392 THE BREAKING UP OF THE PARTY. 



that they have stolen it from us. Look at 

 that water before you, and see for yourself. 

 Killarney is a lake ; this is what we call it, 

 a drowned plain." 



"Well, but the story," said the Squire, 

 "the story — never mind the ownership of 

 it. How had these poor people been sin- 

 ning ? — cheating the monks of their dues, I 

 suppose." 



" I dare say they did, for there are few 

 enormities of which they have not been 

 accused ; but the proximate cause of their 

 destruction was an act of disobedience, and 

 a very sentimental one too. 



" In the middle of the plain, at the foot 

 of that rock of which we now see only the 

 top — that pointed one I mean, just in a line 

 with Castle Caldwell — where that eagle is 

 now drying his wings — and which, by the 

 way, is still called the Eagle or Erne Kock — 

 there was, and no doubt is now, a fairy 

 spring. The water never rose or sunk in 

 it an inch, let the season be as wet or as dry 

 as it might be ; it never got heated with 

 the sun or chilled with the frost, but 

 throughout every change it preserved its 

 fairy freshness. 



