ob, making a
good deal of noise over it and drying her eyes with the corner of her
skirt, not being at that moment equipped with an apron.

"Ye're a nasty, bitther, disagree'ble ould fellow," she remarked
inarticulately, "an' I hate ye."

Mike had turned his back to her the better to intrench himself in his
fortress of reserve, but now he could not help stealing a glance at
her from over his shoulder. There sat Roseen, still vigorously
sobbing, her feet dangling downward as she sat on her high perch, her
shoulders heaving, her ruffled brown head drooping, the tears forcing
their way through fingers that were just as sunburnt as of old. Many a
time had Mike seen her give way to paroxysms of childish woe, and
comforted her with loving words and no less loving kisses. The
recollection flashed across him now, and he immediately looked away
again, stiffening himself more than ever.

"I thought the day 'ud never come," lamented Roseen, "when ye would be
back wid me. I never closed an eye last night countin' the time an' me
heart leppin' that much for joy, that the bed shook undher me--an'
this is the way ye go trate me when ye do come home!"

Mike turned round quickly. "Ah, Roseen, can't ye whisht?" he cried;
"sure it's twice as bad for me as for you. Sure, asthore,"--he
couldn't for the life of him prevent that little word from slipping
in--"it's only thrying to do me duty I am; it 'ud never do at all for
you an' me to be goin' on the same as we used to do, and I wouldn't
like yourself nor any wan to be thinkin' I'd be forgettin' the differ
there is between the two of us now."

Roseen looked up, her blue eyes still drowned in tears, but just the
suspicion of a smile beginning to creep about her mouth.

"Troth!" she said with a toss of her head, "the on'y differ there is
in it is that I am the same as ever I was, an' you have turned crabby
an' cranky."

"'Deed then, I'm not," rejoined Mike, adding hotly, "I'd have ye
remember, Roseen, it's you that changed first. Why didn't ye come to
me that evenin' at the haggard gate the way you always did? And me in
throuble wi' all an' breaking me heart for a word from ye!"

The dignified hero was gone for the nonce, and look and tone were
those of a youthful and offended lover. Roseen immediately fired up
too.

"God give me patience!" she cried, "I never come acrass such a
contrairy boy in me life! Didn't I nearly lep out o' the windy to come
to ye? Sure, me grandfather had