154
SHIANA
out all about the bribe, and Cormac knew he did. He was unable to make his mind easy or to sleep at night until he went to speak to Shiana and asked him not to lodge a complaint against him. Shiana promised he would not, provided Cormac promised not to take a bribe again. He promised that most willingly.
Sheila.—What a barefaced fellow! "You need not have dreaded me as long as you did no wrong." It was no wonder that he was startled. If Sive had known that, she would have understood what the grip was that Shiana had of him.
Peg.—He had that grip of him firmly, and signs by, he had but to beckon to him in order to send him to work, be the work hard or easy, be the time late or early, and no matter how cold or wet the weather.
"Do you think is there any chance of his being caught?" said Shiana.
"The pursuit is hot at all events," said Cormac.
"There are men on his trail from whom it is hard to escape, I promise you. They say themselves that no thief has ever escaped them. If this fellow escapes them he will take the palm."
"Have you had any talk with Grey Dermot since you came back?" said Shiana.
"No," said he, "but I have heard that Sive has left home, and that there is no account of her. I was intending to go down there now to see whether she has returned, or whether there is any truth at all in it."
"I'll go with you," said Shiana. "I had not heard a word of it. The poor man is to be pitied."
They went down.
