Henry nodded his head. "He doesn't think it's coarse," he said. "He thinks it's fine!"
Sheila pondered on this for a few moments. "He must be a quare man, your da!" she said.
They walked to the foot of the "loanie" and then turned along the Ballymena road.
"Does he know you come out with me?" she said.
"Who?" he answered.
"Your da."
"No. You see!..." He did not know what to say. It had not occurred to him to talk about Sheila to his father, and he realised now that if it had, he probably would not have done so.
"But if you're goin' to marry me?..." Sheila was saying.
"Oh, of course," he replied. "Of course, I shall have to tell him about you, won't I? I just didn't think of it.... Then you're going to marry me, Sheila?" he demanded, turning to her quickly.
"Och, I don't know," she answered. "I'm too young to be married yet, an' you're younger nor me, an' mebbe we'd change our minds, an' anyway there's a quare differs atween us."