He let her chatter on, hoping that she would exhaust her interest in his visit to Ireland and begin to talk of something else, but he did not know that Cecily had greater tenacity than might appear from the incoherence of her conversation. She held on to a subject until it was settled irrevocably. She looked very charming as she sat opposite to him, and he wondered how Jimphy could be so careless of her loveliness. The sunlight shining through the window above her head kindled her hair so that the ripples of it shone like gold, and the delicate sunburnt flush of her cheeks deepened in the soft glow. He put out his hand and touched her fingers. "Beautiful Cecily!" he said, and she smiled because she liked to be told how beautiful she was. "But you're going to Ireland," she said. He did not answer. "You say you'd do anything for me," she proceeded, "but when I ask you not to go to Ireland, you refuse. If you really love me!..." "I do love you, Cecily!" "Well, why don't you stay in town! It's so queer to go away the moment you get to know me!" She began to laugh. "What's the joke?" he asked. "Oh, I've just remembered how little we know of each other. You kissed me the first time you came to my house!" "I loved you the moment I saw you ... that day in the Park when I was with Gilbert ... I loved you then. I didn't know who you were, but I loved you. I couldn't help it, Cecily. You were looking at Gilbert and then your eyes shifted and you looked at me, and I loved you, dear. I worried Gilbert to tell me about you!..." "What did he say?" she interrupted eagerly, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin in the cup of her hands. "He told me who you were," Henry answered awkwardly. "But didn't he say anything else?... didn't he?..." "I've forgotten what he said.... Then I saw you at the St. James's ... he told me you often went to first-nights, and I went specially, hoping to see you!..." "Dear Paddy," she said, "and you were so shy!" "And so jealous and angry because you talked all the time to Gilbert, and ignored me. You made me go out of the box with Jimphy, and as I went, I saw you putting your hand out to touch Gilbert, and I heard you calling him, 'Gilbert, darling.' ..." She laughed, but did not speak. "And I was frightfully jealous. Gilbert's my best friend, Cecily, but I hated him that night. I suppose ... oh, I don't know!" "What were you going to say!" she asked. He looked at her intently for a few moments. Her grey eyes were full of laughter, and he wondered whether she would answer his question seriously. "Well?" she said. "Do you still love Gilbert, Cecily! Am I ... just some one to fill in the time ... until Gilbert!..." She sat back in her seat, and the laughter left her eyes. "Let's go!" she said. But he did not move. "You do love him," he persisted, "and you don't love me...." "Are you going to Ireland with him?" she demanded. "Yes!"