2.26 THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 



tive, and the coif was peremptorily retained. Cormac, irri- 

 tated by opposition to his commands, was obstinate in his 

 determination, and Rose Roche left the castle of her lord 

 a repudiated wife, and once more returned to the convent of 

 the Ursulines. 



From the hour of their separation, the Baron seldom 

 smiled. To part from his wife was a trifle ; but unluckily, 

 he had embroiled himself with the church. The Abbess 

 espoused the lady's quarrel fiercely, and ave and credo were 

 no longer offered up for Cormac More! Notwithstanding 

 past largess, beeves and wine-butts were forgotten; the candle- 

 sticks upon the altar no longer elicited a prayer; and his souPs 

 health was no more attended to by the community than the 

 lowest horse-boy's of his train. 



Thus matters stood, when one dark evening, returning from 

 the chase, Cormac and his followers were surprised by a band 

 of Catterans, and a fierce and desperate skirmish ensued. 

 The outlaws were defeated, but the Lord of Iveagh was shot 

 clean through the body with a three-foot arrow : and how could 

 he have better luck ? 



Then it was that the sinful Knight was tortured with 

 remorse and unavailing sorrow. He cursed the evil coun- 

 sellors who tempted him to insult Saint Ursula and her 

 adopted daughter, and, determining to be reconciled to his 

 wife and the church together, directed his followers to carry 

 him to the abbey of Balleek. His orders were obeyed, and 

 the Lady Abbess consented to admit the dying noble. He 

 was laid before the altar, and his injured wife, forgetting past 

 resentment, was the first to rush from her cell, and minister 

 to his relief. In the fatal emergency, coif and veil were left 

 dehind ; her raven tresses fell below her shoulders, and 

 reached to her very waist, and Cormac was convinced too late, 

 that his ill-used consort had the finest hair in Christendom. 

 Alas ! those ebon locks had been the admiration of the whole 

 sisterhood ; and, for penitential purposes, the Dominican had 

 enjoined their concealment for three years, when he gave 

 spiritual counsel, in their hour of tribulation, to the abbess, 

 the baron, and Rose Roche. 



To make atonement for his former unkindness, he willed 

 his rich domains to his beautiful widow. The Prior of the 

 Dominicans indicted the deed, which disposed of his posses- 

 sions ; and the church, of course, was not forgotten. Sur- 



