The woman loosened the shawl which was drawn tightly around her body and disclosed a little bullet-headed child lying fast asleep in her arms. The wind caught the sleeper; one tiny hand quivered in mute protest, then the infant awoke and roared loudly. The mother kissed the wee thing hastily, fastened the shawl again and strode forward, taking long steps like a man, towards the sea. She was bare-footed; her feet made a rustling sound on the snow and two little furrows lay behind her. Norah Ryan followed and presently the older woman turned round.
“That’s me sin, girsha, that’s me sin,” she said. “That’s a sin that can never be undone. Mind that and mind it always.... Ye’ll be goin’ into the town, I suppose?” “That I am,” said the child. “Is the tide full on the run now?”
“It’s nearly out. See! the sky is clearin’ a bit; and look it! there’s some stars.”
“I don’t like the stars, good woman, for they’re always so cold lookin’.”
“Yes, they’re middlin’ like to goodly people,” said the woman. “There, we’re near the sea and the greyness is risin’ off it.”
The woman lifted her hand and pointed to the rocky shore that skirted the bay. At first sight it appeared to be completely deserted; nothing could be seen but the leaden grey sea and the sharp and jagged rocks protruding through the snow that covered the shore. The tide was nearly out; the east was clearing, but the wind still lashed furiously against the legs and faces of the woman and the girl.
“I suppose there’ll be a lot waitin’ for the tide,” said Norah Ryan. “And a cold wait it’ll be for them too, on this mornin’ of all mornin’s.”
“It’s God’s will,” said the woman with the child, “God’s will, the priest’s will, and the will of the yarn seller.” She spoke sharply and resentfully and again with long strides hurried forward to the shore.
II
HOW lifeless the scene looked; the hollows white with snow, the gale-swept edges of the rocks darkly bare! Norah Ryan stepping timidly, suddenly shrieked as her foot slipped into a wreath of snow. Under her tread something moved, the snow rose into the air as if to shake itself, then fell again with a crackling noise. The girl had stepped upon a sleeping woman, who, now rudely wakened, was afoot and angry.