Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Limerick
Who is this kind-hearted woman who plays so dramatically?No one should be surprised to see her rushing into the fire, risking her life to rescue this weak child from death, for her behavior is full of the kind of conviction on the stage.She walked toward the carriage with the child in her arms, and, frankly, she could not have hugged her child any tighter.The maid asked her to leave this precious burden behind, but to no avail...never...never...
"No, Alisa, leave it alone!" she repeated loudly. "He's mine... God let me pull him out of the wreckage of that burning house... Thank you, thank you, my God! . . . Oh! Baby! . . . Baby!"
The baby was half choking, still breathing hard, eyes closed, mouth open, panting, needing air, needing fresh air, he was almost suffocated by the thick smoke of the fire just now, and now he was almost suffocated by the whirlwind tenderness of his savior.
"The train station," she said to the driver, returning to the car, "the train station! . . . a gold coin . . . not to miss the 9:47 train!"
The driver will not be indifferent to such a promise: remember that in Ireland tipping is entirely a social convention.So he galloped his horses and galloped his Glory, the name for the uncomfortable ancient vehicle.
After all, who is this female tourist who rescued the suffering?How much luck had it been for the little trick to fall into the hands of someone who would never abandon him again?
Miss Anna Weston, the lead actress at the Drury-Lane Theatre, is one of a kind and is touring, now at the Limerick Theatre, County Limerick, Munster.She recently spent a few days in County Galway, accompanied by her personal maid, the nagging but faithful girlfriend, the cold-faced Elisa Corbett.
The actress was a remarkable woman, much loved by theatrical audiences; unable to leave the stage even after the curtain had fallen, ready to throw herself into performances of emotional problems, with her heart in her hands, as wide open as an open hand, yet in art He is meticulous in performance, and there is no room for negotiation when encountering random interventions. It is unambiguous whether he is a supporting role or a leading actor.
Anna Weston has a great reputation in the counties of the United Kingdom. She only acts in the United States, India, and Australia when she has the opportunity to show her acting skills, that is, where English is spoken. A theater who does not understand the lines acts as a puppet.
This time, she starred in a modern play, in which the main character had to die in the last act. She was very tired from continuous performances, and longed for a rest. For the past three days, she went to Galway Bay to breathe the refreshing and pure air.At the end of the tour, she went to the train station that night to catch the train to Limerick for the next day's performance. Unexpectedly, she heard a cry for help and saw the reflection of a fire, so she was drawn to it.That's where the poor school caught fire.
fire? ...This kind of "natural" fire is not the same as the fire made of stone pine powder on the stage. How can one restrain the desire to go to see it?So Miss Anna Weston ordered the carriage to stop at the street corner despite Alisa's dissuasion. She watched the development of the fire much better than the firefighters in the theater watched the fire with a smile.This time, the entire set was crumpled and collapsed in the fire, and the stage warehouse was completely burned.Plus, the scene isn't lacking in fun.The situation is complicated, like in a cleverly arranged play.Two people were trapped on the top floor, and the stairs were engulfed in fire, there was no way out... Two boys, one big and one small... Maybe it would be better if there were a girl... So, Miss Anna Weston kept saying Call, if she had been wearing a dust jacket, she would have rushed in to save them, adding something new to the fire... However, the house around the skylight collapsed, and two unfortunate children, the older holding the younger, were in the thick of it. Emerging from the smoke... ah!That big one, how heroic, what a pose of a performing artist...how skillful the movements, how true the expression! ... Poor Grip!He hadn't realized that he produced such great artistic effect... As for the other, "cute kid" cute!Miss Anna Weston repeated that it was an angel passing through the flames of hell! . . . Really, little trick, for the first time in your life you were compared to an angel, or any fairy boy in the sky!
right!In this scene, Miss Anna Weston did not let go of any detail. She said loudly as if on the stage: "My money, jewelry, whoever saves their lives, I will give them all!" However, No one rushed out, climbed the crumbling walls to the collapsing roof... Finally, the angel descended, just in time to be caught by the open arms... Then, from the man's arm, he turned to Anna Weston In the arms of the young lady... Now, the little trick has a mother, and everyone even affirms that she is probably a noble lady who recognized her son from the fire in the poor school.
Miss Anna Weston bowed to the applauding crowd, did not listen to what the maid said, and drove away with her baby in her arms.what else can we do?This is a drama actress, only twenty-nine years old, with fiery red hair, passionate colors, and dramatic eyes. She has no scheming, so you can't ask her to control her feelings, like Alyssa, keep everything sense of proportion.After all, Eliza Corbett was thirty-seven years old, fair-haired, cold, and unattractive, and had been at the service of her capricious mistress for several years.It is true that the actress is a maverick, always feeling that she is acting on the stage, immersed in the plot of her play.In her mind, the most common situations in life are "dramatic scenes". When a dramatic scene appears in front of her...
Needless to say, the carriage arrived at the railway station in time, and the coachman was rewarded with the gold coin.Now, alone in the first-class carriage with Eliza, Miss Anna Weston could express the true motherly love that filled her heart.
"This is my child...my blood...my life!" she repeated. "No one can take it away from me!"
In private: Who could have thought of taking this homeless outcast?
Alyssa said, "We'll see how long this lasts!"
The train moved slowly to the Asheri interchange station, passing through County Galway, which is connected with the Irish capital by rail.The first leg was twelve miles, and despite the actress's attentive care and traditional intimacy, the little trick didn't wake up.
Miss Anna Weston was busy undressing him at first, throwing away his filthy and rags, leaving only the sweater that was 50% to 60% new, and took out the jacket from the travel bag as a shirt for him, He put another women's jacket on him, and covered him with a shawl as a quilt.However, the child didn't seem to realize that he was wearing warm clothes, and it was attached to a heart that was hotter than the clothes.
Finally at the transfer station, several carriages were unhooked and bound for Kirklee, the County Galway border.After parking for half an hour, Little Trick still hasn't regained his senses.
"Alyssa...Alyssa..." cried Miss Anna Weston, "be sure to see if there is a doctor on the train!"
Although Arisa convinced the hostess that there was no such need, she went to ask.
There is no doctor on the train.
"Hmph! These devils..." replied Miss Anna Weston, "they're never where they should be!"
"Look at you, ma'am, the boy is all right! . . . If you don't hold him so tight that you suffocate him, he'll wake up sooner or later..."
"You think so, Alyssa? . . . dear baby! What can I do? . . . I won't, I! . . . I've never had a child . . . La!"
This is impossible, not to mention that at this age, Little Trick needs to eat more nutritious food.Anna Weston could not help regretting that she had no milk.
The train passed through County Clare, a peninsula thrown into the sea between Galway Bay to the north and Shannon Bay to the south; became an island.The night was dark, and the stale air was swept away by a strong west wind.Isn't this the sky in the play? ...
"This angel, won't he wake up?" Miss Anna Weston kept saying loudly.
"Would you like to hear from me, madam?"
"Speak, Eliza, have mercy, speak!"
"That's good! . . . I watched him sleep!"
indeed so.
The train passed through Dromore and arrived at Ennis, the capital of County Clare, at about midnight, then passed through Clare, Newmarket, and the Six Mile Bridge, and finally arrived at the border. At 5 o'clock in the morning, the train entered Limerick Station .
Not only did Little Tricks sleep all the way, but Miss Anna Weston, unable to bear it, fell into a doze, and awoke to find the child under her protection looking at her with wide-open eyes.
So, she hugged and kissed again, and said repeatedly:
"He's alive!...He's alive!...God wouldn't be so cruel, give him to me, and then take him away from me!"
Alisa also echoed, saying that God would never be cruel to that extent.Our little boy had hardly any transitional stages, and that was how he went from the top floor of the poor school to the beautiful big suite that was Anna Weston's stay at the Royal George's during her performances at the Limerick Theatre.
Limerick County Catholics organized a resistance to Protestant England and made their name in Irish history.Loyal to the House of James I, its capital resisted the ferocity of Cromwell, suffered an unforgettable siege, stormed by starvation and disease, and bloody repressed, ultimately defeated.It was also here that the agreement that gave it its name was signed, ensuring equal citizenship and freedom of worship for Irish Catholics.It is true that these terms were brutally trampled by Guillaume de Orange.The Irish, long subjected to cruel blackmail, were obliged to take up arms again, and in spite of their valor and the French Revolutionary Government who sent Hoches to their aid, they fought, as they say, "with a rope around their necks," and at last they fought in Paris. Linamark was defeated.
By 1829, the rights of Catholics were finally recognized.It is thanks to the great O'Connell, who, holding high the banner of independence, won the Emancipation Act, or rather, imposed it on the Government of Great Britain.
Since this novel is set in Ireland, it must be allowed to repeat some memorable words: those words thrown to the faces of the politicians in England, which I hope will not be regarded here as episodes, have been engraved on the hearts of the Irish , we can feel the influence in some chapters of this story.
"The Cabinet has never been so shameless," O'Connell said loudly one day. "Stanley is a traitor to the Restoration Party; Mr. James Graham is a worse thing; Robert Peel is a motley flag, five hundred colors, and the wrong colors, orange one day, orange tomorrow Green, neither yellow nor green after tomorrow, but take care that this flag is not stained with blood! ... As for poor fellow Wellington, it is absurd to have a statue of this man in England. Historiography Didn't Alisson point out that he panicked at Waterloo? Luckily he had a gallant army, Irish soldiers. The Irish were loyal to the Crown of Brunswick, and the Crown was against them; they were loyal to George II, and George The second betrayed them; they were loyal to George IV, who roared when he agreed to their emancipation; they were also loyal to old Guillaume, and the cabinet prepared him an intolerable, bloody speech against Ireland; finally , and loyal to the Queen! Therefore, England to the English, Scotland to the Scots, and Ireland to the Irish!" Sublime words! ... You will soon see how O'Connell's wish is realized, and whether the land of Ireland belongs to the Irish.
Limerick is also one of the important cities on the Sapphire Isle, although it has dropped from third to fourth after Larry took part of its trade.The city has 30,000 inhabitants. The streets are regular, wide and straight, following the characteristics of American city streets; shops, stores, hotels, and public buildings are all set against broad squares.However, as soon as the traveler crosses Tormond Bridge and looks at the stele engraved with the Emancipation Agreement, he will find that part of the city has remained stubbornly Irish, showing poverty and ruins, crumbling walls, heroic and indomitable Saiyana The site of the "Black Fort" that Hachette's women resisted the Royalists of Orange and defended to the death.This comparison is more sad and melancholy than anything else!
It was obvious that Limerick was well positioned to develop into an important industrial and commercial centre.The River Shannon, "The Blue River", provides the channel for the city, like the Clyde, the Tamish, or the Mersey.If London, Glasgow and Liverpool use their rivers, it is a pity that Limerick has left its rivers idle.Few boats were seen, and the lazy river flowed in vain through the pretty neighborhoods of the city, irrigating the fertile pastures of the valleys.The Irish émigrés should bring the Shannon to America, and the Americans will surely make good use of it.
Limerick, whose whole industry is confined to the production of hams, is nonetheless a pleasant city; the ladies are exceptionally beautiful, as was not difficult to see during Miss Anna Weston's performances.
It must be admitted that such a rowdy actress would never build an airtight wall in her private life, impossible!If architects can do it one day, they must build completely transparent glass houses.At any rate, Miss Anna Weston had nothing to hide about what happened in Galway, and the day after she arrived in Limerick she was talking about the poor school in the salons.So word got around that the heroine of many shows had run into a fire to save a child, and she was noncommittal.Perhaps she believed it to be true, as a braggart eventually believes his own boast.One thing is certain, she brought a child back to King George's, an orphan, to adopt and to name, because the child had no name, not even a Christian name!
"Little trick!" was his answer when she asked him what his name was.
Very good wow!Tricks was a good thing, she couldn't think of a better one than Edward, or Arthur, or Mortimer.Besides, she kept calling him "baby," "baby," "little baby," and whatever else mothers in England used to call their children.
We should also admit that our little hero doesn't understand this at all. He is at the mercy of others, he is not used to caressing, he is caressed, he is not used to kissing, he is not used to kissing, he is not used to wearing beautiful clothes. Put on fashionable clothes, put on new leather boots if you are not used to shoes, curl your hair if you are not used to a perm, let people pull you to a palace-like table if you are not used to delicious food, let people eat sweets if you are not used to it Rise.
Needless to say, the actress' boyfriends and girlfriends flocked to the suite at the Royal George Hotel.She accepts compliments, and with what pleasure to hear them.So she repeated the story of the poor school, and after twenty minutes of telling it, nine times out of ten the fire was going to engulf the whole city of Galway.A catastrophe, rivaled only by the Great Fire of London: the destruction of a large part of the United Kingdom, as evidenced by the "Fire Monument", which stands a few steps from London Bridge.
It is not difficult to imagine that no one forgot the child during such a visit, and Miss Anna Weston played it brilliantly.However, if the child had not been born so loved, he could remember, could recall that at least someone loved him.So one day he asked:
"Where's Grip?"
"Who is Grip, my little darling?" asked Miss Anna Weston.
Only then did she know who Grip was.There is no doubt that, without his rescue, the little trick would have been burned in the fire... If Grip had not risked his life and risked his life to save him, there would only be one body to be found in the ruins of the school.Grip this behavior is fine...very good.However, his heroism - let's accept the word - does not detract in the slightest from Miss Anna Weston's service in rescue... Imagine if it were not a coincidence, this outstanding woman accidentally came to the scene of the fire, what would have happened to the little trick today Woolen cloth? ... Has anyone adopted him?What shabby house was he and the other poor kids from the school going to be locked up in?
In fact, no one inquired about Grip's whereabouts, knew nothing about him, and didn't want to know more about the old man, and the little trick was forgotten and never mentioned again.Others thought wrong, in fact, the image of the person who fed him and protected him never disappeared from his heart.
But how many diversions and amusements the child adopted by the actress had in her new life!He walked with Miss Anna Weston, and sat next to her on the pouf in the car, driving through the pretty quarters of Limerick, just when the well-dressed people could see her pass.Never seen a child dressed so fancy, if you don't mind the term.How many different costumes have been made, comparable to the entire outfit of an actor!Sometimes he dressed as a Scot in tartan jacket and skirt and tall hat; Beret, dressed as an apprentice sailor.He had, in fact, taken the place of the mistress's pug, an angry and biting beast, and if he had been younger she might have put him in a muff with only his curly head showing.In addition to walking in the city, I also went for an outing, driving all the way to the sea bathing beach around Kilrick, where the magnificent cliffs of Milton Malbay, just on the coast of Clare, are famous for crashing the mighty Part of the battleship! ... where the trick is displayed as a wonder, called the "angel rescued from the fire."
And took him to the theater once or twice, where he had to dress up as a young gentleman, put on new gloves--gloves for such a small boy--and sit at the head of the box under Elisa's stern gaze. In the row of seats, they hardly dared to move, even if they wanted to doze off, they would hold on until the end of the performance.He couldn't quite understand the plot, but he thought that what he saw was real, not fictional, so Miss Anna Weston came on stage, dressed in the queen's costume, wearing a crown, wearing royal robes, and later dressed up As a commoner woman, wearing a conical hat and an apron, or dressed as a poor woman, wearing rags and a British beggar's flower hat, looking at it tricky, thinking that it can't be him at King George's Hotel See you again to the people.This disturbed the child's imagination deeply.He didn't know what to think of it, and at night he dreamed as if the tragedy was still going on, and sometimes he had nightmares about the puppeteer, that knave of Carkel, and the other bad boys at school!He woke up with fright, sweating profusely, but he didn't dare to call out...
Everyone knows how much the Irish love sports, especially horse racing.On such days, "gentlemen" from all over the country, peasants who have left their farms, and poor slaves of all kinds occupy all the squares, streets, and hotels and restaurants in Limerick; A shilling or half a shilling is a good bet on a horse.
Just two weeks after the arrival of the little trick, it was just in time for such a race meeting, and he had the opportunity to show him a lot.What kind of clothes is he wearing!Stretched from head to toe, hardly a child, but a bouquet, Miss Anna Weston entertained her friends and acquaintances, and even made them smell them!
All in all, there was something special about this woman, a bit abnormal, but she had a good heart and compassion, and she tried to show it off, and there was nothing wrong with her being such a temperament.It is true; her meticulous care of the child is obviously like acting, and her kisses follow the etiquette of the stage, only touching the lips, but the little tricks can't tell the difference at all.However, he felt that he didn't get the kind of love he wanted. Perhaps the words that Alyssa kept repeating echoed in his heart unconsciously:
"Let's wait and see how long this situation can last... Even if it can continue!"
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