Ned did not answer, and the priests whispered together.
"We are half way now," said Father Tom, "we can get there before twelve o'clock."
"I don't think I'm equal to it," said Father John. "I really don't think—"
The sounds of wheels were heard, and a peasant driving a donkey cart came up the road.
"You see it is all up-hill," said Father John. "See how the road ascends. I never could manage it."
"The road is pretty flat at the top of the hill once you get to the top of the hill, and the cart will take you to the top."
It seemed undignified to get into the donkey cart, but his nephew's conscience was at stake, and the Vicar-General got in, and Father Tom said to the unmarried couple:—
"Now walk on in front of us, and step out as quickly as you can."
And on the way to the church Father Tom remembered that he had caught sight of Kate standing at the top of the rock talking to Peter M'Shane. In a few days they would come to him to be married, and he hoped that Peter and Kate's marriage would make amends for this miserable patchwork, for Ned Kavanagh and Mary Byrne's marriage was no better than patchwork.