Peg.—The next Sunday she was talking to Michael's mother, and she got the account of the whole thing exactly as it had happened. She was very glad when she heard that he had given the money for the Saviour's sake.
"And," said she, "I hope, now, that Michael will earn that money as honestly as if he had not got it beforehand."
"Why then indeed," said the widow, "that is just the wonder of the whole business. When he was paying the men last night he handed a pound to Michael as usual. 'Oh,' said Michael, 'I am paid already.' 'Take that from me,' said Shiana, and he had to take it."
"Well!" said Short Mary, "they used to say that Shiana had no religion. Let them take that as a sign of it!"
"Religion?" said the widow. "I never saw the like of it. If I were to live a thousand years I could never put out of my head the look he gave me when he was handing me the money. 'For the Saviour's sake,' said he, and when I looked up at him, his two eyes were looking through me, so that a sort of awe came over me that I couldn't describe."
- ↑ A proverbial expression, used when a person weeps without good cause.
