"Are you not well, Mr. Cairns?"
"Oh, yes—perfectly well," he answered. "Why do you ask?"
"You look pale, and there is a kind of a quiver in your voice," she answered as they strolled to a seat in the garden that overlooked the town, a favourite place for Father Healy when saying his Office.
"Sit down and rest yourself," Molly advised. "You get no peace down there in the office. Denis Quirk believes you are all machinery like himself."
But Cairns remained standing behind the seat on which she sat. After a short silence Molly Healy asked:
"Now, what are you doing to my hair? Do be leaving it alone; it is untidy enough already."
"Molly," he said, and his voice caused her to turn suddenly.
"I knew you were ill," she said. "It's the rest cure that would be doing you good. Denis Quirk has overworked you."
"Try to be serious for once," he asked.
"Serious? There is no need for me to be serious. Your face is solemn enough for the whole town. Just let my hair alone. There it was just put up in a hurry and you have pulled it down."