rovider, an' he don't drink, an' he
ain't the slithery kind--if he'd 'a' been that I wouldn't married him."

There was a note of extreme authority in what Maggie in her excitement
was giving expression to. Now that Jim McCann was back and at work in
the sheds after a seven years absence, it was noted by many, who knew
his wife of old, that, in the household, it was now Mrs. McCann who had
the right of way. She was evidently full of her subject at the present
moment and, carried away by the earnestness of her expressed
convictions, she paid no heed to Aileen's non-responsiveness.

"An' I'm that proud that I'm Mrs. James Patrick McCann, wid a good house
over me head, an' a good husband to pay rint that'll buy it on the
insthalment plan, an' two little gells an' a darlin' baby to fill it,
that I be thankin' God whiniver Jim falls to swearin'--an' that's ivery
hour in the day; but it's only a habit he can't be broke of, for Father
Honore was after talkin' wid him, an' poor Jim was that put out wid
himself, that he forgot an' swore his hardest to the priest that he'd
lave off swearin' if only he knew whin he was doin' it! But he had to
give up tryin', for he found himself swearin' at the baby he loved him
so. An' whin he told Father Honore the trouble he had wid himself an'
the b'y, that darlin' man just smiled an' says:--'McCann, there's other
ways of thankin' God for a good home, an' a lovin' wife, and a foine b'y
like yours, than tellin' yer beads an' sayin' your prayers.'--He said
that, he did; an' I say, I'm thankin' God ivery hour in the day that
I've got a good husband to swear, an' a cellar to fill wid fuel an'
potaters, an' a baby to put to me breast, an'--an'--it's the same I'm
wishin' for you, me dear."

There was a suspicious tremble in Maggie's voice as she turned again to
her work.

Aileen spoke slowly: "Indeed, I wish I had them all, Maggie; but those
things are not for me."

"Not for you!" Maggie dashed a tear from her eyes. "An' why not for you,
I'd like to know? Isn't ivery wan sayin' ye've got the voice fit for the
oppayra? An' isn't all the children an' the quarrymen just mad over yer
teachin' an' singin'? An' look at what yer know an' can do! Didn't wan
of the Sisters tell me the other day: 'Mrs. McCann,' says she, 'Aileen
Armagh is an expurrt in embroidery, an' could earn her livin' by it.'
An' wasn't Mrs. Caukins after praisin' yer cookin' an' sayin' you beat
the whole Gore on yer doughnuts? An' d