ad, and made a nervous, fidgety horse a thousand times more
irritable.

The road towards the upper bridge that crosses the Grey at Swynford is
bordered by stretches of green grass. Along this the two girls rode at
an easy canter, saving when Dr. Marsh's car rushed past, the doctor
driving furiously, as was his way. This incident upset Sylvia's horse
for a considerable time, but he quietened down into an easy canter in
the deserted bye-road that leads from Swynford, along the farther bank
of the Grey, to Mrs. Sheridan's.

At a rise in the road they paused to look down on the cottage. It stood
surrounded by pine trees, with a small garden around it. It was a
demonstration of Mrs. Sheridan's perpetual industry that she found time
to keep the garden in order, despite her numberless other duties. A
bright little patch of gay colours she had made of it, and behind it she
had cultivated a neat kitchen garden.

"The river has not done any harm to Mrs. Sheridan's cottage," cried
Kathleen, with great relief, as she viewed the flood waters, still
several feet below the level of the garden.

"Can you understand anyone living in such a poky, ramshackle little
hovel?" asked Sylvia. "I would rather be dead and buried than live
there."

"Mrs. Sheridan cannot choose; she must live there or die. She is a great
woman," said Kathleen.

Mrs. Sheridan met them at the gate, clean, tidy, and talkative. She was
noted throughout the district for her loquacity, but, if she spoke at
great length, she always spoke kindly.

"Is it you, Miss O'Connor?" she cried. "Sure, it was like yourself to be
thinking of me and Michael. Michael and me, we was thinking of you. Only
last Sunday I said to the boy, 'Miss Kathleen will be going to Mass,'
the which I couldn't do myself, and more is the pity; but when Dan was
down with the chickenpox, Father Healy himself, no less, the Lord bless
the good man! told me it was my duty to be with Dan. 'The Lord will
excuse you from the chapel,' he said to me, 'and you can read the Mass
to Dan.' The which I did to Michael here, and him listening to me as if
he understood it all, every word. But won't you come inside, you and the
young lady? You will be excusing the house, miss; and if you would be
taking a cup of tea or a glass of milk, there's no spirits in the house
to be offering you, for I think it is putting temptation in the way of
some that's too fond of it."

"Yes, we will come inside and see Michael," cri