But Patsy's comprehension was strangely deaf.
"'Tis easy enough trimming up poor actions with grand words. There'd have been no need of 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.