
earth," Lizz said.
"Well, she is with Pa and me mother and father," the old lady
sadlysaid.
"A pity, Mother," Lizz sobbed.
"A shame," Mrs. O'Flaherty said, and both of them wiped
blinkingeyes.
"Here, Mother, I'll make some hot tea," Lizz said going to the
stove,both of them continuing to blink.
31
