far as
the little fields between Derrinrush and the plantations, and from there
he could watch the sunset. But the sunset would soon be over, and he
would have to return home, for a long evening without a book. Terrible!
And he began to feel that he must have an occupation--his book! To write
the story of the island castles would pass the time, and wondering how
he might write it, whether from oral tradition or from the books and
manuscripts which he might find in national libraries, he went out about
3 o'clock and wandered down the old cart-track, getting his feet very
wet, till he came to the pine-wood, into which he went, and stood
looking across the lake, wondering if he should go out to Castle Island
in a boat--there was no boat, but he might borrow one somewhere--and
examine what remained of the castle. But he knew every heap of old
stones, every brown bush, and the thick ivy that twined round the last
corner wall. Castle Hag had an interest Castle Island had not. The
cormorants roosted there; and they must be hungry, for the lake had been
too windy for fishing this long while. A great gust whirled past, and he
stood watching the clouds drifting overhead--the same thick vapour
drifting and going out. For nearly a month he was waiting for a space of
blue sky, and a great sadness fell upon him, a sick longing for a
change; but if he yielded to this longing he would never return to
Garranard. There seemed to be no way out of the difficulty--at least, he
could see none.

A last ray lit up a distant hillside, his shadow floated on the wet
sand. The evening darkened rapidly, and he walked in a vague diffused
light, inexpressibly sad to find Moran waiting for him at the end of an
old cart-track, where the hawthorns grew out of a tumbled wall. He would
keep Moran for supper. Moran was a human being, and--

'I've come to see you, Gogarty; I don't know if I'm welcome.'

'It's joking you are. You'll stay and have some supper with me?'

'Indeed I will, if you give me some drink, for it's drink that I'm
after, and not eating. I'd better get the truth out at once and have
done with it. I've felt the craving coming on me for the last few
days--you know what I mean--and now it's got me by the throat. I must
have drink. Come along, Gogarty, and give me some, and then I'll say
good-bye to you for ever.'

'Now what are you saying?'

'Don't stand arguing with me, for you can't understand, Gogarty--no one
can; I can't myself. B