Page:Shiana - Peadar Ua Laoghaire.djvu/31

 Rh "Move the malvogue" said the Black Man. He went up and put his hand on the malvogue. It was stuck as tightly to the side of the wall as a stone would stick to the ice.

Shiana paused and bent his head.

"Well," said he, "I am done for now, if I never was before. I don't know in the world nor in all creation what I am to do! I don't know from the five heights of Heaven what I shall do! No matter what care I take about it, somebody will come, and in spite of my utmost efforts to prevent him, he'll sit in it, and the whole countryside will be in red war round me! I shall be killed on my own hearthstone without pity or remorse!—Perhaps, sir, that you would be able to take the curse off them?"

"'Perhaps I would be able to take the curse off them,' after he himself had put it upon them with all his heart," said the Black Man, bitterly. "'Wouldn't he make fun of them!'—Where is the fun now?"

"The fun is in a bad way, I admit," said Shiana, "but even if it is, it is not right for you to throw it in my face. I suppose you never made a bad blunder yourself. Who is that lady that ruined you?"

"Stop! Stop, Shiana! Let us drop it, blunder as it is. I will take the curse off these things for you, on condition that you will never speak to anyone, living or dead, about the bargain that you and I have made with one another."

"Have your condition and welcome," said Shiana.

"I assure you that I have no desire to speak of it to anyone. The fact is, I was afraid that you would be chattering about it to somebody. But