And they said to one another, "Surely, if it were
so great a task to find the heart of this maze, we should be mad to
stir from the spot, lest we lose it again."
And Pearla murmured, "That plan were wise indeed, save that the
place seemeth all too small for so many."
Then Finola drew herself up proudly, and replied, "It is no smaller
for one than for another; but come, Loskenn, let us see if haply we
can lose ourselves in some path of our own finding."
And this they did; and the content of them that departed was no
greater than the content of them that were left behind, and the sun
hid himself for very shame because the brightness of their joy was
so much more dazzling than the glory of his own face. And nothing
more is told of what befell them till they reached the threshold of
the Old Hall; and it was not the sun, but the moon, that shone upon
their meeting with Sheela the Scribe.
Chapter XXXI. Good-bye, dark Rosaleen.
'When the poor exiles, every pleasure past,
Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their last,
And took a long farewell, and wished in vain
For seats like these beyond the western main,
And shuddering still to face the distant deep,
Returned and wept, and still returned to weep.'
Oliver Goldsmith.
It is almost over, our Irish holiday, so full of delicious, fruitful
experiences; of pleasures we have made and shared, and of other
people's miseries and hardships we could not relieve.
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