"And is it possible that you aren't angry with me, Ellen, for going?"
"I am sorry you are going, Ned—in a way, but I should be more sorry to see you stay here and learn to hate me."
"You are very wise, Ellen. But why did you read that manuscript?"
"I suppose because God wished me to."
One thing Ireland had done for him, and for that he would be always grateful to Ireland—Ireland had revealed a noble woman to him; and distance would bring a closer and more intimate appreciation of her.
He left early next morning before she was awake in order to save her the pain of farewells, and all that day in Dublin he walked about, possessed by the great joyful yearning of the wild goose when it rises one bright morning from the warm marshes, scenting the harsh north through leagues of air, and goes away on steady wing-beats. But he did not feel he was a free soul until the outlines of Howth began to melt into the grey drift of evening. There was a little mist on the water, and he stood watching the waves tossing in the mist thinking that it were well that he had left home—if he had stayed he would have come to accept all the base moral coinage in circulation; and he stood watching the green waves tossing in the mist, at one moment ashamed of what he had done, at the next overjoyed that he had done it.
CHAPTER XIII
THE WAY BACK
It was a pleasure to meet, even when they had nothing to say, and the two men had stopped to talk.