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Page 48
The children are supremely happy; which means that no one is allowed to
cross the threshold who cannot give the password of a friend. And you
might like to know that many of the trustees of Saint Margaret's come
as often as anybody, and are always welcomed with a shout. The
President, in particular, has developed the habit of secreting things
in his pockets until he comes looking very bulgy.
Margaret MacLean always puts the children to sleep with Sandy's song;
she said it was written by a famous poet who loved children, and the
children have never told her the truth about it. And if it happens, as
it does once in a great while, that some one is missing in the morning,
there is no sorrowing for him, or heavy-heartedness. They miss him, of
course; but they picture him running, sturdy-limbed, up the slope to
the leprechaun's tree, with Michael waiting for him not far off.
To the children Tir-na-n'Og is the waiting-place for all child-souls
until Saint Anthony is ready to gather them up and carry them away with
him to the "Blessed Mother"; and Margaret MacLean, having nothing
better to tell them, keeps silent. But she has thought of the nicest
custom: A new picture is hung in the Home after a child has gone. It
bears his name; and it is always something that he liked--birds or
flowers or ships or some one from a story. Peter has his chosen
already; it is to be--a dog.
Whenever Saint Margaret's Senior Surgeon finds a hip or a heart or a
back that he can do nothing for, he sends it to the Home; and he always
writes the same thing:
"Here is another case in a thousand for you, Margaret MacLean. How
many are there now?"
He has married the Youngest and Prettiest Trustee, as the Disagreeable
Trustee prophesied, and gossip says that they are very happy. This
much I know--there are two more words which he now writes with
capitals--Son and Sympathy.
Margaret MacLean often says with the Danish faery-man: "My life, too,
is a faery-tale written by God's finger." And the House Surgeon always
chuckles at this, and adds:
"Praise Heaven! He wrote me into it."
As for the widow of the Richest Trustee, she has found a greater
measure of contentment than she thought the world could hold--with love
to brim it; for Margaret MacLean has adopted her along with the
children. The children still regard her, however, as a very mysterious
person; and she has taken the place of Susan's mythical aunt in the
ward conversation. It has never been argued out to the complete
satisfaction of every one whether she is really the faery queen or just
the "Wee Gray Woman," as Sandy calls her. The arguments wax hot at
times, and it is Bridget who generally has to put in the final
silencing word:
"Faith, she kept her promise, didn't she? and everything come thrue,
hasn't it? Well, what more do ye want?"
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