till wet
on her cheeks.

"Can't you guess what you are doing?" she said. "You are stabbing
me--stabbing me. Oh! oh! oh!" and she burst into violent sobs. David
took her hand.

"Come, little Irish colleen," he said. "Come along downstairs. I am
going to be chummy with you. Don't be so lonely. Give Alice her room;
one-half of it is hers, and she wants to dress to go out."

"Let her take it all," sobbed Kathleen. "I am most miserable. Oh, Garry
Owen, Garry Owen! Oh, Land of the Shamrock! Oh, my broken heart!"

She laid her head on David's shoulder and went on sobbing. David felt
quite bashful. There was nothing for it but to take out his big and not
too clean handkerchief and wipe her tears away.

"Whisper," he said in her ear. "There are stables at the back of the
house; they are old, worn-out stables. There is a loft over one, and I
keep apples and nuts there. It's the jolliest place. Will you and I go
there for an hour or two after supper?"

"Do you mean it?" said Kathleen, her eyes filling with laughter, and the
tears still wet on her cheeks.

"Yes, colleen, I mean it, for I want you to tell me all you can about
your land of the shamrock."

"Why, then, that I will," she replied. "Wisha, then, David, it's a broth
of a boy, you are!" and she kissed him on his forehead. David took her
hand and led her into the dining-room. Alice was still there, looking
more stormy than ever.

"It's too late now," she said; "the girls have come and gone. I can't go
at all now."

"But why, darling?" said Kathleen. "Oh! I wish I had let you in.--She
must go, David, the poor dear. It would be cruel to disappoint
her.--What dress will you wear?" said Kathleen.

"Let me alone," said Alice.

She rushed upstairs, but Kathleen was even quicker.

"I'm not going to be nasty to you any more," she said. "I have found a
friend, and I shall have more friends to-morrow. Kathleen O'Hara would
have died long ago but for her friends. I shall be happy when I have got
a creelful of them here. Now then, let me help you. No, that isn't the
shoe you want; here it is. And gloves--here's a pair, and they're neatly
mended. Which hat did you say--the one with the blue scarf round it?
Isn't it a pretty one? You put that on. Aunt Katie O'Flynn is going to
send me a box of clothes from Dublin, and I will give you some of them.
You mustn't say no; I will give you some if you are nice. I am ever so
sorry that I kept you out of your part of the room; I w