t ochanee, it'll be out there
beyond th' meadows an' th' clouds."

CHAPTER X

THE EMPTY CORNER

When I walked into Pogue's entry about fifteen years later, it seemed
like walking into another world--I was a foreigner.

"How quare ye spake!" Jamie said, and Mary added demurely:

"Is it quality ye are that ye spake like it?"

"No, faith, not at all," I said, "but it's the quality of America that
makes me!"

"Think of that, now," she exclaimed.

The neighbors came, new neighbors--a new generation, to most of whom I
was a tradition. Other boys and girls had left Antrim for America,
scores of them in the course of the years. There was a popular
supposition that we all knew each other.

"Ye see th' Wilson bhoys ivery day, I'll bate," Mrs. Hainey said.

"No, I have never seen any of them."

"Saints alive, how's that?"

"Because we live three thousand miles apart."

"Aye, well, shure that 'ud be quite a dandther!"

"It didn't take ye long t' git a fortune, did it?" another asked.

"I never acquired a fortune such as you are thinking of."

"Anna said ye wor rich!"

"Anna was right, I am rich, but I was the richest boy in Antrim when I
lived here."

They looked dumbfounded.

"How's that?" Mrs. Conner queried.

"Because Anna was my mother."

I didn't want to discuss Anna at that time or to that gathering, so I
gave the conversation a sudden turn and diplomatically led them in
another direction. I explained how much easier it was for a policeman
than a minister to make a "fortune" and most Irishmen in America had a
special bias toward law! Jamie had grown so deaf that he could only hear
when I shouted into his ear. Visitors kept on coming, until the little
house was uncomfortably full.

"Wouldn't it be fine," I shouted into Jamie's ear, "if Billy O'Hare or
Withero could just drop in now?"

"God save us all," he said, "th' oul days an' oul faces are gone
foriver." After some hours of entertainment the uninvited guests were
invited to go home.

I pulled Jamie's old tub out into the center of the floor and, taking my
coat off, said gently: "Now, good neighbors, I have traveled a long
distance and need a bath, and if you don't mind I'll have one at once!"

They took it quite seriously and went home quickly. As soon as the house
was cleared I shut and barred the door and Mary and I proceeded to
prepare the evening meal.

I brought over the table and put it in its place near the fire. In
lookin