and he goes to speak to the young woman, after having been to speak to the priest, without a coat or a hat on, with a shoemaker's apron on, wax on his fingers, and his two eyes blazing! The whole business seems to me to be going topsy-turvy!" And he went out, and up to his work. And I can tell you that he had not the same energy in his lame leg going up that he had had when he was coming down. John Kittach was sitting in the parlour in his own house, near the window. Mary was sitting opposite him. Whom should they see coming to the door but Shiana. John jumped up and went out to meet him.
"Oh, a thousand welcomes to you, Shiana!" said he.
"Long may you live, John!" said Shiana. "I want to speak a word or two to Mary, if you please."
"There she is within for you. I hope what you have to say to her is better than what you had to say to me this morning."
Shiana went in.
"Oh, a thousand welcomes to you, Shiana!" said Short Mary.
"Listen, Mary," said he. "I have a secret to tell you. I never thought that I should ever have to tell it to anyone. But I think now that I have not done right in not coming sooner to tell it to you. I am bound before God not to marry."
He stopped. She did not speak for some time.
"The bond is a noble bond," said she at last. "It is a noble bond, and it is a holy bond. If it is a noble bond for you," said she, "it ought to be a noble bond for me. Have no fear," said she. "I will keep your secret. I have twice the heart
