The Sisters

There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke. Night after night I had…

Old Cotter was sitting at the fire, smoking, when I came downstairs to supper. While my aunt was…

“No, I wouldn’t say he was exactly ... but there was something queer ... there was something uncanny…

He began to puff at his pipe, no doubt arranging his opinion in his mind. Tiresome old fool!…

“I have my own theory about it,” he said. “I think it was one of those ... peculiar…

He began to puff again at his pipe without giving us his theory. My uncle saw me staring…

“Well, so your old friend is gone, you’ll be sorry to hear.”

“Who?” said I.

“Father Flynn.”

“Is he dead?”

“Mr Cotter here has just told us. He was passing by the house.”

I knew that I was under observation so I continued eating as if the news had not interested…

“The youngster and he were great friends. The old chap taught him a great deal, mind you; and…

“God have mercy on his soul,” said my aunt piously.

Old Cotter looked at me for a while. I felt that his little beady black eyes were examining…

“I wouldn’t like children of mine,” he said, “to have too much to say to a man like…

“How do you mean, Mr Cotter?” asked my aunt.

“What I mean is,” said old Cotter, “it’s bad for children. My idea is: let a young lad…

“That’s my principle, too,” said my uncle. “Let him learn to box his corner. That’s what I’m always…

“No, no, not for me,” said old Cotter.

My aunt brought the dish from the safe and put it on the table.

“But why do you think it’s not good for children, Mr Cotter?” she asked.

“It’s bad for children,” said old Cotter, “because their minds are so impressionable. When children see things like…

I crammed my mouth with stirabout for fear I might give utterance to my anger. Tiresome old red-nosed…

It was late when I fell asleep. Though I was angry with old Cotter for alluding to me…

The next morning after breakfast I went down to look at the little house in Great Britain Street.…

July 1st, 1895 The Rev. James Flynn (formerly of S. Catherine’s Church, Meath Street), aged sixty-five years. _R.…

The reading of the card persuaded me that he was dead and I was disturbed to find myself…

I wished to go in and look at him but I had not the courage to knock. I…

As I walked along in the sun I remembered old Cotter’s words and tried to remember what had…

In the evening my aunt took me with her to visit the house of mourning. It was after…

I went in on tiptoe. The room through the lace end of the blind was suffused with dusky…

But no. When we rose and went up to the head of the bed I saw that he…

We blessed ourselves and came away. In the little room downstairs we found Eliza seated in his arm-chair…

My aunt waited until Eliza sighed and then said:

“Ah, well, he’s gone to a better world.”

Eliza sighed again and bowed her head in assent. My aunt fingered the stem of her wine-glass before…

“Did he ... peacefully?” she asked.

“Oh, quite peacefully, ma’am,” said Eliza. “You couldn’t tell when the breath went out of him. He had…

“And everything...?”

“Father O’Rourke was in with him a Tuesday and anointed him and prepared him and all.”

“He knew then?”

“He was quite resigned.”

“He looks quite resigned,” said my aunt.

“That’s what the woman we had in to wash him said. She said he just looked as if…

“Yes, indeed,” said my aunt.

She sipped a little more from her glass and said:

“Well, Miss Flynn, at any rate it must be a great comfort for you to know that you…

Eliza smoothed her dress over her knees.

“Ah, poor James!” she said. “God knows we done all we could, as poor as we are—we wouldn’t…

Nannie had leaned her head against the sofa-pillow and seemed about to fall asleep.

“There’s poor Nannie,” said Eliza, looking at her, “she’s wore out. All the work we had, she and…

“Wasn’t that good of him?” said my aunt.

Eliza closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.

“Ah, there’s no friends like the old friends,” she said, “when all is said and done, no friends…

“Indeed, that’s true,” said my aunt. “And I’m sure now that he’s gone to his eternal reward he…

“Ah, poor James!” said Eliza. “He was no great trouble to us. You wouldn’t hear him in the…

“It’s when it’s all over that you’ll miss him,” said my aunt.

“I know that,” said Eliza. “I won’t be bringing him in his cup of beef-tea any more, nor…

She stopped, as if she were communing with the past and then said shrewdly:

“Mind you, I noticed there was something queer coming over him latterly. Whenever I’d bring in his soup…

She laid a finger against her nose and frowned: then she continued:

“But still and all he kept on saying that before the summer was over he’d go out for…

“The Lord have mercy on his soul!” said my aunt.

Eliza took out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes with it. Then she put it back again in…

“He was too scrupulous always,” she said. “The duties of the priesthood was too much for him. And…

“Yes,” said my aunt. “He was a disappointed man. You could see that.”

A silence took possession of the little room and, under cover of it, I approached the table and…

“It was that chalice he broke.... That was the beginning of it. Of course, they say it was…

“And was that it?” said my aunt. “I heard something....”

Eliza nodded.

“That affected his mind,” she said. “After that he began to mope by himself, talking to no one…

She stopped suddenly as if to listen. I too listened; but there was no sound in the house:…

Eliza resumed:

“Wide-awake and laughing-like to himself.... So then, of course, when they saw that, that made them think that…