u of a message in a few minutes."

It is only necessary to say that the compensation was a more liberal one
than Mave had at all expected, and the pedlar disencumbered her of as
rich and abundant a mass of hair as ever ornamented a female head. This
he did, however, in such a way as to render the absence of it as little
perceptible as might be; the side locks he did not disturb, and Mave,
when she put on a clean night cap, looked as if she had not undergone
any such operation.

As the pedlar was going away, he called her aside, so as that her
brother might not hear.

"Did you ever see me afore?" he asked.

"I did," she replied, blushing. "Well, achora," he proceeded, "if ever
you happen to be hard set, either for yourself or your friends, send
for me, in Widow Hanlon's house at the Grange, an' maybe I may befriend
either you or them; that is, as far as I can--which, dear knows, is not
far; but, still an' all, send. I'm known as the _Cannie Sugah_, or Merry
Pedlar, an' that'll do. God mark you, _ahagur!_"

Her brother's intelligence respecting the situation of the Daltons, as
well as of Sarah M'Gowan, saved Mave a long explanation to her parents
for the act of having parted with her hair.

"We are able to live--barely able to live," she exclaimed; "an' thanks
be to God we have our health; but the Daltons--oh! they'll never get
through what they're sufferin'; an' that girl--oh! mother, sich a girl
as that is--how little does the world know of the heart that beautiful
craythur has. May the mercy of God rest upon her! This money is for the
poor Daltons an' her; we can do without it--an', mother dear, my hair
will grow again. Oh! father dear, think of it--lyin' in a could shed by
the road-side, an' no one to help or assist her--to hand her a drink--to
ease her on her hard bed--bed!--no on the cold earth I suppose! Oh!
think if I was in that desolate state. May God support me, but she's
the first I'll see; an' while I have life an' strength, she musn't want
attendance; an' thank God her shed's on my way to the Daltons!"

She then hastily sent her brother into Ballynafail for such comforts as
she deemed necessary for both parties; and in the mean time, putting a
bonnet over her clean nightcap, she proceeded to the shed in which Sarah
M'Gowan lay.

On looking at it ere she entered, she could not help shuddering. It
was such a place as the poorest pauper in the poorest cabin would not
willingly place an animal in for sh