evening with a young
man, and the priest saw her; and next evening she was out with another,
and the priest saw her; and not a bit minded was she at the end of the
month to marry any of them. It is said that he went down to speak to
her a second time, and again a third time; it is said that she laughed
at him. After that there was nothing for him to do but to speak against
her from the altar. The old people say there were some terrible things
in the sermon. I have heard it said that the priest called her the evil
spirit that sets men mad. I don't suppose Father Madden intended to say
so much, but once he is started the words come pouring out. The people
did not understand half of what he said, but they were very much
frightened, and I think more frightened at what they did not understand
than at what they did. Soon after that the neighbours began to be
afraid to go to buy anything in Cahill's shop; even the boys who were
most mad after Julia were afraid to speak to her, and her own father
put her out. No one in the parish would speak to her; they were all
afraid of Father Madden. If it had not been for the blind woman you saw
in the chapel to-day, sir, she would have had to go to the poor-house.
The blind woman has a little cabin at the edge of the bog, and there
Julia lived. She remained for nearly two years, and had hardly any
clothes on her back, but she was beautiful for all that, and the boys,
as they came back, sir, from the market used to look towards the little
cabin in the hopes of catching sight of her. They only looked when they
thought they were not watched, for the priest still spoke against her.
He tried to turn the blind woman against Julia, but he could not do
that; the blind woman kept her until money came from America. Some say
that she went to America; some say that she joined the fairies. But one
morning she surely left the parish. One morning Pat Quinn heard
somebody knocking at his window, somebody asking if he would lend his
cart to take somebody to the railway station. It was five o'clock in
the morning, and Pat was a heavy sleeper, and he would not get up, and
it is said that she walked barefooted all the way to the station, and
that is a good ten miles."

"But you said something about a curse."

"Yes, sir, a man who was taking some sheep to the fair saw her: there
was a fair that day. He saw her standing at the top of the road. The
sun was just above the hill, and looking back she cursed the v