'What do you mean?' she exclaimed haughtily. 'There is no _must_ about the matter. You should have learned by this time that I will not be driven by any one on earth; certainly not by you.' Then recovering herself, she went on more softly: 'What a puzzle you are! Sometimes so kind, sometimes so cruel! I think you really care for me; you were so good to the motherless little one. If my mother had lived I might have been different. A Miss Hoyden, am I? I have never had any one in whom to put my trust, to whom I might tell my troubles; and a heart closed up, without sympathy, is a sore thing for one of my age!' The girl's voice died away, and her aunt felt uncomfortable. 'To-day,' Doreen resumed, 'I went to see Ally Brady, who is dying, and nearly threw myself upon the neck of the lady who is nursing her. She looked so kind and hearty as her tears fell for the peasant-woman, and she clings to the prescribed creed as I do. It was Mrs. Gillin, of the Little House.' My lady looked up sharply. 'You dared to speak to her?' 'No; I retired. But she looked after me with such a strange pity. Aunt, why do you object to my knowing this lady, though all the world speaks well of her? Shane goes to the Little House, and Norah makes him welcome. He told me so. I have seen Norah often, and she is very pretty. What does it all mean? Is Shane going to marry her? May I speak to her when she's Shane's wife? If he knows and likes the Gillins, why should not I, who, as a Catholic, have a sort of right to cherish them?' My lady started and stood still, as if she had seen an adder in her path, and said in an altered voice: 'Have I not commanded you never to mention that woman's name before me? Shane is more wild than I could wish. He does what he chooses; and, besides, a man may do what a woman may not. If he were well married, he would grow quieter, no doubt. Your father's wish is the same as mine. You know it, and are obstinate.' Doreen was astonished, for Lady Glandore was not given to displays of emotion; and now she was much agitated, while her features worked as if in physical pain. Kissing her niece on the forehead, she gathered up her skirts and walked rapidly back towards the house. For an hour and more the girl wandered in the pleasaunce, taking no heed of dew, though her high-waisted dress was of the thinnest muslin. She was weighing her aunt's hints, and the strange complications of her own position.