SHIANA
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were gone, all but a year and a quarter, and even that was going fast.
Kate.—I don't know how in the world he was able to sleep at night or to eat any food. I think if I were in his case it would kill me to be thinking of the day that was coming. I don't know in all the world how he was able to take it so quietly.
Peg.—There was hardly a week that he used not to walk over to the priest's house, and any day that he went over, he and the priest used to spend a good while together.
Abbie.—Surely he did not tell his secret to the priest?
Peg.—He had not told the secret the day he was talking to him about that match with Short Mary, and he did not tell it to him that day, but I don't know whether he told it to him afterwards or not.
Nora.—Why, he couldn't tell it to him.
Kate.—Listen to her! Surely nobody is bound to keep a secret from a priest.
Peg.—A person is not bound to keep a secret from a priest when he is making a confession to a priest, but he might be bound not to tell him the secret outside the confession.
Nora.—Oh, I understand. And when the priest had heard the secret in confession, the priest himself would be bound to keep the secret and not to let it out.
Peg.—He would, exactly; just as the priest is bound to keep the secret of the sins a person tells him.
But anyhow, Shiana used often to be over, talking with the priest, and they used to spend a good part of the day together. Shiana was often seen going to Communion, and the people used to be glad of that,
