Conal and he had come into the Wirree to show themselves before starting off on their overland journey. Almost every man in the countryside was there.
Davey wondered why the Schoolmaster had not come down to the township with Conal and himself. He had been a different man since their return, very silent, scarcely stirring from his chair in the back room, while Deirdre hovered, never very far from him, anxious and protective as a mother-bird.
She had not told him what had happened while Conal and he were away—how the Schoolmaster had said to her one day, suddenly:
"It's very dark, Deirdre. Is there going to be a storm?"
The sunshine was blank and golden out of doors.
"No," she had said, laughing. "There's not a sign of one."
"Where are you?" he asked, his voice strange and strained.
"Why, I'm here just beside you," she replied.
He put out his hands.
"I can't see you," he said. "It's the dark, Deirdre! My God ... it's the dark."