On the whole this outdoor meeting was fortunate, and took the sting out of some gossiping tongues. People might have their opinions about Jack Corry's conduct, but as Norah had been seen with him and Jeannie Bellew, and apparently on the old friendly terms, surely they had no right to take up cudgels on her behalf.
There was one, only one, who named Jack to Norah, her eldest brother, Roderick, or Rory, as he was generally called, a lad of fifteen, who almost worshipped his sister.
"Norah," he said, "I am horribly disappointed in Jack Corry. I thought him the finest fellow in the world—one that could not do a mean thing to save his life. But he is a deceitful wretch, and I hate him! If I were a man, he should pay for his conduct to you, my darling."
The boy flung his arms round Norah's neck and held her in a passionate embrace, while he kissed her again and again. She felt her cheek moist with the tears he could not restrain, and was comforted by the thought of the home affections that were so fully hers. She returned the boy's caresses, and passed her hand tenderly over his curly head as she said—
"Rory, dear lad, you must not talk of hating Jack. He was always good to you boys and to all of us, when his time was not so taken up as it is now. You must not expect him to leave Jeannie for you."
"For me, indeed! as if I cared! It is for you, Norah, you, that I am grieved and angry. He was always coming after you, not to see us, we knew that well enough, and everybody said so. They used to joke and smile about Jack having lost his heart at last, and then they would say, 'He will have the sweetest girl in Ballycorene—God bless her!'"
"How sweet it is to think that people think so kindly of me!" said Norah, turning a bright face to Rory. "But they were wrong. They know better now whom Jack wanted."
"He did not care for Jeannie Bellew then. And if he did not care for you, why did he pretend to do so? You have told us boys many a time that truth was a thing of deeds as well as words, and that we could lie without uttering a syllable. Jack Corry lied in action for months and months, and he knows it. If I could only pay him out!"
"Rory, my darling, this is hardest of all. I cannot bear even for you to speak about Jack and me in that way." And Norah covered her face with her hands, and sobbed bitterly.
Rory was full of remorse; he lavished the tenderest expressions on his sister, begged her to forgive him, and declared he would never speak on the subject again. For the boy's sake Norah tried to conquer her emotion, and at length so far succeeded that she could reply calmly: