'
'Yet you look upon Nathos, for these men are none other than the three
sons of Usna.'
Deirdre started. 'Idle are your words, false Lavarcam. Yonder walks not a
man with skin white as snow, with cheek crimson as blood, nor with hair
black as the raven's wing. You lie!' And the maid made haste, and she
reached the men, and stood before them.
Amazed at her exceeding beauty, they gazed in silence. 'Tell me if ye be
the sons of Usna. Speak!'
But in wonder at the loveliness of the maiden, and in fear of the anger of
Lavarcam, the men were dumb.
'Speak!' she again cried. 'If indeed ye be Nathos and his brothers, then
truly hath Concobar the King my pity.'
At these words the swineherd could no longer keep silence.
'It is thy exceeding beauty that telleth us that thou art that Deirdre
whom the King hideth in this forest. Why mock us by asking if we are the
fairest of Concobar's nobles? Clearly canst thou see we are but men of the
hills, I a poor swineherd, and these men shepherds.'
'Then wilt thou, swineherd, for truly do I believe thy words, get thee to
the sons of Usna, and say to Nathos the eldest, that in the forest beyond
the Moor of Loneliness, Deirdre awaits his coming. Tell him that
to-morrow, an hour before the setting of the sun, he will find her by this
well.'
'If it be known that I so break the law of the King, I die, yet will I go
right gladly.
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