Charred Wood by Francis Clement Kelley
page 69 of 227 (30%)
page 69 of 227 (30%)
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in the front room, so ye'll stay here please."
Mark stepped into the little dining room, where the table was already set, and waited for the priest. Ann went back to her cooking. Mark could hear her rattling the dishes and pans, all the while issuing orders to her assistants for the day. Ann was quite the most important personage in the parish on this occasion and had to show it. It was seldom she had such authority over others. Why not make the most of it? There was only a folding door between the dining room where Mark waited and, the room in which the Bishop sat Mark heard the Bishop arise impatiently from his chair and pace the room, a fact which caused him no little wonder. The Bishop had not impressed him as a man of nervous temperament. Mark now heard him sit down again, crunching the springs of the chair, and again jump up, to continue his nervous pacing. Then the door from the hallway into the parlor opened and Mark heard the Bishop's voice: "Is she the woman?" A young voice, which Mark was sure belonged to the secretary, answered: "I am sorry to say, Bishop, that she is." "My God!" said the Bishop. There was deep distress in his tones. "Father, are you perfectly sure?" "I could not be mistaken, Bishop. I stayed in the sacristy until all had left the church except her attendant and herself. She was crying, and she threw back the veil to use her handkerchief. Then I saw her |
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