are half way now," said Father Tom, "we can get there before twelve
o'clock."

"I don't think I'm equal to it," said Father John. "I really don't
think--"

The sounds of wheels were heard, and a peasant driving a donkey cart
came up the road.

"You see it is all up-hill," said Father John. "See how the road
ascends. I never could manage it."

"The road is pretty flat at the top of the hill once you get to the top
of the hill, and the cart will take you to the top."

It seemed undignified to get into the donkey cart, but his nephew's
conscience was at stake, and the Vicar-General got in, and Father Tom
said to the unmarried couple:--

"Now walk on in front of us, and step out as quickly as you can."

And on the way to the church Father Tom remembered that he had caught
sight of Kate standing at the top of the rock talking to Peter M'Shane.
In a few days they would come to him to be married, and he hoped that
Peter and Kate's marriage would make amends for this miserable
patchwork, for Ned Kavanagh and Mary Byrne's marriage was no better
than patchwork.

IV

Mrs. Connex promised the priest to keep Pat at home out of Kate's way,
and the neighbours knew it was the priest's wish that they should do
all they could to help him to bring about this marriage, and everywhere
Kate went she heard nothing talked of but her marriage.

The dress that Kate was to be married in was a nice grey silk. It had
been bought at a rummage sale, and she was told that it suited her. But
Kate had begun to feel that she was being driven into a trap. In the
week before her marriage she tried to escape. She went to Dublin to
look for a situation; but she did not find one. She had not seen Pat
since the poultry lecture, and his neglect angered her. She did not
care what became of her.

On the morning of her wedding she turned round and asked her sister if
she thought she ought to marry Peter, and Julia said it would be a pity
if she didn't. Six cars had been engaged, and, feeling she was done
for, she went to the church, hoping it would fall down on her. Well,
the priest had his way, and Kate felt she hated him and Mrs. M'Shane,
who stood on the edge of the road. The fat were distributed alongside
of the lean, and the bridal party drove away, and there was a great
waving of hands, and Mrs. M'Shane waited until the last car was out of
sight.

Her husband had been dead many years, and she lived with her son in a
two-roomed cabin. She w