She rose and took a step aside, then spoke again: "Well, since you want to leave Carlow, you shall; since you do not wish to return, you need not .-- Are you laughing at me ?" She leaned toward him, and looked at him steadily, with her face close to his.

He was not laughing; his eyes shone with a deep fire; in that nearness he hardly comprehended what she said.

"Thank you for not laughing," she whispered, and leaned back from him.

"I suppose you think my promises are quite wild, and they are.

I do not know what I was talking about, or what I meant, any better than you do.