Matheson Collection > Deirdire; and, The lay of the children of Uisne

DEIRDIRE 25
II
Deirdire and her nurse-mother were
dwelKng in the low little bothy among
the great high hills, without the know-
ledge, without the suspicion of any liv-
ing one about them, or about anything
that happened, till Deirdire was four-
teen years of age. Deirdire was grow-
ing as lithe and fair as the stately
sapling, and as straight and symmet-
rical as the young moorland rush. She
was above comparison of the people of
the world, shapely in her person, lovely
in her beauty, while her skin and her
gait were like those of the swan of the
lake and of the hind of the hill. She
was the blood-drop of finest form, of love-
liest complexion, and of gentlest mien
between earth and sky in Eirin, And
whatever other colour or complexion
she should have on before, no eye looked
in her face but she instantly went into
blushes like glowing fire on the occasion.