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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Boxer, by William Carleton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Dead Boxer
+       The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
+
+Author: William Carleton
+
+Illustrator: M. L. Flanery
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2005 [EBook #16007]
+Last Updated: March 1, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD BOXER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DEAD BOXER.
+
+
+By William Carleton
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+One evening in the beginning of the eighteenth century--as nearly as we
+can conjecture, the year might be that of 1720--some time about the end
+of April, a young man named _Lamh Laudher_ O'Rorke, or Strong-handed
+O'Eorke, was proceeding from his father's house, with a stout oaken
+cudgel in his hand, towards an orchard that stood at the skirt of a
+country town, in a part of the kingdom which, for the present, shall be
+nameless. Though known by the epithet of _Lamh Laudher_, his Christian
+name was John; but in those time(s) Irish families of the same name
+were distinguished from each other by some indicative of their natural
+position, physical power, complexion, or figure. One, for instance,
+was called _Parra Ghastha_, or swift Paddy, from his fleetness of foot;
+another, _Shaun Buie_, or yellow Jack, from his bilious look; a third,
+_Micaul More_, or big Michael, from his uncommon size; and a fourth,
+_Sheemus Ruah_, or red James, from the color of his hair. These
+epithets, to be sure, still occur in Ireland, but far less frequently
+now than in the times of which we write, when Irish was almost the
+vernacular language of the country. It was for a reason similar to those
+just alleged, that John O'Rorke was known as _Lamh Laudher_ O'Rorke;
+he, as well as his forefathers for two or three generations, having been
+remarkable for prodigious bodily strength and courage. The evening was
+far advanced as O'Rorke bent his steps to the orchard. The pale, but
+cloudless sun hung over the western hills, and sun upon the quiet gray
+fields that kind of tranquil radiance which, in the opening of summer,
+causes many a silent impulse of delight to steal into the heart. Lamh
+Laudher felt this; his step was slow, like that of a man who, without
+being capable of tracing those sources of enjoyment which the spirit
+absorbs from the beauties of external nature, has yet enough of
+uneducated taste and feeling within him, to partake of the varied feast
+which she presents.
+
+As he sauntered thus leisurely along he was met by a woman rather
+advanced in years, but still unusually stout and muscular, considering
+her age. She was habited in a red woollen petticoat that reached but
+a short distance below the knee, leaving visible two stout legs, from
+which dangled a pair of red garters that bound up her coarse blue hose.
+Her gown of blue worsted was pinned up, for it did not meet around her
+person, though it sat closely about her neck. Her grizzly red hair,
+turned up in front, was bound by a dowd cap without any border, a
+circumstance which, in addition to a red kerchief, tied over it, and
+streaming about nine inches down the back, gave to her _tout ensemble_
+a wild and striking expression. A short oaken staff, hooked under the
+hand, completed the description of her costume. Even on a first glance
+there appeared to be something repulsive in her features, which had
+evidently been much exposed to sun and storm. By a closer inspection one
+might detect upon their hard angular outline, a character of cruelty and
+intrepidity. Though her large cheek-bones stood widely asunder, yet her
+gray piercing eyes were very near each other; her nose was short and
+sadly disfigured by a scar that ran tranversely across it, and her chin,
+though pointed, was also deficient in length. Altogether, her whole
+person had something peculiar and marked about it--so much so, indeed,
+that it was impossible to meet her without feeling she was a female of
+no ordinary character and habits.
+
+Lamh Laudher had been, as we have said, advancing slowly along the
+craggy road which led towards the town, when she issued from an
+adjoining cabin and approached him. The moment he noticed her he stood
+still, as if to let her pass and uttered one single exclamation of
+chagrin and anger.
+
+“_Ma shaughth milia mollach ort, a calliagh!_ My seven thousand curses
+on you for an old hag,” said he, and haying thus given vent to his
+indignation at her appearance, he began to retrace his steps as if
+unwilling to meet her.
+
+“The son of your father needn't lay the curse upon us so bitterly all
+out, Lamh Laudher!” she exclaimed, pacing at the same time with vigorous
+steps until she overtook him.
+
+The young man looked at her maimed features, and as if struck by some
+sudden recollection, appeared to feel regret for the hasty malediction
+he had uttered against her. “Nell M'Collum,” said he, “the word was
+rash; and the curse did not come from my heart. But, Nell, who is there
+that doesn't curse you when they meet you? Isn't it well known that to
+meet you is another name for falling in wid bad luck? For my part I'd go
+fifty miles about rather than cross you, if I was bent on any business
+that my heart 'ud be in, or that I cared any thing about.”
+
+“And who brought the bad luck upon me first?” asked the woman. “Wasn't
+it the husband of the mother that bore you? Wasn't it his hand that
+disfigured me as you see, when I was widin a week of bein' dacently
+married? Your father, Lamh Laudher was the man that blasted my name, and
+made it bitther upon tongue of them that mintions it.”
+
+“And that was because he wouldn't see one wid the blood of Lamh Laudher
+in his veins married to a woman that he had reason to think--I don't
+like to my it, Nelly--but you know it is said that there was darkness,
+and guilt, too, about the disappearin' of your child. You never cleared
+that up, but swore revenge night and day against my father, for only
+preventin' you from bein' the ruination of his cousin. Many a time, too,
+since that, has asked you in my own hearing what became of the boy.”
+
+The old woman stopped like one who had unexpectedly trod with bare foot
+upon something sharp enough to pierce the flesh to the bone, and even
+to grate against it. There was a strong, nay, a fearful force of anguish
+visible in what she felt. Her brows were wildly depressed from their
+natural position, her face became pale, her eyes glared upon O'Rorke as
+if he had planted a poisoned arrow in her breast, she seized him by the
+arm with a hard pinching grip, and looked for two or three minutes in
+his face, with an appearance of distraction. O'Rorke, who never feared
+man, shrunk from her touch, and shuddered under the influence of what
+had been, scarcely without an exception, called the “bad look.” The
+crone held him tight, however, and there they stood, with their eyes
+fixed upon each other. From the gaze of intense anguish, the countenance
+of Nell M'Collum began to change gradually to one of unmingled
+exultation; her brows were raised to their proper curves, her color
+returned, the eye corruscated with a rapid and quivering sense of
+delight, the muscles of the mouth played for a little, as if she strove
+to suppress a laugh. At length O'Rorke heard a low gurgling sound
+proceed from her chest; it increased; she pressed his arm more tightly,
+and in a loud burst of ferocious mirth, which she immediately subdued
+into a condensed shriek that breathed the very luxury of revenge, she
+said--
+
+“_Lamh Laudher Oge_, listen--ax the father of you, when you see him,
+what has become _of his own child_--of the first that ever God sent him;
+an' listen again--when he tells me what has become of mine, I'll tell
+him what has become of his, Now go to Ellen--but before you go, let
+me _cuggher_ in your ear that I'll blast you both. I'll make the _Lamh
+Laudhers, Lamh Lhugs_. I'll make the strong arm the weak arm afore I've
+done wid 'em.”
+
+She struck the point of her stick against the pavement, until the iron
+ferrule with which it was bound dashed the fire from the stones, after
+which she passed on, muttering threats and imprecations as she left him.
+
+O'Rorke stood and looked after her with sensations of fear and
+astonishment. The age was superstitious, and encouraged a belief in the
+influence of powers distinct from human agency. Every part of Ireland
+was filled at this time with characters, both male and female, precisely
+similar to old Nell M'Collum.. The darkness in which this woman walked,
+according to the opinions of a people but slightly advanced in knowledge
+and civilization, has been but feebly described to the reader. To meet
+her, was considered an omen of the most unhappy kind; a circumstance
+which occasioned the imprecation of Lamh Laudher. She was reported
+to have maintained an intercourse with the fairies, to be capable
+of communicating the blight of an evil eye, and to have carried on a
+traffic which is said to have been rather prevalent in Ireland at the
+time we speak of--namely, that of kidnapping. The speculations with
+reference to her object in perpetrating the crimes were strongly
+calculated to exhibit the degraded state of the people at that period.
+Some said that she disposed of the children to a certain class of
+persons in the metropolis, who subsequently sent them to the colonies,
+when grown, at an enormous profit. Others maintained that she never
+carried them to Dublin at all, but insisted that, having been herself
+connected with the fairies, she possessed the power of erasing, by
+some secret charm, the influence of baptismal protection, and that she
+consequently acted as agent for the “gentry” to whom she transferred
+them. Even to this day it is the opinion in Ireland, that the “good
+people” themselves cannot take away a child, except through the
+instrumentality of some mortal residing with them, who has been
+baptized; and it is also believed that no baptism can secure children
+from them, except that in which the priest has been desired to baptize
+them with an especial view to their protection against fairy power.
+
+Such was the character which this woman bore; whether unjustly or not,
+matters little. For the present it is sufficient to say, that after
+having passed on, leaving Lamh Laudher to proceed in the direction he
+had originally intended, she bent her steps towards the head inn of the
+town. Her presence here produced some cautious and timid mirth of which
+they took care she should not be cognizant. The servants greeted her
+with an outward show of cordiality, which the unhappy creature easily
+distinguished from the warm kindness evinced to vagrants whose history
+had not been connected with evil suspicion and mystery. She accordingly
+tempered her manner and deportment towards them with consummate skill.
+Her replies to their inquiries for news were given with an appearance
+of good humor; but beneath the familiarity of her dialogue there lay an
+ambiguous meaning and a cutting sarcasm, both of which were tinged with
+a prophetic spirit, capable, from its equivocal drift, of being applied
+to each individual whom she addressed. Owing to her unsettled life, and
+her habit of passing from place to place, she was well acquainted with
+local history. There lived scarcely a family within a very wide circle
+about her, of whom she did not know every thing that could possibly be
+known; a fact of which she judiciously availed herself by allusions
+in general conversations that were understood only by those whom they
+concerned. These mysterious hints, oracularly thrown out, gained her the
+reputation of knowing more than mere human agency could acquire, and of
+course she was openly conciliated and secretly hated.
+
+Her conversation with the menials of the inn was very short and
+decisive.
+
+“Sheemus,” said she to the person who acted in the capacity of waiter,
+“where's Meehaul Neil?”
+
+“Troth, Nell, dacent woman,” replied the other, “myself can't exactly
+say that. I'll be bound he's on the _Esker_, looking afther the sheep,
+poor crathurs, durin' Andy Connor's illness in the small-pock. Poor
+Andy's very ill, Nell, an' if God hasn't sed it, not expected; glory be
+to his name!”
+
+“Is Andy ill?” inquired Nell; “and how long?”
+
+“Bedad, going on ten days.”
+
+“Well,” said the woman, “I knew nothin' about that; but I want to see
+Meehaul Neil, and I know he's in the house.”
+
+“Faix he's not, Nelly, an' you know I wouldn't tell you a lie about it.”
+
+“Did you get the linen that was stolen from your masther?” inquired Nell
+significantly, turning at the same time a piercing glance on the waiter;
+“an' tell me,” she added, “how is Sally Lavery, and where is she?”
+
+“It wasn't got,” he replied, in a kind of stammer; “an' as to Sally, the
+nerra one o' me knows any thing about her, since she left this.”
+
+“Sheemus,” replied Nell, “you know that Meehaul Neil is in the house;
+but I'll give you two choices, either to bring me to the speech of him,
+or else I'll give your masther the name of the thief that stole his
+linen; ay! the name of the thief that resaved it. I name nobody at
+present; an' for that matther, I know nothin'. Can't all the world tell
+you that Nell M'Cullum knows nothin'!”
+
+“_Ghe dhevin_, Nelly,” said the waiter, “maybe Meehaul is in the house
+unknownst to me. I'll try, any how, an' if he's to the fore, it won't be
+my fault or he'll see you.”
+
+Nell, while the waiter went to inform Meehaul, took two ribbons out of
+her pocket, one white and the other black, both of which she folded into
+what would appear to a bystander to be a simple kind of knot. When the
+innkeeper's son and the waiter returned to the hall, the former asked
+her what the nature of her business with him might be. To this she made
+no reply, except by uttering the word husht! and pulling the ends, first
+of the white ribbon, and afterwards of the black. The knot of the first
+slipped easily from the complication, but that of the black one, after
+gliding along from its respective ends, became hard and tight in the
+middle.
+
+“_Tha sha marrho!_ life passes and death stays,” she exclaimed. “Andy
+Connor's dead, Meehaul Neil; an' you may tell your father that he must
+get some one else to look afther his sheep. Ay! he's dead!--But that's
+past. Meehaul, folly me; it's you I want, an' there's no time to be
+lost.”
+
+She passed out as she spoke, leaving the waiter in a state of wonder
+at the extent of her knowledge, and of the awful means by which, in his
+opinion, she must have acquired it.
+
+Meehaul, without uttering a syllable, immediately walked after her. The
+pace at which she went was rapid and energetic, betokening a degree of
+agitation and interest on her part, for which he could not account.
+As she had no object in bringing him far from the house, she availed
+herself of the first retired spot that presented itself, in order to
+disclose the purport of her visit. “Meehaul Neil,” said she, “we're now
+upon the Common, where no ear can hear what passes between us. I ax have
+you spirit to keep your sister Ellen from shame and sorrow?” The young
+man started, and became strongly excited at such a serious prelude to
+what she was about to utter.
+
+“_Millia diououl!_ woman, why do you talk about shame or disgrace comin'
+upon any sister of mine?” What villain dare injure her that regards his
+life? My sisther! Ellen Neil! No, no! the man that 'ud only think of
+that, I'd give this right hand a dip to the wrist in the best blood of
+his heart.”
+
+“Ay, ay! it's fine spakin': but you don't know the hand you talk of.
+It's one that you had better avoid than meet. It's the strong hand, an'
+the dangerous one when vexed. You know Lamh Laudher Oge?”
+
+Meelmul started again, and the crone could perceive by his manner that
+the nature of the communication she was about to make had been already
+known to him, though not, she was confident, in so dark and diabolical a
+shape as that in which she determined to put it.
+
+“Lamh Laudher Oge!” he exclaimed; “surely you don't mane to say that he
+has any bad design upon Ellen! It's not long since I gave him a caution
+to drop her, an' to look out for a girl fittin' for his station. Ellen
+herself knows what he'll get, if we ever catch him spakin' to her again.
+The day will never come that his faction and ours can be friends.”
+
+“You did do that, Meehaul,” replied Nell, “an' I know it; but what 'ud
+you think if he was so cut to the heart by your turnin' round upon
+his poverty, that he swore an oath to them that I could name, bindin'
+himself to bring your sister to a state of shame, in order to punish you
+for your words? That 'ud be great glory over a faction that they hate.”
+
+“Tut, woman, he daren't swear such an oath; or, if he swore it fifty
+times over on his bare knees, he'd ate the stones off o' the pavement
+afore he'd dare to act upon it. In the first place, I'd prepare him
+for his coffin, if he did; an' in the next, do you think so inanely
+of Ellen, as to believe that she would bring disgrace an' sorrow upon
+herself and her family? No, no, Nell; the old _dioul's_ in you, or
+you're beside yourself, to think of such a story. I've warned her
+against him, and so did we all; an' I'm sartin' this minute, that
+she'd not go a single foot to change words with him, unknownst to her
+friends.”
+
+The old woman's face changed from the expression of anxiety and
+importance that it bore, to one of coarse glee, under which, to those
+who had penetration sufficient to detect it, lurked a spirit of hardened
+and reckless ferocity.
+
+“Well, well,” she replied, “sure I'm proud to hear what you tell me.
+How is poor Nanse M'Collum doin' wid yez? for I hadn't time to see her
+a while agone. I hope she'll never be ashamed or afraid of her aunt,
+any how. I may say, I'm all that's left to the good of her name, poor
+girshah.”
+
+“What 'ud ail her?” replied Meehaul; “as long a' she's honest an'
+behaves herself, there's no fear of her. Had you nothing elsa to say to
+me, Nell?”
+
+The same tumultuous expression of glee and malignity again lit up the
+features of the old woman, as she looked at him, and replied, with
+something like contemptuous hesitation, “Why, I don't know that. If
+you had more sharpness or sinse I might say--Meehaul Neil,” she added,
+elevating her voice, “what do you think I could say, this sacred moment!
+Your sister! Why she's a good girl!--true enough that: but how long she
+may be so's another affair. Afeard! Be the ground we stand on, man dear,
+if you an' all belongin' to you, had eyes in your heads for every day in
+the year, you couldn't keep her from young Lamh Laudher. Did you hear
+anything?”
+
+“I'd not believe a word of it,” said Meehaul calmly, and he turned to
+depart.
+
+“I tell you it's as true as the sun to the dial,” replied Nell; “and I
+tell you more, he's wid her this minnit behind your father's orchard!
+Ay! an' if you wish you may see them together wid your own eyes, an'
+sure if you don't b'lieve me, you'll b'lieve them. But, Meehaul,
+take care of him; for he has his fire-arms; if you meet him don't go
+empty-handed, and I'd advise you to have the first shot.”
+
+“Behind the orchard,” said Meehaul, astonished; “where there?”
+
+“Ay, behind the orchard, where they often war afore. Where there? Why,
+if you want to know that, sittin' on one of the ledges in the Grassy
+Quarry. That's their sate whenever they meet; an' a snug one it is for
+them that don't like their neighbors' eyes to be upon them. Go now an'
+satisfy yourself, but watch them at a distance, an', as you expect to
+save your sister, don't breathe the name of Nell M'Collum to a livin'
+mortal.”
+
+Meehaul Neil's cheek flushed with deep resentment on hearing this
+disagreeable intelligence. For upwards of a century before there had
+subsisted a deadly feud between the Neils and Lamh Laudhers, without
+either party being able exactly to discover the original fact from
+which their enmity proceeded. This, however, in Ireland, makes little
+difference. It is quite sufficient to know that they meet and fight upon
+every possible opportunity, as hostile factions ought to do, without
+troubling themselves about the idle nonsense of inquiring why they
+hate and maltreat each other. For this reason alone, Meehaul Neil was
+bitterly opposed to the most distant notion of a marriage between his
+sister and young Lamh Laudher. There were other motives also which
+weighed, with nearly equal force, in the consideration of this subject.
+His sister Ellen was by far the most beautiful girl of her station in
+the whole country,--and many offers, highly advantageous, and far above
+what she otherwise could have expected, had been made to her. On the
+other hand, Lamh Laudher Oge was poor, and by no means qualified in
+point of worldly circumstances to propose for her, even were hereditary
+enmity out of the question. All things considered, the brother and
+friends of Ellen would rather have seen her laid in her grave, than
+allied to a comparatively poor young man, and their bitterest enemy.
+
+Meehaul had but little doubt as to the truth of what Nell M'Collum told
+him. There was a saucy and malignant confidence in her manner, which,
+although it impressed him with a sense of her earnestness, left,
+nevertheless, an indefinite feeling of dislike against her on his mind.
+He knew that her motive for disclosure was not one of kindness or regard
+for him or for his family. Nell M'Collum had often declared that “the
+wide earth did not carry a bein' she liked or loved, but one--not even
+excepting herself, that she hated most of all.” This however was not
+necessary to prove that she acted rather from the gratification of some
+secret malice, than from the principle of benevolence. The venomous
+leer of her eye, therefore, and an accurate knowledge of her character,
+induced him to connect some apprehension of approaching evil with the
+unpleasant information she had just given him.
+
+“Well,” said Meehaul, “if what you say is true, I'll make it a black
+business to Lamh Laudher. I'll go directly and keep my eye on them; an'
+I'll have my fire-arms, Nell; an' by the life that's in me, he'll taste
+them if he provokes me; an Ellen knows that.” Having thus spoken he left
+her.
+
+The old woman stood and looked after him with a fiendish complacency.
+
+“A black business, will you?” she exclaimed, repeating his words in
+a soliloquy;--“do so--an' may all that's black assist you in it! Dher
+Chiernah, I'll do it or lose a fall--I'll make the Lamh Laudhers the
+Lamh Lhugs afore I've done wid 'em. I've put a thorn in their side this
+many a year, that'll never come out; I'll now put one in their marrow,
+an' let them see how they'll bear that. I've left _one_ empty chair at
+their hearth, an' it 'll go hard wid me but I'll lave another.”
+
+Having thus expressed her hatred against a family to whom she attributed
+the calamities that had separated her from society, and marked her as
+a being to be avoided and detested, she also departed from the Common,
+striking her stick with peculiar bitterness into the ground as she went
+along.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+In the mean time young Lamh Laudher felt little suspicion that the
+stolen interview between him and Ellen Neil was known. The incident,
+however, which occurred to him on his way to keep the assignation,
+produced in his mind a vague apprehension which he could not shake off.
+To meet a red-haired woman, when going on any business of importance,
+was considered at all times a bad omen, as it is in the country parts
+of Ireland unto this day; but to meet a female familiar with forbidden
+powers, as Nell M'Collum was supposed to be, never failed to produce
+fear and misgiving in those who met her. Mere physical courage was no
+bar against the influence of such superstitions; many a man was a
+slave to them who never knew fear of a human or tangible enemy. They
+constituted an important part of the popular belief! for the history of
+ghosts and fairies, and omens, was, in general, the only kind of lore
+in which the people were educated; thanks to the sapient traditions of
+their forefathers.
+
+When Nell passed away from Lamh Laudher, who would fain have flattered
+himself that by turning back on the way, until she passed him, he had
+avoided meeting her, he once more sought the place of appointment, at
+the same slow pace as before. On arriving behind the orchard, he found,
+as the progress of the evening told him, that he had anticipated the
+hour at which it had been agreed to meet. He accordingly descended the
+Grassy Quarry, and sat on a mossy ledge of rock, over which the brow of
+a little precipice jutted in such a manner as to render those who sat
+beneath, visible only from a particular point. Here he had scarcely
+seated himself when the tread of a foot was heard, and in a few minutes
+Nanse M'Collum stood beside him.
+
+“Why, thin, bad cess to you, Lamh Laudher,” she exclaimed, “but it's a
+purty chase I had afther you.”
+
+“Afther me, Nanse? and what's the commission, _cush gastha_
+(lightfoot)?”
+
+“The sorra any thing, at all, at all, only to see if you war here. Miss
+Ellen sent me to tell you that she's afeard she can't come this evenin',
+unknownst to them.”
+
+“An' am I not to wait, Nanse?”
+
+“Why, she says she--_will_ come, for all that, if she can; but she
+bid me take your stick from you, for a rason she has, that she'll tell
+yourself when she sees you.”
+
+“Take my stick! Why Nanse, _ma colleen baun_, what can she want with my
+stick? Is the darlin' girl goin' to bate any body?”
+
+“Bad cess to the know _I_ know, Lamh Laudher, barrin' it be to lay on
+yourself for stalin' her heart from her. Why thin, the month's mether o'
+honey to you, soon an' sudden, how did you come round her at all?”
+
+“No matter about that, Nanse; but the family's bitther against me?--eh?”
+
+“Oh, thin, in trogs, it's ill their common to hate you as they do; but
+thin, you see, this faction-work will keep yees asundher for ever. Now
+gi' me your stick, an' wait, any way, till you see whether she comes or
+not.”
+
+“Is it by Ellen's ordhers you take it, Nanse?”
+
+“To be sure--who else's? but the divil a one o' me knows what she means
+by it, any how--only that I daren't go back widout it.”
+
+“Take it, Nanse; she knows I wouldn't refuse her my heart's blood, let
+alone a bit of a kippeen.”
+
+“A bit of a kippeen! Faix, this is a quare kippeen! Why, it would fell a
+bullock.”
+
+“When you see her, Nanse, tell her to make haste, an' for God's sake not
+to disappoint me. I can't rest well the day I don't meet her.”
+
+“Maybe other people's as bad, for that matter; so good night, an' the
+mether o' honey to you, soon an' sudden! Faix, if any body stand in my
+way now, they'll feel the weight of this, any how.”
+
+After uttering the last words, she brandished the cudgel and
+disappeared.
+
+Lamh Laudher felt considerably puzzled to know what object Ellen could
+have had in sending the servant maid for his staff. Of one thing,
+however, he was certain, that her motive must have had regard to his
+own safety; but how, or in what manner, he could not conjecture. It is
+certainly true some misgivings shot lightly across his imagination,
+on reflecting that he had parted with the very weapon which he usually
+brought with him to repel the violence of Ellen's friends, should he be
+detected in an interview with her. He remembered, too, that he had
+met unlucky Nell M'Collum, and that the person who deprived him of his
+principal means of defence was her niece. He had little time, however,
+to think upon the subject, for in a few minutes after Nanse's departure,
+he recognized the light quick step of her whom he expected.
+
+The figure of Ellen Neil was tall, and her motions full of untaught
+elegance and natural grace. Her countenance was a fine oval; her
+features, though not strictly symmetrical, were replete with animation,
+and her eyes sparkled with a brilliancy indicative of a warm heart and a
+quick apprehension. Flaxen hair, long and luxuriant, decided, even at a
+distant glance, the loveliness of her skin, than which the unsunned snow
+could not be whiter. If you add to this a delightful temper, buoyant
+spirits, and extreme candor, her character, in its strongest points, is
+before you.
+
+On reaching the bottom of the Grassy Quarry, as it was called, she
+peered under the little beetling cliff that overhung the well-known
+ledge on which Lamh Laudher sat.
+
+“I declare, John,” said she, on seeing him, “I thought at first you
+weren't here.”
+
+“Did you ever know me to be late!--” said John, taking her by the hand,
+and placing her beside him; “and what would you a' done, Ellen, if I
+hadn't been here?”
+
+“Why, run home as if the life was lavin' me, for fear of seein'
+something.”
+
+“You needn't be afeard, Ellen, dear; nothing could harm you, at all
+events. However, puttin' that aside, have you any betther tidin's than
+you had when we met last?”
+
+“I wish to heaven I had, John! but indeed I have far worse; ay, a
+thousand times worse. They have all joined against me, an' I'm not to
+see or speak to you at all.”
+
+“That's hard,” replied Lamh Laudher, drawing his breath tightly; “but
+I know where it comes from. I think your father might be softened a
+little, ay, a great deal, if it wasn't for your brother Meehaul.”
+
+“Indeed, Lamh Laudher, you're wrong in that; my father's as bitther
+against you as he is. It was only on Tuesday evenin' last that they told
+me, one an' all they would rather see me a corpse than your wife. Indeed
+an' deed, John, I doubt it never can be.”
+
+“There,” replied John, “I see plain enough that they'll gain you over
+at last. That will be the end of it: but if you choose to break the vows
+and promises that passed between us, you may do so.”
+
+“Oh! Lamh Laudher,” said Ellen, affected at the imputation contained in
+his last observation; “don't you treat me with such suspicion. I suffer
+enough for your sake, as it is. For nearly two years, a day has hardly
+passed that my family hasn't wrung the burnin' tears from my eyes on
+your account. Haven't I refused matches that any young woman in my
+station of life ought to be I proud to accept?”
+
+“You did, Ellen, you did; but still I know how hard it is for you to
+hould out against the persecution you suffer at home. No, no, Ellen
+dear, I never doubted you for one minute. All I wondher at is, that such
+a girl as you ever could think of one so humble as I am, compared to
+what you'd have a right to expect an' could get.”
+
+“Well, but if I'm willin' to prefer you, John?” said Ellen, with a
+smile.
+
+“One thing I know, Ellen,” he replied, “an' that is, that I'm far from
+bein' worthy of you; an' I ought, if I had a high enough spirit, to try
+to turn you against me, if it was only that you might marry a man that
+'ud have it in his power to make you happier than ever I'll be able to
+do; any way, than ever it's likely I'll be able to do.”
+
+“I don't think, John, that ever money or the wealth of the world made a
+man an' wife love one another yet, if they didn't do it before; but it
+has often put their hearts against one another.”
+
+“I agree wid you in that, Ellen; but you don't know how my heart sinks
+when I think of your an' my own poverty. My poor father, since the
+strange disappearance of little Alice, never was able to raise his head;
+and indeed my mother was worse. If the child had died, an' that we knew
+she slept with ourselves, it would be a comfort. But not to know what
+became of her--whether she was drowned or kidnapped--that was what
+crushed their hearts. I must say that since I grew up, we're improvin';
+an' I hope, God willin', now that my father laves the management of the
+farm to myself, we'll still improve more an' more. I hope it for their
+sakes, but--more, if possible, for yours. I don't know what I wouldn't
+do to make you happy, Ellen. If my life could do it, I think I could lay
+it down to show the love I bear you. I could take to the highway and rob
+for your sake, if I thought it would bring me means to make you happy.”
+
+Ellen was touched by his sincerity, as well as by the tone of manly
+sorrow with which he spoke. His last words, however, startled her, when
+she considered the vehement manner in which he uttered them.
+
+“John,” said she, alarmed, “never, while you have life, let me hear a
+word of that kind out of your lips. No--never, for the sake of heaven
+above us, breathe it, or think of it. But, I'll tell you something, an'
+you must hear it, an' bear it too, with patience.”
+
+“What is it, Ellen! If it's fair an' manly, I'll be guided by your
+advice.”
+
+“Meehaul has threatened to--to--I mane to say, that you musn't have any
+quarrel with him, if he meets you or provokes you. Will you promise
+this?”
+
+“Meenaul has threatened to strike me, has he? An' I, a Lamh Laudher, am
+to take a blow from a Neil, an' to thank him, I suppose, for givin' it.”
+
+Ellen rose up and stood before him.
+
+“Lamh Laudher,” said she, “I must now try your love for me in earnest.
+A lie I cannot tell no more than I can cover the truth. My brother has
+threatened to strike you, an' as I said afore, you must bear it for his
+sister's sake.”
+
+“No, _dher Chiernah_, never. That, Ellen, is goin' beyant what I'm able
+to bear. Ask me to cut off my right hand for your sake, an' I'll do it;
+ask my life, an' I'll give it: but to ask a Lamh Laudher to bear a
+blow from a Neil--never. What! how could I rise my face afther such a
+disgrace? How could I keep the country wid a Neil's blow, like the stamp
+of a thief upon my forehead, an' me the first of my own faction, as your
+brother is of his. No--never!”
+
+“An' you say you love me, John?”
+
+“Betther than ever man loved woman.”
+
+“No, man--you don't,” she replied; “if you did, you'd give up something
+for me. You'd bear that for my sake, an' not think it much. I'm
+beginin' to believe, Lamh Laudher, that if I was a poor portionless
+girl, it wouldn't be hard to put me out of your thoughts. If it was only
+for my own sake you loved me, you'd not refuse me the first request I
+ever made to you; when you know, too, that if I didn't think more of you
+than I ought, I'd never make it.”
+
+“Ellen, would you disgrace me? Would you wish me to bear the name of a
+coward? Would you want my father to turn me out of the house? Would you
+want my own faction to put their feet upon me, an' drive me from among
+them?”
+
+“John,” she replied, bursting into tears, “I do know that it's a sore
+obligation to lay upon you, when everything's taken into account; but
+if you wouldn't do this for me, who would you do it for? Before heaven,
+John, I dread a meetin' between you an' my brother, afther what he tould
+me; an' the only way of preventin' danger is for you not to strike him.
+Oh, little you know what I have suffered these two days for both your
+sakes! Lamh Laudher Oge, I doubt it would be well for me if I had never
+seen your face.”
+
+“Anything undher heaven but what you want me to do, Ellen.”
+
+“Oh! don't refuse me this, John. I ask it, as I said, for both your
+sake, an' for my own sake. Meehaul wouldn't strike an unresistin' man.
+I won't lave you till you promise; an' if that won't do, I'll go down on
+my. knees an' ask you for the sake of heaven above, to be guided by me
+in this.”
+
+“Ellen, I'll lave the country to avoid him, if that'll plase you.”
+
+“No--no--no, John: that doesn't plase me. Is it to lave your father
+an' family, an' you the staff of their support? Oh, John, give me your
+promise. Here on my two knees I ask it from you, for my own, for your
+own, and for the sake of God above us! I know Meehaul. If he got a blow
+from you on my account, he'd never forgive it to either you or me.”
+
+She joined her hands in supplication to him as she knelt, and the tears
+chased each other like rain down her cheeks. The solemnity with which
+she insisted on gaining her point staggered Lamh Laudher not a little.
+
+“There must be something undher this,” he replied, “that makes you set
+your heart on it so much. Ellen, tell me the truth; what is it?”
+
+“If I loved you less, John, an' my brother too, I wouldn't care so much
+about it. Remember that I'm a woman, an' on my knees before you. A
+blow from you would make him take your life or mine, sooner than that I
+should become your wife. You ought to know his temper.”
+
+“You know, Ellen, I can't at heart refuse you any thing. I will not
+strike your brother.”
+
+“You promise, before God, that no provocation will make you strike him.”
+
+“That's hard, Ellen; but--well, I do; before God, I won't--an' it's for
+your sake I say it. Now, get up, dear, get up. You have got me to do
+what no mortal livin' could bring me to but yourself. I suppose that's
+what made you send Nanse M'Collum for my staff?”
+
+“Nancy M'Collum! When?”
+
+“Why, a while ago. She tould me a quare enough story, or rather no story
+at all, only that you couldn't come, an' you could come, an' I was to
+give up my staff to her by your ordhers.”
+
+“She tould you false, John. I know nothing about what you say.”
+
+“Well, Ellen,” replied Lamh Laudher, with a firm seriousness of manner,
+“you have brought me into danger. I doubt, without knowin' it. For my
+own part, I don't care so much. Her unlucky aunt met me comin' here this
+evenin', and threatened both our family and yours. I know she would sink
+us into the earth if she could. Either she or your brother is at the
+bottom of this business, whatever it is. Your brother I don't fear; but
+she is to be dreaded, if, all's true that's said about her.”
+
+“No, John--she surely couldn't have the heart to harm, you an' me. Oh,
+but I'm light now, since you did what I wanted you. No harm can come
+between you and Meehaul; for I often heard him say, when speakin'
+about his faction fights, that no one but a coward would, strike an
+unresistin' man. Now come and see me pass the Pedlar's Cairn, an'
+remember that you'll thank me for what I made you do this night. Come
+quickly--I'll be missed.”
+
+They then passed on by a circuitous and retired path that led round the
+orchard, until he had conducted her in safety beyond the Pedlar's Cairn,
+which was so called from a heap of stones that had been loosely piled
+together, to mark the spot as the scene of a murder, whose history, thus
+perpetuated by the custom of every passenger casting a stone upon the
+place, constituted one of the local traditions of the neighborhood.
+
+After a tender good-night, given in a truly poetical manner under the
+breaking light of a May moon, he found it necessary to retrace his steps
+by a path which wound round the orchard, and terminated in the public
+entrance to the town. Along this suburban street he had advanced but a
+short way, when he found himself overtaken and arrested by his bitter
+and determined foe, Meehaul Neil. The connection betwixt the promise
+that Ellen had extorted from him and this rencounter with her brother
+flashed upon him forcibly: he resolved, however, to be guided by her
+wishes, and with this purpose on his part, the following dialogue took
+place between the heads of the rival factions. When we say, however,
+that Lamh Laudher was the head of his party, we beg to be understood as
+alluding only to his personal courage and prowess; for there were in it
+men of far greater wealth and of higher respectability, so far as mere
+wealth could confer the latter.
+
+“Lamh Laudher,” said Meehaul, “whenever a Neil spakes to you, you may
+know it's hot in friendship.”
+
+“I know that, Meehaul Neil, without hearin' it from you. Spake, what
+have you to say?”
+
+“There was a time,” observed the other, “when you and I were enemies
+only because our cleaveens were enemies but now there is, an' you know
+it, a blacker hatred between us.”
+
+“I would rather there was not, Meehaul; for my own part, I have no
+ill-will against either you or yours, all you know that; so when you
+talk of hatred, spake only for yourself.”
+
+“Don't be mane, man,” said Neil; “don't make them that hates you despise
+you into the bargain.”
+
+Lamh Laudher turned towards him fiercely, and his eye gleamed with
+passion; but he immediately recollected himself, and simply said--
+
+“What is your business with me this night, Meehaul Neil?”
+
+“You'll know that soon enough--sooner, maybe, than you wish. I now ask
+you to tell me, if you are an honest man, where you have been?”
+
+“I am as honest, Meehaul, as any man that ever carried the name of Neil
+upon him, an' yet I won't tell you that, till you show me what right you
+have to ask me.”
+
+“I b'lieve you forget that I'm Ellen Neil's brother: now, Lamh Laudher,
+as her brother, I choose to insist on your answering me.”
+
+“Is it by her wish?”
+
+“Suppose I say it is.”
+
+“Ay! but I won't suppose that, till you lay your right hand on your
+heart, and declare as an honest man, that--tut, man--this is nonsense.
+Meehaul, go home--I would rather there was friendship between us.”
+
+“You were with Ellen, this night in the! Grassy Quarry.”
+
+“Are you sure of that?”
+
+“I saw you both--I watched you both; you left her beyond the Pedlar's
+Cairn, an' you're now on your way home.”
+
+“An' the more mane you, Meehaul, to become a spy upon a girl that
+you know is as pure as the light from heaven. You ought to blush for
+doubtin' sich a sister, or thinkin' it your duty to watch her as you
+do.”
+
+“Lamh Laudher, you say that you'd rather there was no ill-will between
+us.”
+
+“I say that, God knows, from my heart out.”
+
+“Then there's one way that it may be so. Give up Ellen; you'll find it
+for your own interest to do so.”
+
+“Show me that, Meehaul.”
+
+“Give her up, I say, an' then I may tell you.”
+
+“Meehaul, good-night. Go home.”
+
+They had now entered the principal street of the town, and as they
+proceeded in what appeared to be an earnest, perhaps a friendly
+conversation, many of their respective acquaintances, who lounged in the
+moonlight about their doors, were not a little surprised at seeing them
+in close conference. When Lamh Laudher wished him good night, he
+had reached an off street which led towards his father's house, a
+circumstance at which he rejoiced, as it would have been the means, he
+hoped, of terminating a dialogue that was irksome to both parties. He
+found himself, however, rather unexpectedly and rudely arrested by his
+companion.
+
+“We can't part, Lamh Laudher,” said Meehaul seizing him by the collar,
+“'till this business is settled--I mane till you promise to give my
+sister up.”
+
+“Then we must stand here, Meehaul, as long as we live--an' I surely
+won't do that.”
+
+“You must give her up, man.”
+
+“Must! Is it must from a Neil to a Lamh Laudher? You forgot yourself,
+Meehaul: you are rich now, an' I'm poor now; but any old friend can tell
+you the differ between your grandfather an' mine. Must, indeed!”
+
+“Ay; must is the word, I say; an' I tell you that from this spot you
+won't go till you swear it, or this stick--an' it's a good one--will
+bring you to submission.”
+
+“I have no stick, an' I suppose I may thank you for that.”
+
+“What do you mane?” said Neil; “but no matter--I don't want it.
+There--to the divil with it;” and as he spoke he threw it over the roof
+of the adjoining house.
+
+“Now give up my sister or take the consequence.”
+
+“Meehaul, go home, I say. You know I don't fear any single man that ever
+breathed; but, above all men on this earth, I wish to avoid a quarrel
+with you. Do you think, in the mean time, that even if I didn't care a
+straw for your sister, I could be mane enough to let myself be bullied
+out of her by you, or any of your faction? Never, Meehaul; so spare your
+breath, an' go home.”
+
+Several common acquaintances had collected about them, who certainly
+listened to this angry dialogue between the two faction leaders with
+great interest. Both were powerful men, young, strong, and muscular.
+Meehaul, of the two, was taller, his height being above six feet,
+his strength, courage, and activity, unquestionably very great. Lamh
+Laudher, however, was as fine a model of physical strength, just
+proportion, and manly beauty as ever was created; his arms, in
+particular, were of terrific strength, a physical advantage so peculiar
+to his family as to occasion the epithet by which it was known. He had
+scarcely uttered the reply we have I written, when Meehaul, with his
+whole! strength, aimed a blow at his stomach, which the other so far
+turned aside, as to bring it I higher up on his chest. He staggered
+back, after receiving it, about seven or eight yards, but did not fall.
+His eye literally blazed, and for a moment he seemed disposed to act!
+under the strong impulse of self-defence. The solemnity of his promise
+to Ellen, however, recurred to him in time to restrain his uplifted
+arm. By a strong and sudden effort he endeavored to compose himself, and
+succeeded. He approached Meehaul, and with as much calmness as he could
+assume, said--
+
+“Meehaul, I stand before you an' you may strike, but I won't return your
+blows: I have reasons for it, but I tell you the truth.”
+
+“You won't fight?” said Meehaul, with mingled rage and scorn.
+
+“No,” replied the other, “I won't fight you.”
+
+A murmur of “shame” and “coward” was heard from those who had been drawn
+together by their quarrel.
+
+“_Dher ma chorp_,” they exclaimed with astonishment, “but Lamh Laudher's
+afeard of him!--the _garran bane's_ in him, now that he finds he has met
+his match.”
+
+“Why, hard fortune to you, Lamh Laudher, will you take a blow from a
+Neil? Are you goin' to disgrace your name?”
+
+“I won't fight him,” replied he to whom they spoke, and the uncertainty
+of his manner was taken for want of courage.
+
+“Then,” said Meehaul, “here, before witnesses, I give you the coward,
+that you may carry the name to the last hour of your life.”
+
+He inflicted, when uttering the words, a blow with his open hand on Lamh
+Laudher's cheek, after which he desired the spectators to bear witness
+to what he had done. The whole crowd was mute with astonishment, not a
+murmur more was heard; but they looked upon the two rival champions, and
+then upon each other with amazement. The high-minded young man had but
+one course to pursue. Let the consequence be what it might, he could
+not think for a moment of compromising the character of Ellen, nor
+of violating his promise, so solemnly given; with a flushed cheek,
+therefore, and a brow redder even with shame than indignation, he left
+the crowd without speaking' a word, for he feared that by indulging in
+any further recrimination on the subject, his resolution might give way
+under the impetuous resentment which he curbed in with such difficulty.
+
+Meehaul Neil paused and looked after him, equally struck with surprise
+and contempt at his apparent want of spirit.
+
+“Well,” he exclaimed to those who stood about him, “by the life within
+me, if all the parish had sworn that Lamh Laudher Oge was a coward, I'd
+not a b'lieved them!”
+
+“Faix, Misther Neil, who would, no more, than yourself?” they replied;
+“devil the likes of it ever we seen! The young fellow that no man could
+stand afore five minutes!”
+
+“That is,” replied others, “bekase he never met a man that would fight
+him. You see when he did, how he has turned out. One thing any how is
+clear enough--after this he can never rise his head while he lives.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Meehaul now directed his steps homewards, literally stunned by the
+unexpected cowardice of his enemy. On approaching his father's door, he
+found Nell M'Collum seated on a stone bench, waiting his arrival.
+The moment she espied him she sprang to her feet, and with her usual
+eagerness of manner, caught the breast of his coat, and turning him
+round towards the moonlight, looked eagerly into his face.
+
+“Well,” she inquired, “did he show his fire-arms? Well? What was done?”
+
+“Somebody has been making a fool of you, Nell,” replied Meehaul; “he
+had neither fire-arms, nor staff, nor any thing else; an' for my part, I
+might as well have left mine at home.”
+
+“Well, but, _douol_, man, what was done? Did you smash him? Did you
+break his bones?”
+
+“None of that, Nell, but worse; he's disgraced for ever. I struck him,
+an' he refused to fight me; he hadn't a hand to raise.
+
+“No! _Dher Chiernah_, he had not; an' he may thank Nell M'Collum for
+that. I put the weakness over him. But I've not done wid him yet. I'll
+make that family curse the day they crossed Nell M'Collum, if I should
+go down for it. Not that I have any ill will to the boy himself, but the
+father's heart's in him, an' that's the way, Meehaul, I'll punish the
+man that was the means of lavin' me as I am.”
+
+“Nell, the devil's in your heart,” replied Meehaul, “if ever he was in
+mortal's. Lave me, woman: I can't bear your revengeful spirit, an' what
+is more, I don't want you to interfere in this business, good, bad, or
+indifferent. You bring about harm, Nell; but who has ever known you to
+do good?”
+
+“Ay! ay!” said the hag, “that's the cuckoo song to Nell; she does harm,
+but never does good! Well, may my blackest curse wither the man that
+left Nell to hear that, as the kindest word that's spoke either to her
+or of her! I don't blame you. Meehaul--I blame nobody but him for it
+all. Now a word of advice before you go in; don't let on to Ellen that
+you know of her meetin' him this night;--an' reason good,--if she thinks
+you're watchin' her, she'll be on her guard--'ay, an' outdo you in spite
+of your teeth. She's a woman--she's a woman. Good night, an' mark him
+the next time betther.”
+
+Meehaul himself--had come to the same determination and from the same
+motive.
+
+The consciousness of Lamh Laudher's public disgrace, and of his
+incapability to repel it, sank deep into his heart. The blood in his
+veins became hot and feverish when he reflected upon the scornful and
+degrading insult he had just borne. Soon after his return home, his
+father and mother both noticed the singularly deep bursts of indignant
+feeling with which he appeared to be agitated. For some time they
+declined making any inquiry as to its cause, but when they saw at length
+the big scalding tears of shame and rage start from his flashing eyes,
+they could no longer restrain their concern and curiosity.
+
+“In the name of heaven, John,” said they, “what has happened to put you
+in such a state as you're in?”
+
+“I can't tell you,” he replied; “if you knew it, you'd blush with
+burnin' shame--you'd curse me in your heart. For my part, I'd rather be
+dead fifty times over than livin', after what has happened this night.”
+
+“An' why not tell us, Lamh Laudher?”
+
+“I can't father; I couldn't stand upright afore you and spake it. I'd
+sink like a guilty man in your presence; an' except you want to drive me
+distracted, or perjured, don't ask me another question about it. You'll
+hear it too soon.”
+
+“Well, we must wait,” said the father; “but I'm sure, John, you'd
+not do anything unbecomin' a man. For my part, I'm not unasy on your
+account, for except to take an affront from a Neil, there's nothing you
+would do could shame me.”
+
+This was a' fresh stab to the son's wounded pride, for which he was not
+prepared. With a stifled groan he leaped to his feet, and rushing from
+the kitchen, bolted himself up in his bed-room.
+
+His parents, after he had withdrawn, exchanged glances.
+
+“That went home to him,” said the father; “an' as sure as death, the
+Neils are in it, whatever it is. But by the crass that saved us, if he
+tuck an affront from any of them, without payin' them home double, he is
+no son of mine, an' this roof won't cover him another night. Howsomever
+we'll see in the morn-in', plase God!”
+
+The mother, who was proud of his courage and prowess, scouted with great
+indignation the idea of her son's tamely putting up with an insult from
+any of the opposite faction.
+
+“Is it he bear an affront from a Neil! arrah, don't make a fool of
+yourself, old man! He'd die sooner. I'd stake my life on him.”
+
+The night advanced, and the family had retired to bed; but their son
+attempted in vain to sleep. A sense of shame overpowered him keenly.
+He tossed and turned, and groaned, at the contemplation of the disgrace
+which he knew would be heaped on him the following day. What was to be
+done? How was he to wipe it off? There was but one method, he believed,
+of getting his hands once more free; that was to seek Ellen, and gain
+her permission to retract his oath on that very night. With this purpose
+he instantly dressed, himself, and quietly unbolting his own door,
+and that of the kitchen, got another staff, and passed out to seek her
+father's inn.
+
+The night had now become dark, but mild and agreeable; the repose of man
+and nature was deep, and save his own tumultuous thoughts every thing
+breathed an air of peace and rest. At a quick but cautious pace he soon
+reached the inn, and without much difficulty passed into the garden,
+from which he hoped to be able to make himself known to Ellen. In this,
+to his great mortification, he was disappointed; the room in which she
+slept, being on the third story, presented a window, it is true, to the
+garden; but how was he to reach it, or hold a dialogue with her, even
+should she recognize him, without being overheard by some of the family?
+All this might have occurred to him at home, had he been sufficiently
+cool for reflection. As it was, the only method of awakening her that he
+could think of was to throw up several handsful of small pebbles against
+the window. This he tried without any effect. Pebbles sufficiently large
+to reach the window would have broken the glass, so that he felt himself
+compelled to abandon every hope of speaking to her that night. With
+lingering and reluctant steps he left the garden, and stood for some
+time before the front of the house, leaning against an upright stone,
+called the market cross. Here he had not been more than two minutes,
+when he heard footsteps approaching, and on looking closely through
+the darkness, he recognized the figure of Nell M'Collum, as it passed
+directly to the kitchen window. Here the crone stopped, peered in, and
+with caution gave one of the panes a gentle tap. This was responded
+to by one much louder from within, and almost immediately the door was
+softly opened. From thence issued another female figure, evidently that
+of Nanse M'Collum, her niece. Both passed down the street in a northern
+direction, and Lamh Laudher, apprehensive that they were on no good
+errand, took off his shoes, lest his footsteps might be heard, and
+dogged them as they went along. They spoke little, and that in whispers,
+until they had got clear of the town, when, feeling less restraint, the
+following dialogue occurred to them:--
+
+“Isn't it a quare thing, aunt, that she should come back to this place
+at all?”
+
+“Quare enough, but the husband's comin' too--he's to folly her.”
+
+“He ought to know that he needn't come here, I think.”
+
+“Why, you fool, how do you know that? Sure the town must pay him fifty
+guineas, if he doesn't get a customer, and that's worth comin' for. She
+must be near us by this time. Husht! do you hear a car?”
+
+They both paused to listen, but no car was audible.
+
+“I do not,” replied the niece; “but isn't it odd that he lets her carry
+the money, an' him trates her so badly'?”
+
+“Why would it be odd? Sure, she takes betther care of it, an' puts it
+farther than he does. His heart's in a farden, the nager.”
+
+“Rody an' the other will soon spare her that trouble, any way,” replied
+the niece. “Is there no one with her but the carman?”
+
+“Not one--hould you tongue--here's the gate where the same pair was to
+meet us. Who is this stranger that Rody has picked up? I hope he's the
+thing.”
+
+“Some red-headed fellow. Rody says he is honest. I'm wondherin', aunt,
+what 'ud happen if she'd know the place.”
+
+“She can't, girshah--an' what if she does? She may know the place, but
+will the place know her? Rody's friend says the best way is to do for
+her; an' I'm afeard of her, to tell you the truth--but we'll settle that
+when they come. There now is the gate where we'll sit down. Give a cough
+till we try if they're------whist! here they are!”
+
+The voices of two men now joined the conversation, but in so low a tone,
+that Lamh Laudher could not distinctly hear its purport.
+
+[Illustration: PAGE 91-- With stealthy pace he crept over]
+
+The road along which they traveled was craggy, and full of ruts, so that
+a car could be heard in the silence of night at a considerable distance.
+On each side the ditches were dry and shallow; and a small elder hedge,
+which extended its branches towards the road, afforded Lamh Laudher
+the obscurity which he wanted. With stealthy pace he crept over and sat
+beneath it, determined to witness whatever incident might occur, and to
+take a part in it, if necessary. He had scarcely seated himself when the
+car which they expected was heard jolting about half a mile off along
+the way, and the next moment a consultation took place in tones so low
+and guarded, that every attempt on his part to catch its purport was
+unsuccessful. This continued with much earnestness, if not warmth, until
+the car came within twenty perches of the gate, when Nell exclaimed--
+
+“If you do, you may--but remimber I didn't egg you on, or put it into
+your hearts, at all evints. Maybe I have a child myself livin'--far from
+me--an' when I think of him, I feel one touch of nature at my heart in
+favor of her still. I'm black enough there, as it is.”
+
+“Make your mind asy,” said one of them, “you won't have to answer for
+her.”
+
+The reply which was given to this could not be heard.
+
+“Well,” rejoined,Nell, “I know that. Her comin' here may not be for my
+good; but--well, take this shawl, an' let the work be quick. The carman
+must be sent back with sore bones to keep him quiet.”
+
+The car immediately reached the spot where they sat, and as it passed,
+the two men rushed from the gate, stopped the horse, and struck the
+carman to the earth. One of them seized him while down, and pressed
+his throat, so as to prevent him from shouting. A single faint shriek
+escaped the female, who was instantly dragged off the car and gagged by
+the other fellow and Nanse M'Collum.
+
+Lamh Laudher saw there was not a moment to be lost. With the speed
+of lightning he sprung forward, and with a single blow laid him who
+struggled with the carman prostrate. To pass then to the aid of the
+female was only the work of an instant. With equal success he struck
+down the villain with whom she was struggling. Such was the rapidity of
+his motions, that he had not yet had time even to speak; nor indeed did
+he wish at all to be recognized in the transaction. The carman, finding
+himself freed from his opponent, bounced to his legs, and came to the
+assistance of his charge, whilst Lamh Laudher, who had just flung Nanse
+M'Collum into the ditch, returned in time to defend both from a second
+attack. The contest, however, was a short one. The two ruffians, finding
+that there was no chance of succeeding, fled across the fields; and our
+humble hero, on looking for Nanse and her aunt, discovered that they
+also had disappeared. It is unnecessary to detail the strong terms in
+which the strangers expressed their gratitude to Lamh Laudher.
+
+“God's grace be upon you, whoever you are, young man!” exclaimed the
+carman; “for wid His help an' your own good arm, it's my downright
+opinion that you saved us from bein' both robbed an' murthered.”
+
+“I'm of that opinion myself,” replied Lamh Laudher.
+
+“There is goodness, young man, in the tones of your voice,” observed the
+female; “we may at least ask the name of the person who has saved our
+lives?”
+
+“I would rather not have my name mentioned in the business,” he replied;
+“a woman, or a devil, I think, that I don't wish to cross or provoke,
+has had a hand in it. I hope you haven't been robbed?” he added.
+
+She assured him, with expressions of deep gratitude, that she had not.
+
+“Well,” said he, “as you have neither of you come to much harm, I would
+take it as the greatest favor you could do me, if you'd never mention a
+word about it to any one.”
+
+To this request they agreed with some hesitation. Lamh Laudher
+accompanied them into the town, and saw them safely in a decent
+second-rate inn, kept by a man named Luke Connor, after which he
+returned to his father's house, and without undressing, fell into a
+disturbed slumber until morning.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the circumstances attending the quarrel
+between him and Meehaul Neil, on the preceding night, would pass off
+without a more than ordinary share of public notice. Their relative
+positions were too well known not to excite an interest corresponding
+with the characters they had borne, as the leaders of two bitter and
+powerful factions: but when it became certain that Meehaul Neil had
+struck Lamh Laudher Oge, and that the latter refused to fight him, it
+is impossible to describe the sensation which immediately spread through
+the town and parish. The intelligence was first received by O'Rorke's
+party with incredulity and scorn. It was impossible that he of the
+Strong Hand, who had been proverbial for courage, could all at once turn
+coward, and bear the blow from a Neil! But when it was proved beyond the
+possibility of doubt or misconception, that he received a blow tamely
+before many witnesses, under circumstances of the most degrading insult,
+the rage of his party became incredible. Before ten o'clock the next
+morning his father's house was crowded with friends and relations,
+anxious to hear the truth from his own lips, and all, after having heard
+it, eager to point out to him the only method that remained of wiping
+away his disgrace, namely, to challenge Meehaul Neil. His father's
+indignation knew no bounds; but his mother, on discovering the truth,
+was not without that pride and love which, are ever ready to form an
+apology for the feelings and errors of an only child.
+
+“You may all talk,” she said; “but if Lamh Laudher Oge didn't strike
+him, he had good reasons for it. How do you know, an' bad cess to your
+tongues, all through other, how Ellen Neil would like him after weltin'
+her brother? Don't ye think she has the spirit of her faction in her as
+well as another?”
+
+This, however, was not listened to. The father would hear of no apology
+for his son's cowardice but an instant challenge. Either that or to be
+driven from his father's roof the only alternatives left him.
+
+“Come out here,” said the old man, for the son had not left his humble
+bed-room, “an' in presence of them that you have brought to shame
+and disgrace, take the only plan that s left to you, an' send him a
+challenge.”
+
+“Father,” said the young man, “I have too much of your own blood in me
+to be afraid of any man--but for all that, I neither will nor can fight
+Meehaul Neil.”
+
+“Very well,” said the father, bitterly, “that's enough. _Dher Manim_,
+Oonagh, you're a guilty woman; that boy's no son of mine. If he had
+my blood in him, he couldn't act as he did. Here, you intherloper, the
+door's open for you; go out of it, an' let me never see the branded
+face of you while you live.” The groans of the son were audible from his
+bed-room.
+
+“I will go, father,” he replied, “an' I hope the day will come when
+you'll all change your opinion of me. I can't, however, stir out till I
+send a message a mile or so out of town.”
+
+The old man in the mean time, wept as if his son had been dead; his
+tears, however, were not those of sorrow, but of shame and indignation.
+
+“How can I help it,” he exclaimed, “when I think of the way that the
+Neils will clap their wings and crow over us! If it was from any other
+family he tuck it so inanely, I wouldn't care so much; but from them!
+Oh, Chiernah! it's too bad! Turn out, you villain!”
+
+A charge of deeper disgrace, however, awaited the unhappy young man.
+The last harsh words of the father had scarcely been uttered, when three
+constables came in, and inquired if his son were at home.
+
+“He is at home,” said the father, with tears in his eyes, “and I never
+thought he would bring the blush to my face as he did by his conduct
+last night.”
+
+“I am sorry,” said the principal of them, “for what has happened, both
+on your account and his. Do you know this hat?”
+
+“I do know it,” replied the old man; “it belongs to John. Come out
+here,” said he, “here's Tom Breen wid your hat.”
+
+The son left his room, and it was evident from his appearance that he
+had not undressed at all during the night. The constables immediately
+observed these circumstances, which they did not fail to interpret to
+his disadvantage.
+
+“Here is your hat,” said the man who bore it; “one would think you were
+travelin' all night, by your looks.”
+
+The son thanked him for his civility, got clean stockings, and after
+arranging his dress, said to his father--
+
+“I'm now ready to go, father, an' as I can't do what you want me to do,
+there's nothing for me but to leave the country for a while.”
+
+“He acknowledged it himself,” said the father, turning to Breen; “an' in
+that case, how could I let the son that shamed me live undher my roof?”
+
+“He's the last young man in the country I stand in,” said Breen, “that
+any one who knew him would suspect to be guilty of robbery. Upon my
+soul, Lamh Laudher More, I'm both grieved an' distressed at it. We're
+come to arrest him,” he added, “for the robbery he committed last
+night.”
+
+“Robbery!” they exclaimed with one voice.
+
+“Ay,” said the man, “robbery, no less--an' what is more, I'm afraid
+there's little doubt of his guilt. Why did he lave his hat at the place
+where the attempt was first made? He must come with us.”
+
+The mother shrieked aloud, and clapped her hands like a distressed
+woman; the father's brow changed from the flushed hue of indignation,
+and became pale with apprehension.
+
+“Oh! no, no,” he exclaimed, “John never did that. Some qualm might come
+over him in the other business, but--no, no--your father knows you're
+innocent of robbery. Yes, John, my blood is in you, and there you're
+wronged, my son. I know you too well, in spite of all I've said to you,
+to believe that, my true-hearted boy.”
+
+He grasped his son's hand as he spoke.
+
+And his mother at the same moment caught him in her arms, whilst both
+sobbed aloud. A strong sense of innate dignity expanded the brow of
+young Lamh Laudher. He smiled while his parents wept, although his
+sympathy in their sorrow brought a tear at the same time to his
+eye-lids. He declined, however, entering into any explanation, and the
+father proceeded--
+
+“Yes! I know you are innocent, John; I can swear that you didn't leave
+this house from nine o'clock last night up to the present minute.”
+
+“Father,” said Lamh Laudher, “don't swear that, for it would not be
+true, although you think it would. I was out the greater part of last
+night.”
+
+His father's countenance fell again, as did those of his friends who
+were present, on hearing what appeared to be almost an admission of his
+guilt.
+
+“Go,” said the old man, “go; naburs, take him with you. If he's guilty
+of this, I'll never more look upon his face. John, my heart was crushed
+before, but you're likely to break it out an' out.”
+
+Lamh Laudher Oge's deportment, on hearing himself charged with robbery,
+became dogged and sullen. The conversation, together with the sympathy
+and the doubt it excited among his friends, he treated with silent
+indignation and scorn. He remembered that on the night before, the
+strange woman assured him she had not been robbed, and he felt that the
+charge was exceedingly strange and unaccountable.
+
+“Come,” said he, “the sooner this business is cleared up the better.
+For my part, I don't know what to make of it, nor do I care much how it
+goes. I knew since yesterday evening, that bad luck was before me, at
+all events, an' I suppose it must take its course, an' that I must bear
+it.”
+
+The father had sat down, and now declined uttering a single word in
+vindication of his' son. The latter looked towards him, when about to
+pass out, but the old man waved his hand with sorrowful impatience,
+and pointed to the door, as intimating a wish that he should forthwith
+depart from under his roof. Loaded with twofold disgrace, he left his
+family and his friends, accompanied by the constables, to the profound
+grief and astonishment of all who knew him.
+
+They then conducted him before a Mr. Brooldeigh, an active magistrate of
+that day, and a gentleman of mild and humane character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+On reaching Brookleigh Hall, Lamh Laudher found the strange woman, Nell
+M'Collum, Connor's servant maid, and the carman awaiting his arrival.
+The magistrate looked keenly at the prisoner, and immediately glanced
+with an expression of strong disgust at Nell M'Collum. The other female
+surveyed Lamh Laudher with an interest evidently deep; after which
+she whispered something to Nell, who frowned and shook her head, as if
+dissenting from what she had heard. Lamh Laudher, on his part surveyed
+the features of the female with an earnestness that seemed to absorb all
+sense of his own disgrace and danger.
+
+“O'Rorke,” said the magistrate, “this is a serious charge against you. I
+trust you may be able effectually to meet it.”
+
+“I must wait, your worship, till I hear fully what it is first,” replied
+Lamh Laudher, “afther that I'm not afraid of clearin' myself from it.”
+
+The woman then detailed the circumstances of the robbery, which it
+appeared took place at the moment her luggage was in the act of being
+removed to her room, after which she added, rather unexpectedly--“And
+now your worship, I have plainly stated the facts; but I must, in
+conscience, add, that although this woman,” turning to Nell M'Collum,
+“is of opinion that the young man before you has robbed me, yet I cannot
+think he did.”
+
+“I'll swear, your worship,” said Nell, “that on passin' homewards last
+night, seein' a car wid people about it, at Luke Connor's door, I stood
+behind the porch, merely to thry if I knew who they wor. I seen this
+Lamh Laudher wid a small oak box in his hands, an' I'll give my oath
+that it was open, an' that he put his hands into it, and tuck something
+out.”
+
+“Pray, Nell, how did it happen that you yourself were abroad at so
+unseasonable an hour?” said the magistrate.
+
+“Every one knows that I'm out at quare hours,” replied Nell; “I'm not
+like others. I know where I ought to be, at all times; but last night,
+if your worship wishes to hear the truth, I was on my way to Andy
+Murray's wake, the poor lad that was shepherd to the Neils.”
+
+“And pray, Nell,” said his worship, “how did you form so sudden an
+acquaintance with this respectable looking woman?”
+
+“I knew her for years,” said Nell; “I've seen her in other parts of the
+country often.”
+
+“You were more than an hour with her last night--were you not?” said his
+worship.
+
+“She made me stay wid her,” said Nell, “bekase she was a stranger, an'
+of coorse was glad to see a face she know, afther the fright she got.”
+
+“All very natural, Nell; but in the mean time, she might easily have
+chosen a more respectable associate. Have you actually lost the sum of
+six hundred pounds, my good madam?”
+
+“I have positively lost so much,” replied the woman, “together with the
+certificate of my marriage.”
+
+“And how did you become acquainted with Nell M'Collum?” he inquired.
+
+The stranger was silent, and blushed deeply at this question; but Nell,
+with more presence of mind, went over to the magistrate, and whispered
+something which caused him to start, look keenly at her, and then at the
+plaintiff.
+
+“I must have this confirmed by herself” he said in reply to Nell's
+disclosure, “otherwise I shall be much more inclined to consider you the
+thief than O'Rorke, whose character has been hitherto unimpeachable and
+above suspicion.”
+
+He then beckoned the woman over to his desk, and after having first
+inquired if she could write, and being replied to in the affirmative,
+he placed a slip of paper before her, on which was written--“Is that
+unhappy woman called Nell M'Collum, your mother?”
+
+“Alas! she is, sir,” replied the female, with a deep expression
+of sorrow. The magistrate then appeared satisfied. “Now,” said he,
+addressing O'Rorke, “state, fairly and honestly what you have to say in
+reply to the charge brought against you.”
+
+“Please your worship,” said the young man, “you hear the woman say that
+she brings no charge against me; but I can prove on oath, that Nell
+M'Collum and her niece, Nanse M'Collum, along with two men that I don't
+know, except that one was called Rody, met at Franklin's gate, with an
+intention of robing, an' it's my firm belief, of murdering this woman.”
+
+He then detailed with great earnestness the incidents and conversation
+of the preceding night.
+
+“Sir,” replied Nell, with astonishing promptness, “I can prove by two
+witnesses, that, no longer ago than last night, he said he would take to
+the high-road, in ordher to get money to enable him to marry Ellen Neil.
+Yes, you villain, Nanse M'Collum heard every word that passed between
+you and her in the grassy quarry; an' Ellen, your worship, can prove it
+too, if she's sent for.”
+
+This had little effect on the magistrate, who at no time placed any
+reliance on Nell's assertions; he immediately, however, dispatched a
+summons for Nanse M'Collum.
+
+The carman then related all that he knew, every word of which strongly
+corroborated what Lamh Laudher had said. He concluded by declaring it
+to be his opinion, that the prisoner was innocent, and added, that,
+according to the best of his belief, the box was not open when he left
+it in the plaintiff's sleeping-room above stairs.
+
+The magistrate again looked keenly and suspiciously towards Nell. At
+this stage of the proceedings, O'Rorke's father and mother, accompanied
+by some of their friends, made their appearance. The old man, however,
+declined to take any part in the vindication of his son. He stood
+sullenly silent, with his arms folded and his brows knit, as much in
+indignation as in sorrow. The grief of the mother was louder, for she
+wept audibly.
+
+Ere the lapse of many minutes, the constable returned, and stated that
+Nanse was not be found.
+
+“She has not been at her master's house since morning,” he observed,
+“and they don't know where she is, or what has become of her.”
+
+The magistrate immediately despatched two of the constables, with strict
+injunctions! to secure her, if possible.
+
+“In the mean time,” he added, “I will order you, Nell M'Collum, to be
+strictly confined, until I ascertain whether she can be produced or not.
+Your haunts may be searched with some hope of success, while you are in
+durance; but I rather think we might seek for her in vain, if you were
+at liberty to regulate her motions. I cannot expect,” he added, turning
+to the stranger, “that you should prosecute one so nearly related to
+you, even if you had proof, which you have not; but I am almost certain,
+that she has been someway or other concerned in the robbery. You are a
+modest, interesting woman, and I regret the loss you have sustained. At
+present there are no grounds for committing any of the parties charged
+with the robbery. This unhappy woman I commit only as a vagrant, until
+her niece is found, after that we shall probably be able to see somewhat
+farther into this strange affair.”
+
+“Something tells' me, sir,” replied the stranger, “that this young man
+is as innocent of the robbery as the child unborn. It's not my intention
+ever to think of prosecuting him. What I have done in the matter was
+against my own wishes.”
+
+“God in heaven bless you for the words!” exclaimed the parents of
+O'Rorke, each pressing her hand with delight and gratitude. The woman
+warmly returned their greetings, but instantly felt her bosom heave
+with a hysterical oppression under which she sank into a state of
+insensibility. Lamh Laudher More and his wife were proceeding to bring
+her towards the door for air, when Nell M'Collum insisted on a prior
+right to render her that service. “Begone, you servant of the devil,”
+ exclaimed the old man, “your wicked breath is bad about any one else;
+you won!t lay a hand upon her.”
+
+“Don't let her, for heaven's sake!” said his wife; “her eye will kill the
+woman!”
+
+“You are not aware,” said the magistrate, “that this woman is her
+daughter?”
+
+“Whose daughter, please your honor,” said the old man indignantly.
+
+“Nell M'Collum's,” he returned.
+
+“It's as false as hell!” rejoined O'Rorke, “beggin' your honor's pardon
+for sayin' so. I mean it's false for Nell, if she says it. Nell, sir,
+never had a daughter, an' she knows that; but she had a son, an' she
+knows best what became of him.”
+
+Nell, however, resolved not to be deterred from getting-the stranger
+into her own hands. With astonishing strength and fury she attempted to
+drag the insensible creature from O'Rorke's grasp; but the magistrate,
+disgusted at her violence, ordered two of the persons present to hold
+her down.
+
+At length the woman began to recover.
+
+She sobbed aloud, and a copious flow of tears drenched her cheeks. Nell
+ordered her to tear herself from O'Rorke and his wife:-- “Their hands
+are bad about you,” she exclaimed, “and their son has robbed you, Mary.
+Lave them, I say, or it will be worse for you.”
+
+The woman paid her no attention; on the contrary, she laid her head on
+the bosom of O'Rorke's wife, and wept as if her heart would break.
+
+“God help me!” she exclaimed with a bitter sense of her situation, “I am
+an unhappy, an' a heart-broken woman! For many a year I have not known
+what it is to have a friendly breast to weep on.”
+
+She then caught O'Rorke's hand and kissed it affectionately, after which
+she wept afresh;
+
+“Merciful heaven!” said she'--“oh, how will I ever be able to meet my
+husband! and such a husband! oh, heavens pity me!”
+
+Both O'Rorke and his wife stood over her in tears. The latter bent her
+head, kissed the stranger, and pressed her to her bosom. “May God bless
+you!” said O'Rorke himself solemnly; “trust in Him, for he can see
+justice done to you when man fails.”
+
+The eyes of Nell glared at the group like those of an enraged tigress:
+she stamped her feet upon the floor, and struck it repeatedly with her
+stick, as she was in the habit of doing, when moved by strong and deadly
+passions.
+
+“You'll suffer for that, Mary,” she exclaimed; “and as for you, Lamh
+Laudher More, my debt's not paid to you yet. Your son's a robber, an
+I'll prove it before long; every one knows he's a coward too.”
+
+Mr. Brookleigh felt that there appeared to be something connected with
+the transactions of the preceding night, as well as with some of the
+persons who had come before him, that perplexed him not a little. He
+thought that, considering the serious nature of the charge preferred
+against young O'Rorke, he exhibited an apathy under it, that did not
+altogether argue innocence. Some unsettled suspicions entered his mind,
+but not with sufficient force to fix with certainty upon any of those
+present, except Nell and Nanse M'Collum who had absconded. If Nell
+were the woman's mother, her anxiety to bring the criminal to justice
+appeared very natural. Then, again, young O'Rorke's father, who seemed
+to know the history of Nell M'Collum, denied that she ever had a
+daughter. How could he be certain that she had not, without knowing her
+private life thoroughly? These circumstances appeared rather strange, if
+not altogether incomprehensible; so much so, indeed, that he thought
+it necessary, before they separated, to speak with O'Rorke's family in
+private. Having expressed a wish to this effect, he dismissed the
+other parties, except Nell, whom he intended to keep confined until the
+discovery of her niece.
+
+“Pray,” said he to the father of our humble hero, “how do you know,
+O'Rorke, that Nell M'Collum never had a daughter?”
+
+“Right well, your honor. I knew her since she was a child; an' from that
+day to this she was never six months from this town at a time. No, no--a
+son she had, but a daughter she never had.”
+
+“Let me ask you, young man, on what business were you abroad last night?
+I expect you will answer me candidly?”
+
+“It's no matther,” replied young Lamh Laudher gloomily, “my character's
+gone. I cannot be worse, an' I will tell no man how I spent it, till I
+have an opportunity of clarin' myself.”
+
+“If you spent it innocently,” returned the magistrate, “you can have no
+hesitation in making the disclosure we require.”
+
+“I will not mention it,” said the other; “I was disgraced, an' that is
+enough. I think but little of the robbery.”
+
+Brookleigh understood him; but the last assertion, though it exonerated
+him in the opinion of a man who knew something about character, went far
+in that of his friends who were present to establish his guilt.
+
+They then withdrew; and it would have been much to young Lamh Laudher's
+advantage if this private interview had never taken place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+The next morning O'Rorke and his wife! waited upon Mr. Brookleigh to
+state, that in their opinion it would be more judicious to liberate
+Nell M'Collum, provided he kept a strict watch upon all her motions.
+The magistrate instantly admitted both the force and ingenuity of the
+thought; and after having appointed three persons to the task of keeping
+her under surveillance, he set her at large.
+
+This was all judicious and prudent; but in the mean time, common rumor,
+having first published the fact of young Lamh Laudher's cowardice, found
+it an easy task to associate his name with the robbery. His very father,
+after their last conference with the magistrate, doubted him; his
+friends, in the most sympathetic terms, expressed their conviction of
+his guilt, and the natural consequence resulting from this was, that he
+found himself expelled from his paternal roof, and absolutely put out
+of caste. The tide of ill-fame, in fact, set in so strongly against
+him, that Ellen, startled as she had been by his threat of taking to
+the highway, doubted him. The poor young man, in truth, led a miserable
+life. Nanse M'Collum had not been found, and the unfavorable rumor was
+still at its height, when one morning the town arose and found the walls
+and streets placarded with what was in those days known as the fatal
+challenge of the DEAD BOXER!
+
+This method of intimating his arrival had always been peculiar to that
+individual, who was a man of color. No person ever discovered the
+means by which he placarded his dreadful challenge. In an age of
+gross superstition, numerous were the rumors and opinions promulgated
+concerning this circumstance. The general impression was, that an evil
+spirit attended him, by whose agency his advertisements were put up at
+night; A law, it is said, then existed, that when a pugilist arrived in
+any town, He might claim the right to receive the sum of fifty guineas,
+provided no man in the town could be found to accept his challenge
+within a given period. A champion, if tradition be true, had the
+privilege of fixing only the place, not the mode and regulations of
+battle. Accordingly the scene of contest uniformly selected by the Dead
+Boxer was the church-yard of the town, beside a new made grave, dug at
+his expense. The epithet of the Dead Boxer had been given to him, in
+consequence of a certain fatal stroke by which he had been able to kill
+every antagonist who dared to meet him; precisely on the same principle
+that we call a fatal marksman a dead shot; and the church-yard was
+selected, and the grave prepared, in order to denote the fatality
+incurred by those who went into a contest with him. He was famous, too,
+at athletic sports, but was never known to communicate the secret of
+the fatal blow; he also taught the sword exercises, at which he was
+considered to be a proficient.
+
+On the morning after his arrival, the town in which we have laid the
+scene of this legend felt the usual impulse of an intense curiosity to
+see so celebrated a character. The Dead Boxer, however, appeared to be
+exceedingly anxious to gratify this natural propensity. He walked
+out from the head inn, where he had stopped, attended by his servant,
+merely, it would appear, to satisfy them as to the very slight chance
+which the stoutest of them had in standing before a man whose blow was
+so fatal, and whose frame so prodigiously Herculean.
+
+Twelve o'clock was the hour at which he deemed proper to make his
+appearance, and as it happened also to be the market-day of the town,
+the crowd which followed him was unprecedented. The old and young, the
+hale and feeble of both sexes, all rushed out to see, with feelings of
+fear and wonder, the terrible and far-famed Dead Boxer. The report
+of his arrival had already spread far and wide into the country,
+and persons belonging to every class and rank of life might be seen
+hastening on horseback, and more at full speed on foot, that they might,
+if possible, catch an early glimpse of him. The most sporting
+characters among the nobility and gentry of the country, fighting-peers,
+fire-eaters, snuff-candle squires, members of the hell-fire and
+jockey clubs, gaugers, gentlemen tinners, bluff yeomen, laborers,
+cudgel-players, parish pugilists, men of renown within a district of ten
+square miles, all jostled each other in hurrying to see, and if possible
+to have speech of, the Dead Boxer. Not a word was spoken that day,
+except with reference to him, nor a conversation introduced, the topic
+of which was not the Dead Boxer. In the town every window was filled
+with persons standing to get a view of him; so were the tops of the
+houses, the dead walls, and all the cars, gates, and available eminences
+within sight of the way along which he went. Having thus perambulated
+the town, he returned to the market-cross, which, as we have said, stood
+immediately in front of his inn. Here, attended by music, he personally
+published his challenge in a deep and sonorous voice, calling upon the
+corporation in right of his championship, to produce a man in ten clear
+days ready to undertake battle with him as a pugilist, or otherwise to
+pay him the sum of fifty guineas out of their own proper exchequer.
+
+Having thus thrown down his gauntlet, the musicians played a dead march,
+and there was certainly something wild and fearful in the association
+produced by these strains of death and the fatality of encountering
+him. This challenge he repeated at the same place and hour during three
+successive days, after which he calmly awaited the result.
+
+In the mean time, certain circumstances came to light, which not only
+developed many cruel and profligate traits in his disposition, but also
+enabled the worthy inhabitants of the town to ascertain several facts
+relating to his connections, which in no small degree astonished them.
+The candid and modest female whose murder and robbery had been planned
+by Nell M'Collum, resided with him as his wife; at least if he did not
+acknowledge her as such, no person who had an opportunity of witnessing
+her mild and gentle deportment, ever for a moment conceived her capable
+of living with him in any other character, his conduct to her, however,
+was brutal in the extreme, nor was his open and unmanly cruelty lessened
+by the misfortune of her having lost the money which he had accumulated.
+With Nell M'Collum he was also acquainted, for he had given orders that
+she should be admitted to him whenever she deemed it necessary. Nell,
+though now at large, found her motions watched with a vigilance which no
+ingenuity on her part, could baffle. She knew this, and was resolved by
+caution to overreach those who dogged her so closely. Her intimacy with
+the Dead Boxer threw a shade of still deeper mystery around her own
+character and his. Both were supposed to be capable of entering into
+evil communion with supernatural beings, and both, of course, were
+looked upon with fear and hatred, modified, to be sure, by the
+peculiarity of their respective situations.
+
+Let not our readers, however, suppose that young Lamh Laudher's disgrace
+was altogether lost in the wide-spread fame of the Dead Boxer. His high
+reputation for generous and manly feeling had given him too strong a
+hold upon the hearts of all who know him, to be at once discarded by
+them from public conversation as an indifferent person. His conduct
+filled them with wonder, it is true; but although the general tone of
+feeling respecting the robbery was decidedly in his favor, yet there
+still existed among the public, particularly in the faction that was
+hostile to him, enough of doubt, openly expressed, to render it a duty
+to avoid him; particularly when this formidable suspicion was joined to
+the notorious fact of his cowardice in the rencounter with Meehaul Neil.
+Both subjects were therefore discussed with probably an equal interest;
+but it is quite certain that the rumor of Lamh Laudher's cowardice would
+alone have occasioned him, under the peculiar circumstances which drew
+it forth, to be avoided and branded with contumely. There was, in
+fact, then in existence among the rival factions in Ireland much of the
+military sense of honor which characterizes the British army at this
+day; nor is this spirit even yet wholly exploded, from our humble
+countrymen. Poor Lamh Laudher was, therefore, an exile from his father's
+house, repulsed and avoided by all who had formerly been intimate with
+him.
+
+There was another individual, however, who deeply sympathized in all he
+felt, because she knew that for her sake it had been incurred; we allude
+to Ellen Neil. Since the night of their last interview, she, too, had
+been scrupulously watched by her relations. But what vigilance can
+surpass the ingenuity of love? Although her former treacherous confidant
+had absconded, yet the incident of the Dead Boxer's arrival had been the
+means of supplying her with a friend, into whose bosom she felt that she
+could pour out all the anxieties of her heart. This was no other than
+the Dead Boxer's wife; and there was this peculiarity in the interest
+which she took in Ellen's distress, that it was only a return of
+sympathy which Ellen felt in the unhappy woman's sufferings. The conduct
+of her husband was indefensible; for while he treated her with shameful
+barbarity, it was evident that his bad passions and his judgment were at
+variance, with respect to the estimate which he formed of her character.
+In her honesty he placed every confidence, and permitted her to manage
+his money and regulate his expenses; but this was merely because her
+frugality and economic habits gratified his parsimony, and fostered one
+of his strongest passions, which was avarice. There was something about
+this amiable creature that won powerfully upon the affections of Ellen
+Neil; and in entrusting her with the secret of her love, she she felt
+assured that she had not misplaced it. Their private conversations,
+therefore, were frequent, and their communications, unreserved on both
+sides, so far as woman can bestow confidence and friendship on the
+subject of her affections or her duty. This intimacy did not long escape
+the prying eyes of Nell M'Collum, who soon took means to avail herself
+of it for purposes which will shortly become evident.
+
+It was about the sixth evening after the day on which the Dead Boxer had
+published his challenge, that, having noticed Nell from a window as she
+passed the inn, he dispatched a waiter with a message that she should be
+sent up to him. Previous to this the hag had been several times with
+his wife, on whom she laid serious injunctions never to disclose to her
+husband the relationship between them. The woman had never done so, for
+in fact the acknowledgement of Nell, as her mother, would have been
+to, any female whose feelings had not been made callous by the world, a
+painful and distressing task. Nell was the more anxious on this point,
+as she feared that such a disclosure would have frustrated her own
+designs.
+
+“Well, granny,” said he, when Nell entered, “any word of the money?”
+
+Nell cautiously shut the door, and stood immediately fronting him, her
+hand at some distance from her side, supported by her staff, and her
+gray glittering eyes fixed upon him with that malicious look which she
+never could banish from her countenance.
+
+“The money will come,” she replied, “in good time. I've a charm near
+ready that'll get a clue to it. I'm watchin' him--and I'm watched
+myself--an' Ellen's watched. He has hardly a house to put his head in;
+but _nabockish!_ I'll bring you an' him together--ay, _dher manim_, an'
+I'll make him give you the first blow; afther that, if you don't give
+him one, it's your own fau't.”
+
+“Get the money first, granny. I won't give him the blow till _it_ is
+safe.”
+
+“Won't you?” replied the beldame; “ay, _dher Creestha_, will you, whin
+you know what. I have to tell you about him an'--an'----”
+
+“And who, granny?”
+
+“_Diououl_, man, but I'm afeard to tell you, for fraid you'd kill me.”
+
+“Tut, Nelly; I'd not strike an Obeah-wo-man,” said he, laughing.
+
+“I suspect foul play between him an'--her.”
+
+“Eh? Fury of hell, no!”
+
+“He's very handsome,” said the other, “an' young--far younger than you
+are, by thirteen--”
+
+“Go on--go on,” said the Dead Boxer, interrupting her, and clenching
+his fist, whilst his eyes literally glowed like live coals, “go on--I'll
+murder him, but not till--yes, I'll murder him at a blow--I will; but
+no--not till you secure the money first. If I give him the blow--THE
+BOX--I might never get it, granny. A dead man gives back nothing.”
+
+“I suspect,” replied Nell, “_arraghid_--that is the money--is in other
+hands. Lord presarve us! but it's a wicked world, blackey.”
+
+“Where is it!” said the Boxer, with a vehemence of manner resembling
+that of a man who was ready to sink to perdition for his wealth. “Devil!
+and furies! where is it?”
+
+“Where is it?” said the imperturbable Nell; “why, manim a yeah, man,
+sure you don't think that I know where it is? I suspect that your
+landlord's daughter, his real sweetheart, knows something about it; but
+thin, you see, I can prove nothing; I only suspect. We must watch an'
+wait. You know she wouldn't prosecute him.”
+
+“We will watch an' wait--but I'll finish him. Tell me, Nell--fury of
+hell, woman--can it be possible--no--well--I'll murder him, though;
+but can it be possible that she's guilty? eh? She wouldn't prosecute
+him--No--no--she would not.”
+
+“She is not worthy of you, blackey. Lord save us! Well, troth, I
+remimber whin you wor in Lord S--'s, you were a fine young man of your
+color. I did something for the young lord in my way then, an' I used to
+say, when I called to see her, that you wor a beauty, barrin' the face.
+Sure enough, there was no lie in that. Well, that was before you tuck
+to the fightin'; but I'm ravin'. Whisper, man. If you doubt what I'm
+sayin', watch the north corner of the orchard about nine to-night, an'
+you'll see a meetin' between her an' O'Rorke. God be wid you! I must
+go.”
+
+“Stop!” said the Boxer; “don't--but do get a charm for the money.”
+
+“Good-by,” said Nell; “_you_ a heart wid your money! No; _damnho sherry_
+on the charm ever I'll get you till you show more spunk. You! My curse
+on the money, man, when your disgrace is consarned!”
+
+Nell passed rapidly, and with evident indignation out of the room; nor
+could any entreaty on the part of the Dead Boxer induce her to return
+and prolong the dialogue.
+
+She had said enough, however, to produce in his bosom torments almost
+equal to those of the damned. In several of their preceding dialogues,
+she had impressed him with a belief that young Lamh Laudher was the
+person who had robbed his wife; and now to the hatred that originated in
+a spirit of avarice, she added the deep and deadly one of jealousy. On
+the other hand, the Dead Boxer had, in fact, begun to feel the influence
+of Ellen Neil's beauty; and perhaps nothing would have given him greater
+satisfaction than the removal of a woman whom he no longer loved, except
+for those virtues which enabled him to accumulate money. And now, too,
+had he an equal interest in the removal of his double rival, whom,
+besides, he considered the spoliator of his hoarded property. The
+loss of this money certainly stung him to the soul, and caused his
+unfortunate wife to suffer a tenfold degree of persecution and misery.
+When to this we add his sudden passion for Ellen Neil, we may easily
+conceive what she must have endured. Nell, at all events, felt satisfied
+that she had shaped the strong passions of her savage dupe in the way
+best calculated to gratify that undying spirit of vengeance which she
+had so long nurtured against the family of Lamh Laudher. The Dead Boxer,
+too, was determined to prosecute his amour with Ellen Neil, not more to
+gratify his lawless affection for her than his twofold hatred of Lamh
+Laudher.
+
+At length nine o'clock arrived, and the scene must change to the
+northern part of Sheemus Neil's orchard. The Dead Boxer threw a cloak
+around him, and issuing through the back door of the inn, entered the
+garden, which was separated from the orchard only by a low clipped hedge
+of young whitethorn, in the middle of which stood of a small gate. In a
+moment he was in the orchard, and from behind its low wall he perceived
+a female proceeding to the north side muffled like himself in a cloak,
+which he immediately recognized to be that of his wife. His teeth became
+locked together with the most deadly resentment; his features twitched
+with the convulsive spasms of rage, and his nostrils were distended
+as if his victims stood already within his grasp. He instantly threw
+himself over the wall, and nothing but the crashing weight of his tread
+could have saved the lives of the two unsuspecting persons before him.
+Startled, however, by the noise of his footsteps, Lamh Laudher turned
+round to observe who it was that followed them, and immediately the
+massy and colossal black now stripped of his cloak--for he had thrown it
+aside--stood in their presence. The female instinctively drew the cloak
+round her face, and Lamh Laudher was about to ask why he followed them,
+when the Boxer approached him in an attitude of assault.
+
+With a calmness almost unparalleled under the circumstances, Lamh
+Laudher desired the female by no means to cling to him.
+
+“If you do,” said he, “I am murdered where I stand.”
+
+“No,” she shrieked, “you shall not. Stand back, man, stand back, if you
+murder him I will take care you shall suffer for it. Stand back. Lamh
+Laudher never injured you.”
+
+“Ha!” exclaimed the Boxer, in reply; “why, what is this! Who have we
+here?”
+
+Ellen, for it was she, had already thrown back the cloak from her
+features, and stepped forward between them.
+
+“Well, I am glad it is you,” said the black, “and so may he. Come, I
+shall conduct you home.”
+
+He caught her arm as he spoke, and drew her over to his side like an
+infant.
+
+“Come, my pretty girl, come; I will treat you tenderly, and all I shall
+ask is a kiss in return. Here, young fellow,” said he to Lamh Laudher,
+with a sense of bitter triumph, “I will show you that one black kiss is
+worth two white ones.”
+
+Heavy, hard, and energetic was the blow which the Dead Boxer received
+upon the temple, as the reply of Lamh Laudher, and dead was the crash
+of his tremendous body on the earth. Ellen looked around her with
+amazement.
+
+“Come,” said she, seizing her lover's arm, and dragging him onward:
+“gracious heavens! I hope you haven't killed him. Come, John, the time
+is short, and we must make the most of it. That villain, as I tould you
+before, is a villain. Oh! if you knew it! John, I have been the manes of
+your disgrace and suffering, but I am willing to do what I can to remedy
+that. In your disgrace, Ellen will be ready, in four days from this,
+to become your wife. John, come to meet me no more. I will send that
+villain's innocent wife to your aunt Alley's, where you now live'. I
+didn't expect to see you myself; but I got an opportunity, and besides
+she was too unwell to bring my message, which was to let you know what I
+now tell you.”
+
+John, ere he replied, looked behind him at the Dead Boxer, and appeared
+as if struck with some sudden thought.
+
+“He is movin',” said he, “an' on this night I don't wish to meet him
+again; but--yes, Ellen, yes--God bless you for the words you've said;
+but how could you for one minute doubt me about the robbery?”
+
+“I did not, John--I did not; and if I did, think of your own words at
+our meetin' in the Quarry; it was a small suspicion, though--no more.
+No, no; at heart I never doubted you.”
+
+“Ellen,” said John, “hear me. You never will become my wife till my
+disgrace is wiped away. I love you too well ever to see you blush for
+your husband. My mind's made up--so say no more. Ay, an' I tell you that
+to live three months in this state would break my heart.”
+
+“Poor John!” she exclaimed, as they separated, and the words were
+followed by a gush of tears, “I know that there is not one of them, in
+either of the factions, so noble in heart and thought as you are.”
+
+“Ill prove that soon, Ellen; but never till my name is fair and clear,
+an' without spot, can you be my wife. Good night, dearest; in every
+thing but that I'll be guided by you.”
+
+They then separated, and immediately the Dead Boxer, like a drunken man,
+went tottering, rather crest-fallen, towards the inn. On reaching his
+own room, his rage appeared quite ungovernable; he stormed, stamped, and
+raved on reflecting that any one was able to knock him down. He called
+for brandy and water, with a curse to the waiter, swore deeply between
+every sip, and, ultimately dispatched another messenger for Nell
+M'Collum.
+
+“That Obeah woman's playing on me,” he exclaimed; “because my face is
+black, she thinks me a fool. Furies! I neither know what she is, nor who
+the other is. But I will know.”
+
+“Don't be too sure of that,” replied Nell, gliding into the
+apartment--“You can say little, blackey, or think little, avourneen,
+that I'll not know. As to who she is, you needn't ax--she won't be long
+troublin' you; an' in regard to myself, I'm what you see me. Arra, _dher
+ma chuirp_, man alive, I could lave you in one night that a boy in his
+first _breestha_ (small clothes) could bate the marrow out of you.”
+
+“Where did you come from now, granny?”
+
+“From her room; she's sick--that was what prevented her from meetin'
+Lamh Laudher.”
+
+“Granny, do you know who she is? I'm tired of her--sick of her.”
+
+“You know enough about her to satisfy you. Wasn't she a beautiful
+creature when Lady S------ tuck her into the family, an' reared her till
+she was fit to wait upon herself. Warn't you then sarvant to the ould
+lord, an' didn't I make her marry you, something against her will, too;
+but she did it to plase me. That was before 'buildin' churches' druv you
+out of the family, an' made you take to the fightin' trade.”
+
+“Granny, you must bring this young fellow across me. Blood! woman, do
+you know what he did? He knocked me down, granny--struck me senseless!
+Fury of hell! Me! Only for attempting to kiss his sweetheart!”
+
+“Ha!” said Nell, bitterly, “keep that to yourself, for heaven's sake!
+_Dher ma chuirp_, man, if it was known, his name would be higher up than
+ever. Be my sowl, any how, that was the Lamh Laudher blow, my boy, an'
+what that is, is well known. The devil curse him for it!”
+
+“Granny, you must assist me in three things. Find a clue to the
+money--bring this fellow in my way, as you promised--and help me with
+the landlord's daughter.”
+
+“Is there nothin' else?”
+
+“What?”
+
+“She's sick.”
+
+“Well, let her die, then; I don't care.”
+
+“In the other things I will help you,” said Nell; “but you must clear
+your own way there. I can do every thing but that. I have a son myself,
+an' my hands is tied against blood till I find him out. I could like to
+see some people withered, but I can't kill.”
+
+“Well, except her case, we understand one another. Good night, then.”
+
+“You must work that for yourself. Good night.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+In the mean time a circumstance occurred which scarcely any person who
+heard it could at first believe. About twelve o'clock the next day the
+house of Lamh Laudher More was surrounded with an immense crowd, and the
+whole town seemed to be in a state of peculiar animation and excitement.
+Groups met, stood, and eagerly accosted each other upon some topic that
+evidently excited equal interest and astonishment.
+
+LAMH LAUDHER OGE HAD CHALLENGED THE DEAD BOXER.
+
+True. On that morning, at an early hour, the proscribed young man waited
+upon the Sovereign of the town, and requested to see him. Immediately
+after his encounter with the black the preceding night, and while Ellen
+Neil offered to compensate him for the obloquy she had brought upon his
+name, he formed the dreadful resolution of sending him a challenge. In
+very few words he stated his intention to the Sovereign, who looked upon
+him as insane.
+
+“No, no,” replied that gentleman; “go home, O'Rorke, and banish the idea
+out of your head; it is madness.”
+
+“But I say yes, yes, with great respect to you, sir,” observed Lamh
+Laudher. “I've been banished from my father's house, and treated with
+scorn by all that know me, because they think me a coward. Now I'll let
+them know I'm no coward.”
+
+“But you will certainly be killed,” said,the Sovereign.
+
+“That's to be seen,” observed the young man; “at all events, I'd as soon
+be killed as livin' in disgrace. I'll thank you, sir, as the head of the
+town, to let the black know that Lamh Laudher Oge will fight him.”
+
+“For heaven's sake, reflect a moment upon the----”
+
+“My mind's made up to fight,” said the other, interrupting him. “No
+power on earth will prevent me, sir. So, if you don't choose to send the
+challenge, I'll bring it myself.”
+
+The Sovereign shook his head, as if conscious of what the result must
+be.
+
+“That is enough,” said he; “as you are fixed on your own destruction,
+the challenge will be given; but I trust you will think better of it.”
+
+“Let him know, if you please,” added Lamh Laudher, “that on to-morrow at
+twelve o'clock we must fight.”
+
+The magistrate nodded, and Lamh Laudher immediately took his leave. In a
+short time the intelligence spread. From the sovereign it passed to his
+clerk, from the clerk to the other members of the corporation, and, ere
+an hour, the town was in a blaze with the intelligence.
+
+“Did you hear what's reported?” was the general question.
+
+Lamh Laudher Oge has challenged the Dead Boxer!
+
+The reader already knows how bitterly public opinion had set in against
+our humble hero; but it would be difficult to describe, in terms
+sufficiently vivid, the rapid and powerful reaction which now took place
+in his favor. Every one pitied him, praised him, remembered his former
+prowess, and after finding some palliative for his degrading interview
+with Meehaul Neil, concluded with expressing a firm conviction that he
+had undertaken a fatal task. When the rumor had reached his parents, the
+blood ran cold in their veins, and their natural affection, now roused
+into energy, grasped at an object that was about to be violently removed
+from it. Their friends and neighbors, as we have stated, came to their
+house for the purpose of dissuading their son against so rash and
+terrible an undertaking.
+
+“It musn't be,” said they, “for whatever was over him wid Meehaul Neil,
+we know now he's no coward, an' that's enough. We musn't see him beat
+dead before our eyes, at all events, where is he?”
+
+“He's at his aunt's,” replied the father; “undher this roof he says
+he will never come till his name is cleared. Heavens above! For him to
+think of fighting a man that kills every one he fights wid!”
+
+The mother's outcries were violent, as were those of his female
+relations, whilst a solemn and even mournful spirit brooded upon the
+countenances of his own faction. It was resolved that his parents and
+friends should now wait upon, and by every argument and remonstrance in
+their power, endeavor to change the rashness of his purpose:
+
+The young man received them with a kind but somewhat sorrowful, spirit.
+The father, uncovered, and with his gray locks flowing down upon his
+shoulders, approached him, extended his hand, and with an infirm voice
+said--
+
+“Give me your hand, John. You're welcome to your father's heart an'
+your father's roof once more.”
+
+The son put his arms across his breast, and bowed his head respectfully,
+but declined receiving his father's hand.
+
+“Not, father--father dear--not till my name is cleared.”
+
+“John,” said the old man, now in tears, “will you refuse me? You are my
+only son, my only child, an' I cannot lose you. Your name is cleared.”
+
+“Father,” said the son, “I've sworn--it's now too late. My heart,
+father, has been crushed by what has happened lately. I found little
+charity among my friend's. I say, I cannot change my mind, for I've
+sworn to fight him. And even if I had not sworn, I couldn't, as a man,
+but do it, for he has insulted them that I love better than my own life.
+I knew you would want to persuade me against what I'm doin'--an' that
+was why I bound myself this mornin' by an oath.”
+
+The mother, who had been detained a few minutes behind them, now
+entered, and on hearing that he had refused to decline the battle,
+exclaimed--
+
+“Who says that Lamh Laudher Oge won't obey his mother? Who dare say it?
+Wasn't he ever and always an obedient son to me an' his father? I won't
+believe that lie of my boy, no more than I ever believed a word of' what
+was sed against him. _Shawn Oge aroon_, you won't refuse me, _avillish_.
+What 'ud become of me, _avich ma chree_, if you fight him? Would you
+have the mother's heart broken, an' our roof childless all out? We
+lost one as it is--the daughter of our heart is gone, an' we don't know
+how--an' now is your father an' me to lie down an' die in desolation
+widout a child to shed a tear over us, or to put up one prayer for our
+happiness?”
+
+The young man's eyes filled with tears; but his cheek reddened, and he
+dashed them hastily aside.
+
+“No, my boy, my glorious boy, won't refuse to save his mother's heart
+from breakin'; ay, and his gray-haired father's too--he won't kill us
+both--my boy won't,--nor send us to the grave before our time!”
+
+“Mother,” said he, “if I could I--Oh! no, no. Now, it's too late--if I
+didn't fight him, I'd be a perjured man. You know,” he added, smiling,
+“there's something in a Lamh Laudher's blow, as well as in the Dead
+Boxer's. Isn't it said, that a Lamh Laudher needn't strike two blows,
+when he sends his strength with one.”
+
+He stretched out his powerful arm, as he spoke, with a degree of pride,
+not unbecoming his youth, spirit, and amazing strength and activity.
+
+“Do not,” he added, “either vex me, or sink my spirits. I'm sworn, an'
+I'll fight him. That's my mind, and it will not change.”
+
+The whole party felt, by the energy and decision with which he spoke
+the last words, that he was immovable. His resolution filled them with
+melancholy, and an absolute sense of death. They left him, therefore, in
+silence, with the exception of his parents, whose grief was bitter and
+excessive.
+
+When the Dead Boxer heard that he had been challenged, he felt more
+chagrin than satisfaction, for his avarice was disappointed; but when he
+understood from those members of the corporation who waited on him,
+that Lamh Laudher was the challenger, the livid fire of mingled rage and
+triumph which blazed in his large bloodshot eyes absolutely frightened
+the worthy burghers.
+
+“I'm glad of that,” said he--“here, Joe, I desire you to go and get
+a coffin made, six feet long and properly wide--we will give him room
+enough; tehee! tehee! tehee!--ah! tehee! tehee! tehee! I'm glad,
+gentlemen. Herr! agh! tehee! tehee! I'm glad, I'm glad.”
+
+In this manner did he indulge in the wild and uncouth glee of a savage
+as ferocious as he was powerful.
+
+“We have a quare proverb here, Misther Black,” said one of the worthy
+burghers, “that, be my sowl, may be you never heard!”
+
+“Tehee! tehee! agh! What is that?” said the Boxer, showing his white
+teeth and blubber lips in a furious grin, whilst the eyes which he
+fastened on the poor burgher blazed up once more, as if he was about to
+annihilate him.
+
+“What is it, sar?”
+
+“Faith,” said the burgher, making towards the door, “I'll tell you
+that when I'm the safe side o' the room--devil a ha'porth bar-rin' that
+neither you nor any man ought to reckon your chickens before they
+are hatched. Make money of that;” and after having discharged this
+pleasantry at the black, the worthy burgher made a hasty exit down
+stairs, followed at a more dignified pace by his companions.
+
+The Dead Boxer, in preparing for battle, observed a series of forms
+peculiar to himself, which were certainly of an appalling character. As
+a proof that the challenge was accepted, he ordered a black flag,
+which he carried about with him, to wave from a window of the inn, a
+circumstance which thrilled all who saw it with an awful certainty of
+Lamh Laudher's death. He then gave order for the drums to be beaten,
+and a dead march to be played before him, whilst he walked slowly up
+the town and back, conversing occasionally with some of those who
+immediately surrounded him. When he arrived nearly opposite the
+market-house, some person pointed out to him a small hut that stood in a
+situation isolated from the other houses of the street.
+
+“There,” added his informant, “is the house where Lamh Laudher Oge's
+aunt lives, and where he himself has lived since he left his father's.”
+
+“Ah!” said the black, pausing, “is he within, do you think?”
+
+One of the crowd immediately inquired, and replied to him in
+affirmative.
+
+“Will any of you,” continued the boxer, “bring me over a half-hundred
+weight from the market crane? I will show this fellow what a poor chance
+he has. If he is so strong in the arm and active as is reported, I
+desire he will imitate me. Let the music stop a moment.”
+
+The crowd was now on tiptoe, and all necks were stretched over the
+shoulders of those who stood before them, in order to see, if possible,
+what the feat could be which he intended to perform. Having received
+the half-hundred weight from the hands of the man who brought it, he
+approached the widow's cottage, and sent in a person to apprize _Lamh
+Laudher_ of his intention to throw it over the house, and to request
+that he would witness this proof of his strength. Lamh Laudher delayed a
+few minutes, and the Dead Boxer stood in the now silent crowd, awaiting
+his appearance, when accidentally glancing into the door, he started as
+if stung by a serpent. A flash and a glare of his fierce blazing eyes
+followed.
+
+“Ha! damnation! true as hell!” he exclaimed, “she's with him! Ha!--the
+Obeah woman was right--the Obeuh woman was right. Guilt, guilt, guilt!
+Ha!”
+
+With terror and fury upon his huge dark features, he advanced a step or
+two into the cottage, and in a voice that resembled the under-growl
+of an enraged bull, said to his wife, for it was she--“You will never
+repeat this--I am aware of you; I know you now! Fury! prepare yourself;
+I say so to both. Ha!” Neither she nor Lamh Laudher had an opportunity
+of replying to him, for he ran in a mood perfectly savage to the
+half-hundred weight, which he caught by the ring, whirled it round him
+two or three times, and, to the amazement of the mob who were crowded
+about him, flung it over the roof of the cottage.
+
+Lamh Laudher had just left the cabin in time to witness the feat, as
+well as to observe more closely the terrific being in his full strength
+and fury, with whom he was to wage battle on the following day. Those
+who watched his countenance, observed that it blanched for a moment, and
+that the color came and went upon his cheek.
+
+“Now, young fellow,” said the Boxer, “get behind the cabin and throw
+back the weight.”
+
+Lamh Landher hesitated, but was ultimately proceeding to make the
+attempt, when a voice from the crowd, in tones that were evidently
+disguised, shouted--
+
+“Don't be a fool, young man; husband your strength, for you will want
+it.”
+
+The Dead Boxer started again--“Ha!” he exclaimed, after listening
+acutely, “fury of hell! are you there? ha! I'll grasp you yet, though.”
+
+The young man, however, felt the propriety of this friendly caution.
+“The person who spoke is right,” said he, “whoever he is. I will
+husband, my strength,” and he passed again into the cabin.
+
+The boxer's countenance exhibited dark and flitting shadows of rage.
+That which in an European cheek would have been the redness of deep
+resentment, appeared, on his, as the scarlet blood struggled with the
+gloomy hue of his complexion, rather like a tincture that seemed to
+borrow its character more from the darkness of his soul, than from the
+color of his skin. His brow, black and lowering as a thunder-cloud, hung
+fearfully over his eyes, which he turned upon Lamh Laudher when entering
+the hut, as if he could have struck him dead with a look. Having desired
+the drums to beat, and the dead march to be resumed, he proceeded along
+the streets until he arrived at the inn, from the front of which the
+dismal flag of death flapped slowly and heavily in the breeze. At this
+moment the death-bell of the town church tolled, and the sexton of the
+parish bustled through the crowd to inform him that the grave which he
+had ordered to be made was ready.
+
+The solemnity of these preparations, joined to the almost superhuman
+proof of bodily strength which he had just given, depressed every heart,
+when his young and generous adversary was contrasted with him. Deep
+sorrow for the fate of Lamh Laudher prevailed throughout the town; the
+old men sighed at the folly of his rash and fatal obstinacy, and the
+females shed tears at the sacrifice of one whom all had loved. From
+the inn, hundreds of the crowd rushed to the church-yard, where they
+surveyed the newly made grave with shudderings and wonder at the
+strangeness of the events which had occurred in the course of the day.
+The death music, the muffled drums, the black flag, the mournful tolling
+of the sullen bell, together with the deep grave that lay open before
+them, appeared rather to resemble the fearful pageant of a gloomy dream,
+than the reality of incidents that actually passed before their eyes.
+Those who came to see the grave departed with heaviness and a sad
+foreboding of what was about to happen; but fresh crowds kept pouring
+towards it for the remainder of the day, till the dusky shades of a
+summer night drove them to their own hearths, and left the church-yard
+silent.
+
+The appearance of the Dead Boxer's wife in the house where Lamh Laudher
+resided, confirmed, in its worst sense, that which Nell M'Collum had
+suggested to him. It is unnecessary to describe the desolating sweep of
+passion which a man, who, like him, was the slave of strong resentments,
+must have suffered. It was not only from motives of avarice and a
+natural love of victory that he felt anxious to fight: to these was now
+added a dreadful certainty that Lamh Laudher was the man in existence
+who had inflicted on him an injury, for which nothing but the pleasure
+of crushing him to atoms with his hands, could atone. The approaching
+battle therefore, with his direst enemy, was looked upon by the Dead
+Boxer as an opportunity of glutting his revenge. When the crowd had
+dispersed, he called a waiter, and desired him to inquire if his
+wife had returned. The man retired to ascertain, and the Boxer walked
+backwards and forwards in a state of mind easily conceived, muttering
+curses and vows of vengeance against her and Lamh Laudher. After some
+minutes he was informed that she had not returned, upon which he gave
+orders that on the very instant of her appearance at the inn, she should
+be sent to him. The waiter's story in this instance was incorrect;
+but the wife's apprehension of his violence, overcame every other
+consideration, and she resolved for some time to avoid him. He had, in
+fact, on more than one occasion openly avowed his jealousy of her and
+O'Rorke, and that in a manner which made the unhappy woman tremble for
+her life. She felt, therefore, from what had just occurred at Widow
+Rorke's cabin, that she must separate herself from him, especially as
+he was susceptible neither of reason nor remonstrance. Every thing
+conspired to keep his bad passions in a state of tumult. Nell M'Collum,
+whom he wished to consult once more upon the recovery of his money,
+could not be found. This, too, galled him; for avarice, except
+during the whirlwind of jealousy, was the basis of his character--the
+predominant passion of his heart. After cooling a little, he called for
+his servant, who had been in the habit of acting for him in the capacity
+of second, and began, with his assistance, to make preparations for
+to-morrow's battle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Nothing now could exceed the sympathy which was felt for young Lamh
+Laudher, yet except among his immediate friends, there was little
+exertion made to prevent him from accelerating his own fate. So true
+is it that public feeling scruples not to gratify its appetite for
+excitement, even at the risk or actual cost of human life. His parents
+and relations mourned him as if he had been already dead. The grief
+of his mother had literally broken down her voice so much, that from
+hoarseness, she was almost unintelligible. His aged father sat and wept
+like a child; and it was in vain that any of their friends attempted to
+console them. During the latter part of the day, every melancholy stroke
+of the death bell pierced their hearts; the dead march, too, and the
+black flag waving, as if in triumph over the lifeless body of their only
+son, the principal support of their declining years, filled them with
+a gloom and terror, which death, in its common shape, would not have
+inspired. This savage pageant on the part, of the Dead Boxer, besides
+being calculated to daunt the heart of any man who might accept his
+challenge, was a cruel mockery of the solemnities of death. In this
+instance it produced such a sensation as never had been felt in that
+part of the country. An uneasy feeling of wild romance, mingled with
+apprehension, curiosity, fear, and amazement, all conspired to work upon
+the imaginations of a people in whom that quality is exuberant, until
+the general excitement became absolutely painful.
+
+Perhaps there was not one among his nearest friends who felt more
+profound regret for having been the occasion of his disgrace, and
+consequently of the fate to which he had exposed him, than Meehaul Neil.
+In the course of that day he sent his father to old Lamh Laudher, to
+know if young O'Rorke would grant him an interview, the object of which
+was to dissuade him from the battle.
+
+“Tell him,” said the latter, with a composure still tinged with a
+sorrowful spirit, “that I will not see him to-day. To-morrow I may,
+and if I don't, tell him, that for his sister's sake, he has my
+forgiveness.”
+
+The introduction of the daughter's name shortened the father's visit,
+who left him in silence.
+
+Ellen, however, had struggles to endure which pressed upon her heart
+with an anguish bitter in proportion to the secrecy rendered necessary
+by the dread of her relations. From the moment she heard of Lamh
+Laudher's challenge, and saw the funeral appendages with which the Dead
+Boxer had darkened the preparations for the fight, she felt her heart
+sink, from a consciousness that she had been indirectly the murderess of
+her lover. Her countenance became ghastly pale, and her frame was seized
+with a tremor which she could hardly conceal. She would have been glad
+to have shed tears, but tears were denied her. Except the Boxer's wife,
+there was no one to whom she could disclose her misery; but alas! for
+once, that amiable creature was incapable of affording her consolation.
+She herself, felt distress resulting from both the challenge, and her
+husband's jealousy, almost equal to that of Ellen.
+
+“I know not how it is,” said she, “but I cannot account for the interest
+I feel in that young man. Yes, surely, it is natural, when we consider
+that I owe my life to him. Still, independently of that, I never heard
+his voice, that it did not fall upon my heart like the voice of a
+friend. We must, if possible, change his mind,”, she added, wiping away
+her tears; “for I know that if he fights that terrible man, he will be
+killed.”
+
+At Ellen's request, she consented to see Lamh Laudher, with a view of
+entreating him, in her name, to decline the fight. Nor were her own
+solicitations less urgent. With tears and grief which could not be
+affected, she besought him not to rush upon certain death--said that
+Ellen could not survive it--pleaded the claims of his aged parents,
+and left no argument untouched that could apply to his situation and
+conduct. Lamh Laudher, however, was inexorable, and she relinquished an
+attempt that she felt to be ineffectual. The direction of her husband's
+attention so unexpectedly to widow Rorke's I cabin, at that moment,
+and his discovery of her interview with Lamh Laudher, determined her,
+previously acquainted as she had been with his jealousy, to keep out of
+his reach, until some satisfactory explanation could be given. Ellen,
+however, could not rest; her grief had so completely overborne all
+other considerations, that she cared little, now, whether her friends
+perceived it or not. On one thing, she was fixed, and that was, to
+prevent Lamh Laudher from encountering the Dead Boxer. With this purpose
+she wrapped herself in a cloak about ten o'clock, and careless whether
+she was observed or not, went directly towards his aunt's house. About
+two-thirds of the way had probably been traversed, when a man, wrapped
+up in a cloak, like herself, accosted her in a low voice, not much above
+a whisper.
+
+“Miss Neil,” said he, “I don't think it would be hard to guess where you
+are going.”
+
+“Who are you that asks?” said Ellen. “No matter; but if you happen to
+see young O'Rorke to-night, I have a message to send him that may serve
+him.”
+
+“Who are you?” again inquired Ellen. “One that cautions you to beware of
+the Dead Boxer; one that pities and respects his unfortunate wife; and
+one who, as I said, can serve O'Rorke.”
+
+“For God's sake, then, if you can, be quick; for there's little time to
+be lost,” said Ellen.
+
+“Give him this message,” replied the man, and he whispered half a dozen
+words into her ear.
+
+“Is that true?” she asked him; “and may he depend upon it?”
+
+“He may, as there's a God above me. Good night!” He passed on at a rapid
+pace. When Ellen entered his aunt's humble cabin, Lamh Laudher had just
+risen from his knees. Devotion, or piety if you will, as it is in many
+cases, though undirected by knowledge, may be frequently found among
+the peasantry associated with objects that would appear to have little
+connection with it. When he saw her he exclaimed with something like
+disappointment:--
+
+“Ah! Ellen dear, why did you come? I would rather you hadn't crossed me
+now, darling.”
+
+His manner was marked by the same melancholy sedateness which we have
+already described. He knew the position in which he stood, and did not
+attempt to disguise what he felt. His apparent depression, however, had
+a dreadful effect upon Ellen, who sat down on a stool, and threw back
+the hood of her cloak; but the aunt placed a little circular arm-chair
+for her somewhat nearer the fire. She declined it in a manner that
+argued something like incoherence, which occasioned O'Rorke to, glance
+at her most earnestly. He started, on observing the wild lustre of her
+eye, and the woebegone paleness of her cheek.
+
+“Ellen,” said he, “how is this? Has any thing frightened you? Merciful
+mother! aunt, look at her!”
+
+The distracted girl sank before him on her knees, locked her hands
+together, and while her eyes sparkled with an unsettled light,
+exclaimed--
+
+“John!--John!--Lamh Laudher Oge--forgive me, before you die! I have
+murdered you!”
+
+“Ellen love, Ellen”--
+
+“Do you forgive me? do you? Your blood is upon me, Lamh Laudher Oge!”
+
+“Heavens above! Aunt, she's turned! Do I forgive you, my heart's own
+treasure? How did you ever offend me, my darling? You. know you never
+did. But if you ever did, my own Ellen, I do forgive you.”
+
+“But I murdered you--and that was because my brother said he would do
+it--an' I got afraid, John, that he might do you harm, an' afraid to
+tell you too--an'--an' so you promise me you won't fight the Dead Boxer?
+Thank God! thank God! then your blood will not be upon me!”
+
+“Aunt, she's lost,” he exclaimed; “the brain of my _colleen dhas_ is
+turned!”
+
+“John, won't you save me from the Dead Boxer? There's nobody able to do
+it but you, Lamh Laudher Oge!”
+
+“Aunt, aunt, my girl's destroyed,” said John, “her heart's broke!
+Ellen!”
+
+“But to-morrow, John--to-morrow--sure yo' won't fight him
+to-morrow?--if you do--if you do he'll kill you--an' 'twas I
+that--that”----
+
+O'Rorke had not thought of raising her from the posture in which
+she addressed him, so completely had he been overcome by the frantic
+vehemence of her manner. He now snatched her up, and placed her in the
+little arm-chair alluded to; but she had scarcely been seated in it,
+when her hands became clenched, her head sank, and the heavy burthen of
+her sorrows was forgotten in a long fit of insensibility.
+
+Lamh Laudher's distraction and alarm prevented him from rendering
+her much assistance; but the aunt was more cool, and succeeded with
+considerable difficulty in restoring her to life. The tears burst in
+thick showers from her eyelids, she drew her breath vehemently and
+rapidly, and, after looking wildly around her, indulged in that natural
+grief which relieves the heart by tears. In a short time she became
+composed, and was able to talk collectedly and rationally.
+
+This, indeed, was the severest trial that Lamh Laudher had yet
+sustained. With all the force of an affection as strong and tender as
+it was enduring and disinterested, she urged him to relinquish his
+determination to meet the Dead Boxer on the following day. John soothed
+her, chid her, and even bantered her, as a cowardly girl, unworthy of
+being the sister of Meehaul Neil, but to her, as well as to all others
+who had attempted to change his purpose, he was immovable. No; the
+sense of his disgrace had sunk too deep into his heart, and the random
+allusions just made by Ellen herself to the Dead Boxer's villainy, but
+the more inflamed his resentment against him.
+
+On finding his resolution irrevocable, she communicated to him in a
+whisper the message which the stranger had sent him. Lamh Laudher,
+after having heard it, raised his arm rapidly, and his eye gleamed with
+something like the exultation of a man who has discovered a secret that
+he had been intensely anxious to learn. Ellen could now delay no longer,
+and their separation resembled that of persons who never expected to
+meet again. If Lamh Laudher could at this moment have affected even a
+show of cheerfulness, in spite of Ellen's depression it would have given
+her great relief. Still, on her part, their parting was a scene of
+agony and distress which no description could reach, and on his, it
+was sorrowful and tender; for neither felt certain that they would ever
+behold each other in life again.
+
+A dark sunless morning opened the eventful day of this fearful battle.
+Gloom and melancholy breathed a sad spirit over the town and adjacent
+country. A sullen breeze was abroad, and black clouds drifted
+slowly along the heavy sky. The Dead Boxer again had recourse to his
+pageantries of death. The funeral bell tolled heavily during the whole
+morning, and the black flag flapped more dismally in the sluggish blast
+than before. At an early hour the town began to fill with myriads of
+people. Carriages and cars, horsemen and pedestrians, all thronged in
+one promiscuous stream towards the scene of interest. A dense multitude
+stood before the inn, looking with horror on the death flag, and
+watching for a glimpse of the fatal champion. From this place hundreds
+of them passed to the house of Lamh Laudher More, and on hearing that
+the son resided in his aunt's they hurried towards her cabin to gratify
+themselves with a sight of the man who dared to wage battle with the
+Dead Boxer. From this cabin, as on the day before, they went to the
+church-yard, where a platform had already been erected beside the grave.
+Against the railings of the platform stood the black coffin intended for
+Lamh Laudher, decorated with black ribbons that fluttered gloomily in
+the blast. The sight of this and of the grave completed the wonder and
+dread which they felt. As every fresh mass of the crowd arrived, low
+murmurs escaped them, they raised their heads and eyes exclaiming--
+
+“Poor Lamh Laudher! God be merciful to him!”
+
+As the morning advanced, O'Rorke's faction, as a proof that they were
+determined to consider the death of their leader as a murder, dressed
+themselves in red ribbons, a custom occasionally observed in Ireland
+even now, at the funerals of those who have been murdered. Their
+appearance passing to and fro among the crowd made the scene with all
+its associations absolutely terrible. About eleven o'clock they went
+in a body to widow Rorke's, for the purpose of once more attempting
+to dissuade him against the fight. Here most unexpected intelligence
+awaited them--_Lamh Laudher Oge_ had disappeared. The aunt stated that
+he had left the house with a strange man, early that morning, and that
+he had not returned. Ere many minutes the rumor was in every part of the
+town, and strong disappointment was felt, and expressed against him in
+several round oaths, by the multitude in general. His father, however,
+declared his conviction that his son would not shrink from what he had
+undertaken, and he who had not long before banished him for cowardice,
+now vouched for his courage. At the old man's suggestion, his friends
+still adhered to their resolutions of walking to the scene of conflict
+in a body. At twenty minutes to twelve o'clock, the black flag was
+removed from the inn window, the muffled drums beat, and the music
+played the same dead march as on the days of uttering the challenge.
+In a few minutes the Dead Boxer, accompanied by some of the neighboring
+gentry, made his appearance, preceded by the flag. From another point,
+the faction of Lamb Laudher fluttering in blood-red ribbons, marched at
+a solemn pace towards the church-yard. On arriving opposite his
+aunt's, his mother wept aloud, and with one voice all the females
+who accompanied her, raised the Irish funeral cry. In this manner,
+surrounded by all the solemn emblems of death, where none was dead,
+they slowly advanced until they reached the platform. The Dead Boxer,
+attended by his own servant, as second, now ascended the stage, where he
+stood for a few minutes, until his repeater struck twelve. That moment
+he began to strip, which having done, he advanced to the middle of
+the stage, and in a deep voice required the authorities of the town to
+produce their champion. To this no answer was returned, for not a man of
+them could account for the disappearance of Lamh Laudher. A wavy motion,
+such as passes over the forest top under a low blast, stirred the
+whole multitude; this was the result of many feelings, but that which
+prevailed amongst them was disappointment. A second time the Dead Boxer
+repeated the words, but except the stir and hum which we have described,
+there was not a voice heard in reply. Lamh Laudher's very friends felt
+mortified, and the decaying spirit of Lamh Laudher More rallied for a
+moment. His voice alone was heard above the dead silence,--
+
+“He will come, back,” said he, “my son will come; and I would now rather
+see him dead than that he should fear to be a man.”
+
+He had scarcely spoken, when a loud cheer, which came rapidly onward,
+was heard outside the church-yard. A motion and a violent thrusting
+aside, accompanied by a second shout, “he's here!” gave intimation of
+his approach. In about a minute, to the manifest delight of all present,
+young Lamh Laudher, besmeared with blood, leaped upon the platform.
+He looked gratefully at the crowd, and in order to prevent perplexing
+inquiries, simply said--
+
+“Don't be alarmed--I had a slight accident, but I'm not the worse of
+it.”
+
+The cheers of the multitude were now enough to awaken the dead beneath
+them; and when they had ceased, his father cried out--
+
+“God support you, boy--you're my true son; an' I know you'll show them
+what the Lamh Laudher blood an' the Lamh Laudher blow is.”
+
+The young man looked about him for a moment, and appeared perplexed.
+
+“I'm here alone,” said he; “is there any among you that will second me?”
+
+Hundreds immediately volunteered this office; but there was one who
+immediately sprung upon the stage, to the no small surprise of all
+present--it was Meehaul Neil. He approached Lamh Laudher and extended
+his hand, which was received with cordiality.
+
+“Meehaul,” said O'Rorke, “I thank you for this.”
+
+“Do not,” replied the other; “no man has such a right to stand by you
+now as I have. I never knew till this mornin' why you did not strike me
+the last night we met.”
+
+The Dead Boxer stood with his arms folded, sometimes looking upon the
+crowd, and occasionally glaring at his young' and fearless antagonist.
+The latter immediately stripped, and when he “stood out erect and
+undaunted upon the stage, although his proportions were perfect, and his
+frame active and massy, yet when measured with the Herculean size of the
+Dead Boxer, he appeared to have no chance.
+
+“Now,” said he to the black, “by what rules are we to fight?”
+
+“If you consult me,” said the other, “perhaps it is best that every man
+should fight as he pleases. You decide that. I am the challenger.”
+
+“Take your own way, then,” said O'Rorke; “but you have a secret,
+black--do you intend to use it?”
+
+“Certainly, young fellow.”
+
+“I have my secret, too,” said Lamh Laudher; “an' now I give you warning
+that I will put it in practice.”
+
+“All fair; but we are losing time,” replied the man of color, putting
+himself in an attitude. “Come on.”
+
+Their seconds stood back, and both advanced to the middle of the stage.
+The countenance of the black, and his huge chest, resembled rather
+a colossal statue of bronze, than the bust of a human being. His eye
+gleamed at Lamh Laudher with baleful flashes of intense hatred. The
+spectators saw, however, that the dimensions of Lamh Laudher gained
+considerably by his approximation to the black. The dusky color of the
+Boxer added apparently to his size, whilst the healthful light which lay
+upon the figure of his opponent took away, as did his elegance, grace,
+and symmetry, from the uncommon breadth and fulness of his bust.
+
+Several feints were made by the black, and many blows aimed, which Lamh
+Laudher, by his natural science and activity, parried; at length a blow
+upon the temple shot him to the boards with great violence, and the
+hearts of the spectators, which were all with him, became fearfully
+depressed.
+
+O'Rorke, having been raised, shook his head as if to throw off the
+influence of the blow. Neil afterwards declared that when coming to the
+second round, resentment and a sense of having suffered in the opinion
+of the multitude by the blow which brought him down, had strung his
+muscular power into such a state of concentration, that his arms became
+as hard as oak. On meeting again he bounded at the Boxer, and by a
+single blow upon the eye-brow felled him like an ox. So quickly was
+it sent home, that the black had not activity to guard against it; on
+seeing which, a short and exulting cheer rose from the multitude. We are
+not now giving a detailed account of this battle, as if reporting it for
+a newspaper; it must suffice to say, that Lamh Laudher was knocked down
+twice, and the Dead Boxer four times, in as many rounds. The black, on
+coming to the seventh round, laughed, whilst the blood trickled down his
+face. His frame appeared actually agitated with inward glee, and indeed
+a more appalling species of mirth was never witnessed.
+
+It was just when he approached Lamh Laudher, chuckling hideously, his
+black visage reddened with blood, that a voice from the crowd shouted--
+
+“He's laughing--the blow's coming--O'Rorke, remember your instructions.”
+
+The Boxer advanced, and began a series of feints, with the intention of
+giving that murderous blow which he was never known to miss. But before
+he could put his favorite stratagem in practice, the activity of O'Rorke
+anticipated his _ruse_, for in the dreadful energy of his resentment he
+not only forgot the counter-secret which had been, confided to him, but
+every other consideration for the moment. With the spring of a tiger he
+leaped towards the black, who by the act was completely thrown off his
+guard. This was more than O'Rorke expected. The opportunity, however,
+he did not suffer to pass; with the rapidity of lightning he struck the
+savage on the neck, immediately under the ear. The Dead Boxer fell,
+and from his ears, nostrils, and mouth the clear blood sprung out,
+streaking, in a fearful manner, his dusky neck and chest. His second ran
+to raise him, but his huge woolly head fell from side to side with an
+appearance of utter lifelessness. In a few minutes, however, he rallied,
+and began to snort violently, throwing his arms and limbs about him with
+a quivering energy, such as, in strong men who die unwasted by disease,
+frequently marks the struggle of death. At length he opened his eyes,
+and after fastening them upon his triumphant opponent with one last
+glare of hatred and despair, he ground his teeth, clenched his gigantic
+hands, and stammering out, “Fury of hell! I--I--damnation!” This was his
+last exclamation, for he suddenly plunged again, extended his shut fist
+towards Lamh Laudher, as if he would have crushed him even in death,
+then becoming suddenly relaxed, his head fell upon his shoulder, and
+after one groan, he expired on the very spot where he had brought
+together the apparatus of death for another.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+When the spectators saw and heard what had occurred, their acclamations
+rose to the sky; cheer after cheer pealed from the graveyard over a
+wide circuit of the country. With a wild luxury of triumph they seized
+O'Rorke, placed him on their shoulders, and bore him in triumph through
+every street in the town. All kinds of mad but good-humored excesses
+were committed. The public houses were filled with those who had
+witnessed the fight, songs were sung, healths were drank, and blows
+given. The streets, during the remainder of the day, were paraded by
+groups of his townsmen belonging to both factions, who on that occasion
+buried their mutual animosity in exultation for his victory.
+
+The worthy burghers of the corporation, who had been both frightened
+and disgusted at the dark display made by the Dead Boxer previous to
+the tight, put his body in the coffin that had been intended for Lamh
+Laudher, and without any scruple, took it up, and went in procession
+with the black flag before them, the death bell again tolling, and the
+musicians playing the dead march, until they deposited his body in the
+inn.
+
+After Lamh Laudher had been chaired by the people, and borne throughout
+every nook of the town, he begged them to permit him to go home. With a
+fresh volley of shouts and hurras they proceeded, still bearing him in
+triumph towards his father's house, where they left him, after a last
+and deafening round of cheers. Our readers can easily fancy the pride of
+his parents and friends on receiving him.
+
+“Father,” said he, “my name's' cleared. I hope I have the Lamh Laudher
+blood in me still. Mother, you never doubted me, but you wor forced to
+give way.”
+
+“My son, my son,” said the father, embracing him, “my noble boy! There
+never was one of your name like you. You're the flower of us all!”
+
+His mother wept with joy and pressed him repeatedly to her heart;
+and all his relations were as profuse as they were sincere in their
+congratulations.
+
+“One thing troubles us,” observed his parents, “what will become of his
+wife? John dear,” said his mother, “my heart aches for her.”
+
+“God knows and so does mine,” exclaimed the father; “there is goodness
+about her.”
+
+“She is freed from a tyrant and a savage,” replied their son, “for he
+was both, and she ought to be thankful that she's rid of him. But you
+don't know that there was an attempt made on my life this mornin'.”
+
+On hearing this, they were all mute with astonishment.
+
+“In the name of heaven how, John?” they inquired with one voice.
+
+[Illustration: PAGE 110-- He made a stab at my neck]
+
+“A red-haired man came to my aunt's,” he continued, “early this mornin',
+an' said if I wanted to hear something for my good, I would follow him.
+I did so, an' I observed that he eyed me closely as we went along. We
+took the way that turns up the Quarry, an' afther gettin' into one of
+the little fir groves off the road, he made a stab at my neck, as I
+stooped to tie my shoe that happened to be loose. As God would have it,
+he only tore the skin above my forehead. I pursued the villain on the
+spot, but he disappeared among the trees, as if the earth had swallowed
+him. I then went into Darby Kavanagh's, where I got my breakfast; an'
+as I was afraid that you might by pure force prevent me from meetin' the
+black, I didn't stir out of it till the proper time came.”
+
+This startling incident occasioned much discussion among his friends,
+who of course were ignorant alike of the person who had attempted his
+assassination, and of the motives which could have impelled him to such
+a crime. Several opinions were advanced upon the circumstance, but as
+it had failed, his triumph over the Dead Boxer, as unexpected as it was
+complete, soon superseded it, and many a health was given “to the best
+man that ever sprung from the blood of the Lamh Laudhers!” for so
+they termed him, and well had he earned the epithet. At this moment an
+incident occurred which considerably subdued their enjoyment. Breen, the
+constable, came to inform them that Nell McCollum, now weltering in her
+blood, and at the point of death, desired instantly to see them.
+
+Our readers have been, no doubt, somewhat surprised at the sudden
+disappearance of Nell. This artful and vindictive woman had, as we have
+stated, been closely dogged through all her turnings and windings, by
+the emissaries of Mr. Brookleigh. For this haunt where she was in the
+habit of meeting her private friends. The preparations, however, for the
+approaching fight, and the tumult it excited in the town, afforded her
+an opportunity of giving her spies the slip. She went, on the evening
+before the battle, to a small dark cabin in one of the most densely
+inhabited parts of the town, where, secure in their privacy, she found
+Nanse M'Collum, who had never left the town since the night of the
+robbery, together with the man called Rody, and another hardened ruffian
+with red hair.
+
+“_Dher ma chuirp_,” said she, without even a word of precious
+salutation, “but I'll,lay my life that Lamh Laudher bates the black. In
+that case he'd be higher up wid the town than ever. He knocked him down
+last night.”
+
+“Well,” said Rody, “an' what if he does? I would feel rather satisfied
+at that circumstance. I served the black dog for five years, and a more
+infernal tyrant never existed, nor a milder or more amiable woman than
+his wife. Now that you have his money, the sooner the devil gets himself
+the better.”
+
+“To the black _diouol_ wid yourself an' your Englified _gosther_,”
+ returned Nell indignantly; “his wife! _Damno' orth_, don't make my blood
+boil by speaking a word in her favor. If Lamh Laudher comes off best,
+all I've struv for is knocked on the head. _Dher Chiernah_, I'll crush
+the sowl of his father or I'll not die happy.”
+
+“Nell, you're bittherer than soot, and blacker too,” observed Rody.
+
+“Am I?” said Nell, “an' is it from the good crathur that was ready, the
+other night, to murdher the mild innocent woman that he spakes so well
+of, that we hear sich discoorse?”
+
+“You're mistaken there, Nelly,” replied Body; “I had no intention of
+taking away her life, although I believe my worthy comrade here in the
+red hair, that I helped out of a certain gaol once upon a time, had no
+scruples.”
+
+“No, curse the scruple!” said the other.
+
+“I was in the act of covering her eyes and mouth to prevent her from
+either knowing her old servant or making a noise,--but d---- it, I was
+bent to save her life that night, rather than take it,” said Rody.
+
+“I know this friend of yours, Rody, but a short time,” observed Nell;
+“but if he hasn't more spunk in him than yourself, he's not worth his
+feedin'.”
+
+“Show me,” said the miscreant, “what s to be done, life or purse--an'
+here's your sort for both.”
+
+“Come, then,” said Nell, “by the night above us, we'll thry your
+mettle.”
+
+“Never heed her,” observed Nanse; “aunt, you're too wicked an'
+revengeful.”
+
+“Am I?” said the aunt. “I tuck an oath many a year ago, that I'd never
+die till I'd put sharp sorrow into Lamh Laudher's sowl. I punished him
+through his daughter, I'll now grind the heart in him through his son.”
+
+“An' what do you want to be done inquired the red man.
+
+“Come here, an' I'll tell you that,” said Nell.
+
+A short conversation took place between them, behind a little partition
+which divided the kitchen from two small sleeping rooms, containing a
+single bed each.
+
+“Now,” said Nell, addressing the whole party, “let us all be ready
+to-morrow, while the whole town's preparin' for the fight, to slip away
+as well disguised as we can, out of the place; by that time you'll have
+your business done, an' your trifle o' money earned;” she directed the
+last words to the red-haired stranger.
+
+“You keep me out of this secret?” observed Body.
+
+“It's not worth knowin',” said Nell; “I was only thryin' you, Rody. It's
+nothing bad. I'm not so cruel as you think. I wouldn't take the wide
+world an' shed blood wid my own hands. I tried it once on Lamh Laudher
+More, an' when I thought I killed him hell came into me. No; that I may
+go _below_ if I would!”
+
+“But you would get others to do it, if you could,” said Rody.
+
+“I need get nobody to do it for me,” said the crone. “I could wither any
+man, woman, or child, off o' the earth, wid one charm, if I wished.”
+
+“Why don't you wither young Lamh Laudher then?” said Rody.
+
+“If they fight to-morrow,” replied Nell; “mind I say if they do--an' I
+now tell you they won't--but I say if they do--you'll see he'll go home
+in the coffin that's made for him--an' I know how that'll happen. Now at
+eleven we'll meet here if we can to-morrow.”
+
+The two men then slunk out, and with great caution proceeded towards
+different directions of the town, for Nell had recommended them to keep
+as much asunder as possible, least their grouping together might expose
+them to notice. Their place of rendezvous was only resorted to on urgent
+and necessary occasions.
+
+The next morning, a little after the appointed hour, Nell, Rody, and
+Nanse McCollum, were sitting in deliberation upon their future plans of
+life, when he of the red hair entered the cabin.
+
+“Well,” said Nell starting up--“what was done? show me?”
+
+The man produced a dagger slightly stained with blood.
+
+“_Damno orrum!_” exclaimed the aged fury, “but you've failed--an' all's
+lost if he beats the black.”
+
+“I did fail,” said the miscreant. “Why, woman if that powerful active
+fellow had got me in his hands, I'd have tasted the full length of the
+dagger myself. The d----l's narrow escape I had.”
+
+“The curse of heaven light on you, for a cowardly dog!” exclaimed Nell,
+grinding her teeth with disappointment. “You're a faint-hearted villain.
+Give me the dagger.”
+
+“Give me the money,” said the man.
+
+“For what? no, consumin' to the penny; you didn't earn it.”
+
+“I did,” said the fellow, “or at all evints attempted it. Ay, an' I must
+have it before I lave this house, an' what is more, you must lug out my
+share of the black's prog.”
+
+“You'll get nothing of that,” said Rody; “it was Nell here, not you, who
+took it.”
+
+“One hundred of it on the nail, this minnit,” said the man, “or I bid
+you farewell, an' then look to yourselves.”
+
+“It's not mine,” said Rody; “if Nell shares it, I have no objection.”
+
+“I'd give the villain the price of a rope first,” she replied.
+
+“Then I am off,” said the fellow, “an' you'll curse your conduct.”
+
+Nell flew between him and the door, and in his struggle to get out,
+she grasped at the dagger, but failed in securing it. Rody advanced to
+separate them, as did Nanse, but the fellow by a strong effort attempted
+to free himself. The three were now upon him, and would have easily
+succeeded in preventing his escape had it not occurred to him that by
+one blow he might secure the whole sum. This was instantly directed at
+Rody, by a back thrust, for he stood behind him. By the rapid change of
+their positions, however, the breast of Nell M'Collum received the stab
+that was designed for another.
+
+A short violent shriek followed, as she staggered back and fell.
+
+“Staunch the blood,” she exclaimed, “staunch the blood, an' there may be
+a chance of life yet.”
+
+The man threw the dagger down, and was in the act of rushing out, when
+the door opened, and a posse of constables entered the house. Nell's
+face became at once ghastly and horror-stricken, for she found that the
+blood could not be staunched, and that, in fact, eternity was about to
+open upon her.
+
+“Secure him!” said Nell, pointing to her murderer, “secure him, an' send
+quick for Lamh Laudher More. God's hand is in what has happened! Ay,
+I raised the blow for him, an' God has sent it to my own heart. Send,
+too,” she added, “for the Dead Boxer's wife, an' if you expect heaven,
+be quick.”
+
+On receiving Nell's message the old man, his son, wife, and one or two
+other friends, immediately hurried to the scene of death, where they
+arrived a few minutes after the Dead Boxer's wife.
+
+Nell lay in dreadful agony; her face was now a bluish yellow, her
+eye-brows were bent, and her eyes getting dead and vacant.
+
+“Oh!” she exclaimed, “Andy Hart! Andy Hart! it was the black hour you
+brought me from the right way. I was innocent till I met you, an' well
+thought of; but what was I ever since? an' what am I now?”
+
+“You never met me,” said the red-haired stranger, “till within the last
+fortnight.”
+
+“What do you mean, you unfortunate man?” asked Rody.
+
+“Andy Hart was my name,” said the man, “although I didn't go by it for
+some years.”
+
+“Andy Hart!” said Nell, raising herself with a violent jerk, and
+screaming, “Andy Hart! Andy Hart! stand over before me. Andy Hart! It is
+his father's voice. Oh God! Strip his breast there, an' see if there's a
+blood-mark on the left side.”
+
+“I'm beginnin' to fear something dreadful,” said the criminal,
+trembling, and getting as pale as death; “there is--there is a
+blood-mark on the very spot she mentions--see here.”
+
+“I would know him to be Andy Hart's son, God rest him!” observed Lamh
+Laudher More, “any where over the world. Blessed mother of heaven!--down
+on your knees, you miserable crature, down on your knees for her pardon!
+You've murdhered your unfortunate mother!”
+
+The man gave one loud and fearful yell, and dashed himself on the
+floor at his mother's feet, an appalling picture of remorse. The scene,
+indeed, was a terrible one. He rolled himself about, tore his hair, and
+displayed every symptom of a man in a paroxysm of madness. But among
+those present, with the exception of the mother and son, there was not
+such a picture of distress and sorrow, as the wife of the Dead Boxer.
+She stooped down to raise the stranger up; “Unhappy man,” said she,
+“look up, I am your sister!”
+
+“No,” said Nell, “no--no--no. There's more of my guilt. Lamh Laudher
+More, I stand forrid, you and your wife. You lost a daughter long ago.
+Open your arms and take her back a blameless woman. She's your child
+that I robbed you of as one punishment; the other blow that I intended
+for you has been struck here. I'm dyin'.”
+
+A long cry of joy burst from the mother and daughter, as they rushed
+into each other's arms. Nature, always strongest in pure minds, even
+before this denouement, had, indeed, rekindled the mysterious flame of
+her own affection in their hearts. The father pressed her to his bosom,
+and forgot the terrors of the sound before him, whilst the son embraced
+her with a secret consciousness that she was, indeed, his long-lost
+sister.
+
+“We couldn't account,” said her parents, “for the way we loved you
+the day we met you before the magistrate; every word you said, Alice
+darling, went into our hearts wid delight, an' we could hardly ever
+think of your voice ever since, that the tears didn't spring to our
+eyes. But we never suspected, as how could we, that you were our child.”
+
+She declared that she felt the same mysterious attachment to them, and
+to her brother also, from the moment she heard the tones of his voice on
+the night the robbery was attempted.
+
+“Nor could I,” said Lamh Laudher Oge, “account for the manner I loved
+you.”
+
+Their attention was now directed to Nell, who again spoke.
+
+“Nanse, give her back the money I robbed her of. There was more of my
+villainy, but God fought against me, an'--here--. You will find, it
+along with her marriage certificate, an' the gospel she had about her
+neck, when I kidnapped her, all in my pocket. Where's my son? Still,
+still, bad as I am, an' bad as he is, isn't he my child? Amn't I his
+mother? put his hand in mine, and let me die as a mother 'ud wish!”
+
+Never could there be a more striking contrast witnessed than that
+between the groups then present; nor a more impressive exemplification
+of the interposition of Providence to reward the virtuous and punish the
+guilty even in this life.
+
+“Lamh Laudher More,” said she, “I once attempted to stab you, only for
+preventin' your relation from marryin' a woman that you knew Andy Hart
+had ruined. You disfigured my face in your anger too; that an' your
+preventing my marriage, an' my character bein' lost, whin it was known
+what he refused to marry me for, made me swear an oath of vengeance
+against you an' yours. I may now ax your forgiveness, for I neither dare
+nor will ax God's.”
+
+“You have mine--you have all our forgiveness,” replied the old man;
+“but, Nell, ax God's, for it's His you stand most in need of--ax God's!”
+
+Nell, however, appeared to hear him not.
+
+“Is that your hand in mine, avick?” said she, addressing her son.
+
+“It is--it is,” said the son. “But, mother, I didn't, as I'm to stand
+before God, aim the blow at you, but at Rody.”
+
+“Lamh Laudher!” said she, forgetting herself, “I ax your forgive----.”
+
+Her head fell down before she could conclude the sentence, and thus
+closed the last moments of Nell M'Collum.
+
+After the lapse of a short interval, in which Lamh Laudher's daughter
+received back her money, the certificate, and the gospel, her brother
+discovered that Rody was the person who had, through Ellen Neil,
+communicated to him the secret that assisted him in vanquishing the
+Dead Boxer, a piece of information which saved him from prosecution. The
+family now returned home, where they found Meehaul Neil awaiting their
+arrival, for the purpose of offering his sister's hand and dowry to
+our hero. This offer, we need scarcely say, was accepted with no sullen
+spirit. But Lamh Laudher was not so much her inferior in wealth as our
+readers may suppose. His affectionate sister divided her money between
+him and her parents, with whom she spent the remainder of her days in
+peace and tranquility. Our great-grandfather remembered the wedding,
+and from him came down to ourselves, as an authentic tradition, the fact
+that it was an unrivalled one, but that it would never have taken place
+were it not for the terrible challenge of the Dead Boxer.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Boxer, by William Carleton
+
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