“Ye nearly squeezed the hand off me when I met ye this evenin’,” she said, but there was no reproof in her voice, and he understood that she was not angry with his strong handshake, even though it had given her pain.
“Did I?”
“Ye did.... Isn’t it cold?”
“Cold as the breath of a stepmother,” said Dermod. “There was great fighting!”
“Why do men always fight?” asked Norah.
“Because it’s—it’s their way.”
“Why is that?”
“You’ll not understand; you’re only a girl.”
“Will I never understand?” asked Norah.
“Never,” Dermod answered. “And we’re goin’ to be sick too,” he went on with boyish irrelevance. “That’s when we’re passin’ round the Mull of Cantyre. So Micky’s Jim said. And we’re goin’ to see Paddy’s Milestone, that’s if we aren’t asleep.”