She had shields and breastplates of solid silver and gold, and they were set out with patterns of dainty gems. There were quilts of silk and fur, cushions that delighted the head or the eye that rested on them. She had bird-cages of ivory and crystal. Beds that had been chipped out of monster blocks of amethyst. Cups of carved ivory, each with a different gem set inside at the bottom so that it twinkled at you while you drank. Chess-boards of precious metals, and each man on the board had occupied the cunning artificer a long year of his age to fashion it. [Pg 31] She had her own machinery for brewing and baking. What had she not got? Her dresses alone would pack a house and burst out through the roof and tumble down the glass of her Sunny Chamber like an untimely sunset for colour, and like a billow of the sea for exuberance.

[Pg 30]

[Pg 31]

She did not intend that as much as one thread of her threads should remain behind her in Emain Macha.

“No other queen shall waggle her toes in my draperies, nor enjoy what is proper for my enjoyment alone,” thought Maeve.

Conachúr was preparing to go on a visit to Cairbre Niafar, King of Leinster, for he thought an alliance could be formed from which good might possibly come to Ulster. The neighbouring kingdom of Connacht had grown strong and stronger, and he knew that the people of that kingdom would be glad to think that Leinster and he remained at arm’s-length.

He would travel in state, and such a journey had to be organized carefully. Houses for rest and entertainment on the way must be arranged for. Heralds and messengers sent days in advance and dispositions [Pg 32] made so that their reports might be received on his journey. Several thousand men would be in his company, and the shelter, feeding, and entertainment of these had to be thought of. So for a little time he was busy. But he was not too busy to remark anything that might chance to be remarkable.

[Pg 32]

Lavarcham sat with him in his retired room at the centre of the Royal Branch. From this room the great circular mass of his palace radiated in all directions to its ten-acre circumference, and in this deep-placed, well-secured centre the king sat, as a spider might sit in the middle of his gigantic web. The room he occupied was sufficiently large. The ceiling was an intricate medley and 

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