knew that the granting of the eggs depended upon Mary's good-will.
Mary was really a good-natured woman. She did not put any obstacles in the way of Ellen getting the benefit of the eggs. Afterwards she got very sympathetic, and she asked that some of her money be put to Ellen's dowry. Ellen had now about sixty-five pounds, and she let Hugh Daly know of the rise in her fortune. That year in America, Julia worked so hard that her hair became suddenly grey. But she had made a good deal of money, and was able to send ten pounds to Ellen. She married Hugh Daly within the year, bringing to his house a fortune of seventy-five pounds.
III
Ellen is now the mother of seven children, and four of them are fine boys. She lives too near her brother's for perfect accord to be between the two families. She does not forget that she came into Hugh Daly's with a fortune less than he asked, or that the portion she brought was made up with a contribution from the share going to Mary and Owen. She has the mocking tongue that often breaks the peace between the two houses. At school her children are kept in competition with Mary's children, who are rude and somewhat dull. Michael, Mary's eldest boy, was in Ellen's house one evening when I was there. He had given a foolish answer to the priest, who had spoken to the children on the road. Ellen was laughing over the adventure, but she had a laugh that left it hard to say whether she laughed
