SHIANA
7
CHAPTER II.
THE BARGAIN CONCLUDED.
Nora.—Well Peg! We are here—again. I am out of breath I was running. I was afraid—that the story would be going on before I came, and that I should have lost some of it.
Peg.—Indeed, Nora dear, we would wait for you. It is not long since Abbie came.
Abbie.—No, for we were doing a churning, and I had to go west with the butter to Ballinyarra; and when I was coming home by the short cut, the night fell, and I promise you I got a start. I was thinking of Shiana, and of the gold, and of the Black Man and of the sparks that were coming out of his eyes, while I was running, so that I might not be late, when I raised my head, and what should I see but something standing right opposite me—the gollaun![1] At the first look I gave at it I could have sworn it had horns!
Nora.—Oh, nonsense, Abbie, be quiet, and don't be bothering us with your gollauns and your horns. Horns on a gollaun! Think of it!
Abbie.—Perhaps if you'd been there yourself you wouldn't have been so ready with your fun.
Sheila.—See now, who is stopping the story! Maybe Kate Buckley would say it was I?
Kate.—I won't, Sheila. You are a good girl to-night, and I am very fond of you, my darling, my heart's darling!
- ↑ gollán, a pillar-stone.
