risking anything if ye had set me on the right
road this morning; I would have been in Arden now, where I belong.
But that wasn't your way. 'Twas a grand scheme ye had--whatever it
might be; and ye fetch me away afore the town is up and I can ask the
road of any one; and ye coax me across pastures and woods, a far cry
from passing folk and reliable information; and ye hold me,
loitering the day through, till ye have me forgetting entirely why I
came, along with the promise laid on me, and the other poor
lad--Heaven help him!"

"Oho!" The tinker whistled unconsciously.

"Oho!" mimicked Patsy; "and is there anything so wonderfully strange
in a lass looking after a lad? Sure, I'm hating myself for not
minding his need better; and, Holy Saint Michael, how I'm hating ye!"
She ran out of the room and up the stairway.

The tinker was after her in a twinkling. He reached the foot of the
stairs before she was at the top. "Please--please wait a minute," he
pleaded. "If there's another--lad, a lad you--love, that I have kept
you from--then I hate myself as much as you do. All I can say is that
I didn't think--didn't guess; and I'm no end sorry."

Patsy leaned over the banisters and looked down at him through eyes
unmistakably wet. "What does it matter to ye if he's the lad I love
or not? And can't a body do a kindness for a lad without loving him?"

"Thank Heaven! she can. You have taught me that miracle--and I don't
believe the other lad will grudge me these few hours, even if you do.
Who knows? My need may have been as great as his."

Patsy frowned. "All ye needed was something soft to dull your wits
on; what he's needing is a father--and mother--and sweetheart--and
some good 1915 bonds of human trust."

The tinker folded his arms over the newel-post and smiled. "And do
you expect to be able to supply them all?"

"God forbid!" Patsy laughed in spite of herself.

And the tinker, scoring a point, took courage and went on: "Don't you
suppose I realize that you have given me the finest gift a stranger
can have--the gift of honest, unconditional friendship, asking no
questions, demanding no returns? It is a rare gift for any man--and I
want to keep it as rare and beautiful as when it was given. So please
don't mar it for me--now. Please--!" His hands went out in earnest
appeal.

The anger was leaving Patsy's face; already the look of comradeship
was coming back in her eyes; her lips were beginning to curve in the
old, wh