"It isn't because he thinks the men would talk about things they
should not talk about that he is against an organization. Didn't
he tell your honour that things would have to take their course.
That is why he will do nothing, because he knows well enough that
everyone in the parish will have to leave it, that every house
will have to fall. Only the chapel will remain standing, and the
day will come when Father Tom will say Mass to the blind woman and
to no one else. Did you see the blind woman to-day at Mass, sir,
in the right-hand corner, with the shawl over her head?"
"Yes," I said, "I saw her. If any one is a saint, that woman seems
to be one."
"Yes, sir, she is a very pious woman, and her piety is so well
known that she is the only one who dared to brave Father Madden;
she was the only one who dared to take Julia Cahill to live with
her. It was Julia who put the curse on the parish."
"A curse! But you are joking."
"No, your honour, there was no joke in it. I was only telling you
what must come. She put her curse on the village twenty years ago,
and every year a roof has fallen in and a family has gone away."
"And you believe that all this happens on account of Julia's
curse?"
"To be sure I do," he said. He flicked his horse pensively with
the whip, and my disbelief seemed to disincline him for further
conversation.
"But," I said, "who is Julia Cahill, and how did she get the power
to lay a curse upon the village? Was she a young woman or an old
one?"
"A young one, sir.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191