EFFIE'S SECRET 95 



home to Miss Grimshaw this trait with full 

 force. 



" Mr French," said she one morning, entering 

 the sitting-room, where he was writing letters, 

 " do you know Effie can walk? " 



" I beg your pardon — what did you say? " 

 asked Mr French, dropping his pen and turning 

 in his chair. 



" The child's not a cripple at all. She can walk 

 as well as I can." 



" Walk! Why, she's been a cripple for years! 

 Walk! Why, Mrs Driscoll never lets her on her 

 feet by any chance — " 



" Yes, but when she's alone she runs about the 

 room, and she's as sound on her legs as I am." 



" But Dr O'Malley said with his own mouth 

 she was a cripple for Hfe — " 



" How long ago was that? " 



" Four years." 



" Has he seen her lately? " 



" Seen her lately! Why, how could he see her, 

 and he in his coffin three years come last October?" 



" Have you had no other doctor to see her? " 



" Sure, there's no one else but Rafferty at Cloyne 

 and he's a fool — and she won't see doctors; she 

 says they are no use to her." 



" Well, all I can say is that I've seen her walking. 

 She can run, and she tells me she has been able to 

 for years, only no one will believe her. Whenever 

 they see her on her feet, she says, they pop her back 

 on the couch. The poor child seems to have be- 



