Page:Shiana - Peadar Ua Laoghaire.djvu/48

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34
SHIANA
for him, and I promise you that he thought it long enough before he was outside.
Sheila.—The hand that was in the broom was too strong for him!
Kate.—That's a very strange thing indeed! Maybe if Thade had got sight of the one whose hand was in it, he wouldn't have got off so easily as he did. And, look here, Abbie. How could Shiana's money turn into bits of slate, when it wasn't made out of bits of slate?
Abbie.—How do you know, Kate, of what the man with the horns made it? Surely the world knows it was not honestly or lawfully he got it.

Peg.—Whatever way he got it, it didn't turn into any little bits of slate, or if it did, they didn't stay in Shiana's pockets. He had them empty enough when he was getting the leather from Grey Dermot. He got the leather, and the wax, and the thread, and he turned toward home; and I promise you that the pride was taken out of him clean.

When he reached home, weary and worn-out and heavy-hearted, and when he saw the chair and the malvogue and the apple-tree, and thought of the three beautiful wishes that had been spoilt, a great bitterness and vexation and trouble of mind came upon him, so that he was not able to taste a grain of meal, nor an apple. He threw himself into the chair, for he was tired, and it was not long till he fell asleep.

The poor fellow spent the night there. When he opened his eyes the day was just breaking. The cold had almost gone through his heart. He was awake for a little time before he thought of the