Shiana at the head of his soldiers, honest Sheeghy would not have escaped so long."
"Isn't it a great wonder," said the priest, "that Ulick Burke, or someone, did not tell the King that we have a man here whose intelligence is far keener than even Shiana's, and whom a warm nest near the King would suit as well as it would suit anyone! Especially as he has not already twice as much money as he needs, as Shiana has."
"The place would not agree with my health, Father," said Patrick. "There is many a man who is in a great hurry to get into a snug berth near the King, and whose life is not the longer for it when he gets his wish! 'The flags of a great house are slippery.' Whoever Sheeghy is, I think he understands by this time 'that it is not the same thing to go to the King's house and to come out of it.' I wish the King well—at a distance from me. May God and Mary prosper him!"
"On my word, Patrick," said Dermot, "I think you are right."
"And the world knows, Dermot," said Patrick, "that you will go down to the city to live with Sive and Cormac in the big house, as soon as the place is ready for you!"
"On my word, Patrick, I don't think I will. I think that what I shall do is just to stay in this old nest, as I am. However big and fine Sheeghy's house may be, I don't think I will go encroaching upon them in it. May be, like the King's house, it might be easier to go into it than to come out of it. May be it might be easier to stay out of it than to do either. I will stay where I am, here among the neighbours, in the place where my father spent his
