"Kathleen--!" said he, vaguely.
"Let me think!--ah, let me think, Billy!" she pleaded, in a flutter of
joy and amazement. "Go away, boy dear!--Go away for a little and
let me think! I'm not an emotional woman, but I'm on the verge of
hysterics now, for--for several reasons. Go in to breakfast, Billy!
I--I want to be alone. You've made me very proud and--and sorry, I
think, and glad, and--and--oh, I don't know, boy dear. But please go
now--please!"
Billy went.
In the living-hall he paused to inspect a picture with peculiar