"Grand-dad, is your heart a-breaking?"
"Will you forget me when ye are away, alanna?"
"Never—never—never! As long as you live and as long as I live. Uncle John promises to bring me back to you faithful and true. And when he comes may he stay for a couple of days?"
"He may stay forever and ever, if he doesn't bring that wicked woman, his wife. She married beneath her, but she's a scold, for all that."
"I don't know what a scold is," said little Margot, "but I always said she was a wicked woman. Grand-dad, she didn't marry beneath her, she married far, far, far above her."
"Yes, child, perhaps you are right. Let's see when you'll be coming back to me, pushkeen."
"This is the 5th of June," said little Margot.
"June one, July two, August three," said the old man. "Ye'll be back with me on the fifth of September."
"I will that; I'll be mad to come back. You and Madam will keep watching and waiting for me."