shelves. It is not a task which I would like to entrust to any of my scholars when it’s a case of handling jars containing poisons.’
And that, she thought, as he bowed without comment, should keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon.
‘Come with me,’ she said to Nuala.
Five
Córus Fine
(The Regulation of the Kin Group)
The possessions of an individual are divided into two categories. First, there is the land that he inherits through his membership of a kin group. Secondly, there is the wealth that he accumulates by virtue of his own endeavours. Land can be included in this category if it has been bought and not inherited.
On the death of the individual, inherited land is divided equally between the sons of all marriages. If there are no sons of the blood, then the land is divided between the brothers; in the case of no brother, the land goes to the eldest male descendent of his great-grandfather. Failing that the land reverts to the clan.
A female heir will receive the house that she lives in and enough land to graze seven cows.
T he sun shone with the intense heat of mid-June as Mara and Nuala walked together down the road towards the Brehon’s house. The day was hot with that particular scent which was, in Mara’s experience, found only in the Burren. It was a scent of damp vegetation mixed with the clean, slightly acrid aroma of baking limestone. The clints that paved the fields as far as the eye could see sparkled almost silver in the sunlight, and the deep grykes, or cracks between the slabs, were filled with bright colour from the clear, intense magenta of summer flowering cranesbill and the delicate pale blue of the fragile harebells.
‘So it was just Caireen that was there when your father’s body was found, is that right?’ Mara kept her voice unemotional and matter-of-fact.
‘That’s right.’ Nuala used the same tone. She stared across the grykes towards the distant pale blue swirls of Mullaghmore mountain.
‘No sign of Ronan or of any of his brothers, then,’ stated Mara, and then when Nuala did not reply she said quietly, ‘Just tell me everything that you remember about that morning.
‘I know what you’re thinking—’ began Nuala.
‘No, you don’t,’ interrupted Mara. ‘No one, but I, knows what I am thinking. Now come on, Nuala. Just start at the beginning and go through it again. You left here quite early, walked across to Caherconnell. And then?’
‘And then,’ said Nuala with an impatient sigh, ‘I went into the little stone shed where the gardening things are kept – I didn’t want to see any of them at the house, so I just took out a basket for the weeds and a small fork, and I set to work. Nobody had bothered doing anything so there were weeds everywhere.’
‘Which part of the garden were you in?’ asked Mara.
‘I started off at the far end with the bed of woundwort and then I had just moved down to work on the camomile when Caireen screamed. I don’t want to talk about it . . . shouldn’t you go indoors and rest?’
‘I can’t bear to go on into the house again,’ said Mara. Nuala was stubborn; there would be no point in pursuing the questioning for now. ‘Let’s go and join Sorcha and the children,’ she suggested. ‘They’re having their dinner over there on the field. It’s such a treat for them to have meals out-of-doors. Collect Cormac, will you, Nuala? Brigid is looking after him. The sunshine won’t do him any harm, will it?’
‘I’ll bring a piece of linen to shade him and then he will be fine,’ said Nuala running down the road, her long legs covering the hundred yards’ distance in the same time that it took Mara to open the gate and start to cross the field.
‘ Mamó , Mamó ,’ shouted Domhnall and Aislinn as they came running towards her.
‘May I come into your dining hall?’ Mara asked politely. A large clint had been spread with a piece of linen, and wooden plates and wooden goblets had been laid out on it.
And that, she thought, as he bowed without comment, should keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon.
‘Come with me,’ she said to Nuala.
Five
Córus Fine
(The Regulation of the Kin Group)
The possessions of an individual are divided into two categories. First, there is the land that he inherits through his membership of a kin group. Secondly, there is the wealth that he accumulates by virtue of his own endeavours. Land can be included in this category if it has been bought and not inherited.
On the death of the individual, inherited land is divided equally between the sons of all marriages. If there are no sons of the blood, then the land is divided between the brothers; in the case of no brother, the land goes to the eldest male descendent of his great-grandfather. Failing that the land reverts to the clan.
A female heir will receive the house that she lives in and enough land to graze seven cows.
T he sun shone with the intense heat of mid-June as Mara and Nuala walked together down the road towards the Brehon’s house. The day was hot with that particular scent which was, in Mara’s experience, found only in the Burren. It was a scent of damp vegetation mixed with the clean, slightly acrid aroma of baking limestone. The clints that paved the fields as far as the eye could see sparkled almost silver in the sunlight, and the deep grykes, or cracks between the slabs, were filled with bright colour from the clear, intense magenta of summer flowering cranesbill and the delicate pale blue of the fragile harebells.
‘So it was just Caireen that was there when your father’s body was found, is that right?’ Mara kept her voice unemotional and matter-of-fact.
‘That’s right.’ Nuala used the same tone. She stared across the grykes towards the distant pale blue swirls of Mullaghmore mountain.
‘No sign of Ronan or of any of his brothers, then,’ stated Mara, and then when Nuala did not reply she said quietly, ‘Just tell me everything that you remember about that morning.
‘I know what you’re thinking—’ began Nuala.
‘No, you don’t,’ interrupted Mara. ‘No one, but I, knows what I am thinking. Now come on, Nuala. Just start at the beginning and go through it again. You left here quite early, walked across to Caherconnell. And then?’
‘And then,’ said Nuala with an impatient sigh, ‘I went into the little stone shed where the gardening things are kept – I didn’t want to see any of them at the house, so I just took out a basket for the weeds and a small fork, and I set to work. Nobody had bothered doing anything so there were weeds everywhere.’
‘Which part of the garden were you in?’ asked Mara.
‘I started off at the far end with the bed of woundwort and then I had just moved down to work on the camomile when Caireen screamed. I don’t want to talk about it . . . shouldn’t you go indoors and rest?’
‘I can’t bear to go on into the house again,’ said Mara. Nuala was stubborn; there would be no point in pursuing the questioning for now. ‘Let’s go and join Sorcha and the children,’ she suggested. ‘They’re having their dinner over there on the field. It’s such a treat for them to have meals out-of-doors. Collect Cormac, will you, Nuala? Brigid is looking after him. The sunshine won’t do him any harm, will it?’
‘I’ll bring a piece of linen to shade him and then he will be fine,’ said Nuala running down the road, her long legs covering the hundred yards’ distance in the same time that it took Mara to open the gate and start to cross the field.
‘ Mamó , Mamó ,’ shouted Domhnall and Aislinn as they came running towards her.
‘May I come into your dining hall?’ Mara asked politely. A large clint had been spread with a piece of linen, and wooden plates and wooden goblets had been laid out on it.
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