CATHLEEN. Ah, no, not that. A sad resolve wakes in me. I have heard A sound of wailing in unnumbered hovels, And I must go down, down--I know not where-- Pray for all men and women mad from famine; Pray, you good neighbours. (The PEASANTS all kneel. COUNTESS CATHLEEN ascends the steps to the door of the oratory, and turning round stands there motionless for a little, and then cries in a loud voice:) Mary, Queen of angels, And all you clouds on clouds of saints, farewell! END OF SCENE 3. SCENE 4 SCENE.--A wood near the Castle, as in Scene 2. The SPIRITS pass one by one carrying bags. FIRST SPIRIT. I'll never dance another step, not one. SECOND SPIRIT. Are all the thousand years of dancing done? THIRD SPIRIT. How can we dance after so great a sorrow? FOURTH SPIRIT. But how shall we remember it to-morrow? FIFTH SPIRIT. To think of all the things that we forget. SIXTH SPIRIT. That's why we groan and why our lids are wet. (The SPIRITS go out. A group Of PEASANTS Pass.) FIRST PEASANT. I have seen silver and copper, but not gold. SECOND PEASANT. It's yellow and it shines. FIRST PEASANT. It's beautiful. The most beautiful thing under the sun, That's what I've heard. THIRD PEASANT. I have seen gold enough. FOURTH PEASANT. I would not say that it's so beautiful. FIRST PEASANT. But doesn't a gold piece glitter like the sun? That's what my father, who'd seen better days, Told me when I was but a little boy-- So high--so high, it's shining like the sun, Round and shining, that is what he said. SECOND PEASANT. There's nothing in the world it cannot buy. FIRST PEASANT. They've bags and bags of it. (They go out. The two MERCHANTS follow silently.) END OF SCENE 4 SCENE 5 SCENE.--The house of SHEMUS RUA. There is an alcove at the back with curtains; in it a bed, and on the bed is the body of MARY with candles round it. The two MERCHANTS while they speak put a large book upon a table, arrange money, and so on. FIRST MERCHANT. Thanks to that lie I told about her ships And that about the herdsman lying sick, We shall be too much thronged with souls to-morrow. SECOND MERCHANT. What has she in her coffers now but mice? FIRST MERCHANT. When the night fell and I had shaped myself Into the image of the man-headed owl, I hurried to the cliffs of Donegal, And saw with all their canvas full of wind And rushing through the parti-coloured sea Those ships that bring the woman grain and meal. They're but three days from us. SECOND MERCHANT. When the dew rose I hurried in like feathers to the east, And saw nine hundred oxen driven through Meath With goads of iron, They're but three days from us. FIRST MERCHANT. Three days for traffic. (PEASANTS crowd in with TEIG and SHEMUS.) SHEMUS. Come in, come in, you are welcome. That is my wife. She mocked at my great masters, And would not deal with them. Now there she is; She does not even know she was a fool, So great a fool she was.