And then I heard one call to me and came.

[_They all except_ MAIRE BRUIN _gather about the priest for
protection._ MAIRE BRUIN _stays on the settle as if in a trance of
terror. The_ CHILD _takes primroses from the great bowl and begins to
strew them between herself and the priest and about_ MAIRE BRUIN.
_During the following dialogue_ SHAWN BRUIN _goes more than once to
the brink of the primroses, but shrinks back to the others timidly._

FATHER HART.

I will confront this mighty spirit alone.

[_They cling to him and hold him back._

THE CHILD (_while she strews the primroses.)

No one whose heart is heavy with human tears
Can cross these little cressets of the wood.

FATHER HART.

Be not afraid, the Father is with us,
And all the nine angelic hierarchies,
The Holy Martyrs and the Innocents,
The adoring Magi in their coats of mail,
And He who died and rose on the third day,
And Mary with her seven times wounded heart.

[_The_ CHILD _ceases strewing the primroses, and kneels upon the settle