THE LITTLE RED SHOES (PART FOUR)

William Guiler, following a light from a window, barely made it to the cabin before collapsing unconscious against the door. The family heard him fall and carried him inside their home. They used all the medical knowledge they had to try to bring William back from the brink of death. He was delirious for a number of days. He continually asked, “Where are the others?” William clung to life and after a long time he recovered to tell his story.

By this time it was the dead of winter. Travel was impossible. William was stranded for the rest of the season with the family that had saved his life. The man of the house was a lumberman. There were other cabins and other families scattered across the countryside. Occasionally these families visited in one another’s cabins for some social respite. William’s host owned a violin and William would entertain the families with his playing. He was a well-known fiddler back in Ireland who used to play at county fairs. He even tried to pay for some of his stay by teaching the lumberman’s daughter violin lessons!

Eventually the Nova Scotian winter broke and the weather changed. William was anxious to travel south and resume his search for his lost wife and daughter. He checked the coastline for boats and finally found one bound for Boston. He was able to get aboard that boat and bid his new friends a fond farewell.

William sailed to Boston and then finally made his way down to New York. He was able to secure work at a tailor shop. He began his search for Elizabeth and his daughter. He walked the streets every morning and every evening. He asked everywhere he could think of. Every Sunday he attended a different church hoping to find Elizabeth in the congregation. But there was no word of a young woman with a small daughter waiting for a husband from Northern Ireland.