"
Sal complied, and Madge looked out at the brilliant flower-beds, and at
the black shadow of the tall witch elm which grew on one side of the
lawn. She wanted to ask a certain question of Sal, and did not know how
to do it. The moodiness and irritability of Brian had troubled her very
much of late, and, with the quick instinct of her sex, she
ascribed it indirectly to the woman who had died in the back slum.
Anxious to share his troubles and lighten his burden, she determined to
ask Sal about this mysterious woman, and find out, if possible, what
secret had been told to Brian which affected him so deeply.
"Sal," she said, after a short pause, turning her clear grey eyes on
the woman, "I want to ask you something."
The other shivered and turned pale.
"About--about that?"
Madge nodded.
Sal hesitated for a moment, and then flung herself at the feet of her
mistress.
"I will tell you," she cried. "You have been kind to me, an' have a
right to know. I will tell you all I know."
"Then," asked Madge, firmly, as she clasped her. hands tightly
together, "who was this woman whom Mr. Fitzgerald went to see, and
where did she come from?"
"Gran' an' me found her one evenin' in Little Bourke Street," answered
Sal, "just near the theatre. She was quite drunk, an' we took her home
with us."
"How kind of you," said Madge.
"Oh, it wasn't that," replied the other, dryly. "Gran' wanted her
clothes; she was awful swell dressed.
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