Verdict of the Court Read Online Free PDF Page A

a qualified
Ollamh
– you took and passed that examination two years after you left me. You should and could pass your examination to be a Brehon as soon as possible. Come back to me and you can study for it. I haven’t too much to do at the moment – Fachtnan does so much of the teaching of the younger children – and you know, Enda, I would love to have an advanced scholar again. I still miss Shane – we sharpened our wits on each other, but, of course, he is back in the north of Ireland now and will take over from his father next year.’ She saw him wince at that – Shane had been a youngster of thirteen when Enda had left her law school with very high marks in his qualifying examination to be a lawyer. Now Shane would have a position among the venerated Brehons of Ireland, while Enda would still be an errand boy.
    ‘Do come to me, Enda; give this up! It can be easily explained. You want to put your whole attention into this final qualification. King Turlough will soothe matters over so that no offence can be taken.’
    However, he shook his head. His face flushed a dull red and for a moment there was a glow in his eyes. ‘I need to stay here for the moment, Brehon,’ he said hesitantly. He looked at her in an embarrassed way.
    ‘I know,’ she said, jokingly, but inwardly she was conscious of a slight feeling of annoyance. ‘You’re in love. It’s that pretty girl Shona MacMahon, isn’t it?’
    He nodded. ‘I have been studying,’ he said in a burst of confidence. ‘Not the Triads, but the hard stuff. I sneak his books away when he is dozing after his dinner. I’m certain that I could sit the examination in front of any Brehon in Ireland, except Brehon MacClancy himself, and that I would pass. And if …’ He stopped, eyeing her rather uncertainly, and then said with an air of indifference, ‘The physician, Donogh O’Hickey, keeps warning him that the sound from his heart is very bad. Its beat is irregular. He told Brehon MacClancy yesterday that if he allowed himself to get into any more passions then he could throw a fit and drop down dead at any moment.’
    ‘I see,’ said Mara. She was conscious of a slight feeling of distaste. Enda, as she had suspected, was waiting for dead men’s shoes. She didn’t approve, but she could see the sense of it. If he did inherit the position of Brehon, then Maccon MacMahon, with the King’s approval, would probably be very happy to have his daughter betrothed to a young man with whom she was, fairly obviously, in love. Enda, from the time that he was fifteen years old, had always been prone to fall madly in love with various girls. It was probably time that he was married and this would be a suitable match. She would not meddle, she decided virtuously, and then smiled to herself. She would, of course; it was after all a question of one of her boys and she had known Enda since he was eight years old. She could never divest herself of maternal feelings towards those who had spent their childhood in her care. Perhaps a word in the King’s ear would be a good idea, she thought. He should be keeping an eye on his household.
    ‘Well, don’t forget that the offer stands,’ she said lightly. ‘We would love to see you again at Cahermacnaghten. Brigid would go mad with joy. She likes nothing better than to have one of her boys turn up. Well, we’d better go back and join the others.’ She led the way out of the stable without waiting for his reply and noted that the pretty girl, Shona, was lingering under the oak tree, from which, yesterday, the effigy of Brehon MacClancy had dangled with knives glinting from various parts of his straw-stuffed body. The girl was looking well this morning, she thought, and wondered whether she had just imagined the white face yesterday when Brehon MacClancy had made his pronouncement. Still it was unlikely that a girl of that age, just out of fosterage, had a secret of any particular importance.
    She did not walk with Enda, but