Читать книгу The Daughter of a Soldier: A Colleen of South Ireland онлайн

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Thus Maureen came to Templemore, and while her Aunt—Patrick O'Brien's first wife—lived, she was a truly happy child. It was her nature to be happy; but when she reached her eighth birthday the sweet woman who alone ever stood in the place of a mother to the child passed on to a happier home, and the Rector, who was so terribly broken down that he did not recover quickly, was ordered abroad.

A woman, sharp and knowing, fell in love with the really fascinating widower. She was determined to win him, and win him she did. He did not even pretend to love her; but she so worked on his feelings that when at the end of a year he returned to Templemore, Mrs. O'Brien Number Two accompanied him. All too quickly he found her out—all too soon were his life and the lives of his children and that other child—in many ways the dearest of all—rendered miserable.

The second Mrs. O'Brien was a widow of the name of Mostyn when the Rector married her. She was a rich woman, but in certain ways she was stingy. She placed her two daughters at a very cheap school near Dublin, and never allowed them to come home for the holidays. At last, however, she knew that they would soon be old enough to return.