he story, and seeing that the German was interested
in the old woman he began to acquire an interest in her himself, an
unpremeditated interest; he had not suspected that Biddy was so
interesting. The German said she reminded him of the quaint sculpture
of Nuremburg, and her character reminded him of one of the German
saints, and talking of Biddy and medievalism and Gothic art and stained
glass the priest and the agent for the manufacture of stained glass in
Munich walked up and down the unfinished church until the return of the
plasterer reminded the priest of his embarrassments, and he took the
German into his confidence.

"These embarrassments always occur," said the agent, "but there is no
such thing as an unfinished church in Ireland; if you were to let her
put up the window subscriptions would pour in."

"How's that?"

"A paragraph in the newspaper describing the window, the gift of a
local saint. I think you told me her name was M'Hale, and that she
lives in the village."

"Yes, you pass her house on the way to the station."

The German took his leave abruptly, and when he was half-way down the
hill he asked some children to direct him.

"Is it Biddy M'Hale, that has all the hins, and is going to put up a
window in the church, that you're wanting?"

The German said that that was the woman he wanted, and the eldest child
said:--

"You will see her feeding her chickens, and you must call to her over
the hedge."

And he did as he was bidden.

"Madam ... the priest has sent me to show you some designs for a
stained glass window."

No one had ever addressed Biddy as Madam before. She hastened to let
him into the house, and wiped the table clean so that he could spread
the designs upon it. The first designs he showed here were the four
Evangelists, but he would like a woman's present to her church to be in
a somewhat lighter style, and he showed her a picture of St. Cecilia
that fascinated her for a time; and then he suggested that a group of
figures would look handsomer than a single figure. But she could not
put aside the idea of the window that had grown up in her mind, and
after some attempts to persuade her to accept a design they had in
stock he had to give way and listen.

At the top of the picture, where the window narrowed to a point, Our
Lord sat dressed in white on a throne, placing a golden crown on the
head of the Virgin kneeling before him. About him were the women who
had loved him, and