Page:Shiana - Peadar Ua Laoghaire.djvu/143

Rh as the generality of people are concerned, the proverb is true, and it can't be beaten, 'There is no luck or grace where there is no discipline.'"

So they went on talking and discussing, John Kittach very well satisfied in his mind and very grateful to the gentleman who had come so far to meet Sive; and the priest very ill-satisfied in his mind for fear that the affair of Sive and the strange gentleman might come to no good end.

On the following day there was a fair in the town. Shiana was at the fair with a load of shoes. Michael was at the fair to stand by the load. Michael's mother was at the fair to sell a fat pig and to buy a young pig. John Kittach was at the fair with a large herd of dry cattle from the mountain to sell. Short Mary was at the fair with her father. The bailiff was at the fair, as puffy in the cheeks, as thick in the nose, as self-important, as keen-eyed, as broad in the back, as stout in the calves, as short in speech, as ever was John of the Fair. If you saw him coming up to you, you would think by his manner that he had a warrant in his pocket against you. If you merely saluted him, he would look at you as if you were going to hit him.

There were all sorts of horses there, as many as there had been on that first day when Shiana went