And then I heard one call to me and came.
[They all except MAIRE BRUIN gather about the priest for protection. MAIRE BRUIN stays on the settle in a stupor of terror. THE CHILD takes primroses from the great bowl and begins to strew them between herself and the priest and about MAIRE BRUIN. During the following dialogue SHAWN BRUIN goes more than once to the brink of the primroses, but shrinks back to the others timidly.
FATHER HART.
I will confront this mighty spirit alone.
[They cling to him and hold him back.
THE CHILD [while she strews the primroses].
No one whose heart is heavy with human tears
Can cross these little cressets of the wood.
FATHER HART.
Be not afraid, the Father is with us,