[12] _A cochall a' chridhe_: his heart out of its shell--a phrase often used to express sudden derangement from any shock. The ensuing phrase means the month from the 15th of July to the 15th of August, _Mios crochaidh nan con_, so called as it is supposed to be the hottest if not the most waterless month in the isles. The word _claar_ used below, is the name given a small wooden tub, into which the potatoes are turned when boiled.
This was in the season of the hanging of the dog's mouth.
"What is it, Tormaid-a-ghaolach?" I asked, with the sob that was in my throat.
"_Thraisg mo chridhe_," he muttered (my heart is parched). Then, feeling the asking in my eyes, he said, "I have seen her."
I knew he meant Giorsal. My heart sank. But I wore my nails into the palms of my hands. Then I said this thing, that is an old saying in the isles: "Those who are in the quiet havens hear neither the wind nor the sea." He was so weak he could not lie down in the bed. He was in the big chair before the peats, with his feet on a _claar_.
When the wind was still I read him the Word. A little warm milk was all he would take. I could hear the blood in his lungs sobbing like the ebb-tide in the sea-weed. This was the thing that he said to me:
"She came to me, like a gray mist, beyond the dyke of the green place, near the road. The face of her was gray as a gray dawn, but the voice was hers, though I heard it under a wave, so dull and far was it. And these are her words to me, and mine to her--and the first speaking was mine, for the silence wore me:
Am bheil thu' falbh, O mo ghraidh? _B'idh mi falbh, Mùirnean!_
C'uin a thilleas tu, O mo ghraidh? _Cha till mi an rathad so; Tha an't ait e cumhann-- O mùirnean, mùirnean! B'idh mi falbh an drùgh Am tigh Pharais, Mùirnean!_
Sèol dhomh an rathad, Mo ghraidh! _Thig an so Mùirnean-mo, Thig an so!_
Are you going, My dear one? _Yea, now I am going, Dearest._
When will you come again, My dear one? _I will not return this way; The place is narrow-- O my darling! I will be going to Paradise, Dear, my dear one!_
Show me the way, Heart of my heart! _Come hither, dearest, come hither, Come with me!_
"And then I saw that it was a mist, and that I was alone. But now this night it is that I feel the breath on the soles of my feet."