"
"He was not! Oh, he was not!" cried Mary Malone. "Didn't I live
there with them all those years? Dannie always was good as gold
to Jimmy. It was shameful the way Jimmy imposed on him, and spint
his money, and took me from him. It was shameful! Shameful!"
"Be calm! Be calm!" cautioned Father Michael. "I agree with you.
I am only trying to arrive at Dannie's point of view. He well
might feel that he was responsible, if after humoring Jimmy like
a child all his life, he at last lost his temper and dealt with
him as if he were a man. If that is the case, he is of honor so
fine, that he would hesitate to speak to you, no matter what he
suffered. And then it is clear to me that he does not understand
how Jimmy separated you in the first place."
"And lied me into marrying him, whin I told him over and over how
I loved Dannie. Jimmy Malone took iverything I had to give, and
he left me alone for fiftane years, with my three little dead
babies, that died because I'd no heart to desire life for thim,
and he took my youth, and he took my womanhood, and he took my
man--" Mary arose in primitive rage. "You naden't bother!" she
said. "I'm going straight to Dannie meself."
"Don't!" said Father Michael softly. "Don't do that, Mary! It
isn't the accepted way.
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