nt to
go with him into the bog. Then he threw me and I heard his hoofs
tearing at the stones of the road as he went over, and he squealed.
It's horrible to hear a horse squeal, Mary."

He ended with a long sigh of exhaustion.

"Now you are not to talk any more," she said. "The doctor would be
angry with me if he knew I had let you talk so much."

"I had to get it off," he said. "I am going to sleep till morning now.
Dear Terence! He would have forgiven me if he knew how I suffered."

"He has forgiven you," she said steadily. "I want to tell you, before
you sleep, that Terence had married Bride Sweeney secretly. He swore
her to silence, because he dreaded his mother's anger; and, poor girl,
she bore all that unmerited shame and the loss of her child to keep
faith with him."

"He had married her after all!"

Sir Shawn, by an immense effort lifted his head from the pillows.
There was a strange light on his face.

"I thought I had cut Terence off in his sins, I who loved him. I said
he would wake up in Hell. Terence has been in Heaven all these years.
It has been Hell to me that I had sent Terence to Hell. Now I can
sleep."

He slept quietly all through the morning hours, till Reilly came to
relieve her.

"He looks a deal better, m'lady," said Reilly, looking at him
curiously. "I thought yesterday, if you'll excuse me, m'lady, that you
were going to lose him. He has taken a new lease of life."

Later on Dr. Costello corroborated Reilly's verdict.

"Something has worked a miracle," he said, patting Lady O'Gara's hand
kindly. "I should have said yesterday that we could not keep him very
long. There is a marked change for the better. I've been watching Sir
Shawn these many years back and I was never satisfied with him."

"There! there!" he said as the joy broke out over her face. "Don't be
too glad, my dear lady. I was afraid the spine might have been
injured, or something internal. I have made a thorough examination
this morning. He is not seriously injured in any way. His thinness
and lightness must have saved him when he was thrown. He is very thin.
We must fatten him. But, my dear lady, he is going to be more or less
of an invalid. There is heart-trouble. No more strenuous days for
him! He will have to live with great care. You will be tied to him,
Lady O'Gara. I can see he depends on you for everything. He will be
more dependent than ever."

He said to himself, looking at her wo