"Not at all. There would be no choice; I should be made to marry the dear old woman. You would bully me into it."
She laughed.
"Seriously, Jack, could you not settle down near here?"
"Not with that old woman, Molly."
"Never mind her; won't you consider it? No one need know you—in fact, you need see no one—and—oh, Jack! don't look like that. Miles, is he not ridiculous?"
"Sure, alanna, 'tis a dreary life he'd be leading," chuckled O'Hara.
"I see what it is, Molly. You have planned to make me a recluse, and to marry me to my housekeeper. I protest, 'tis great ill-usage!"
Molly eyed him doubtfully.
"Would you much object to the life, John?"
"Madam," he replied solemnly, "you would find my corpse in the garden at the end of the first week."