Page:Shiana - Peadar Ua Laoghaire.djvu/283

Rh "The poor girl knew that her will was going against her good sense; her will driving her on, and her good sense holding her back; her will giving her heart and mind up to you, and her good sense showing her plainly that she was making a fool of herself on account of you. The struggle was so severe in her mind that her appetite failed, and that she could not sleep a wink at night. When she used to see you (and I took care that it was often), all the reasonableness she possessed seemed to vanish from her head and mind. Afterwards, when she used to recollect herself, you would think that her heart would break in two with shame and humiliation and sorrow. At last she sent the widow to you as you know."

"May you be rewarded for your trouble!" said Shiana, most heartily.

"I am fully rewarded already," said the Black Man, "and it is you I have to thank for it. It was I that put her in your way. Don't have any doubt about it. I put her in your way, and I kept her in your way. You knew all her excellence. You understood the goodness and the nobility of her mind. You perceived the beauty of her countenance and of her appearance and of her faultless person. There was no other woman of your acquaintance who was at all near being as handsome as she. You are a deep, dark, inscrutable man. It is hard for anyone to know what is in your heart when it suits you to keep it to yourself, but you could not keep from me how you stood regarding her. Deep and dark as your heart is, you were not able to keep from me the knowledge that the love of her was as strong and as steadfast within