Willy Burke, or, The Irish orphan in America - Digital Repository ...

THE IRISH ORPHAN IN AMERICA. 117
I tell your poor mother on her death-bed that I forgave
her the trifle she owed me: (May the Lord be merciful
to her !) So if I take the clothes, mind it isn't in regard
o' that, only because you 're so pressin' on me to take
them, an' because—because, Willy"— here her voice failed
her— " because we 're not out o' the need o' them". She
moved away with trembling haste, and Willy joining his
brother and sisters, they soon after went away together,
promising to come soon again.
A day or two after, Willy went up to Mr. Talbot, where
he saw him alone, engaged in writing. " Might I make
so bold, Mr. Talbot", said he, " as to ask you to let me
have two dollars ? that 's what I 'd get on Saturday
night, sir ? "
* Certainly, Willy, you shall have it with pleasure",
said Mr. Talbot, as he looked with surprise on Willy's
blushing face and downcast eyes ;
" I dare say you want
to pay for having that cross put up, of which you told
me".
" Oh, no, sir ! it isn't that at all", returned Willy Burke,
hastily.
" We 're going to wait for a little while, till we
have more money, for Peter has none at all now. Oh, no,
Mr. Talbot ! I wouldn't on any account ask you for the
money now, only I want it for them that 's in distress, sir,
an* that we owe it to".
" And who are they, Willy ? " inquired the merchant,
kindly. So Willy, thus called upon, told him how his
mother had owed Mrs. O'Grady three and a half dollars
for rent, and how Mrs. O'Grady had refused to take it
when offered her by his mother. " But its not the case
now", said Willy, " for poor Mrs. O'Grady is badly off
these times ; an' so if you '11 be so good, sir, as to give