lives not far from
Skinadre's?"

"There is; Jerry Sullivan, it's his daughter that's the beauty--_Gra
Gal_ Sullivan. Little she knows what's preparin' for her!"

"How am I to go to Skinadre's from this?" asked the woman.

"Up by that road there; any one will tell you as you go along."

"Thank you, dear," replied the woman, tenderly; "God bless you; you are
a wild girl, sure enough; but above all things, afore I go, don't forget
the box for--for--och, for--Charley Hanlon. God bless you, a _colleen
machree_, an' make you what you ought to be!"

Sarah, during many a long day, had not heard herself addressed in an
accent of kindness or affection; for it would be wrong to bestow upon
the rude attachment which her father entertained for her, or his surly
mode of expressing it, any term that could indicate tenderness, even in
a remote degree. She looked, therefore, at the woman earnestly, and as
she did, her whole manner changed to one of melancholy and kindness. A
soft and benign expression came like the dawn of breaking day over
her features, her voice fell into natural melody and sweetness, and,
approaching her companion, she took her hand and exclaimed--

"May God bless you for them words! it's many a day since I heard the
voice o' kindness. I'll get the box, if it's to be had, if it was only
for your own sake."

She then passed on to her neighbor's house, and the next appearance of
her companion was that in which the reader caught, a glimpse of her in
the house of Darby Skinadre, from which she followed Nelly M'Gowan and
Mave Sullivan with an appearance of such interest.

CHAPTER IX. -- Meeting of Strangers--Mysterious Dialogue.

_Gra Gal_ Sullivan and the prophet's wife, having left the meal-shop,
proceeded in the direction of Aughamurran, evidently in close, and if
one could judge by their gestures, deeply important conversation. The
strange woman followed them at a distance, meditating, as might be
perceived by her hesitating manner, upon the most seasonable moment of
addressing either one or both, without seeming to interrupt or disturb
their dialogue. Although the actual purport of the topic they discussed
could not be known by a spectator, yet even to an ordinary observer, it
was clear that the elder female uttered something that was calculated to
warn or alarm the younger.

She raised her extended forefinger, looked earnestly into the face
of her companion, then upwards solemnly, and, clasping h