o news of them came to Cathleen, and she knew
not that while corn and cattle were coming with Fergus across the sea,
food was also coming to her slowly through the barren ways of her own
native land. None of this she knew, and despair would have filled her
heart, but for her faith in God and her belief in the great
inspiration that had been given to her.

Deepening Misery in Ireland

Meanwhile terrible things had been happening in Ireland. As in England
in later days, "men said openly that Christ and His saints slept";
they thought with longing of the mighty old gods, for the new seemed
powerless, and they yearned for the friendly "good people" who had
fled from the sound of the church bell. Thus many minds were ready to
revolt from the Christian faith if they had not feared the life after
death and the endless torments of the Christian Hell. Some few,
desperate, even offered secret worship to the old heathen gods, and
true love to the One True God had grown cold.

Two Mysterious Strangers

Now on the very day on which Fergus sailed for England, and his
comrade departed to Ulster, two mysterious and stately strangers
suddenly appeared in Erin. Whence they came no man knew, but they were
first seen near the wild sea-shore of the west, and the few poor
inhabitants thought they had been put ashore by some vessel or wrecked
on that dangerous coast. Aliens they certainly were, for they talked
with each other in a tongue that none understood, and they appeared as
if they did not comprehend the questions asked of them. Thus they
passed away from the western coasts, and made their way inland; but
when they next appeared, in a village not far from Dublin, they had
greatly changed: they wore magnificent robes and furs, with splendid
jewelled gloves on their hands, and golden circlets, set with gleaming
rubies, bound their brows; their black steeds showed no trace of
weakness and famine as they rode through the woods and carefully noted
the misery everywhere.

Their Strange Story

At last they alighted at the little lodge, where a forester's widow
gladly received them; and their royal dress, lofty bearing and strange
language accorded ill with the mean surroundings and the scanty
accommodation of that little hut. The dead forester had been one of
the Countess Cathleen's most faithful vassals, and his holding was but
a short distance from the castle, so that the strangers could,
unobserved, watch the life of the littl