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 "I do not know, but something assures me that Aillen mac Midna will devastate Tara no more; so rest in peace, O king," said Fionn, with a smile.

As he smiled Conn, and his Druids also, saw a mist-like form standing at Fionn's back. Gradually it grew clearer, then a most wonderful being appeared, shining with a golden light and cloaked with rainbow colours. For a moment it stood there, then faded away; but Conn and his wise men knew that they had looked upon one of the ancient gods—one of those radiant, immortal beings who, clothed in flame and crowned with stars, are sometimes seen on the sacred mountains at twilight.

Absolute silence and a deep feeling of awe—a perception that some divine one of long-past ages had been among them—rested on every one there as Fionn walked down the hall, and with a strange, distant look in his eyes, as though he beheld something unseen by others, passed out into the night. The snow had ceased and the stars were shining now; the wind had dropped, and only occasionally sounded in weird murmurings through the