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

THE IKISH OEPHAN IN AMERICA. 73
u Certainly not", replied Father Fitzherbert ; " such a
course would ill become a minister of religion, whose
duty it is to prepare souls for leaving this world you
;
are not in error, my child ! the opinion of your medical
attendant agrees with my own ; and we both think that
you have not many hours to live".
Here the children, not even excepting Peter, burst
into a passion of grief, while their mother turned upon
them a glance of unutterable tenderness, where they stood
grouped together near the head of the bed. " Whisht,
children !" she said after a moment's silence, during which
she was evidently offering herself and them to God;
" whisht, my darlins ; there's no use in ye cry in' that
way. If it was God's will, I 'd rather be left here a little
longer, till ye 'd be able to do for yourselves, an' to go on
in the way of salvation through all the trials of this
world ; but since that 's not ordained for us, I '11 give ye
all up to the protection of your Heavenly Father, an'
he '11 do better for ye than I could. An' Father Fitzherbert,
too, I'm sure he '11 watch over ye for God's sake
—poor, lonesome creatures that ye '11 be when I 'm gone ;
so don 't fret, children dear ! An' now let ye all go
away for a little while, till I thry to prepare myself for
eternity ! do now, there 's good children. Willy, do you
take your poor little sisters down stairs for a while, an'
you, Pether, get a chair for Mrs. Watkins near the fire
abroad in the kitchen, if she wishes to stay a little
longer".
Mrs. Watkins did wish to stay, hoping that she might
induce Peter to go back with her, as she now more than
ever feared that if she left him alone to the influence of
such a scene, she might give him up as lost. Ere yet