The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 40, 5 October 1905, Page 23

The Storyteller

Mrs. Woods had a deep'rooted abhorrence of mixed marriages. She acknowledged that she liked this young man with wham Margaret had become so friendly of late, but ha was wholly impossible as a son-in-law. He'gloried in: tine unimpeachable patronymic of John Smith. Margaret (had met him at a teachers' convention, met him through Mary Hammond, idau'ghter of the Rev. Pajul Hammond, rector of the Church of the Virgin, a girl friend such as the sentiment of school life sometimes makes. The friendship of Margaret and Mary created not only between themselves but between their respective families ai confidence of the most unquestioning and unsuspecting, sort. There was nothing in the world about which the girls were not in the most hearty accord except religion, and that was a tabooed subject ; not formally so, but by mutual though unexpressed assent. On the diay of the convention, which was hel(d in John Smith's home town, he had, by virtue of a prior acquaintance wittli Mary, constituted himself squire to the girls, and had arisen to the full measure of the occasion and the position. So much so, in fact, that when the day was o\er it was strictly proper for bun to receive and accept Margaret's invitation to call. Of course, it was gi\en as a conventional second to one given by Ms older friend, Mary Hammond, but he detected the ring Margaret intended, winch robbed it of much of iU conventionality and ga\c warrant for his enthusiastic ' Indeed I will, the a cry first time 1 ha\e occasion. to go to Middleton.' Such an occasion came suggestively soon, and like occasions multiplied thereafter with such conuncrnir frequency that the condition which vexed Mis. Woods' soul was the result. Nothing] had been said in the Woods family aide about Smith and his status, but lie had created tin? first and only stiffness that had e\ or disturbed its sacredness. The subject of ' John Smith ' was tacitly avoided. Mrs. Woods had once said to her husband, 'Whal do you think aboirt Mr. Smith V ' But she had chosen an unpropitious moment. He was cngiossud in his pipe and newspaper, ami only answered, ' Oh, I don't Know Ho seems like a good sort of a fellow,' m t'hal don't-bO'ther-me air which husbands sometimes assume. Mrs Woods was lvurt nt the liidifierenee and bieMty of the reply, and she took her revenge in that mental determination ne\er to mention the matter to him again, alesolve which seems so soothing to the feminine mind, and there tho mat tor rested But IHio time had now come for action. She had mado irp her mind to put an end to Hie alTair, and sei/.ed the first opjuoi tunity for taUng the matter up with Margaret It came on a Sunday morning, when she and Margaret wcie on their way 1o Mass ' When will Mi Smith call again, Alaagaret 9 ' ' I don't Know, Ma,' Margaret replied ' lie doesn't notify me when ho intends to call.' She tried to keep up tho casual tone of her mother, but she turned crimson as h'ha spoke, for she had really been suspecting this) talk for some time. ' Well, I know he'll call wmo time this week unless something happens !( must be stopped I'm not going to ha\e John Smith for a son-in-law unless he becomes a Oathohc, and 1 don't know as I would want him e\eft then. I don't want any inadc-to-oider converts m my fannlv, and I guess there isn't must chance of his 1 really being coinerted ' Mis. iWoods wajs always \ery definite about things she had to say. ' I don't ask him to call, Ma,' Margaret replied somewhat a polo-gel ically ' Now, don't talk nonsense to me, Margaret, ' her mother answered, rathei sharnh 'That mighl do v lth your father. He wasn't asi-.ed to call cillier, but he couldn't help himself \ciy well I wouldn't ha\e to tell him not to come if T didn't "want him, and I guiess things a iv not much diflei-ent now ' This seemed to dispose of the matter and to leave nothing for Maiga'et to say, nothing moie was said for somo time But soon Alts Woods noticed Alargaiet suspicio'iisly u->ing hei hanclkeichief, an-d tears m her eyes ' Don't be silly, Maigaret,' she said then, and added anxiously, ' I ho-pe it hasn't g-one far enough to make you miserable '' ' Margaret's reply to 11ns question was not exactly responsive. She only said, ' Oh, I don't know what to do ! '

THE MESALLIANCE OF MARGARET

1 Do j! ' her mother exclaimed, ' You think it aver during your prayers awd 1 guess it will appear simple eii'otuigh. Has he said anything to you ? ' 4 Not yet.' ' Not yet ! Well, you must see that he doesn't,' and see to it right aff. The longer you let it go the hardar it is going to be.' Margaret made no promises, but she did stay in church 'after Mass while her mother hurried home. ' I faoipe you are satisfied, Jim Woods, now that you've made your daughter misieraible,' she said to tihati gentleman, who was again ahsorbed in pipe and newspaper. Jim Woods might have developed a capacity for managing ai family of children if there had been occasion. Ho was a success 5n other lines of human endeavor. Rut ho raali'sed -that he could never be the genius at managunigi that- his wife wa», aiml so he simply listed, hiny-elf asl one of the family, and took his orders with the rest, wrtjhi t<he distinction that he wcnuld occasionally/ assume a most tantalising imperturbability as to his good wife's state of mmd. But just now he cau'giht a certain mild inflection in her tones that induced a more Ihely attention than irs-ual. .. .' IDow have I made her miserable? 'he inquired .with astonishment. ' How ? You've set round here and let your old pipe and your newspaper blind your sight to the fact that sho was getting 'bound up in that John Smith, Pretty father you are to let a young man ca.ll on yo'iir daughter without knowing anything about bjimi ! ' ' I didn't think Mary Hammond would introduce anybody twho wasn't all right. What is the matter with him, anyway ? ' ' 'Matter'! He isn't a Catholic ' ' ' H t/hati till '' 'You knew that, tco, didn't you? ' 'Ct course I knew it, 'but it wasn't my place to interfere. You are her father, and you should have put a stoj) to it.' ' I giiess you're light, Nell,' he said humbly. ' I'll speak to him the next time ho calls.' ' No, you won't. You keep your hands of! it now. I have) talked it o>\er with Margaret, and we'll do iho best wo can without you.' ' All right, my dear,' he said, resignedly. Margaret and her mother talked it over again that cnenmg in. Margaret's chamber, where, long after the "irl shoi'l,l ha\e been in bed, her mother found her on In r knees. They had a long, earnest talk, and it was dec id<U thai. Marg.uet should dismiss John Smith. "I wi^h he -\\eie a Catholic, "Margaret, 1 &he said as she w a»s leaung 'We don't know much about him, I' it I belie* ohois a good yevutng man and will mako some, g'nl a good husband But mixed marriages, my dear, tuin out badly ac-iv, "\ cry often. Wives have much to bear from Hie best of hus'lyands, and when they are not of one faith it makes it miueh worse.' M But the matter of dismissing John Smith was not so easy as Mi, Woods had thought it would be. Marcaref tried all Uie old-fashioned methods her mother suggested, hut without success. John was a modern young man, and those methods were not effective. His calls continued to be as frequent as usual, anh he was even nioto attentive than ever Ha could not understand Margaret's changed manner, which caused him'considciablc anxiety , "butt he felt tihat it was due to some misunderstanding Mat would sooner or later be explained, so he kept commg. Margaret herself believed in John Smith. She belie\cd that ho would become m time a really deivont and eanu'.st Catholic, and she had certain more or less welldefined notions that it. was her mi&'sion to bring John into the true fold ; that way back before the dawn of lime it had been fixed that John's everlasting salvation should I,e committed to her care. She suggested, though \ery tamidly, some of those thoughts to her mother during their talk, but Mrs Woods was a very prosaic woman, and utterly destroyed the dream by homely references to the downng-hi foolishness of a woman's nuut\mg a man to reform him Hi is roally wonderful how womankind thrives on ordeals So far as lVuovancy nnd Hght-heartedness and all thiat sort, of thing went, Margaret seemed to be just the same as 1 oner, but her mother coiild see that she was not sM happy as she was wont to be, and she herself became correspondingly depressed. Then one day them came a letter to Margate!, from her elder brother, Jim Junior, who travelled for Stephens, Jenkins, and Co , and who -did not coma home often, wherein he said that ho had accidentally met John Smith in his traaels and that he was ' all right.' He treated John and her and their relations to each other with a drummer's facetiousness, too, that added to poor Mar-

garet's unWap^piness. Jim Junior did not know that his mother's ultimatum had gone forth against John Smith, or he would have been more considerate. Jim Junior was partly emancipated ; that is, he only of all (her numerous retinue inspired Mrs. Woods with any degree of trepidation. She did not like this " Jofoin Smith is all right ' statement in that letter. Sho knew how strenuous Jim could foe and how staunchly he would defend ono whom he thought all right, and slue determined to put an end to John Smith forthwith. Accordingly, when Mr. Smith called again he found only Mrs. Woods 'at home.' She greeted him pleasantly, and,, after formalities had been obsened, said to him : 'Mr. Smith, I want you to know lhat you have the high esteem of Margaret and myself, bait that the attentions you have been paying her must cease. I sa\ r this with Margaret's permission.' ' I l>a\o been fearing some-Wring likp this for some weeks now,' John replied, ' hut may I not Lnow why ( am condemned ? ' 1 Certainly. Margaret and— l mean her father and myself—have very strong religions con\icttions, and a union with! on-o not of o-ur faith is wholly impossible ' Then Joha Smith laughed, laug-foed so immoderately and impertinently that Mrs. Woods became righteously and properly indignant. ' This may be very fimny to you, Mr. Smith,' shu said, her 'lashes flashing sparks of fury that boded trouble to Mr. Smith, ' but the fun is not apparent to me.' ' I beg your pardon, Mrs. Woods,' he said. ' C really; ajpollogis-e. Bait may I ask if that is the only objection there is to me v ' ' It is the only one we l.now, Mrs. Woods replied, with rniuch dignity ; >' but it is sufficiently strong to make it unnecessary to look for others ' 1 But,, my dear Mrs. Woods, I am a Catholic' ' You; are what ? ' :H am a Catholic ; a good, holy Catholic' Ordinarily when people receive such astonishing inforimation as this they are said to gasp Maybe Mrs. Woods gasped She surely did if it was the proper thing: to do, for she was propriety itself. At any rate, there was a silence that was very awkward for her. 1 But Mary Hammond ' she said presently, and then stopped abruptly. 'DM Miss Hammond tell you I was nol a Catholic?' John inquired. ' No, she did not,' Mrs. Woods replied, biting her words off sharp and clear, and then sho asked, ' How lowpj <have you be-on a Catholic ? ' (< The only one of my family "who was not always a Catholic was mice a Druid, an* I there is a tiated family tradition that even ho was the first man St. Patrick conwrted when ho landed in— Sligo.' ' Well, Jim Woods,' she said to that gentleman, enjoying his pipe atul newspaper again, ' it's no thanks to you, but it's all right.' ' What's all right ? ' he asked, hardly looking up. ' John Smith ' " "I always .had a suspicion to that effect. What's happened ? ' ' He's a Catholic and Irish, and has always been both ' Jim's guffaw was vorv 10-ud and very hard to hear, but not nearly so tantalising as his sHibseiqiient demand that John Smith produce his baptismal certificate before callimg again, m-ad-e to John in tho presence of Mrs Woods and Margaret, and accompanied— so that good lady has since averred— with a wink that Jim only halftried to conceal- — ' Guidon.'