Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/299

Rh knew she was thinking of her parents, whom she loved), "who have taken care of us when we were helpless and a burden to them. Agnes, I have known little ones who have made men give up their dreams of fame and settle down to earning bread and butter for the infant mouths—clever men who have given up studies that they loved for their children's sake; and women who have had to stay at home, to sit up at night, to wear their hearts out with love for their children. Cannot the children spare a little love in return?"

I saw the girl was only half listening; her mind was on her own troubles.

"The world should be for the young," she said. "All the things that I want to do now I shall not want to do when I am old and free to do them. Do you think I shall care to go to dances when I am fifty; or where will my pretty dress be; and what will it matter what colour I wear?" She went to the door.

My wife laughed. "Silly child!" she said, bidding her good-bye. "When you are fifty you will have more sense. If your father is better, come in to our dance; after all, it's only from door to door."