The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine

uld judge by their gestures, deeply important conversation. The strange woman followed them at a distance, meditating, as might be perceived by

by a spectator, yet even to an ordinary observer, it was clear that the eld

peared as it were perplexed by uncertainty and doubt. After this the elder woman seemed to confide some secret or sorrow to the other, for she began to weep bitterly, and to wring her hands as if with remorse, whilst her companion looked like one who had been evidently transformed into an impersonation of pure and artless sympathy. She caught the rough hand of the other-and, ere she had proce

ccasioned them to look at her with that feeling which prompts us to recognize the wish of a person to address us, as it is

ollowin' us, an' wants to say someth

but whatsomever it may be, she wishes

s, barring a drink of water; but, God pity her if she's comin' to us for relief poor crea

mpassionate name

sk a

s visible in her face a feeling of care and anxiety certainly, but none of that supplicating expression which is at once recognized as the characteristic of the wretched class to which they supposed her to belong. This circumstance particul

observed, "that it looked as if you wis

ied; "I have something to say to her,

ope it isn't to borrow money from me, bekase if it is, my

it isn't much we can do for you; but little as it is, if you come home with me, you'll come to a famil

ntil now, it's they that could always afford it; an' indeed it wa

features of Mave with a long gaze of interest an

heart? Little pinetration it takes to see that you have both, my sweet girl. If I d

le neck and face became suffused with that delicious crimson of modesty which, alas! is now of such rare occurrence among the sex, unconscious that, in doing so, she was a

her blushes: "as to the nickname, the people will call on

t at all events, as any one may know that looks upon you: that sweet face an' them fair looks is seldom if ever found

exchanged looks as the woman

think there's an

s every hour in the day; but in your case, darlin', I jist say, be on your guard, an' don't trus

and now that you wish me well, (for I'm s

r, I'll do it," returned the other; "

on to the cross-roads there, an

of hundred yards before them. The prophet's wi

hree years agone," she continued, "they were the daicentest farmers in the parish; but the world went against them as it has of late a'most against every one, owing to the fall of prices, and now they're out of their farm, very much reduced, and there's sickness amongst them, as well as want. They've been livi

woman, "that was so outrageous awhile ago in the

isn't more than three or four days up out o' the fever. What I want you to do is to bring the male I'm spakin' of to that family; any one will show you their little place; an'

d the other; "but in the meant

here, tell him that the person who told him they wouldn

ough it'll keep me out longer than I expected, still I'll manage i

y never be brought to the same hard pass that they're in,

ate for me; anything else than a heavy and sorrowful heart I've seldom had: for

a look of heart-break and sorrow, sure enough. But answer me

antage planned or plannin' against you. When I seen you awhile ago I didn't know you till I heard

stranger, "I'll do nothing that's wrong myself, and if there's danger about me, as I hear there i

and o' God can and will make everything clear, and after a

's wife again joined them for a short time, previous to her separation fr

the course of the evening, and you, Nelly, can show her fr

s, to be turned out like beggars from a farm that they spent hundreds on, and to be forced to see the landlord, ould Dick o' the Grange, now settin' it at a higher r

" she added, addressing the strange woman, whose hand she shook and pressed. "You are a great deal oulder than I am, an' as I said, every one may read care an' sor

but she checked her grief by an effort, and after a

the strange woman, "as she is

turned the prophet's wife, "an' t

ranger, "and I believe it; for ind

ell deserves it. I You are bound for Condy Dalton's, then?" she added, inquiringly. "I am," said the other. "I think you

" said the other;

people,-but hot and hasty, as the savin' is.

her companion, "that a hast

ty death, into the bargain. They'll first break your head-cut you to the skull, and then, indeed, they'll give you a plaisther. That was ever an' always the

h intense interest, whilst her eyes be

itted betther than twenty yea

imed the stranger.

lly; "but there I must stop-for unless I was at the committ

by a considerable effort that she struggled to prevent

at the crossroads of Mal

the stranger, who almost pan

, an' two before that or nearly-I mane the year of the rebe

an' feeble-will you jist wait till I rest

Nelly. "You look as i

low voice, and as if in a soliloquy; "God is a just Judge-he is-he is! Well, but-oh, I'll

r got-that is to say nobody knows wh

enough!-there's more knowledge where that came from.

ded expression she had used;-"mane, why what could I mane, but that whoe

he prophet's wife, raised her hand, and said

for our acts, it was the hand o' God that brought us together. I now look into your face, and I tell you that I

ection passed away, and she resumed that hard and imperturbable manner, for which she had been all her life so remarkable, unless, like Etna and Vesuvius, she burst out of this seeming coldness into fire and passion. There, however, they stood looking sternly into each others' faces, as if each f

It was your own you saw, all it was your own you wor spaking of-for if ever I sa

n' that's weighin' down your heart, an' that won't let you rest until you give it up. You needn't deny it, for

pposin' you wor not, how is it your business whether my m

udgment, to think of what I said. Look into your own heart, and it will tell you whether I am right or whether I am wrong. Consult your husband

ook into his face, and try what you can find there. At any rate, report has it that there's blood upon his hand, an' that

other, eagerly, "w

bekaise the body wasn't found,

ger, "but this day is--however, God's will

get as far as the broken bridge, you'll see a large farm-house widout any smoke from it; about a quarter

addressed to her had left behind it any such impression as the speaker wished to produce. Their glances met and dwelt on each other for a short time: the strange woman pointed solemnly towards the sky, and the prophet's wife smiled carelessly; but yet, by