The Heir of Kilfinnan | Page 4

life could be put on paper."
"Cannot you read?" asked the lady.
"No," said Dermot, "I have no book. The priest can read, but there are
few people else in this part of the country who can do so."
"Oh! you must be taught to read, then," exclaimed the young lady. "It is
a pity that you should be so ignorant. Would you not like to learn?"
"Yes!" said the boy, looking up, "and to draw such figures as that. I
should like to learn to place you on paper. You would make a far more
beautiful picture than that is."
The young lady smiled at the boy's unsophisticated compliment. "Well,
if you will come to the castle, I will try to teach you to read at all
events," she answered. "I should like such a pupil, for I am sure you
would learn rapidly."
"And I must help you, Lady Sophy," said the little girl, who had been
the first to draw attention to Dermot. "I am sure I should teach him to
read very quickly, should I not, little fisher-boy? You would like to
learn of me, would you not?"
"Indeed I would," answered Dermot, looking at her with an expression

of gratitude. "You are very gentle and kind, but I would not learn of
those who try to force me."
"When will you begin?" asked Lady Sophy.
"To-morrow. I long to gain the art you speak of," answered the boy
eagerly. "The priest tells me many things I have not known. Perhaps I
shall be able to tell him some things he does not know."
"So you wish to show this portrait to your mother?" observed Lady
Sophy, in a kind tone. "I cannot trust you with it, but if you will tell me
her name and where she lives, we will ride over some day and pay her a
visit."
"My mother is Ellen O'Neil, the Widow O'Neil, she is generally called,
for my father is dead. She is a kind mother to me, and there are not
many like her," answered the boy with a proud tone, showing how
highly he prized his remaining parent. "But our hut is not fit for such
noble ladies as you are to enter," he added, now gazing round the hall
and for the first time comparing it with his own humble abode. "It is
but a fisherman's hut, and my mother and I live there alone. You could
scarcely indeed ride down to it without the risk of your horses falling.
If you will let me have the picture I will promise you faithfully that I
will bring it back."
"No, no!" answered the young lady, laughing; "perhaps your mother
might keep it, and I want to have an excuse for paying her a visit. So
we will come, tell her, and we shall not mind how small the hut may
be."
Dermot was at length compelled to explain where his mother's hut was
to be found, though he again warned the ladies that the approach to it
was dangerous, and entreated them to keep well to the right away from
the sea as they crossed the downs.
They promised to follow his injunction, and at length allowed him to
take his departure. This he was anxious to do, as he knew that it was
time to put off, to haul the nets which had been laid down in the

morning.
Day after day, while the fine weather lasted and fish were to be
procured, Dermot paid a visit to the castle, and each morning after
breakfast was over, the young ladies insisted on giving him his reading
lesson. He made rapid progress, and after a few days, they gave him a
book that he might take home and study by himself.
Hitherto Lady Sophy and her friends at the castle, had not paid their
promised visit to the fisherman's cottage. At length, however, one
evening just as Dermot and his mother had landed, they heard voices
on the downs above their hut, and looking up Dermot espied the party
from the castle. They were standing irresolute what path to take. He
instantly climbed up the cliff by a pathway which speedily placed him
by their side. He begged them to dismount, and undertook to conduct
Lady Sophy and the little girl, whom he heard addressed as Lady Nora,
down to the hut.
"I have brought the drawing as I promised," said Lady Sophy, taking a
portfolio from the groom who held their horses. "I will show it to your
mother, and perhaps she will let me take hers also."
There were other ladies and several gentlemen, and they expressed an
intention of coming also down to the hut. Lady Sophy guessed that this
would not be pleasant to the