The Man in Possession — page 55: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 THE MAN IN POSSESSION That invitation looked hopeless now, with all these new complications. A girl cannot stay at a country house without some decent dresses, to say nothing of hats, boots, gloves and other articles necessary to the completion of the feminine toilette. But Kate knew it was well-nigh impossible to procure them ; and as she listened to her father’s vague belief that all would ‘‘ pull right,” and his animadversions on his hard-hearted persecutors, she grew more despon- dent. She left the room at last, and went down to inter- view Biddy as to housekeeping matters, being, as yet, happily ignorant of the manner in which that worthy personage had been spending her Christmas Eve. Fletcher had duly intimated to her that her condi- tion on the previous midnight had been more worthy of a ‘‘potheen boy” in her own country than of a respectable domestic holding a position of respon- sibility. ‘‘Shure now, I wasn’t as bad as yed be makin’ out,” answered Biddy. ‘‘And it isn’t Miss Kate, the blessed angel, that would be hard on me, just for a glass with a friend, is it? —though I was up- set by raison of not bein’ used to it—and that’s thrue enough, since I left the ould country. But whist, Fletcher, man; don’t be for spakin’ of last night to Miss Kate. Shure ’tis she has the trouble on her purty shoulders wid’out Biddy—worse luck— adding to it this blessed Christmas morn.” ‘‘Qh, I ain’t agoin’ to peach,” said Fletcher mag- nanimously. ‘‘ Only don’t do it again, Biddy, or you COMicloe (Sri C(O)