Page:Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories (1915).djvu/145



"I have seen," said Lady Honoria, without preface, "the Child of our Hope."

Charlie knew that his aunt looked for the coming of a Celtic Messiah, a mysterious prophet who was to redeem Ireland from bondage, and, through Ireland, the world from materialism. He didn't himself believe that any such person was the least likely to appear; but it interested him to hear his aunt talk. He waited, half amused, half impressed, for an account of the revelation.

"I was returning last week from the visit which I pay every year to my brother at Dunrigh. You know what Lord Beverly is like, and how my spirit is tried when I am in his house. I am regarded by his friends as eccentric; and I am obliged to eat meat, sometimes even twice a day, lest they should think of me as very troublesome. The talk is about politics and shooting birds, and such things. In the evening I am often asked to tell fortunes from the hands of giggling girls. For a long time after a return from Dunrigh, I am unable to recover the faculty. I mention these things to you to show that on my way back to Dublin I was in no way predisposed to see visions and dream dreams.

"I reached Athlone; and there I was obliged to get out in order to change into another train. I waited on the platform, and mused on the faces of the people around me, wondering that they were all so commonplace. There was not one that had the capacity for spiritual life written on it. Then a