John van Alstyne's Factory, Part VII-IX [pp. 334-353]

JOHN VAN ALSTYNE'S FACTORY.
ought to sit down and rest after your hard day in school and
your long walk this morning."
"How much have you rested, I wonder? I want to go again
with you to-morrow, and every morning while I stay. You
won't mind, will you?"
"I shall like it; I am often'ather afraid when the mornings
begin to grow dark."
"Do you go all winter?"
"Yes; unless when the roads are entirely blocked up after a
heavy snow. The Mass is later in winter."
"Well, I will go with you as long as I stay, if you will stop
for me at Mr. Van Alstyne's. The walk will do me good. And
you will talk to me a little, won't you?"
"There isn't a great deal to talk about, is there?" Mary
Anne said shyly. "I never was much of a talker." She paused
a little, and then, to Zip's surprise, began again, unquestioned.
'-"There is an old woman lives in one of the tenements; she is
the grandmother of a girl who works in the mill. She is nearly
,ninety. She told me one day that she had been dumb until she
was twelve years old, and that when she first had the use of
speech she vowed never to say anything willingly that she
would have to repent of."
Well?"
"Oh! nothing-only she is the most silent old woman in the
neighborhood."
"'Did she tell you how she happened to be dumb and to regain her speech?"
"No; I never asked her."
"Oh! well, you won't have to regret anything you may say to
me, I am sure, for I am going to read Fabiola all through, and
talk to you about it."
Mary Anne smiled, and went to call her father and the children. Mr. Van Alstyne, who had been going through the factory in company with Mr. Murray, came into the house with him
and accepted a place at the tea-table. The children, though
very well behaved, seemed entirely at their ease with him, Zip
observed, and he appeared to enjoy chatting with them.
"So next Monday week will be your birthday, will it? Don't
let me forget it in the meantime-do you hear, Davie? I shall
have one myself at the end of this month, but it is so long since
there has been any one to remind me of them that they generally
slip by unnoticed. What day"? The:twenty-ninth."
"That will be Michaelmas," said Mary.Anne.
338
[Dec.,