12
SHIANA
see him the life would go out of me there and then.
Kate.—What's the good of your talking like that? Didn't he say that no one could see him but Shiana himself?
Sheila.—Ah, Kate dear, how do you know he was telling the truth? I wouldn't believe a word from the rogue.
Kate.—Didn't he give the money to Shiana all right?
Abbie.—How do you know it was really money? I heard somebody say that old Michael Redmond was in a public-house one day in Millstreet, and that he owed the landlady two and eightpence, and that she was keeping his hat in pledge for the money. Michael went out into the yard and picked up four or five little bits of slate, and after doing some sort of devilment over them, he took them in to her, and when she looked at them she thought they were lawful money, and she gave him his hat. They used to say that Michael learned "Freemashun" from the Knight, and that he could make a goat of you, but that if the wind changed while you were a goat, he could not turn you back.
James Buckley.—God save you all here!
Peg.—Oh, God and Mary be with you, James. It is your sister you want, I suppose.
James.—Yes, she is told to come home at once. Nell has come.
Kate.—Oh, nonsense, James! When did she come?
James.—Just a little while ago.
Kate.—God give a good night to you, Peg, and to you all.
