"What were the towers for?" asked Kathleen. "They were built hundreds of years ago, in connection with the ancient churches, and were probably used as belfries, and also as a place of refuge for the monks," answered Deena. "Are there many ruins in Ireland?" asked Mary Butler. "Yes," replied Deena, "there are hundreds and hundreds of them. There is the 'Seven Churches of Kells,' over beyond Stonyford, for one, and the 'Seven Churches of Glendalough,' too. You should see the Round Tower at Glendalough." "Connie is calling," interrupted Feena. "Hurrah, lunch is ready!" shouted Columba, and they all clattered down the stone steps in a hurry. The four baskets did hold a good deal after all, and the lunch looked so inviting, spread out on a white cloth in the shade of the big oak tree, that the ten hungry children made short work of it. "Now let's go to the wishing spring," suggested Columba, taking a cookie in one hand and a pickle in the other, and starting off across the field. "I wish you all good luck in your wishing, and I'll stay here in the shade to wish it the heartier," said his mother, taking out her knitting and making herself comfortable under the tree. "And I wish you may not be hungry again for an hour," added Captain Conn, gathering up the empty plates and cups and putting them in the baskets. "There's the spring," shouted Deena, as they turned into a little lane. "It's under that big tree in the edge of the woods." "Come on, Feena," called Columba, "here's the cup. Take a good drink and wish for the moon." "I shall do no such thing," replied his sister. "I shall wish for a book of fairy stories, and I shall get it, too, for Father promised it to me last night." "I wish for a new knife," said Deena, as he took the cup. "And Hannah and I want a pair of white gloves to wear with our new white dresses," said Anna, as she and her twin sister took their drink together. "What is your wish, Kathleen?" asked Princess Feena. "It is a very big wish," replied Kathleen, so soberly that everyone stopped laughing and became quiet in a moment. "It is bigger than a knife, or a book, or a pair of gloves. It is almost bigger than the moon. I'm wishing that little Mary Ellen could see." "I wish it, too," said Hannah earnestly. "And I!" "And I!" cried the others, gathering close around Kathleen as she knelt before the bubbling spring and filled the cup with the clear, cold water. "Perhaps it will come true, then," said Kathleen, "if we are all wishing so hard," and she smiled bravely up at them through her tears, as she drank the very last drop of water in the cup. CHAPTER XV GOOD NEWS FROM COUSIN BEE "Here are two letters for you, Kathleen mavourneen," said her Uncle Tom, one morning about a week later, as the family were seated at the breakfast table. "Two letters for me!" exclaimed Kathleen in surprise. "Perhaps one of them is from Father," and she jumped out of her chair and ran around the table to get them.