blood so rich to be scattered over a larger soil."

He took the poet's hand in his own, and stroked it gently; Honora wiped
the face of the other; Grahame on his knees said the prayers he
remembered for sinners and passing souls; secretly Arthur put in his
pocket a rag stained with death-sweat and life-blood. Almost in silence,
without painful struggle, the boys died. Devin opened his eyes one
moment on the clear blue sky and made an effort to sing. He chanted a
single phrase, which summed up his life and its ideals: "Mother, always
the best for Ireland." Then his eyes closed and his heart stopped. The
little party remained silent, until Honora, looking at the still faces,
so young and tender, thought of the mothers sitting in her place, and
began to weep aloud. At this moment Captain Sydenham marched up the glen
with clinking spur. He stopped at a distance and took off his hat with
the courtesy of a gentleman and the sympathy of a soldier. Grahame went
forward to meet him, and made his explanations.

"It is perfectly clear," said the Captain, "that you are tourists and
free from all suspicion. However, it will be necessary for you to
accompany me to the town and make your declarations to the magistrate as
well. As you were going there anyhow it will be no hardship, and I shall
be glad to make matters as pleasant as possible for the young lady."

Grahame thanked him, and introduced him to the party. He bowed very low
over the hand which Honora gave him.

"A rather unfortunate scene for you to witness," he said.

Yet she had borne it like one accustomed to scenes of horror. Her
training in Ledwith's school bred calmness, and above all silence, amid
anxiety, disappointment and calamity.

"I was glad to be here," she replied, the tears still coursing down her
face, "to take their mother's place."

"Two beautiful boys," said the Captain, looking into the dead faces.
"Killing men is a bad business anywhere, but when we have to kill our
own, and such as these, it is so much worse."

Ledwith flashed the officer a look of gratitude.

"I shall have the bodies carried to the town along with our own dead,
and let the authorities take care of them. And now if you will have the
goodness to take your places, I shall do myself the pleasure of riding
with you as far as the magistrate's."

Honora knelt and kissed the pale cheeks of the dead boys, and then
accepted Captain Sydenham's arm in the march out of the glen. The men