the smaller for it. I think she did get a 'hand-reach' from him, but she had not much to tell him, and what she had only seemed to disturb the poor man's mind the mere, when it was disturbed enough already."
"And isn't it a great wonder that you did not know her, Dermot?" said the tinker.
"I often heard of her, but I never saw her until then and it wasn't of her I was thinking, of course, but of my child," said Dermot.
"What sort of version did you hear of this rumour, Patrick?" said the priest. "Or is there any foundation for it?"
"On my word, Father," said Patrick, "there could not be better foundation. It is not rumour nor hearsay, but clean truth. It was the carman, Ulick Burke, that told it to me; and it was Cormac himself that told it to him. He thinks Cormac and Sive are married by this time. Cormac says it was the King himself that made the match."
"Just hear him!" said Dermot.
"I tell you there is no word of a lie in it," said Patrick. "Since the day I was born I never heard of such an adventure. Cormac knew that Sive was gone from home. He followed her on horseback; he knew she was on foot, and although she had been some time on the road before he started, he thought there was no fear but that he would overtake her before she could reach the city. He was enquiring for her and giving descriptions of her along the road for a long time, and so he kept for a long time the road that she had taken, and he almost knew how far ahead of him she was. At last he was told that she had gone two roads. That put
