Free Far From Home by Anne Bennett Page B

again before he could bring himself to believe it.
    I was as stunned as he was. When I arrived home and saw no sign of her, if your father hadn’t met up with Dinny I would have had the Guards out and the whole county alerted for I hadn’t seen the note at first.
    As it was I began wondering what she had used for money to pay her way. I knew that though she’d run to you, you would be ignorant of what she intended to do, and would never have sent her money to carry out such a thing, you are far too sensible. The only money in the house is the money for the eggs and I checked it, though I felt sick at the thought that one of my children would steal and from their own parents.
    But that is exactly what Sally did. She took every penny and for that reason she is no longer my daughter and she has no home here for we could never trust her again. She now must make her own way in the world.
    Kate read over the letter again because she could hardly believe it. She would never turn Sally away to fend for herself, and her mother knew that. She was handing over her younger sister’s welfare and care to her and Kate didn’t really want that responsibility. It wasn’t fair to ask that of her.
    â€˜Is it really bad?’ Sally asked, alarmed by the look on Kate’s face.
    And because the news was as bad as it could be, and there was no way of shielding her, Kate nodded her head and said, ‘Mammy said she has disowned you and doesn’t want you to go back at all. In fact, she says the farm is no longer your home.’
    â€˜Disowned me?’ Sally repeated disbelievingly, for she didn’t think either of her parents would ever do that.
    â€˜That’s what she said,’ Kate said. ‘It’s because you stole the egg money. She says neither she nor Daddy will ever be able to trust you again.’
    â€˜Oh, Kate, what am I to do?’
    â€˜Well, I know what I’m going to do, and that is write to Mammy and beg her to reconsider and say you are desperately sorry and that you will promise to never ever do anything like this again – and see if that does any good. I advise you to do the same; if we get them sent off this evening she will get them by Saturday at the latest.’
    The two girls set to work right away and Kate poured her heart out to her mother, telling her how contrite Sally was and how even as the boat sailed across the Irish Sea she’d known she’d made a grave mistake, but that it had been too late to put it right. She begged her mother to give her one more chance. Sally’s letter wassimilar, though some of the words were smeared from the tears that had fallen as she wrote. She went out to the postbox right away to post them.
    â€˜D’you think she’ll come round?’ Susie said at work the next day when Kate told her about the letter. ‘Like, you know, it was done in the heat of the moment?’
    â€˜It can’t really be done in the heat of the moment when you are writing a letter,’ Kate said. ‘It’s not like saying something and then regretting it. Mammy wouldn’t have said she was disowning Sally without talking it over with Daddy. And then Mammy has always been rigid. Once she has made up her mind, then that is usually that.’
    â€˜So, you haven’t much faith in the letters you sent?’
    â€˜To tell you the truth, Susie, no, I haven’t,’ Kate said. ‘But if Sally can’t go home, I am landed with her. I can hardly put her out on the streets.’
    â€˜No, course you can’t. Hope you are wrong about those letters making a difference then. Is she very upset?’
    â€˜What do you think?’ Kate said. ‘She is still only sixteen. Anyway, after leaving her on her own all day, I can hardly do the same half the night as well, and so I won’t be at the dance tonight either.’
    â€˜All right,’ Susie said. ‘I do understand that, but I might go