And may the strength of the seven prayers
Cast out the ill that is in you
Upon the grey stones over there!"[8]
Long and earnestly she watched to see if the incantation would effect the miracle. Nial trembled, with downcast eyes.
"Perhaps there is no evil in you, Nial," she whispered; "so now I will pray to Himself for you, and you repeat what I say, and shut your eyes and clasp your hands just as I do."
The soulless man and the child knelt side by side among the fern. The light lay all about them as a benediction. The rising wind, with a wet sough in it, came along the pines like an intoning anthem. Around them the bee hummed unwitting; in a tree beyond them a cushat crooned and crooned.
Oona's voice came low and sweet as the hidden dove's:
"O Father,
That is the Father of the father of Sorcha and me,
I pray that you will give Nial a soul."