"Ye loved her very much, father, didn't ye?"
He nodded. "I loved her with all the heart of me and all the strength of me."
Peg sat quiet for some minutes: then she asked him a question very quietly and hung in suspense on his answer:
"Do ye love me as much as ye loved her, father?"
"It's different, Peg—quite, quite different."
"Why is it?" She waited He did not answer.
"Sure, love is love whether ye feel it for a woman or a child," she persisted.
O'Connell remained silent.
"Did ye love her betther than ye love me, father?"
Her soul was in her great blue eyes as she waited excitedly for the answer to that, to her, momentous question.