"Now Pat", she said, "here is a nice, new jack-knife. If you will
promise me that you will cut boughs and make your mother two new
brooms, just like this, every week, the knife shall be yours".
Pat, with eyes that stood out an unmentionable distance, and mouth
stretched from ear to ear, promised, and Adele proceeded vigorously to
sweep the apartment. In the course of half an hour, the room wore a
wholly different aspect.
"And who tould the like of ye, how to make a brum like that, hinny?"
said Bridget, looking on in admiration of her skill.
"Nobody told me. I saw Aunt Patty McNab do it once. You see it is easy
to do. Now, Bridget, remember. Have your house clean after this, or I
will not come to see you".
"Yes, shure, I'll have them blessed brums as long's there's a tree
grows".
And true it was, that Adele's threat not to visit her cabin proved
such a salutary terror to poor Bridget, that there was a perceptible
improvement in her domestic arrangements ever after.
As Adele grew older, the ascendency she had obtained in her obscure
empire daily increased. At twelve, she was sent to a convent at
Halifax, where she remained three years. At the end of that period,
she returned to Miramichi, and resumed at once her regal sceptre. The
sway she held over the people was really one of love, grounded on a
recognition of her superiority. Circulating among them freely, she
became thoroughly acquainted with their habits and modes of living,
and she was ever ready to aid them, under their outward wants and
their deeper heart troubles.
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