When Peg was eighteen years old and they were living in Dublin,
O'Connell was offered quite a good position in New York. It appealed
to him. The additional money would make things easier for Peg. She
was almost a woman now, and he wanted her to get the finishing
touches of education that would prepare her for a position in the
world if she met the man she felt she could marry. Whenever he would
speak of marriage Peg would laugh scornfully:

"Who would I be of AFTHER marryin' I'd like to know? Where in the
wurrld would I find a man like you?"

And no coaxing would make her carry on the discussion or consider
its possibility.

It still harassed him to think he had so little to leave her if
anything happened to him. The offer to go to America seemed
providential. Her mother was buried there. He would take Peg to her
grave.

Peg grew very thoughtful at the idea of leaving Ireland. All her
little likes and dislikes--her impulsive affections and hot hatreds
were all bound up in that country. She dreaded the prospect of
meeting a number of new people.

Still it was for her father's good, so she turned a brave face to it
and said:

"Sure it is the finest thing in the wurrld for both of us."

But the night before they left Ireland she sat by the little window