The morning was dark and gray. The sun was absent and the air was cool. The town of Kilcrohane had not been as silent in many years. One could scarcely hear the crashing of the ocean waves against the stony shore, and the wafts of the gusting wind in the trees, but all other sounds ceased. The birds and even the crickets could not be heard, and the townspeople shut themselves inside their homes and locked their doors. Shopkeepers and pub owners closed...