One stormy night he set out alone from Donamace, and having tied his horse beneath a grove of ash-trees near the castle of Lea, he let himself in by the postern, with the key of which his unsuspecting brother had entrusted him. Reaching Maurice’s chamber he murdered him in cold blood, but not before his victim had cried out to his son to revenge his death by a brother’s hand. Roderick seized the body and, carrying it to where he had left his horse, put it into a leather bag that he had brought with him. Arriving at Dunamace he threw the body into a very deep well, thinking it would never be discovered. Maurice’s son, Connell, had heard his father’s cry for vengeance in his dreams, but upon awaking and finding his father gone, with blood stains on the floor and stairs, he knew he had actually heard his voice. The young chieftain, armed with two great sabres of equal size, proceeded to his uncle’s stronghold, and presenting himself before him, demanded satisfaction. In the duel which followed both combatants were killed, and it is said no grass grows in their footsteps on the rock until this day. The old well is still shown, and if two friends visit it together one is said to die within the year. There seems to be no historical record of the fortress ever having been in possession of the O’Byrnes. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. Grose, “Antiquities of Ireland.” O’Byrne, “History of the Queen’s County.” MS. Ordnance Survey. Comerford, “Kildare and Leighlin.” Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.” Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.” State Documents. State Papers. Carew MSS. Parliamentary Gazetteer. “Lea Castle, Queen’s Co.,” in _Dublin Penny Journal_. Lord Walter FitzGerald, “Kilkea Castle,” in _Journal of Kildare Archæological Society_. Miss French, MS. _LEAP CASTLE_ The ancient stronghold of the O’Carrolls, of Ely-O’Carrol, is situated in the parish of Aghancon, in the Barony of Ballybritt, King’s County, about five miles south-east of Birr. Its former name of Leim-Ui-Bhanain denoted “The Leap of O’Banan,” and it is still known as “The Leap” in the district. There are several legends to account for its designation. One is that two brothers came to the rock on which the castle is built, and they decided that whichever of them survived, after leaping to the ground below, should erect the stronghold. One of the two was killed by the jump.