“Mike,” said he, “until the proper time comes, I can’t tell it; but listen; take my advice, an’ slip down to Peggy Gartland’s by and by.  I have strong suspicions, if my dhrame is thrue, that Frank M’Kenna has a design upon her.  People may be abroad this night widout bein’ noticed, by rason o’ the Midnight Mass; Frank has, friends in Kilnaheery, down behind the moors; an’ the divil might tempt him to bring her there.  Keep your eye an him, or rather an Peggy.  If my dhrame’s true, he was there this night.”

“I thought I gave him enough on her account,” said.  Mike.  “The poor girl hasn’t a day’s pace in regard of him; but, plase goodness, I’ll soon put an end to it, for I’ll marry her durin’ the Hollydays.”

“Go, avick, an’ let me finish my Pudheran Partha:  I have to get through it before the Midnight Mass comes.  Slip down, and find out what he was doin’; and when you come back, let me know.”

Mike, perfectly aware of young M’Kenna’s character, immediately went towards Lisrum, for so the village where Peggy Gartland lived was called.  He felt the danger to be apprehended from the interference of his rival the more acutely, inasmuch as he was not ignorant of the feuds and quarrels which the former had frequently produced between friends and neighbors, by the subtle poison of his falsehoods, which were both wanton and malicious.  He therefore advanced at an unusually brisk pace, and had nearly reached the village, when he perceived in the distance a person resembling Frank approaching him at a pace nearly as rapid as his own.

“If it’s Frank M’Kenna,” thought he, “he must pass me, for this is his straight line home.”

It appeared, however, that he had been mistaken; for he whom he had supposed to be the object of his enmity, crossed the field by a different path, and seemed to be utterly ignorant of the person whom he was about to meet—­so far, at least, as a quick, free, unembarrassed step could intimate his unacquaintance with him.

The fact, however, was, that Reillaghan, had the person whom he met approached him more nearly, would have found his first suspicions correct.  Frank was then on his return from Gartland’s, and no sooner perceived Reillaghan, whom he immediately recognized by his great height, than he took another path in order to avoid him.  The enmity between these rivals was, deep and implacable; aggravated on the one hand by a sense of unmerited injury, and on the other by personal defeat and the bitterest jealousy.  For this reason neither of them wished to meet, particularly Frank M’Kenna, who not only hated, but feared his enemy.

Having succeeded in avoiding Reillaghan, the latter soon reached home; but here he found the door closed, and the family, without a single exception, in the barn, which was now nearly crowded with the youngsters of both sexes from the surrounding villages.