Jerome. I must not stay. I must not listen.
Paul Ruttledge. Help me over to the candles. I am weak, my knees are weak. I shall be strong when the words come. I shall be able to teach. [He lights a taper at the hanging lamp and tries to light the candles with a shaking hand. Jerome takes the taper from him and lights the candles.] Why are you crying, Jerome?
Jerome. Because we that were friends are separated now. We shall never be together again.
Paul Ruttledge. Never again? The love of God is a very terrible thing.
Jerome. I have done with meddling. I must leave you to authority now. I must tell the Superior you will not obey. [He goes out.
First Friar. Father Jerome had a very dark look going out.
Second Friar. He was shut up with the Superior this morning. I wonder what they were talking about.
First Friar. I wonder if the Superior will mind our taking the branches. They are only cut on Palm Sunday other years. What will he tell us, I wonder? It seems as if he was going to tell us how to do some great thing. Do you think he will teach us to do cures like the friars used at Esker?
Second Friar. Those were great cures they did there, and they were not strange men, but just the same as ourselves. I heard of a man went to them dying on a cart, and he walked twenty miles home to Burren holding the horses head.
First Friar. Maybe we'll be able to see visions the same as were seen at Knock. It's a great wonder all that was seen and all that was done there.