hin I towld him I'd seen th' Banshee!

"'That bates Bannagher!' says he.

"'It bates th' divil,' says I. 'But whose fur above th' night is what
I'd like t' know.'

"'Oul Misther Chaine,' says he, 'as sure as gun's iron!'"

The narrative stopped abruptly, stopped at McShane's door.

"Did oul Misther Chaine die that night?" Anna asked.

"Ax McShane!" was all the answer he gave and we were sent off to bed.

Hughie was escorted to the pigsty with his blanket and candle. What
Jamie saw on the way to the pigsty made the perspiration stand in big
beads on his furrowed brow. Silhouetted against the sky were several
figures. Some were within a dozen yards, others were farther away. Two
sat on a low wall that divided the Adair and Mulholland gardens. They
were silent and motionless, but there was no mistake about it. He
directed Anna's attention to them and she made light of it. When they
returned to the house Jamie expressed fear for the life of the
beggar-man. Anna whispered something into his ear, for she knew that we
were wide-awake. They went into their room conversing in an undertone.

The thing was so uncanny to me that it was three o'clock next morning
before I went to sleep. As early as six there was an unusual shuffling
and clattering of feet over the cobblestones in Pogue's entry. We knew
everybody in the entry by the sound of their footfall. The clatter was
by the feet of strangers.

I "dunched" my brother, who lay beside me, with my elbow.

"Go an' see if oul Hughie's livin' or dead," I said.

"Ye cudn't kill 'im," he said.

"How d'ye know?"

"I heerd a quare story about 'im last night!"

"Where?"

"In th' barber's shop."

"Is he a feerie?"

"No."

"What is he?"

"Close yer thrap an' lie still!"

Somebody opened the door and walked in.

I slid into my clothes and climbed down. It was Withero. He shook Anna
and Jamie in their bed and asked in a loud voice:

"What's all this palaver about an' oul throllop what niver earned salt
t' 'is pirtas?"

"Go on t' yer stone pile, Willie," Anna said, as she sat up in bed;
"what ye don't know will save docther's bills."

"If I catch m'self thinkin' aanythin' sauncy ov that aul haythen baste
I'll change m' name!" he said, as he turned and left in high dudgeon.

When I got to the pigsty there were several early callers lounging
around. "Jowler" Hainey sat on a big stone near the slit. Mary
McConnaughy stood with her arms akimbo, within a yard of the