Anne [Aside.] If I hadn’t eye proof he’d brazen it out of me. Isn’t he cunning? He’s one of those that would get fat where a fox would starve.
Kyrle That was a little excursion into my past life—a sudden descent on my antecedents, to see if you could not surprise an infidelity—but I defy you.
Anne You do? I accept that defiance; and, mind me, Kyrle, if I find you true as I once thought, there’s my hand; but if you are false in this, Anne Chute will never change her name for yours. [He kisses her hand.] Leave me now.
Kyrle Oh, the lightness you have given to my heart! The number of pipes I’ll smoke this afternoon will make them think we’ve got a haystack on fire. [Exit Kyrle, through window, R.
Anne [Rings bell on table, R.] Here, Pat, Barney, some one.
Enter Servant, L. door in flat.
Tell Larry Dolan, my groom, to saddle the black mare, Fireball, but not bring her round the house—I’ll mount in the stables.
[Exit Servant, L. door in flat.
I’ll ride over to Muckross Head, and draw that cottage; I’ll know what’s there. It mayn’t be right, but I haven’t a big brother to see after me—and self-protection is the first law of nature.