The next the Irish in his soul arose above everything.

A laugh burst from him.

The terrified Angel caught him in her arms and tried to stifle the sound.

She implored and commanded.

When he was too worn to utter another sound, his eyes laughed silently.
After a long time, when he was quiet and rested, the Angel commenced talking to him gently, and this time her big eyes, humid with tenderness and mellow with happiness, seemed as if they could not leave his face.
"Dear Freckles," she was saying, "across your knees there is the face of the mother who went into the fire for you, and I know the name--old and full of honor--to which you were born.