The Heir of Kilfinnan | Page 8

told her of his mother,
who lived down in the little cottage in Blackwater cove.
"And have you any brothers, sisters, or relations?" she asked.
"Except Uncle Shane, none that I know of," said Dermot.
"Your mother, then, lives all alone."
"Yes, since my father's death, twelve years ago, she has lived by herself,
with me alone to take care of, in her little hut."
"And you never wish to leave your home, and go and see the great
world?" asked Miss O'Reilly. Why she put the question it was difficult
to say. It might not have been a very judicious one, as far as the boy
was concerned, and yet it was but natural to suppose that a boy of
Dermot's character would wish to go forth into the great world, that he
might inspect its wonders.
"It may be, lady; I may have wished to go and see the world, though
not to leave my mother; for who would care for her if I was gone?
Uncle Shane would, but he is old and couldn't protect her for long.
Besides you know that not a year passes but that some of the men on
our coast lose their lives."
"And does your mother know the truth? Can she read the Bible, boy?"
asked Miss O'Reilly.
"No, she cannot read the Bible, but the priest takes care that she should
know what he believes to be the truth, I am sure."
"Your mother loves you?"
"Oh! indeed she does," answered Dermot; "she would spill her heart's

blood for my sake, though she often sits melancholy and sad when
alone, yet the moment I return, her eye brightens, and she opens her
arms to receive me. Yes, lady, my mother does love me, that I know."
"I should like to come and talk to your mother," said the blind lady.
"Will you lead me to her some day? I should not be afraid to descend
the cliff with so strong an arm as yours to rest on."
A few days after this, Dermot having finished his lesson with the vicar,
met Miss O'Reilly close to the house, and expressed his readiness to
take her to his mother's cottage, the sea at the time happening to be far
too rough to allow their boat to go forth to fish.
"I am ready to go with you," said the blind lady; "but remember you
must lead me all the way back, Dermot."
"That will just double the honour, lady," was the young Irishman's
reply. Dermot talked much of his mother to the blind lady, as he led her
down to the cottage.
The widow's voice pleased Miss O'Reilly, and all she said increased the
interest she was inclined to take in her. Perhaps more than all, was that
deep love which she felt for her only boy, and which had become, as it
were, part of her being.
Dermot carefully conducted Miss O'Reilly back to the vicarage, and
this was the first of many visits which she afterwards paid to the
fishwife's hut.
Dermot was never idle. He had no associates; indeed from his earliest
days he had kept aloof from boys of his own age. It was not that he was
morose, or proud or ill-tempered, but he appeared to have no sympathy
with them, and thus, though possessed of many qualities which would
have won him friends, he had not a single friend of his own rank or age
in the neighbourhood. Whenever he was not out fishing, he was
engaged with his book, either at the vicarage or at home.
He was thus employed one afternoon in his mother's hut, when Father

O'Rourke, the parish priest, made his appearance at the door.
"Come in, your reverence," said the widow, placing a stool for him near
the hearth; "it is a long day since your reverence has been seen down
the cove."
"May be you haven't seen me often enough," said Father O'Rourke, a
stout broad-faced man, with a countenance of the ordinary low Irish
type. "How is it that Dermot there has so many books? Ah! I have
heard about his doings; he often goes up, I am told, to the Protestant
minister's. What good can he get by going there?"
"Much good, your reverence," observed Dermot; "I have been learning
to read and write, and gain other knowledge such as I had no other
means of obtaining."
"Such knowledge may be bad for one like you," said Father O'Rourke;
"there is no good can come from the place where you go to get it."
"Pardon me, Father O'Rourke," said Dermot, with spirit; "the
knowledge I get there is good, and the gentleman who gives it is kind
and good too. I will not hear him spoken against."
"What, lad! do