I  went  to  Ross  not  long  after  Father  Z.'s  return
from  Rome.  I  chanced  but  once  to  see  him,  but
the  remembrance  of  that  fierce  and  pallid  face,  and  of
the  hatred  in  it,  is  with  me  still.  He  is  dead,  and  I
believe  that  his  teaching  died  with  him.  The  evil
that  men  do  does  not  always^live  after  them.  The
choice  of  his  successor  was  a  fortunate  one  for  the
parish  of  Rosscahill.  Few  people  out  of  Ireland
realise  how  much  depends  on  the  personality  of  the
parish  priest.  Father  Z.  had  had  it  in  his  power  to
shake  a  friendship  of  centuries,  but  it  was  deeply
rooted,  he  could  do  no  more  than  shake  it.  His  suc-
cessor had  other  views  of  his  duty  ;  in  him  the  people
of  Rosscahill  and  the  .House  of  Ross,  alike,  found  a
friend,  unfailing  in  kindness  and  sympathy,  a  priest
who  made  it  his  mission  to  bring  peace  to  his  parish,
and  not  a  sword.
No  one  was  more  sensible  of  this  friendship,  or  more
grateful  for  it  than  Martin.  What  sustained  her  and
made  the  sacrifice  of  time,  strength,  and  money  in


THE  RESTORATION  157

some  degree  worth  while,  during  that  hard,  pioneer
year  at  Ross,  was  the  renewal  of  the  old  goodfellow-
ship  and  intimacy  with  the  tenants.  Sixteen  years
is  a  big  gap,  but  not  so  big  that  it  cannot  be  bridged.
