"I was wishin' it!" she wailed. "I was wishin' somethin' 'd happen to him to leave me free here in m' own home!"
"An' that," Mrs. Byrne said, "is the judgment o' heaven on yuh fer carin' more fer yer dishes than yuh did fer yer husband. Yuh 're a good manager, Mrs. Cregan, but yuh 've been a dang poor wife. Think of yer man first an' yer house after, an' yuh 'll be a happier woman, I tell yuh."
"I will that. I will," Mrs. Cregan wept, "if he's spared to me."
"Never fear," Mrs. Byrne said drily. "He 'll be spared to yuh."
And he has been spared to her. At first he was suspicious of her subdued manner and remorseful gentleness; and for a long time he watched her, very warily, with an eye for treachery. Then he understood that she had succumbed to his masterful handling of her, and he was masculinely proud of his conquest.
When the Fifth Avenue bses became motor-cars, and Dinny retired, Mrs. Cregan began to hope that she had warded off the predicted bad fortune by her devoutness, but she still had her fears. "'T was the devil's doin's," she said to Mrs. Byrne.
"He had a hand in it, no doubt," Mrs. Byrne agreed with her. "An' how's Cregan?… Well, I'm glad o' that. An' the new dishes? Good luck to them.… Yuh're off early to choorch ag'in?"
