midnight
But the couriers returned , and though they were men able to trace the trail of a fox through nine glens and nine rivers , they could discover no proof of the presence of a foreign foe in the mayden cantred of Devorgilla . Then the hearts of the Fair Strangers were filled with grief and gall , for they distrusted the couriers , and having consulted the Ard-ri , they set forth themselves to find and conquer the invader ; for the king told them that there was one other quicken-tree , more beautiful and more magical than that growing by the Fairy Palace , and that it was set in another part of the bright-blooming , sweet-scented old garden , -- namely , in the heart of the labyrinthine maze of the Wise Woman of Wales ; but as no one of them , neither the Gilla Dacker nor those who pursued him , had ever , even with the aid of the Magic Thread-Clue , reached the heart of the maze , there was no knowledge among them of the second quicken-tree . The king also told Sheela the Scribe , secretly , that one of his knights had found a money-piece and a breviary in the forest of Rosnaree ; and the silver was unlike any ever used in the country of the Dedannans , and the breviary could belong only to a pious Gael known as Loskenn of the Bare Knees . Now Sheela the Scribe , having fasted from midnight until dawn , gazed upon the Horn of Foreknowledge , and read there that it was wiser for her to remain on guard at the Fairy Palace , while her sisters explored the secret fastnesses of the labyrinth . When Finola was apparelled to set forth upon her quest , Pearla thought her the loveliest maiden upon the ridge of the world , and wondered whether she meant to conquer the invader by force of arms or by the power of beauty . The rose and the lily were fighting together in her face , and one could not tell which of them got the victory . Her arms and hands were like the lime , her mouth was as red as a ripe strawberry , her foot as small and as light as another one 's hand , her form smooth and slender , and her hair falling down from her head under combs of gold .