n' at it.
But suppose he meant the other thing, that not being married, you--"

"Patsy Kernaghan," interjected the Young Doctor sternly, "you're not fit
company. Take care, or there'll be no Slow Down Ranch for you. An evil
mind----"

Now it was Patsy's turn to interrupt: "Watch me now, I think that wan
of the most beautiful things I iver saw was them two young people comin'
together. Five long months it was, afther Mazarine was put away before
she spoke with him. It was in the gardin at Nolan's ranch, and even then
it wasn't aisy till her. Not that she didn't want to see him all the
time; not, I'll be bound, that she didn't say, when you and Nolan first
told her the mastodon was dead, 'Thank God, I'm free!' But, there he
was, flung out of the wurruld without a minute's notice, and with the
black thing in his heart. Shure you'll be understandin' it a thousand
times better than meself, y'r anner."

He took a pinch of snuff from a little box, offered it to the Young
Doctor and continued his story.

"Well, as I said, whin five months had gone by they met. By chanct I saw
the meetin'. Watch me now, I'll tell you how it was. She was sittin' on
a bench in the gardin, lookin' in front of her and seein' nothin' but
what was in her mind's eye, and who can tell what she would be seein'!
There she sat sweet as a saint, very straight up, the palms of her
hands laid on the bench on either side, as though they was supporfin'
her--like a statue she looked. I watched her manny a minute, but she
niver moved. Well, there she was, lookin'--lookin' in front o' her,
whin round the big tree in the middle of the gardin he come and stood
forninst her. They just looked and looked at each other without a word.
Like months it seemed. They looked, and looked, as though they was
tryin' to read some story in each other's eyes, and then she give a kind
of joyful moan, and intil his arms she went like a nestlin' bird.

"He raised up her head, and-well, now, y'r anner, I niver saw anything
I liked better. There niver had been a girl in his life, and there niver
was a man in hers--not one that mattered, till they two took up with
each other, and it's a thing--well, y'r anner, I'd be a proud man if
I could write it down. It's a story that'd take its place beside the
ancient ones."

The Young Doctor looked at Patsy meditatively. "Patsy," said he, "the
difference between the north and the south of Ireland is that in the
south they are all poets--" H