"There is a real love and a false one," she said. "The false sort loves a man, not for what he is, but for what he is imagined to be. The real love comes from recognising that a man is noble and brave."
Molly pondered a while over this.
"Mr. Cairns is not young, and he is not beautiful," she soliloquised, "but he is honest and brave, just a gentleman. Perhaps I might come to love him in time."
"Shall I prophesy?" Kathleen asked.
"If it would be any help to you or to me, I would not be the one to stop you."
"Then I see you, in six months time, Mrs. Cairns," Kathleen answered.
"I wish it had been O'Brien, or Fitzgerald, even O'Connor, but Desmond has chosen the better way," said Molly.