CHAPTER IX.
DAYS OF STORM AND STRESS.
It was during breakfast at "Layton" that Kathleen O'Connor attacked Denis Quirk on the subject of his treatment of Desmond. Mrs. Quirk was breakfasting in bed; her husband had scrambled through his meal, and rushed out to superintend the making of a drain, leaving Denis alone with the girl. He had noticed her silence and aloofness, sure signs of displeasure, and, as was his way, he calmly faced her in the moment of bitter resentment.
"You are angry with me?" he asked abruptly.
"Why should I be? I have no claims upon your kindness," she answered.
"He had to go, for his own sake," he said, going straight to the point without explanation. "It was the only hope of saving him."
She did not answer, but her eyes filled with tears, vainly though she tried to repress them. Denis Quirk feigned not to see them.
"In Grey Town he must be ruined," he said, not unkindly.