Mallybenagh--of coorse, I know you must. Now, my dear Mave, I want to
show you that I have some insight into futurity. What hour will you pass
it at?"

"About three o'clock, as near as I think; it may be a little more or a
little less."

"Very well, acushlee; when you pass the Grey Stone about a few hundred
yards on the right hand side, the first person you will meet will be
a young man, well made, and very handsome. That young man will be the
person, whosoever he is--an' I don't know myself--that will bring you
love, and wealth, and happiness, and all that a woman can wish to have
with a man. Nor, dear, if this doesn't happen, never b'lieve anything
I say again; but if this does happen, I hope you'll have good sense,
_acushla machree_, to be guided by one that's your true friend--an'
that's myself. The first person you meet, afther passin' the Grey Stone,
on your right hand side; remember the words. I know there's great luck
an' high fortune before you; for, indeed, your beauty an' goodness well
desarves it, an' they'll get both."

They then returned into the house; Mave somewhat surprised, but no
way relieved, while the Prophet seemed rather in better spirits by the
interview.

"Now, Jerry Sullivan," said he, "an' you, Bridget his wife, lend your
ears an' listen. The heart of Prophet is full of good to you and yours,
and the good must come to his lips, and flow from them when it comes.
There are three books known to the wise: the Book of Marriage, the
Book of Death, and the Book of Judgment. Open a leaf, says the Angel
of Marriage--the Garden Angel of Jericho--where he brings all love,
happiness and peace to; open a' leaf, says the Angel of Marriage--him
that has one head and ten horns--and read us a page of futurity from
the prophecy of St. Nebbychodanazor, the divine. The child is a faymale
child, says the angel with one head and ten horns--by name Mabel
Sullivan, daughter to honest Jerry Sullivan and his daicent wife
Bridget, of Aughnamurrin. Amin, says the Prophet. Time is not tide, nor
is tide time, and neither will wait for man. Three things will happen.
A girl, young and handsome, will walk forth upon the highway, and
there she will meet a man, young and handsome too, who will rise her to
wealth, happiness and grandeur. So be it, says the Book of Marriage, and
amin, agin, says the Prophet. Open a new leaf, says Nebbychodanazor, the
divine; a new leaf in the Book of Judgment, and another in the Book of
De