“If I say that I went back to the ranch-house with my feet on the ground and by heart up there among the stars, will you understand?

“I found the girl sewing in front of the fire in the living room.  Simply looked up to me with a smile, and a certain dimness about the eyes—­well, my breath stopped.

“‘Kate,’ said I, ‘I am going away to-morrow morning!’

“‘And leave Dad?’ said she.

“‘To tell you the truth,’ I answered, ’there is nothing I can do for him.  There has never been anything I could do for him.’

“‘I am sorry,’ said she, and lifted up her eyes to me.

“Now, I had begun by being stiff with her, but the ringing of that whistling—­pipes of Pan, you know—­was in my ears.  I took a chair beside her.  Something overflowed in my heart.  For the first time in whole days I could look on her beauty without pain.

“‘Do you know why I’m going?’ I asked.

“She waited.

“‘Because,’ said I, and smiled right into her face, ’I love you, Kate, most infernally; and I know perfectly well that I will get never the devil a bit of good out of it.’

“She peered at me.  ‘You aren’t jesting?’ says she.  ’No, you’re serious.  I’m very sorry, Doctor Byrne.’

“‘And I,’ I answered, ’am glad.  I wouldn’t change it for the world.  For once in my life—­to-night—­I’ve forgotten myself.  No, I won’t go away and nurse a broken heart, but I’ll think of you as a man should think of something bright and above him.  You’ll keep my heart warm, Kate, till I’m a very old man.  Because of you, I’ll be able to love some other girl—­and a fine one, by the Lord!’

“Something in the nature of an outburst, eh?  But it was the music which had done it.  All the time it rang and echoed through my ears.  My words were only an echo of it.  I was in tune with the universe.  I was living for the first time.  The girl dropped her sewing—­tossed it aside.  She came over to me and took my hands in a way that would have warmed even the icicles of your heart, Swinnerton.

“‘Doctor,’ says she, ‘I know that you are going to be very happy.’

“‘Happiness,’ said I, ’is a trick, like riding a horse.  And I think that I’ve learned the trick.  I’ve caught it from you and from Barry.’

“At that, she let go my hands and stepped back.  The very devil is in these women, Swinnerton.  You never can place them for a minute at a time.

“‘I am trying to learn myself,’ she said, and there was a shadow of wistfulness in her eyes.

“In another moment I should have made a complete fool of myself, but I remembered in time and got out of the room.  To-morrow I start back for the old world but I warn you beforehand, my dear fellow, that I’m bringing something of the new world with me.

“What has it all brought to me?  I am sad one day and gay the next.  But at least I know that thinking is not life and now I’m ready to fight.