About two o'clock of a June morning the spirit lamp on which the saucepan stewed had been overset; neither of the two confederates in drink had their wits about them at the moment, and the house was half burnt and the rest of it ruined by water before the fire could be got under.
"There were consequences still more distressing than the destruction of the house," she continued.

"The fire was a beacon warning to Dermod's creditors for one thing, and Dermod, already overpowered with debts, fell in a day upon complete ruin.

He was drenched by the water hoses besides, and took a chill which nearly killed him, from the effects of which he has never recovered.

You will find him a broken man.

The estates are let, and Ethne is now living with her father in a little mountain village in Donegal." Mrs.Adair had not looked at Durrance while she spoke.