Red-Robin | Page 5

dog-eared books because she
was eager and quick to learn? Through the fourteen years since they
had come to America those girl-and-boy dreams had gone sadly astray,
but the little wife still clung to the faith that they'd have the good things
sometime, her Danny would get a better job and if he didn't there was
young Dale, always at the head of his class in school and even the baby
Beryl, as quick as anything to pick out words from her little books.
"A good luck dolly!" Beryl held the doll close. Her eyes grew round
and excited. "Then I can ride all day on a 'bus and go to the Zoo, can't I?
And can I have a new coat with fur? And go to Coney? And shoot the
shoots? And can Dale ride a horse? And can Dale and me go across the
river where it's like--that?" nodding to the poster.
Mrs. Lynch rocked furiously in her joy at Beryl's anticipations. The
floor creaked and the kettle sang louder than before.
"That you can. And it'll be a fine strong, brave girl you'll be, going to
school and learning more than even poor old Father Murphy knew, God
love him. And by and by--"
But a heavy toiling of steps up the stairs checked her words. That slow
tread was not her big Danny nor the young Dale! At a knock she flew
to the door.
"Oh, and if it isn't Mister Torrence." She caught the old man who stood
on the threshold and laughingly pulled him into the room. "It was afraid
I was that it was bad news! Danny Lynch isn't home yet but you shall
stay and eat dumplin's with us--the best outside of our Ireland--"
[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL HAD NOT SPOKEN
TO HER]

"No! No!" protested the old man, regretfully. "My old woman's waitin'!
Bad news! It's good news I bring. Dan's had a raise. He's foreman of
the gang now. And I stepped 'round to tell ye the good news and that
Dan'll be a-workin' tonight with an extry shift and'll not be comin'
home to dinner, worse luck for him!" sniffing appreciatively at the
pleasant odor from the stove.
"A raise? My Dan a foreman?" Moira Lynch caught her hands together.
"It's the good luck! And it's deservin' of it he is for no man on the docks
works harder than my big Dan." Her eyes shone like two stars.
"Well, ye'll want to be a-eatin' the dumplin's so I'll go along.
Good-night, Mrs. Lynch."
"God love you, Mister Torrence," whispered Moira, too overcome to
manage her voice.
Closing the door behind her unexpected visitor she turned and caught
the wondering Beryl into her arms.
"And I was a-thinking it would never come! It's ashamed I should be to
have doubted. My big Dan!"
"Is it the dolly that's brought us the good-luck, Mom?" interrupted
Beryl, round-eyed.
"A foreman!" cried the mother in the very tone she would have used if
she had said "a king." She-danced about until the floor creaked
threateningly. "Our good fortune is coming, my precious. And it's fine
and beautiful my girl shall be with a dress as good as the next one. Wait!
Wait!" She flew into the tiny bedroom, returning in a moment with a
small box in her hands. From it she lifted a string of round green beads
and held them laughingly before Beryl's staring eyes.
"My beads! You shall wear them this night. It's the good old Father's
blessing." She clasped them about Beryl's neck, fingering them
tenderly.

"Pretty beads. Pretty beads," cried the little girl.
Suddenly quieted by a rush of memories Mrs. Lynch sat down and took
Beryl upon her lap. "Beryl darlin', was the likes of that other little
girl--the one who forgot the dolly--fine and beautiful?"
"Oh, yes!" The child's voice carried a note of wonder.
"And you shall be fine and beautiful, too, Moira Lynch's own girl, just
as I used to dream for my own self, the selfish likes o' me. You shall go
to school and learn from good books. Didn't the old Father tell me of
the fine schools he had seen when he visited his sister in America? And
anybody can go--anybody!"
Little Beryl felt that it was a solemn moment. She lifted serious eyes. "I
promise," she drawled, with a gravity out of all proportion to her six
years, "I promise to go to school and learn lots like Dale and be fine
and boo'ful so's my 'dopted dolly will like me as well as--that other kid.
I've gotta be good 'nough for her. So there."
The child could not comprehend the obstacles which might threaten
such a standard; she stared bravely into the unblinking eyes of the doll
who smiled