"When I was in Italy I simply longed for a day of Irish rain," Mary O'Gara said: "it is good for us. We need it. We grow parched in the dry climates."
"It has held the secret of perpetual youth and beauty for you, Mary," her husband said, looking at her with loving admiration.
She laughed and blushed. She was not beyond blushing at a compliment even from her husband.
"We must make things as gay for the child as possible," she said. Then she added:
"I wonder if Aunt Grace realizes that Terry is now a young man. He seems épris with Eileen, so I suppose he will not fall in love with Stella?"
Sir Shawn looked startled.
"I hope not," he said. "Eileen seems to have him very securely in her chains."
Lady O'Gara frowned ever so slightly. "I wish our children did not grow away from us so soon," she said. "Terry might have continued a little longer being in love only with his mother."
Sir Shawn lifted his eyebrows in a manner which accentuated his foreign look.
"Jealous, Mary?" he asked.