'
And Costello answered flushing and looking towards the house: 'I
swear by the Mother of God that I will never return there again if
they do not send after me before I pass the ford in the Brown River,'
and he rode on, but so very slowly that the sun went down and the
bats began to fly over the bogs. When he came to the river he
lingered awhile upon the bank among the flowers of the flag, but
presently rode out into the middle and stopped his horse in a foaming
shallow. Duallach, however, crossed over and waited on a further bank
above a deeper place. After a good while Duallach cried out again,
and this time very bitterly: 'It was a fool who begot you and a fool
who bore you, and they are fools of all fools who say you come of an
old and noble stock, for you come of whey-faced beggars who travelled
from door to door, bowing to gentles and to serving-men.
With bent head, Costello rode through the river and stood beside him,
and would have spoken had not hoofs clattered on the further bank and
a horseman splashed towards them. It was a serving-man of Dermott's,
and he said, speaking breathlessly like one who had ridden hard:
'Tumaus Costello, I come to bid you again to Dermott's house. When
you had gone, his daughter Winny awoke and called your name, for you
had been in her dreams. Bridget Delaney the Dummy saw her lips move
and the trouble upon her, and came where we were hiding in the wood
above the house and took Dermott of the Sheep by the coat and brought
him to his daughter.
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