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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30606-8.txt b/30606-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b68242b --- /dev/null +++ b/30606-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16644 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Landleaguers, by Anthony Trollope + + +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 Landleaguers + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: December 4, 2009 [eBook #30606] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau and Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D. + + + +Transcriber's note: + + In 1834, at age 19, Anthony Trollope became a junior clerk + in the British postal service. He did not get on well with + his superiors, and his career looked like a dead end. In + 1841 he accepted an assignment in Ireland as an inspector, + remaining there for ten years. It was there that his civil + service career began to flourish. It was there, also, that + he began writing novels. + + Several of Trollope's early novels were set in Ireland, + including _The Macdermots of Ballycloran_, his first + published novel, and _Castle Richmond_. Readers of those + early Irish novels can easily perceive Trollope's great + affection for and sympathy with the Irish people, + especially the poor. + + In 1882 Ireland was in the midst of great troubles, + including boycotts and the near breakdown of law and + order. In May of that year Lord Frederick Cavendish, the + newly-appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Thomas + Burke, a prominent civil servant, were assassinated in + Dublin. The news stirred Trollope, despite his poor + health, to travel to Ireland to see for himself the state + of things. Upon his return to England he began writing + _The Landleaguers_. He made a second journey to Ireland + in August, 1882, to seek more material for his book. He + returned to England exhausted, but he continued writing. + He had almost completed the book when he suffered a stroke + on November 3, 1882. He never recovered, and he died on + December 6. + + Trollope's second son, Henry, arranged for publication of + the almost finished novel. The reader should note Henry + Trollope's preface to Volume I and Postscript at the end + of the book. + + Readers familiar with Trollope's early Irish novels + will be struck, as they read _The Landleaguers_, by his + bitterness at what was happening in Ireland in 1881 and + 1882. + + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. I. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 +[All rights reserved] + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + I. MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY. + II. THE MAN IN THE MASK. + III. FATHER BROSNAN. + IV. MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH. + V. MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER. + VI. RACHEL AND HER LOVERS. + VII. BROWN'S. + VIII. CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880. + IX. BLACK DALY. + X. BALLYTOWNGAL. + XI. MOYTUBBER. + XII. "DON'T HATE HIM, ADA." + XIII. EDITH'S ELOQUENCE. + XIV. RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE. + XV. CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON. + XVI. CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE. + + + + +NOTE. + +This novel was to have contained sixty chapters. My father had +written as much as is now published before his last illness. It will +be seen that he had not finished the forty-ninth chapter; and the +fragmentary portion of that chapter stands now just as he left it. +He left no materials from which the tale could be completed, and no +attempt at completion will be made. At the end of the third volume I +have stated what were his intentions with regard to certain people in +the story; but beyond what is there said I know nothing. + +HENRY M. TROLLOPE. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY. + + +In the year 1850 the two estates of Ballintubber and Morony were sold +to Mr. Philip Jones, under the Estates Court, which had then been +established. They had been the property of two different owners, but +lay conveniently so as to make one possession for one proprietor. +They were in the County Galway, and lay to the right and left of +the road which runs down from the little town of Headford to Lough +Corrib. At the time when the purchase was made there was no quieter +spot in all Ireland, or one in which the lawful requirements of +a landlord were more readily performed by a poor and obedient +tenantry. The people were all Roman Catholics, were for the most part +uneducated, and it may be said of them that not only were their souls +not their own, but that they were not ambitious even of possessing +their own bodies. Circumstances have changed much with them since +that date. Not only have they in part repudiated the power of the +priest as to their souls, but, in compliance with teaching which has +come to them from America, they claim to be masters also of their +bodies. Never were a people less fitted to exercise such dominion +without control. Generous, kindly, impulsive, and docile, they have +been willing to follow any recognised leader. When Philip Jones +bought the property that had belonged to the widow O'Dwyer--for +Ballintubber had for the last hundred years been the property of the +O'Dwyers--and Morony, which, had been an outlying town-land belonging +to the Hacketts for the last two centuries, he had at first been +looked down upon as a new comer. But all that had passed by, and Mr. +Jones was as much respected as though he had been an O'Jones from the +time of Queen Elizabeth. But now the American teaching had come up, +and things were different. + +Mr. Jones had expended over £30,000 in purchasing the property, and +was congratulated by all men on having done well with his money. +There were some among his friends in England--and his friends were +all English--who had told him that he was incurring a great risk in +going into so distant and wild a country. But it was acknowledged +that he could not in England have obtained so good a return in +the way of rent. And it was soon found that the opportunities for +improving the property were many and close at hand. At the end of +ten years all men who knew Mr. Jones personally, or had seen the +increasing comforts of Morony Castle, declared that, as he liked the +kind of life, he had done uncommonly well for himself. + +Nor had he done badly for his three married sisters, each of whom had +left £4,000 in his hands. All the circumstances of the Miss Jones's +as they had been, it will be here unnecessary to explain. Since +Philip had become owner of Morony Castle, each of them had married, +and the three brothers-in-law were equally well satisfied with the +investment of their money. It will, however, thus be understood that +the property did not belong entirely to Mr. Jones, and that the +brothers-in-law and their wives were part owners. Mr. Jones, however, +had been in possession of some other means, and had been able to use +capital in improving the estate. But he was an aspiring man, and +in addition to his money had borrowed something beyond. The sum +borrowed, however, had been so small and so well expended, as to have +created no sense of embarrassment in his mind. + +When our story commences he was the father of four children. The +elder and the younger were boys, and two girls came between them. +In 1880, Frank, the elder, was two-and-twenty. The two girls who +followed close after were twenty and nineteen, and the youngest boy, +who was born after an interval of nearly ten years, was but ten years +old. Some years after the mother had died, and Mr. Jones had since +lived as a widower. It may be as well to state here that in 1880 he +was fifty-five years old. + +When his wife had died, the nature of the man had apparently been +changed. Of all men he had been the most cheerful, the most eager, +and the most easily pleased. He had worked hard at his property, and +had loved his work. He knew every man and woman about the place, and +always had a word to say to them. He had had a sailing boat on the +lake, in which he had spent much of his time, but his wife had always +been with him. Since her death he had hardly put his foot within the +boat. He had lately become quick and short-tempered, but always with +a visible attempt to be kind to those around him. But people said +of him that since his wife had died he had shown an indifference to +the affairs of the world. He was anxious--so it was said--to leave +matters as much as possible to his son; but, as has been already +stated, his son was only twenty-two. He had formerly taken a great +pleasure in attending the assizes at Galway. He had been named as a +grand juror for the county, which he had indeed regarded as a great +compliment; but since his wife's death he had not once attended. + +People said of him that he had become indifferent to the work of +his life, but in this they hardly spoke the truth. He had become +indifferent rather to what had been its pleasures. To that which his +conscience told him was its work, he applied himself with assiduity +enough. There were two cares which sat near his heart: first, that no +one should rob him; and secondly, that he should rob no one. It will +often be the case that the first will look after itself, whereas the +second will require careful watching. It was certainly the case with +Philip Jones that he was most anxious to rob no one. He was, perhaps, +a little too anxious that no one should rob him. + +A few words must be said of his children. Frank, the eldest, was +a good-looking, clever boy, who had been educated at the Queen's +College, at Galway, and would have been better trained to meet the +world had circumstances enabled him to be sent to a public school +in England. As it was he thought himself, as heir to Morony Castle, +to be a little god upon earth; and he thought also that it behoved +his sisters and his brother, and the various dependents about the +place, to treat him as though he were a god. To his father he was +respectful, and fairly obedient in all matters, save one. As to that +one matter, from which arose some trouble, much will have to be said +as the story goes on. + +The two girls were named Ada and Edith, and were, in form and figure, +very unlike each other. Ada, the eldest, was tall, fair-haired, and +very lovely. It was admitted in County Galway that among the Galway +lasses no girl exceeded Ada Jones in brightness of beauty. She was +sweet-tempered also, and gracious as she was lovely. But Edith did +not share the gifts, which the fairy had bestowed upon her sister, in +equal parts. She was, however, clever, and kind, and affectionate. In +all matters, within the house, she was ready to accept a situation +below her sister's; but this was not by her sister's doing. The +demigod of the family seemed to assume this position, but on Ada's +part there was no assumption. Edith, however, felt her infirmity. +Among girls this is made to depend more on physical beauty than on +other gifts, and there was no doubt that in this respect Edith was +the inferior. She was dark, and small of stature, not ungraceful in +her movements, or awkward in her person. She was black-haired, as had +been her mother's, and almost swarthy in her complexion, and there +was a squareness about her chin which robbed her face of much of its +feminine softness. But her eyes were very bright, and when she would +laugh, or say something intended to make another laugh, her face +would be brightened up with fun, good-humour, or wit, in a manner +which enabled no one to call her plain. + +Of the younger boy, Florian, much will be said as the story goes +on; but what can be said of a boy who is only ten which shall be +descriptive and also interesting? He was small of his age, but clever +and sharp, and, since his mother's death, had been his father's +darling. He was beautiful to look at, as were all the children, +except poor Edith, but the neighbours declared that his education +had been much neglected. His father intended to send him to college +at Galway. A bright vision had for a short time flitted before the +father's eyes, and he had thought that he would have the boy prepared +for Winchester; but lately things had not gone quite so well at +Morony Castle, and that idea had passed by. So that it was now +understood that Florian Jones would follow his brother to Galway +College. Those who used to watch his ways would declare that the +professors of Galway College would have some trouble with him. + +While the mother had lived no family had been more easily ruled than +that of the Jones's, but since her death some irregularities had gone +on. The father had made a favourite of the younger boy, and thereby +had done mischief. The eldest son, too, had become proud of his +position, and an attempt had been made to check him with a hard hand; +and yet much in the absolute working of the farm had been left to +him. Then troubles had come, in which Mr. Jones would be sometimes +too severe, and sometimes too lenient. Of the girls it must be +acknowledged that they were to be blamed for no fault after the first +blow had come. Everyone at Morony had felt that the great blow had +been the death of the mistress. But it must be confessed that other +things had happened shortly afterwards which had tended to create +disturbance. One of the family had declared that he intended to +become a Roman Catholic. The Jones's had been Protestants, the father +and mother having both come from England as Protestants. They were +not, therefore, Ultra-Protestants, as those will know who best +know Ireland. There had been no horror of a Catholic. According to +Mrs. Jones the way to heaven had been open to both Catholic and +Protestant, only it had suited her to say her prayers after the +Protestant fashion. The girls had been filled with no pious fury; +and as to Mr. Jones himself, some of the Protestant devotees in the +neighbourhood of Tuam had declared that he was only half-hearted in +the matter. An old clergyman, attached to the cathedral, and who had +been chaplain to Bishop Plunket, had been heard to declare that he +would rather have to deal with an avowed Papist. + +But the one who had now declared himself as a convert,--I will say +pervert if my readers wish it,--was no other than our young friend +Florian. He came in one day and assured his sisters that he meant +to be a Roman Catholic. They only laughed at him, and told him that +he did not know what he was talking about. "Don't I though?" said +Florian. "I've had no end of an argument with Father Malachi, and +he's got the best o' me. I'm not going to church any more." When his +brother Frank was told, he threatened to "lick the young sinner." +"That's about the best can be said for you Protestants," said the +young imp. "You lick us when you're strong enough." But the father, +when he heard the tidings, declared that he would not have his son +molested. No doubt he would live to see his mistake. It was to be +hoped that he would do so. But there should be no compulsion. So +Master Florian remained for the present attached to his Catholic +propensities, and duly went to mass at Ballintubber. This had taken +place in the autumn of the year. + +There had occurred a circumstance which may be called the beginning +of our story. It must first be told that Mr. Jones kept about four +hundred acres of the estate in his own hands, and had been held to +have done very well with it. A tract of this land lay down on Lough +Corrib, and had in former days produced almost nothing but rushes. +By means of drains and sluices, which had not been brought into use +without the expenditure of much capital, he had thoroughly fertilised +some eighty acres, where he grew large crops of hay, which he sent +across the lake to Galway, and fed his sheep on the after-grass with +great profit. But the care of the sluices had been a great labour, +and, latterly, a great trouble to Mr. Jones. He had looked for no +evil at the hands of his workmen, or tenants, or neighbours. But he +had been taught by experience to expect great carelessness. It was +when the rain had fallen in heavy quantities, and when the Lough was +full that the evil was chiefly expected. Late in the autumn there +came news up to the Castle, that the flood gates on the Ballintubber +marshes had now been opened, and that the entire eighty acres were +under water. Mr. Jones and his eldest son rushed down, and found +that it was impossible to do anything. They could only wait till the +waters had retreated, which would not take place for six months. The +entire crop for the next year had been destroyed. Then Mr. Jones +returned to the Castle stricken by a great blow, and was speechless +for the rest of the day. + +When the news had been brought, the family had been together at the +breakfast table. The father and son had gone out together with the +teller of the story. But Ada and Edith and Florian were left at the +table. They all sat looking at each other till Edith was the first to +speak. + +"Flory, what do you know of all this?" + +"What should I know?" said Flory. The two sisters looked at him, and +each was aware that he did know something. Ada was not so quick as +Edith, but even she was aroused. And from this moment Edith began to +take the lead in managing her brother. + +"You do," said Ada. "How was it done? Who did it--and why?" + +"Sorrow a know, I know," said the boy. + +"Flory, that is a lie," said Edith very solemnly, looking at him with +all her eyes. + +"You've no right to say that," said Florian. "It's just because I've +turned Catholic, and it's all your spite." But the boy blushed ruby +red, and the colour told its own story. + +As soon as the news had been announced, Edith had seen the boy's +countenance and had instantly watched him. His colour had not risen +at once; but his lower jaw had fallen, and his eyes had glanced +furtively round, and his whole frame had quivered. Then the rush of +blood had flown to his face, and the story had been told so that +Edith could read it. His first emotion had made it plain even to Ada. +"Flory, you know all about it," said Ada. + +Edith got up and went across the room and knelt down at the boy's +side, leaning against his chair and looking up into his face. "Flory, +you may lie with your voice, but you cannot stifle your heart within +you. You have confessed the truth." + +"I have not," said Flory; "I wasn't in it at all." + +"Who says that you were in it? But you know." + +"'Deed and I know nothin'." Now the boy began to cry. "You have no +right to say I did it. Why should I do the likes of that?" + +"Where were you at four o'clock yesterday afternoon?" asked Edith. + +"I was just out, up at the lodge yonder." + +"Flory, I know that you have seen this thing done. I am as certain of +it as though I had been there myself." + +"I haven't seen anything done--and I won't stay here to be questioned +this way," said the boy, feeling that his blushes would betray him, +and his incapacity to "lie square," as the Americans say. + +Then the two sisters were left to talk over the matter together. "Did +you not see it in his face?" said Edith. + +"Yes, I saw something. But you don't mean to say that he knew it was +to be done? That would make him a fiend." + +"No; I don't think he knew it was to be done. But when Frank was +teasing him the other day about his Catholic nonsense, and saying +that he would not trust a Papist, Florian took the part of Pat +Carroll. If there be a man about the place who would do a base turn +to father, it's Pat Carroll. Now I know that Flory was down near the +lough yesterday afternoon. Biddy Ryan saw him. If he went on he must +have seen the water coming in." + +"What shall we do?" asked Ada. + +"Ah!--that's just it. What shall we do? If he could be made to tell +the truth, that would be best. But as he denies it, father will +believe him. Florian will say that we are spiting him because of his +religion." + +"But, Edith, we must tell father." At last it was decided that Edith +should take the boy and talk to him. He was more prone to listen to +Edith than to Ada. Edith did find her brother, and talked to him for +an hour,--but in vain. He had managed to collect himself after his +past breakdown, and was better able to bear the examination to which +his sister put him, than at the first moment. He still blushed when +he was questioned; till he became dogged and surly. The interview +ended with repeated asseverations on Flory's part, that he knew +nothing of the meadows. + +Mr. Jones and his eldest son returned to the house, having been +absent the entire day. "As sure as I am a living man, Pat Carroll has +been at the doing of it," said Frank. + +"He cannot have done it alone," said Ada. + +"There have been others in it." + +"That has been the worst of it," said the father. "Of course I have +known since the beginning of the year, that that man would do any +devil's turn of work against me. But one man cannot do much." + +"Too much! too much!" said Edith. + +"One man can murder me, of course. But we haven't yet come to such a +state of things as that. Twelve months ago I thought there was not a +man about the place who would raise his hand to do me an ill turn. I +have done them many good turns in my time." + +"You have, father," said Ada. + +"Then this man came to me and said that because the tenants away in +County Mayo were not paying their rents, he could not pay his. And he +can sell his interest on his holding now for £150. When I endeavoured +to explain this to him, and that it was at my cost his interest in +the farm has been created, he became my enemy. I don't mind that; one +has to look for that. But that others should be joined in it, and +that there should be no one to say that they had seen it! There must +have been five pairs of hands at work, and twenty pairs of eyes must +have seen what the others were doing." + +The two sisters looked at each other, but they said nothing. "I +suppose we shall work it out of them some day," said Frank. + +"I suppose nothing of the kind," said the father. "There are eighty +acres of meadow lying under Lough Corrib this moment which will not +give a ton of hay next summer, or food for a sheep next autumn. The +pastures will be saturated, and sheep would perish with foot-rot +and fluke. Then money must be laid out again upon it, just that Mr. +Carroll may again wreak his vengeance." After that there was silence, +for the children felt that not a word could be spoken which would +comfort their father. + +When they sat down to dinner, Mr. Jones asked after Florian. "He's +not well," said Edith. + +"Florian not well! So there's another misfortune." + +"His ill-health is rather ill-humour. Biddy will take care of him, +father." + +"I do not choose that he should be looked after by Biddy in solitude. +I suppose that somebody has been teasing him." + +"No, father," said Edith, positively. + +"Has anyone been speaking to him about his religion?" + +"Not a word," said Edith. Then she told herself that to hold her +tongue at the present moment would be cowardly. "Florian, father, has +misbehaved himself, and has gone away cross. I would leave him, if I +were you, till to-morrow." + +"I know there is ill-will against him," said the father. All this was +ill-judged on behalf of Mr. Jones. Peter, the old butler, who had +lived in the family, was in the room. Peter, of course, was a Roman +Catholic, and, though he was as true as steel, it could not but be +felt that in this absurd contest he was on the side of the "young +masther." + +Down in the kitchen the conversion of the "young masther" to the true +religion was a great affair, and Mr. Frank and the young ladies were +looked upon as hard-hearted and cruel, because they stood in the way +of this act of grace. Nothing more was said about Florian that night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MAN IN THE MASK. + + +Edith, before she went to bed that night, crept up to her brother's +bedroom and seated herself on the bedside. It was a little room which +Florian occupied alone, and lay at the back of the house, next to +that in which Peter slept. Here, as she sat on the bed, she could see +by a glance that young Florian feigned to be asleep. + +"Flory, you are pretending to be asleep." Flory uttered a short +snore,--or rather snort, for he was not a good actor. "You may as +well wake up, because otherwise I shall shake you." + +"Why am I to be shaked up in bed?" + +"Because I want to speak to you." + +"Why am I to be made to speak when I want to sleep?" + +"Papa has been talking about you downstairs. He has come home from +Ballintubber, very tired and very unhappy, and he thinks you have +been made to go to bed without your supper because we have been +attacking you about religion. I have told him that nobody has said +a word to you." + +"But you did." + +"Not a word." + +"You didn't tell him all that you told me--about letting in the +water?" This was asked in a tone of great anxiety. + +"Not a word,--not as yet." + +"And you won't? Mind, I tell you it's all untrue. What do I know +about letting in the water?" + +"Who did it?" + +"I'm not going to tell." + +"You know, then?" + +"No, I don't. But I'm not going to tell as though I knew it. You +don't care about it in your religion, but we Catholics don't like +telling lies." + +"You saw nothing?" + +"Whatever I saw I'm not to tell a lie about it." + +"You've promised not, you mean?" + +"Now, Edy, you're not going to trap me. You've got your own religion +and I've got mine. It's a great thing in our religion to be able to +hold your tongue. Father Malachi says it's one of the greatest trials +which a man has to go through." + +"Then, Flory, am I to gather that you will say nothing further to +me?" Here the boy shook his head. "Because in that case I must tell +father. At any rate, he must be told, and if you do not tell him, I +shall." + +"What is there to be told?" + +"I shall tell him exactly what I saw,--and Ada. I saw,--we saw,--that +when the news came about the flood, you were conscious of it all. +If you will go to father and tell him the truth he will be but +very little angry with you. I don't suppose you had a hand in it +yourself." + +"No!" shouted the boy. + +"But I think you saw it, and that they made you swear an oath. Was +that not so?" + +"No!" whispered the boy. + +"I am sure it was so." Then the boy again plucked up his courage, and +declared with a loud voice, that it was not so. + +That night before she retired to rest, Edith went to her father and +told him all that she had to say. She took Ada with her, and together +they used all their eloquence to make their father believe as they +believed. + +"No," said Edith, "he has not confessed. But words drop from him +which make us sure that he knows who did it. I am certain that he saw +it done. I don't mean to say that he saw the whole thing. The water, +I suppose, was coming in all night." + +"The whole night! While we were sleeping in our beds, the waters of +the lough were ruining me," said the father. + +"But he saw enough to be able to tell you who did it." + +"I know who did it. It was that ruffian Carroll." + +"But father, you will want evidence." + +"Am I to bring up my own boy to swear that he was there, witnessing +what was done, as the friend of my enemies? I do not believe that he +was there at all." + +"If you question him, he will probably own to it. It will be better +to get at the truth and face it. He is only ten years old. You must +tell me the story of his pretended conversion." + +"Why should it be pretended?" asked the father. + +"Well; of his conversion," said Edith. + +"I don't see what it has to do with it? Am I to put myself forward as +a bigoted Protestant? Florian has been foolish, but am I to say that +I am angry, where I am not angry--not specially angry." + +"It will show the influence under which he has taken up Carroll's +side," said Edith. + +"Or the influence under which he has been made to hold his tongue," +said Ada. + +"Just so," said Edith. "We do not think that he has made one with +your enemies in the matter. But he has seen them at work and has been +made to promise that he will hold his tongue. I don't suppose you +mean to let the affair slip by without punishing any one." + +When the girls left him, Mr. Jones was by no means persuaded. As +far as he could ascertain from examination of the persons about the +locality, there was no one willing to state in evidence that he +had seen anything. The injury had been done in November, on a wet, +dreary, dull afternoon. He did learn that at half-past three the +meadows were in their usual condition. As to the sluices, the gates +of which had been pulled out and thrown away in twenty different +places, he could learn nothing; no one had seen a sluice gate +touched. As to Florian, and what Florian had been seen to do, he +had asked no question, because Florian's name had not then been +mentioned. But he had been struck by the awful silence of the people. +There were women there, living on the spot, with whose families +his family had been on the most kindly terms. When rheumatism +was rife,--and rheumatism down on the lough side had often been +rife--they had all come up to the Castle for port wine and solace. He +had refused them nothing,--he, or his dear wife, who had gone, or his +daughters; and, to give them their due, they had always been willing +to work for him at a moment's notice. He would have declared that no +man in Ireland was on better terms with his tenantry than he; and +now, because there had been a quarrel between him and that pestilent +fellow Carroll,--whom he had been willing to buy out from his bit +of land and let him go to America, so that they might all be at +peace,--could they all have turned against him and taken Carroll's +part? As far as he had been able to gather the feelings of the +people, from conversations with them, they had all acknowledged +Carroll to be wrong. He would have said that there was not one among +them who was not his friend rather than Carroll's. He was aware that +there had been ill-feeling about in other parts of the country. There +had been,--so he was told,--a few demagogues in Galway town, American +chiefly, who had come thither to do what harm they could; and he had +heard that there was discontent in parts of Mayo, about Ballyhaunis +and Lough Glinn; but where he lived, round Lough Corrib, there had +been no evil symptoms of such a nature. Now suddenly he found himself +as though surrounded by a nest of hornets. There were eighty acres of +his land under water, and no one would tell him how it was done, or +by whom. + +And now, to make the matter worse, there had come upon him this +trouble with reference to his own boy. He would not believe the story +which his daughters had told him; and yet he knew within his heart +that they were infinitely the better worthy of credit. He believed in +them. He knew them to be good and honest and zealous on his behalf; +but how much better did he love poor Florian! And in this matter of +the child's change of religion, in which he had foolishly taken the +child's part, he could not but think that Father Malachi had been +most unkind to him; not that he knew what Father Malachi had done +in the matter, but Florian talked as though he had been supported +all through by the priest. Father Malachi had, in truth, done very +little. He had told the boy to go to his father. The boy had said +that he had done so, and that his father had assented. "But Frank and +the girls are totally against it. They have no sense of religion at +all." Then Father Malachi had told him to say his prayers, and come +regularly to mass. + +Mr. Jones agreed with his daughters that it behoved him to punish the +culprit in this matter, but, nevertheless, he thought that it would +be better for him to let it go unpunished than to bring his boy +into collision with such a one as Pat Carroll. He twice talked the +matter over with Florian, and twice did so to no effect. At first he +threatened the young sinner, and frowned at him. But his frowns did +no good. Florian, if he could stand firm against his sister Edith, +was sure that he could do so against his father. Then Mr. Jones spoke +him fair, and endeavoured to explain to him how sad a thing it would +be if his boy were to turn against his own father and the interests +of the family generally. + +"But I haven't," said Florian confidently. + +"You should tell me what you saw on that afternoon." + +"I didn't see anything," said Florian sulkily. + +"I don't believe he knew anything about it," said Mr. Jones to Edith +afterwards. Edith could only receive this in silence, and keep her +own opinion to herself. Ada was altogether of her mind, but Frank at +last came round to his father's view. "It isn't probable," he said +to his sisters, "that a boy of his age should be able to keep such +a secret against four of us; and then it is most improbable that he +should have seen anything of the occurrence and not have come at once +to his father." But the girls held to their own opinion, till at last +they were told by Frank that they were two pig-headed nincompoops. + +Things were going on in this way, and Mr. Jones was still striving to +find out evidence by which a case might be substantiated against Pat +Carroll, when that gentleman, one winter afternoon, was using his +eloquence upon Master Florian Jones. It was four o'clock, and the +darkness of the night was now coming on very quickly. The scene was +a cottage, almost in the town of Headford, and about two miles from +the nearest part of the Morony estate. In this cottage Carroll was +sitting at one side of a turf fire, while an old woman was standing +by the doorway making a stocking. And in this cottage also was +another man, whose face was concealed by an old crape mask, which +covered his eyes and nose and mouth. He was standing on the other +side of the fireplace, and Florian was seated on a stool in front of +the fire. Ever and anon he turned his gaze round on the mysterious +man in the mask, whom he did not at all know; and, in truth, he was +frightened awfully through the whole interview by the man in the +mask, who stood there by the fireside, almost close to Florian's +elbow, without speaking a word; nor did the old woman say much, +though it must be presumed that she heard all that was said. + +"Faix, Mr. Flory, an' it's well for you you've come," said Carroll. +"Jist you sit steady there, 'cause it won't do the laist good in +life you're moving about where all the world'd see you." It was +thus that the boy was addressed by him, whom we may now call his +co-conspirator, and Carroll showed plainly, by his movements and by +the glances which he cast around him, that he understood perfectly +the dreadful nature of the business in which he was engaged. "You see +that jintl'man there?" And Carroll pointed to the man in the mask. + +"I see him," said poor Florian, almost in tears. + +"You'd better mark him, that's all. If he cotches a hould o'ye he'd +tear ye to tatthers, that's all. Not that he'd do ye the laist harum +in life if ye'd just hould yer pace, and say nothin' to nobody." + +"Not a word I'll say, Pat." + +"Don't! That's all about it. Don't! We knows,--he knows,--what +they're driving at down at the Castle. Sorra a word comes out of the +mouth o' one on 'em, but that he knows it." Here the man in the mask +shook his head and looked as horrible as a man in a mask can look. +"They'll tell ye that the father who owns ye ought to know all about +it. It's just him as shouldn't know." + +"He don't," said Florian. + +"Not a know;--an' if you main to keep yourself from being holed as +they holed Muster Bingham the other day away at Hollymount." The boy +understood perfectly well what was meant by the process of "holing." +The Mr. Bingham, a small landlord, who had been acting as his +own agent some twenty miles off, in the County of Mayo, had been +frightfully murdered three months since. It was the first murder that +had stained the quarrel which had now commenced in that part of the +country. Mr. Bingham had been unpopular, but he had had to deal with +such a small property, that no one had imagined that an attack would +be made on him. But he had been shot down as he was driving home from +Hollymount, whither he had gone to receive rent. He had been shot +down during daylight, and no one had as yet been brought to justice +for the murder. "You mind's Muster Bingham, Muster Flory; eh? He's +gone, and sorra a soul knows anything about it. It's I'd be sorry to +think you'd be polished off that way." Again the man in the mask made +signs that he was wide awake. + +To tell the truth of Florian, he felt rather complimented in the +midst of all his horrors in being thus threatened with the fate of +Mr. Bingham. He had heard much about Mr. Bingham, and regarded him +as a person of much importance since his death. He was raised to +a level now with Mr. Bingham. And then his immediate position was +very much better than Bingham's. He was alive, and up to the present +moment,--as long as he held his tongue and told nothing,--he would +be regarded with friendly eyes by that terrible man in the mask. But, +through it all, there was the agonising feeling that he was betraying +them all at home. His father and Edith and Frank would not murder him +when they found him out, but they would despise him. And the boy knew +something,--he knew much of what was due by him to his father. At +this moment he was much in dread of Pat Carroll. He was in greater +dread of the man in the mask. But as he sat there, terrified by them +as they intended to terrify him, he was aware of all that courage +would demand from him. If he could once escape from that horrid +cabin, he thought that he might be able to make a clean breast and +tell everything. "It's I that'd be awful sorry that anything like +what happened Bingham, should happen to you, Muster Flory." + +"Why wouldn't you; and I'd have done nothing against you?" said +Florian. He did feel that his conduct up to the present moment +deserved more of gratitude than of threats from Pat Carroll. + +"You're to remimber your oath, Muster Flory. You're become one of us, +as Father Brosnan was telling you. You're not to be one of us, and +then go over among them schaming Prothestants." + +"I haven't gone over among them,--only my father is one of them." + +"What's yer father to do with it now you're a Catholic? Av you is +ever false to a Catholic on behalf of them Prothestants, though he's +twice yer own father, you'd go t' hell for it; that's where you'd be +going. And it's not only that, but the jintl'man as is there will +be sending you on the journey." Then Pat signified that he alluded +to the man in the mask, and the gentleman in the mask clenched his +fist and shook it,--and shook his head also. "You ask Father Brosnan +also, whether you ain't to be thrue to us Catholics now you're one +of us? It's a great favour as has been done you. You're mindful o' +that--ain't you?" Poor Flory said that he was mindful. + +Here they were joined by another conspirator, a man whom Florian had +seen down by the sluices with Pat Carroll, and whom he thought he +remembered to have noticed among the tenants from the other side of +Ballintubber. "What's the chap up to now?" asked the stranger. + +"He ain't up to nothin'," said Carroll. "We're only a cautioning of +him." + +"Not to be splitting on yourself?" + +"Nor yet on you," said Carroll. + +"Sorra a word he can say agin me," said the stranger. "I wasn't in it +at all." + +"But you was," said Florian. "I saw you pick the latch up and throw +it away." + +"You've sharp eyes, ain't you, to be seeing what warn't there to be +seen at all? If you say you saw me in it, I'll have the tongue out of +your mouth, you young liar." + +"What's the good of frightening the boy, Michael. He's a good boy, +and isn't a going to peach upon any of us." + +"But I ain't a liar. He's a liar." This Florian said, plucking up +renewed courage from the kind words Pat Carroll had said in his +favour. + +"Never mind," said Pat, throwing oil on the troubled waters. "We're +all frinds at present, and shall be as long as we don't split on +nobody." + +"It's the meanest thing out,--that splitting on a pal," said the man +who had been called Michael. "It's twice worse when one does it to +one's father. I wouldn't show a ha'porth of mercy to such a chap as +that." + +"And to a Catholic as peached to a Prothestant," said Carroll, +intending to signify his hatred of such a wretch by spitting on the +ground. + +"Or to a son as split because his father was in question." Then +Michael spat twice upon the floor, showing the extremity of the +disgust which in such a case would overpower him. + +"I suppose I may go now," said Florian. He was told by Pat Carroll +that he might go. But just at that moment the man in the mask, who +had not spoken a word, extemporised a cross out of two bits of burned +wood from the hearth, and put it right before Florian's nose; one +hand held one stick, and the other, the other. "Swear," said the man +in the mask. + +"Bedad! he's in the right of it. Another oath will make it all the +stronger. 'That ye'll never say a word of this to mortial ears, +whether father or sister or brother, let 'em say what they will to +yer, s'help yer the Blessed Virgin.'" + +"I won't then," said Florian, struggling to get at the cross to kiss +it. + +"Stop a moment, me fine fellow," said Michael. "Nor yet to no one +else--and you'll give yourself up to hell flames av you don't keep +the blessed oath to the last day of your life. Now let him kiss it, +Pat. I wouldn't be in his shoes for a ten-pun note if he breaks that +oath." + +"Nor I neither," said Pat. "Oh laws, no." Then Florian was allowed to +escape from the cabin. This he did, and going out into the dark, and +looking about him to see that he was not watched, made his way in at +the back door of a fairly large house which stood near, still in the +outskirts of the town of Headford. It was a fairly large house in +Headford; but Headford does not contain many large houses. It was +that in which lived Father Giles, the old parish priest of Tuam;--and +with Father Giles lived his curate, that Father Brosnan of whom +mention has above been made. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FATHER BROSNAN. + + +There has come a change among the priests in Ireland during the last +fifty years, as has been natural. Among whom has there not come a +change in half a century? In England, statesmen are different, and +parsons, and judges, and peers. When an entire country has been left +unmoved by the outside world, so as to seem to have been left asleep +while others have been awake, the different classes will seem to +be the same at the end of every half century. A village lawyer in +Spain will be as was a village lawyer fifty years ago. But a parish +priest in Ireland will be an altered personage, because the country +generally has not been sleeping. + +There used to be two distinct sorts of priests; of whom the elder, +who had probably been abroad, was the better educated; whereas the +younger, who was home-nurtured, had less to say for himself on +general topics. He was generally the more zealous in his religious +duties, but the elder was the better read in doctrinal theology. As +to the political question of the day, they were both apt to be on the +list against the Government, though not so with such violence as to +make themselves often obnoxious to the laws. It was natural that they +should be opposed to the Government, as long as the Protestant Church +claimed an ascendency over them. But their feelings and aspirations +were based then on their religious opinions. Now a set of men has +risen up, with whom opposition to the rulers of the country is +connected chiefly with political ideas. A dream of Home Rule has made +them what they are, and thus they have been roused into waking life, +by the American spirit, which has been imported into the country. +There is still the old difference between the elder and the younger +priests. The parish priest is not so frequently opposed to the law, +as is his curate. The parish priest is willing that the landlord +shall receive his rents, is not at least anxious, that he shall +be dispossessed of his land. But the curate has ideas of peasant +proprietors; is very hot for Home Rule, is less obedient to the +authority of the bishops than he was of yore, and thinks more of the +political, and less of the religious state of his country. + +This variance of feeling might be seen in the three priests who have +been already mentioned in our story. Father Giles was the parish +pastor of Headford, in which position he had been for nearly forty +years. He was a man seventy years of age, in full possession of all +his faculties, very zealous in the well-being of his people, prone to +teach them that if they would say their prayers, and do as they were +bid by their betters, they would, in the long run, and after various +phases of Catholic well or ill-being, go to heaven. But they would +also have enough to eat in this world; which seemed to be almost more +prominent in Father Giles's teaching than the happy bliss of heaven. +But the older Father Giles became the more he thought of the good +things of this world, on behalf of his people, and the less he liked +being troubled with the political desires of his curate. He had gone +so far as to forbid Father Brosnan to do this, or to do that on +various occasions, to make a political speech here, or to attend +a demonstration there;--in doing which, or in not doing it, the +curate sometimes obeyed, but sometimes disobeyed the priest, thereby +bringing Father Giles in his old age into infinite trouble. + +But Father Malachi, in the neighbouring parish of Ballintubber, ran +a course somewhat intermediate between these two. He, at the present +moment, had no curate who interfered with his happiness. There was, +indeed, a curate of Ballintubber--so named; but he lived away, +not inhabiting the same house with Father Malachi, as is usual in +Ireland; having a chapel to himself, and seldom making his way into +our part of the country. Father Malachi was a strong-minded man, who +knew the world. He, too, had an inclination for Home Rule, and still +entertained a jealousy against the quasi-ascendency of a Protestant +bishop; but he had no sympathy whatever with Father Brosnan. Ireland +for the Irish might be very well, but he did not at all want to have +Ireland for the Americans. Father Giles and Father Malachi certainly +agreed on one thing--that Brosnan was a great trouble. + +If the conversion of Florian Jones was to be attributed to any +clerical influence, Father Brosnan was entitled to claim the good or +the evil done; but in truth very few polemical arguments had been +used on the occasion. The boy's head had been filled with the idea +of doing something remarkable, and he had himself gone to the priest. +When a Protestant child does go to a priest on such a mission, what +can the priest do but accept him? He is bound to look upon the +suppliant as a brand to be saved from the burning. "You stupid young +ass!" the priest may say to himself, apostrophising the boy; "why +don't you remain as you are for the present? Why do you come to +trouble me with a matter you can know nothing about?" But the priest +must do as his Church directs him, and the brands have to be saved +from the burning. Father Brosnan sent the boy to Father Malachi, and +Father Malachi told the lad to go to his terrestrial father. It was +this that Mr. Jones had expected, and there the boy was received as a +Catholic. + +But to Father Brosnan the matter was much more important in its +political view. Father Brosnan knew the application as to his rent +which had been made by Pat Carroll to his landlord. He was of opinion +that no rent ought to be paid by any Irish tenant to any landlord--no +rent, at least, to a Protestant landlord. Wrath boiled within his +bosom when he heard of the answer which was given, as though Mr. +Jones had robbed the man by his refusal. Mr. Brosnan thought that +for the present a tenant was, as a matter of course, entitled to +abatement in his rent, as in a short time he must be entitled to his +land without paying any. He considered not at all the circumstances, +whether, as had been the case on certain properties in Mayo, all +money expended had been so expended by the tenant, or by the +landlord, as had been the case with Pat Carroll's land. That was an +injustice, according to Mr. Brosnan's theory; as is all property in +accordance with the teaching of some political doctors who are not +burdened with any. + +It would have been unfair to Mr. Brosnan to say that he sympathised +with murderers, or that he agreed with those who considered that +midnight outrages were fair atonements; he demanded rights. He +himself would have been hot with righteous indignation, had such +a charge been made against him. But in the quarrel which was now +beginning all his sympathies were with the Carrolls at large, and +not with the Jones's at large. At every victory won by the British +Parliament his heart again boiled with indignation. At every +triumphant note that came over the water from America--which was +generally raised by the record of the dollars sent--he boiled, on +the other hand, with joy. He had gleams in his mind of a Republic. +He thought of a Saxon as an evil being. The Queen, he would say, was +very well, but she was better at a distance. The Lord-Lieutenant +was a British vanity, and English pomp, but the Chief Secretary +was a minister of the evil one himself. He believed that England +was enriched by many millions a year robbed from Ireland, and that +Ireland was impoverished to the same extent. He was a man thoroughly +disloyal, and at the same time thoroughly ignorant, altogether in +the dark as to the truth of things, a man who, whatever might be +his fitness for the duties of the priesthood, to which he had been +educated, had no capability of perceiving political facts, and no +honesty in teaching them. But it would have been unjust to him to say +that he was a murderer, or that he countenanced murder. To him it was +that young Florian now betook himself, and found him seated alone in +the back parlour in Father Giles's house. The old priest was out, and +Father Brosnan was engaged on some portion of clerical duties. To +give him his due, he performed those duties rigidly, and the more +rigidly when, in doing them, he obeyed the letter of the law rather +than the spirit. As Father Giles, in his idea of his duties, took +altogether the other side of the question, and, in thinking of the +spirit, had nearly altogether ignored the letter, it may be imagined +that the two men did not agree together very well. In truth, Father +Giles looked upon Father Brosnan as an ignorant, impertinent puppy, +whereas Father Brosnan returned the compliment by regarding Father +Giles as half an infidel, and almost as bad as a Protestant. + +"Well, Master Florian," said the priest, "and how are things going +with you?" + +"Oh! Father Brosnan, I'm in terrible throuble." + +"What throuble's up now?" + +"They're all agin me at home, and father's nearly as bad as any of +them. It's all along of my religion." + +"I thought your father had given his consent?" + +"So he has; but still he's agin me. And my two sisters are dead agin +me. What am I to do about Pat Carroll?" + +"Just hould your tongue." + +"They do be saying that because what Pat and the other boys did was +agin father's interest, I am bound to tell." + +"You've given a promise?" + +"I did give a promise." + +"And you swore an oath," said the priest solemnly. + +"I did swear an oath certainly." + +"Then you must hould your tongue. In such a case as this I cannot +absolve you from your word. I don't know what it is that Pat Carroll +did." Here it must be admitted Father Brosnan did not stick to the +absolute truth. He did know what Pat Carroll had done. All Headford +knew that Mr. Jones's meadows had been flooded, and the priest must +have known that the present cause of trouble at Castle Morony, +was the injury thus done. Father Brosnan knew and approved of Pat +Carroll's enmity to the Jones family. But he was able to justify the +falsehood of his own heart, by stumbling over the degree of knowledge +necessary. There was a sense in which he did not know it. He need +not have sworn to it in a Court of Law. So he told himself, and so +justified his conscience. "You need not tell me," he went on to say +when the boy was proceeding to whisper the story, "I am not bound +to know what it is that Pat Carroll does, and what it is that your +father suffers. Do you go home, and keep your toe in your pump, +as they say, and come to me for confession a day or two before +Christmas. And if any of them say anything to you about your +religion, just sit quiet and bear it." + +The boy was then dismissed, and went home to his father's home, +indifferent as to who might see him now, because he had come from the +priest's house. But the terror of that man in the mask still clung +to him; and mingled with that was the righteous fear, which still +struck cold to his heart, of the wicked injury which he was doing his +father. Boy though he was, he knew well what truth and loyalty, and +the bonds which should bind a family together, demanded from him. He +was miserable with a woe which he had not known how to explain to the +priest, as he thought of his terrible condition. At first Pat Carroll +and his friends had recommended themselves to him. He had, in truth, +only come on the scene of devastation down by the lough, by mere +accident. But he had before heard that Pat was an aggrieved man in +reference to his rent, and had taken it into his boyish heart to +sympathise with such sorrows. When Pat had got hold of him on the +spot, and had first exacted the promise of secrecy, Florian had given +it willingly. He had not expected to be questioned on the subject, +and had not attributed the importance to it which it had afterwards +assumed. He had since denied all knowledge of it, and was of course +burdened with a boy's fear of having to acknowledge the falsehood. +And now there had been added to it that awful scene in the cabin at +Headford, and on the top of that had come the priest's injunction. +"In such a case as this I cannot absolve you from your word." It was +so that the priest had addressed him, and there was something in it +that struck his young mind with awe. There was the man in the mask +tendering to him the oath upon the cross; and there had been Pat +Carroll assuring him of that man's wrath. Then there had come the +other stranger, speaking out angrily, and promising to him all evil, +were he to divulge a word. + +Nevertheless, his conscience was so strong within him, that when he +reached the Castle he had almost made up his mind to tell his father +everything. But just as he was about to enter the Lodge gate, he was +touched on the arm by a female. "Master Florian," said the female, +"we is all in your hands." It was now dark night, and he could +not even see the woman's face. She seemed indeed to keep her face +covered, and yet he could see the gleam of her eyes. "You're one of +us now, Master Florian." + +"I'm a Catholic, if you mean that." + +"What else should I main? Would ye be unthrue to your own people? +Do ye know what would happen you if ye commit such a sin as that? I +tould them up there that you'd never bring down hell fire upon yer +head, by such a deed as that. It isn't what ye can do to him he'll +mind, I said, but the anger o' the Blessed Virgin. Worn't it thrue +for me what I said, Master Florian?" She held him in the dark, and he +could see the glimmer of her eyes, and hear the whisper of her voice, +and she frightened him with the fear of the world to come. As he +made his way up to the hall door, it was not the dread of the man in +the mask, so much as the fear inspired by this woman which made him +resolve that, come what come might, he must stick to the lie which he +had told. + +After breakfast the next morning, his father summoned him into +his room. "Now," said Flory to himself, as he followed his father +trembling,--"now must I be true." By this he meant that he must be +true to his co-conspirators. If he were false to them, he would have +to incur the anger of the Blessed Virgin. How this should be made +to fall upon him, he did not in the least understand; but he did +understand that the Virgin as he had thought her, should be kind, and +mild, and gracious. He had never stopped to think whether the curse +as uttered by the woman, might or might not be true. Of loyalty to +his father he had thought much; but now he believed that it behoved +him to think more of loyalty to the Virgin, as defined by the woman +in the dark. + +He followed his father into the magistrates' room, leaving his +brother and two sisters in the parlour. He was glad that none of +them were invited to accompany him, for he felt that his father was +more prone to believe him, than were either his sisters or even his +brother. "Florian," said his father, "you know, do you not, the +trouble to which I have been put about this man, Pat Carroll?" + +"Yes, father; I know you have." + +"And the terrible loss which I have incurred! Eighty acres are under +water. I suppose the miscreant will have cost me between £400 and +£500." + +"As much as that?" said Florian, frightened by the magnitude of the +sum named. + +"Indeed he will. It is hard to calculate the extent of the malignity +of a wicked man. Whether the barony will share the loss with me I +cannot yet say; but in either case the wickedness will be the same. +There is no word bad enough for it. It is altogether damnable; +and this is done by a man who calls me in question because of my +religion." Here the father paused, but Florian stood by without an +answer. If Pat Carroll was right in his religion, his father must be +wrong; and Florian thought that Pat Carroll was right. But he did +not see how the two things were joined together,--the opening of the +sluices, and the truth of Pat Carroll's religious convictions. "But +bad as the matter is as regards Pat Carroll, it is all as nothing in +reference to the accusation made against you." Here the father came +up, and laying his two hands on the boy's shoulders looked sadly into +his face. "I cannot believe that my own boy, my darling boy, has +joined in this evil deed against me!" Here the father ceased and +waited for his son to speak. + +The son remembered the determination to which he had come, and +resolved to adhere to it. "I didn't," he said after a pause. + +"I cannot believe it of you; and yet, your sisters who are as true as +steel, who are so good that I bless God morning and night that He in +His mercy has left me such treasures,--they believe it." + +"They are against me because of my religion." + +"No, Florian, not so; they disapprove of your change in religion, but +they are not brought to accuse you by such a feeling. They say that +they see it in your face." + +"How can they see all that in my face?" + +"That though you are lying persistently, you cannot hide from them +that you are lying. They are not only good girls, but they have very +sharp wits. A cleverer girl than Edith, or one better able to read +the truth of a boy's head, or even a man's, I have never known. I +hardly dare to put my own judgment against hers." + +"In this case she knows nothing about it." + +"But to me it is of such vital importance! It is not simply that your +evidence is needed to punish the man; I would let the man go and all +the evil that he has done me. But not for any money that I could name +would I entertain such an opinion of my son. Were I convinced at this +moment that you are innocent, I should be a happy man." + +"Then you may, father." + +"But your manner is against you. You do not answer me with that +appearance of frankness which I should have expected." + +"Of course it all makes me very miserable. How can a fellow be frank +when he's suspected like this?" + +"Florian, do you give me your most solemn assurance that you saw +nothing of this evil work while it was being perpetrated?" + +"Yes, father." + +"You saw nothing, and you knew nothing?" + +"No, father." + +"You have no reason to accuse Pat Carroll, except by what you have +heard?" + +"No, father." + +"Nor anyone else?" + +"No, father." Then Mr. Jones stood silent, looking at his son. +And the more he looked the more he doubted him. When the boy had +uttered "No, father," for the last time, Mr. Jones felt almost +convinced--almost convinced that Edith was right. "You may go now, +Florian," he said. And the boy departed, fully convinced that his +father had disbelieved him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH. + + +Three or four days after the occurrences narrated in the last +chapter, Mr. Jones got on to his car and had himself driven down to +Carnlough, the seat of Mr. Thomas Blake, a gentleman living about two +miles the other side of Tuam. To reach Carnlough he had a journey to +make of about ten miles, and as he seldom went, in these days, so far +away from home, the fact of his going was known to all the household. + +"Father is going to Carnlough," Florian said to Peter, the butler. +"What is he going for?" + +"'Deed, then, Master Flory, who can tell that? Mr. Blake is a very +old friend of master's." + +"But why is he going now? It isn't often he goes to Carnlough; and +when he does go, he is sure to say why." + +"I shouldn't wonder af he's going to ax him as to how he shall get +rid of the waters." + +"He knows that better than Mr. Blake can tell him." + +"Or maybe he's going to inquire how he shall cotch a hould of Pat +Carroll." + +It was evident, from the butler's answers, that all the world at +Morony Castle felt that at present Mr. Jones could engage himself on +no other subject than that of the flood. + +"I wish father wouldn't think so much about the flood. After all, +what's £500? It won't ruin a man like my father." + +But the butler showed by his visage that he regarded £500 as a +very serious matter, and that he was not at all astonished by the +occupation which it gave to his master's thoughts. + +Mr. Blake, of Carnlough, was the first Irishman with whom Mr. Jones +had become acquainted in the County Galway. It was through his +instance, indeed, that the Morony and Ballintubber properties had +been bought, so that the acquaintance must have been well established +before the purchase had been made. Mr. Blake was a man of good +property, who, in former years, had always been regarded as popular +in the county. He was a Protestant, but had not made himself odious +to the Roman Catholics around him as an Orangeman, nor had he ever +been considered to be hard as a landlord. He thought, perhaps, a +little too much of popularity, and had prided himself a little +perhaps, on managing "his boys"--as he called the tenants--with +peculiar skill. Even still he could boast of his success, though +there had arisen some little difficulties as to rent over at +Carnlough; and, indeed, he was frightened lest some of the evil ways +which had begun to prevail in the neighbouring parts of County Mayo, +should make their way into County Galway. + +Mr. Blake and Mr. Jones had been very intimate. It had been at Mr. +Blake's instance that Mr. Jones had been brought on to the Grand +Jury. But latterly they had not seen very much of each other. Mr. +Jones, since the death of his wife, did not go frequently to Galway, +and Carnlough was a long distance for a morning's drive. But on this +occasion Mr. Jones drove himself over simply with the view of making +a morning call. "Well, Jones, how are you;--and how are the girls, +and how is Frank, and how is that young pickle, Master Florian?" +These questions were answered by others of a similar nature. "How +are the girls, and how is Mrs. Blake, and what is going on here at +Carnlough?" There was no inquiry after the eldest son, for it was Mr. +Blake's misfortune that he had no male child to inherit his property. + +"Faith, then, things ain't going on a bit too well," said Mr. Blake. +"Abatement, abatement, nothing but abatement! Nobody abates me +anything. I have to pay all family charges just the same as ever. +What would they say if I was to take away my wife and girls, shut +up Carnlough, and go and live in France? I could give them some +abatement then and be a richer man. But how would they like to have +Carnlough empty?" + +"There's no danger of that, I think." + +"Upon my word, I don't know. The girls are talking of it, and when +they begin to talk of a thing, I am very likely to do it. And Mrs. +Blake is quite ready." + +"You wouldn't leave the country?" + +"That's just it. I'll stay if they'll let me. If they'll pay me rent +enough to enable me to live here comfortably, I'll not desert them. +But if they think that I'm to keep up the place on borrowed money, +they'll find their mistake. I didn't mind ten per cent. for the last +two years, though I have taken to drinking whisky punch in my old +age, instead of claret and sherry. And I don't mind ten per cent. for +this year, though I am sorely in want of a young horse to carry me. +But if the ten per cent. is to go on, or to become twenty per cent. +as one blackguard hinted, I shall say good-bye to Carnlough. They may +fight it out then with Terry Daly as they can." Now, Terry Daly was +the well-known agent for the lands of Carnlough. "What has brought +you over here to-day?" asked Mr. Blake. "I can see with half an eye +that there is some fresh trouble." + +"Indeed there is." + +"I have heard what they did with your sluices. That's another trick +they've learnt out of County Mayo. When a landlord is not rich enough +to give them all that they want, they make the matter easier by doing +the best they can to ruin him. I don't think anything of that kind +has been done at Carnlough." + +"There is worse than that," said Mr. Jones sorrowfully. + +"The devil there is! They have not mutilated any of your cattle?" + +"No, there is nothing of that kind. The only enemy I've got about the +place, as far as I know, is one Pat Carroll. It was he and others, +whom he paid to serve him, that have let the waters in upon the +meadows. Eighty acres are under water at this moment. But I can bear +that like a man. The worst of that is, that all the neighbours should +have seen him do it, and not one of them have come forward to tell +me." + +"That is the worst," said Mr. Blake. "There must be some terrible +understanding among them, some compact for evil, when twenty men are +afraid to tell what one man has been seen to do. It's fearful to +think that the priests should not put a stop to it. How is Master +Florian getting on with his priest?" + +"It's about him that I have come to speak to you," said Mr. Jones. + +"About Florian?" + +"Yes; indeed. When I tell you my story, I think you will understand +that I would tell it to no one but yourself in County Galway. I fear +that Florian saw the men at work upon the flood gates." + +"And will he not tell the truth?" + +"You must remember that I cannot say that I know anything. The boy +declares that he saw nothing; that he knows nothing. I have no +evidence; but his sisters are sure that it is so. Edith says that he +certainly was present when the gates were removed. She only judges +from his manner and his countenance." + +"What made her suspect him?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"Only that she saw him when the news was brought to us. Edith is +not ill-natured. She would not be prone to make a story against her +brother." + +"If Edith says so, it is so," said Mr. Blake, who among all Edith's +admirers was one of the most ardent. + +"I don't quite say that. I only mean to express my conviction that +she intends to get at the truth." + +"I'll wager my life upon her," said Mr. Blake. "As to the +other;--well, you know, Jones, that he has turned Roman Catholic." + +"That means nothing," said the distressed father. "He is only ten +years old. Of course he's a fool for his pains; but he would not on +that account do such a deed as this." + +"I don't know. You must remember that he will be telling everything +to the priests." + +"We have two priests about us," said Mr. Jones, "and I would trust +them in anything. There is Father Giles at Headford, and he is as +fair a man as any clergyman of our own could be. You cannot imagine +that he would give such advice to my boy?" + +"Not Father Giles certainly," said the other man. + +"Then down with us at Ballintubber there is Father Malachi." + +"I know him too," said Mr. Blake. "He would not interfere with a boy +like Florian. Is there no one else? What curate lives with Father +Malachi?" + +"There is none with him at Ballintubber. One Brosnan lives with +Father Giles." + +"That man is a firebrand," said Mr. Blake. "He is a wretched +politician, always preaching up Home Rule." + +"But I do not think that even he would teach a boy to deceive his own +father in such a matter as this." + +"I am not sure," said Blake. "It is very difficult to get at the +vagaries of mind in such a man as Mr. Brosnan. But what do you intend +to do?" + +"I have come to you for advice. But remember this:--in my present +frame of mind, the suspicion that I feel as to poor Florian is ten +times worse to me than the loss of all my meadows. If I could find +out Edith to have been wrong, I should be at once relieved of the +great trouble which sits heaviest at my heart." + +"I fear that Edith is right," said Mr. Blake. + +"You are prejudiced a little in her favour. Whatever she says you +will think right." + +"You must weigh that, and take it for what it's worth," said Mr. +Blake. "We know that the boy has got himself into bad hands. You do +not suspect him of a desire to injure you?" + +"Oh, no!" said the father. + +"But he has seen these men do it, and now refuses to tell you. They +have terrified him." + +"He is not a cowardly boy," said Mr. Jones, still standing up for his +son. + +"But they have made him swear an oath that he will not tell. There +has been something of that sort. What does he say himself?" + +"Simply that he knows nothing about it." + +"But how does he say it? Does he look you in the face? A boy of that +kind may lie. Boys do--and girls also. When people say they don't, +they know nothing about it; but if it's worth one's while to look at +them one can generally tell when they're lying. I'm not a bit afraid +of a boy when he is lying,--but only of one who can lie as though he +didn't lie." + +"I think that Florian is lying," said Mr. Jones slowly; "he does not +look me in the face, and he does not lie straightforward." + +"Then Edith is right; and I am right when I swear by her." + +"But what am I to do with him? If, as I suppose, he saw Pat Carroll +do the mischief, he must have seen others with him. If we knew who +were the lot, we could certainly get the truth out of some of them, +so as to get evidence for a conviction." + +"Can't he be made to speak?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"How can I make him? It will be understood all about Morony that +he has been lying. And I feel that it is thought that he has made +himself a hero by sticking to his lie. If they should turn upon him?" +Mr. Blake sat silent but made no immediate reply. "It would be better +for me to let the whole thing slide. If they were to kill him!" + +"They would not do that. Here in County Galway they have not come +to that as yet. There is not a county in all Ireland in which such +a deed could be done," said Mr. Blake, standing up for his country. +"Are you to let this ruffian pass unpunished while you have the power +of convicting him? I think that you are bound to punish him. For the +sake of your country you are bound to do so." + +"And the boy?" said Mr. Jones hoarsely. + +"He is but ten years old, and will soon live it down. And the +disgrace of the lie will be drowned in the triumph of telling the +truth at last. We should all feel,--I should feel,--that he would +in such case deserve well, rather than ill, of his father and of me, +and of all of us. Besides you had some idea of sending him to school +in England." Here Mr. Jones shook his head, intending to indicate +that no such expensive step as that would be possible after the loss +incurred by the flooding of the eighty acres. "At any rate my advice +to you is to make him declare the truth. I think little harm of a +boy for lying, but I do think harm of those who allow a lie to pass +unnoticed." So saying Mr. Blake ended the meeting, and took Mr. Jones +away to see Mrs. Blake and the girls. + +"I do suppose that father has gone to Carnlough, to consult with Mr. +Blake about this affair of the flood." It was thus that Ada spoke to +her brother Florian, when he came to her discussing the matter of +their father's absence. + +"What can Mr. Blake know about it?" said Florian. + +"I suppose he means to ask about you. It is quite clear, Florian, +that no one in the house believes you." + +"Peter does." + +"You mean that Peter thinks you are right to stand to the lie now you +have told it. More shame for Peter if he does." + +"You wouldn't have a fellow go and put himself out of favour with all +the boys through the country? There is a horrible man that wears a +mask--" Then he remembered, and stopped himself. He was on closer +terms with Ada than with Edith, but not on terms so close as to +justify his whispering a word about the man in the mask. + +"Where did you see the man in the mask?" asked Ada. "Who is the man +in the mask?" + +"I don't know." + +"But you know where you saw him. You must know that. What did the man +in the mask say to you?" + +"I am not going to tell you anything about him," said the boy. "I +am not going to have my secrets got out of me in that way. It isn't +honest. Nobody but a Protestant would do it." So saying Florian left +his sister, with the tale of the man in the mask only half told. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER. + + +We must now turn to another personage in our story, and tell +our readers something of the adventures and conditions of this +gentleman;--something also of his daughter. The adventures of her +early life will occupy much of our time and many of our pages; and +though her father may not be so interesting as it is hoped that she +will become, still he was so peculiar in his modes of thought, and +so honest, though by no means wise, in his manner of thinking, as to +make his story also perhaps worth the telling. + +Gerald O'Mahony was at the time of the flooding of Mr. Jones's +meadows not much more than forty years old. But he was already the +father of a daughter nearly twenty. Where he was born, from what +parents, or to what portion of Ireland his family belonged, no one +knew. He himself had been heard to declare a suspicion that his +father had come from County Kerry. But as he himself had been, +according to his own statement, probably born in the United States, +the county to which his father had belonged is not important. He had +been bred up as a Roman Catholic, but had long since thrown over all +the prejudices of his religion. He had married when he was quite +young, and had soon lost his wife. But in talking of her now he +always described her as an angel. But though he looked to be so young +as to be his daughter's brother, rather than her father, he had never +thought of marrying again. His daughter he declared was everything to +him. But those who knew him well said that politics were dearer to +him even than his daughter. Since he had been known in County Galway, +he had passed and repassed nearly a dozen times between New York and +Ireland; and his daughter had twice come with him. He had no declared +means, but he had never been known to borrow a shilling, or to leave +a bill unpaid. But he had frequently said aloud that he had no money +left, and that unless he returned to his own country he and his +daughter must be taken in by some poor-house. For Mr. O'Mahony, fond +as he was of Ireland, allowed no one to say that he was an Irishman. + +But his troubles were apparently no troubles to him. He was always +good-humoured, and seemed always to be happy--except when in public, +when he was engaged upon politics. Then he would work himself up +to such a state of indignant anger as seemed to be altogether +antagonistic to good-humour. The position he filled,--or had +filled,--was that of lecturer on behalf of the United States. He had +lectured at Manchester, at Glasgow, at Liverpool, and lately all over +Ireland. But he had risen to such a height of wrath in advocating the +doctrine of Republicanism that he had been stopped by the police. He +had been held to have said things disrespectful of the Queen. This +he loudly denied. He had always, he said, spoken of the Queen's +virtues, her graces, and general fitness for her high office. He had +declared,--and this was true,--that of all kings and queens of whom +he had read in history she was the best. But, he had gone on to say +there should be no king or queen. The practice was an absurdity. The +reverence paid even to the high office was such as, in his idea, +degraded a man. Even in America, the Kotooing which took place before +the President's toe was to him an abomination. No man in accordance +with his theory should worship another man. Titles should only be +used as indicative of a man's trade or occupation. As one man was Mr. +General Grant, another man should be Mr. Bricklayer Green. He could +not do away with the Queen. But for the woman, he was quite disposed +to worship her. All women were to be worshipped, and it was a +privilege of a man to worship a woman. When a woman possessed so +many virtues as did the Queen of England, it became a man's duty to +worship them. But it was a woman whom he would worship, and not the +Queen. This was carried to such a length, and he was so eloquent on +the subject that the police were desired to interfere, and he was +made to hold his tongue,--at any rate as far as England and Ireland +were concerned. + +He had made Galway a kind of centre home, attracted thither by the +friendship which his daughter had made with Ada and Edith Jones. For +though Ada and Edith were by no means Republican in their thoughts +and feelings, it had come to pass that they dearly loved the American +girl who was so. Rachel O'Mahony had frequently been at Morony +Castle, as had also her father; and Mr. Jones had taken delight in +controverting the arguments of the American, because, as he had said, +the American had been unselfish and true. But since his lecturing had +been stopped, it had become necessary that he should go elsewhere +to look for means of livelihood, and he had now betaken himself to +London for that purpose,--a circumstance which will be explained at +greater length as the story progresses. + +Republicanism was not the only matter in his political creed to +which Gerald O'Mahony was devoted. Though he was no Irishman, as he +delighted to intimate, his heart was Irish; and during his various +visits to the country, he had filled his bosom with thoughts of +Irish wrongs. No educated man was ever born and bred in more utter +ignorance of all political truths than this amiable and philanthropic +gentleman. In regard to Ireland his theory was that the land should +be taken from the present proprietors, and divided among the peasants +who tilled it. When asked what should be done with the present +owners, he was quite ready with his answer: "Let them be paid for the +property by the State!" He would have no man injured to the extent +of a shilling. When asked where the State was to get the money, he +declared that that was a mere detail. States did get money. As for +the landlords themselves, with the money in their pockets, let them +emigrate to the United States, if they were in want of something +to do. As to the division of the land,--that he said would settle +itself. One man would have ten acres, and another fifty; but that +would be fair, because one man had been used to pay for ten, and +another to pay for fifty. As for the men who got no land in the +scramble he could see no injustice. The man who chanced to have been +a tenant for the last twelve months, must take the benefit of his +position. No doubt such man could sell his land immediately after he +got it, because Freedom of Sale was one of the points of his charter. +He could see the injustice of giving the land at a rent fixed by +the State, because the State has no right to interfere in ordinary +contracts between man and man. But if the land was to be given up +without any rent, then he could see no injustice. Thus, and thus +only, could Ireland be made to return to the beauty and the grace of +her original simplicity. + +But on the wrongs arising from the want of Home Rule he was +warmer even than on those which the land question had produced. +"Why should Ireland be governed by a British Parliament, a +British Lord-Lieutenant, a British Chief-Secretary, a British +Commander-in-Chief, and trodden under foot by a British soldiery? +Why should Scotland be so governed, why should Wales, why should +Yorkshire?" Mr. Jones would reply, "Repeal the Unions; restore +the Heptarchy!" Mr. O'Mahony had but a confused idea of what the +Heptarchy had been. But he was sure that it would be for the benefit +of Ireland, that Irish knives should be made of Irish steel. "As +undoubtedly would have been the case if the question of protection +were to be left to an Irish Parliament to settle," said Mr. Jones. +"Heaven help the man who would want to cut his mutton. His best +chance would be that he would soon have no mutton to cut." + +So the dispute was carried on with much warmth on one side, and with +many arguments on the other, but without any quarrelling. It was +impossible to quarrel with O'Mahony, who was thoroughly unselfish, +and desirous of no violence. When he had heard what had been done in +reference to Mr. Jones's meadows, and had been told of the suspected +conduct of Pat Carroll, he was as indignant as though he had himself +been a landed proprietor, or even an Orangeman. And on Mr. Jones's +part there was a desire to do justice to all around him, which came +within the capacity of O'Mahony's vision. He knew that Mr. Jones +himself was a fair-dealing, honest gentleman, and he could not, +therefore, quarrel with him. + +There is a steamer running from the town of Galway, across Lough +Corrib, to the little village of Cong, on the Mayo side of the lake, +which stops and picks up passengers within a mile of Morony Castle. +From this, passengers are landed, so that the means of transit +between Galway and Mr. Jones's house are peculiarly easy. Up and down +by this steamer Ada and Edith Jones had frequently gone to visit +their friend, and as frequently that friend had come to visit them. +But unfortunately the steamer had been open to others besides the +young ladies, and Rachel O'Mahony had found a dearer friend than +either of the girls at Morony Castle. It had come to pass that Frank +Jones and Rachel O'Mahony had declared themselves to be engaged. +On no such ground as want of wealth, or want of family, or want of +education, had Mr. Jones based his objection to the match; but there +had been a peculiarity in the position of Rachel which had made him +hesitate. It was not that she was an American, but such an American! +It was not that he was a Republican, but such a Republican! And she +was more anxious to carry Frank away with her to the United States, +and to join him in a political partnership with her father, than to +come and settle herself down at the Castle. Thus there had arisen an +understanding on the part of the young people, that, though they were +engaged, they were engaged without the consent of the young man's +father. Rachel therefore was not to be brought to the Castle while +Frank was there. To all this Rachel's father had assented, in a +smiling indifferent manner, half intended to ridicule all who were +concerned. As it was not a question of politics, Mr. O'Mahony could +not work himself up to any anger, or apparently even to anxiety in +the matter. "Your young people,"--here he meant English and Irish +generally,--"are taught to think they should begin the world where we +leave it off." + +"Your young people are just as fond of what money will buy as are +ours," said Mr. Jones. + +"But they are fonder of one another, even, than of money. When they +love one another they become engaged. Then they marry. And as a rule +they don't starve. As a rule people with us seldom do starve. As for +making out an income for a young man to start with, that with us is +quite out of the question. Frank some day will have this property." + +"That won't give him much of an income," said Mr. Jones, who since +the affair of the flood had become very despondent in reference to +the estate. + +"Then he's as well off now as ever he will be, and might as well +marry the girl." But all this was said with no eagerness. + +"They are merely boy and girl as yet," said Mr. Jones. + +"I was married, and Rachel was born before I was Frank's age." So +saying, Mr. O'Mahony consented to come to Morony Castle, and bid them +adieu, without bringing his girl with him. This was hard upon Ada +and Edith, as Mr. Frank, of course, went into Galway as often as he +pleased, and made his adieu after his own fashion. + +And there had come up another cause which had created further +objections to the marriage in Mr. Jones's mind. Mr. O'Mahony had +declared that as his lecturing was brought to an end by the police, +he must throw himself upon Rachel's capabilities for earning some +money. Rachel's capabilities had been often discussed at the Castle, +but with various feelings on the three sides into which the party had +formed themselves. All the Jones's were on one side, and declared +that the capability had better not be exercised. In this they were +probably wrong;--but it was their opinion. They had lived for many +years away from London. The children had so lived all their lives; +and they conceived that prejudices still existed which had now +been banished or nearly banished from the world. Mr. O'Mahony, who +formed another party, thought that the matter was one of supreme +indifference. As long as he could earn money by lecturing it was well +that he should earn it. It was always better that the men of a family +should work than the women; but, if the man's talent was of no use, +then it might be well to fall back upon the woman. He only laughed +at the existence of a prejudice in the matter. He himself had no +prejudices. He regarded all prejudices as the triumph of folly over +education. + +But Rachel, who was the third party in the discussion, had a very +strong feeling of her own. She was of opinion that if the capability +in question existed, it ought to be exercised. On that subject,--her +possession of the capability,--she entertained, she said, strong +doubts. But if the capability existed it certainly ought to be used. +That was Rachel's opinion, expressed with all the vigour which she +knew how to throw into the subject. + +This capability had already been exercised in New York, where it had +been efficacious, though the effect had not been great. She had been +brought up to sing, and great things had been promised of her voice. +An American manager had thought much of her performance, though she +had hitherto, he said, been young, and had not come to the strength +of her throat. But he had himself seen to her education, almost as +a child, and had been sure that sooner or later she would do great +things in the musical world. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss was the gentleman +in question, and he at present was in London. That such a voice as +Rachel O'Mahony's should be lost to the world, was to his thinking +a profanity, an indecency, an iniquity, a wasting of God's choicest +gifts, and an abomination not to be thought of; for Mr. Mahomet +M. Moss was in the affairs of his own profession a most energetic +gentleman. Rachel rather turned up her nose at Mr. Mahomet M. Moss; +but she was very anxious to go to London and to take her chance, and +to do something, as she said, laughing, just to keep her father's pot +a little on the boil;--but for Mr. Mahomet M. Moss she did not care +one straw. Mr. O'Mahony was therefore ready to start on the journey, +and had now come to Morony Castle to say farewell to his friend Mr. +Jones. "Are you sure about that fellow Moss?" said Mr. Jones. + +"What do you call sure about him? He's as big a swindler, I guess, as +you shall find from here to himself." + +"And are you going to put Rachel into his hands?" + +"Well, I think so;--after a sort of fashion. He'll swindle her out of +three parts of what she earns;--but she'll get the fourth part. It's +always the way with a young girl when she's first brought out." + +"I don't mean about money. Will you leave her conduct in his hands?" + +"He'll be a clever chap who'll undertake to look after Rachel's +conduct. I guess she'll conduct herself mostly." + +"You'll be there to be sure," said Mr. Jones. + +"Yes, I shall be there; and she'll conduct me too. Very likely." + +"But, Mr. O'Mahony,--as a father!" + +"I know pretty well what you would be saying. Our young folk grow old +quicker a long sight than yours do. Now your girls here are as sweet +as primroses out of the wood. But Rachel is like a rose that has been +brought up to stand firm on its own bush. I'm not a bit afraid of +her. Nor yet is your son. She looks as though you might blow her away +with the breath from your mouth. You try her, and you'll find that +she'll want a deal of blowing." + +"Does not a young girl lose something of the aroma of her youth by +seeing too much of the world too soon?" + +"How old do you expect her to be when she's to die?" + +"Rachel! How can I tell? She is only as yet entering upon life, and +her health seems to be quite confirmed." + +"The best confirmed I ever knew in my life. She never has a day's +illness. Taking all the chances one way and another, shall we say +sixty?" + +"More than that, I should think," said Mr. Jones. + +"Say sixty. She may fall down a trap in the theatre, or be drowned in +one of your Cunarders." + +"The Cunard steamers never drown anybody," said Mr. Jones. + +"Well, then, a White Star--or any cockle-shell you may please to +name. We'll put her down for sixty as an average." + +"I don't know what you are driving at," said Mr. Jones. + +"She has lived a third of her life already, and you expect her to +know nothing, so that the aroma may still cling to her. Aroma does +very well for earls' daughters and young marchionesses, though as +far as I can learn, it's going out of fashion with them. What has an +American girl to do with aroma, who's got her bread to earn? She's +got to look to her conduct, and to be sharp at the same time. Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss will rob her of seventy-five cents out of every +dollar for the next twelve months. In three years' time he'll rob her +of nothing. Only that she knows what conduct means, he'd have to look +very sharp to keep his own." + +"It is not natural," said Mr. Jones. + +"But it's American. Marvels are not natural, and we are marvellous +people. I don't know much about aroma, but I think you'll find Rachel +will come out of the washing without losing much colour in the +process." + +Then the two friends parted, and Mr. O'Mahony went back to Galway, +preparatory to his journey to London. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +RACHEL AND HER LOVERS. + + +On the day following that of O'Mahony's return to Galway, he, and +his daughter, and Frank Jones were together at the Galway Station +preparatory to the departure of the O'Mahonys for Dublin and London. +"I guess you two have got something to say to each other, so I'll +leave you to yourselves," said the father. + +"I guess we have," said Rachel, "so if you'll wait here we'll come +to you when the cars are fixed." So saying, Rachel put her hand on +her lover's arm and walked off with him along the platform. Rachel +O'Mahony had not been badly described when her father said of her +that she looked as though she might be blown away. She was very fair, +and small and frail to look at. Her father had also said of her that +her health was remarkably good,--"the best confirmed that he had ever +known in his life." But though this too, was true, she hardly looked +it. No one could have pointed out any sign of malady about her; only +one would have said that there was nothing of her. And the colour on +her face was so evanescent that he who watched her was inclined to +think that she herself was like her colour. And she moved as though +she was always on the vanishing point. "I'm very fond of eating," she +had been heard to say. "I know it's vulgar; but it's true." No doubt +she was fond of eating, but so is a sparrow. There was nothing she +would not attempt to do in the way of taking exercise. She would +undertake very long walks, and would then fail, and declare that +she must be carried home; but she would finally get through the +day's work better than another woman who appeared to have double her +strength. Her feet and hands were the tiniest little adjuncts to a +grown human body that could be seen anywhere. They looked at least to +be so. But they were in perfect symmetry with her legs and arms. "I +wish I were bigger," she had once been heard to say, "because I could +hit a man." The man to whom she alluded was Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. +"I sometimes want to hit a woman, but that would be such a small +triumph." And yet she had a pride in her little female fineries. +"Now, Frank," she had once said, "I guess you won't get another woman +in all Galway to put her foot into that boot; nor yet in New York +either." + +"I don't think I could," said the enraptured Frank. + +"You'd better take it to New York and try, and if you find the lady +you can bring her back with you." + +Frank refused the commission, saying something of course very pretty +as to his mistress's foot. "Ten buttons! These only have eight," she +said, objecting to a present which her lover had just brought her. +"If I had ten buttons, and the gloves to fit me, I'd cut my arm off +and put it under a glass case. Lovers are sent out to do all possible +and impossible things in order to deserve their lady-loves. You shall +go and wander about till you find a glove with ten buttons to fit +me, then I'll consent to be Mrs.----Jones." By all of which little +manoeuvres Frank was charmed and oppressed to the last degree. When +she would call herself the "future Mrs.----Jones," he would almost +feel inclined to abandon both the name and the property. "Why not +be Mrs. Morony," Rachel would say, "or Mrs. Ballintubber? The +Ballintubber, of Ballintubber, would sound exquisitely, and then I +should always be called 'Madam.'" + +Her beauty was all but perfect, as far as symmetry was concerned, +only that there was not enough of it; and for the perfection of +female beauty a tone of colour is, methinks, needed somewhat darker +than that which prevailed with Rachel O'Mahony. Her hair was so light +that one felt it rather than saw it, as one feels the sunlight. It +was soft and feathery, as is the under plumage on the wings of some +small tropical birds. "A lock of my hair!" she had once said to +Frank; "but it will all go into nothing. You should have paid your +vows to some girl who could give you a good lump of hair fit to stuff +a pillow with. If you have mine you will think in a few weeks that +the spiders have been there and have left their dust behind." But +she gave him the lock of hair, and laid it on his lips with her own +little hands. + +There was not enough of her beauty. Even in touching her a lover +could not but feel that he had to deal with a little child. In +looking at her he could only look down upon her. It was not till +she spoke, and that her words came to his assistance, that he found +that he had to deal with one who was not altogether a child. "Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss declares his opinion that I shall be seen above the +gaslights. It was very civil and complimentary of Mahomet M. M. But +I mean to make myself heard. Mahomet M. M. did not seem to think of +this." Since Frank had known her she had taken every opportunity in +her power of belittling Mahomet M. M., as she was wont to call Mr. +Moss. + +Frank Jones was, in truth, a handsome stalwart young man, clever +enough for the world, who thought a good deal of himself, and who +thought very much more of the girl whom he loved. It was chiefly +because he was absolutely unlike an American that Rachel O'Mahony +had come to love him. Who does not know the "got up" look of the +gentleman from the other side of the water, who seems to know himself +to be much better than his father, and infinitely superior to his +grandfather; who is always ready to make a speech on every occasion, +and who feels himself to be fit company for a Prime Minister as soon +as he has left school. Probably he is. Young Jones was not so; and it +was on account of this deficiency that Rachel prized him. "I'm not +like a young girl myself," she had said to her father, "but I do love +a jolly nice boy. With us at sixteen, they are all but decrepit old +men, and yet they are such little monkeys." + +"For a little monkey, what do you think of yourself?" her father had +replied. But the conversation then had not gone any further. + +"I know you'll be after me before long," Rachel said to Frank, as +they walked up and down the platform together. + +"If I do, I shall ask you to marry me at once," he replied. + +"I shall never do that without your father's leave." + +"Is that the way they manage things in America?" + +"It's the way I shall manage them here," said Rachel. "I'm in the +unfortunate position of having three papas to whom I must attend. +There is papa O'Mahony--" + +"You will never be incommoded much by him," he replied. + +"He is the least potent of the three, no doubt. Then there is papa +Jones. He is absolutely omnipotent in this matter. He would not let +me come down to Castle Morony for fear I should contaminate you all. +I obeyed without even daring to feel the slightest snub, and if I +were married to-morrow, I should kiss his toe in token of respect, +and with a great deal more affection than I should kiss your +half-bearded lips, sir." Here Frank got a hold of her hand beneath +his arm, and gave it a squeeze. "He is the real old-fashioned father +in the play, who is expected to come out at last with a hundred +thousand dollars and his blessing." + +"And who is the third papa?" + +"Don't you know? Mahomet M. Moss. He is the third papa--if only he +would consent to remain in that comparatively humble position." Here +Frank listened to her words with sharp ears, but he said nothing at +the moment. "Mahomet M. Moss is at any rate my lord and master for +the present." + +"Not whilst I am alive," said Frank. + +"But he is. There is no use in rebelling. You are not my lord and +master until you have gone through a certain ceremony. I wish you +were. Will that satisfy you?" + +"There is something in the name of lord and master which a girl +shouldn't apply to anyone but to him who is to be her husband." + +"Fiddlestick! Mr. Lord and Master that is to be, but is not as yet. +But he is, in many respects. I don't think, Frank, you can imagine +the horror I feel in reference to that vilest of human beings. I +shall carry a dagger with me, in order to have it ready for any +occasion." + +"What does he do? You shall not go to be subjected to such danger and +such annoyance." + +She turned round, and looked up into his face as with derision. "The +annoyance no doubt will be mine, Frank, and must be endured; the +danger will be his, I think. Nor shall I use the dagger that I spoke +of. I can look at him, and I can make him hear my voice, in spite of +the smallness of my stature. But there is no one in this world whom I +detest as I do that greasy Jew. It is not for what he does, but that +I simply detest him. He makes love to me." + +"What!" + +"Oh! he does. You needn't look like that. You needn't be a bit +jealous." + +"I shall come over at once." + +"And knock him on the head! You had better not do that, because we +want to make some money by his means. As a lover I can keep him at a +distance. I wish I could do so to you, Mr. Jones." + +"Why do you wish to keep me at a distance?" + +"Because you know how to be troublesome. It is much harder to +keep a lover at a distance when you really love him with all your +heart"--here she looked up into his face and squeezed his arm, and +nearly made him mad for the moment--"than a beast like that, who is +no better than a toad to you. There, do you see that ugly old man +there?" She pointed to a cross-looking old gentleman of sixty, who +was scolding a porter violently. "Why aren't you jealous of that +man?" + +"You never saw him before." + +"That's just the reason. He may be worth my affection, but I know +that that Mahomet M. M. is not. You begin with the most bitter hatred +on my part. I don't hate that old gentleman. I rather like him on +the whole, though he was so cross. At any rate he's not a greasy Jew. +Papa says that hating Jews is a prejudice. Loving you is a prejudice, +I suppose." + +"My darling!" + +"You can't suppose you are the best man I ever saw, can you?" + +"It's a sort of thing we are not to reason about." + +"Then it's a prejudice. I'm prejudiced against Mahomet M. M. I'm +equally prejudiced in favour of Mr. Jones, junior, of Ballintubber. +It's horrible to be troubled by the one." + +"Well!" + +"Well! There's nothing more coming, Mr. Jones. Only don't you come +over in any of your fits of jealousy, or you'll have to be sent back +again. You're not my lord and master--yet." + +"I wish I were." + +"So do I. What more do you want than that? I don't believe there's +another girl in New York would say as much to you,--nor yet in County +Galway." + +"But what does he say to you?" + +"Well; just the kind of things that you never say. And he certainly +never does the kind of things which you do; and that, Mr. Jones, is +an improvement. But papa is in a hurry, and I shouldn't wonder if the +train didn't go on in a quarter of an hour. I'll write to you about +Mahomet M. M.; and if I behave very badly, such as prodding him with +the dagger, or something of that sort, then I will let you know the +details. You can't do it here, so you may as well go." So saying, +she jumped into the carriage, and the train had started before Frank +Jones had begun to think whether he could do it there or no. + +"He's a good fellow, take him all round," said Mr. O'Mahony, when the +carriages had left the station. + +"As good as the rest of them." + +"I think he is better." + +"Of course we all think so of our own. Why should he be better than +any other young lady's Mr. Jones? I don't suppose he is better; but +we'll endeavour to believe that he is up to the average." + +"Is that all that you've got to say for him, Rachel?" + +"What! To you? Not exactly--if I am to speak the solid truth; which I +don't see why I should have to do, even to my own father. I do think +him above the average. I think him so much above the average as to +be the best of all. But why? Simply because I believe him when he +says he wants to marry me, and make me his companion for life. And +then there's an affinity between us which God certainly manages. Why +should I trust him in every detail of life with a perfect faith, and +not trust Mr. Mahomet M. Moss to the extent of half-a-crown? If he +were to ask me for everything I have in the world, I should give it +to him, without a thought except of his goodness in taking care of it +for me. I wouldn't let Mahomet M. Moss have a dollar of mine without +giving me his bond. Papa, there will be a row between me and Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss, and so it's well to put you on your guard." + +"What sort of a row, my dear?" + +"A very rowy row. I don't mean about dollars, for you'll have to +manage that just at first. When we have got into the running, I think +I shall have something to say on that subject too." + +"What row do you mean?" + +"He'll misbehave himself. He always does, more or less." + +"The poor fellow can't open his mouth without your saying that he +misbehaves himself." + +"That's quite true; he can't. He can't brush his hair, or tie his +cravat, or settle his pantaloons, without misbehaving himself. He +certainly can't look out of his eye without gross misbehaviour." + +"What is he to do then?" said Mr. O'Mahony. "Nature has imbued him +with all these peculiarities, and you are fantastic to find fault +with him." + +"Perhaps so--but then I am fantastic. When you've got a dirty coat +on, or Frank, I don't find fault with it; but when he's got a clean +coat, I writhe at him in my disgust. Yet, upon the whole, I like men +to have clean coats." + +"But you haven't said how the row is to come." + +"Because I don't know; but it will come. It won't be about his coat, +nor yet his hat, unless he puts it close down under my nose. My time, +as I understand, is to be at his disposal." + +"There will be an agreement made as to all that." + +"An agreement as to my performances. I quite understand that I must +be present at fixed times at the theatre, and that he must fix them. +That will not worry me; particularly if you will go to the theatre +with me." + +"Of course I will do that when you want it." + +"But he is to come to me with his beastly lessons. Am I to have no +relief from that?" + +"The hours can be fixed." + +"But they won't be fixed. There's no doubt that he understands his +trade. He can make me open my mouth and keep it open. And he can +tell me when I sing false or flat. Providence when she gave him that +horrid head of hair, did give him also the peculiarity of a fine ear. +I think it is the meanest thing out for a man to be proud of that. If +you can run a straight furrow with a plough it is quite as great a +gift." + +"That is nonsense, my dear. Such an ear as Mr. Moss's is very rare." + +"A man who can see exactly across an entire field is just as rare. +I don't see the difference. Nor when a woman sings do I respect her +especially because of her voice. When a man can write a poem like +Homer, or rule a country like Washington, there is something to +say for him. I shall tell him that I will devote one hour a day to +practising, and no more." + +"That will settle the difficulty; if it be enough." + +"But during that hour, there is to be no word spoken except what has +to do with the lessons. You'll bear me out in that?" + +"There must be some give and take in regard to ordinary +conversation." + +"You don't know what a beast he is, papa. What am I to do if he tells +me to my face that I'm a beautiful young woman?" + +"Tell him that you are quite aware of the fact, but that it is a +matter you do not care to talk about." + +"And then he'll simper. You do not know what a vile creature he can +be. I can take care of myself. You needn't be a bit afraid about +that. I fancy I could give him a slap on the face which would startle +him a little. And if we came to blows, I do believe that he would not +have a leg to stand upon. He is nearly fifty." + +"My dear!" + +"Say forty. But I do believe a good shove would knock him off his +nasty little legs. I used to think he wore a wig; but no hairdresser +could be such a disgrace to his profession to let such a wig as that +go out of his shop." + +"I always regarded him as a good-looking young man," said Mr. +O'Mahony. Here Rachel shook her head, and made a terrible grimace. +"It's all fancy you know," continued he. + +"I suppose it is. But if you hear that I have told him that I regard +him as a disgusting monkey, you must not be surprised." This was the +last conversation which Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter had respecting +Mahomet M. Moss, till they reached London. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BROWN'S. + + +When Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter stepped out of the train on the +platform at Euston Square, they were at once encountered by Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss. "Oh, dear!" ejaculated Miss O'Mahony, turning back +upon her father. "Cannot you get rid of him?" Mr. O'Mahony, without +a word of reply to his daughter, at once greeted Mr. Moss most +affectionately. "Yes, my bird is here--as you see. You have taken a +great deal of trouble in coming to meet us." Mr. Moss begged that the +trouble might be taken as being the greatest pleasure he had ever had +in his life. "Nothing could be too much to do for Miss O'Mahony." He +had had, he said, the wires at work, and had been taught to expect +them by this train. Would Miss O'Mahony condescend to take a seat in +the carriage which was waiting for her? She had not spoken a word, +but had laid fast hold of her father's arm. "I had better look after +the luggage," said the father, shaking the daughter off. "Perhaps +Mr. Moss will go with you," said she;--and at the moment she looked +anything but pleasant. Mr. Moss expressed his sense of the high +honour which was done him by her command, but suggested that she +should seat herself in the carriage. "I will stand here under this +pillar," she said. And as she took her stand it would have required +a man with more effrontery than Mr. Moss possessed, to attempt to +move her. We have seen Miss O'Mahony taking a few liberties with her +lover, but still very affectionate. And we have seen her enjoying the +badinage of perfect equality with her papa. There was nothing then +of the ferocious young lady about her. Young ladies,--some young +ladies,--can be very ferocious. Miss O'Mahony appeared to be one of +them. As she stood under the iron post waiting till her father and +Mr. Moss returned, with two porters carrying the luggage, the pretty +little fair, fly-away Rachel looked as though she had in her hand +the dagger of which she had once spoken, and was waiting for an +opportunity to use it. + +"Is your maid here, Miss O'Mahony?" asked Mr. Moss. + +"I haven't got a maid," said Rachel, looking at him as though she +intended to annihilate him. + +They all seated themselves in the carriage with their small parcels, +leaving their luggage to come after them in a cab which Mr. Moss had +had allowed to him. But they, the O'Mahonys, knew nothing of their +immediate destination. It had been clearly the father's business to +ask; but he was a man possessed of no presence of mind. Suddenly the +idea struck Rachel, and she called out with a loud voice, "Father, +where on earth are we going?" + +"I suppose Mr. Moss can tell us." + +"You are going to apartments which I have secured for Miss O'Mahony +at considerable trouble," said Mr. Moss. "The theatres are all +stirring." + +"But we are not going to live in a theatre." + +"The ladies of the theatres find only one situation convenient. +They must live somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Strand. I have +secured two sitting-rooms and two bedrooms on the first floor, +overlooking the views at Brown's." + +"Won't they cost money?" asked the father. + +"Of course they will," said Rachel. "What fools we have been! We +intended to go to some inn for one night till we could find a fitting +place,--somewhere about Gower Street." + +"Gower Street wouldn't do at all," said Mr. Moss. "The distance from +everything would be very great." Two ideas passed at that moment +through Rachel's mind. The first was that the distance might serve +to keep Mr. Moss out of her sitting-room, and the second was that +were she to succeed in doing this, she might be forced to go to +his sitting-room. "I think Gower Street would be found to be +inconvenient, Miss O'Mahony." + +"Bloomsbury Square is very near. Here we are at the hotel. Now, +father, before you have anything taken off the carriages, ask the +prices." + +Then Mr. Moss, still keeping his seat, made a little speech. "I think +if Miss O'Mahony would allow me, I would counsel her against too +rigid an economy. She will have heard of the old proverb,--'A penny +wise and a pound foolish.'" + +"'Cut your coat according to your cloth,' I have heard of that too; +and I have heard of 'Burning a candle at both ends.'" + +"'You shouldn't spoil your ship for a ha'porth of tar,'" said Mr. +Moss with a smile, which showed his idea, that he had the best of the +argument. + +"It won't matter for one night," said Mr. O'Mahony, getting out of +the carriage. Half the packages had been already taken off the cab. + +Rachel followed her father, and without attending to Mr. Moss got +hold of her father in the street. "I don't like the look of the house +at all, father, you don't know what the people would be up to. I +shall never go to sleep in this house." Mr. Moss, with his hat off, +was standing in the doorway, suffused, as to his face, with a bland +smile. + +It may be as well to say at once that the house was all that an hotel +ought to be, excepting, perhaps, that the prices were a little high. +The two sitting-rooms and the two bedrooms--with the maid's room, +which had also been taken--did seem to be very heavy to Rachel, who +knew down to a shilling--or rather, to a dollar, as she would have +said--how much her father had in his pocket. Indefinite promises of +great wealth had been also made to herself; but according to a scale +suggested by Mr. Moss, a pound a night, out of which she would have +to keep herself, was the remuneration immediately promised. Then +a sudden thought struck Miss O'Mahony. They were still standing +discussing the price in one of the sitting-rooms, and Mr. Moss was +also there. "Father," she said, "I'm sure that Frank would not +approve." + +"I don't think that he would feel himself bound to interfere," said +Mr. O'Mahony. + +"When a young woman is engaged to a young man it does make a +difference," she replied, looking Mr. Moss full in the face. + +"The happy man," said Mr. Moss, still bowing and smiling, "would +not be so unreasonable as to interfere with the career of his fair +_fiancée_." + +"If we stay here very long," said Rachel, still addressing her +father, "I guess we should have to pawn our watches. But here we are +for the present, and here we must remain. I am awfully tired now, and +should so like to have a cup of tea--by ourselves." Then Mr. Moss +took his leave, promising to appear again upon the scene at eleven +o'clock on the following day. "Thank you," said Rachel, "you are very +kind, but I rather think I shall be out at eleven o'clock." + +"What is the use of your carrying on like that with the man?" said +her father. + +"Because he's a beast." + +"My dear, he's not a beast. He's not a beast that you ought to treat +in that way. You'll be a beast too if you come to rise high in your +profession. It is a kind of work which sharpens the intellect, but is +apt to make men and women beasts. Did you ever hear of a prima donna +who thought that another prima donna sang better than she did?" + +"I guess that all the prima donnas sing better than I do." + +"But you have not got to the position yet. Mr. Moss, I take it, was +doing very well in New York, so as to have become a beast, as you +call him. But he's very good-natured." + +"He's a nasty, stuck-up, greasy Jew. A decent young woman is insulted +by being spoken to by him." + +"What made you tell him that you were engaged to Frank Jones?" + +"I thought it might protect me--but it won't. I shall tell him next +time that I am Frank's wife. But even that will not protect me." + +"You will have to see him very often." + +"And very often I shall have to be insulted. I guess he does the same +kind of thing with all the singing girls who come into his hands." + +"Give it up, Rachel." + +"I don't mind being insulted so much as some girls do, you know. I +can't fancy an English girl putting up with him--unless she liked to +do as he pleased. I hate him;--but I think I can endure him. The only +thing is, whether he would turn against me and rend me. Then we shall +come utterly to the ground, here in London." + +"Give it up." + +"No! You can lecture and I can sing, and it's odd if we can't make +one profession or the other pay. I think I shall have to fight with +him, but I won't give it up. What I am afraid is that Frank should +appear on the scene. And then, oh law! if Mr. Moss should get one +blow in the eye!" + +There she sat, sipping her tea and eating her toast, with her feet +upon the fender, while Mr. O'Mahony ate his mutton-chop and drank his +whisky and water. + +"Father, now I'm coming back to my temper, I want something better +than this buttered toast. Could they get me a veal cutlet, or a bit +of cold chicken?" + +A waiter was summoned. + +"And you must give me a little bit of ham with the cold chicken. No, +father; I won't have any wine because it would get into my head, and +then I should kill Mr. Mahomet M. Moss." + +"My dear," said her father when the man had left the room, "do you +wish to declare all your animosities before the waiter?" + +"Well, yes, I think I do. If we are to remain here it will be better +that they should all know that I regard this man as my schoolmaster. +I know what I'm about; I don't let a word go without thinking of it." + +Then again they remained silent, and Mr. O'Mahony pretended to go to +sleep--and eventually did do so. He devoted himself for the time to +Home Rule, and got himself into a frame of mind in which he really +thought of Ireland. + +"The first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea." + +Why should she not be so? She had all the sentiment necessary, +all the poetry, all the eloquence, all the wit. And then when he +was beginning to think whether something more than sentiment and +eloquence were not necessary, he went to sleep. + +But Rachel was not sleeping. Her thoughts were less stationary than +her father's, and her ideas more realistic. She had been told that +she could sing, and she had sung at New York with great applause. And +she had gone on studying, or rather practising, the art with great +diligence. She had already become aware that practice was more needed +than study. All, nearly all, this man could teach her was to open +her mouth. Nature had given her an ear, and a voice, if she would +work hard so as to use it. It was there before her. But it had seemed +to her that her career was clogged with the necessary burden of Mr. +Moss. Mr. Moss had got hold of her, and how should she get rid of +him? He was the Old Man of the Sea, and how should she shake him off? +And then there was present to her alone a vision of Frank Jones. To +live at Morony Castle and be Frank Jones's wife, would not that be +sweeter than to sing at a theatre under the care of Mr. Mahomet M. +Moss? All the sweetness of a country life in a pleasant house by the +lake side, and a husband with her who would endure all the little +petulancy, and vagaries, and excesses of her wayward but affectionate +temper, all these things were present to her mind. And to be Mistress +Jones, who could look all the world in the face, this--as compared +with the gaslight of a theatre, which might mean failure, and could +only mean gaslight--this, on the present occasion, did tempt her +sorely. Her moods were very various. There were moments of her life +when the gaslight had its charm, and in which she declared to herself +that she was willing to run all the chances of failure for the hope +of success. There were moments in which Mr. Moss loomed less odious +before her eyes. Should she be afraid of Mr. Moss, and fly from +her destiny because a man was greasy? And to this view of her +circumstances she always came at last when her father's condition +pressed itself upon her. The house beside the lake was not her own as +yet, nor would it be her husband's when she was married. + +Nor could there be a home for her father there as long as old Mr. +Jones was alive, nor possibly when his son should come to the throne. +For a time he must go to America, and she must go with him. She had +declared to herself that she could not go back to the United States +unless she could go back as a successful singer. For these reasons +she resolved that she would face Mr. Moss bravely and all his +horrors. + +"If that gentleman comes here to-morrow at eleven, show him up here," +she said to the waiter. + +"Mr. Moss, ma'am?" the waiter asked. + +"Yes, Mr. Moss," she answered in a loud voice, which told the man +much of her story. "Where did that piano come from?" she asked +brusquely. + +"Mr. Moss had it sent in," said the man. + +"And my father is paying separate rent for it?" she asked. + +"What's that, my dear? What's that about rent?" + +"We have got this piano to pay for. It's one of Erard's. Mr. Moss has +sent it, and of course we must pay till we have sent it back again. +That'll do." Then the man went. + +"It's my belief that he intends to get us into pecuniary +difficulties. You have only got £62 left." + +"But you are to have twenty shillings a day till Christmas." + +"What's that?" + +"According to what he says it will be increased after Christmas. He +spoke of £2 a day." + +"Yes; if my singing be approved of. But who is to be the judge? If +the musical world choose to say that they must have Rachel O'Mahony, +that will be all very well. Am I to sing at twenty shillings a day +for just as long as Mr. Moss may want me? And are we to remain here, +and run up a bill which we shall never be able to pay, till they put +us out of the door and call us swindlers?" + +"Frank Jones would help us at a pinch if we came to that difficulty," +said the father. + +"I wouldn't take a shilling from Frank Jones. Frank Jones is all the +world to me, but he cannot help me till he has made me his wife. We +must go out of this at the end of the first week, and send the piano +back. As far as I can make it out, our expenses here will be about +£17 10s. a week. What the piano will cost, I don't know; but we'll +learn that from Mr. Moss. I'll make him understand that we can't +stay here, having no more than twenty shillings a day. If he won't +undertake to give me £2 a day immediately after Christmas, we must go +back to New York while we've got money left to take us." + +"Have it your own way," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"I don't mean to remain here and wake up some morning and find that I +can't stir a step without asking Mahomet M. M. for some money favour. +I know I can sing; I can sing, at any rate, to the extent of forty +shillings a day. For forty shillings a day I'll stay; but if I can't +earn that at once let us go back to New York. It is not the poverty I +mind so much, nor yet the debt, nor yet even your distress, you dear +old father. You and I could weather it out together on a twopenny +roll. Things would never be altogether bad with us as long as we are +together; and as long as we have not put ourselves in the power of +Mahomet M. M. Fancy owing Mr. Moss a sum of money which we couldn't +pay! Mahomet's 'little bill!' I would say to a Christian: 'All right, +Mr. Christian, you shall have your money in good time, and if you +don't it won't hurt you.' He wouldn't be any more than an ordinary +Christian, and would pull a long face; but he would have no little +scheme ready, cut and dry, for getting my body and soul under his +thumb." + +"You are very unchristian yourself, my dear." + +"I certainly have my own opinion of Mahomet M. M., and I shall tell +him to-morrow morning that I don't mean to run the danger." + +Then they went to bed, and slept the sleep of the just. They ordered +breakfast at nine, so that, as Rachel said, the heavy mutton-chop +might not be sticking in her throat as she attempted to show off +before Mr. Moss on his arrival. But from eight till nine she passed +her time in the double employment of brushing her hair and preparing +the conversation as it was to take place between herself and Mr. +Moss. When a young lady boasts that she doesn't "let a word go +without thinking of it," she has to be careful in preparing her +words. And she prepared them now. + +"There will be two of them against me," she said to herself as she +made the preparation. "There'll be the dear old governor, and the +governor that isn't dear. If I were left quite to myself, I think I +could do it easier. But then it might come to sticking a knife into +him." + +"Father," she said, during breakfast, "I'm going to practise for half +an hour before this man comes." + +"That means that I'm to go away." + +"Not in the least. I shall go into the next room where the piano +lives, and you can come or not just as you please. I shall be +squalling all the time, and as we do have the grandeur of two rooms +for the present, you might as well use them. But when he comes we +must take care and see that matters go right. You had better leave +us alone at first, that I may sing to him. Then, when that's over, +do you be in waiting to be called in. I mean to have a little bit +of business with my trusted agent, manager, and parent in music, +'Mahomet M. M.'" + +She went to the instrument, and practised there till half-past +eleven, at which hour Mr. Moss presented himself. "You'll want +to hear me sing of course," she said without getting up from the +music-stool. + +"Just a bar or two to know how you have improved. But it is hardly +necessary. I see from the motion of your lips that you have been +keeping your mouth open. And I hear from the tone of your voice, that +it is all there. There is no doubt about you, if you have practised +opening your mouth." + +"At any rate you shall hear, and if you will stand there you shall +see." + +Then the music lesson began, and Mr. Moss proved himself to be an +adept in his art. Rachel did not in the least doubt his skill, and +obeyed him in everything as faithfully as she would have done, had he +been personally a favourite with her. "Allow me to express my great +delight and my strong admiration for the young débutante. As far as +Miss O'Mahony is concerned the word failure may be struck out of the +language. And no epithet should be used to qualify success, but one +in the most superlative degree. Allow me to--" And he attempted to +raise her hand to his lips, and to express his homage in a manner +certainly not unusual with gentlemen of his profession. + +"Mr. Moss," said the young lady starting up, "there need be nothing +of that kind. There had better not. When a young woman is going to +be married to a young man, she can't be too careful. You don't know, +perhaps, but I'm going to be Mrs. Jones. Mr. Jones is apt to dislike +such things. If you'll wait half a moment, I'll bring papa in." So +saying she ran out of the room, and in two minutes returned, followed +by her father. The two men shook hands, and each of them looked as +though he did not know what he was expected to say to the other. "Now +then, father, you must arrange things with Mr. Moss." + +Mr. Moss bowed. "I don't exactly know what I have got to arrange," +said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"We've got to arrange so that we shan't get into debt with Mr. Moss." + +"There need not be the least fear in the world as to that," said Mr. +Moss. + +"Ah; but that's just what we do fear, and what we must fear." + +"So unnecessary,--so altogether unnecessary," said Mr. Moss, +expecting to be allowed to be the banker for the occasion. "If you +will just draw on me for what you want." + +"But that is just what we won't do." Then there was a pause, and Mr. +Moss shrugged his shoulders. "It's as well to understand that at the +beginning. Of course this place is too expensive for us and we must +get out of it as soon as possible." + +"Why in such a hurry?" said Mr. Moss raising his two hands. + +"And we must send back the piano. It was so good of you to think of +it! But it must go back." + +"No, no, no!" shouted Mr. Moss. "The piano is my affair. A piano more +or less for a few months is nothing between me and Erard's people. +They are only too happy." + +"I do not in the least doubt it. Messrs. Erard's people are always +glad to secure a lady who is about to come out as a singer. But they +send the bill in at last." + +"Not to you;--not to you." + +"But to you. That would be a great deal worse, would it not, father? +We might as well understand each other." + +"Mr. O'Mahony and I will understand each other very well." + +"But it is necessary that Miss O'Mahony and you should understand +each other also. My father trusts me, and I cannot tell you how +absolutely I obey him." + +"Or he you," said Mr. Moss laughing. + +"At any rate we two know what we are about, sir. You will not find us +differing. Now Mr. Moss, you are to pay me twenty shillings a day." + +"Till Christmas;--twenty shillings a night till Christmas." + +"Of course we cannot live here on twenty shillings a day. The rooms +nearly take it all. We can't live on twenty shillings a day, anyhow." + +"Then make it forty shillings immediately after the Christmas +holidays." + +"I must have an agreement to that effect," said Rachel, "or we must +go back to Ireland. I must have the agreement before Christmas, or we +shall go back. We have a few pounds which will take us away." + +"You must not speak of going away, really, Miss O'Mahony." + +"Then I must have an agreement signed. You understand that. And +we shall look for cheaper rooms to-day. There is a little street +close by where we can manage it. But on the one thing we are +determined;--we will not get into debt." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880. + + +On Christmas-day Rachel O'Mahony wrote a letter to her lover at +Morony Castle: + + + Cecil Street, Christmas-day, 1880. + + DEAREST FRANK, + + You do love me, don't you? What's the use of my loving + you, and thinking that you are everything, only that you + are to love me? I am quite content that it should be so. + Only let it be so. You'll ask me what reason I have to be + jealous. I am not jealous. I do think in my heart that you + think that I'm--just perfect. And when I tell myself that + it is so, I lay myself back in my chair and kiss at you + with my lips till I am tired of kissing the space where + you ain't. But if I am wrong, and if you are having a good + time of it with Miss Considine at Mrs. McKeon's ball, and + are not thinking a bit of me and my kisses, what's the + use? It's a very unfair bargain that a woman makes with a + man. "Yes; I do love you," I say,--"but--" Then there's a + sigh. "Yes; I'll love you," you say--"if--" Then there's + a laugh. If I tell a fib, and am not worth having, you + can always recuperate. But we can't recuperate. I'm to go + about the world and be laughed at, as the girl that Frank + Jones made a fool of. Oh! Mr. Jones, if you treat me in + that way, won't I punish you? I'll jump into the lough + with a label round my neck telling the whole story. But I + am not a bit jealous, because I know you are good. + + And now I must tell you a bit more of my history. We got + rid of that lovely hotel, paying £6 10s., when that just + earned £1. And I have brought the piano with me. The man + at Erard's told me that I should have it for £2 10s. a + month, frankly owning that he hoped to get my custom. "But + Mr. Moss is to pay nothing?" I asked. He swore that Mr. + Moss would have to pay nothing, and leave what occurred + between him and me. I don't think he will. £30 a year + ought to be enough for the hire of a piano. So here we + are established, at £10 a month--the first-floor, with + father's bedroom behind the sitting-room. I have the room + upstairs over the sitting-room. They are small stumpy + little rooms,--"but mine own." Who says--"But mine own?" + Somebody does, and I repeat it. They are mine own, at any + rate till next Saturday. + + And we have settled this terrible engagement and signed + it. I'm to sing for Moss at "The Embankment" for four + months, at the rate of £600 a year. It was a Jew's + bargain, for I really had filled the house for a + fortnight. Fancy a theatre called "The Embankment"! There + is a nasty muddy rheumatic sound about it; but it's very + prettily got up, and the exits and entrances are also + good. Father goes with me every night, but I mean to let + him off the terrible task soon. He smiles, and says he + likes it. I only tell him he would be a child if he did. + They want to change the piece, but I shall make them + pay me for my dresses; I am not going to wear any other + woman's old clothes. It's not the proper way to begin, + you have to begin as a slave or as an empress. Of course, + anybody prefers to do the empress. They try, and then they + fail, and tumble down. I shall tumble down, no doubt; but + I may as well have my chance. + + And now I'm going to make you say that I'm a beast. And + so I am. I make a little use of Mahomet M. M.'s passion + to achieve my throne instead of taking up at once with + serfdom. But I do it without vouchsafing him even the + first corner of a smile. The harshest treatment is all + that he gets. Men such as Mahomet M. will live on harsh + treatment for a while, looking forward to revenge when + their time comes. But I shall soon have made sure of my + throne, or shall have failed; and in either case shall + cease to care for Mahomet M. By bullying him and by + treating him as dust beneath my feet, I can do something + to show how proud I am, and how sure I am of success. He + offers me money--not paid money down, which would have + certain allurements. I shouldn't take it. I needn't + tell you that. I should like to have plenty of loose + sovereigns, so as to hire broughams from the yard, instead + of walking, or going in a 'bus about London, which is very + upsetting to my pride. Father and I go down to the theatre + in a hansom, when we feel ourselves quite smart. But it + isn't money like that which he offers. He wants to pay me + a month in advance, and suggests that I shall get into + debt, and come to him to get me out of it. There was some + talk of papa going to New York for a few weeks, and he + said he would come and look after me in his absence. + "Thank you, Mr. Moss," I said, "but I'm not sure I should + want any looking after, only for such as you." Those are + the very words I spoke, and I looked him full in the face. + "Why, what do you expect from me?" he said. "Insult," I + replied, as bold as brass. And then we are playing the + two lovers at "The Embankment." Isn't it a pretty family + history? He said nothing at the moment, but came back in + half an hour to make some unnecessary remarks about the + part. "Why did you say just now that I insulted you?" + he asked. "Because you do," I replied. "Never, never!" + he exclaimed, with most grotesque energy. "I have never + insulted you." You know, my dear, he has twenty times + endeavoured to kiss my hand, and once he saw fit to stroke + my hair. Beast! If you knew the sort of feeling I have for + him--such as you would have if you found a cockroach in + your dressing-case. Of course in our life young women have + to put up with this kind of thing, and some of them like + it. But he knows that I am going to be married, or at any + rate am engaged, Mr. Frank. I make constant use of your + name, telling everybody that I am the future Mrs. Jones, + putting such weight upon the Jones. With me he knows that + it is an insult; but I don't want to quarrel with him if + I can help it, and therefore I softened it down. "You hear + me say, Mr. Moss, that I'm an engaged young woman. Knowing + that, you oughtn't to speak to me as you do." "Why, what + do I say?" You should have seen his grin as he asked me; + such a leer of triumph, as though he knew that he were + getting the better of me. "Mr. Jones wouldn't approve + if he were to see it." "But luckily he don't," said my + admirer. Oh, if you knew how willingly I'd stand at a + tub and wash your shirts, while the very touch of his + gloves makes me creep all over with horror. "Let us have + peace for the future," I said. "I dislike all those + familiarities. If you will only give them up we shall + go on like a house on fire." Then the beast made an + attempt to squeeze my hand as he went out of the room. + I retreated, however, behind the table, and escaped + untouched on that occasion. + + You are not to come over, whatever happens, until I tell + you. You ought to know very well by this time that I can + fight my battles by myself; and if you did come, there + would be an end altogether to the £200 which I am earning. + To give him his due, he's very punctual with his money, + only that he wants to pay me in advance, which I will + never have. He has been liberal about my dresses, telling + me to order just what I want, and have the bill sent in + to the costume manager. When I have worn them they become + the property of the theatre. God help any poor young woman + that will ever be expected to get into them. So now you + know exactly how I am standing with Mahomet M. M. + + Poor father goes about to public meetings, but never is + allowed to open his mouth for fear he should say something + about the Queen. I don't mean that he is really watched, + but he promised in Ireland not to lecture any more if they + would let him go, and he wishes to keep his word. But I + fear it makes him very unhappy. He has, at any rate, the + comfort of coming home and giving me the lecture, which + he ought to have delivered to more sympathetic ears. Not + but what I do care about the people; only how am I to + know whether they ought to be allowed to make their own + petticoats, or why it is that they don't do so? He says + it's the London Parliament; and that if they had members + in College Green, the young women would go to work at + once, and make petticoats for all the world. I don't + understand it, and wish that he had someone else to + lecture to. + + How are you getting on with all your own pet troubles? Is + the little subsiding lake at Ballintubber still a lake? + And what about poor Florian and his religion? Has he told + up as yet? I fear, I fear, that poor Florian has been + fibbing, and that there will be no peace for him or for + your father till the truth has been told. + + Now, sir, I have told you everything, just as a young + woman ought to tell her future lord and master. You + say you ought to know what Moss is doing. You do know, + exactly, as far as I can tell you. Of course you wouldn't + like to see him, but then you have the comfort of knowing + that I don't like it either. I suppose it is a comfort, + eh, my bold young man? Of course you want me to hate the + pig, and I do hate him. You may be sure that I will get + rid of him as soon as I conveniently can. But for the + present he is a necessary evil. If you had a home to give + me, I would come to it--oh, so readily! There is something + in the glitter of a theatre--what people call the boards, + the gaslights, the music, the mock love-making, the + pretence of being somebody, the feeling of mystery which + is attached to you, and the feeling you have that you are + generally unlike the world at large--which has its charms. + Even your name, blazoned in a dirty playbill, without any + Mister or Mistress to guard you, so unlike the ways of + ordinary life, does gratify one's vanity. I can't say why + it should be so, but it is. I always feel a little prouder + of myself when father is not with me. I am Miss O'Mahony, + looking after myself, whereas other young ladies have to + be watched. It has its attractions. + + But--but to be the wife of Frank Jones, and to look after + Frank's little house, and to cook for him his chicken and + his bacon, and to feel that I am all the world to him, and + to think--! But, oh, Frank, I cannot tell you what things + I think. I do feel, as I think them, that I have not been + made to stand long before the glare of the gas, and that + the time will certainly come when I shall walk about + Ballintubber leaning on your arm, and hearing all your + future troubles about rents not paid, and waters that have + come in. + + Your own, own girl, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BLACK DALY. + + +Frank Jones received his letter just as he was about to leave +Castle Morony for the meet at Ballytowngal, the seat, as everybody +knows, of Sir Nicholas Bodkin. Ballytowngal is about two miles from +Claregalway, on the road to Oranmore. Sir Nicholas is known all +through the West of Ireland, as a sporting man, and is held in high +esteem. But there is, I think, something different in the estimation +which he now enjoys from that which he possessed twenty years ago. +He was then, as now, a Roman Catholic,--as were also his wife and +children; and, as a Roman Catholic, he was more popular with the +lower classes, and with the priests, who are their natural friends, +than with his brother grand-jurors of the country, who were, for the +most part, Protestants. + +Sir Nicholas is now sixty years old, and when he came to the title at +thirty, he was regarded certainly as a poor man's friend. He always +lived on the estate. He rarely went up to Dublin, except for a +fortnight, when the hunting was over, and when he paid his respects +to the Lord Lieutenant. The house at Ballytowngal was said, in those +days, to be as well kept up as any mansion in County Galway. But the +saying came probably from those who were not intimate in the more +gloriously maintained mansions. Sir Nicholas had £5000 a year, and +though he did manage to pay his bills annually, spent every shilling +of it. He preserved his foxes loyally, and was quite as keen about +the fishing of a little river that he owned, and which ran down from +his demesne into Lough Corrib. He was particular also about his +snipe, and would boast that in a little spinney at Ballytowngal were +to be met the earliest woodcock found in the West of Ireland. He was +a thorough sportsman;--but a Roman Catholic--and as a Roman Catholic +he was hardly equal in standing to some of his Protestant neighbours. +He voted for Major Stackpoole, when Major Stackpoole stood for the +county on the Liberal interest, and was once requested to come +forward himself, and stand for the City as a Roman Catholic. This +he did not do, being a prudent man; but at that period, from twenty +to thirty years ago, he was certainly regarded as inferior to a +Protestant by many of the Protestant gentlemen of the country. + +But things are changed now. Sir Nicholas's neighbours, such of them +at least that are Protestants, regard Sir Nicholas as equal to +themselves. They do not care much for his religion, but they know +that he is not a Home-Ruler, or latterly, since the Land League +sprang into existence, a Land Leaguer. He is, in fact, one of +themselves as a county gentleman, and the question of religion has +gone altogether into abeyance. Had you known the county thirty years +ago, and had now heard Sir Nicholas talking of county matters, you +would think that he was one of the old Protestants. It was so that +the rich people regarded him,--and so also the poor. But Sir Nicholas +had not varied at all. He liked to get his rents paid, and as long as +his tenants would pay them, he was at one with them. They had begun +now to have opinions of their own upon the subject, and he was at one +with them no longer. + +Frank Jones had heard in Galway, that there was to be a difficulty +about drawing the Ballytowngal coverts. The hounds were to be +allowed to draw the demesne coverts, but beyond that they were to +be interrupted. Foxes seldom broke from Ballytowngal, or if they +did they ran to Moytubber. At Moytubber the hounds would probably +change,--or would do so if allowed to continue their sport in peace. +But at Moytubber the row would begin. Knowing this, Frank Jones was +anxious to leave his home in time, as he was aware that the hounds +would be carried on to Moytubber as quickly as possible. Black Daly +had sworn a solemn oath that he would draw Moytubber in the teeth of +every Home-Ruler and Land Leaguer in County Galway. + +A word or two must be said descriptive of Black Daly, as he was +called, the master of the Galway hounds. They used to be called the +Galway blazers, but the name had nearly dropped out of fashion since +Black Daly had become their master, a quarter of a century since. +Who Black Daly was or whence he had come, many men, even in County +Galway, did not know. It was not that he had no property, but that +his property was so small, as to make it seem improbable that the +owner of it should be the master of the county hounds. But in truth +Black Daly lived at Daly's Bridge, in the neighbourhood of Castle +Blakeney, when he was supposed to be at home. And the house in which +he lived he had undoubtedly inherited from his father. But he was not +often there, and kept his kennels at Ahaseragh, five miles away from +Daly's Bridge. Much was not therefore known of Mr. Daly, in his own +house. + +But in the field no man was better known, or more popular, if +thorough obedience is an element of popularity. The old gentry of +the county could tell why Mr. Daly had been put into his present +situation five-and-twenty years ago; but the manner of his election +was not often talked about. He had no money, and very few acres of +his own on which to preserve foxes. He had never done anything to +earn a shilling since he had been born, unless he may have been said +to have earned shillings by his present occupation. As he got his +living out of it, he certainly may have been said to have done so. He +never borrowed a shilling from any man, and certainly paid his way. +But if he told a young man that he ought to buy a horse the young +man certainly bought it. And if he told a young man that he must pay +a certain price, the young man generally paid it. But if the young +man were not ready with his money by the day fixed, that young man +generally had a bad time of it. Young men have been known to be +driven not only out of County Galway, but out of Ireland itself, by +the tone of Mr. Daly's voice, and by the blackness of his frown. And +yet it was said generally that neither young men nor old men were +injured in their dealings with Mr. Daly. "That horse won't be much +the worse for his splint, and he's worth £70 to you, because you can +ride him ten stone. You had better give me £70 for him." Then the +young man would promise the £70 in three months' time, and if he kept +his word, would swear by Black Daly ever afterwards. In this way Mr. +Daly sold a great many horses. + +But he had been put into his present position because he hunted the +hounds, during the illness of a distant cousin, who was the then +master. The master had died, but the county had the best sport that +winter that it had ever enjoyed. "I don't see why I should not do +it, as well as another," Tom Daly had said. He was then known as Tom +Daly. "You've got no money," his cousin had said, the son of the old +gentleman who was just dead. It was well understood that the cousin +wished to have the hounds, but that he was thought not to have all +the necessary attributes. "I suppose the county means to pay for all +sport," said Tom. Then the hat went round, and an annual sum of £900 +a year was voted. Since that the hounds have gone on, and the bills +have been paid; and Tom has raised the number of days' hunting to +four a week, or has lowered it to two, according to the amount of +money given. He makes no proposition now, but declares what he means +to do. "Things are dearer," he said last year, "and you won't have +above five days a fortnight, unless you can make the money up to +£1,200. I want £400 a day, and £400 I must have." The county had +then voted him the money in the plenitude of its power, and Daly had +hunted seven days a fortnight. But all the Galway world felt that +there was about to be a fall. + +Black Daly was a man quite as dark as his sobriquet described him. He +was tall, but very thin and bony, and seemed not to have an ounce of +flesh about his face or body. He had large, black whiskers,--coarse +and jet black,--which did not quite meet beneath his chin. And he +wore no other beard, no tuft, no imperial, no moustachios; but when +he was seen before shaving on a morning, he would seem to be black +all over, and his hair was black, short, and harsh; and though black, +round about his ears it was beginning to be tinged with grey. He was +now over fifty years of age; but the hair on his head was as thick +as it had been when he first undertook the hounds. He had great dark +eyes in his head, deep down, so that they seemed to glitter at you +out of caverns. And above them were great, bushy eyebrows, every +hair of which seemed to be black, and harsh, and hard. His nose was +well-formed and prominent; but of cheeks he had apparently none. +Between his whiskers and his nose, and the corners of his mouth, +there was nothing but two hollow cavities. He was somewhat over six +feet high, but from his extraordinary thinness gave the appearance +of much greater height. His arms were long, and the waistcoat which +he wore was always long; his breeches were very long; and his boots +seemed the longest thing about him--unless his spurs seemed longer. +He had no flesh about him, and it was boasted of him that, in spite +of his length, and in spite of his height, he could ride under twelve +stone. Of himself, and of his doings, he never talked. They were +secrets of his own, of which he might have to make money. And no one +had a right to ask him questions. He did not conceive that it would +be necessary for a gentleman to declare his weight unless he were +about to ride a race. Now it was understood that for the last ten +years Black Daly had ridden no races. + +He was a man of whom it might be said that he never joked. Though +his life was devoted in a peculiar manner to sport, and there may be +thought to be something akin between the amusements and the lightness +of life, it was all serious to him. Though he was bitter over it, or +happy; triumphant, or occasionally in despair--as when the money was +not forthcoming--he never laughed. It was all serious to him, and +apparently sad, from the first note of a hound in the early covert, +down to the tidings that a poor fox had been found poisoned near his +earth. He had much to do to find sport for the county on such limited +means, and he was always doing it. + +He not only knew every hound in his pack, but he knew their ages, +their sires, and their dams; and the sires and the dams of most of +their sires and dams. He knew the constitution of each, and to what +extent their noses were to be trusted. "It's a very heavy scent +to-day," he would say, "because Gaylap carries it over the plough. +It's only a catching scent because the drops don't hang on the +bushes." His lore on all such matters was incredible, but he would +never listen to any argument. A man had a right to his own opinion; +but then the man who differed from him knew nothing. He gave out his +little laws to favoured individuals; not by way of conversation, +for which he cared nothing, but because it might be well that the +favoured individual should know the truth on that occasion. + +As a man to ride he was a complete master of his art. There was +nothing which a horse could do with a man on his back, which Daly +could not make him do; and when he had ridden a horse he would know +exactly what was within his power. But there was no desire with him +for the showing off of a horse. He often rode to sell a horse, but +he never seemed to do so. He never rode at difficult places unless +driven to do so by the exigencies of the moment. He was always quiet +in the field, unless when driven to express himself as to the faults +of some young man. Then he could blaze forth in his anger with great +power. He was constantly to be seen trotting along a road when hounds +were running, because he had no desire to achieve for himself a +character for hard riding. But he was always with his hounds when he +was wanted, and it was boasted of him that he had ridden four days a +week through the season on three horses, and had never lamed one of +them. He was rarely known to have a second horse out, and when he did +so, it was for some purpose peculiar to the day's work. On such days +he had generally a horse to sell. + +It is hardly necessary to say that Black Daly was an unmarried man. +No one who knew him could conceive that he should have had a wife. +His hounds were his children, and he could have taught no wife to +assist him in looking after them, with the constant attention and +tender care which was given to them by Barney Smith, his huntsman. A +wife, had she seen to the feeding of the numerous babies, would have +given them too much to eat, and had she not undertaken this care, +she would have been useless at Daly's Bridge. But Barney Smith was +invaluable; double the amount of work got usually from a huntsman +was done by him. There was no kennel man, no second horseman, no +stud-groom at the Ahaseragh kennels. It may be said that Black Daly +filled all these positions himself, and that in each Barney Smith +was his first lieutenant. Circumstances had given him the use of the +Ahaseragh kennels, which had been the property of his cousin, and +circumstances had not enabled him to build others at Daly's Bridge. +Gradually he had found it easier to move himself than the hounds. And +so it had come to pass that two rooms had been prepared for him close +to the kennels, and that Mr. Barney Smith gave him such attendance as +was necessary. Of strictly personal attendance Black Daly wanted very +little; but the discomforts of that home, while one pair of breeches +were supposed to be at Daly's Bridge, and the others at Ahaseragh, +were presumed by the world at large to be very grievous. + +But the personal appearance of Mr. Daly on hunting mornings, was not +a matter of indifference. It was not that he wore beautiful pink +tops, or came out guarded from the dust by little aprons, or had his +cravat just out of the bandbox, or his scarlet coat always new, and +in the latest fashion, nor had his hat just come from the shop in +Piccadilly with the newest twist to its rim. But there was something +manly, and even powerful about his whole apparel. He was always the +same, so that by men even in his own county, he would hardly have +been known in other garments. The strong, broad brimmed high hat, +with the cord passing down his back beneath his coat, that had known +the weather of various winters; the dark, red coat, with long swallow +tails, which had grown nearly black under many storms; the dark, buff +striped waistcoat, with the stripes running downwards, long, so as to +come well down over his breeches; the breeches themselves, which were +always of leather, but which had become nearly brown under the hands +of Barney Smith or his wife, and the mahogany top-boots, of which the +tops seemed to be a foot in length, could none of them have been worn +by any but Black Daly. His very spurs must have surely been made for +him, they were in length and weight; and general strength of leather, +so peculiarly his own. He was unlike other masters of hounds in this, +that he never carried a horn; but he spoke to his hounds in a loud, +indistinct chirruping voice, which all County Galway believed to be +understood to every hound in the park. + +One other fact must be told respecting Mr. Daly. He was a +Protestant--as opposed to a Roman Catholic. No one had ever known +him go to church, or speak a word in reference to religion. He was +equally civil or uncivil to priest and parson when priest or parson +appeared in the field. But on no account would he speak to either +of them if he could avoid it. But he had in his heart a thorough +conviction that all Roman Catholics ought to be regarded as +enemies by all Protestants, and that the feeling was one entirely +independent of faith and prayerbooks, or crosses and masses. For him +fox-hunting--fox-hunting for others--was the work of his life, and +he did not care to meddle with what he did not understand. But he +was a Protestant, and Sir Nicholas Bodkin was a Roman Catholic, and +therefore an enemy--as a dog may be supposed to declare himself a +dog, and a cat a cat, if called upon to explain the cause for the old +family quarrel. + +Now there had come a cloud over his spirit in reference to the state +of his country. He could see that the quarrel was not entirely one +between Protestant and Catholic as it used to be, but still he could +not get it out of his mind, but that the old causes were producing in +a different way their old effects. Whiteboys, Terryalts, Ribbonmen, +Repeaters, Physical-Forcemen, Fenians, Home-Rulers, Professors of +Dynamite, and American-Irish, were, to his thinking, all the same. +He never talked much about it, because he did not like to expose his +ignorance; but his convictions were not the less formed. It was the +business of a Protestant to take rent, and of a Roman Catholic to pay +rent. There were certain deviations in this ordained rule of life, +but they were only exceptions. The Roman Catholics had the worst of +this position, and the Protestants the best. Therefore the Roman +Catholics were of course quarrelling with it, and therefore the Roman +Catholics must be kept down. Such had been Mr. Daly's general outlook +into life. But now the advancing evil of the time was about to fall +even upon himself, and upon his beneficent labours, done for the +world at large. It was whispered in County Galway that the people +were about to rise and interfere with fox-hunting! It may be imagined +that on this special day Mr. Daly's heart was low beneath his +black-striped waistcoat, as he rode on his way to draw the coverts at +Ballytowngal. + +At the cross-roads of Monivea he met Peter Bodkin, the eldest son +of Sir Nicholas. Now Peter Bodkin had quarrelled long and very +bitterly with his father. Every acre of the property at Ballytowngal +was entailed upon him, and Peter had thought that under such +circumstances his father was not doing enough for him. The quarrel +had been made up, but still the evil rankled in Peter's bosom, who +was driven to live with his wife and family on £500 a year; and had +found himself hardly driven to keep himself out of the hands of the +Jews. His father had wished him to follow some profession, but this +had been contrary to Peter's idea of what was becoming. But though he +had only £500 a year, and five children, he did manage to keep two +horses, and saw a good deal of hunting. + +And among all the hunting men in County Galway he was the one who +lived on the closest terms of intimacy with Black Daly. For, though +he was a Roman Catholic, his religion did not trouble him much; and +he was undoubtedly on the same side with Daly in the feuds that were +coming on the country. Indeed, he and Daly had entertained the same +feelings for some years; for, in the quarrels which had been rife +between the father and son, Mr. Daly had taken the son's part, as far +as so silent a man can be said to have taken any part at all. + +"Well, Peter." "Well, Daly," were the greetings, as the two men met; +and then they rode on together in silence for a mile. "Have you heard +what the boys are going to do?" asked the master. Peter shook his +head. "I suppose there's nothing in it?" + +"I fear there is." + +"What will they do?" asked Mr. Daly. + +"Just prevent your hunting." + +"If they touch me, or either of the men, by God! I'll shoot some of +them." Then he put his hand into his pocket, as much as to explain a +pistol was there. After that the two men rode on in silence till they +came to the gates of Ballytowngal. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BALLYTOWNGAL. + + +Daly, among other virtues, or vices, was famed for punctuality. He +wore a large silver watch in his pocket which was as true as the +sun, or at any rate was believed by its owner to be so. From Daly's +watch on hunting mornings there was no appeal. He always reached +the appointed meet at five minutes before eleven, by his watch, and +by his watch the hounds were always moved from their haunches at +five minutes past eleven. Though the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief +Secretary and the Lord Chancellor had been there, there would have +been no deviation. The interval of ten minutes he generally spent in +whispered confabulations with the earth-warners, secrets into which +no attendant horseman ever dived; for Black Daly was a mysterious +man, who did not choose to be inquired into as to his movements. On +this occasion he said not a word to any earth-warner, though two were +in attendance; but he sat silent and more gloomy than ever on his big +black horse, waiting for the minutes to pass by till he should be +able to run his hounds through the Ballytowngal coverts, and then +hurry on to Moytubber. + +Mr. Daly's mind was, in truth, fixed upon Moytubber, and what would +there be done this morning. He was a simple-minded man, who kept his +thoughts fixed for the most part on one object. He knew that it was +his privilege to draw the coverts of Moytubber, and to hunt the +country around; and he felt also, after some gallant fashion, that +it was his business to protect the rights of others in the pursuit +of their favourite amusement. No man could touch him or either of +his servants in the way of violence without committing an offence +which he would be bound to oppose by violence. He was no lawyer, and +understood not at all the statutes as fixed upon the subject. If a +man laid a hand upon him violently, and would not take his hand off +again when desired, he would be entitled to shoot that man. Such was +the law, as in his simplicity and manliness he believed it to exist. +He was a man not given to pistols; but when he heard that he was to +be stopped in his hunting on this morning, and stopped by dastardly, +pernicious curs who called themselves Landleaguers, he went into +Ballinasloe, and bought himself a pistol. Black Daly was a sad, +serious man, who could not put up with the frivolities of life; to +whom the necessity of providing for that large family of children was +very serious; but he was not of his nature a quarrelsome man. But +now he was threatened on the tenderest point; and with much simpler +thought had resolved that it would be his duty to quarrel. + +But just when he had spoken the word on which Barney and the +hounds were prepared to move, Sir Nicholas trotted up to him. Sir +Nicholas and all the sporting gentlemen of County Galway were there, +whispering with each other, having collected themselves in crowds +much bigger than usual. There was much whispering, and many opinions +had been given as to the steps which it would be well that the hunt +should take if interrupted in their sport. But at last Peter Bodkin +had singled out his father, and had communicated to him the fact of +Black Daly's pistol. "He'll use it, as sure as eggs are eggs," said +Peter whispering to his father. + +"Then there'll be murder," said Sir Nicholas, who though a good +hunting neighbour had never been on very friendly terms with Mr. +Daly. + +"When Tom Daly says he'll do a thing, he means to do it," said Peter. +"He won't be stopped by my calling it murder." Then Sir Nicholas +had quickly discussed the matter with sundry other sportsmen of the +neighbourhood. There were Mr. Persse of Doneraile, and Mr. Blake of +Letterkenny, and Lord Ardrahan, and Sir Jasper Lynch, of Bohernane. +During the ten minutes that were allowed to them, they put their +heads together, and with much forethought made Mr. Persse their +spokesman. Lord Ardrahan and Sir Jasper might have seemed to take +upon themselves an authority which Daly would not endure. And +Blake, of Letterkenny, would have been too young to carry with him +sufficient weight. Sir Nicholas himself was a Roman Catholic, and was +Peter's father, and Peter would have been in a scrape for having told +the story of the pistol. So Mr. Persse put himself forward. "Daly," +he said, trotting up to the master, "I'm afraid we're going to +encounter a lot of these Landleaguers at Moytubber." + +"What do they want at Moytubber? Nobody is doing anything to them." + +"Of course not; they are a set of miserable ruffians. I'm sorry to +say that there are a lot of my tenants among them. But it's no use +discussing that now." + +"I can only go on," said Daly, "as though they were in bed." Then he +put his hand in his pocket, and felt that the pistol was there. + +Mr. Persse saw what he did, and knew that his hand was on the pistol. +"We have only a minute now to decide," he said. + +"To decide what?" asked Daly. + +"There must be no violence on our side." Daly turned round his +face upon him, and looked at him from the bottom of those two dark +caverns. "Believe me when I say it; there must be no violence on our +side." + +"If they attempt to stop my horse?" + +"There must be no violence on our side to bring us, or rather you, to +further grief." + +"By God! I'd shoot the man who did it," said Daly. + +"No, no; let there be no shooting. Were you to do so, there can be no +doubt that you would be tried by a jury and--" + +"Hanged," said Daly. "May be so; I have got to look that in the face. +It is an accursed country in which we are living." + +"But you would not encounter the danger in carrying out a trifling +amusement such as this?" + +Daly again turned round and looked at him. Was this work of his life, +this employment on which he was so conscientiously eager, to be +called trifling? Did they know the thoughts which it cost him, the +hard work by which it was achieved, the days and nights which were +devoted to it? Trifling amusement! To him it was the work of his +life. To those around him it was the best part of theirs. + +"I will not interfere with them," Daly said. + +He alluded here to the enemies of hunting generally. He had not +hunted the country so long without having had many rows with many +men. Farmers, angry with him for the moment, had endeavoured to stop +him as he rode upon their land; and they had poisoned his foxes from +revenge, or stolen them from cupidity. He had borne with such men, +expressing the severity of his judgment chiefly by the look of his +eyes; but he had never quarrelled with them violently. They had been +contemptible people whom it would be better to look at than to shoot. +But here were men coming, or were there now, prepared to fight with +him for his rights. And he would fight with them, even though hanging +should be the end of it. + +"I will not interfere with them, unless they interfere with me." + +"Have you a pistol with you, Daly?" said Persse. + +"I have." + +"Then give it me." + +"Not so. If I want to use a pistol it will be better to have it in my +own pocket than in yours. If I do not want to use it I can keep it +myself, and no one will be the wiser." + +"Listen to me, Daly." + +"Well, Mr. Persse?" + +"Do not call me 'Mr. Persse,' as though you were determined to +quarrel with me. It will be well that you should take advice in this +matter from those whom you have known all your life. There is Sir +Nicholas Bodkin--" + +"He may be one of them for all that I can tell," said Daly. + +"Lord Ardrahan is not one of them. And Sir Jasper Lynch, and Blake +of Letterkenny, they are all there, if you will speak to them. In +such a matter as this it is not worth your while to get into serious +trouble. To you and me hunting is a matter of much importance; but +the world at large will not regard it as one in which blood should be +shed. They will come prepared to make themselves disagreeable, but if +there be bloodshed it will simply be by your hands. And think what an +injury you would do to your side of the question, and what a benefit +to theirs!" + +"How so?" + +"We are regarded as the dominant party, as gentlemen who ought to do +what is right, and support the laws." + +"If I am attacked may I not defend myself?" + +"No; not by a pistol carried loaded into a hunting-field. You would +have all the world against you." + +Then the two men rode on silently together. The hounds were drawing +the woods of Ballytowngal, but had not found, and were prepared to go +on to Moytubber. But, according to the Galway custom, Barney Smith +was waiting for orders from his master. Daly now sat stock still upon +his horse for awhile, looking at the dark fringe of trees by which +the park was surrounded. He was thinking, as well as he knew how to +think, of the position in which he was placed. To be driven to go +contrary to his fixed purpose by fear was a course intolerable to +him. But to have done that which was clearly injurious to his party +was as bad. And this Persse to whom he had shown his momentary anger +by calling him Mr., was a man whom he greatly regarded. There was +no one in the field whose word would go further with him in hunting +matters. He had clearly been rightly chosen as a deputation. But +Daly knew that as he had gone to bed the previous night, and as he +had got up in the morning, and as he had trotted along by Monivea +cross-roads, and had met Peter Bodkin, every thought of his mind +had been intent on the pistol within his pocket. To shoot a man who +should lay hold of him or his horse, or endeavour to stop his horse, +had seemed to him to be bare justice. But he had resolved that he +would first give some spoken warning to the sinner. After that, God +help the man; for he would find no help in Black Tom Daly. + +But now his mind was shaken by the admonitions of Mr. Persse. He +could not say of Mr. Persse as he had said, most unjustly, of Sir +Nicholas, that he was one of them. Mr. Persse was well-known as a +Tory and a Protestant, and an indefatigable opponent of Home-Rulers. +To Sir Nicholas, in the minds of some men, there attached a slight +stain of his religion. "I will keep the pistol in my pocket," said +Tom Daly, without turning his eyes away from the belt of trees. + +"Had you not better trust it with me?" said Mr. Persse. + +"No, I am not such an idiot as to shoot a man when I do not intend +it." + +"Seeing how moved you are, I thought that perhaps the pistol might be +safer in my hands." + +"No, the pistol shall remain with me." Then he turned round to join +Barney Smith, who was waiting for him up by the gate out of the +covert. But he turned again to say a word to Mr. Persse. "Thank you, +Persse, I am obliged to you. It might be inconvenient being locked up +before the season is over." Then a weird grin covered his face; which +was the nearest approach to laughter ever seen with Black Tom Daly. + +From Ballytowngal to Moytubber was about a mile and a half. Some few, +during the conversation between Mr. Persse and the master, had gone +on, so that they might be the first to see what was in store for +them. But the crowd of horsemen had remained with their eyes fixed +upon Daly. He rode up to them and passed on without speaking a word, +except that he gave the necessary orders to Barney Smith. Then two +or three clustered round Mr. Persse, asking him whispered questions. +"It'll be all right," said Persse, nodding his head; and so the +_cortège_ passed on. But not a word was spoken by Daly himself, +either then or afterwards, except a whispered order or two given to +Barney Smith. Moytubber is a gorse covert lying about three hundred +yards from the road, and through it the horsemen always passed; on +other occasions it was locked. Now the gate had been taken off its +hinges and thrown back upon the bank; and Daly, as he passed into the +field, perceived that the covert was surrounded by a crowd. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MOYTUBBER. + + +"What's all this about?" said Tom as he rode up the covert side, +and addressing a man whose face he happened to know. He was one Kit +Mooney, a baker from Claregalway, who in these latter days had turned +Landleaguer. But he was one who simply thought that his bread might +be better buttered for him on that side of the question. He was not +an ardent politician; but few local Irishmen were so. Had no stirring +spirits been wafted across the waters from America to teach Irishmen +that one man is as good as another, or generally better, Kit Mooney +would never have found it out. Had not his zeal been awakened by the +eloquence of Mr. O'Meagher, the member for Athlone, who had just made +a grand speech to the people at Athenry, Kit Mooney would have gone +on in his old ways, and would at this moment have been touching his +hat to Tom Daly, and whispering to him of the fox that had lately +been seen "staling away jist there, Mr. Daly, 'fore a'most yer very +eyes." But Mr. O'Meagher had spent three glorious weeks in New York, +and, having practised the art of speaking on board the steamer as he +returned, had come to Athenry and filled the mind of Kit Mooney and +sundry others with political truth of the deepest dye. But the gist +of the truths so taught had been chiefly this:--that if a man did not +pay his rent, but kept his money in his pocket, he manifestly did +two good things; he enriched himself, and he so far pauperised the +landlord, who was naturally his enemy. What other teaching could be +necessary to make Kit understand,--Kit Mooney who held twenty acres +of meadow land convenient to the town of Claregalway,--that this +was the way to thrive in the world? "Rent is not known in America, +that great and glorious country. Every man owns the fields which he +cultivates. Why should you here allow yourself to be degraded by the +unmanly name of tenants? The earth which supports you should be as +free to you as the air you breathe." Such had been the eloquence of +Mr. O'Meagher; and it had stirred the mind of Kit Mooney and made +him feel that life should be recommenced by him under new principles. +Things had not quite gone swimmingly with him since, because Nicholas +Bodkin's agent had caused a sheriff's bailiff to appear upon the +scene, and the notion of keeping the landlord's rent in the pocket +had been found to be surrounded with difficulties. But the great +principle was there, and there had come another eloquent man, who had +also been in America; and Kit Mooney was now a confirmed Landleaguer. + +"Faix thin, yer honour, it isn't much hunting the quality will see +this day out of Moytubber; nor yet nowhere round, av the boys are as +good as their word." + +"Why should they not hunt at Moytubber?" said Mr. Daly, who, as he +looked around saw indeed ample cause why there should be no hunting. +He had thought as he trotted along the road that some individual +Landleaguer would hold his horse by the rein and cause him to stop +him in the performance of his duty; but there were two hundred +footmen there roaming at will through the sacred precincts of the +gorse, and Daly knew well that no fox could have remained there with +such a crowd around him. + +"The boys are just taking their pleasure themselves this fine +Christmas morning," said Kit, who had not moved from the bank on +which he had been found sitting. "Begorra, you'll find 'em all out +about the counthry, intirely, Mr. Daly. They're out to make your +honour welcome. There is lashings of 'em across in Phil French's +woods and all down to Peter Brown's, away at Oranmore. There is not +a boy in the barony but what is out to bid yer honour welcome this +morning." + +Kit Mooney could not have given a more exact account of what was +being done by "the boys" on that morning had he owned all those +rich gifts of eloquence which Mr. O'Meagher possessed. Tom Daly at +once saw that there was no need for shooting any culprit, and was +thankful. The interruption to the sport of the county had become much +more general than he had expected, and it was apparently so organised +as to have spread itself over all that portion of County Galway, in +which his hounds ran. "Bedad, Mr. Daly, what Kit says is thrue," said +another man whom he did not know. "You'll find 'em out everywhere. +Why ain't the boys to be having their fun?" + +It was useless to allow a hound to go into the covert of Moytubber. +The crowd around was waiting anxiously to see the attempt made, so +that they might enjoy their triumph. To watch Black Tom drawing +Moytubber without a fox would be nuts to them; and then to follow the +hounds on to the next covert, and to the next, with the same result, +would afford them an ample day's amusement. But the Bodkins, and the +Blakes, and the Persses were quite alive to this, and so also was Tom +Daly. A council of war was therefore held, in order that the line of +conduct might be adopted which might be held to be most conducive to +the general dignity of the hunt. + +"I should send the hounds home," said Lord Ardrahan. "If Mr. Daly +would call at my place and lunch, as he goes by, I should be most +happy." + +Tom Daly, on hearing this, only shook his head. The shake was +intended to signify that he did not like the advice tendered, nor +the accompanying hospitable offer. To go home would be to throw down +their arms at once, and acknowledge themselves beaten. If beaten +to-day, why should they not be beaten on another day, and then what +would become of Tom Daly's employment? A sad idea came across his +mind, as he shook his head, warning him that in this terrible affair +of to-day, he might see the end of all his life's work. Such a +thought had never occurred to him before. If a crowd of disloyal +Roman Catholics chose to prevent the gentry in their hunting, +undoubtedly they had the power. Daly was slow at thinking, but an +idea when it had once come home to him, struck him forcibly. As +he shook his head at that moment he bethought himself, what would +become of Black Daly if the people of the county refused to allow his +hounds to run? And a second idea struck him,--that he certainly would +not lunch with Lord Ardrahan. Lord Ardrahan was, to his thinking, +somewhat pompous, and had been felt by Tom to expect that he, Tom, +should acknowledge the inferiority of his position by his demeanour. +Now such an idea as this was altogether in opposition to Tom's mode +of living. Even though the hounds were to be taken away from him, and +he were left at Daly's Bridge with the £200 a year which had come to +him from his father, he would make no such acknowledgment as that to +any gentleman in County Galway. So he shook his head, and said not a +word in answer to Lord Ardrahan. + +"What do you propose to do, Daly?" demanded Mr. Persse. + +"Go on and draw till night. There's a moon, and if we can find a fox +before ten, Barney and I will manage to kill him. Those blackguards +can't keep on with us." This was Daly's plan, spoken out within +hearing of many of the blackguards. + +"You had better take my offer, and come to Ardrahan Castle," said his +lordship. + +"No, my lord," said Daly, with the tone of authority which a master +of hounds always knows how to assume. + +"I shall draw on. Barney, get the hounds together." Then he whispered +to Barney Smith that the hounds should go on to Kilcornan. Now +Kilcornan was a place much beloved by foxes, about ten miles distant +from Moytubber. It was not among the coverts appointed to be drawn +on that day, which all lay back towards Ahaseragh. At Kilcornan the +earths would be found to open. But it would be better to trot off +rapidly to some distant home for foxes, even though the day's sport +might be lost. Daly was very anxious that it should not be said +through the country that he had been driven home by a set of roughs +from any one covert or another. The day's draw would be known--the +line of the country, that is, which, in the ordinary course of +things, he would follow on that day. But by going to Kilcornan +he might throw them off his scent. So he started for Kilcornan, +having whispered his orders to Barney Smith, but communicating his +intentions to no one else. + +"What will you do, Daly?" said Sir Jasper Lynch. + +"Go on." + +"But where will you go?" inquired the baronet. He was a man about +Daly's age, with whom Daly was on comfortable terms. He had no cause +for being crabbed with Sir Jasper as with Lord Ardrahan. But he did +not want to declare his purpose to any man. There is no one in the +ordinary work of his life so mysterious as a master of hounds. And +among masters no one was more mysterious than Tom Daly. And this, +too, was no ordinary day. Tom only shook his head and trotted on in +advance. His secret had been told only to Barney Smith, and with +Barney Smith he knew that it would be safe. + +So they all trotted off at a pace much faster than usual. "What's up +with Black Tom now?" asked Sir Nicholas of Sir Jasper. "What's Daly +up to now?" asked Mr. Blake of Mr. Persse. They all shook their +heads, and declared themselves willing to follow their leader without +further inquiry. "I suppose he knows what he's about," said Mr. +Persse; "but we, at any rate, must go and see." So they followed him; +and in half an hour's time it became apparent that they were going to +Kilcornan. + +But at Kilcornan they found a crowd almost equal to that which had +stopped them at Moytubber. Kilcornan is a large demesne, into which +they would, in the ordinary course, have made their entrance through +the lodge gate. At present they went at once to an outlying covert, +which was supposed to be especially the abode of foxes; but even +here, as Barney trotted up with his hounds, at a pace much quicker +than usual, they found that the ground before them had been occupied +by Landleaguers. "You'll not do much in the hunting way to-day, +Muster Daly," said one of the intruders. "When we heard you were +a-coming we had a little hunt of our own. There ain't a fox anywhere +about the place now, Muster Daly." Tom Daly turned round and sat on +his big black horse, frowning at the world before him; a sorrowful +man. What shall we do next? It does not behove a master of hounds +to seek counsel in difficulty from anyone. A man, if he is master, +should be sufficient to himself in all emergencies. No man felt this +more clearly than did Black Tom Daly. He had been ashamed of himself +once this morning, because he had taken advice from Mr. Persse. But +now he must think the matter out for himself and follow his own +devices. + +It was as yet only two o'clock, but he had come on at a great pace, +taking much more out of his horse than was usual to him on such +occasions. But, sitting there, he did make up his mind. He would go +on to Mr. Lambert's place at Clare, and would draw the coverts, going +there as fast as the horse's legs would carry him. There he would +borrow two horses if it were possible, but one, at least, for Barney +Smith. Then he would draw back by impossible routes, to the kennels +at Ahaseragh. Men might come with him or might go; but to none would +he tell his mind. If Providence would only send him a fox on the +route, all things, he thought, might still be well with him. It would +be odd if he and Barney Smith, between them, were not able to give +an account of that fox when they had done with him. But if he should +find no such fox--if he, the master of the Galway hounds, should have +ridden backwards and forwards across County Galway, and have been +impeded altogether in his efforts by wretched Landleaguers, then--as +he thought--a final day would have to come for him. + +He spoke no word to anyone, but he did go on just as he proposed to +himself. He drew Clare, but drew it blank; and then, leaving his own +horses, he borrowed two others for himself and Barney, and went on +upon his route. Before the day was over--or rather, before the night +was far advanced--he had borrowed three others, in his course about +the country, for himself and his servants. Quick as lightning he went +from covert to covert; but the conspiracy had been well arranged, +and a holiday for the foxes in County Galway was established for +that day. Some men were very stanch to him, going with him whither +they knew not, so that "poor dear Tom" might not be left alone; but +alone he was during the long evening of that day, as far as all +conversation went. He spoke to no one, except to Barney, and to him +only a few words; giving him a direction as to where he should go +next, and into what covert he should put the hounds. They, too, must +have been much surprised and very weary, as they dragged their tired +limbs to their kennel, at about eight o'clock. And Tom Daly's ride +across the country will long be remembered, and the exertions which +he made to find a fox on that day. + +But it was all in vain. As Tom ate his solitary mutton-chop, and +drank his cold whisky and water, and then took himself to bed, he was +a melancholy man. The occupation of his life, he thought, was gone. +These reprobates, whom he now hated worse than ever, having learned +their powers to disturb the amusements of their betters, would never +allow another day's hunting in the county. He was aware now, though +he never had thought of it before, by how weak a hold his right of +hunting the country was held. He and his hounds could go into any +covert; but so also could any other man, with or without hounds. To +disturb a fox, three or four men would suffice; one would suffice +according to Tom's idea of a fox. The occupation of his life was +over. + +Tom Daly was by nature a melancholy man. All County Galway knew that. +He was a man not given to many words, by no means devoted to sport +in the ordinary sense. It was a hard business that he had undertaken. +The work was in every sense hard, and the payment made was very +small. In fact no payment was made, other than that of his being +lifted into a position in which he was able to hold his head high +among gentlemen of property. What should he do with himself during +the remainder of his life, if hunting in County Galway was brought to +an end? He was an intent, eager man, whom it was hard to teach that +the occupations of his life were less worthy than those of other men. +But there had come moments of doubt as he had sat alone in his little +room at Ahaseragh and had meditated, whether the pursuit of vermin +was worthy all the energy which he had given to it. + +"You may sell those brutes of yours now, and then perhaps you'll be +able to educate your children." So Sir Nicholas Bodkin had addressed +his eldest son, as they rode home together on that occasion. + +"Why so?" Peter had asked, thinking more of the "brutes" alluded to +than of the children. He was accustomed to the tone of his father's +remarks, and cared for them not more than the ordinary son cares for +the expression of the ordinary father's ill humour. But now he knew +that some reference was intended to the interruption that had been +made in their day's sport, and was anxious to learn what his father +thought about it. "Why so?" he asked. + +"Because you won't want them for this game any longer. Hunting is +done with in these parts. When a blackguard like Kit Mooney is able +to address such a one as Tom Daly after that fashion, anything that +requires respect may be said to be over. Hunting has existed solely +on respect. I had intended to buy that mare of French's, but I shan't +now." + +"What does all that mean, Lynch?" said Mr. Persse to Sir Jasper, as +they rode home together. + +"It means quarrelling to the knife." + +"In a quarrel to the knife," said Mr. Persse, "all lighter things +must be thrown away. Daly had brought a pistol in his pocket as +you heard this morning. I have been thinking of it ever since; and, +putting two and two together, it seems to me to be almost impossible +that hunting should go on in County Galway." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"DON'T HATE HIM, ADA." + + +Among those who had gone as far as Mr. Lambert's, but had not +proceeded further, had been Frank Jones. He had heard and seen what +has been narrated, and was as much impressed as others with the +condition of the country. The populace generally--for so it had +seemed to be--had risen _en masse_ to put down the amusement of the +gentry, and there had been a secret conspiracy, so that they had been +able to do the same thing in different parts of the county. Frank, as +he rode back to Morony Castle, a long way from Mr. Lambert's covert, +was very melancholy in his mind. The persecution of Mahomet M. Moss +and of the Landleaguers together was almost too much for him. + +When he got home his father also was melancholy, and the girls were +melancholy. "What sport have you had, Frank?" said the father. But he +asked the question in a melancholy tone, simply as being one which +the son expects on returning from hunting. In this expectation Mr. +Jones gave way. Frank shook his head, but did not utter a word. + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the father. + +"The whole country is in arms." This, no doubt, was an exaggeration, +as the only arms that had been brought to Moytubber on the occasion +had been the pistol in Tom Daly's pocket. + +"In arms?" said Philip Jones. + +"Well, yes! I call it so. I call men in arms, when they are prepared +to carry out any illegal purpose by violence, and these men have done +that all through the County Galway." + +"What have they done?" + +"You know where the meet was; well, they drew Ballytowngal, and found +no fox there. It was not expected, and nothing happened there. The +people did not come into old Nick Bodkin's demesne, but we had heard +by the time that we were there that we should come across a lot of +Landleaguers at Moytubber. There they were as thick as bees round the +covert, and there was one man who had the impudence to tell Tom Daly +that draw where he might, he would draw in vain for a fox to-day in +County Galway." + +"Do you mean that there was a crowd?" asked Mr. Jones. + +"A crowd! Yes, all Claregalway seemed to have turned out. Claregalway +is not much of a place, but everyone was there from Oranmore and from +Athenry, and half the town from Galway city." This certainly was an +exaggeration on the part of Frank, but was excused by his desire to +impress his father with the real truth in the matter. "I never saw +half such a number of people by a covert side. But the truth was +soon known. They had beat Moytubber, and kicked up such a row as the +foxes in that gorse had never heard before. And they were not slow in +obtaining their object." + +"Their object was clear enough." + +"They didn't intend that the hounds should hunt that day either at +Moytubber or elsewhere. Daly did not put his hounds into the covert +at all; but rode away as fast as his horse's legs could carry him to +Kilcornan." + +"That must be ten miles at least," said his father. + +"Twenty, I should think. But we rode away at a hand-gallop, leaving +the crowd behind us." This again was an exaggeration. "But when we +got to the covert at Kilcornan there was just the same sort of crowd, +and just the same work had been on foot. The men there all told us +that we need not expect to find a fox. A rumour had got about the +field by this time that Tom Daly had a loaded pistol in his pocket. +What he meant to do with it I don't know. He could have done no good +without a regular massacre." + +"Did he show his pistol?" + +"I didn't see it; but I do believe it was there. Some of the old +fogies were awfully solemn about it." + +"What was the end of it all?" asked Edith, who together with her +sister was now listening to Frank's narrative. + +"You know Mr. Lambert's place on the road towards Gort. It's a long +way off, and I'm a little out of my latitude there. But I went as far +as that, and found a bigger crowd than ever. They said that all Gort +was there; but Tom having drawn the covert, went on, and swore that +he wouldn't leave a place in all County Galway untried. He borrowed +fresh horses, and went on with Barney Smith as grim as death. He is +still drawing his covert somewhere." + +It was thus that Frank Jones told the story of that day's hunting. +To his father's ears it sounded as being very ominous. He did not +care much for hunting himself, nor would it much perplex him if the +Landleaguers would confine themselves to this mode of operations. But +as he heard of the crowds surrounding the coverts through the county, +he thought also of his many acres still under water, by the operation +of a man who had taken upon himself to be his enemy. And the whole +morning had been spent in fruitless endeavours to make Florian tell +the truth. The boy had remained surly, sullen, and silent. "He will +tell me at last," Edith had said to her father. But her father had +said, that unless the truth were now told, he must allow the affair +to go by. "The time for dealing with the matter will be gone," he +had said. "Pat Carroll is going about the country as bold as brass, +and says that he will fix his own rent; whereas I know, and all the +tenants know, that he ought to be in Galway jail. There isn't a man +on the estate who isn't certain that it was he, with five or six +others, who let the waters in upon the meadows." + +"Then why on earth cannot you make them tell?" + +"They say that they only think it," said Edith. + +"The very best of them only think it," said Ada. + +"And there is not one of them," said Mr. Jones, "whom you could trust +to put into a witness-box. To tell the truth, I do not see what +right I have to ask them to go there. If I was to select a man,--or +two, how can I say to them, 'forget yourself, forget your wife and +children, encounter possible murder, and probable ruin, in order that +I may get my revenge on this man'?" + +"It is not revenge but justice," said Frank. + +"It would be revenge to their minds. And if it came to pass that +there was a man who would thus sacrifice himself to me, what must I +do with him afterwards? Were I to send him to America with money, and +take his land into my own hand, see what horrible things would be +said of me. The sort of witness I want to back up others, who would +then be made to come, is Florian." + +"What would they do to him?" asked Edith. + +"I could send him to an English school for a couple of years, till +all this should have passed by. I have thought of that." + +"That, too, would cost money," said Ada. + +"Of course it would cost money, but it would be forthcoming, rather +than that the boy should be in danger. But the feeling, to me, as +to the boy himself, comes uppermost. It is that he himself should +have such a secret in his bosom, and keep it there, locked fast, in +opposition to his own father. I want to get it out of him while he +is yet a boy, so that his name shall not go abroad as one who, by +such manifest falsehood, took part against his own father. It is the +injury done to him, rather than the injury done to me." + +"He has promised his priest that he will not tell," said Edith, +making what excuse she could for her brother. + +"He has not promised his priest," said Mr. Jones. "He has made no +promise to Father Malachi, of Ballintubber. If he has promised at all +it is to that pestilent fellow at Headford. The curate at Headford is +not his priest, and why should a promise made to any priest be more +sacred than one made to another, unless it were made in confession? I +cannot understand Florian. It seems as though he were anxious to take +part with these wretches against his country, against his religion, +and against his father. It is unintelligible to me that a boy of his +age should, at the same time, be so precocious and so stupid. I have +told him that I know him to be a liar, and that until he will tell +the truth he shall not come into my presence." Having so spoken the +father sat silent, while Frank went off to dress. + +It was felt by them all that a terrible decision had been come to in +the family. A verdict had gone out and had pronounced Florian guilty. +They had all gradually come to think that it was so. But now the +judge had pronounced the doom. The lad was not to be allowed into his +presence during the continuance of the present state of things. In +the first place, how was he to be kept out of his father's presence? +And the boy was one who would turn mutinous in spirit under such a +command. The meaning of it was that he should not sit at table with +his father. But, in accordance with the ways of the family, he had +always done so. A separate breakfast must be provided for him, and +a separate dinner. Then would there not be danger that he should be +driven to look for his friends elsewhere? Would he not associate with +Father Brosnan, or, worse again, with Pat Carroll? "Ada," said Edith +that night as they sat together, "Florian must be made to confess." + +"How make him?" + +"You and I must do it." + +"That's all very well," said Ada, "but how? You have been at him now +for nine months, and have not moved him. He's the most obstinate boy, +I think, that ever lived." + +"Do you know, there is something in it all that makes me love him the +better?" said Edith. + +"Is there? There is something in it that almost makes me hate him." + +"Don't hate him, Ada--if you can help it. He has got some religious +idea into his head. It is all stupid." + +"It is beastly," said Ada. + +"You may call it as you please," said the other, "it is stupid and +beastly. He is travelling altogether in a wrong direction, and is +putting everybody concerned with him in immense trouble. It may be +quite right that a person should be a Roman Catholic--or that he +should be a Protestant; but before one turns from one to the other, +one should be old enough to know something about it. It is very +vexatious; but with Flory there is, I think, some idea of an idea. He +has got it into his head that the Catholics are a downtrodden people, +and therefore he will be one of them." + +"That is such bosh," said Ada. + +"It is so, to your thinking, but not to his. In loving him or hating +him you've got to love him or hate him as a boy. Of course it's +wicked that a boy should lie,--or a man, or a woman, or a girl; but +they do. I don't see why we are to turn against a boy of our own, +when we know that other boys lie. He has got a notion into his head +that he is doing quite right, because the priest has told him." + +"He is doing quite wrong," said Ada. + +"And now what are we to do about his breakfast? Papa says that he is +not to be allowed to come into the room, and papa means it. You and I +will have to breakfast with him and dine with him, first one and then +the other." + +"But papa will miss us." + +"We must go through the ceremony of a second breakfast and a second +dinner." This was the beginning of Edith's scheme. "Of course it's a +bore; all things are bores. This about the flood is the most terrible +bore I ever knew. But I'm not going to let Flory go to the devil +without making an effort to save him. It would be going to the devil, +if he were left alone in his present position." + +"Papa will see that we don't eat anything." + +"Of course he must be told. There never ought to be any secrets in +anything. Of course he'll grow used to it, and won't expect us to sit +there always and eat nothing. He thinks he's right, and perhaps he +is. Flory will feel the weight of his displeasure; and if we talk to +him we may persuade him." + +This state of things at Morony Castle was allowed to go on with few +other words said upon the subject. The father became more and more +gloomy, as the floods held their own upon the broad meadows. Pat +Carroll had been before the magistrates at Headford, and had been +discharged, as all evidence was lacking to connect him with the +occurrence. Further effort none was made, and Pat Carroll went on in +his course, swearing that not a shilling of rent should be paid by +him in next March. "The floods had done him a great injury," he said +laughingly among his companions, "so that it was unreasonable to +expect that he should pay." It was true he had owed a half-year's +rent last November; but then it had become customary with Mr. Jones's +tenants to be allowed the indulgence of six months. No more at any +rate would be said about rent till March should come. + +And now, superinduced upon this cause of misery, had come the tidings +which had been spread everywhere through the county in regard to the +Galway hunt. Tom Daly had gone on regularly with his meets, and had +not indeed been stopped everywhere. His heart had been gladdened by +a wonderful run which he had had from Carnlough. The people had not +interfered there, and the day had been altogether propitious. Tom had +for the moment been in high good humour; but the interruption had +come again, and had been so repeated as to make him feel that his +occupation was in truth gone. The gentry of the county had then held +a meeting at Ballinasloe, and had decided that the hounds should be +withdrawn for the remainder of the season. No one who has not ridden +with the hounds regularly can understand the effect of such an order. +There was no old woman with a turkey in her possession who did not +feel herself thereby entitled to destroy the fox who came lurking +about her poultry-yard. Nor was there a gentleman who owned a +pheasant who did not feel himself animated in some degree by the same +feeling. "As there's to be an end of fox-hunting in County Galway, +we can do what we like with our own coverts." "I shall go in for +shooting," Sir Nicholas Bodkin had been heard to say. + +But Black Tom Daly sat alone gloomily in his room at Ahaseragh, where +it suited him still to be present and look after the hounds, and told +himself that the occupation of his life was gone. Who would want to +buy a horse even, now that the chief object for horses was at an end? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +EDITH'S ELOQUENCE. + + +Thus they lived through the months of January and February, 1881, at +Morony Castle, and Florian had not as yet told his secret. As a boy +his nature had seemed to be entirely altered during the last six +months. He was thoughtful, morose, and obstinate to a degree, which +his father was unable to fathom. But during these last two months +there had been no intercourse between them. It may almost be said +that no word had been addressed by either to the other. No further +kind of punishment had been inflicted. Indeed, the boy enjoyed a much +wider liberty than had been given to him before, or than was good for +him. For his father not only gave no orders to him, but seldom spoke +concerning him. It was, however, a terrible trouble to his mind, the +fact that his own son should be thus possessed of his own peculiar +secret, and should continue from month to month hiding it within +his own bosom. With Father Malachi Mr. Jones was on good terms, but +to him he could say nothing on the subject. The absurdity of the +conversion, or perversion, of the boy, in reference to his religion, +made Mr. Jones unwilling to speak of him to any Roman Catholic +priest. Father Malachi would no doubt have owned that the boy had +been altogether unable to see, by his own light, the difference +between the two religions. But he would have attributed the change +to the direct interposition of God. He would not have declared in so +many words that a miracle had been performed in the boy's favour, but +this would have been the meaning of the argument he would have used. +In fact, the gaining of a proselyte under any circumstances would +have been an advantage too great to jeopardise by any arguments in +the matter. The Protestant clergyman at Headford, in whose parish +Morony Castle was supposed to have been situated, was a thin, bigoted +Protestant, of that kind which used to be common in Ireland. Mr. +Armstrong was a gentleman, who held it to be an established fact +that a Roman Catholic must necessarily go to the devil. In all the +moralities he was perfect. He was a married man, with a wife and +six children, all of whom he brought up and educated on £250 a year. +He never was in debt; he performed all his duties--such as they +were--and passed his time in making rude and unavailing attempts to +convert his poorer neighbours. There was a union,--or poor-house--in +the neighbourhood, to which he would carry morsels of meat in his +pocket on Friday, thinking that the poor wretches who had flown in +the face of their priest by eating the unhallowed morsels, would then +have made a first step towards Protestantism. He was charitable, with +so little means for charity; he was very eager in his discourses, +in the course of which he would preach to a dozen Protestants for +three-quarters of an hour, and would confine himself to one subject, +the iniquities of the Roman Catholic religion. He had heard of +Florian's perversion, and had made it the topic on which he had +declaimed for two Sundays. He had attempted to argue with Father +Brosnan, but had been like a babe in his hands. He ate and drank of +the poorest, and clothed himself so as just to maintain his clerical +aspect. All his aspirations were of such a nature as to entitle him +to a crown of martyrdom. But they were certainly not of a nature to +justify him in expecting any promotion on this earth. Such was Mr. +Joseph Armstrong, of Headford, and from him no aid, or counsel, or +pleasant friendship could be expected in this matter. + +The trouble of Florian's education fell for the nonce into Edith's +hands. He had hitherto worked under various preceptors; his father, +his sister, and his brother; also a private school at Galway for a +time had had the charge of him. But now Edith alone undertook the +duty. Gradually the boy began to have a way of his own, and to tell +himself that he was only bound to be obedient during certain hours of +the morning. In this way the whole day after twelve o'clock was at +his own disposal, and he never told any of the family what he then +did. Peter, the butler, perhaps knew where he went, but even to Peter +the butler, the knowledge was a trouble; for Peter, though a stanch +Roman Catholic, was not inclined to side with anyone against his own +master. Florian, in truth, did see more of Pat Carroll than he should +have done; and, though it would be wrong to suppose that he took a +part against his father, he no doubt discussed the questions which +were of interest to Pat Carroll, in a manner that would have been +very displeasing to his father. "Faix, Mr. Flory," Pat would say to +him, "'av you're one of us, you've got to be one of us; you've had a +glimmer of light, as Father Brosnan says, to see the errors of your +way; but you've got to see the errors of your way on 'arth as well +as above. Dragging the rint out o' the body and bones o' the people, +like hair from a woman's head, isn't the way, and so you'll have to +larn." Then Florian would endeavour to argue with his friend, and +struggle to make him understand that in the present complicated state +of things it was necessary that a certain amount of rent should go to +Morony Castle to keep up the expenses there. + +"We couldn't do, you know, without Peter; nor yet very well without +the carriage and horses. It's all nonsense saying that there should +be no rent; where are we to get our clothes from?" But these +arguments, though very good of their kind, had no weight with Pat +Carroll, whose great doctrine it was that rent was an evil _per se_; +and that his world would certainly go on a great deal better if there +were no rent. + +"Haven't you got half the land of Ballintubber in your hands?" said +Carroll. Here Florian in a whisper reminded Pat that the lands of +Ballintubber were at this moment under water, and had been put so by +his operation. "Why wouldn't he make me a statement when I asked for +it?" said Carroll, with a coarse grin, which almost frightened the +boy. + +"Flory," said Edith to the boy that afternoon, "you did see the men +at work upon the sluices that afternoon?" + +"I didn't," said Florian. + +"We all believe that you did." + +"But I didn't." + +"You may as well listen to me this once. We all believe that you +did--papa and I, and Frank and Ada; Peter believes it; there's not a +servant about the place but what believes it. Everybody believes it +at Headford. Mr. Blake at Carnlough, and all the Blakes believe it." + +"I don't care a bit about Mr. Blake," said the boy. + +"But you do care about your own father. If you were to go up and +down to Galway by the boat, you would find that everybody on board +believes it. The country people would say that you had turned against +your father because of your religion. Mr. Morris, from beyond Cong, +was here the other day, and from what he said about the floods it was +easy to see that he believed it." + +"If you believe Mr. Morris better than you do me, you may go your own +ways by yourself." + +"I don't see that, Flory. I may believe Mr. Morris in this matter +better than I do you, and yet not intend to go my own ways by myself. +I don't believe you at all on this subject." + +"Very well, then, don't." + +"But I want to find out, if I can, what may be the cause of so +terrible a falsehood on your part. It has come to that, that though +you tell the lie, you almost admit that it is a lie." + +"I don't admit it." + +"It is as good as admitted. The position you assume is this: 'I +saw the gates destroyed, but I am not going to say so in evidence, +because it suits me to take part with Pat Carroll, and to go against +my own father.'" + +"You've no business to put words like that into my mouth." + +"I'm telling you what everybody thinks. Would your father treat you +as he does now without a cause? And are you to remain here, and to go +down and down in the world till you become such a one as Pat Carroll? +And you will have to live like Pat Carroll, with the knowledge in +everyone's heart that you have been untrue to your father. They are +becoming dishonest, false knaves, untrue to their promises, the very +scum of the earth, because of their credulity and broken vows; but +what am I to say of you? You will have been as false and perfidious +and credulous as they. You will have thrown away everything good to +gratify the ambition of some empty traitor. And you will have done it +all against your own father." Here she paused and looked at him. They +were roaming at the time round the demesne, and he walked on, but +said nothing. "I know what you are thinking of, Flory." + +"What am I thinking of?" + +"You're thinking of your duty; you are thinking whether you can bring +yourself to make a clean breast of it, and break the promises which +you have made." + +"Nobody should break a promise," said he. + +"And nobody should tell a lie. When one finds oneself in the +difficulty one has to go back and find out where the evil thing first +began." + +"I gave the promise first," said Florian. + +"No such promise should ever have been given. Your first duty in the +matter was to your father." + +"I don't see that at all," said Florian. "My first duty is to my +religion." + +"Even to do evil for its sake? Go to Father Malachi, and ask him." + +"Father Malachi isn't the man to whom I should like to tell +everything. Father Brosnan is a much better sort of clergyman. He is +my confessor, and I choose to go by what he tells me." + +"Then you will be a traitor to your father." + +"I am not a traitor," said Florian. + +"And yet you admit that some promise has been given--some promise +which you dare not own. You cannot but know in your own heart that +I know the truth. You have seen that man Carroll doing the mischief, +and have promised him to hold your tongue about it. You have not, +then, understood at all the nature or extent of the evil done. You +have not, then, known that it would be your father's duty to put +down this turbulent ruffian. You have promised, and having promised, +Father Brosnan has frightened you. He and Pat Carroll together have +cowed the very heart within you. The consequence is that you are +becoming one of them, and instead of moving as a gentleman on the +face of the earth, you will be such as they are. Tell the truth, and +your father will at once send you to some school in England, where +you will be educated as becomes my brother." + +The boy now was sobbing in tears. He lacked the resolution to +continue his lie, but did not dare to tell the truth. + +"I will," he whispered. + +"What will you do?" + +"I will tell all that I know about it." + +"Tell me, then, now." + +"No, Edith, not now," he said. + +"Will you tell papa, then?" said Edith. + +"Papa is so hard to me." + +"Whom will you tell, and when?" + +"I will tell you, but not now. I will first tell Father Brosnan that +I am going to do it; I shall not then have told the lie absolutely to +my priest." + +On this occasion Edith could do nothing further with him; and, +indeed, the nature of the confession which she expected him to make +was such that it should be made to some person beyond herself. She +could understand that it must be taken down in some form that would +be presentable to a magistrate, and that evidence of the guilt of Pat +Carroll and evidence as to the possible guilt of others must not be +whispered simply into her own ears. But she had now brought him to +such a condition that she did think that his story would be told. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE. + + +There was another cause of trouble at Morony Castle, which at the +present moment annoyed them much. Frank had received three or four +letters from Rachel O'Mahony, the purport of them all being to +explain her troubles with Mahomet M. M., as she called the man; but +still so as to prevent Frank from attempting to interfere personally. + +"No doubt the man is a brute," she had said, "if a young lady, +without ceasing to be ladylike, may so describe so elegant a +gentleman. If not so, still he is a brute, because I can't declare +otherwise, even for the sake of being ladylike. But what you say +about coming is out of the question. You can't meddle with my affairs +till you've a title to meddle. Now, you know the truth. I'm going to +stick to you, and I expect you to stick to me. For certain paternal +reasons you want to put the marriage off. Very well. I'm agreeable, +as the folks say. If you would say that you would be ready to marry +me on the first of April, again I should be agreeable. You can +nowhere find a more agreeable young woman than I am. But I must be +one thing or the other." + +Then he wrote to her the sort of love-letter which the reader can +understand. It was full of kisses and vows and ecstatic hopes but did +not name a day. In fact Mr. Jones, in the middle of his troubles, was +unable to promise an immediate union, and did not choose that his son +should marry in order that he might be supported by a singing girl. +But to this letter Frank added a request--or rather a command--that +he should be allowed to come over at once and see Mr. Mahomet. It was +no doubt true that his father was, for the minute, a little backward +in the matter of his income; but still he wanted to look after +Mahomet, and he wanted to be kissed. + + + You must not come at all, and I won't even see you if you + do. You men are always so weak, and want such a lot of + petting. Mahomet tried to kiss me last night when I was + singing to him before going to dress. I have to practise + with him. I gave him such a blow in the face that I don't + think he'll repeat the experiment, and I had my eyes about + me. You needn't be at all afraid of me but what I am + quick enough. He was startled at the moment, and I merely + laughed. I'm not going to give up £100 a month because + he makes a beast of himself; and I'm not going to call + in father as long as I can help it; nor do I mean to call + in your royal highness at all. I tell everybody that I'm + going to marry your royal highness, king Jones; there + isn't a bit of a secret about it. I talk of my Mr. Jones + just as if we were married, because it all comes easier to + me in that way. You will see that I absolutely believe in + you and I expect that you shall absolutely believe in me. + Send you a kiss! Of course I do; I am not at all coy of my + favours. You ask Mahomet also as to what he thinks of the + strength of my right arm. I examined his face so minutely + when I had to fall into his arms on the stage, and there I + saw the round mark of my fist, and the swelling all round + it. And I thought to myself as I was singing my devotion + that he should have it next time in his eye. But, Frank, + mark my words: I won't have you here till you can come to + marry me. + + +Frank did not go over, even on this occasion, as he was detained, not +only by his mistress's danger, but by his father's troubles. Florian +had almost, but had not quite, told the entire truth. He had said +that he had seen the sluices broken, but had not quite owned who had +broken them. He had declared that Pat Carroll had done "mischief," +but had not quite said of what nature was the mischief which Carroll +had done. It was now March, and the hunting troubles were still going +on. The whole gentry in County Galway had determined to take Black +Tom Daly's part, and to carry him on through the contest. But the +effect of taking Black Tom Daly's part was to take the part against +which the Land Leaguers were determined to enrol themselves. For of +all men in the county, Black Tom was the most unpopular. And of all +men he was the most determined; with him it was literally a question +between God and Mammon. A man could not serve both. In the simplicity +of his heart, he thought that the Landleaguers were children of +Satan, and that to have any dealings with them, or the passage of +any kindness, was in itself Satanic. He said very little, but he +spent whole hours in thinking of the evil that they were doing. And +among the evils was the unparalleled insolence which they displayed +in entering coverts in County Galway. Now Frank Jones, who had not +hitherto been very intimate with Tom, had taken up his part, and was +fighting for him at this moment. Nevertheless the provocation to him +to go to London was very great, and he had only put it off till the +last coverts should be drawn on Saturday the 2nd of April. The hunt +had determined to stop their proceedings earlier than usual; but +still there was to be one day in April, for the sake of honour and +glory. + +But in the latter days of March there came a third letter from Rachel +O'Mahony. Like the other letter it was cheerful, and high-spirited; +but still it seemed to speak of impending dangers, which Frank, +though he could not understand them, thought that he could perceive. + + + My present engagement is to go on till the end of July, + with an understanding that I am to have twenty guineas + a night, for any evening that I may be required to sing + in August. This your highness will perceive is a very + considerable increase, and at three nights a week might + afford an income on which your highness would perhaps + condescend to come and eat a potato, in the honour of + "ould" Ireland, till better times should come. That would + be the happy potato which would be the first bought for + such a purpose! But you must see that I cannot expect + a continuance of my present engagement as the head of + your royal highness' seraglio. I should have to look for + another Chancellor of the Exchequer, and should probably + find him. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss would hardly endure me + as being part of the properties belonging to your royal + highness. + + And now I must tell you my own little news. Beelzebub has + taken a worse devil to himself, so that I am likely to be + trodden down into the very middle of the pit. I choose to + tell you because I won't have you think that I have ever + kept anything secret from you. If I describe the roars of + Mrs. Beelzebub to you, and her red claws, and her forky + tongue, and her fiery tail, it is not because I like her + as a subject of poetry, but because this special subject + comes uppermost; and you shall never say to me, why didn't + you tell me when you were introduced to Beelzebub's wife? + and assert, as men are apt to do, that you would not + have allowed me to make her acquaintance. Mrs. Beelzebub + appears on the stage as belonging to Mahomet but how they + have mixed it all up together among themselves, I do not + quite know. I do not think that they're in love with one + another, because she is not jealous of me. She is Madame + Socani in the plot, and a genuine American from New York; + but she can sing; she has a delicious soprano voice, soft + and powerful; but she has also a temper and temperament + such as no woman, nor yet no devil, ought to possess. Of + Monsieur Socani, or Signor Socani, or Herr Socani, I never + yet heard. But such men do not always make themselves + troublesome. I have to sing with her, and a woman you may + say would not be troublesome, but she and Mahomet between + them consider themselves competent to get me under their + thumb. I don't intend to be under their thumb. I intend + to be under nobody's thumb but yours; and the sooner the + better. Now you know all about it; but as you shall value + the first squeeze which you shall get when you do come, + don't come till your coming has been properly settled. + + +Then there was a fourth letter in which she described her troubles, +still humorously, and with some attempt at absolute comedy. But she +certainly wrote with a purpose of making him understand that she was +subjected to very considerable annoyance. She was still determined +not to call upon him for assistance; and she warned him that any +assistance whatever would be out of his power. A lover on the scene, +who could not declare his purpose of speedy marriage, would be worse +than useless. All that she saw plainly,--or at any rate declared that +she saw plainly, though she was altogether unable to explain it to +Frank Jones. + + + Mrs. Beelzebub is certainly the queen of the devils. I + remember when you read "Paradise Lost" to us at Morony + Castle, which I thought very dull. Milton arranged the + ranks in Pandemonium differently; but there has been a + revolution since that, and Mrs. Beelzebub has everything + just as she pleases. I am beginning to pity Mahomet, and + pity, they say, is akin to love. She urges him,--well, + just to make love to me. What reason there is between + them I don't know, but I am sure she wants him to get me + altogether into his hands. I'm not sure but what she is + Mahomet's own wife. This is a horrid kettle of fish, as + you will see. But I think I'll turn out to be head cook + yet. If God does not walk atop of the devils what's the + use of running straight? But I am sure he will, and the + more so because there is in truth no temptation. + + She told me the other day to my face, that I was a fool. + "I know I am," said I demurely, "but why?" Then she came + out with her demand. It was very simple, and did not in + truth amount to much. I was to become just--mistress to + Mr. Moss. + + +Frank Jones, when he read this, crushed the paper up in his hand and +went upstairs to his bedroom, determined to pack up immediately. +But before he had progressed far, he got out the letter and read the +remainder. + + + "You," I said, "are an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Moss." + + "I am his particular friend," she said, with that peculiar + New York aping of a foreign accent, which is the language + that was, I am sure, generally used by the devils. + + "Ask him, with my best compliments," I said, "whether he + remembers the blow I hit him in the face. Tell him I can + hit much harder than that; tell him that he will never + find me unprepared, for a moment." + + Now I have got another little bit of news for you. + Somebody has found out in New York that I am making + money. It is true, in a limited way. £100 a month is + something, and so they've asked papa to subscribe as + largely as he can to a grand Home-Rule, anti-Protestant, + hate-the-English, stars-and-stripes society. It is the + most loyal and beneficent thing out, and dear papa thinks + I can do nothing better with my wealth than bestow it + upon these birds of freedom. I have no doubt they are + all right, because I am an American-Irish, and have not + the pleasure of knowing Black Tom Daly. I have given + them £200, and am, therefore, at this moment, nearly + impecunious. On this account I do not choose to give up my + engagement--£100 a month, with an additional possibility + of twenty guineas a night when August shall be here. You + will tell me that after the mild suggestion made by Mrs. + Beelzebub, I ought to walk out of the house, and go back + to County Galway immediately. I don't think so. I am + learning every day how best to stand fast on my own feet. + I am earning my money honestly, and men and women here + in London are saying that in truth I can sing. A very + nice old gentleman called on me the other day from Covent + Garden, and, making me two low bows, asked whether I was + my own mistress some time in October next. I thought at + the moment that I was at any rate free from the further + engagement proposed by Mrs. Beelzebub, and told him that I + was free. Then he made me two lower bows, touched the tip + of my fingers, and said that he would be proud to wait + upon me in a few days with a definite proposal. This old + gentleman may mean twenty guineas a night for the whole + of next winter, or something like £250 a month. Think + of that, Mr. Jones. But how am I to go on in my present + impecunious position if I quarrel altogether with my bread + and butter? So now you know all about it. + + Remember that I have told my father nothing as to Mrs. + Beelzebub's proposition. It is better not; he would disown + it, and would declare that I had invented it from vanity. + I do think that a woman in this country can look after + herself if she be minded so to do. I know that I am + stronger than Mr. Moss and Mrs. Beelzebub together. I do + believe that he will pay me his money, as he has always + done, and I want to earn my money. I have some little + precautions--just for a rainy day. I have told you + everything--everything, because you are to be my husband. + But you can do me no good by coming here, but may cause me + a peck of troubles. Now, good-bye, and God bless you. A + thousand kisses. + + Ever your own, + + R. + + Tell everybody that I'm to be Mrs. Jones some day. + + +Frank finished packing up, and then told his father that he was going +off to Athenry at once, there to meet the night mail train up to +Dublin. + +"Why are you going at once, in this sudden manner?" asked his father. + +Frank then remembered that he could not tell openly the story of Mrs. +Beelzebub. Rachel had told him in pure simple-minded confidence, and +though he was prepared to disobey her, he would not betray her. "She +is on the stage," he said. + +"I am aware of it," replied his father, intending to signify that his +son's betrothed was not employed as he would have wished. + +"At the Charing Cross Opera," said the son, endeavouring to make the +best of it. + +"Yes; at the Charing Cross Opera, if that makes a difference." + +"She is earning her bread honestly." + +"I believe so," said Mr. Jones, "I do believe so, I do think that +Rachel O'Mahony is a thoroughly good girl." + +"I am sure of it," said Ada and Edith almost in the same breath. + +"But not less on that account is the profession distasteful to me. +You do not wish to see your sisters on the stage?" + +"I have thought of all that, sir," said Frank, "I have quite made up +my mind to make Rachel my wife, if it be possible." + +"Do you mean to live on what she may earn as an actress?" Here Frank +remained silent for a moment. "Because if you do, I must tell you +that it will not become you as a gentleman to accept her income." + +"You cannot give us an income on which we may live." + +"Certainly not at this moment. With things as they are in Ireland +now, I do not know how long I may have a shilling with which to bless +myself. It seems to me that for the present it is your duty to stay +at home, and not to trouble Rachel by going to her in London." + +"At this moment I must go to her." + +"You have given no reason for your going." Frank thought of it, and +told himself that there was in truth no reason. His going would +be a trouble to Rachel, and yet there were reasons which made it +imperative for him to go. "Have you asked yourself what will be the +expense?" said his father. + +"It may cost I suppose twelve pounds, going and coming." + +"And have you asked yourself how many twelve pounds will be likely to +fall into your hands just at present? Is she in any trouble?" + +"I had rather not talk about her affairs," said Frank. + +"Is not her father with her?" + +"I do not think he is the best man in the world to help a girl in +such an emergency." But he had not described what was the emergency. + +"You think that a young man, who certainly will be looked on as the +young lady's lover, but by no means so certainly as the young lady's +future husband, will be more successful?" + +"I do," said Frank, getting up and walking out of the room. He was +determined at any rate that nothing which his father could say should +stop him, as he had resolved to disobey all the orders which Rachel +had given him. At any rate, during that night and the following day +he made his way up to London. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON. + + +At this period of our story much had already been said in the outside +world as to flooding the meadows of Ballintubber. Like other outrages +of the same kind, it had not at first been noticed otherwise than in +the immediate neighbourhood; and though a terrible injury had been +inflicted, equal in value to the loss of five or six hundred pounds, +it had seemed as though it would pass away unnoticed, simply because +Mr. Jones had lacked evidence to bring it home to any guilty party. +But gradually it had become known that Pat Carroll had been the +sinner, and the causes also which had brought about the crime were +known. It was known that Pat Carroll had joined the Landleaguers in +the neighbouring county of Mayo with great violence, and that he had +made a threat that he would pay no further rent to his landlord. The +days of the no-rent manifestation had not yet come, as the obnoxious +Members of Parliament were not yet in prison; but no-rent was already +firmly fixed in the minds of many men, about to lead in the process +of time to "Arrears Bills," and other abominations of injustice. And +among those conspicuous in the West, who were ready to seize fortune +by the forelock, was Mr. Pat Carroll. In this way his name had come +forward, and inquiries were made of Mr. Jones which distressed him +much. For though he was ready to sacrifice his meadows, and his +tenant, and his rent, he was most unwilling to do it if he should be +called upon at the same time to sacrifice his boy's character for +loyalty. + +There had been a man stationed at Castlerea for some months past, who +in celebrity had almost beaten the notorious Pat Carroll. This was +one Captain Yorke Clayton, who for nearly twelve months had been in +the County Mayo. It was supposed that he had first shown himself +there as a constabulary officer, and had then very suddenly been +appointed resident magistrate. Why he was Captain nobody knew. It +was the fact, indeed, that he had been employed as adjutant in a +volunteer regiment in England, having gone over there from the police +force in the north of Ireland. His title had gone with him by no +fault or no virtue of his own, and he had blossomed forth to the +world of Connaught as Captain Clayton before he knew why he was about +to become famous. Famous, however, he did become. + +He had two attributes which, if Fortune helps, may serve to make any +man famous. They were recklessness of life and devotion to an idea. +If Fortune do not help, recklessness of life amidst such dangers +as those which surrounded Captain Clayton will soon bring a man to +his end, so that there will be no question of fame. But we see men +occasionally who seem to find it impossible to encounter death. It +is not at all probable that this man wished to die. Life seemed to +him to be pleasant enough: he was no forlorn lover; he had fairly +good health and strength; people said of him that he had small but +comfortable private means; he was remarkable among all men for his +good looks; and he lacked nothing necessary to make life happy. +But he appeared to be always in a hurry to leave it. A hundred men +in Mayo had sworn that he should die. This was told to him very +freely; but he had only laughed at it, and was generally called "the +woodcock," as he rode about among his daily employments. The ordinary +life of a woodcock calls upon him to be shot at; but yet a woodcock +is not an easy bird to hit. + +Then there was his devotion to an idea! I will not call it loyalty, +lest I should seem to praise the man too vehemently for that which +probably was simply an instinct in his own heart. He lived upon his +hatred of a Landleaguer. It was probably some conviction on his own +part that the original Landleaguer had come from New York, which +produced this feeling. And it must be acknowledged of him with +reference to the lower order of Landleaguers that he did admit in +his mind a possibility that they were curable. There were to him +Landleaguers and Landleaguers; but the Landleaguer whom Captain Yorke +Clayton hated with the bitterest prejudice was the Landleaguing +Member of Parliament. Some of his worst enemies believed that he +might be detected in breaking out into illegal expressions of hatred, +or, more unfortunately still, into illegal acts, and that so the +Government might be compelled to dismiss him with disgrace. Others, +his warmest friends, hoped that by such a process his life might +be eventually saved. But for the present Captain Yorke Clayton had +saved both his character and his neck, to the great surprise both of +those who loved him and the reverse. He had lately been appointed +Joint Resident Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon, and had +removed his residence to Galway. To him also had Pat Carroll become +intimately known, and to him the floods of Ballintubber were a +peculiar case. It was one great desire of his heart to have Pat +Carroll incarcerated as a penal felon. He did not very often express +himself on this subject, but Pat Carroll knew well the nature of his +wishes. "A thundering bloody rapparee" was the name by which Carroll +delighted to call him. But Carroll was one who exercised none of that +control over his own tongue for which Captain Clayton was said to +be so conspicuous. During the last month Mr. Jones had seen Captain +Clayton more than once at Galway, and on one occasion he had come +down to Morony Castle attended by a man who was supposed to travel +as his servant, but who was known by all the world to be a policeman +in disguise. For Captain Clayton had been strictly forbidden by the +authorities of the Castle to travel without such a companion; and an +attempt had already been made to have him dismissed for disobedience +to these orders. + +Captain Clayton, when he had been at Morony Castle, had treated Flory +with great kindness, declining to cross-question him at all. "I would +endeavour to save him from these gentlemen," he had said to his +father. "I don't quite think that we understand what is going on +within his mind;" but this had been before the conversation last +mentioned which had taken place between Flory and his sisters. Now he +was to come again, and make further inquiry, and meet half-a-dozen +policemen from the neighbourhood. But Florian had as yet but half +confessed, and almost hoped that Captain Clayton would appear among +them as his friend. + +The girls, to tell the truth, had been much taken with the appearance +of the gallant Captain. It seems to be almost a shame to tell the +truth of what modest girls may think of any man whom they may chance +to meet. They would never tell it to themselves. Even two sisters +can hardly do so. And when the man comes before them, just for once +or twice, to be judged and thought of at a single interview, the +girl,--such as were these girls,--can hardly tell it to herself. "He +is manly and brave, and has so much to say for himself, and is so +good-looking, that what can any girl who has her heart at her own +disposal wish for better than such a lover?" It would have been quite +impossible that either of Mr. Jones's daughters could ever have so +whispered to herself. But was it not natural that such an unwhispered +thought should have passed through the mind of Ada--Ada the +beautiful, Ada the sentimental, Ada the young lady who certainly was +in want of a lover? "He is very nice, certainly," said Ada, allowing +herself not another word, to her sister. + +"But what is the good of a man being nice when he is a 'woodcock'?" +said Edith. "Everybody says that his destiny is before him. I daresay +he is nice, but what's the use?" + +"You don't mean to say that you think he'll be killed?" said Ada. + +"I do, and I mean to say that if I were a man, it might be that I +should have to be killed too. A man has to run his chance, and if he +falls into such a position as this, of course he must put up with it. +I don't mean to say that I don't like him the better for it." + +"Why does he not go away and leave the horrid country?" said Ada. + +"Because the more brave men that go away the more horrid the country +will become. And then I think a man is always the happier if he has +something really to think of. Such a one as Captain Clayton does not +want to go to balls." + +"I suppose not," said Ada plaintively, as though she thought it a +thousand pities that Captain Clayton should not want to go to balls. + +"Such a man," said Edith with an air of firmness, "finds a woman when +he wants to marry, who will suit him,--and then he marries her. There +is no necessity for any balls there." + +"Then he ought not to dance at all. Such a man ought not to want to +get married." + +"Not if he means to be killed out of hand," said Edith. "The possible +young woman must be left to judge of that. I shouldn't like to marry +a 'woodcock,' however much I might admire him. I do think it well +that there should be such men as Captain Clayton. I feel that if I +were a man I ought to wish to be one myself. But I am sure I should +feel that I oughtn't to ask a girl to share the world with me. Fancy +marrying a man merely to be left a sorrowing widow! It is part of the +horror of his business that he shouldn't even venture to dance, lest +some poor female should be captivated." + +"A girl might be captivated without dancing," said Ada. + +"I don't mean to say that such a man should absolutely tie himself up +in a bag so that no poor female should run any possible danger, but +he oughtn't to encourage such risks. To tell the truth, I don't think +that Captain Clayton does." + +Ada that afternoon thought a great deal of the position,--not, of +course, in reference to herself. Was it proper that such a man as +Captain Yorke Clayton should abstain from falling in love with +a girl, or even from allowing a girl to fall in love with him +because he was in danger of being shot? It was certainly a difficult +question. Was any man to be debarred from the pleasures, and +incidents, and natural excitements of a man's life because of the +possible dangers which might possibly happen to a possible young +woman? Looking at the matter all round, Ada did not see that the man +could help himself unless he were to be shut up in a bag, as Edith +had said, so as to prevent a young woman from falling in love with +him. Although he were a "woodcock," the thing must go on in its own +natural course. If misfortunes did come, why misfortunes must come. +It was the same thing with any soldier or any sailor. If she were to +fall in love with some officer,--for the supposition in its vague, +undefined form was admissible even to poor Ada's imagination,--she +would not be debarred from marrying him merely by the fact that he +would have to go to the wars. Of course, as regarded Captain Yorke +Clayton, this was merely a speculation. He might be engaged to some +other girl already for anything she knew;--"or cared," as she told +herself with more or less of truth. + +Captain Yorke Clayton came down by the boat that afternoon to Morony +Castle, Frank Jones having started for London two or three days +before. He reached the pier at about four o'clock, accompanied by his +faithful follower, and was there met by Mr. Jones himself, who walked +up with him to the Castle. There was a short cut across the fields to +Mr. Jones's house; and as they left the road about a furlong up from +the pier, they were surrounded by the waters which Mr. Carroll had +let in upon the Ballintubber meadows. + +"You won't mind my fellow coming with us?" said Captain Clayton. + +"'Your fellow,' as you call him, is more than welcome. I came across +this way because some of Pat Carroll's friends may be out on the high +road. If they fire half-a-dozen rifles from behind a wall at your +luggage, they won't do so much harm as if they shot at yourself." + +"There won't be any shooting here," said Clayton, shaking his head, +"he's not had time to get a stranger down and pay him. They always +require two or three days' notice for that work; and there isn't a +wall about the place. You're not giving Mr. Pat Carroll a fair chance +for his friends. I could dodge them always with perfect security by +myself, only the beaks up in Dublin have given a strict order. As +they pay for the pistols, I am bound to carry them." Then he lifted +up the lappets of his coat and waistcoat, and showed half-a-dozen +pistols stuck into his girdle. "Our friend there has got as many +more." + +"I have a couple myself," said Mr. Jones, indicating their +whereabouts, and showing that he was not as yet so used to carry +them, as to have provided himself with a belt for the purpose. + +Then they walked on, chatting indifferently about the Landleaguers +till they reached the Castle. "The people are not cowards," Captain +Clayton had said. "I believe that men do become cowards when they are +tempted to become liars by getting into Parliament. An Irishman of a +certain class does at any rate. But those fellows, if they were put +into a regiment, would fight like grim death. That man there," and he +pointed back over his shoulder, "is as brave a fellow as I ever came +across in my life. I don't think that he would hesitate a moment in +attacking three or four men armed with revolvers. And gold wouldn't +induce him to be false to me. But if Mr. Pat Carroll had by chance +got hold of him before he had come my way, he might have been the +very man to shoot you or me from behind a wall, with a bit of black +crape on his face. What's the reason of it? I love that man as my +brother, but I might have hated him as the very devil." + +"The force of example, sir," said Mr. Jones, as he led the way into +the quiet, modern residence which rejoiced to call itself Morony +Castle. + +"What are we to do about this boy?" said Mr. Jones, when they had +seated themselves in his study. + +"Are you friends with him yet?" + +"No; I declared to his sisters that I would not sit down to table +with him till he had told the truth, and I have kept my word." + +"How does he bear it?" + +"But badly," said the father. "It has told upon him very much. He +complains to his sister that I have utterly cast him off." + +"It is the oddest case I ever heard of in my life," said the Captain. +"I suppose his change of religion has been at the bottom of it--that +and the machinations of the priest down at Headford. When we +recollect that there must have been quite a crowd of people looking +on all the while, it does seem odd that we should be unable to get a +single witness to tell the truth, knowing, as we do, that this lad +was there. If he would only name two who were certainly there, and +who certainly saw the deed done, that would be enough; for the people +are not, in themselves, hostile to you." + +"You know he has owned that he did see it," said the father. "And +he has acknowledged that Pat Carroll was there, though he has never +mentioned the man's name. His sisters have told him that I will not +be satisfied unless I hear him declare that Pat Carroll was one of +the offenders." + +"Let us have him in, sir, if you don't mind." + +"Just as he is?" + +"I should say so. Or let the young ladies come with him, if you do +not object. Which of them has been most with him since your edict +went forth?" + +Mr. Jones declared that Edith had been most with her brother, and the +order went forth that Edith and Florian should be summoned into the +apartment. + +Ada and Edith were together when the order came. Edith was to go down +and present herself before Captain Yorke Clayton. + +"Mercy me!" said Edith jumping up, "I hope they won't shoot at him +through the window whilst I am there." + +"Oh! Edith, how can you think of such a thing?" + +"It would be very unpleasant if some assassin were to take my back +hair for Captain Clayton's brown head. They're very nearly the same +colour." + +And Edith prepared to leave the room, hearing her brother's slow, +heavy step as he passed before the door. + +"Won't you go first and brush your hair?" said Ada; "and do put a +ribbon on your neck." + +"I'll do nothing of the kind. It would be a sheer manoeuvring to +entrap a man who ought to be safeguarded against all such female +wiles. Besides, I don't believe a bit that Captain Clayton would know +the difference between a young lady with or without a ribbon. What +evidence I can give;--that's the question." + +So saying, Edith descended to her father's room. + +She found Florian with his hand upon the door, and they both +entered the room. I have said that Captain Clayton was a remarkably +good-looking man, and I ought, perhaps, to give some explanation of +the term when first introducing him to the reader in the presence of +a lady who is intended to become the heroine of this story; but it +must suffice that I have declared him to be good-looking, and that +I add to that the fact that though he was thirty-five years old, he +did not look to be more than five-and-twenty. The two peculiarities +of his face were very light blue eyes, and very long moustachios. +"Florian and I have come to see the latter-day hero," said Edith +laughing as she entered the room; "though I know that you are so done +up with pistols that no peaceable young woman ought to come near +you." To this he made some sportive reply, and then before a minute +had passed over their heads he had taken Florian by the hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE. + + +"Well, my boy, how are you?" asked the Captain. + +"There's nothing particularly the matter with me," said Florian. + +"I suppose all this is troubling you?" + +"All what? You mean about Pat Carroll. Of course it's troubling me. +Nobody will believe a word that I say." + +"But they do believe you now that you are telling the truth," said +Edith. + +"Do you hold your tongue, miss," said the boy, "I don't see why you +should have so much to say about it." + +"She has been your best friend from first to last," said the father. +"If it had not been for Edith I would have turned you out of the +house. It is terrible to me to think that a boy of mine should refuse +to say what he saw in such a matter as this. You are putting yourself +on a par with the enemies of your own family. You do not know it, but +you are nearly sending me to the grave." Then there was a long pause, +during which the Captain kept his eyes fixed on the boy's face. And +Edith had moved round so as to seat herself close to her brother, and +had taken his hand in hers. + +"Don't, Edith," said the boy. "Leave me alone, I don't want to be +meddled with," and he withdrew his hand. + +"Oh, Florian!" said the girl, "try to tell the truth and be a +gentleman, whether it be for you or against you, tell the truth." + +"I'm not to mind a bit about my religion then?" + +"Does your religion bid you tell a lie?" asked the Captain. + +"I'm not telling a lie, I am just holding my tongue. A Catholic has a +right to hold his tongue when he is among Protestants." + +"Even to the ruin of his father," suggested the Captain. + +"I don't want to ruin papa. He said he was going to turn--to turn me +out of the house. I would go and drown myself in the lake if he did, +or in one of those big dykes which divide the meadows. I am miserable +among them--quite miserable. Edith never gives me any peace, day +or night. She comes and sits in my bedroom, begging me to tell the +truth. It ought to be enough when I say that I will hold my tongue. +Papa can turn me out to drown myself if he pleases. Edith goes on +cheating the words out of me till I don't know what I'm saying. If +I am to be brought up to tell it all before the judge I shan't know +what I have said before, or what I have not said." + +"_Nil conscire tibi_," said the father, who had already taught his +son so much Latin as that. + +"But you did see the sluice gates torn down, and thrown back into the +water?" said the Captain. Here Florian shook his head mournfully. "I +understood you to acknowledge that you had seen the gates destroyed." + +"I never said as much to you," said the boy. + +"But you did to me," said Edith. + +"If a fellow says a word to you, it is repeated to all the world. +I never would have you joined with me in a secret. You are a great +deal worse than--, well, those fellows that you abuse me about. They +never tell anything that they have heard among themselves, to people +outside." + +"Pat Carroll, you mean?" asked the Captain. + +"He isn't the only one. There's more in it than him." + +"Oh yes; we know that. There were many others in it besides Pat +Carroll, when they let the waters in through the dyke gates. There +must have been twenty there." + +"No, there weren't--not that I saw." + +"A dozen, perhaps?" + +"You are laying traps for me, but I am not going to be caught. I +was there, and I did see it. You may make the most of that. Though +you have me up before the judge, I needn't say a word more than I +please." + +"He is more obstinate," said his father, "than any rebel that you can +meet." + +"But so mistaken," said the Captain, "because he can refuse to answer +us who are treating him with such tenderness and affection, who did +not even want to wound his feelings more than we can help, he thinks +that he can hold his peace in the same fashion, before the entire +court; and that he can do so, although he has owned that he knows the +men." + +"I have never owned that," said the boy. + +"Not to your sister?" + +"I only owned to one." + +"Pat Carroll?" said the Captain; but giving the name merely as a hint +to help the boy's memory. + +But the boy was too sharp for him. "That's another of your traps, +Captain Clayton. If she says Pat Carroll, I can say it was Tim Brady. +A boy's word will be as good as a girl's, I suppose." + +"A lie can never be as good as the truth, whether from a boy or +a girl," said the Captain, endeavouring to look him through and +through. The boy quavered beneath his gaze, and the Captain went on +with his questioning. "I suppose we may take it for granted that Pat +Carroll was there, and that you did see him?" + +"You may take anything for granted." + +"You would have to swear before a jury that Pat Carroll was there." + +Then there was another pause, but at last, with a long sigh, the boy +spoke out. "He was there, and I did see him." Then he burst into +tears and threw himself down on the ground, and hid his face in his +sister's lap. + +"Dear Flory," said she. "My own brother! I knew that you would +struggle to be a gentleman at last." + +"It will all come right with him now," said the Captain. But the +father frowned and shook his head. "How many were there with him?" +asked the Captain, intent on the main business. + +But Florian feeling that it would be as good to be hung for a sheep +as a lamb, and feeling also that he had at last cast aside all the +bonds which bound him to Pat Carroll and Father Brosnan,--feeling +that there was nothing left for him but the internecine enmity of his +old friends,--got up from the floor, and wiping away the tears from +his face, spoke out boldly the whole truth as he knew it. "It was +dark, and I didn't see them all. There were only six whom I could +see, though I know that there were many others round about among the +meadows whose names I had heard, though I do not remember them." + +"We will confine ourselves to the six whom you did see," said the +Captain, preparing to listen quietly to the boy's story. The father +took out a pen and ink, but soon pushed it on one side. Edith again +got hold of the boy's hand, and held it within her own till his story +was finished. + +"I didn't see the six all at once. The first whom I did see was Pat +Carroll, and his brother Terry, and Tim Brady. They were up there +just where the lane has turned down from the steamboat road. I had +gone down to the big sluice gates before anyone had noticed me, and +there were Tim and Terry smashing away at the gate hinges, up to +their middles in mud; and Pat Carroll was handing them down a big +crowbar. Terry, when he saw me, fell flat forward into the water, and +had to be picked out again." + +"Did they say anything to threaten you?" said the Captain. + +"Tim Brady said that I was all right, and was a great friend of +Father Brosnan's. Then they whispered together, and I heard Terry say +that he wouldn't go against anything that Father Brosnan might say. +Then Pat Carroll came and stood over me with the crowbar." + +"Did he threaten you?" + +"He didn't do it in a threatening way; but only asked me to be hand +and glove with them." + +"Had you been intimate with this man before? asked the Captain. + +"He had been very intimate with him," said the father. "All this +calamity has come of his intimacy. He has changed his religion and +ceased to be a gentleman." Here the boy again sobbed, but Edith still +squeezed his hand. + +"What did you say?" asked the Captain, "when he bade you be hand and +glove with him?" + +"I said that I would. Then they made the sign of a cross, and swore +me on it. And they swore me specially to say nothing up here. And +they swore me again when they met down at Tim Rafferty's house in +Headford. I intended to keep my word, and I think that you ought to +have let me keep it." + +"But there were three others whom you saw," urged the Captain. + +"There was Con Heffernan, and a man they call Lax, who had come from +Lough Conn beyond Castlebar." + +"He's not a man of this county." + +"I think not, though I had seen him here before. He has had something +to do with the Landleaguers up about Foxford." + +"I think I have a speaking acquaintance with that Mr. Lax," said the +Captain; and everybody could perceive that the tone of his voice was +altered as he spoke about Mr. Lax. "And who was the sixth?" + +"There was that old man, papa, whom they call Terry. But he wasn't +doing anything in particular." + +"He is the greatest blackguard on the estate," said the father. + +"But we will confine ourselves to the five," said the Captain, "not +forgetting Mr. Lax. What was Mr. Lax doing?" + +"I can't remember what they were all doing. How is a fellow to +remember them all? There were those two at the hinges, and Pat +Carroll was there pulling his brother out of the water." + +"Terry was Pat's brother?" + +"They are brothers," said the father. + +"And then they went on, and took no notice of me for a time. Lax came +up and scowled at me, and told me that if a word was said I should +never draw the breath of life again." + +"But he didn't do anything?" asked the Captain. + +"I don't remember. How is a fellow to remember after so many months?" + +"Why didn't you tell the truth at the time?" said his father angrily. +Another tear stood in each of the poor boy's eyes, and Edith got +closer to him, and threw her left arm round his waist. "You are +spoiling him by being so soft with him," said the father. + +"He is doing the best he can, Mr. Jones," said the Captain. "Don't be +harsh with him now. Well, Florian, what came next?" + +"They bade me go away, and again made me swear another oath. It was +nearly dark then, and it was quite dark night before I got up to the +house. But before I went I saw that there were many others standing +idle about the place." + +"Do you remember any particularly?" + +"Well, there was another of the Carrolls, a nephew of Pat's; and +there was Tony Brady, Tim's brother. I can't at this moment say who +else there were." + +"It would be as well to have as many as we do know, not to prosecute +them, but to ask them for their evidence. Three or four men will +often contradict each other, and then they will break down. I think +we have enough now. But you must remember that I have only questioned +you as your friend and as your father's friend. I have not taken down +a word that you have said. My object has been simply that we might +all act together to punish a vindictive and infamous outrage. Pat +Carroll has had nothing to get by flooding your father's meadows. But +because your father has not chosen to forgive him his rent, he has +thought fit to do him all the injury in his power. I fear that there +are others in it, who are more to blame even than Pat Carroll. But if +we can get hold of this gentleman, and also of his friend Mr. Lax, we +shall have done much." + +Then the meeting was over for that evening, and Captain Clayton +retired to his own room. "You needn't mind following me here, +Hunter," he said to the policeman. + +"I wouldn't be too sure, sir." + +"You may be sure in Mr. Jones's house. And no one in the country has +any idea of committing murder on his own behalf. I am safe till they +would have had time to send for someone out of another county. But we +shall be back in Galway to-morrow." So saying, Hunter left his master +alone, and the Captain sat down to write an account of the scene +which had just taken place. In this he gave every name as the boy had +given it, with accuracy; but, nevertheless, he added to his little +story the fact that it had been related from memory. + +Edith took her brother away into her own room, and there covered him +with kisses. "Why is papa so hard to me?" said the boy sobbing. Then +she explained to him as gently as she could, the grounds which had +existed for hardness on his father's part. She bade him consider how +terrible a thing it must be to a father, to have to think that his +own son should have turned against him, while the country was in such +a condition. + +"It is not the flood, Flory, nor the loss of the meadows being under +water. It is not the injury that Pat Carroll has done him, or any of +the men whom Pat Carroll has talked into enmity. That, indeed, is +very dreadful. To these very men he has been their best friend for +many years. And now they would help in his ruin, and turn us and him +out as beggars upon the world, because he has not chosen to obey the +unjust bidding of one of them." Here the boy hung down his head, and +turned away his face. "But it is not that. All that has had no effect +in nigh breaking his heart. Money is but money. No one can bear its +loss better than our papa. Though he might have to starve, he would +starve like a gallant man; and we could starve with him. You and I, +Frank and Ada, would bear all that he could bear. But--" The boy +looked up into her face again, as though imploring her to spare him, +but she went on with her speech. "But that a son of his should cease +to feel as a gentleman should feel,--and a Christian! It is that +which moves him to be hard, as you call it. But he is not hard; he is +a man, and he cannot kiss you as a woman does;--as your sister does;" +here she almost smothered the boy with kisses, "but, Florian, it is +not too late; it is never too late while you still see that truth is +godlike, and that a lie is of all things the most devilish. It is +never too late while you feel what duty calls you to do." And again +she covered him with kisses, and then allowed him to go away to his +own room. + +When Edith was alone she sat back in an easy-chair, with her feet on +the fender before the turf fire, and began to consider how things +might go with her poor brother. "If they should get hold of him, and +murder him!" she said to herself. The thought was very dreadful, but +she comforted herself with reflecting that he might be sent out of +the country, before the knowledge of what he had done should get +abroad. And then by means of that current of thought, which always +runs where it listeth, independent of the will of the thinker, her +ideas flew off to Captain Yorke Clayton. In her imagination she had +put down Captain Clayton as a possible lover for her sister. She +possessed a girlish intuition into her sister's mind which made her +feel that her sister would not dislike such an arrangement. Ada was +the beauty of the family, and was supposed, at any rate by Edith, to +be the most susceptible of the two sisters. She had always called +herself a violent old maid, who was determined to have her own way. +But no one had ever heard Ada speak of herself as an old maid. And +then as to that danger of which Ada had spoken, Edith knew that such +perils must be overlooked altogether among the incidents of life. If +it came to her would she refuse her hand to a man because his courage +led him into special perils? She knew that it would only be an +additional ground for her love. And of Ada, in that respect, she +judged as she did of herself. She knew that Ada thought much of manly +beauty, and her eyes told her that Captain Yorke Clayton was very +handsome. "If he were as black as Beelzebub," she said to herself, "I +should like him the better for it; but Ada would prefer a man to be +beautiful." She went to work to make a match in her own mind between +Ada and Captain Clayton; but the more she made it, the more she +continued to think--on her own behalf--that of all men she had +ever seen, this man had pleased her fancy most. "But Captain Yorke +Clayton, you were never more mistaken in all your life if you think +that Edith Jones has taken a fancy to your handsome physiognomy." +This she said in almost audible words. "But nevertheless, I do think +that you are a hero. For myself, I don't want a hero--and if I did, I +shouldn't get one." But the arrangements made in the house that night +were those which are customary for a favoured young man's reception +when such matters are left to the favouring young lady in the family. + +When Mr. Jones found himself alone in his study, he began to think of +the confession which Florian had made. It had gradually come to pass +that he had been sure of the truth for some months, though he had +never before heard it declared by his son's lips. Since the day on +which he had called on Mr. Blake at Carnlough, he had been quite sure +that Edith was right. He was almost sure before. Now the truth was +declared exactly as she had surmised it. And what should he do with +the boy? He could not merely put him forward as a witness in this +case. Some reason must be given, why the truth had not been told +during the last six months. As he thought of this, he felt that the +boy had disgraced himself for ever. + +And he thought of the boy's danger. He had rashly promised that the +boy should be sent to England out of harm's way; but he now told +himself that the means of doing so were further from him than ever; +and that he was daily becoming a poorer, if not a ruined man. Of the +rents then due to him, not a penny would, he feared, be paid. + + +END OF VOL. I. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. II. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + XVII. RACHEL IS FREE. + XVIII. FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST. + XIX. FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT. + XX. BOYCOTTING. + XXI. LAX, THE MURDERER. + XXII. MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED. + XXIII. TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED. + XXIV. "FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS." + XXV. THE GALWAY BALL. + XXVI. LORD CASTLEWELL. + XXVII. HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED. + XXVIII. WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + XXIX. WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + XXX. THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN. + XXXI. THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE. + XXXII. MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RACHEL IS FREE. + + +Rachel O'Mahony found her position to be very embarrassing. She had +thought it out to the best of her ability, and had told herself that +it would be better for her not to acquaint her father with all the +circumstances. Had he been told the nature of the offer made to her +by Madame Socani, he would at once, she thought, have taken her away +from the theatre. She would have to abandon the theatre, at which she +was earning her money. This would have been very bad. There would +have been some lawsuit with Mahomet Moss, as to which she could not +have defended herself by putting Madame Socani into the witness-box. +There had been no third person present, and any possible amount of +lying would have been very easy to Madame Socani. Rachel was quick +enough, and could see at a moment all that lying could do against +her. "But he tried to kiss me," she would have had to say. Then she +could see how, with a shrug of his shoulders, her enemy would have +ruined her. From such a contest a man like Moss comes forth without +even a scratch that can injure him. But Rachel felt that she would +have been utterly annihilated. She must tell someone, but that +someone must be he whom she intended to marry. + +And she, too, had not been quite prudent in all respects since she +had come to London. It had been whispered to her that a singer of +such pretensions should be brought to the theatre and carried home in +her private brougham. Therefore, she had spent more money than was +compatible with the assistance given to her father, and was something +in debt. It was indispensable to her that she should go on with her +engagement. + +But she told her father that it was absolutely necessary that he +should go with her to the theatre every night that she sang. It +was but three nights a week, and the hours of her work were only +from eight till ten. He had, however, unfortunately made another +engagement for himself. There was a debating society, dramatic in +its manner of carrying on its business, at which three or four Irish +Home-Rulers were accustomed to argue among themselves, before a mixed +audience of Englishmen and Irishmen, as to the futility of English +government. Here Mr. O'Mahony was popular among the debaters, and was +paid for his services. Not many knew that the eloquent Irishman was +the father of the singer who, in truth, was achieving for herself a +grand reputation. But such was the case. A stop had been put upon his +lecturings at Galway; but no policeman in London seemed to be aware +that the Galway incendiary and the London debater were one and the +same person. So there came to him an opening for picking up a few +pounds towards their joint expenses. + +"But why should you want me now, more than for the last fortnight?" +he said, contending for the use of his own time. + +"Mr. Moss is disagreeable." + +"Has he done anything new?" he asked. + +"He is always doing things new--that is more beastly--one day than +the day before." + +"He doesn't come and sing with you now at your own rooms." + +"No; I have got through that, thank Heaven! To tell the truth, +father, I am not in the least afraid of Mr. Moss. Before he should +touch me you may be sure that he would have the worst of it." + +"Of course I will do what you want," said her father; "but only if it +be not necessary--" + +"It is necessary. Of course, I do not wish to be dragged up to the +police-court for sticking Mr. Moss in the abdomen. That's what it +would come to if we were left together." + +"Do you mean to say that you require my presence to prevent anything +so disagreeable as that?" + +"If they know, or if he knows that you're in the house, there will +be nothing of the kind. Can't you arrange your debates for the other +nights?" + +So it was, in fact, settled. Everybody about the theatre seemed to be +aware that something was wrong. Mr. O'Mahony had not come back to be +constantly on the watch, like a Newfoundland dog, without an object. +To himself it was an intolerable nuisance. He suspected his daughter +not at all. He was so far from suspecting her that he imagined her +to be safe, though half-a-dozen Mosses should surround her. He could +only stand idle behind the scenes, or sit in her dressing-room and +yawn. But still he did it, and asked no further questions. + +Then while all this was going on, the polite old gentleman from +Covent Garden had called at her lodgings in Cecil Street, and had +found both her and her father at home. + +"Oh, M. Le Gros," she had said, "I am so glad that you should meet my +father here." + +Then there was a multiplicity of bowing, and M. Le Gros had declared +that he had never had so much honour done him as in being introduced +to him who was about to become the father of the undoubted prima +donna of the day. At all which Mr. O'Mahony made many bows, and +Rachel laughed very heartily; but in the end an engagement was +proposed and thankfully accepted, which was to commence in the +next October. It did not take two minutes in the making. It was an +engagement only for a couple of months; but, as M. Le Gros observed, +such an engagement would undoubtedly lead to one for all time. If +Covent Garden could only secure the permanent aid of Mademoiselle +O'Mahony, Covent Garden's fortune would be as good as made. M. Le +Gros had quite felt the dishonesty of even suggesting a longer +engagement to mademoiselle. The rate of payment would be very much +higher, ve-ry, ve-ry, ve-ry much higher when mademoiselle's voice +should have once been heard on the boards of a true operatic theatre. +M. Le Gros had done himself the honour of being present on one or +two occasions at the Charing Cross little playhouse. He did believe +himself to have some small critical judgment in musical matters. +He thought he might venture--he really did think that he might +venture--to bespeak a brilliant career for mademoiselle. Then, with +a great many more bowings and scrapings, M. Le Gros, having done his +business, took his leave. + +"I like him better than Mahomet M.," said Rachel to her father. + +"They're both very civil," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"One has all the courtesy of hell! With the other it is--well, not +quite the manners of heaven. I can imagine something brighter even +than M. Le Gros; but it does very well for earth. M. Le Gros knows +that a young woman should be treated as a human being; and even his +blandishments are pleasant enough, as they are to take the shape of +golden guineas. As for me, M. Le Gros is quite good enough for my +idea of this world." + +But on the next day, a misfortune took place which well-nigh +obliterated all the joy which M. Le Gros had produced. It was not +singing night, and Mr. O'Mahony had just taken up his hat to go away +to his debating society, when Frank Jones was announced. "Frank, what +on earth did you come here for?" These were the words with which the +lover was greeted. He had endeavoured to take the girl in his arms, +but she had receded from his embrace. + +"Why, Rachel!" he exclaimed. + +"I told you not to come. I told you especially that you were not to +come." + +"Why did you tell him so?" said Mr. O'Mahony; "and why has he come?" + +"Not one kiss, Rachel?" said the lover. + +"Oh, kisses, yes! If I didn't kiss you father would think that we +had already quarrelled. But it may be that we must do so. When I had +told you everything, that you should rush up to London to look after +me--as though you suspected me!" + +"What is there to suspect?" said the father. + +"Nothing--I suspect nothing," said Frank. "But there were things +which made it impossible that I should not wish to be nearer. She was +insulted." + +"Who insulted her?" + +"The devil in the shape of a woman," said Rachel. "He takes that +shape as often as the other." + +"Rachel should not be left in such hands," said Frank. + +"My dear Mr. Jones, you have no right to say in what hands I shall be +left. My father and I have got to look after that between us. I have +told you over and over again what are my intentions in the matter. +They have been made in utter disregard of myself, and with the most +perfect confidence in you. You tell me that you cannot marry me." + +"Not quite at present." + +"Very well; I have been satisfied to remain as engaged to you; but I +am not satisfied to be subject to your interference." + +"Interference!" he said. + +"Well now; I'm going." This came from Mr. O'Mahony. "I've got to see +if I can earn a few shillings, and tell a few truths. I will leave +you to fight out your battles among you." + +"There will be no battles," said Frank. + +"I hope not, but I feel that I can do no good. I have such absolute +trust in Rachel, that you may be quite sure that I shall back her up +in whatever she says. Now, good-night," and with that he took his +leave. + +"I am glad he has gone, because he would do us no good," said Rachel. +"You were angry with me just now because I spoke of interference. I +meant it. I will not admit of any interference from you." Then she +sat with her two hands on her knees, looking him full in the face. +"I love you with all my heart, and am ready to tell everyone that +I am to become your wife. They have a joke about it in the theatre +calling me Mrs. Jones; and because nobody believes what anybody says +they think you're a myth. I suppose it is queer that a singing girl +should marry Mr. Jones. I'm to go in the autumn to Covent Garden, +and get ever so much more money, and I shall still talk about Mr. +Jones,--unless you and I agree to break it off." + +"Certainly not that," said he. + +"But it is by no means certain. Will you go back to Ireland to-morrow +morning, and undertake not to see me again, until you come prepared +to marry me? If not we must break it off." + +"I can hardly do that" + +"Then," said she, rising from her chair, "it is broken off, and I +will not call myself Mrs. Jones any more." He too rose from his +chair, and frowned at her by way of an answer. "I have one other +suggestion to make," she said. "I shall receive next October what +will be quite sufficient for both of us, and for father too. Come and +bear the rough and the smooth together with us." + +"And live upon you?" + +"I should live upon you without scruple if you had got it. And then +I shall bear your interference without a word of complaint. Nay, I +shall thank you for it. I shall come to you for advice in everything. +What you say will be my law. You shall knock down all the Mosses for +me;--or lock them up, which would be so much better. But you must be +my husband." + +"Not yet. You should not ask me as yet. Think of my father's +position. Let this one sad year pass by." + +"Two--three, if there are to be two or three sad years! I will wait +for you till you are as grey as old Peter, and I have not a note left +in my throat. I will stick to you like beeswax. But I will not have +you here hanging about me. Do you think that it would not be pleasant +for me to have a lover to congratulate me every day on my little +triumphs? Do you think that I should not be proud to be seen leaning +always on your arm, with the consciousness that Mr. Moss would be +annihilated at his very first word? But when a year had passed by, +where should I be? No, Frank, it will not do. If you were at Morony +Castle things would go on very well. As you choose to assume to +yourself the right of interference, we must part." + +"When you tell me of such a proposition as that made to you by the +woman, am I to say nothing?" + +"Not a word;--unless it be by letter from Morony Castle, and then +only to me. I will not have you here meddling with my affairs. I +told you, though I didn't tell my father, because I would tell you +everything." + +"And I am to leave you,--without another word?" + +"Yes, without another word. And remember that from this moment I am +free to marry any man that may come the way." + +"Rachel!" + +"I am free to marry any man that may come the way. I don't say I +shall do so. It may take me some little time to forget you. But I am +free. When that has been understood between us I am sure you will +interfere no longer; you will not be so unkind as to force upon +me the necessity of telling the truth to all the people about the +theatre. Let us understand each other." + +"I understand," said he, with the air of a much injured man. + +"I quite know your position. Trusting to your own prospects, you +cannot marry me at present, and you do not choose to accept such +income as I can give you. I respect and even approve your motives. +I am living a life before the public as a singer, in which it is +necessary that I should encounter certain dangers. I can do so +without fear, if I be left alone. You won't leave me alone. You won't +marry me, and yet you won't leave me to my own devices;--therefore, +we had better part." He took her by the hand sorrowfully, as though +preparing to embrace her. "No, Mr. Jones," she said, "that is all +done. I kissed you when my father was here, because I was then +engaged to be your wife. That is over now, and I can only say +good-bye." So saying, she retired, leaving him standing there in her +sitting-room. + +He remained for awhile meditating on his position, till he began to +think that it would be useless for him to remain there. She certainly +would not come down; and he, though he were to wait for her father's +return, would get no more favourable reply from him. He, as he had +promised, would certainly "back up" his daughter in all that she had +said. As he went down out of the room with that feeling of insult +which clings to a man when he has been forced to quit a house without +any farewell ceremony, he certainly did feel that he had been +ill-used. But he could not but acknowledge that she was justified. +There was a certain imperiousness about her which wounded his +feelings as a man. He ought to have been allowed to be dominant. But +then he knew that he could not live upon her income. His father would +not speak to him had he gone back to Morony Castle expressing his +intention of doing so. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST. + + +To tell the truth, Rachel had a thorough good cry before she went to +bed that night. Though there was something hard, fixed, imperious, +almost manlike about her manner, still she was as soft-hearted as +any other girl. We may best describe her by saying that she was an +American and an actress. It was impossible to doubt her. No one +who had once known her could believe her to be other than she had +declared herself. She was loyal, affectionate, and dutiful. But there +was missing to her a feminine weakness, which of all her gifts is +the most valuable to an English woman, till she makes the mistake of +bartering it away for women's rights. We can imagine, however, that +the stanchest woman's-right lady should cry for her lost lover. And +Rachel O'Mahony cried bitterly for hers. "It had to be done," she +said, jumping up at last in her bedroom, and clenching her fist as +she walked about the chamber. "It had to be done. A girl situated as +I am cannot look too close after herself. Father is more like my son +than my father; he has no idea that I want anything done for me. Nor +do I want much," she said, as she went on rapidly taking the short +course of the room. "No one could say a word about me till I brought +my lover forward and showed him to the theatre. I think they did +believe him to be a myth; but a myth in that direction does no harm +till he appears in the flesh. They think that I have made an empty +boast about my Mr. Jones. The ugliest girl that ever came out may do +the same thing, and nobody ever thinks anything of it. A lover in the +clouds never does any harm, and now my lover is in the clouds. I know +that he has gone, and will never come to earth again. How much better +I love him because he would not take my offer. Then there would have +been a little contempt. And how could I expect him to yield to me in +everything, with this brute Moss insulting me at every turn? I do not +think he had the courage to send me that message, but still! What +could I do but tell Frank? And then what could Frank do but come? I +would have come, let any girl have bade me to stay away!" Here she +had imagined herself to be the lover, and not the girl who was loved. +"But it only shows that we are better apart. He cannot marry me, and +I cannot marry him. The Squire is at his wits' end with grief." By +"the Squire" Mr. Jones had been signified. "It is better as it is. +Father and the Squire ought never to have been brought together,--nor +ought I and Frank. I suppose I must tell them all at the theatre that +Mr. Jones belongs to me no longer. Only if I did so, they would think +that I was holding out a lure to Mahomet M. There's papa. I'll go +down and tell him all that need be told about it." So saying she +ascended to their sitting-room. + +"Well, my dear, what did you do with Frank?" + +"He has gone back to Ireland under the name of Mr. Jones." + +"Then there was a quarrel?" + +"Oh dear yes! there was safe to be a quarrel." + +"Does it suit your book upon the whole?" + +"Not in the least. You see before you the most wretched heroine that +ever appeared on the boards of any theatre. You may laugh, but it's +true. I don't know what I've got to say to Mr. Moss now. If he comes +forward in a proper manner, and can prove to me that Madame Socani +is not Madame Mahomet M. Moss, I don't know what I can do but accept +him. The Adriatic is free to wed another." Then she walked about the +room, laughing to prevent her tears. + +"Did you hear anything about Castle Morony?" + +"Not a word." + +"Or the boy Florian?" + +"Not a syllable;--though I was most anxious to ask the question. When +you are intent upon any matter, it does not do to go away to other +things. I should have never made him believe that he was to leave me +in earnest, had I allowed him to talk about Florian and the girls. +He has gone now. Well;--good-night, father. You and I, father, are +all in all to each other now. Not but what somebody else will come, +I suppose." + +"Do you wish that somebody else should come, as you say?" + +"I suppose so. Do not look so surprised, father. Girls very seldom +have to say what they really wish. I have done with him now. I had +him because I really loved him,--like a fool as I was. I have got +to go in for being a singing girl. A singing woman is better than a +singing girl. If they don't have husbands, they are supposed to have +lovers. I hope to have one or the other, and I prefer the husband. +Mr. Jones has gone. Who knows but what the Marquis de Carabas may +come next." + +"Could you change so soon?" + +"Yes;--immediately. I don't say I should love the Marquis, but I +should treat him well. Don't look so shocked, dear father. I never +shall treat a man badly,--unless I stick a knife into Mahomet M. +Moss. It would be best perhaps to get a singing marquis, so that the +two of us might go walking about the world together, till we had got +money enough to buy a castle. I am beginning to believe M. Le Gros. I +think I can sing. Don't you think, father, that I can sing?" + +"They all say so." + +"It is very good to have one about me, like you, who are not +enthusiastic. But I can sing, and I am pretty too;--pretty enough +along with my singing to get some fool to care for me. Yes; you may +look astonished. Over there in Galway I was fool enough to fall in +love. What has come of it? The man tells me that he cannot marry me. +And it is true. If he were to marry me what would become of you?" + +"Never mind me," said her father. + +"And what would become of him; and what would become of me? And what +would become of the dreadful little impediments which might follow? +Of course to me Frank Jones is the best of men. I can't have him; +and that is just all about it. I am not going to give up the world +because Frank Jones is lost. Love is not to be lord of all with me. +I shall steer my little boat among the shiny waters of the London +theatres, and may perhaps venture among the waves of Paris and +New York; but I shall do so always with my eyes open. Gas is the +atmosphere in which I am destined to glitter; and if a Marquis comes +in the way,--why, I shall do the best I can with the Marquis. I won't +bring you to trouble if I can help it, or anyone else with whom I +have to do. So good-night, father." Then she kissed his forehead, +and went up to bed leaving him to wonder at the intricacies of his +position. + +He had that night been specially eloquent and awfully indignant as +to the wrongs done to Ireland by England. He had dealt with millions +of which Great Britain was supposed by him to have robbed her poor +sister. He was not a good financier, but he did in truth believe in +the millions. He had not much capacity for looking into questions of +political economy, but he had great capacity for arguing about them +and for believing his own arguments. The British Parliament was to +him an abomination. He read the papers daily, and he saw that the +number of votes on his side fell from sixty to forty, and thirty, and +twenty; and he found also that the twenty were men despised by their +own countrymen as well as Englishmen; that they were men trained to +play a false game in order to achieve their objects;--and yet he +believed in the twenty against all the world, and threw in his lot +without a scruple and without a doubt. Nor did he understand at all +the strength of his own words. He had been silenced in Ireland and +had rigorously obeyed the pledge that he had given. For he was a +man to whom personally his word was a bond. Now he had come over to +London, and being under no promise, had begun again to use the words +which came to him without an effort. As he would sweep back his long +hair from his brows, and send sparks of fire out of his eyes, he +would look to be the spirit of patriotic indignation; but he did not +know that he was thus powerful. To tell the truth,--and as he had +said,--to earn a few shillings was the object of his ambition. But +now, on this evening, three London policemen in their full police +uniform, with their fearful police helmets on, had appeared in the +room in which his dramatic associates had on this evening given way +to Gerald O'Mahony's eloquence. Nothing had been said to him; but as +he came home he was aware that two policemen had watched him. And he +was aware also that his words had been taken down in shorthand. Then +he had encountered his daughter, and all her love troubles. He had +heard her expound her views as to life, and had listened as she +had expressed her desire to meet with some Marquis de Carabas. She +had said nothing with which he could find fault; but her whole +views of life were absolutely different from his. According to his +ideas, there should be no Marquises, no singing girls making huge +fortunes--only singing girls in receipt of modest sums of money; and +that when dire necessity compelled them. There should be no gorgeous +theatres flaring with gas, and certainly no policemen to take down +men's words. Everything in the world was wrong,--except those twenty +Members of Parliament. + +Three or four days after this, Rachel found that a report was abroad +at the theatre that she had dissolved her engagement with Mr. Jones. +At this time the three policemen had already expressed their opinion +about Mr. O'Mahony; but they, for the present, may be left in +obscurity. "_Est-il vrai que M. Jones n'existe plus?_" These words +were whispered to her, as she was dressing, by Madame Socani, while +Mr. O'Mahony had gone out to say a word to a police detective, +who had called to see him at the theatre. As Madame Socani was an +American woman, there was no reason why she should not have asked the +question in English--were it not that as it referred to an affair of +love it may be thought that French was the proper language. + +"Mr. Jones isn't any more, as far as I am concerned," said Rachel, +passing on. + +"Oh, he has gone!" said Madame Socani, following her into the slips. +They were both going on to the stage, but two minutes were allowed +to them, while Mahomet M. Moss declared, in piteous accents, the +woe which awaited him because Alberta,--who was personated by +Rachel,--had preferred the rustic Trullo to him who was by birth a +Prince of the Empire. + +"Yes, Mr. Jones has gone, Madame,--as you are so anxious to know." + +"But why? Can it be that there was no Mr. Jones?" Then Rachel flashed +round upon the woman. "I suppose there was no Mr. Jones?" + +"_O, mio tesor._" These last three words were sung in a delicious +contralto voice by Elmira,--the Madame Socani of the occasion,--and +were addressed to the Prince of the Empire, who, for the last six +weeks, had been neglecting her charms. Rachel was furious at the +attack made upon her, but in the midst of her fury she rushed on to +the stage, and kneeling at the feet of Elmira, declared her purpose +of surrendering the Prince altogether. The rustic Trullo was quite +sufficient for her. "Go, fond girl. Trullo is there, tying up the +odoriferous rose." Then they all four broke out into that grand +quartette, in the performance of which M. Le Gros had formed that +opinion which had induced him to hold out such golden hopes to +Rachel. Rachel looked up during one of her grand shakes and saw Frank +Jones seated far back among the boxes. "Oh, he hasn't left London +yet," she said to herself, as she prepared for another shake. + +"Your papa desires me to say with his kindest love, that he has had +to leave the theatre." This came from Mr. Moss when the piece was +ended. + +He was dressed as princes of the empire generally do dress on the +stage, and she as the daughter of the keeper of the king's garden. + +"So they tell me; very well. I will go home. I suppose he has had +business." + +"A policeman I fear. Some little pecuniary embarrassment." A rumour +had got about the theatre that Mr. O'Mahony was overwhelmed with +money difficulties. Mr. Moss had probably overheard the rumour. + +"I don't believe that at all. It's something political, more likely." + +"Very likely, I don't know, I will see you to your house." And +Mahomet M. looked as though he were going to jump into the brougham +in the garments of the imperial prince. + +"Mr. Moss, I can go very well alone;" and she turned round upon him +and stood in the doorway so as to oppose his coming out, and frowned +upon him with that look of anger which she knew so well how to +assume. + +"I have that to say to you which has to be said at once." + +"You drive about London with me in that dress? It would be absurd. +You are painted all round your eyes. I wouldn't get into a carriage +with you on any account." + +"In five minutes I will have dressed myself." + +"Whether dressed or undressed it does not signify. You know very +well that I would on no account get into a carriage with you. You +are taking advantage of me because my father is not here. If you +accompany me I will call for a policeman directly we get into the +street." + +"Ah, you do not know," said Mr. Moss. And he looked at her exactly as +he had looked about an hour ago, when he was making love to her as +Trullo's betrothed. + +"Here is my father," she said; for at that moment Mr. O'Mahony +appeared within the theatre, having made his way up from the door in +time to take his daughter home. + +"Mr. O'Mahony," said Mr. Moss, "I shall do myself the honour of +calling to-morrow and seeing your daughter at her apartments in Gower +Street." + +"You will see father too," said Rachel. + +"I shall be delighted," said Moss. "It will give me the greatest +pleasure on earth to see Mr. O'Mahony on this occasion." So saying +the imperial prince made a low bow, paint and all, and allowed the +two to go down into the street, and get into the brougham. + +Mr. O'Mahony at once began with his own story. The policeman who had +called for him had led him away round the corner into Scotland Yard, +and had there treated him with the utmost deference. Nothing could +be more civil to him than had been the officer. But the officer had +suggested to him that he had been the man who had said some rough +words about the Queen, in Galway, and had promised to abstain in +future from lecturing. "To this I replied," said he, "that I had +said nothing rough about the Queen. I had said that the Queen was as +nearly an angel on earth as a woman could be. I had merely doubted +whether there should be Queens. Thereupon the policeman shook his +head and declared that he could not admit any doubt on that question. +'But you wouldn't expect me to allow it in New York,' said I. 'You've +got to allow it here,' said he. 'But my pledge was made as to +Ireland,' said I. 'It is all written down in some magistrate's book, +and you'll find it if you send over there.' Then I told him that I +wouldn't break my word for him or his Queen either. Upon that he +thanked me very much for my civility, and told me that if I would +hurry back to the theatre I should be in time to take you home. If +it was necessary he would let me hear from him again. 'You will know +where to find me,' said I, and I gave him our address in Farringdon +Street, and told him I should be there to-morrow at half-past eight. +He shook hands with me as though I had been his brother;--and so here +I am." + +Then she began to tell her story, but there did not seem to be much +of interest in it. "I suppose he'll come?" said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Oh, yes, he'll come." + +"It's something about M. Le Gros," said he. "You'll find that he'll +abuse that poor Frenchman." + +"He may save himself the trouble," said Rachel. Then they reached +Gower Street, and went to bed, having eaten two mutton-chops apiece. + +On the next morning at eleven o'clock tidings were brought up +to Rachel in her bedroom that Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room +downstairs. + +"Father is there?" exclaimed Rachel. + +Then the girl, who had learned to understand that Mr. Moss was not +regarded as a welcome visitor, assured her that he was at the moment +entertained by Mr. O'Mahony. "He's a-telling of what the perlice said +to him in the City, but I don't think as the Jew gentleman minds +him much." From which it may be gathered that Rachel had not been +discreet in speaking of her admirer before the lodging-house servant. + +She dressed herself, not in a very great hurry. Her father, she knew, +had no other occupation at this hour in the morning, and she did not +in the least regard how Mr. Moss might waste his time. And she had to +think of many things before she could go down to meet him. Meditating +upon it all, she was inclined to think that the interview was +intended as hostile to M. Le Gros. M. Le Gros would be represented, +no doubt, as a Jew twice more Jewish than Mr. Moss himself. But +Rachel had a strong idea that M. Le Gros was a very nice old French +gentleman. When he had uttered all those "ve-rys," one after another +with still increasing emphasis, Rachel had no doubt believed them +all. And she was taking great trouble with herself, practising every +day for two hours together, with a looking-glass before her on the +pianoforte, as Mr. Moss had made her quite understand that the +opening of her mouth wide was the chief qualification necessary to +her, beyond that which nature had done for her. Rachel did think it +possible that she might become the undoubted prima donna of the day, +as M. Le Gros had called her; and she thought it much more probable +that she should do so under the auspices of M. Le Gros, than those of +Mr. Moss. When, therefore, she went down at last to the sitting-room, +she did so, determined to oppose Mr. Moss, as bidding for her voice, +rather than as a candidate for her love. When she entered the room, +she could not help beginning with something of an apology, in that +she had kept the man waiting; but Mr. Moss soon stopped her. "It +does not signify the least in the world," he said, laying his hand +upon his waistcoat. "If only I can get this opportunity of speaking +to you while your father is present." Then, when she looked at the +brilliance of his garments, and heard the tones of his voice, she was +sure that the attack on this occasion was not to be made on M. Le +Gros. She remained silent, and sat square on her chair, looking at +him. A man must be well-versed in feminine wiles, who could decipher +under Rachel's manners her determination to look as ugly as possible +on the occasion. In a moment she had flattened every jaunty twist +and turn out of her habiliments, and had given to herself an air of +absolute dowdyism. Her father sat by without saying a word. "Miss +O'Mahony, if I may venture to ask a question, I trust you may not be +offended." + +"I suppose not as my father is present," she replied. + +"Am I right in believing the engagement to be over which bound you to +Mr.--Jones?" + +"You are," said Rachel, quite out loud, giving another quite +unnecessary twist to her gown. + +"That obstacle is then removed?" + +"Mr. Jones is removed, and has gone to Ireland." Then Mr. Moss sighed +deeply. "I can manage my singing very well without Mr.--Jones." + +"Not a doubt. Not a doubt. And I have heard that you have made an +engagement in all respects beneficial with M. Le Gros, of Covent +Garden. M. Le Gros is a gentleman for whom I have a most profound +respect." + +"So have I." + +"Had I been at your elbow, it is possible that something better might +have been done; but two months;--they run by--oh, so quickly!" + +"Quite so. If I can do any good I shall quickly get another +engagement." + +"You will no doubt do a great deal of good. But Mr. Jones is now at +an end." + +"Mr. Jones is at an end," said Rachel, with another blow at her gown. +"A singing girl like me does better without a lover,--especially if +she has got a father to look after her." + +"That's as may be," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"That's as may be," said Mr. Moss, again laying his hand upon his +heart. The tone in which Mr. Moss repeated Mr. O'Mahony's words was +indicative of the feeling and poetry within him. "If you had a lover +such as is your faithful Moss," the words seemed to say, "no father +could look after you half so well." + +"I believe I could do very well with no one to look after me." + +"Of course you and I have misunderstood each other hitherto." + +"Not at all," said Rachel. + +"I was unaware at first that Mr. Jones was an absolute reality. You +must excuse me, but the name misled me." + +"Why shouldn't a girl be engaged to a man named Jones? Jones is as +good a name as Moss, at any rate; and a deal more--" She had been +going to remark that Jones was the more Christian of the two, but +stopped herself. + +"At any rate you are now free?" he said. + +"No, I am not. Yes, I am. I am free, and I mean to remain so. Why +don't you tell him, father?" + +"I have got nothing to tell him, my dear. You are so much better able +to tell him everything yourself." + +"If you would only listen to me, Miss O'Mahony." + +"You had better listen to him, Rachel." + +"Very well; I will listen. Now go on." Then she again thumped +herself. And she had thumped her hair, and thumped herself all round +till she was as limp and dowdy as the elder sister of a Low Church +clergyman of forty. + +"I wish you to believe, Miss O'Mahony, that my attachment to you is +most devoted." She pursed her lips together and looked straight out +of her eyes at the wall opposite. "We belong to the same class of +life, and our careers lie in the same groove." Hereupon she crossed +her hands before her on her lap, while her father sat speculating +whether she might not have done better to come out on the comic +stage. "I wish you to believe that I am quite sincere in the +expression which I make of a most ardent affection." Here again he +slapped his waistcoat and threw himself into an attitude. He was by +no means an ill-looking man, and though he was forty years old, he +did not appear to be so much. He had been a public singer all his +life, and was known by Rachel to have been connected for many years +with theatres both in London and New York. She had heard many stories +as to his amorous adventures, but knew nothing against his character +in money matters. He had, in truth, always behaved well to her in +whatever pecuniary transactions there had been between them. But he +had ventured to make love to her, and had done so in a manner which +had altogether disgusted her. She now waited till he paused for a +moment in his eloquence, and then she spoke a word. + +"What about Madame Socani?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT. + + +"What about Madame Socani?" Rachel, as she said this, abandoned for +the moment her look against the wall, and shook herself instantly +free of all her dowdiness. She flashed fire at him from her eyes, and +jumping up from her seat, took hold of her father by his shoulder. He +encircled her waist with his arm, but otherwise sat silent, looking +Mr. Moss full in the face. It must be acknowledged on the part of +Rachel that she was prepared to make her accusation against Mr. Moss +on perhaps insufficient grounds. She had heard among the people at +the theatre, who did not pretend to know much of Mr. Moss and his +antecedents, that there was a belief that Madame Socani was his wife. +There was something in this which offended her more grossly than +ever,--and a wickedness which horrified her. But she certainly knew +nothing about it; and Madame Socani's proposition to herself had come +to her from Madame Socani, and not from Mr. Moss. All she knew of +Madame Socani was that she had been on the boards in New York, and +had there made for herself a reputation. Rachel had on one occasion +sung with her, but it had been when she was little more than a child. + +"What is Madame Socani to me?" said Mr. Moss. + +"I believe her to be your wife." + +"Oh, heavens! My wife! I never had a wife, Miss O'Mahony;--not yet! +Why do you say things so cruel to me?" + +He, at any rate, she was sure, had sent her that message. She thought +that she was sure of his villainous misconduct to her in that +respect. She believed that she did know him to be a devil, whether he +was a married man or not. + +"What message did you send to me by Madame Socani?" + +"What message? None!" and again he laid his hand upon his waistcoat. + +"He asked me to be--" But she could not tell her father of what +nature was the message. "Father, he is a reptile. If you knew all, +you would be unable to keep your hands from his throat. And now he +dares to come here and talk to me of his affection. You had better +bid him leave the room and have done with him." + +"You hear what my daughter says, Mr. Moss." + +"Yes, I hear her," answered the poor innocent-looking tenor. "But +what does she mean? Why is she so fierce?" + +"He knows, father," said Rachel. "Have nothing further to say to +him." + +"I don't think that I do quite know," said Mr. O'Mahony. "But you can +see, at any rate, Mr. Moss, that she does not return your feeling." + +"I would make her my wife to-morrow," said Mr. Moss, slapping his +waistcoat once more. "And do you, as the young lady's papa, think +of what we two might do together. I know myself, I know my power. +Madame Socani is a jealous woman. She would wish to be taken into +partnership with me,--not a partnership of hearts, but of theatres. +She has come with some insolent message, but not from me;--ah, not +from me!" + +"You never tried to kiss me? You did not make two attempts?" + +"I would make two thousand if I were to consult my own heart." + +"When you knew that I was engaged to Mr. Jones!" + +"What was Mr. Jones to me? Now I ask your respectable parent, is +Miss Rachel unreasonable? When a gentleman has lost his heart in +true love, is he to be reproached because he endeavours to seize one +little kiss? Did not Mr. Jones do the same?" + +"Bother Mr. Jones!" said Rachel, overcome by the absurdity of the +occasion. "As you observed just now, Mr. Jones and I are two. Things +have not turned out happily, though I am not obliged to explain all +that to you. But Mr. Jones is to me all that a man should be; you, +Mr. Moss, are not. Now, father, had he not better go?" + +"I don't think any good is to be done, I really don't," said Mr. +O'Mahony. + +"Why am I to be treated in this way?" + +"Because you come here persevering when you know it's no good." + +"I think of what you and I might do together with Moss's theatre +between us." + +"Oh, heavens!" + +"You should be called the O'Mahony. Your respectable papa should keep +an eye to your pecuniary interest." + +"I could keep an eye myself for that." + +"You would be my own wife, of course--my own wife." + +"I wouldn't be anything of the kind." + +"Ah, but listen!" continued Mr. Moss. "You do not know how the +profits run away into the pockets of _impresarios_ and lessees and +money-lenders. We should have it all ourselves. I have £30,000 of +my own, and my respectable parent in New York has as much more. It +would all be the same as ours. Only think! Before long we would have +a house on the Fifth Avenue so furnished that all the world should +wonder; and another at Newport, where the world should not be +admitted to wonder. Only think!" + +"And Madame Socani to look after the furniture!" said Rachel. + +"Madame Socani should be nowheres." + +"And I also will be nowheres. Pray remember that in making all your +little domestic plans. If you live in the Fifth Avenue, I will live +in 350 Street; or perhaps I should like it better to have a little +house here in Albert Place. Father, don't you think Mr. Moss might go +away?" + +"I think you have said all that there is to be said." Then Mr. +O'Mahony got up from his chair as though to show Mr. Moss out of the +room. + +"Not quite, Mr. O'Mahony. Allow me for one moment. As the young +lady's papa you are bound to look to these things. Though the +theatre would be a joint affair, Miss O'Mahony would have her fixed +salary;--that is to say, Mrs. Moss would." + +"I won't stand it," said Rachel getting up. "I won't allow any man to +call me by so abominable a name,--or any woman." Then she bounced out +of the room. + +"It's no good, you see," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"I by no means see that so certain. Of course a young lady like your +daughter knows her own value, and does not yield all at once." + +"I tell you it's no good. I know my own daughter." + +"Excuse me, Mr. O'Mahony, but I doubt whether you know the sex." + +The two men were very nearly of an age; but O'Mahony assumed the +manners of an old man, and Mr. Moss of a young one. + +"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"They have been my study up from my cradle," said Mr. Moss. + +"No doubt." + +"And I think that I have carried on the battle not without some +little _éclat_." + +"I am quite sure of it." + +"I still hope that I may succeed with your sweet daughter." + +"Here the battle is of a different kind," not without a touch of +satire in the tone of his voice, whatever there might be in the words +which he used. "In tournaments of love, you have, I do not doubt, +been very successful; but here, it seems to me that the struggle is +for money." + +"That is only an accident." + +"But the accident rises above everything. It does not matter in the +least which comes first. Whether it be for love or money my daughter +will certainly have a will of her own. You may take my word that she +is not to be talked out of her mind." + +"But Mr. Jones is gone?" asked Moss. + +"But she is not on that account ready to transfer her affections +at a moment's notice. To her view of the matter there seems to be +something a little indelicate in the idea." + +"Bah!" said Mr. Moss. + +"You cannot make her change her mind by saying bah." + +"Professional interests have to be considered," said Mr. Moss. + +"No doubt; my daughter does consider her professional interests every +day when she practises for two hours." + +"That is excellent,--and with such glorious effects! She has only now +got the full use of her voice. My G----! what could she not do if she +had the full run of Moss's Theatre! She might choose whatever operas +would suit her best; and she would have me to guide her judgment! I +do know my profession, Mr. O'Mahony. A lady in her line should always +marry a gentleman in mine; that is if she cares about matrimony." + +"Of course she did intend to be married to Mr. Jones." + +"Oh! Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones! I am sick of Mr. Jones. What could Mr. +Jones do? He is only a poor ruined Irishman. You must feel that Mr. +Jones was only in the way. I am offering her all that professional +experience and capital can do. What are her allurements?" + +"I don't in the least know, Mr. Moss." + +"Only her beauty." + +"I thought, perhaps it was her singing." + +"That joined," said Mr. Moss. "No doubt her voice and her beauty +joined together. Madame Socani's voice is as valuable,--almost as +valuable." + +"I would marry Madame Socani if I were you." + +"No! Madame Socani is,--well a leetle past her prime. Madame Socani +and I have known each other for twenty years. Madame Socani is aware +that I am attached to your daughter. Well; I do not mind telling you +the truth. Madame Socani and I have been on very intimate terms. I +did offer once to make Madame Socani my wife. She did not see her way +in money matters. She was making an income greater than mine. Things +have changed since that. Madame Socani is very well, but she is a +jealous woman. Madame Socani hates your daughter. Oh, heavens, yes! +But she was never my wife. Oh, no! A woman at this profession grows +old quicker than a man. And she has never succeeded in getting a +theatre of her own. She did try her hand at it at New York, but that +came to nothing. If Miss Rachel will venture along with me, we will +have 500,000 dollars before five years are gone. She shall have +everything that the world can offer--jewels, furniture, hangings! +She shall keep the best table in New York, and shall have her own +banker's account. There's no such success to be found anywhere +for a young woman. If you will only just turn it in your mind, Mr. +O'Mahony." Then Mr. Moss brushed his hat with the sleeve of his coat +and took his leave. + +He had nearly told the entire truth to Mr. O'Mahony. He had never +married Madame Socani. As far as Madame Socani knew, her veritable +husband, Socani, was still alive. And it was not true that Mr. Moss +had sent that abominable message to Rachel. The message, no doubt, +had expressed a former wish on his part; but that wish was now in +abeyance. Miss O'Mahony's voice had proved itself to him to be worth +matrimony,--that and her beauty together. In former days, when he had +tried to kiss her, he had valued her less highly. Now, as he left the +room, he was fully content with the bargain he had suggested. Mr. +Jones was out of the way, and her voice had proved itself to his +judgment to be worth the price he had offered. + +When her father saw her again he began meekly to plead for Mr. Moss. + +"Do you mean to say, father," she exclaimed, "that you have joined +yourself to him?" + +"I am only telling you what he says." + +"Tell me nothing at all. You ought to know that he is an abomination. +Though he had the whole Fifth Avenue to offer to me I would not touch +him with a pair of tongs." + +But she, in the midst of her singing, had been much touched by seeing +Frank Jones among the listeners in the back of one of the boxes. When +the piece was over there had come upon her a desire to go to him and +tell him that, in spite of all she had said, she would wait for him +if only he would profess himself ready to wait for her. There was not +much in it,--that a man should wait in town for two or three days, +and should return to the theatre to see the girl whom he professed to +regard. It was only that, but it had again stirred her love. She had +endeavoured to send to him when the piece was over; but he was gone, +and she saw him no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +BOYCOTTING. + + +Frank Jones went back to County Galway, having caught a last glimpse +of his lady-love. But his lady-love could not very well make herself +known to him from the stage as she was occupied at the moment with +Trullo. And as he had left the theatre before her message had been +brought round, he did so with a bitter conviction that everything +between them was over. He felt very angry with her,--no doubt +unreasonably. The lady was about to make a pocketful of money; and +had offered to share it with him. He refused to take any part of +it, and declined altogether to incur any of the responsibilities of +marriage for the present. His father's circumstances too were of such +a nature as to make him almost hopeless for the future. What would he +have had her do? Nevertheless he was very angry with her. + +As he made his way westward through Ireland he heard more and more of +the troubles of the country. He had not in fact been gone much more +than a week, but during that week sad things had happened. Boycotting +had commenced, and had already become very prevalent. To boycott +a man, or a house, or a firm, or a class of men, or a trade, or a +flock of sheep, or a drove of oxen, or unfortunately a county hunt, +had become an exact science, and was exactly obeyed. It must be +acknowledged that throughout the south and west of Ireland the +quickness and perfection with which this science was understood +and practised was very much to the credit of the intelligence of +the people. We can understand that boycotting should be studied in +Yorkshire, and practised,--after an experience of many years. Laying +on one side for the moment all ideas as to the honesty and expediency +of the measure, we think that Yorkshire might in half a century +learn how to boycott its neighbours. A Yorkshire man might boycott a +Lancashire man, or Lincoln might boycott Nottingham. It would require +much teaching;--many books would have to be written, and an infinite +amount of heavy slow imperfect practice would follow. But County Mayo +and County Galway rose to the requirements of the art almost in a +night! Gradually we Englishmen learned to know in a dull glimmering +way what they were about; but at the first whisper of the word all +Ireland knew how to ruin itself. This was done readily by people of +the poorer class,--without any gifts of education, and certainly +the immoderate practice of the science displays great national +intelligence. + +As Frank Jones passed through Dublin he learned that Morony Castle +had been boycotted; and he was enough of an Irishman to know +immediately what was meant. And he heard, too, while in the train +that the kennels at Ahaseragh had been boycotted. He knew that with +the kennels would be included Black Daly, and with Morony Castle his +unfortunate father. According to the laws on which the practice was +carried on nothing was to be bought from the land of Morony Castle, +and nothing sold to the owners of it. No service was to be done for +the inhabitants, as far as the laws of boycotting might be made to +prevail. He learned from a newspaper he bought in Dublin that the +farm servants had all left the place, and that the maids had been +given to understand that they would encounter the wrath of the new +lords in the land if they made a bed for any Jones to lie upon. + +As he went on upon his journey his imagination went to work to +picture to himself the state of his father's life under these +circumstances. But his imagination was soon outstripped by the +information which reached him from fellow-travellers. "Did ye hear +what happened to old Phil Jones down at Morony?" said a passenger, +who got in at Moate, to another who had joined them at Athlone. + +"Divil a hear thin." + +"Old Phil wanted to get across from Ballyglunin to his own place. +He had been down to Athenry. There was that chap who is always +there with a car. Divil a foot would he stir for Phil. Phil has had +some row with the boys there about his meadows, and he's trying to +prosecute. More fool he. A quiet, aisy-going fellow he used to be. +But it seems he has been stirred now. He has got some man in Galway +jail, and all the country is agin him. Anyways he had to foot it +from Ballyglunin to Headford, and then to send home to Morony for +his own car." In this way did Frank learn that his father had in +truth incurred boycotting severity. He knew well the old man who had +attended the Ballyglunin station with almost a hopeless desire of +getting a fare, and was sure that nothing short of an imperious edict +from the great Landleaguing authorities in the district, would have +driven him to the necessity of repudiating a passenger. + +But when he had reached the further station of Ballinasloe he learned +sadder tidings in regard to his friend Tom Daly. Tom Daly had put no +man in prison, and yet the kennels at Ahaseragh had been burned to +the ground. This had occurred only on the preceding day; and he got +the account of what had happened from a hunting man he knew well. +"The hounds were out you know last Saturday week as a finish, and +poor Tom did hope that we might get through without any further +trouble. We met at Ballinamona, and we drew Blake's coverts without +a word. We killed our fox too and then went away to Pulhaddin gorse. +I'll be blest if all the county weren't there. I never saw the boys +swarm about a place so thick. Pulhaddin is the best gorse in the +county. Of course it was no use drawing it; but as we were going away +on the road to Loughrea the crowd was so thick that there was no +riding among them. Ever so many horsemen got into the fields to be +away from the crowd. But Tom wouldn't allow Barney and the hounds to +be driven from the road. I never saw a man look so angry in my life. +You could see the passion that was on him. He never spoke a word, +nor raised a hand, nor touched his horse with his spur; but he got +blacker and blacker, and would go on whether the crowd moved asunder +or not. And he told Barney to follow him with the hounds, which +Barney did, looking back ever and anon at the poor brutes, and giving +his instructions to the whips to see well after that they did not +wander. They threatened Barney scores of times with their sticks, but +he came on, funking awfully, but still doing whatever Tom told him. I +was riding just behind him among the hounds so that I could see all +that took place. At last a ruffian with his shillelagh struck Barney +over the thigh. I had not time to get to him; indeed I doubt whether +I should have done so, but Tom,--; by George, he saw out of the back +of his head. He turned round, and, without touching his horse with +spur or whip, rode right at the ruffian. If they had struck himself, +I think he would have borne it more easily." + +"How did it end?" + +"They said that the blackguard was hurt, but I saw him escape and get +away over the fence. Then they all set upon Tom, but by G---- it was +glorious to see the way in which he held his own. Out came that cross +of his, four foot and a half long, with a thong as heavy as a flail. +He soon had the road clear around him, and the big black horse you +remember, stood as steady as a statue till he was bidden to move +on. Then when he had the hounds, and Barney Smith and the whips +to himself,--and I was there--we all rode off at a fast trot to +Loughrea." + +"And then?" + +"We could do nothing but go home; the whole county seemed to be in a +ferment. At Loughrea we went away in our own directions, and poor Tom +with Barney Smith rode home to Ahaseragh. But not a word did he speak +to anyone, even to Barney; nor did Barney dare to speak a word to +him. He trotted all the way to Ahaseragh in moody silence, thinking +of the terrible ill that had been done him. I have known Tom for +twenty years, and I think that if he loves any man he loves me. But +he parted from me that day without a word." + +"And then the kennels were set on fire?" + +"Before I left Loughrea I heard the report, spread about everywhere, +that Tom Daly had recklessly ridden down three or four more poor +countrymen on the road. I knew then that some mischief would be in +hand. It was altogether untrue that he had hurt anyone. And he was +bound to interfere on behalf of his own servant. But when I heard +this morning that a score of men had been there in the night and had +burned the kennels to the ground, I was not surprised." Such was the +story that Frank Jones heard as to Tom Daly before he got home. + +On reaching Ballyglunin he looked out for the carman, but he was not +there. Perhaps the interference with his task had banished him. Frank +went on to Tuam, which increased slightly the distance by road to +Morony. But at Tuam he found that Morony had in truth been boycotted. +He could not get a car for love or money. There were many cars there, +and the men would not explain to him their reasons for declining to +take him home; but they all refused. "We can't do it, Mr. Frank," +said one man; and that was the nearest approach to an explanation +that was forthcoming. He walked into town and called at various +houses; but it was to no purpose. It was with difficulty that he +found himself allowed to leave his baggage at a grocer's shop, so +strict was the boycotting exacted. And then he too had to walk home +through Headford to Morony Castle. + +When he reached the house he first encountered Peter, the butler. +"Faix thin, Mr. Frank," said Peter, "throubles niver comed in 'arnest +till now. Why didn't they allow Mr. Flory just to hould his pace and +say nothing about it to no one?" + +"Why has all this been done?" demanded Frank. + +"It's that born divil, Pat Carroll," whispered Peter. "I wouldn't be +saying it so that any of the boys or girls should hear me,--not for +my throat's sake. I am the only one of 'em," he added, whispering +still lower than before, "that's doing a ha'porth for the masther. +There are the two young ladies a-working their very fingers off down +to the knuckles. As for me, I've got it all on my shoulders." No +doubt Peter was true to his master in adversity, but he did not allow +the multiplicity of his occupations to interfere with his eloquence. + +Then Frank went in and found his father seated alone in his +magistrate's room. "This is bad, father," said Frank, taking him by +the hand. + +"Bad! yes, you may call it bad. I am ruined, I suppose. There are +twenty heifers ready for market next week, and I am told that not a +butcher in County Galway will look at one of them." + +"Then you must send them on to Westmeath; I suppose the Mullingar +butchers won't boycott you?" + +"It's just what they will do." + +"Then send them on to Dublin." + +"Who's to take them to Dublin?" said the father, in his distress. + +"I will if there be no one else. We are not going to be knocked out +of time for want of two or three pairs of hands." + +"There are two policemen here to watch the herd at night. They'd cut +the tails off them otherwise as they did over at Ballinrobe last +autumn. To whom am I to consign 'em in Dublin? While I am making new +arrangements of that kind their time will have gone by. There are +five cows should be milked morning and night. Who is to milk them?" + +"Who is milking them?" + +"Your sisters are doing it, with the aid of an old woman who has come +from Galway. She says she has not long to live, and with the help of +half-a-crown a day cares nothing for the Landleaguers. I wish someone +would pay me half-a-crown a day, and perhaps I should not care." + +Then Frank passed on through the house to find his sisters, or Flory +as it might be. He had said not a word to his father in regard to +Florian, fearing to touch upon a subject which, as he well knew, must +be very sore. Had Florian told the truth when the deed was done, Pat +Carroll would have been tried at once, and, whether convicted or +acquitted, the matter would have been over long ago. In those days +Pat Carroll had not become a national or even a county hero. But now +he was able to secure the boycotting of his enemy even as far distant +as Ballyglunin or Tuam. In the kitchen he found Ada and Edith, who +had no comfort in these perilous days except when they could do +everything together. At the present moment they were roasting a +leg of mutton and boiling potatoes, which Frank knew were intended +especially for his own eating. + +"Well, my girls, you are busy here," he said. + +"Oh, yes, busy!" said Ada, who had put up her face to be kissed so as +not to soil her brother's coat by touching it with her hands. "How is +Rachel?" + +"Rachel is pretty well, I believe. We will not talk of Rachel just at +present." + +"Is anything wrong," asked Edith. + +"We will not talk about her, not now. What is all this that has +happened here?" + +"We are just boycotted," said Ada; "that's all." + +"And you think that it's the best joke in the world?" + +"Think it a joke!" said Edith. + +"Why we have to be up every morning at five o'clock," said Ada; "and +at six we are out with the cows." + +"It is no joke," said Edith, very seriously. "Papa is broken-hearted +about it. Your coming will be of the greatest comfort to us, if only +because of the pair of hands you bring. And poor Flory!" + +"How has it gone with Flory?" he asked. Then Edith told the tale as +it had to be told of Florian, and of what had happened because of the +evidence he had given. He had come forward under the hands of Captain +Yorke Clayton and repeated his whole story, giving it in testimony +before the magistrates. He declared it all exactly as he had done +before in the presence of his father and his sister and Captain +Clayton. And he had sworn to it, and had had his deposition read to +him. He was sharp enough, and understood well what he was doing. The +other two men were brought up to support him,--the old man Terry and +Con Heffernan. They of course had not been present at the examination +of Flory, and were asked,--first one and then the other,--what they +knew of the transactions of the afternoon on which the waters had +been let in on the meadows of Ballintubber. They knew nothing at all, +they said. They "disremembered" whether they had been there on the +occasion, "at all, at all." Yes; they knew that the waters had been +in upon the meadows, and they believed that they were in again still. +They didn't think that the meadows were of much good for this year. +They didn't know who had done it, "at all, at all." People did be +saying that Mr. Florian had done it himself, so as to spite his +father because he had turned Catholic. They couldn't say whether Mr. +Florian could do it alone or not. They thought Mr. Florian and Peter, +the butler, and perhaps one other, might do it amongst them. They +thought that Yorke Clayton might perhaps have been the man to help +him. They didn't know that Yorke Clayton hadn't been in the county +at that time. They wished with all their hearts that he wasn't there +now, because he was the biggest blackguard they had ever heard tell +of. + +Such was the story which was now told to Frank of the examination +which took place in consequence of Florian's confession. The results +were that Pat Carroll was in Galway jail, committed to take his trial +at the next assizes in August for the offence which he had committed; +and that Florian had been bound over to give evidence. "What does +Florian do with himself?" his brother asked. + +"I am afraid he is frightened," said Ada. + +"Of course he is frightened," said her sister. "How should he not +be frightened? These men have been telling him for the last six +months that they would surely murder him if he turned round and gave +evidence against them. Oh, Frank, I fear that I have been wrong in +persuading him to tell the truth." + +"Not though his life were sacrificed to-morrow. To have kept the +counsels of such a ruffian as that against his own father would have +been a disgrace to him for ever. Does not my father think of sending +him to England?" + +"He says that he has not the money," said Edith. + +"Is it so bad as that with him?" + +"I am afraid it is very bad,--bad at any rate, for the time coming. +He has not had a shilling of rent for this spring, and he has to pay +the money to Mrs. Pulteney and the others. Poor papa is sorely vexed, +and we do not like to press him. He suggested himself that he would +send Florian over to Mr. Blake's; but we think that Carnlough is not +far enough, and that it would be unfair to impose such a trouble on +another man." + +"Could he not send him to Mrs. Pulteney?" Now Mrs. Pulteney was a +sister of Mr. Jones. + +"He does not like to ask her," said Edith. "He thinks that Mrs. +Pulteney has not shown herself very kind of late. We are waiting till +you speak to him about it." + +"But what does Florian do with himself?" he asked. + +"You will see. He does little or nothing, but roams about the house +and talks to Peter. He did not even go to mass last Sunday. He says +that the whole congregation would accuse him of being a liar." + +"Does he not know that he has done his duty by the lie he has told?" + +"But to go alone among these people!" said Ada. + +"And to hear their damnable taunts!" said Edith. "It is very hard +upon him. I think it is papa's idea to keep him here till after the +trial in August, and then, if possible, to send him to England. There +would be the double journey else, and papa thinks that there would be +no real danger till his evidence had been given." + +Then Frank went out of the house and walked round the demesne, so +that he might think at his ease of all the troubles of his family. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +LAX, THE MURDERER. + + +Frank Jones found his brother Florian alone in the butler's pantry, +and was told that Peter was engaged in feeding the horses and +cleaning out the stables. "He's mostly engaged in that kind of work +now," said Florian. + +"Who lays the tablecloth?" asked Frank. + +"I do; or Edith; sometimes we don't have any tablecloth, or any clean +knives and forks. Perhaps they'll have one to-day because you have +come." + +"I wouldn't give them increased trouble," said Frank. + +"Papa told them to put their best foot forward because you are here. +I don't think he minds at all about himself. I think papa is very +unhappy." + +"Of course he's unhappy, because they have boycotted him. How should +he not be unhappy." + +"It's worse than that," whispered Florian. + +"What can be worse?" + +"If you'll come with me I'll tell you. I don't want to say it here, +because the girls will hear me;--and that old Peter will know +everything that's said." + +"Come out into the grounds, and take a turn before dinner." At this +Florian shook his head. "Why not, Flory." + +"There are fellows about," said Flory. + +"What fellows?" + +"The very fellows that said they'd kill me. Do you know that fellow +Lax? He's the worst of them." + +"But he doesn't live here." + +"All the same, I saw him yesterday." + +"You were out then, yesterday?" + +"Not to say out," said Flory. "I was in the orchard just behind the +stables; and I could see across into the ten-acre piece. There, at +the further side of the field, I saw a fellow, who I am sure was Lax. +Nobody walks like him, he's got that quick, suspicious way of going. +It was just nearly dark; it was well-nigh seven, and I had been with +Peter in the stables, helping to make up the horses, and I am sure it +was Lax." + +"He won't come near you and me on the broad walk," said Frank. + +"Won't he? You don't know him. There are half-a-dozen places there +where he could hit us from behind the wall. Come up into your room, +and I'll tell you what it is that makes papa unhappy." Then Frank +led the way upstairs to his bedroom, and Florian followed him. When +inside he shut the door, and seated himself on the bed close to his +brother. "Now I'll tell you," said he. + +"What is it ails him?" + +"He's frightened," said Florian, "because he doesn't wish me to +be--murdered." + +"My poor boy! Who could wish it?" Here Florian shook his head. "Of +course he doesn't wish it." + +"He made me tell about the meadow gates." + +"You had to tell that, Flory." + +"But it will bring them to murder me. If you had heard them make me +promise and had seen their looks! Papa never thought about that till +the man had come and worked it all out of me." + +"What man?" + +"The head of the policemen, Yorke Clayton. Papa was so fierce upon me +then, that he made me do it." + +"You had to do it," said Frank. "Let things go as they might, you had +to do it. You would not have it said of you that you had joined these +ruffians against your father." + +"I had sworn to Father Brosnan not to tell. But you care nothing for +a priest, of course." + +"Nothing in the least." + +"Nor does father. But when I had told it all at his bidding, and +had gone before the magistrates, and they had written it down, and +that man Clayton had read it all and I had signed it, and papa had +seen the look which Pat Carroll had turned upon me, then he became +frightened. I knew that that man Lax was in the room at the moment. I +did not see him, but I felt that he was there. Now I don't go out at +all, except just into the orchard and front garden. I won't go even +there, as I saw Lax about the place yesterday. I know that they mean +to murder me." + +"There will be no danger," said Frank, "unless Carroll be convicted. +In that case your father will have you sent to a school in England." + +"Papa hasn't got the money; I heard him tell Edith so. And they +wouldn't know how to carry me to the station at Ballyglunin. Those +boys from Ballintubber would shoot at me on the road. It's that that +makes papa so unhappy." + +Then they all went to dinner with a cloth laid fair on the table, for +Frank, who was as it were a stranger. And there were many inquiries +made after Rachel and her theatrical performances. Tidings as to her +success had already reached Morony, and wonderful accounts of the +pecuniary results. They had seen stories in the newspapers of the +close friendship which existed between her and Mr. Moss, and hints +had been given for a closer tie. "I don't think it is likely," said +Frank. + +"But is anything the matter between you and Rachel?" asked Edith. + +At that moment Peter was walking off with the leg of mutton, and Ada +had run into the kitchen to fetch the rice pudding, which she had +made to celebrate her brother's return. Edith winked at her brother +to show that all questions as to the tender subject should be +postponed for the moment. + +"But is it true," said Ada, "that Rachel is making a lot of money?" + +"That is true, certainly," said her brother. + +"And that she sings gloriously?" + +"She always did sing gloriously," said Edith. "I was sure that Rachel +was intended for a success." + +"I wonder what Captain Yorke Clayton would think about her," said +Ada. "He does understand music, and is very fond of young ladies who +can sing. I heard him say that the Miss Ormesbys of Castlebar sang +beautifully; and he sings himself, I know." + +"Captain Clayton has something else to do at present than to watch +the career of Miss O'Mahony in London." This was said by their +father, and was the first word he had spoken since they had sat down +to dinner. It was felt to convey some reproach as to Rachel; but why +a reproach was necessary was not explained. + +Peter was now out of the room, and the door was shut. + +"Rachel and I have come to understand each other," said Frank. "She +is to have the spending of her money by herself, and I by myself am +to enjoy life at Morony Castle." + +"Is this her decision?" asked Edith. + +It was on Frank's lips to declare that it was so; but he remembered +himself, and swallowed down the falsehood unspoken. + +"No," he said; "it was not her decision. She offered to share it all +with me." + +"And you?" said his father. + +"Well, I didn't consent; and so we arranged that matters should be +brought to an end between us." + +"I knew what she would do," said Ada. + +"Just what she ought," said Edith. "Rachel is a fine girl. Nothing +else was to be expected from her." + +"And nothing else was possible with you," said their father. And so +that conversation was brought to an end. + +On the next day Captain Clayton came up the lake from Galway, and +was again engaged,--or pretended to be engaged,--in looking up for +evidence in reference to the trial of Pat Carroll. Or it might be +that he wanted to sun himself again in the bright eyes of Ada Jones. +Again he brought Hunter, his double, with him, and boldly walked from +Morony Castle into Headford, disregarding altogether the loaded guns +of Pat Carroll's friends. In company with Frank he paid a visit to +Tom Lafferty in his own house at Headford. But as he went there he +insisted that Frank should carry a brace of pistols in his trousers' +pockets. "It's as well to do it, though you should never use them, or +a great deal better that you should never use them. You don't want to +get into all the muck of shooting a wretched, cowardly Landleaguer. +If all the leaders had but one life among them there would be +something worth going in for. But it is well that they should believe +that you have got them. They are such cowards that if they know +you've got a pistol with you they will be afraid to get near enough +to shoot you with a rifle. If you are in a room with fellows who see +that you have your hand in your trousers' pocket, they will be in +such a funk that you cow half-a-dozen of them. They look upon Hunter +and me as though we were an armed company of policemen." So Frank +carried the pistols. + +"Well, Mr. Lafferty, how are things going with you to-day?" + +"'Deed, then, Captain Clayton, it ain't much as I'm able to say for +myself. I've the decentry that bad in my innards as I'm all in the +twitters." + +"I'm sorry for that, Mr. Lafferty. Are you well enough to tell me +where did Mr. Lax go when he left you this morning?" + +"Who's Mr. Lax? I don't know no such person." + +"Don't you, now? I thought that Mr. Lax was as well-known in Headford +as the parish priest. Why, he's first cousin to your second cousin, +Pat Carroll." + +"'Deed and he ain't then;--not that I ever heard tell of." + +"I've no doubt you know what relations he's got in these parts." + +"I don't know nothin' about Terry Lax." + +"Except that his name is Terry," said the Captain. + +"I don't know nothin' about him, and I won't tell nothin' either." + +"But he was here this morning, Mr. Lafferty?" + +"Not that I know of. I won't say nothin' more about him. It's as bad +as lying you are with that d----d artful way of entrapping a fellow." + +Here Terry Carroll, Pat's brother, entered the cabin, and took off +his hat, with an air of great courtesy. "More power to you, Mr. +Frank," he said, "it's I that am glad to see you back from London. +These are bad tidings they got up at the Castle. To think of Mr. +Flory having such a story to tell as that." + +"It's a true story at any rate," said Frank. + +"Musha thin, not one o' us rightly knows. It's a long time ago, and +if I were there at all, I disremember it. Maybe I was, though I +wasn't doing anything on me own account. If Pat was to bid me, I'd do +that or any other mortal thing at Pat's bidding." + +"If you are so good a brother as that, your complaisance is likely +to bring you into trouble, Mr. Carroll. Come along, Jones, I've +got pretty nearly what I wanted from them." Then when they were in +the street, he continued speaking to Frank. "Your brother is right, +though I wouldn't have believed it on any other testimony than one +of themselves. That man Lax was here in the county yesterday. A more +murderous fellow than he is not to be found in Connaught; and he's +twice worse than any of the fellows about here. They will do it for +revenge, or party purposes. He has a regular tariff for cutting +throats. I should not wonder if he has come here for the sake of +carrying out the threats which they made against your poor brother." + +"Do you mean that he will be murdered?" + +"We must not let it come to that. We must have Lax up before the +magistrate for having been present when they broke the flood gates." + +"Have you got evidence of that?" + +"We can make the evidence serve its purpose for a time. If we can +keep him locked up till after the trial we shall have done much. By +heavens, there he is!" + +As he spoke the flash of a shot glimmered across their eyes, and +seemed to have been fired almost within a yard of them; but they were +neither of them hit. Frank turned round and fired in the direction +from whence the attack had come, but it was in vain. Clayton did +bring his revolver from out his pocket, but held his fire. They were +walking in a lane just out of the town that would carry them by a +field-path to Morony Castle, and Clayton had chosen the path in order +that he might be away from the public road. It was still daylight +though it was evening, and the aggressor might have been seen had he +attempted to cross their path. The lane was, as it were, built up on +both sides with cabins, which had become ruins, each one of which +might serve as a hiding-place. Hunter was standing close to them +before another word was spoken. + +"Did you see him?" demanded Clayton. + +"Not a glimpse; but I heard him through there, where the dead leaves +are lying." There were a lot of dead leaves strewed about, some of +which were in sight, within an enclosure separated from them by a low +ruined wall. On leaving this the Captain was over it in a moment, but +he was over it in vain. "For God's sake, sir, don't go after him in +that way," said Hunter, who followed close upon his track. "It's no +more than to throw your life away." + +"I'd give the world to have one shot at him," said Clayton. "I don't +think I would miss him within ten paces." + +"But he'd have had you, Captain, within three, had he waited for +you." + +"He never would have waited. A man who fires at you from behind a +wall never will wait. Where on earth has he taken himself?" And +Clayton, with the open pistol in his hand, began to search the +neighbouring hovels. + +"He's away out of that by this time," said Hunter. + +"I heard the bullet pass by my ears," said Frank. + +"No doubt you did, but a miss is as good as a mile any day. That a +fellow like that who is used to shooting shouldn't do better is a +disgrace to the craft. It's that fellow Lax, and as I'm standing on +the ground this moment I'll have his life before I've done with him." + +Nothing further came from this incident till the three started on +their walk back to Morony Castle. But they did not do this till they +had thoroughly investigated the ruins. "Do you know anything of the +man?" said Frank, "as to his whereabouts? or where he comes from?" +Then Clayton gave some short account of the hero. He had first come +across him in the neighbourhood of Foxford near Lough Conn, and had +there run him very hard, as the Captain said, in reference to an +agrarian murder. He knew, he said, that the man had received thirty +shillings for killing an old man who had taken a farm from which a +tenant had been evicted. But he had on that occasion been tried and +acquitted. He had since that lived on the spoils acquired after the +same fashion. He was supposed to have come originally from Kilkenny, +and whether his real name was or was not Lax, Captain Clayton did not +pretend to say. + +"But he had a fair shot at me," said Captain Clayton, "and it shall +go hard with me but I shall have as fair a one at him. I think it was +Urlingford gave the fellow his birth. I doubt whether he will ever +see Urlingford again." + +So they walked back, and by the time they had reached the Castle +were quite animated and lively with the little incident. "It may be +possible," said the Captain to Mr. Jones, "that he expected my going +to Headford. It certainly was known in Galway yesterday, that I was +to come across the lake this morning, and the tidings may have come +up by some fellow-traveller. He would drop word with some of the +boys at Ballintubber as he passed by. And they might have thought it +likely that I should go to Headford. They have had their chance on +this occasion, and they have not done any good with it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED. + + +The men seemed to make a good joke of the afternoon's employment, +but not so the young ladies. In the evening they had a little music, +and Captain Clayton declared that the Miss Ormesbys were grand +performers. "And I am told that they are lovely girls," said Ada. + +"Well, yes; lovely is a very strong word." + +"I'd rather be called lovely than anything," said Ada. + +"Now, Captain Clayton," said Edith, "if you wish for my respect, +don't fall into the trap which Ada has so openly laid for you." + +"I meant nothing of the kind," said Ada. "I hope that Captain Clayton +knows me better. But, Captain Clayton, you don't mean that you'll +walk down to the boat to-morrow?" + +"Why not? He'll never have the pluck to fire at me two days running. +And I doubt whether he'll allow me so fair a chance of seeing him." + +"I wonder how you can sleep at night, knowing that such a man as this +is always after your life." + +"I wonder whether he sleeps at night, when he thinks such a man as +I am after his life. And I allow him, to boot, all his walks and +hiding-places." Then Ada began to implore him not to be too rash. +She endeavoured to teach him that no good could come from such +foolhardiness. If his life was of no value to himself, it was of +great value to others;--to his mother, for instance, and to his +sister. "A man's life is of no real value," said the Captain, "until +he has got a wife and family--or at any rate, a wife." + +"You don't think the wife that is to be need mind it?" said Edith. + +"The wife that is to be must be in the clouds, and in all +probability, will never come any nearer. I cannot allow that a man +can be justified in neglecting his duties for the sake of a cloudy +wife." + +"Not in neglecting absolute duties," said Ada, sadly. + +"A man in my position neglects his duty if he leaves a stone unturned +in pursuit of such a blackguard as this. And when a man is used to +it, he likes it. There's your brother quite enjoyed being shot at, +just as though he were resident magistrate; at any rate, he looked as +though he did." + +So the conversation went on through the evening, during the whole of +which poor Florian made one of the party. He said very little, but +sat close to his sister Edith, who frequently had his hand in her +own. The Captain constantly had his eye upon him without seeming to +watch him, but still was thinking of him as the minutes flew by. +It was not that the boy was in danger; for the Captain thought the +danger to be small, and that it was reduced almost to nothing as long +as he remained in the house,--but what would be the effect of fear on +the boy's mind? And if he were thus harassed could he be expected to +give his evidence in a clear manner? Mr. Jones was not present after +dinner, having retired at once to his own room. But just as the girls +had risen to go to bed, and as Florian was preparing to accompany +them, Peter brought a message saying that Mr. Jones would be glad to +see Captain Clayton before he went for the night. Then the Captain +got up, and bidding them all farewell, followed Peter to Mr. Jones's +room. "I shall go on by the early boat," he said as he was leaving +the room. + +"You'll have breakfast first, at any rate," said Ada. The Captain +swore that he wouldn't, and the girls swore that he should. "We never +let anybody go without breakfast," said Ada. + +"And particularly not a man," said Edith, "who has just been shot at +on our behalf," But the Captain explained that it might be as well +that he should be down waiting for the boat half an hour at any rate +before it started. + +"I and Hunter," said he, "would have a fair look out around us there, +so that no one could get within rifle shot of us without our seeing +them, and they won't look out for us so early. I don't think much +of Mr. Lax's courage, but it may be as well to keep a watch when it +can be so easily done." Then Ada went off to her bed, resolving that +the breakfast should be ready, though it was an hour before the boat +time. The boat called at the wharf at eight in the morning, and the +wharf was three miles distant from the house. She could manage to +have breakfast ready at half-past six. + +"Ada, my girl," said Edith, as they departed together, "don't you +make a fool of that young man." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Didn't you tell me that a man who has to be shot at ought not to be +married; and didn't he say that he would leave his future wife up +among the clouds?" + +"He may leave her where he likes for me," said Ada. "When a man is +doing so much for us oughtn't he to have his breakfast ready for him +at half-past six o'clock?" There was no more then said between them +on that subject; but Edith resolved that as far as boiling the water +was concerned, she would be up as soon as Ada. + +When the Captain went into Mr. Jones's room he was asked to sit down, +and had a cigar offered to him. "Thanks, no; I don't think I'll +smoke. Smoking may have some sort of effect on a fellow's hand. +There's a gentleman in these parts who I should be sorry should owe +his life to any little indulgence of that sort on my behalf." + +"You are thinking of the man who fired at you?" + +"Well, yes; I am. Not that I shall have any chance at him just +at present. He won't come near me again this visit. The next +that I shall hear from him will be from round some corner in +the neighbourhood of Galway. I think I know every turn in that +blackguard's mind." + +"Have you been speaking to Florian about him, Captain Clayton?" + +"Not a word." + +"Nor has his brother?" + +"I think not." + +"What am I to do about the poor boy?" said the anxious father. + +"Because of his fear about this very man?" + +"He is only a boy, you know." + +"Of course he is only a boy. You've no right to expect from him the +pluck of a man. When he is as old as his brother he'll have his +brother's nerve. I like to see a man plucky under fire when he is not +used to it. When you've got into the way of it, it means nothing." + +"What am I do about Florian? There are four months before the +assizes. He cannot remain in the house for four months." + +"What would he be at the end of it?" said the Captain. "That is what +we have to think of." + +"Would it alter him?" + +"I suppose it would,--if he were here with his sister, talking of +nothing but this wretched man, who seems to haunt him. We have to +remember, Mr. Jones, how long it was before he came forward with his +story." + +"I think he will be firm with it now." + +"No doubt,--if he had to tell it out in direct evidence. When he is +there in the court telling it, he will not think much of Mr. Lax, +nor even of Pat Carroll, who will be in the dock glaring at him; +nor would he think much of anything but his direct story, while a +friendly barrister is drawing it out of him; but when it comes to his +cross-examination, it will be different. He will want all his pluck +then, and all the simplicity which he can master. You must remember +that a skilful man will have been turned loose on him with all the +ferocity of a bloodhound; a man who will have all the cruelty of Lax, +but will have nothing to fear; a man who will be serving his purpose +all round if he can only dumbfound that poor boy by his words and +his looks. A man, when he has taken up the cause of these ruffians, +learns to sympathise with them. If they hate the Queen, hate the +laws, hate all justice, these men learn to hate them too. When they +get hold of me, and I look into the eyes of such a one, I see there +my bitterest enemy. He holds Captain Yorke Clayton up to the hatred +of the whole court, as though he were a brute unworthy of the +slightest mercy,--a venomous reptile, against whom the whole country +should rise to tear him in pieces. And I look round and see the same +feeling written in the eyes of them all. I found it more hard to get +used to that than to the snap of a pistol; but I have got used to it. +Poor Florian will have had no such experience. And there will be no +mercy shown to him because he is only a boy. Neither sex nor age is +supposed to render any such feeling necessary to a lawyer. A lawyer +in defending the worst ruffian that ever committed a crime will +know that he is called upon to spare nothing that is tender. He is +absolved from all the laws common to humanity. And then poor Florian +has lied." A gloomy look of sad, dull pain came across the father's +brow as he heard these words. "We must look it in the face, Mr. +Jones." + +"Yes, look it all in the face." + +"He has repeated the lie again and again for six months. He has been +in close friendship with these men. It will be made out that he has +been present at all their secret meetings. He has been present at +some of them. It will be very hard to get a jury to convict on his +evidence if it be unsupported." + +"Shall we withdraw him?" asked Mr. Jones. + +"You cannot do it. His deposition has been sworn and put forward in +the proper course. Besides it is his duty and yours,--and mine," he +added. "He must tell his story once again, and must endure whatever +torment the law-rebels of the court have in store for him. Only it +will be well to think what course of treatment may best prepare him +for the trial. You should treat him with the greatest kindness." + +"He is treated kindly." + +"But you, I think, and his sisters and his brother should endeavour +to make him feel that you do not think harshly of him because of +the falsehoods he has told. Go out with him occasionally." Here Mr. +Jones raised his eyebrows as feeling surprised at the kind of counsel +given. "Put some constraint on yourself so as to make him feel by the +time he has to go into court with you that he has a friend with him." + +"I trust that he always feels that," said Mr. Jones. + +They went on discussing the matter till late at night, and Captain +Clayton made the father understand what it was that he intended. He +meant that the boy should be made to know that his father was to him +as are other fathers, in spite of the lie which he had told, and of +the terrible trouble which he had caused by telling it. But Mr. Jones +felt that the task imposed upon him would be almost impossible. He +was heavy at heart, and unable to recall to himself his old spirits. +He had been thoroughly ashamed of his son, and was not possessed of +that agility of heart which is able to leap into good-humour at once. +Florian had been restored to his old manner of life; sitting at table +with his father and occasionally spoken to by him. He had been so +far forgiven; but the father was still aware that there was still +a dismal gap between himself and his younger boy, as regarded that +affectionate intercourse which Captain Clayton recommended. And yet +he knew that it was needed, and resolved that he would do his best, +however imperfectly it might be done. + +On the next morning the Captain went his way, and did ample homage to +the kindly exertions made on his behalf by the two girls. "Now I know +you must have been up all night, for you couldn't have done it all +without a servant in the house." + +"How dare you belittle our establishment!" said Ada. "What do you +think of Peter? Is Peter nobody? And it was poor Florian who boiled +the kettle. I really don't know whether we should not get on better +altogether without servants than with them." The breakfast was eaten +both by the Captain in the parlour and by Hunter in the kitchen in +great good humour. "Now, my fine fellow," said the former, "have +you got your pistols ready? I don't think we shall want them this +morning, but it's as well not to give these fellows a chance." Hunter +was pleased by being thus called into council before the young +ladies, and they both started in the highest good humour. Captain +Clayton, as he went, told himself that Ada Jones was the prettiest +girl of his acquaintance. His last sentimental affinity with the +youngest Miss Ormesby waxed feeble and insipid as he thought of Ada. +Perhaps Edith, he said to himself, is the sharpest of the two, but +in good looks she can't hold a candle to her sister. So he passed on, +and with his myrmidon reached Galway, without incurring any +impediment from Mr. Lax. + +In the course of the morning, Mr. Jones sent for Florian, and +proposed to walk out with him about the demesne. "I don't think there +will be any danger," he said. "Captain Clayton went this morning, and +the people don't know yet whether he has gone. I think it is better +that you should get accustomed to it, and not give way to idle +fears." The boy apparently agreed to this, and got his hat. But he +did not leave the shelter of the house without sundry misgivings. Mr. +Jones had determined to act at once upon the Captain's advice, and +had bethought himself that he could best do so by telling the whole +truth to the boy. "Now, Florian, I think it would be as well that you +and I should understand each other." Florian looked up at him with +fearful eyes, but made no reply. "Of course I was angry with you +while you were hesitating about those ruffians." + +"Yes; you were," said Florian. + +"I can quite understand that you have felt a difficulty." + +"Yes, I did," said Florian. + +"But that is all over now." + +"If they don't fire at me it is over, I suppose, till August." + +"They shan't fire at you. Don't be afraid. If they fire at you, they +must fire at me too." The father was walking with his arm about the +boy's neck. "You, at any rate, shall incur no danger which I do not +share. You will understand--won't you--that my anger against you is +passed and gone?" + +"I don't know," said the boy. + +"It is so,--altogether. I hope to be able to send you to school in +England very soon after the trial is over. You shall go to Mr. Monro +at first, and to Winchester afterwards, if I can manage it. But we +won't think of Winchester just at present. We must do the best we can +to get a good place for you on your first going into the school." + +"I am not afraid about that," said Florian, thinking that at the time +when the school should have come all the evils of the trials would +have been passed away and gone. + +"All the same you might come and read with me every morning for an +hour, and then for an hour with each of your sisters. You will want +something to do to make up your time. And remember, Florian, that +all my anger has passed away. We will be the best of friends, as in +former days, so that when the time shall have come for you to go into +court, you may be quite sure that you have a friend with you there." + +To all this Florian made very little reply; but Mr. Jones remembered +that he could not expect to do much at a first attempt. Weary as the +task would be he would persevere. For the task would be weary even +with his own son. He was a man who could do nothing graciously which +he could not do _con amore_. And he felt that all immediate warm +liking for the poor boy had perished in his heart. The boy had +made himself the friend of such a one as Pat Carroll, and in his +friendship for him had lied grossly. Mr. Jones had told himself +that it was his duty to forgive him, and had struggled to perform +his duty. For the performance of any deed necessary for the boy's +security, he could count upon himself. But he could not be happy in +his company as he was with Edith. The boy had been foully untrue to +him--but still he would do his best. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED. + + +When the time came round, Frank Jones started for Ballinasloe, with +his father's cattle and with Peter to help him. They did succeed in +getting a boy to go with them, who had been seduced by a heavy bribe +to come down for the purpose from Ballinasloe to Morony Castle. As he +had been used to cattle, Peter's ignorance and Frank's also were of +less account. They drove the cattle to Tuam, and there got them on +the railway, the railway with its servants being beyond the power of +the boycotters. At Ballinasloe they could not sell the cattle, as the +name of Mr. Jones of Morony had become terribly notorious throughout +County Galway. But arrangements had been made to send them to a +salesman up in Dublin, and from Ballinasloe they had gone under the +custody of Peter and the boy. No attempt was made absolutely to harm +the beasts, or even to stop them in the streets. But throughout the +town it seemed to be perfectly understood that they were the property +of Philip Jones of Morony Castle, and that Philip Jones had been +boycotted by the League. The poor beasts were sent on to Dublin +without a truss of hay among them, and even Frank himself was refused +a meal at the first inn at which he had called. He did afterwards +procure accommodation; but he heard while in the house, that the +innkeeper was threatened for what he had done. Had it not been that +Peter had brought with him a large basket of provisions for himself +and the boy, they, too, would have been forced to go on dinnerless +and supperless to Dublin. + +Frank, on his way back home, resolved that he would call on Mr. Daly +at Daly's Bridge, near Castle Blakeney. It was Daly's wont to live +at Daly's Bridge when the hounds were not hunting, though he would +generally go four or five times a week from Daly's Bridge to the +kennels. To Castle Blakeney a public car was running, and the public +car did not dare, or probably did not wish, to boycott anyone. He +walked up to the open door at Daly's Bridge and soon found himself in +the presence of Black Tom Daly. "So you are boycotted?" said Tom. + +"Horse, foot, and dragoons," said Frank. + +"What's to come of it, I wonder?" Tom as he said this was sitting at +an open window making up some horse's drug to which was attached some +very strong odour. "I am boycotted too, and the poor hounds, which +have given hours of amusement to many of these wretches, for which +they have not been called upon to pay a shilling. I shall have to +sell the pack, I'm afraid," said Tom, sadly. + +"Not yet, I hope, Mr. Daly." + +"What do you mean by that? Who's to keep them without any +subscription? And who's to subscribe without any prospect of hunting? +For the matter of that who's to feed the poor dumb brutes? One pack +will be boycotted after another till not a pack of hounds will be +wanted in all Ireland." + +"Has the same thing happened to any other pack?" asked Frank. + +"Certainly it has. They turned out against the Muskerry; and there's +been a row in Kildare. We are only at the beginning of it yet." + +"I don't suppose it will go on for ever," said Frank. + +"Why don't you suppose so? What's to be the end of it all? Do you see +any way out of it?--for I do not. Does your father see his way to +bringing those meadows back into his hands? I'm told that some of +those fellows shot at Clayton the other day down at Headford. How are +we to expect a man like Clayton to come forward and be shot at in +that fashion? As far as I can see there will be no possibility for +anyone to live in this country again. Of course it's all over with +me. I haven't got any rents to speak of, and the only property I +possess is now useless." + +"What property?" asked Frank. + +"What property?" rejoined Tom in a voice of anger. "What property? +Ain't the hounds property, or were property a few weeks ago? Who'll +subscribe for next year? We had a meeting in February, you know, and +the fellows put down their names the same as ever. But they can't be +expected to pay when there will be no coverts for them to draw. The +country can do nothing to put a stop to this blackguardism. When +they've passed this Coercion Bill they're going to have some sort +of Land Bill,--just a law to give away the land to somebody. What's +to come of the poor country with such men as Mr. Gladstone and Mr. +Bright to govern it? They're the two very worst men in the whole +empire for governing a country. Martial law with a regiment in each +county, and a strong colonel to carry it out,--that is the only +way of governing left us. I don't pretend to understand politics, +but every child can see that. And you should do away with the +constituencies, at any rate for the next five years. What are you to +expect with such a set of men as that in Parliament,--men whom no one +would speak to if they were to attempt to ride to hounds in County +Galway. It makes me sick when I hear of it." + +Such were Tom Daly's sad outlooks into the world. And sad as they +were, they seemed to be justified by circumstances as they operated +upon him. There could be no hunting in County Galway next session +unless things were to change very much for the better. And there was +no prospect of any such change. "It's nonsense talking of a poor +devil like me being ruined. You ask me what property I have got." + +"I don't think I ever asked that," said Frank. + +"It don't matter. You're quite welcome. You'll find eight or nine +pair of leather breeches in that press in there. And round about the +room somewhere there are over a dozen pair of top-boots. They are the +only available property I have got. They are paid for, and I can do +what I please with them. The four or five hundred acres over there on +the road to Tuam are mostly bog, and are strictly entailed so that I +cannot touch them. As there is not a tenant will pay the rent since +I've been boycotted it doesn't make much matter. I have not had a +shilling from them for more than twelve months; and I don't suppose +I ever shall see another. The poor hounds are eating their heads off; +as fine a pack of hounds as any man ever owned, as far as their +number goes. I can't keep them, and who'll buy them? They tell me I +must send them over to Tattersall's. But as things are now I don't +suppose they'll pay the expense. I don't care who knows it, but I +haven't three hundred pounds in the world. And I'm over fifty years +of age. What do you think of that as the condition for a man to be +brought to?" + +Frank Jones had never heard Daly speak at such length before, nor had +he given him credit for so much eloquence. Nor, indeed, had anyone +in the County of Galway heard him speak so many words till this +misfortune had fallen upon him. And he would still be silent and +reserved with all except a few hunting men whom he believed to be +strongly influenced by the same political feeling as he was himself. +Here was he boycotted most cruelly, but not more cruelly than was Mr. +Jones of Morony Castle. The story of Florian Jones had got about the +county, and had caused Mr. Jones to be pitied greatly by such men as +Tom Daly. "His own boy to turn against him!" Tom had said. "And to +become a Papist! A boy of ten years old to call himself a Papist, as +if he would know anything about it. And then to lie,--to lie like +that! I feel that his case is almost worse than mine." Therefore he +had burst out with his sudden eloquence to Frank Jones, whom he had +liked. "Oh, yes! I can send you over to Woodlawn Station. I have +got a horse and car left about the place. Here's William Persse of +Galway. He's the stanchest man we have in the county, but even he can +do nothing." + +Then Mr. Persse rode into the yard,--that Mr. Persse who, when the +hounds met at Ballytowngal, had so strongly dissuaded Daly from using +his pistol. He was a man who was reputed to have a good income, or at +any rate a large estate,--though the two things at the present moment +were likely to have a very various meaning. But he was a man less +despondent in his temperament than Tom Daly, and one that was likely +to prevail with Tom by the strength of his character. "Well, Tom," +said Persse, as he walked into the house, "how are things using you +now? How are you, Jones? I'm afraid your father is getting it rather +hot at Morony Castle." + +"They've boycotted us, that's all." + +"So I understand. Is it not odd that some self-appointed individual +should send out an edict, and that suddenly all organised modes of +living among people should be put a stop to! Here's Tom not allowed +to get a packet of greaves into his establishment unless he sends to +Dublin for it." + +"Nor to have it sent over here," said Tom, "unless I'll send my own +horse and cart to fetch it. And every man and boy I have about the +place is desired to leave me at the command of some d----d O'Toole, +whose father kept a tinker's shop somewhere in County Mayo, and whose +mother took in washing." + +There was a depth of scorn intended to be conveyed by all this, +because in Daly's estimation County Mayo was but a poor county to +live in, as it had not for many a year possessed an advertised pack +of fox-hounds. And the O'Tooles were not one of the tribes of Galway, +or a clan especially esteemed in that most aristocratic of the +western counties. + +"Have all the helpers gone?" + +"I haven't asked them to stay; but unless they have stayed of their +own accord I have just shaken hands with them. It's all that one +gentleman can do to another when he meets him." + +"Mr. Daly is talking of selling the hounds," said Frank Jones. + +"Not quite yet, Tom," said Mr. Persse. "You mustn't do anything in a +hurry." + +"They'll have to starve if they remain here," said the master of +hounds. + +"I have come over here to say a word about them. I don't suppose this +kind of thing will last for ever, you know." + +"Can you see any end to it?" said the other. + +"Not as yet I can't, except that troubles when they come generally +do have an end. We always think that evils will last for ever,--and +blessings too. When two-year-old ewes went up to three pound ten at +Ballinasloe, we thought that we were to get that price for ever, but +they were soon down to two seventeen six; and when we had had two +years of the potato famine, we thought that there would never be +another potato in County Galway. For the last five years we've had +them as fine at Doneraile as ever I saw them. Nobody is ever quite +ruined, or quite has his fortune made." + +"I am very near the ruin," said Tom Daly. + +"I would struggle to hold on a little longer yet," said the other. +"How many horses have you got here and at Ahaseragh?" + +"There are something over a dozen," said Tom. "There may be +fifteen in all. I was thinking of sending a draught over to +Tattersall's next week. There are some of them would not be worth a +five-and-twenty-pound note when you got them there!" + +"Well, now I'll tell you what I propose. You shall send over +four or five to be summered at Doneraile. There is grass enough +there, and though I can't pay my debts, my credit is good at the +corn-chandler's." Black Tom, as he heard this, sat still looking +blacker than ever. He was a man who hated to have a favour offered +to him. But he could bear the insult better from Persse of Doneraile +than from anyone else in the county. "I've talked the matter over +with Lynch--" + +"D---- Lynch," said Daly. He didn't dislike Sir Jasper, but Sir +Jasper did not stand quite so high in his favour as did Mr. Persse of +Doneraile. + +"You needn't d---- anybody; but just listen to me. Sir Jasper says +that he will take three, and Nicholas Bodkin will do the same." + +"They are both baronets," said Daly. "I hate a man with a handle to +his name; he always seems to me to be stuck-up, as though he demanded +something more than other people. There is that Lord Ardrahan--" + +"A very good fellow too. Don't you be an ass. Lord Ardrahan has +offered to take three more." + +"I knew it," said Tom. + +"It's not as though any favour were offered or received. Though the +horses are your own property, they are kept for the services of the +hunt. We all understand very well how things are circumstanced at +present." + +"How do you think I am to feed my hounds if you take away the horses +which they would eat?" said Daly, with an attempt at a grim joke. +But after the joke Tom became sad again, almost to tears, and he +allowed his friend to make almost what arrangements he pleased for +distributing both hounds and horses among the gentry of the hunt. +"And when they are gone," said he, "I am to sit here alone with +nothing on earth to do. What on earth is to become of me when I have +not a hound left to give a dose of physic to?" + +"We'll not leave you in such a sad strait as that," said Mr. Persse. + +"It will be sad enough. If you had had a pack of hounds to look after +for thirty summers, you wouldn't like to get rid of them in a hurry. +I'm like an old nurse who is sending her babies out, or some mother, +rather, who is putting her children into the workhouse because she +cannot feed them herself. It is sad, though you don't see it in that +light." + +Frank Jones got home to Castle Morony that night full of sorrow and +trouble. The cattle had been got off to Dublin in their starved +condition, but he, as he had come back, had been boycotted every yard +of the way. He could get in no car, nor yet in all Tuam could he +secure the services of a boy to carry his bag for him. He learned in +the town that the girls had sent over to purchase a joint of meat, +but had been refused at every shop. "Is trade so plentiful?" asked +Frank, "that you can afford to do without it?" + +"We can't afford to do with it," said the butcher, "if it's to come +from Morony Castle." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +"FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS." + + +Ada was making the beds upstairs, and Edith was churning the butter +down below in the dairy, when a little bare-footed boy came in with a +letter. + +"Please, miss, it's from the Captain, and he says I'm not to stir out +of this till I come back with an answer." + +The letter was delivered to Edith at the dairy door, and she saw that +it was addressed to herself. She had never before seen the Captain's +handwriting, and she looked at it somewhat curiously. "If he's +to write to one of us it should be to Ada," she said to herself, +laughing. Then she opened the envelope, which enclosed a large square +stout letter. It contained a card and a written note, and on the card +was an invitation, as follows: "The Colonel and Officers of the West +Bromwich Regiment request the pleasure of the company of Mr. Jones, +the Misses Jones, and Mr. Francis Jones to a dance at the Galway +Barracks, on the 20th of May, 1881. Dancing to commence at ten +o'clock." + +Then there was the note, which Edith read before she took the card +upstairs. + +"My dear Miss Jones," the letter began. Edith again looked at the +envelope and perceived that the despatch had been certainly addressed +to herself--Miss Edith Jones; but between herself and her sister +there could be no jealousy as to the opening of a letter. Letters for +one were generally intended for the other also. + + + I hope you will both come. You ought to do so to show + the county that, though you are boycotted, you are not + smashed, and to let them understand that you are not + afraid to come out of the house although certain persons + have made themselves terrible. I send this to you instead + of to your sister, because perhaps you have a little + higher pluck. But do tell your father from me that I think + he ought, as a matter of policy, to insist on your both + coming. You could come down by the boat one day and return + the next; and I'll meet you, for fear your brother should + not be there.--Yours very faithfully, + + YORKE CLAYTON. + + I have got the fellows of the West Bromwich to entrust the + card to me, and have undertaken to see it duly delivered. + I hope you'll approve of my Mercury. Hunter says he + doesn't care how often he's shot at. + + +It was, in the first place, necessary to provide for the Mercury, +because even a god cannot be sent away after the performance of such +a journey without some provisions; and Edith, to tell the truth, +wanted to look at the ball all round before she ventured to express +an opinion to her sister and father. Her father, of course, would +not go; but should he be left alone at Morony Castle to the tender +mercies of Peter? and should Florian be left also without any woman's +hands to take charge of him? And the butter, too, was on the point of +coming, which was a matter of importance. But at last, having pulled +off her butter-making apron and having duly patted the roll of +butter, she went upstairs to her sister. + +"Ada," she said, "here is such a letter;" and she held up the letter +and the card. + +"Who is it from?" + +"You must guess," said Edith. + +"I am bad at guessing, I cannot guess. Is it Mr. Blake of Carnlough?" + +"A great deal more interesting than that." + +"It can't be Captain Clayton," said Ada. + +"Out of the full heart the mouth speaks. It is Captain Clayton." + +"What does he say, and what is the card? Give it me. It looks like an +invitation." + +"Then it tells no story, because it is an invitation. It is from the +officers of the West Bromwich regiment; and it asks us to a dance on +the 20th of May." + +"But that's not from Captain Clayton." + +"Captain Clayton has written,--to me and not to you at all. You will +be awfully jealous; and he says that I have twice as much courage as +you." + +"That's true, at any rate," said Ada, in a melancholy tone. + +"Yes; and as the officers want all the girls at the ball to be at +any rate as brave as themselves, that's a matter of great importance. +He has asked me to go with a pair of pistols at my belt; but he is +afraid that you would not shoot anybody." + +"May I not look at his letter?" + +"Oh, no! That would not be at all proper. The letter is addressed to +me, Miss Edith Jones. And as it has come from such a very dashing +young man, and pays me particular compliments as to my courage, I +don't think I shall let anybody else see it. It doesn't say anything +special about beauty, which I think uncivil. If he had been writing +to you, it would all have been about feminine loveliness of course." + +"What nonsense you do talk, Edith." + +"Well, there it is. As you will read it, you must. You'll be awfully +disappointed, because there is not a word about you in it." + +Then Ada read the letter. "He says he hopes we shall both come." + +"Well, yes! Your existence is certainly implied in those words." + +"He explains why he writes to you instead of me." + +"Another actual reference to yourself, no doubt. But then he goes on +to talk of my pluck." + +"He says it's a little higher than mine," said Ada, who was +determined to extract from the Captain's words as much good as was +possible, and as little evil to herself. + +"So it is; only a little higher pluck! Of course he means that I +can't come near himself." + +"You wouldn't pretend to?" asked Ada. + +"What! to be shot at like him, and to like it. I don't know any girl +that can come quite up to that. Only if one becomes quite cock-sure, +as he is, that one won't be hit, I don't see the courage." + +"Oh, I do!" + +"But now about this ball?" said Edith. "Here we are, lone damsels, +making butter in our father's halls, and turning down the beds in the +lady's chamber, unable to buy anything because we are boycotted, and +with no money to buy it if we were not. And we can't stir out of the +house lest we should be shot, and I don't suppose that such a thing +as a pair of gloves is to be got anywhere." + +"I've got gloves for both of us," said Ada. + +"Put by for a rainy day. What a girl you are for providing for +difficulties! And you've got silk stockings too, I shouldn't wonder." + +"Of course I have." + +"And two ball dresses, quite new?" + +"Not quite new. They are those we wore at Hacketstown before the +flood." + +"Good gracious! How were Noah's daughters dressed? Or were they +dressed at all?" + +"You always turn everything into nonsense," said Ada, petulantly. + +"To be told I'm to wear a dress that had touched the heart of a +patriarch, and had perhaps gone well nigh to make me a patriarch's +bride! But taking it for granted that the ball dresses with all their +appurtenances are here, fit to win the heart of a modern Captain +instead of an old patriarch, is there no other reason why we should +not go?" + +"What reason?" asked Ada, in a melancholy tone. + +"There are reasons. You go to papa, and see whether he has not +reasons. He will tell you that every shilling should be saved for +Florian's school." + +"It won't take many shillings to go to Galway. We couldn't well write +to Captain Clayton and tell him that we can't afford it." + +"People keep those reasons in the background," said Edith, "though +people understand them. And then papa will say that in our condition +we ought to be ashamed to show our faces." + +"What have we done amiss?" + +"Not you or I perhaps," said Edith; "but poor Florian. I am +determined,--and so are you,--to take Florian to our very hearts, and +to forgive him as though this thing had never been done. He is to +us the same darling boy, as though he had never been present at the +flood gates; as though he had had no hand in bringing these evils to +Morony Castle. You and I have been angry, but we have forgiven him. +To us he is as dear as ever he was. But they know in the county what +it was that was done by Florian Jones, and they talk about it among +themselves, and they speak of you and me as Florian's sisters. And +they speak of papa as Florian's father. I think it may well be that +papa should not wish us to go to this ball." + +Then there came a look of disappointment over Ada's face, as though +her doom had already been spoken. A ball to Ada, and especially a +ball at Galway,--a coming ball,--was a promise of infinite enjoyment; +but a ball with Captain Yorke Clayton would be heaven on earth. And +by the way in which this invitation had come he had been secured as a +partner for the evening. He could not write to them, and especially +call upon them to come without doing all he could to make the evening +pleasant for them. She included Edith in all these promises of +pleasantness. But Edith, if the thing was to be done at all, would +do it all for Ada. As for the danger in which the man passed his +life, that must be left in the hands of God. Looking at it with great +seriousness, as in the midst of her joking she did look at these +things, she told herself that Ada was very lovely, and that this man +was certainly lovable. And she had taken it into her imagination that +Captain Clayton was certainly in the road to fall in love with Ada. +Why should not Ada have her chance? And why should not the Captain +have his? Why should not she have her chance of having a gallant +lovable gentleman for a brother-in-law? Edith was not at all prepared +to give the world up for lost, because Pat Carroll had made himself a +brute, and because the neighbours were idiots and had boycotted them. +It must all depend upon their father, whether they should or should +not go to the ball. And she had not thought it prudent to appear too +full of hope when talking of it to Ada; but for herself she quite +agreed with the Captain that policy required them to go. + +"I suppose you would like it?" she said to her sister. + +"I always was fond of dancing," replied Ada. + +"Especially with heroes." + +"Of course you laugh at me, but Captain Clayton won't be there as an +officer; he's only a resident magistrate." + +"He's the best of all the officers," said Edith with enthusiasm. "I +won't have our hero run down. I believe him to have twice as much +in him as any of the officers. He's the gallantest fellow I know. I +think we ought to go, if it's only because he wants it." + +"I don't want not to go," said Ada. + +"I daresay not; but papa will be the difficulty." + +"He'll think more of you than of me, Edith. Suppose you go and talk +to him." + +So it was decided; and Edith went away to her father, leaving Ada +still among the beds. Of Frank not a word had been spoken. Frank +would go as a matter of course if Mr. Jones consented. But Ada, +though she was left among the beds, did not at once go on with her +work; but sat down on that special bed by which her attention was +needed, and thought of the circumstances which surrounded her. Was it +a fact that she was in love with the Captain? To be in love to her +was a very serious thing,--but so delightful. She had been already +once,--well, not in love, but preoccupied just a little in thinking +of one young man. The one young man was an officer, but was now in +India, and Ada had not ventured even to mention his name in her +father's presence. Edith had of course known the secret, but Edith +had frowned upon it. She had said that Lieutenant Talbot was no +better than a stick, although he had £400 a year of his own. "He'd +give you nothing to talk about," said Edith, "but his £400 a year." +Therefore when Lieutenant Talbot went to India, Ada Jones did not +break her heart. But now Edith called Captain Clayton a hero, and +seemed in all respects to approve of him; and Edith seemed to think +that he certainly admired Ada. It was a dreadful thing to have to +fall in love with a woodcock. Ada felt that if, as things went on, +the woodcock should become her woodcock, the bullet which reached his +heart would certainly pierce her own bosom also. But such was the way +of the world. Edith had seemed to think that the man was entitled to +have a lady of his own to love; and if so, Ada seemed to think that +the place would be one very well suited to herself. Therefore she was +anxious for the ball; and at the present moment thought only of the +difficulties to be incurred by Edith in discussing the matter with +her father. + +"Papa, Captain Clayton wants us to go to a ball at Galway," it was +thus that Edith began her task. + +"Wants you to go a ball! What has Captain Clayton to do with you +two?" + +"Nothing on earth;--at any rate not with me. Here is his letter, +which speaks for itself. He seems to think that we should show +ourselves to everybody around, to let them know that we are not +crushed by what such a one as Pat Carroll can do to us." + +"Who says that we are crushed?" + +"It is the people who are crushed that generally say so of +themselves. There would be nothing unusual under ordinary +circumstances in your daughters going to a ball at Galway." + +"That's as may be." + +"We can stay the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and she will be delighted +to have us. If we never show ourselves it would be as though we +acknowledged ourselves to be crushed. And to tell the truth, papa, I +don't think it is quite fair to Ada to keep her here always. She is +very beautiful, and at the same time fond of society. She is doing +her duty here bravely; there is nothing about the house that she will +not put her hand to. She is better than any servant for the way she +does her work. I think you ought to let her go; it is but for the one +night." + +"And you?" asked the father. + +"I must go with her, I suppose, to keep her company." + +"And are not you fond of society?" + +"No;--not as she is. I like the rattle very well just for a few +minutes." + +"And are not you beautiful?" he asked. + +"Good gracious, no! Don't be such a goose, papa." + +"To me you are quite as lovely as is Ada." + +"Because you are only a stupid, old papa," but she kissed him as she +said it. "You have no right to expect to have two beauties in the +family. If I were a beauty I should go away and leave you, as will +Ada. It's her destiny to be carried off by someone. Why not by some +of these gallant fellows at Galway? It's my destiny to remain at +home; and so you may know what you have got to expect." + +"If it should turn out to be so, there will be one immeasurable +comfort to me in the midst of all my troubles." + +"It shall be so," said she, whispering into his ear. "But, papa, you +will let us go to this ball in Galway, will you not? Ada has set her +heart upon it." So the matter was settled. + +The answer to Captain Clayton, sent by Edith, was as follows; but +it was not sent till the boy had been allowed to stuff himself with +buttered toast and tea, which, to such a boy, is the acme of all +happiness. + + + Morony Castle, 8th of May, 1881. + + DEAR CAPTAIN CLAYTON, + + We will both come, of course, and are infinitely obliged + to you for the trouble you have taken on our behalf. Papa + will not come, of course. Frank will, no doubt; but he is + out after a salmon in the Hacketstown river. I hope he + will get one, as we are badly off for provisions. If he + cannot find a salmon, I hope he will find trout, or we + shall have nothing for three days running. Ada and I think + we can manage a leg of mutton between us, as far as the + cooking goes, but we haven't had a chance of trying our + hands yet. Frank, however, will write to the officers by + post. We shall sleep the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and can + get there very well by ourselves. All the same, we shall + be delighted to see you, if you will come down to the + boat. + + Yours very truly, + + EDITH JONES. + + I must tell you what Ada said about our dresses, only pray + don't tell any of the officers. Of course we had to have a + consultation about our frocks, because everything in the + shops is boycotted for us. "Oh," said Ada, "there are the + gauze dresses we wore at Hacketstown _before the flood!_" + Only think of Ada and I at a ball with the Miss Noahs, + four or five thousand years ago. + + +Frank consented to go of course, but not without some little +difficulty. He didn't think it was a time for balls. According to his +view of things ginger should be no longer hot in the mouth. + +"But why not?" said Edith. "If a ball at any time is a good thing, +why should it be bad now? Are we all to go into mourning, because +Mr. Carroll has so decreed? For myself I don't care twopence for the +ball. I don't think it is worth the ten shillings which it will cost. +But I am all for showing that we don't care so much for Mr. Carroll." + +"Carroll is in prison," said Frank. + +"Nor yet for Terry Lax, or Tim Brady, or Terry Carroll, or Tony +Brady. The world is not to be turned away from its proper course by +such a scum of men as that. Of course you'll do as a brother should +do, and come with us." + +To this Frank assented, and on the next day went out for another +salmon, thinking no more about the party at Galway. + +But the party at Galway was a matter of infinite trouble and infinite +interest to the two girls. Those dresses which had been put by from +before the flood were brought forth, and ironed, and re-ribboned, and +re-designed, as though the fate of heroes and heroines depended upon +them. And it was clearly intended that the fate of one hero and of +one heroine should depend on them, though nothing absolutely to that +effect was said at present between the sisters. It was not said, but +it was understood by both of them that it was so; and each understood +what was in the heart of the other. "Dear, dear Edith," said Ada. +"Let them boycott us as they will," said Edith, "but my pet shall +be as bright as any of them." There was a ribbon that had not been +tossed, a false flower that had on it something of the bloom of +newness. A faint offer was made by Ada to abandon some of these +prettinesses to her sister, but Edith would have none of them. Edith +pooh-poohed the idea as though it were monstrous. "Don't be a goose, +Ada," she said; "of course this is to be your night. What does it +signify what I wear?" + +"Oh, but it does;--just the same as for me. I don't see why you are +not to be just as nice as myself." + +"That's not true, my dear." + +"Why not true? There is quite as much depends on your good fortune as +on mine. And then you are so much the cleverer of the two." + +Then when the day for the ball drew near, there came to be some more +serious conversation between them. + +"Ada, love, you mean to enjoy yourself, don't you?" + +"If I can I will. When I go to these things I never know whether they +will lead to enjoyment or the reverse. Some little thing happens so +often, and everything seems to go wrong." + +"They shouldn't go wrong with you, my pet." + +"Why not with me as well as with others?" + +"Because you are so beautiful to look at. You are made to be queen of +a ball-room; not a London ball-room, where everything, I take it, is +flash and faded, painted and stale, and worn out; but down here in +the country, where there is some life among us, and where a girl may +be supposed to be excited over her dancing. It is in such rooms as +this that hearts are won and lost; a bid made for diamonds is all +that is done in London." + +"I never was at a London ball," said Ada. + +"Nor I either; but one reads of them. I can fancy a man really caring +for a girl down in Galway. Can you fancy a man caring for a girl?" + +"I don't know," said Ada. + +"For yourself, now?" + +"I don't think anybody will ever care much for me." + +"Oh, Ada, what a fib. It is all very pretty, your mock modestly, but +it is so untrue. A man not love you! Why, I can fancy a man thinking +that the gods could not allow him a greater grace than the privilege +of taking you in his arms." + +"Isn't anyone to take you in his arms, then?" + +"No, no one. I am not a thing to be looked at in that light. I mean +eventually to take to women's rights, and to make myself generally +odious. Only I have promised to stick to papa, and I have got to do +that first. You;--who will you stick to?" + +"I don't know," said Ada. + +"If I were to suggest Captain Yorke Clayton? If I were to suppose +that he is the man who is to have the privilege?" + +"Don't, Edith." + +"He is my hero, and you are my pet, and I want to bring you two +together. I want to have my share in the hero; and still to keep a +share in my pet. Is not that rational?" + +"I don't know that there is anything rational in it all," said Ada. +But still she went to bed well pleased that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE GALWAY BALL. + + +When the 20th of May came, the three started off together for Galway, +happy in spite of their boycotting. The girls at least were happy, +though Frank was still somewhat sombre as he thought of the edict +which Rachel O'Mahony had pronounced against him. When the boat +arrived at the quay at Galway, Captain Clayton, with one of the +officers of the West Bromwich, was there to meet it. "He is a wise +man," whispered Edith to Ada, "he takes care to provide for number +one." + +"I don't see that at all," said Ada. + +"That brave little warrior, who is four feet and a half high, is +intended for my escort. Two is company and three is none. I quite +agree as to that." Then they left the boat, and Edith so arranged the +party that she was to walk between the small warrior and her brother, +whereas Ada followed with Captain Clayton. In such straits of +circumstances a man always has to do what he is told. Presence of +mind and readiness is needful, but the readiness of a man is never +equal to that of a woman. So they went off to Mrs. D'Arcy's house, +and Ada enjoyed all the little preliminary sweets of the Captain's +conversation. The words that were spoken all had reference to Edith +herself; but they came from the Captain and were assuredly sweet. + +"And it's really true that you are boycotted?" Mrs. D'Arcy asked. + +"Certainly it's true." + +"And what do they do to you? Do all the servants leave you?" + +"Unless there be any like Peter who make up their minds to face the +wrath of Landleaguers. Peter has lived with us a long time, and has +to ask himself whether it will be best for him to stay or go." + +"And he stays? What a noble fellow," said Mrs. D'Arcy. + +"What would he do with himself if he didn't stay?" said Edith. "I +don't suppose they'd shoot him, and he gets plenty to eat. The girls +who were in the house and the young men about the place had friends +of their own living near them, so they thought it better to go. +Everybody of course does what is best for himself. And Peter, though +he has suited himself, is already making a favour of it. Papa told +him only yesterday that he might go himself if he pleased. Only +think, we had to send all the horses last week into Galway to be +shod;--and then they wouldn't do it, except one man who made a +tremendous favour of it, and after doing it charged double." + +"But won't they sell you anything at Tuam?" + +"Not a ha'porth. We couldn't get so much as soap for house-washing, +unless Mrs. Blake had stood by us and let us have her soap. Ada and +I have to do every bit of washing about the place. I do think well +of Peter because he insists on washing his own shirts and stockings. +Unfortunately we haven't got a mangle, and we have to iron the sheets +if we want them to look at all nice. Ada's sheets and mine, and +Florian's, are only just rough pressed. Of course we get tea and +those things down from Dublin. Only think of the way in which the +tradespeople are ruining themselves. Everything has to go to Dublin +to be sold: potatoes and cattle, and now butter. Papa says that +they won't pay for the carriage. When you come to think of it, this +boycotting is the most ruinous invention on both sides. When poor +Florian declared that he would go to mass after he had first told the +story about Pat Carroll, they swore they would boycott the chapel if +he entered the door. Not a single person would stay to receive the +mass. So he wouldn't go. It was not long after that when he became +afraid to show his face outside the hall-door." + +"And yet you can come here to this ball?" said Mrs. D'Arcy. + +"Exactly so. I will go where I please till they boycott the very +roads from under my feet. I expect to hear soon that they have +boycotted Ada and me, so that no young man shall come and marry us. +Of course, I don't understand such things, but it seems to me that +the Government should interfere to defend us." + +When the evening came, and the witching hour was there, Ada and Edith +appeared at the barracks as bright as their second-hand finery could +make them. They had awarded to them something of especial glory as +being boycotted heroines, and were regarded with a certain amount of +envy by the Miss Blakes, Miss Bodkins, Miss Lamberts, Miss Ffrenchs, +and Miss Parsons of the neighbourhood. They had, none of them, as yet +achieved the full honours of boycotting, though some of them were +half-way to it. The Miss Ffrenchs told them how their father's sheep +had been boycotted, the shepherd having been made to leave his place. +The Miss Blakes had been boycotted because their brother had been +refused a car. And the Bodkins of Ballytowngal were held to have been +boycotted _en masse_ because of the doings at Moytubber gorse. But +none of them had been boycotted as had been the Miss Jones'; and +therefore the Miss Jones' were the heroines of the evening. + +"I declare it is very nice," Ada said to her sister that night, when +they got home to Mrs. D'Arcy's, "because it got for us the pick of +all the partners." + +"It got for you one partner, at any rate," said Edith, "either the +boycotting or something else." Edith had determined that it should be +so; or had determined at any rate that it should seem to be so. In +her resolution that the hero of the day should fall in love with her +sister, she had almost taught herself to think that the process had +already taken place. It was so natural that the bravest man should +fall in love with the fairest lady, that Edith took it for granted +that it already was so. She too in some sort was in love with her own +sister. Ada to her was so fair, so soft, so innocent, so feminine and +so lovable, that her very heart was in the project,--and the project +that Ada should have the hero of the hour to herself. And yet she too +had a heart of her own, and had told herself in so many words, that +she herself would have loved the man,--had it been fitting that she +should burden him with such a love. She had rejected the idea as +unfitting, impossible, and almost unfeminine. There was nothing in +her to attract the man. The idea had sprung up but for a moment, and +had been cast out as being monstrous. There was Ada, the very queen +of beauty. And the gallant hero was languishing in her smiles. It was +thus that her imagination carried her on, after the notion had once +been entertained. At the ball Edith did in fact dance with Captain +Clayton quite as often as did Ada herself, but she danced with him, +she said, as the darling sister of his supposed bride. All her talk +had been about Ada,--because Edith had so chosen the subject. But +with Ada the conversation had all been about Edith, because the +Captain had selected the subject. + +We all know how a little party is made up on such occasions. Though +the party dance also with other people on occasions, they are there +especially to dance with each other. An interloper or two now and +again is very useful, so as to keep up appearances. The little +warrior whom Edith had ill-naturedly declared to be four feet and a +half high, but who was in truth five feet and a half, made up the +former. Frank did not do much dancing, devoting himself to thinking +of Rachel O'Mahony. The little man, who was a distinguished officer +named Captain Butler, of the West Bromwich, had a very good time of +it, dancing with Ada when Captain Clayton was not doing so. "The +greatest brick I ever saw in my life!"--it was thus Captain Butler +afterwards spoke of Edith, "but Ada is the girl for me, you know." +Had Edith heard this, which she could not do, because she was then on +the boat going back to Morony Castle, she would have informed Captain +Butler that Ada was not the girl for him; but Captain Clayton, who +heard the announcement made, did not seem to be much disturbed by it. + +"It was a very nice party, Mrs. D'Arcy," said Edith the next morning. + +"Was there a supper?" + +"There was plenty to eat and drink, if you mean that, but we did not +waste our time sitting down. I hate having to sit down opposite to a +great ham when I am in the full tide of my emotions." + +"There were emotions then?" + +"Of course there were. What's the good of a ball without them? Fancy +Captain Butler and no emotions, or Captain Clayton! Ask Ada if there +were not. But as far as we were concerned, it was I who had the best +of it. Captain Butler was my special man for the evening, and he had +on a beautiful red jacket with gold buttons. You never saw anything +so lovely. But Captain Clayton had just a simple black coat. That is +so ugly, you know." + +"Is Captain Clayton Ada's special young man?" + +"Most particularly special, is he not, Ada?" + +"What nonsense you do talk, Edith. He is not my special young man at +all. I'm afraid he won't be any young woman's special young man very +long, if he goes on as he does at present. Do you hear what he did +over at Ardfry? There was some cattle to be seized for rent, and all +the people on that side of the country were there. Ever so many shots +were fired, and poor Hunter got wounded in his shoulder." + +"He just had his skin raised," said Edith. + +"And Captain Clayton got terribly mauled in the crowd. But he +wouldn't fire a pistol at any of them. He brought some ringleader +away prisoner,--he and two policemen. But they got all the cattle, +and the tenants had to buy them back and pay their rent. When we try +to seize cattle at Ballintubber they are always driven away to County +Mayo. I do think that Captain Clayton is a real hero." + +"Of course he is, my dear; that's given up to him long ago,--and to +you." + +In the afternoon they went home by boat, and Frank made himself +disagreeable by croaking. "Upon my word," he said, "I think that this +is hardly a fit time for giving balls." + +"Ginger should not be hot in the mouth," said Edith. + +"You may put it in what language you like, but that is about what I +mean. The people who go to the balls cannot in truth afford it." + +"That's the officers' look out." + +"And they are here on a very sad occasion. Everything is going to +ruin in the country." + +"I won't be put down by Pat Carroll," said Edith. "He shall not be +able to boast to himself that he has changed the natural course of my +life." + +"He has changed it altogether." + +"You know what I mean. I am not going to yield to him or to any of +them. I mean to hold my own against it as far as I can do so. I'll go +to church, and to balls, and I'll visit my friends, and I'll eat my +dinner every day of my life just as though Pat Carroll didn't exist. +He's in prison just at present, and therefore so far we have got the +best of him." + +"But we can't sell a head of cattle without sending it up to Dublin. +And we can't find a man to take charge of it on the journey. We can't +get a shilling of rent, and we hardly dare to walk about the place +in the broad light of day lest we should be shot at. While things +are in this condition it is no time for dancing at balls. I am so +broken-hearted at the present moment that but for my father and for +you I would cut the place and go to America." + +"Taking Rachel with you?" said Edith. + +"Rachel just now is as prosperous as we are the reverse. Rachel would +not go. It is all very well for Rachel, as things are prosperous with +her. But here we have the reverse of prosperity, and according to my +feelings there should be no gaiety. Do you ever realise to yourself +what it is to think that your father is ruined?" + +"We ought not to have gone," said Ada. + +"Never say die," said Edith, slapping her little hand down on the +gunwale of the boat. "Morony Castle and Ballintubber belong to papa, +and I will never admit that he is ruined because a few dishonest +tenants refuse to pay their rents for a time. A man such as Pat +Carroll can do him an injury, but papa is big enough to rise above +that in the long run. At any rate I will live as becomes papa's +daughter, as long as he approves and I have the power." Discussing +these matters they reached the quay near Morony Castle, and Edith as +she jumped ashore felt something of triumph in her bosom. She had at +any rate succeeded in her object. "I am sure we were right to go," +she whispered to Ada. + +Their father received them with but very few words; nor had Florian +much to say as to the glories of the ball. His mind was devoted at +present to the coming trial. And indeed, in a more open and energetic +manner, so was the mind of Captain Clayton. "This will be the last +holiday for me," he had said to Edith at the ball, "before the great +day comes off for Patrick Carroll, Esq. It's all very well for a man +once in a way, but there should not be too much of it." + +"You have not to complain deeply of yourself on that head." + +"I have had my share of fun in the world," he said; "but it grows +less as I grow older. It is always so with a man as he gets into his +work. I think my hair will grow grey very soon, if I do not succeed +in having Mr. Carroll locked up for his life." + +"Do you think they will convict him?" + +"I think they will? I do think they will. We have got one of the +men who is ready to swear that he assisted him in pulling down the +gates." + +"Which of the men?" she asked. + +"I will tell you because I trust you as my very soul. His own +brother, Terry, is the man. Pat, it seems, is a terrible tyrant +among his own friends, and Terry is willing to turn against him, on +condition that a passage to America be provided for him. Of course +he is to have a free pardon for himself. We do want one man to +corroborate your brother's evidence. Your brother no doubt was not +quite straight at first." + +"He lied," said Edith. "When you and I talk about it together, we +should tell the simple truth. We have pardoned him his lie;--but he +lied." + +"We have now the one man necessary to confirm his testimony." + +"But he is the brother." + +"No doubt. But in such a case as this anything is fair to get at the +truth. And we shall employ no falsehoods. This younger Carroll was +instigated by his brother to assist him in the deed. And he was seen +by your brother to be one of those who assisted. It seems to me to be +quite right." + +"It is very terrible," Edith said. + +"Yes; it is terrible. A brother will have to swear against a brother, +and will be bribed to do it. I know what will be said to me very +well. They have tried to shoot me down like a rat; but I mean to get +the better of them. And when I shall have succeeded in removing Mr. +Pat Carroll from his present sphere of life, I shall have a second +object of ambition before me. Mr. Lax is another gentleman whom I +wish to remove. Three times he has shot at me, but he has not hit me +yet." + +From that time forth there had certainly been no more dances for +Captain Clayton. His mind had been altogether devoted to his work, +and amidst that work the trial of Pat Carroll had stood prominent. +"He and I are equally eager, or at any rate equally anxious;" he +had said to Edith, speaking of her brother, when he had met her +subsequent to the ball. "But the time is coming soon, and we shall +know all about it in another six weeks." This was said in June, and +the trial was to take place in August. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +LORD CASTLEWELL. + + +The spring and early summer had worn themselves away in London, and +Rachel O'Mahony was still singing at the Embankment Theatre. She and +her father were still living in Cecil Street. The glorious day of +October, which had been fixed at last for the 24th, on which Rachel +was to appear on the Covent Garden boards, was yet still distant, and +she was performing under Mr. Moss's behests at a weekly stipend of +£15, to which there would be some addition when the last weeks of the +season had come about, the end of July and beginning of August. But, +alas! Rachel hardly knew what she would do to support herself during +the dead months from August to October. "Fashionable people always go +out of town, father," she said. + +"Then let us be fashionable." + +"Fashionable people go to Scotland, but they won't take one in there +without money. We shan't have £50 left when our debts are paid. And +£50 would do nothing for us." + +"They've stopped me altogether," said Mr. O'Mahony. "At any rate +they have stopped the money-making part of the business. They have +threatened to take the man's license away, and therefore that place +is shut up." + +"Isn't that unjust, father?" + +"Unjust! Everything done in England as to Ireland is unjust. They +carried an Act of Parliament the other day, when in accordance with +the ancient privileges of members it was within the power of a dozen +stalwart Irishmen to stop it. The dozen stalwart Irishmen were there, +but they were silenced by a brutal majority. The dozen Irishmen were +turned out of the House, one after the other, in direct opposition to +the ancient privileges; and so a Bill was passed robbing five million +Irishmen of their liberties. So gross an injustice was never before +perpetrated--not even when the bribed members sold their country and +effected the accursed Union." + +"I know that was very bad, father, but the bribes were taken by +Irishmen. Be that as it may, what are we to do with ourselves next +autumn?" + +"The only thing for us is to seek for assistance in the United +States." + +"They won't lend us £100." + +"We must overrun this country by the force of true liberal opinion. +The people themselves will rise when they have the Americans to lead +them. What is wanted now are the voices of true patriots loud enough +to reach the people." + +"And £100," said she, speaking into his ear, "to keep us alive from +the middle of August to the end of October." + +"For myself, I have been invited to come into Parliament. The County +of Cavan will be vacant." + +"Is there a salary attached?" + +"One or two leading Irish members are speaking of it," said Mr. +O'Mahony, carried away by the grandeur of the idea, "but the amount +has not been fixed yet. And they seem to think that it is wanted +chiefly for the parliamentary session. I have not promised because I +do not quite see my way. And to tell the truth, I am not sure that it +is in Parliament that an honest Irishman will shine the best. What's +the good when you can be silenced at a moment's notice by the word +of some mock Speaker, who upsets all the rules of his office to put +a gag upon a dozen men. When America has come to understand what it +is that the lawless tyrant did on that night when the Irishmen were +turned out of the House, will she not rise in her wrath, and declare +that such things shall no longer be?" All this occurred in Cecil +Street, and Rachel, who well understood her father's wrath, allowed +him to expend in words the anger which would last hardly longer than +the sound of them. + +"But you won't be in Parliament for County Cavan before next August?" +she asked. + +"I suppose not." + +"Nor will the United States have risen in their wrath so as to have +settled the entire question before that time?" + +"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"And if they did I don't see what good it would do to us as to +finding for us the money that we want." + +"I am so full of Ireland's wrongs at this moment, and with the manner +in which these policemen interfered with me, that I can hardly bring +myself to think of your autumn plans." + +"What are yours?" she asked. + +"I suppose we should always have money enough to go to America. In +America a man can at any rate open his mouth." + +"Or a woman either. But according to what M. Le Gros says, in England +they pay better at the present moment. Mr. Moss has offered to lend +me the money; but for myself I would sooner go into an English +workhouse than accept money from Mr. Moss which I had not earned." + +In truth, Rachel had been very foolish with her money, spending it +as though there were no end to the source from which it had come, +and her father had not been more prudent. He was utterly reckless +in regard to such considerations, and would simply declare that he +was altogether indifferent to his dinner, or to the new hat he had +proposed to buy for himself when the subject was brought under his +notice. He had latterly become more eager than ever as to politics, +and was supremely happy as long as he was at liberty to speak before +any audience those angry words which had however been, unfortunately +for him, declared to be treasonable. He had, till lately, been taught +to understand that the House of Commons was the only arena on which +such permission would be freely granted,--and could be granted of +course only to Members of the House. Therefore the idea had entered +his head that it would suit him to become a member,--more especially +as there had arisen a grand scheme of a salary for certain Irish +members of which he would be one. But even here the brutality of +England had at last interfered, and men were not to be allowed to say +what they pleased any longer even in the House of Commons. Therefore +Mr. O'Mahony was much disturbed; and although he was anxious to +quarrel with no one individually, not even the policemen who arrested +him, he was full of indignant wrath against the tyranny of England +generally. + +Rachel, when she could get no good advice from her father with +regard to her future funds, went back again to her singing. It +was necessary, at any rate, that she should carry out her present +arrangement with Mr. Moss, and she was sure at least of receiving +from him the money which she earned. But, alas! she could not +practise the economy which she knew to be necessary. The people at +the theatre had talked her into hiring a one-horse open carriage in +which she delighted to drive about, and in which, to tell the truth, +her father delighted to accompany her. She had thought that she could +allow herself this indulgence out of her £15 a week. And though she +paid for the indulgence monthly, that and their joint living nearly +consumed the stipend. And now, as her father's advice did not get +beyond the very doubtful salary which might accrue to him as the +future member for the County Cavan, her mind naturally turned itself +to other sources. From M. Le Gros, or from M. Le Gros' employers, she +was to receive £300 for singing in the two months before Christmas, +with an assurance of a greatly increased though hitherto unfixed +stipend afterwards. Personally she as yet knew no one connected with +her future theatrical home but M. Le Gros. Of M. Le Gros all her +thoughts had been favourable. Should she ask M. Le Gros to lend her +some small sum of money in advance for the uses of the autumn? Mr. +Moss had made to her a fixed proposition on the subject which she had +altogether declined. She had declined it with scorn as she was wont +to do all favours proffered by Mr. Moss. Mr. Moss had still been +gracious, and had smiled, and had ventured to express "a renewed +hope," as he called it, that Miss O'Mahony would even yet condescend +to look with regard on the sincere affection of her most humble +servant. And then he had again expatiated on the immense success in +theatrical life which would attend a partnership entered into between +the skill and beauty and power of voice of Miss O'Mahony on the one +side, and the energy, devotion, and capital of Mr. Moss on the other. +"Psha!" had been Rachel's only reply; and so that interview had been +brought to an end. But Rachel, when she came to think of M. Le Gros, +and the money she was desirous of borrowing, was afflicted by certain +qualms. That she should have borrowed from Mr. Moss, considering the +length of their acquaintance might not have been unnatural; but of M. +Le Gros she knew nothing but his civility. Nor had she any reason for +supposing that M. Le Gros had money of his own at his disposal; nor +did she know where M. Le Gros lived. She could go to Covent Garden +and ask for him there; but that was all. + +So she dressed herself prettily--neatly, as she called it--and had +herself driven to the theatre. There, as chance would have it, she +found M. Le Gros standing under the portico with a gentleman whom she +represented to herself as an elderly old buck. M. Le Gros saw her and +came down into the street at once with his hat in his hand. + +"M. Le Gros," said she, "I want you to do me a great favour, but I +have hardly the impudence to ask it. Can you lend me some money this +autumn--say £100?" Thereupon M. Le Gros' face fell, and his cheeks +were elongated, and his eyes were very sorrowful. "Ah, then, I see +you can't," she said. "I will not put you to the pain of saying so. +I ought not to have suggested it. My dealings with you have seemed to +be so pleasant, and they have not been quite of the same nature down +at 'The Embankment.'" + +"My dear young lady--" + +"Not another word; and I beg your pardon most heartily for having +given you this moment's annoyance." + +"There is one of the lessees there," said M. Le Gros, pointing back +to the gentleman on the top of the steps, "who has been to hear +you and to look at you this two times--this three times at 'The +Embankment.' He do think you will become the grand singer of the +age." + +"Who is the judicious gentleman?" asked Rachel, whispering to M. Le +Gros out of the carriage. + +"He is Lord Castlewell. He is the eldest son of the Marquis of +Beaulieu. He have--oh!--lots of money. He was saying--ah! I must not +tell you what his lordship was saying of you because it will make you +vain." + +"Nothing that any lord can say of me will make me vain," said Rachel, +chucking up her head. Then his lordship, thinking that he had been +kept long enough standing on the top of the theatre steps, lifted +his hat and came down to the carriage, the occupant of which he had +recognised. + +"May I have the extreme honour of introducing Mademoiselle O'Mahony +to Lord Castlewell?" and M. Le Gros again pulled off his hat as +he made the introduction. Miss O'Mahony found that she had become +Mademoiselle as soon as she had drawn up her carriage at the front +door of the genuine Italian Opera. + +"This is a pleasure indeed," said Lord Castlewell. "I am +delighted--more than delighted, to find that my friend Le Gros has +engaged the services of Mademoiselle O'Mahony for our theatre." + +"But our engagement does not commence quite yet, I am sorry to say," +replied Rachel. Then she prepared herself to be driven away, not +caring much for the combination of lord and lessee who stood in the +street speaking to her. A lessee should be a lessee, she thought, and +a lord a lord. + +"May I do myself the honour of waiting upon you some day at 'The +Embankment,'" said the lord, again pulling off his hat. + +"Oh! certainly," said Rachel; "I should be delighted to see you." +Then she was driven away, and did not know whether to be angry or not +in having given Lord Castlewell so warm a welcome. As a mere stray +lord there was no possible reason why he should call upon her; nor +for her why she should receive him. Though Frank Jones had been +dismissed, and though she felt herself to be free to accept any +eligible lover who might present himself, she still felt herself +bound on his behalf to keep herself free from all elderly theatrical +hangers-on, especially from such men when she heard that they were +also lords. But as she was driven away, she took another glance at +the lord, and thought that he did not look so old as when she had +seen him at a greater distance. + +But she had failed altogether in her purpose of borrowing money from +M. Le Gros. And for his sake she regretted much that the attempt had +been made. She had already learned one or two details with reference +to M. Le Gros. Though his manners and appearance were so pleasant, he +was only a subaltern about the theatre; and he was a subaltern whom +this lord and lessee called simply Le Gros. And from the melancholy +nature of his face when the application for money was made to him, +she had learned that he was both good-natured and impecunious. Of +herself, in regard to the money, she thought very little at the +present moment. There were still six weeks to run, and Rachel's +nature was such that she could not distress herself six weeks in +advance of any misfortune. She was determined that she would not tell +her father of her failure. As for him, he would not probably say a +word further of their want of money till the time should come. He +confined his prudence to keeping a sum in his pocket sufficient to +take them back to New York. + +As the days went on which were to bring her engagement at "The +Embankment" to an end, Rachel heard a further rumour about herself. +Rumours did spring up at "The Embankment" to which she paid very +little attention. She had heard the same sort of things said as to +other ladies at the theatre, and took them all as a matter of course. +Had she been asked, she would have attributed them all to Madame +Socani; because Madame Socani was the one person whom, next to Mr. +Moss, she hated the most. The rumour in this case simply stated that +she had already been married to Mr. Jones, and had separated from her +husband. "Why do they care about such a matter as that?" she said to +the female from whom she heard the rumour. "It can't matter to me as +a singer whether I have five husbands." + +"But it is so interesting," said the female, "when a lady has a +husband and doesn't own him; or when she owns him and hasn't really +got him; it adds a piquancy to life, especially to theatrical life, +which does want these little assistances." + +Then one evening Lord Castlewell did call upon her at "The +Embankment." Her father was not with her, and she was constrained by +the circumstances of the moment to see his lordship alone. + +"I do feel, you know, Miss O'Mahony," he said, thus coming back +for the moment into everyday life, "that I am entitled to take an +interest in you." + +"Your lordship is very kind." + +"I suppose you never heard of me before?" + +"Not a word, my lord. I'm an American girl, and I know very little +about English lords." + +"I hope that you may come to know more. My special _métier_ in life +brings me among the theatres. I am very fond of music,--and perhaps a +little fond of beauty also." + +"I am glad you have the sense, my lord, to put music the first." + +"I don't know about that. In regard to you I cannot say which +predominates." + +"You are at liberty at any rate to talk about the one, as you are +bidding for it at your own theatre. As to the other, you will excuse +me for saying that it is a matter between me and my friends." + +"Among whom I trust before long I may be allowed to be counted." + +The little dialogue had been carried on with smiles and good humour, +and Rachel now did not choose to interfere with them. After all she +was only a public singer, and as such was hardly entitled to the full +consideration of a gentlewoman. It was thus that she argued with +herself. Nevertheless she had uttered her little reprimand and had +intended him to take it as such. + +"You are coming to us, you know, after the holidays." + +"And will bring my voice with me, such as it is." + +"But not your smiles, you mean to say." + +"They are sure to come with me, for I am always laughing,--unless I +am roused to terrible wrath. I am sure that will not be the case at +Covent Garden." + +"I hope not. You will find that you have come among a set who are +quite prepared to accept you as a friend." Here she made a little +curtsy. "And now I have to offer my sincere apologies for the little +proposition I am about to make." It immediately occurred to her that +M. Le Gros had betrayed her. He was a very civil spoken, affable, +kind old man; but he had betrayed her. "M. Le Gros happened to +mention that you were anxious to draw in advance for some portion of +the salary coming to you for the next two months." M. Le Gros had at +any rate betrayed her in the most courteous terms. + +"Well, yes; M. Le Gros explained that the proposition was not _selon +les règles_, and it does not matter the least in the world." + +"M. Le Gros has explained that? I did not know that M. Le Gros had +explained anything." + +"Well, then, he looked it," said Rachel. + +"His looks must be wonderfully expressive. He did not look it to me +at all. He simply told me, as one of the managers of the theatre, I +was to let you have whatever money you wanted. And he did whisper to +me,--may I tell you what he whispered?" + +"I suppose you may. He seems to me to be a very good-natured kind of +man." + +"Poor old Le Gros! A very good-natured man, I should say. He doesn't +carry the house, that's all." + +"You do that." Then she remembered that the man was a lord. "I ought +to have said 'my lord,'" she said; "but I forgot. I hope you'll +excuse me--my lord." + +"We are not very particular about that in theatrical matters; or, +rather, I am particular with some and not with others. You'll learn +all about it in process of time. M. Le Gros whispered that he thought +there was not the pleasantest understanding in the world between you +and the people here." + +"Well, no; there is not,--my lord." + +"Bother the lord,--just now." + +"With all my heart," said Rachel, who could not avoid the little +bit of fun which was here implied. "Not but what the--the people +here--would find me any amount of money I chose to ask for. There are +people, you see, one does not wish to borrow money from. I take my +salary here, but nothing more. The fact is, I have not only taken it, +but spent it, and to tell the truth, I have not a shilling to amuse +myself with during the dull season. Mr. Moss knows all about it, and +has simply asked how much I wanted. 'Nothing,' I replied, 'nothing at +all; nothing at all.' And that's how I am situated." + +"No debts?" + +"Not a dollar. Beyond that I shouldn't have a dollar left to get out +of London with." Then she remembered herself,--that it was expedient +that she should tell this man something about herself. "I have got a +father, you know, and he has to be paid for as well as me. He is the +sweetest, kindest, most generous father that a girl ever had, and he +could make lots of money for himself, only the police won't let him." + +"What do the police do to him?" said Lord Castlewell. + +"He is not a burglar, you know, or anything of that kind." + +"He is an Irish politician, isn't he?" + +"He is very much of a politician; but he is not an Irishman." + +"Irish name," suggested the lord. + +"Irish name, yes; so are half the names in my country. My father +comes from the United States. And he is strongly impressed with +the necessity of putting down the horrid injustice with which the +poor Irish are treated by the monstrous tyranny of you English +aristocrats. You are very nice to look at." + +"Thank you, Miss O'Mahony." + +"But you are very bad to go. You are not the kind of horses I care to +drive at all. Thieves, traitors, murderers, liars." + +"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the lord. + +"I don't say anything for myself, because I am only a singing girl, +and understand nothing about politics. But these are the very +lightest words which he has at his tongue's end when he talks about +you. He is the most good-tempered fellow in the world, and you would +like him very much. Here is Mr. Moss." Mr. Moss had opened the door +and had entered the room. + +The greeting between the two men was closely observed by Rachel, who, +though she was very imprudent in much that she did and much that she +said, never allowed anything to pass by her unobserved. Mr. Moss, +though he affected an intimacy with the lord, was beyond measure +servile. Lord Castlewell accepted the intimacy without repudiating +it, but accepted also the servility. "Well, Moss, how are you getting +on in this little house?" + +"Ah, my lord, you are going to rob us of our one attraction," and +having bowed to the lord he turned round and bowed to the lady. + +"You have no right to keep such a treasure in a little place like +this." + +"We can afford to pay for it, you know, my lord. M. Le Gros came here +a little behind my back, and carried her off." + +"Much to her advantage, I should say." + +"We can pay," said Mr. Moss. + +"To such a singer as Mademoiselle O'Mahony paying is not everything. +An audience large enough, and sufficiently intelligent to appreciate +her, is something more than mere money." + +"We have the most intelligent audience in all London," Mr. Moss said +in defence of his own theatre. + +"No doubt," said the lord. He had, during this little intercourse of +compliments, managed to write a word or two on a slip of paper, which +he now handed to Rachel--"Will £200 do?" This he put into her hand, +and then left her, saying that he would do himself the honour of +calling upon her again at her own lodgings, "where I shall hope," he +said, "to make the acquaintance of the most good-tempered fellow in +the world." Then he took his leave. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED. + + +Mr. Moss at this interview again pressed his loan of money upon poor +Rachel. + +"You cannot get on, my dear young lady, in this world without money. +If you have spent your income hitherto, what do you mean to do till +the end of November? At Covent Garden the salaries are all paid +monthly." + +There was something so ineffably low and greasy in his tone of +addressing her, that it was impossible to be surprised at the disgust +which she expressed for him. + +"Mr. Moss, I am not your dear young lady," she said. + +"Would that you were! We should be as happy as the day is long. +There would be no money troubles then." She could not fail to make +comparisons between him and the English nobleman who had just left +her, which left the Englishman infinitely superior; although, with +the few thoughts she had given to him, she had already begun to doubt +whether Lord Castlewell's morality stood very high. "What will you do +for money for the next three months? You cannot do without money," +said Mr. Moss. + +"I have already found a friend," said Rachel most imprudently. + +"What! his lordship there?" + +"I am not bound to answer any such questions." + +"But I know; I can see the game is all up if it has come to that. I +am a fellow-workman, and there have been, and perhaps will be, many +relations between us. A hundred pounds advanced here or there must be +brought into the accounts sooner or later. That is honest; that will +bear daylight; no young lady need be ashamed of that; even if you +were Mrs. Jones you need not be ashamed of such a transaction." + +"I am not Mrs. Jones," said Rachel in great anger. + +"But if you were, Mr. Jones would have no ground of complaint, unless +indeed on the score of extravagance. But a present from this lord!" + +"It is no present. It does not come from the lord; it comes from the +funds of the theatre." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Moss. "Is that the little game with which +he attempts to cajole you? How has he got his hand into the treasury +of the theatre, so that he may be able to help you so conveniently? +You have not got the money yet, I suppose?" + +"I have not got his money--which may be dangerous, or yours--which +would certainly be more so. Though from neither of you could the bare +money hurt me, if it were taken with an innocent heart. From you it +would be a distress, an annoyance, a blister. From him it would be +simply a loan either from himself or from the theatre with which he +is connected. I may be mistaken, but I have imagined that it would +come from the theatre; I will ascertain, and if it be not so, I will +decline the loan." + +"Do you not know his character? nor his mode of living, nor his +dealing with actresses? You will not at any rate get credit for such +innocence when you tell the story. Why;--he has come here to call +upon you, and of course it is all over the theatre already that you +are his mistress. I came in here to endeavour to save you; but I fear +it is too late." + +"Impudent scoundrel," said Rachel, jumping up and glaring at him. + +"That is all very well, but I have endeavoured to save you. I would +believe none of them when they told me that you would not be my wife +because you were married to Mr. Jones. Nor would I believe them when +they have told me since that you were not fit to be the wife of +anyone." Rachel's hand went in among the folds of her dress, and +returned with a dagger in it. Words had been said to her now which +she swore to herself were unbearable. "Yes; you are in a passion +now;" and as he said so, he contrived to get the round table with +which the room was garnished between himself and her. + +"It is true," she said, "your words have been so base that I am no +doubt angry." + +"But if you knew it, I am endeavouring to save you. Imprudent as +you have been I still wish to make you my wife." Here Rachel in her +indignation spat upon the floor. "Yes; I am anxious to make you an +honest woman." + +"You can make no woman honest. It is altogether beyond your power." + +"It will be so when you have taken this lord's money." + +"I have not at any rate taken yours. It is that which would disgrace +me. Between this lord and me there has been no word that could do +so." + +"Will he make you his wife?" + +"Wife! No. He is married for aught that I know. He has spoken to me +no word except about my profession. Nor shall you. Cannot a woman +sing without being wife to any man?" + +"Ha, ha, yes indeed!" + +She understood the scorn intended to be thrown on her line of life by +his words, and was wretched to think that he was getting the better +of her in conversation. "I can sing and I need no husband." + +"It is common with the friends of the lord that they do not generally +rank very high in their profession. I have endeavoured to save you +from this kind of thing, and see the return that I get! You will, +however, soon have left us, and you will then find that to fill first +place at 'The Embankment' is better than a second or a third at +Covent Garden." + +During these hot words on both sides she had been standing at a +pier-glass, arranging something in her dress intended to suit Moss's +fancy upon the stage,--Moss who was about to enact her princely +lover--and then she walked off without another word. She went through +her part with all her usual vigour and charm, and so did he. Elmira +also was more pathetic than ever, as the night was supposed to be +something special, because a royal duke and his young bride were in +the stage box. The plaudits given would have been tremendous only +that the building was so small, and the grand quartette became such a +masterpiece that there was half a column concerning it in the musical +corner of the next morning's _Daily Telephone_. "If that girl would +only go as I'd have her," said Mr. Moss to the most confidential of +his theatrical friends, "I'd make her Mrs. Moss to-morrow, and her +fame should be blazoned all over the world before twelve months had +gone as Madame Moussa." + +But Rachel, though she was enabled so to overcome her rage as to +remember only her theatrical passion when she was on the stage, spent +the whole of the subsequent night in thinking over the difficulty +into which she had brought herself by her imprudence. She understood +to the full the meaning of all those innuendoes which Mr. Moss had +provided for her; and she knew that though there was in them not a +spark of truth as regarded herself, still they were so truth-like as +to meet with acceptance, at any rate from all theatrical personages. +She had gone to M. Le Gros for the money clearly as one of the +theatrical company with which she was about to connect herself. M. +Le Gros had, to her intelligence, distinctly though very courteously +declined her request. It might be well that the company would accede +to no such request; but M. Le Gros, in his questionable civility, had +told the whole story to Lord Castlewell, who had immediately offered +her a loan of £200 out of his own pocket. It had not occurred to her +in the moment in which she had first read the words in the presence +of Mahomet M. M. that such must necessarily be the case. Was it +probable that Lord Castlewell should on his own behalf recover from +the treasury of the theatre the sum of £200? And then the nature of +this lord's character opened itself to her eyes in all the forms +which Mr. Moss had intended that it should wear. A man did not lend +a young lady £200 without meaning to secure for himself some reward. +And as she thought of it all she remembered the kind of language +in which she had spoken of her father. She had described him as an +American in words which might so probably give this noble old _roué_ +a false impression as to his character. And yet she liked the noble +old _roué_--liked him so infinitely better than she did Mr. Moss. M. +Le Gros had betrayed her, or had, perhaps, said words leading to her +betrayal; but still she greatly preferred M. Le Gros to Mr. Moss. + +She was safe as yet with this lord. Not a sparkle of his gold had +she received. No doubt the story about the money would be spread +about from her own telling of it. People would believe it because she +herself had said so. But it was still within her power to take care +that it should not be true. She did what was usual on such occasions. +She abused the ill-feeling of the world which by the malignity of +its suspicions would not scruple to drag her into the depths of +misfortune, forgetting probably that her estimation of others was the +same as others of her. She did not bethink herself that had another +young lady at another theatre accepted a loan from an unmarried lord +of such a character, she would have thought ill of that young lady. +The world ought to be perfectly innocent in regard to her because +she believed herself to be innocent; and Mr. Moss in expressing the +opinions of others, and exposing to her the position in which she had +placed herself, had simply proved himself to be the blackest of human +beings. + +But it was necessary that she should at once do something to +whitewash her own character in her own esteem. This lord had declared +that he himself would call, and she was at first minded to wait +till he did so, and then to hand back to him the cheque which she +believed that he would bring, and to assure him that under altered +circumstances it would not be wanted. But she felt that it would best +become her to write to him openly, and to explain the circumstances +which had led to his offering the loan. "There is nothing like being +straightforward," she said to herself, "and if he does not choose to +believe me, that is his fault." So she took up her pen, and wrote +quickly, to the following effect: + + + MY DEAR LORD CASTLEWELL, + + I want to tell you that I do not wish to have the £200 + which you were good enough to say that you would lend me. + Indeed I cannot take it under any circumstances. I must + explain to you all about it, if your lordship pleases. I + had intended to ask M. Le Gros to get the theatre people + to advance me some small sum on my future engagement, and + I had not thought how impossible it was that they should + do so, as of course I might die before I had sung a single + note. I never dreamed of coming to you, whose lordship's + name I had not even heard in my ignorance. Then M. Le Gros + spoke to you, and you came and made your proposition in + the most good-natured way in the world. I was such a fool + as not to see that the money must of course come from + yourself. + + Mr. Moss has enlightened me, and has made me understand + that no respectable young woman would accept a loan of + money from you without blemish to her character. Mr. Moss, + whom I do not in the least like, has been right in this. I + should be very sorry if you should be taught to think evil + of me before I go to your theatre; or indeed, if I do not + go at all. I am not up to all these things, and I suppose + I ought to have consulted my father the moment I got your + little note. Pray do not take any further notice of it. + + I am, very faithfully, + Your lordship's humble servant, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +Then there was added a postscript: "Your note has just come and I +return the cheque." As chance would have it the cheque had come just +as Rachel had finished her letter, and with the cheque there had been +a short scrawl as follows: "I send the money as settled, and will +call to-morrow." + +Whatever may have been Lord Castlewell's general sins among actresses +and actors, his feelings hitherto in regard to Miss O'Mahony had not +done him discredit. He had already heard her name frequently when he +had seen her in her little carriage before the steps of Covent Garden +Theatre, and had heard her sing at "The Embankment." Her voice and +tone and feeling had enchanted him as he had wont to be enchanted by +new singers of high quality, and he had been greatly struck by the +brightness of her beauty. When M. Le Gros had told him of her little +wants, he had perceived at once her innocence, and had determined to +relieve her wants. Then, when she had told him of her father, and +had explained to him the kind of terms on which they lived together, +he was sure that she was pure as snow. But she was very lovely, and +he could not undertake to answer for what feelings might spring up +in her bosom. Now he had received this letter, and every word of it +spoke to him in her favour. He took, therefore, a little trouble, and +calling upon her the next morning at her lodgings, found her seated +with Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Father," she said, when the lord was ushered into the room, "this is +Lord Castlewell. Lord Castlewell, this is my father." + +Then she sat down, leaving the two to begin the conversation as they +might best please. She had told her father nothing about the money, +simply explaining that on the steps of the theatre she had met the +lord, who was one of its proprietors. + +"Lord Castlewell," said Mr. O'Mahony, "I am very proud," then he +bowed. "I know very little about stage affairs, but I am confident +that my daughter will do her duty to the best of her ability." + +"Not more so than I am," said Lord Castlewell, upon which Mr. +O'Mahony bowed again. "You have heard about this little _contretemps_ +about the money." + +"Not a word," said Mr. O'Mahony, shaking his head. + +"Nor of the terrible character which has been given you by your +daughter?" + +"That I can well understand," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"She says that you wish to abolish all the English aristocracy." + +"Most of them," said Mr. O'Mahony. "Peradventure ten shall be found +honest, and I will not destroy them for ten's sake; but I doubt +whether there be one." + +"I should be grieved to think that you were the judge." + +"And so should I," said Mr. O'Mahony. "It is so easy to utter curses +when no power accompanies the utterances. The Lord must have found it +uncomfortable in regard to Sodom. I can spit out all my fury against +English vices and British greed without suffering one pang at my +heart. What is this that you were saying about Rachel and her money?" + +"She is in a little trouble about cash at the present moment." + +"Not a doubt about it." + +"And I have offered to lend her a trifle--£200 or so, just till she +can work it off up at the theatre there." + +"Then there is one of the ten at any rate," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Meaning me?" asked the lord. + +"Just so. Lending us £200, when neither of us have a shilling in our +pocket, is a very good deed. Don't you think so, Rachel?" + +"No," said Rachel. "Lord Castlewell is not a fit person to lend me +£200 out of his pocket, and I will not have it." + +"I did not know," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"You never know anything, you are such a dear, innocent old father." + +"There's an end of it then," said he, addressing himself to the lord. +He did not look in the least annoyed because his daughter had refused +to take the loan, nor had he shown the slightest feeling of any +impropriety when there was a question as to her accepting it. + +"Of course I cannot force it upon you," said Lord Castlewell. + +"No; a lord cannot do that, even in this country, where lords go for +so much. But we are not a whit the less obliged to your lordship. +There are proprieties and improprieties which I don't understand. +Rachel knows all about them. Such a knowledge comes to a girl +naturally, and she chooses either the one or the other, according to +her nature. Rachel is a dragon of propriety." + +"Father, you are a goose," said Rachel. + +"I am telling his lordship the truth. There is some reason why you +should not take the money, and you won't take it. I think it very +hard that I should not have been allowed to earn it." + +"Why were you not allowed?" asked the lord. + +"Lest the people should be persuaded to rise up against you +lords,--which they very soon would do,--and will do. You are right in +your generation. The people were paying twenty-five cents a night to +come and hear me, and so I was informed that I must not speak to them +any more. I had been silenced in Galway before; but then I had spoken +about your Queen." + +"We can't endure that, you know." + +"So I learn. She's a holy of holies. But I promised to say nothing +further about her, and I haven't. I was talking about your Speaker of +the House of Commons." + +"That's nearly as bad," said Lord Castlewell, shaking his head. + +"A second-rate holy of holies. When I said that he ought to obey +certain rules which had been laid down for his guidance, I was told +to walk out. 'What may I talk about?' I asked. Then the policeman +told me 'the weather.' Even an Englishman is not stupid enough to pay +twenty-five cents for that. I am only telling you this to explain why +we are so impecunious." + +"The policeman won't prevent my lending you £200." + +"Won't he now? There's no knowing what a policeman can't do in this +country. They are very good-natured, all the same." + +Then Lord Castlewell turned to Rachel, and asked her whether her +suspicions would go so far as to interfere between him and her +father. "It is because I am a pretty girl that you are going to do +it," she said, frowning, "or because you pretend to think so." Here +the father broke out into a laugh, and the lord followed him. "You +had better keep your money to yourself, my lord. You never can have +used it with less chance of getting any return." This interview, +however, was ended by the acceptance of a cheque from Lord Castlewell +for £200, payable to the order of Gerald O'Mahony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + + +"She has taken his money all the same." This was said some weeks +after the transaction as described in the last chapter, and was +spoken by Madame Socani to Mr. Moss. + +"How do you know?" + +"I know very well. You are so infatuated by that young woman that you +will believe nothing against her." + +"I am infatuated with her voice; I know what she is going to do in +the world. Old Barytone told me that he had never heard such a voice +from a woman's mouth since the days of Malibran; and if there is a +man who knows one voice from another, it is Barytone. He can taste +the richness of the instrument down to its lowest tinkling sound." + +"And you would marry such a one as she for her voice." + +"And she can act. Ah! if you could have acted as she does, it might +have been different." + +"She has got a husband just the same as me." + +"I don't believe it; but never mind, I would risk all that. And I +will do it yet. If you will only keep your toe in your pump, we will +have such a company as nothing that Le Gros can do will be able to +cut us down." + +"And she is taking money from that lord." + +"They all take money from lords," he replied. "What does it matter? +And she is as stout a piece of goods as ever you came across. She has +given me more impudence in the last eight months than ever I took +from any of them. And by Jupiter I never so much as got a kiss from +her." + +"A kiss!" said Madame Socani with great contempt. + +"And she has hit me a box on the cheek which I have had to put up +with. She has always got a dagger about her somewhere, to give a +fellow a prod in her passion." Here Mr. Moss laughed or affected to +laugh at the idea of the dagger. "I tell you that she would have it +into a fellow in no time." + +"Then why don't you leave her alone? A little wizened monkey like +that!" It was thus that Madame Socani expressed her opinion of her +rival. "A creature without an ounce of flesh on her bones. Her voice +won't last long. It never does with those little mean made apes. +There was Grisi and Tietjens,--they had something of a body for a +voice to come out of. And here is this girl that you think so much +of, taking money hand over hand from the very first lord she comes +across." + +"I don't believe a word of it," said the faithful Moss. + +"You'll find that it is true. She will go away to some watering-place +in the autumn, and he'll be after her. Did you ever know him spare +one of them? or one of them, poor little creatures, that wouldn't +rise to his bait?" + +"She has got her father with her." + +"Her father! What is the good of fathers? He'll take some of the +money, that's all. I'll tell you what it is, Moss, if you don't drop +her you and I will be two." + +"With all my heart, Madame Socani," said Moss. "I have not the +slightest intention of dropping her. And as for you and me, we can +get on very well apart." + +But Madame Socani, though she would be roused by jealousy to make +this threat once a month, knew very well that she could not afford +to sever herself from Mr. Moss; and she knew also that Mr. Moss +was bound to show her some observance, or, at any rate, to find +employment for her as long as she could sing. + +But Mr. Moss was anxious to find out whether any money arrangements +did or did not exist between Miss O'Mahony and the lord, and was +resolved to ask the question in a straightforward manner. He had +already found out that his old pupil had no power of keeping a secret +to herself when thus asked. She would sternly refuse to give any +reply; but she would make her refusal in such a manner as to tell the +whole truth. In fact, Rachel, among her accomplishments, had not the +power of telling a lie in such language as to make herself believed. +It was not that she would scruple in the least to declare to Mr. +Moss the very opposite to the truth in a matter in which he had, she +thought, no business to be inquisitive; but when she did so she had +no power to look the lie. You might say of her frequently that she +was a downright liar. But of all human beings whom you could meet she +was the least sly. "My dear child," the father used to say to her, +"words to you are worth nothing, unless it be to sing them. You can +make no impression with them in any other way." Therefore it was that +Mr. Moss felt that he could learn the truth from simply questioning +his pupil. + +"Miss O'Mahony, may I say a few words to you?" So said Mr. Moss, +having knocked at the door of Rachel's sitting-room. He had some +months ago fallen into the habit of announcing himself, when he had +come to give her lessons, and would inform the servant that he would +take up his own name. Rachel had done what she could do to put an end +to the practice, but it still prevailed. + +"Certainly, Mr. Moss. Was not the girl there to show you up?" + +"No doubt she was. But such ceremony between us is hardly necessary." + +"I should prefer to be warned of the coming of my master. I will see +to that in future. Such little ceremonies do have their uses." + +"Shall I go down and make her say that I am here, and then come up +again?" + +"It shall not be necessary, but you take a chair and begin!" Then Mr. +Moss considered how he had better do so. He knew well that the girl +would not answer kindly to such a question as he was desirous of +asking. And it might be that she would be very uncivil. He was by no +means a coward, but he had a vivid recollection of the gleam of her +dagger. He smiled, and she looked at him more suspiciously because of +his smile. He was sitting on a sofa opposite to her as she sat on a +music-stool which she had turned round, so as to face him, and he +fancied that he could see her right hand hide itself among the folds +of her dress. "Is it about the theatre?" + +"Well, it is;--and yet it isn't." + +"I wish it were something about the theatre. It always seems to come +more natural between you and me." + +"I want you to tell me what you did at last about Lord Castlewell's +money." + +"Why am I to tell you what I did?" + +"For friendship." + +"I do not feel any." + +"That's an uncivil word to say, mademoiselle." + +"But it's true. You have no business to ask me about the lord's +money, and I won't be questioned." + +"It will be so deleterious to you if you accept it." + +"I can take care of myself," she said, jumping off the chair. "I +shall have left this place now in another month, and shall utterly +disregard the words which anyone at your theatre may say of me. I +shall not tell you whether the lord has lent me money or not." + +"I know he has." + +"Very well. Then leave the room. Knowing as you do that I am living +here with my own father, your interference is grossly impertinent." + +"Your father is not going with you, I am afraid." She rushed at the +bell and pulled it till the bell rope came down from the wire, but +nobody answered the bell. "Can it be possible that you should not be +anxious to begin your new career under respectable auspices?" + +"I will not stand this. Leave the room, sir. This apartment is my +own." + +"Miss O'Mahony, you see my hand; with this I am ready to offer at +once to place you in a position in which the world would look up to +you." + +"You have done so before, Mr. Moss, and your doing so again is an +insult. It would not be done to any young lady unless she were on the +stage, and were thought on that account to be open to any man about +the theatre to say what he pleased to her." + +"Any gentleman is at liberty to make any lady an offer." + +"I have answered it. Now leave the room." + +"I cannot do so until I have heard that you have not taken money from +this reprobate." + +At the moment the door opened, and the reprobate entered the room. + +"Your servant told me that Mr. Moss was here, and therefore I walked +up at once," said the reprobate. + +"I am so much obliged to you," said Rachel. "Oh Lord Castlewell! I am +so much obliged to you. He tells me in the first place that you are a +reprobate." + +"Never mind me," said the lord. + +"I don't mind what he says of you. He declares that my character will +be gone for ever because you have lent my father some money." + +"So it will," said Moss, who was not afraid to stand up to his guns. + +"And how if she had accepted your offer?" + +"No one would have thought of it. Come, my lord, you know the +difference. I am anxious only to save her." + +"It is to her father I have lent the money, who explained to me the +somewhat cruel treatment he had received at the hands of the police. +I think you are making an ass of yourself, Mr. Moss." + +"Very well, my lord; very well," said Mr. Moss. "All the world no +doubt will know that you have lent the money to the Irish Landleaguer +because of your political sympathy with him, and will not think for a +minute that you have been attracted by our pretty young friend here. +It will not suspect that it is she who has paid for the loan!" + +"Mr. Moss, you are a brute," said the lord. + +"Can't he be turned out of the room?" asked Rachel. + +"Well, yes; it is possible," said the lord, who slowly prepared to +walk up and take some steps towards expelling Mr. Moss. + +"It shall not be necessary," said Mahomet M. M. "You could not get me +out, but there would be a terrible row in the house, which could not +fail to be disagreeable to Miss O'Mahony. I leave her in your hands, +and I do not think I could possibly leave her in worse. I have wished +to make her an honest woman; what you want of her you can explain +to herself." In saying this Mr. Moss walked downstairs and left the +house, feeling, as he went, that he had got the better both of the +lord and of the lady. + +With Mr. Moss there was a double motive, neither of which was very +bright, but both of which he followed with considerable energy. He +had at first been attracted by her good looks, which he had desired +to make his own--at the cheapest price at which they might be had +in the market. If marriage were necessary, so be it, but it might +be that the young lady would not be so exigeant. It was probably +the expression of some such feelings in the early days of their +acquaintance which had made him so odious to her. Then Frank Jones +had come forward; and like any good honest girl, in a position so +public, she had at once let the fact of Mr. Jones be made known, so +as to protect her. But it had not protected her, and Mr. Moss had +been doubly odious. Then, by degrees, he had become aware of the +value of her voice, and he perceived the charms that there were in +what he pictured to himself as a professional partnership as well as +a marriage. Various ideas floated through his mind, down even to the +creation of fresh names, grand married names, for his wife. And if +she could be got to see it in the light he saw it, what a stroke of +business they might do! He was aware that she expressed personal +dislike to him; but he did not think much of that. He did not in +the least understand the nature of such dislike as she exhibited. +He thought himself to be a very good-looking man. He was one of a +profession to which she also belonged. He had no idea that he was not +a gentleman but that she was a lady. He did not know that there were +such things. Madame Socani told him that this young woman was already +married to Mr. Jones, but had left that gentleman because he had no +money. He did not believe this; but in any case he would be willing +to risk it. The peril would be hers and not his. It was his object +to establish the partnership, and he did not even yet see any fatal +impediment to it. + +This lord who had been trapped by her beauty, by that and by her +theatrical standing, was an impediment, but could be removed. He had +known Lord Castlewell to be in love with a dozen singers, partly +because he thought himself to be a judge of music, and partly simply +because he had liked their looks. The lord had now taken a fancy to +Miss O'Mahony, and had begun by lending her money. That the father +should take the money instead of the daughter, was quite natural +to his thinking. But he might still succeed in looking after Miss +O'Mahony, and rescuing the singer from the lord. By keeping a close +watch on her he must make it impossible for the lord to hold her. +Therefore, when he went away, leaving the lord and the singer +together, he thought that for the present he had got the better of +both. + +"Why did he tell you that I was a reprobate?" said the lord, when he +found himself alone with the lady. + +"Well, perhaps it was because you are one, my lord," said Rachel, +laughing. She would constantly remember herself, and tell herself +that as long as she called him by his title, she was protecting +herself from that familiarity which would be dangerous. + +"I hope you don't think so." + +"Gentlemen generally are reprobates, I believe. It is not disgraceful +for a gentleman to be a reprobate, but it is pleasant. The young +women I daresay find it pleasant, but then it is disgraceful. I do +not mean to disgrace myself, Lord Castlewell." + +"I am sure you will not." + +"I want you to be sure of it, quite sure. I am a singing girl; but I +don't mean to be any man's mistress." He stared at her as she said +this. "And I don't mean to be any man's wife, unless I downright love +him. Now you may keep out of my way, if you please. I daresay you +are a reprobate, my lord; but with that I have got nothing to do. +Touching this money, I suppose father has not got it yet?" + +"I have sent it." + +"You are to get nothing for it, but simply to have it returned, +without interest, as soon as I have earned it. You have only to say +the word and I will take care that father shall send it you back +again." + +Lord Castlewell felt that the girl was very unlike others whom he +had known, and who had either rejected his offers with scorn or +had accepted them with delight. This young lady did neither. She +apparently accepted the proffered friendship, and simply desired him +to carry his reprobate qualities elsewhere. There was a frankness +about her which pleased him much, though it hardly tended to make him +in love with her. One thing he did resolve on the spur of the moment, +that he would never say a word to her which her father might not +hear. It was quite a new sensation to him, this of simple friendship +with a singer, with a singer whom he had met in the doubtful custody +of Mr. Moss; but he did believe her to be a good girl,--a good girl +who could speak out her mind freely; and as such he both respected +and liked her. "Of course I shan't take back the money till it +becomes due. You'll have to work hard for it before I get it." + +"I shall be quite contented to do that, my lord." Then the interview +was over and his lordship left the room. + +But Lord Castlewell felt as he went home that this girl was worth +more than other girls. She laughed at him for being a lord, but she +could accept a favour from him, and then tell him to his face that +he should do her no harm because she had accepted it. He had met +some terrible rebuffs in his career, the memory of which had been +unpleasant to him; and he had been greeted with many smiles, all of +which had been insipid. What should he do with this girl, so as to +make the best of her? The only thing that occurred to him was to +marry her! And yet such a marriage would be altogether out of his +line of life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + + +The £200 was not spent in a manner of which Lord Castlewell would +have altogether approved. About the end of August Mr. O'Mahony was +summoned back to Ireland, and was induced, at a meeting held at the +Rotunda, to give certain pledges which justified the advanced Irish +party in putting him forward as a new member for the County of Cavan. +The advanced Irish party had no doubt been attracted by the eloquence +he had exhibited both in Galway and in London, and by the patriotic +sentiments which he had displayed. He was known to be a Republican, +and to look for the formation of a Republic to American aid. He had +expressed most sincere scorn for everything English, and professed +ideas as to Irish property generally in regard to which he was +altogether ignorant of their meaning. As he was a sincerely honest +man, he did think that something good for his old country would be +achieved by Home Rule; though how the Home-Rulers would set to work +when Home Rule should be the law of the land, he had not the remotest +conception. There were many reasons, therefore, why he should be a +fit member for an Irish county. But it must be admitted that he would +not have been so unanimously selected had all the peculiarities of +his mind been known. It might be probable that he would run riot +under the lash of his leader, as others have done both before and +since, when he should come to see all the wiles of that strategy +which he would be called upon to support. And in such case the +quarrel with him would be more internecine than with other foes, +such as English members, Scotch members, Conservative Irish members, +and Liberal Irish members, not sworn to follow certain leaders. A +recreant one out of twenty friends would be regarded with more bitter +hatred than perhaps six hundred and thirty ordinary enemies. It +might be, therefore, that a time of tribulation was in store for Mr. +O'Mahony, but he did not consider these matters very deeply when the +cheers rang loud in the hall of the Rotunda; nor did he then reflect +that he was about to spend in an injudicious manner the money which +must be earned by Rachel's future work. + +When Rachel had completed her engagement with Mr. Moss, it had been +intended that they should go down to Ambleside and there spend Lord +Castlewell's money in the humble innocent enjoyment of nature. There +had at that moment been nothing decided as to the County of Cavan. A +pork-butcher possessed of some small means and unlimited impudence +had put himself forward. But The Twenty had managed to put him +through his facings, and had found him to be very ignorant in his use +of the Queen's English. Now of late there had come up a notion that +the small party required to make up for the thinness of their members +by the strength of their eloquence. Practice makes perfect, and it is +not to be wondered at therefore if a large proportion of The Twenty +had become fluent. But more were wanted, and of our friend O'Mahony's +fluency there could be no doubt. Therefore he was sent for, and on +the very day of his arrival he proved to the patriotic spirits of +Dublin that he was the man for Cavan. Three days afterwards he went +down, and Cavan obediently accepted its man. With her father went +Rachel, and was carried through the towns of Virginia, Bailyborough, +and Ballyjamesduff, in great triumph on a one-horse car. + +This occurred about the end of August, and Lord Castlewell's £200 +was very soon spent. She had not thought much about it, but had been +quite willing to be the daughter of a Member of Parliament, if a +constituency could be found willing to select her father. She did not +think much of the duties of Parliament, if they came within the reach +of her father's ability. She did not in truth think that he could +under any circumstances do half a day's work. She had known what it +was to practise, and, having determined to succeed, she had worked +as only a singer can work who determines that she will succeed. Hour +after hour she had gone on before the looking-glass, and even Mr. +Moss had expressed his approval. But during the years that she had +been so at work, she had never seen her father do anything. She knew +that he talked what she called patriotic buncombe. It might be that +he would become a very fitting Member of Parliament, but Rachel had +her doubt. She could see, however, that the £200 quickly vanished +during their triumphant journeyings on the one-horse car. Everybody +in County Cavan seemed to know that there was £200 and no more to be +spent by the new member. There he was, however, Member of Parliament +for the County of Cavan, and his breast was filled with new +aspirations. Enmity, the bitterest enmity to everything English, +was the one lesson taught him. But he himself had other feelings. +What if he could talk over that Speaker, and that Prime Minister, +that Government generally, and all the House of Commons, and all +the House of Lords! Why should not England go her way and Ireland +hers,--England have her monarchy and Ireland her republic, but still +with some kind of union between them, as to the nature of which Mr. +O'Mahony had no fixed idea in his brain whatsoever. But he knew that +he could talk, and he knew also that he must now talk on an arena +for admission to which the public would not pay twenty-five cents or +more. His breast was much disturbed by the consideration that for all +the work which he proposed to do no wages were to be forthcoming. + +But while Mr. O'Mahony was being elected Member of Parliament for +County Cavan, things were going on very sadly in County Galway. +Wednesday, the 31st of August, had been the day fixed for the trial +of Pat Carroll; and the month of August was quickly wearing itself +away. But during the month of August Captain Clayton found occasion +more than once to come into the neighbourhood of Headford. And though +Mr. Jones was of an opinion that his presence there was adequately +accounted for by the details of the coming trial, the two girls +evidently thought that some other cause might be added to that which +Pat Carroll had produced. + +It must be explained that at this period Frank Jones was absent from +Morony Castle, looking out for emergency men who could be brought +down to the neighbourhood of Headford, in sufficient number to save +the crop on Mr. Jones's farm. And with him was Tom Daly, who had some +scheme in his own head with reference to his horses and his hounds. +Mr. Persse and Sir Jasper Lynch had been threatened with a wide +system of boycotting, unless they would give up Tom Daly's animals. +A decree had gone forth in the county, that nothing belonging to +the hunt should be allowed to live within its precincts. All the +bitterness and the cruelty and the horror arising from this order are +beyond the limit of this story. But it may be well to explain that at +the present moment Frank Jones was away from Castle Morony, working +hard on his father's behalf. + +And so were the girls working hard--making the butter, and cooking +the meat, and attending to the bedrooms. And Peter was busy with them +as their lieutenant. It might be thought that the present was no time +for love-making, and that Captain Clayton could not have been in the +mood. But it may be observed that at any period of special toil in a +family, when infinitely more has to be done than at any other time, +then love-making will go on with more than ordinary energy. Edith +was generally to be found with her hair tucked tight off her face +and enveloped in a coarse dairymaid's apron, and Ada, when she ran +downstairs, would do so with a housemaid's dusting-brush at her +girdle, and they were neither of them, when so attired, in the +least afraid of encountering Captain Clayton as he would come out +from their father's room. All the world knew that they were being +boycotted, and very happy the girls were during the process. "Poor +papa" did not like it so well. Poor papa thought of his banker's +account, or rather of that bank at which there was, so to say, no +longer any account. But the girls were light of heart, and in the +pride of their youth. But, alas! they had both of them blundered +frightfully. It was Edith, Edith the prudent, Edith the wise, Edith, +who was supposed to know everything, who had first gone astray in +her blundering, and had taken Ada with her; but the story with its +details must be told. + +"My pet," she said to her elder sister, as they were standing +together at the kitchen dresser, "I know he means to speak to you +to-day." + +"What nonsense, Edith!" + +"It has to be done some day, you know. And he is just the man to come +upon one in the time of one's dire distress. Of course we haven't got +a halfpenny now belonging to us. I was thinking only the other day +how comfortable it is that we never go out of the house because we +haven't the means to buy boots. Now Captain Clayton is just the man +to be doubly attracted by such penury." + +"I don't know why a man is to make an offer to a girl just because he +finds her working like a housemaid." + +"I do. I can see it all. He is just the man to take you in his arms +because he found you peeling potatoes." + +"I beg he will do nothing of the kind," said Ada. "He has never said +a word to me, or I to him, to justify such a proceeding. I should at +once hit him over the head with my brush." + +"Here he comes, and now we will see how far I understand such +matters." + +"Don't go, Edith," said Ada. "Pray don't go. If you go I shall go +with you. These things ought always to come naturally,--that is if +they come at all." + +It did not "come" at that moment, for Edith was so far mistaken that +Captain Clayton, after saying a few words to the girls, passed on +out of the back-door, intent on special business. "What a wretched +individual he is," said Edith. "Fancy pinning one's character on +the doings of such a man as that. However, he will be back again +to dinner, and you will not be so hard upon him then with your +dusting-brush." + +Before dinner the Captain did return, and found himself alone with +Edith in the kitchen. It was her turn on this occasion to send up +whatever meal in the shape of dinner Castle Morony could afford. +"There you have it, sir," she said, pointing to a boiled neck of +mutton, which had been cut from the remains of a sheep sent in to +supply the family wants. + +"I see," said he. "It will make a very good dinner,--or a very bad +one, according to circumstances, as they may fall out before the +dinner leaves the kitchen." + +"Then they will have to fall out very quickly," said Edith. But the +colour had flown to her face, and in that moment she had learned to +suspect the truth. And her mind flew back rapidly over all her doings +and sayings for the last three months. If it was so, she could never +forgive herself. If it was so, Ada would never forgive her. If it was +so, they two and Captain Yorke Clayton must be separated for ever. +"Well; what is it?" she said, roughly. The joint of meat had fallen +from her hands, and she looked up at Captain Clayton with all the +anger she could bring into her face. + +"Edith," he said, "you surely know that I love you." + +"I know nothing of the kind. There can be no reason why I should know +it,--why I should guess it. It cannot be so without grievous wrong on +your part." + +"What wrong?" + +"Base wrong done to my sister," she answered. Then she remembered +that she had betrayed her sister, and she remembered too how much of +the supposed love-making had been done by her own words, and not by +any spoken by Captain Clayton. And there came upon her at that moment +a remembrance also of that other moment in which she had acknowledged +to herself that she had loved this man, and had told herself that the +love was vain, and had sworn to herself that she would never stand +in Ada's way, and had promised to herself that all things should be +happy to her as this man's sister-in-law. Acting then on this idea +merely because Ada had been beautiful she had gone to work,--and this +had come of it! In that minute that was allowed to her as the boiled +mutton was cooling on the dresser beneath her hand, all this passed +through her mind. + +"Wrong done by me to Ada!" said the Captain. + +"I have said it; but if you are a gentleman you will forget it. I +know that you are a gentleman,--a gallant man, such as few I think +exist anywhere. Captain Clayton, there are but two of us. Take the +best; take the fairest; take the sweetest. Let all this be as though +it had never been spoken. I will be such a sister to you as no man +ever won for himself. And Ada will be as loving a wife as ever graced +a man's home. Let it be so, and I will bless every day of your life." + +"No," he said slowly, "I cannot let it be like that. I have learned +to love you and you only, and I thought that you had known it." + +"Never!" + +"I had thought so. It cannot be as you propose. I shall never speak +of your sister to a living man. I shall never whisper a word of her +regard even here in her own family. But I cannot change my heart as +you propose. Your sister is beautiful, and sweet, and good; but she +is not the girl who has crept into my heart, and made a lasting home +for herself there,--if the girl who has done so would but accept +it. Ada is not the girl whose brightness, whose bravery, whose wit +and ready spirit have won me. These things go, I think, without any +effort. I have known that there has been no attempt on your part; but +the thing has been done and I had hoped that you were aware of it. It +cannot now be undone. I cannot be passed on to another. Here, here, +here is what I want," and he put his two hands upon her shoulders. +"There is no other girl in all Ireland that can supply her place if +she be lost to me." + +He had spoken very solemnly, and she had stood there in solemn mood +listening to him. By degrees the conviction had come upon her that he +was in earnest, and was not to be changed in his purpose by anything +that she could say to him. She had blundered, had blundered awfully. +She had thought that with a man beauty would be everything; but with +this man beauty had been nothing; nor had good temper and a sense of +duty availed anything. She rushed into the dining-room carrying the +boiled mutton with her, and he followed. What should she do now? Ada +would yield--would give him up--would retire into the background, and +would declare that Edith should be made happy, but would never lift +up her head again. And she--she herself--could also give him up, +and would lift up her head again. She knew that she had a power of +bearing sorrow, and going on with the work of the world, in spite of +all troubles, which Ada did not possess. It might, therefore, have +all been settled, but that the man was stubborn, and would not be +changed. "Of course, he is a man," said Edith to herself, as she put +the mutton down. "Of course he must have it all to please himself. Of +course he will be selfish." + +"I thought you were never coming with our morsel of dinner," said Mr. +Jones. + +"Here is the morsel of dinner; but I could have dished it in half the +time if Captain Clayton had not been there." + +"Of course I am the offender," said he, as he sat down. "And now I +have forgotten to bring the potatoes." So he started off, and met +Florian at the door coming in with them. Mr. Jones carved the mutton, +and Captain Clayton was helped first. In a boycotted house you will +always find that the gentlemen are helped before the ladies. It +is a part of the principle of boycotting that women shall subject +themselves. + +Captain Clayton, after his first little stir about the potatoes, ate +his dinner in perfect silence. That which had taken place upset him +more completely than the rifles of two or three Landleaguers. Mr. +Jones was also silent. He was a man at the present moment nearly +overwhelmed by his cares. And Ada, too, was silent. As Edith looked +at her furtively she began to fear that her pet suspected something. +There was a look of suffering in her face which Edith could read, +though it was not plain enough written there to be legible to others. +Her father and Florian had no key by which to read it, and Captain +Clayton never allowed his eyes to turn towards Ada's face. But it was +imperative on both that they should not all fall into some feeling of +special sorrow through their silence. "It is just one week more," she +said, "before you men must be at Galway." + +"Only one week," said Florian. + +"It will be much better to have it over," said the father. "I do not +think you need come back at all, but start at once from Galway. Your +sisters can bring what things you want, and say good-bye at Athenry." + +"My poor Florian," said Edith. + +"I shan't mind it so much when I get to England," said the boy. "I +suppose I shall come home for the Christmas holidays." + +"I don't know about that," said the father. "It will depend upon the +state of the country." + +"You will come and meet him, Ada?" asked Edith. + +"I suppose so," said Ada. And her sister knew from the tone of her +voice that some evil was already suspected. + +There was nothing more said that night till Edith and Ada were +together. Mr. Jones lingered with his daughters, and the Captain took +Florian out about the orchard, thinking it well to make him used +to whatever danger might come to him from being out of the house. +"They will never come where they will be sure to be known," said the +Captain; "and known by various witnesses. And they won't come for +the chance of a pop shot. I am getting to know their ways as well as +though I had lived there all my life. They count on the acquittal of +Pat Carroll as a certainty. Whatever I may be, you are tolerably safe +as long as that is the case." + +"They may shoot me in mistake for you," said the boy. + +"Well, yes; that is so. Let us go back to the house. But I don't +think there would be any danger to-night anyway." Then they returned, +and found Mr. Jones alone in the dining-room. He was very melancholy +in these days, as a man must be whom ruin stares in the face. + +Edith had followed Ada upstairs to the bedrooms, and had crept after +her into that which had been prepared for Captain Clayton. She could +see now by the lingering light of an August evening that a tear had +fallen from each eye, and had slowly run down her sister's cheeks. +"Oh, Ada, dear Ada, what is troubling you?" + +"Nothing,--much." + +"My girl, my beauty, my darling! Much or little, what is it? Cannot +you tell me?" + +"He cares nothing for me," said Ada, laying her hand upon the pillow, +thus indicating the "he" whom she intended. Edith answered not a +word, but pressed her arm tight round her sister's waist. "It is so," +said Ada, turning round upon her sister as though to rebuke her. "You +know that it is so." + +"My beauty, my own one," said Edith, kissing her. + +"You know it is so. He has told you. It is not me that he loves; +it is you. You are his chosen one. I am nothing to him,--nothing, +nothing." Then she flung herself down upon the bed which her own +hands had prepared for him. + +It was all true. As the assertions had come from her one by one, +Edith had found herself unable to deny a tittle of what was said. +"Ada, if you knew my heart to you." + +"What good is it? Why did you teach me to believe a falsehood?" + +"Oh! you will kill me if you accuse me. I have been so true to you." +Then Ada turned round upon the bed, and hid her face for a few +minutes upon the pillow. "Ada, have I not been true to you?" + +"But that you should have been so much mistaken;--you, who know +everything." + +"I have not known him," said Edith. + +"But you will," said Ada. "You will be his wife." + +"Never!" ejaculated the other. + +Then slowly, Ada got up from the bed and shook her hair from off her +face and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. "It must be so," she +said. "Of course it must, as he wishes it. He must have all that he +desires." + +"No, not so. He shall never have this." + +"Yes, Edith, he must and he shall. Do you not know that you loved him +before you ever bade me to do so? But why, oh why did you ever make +that great mistake? And why was I so foolish as to have believed +you? Come," she said, "I must make his bed for him once again. He +will be here soon now and we must be away." Then she did obliterate +the traces of her form which her figure had made upon the bed, and +smoothed the pillow, and wiped away the mark of her tear which +had fallen on it. "Come, Edith, come," said she, "let us go and +understand each other. He knows, for you have told him, but no one +else need know. He shall be your husband, and I will be his sister, +and all shall be bright between you." + +"Never," said Edith. "Never! He will never be married if he waits for +me." + +"My dear one, you shall be his wife," said Ada. Such were the last +words which passed between them on that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN. + + +The days ran on for the trial of Pat Carroll, but Edith did not again +see Captain Clayton. There came tidings to Morony Castle of the new +honours which Mr. O'Mahony had achieved. + +"I don't know that the country will be much the wiser for his +services," said Captain Clayton. "He will go altogether with those +wretched Landleaguers." + +"He will be the best of the lot," said Mr. Jones. + +"It is saying very little for him," said Captain Clayton. + +"He is an honest man, and I take him to be the only honest man among +them." + +"He won't remain a Landleaguer long if he is honest. But what about +his daughter?" + +"Frank has seen her down in Cavan, and declares that she is about to +make any amount of money at the London theatres." + +"I take it they will find it quite a new thing to have a Member of +Parliament among their number with an income," said Clayton. "But +I'll bet any man a new hat that there is a split between him and them +before the next Parliament is half over." + +This took place during one of the visits which Captain Clayton had +made to Morony Castle in reference to the coming trial. Florian had +been already sent on to Mr. Blake's of Carnlough, and was to be +picked up there on that very afternoon by Mr. Jones, and driven to +Ballyglunin, so as to be taken from thence to the assize town by +train. This was thought to be most expedient, as the boy would not be +on the road for above half an hour. + +After Captain Clayton had gone, Mr. Jones asked after Edith, and was +told that she was away in Headford. She had walked into town to call +on Mrs. Armstrong, with a view of getting a few articles which Mrs. +Armstrong had promised to buy for her. Such was the story as given to +Mr. Jones, and fully believed by him; but the reader may be permitted +to think that the young lady was not anxious to meet the young +gentleman. + +"Ada," said Mr. Jones suddenly, "is there anything between Edith and +Captain Clayton?" + +"What makes you ask, papa?" + +"Because Peter has hinted it. I do not care to have such things told +me of my own family by the servant." + +"Yes, there is, papa," said Ada boldly. "Captain Clayton is in love +with Edith." + +"This is no time for marrying or giving in marriage." + +Ada made no reply, but thought that it must at the same time be a +very good time for becoming engaged. It would have been so for her +had such been her luck. But of herself she said nothing. She had +made her statement openly and bravely to her sister, so that there +should be no departing from it. Mr. Jones said nothing further at the +moment, but before the girls had separated for the night Ada had told +Edith what had occurred. + +At that time they were in the house alone together,--alone as +regarded the family, though they still had the protection of Peter. +Mr. Jones had started on his journey to Galway. + +"Papa," said Ada, "knows all about Yorke." + +"Knows what?" demanded Edith. + +"That you and he are engaged together." + +"He knows more than I do, then. He knows more than I ever shall know. +Ada, you should not have said so. It will have to be all unsaid." + +"Not at all, dear." + +"It will all have to be unsaid. Have you been speaking to Captain +Clayton on the subject?" + +"Not a word. Indeed it was not I who told papa. It was Peter. Peter +said that there was something between you and him, and papa asked me. +I told papa that he was in love with you. That was true at any rate. +You won't deny that?" + +"I will deny anything that connects my name with that of Captain +Yorke Clayton." + +But Ada had determined how that matter should arrange itself. Since +the blow had first fallen on her, she had had time to think of +it,--and she had thought of it. Edith had done her best for her +(presuming that this brave Captain was the best) and she in return +would do her best for Edith. No one knew the whole story but they +two. They were to be to her the dearest friends of her future life, +and she would not let the knowledge of such a story stand in her way +or theirs. + +The train was to start from the Ballyglunin station for Athenry at +4.20 p.m. It would then have left Tuam for Athenry, where it would +fall into the day mail-train from Dublin to Galway. It was something +out of the way for Mr. Jones to call at Carnlough; but Carnlough was +not three miles from Ballyglunin, and Mr. Jones made his arrangements +accordingly. He called at Carnlough, and there took up the boy on +his outside car. Peter had come with him, so as to take back the +car to Morony Castle. But Peter had made himself of late somewhat +disagreeable, and Mr. Jones had in truth been sulky. + +"Look here, Peter," he had said, speaking from one side of the car +to the other, "if you are afraid to come to Ballyglunin with me and +Master Flory, say so, and get down." + +"I'm not afeared, Mr. Jones." + +"Then don't say so. I don't believe you are afeared as you call it." + +"Then why do you be talking at me like that, sir?" + +"I don't think you are a coward, but you are anxious to make the +most of your services on my behalf. You are telling everyone that +something special is due to you for staying in a boycotted house. +It's a kind of service for which I am grateful, but I can't be +grateful and pay too." + +"Why do you talk to a poor boy in that way?" + +"So that the poor boy may understand me. You are willing, I believe, +to stick to your old master,--from sheer good heart. But you like to +talk about it. Now I don't like to hear about it." After that Peter +drove on in silence till they came to Carnlough. + +The car had been seen coming up the avenue, and Mr. Blake, with his +wife and Florian, were standing on the door-steps. "Now do take care +of the poor dear boy," said Mrs. Blake. "There are such dreadful +stories told of horrible men about the country." + +"Don't mention such nonsense, Winifred," said her husband, "trying +to frighten the boy. There isn't a human being between this and +Ballyglunin for whom I won't be responsible. Till you come to a mile +of the station it's all my own property." + +"But they can shoot--" Then Mrs. Blake left the rest of her sentence +unspoken, having been checked by her husband's eye. The boy, however, +had heard it and trembled. + +"Come along, Florian," said the father. "Get up along with Peter." +The attempt which he had made to live with his son on affectionate +paternal relations had hardly been successful. The boy had been told +so much of murderers that he had been made to fear. Peter,--and other +Peters about the country,--had filled his mind with sad foreboding. +And there had always been something timid, something almost unmanly +in his nature. He had seemed to prefer to shrink and cower and be +mysterious with the Carrolls to coming forward boldly with such a man +as Yorke Clayton. The girls had seen this, and had declared that he +was no more than a boy; but his father had seen it and had made no +such allowance. And now he saw that he trembled. But Florian got up +on the car, and Peter drove them off to Ballyglunin. + +Carnlough was not above three Irish miles from Ballyglunin; and Mr. +Jones started on the little journey without a misgiving. He sat alone +on the near side of the car, and Florian sat on the other, together +with Peter who was driving. The horse was a heavy, slow-going animal, +rough and hairy in its coat, but trustworthy and an old servant. +There had been a time when Mr. Jones kept a carriage, but that had +been before the bad times had begun. The carriage horses had been +sold after the flood,--as Ada had called the memorable incident; +and now there were but three cart horses at Morony Castle, of which +this one animal alone was habitually driven in the car. The floods, +indeed, had now retreated from the lands of Ballintubber and the +flood gates were mended; but there would be no crop of hay on all +those eighty acres this year, and Mr. Jones was in no condition to +replace his private stud. As he went along on this present journey he +was thinking bitterly of the injury which had been done him. He had +lost over two hundred tons of hay, and each ton of hay would have +been worth three pounds ten shillings. He had been unable to get a +sluice gate mended till men had been brought together from Monaghan +and parts of Cavan to mend them for him, and he had even to send +these men into Limerick to buy the material, as not a piece of timber +could be procured in Galway for the use of a household so well +boycotted as was Morony Castle. There had been also various calls on +Mr. Jones from those relatives whose money had been left as mortgages +on his property. And no rent had as yet come in, although various +tenants had been necessarily evicted. Every man's hand was against +him; so that there was no money in his coffers. He who had chiefly +sinned against him,--who was the first to sin,--was the sinner whom +he was about to prosecute at Galway. It must be supposed, therefore, +that he was not in a good humour as he was driven along the road to +Ballyglunin. + +They had not yet passed the boundary fence between Carnlough and +the property of one of the numerous race of Bodkins, when Mr. Jones +saw a mask, which he supposed to be a mask worn by a man, through a +hole in the wall just in front of him, but high above his head. And +at the same moment he could see the muzzles of a double-barrelled +rifle presented through the hole in the wall. What he saw he saw +but for a few seconds; but he could see it plainly. He saw it so +plainly as to be able afterwards to swear to a black mask, and to a +double-barrelled gun. Then a trigger was pulled, and one bullet--the +second--went through the collar of his own coat, while the first had +had a more fatal and truer aim. The father jumped up and turning +round saw that his boy had fallen to the ground. "Oh, my God!" said +Peter, and he stopped the horse suddenly. The place was one where the +commencement had been made of a cutting in the road during the potato +failure of 1846; so that the wall and the rifle which had been passed +through it were about four or five feet above the car. Mr. Jones +rushed up the elevation, and clambered, he did not know how, into +the field. There he saw the back of a man speeding along from the +wall, and in the man's hand there was a gun. Mr. Jones looked around +but there was no one nigh him but Peter, the old servant, and his +dying boy. He could see, however, that the man who ran was short of +stature. + +But though his rage had sufficed to carry him up from the road into +the field, the idea that his son had been shot caused him to pause +as he ran, and to return to the road. When he got there he found +two girls about seventeen and eighteen years of age, one sitting on +the road with Florian's head on her lap, and the other kneeling and +holding the boy's hands. "Oh, yer honour! sorrow a taste in life do +we know about it," said the kneeling girl. + +"Not a sight did we see, or a sound did we hear," said the other, +"only the going off of the blunderbuss. Oh, wirra shure! oh, musha, +musha! and it's dead he is, the darling boy." Mr. Jones came round +and picked up poor Florian and laid him on the car. The bullet had +gone true to its mark and had buried itself in his brain. There was +the end of poor Florian Jones and all his troubles. The father did +not say a word, not even in reply to Peter's wailings or to the +girls' easy sorrow; but, taking the rein in his own hands, drove the +car with the body on it back to Carnlough. + +We can hardly analyse the father's mind as he went. Not a tear came +to his relief. Nor during this half hour can he hardly have been said +to sorrow. An intensity of wrath filled his breast. He had spent his +time for many a long year in doing all in his power for those around +him, and now they had brought him to this. They had robbed him of his +boy's heart. They had taught his boy to be one of them, and to be +untrue to his own people. And now, because he had yielded to better +teachings, they had murdered him. They had taught his boy to be a +coward; for even in his bereavement he remembered poor Florian's +failing. The accursed Papist people were all cowards down to their +backbones. So he said of them in his rage. There was not one of +them who could look any peril in the face as did Yorke Clayton or +his son Frank. But they were terribly powerful in their wretched +want of manliness. They could murder, and were protected in their +bloodthirstiness one by another. He did not doubt but that those +two girls who were wailing on the road knew well enough who was the +murderer, but no one would tell in this accursed, unhallowed, godless +country. The honour and honesty of one man did not, in these days, +prompt another to abstain from vice. The only heroism left in the +country was the heroism of mystery, of secret bloodshed and of hidden +attacks. + +He had driven back methodically to Carnlough gates, but he hesitated +to carry his burden up to the hall-door. Would it not be better for +him at once to go home, and there to endure the suffering that was +in store for him? But he remembered that it would behove him to take +what steps might be possible for tracing the murderer. That by no +steps could anything be done, he was sure; but still the attempt was +necessary. He had, however, paused a minute or two at the open gate +when he was rebuked by Peter. "Shure yer honour is going up to the +house to get the constables to scour the counthry." + +"Scour the country!" said the father. "All the country will turn out +to defend the murderer of my boy." But he drove up to the front, and +Peter knocked at the door. + +"Good heaven, Jones!" said Mr. Blake, as he looked at the car and its +occupant. The poor boy's head was supported on the pillow behind the +driver's seat, on which no one sat. Peter held him by both his feet, +and Mr. Jones had his hand within his grasp. + +"So it is," said the father. "You know where they have cut the road +just where your property meres with Bodkin's. There was a man above +there who had loop-holed the wall. I saw his face wearing a mask as +plain as I can see yours. And he had a double-barrelled gun. He fired +the two shots, and my boy was killed by the first." + +"They have struck you too on the collar of your coat." + +"I got into the field with the murderer, and I could have caught the +man had I been younger. But what would have been the use? No jury +would have found him guilty. What am I to do? Oh, God! what am I to +do?" Mrs. Blake and her daughter were now out upon the steps, and +were filling the hall with their wailings. "Tell me, Blake, what had +I better do?" Then Mr. Blake decided that the body should remain +there that night, and Mr. Jones also, and that the police should be +sent for to do whatever might seem fitting to the policemen's mind. +Peter was sent off to Morony Castle with such a letter as Miss Blake +was able to write to the two Jones girls. The police came from Tuam, +but the result of their enquiries on that night need not be told +here. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE. + + +There was a feeling very general in the county that the murder had +been committed by the man named Lax, who was known to have been in +the neighbourhood lately, and was declared by his friends at Headford +to be now in Galway, waiting for the trial of Pat Carroll. But there +seemed to be a feeling about the country that Florian Jones had +deserved his fate. He had, it was said, been untrue to his religion. +He had given a solemn promise to Father Brosnan,--of what nature was +not generally known,--and had broken it. "The bittherness of the +Orange feud was in his blood," said Father Brosnan. But neither did +he explain the meaning of what he said, as none of the Jones family +had ever been Orangemen. But the idea was common about Tuam and +Headford that Pat Carroll was a martyr, and that Florian had been +persuaded to turn Protestant in order that he might give false +evidence against him. The reader, however, must understand that +Florian still professed the Catholic religion at the moment of his +death, and that all Headford was aware that Pat Carroll had broken +the sluice gate at Ballintubber. + +After an interval of two days the trial was about to go on at Galway +in spite of the murder. It was quite true that by nothing could the +breath of life be restored to Florian Jones. His evidence, such as it +was, could now be taken only from his deposition. And such evidence +was regarded as being very unfair both on one side and on the other. +As given against Pat Carroll it was regarded as unfair, as being +incapable of subjection to cross-examination. The boy's evidence had +been extracted from him by his parents and by Captain Yorke Clayton, +in opposition to the statements which had been made scores of times +by himself on the other side, and which, if true, would all tend to +exonerate the prisoner. It had been the intention of Mr. O'Donnell, +the senior counsel employed to defend Carroll, to insist, with the +greatest severity, on the lies told by the poor boy. It was this +treatment which Florian had especially feared. There could be no such +treatment now; but Mr. O'Donnell would know well how to insist on +the injustice of the deposition, in which no allusion would be made +to the falsehood previously told. But on the other side it was said +that the witness had been removed so that his evidence should not be +given. They must now depend solely on the statement of Terry Carroll, +Pat's brother, and who also had lied terribly before he told the +truth. And he, too, was condemned more bitterly, even by Mr. Jones +and his friends, in that he was giving evidence against his brother, +than had he continued to lie on his behalf. The circumstances being +such as they were, it was felt to be almost impossible to secure +the conviction of Pat Carroll for the offence he had committed. And +yet there were certainly a dozen persons who had seen that offence +committed in the light of day, and many other dozens who knew by whom +the offence had been committed. + +And, indeed, the feeling had become common through the country that +all the lawyers and judges in Ireland,--the lawyers and judges that +is who were opposed to the Landleague,--could not secure a conviction +of any kind against prisoners whom the Landleague was bound to +support. It had come to be whispered about, that there were men in +the County of Galway,--and men also in other counties,--too strong +for the Government, men who could beat the Government on any point, +men whom no jury could be brought to convict by any evidence; men who +boasted of the possession of certain secret powers,--which generally +meant murder. It came to be believed that these men were possessed +of certain mysterious capabilities which the police could not handle, +nor the magistrates touch. And the danger to be feared from these +men arose chiefly from the belief in them which had become common. +It was not that they could do anything special if left to their own +devices, but that the crowds by whom they were surrounded trembled at +their existence. The man living next to you, ignorant, and a Roman +Catholic, inspired with some mysterious awe, would wish in his heart +that the country was rid of such fire-brands. He knew well that the +country, and he as part of the country, had more to get from law and +order than from murder and misrule. But murder and misrule had so +raised their heads for the present as to make themselves appear to +him more powerful than law and order. Mr. Lax, and others like him, +were keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining this belief in +their mysterious power. + +The trial came on, having been delayed two days by the murder of poor +Florian Jones. His body had, in the meantime, been taken home, and +the only visitor received at Morony Castle had been Yorke Clayton. On +his coming he had been at first closeted with Mr. Jones, and had then +gone out and seen the two girls together. He had taken Ada's hand +first and then Edith's, but he had held Edith's the longer. The girls +had known that it was so, but neither of them had said a word to +rebuke him. "Who was it?" asked Ada. + +Clayton shook his head and ground his teeth. "Do you know, or have +you an idea? You know so much about the country," said Edith. + +"To you two, but to you only, I do know. He and I cannot exist +together. The man's name is Lax." + +It may be imagined that the trial was not commenced at Galway without +the expression of much sympathy for Mr. Jones and the family at +Morony Castle. It is hard to explain the different feelings which +existed, feelings exactly opposed to each other, but which still were +both in their way general and true. He was "poor Mr. Jones," who had +lost his son, and, worse still, his eighty acres of grass, and he +was also "that fellow Jones," that enemy to the Landleague, whom it +behoved all patriotic Irishmen to get the better of and to conquer. +Florian had been murdered on the 30th of August, which was a Tuesday, +and the trial had been postponed until Friday, the 2nd of September. +It was understood that the boy was to be buried at Headford, on +Saturday, the 3rd; but, nevertheless, the father was in the assize +town on the Friday. He was in the town, and at eleven o'clock he took +his place in the Crown Court. He was a man who was still continually +summoned as a grand juror, and as such had no difficulty in securing +for himself a place. To the right of the judge sat the twelve jurors +who had been summoned to try the case, and to the left was the grand +jurors' box, in which Mr. Jones took his seat early in the day. And +Frank was also in the court, and had been stopped by no one when he +accompanied his father into the grand jurors' box. + +But the court was crowded in a wonderful manner, so that they who +understood the ways of criminal courts in Ireland knew that something +special was boded. As soon as Mr. Justice Parry took his seat, it was +seen that the court was much more than ordinarily filled, and was +filled by men who did not make themselves amenable to the police. +Many were the instructions given by the judge who had been selected +with a special view to this trial. Judge Parry was a Roman Catholic, +who had sat in the House of Commons as a strong Liberal, had been +Attorney-General to a Liberal Government, and had been suspected of +holding Home-Rule sentiments. But men, when they become judges, are +apt to change their ideas. And Judge Parry was now known to be a firm +man, whom nothing would turn from the execution of his duty. There +had been many Judge Parrys in Ireland, who have all gone the same +gait, and have followed the same course when they have accepted the +ermine. A man is at liberty to indulge what vagaries he pleases, as +long as he is simply a Member of Parliament. But a judge is not at +liberty. He now gave special instructions to the officers of the +court to keep quiet and to preserve order. But the court was full, +densely crowded; and the noise which arose from the crowd was only +the noise as of people whispering loudly among themselves. + +The jury was quickly sworn and the trial was set on foot. Pat Carroll +was made to stand up in the dock, and Mr. Jones looked at the face of +the man who had been the first on his property to show his hostility +to the idea of paying rent. He and Lax had been great friends, and it +was known that Lax had sworn that in a short time not a shilling of +rent should be paid in the County Mayo. From that assurance all these +troubles had come. + +Then the Attorney-General opened the case, and to tell the truth, he +made a speech which though very eloquent, was longer than necessary. +He spoke of the dreadful state of the country, a matter which he +might have left to the judge, and almost burst into tears when he +alluded to the condition of Mr. Jones, the gentleman who sat opposite +to him. And he spoke at full length of the evidence of the poor boy +whose deposition he held in his hand, which he told the jury he would +read to them later on in the day. No doubt the lad had deceived his +father since the offence had been committed. He had long declared +that he knew nothing of the perpetrators. The boy had seemed to +entertain in his mind certain ideas friendly to the Landleague, and +had made promises on behalf of Landleaguers to which he had long +adhered. But his father had at last succeeded, and the truth had +been forthcoming. His lordship would instruct them how far the boy's +deposition could be accepted as evidence, and how far it must fail. +And so at last the Attorney-General brought his eloquent speech to an +end. + +And now there arose a murmuring sound in the court, and a stirring of +feet and a moving of shoulders, louder than that which had been heard +before. The judge, there on his bench, looking out from under his +bushy eyebrows, could see that the people before him were all of one +class. And he could see also that the half-dozen policemen who were +kept close among the crowd, were so pressed as to be hardly masters +of their own actions. He called out a word even from the bench in +which there was something as to clearing the court; but no attempt +to clear the court was made or was apparently possible. The first +witness was summoned, and an attempt was made to bring him up through +the dock into the witness-box. This witness was Terry Carroll, the +brother of Pat, and was known to be there that he might swear away +his brother's liberty. His head no sooner appeared, as about to leave +the dock, than the whole court was filled with a yell of hatred. +There were two policemen standing between the two brothers, but Pat +only turned round and looked at the traitor with scorn. But the +voices through the court sounded louder and more venomous as Terry +Carroll stepped out of the dock among the policemen who were to make +an avenue for him up to the witness-box. + +It was the last step he ever made. At that moment the flash of a +pistol was seen in the court; of a pistol close at the man's ear, and +Terry Carroll was a dead man. The pistol had touched his head as it +had been fired, so that there had been no chance of escape. In this +way was the other witness removed, who had been brought thither by +the Crown to give evidence as to the demolition of Mr. Jones's flood +gates. And it was said afterwards,--for weeks afterwards,--that such +should be the fate of all witnesses who appeared in the west of +Ireland to obey the behests of the Crown. + +Then was seen the reason why the special crowd had been gathered +there, and of what nature were the men who had swarmed into court. +Clayton, who had been sitting at the end of the row of barristers, +jumped up over the back of the bench and rushed in among the people, +who now tried simply to hold their own places, and appeared neither +to be anxious to go in or out. "Tear an' ages, Musther Clayton, what +are you after jumping on to a fellow that way." This was said by a +brawny Miletian, on to whose shoulders our friend had leaped, meaning +to get down among the crowd. But the Miletian had struck him hard, +and would have knocked him down had there been room enough for him on +which to fall. But Clayton had minded the blow not at all, and had +minded the judge as little, making his way in through the crowd over +the dead body of Terry Carroll. He had been aware that Lax was in the +court, and had seated himself opposite to the place where the man +had stood. But Lax had moved himself during the Attorney-General's +speech, either with the view of avoiding the Captain's eyes,--or, if +he were to be the murderer, of finding the best place from which the +deed could be done. If this had been his object, certainly the place +had been well selected. It was afterwards stated, that though fifty +people at the judge's end of the court had seen the pistol, no eyes +had seen the face of him who held it. Many faces had been seen, but +nobody could connect a single face with the pistol. And it was proved +also that the ball had entered the head just under the ear, with a +slant upwards towards the brain, as though the weapon had been used +by someone crouching towards the ground. + +Clayton made his way out of court, followed by the faithful Hunter, +and was soon surrounded by half a score of policemen. Hunter was left +to watch the door of the court, because he was well acquainted with +Lax, and because should Lax come across Hunter, "God help Mr. Lax!" +as Clayton expressed himself. And others were sent by twos and threes +through the city to catch this man if it were possible, or to obtain +tidings respecting him. "A man cannot bury himself under the ground," +said Clayton; "we have always this pull upon them, that they cannot +make themselves invisible." But in this case it almost did appear +that Mr. Lax had the power. + +Though Pat Carroll was not at once set at liberty, his trial was +brought to an end. It was felt to be impossible to send the case to +the jury when the only two witnesses belonging to the Crown had been +murdered. The prisoner was remanded, or sent back to gaol, so that +the Crown might look for more evidence if more might chance to be +found, and everybody else connected in the matter was sent home. A +dark gloom settled itself on Galway, and men were heard to whisper +among themselves that the Queen's laws were no longer in force. And +there was a rowdy readiness to oppose all force, the force of the +police for instance, and the force of the military. There were men +there who seemed to think that now had come the good time when they +might knock anyone on the head at their leisure. It did not come +quite to this, as the police were still combined, and their enemies +were not so. But such men as Captain Clayton began to look as though +they doubted what would become of it. "If he thinks he is big enough +to catch a hold of Terry Lax and keep him, he'll precious soon find +his mistake." This was said by Con Heffernan of Captain Clayton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. + + +Frank Jones had travelled backwards and forwards between Morony +Castle and the North more than once since these things were doing, +and had met the new member for Cavan together with Rachel on the very +evening on which poor Florian had been murdered. It was not till the +next morning that the news had become generally known. "I am sorry to +hear, Frank," said Rachel, "that you are all doing so badly at Morony +Castle." + +"Badly enough." + +"Are you fetching all these people down from here to do the work the +men there ought to do? How are the men there to get their wages?" + +"That is the essence of boycotting," said Frank. "The men there won't +get their wages, and can only live by robbing the governor and men +like him of their rents. And in that way they can't live long. +Everything will be disturbed and ruined." + +"It seems to me," said Rachel, "that the whole country is coming to +an end." + +"Your father is Member of Parliament now, and of course he will set +it all to rights." + +"He will at any rate do his best to do so," said Rachel, "and will +rob no man in the doing it. What do you mean to do with yourself?" + +"Stick to the ship till it sinks, and then go down with it." + +"And your sisters?" + +"They are of the same way of thinking, I take it. They are not good +at inventing any way of getting out of their troubles; but they know +how to endure." + +"Now, Frank," said she, "shall I give you a bit of advice?" + +"Oh yes! I like advice." + +"You wanted to kiss me just now." + +"That was natural at any rate." + +"No, it wasn't;--because you and I are two. When a young man and a +young woman are two they shouldn't kiss any more. That is logic." + +"I don't know about logic." + +"At any rate it is something of the same sort. It is the kind of +thing everybody believes in if they want to go right. You and I want +to go right, don't we?" + +"I believe so." + +"Of course we do," and she took hold of his arm and shook him. "It +would break your heart if you didn't think I was going right, and why +shouldn't I be as anxious about you? Now for my piece of advice. I am +going to make a lot of money." + +"I am glad to hear it." + +"Come and share it with me. I would have shared yours if you had made +a lot. You must call me Madame de Iona, or some such name as that. +The name does not matter, but the money will be all there. Won't it +be grand to be able to help your father and your sisters! Only you +men are so beastly proud. Isn't it honest money,--money that has come +by singing?" + +"Certainly it is." + +"And if the wife earns it instead of the husband;--isn't that honest? +And then you know," she said, looking up into his face, "you can kiss +me right away. Isn't that an inducement?" + +The offer was an inducement, but the conversation only ended in a +squabble. She rebuked him for his dishonesty, in taking the kiss +without acceding to the penalty, and he declared that according to +his view of the case, he could not become the fainéant husband of a +rich opera singer. "And yet you would ask me to become the fainéante +wife of a wealthy landowner. And because, under the stress of the +times, you are not wealthy you choose to reject the girl altogether +who has given you her heart. Go away. You are no good. When a man +stands up on his hind legs and pretends to be proud he never is any +good." + +Then Mr. O'Mahony came in and had a political discussion with Frank +Jones. "Yes," said the Member of Parliament, "I mean to put my +shoulder to the wheel, and do the very best that can be done. I +cannot believe but what a man in earnest will find out the truth. +Politics are not such a hopeless muddle but what some gleam of light +may be made to shine through." + +"There are such things as leaders," said Frank. + +Then Mr. O'Mahony stood up and laid his hand upon his heart. "You +remember what Van Artevelde said--'They shall murder me ere make me +go the way that is not my way, for an inch.' I say the same." + +"What will Mr. Parnell do with such a follower?" + +"Mr. Parnell is also an honest man," cried Mr. O'Mahony. "Two honest +men looking for light together will never fall out. I at any rate +have some little gift of utterance. Perhaps I can persuade a man, or +two men. At any rate I will try." + +"But how are we to get back to London, father?" said Rachel. "I don't +think it becomes an honest Member of Parliament to take money out of +a common fund. You will have to remain here in pawn till I go and +sing you out." But Rachel had enough left of Lord Castlewell's money +to carry them back to London, on condition that they did not stop on +the road, and to this condition she was forced to bring her father. + +Early on the following morning before they started the news reached +Cavan of poor Florian's death. "Oh God! My brother!" exclaimed Frank; +but it was all that he did say. He was a man who like his father +had become embittered by the circumstances of the times. Mr. Jones +had bought his property, now thirty years since, with what was then +called a parliamentary title. He had paid hard money for it, and had +induced his friends to lend their money to assist the purchase, for +which he was responsible. Much of the land he had been enabled to +keep in his own hands, but on none of the tenants' had he raised +the rent. Now there had come forth a law, not from the hand of the +Landleaguers, but from the Government, who, it was believed, would +protect those who did their duty by the country. Under this law +commissioners were to be appointed,--or sub-commissioners,--men +supposed to be not of great mark in the country, who were to reduce +the rent according to their ideas of justice. If a man paid ten +pounds,--or had engaged to pay ten,--let him take his pen and write +down seven or eight as the sub-commissioner should decide. As the +outside landlords, the friends of Mr. Jones, must have five pounds +out of the original ten, that which was coming to Mr. Jones himself +would be about halved. And the condition of Mr. Jones, under the +system of boycotting which he was undergoing, was hard to endure. +Now Frank was the eldest son, and the property of Castle Morony and +Ballintubber was entailed upon him. He was brought up in his early +youth to feel that he was to fill that situation, which, of all +others, is the most attractive. He was to have been the eldest son +of a man of unembarrassed property. Now he was offered to be taken +to London as the travelling husband--or upper servant, as it might +be--of an opera singer. Then, while he was in this condition, there +came to him the news that his brother had been murdered; and he +must go home to give what assistance was in his power to his poor, +ill-used sisters. It is not to be wondered at that he was embittered. +He had been spending some hours of the last day in reading the +clauses of the Bill under which the sub-commissioners were to show +him what mercy they might think right. As he left Cavan the following +morning, his curses were more deep against the Government than +against the Landleague. + +Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter got back to Cecil Street in September +in a very impecunious state. He soon began to understand that the +position of Member of Parliament was more difficult and dangerous +than that of a lecturer. The police had interfered with him; but the +police had in truth done him no harm, nor had they wanted anything +from him. But as Member of Parliament for Cavan the attacks made on +his purse were very numerous. And throughout September, when the +glory of Parliament was just newly settled upon his shoulders, sundry +calls were made upon him for obedience which were distasteful to him. +He was wanted over in Ireland. Mr. O'Mahony was an outspoken, frank +man, who did not at all like to be troubled with secrets. "I haven't +got any money to come over to Ireland just at present. They took +what I had away from me in County Cavan during the election. I don't +suppose I shall have any to speak of till after Christmas, and then +it won't be much. If you have anything for a man to do in London it +will be more within my reach." It was thus he wrote to some brother +Member of Parliament who had summoned him to a grand meeting at the +Rotunda. He was wanted to address the people on the honesty of the +principle of paying no rent. "For the matter of that," he wrote to +another brother member, "I don't see the honesty. Why are we to +take the property from Jack and give it to Bill? Bill would sell it +and spend the money, and no good would then have been done to the +country. I should have to argue the matter out with you or someone +else before I could speak about it at the Rotunda." Then, there arose +a doubt whether Mr. O'Mahony was the proper member for Cavan. He +settled himself down in Cecil Street and began to write a book about +rent. When he began his book he hated rent from his very soul. The +difficulty he saw was this: what should you do with the property when +you took it away from the landlords? He quite saw his way to taking +it away; if only a new order would come from heaven for the creation +of a special set of farmers who should be wedded to their land by +some celestial matrimony, and should clearly be in possession of it +without the perpetration of any injustice. He did not quite see his +way to this by his own lights, and therefore he went to the British +Museum. When a man wants to write a book full of unassailable facts, +he always goes to the British Museum. In this way Mr. O'Mahony +purposed to spend his autumn instead of speaking at the Rotunda, +because it suited him to live in London rather than in Dublin. + +Cecil Street in September is not the most cheerful place in the +world. While Rachel had been singing at "The Embankment," with the +occasional excitement of a quarrel with Mr. Moss, it had been all +very well; but now while her father was studying statistics at the +British Museum, she had nothing to do but to practise her singing. "I +mean to do something, you know, towards earning that £200 which you +have lent me." This she said to Lord Castlewell, who had come up to +London to have his teeth looked after. This was the excuse he gave +for being in London at this unfashionable season. "I have to sing +from breakfast to dinner without stopping one minute, so you may go +back to the dentist at once. I haven't time even to see what he has +done." + +"I have to propose that you and your father shall come and dine with +me down at Richmond to-day. There is old Mrs. Peacock, who used to +sing bouffe parts at the Queen's Theatre. She is a most respectable +old party, and she shall come if you will let her." + +"For papa to flirt with?" said Rachel. + +"Not at all. With a party of four there is never any flirting. It is +all solid sense. I want to have some serious conversation about that +£200. Mrs. Peacock will be able to give me her opinion." + +"She won't be able to lend me the money?" + +"I'm afraid she isn't a good doctor for that disease. But you must +dine somewhere, and do say you will come." + +But Rachel was determined not to come,--at any rate not to say that +she would come without consulting her father. So she explained that +the Member of Parliament was hard at work at the British Museum, +writing a book against the payment of rents, and that she could not +go without consulting him. But Lord Castlewell made that very easy. +"I'll go and see," said he, "how a man looks when he is writing a +book on such a subject; and I'll be back and tell you all about +it. I'll drive you down in my phaeton,--of course if your father +consents. If he wants to bring his book with him, the groom shall +carry it in a box." + +"And what about Mrs. Peacock?" + +"There won't be any trouble about her, because she lives at Richmond. +You needn't be a bit afraid for your father's sake, because she is +over sixty." Then he started off, and came back in half an hour, +saying that Mr. O'Mahony had expressed himself quite satisfied to do +as he was told. + +"The deceit of the world, the flesh, and the devil, get the better of +one on every side," said Rachel, when she was left to herself. "Who +would have thought of the noble lord spinning off to the British +Museum on such an errand as that! But he will give papa a good +dinner, and I shan't be any the worse. A man must be very bad before +he can do a woman an injury if she is determined not to be injured." + +Lord Castlewell drove the two down to Richmond, and very pleasant +the drive was. The conversation consisted of quizzing Mr. O'Mahony +about his book, as to which he was already beginning to be a little +out of heart. But he bore the quizzing well, and was thoroughly +good-humoured as he saw the lord and his daughter sitting on the +front seat before him. "I am a Landleaguing Home-Ruler, you know, my +lord, of the most advanced description. The Speaker has never turned +me out of the House of Commons, only because I have never sat there. +Your character will be lost for ever." Lord Castlewell declared that +his character would be made for ever, as he had the great prima donna +of the next season at his left hand. + +The dinner went off very pleasantly. Old Mrs. Peacock declared that +she had never known a prima donna before to be the daughter of a +Member of Parliament. She felt that great honour was done to the +profession. + +"Why," said Lord Castlewell, "he is writing a book to prove that +nobody should pay any rent!" + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Peacock, "that would be terrible. A landlord wouldn't +be a landlord if he didn't get any rent;--or hardly." Then Mr. +O'Mahony went to work to explain that a landlord was, of his very +name and nature, an abomination before the Lord. + +"And yet you want houses to live in," said Lord Castlewell. + +When they were in the middle of their dinners they were all surprised +by the approach of Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. He was dressed up to a degree +of beauty which Rachel thought that she had never seen equalled. His +shirt-front was full of little worked holes. His studs were gold and +turquoise, and those at his wrists were double studs, also gold and +turquoise. The tie of his cravat was a thing marvellous to behold. +His waistcoat was new for the occasion, and apparently all over +marvellously fine needlework. It might, all the same, have been +done by a sewing-machine. The breadth of the satin lappets of his +dress-coat were most expansive. And his hair must have taken two +artists the whole afternoon to accomplish. It was evident to see that +he felt himself to be quite the lord's equal by the strength of his +personal adornment. "Well, yes," he said, "I have brought Madame +Tacchi down here to show her what we can do in the way of a suburban +dinner. Madame Tacchi is about to take the place which Miss O'Mahony +has vacated at 'The Embankment.' Ah, my lord, you behaved very +shabbily to us there." + +"If Madame Tacchi," said the lord, "can sing at all like Miss +O'Mahony, we shall have her away very soon. Is Madame Tacchi in +sight, so that I can see her?" + +Then Mr. Moss indicated the table at which the lady sat, and with the +lady was Madame Socani. + +"They are a bad lot," said Lord Castlewell, as soon as Moss had +withdrawn. "I know them, and they are a bad lot, particularly that +woman who is with them. It is a marvel to me how you got among them." + +Lord Castlewell had now become very intimate with the O'Mahonys; and +by what he said showed also his intimacy with Mrs. Peacock. + +"They are Americans," said O'Mahony. + +"And so are you," said the lord. "There can be good Americans and bad +Americans. You don't mean to say that you think worse of an American +than of an Englishman." + +"I think higher of an Englishman than of an American, and lower also. +If I meet an American where a gentleman ought to be, I entertain +a doubt; if I meet him where a labourer ought to be, I feel very +confident. I suppose that the manager of a theatre ought to be a +gentleman." + +"I don't quite understand it all," said Mrs. Peacock. + +"Nor anybody else," said Rachel. "Father does fly so very high in the +air when he talks about people." + +After that the lord drove Miss O'Mahony and her father back to +Cecil Street, and they all agreed that they had had a very pleasant +evening. + + +END OF VOL. II. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. III. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 +[All rights reserved] + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + XXXIII. CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING. + XXXIV. LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING. + XXXV. MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY. + XXXVI. RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS. + XXXVII. RACHEL IS ILL. + XXXVIII. LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED. + XXXIX. CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH. + XL. YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE. + XLI. THE STATE OF IRELAND. + XLII. LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL. + XLIII. MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED. + XLIV. FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN. + XLV. MR. ROBERT MORRIS. + XLVI. CONG. + XLVII. KERRYCULLION. + XLVIII. THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS. + XLIX. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING. + + +The household at Castle Morony was very sad for some time after the +trial. They had hardly begun to feel the death of Florian while the +excitement existed as they felt it afterwards. Mr. Jones, his father, +seemed to regard the lost boy as though he had been his favourite +child. It was not many months since he had refused to allow him to +eat in his presence, and had been persuaded by such a stranger as was +Captain Clayton, to treat him with some show of affection. When he +had driven him into Ballyglunin, he had been stern and harsh to him +to the very last. And now he was obliterated with sorrow because he +had been robbed of his Florian. The two girls had sorrows of their +own; though neither of them would permit her sorrow to create any +quarrel between her and her sister. And Frank, who since his return +from the North had toiled like a labourer on the property--only +doing double a labourer's work--had sorrow, too, of his own. It was +understood that he had altogether separated himself from Rachel +O'Mahony. The cause of his separation was singular in its nature. + +It was now November, and Rachel had already achieved a singularly +rapid success at Covent Garden. She still lived in Cecil Street, but +there was no lack of money. Indeed, her name had risen into such +repute that some Irish people began to think that her father was +the proper man for Cavan, simply because she was a great singer. It +cannot be said, however, that this was the case among the men who +were regarded as the leaders of the party, as they still doubted +O'Mahony's obedience. But money at any rate poured into Rachel's lap, +and with the money that which was quite as objectionable to poor +Frank. He had begun by asserting that he did not wish to live idle +on the earnings of a singer; and, therefore, as the singer had said, +"he and she were obliged to be two." As she explained to her father, +she was badly treated. She was very anxious to be true to her lover; +but she did not like living without some lover to whom she might be +true. "You see, as I am placed I am exposed to the Mosses. I do want +to have a husband to protect me." Then a lover had come forward. +Lord Castlewell had absolutely professed to make her the future +Marchioness of Beaulieu. Of this there must be more hereafter; but +Frank heard of it, and tore his hair in despair. + +And there was another misery at Castle Morony. It reached Mr. Jones's +ears that Peter was anxious to give warning. It certainly was the +case that Peter was of great use to them, and that Mr. Jones had +rebuked him more than once as having made a great favour of his +services. The fact was that Peter, if discharged, would hardly know +where to look for another place where he could be equally at home and +equally comfortable. And he was treated by the family generally with +all that confidence which his faithfulness seemed to deserve. But +he was nervous and ill at ease under his master's rebukes; and at +last there came an event which seemed to harrow up his own soul, and +instigated him to run away from County Galway altogether. + +"Miss Edith, Miss Edith," he said, "come in here, thin, and see what +I have got to show you." Then, with an air of great mystery, he drew +his young mistress into the pantry. "Look at that now! Was ever the +like of that seen since the mortial world began?" Then he took out +from a dirty envelope a dirty sheet of paper, and exposed it to her +eyes. On the top of it was a rude coffin. "Don't it make yer hair +stand on end, and yer very flesh creep, Miss Edith, to look at the +likes o' that!" And below the coffin there was a ruder skull and two +cross-bones. "Them's intended for what I'm to be. I understand their +language well enough. Look here," and he turned the envelope round +and showed that it was addressed to Peter McGrew, butler, Morony +Castle. "They know me well enough all the country round." The letter +was as follows: + + + MR. PETER MCGREW, + + If you're not out of that before the end of the month, but + stay there doing things for them infernal blackguards, + your goose is cooked. So now you know all about it. + + From yours, + + MOONLIGHT. + + +Edith attempted to laugh at this letter, but Peter made her +understand that it was no laughing matter. + +"I've a married darter in Dublin who won't see her father shot down +that way if she knows it." + +"You had better take it to papa, then, and give him warning," said +Edith. + +But this Peter declined to do on the spur of the moment, seeming to +be equally afraid of his master and of Captain Moonlight. + +"If I'd the Captain here, he'd tell me what I ought to do." The +Captain was always Captain Clayton. + +"He is coming here to-morrow, and I will show him the letter," said +Edith. But she did not on that account scruple to tell her father at +once. + +"He can go if he likes it," said Mr. Jones, and that was all that Mr. +Jones said on the subject. + +This was the third visit that the Captain had paid to Morony +Castle since the terrible events of the late trial. And it must be +understood that he had not spoken a word to either of the two girls +since the moment in which he had ventured to squeeze Edith's hand +with a tighter grasp than he had given to her sister. They, between +them, had discussed him and his character often; but had come to no +understanding respecting him. + +Ada had declared that Edith should be his, and had in some degree +recovered from the paroxysm of sorrow which had first oppressed her. +But Edith had refused altogether to look at the matter in that light. +"It was quite out of the question," she said, "and so Captain Clayton +would feel it. If you don't hold your tongue, Ada," she said, "I +shall think you're a brute." + +But Ada had not held her tongue, and had declared that if no one else +were to know it--no one but Edith and the Captain himself--she would +not be made miserable by it. + +"What is it?" she said. "I thought him the best and he is the best. I +thought that he thought that I was the best; and I wasn't. It shall +be as I say." + +After this manner were the discussions held between them; but of +these Captain Clayton heard never a word. + +When he came he would seem to be full of the flood gates, and of Lax +the murderer. He had two men with him now, Hunter and another. But +no further attempt was made to shoot him in the neighbourhood of +Headford. "Lax finds it too hot," he said, "since that day in the +court house, and has gone away for the present. I nearly know where +he is; but there is no good catching him till I get some sort of +evidence against him, and if I locked him up as a 'suspect,' he would +become a martyr and a hero in the eyes of the whole party. The worst +of it is that though twenty men swore that they had seen it, no +Galway jury would convict him." But nevertheless he was indefatigable +in following up the murderer of poor Florian. "As for the murder in +the court house," he said, "I do believe that though it was done in +the presence of an immense crowd no one actually saw it. I have the +pistol, but what is that? The pistol was dropped on the floor of the +court house." + +On this occasion Edith brought him poor Peter's letter. As it +happened they two were then alone together. But she had taught +herself not to expect any allusion to his love. "He is a stupid +fellow," said the Captain. + +"But he has been faithful. And you can't expect him to look at these +things as you do." + +"Of course he finds it to be a great compliment. To have a special +letter addressed to him by some special Captain Moonlight is to bring +him into the history of his country." + +"I suppose he will go." + +"Then let him go. I would not on any account ask him to stay. If he +comes to me I shall tell him simply that he is a fool. Pat Carroll's +people want to bother your father, and he would be bothered if he +were to lose his man-servant. There is no doubt of that. If Peter +desires to bother him let him go. Then he has another idea that he +wants to achieve a character for fidelity. He must choose between the +two. But I wouldn't on any account ask him for a favour." + +Then Edith having heard the Captain's advice was preparing to leave +the room when Captain Clayton stopped her. "Edith," he said. + +"Well, Captain Clayton." + +"Some months ago,--before these sad things had occurred,--I told you +what I thought of you, and I asked you for a favour." + +"There was a mistake made between us all,--a mistake which does +not admit of being put to rights. It was unfortunate, but those +misfortunes will occur. There is no more to be said about it." + +"Is the happiness of two people to be thus sacrificed, when nothing +is done for the benefit of one?" + +"What two?" she asked brusquely. + +"You and I." + +"My happiness will not be sacrificed, Captain Clayton," she said. +What right had he to tell that her happiness was in question? The +woman spoke,--the essence of feminine self, putting itself forward to +defend feminine rights generally against male assumption. Could any +man be justified in asserting that a woman loved him till she had +told him so? It was evident no doubt,--so she told herself. It was +true at least. As the word goes she worshipped the very ground he +stood upon. He was her hero. She had been made to think and to feel +that he was so by this mistake which had occurred between the three. +She had known it before, but it was burned in upon her now. Yet he +should not be allowed to assume it. And the one thing necessary +for her peace of mind in life would be that she should do her duty +by Ada. She had been the fool. She had instigated Ada to believe +this thing in which there was no truth. The loss of all ecstasy +of happiness must be the penalty which she would pay. And yet she +thought of him. Must he pay a similar penalty for her blunder? Surely +this would be hard! Surely this would be cruel! But then she did not +believe that man ever paid such penalty as that of which she was +thinking. He would have the work of his life. It would be the work +of her life to remember what she might have been had she not been a +fool. + +"If so," he said after a pause, "then there is an end of it all," +and he looked at her as though he absolutely believed her words,--as +though he had not known that her assertion had been mere feminine +pretext! She could not endure that he at any rate should not know the +sacrifice which she would have to make. But he was very hard to her. +He would not even allow her the usual right of defending her sex by +falsehood. "If so there is an end of it all," he repeated, holding +out his hand as though to bid her farewell. + +She believed him, and gave him her hand. "Good-bye, Captain Clayton," +she said. + +"Never again," he said to her very gruffly, but still with such a +look across his eyes as irradiated his whole face. "This hand shall +never again be your own to do as you please with it." + +"Who says so?" and she struggled as though to pull her hand away, but +he held her as though in truth her hand had gone from her for ever. + +"I say so, who am its legitimate owner. Now I bid you tell me the +truth, or rather I defy you to go on with the lie. Do you not love +me?" + +"It is a question which I shall not answer." + +"Then," said he, "from a woman to a man it is answered. You cannot +make me over to another. I will not be transferred." + +"I can do nothing with you, Captain Clayton, nor can you with me. I +know you are very strong of course." Then he loosened her hand, and +as he did so Ada came into the room. + +"I have asked her to be my wife," said the Captain, putting his hand +upon Edith's arm. + +"Let it be so," said Ada. "I have nothing to say against it." + +"But I have," said Edith. "I have much to say against it. We can all +live without being married, I suppose. Captain Clayton has plenty to +do without the trouble of a wife. And so have you and I. Could we +leave our father? And have we forgotten so soon poor Florian? This is +no time for marriages. Only think, papa would not have the means to +get us decent clothes. As far as I am concerned, Captain Clayton, let +there be an end of all this." Then she stalked out of the room. + +"Ada, you are not angry with me," said Captain Clayton, coming up to +her. + +"Oh, no! How could I be angry?" + +"I have not time to do as other men do. I do not know that I ever +said a word to her; and yet, God knows, that I have loved her dearly +enough. She is hot tempered now, and there are feelings in her heart +which fight against me. You will say a word in my favour?" + +"Indeed, indeed I will." + +"There shall be nothing wrong between you and me. If she becomes my +wife, you shall be my dearest sister. And I think she will at last. +I know,--I do know that she loves me. Poor Florian is dead and gone. +All his short troubles are over. We have still got our lives to lead. +And why should we not lead them as may best suit us? She talks about +your father's present want of money. I would be proud to marry your +sister standing as she is now down in the kitchen. But if I did +marry her I should have ample means to keep her as would become your +father's daughter." Then he took his leave and went back to Galway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING. + + +It was explained in the last chapter that Frank Jones was not in a +happy condition because of the success of the lady whom he loved. +Rachel, as Christmas drew nigh, was more and more talked about in +London, and became more and more the darling of all musical people. +She had been twelve months now on the London boards, and had fully +justified the opinion expressed of her by Messrs. Moss and Le Gros. +There were those who declared that she sang as no woman of her age +had ever sung before. And there had got abroad about her certain +stories, which were true enough in the main, but which were all the +more curious because of their truth; and yet they were not true +altogether. It was known that she was a daughter of a Landleaguing +Member of Parliament, and that she had been engaged to marry the +son of a boycotted landlord. Mr. Jones' sorrows, and the death of +his poor son, and the murder of the sinner who was to have been the +witness at the trial of his brother, were all known and commented +on in the London press; and so also was the peculiar vigour of Mr. +O'Mahony's politics. Nothing, it was said, could be severed more +entirely than were Mr. Jones and Mr. O'Mahony. The enmity was so +deep that all ideas of marriage were out of the question. It was, no +doubt, true that the gentleman was penniless and the lady rolling in +wealth; but this was a matter so grievous that so poor a thing as +money could not be allowed to prevail. And then Mr. Moss was talked +about as a dragon of iniquity,--which, indeed, was true enough,--and +was represented as having caused contracts to be executed which would +bind poor Rachel to himself, both as to voice and beauty. But Lord +Castlewell had seen her, and had heard her; and Mr. Moss, with all +his abominations, was sent down to the bottom of the nethermost pit. +The fortune of "The Embankment" was made by the number of visitors +who were sent there to see and to hear this wicked fiend; but it all +redounded to the honour and glory of Rachel. + +But Rachel was to be seen a _fêted_ guest at all semi-musical +houses. Whispers about town were heard that that musical swell, Lord +Castlewell, had been caught at last. And in the midst of all this, +Mr. O'Mahony came in for his share of popularity. There was something +so peculiar in the connection which bound a violent Landleaguing +Member of Parliament with the prima donna of the day. They were +father and daughter, but they looked more like husband and wife, and +it always seemed that Rachel had her own way. Mr. O'Mahony had quite +achieved a character for himself before the time had come in which +he was enabled to open his mouth in the House of Commons. And some +people went so far as to declare that he was about to be the new +leader of the party. + +It certainly was true that about this time Lord Castlewell did make +an offer to Rachel O'Mahony. + +"That I should have come to this!" she said to the lord when the lord +had expressed his wishes. + +"You deserve it all," said the gallant lord. + +"I think I do. But that you should have seen it,--that you should +have come to understand that if I would be your wife I would sing +every note out of my body,--to do you good if it were possible. How +have you been enlightened so far as to see that this is the way in +which you may best make yourself happy?" + +Lord Castlewell did not quite like this; but he knew that his +wished-for bride was an unintelligible little person, to whom much +must be yielded as to her own way. He had not given way to this idea +before he had seen how well she had taken her place among the people +with whom he lived. He was forty years old, and it was time that he +should marry. His father was a very proud personage, to whom he never +spoke much. He, however, would be of opinion that any bride whom his +son might choose would be, by the very fact, raised to the top of the +peerage. His mother was a religious woman, to whom any matrimony for +her son would be an achievement. Now, of the proposed bride he had +learned all manner of good things. She had come out of Mr. Moss's +furnace absolutely unscorched; so much unscorched as to scorn the +idea of having been touched by the flames. She was thankful to Lord +Castlewell for what he had done, and expressed her thanks in a manner +that was not grateful to him. She was not in the least put about or +confused, or indeed surprised, because the heir of a marquis had made +an offer to her--a singing girl; but she let him understand that she +quite thought that she had done a good thing. "It would be so much +better for him than going on as he has gone," she said to her father. +And Lord Castlewell knew very well what were her sentiments. + +It cannot be said that he repented of his offer. Indeed he pressed +her for an answer more than once or twice. But her conduct to him was +certainly very aggravating. This matter of her marriage with an earl +was an affair of great moment. Indeed all London was alive with the +subject. But she had not time to give him an answer because it was +necessary that she should study a part for the theatre. This was hard +upon an earl, and was made no better by the fact that the earl was +forty. "No, my lord earl," she said laughing, "the time for that has +not come yet. You must give me a few days to think of it." This she +said when he expressed a not unnatural desire to give her a kiss. + +But though she apparently made light of the matter to him, and +astonished even her father by her treatment of him, yet she thought +of it with a very anxious mind. She was quite alive to the glories +of the position offered to her, and was not at all alive to its +inconveniences. People would assert that she had caught the lover who +had intended her for other purposes. "That was of course out of the +question," she said to herself. And she felt sure that she could make +as good a countess as the best of them. With her father a Member of +Parliament, and her husband an earl, she would have done very well +with herself. She would have escaped from that brute Moss, and would +have been subjected to less that was disagreeable in the encounter +than might have been expected. She must lose the public singing which +was attractive to her, and must become the wife of an old man. It was +thus in truth that she looked at the noble lord. "There would be an +end," she said, "and for ever, of 'Love's young dream.'" The dream +had been very pleasant to her. She had thoroughly liked her Frank. +He was handsome, fresh, full of passion, and a little violent when +his temper lay in that direction. But he had been generous, and she +was sure of him that he had loved her thoroughly. After all, was not +"Love's young dream" the best? + +An answer was at any rate due to Lord Castlewell. But she made up +her mind that before she could give the answer, she would write to +Frank himself. "My lord," she said very gravely to her suitor, "it +has become my lot in life to be engaged to marry the son of that Mr. +Jones of whom you have heard in the west of Ireland." + +"I am aware of it," said Lord Castlewell gravely. + +"It has been necessary that I should tell you myself. Now, I cannot +say whether, in all honour, that engagement has been dissolved." + +"I thought there was no doubt about it," said the lord. + +"It is as I tell you. I must write to Mr. Jones. Hearts cannot be +wrenched asunder without some effort in the wrenching. For the great +honour you have done me I am greatly thankful." + +"Let all that pass," said the lord. + +"Not so. It has to be spoken of. As I stand at present I have been +repudiated by Mr. Jones." + +"Do you mean to ask him to take you back again?" + +"I do not know how the letter will be worded, because it has not +been yet written. My object is to tell him of the honour which Lord +Castlewell proposes to me. And I have not thought it quite honest to +your lordship to do this without acquainting you." + +Then that interview was over, and Lord Castlewell went away no doubt +disgusted. He had not intended to be treated in this way by a singing +girl, when he proposed to make her his countess. But with the disgust +there was a strengthened feeling of admiration for her conduct. She +looked much more like the countess than the singing girl when she +spoke to him. And there certainly never came a time in which he +could tell her to go back and sing and marry Mr. Moss. Therefore the +few days necessary for an answer went by, and then she gave him her +reply. "My lord," she said, "if you wish it still, it shall be so." + +The time for "Love's young dream" had not gone by for Lord +Castlewell. "I do wish it still," he said in a tone of renewed joy. + +"Then you shall have all that you wish." Thereupon she put her little +hands on his arm, and leant her face against his breast. Then there +was a long embrace, but after the embrace she had a little speech to +make. "You ought to know, Lord Castlewell, how much I think of you +and your high position. A man, they say, trusts much of his honour +into the hands of his wife. Whatever you trust to me shall be guarded +as my very soul. You shall be to me the one man whom I am bound to +worship. I will worship you with all my heart, with all my body, +with all my soul, and with all my strength. Your wishes shall be my +wishes. I only hope that an odd stray wish of mine may occasionally +be yours." Then she smiled so sweetly that as she looked up into his +face he was more enamoured of her than ever. + +But now we must go back for a moment, and read the correspondence +which took place between Rachel O'Mahony and Frank Jones. Rachel's +letter ran as follows: + + + MY DEAR FRANK, + + I am afraid I must trouble you once again with my affairs; + though, indeed, after what last took place between us it + ought not to be necessary. Lord Castlewell has proposed + to make me his wife; and, to tell you the truth, looking + forward into the world, I do not wish to throw over all + its pleasures because your honour, whom I have loved, does + not wish to accept the wages of a singing girl. But the + place is open to you still,--the wages, and the singing + girl, and all. Write me a line, and say how it is to be. + + Yours as you would have me to be, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +This letter Frank Jones showed to no one. Had he allowed it to be +seen by his sister Edith, she would probably have told him that no +man ever received a sweeter love-letter from the girl whom he loved. +"The place is open to you still,--the wages, the singing girl, and +all." The girl had made nothing of this new and noble lover, except +to assure his rival that he, the rival, should be postponed to him, +the lover, if he, the lover, would write but one word to say that it +should be so. But Frank was bad at reading such words. He got it into +his head that the girl had merely written to ask the permission of +her former suitor to marry this new lordly lover, and, though he did +love the girl, with a passion which the girl could never feel for the +lord, he wrote back and refused the offer. + + + MY DEAR RACHEL, + + It is, I suppose, best as it is. We are sinking lower and + lower daily. My father is beginning to feel that we shall + never see another rent day at Castle Morony. It is not + fitting that I should think of joining my fallen fortunes + to yours, which are soaring so high. And poor Florian is + gone. We are at the present moment still struck to the + ground because of Florian. As for you, and the lord who + admires you, you have my permission to become his wife. I + have long heard that he is your declared admirer. You have + before you a glorious future, and I shall always hear with + satisfaction of your career. + + Yours, with many memories of the past, + + FRANCIS JONES. + + +It was not a letter which would have put such a girl as Rachel +O'Mahony into good heart unless she had in truth wished to get his +agreement to her lordly marriage. "This twice I have thrown myself at +his head and he has rejected me." Then she abided Lord Castlewell's +coming, and the scene between them took place as above described. The +marriage was at once declared as a settled thing. "Now, my dear, you +must name the day," said Lord Castlewell, as full of joy as though he +were going to marry a duke's daughter. + +"I have got to finish my engagement," said Rachel; "I am bound down +to the end of May. When June comes you shan't find a girl who will +be in a greater hurry. Do you think that I do not wish to become a +countess?" + +He told her that he would contrive to get her engagement broken. +"Covent Garden is not going to quarrel with me about my wife, I'm +sure," he said. + +"Ah! but my own one," said Rachel, "we will do it all _selon les +règles_. I am in a hurry, but we won't let the world know it. I, the +future Countess of Castlewell; I, the future Marchioness of Beaulieu, +will keep my terms and my allotted times like any candle-snuffer. +What do you think Moss will say?" + +"What can it signify what Mr. Moss may say?" + +"Ah! but my own man, it does signify. Mr. Moss shall know that +through it all I have done my duty. Madame Socani will tell lies, but +she shall feel in her heart that she has once in her life come across +a woman who, when she has signed a bit of paper, intends to remain +true to the paper signed. And, my lord, there is still £100 due to +you from my father." + +"Gammon!" said the lord. + +"I could pay it by a cheque on the bank, to be sure, but let us go on +to the end of May. I want to see how all the young women will behave +when they hear of it." And so some early day in June was fixed for +the wedding. + +Among others who heard of it were, of course, Mr. Moss and Madame +Socani. They heard of it, but of course did not believe it. It was +too bright to be believed. When Madame Socani was assured that Rachel +had taken the money,--she and her father between them,--she declared, +with great apparent satisfaction, that Rachel must be given up as +lost. "As to that wicked old man, her father--" + +"He's not so very old," said Moss. + +"She's no chicken, and he's old enough to be her father. That is, if +he is her father. I have known that girl on the stage any day these +ten years." + +"No, you've not; not yet five. I don't quite know how it is." And Mr. +Moss endeavoured to think of it all in such a manner as to make it +yet possible that he might marry her. What might not they two do +together in the musical world? + +"You don't mean to say you'd take her yet?" said Madame Socani, with +scorn. + +"When I take her you'll be glad enough to join us; that is, if we +will have you." Then Madame Socani ground her teeth together, and +turned up her nose with redoubled scorn. + +But it was soon borne in upon Mr. Moss that the marriage was to be +a marriage, and he was in truth very angry. He had been able to +endure M. Le Gros' success in carrying away Miss O'Mahony from "The +Embankment." Miss O'Mahony might come back again under that or any +other name. He--and she--had a musical future before them which might +still be made to run in accordance with his wishes. Then he had +learned with sincere sorrow that she was throwing herself into the +lord's hands, borrowing money of him. But there might be a way out of +this which would still allow him to carry out his project. But now he +heard that a real marriage was intended, and he was very angry. Not +even Madame Socani was more capable of spite than Mr. Moss, though +he was better able to hide his rage. Even now, when Christmas-time +had come, he would hardly believe the truth, and when the marriage +was not instantly carried out, new hopes came to him--that Lord +Castlewell would not at last make himself such a fool. He inquired +here and there in the musical world and the theatrical world, and +could not arrive at what he believed to be positive truth. Then +Christmas passed by, and Miss O'Mahony recommenced her singing at +Covent Garden. Three times a week the house was filled, and at last a +fourth night was added, for which the salary paid to Rachel was very +much increased. + +"I don't see that the salary matters very much," said Lord +Castlewell, when the matter was discussed. + +"Oh, but, my lord, it does matter!" She always called him my lord +now, with a little emphasis laid on the "my." "They have made father +a Member of Parliament, but he does not earn anything. What I can +earn up to the last fatal day he shall have, if you will let me give +it to him." + +They were very bright days for Rachel, because she had all the +triumph of success,--success gained by her own efforts. + +"I can never do as much as this when I am your countess," she said +to her future lord. "I shall dwell in marble halls, as people say, +but I shall never cram a house so full as to be able to see, when I +look up from the stage, that there is not a place for another man's +head; and when my throat gave way the other day I could read all the +disappointment in the public papers. I shall become your wife, my +lord." + +"I hope so." + +"And if you will love me I shall be very happy for long, long years." + +"I will love you." + +"But there will be no passion of ecstasy such as this. Father says +that Home Rule won't be passed because the people will be thinking of +my singing. Of course it is all vanity, but there is an enjoyment in +it." + +But all this was wormwood to Mr. Moss. He had put out his hand so +as to clutch this girl now two years since, understanding all her +singing qualities, and then in truth loving her. She had taken a +positive hatred to him, and had rejected him at every turn of her +life. But he had not at all regarded that. He had managed to connect +her with his theatre, and had perceived that her voice had become +more and more sweet in its tones, and more and more rich in its +melody. He had still hoped that he would make her his wife. Madame +Socani's abominable proposal had come from an assurance on her part +that he could have all that he wished for without paying so dear for +it. There had doubtless been some whispering between them over the +matter, but the order for the proposal had not come from him. Madame +Socani had judged of Rachel as she might have judged of herself. But +all that had come to absolute failure. He felt now that he should be +paying by no means too dear by marrying the girl. It would be a great +triumph to marry her; but he was told that this absurd earl wished to +triumph in the same manner. + +He set afloat all manner of reports, which, in truth, wounded Lord +Castlewell sorely. Lord Castlewell had given her money, and had then +failed in his object. So said Mr. Moss. Lord Castlewell had promised +marriage, never intending it. Lord Castlewell had postponed the +marriage because as the moment drew nearer he would not sacrifice +himself. If the lady had a friend, it would be the friend's duty to +cudgel the lord, so villainous had been the noble lord's conduct. But +yet, in truth, who could have expected that the noble lord would have +married the singing girl? Was not his character known? Did anybody +in his senses expect that the noble lord would marry Miss Rachel +O'Mahony? + +"If I have a friend, is my friend to cudgel you, my lord?" she said, +clinging on to his arm in her usual manner. "My friend is papa, who +thinks that you are a very decent fellow, considering your misfortune +in being a lord at all. I know where all these words come from;--it +is Mahomet M. Moss. There is nothing for it but to live them down +with absolute silence." + +"Nothing," he replied. "They are a nuisance, but we can do nothing." + +But Lord Castlewell did in truth feel what was said about him. Was he +not going to pay too dearly for his whistle? No doubt Rachel was all +that she ought to be. She was honest, industrious, and high-spirited; +and, according to his thinking, she sang more divinely than any woman +of her time. And he so thought of her that he knew that she must be +his countess or be nothing at all to him. To think of her in any +other light would be an abomination to him. But yet, was it worth +his while to make her Marchioness of Beaulieu? He could only get rid +of his present engagement by some absolute change in his mode of +life. For instance, he must shut himself up in a castle and devote +himself entirely to a religious life. He must explain to her that +circumstances would not admit his marrying, and must offer to pay her +any sum of money that she or her father might think fit to name. If +he wished to escape, this must be his way; but as he looked at her +when she came off the stage, where he always attended her, he assured +himself that he did not wish to escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY. + + +Time went on and Parliament met. Mr. O'Mahony went before the +Speaker's table and was sworn in. He was introduced by two brother +Landleaguers, and really did take his place with some enthusiasm. He +wanted to speak on the first day, but was judiciously kept silent by +his colleagues. He expressed an idea that, until Ireland's wrongs had +been redressed, there ought not to be a moment devoted to any other +subject, and became very violent in his expressions of this opinion. +But he was not long kept dumb. Great things were expected from +his powers of speech, and, though he had to be brought to silence +ignominiously on three or four occasions, still, at last some power +of speech was permitted to him. There were those among his own +special brethren who greatly admired him and praised him; but with +others of the same class there was a shaking of the head and many +doubts. With the House generally, I fear, laughter prevailed rather +than true admiration. Mr. O'Mahony, no doubt, could speak well in a +debating society or a music hall. Words came from his tongue sweeter +than honey. But just at the beginning of the session, the Speaker +was bound to put a limit even to Irish eloquence, and in this case +was able to do so. As Mr. O'Mahony contrived to get upon his feet +very frequently, either in asking a question or in endeavouring to +animadvert on the answer given, there was something of a tussle +between him and the authority in the chair. It did not take much +above a week to make the Speaker thoroughly tired of this new member, +and threats were used towards him of a nature which his joint +Milesian and American nature could not stand. He was told of dreadful +things which could be done to him. Though as yet he could not be +turned out of the House, for the state of the young session had not +as yet admitted of that new mode of torture, still, he could be +named. "Let him name me. My name is Mr. O'Mahony." And Mr. O'Mahony +was not a man who could be happy when he was quarrelling with all +around him. He was soon worked into a violent passion, in which he +made himself ridiculous, but when he had subsided, and the storm +was past, he knew he had misbehaved, and was unhappy. And, as he +was thoroughly honest, he could not be got to obey his leaders in +everything. He wanted to abolish the Irish landlords, but he was +desirous of abolishing them after some special plan of his own, and +could hardly be got to work efficiently in harness together with +others. + +"Don't you think your father is making an ass of himself,--just a +little, you know?" + +This was said by Lord Castlewell to Rachel when the session was not +yet a fortnight old, and made Rachel very unhappy. She did think that +her father was making an ass of himself, but she did not like to be +told of it. And much as she liked music herself, dear as was her own +profession to her, still she felt that, to be a Member of Parliament, +and to have achieved the power of making speeches there, was better +than to run after opera singers. She loved the man who was going to +marry her very well,--or rather, she intended to do so. + +He was not to her "Love's young dream." But she intended that his +lordship should become love's old reality. She felt that this would +not become the case, if love's old reality were to tell her often +that her father was an ass. Lord Castlewell's father was, she +thought, making an ass of himself. She heard on different sides that +he was a foolish, pompous old peer, who could hardly say bo to a +goose; but it would not, she thought, become her to tell her future +husband her own opinion on that matter. She saw no reason why he +should be less reticent in his opinion as to her father. Of course he +was older, and perhaps she did not think of that as much as she ought +to have done. She ought also to have remembered that he was an earl, +and she but a singing girl, and that something was due to him for the +honour he was doing her. But of this she would take no account. She +was to be his wife, and a wife ought to be equal to the husband. Such +at least was her American view of the matter. In fact, her ideas on +the matter ran as follows: My future husband is not entitled to call +my father an ass because he is a lord, seeing that my father is a +Member of Parliament. Nor is he entitled to call him so because he is +an ass, because the same thing is true of his own father. And thus +there came to be discord in her mind. + +"I suppose all Parliament people make asses of themselves sometimes, +Lords as well as Commons. I don't see how a man is to go on talking +for ever about laws and landleagues, and those sort of things without +doing so. It is all bosh to me. And so I should think it must be to +you, as you don't do it. But I do not think that father is worse than +anybody else; and I think that his words are sometimes very +beautiful." + +"Why, my dear, there is not a man about London who is not laughing at +him." + +"I saw in _The Times_ the other day that he is considered a very true +and a very honest man. Of course, they said that he talked nonsense +sometimes; but if you put the honesty against the nonsense, he will +be as good as anybody else." + +"I don't think you understand, my dear. Honesty is not what they +want." + +"Oh!" + +"But what they don't want especially is nonsense." + +"Poor papa! But he doesn't mean to consult them as to what they want. +His idea is that if everybody can be got to be honest this question +may be settled among them. But it must be talked about, and he, at +any rate, is eloquent. I have heard it said that there was not a more +eloquent man in New York. I think he has got as many good gifts as +anyone else." + +In this way there rose some bad feeling. Lord Castlewell did think +that there was something wanting in the manner in which he was +treated by his bride. He was sure that he loved her, but he was sure +also that when a lord marries a singing girl he ought to expect some +special observance. And the fact that the singing girl's father was +a Member of Parliament was much less to him than to her. He, indeed, +would have been glad to have the father abolished altogether. But she +had become very proud of her father since he had become a Member of +Parliament. Her ideas of the British constitution were rather vague; +but she thought that a Member of Parliament was at least as good as a +lord who was not a peer. He had his wealth; but she was sure that he +was too proud to think of that. + +Just at this period, when the session was beginning, Rachel began to +doubt the wisdom of what she was doing. The lord was, in truth, good +enough for her. He was nearly double her age, but she had determined +to disregard that. He was plain, but that was of no moment. He had +run after twenty different women, but she could condone all that, +because he had come at last to run after her. For his wealth she +cared nothing,--or less than nothing, because by remaining single +she could command wealth of her own;--wealth which she could control +herself, and keep at her own banker's, which she suspected would +not be the case with Lord Castlewell's money. But she had found the +necessity of someone to lean upon when Frank Jones had told her that +he would not marry her, and she had feared Mr. Moss so much that she +had begun to think that he would, in truth, frighten her into doing +some horrible thing. As Frank had deserted her, it would be better +that she should marry somebody. Lord Castlewell had come, and she had +felt that the fates were very good to her. She learned from the words +of everybody around,--from her new friends at Covent Garden, and from +her old enemies at "The Embankment," and from her father himself, +that she was the luckiest singing girl at this moment known in +Europe. "By G----, she'll get him!" such had been the exclamation +made with horror by Mr. Moss, and the echo of it had found its way to +her ears. The more Mr. Moss was annoyed, the greater ought to have +been her delight. But,--but was she in truth delighted? As she came +to think of the reality she asked herself what were the pleasures +which were promised to her. Did she not feel that a week spent with +Frank Jones in some little cottage would be worth a twelvemonth of +golden splendour in the "Marble Halls" which Lord Castlewell was +supposed to own? And why had Frank deserted her? Simply because he +would not come with her and share her money. Frank, she told herself, +was, in truth, a gallant fellow. She did love Frank. She acknowledged +so much to herself again and again. And yet she was about to marry +Lord Castlewell, simply because her doing so would be the severest +possible blow to her old enemy, Mr. Moss. + +Then she asked herself what would be best for her. She had made for +herself a great reputation, and she did not scruple to tell herself +that this had come from her singing. She thought very much of her +singing, but very little of her beauty. A sort of prettiness did +belong to her; a tiny prettiness which had sufficed to catch Frank +Jones. She had laughed about her prettiness and her littleness a +score of times with Ada and Edith, and also with Frank himself. There +had been the three girls who had called themselves "Beauty and the +Beast" and the "Small young woman." The reader will understand that +it had not been Ada who had chosen those names; but then Ada was not +given to be witty. Her prettiness, such as it was, had sufficed, and +Frank had loved her dearly. Then had come her great triumph, and she +knew not only that she could sing, but that the world had recognised +her singing. "I am a great woman, as women go," she had said to +herself. But her singing was to come to an end for ever and ever on +the 1st of May next. She would be the Countess of Castlewell, and in +process of time would be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. But she never +again would be a great woman. She was selling all that for the marble +halls. + +Was she wise in what she was doing? She had lain awake one long +morning striving to answer the question for herself. "If nobody else +should come, of course I should be an ugly old maid," she said to +herself; "but then Frank might perhaps come again,--Frank might come +again,--if Mr. Moss did not intervene in the meantime." But at last +she acknowledged to herself that she had given the lord a promise. +She would keep her promise, but she could not bring herself to exult +at the prospect. She must take care, however, that the lord should +not triumph over her. The lord had called her father an ass. She +certainly would say a rough word or two if he abused her father +again. + +This was the time of the "suspects." Mr. O'Mahony had already taken +an opportunity of expressing an opinion in the House of Commons that +every honest man, every patriotic man, every generous man, every +man in fact who was worth his salt, was in Ireland locked up as a +"suspect," and in saying so managed to utter very bitter words indeed +respecting him who had the locking up of these gentlemen. Poor Mr. +O'Mahony had no idea that he might have used with propriety as to +this gentleman all the epithets of which he believed the "suspects" +to be worthy; but instead of doing so he called him a "disreputable +jailer." It is not pleasant to be called a disreputable jailer in the +presence of all the best of one's fellow citizens, but the man so +called in this instance only smiled. Mr. O'Mahony had certainly made +himself ridiculous, and the whole House were loud in their clamours +at the words used. But that did not suffice. The Speaker reprimanded +Mr. O'Mahony and desired him to recall the language and apologise +for it. Then there arose a loud debate, during which the member of +the Government who had been assailed declared that Mr. O'Mahony had +not as yet been quite long enough in the House to learn the little +details of Parliamentary language; Mr. O'Mahony would no doubt soften +down his eloquence in course of time. But the Speaker would not be +content with this, and was about to order the sinner to be carried +away by the Sergeant-at-Arms, when a friend on his right and a friend +on his left, and a friend behind him, all whispered into his ear +how easy it is to apologise in the House of Commons. "You needn't +say he isn't a disreputable jailer, but only call him a distasteful +warder;--anything will do." This came from the gentleman at Mr. +O'Mahony's back, and the order for his immediate expulsion was +ringing in his ears. He had been told that he was ridiculous, and +could feel that it would be absurd to be carried somewhere into the +dungeons. And the man whom he certainly detested at the present +moment worse than any other scoundrel on the earth, had made a +good-natured apology on his behalf. If he were carried away now, he +could never come back again without a more serious apology. Then, +farewell to all power of attacking the jailer. He did as the man +whispered into his ear, and begged to substitute "distasteful warder" +for the words which had wounded so cruelly the feelings of the right +honourable gentleman. Then he looked round the House, showing that +he thought that he had misbehaved himself. After that, during Mr. +O'Mahony's career as a Member of Parliament, which lasted only for +the session, he lost his self-respect altogether. He had been driven +to withdraw the true wrath of his eloquence from him "at whose brow," +as he told Rachel the next morning, "he had hurled his words with a +force that had been found to be intolerable." + +Mr. O'Mahony had undoubtedly made himself an ass again on this +second, third, and perhaps tenth occasion. This was not the ass +he had made himself on the occasion to which Lord Castlewell had +referred. But yet he was a thoroughly honest, patriotic man, desirous +only of the good of his country, and wishing for nothing for himself. +Is it not possible that as much may be said for others, who from +day to day so violently excite our spleen, as to make us feel that +special Irishmen selected for special constituencies are not worthy +to be ranked with men? You shall take the whole House of Commons, +indifferent as to the side on which they sit,--some six hundred and +thirty out of the number,--and will find in conversation that the +nature of the animal, the absurdity, the selfishness, the absence +of all good qualifies, are taken for granted as matters admitting +of no dispute. But here was Mr. O'Mahony, as hot a Home-Ruler and +Landleaguer as any of them, who was undoubtedly a gentleman,--though +an American gentleman. Can it be possible that we are wrong in our +opinions respecting the others of the set? + +Rachel heard it all the next day, and, living as she did among +Italians and French, and theatrical Americans, and English swells, +could not endeavour to make the apology which I have just made for +the Irish Brigade generally. She knew that her father had made an ass +of himself. All the asinine proportions of the affair had been so +explained to her as to leave no doubt on her mind as to the matter. +But the more she was sure of it, the more resolved she became that +Lord Castlewell should not call her father an ass. She might do +so,--and undoubtedly would after her own fashion,--but no such +privilege should be allowed to him. + +"Oh! father, father," she said to him the next morning, "don't you +think you've made a goose of yourself?" + +"Yes, I do." + +"Then, don't do it any more." + +"Yes, I shall. It isn't so very easy for a man not to make a goose of +himself in that place. You've got to sit by and do nothing for a year +or two. It is very difficult. A man cannot afford to waste his time +in that manner. There is all Ireland to be regenerated, and I have to +learn the exact words which the prudery of the House of Commons will +admit. Of course I have made a goose of myself; but the question is +whether I did not make a knave of myself in apologising for language +which was undoubtedly true. Only think that a man so brutal, so +entirely without feelings, without generosity, without any touch +of sentiment, should be empowered by the Queen of England to lock +up, not only every Irishman, but every American also, and to keep +them there just as long as he pleases! And he revels in it. I do +believe that he never eats a good breakfast unless half-a-dozen new +'suspects' are reported by the early police in the morning; and I +am not to call such a man a 'disreputable jailer.' I may call him a +'distasteful warder.' It's a disgrace to a man to sit in such a House +and in such company. Of course I was a goose, but I was only a goose +according to the practices of that special duck-pond." Mr. O'Mahony, +as he said this, walked about angrily, with his hands in his +breeches' pockets, and told himself that no honest man could draw the +breath of life comfortably except in New York. + +"I don't know much about it, father," said Rachel, "but I think you'd +better cut and run. Your twenty men will never do any good here. +Everybody hates them who has got any money, and their only friends +are just men as Mr. Pat Carroll, of Ballintubber." + +Then, later in the day, Lord Castlewell called to drive his bride +in the Park. He had so far overcome family objections as to have +induced his sister, Lady Augusta Montmorency, to accompany him. Lady +Augusta had been already introduced to Rachel, but had not been +much prepossessed. Lady Augusta was very proud of her family, was a +religious woman, and was anything but contented with her brother's +manner of life. But it was no doubt better that he should marry +Rachel than not be married at all; and therefore Lady Augusta had +allowed herself to be brought to accompany the singing girl upon this +occasion. She was, in truth, an uncommonly good young woman; not +beautiful, not clever, but most truly anxious for the welfare of her +brother. It had been represented to her that her brother was over +head and ears in love with the young lady, and looking at the matter +all round, she had thought it best to move a little from her dignity +so as to take her sister-in-law coldly by the hand. It need hardly +be said that Rachel did not like being taken coldly by the hand, and, +with her general hot mode of expression, would have declared that she +hated Augusta Montmorency. Now, the two entered the room together, +and Rachel kissed Lady Augusta, while she gave only her hand to Lord +Castlewell. But there was something in her manner on such occasions +which was intended to show affection,--and did show it very plainly. +In old days she could decline to kiss Frank in a manner that would +set Frank all on fire. It was as much as to say--of course you've a +right to it, but on this occasion I don't mean to give it to you. But +Lord Castlewell was not imaginative, and did not think of all this. +Rachel had intended him to think of it. + +"Oh, my goodness!" began the lord, "what a mess your father did make +of it last night." And he frowned as he spoke. + +Rachel, as an intended bride--about to be a bride in two or three +months--did not like to be frowned at by the man who was to marry +her. "That's as people may think, my lord," she said. + +"You don't mean to say that you don't think he did make a mess of +it?" + +"Of course he abused that horrid man. Everybody is abusing him." + +"As for that, I'm not going to defend the man." For Lord Castlewell, +though by no means a strong politician, was a Tory, and unfortunately +found himself agreeing with Rachel in abusing the members of the +Government. + +"Then why do you say that father made a mess of it?" + +"Everybody is talking about it. He has made himself ridiculous before +the whole town." + +"What! Lord Castlewell," exclaimed Rachel. + +"I do believe your father is the best fellow going; but he ought not +to touch politics. He made a great mistake in getting into the House. +It is a source of misery to everyone connected with him." + +"Or about to be connected with him," said Lady Augusta, who had not +been appeased by the flavour of Rachel's kiss. + +"There's time enough to think about it yet," said Rachel. + +"No, there's not," said Lord Castlewell, who intended to express in +rather a gallant manner his intention of going on with the marriage. + +"But I can assure you there is," said Rachel, "ample time. There +shall be no time for going on with it, if my father is to be abused. +As it happens, you don't agree with my father in politics. I, as a +woman, should have to call myself as belonging to your party, if we +be ever married. I do not know what that party is, and care very +little, as I am not a politician myself. And I suppose if we were +married, you would take upon yourself to abuse my father for his +politics, as he might abuse you. But while he is my father, and you +are not my husband, I will not bear it. No, thank you, Lady Augusta, +I will not drive out to-day. 'Them's my sentiments,' as people say; +and perhaps your brother had better think them over while there's +time enough." So saying, she did pertinaciously refuse to be driven +by the noble lord on that occasion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS. + + +What a dear fellow is Frank Jones. That was Rachel's first idea when +Lord Castlewell left her. It was an idea she had driven from out of +her mind with all the strength of which she was capable from the +moment in which his lordship had been accepted. "He never shall be +dear to me again," she had said, thinking of what would be due to +her husband; and she had disturbed herself, not without some success, +in expelling Frank Jones from her heart. It was not right that the +future Lady Castlewell should be in love with Frank Jones. But now +she could think about Frank Jones as she pleased. What a dear fellow +is Frank Jones! Now, it certainly was the case that Lord Castlewell +was not a dear fellow at all. He was many degrees better than Mr. +Moss, but for a dear fellow!--She only knew one. And she did tell +herself now that the world could hardly be a happy world to her +without one dear fellow,--at any rate, to think of. + +But he had positively refused to marry her! But yet she did not in +the least doubt his love. "I'm a little bit of a thing," she said to +herself; "but then he likes little bits of things. At any rate, he +likes one." + +And then she had thought ever so often over the cause which had +induced Frank to leave her. "Why shouldn't he take my money, since it +is here to be taken? It is all a man's beastly pride!" But then again +she contradicted the assertion to herself. It was a man's pride, but +by no means beastly. "If I were a man," she went on saying, "I don't +think I should like to pay for my coat and waistcoat with money which +a woman had earned; and I should like it the less, because things at +home, in my own house, were out of order." And then again she thought +of it all. "I should be an idiot to do that. Everybody would say so. +What! to give up my whole career for a young man's love,--merely that +I might have his arm round my waist? I to do it, who am the greatest +singer of my day, and who can, if I please, be Countess of Castlewell +to-morrow! That were losing the world for love, indeed! Can any man's +love be worth it? And I am going on to become such a singer as the +world does not possess another like me. I know it. I feel it daily in +the increasing sweetness of the music made. I see it in the wakeful +eagerness of men's ears, waiting for some charm of sound,--some +wonderful charm,--which they hardly dare to expect, but which always +comes at last. I see it in the eyes of the women, who are hardly +satisfied that another should be so great. It comes in the worship +of the people about the theatre, who have to tell me that I am their +god, and keep the strings of the sack from which money shall be +poured forth upon them. I know it is coming, and yet I am to marry +the stupid earl because I have promised him. And he thinks, too, that +his reflected honours will be more to me than all the fame that I can +earn for myself. To go down to his castle, and to be dumb for ever, +and perhaps to be mother of some hideous little imp who shall be the +coming marquis. Everything to be abandoned for that,--even Frank +Jones. But Frank Jones is not to be had! Oh, Frank Jones, Frank +Jones! If you could come and live in such a marble hall as I could +provide for you! It should have all that we want, but nothing more. +But it could not have that self-respect which it is a man's first +duty in life to achieve." But the thought that she had arrived at was +this,--that with all her best courtesy she would tell the Earl of +Castlewell to look for a bride elsewhere. + +But she would do nothing in a hurry. The lord had been very civil +to her, and she, on her part, would be as civil to the lord as +circumstances admitted. And she had an idea in her mind that she +could not at a moment's notice dismiss this lord and be as she was +before. Her engagement with the lord was known to all the musical +world. The Mosses and Socanis spent their mornings, noons, and nights +in talking about it,--as she well knew. And she was not quite sure +that the lord had given her such a palpable cause for quarrelling as +to justify her in throwing him over. And when she had as it were +thrown him over in her mind, she began to think of other causes for +regret. After all, it was something to be Countess of Castlewell. +She felt that she could play the part well, in spite of all Lady +Augusta's coldness. She would soon live the Lady Augusta down into a +terrible mediocrity. And then again, there would be dreams of Frank +Jones. Frank Jones had been utterly banished. But if an elderly +gentleman is desirous that his future wife shall think of no Frank +Jones, he had better not begin by calling the father of that young +lady a ridiculous ass. + +She was much disturbed in mind, and resolved that she would seek +counsel from her old correspondent, Frank's sister. + +"Dearest Edith," she began, + + + I know you will let me write to you in my troubles. I am + in such a twitter of mind in consequence of my various + lovers that I do not know where to turn; nor do I quite + know whom I am to call lover number one. Therefore, I + write to you to ask advice. Dear old Frank used to be + lover number one. Of course I ought to call him now Mr. + Francis Jones, because another lover is really lover + number one. I am engaged to marry, as you are well aware, + no less a person than the Earl of Castlewell; and, if + all things were to go prosperously with me, I should in + a short time be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. Did you + ever think of the glory of being an absolutely live + marchioness? It is so overwhelming as to be almost too + much for me. I think that I should not cower before my + position, but that I should, on the other hand, endeavour + to soar so high that I should be consumed by my own + flames. Then there is lover number three--Mr. Moss--who, + I do believe, loves me with the truest affection of them + all. I have found him out at last. He wishes to be the + legal owner of all the salaries which the singer of La + Beata may possibly earn; and he feels that, in spite of + all that has come and gone, it is yet possible. Of all the + men who ever forgave, Mr. Moss is the most forgiving. + + Now, which am I to take of these three? Of course, if + you are the honest girl I take you to be, you will write + back word that one, at any rate, is not in the running. + Mr. Francis Jones has no longer the honour. But what + if I am sure that he loves me; and what, again, if I + am sure that he is the only one I love? Let this be + quite--quite--between ourselves. I am beginning to think + that because of Frank Jones I cannot marry that gorgeous + earl. What if Frank Jones has spoiled me altogether? Would + you wish to see me on this account delivered over to Mr. + Mahomet Moss as a donkey between two bundles of hay? + + Tell me what you think of it. He won't take my money. But + suppose I earn my money for another season or two? Would + not your Irish brutalities be then over; and my father's + eloquence, and the eccentricities of the other gentlemen? + And would not your brother and your father have in some + way settled their affairs? Surely a little money won't + then be amiss, though it may have come from the industry + of a hard-worked young woman. + + Of course I am asking for mercy, because I am absolutely + devoted to a certain young man. You need not tell him that + in so many words; but I do not see why I am to be ashamed + of my devotion,--seeing that I was not ashamed of my + engagement, and boasted of it to all the world. And I have + done nothing since to be ashamed of. + + You have never told me a word of your young man; but the + birds of the air are more communicative than some friends. + A bird of the air has told me of you, and of Ada also, and + had made me understand that from Ada has come all that + sweetness which was to be expected from her. But from you + has not come that compliance with your fate in life which + circumstances have demanded. + + Your affectionate friend, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +It could not but be the case that Edith should be gratified by the +receipt of such a letter as this. Frank was now at home, and was +terribly down in the mouth. Boycotting had lost all its novelty at +Morony Castle. His sisters had begun to feel that it was a pleasant +thing to have their butter made for them, and pleasant also not to +be introduced to a leg of mutton till it appeared upon the table. +Frank, too, had become very tired of the work which fell to his lot, +though he had been relieved in the heaviest labours of the farm by +"Emergency" men, who had been sent to him from various parts of +Ireland. But he was thoroughly depressed in heart, as also was his +father. Months had passed by since Pat Carroll had stood in the dock +at Galway ready for his trial. He was now, in March, still kept in +Galway jail under remand from the magistrates. A great clamour was +made in the county upon the subject. Florian's murder had stirred all +those who were against the League to feel that the Government should +be supported. But there had been a mystery attached to that other +murder, perpetrated in the court, which had acted strongly on the +other side,--on behalf of the League. The murder of Terry Carroll at +the moment in which he was about to give evidence,--false evidence, +as the Leaguers said,--against his brother was a great triumph to +them. It was used as an argument why Pat Carroll should be no longer +confined, while Florian's death had been a reason why he never should +be released at all. All this kept the memory of Florian's death, +and the constant thought of it, still fresh in the minds of them all +at Morony Castle, together with the poverty which had fallen upon +them, had made the two men weary of their misfortunes. Under such +misfortunes, when continued, men do become more weary than women. +But Edith thought there would be something in the constancy of +Rachel's love to cheer her brother, and therefore the letter made +her contented if not happy. + +For herself, she said to herself no love could cheer her. Captain +Clayton still hung about Tuam and Headford, but his presence in the +neighbourhood was always to be attributed to the evidence of which he +was in search as to Florian's death. It seemed now with him that the +one great object of his heart was the unravelling of that murder. "It +was no mystery," as he said over and over again in Edith's hearing. +He knew very well who had fired the rifle. He could see, in his +mind's eye, the slight form of the crouching wretch as he too surely +took his aim from the temporary barricade. The passion had become so +strong with him of bringing the man to justice that he almost felt, +that between him and his God he could swear to having seen it. And +yet he knew that it was not so. To have the hanging of that man would +be to him a privilege only next to that of possessing Edith Jones. +And he was a sanguine man, and did believe that in process of time +both privileges would be vouchsafed to him. + +But Edith was less sanguine. She could not admit to herself the +possibility that there should be successful love between her and +her hero. His presence there in the neighbourhood of her home was +stained by constant references to her brother's blood. And then, +though there was no chance for Ada, Ada's former hopes militated +altogether against Edith. "He had better go away and just leave us to +ourselves," she said to herself. But yet neither was she nor was Ada +sunk so low in heart as her father and her brother. + +"Frank," she said to her brother, "whom do you think this letter is +from?" and she held up in her hand Rachel's epistle. + +"I care not at all, unless it be from that most improbable of all +creatures, a tenant coming to pay his rent." + +"Nothing quite so beautiful as that." + +"Or from someone who has evidence to give about some of these murders +that are going on?"--A Mr. Morris from the other side of the lake, +in County Mayo, had just been killed, and the minds of men were now +disturbed with this new horror.--"Anybody can kill anybody who has a +taste in that direction. What a country for a man with his family to +pitch upon and live in! And that all this should have been kept under +so long by policemen and right-thinking individuals, and then burst +out like a subterranean fire all over the country, because the hope +has been given them of getting their land for nothing! In order to +indulge in wholesale robbery they are willing at a moment's notice to +undertake wholesale murder." + +After listening to words such as these, Edith found it impossible to +introduce Rachel's letter on the spur of the moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +RACHEL IS ILL. + + +Rachel, before the end of March, received the following letter from +her friend, but she received it in bed. The whole world of Covent +Garden Theatre had been thrown into panic-stricken dismay by the fact +that Miss O'Mahony had something the matter with her throat. This was +the second attack, the first having been so short as to have caused +no trepidations in the world of music; but this was supposed to be +sterner in its nature, and to have caused already great alarm. Before +March was over it was published to the world at large that Miss +O'Mahony would not be able to sing during the forthcoming week. + +In this catastrophe her lordly lover was of course the most sedulous +of attendants. In truth he was so, though when we last met him and +his bride together he had made himself very disagreeable. Rachel had +then answered him in such language as to make her think it impossible +that he should not quarrel with her; but still here he was, constant +at her chamber door. Whether his constancy was due to his position +about the theatre or to his ardour as a lover, she did not know; but +in either case it troubled her somewhat, and interfered with her +renewed dreams about Frank. Then came the following letter from +Frank's sister: + + + DEAR RACHEL, + + I am not very much surprised, though I was a little, that + you should have accepted Lord Castlewell; but I had not + quite known the ins and outs of it, not having been there + to see. Frank says that the separation had certainly come + from him, because he could not bring himself to burden + your prosperity with the heavy load of his misfortunes. + Poor fellow! They are very heavy. They would have made you + both miserable for awhile, unless you could have agreed + to postpone your marriage. Why should it not have been + postponed? + + But Lord Castlewell came in the way, and I supposed + him naturally to be as beautiful and gracious as he is + gorgeous and rich. But though you say nothing about him + there does creep out from your letter some kind of idea + that he is not quite so beautiful in your eyes as was + poor Frank. Remember that poor Frank has to wear two blue + shirts a week and no more, in order to save the washing! + How many does Lord Castlewell wear? How many will he wear + when he is a marquis? + + But at any rate it does seem to be the case that you and + the earl are not as happy together as your best friends + could wish. We had understood that the earl was ready + to expire for love at the sound of every note. Has he + slackened in his admiration so as to postpone his expiring + to the close of every song? Or why is it that Frank should + be allowed again to come up and trouble your dreams? + + You are so fond of joking that it is almost impossible for + a poor steady-going, boycotted young woman to follow you + to the end. Of course I understand that what you say about + Mr. Moss is altogether a joke. But then what you say about + Frank is, I am sure, not a joke. If you love him the best, + as I am sure you do--so very much the best as to disregard + the marble halls--I advise you, in the gentlest manner + possible, to tell the marble halls that they are not + wanted. It cannot be right to marry one man when you say + that you love another as you do Frank. Of course he will + wait if you like to wait. All I can say is, that no man + loves a girl better than he loves you. + + We are very much down in the world at the present. We have + literally no money. Papa's relatives have given their + money to him to invest, and he has laid it out on the + property here. Nobody was thought to have done so well as + he till lately; but now they cannot get their interest, + and, of course, they are impatient. Commissioners have + sat in the neighbourhood, and have reduced the rents all + round. But they can't reduce what doesn't exist. There + are tenants who I suppose will pay. Pat Carroll could + certainly have done so. But then papa's share in the + property will be reduced almost to nothing. He will not + get above five shillings out of every twenty shillings of + rent, such as it was supposed to be when he bought it. I + don't understand all this, and I am sure I cannot make you + do so. + + I have nothing to tell about my young man, as you call + him, except that he cannot be mine. I fancy that girls are + not fond of writing about their young men when they don't + belong to them. Frank, at any rate, is yours, if you will + take him; and you can write about him with an open heart. + I cannot do so. Think of poor Florian and his horrid + death. Is this a time for marriage,--if it were otherwise + possible,--which it is not? + + God bless you, dear Rachel. Let me hear from you again + soon. I have said nothing to Frank as yet. I attempted + it this morning, but was stopped. You can imagine + that he, poor fellow, is not very happy.--Yours very + affectionately, + + EDITH JONES. + + +Rachel read the letter on her sick bed, and as soon as it was read +Lord Castlewell came to her. There was always a nurse there, but Lord +Castlewell was supposed to be able to see the patient, and on one +occasion had been accompanied by his sister. It was all done in the +most proper form imaginable, much to Rachel's disgust. Incapable as +she was in her present state of carrying on any argument, she was +desirous of explaining to Lord Castlewell that he was not to hold +himself as bound to marry her. "If you think that father is an ass, +you had better say so outright, and let there be an end of it." +She wished to speak to him after this fashion. But she could not +say it in the presence of the nurse and of Lady Augusta. But Lord +Castlewell's conduct to herself made her more anxious than ever to +say something of the kind. He was very civil, even tender, in his +inquiries, but he was awfully frigid. She could tell from his manner +that that last speech of hers was rankling in his bosom as the frigid +words fell from his lips. He was waiting for some recovery,--a +partial recovery would be better than a whole one,--and then he would +speak his mind. She wanted to speak her mind first, but she could +hardly do so with her throat in its present condition. + +She had no other friend than her father, no other friend to take her +part with her lovers. And she had, too, fallen into such a state +that she could not say much to him. According to the orders of the +physician, she was not to interest herself at all about anything. + +"I wonder whether the man was ever engaged to two or three lovers at +once," she said to herself, alluding to the doctor. "He knows at any +rate of Lord Castlewell, and does he think that I am not to trouble +myself about him?" + +She had a tablet under her pillow, which she took out and wrote on +it certain instructions. "Dear father, C. and I quarrelled before +I was ill at all, and now he comes here just as though nothing +had happened. He said you made an ass of yourself in the House of +Commons. I won't have it, and mean to tell him so; but I can't talk. +Won't you tell him from me that I shall expect him to beg my pardon, +and that I shall never hear anything of the kind again. It must come +to this. Your own R." This was handed to Mr. O'Mahony by Rachel that +very day before he went down to the House of Commons. + +"But, my dear!" he said. Rachel only shook her head. "I can hardly +say all this about myself. I don't care twopence whether he thinks me +an ass or not." + +"But I do," said Rachel on the tablet. + +"He is an earl, and has wonderful privileges, as well as a great deal +of money." + +"Marble halls and impudence," said Rachel on the tablet. Then Mr. +O'Mahony, feeling that he ought to leave her in peace, made her a +promise, and went his way. At Covent Garden that evening he met the +noble lord, having searched for him in vain at Westminster. He was +much more likely to find Lord Castlewell among the singers of the +day, than with the peers; but of these things Mr. O'Mahony hardly +understood all the particulars. + +"Well, O'Mahony, how is your charming daughter?" + +"My daughter is not inclined to be charming at all. I do hope she may +be getting better, but at present she is bothering her head about +you." + +"It is natural that she should think of me a little sometimes," said +the flattered lord. + +"She has written me a message which she says that I am to deliver. +Now mind, I don't care about it the least in the world." Here the +lord looked very grave. "She says that you called me an ass. Well, +I am to you, and you're an ass to me. I am sure you won't take it as +any insult, neither do I. She wants you to promise that you won't +call me an ass any more. Of course it would follow that I shouldn't +be able to call you one. We should both be hampered, and the truth +would suffer. But as she is ill, perhaps it would be better that you +should say that you didn't mean it." + +But this was not at all Lord Castlewell's view of the matter. +Though he had been very glib with his tongue in calling O'Mahony an +ass, he did not at all like the compliment as paid back to him by +his father-in-law. And there was something which he did not quite +understand in the assertion that the truth would suffer. All the +world was certain that Mr. O'Mahony was an ass. He had been turned +out of the House of Commons only yesterday for saying that the +Speaker was quite wrong, and sticking to it. There was not the +slightest doubt in the world about it. But his lordship knew his +gamut, which was all that he pretended to know, and never interfered +with matters of which he was ignorant. He was treated with the +greatest respect at Covent Garden, and nobody ever suspected him of +being an ass. And then he had it in his mind to speak very seriously +to Rachel as soon as she might be well enough to hear him. "You +have spoken to me in a manner, my dear, which I am sure you did not +intend." He had all the words ready prepared on a bit of paper in his +pocket-book. And he was by no means sure but that the little quarrel +might even yet become permanent. He had discussed it frequently with +Lady Augusta, and Lady Augusta rather wished that it might become +permanent. And Lord Castlewell was not quite sure that he did not +wish it also. The young lady had a way of speaking about her own +people which was not to be borne. And now she had been guilty of the +gross indecency of sending a message to him by her own father,--the +very man whom he called an ass. And the man in return only laughed +and called him an ass. + +But Lord Castlewell knew the proprieties of life. Here was this--girl +whom he had proposed to marry, a sad invalid at the moment. The +doctor had, in fact, given him but a sad account of the case. "She +has strained her voice continually till it threatens to leave her," +said the doctor; "I do not say that it will be so, but it may. Her +best chance will be to abandon all professional exertions till next +year." Then the doctor told him that he had not as yet taken upon +himself to hint anything of all this to Miss O'Mahony. + +Lord Castlewell was puzzled in the extreme. If the lady lost her +voice and so became penniless and without a profession; and if he in +such case were to throw her over, and leave her unmarried, what would +the world say of him? Would it be possible then to make the world +understand that he had deserted her, not on account of her illness, +but because she had not liked to hear her father called an ass. And +had not Rachel already begun the battle in a manner intended to +show that she meant to be the victor? Could it be possible that she +herself was desirous of backing out. There was no knowing the extent +of the impudence to which these Americans would not go! No doubt she +had, by the use of intemperate language on the occasion when she +would not be driven out in the carriage, given him ample cause for a +breach. To tell the truth, he had thought then that a breach would +be expedient. But she had fallen ill, and it was incumbent on him to +be tender and gentle. Then, from her very sick bed, she had sent him +this impudent message. + +And it had been delivered so impudently! "The truth would suffer!" He +was sure that there was a meaning in the words intended to signify +that he, Lord Castlewell, was and must be an ass at all times. Then +he asked himself whether he was an ass because he did not quite +understand O'Mahony's argument. Why did the truth suffer? As to his +being an ass,--O'Mahony being an ass,--he was sure that there was no +doubt about that. All the world said so. The House of Commons knew +it,--and the newspapers. He had been turned out of the House for +saying the Speaker was wrong, and not apologising for having uttered +such words. And he, Lord Castlewell, had so expressed himself only +to the woman who was about to be his wife. Then she had had the +incredible folly to tell her father, and the father had told him that +under certain circumstances the "truth must suffer." He did not quite +understand it, but was sure that Mr. O'Mahony had meant to say that +they were two fools together. + +He was not at all ashamed of marrying a singing girl. It was the +thing he would be sure to do. And he thought of some singing girls +before his time, and of his time also, whom it would be an honour for +such as him to marry. But he would degrade himself--so he felt--by +the connection with an advanced Landleaguing Member of Parliament. +He looked round the lot of them, and he assured himself that there +was not one from whose loins an English nobleman could choose a wife +without disgrace. It was most unfortunate,--so he told himself. The +man had not become Member of Parliament till quite the other day. He +had not even opened his mouth in Parliament till the engagement had +been made. And now, among them all, this O'Mahony was the biggest +ass. And yet Lord Castlewell found himself quite unable to hold his +own with the Irish member when the Irish member was brought to attack +him. He certainly would have made Rachel's conduct a fair excuse for +breaking with her,--only that she was ill. + +If he could have known the state of Rachel's mind there might have +been an end to his troubles. She had now, at length, been made +thoroughly wretched by hearing the truth from the doctor,--or what +the doctor believed to be the truth. "Miss O'Mahony, I had better +tell you, your voice has gone, at any rate for a year." + +"For a year!" The hoarse, angry, rusty whisper came forth from her, +and in spite of its hoarseness and rustiness was audible enough. + +"I fear so. For heaven's sake don't talk; use your tablet." Rachel +drew the tablet from under her pillow and dashed it across the +room. The doctor picked it up, and, with a kind smile and a little +caressing motion of his hand, put it again back under the pillow. +Rachel buried her head amidst the bedclothes and sobbed bitterly. +"Try to make yourself happy in remembering how you have succeeded," +said the doctor. + +"It won't be back just the same," she wrote on her tablet. + +"It is in God's hands," said the doctor. There came not another word +from Rachel, either by her tablet or by any struggle at speech. The +doctor, having made what attempts at comfort he could, went his way. +Then her father, who had been in and out constantly, came to his +daughter. He had not been present when she threw the tablet away, but +he knew what the doctor had said to her. + +"My pet," he said. But she made no attempt to answer him. A year! At +her time of life a year is an eternity. And then this doctor had only +told her that her voice was in God's hands. She could talk to herself +without any effort. "When they say that they always condemn you. +When the doctor tells you that you are in God's hands he means the +Devil's." + +She had been so near the gods and goddesses, and now she was no more +than any other poor woman. She might be less, as her face had begun +to wither with her voice. She had all but succeeded; as for her +face, as for the mere look of her, let it go. She told herself that +she cared nothing for her appearance. What was Lord Castlewell to +her,--what even was Frank's love? To stand on the boards of the +theatre and become conscious of the intense silence of the crowd +before her,--so intense because the tone of her voice was the one +thing desired by all the world. And then to open her mouth and to let +the music go forth and to see the ears all erect, as she fancied she +could, so that not a sound should be lost,--should not be harvested +by the hungry hearers! That was to be a very god! As she told herself +of all her regrets, there was not a passing sorrow given to Lord +Castlewell. And what of the other man? "Oh, Frank, dear Frank, you +will know it all now. There need be no more taking money." But she +did take some comfort at last in that promise of God's hands. When +she had come, as it were, to the bitterest moment of her grief, she +told herself that, though it might be even at the end of a whole +year, there was something to be hoped. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED. + + +When her father had been with her half-an-hour, and was beginning to +think that he could escape and go down to the House,--and he had a +rod in pickle for the Speaker's back, such a rod that the Speaker's +back should be sore for the rest of the session--Rachel began her +lengthened conversation with him. In the last half-hour she had made +up her mind as to what she would say. But the conversation was so +long and intricate, being necessarily carried on by means of her +tablet, that poor O'Mahony's rod was losing all its pickle. "Father, +you must go and see Lord Castlewell at once." + +"I think, my dear, he understood me altogether when I saw him before, +and he seemed to agree with me. I told him I didn't mind being called +an ass, but that you were so absurd as to dislike it. In fact, I gave +him to understand that we were three asses; but I don't think he'll +say it again." + +"It isn't about that at all," said the tablet. + +"What else do you want?" + +Then Rachel went to work and wrote her demand with what deliberation +she could assume. + +"You must go and tell him that I don't want to marry him at all. He +has been very kind, and you mustn't tell him that he's an ass any +more. But it won't do. He has proposed to marry me because he has +wanted a singing girl; and I think I should have done for him,--only +I can't sing." + +Then the father replied, having put himself into such a position +on the bed as to read the tablet while Rachel was filling it: "But +that'll all come right in a very short time." + +"It can't, and it won't. The doctor says a year; but he knows nothing +about it, and says it's in God's hands. He means by that it's as bad +as it can be." + +"But, my dear--" + +"I tell you it must be so." + +"But you are engaged. He would never be so base a man as to take your +word at such a moment as this. Of course he couldn't do it. If you +had had small-pox, or anything horrible like that, he would not have +been justified." + +"I'm as ugly as ever I can be," said the tablet, "and as poor a +creature." Then she stopped her pencil for a moment. + +"Of course he's engaged to you. Why, my dear, I'd have to cowhide him +if he said a word of the kind." + +"Oh, no!" said the tablet with frantic energy. + +"But you see if I wouldn't! You see if I don't! I suppose they think +a lord isn't to be cowhided in this country. I guess I'll let 'em +know the difference." + +"But I don't love him," said the tablet. + +"Goodness gracious me!" + +"I don't. When he spoke of you in that way I began to think of it, +and I found I hated him. I do hate him like poison, and I want you to +tell him so." + +"That will be very disagreeable," said the father. + +"Never mind the disagreeables. You tell him so. I tell you he won't +be the worst pleased of the lot of us. He wanted a singer, and not a +Landleaguer's daughter; now he hasn't got the singer, but has got the +Landleaguer's daughter. And I'll tell you something else I want--" + +"What do you want?" asked the father, when her hand for a moment +ceased to scrawl. + +"I want," she said, "Frank Jones. Now you know all about it." + +Then she hid her face beneath the bedclothes, and refused to write +another word. + +He went on talking to her till he had forgotten the Speaker and +the rod in pickle. He besought her to think better of it; and if +not that, just at present to postpone any action in the matter. He +explained to her how very disagreeable it would be to him to have to +go to the lord with such a message as she now proposed. But she only +enhanced the vehemence of her order by shaking her head as her face +lay buried in the pillow. + +"Let it wait for one fortnight," said the father. + +"No!" said the girl, using her own voice for the effort. + +Then the father slowly took himself off, and making his way to the +House of Commons, renewed his passion as he went, and had himself +again turned out before he had been half-an-hour in the House. + +The earl was sitting alone after breakfast two or three days +subsequently, thinking in truth of his difficulty with Rachel. It +had come to be manifest to him that he must marry the girl unless +something terrible should occur to her. "She might die," he said to +himself very sadly, trying to think of cases in which singers had +died from neglected throats. And it did make him very sad. He could +not think of the perishing of that magnificent treble without great +grief; and, after his fashion, he did love her personally. He did +not know that he could ever love anyone very much better. He had +certainly thought that it would be a good thing that his father and +mother and sister should go and live in foreign lands,--in order, in +short, that they might never more be heard of to trouble him,--but he +did not even contemplate their deaths, so sweet-minded was he. But +in the first fury of his love he had thought how nice it would be to +be left with his singing girl, and no one to trouble him. Now there +came across him an idea that something was due to the Marquis of +Beaulieu,--something, that is, to his own future position; and what +could he do with a singing girl for his wife who could not sing? + +He was unhappy as he thought of it all, and would ever and again, as +he meditated, be stirred up to mild anger when he remembered that he +had been told that "the truth would suffer." He had intended, at any +rate, that his singing girl should be submissive and obedient while +in his hands. But here had been an outbreak of passion! And here +was this confounded O'Mahony ready to make a fool of himself at a +moment's notice before all the world. At that moment the door was +opened and Mr. O'Mahony was shown into the room. + +"Oh! dear," exclaimed the lord, "how do you do, Mr. O'Mahony? I hope +I see you well." + +"Pretty well. But upon my word, I don't know how to tell you what +I've got to say." + +"Has anything gone wrong with Rachel?" + +"Not with her illness,--which, however, does not seem to improve. The +poor girl! But you'll say she's gone mad." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I really hardly know how I ought to break it. You must have learned +by this time that Rachel is a girl determined to have her own way." + +"Well; well; well!" + +"And, upon my word, when I think of myself, I feel that I have +nothing to do but what she bids me." + +"It's more than you do for the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony." + +"Yes, it is; I admit that. But Rachel, though she is inclined to +be tyrannical, is not such a downright positive old blue-bottle +nincompoop as that white-wigged king of kings. Rachel is bad; but +even you can't say that she is bad enough to be Speaker of the House +of Commons. My belief is, that he'll come to be locked up yet." + +"We have all the highest opinion of him." + +"It's because you like to be sat upon. You don't want to be allowed +to say bo to a goose. I have often heard in my own country--" + +"But you call yourself an Irishman, Mr. O'Mahony." + +"Never did so in my life. They called me so over there when they +wanted to return me to hold my tongue in that House of Torment; but +I guess it will puzzle the best Englishman going to find out whether +I'm an American or an Irishman. They did something over there to make +me an American; but they did nothing to unmake me as an Irishman. And +there I am, member for Cavan; and it will go hard with me if I don't +break that Speaker's heart before I've done with him. What! I ain't +to say that he goes wrong when he never goes right by any chance?" + +"Have you come here this morning, Mr. O'Mahony, to abuse the +Speaker?" + +"By no means. It was you who threw the Speaker in my teeth." + +Lord Castlewell did acknowledge to himself his own imprudence. + +"I came here to tell you about my daughter, and upon my word I +shall find it more difficult than anything I may have to say to the +Speaker. I have the most profound contempt for the Speaker." + +"Perhaps he returns it." + +"I don't believe he does, or he wouldn't make so much of me as to +turn me out of the House. When a man finds it necessary to remove an +enemy, let the cause be what it may, he cannot be said to despise +that enemy. Now, I wouldn't give a puff of breath to turn him out of +the House. In truth, I despise him too much." + +"He is to be pitied," said the lord, with a gentle touch of irony. + +"I'll tell you what, Lord Castlewell--" + +"Don't go on about the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony,--pray don't." + +"You always begin,--but I won't. I didn't come here to speak about +him at all. And the Chairman of Committees is positively worse. You +know there's a creature called Chairman of Committees?" + +"Now, Mr. O'Mahony, I really must beg that you will fight your +political battles anywhere but here. I'm not a politician. How is +your charming daughter this morning?" + +"She is anything but charming. I hardly know what to make of her, +but I find that I am always obliged to do what she tells me." There +was another allusion to the Speaker on the lord's tongue, but he +restrained himself. "She has sent me here to say that she wants the +marriage to be broken off." + +"Good Heavens!" + +"She does. She says that you intend to marry her because she's a +singing girl;--and now she can't sing." + +"Not exactly that," said the lord. + +"And she thinks she oughtn't to have accepted you at all,--that's the +truth." The lord's face became very long. "I think myself that it was +a little too hurried. I don't suppose you quite knew your own minds." + +"If Miss O'Mahony repents--" + +"Well, Miss O'Mahony does repent. She has got something into her head +that I can't quite explain. She thought that she'd do for a countess +very well as long as she was on the boards of a theatre. But now that +she's to be relegated to private life she begins to feel that she +ought to look after someone about her own age." + +"Oh, indeed! Is this her message?" + +"Well; yes. It is her message. I shouldn't in such a matter invent +it all if she hadn't sent me. I don't know, now I think of it, that +she did say anything about her own age. But yet she did," remarked +Mr. O'Mahony, calling to mind the assertion made by Rachel that she +wanted Frank Jones. Frank Jones was about her own age, whereas the +lord was as old as her father. + +"Upon my word, I am much obliged to Miss O'Mahony." + +"She certainly has meant to be as courteous as she knows how," said +Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Perhaps on your side of the water they have different ideas of +courtesy. The young lady sends me word that now she means to retire +from the stage she finds I am too old for her." + +"Not that at all," said Mr. O'Mahony. But he said it in an apologetic +tone, as though admitting the truth. + +Lord Castlewell, as he sat there for a few moments, acknowledged to +himself that Rachel possessed certain traits of character which had +something fine about them, from whatever side of the water she had +come. He was a reasonable man, and he considered that there was a +way made for him to escape from this trouble which was not to have +been expected. Had Rachel been an English girl, or an Italian, or a +Norwegian, he would hardly have been let off so easily. As he was +an earl, and about to be a marquis, and as he was a rich man, such +suitors are not generally given up in a hurry. This young lady had +sent word to him that she had lost her voice permanently and was +therefore obliged to surrender that high title, that noble name, and +those golden hopes which had glistened before her eyes. No doubt he +had offered to marry her because of her singing;--that is, he would +not have so offered had she not have been a singer. But he could not +have departed from his engagement simply because she had become dumb. +He quite understood that Mr. O'Mahony would have been there with +his cowhide, and though he was by no means a coward be did not wish +to encounter the American Member of the House of Commons in all +his rage. In fact, he had been governed in his previous ideas by a +feeling of propriety; but propriety certainly did not demand him to +marry a young lady who had sent to tell him that he was too old. And +this irate member of the House of Commons had come to bring him the +message! + +"What am I expected to suggest now?" said Lord Castlewell, after +awhile. + +"Just your affectionate blessing, and you're very sorry," said Mr. +O'Mahony, with a shrug. "That's the kind of thing, I should say." + +He couldn't send her his affectionate blessing, and he couldn't +say he was very sorry. Had the young lady been about to marry his +son,--had there been such a son,--he could have blessed her; and he +felt that his own personal dignity did not admit of an expression of +sorrow. + +Was he to let the young lady off altogether? There was something +nearly akin,--very nearly akin,--to true love in his bosom as he +thought of this. The girl was ill, and no doubt weak, and had been +made miserable by the loss of her voice. The doctor had told him that +her voice, for all singing purposes, had probably gone for ever. But +her beauty remained;--had not so faded, at least, as to have given +any token of permanent decay. And that peculiarly bright eye was +there; and the wit of the words which had captivated him. The very +smallness of her stature, with its perfect symmetry, had also gone +far to enrapture him. + +No doubt, he was forty. He did not openly pretend even to be less. +And where was the young lady, singer or no singer, who if disengaged, +would reject the heir to a marquisate because he was forty? And +he did not believe that Rachel had sent him any message in which +allusion was made to his age. That had been added by the stupid +father, who was, without doubt, the biggest fool that either America +or Ireland had ever produced. Now that the matter had been brought +before him in such bald terms, he was by no means sure that he was +desirous of accepting the girl's offer to release him. And the father +evidently had no desire to catch him. He must acknowledge that Mr. +O'Mahony was an honest fool. + +"It's very hard to know what I'm to say." Here Mr. O'Mahony shook his +head. "I think that, perhaps, I had better come and call upon her." + +"You mustn't speak a word! And, if you're to be considered as no +longer engaged, perhaps there might be--you know--something--well, +something of delicacy in the matter!" + +Mr. O'Mahony felt at the moment that he ought to protect the +interests of Frank Jones. + +"I understand. At any rate I am not disposed to send her my blessing +at present as a final step. An engagement to be married is a very +serious step in life." + +But her father remembered that she had told him that she wanted Frank +Jones. Should he tell the lord the exact truth, and explain all about +Frank Jones? It would be the honest thing to do. And yet he felt that +his girl should have another chance. This lord was not much to his +taste; but still, for a lord, he had his good points. + +"I think we had better leave it for the present," said the lord. "I +feel that in the midst of all your eloquence I do not quite catch +Miss O'Mahony's meaning." + +O'Mahony felt that this lord was as bad a lord as any of them. He +would like to force the lord to meet him at some debating club where +there was no wretched Speaker and there force him to give an answer +on any of the burning questions which now excited the two countries. + +"Very well. I will explain to Rachel as soon as I can that the matter +is still left in abeyance. Of course we feel the honour done us by +your lordship in not desiring to accept at once her decision. Her +condition is no doubt sad. But I suppose she may expect to hear once +more from yourself in a short time." + +So Mr. O'Mahony took his leave, and as he went to Cecil Street +endeavoured in his own mind to investigate the character of Lord +Castlewell. That he was a fool there could be no doubt, a fool with +whom he would not be forced to live in the constant intercourse of +married life for any money that could be offered to him. He was a man +who, without singing himself, cared for nothing but the second-hand +life of a theatre. But then he, Mr. O'Mahony, was not a young woman, +and was not expected to marry Lord Castlewell. But he had told +himself over and over again that Lord Castlewell had been "caught." +He was a great lord rolling in money, and Rachel had "caught" him. +He had not quite approved of Rachel's conduct, but the lord had been +fair game for a woman. What the deuce was he to think now of the lord +who would not be let off? + +"I wonder whether it can be love for her," said he to himself; "such +love as I used to feel." + +Then he sighed heavily as he went home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH. + + +It was now April, and this April was a sad month in Ireland. I do +not know why the deaths of two such men as were then murdered should +touch the heart with a deeper sorrow than is felt for the fate of +others whose lot is lower in life; why the poor widow, who has +lost her husband while doing his duty amidst outrages and unmanly +revenges, is not to be so much thought of as the sweet lady who has +been robbed of her all in the same fashion. But so it is with human +nature. We know how a people will weep for their Sovereign, and it +was with such tears as that, with tears as sincere as those shed for +the best of kings, that Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were +lamented. In April these two men had fallen, hacked to death in front +of the Viceregal Lodge. By whom they were killed, as I write now, no +one knows, and as regards Lord Frederick one can hardly guess the +reason. He had come over to Ireland on that very day, to take the +place which his luckier predecessor had just vacated, and had as yet +done no service, and excited no vengeance in Ireland. He had only +attended an opening pageant;--because with him had come a new Lord +Lieutenant,--not new indeed to the office, but new in his return. An +accident had brought the two together on the day, but Lord Frederick +was altogether a stranger, and yet he had been selected. Such had +been his fate, and such also the fate of Mr. Burke, who, next to him +in official rank, may possibly have been in truth the doomed one. +They were both dealt with horribly on that April morning,--and all +Ireland was grieving. All Ireland was repudiating the crime, and +saying that this horror had surely been done by American hands. Even +the murderers native to Ireland seemed to be thoroughly ashamed of +this deed. + +It would be needless here to tell,--or to attempt to tell,--how one +Lord-Lieutenant had made way for another, and one Chief Secretary +for another Chief Secretary. It would be trying to do too much. In +the pages of a novel the novelist can hardly do more than indicate +the sources of the troubles which have fallen upon the country, +and can hardly venture to deal with the names and characters of +those who have been concerned. For myself, I do most cordially agree +with the policy of him in whose place Lord Frederick had this day +suffered,--as far as his conduct in Ireland can be read from that +which he did and from that which he spoke. As far as he had agreed +with the Government in their measure for interfering with the price +paid for land in the country,--for putting up a new law devised by +themselves in lieu of that time-honoured law by which property has +ever been protected in England,--I disagree. Of my disagreement +no one will take notice;--but my story cannot be written without +expressing it. + +But down at Morony Castle, mingled with their sorrows, there was a +joy and a triumph; not loud indeed, not sounded with trumpets, not as +yet perfect, not quite assured even in the mind of one man; but yet +assuring in the mind of that man,--and indeed of one other,--almost +to conviction. That man was Captain Yorke Clayton, and that other man +was only poor Hunter, the wounded policeman. For such triumph as was +theirs a victim is needed; and in this case the victim, the hoped-for +victim, was Mr. Lax. + +Nothing had ever been made out in regard to the murder of Terry +Carroll in the Court House at Galway. Irish mysteries are coming to +be unriddled now, but there will be no unriddling of that. Yorke +Clayton, together with Hunter and all the police of County Galway, +could do nothing in regard to that mystery. They had struggled their +very best, and, from the nature of the crime, had found themselves +almost obliged to discover the perpetrator. The press of the two +countries, the newspapers in other respects so hostile to each other, +had united in declaring that the police were bound to know all about +it. The police had determined to know nothing about it, because the +Government did not dare to bring forward such evidence. This was the +Irish Landleague view; and though it contained an accusation against +the Government for having contrived the murder itself, it was all +the better on that account. The English papers simply said that the +Galway police must be fast asleep. This man had been murdered when +in the very hands of the officers of justice. The judge had seen +the shots fired. The victim fell into the hands of four policemen. +The pistol was found at his feet. It was done in daylight, and all +Galway was looking on. The kind of things that were said by one set +of newspapers and another drove Yorke Clayton almost out of his wits. +He had to maintain a show of good humour, and he did maintain it +gallantly. "My hero is a hero still," whispered Edith to her own +pillow. But, in truth, nothing could be done as to that Galway case. +Mr. Lax was still in custody, and was advised by counsel not to give +any account of himself at that time. It was indecent on the part of +the prosecution that he should be asked to do so. So said the lawyers +on his side, but it was clear that nobody in the court and nobody in +Galway could be got to say that he or she had seen him do it. And +yet Yorke Clayton had himself seen the hip of the stooping man. "I +suppose I couldn't swear to it," he said to himself; and it would +be hard to see how he could swear to the man without forswearing +himself. + +But while this lamentable failure was going on, success reached him +from another side. He didn't care a straw what the newspapers said +of him, so long as he could hang Mr. Lax. His triumph in that respect +would drown all other failures. Mr. Lax was still in custody, and +many insolent petitions had been made on his behalf in order that he +might be set free. "Did the Crown intend to pretend that they had any +shadow of evidence against him as to the shooting of Terry Carroll?" + +"No;--but there was another murder committed a day or two before. +Poor young Florian Jones had been murdered. Even presuming that Lax's +hand cannot be seen visible in the matter of Terry Carroll, there is, +we think, something to connect him with the other murder. The two, no +doubt, were committed in the same interest. The Crown is not prepared +to allow Lax to escape from its hands quite yet." Then there were +many words on the subject going on just at the time at which Lax +especially wanted his freedom, and at which, to tell the truth, Yorke +Clayton was near the end of his tether in regard to poor Florian. + +In the beginning of his inquiry as to the Ballyglunin murder, he +entertained an idea that Lax, after firing the shot, had been seen +by that wicked car-driver, who had boycotted Mr. Jones in his great +need. The reader will probably have forgotten that Mr. Jones had +required to be driven home to Morony Castle from Ballyglunin station, +and had been refused the accommodation by a wicked old Landleaguer, +who had joined the conspiracy formed in the neighbourhood against +Mr. Jones. He had done so, either in fear of his neighbours, or +else in a true patriot spirit--because he had gone without any +supper, as had also his horses, on the occasion. The man's name was +Teddy Mooney, the father of Kit Mooney who stopped the hunting at +Moytubber. And he certainly was patriotic. From day to day he went +on refusing fares,--for the boycotted personages were after all more +capable of paying fares than the boycotting hero of doing without +them,--suffering much himself from want of victuals, and more on +behalf of his poor animal. He saw his son Kit more than once or twice +in those days, and Kit appeared to be the stancher patriot of the +two. Kit was a baker, and did earn wages; but he utterly refused to +subsidise the patriotism of his father. "If ye can't do that for the +ould counthry," said Kit, "ye ain't half the man I took ye for." But +he refused him a gallon of oats for his horse. + +It was not at once that the old man gave way. He went on boycotting +individuals till he hadn't a pair of breeches left to sit upon, and +the non-boycotted tradesmen of the little towns around declined to +sit upon his car, because the poor horse, fed upon roadside grasses, +refused to be urged into a trot. "Tare and ages, man, what's the good +of it? Ain't we a-cutting the noses off our own faces, and that with +the money so scarce that I haven't seen the sight of a half-crown +this two weeks." It was thus that he declared his purpose of going +back to the common unpatriotic ways of mankind, to an old pal, whom +he had known all his days. He did do so, but found, alas! that his +trade had perished in the meanwhile or forced itself into other +channels. + +The result was that Teddy Mooney became very bitter in spirit, and +was for a while an Orangeman, and almost a Protestant. The evil +things that had been done to him were terrible to his spirit. He had +been threatened with eviction from ten acres of ground because he +couldn't pay his rent; or, as he said, because he had declined to +drive a maid-servant to the house of another gentleman who was also +boycotted. This had not been true, but it had served to embitter +Teddy Mooney. And now, at last, he had determined to belong to the +other side. + +When an Irishman does make up his mind to serve the other side he +is very much determined. There is but the meditation of two minutes +between Landleaguing and Orangeism, between boycotting landlords and +thorough devotion to the dear old landlord. When Kit Mooney had first +laid down the law to his father, how he ought to assist in boycotting +all the enemies of the Landleague, no one saw his way clearer than +did Teddy Mooney. "I wouldn't mind doing without a bit or a sup," +he said, when his son explained to him that he might have to suffer +a little for the cause. "Not a bit or a sup when the ould counthry +wants it." He had since had a few words with his son Kit, and was +now quite on the other side of the question. He was told that +somebody had threatened to cut off his old mare's tail because he +had driven Phil D'Arcy. Since that he had become a martyr as well as +an Orangeman, and was disposed to go any length "for the gintl'men." +This had come all about by degrees--had been coming about since poor +Florian's murder; and at last he wrote a letter to Yorke Clayton, or +got someone else to write it: + +"Yer Honour,--It was Lax as dropped Master Flory. Divil a doubt about +it. There's one as can tell more about it as is on the road from +Ballyglunin all round. This comes from a well-wisher to the ould +cause. For Muster Clayton." + +When Captain Clayton received this he at once knew from whom it +had come. The Landleaguing car-driver, who had turned gentlemen's +friend, was sufficiently well known to history to have been talked +about. Clayton, therefore, did not lose much time in going down to +Ballyglunin station and requiring to be driven yet once again from +thence to Carnlough. "And now, Mr. Teddy Mooney," he said, after they +had travelled together a mile or two from Ballyglunin, and had come +almost to the spot at which the poor boy had been shot, "tell me what +you know about Mr. Lax's movements in this part of the world." He +had never come there before since the fatal day without having three +policemen with him, but now he was alone. Such a man as Teddy Mooney +would be most unwilling to open his mouth in the presence of two or +more persons. + +"O Lord, Captain, how you come on a poor fellow all unawares!" + +"Stop a moment, Mr. Mooney," and the car stopped. "Whereabouts was it +the young gentleman perished?" + +"Them's the very shot-holes," said Teddy, pointing up to the +temporary embrasure, which had indeed been knocked down half a score +of times since the murder, and had been as often replaced by the +diligent care of Mr. Blake and Captain Clayton. + +"Just so. They are the shot-holes. And which way did the murderer +run?" Teddy pointed with his whip away to the east, over the ground +on which the man had made his escape. "And where did you first see +him?" + +"See him!" ejaculated Teddy. It became horrible to his imagination as +he thought that he was about to tell of such a deed. + +"Of course, we know you did see him; but I want to know the exact +spot." + +"It was over there, nigh to widow Dolan's cottage." + +"It wasn't the widow who saw him, I think?" + +"Faix, it was the widow thin, with her own eyes. I hardly know'd +him. And yet I did know him, for I'd seen him once travelling from +Ballinasloe with Pat Carroll. And Lax is a man as when you've once +seen him you've seen him for allays. But she knowed him well. Her +husband was one of the boys when the Fenians were up. If he didn't go +into the widow Dolan's cabin my name's not Teddy Mooney." + +"And who else was there?" + +"There was no one else; but only her darter, a slip of a girl o' +fifteen, come up while Lax was there. I know she come up, because I +saw her coming jist as I passed the door." + +Captain Clayton entered into very friendly relations with Teddy +Mooney on that occasion, trying to make him understand, without any +absolute promises, that all the luck and all the rewards,--in fact, +all the bacon and oats,--lay on the dish to which Mr. Lax did not +belong. Under these influences Teddy did become communicative--though +he lied most awfully. That did not in the least shock Captain +Clayton, who certainly would have believed nothing had the truth been +told him without hesitation. At last it came out that the car-driver +was sure as to the personality of Lax,--had seen him again and again +since he had first made his acquaintance in Carroll's company, and +could swear to having seen him in the widow's cabin. He knew also +that the widow and her daughter were intimate with Lax. He had not +seen the shot fired. This he said in an assured tone, but Captain +Clayton had known that before. He did not expect to find anyone who +had seen the shot fired, except Mr. Jones and Peter. As to Peter +he had his suspicions. Mr. Jones was certain that Peter had told +the truth in declaring that he had seen no one; but the Captain had +argued the matter out with him. "A fellow of that kind is in a very +hard position. You must remember that for the truth itself he cares +nothing. He finds a charm rather in the romantic beauty of a lie. Lax +is to him a lovely object, even though he be aware that he and Lax be +on different sides. And then he thoroughly believes in Lax; thinks +that Lax possesses some mysterious power of knowing what is in his +mind, and of punishing him for his enmity. All the want of evidence +in this country comes from belief in the marvellous. The people +think that their very thoughts are known to men who make their name +conspicuous, and dare not say a word which they suppose that it is +desired they shall withhold. In this case Peter no doubt is on our +side, and would gladly hang Lax with his own hand if he were sure he +would be safe. But Lax is a mysterious tyrant, who in his imagination +can slaughter him any day; whereas he knows that he shall encounter +no harm from you. He and poor Florian were sitting on the car with +their backs turned to the embrasure; and Peter's attention was given +to the driving of the car,--so that there was no ground for thinking +that he had seen the murderer. All the circumstances of the moment +ran the other way. But still it was possible." + +And Captain Clayton was of opinion that Peter was beginning to be +moved from the determined know-nothingness of his primary evidence. +He had seen the flash. And then, as his master had run up the bank, +he didn't know whether he hadn't caught the flying figure of a man. + +"I had the poor boy's head on my knees, Captain Clayton; and how is a +poor man to look much about him then?" + +In this condition stood Captain Clayton's mind in regard to Peter, +when he heard, for the first time, a word about the widow Dolan and +the widow Dolan's daughter. + +The woman swore by all her gods that she knew nothing of Lax. But +then she had already fallen into the difficulty of having been +selected as capable of giving evidence. It generally happens that no +one first person will be found even to indicate others, so that there +is no finding a beginning to the case. But when a witness has been +indicated, the witness must speak. + +"The big blackguard!" exclaimed Mrs. Dolan, when she heard of the +evil that had been brought her; "to have the imperence to mention my +name!" + +It was felt, all the country through, to be an impertinence,--for +anybody to drag anybody else into the mess of troubles which was +sure to arise from an enforced connection with a law court. Most +unwillingly the circumstances were drawn from Mrs. Dolan, and with +extreme difficulty also from that ingenious young lady her daughter. +But, still, it was made to appear that Lax had taken refuge in their +cottage, and had gone down from thence to a little brook, where he +effected the cleansing of his pistol. The young lady had done all in +her power to keep her mother silent, but the mother had at last been +tempted to speak of the weapon which Lax had used. + +Now there was no further question of letting Lax go loose from +prison! That very irate barrister, Mr. O'Donnell, who was accustomed +to speak of all the Landleague criminals as patriotic lambs,--whose +lamb-like qualities were exceeded only by their patriotism,--did not +dare to intimate such a wish any further. But he did urge, with all +that benevolence for which he was conspicuous, that the trial should +come on at that immediate spring assizes. A rumour had, however, +already reached the ears of Captain Clayton, and others in his +position, that a great alteration was to be effected in the law. +This, together with Mrs. Dolan's evidence, might enable him to hang +Mr. Lax. Therefore the trial was postponed;--not, indeed, with +outspoken reference as to the new measure, but with much confidence +in its resources. + +It would be useless here to refer to that Bill which was to have +been passed for trying certain prisoners in Ireland without the +intervention of a jury, and of the alteration which took place in +it empowering the Government to alter the venue, and to submit such +cases to a selected judge, to selected juries, to selected counties. +The Irish judges had remonstrated against the first measure, and the +second was to be first tried, so that should it fail the judges might +yet be called upon to act. + +Such was the law under which criminals were tried in 1882, and the +first capital convictions were made under which the country began to +breathe freely. But the tidings of the law had got abroad beforehand, +and gave a hope of triumph to such men as Captain Clayton. Let a man +undertake what duty he will in life, if he be a good man he will +desire success; and if he be a brave man he will long for victory. +The presence of such a man as Lax in the country was an eyesore to +Captain Clayton, which it was his primary duty to remove. And it was +a triumph to him now that the time had come in which he might remove +him. Three times had Mr. Lax fired at the Captain's head, and three +times had the Captain escaped. "I think he has done with his guns and +his pistols now," said Captain Clayton, in his triumph. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE. + + +"I am not quite sure about Peter yet," said Clayton to Mr. Jones. +"But if we could look into his very soul I am afraid he could not do +much for us." + +"I never believed in Peter as a witness," replied Mr. Jones. + +"I should like to know exactly what he did see;--whether it was a +limb or a bit of his coat. But I think that young lady crept out and +saw him cleaning his pistol. And I think that the old lady had a +glimpse of the mask. I think that they can be made to say so." + +"I saw the mask myself, and the muzzle of the rifle;--and I saw the +man running as plainly as I see you." + +"That will all be wanted, Mr. Jones. But I trust that we may have to +summon you to Dublin. As things are at present, if Lax had been seen +in broad daylight firing at the poor boy by a dozen farmers it would +do no good in County Galway. There is Miss Edith out there. She is +awfully anxious about this wretch who destroyed her brother. I will +go and tell her." So Captain Clayton rushed out, anxious for another +cause for triumph. + +Mr. Jones had heard of his suit, and had heard also that the suit was +made to Edith and not to Ada. "There is not one in a dozen who would +have taken Edith," said he to himself,--"unless it be one who saw her +with my eyes." But yet he did not approve of the marriage. "They were +poverty stricken," he said, and Clayton went about from day to day +with his life in his hand. "A brave man," he said to himself; "but +singularly foolhardy,--unless it be that he wants to die." He had not +been called upon for his consent, for Edith had never yielded. She, +too, had said that it was impossible. "If Ada would have suited, it +might have been possible, but not between Yorke and me." They had +both come now to call him by his Christian name; and they to him were +Ada and Edith; but with their father he had never quite reached the +familiarity of a Christian name. + +Mr. Jones had, in truth, been so saddened by the circumstances of the +last two years that he could not endure the idea of marriages in his +family. "Of course, if you choose, my dear, you can do as you like," +he used to say to Edith. + +"But I don't choose." + +"What there are left of us should, I think, remain together. I +suppose they cannot turn me out of this house. The Prime Minister +will hardly bring in a Bill that the estates bought this last hundred +years shall belong to the owners of the next century. He can do so, +of course, as things go now. There are no longer any lords to stop +him, and the House of Commons, who want their seats, will do anything +he bids them. It's the First Lieutenant who looks after Ireland, who +has ideas of justice with which the angels of light have certainly +not filled his mind. That we should get nothing from our purchased +property this century, and give it up in the course of the next, is +in strict accordance with his thinking. We can depend upon nothing. +My brother-in-law can, of course, sell me out any day, and would not +stop for a moment. Everybody has to get his own, except an Irish +landlord. But I think we should fare ill all together. Your brother +is behaving nobly, and I don't think we ought to desert him. Of +course you can do as you please." + +Then the squire pottered on, wretched in heart; or, rather, down in +the mouth, as we say, and gave his advice to his younger daughter, +not, in truth, knowing how her heart stood. But a man, when he +undertakes to advise another, should not be down in the mouth +himself. _Equam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem, non secus ac +bonis_. If not, your thoughts will be too strongly coloured by your +own misfortunes to allow of your advising others. + +All this Edith knew,--except the Latin. The meaning of it had been +brought home to her by her own light. "Poor papa is so hipped," she +said to herself, "that he thinks that nobody will ever be happy +again." But still she resolved that she would not marry Yorke +Clayton. There had been a mistake, and she had made it,--a miserable +blunder for which she was responsible. She did not quite analyse the +matter in her own mind, or look into the thoughts of Ada, or of Yorke +himself,--the hero of her pillow; but she continued to tell herself +that the proper order of things would not admit it. Ada, she knew, +wished it. Yorke longed for her, more strongly even than for Lax, the +murderer. For herself, when she would allow her thoughts to stray for +a moment in that direction, all the bright azure tints of heaven were +open to her. But she had made a mistake, and she did not deserve it. +She had been a blind fool, and blind fools deserved no azure tints of +heaven. + +If she could have had her own way she would still have married Ada to +Yorke Clayton. When Ada told her that she had got over her foolish +love, it was the mere babble of unselfishness. Feel a passion for +such a man as Yorke Clayton, look into the depth of his blue eyes, +and fancy for herself a partnership with the spirit hidden away +within, and then get over it! Edith was guilty here of the folly of +judging of her sister as herself. And as for Yorke himself;--a man, +she said, always satisfies himself with that which is lovely and +beautiful. And with Ada he would have such other gifts as so strong +a man as Yorke always desires in his wife. In temper she was perfect; +in unselfishness she was excellent. In all those ways of giving +aid, which some women possess and some not at all,--but which, when +possessed, go so far to make the comfort of a house,--she was supreme. +If a bedroom were untidy, her eye saw it at once. If a thing had +to be done at the stroke of noon, she would remember that other +things could not be done at the same time. If a man liked his egg +half-boiled, she would bear it in her mind for ever. She would know +the proper day for making this marmalade and that preserve; and she +would never lose her good looks for a moment when she was doing these +things. With her little dusting-brush at her girdle, no eyes that +knew anything would ever take her for aught but a lady. She was just +the wife for Yorke Clayton. + +So Edith argued it in her own bosom, adding other wondrous mistakes +to that first mistake she had made. In thinking of it all she counted +herself for nothing, and made believe that she was ugly in all eyes. +She would not allow the man to see as his fancy led him; and could +not bring herself to think that if now the man should change his mind +and offer his hand to Ada, it would be impossible that Ada should +accept it. Nor did she perceive that Ada had not suffered as she had +suffered. + +"I wanted to catch you just for one moment," said Yorke Clayton, +running out so as to catch his prey. She had half wished to fly from +him, and had half told herself that any such flight was foolish. + +"What is it, Yorke?" she said. + +"I think,--I do think that I have at last got Lax upon the hip." + +"You are so bloody-minded about Lax." + +"What! Are you going to turn round and be merciful?" He was her hero, +and she certainly felt no mercy towards the murderer of her brother; +no mercy towards him who she now thought had planned all the injury +done to her father; no mercy towards him who had thrice fired at her +beloved. This wretched man had struggled to get the blood of him who +was all the world to her; and had been urged on to his black deeds +by no thought, by no feeling, that was not in itself as vile as hell! +Lax was to her a viper so noxious as to be beyond the pale of all +mercy. To crush him beneath the heel of her boot, so as to make an +end of him, as of any other poisonous animal, was the best mercy to +all other human beings. But she had said the word at the spur of the +moment, because she had been instigated by her feelings to gainsay +her hero, and to contradict him, so that he might think that he was +no hero of hers. She looked at him for the moment, and said nothing, +though he held her by the arm. "If you say I am to spare him, I will +spare him." + +"No," she answered, "because of your duty." + +"Have I followed this man simply as a duty? Have I lain awake +thinking of it till I have given to the pursuit such an amount of +energy as no duty can require? Thrice he has endeavoured to kill me, +firing at me in the dark, getting at me from behind hedges, as no +one who has anything of the spirit of man in his bosom will do when +he strives to destroy his enemy. All that has been nothing. I am a +policeman in search of him, and am the natural enemy of a murderer. +Of course in the ordinary way I would not have spared him; but the +ordinary way would have sufficed. Had he escaped me I could have +laughed at all that. But he took that poor lad's life!" Here he +looked sadly into her face, and she could see that there was a tear +within his eye. "That was much, but that was not all. That lad was +your brother, him whom you so dearly loved. He shot down the poor +child before his father's face, simply because he had said that he +would tell the truth. When you wept, when you tore your hair, when +you flung yourself in sorrow upon the body, I told myself that either +he or I must die. And now you bid me be merciful." Then the big tears +dropped down his cheeks, and he began to wail himself,--hardly like a +man. + +And what did Edith do? She stood and looked at him for a few moments; +then extricated herself from the hold he still had of her, and flung +herself into his arms. He put down his face and kissed her forehead +and her cheeks; but she put up her mouth and kissed his lips. Not +once or twice was that kiss given; but there they stood closely +pressed to each other in a long embrace. "My hero," she said; "my +hero." It had all come at last,--the double triumph; and there was, +he felt, no happier man in all Ireland than he. He thought, at least, +that the double battle had been now won. But even yet it was not so. +"Captain Clayton," she began. + +"Why Captain? Why Clayton?" + +"My brother Yorke," and she pressed both his hands in hers. "You can +understand that I have been carried away by my feelings, to thank you +as a sister may thank a brother." + +"I will not have it," he exclaimed fiercely. "You are no sister, nor +can I ever be your brother. You are my very own now, and for ever." +And he rushed at her again as though to envelop her in his arms, and +to crush her against his bosom. + +"No!" she exclaimed, avoiding him with the activity of a young fawn; +"not again. I had to beg your pardon, and it was so I did it." + +"Twenty times you have offended me, and twenty times you must repeat +your forgiveness." + +"No, no, it must not be so. I was wrong to say that you were +bloody-minded. I cannot tell why I said so. I would not for worlds +have you altered in anything;--except," she said, "in your love for +me." + +"But have you told me nothing?" + +"I have called you my hero,--and so you are." + +"Nay, Edith, it is more than that. It is not for me to remind you, +but it is more than that." + +She stood there blushing before him, over her cheeks and up to her +forehead; but yet did not turn away her face. + +"How am I to tell you why it is more than that? You cannot tell me," +she replied. + +"But, Edith--" + +"You cannot tell me. There are moments for some of us the feelings of +which can never be whispered. You shall be my hero and my brother if +you will; or my hero and my friend; or, if not that, my hero and my +enemy." + +"Never!" + +"No, my enemy you cannot be; for him who is about to revenge my +brother's death no name less sweet than dearest friend will suffice. +My hero and my dearest friend!" + +Then she took him by the hand, and turned away from the walk, and, +escaping by a narrow path, was seen no more till she met him at +dinner with her father and her brother and her sister. + +"By God! she shall be mine!" said Clayton. "She must be mine!" + +And then he went within, and, finding Hunter, read the details of +the evidence for the trial of Mr. Lax in Dublin, as prepared by the +proper officers in Galway city. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +THE STATE OF IRELAND. + + +It will be well that they who are interested only in the sensational +incidents of our story to skip this chapter and go on to other parts +of our tale which may be more in accordance with their taste. It +is necessary that this one chapter shall be written in which the +accidents that occurred in the lives of our three heroines shall be +made subordinate to the political circumstances of the day. This +chapter should have been introductory and initiative; but the facts +as stated will suit better to the telling of my story if they be told +here. There can be no doubt that Ireland has been and still is in +a most precarious condition, that life has been altogether unsafe +there, and that property has been jeopardised in a degree unknown +for many years in the British Islands. It is, I think, the general +opinion that these evils have been occasioned by the influx into +Ireland of a feeling which I will not call American, but which has +been engendered in America by Irish jealousy, and warmed into hatred +by distance from English rule. As far as politics are regarded, +Ireland has been the vassal of England as Poland has been of those +masters under which she has been made to serve. She was subjected to +much ill-usage, and though she has readily accepted the language, the +civilisation, and the customs of England, and has in fact grown rich +by adopting them, the memories of former hardships have clung to +her, and have made her ready to receive willingly the teachings of +those whose only object it has been to undermine the prestige of the +British Empire. In no respect has she more readily taken to her bosom +English practices than in that of the letting and the hiring of land. +In various countries, such as Italy, Russia, France, and the United +States, systems have grown up different from that which has prevailed +in England. Whether the English system or any other may be the +best is not now the question. But in answering that question it is +material to know that Ireland has accepted and, at any rate for two +centuries, has followed that system. The landlord has been to his +tenants a beneficent or, occasionally, a hard master, and the tenants +have acknowledged themselves as dependent, generally with much +affection, though not unfrequently with loud complaint. It has been +the same in England. Questions of tenant-right, of leases, and of the +cruelty of evictions have from time to time cropped up in Ireland. +But rents were readily paid up to 1878 and 1879; though abatements +were asked for,--as was the case also in England; and there were +men ready to tell the Irish from time to time, since the days of +O'Connell downwards, that they were ill-treated in being kept out of +their "ould" properties by the rightful owners. + +Then the American revolt, growing out of Smith O'Brien's logic and +physical force, gave birth to Fenianism. The true Fenian I take to be +one desirous of opposing British power, by using a fulcrum placed on +American soil. Smith O'Brien's logic consisted in his assertion that +if his country wished to hammer the British Crown, they could only +do it by using hammers. Smith O'Brien achieved little beyond his own +exile;--but his words, acting upon his followers, produced Fenianism. +That died away, but the spirit remained in America; and when English +tenants began to clamour for temporary abatements in their rent, the +clamours were heard on the other side of the water, and assisted the +views of those American-Irish who had revivified Ribandism and had +given birth to the cry of Home Rule. + +During the time that this was going on, a long unflagging series +of beneficial Acts of Parliament, and of consequently ameliorated +circumstances, had befallen the country. I was told the other day by +an Irish Judge, whose name stands conspicuous among those who are +known for their wisdom and their patriotism, by a Roman Catholic +Judge too, that in studying the latter laws of the two countries, the +laws affecting England and Ireland in reference to each other, he +knew no law by which England was specially favoured, though he knew +various laws redounding to the benefit of Ireland. When the cry for +some relief to suffering Ireland came up, at the time of the Duchess +of Marlborough's Fund, it was alleged in proof of Ireland's poor +condition that there was not work by which the labourers could earn +wages. I have known Ireland for more than forty years,--say from 1842 +to 1882. In 1842 we paid five shillings a week for the entire work +of a man. As far as I can learn, we now pay, on an average, nine +shillings for the same. The question is not whether five shillings +was sufficient, or whether nine be insufficient, but that the normal +increase through the country has been and can be proved to be such as +is here declared. + +I will refer to the banks, which can now be found established in any +little town, almost in any village, through the country. Fifty years +ago they were very much rarer. Banks do not spring up without money +to support them. The increase of wages,--and the banks also in an +indirect manner,--have come from that decrease in the population +which followed the potato famine of 1846. The famine and its results +were terrible while they lasted; but they left behind them an +amended state of things. When man has failed to rule the world +rightly, God will step in, and will cause famines, and plagues, and +pestilence--even poverty itself--with His own Right Arm. But the cure +was effected, and the country was on its road to a fair amount of +prosperity, when the tocsin was sounded in America, and Home Rule +became the cry. + +Ireland has lain as it were between two rich countries. England, +her near neighbour, abounds in coal and iron, and has by means of +these possessions become rich among the nations. America, very much +the more distant, has by her unexampled agricultural resources put +herself in the way to equal England. It is necessary,--necessary at +any rate for England's safety,--that Ireland should belong to her. +This is here stated as a fact, and I add my own opinion that it is +equally necessary for Ireland's welfare. But on this subject there +has arisen a feud which is now being fought out by all the weapons of +rebellion on one side, and on the other by the force of a dominating +Government, restrained, as it is found to be, by the self-imposed +bonds of a democratic legislature. But there is the feud, and the +battle, and the roaring of the cannons is heard afar off. + +I now purpose to describe in a very few words the nature of the +warfare. It may be said that the existence of Ireland as a province +of England depends on the tenure of the land. If the land were to be +taken altogether from the present owners, and divided in perpetuity +among any possible number of tenants, so as to be the property of +each tenant, without payment of any rent, all England's sense of +justice would be outraged, the English power of governing would be +destroyed, and all that could then be done by England would be to +give a refuge to the present owners till the time should come for +righting themselves, and they should be enabled to make some further +attempt for the recovery of their possessions. This would probably +arrive, if not sooner, from the annihilation of the new proprietors +under the hands of their fellow-countrymen to whom none of the spoil +had been awarded. But English statesmen,--a small portion, that is, +of English statesmen,--have wished in their philanthropy to devise +some measure which might satisfy the present tenants of the land, +giving them a portion of the spoil; and might leave the landlords +contented,--not indeed with their lot, which they would feel to be +one of cruel deprivation, but with the feeling that something had +at any rate been left to them. A compromise would be thus effected +between the two classes whose interests have always been opposed to +each other since the world began,--between the owners of property and +those who have owned none. + +The statesmen in question have now come into power by means of their +philanthropy, their undoubted genius, and great gifts of eloquence. +They have almost talked the world out of its power of sober judgment. +I hold that they have so succeeded in talking to the present House +of Commons. And when the House of Commons has been so talked into +any wise or foolish decision, the House of Lords and the whole +legislating machinery of the country is bound to follow. + +But how should their compromises be effected? It does not suit the +present writer to name any individual statesman. He neither wishes to +assist in raising a friend to the gods, or to lend his little aid in +crushing an enemy. But to the Liberal statesmen of the day, men in +speaking well of whom--at a great distance--he has spent a long life, +he is now bound to express himself as opposed. We all remember the +manner after which the Coercion Bill of 1881 was passed. The hoarse +shrieks with which a score of Irish members ran out of the House +crying "Privilege," when their voices had been stopped by the +salutary but certainly unconstitutional word of the Speaker, is +still ringing in our ears. Then the Government and the Irish score +were at daggers-drawn with each other. To sit for thirty-six hours +endeavouring to pass a clause was then held by all men to be an +odious bondage. But when these clauses had thus roughly been made to +be the law, the sugar-plum was to follow by which all Ireland was to +be appeased. The second Bill of 1881 was passed, which, with various +additions, has given rise to Judge O'Hagan's Land Court. That, with +its various sub-commissioners, is now engaged in settling at what +rate land shall be let in Ireland. + +That Judge O'Hagan and his fellow commissioners are well qualified +to perform their task,--as well qualified, that is, by kindness, +by legal knowledge and general sagacity as any men can be,--I have +heard no one deny. In the performance of most difficult duties they +have hitherto encountered no censure. But they have, I think, been +taxed to perform duties beyond the reach of any mortal wisdom. They +are expected to do that which all the world has hitherto failed in +doing,--to do that against which the commonest proverbs of ancient +and modern wisdom have raised their voice. There is no proverb more +common than that of "_caveat emptor_." It is Judge O'Hagan's business +to do for the poorer party in each bargain made between a landlord +and a tenant that against which the above proverb warns him. The +landlord has declared that the tenant shall not have the land unless +he will pay £10 a year for it. The tenant agrees. Then comes Judge +O'Hagan and tells the two contracting parties to take up their pens +quickly and write down £8 as the fair rent payable for the land. And +it was with the object of doing this, of reducing every £10 by some +percentage, twenty per cent. or otherwise, that this commission was +appointed. The Government had taken upon itself to say that the +greed of Irish landlords had been too greedy, and the softness of +Irish tenants too soft, and that therefore Parliament must interfere. +Parliament has interfered, and £8 is to be written down for a term +of years in lieu of £10, and the land is to become the possession of +the tenant instead of the landlord as long as he may pay this reduced +rent. In fact all the bonds which have bound the landlord to his land +are to be annihilated. So also are the bonds which bind the tenant, +who will sell the property so acquired when he shall have found that +that for which he pays £8 per annum shall have become worth £10 in +the market. + +It is useless to argue with the commissioners, or with the +Government, as to the inexpediency of such an attempt to alter the +laws for governing the world, which have forced themselves on the +world's acceptance. Many such attempts have been made to alter these +laws. The Romans said that twelve per cent. should be the interest +for money. A feeling long prevailed in England that legitimate +interest should not exceed five per cent. It is now acknowledged that +money is worth what it will fetch; and the interests of the young, +the foolish, and the reckless, who are tempted to pay too much for +it, are protected only by public opinion. The usurer is hated, and +the hands of the honest men are against him. That suffices to give +the borrower such protection as is needed. So it is with landlords +and tenants. Injury is no doubt done, and injustice is enabled to +prevail here and there. But it is the lesser injury, the lesser +injustice, which cannot be prevented in the long run by any attempt +to escape the law of "_caveat emptor_." + +It is, however, vain to talk to benevolent commissioners, or to +a Government working by eloquence and guided by philanthropy, +regardless of political economy. "Would you have the heart," asks +the benevolent commissioner, "to evict the poor man from his small +holding on which he has lived all his life, where his only sympathies +lie, and send him abroad to a distant land, where his solitary tie +will be that of labour?" The benevolent commissioner thus expresses +with great talk and with something also of the eloquence of his +employers the feeling which prevails on that side of the question. +But that which he deprecates is just what I could do; and having +seen many Irishmen both in America and in Ireland, I know that the +American Irishman is the happiest man of the two. He eats more; and +in much eating the happiness of mankind depends greatly. He is better +clothed, better sheltered, and better instructed. Though his women +wail when he departs, he sends home money to fetch them. This may +be for the profit of America. There are many who think that it must +therefore be to the injury of England. The question now is whether +the pathetic remonstrance of the tear-laden commissioner should be +allowed to prevail. I say that the tenant who undertakes to pay +for land that which the land will not enable him to pay had better +go,--under whatever pressure. + +Let us see how many details, how many improbabilities, will have to +be met before the benevolence of the commissioner can be made to +prevail. The reductions made on the rent average something between +twenty and twenty-five per cent. Let us take them at twenty. If a +tenant has to be evicted for a demand of £10, will he be able to live +in comfort if he pay only £8? Shall one tenant live in comfort on a +farm, the rent of which has been reduced him from £100 to £80, and +another, the reduction having been from £20 to £16? In either case, +if a tenant shall do well with two children, how shall he do with six +or eight? A true teetotaller can certainly pay double the rent which +may be extracted from a man who drinks. Shall the normal tenant earn +wages beyond what he gets from the land under his own tillage? Shall +the idle man be made equal to the industrious,--or can this be done, +or should it be done, by any philanthropy? Statesmen sitting together +in a cabinet may resolve that they will set the world right by +eloquence and benevolence combined; but the practices to which the +world have been brought by long experience will avail more than +eloquence and benevolence. Statesmen may decree that land shall be +let at a certain rate, and the decree will prevail for a time. It +may prevail long enough to put out of gear the present affairs of +the Irish world with which these statesmen will have tampered. But +the long experience will come back, and bargains will again be +made between man and man, though the intervening injuries will be +heartbreaking. + +But the benevolence of the Government and its commissioners will +not have gone far. The Land Law of 1881 has, as I now write, been +at work for twelve months, and the results hitherto accomplished +have been very small. It may be doubted whether a single reluctant +tenant,--a single tenant who would have been unwilling to leave his +holding,--has been preserved from American exile by having his £10 +or £20 or £30 of rent reduced to £8 or £16 or £24. The commissioners +work slowly, having all the skill of the lawyers, on one side or the +other, against them. It is piteous to see the hopelessness of three +sub-commissioners in the midst of a crowd of Irish attorneys. And the +law, as it exists at present, can be made to act only on holdings +possessed by tenants for one year. And the skill of the lawyers is +used in proving on the part of the landlords that the land is held by +firm leases, and cannot, therefore, be subjected to the law; and then +by proving, on behalf of the tenants, that the existing leases are +illegal, and should be broken. The possession of a lease, which used +to be regarded as a safeguard and permanent blessing to the tenant, +is now held to be cruelly detrimental to him, as preventing the +lowering of his rent, and the immediate creation for him of a tenancy +for ever. It is not to be supposed that the sub-commissioners can +walk over the land and straightway reduce the rents, though the +lands would certainly be subject to such reduction did not the law +interfere. In a majority of cases,--a majority as far as all Ireland +is concerned,--a feeling of honesty does prevail between landlord and +tenant, which makes them both willing to subject themselves to the +new law without the interference of attorneys, and many are preparing +themselves for such an arrangement. The landlord is willing to lose +twenty per cent. in fear of something worse, and the tenant is +willing to take it, hardly daring to hope for anything better. Such +is the best condition which the law has ventured to anticipate. +But in either case this is to be done as tempering the wind to the +shorn lamb. The landlord is anxious if possible to save for himself +and those who may come after him something of the reality of his +property, and the tenant feels that, though something of the nobility +of property has been promised to him by the Landleaguers, he may +after all make the best bargain by so far submitting himself to his +shorn landlord. + +But on estates where the commissioners are allowed their full swing, +the whole nature of the property in the land will be altered. The +present tenant, paying a tax of £8 per annum which will be subjected +to no reduction and on which no abatement can be made, in lieu of a +£10 rent, will be the owner. The small man will be infinitely more +subject to disturbance than at present, because the tax must be +paid. The landlord will feel no mercy for him, seeing that the bonds +between them which demanded mercy have been abrogated. The extra +£2 or £4 or £6 will not enable the tenant to live the life of ease +which he will have promised himself. If his interest has been made +to be worth anything,--and it will be worth something, seeing that +it has been worth something, and is saleable under its present +condition,--it will be sold, and the emigration will continue. There +are cruel cases at present. There will be cases not less cruel under +the _régime_ which the new law is expected to produce. But the new +law will be felt to have been unjust as having tampered with the +rights of property, and having demanded from the owners of property +its sale or other terms than those of mutual contract. + +But the time selected for the measure was most inappropriate. If good +in itself, it was bad at the time it was passed. Home Rule coming +across to us from America had taken the guise of rebellion. I have +met gentlemen who, as Home-Rulers, have simply desired to obtain +for their country an increase of power in the management of their +own affairs. These men have been loyal and patriotic, and it might +perhaps be well to meet their views. The Channel no doubt does +make a difference between Liverpool and Dublin. But the latter-day +Home-Rulers, of whom I speak, brought their politics, their +aspirations, and their money from New York, and boldly made use of +the means which the British Constitution afforded them to upset the +British Constitution as established in Ireland. That they should not +succeed in doing this is the determination of all, at any rate on +this side of the Channel. It is still, I believe, the desire of most +thinking men on the Irish side. But parliamentary votes are not given +only to thinking men; and consequently a body of members has appeared +in the House, energetic and now well trained, who have resolved by +the clamour of their voices to put an end to the British power of +governing the country. These members are but a minority among those +whom Ireland sends to Parliament; but they have learned what a +minority can effect by unbridled audacity. England is still writhing +in her attempt to invent some mode of controlling them. But long +before any such mode had been adopted,--had been adopted or even +planned,--the Government in 1881 brought out their plan for securing +to the tenants fair rents, fixity of tenure, and freedom of sale. + +As to the first, it will, of course, be admitted by all men that +rents should be fair, as also should be the price at which a horse is +sold. It is, however, beyond the power of Parliament to settle the +terms which shall be fair. "_Caveat emptor_" is the only rule by +which fair rents may be reached. By fixity of tenure is meant such a +holding of the land as shall enable the tenant to obtain an adequate +return for his labour and his capital, and to this is added a +romantic and consequently a most unjust idea that it may be well to +settle this question on behalf of the tenant by granting him such a +term as shall leave no doubt. Let him have the land for ever as long +as he will pay a stipulated sum, which shall be considerably less +than the landlord's demand. That idea I call romantic, and therefore +unjust. But, even though the beauty of the romance be held sufficient +to atone for the injustice, this was not the poetical re-arrangement +of all the circumstances of land tenure in Ireland. Freedom of sale +is necessarily annexed to fixity of tenure. If a man is to have the +possession of land in perpetuity, surely he should be allowed to sell +it. Whether he be allowed or not, he will contrive to do so. Freedom +of sale means, I take it, that the so-called landlord shall have no +power of putting a veto on the transaction. We cannot here go into +the whole question as it existed in Ulster before 1870; but the +freedom of sale intended is such, I think, as I have defined it. + +Whether these concessions be good or bad, this was, at any rate, +no time for granting them. They seem to me to amount to wholesale +confiscation. But supposing me to be wrong in that, can I be wrong +in thinking that a period of declared rebellion is not a time for +concessions? When the Land Bill was passed the Landleague was in full +power; boycotting had become the recognised weapon of an illegal +association; and the Home-Rulers of the day,--the party, that is, who +represented the Landleague,--were already in such possession of large +portions of the country as to prevent the possibility of carrying out +the laws. + +At this moment the Government brought forward its romantic theory +as to the manipulation of land, and, before that theory was at work, +commenced its benevolent intentions by locking up all those who were +supposed to be guilty of an intention to carry out the Government +project further than the Government would carry it out itself. It +is held, as a rule, in politics that coercion and concession cannot +be applied together. Ireland was in mutiny under the guidance of +a mutinous party in the House of Commons, and at that moment a +commission was put in operation, under which it was the intention of +the Government to transfer the soil of the country at a reduced price +to the very men among whom the mutineers are to be found. How do the +tidings of such a commission operate upon the ears of Irishmen at +large? He is told that under the fear of the Landleague his rent +is to be reduced to an extent which is left to his imagination; +and then, that he is to be freed altogether from the incubus of a +landlord! He is, in fact, made to understand that his cherished +Landleague has become all-powerful. And yet he hears that odious men, +whom he recognises only as tyrants, are filling the jails through the +country with all his dearest friends. Demanding concessions, and the +continued increase of them, and having learned the way to seize upon +them when they are not given, he will not stand coercion. Abated rent +soon becomes no rent. When it is left to the payer of the rent to +decide on which system he will act, it is probable that the no-rent +theory will prevail. + +So it was in 1882. Tenants were harassed by needy landlords, and when +they were served with forms of ejectment the landlords were simply +murdered, either in their own persons or in that of their servants. +Men finding their power, and beginning to learn how much might be +exacted from a yielding Government, hardly knew how to moderate their +aspirations. When they found that the expected results did not come +at once, they resorted to revenge. Why should these tyrants keep them +out from the good things which their American friends had promised +them, and which were so close within their grasp? And their anger +turned not only against their landlords, but against those who +might seem in any way to be fighting on the landlords' side. Did a +neighbour occupy a field from which a Landleaguing tenant had been +evicted, let the tails of that neighbour's cattle be cut off, or the +legs broken of his beasts of burden, or his sheep have their throats +cut. Or if the injured one have some scruples of conscience, let the +oppressor simply be boycotted, and put out of all intercourse with +his brother men. Let no well-intentioned Landleaguing neighbour buy +from him a ton of hay, or sell to him a loaf of bread. + +But as a last resource, if all others fail, let the sinner be +murdered. We all know, alas! in how many cases the sentence has been +pronounced and the judgment given, and the punishment executed. + +Such have been the results of the Land Law passed in 1881. And under +the curse so engendered the country is now labouring. It cannot be +denied that the promoters of the Land Laws are weak, and that the +disciples of the Landleague are strong. In order that the truth of +this may be seen and made apparent, the present story is told. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL. + + +Poor Mr. O'Mahony had enemies on every side. There had come up lately +a state of things which must be very common in political life. The +hatreds which sound so real when you read the mere words, which look +so true when you see their scornful attitudes, on which for the time +you are inclined to pin your faith so implicitly, amount to nothing. +The Right Honourable A. has to do business with the Honourable B., +and can best carry it on by loud expressions and strong arguments +such as will be palatable to readers of newspapers; but they do not +hate each other as the readers of the papers hate them, and are ready +enough to come to terms, if coming to terms is required. Each of them +respects the other, though each of them is very careful to hide his +respect. We can fancy that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable +B. in their moments of confidential intercourse laugh in their joint +sleeves at the antipathies of the public. In the present instance it +was alleged that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable B. had +come to some truce together, and had ceased for a while to hit each +other hard knocks. Such a truce was supposed to be a feather in the +cap of the Honourable B., as he was leader of a poor party of no +more than twenty; and the Right Honourable A. had in this matter the +whole House at his back. But for the nonce each had come off his high +horse, and for the moment there was peace between them. + +But Mr. O'Mahony would have no peace. He understood nothing of +compromises. He really believed that the Right Honourable gentleman +was the fiend which the others had only called him. To him it was a +compact with the very devil. Now the leader of his party, knowing +better what he was about, and understanding somewhat of the manner in +which politics are at present carried on, felt himself embarrassed by +the honesty of such a follower as Mr. O'Mahony. Mr. O'Mahony, when he +was asked whether he wished to lead or was willing to serve, declared +that he would neither lead nor serve. What he wanted was the "good +of Ireland." And he was sure that that was not to be obtained by +friendship with Her Majesty's Government. This was in itself very +well, but he was soon informed that it was not as a free-lance that +he had been elected member for Cavan. "That is between me and my +constituency," said Mr. O'Mahony, standing up with his head thrown +back, and his right hand on his heart. But the constituency soon gave +him to understand that he was not the man they had taken him to be. + +He, too, had begun to find that to spend his daughter's money in +acting patriotism in the House of Commons was not a fine _rôle_ +in life. He earned nothing and he did nothing. Unless he could +bind himself hand and foot to his party he had not even a spark of +delegated power. He was not allowed to speak when he desired, and +was called upon to sit upon those weary benches hour after hour, and +night after night, only pretending to effect those things which he +and his brother members knew could not be done. He was not allowed +to be wrathful with true indignation, not for a moment; but he was +expected to be there from question time through the long watches of +the night--taking, indeed, his turn for rest and food--always ready +with some mock indignation by which his very soul was fretted; and +no one paid him the slightest respect, though he was, indeed, by no +means the least respectable of his party. He would have done true +work had it been given him to do. But at the present moment his +own party did not believe in him. There was no need at present for +independent wrathful eloquence. There seldom is need in the House of +Commons for independent eloquence. The few men who have acquired for +themselves at last the power of expressing it, not to empty benches, +not amidst coughings and hootings, and loud conversation, have had +to make their way to that point either by long efficient service or +by great gifts of pachydermatousness. Mr. O'Mahony had never served +anyone for an hour, and was as thin-skinned as a young girl; and, +though his daughter had handed him all her money, so that he might +draw upon it as he pleased, he told himself, and told her also, that +his doing so was mean. "You're welcome to every dollar, father, only +it doesn't seem to make you happy." + +"I should be happy to starve for the country, if starving would do +anything." + +"I don't see that one ever does any good by starving as long as there +is bread to eat. This isn't a romantic sort of thing, this payment of +rents; but we ought to try and find out what a man really owes." + +"No man owes a cent to any landlord on behalf of rent." + +"But how is a man to get the land?" she said. "Over in our country a +rough pioneering fellow goes and buys it, and then he sells it, and +of course the man who buys it hasn't to pay rent. But I cannot see +how any fellow here can have a right to the land for nothing." Then +Mr. O'Mahony reminded his daughter that she was ill and should not +exert herself. + +It was now far advanced in May, and Mr. O'Mahony had resolved to +make one crushing eloquent speech in the House of Commons and then +to retire to the United States. But he had already learned that +even this could not be effected without the overcoming of many +difficulties. In himself, in his eloquence, in the supply of words, +he trusted altogether; but there was the opportunity to be bought, +and the Speaker's eye to be found,--he regarded this Speaker's eye +as the most false of all luminaries,--and the empty benches to be +encountered, and then drowsy reporters to be stirred up; and then +on the next morning,--if any next morning should come for such a +report,--there would not be a tithe of what he had spoken to be read +by any man, and, in truth, very little of what he could speak would +be worthy of reading. His words would be honest and indignant and +fine-sounding, but the hearer would be sure to say, "What a fool is +that Mr. O'Mahony!" At any rate, he understood so much of all this +that he was determined to accept the Chiltern Hundreds and flee away +as soon as his speech should be made. + +It was far advanced in May, and poor Rachel was still very ill. +She was so ill that all hope had abandoned her either as to her +profession or as to either of her lovers. But there was some spirit +in her still, as when she would discuss with her father her future +projects. "Let me go back," she said, "and sing little songs for +children in that milder climate. The climate is mild down in the +South, and there I may, perhaps, find some fragment of my voice." +But he who was becoming so despondent both for himself and for his +country, still had hopes as to his daughter. Her engagement with Lord +Castlewell was not even yet broken. Lord Castlewell had gone out of +town at a most unusual period,--at a time when the theatres always +knew him, and had been away on the exact day which had been fixed for +their marriage. Rachel had done all that lay in herself to disturb +the marriage, but Lord Castlewell had held to it, urged by feelings +which he had found it difficult to analyse. Rachel had in her +sickness determined to have done with him altogether, but latterly +she had had no communication with him. She had spoken of him to her +father as though he were a being simply to be forgotten. "He has +gone away, and, as far as he is concerned, there is an end of me. +It could not have finished better." But her mind still referred to +Frank Jones, and from him she had received hardly a word of love. +Further words of love she could not send him. During her illness many +letters, or little notes rather, had been written to Castle Morony on +her behalf by her father, and to these there had come replies. Frank +was so anxious to hear of her well-doing. Frank had not cared so much +for her voice as for her general health. Frank was so sorry to hear +of her weakness. It had all been read to her, but as it had been read +she had only shaken her head; and her father had not carried the +dream on any further. To his thinking she was still engaged to the +lord, and it would be better for her that she should marry the lord. +The lord no doubt was a fool, and filled the most foolish place in +the world,--that of a silly fainéant earl. But he would do no harm to +his daughter, and the girl would learn to like the kind of life which +would be hers. At present she was very, very ill, but still there was +hope for recovery. + +By the treasury of the theatre she had been treated munificently. Her +engagement had been almost up to the day fixed for her marriage, and +the money which would have become due to her under it had been paid +in full. She had sent back the latter payments, but they had been +returned to her with the affectionate respects of the managers. Since +she had put her foot upon these boards she had found herself to be +popular with all around her. That, she had told herself, had been due +to the lord who was to become her husband. But Rachel had become, and +was likely to become, the means of earning money for them, and they +were grateful. To tell the truth, Lord Castlewell had had nothing to +do with it. + +But gradually there came upon them the conviction that her voice was +gone, and then the payment of the money ceased. She, and the doctor, +and her father, had discussed it together, and they had agreed to +settle that it must be so. + +"Yes," said the girl, smiling, "it is bitter. All my hopes! And such +hopes! It is as though I were dead, and yet were left alive. If it +had been small-pox, or anything in that way, I could have borne it. +But this thing, this terrible misfortune!" + +Then she laughed, and then burst out sobbing with loud tears, and hid +her face. + +"You will be married, and still be happy," said the doctor. + +"Married! Rubbish! So much you know about it. Am I ever to get strong +in my limbs again, so as to be able to cross the water and go back to +my own country?" + +Here the doctor assured her that she would be able to go back to her +own country, if it were needed. + +"Father," she said, as soon as the doctor had left her, "let there be +an end to all this about Lord Castlewell. I will not marry him." + +"But, my dear!" + +"I will not marry him. There are two reasons why I should not. I do +not love him, and he does not love me. There are two other reasons. I +do not want to marry him, and he does not want to marry me." + +"But he says he does." + +"That is his goodness. He is very good. I do not know why a man +should be so good who has had so bad a bringing up. Think of me,--how +good I ought to be, as compared with him. I haven't done anything +naughty in all my life worse than tear my frock, or scold poor Frank; +and yet I find it harder to give him up, merely because of the +grandeur, than he does to marry me, the poor singing girl, who can +never sing again. No! My good looks are gone, such as they were. I +can feel it, even with my fingers. You had better take me back to the +States at once." + +"Good-bye, Rachel," said the lord, coming into her room the day but +one after this. Her father was not with her, as she had elected to be +alone when she would bid her adieu to her intended husband. + +"This is very good of you to come to me." + +"Of course I came." + +"Because you were good. You need not have come unless you had wished +it. I had so spoken to you as to justify you in staying away. My +voice is gone, and I can only squeak at you in this broken treble." + +"Your voice would not have mattered at all." + +"Ah, but it has mattered to me. What made you want to marry me?" + +"Your beauty quite as much as your voice," said the lord. + +"And that has gone too. Everything I had has gone. It is melancholy! +No, my lord," she said, interrupting him when he attempted to +contradict her, "there is not a word more to be said about it. Voice +and beauty, such as it was, and the little wit, are all gone. I did +believe in my voice myself, and therefore I felt myself fitting +to marry you. I could have left a name behind me if my voice had +remained. But, in truth, my lord, it was not fitting. I did not love +you." + +"That, indeed!" + +"As far as I know myself, I did not love you. You have heard me speak +of Frank Jones,--a man who can only wear two clean shirts a week +because he has been so boycotted by those wretched Irish as to be +able to afford no more. I would take him with one shirt to-morrow, if +I could get him. One does not know why one loves a person. Of course +he's handsome, and strong, and brave. I don't think that has done it, +but I just got the fancy into my head, and there it is still. And he +with his two shirts, working every day himself with his own hands to +earn something for his father, would not marry me because I was a +singing girl and took wages. He would not have another shirt to be +washed with my money. Oh, that the chance were given to me to go and +wash it for him with my own hands!" + +Lord Castlewell sat through the interview somewhat distraught, as +well he might be; but when it was over, and he had taken his leave +and kissed her forehead, as he went home in his cab, he told himself +that he had got through that little adventure very well. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED. + + +Some days after the scene last recorded Rachel was sitting in her +bedroom, partly dressed, but she was, as she was wont to declare +to her father, as weak as a cat with only one life. She had in the +morning gone through a good deal of work. She had in the first place +counted her money. She had something over £600 at the bank, and she +had always supplied her father with what he had wanted. She had told +her future husband that she must sing one month in the year so as +to earn what would be necessary for the support of the Member of +Parliament, and singularly enough her father had yielded. But now +the six hundred and odd pounds was all that was left to take them +both back to the United States. "I think I shall be able to lecture +there," Mr. O'Mahony had said. "Wait till I express my opinion about +queens, and lords, and the Speaker! I think I shall be able to say +a word or two about the Speaker!--and the Chairman of Committees. A +poor little creature who can hardly say bo to a goose unless he had +got all the men to back him. I don't want to abuse the Queen, because +I believe she does her work like a lady; but if I don't lay it on hot +on the Speaker of the British House of Commons, my name is not Gerald +O'Mahony." + +"You forget your old enemy, the Secretary." + +"Him we used to call Buckshot? I'm not so sure about him. At any rate +he has had a downfall. When a man's had a downfall I don't care about +lecturing against him. But I don't think it probable that the Speaker +will have a downfall, and then I can have my fling." + +Rachel had dismissed her brougham, and she had written to Edith +Jones. That, no doubt, had been the greatest effort of the morning. +We need not give here the body of her letter, but it may be +understood that she simply declared at length the nature of the +prospect before her. There was not a word of Frank Jones in it. She +had done that before, and Frank Jones had not responded. She intended +to go with her father direct from Liverpool to New York, and her +letter was full chiefly of affectionate farewells. To Edith and to +Ada and to their father there were a thousand written kisses sent. +But there was not a kiss for Frank. There was not a word for Frank, +so that any reader of the letter, knowing there was a Frank in the +family, would have missed the mention of him, and asked why it was +so. It was very, very bitter to poor Rachel this writing to Morony +Castle without an allusion to the man; but, as she had said, he had +been right not to come and live on her wages, and he certainly was +right not to say a word as to their loss, when neither of them had +wages on which to live. It would have suited in the United States, +but she knew that it would not suit here in the old country, and +therefore when the letter was written she was sitting worn-out, jaded +and unhappy in her own bed-room. + +The lodging was still in Cecil Street, from which spot she and her +father had determined not to move themselves till after the marriage, +and had now resolved to remain there till Rachel should be well +enough for her journey to New York. As she sat there the servant, +whom in her later richer days she had taken to herself, came to her +and announced a visitor. Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room. "Mr. Moss +here!" The girl declared that he was in the sitting-room, and in +answer to further inquiries alleged that he was alone. How he had got +there the girl could not say. Probably somebody had received a small +bribe. Mr. O'Mahony was not in,--nor was anybody in. Rachel told +the girl to be ready when she was ready to accompany her into the +parlour, and thus resolving that she would see Mr. Moss she sent him +a message to this effect. Then she went to work and perfected her +dressing very slowly. + +When she had completed the work she altered her purpose, and +determined that she would see Mr. Moss alone. "You be in the little +room close at hand," she said, "and have the door ajar, so that you +can come to me if I call. I have no reason to suspect this man, and +yet I do suspect him." So saying, she put on her best manners, as it +might be those she had learned from the earl when he was to be her +husband, and walked into the room. She had often told herself, since +the old days, as she had now told the maid, that no real ground for +suspicion existed; and yet she knew that she did suspect the man. + +Rachel was pale and wan, and moved very slowly as though with +haughty gesture. Mr. Moss, no doubt, had reason for knowing that the +marriage with Lord Castlewell was at an end. The story had been told +about among the theatres. Lord Castlewell did not mean to marry Miss +O'Mahony; or else the other and stranger story, Miss O'Mahony did not +mean to marry Lord Castlewell. Though few believed that story, it was +often told. Theatrical people generally told it to one another as a +poetical tale. The young lady had lost her voice and her beauty. The +young lady was looking very old and could never sing again. It was +absolutely impossible that in such circumstances she should decline +to marry the lord if he were willing. But it was more than probable +that he should decline to marry her. The theatrical world had +been much astonished by Lord Castlewell's folly, and now rejoiced +generally over his escape. But that he should still want to marry the +young lady, and that she should refuse,--that was quite impossible. + +But Mr. Moss was somewhat different from the theatrical world in +general. He kept himself to himself, and kept his opinion very much +in the dark. Madame Socani spoke to him often about Rachel, and +expressed her loud opinion that Lord Castlewell had never been in +earnest. And she was of opinion that Rachel's voice had never had any +staying property. Madame Socani had once belittled Rachel's voice, +and now her triumph was very great. In answer to all this Mr. Moss +almost said nothing. Once he did turn round and curse the woman +violently, but that was all. Then, when the news had, he thought, +been made certain, either in one direction or the other, he came and +called on the young lady. + +"Well, Mr. Moss," said the young lady, with a smile that was intended +to be most contemptible and gracious. + +"I have been so extremely sorry to hear of your illness, my dear +young lady." + +Her grandeur departed from her all at once. To be called this man's +"dear young lady" was insufferable. And grandeur did not come easily +to her, though wit and sarcasm did. + +"Your dear young lady, as you please to call her, has had a bad time +of it." + +"In memory of the old days I called you so, Miss O'Mahony. You and I +used to be thrown much together." + +"You and I will never be thrown together again, as my singing is all +over." + +"It may be so and it may not." + +"It is over, at any rate as far as the London theatres go,--as far as +you and I go. + +"I hope not." + +"I tell you it is. I am going back to New York at once, and do not +think I shall sing another note as long as I live. I'm going to learn +to cook dishes for papa, and we mean to settle down together." + +"I hope not," he repeated. + +"Very well; but at any rate I must say good-bye to you. I am very +weak, and cannot do much in the talking line." + +Then she got up and stood before him, as though determined to wish +him good-bye. She was in truth weak, but she was minded to stand +there till he should have gone. + +"My dear Miss O'Mahony, if you would sit down for a moment, I have a +proposition to make to you. I think that it is one to which you may +be induced to listen." + +Then she did sit down, knowing that she would want the strength which +rest would give her. The conversation with Mr. Moss might probably +be prolonged. He also sat down at a little distance, and held his +shining new hat dangling between his knees. It was part of her +quarrel with him that he had always on a new hat. + +"Your marriage with Lord Castlewell, I believe, is off." + +"Just so." + +"And also your marriage with Mr. Jones?" + +"No doubt. All my marriages are off. I don't mean to be married at +all. I tell you I'm going home to keep house for my father." + +"Keep house for me," said Mr. Moss. + +"I would rather keep house for the devil," said Rachel, rising from +her chair in wrath. + +"Vy?--vy?"--Mr. Moss was reduced by his eagerness and enthusiasm to +his primitive mode of speaking--"Vat is it that you shall want of a +man but that he shall love you truly? I come here ready to marry you, +and to take my chance in all things. You say your voice is gone. I am +here ready to take the risk. Lord Castlewell will not have you, but +I will take you." Now he had risen from his chair, and was standing +close to her; but she was so surprised at his manner and at his words +that she did not answer him at all. "That lord cared for you not at +all, but I care. That Mr. Jones, who was to have been your husband, +he is gone; but I am not gone. Mr. Jones!" then he threw into his +voice a tone of insufferable contempt. + +This Rachel could not stand. + +"You shall not talk to me about Mr. Jones." + +"I talk to you as a man who means vat he is saying. I will marry you +to-morrow." + +"I would sooner throw myself into that river," she said, pointing +down to the Thames. + +"You have nothing, if I understand right,--nothing! You have had +a run for a few months, and have spent all your money. I have got +£10,000! You have lost your voice,--I have got mine. You have no +theatre,--I have one of my own. I am ready to take a house and +furnish it just as you please. You are living here in these poor, +wretched lodgings. Why do I do that?" And he put up both his hands. + +"You never will do it," said Rachel. + +"Because I love you." Then he threw away his new hat, and fell on his +knees before her. "I will risk it all,--because I love you! If your +voice comes back,--well! If it do not come back, you will be my wife, +and I shall do my best to keep you like a lady." + +Here Rachel leant back in her chair, and shut her eyes. In truth she +was weak, and was hardly able to carry on the battle after her old +fashion. And she had to bethink herself whether the man was making +this offer in true faith. If so, there was something noble in it; +and, though she still hated the man, as a woman may hate her lover, +she would in such case be bound not to insult him more than she could +help. A softer feeling than usual came upon her, and she felt that he +would be sufficiently punished if she could turn him instantly out of +the room. She did not now feel disposed "to stick a knife into him," +as she had told her father when describing Mr. Moss. But he was at +her knees and the whole thing was abominable. + +"Rachel, say the word, and be mine at once." + +"You do not understand how I hate you!" she exclaimed. + +"Rachel, come to my arms!" + +Then he got up, as though to clasp the girl in his embrace. She ran +from him, and immediately called the girl whom she had desired to +remain in the next room with the door open. But the door was not +open, and the girl, though she was in the room, did not answer. +Probably the bribe which Mr. Moss had given was to her feeling rather +larger than ordinary. + +"My darling, my charmer, my own one, come to my arms!" + +And he did succeed in getting his hand round on to Rachel's waist, +and getting his lips close to her head. She did save her face so that +Mr. Moss could not kiss her, but she was knocked into a heap by his +violence, and by her own weakness. He still had hold of her as she +rose to her feet, and, though he had become acquainted with her +weapon before, he certainly did not fear it now. A sick woman, who +had just come from her bed, was not likely to have a dagger with her. +When she got up she was still more in his power. She was astray, +scrambling here and there, so as to be forced to guard against her +own awkwardness. Whatever may be the position in which a woman may +find herself, whatever battle she may have to carry on, she has first +to protect herself from unseemly attitudes. Before she could do +anything she had first to stand upon her legs, and gather her dress +around her. + +"My own one, my life, come to me!" he exclaimed, again attempting to +get her into his embrace. + +But he had the knife stuck into him. She had known that he would do +it, and now he had done it. + +"You fool, you," she said; "it has been your own doing." + +He fell on the sofa, and clasped his side, where the weapon had +struck him. She rang the bell violently, and, when the girl came, +desired her to go at once for a surgeon. Then she fainted. + +"I never was such a fool as to faint before," she told Frank +afterwards. "I never counted on fainting. If a girl faints, of course +she loses all her chance. It was because I was ill. But poor Mr. Moss +had the worst of it." + +Rachel, from the moment in which she fainted, never saw Mr. Moss any +more. Madame Socani came to visit her, and told her father, when she +failed to see her, that Mr. Moss had only three days to live. Rachel +was again in bed, and could only lift up her hands in despair. But to +her father, and to Frank Jones, she spoke with something like good +humour. + +"I knew it would come," she said to her father. "There was something +about his eye which told me that an attempt would be made. He would +not believe of a woman that she could have a will of her own. By +treating her like an animal he thought he would have his own way. I +don't imagine he will treat me in that way again." And then she spoke +of him to Frank. "I suppose he does like me?" + +"He likes your singing,--at so much a month." + +"That's all done now. At any rate, he cannot but know that it is +an extreme chance. He must fancy that he really likes me. A man +has to be forgiven a good deal for that. But a man must be made to +understand that if a woman won't have him, she won't! I think Mr. +Moss understands it now." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN. + + +These last words had been spoken after the coming of Frank Jones, but +something has to be said of the manner of his coming, and of the +reasons which brought him, and something also which occurred before +he came. It could not be that Mr. Moss should be wounded after so +desperate a fashion and that not a word should be said about it. + +Of what happened at the time of the wounding Rachel knew nothing. +She had been very brave and high in courage till the thing was done, +but as soon as it was done she sent for the servant and fainted away. +She knew nothing of what had occurred till she had been removed +out of the room on one side, and he on the other. She did not hear, +therefore, of the suggestion made by Mr. Moss that some vital part of +him had been reached. + +He did bleed profusely, but under the aid of the doctor and Mr. +O'Mahony, who was soon on the scene, he recovered himself more +quickly than poor Rachel, who was indeed somewhat neglected till the +hero of the tragedy had been sent away. He behaved with sufficient +courage at last, though he had begun by declaring that his days were +numbered. At any rate he had said when he found the power of ordinary +speech, "Don't let a word be whispered about it to Miss O'Mahony; +she isn't like other people." Then he was taken back to his private +lodging, and confided to the care of Madame Socani, where we will +for the present leave him. Soon after the occurrence,--a day or two +after it,--Frank Jones appeared suddenly on the scene. Of course it +appeared that he had come to mourn the probable death of Mr. Moss. +But he had in truth heard nothing of the fatal encounter till he had +arrived in Cecil Street, and then could hardly make out what had +occurred amidst the confused utterances. + +"Frank Jones!" she exclaimed. "Father, what has brought him here?" +and she blushed up over her face and head to the very roots of her +hair. "Come up, of course he must come up. When a man has come all +the way from Castle Morony he must be allowed to come up. Why should +you wish to keep him down in the area?" Then Frank Jones soon made +his appearance within the chamber. + +It was midsummer, and Rachel occupied a room in the lowest house in +the street, looking right away upon the river, and her easy-chair had +been brought up to the window at which she sat, and looked out on the +tide of river life as it flowed by. She was covered at present with +a dressing gown, as sweet and fresh as the morning air. On her head +she wore a small net of the finest golden filigree, and her tiny +feet were thrust into a pair of bright blue slippers bordered with +swans-down. "Am I to come back?" her obedient father had asked. But +he had been told not to come back, not quite at present. "It is not +that I want your absence," she had said, "but he may. He can tell +me with less hesitation that he is going to set up a pig-killing +establishment in South Australia than he could probably you and me +together." So the father simply slapped him on the back, and bade him +walk upstairs till he would find No. 15 on the second landing. "Of +course you have heard," he said, as Frank was going, "of what she has +been and done to Mahomet M. Moss?" + +"Not a word," said Frank. "What has she done?" + +"Plunged a dagger into him," said Mr. O'Mahony,--in a manner which +showed to Frank that he was not much afraid of the consequences of +the accident. "You go up and no doubt she will tell you all about +it." Then Frank went up, and was soon admitted into Rachel's room. + +"Oh, Frank!" she said, "how are you? What on earth has brought you +here?" Then he at once began to ask questions about poor Moss, and +Rachel of course to answer them. "Well, yes; how was I to help it? I +told him from the time that I was a little girl, long before I knew +you, that something of this kind would occur if he would not behave +himself." + +"And he didn't?" asked Frank, with some little pardonable curiosity. + +"No, he did not. Whether he wanted me or my voice, thinking that +it would come back again, I cannot tell, but he did want something. +There was a woman who brought messages from him, and even she wanted +something. Then his ideas ran higher." + +"He meant to marry you," said Frank. + +"I suppose he did,--at last. I am very much obliged to him, but it +did not suit. Then,--to make a short story of it, Frank, I will tell +you the whole truth. He took hold of me. I cannot bear to be taken +hold of; you know that yourself." + +He could only remember how often he had sat with her down among the +willows at the lake side with his arm round her waist, and she had +never seemed to be impatient under the operation. + +"And though he has such a beautiful shiny hat he is horribly awkward. +He nearly knocked me down and fell on me, by way of embracing me." + +Frank thought that he had never been driven to such straits as that. + +"To be knocked down and trampled on by a beast like that! There +are circumstances in which a girl must protect herself, when other +circumstances have brought her into danger. In those days--yesterday, +that is, or a week ago--I was a poor singing girl. I was at every +man's disposal, and had to look after myself. There are so many white +bears about, ready to eat you, if you do not look after yourself. He +tried to eat me, and he was wounded. You do not blame me, Frank." + +"No, indeed; not for that." + +"What do you blame me for?" + +"I cannot think you right," he answered with almost majestic +sternness, "to have accepted the offer of Lord Castlewell." + +"You blame me for that." + +He nodded his head at her. + +"What would you have had me do?" + +"Marry a man when you love him, but not when you don't." + +"Oh, Frank! I couldn't. How was I to marry a man when I loved him,--I +who had been so treated? But, sir," she said, remembering herself, +"you have no right to say I did not love Lord Castlewell. You have no +business to inquire into that matter. Nobody blames you, or can, or +shall, in that affair,--not in my hearing. You behaved as gentlemen +do behave; gentlemen who cannot act otherwise, because it is born +in their bones and their flesh. I--I have not behaved quite so well. +Open confession is good for the soul. Frank, I have not behaved quite +so well. You may inquire about it. I did not love Lord Castlewell, +and I told him so. He came to me when my singing was all gone, and +generously renewed his offer. Had I not known that in his heart of +hearts he did not wish it,--that the two things were gone for which +he had wooed me,--my voice, which was grand, and my prettiness, which +was but a little thing, I should have taken his second offer, because +it would be well to let him have what he wanted. It was not so; and +therefore I sent him away, well pleased." + +"But why did you accept him?" + +"Oh, Frank! do not be too hard. How am I to tell you--you, of all +men, what my reasons were? I was alone in the world; alone with such +dangers before me as that which Mr. Moss brought with him. And then +my profession had become a reality, and this lord would assist me. Do +all the girls refuse the lords who come and ask them?" + +Then he stood close over her, and shook his head. + +"But I should have done so," she continued after a pause. "I +recognise it now; and let there be an end of it. There is a something +which does make a woman unfit for matrimony." And the tears coursed +themselves down her wan cheeks. "Now it has all been said that need +be said, and let there be an end of it. I have talked too much about +myself. What has brought you to London?" + +"Just a young woman," he whispered slowly. + +A pang shot through her heart; and yet not quite a pang, for with it +there was a rush of joy, which was not, however, perfect joy, because +she felt that it must be disappointed. + +"Bother your young woman," she said; "who cares for your young woman! +How are you going on in Galway?" + +"Sadly enough, to tell the truth." + +"No rents?" + +He shook his head. + +"Nothing but murders and floods?" + +"The same damnable old story running on from day to day." + +"And have the girls no servants yet?" + +"Not a servant; except old Peter, who is not quite as faithful as he +should be." + +"And,--and what about that valiant gay young gentleman, Captain +Clayton?" + +"Everything goes amiss in love as well as war," said Frank. "Between +the three of them, I hardly know what they want." + +"I think I know." + +"Very likely. Everything goes so astray with all of us, so that the +wanting it is sufficient reason for not getting it." + +"Is that all you have come to tell me?" + +"I suppose it is." + +"Then you might have stayed away." + +"I may as well go, perhaps." + +"Go? no! I am not so full of new friends that I can afford to throw +away my old like that. Of course you may not go, as you call it! +Do you suppose I do not care to hear about those girls whom I +love,--pretty nearly with all my heart? Why don't you tell me about +them, and your father? You come here, but you talk of nothing but +going. You ain't half nice." + +"Can I come in yet?" This belonged to a voice behind the door, which +was the property of Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Not quite yet, father. Mr. Jones is telling me about them all at +Morony Castle." + +"I should have thought I might have heard that," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"The girls have special messages to send," said Rachel. + +"I'll come back in another ten minutes," said Mr. O'Mahony. "I shall +not wait longer than that." + +"Only their love," said Frank; upon which Rachel looked as though she +thought that Frank Jones was certainly an ass. + +"Of course I want to hear their love," said Rachel. "Dear Ada, and +dear Edith! Why don't you tell me their love?" + +"My poor sick girl," he said, laying his hand upon her shoulder, and +looking into her eyes. + +"Never mind my sickness. I know I am as thin and as wan as an ogre. +Nevertheless, I care for their love." + +"Rachel, do you care for mine?" + +"I haven't got it! Oh, Frank, why don't you speak to me? You have +spoken a word, just a word, and all the blood is coming back to my +veins already." + +"Dearest, dearest, dearest Rachel." + +"Now you have spoken; now you have told me of your sisters and your +father. Now I know it all! Now my father may come in." + +"Do you love me, then?" + +"Love you! That question you know to be unnecessary. Love you! Why +I spend every day and every night in loving you! But, Frank, you +wouldn't have me when I was going to be rich. I ought not to have +you now that I am to be poor." But by this time she was in his arms +and he was kissing her, till, as she had said, the blood was once +again running in her veins. "Oh, Frank, what a tyrant you are! Did +I not tell you to let poor father come into the room? You have said +everything now. There cannot be another word to say. Frank, Frank, +Frank! I have found it out at last. I cannot live without you." + +"But how are you to live with me? There is no money." + +"Bother money. Wealth is sordid. Washing stockings over a tub is the +only life for me,--so long as I have you to come back to me." + +"And your health?" + +"I tell you it is done. I was merely sick of the Jones complaint. Oh, +heavens! how I can hate people, and how I can love them!" Then she +threw herself on the sofa, absolutely worn out by the violence of her +emotions. + +Mr. O'Mahony was commissioned, and sat down by his girl's side to +comfort her. But she wanted no comforting. "So you and Frank have +made it up, have you?" said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"We have never quarrelled so far as I am concerned," said Frank. "The +moment I heard Lord Castlewell was dismissed, I came back." + +"Yes," said she, raising herself half up on the sofa. "Do you know +his story, father? It is rather a nice story for a girl to hear of +her own lover, and to feel that it is true. When I was about to make +I don't know how many thousand dollars a year by my singing, he would +not come and take his share of it. Then I have to think of my own +disgrace. But it enhances his glory. Because he was gone, I brought +myself to accept this lord." + +"Now, Rachel, you shall not exert yourself," said Frank. + +"I will, sir," she replied, holding him by the hand. "I will tell my +story. He had retreated from the stain, and the lord had come in his +place. But he was here always," and she pressed his hand to her side. +"He could not be got rid of. Then I lost my voice, and was 'utterly +dished,' as the theatrical people say. Then the lord went,--behaving +better than I did however,--and I was alone. Oh, what bitter moments +there came then,--long enough for the post to go to Ireland and to +return! And now he is here. Once more at my feet again, old man, once +more! And then he talks to me of money! What is money to me? I have +got such a comforting portion that I care not at all for money." Then +she all but fainted once again, and Frank and her father both knelt +over her caressing her. + +It was a long time before Frank left her, her father going in and out +of the room as it pleased him the while. Then he declared that he +must go down to the House, assuring Frank that one blackguard there +was worse than another, but saying that he would see them to the end +as long as his time lasted. Rachel insisted that Frank should go with +him. + +"I am just getting up from my death-bed," she said, laughing, "and +you want me to go on like any other man's young woman. I can think +about you without talking to you." And so saying she dismissed him. + +On the next morning, when he came again, she discussed with him the +future arrangement of his life and hers. + +"Of course you must stay with your father," she said. "You do not +want to marry me at once, I suppose. And of course it is impossible +if you do. I shall go to the States with father as soon as this +Parliament affair is over. He is turned out of the House so often +that he will be off before long for good and all. But there is the +mail still running, and remember that what I say is true. I shall be +ready and willing to be made Mrs. Frank Jones as soon as you will +come and fetch me, and will tell me that you are able to provide me +just with a crust and a blanket in County Galway. Whatever little you +will do with, I will do with less." + +Then she sat upon his knee, and embraced him and kissed him, and +swore to him that no other Lord Castlewell who came should interfere +with his rights. + +"And as for Mr. Moss," she added, "I do not think that he will ever +appear again to trouble your little game." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +MR. ROBERT MORRIS. + + +One morning, a little later in the summer, about the beginning of +August, all Galway were terrified by the tidings of another murder. +Mr. Morris had been killed,--had been "dropped," as the language of +the country now went, from behind a wall built by the roadside. It +had been done at about five in the afternoon, in full daylight; and, +as was surmised by the police, with the consciousness of many of the +peasantry around. He had been walking along the road from Cong to his +own house, and had been "dropped," and left for dead by the roadside. +Dead, indeed, he was when found. Not a word more would have been said +about it, but for the intervention of the police, who were on the +spot within three hours of the occurrence. A little girl had been +coming into Cong, and had told the news. The little girl was living +at Cong, and was supposed to be in no way connected with the murder. + +"It's some of them boys this side of Clonbur," said one of the men of +Cong. + +No one thought it necessary after that to give any further +explanation of the circumstances. + +Mr. Robert Morris was somewhat of an oddity in his way; but he was +a man who only a few months since was most unlikely to have fallen +a victim to popular anger. He was about forty years of age, and +had lived altogether at Minas Cottage, five or six miles from Cong, +as you pass up the head of Lough Corrib, on the road to Maum. He +was unmarried, and lived quite alone in a small house, trusting to +the attentions of two old domestics and their daughter. He kept a +horse and a car and a couple of cows and a few cocks and hens; but +otherwise he lived alone. He was a man of property, and had, indeed, +come from a family very long established in the county. People said +of him that he had £500 a year; but he would have been very glad +to have seen the half of it paid to his agent; for Mr. Morris, of +Minas Cottage, had his agent as well as any other gentleman. He was +a magistrate for the two counties, Galway and Mayo, and attended +sessions both at Cong and at Clonbur. But when there he did little +but agree with some more active magistrate; and what else he did with +himself no one could tell of him. + +But it was said in respect to him that he was a benevolent gentleman; +and but a year or two since very many in the neighbourhood would have +declared him to be especially the poor man's friend. With £500 a year +he could have done much; with half that income he could do something +to assist them, and something he still did. He had his foibles, and +fancies, but such as they were they did not tread on the corns of any +of his poorer neighbours. He was proud of his birth, proud of his +family, proud of having owned, either in his own hands or those of +his forefathers, the same few acres,--and many more also, for his +forefathers before him had terribly diminished the property. There +was a story that his great great grandfather had lived in a palatial +residence in County Kilkenny. All this he would tell freely, and +would remark that to such an extent had the family been reduced by +the extravagance of his forefathers. "But the name and the blood +they can never touch," he would remark. They would not ask as to his +successor, because they valued him too highly, and because Mr. Morris +would never have admitted that the time had come when it was too late +to bring a bride home to the western halls of his forefathers. But +the rumour went that Minas Cottage would go in the female line to a +second cousin, who had married a cloth merchant in Galway city, to +whom nor to her husband did Mr. Morris ever speak. There might be +something absurd in this, but there was nothing injurious to his +neighbours, and nothing that would be likely to displease the poorer +of them. + +But Mr. Morris had been made the subject of various requests from his +tenants. They had long since wanted and had received a considerable +abatement in their rent. Hence had come the straitened limits of £250 +a year. They had then offered the "Griffith's valuation." To explain +the "Griffith's valuation" a chapter must be written, and as no +one would read the explanation if given here it shall be withheld. +Indeed, the whole circumstances of Mr. Morris's property were too +intricate to require, or to admit, elucidation here. He was so driven +that if he were to keep anything for himself he must do so by means +of the sheriff's officer, and hence it had come to pass that he had +been shot down like a mad dog by the roadside. + +County Galway was tolerably well used to murders by this time, but +yet seemed to be specially astonished by the assassination of Mr. +Morris. The innocence of the man; for the dealings of the sheriff's +officer were hardly known beyond the town land which was concerned! +And then the taciturnity of the county side when the murder had been +effected! It was not such a deed as was the slaughtering of poor +Florian Jones, or the killing of Terry Carroll in the court house. +They had been more startling, more alarming, more awful for the +tradesmen, and such like, to talk of among themselves, but the +feeling of mystery there had been connected with the secret capacity +of one individual. Everyone, in fact, knew that those murders had +been done by Lax. And all felt that for the doing of murders Lax was +irrepressible. But over there in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, or in +the village of Cong, Lax had never appeared. There was no one in the +place to whom the police could attribute any Lax-like properties. In +that respect, the slaughtering of Mr. Morris had something in it more +terrible even than those other murders. It seemed as though murder +were becoming the ordinary popular mode by which the people should +redress themselves,--as though the idea of murder had recommended +itself easily to their intellects. And then they had quietly +submitted--all of them--to taciturnity. They who were not concerned +in the special case, the adjustment that is of Mr. Morris's rent, +accepted his murder with perfect quiescence, as did those who were +aggrieved. Nobody had seen anything. Nobody had heard anything. +Nobody had known anything. Such were the only replies that were given +to the police. If Mr. Morris, then why not another--and another--till +the whole country would be depopulated? In Mr. Morris's case a +landlord had been chosen; but in other localities agents and +sheriffs' officers,--and even those keepers on a property which a +gentleman is supposed to employ,--were falling to the right and to +the left. But of Mr. Morris and his death nothing was heard. + +Yorke Clayton of course went down there, for this, too, was in his +district, and Hunter went with him, anxious, if possible, to learn +something. They saw every tenant on the property; and, indeed, they +were not over numerous. There was not one as to whom they could +obtain evidence that he was ever ferocious by character. "They've got +to think that they have the right to it all. The poor creatures are +not so bad as them that is teaching them. If I think as the farm is +my own, of course I don't like to be made to pay rent for it." That +was the explanation of the circumstances, as given by Mrs. Davies, +of the hotel at Clonbur. And it was evident that she thought it to +be sufficient. The meaning of it, according to Captain Clayton's +reading, was this: "If you allow such doctrines to be preached abroad +by Members of Parliament and Landleague leaders,--to be preached as +a doctrine fit for the people,--then you cannot be surprised if the +people do as they are taught and hold their tongues afterwards." + +This Mr. Morris had been the first cousin of our poor old friend +Black Tom Daly. + +"Good God!" he exclaimed, as soon as he read the news, sitting in his +parlour at Daly's Bridge; "there is Bob Morris gone now." + +"Bob Morris, of Minas Cottage!" exclaimed Peter Bodkin, who had +ridden over to give Tom Daly some comfort in his solitude, if it +might be possible. + +"By George! yes; Bob Morris! Did you know him?" + +"I don't think he ever came out hunting." + +"Hunting, indeed! How should he, when he hadn't a horse that he could +ride upon? And Bob knew nothing of sport. The better for him, seeing +the way that things are going now. No, he never was out hunting, poor +fellow. But for downright innocence and kindness and gentleness of +heart, there is no one left like him. And now they have murdered him! +What is to be the end of it? There is Persse telling me to hold on by +the hounds, when I couldn't keep a hound in the kennels at Ahaseragh +if it were ever so." + +"Times will mend," said Peter. + +"And Raheney Gorse fired so as to drive every fox out of the country! +Persse is wrong, and I am wrong to stay at his bidding. The very +nature of mankind has altered in the old country. There are not the +same hearts within their bosoms. To burn a gorse over a fox's head! +There is a damnable cruelty in it of which men were not guilty,--by +G----! they were not capable,--a year or two ago. These ruffians +from America have come and told them that they shall pay no rent, +and their minds have been so filled with the picture that its +magnificence has overcome them. They used to tell us that money is +the root of all evil; it proves to be true now. The idea that they +should pay no rent has been too much for them; and they have become +fiends under the feelings which have been roused. Only last year they +were mourning over a poor fox like a Christian,--a poor fox that had +been caught in a trap,--and now they would not leave a fox in the +country, because the gentlemen, they think, are fond of them. The +gentlemen are their enemies, and therefore they will spite them. They +will drive every gentleman out of the country, and where will they be +then?" Here Tom Daly sat quiet for a while, looking silent through +the open window, while Peter sat by him feeling the occasion to be +too solemn for speech. After a while Tom continued his ejaculations. +"Gladstone! Gladstone! There are those who think that man to be great +and good; but how can he be great and good if he lets loose such +spirits among us? They tell me that he's a very amiable man in his +own family, and goes to church regular; but he must be the most +ignorant human being that ever took upon himself to make laws for +a people. He can understand nothing about money, nothing about +property, nothing about rents! I suppose he thinks it fair to take +away one man's means and give them to another, simply because one is +a gentleman and the other not! A fair rent! There's nothing I hate so +much in my very soul as the idea of a fair rent. A fair rent means +half that a man pays now; but in a few years' time it will mean again +whatever the new landlord may choose to ask. And fixity of tenure! +Every man is to get what doesn't belong to him, and if a man has +anything he's to be turned out; that is fixity of tenure. And freedom +of sale! A man is to be allowed to sell what isn't his own. He thinks +that when he has thrown half an eye over a country he can improve it +by altering all the wisdom of ages. A man talks and talks, and others +listen to him till they flatter him that another God Almighty has +been sent upon earth." It was thus that Tom Daly expressed himself as +to the Prime Minister of the day; but Tom was a benighted Tory, and +had thought nothing of these subjects till they were driven into his +mind by the strange mortality of the foxes around him. + +Poor Mr. Morris was buried, and there was an end of him. The cloth +merchant's wife in Galway got the property; and, as far as we can +hear at present, is not likely to do as well with it as her husband +is with his bales of goods. No man perhaps more insignificant than +Mr. Robert Morris could have departed. He did nothing, and his +figure, as he walked about between Cong and Clonbur, could be well +spared. But his murder had given rise to feelings through the country +which were full of mischief and full of awe. He had lived most +inoffensively, and yet he had gone simply because it had occurred to +some poor ignorant tenant, who had held perhaps ten or fifteen acres +of land, out of which he had lived upon the potatoes grown from two +or three of them, that things would go better with him if he had not +a landlord to hurry him for rent! Then the tenant had turned in his +mind the best means of putting his landlord out of the way, and had +told himself that it was an easy thing to do. He had not, of his own, +much capacity for the use of firearms; but he had four pound ten, +which should have gone to the payment of his rent, and of this four +pound ten, fifteen shillings secured the services of some handy man +out of the next parish. He had heard the question of murder freely +discussed among his neighbours, and by listening to others had +learned the general opinion that there was no danger in it. So he +came to a decision, and Mr. Morris was murdered. + +So far the question was solved between this tenant and this landlord; +but each one of the neighbours, as he thought of it, felt himself +bound to secrecy _pro bono publico_. There was a certain comfort in +this, and poor Bob Morris's death seemed likely to be passed over +with an easy freedom from suspicion. Any man might be got rid of +silently, and there need be no injurious results. But men among +themselves began to talk somewhat too freely, and an awe grew among +them as this man and that man were named as objectionable. And the +men so named were not all landlords or even agents. This man was a +sheriff's officer, and that a gamekeeper. The sheriffs' officers and +gamekeepers were not all murdered, but they were named, and a feeling +of terror crept cold round the hearts of those who heard the names. +Who was to be the keeper of the list and decide finally as to the +victims? Then suddenly a man went, and no one knew why he went. He +was making a fence between two fields, and it was whispered that he +had been cautioned not to make the fence. At any rate he had been +stoned to death, and though there must have been three at least at +the work, no one knew who had stoned him. Men began to whisper among +each other, and women also, and at last it was whispered to them that +they had better not whisper at all. Then they began to feel that not +only was secrecy to be exacted from them, but they were not to be +admitted to any participation in the secrecy. + +And with such of the gentry as were left there had grown up +precautions which could not but fill the minds of the peasantry with +a vague sense of fear. They went about with rifle in their hands, and +were always accompanied by police. They had thick shutters made to +their windows, and barred themselves within their houses. Those who +but a few months since had been the natural friends of the people, +now appeared everywhere in arms against them. If it was necessary +that there should be intercourse between them, that intercourse took +place by means of a policeman. A further attempt at murder had been +made in the neighbourhood, and was so talked of that it seemed that +all kindly feeling had been severed. Men began to creep about and +keep out of the way lest they should be suspected; and, indeed, +it was the fact that there was hardly an able-bodied man in three +parishes to whom some suspicion did not attach itself. + +And thus the women would ask for fresh murders, and would feel +disappointed when none were reported to them, craving, as it were, +for blood. And all this had come to pass certainly within the space +of two years! A sweeter-tempered people than had existed there had +been found nowhere; nor a people more ignorant, and possessing less +of the comforts of civilisation. But no evil was to be expected from +them, no harm came from them--beyond a few simple lies, which were +only harmful as acting upon their own character. As Tom Daly had +said, these very men were not capable of it a few months ago. The +tuition had come from America! That, no doubt, was true; but it had +come by Irish hearts and Irish voices, by Irish longings and Irish +ambition. Nothing could be more false than to attribute the evil to +America, unless that becomes American which has once touched American +soil. But there does grow up in New York, or thereabouts, a mixture +of Irish poverty with American wealth, which calls itself "Democrat," +and forms as bad a composition as any that I know from which either +to replenish or to create a people. + +A very little of it goes unfortunately a long way. It is like gin +made of vitriol when mingled with water. A small modicum of gin, +though it does not add much spirit to the water, will damnably defile +a large quantity. And this gin has in it a something of flavour which +will altogether deceive an uneducated palate. There is an alcoholic +afflatus which mounts to the brain and surrounds the heart and +permeates the veins, which for the moment is believed to be true gin. +But it makes itself known in the morning, and after a few mornings +tells its own tale too well. These "democrats" could never do us the +mischief. They are not sufficient, either in intellect or in number; +but there are men among us who have taught themselves to believe that +the infuriated gin drinker is the true holder of a new gospel. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +CONG. + + +In those days Captain Clayton spent much of his time at Cong, and +Frank Jones was often with him. Frank, however, had returned from +London a much altered man. Rachel had knocked under to him. It was +thus that he spoke of it to himself. I do not think that she spoke of +it to herself exactly in the same way. She knew her own constancy, +and felt that she was to be rewarded. + +"Nothing, I think, would ever have made me marry Lord Castlewell." + +It was thus she talked to her father while he was awaiting the period +of his dismissal. + +"I dare say not," said he. "Of course he is a poor weak creature. But +he would have been very good to you, and there would have been an end +to all your discomforts." + +Rachel turned up her nose. An end to all her discomforts! + +Her father knew nothing of what would comfort her and what would +discomfort. + +She was utterly discomforted in that her voice was gone from her. She +would lie and sob on her bed half the morning, and would feel herself +to be inconsolable. Then she would think of Frank, and tell herself +that there was some consolation in store even for her. Had her voice +been left to her she would have found it to be very difficult to +escape from the Castlewell difficulty. She would have escaped, she +thought, though the heavens might have been brought down over her +head. When the time had come for appearing at the altar, she would +have got into the first train and disappeared, or have gone to bed +and refused to leave it. She would have summoned Frank at the last +moment, and would submit to be called the worst behaved young woman +that had ever appeared on the London boards. Now she was saved from +that; but,--but at what a cost! + +"I might have been the greatest woman of the day, and now I must be +content to make his tea and toast." + +Then she began to consider whether it was good that any girl should +be the greatest woman of the day. + +"I don't suppose the Queen has so much the best of it with a pack of +troubles on her hands." + +But Frank in the meantime had gone back to Galway, and Mr. Robert +Morris had been murdered. Soon after the death of Mr. Morris the man +had been killed as he was mending the ditch, and Captain Clayton +found that the tone of the people was varied in the answers which +they made to his inquiries. They were astounded, and, as it were, +struck dumb with surprise. Nobody knew anything, nobody had heard +anything, nobody had seen anything. They were as much in the dark +about poor Pat Gilligan as they had been as to Mr. Robert Morris. +They spoke of Pat as though he had been slaughtered by a direct blow +from heaven; but they trembled, and were evidently uncomfortable. + +"That woman knows something about it," said Hunter to his master, +shaking his head. + +"No doubt she knows a good deal about it; but it is not because she +knows that she is bewildered and bedevilled in her intellect. She +is beginning to be afraid that the country is one in which even she +herself cannot live in safety." + +And the men looked to be dumbfoundered and sheepfaced. They kept out +of Captain Clayton's way, and answered him as little as possible. +"What's the good of axing when ye knows that I knows nothing?" This +was the answer of one man, and was a fair sample of the answers of +many; but they were given in such a tone that Clayton was beginning +to think that the evil was about to work its own cure. + +"Frank," he said one day when he was walking with his friend in +the gloom of the evening, "this state of things is too horrible to +endure." The faithful Hunter followed them, and another policeman, +for the Captain was never allowed to stir two steps without the +accompaniment of a brace of guards. + +"Much too horrible to be endured," said Frank. "My idea is that a +man, in order to make the best of himself, should run away from it. +Life in the United States has no such horrors as these. Though we're +apt to say that all this comes from America, I don't see American +hands in it." + +"You see American money." + +"American money in the shape of dollar bills; but they have all been +sent by Irish people. The United States is a large place, and there +is room there, I think, for an honest man." + +"I'll never be frightened out of my own country," said Clayton. "Nor +do I think there is occasion. These abominable reprobates are not +going to prevail in the end." + +"They have prevailed with poor Tom Daly. He was a man who worked +as hard as anyone to find amusement,--and employment too. He never +wronged anyone. He was even so honest as to charge a fair price for +his horses. And there he is, left high and dry, without a horse or +a hound that he can venture to keep about his own place. And simply +because the majority of the people have chosen that there shall be +no more hunting; and they have proved themselves to be able to have +their own way. It is impossible that poor Daly should hunt if they +will not permit him, and they carry their orders so far that he +cannot even keep a hound in his kennels because they do not choose +to allow it." + +"And this you think will be continued always?" asked Clayton. + +"For all that I can see it may go on for ever. My father has had +those water gates mended on the meadows though he could ill afford +it. I have told him that they may go again to-morrow. There is no +reason to judge that they should not do so. The only two men,--or +the man, rather, and the boy,--who have been punished for the last +attempt were those who endeavoured to tell of it. See what has come +of that!" + +"All that is true." + +"Will it not be better to go to America, to go to Africa, to go to +Asia, or to Russia even, than to live in a country like this, where +the law can afford you no protection, and where the lawgivers only +injure you?" + +"I know nothing about the lawgivers," said Clayton, "but I have to +say a word or two about the law. Do you think this kind of thing is +going to remain?" + +"It does remain, and every day becomes worse." + +"An evil will always become worse till it begins to die away. I think +I see the end of things approaching. Evil-doers are afraid of each +other, and these poor fellows here live in mortal agony lest some Lax +of the moment should be turned loose at their own throats. I don't +think that Lax is an institution that will remain for ever in the +country. This present Lax we have fast locked up. Law at present, at +any rate, has so much of power that it is able to lock up a +Lax,--when it can catch him. As for this present man, I do hope that +the law will find itself powerful enough to fasten a rope round his +neck. No Galway jury would find him guilty, and that is bad enough. +But the lawgivers have done this for us, that we may try him before a +Dublin jury, and there are hopes. When Lax has been well hung out of +the world I can turn round and take a moment for my own happiness." + +Yorke Clayton, as he said this, was alluding to his love affair with +Edith Jones. He had now conquered all the family with one exception. +Even the father had assented that it should be so, though tardily +and with sundry misgivings. The one person was Edith herself, and it +had come to be acknowledged by all around her that she loved Yorke +Clayton. As she herself never now denied it, it was admitted on all +sides at Morony Castle that the Captain was certainly the favoured +lover. But Edith still held out, and had gone so far as to tell the +Captain that he could not be allowed to come to the Castle unless he +would desist. + +"I never shall desist," he had replied. "As to that you may take my +word." Then Edith had of course loved him so much the more. + +"I don't think this kind of thing will go on," he continued, still +addressing Frank Jones. "The people are so fickle that they cannot be +constant even to anything evil. It is quite on the cards that Black +Tom Daly should next year be the most popular master of hounds in all +Ireland, and that Mr. Kit Mooney should not be allowed to show his +face within reach of Moytubber Gorse on hunting mornings." + +"They'd have burned the gorse before they have come round to that +state of feeling. Look at Raheeny." + +"It isn't so easy to destroy anything," said the philosophic Clayton. +"If the foxes are frightened out of Raheeny or Moytubber, they will +go somewhere else. And even if poor Tom Daly were to run away from +County Galway, as you're talking of doing, the county would find +another master." + +"Not like Tom Daly," said Frank Jones, enthusiastically. + +"There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. Tom Daly is a +first-class man, I admit; and he had no more obedient slave than +myself when I used to get out hunting two or three days in the +session. But he is a desponding man, and cannot look forward to +better times. For myself, I own that my hopes are fixed. Hang Lax, +and then the millennium!" + +"I will quite agree as to the hanging of Lax," said Frank; "but for +any millennium, I want something more strong than Irish feeling. +You'll excuse me, old fellow." + +"Oh, certainly! Of course, I'm an Irishman myself, and might have +been a Lax instead of a policeman, if chance had got hold of me in +time. As it is, I've a sort of feeling that the policeman is going to +have the best of it all through Ireland." Then there came a sudden +sound as of a sharp thud, and Yorke Clayton fell as it were dead at +Frank Jones's feet. + +This occurred at a corner of the road, from which a little boreen or +lane ran up the side of the mountain between walls about three feet +high. But here some benevolent enterprising gentleman, wishing to +bring water through Lower Lough Cong to Lough Corrib, had caused +the beginnings of a canal to be built, which had, however, after +the expenditure of large sums of money, come to nothing. But the +ground, or rather rock, had so been moved and excavated as to make +it practicable for some men engaged, as had been this man, to drop +at once out of sight. Hunter was at once upon his track, with the +other policeman, both of whom fired at him. But as they acknowledged +afterwards, they had barely seen the skirt of his coat in the gloom +of the evening. The whole spot up and behind the corner of the road +was so honeycombed by the works of the intended canal as to afford +hiding-places and retreats for a score of murderers. Here, as +was afterwards ascertained, there was but one, and that one had +apparently sufficed. + +Frank Jones had remained on the road with his friend, and had raised +him in his arms when he fell. "They have done for me this time," +Clayton had said, but had said no more. He had in truth fainted, +but Frank Jones, in his ignorance, had thought that he was dead. It +turned out afterwards that the bullet had struck his ribs in the +front of his body, and, having been turned by the bone, had passed +round to his back, and had there buried itself in the flesh. It needs +not that we dwell with any length on this part of our tale, but may +say at once that the medical skill of Cong sufficed to extract the +bullet on the next morning. + +After a while one of the two policemen came back to the road, and +assisted Frank Jones in carrying up poor Clayton to the inn. Hunter, +though still maimed by his wound, stuck to the pursuit, assisted by +two other policemen from Cong, who soon appeared upon the scene. But +the man escaped, and his flight was soon covered by the darkness +of night. It had been eight o'clock before the party had left the +inn, and had wandered with great imprudence further than they had +intended. At least, so it was said after the occurrence; though, had +nothing happened, they would have reached their homes before night +had in truth set in. But men said of Clayton that he had become so +hardened by the practices of his life, and by the failure of all +attempts hitherto made against him, that he had become incredulous of +harm. + +"They have got me at last," he said to Frank the next morning. "Thank +God it was not you instead of me. I have been thinking of it as I lay +here in the night, and have blamed myself greatly. It is my business +and not yours." And then again further on in the day he sent a +message to Edith. "Tell her from me that it is all over now, but that +had I lived she would have had to be my wife." + +But from that time forth he did in truth get better, though we in +these pages can never again be allowed to see him as an active +working man. It was his fault,--as the Galway doctor said his +egregious sin,--to spend the most of his time in lying on a couch +out in the garden at Morony Castle, and talking of the fate of Mr. +Lax. The remainder of his hours he devoted to the acceptance of +little sick-room favours from his hostess,--I would say from his two +hostesses, were it not that he soon came to terms with Ada, under +which Ada was not to attend to him with any particular care. "If I +could catch that fellow," he said to Ada, alluding to the man who +had intended to murder him, "I would have no harm done to him. He +should be let free at once; for I could not possibly have got such +an opportunity by any other means." + +But poor Edith, the while, felt herself to be badly used. She and +Ada had often talked of the terrible perils to which Yorke Clayton +was subjected, and, as the reader may remember, had discussed the +propriety of a man so situated allowing himself to become familiar +with any girl. But now Captain Clayton was declared to be safe by +everybody. The doctors united in saying that his constitution would +carry him through a cannon-ball. But Edith felt that all the danger +had fallen to her lot. + +In the meantime the search for the double murderers,--unless indeed +one murderer had been busy in both cases--was carried vainly along. +The horror of poor Mr. Morris's fate had almost disappeared under the +awe occasioned by the attack on Captain Clayton. It was astonishing +to see how entirely Mr. Morris, with all his family and his old +acres, and with Minas Cottage,--which, to the knowledge of the entire +population of Cong, was his own peculiar property,--was lost to +notice under the attack that had been made with so much audacity on +Captain Yorke Clayton. He, as one of four, all armed to the teeth, +was attacked by one individual, and attacked successfully. There +were those who said at first that the bars of Galway jail must have +been broken, and that Lax the omnipotent, Lax the omnipresent, had +escaped. And it certainly was the case that many were in ignorance +as to who the murderer had been. Probably all were ignorant,--all +of those who were in truth well acquainted with the person of Mr. +Morris' murderer. And in the minds of the people generally the awe +became greater than ever. To them it was evident that anybody could +murder anybody; and evident also that it was permitted to them to do +so by this new law which had sprung up of late in the country, almost +enjoining them to exercise this peculiar mode of retaliation. The +bravest thought that they were about to have their revenge against +their old masters, and determined that the revenge should be a bloody +one. But the more cowardly, and very much the more numerous on that +account, feared that, poor as they were, they might be the victims. +No man among them could be much poorer than Pat Gilligan, and he had +been chosen as one to be murdered, for some reason known only to the +murderer. + +A new and terrible aristocracy was growing up among them,--the +aristocracy of hidden firearms. There was but little said among them, +even by the husband to the wife, or by the father to the son; because +the husband feared his wife, and the father his own child. There had +been a feeling of old among them that they were being ground down by +the old aristocracy. There must ever be such an idea on the part of +those who do not have enough to eat in regard to their betters, who +have more than plenty. It cannot be but that want should engender +such feeling. But now the dread of the new aristocracy was becoming +worse than that of the old. In the dull, dim minds of these poor +people there arose, gradually indeed but quickly, a conviction that +the new aristocracy might be worse even than the old; and that law, +as administered by Government, might be less tyrannical than the law +of those who had no law to govern them. So the people sat silent +at their hearths, or crawled miserably about their potato patches, +speaking not at all of the life around them. + +When a week was over, tidings came to them that Captain Clayton, +though he had been shot right through the body,--though the bullet +had gone in at his breast and come out at his back, as the report +went,--was still alive, and likely to live. "He's a-spending every +hour of his blessed life a-making love to a young lady who is +a-nursing him." This was the report brought up to Cong by the steward +of the lake steamer, and was received as a new miracle by the Cong +people. The fates had decreed that Captain Clayton should not fall +by any bullet fired by Lax, the Landleaguer; for, though Lax, the +Landleaguer, was himself fast in prison when the attempt was made, +such became more than ever the creed of the people when it was +understood that Captain Clayton, with his own flesh and blood, was at +this moment making love to Mr. Jones's youngest daughter at Morony +Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +KERRYCULLION. + + +Captain Clayton was thoroughly enjoying life, now perhaps, for the +first time since he had had a bullet driven through his body. It had +come to pass that everything, almost everything, was done for him by +the hands of Edith. And yet Ada was willing to do everything that was +required; but she declared always that what she did was of no avail. +"Unless you take it to him, you know he won't eat it," she would +still say. No doubt this was absurd, because the sick man's appetite +was very good, considering that a hole had been made from his front +to his back within the last month. It was still September, the +weather was as warm as summer, and he insisted on lying out in the +garden with his rugs around him, and enjoying the service of all his +slaves. But among his slaves Edith was the one whom the other slaves +found it most difficult to understand. + +"I will go on," she said to her father, "and do everything for him +while he is an invalid. But, when he is well enough to be moved, +either he or I must go out of this." + +Her father simply said that he did not understand it; but then he was +one of the other slaves. + +"Edith," said the Captain, one day, speaking from his rugs on the +bank upon the lawn, "just say that one word, 'I yield.' It will have +to be said sooner or later." + +"I will not say it, Captain Clayton," said Edith with a firm voice. + +"So you have gone back to the Captain," said he. + +"I will go back further than that, if you continue to annoy me. It +shall be nothing but plain 'sir,' as hard as you please. You might as +well let go my hand; you know that I do not take it away violently, +because of your wound." + +"I know--I know--I know that a girl's hand is the sweetest thing in +all creation if she likes you, and leaves it with you willingly." +Then there was a little pull, but it was only very little. + +"Of course, I don't want to hurt you," said Edith. + +"And, therefore, it feels as though you loved me. Of course it does. +Your hand says one thing and your voice another. Which way does your +heart go?" + +"Right against you," said Edith. But she could not help blushing at +the lie as she told it. "My conscience is altogether against you, and +I advise you to attend more to that than to anything else." But still +he held her hand, and still she let him hold it. + +At that moment Hunter appeared upon the scene, and Edith regained +her hand. But had the Captain held the hand, Hunter would not have +seen it. Hunter was full of his own news; and, as he told it, very +dreadful the story was. "There has been a murder worse than any that +have happened yet, just the other side of the lake," and he pointed +away to the mountains, and to that part of Lough Corrib which is just +above Cong. + +"Another murder?" said Edith. + +"Oh, miss, no other murder ever told of had any horror in it equal +to this! I don't know how the governor will keep himself quiet there, +with such an affair as this to be looked after. There are six of them +down,--or at any rate five." + +"When a doubt creeps in, one can always disbelieve as much as one +pleases." + +"You can hardly disbelieve this, sir, as I have just heard the story +from Sergeant Malcolm. There were six in the house, and five have +been carried out dead. One has been taken to Cong, and he is as good +as dead. Their names are Kelly. An old man and an old woman, and +another woman and three children. The old woman was very old, and the +man appears to have been her son." + +"Have they got nobody?" asked Clayton. + +"It appears not, sir. But there is a rumour about the place that +there were many of them in it." + +"Looking after one another," said Clayton, "so that none should +escape his share of the guilt." + +"It may be so. But there were many in it, sir. I can't tell much of +the circumstances, except the fact that there are the five bodies +lying dead." And Hunter, with some touch of dramatic effect and true +pathos, pointed again to the mountains which he had indicated as the +spot where this last murder was committed. + +It was soon settled among them that Hunter should go off to the scene +of action, Cong, or wherever else his services might be required, +and that he should take special care to keep his master acquainted +with all details as they came to light. For us, we may give here the +details as they did reach the Captain's ears in the course of the +next few days. + +Hunter's story had only been too true. The six persons had been +murdered, barring one child, who had been taken into Cong in a state +which was supposed hardly to admit of his prolonged life. The others, +who now lay dead at a shebeen house in the neighbourhood, consisted +of an old woman and her son, and his wife and a grown daughter, and a +son. All these had been killed in various ways,--had been shot with +rifles, and stoned with rocks, and made away with, after any fashion +that might come most readily to the hands of brutes devoid of light, +of mercy, of conscience, and apparently of fear. It must have been +a terrible sight to see, for those who had first broken in upon the +scene of desolation. In the course of the next morning it had become +known to the police, and it was soon rumoured throughout England and +Ireland that there had been ten murderers engaged in the bloody fray. +It must have been as Captain Clayton had surmised; one with another +intent upon destroying that wretched family,--or perhaps only one +among its number,--had insisted that others should accompany him. A +man who had been one of their number was less likely to tell if he +had a hand in it himself. And so there were ten of them. It might +be that one among the number of the murdered had seen the murder of +Mr. Morris, or of Pat Gilligan, or the attempted murder of Captain +Clayton. And that one was not sure not to tell,--had perhaps shown +by some sign and indication that to tell the truth about the deed +was in his breast,--or in hers! Some woman living there might have +spoken such a word to a friend less cautious in that than were the +neighbours in general. Then we can hear, or fancy that we can hear, +the muttered reasons of those who sought to rule amidst that bloody +community. They were a family of the Kellys,--these poor doomed +creatures,--but amidst those who whispered together, amidst those who +were forced to come into the whispering, there were many of the same +family; or, at any rate, of the same name. For the Kellys were a +tribe who had been strong in the land for many years. Though each of +the ten feared to be of the bloody party, each did not like not to +be of it, for so the power would have come out of their hands. They +wished to be among the leading aristocrats, though still they feared. +And thus they came together, dreading each other, hating each other +at last; each aware that he was about to put his very life within the +other's power, and each trying to think, as far as thoughts would +come to his dim mind, that to him might come some possibility of +escape by betraying his comrades. + +But a miracle had occurred,--that which must have seemed to be a +miracle when they first heard it, and to the wretches themselves, +when its fatal truth was made known to them. While in the dead of +night they were carrying out this most inhuman massacre there were +other eyes watching them; six other eyes were looking at them, +and seeing what they did perhaps more plainly than they would see +themselves! Think of the scene! There were six persons doomed, and +ten who had agreed to doom them; and three others looking on from +behind a wall, so near as to enable them to see it all, under the +fitful light of the stars! Nineteen of them engaged round one small +cabin, of whom five were to die that night;--and as to ten others, it +cannot but be hoped that the whole ten may pay the penalty due to the +offended feelings of an entire nation! + +It may be that it shall be proved that some among the ten had not +struck a fatal blow. Or it may fail to be proved that some among the +ten have done so. It will go hard with any man to adjudge ten men to +death for one deed of murder; and it is very hard for that one to +remember always that the doom he is to give is the only means in our +power to stop the downward path of crime among us. It may be that +some among the ten shall be spared, and it may be that he or they who +spare them shall have done right. + +But such was not the feeling of Captain Yorke Clayton as he discussed +the matter, day after day, with Hunter, or with Frank Jones, upon the +lawn at Castle Morony. "It would be the grandest sight to see,--ten +of them hanging in a row." + +"The saddest sight the world could show," said Frank. + +"Sad enough, that the world should want it. But if you had been +employed as I have for the last few years, you would not think it sad +to have achieved it. If the judge and the jury will do their work as +it should be done there will be an end to this kind of thing for many +years to come. Think of the country we are living in now! Think of +your father's condition, and of the injury which has been done to +him and to your sisters, and to yourself. If that could be prevented +and atoned for, and set right by the hanging in one row of ten such +miscreants as those, would it not be a noble deed done? These ten +are frightful to you because there are ten at once,--ten in the same +village,--ten nearly of the same name! People would call it a bloody +assize where so many are doomed. But they scruple to call the country +bloody where so many are murdered day after day. It is the honest +who are murdered; but would it not be well to rid the world of these +ruffians? And, remember, that these ten would not have been ten, if +some one or two had been dealt with for the first offence. And if the +ten were now all spared, whose life would be safe in such a Golgotha? +I say that, to those who desire to have their country once more +human, once more fit for an honest man to live in, these ten men +hanging in a row will be a goodly sight." + +There must have been a feeling in the minds of these three men that +some terrible step must be taken to put an end to the power of this +aristocracy, before life in the country would be again possible. +When they had come together to watch their friends and neighbours, +and see what the ten were about to do, there must have been some +determination in their hearts to tell the story of that which would +be enacted. Why should these ten have all the power in their own +hands? Why should these questions of life and death be remitted to +them, to the exclusion of those other three? And if this family of +Kellys were doomed, why should there not be other families of other +Kellys,--why not their own families? And if Kerrycullion were made to +swim in blood,--for that was the name of the townland in which these +Kellys lived,--why not any other homestead round the place in which +four or five victims may have hidden themselves? So the three, with +mutual whisperings among themselves, with many fears and with much +trembling, having obtained some tidings of what was to be done, +agreed to follow and to see. It was whispered about that one of the +family, the poor man's wife, probably, had seen the attack made upon +poor Pat Gilligan, and may, or may not, have uttered some threat +of vengeance; may have shown some sign that the murder ought to be +made known to someone. Was not Pat Gilligan her sister's husband's +brother's child? And he was not one of the other, the rich +aristocracy, against whom all men's hands were justly raised. Some +such word had probably passed the unfortunate woman's lips, and the +ten men had risen against her. The ten men, each protecting each +other, had sworn among themselves that so villainous a practice, so +glaring an evil as this, of telling aught to the other aristocracy, +must be brought to an end. + +But then the three interfered, and it was likely that the other, the +rich aristocracy, should now know all about it. It was not to save +the lives of those unfortunate women and children that they went. +There would be danger in that. And though the women and children +were, at any rate, their near neighbours, why should they attempt to +interfere and incur manifest dangers on their account? But they would +creep along and see, and then they could tell; or should they be +disturbed in their employment, they could escape amidst the darkness +of the night. There could be no escape for those poor wretches, +stripped in their bed; none for that aged woman, who could not take +herself away from among the guns and rocks of her pursuers; none for +those poor children; none, indeed, for the father of the family, upon +whom the ten would come in his lair. If his wife had threatened to +tell, he must pay for his wife's garrulity. Pat Gilligan had suffered +for some such offence, and it was but just that she and he and they +should suffer also. But the three might have to suffer, also, in +their turns, if they consented to subject themselves to so bloody an +aristocracy. And therefore they stalked forth at night and went up to +Kerrycullion, at the heels of the other party, and saw it all. Now, +one after another, the six were killed, or all but killed, and then +the three went back to their homes, resolved that they would have +recourse to the other aristocracy. + +Between Galway and Cong and Kerrycullion, Hunter was kept going +in these days, so as to obtain always the latest information for +his master. For, though the neighbourhood of Morony Castle was now +supposed to be quiet, and though the Captain was not at the moment +on active service, Hunter was still allowed to remain with him. And, +indeed, Captain Clayton's opinion was esteemed so highly, that, +though he could do nothing, he was in truth on active service. "They +are sticking to their story, all through?" he asked Hunter, or rather +communicated the fact to Hunter for his benefit. + +"Oh, yes! sir; they stick to their story. There is no doubt about +them now. They can't go back." + +"And that boy can talk now?" + +"Yes, sir; he can talk a little." + +"And what he says agrees with the three men? There will be no more +murders in that county, Hunter, or in County Galway either. When +they have once learned to think it possible that one man may tell of +another, there will be an end to that little game. But they must hang +them of course." + +"Oh, yes! sir," said Hunter. "I'd hang them myself; the whole ten of +them, rather than keep them waiting." + +"The trial is to be in Dublin. Before that day comes we shall find +what they do about Lax. I don't suppose they will want me; or if they +did, for the matter of that, I could go myself as well as ever." + +"You could do nothing of the kind, Captain Clayton," said Edith, who +was sitting there. "It is absurd to hear you talk in such a way." + +"I don't suppose he could just go up to Dublin, miss," said Hunter. + +"Not for life and death?" roared the sick man. + +"I suppose you could for life and death," said Hunter,--with a little +caution. + +"For his own death he could," said Edith. "But it's the death of +other people that he is thinking of now." + +"And you, what are you thinking of?" + +"To tell the truth, just at this moment I was thinking of yours. You +are here under our keeping, and as long as you remain so, we are +bound to do what we can to keep you from killing yourself; you ought +to be in your bed." + +"Tucked up all round,--and you ought to be giving me gruel." Then +Hunter simpered and went away. He generally did go away when the +love-scenes began. + +"You could give one something which would cure me instantly." + +"No, I could not! There are no such instant cures known in the +medical world for a man who has had a hole right through him." + +"That bullet will certainly be immortal." + +"But you will not if you talk of going up to Dublin." + +"Edith, a kiss would cure me." + +"Captain Clayton, you are in circumstances which should prevent you +from alluding to any such thing. I am here to nurse you, and I should +not be insulted." + +"That is true," he said. "And if it be an insult to tell you what a +kiss would do for me, I withdraw the word. But the feeling it would +convey, that you had in truth given yourself to me, that you were +really, really my own, would I think cure me, though a dozen bullets +had gone through me." + +Then when Ada had come down, Edith went to her bedroom, and kissed +the pillow, instead of him. Oh, if it might be granted to her to go +to him, and frankly to confess, that she was all, all his own! And +she felt, as days went on, she would have to yield, though honour +still told her that she should never do so. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS. + + +From this moment the mystery of the new aristocracy began to fade +away, and get itself abolished. Men and women began to feel that +there might be something worse in store for them than the old course +of policemen, juries, and judges. It had seemed, at first, as though +these evil things could be brought to an end, and silenced altogether +as far as their blessed country was concerned. A time was coming in +which everyone was to do as he pleased, without any fear that another +should tell of him. Though a man should be seen in the broad daylight +cutting the tails off half a score of oxen it would be recognised +in the neighbourhood as no more than a fair act of vengeance, and +nothing should be told of the deed, let the policemen busy themselves +as they might. And the beauty of the system consisted in the fact +that the fear of telling was brought home to the minds of all men, +women, and children. Though it was certain that a woman had seen a +cow's tail mangled, though it could be proved beyond all doubt that +she was in the field when the deed was done, yet if she held her +peace no punishment would await her. The policeman and the magistrate +could do nothing to her. But Thady O'Leary, the man who had cut a +cow's tail off, could certainly punish her. If nothing else were done +she could be boycotted, or, in other words, not allowed to buy or +sell the necessaries of life. Or she could herself be murdered, as +had happened to Pat Gilligan. The whole thing had seemed to run so +smoothly! + +But now there had come, or would soon come, a change o'er the spirit +of the dream. The murder of Pat Gilligan, though it had made one in +the necessary sequence of events, one act in the course of the drama +which, as a whole, had appeared to be so perfect, seemed to them all +to have about it something terrible. No one knew what offence Pat +Gilligan had given, or why he had been condemned. Each man began to +tremble as he thought that he too might be a Pat Gilligan, and each +woman that she might be a Mrs. Kelly. It was better to go back to the +police and the magistrates than this! + +I do not know that we need lean too heavily on the stupidity of the +country's side in not having perceived that this would be so. The +country's side is very slow in perceiving the course which things +will take. These ten murderers had been brought together, each from +fear of the others; and they must have felt that though they were +ten,--a number so great when they considered the employment on +which they were engaged as to cause horror to the minds of all of +them,--the ten could not include all who should have been included. +Had the other three been taken in, if that were possible, how much +better it would have been! But the desire for murder had not gone so +far,--its beauty had not been so perfectly acknowledged as to make +it even yet possible to comprise a whole parish in destroying one +family. + +Then the three had seen that the whole scheme, the mystery of the +thing, the very plan upon which it was founded, must be broken down +and thrown to the winds. And we can imagine that, when the idea first +came upon the minds of those three, that the entire family of the +Kellys was to be sacrificed to stop the tongue of one talkative +old woman, a horror must have fallen upon them as they recognised +the duty which was incumbent on them. The duty of saving those six +unfortunates they did not recognise. They could not screw themselves +up to the necessary pitch of courage to enable them to enter in among +loaded pistols and black-visaged murderers. The two women and the +children had to die, though the three men were so close to them; so +close as to have been certainly able to save them, or some of them, +had they rushed into the cabin and created the confusion of another +advent. To this they could not bring themselves, for are not the +murderers armed? But an awful horror must have crept round their +minds as they thought of the self-imposed task they had undertaken. +They waited until the murders had been completed, and then they went +back home and told the police. + +From this moment the mystery by which murders in County Galway and +elsewhere were for a short period protected was over in Ireland. Men +have not seen, as yet, how much more lovely it is to tell frankly all +that has been done, to give openly such evidence as a man may have to +police magistrates and justices of the peace, than to keep anything +wrapped within his own bosom. The charm of such outspoken truth does +not reconcile itself at once to the untrained mind; but the fact of +the loveliness does gradually creep in, and the hideous ugliness +of the other venture. On the minds of those men of Kerrycullion +something of the ugliness and something of the loveliness must have +made itself apparent. And when this had been done it was not probable +that a return to the utter ugliness of the lie should be possible. +Whether the ten be hanged,--to the intense satisfaction of Hunter and +his master,--or some fewer number, such as may suffice the mitigated +desire for revenge which at present is burning in the breasts of men, +the thing will have been done, and the mystery with all its beauty +will have passed away. + +At Castle Morony the beginning of the passing away of the mystery was +hailed with great delight. It took place in this wise. A little girl +who had been brought up there in the kitchen, and had reached the age +of fifteen under the eyes of Ada and Edith,--a slip of a girl, whose +feet our two girls had begun to trammel with shoes and stockings, and +who was old enough to be proud of the finery though she could not +bear the confinement,--had gone under the system of boycotting, when +all the other servants had gone also. Peter, who was very stern in +his discipline to the younger people, had caught hold of her before +she went, and had brought her to Mr. Jones, recommending that at any +rate her dress should be stripped from her back, and her shoes and +stockings from her feet. "If you war to wallop her, sir, into the +bargain, it would be a good deed done," Peter had said to his master. + +"Why should I wallop her for leaving my service?" + +"She ain't guv' no notice," said the indignant Peter. + +"And if I were to wallop you because you had taken it into your +stupid head to leave me at a moment's notice, should I be justified +in doing so?" + +"There is differences," said Peter, drawing himself up. + +"You are stronger, you mean, and Feemy Carroll is weak. Let her go +her own gait as she pleases. How am I to take upon myself to say that +she is not right to go? And for the shoes and stockings, let them go +with her, and the dress also, if I am supposed to have any property +in it. Fancy a Landleaguer in Parliament asking an indignant question +as to my detaining forcibly an unwilling female servant. Let them +all go; the sooner we learn to serve ourselves the better for us. I +suppose you will go too before long." + +This had been unkind, and Peter had made a speech in which he had +said so. But the little affair had taken place in the beginning of +the boycotting disarrangements, and Mr. Jones had been bitter in +spirit. Now the girls had shown how deftly they could do the work, +and had begun to talk pleasantly how well they could manage to save +the wages and the food. "It's my food you'll have to save, and my +wages," said Captain Clayton. But this had been before he had a hole +driven through him, and he was only awed by a frown. + +But now news was brought in that Feemy had crept in at the back door. +"Drat her imperence," said Peter, who brought in the news. "It's +like her ways to come when she can't get a morsel of wholesome food +elsewhere." + +Then Ada and Edith had rushed off to lay hold of the delinquent, who +had indeed left a feeling in the hearts of her mistresses of some +love for her little foibles. "Oh! Feemy, so you've come back again," +said Ada, "and you've grown so big!" But Feemy cowered and said not +a word. "What have you been doing all the time?" said Edith. "Miss +Ada and I have had to clean out all the pots and all the pans, and +all the gridirons, though for the matter of that there has been very +little to cook on them." Then Ada asked the girl whether she intended +to come back to her old place. + +"If I'm let," said the girl, bursting into tears. + +"Where are the shoes and stockings?" said Ada. + +But the girl only wept. + +"Of course you shall come back, shoes or no shoes. I suppose +times have been too hard with you at home to think much of +shoes or stockings. Since your poor cousin was shot in Galway +court-house,"--for Feemy was a cousin of the tribe of Carrolls,--"I +fear it hasn't gone very well with you all." But to this Feemy had +only answered by renewed sobs. She had, however, from that moment +taken up her residence as of yore in the old house, and had gone +about her business just as though no boycotting edict had been +pronounced against Castle Morony. + +And gradually the other servants had returned, falling back into +their places almost without a word spoken. One boy, who had in former +days looked after the cows, absolutely did come and drive them in to +be milked one morning without saying a word. + +"And who are you, you young deevil?" said Peter to him. + +"I'm just Larry O'Brien." + +"And what business have you here?" said Peter. "How many months ago +is it since last year you took yourself off without even a word said +to man or woman? Who wants you back again now, I wonder?" + +The boy, who had grown half-way to a man since he had taken his +departure, made no further answer, but went on with the milking of +his cows. + +And the old cook came back again from Galway, though she came after +the writing of a letter which must have taken her long to compose, +and the saying of many words. + +"Honoured Miss," the letter went, "I've been at Peter Corcoran's +doing work any time these twelve months. And glad I've been to find +a hole to creep into. But Peter Corcoran's house isn't like Castle +Morony, and so I've told him scores of times. But Peter is one +of them Landleaguers, and is like to be bruk', horse, foot, and +dragoons, bekaise he wouldn't serve the gentry. May the deevil go +along with him, and with his pollytiks. Sure you know, miss, they +wouldn't let me stay at Castle Morony. Wasn't one side in pollitiks +the same as another to an old woman like me, who only wants to 'arn +her bit and her sup? I don't care the vally of a tobacco-pipe for +none of them now. So if the squire would take me back again, may God +bless him for iver and iver, say I." Then this letter was signed +Judy Corcoran,--for she too was of the family of the Corcorans,--and +became the matter for many arrangements, in the course of which she +once more was put into office as cook at Castle Morony. + +Then Edith wrote the following letter to her friend Rachel, who still +remained in London, partly because of her health and partly because +her father had not yet quite settled his political affairs. But that +shall be explained in another chapter. + + + DEAREST RACHEL, + + Here we are beginning to see daylight, after having been + buried in Cimmerian darkness for the best part of two + years. I never thought how possible it would be to get + along without servants to look after us, and how much + of the pleasures of life might come without any of its + comforts. Ada and I for many months have made every bed + that has been slept in in the house, till we have come to + think that the making of beds is the proper employment for + ladies. And every bit of food has been cooked by us, till + that too has become ladylike in our eyes. And it has been + done for papa, who has, I think, liked his bed and his + dinner all the better, because they have passed through + his daughters' hands. But, dear papa! I'm afraid he has + not borne the Cimmerian darkness as well as have we, who + have been young enough to look forward to the return of + something better. + + What am I to say to you about Frank, who will not talk + much of your perfections, though he is always thinking + of them? I believe he writes to you constantly, though + what he says, or of what nature it is, I can only + guess. I presume he does not send many messages to Lord + Castlewell, who, however, as far as I can see, has behaved + beautifully. What more can a girl want than to have a lord + to fall in love with her, and to give her up just as her + inclination may declare itself? + + What I write for now, specially, is to add a word to what + I presume Frank may have said in one of his letters. Papa + says that neither you nor Mr. O'Mahony are to think of + leaving this side of the water without coming down to + Castle Morony. We have got a cook now, and a cow-boy. What + more can you want? And old Peter is here still, always + talking about the infinite things which he has done for + the Jones family. Joking apart, you must of course come + and see us again once before you start for New York. Is + Frank to go with you? That is a question to which we can + get no answer at all from Frank himself. + + In your last you asked me about my affairs. Dear girl, + I have no affairs. I am in such a position that it is + impossible for me to have what you would call affairs. + Between you and Frank everything is settled. Between + me and the man to whom you allude there is nothing + settled,--except that there is no ground for settlement. + He must go one way and I another. It is very sad, you will + say. I, however, have done it for myself and I must bear + the burden. + + Yours always lovingly, + + EDITH. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + + +It is not to be supposed that Mr. Jones succumbed altogether to the +difficulties which circumstances had placed in his way. His feelings +had been much hurt both by those who had chosen to call themselves +his enemies and by his friends, and under such usage he became +somewhat sullen. Having suffered a grievous misfortune he had become +violent with his children, and had been more severely hurt by the +death of the poor boy who had been murdered than he had confessed. +But he had still struggled on, saying but little to anybody till at +last he had taken Frank into his confidence, when Frank had returned +from London with his marriage engagement dissolved. And the +re-engagement had not at all interfered with the renewed intimacy +between Frank and his father, because the girl was absolved from her +singing. The father had feared that the son would go away from him, +and lead an idle life, enjoying the luxuries which her rich salary +would purchase. Frank had shared his father's feelings in this +respect, but still the squire had had his misgivings. All that was +now set to rights by the absolute destruction of poor Rachel's voice. + +Poor Mr. Jones had indeed received comfort from other sources more +material than this. His relatives had put their heads together, and +had agreed to bear some part of the loss which had fallen upon the +estate; not the loss, that is, from the submerged meadows, which was +indeed Mr. Jones's own private concern, but from the injury done to +him by the commissioners. Indeed, as things went on, that injury +appeared to be less extensive than had been imagined, though the +injustice, as it struck Mr. Jones's mind, was not less egregious. +Where there was a shred of a lease the sub-commissioners were +powerless, and though attempts had been made to break the leases they +had failed; and men were beginning to say that the new law would be +comparatively powerless because it would do so little. The advocates +for the law pointed out that, taking the land of Ireland all through, +not five per cent.,--and again others not two per cent.,--would be +affected by it. Whether it had been worth while to disturb the +sanctity of contracts for so small a result is another question; but +our Mr. Jones certainly did feel the comfort that came to him from +the fact. Certain fragments of land had been reduced by the +sub-commissioners after ponderous sittings, very beneficial to the +lawyers, but which Mr. Jones had found to be grievously costly to +him. He had thus agreed to other reductions without the lawyers, and +felt those also to be very grievous, seeing that since he had +purchased the property with a Parliamentary title he had raised +nothing. There was no satisfaction to him when he was told that a +Parliamentary title meant nothing, because a following Parliament +could undo what a preceding Parliament had done. But as the +arrangements went on he came to find that no large proportion of the +estates would be affected, and that gradually the rents would be +paid. They had not been paid as yet, but such he was told was the +coming prospect. Pat Carroll had risen up as a great authority at +Ballintubber, and had refused to pay a shilling. He had also +destroyed those eighty acres of meadow-land which had sat so near Mr. +Jones's heart. It had been found impossible to punish him, but the +impossibility was to be traced to that poor boy's delinquency. As the +owner of the property turned it all over within his own bosom, he +told himself that it was so. It was that that had grieved him most, +that which still sat heavy on his heart. But the boy was gone, and +Pat Carroll was in prison, and Pat Carroll's brother had been +murdered in Galway court-house. Lax, too, was in prison, and Yorke +Clayton swore by all his gods that he should be hanged. It was likely +that he would be hanged, and Yorke Clayton might find his comfort in +that. And now had come up this terrible affair at Kerrycullion, from +which it was probable that the whole mystery of the new aristocracy +would be abandoned. Mr. Jones, as he thought of it all, whispered to +himself that if he would still hold up his head, life might yet be +possible at Castle Morony. "It will only be for myself,--only for +myself and Ada," he said, still mourning greatly over his fate. "And +Ada will go, too. The beauty of the flock will never be left to +remain here with her father." But in truth his regrets were chiefly +for Edith. If that bloodthirsty Captain would have made himself +satisfied with Ada, he might still have been happy. + +In these days he would walk down frequently to the meadows and see +the work which the men were doing. He had greatly enlarged them, +having borrowed money for the purpose from the Government Land +Commissioners, and was once again allowing new hopes to spring in his +heart. Though he was a man so silent, and appearing to be so +apathetic, he was intent enough on his own purposes when they became +clear before his eyes. From his first coming into this country his +purport had been to do good, as far as the radius of his circle went, +to all whom it included. The necessity of living was no doubt the +same with him as with others,--and of living well. He must do +something for himself and his children. But together with this was +the desire, nearly equally strong, of being a benefactor to those +around him. He had declared to himself when he bought the property +that with this object would he settle himself down upon it, and he +had not departed from it. He had brought up his children with this +purpose; and they had learned to feel, one and all, that it was among +the pleasures and the duties of their life. Then had come Pat +Carroll, and everything had been embittered for him. All Ballintubber +and all Morony had seemed to turn against him. When he found that Pat +Carroll was disposed to be hostile to him, he made the man a liberal +offer to take himself off to America. But Mr. Jones, in those days, +had heard nothing of Lax, and was unaware that Lax was a dominant +spirit under whom he was doomed to suffer. + +"I did not know you so well then," said Captain Clayton to Mr. Jones, +now some weeks hence, "or I could have told you that Pat Carroll is +nobody. Pat Carroll is considered nobody, because he has not been to +New York. Mr. Lax has travelled, and Mr. Lax is somebody. Mr. Lax +settled himself in County Mayo, and thus he allowed his influence to +spread itself among us over here in County Galway. Mr. Lax is a great +man, but I rather think that he will have to be hanged in Galway jail +before a month has passed over his head." + +Mr. Jones usually took his son with him when he walked about among +the meadows, and he again expressed his wishes to him as though Frank +hereafter were to have the management of everything. But on one +occasion, towards the latter half of the afternoon, he went alone. +There were different wooden barriers, having sluice gates passing +between them, over which he would walk, and at present there were +sheep on the upper meadows, on which the luxuriant grass had begun to +grow in the early summer. He was looking at his sheep now, and +thinking to himself that he could find a market for them in spite of +all that the boycotters could do to prevent him. But in one corner, +where the meadows ceased, and Pat Carroll's land began, he met an old +man whom he had known well in former years, named Con Heffernan. It +was absolutely the case that he, the landlord, did not at the present +moment know who occupied Pat Carroll's land, though he did know that +he had received no rent for the last three years. And he knew also +that Con Heffernan was a friend of Carroll's, or, as he believed, a +distant cousin. And he knew also that Con was supposed to have been +one of those who had assisted at the destruction of the sluice gates. + +"Well, Con; how are you?" he said. + +"Why thin, yer honour, I'm only puirly. It's bad times as is on us +now, indeed and indeed." + +"Whose fault is that?" said the squire. + +"Not yer honour's. I will allys say that for your honour. You never +did nothing to none of us." + +"You had land on the estate till some twelve months since, and then +you were evicted for five gales of rent." + +"That's thrue, too, yer honour." + +"You ought to be a rich man now, seeing that you have got +two-and-a-half years' rent in your pocket, and I ought to be poor, +seeing that I've got none of it." + +"Is it puir for yer honour, and is it rich for the like of me?" + +"What have you done with the money, Con,--the five gales of rent?" + +"'Deed, yer honour, and I don't be just knowing anything about it." + +"I suppose the Landleaguers have had some of it." + +"I suppose they have, thin; the black divil run away with them for +Laaguers!" + +"Have you quarrelled with the League, Con?" + +"I have quarrelled with a'most of the things which is a-going at the +present moment." + +"I'm sorry for that, as quarrels with old friends are always bad." + +"The Laague, then, isn't any such old friend of mine. I niver heerd +of the Laague, not till nigh three years ago. What with Faynians, and +moonlighters, and Home-Rulers, and now with thim Laaguers, they don't +lave a por boy any pace." + + + * * * * * + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +In a preliminary note to the first volume I stated why this +last-written novel of my father's was never completed. He had +intended that Yorke Clayton should marry Edith Jones, that Frank +Jones should marry Rachel O'Mahony, and that Lax should be hanged for +the murder of Florian Jones; but no other coming incident, or further +unravelling of the story, is known. + +H. M. T. + + +THE END. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious typographical errors have been corrected without comment. + +Specific changes in wording of the text are listed below. + + Volume I, Chapter V, paragraph 5. The word "peasant" was + changed to "present" in the sentence: In regard to Ireland + his theory was that the land should be taken from the PRESENT + proprietors, and divided among the peasants who tilled it. + + Volume I, Chapter XIII, last paragraph. The word "evidence" + was changed to "guilt" in the sentence: She could understand + that it must be taken down in some form that would be + presentable to a magistrate, and that evidence of the guilt + of Pat Carroll and evidence as to the possible GUILT of + others must not be whispered simply into her own ears. + + Volume I, Chapter XIV, paragraph 6. The word "danger" was + changed to "dangers" in the sentence: Like the other letter + it was cheerful, and high-spirited; but still it seemed to + speak of impending DANGERS, which Frank, though he could not + understand them, thought that he could perceive. + + Volume I, Chapter XV, paragraph 4. The word "President" was + changed too "Resident" in the sentence: He had lately been + appointed Joint RESIDENT Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and + Roscommon, and had removed his residence to Galway. + + Volume II, Chapter XVIII, paragraph 20. An em-dash was moved + from after the word "shillings" to after the word "said" in + the sentence: To tell the truth,--and as he had said,--to + earn a few shillings was the object of his ambition. + + Volume II, Chapter XXIV, paragraph 65. The word "daughter" + was changed to the plural in the sentence: There would be + nothing unusual under ordinary circumstances in your + DAUGHTERS going to a ball at Galway. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVI, paragraph 64. The word "thought" was + changed to "said" in the sentence: "I ought to have said 'my + lord,'" she SAID; "but I forgot. I hope you'll excuse me--my + lord." Also, a comma after "forgot" was changed to a full + stop. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVII, next-to-last paragraph. The word + "is" was deleted from the sentence: There's [IS] no knowing + what a policeman can't do in this country. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXVI, paragraph 14. The astute reader + will forgive Trollope, who was quite ill, for here calling + Pat Carroll's brother Jerry instead of Terry, as he has been + called up to now and will again be called later in the novel. + The name has been changed back to Terry in the sentence: + The murder of TERRY Carroll at the moment in which he was + about to give evidence,--false evidence, as the Leaguers + said,--against his brother was a great triumph to them. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 4. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: Nothing had ever been + made out in regard to the murder of TERRY Carroll in the + Court House at Galway. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 5. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: "Did the Crown intend to + pretend that they had any shadow of evidence against him as + to the shooting of TERRY Carroll?" + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 6. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: Even presuming that + Lax's hand cannot be seen visible in the matter of TERRY + Carroll, there is, we think, something to connect him with + the other murder. + + Volume III, Chapter XLVIII, paragraph 18. The word "jail" was + changed to "Galway court-house" in the sentence beginning: + Since your poor cousin was shot in GALWAY COURT-HOUSE . . . + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 30606-8.txt or 30606-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/6/0/30606 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p class="noindent">Title: The Landleaguers</p> +<p class="noindent">Author: Anthony Trollope</p> +<p class="noindent">Release Date: December 4, 2009 [eBook #30606]<br /> +HTML version most recently updated: July 21, 2010</p> +<p class="noindent">Language: English</p> +<p class="noindent">Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p class="noindent">***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by<br /> + Delphine Lettau and Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.</h3> +<p> </p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="small"><span class="bold">Transcriber's +note:</span></span></p> + +<p class="small">In 1834, at age 19, +Anthony Trollope became a junior clerk +in the British postal service. He did not get on well with +his superiors, and his career looked like a dead end. In +1841 he accepted an assignment in Ireland as an inspector, +remaining there for ten years. It was there that his civil +service career began to flourish. It was there, also, that +he began writing novels.</p> + +<p class="small">Several of Trollope's +early novels were set in Ireland, +including <i>The Macdermots of Ballycloran</i>, his first +published novel, and <i>Castle Richmond</i>. Readers of those +early Irish novels can easily perceive Trollope's great +affection for and sympathy with the Irish people, +especially the poor.</p> + +<p class="small">In 1882 Ireland was in the midst of great troubles, +including boycotts and the near breakdown of law and +order. In May of that year Lord Frederick Cavendish, the +newly-appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Thomas +Burke, a prominent civil servant, were assassinated in +Dublin. The news stirred Trollope, despite his poor +health, to travel to Ireland to see for himself the state +of things. Upon his return to England he began writing +<i>The Landleaguers</i>. He made a second journey to Ireland in +August, 1882, to seek more material for his book. He +returned to England exhausted, but he continued writing. +He had almost completed the book when he suffered a stroke +on November 3, 1882. He never recovered, and he died on +December 6.</p> + +<p class="small">Trollope's second son, +Henry, arranged for publication of +the almost finished novel. The reader should note Henry +Trollope's preface to Volume I and Postscript at the end +of the book.</p> + +<p class="small">Readers familiar with +Trollope's early Irish novels will +be struck, as they read <i>The Landleaguers</i>, by his +bitterness at what was happening in Ireland in 1881 and +1882.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p> </p> +<h3>Links to Volumes</h3> +<div class="center"> +<table class="sm" style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="1"> +<tr><td><a href="#v1">VOLUME I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#v2">VOLUME II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#v3">VOLUME III.</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><a name="v1" id="v1"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>THE</h3> +<h1 class="title">LANDLEAGUERS</h1> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h1>ANTHONY TROLLOPE</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="175" alt="publisher's logo" /> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<h4><i>IN THREE VOLUMES — VOL. I.</i></h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>London<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY</h3> + +<h4>1883</h4> + +<h5><i>[All rights reserved]</i></h5> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h6>CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,<br /> +CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>CONTENTS.<br /> </h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="sm" style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="3"> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">CHAPTER </td> <td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">I. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-1" >MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">II. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-2" >THE MAN IN THE MASK.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">III. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-3" >FATHER BROSNAN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">IV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-4" >MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">V. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-5" >MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-6" >RACHEL AND HER LOVERS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-7" >BROWN'S.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VIII. </td><td align="left"><a href="#c1-8" >CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">IX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-9" >BLACK DALY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">X. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-10" >BALLYTOWNGAL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-11" >MOYTUBBER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-12" >"DON'T HATE HIM, ADA."</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XIII. </td><td align="left"><a href="#c1-13" >EDITH'S ELOQUENCE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XIV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-14" >RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-15" >CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XVI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c1-16" >CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE.</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>NOTE.</h3> + +<p>This novel was to have contained sixty chapters. My father had +written as much as is now published before his last illness. It will +be seen that he had not finished the forty-ninth chapter; and the +fragmentary portion of that chapter stands now just as he left it. He +left no materials from which the tale could be completed, and no +attempt at completion will be made. At the end of the third volume I +have stated what were his intentions with regard to certain people in +the story; but beyond what is there said I know nothing.</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="bold">HENRY M. TROLLOPE.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> + +<p><a name="c1-1" id="c1-1"></a> </p> +<h2>THE LANDLEAGUERS.</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> +<h4>MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In the year 1850 the two estates of Ballintubber and Morony were sold +to Mr. Philip Jones, under the Estates Court, which had then been +established. They had been the property of two different owners, but +lay conveniently so as to make one possession for one proprietor. +They were in the County Galway, and lay to the right and left of the +road which runs down from the little town of Headford to Lough +Corrib. At the time when the purchase was made there was no quieter +spot in all Ireland, or one in which the lawful requirements of a +landlord were more readily performed by a poor and obedient tenantry. +The people were all Roman Catholics, were for the most part +uneducated, and it may be said of them that not only were their souls +not their own, but that they were not ambitious even of possessing +their own bodies. Circumstances have changed much with them since +that date. Not only have they in part repudiated the power of the +priest as to their souls, but, in compliance with teaching which has +come to them from America, they claim to be masters also of their +bodies. Never were a people less fitted to exercise such dominion +without control. Generous, kindly, impulsive, and docile, they have +been willing to follow any recognised leader. When Philip Jones +bought the property that had belonged to the widow O'Dwyer—for +Ballintubber had for the last hundred years been the property of the +O'Dwyers—and Morony, which, had been an outlying town-land belonging +to the Hacketts for the last two centuries, he had at first been +looked down upon as a new comer. But all that had passed by, and Mr. +Jones was as much respected as though he had been an O'Jones from the +time of Queen Elizabeth. But now the American teaching had come up, +and things were different.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones had expended over £30,000 in purchasing the property, and +was congratulated by all men on having done well with his money. +There were some among his friends in England—and his friends were +all English—who had told him that he was incurring a great risk in +going into so distant and wild a country. But it was acknowledged +that he could not in England have obtained so good a return in the +way of rent. And it was soon found that the opportunities for +improving the property were many and close at hand. At the end of ten +years all men who knew Mr. Jones personally, or had seen the +increasing comforts of Morony Castle, declared that, as he liked the +kind of life, he had done uncommonly well for himself.</p> + +<p>Nor had he done badly for his three married sisters, each of whom had +left £4,000 in his hands. All the circumstances of the Miss Jones's +as they had been, it will be here unnecessary to explain. Since +Philip had become owner of Morony Castle, each of them had married, +and the three brothers-in-law were equally well satisfied with the +investment of their money. It will, however, thus be understood that +the property did not belong entirely to Mr. Jones, and that the +brothers-in-law and their wives were part owners. Mr. Jones, however, +had been in possession of some other means, and had been able to use +capital in improving the estate. But he was an aspiring man, and in +addition to his money had borrowed something beyond. The sum +borrowed, however, had been so small and so well expended, as to have +created no sense of embarrassment in his mind.</p> + +<p>When our story commences he was the father of four children. The +elder and the younger were boys, and two girls came between them. In +1880, Frank, the elder, was two-and-twenty. The two girls who +followed close after were twenty and nineteen, and the youngest boy, +who was born after an interval of nearly ten years, was but ten years +old. Some years after the mother had died, and Mr. Jones had since +lived as a widower. It may be as well to state here that in 1880 he +was fifty-five years old.</p> + +<p>When his wife had died, the nature of the man had apparently been +changed. Of all men he had been the most cheerful, the most eager, +and the most easily pleased. He had worked hard at his property, and +had loved his work. He knew every man and woman about the place, and +always had a word to say to them. He had had a sailing boat on the +lake, in which he had spent much of his time, but his wife had always +been with him. Since her death he had hardly put his foot within the +boat. He had lately become quick and short-tempered, but always with +a visible attempt to be kind to those around him. But people said of +him that since his wife had died he had shown an indifference to the +affairs of the world. He was anxious—so it was said—to leave +matters as much as possible to his son; but, as has been already +stated, his son was only twenty-two. He had formerly taken a great +pleasure in attending the assizes at Galway. He had been named as a +grand juror for the county, which he had indeed regarded as a great +compliment; but since his wife's death he had not once attended.</p> + +<p>People said of him that he had become indifferent to the work of his +life, but in this they hardly spoke the truth. He had become +indifferent rather to what had been its pleasures. To that which his +conscience told him was its work, he applied himself with assiduity +enough. There were two cares which sat near his heart: first, that no +one should rob him; and secondly, that he should rob no one. It will +often be the case that the first will look after itself, whereas the +second will require careful watching. It was certainly the case with +Philip Jones that he was most anxious to rob no one. He was, perhaps, +a little too anxious that no one should rob him.</p> + +<p>A few words must be said of his children. Frank, the eldest, was a +good-looking, clever boy, who had been educated at the Queen's +College, at Galway, and would have been better trained to meet the +world had circumstances enabled him to be sent to a public school in +England. As it was he thought himself, as heir to Morony Castle, to +be a little god upon earth; and he thought also that it behoved his +sisters and his brother, and the various dependents about the place, +to treat him as though he were a god. To his father he was +respectful, and fairly obedient in all matters, save one. As to that +one matter, from which arose some trouble, much will have to be said +as the story goes on.</p> + +<p>The two girls were named Ada and Edith, and were, in form and figure, +very unlike each other. Ada, the eldest, was tall, fair-haired, and +very lovely. It was admitted in County Galway that among the Galway +lasses no girl exceeded Ada Jones in brightness of beauty. She was +sweet-tempered also, and gracious as she was lovely. But Edith did +not share the gifts, which the fairy had bestowed upon her sister, in +equal parts. She was, however, clever, and kind, and affectionate. In +all matters, within the house, she was ready to accept a situation +below her sister's; but this was not by her sister's doing. The +demigod of the family seemed to assume this position, but on Ada's +part there was no assumption. Edith, however, felt her infirmity. +Among girls this is made to depend more on physical beauty than on +other gifts, and there was no doubt that in this respect Edith was +the inferior. She was dark, and small of stature, not ungraceful in +her movements, or awkward in her person. She was black-haired, as had +been her mother's, and almost swarthy in her complexion, and there +was a squareness about her chin which robbed her face of much of its +feminine softness. But her eyes were very bright, and when she would +laugh, or say something intended to make another laugh, her face +would be brightened up with fun, good-humour, or wit, in a manner +which enabled no one to call her plain.</p> + +<p>Of the younger boy, Florian, much will be said as the story goes on; +but what can be said of a boy who is only ten which shall be +descriptive and also interesting? He was small of his age, but clever +and sharp, and, since his mother's death, had been his father's +darling. He was beautiful to look at, as were all the children, +except poor Edith, but the neighbours declared that his education had +been much neglected. His father intended to send him to college at +Galway. A bright vision had for a short time flitted before the +father's eyes, and he had thought that he would have the boy prepared +for Winchester; but lately things had not gone quite so well at +Morony Castle, and that idea had passed by. So that it was now +understood that Florian Jones would follow his brother to Galway +College. Those who used to watch his ways would declare that the +professors of Galway College would have some trouble with him.</p> + +<p>While the mother had lived no family had been more easily ruled than +that of the Jones's, but since her death some irregularities had gone +on. The father had made a favourite of the younger boy, and thereby +had done mischief. The eldest son, too, had become proud of his +position, and an attempt had been made to check him with a hard hand; +and yet much in the absolute working of the farm had been left to +him. Then troubles had come, in which Mr. Jones would be sometimes +too severe, and sometimes too lenient. Of the girls it must be +acknowledged that they were to be blamed for no fault after the first +blow had come. Everyone at Morony had felt that the great blow had +been the death of the mistress. But it must be confessed that other +things had happened shortly afterwards which had tended to create +disturbance. One of the family had declared that he intended to +become a Roman Catholic. The Jones's had been Protestants, the father +and mother having both come from England as Protestants. They were +not, therefore, Ultra-Protestants, as those will know who best know +Ireland. There had been no horror of a Catholic. According to Mrs. +Jones the way to heaven had been open to both Catholic and +Protestant, only it had suited her to say her prayers after the +Protestant fashion. The girls had been filled with no pious fury; and +as to Mr. Jones himself, some of the Protestant devotees in the +neighbourhood of Tuam had declared that he was only half-hearted in +the matter. An old clergyman, attached to the cathedral, and who had +been chaplain to Bishop Plunket, had been heard to declare that he +would rather have to deal with an avowed Papist.</p> + +<p>But the one who had now declared himself as a convert,—I will say +pervert if my readers wish it,—was no other than our young friend +Florian. He came in one day and assured his sisters that he meant to +be a Roman Catholic. They only laughed at him, and told him that he +did not know what he was talking about. "Don't I though?" said +Florian. "I've had no end of an argument with Father Malachi, and +he's got the best o' me. I'm not going to church any more." When his +brother Frank was told, he threatened to "lick the young sinner." +"That's about the best can be said for you Protestants," said the +young imp. "You lick us when you're strong enough." But the father, +when he heard the tidings, declared that he would not have his son +molested. No doubt he would live to see his mistake. It was to be +hoped that he would do so. But there should be no compulsion. So +Master Florian remained for the present attached to his Catholic +propensities, and duly went to mass at Ballintubber. This had taken +place in the autumn of the year.</p> + +<p>There had occurred a circumstance which may be called the beginning +of our story. It must first be told that Mr. Jones kept about four +hundred acres of the estate in his own hands, and had been held to +have done very well with it. A tract of this land lay down on Lough +Corrib, and had in former days produced almost nothing but rushes. By +means of drains and sluices, which had not been brought into use +without the expenditure of much capital, he had thoroughly fertilised +some eighty acres, where he grew large crops of hay, which he sent +across the lake to Galway, and fed his sheep on the after-grass with +great profit. But the care of the sluices had been a great labour, +and, latterly, a great trouble to Mr. Jones. He had looked for no +evil at the hands of his workmen, or tenants, or neighbours. But he +had been taught by experience to expect great carelessness. It was +when the rain had fallen in heavy quantities, and when the Lough was +full that the evil was chiefly expected. Late in the autumn there +came news up to the Castle, that the flood gates on the Ballintubber +marshes had now been opened, and that the entire eighty acres were +under water. Mr. Jones and his eldest son rushed down, and found that +it was impossible to do anything. They could only wait till the +waters had retreated, which would not take place for six months. The +entire crop for the next year had been destroyed. Then Mr. Jones +returned to the Castle stricken by a great blow, and was speechless +for the rest of the day.</p> + +<p>When the news had been brought, the family had been together at the +breakfast table. The father and son had gone out together with the +teller of the story. But Ada and Edith and Florian were left at the +table. They all sat looking at each other till Edith was the first to +speak.</p> + +<p>"Flory, what do you know of all this?"</p> + +<p>"What should I know?" said Flory. The two sisters looked at him, and +each was aware that he did know something. Ada was not so quick as +Edith, but even she was aroused. And from this moment Edith began to +take the lead in managing her brother.</p> + +<p>"You do," said Ada. "How was it done? Who did it—and why?"</p> + +<p>"Sorrow a know, I know," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Flory, that is a lie," said Edith very solemnly, looking at him with +all her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You've no right to say that," said Florian. "It's just because I've +turned Catholic, and it's all your spite." But the boy blushed ruby +red, and the colour told its own story.</p> + +<p>As soon as the news had been announced, Edith had seen the boy's +countenance and had instantly watched him. His colour had not risen +at once; but his lower jaw had fallen, and his eyes had glanced +furtively round, and his whole frame had quivered. Then the rush of +blood had flown to his face, and the story had been told so that +Edith could read it. His first emotion had made it plain even to Ada. +"Flory, you know all about it," said Ada.</p> + +<p>Edith got up and went across the room and knelt down at the boy's +side, leaning against his chair and looking up into his face. "Flory, +you may lie with your voice, but you cannot stifle your heart within +you. You have confessed the truth."</p> + +<p>"I have not," said Flory; "I wasn't in it at all."</p> + +<p>"Who says that you were in it? But you know."</p> + +<p>"'Deed and I know nothin'." Now the boy began to cry. "You have no +right to say I did it. Why should I do the likes of that?"</p> + +<p>"Where were you at four o'clock yesterday afternoon?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"I was just out, up at the lodge yonder."</p> + +<p>"Flory, I know that you have seen this thing done. I am as certain of +it as though I had been there myself."</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen anything done—and I won't stay here to be questioned +this way," said the boy, feeling that his blushes would betray him, +and his incapacity to "lie square," as the Americans say.</p> + +<p>Then the two sisters were left to talk over the matter together. "Did +you not see it in his face?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw something. But you don't mean to say that he knew it was +to be done? That would make him a fiend."</p> + +<p>"No; I don't think he knew it was to be done. But when Frank was +teasing him the other day about his Catholic nonsense, and saying +that he would not trust a Papist, Florian took the part of Pat +Carroll. If there be a man about the place who would do a base turn +to father, it's Pat Carroll. Now I know that Flory was down near the +lough yesterday afternoon. Biddy Ryan saw him. If he went on he must +have seen the water coming in."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Ada.</p> + +<p>"Ah!—that's just it. What shall we do? If he could be made to tell +the truth, that would be best. But as he denies it, father will +believe him. Florian will say that we are spiting him because of his +religion."</p> + +<p>"But, Edith, we must tell father." At last it was decided that Edith +should take the boy and talk to him. He was more prone to listen to +Edith than to Ada. Edith did find her brother, and talked to him for +an hour,—but in vain. He had managed to collect himself after his +past breakdown, and was better able to bear the examination to which +his sister put him, than at the first moment. He still blushed when +he was questioned; till he became dogged and surly. The interview +ended with repeated asseverations on Flory's part, that he knew +nothing of the meadows.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones and his eldest son returned to the house, having been +absent the entire day. "As sure as I am a living man, Pat Carroll has +been at the doing of it," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"He cannot have done it alone," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"There have been others in it."</p> + +<p>"That has been the worst of it," said the father. "Of course I have +known since the beginning of the year, that that man would do any +devil's turn of work against me. But one man cannot do much."</p> + +<p>"Too much! too much!" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"One man can murder me, of course. But we haven't yet come to such a +state of things as that. Twelve months ago I thought there was not a +man about the place who would raise his hand to do me an ill turn. I +have done them many good turns in my time."</p> + +<p>"You have, father," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Then this man came to me and said that because the tenants away in +County Mayo were not paying their rents, he could not pay his. And he +can sell his interest on his holding now for £150. When I endeavoured +to explain this to him, and that it was at my cost his interest in +the farm has been created, he became my enemy. I don't mind that; one +has to look for that. But that others should be joined in it, and +that there should be no one to say that they had seen it! There must +have been five pairs of hands at work, and twenty pairs of eyes must +have seen what the others were doing."</p> + +<p>The two sisters looked at each other, but they said nothing. "I +suppose we shall work it out of them some day," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I suppose nothing of the kind," said the father. "There are eighty +acres of meadow lying under Lough Corrib this moment which will not +give a ton of hay next summer, or food for a sheep next autumn. The +pastures will be saturated, and sheep would perish with foot-rot and +fluke. Then money must be laid out again upon it, just that Mr. +Carroll may again wreak his vengeance." After that there was silence, +for the children felt that not a word could be spoken which would +comfort their father.</p> + +<p>When they sat down to dinner, Mr. Jones asked after Florian. "He's +not well," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Florian not well! So there's another misfortune."</p> + +<p>"His ill-health is rather ill-humour. Biddy will take care of him, +father."</p> + +<p>"I do not choose that he should be looked after by Biddy in solitude. +I suppose that somebody has been teasing him."</p> + +<p>"No, father," said Edith, positively.</p> + +<p>"Has anyone been speaking to him about his religion?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word," said Edith. Then she told herself that to hold her +tongue at the present moment would be cowardly. "Florian, father, has +misbehaved himself, and has gone away cross. I would leave him, if I +were you, till to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I know there is ill-will against him," said the father. All this was +ill-judged on behalf of Mr. Jones. Peter, the old butler, who had +lived in the family, was in the room. Peter, of course, was a Roman +Catholic, and, though he was as true as steel, it could not but be +felt that in this absurd contest he was on the side of the "young +masther."</p> + +<p>Down in the kitchen the conversion of the "young masther" to the true +religion was a great affair, and Mr. Frank and the young ladies were +looked upon as hard-hearted and cruel, because they stood in the way +of this act of grace. Nothing more was said about Florian that night.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-2" id="c1-2"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> +<h4>THE MAN IN THE MASK.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Edith, before she went to bed that night, crept up to her brother's +bedroom and seated herself on the bedside. It was a little room which +Florian occupied alone, and lay at the back of the house, next to +that in which Peter slept. Here, as she sat on the bed, she could see +by a glance that young Florian feigned to be asleep.</p> + +<p>"Flory, you are pretending to be asleep." Flory uttered a short +snore,—or rather snort, for he was not a good actor. "You may as +well wake up, because otherwise I shall shake you."</p> + +<p>"Why am I to be shaked up in bed?"</p> + +<p>"Because I want to speak to you."</p> + +<p>"Why am I to be made to speak when I want to sleep?"</p> + +<p>"Papa has been talking about you downstairs. He has come home from +Ballintubber, very tired and very unhappy, and he thinks you have +been made to go to bed without your supper because we have been +attacking you about religion. I have told him that nobody has said a +word to you."</p> + +<p>"But you did."</p> + +<p>"Not a word."</p> + +<p>"You didn't tell him all that you told me—about letting in the +water?" This was asked in a tone of great anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Not a word,—not as yet."</p> + +<p>"And you won't? Mind, I tell you it's all untrue. What do I know +about letting in the water?"</p> + +<p>"Who did it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to tell."</p> + +<p>"You know, then?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't. But I'm not going to tell as though I knew it. You +don't care about it in your religion, but we Catholics don't like +telling lies."</p> + +<p>"You saw nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever I saw I'm not to tell a lie about it."</p> + +<p>"You've promised not, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Now, Edy, you're not going to trap me. You've got your own religion +and I've got mine. It's a great thing in our religion to be able to +hold your tongue. Father Malachi says it's one of the greatest trials +which a man has to go through."</p> + +<p>"Then, Flory, am I to gather that you will say nothing further to +me?" Here the boy shook his head. "Because in that case I must tell +father. At any rate, he must be told, and if you do not tell him, I +shall."</p> + +<p>"What is there to be told?"</p> + +<p>"I shall tell him exactly what I saw,—and Ada. I saw,—we saw,—that +when the news came about the flood, you were conscious of it all. If +you will go to father and tell him the truth he will be but very +little angry with you. I don't suppose you had a hand in it +yourself."</p> + +<p>"No!" shouted the boy.</p> + +<p>"But I think you saw it, and that they made you swear an oath. Was +that not so?"</p> + +<p>"No!" whispered the boy.</p> + +<p>"I am sure it was so." Then the boy again plucked up his courage, and +declared with a loud voice, that it was not so.</p> + +<p>That night before she retired to rest, Edith went to her father and +told him all that she had to say. She took Ada with her, and together +they used all their eloquence to make their father believe as they +believed.</p> + +<p>"No," said Edith, "he has not confessed. But words drop from him +which make us sure that he knows who did it. I am certain that he saw +it done. I don't mean to say that he saw the whole thing. The water, +I suppose, was coming in all night."</p> + +<p>"The whole night! While we were sleeping in our beds, the waters of +the lough were ruining me," said the father.</p> + +<p>"But he saw enough to be able to tell you who did it."</p> + +<p>"I know who did it. It was that ruffian Carroll."</p> + +<p>"But father, you will want evidence."</p> + +<p>"Am I to bring up my own boy to swear that he was there, witnessing +what was done, as the friend of my enemies? I do not believe that he +was there at all."</p> + +<p>"If you question him, he will probably own to it. It will be better +to get at the truth and face it. He is only ten years old. You must +tell me the story of his pretended conversion."</p> + +<p>"Why should it be pretended?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"Well; of his conversion," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"I don't see what it has to do with it? Am I to put myself forward as +a bigoted Protestant? Florian has been foolish, but am I to say that +I am angry, where I am not angry—not specially angry."</p> + +<p>"It will show the influence under which he has taken up Carroll's +side," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Or the influence under which he has been made to hold his tongue," +said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Edith. "We do not think that he has made one with +your enemies in the matter. But he has seen them at work and has been +made to promise that he will hold his tongue. I don't suppose you +mean to let the affair slip by without punishing any one."</p> + +<p>When the girls left him, Mr. Jones was by no means persuaded. As far +as he could ascertain from examination of the persons about the +locality, there was no one willing to state in evidence that he had +seen anything. The injury had been done in November, on a wet, +dreary, dull afternoon. He did learn that at half-past three the +meadows were in their usual condition. As to the sluices, the gates +of which had been pulled out and thrown away in twenty different +places, he could learn nothing; no one had seen a sluice gate +touched. As to Florian, and what Florian had been seen to do, he had +asked no question, because Florian's name had not then been +mentioned. But he had been struck by the awful silence of the people. +There were women there, living on the spot, with whose families his +family had been on the most kindly terms. When rheumatism was +rife,—and rheumatism down on the lough side had often been +rife—they had all come up to the Castle for port wine and solace. He +had refused them nothing,—he, or his dear wife, who had gone, or his +daughters; and, to give them their due, they had always been willing +to work for him at a moment's notice. He would have declared that no +man in Ireland was on better terms with his tenantry than he; and +now, because there had been a quarrel between him and that pestilent +fellow Carroll,—whom he had been willing to buy out from his bit of +land and let him go to America, so that they might all be at +peace,—could they all have turned against him and taken Carroll's +part? As far as he had been able to gather the feelings of the +people, from conversations with them, they had all acknowledged +Carroll to be wrong. He would have said that there was not one among +them who was not his friend rather than Carroll's. He was aware that +there had been ill-feeling about in other parts of the country. There +had been,—so he was told,—a few demagogues in Galway town, American +chiefly, who had come thither to do what harm they could; and he had +heard that there was discontent in parts of Mayo, about Ballyhaunis +and Lough Glinn; but where he lived, round Lough Corrib, there had +been no evil symptoms of such a nature. Now suddenly he found himself +as though surrounded by a nest of hornets. There were eighty acres of +his land under water, and no one would tell him how it was done, or +by whom.</p> + +<p>And now, to make the matter worse, there had come upon him this +trouble with reference to his own boy. He would not believe the story +which his daughters had told him; and yet he knew within his heart +that they were infinitely the better worthy of credit. He believed in +them. He knew them to be good and honest and zealous on his behalf; +but how much better did he love poor Florian! And in this matter of +the child's change of religion, in which he had foolishly taken the +child's part, he could not but think that Father Malachi had been +most unkind to him; not that he knew what Father Malachi had done in +the matter, but Florian talked as though he had been supported all +through by the priest. Father Malachi had, in truth, done very +little. He had told the boy to go to his father. The boy had said +that he had done so, and that his father had assented. "But Frank and +the girls are totally against it. They have no sense of religion at +all." Then Father Malachi had told him to say his prayers, and come +regularly to mass.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones agreed with his daughters that it behoved him to punish the +culprit in this matter, but, nevertheless, he thought that it would +be better for him to let it go unpunished than to bring his boy into +collision with such a one as Pat Carroll. He twice talked the matter +over with Florian, and twice did so to no effect. At first he +threatened the young sinner, and frowned at him. But his frowns did +no good. Florian, if he could stand firm against his sister Edith, +was sure that he could do so against his father. Then Mr. Jones spoke +him fair, and endeavoured to explain to him how sad a thing it would +be if his boy were to turn against his own father and the interests +of the family generally.</p> + +<p>"But I haven't," said Florian confidently.</p> + +<p>"You should tell me what you saw on that afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see anything," said Florian sulkily.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he knew anything about it," said Mr. Jones to Edith +afterwards. Edith could only receive this in silence, and keep her +own opinion to herself. Ada was altogether of her mind, but Frank at +last came round to his father's view. "It isn't probable," he said to +his sisters, "that a boy of his age should be able to keep such a +secret against four of us; and then it is most improbable that he +should have seen anything of the occurrence and not have come at once +to his father." But the girls held to their own opinion, till at last +they were told by Frank that they were two pig-headed nincompoops.</p> + +<p>Things were going on in this way, and Mr. Jones was still striving to +find out evidence by which a case might be substantiated against Pat +Carroll, when that gentleman, one winter afternoon, was using his +eloquence upon Master Florian Jones. It was four o'clock, and the +darkness of the night was now coming on very quickly. The scene was a +cottage, almost in the town of Headford, and about two miles from the +nearest part of the Morony estate. In this cottage Carroll was +sitting at one side of a turf fire, while an old woman was standing +by the doorway making a stocking. And in this cottage also was +another man, whose face was concealed by an old crape mask, which +covered his eyes and nose and mouth. He was standing on the other +side of the fireplace, and Florian was seated on a stool in front of +the fire. Ever and anon he turned his gaze round on the mysterious +man in the mask, whom he did not at all know; and, in truth, he was +frightened awfully through the whole interview by the man in the +mask, who stood there by the fireside, almost close to Florian's +elbow, without speaking a word; nor did the old woman say much, +though it must be presumed that she heard all that was said.</p> + +<p>"Faix, Mr. Flory, an' it's well for you you've come," said Carroll. +"Jist you sit steady there, 'cause it won't do the laist good in life +you're moving about where all the world'd see you." It was thus that +the boy was addressed by him, whom we may now call his +co-conspirator, and Carroll showed plainly, by his movements and by +the glances which he cast around him, that he understood perfectly +the dreadful nature of the business in which he was engaged. "You see +that jintl'man there?" And Carroll pointed to the man in the mask.</p> + +<p>"I see him," said poor Florian, almost in tears.</p> + +<p>"You'd better mark him, that's all. If he cotches a hould o'ye he'd +tear ye to tatthers, that's all. Not that he'd do ye the laist harum +in life if ye'd just hould yer pace, and say nothin' to nobody."</p> + +<p>"Not a word I'll say, Pat."</p> + +<p>"Don't! That's all about it. Don't! We knows,—he knows,—what +they're driving at down at the Castle. Sorra a word comes out of the +mouth o' one on 'em, but that he knows it." Here the man in the mask +shook his head and looked as horrible as a man in a mask can look. +"They'll tell ye that the father who owns ye ought to know all about +it. It's just him as shouldn't know."</p> + +<p>"He don't," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"Not a know;—an' if you main to keep yourself from being holed as +they holed Muster Bingham the other day away at Hollymount." The boy +understood perfectly well what was meant by the process of "holing." +The Mr. Bingham, a small landlord, who had been acting as his own +agent some twenty miles off, in the County of Mayo, had been +frightfully murdered three months since. It was the first murder that +had stained the quarrel which had now commenced in that part of the +country. Mr. Bingham had been unpopular, but he had had to deal with +such a small property, that no one had imagined that an attack would +be made on him. But he had been shot down as he was driving home from +Hollymount, whither he had gone to receive rent. He had been shot +down during daylight, and no one had as yet been brought to justice +for the murder. "You mind's Muster Bingham, Muster Flory; eh? He's +gone, and sorra a soul knows anything about it. It's I'd be sorry to +think you'd be polished off that way." Again the man in the mask made +signs that he was wide awake.</p> + +<p>To tell the truth of Florian, he felt rather complimented in the +midst of all his horrors in being thus threatened with the fate of +Mr. Bingham. He had heard much about Mr. Bingham, and regarded him as +a person of much importance since his death. He was raised to a level +now with Mr. Bingham. And then his immediate position was very much +better than Bingham's. He was alive, and up to the present +moment,—as long as he held his tongue and told nothing,—he would be +regarded with friendly eyes by that terrible man in the mask. But, +through it all, there was the agonising feeling that he was betraying +them all at home. His father and Edith and Frank would not murder him +when they found him out, but they would despise him. And the boy knew +something,—he knew much of what was due by him to his father. At +this moment he was much in dread of Pat Carroll. He was in greater +dread of the man in the mask. But as he sat there, terrified by them +as they intended to terrify him, he was aware of all that courage +would demand from him. If he could once escape from that horrid +cabin, he thought that he might be able to make a clean breast and +tell everything. "It's I that'd be awful sorry that anything like +what happened Bingham, should happen to you, Muster Flory."</p> + +<p>"Why wouldn't you; and I'd have done nothing against you?" said +Florian. He did feel that his conduct up to the present moment +deserved more of gratitude than of threats from Pat Carroll.</p> + +<p>"You're to remimber your oath, Muster Flory. You're become one of us, +as Father Brosnan was telling you. You're not to be one of us, and +then go over among them schaming Prothestants."</p> + +<p>"I haven't gone over among them,—only my father is one of them."</p> + +<p>"What's yer father to do with it now you're a Catholic? Av you is +ever false to a Catholic on behalf of them Prothestants, though he's +twice yer own father, you'd go t' hell for it; that's where you'd be +going. And it's not only that, but the jintl'man as is there will be +sending you on the journey." Then Pat signified that he alluded to +the man in the mask, and the gentleman in the mask clenched his fist +and shook it,—and shook his head also. "You ask Father Brosnan also, +whether you ain't to be thrue to us Catholics now you're one of us? +It's a great favour as has been done you. You're mindful o' +that—ain't you?" Poor Flory said that he was mindful.</p> + +<p>Here they were joined by another conspirator, a man whom Florian had +seen down by the sluices with Pat Carroll, and whom he thought he +remembered to have noticed among the tenants from the other side of +Ballintubber. "What's the chap up to now?" asked the stranger.</p> + +<p>"He ain't up to nothin'," said Carroll. "We're only a cautioning of +him."</p> + +<p>"Not to be splitting on yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Nor yet on you," said Carroll.</p> + +<p>"Sorra a word he can say agin me," said the stranger. "I wasn't in it +at all."</p> + +<p>"But you was," said Florian. "I saw you pick the latch up and throw +it away."</p> + +<p>"You've sharp eyes, ain't you, to be seeing what warn't there to be +seen at all? If you say you saw me in it, I'll have the tongue out of +your mouth, you young liar."</p> + +<p>"What's the good of frightening the boy, Michael. He's a good boy, +and isn't a going to peach upon any of us."</p> + +<p>"But I ain't a liar. He's a liar." This Florian said, plucking up +renewed courage from the kind words Pat Carroll had said in his +favour.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Pat, throwing oil on the troubled waters. "We're +all frinds at present, and shall be as long as we don't split on +nobody."</p> + +<p>"It's the meanest thing out,—that splitting on a pal," said the man +who had been called Michael. "It's twice worse when one does it to +one's father. I wouldn't show a ha'porth of mercy to such a chap as +that."</p> + +<p>"And to a Catholic as peached to a Prothestant," said Carroll, +intending to signify his hatred of such a wretch by spitting on the +ground.</p> + +<p>"Or to a son as split because his father was in question." Then +Michael spat twice upon the floor, showing the extremity of the +disgust which in such a case would overpower him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I may go now," said Florian. He was told by Pat Carroll +that he might go. But just at that moment the man in the mask, who +had not spoken a word, extemporised a cross out of two bits of burned +wood from the hearth, and put it right before Florian's nose; one +hand held one stick, and the other, the other. "Swear," said the man +in the mask.</p> + +<p>"Bedad! he's in the right of it. Another oath will make it all the +stronger. 'That ye'll never say a word of this to mortial ears, +whether father or sister or brother, let 'em say what they will to +yer, s'help yer the Blessed Virgin.'"</p> + +<p>"I won't then," said Florian, struggling to get at the cross to kiss +it.</p> + +<p>"Stop a moment, me fine fellow," said Michael. "Nor yet to no one +else—and you'll give yourself up to hell flames av you don't keep +the blessed oath to the last day of your life. Now let him kiss it, +Pat. I wouldn't be in his shoes for a ten-pun note if he breaks that +oath."</p> + +<p>"Nor I neither," said Pat. "Oh laws, no." Then Florian was allowed to +escape from the cabin. This he did, and going out into the dark, and +looking about him to see that he was not watched, made his way in at +the back door of a fairly large house which stood near, still in the +outskirts of the town of Headford. It was a fairly large house in +Headford; but Headford does not contain many large houses. It was +that in which lived Father Giles, the old parish priest of Tuam;—and +with Father Giles lived his curate, that Father Brosnan of whom +mention has above been made.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-3" id="c1-3"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<h4>FATHER BROSNAN.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>There has come a change among the priests in Ireland during the last +fifty years, as has been natural. Among whom has there not come a +change in half a century? In England, statesmen are different, and +parsons, and judges, and peers. When an entire country has been left +unmoved by the outside world, so as to seem to have been left asleep +while others have been awake, the different classes will seem to be +the same at the end of every half century. A village lawyer in Spain +will be as was a village lawyer fifty years ago. But a parish priest +in Ireland will be an altered personage, because the country +generally has not been sleeping.</p> + +<p>There used to be two distinct sorts of priests; of whom the elder, +who had probably been abroad, was the better educated; whereas the +younger, who was home-nurtured, had less to say for himself on +general topics. He was generally the more zealous in his religious +duties, but the elder was the better read in doctrinal theology. As +to the political question of the day, they were both apt to be on the +list against the Government, though not so with such violence as to +make themselves often obnoxious to the laws. It was natural that they +should be opposed to the Government, as long as the Protestant Church +claimed an ascendency over them. But their feelings and aspirations +were based then on their religious opinions. Now a set of men has +risen up, with whom opposition to the rulers of the country is +connected chiefly with political ideas. A dream of Home Rule has made +them what they are, and thus they have been roused into waking life, +by the American spirit, which has been imported into the country. +There is still the old difference between the elder and the younger +priests. The parish priest is not so frequently opposed to the law, +as is his curate. The parish priest is willing that the landlord +shall receive his rents, is not at least anxious, that he shall be +dispossessed of his land. But the curate has ideas of peasant +proprietors; is very hot for Home Rule, is less obedient to the +authority of the bishops than he was of yore, and thinks more of the +political, and less of the religious state of his country.</p> + +<p>This variance of feeling might be seen in the three priests who have +been already mentioned in our story. Father Giles was the parish +pastor of Headford, in which position he had been for nearly forty +years. He was a man seventy years of age, in full possession of all +his faculties, very zealous in the well-being of his people, prone to +teach them that if they would say their prayers, and do as they were +bid by their betters, they would, in the long run, and after various +phases of Catholic well or ill-being, go to heaven. But they would +also have enough to eat in this world; which seemed to be almost more +prominent in Father Giles's teaching than the happy bliss of heaven. +But the older Father Giles became the more he thought of the good +things of this world, on behalf of his people, and the less he liked +being troubled with the political desires of his curate. He had gone +so far as to forbid Father Brosnan to do this, or to do that on +various occasions, to make a political speech here, or to attend a +demonstration there;—in doing which, or in not doing it, the curate +sometimes obeyed, but sometimes disobeyed the priest, thereby +bringing Father Giles in his old age into infinite trouble.</p> + +<p>But Father Malachi, in the neighbouring parish of Ballintubber, ran a +course somewhat intermediate between these two. He, at the present +moment, had no curate who interfered with his happiness. There was, +indeed, a curate of Ballintubber—so named; but he lived away, not +inhabiting the same house with Father Malachi, as is usual in +Ireland; having a chapel to himself, and seldom making his way into +our part of the country. Father Malachi was a strong-minded man, who +knew the world. He, too, had an inclination for Home Rule, and still +entertained a jealousy against the quasi-ascendency of a Protestant +bishop; but he had no sympathy whatever with Father Brosnan. Ireland +for the Irish might be very well, but he did not at all want to have +Ireland for the Americans. Father Giles and Father Malachi certainly +agreed on one thing—that Brosnan was a great trouble.</p> + +<p>If the conversion of Florian Jones was to be attributed to any +clerical influence, Father Brosnan was entitled to claim the good or +the evil done; but in truth very few polemical arguments had been +used on the occasion. The boy's head had been filled with the idea of +doing something remarkable, and he had himself gone to the priest. +When a Protestant child does go to a priest on such a mission, what +can the priest do but accept him? He is bound to look upon the +suppliant as a brand to be saved from the burning. "You stupid young +ass!" the priest may say to himself, apostrophising the boy; "why +don't you remain as you are for the present? Why do you come to +trouble me with a matter you can know nothing about?" But the priest +must do as his Church directs him, and the brands have to be saved +from the burning. Father Brosnan sent the boy to Father Malachi, and +Father Malachi told the lad to go to his terrestrial father. It was +this that Mr. Jones had expected, and there the boy was received as a +Catholic.</p> + +<p>But to Father Brosnan the matter was much more important in its +political view. Father Brosnan knew the application as to his rent +which had been made by Pat Carroll to his landlord. He was of opinion +that no rent ought to be paid by any Irish tenant to any landlord—no +rent, at least, to a Protestant landlord. Wrath boiled within his +bosom when he heard of the answer which was given, as though Mr. +Jones had robbed the man by his refusal. Mr. Brosnan thought that for +the present a tenant was, as a matter of course, entitled to +abatement in his rent, as in a short time he must be entitled to his +land without paying any. He considered not at all the circumstances, +whether, as had been the case on certain properties in Mayo, all +money expended had been so expended by the tenant, or by the +landlord, as had been the case with Pat Carroll's land. That was an +injustice, according to Mr. Brosnan's theory; as is all property in +accordance with the teaching of some political doctors who are not +burdened with any.</p> + +<p>It would have been unfair to Mr. Brosnan to say that he sympathised +with murderers, or that he agreed with those who considered that +midnight outrages were fair atonements; he demanded rights. He +himself would have been hot with righteous indignation, had such a +charge been made against him. But in the quarrel which was now +beginning all his sympathies were with the Carrolls at large, and not +with the Jones's at large. At every victory won by the British +Parliament his heart again boiled with indignation. At every +triumphant note that came over the water from America—which was +generally raised by the record of the dollars sent—he boiled, on the +other hand, with joy. He had gleams in his mind of a Republic. He +thought of a Saxon as an evil being. The Queen, he would say, was +very well, but she was better at a distance. The Lord-Lieutenant was +a British vanity, and English pomp, but the Chief Secretary was a +minister of the evil one himself. He believed that England was +enriched by many millions a year robbed from Ireland, and that +Ireland was impoverished to the same extent. He was a man thoroughly +disloyal, and at the same time thoroughly ignorant, altogether in the +dark as to the truth of things, a man who, whatever might be his +fitness for the duties of the priesthood, to which he had been +educated, had no capability of perceiving political facts, and no +honesty in teaching them. But it would have been unjust to him to say +that he was a murderer, or that he countenanced murder. To him it was +that young Florian now betook himself, and found him seated alone in +the back parlour in Father Giles's house. The old priest was out, and +Father Brosnan was engaged on some portion of clerical duties. To +give him his due, he performed those duties rigidly, and the more +rigidly when, in doing them, he obeyed the letter of the law rather +than the spirit. As Father Giles, in his idea of his duties, took +altogether the other side of the question, and, in thinking of the +spirit, had nearly altogether ignored the letter, it may be imagined +that the two men did not agree together very well. In truth, Father +Giles looked upon Father Brosnan as an ignorant, impertinent puppy, +whereas Father Brosnan returned the compliment by regarding Father +Giles as half an infidel, and almost as bad as a Protestant.</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Florian," said the priest, "and how are things going +with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Father Brosnan, I'm in terrible throuble."</p> + +<p>"What throuble's up now?"</p> + +<p>"They're all agin me at home, and father's nearly as bad as any of +them. It's all along of my religion."</p> + +<p>"I thought your father had given his consent?"</p> + +<p>"So he has; but still he's agin me. And my two sisters are dead agin +me. What am I to do about Pat Carroll?"</p> + +<p>"Just hould your tongue."</p> + +<p>"They do be saying that because what Pat and the other boys did was +agin father's interest, I am bound to tell."</p> + +<p>"You've given a promise?"</p> + +<p>"I did give a promise."</p> + +<p>"And you swore an oath," said the priest solemnly.</p> + +<p>"I did swear an oath certainly."</p> + +<p>"Then you must hould your tongue. In such a case as this I cannot +absolve you from your word. I don't know what it is that Pat Carroll +did." Here it must be admitted Father Brosnan did not stick to the +absolute truth. He did know what Pat Carroll had done. All Headford +knew that Mr. Jones's meadows had been flooded, and the priest must +have known that the present cause of trouble at Castle Morony, was +the injury thus done. Father Brosnan knew and approved of Pat +Carroll's enmity to the Jones family. But he was able to justify the +falsehood of his own heart, by stumbling over the degree of knowledge +necessary. There was a sense in which he did not know it. He need not +have sworn to it in a Court of Law. So he told himself, and so +justified his conscience. "You need not tell me," he went on to say +when the boy was proceeding to whisper the story, "I am not bound to +know what it is that Pat Carroll does, and what it is that your +father suffers. Do you go home, and keep your toe in your pump, as +they say, and come to me for confession a day or two before +Christmas. And if any of them say anything to you about your +religion, just sit quiet and bear it."</p> + +<p>The boy was then dismissed, and went home to his father's home, +indifferent as to who might see him now, because he had come from the +priest's house. But the terror of that man in the mask still clung to +him; and mingled with that was the righteous fear, which still struck +cold to his heart, of the wicked injury which he was doing his +father. Boy though he was, he knew well what truth and loyalty, and +the bonds which should bind a family together, demanded from him. He +was miserable with a woe which he had not known how to explain to the +priest, as he thought of his terrible condition. At first Pat Carroll +and his friends had recommended themselves to him. He had, in truth, +only come on the scene of devastation down by the lough, by mere +accident. But he had before heard that Pat was an aggrieved man in +reference to his rent, and had taken it into his boyish heart to +sympathise with such sorrows. When Pat had got hold of him on the +spot, and had first exacted the promise of secrecy, Florian had given +it willingly. He had not expected to be questioned on the subject, +and had not attributed the importance to it which it had afterwards +assumed. He had since denied all knowledge of it, and was of course +burdened with a boy's fear of having to acknowledge the falsehood. +And now there had been added to it that awful scene in the cabin at +Headford, and on the top of that had come the priest's injunction. +"In such a case as this I cannot absolve you from your word." It was +so that the priest had addressed him, and there was something in it +that struck his young mind with awe. There was the man in the mask +tendering to him the oath upon the cross; and there had been Pat +Carroll assuring him of that man's wrath. Then there had come the +other stranger, speaking out angrily, and promising to him all evil, +were he to divulge a word.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, his conscience was so strong within him, that when he +reached the Castle he had almost made up his mind to tell his father +everything. But just as he was about to enter the Lodge gate, he was +touched on the arm by a female. "Master Florian," said the female, +"we is all in your hands." It was now dark night, and he could not +even see the woman's face. She seemed indeed to keep her face +covered, and yet he could see the gleam of her eyes. "You're one of +us now, Master Florian."</p> + +<p>"I'm a Catholic, if you mean that."</p> + +<p>"What else should I main? Would ye be unthrue to your own people? Do +ye know what would happen you if ye commit such a sin as that? I +tould them up there that you'd never bring down hell fire upon yer +head, by such a deed as that. It isn't what ye can do to him he'll +mind, I said, but the anger o' the Blessed Virgin. Worn't it thrue +for me what I said, Master Florian?" She held him in the dark, and he +could see the glimmer of her eyes, and hear the whisper of her voice, +and she frightened him with the fear of the world to come. As he made +his way up to the hall door, it was not the dread of the man in the +mask, so much as the fear inspired by this woman which made him +resolve that, come what come might, he must stick to the lie which he +had told.</p> + +<p>After breakfast the next morning, his father summoned him into his +room. "Now," said Flory to himself, as he followed his father +trembling,—"now must I be true." By this he meant that he must be +true to his co-conspirators. If he were false to them, he would have +to incur the anger of the Blessed Virgin. How this should be made to +fall upon him, he did not in the least understand; but he did +understand that the Virgin as he had thought her, should be kind, and +mild, and gracious. He had never stopped to think whether the curse +as uttered by the woman, might or might not be true. Of loyalty to +his father he had thought much; but now he believed that it behoved +him to think more of loyalty to the Virgin, as defined by the woman +in the dark.</p> + +<p>He followed his father into the magistrates' room, leaving his +brother and two sisters in the parlour. He was glad that none of them +were invited to accompany him, for he felt that his father was more +prone to believe him, than were either his sisters or even his +brother. "Florian," said his father, "you know, do you not, the +trouble to which I have been put about this man, Pat Carroll?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father; I know you have."</p> + +<p>"And the terrible loss which I have incurred! Eighty acres are under +water. I suppose the miscreant will have cost me between £400 and +£500."</p> + +<p>"As much as that?" said Florian, frightened by the magnitude of the +sum named.</p> + +<p>"Indeed he will. It is hard to calculate the extent of the malignity +of a wicked man. Whether the barony will share the loss with me I +cannot yet say; but in either case the wickedness will be the same. +There is no word bad enough for it. It is altogether damnable; and +this is done by a man who calls me in question because of my +religion." Here the father paused, but Florian stood by without an +answer. If Pat Carroll was right in his religion, his father must be +wrong; and Florian thought that Pat Carroll was right. But he did not +see how the two things were joined together,—the opening of the +sluices, and the truth of Pat Carroll's religious convictions. "But +bad as the matter is as regards Pat Carroll, it is all as nothing in +reference to the accusation made against you." Here the father came +up, and laying his two hands on the boy's shoulders looked sadly into +his face. "I cannot believe that my own boy, my darling boy, has +joined in this evil deed against me!" Here the father ceased and +waited for his son to speak.</p> + +<p>The son remembered the determination to which he had come, and +resolved to adhere to it. "I didn't," he said after a pause.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe it of you; and yet, your sisters who are as true as +steel, who are so good that I bless God morning and night that He in +His mercy has left me such treasures,—they believe it."</p> + +<p>"They are against me because of my religion."</p> + +<p>"No, Florian, not so; they disapprove of your change in religion, but +they are not brought to accuse you by such a feeling. They say that +they see it in your face."</p> + +<p>"How can they see all that in my face?"</p> + +<p>"That though you are lying persistently, you cannot hide from them +that you are lying. They are not only good girls, but they have very +sharp wits. A cleverer girl than Edith, or one better able to read +the truth of a boy's head, or even a man's, I have never known. I +hardly dare to put my own judgment against hers."</p> + +<p>"In this case she knows nothing about it."</p> + +<p>"But to me it is of such vital importance! It is not simply that your +evidence is needed to punish the man; I would let the man go and all +the evil that he has done me. But not for any money that I could name +would I entertain such an opinion of my son. Were I convinced at this +moment that you are innocent, I should be a happy man."</p> + +<p>"Then you may, father."</p> + +<p>"But your manner is against you. You do not answer me with that +appearance of frankness which I should have expected."</p> + +<p>"Of course it all makes me very miserable. How can a fellow be frank +when he's suspected like this?"</p> + +<p>"Florian, do you give me your most solemn assurance that you saw +nothing of this evil work while it was being perpetrated?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father."</p> + +<p>"You saw nothing, and you knew nothing?"</p> + +<p>"No, father."</p> + +<p>"You have no reason to accuse Pat Carroll, except by what you have +heard?"</p> + +<p>"No, father."</p> + +<p>"Nor anyone else?"</p> + +<p>"No, father." Then Mr. Jones stood silent, looking at his son. And +the more he looked the more he doubted him. When the boy had uttered +"No, father," for the last time, Mr. Jones felt almost +convinced—almost convinced that Edith was right. "You may go now, +Florian," he said. And the boy departed, fully convinced that his +father had disbelieved him.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-4" id="c1-4"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> +<h4>MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Three or four days after the occurrences narrated in the last +chapter, Mr. Jones got on to his car and had himself driven down to +Carnlough, the seat of Mr. Thomas Blake, a gentleman living about two +miles the other side of Tuam. To reach Carnlough he had a journey to +make of about ten miles, and as he seldom went, in these days, so far +away from home, the fact of his going was known to all the household.</p> + +<p>"Father is going to Carnlough," Florian said to Peter, the butler. +"What is he going for?"</p> + +<p>"'Deed, then, Master Flory, who can tell that? Mr. Blake is a very +old friend of master's."</p> + +<p>"But why is he going now? It isn't often he goes to Carnlough; and +when he does go, he is sure to say why."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder af he's going to ax him as to how he shall get +rid of the waters."</p> + +<p>"He knows that better than Mr. Blake can tell him."</p> + +<p>"Or maybe he's going to inquire how he shall cotch a hould of Pat +Carroll."</p> + +<p>It was evident, from the butler's answers, that all the world at +Morony Castle felt that at present Mr. Jones could engage himself on +no other subject than that of the flood.</p> + +<p>"I wish father wouldn't think so much about the flood. After all, +what's £500? It won't ruin a man like my father."</p> + +<p>But the butler showed by his visage that he regarded £500 as a very +serious matter, and that he was not at all astonished by the +occupation which it gave to his master's thoughts.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blake, of Carnlough, was the first Irishman with whom Mr. Jones +had become acquainted in the County Galway. It was through his +instance, indeed, that the Morony and Ballintubber properties had +been bought, so that the acquaintance must have been well established +before the purchase had been made. Mr. Blake was a man of good +property, who, in former years, had always been regarded as popular +in the county. He was a Protestant, but had not made himself odious +to the Roman Catholics around him as an Orangeman, nor had he ever +been considered to be hard as a landlord. He thought, perhaps, a +little too much of popularity, and had prided himself a little +perhaps, on managing "his boys"—as he called the tenants—with +peculiar skill. Even still he could boast of his success, though +there had arisen some little difficulties as to rent over at +Carnlough; and, indeed, he was frightened lest some of the evil ways +which had begun to prevail in the neighbouring parts of County Mayo, +should make their way into County Galway.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blake and Mr. Jones had been very intimate. It had been at Mr. +Blake's instance that Mr. Jones had been brought on to the Grand +Jury. But latterly they had not seen very much of each other. Mr. +Jones, since the death of his wife, did not go frequently to Galway, +and Carnlough was a long distance for a morning's drive. But on this +occasion Mr. Jones drove himself over simply with the view of making +a morning call. "Well, Jones, how are you;—and how are the girls, +and how is Frank, and how is that young pickle, Master Florian?" +These questions were answered by others of a similar nature. "How are +the girls, and how is Mrs. Blake, and what is going on here at +Carnlough?" There was no inquiry after the eldest son, for it was Mr. +Blake's misfortune that he had no male child to inherit his property.</p> + +<p>"Faith, then, things ain't going on a bit too well," said Mr. Blake. +"Abatement, abatement, nothing but abatement! Nobody abates me +anything. I have to pay all family charges just the same as ever. +What would they say if I was to take away my wife and girls, shut up +Carnlough, and go and live in France? I could give them some +abatement then and be a richer man. But how would they like to have +Carnlough empty?"</p> + +<p>"There's no danger of that, I think."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, I don't know. The girls are talking of it, and when +they begin to talk of a thing, I am very likely to do it. And Mrs. +Blake is quite ready."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't leave the country?"</p> + +<p>"That's just it. I'll stay if they'll let me. If they'll pay me rent +enough to enable me to live here comfortably, I'll not desert them. +But if they think that I'm to keep up the place on borrowed money, +they'll find their mistake. I didn't mind ten per cent. for the last +two years, though I have taken to drinking whisky punch in my old +age, instead of claret and sherry. And I don't mind ten per cent. for +this year, though I am sorely in want of a young horse to carry me. +But if the ten per cent. is to go on, or to become twenty per cent. +as one blackguard hinted, I shall say good-bye to Carnlough. They may +fight it out then with Terry Daly as they can." Now, Terry Daly was +the well-known agent for the lands of Carnlough. "What has brought +you over here to-day?" asked Mr. Blake. "I can see with half an eye +that there is some fresh trouble."</p> + +<p>"Indeed there is."</p> + +<p>"I have heard what they did with your sluices. That's another trick +they've learnt out of County Mayo. When a landlord is not rich enough +to give them all that they want, they make the matter easier by doing +the best they can to ruin him. I don't think anything of that kind +has been done at Carnlough."</p> + +<p>"There is worse than that," said Mr. Jones sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"The devil there is! They have not mutilated any of your cattle?"</p> + +<p>"No, there is nothing of that kind. The only enemy I've got about the +place, as far as I know, is one Pat Carroll. It was he and others, +whom he paid to serve him, that have let the waters in upon the +meadows. Eighty acres are under water at this moment. But I can bear +that like a man. The worst of that is, that all the neighbours should +have seen him do it, and not one of them have come forward to tell +me."</p> + +<p>"That is the worst," said Mr. Blake. "There must be some terrible +understanding among them, some compact for evil, when twenty men are +afraid to tell what one man has been seen to do. It's fearful to +think that the priests should not put a stop to it. How is Master +Florian getting on with his priest?"</p> + +<p>"It's about him that I have come to speak to you," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"About Florian?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; indeed. When I tell you my story, I think you will understand +that I would tell it to no one but yourself in County Galway. I fear +that Florian saw the men at work upon the flood gates."</p> + +<p>"And will he not tell the truth?"</p> + +<p>"You must remember that I cannot say that I know anything. The boy +declares that he saw nothing; that he knows nothing. I have no +evidence; but his sisters are sure that it is so. Edith says that he +certainly was present when the gates were removed. She only judges +from his manner and his countenance."</p> + +<p>"What made her suspect him?" asked Mr. Blake.</p> + +<p>"Only that she saw him when the news was brought to us. Edith is not +ill-natured. She would not be prone to make a story against her +brother."</p> + +<p>"If Edith says so, it is so," said Mr. Blake, who among all Edith's +admirers was one of the most ardent.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite say that. I only mean to express my conviction that +she intends to get at the truth."</p> + +<p>"I'll wager my life upon her," said Mr. Blake. "As to the +other;—well, you know, Jones, that he has turned Roman Catholic."</p> + +<p>"That means nothing," said the distressed father. "He is only ten +years old. Of course he's a fool for his pains; but he would not on +that account do such a deed as this."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. You must remember that he will be telling everything +to the priests."</p> + +<p>"We have two priests about us," said Mr. Jones, "and I would trust +them in anything. There is Father Giles at Headford, and he is as +fair a man as any clergyman of our own could be. You cannot imagine +that he would give such advice to my boy?"</p> + +<p>"Not Father Giles certainly," said the other man.</p> + +<p>"Then down with us at Ballintubber there is Father Malachi."</p> + +<p>"I know him too," said Mr. Blake. "He would not interfere with a boy +like Florian. Is there no one else? What curate lives with Father +Malachi?"</p> + +<p>"There is none with him at Ballintubber. One Brosnan lives with +Father Giles."</p> + +<p>"That man is a firebrand," said Mr. Blake. "He is a wretched +politician, always preaching up Home Rule."</p> + +<p>"But I do not think that even he would teach a boy to deceive his own +father in such a matter as this."</p> + +<p>"I am not sure," said Blake. "It is very difficult to get at the +vagaries of mind in such a man as Mr. Brosnan. But what do you intend +to do?"</p> + +<p>"I have come to you for advice. But remember this:—in my present +frame of mind, the suspicion that I feel as to poor Florian is ten +times worse to me than the loss of all my meadows. If I could find +out Edith to have been wrong, I should be at once relieved of the +great trouble which sits heaviest at my heart."</p> + +<p>"I fear that Edith is right," said Mr. Blake.</p> + +<p>"You are prejudiced a little in her favour. Whatever she says you +will think right."</p> + +<p>"You must weigh that, and take it for what it's worth," said Mr. +Blake. "We know that the boy has got himself into bad hands. You do +not suspect him of a desire to injure you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" said the father.</p> + +<p>"But he has seen these men do it, and now refuses to tell you. They +have terrified him."</p> + +<p>"He is not a cowardly boy," said Mr. Jones, still standing up for his +son.</p> + +<p>"But they have made him swear an oath that he will not tell. There +has been something of that sort. What does he say himself?"</p> + +<p>"Simply that he knows nothing about it."</p> + +<p>"But how does he say it? Does he look you in the face? A boy of that +kind may lie. Boys do—and girls also. When people say they don't, +they know nothing about it; but if it's worth one's while to look at +them one can generally tell when they're lying. I'm not a bit afraid +of a boy when he is lying,—but only of one who can lie as though he +didn't lie."</p> + +<p>"I think that Florian is lying," said Mr. Jones slowly; "he does not +look me in the face, and he does not lie straightforward."</p> + +<p>"Then Edith is right; and I am right when I swear by her."</p> + +<p>"But what am I to do with him? If, as I suppose, he saw Pat Carroll +do the mischief, he must have seen others with him. If we knew who +were the lot, we could certainly get the truth out of some of them, +so as to get evidence for a conviction."</p> + +<p>"Can't he be made to speak?" asked Mr. Blake.</p> + +<p>"How can I make him? It will be understood all about Morony that he +has been lying. And I feel that it is thought that he has made +himself a hero by sticking to his lie. If they should turn upon him?" +Mr. Blake sat silent but made no immediate reply. "It would be better +for me to let the whole thing slide. If they were to kill him!"</p> + +<p>"They would not do that. Here in County Galway they have not come to +that as yet. There is not a county in all Ireland in which such a +deed could be done," said Mr. Blake, standing up for his country. +"Are you to let this ruffian pass unpunished while you have the power +of convicting him? I think that you are bound to punish him. For the +sake of your country you are bound to do so."</p> + +<p>"And the boy?" said Mr. Jones hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"He is but ten years old, and will soon live it down. And the +disgrace of the lie will be drowned in the triumph of telling the +truth at last. We should all feel,—I should feel,—that he would in +such case deserve well, rather than ill, of his father and of me, and +of all of us. Besides you had some idea of sending him to school in +England." Here Mr. Jones shook his head, intending to indicate that +no such expensive step as that would be possible after the loss +incurred by the flooding of the eighty acres. "At any rate my advice +to you is to make him declare the truth. I think little harm of a boy +for lying, but I do think harm of those who allow a lie to pass +unnoticed." So saying Mr. Blake ended the meeting, and took Mr. Jones +away to see Mrs. Blake and the girls.</p> + +<p>"I do suppose that father has gone to Carnlough, to consult with Mr. +Blake about this affair of the flood." It was thus that Ada spoke to +her brother Florian, when he came to her discussing the matter of +their father's absence.</p> + +<p>"What can Mr. Blake know about it?" said Florian.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he means to ask about you. It is quite clear, Florian, +that no one in the house believes you."</p> + +<p>"Peter does."</p> + +<p>"You mean that Peter thinks you are right to stand to the lie now you +have told it. More shame for Peter if he does."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have a fellow go and put himself out of favour with all +the boys through the country? There is a horrible man that wears a +<span class="nowrap">mask—"</span> Then he remembered, +and stopped himself. He was on closer +terms with Ada than with Edith, but not on terms so close as to +justify his whispering a word about the man in the mask.</p> + +<p>"Where did you see the man in the mask?" asked Ada. "Who is the man +in the mask?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"But you know where you saw him. You must know that. What did the man +in the mask say to you?"</p> + +<p>"I am not going to tell you anything about him," said the boy. "I am +not going to have my secrets got out of me in that way. It isn't +honest. Nobody but a Protestant would do it." So saying Florian left +his sister, with the tale of the man in the mask only half told.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-5" id="c1-5"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> +<h4>MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>We must now turn to another personage in our story, and tell our +readers something of the adventures and conditions of this +gentleman;—something also of his daughter. The adventures of her +early life will occupy much of our time and many of our pages; and +though her father may not be so interesting as it is hoped that she +will become, still he was so peculiar in his modes of thought, and so +honest, though by no means wise, in his manner of thinking, as to +make his story also perhaps worth the telling.</p> + +<p>Gerald O'Mahony was at the time of the flooding of Mr. Jones's +meadows not much more than forty years old. But he was already the +father of a daughter nearly twenty. Where he was born, from what +parents, or to what portion of Ireland his family belonged, no one +knew. He himself had been heard to declare a suspicion that his +father had come from County Kerry. But as he himself had been, +according to his own statement, probably born in the United States, +the county to which his father had belonged is not important. He had +been bred up as a Roman Catholic, but had long since thrown over all +the prejudices of his religion. He had married when he was quite +young, and had soon lost his wife. But in talking of her now he +always described her as an angel. But though he looked to be so young +as to be his daughter's brother, rather than her father, he had never +thought of marrying again. His daughter he declared was everything to +him. But those who knew him well said that politics were dearer to +him even than his daughter. Since he had been known in County Galway, +he had passed and repassed nearly a dozen times between New York and +Ireland; and his daughter had twice come with him. He had no declared +means, but he had never been known to borrow a shilling, or to leave +a bill unpaid. But he had frequently said aloud that he had no money +left, and that unless he returned to his own country he and his +daughter must be taken in by some poor-house. For Mr. O'Mahony, fond +as he was of Ireland, allowed no one to say that he was an Irishman.</p> + +<p>But his troubles were apparently no troubles to him. He was always +good-humoured, and seemed always to be happy—except when in public, +when he was engaged upon politics. Then he would work himself up to +such a state of indignant anger as seemed to be altogether +antagonistic to good-humour. The position he filled,—or had +filled,—was that of lecturer on behalf of the United States. He had +lectured at Manchester, at Glasgow, at Liverpool, and lately all over +Ireland. But he had risen to such a height of wrath in advocating the +doctrine of Republicanism that he had been stopped by the police. He +had been held to have said things disrespectful of the Queen. This he +loudly denied. He had always, he said, spoken of the Queen's virtues, +her graces, and general fitness for her high office. He had +declared,—and this was true,—that of all kings and queens of whom +he had read in history she was the best. But, he had gone on to say +there should be no king or queen. The practice was an absurdity. The +reverence paid even to the high office was such as, in his idea, +degraded a man. Even in America, the Kotooing which took place before +the President's toe was to him an abomination. No man in accordance +with his theory should worship another man. Titles should only be +used as indicative of a man's trade or occupation. As one man was Mr. +General Grant, another man should be Mr. Bricklayer Green. He could +not do away with the Queen. But for the woman, he was quite disposed +to worship her. All women were to be worshipped, and it was a +privilege of a man to worship a woman. When a woman possessed so many +virtues as did the Queen of England, it became a man's duty to +worship them. But it was a woman whom he would worship, and not the +Queen. This was carried to such a length, and he was so eloquent on +the subject that the police were desired to interfere, and he was +made to hold his tongue,—at any rate as far as England and Ireland +were concerned.</p> + +<p>He had made Galway a kind of centre home, attracted thither by the +friendship which his daughter had made with Ada and Edith Jones. For +though Ada and Edith were by no means Republican in their thoughts +and feelings, it had come to pass that they dearly loved the American +girl who was so. Rachel O'Mahony had frequently been at Morony +Castle, as had also her father; and Mr. Jones had taken delight in +controverting the arguments of the American, because, as he had said, +the American had been unselfish and true. But since his lecturing had +been stopped, it had become necessary that he should go elsewhere to +look for means of livelihood, and he had now betaken himself to +London for that purpose,—a circumstance which will be explained at +greater length as the story progresses.</p> + +<p>Republicanism was not the only matter in his political creed to which +Gerald O'Mahony was devoted. Though he was no Irishman, as he +delighted to intimate, his heart was Irish; and during his various +visits to the country, he had filled his bosom with thoughts of Irish +wrongs. No educated man was ever born and bred in more utter +ignorance of all political truths than this amiable and philanthropic +gentleman. In regard to Ireland his theory was that the land should +be taken from the present proprietors, and divided among the peasants +who tilled it. When asked what should be done with the present +owners, he was quite ready with his answer: "Let them be paid for the +property by the State!" He would have no man injured to the extent of +a shilling. When asked where the State was to get the money, he +declared that that was a mere detail. States did get money. As for +the landlords themselves, with the money in their pockets, let them +emigrate to the United States, if they were in want of something to +do. As to the division of the land,—that he said would settle +itself. One man would have ten acres, and another fifty; but that +would be fair, because one man had been used to pay for ten, and +another to pay for fifty. As for the men who got no land in the +scramble he could see no injustice. The man who chanced to have been +a tenant for the last twelve months, must take the benefit of his +position. No doubt such man could sell his land immediately after he +got it, because Freedom of Sale was one of the points of his charter. +He could see the injustice of giving the land at a rent fixed by the +State, because the State has no right to interfere in ordinary +contracts between man and man. But if the land was to be given up +without any rent, then he could see no injustice. Thus, and thus +only, could Ireland be made to return to the beauty and the grace of +her original simplicity.</p> + +<p>But on the wrongs arising from the want of Home Rule he was warmer +even than on those which the land question had produced. "Why should +Ireland be governed by a British Parliament, a British +Lord-Lieutenant, a British Chief-Secretary, a British +Commander-in-Chief, and trodden under foot by a British soldiery? Why +should Scotland be so governed, why should Wales, why should +Yorkshire?" Mr. Jones would reply, "Repeal the Unions; restore the +Heptarchy!" Mr. O'Mahony had but a confused idea of what the +Heptarchy had been. But he was sure that it would be for the benefit +of Ireland, that Irish knives should be made of Irish steel. "As +undoubtedly would have been the case if the question of protection +were to be left to an Irish Parliament to settle," said Mr. Jones. +"Heaven help the man who would want to cut his mutton. His best +chance would be that he would soon have no mutton to cut."</p> + +<p>So the dispute was carried on with much warmth on one side, and with +many arguments on the other, but without any quarrelling. It was +impossible to quarrel with O'Mahony, who was thoroughly unselfish, +and desirous of no violence. When he had heard what had been done in +reference to Mr. Jones's meadows, and had been told of the suspected +conduct of Pat Carroll, he was as indignant as though he had himself +been a landed proprietor, or even an Orangeman. And on Mr. Jones's +part there was a desire to do justice to all around him, which came +within the capacity of O'Mahony's vision. He knew that Mr. Jones +himself was a fair-dealing, honest gentleman, and he could not, +therefore, quarrel with him.</p> + +<p>There is a steamer running from the town of Galway, across Lough +Corrib, to the little village of Cong, on the Mayo side of the lake, +which stops and picks up passengers within a mile of Morony Castle. +From this, passengers are landed, so that the means of transit +between Galway and Mr. Jones's house are peculiarly easy. Up and down +by this steamer Ada and Edith Jones had frequently gone to visit +their friend, and as frequently that friend had come to visit them. +But unfortunately the steamer had been open to others besides the +young ladies, and Rachel O'Mahony had found a dearer friend than +either of the girls at Morony Castle. It had come to pass that Frank +Jones and Rachel O'Mahony had declared themselves to be engaged. On +no such ground as want of wealth, or want of family, or want of +education, had Mr. Jones based his objection to the match; but there +had been a peculiarity in the position of Rachel which had made him +hesitate. It was not that she was an American, but such an American! +It was not that he was a Republican, but such a Republican! And she +was more anxious to carry Frank away with her to the United States, +and to join him in a political partnership with her father, than to +come and settle herself down at the Castle. Thus there had arisen an +understanding on the part of the young people, that, though they were +engaged, they were engaged without the consent of the young man's +father. Rachel therefore was not to be brought to the Castle while +Frank was there. To all this Rachel's father had assented, in a +smiling indifferent manner, half intended to ridicule all who were +concerned. As it was not a question of politics, Mr. O'Mahony could +not work himself up to any anger, or apparently even to anxiety in +the matter. "Your young people,"—here he meant English and Irish +generally,—"are taught to think they should begin the world where we +leave it off."</p> + +<p>"Your young people are just as fond of what money will buy as are +ours," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"But they are fonder of one another, even, than of money. When they +love one another they become engaged. Then they marry. And as a rule +they don't starve. As a rule people with us seldom do starve. As for +making out an income for a young man to start with, that with us is +quite out of the question. Frank some day will have this property."</p> + +<p>"That won't give him much of an income," said Mr. Jones, who since +the affair of the flood had become very despondent in reference to +the estate.</p> + +<p>"Then he's as well off now as ever he will be, and might as well +marry the girl." But all this was said with no eagerness.</p> + +<p>"They are merely boy and girl as yet," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"I was married, and Rachel was born before I was Frank's age." So +saying, Mr. O'Mahony consented to come to Morony Castle, and bid them +adieu, without bringing his girl with him. This was hard upon Ada and +Edith, as Mr. Frank, of course, went into Galway as often as he +pleased, and made his adieu after his own fashion.</p> + +<p>And there had come up another cause which had created further +objections to the marriage in Mr. Jones's mind. Mr. O'Mahony had +declared that as his lecturing was brought to an end by the police, +he must throw himself upon Rachel's capabilities for earning some +money. Rachel's capabilities had been often discussed at the Castle, +but with various feelings on the three sides into which the party had +formed themselves. All the Jones's were on one side, and declared +that the capability had better not be exercised. In this they were +probably wrong;—but it was their opinion. They had lived for many +years away from London. The children had so lived all their lives; +and they conceived that prejudices still existed which had now been +banished or nearly banished from the world. Mr. O'Mahony, who formed +another party, thought that the matter was one of supreme +indifference. As long as he could earn money by lecturing it was well +that he should earn it. It was always better that the men of a family +should work than the women; but, if the man's talent was of no use, +then it might be well to fall back upon the woman. He only laughed at +the existence of a prejudice in the matter. He himself had no +prejudices. He regarded all prejudices as the triumph of folly over +education.</p> + +<p>But Rachel, who was the third party in the discussion, had a very +strong feeling of her own. She was of opinion that if the capability +in question existed, it ought to be exercised. On that subject,—her +possession of the capability,—she entertained, she said, strong +doubts. But if the capability existed it certainly ought to be used. +That was Rachel's opinion, expressed with all the vigour which she +knew how to throw into the subject.</p> + +<p>This capability had already been exercised in New York, where it had +been efficacious, though the effect had not been great. She had been +brought up to sing, and great things had been promised of her voice. +An American manager had thought much of her performance, though she +had hitherto, he said, been young, and had not come to the strength +of her throat. But he had himself seen to her education, almost as a +child, and had been sure that sooner or later she would do great +things in the musical world. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss was the gentleman in +question, and he at present was in London. That such a voice as +Rachel O'Mahony's should be lost to the world, was to his thinking a +profanity, an indecency, an iniquity, a wasting of God's choicest +gifts, and an abomination not to be thought of; for Mr. Mahomet M. +Moss was in the affairs of his own profession a most energetic +gentleman. Rachel rather turned up her nose at Mr. Mahomet M. Moss; +but she was very anxious to go to London and to take her chance, and +to do something, as she said, laughing, just to keep her father's pot +a little on the boil;—but for Mr. Mahomet M. Moss she did not care +one straw. Mr. O'Mahony was therefore ready to start on the journey, +and had now come to Morony Castle to say farewell to his friend Mr. +Jones. "Are you sure about that fellow Moss?" said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"What do you call sure about him? He's as big a swindler, I guess, as +you shall find from here to himself."</p> + +<p>"And are you going to put Rachel into his hands?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I think so;—after a sort of fashion. He'll swindle her out of +three parts of what she earns;—but she'll get the fourth part. It's +always the way with a young girl when she's first brought out."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean about money. Will you leave her conduct in his hands?"</p> + +<p>"He'll be a clever chap who'll undertake to look after Rachel's +conduct. I guess she'll conduct herself mostly."</p> + +<p>"You'll be there to be sure," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I shall be there; and she'll conduct me too. Very likely."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. O'Mahony,—as a father!"</p> + +<p>"I know pretty well what you would be saying. Our young folk grow old +quicker a long sight than yours do. Now your girls here are as sweet +as primroses out of the wood. But Rachel is like a rose that has been +brought up to stand firm on its own bush. I'm not a bit afraid of +her. Nor yet is your son. She looks as though you might blow her away +with the breath from your mouth. You try her, and you'll find that +she'll want a deal of blowing."</p> + +<p>"Does not a young girl lose something of the aroma of her youth by +seeing too much of the world too soon?"</p> + +<p>"How old do you expect her to be when she's to die?"</p> + +<p>"Rachel! How can I tell? She is only as yet entering upon life, and +her health seems to be quite confirmed."</p> + +<p>"The best confirmed I ever knew in my life. She never has a day's +illness. Taking all the chances one way and another, shall we say +sixty?"</p> + +<p>"More than that, I should think," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"Say sixty. She may fall down a trap in the theatre, or be drowned in +one of your Cunarders."</p> + +<p>"The Cunard steamers never drown anybody," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, a White Star—or any cockle-shell you may please to +name. We'll put her down for sixty as an average."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you are driving at," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"She has lived a third of her life already, and you expect her to +know nothing, so that the aroma may still cling to her. Aroma does +very well for earls' daughters and young marchionesses, though as far +as I can learn, it's going out of fashion with them. What has an +American girl to do with aroma, who's got her bread to earn? She's +got to look to her conduct, and to be sharp at the same time. Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss will rob her of seventy-five cents out of every +dollar for the next twelve months. In three years' time he'll rob her +of nothing. Only that she knows what conduct means, he'd have to look +very sharp to keep his own."</p> + +<p>"It is not natural," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"But it's American. Marvels are not natural, and we are marvellous +people. I don't know much about aroma, but I think you'll find Rachel +will come out of the washing without losing much colour in the +process."</p> + +<p>Then the two friends parted, and Mr. O'Mahony went back to Galway, +preparatory to his journey to London.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-6" id="c1-6"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> +<h4>RACHEL AND HER LOVERS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>On the day following that of O'Mahony's return to Galway, he, and his +daughter, and Frank Jones were together at the Galway Station +preparatory to the departure of the O'Mahonys for Dublin and London. +"I guess you two have got something to say to each other, so I'll +leave you to yourselves," said the father.</p> + +<p>"I guess we have," said Rachel, "so if you'll wait here we'll come to +you when the cars are fixed." So saying, Rachel put her hand on her +lover's arm and walked off with him along the platform. Rachel +O'Mahony had not been badly described when her father said of her +that she looked as though she might be blown away. She was very fair, +and small and frail to look at. Her father had also said of her that +her health was remarkably good,—"the best confirmed that he had ever +known in his life." But though this too, was true, she hardly looked +it. No one could have pointed out any sign of malady about her; only +one would have said that there was nothing of her. And the colour on +her face was so evanescent that he who watched her was inclined to +think that she herself was like her colour. And she moved as though +she was always on the vanishing point. "I'm very fond of eating," she +had been heard to say. "I know it's vulgar; but it's true." No doubt +she was fond of eating, but so is a sparrow. There was nothing she +would not attempt to do in the way of taking exercise. She would +undertake very long walks, and would then fail, and declare that she +must be carried home; but she would finally get through the day's +work better than another woman who appeared to have double her +strength. Her feet and hands were the tiniest little adjuncts to a +grown human body that could be seen anywhere. They looked at least to +be so. But they were in perfect symmetry with her legs and arms. "I +wish I were bigger," she had once been heard to say, "because I could +hit a man." The man to whom she alluded was Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. "I +sometimes want to hit a woman, but that would be such a small +triumph." And yet she had a pride in her little female fineries. +"Now, Frank," she had once said, "I guess you won't get another woman +in all Galway to put her foot into that boot; nor yet in New York +either."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I could," said the enraptured Frank.</p> + +<p>"You'd better take it to New York and try, and if you find the lady +you can bring her back with you."</p> + +<p>Frank refused the commission, saying something of course very pretty +as to his mistress's foot. "Ten buttons! These only have eight," she +said, objecting to a present which her lover had just brought her. +"If I had ten buttons, and the gloves to fit me, I'd cut my arm off +and put it under a glass case. Lovers are sent out to do all possible +and impossible things in order to deserve their lady-loves. You shall +go and wander about till you find a glove with ten buttons to fit me, +then I'll consent to be Mrs.——Jones." By all of which little +manœuvres Frank was charmed and oppressed to the last degree. When +she would call herself the "future Mrs.——Jones," he would almost +feel inclined to abandon both the name and the property. "Why not be +Mrs. Morony," Rachel would say, "or Mrs. Ballintubber? The +Ballintubber, of Ballintubber, would sound exquisitely, and then I +should always be called 'Madam.'"</p> + +<p>Her beauty was all but perfect, as far as symmetry was concerned, +only that there was not enough of it; and for the perfection of +female beauty a tone of colour is, methinks, needed somewhat darker +than that which prevailed with Rachel O'Mahony. Her hair was so light +that one felt it rather than saw it, as one feels the sunlight. It +was soft and feathery, as is the under plumage on the wings of some +small tropical birds. "A lock of my hair!" she had once said to +Frank; "but it will all go into nothing. You should have paid your +vows to some girl who could give you a good lump of hair fit to stuff +a pillow with. If you have mine you will think in a few weeks that +the spiders have been there and have left their dust behind." But she +gave him the lock of hair, and laid it on his lips with her own +little hands.</p> + +<p>There was not enough of her beauty. Even in touching her a lover +could not but feel that he had to deal with a little child. In +looking at her he could only look down upon her. It was not till she +spoke, and that her words came to his assistance, that he found that +he had to deal with one who was not altogether a child. "Mr. Mahomet +M. Moss declares his opinion that I shall be seen above the +gaslights. It was very civil and complimentary of Mahomet M. M. But I +mean to make myself heard. Mahomet M. M. did not seem to think of +this." Since Frank had known her she had taken every opportunity in +her power of belittling Mahomet M. M., as she was wont to call Mr. +Moss.</p> + +<p>Frank Jones was, in truth, a handsome stalwart young man, clever +enough for the world, who thought a good deal of himself, and who +thought very much more of the girl whom he loved. It was chiefly +because he was absolutely unlike an American that Rachel O'Mahony had +come to love him. Who does not know the "got up" look of the +gentleman from the other side of the water, who seems to know himself +to be much better than his father, and infinitely superior to his +grandfather; who is always ready to make a speech on every occasion, +and who feels himself to be fit company for a Prime Minister as soon +as he has left school. Probably he is. Young Jones was not so; and it +was on account of this deficiency that Rachel prized him. "I'm not +like a young girl myself," she had said to her father, "but I do love +a jolly nice boy. With us at sixteen, they are all but decrepit old +men, and yet they are such little monkeys."</p> + +<p>"For a little monkey, what do you think of yourself?" her father had +replied. But the conversation then had not gone any further.</p> + +<p>"I know you'll be after me before long," Rachel said to Frank, as +they walked up and down the platform together.</p> + +<p>"If I do, I shall ask you to marry me at once," he replied.</p> + +<p>"I shall never do that without your father's leave."</p> + +<p>"Is that the way they manage things in America?"</p> + +<p>"It's the way I shall manage them here," said Rachel. "I'm in the +unfortunate position of having three papas to whom I must attend. +There is papa <span class="nowrap">O'Mahony—"</span></p> + +<p>"You will never be incommoded much by him," he replied.</p> + +<p>"He is the least potent of the three, no doubt. Then there is papa +Jones. He is absolutely omnipotent in this matter. He would not let +me come down to Castle Morony for fear I should contaminate you all. +I obeyed without even daring to feel the slightest snub, and if I +were married to-morrow, I should kiss his toe in token of respect, +and with a great deal more affection than I should kiss your +half-bearded lips, sir." Here Frank got a hold of her hand beneath +his arm, and gave it a squeeze. "He is the real old-fashioned father +in the play, who is expected to come out at last with a hundred +thousand dollars and his blessing."</p> + +<p>"And who is the third papa?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you know? Mahomet M. Moss. He is the third papa—if only he +would consent to remain in that comparatively humble position." Here +Frank listened to her words with sharp ears, but he said nothing at +the moment. "Mahomet M. Moss is at any rate my lord and master for +the present."</p> + +<p>"Not whilst I am alive," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"But he is. There is no use in rebelling. You are not my lord and +master until you have gone through a certain ceremony. I wish you +were. Will that satisfy you?"</p> + +<p>"There is something in the name of lord and master which a girl +shouldn't apply to anyone but to him who is to be her husband."</p> + +<p>"Fiddlestick! Mr. Lord and Master that is to be, but is not as yet. +But he is, in many respects. I don't think, Frank, you can imagine +the horror I feel in reference to that vilest of human beings. I +shall carry a dagger with me, in order to have it ready for any +occasion."</p> + +<p>"What does he do? You shall not go to be subjected to such danger and +such annoyance."</p> + +<p>She turned round, and looked up into his face as with derision. "The +annoyance no doubt will be mine, Frank, and must be endured; the +danger will be his, I think. Nor shall I use the dagger that I spoke +of. I can look at him, and I can make him hear my voice, in spite of +the smallness of my stature. But there is no one in this world whom I +detest as I do that greasy Jew. It is not for what he does, but that +I simply detest him. He makes love to me."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! he does. You needn't look like that. You needn't be a bit +jealous."</p> + +<p>"I shall come over at once."</p> + +<p>"And knock him on the head! You had better not do that, because we +want to make some money by his means. As a lover I can keep him at a +distance. I wish I could do so to you, Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"Why do you wish to keep me at a distance?"</p> + +<p>"Because you know how to be troublesome. It is much harder to keep a +lover at a distance when you really love him with all your +heart"—here she looked up into his face and squeezed his arm, and +nearly made him mad for the moment—"than a beast like that, who is +no better than a toad to you. There, do you see that ugly old man +there?" She pointed to a cross-looking old gentleman of sixty, who +was scolding a porter violently. "Why aren't you jealous of that +man?"</p> + +<p>"You never saw him before."</p> + +<p>"That's just the reason. He may be worth my affection, but I know +that that Mahomet M. M. is not. You begin with the most bitter hatred +on my part. I don't hate that old gentleman. I rather like him on the +whole, though he was so cross. At any rate he's not a greasy Jew. +Papa says that hating Jews is a prejudice. Loving you is a prejudice, +I suppose."</p> + +<p>"My darling!"</p> + +<p>"You can't suppose you are the best man I ever saw, can you?"</p> + +<p>"It's a sort of thing we are not to reason about."</p> + +<p>"Then it's a prejudice. I'm prejudiced against Mahomet M. M. I'm +equally prejudiced in favour of Mr. Jones, junior, of Ballintubber. +It's horrible to be troubled by the one."</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>"Well! There's nothing more coming, Mr. Jones. Only don't you come +over in any of your fits of jealousy, or you'll have to be sent back +again. You're not my lord and master—yet."</p> + +<p>"I wish I were."</p> + +<p>"So do I. What more do you want than that? I don't believe there's +another girl in New York would say as much to you,—nor yet in County +Galway."</p> + +<p>"But what does he say to you?"</p> + +<p>"Well; just the kind of things that you never say. And he certainly +never does the kind of things which you do; and that, Mr. Jones, is +an improvement. But papa is in a hurry, and I shouldn't wonder if the +train didn't go on in a quarter of an hour. I'll write to you about +Mahomet M. M.; and if I behave very badly, such as prodding him with +the dagger, or something of that sort, then I will let you know the +details. You can't do it here, so you may as well go." So saying, she +jumped into the carriage, and the train had started before Frank +Jones had begun to think whether he could do it there or no.</p> + +<p>"He's a good fellow, take him all round," said Mr. O'Mahony, when the +carriages had left the station.</p> + +<p>"As good as the rest of them."</p> + +<p>"I think he is better."</p> + +<p>"Of course we all think so of our own. Why should he be better than +any other young lady's Mr. Jones? I don't suppose he is better; but +we'll endeavour to believe that he is up to the average."</p> + +<p>"Is that all that you've got to say for him, Rachel?"</p> + +<p>"What! To you? Not exactly—if I am to speak the solid truth; which I +don't see why I should have to do, even to my own father. I do think +him above the average. I think him so much above the average as to be +the best of all. But why? Simply because I believe him when he says +he wants to marry me, and make me his companion for life. And then +there's an affinity between us which God certainly manages. Why +should I trust him in every detail of life with a perfect faith, and +not trust Mr. Mahomet M. Moss to the extent of half-a-crown? If he +were to ask me for everything I have in the world, I should give it +to him, without a thought except of his goodness in taking care of it +for me. I wouldn't let Mahomet M. Moss have a dollar of mine without +giving me his bond. Papa, there will be a row between me and Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss, and so it's well to put you on your guard."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a row, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"A very rowy row. I don't mean about dollars, for you'll have to +manage that just at first. When we have got into the running, I think +I shall have something to say on that subject too."</p> + +<p>"What row do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"He'll misbehave himself. He always does, more or less."</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow can't open his mouth without your saying that he +misbehaves himself."</p> + +<p>"That's quite true; he can't. He can't brush his hair, or tie his +cravat, or settle his pantaloons, without misbehaving himself. He +certainly can't look out of his eye without gross misbehaviour."</p> + +<p>"What is he to do then?" said Mr. O'Mahony. "Nature has imbued him +with all these peculiarities, and you are fantastic to find fault +with him."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so—but then I am fantastic. When you've got a dirty coat +on, or Frank, I don't find fault with it; but when he's got a clean +coat, I writhe at him in my disgust. Yet, upon the whole, I like men +to have clean coats."</p> + +<p>"But you haven't said how the row is to come."</p> + +<p>"Because I don't know; but it will come. It won't be about his coat, +nor yet his hat, unless he puts it close down under my nose. My time, +as I understand, is to be at his disposal."</p> + +<p>"There will be an agreement made as to all that."</p> + +<p>"An agreement as to my performances. I quite understand that I must +be present at fixed times at the theatre, and that he must fix them. +That will not worry me; particularly if you will go to the theatre +with me."</p> + +<p>"Of course I will do that when you want it."</p> + +<p>"But he is to come to me with his beastly lessons. Am I to have no +relief from that?"</p> + +<p>"The hours can be fixed."</p> + +<p>"But they won't be fixed. There's no doubt that he understands his +trade. He can make me open my mouth and keep it open. And he can tell +me when I sing false or flat. Providence when she gave him that +horrid head of hair, did give him also the peculiarity of a fine ear. +I think it is the meanest thing out for a man to be proud of that. If +you can run a straight furrow with a plough it is quite as great a +gift."</p> + +<p>"That is nonsense, my dear. Such an ear as Mr. Moss's is very rare."</p> + +<p>"A man who can see exactly across an entire field is just as rare. I +don't see the difference. Nor when a woman sings do I respect her +especially because of her voice. When a man can write a poem like +Homer, or rule a country like Washington, there is something to say +for him. I shall tell him that I will devote one hour a day to +practising, and no more."</p> + +<p>"That will settle the difficulty; if it be enough."</p> + +<p>"But during that hour, there is to be no word spoken except what has +to do with the lessons. You'll bear me out in that?"</p> + +<p>"There must be some give and take in regard to ordinary +conversation."</p> + +<p>"You don't know what a beast he is, papa. What am I to do if he tells +me to my face that I'm a beautiful young woman?"</p> + +<p>"Tell him that you are quite aware of the fact, but that it is a +matter you do not care to talk about."</p> + +<p>"And then he'll simper. You do not know what a vile creature he can +be. I can take care of myself. You needn't be a bit afraid about +that. I fancy I could give him a slap on the face which would startle +him a little. And if we came to blows, I do believe that he would not +have a leg to stand upon. He is nearly fifty."</p> + +<p>"My dear!"</p> + +<p>"Say forty. But I do believe a good shove would knock him off his +nasty little legs. I used to think he wore a wig; but no hairdresser +could be such a disgrace to his profession to let such a wig as that +go out of his shop."</p> + +<p>"I always regarded him as a good-looking young man," said Mr. +O'Mahony. Here Rachel shook her head, and made a terrible grimace. +"It's all fancy you know," continued he.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is. But if you hear that I have told him that I regard +him as a disgusting monkey, you must not be surprised." This was the +last conversation which Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter had respecting +Mahomet M. Moss, till they reached London.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-7" id="c1-7"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> +<h4>BROWN'S.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>When Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter stepped out of the train on the +platform at Euston Square, they were at once encountered by Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss. "Oh, dear!" ejaculated Miss O'Mahony, turning back +upon her father. "Cannot you get rid of him?" Mr. O'Mahony, without a +word of reply to his daughter, at once greeted Mr. Moss most +affectionately. "Yes, my bird is here—as you see. You have taken a +great deal of trouble in coming to meet us." Mr. Moss begged that the +trouble might be taken as being the greatest pleasure he had ever had +in his life. "Nothing could be too much to do for Miss O'Mahony." He +had had, he said, the wires at work, and had been taught to expect +them by this train. Would Miss O'Mahony condescend to take a seat in +the carriage which was waiting for her? She had not spoken a word, +but had laid fast hold of her father's arm. "I had better look after +the luggage," said the father, shaking the daughter off. "Perhaps Mr. +Moss will go with you," said she;—and at the moment she looked +anything but pleasant. Mr. Moss expressed his sense of the high +honour which was done him by her command, but suggested that she +should seat herself in the carriage. "I will stand here under this +pillar," she said. And as she took her stand it would have required a +man with more effrontery than Mr. Moss possessed, to attempt to move +her. We have seen Miss O'Mahony taking a few liberties with her +lover, but still very affectionate. And we have seen her enjoying the +badinage of perfect equality with her papa. There was nothing then of +the ferocious young lady about her. Young ladies,—some young +ladies,—can be very ferocious. Miss O'Mahony appeared to be one of +them. As she stood under the iron post waiting till her father and +Mr. Moss returned, with two porters carrying the luggage, the pretty +little fair, fly-away Rachel looked as though she had in her hand the +dagger of which she had once spoken, and was waiting for an +opportunity to use it.</p> + +<p>"Is your maid here, Miss O'Mahony?" asked Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"I haven't got a maid," said Rachel, looking at him as though she +intended to annihilate him.</p> + +<p>They all seated themselves in the carriage with their small parcels, +leaving their luggage to come after them in a cab which Mr. Moss had +had allowed to him. But they, the O'Mahonys, knew nothing of their +immediate destination. It had been clearly the father's business to +ask; but he was a man possessed of no presence of mind. Suddenly the +idea struck Rachel, and she called out with a loud voice, "Father, +where on earth are we going?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose Mr. Moss can tell us."</p> + +<p>"You are going to apartments which I have secured for Miss O'Mahony +at considerable trouble," said Mr. Moss. "The theatres are all +stirring."</p> + +<p>"But we are not going to live in a theatre."</p> + +<p>"The ladies of the theatres find only one situation convenient. They +must live somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Strand. I have +secured two sitting-rooms and two bedrooms on the first floor, +overlooking the views at Brown's."</p> + +<p>"Won't they cost money?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"Of course they will," said Rachel. "What fools we have been! We +intended to go to some inn for one night till we could find a fitting +place,—somewhere about Gower Street."</p> + +<p>"Gower Street wouldn't do at all," said Mr. Moss. "The distance from +everything would be very great." Two ideas passed at that moment +through Rachel's mind. The first was that the distance might serve to +keep Mr. Moss out of her sitting-room, and the second was that were +she to succeed in doing this, she might be forced to go to his +sitting-room. "I think Gower Street would be found to be +inconvenient, Miss O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"Bloomsbury Square is very near. Here we are at the hotel. Now, +father, before you have anything taken off the carriages, ask the +prices."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Moss, still keeping his seat, made a little speech. "I think +if Miss O'Mahony would allow me, I would counsel her against too +rigid an economy. She will have heard of the old proverb,—'A penny +wise and a pound foolish.'"</p> + +<p>"'Cut your coat according to your cloth,' I have heard of that too; +and I have heard of 'Burning a candle at both ends.'"</p> + +<p>"'You shouldn't spoil your ship for a ha'porth of tar,'" said Mr. +Moss with a smile, which showed his idea, that he had the best of the +argument.</p> + +<p>"It won't matter for one night," said Mr. O'Mahony, getting out of +the carriage. Half the packages had been already taken off the cab.</p> + +<p>Rachel followed her father, and without attending to Mr. Moss got +hold of her father in the street. "I don't like the look of the house +at all, father, you don't know what the people would be up to. I +shall never go to sleep in this house." Mr. Moss, with his hat off, +was standing in the doorway, suffused, as to his face, with a bland +smile.</p> + +<p>It may be as well to say at once that the house was all that an hotel +ought to be, excepting, perhaps, that the prices were a little high. +The two sitting-rooms and the two bedrooms—with the maid's room, +which had also been taken—did seem to be very heavy to Rachel, who +knew down to a shilling—or rather, to a dollar, as she would have +said—how much her father had in his pocket. Indefinite promises of +great wealth had been also made to herself; but according to a scale +suggested by Mr. Moss, a pound a night, out of which she would have +to keep herself, was the remuneration immediately promised. Then a +sudden thought struck Miss O'Mahony. They were still standing +discussing the price in one of the sitting-rooms, and Mr. Moss was +also there. "Father," she said, "I'm sure that Frank would not +approve."</p> + +<p>"I don't think that he would feel himself bound to interfere," said +Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"When a young woman is engaged to a young man it does make a +difference," she replied, looking Mr. Moss full in the face.</p> + +<p>"The happy man," said Mr. Moss, still bowing and smiling, "would not +be so unreasonable as to interfere with the career of his fair +<i>fiancée</i>."</p> + +<p>"If we stay here very long," said Rachel, still addressing her +father, "I guess we should have to pawn our watches. But here we are +for the present, and here we must remain. I am awfully tired now, and +should so like to have a cup of tea—by ourselves." Then Mr. Moss +took his leave, promising to appear again upon the scene at eleven +o'clock on the following day. "Thank you," said Rachel, "you are very +kind, but I rather think I shall be out at eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p>"What is the use of your carrying on like that with the man?" said +her father.</p> + +<p>"Because he's a beast."</p> + +<p>"My dear, he's not a beast. He's not a beast that you ought to treat +in that way. You'll be a beast too if you come to rise high in your +profession. It is a kind of work which sharpens the intellect, but is +apt to make men and women beasts. Did you ever hear of a prima donna +who thought that another prima donna sang better than she did?"</p> + +<p>"I guess that all the prima donnas sing better than I do."</p> + +<p>"But you have not got to the position yet. Mr. Moss, I take it, was +doing very well in New York, so as to have become a beast, as you +call him. But he's very good-natured."</p> + +<p>"He's a nasty, stuck-up, greasy Jew. A decent young woman is insulted +by being spoken to by him."</p> + +<p>"What made you tell him that you were engaged to Frank Jones?"</p> + +<p>"I thought it might protect me—but it won't. I shall tell him next +time that I am Frank's wife. But even that will not protect me."</p> + +<p>"You will have to see him very often."</p> + +<p>"And very often I shall have to be insulted. I guess he does the same +kind of thing with all the singing girls who come into his hands."</p> + +<p>"Give it up, Rachel."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind being insulted so much as some girls do, you know. I +can't fancy an English girl putting up with him—unless she liked to +do as he pleased. I hate him;—but I think I can endure him. The only +thing is, whether he would turn against me and rend me. Then we shall +come utterly to the ground, here in London."</p> + +<p>"Give it up."</p> + +<p>"No! You can lecture and I can sing, and it's odd if we can't make +one profession or the other pay. I think I shall have to fight with +him, but I won't give it up. What I am afraid is that Frank should +appear on the scene. And then, oh law! if Mr. Moss should get one +blow in the eye!"</p> + +<p>There she sat, sipping her tea and eating her toast, with her feet +upon the fender, while Mr. O'Mahony ate his mutton-chop and drank his +whisky and water.</p> + +<p>"Father, now I'm coming back to my temper, I want something better +than this buttered toast. Could they get me a veal cutlet, or a bit +of cold chicken?"</p> + +<p>A waiter was summoned.</p> + +<p>"And you must give me a little bit of ham with the cold chicken. No, +father; I won't have any wine because it would get into my head, and +then I should kill Mr. Mahomet M. Moss."</p> + +<p>"My dear," said her father when the man had left the room, "do you +wish to declare all your animosities before the waiter?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I think I do. If we are to remain here it will be better +that they should all know that I regard this man as my schoolmaster. +I know what I'm about; I don't let a word go without thinking of it."</p> + +<p>Then again they remained silent, and Mr. O'Mahony pretended to go to +sleep—and eventually did do so. He devoted himself for the time to +Home Rule, and got himself into a frame of mind in which he really +thought of Ireland.</p> + +<p>"The first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea."</p> + +<p>Why should she not be so? She had all the sentiment necessary, all +the poetry, all the eloquence, all the wit. And then when he was +beginning to think whether something more than sentiment and +eloquence were not necessary, he went to sleep.</p> + +<p>But Rachel was not sleeping. Her thoughts were less stationary than +her father's, and her ideas more realistic. She had been told that +she could sing, and she had sung at New York with great applause. And +she had gone on studying, or rather practising, the art with great +diligence. She had already become aware that practice was more needed +than study. All, nearly all, this man could teach her was to open her +mouth. Nature had given her an ear, and a voice, if she would work +hard so as to use it. It was there before her. But it had seemed to +her that her career was clogged with the necessary burden of Mr. +Moss. Mr. Moss had got hold of her, and how should she get rid of +him? He was the Old Man of the Sea, and how should she shake him off? +And then there was present to her alone a vision of Frank Jones. To +live at Morony Castle and be Frank Jones's wife, would not that be +sweeter than to sing at a theatre under the care of Mr. Mahomet M. +Moss? All the sweetness of a country life in a pleasant house by the +lake side, and a husband with her who would endure all the little +petulancy, and vagaries, and excesses of her wayward but affectionate +temper, all these things were present to her mind. And to be Mistress +Jones, who could look all the world in the face, this—as compared +with the gaslight of a theatre, which might mean failure, and could +only mean gaslight—this, on the present occasion, did tempt her +sorely. Her moods were very various. There were moments of her life +when the gaslight had its charm, and in which she declared to herself +that she was willing to run all the chances of failure for the hope +of success. There were moments in which Mr. Moss loomed less odious +before her eyes. Should she be afraid of Mr. Moss, and fly from her +destiny because a man was greasy? And to this view of her +circumstances she always came at last when her father's condition +pressed itself upon her. The house beside the lake was not her own as +yet, nor would it be her husband's when she was married.</p> + +<p>Nor could there be a home for her father there as long as old Mr. +Jones was alive, nor possibly when his son should come to the throne. +For a time he must go to America, and she must go with him. She had +declared to herself that she could not go back to the United States +unless she could go back as a successful singer. For these reasons +she resolved that she would face Mr. Moss bravely and all his +horrors.</p> + +<p>"If that gentleman comes here to-morrow at eleven, show him up here," +she said to the waiter.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss, ma'am?" the waiter asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Moss," she answered in a loud voice, which told the man +much of her story. "Where did that piano come from?" she asked +brusquely.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss had it sent in," said the man.</p> + +<p>"And my father is paying separate rent for it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"What's that, my dear? What's that about rent?"</p> + +<p>"We have got this piano to pay for. It's one of Erard's. Mr. Moss has +sent it, and of course we must pay till we have sent it back again. +That'll do." Then the man went.</p> + +<p>"It's my belief that he intends to get us into pecuniary +difficulties. You have only got £62 left."</p> + +<p>"But you are to have twenty shillings a day till Christmas."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"According to what he says it will be increased after Christmas. He +spoke of £2 a day."</p> + +<p>"Yes; if my singing be approved of. But who is to be the judge? If +the musical world choose to say that they must have Rachel O'Mahony, +that will be all very well. Am I to sing at twenty shillings a day +for just as long as Mr. Moss may want me? And are we to remain here, +and run up a bill which we shall never be able to pay, till they put +us out of the door and call us swindlers?"</p> + +<p>"Frank Jones would help us at a pinch if we came to that difficulty," +said the father.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't take a shilling from Frank Jones. Frank Jones is all the +world to me, but he cannot help me till he has made me his wife. We +must go out of this at the end of the first week, and send the piano +back. As far as I can make it out, our expenses here will be about +£17 10s. a week. What the piano will cost, I don't know; but we'll +learn that from Mr. Moss. I'll make him understand that we can't stay +here, having no more than twenty shillings a day. If he won't +undertake to give me £2 a day immediately after Christmas, we must go +back to New York while we've got money left to take us."</p> + +<p>"Have it your own way," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean to remain here and wake up some morning and find that I +can't stir a step without asking Mahomet M. M. for some money favour. +I know I can sing; I can sing, at any rate, to the extent of forty +shillings a day. For forty shillings a day I'll stay; but if I can't +earn that at once let us go back to New York. It is not the poverty I +mind so much, nor yet the debt, nor yet even your distress, you dear +old father. You and I could weather it out together on a twopenny +roll. Things would never be altogether bad with us as long as we are +together; and as long as we have not put ourselves in the power of +Mahomet M. M. Fancy owing Mr. Moss a sum of money which we couldn't +pay! Mahomet's 'little bill!' I would say to a Christian: 'All right, +Mr. Christian, you shall have your money in good time, and if you +don't it won't hurt you.' He wouldn't be any more than an ordinary +Christian, and would pull a long face; but he would have no little +scheme ready, cut and dry, for getting my body and soul under his +thumb."</p> + +<p>"You are very unchristian yourself, my dear."</p> + +<p>"I certainly have my own opinion of Mahomet M. M., and I shall tell +him to-morrow morning that I don't mean to run the danger."</p> + +<p>Then they went to bed, and slept the sleep of the just. They ordered +breakfast at nine, so that, as Rachel said, the heavy mutton-chop +might not be sticking in her throat as she attempted to show off +before Mr. Moss on his arrival. But from eight till nine she passed +her time in the double employment of brushing her hair and preparing +the conversation as it was to take place between herself and Mr. +Moss. When a young lady boasts that she doesn't "let a word go +without thinking of it," she has to be careful in preparing her +words. And she prepared them now.</p> + +<p>"There will be two of them against me," she said to herself as she +made the preparation. "There'll be the dear old governor, and the +governor that isn't dear. If I were left quite to myself, I think I +could do it easier. But then it might come to sticking a knife into +him."</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, during breakfast, "I'm going to practise for half +an hour before this man comes."</p> + +<p>"That means that I'm to go away."</p> + +<p>"Not in the least. I shall go into the next room where the piano +lives, and you can come or not just as you please. I shall be +squalling all the time, and as we do have the grandeur of two rooms +for the present, you might as well use them. But when he comes we +must take care and see that matters go right. You had better leave us +alone at first, that I may sing to him. Then, when that's over, do +you be in waiting to be called in. I mean to have a little bit of +business with my trusted agent, manager, and parent in music, +'Mahomet M. M.'"</p> + +<p>She went to the instrument, and practised there till half-past +eleven, at which hour Mr. Moss presented himself. "You'll want to +hear me sing of course," she said without getting up from the +music-stool.</p> + +<p>"Just a bar or two to know how you have improved. But it is hardly +necessary. I see from the motion of your lips that you have been +keeping your mouth open. And I hear from the tone of your voice, that +it is all there. There is no doubt about you, if you have practised +opening your mouth."</p> + +<p>"At any rate you shall hear, and if you will stand there you shall +see."</p> + +<p>Then the music lesson began, and Mr. Moss proved himself to be an +adept in his art. Rachel did not in the least doubt his skill, and +obeyed him in everything as faithfully as she would have done, had he +been personally a favourite with her. "Allow me to express my great +delight and my strong admiration for the young débutante. As far as +Miss O'Mahony is concerned the word failure may be struck out of the +language. And no epithet should be used to qualify success, but one +in the most superlative degree. Allow me +<span class="nowrap">to—"</span> And he attempted to +raise her hand to his lips, and to express his homage in a manner +certainly not unusual with gentlemen of his profession.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss," said the young lady starting up, "there need be nothing +of that kind. There had better not. When a young woman is going to be +married to a young man, she can't be too careful. You don't know, +perhaps, but I'm going to be Mrs. Jones. Mr. Jones is apt to dislike +such things. If you'll wait half a moment, I'll bring papa in." So +saying she ran out of the room, and in two minutes returned, followed +by her father. The two men shook hands, and each of them looked as +though he did not know what he was expected to say to the other. "Now +then, father, you must arrange things with Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>Mr. Moss bowed. "I don't exactly know what I have got to arrange," +said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"We've got to arrange so that we shan't get into debt with Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>"There need not be the least fear in the world as to that," said Mr. +Moss.</p> + +<p>"Ah; but that's just what we do fear, and what we must fear."</p> + +<p>"So unnecessary,—so altogether unnecessary," said Mr. Moss, +expecting to be allowed to be the banker for the occasion. "If you +will just draw on me for what you want."</p> + +<p>"But that is just what we won't do." Then there was a pause, and Mr. +Moss shrugged his shoulders. "It's as well to understand that at the +beginning. Of course this place is too expensive for us and we must +get out of it as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"Why in such a hurry?" said Mr. Moss raising his two hands.</p> + +<p>"And we must send back the piano. It was so good of you to think of +it! But it must go back."</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" shouted Mr. Moss. "The piano is my affair. A piano more +or less for a few months is nothing between me and Erard's people. +They are only too happy."</p> + +<p>"I do not in the least doubt it. Messrs. Erard's people are always +glad to secure a lady who is about to come out as a singer. But they +send the bill in at last."</p> + +<p>"Not to you;—not to you."</p> + +<p>"But to you. That would be a great deal worse, would it not, father? +We might as well understand each other."</p> + +<p>"Mr. O'Mahony and I will understand each other very well."</p> + +<p>"But it is necessary that Miss O'Mahony and you should understand +each other also. My father trusts me, and I cannot tell you how +absolutely I obey him."</p> + +<p>"Or he you," said Mr. Moss laughing.</p> + +<p>"At any rate we two know what we are about, sir. You will not find us +differing. Now Mr. Moss, you are to pay me twenty shillings a day."</p> + +<p>"Till Christmas;—twenty shillings a night till Christmas."</p> + +<p>"Of course we cannot live here on twenty shillings a day. The rooms +nearly take it all. We can't live on twenty shillings a day, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Then make it forty shillings immediately after the Christmas +holidays."</p> + +<p>"I must have an agreement to that effect," said Rachel, "or we must +go back to Ireland. I must have the agreement before Christmas, or we +shall go back. We have a few pounds which will take us away."</p> + +<p>"You must not speak of going away, really, Miss O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"Then I must have an agreement signed. You understand that. And we +shall look for cheaper rooms to-day. There is a little street close +by where we can manage it. But on the one thing we are +determined;—we will not get into debt."</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-8" id="c1-8"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> +<h4>CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>On Christmas-day Rachel O'Mahony wrote a letter to her lover at +Morony Castle:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="jright">Cecil Street, Christmas-day, 1880.</p> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dearest Frank</span>,</p> + +<p>You do love me, don't you? What's the use of my loving +you, and thinking that you are everything, only that you +are to love me? I am quite content that it should be so. +Only let it be so. You'll ask me what reason I have to be +jealous. I am not jealous. I do think in my heart that you +think that I'm—just perfect. And when I tell myself that +it is so, I lay myself back in my chair and kiss at you +with my lips till I am tired of kissing the space where +you ain't. But if I am wrong, and if you are having a good +time of it with Miss Considine at Mrs. McKeon's ball, and +are not thinking a bit of me and my kisses, what's the +use? It's a very unfair bargain that a woman makes with a +man. "Yes; I do love you," I +say,—<span class="nowrap">"but—"</span> Then there's a +sigh. "Yes; I'll love you," you +say—<span class="nowrap">"if—"</span> Then there's a +laugh. If I tell a fib, and am not worth having, you can +always recuperate. But we can't recuperate. I'm to go +about the world and be laughed at, as the girl that Frank +Jones made a fool of. Oh! Mr. Jones, if you treat me in +that way, won't I punish you? I'll jump into the lough +with a label round my neck telling the whole story. But I +am not a bit jealous, because I know you are good.</p> + +<p>And now I must tell you a bit more of my history. We got +rid of that lovely hotel, paying £6 10s., when that just +earned £1. And I have brought the piano with me. The man +at Erard's told me that I should have it for £2 10s. a +month, frankly owning that he hoped to get my custom. "But +Mr. Moss is to pay nothing?" I asked. He swore that Mr. +Moss would have to pay nothing, and leave what occurred +between him and me. I don't think he will. £30 a year +ought to be enough for the hire of a piano. So here we are +established, at £10 a month—the first-floor, with +father's bedroom behind the sitting-room. I have the room +upstairs over the sitting-room. They are small stumpy +little rooms,—"but mine own." Who says—"But mine own?" +Somebody does, and I repeat it. They are mine own, at any +rate till next Saturday.</p> + +<p>And we have settled this terrible engagement and signed +it. I'm to sing for Moss at "The Embankment" for four +months, at the rate of £600 a year. It was a Jew's +bargain, for I really had filled the house for a +fortnight. Fancy a theatre called "The Embankment"! There +is a nasty muddy rheumatic sound about it; but it's very +prettily got up, and the exits and entrances are also +good. Father goes with me every night, but I mean to let +him off the terrible task soon. He smiles, and says he +likes it. I only tell him he would be a child if he did. +They want to change the piece, but I shall make them pay +me for my dresses; I am not going to wear any other +woman's old clothes. It's not the proper way to begin, you +have to begin as a slave or as an empress. Of course, +anybody prefers to do the empress. They try, and then they +fail, and tumble down. I shall tumble down, no doubt; but +I may as well have my chance.</p> + +<p>And now I'm going to make you say that I'm a beast. And so +I am. I make a little use of Mahomet M. M.'s passion to +achieve my throne instead of taking up at once with +serfdom. But I do it without vouchsafing him even the +first corner of a smile. The harshest treatment is all +that he gets. Men such as Mahomet M. will live on harsh +treatment for a while, looking forward to revenge when +their time comes. But I shall soon have made sure of my +throne, or shall have failed; and in either case shall +cease to care for Mahomet M. By bullying him and by +treating him as dust beneath my feet, I can do something +to show how proud I am, and how sure I am of success. He +offers me money—not paid money down, which would have +certain allurements. I shouldn't take it. I needn't tell +you that. I should like to have plenty of loose +sovereigns, so as to hire broughams from the yard, instead +of walking, or going in a 'bus about London, which is very +upsetting to my pride. Father and I go down to the theatre +in a hansom, when we feel ourselves quite smart. But it +isn't money like that which he offers. He wants to pay me +a month in advance, and suggests that I shall get into +debt, and come to him to get me out of it. There was some +talk of papa going to New York for a few weeks, and he +said he would come and look after me in his absence. +"Thank you, Mr. Moss," I said, "but I'm not sure I should +want any looking after, only for such as you." Those are +the very words I spoke, and I looked him full in the face. +"Why, what do you expect from me?" he said. "Insult," I +replied, as bold as brass. And then we are playing the two +lovers at "The Embankment." Isn't it a pretty family +history? He said nothing at the moment, but came back in +half an hour to make some unnecessary remarks about the +part. "Why did you say just now that I insulted you?" he +asked. "Because you do," I replied. "Never, never!" he +exclaimed, with most grotesque energy. "I have never +insulted you." You know, my dear, he has twenty times +endeavoured to kiss my hand, and once he saw fit to stroke +my hair. Beast! If you knew the sort of feeling I have for +him—such as you would have if you found a cockroach in +your dressing-case. Of course in our life young women have +to put up with this kind of thing, and some of them like +it. But he knows that I am going to be married, or at any +rate am engaged, Mr. Frank. I make constant use of your +name, telling everybody that I am the future Mrs. Jones, +putting such weight upon the Jones. With me he knows that +it is an insult; but I don't want to quarrel with him if I +can help it, and therefore I softened it down. "You hear +me say, Mr. Moss, that I'm an engaged young woman. Knowing +that, you oughtn't to speak to me as you do." "Why, what +do I say?" You should have seen his grin as he asked me; +such a leer of triumph, as though he knew that he were +getting the better of me. "Mr. Jones wouldn't approve if +he were to see it." "But luckily he don't," said my +admirer. Oh, if you knew how willingly I'd stand at a tub +and wash your shirts, while the very touch of his gloves +makes me creep all over with horror. "Let us have peace +for the future," I said. "I dislike all those +familiarities. If you will only give them up we shall go +on like a house on fire." Then the beast made an attempt +to squeeze my hand as he went out of the room. I +retreated, however, behind the table, and escaped +untouched on that occasion.</p> + +<p>You are not to come over, whatever happens, until I tell +you. You ought to know very well by this time that I can +fight my battles by myself; and if you did come, there +would be an end altogether to the £200 which I am earning. +To give him his due, he's very punctual with his money, +only that he wants to pay me in advance, which I will +never have. He has been liberal about my dresses, telling +me to order just what I want, and have the bill sent in to +the costume manager. When I have worn them they become the +property of the theatre. God help any poor young woman +that will ever be expected to get into them. So now you +know exactly how I am standing with Mahomet M. M.</p> + +<p>Poor father goes about to public meetings, but never is +allowed to open his mouth for fear he should say something +about the Queen. I don't mean that he is really watched, +but he promised in Ireland not to lecture any more if they +would let him go, and he wishes to keep his word. But I +fear it makes him very unhappy. He has, at any rate, the +comfort of coming home and giving me the lecture, which he +ought to have delivered to more sympathetic ears. Not but +what I do care about the people; only how am I to know +whether they ought to be allowed to make their own +petticoats, or why it is that they don't do so? He says +it's the London Parliament; and that if they had members +in College Green, the young women would go to work at +once, and make petticoats for all the world. I don't +understand it, and wish that he had someone else to +lecture to.</p> + +<p>How are you getting on with all your own pet troubles? Is +the little subsiding lake at Ballintubber still a lake? +And what about poor Florian and his religion? Has he told +up as yet? I fear, I fear, that poor Florian has been +fibbing, and that there will be no peace for him or for +your father till the truth has been told.</p> + +<p>Now, sir, I have told you everything, just as a young +woman ought to tell her future lord and master. You say +you ought to know what Moss is doing. You do know, +exactly, as far as I can tell you. Of course you wouldn't +like to see him, but then you have the comfort of knowing +that I don't like it either. I suppose it is a comfort, +eh, my bold young man? Of course you want me to hate the +pig, and I do hate him. You may be sure that I will get +rid of him as soon as I conveniently can. But for the +present he is a necessary evil. If you had a home to give +me, I would come to it—oh, so readily! There is something +in the glitter of a theatre—what people call the boards, +the gaslights, the music, the mock love-making, the +pretence of being somebody, the feeling of mystery which +is attached to you, and the feeling you have that you are +generally unlike the world at large—which has its charms. +Even your name, blazoned in a dirty playbill, without any +Mister or Mistress to guard you, so unlike the ways of +ordinary life, does gratify one's vanity. I can't say why +it should be so, but it is. I always feel a little prouder +of myself when father is not with me. I am Miss O'Mahony, +looking after myself, whereas other young ladies have to +be watched. It has its attractions.</p> + +<p>But—but to be the wife of Frank Jones, and to look after +Frank's little house, and to cook for him his chicken and +his bacon, and to feel that I am all the world to him, and +to think—! But, oh, Frank, I cannot tell you what things +I think. I do feel, as I think them, that I have not been +made to stand long before the glare of the gas, and that +the time will certainly come when I shall walk about +Ballintubber leaning on your arm, and hearing all your +future troubles about rents not paid, and waters that have +come in.</p> + +<p class="ind10">Your own, own girl,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Rachel +O'Mahony</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p><a name="c1-9" id="c1-9"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> +<h4>BLACK DALY.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Frank Jones received his letter just as he was about to leave Castle +Morony for the meet at Ballytowngal, the seat, as everybody knows, of +Sir Nicholas Bodkin. Ballytowngal is about two miles from +Claregalway, on the road to Oranmore. Sir Nicholas is known all +through the West of Ireland, as a sporting man, and is held in high +esteem. But there is, I think, something different in the estimation +which he now enjoys from that which he possessed twenty years ago. He +was then, as now, a Roman Catholic,—as were also his wife and +children; and, as a Roman Catholic, he was more popular with the +lower classes, and with the priests, who are their natural friends, +than with his brother grand-jurors of the country, who were, for the +most part, Protestants.</p> + +<p>Sir Nicholas is now sixty years old, and when he came to the title at +thirty, he was regarded certainly as a poor man's friend. He always +lived on the estate. He rarely went up to Dublin, except for a +fortnight, when the hunting was over, and when he paid his respects +to the Lord Lieutenant. The house at Ballytowngal was said, in those +days, to be as well kept up as any mansion in County Galway. But the +saying came probably from those who were not intimate in the more +gloriously maintained mansions. Sir Nicholas had £5000 a year, and +though he did manage to pay his bills annually, spent every shilling +of it. He preserved his foxes loyally, and was quite as keen about +the fishing of a little river that he owned, and which ran down from +his demesne into Lough Corrib. He was particular also about his +snipe, and would boast that in a little spinney at Ballytowngal were +to be met the earliest woodcock found in the West of Ireland. He was +a thorough sportsman;—but a Roman Catholic—and as a Roman Catholic +he was hardly equal in standing to some of his Protestant neighbours. +He voted for Major Stackpoole, when Major Stackpoole stood for the +county on the Liberal interest, and was once requested to come +forward himself, and stand for the City as a Roman Catholic. This he +did not do, being a prudent man; but at that period, from twenty to +thirty years ago, he was certainly regarded as inferior to a +Protestant by many of the Protestant gentlemen of the country.</p> + +<p>But things are changed now. Sir Nicholas's neighbours, such of them +at least that are Protestants, regard Sir Nicholas as equal to +themselves. They do not care much for his religion, but they know +that he is not a Home-Ruler, or latterly, since the Land League +sprang into existence, a Land Leaguer. He is, in fact, one of +themselves as a county gentleman, and the question of religion has +gone altogether into abeyance. Had you known the county thirty years +ago, and had now heard Sir Nicholas talking of county matters, you +would think that he was one of the old Protestants. It was so that +the rich people regarded him,—and so also the poor. But Sir Nicholas +had not varied at all. He liked to get his rents paid, and as long as +his tenants would pay them, he was at one with them. They had begun +now to have opinions of their own upon the subject, and he was at one +with them no longer.</p> + +<p>Frank Jones had heard in Galway, that there was to be a difficulty +about drawing the Ballytowngal coverts. The hounds were to be allowed +to draw the demesne coverts, but beyond that they were to be +interrupted. Foxes seldom broke from Ballytowngal, or if they did +they ran to Moytubber. At Moytubber the hounds would probably +change,—or would do so if allowed to continue their sport in peace. +But at Moytubber the row would begin. Knowing this, Frank Jones was +anxious to leave his home in time, as he was aware that the hounds +would be carried on to Moytubber as quickly as possible. Black Daly +had sworn a solemn oath that he would draw Moytubber in the teeth of +every Home-Ruler and Land Leaguer in County Galway.</p> + +<p>A word or two must be said descriptive of Black Daly, as he was +called, the master of the Galway hounds. They used to be called the +Galway blazers, but the name had nearly dropped out of fashion since +Black Daly had become their master, a quarter of a century since. Who +Black Daly was or whence he had come, many men, even in County +Galway, did not know. It was not that he had no property, but that +his property was so small, as to make it seem improbable that the +owner of it should be the master of the county hounds. But in truth +Black Daly lived at Daly's Bridge, in the neighbourhood of Castle +Blakeney, when he was supposed to be at home. And the house in which +he lived he had undoubtedly inherited from his father. But he was not +often there, and kept his kennels at Ahaseragh, five miles away from +Daly's Bridge. Much was not therefore known of Mr. Daly, in his own +house.</p> + +<p>But in the field no man was better known, or more popular, if +thorough obedience is an element of popularity. The old gentry of the +county could tell why Mr. Daly had been put into his present +situation five-and-twenty years ago; but the manner of his election +was not often talked about. He had no money, and very few acres of +his own on which to preserve foxes. He had never done anything to +earn a shilling since he had been born, unless he may have been said +to have earned shillings by his present occupation. As he got his +living out of it, he certainly may have been said to have done so. He +never borrowed a shilling from any man, and certainly paid his way. +But if he told a young man that he ought to buy a horse the young man +certainly bought it. And if he told a young man that he must pay a +certain price, the young man generally paid it. But if the young man +were not ready with his money by the day fixed, that young man +generally had a bad time of it. Young men have been known to be +driven not only out of County Galway, but out of Ireland itself, by +the tone of Mr. Daly's voice, and by the blackness of his frown. And +yet it was said generally that neither young men nor old men were +injured in their dealings with Mr. Daly. "That horse won't be much +the worse for his splint, and he's worth £70 to you, because you can +ride him ten stone. You had better give me £70 for him." Then the +young man would promise the £70 in three months' time, and if he kept +his word, would swear by Black Daly ever afterwards. In this way Mr. +Daly sold a great many horses.</p> + +<p>But he had been put into his present position because he hunted the +hounds, during the illness of a distant cousin, who was the then +master. The master had died, but the county had the best sport that +winter that it had ever enjoyed. "I don't see why I should not do it, +as well as another," Tom Daly had said. He was then known as Tom +Daly. "You've got no money," his cousin had said, the son of the old +gentleman who was just dead. It was well understood that the cousin +wished to have the hounds, but that he was thought not to have all +the necessary attributes. "I suppose the county means to pay for all +sport," said Tom. Then the hat went round, and an annual sum of £900 +a year was voted. Since that the hounds have gone on, and the bills +have been paid; and Tom has raised the number of days' hunting to +four a week, or has lowered it to two, according to the amount of +money given. He makes no proposition now, but declares what he means +to do. "Things are dearer," he said last year, "and you won't have +above five days a fortnight, unless you can make the money up to +£1,200. I want £400 a day, and £400 I must have." The county had then +voted him the money in the plenitude of its power, and Daly had +hunted seven days a fortnight. But all the Galway world felt that +there was about to be a fall.</p> + +<p>Black Daly was a man quite as dark as his sobriquet described him. He +was tall, but very thin and bony, and seemed not to have an ounce of +flesh about his face or body. He had large, black whiskers,—coarse +and jet black,—which did not quite meet beneath his chin. And he +wore no other beard, no tuft, no imperial, no moustachios; but when +he was seen before shaving on a morning, he would seem to be black +all over, and his hair was black, short, and harsh; and though black, +round about his ears it was beginning to be tinged with grey. He was +now over fifty years of age; but the hair on his head was as thick as +it had been when he first undertook the hounds. He had great dark +eyes in his head, deep down, so that they seemed to glitter at you +out of caverns. And above them were great, bushy eyebrows, every hair +of which seemed to be black, and harsh, and hard. His nose was +well-formed and prominent; but of cheeks he had apparently none. +Between his whiskers and his nose, and the corners of his mouth, +there was nothing but two hollow cavities. He was somewhat over six +feet high, but from his extraordinary thinness gave the appearance of +much greater height. His arms were long, and the waistcoat which he +wore was always long; his breeches were very long; and his boots +seemed the longest thing about him—unless his spurs seemed longer. +He had no flesh about him, and it was boasted of him that, in spite +of his length, and in spite of his height, he could ride under twelve +stone. Of himself, and of his doings, he never talked. They were +secrets of his own, of which he might have to make money. And no one +had a right to ask him questions. He did not conceive that it would +be necessary for a gentleman to declare his weight unless he were +about to ride a race. Now it was understood that for the last ten +years Black Daly had ridden no races.</p> + +<p>He was a man of whom it might be said that he never joked. Though his +life was devoted in a peculiar manner to sport, and there may be +thought to be something akin between the amusements and the lightness +of life, it was all serious to him. Though he was bitter over it, or +happy; triumphant, or occasionally in despair—as when the money was +not forthcoming—he never laughed. It was all serious to him, and +apparently sad, from the first note of a hound in the early covert, +down to the tidings that a poor fox had been found poisoned near his +earth. He had much to do to find sport for the county on such limited +means, and he was always doing it.</p> + +<p>He not only knew every hound in his pack, but he knew their ages, +their sires, and their dams; and the sires and the dams of most of +their sires and dams. He knew the constitution of each, and to what +extent their noses were to be trusted. "It's a very heavy scent +to-day," he would say, "because Gaylap carries it over the plough. +It's only a catching scent because the drops don't hang on the +bushes." His lore on all such matters was incredible, but he would +never listen to any argument. A man had a right to his own opinion; +but then the man who differed from him knew nothing. He gave out his +little laws to favoured individuals; not by way of conversation, for +which he cared nothing, but because it might be well that the +favoured individual should know the truth on that occasion.</p> + +<p>As a man to ride he was a complete master of his art. There was +nothing which a horse could do with a man on his back, which Daly +could not make him do; and when he had ridden a horse he would know +exactly what was within his power. But there was no desire with him +for the showing off of a horse. He often rode to sell a horse, but he +never seemed to do so. He never rode at difficult places unless +driven to do so by the exigencies of the moment. He was always quiet +in the field, unless when driven to express himself as to the faults +of some young man. Then he could blaze forth in his anger with great +power. He was constantly to be seen trotting along a road when hounds +were running, because he had no desire to achieve for himself a +character for hard riding. But he was always with his hounds when he +was wanted, and it was boasted of him that he had ridden four days a +week through the season on three horses, and had never lamed one of +them. He was rarely known to have a second horse out, and when he did +so, it was for some purpose peculiar to the day's work. On such days +he had generally a horse to sell.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to say that Black Daly was an unmarried man. +No one who knew him could conceive that he should have had a wife. +His hounds were his children, and he could have taught no wife to +assist him in looking after them, with the constant attention and +tender care which was given to them by Barney Smith, his huntsman. A +wife, had she seen to the feeding of the numerous babies, would have +given them too much to eat, and had she not undertaken this care, she +would have been useless at Daly's Bridge. But Barney Smith was +invaluable; double the amount of work got usually from a huntsman was +done by him. There was no kennel man, no second horseman, no +stud-groom at the Ahaseragh kennels. It may be said that Black Daly +filled all these positions himself, and that in each Barney Smith was +his first lieutenant. Circumstances had given him the use of the +Ahaseragh kennels, which had been the property of his cousin, and +circumstances had not enabled him to build others at Daly's Bridge. +Gradually he had found it easier to move himself than the hounds. And +so it had come to pass that two rooms had been prepared for him close +to the kennels, and that Mr. Barney Smith gave him such attendance as +was necessary. Of strictly personal attendance Black Daly wanted very +little; but the discomforts of that home, while one pair of breeches +were supposed to be at Daly's Bridge, and the others at Ahaseragh, +were presumed by the world at large to be very grievous.</p> + +<p>But the personal appearance of Mr. Daly on hunting mornings, was not +a matter of indifference. It was not that he wore beautiful pink +tops, or came out guarded from the dust by little aprons, or had his +cravat just out of the bandbox, or his scarlet coat always new, and +in the latest fashion, nor had his hat just come from the shop in +Piccadilly with the newest twist to its rim. But there was something +manly, and even powerful about his whole apparel. He was always the +same, so that by men even in his own county, he would hardly have +been known in other garments. The strong, broad brimmed high hat, +with the cord passing down his back beneath his coat, that had known +the weather of various winters; the dark, red coat, with long swallow +tails, which had grown nearly black under many storms; the dark, buff +striped waistcoat, with the stripes running downwards, long, so as to +come well down over his breeches; the breeches themselves, which were +always of leather, but which had become nearly brown under the hands +of Barney Smith or his wife, and the mahogany top-boots, of which the +tops seemed to be a foot in length, could none of them have been worn +by any but Black Daly. His very spurs must have surely been made for +him, they were in length and weight; and general strength of leather, +so peculiarly his own. He was unlike other masters of hounds in this, +that he never carried a horn; but he spoke to his hounds in a loud, +indistinct chirruping voice, which all County Galway believed to be +understood to every hound in the park.</p> + +<p>One other fact must be told respecting Mr. Daly. He was a +Protestant—as opposed to a Roman Catholic. No one had ever known him +go to church, or speak a word in reference to religion. He was +equally civil or uncivil to priest and parson when priest or parson +appeared in the field. But on no account would he speak to either of +them if he could avoid it. But he had in his heart a thorough +conviction that all Roman Catholics ought to be regarded as enemies +by all Protestants, and that the feeling was one entirely independent +of faith and prayerbooks, or crosses and masses. For him +fox-hunting—fox-hunting for others—was the work of his life, and he +did not care to meddle with what he did not understand. But he was a +Protestant, and Sir Nicholas Bodkin was a Roman Catholic, and +therefore an enemy—as a dog may be supposed to declare himself a +dog, and a cat a cat, if called upon to explain the cause for the old +family quarrel.</p> + +<p>Now there had come a cloud over his spirit in reference to the state +of his country. He could see that the quarrel was not entirely one +between Protestant and Catholic as it used to be, but still he could +not get it out of his mind, but that the old causes were producing in +a different way their old effects. Whiteboys, Terryalts, Ribbonmen, +Repeaters, Physical-Forcemen, Fenians, Home-Rulers, Professors of +Dynamite, and American-Irish, were, to his thinking, all the same. He +never talked much about it, because he did not like to expose his +ignorance; but his convictions were not the less formed. It was the +business of a Protestant to take rent, and of a Roman Catholic to pay +rent. There were certain deviations in this ordained rule of life, +but they were only exceptions. The Roman Catholics had the worst of +this position, and the Protestants the best. Therefore the Roman +Catholics were of course quarrelling with it, and therefore the Roman +Catholics must be kept down. Such had been Mr. Daly's general outlook +into life. But now the advancing evil of the time was about to fall +even upon himself, and upon his beneficent labours, done for the +world at large. It was whispered in County Galway that the people +were about to rise and interfere with fox-hunting! It may be imagined +that on this special day Mr. Daly's heart was low beneath his +black-striped waistcoat, as he rode on his way to draw the coverts at +Ballytowngal.</p> + +<p>At the cross-roads of Monivea he met Peter Bodkin, the eldest son of +Sir Nicholas. Now Peter Bodkin had quarrelled long and very bitterly +with his father. Every acre of the property at Ballytowngal was +entailed upon him, and Peter had thought that under such +circumstances his father was not doing enough for him. The quarrel +had been made up, but still the evil rankled in Peter's bosom, who +was driven to live with his wife and family on £500 a year; and had +found himself hardly driven to keep himself out of the hands of the +Jews. His father had wished him to follow some profession, but this +had been contrary to Peter's idea of what was becoming. But though he +had only £500 a year, and five children, he did manage to keep two +horses, and saw a good deal of hunting.</p> + +<p>And among all the hunting men in County Galway he was the one who +lived on the closest terms of intimacy with Black Daly. For, though +he was a Roman Catholic, his religion did not trouble him much; and +he was undoubtedly on the same side with Daly in the feuds that were +coming on the country. Indeed, he and Daly had entertained the same +feelings for some years; for, in the quarrels which had been rife +between the father and son, Mr. Daly had taken the son's part, as far +as so silent a man can be said to have taken any part at all.</p> + +<p>"Well, Peter." "Well, Daly," were the greetings, as the two men met; +and then they rode on together in silence for a mile. "Have you heard +what the boys are going to do?" asked the master. Peter shook his +head. "I suppose there's nothing in it?"</p> + +<p>"I fear there is."</p> + +<p>"What will they do?" asked Mr. Daly.</p> + +<p>"Just prevent your hunting."</p> + +<p>"If they touch me, or either of the men, by God! I'll shoot some of +them." Then he put his hand into his pocket, as much as to explain a +pistol was there. After that the two men rode on in silence till they +came to the gates of Ballytowngal.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-10" id="c1-10"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> +<h4>BALLYTOWNGAL.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Daly, among other virtues, or vices, was famed for punctuality. He +wore a large silver watch in his pocket which was as true as the sun, +or at any rate was believed by its owner to be so. From Daly's watch +on hunting mornings there was no appeal. He always reached the +appointed meet at five minutes before eleven, by his watch, and by +his watch the hounds were always moved from their haunches at five +minutes past eleven. Though the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief +Secretary and the Lord Chancellor had been there, there would have +been no deviation. The interval of ten minutes he generally spent in +whispered confabulations with the earth-warners, secrets into which +no attendant horseman ever dived; for Black Daly was a mysterious +man, who did not choose to be inquired into as to his movements. On +this occasion he said not a word to any earth-warner, though two were +in attendance; but he sat silent and more gloomy than ever on his big +black horse, waiting for the minutes to pass by till he should be +able to run his hounds through the Ballytowngal coverts, and then +hurry on to Moytubber.</p> + +<p>Mr. Daly's mind was, in truth, fixed upon Moytubber, and what would +there be done this morning. He was a simple-minded man, who kept his +thoughts fixed for the most part on one object. He knew that it was +his privilege to draw the coverts of Moytubber, and to hunt the +country around; and he felt also, after some gallant fashion, that it +was his business to protect the rights of others in the pursuit of +their favourite amusement. No man could touch him or either of his +servants in the way of violence without committing an offence which +he would be bound to oppose by violence. He was no lawyer, and +understood not at all the statutes as fixed upon the subject. If a +man laid a hand upon him violently, and would not take his hand off +again when desired, he would be entitled to shoot that man. Such was +the law, as in his simplicity and manliness he believed it to exist. +He was a man not given to pistols; but when he heard that he was to +be stopped in his hunting on this morning, and stopped by dastardly, +pernicious curs who called themselves Landleaguers, he went into +Ballinasloe, and bought himself a pistol. Black Daly was a sad, +serious man, who could not put up with the frivolities of life; to +whom the necessity of providing for that large family of children was +very serious; but he was not of his nature a quarrelsome man. But now +he was threatened on the tenderest point; and with much simpler +thought had resolved that it would be his duty to quarrel.</p> + +<p>But just when he had spoken the word on which Barney and the hounds +were prepared to move, Sir Nicholas trotted up to him. Sir Nicholas +and all the sporting gentlemen of County Galway were there, +whispering with each other, having collected themselves in crowds +much bigger than usual. There was much whispering, and many opinions +had been given as to the steps which it would be well that the hunt +should take if interrupted in their sport. But at last Peter Bodkin +had singled out his father, and had communicated to him the fact of +Black Daly's pistol. "He'll use it, as sure as eggs are eggs," said +Peter whispering to his father.</p> + +<p>"Then there'll be murder," said Sir Nicholas, who though a good +hunting neighbour had never been on very friendly terms with Mr. +Daly.</p> + +<p>"When Tom Daly says he'll do a thing, he means to do it," said Peter. +"He won't be stopped by my calling it murder." Then Sir Nicholas had +quickly discussed the matter with sundry other sportsmen of the +neighbourhood. There were Mr. Persse of Doneraile, and Mr. Blake of +Letterkenny, and Lord Ardrahan, and Sir Jasper Lynch, of Bohernane. +During the ten minutes that were allowed to them, they put their +heads together, and with much forethought made Mr. Persse their +spokesman. Lord Ardrahan and Sir Jasper might have seemed to take +upon themselves an authority which Daly would not endure. And Blake, +of Letterkenny, would have been too young to carry with him +sufficient weight. Sir Nicholas himself was a Roman Catholic, and was +Peter's father, and Peter would have been in a scrape for having told +the story of the pistol. So Mr. Persse put himself forward. "Daly," +he said, trotting up to the master, "I'm afraid we're going to +encounter a lot of these Landleaguers at Moytubber."</p> + +<p>"What do they want at Moytubber? Nobody is doing anything to them."</p> + +<p>"Of course not; they are a set of miserable ruffians. I'm sorry to +say that there are a lot of my tenants among them. But it's no use +discussing that now."</p> + +<p>"I can only go on," said Daly, "as though they were in bed." Then he +put his hand in his pocket, and felt that the pistol was there.</p> + +<p>Mr. Persse saw what he did, and knew that his hand was on the pistol. +"We have only a minute now to decide," he said.</p> + +<p>"To decide what?" asked Daly.</p> + +<p>"There must be no violence on our side." Daly turned round his face +upon him, and looked at him from the bottom of those two dark +caverns. "Believe me when I say it; there must be no violence on our +side."</p> + +<p>"If they attempt to stop my horse?"</p> + +<p>"There must be no violence on our side to bring us, or rather you, to +further grief."</p> + +<p>"By God! I'd shoot the man who did it," said Daly.</p> + +<p>"No, no; let there be no shooting. Were you to do so, there can be no +doubt that you would be tried by a jury +<span class="nowrap">and—"</span></p> + +<p>"Hanged," said Daly. "May be so; I have got to look that in the face. +It is an accursed country in which we are living."</p> + +<p>"But you would not encounter the danger in carrying out a trifling +amusement such as this?"</p> + +<p>Daly again turned round and looked at him. Was this work of his life, +this employment on which he was so conscientiously eager, to be +called trifling? Did they know the thoughts which it cost him, the +hard work by which it was achieved, the days and nights which were +devoted to it? Trifling amusement! To him it was the work of his +life. To those around him it was the best part of theirs.</p> + +<p>"I will not interfere with them," Daly said.</p> + +<p>He alluded here to the enemies of hunting generally. He had not +hunted the country so long without having had many rows with many +men. Farmers, angry with him for the moment, had endeavoured to stop +him as he rode upon their land; and they had poisoned his foxes from +revenge, or stolen them from cupidity. He had borne with such men, +expressing the severity of his judgment chiefly by the look of his +eyes; but he had never quarrelled with them violently. They had been +contemptible people whom it would be better to look at than to shoot. +But here were men coming, or were there now, prepared to fight with +him for his rights. And he would fight with them, even though hanging +should be the end of it.</p> + +<p>"I will not interfere with them, unless they interfere with me."</p> + +<p>"Have you a pistol with you, Daly?" said Persse.</p> + +<p>"I have."</p> + +<p>"Then give it me."</p> + +<p>"Not so. If I want to use a pistol it will be better to have it in my +own pocket than in yours. If I do not want to use it I can keep it +myself, and no one will be the wiser."</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Daly."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Persse?"</p> + +<p>"Do not call me 'Mr. Persse,' as though you were determined to +quarrel with me. It will be well that you should take advice in this +matter from those whom you have known all your life. There is Sir +Nicholas <span class="nowrap">Bodkin—"</span></p> + +<p>"He may be one of them for all that I can tell," said Daly.</p> + +<p>"Lord Ardrahan is not one of them. And Sir Jasper Lynch, and Blake of +Letterkenny, they are all there, if you will speak to them. In such a +matter as this it is not worth your while to get into serious +trouble. To you and me hunting is a matter of much importance; but +the world at large will not regard it as one in which blood should be +shed. They will come prepared to make themselves disagreeable, but if +there be bloodshed it will simply be by your hands. And think what an +injury you would do to your side of the question, and what a benefit +to theirs!"</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"We are regarded as the dominant party, as gentlemen who ought to do +what is right, and support the laws."</p> + +<p>"If I am attacked may I not defend myself?"</p> + +<p>"No; not by a pistol carried loaded into a hunting-field. You would +have all the world against you."</p> + +<p>Then the two men rode on silently together. The hounds were drawing +the woods of Ballytowngal, but had not found, and were prepared to go +on to Moytubber. But, according to the Galway custom, Barney Smith +was waiting for orders from his master. Daly now sat stock still upon +his horse for awhile, looking at the dark fringe of trees by which +the park was surrounded. He was thinking, as well as he knew how to +think, of the position in which he was placed. To be driven to go +contrary to his fixed purpose by fear was a course intolerable to +him. But to have done that which was clearly injurious to his party +was as bad. And this Persse to whom he had shown his momentary anger +by calling him Mr., was a man whom he greatly regarded. There was no +one in the field whose word would go further with him in hunting +matters. He had clearly been rightly chosen as a deputation. But Daly +knew that as he had gone to bed the previous night, and as he had got +up in the morning, and as he had trotted along by Monivea +cross-roads, and had met Peter Bodkin, every thought of his mind had +been intent on the pistol within his pocket. To shoot a man who +should lay hold of him or his horse, or endeavour to stop his horse, +had seemed to him to be bare justice. But he had resolved that he +would first give some spoken warning to the sinner. After that, God +help the man; for he would find no help in Black Tom Daly.</p> + +<p>But now his mind was shaken by the admonitions of Mr. Persse. He +could not say of Mr. Persse as he had said, most unjustly, of Sir +Nicholas, that he was one of them. Mr. Persse was well-known as a +Tory and a Protestant, and an indefatigable opponent of Home-Rulers. +To Sir Nicholas, in the minds of some men, there attached a slight +stain of his religion. "I will keep the pistol in my pocket," said +Tom Daly, without turning his eyes away from the belt of trees.</p> + +<p>"Had you not better trust it with me?" said Mr. Persse.</p> + +<p>"No, I am not such an idiot as to shoot a man when I do not intend +it."</p> + +<p>"Seeing how moved you are, I thought that perhaps the pistol might be +safer in my hands."</p> + +<p>"No, the pistol shall remain with me." Then he turned round to join +Barney Smith, who was waiting for him up by the gate out of the +covert. But he turned again to say a word to Mr. Persse. "Thank you, +Persse, I am obliged to you. It might be inconvenient being locked up +before the season is over." Then a weird grin covered his face; which +was the nearest approach to laughter ever seen with Black Tom Daly.</p> + +<p>From Ballytowngal to Moytubber was about a mile and a half. Some few, +during the conversation between Mr. Persse and the master, had gone +on, so that they might be the first to see what was in store for +them. But the crowd of horsemen had remained with their eyes fixed +upon Daly. He rode up to them and passed on without speaking a word, +except that he gave the necessary orders to Barney Smith. Then two or +three clustered round Mr. Persse, asking him whispered questions. +"It'll be all right," said Persse, nodding his head; and so the +<i>cortège</i> passed on. But not a word was spoken by Daly himself, +either then or afterwards, except a whispered order or two given to +Barney Smith. Moytubber is a gorse covert lying about three hundred +yards from the road, and through it the horsemen always passed; on +other occasions it was locked. Now the gate had been taken off its +hinges and thrown back upon the bank; and Daly, as he passed into the +field, perceived that the covert was surrounded by a crowd.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-11" id="c1-11"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> +<h4>MOYTUBBER.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>"What's all this about?" said Tom as he rode up the covert side, and +addressing a man whose face he happened to know. He was one Kit +Mooney, a baker from Claregalway, who in these latter days had turned +Landleaguer. But he was one who simply thought that his bread might +be better buttered for him on that side of the question. He was not +an ardent politician; but few local Irishmen were so. Had no stirring +spirits been wafted across the waters from America to teach Irishmen +that one man is as good as another, or generally better, Kit Mooney +would never have found it out. Had not his zeal been awakened by the +eloquence of Mr. O'Meagher, the member for Athlone, who had just made +a grand speech to the people at Athenry, Kit Mooney would have gone +on in his old ways, and would at this moment have been touching his +hat to Tom Daly, and whispering to him of the fox that had lately +been seen "staling away jist there, Mr. Daly, 'fore a'most yer very +eyes." But Mr. O'Meagher had spent three glorious weeks in New York, +and, having practised the art of speaking on board the steamer as he +returned, had come to Athenry and filled the mind of Kit Mooney and +sundry others with political truth of the deepest dye. But the gist +of the truths so taught had been chiefly this:—that if a man did not +pay his rent, but kept his money in his pocket, he manifestly did two +good things; he enriched himself, and he so far pauperised the +landlord, who was naturally his enemy. What other teaching could be +necessary to make Kit understand,—Kit Mooney who held twenty acres +of meadow land convenient to the town of Claregalway,—that this was +the way to thrive in the world? "Rent is not known in America, that +great and glorious country. Every man owns the fields which he +cultivates. Why should you here allow yourself to be degraded by the +unmanly name of tenants? The earth which supports you should be as +free to you as the air you breathe." Such had been the eloquence of +Mr. O'Meagher; and it had stirred the mind of Kit Mooney and made him +feel that life should be recommenced by him under new principles. +Things had not quite gone swimmingly with him since, because Nicholas +Bodkin's agent had caused a sheriff's bailiff to appear upon the +scene, and the notion of keeping the landlord's rent in the pocket +had been found to be surrounded with difficulties. But the great +principle was there, and there had come another eloquent man, who had +also been in America; and Kit Mooney was now a confirmed Landleaguer.</p> + +<p>"Faix thin, yer honour, it isn't much hunting the quality will see +this day out of Moytubber; nor yet nowhere round, av the boys are as +good as their word."</p> + +<p>"Why should they not hunt at Moytubber?" said Mr. Daly, who, as he +looked around saw indeed ample cause why there should be no hunting. +He had thought as he trotted along the road that some individual +Landleaguer would hold his horse by the rein and cause him to stop +him in the performance of his duty; but there were two hundred +footmen there roaming at will through the sacred precincts of the +gorse, and Daly knew well that no fox could have remained there with +such a crowd around him.</p> + +<p>"The boys are just taking their pleasure themselves this fine +Christmas morning," said Kit, who had not moved from the bank on +which he had been found sitting. "Begorra, you'll find 'em all out +about the counthry, intirely, Mr. Daly. They're out to make your +honour welcome. There is lashings of 'em across in Phil French's +woods and all down to Peter Brown's, away at Oranmore. There is not a +boy in the barony but what is out to bid yer honour welcome this +morning."</p> + +<p>Kit Mooney could not have given a more exact account of what was +being done by "the boys" on that morning had he owned all those rich +gifts of eloquence which Mr. O'Meagher possessed. Tom Daly at once +saw that there was no need for shooting any culprit, and was +thankful. The interruption to the sport of the county had become much +more general than he had expected, and it was apparently so organised +as to have spread itself over all that portion of County Galway, in +which his hounds ran. "Bedad, Mr. Daly, what Kit says is thrue," said +another man whom he did not know. "You'll find 'em out everywhere. +Why ain't the boys to be having their fun?"</p> + +<p>It was useless to allow a hound to go into the covert of Moytubber. +The crowd around was waiting anxiously to see the attempt made, so +that they might enjoy their triumph. To watch Black Tom drawing +Moytubber without a fox would be nuts to them; and then to follow the +hounds on to the next covert, and to the next, with the same result, +would afford them an ample day's amusement. But the Bodkins, and the +Blakes, and the Persses were quite alive to this, and so also was Tom +Daly. A council of war was therefore held, in order that the line of +conduct might be adopted which might be held to be most conducive to +the general dignity of the hunt.</p> + +<p>"I should send the hounds home," said Lord Ardrahan. "If Mr. Daly +would call at my place and lunch, as he goes by, I should be most +happy."</p> + +<p>Tom Daly, on hearing this, only shook his head. The shake was +intended to signify that he did not like the advice tendered, nor the +accompanying hospitable offer. To go home would be to throw down +their arms at once, and acknowledge themselves beaten. If beaten +to-day, why should they not be beaten on another day, and then what +would become of Tom Daly's employment? A sad idea came across his +mind, as he shook his head, warning him that in this terrible affair +of to-day, he might see the end of all his life's work. Such a +thought had never occurred to him before. If a crowd of disloyal +Roman Catholics chose to prevent the gentry in their hunting, +undoubtedly they had the power. Daly was slow at thinking, but an +idea when it had once come home to him, struck him forcibly. As he +shook his head at that moment he bethought himself, what would become +of Black Daly if the people of the county refused to allow his hounds +to run? And a second idea struck him,—that he certainly would not +lunch with Lord Ardrahan. Lord Ardrahan was, to his thinking, +somewhat pompous, and had been felt by Tom to expect that he, Tom, +should acknowledge the inferiority of his position by his demeanour. +Now such an idea as this was altogether in opposition to Tom's mode +of living. Even though the hounds were to be taken away from him, and +he were left at Daly's Bridge with the £200 a year which had come to +him from his father, he would make no such acknowledgment as that to +any gentleman in County Galway. So he shook his head, and said not a +word in answer to Lord Ardrahan.</p> + +<p>"What do you propose to do, Daly?" demanded Mr. Persse.</p> + +<p>"Go on and draw till night. There's a moon, and if we can find a fox +before ten, Barney and I will manage to kill him. Those blackguards +can't keep on with us." This was Daly's plan, spoken out within +hearing of many of the blackguards.</p> + +<p>"You had better take my offer, and come to Ardrahan Castle," said his +lordship.</p> + +<p>"No, my lord," said Daly, with the tone of authority which a master +of hounds always knows how to assume.</p> + +<p>"I shall draw on. Barney, get the hounds together." Then he whispered +to Barney Smith that the hounds should go on to Kilcornan. Now +Kilcornan was a place much beloved by foxes, about ten miles distant +from Moytubber. It was not among the coverts appointed to be drawn on +that day, which all lay back towards Ahaseragh. At Kilcornan the +earths would be found to open. But it would be better to trot off +rapidly to some distant home for foxes, even though the day's sport +might be lost. Daly was very anxious that it should not be said +through the country that he had been driven home by a set of roughs +from any one covert or another. The day's draw would be known—the +line of the country, that is, which, in the ordinary course of +things, he would follow on that day. But by going to Kilcornan he +might throw them off his scent. So he started for Kilcornan, having +whispered his orders to Barney Smith, but communicating his +intentions to no one else.</p> + +<p>"What will you do, Daly?" said Sir Jasper Lynch.</p> + +<p>"Go on."</p> + +<p>"But where will you go?" inquired the baronet. He was a man about +Daly's age, with whom Daly was on comfortable terms. He had no cause +for being crabbed with Sir Jasper as with Lord Ardrahan. But he did +not want to declare his purpose to any man. There is no one in the +ordinary work of his life so mysterious as a master of hounds. And +among masters no one was more mysterious than Tom Daly. And this, +too, was no ordinary day. Tom only shook his head and trotted on in +advance. His secret had been told only to Barney Smith, and with +Barney Smith he knew that it would be safe.</p> + +<p>So they all trotted off at a pace much faster than usual. "What's up +with Black Tom now?" asked Sir Nicholas of Sir Jasper. "What's Daly +up to now?" asked Mr. Blake of Mr. Persse. They all shook their +heads, and declared themselves willing to follow their leader without +further inquiry. "I suppose he knows what he's about," said Mr. +Persse; "but we, at any rate, must go and see." So they followed him; +and in half an hour's time it became apparent that they were going to +Kilcornan.</p> + +<p>But at Kilcornan they found a crowd almost equal to that which had +stopped them at Moytubber. Kilcornan is a large demesne, into which +they would, in the ordinary course, have made their entrance through +the lodge gate. At present they went at once to an outlying covert, +which was supposed to be especially the abode of foxes; but even +here, as Barney trotted up with his hounds, at a pace much quicker +than usual, they found that the ground before them had been occupied +by Landleaguers. "You'll not do much in the hunting way to-day, +Muster Daly," said one of the intruders. "When we heard you were +a-coming we had a little hunt of our own. There ain't a fox anywhere +about the place now, Muster Daly." Tom Daly turned round and sat on +his big black horse, frowning at the world before him; a sorrowful +man. What shall we do next? It does not behove a master of hounds to +seek counsel in difficulty from anyone. A man, if he is master, +should be sufficient to himself in all emergencies. No man felt this +more clearly than did Black Tom Daly. He had been ashamed of himself +once this morning, because he had taken advice from Mr. Persse. But +now he must think the matter out for himself and follow his own +devices.</p> + +<p>It was as yet only two o'clock, but he had come on at a great pace, +taking much more out of his horse than was usual to him on such +occasions. But, sitting there, he did make up his mind. He would go +on to Mr. Lambert's place at Clare, and would draw the coverts, going +there as fast as the horse's legs would carry him. There he would +borrow two horses if it were possible, but one, at least, for Barney +Smith. Then he would draw back by impossible routes, to the kennels +at Ahaseragh. Men might come with him or might go; but to none would +he tell his mind. If Providence would only send him a fox on the +route, all things, he thought, might still be well with him. It would +be odd if he and Barney Smith, between them, were not able to give an +account of that fox when they had done with him. But if he should +find no such fox—if he, the master of the Galway hounds, should have +ridden backwards and forwards across County Galway, and have been +impeded altogether in his efforts by wretched Landleaguers, then—as +he thought—a final day would have to come for him.</p> + +<p>He spoke no word to anyone, but he did go on just as he proposed to +himself. He drew Clare, but drew it blank; and then, leaving his own +horses, he borrowed two others for himself and Barney, and went on +upon his route. Before the day was over—or rather, before the night +was far advanced—he had borrowed three others, in his course about +the country, for himself and his servants. Quick as lightning he went +from covert to covert; but the conspiracy had been well arranged, and +a holiday for the foxes in County Galway was established for that +day. Some men were very stanch to him, going with him whither they +knew not, so that "poor dear Tom" might not be left alone; but alone +he was during the long evening of that day, as far as all +conversation went. He spoke to no one, except to Barney, and to him +only a few words; giving him a direction as to where he should go +next, and into what covert he should put the hounds. They, too, must +have been much surprised and very weary, as they dragged their tired +limbs to their kennel, at about eight o'clock. And Tom Daly's ride +across the country will long be remembered, and the exertions which +he made to find a fox on that day.</p> + +<p>But it was all in vain. As Tom ate his solitary mutton-chop, and +drank his cold whisky and water, and then took himself to bed, he was +a melancholy man. The occupation of his life, he thought, was gone. +These reprobates, whom he now hated worse than ever, having learned +their powers to disturb the amusements of their betters, would never +allow another day's hunting in the county. He was aware now, though +he never had thought of it before, by how weak a hold his right of +hunting the country was held. He and his hounds could go into any +covert; but so also could any other man, with or without hounds. To +disturb a fox, three or four men would suffice; one would suffice +according to Tom's idea of a fox. The occupation of his life was +over.</p> + +<p>Tom Daly was by nature a melancholy man. All County Galway knew that. +He was a man not given to many words, by no means devoted to sport in +the ordinary sense. It was a hard business that he had undertaken. +The work was in every sense hard, and the payment made was very +small. In fact no payment was made, other than that of his being +lifted into a position in which he was able to hold his head high +among gentlemen of property. What should he do with himself during +the remainder of his life, if hunting in County Galway was brought to +an end? He was an intent, eager man, whom it was hard to teach that +the occupations of his life were less worthy than those of other men. +But there had come moments of doubt as he had sat alone in his little +room at Ahaseragh and had meditated, whether the pursuit of vermin +was worthy all the energy which he had given to it.</p> + +<p>"You may sell those brutes of yours now, and then perhaps you'll be +able to educate your children." So Sir Nicholas Bodkin had addressed +his eldest son, as they rode home together on that occasion.</p> + +<p>"Why so?" Peter had asked, thinking more of the "brutes" alluded to +than of the children. He was accustomed to the tone of his father's +remarks, and cared for them not more than the ordinary son cares for +the expression of the ordinary father's ill humour. But now he knew +that some reference was intended to the interruption that had been +made in their day's sport, and was anxious to learn what his father +thought about it. "Why so?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Because you won't want them for this game any longer. Hunting is +done with in these parts. When a blackguard like Kit Mooney is able +to address such a one as Tom Daly after that fashion, anything that +requires respect may be said to be over. Hunting has existed solely +on respect. I had intended to buy that mare of French's, but I shan't +now."</p> + +<p>"What does all that mean, Lynch?" said Mr. Persse to Sir Jasper, as +they rode home together.</p> + +<p>"It means quarrelling to the knife."</p> + +<p>"In a quarrel to the knife," said Mr. Persse, "all lighter things +must be thrown away. Daly had brought a pistol in his pocket as you +heard this morning. I have been thinking of it ever since; and, +putting two and two together, it seems to me to be almost impossible +that hunting should go on in County Galway."</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-12" id="c1-12"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> +<h4>"DON'T HATE HIM, ADA."<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Among those who had gone as far as Mr. Lambert's, but had not +proceeded further, had been Frank Jones. He had heard and seen what +has been narrated, and was as much impressed as others with the +condition of the country. The populace generally—for so it had +seemed to be—had risen <i>en masse</i> to put down the amusement of the +gentry, and there had been a secret conspiracy, so that they had been +able to do the same thing in different parts of the county. Frank, as +he rode back to Morony Castle, a long way from Mr. Lambert's covert, +was very melancholy in his mind. The persecution of Mahomet M. Moss +and of the Landleaguers together was almost too much for him.</p> + +<p>When he got home his father also was melancholy, and the girls were +melancholy. "What sport have you had, Frank?" said the father. But he +asked the question in a melancholy tone, simply as being one which +the son expects on returning from hunting. In this expectation Mr. +Jones gave way. Frank shook his head, but did not utter a word.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"The whole country is in arms." This, no doubt, was an exaggeration, +as the only arms that had been brought to Moytubber on the occasion +had been the pistol in Tom Daly's pocket.</p> + +<p>"In arms?" said Philip Jones.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes! I call it so. I call men in arms, when they are prepared +to carry out any illegal purpose by violence, and these men have done +that all through the County Galway."</p> + +<p>"What have they done?"</p> + +<p>"You know where the meet was; well, they drew Ballytowngal, and found +no fox there. It was not expected, and nothing happened there. The +people did not come into old Nick Bodkin's demesne, but we had heard +by the time that we were there that we should come across a lot of +Landleaguers at Moytubber. There they were as thick as bees round the +covert, and there was one man who had the impudence to tell Tom Daly +that draw where he might, he would draw in vain for a fox to-day in +County Galway."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that there was a crowd?" asked Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"A crowd! Yes, all Claregalway seemed to have turned out. Claregalway +is not much of a place, but everyone was there from Oranmore and from +Athenry, and half the town from Galway city." This certainly was an +exaggeration on the part of Frank, but was excused by his desire to +impress his father with the real truth in the matter. "I never saw +half such a number of people by a covert side. But the truth was soon +known. They had beat Moytubber, and kicked up such a row as the foxes +in that gorse had never heard before. And they were not slow in +obtaining their object."</p> + +<p>"Their object was clear enough."</p> + +<p>"They didn't intend that the hounds should hunt that day either at +Moytubber or elsewhere. Daly did not put his hounds into the covert +at all; but rode away as fast as his horse's legs could carry him to +Kilcornan."</p> + +<p>"That must be ten miles at least," said his father.</p> + +<p>"Twenty, I should think. But we rode away at a hand-gallop, leaving +the crowd behind us." This again was an exaggeration. "But when we +got to the covert at Kilcornan there was just the same sort of crowd, +and just the same work had been on foot. The men there all told us +that we need not expect to find a fox. A rumour had got about the +field by this time that Tom Daly had a loaded pistol in his pocket. +What he meant to do with it I don't know. He could have done no good +without a regular massacre."</p> + +<p>"Did he show his pistol?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't see it; but I do believe it was there. Some of the old +fogies were awfully solemn about it."</p> + +<p>"What was the end of it all?" asked Edith, who together with her +sister was now listening to Frank's narrative.</p> + +<p>"You know Mr. Lambert's place on the road towards Gort. It's a long +way off, and I'm a little out of my latitude there. But I went as far +as that, and found a bigger crowd than ever. They said that all Gort +was there; but Tom having drawn the covert, went on, and swore that +he wouldn't leave a place in all County Galway untried. He borrowed +fresh horses, and went on with Barney Smith as grim as death. He is +still drawing his covert somewhere."</p> + +<p>It was thus that Frank Jones told the story of that day's hunting. To +his father's ears it sounded as being very ominous. He did not care +much for hunting himself, nor would it much perplex him if the +Landleaguers would confine themselves to this mode of operations. But +as he heard of the crowds surrounding the coverts through the county, +he thought also of his many acres still under water, by the operation +of a man who had taken upon himself to be his enemy. And the whole +morning had been spent in fruitless endeavours to make Florian tell +the truth. The boy had remained surly, sullen, and silent. "He will +tell me at last," Edith had said to her father. But her father had +said, that unless the truth were now told, he must allow the affair +to go by. "The time for dealing with the matter will be gone," he had +said. "Pat Carroll is going about the country as bold as brass, and +says that he will fix his own rent; whereas I know, and all the +tenants know, that he ought to be in Galway jail. There isn't a man +on the estate who isn't certain that it was he, with five or six +others, who let the waters in upon the meadows."</p> + +<p>"Then why on earth cannot you make them tell?"</p> + +<p>"They say that they only think it," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"The very best of them only think it," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"And there is not one of them," said Mr. Jones, "whom you could trust +to put into a witness-box. To tell the truth, I do not see what right +I have to ask them to go there. If I was to select a man,—or two, +how can I say to them, 'forget yourself, forget your wife and +children, encounter possible murder, and probable ruin, in order that +I may get my revenge on this man'?"</p> + +<p>"It is not revenge but justice," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"It would be revenge to their minds. And if it came to pass that +there was a man who would thus sacrifice himself to me, what must I +do with him afterwards? Were I to send him to America with money, and +take his land into my own hand, see what horrible things would be +said of me. The sort of witness I want to back up others, who would +then be made to come, is Florian."</p> + +<p>"What would they do to him?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"I could send him to an English school for a couple of years, till +all this should have passed by. I have thought of that."</p> + +<p>"That, too, would cost money," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Of course it would cost money, but it would be forthcoming, rather +than that the boy should be in danger. But the feeling, to me, as to +the boy himself, comes uppermost. It is that he himself should have +such a secret in his bosom, and keep it there, locked fast, in +opposition to his own father. I want to get it out of him while he is +yet a boy, so that his name shall not go abroad as one who, by such +manifest falsehood, took part against his own father. It is the +injury done to him, rather than the injury done to me."</p> + +<p>"He has promised his priest that he will not tell," said Edith, +making what excuse she could for her brother.</p> + +<p>"He has not promised his priest," said Mr. Jones. "He has made no +promise to Father Malachi, of Ballintubber. If he has promised at all +it is to that pestilent fellow at Headford. The curate at Headford is +not his priest, and why should a promise made to any priest be more +sacred than one made to another, unless it were made in confession? I +cannot understand Florian. It seems as though he were anxious to take +part with these wretches against his country, against his religion, +and against his father. It is unintelligible to me that a boy of his +age should, at the same time, be so precocious and so stupid. I have +told him that I know him to be a liar, and that until he will tell +the truth he shall not come into my presence." Having so spoken the +father sat silent, while Frank went off to dress.</p> + +<p>It was felt by them all that a terrible decision had been come to in +the family. A verdict had gone out and had pronounced Florian guilty. +They had all gradually come to think that it was so. But now the +judge had pronounced the doom. The lad was not to be allowed into his +presence during the continuance of the present state of things. In +the first place, how was he to be kept out of his father's presence? +And the boy was one who would turn mutinous in spirit under such a +command. The meaning of it was that he should not sit at table with +his father. But, in accordance with the ways of the family, he had +always done so. A separate breakfast must be provided for him, and a +separate dinner. Then would there not be danger that he should be +driven to look for his friends elsewhere? Would he not associate with +Father Brosnan, or, worse again, with Pat Carroll? "Ada," said Edith +that night as they sat together, "Florian must be made to confess."</p> + +<p>"How make him?"</p> + +<p>"You and I must do it."</p> + +<p>"That's all very well," said Ada, "but how? You have been at him now +for nine months, and have not moved him. He's the most obstinate boy, +I think, that ever lived."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, there is something in it all that makes me love him the +better?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Is there? There is something in it that almost makes me hate him."</p> + +<p>"Don't hate him, Ada—if you can help it. He has got some religious +idea into his head. It is all stupid."</p> + +<p>"It is beastly," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"You may call it as you please," said the other, "it is stupid and +beastly. He is travelling altogether in a wrong direction, and is +putting everybody concerned with him in immense trouble. It may be +quite right that a person should be a Roman Catholic—or that he +should be a Protestant; but before one turns from one to the other, +one should be old enough to know something about it. It is very +vexatious; but with Flory there is, I think, some idea of an idea. He +has got it into his head that the Catholics are a downtrodden people, +and therefore he will be one of them."</p> + +<p>"That is such bosh," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"It is so, to your thinking, but not to his. In loving him or hating +him you've got to love him or hate him as a boy. Of course it's +wicked that a boy should lie,—or a man, or a woman, or a girl; but +they do. I don't see why we are to turn against a boy of our own, +when we know that other boys lie. He has got a notion into his head +that he is doing quite right, because the priest has told him."</p> + +<p>"He is doing quite wrong," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"And now what are we to do about his breakfast? Papa says that he is +not to be allowed to come into the room, and papa means it. You and I +will have to breakfast with him and dine with him, first one and then +the other."</p> + +<p>"But papa will miss us."</p> + +<p>"We must go through the ceremony of a second breakfast and a second +dinner." This was the beginning of Edith's scheme. "Of course it's a +bore; all things are bores. This about the flood is the most terrible +bore I ever knew. But I'm not going to let Flory go to the devil +without making an effort to save him. It would be going to the devil, +if he were left alone in his present position."</p> + +<p>"Papa will see that we don't eat anything."</p> + +<p>"Of course he must be told. There never ought to be any secrets in +anything. Of course he'll grow used to it, and won't expect us to sit +there always and eat nothing. He thinks he's right, and perhaps he +is. Flory will feel the weight of his displeasure; and if we talk to +him we may persuade him."</p> + +<p>This state of things at Morony Castle was allowed to go on with few +other words said upon the subject. The father became more and more +gloomy, as the floods held their own upon the broad meadows. Pat +Carroll had been before the magistrates at Headford, and had been +discharged, as all evidence was lacking to connect him with the +occurrence. Further effort none was made, and Pat Carroll went on in +his course, swearing that not a shilling of rent should be paid by +him in next March. "The floods had done him a great injury," he said +laughingly among his companions, "so that it was unreasonable to +expect that he should pay." It was true he had owed a half-year's +rent last November; but then it had become customary with Mr. Jones's +tenants to be allowed the indulgence of six months. No more at any +rate would be said about rent till March should come.</p> + +<p>And now, superinduced upon this cause of misery, had come the tidings +which had been spread everywhere through the county in regard to the +Galway hunt. Tom Daly had gone on regularly with his meets, and had +not indeed been stopped everywhere. His heart had been gladdened by a +wonderful run which he had had from Carnlough. The people had not +interfered there, and the day had been altogether propitious. Tom had +for the moment been in high good humour; but the interruption had +come again, and had been so repeated as to make him feel that his +occupation was in truth gone. The gentry of the county had then held +a meeting at Ballinasloe, and had decided that the hounds should be +withdrawn for the remainder of the season. No one who has not ridden +with the hounds regularly can understand the effect of such an order. +There was no old woman with a turkey in her possession who did not +feel herself thereby entitled to destroy the fox who came lurking +about her poultry-yard. Nor was there a gentleman who owned a +pheasant who did not feel himself animated in some degree by the same +feeling. "As there's to be an end of fox-hunting in County Galway, we +can do what we like with our own coverts." "I shall go in for +shooting," Sir Nicholas Bodkin had been heard to say.</p> + +<p>But Black Tom Daly sat alone gloomily in his room at Ahaseragh, where +it suited him still to be present and look after the hounds, and told +himself that the occupation of his life was gone. Who would want to +buy a horse even, now that the chief object for horses was at an end?</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-13" id="c1-13"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> +<h4>EDITH'S ELOQUENCE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Thus they lived through the months of January and February, 1881, at +Morony Castle, and Florian had not as yet told his secret. As a boy +his nature had seemed to be entirely altered during the last six +months. He was thoughtful, morose, and obstinate to a degree, which +his father was unable to fathom. But during these last two months +there had been no intercourse between them. It may almost be said +that no word had been addressed by either to the other. No further +kind of punishment had been inflicted. Indeed, the boy enjoyed a much +wider liberty than had been given to him before, or than was good for +him. For his father not only gave no orders to him, but seldom spoke +concerning him. It was, however, a terrible trouble to his mind, the +fact that his own son should be thus possessed of his own peculiar +secret, and should continue from month to month hiding it within his +own bosom. With Father Malachi Mr. Jones was on good terms, but to +him he could say nothing on the subject. The absurdity of the +conversion, or perversion, of the boy, in reference to his religion, +made Mr. Jones unwilling to speak of him to any Roman Catholic +priest. Father Malachi would no doubt have owned that the boy had +been altogether unable to see, by his own light, the difference +between the two religions. But he would have attributed the change to +the direct interposition of God. He would not have declared in so +many words that a miracle had been performed in the boy's favour, but +this would have been the meaning of the argument he would have used. +In fact, the gaining of a proselyte under any circumstances would +have been an advantage too great to jeopardise by any arguments in +the matter. The Protestant clergyman at Headford, in whose parish +Morony Castle was supposed to have been situated, was a thin, bigoted +Protestant, of that kind which used to be common in Ireland. Mr. +Armstrong was a gentleman, who held it to be an established fact that +a Roman Catholic must necessarily go to the devil. In all the +moralities he was perfect. He was a married man, with a wife and six +children, all of whom he brought up and educated on £250 a year. He +never was in debt; he performed all his duties—such as they +were—and passed his time in making rude and unavailing attempts to +convert his poorer neighbours. There was a union,—or poor-house—in +the neighbourhood, to which he would carry morsels of meat in his +pocket on Friday, thinking that the poor wretches who had flown in +the face of their priest by eating the unhallowed morsels, would then +have made a first step towards Protestantism. He was charitable, with +so little means for charity; he was very eager in his discourses, in +the course of which he would preach to a dozen Protestants for +three-quarters of an hour, and would confine himself to one subject, +the iniquities of the Roman Catholic religion. He had heard of +Florian's perversion, and had made it the topic on which he had +declaimed for two Sundays. He had attempted to argue with Father +Brosnan, but had been like a babe in his hands. He ate and drank of +the poorest, and clothed himself so as just to maintain his clerical +aspect. All his aspirations were of such a nature as to entitle him +to a crown of martyrdom. But they were certainly not of a nature to +justify him in expecting any promotion on this earth. Such was Mr. +Joseph Armstrong, of Headford, and from him no aid, or counsel, or +pleasant friendship could be expected in this matter.</p> + +<p>The trouble of Florian's education fell for the nonce into Edith's +hands. He had hitherto worked under various preceptors; his father, +his sister, and his brother; also a private school at Galway for a +time had had the charge of him. But now Edith alone undertook the +duty. Gradually the boy began to have a way of his own, and to tell +himself that he was only bound to be obedient during certain hours of +the morning. In this way the whole day after twelve o'clock was at +his own disposal, and he never told any of the family what he then +did. Peter, the butler, perhaps knew where he went, but even to Peter +the butler, the knowledge was a trouble; for Peter, though a stanch +Roman Catholic, was not inclined to side with anyone against his own +master. Florian, in truth, did see more of Pat Carroll than he should +have done; and, though it would be wrong to suppose that he took a +part against his father, he no doubt discussed the questions which +were of interest to Pat Carroll, in a manner that would have been +very displeasing to his father. "Faix, Mr. Flory," Pat would say to +him, "'av you're one of us, you've got to be one of us; you've had a +glimmer of light, as Father Brosnan says, to see the errors of your +way; but you've got to see the errors of your way on 'arth as well as +above. Dragging the rint out o' the body and bones o' the people, +like hair from a woman's head, isn't the way, and so you'll have to +larn." Then Florian would endeavour to argue with his friend, and +struggle to make him understand that in the present complicated state +of things it was necessary that a certain amount of rent should go to +Morony Castle to keep up the expenses there.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't do, you know, without Peter; nor yet very well without +the carriage and horses. It's all nonsense saying that there should +be no rent; where are we to get our clothes from?" But these +arguments, though very good of their kind, had no weight with Pat +Carroll, whose great doctrine it was that rent was an evil <i>per se</i>; +and that his world would certainly go on a great deal better if there +were no rent.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you got half the land of Ballintubber in your hands?" said +Carroll. Here Florian in a whisper reminded Pat that the lands of +Ballintubber were at this moment under water, and had been put so by +his operation. "Why wouldn't he make me a statement when I asked for +it?" said Carroll, with a coarse grin, which almost frightened the +boy.</p> + +<p>"Flory," said Edith to the boy that afternoon, "you did see the men +at work upon the sluices that afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"We all believe that you did."</p> + +<p>"But I didn't."</p> + +<p>"You may as well listen to me this once. We all believe that you +did—papa and I, and Frank and Ada; Peter believes it; there's not a +servant about the place but what believes it. Everybody believes it +at Headford. Mr. Blake at Carnlough, and all the Blakes believe it."</p> + +<p>"I don't care a bit about Mr. Blake," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"But you do care about your own father. If you were to go up and down +to Galway by the boat, you would find that everybody on board +believes it. The country people would say that you had turned against +your father because of your religion. Mr. Morris, from beyond Cong, +was here the other day, and from what he said about the floods it was +easy to see that he believed it."</p> + +<p>"If you believe Mr. Morris better than you do me, you may go your own +ways by yourself."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that, Flory. I may believe Mr. Morris in this matter +better than I do you, and yet not intend to go my own ways by myself. +I don't believe you at all on this subject."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, don't."</p> + +<p>"But I want to find out, if I can, what may be the cause of so +terrible a falsehood on your part. It has come to that, that though +you tell the lie, you almost admit that it is a lie."</p> + +<p>"I don't admit it."</p> + +<p>"It is as good as admitted. The position you assume is this: 'I saw +the gates destroyed, but I am not going to say so in evidence, +because it suits me to take part with Pat Carroll, and to go against +my own father.'"</p> + +<p>"You've no business to put words like that into my mouth."</p> + +<p>"I'm telling you what everybody thinks. Would your father treat you +as he does now without a cause? And are you to remain here, and to go +down and down in the world till you become such a one as Pat Carroll? +And you will have to live like Pat Carroll, with the knowledge in +everyone's heart that you have been untrue to your father. They are +becoming dishonest, false knaves, untrue to their promises, the very +scum of the earth, because of their credulity and broken vows; but +what am I to say of you? You will have been as false and perfidious +and credulous as they. You will have thrown away everything good to +gratify the ambition of some empty traitor. And you will have done it +all against your own father." Here she paused and looked at him. They +were roaming at the time round the demesne, and he walked on, but +said nothing. "I know what you are thinking of, Flory."</p> + +<p>"What am I thinking of?"</p> + +<p>"You're thinking of your duty; you are thinking whether you can bring +yourself to make a clean breast of it, and break the promises which +you have made."</p> + +<p>"Nobody should break a promise," said he.</p> + +<p>"And nobody should tell a lie. When one finds oneself in the +difficulty one has to go back and find out where the evil thing first +began."</p> + +<p>"I gave the promise first," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"No such promise should ever have been given. Your first duty in the +matter was to your father."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that at all," said Florian. "My first duty is to my +religion."</p> + +<p>"Even to do evil for its sake? Go to Father Malachi, and ask him."</p> + +<p>"Father Malachi isn't the man to whom I should like to tell +everything. Father Brosnan is a much better sort of clergyman. He is +my confessor, and I choose to go by what he tells me."</p> + +<p>"Then you will be a traitor to your father."</p> + +<p>"I am not a traitor," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"And yet you admit that some promise has been given—some promise +which you dare not own. You cannot but know in your own heart that I +know the truth. You have seen that man Carroll doing the mischief, +and have promised him to hold your tongue about it. You have not, +then, understood at all the nature or extent of the evil done. You +have not, then, known that it would be your father's duty to put down +this turbulent ruffian. You have promised, and having promised, +Father Brosnan has frightened you. He and Pat Carroll together have +cowed the very heart within you. The consequence is that you are +becoming one of them, and instead of moving as a gentleman on the +face of the earth, you will be such as they are. Tell the truth, and +your father will at once send you to some school in England, where +you will be educated as becomes my brother."</p> + +<p>The boy now was sobbing in tears. He lacked the resolution to +continue his lie, but did not dare to tell the truth.</p> + +<p>"I will," he whispered.</p> + +<p>"What will you do?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell all that I know about it."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, then, now."</p> + +<p>"No, Edith, not now," he said.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell papa, then?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Papa is so hard to me."</p> + +<p>"Whom will you tell, and when?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, but not now. I will first tell Father Brosnan that +I am going to do it; I shall not then have told the lie absolutely to +my priest."</p> + +<p>On this occasion Edith could do nothing further with him; and, +indeed, the nature of the confession which she expected him to make +was such that it should be made to some person beyond herself. She +could understand that it must be taken down in some form that would +be presentable to a magistrate, and that evidence of the guilt of Pat +Carroll and evidence as to the possible guilt of others must not be +whispered simply into her own ears. But she had now brought him to +such a condition that she did think that his story would be told.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-14" id="c1-14"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> +<h4>RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>There was another cause of trouble at Morony Castle, which at the +present moment annoyed them much. Frank had received three or four +letters from Rachel O'Mahony, the purport of them all being to +explain her troubles with Mahomet M. M., as she called the man; but +still so as to prevent Frank from attempting to interfere personally.</p> + +<p>"No doubt the man is a brute," she had said, "if a young lady, +without ceasing to be ladylike, may so describe so elegant a +gentleman. If not so, still he is a brute, because I can't declare +otherwise, even for the sake of being ladylike. But what you say +about coming is out of the question. You can't meddle with my affairs +till you've a title to meddle. Now, you know the truth. I'm going to +stick to you, and I expect you to stick to me. For certain paternal +reasons you want to put the marriage off. Very well. I'm agreeable, +as the folks say. If you would say that you would be ready to marry +me on the first of April, again I should be agreeable. You can +nowhere find a more agreeable young woman than I am. But I must be +one thing or the other."</p> + +<p>Then he wrote to her the sort of love-letter which the reader can +understand. It was full of kisses and vows and ecstatic hopes but did +not name a day. In fact Mr. Jones, in the middle of his troubles, was +unable to promise an immediate union, and did not choose that his son +should marry in order that he might be supported by a singing girl. +But to this letter Frank added a request—or rather a command—that +he should be allowed to come over at once and see Mr. Mahomet. It was +no doubt true that his father was, for the minute, a little backward +in the matter of his income; but still he wanted to look after +Mahomet, and he wanted to be kissed.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p>You must not come at all, and I won't even see you if you +do. You men are always so weak, and want such a lot of +petting. Mahomet tried to kiss me last night when I was +singing to him before going to dress. I have to practise +with him. I gave him such a blow in the face that I don't +think he'll repeat the experiment, and I had my eyes about +me. You needn't be at all afraid of me but what I am quick +enough. He was startled at the moment, and I merely +laughed. I'm not going to give up £100 a month because he +makes a beast of himself; and I'm not going to call in +father as long as I can help it; nor do I mean to call in +your royal highness at all. I tell everybody that I'm +going to marry your royal highness, king Jones; there +isn't a bit of a secret about it. I talk of my Mr. Jones +just as if we were married, because it all comes easier to +me in that way. You will see that I absolutely believe in +you and I expect that you shall absolutely believe in me. +Send you a kiss! Of course I do; I am not at all coy of my +favours. You ask Mahomet also as to what he thinks of the +strength of my right arm. I examined his face so minutely +when I had to fall into his arms on the stage, and there I +saw the round mark of my fist, and the swelling all round +it. And I thought to myself as I was singing my devotion +that he should have it next time in his eye. But, Frank, +mark my words: I won't have you here till you can come to +marry me.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Frank did not go over, even on this occasion, as he was detained, not +only by his mistress's danger, but by his father's troubles. Florian +had almost, but had not quite, told the entire truth. He had said +that he had seen the sluices broken, but had not quite owned who had +broken them. He had declared that Pat Carroll had done "mischief," +but had not quite said of what nature was the mischief which Carroll +had done. It was now March, and the hunting troubles were still going +on. The whole gentry in County Galway had determined to take Black +Tom Daly's part, and to carry him on through the contest. But the +effect of taking Black Tom Daly's part was to take the part against +which the Land Leaguers were determined to enrol themselves. For of +all men in the county, Black Tom was the most unpopular. And of all +men he was the most determined; with him it was literally a question +between God and Mammon. A man could not serve both. In the simplicity +of his heart, he thought that the Landleaguers were children of +Satan, and that to have any dealings with them, or the passage of any +kindness, was in itself Satanic. He said very little, but he spent +whole hours in thinking of the evil that they were doing. And among +the evils was the unparalleled insolence which they displayed in +entering coverts in County Galway. Now Frank Jones, who had not +hitherto been very intimate with Tom, had taken up his part, and was +fighting for him at this moment. Nevertheless the provocation to him +to go to London was very great, and he had only put it off till the +last coverts should be drawn on Saturday the 2nd of April. The hunt +had determined to stop their proceedings earlier than usual; but +still there was to be one day in April, for the sake of honour and +glory.</p> + +<p>But in the latter days of March there came a third letter from Rachel +O'Mahony. Like the other letter it was cheerful, and high-spirited; +but still it seemed to speak of impending dangers, which Frank, though +he could not understand them, thought that he could perceive.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p>My present engagement is to go on till the end of July, +with an understanding that I am to have twenty guineas a +night, for any evening that I may be required to sing in +August. This your highness will perceive is a very +considerable increase, and at three nights a week might +afford an income on which your highness would perhaps +condescend to come and eat a potato, in the honour of +"ould" Ireland, till better times should come. That would +be the happy potato which would be the first bought for +such a purpose! But you must see that I cannot expect a +continuance of my present engagement as the head of your +royal highness' seraglio. I should have to look for +another Chancellor of the Exchequer, and should probably +find him. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss would hardly endure me as +being part of the properties belonging to your royal +highness.</p> + +<p>And now I must tell you my own little news. Beelzebub has +taken a worse devil to himself, so that I am likely to be +trodden down into the very middle of the pit. I choose to +tell you because I won't have you think that I have ever +kept anything secret from you. If I describe the roars of +Mrs. Beelzebub to you, and her red claws, and her forky +tongue, and her fiery tail, it is not because I like her +as a subject of poetry, but because this special subject +comes uppermost; and you shall never say to me, why didn't +you tell me when you were introduced to Beelzebub's wife? +and assert, as men are apt to do, that you would not have +allowed me to make her acquaintance. Mrs. Beelzebub +appears on the stage as belonging to Mahomet but how they +have mixed it all up together among themselves, I do not +quite know. I do not think that they're in love with one +another, because she is not jealous of me. She is Madame +Socani in the plot, and a genuine American from New York; +but she can sing; she has a delicious soprano voice, soft +and powerful; but she has also a temper and temperament +such as no woman, nor yet no devil, ought to possess. Of +Monsieur Socani, or Signor Socani, or Herr Socani, I never +yet heard. But such men do not always make themselves +troublesome. I have to sing with her, and a woman you may +say would not be troublesome, but she and Mahomet between +them consider themselves competent to get me under their +thumb. I don't intend to be under their thumb. I intend to +be under nobody's thumb but yours; and the sooner the +better. Now you know all about it; but as you shall value +the first squeeze which you shall get when you do come, +don't come till your coming has been properly settled.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Then there was a fourth letter in which she described her troubles, +still humorously, and with some attempt at absolute comedy. But she +certainly wrote with a purpose of making him understand that she was +subjected to very considerable annoyance. She was still determined +not to call upon him for assistance; and she warned him that any +assistance whatever would be out of his power. A lover on the scene, +who could not declare his purpose of speedy marriage, would be worse +than useless. All that she saw plainly,—or at any rate declared that +she saw plainly, though she was altogether unable to explain it to +Frank Jones.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">Mrs. Beelzebub is +certainly the queen of the devils. I +remember when you read "Paradise Lost" to us at Morony +Castle, which I thought very dull. Milton arranged the +ranks in Pandemonium differently; but there has been a +revolution since that, and Mrs. Beelzebub has everything +just as she pleases. I am beginning to pity Mahomet, and +pity, they say, is akin to love. She urges him,—well, +just to make love to me. What reason there is between them +I don't know, but I am sure she wants him to get me +altogether into his hands. I'm not sure but what she is +Mahomet's own wife. This is a horrid kettle of fish, as +you will see. But I think I'll turn out to be head cook +yet. If God does not walk atop of the devils what's the +use of running straight? But I am sure he will, and the +more so because there is in truth no temptation.</p> + +<p>She told me the other day to my face, that I was a fool. +"I know I am," said I demurely, "but why?" Then she came +out with her demand. It was very simple, and did not in +truth amount to much. I was to become just—mistress to +Mr. Moss.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p class="noindent">Frank Jones, +when he read this, crushed the paper up in his hand and +went upstairs to his bedroom, determined to pack up immediately. But +before he had progressed far, he got out the letter and read the +remainder.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">"You," I said, "are +an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>"I am his particular friend," she said, with that peculiar +New York aping of a foreign accent, which is the language +that was, I am sure, generally used by the devils.</p> + +<p>"Ask him, with my best compliments," I said, "whether he +remembers the blow I hit him in the face. Tell him I can +hit much harder than that; tell him that he will never +find me unprepared, for a moment."</p> + +<p>Now I have got another little bit of news for you. +Somebody has found out in New York that I am making money. +It is true, in a limited way. £100 a month is something, +and so they've asked papa to subscribe as largely as he +can to a grand Home-Rule, anti-Protestant, +hate-the-English, stars-and-stripes society. It is the +most loyal and beneficent thing out, and dear papa thinks +I can do nothing better with my wealth than bestow it upon +these birds of freedom. I have no doubt they are all +right, because I am an American-Irish, and have not the +pleasure of knowing Black Tom Daly. I have given them +£200, and am, therefore, at this moment, nearly +impecunious. On this account I do not choose to give up my +engagement—£100 a month, with an additional possibility +of twenty guineas a night when August shall be here. You +will tell me that after the mild suggestion made by Mrs. +Beelzebub, I ought to walk out of the house, and go back +to County Galway immediately. I don't think so. I am +learning every day how best to stand fast on my own feet. +I am earning my money honestly, and men and women here in +London are saying that in truth I can sing. A very nice +old gentleman called on me the other day from Covent +Garden, and, making me two low bows, asked whether I was +my own mistress some time in October next. I thought at +the moment that I was at any rate free from the further +engagement proposed by Mrs. Beelzebub, and told him that I +was free. Then he made me two lower bows, touched the tip +of my fingers, and said that he would be proud to wait +upon me in a few days with a definite proposal. This old +gentleman may mean twenty guineas a night for the whole of +next winter, or something like £250 a month. Think of +that, Mr. Jones. But how am I to go on in my present +impecunious position if I quarrel altogether with my bread +and butter? So now you know all about it.</p> + +<p>Remember that I have told my father nothing as to Mrs. +Beelzebub's proposition. It is better not; he would disown +it, and would declare that I had invented it from vanity. +I do think that a woman in this country can look after +herself if she be minded so to do. I know that I am +stronger than Mr. Moss and Mrs. Beelzebub together. I do +believe that he will pay me his money, as he has always +done, and I want to earn my money. I have some little +precautions—just for a rainy day. I have told you +everything—everything, because you are to be my husband. +But you can do me no good by coming here, but may cause me +a peck of troubles. Now, good-bye, and God bless you. A +thousand kisses.</p> + +<p class="ind15">Ever your own,</p> + +<p class="ind18">R.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Tell everybody that I'm to be Mrs. Jones +some day.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Frank finished packing up, and then told his father that he was going +off to Athenry at once, there to meet the night mail train up to +Dublin.</p> + +<p>"Why are you going at once, in this sudden manner?" asked his father.</p> + +<p>Frank then remembered that he could not tell openly the story of Mrs. +Beelzebub. Rachel had told him in pure simple-minded confidence, and +though he was prepared to disobey her, he would not betray her. "She +is on the stage," he said.</p> + +<p>"I am aware of it," replied his father, intending to signify that his +son's betrothed was not employed as he would have wished.</p> + +<p>"At the Charing Cross Opera," said the son, endeavouring to make the +best of it.</p> + +<p>"Yes; at the Charing Cross Opera, if that makes a difference."</p> + +<p>"She is earning her bread honestly."</p> + +<p>"I believe so," said Mr. Jones, "I do believe so, I do think that +Rachel O'Mahony is a thoroughly good girl."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it," said Ada and Edith almost in the same breath.</p> + +<p>"But not less on that account is the profession distasteful to me. +You do not wish to see your sisters on the stage?"</p> + +<p>"I have thought of all that, sir," said Frank, "I have quite made up +my mind to make Rachel my wife, if it be possible."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to live on what she may earn as an actress?" Here Frank +remained silent for a moment. "Because if you do, I must tell you +that it will not become you as a gentleman to accept her income."</p> + +<p>"You cannot give us an income on which we may live."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not at this moment. With things as they are in Ireland +now, I do not know how long I may have a shilling with which to bless +myself. It seems to me that for the present it is your duty to stay +at home, and not to trouble Rachel by going to her in London."</p> + +<p>"At this moment I must go to her."</p> + +<p>"You have given no reason for your going." Frank thought of it, and +told himself that there was in truth no reason. His going would be a +trouble to Rachel, and yet there were reasons which made it +imperative for him to go. "Have you asked yourself what will be the +expense?" said his father.</p> + +<p>"It may cost I suppose twelve pounds, going and coming."</p> + +<p>"And have you asked yourself how many twelve pounds will be likely to +fall into your hands just at present? Is she in any trouble?"</p> + +<p>"I had rather not talk about her affairs," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Is not her father with her?"</p> + +<p>"I do not think he is the best man in the world to help a girl in +such an emergency." But he had not described what was the emergency.</p> + +<p>"You think that a young man, who certainly will be looked on as the +young lady's lover, but by no means so certainly as the young lady's +future husband, will be more successful?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said Frank, getting up and walking out of the room. He was +determined at any rate that nothing which his father could say should +stop him, as he had resolved to disobey all the orders which Rachel +had given him. At any rate, during that night and the following day +he made his way up to London.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-15" id="c1-15"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> +<h4>CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>At this period of our story much had already been said in the outside +world as to flooding the meadows of Ballintubber. Like other outrages +of the same kind, it had not at first been noticed otherwise than in +the immediate neighbourhood; and though a terrible injury had been +inflicted, equal in value to the loss of five or six hundred pounds, +it had seemed as though it would pass away unnoticed, simply because +Mr. Jones had lacked evidence to bring it home to any guilty party. +But gradually it had become known that Pat Carroll had been the +sinner, and the causes also which had brought about the crime were +known. It was known that Pat Carroll had joined the Landleaguers in +the neighbouring county of Mayo with great violence, and that he had +made a threat that he would pay no further rent to his landlord. The +days of the no-rent manifestation had not yet come, as the obnoxious +Members of Parliament were not yet in prison; but no-rent was already +firmly fixed in the minds of many men, about to lead in the process +of time to "Arrears Bills," and other abominations of injustice. And +among those conspicuous in the West, who were ready to seize fortune +by the forelock, was Mr. Pat Carroll. In this way his name had come +forward, and inquiries were made of Mr. Jones which distressed him +much. For though he was ready to sacrifice his meadows, and his +tenant, and his rent, he was most unwilling to do it if he should be +called upon at the same time to sacrifice his boy's character for +loyalty.</p> + +<p>There had been a man stationed at Castlerea for some months past, who +in celebrity had almost beaten the notorious Pat Carroll. This was +one Captain Yorke Clayton, who for nearly twelve months had been in +the County Mayo. It was supposed that he had first shown himself +there as a constabulary officer, and had then very suddenly been +appointed resident magistrate. Why he was Captain nobody knew. It was +the fact, indeed, that he had been employed as adjutant in a +volunteer regiment in England, having gone over there from the police +force in the north of Ireland. His title had gone with him by no +fault or no virtue of his own, and he had blossomed forth to the +world of Connaught as Captain Clayton before he knew why he was about +to become famous. Famous, however, he did become.</p> + +<p>He had two attributes which, if Fortune helps, may serve to make any +man famous. They were recklessness of life and devotion to an idea. +If Fortune do not help, recklessness of life amidst such dangers as +those which surrounded Captain Clayton will soon bring a man to his +end, so that there will be no question of fame. But we see men +occasionally who seem to find it impossible to encounter death. It is +not at all probable that this man wished to die. Life seemed to him +to be pleasant enough: he was no forlorn lover; he had fairly good +health and strength; people said of him that he had small but +comfortable private means; he was remarkable among all men for his +good looks; and he lacked nothing necessary to make life happy. But +he appeared to be always in a hurry to leave it. A hundred men in +Mayo had sworn that he should die. This was told to him very freely; +but he had only laughed at it, and was generally called "the +woodcock," as he rode about among his daily employments. The ordinary +life of a woodcock calls upon him to be shot at; but yet a woodcock +is not an easy bird to hit.</p> + +<p>Then there was his devotion to an idea! I will not call it loyalty, +lest I should seem to praise the man too vehemently for that which +probably was simply an instinct in his own heart. He lived upon his +hatred of a Landleaguer. It was probably some conviction on his own +part that the original Landleaguer had come from New York, which +produced this feeling. And it must be acknowledged of him with +reference to the lower order of Landleaguers that he did admit in his +mind a possibility that they were curable. There were to him +Landleaguers and Landleaguers; but the Landleaguer whom Captain Yorke +Clayton hated with the bitterest prejudice was the Landleaguing +Member of Parliament. Some of his worst enemies believed that he +might be detected in breaking out into illegal expressions of hatred, +or, more unfortunately still, into illegal acts, and that so the +Government might be compelled to dismiss him with disgrace. Others, +his warmest friends, hoped that by such a process his life might be +eventually saved. But for the present Captain Yorke Clayton had saved +both his character and his neck, to the great surprise both of those +who loved him and the reverse. He had lately been appointed Joint +Resident Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon, and had removed +his residence to Galway. To him also had Pat Carroll become +intimately known, and to him the floods of Ballintubber were a +peculiar case. It was one great desire of his heart to have Pat +Carroll incarcerated as a penal felon. He did not very often express +himself on this subject, but Pat Carroll knew well the nature of his +wishes. "A thundering bloody rapparee" was the name by which Carroll +delighted to call him. But Carroll was one who exercised none of that +control over his own tongue for which Captain Clayton was said to be +so conspicuous. During the last month Mr. Jones had seen Captain +Clayton more than once at Galway, and on one occasion he had come +down to Morony Castle attended by a man who was supposed to travel as +his servant, but who was known by all the world to be a policeman in +disguise. For Captain Clayton had been strictly forbidden by the +authorities of the Castle to travel without such a companion; and an +attempt had already been made to have him dismissed for disobedience +to these orders.</p> + +<p>Captain Clayton, when he had been at Morony Castle, had treated Flory +with great kindness, declining to cross-question him at all. "I would +endeavour to save him from these gentlemen," he had said to his +father. "I don't quite think that we understand what is going on +within his mind;" but this had been before the conversation last +mentioned which had taken place between Flory and his sisters. Now he +was to come again, and make further inquiry, and meet half-a-dozen +policemen from the neighbourhood. But Florian had as yet but half +confessed, and almost hoped that Captain Clayton would appear among +them as his friend.</p> + +<p>The girls, to tell the truth, had been much taken with the appearance +of the gallant Captain. It seems to be almost a shame to tell the +truth of what modest girls may think of any man whom they may chance +to meet. They would never tell it to themselves. Even two sisters can +hardly do so. And when the man comes before them, just for once or +twice, to be judged and thought of at a single interview, the +girl,—such as were these girls,—can hardly tell it to herself. "He +is manly and brave, and has so much to say for himself, and is so +good-looking, that what can any girl who has her heart at her own +disposal wish for better than such a lover?" It would have been quite +impossible that either of Mr. Jones's daughters could ever have so +whispered to herself. But was it not natural that such an unwhispered +thought should have passed through the mind of Ada—Ada the +beautiful, Ada the sentimental, Ada the young lady who certainly was +in want of a lover? "He is very nice, certainly," said Ada, allowing +herself not another word, to her sister.</p> + +<p>"But what is the good of a man being nice when he is a 'woodcock'?" +said Edith. "Everybody says that his destiny is before him. I daresay +he is nice, but what's the use?"</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say that you think he'll be killed?" said Ada.</p> + +<p>"I do, and I mean to say that if I were a man, it might be that I +should have to be killed too. A man has to run his chance, and if he +falls into such a position as this, of course he must put up with it. +I don't mean to say that I don't like him the better for it."</p> + +<p>"Why does he not go away and leave the horrid country?" said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Because the more brave men that go away the more horrid the country +will become. And then I think a man is always the happier if he has +something really to think of. Such a one as Captain Clayton does not +want to go to balls."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Ada plaintively, as though she thought it a +thousand pities that Captain Clayton should not want to go to balls.</p> + +<p>"Such a man," said Edith with an air of firmness, "finds a woman when +he wants to marry, who will suit him,—and then he marries her. There +is no necessity for any balls there."</p> + +<p>"Then he ought not to dance at all. Such a man ought not to want to +get married."</p> + +<p>"Not if he means to be killed out of hand," said Edith. "The possible +young woman must be left to judge of that. I shouldn't like to marry +a 'woodcock,' however much I might admire him. I do think it well +that there should be such men as Captain Clayton. I feel that if I +were a man I ought to wish to be one myself. But I am sure I should +feel that I oughtn't to ask a girl to share the world with me. Fancy +marrying a man merely to be left a sorrowing widow! It is part of the +horror of his business that he shouldn't even venture to dance, lest +some poor female should be captivated."</p> + +<p>"A girl might be captivated without dancing," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean to say that such a man should absolutely tie himself up +in a bag so that no poor female should run any possible danger, but +he oughtn't to encourage such risks. To tell the truth, I don't think +that Captain Clayton does."</p> + +<p>Ada that afternoon thought a great deal of the position,—not, of +course, in reference to herself. Was it proper that such a man as +Captain Yorke Clayton should abstain from falling in love with a +girl, or even from allowing a girl to fall in love with him because +he was in danger of being shot? It was certainly a difficult +question. Was any man to be debarred from the pleasures, and +incidents, and natural excitements of a man's life because of the +possible dangers which might possibly happen to a possible young +woman? Looking at the matter all round, Ada did not see that the man +could help himself unless he were to be shut up in a bag, as Edith +had said, so as to prevent a young woman from falling in love with +him. Although he were a "woodcock," the thing must go on in its own +natural course. If misfortunes did come, why misfortunes must come. +It was the same thing with any soldier or any sailor. If she were to +fall in love with some officer,—for the supposition in its vague, +undefined form was admissible even to poor Ada's imagination,—she +would not be debarred from marrying him merely by the fact that he +would have to go to the wars. Of course, as regarded Captain Yorke +Clayton, this was merely a speculation. He might be engaged to some +other girl already for anything she knew;—"or cared," as she told +herself with more or less of truth.</p> + +<p>Captain Yorke Clayton came down by the boat that afternoon to Morony +Castle, Frank Jones having started for London two or three days +before. He reached the pier at about four o'clock, accompanied by his +faithful follower, and was there met by Mr. Jones himself, who walked +up with him to the Castle. There was a short cut across the fields to +Mr. Jones's house; and as they left the road about a furlong up from +the pier, they were surrounded by the waters which Mr. Carroll had +let in upon the Ballintubber meadows.</p> + +<p>"You won't mind my fellow coming with us?" said Captain Clayton.</p> + +<p>"'Your fellow,' as you call him, is more than welcome. I came across +this way because some of Pat Carroll's friends may be out on the high +road. If they fire half-a-dozen rifles from behind a wall at your +luggage, they won't do so much harm as if they shot at yourself."</p> + +<p>"There won't be any shooting here," said Clayton, shaking his head, +"he's not had time to get a stranger down and pay him. They always +require two or three days' notice for that work; and there isn't a +wall about the place. You're not giving Mr. Pat Carroll a fair chance +for his friends. I could dodge them always with perfect security by +myself, only the beaks up in Dublin have given a strict order. As +they pay for the pistols, I am bound to carry them." Then he lifted +up the lappets of his coat and waistcoat, and showed half-a-dozen +pistols stuck into his girdle. "Our friend there has got as many +more."</p> + +<p>"I have a couple myself," said Mr. Jones, indicating their +whereabouts, and showing that he was not as yet so used to carry +them, as to have provided himself with a belt for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Then they walked on, chatting indifferently about the Landleaguers +till they reached the Castle. "The people are not cowards," Captain +Clayton had said. "I believe that men do become cowards when they are +tempted to become liars by getting into Parliament. An Irishman of a +certain class does at any rate. But those fellows, if they were put +into a regiment, would fight like grim death. That man there," and he +pointed back over his shoulder, "is as brave a fellow as I ever came +across in my life. I don't think that he would hesitate a moment in +attacking three or four men armed with revolvers. And gold wouldn't +induce him to be false to me. But if Mr. Pat Carroll had by chance +got hold of him before he had come my way, he might have been the +very man to shoot you or me from behind a wall, with a bit of black +crape on his face. What's the reason of it? I love that man as my +brother, but I might have hated him as the very devil."</p> + +<p>"The force of example, sir," said Mr. Jones, as he led the way into +the quiet, modern residence which rejoiced to call itself Morony +Castle.</p> + +<p>"What are we to do about this boy?" said Mr. Jones, when they had +seated themselves in his study.</p> + +<p>"Are you friends with him yet?"</p> + +<p>"No; I declared to his sisters that I would not sit down to table +with him till he had told the truth, and I have kept my word."</p> + +<p>"How does he bear it?"</p> + +<p>"But badly," said the father. "It has told upon him very much. He +complains to his sister that I have utterly cast him off."</p> + +<p>"It is the oddest case I ever heard of in my life," said the Captain. +"I suppose his change of religion has been at the bottom of it—that +and the machinations of the priest down at Headford. When we +recollect that there must have been quite a crowd of people looking +on all the while, it does seem odd that we should be unable to get a +single witness to tell the truth, knowing, as we do, that this lad +was there. If he would only name two who were certainly there, and +who certainly saw the deed done, that would be enough; for the people +are not, in themselves, hostile to you."</p> + +<p>"You know he has owned that he did see it," said the father. "And he +has acknowledged that Pat Carroll was there, though he has never +mentioned the man's name. His sisters have told him that I will not +be satisfied unless I hear him declare that Pat Carroll was one of +the offenders."</p> + +<p>"Let us have him in, sir, if you don't mind."</p> + +<p>"Just as he is?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so. Or let the young ladies come with him, if you do +not object. Which of them has been most with him since your edict +went forth?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones declared that Edith had been most with her brother, and the +order went forth that Edith and Florian should be summoned into the +apartment.</p> + +<p>Ada and Edith were together when the order came. Edith was to go down +and present herself before Captain Yorke Clayton.</p> + +<p>"Mercy me!" said Edith jumping up, "I hope they won't shoot at him +through the window whilst I am there."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Edith, how can you think of such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"It would be very unpleasant if some assassin were to take my back +hair for Captain Clayton's brown head. They're very nearly the same +colour."</p> + +<p>And Edith prepared to leave the room, hearing her brother's slow, +heavy step as he passed before the door.</p> + +<p>"Won't you go first and brush your hair?" said Ada; "and do put a +ribbon on your neck."</p> + +<p>"I'll do nothing of the kind. It would be a sheer manœuvring to +entrap a man who ought to be safeguarded against all such female +wiles. Besides, I don't believe a bit that Captain Clayton would know +the difference between a young lady with or without a ribbon. What +evidence I can give;—that's the question."</p> + +<p>So saying, Edith descended to her father's room.</p> + +<p>She found Florian with his hand upon the door, and they both entered +the room. I have said that Captain Clayton was a remarkably +good-looking man, and I ought, perhaps, to give some explanation of +the term when first introducing him to the reader in the presence of +a lady who is intended to become the heroine of this story; but it +must suffice that I have declared him to be good-looking, and that I +add to that the fact that though he was thirty-five years old, he did +not look to be more than five-and-twenty. The two peculiarities of +his face were very light blue eyes, and very long moustachios. +"Florian and I have come to see the latter-day hero," said Edith +laughing as she entered the room; "though I know that you are so done +up with pistols that no peaceable young woman ought to come near +you." To this he made some sportive reply, and then before a minute +had passed over their heads he had taken Florian by the hand.</p> + + +<p><a name="c1-16" id="c1-16"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> +<h4>CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>"Well, my boy, how are you?" asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing particularly the matter with me," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"I suppose all this is troubling you?"</p> + +<p>"All what? You mean about Pat Carroll. Of course it's troubling me. +Nobody will believe a word that I say."</p> + +<p>"But they do believe you now that you are telling the truth," said +Edith.</p> + +<p>"Do you hold your tongue, miss," said the boy, "I don't see why you +should have so much to say about it."</p> + +<p>"She has been your best friend from first to last," said the father. +"If it had not been for Edith I would have turned you out of the +house. It is terrible to me to think that a boy of mine should refuse +to say what he saw in such a matter as this. You are putting yourself +on a par with the enemies of your own family. You do not know it, but +you are nearly sending me to the grave." Then there was a long pause, +during which the Captain kept his eyes fixed on the boy's face. And +Edith had moved round so as to seat herself close to her brother, and +had taken his hand in hers.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Edith," said the boy. "Leave me alone, I don't want to be +meddled with," and he withdrew his hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Florian!" said the girl, "try to tell the truth and be a +gentleman, whether it be for you or against you, tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"I'm not to mind a bit about my religion then?"</p> + +<p>"Does your religion bid you tell a lie?" asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"I'm not telling a lie, I am just holding my tongue. A Catholic has a +right to hold his tongue when he is among Protestants."</p> + +<p>"Even to the ruin of his father," suggested the Captain.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to ruin papa. He said he was going to turn—to turn me +out of the house. I would go and drown myself in the lake if he did, +or in one of those big dykes which divide the meadows. I am miserable +among them—quite miserable. Edith never gives me any peace, day or +night. She comes and sits in my bedroom, begging me to tell the +truth. It ought to be enough when I say that I will hold my tongue. +Papa can turn me out to drown myself if he pleases. Edith goes on +cheating the words out of me till I don't know what I'm saying. If I +am to be brought up to tell it all before the judge I shan't know +what I have said before, or what I have not said."</p> + +<p>"<i>Nil conscire tibi</i>," said the father, who had already taught his +son so much Latin as that.</p> + +<p>"But you did see the sluice gates torn down, and thrown back into the +water?" said the Captain. Here Florian shook his head mournfully. "I +understood you to acknowledge that you had seen the gates destroyed."</p> + +<p>"I never said as much to you," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"But you did to me," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"If a fellow says a word to you, it is repeated to all the world. I +never would have you joined with me in a secret. You are a great deal +worse than—, well, those fellows that you abuse me about. They never +tell anything that they have heard among themselves, to people +outside."</p> + +<p>"Pat Carroll, you mean?" asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"He isn't the only one. There's more in it than him."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; we know that. There were many others in it besides Pat +Carroll, when they let the waters in through the dyke gates. There +must have been twenty there."</p> + +<p>"No, there weren't—not that I saw."</p> + +<p>"A dozen, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"You are laying traps for me, but I am not going to be caught. I was +there, and I did see it. You may make the most of that. Though you +have me up before the judge, I needn't say a word more than I +please."</p> + +<p>"He is more obstinate," said his father, "than any rebel that you can +meet."</p> + +<p>"But so mistaken," said the Captain, "because he can refuse to answer +us who are treating him with such tenderness and affection, who did +not even want to wound his feelings more than we can help, he thinks +that he can hold his peace in the same fashion, before the entire +court; and that he can do so, although he has owned that he knows the +men."</p> + +<p>"I have never owned that," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Not to your sister?"</p> + +<p>"I only owned to one."</p> + +<p>"Pat Carroll?" said the Captain; but giving the name merely as a hint +to help the boy's memory.</p> + +<p>But the boy was too sharp for him. "That's another of your traps, +Captain Clayton. If she says Pat Carroll, I can say it was Tim Brady. +A boy's word will be as good as a girl's, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"A lie can never be as good as the truth, whether from a boy or a +girl," said the Captain, endeavouring to look him through and +through. The boy quavered beneath his gaze, and the Captain went on +with his questioning. "I suppose we may take it for granted that Pat +Carroll was there, and that you did see him?"</p> + +<p>"You may take anything for granted."</p> + +<p>"You would have to swear before a jury that Pat Carroll was there."</p> + +<p>Then there was another pause, but at last, with a long sigh, the boy +spoke out. "He was there, and I did see him." Then he burst into +tears and threw himself down on the ground, and hid his face in his +sister's lap.</p> + +<p>"Dear Flory," said she. "My own brother! I knew that you would +struggle to be a gentleman at last."</p> + +<p>"It will all come right with him now," said the Captain. But the +father frowned and shook his head. "How many were there with him?" +asked the Captain, intent on the main business.</p> + +<p>But Florian feeling that it would be as good to be hung for a sheep +as a lamb, and feeling also that he had at last cast aside all the +bonds which bound him to Pat Carroll and Father Brosnan,—feeling +that there was nothing left for him but the internecine enmity of his +old friends,—got up from the floor, and wiping away the tears from +his face, spoke out boldly the whole truth as he knew it. "It was +dark, and I didn't see them all. There were only six whom I could +see, though I know that there were many others round about among the +meadows whose names I had heard, though I do not remember them."</p> + +<p>"We will confine ourselves to the six whom you did see," said the +Captain, preparing to listen quietly to the boy's story. The father +took out a pen and ink, but soon pushed it on one side. Edith again +got hold of the boy's hand, and held it within her own till his story +was finished.</p> + +<p>"I didn't see the six all at once. The first whom I did see was Pat +Carroll, and his brother Terry, and Tim Brady. They were up there +just where the lane has turned down from the steamboat road. I had +gone down to the big sluice gates before anyone had noticed me, and +there were Tim and Terry smashing away at the gate hinges, up to +their middles in mud; and Pat Carroll was handing them down a big +crowbar. Terry, when he saw me, fell flat forward into the water, and +had to be picked out again."</p> + +<p>"Did they say anything to threaten you?" said the Captain.</p> + +<p>"Tim Brady said that I was all right, and was a great friend of +Father Brosnan's. Then they whispered together, and I heard Terry say +that he wouldn't go against anything that Father Brosnan might say. +Then Pat Carroll came and stood over me with the crowbar."</p> + +<p>"Did he threaten you?"</p> + +<p>"He didn't do it in a threatening way; but only asked me to be hand +and glove with them."</p> + +<p>"Had you been intimate with this man before? asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"He had been very intimate with him," said the father. "All this +calamity has come of his intimacy. He has changed his religion and +ceased to be a gentleman." Here the boy again sobbed, but Edith still +squeezed his hand.</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" asked the Captain, "when he bade you be hand and +glove with him?"</p> + +<p>"I said that I would. Then they made the sign of a cross, and swore +me on it. And they swore me specially to say nothing up here. And +they swore me again when they met down at Tim Rafferty's house in +Headford. I intended to keep my word, and I think that you ought to +have let me keep it."</p> + +<p>"But there were three others whom you saw," urged the Captain.</p> + +<p>"There was Con Heffernan, and a man they call Lax, who had come from +Lough Conn beyond Castlebar."</p> + +<p>"He's not a man of this county."</p> + +<p>"I think not, though I had seen him here before. He has had something +to do with the Landleaguers up about Foxford."</p> + +<p>"I think I have a speaking acquaintance with that Mr. Lax," said the +Captain; and everybody could perceive that the tone of his voice was +altered as he spoke about Mr. Lax. "And who was the sixth?"</p> + +<p>"There was that old man, papa, whom they call Terry. But he wasn't +doing anything in particular."</p> + +<p>"He is the greatest blackguard on the estate," said the father.</p> + +<p>"But we will confine ourselves to the five," said the Captain, "not +forgetting Mr. Lax. What was Mr. Lax doing?"</p> + +<p>"I can't remember what they were all doing. How is a fellow to +remember them all? There were those two at the hinges, and Pat +Carroll was there pulling his brother out of the water."</p> + +<p>"Terry was Pat's brother?"</p> + +<p>"They are brothers," said the father.</p> + +<p>"And then they went on, and took no notice of me for a time. Lax came +up and scowled at me, and told me that if a word was said I should +never draw the breath of life again."</p> + +<p>"But he didn't do anything?" asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>"I don't remember. How is a fellow to remember after so many months?"</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell the truth at the time?" said his father angrily. +Another tear stood in each of the poor boy's eyes, and Edith got +closer to him, and threw her left arm round his waist. "You are +spoiling him by being so soft with him," said the father.</p> + +<p>"He is doing the best he can, Mr. Jones," said the Captain. "Don't be +harsh with him now. Well, Florian, what came next?"</p> + +<p>"They bade me go away, and again made me swear another oath. It was +nearly dark then, and it was quite dark night before I got up to the +house. But before I went I saw that there were many others standing +idle about the place."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember any particularly?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there was another of the Carrolls, a nephew of Pat's; and +there was Tony Brady, Tim's brother. I can't at this moment say who +else there were."</p> + +<p>"It would be as well to have as many as we do know, not to prosecute +them, but to ask them for their evidence. Three or four men will +often contradict each other, and then they will break down. I think +we have enough now. But you must remember that I have only questioned +you as your friend and as your father's friend. I have not taken down +a word that you have said. My object has been simply that we might +all act together to punish a vindictive and infamous outrage. Pat +Carroll has had nothing to get by flooding your father's meadows. But +because your father has not chosen to forgive him his rent, he has +thought fit to do him all the injury in his power. I fear that there +are others in it, who are more to blame even than Pat Carroll. But if +we can get hold of this gentleman, and also of his friend Mr. Lax, we +shall have done much."</p> + +<p>Then the meeting was over for that evening, and Captain Clayton +retired to his own room. "You needn't mind following me here, +Hunter," he said to the policeman.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be too sure, sir."</p> + +<p>"You may be sure in Mr. Jones's house. And no one in the country has +any idea of committing murder on his own behalf. I am safe till they +would have had time to send for someone out of another county. But we +shall be back in Galway to-morrow." So saying, Hunter left his master +alone, and the Captain sat down to write an account of the scene +which had just taken place. In this he gave every name as the boy had +given it, with accuracy; but, nevertheless, he added to his little +story the fact that it had been related from memory.</p> + +<p>Edith took her brother away into her own room, and there covered him +with kisses. "Why is papa so hard to me?" said the boy sobbing. Then +she explained to him as gently as she could, the grounds which had +existed for hardness on his father's part. She bade him consider how +terrible a thing it must be to a father, to have to think that his +own son should have turned against him, while the country was in such +a condition.</p> + +<p>"It is not the flood, Flory, nor the loss of the meadows being under +water. It is not the injury that Pat Carroll has done him, or any of +the men whom Pat Carroll has talked into enmity. That, indeed, is +very dreadful. To these very men he has been their best friend for +many years. And now they would help in his ruin, and turn us and him +out as beggars upon the world, because he has not chosen to obey the +unjust bidding of one of them." Here the boy hung down his head, and +turned away his face. "But it is not that. All that has had no effect +in nigh breaking his heart. Money is but money. No one can bear its +loss better than our papa. Though he might have to starve, he would +starve like a gallant man; and we could starve with him. You and I, +Frank and Ada, would bear all that he could bear. +<span class="nowrap">But—"</span> The boy +looked up into her face again, as though imploring her to spare him, +but she went on with her speech. "But that a son of his should cease +to feel as a gentleman should feel,—and a Christian! It is that +which moves him to be hard, as you call it. But he is not hard; he is +a man, and he cannot kiss you as a woman does;—as your sister does;" +here she almost smothered the boy with kisses, "but, Florian, it is +not too late; it is never too late while you still see that truth is +godlike, and that a lie is of all things the most devilish. It is +never too late while you feel what duty calls you to do." And again +she covered him with kisses, and then allowed him to go away to his +own room.</p> + +<p>When Edith was alone she sat back in an easy-chair, with her feet on +the fender before the turf fire, and began to consider how things +might go with her poor brother. "If they should get hold of him, and +murder him!" she said to herself. The thought was very dreadful, but +she comforted herself with reflecting that he might be sent out of +the country, before the knowledge of what he had done should get +abroad. And then by means of that current of thought, which always +runs where it listeth, independent of the will of the thinker, her +ideas flew off to Captain Yorke Clayton. In her imagination she had +put down Captain Clayton as a possible lover for her sister. She +possessed a girlish intuition into her sister's mind which made her +feel that her sister would not dislike such an arrangement. Ada was +the beauty of the family, and was supposed, at any rate by Edith, to +be the most susceptible of the two sisters. She had always called +herself a violent old maid, who was determined to have her own way. +But no one had ever heard Ada speak of herself as an old maid. And +then as to that danger of which Ada had spoken, Edith knew that such +perils must be overlooked altogether among the incidents of life. If +it came to her would she refuse her hand to a man because his courage +led him into special perils? She knew that it would only be an +additional ground for her love. And of Ada, in that respect, she +judged as she did of herself. She knew that Ada thought much of manly +beauty, and her eyes told her that Captain Yorke Clayton was very +handsome. "If he were as black as Beelzebub," she said to herself, "I +should like him the better for it; but Ada would prefer a man to be +beautiful." She went to work to make a match in her own mind between +Ada and Captain Clayton; but the more she made it, the more she +continued to think—on her own behalf—that of all men she had ever +seen, this man had pleased her fancy most. "But Captain Yorke +Clayton, you were never more mistaken in all your life if you think +that Edith Jones has taken a fancy to your handsome physiognomy." +This she said in almost audible words. "But nevertheless, I do think +that you are a hero. For myself, I don't want a hero—and if I did, I +shouldn't get one." But the arrangements made in the house that night +were those which are customary for a favoured young man's reception +when such matters are left to the favouring young lady in the family.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Jones found himself alone in his study, he began to think of +the confession which Florian had made. It had gradually come to pass +that he had been sure of the truth for some months, though he had +never before heard it declared by his son's lips. Since the day on +which he had called on Mr. Blake at Carnlough, he had been quite sure +that Edith was right. He was almost sure before. Now the truth was +declared exactly as she had surmised it. And what should he do with +the boy? He could not merely put him forward as a witness in this +case. Some reason must be given, why the truth had not been told +during the last six months. As he thought of this, he felt that the +boy had disgraced himself for ever.</p> + +<p>And he thought of the boy's danger. He had rashly promised that the +boy should be sent to England out of harm's way; but he now told +himself that the means of doing so were further from him than ever; +and that he was daily becoming a poorer, if not a ruined man. Of the +rents then due to him, not a penny would, he feared, be paid.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h4>END OF VOL. I.</h4> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h6>CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<hr /> + +<p><a name="v2" id="v2"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>THE</h3> +<h1 class="title">LANDLEAGUERS</h1> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h1>ANTHONY TROLLOPE</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="175" alt="publisher's logo" /> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<h4><i>IN THREE VOLUMES — VOL. II.</i></h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>London<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY</h3> + +<h4>1883</h4> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h6>CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,<br /> +CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>CONTENTS.<br /> </h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="sm" style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="3"> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">CHAPTER </td><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XVII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-17" >RACHEL IS FREE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XVIII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-18" >FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XIX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-19" >FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-20" >BOYCOTTING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-21" >LAX, THE MURDERER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-22" >MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXIII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-23" >TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXIV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-24" >"FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS."</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-25" >THE GALWAY BALL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXVI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-26" >LORD CASTLEWELL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXVII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-27" >HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXVIII. </td><td align="left"><a href="#c2-28" >WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXIX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-29" >WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-30" >THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-31" >THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c2-32" >MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> + +<p><a name="c2-17" id="c2-17"></a> </p> +<h2>THE LANDLEAGUERS.</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> +<h4>RACHEL IS FREE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Rachel O'Mahony found her position to be very embarrassing. She had +thought it out to the best of her ability, and had told herself that +it would be better for her not to acquaint her father with all the +circumstances. Had he been told the nature of the offer made to her +by Madame Socani, he would at once, she thought, have taken her away +from the theatre. She would have to abandon the theatre, at which she +was earning her money. This would have been very bad. There would +have been some lawsuit with Mahomet Moss, as to which she could not +have defended herself by putting Madame Socani into the witness-box. +There had been no third person present, and any possible amount of +lying would have been very easy to Madame Socani. Rachel was quick +enough, and could see at a moment all that lying could do against +her. "But he tried to kiss me," she would have had to say. Then she +could see how, with a shrug of his shoulders, her enemy would have +ruined her. From such a contest a man like Moss comes forth without +even a scratch that can injure him. But Rachel felt that she would +have been utterly annihilated. She must tell someone, but that +someone must be he whom she intended to marry.</p> + +<p>And she, too, had not been quite prudent in all respects since she +had come to London. It had been whispered to her that a singer of +such pretensions should be brought to the theatre and carried home in +her private brougham. Therefore, she had spent more money than was +compatible with the assistance given to her father, and was something +in debt. It was indispensable to her that she should go on with her +engagement.</p> + +<p>But she told her father that it was absolutely necessary that he +should go with her to the theatre every night that she sang. It was +but three nights a week, and the hours of her work were only from +eight till ten. He had, however, unfortunately made another +engagement for himself. There was a debating society, dramatic in its +manner of carrying on its business, at which three or four Irish +Home-Rulers were accustomed to argue among themselves, before a mixed +audience of Englishmen and Irishmen, as to the futility of English +government. Here Mr. O'Mahony was popular among the debaters, and was +paid for his services. Not many knew that the eloquent Irishman was +the father of the singer who, in truth, was achieving for herself a +grand reputation. But such was the case. A stop had been put upon his +lecturings at Galway; but no policeman in London seemed to be aware +that the Galway incendiary and the London debater were one and the +same person. So there came to him an opening for picking up a few +pounds towards their joint expenses.</p> + +<p>"But why should you want me now, more than for the last fortnight?" +he said, contending for the use of his own time.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss is disagreeable."</p> + +<p>"Has he done anything new?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"He is always doing things new—that is more beastly—one day than +the day before."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't come and sing with you now at your own rooms."</p> + +<p>"No; I have got through that, thank Heaven! To tell the truth, +father, I am not in the least afraid of Mr. Moss. Before he should +touch me you may be sure that he would have the worst of it."</p> + +<p>"Of course I will do what you want," said her father; "but only if it +be not <span class="nowrap">necessary—"</span></p> + +<p>"It is necessary. Of course, I do not wish to be dragged up to the +police-court for sticking Mr. Moss in the abdomen. That's what it +would come to if we were left together."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that you require my presence to prevent anything +so disagreeable as that?"</p> + +<p>"If they know, or if he knows that you're in the house, there will be +nothing of the kind. Can't you arrange your debates for the other +nights?"</p> + +<p>So it was, in fact, settled. Everybody about the theatre seemed to be +aware that something was wrong. Mr. O'Mahony had not come back to be +constantly on the watch, like a Newfoundland dog, without an object. +To himself it was an intolerable nuisance. He suspected his daughter +not at all. He was so far from suspecting her that he imagined her to +be safe, though half-a-dozen Mosses should surround her. He could +only stand idle behind the scenes, or sit in her dressing-room and +yawn. But still he did it, and asked no further questions.</p> + +<p>Then while all this was going on, the polite old gentleman from +Covent Garden had called at her lodgings in Cecil Street, and had +found both her and her father at home.</p> + +<p>"Oh, M. Le Gros," she had said, "I am so glad that you should meet my +father here."</p> + +<p>Then there was a multiplicity of bowing, and M. Le Gros had declared +that he had never had so much honour done him as in being introduced +to him who was about to become the father of the undoubted prima +donna of the day. At all which Mr. O'Mahony made many bows, and +Rachel laughed very heartily; but in the end an engagement was +proposed and thankfully accepted, which was to commence in the next +October. It did not take two minutes in the making. It was an +engagement only for a couple of months; but, as M. Le Gros observed, +such an engagement would undoubtedly lead to one for all time. If +Covent Garden could only secure the permanent aid of Mademoiselle +O'Mahony, Covent Garden's fortune would be as good as made. M. Le +Gros had quite felt the dishonesty of even suggesting a longer +engagement to mademoiselle. The rate of payment would be very much +higher, ve-ry, ve-ry, ve-ry much higher when mademoiselle's voice +should have once been heard on the boards of a true operatic theatre. +M. Le Gros had done himself the honour of being present on one or two +occasions at the Charing Cross little playhouse. He did believe +himself to have some small critical judgment in musical matters. He +thought he might venture—he really did think that he might +venture—to bespeak a brilliant career for mademoiselle. Then, with a +great many more bowings and scrapings, M. Le Gros, having done his +business, took his leave.</p> + +<p>"I like him better than Mahomet M.," said Rachel to her father.</p> + +<p>"They're both very civil," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"One has all the courtesy of hell! With the other it is—well, not +quite the manners of heaven. I can imagine something brighter even +than M. Le Gros; but it does very well for earth. M. Le Gros knows +that a young woman should be treated as a human being; and even his +blandishments are pleasant enough, as they are to take the shape of +golden guineas. As for me, M. Le Gros is quite good enough for my +idea of this world."</p> + +<p>But on the next day, a misfortune took place which well-nigh +obliterated all the joy which M. Le Gros had produced. It was not +singing night, and Mr. O'Mahony had just taken up his hat to go away +to his debating society, when Frank Jones was announced. "Frank, what +on earth did you come here for?" These were the words with which the +lover was greeted. He had endeavoured to take the girl in his arms, +but she had receded from his embrace.</p> + +<p>"Why, Rachel!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I told you not to come. I told you especially that you were not to +come."</p> + +<p>"Why did you tell him so?" said Mr. O'Mahony; "and why has he come?"</p> + +<p>"Not one kiss, Rachel?" said the lover.</p> + +<p>"Oh, kisses, yes! If I didn't kiss you father would think that we had +already quarrelled. But it may be that we must do so. When I had told +you everything, that you should rush up to London to look after +me—as though you suspected me!"</p> + +<p>"What is there to suspect?" said the father.</p> + +<p>"Nothing—I suspect nothing," said Frank. "But there were things +which made it impossible that I should not wish to be nearer. She was +insulted."</p> + +<p>"Who insulted her?"</p> + +<p>"The devil in the shape of a woman," said Rachel. "He takes that +shape as often as the other."</p> + +<p>"Rachel should not be left in such hands," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Jones, you have no right to say in what hands I shall be +left. My father and I have got to look after that between us. I have +told you over and over again what are my intentions in the matter. +They have been made in utter disregard of myself, and with the most +perfect confidence in you. You tell me that you cannot marry me."</p> + +<p>"Not quite at present."</p> + +<p>"Very well; I have been satisfied to remain as engaged to you; but I +am not satisfied to be subject to your interference."</p> + +<p>"Interference!" he said.</p> + +<p>"Well now; I'm going." This came from Mr. O'Mahony. "I've got to see +if I can earn a few shillings, and tell a few truths. I will leave +you to fight out your battles among you."</p> + +<p>"There will be no battles," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I hope not, but I feel that I can do no good. I have such absolute +trust in Rachel, that you may be quite sure that I shall back her up +in whatever she says. Now, good-night," and with that he took his +leave.</p> + +<p>"I am glad he has gone, because he would do us no good," said Rachel. +"You were angry with me just now because I spoke of interference. I +meant it. I will not admit of any interference from you." Then she +sat with her two hands on her knees, looking him full in the face. "I +love you with all my heart, and am ready to tell everyone that I am +to become your wife. They have a joke about it in the theatre calling +me Mrs. Jones; and because nobody believes what anybody says they +think you're a myth. I suppose it is queer that a singing girl should +marry Mr. Jones. I'm to go in the autumn to Covent Garden, and get +ever so much more money, and I shall still talk about Mr. +Jones,—unless you and I agree to break it off."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not that," said he.</p> + +<p>"But it is by no means certain. Will you go back to Ireland to-morrow +morning, and undertake not to see me again, until you come prepared +to marry me? If not we must break it off."</p> + +<p>"I can hardly do that"</p> + +<p>"Then," said she, rising from her chair, "it is broken off, and I +will not call myself Mrs. Jones any more." He too rose from his +chair, and frowned at her by way of an answer. "I have one other +suggestion to make," she said. "I shall receive next October what +will be quite sufficient for both of us, and for father too. Come and +bear the rough and the smooth together with us."</p> + +<p>"And live upon you?"</p> + +<p>"I should live upon you without scruple if you had got it. And then I +shall bear your interference without a word of complaint. Nay, I +shall thank you for it. I shall come to you for advice in everything. +What you say will be my law. You shall knock down all the Mosses for +me;—or lock them up, which would be so much better. But you must be +my husband."</p> + +<p>"Not yet. You should not ask me as yet. Think of my father's +position. Let this one sad year pass by."</p> + +<p>"Two—three, if there are to be two or three sad years! I will wait +for you till you are as grey as old Peter, and I have not a note left +in my throat. I will stick to you like beeswax. But I will not have +you here hanging about me. Do you think that it would not be pleasant +for me to have a lover to congratulate me every day on my little +triumphs? Do you think that I should not be proud to be seen leaning +always on your arm, with the consciousness that Mr. Moss would be +annihilated at his very first word? But when a year had passed by, +where should I be? No, Frank, it will not do. If you were at Morony +Castle things would go on very well. As you choose to assume to +yourself the right of interference, we must part."</p> + +<p>"When you tell me of such a proposition as that made to you by the +woman, am I to say nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word;—unless it be by letter from Morony Castle, and then +only to me. I will not have you here meddling with my affairs. I told +you, though I didn't tell my father, because I would tell you +everything."</p> + +<p>"And I am to leave you,—without another word?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, without another word. And remember that from this moment I am +free to marry any man that may come the way."</p> + +<p>"Rachel!"</p> + +<p>"I am free to marry any man that may come the way. I don't say I +shall do so. It may take me some little time to forget you. But I am +free. When that has been understood between us I am sure you will +interfere no longer; you will not be so unkind as to force upon me +the necessity of telling the truth to all the people about the +theatre. Let us understand each other."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said he, with the air of a much injured man.</p> + +<p>"I quite know your position. Trusting to your own prospects, you +cannot marry me at present, and you do not choose to accept such +income as I can give you. I respect and even approve your motives. I +am living a life before the public as a singer, in which it is +necessary that I should encounter certain dangers. I can do so +without fear, if I be left alone. You won't leave me alone. You won't +marry me, and yet you won't leave me to my own devices;—therefore, +we had better part." He took her by the hand sorrowfully, as though +preparing to embrace her. "No, Mr. Jones," she said, "that is all +done. I kissed you when my father was here, because I was then +engaged to be your wife. That is over now, and I can only say +good-bye." So saying, she retired, leaving him standing there in her +sitting-room.</p> + +<p>He remained for awhile meditating on his position, till he began to +think that it would be useless for him to remain there. She certainly +would not come down; and he, though he were to wait for her father's +return, would get no more favourable reply from him. He, as he had +promised, would certainly "back up" his daughter in all that she had +said. As he went down out of the room with that feeling of insult +which clings to a man when he has been forced to quit a house without +any farewell ceremony, he certainly did feel that he had been +ill-used. But he could not but acknowledge that she was justified. +There was a certain imperiousness about her which wounded his +feelings as a man. He ought to have been allowed to be dominant. But +then he knew that he could not live upon her income. His father would +not speak to him had he gone back to Morony Castle expressing his +intention of doing so.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-18" id="c2-18"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3> +<h4>FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>To tell the truth, Rachel had a thorough good cry before she went to +bed that night. Though there was something hard, fixed, imperious, +almost manlike about her manner, still she was as soft-hearted as any +other girl. We may best describe her by saying that she was an +American and an actress. It was impossible to doubt her. No one who +had once known her could believe her to be other than she had +declared herself. She was loyal, affectionate, and dutiful. But there +was missing to her a feminine weakness, which of all her gifts is the +most valuable to an English woman, till she makes the mistake of +bartering it away for women's rights. We can imagine, however, that +the stanchest woman's-right lady should cry for her lost lover. And +Rachel O'Mahony cried bitterly for hers. "It had to be done," she +said, jumping up at last in her bedroom, and clenching her fist as +she walked about the chamber. "It had to be done. A girl situated as +I am cannot look too close after herself. Father is more like my son +than my father; he has no idea that I want anything done for me. Nor +do I want much," she said, as she went on rapidly taking the short +course of the room. "No one could say a word about me till I brought +my lover forward and showed him to the theatre. I think they did +believe him to be a myth; but a myth in that direction does no harm +till he appears in the flesh. They think that I have made an empty +boast about my Mr. Jones. The ugliest girl that ever came out may do +the same thing, and nobody ever thinks anything of it. A lover in the +clouds never does any harm, and now my lover is in the clouds. I know +that he has gone, and will never come to earth again. How much better +I love him because he would not take my offer. Then there would have +been a little contempt. And how could I expect him to yield to me in +everything, with this brute Moss insulting me at every turn? I do not +think he had the courage to send me that message, but still! What +could I do but tell Frank? And then what could Frank do but come? I +would have come, let any girl have bade me to stay away!" Here she +had imagined herself to be the lover, and not the girl who was loved. +"But it only shows that we are better apart. He cannot marry me, and +I cannot marry him. The Squire is at his wits' end with grief." By +"the Squire" Mr. Jones had been signified. "It is better as it is. +Father and the Squire ought never to have been brought together,—nor +ought I and Frank. I suppose I must tell them all at the theatre that +Mr. Jones belongs to me no longer. Only if I did so, they would think +that I was holding out a lure to Mahomet M. There's papa. I'll go +down and tell him all that need be told about it." So saying she +ascended to their sitting-room.</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear, what did you do with Frank?"</p> + +<p>"He has gone back to Ireland under the name of Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"Then there was a quarrel?"</p> + +<p>"Oh dear yes! there was safe to be a quarrel."</p> + +<p>"Does it suit your book upon the whole?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least. You see before you the most wretched heroine that +ever appeared on the boards of any theatre. You may laugh, but it's +true. I don't know what I've got to say to Mr. Moss now. If he comes +forward in a proper manner, and can prove to me that Madame Socani is +not Madame Mahomet M. Moss, I don't know what I can do but accept +him. The Adriatic is free to wed another." Then she walked about the +room, laughing to prevent her tears.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear anything about Castle Morony?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word."</p> + +<p>"Or the boy Florian?"</p> + +<p>"Not a syllable;—though I was most anxious to ask the question. When +you are intent upon any matter, it does not do to go away to other +things. I should have never made him believe that he was to leave me +in earnest, had I allowed him to talk about Florian and the girls. He +has gone now. Well;—good-night, father. You and I, father, are all +in all to each other now. Not but what somebody else will come, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"Do you wish that somebody else should come, as you say?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so. Do not look so surprised, father. Girls very seldom +have to say what they really wish. I have done with him now. I had +him because I really loved him,—like a fool as I was. I have got to +go in for being a singing girl. A singing woman is better than a +singing girl. If they don't have husbands, they are supposed to have +lovers. I hope to have one or the other, and I prefer the husband. +Mr. Jones has gone. Who knows but what the Marquis de Carabas may +come next."</p> + +<p>"Could you change so soon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes;—immediately. I don't say I should love the Marquis, but I +should treat him well. Don't look so shocked, dear father. I never +shall treat a man badly,—unless I stick a knife into Mahomet M. +Moss. It would be best perhaps to get a singing marquis, so that the +two of us might go walking about the world together, till we had got +money enough to buy a castle. I am beginning to believe M. Le Gros. I +think I can sing. Don't you think, father, that I can sing?"</p> + +<p>"They all say so."</p> + +<p>"It is very good to have one about me, like you, who are not +enthusiastic. But I can sing, and I am pretty too;—pretty enough +along with my singing to get some fool to care for me. Yes; you may +look astonished. Over there in Galway I was fool enough to fall in +love. What has come of it? The man tells me that he cannot marry me. +And it is true. If he were to marry me what would become of you?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind me," said her father.</p> + +<p>"And what would become of him; and what would become of me? And what +would become of the dreadful little impediments which might follow? +Of course to me Frank Jones is the best of men. I can't have him; and +that is just all about it. I am not going to give up the world +because Frank Jones is lost. Love is not to be lord of all with me. I +shall steer my little boat among the shiny waters of the London +theatres, and may perhaps venture among the waves of Paris and New +York; but I shall do so always with my eyes open. Gas is the +atmosphere in which I am destined to glitter; and if a Marquis comes +in the way,—why, I shall do the best I can with the Marquis. I won't +bring you to trouble if I can help it, or anyone else with whom I +have to do. So good-night, father." Then she kissed his forehead, and +went up to bed leaving him to wonder at the intricacies of his +position.</p> + +<p>He had that night been specially eloquent and awfully indignant as to +the wrongs done to Ireland by England. He had dealt with millions of +which Great Britain was supposed by him to have robbed her poor +sister. He was not a good financier, but he did in truth believe in +the millions. He had not much capacity for looking into questions of +political economy, but he had great capacity for arguing about them +and for believing his own arguments. The British Parliament was to +him an abomination. He read the papers daily, and he saw that the +number of votes on his side fell from sixty to forty, and thirty, and +twenty; and he found also that the twenty were men despised by their +own countrymen as well as Englishmen; that they were men trained to +play a false game in order to achieve their objects;—and yet he +believed in the twenty against all the world, and threw in his lot +without a scruple and without a doubt. Nor did he understand at all +the strength of his own words. He had been silenced in Ireland and +had rigorously obeyed the pledge that he had given. For he was a man +to whom personally his word was a bond. Now he had come over to +London, and being under no promise, had begun again to use the words +which came to him without an effort. As he would sweep back his long +hair from his brows, and send sparks of fire out of his eyes, he +would look to be the spirit of patriotic indignation; but he did not +know that he was thus powerful. To tell the truth,—and as he had +said,—to earn a few shillings was the object of his ambition. But +now, on this evening, three London policemen in their full police +uniform, with their fearful police helmets on, had appeared in the +room in which his dramatic associates had on this evening given way +to Gerald O'Mahony's eloquence. Nothing had been said to him; but as +he came home he was aware that two policemen had watched him. And he +was aware also that his words had been taken down in shorthand. Then +he had encountered his daughter, and all her love troubles. He had +heard her expound her views as to life, and had listened as she had +expressed her desire to meet with some Marquis de Carabas. She had +said nothing with which he could find fault; but her whole views of +life were absolutely different from his. According to his ideas, +there should be no Marquises, no singing girls making huge +fortunes—only singing girls in receipt of modest sums of money; and +that when dire necessity compelled them. There should be no gorgeous +theatres flaring with gas, and certainly no policemen to take down +men's words. Everything in the world was wrong,—except those twenty +Members of Parliament.</p> + +<p>Three or four days after this, Rachel found that a report was abroad +at the theatre that she had dissolved her engagement with Mr. Jones. +At this time the three policemen had already expressed their opinion +about Mr. O'Mahony; but they, for the present, may be left in +obscurity. "<i>Est-il vrai que M. Jones n'existe plus?</i>" These words +were whispered to her, as she was dressing, by Madame Socani, while +Mr. O'Mahony had gone out to say a word to a police detective, who +had called to see him at the theatre. As Madame Socani was an +American woman, there was no reason why she should not have asked the +question in English—were it not that as it referred to an affair of +love it may be thought that French was the proper language.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jones isn't any more, as far as I am concerned," said Rachel, +passing on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has gone!" said Madame Socani, following her into the slips. +They were both going on to the stage, but two minutes were allowed to +them, while Mahomet M. Moss declared, in piteous accents, the woe +which awaited him because Alberta,—who was personated by +Rachel,—had preferred the rustic Trullo to him who was by birth a +Prince of the Empire.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Jones has gone, Madame,—as you are so anxious to know."</p> + +<p>"But why? Can it be that there was no Mr. Jones?" Then Rachel flashed +round upon the woman. "I suppose there was no Mr. Jones?"</p> + +<p>"<i>O, mio tesor.</i>" These last three words were sung in a delicious +contralto voice by Elmira,—the Madame Socani of the occasion,—and +were addressed to the Prince of the Empire, who, for the last six +weeks, had been neglecting her charms. Rachel was furious at the +attack made upon her, but in the midst of her fury she rushed on to +the stage, and kneeling at the feet of Elmira, declared her purpose +of surrendering the Prince altogether. The rustic Trullo was quite +sufficient for her. "Go, fond girl. Trullo is there, tying up the +odoriferous rose." Then they all four broke out into that grand +quartette, in the performance of which M. Le Gros had formed that +opinion which had induced him to hold out such golden hopes to +Rachel. Rachel looked up during one of her grand shakes and saw Frank +Jones seated far back among the boxes. "Oh, he hasn't left London +yet," she said to herself, as she prepared for another shake.</p> + +<p>"Your papa desires me to say with his kindest love, that he has had +to leave the theatre." This came from Mr. Moss when the piece was +ended.</p> + +<p>He was dressed as princes of the empire generally do dress on the +stage, and she as the daughter of the keeper of the king's garden.</p> + +<p>"So they tell me; very well. I will go home. I suppose he has had +business."</p> + +<p>"A policeman I fear. Some little pecuniary embarrassment." A rumour +had got about the theatre that Mr. O'Mahony was overwhelmed with +money difficulties. Mr. Moss had probably overheard the rumour.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe that at all. It's something political, more likely."</p> + +<p>"Very likely, I don't know, I will see you to your house." And +Mahomet M. looked as though he were going to jump into the brougham +in the garments of the imperial prince.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss, I can go very well alone;" and she turned round upon him +and stood in the doorway so as to oppose his coming out, and frowned +upon him with that look of anger which she knew so well how to +assume.</p> + +<p>"I have that to say to you which has to be said at once."</p> + +<p>"You drive about London with me in that dress? It would be absurd. +You are painted all round your eyes. I wouldn't get into a carriage +with you on any account."</p> + +<p>"In five minutes I will have dressed myself."</p> + +<p>"Whether dressed or undressed it does not signify. You know very well +that I would on no account get into a carriage with you. You are +taking advantage of me because my father is not here. If you +accompany me I will call for a policeman directly we get into the +street."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you do not know," said Mr. Moss. And he looked at her exactly as +he had looked about an hour ago, when he was making love to her as +Trullo's betrothed.</p> + +<p>"Here is my father," she said; for at that moment Mr. O'Mahony +appeared within the theatre, having made his way up from the door in +time to take his daughter home.</p> + +<p>"Mr. O'Mahony," said Mr. Moss, "I shall do myself the honour of +calling to-morrow and seeing your daughter at her apartments in Gower +Street."</p> + +<p>"You will see father too," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"I shall be delighted," said Moss. "It will give me the greatest +pleasure on earth to see Mr. O'Mahony on this occasion." So saying +the imperial prince made a low bow, paint and all, and allowed the +two to go down into the street, and get into the brougham.</p> + +<p>Mr. O'Mahony at once began with his own story. The policeman who had +called for him had led him away round the corner into Scotland Yard, +and had there treated him with the utmost deference. Nothing could be +more civil to him than had been the officer. But the officer had +suggested to him that he had been the man who had said some rough +words about the Queen, in Galway, and had promised to abstain in +future from lecturing. "To this I replied," said he, "that I had said +nothing rough about the Queen. I had said that the Queen was as +nearly an angel on earth as a woman could be. I had merely doubted +whether there should be Queens. Thereupon the policeman shook his +head and declared that he could not admit any doubt on that question. +'But you wouldn't expect me to allow it in New York,' said I. 'You've +got to allow it here,' said he. 'But my pledge was made as to +Ireland,' said I. 'It is all written down in some magistrate's book, +and you'll find it if you send over there.' Then I told him that I +wouldn't break my word for him or his Queen either. Upon that he +thanked me very much for my civility, and told me that if I would +hurry back to the theatre I should be in time to take you home. If it +was necessary he would let me hear from him again. 'You will know +where to find me,' said I, and I gave him our address in Farringdon +Street, and told him I should be there to-morrow at half-past eight. +He shook hands with me as though I had been his brother;—and so here +I am."</p> + +<p>Then she began to tell her story, but there did not seem to be much +of interest in it. "I suppose he'll come?" said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he'll come."</p> + +<p>"It's something about M. Le Gros," said he. "You'll find that he'll +abuse that poor Frenchman."</p> + +<p>"He may save himself the trouble," said Rachel. Then they reached +Gower Street, and went to bed, having eaten two mutton-chops apiece.</p> + +<p>On the next morning at eleven o'clock tidings were brought up to +Rachel in her bedroom that Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room +downstairs.</p> + +<p>"Father is there?" exclaimed Rachel.</p> + +<p>Then the girl, who had learned to understand that Mr. Moss was not +regarded as a welcome visitor, assured her that he was at the moment +entertained by Mr. O'Mahony. "He's a-telling of what the perlice said +to him in the City, but I don't think as the Jew gentleman minds him +much." From which it may be gathered that Rachel had not been +discreet in speaking of her admirer before the lodging-house servant.</p> + +<p>She dressed herself, not in a very great hurry. Her father, she knew, +had no other occupation at this hour in the morning, and she did not +in the least regard how Mr. Moss might waste his time. And she had to +think of many things before she could go down to meet him. Meditating +upon it all, she was inclined to think that the interview was +intended as hostile to M. Le Gros. M. Le Gros would be represented, +no doubt, as a Jew twice more Jewish than Mr. Moss himself. But +Rachel had a strong idea that M. Le Gros was a very nice old French +gentleman. When he had uttered all those "ve-rys," one after another +with still increasing emphasis, Rachel had no doubt believed them +all. And she was taking great trouble with herself, practising every +day for two hours together, with a looking-glass before her on the +pianoforte, as Mr. Moss had made her quite understand that the +opening of her mouth wide was the chief qualification necessary to +her, beyond that which nature had done for her. Rachel did think it +possible that she might become the undoubted prima donna of the day, +as M. Le Gros had called her; and she thought it much more probable +that she should do so under the auspices of M. Le Gros, than those of +Mr. Moss. When, therefore, she went down at last to the sitting-room, +she did so, determined to oppose Mr. Moss, as bidding for her voice, +rather than as a candidate for her love. When she entered the room, +she could not help beginning with something of an apology, in that +she had kept the man waiting; but Mr. Moss soon stopped her. "It does +not signify the least in the world," he said, laying his hand upon +his waistcoat. "If only I can get this opportunity of speaking to you +while your father is present." Then, when she looked at the +brilliance of his garments, and heard the tones of his voice, she was +sure that the attack on this occasion was not to be made on M. Le +Gros. She remained silent, and sat square on her chair, looking at +him. A man must be well-versed in feminine wiles, who could decipher +under Rachel's manners her determination to look as ugly as possible +on the occasion. In a moment she had flattened every jaunty twist and +turn out of her habiliments, and had given to herself an air of +absolute dowdyism. Her father sat by without saying a word. "Miss +O'Mahony, if I may venture to ask a question, I trust you may not be +offended."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not as my father is present," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Am I right in believing the engagement to be over which bound you to +Mr.—Jones?"</p> + +<p>"You are," said Rachel, quite out loud, giving another quite +unnecessary twist to her gown.</p> + +<p>"That obstacle is then removed?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jones is removed, and has gone to Ireland." Then Mr. Moss sighed +deeply. "I can manage my singing very well without Mr.—Jones."</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt. Not a doubt. And I have heard that you have made an +engagement in all respects beneficial with M. Le Gros, of Covent +Garden. M. Le Gros is a gentleman for whom I have a most profound +respect."</p> + +<p>"So have I."</p> + +<p>"Had I been at your elbow, it is possible that something better might +have been done; but two months;—they run by—oh, so quickly!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so. If I can do any good I shall quickly get another +engagement."</p> + +<p>"You will no doubt do a great deal of good. But Mr. Jones is now at +an end."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jones is at an end," said Rachel, with another blow at her gown. +"A singing girl like me does better without a lover,—especially if +she has got a father to look after her."</p> + +<p>"That's as may be," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"That's as may be," said Mr. Moss, again laying his hand upon his +heart. The tone in which Mr. Moss repeated Mr. O'Mahony's words was +indicative of the feeling and poetry within him. "If you had a lover +such as is your faithful Moss," the words seemed to say, "no father +could look after you half so well."</p> + +<p>"I believe I could do very well with no one to look after me."</p> + +<p>"Of course you and I have misunderstood each other hitherto."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"I was unaware at first that Mr. Jones was an absolute reality. You +must excuse me, but the name misled me."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't a girl be engaged to a man named Jones? Jones is as +good a name as Moss, at any rate; and a deal +<span class="nowrap">more—"</span> She had been +going to remark that Jones was the more Christian of the two, but +stopped herself.</p> + +<p>"At any rate you are now free?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No, I am not. Yes, I am. I am free, and I mean to remain so. Why +don't you tell him, father?"</p> + +<p>"I have got nothing to tell him, my dear. You are so much better able +to tell him everything yourself."</p> + +<p>"If you would only listen to me, Miss O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"You had better listen to him, Rachel."</p> + +<p>"Very well; I will listen. Now go on." Then she again thumped +herself. And she had thumped her hair, and thumped herself all round +till she was as limp and dowdy as the elder sister of a Low Church +clergyman of forty.</p> + +<p>"I wish you to believe, Miss O'Mahony, that my attachment to you is +most devoted." She pursed her lips together and looked straight out +of her eyes at the wall opposite. "We belong to the same class of +life, and our careers lie in the same groove." Hereupon she crossed +her hands before her on her lap, while her father sat speculating +whether she might not have done better to come out on the comic +stage. "I wish you to believe that I am quite sincere in the +expression which I make of a most ardent affection." Here again he +slapped his waistcoat and threw himself into an attitude. He was by +no means an ill-looking man, and though he was forty years old, he +did not appear to be so much. He had been a public singer all his +life, and was known by Rachel to have been connected for many years +with theatres both in London and New York. She had heard many stories +as to his amorous adventures, but knew nothing against his character +in money matters. He had, in truth, always behaved well to her in +whatever pecuniary transactions there had been between them. But he +had ventured to make love to her, and had done so in a manner which +had altogether disgusted her. She now waited till he paused for a +moment in his eloquence, and then she spoke a word.</p> + +<p>"What about Madame Socani?"</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-19" id="c2-19"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3> +<h4>FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>"What about Madame Socani?" Rachel, as she said this, abandoned for +the moment her look against the wall, and shook herself instantly +free of all her dowdiness. She flashed fire at him from her eyes, and +jumping up from her seat, took hold of her father by his shoulder. He +encircled her waist with his arm, but otherwise sat silent, looking +Mr. Moss full in the face. It must be acknowledged on the part of +Rachel that she was prepared to make her accusation against Mr. Moss +on perhaps insufficient grounds. She had heard among the people at +the theatre, who did not pretend to know much of Mr. Moss and his +antecedents, that there was a belief that Madame Socani was his wife. +There was something in this which offended her more grossly than +ever,—and a wickedness which horrified her. But she certainly knew +nothing about it; and Madame Socani's proposition to herself had come +to her from Madame Socani, and not from Mr. Moss. All she knew of +Madame Socani was that she had been on the boards in New York, and +had there made for herself a reputation. Rachel had on one occasion +sung with her, but it had been when she was little more than a child.</p> + +<p>"What is Madame Socani to me?" said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"I believe her to be your wife."</p> + +<p>"Oh, heavens! My wife! I never had a wife, Miss O'Mahony;—not yet! +Why do you say things so cruel to me?"</p> + +<p>He, at any rate, she was sure, had sent her that message. She thought +that she was sure of his villainous misconduct to her in that +respect. She believed that she did know him to be a devil, whether he +was a married man or not.</p> + +<p>"What message did you send to me by Madame Socani?"</p> + +<p>"What message? None!" and again he laid his hand upon his waistcoat.</p> + +<p>"He asked me to be—" But she could not tell her father of what +nature was the message. "Father, he is a reptile. If you knew all, +you would be unable to keep your hands from his throat. And now he +dares to come here and talk to me of his affection. You had better +bid him leave the room and have done with him."</p> + +<p>"You hear what my daughter says, Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hear her," answered the poor innocent-looking tenor. "But +what does she mean? Why is she so fierce?"</p> + +<p>"He knows, father," said Rachel. "Have nothing further to say to +him."</p> + +<p>"I don't think that I do quite know," said Mr. O'Mahony. "But you can +see, at any rate, Mr. Moss, that she does not return your feeling."</p> + +<p>"I would make her my wife to-morrow," said Mr. Moss, slapping his +waistcoat once more. "And do you, as the young lady's papa, think of +what we two might do together. I know myself, I know my power. Madame +Socani is a jealous woman. She would wish to be taken into +partnership with me,—not a partnership of hearts, but of theatres. +She has come with some insolent message, but not from me;—ah, not +from me!"</p> + +<p>"You never tried to kiss me? You did not make two attempts?"</p> + +<p>"I would make two thousand if I were to consult my own heart."</p> + +<p>"When you knew that I was engaged to Mr. Jones!"</p> + +<p>"What was Mr. Jones to me? Now I ask your respectable parent, is Miss +Rachel unreasonable? When a gentleman has lost his heart in true +love, is he to be reproached because he endeavours to seize one +little kiss? Did not Mr. Jones do the same?"</p> + +<p>"Bother Mr. Jones!" said Rachel, overcome by the absurdity of the +occasion. "As you observed just now, Mr. Jones and I are two. Things +have not turned out happily, though I am not obliged to explain all +that to you. But Mr. Jones is to me all that a man should be; you, +Mr. Moss, are not. Now, father, had he not better go?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think any good is to be done, I really don't," said Mr. +O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Why am I to be treated in this way?"</p> + +<p>"Because you come here persevering when you know it's no good."</p> + +<p>"I think of what you and I might do together with Moss's theatre +between us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, heavens!"</p> + +<p>"You should be called the O'Mahony. Your respectable papa should keep +an eye to your pecuniary interest."</p> + +<p>"I could keep an eye myself for that."</p> + +<p>"You would be my own wife, of course—my own wife."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be anything of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but listen!" continued Mr. Moss. "You do not know how the +profits run away into the pockets of <i>impresarios</i> and lessees and +money-lenders. We should have it all ourselves. I have £30,000 of my +own, and my respectable parent in New York has as much more. It would +all be the same as ours. Only think! Before long we would have a +house on the Fifth Avenue so furnished that all the world should +wonder; and another at Newport, where the world should not be +admitted to wonder. Only think!"</p> + +<p>"And Madame Socani to look after the furniture!" said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Madame Socani should be nowheres."</p> + +<p>"And I also will be nowheres. Pray remember that in making all your +little domestic plans. If you live in the Fifth Avenue, I will live +in 350 Street; or perhaps I should like it better to have a little +house here in Albert Place. Father, don't you think Mr. Moss might go +away?"</p> + +<p>"I think you have said all that there is to be said." Then Mr. +O'Mahony got up from his chair as though to show Mr. Moss out of the +room.</p> + +<p>"Not quite, Mr. O'Mahony. Allow me for one moment. As the young +lady's papa you are bound to look to these things. Though the theatre +would be a joint affair, Miss O'Mahony would have her fixed +salary;—that is to say, Mrs. Moss would."</p> + +<p>"I won't stand it," said Rachel getting up. "I won't allow any man to +call me by so abominable a name,—or any woman." Then she bounced out +of the room.</p> + +<p>"It's no good, you see," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"I by no means see that so certain. Of course a young lady like your +daughter knows her own value, and does not yield all at once."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's no good. I know my own daughter."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Mr. O'Mahony, but I doubt whether you know the sex."</p> + +<p>The two men were very nearly of an age; but O'Mahony assumed the +manners of an old man, and Mr. Moss of a young one.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"They have been my study up from my cradle," said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"No doubt."</p> + +<p>"And I think that I have carried on the battle not without some +little <i>éclat</i>."</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure of it."</p> + +<p>"I still hope that I may succeed with your sweet daughter."</p> + +<p>"Here the battle is of a different kind," not without a touch of +satire in the tone of his voice, whatever there might be in the words +which he used. "In tournaments of love, you have, I do not doubt, +been very successful; but here, it seems to me that the struggle is +for money."</p> + +<p>"That is only an accident."</p> + +<p>"But the accident rises above everything. It does not matter in the +least which comes first. Whether it be for love or money my daughter +will certainly have a will of her own. You may take my word that she +is not to be talked out of her mind."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Jones is gone?" asked Moss.</p> + +<p>"But she is not on that account ready to transfer her affections at a +moment's notice. To her view of the matter there seems to be +something a little indelicate in the idea."</p> + +<p>"Bah!" said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"You cannot make her change her mind by saying bah."</p> + +<p>"Professional interests have to be considered," said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"No doubt; my daughter does consider her professional interests every +day when she practises for two hours."</p> + +<p>"That is excellent,—and with such glorious effects! She has only now +got the full use of her voice. My +<span class="nowrap">G——!</span> what could she not do if she +had the full run of Moss's Theatre! She might choose whatever operas +would suit her best; and she would have me to guide her judgment! I +do know my profession, Mr. O'Mahony. A lady in her line should always +marry a gentleman in mine; that is if she cares about matrimony."</p> + +<p>"Of course she did intend to be married to Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones! I am sick of Mr. Jones. What could Mr. +Jones do? He is only a poor ruined Irishman. You must feel that Mr. +Jones was only in the way. I am offering her all that professional +experience and capital can do. What are her allurements?"</p> + +<p>"I don't in the least know, Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>"Only her beauty."</p> + +<p>"I thought, perhaps it was her singing."</p> + +<p>"That joined," said Mr. Moss. "No doubt her voice and her beauty +joined together. Madame Socani's voice is as valuable,—almost as +valuable."</p> + +<p>"I would marry Madame Socani if I were you."</p> + +<p>"No! Madame Socani is,—well a leetle past her prime. Madame Socani +and I have known each other for twenty years. Madame Socani is aware +that I am attached to your daughter. Well; I do not mind telling you +the truth. Madame Socani and I have been on very intimate terms. I +did offer once to make Madame Socani my wife. She did not see her way +in money matters. She was making an income greater than mine. Things +have changed since that. Madame Socani is very well, but she is a +jealous woman. Madame Socani hates your daughter. Oh, heavens, yes! +But she was never my wife. Oh, no! A woman at this profession grows +old quicker than a man. And she has never succeeded in getting a +theatre of her own. She did try her hand at it at New York, but that +came to nothing. If Miss Rachel will venture along with me, we will +have 500,000 dollars before five years are gone. She shall have +everything that the world can offer—jewels, furniture, hangings! She +shall keep the best table in New York, and shall have her own +banker's account. There's no such success to be found anywhere for a +young woman. If you will only just turn it in your mind, Mr. +O'Mahony." Then Mr. Moss brushed his hat with the sleeve of his coat +and took his leave.</p> + +<p>He had nearly told the entire truth to Mr. O'Mahony. He had never +married Madame Socani. As far as Madame Socani knew, her veritable +husband, Socani, was still alive. And it was not true that Mr. Moss +had sent that abominable message to Rachel. The message, no doubt, +had expressed a former wish on his part; but that wish was now in +abeyance. Miss O'Mahony's voice had proved itself to him to be worth +matrimony,—that and her beauty together. In former days, when he had +tried to kiss her, he had valued her less highly. Now, as he left the +room, he was fully content with the bargain he had suggested. Mr. +Jones was out of the way, and her voice had proved itself to his +judgment to be worth the price he had offered.</p> + +<p>When her father saw her again he began meekly to plead for Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say, father," she exclaimed, "that you have joined +yourself to him?"</p> + +<p>"I am only telling you what he says."</p> + +<p>"Tell me nothing at all. You ought to know that he is an abomination. +Though he had the whole Fifth Avenue to offer to me I would not touch +him with a pair of tongs."</p> + +<p>But she, in the midst of her singing, had been much touched by seeing +Frank Jones among the listeners in the back of one of the boxes. When +the piece was over there had come upon her a desire to go to him and +tell him that, in spite of all she had said, she would wait for him +if only he would profess himself ready to wait for her. There was not +much in it,—that a man should wait in town for two or three days, +and should return to the theatre to see the girl whom he professed to +regard. It was only that, but it had again stirred her love. She had +endeavoured to send to him when the piece was over; but he was gone, +and she saw him no more.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-20" id="c2-20"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3> +<h4>BOYCOTTING.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Frank Jones went back to County Galway, having caught a last glimpse +of his lady-love. But his lady-love could not very well make herself +known to him from the stage as she was occupied at the moment with +Trullo. And as he had left the theatre before her message had been +brought round, he did so with a bitter conviction that everything +between them was over. He felt very angry with her,—no doubt +unreasonably. The lady was about to make a pocketful of money; and +had offered to share it with him. He refused to take any part of it, +and declined altogether to incur any of the responsibilities of +marriage for the present. His father's circumstances too were of such +a nature as to make him almost hopeless for the future. What would he +have had her do? Nevertheless he was very angry with her.</p> + +<p>As he made his way westward through Ireland he heard more and more of +the troubles of the country. He had not in fact been gone much more +than a week, but during that week sad things had happened. Boycotting +had commenced, and had already become very prevalent. To boycott a +man, or a house, or a firm, or a class of men, or a trade, or a flock +of sheep, or a drove of oxen, or unfortunately a county hunt, had +become an exact science, and was exactly obeyed. It must be +acknowledged that throughout the south and west of Ireland the +quickness and perfection with which this science was understood and +practised was very much to the credit of the intelligence of the +people. We can understand that boycotting should be studied in +Yorkshire, and practised,—after an experience of many years. Laying +on one side for the moment all ideas as to the honesty and expediency +of the measure, we think that Yorkshire might in half a century learn +how to boycott its neighbours. A Yorkshire man might boycott a +Lancashire man, or Lincoln might boycott Nottingham. It would require +much teaching;—many books would have to be written, and an infinite +amount of heavy slow imperfect practice would follow. But County Mayo +and County Galway rose to the requirements of the art almost in a +night! Gradually we Englishmen learned to know in a dull glimmering +way what they were about; but at the first whisper of the word all +Ireland knew how to ruin itself. This was done readily by people of +the poorer class,—without any gifts of education, and certainly the +immoderate practice of the science displays great national +intelligence.</p> + +<p>As Frank Jones passed through Dublin he learned that Morony Castle +had been boycotted; and he was enough of an Irishman to know +immediately what was meant. And he heard, too, while in the train +that the kennels at Ahaseragh had been boycotted. He knew that with +the kennels would be included Black Daly, and with Morony Castle his +unfortunate father. According to the laws on which the practice was +carried on nothing was to be bought from the land of Morony Castle, +and nothing sold to the owners of it. No service was to be done for +the inhabitants, as far as the laws of boycotting might be made to +prevail. He learned from a newspaper he bought in Dublin that the +farm servants had all left the place, and that the maids had been +given to understand that they would encounter the wrath of the new +lords in the land if they made a bed for any Jones to lie upon.</p> + +<p>As he went on upon his journey his imagination went to work to +picture to himself the state of his father's life under these +circumstances. But his imagination was soon outstripped by the +information which reached him from fellow-travellers. "Did ye hear +what happened to old Phil Jones down at Morony?" said a passenger, +who got in at Moate, to another who had joined them at Athlone.</p> + +<p>"Divil a hear thin."</p> + +<p>"Old Phil wanted to get across from Ballyglunin to his own place. He +had been down to Athenry. There was that chap who is always there +with a car. Divil a foot would he stir for Phil. Phil has had some +row with the boys there about his meadows, and he's trying to +prosecute. More fool he. A quiet, aisy-going fellow he used to be. +But it seems he has been stirred now. He has got some man in Galway +jail, and all the country is agin him. Anyways he had to foot it from +Ballyglunin to Headford, and then to send home to Morony for his own +car." In this way did Frank learn that his father had in truth +incurred boycotting severity. He knew well the old man who had +attended the Ballyglunin station with almost a hopeless desire of +getting a fare, and was sure that nothing short of an imperious edict +from the great Landleaguing authorities in the district, would have +driven him to the necessity of repudiating a passenger.</p> + +<p>But when he had reached the further station of Ballinasloe he learned +sadder tidings in regard to his friend Tom Daly. Tom Daly had put no +man in prison, and yet the kennels at Ahaseragh had been burned to +the ground. This had occurred only on the preceding day; and he got +the account of what had happened from a hunting man he knew well. +"The hounds were out you know last Saturday week as a finish, and +poor Tom did hope that we might get through without any further +trouble. We met at Ballinamona, and we drew Blake's coverts without a +word. We killed our fox too and then went away to Pulhaddin gorse. +I'll be blest if all the county weren't there. I never saw the boys +swarm about a place so thick. Pulhaddin is the best gorse in the +county. Of course it was no use drawing it; but as we were going away +on the road to Loughrea the crowd was so thick that there was no +riding among them. Ever so many horsemen got into the fields to be +away from the crowd. But Tom wouldn't allow Barney and the hounds to +be driven from the road. I never saw a man look so angry in my life. +You could see the passion that was on him. He never spoke a word, nor +raised a hand, nor touched his horse with his spur; but he got +blacker and blacker, and would go on whether the crowd moved asunder +or not. And he told Barney to follow him with the hounds, which +Barney did, looking back ever and anon at the poor brutes, and giving +his instructions to the whips to see well after that they did not +wander. They threatened Barney scores of times with their sticks, but +he came on, funking awfully, but still doing whatever Tom told him. I +was riding just behind him among the hounds so that I could see all +that took place. At last a ruffian with his shillelagh struck Barney +over the thigh. I had not time to get to him; indeed I doubt whether +I should have done so, but Tom,—; by George, he saw out of the back +of his head. He turned round, and, without touching his horse with +spur or whip, rode right at the ruffian. If they had struck himself, +I think he would have borne it more easily."</p> + +<p>"How did it end?"</p> + +<p>"They said that the blackguard was hurt, but I saw him escape and get +away over the fence. Then they all set upon Tom, but by +<span class="nowrap">G——</span> it was +glorious to see the way in which he held his own. Out came that cross +of his, four foot and a half long, with a thong as heavy as a flail. +He soon had the road clear around him, and the big black horse you +remember, stood as steady as a statue till he was bidden to move on. +Then when he had the hounds, and Barney Smith and the whips to +himself,—and I was there—we all rode off at a fast trot to +Loughrea."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"We could do nothing but go home; the whole county seemed to be in a +ferment. At Loughrea we went away in our own directions, and poor Tom +with Barney Smith rode home to Ahaseragh. But not a word did he speak +to anyone, even to Barney; nor did Barney dare to speak a word to +him. He trotted all the way to Ahaseragh in moody silence, thinking +of the terrible ill that had been done him. I have known Tom for +twenty years, and I think that if he loves any man he loves me. But +he parted from me that day without a word."</p> + +<p>"And then the kennels were set on fire?"</p> + +<p>"Before I left Loughrea I heard the report, spread about everywhere, +that Tom Daly had recklessly ridden down three or four more poor +countrymen on the road. I knew then that some mischief would be in +hand. It was altogether untrue that he had hurt anyone. And he was +bound to interfere on behalf of his own servant. But when I heard +this morning that a score of men had been there in the night and had +burned the kennels to the ground, I was not surprised." Such was the +story that Frank Jones heard as to Tom Daly before he got home.</p> + +<p>On reaching Ballyglunin he looked out for the carman, but he was not +there. Perhaps the interference with his task had banished him. Frank +went on to Tuam, which increased slightly the distance by road to +Morony. But at Tuam he found that Morony had in truth been boycotted. +He could not get a car for love or money. There were many cars there, +and the men would not explain to him their reasons for declining to +take him home; but they all refused. "We can't do it, Mr. Frank," +said one man; and that was the nearest approach to an explanation +that was forthcoming. He walked into town and called at various +houses; but it was to no purpose. It was with difficulty that he +found himself allowed to leave his baggage at a grocer's shop, so +strict was the boycotting exacted. And then he too had to walk home +through Headford to Morony Castle.</p> + +<p>When he reached the house he first encountered Peter, the butler. +"Faix thin, Mr. Frank," said Peter, "throubles niver comed in 'arnest +till now. Why didn't they allow Mr. Flory just to hould his pace and +say nothing about it to no one?"</p> + +<p>"Why has all this been done?" demanded Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's that born divil, Pat Carroll," whispered Peter. "I wouldn't be +saying it so that any of the boys or girls should hear me,—not for +my throat's sake. I am the only one of 'em," he added, whispering +still lower than before, "that's doing a ha'porth for the masther. +There are the two young ladies a-working their very fingers off down +to the knuckles. As for me, I've got it all on my shoulders." No +doubt Peter was true to his master in adversity, but he did not allow +the multiplicity of his occupations to interfere with his eloquence.</p> + +<p>Then Frank went in and found his father seated alone in his +magistrate's room. "This is bad, father," said Frank, taking him by +the hand.</p> + +<p>"Bad! yes, you may call it bad. I am ruined, I suppose. There are +twenty heifers ready for market next week, and I am told that not a +butcher in County Galway will look at one of them."</p> + +<p>"Then you must send them on to Westmeath; I suppose the Mullingar +butchers won't boycott you?"</p> + +<p>"It's just what they will do."</p> + +<p>"Then send them on to Dublin."</p> + +<p>"Who's to take them to Dublin?" said the father, in his distress.</p> + +<p>"I will if there be no one else. We are not going to be knocked out +of time for want of two or three pairs of hands."</p> + +<p>"There are two policemen here to watch the herd at night. They'd cut +the tails off them otherwise as they did over at Ballinrobe last +autumn. To whom am I to consign 'em in Dublin? While I am making new +arrangements of that kind their time will have gone by. There are +five cows should be milked morning and night. Who is to milk them?"</p> + +<p>"Who is milking them?"</p> + +<p>"Your sisters are doing it, with the aid of an old woman who has come +from Galway. She says she has not long to live, and with the help of +half-a-crown a day cares nothing for the Landleaguers. I wish someone +would pay me half-a-crown a day, and perhaps I should not care."</p> + +<p>Then Frank passed on through the house to find his sisters, or Flory +as it might be. He had said not a word to his father in regard to +Florian, fearing to touch upon a subject which, as he well knew, must +be very sore. Had Florian told the truth when the deed was done, Pat +Carroll would have been tried at once, and, whether convicted or +acquitted, the matter would have been over long ago. In those days +Pat Carroll had not become a national or even a county hero. But now +he was able to secure the boycotting of his enemy even as far distant +as Ballyglunin or Tuam. In the kitchen he found Ada and Edith, who +had no comfort in these perilous days except when they could do +everything together. At the present moment they were roasting a leg +of mutton and boiling potatoes, which Frank knew were intended +especially for his own eating.</p> + +<p>"Well, my girls, you are busy here," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, busy!" said Ada, who had put up her face to be kissed so as +not to soil her brother's coat by touching it with her hands. "How is +Rachel?"</p> + +<p>"Rachel is pretty well, I believe. We will not talk of Rachel just at +present."</p> + +<p>"Is anything wrong," asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"We will not talk about her, not now. What is all this that has +happened here?"</p> + +<p>"We are just boycotted," said Ada; "that's all."</p> + +<p>"And you think that it's the best joke in the world?"</p> + +<p>"Think it a joke!" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Why we have to be up every morning at five o'clock," said Ada; "and +at six we are out with the cows."</p> + +<p>"It is no joke," said Edith, very seriously. "Papa is broken-hearted +about it. Your coming will be of the greatest comfort to us, if only +because of the pair of hands you bring. And poor Flory!"</p> + +<p>"How has it gone with Flory?" he asked. Then Edith told the tale as +it had to be told of Florian, and of what had happened because of the +evidence he had given. He had come forward under the hands of Captain +Yorke Clayton and repeated his whole story, giving it in testimony +before the magistrates. He declared it all exactly as he had done +before in the presence of his father and his sister and Captain +Clayton. And he had sworn to it, and had had his deposition read to +him. He was sharp enough, and understood well what he was doing. The +other two men were brought up to support him,—the old man Terry and +Con Heffernan. They of course had not been present at the examination +of Flory, and were asked,—first one and then the other,—what they +knew of the transactions of the afternoon on which the waters had +been let in on the meadows of Ballintubber. They knew nothing at all, +they said. They "disremembered" whether they had been there on the +occasion, "at all, at all." Yes; they knew that the waters had been +in upon the meadows, and they believed that they were in again still. +They didn't think that the meadows were of much good for this year. +They didn't know who had done it, "at all, at all." People did be +saying that Mr. Florian had done it himself, so as to spite his +father because he had turned Catholic. They couldn't say whether Mr. +Florian could do it alone or not. They thought Mr. Florian and Peter, +the butler, and perhaps one other, might do it amongst them. They +thought that Yorke Clayton might perhaps have been the man to help +him. They didn't know that Yorke Clayton hadn't been in the county at +that time. They wished with all their hearts that he wasn't there +now, because he was the biggest blackguard they had ever heard tell +of.</p> + +<p>Such was the story which was now told to Frank of the examination +which took place in consequence of Florian's confession. The results +were that Pat Carroll was in Galway jail, committed to take his trial +at the next assizes in August for the offence which he had committed; +and that Florian had been bound over to give evidence. "What does +Florian do with himself?" his brother asked.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid he is frightened," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Of course he is frightened," said her sister. "How should he not be +frightened? These men have been telling him for the last six months +that they would surely murder him if he turned round and gave +evidence against them. Oh, Frank, I fear that I have been wrong in +persuading him to tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"Not though his life were sacrificed to-morrow. To have kept the +counsels of such a ruffian as that against his own father would have +been a disgrace to him for ever. Does not my father think of sending +him to England?"</p> + +<p>"He says that he has not the money," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Is it so bad as that with him?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it is very bad,—bad at any rate, for the time coming. +He has not had a shilling of rent for this spring, and he has to pay +the money to Mrs. Pulteney and the others. Poor papa is sorely vexed, +and we do not like to press him. He suggested himself that he would +send Florian over to Mr. Blake's; but we think that Carnlough is not +far enough, and that it would be unfair to impose such a trouble on +another man."</p> + +<p>"Could he not send him to Mrs. Pulteney?" Now Mrs. Pulteney was a +sister of Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"He does not like to ask her," said Edith. "He thinks that Mrs. +Pulteney has not shown herself very kind of late. We are waiting till +you speak to him about it."</p> + +<p>"But what does Florian do with himself?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"You will see. He does little or nothing, but roams about the house +and talks to Peter. He did not even go to mass last Sunday. He says +that the whole congregation would accuse him of being a liar."</p> + +<p>"Does he not know that he has done his duty by the lie he has told?"</p> + +<p>"But to go alone among these people!" said Ada.</p> + +<p>"And to hear their damnable taunts!" said Edith. "It is very hard +upon him. I think it is papa's idea to keep him here till after the +trial in August, and then, if possible, to send him to England. There +would be the double journey else, and papa thinks that there would be +no real danger till his evidence had been given."</p> + +<p>Then Frank went out of the house and walked round the demesne, so +that he might think at his ease of all the troubles of his family.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-21" id="c2-21"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3> +<h4>LAX, THE MURDERER.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Frank Jones found his brother Florian alone in the butler's pantry, +and was told that Peter was engaged in feeding the horses and +cleaning out the stables. "He's mostly engaged in that kind of work +now," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"Who lays the tablecloth?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"I do; or Edith; sometimes we don't have any tablecloth, or any clean +knives and forks. Perhaps they'll have one to-day because you have +come."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't give them increased trouble," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Papa told them to put their best foot forward because you are here. +I don't think he minds at all about himself. I think papa is very +unhappy."</p> + +<p>"Of course he's unhappy, because they have boycotted him. How should +he not be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"It's worse than that," whispered Florian.</p> + +<p>"What can be worse?"</p> + +<p>"If you'll come with me I'll tell you. I don't want to say it here, +because the girls will hear me;—and that old Peter will know +everything that's said."</p> + +<p>"Come out into the grounds, and take a turn before dinner." At this +Florian shook his head. "Why not, Flory."</p> + +<p>"There are fellows about," said Flory.</p> + +<p>"What fellows?"</p> + +<p>"The very fellows that said they'd kill me. Do you know that fellow +Lax? He's the worst of them."</p> + +<p>"But he doesn't live here."</p> + +<p>"All the same, I saw him yesterday."</p> + +<p>"You were out then, yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"Not to say out," said Flory. "I was in the orchard just behind the +stables; and I could see across into the ten-acre piece. There, at +the further side of the field, I saw a fellow, who I am sure was Lax. +Nobody walks like him, he's got that quick, suspicious way of going. +It was just nearly dark; it was well-nigh seven, and I had been with +Peter in the stables, helping to make up the horses, and I am sure it +was Lax."</p> + +<p>"He won't come near you and me on the broad walk," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Won't he? You don't know him. There are half-a-dozen places there +where he could hit us from behind the wall. Come up into your room, +and I'll tell you what it is that makes papa unhappy." Then Frank led +the way upstairs to his bedroom, and Florian followed him. When +inside he shut the door, and seated himself on the bed close to his +brother. "Now I'll tell you," said he.</p> + +<p>"What is it ails him?"</p> + +<p>"He's frightened," said Florian, "because he doesn't wish me to +be—murdered."</p> + +<p>"My poor boy! Who could wish it?" Here Florian shook his head. "Of +course he doesn't wish it."</p> + +<p>"He made me tell about the meadow gates."</p> + +<p>"You had to tell that, Flory."</p> + +<p>"But it will bring them to murder me. If you had heard them make me +promise and had seen their looks! Papa never thought about that till +the man had come and worked it all out of me."</p> + +<p>"What man?"</p> + +<p>"The head of the policemen, Yorke Clayton. Papa was so fierce upon me +then, that he made me do it."</p> + +<p>"You had to do it," said Frank. "Let things go as they might, you had +to do it. You would not have it said of you that you had joined these +ruffians against your father."</p> + +<p>"I had sworn to Father Brosnan not to tell. But you care nothing for +a priest, of course."</p> + +<p>"Nothing in the least."</p> + +<p>"Nor does father. But when I had told it all at his bidding, and had +gone before the magistrates, and they had written it down, and that +man Clayton had read it all and I had signed it, and papa had seen +the look which Pat Carroll had turned upon me, then he became +frightened. I knew that that man Lax was in the room at the moment. I +did not see him, but I felt that he was there. Now I don't go out at +all, except just into the orchard and front garden. I won't go even +there, as I saw Lax about the place yesterday. I know that they mean +to murder me."</p> + +<p>"There will be no danger," said Frank, "unless Carroll be convicted. +In that case your father will have you sent to a school in England."</p> + +<p>"Papa hasn't got the money; I heard him tell Edith so. And they +wouldn't know how to carry me to the station at Ballyglunin. Those +boys from Ballintubber would shoot at me on the road. It's that that +makes papa so unhappy."</p> + +<p>Then they all went to dinner with a cloth laid fair on the table, for +Frank, who was as it were a stranger. And there were many inquiries +made after Rachel and her theatrical performances. Tidings as to her +success had already reached Morony, and wonderful accounts of the +pecuniary results. They had seen stories in the newspapers of the +close friendship which existed between her and Mr. Moss, and hints +had been given for a closer tie. "I don't think it is likely," said +Frank.</p> + +<p>"But is anything the matter between you and Rachel?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>At that moment Peter was walking off with the leg of mutton, and Ada +had run into the kitchen to fetch the rice pudding, which she had +made to celebrate her brother's return. Edith winked at her brother +to show that all questions as to the tender subject should be +postponed for the moment.</p> + +<p>"But is it true," said Ada, "that Rachel is making a lot of money?"</p> + +<p>"That is true, certainly," said her brother.</p> + +<p>"And that she sings gloriously?"</p> + +<p>"She always did sing gloriously," said Edith. "I was sure that Rachel +was intended for a success."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Captain Yorke Clayton would think about her," said +Ada. "He does understand music, and is very fond of young ladies who +can sing. I heard him say that the Miss Ormesbys of Castlebar sang +beautifully; and he sings himself, I know."</p> + +<p>"Captain Clayton has something else to do at present than to watch +the career of Miss O'Mahony in London." This was said by their +father, and was the first word he had spoken since they had sat down +to dinner. It was felt to convey some reproach as to Rachel; but why +a reproach was necessary was not explained.</p> + +<p>Peter was now out of the room, and the door was shut.</p> + +<p>"Rachel and I have come to understand each other," said Frank. "She +is to have the spending of her money by herself, and I by myself am +to enjoy life at Morony Castle."</p> + +<p>"Is this her decision?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>It was on Frank's lips to declare that it was so; but he remembered +himself, and swallowed down the falsehood unspoken.</p> + +<p>"No," he said; "it was not her decision. She offered to share it all +with me."</p> + +<p>"And you?" said his father.</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't consent; and so we arranged that matters should be +brought to an end between us."</p> + +<p>"I knew what she would do," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Just what she ought," said Edith. "Rachel is a fine girl. Nothing +else was to be expected from her."</p> + +<p>"And nothing else was possible with you," said their father. And so +that conversation was brought to an end.</p> + +<p>On the next day Captain Clayton came up the lake from Galway, and was +again engaged,—or pretended to be engaged,—in looking up for +evidence in reference to the trial of Pat Carroll. Or it might be +that he wanted to sun himself again in the bright eyes of Ada Jones. +Again he brought Hunter, his double, with him, and boldly walked from +Morony Castle into Headford, disregarding altogether the loaded guns +of Pat Carroll's friends. In company with Frank he paid a visit to +Tom Lafferty in his own house at Headford. But as he went there he +insisted that Frank should carry a brace of pistols in his trousers' +pockets. "It's as well to do it, though you should never use them, or +a great deal better that you should never use them. You don't want to +get into all the muck of shooting a wretched, cowardly Landleaguer. +If all the leaders had but one life among them there would be +something worth going in for. But it is well that they should believe +that you have got them. They are such cowards that if they know +you've got a pistol with you they will be afraid to get near enough +to shoot you with a rifle. If you are in a room with fellows who see +that you have your hand in your trousers' pocket, they will be in +such a funk that you cow half-a-dozen of them. They look upon Hunter +and me as though we were an armed company of policemen." So Frank +carried the pistols.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Lafferty, how are things going with you to-day?"</p> + +<p>"'Deed, then, Captain Clayton, it ain't much as I'm able to say for +myself. I've the decentry that bad in my innards as I'm all in the +twitters."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for that, Mr. Lafferty. Are you well enough to tell me +where did Mr. Lax go when he left you this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Who's Mr. Lax? I don't know no such person."</p> + +<p>"Don't you, now? I thought that Mr. Lax was as well-known in Headford +as the parish priest. Why, he's first cousin to your second cousin, +Pat Carroll."</p> + +<p>"'Deed and he ain't then;—not that I ever heard tell of."</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt you know what relations he's got in these parts."</p> + +<p>"I don't know nothin' about Terry Lax."</p> + +<p>"Except that his name is Terry," said the Captain.</p> + +<p>"I don't know nothin' about him, and I won't tell nothin' either."</p> + +<p>"But he was here this morning, Mr. Lafferty?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of. I won't say nothin' more about him. It's as bad +as lying you are with that +<span class="nowrap">d——d</span> artful +way of entrapping a fellow."</p> + +<p>Here Terry Carroll, Pat's brother, entered the cabin, and took off +his hat, with an air of great courtesy. "More power to you, Mr. +Frank," he said, "it's I that am glad to see you back from London. +These are bad tidings they got up at the Castle. To think of Mr. +Flory having such a story to tell as that."</p> + +<p>"It's a true story at any rate," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Musha thin, not one o' us rightly knows. It's a long time ago, and +if I were there at all, I disremember it. Maybe I was, though I +wasn't doing anything on me own account. If Pat was to bid me, I'd do +that or any other mortal thing at Pat's bidding."</p> + +<p>"If you are so good a brother as that, your complaisance is likely to +bring you into trouble, Mr. Carroll. Come along, Jones, I've got +pretty nearly what I wanted from them." Then when they were in the +street, he continued speaking to Frank. "Your brother is right, +though I wouldn't have believed it on any other testimony than one +of themselves. That man Lax was here in the county yesterday. A more +murderous fellow than he is not to be found in Connaught; and he's +twice worse than any of the fellows about here. They will do it for +revenge, or party purposes. He has a regular tariff for cutting +throats. I should not wonder if he has come here for the sake of +carrying out the threats which they made against your poor brother."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that he will be murdered?"</p> + +<p>"We must not let it come to that. We must have Lax up before the +magistrate for having been present when they broke the flood gates."</p> + +<p>"Have you got evidence of that?"</p> + +<p>"We can make the evidence serve its purpose for a time. If we can +keep him locked up till after the trial we shall have done much. By +heavens, there he is!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke the flash of a shot glimmered across their eyes, and +seemed to have been fired almost within a yard of them; but they were +neither of them hit. Frank turned round and fired in the direction +from whence the attack had come, but it was in vain. Clayton did +bring his revolver from out his pocket, but held his fire. They were +walking in a lane just out of the town that would carry them by a +field-path to Morony Castle, and Clayton had chosen the path in order +that he might be away from the public road. It was still daylight +though it was evening, and the aggressor might have been seen had he +attempted to cross their path. The lane was, as it were, built up on +both sides with cabins, which had become ruins, each one of which +might serve as a hiding-place. Hunter was standing close to them +before another word was spoken.</p> + +<p>"Did you see him?" demanded Clayton.</p> + +<p>"Not a glimpse; but I heard him through there, where the dead leaves +are lying." There were a lot of dead leaves strewed about, some of +which were in sight, within an enclosure separated from them by a low +ruined wall. On leaving this the Captain was over it in a moment, but +he was over it in vain. "For God's sake, sir, don't go after him in +that way," said Hunter, who followed close upon his track. "It's no +more than to throw your life away."</p> + +<p>"I'd give the world to have one shot at him," said Clayton. "I don't +think I would miss him within ten paces."</p> + +<p>"But he'd have had you, Captain, within three, had he waited for +you."</p> + +<p>"He never would have waited. A man who fires at you from behind a +wall never will wait. Where on earth has he taken himself?" And +Clayton, with the open pistol in his hand, began to search the +neighbouring hovels.</p> + +<p>"He's away out of that by this time," said Hunter.</p> + +<p>"I heard the bullet pass by my ears," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"No doubt you did, but a miss is as good as a mile any day. That a +fellow like that who is used to shooting shouldn't do better is a +disgrace to the craft. It's that fellow Lax, and as I'm standing on +the ground this moment I'll have his life before I've done with him."</p> + +<p>Nothing further came from this incident till the three started on +their walk back to Morony Castle. But they did not do this till they +had thoroughly investigated the ruins. "Do you know anything of the +man?" said Frank, "as to his whereabouts? or where he comes from?" +Then Clayton gave some short account of the hero. He had first come +across him in the neighbourhood of Foxford near Lough Conn, and had +there run him very hard, as the Captain said, in reference to an +agrarian murder. He knew, he said, that the man had received thirty +shillings for killing an old man who had taken a farm from which a +tenant had been evicted. But he had on that occasion been tried and +acquitted. He had since that lived on the spoils acquired after the +same fashion. He was supposed to have come originally from Kilkenny, +and whether his real name was or was not Lax, Captain Clayton did not +pretend to say.</p> + +<p>"But he had a fair shot at me," said Captain Clayton, "and it shall +go hard with me but I shall have as fair a one at him. I think it was +Urlingford gave the fellow his birth. I doubt whether he will ever +see Urlingford again."</p> + +<p>So they walked back, and by the time they had reached the Castle were +quite animated and lively with the little incident. "It may be +possible," said the Captain to Mr. Jones, "that he expected my going +to Headford. It certainly was known in Galway yesterday, that I was +to come across the lake this morning, and the tidings may have come +up by some fellow-traveller. He would drop word with some of the boys +at Ballintubber as he passed by. And they might have thought it +likely that I should go to Headford. They have had their chance on +this occasion, and they have not done any good with it."</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-22" id="c2-22"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3> +<h4>MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The men seemed to make a good joke of the afternoon's employment, but +not so the young ladies. In the evening they had a little music, and +Captain Clayton declared that the Miss Ormesbys were grand +performers. "And I am told that they are lovely girls," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; lovely is a very strong word."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather be called lovely than anything," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Now, Captain Clayton," said Edith, "if you wish for my respect, +don't fall into the trap which Ada has so openly laid for you."</p> + +<p>"I meant nothing of the kind," said Ada. "I hope that Captain Clayton +knows me better. But, Captain Clayton, you don't mean that you'll +walk down to the boat to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? He'll never have the pluck to fire at me two days running. +And I doubt whether he'll allow me so fair a chance of seeing him."</p> + +<p>"I wonder how you can sleep at night, knowing that such a man as this +is always after your life."</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether he sleeps at night, when he thinks such a man as I +am after his life. And I allow him, to boot, all his walks and +hiding-places." Then Ada began to implore him not to be too rash. She +endeavoured to teach him that no good could come from such +foolhardiness. If his life was of no value to himself, it was of +great value to others;—to his mother, for instance, and to his +sister. "A man's life is of no real value," said the Captain, "until +he has got a wife and family—or at any rate, a wife."</p> + +<p>"You don't think the wife that is to be need mind it?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"The wife that is to be must be in the clouds, and in all +probability, will never come any nearer. I cannot allow that a man +can be justified in neglecting his duties for the sake of a cloudy +wife."</p> + +<p>"Not in neglecting absolute duties," said Ada, sadly.</p> + +<p>"A man in my position neglects his duty if he leaves a stone unturned +in pursuit of such a blackguard as this. And when a man is used to +it, he likes it. There's your brother quite enjoyed being shot at, +just as though he were resident magistrate; at any rate, he looked as +though he did."</p> + +<p>So the conversation went on through the evening, during the whole of +which poor Florian made one of the party. He said very little, but +sat close to his sister Edith, who frequently had his hand in her +own. The Captain constantly had his eye upon him without seeming to +watch him, but still was thinking of him as the minutes flew by. It +was not that the boy was in danger; for the Captain thought the +danger to be small, and that it was reduced almost to nothing as long +as he remained in the house,—but what would be the effect of fear on +the boy's mind? And if he were thus harassed could he be expected to +give his evidence in a clear manner? Mr. Jones was not present after +dinner, having retired at once to his own room. But just as the girls +had risen to go to bed, and as Florian was preparing to accompany +them, Peter brought a message saying that Mr. Jones would be glad to +see Captain Clayton before he went for the night. Then the Captain +got up, and bidding them all farewell, followed Peter to Mr. Jones's +room. "I shall go on by the early boat," he said as he was leaving +the room.</p> + +<p>"You'll have breakfast first, at any rate," said Ada. The Captain +swore that he wouldn't, and the girls swore that he should. "We never +let anybody go without breakfast," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"And particularly not a man," said Edith, "who has just been shot at +on our behalf," But the Captain explained that it might be as well +that he should be down waiting for the boat half an hour at any rate +before it started.</p> + +<p>"I and Hunter," said he, "would have a fair look out around us there, +so that no one could get within rifle shot of us without our seeing +them, and they won't look out for us so early. I don't think much of +Mr. Lax's courage, but it may be as well to keep a watch when it can +be so easily done." Then Ada went off to her bed, resolving that the +breakfast should be ready, though it was an hour before the boat +time. The boat called at the wharf at eight in the morning, and the +wharf was three miles distant from the house. She could manage to +have breakfast ready at half-past six.</p> + +<p>"Ada, my girl," said Edith, as they departed together, "don't you +make a fool of that young man."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't you tell me that a man who has to be shot at ought not to be +married; and didn't he say that he would leave his future wife up +among the clouds?"</p> + +<p>"He may leave her where he likes for me," said Ada. "When a man is +doing so much for us oughtn't he to have his breakfast ready for him +at half-past six o'clock?" There was no more then said between them +on that subject; but Edith resolved that as far as boiling the water +was concerned, she would be up as soon as Ada.</p> + +<p>When the Captain went into Mr. Jones's room he was asked to sit down, +and had a cigar offered to him. "Thanks, no; I don't think I'll +smoke. Smoking may have some sort of effect on a fellow's hand. +There's a gentleman in these parts who I should be sorry should owe +his life to any little indulgence of that sort on my behalf."</p> + +<p>"You are thinking of the man who fired at you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; I am. Not that I shall have any chance at him just at +present. He won't come near me again this visit. The next that I +shall hear from him will be from round some corner in the +neighbourhood of Galway. I think I know every turn in that +blackguard's mind."</p> + +<p>"Have you been speaking to Florian about him, Captain Clayton?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word."</p> + +<p>"Nor has his brother?"</p> + +<p>"I think not."</p> + +<p>"What am I to do about the poor boy?" said the anxious father.</p> + +<p>"Because of his fear about this very man?"</p> + +<p>"He is only a boy, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course he is only a boy. You've no right to expect from him the +pluck of a man. When he is as old as his brother he'll have his +brother's nerve. I like to see a man plucky under fire when he is not +used to it. When you've got into the way of it, it means nothing."</p> + +<p>"What am I do about Florian? There are four months before the +assizes. He cannot remain in the house for four months."</p> + +<p>"What would he be at the end of it?" said the Captain. "That is what +we have to think of."</p> + +<p>"Would it alter him?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it would,—if he were here with his sister, talking of +nothing but this wretched man, who seems to haunt him. We have to +remember, Mr. Jones, how long it was before he came forward with his +story."</p> + +<p>"I think he will be firm with it now."</p> + +<p>"No doubt,—if he had to tell it out in direct evidence. When he is +there in the court telling it, he will not think much of Mr. Lax, nor +even of Pat Carroll, who will be in the dock glaring at him; nor +would he think much of anything but his direct story, while a +friendly barrister is drawing it out of him; but when it comes to his +cross-examination, it will be different. He will want all his pluck +then, and all the simplicity which he can master. You must remember +that a skilful man will have been turned loose on him with all the +ferocity of a bloodhound; a man who will have all the cruelty of Lax, +but will have nothing to fear; a man who will be serving his purpose +all round if he can only dumbfound that poor boy by his words and his +looks. A man, when he has taken up the cause of these ruffians, +learns to sympathise with them. If they hate the Queen, hate the +laws, hate all justice, these men learn to hate them too. When they +get hold of me, and I look into the eyes of such a one, I see there +my bitterest enemy. He holds Captain Yorke Clayton up to the hatred +of the whole court, as though he were a brute unworthy of the +slightest mercy,—a venomous reptile, against whom the whole country +should rise to tear him in pieces. And I look round and see the same +feeling written in the eyes of them all. I found it more hard to get +used to that than to the snap of a pistol; but I have got used to it. +Poor Florian will have had no such experience. And there will be no +mercy shown to him because he is only a boy. Neither sex nor age is +supposed to render any such feeling necessary to a lawyer. A lawyer +in defending the worst ruffian that ever committed a crime will know +that he is called upon to spare nothing that is tender. He is +absolved from all the laws common to humanity. And then poor Florian +has lied." A gloomy look of sad, dull pain came across the father's +brow as he heard these words. "We must look it in the face, Mr. +Jones."</p> + +<p>"Yes, look it all in the face."</p> + +<p>"He has repeated the lie again and again for six months. He has been +in close friendship with these men. It will be made out that he has +been present at all their secret meetings. He has been present at +some of them. It will be very hard to get a jury to convict on his +evidence if it be unsupported."</p> + +<p>"Shall we withdraw him?" asked Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"You cannot do it. His deposition has been sworn and put forward in +the proper course. Besides it is his duty and yours,—and mine," he +added. "He must tell his story once again, and must endure whatever +torment the law-rebels of the court have in store for him. Only it +will be well to think what course of treatment may best prepare him +for the trial. You should treat him with the greatest kindness."</p> + +<p>"He is treated kindly."</p> + +<p>"But you, I think, and his sisters and his brother should endeavour +to make him feel that you do not think harshly of him because of the +falsehoods he has told. Go out with him occasionally." Here Mr. Jones +raised his eyebrows as feeling surprised at the kind of counsel +given. "Put some constraint on yourself so as to make him feel by the +time he has to go into court with you that he has a friend with him."</p> + +<p>"I trust that he always feels that," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>They went on discussing the matter till late at night, and Captain +Clayton made the father understand what it was that he intended. He +meant that the boy should be made to know that his father was to him +as are other fathers, in spite of the lie which he had told, and of +the terrible trouble which he had caused by telling it. But Mr. Jones +felt that the task imposed upon him would be almost impossible. He +was heavy at heart, and unable to recall to himself his old spirits. +He had been thoroughly ashamed of his son, and was not possessed of +that agility of heart which is able to leap into good-humour at once. +Florian had been restored to his old manner of life; sitting at table +with his father and occasionally spoken to by him. He had been so far +forgiven; but the father was still aware that there was still a +dismal gap between himself and his younger boy, as regarded that +affectionate intercourse which Captain Clayton recommended. And yet +he knew that it was needed, and resolved that he would do his best, +however imperfectly it might be done.</p> + +<p>On the next morning the Captain went his way, and did ample homage to +the kindly exertions made on his behalf by the two girls. "Now I know +you must have been up all night, for you couldn't have done it all +without a servant in the house."</p> + +<p>"How dare you belittle our establishment!" said Ada. "What do you +think of Peter? Is Peter nobody? And it was poor Florian who boiled +the kettle. I really don't know whether we should not get on better +altogether without servants than with them." The breakfast was eaten +both by the Captain in the parlour and by Hunter in the kitchen in +great good humour. "Now, my fine fellow," said the former, "have you +got your pistols ready? I don't think we shall want them this +morning, but it's as well not to give these fellows a chance." Hunter +was pleased by being thus called into council before the young +ladies, and they both started in the highest good humour. Captain +Clayton, as he went, told himself that Ada Jones was the prettiest +girl of his acquaintance. His last sentimental affinity with the +youngest Miss Ormesby waxed feeble and insipid as he thought of Ada. +Perhaps Edith, he said to himself, is the sharpest of the two, but in +good looks she can't hold a candle to her sister. So he passed on, +and with his myrmidon reached Galway, without incurring any +impediment from Mr. Lax.</p> + +<p>In the course of the morning, Mr. Jones sent for Florian, and +proposed to walk out with him about the demesne. "I don't think there +will be any danger," he said. "Captain Clayton went this morning, and +the people don't know yet whether he has gone. I think it is better +that you should get accustomed to it, and not give way to idle +fears." The boy apparently agreed to this, and got his hat. But he +did not leave the shelter of the house without sundry misgivings. Mr. +Jones had determined to act at once upon the Captain's advice, and +had bethought himself that he could best do so by telling the whole +truth to the boy. "Now, Florian, I think it would be as well that you +and I should understand each other." Florian looked up at him with +fearful eyes, but made no reply. "Of course I was angry with you +while you were hesitating about those ruffians."</p> + +<p>"Yes; you were," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"I can quite understand that you have felt a difficulty."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"But that is all over now."</p> + +<p>"If they don't fire at me it is over, I suppose, till August."</p> + +<p>"They shan't fire at you. Don't be afraid. If they fire at you, they +must fire at me too." The father was walking with his arm about the +boy's neck. "You, at any rate, shall incur no danger which I do not +share. You will understand—won't you—that my anger against you is +passed and gone?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"It is so,—altogether. I hope to be able to send you to school in +England very soon after the trial is over. You shall go to Mr. Monro +at first, and to Winchester afterwards, if I can manage it. But we +won't think of Winchester just at present. We must do the best we can +to get a good place for you on your first going into the school."</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid about that," said Florian, thinking that at the time +when the school should have come all the evils of the trials would +have been passed away and gone.</p> + +<p>"All the same you might come and read with me every morning for an +hour, and then for an hour with each of your sisters. You will want +something to do to make up your time. And remember, Florian, that all +my anger has passed away. We will be the best of friends, as in +former days, so that when the time shall have come for you to go into +court, you may be quite sure that you have a friend with you there."</p> + +<p>To all this Florian made very little reply; but Mr. Jones remembered +that he could not expect to do much at a first attempt. Weary as the +task would be he would persevere. For the task would be weary even +with his own son. He was a man who could do nothing graciously which +he could not do <i>con amore</i>. And he felt that all immediate warm +liking for the poor boy had perished in his heart. The boy had made +himself the friend of such a one as Pat Carroll, and in his +friendship for him had lied grossly. Mr. Jones had told himself that +it was his duty to forgive him, and had struggled to perform his +duty. For the performance of any deed necessary for the boy's +security, he could count upon himself. But he could not be happy in +his company as he was with Edith. The boy had been foully untrue to +him—but still he would do his best.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-23" id="c2-23"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3> +<h4>TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>When the time came round, Frank Jones started for Ballinasloe, with +his father's cattle and with Peter to help him. They did succeed in +getting a boy to go with them, who had been seduced by a heavy bribe +to come down for the purpose from Ballinasloe to Morony Castle. As he +had been used to cattle, Peter's ignorance and Frank's also were of +less account. They drove the cattle to Tuam, and there got them on +the railway, the railway with its servants being beyond the power of +the boycotters. At Ballinasloe they could not sell the cattle, as the +name of Mr. Jones of Morony had become terribly notorious throughout +County Galway. But arrangements had been made to send them to a +salesman up in Dublin, and from Ballinasloe they had gone under the +custody of Peter and the boy. No attempt was made absolutely to harm +the beasts, or even to stop them in the streets. But throughout the +town it seemed to be perfectly understood that they were the property +of Philip Jones of Morony Castle, and that Philip Jones had been +boycotted by the League. The poor beasts were sent on to Dublin +without a truss of hay among them, and even Frank himself was refused +a meal at the first inn at which he had called. He did afterwards +procure accommodation; but he heard while in the house, that the +innkeeper was threatened for what he had done. Had it not been that +Peter had brought with him a large basket of provisions for himself +and the boy, they, too, would have been forced to go on dinnerless +and supperless to Dublin.</p> + +<p>Frank, on his way back home, resolved that he would call on Mr. Daly +at Daly's Bridge, near Castle Blakeney. It was Daly's wont to live at +Daly's Bridge when the hounds were not hunting, though he would +generally go four or five times a week from Daly's Bridge to the +kennels. To Castle Blakeney a public car was running, and the public +car did not dare, or probably did not wish, to boycott anyone. He +walked up to the open door at Daly's Bridge and soon found himself in +the presence of Black Tom Daly. "So you are boycotted?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Horse, foot, and dragoons," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"What's to come of it, I wonder?" Tom as he said this was sitting at +an open window making up some horse's drug to which was attached some +very strong odour. "I am boycotted too, and the poor hounds, which +have given hours of amusement to many of these wretches, for which +they have not been called upon to pay a shilling. I shall have to +sell the pack, I'm afraid," said Tom, sadly.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, I hope, Mr. Daly."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that? Who's to keep them without any +subscription? And who's to subscribe without any prospect of hunting? +For the matter of that who's to feed the poor dumb brutes? One pack +will be boycotted after another till not a pack of hounds will be +wanted in all Ireland."</p> + +<p>"Has the same thing happened to any other pack?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Certainly it has. They turned out against the Muskerry; and there's +been a row in Kildare. We are only at the beginning of it yet."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose it will go on for ever," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you suppose so? What's to be the end of it all? Do you see +any way out of it?—for I do not. Does your father see his way to +bringing those meadows back into his hands? I'm told that some of +those fellows shot at Clayton the other day down at Headford. How are +we to expect a man like Clayton to come forward and be shot at in +that fashion? As far as I can see there will be no possibility for +anyone to live in this country again. Of course it's all over with +me. I haven't got any rents to speak of, and the only property I +possess is now useless."</p> + +<p>"What property?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"What property?" rejoined Tom in a voice of anger. "What property? +Ain't the hounds property, or were property a few weeks ago? Who'll +subscribe for next year? We had a meeting in February, you know, and +the fellows put down their names the same as ever. But they can't be +expected to pay when there will be no coverts for them to draw. The +country can do nothing to put a stop to this blackguardism. When +they've passed this Coercion Bill they're going to have some sort of +Land Bill,—just a law to give away the land to somebody. What's to +come of the poor country with such men as Mr. Gladstone and Mr. +Bright to govern it? They're the two very worst men in the whole +empire for governing a country. Martial law with a regiment in each +county, and a strong colonel to carry it out,—that is the only way +of governing left us. I don't pretend to understand politics, but +every child can see that. And you should do away with the +constituencies, at any rate for the next five years. What are you to +expect with such a set of men as that in Parliament,—men whom no one +would speak to if they were to attempt to ride to hounds in County +Galway. It makes me sick when I hear of it."</p> + +<p>Such were Tom Daly's sad outlooks into the world. And sad as they +were, they seemed to be justified by circumstances as they operated +upon him. There could be no hunting in County Galway next session +unless things were to change very much for the better. And there was +no prospect of any such change. "It's nonsense talking of a poor +devil like me being ruined. You ask me what property I have got."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I ever asked that," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"It don't matter. You're quite welcome. You'll find eight or nine +pair of leather breeches in that press in there. And round about the +room somewhere there are over a dozen pair of top-boots. They are the +only available property I have got. They are paid for, and I can do +what I please with them. The four or five hundred acres over there on +the road to Tuam are mostly bog, and are strictly entailed so that I +cannot touch them. As there is not a tenant will pay the rent since +I've been boycotted it doesn't make much matter. I have not had a +shilling from them for more than twelve months; and I don't suppose I +ever shall see another. The poor hounds are eating their heads off; +as fine a pack of hounds as any man ever owned, as far as their +number goes. I can't keep them, and who'll buy them? They tell me I +must send them over to Tattersall's. But as things are now I don't +suppose they'll pay the expense. I don't care who knows it, but I +haven't three hundred pounds in the world. And I'm over fifty years +of age. What do you think of that as the condition for a man to be +brought to?"</p> + +<p>Frank Jones had never heard Daly speak at such length before, nor had +he given him credit for so much eloquence. Nor, indeed, had anyone in +the County of Galway heard him speak so many words till this +misfortune had fallen upon him. And he would still be silent and +reserved with all except a few hunting men whom he believed to be +strongly influenced by the same political feeling as he was himself. +Here was he boycotted most cruelly, but not more cruelly than was Mr. +Jones of Morony Castle. The story of Florian Jones had got about the +county, and had caused Mr. Jones to be pitied greatly by such men as +Tom Daly. "His own boy to turn against him!" Tom had said. "And to +become a Papist! A boy of ten years old to call himself a Papist, as +if he would know anything about it. And then to lie,—to lie like +that! I feel that his case is almost worse than mine." Therefore he +had burst out with his sudden eloquence to Frank Jones, whom he had +liked. "Oh, yes! I can send you over to Woodlawn Station. I have got +a horse and car left about the place. Here's William Persse of +Galway. He's the stanchest man we have in the county, but even he can +do nothing."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Persse rode into the yard,—that Mr. Persse who, when the +hounds met at Ballytowngal, had so strongly dissuaded Daly from using +his pistol. He was a man who was reputed to have a good income, or at +any rate a large estate,—though the two things at the present moment +were likely to have a very various meaning. But he was a man less +despondent in his temperament than Tom Daly, and one that was likely +to prevail with Tom by the strength of his character. "Well, Tom," +said Persse, as he walked into the house, "how are things using you +now? How are you, Jones? I'm afraid your father is getting it rather +hot at Morony Castle."</p> + +<p>"They've boycotted us, that's all."</p> + +<p>"So I understand. Is it not odd that some self-appointed individual +should send out an edict, and that suddenly all organised modes of +living among people should be put a stop to! Here's Tom not allowed +to get a packet of greaves into his establishment unless he sends to +Dublin for it."</p> + +<p>"Nor to have it sent over here," said Tom, "unless I'll send my own +horse and cart to fetch it. And every man and boy I have about the +place is desired to leave me at the command of some +<span class="nowrap">d——d</span> O'Toole, +whose father kept a tinker's shop somewhere in County Mayo, and whose +mother took in washing."</p> + +<p>There was a depth of scorn intended to be conveyed by all this, +because in Daly's estimation County Mayo was but a poor county to +live in, as it had not for many a year possessed an advertised pack +of fox-hounds. And the O'Tooles were not one of the tribes of Galway, +or a clan especially esteemed in that most aristocratic of the +western counties.</p> + +<p>"Have all the helpers gone?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't asked them to stay; but unless they have stayed of their +own accord I have just shaken hands with them. It's all that one +gentleman can do to another when he meets him."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Daly is talking of selling the hounds," said Frank Jones.</p> + +<p>"Not quite yet, Tom," said Mr. Persse. "You mustn't do anything in a +hurry."</p> + +<p>"They'll have to starve if they remain here," said the master of +hounds.</p> + +<p>"I have come over here to say a word about them. I don't suppose this +kind of thing will last for ever, you know."</p> + +<p>"Can you see any end to it?" said the other.</p> + +<p>"Not as yet I can't, except that troubles when they come generally do +have an end. We always think that evils will last for ever,—and +blessings too. When two-year-old ewes went up to three pound ten at +Ballinasloe, we thought that we were to get that price for ever, but +they were soon down to two seventeen six; and when we had had two +years of the potato famine, we thought that there would never be +another potato in County Galway. For the last five years we've had +them as fine at Doneraile as ever I saw them. Nobody is ever quite +ruined, or quite has his fortune made."</p> + +<p>"I am very near the ruin," said Tom Daly.</p> + +<p>"I would struggle to hold on a little longer yet," said the other. +"How many horses have you got here and at Ahaseragh?"</p> + +<p>"There are something over a dozen," said Tom. "There may be fifteen +in all. I was thinking of sending a draught over to Tattersall's next +week. There are some of them would not be worth a +five-and-twenty-pound note when you got them there!"</p> + +<p>"Well, now I'll tell you what I propose. You shall send over four or +five to be summered at Doneraile. There is grass enough there, and +though I can't pay my debts, my credit is good at the +corn-chandler's." Black Tom, as he heard this, sat still looking +blacker than ever. He was a man who hated to have a favour offered to +him. But he could bear the insult better from Persse of Doneraile +than from anyone else in the county. "I've talked the matter over +with <span class="nowrap">Lynch—"</span></p> + +<p>"D—— Lynch," said Daly. He didn't dislike Sir Jasper, but Sir +Jasper did not stand quite so high in his favour as did Mr. Persse of +Doneraile.</p> + +<p>"You needn't d—— anybody; but just listen to me. Sir Jasper says +that he will take three, and Nicholas Bodkin will do the same."</p> + +<p>"They are both baronets," said Daly. "I hate a man with a handle to +his name; he always seems to me to be stuck-up, as though he demanded +something more than other people. There is that Lord +<span class="nowrap">Ardrahan—"</span></p> + +<p>"A very good fellow too. Don't you be an ass. Lord Ardrahan has +offered to take three more."</p> + +<p>"I knew it," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"It's not as though any favour were offered or received. Though the +horses are your own property, they are kept for the services of the +hunt. We all understand very well how things are circumstanced at +present."</p> + +<p>"How do you think I am to feed my hounds if you take away the horses +which they would eat?" said Daly, with an attempt at a grim joke. But +after the joke Tom became sad again, almost to tears, and he allowed +his friend to make almost what arrangements he pleased for +distributing both hounds and horses among the gentry of the hunt. +"And when they are gone," said he, "I am to sit here alone with +nothing on earth to do. What on earth is to become of me when I have +not a hound left to give a dose of physic to?"</p> + +<p>"We'll not leave you in such a sad strait as that," said Mr. Persse.</p> + +<p>"It will be sad enough. If you had had a pack of hounds to look after +for thirty summers, you wouldn't like to get rid of them in a hurry. +I'm like an old nurse who is sending her babies out, or some mother, +rather, who is putting her children into the workhouse because she +cannot feed them herself. It is sad, though you don't see it in that +light."</p> + +<p>Frank Jones got home to Castle Morony that night full of sorrow and +trouble. The cattle had been got off to Dublin in their starved +condition, but he, as he had come back, had been boycotted every yard +of the way. He could get in no car, nor yet in all Tuam could he +secure the services of a boy to carry his bag for him. He learned in +the town that the girls had sent over to purchase a joint of meat, +but had been refused at every shop. "Is trade so plentiful?" asked +Frank, "that you can afford to do without it?"</p> + +<p>"We can't afford to do with it," said the butcher, "if it's to come +from Morony Castle."</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-24" id="c2-24"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3> +<h4>"FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS."<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Ada was making the beds upstairs, and Edith was churning the butter +down below in the dairy, when a little bare-footed boy came in with a +letter.</p> + +<p>"Please, miss, it's from the Captain, and he says I'm not to stir out +of this till I come back with an answer."</p> + +<p>The letter was delivered to Edith at the dairy door, and she saw that +it was addressed to herself. She had never before seen the Captain's +handwriting, and she looked at it somewhat curiously. "If he's to +write to one of us it should be to Ada," she said to herself, +laughing. Then she opened the envelope, which enclosed a large square +stout letter. It contained a card and a written note, and on the card +was an invitation, as follows: "The Colonel and Officers of the West +Bromwich Regiment request the pleasure of the company of Mr. Jones, +the Misses Jones, and Mr. Francis Jones to a dance at the Galway +Barracks, on the 20th of May, 1881. Dancing to commence at ten +o'clock."</p> + +<p>Then there was the note, which Edith read before she took the card +upstairs.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Jones," the letter began. Edith again looked at the +envelope and perceived that the despatch had been certainly addressed +to herself—Miss Edith Jones; but between herself and her sister +there could be no jealousy as to the opening of a letter. Letters for +one were generally intended for the other also.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">I hope you will +both come. You ought to do so to show the +county that, though you are boycotted, you are not +smashed, and to let them understand that you are not +afraid to come out of the house although certain persons +have made themselves terrible. I send this to you instead +of to your sister, because perhaps you have a little +higher pluck. But do tell your father from me that I think +he ought, as a matter of policy, to insist on your both +coming. You could come down by the boat one day and return +the next; and I'll meet you, for fear your brother should +not be there.—Yours very faithfully,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Yorke Clayton</span>.</p> + +<p class="noindent">I have got the +fellows of the West Bromwich to entrust the +card to me, and have undertaken to see it duly delivered. +I hope you'll approve of my Mercury. Hunter says he +doesn't care how often he's shot at.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>It was, in the first place, necessary to provide for the Mercury, +because even a god cannot be sent away after the performance of such +a journey without some provisions; and Edith, to tell the truth, +wanted to look at the ball all round before she ventured to express +an opinion to her sister and father. Her father, of course, would not +go; but should he be left alone at Morony Castle to the tender +mercies of Peter? and should Florian be left also without any woman's +hands to take charge of him? And the butter, too, was on the point of +coming, which was a matter of importance. But at last, having pulled +off her butter-making apron and having duly patted the roll of +butter, she went upstairs to her sister.</p> + +<p>"Ada," she said, "here is such a letter;" and she held up the letter +and the card.</p> + +<p>"Who is it from?"</p> + +<p>"You must guess," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"I am bad at guessing, I cannot guess. Is it Mr. Blake of Carnlough?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal more interesting than that."</p> + +<p>"It can't be Captain Clayton," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Out of the full heart the mouth speaks. It is Captain Clayton."</p> + +<p>"What does he say, and what is the card? Give it me. It looks like an +invitation."</p> + +<p>"Then it tells no story, because it is an invitation. It is from the +officers of the West Bromwich regiment; and it asks us to a dance on +the 20th of May."</p> + +<p>"But that's not from Captain Clayton."</p> + +<p>"Captain Clayton has written,—to me and not to you at all. You will +be awfully jealous; and he says that I have twice as much courage as +you."</p> + +<p>"That's true, at any rate," said Ada, in a melancholy tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes; and as the officers want all the girls at the ball to be at any +rate as brave as themselves, that's a matter of great importance. He +has asked me to go with a pair of pistols at my belt; but he is +afraid that you would not shoot anybody."</p> + +<p>"May I not look at his letter?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! That would not be at all proper. The letter is addressed to +me, Miss Edith Jones. And as it has come from such a very dashing +young man, and pays me particular compliments as to my courage, I +don't think I shall let anybody else see it. It doesn't say anything +special about beauty, which I think uncivil. If he had been writing +to you, it would all have been about feminine loveliness of course."</p> + +<p>"What nonsense you do talk, Edith."</p> + +<p>"Well, there it is. As you will read it, you must. You'll be awfully +disappointed, because there is not a word about you in it."</p> + +<p>Then Ada read the letter. "He says he hopes we shall both come."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes! Your existence is certainly implied in those words."</p> + +<p>"He explains why he writes to you instead of me."</p> + +<p>"Another actual reference to yourself, no doubt. But then he goes on +to talk of my pluck."</p> + +<p>"He says it's a little higher than mine," said Ada, who was +determined to extract from the Captain's words as much good as was +possible, and as little evil to herself.</p> + +<p>"So it is; only a little higher pluck! Of course he means that I +can't come near himself."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't pretend to?" asked Ada.</p> + +<p>"What! to be shot at like him, and to like it. I don't know any girl +that can come quite up to that. Only if one becomes quite cock-sure, +as he is, that one won't be hit, I don't see the courage."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do!"</p> + +<p>"But now about this ball?" said Edith. "Here we are, lone damsels, +making butter in our father's halls, and turning down the beds in the +lady's chamber, unable to buy anything because we are boycotted, and +with no money to buy it if we were not. And we can't stir out of the +house lest we should be shot, and I don't suppose that such a thing +as a pair of gloves is to be got anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I've got gloves for both of us," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Put by for a rainy day. What a girl you are for providing for +difficulties! And you've got silk stockings too, I shouldn't wonder."</p> + +<p>"Of course I have."</p> + +<p>"And two ball dresses, quite new?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite new. They are those we wore at Hacketstown before the +flood."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! How were Noah's daughters dressed? Or were they +dressed at all?"</p> + +<p>"You always turn everything into nonsense," said Ada, petulantly.</p> + +<p>"To be told I'm to wear a dress that had touched the heart of a +patriarch, and had perhaps gone well nigh to make me a patriarch's +bride! But taking it for granted that the ball dresses with all their +appurtenances are here, fit to win the heart of a modern Captain +instead of an old patriarch, is there no other reason why we should +not go?"</p> + +<p>"What reason?" asked Ada, in a melancholy tone.</p> + +<p>"There are reasons. You go to papa, and see whether he has not +reasons. He will tell you that every shilling should be saved for +Florian's school."</p> + +<p>"It won't take many shillings to go to Galway. We couldn't well write +to Captain Clayton and tell him that we can't afford it."</p> + +<p>"People keep those reasons in the background," said Edith, "though +people understand them. And then papa will say that in our condition +we ought to be ashamed to show our faces."</p> + +<p>"What have we done amiss?"</p> + +<p>"Not you or I perhaps," said Edith; "but poor Florian. I am +determined,—and so are you,—to take Florian to our very hearts, and +to forgive him as though this thing had never been done. He is to us +the same darling boy, as though he had never been present at the +flood gates; as though he had had no hand in bringing these evils to +Morony Castle. You and I have been angry, but we have forgiven him. +To us he is as dear as ever he was. But they know in the county what +it was that was done by Florian Jones, and they talk about it among +themselves, and they speak of you and me as Florian's sisters. And +they speak of papa as Florian's father. I think it may well be that +papa should not wish us to go to this ball."</p> + +<p>Then there came a look of disappointment over Ada's face, as though +her doom had already been spoken. A ball to Ada, and especially a +ball at Galway,—a coming ball,—was a promise of infinite enjoyment; +but a ball with Captain Yorke Clayton would be heaven on earth. And +by the way in which this invitation had come he had been secured as a +partner for the evening. He could not write to them, and especially +call upon them to come without doing all he could to make the evening +pleasant for them. She included Edith in all these promises of +pleasantness. But Edith, if the thing was to be done at all, would do +it all for Ada. As for the danger in which the man passed his life, +that must be left in the hands of God. Looking at it with great +seriousness, as in the midst of her joking she did look at these +things, she told herself that Ada was very lovely, and that this man +was certainly lovable. And she had taken it into her imagination that +Captain Clayton was certainly in the road to fall in love with Ada. +Why should not Ada have her chance? And why should not the Captain +have his? Why should not she have her chance of having a gallant +lovable gentleman for a brother-in-law? Edith was not at all prepared +to give the world up for lost, because Pat Carroll had made himself a +brute, and because the neighbours were idiots and had boycotted them. +It must all depend upon their father, whether they should or should +not go to the ball. And she had not thought it prudent to appear too +full of hope when talking of it to Ada; but for herself she quite +agreed with the Captain that policy required them to go.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you would like it?" she said to her sister.</p> + +<p>"I always was fond of dancing," replied Ada.</p> + +<p>"Especially with heroes."</p> + +<p>"Of course you laugh at me, but Captain Clayton won't be there as an +officer; he's only a resident magistrate."</p> + +<p>"He's the best of all the officers," said Edith with enthusiasm. "I +won't have our hero run down. I believe him to have twice as much in +him as any of the officers. He's the gallantest fellow I know. I +think we ought to go, if it's only because he wants it."</p> + +<p>"I don't want not to go," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"I daresay not; but papa will be the difficulty."</p> + +<p>"He'll think more of you than of me, Edith. Suppose you go and talk +to him."</p> + +<p>So it was decided; and Edith went away to her father, leaving Ada +still among the beds. Of Frank not a word had been spoken. Frank +would go as a matter of course if Mr. Jones consented. But Ada, +though she was left among the beds, did not at once go on with her +work; but sat down on that special bed by which her attention was +needed, and thought of the circumstances which surrounded her. Was it +a fact that she was in love with the Captain? To be in love to her +was a very serious thing,—but so delightful. She had been already +once,—well, not in love, but preoccupied just a little in thinking +of one young man. The one young man was an officer, but was now in +India, and Ada had not ventured even to mention his name in her +father's presence. Edith had of course known the secret, but Edith +had frowned upon it. She had said that Lieutenant Talbot was no +better than a stick, although he had £400 a year of his own. "He'd +give you nothing to talk about," said Edith, "but his £400 a year." +Therefore when Lieutenant Talbot went to India, Ada Jones did not +break her heart. But now Edith called Captain Clayton a hero, and +seemed in all respects to approve of him; and Edith seemed to think +that he certainly admired Ada. It was a dreadful thing to have to +fall in love with a woodcock. Ada felt that if, as things went on, +the woodcock should become her woodcock, the bullet which reached his +heart would certainly pierce her own bosom also. But such was the way +of the world. Edith had seemed to think that the man was entitled to +have a lady of his own to love; and if so, Ada seemed to think that +the place would be one very well suited to herself. Therefore she was +anxious for the ball; and at the present moment thought only of the +difficulties to be incurred by Edith in discussing the matter with +her father.</p> + +<p>"Papa, Captain Clayton wants us to go to a ball at Galway," it was +thus that Edith began her task.</p> + +<p>"Wants you to go a ball! What has Captain Clayton to do with you +two?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing on earth;—at any rate not with me. Here is his letter, +which speaks for itself. He seems to think that we should show +ourselves to everybody around, to let them know that we are not +crushed by what such a one as Pat Carroll can do to us."</p> + +<p>"Who says that we are crushed?"</p> + +<p>"It is the people who are crushed that generally say so of +themselves. There would be nothing unusual under ordinary +circumstances in your daughters going to a ball at Galway."</p> + +<p>"That's as may be."</p> + +<p>"We can stay the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and she will be delighted to +have us. If we never show ourselves it would be as though we +acknowledged ourselves to be crushed. And to tell the truth, papa, I +don't think it is quite fair to Ada to keep her here always. She is +very beautiful, and at the same time fond of society. She is doing +her duty here bravely; there is nothing about the house that she will +not put her hand to. She is better than any servant for the way she +does her work. I think you ought to let her go; it is but for the one +night."</p> + +<p>"And you?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"I must go with her, I suppose, to keep her company."</p> + +<p>"And are not you fond of society?"</p> + +<p>"No;—not as she is. I like the rattle very well just for a few +minutes."</p> + +<p>"And are not you beautiful?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, no! Don't be such a goose, papa."</p> + +<p>"To me you are quite as lovely as is Ada."</p> + +<p>"Because you are only a stupid, old papa," but she kissed him as she +said it. "You have no right to expect to have two beauties in the +family. If I were a beauty I should go away and leave you, as will +Ada. It's her destiny to be carried off by someone. Why not by some +of these gallant fellows at Galway? It's my destiny to remain at +home; and so you may know what you have got to expect."</p> + +<p>"If it should turn out to be so, there will be one immeasurable +comfort to me in the midst of all my troubles."</p> + +<p>"It shall be so," said she, whispering into his ear. "But, papa, you +will let us go to this ball in Galway, will you not? Ada has set her +heart upon it." So the matter was settled.</p> + +<p>The answer to Captain Clayton, sent by Edith, was as follows; but it +was not sent till the boy had been allowed to stuff himself with +buttered toast and tea, which, to such a boy, is the acme of all +happiness.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="jright">Morony Castle, 8th of May, 1881.</p> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Captain +Clayton</span>,</p> + +<p>We will both come, of course, and are infinitely obliged +to you for the trouble you have taken on our behalf. Papa +will not come, of course. Frank will, no doubt; but he is +out after a salmon in the Hacketstown river. I hope he +will get one, as we are badly off for provisions. If he +cannot find a salmon, I hope he will find trout, or we +shall have nothing for three days running. Ada and I think +we can manage a leg of mutton between us, as far as the +cooking goes, but we haven't had a chance of trying our +hands yet. Frank, however, will write to the officers by +post. We shall sleep the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and can +get there very well by ourselves. All the same, we shall +be delighted to see you, if you will come down to the +boat.</p> + +<p class="ind12">Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Edith Jones</span>.</p> + +<p class="noindent">I must tell +you what Ada said about our dresses, only pray +don't tell any of the officers. Of course we had to have a +consultation about our frocks, because everything in the +shops is boycotted for us. "Oh," said Ada, "there are the +gauze dresses we wore at Hacketstown +<span class="u">before the flood!</span>" +Only think of Ada and I at a ball with the Miss Noahs, +four or five thousand years ago.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Frank consented to go of course, but not without some little +difficulty. He didn't think it was a time for balls. According to his +view of things ginger should be no longer hot in the mouth.</p> + +<p>"But why not?" said Edith. "If a ball at any time is a good thing, +why should it be bad now? Are we all to go into mourning, because Mr. +Carroll has so decreed? For myself I don't care twopence for the +ball. I don't think it is worth the ten shillings which it will cost. +But I am all for showing that we don't care so much for Mr. Carroll."</p> + +<p>"Carroll is in prison," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Nor yet for Terry Lax, or Tim Brady, or Terry Carroll, or Tony +Brady. The world is not to be turned away from its proper course by +such a scum of men as that. Of course you'll do as a brother should +do, and come with us."</p> + +<p>To this Frank assented, and on the next day went out for another +salmon, thinking no more about the party at Galway.</p> + +<p>But the party at Galway was a matter of infinite trouble and infinite +interest to the two girls. Those dresses which had been put by from +before the flood were brought forth, and ironed, and re-ribboned, and +re-designed, as though the fate of heroes and heroines depended upon +them. And it was clearly intended that the fate of one hero and of +one heroine should depend on them, though nothing absolutely to that +effect was said at present between the sisters. It was not said, but +it was understood by both of them that it was so; and each understood +what was in the heart of the other. "Dear, dear Edith," said Ada. +"Let them boycott us as they will," said Edith, "but my pet shall be +as bright as any of them." There was a ribbon that had not been +tossed, a false flower that had on it something of the bloom of +newness. A faint offer was made by Ada to abandon some of these +prettinesses to her sister, but Edith would have none of them. Edith +pooh-poohed the idea as though it were monstrous. "Don't be a goose, +Ada," she said; "of course this is to be your night. What does it +signify what I wear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it does;—just the same as for me. I don't see why you are +not to be just as nice as myself."</p> + +<p>"That's not true, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Why not true? There is quite as much depends on your good fortune as +on mine. And then you are so much the cleverer of the two."</p> + +<p>Then when the day for the ball drew near, there came to be some more +serious conversation between them.</p> + +<p>"Ada, love, you mean to enjoy yourself, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"If I can I will. When I go to these things I never know whether they +will lead to enjoyment or the reverse. Some little thing happens so +often, and everything seems to go wrong."</p> + +<p>"They shouldn't go wrong with you, my pet."</p> + +<p>"Why not with me as well as with others?"</p> + +<p>"Because you are so beautiful to look at. You are made to be queen of +a ball-room; not a London ball-room, where everything, I take it, is +flash and faded, painted and stale, and worn out; but down here in +the country, where there is some life among us, and where a girl may +be supposed to be excited over her dancing. It is in such rooms as +this that hearts are won and lost; a bid made for diamonds is all +that is done in London."</p> + +<p>"I never was at a London ball," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Nor I either; but one reads of them. I can fancy a man really caring +for a girl down in Galway. Can you fancy a man caring for a girl?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"For yourself, now?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think anybody will ever care much for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ada, what a fib. It is all very pretty, your mock modestly, but +it is so untrue. A man not love you! Why, I can fancy a man thinking +that the gods could not allow him a greater grace than the privilege +of taking you in his arms."</p> + +<p>"Isn't anyone to take you in his arms, then?"</p> + +<p>"No, no one. I am not a thing to be looked at in that light. I mean +eventually to take to women's rights, and to make myself generally +odious. Only I have promised to stick to papa, and I have got to do +that first. You;—who will you stick to?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"If I were to suggest Captain Yorke Clayton? If I were to suppose +that he is the man who is to have the privilege?"</p> + +<p>"Don't, Edith."</p> + +<p>"He is my hero, and you are my pet, and I want to bring you two +together. I want to have my share in the hero; and still to keep a +share in my pet. Is not that rational?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that there is anything rational in it all," said Ada. +But still she went to bed well pleased that night.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-25" id="c2-25"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXV.</h3> +<h4>THE GALWAY BALL.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>When the 20th of May came, the three started off together for Galway, +happy in spite of their boycotting. The girls at least were happy, +though Frank was still somewhat sombre as he thought of the edict +which Rachel O'Mahony had pronounced against him. When the boat +arrived at the quay at Galway, Captain Clayton, with one of the +officers of the West Bromwich, was there to meet it. "He is a wise +man," whispered Edith to Ada, "he takes care to provide for number +one."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that at all," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"That brave little warrior, who is four feet and a half high, is +intended for my escort. Two is company and three is none. I quite +agree as to that." Then they left the boat, and Edith so arranged the +party that she was to walk between the small warrior and her brother, +whereas Ada followed with Captain Clayton. In such straits of +circumstances a man always has to do what he is told. Presence of +mind and readiness is needful, but the readiness of a man is never +equal to that of a woman. So they went off to Mrs. D'Arcy's house, +and Ada enjoyed all the little preliminary sweets of the Captain's +conversation. The words that were spoken all had reference to Edith +herself; but they came from the Captain and were assuredly sweet.</p> + +<p>"And it's really true that you are boycotted?" Mrs. D'Arcy asked.</p> + +<p>"Certainly it's true."</p> + +<p>"And what do they do to you? Do all the servants leave you?"</p> + +<p>"Unless there be any like Peter who make up their minds to face the +wrath of Landleaguers. Peter has lived with us a long time, and has +to ask himself whether it will be best for him to stay or go."</p> + +<p>"And he stays? What a noble fellow," said Mrs. D'Arcy.</p> + +<p>"What would he do with himself if he didn't stay?" said Edith. "I +don't suppose they'd shoot him, and he gets plenty to eat. The girls +who were in the house and the young men about the place had friends +of their own living near them, so they thought it better to go. +Everybody of course does what is best for himself. And Peter, though +he has suited himself, is already making a favour of it. Papa told +him only yesterday that he might go himself if he pleased. Only +think, we had to send all the horses last week into Galway to be +shod;—and then they wouldn't do it, except one man who made a +tremendous favour of it, and after doing it charged double."</p> + +<p>"But won't they sell you anything at Tuam?"</p> + +<p>"Not a ha'porth. We couldn't get so much as soap for house-washing, +unless Mrs. Blake had stood by us and let us have her soap. Ada and I +have to do every bit of washing about the place. I do think well of +Peter because he insists on washing his own shirts and stockings. +Unfortunately we haven't got a mangle, and we have to iron the sheets +if we want them to look at all nice. Ada's sheets and mine, and +Florian's, are only just rough pressed. Of course we get tea and +those things down from Dublin. Only think of the way in which the +tradespeople are ruining themselves. Everything has to go to Dublin +to be sold: potatoes and cattle, and now butter. Papa says that they +won't pay for the carriage. When you come to think of it, this +boycotting is the most ruinous invention on both sides. When poor +Florian declared that he would go to mass after he had first told the +story about Pat Carroll, they swore they would boycott the chapel if +he entered the door. Not a single person would stay to receive the +mass. So he wouldn't go. It was not long after that when he became +afraid to show his face outside the hall-door."</p> + +<p>"And yet you can come here to this ball?" said Mrs. D'Arcy.</p> + +<p>"Exactly so. I will go where I please till they boycott the very +roads from under my feet. I expect to hear soon that they have +boycotted Ada and me, so that no young man shall come and marry us. +Of course, I don't understand such things, but it seems to me that +the Government should interfere to defend us."</p> + +<p>When the evening came, and the witching hour was there, Ada and Edith +appeared at the barracks as bright as their second-hand finery could +make them. They had awarded to them something of especial glory as +being boycotted heroines, and were regarded with a certain amount of +envy by the Miss Blakes, Miss Bodkins, Miss Lamberts, Miss Ffrenchs, +and Miss Parsons of the neighbourhood. They had, none of them, as yet +achieved the full honours of boycotting, though some of them were +half-way to it. The Miss Ffrenchs told them how their father's sheep +had been boycotted, the shepherd having been made to leave his place. +The Miss Blakes had been boycotted because their brother had been +refused a car. And the Bodkins of Ballytowngal were held to have been +boycotted <i>en masse</i> because of the doings at Moytubber gorse. But +none of them had been boycotted as had been the Miss Jones'; and +therefore the Miss Jones' were the heroines of the evening.</p> + +<p>"I declare it is very nice," Ada said to her sister that night, when +they got home to Mrs. D'Arcy's, "because it got for us the pick of +all the partners."</p> + +<p>"It got for you one partner, at any rate," said Edith, "either the +boycotting or something else." Edith had determined that it should be +so; or had determined at any rate that it should seem to be so. In +her resolution that the hero of the day should fall in love with her +sister, she had almost taught herself to think that the process had +already taken place. It was so natural that the bravest man should +fall in love with the fairest lady, that Edith took it for granted +that it already was so. She too in some sort was in love with her own +sister. Ada to her was so fair, so soft, so innocent, so feminine and +so lovable, that her very heart was in the project,—and the project +that Ada should have the hero of the hour to herself. And yet she too +had a heart of her own, and had told herself in so many words, that +she herself would have loved the man,—had it been fitting that she +should burden him with such a love. She had rejected the idea as +unfitting, impossible, and almost unfeminine. There was nothing in +her to attract the man. The idea had sprung up but for a moment, and +had been cast out as being monstrous. There was Ada, the very queen +of beauty. And the gallant hero was languishing in her smiles. It was +thus that her imagination carried her on, after the notion had once +been entertained. At the ball Edith did in fact dance with Captain +Clayton quite as often as did Ada herself, but she danced with him, +she said, as the darling sister of his supposed bride. All her talk +had been about Ada,—because Edith had so chosen the subject. But +with Ada the conversation had all been about Edith, because the +Captain had selected the subject.</p> + +<p>We all know how a little party is made up on such occasions. Though +the party dance also with other people on occasions, they are there +especially to dance with each other. An interloper or two now and +again is very useful, so as to keep up appearances. The little +warrior whom Edith had ill-naturedly declared to be four feet and a +half high, but who was in truth five feet and a half, made up the +former. Frank did not do much dancing, devoting himself to thinking +of Rachel O'Mahony. The little man, who was a distinguished officer +named Captain Butler, of the West Bromwich, had a very good time of +it, dancing with Ada when Captain Clayton was not doing so. "The +greatest brick I ever saw in my life!"—it was thus Captain Butler +afterwards spoke of Edith, "but Ada is the girl for me, you know." +Had Edith heard this, which she could not do, because she was then on +the boat going back to Morony Castle, she would have informed Captain +Butler that Ada was not the girl for him; but Captain Clayton, who +heard the announcement made, did not seem to be much disturbed by it.</p> + +<p>"It was a very nice party, Mrs. D'Arcy," said Edith the next morning.</p> + +<p>"Was there a supper?"</p> + +<p>"There was plenty to eat and drink, if you mean that, but we did not +waste our time sitting down. I hate having to sit down opposite to a +great ham when I am in the full tide of my emotions."</p> + +<p>"There were emotions then?"</p> + +<p>"Of course there were. What's the good of a ball without them? Fancy +Captain Butler and no emotions, or Captain Clayton! Ask Ada if there +were not. But as far as we were concerned, it was I who had the best +of it. Captain Butler was my special man for the evening, and he had +on a beautiful red jacket with gold buttons. You never saw anything +so lovely. But Captain Clayton had just a simple black coat. That is +so ugly, you know."</p> + +<p>"Is Captain Clayton Ada's special young man?"</p> + +<p>"Most particularly special, is he not, Ada?"</p> + +<p>"What nonsense you do talk, Edith. He is not my special young man at +all. I'm afraid he won't be any young woman's special young man very +long, if he goes on as he does at present. Do you hear what he did +over at Ardfry? There was some cattle to be seized for rent, and all +the people on that side of the country were there. Ever so many shots +were fired, and poor Hunter got wounded in his shoulder."</p> + +<p>"He just had his skin raised," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"And Captain Clayton got terribly mauled in the crowd. But he +wouldn't fire a pistol at any of them. He brought some ringleader +away prisoner,—he and two policemen. But they got all the cattle, +and the tenants had to buy them back and pay their rent. When we try +to seize cattle at Ballintubber they are always driven away to County +Mayo. I do think that Captain Clayton is a real hero."</p> + +<p>"Of course he is, my dear; that's given up to him long ago,—and to +you."</p> + +<p>In the afternoon they went home by boat, and Frank made himself +disagreeable by croaking. "Upon my word," he said, "I think that this +is hardly a fit time for giving balls."</p> + +<p>"Ginger should not be hot in the mouth," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"You may put it in what language you like, but that is about what I +mean. The people who go to the balls cannot in truth afford it."</p> + +<p>"That's the officers' look out."</p> + +<p>"And they are here on a very sad occasion. Everything is going to +ruin in the country."</p> + +<p>"I won't be put down by Pat Carroll," said Edith. "He shall not be +able to boast to himself that he has changed the natural course of my +life."</p> + +<p>"He has changed it altogether."</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean. I am not going to yield to him or to any of +them. I mean to hold my own against it as far as I can do so. I'll go +to church, and to balls, and I'll visit my friends, and I'll eat my +dinner every day of my life just as though Pat Carroll didn't exist. +He's in prison just at present, and therefore so far we have got the +best of him."</p> + +<p>"But we can't sell a head of cattle without sending it up to Dublin. +And we can't find a man to take charge of it on the journey. We can't +get a shilling of rent, and we hardly dare to walk about the place in +the broad light of day lest we should be shot at. While things are in +this condition it is no time for dancing at balls. I am so +broken-hearted at the present moment that but for my father and for +you I would cut the place and go to America."</p> + +<p>"Taking Rachel with you?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Rachel just now is as prosperous as we are the reverse. Rachel would +not go. It is all very well for Rachel, as things are prosperous with +her. But here we have the reverse of prosperity, and according to my +feelings there should be no gaiety. Do you ever realise to yourself +what it is to think that your father is ruined?"</p> + +<p>"We ought not to have gone," said Ada.</p> + +<p>"Never say die," said Edith, slapping her little hand down on the +gunwale of the boat. "Morony Castle and Ballintubber belong to papa, +and I will never admit that he is ruined because a few dishonest +tenants refuse to pay their rents for a time. A man such as Pat +Carroll can do him an injury, but papa is big enough to rise above +that in the long run. At any rate I will live as becomes papa's +daughter, as long as he approves and I have the power." Discussing +these matters they reached the quay near Morony Castle, and Edith as +she jumped ashore felt something of triumph in her bosom. She had at +any rate succeeded in her object. "I am sure we were right to go," +she whispered to Ada.</p> + +<p>Their father received them with but very few words; nor had Florian +much to say as to the glories of the ball. His mind was devoted at +present to the coming trial. And indeed, in a more open and energetic +manner, so was the mind of Captain Clayton. "This will be the last +holiday for me," he had said to Edith at the ball, "before the great +day comes off for Patrick Carroll, Esq. It's all very well for a man +once in a way, but there should not be too much of it."</p> + +<p>"You have not to complain deeply of yourself on that head."</p> + +<p>"I have had my share of fun in the world," he said; "but it grows +less as I grow older. It is always so with a man as he gets into his +work. I think my hair will grow grey very soon, if I do not succeed +in having Mr. Carroll locked up for his life."</p> + +<p>"Do you think they will convict him?"</p> + +<p>"I think they will? I do think they will. We have got one of the men +who is ready to swear that he assisted him in pulling down the +gates."</p> + +<p>"Which of the men?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you because I trust you as my very soul. His own +brother, Terry, is the man. Pat, it seems, is a terrible tyrant among +his own friends, and Terry is willing to turn against him, on +condition that a passage to America be provided for him. Of course he +is to have a free pardon for himself. We do want one man to +corroborate your brother's evidence. Your brother no doubt was not +quite straight at first."</p> + +<p>"He lied," said Edith. "When you and I talk about it together, we +should tell the simple truth. We have pardoned him his lie;—but he +lied."</p> + +<p>"We have now the one man necessary to confirm his testimony."</p> + +<p>"But he is the brother."</p> + +<p>"No doubt. But in such a case as this anything is fair to get at the +truth. And we shall employ no falsehoods. This younger Carroll was +instigated by his brother to assist him in the deed. And he was seen +by your brother to be one of those who assisted. It seems to me to be +quite right."</p> + +<p>"It is very terrible," Edith said.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is terrible. A brother will have to swear against a brother, +and will be bribed to do it. I know what will be said to me very +well. They have tried to shoot me down like a rat; but I mean to get +the better of them. And when I shall have succeeded in removing Mr. +Pat Carroll from his present sphere of life, I shall have a second +object of ambition before me. Mr. Lax is another gentleman whom I +wish to remove. Three times he has shot at me, but he has not hit me +yet."</p> + +<p>From that time forth there had certainly been no more dances for +Captain Clayton. His mind had been altogether devoted to his work, +and amidst that work the trial of Pat Carroll had stood prominent. +"He and I are equally eager, or at any rate equally anxious;" he had +said to Edith, speaking of her brother, when he had met her +subsequent to the ball. "But the time is coming soon, and we shall +know all about it in another six weeks." This was said in June, and +the trial was to take place in August.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-26" id="c2-26"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3> +<h4>LORD CASTLEWELL.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The spring and early summer had worn themselves away in London, and +Rachel O'Mahony was still singing at the Embankment Theatre. She and +her father were still living in Cecil Street. The glorious day of +October, which had been fixed at last for the 24th, on which Rachel +was to appear on the Covent Garden boards, was yet still distant, and +she was performing under Mr. Moss's behests at a weekly stipend of +£15, to which there would be some addition when the last weeks of the +season had come about, the end of July and beginning of August. But, +alas! Rachel hardly knew what she would do to support herself during +the dead months from August to October. "Fashionable people always go +out of town, father," she said.</p> + +<p>"Then let us be fashionable."</p> + +<p>"Fashionable people go to Scotland, but they won't take one in there +without money. We shan't have £50 left when our debts are paid. And +£50 would do nothing for us."</p> + +<p>"They've stopped me altogether," said Mr. O'Mahony. "At any rate they +have stopped the money-making part of the business. They have +threatened to take the man's license away, and therefore that place +is shut up."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that unjust, father?"</p> + +<p>"Unjust! Everything done in England as to Ireland is unjust. They +carried an Act of Parliament the other day, when in accordance with +the ancient privileges of members it was within the power of a dozen +stalwart Irishmen to stop it. The dozen stalwart Irishmen were there, +but they were silenced by a brutal majority. The dozen Irishmen were +turned out of the House, one after the other, in direct opposition to +the ancient privileges; and so a Bill was passed robbing five million +Irishmen of their liberties. So gross an injustice was never before +perpetrated—not even when the bribed members sold their country and +effected the accursed Union."</p> + +<p>"I know that was very bad, father, but the bribes were taken by +Irishmen. Be that as it may, what are we to do with ourselves next +autumn?"</p> + +<p>"The only thing for us is to seek for assistance in the United +States."</p> + +<p>"They won't lend us £100."</p> + +<p>"We must overrun this country by the force of true liberal opinion. +The people themselves will rise when they have the Americans to lead +them. What is wanted now are the voices of true patriots loud enough +to reach the people."</p> + +<p>"And £100," said she, speaking into his ear, "to keep us alive from +the middle of August to the end of October."</p> + +<p>"For myself, I have been invited to come into Parliament. The County +of Cavan will be vacant."</p> + +<p>"Is there a salary attached?"</p> + +<p>"One or two leading Irish members are speaking of it," said Mr. +O'Mahony, carried away by the grandeur of the idea, "but the amount +has not been fixed yet. And they seem to think that it is wanted +chiefly for the parliamentary session. I have not promised because I +do not quite see my way. And to tell the truth, I am not sure that it +is in Parliament that an honest Irishman will shine the best. What's +the good when you can be silenced at a moment's notice by the word of +some mock Speaker, who upsets all the rules of his office to put a +gag upon a dozen men. When America has come to understand what it is +that the lawless tyrant did on that night when the Irishmen were +turned out of the House, will she not rise in her wrath, and declare +that such things shall no longer be?" All this occurred in Cecil +Street, and Rachel, who well understood her father's wrath, allowed +him to expend in words the anger which would last hardly longer than +the sound of them.</p> + +<p>"But you won't be in Parliament for County Cavan before next August?" +she asked.</p> + +<p>"I suppose not."</p> + +<p>"Nor will the United States have risen in their wrath so as to have +settled the entire question before that time?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"And if they did I don't see what good it would do to us as to +finding for us the money that we want."</p> + +<p>"I am so full of Ireland's wrongs at this moment, and with the manner +in which these policemen interfered with me, that I can hardly bring +myself to think of your autumn plans."</p> + +<p>"What are yours?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we should always have money enough to go to America. In +America a man can at any rate open his mouth."</p> + +<p>"Or a woman either. But according to what M. Le Gros says, in England +they pay better at the present moment. Mr. Moss has offered to lend +me the money; but for myself I would sooner go into an English +workhouse than accept money from Mr. Moss which I had not earned."</p> + +<p>In truth, Rachel had been very foolish with her money, spending it as +though there were no end to the source from which it had come, and +her father had not been more prudent. He was utterly reckless in +regard to such considerations, and would simply declare that he was +altogether indifferent to his dinner, or to the new hat he had +proposed to buy for himself when the subject was brought under his +notice. He had latterly become more eager than ever as to politics, +and was supremely happy as long as he was at liberty to speak before +any audience those angry words which had however been, unfortunately +for him, declared to be treasonable. He had, till lately, been taught +to understand that the House of Commons was the only arena on which +such permission would be freely granted,—and could be granted of +course only to Members of the House. Therefore the idea had entered +his head that it would suit him to become a member,—more especially +as there had arisen a grand scheme of a salary for certain Irish +members of which he would be one. But even here the brutality of +England had at last interfered, and men were not to be allowed to say +what they pleased any longer even in the House of Commons. Therefore +Mr. O'Mahony was much disturbed; and although he was anxious to +quarrel with no one individually, not even the policemen who arrested +him, he was full of indignant wrath against the tyranny of England +generally.</p> + +<p>Rachel, when she could get no good advice from her father with regard +to her future funds, went back again to her singing. It was +necessary, at any rate, that she should carry out her present +arrangement with Mr. Moss, and she was sure at least of receiving +from him the money which she earned. But, alas! she could not +practise the economy which she knew to be necessary. The people at +the theatre had talked her into hiring a one-horse open carriage in +which she delighted to drive about, and in which, to tell the truth, +her father delighted to accompany her. She had thought that she could +allow herself this indulgence out of her £15 a week. And though she +paid for the indulgence monthly, that and their joint living nearly +consumed the stipend. And now, as her father's advice did not get +beyond the very doubtful salary which might accrue to him as the +future member for the County Cavan, her mind naturally turned itself +to other sources. From M. Le Gros, or from M. Le Gros' employers, she +was to receive £300 for singing in the two months before Christmas, +with an assurance of a greatly increased though hitherto unfixed +stipend afterwards. Personally she as yet knew no one connected with +her future theatrical home but M. Le Gros. Of M. Le Gros all her +thoughts had been favourable. Should she ask M. Le Gros to lend her +some small sum of money in advance for the uses of the autumn? Mr. +Moss had made to her a fixed proposition on the subject which she had +altogether declined. She had declined it with scorn as she was wont +to do all favours proffered by Mr. Moss. Mr. Moss had still been +gracious, and had smiled, and had ventured to express "a renewed +hope," as he called it, that Miss O'Mahony would even yet condescend +to look with regard on the sincere affection of her most humble +servant. And then he had again expatiated on the immense success in +theatrical life which would attend a partnership entered into between +the skill and beauty and power of voice of Miss O'Mahony on the one +side, and the energy, devotion, and capital of Mr. Moss on the other. +"Psha!" had been Rachel's only reply; and so that interview had been +brought to an end. But Rachel, when she came to think of M. Le Gros, +and the money she was desirous of borrowing, was afflicted by certain +qualms. That she should have borrowed from Mr. Moss, considering the +length of their acquaintance might not have been unnatural; but of M. +Le Gros she knew nothing but his civility. Nor had she any reason for +supposing that M. Le Gros had money of his own at his disposal; nor +did she know where M. Le Gros lived. She could go to Covent Garden +and ask for him there; but that was all.</p> + +<p>So she dressed herself prettily—neatly, as she called it—and had +herself driven to the theatre. There, as chance would have it, she +found M. Le Gros standing under the portico with a gentleman whom she +represented to herself as an elderly old buck. M. Le Gros saw her and +came down into the street at once with his hat in his hand.</p> + +<p>"M. Le Gros," said she, "I want you to do me a great favour, but I +have hardly the impudence to ask it. Can you lend me some money this +autumn—say £100?" Thereupon M. Le Gros' face fell, and his cheeks +were elongated, and his eyes were very sorrowful. "Ah, then, I see +you can't," she said. "I will not put you to the pain of saying so. I +ought not to have suggested it. My dealings with you have seemed to +be so pleasant, and they have not been quite of the same nature down +at 'The Embankment.'"</p> + +<p>"My dear young lady—"</p> + +<p>"Not another word; and I beg your pardon most heartily for having +given you this moment's annoyance."</p> + +<p>"There is one of the lessees there," said M. Le Gros, pointing back +to the gentleman on the top of the steps, "who has been to hear you +and to look at you this two times—this three times at 'The +Embankment.' He do think you will become the grand singer of the +age."</p> + +<p>"Who is the judicious gentleman?" asked Rachel, whispering to M. Le +Gros out of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"He is Lord Castlewell. He is the eldest son of the Marquis of +Beaulieu. He have—oh!—lots of money. He was saying—ah! I must not +tell you what his lordship was saying of you because it will make you +vain."</p> + +<p>"Nothing that any lord can say of me will make me vain," said Rachel, +chucking up her head. Then his lordship, thinking that he had been +kept long enough standing on the top of the theatre steps, lifted his +hat and came down to the carriage, the occupant of which he had +recognised.</p> + +<p>"May I have the extreme honour of introducing Mademoiselle O'Mahony +to Lord Castlewell?" and M. Le Gros again pulled off his hat as he +made the introduction. Miss O'Mahony found that she had become +Mademoiselle as soon as she had drawn up her carriage at the front +door of the genuine Italian Opera.</p> + +<p>"This is a pleasure indeed," said Lord Castlewell. "I am +delighted—more than delighted, to find that my friend Le Gros has +engaged the services of Mademoiselle O'Mahony for our theatre."</p> + +<p>"But our engagement does not commence quite yet, I am sorry to say," +replied Rachel. Then she prepared herself to be driven away, not +caring much for the combination of lord and lessee who stood in the +street speaking to her. A lessee should be a lessee, she thought, and +a lord a lord.</p> + +<p>"May I do myself the honour of waiting upon you some day at 'The +Embankment,'" said the lord, again pulling off his hat.</p> + +<p>"Oh! certainly," said Rachel; "I should be delighted to see you." +Then she was driven away, and did not know whether to be angry or not +in having given Lord Castlewell so warm a welcome. As a mere stray +lord there was no possible reason why he should call upon her; nor +for her why she should receive him. Though Frank Jones had been +dismissed, and though she felt herself to be free to accept any +eligible lover who might present himself, she still felt herself +bound on his behalf to keep herself free from all elderly theatrical +hangers-on, especially from such men when she heard that they were +also lords. But as she was driven away, she took another glance at +the lord, and thought that he did not look so old as when she had +seen him at a greater distance.</p> + +<p>But she had failed altogether in her purpose of borrowing money from +M. Le Gros. And for his sake she regretted much that the attempt had +been made. She had already learned one or two details with reference +to M. Le Gros. Though his manners and appearance were so pleasant, he +was only a subaltern about the theatre; and he was a subaltern whom +this lord and lessee called simply Le Gros. And from the melancholy +nature of his face when the application for money was made to him, +she had learned that he was both good-natured and impecunious. Of +herself, in regard to the money, she thought very little at the +present moment. There were still six weeks to run, and Rachel's +nature was such that she could not distress herself six weeks in +advance of any misfortune. She was determined that she would not tell +her father of her failure. As for him, he would not probably say a +word further of their want of money till the time should come. He +confined his prudence to keeping a sum in his pocket sufficient to +take them back to New York.</p> + +<p>As the days went on which were to bring her engagement at "The +Embankment" to an end, Rachel heard a further rumour about herself. +Rumours did spring up at "The Embankment" to which she paid very +little attention. She had heard the same sort of things said as to +other ladies at the theatre, and took them all as a matter of course. +Had she been asked, she would have attributed them all to Madame +Socani; because Madame Socani was the one person whom, next to Mr. +Moss, she hated the most. The rumour in this case simply stated that +she had already been married to Mr. Jones, and had separated from her +husband. "Why do they care about such a matter as that?" she said to +the female from whom she heard the rumour. "It can't matter to me as +a singer whether I have five husbands."</p> + +<p>"But it is so interesting," said the female, "when a lady has a +husband and doesn't own him; or when she owns him and hasn't really +got him; it adds a piquancy to life, especially to theatrical life, +which does want these little assistances."</p> + +<p>Then one evening Lord Castlewell did call upon her at "The +Embankment." Her father was not with her, and she was constrained by +the circumstances of the moment to see his lordship alone.</p> + +<p>"I do feel, you know, Miss O'Mahony," he said, thus coming back for +the moment into everyday life, "that I am entitled to take an +interest in you."</p> + +<p>"Your lordship is very kind."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you never heard of me before?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word, my lord. I'm an American girl, and I know very little +about English lords."</p> + +<p>"I hope that you may come to know more. My special <i>métier</i> in life +brings me among the theatres. I am very fond of music,—and perhaps a +little fond of beauty also."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you have the sense, my lord, to put music the first."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that. In regard to you I cannot say which +predominates."</p> + +<p>"You are at liberty at any rate to talk about the one, as you are +bidding for it at your own theatre. As to the other, you will excuse +me for saying that it is a matter between me and my friends."</p> + +<p>"Among whom I trust before long I may be allowed to be counted."</p> + +<p>The little dialogue had been carried on with smiles and good humour, +and Rachel now did not choose to interfere with them. After all she +was only a public singer, and as such was hardly entitled to the full +consideration of a gentlewoman. It was thus that she argued with +herself. Nevertheless she had uttered her little reprimand and had +intended him to take it as such.</p> + +<p>"You are coming to us, you know, after the holidays."</p> + +<p>"And will bring my voice with me, such as it is."</p> + +<p>"But not your smiles, you mean to say."</p> + +<p>"They are sure to come with me, for I am always laughing,—unless I +am roused to terrible wrath. I am sure that will not be the case at +Covent Garden."</p> + +<p>"I hope not. You will find that you have come among a set who are +quite prepared to accept you as a friend." Here she made a little +curtsy. "And now I have to offer my sincere apologies for the little +proposition I am about to make." It immediately occurred to her that +M. Le Gros had betrayed her. He was a very civil spoken, affable, +kind old man; but he had betrayed her. "M. Le Gros happened to +mention that you were anxious to draw in advance for some portion of +the salary coming to you for the next two months." M. Le Gros had at +any rate betrayed her in the most courteous terms.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; M. Le Gros explained that the proposition was not <i>selon +les règles</i>, and it does not matter the least in the world."</p> + +<p>"M. Le Gros has explained that? I did not know that M. Le Gros had +explained anything."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, he looked it," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"His looks must be wonderfully expressive. He did not look it to me +at all. He simply told me, as one of the managers of the theatre, I +was to let you have whatever money you wanted. And he did whisper to +me,—may I tell you what he whispered?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose you may. He seems to me to be a very good-natured kind of +man."</p> + +<p>"Poor old Le Gros! A very good-natured man, I should say. He doesn't +carry the house, that's all."</p> + +<p>"You do that." Then she remembered that the man was a lord. "I ought +to have said 'my lord,'" she said; "but I forgot. I hope you'll +excuse me—my lord."</p> + +<p>"We are not very particular about that in theatrical matters; or, +rather, I am particular with some and not with others. You'll learn +all about it in process of time. M. Le Gros whispered that he thought +there was not the pleasantest understanding in the world between you +and the people here."</p> + +<p>"Well, no; there is not,—my lord."</p> + +<p>"Bother the lord,—just now."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," said Rachel, who could not avoid the little bit +of fun which was here implied. "Not but what the—the people +here—would find me any amount of money I chose to ask for. There are +people, you see, one does not wish to borrow money from. I take my +salary here, but nothing more. The fact is, I have not only taken it, +but spent it, and to tell the truth, I have not a shilling to amuse +myself with during the dull season. Mr. Moss knows all about it, and +has simply asked how much I wanted. 'Nothing,' I replied, 'nothing at +all; nothing at all.' And that's how I am situated."</p> + +<p>"No debts?"</p> + +<p>"Not a dollar. Beyond that I shouldn't have a dollar left to get out +of London with." Then she remembered herself,—that it was expedient +that she should tell this man something about herself. "I have got a +father, you know, and he has to be paid for as well as me. He is the +sweetest, kindest, most generous father that a girl ever had, and he +could make lots of money for himself, only the police won't let him."</p> + +<p>"What do the police do to him?" said Lord Castlewell.</p> + +<p>"He is not a burglar, you know, or anything of that kind."</p> + +<p>"He is an Irish politician, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"He is very much of a politician; but he is not an Irishman."</p> + +<p>"Irish name," suggested the lord.</p> + +<p>"Irish name, yes; so are half the names in my country. My father +comes from the United States. And he is strongly impressed with the +necessity of putting down the horrid injustice with which the poor +Irish are treated by the monstrous tyranny of you English +aristocrats. You are very nice to look at."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"But you are very bad to go. You are not the kind of horses I care to +drive at all. Thieves, traitors, murderers, liars."</p> + +<p>"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the lord.</p> + +<p>"I don't say anything for myself, because I am only a singing girl, +and understand nothing about politics. But these are the very +lightest words which he has at his tongue's end when he talks about +you. He is the most good-tempered fellow in the world, and you would +like him very much. Here is Mr. Moss." Mr. Moss had opened the door +and had entered the room.</p> + +<p>The greeting between the two men was closely observed by Rachel, who, +though she was very imprudent in much that she did and much that she +said, never allowed anything to pass by her unobserved. Mr. Moss, +though he affected an intimacy with the lord, was beyond measure +servile. Lord Castlewell accepted the intimacy without repudiating +it, but accepted also the servility. "Well, Moss, how are you getting +on in this little house?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my lord, you are going to rob us of our one attraction," and +having bowed to the lord he turned round and bowed to the lady.</p> + +<p>"You have no right to keep such a treasure in a little place like +this."</p> + +<p>"We can afford to pay for it, you know, my lord. M. Le Gros came here +a little behind my back, and carried her off."</p> + +<p>"Much to her advantage, I should say."</p> + +<p>"We can pay," said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"To such a singer as Mademoiselle O'Mahony paying is not everything. +An audience large enough, and sufficiently intelligent to appreciate +her, is something more than mere money."</p> + +<p>"We have the most intelligent audience in all London," Mr. Moss said +in defence of his own theatre.</p> + +<p>"No doubt," said the lord. He had, during this little intercourse of +compliments, managed to write a word or two on a slip of paper, which +he now handed to Rachel—"Will £200 do?" This he put into her hand, +and then left her, saying that he would do himself the honour of +calling upon her again at her own lodgings, "where I shall hope," he +said, "to make the acquaintance of the most good-tempered fellow in +the world." Then he took his leave.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-27" id="c2-27"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3> +<h4>HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Mr. Moss at this interview again pressed his loan of money upon poor +Rachel.</p> + +<p>"You cannot get on, my dear young lady, in this world without money. +If you have spent your income hitherto, what do you mean to do till +the end of November? At Covent Garden the salaries are all paid +monthly."</p> + +<p>There was something so ineffably low and greasy in his tone of +addressing her, that it was impossible to be surprised at the disgust +which she expressed for him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss, I am not your dear young lady," she said.</p> + +<p>"Would that you were! We should be as happy as the day is long. There +would be no money troubles then." She could not fail to make +comparisons between him and the English nobleman who had just left +her, which left the Englishman infinitely superior; although, with +the few thoughts she had given to him, she had already begun to doubt +whether Lord Castlewell's morality stood very high. "What will you do +for money for the next three months? You cannot do without money," +said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"I have already found a friend," said Rachel most imprudently.</p> + +<p>"What! his lordship there?"</p> + +<p>"I am not bound to answer any such questions."</p> + +<p>"But I know; I can see the game is all up if it has come to that. I +am a fellow-workman, and there have been, and perhaps will be, many +relations between us. A hundred pounds advanced here or there must be +brought into the accounts sooner or later. That is honest; that will +bear daylight; no young lady need be ashamed of that; even if you +were Mrs. Jones you need not be ashamed of such a transaction."</p> + +<p>"I am not Mrs. Jones," said Rachel in great anger.</p> + +<p>"But if you were, Mr. Jones would have no ground of complaint, unless +indeed on the score of extravagance. But a present from this lord!"</p> + +<p>"It is no present. It does not come from the lord; it comes from the +funds of the theatre."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Moss. "Is that the little game with which +he attempts to cajole you? How has he got his hand into the treasury +of the theatre, so that he may be able to help you so conveniently? +You have not got the money yet, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"I have not got his money—which may be dangerous, or yours—which +would certainly be more so. Though from neither of you could the bare +money hurt me, if it were taken with an innocent heart. From you it +would be a distress, an annoyance, a blister. From him it would be +simply a loan either from himself or from the theatre with which he +is connected. I may be mistaken, but I have imagined that it would +come from the theatre; I will ascertain, and if it be not so, I will +decline the loan."</p> + +<p>"Do you not know his character? nor his mode of living, nor his +dealing with actresses? You will not at any rate get credit for such +innocence when you tell the story. Why;—he has come here to call +upon you, and of course it is all over the theatre already that you +are his mistress. I came in here to endeavour to save you; but I fear +it is too late."</p> + +<p>"Impudent scoundrel," said Rachel, jumping up and glaring at him.</p> + +<p>"That is all very well, but I have endeavoured to save you. I would +believe none of them when they told me that you would not be my wife +because you were married to Mr. Jones. Nor would I believe them when +they have told me since that you were not fit to be the wife of +anyone." Rachel's hand went in among the folds of her dress, and +returned with a dagger in it. Words had been said to her now which +she swore to herself were unbearable. "Yes; you are in a passion +now;" and as he said so, he contrived to get the round table with +which the room was garnished between himself and her.</p> + +<p>"It is true," she said, "your words have been so base that I am no +doubt angry."</p> + +<p>"But if you knew it, I am endeavouring to save you. Imprudent as you +have been I still wish to make you my wife." Here Rachel in her +indignation spat upon the floor. "Yes; I am anxious to make you an +honest woman."</p> + +<p>"You can make no woman honest. It is altogether beyond your power."</p> + +<p>"It will be so when you have taken this lord's money."</p> + +<p>"I have not at any rate taken yours. It is that which would disgrace +me. Between this lord and me there has been no word that could do +so."</p> + +<p>"Will he make you his wife?"</p> + +<p>"Wife! No. He is married for aught that I know. He has spoken to me +no word except about my profession. Nor shall you. Cannot a woman +sing without being wife to any man?"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, yes indeed!"</p> + +<p>She understood the scorn intended to be thrown on her line of life by +his words, and was wretched to think that he was getting the better +of her in conversation. "I can sing and I need no husband."</p> + +<p>"It is common with the friends of the lord that they do not generally +rank very high in their profession. I have endeavoured to save you +from this kind of thing, and see the return that I get! You will, +however, soon have left us, and you will then find that to fill first +place at 'The Embankment' is better than a second or a third at +Covent Garden."</p> + +<p>During these hot words on both sides she had been standing at a +pier-glass, arranging something in her dress intended to suit Moss's +fancy upon the stage,—Moss who was about to enact her princely +lover—and then she walked off without another word. She went through +her part with all her usual vigour and charm, and so did he. Elmira +also was more pathetic than ever, as the night was supposed to be +something special, because a royal duke and his young bride were in +the stage box. The plaudits given would have been tremendous only +that the building was so small, and the grand quartette became such a +masterpiece that there was half a column concerning it in the musical +corner of the next morning's <i>Daily Telephone</i>. "If that girl would +only go as I'd have her," said Mr. Moss to the most confidential of +his theatrical friends, "I'd make her Mrs. Moss to-morrow, and her +fame should be blazoned all over the world before twelve months had +gone as Madame Moussa."</p> + +<p>But Rachel, though she was enabled so to overcome her rage as to +remember only her theatrical passion when she was on the stage, spent +the whole of the subsequent night in thinking over the difficulty +into which she had brought herself by her imprudence. She understood +to the full the meaning of all those innuendoes which Mr. Moss had +provided for her; and she knew that though there was in them not a +spark of truth as regarded herself, still they were so truth-like as +to meet with acceptance, at any rate from all theatrical personages. +She had gone to M. Le Gros for the money clearly as one of the +theatrical company with which she was about to connect herself. M. Le +Gros had, to her intelligence, distinctly though very courteously +declined her request. It might be well that the company would accede +to no such request; but M. Le Gros, in his questionable civility, had +told the whole story to Lord Castlewell, who had immediately offered +her a loan of £200 out of his own pocket. It had not occurred to her +in the moment in which she had first read the words in the presence +of Mahomet M. M. that such must necessarily be the case. Was it +probable that Lord Castlewell should on his own behalf recover from +the treasury of the theatre the sum of £200? And then the nature of +this lord's character opened itself to her eyes in all the forms +which Mr. Moss had intended that it should wear. A man did not lend a +young lady £200 without meaning to secure for himself some reward. +And as she thought of it all she remembered the kind of language in +which she had spoken of her father. She had described him as an +American in words which might so probably give this noble old <i>roué</i> +a false impression as to his character. And yet she liked the noble +old <i>roué</i>—liked him so infinitely better than she did Mr. Moss. M. +Le Gros had betrayed her, or had, perhaps, said words leading to her +betrayal; but still she greatly preferred M. Le Gros to Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>She was safe as yet with this lord. Not a sparkle of his gold had she +received. No doubt the story about the money would be spread about +from her own telling of it. People would believe it because she +herself had said so. But it was still within her power to take care +that it should not be true. She did what was usual on such occasions. +She abused the ill-feeling of the world which by the malignity of its +suspicions would not scruple to drag her into the depths of +misfortune, forgetting probably that her estimation of others was the +same as others of her. She did not bethink herself that had another +young lady at another theatre accepted a loan from an unmarried lord +of such a character, she would have thought ill of that young lady. +The world ought to be perfectly innocent in regard to her because she +believed herself to be innocent; and Mr. Moss in expressing the +opinions of others, and exposing to her the position in which she had +placed herself, had simply proved himself to be the blackest of human +beings.</p> + +<p>But it was necessary that she should at once do something to +whitewash her own character in her own esteem. This lord had declared +that he himself would call, and she was at first minded to wait till +he did so, and then to hand back to him the cheque which she believed +that he would bring, and to assure him that under altered +circumstances it would not be wanted. But she felt that it would best +become her to write to him openly, and to explain the circumstances +which had led to his offering the loan. "There is nothing like being +straightforward," she said to herself, "and if he does not choose to +believe me, that is his fault." So she took up her pen, and wrote +quickly, to the following effect:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">My dear Lord +Castlewell</span>,</p> + +<p>I want to tell you that I do not wish to have the £200 +which you were good enough to say that you would lend me. +Indeed I cannot take it under any circumstances. I must +explain to you all about it, if your lordship pleases. I +had intended to ask M. Le Gros to get the theatre people +to advance me some small sum on my future engagement, and +I had not thought how impossible it was that they should +do so, as of course I might die before I had sung a single +note. I never dreamed of coming to you, whose lordship's +name I had not even heard in my ignorance. Then M. Le Gros +spoke to you, and you came and made your proposition in +the most good-natured way in the world. I was such a fool +as not to see that the money must of course come from +yourself.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moss has enlightened me, and has made me understand +that no respectable young woman would accept a loan of +money from you without blemish to her character. Mr. Moss, +whom I do not in the least like, has been right in this. I +should be very sorry if you should be taught to think evil +of me before I go to your theatre; or indeed, if I do not +go at all. I am not up to all these things, and I suppose +I ought to have consulted my father the moment I got your +little note. Pray do not take any further notice of it.</p> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="ind6">I am, very faithfully,</span><br /> +<span class="ind10">Your lordship's humble servant,</span></p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Rachel +O'Mahony</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Then there was added a postscript: "Your note has just come and I +return the cheque." As chance would have it the cheque had come just +as Rachel had finished her letter, and with the cheque there had been +a short scrawl as follows: "I send the money as settled, and will +call to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been Lord Castlewell's general sins among actresses +and actors, his feelings hitherto in regard to Miss O'Mahony had not +done him discredit. He had already heard her name frequently when he +had seen her in her little carriage before the steps of Covent Garden +Theatre, and had heard her sing at "The Embankment." Her voice and +tone and feeling had enchanted him as he had wont to be enchanted by +new singers of high quality, and he had been greatly struck by the +brightness of her beauty. When M. Le Gros had told him of her little +wants, he had perceived at once her innocence, and had determined to +relieve her wants. Then, when she had told him of her father, and had +explained to him the kind of terms on which they lived together, he +was sure that she was pure as snow. But she was very lovely, and he +could not undertake to answer for what feelings might spring up in +her bosom. Now he had received this letter, and every word of it +spoke to him in her favour. He took, therefore, a little trouble, and +calling upon her the next morning at her lodgings, found her seated +with Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, when the lord was ushered into the room, "this is +Lord Castlewell. Lord Castlewell, this is my father."</p> + +<p>Then she sat down, leaving the two to begin the conversation as they +might best please. She had told her father nothing about the money, +simply explaining that on the steps of the theatre she had met the +lord, who was one of its proprietors.</p> + +<p>"Lord Castlewell," said Mr. O'Mahony, "I am very proud," then he +bowed. "I know very little about stage affairs, but I am confident +that my daughter will do her duty to the best of her ability."</p> + +<p>"Not more so than I am," said Lord Castlewell, upon which Mr. +O'Mahony bowed again. "You have heard about this little <i>contretemps</i> +about the money."</p> + +<p>"Not a word," said Mr. O'Mahony, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"Nor of the terrible character which has been given you by your +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"That I can well understand," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"She says that you wish to abolish all the English aristocracy."</p> + +<p>"Most of them," said Mr. O'Mahony. "Peradventure ten shall be found +honest, and I will not destroy them for ten's sake; but I doubt +whether there be one."</p> + +<p>"I should be grieved to think that you were the judge."</p> + +<p>"And so should I," said Mr. O'Mahony. "It is so easy to utter curses +when no power accompanies the utterances. The Lord must have found it +uncomfortable in regard to Sodom. I can spit out all my fury against +English vices and British greed without suffering one pang at my +heart. What is this that you were saying about Rachel and her money?"</p> + +<p>"She is in a little trouble about cash at the present moment."</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt about it."</p> + +<p>"And I have offered to lend her a trifle—£200 or so, just till she +can work it off up at the theatre there."</p> + +<p>"Then there is one of the ten at any rate," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Meaning me?" asked the lord.</p> + +<p>"Just so. Lending us £200, when neither of us have a shilling in our +pocket, is a very good deed. Don't you think so, Rachel?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Rachel. "Lord Castlewell is not a fit person to lend me +£200 out of his pocket, and I will not have it."</p> + +<p>"I did not know," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"You never know anything, you are such a dear, innocent old father."</p> + +<p>"There's an end of it then," said he, addressing himself to the lord. +He did not look in the least annoyed because his daughter had refused +to take the loan, nor had he shown the slightest feeling of any +impropriety when there was a question as to her accepting it.</p> + +<p>"Of course I cannot force it upon you," said Lord Castlewell.</p> + +<p>"No; a lord cannot do that, even in this country, where lords go for +so much. But we are not a whit the less obliged to your lordship. +There are proprieties and improprieties which I don't understand. +Rachel knows all about them. Such a knowledge comes to a girl +naturally, and she chooses either the one or the other, according to +her nature. Rachel is a dragon of propriety."</p> + +<p>"Father, you are a goose," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"I am telling his lordship the truth. There is some reason why you +should not take the money, and you won't take it. I think it very +hard that I should not have been allowed to earn it."</p> + +<p>"Why were you not allowed?" asked the lord.</p> + +<p>"Lest the people should be persuaded to rise up against you +lords,—which they very soon would do,—and will do. You are right in +your generation. The people were paying twenty-five cents a night to +come and hear me, and so I was informed that I must not speak to them +any more. I had been silenced in Galway before; but then I had spoken +about your Queen."</p> + +<p>"We can't endure that, you know."</p> + +<p>"So I learn. She's a holy of holies. But I promised to say nothing +further about her, and I haven't. I was talking about your Speaker of +the House of Commons."</p> + +<p>"That's nearly as bad," said Lord Castlewell, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"A second-rate holy of holies. When I said that he ought to obey +certain rules which had been laid down for his guidance, I was told +to walk out. 'What may I talk about?' I asked. Then the policeman +told me 'the weather.' Even an Englishman is not stupid enough to pay +twenty-five cents for that. I am only telling you this to explain why +we are so impecunious."</p> + +<p>"The policeman won't prevent my lending you £200."</p> + +<p>"Won't he now? There's no knowing what a policeman can't do in this +country. They are very good-natured, all the same."</p> + +<p>Then Lord Castlewell turned to Rachel, and asked her whether her +suspicions would go so far as to interfere between him and her +father. "It is because I am a pretty girl that you are going to do +it," she said, frowning, "or because you pretend to think so." Here +the father broke out into a laugh, and the lord followed him. "You +had better keep your money to yourself, my lord. You never can have +used it with less chance of getting any return." This interview, +however, was ended by the acceptance of a cheque from Lord Castlewell +for £200, payable to the order of Gerald O'Mahony.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-28" id="c2-28"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3> +<h4>WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>"She has taken his money all the same." This was said some weeks +after the transaction as described in the last chapter, and was +spoken by Madame Socani to Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"I know very well. You are so infatuated by that young woman that you +will believe nothing against her."</p> + +<p>"I am infatuated with her voice; I know what she is going to do in +the world. Old Barytone told me that he had never heard such a voice +from a woman's mouth since the days of Malibran; and if there is a +man who knows one voice from another, it is Barytone. He can taste +the richness of the instrument down to its lowest tinkling sound."</p> + +<p>"And you would marry such a one as she for her voice."</p> + +<p>"And she can act. Ah! if you could have acted as she does, it might +have been different."</p> + +<p>"She has got a husband just the same as me."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it; but never mind, I would risk all that. And I +will do it yet. If you will only keep your toe in your pump, we will +have such a company as nothing that Le Gros can do will be able to +cut us down."</p> + +<p>"And she is taking money from that lord."</p> + +<p>"They all take money from lords," he replied. "What does it matter? +And she is as stout a piece of goods as ever you came across. She has +given me more impudence in the last eight months than ever I took +from any of them. And by Jupiter I never so much as got a kiss from +her."</p> + +<p>"A kiss!" said Madame Socani with great contempt.</p> + +<p>"And she has hit me a box on the cheek which I have had to put up +with. She has always got a dagger about her somewhere, to give a +fellow a prod in her passion." Here Mr. Moss laughed or affected to +laugh at the idea of the dagger. "I tell you that she would have it +into a fellow in no time."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you leave her alone? A little wizened monkey like +that!" It was thus that Madame Socani expressed her opinion of her +rival. "A creature without an ounce of flesh on her bones. Her voice +won't last long. It never does with those little mean made apes. +There was Grisi and Tietjens,—they had something of a body for a +voice to come out of. And here is this girl that you think so much +of, taking money hand over hand from the very first lord she comes +across."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe a word of it," said the faithful Moss.</p> + +<p>"You'll find that it is true. She will go away to some watering-place +in the autumn, and he'll be after her. Did you ever know him spare +one of them? or one of them, poor little creatures, that wouldn't +rise to his bait?"</p> + +<p>"She has got her father with her."</p> + +<p>"Her father! What is the good of fathers? He'll take some of the +money, that's all. I'll tell you what it is, Moss, if you don't drop +her you and I will be two."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart, Madame Socani," said Moss. "I have not the +slightest intention of dropping her. And as for you and me, we can +get on very well apart."</p> + +<p>But Madame Socani, though she would be roused by jealousy to make +this threat once a month, knew very well that she could not afford to +sever herself from Mr. Moss; and she knew also that Mr. Moss was +bound to show her some observance, or, at any rate, to find +employment for her as long as she could sing.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Moss was anxious to find out whether any money arrangements +did or did not exist between Miss O'Mahony and the lord, and was +resolved to ask the question in a straightforward manner. He had +already found out that his old pupil had no power of keeping a secret +to herself when thus asked. She would sternly refuse to give any +reply; but she would make her refusal in such a manner as to tell the +whole truth. In fact, Rachel, among her accomplishments, had not the +power of telling a lie in such language as to make herself believed. +It was not that she would scruple in the least to declare to Mr. Moss +the very opposite to the truth in a matter in which he had, she +thought, no business to be inquisitive; but when she did so she had +no power to look the lie. You might say of her frequently that she +was a downright liar. But of all human beings whom you could meet she +was the least sly. "My dear child," the father used to say to her, +"words to you are worth nothing, unless it be to sing them. You can +make no impression with them in any other way." Therefore it was that +Mr. Moss felt that he could learn the truth from simply questioning +his pupil.</p> + +<p>"Miss O'Mahony, may I say a few words to you?" So said Mr. Moss, +having knocked at the door of Rachel's sitting-room. He had some +months ago fallen into the habit of announcing himself, when he had +come to give her lessons, and would inform the servant that he would +take up his own name. Rachel had done what she could do to put an end +to the practice, but it still prevailed.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Moss. Was not the girl there to show you up?"</p> + +<p>"No doubt she was. But such ceremony between us is hardly necessary."</p> + +<p>"I should prefer to be warned of the coming of my master. I will see +to that in future. Such little ceremonies do have their uses."</p> + +<p>"Shall I go down and make her say that I am here, and then come up +again?"</p> + +<p>"It shall not be necessary, but you take a chair and begin!" Then Mr. +Moss considered how he had better do so. He knew well that the girl +would not answer kindly to such a question as he was desirous of +asking. And it might be that she would be very uncivil. He was by no +means a coward, but he had a vivid recollection of the gleam of her +dagger. He smiled, and she looked at him more suspiciously because of +his smile. He was sitting on a sofa opposite to her as she sat on a +music-stool which she had turned round, so as to face him, and he +fancied that he could see her right hand hide itself among the folds +of her dress. "Is it about the theatre?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it is;—and yet it isn't."</p> + +<p>"I wish it were something about the theatre. It always seems to come +more natural between you and me."</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell me what you did at last about Lord Castlewell's +money."</p> + +<p>"Why am I to tell you what I did?"</p> + +<p>"For friendship."</p> + +<p>"I do not feel any."</p> + +<p>"That's an uncivil word to say, mademoiselle."</p> + +<p>"But it's true. You have no business to ask me about the lord's +money, and I won't be questioned."</p> + +<p>"It will be so deleterious to you if you accept it."</p> + +<p>"I can take care of myself," she said, jumping off the chair. "I +shall have left this place now in another month, and shall utterly +disregard the words which anyone at your theatre may say of me. I +shall not tell you whether the lord has lent me money or not."</p> + +<p>"I know he has."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Then leave the room. Knowing as you do that I am living +here with my own father, your interference is grossly impertinent."</p> + +<p>"Your father is not going with you, I am afraid." She rushed at the +bell and pulled it till the bell rope came down from the wire, but +nobody answered the bell. "Can it be possible that you should not be +anxious to begin your new career under respectable auspices?"</p> + +<p>"I will not stand this. Leave the room, sir. This apartment is my +own."</p> + +<p>"Miss O'Mahony, you see my hand; with this I am ready to offer at +once to place you in a position in which the world would look up to +you."</p> + +<p>"You have done so before, Mr. Moss, and your doing so again is an +insult. It would not be done to any young lady unless she were on the +stage, and were thought on that account to be open to any man about +the theatre to say what he pleased to her."</p> + +<p>"Any gentleman is at liberty to make any lady an offer."</p> + +<p>"I have answered it. Now leave the room."</p> + +<p>"I cannot do so until I have heard that you have not taken money from +this reprobate."</p> + +<p>At the moment the door opened, and the reprobate entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Your servant told me that Mr. Moss was here, and therefore I walked +up at once," said the reprobate.</p> + +<p>"I am so much obliged to you," said Rachel. "Oh Lord Castlewell! I am +so much obliged to you. He tells me in the first place that you are a +reprobate."</p> + +<p>"Never mind me," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind what he says of you. He declares that my character will +be gone for ever because you have lent my father some money."</p> + +<p>"So it will," said Moss, who was not afraid to stand up to his guns.</p> + +<p>"And how if she had accepted your offer?"</p> + +<p>"No one would have thought of it. Come, my lord, you know the +difference. I am anxious only to save her."</p> + +<p>"It is to her father I have lent the money, who explained to me the +somewhat cruel treatment he had received at the hands of the police. +I think you are making an ass of yourself, Mr. Moss."</p> + +<p>"Very well, my lord; very well," said Mr. Moss. "All the world no +doubt will know that you have lent the money to the Irish Landleaguer +because of your political sympathy with him, and will not think for a +minute that you have been attracted by our pretty young friend here. +It will not suspect that it is she who has paid for the loan!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Moss, you are a brute," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"Can't he be turned out of the room?" asked Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; it is possible," said the lord, who slowly prepared to +walk up and take some steps towards expelling Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"It shall not be necessary," said Mahomet M. M. "You could not get me +out, but there would be a terrible row in the house, which could not +fail to be disagreeable to Miss O'Mahony. I leave her in your hands, +and I do not think I could possibly leave her in worse. I have wished +to make her an honest woman; what you want of her you can explain to +herself." In saying this Mr. Moss walked downstairs and left the +house, feeling, as he went, that he had got the better both of the +lord and of the lady.</p> + +<p>With Mr. Moss there was a double motive, neither of which was very +bright, but both of which he followed with considerable energy. He +had at first been attracted by her good looks, which he had desired +to make his own—at the cheapest price at which they might be had in +the market. If marriage were necessary, so be it, but it might be +that the young lady would not be so exigeant. It was probably the +expression of some such feelings in the early days of their +acquaintance which had made him so odious to her. Then Frank Jones +had come forward; and like any good honest girl, in a position so +public, she had at once let the fact of Mr. Jones be made known, so +as to protect her. But it had not protected her, and Mr. Moss had +been doubly odious. Then, by degrees, he had become aware of the +value of her voice, and he perceived the charms that there were in +what he pictured to himself as a professional partnership as well as +a marriage. Various ideas floated through his mind, down even to the +creation of fresh names, grand married names, for his wife. And if +she could be got to see it in the light he saw it, what a stroke of +business they might do! He was aware that she expressed personal +dislike to him; but he did not think much of that. He did not in the +least understand the nature of such dislike as she exhibited. He +thought himself to be a very good-looking man. He was one of a +profession to which she also belonged. He had no idea that he was not +a gentleman but that she was a lady. He did not know that there were +such things. Madame Socani told him that this young woman was already +married to Mr. Jones, but had left that gentleman because he had no +money. He did not believe this; but in any case he would be willing +to risk it. The peril would be hers and not his. It was his object to +establish the partnership, and he did not even yet see any fatal +impediment to it.</p> + +<p>This lord who had been trapped by her beauty, by that and by her +theatrical standing, was an impediment, but could be removed. He had +known Lord Castlewell to be in love with a dozen singers, partly +because he thought himself to be a judge of music, and partly simply +because he had liked their looks. The lord had now taken a fancy to +Miss O'Mahony, and had begun by lending her money. That the father +should take the money instead of the daughter, was quite natural to +his thinking. But he might still succeed in looking after Miss +O'Mahony, and rescuing the singer from the lord. By keeping a close +watch on her he must make it impossible for the lord to hold her. +Therefore, when he went away, leaving the lord and the singer +together, he thought that for the present he had got the better of +both.</p> + +<p>"Why did he tell you that I was a reprobate?" said the lord, when he +found himself alone with the lady.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps it was because you are one, my lord," said Rachel, +laughing. She would constantly remember herself, and tell herself +that as long as she called him by his title, she was protecting +herself from that familiarity which would be dangerous.</p> + +<p>"I hope you don't think so."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen generally are reprobates, I believe. It is not disgraceful +for a gentleman to be a reprobate, but it is pleasant. The young +women I daresay find it pleasant, but then it is disgraceful. I do +not mean to disgrace myself, Lord Castlewell."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you will not."</p> + +<p>"I want you to be sure of it, quite sure. I am a singing girl; but I +don't mean to be any man's mistress." He stared at her as she said +this. "And I don't mean to be any man's wife, unless I downright love +him. Now you may keep out of my way, if you please. I daresay you are +a reprobate, my lord; but with that I have got nothing to do. +Touching this money, I suppose father has not got it yet?"</p> + +<p>"I have sent it."</p> + +<p>"You are to get nothing for it, but simply to have it returned, +without interest, as soon as I have earned it. You have only to say +the word and I will take care that father shall send it you back +again."</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell felt that the girl was very unlike others whom he had +known, and who had either rejected his offers with scorn or had +accepted them with delight. This young lady did neither. She +apparently accepted the proffered friendship, and simply desired him +to carry his reprobate qualities elsewhere. There was a frankness +about her which pleased him much, though it hardly tended to make him +in love with her. One thing he did resolve on the spur of the moment, +that he would never say a word to her which her father might not +hear. It was quite a new sensation to him, this of simple friendship +with a singer, with a singer whom he had met in the doubtful custody +of Mr. Moss; but he did believe her to be a good girl,—a good girl +who could speak out her mind freely; and as such he both respected +and liked her. "Of course I shan't take back the money till it +becomes due. You'll have to work hard for it before I get it."</p> + +<p>"I shall be quite contented to do that, my lord." Then the interview +was over and his lordship left the room.</p> + +<p>But Lord Castlewell felt as he went home that this girl was worth +more than other girls. She laughed at him for being a lord, but she +could accept a favour from him, and then tell him to his face that he +should do her no harm because she had accepted it. He had met some +terrible rebuffs in his career, the memory of which had been +unpleasant to him; and he had been greeted with many smiles, all of +which had been insipid. What should he do with this girl, so as to +make the best of her? The only thing that occurred to him was to +marry her! And yet such a marriage would be altogether out of his +line of life.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-29" id="c2-29"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3> +<h4>WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The £200 was not spent in a manner of which Lord Castlewell would +have altogether approved. About the end of August Mr. O'Mahony was +summoned back to Ireland, and was induced, at a meeting held at the +Rotunda, to give certain pledges which justified the advanced Irish +party in putting him forward as a new member for the County of Cavan. +The advanced Irish party had no doubt been attracted by the eloquence +he had exhibited both in Galway and in London, and by the patriotic +sentiments which he had displayed. He was known to be a Republican, +and to look for the formation of a Republic to American aid. He had +expressed most sincere scorn for everything English, and professed +ideas as to Irish property generally in regard to which he was +altogether ignorant of their meaning. As he was a sincerely honest +man, he did think that something good for his old country would be +achieved by Home Rule; though how the Home-Rulers would set to work +when Home Rule should be the law of the land, he had not the remotest +conception. There were many reasons, therefore, why he should be a +fit member for an Irish county. But it must be admitted that he would +not have been so unanimously selected had all the peculiarities of +his mind been known. It might be probable that he would run riot +under the lash of his leader, as others have done both before and +since, when he should come to see all the wiles of that strategy +which he would be called upon to support. And in such case the +quarrel with him would be more internecine than with other foes, such +as English members, Scotch members, Conservative Irish members, and +Liberal Irish members, not sworn to follow certain leaders. A +recreant one out of twenty friends would be regarded with more bitter +hatred than perhaps six hundred and thirty ordinary enemies. It might +be, therefore, that a time of tribulation was in store for Mr. +O'Mahony, but he did not consider these matters very deeply when the +cheers rang loud in the hall of the Rotunda; nor did he then reflect +that he was about to spend in an injudicious manner the money which +must be earned by Rachel's future work.</p> + +<p>When Rachel had completed her engagement with Mr. Moss, it had been +intended that they should go down to Ambleside and there spend Lord +Castlewell's money in the humble innocent enjoyment of nature. There +had at that moment been nothing decided as to the County of Cavan. A +pork-butcher possessed of some small means and unlimited impudence +had put himself forward. But The Twenty had managed to put him +through his facings, and had found him to be very ignorant in his use +of the Queen's English. Now of late there had come up a notion that +the small party required to make up for the thinness of their members +by the strength of their eloquence. Practice makes perfect, and it is +not to be wondered at therefore if a large proportion of The Twenty +had become fluent. But more were wanted, and of our friend O'Mahony's +fluency there could be no doubt. Therefore he was sent for, and on +the very day of his arrival he proved to the patriotic spirits of +Dublin that he was the man for Cavan. Three days afterwards he went +down, and Cavan obediently accepted its man. With her father went +Rachel, and was carried through the towns of Virginia, Bailyborough, +and Ballyjamesduff, in great triumph on a one-horse car.</p> + +<p>This occurred about the end of August, and Lord Castlewell's £200 was +very soon spent. She had not thought much about it, but had been +quite willing to be the daughter of a Member of Parliament, if a +constituency could be found willing to select her father. She did not +think much of the duties of Parliament, if they came within the reach +of her father's ability. She did not in truth think that he could +under any circumstances do half a day's work. She had known what it +was to practise, and, having determined to succeed, she had worked as +only a singer can work who determines that she will succeed. Hour +after hour she had gone on before the looking-glass, and even Mr. +Moss had expressed his approval. But during the years that she had +been so at work, she had never seen her father do anything. She knew +that he talked what she called patriotic buncombe. It might be that +he would become a very fitting Member of Parliament, but Rachel had +her doubt. She could see, however, that the £200 quickly vanished +during their triumphant journeyings on the one-horse car. Everybody +in County Cavan seemed to know that there was £200 and no more to be +spent by the new member. There he was, however, Member of Parliament +for the County of Cavan, and his breast was filled with new +aspirations. Enmity, the bitterest enmity to everything English, was +the one lesson taught him. But he himself had other feelings. What if +he could talk over that Speaker, and that Prime Minister, that +Government generally, and all the House of Commons, and all the House +of Lords! Why should not England go her way and Ireland +hers,—England have her monarchy and Ireland her republic, but still +with some kind of union between them, as to the nature of which Mr. +O'Mahony had no fixed idea in his brain whatsoever. But he knew that +he could talk, and he knew also that he must now talk on an arena for +admission to which the public would not pay twenty-five cents or +more. His breast was much disturbed by the consideration that for all +the work which he proposed to do no wages were to be forthcoming.</p> + +<p>But while Mr. O'Mahony was being elected Member of Parliament for +County Cavan, things were going on very sadly in County Galway. +Wednesday, the 31st of August, had been the day fixed for the trial +of Pat Carroll; and the month of August was quickly wearing itself +away. But during the month of August Captain Clayton found occasion +more than once to come into the neighbourhood of Headford. And though +Mr. Jones was of an opinion that his presence there was adequately +accounted for by the details of the coming trial, the two girls +evidently thought that some other cause might be added to that which +Pat Carroll had produced.</p> + +<p>It must be explained that at this period Frank Jones was absent from +Morony Castle, looking out for emergency men who could be brought +down to the neighbourhood of Headford, in sufficient number to save +the crop on Mr. Jones's farm. And with him was Tom Daly, who had some +scheme in his own head with reference to his horses and his hounds. +Mr. Persse and Sir Jasper Lynch had been threatened with a wide +system of boycotting, unless they would give up Tom Daly's animals. A +decree had gone forth in the county, that nothing belonging to the +hunt should be allowed to live within its precincts. All the +bitterness and the cruelty and the horror arising from this order are +beyond the limit of this story. But it may be well to explain that at +the present moment Frank Jones was away from Castle Morony, working +hard on his father's behalf.</p> + +<p>And so were the girls working hard—making the butter, and cooking +the meat, and attending to the bedrooms. And Peter was busy with them +as their lieutenant. It might be thought that the present was no time +for love-making, and that Captain Clayton could not have been in the +mood. But it may be observed that at any period of special toil in a +family, when infinitely more has to be done than at any other time, +then love-making will go on with more than ordinary energy. Edith was +generally to be found with her hair tucked tight off her face and +enveloped in a coarse dairymaid's apron, and Ada, when she ran +downstairs, would do so with a housemaid's dusting-brush at her +girdle, and they were neither of them, when so attired, in the least +afraid of encountering Captain Clayton as he would come out from +their father's room. All the world knew that they were being +boycotted, and very happy the girls were during the process. "Poor +papa" did not like it so well. Poor papa thought of his banker's +account, or rather of that bank at which there was, so to say, no +longer any account. But the girls were light of heart, and in the +pride of their youth. But, alas! they had both of them blundered +frightfully. It was Edith, Edith the prudent, Edith the wise, Edith, +who was supposed to know everything, who had first gone astray in her +blundering, and had taken Ada with her; but the story with its +details must be told.</p> + +<p>"My pet," she said to her elder sister, as they were standing +together at the kitchen dresser, "I know he means to speak to you +to-day."</p> + +<p>"What nonsense, Edith!"</p> + +<p>"It has to be done some day, you know. And he is just the man to come +upon one in the time of one's dire distress. Of course we haven't got +a halfpenny now belonging to us. I was thinking only the other day +how comfortable it is that we never go out of the house because we +haven't the means to buy boots. Now Captain Clayton is just the man +to be doubly attracted by such penury."</p> + +<p>"I don't know why a man is to make an offer to a girl just because he +finds her working like a housemaid."</p> + +<p>"I do. I can see it all. He is just the man to take you in his arms +because he found you peeling potatoes."</p> + +<p>"I beg he will do nothing of the kind," said Ada. "He has never said +a word to me, or I to him, to justify such a proceeding. I should at +once hit him over the head with my brush."</p> + +<p>"Here he comes, and now we will see how far I understand such +matters."</p> + +<p>"Don't go, Edith," said Ada. "Pray don't go. If you go I shall go +with you. These things ought always to come naturally,—that is if +they come at all."</p> + +<p>It did not "come" at that moment, for Edith was so far mistaken that +Captain Clayton, after saying a few words to the girls, passed on out +of the back-door, intent on special business. "What a wretched +individual he is," said Edith. "Fancy pinning one's character on the +doings of such a man as that. However, he will be back again to +dinner, and you will not be so hard upon him then with your +dusting-brush."</p> + +<p>Before dinner the Captain did return, and found himself alone with +Edith in the kitchen. It was her turn on this occasion to send up +whatever meal in the shape of dinner Castle Morony could afford. +"There you have it, sir," she said, pointing to a boiled neck of +mutton, which had been cut from the remains of a sheep sent in to +supply the family wants.</p> + +<p>"I see," said he. "It will make a very good dinner,—or a very bad +one, according to circumstances, as they may fall out before the +dinner leaves the kitchen."</p> + +<p>"Then they will have to fall out very quickly," said Edith. But the +colour had flown to her face, and in that moment she had learned to +suspect the truth. And her mind flew back rapidly over all her doings +and sayings for the last three months. If it was so, she could never +forgive herself. If it was so, Ada would never forgive her. If it was +so, they two and Captain Yorke Clayton must be separated for ever. +"Well; what is it?" she said, roughly. The joint of meat had fallen +from her hands, and she looked up at Captain Clayton with all the +anger she could bring into her face.</p> + +<p>"Edith," he said, "you surely know that I love you."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of the kind. There can be no reason why I should know +it,—why I should guess it. It cannot be so without grievous wrong on +your part."</p> + +<p>"What wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Base wrong done to my sister," she answered. Then she remembered +that she had betrayed her sister, and she remembered too how much of +the supposed love-making had been done by her own words, and not by +any spoken by Captain Clayton. And there came upon her at that moment +a remembrance also of that other moment in which she had acknowledged +to herself that she had loved this man, and had told herself that the +love was vain, and had sworn to herself that she would never stand in +Ada's way, and had promised to herself that all things should be +happy to her as this man's sister-in-law. Acting then on this idea +merely because Ada had been beautiful she had gone to work,—and this +had come of it! In that minute that was allowed to her as the boiled +mutton was cooling on the dresser beneath her hand, all this passed +through her mind.</p> + +<p>"Wrong done by me to Ada!" said the Captain.</p> + +<p>"I have said it; but if you are a gentleman you will forget it. I +know that you are a gentleman,—a gallant man, such as few I think +exist anywhere. Captain Clayton, there are but two of us. Take the +best; take the fairest; take the sweetest. Let all this be as though +it had never been spoken. I will be such a sister to you as no man +ever won for himself. And Ada will be as loving a wife as ever graced +a man's home. Let it be so, and I will bless every day of your life."</p> + +<p>"No," he said slowly, "I cannot let it be like that. I have learned +to love you and you only, and I thought that you had known it."</p> + +<p>"Never!"</p> + +<p>"I had thought so. It cannot be as you propose. I shall never speak +of your sister to a living man. I shall never whisper a word of her +regard even here in her own family. But I cannot change my heart as +you propose. Your sister is beautiful, and sweet, and good; but she +is not the girl who has crept into my heart, and made a lasting home +for herself there,—if the girl who has done so would but accept it. +Ada is not the girl whose brightness, whose bravery, whose wit and +ready spirit have won me. These things go, I think, without any +effort. I have known that there has been no attempt on your part; but +the thing has been done and I had hoped that you were aware of it. It +cannot now be undone. I cannot be passed on to another. Here, here, +here is what I want," and he put his two hands upon her shoulders. +"There is no other girl in all Ireland that can supply her place if +she be lost to me."</p> + +<p>He had spoken very solemnly, and she had stood there in solemn mood +listening to him. By degrees the conviction had come upon her that he +was in earnest, and was not to be changed in his purpose by anything +that she could say to him. She had blundered, had blundered awfully. +She had thought that with a man beauty would be everything; but with +this man beauty had been nothing; nor had good temper and a sense of +duty availed anything. She rushed into the dining-room carrying the +boiled mutton with her, and he followed. What should she do now? Ada +would yield—would give him up—would retire into the background, and +would declare that Edith should be made happy, but would never lift +up her head again. And she—she herself—could also give him up, and +would lift up her head again. She knew that she had a power of +bearing sorrow, and going on with the work of the world, in spite of +all troubles, which Ada did not possess. It might, therefore, have +all been settled, but that the man was stubborn, and would not be +changed. "Of course, he is a man," said Edith to herself, as she put +the mutton down. "Of course he must have it all to please himself. Of +course he will be selfish."</p> + +<p>"I thought you were never coming with our morsel of dinner," said Mr. +Jones.</p> + +<p>"Here is the morsel of dinner; but I could have dished it in half the +time if Captain Clayton had not been there."</p> + +<p>"Of course I am the offender," said he, as he sat down. "And now I +have forgotten to bring the potatoes." So he started off, and met +Florian at the door coming in with them. Mr. Jones carved the mutton, +and Captain Clayton was helped first. In a boycotted house you will +always find that the gentlemen are helped before the ladies. It is a +part of the principle of boycotting that women shall subject +themselves.</p> + +<p>Captain Clayton, after his first little stir about the potatoes, ate +his dinner in perfect silence. That which had taken place upset him +more completely than the rifles of two or three Landleaguers. Mr. +Jones was also silent. He was a man at the present moment nearly +overwhelmed by his cares. And Ada, too, was silent. As Edith looked +at her furtively she began to fear that her pet suspected something. +There was a look of suffering in her face which Edith could read, +though it was not plain enough written there to be legible to others. +Her father and Florian had no key by which to read it, and Captain +Clayton never allowed his eyes to turn towards Ada's face. But it was +imperative on both that they should not all fall into some feeling of +special sorrow through their silence. "It is just one week more," she +said, "before you men must be at Galway."</p> + +<p>"Only one week," said Florian.</p> + +<p>"It will be much better to have it over," said the father. "I do not +think you need come back at all, but start at once from Galway. Your +sisters can bring what things you want, and say good-bye at Athenry."</p> + +<p>"My poor Florian," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"I shan't mind it so much when I get to England," said the boy. "I +suppose I shall come home for the Christmas holidays."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," said the father. "It will depend upon the +state of the country."</p> + +<p>"You will come and meet him, Ada?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," said Ada. And her sister knew from the tone of her +voice that some evil was already suspected.</p> + +<p>There was nothing more said that night till Edith and Ada were +together. Mr. Jones lingered with his daughters, and the Captain took +Florian out about the orchard, thinking it well to make him used to +whatever danger might come to him from being out of the house. "They +will never come where they will be sure to be known," said the +Captain; "and known by various witnesses. And they won't come for the +chance of a pop shot. I am getting to know their ways as well as +though I had lived there all my life. They count on the acquittal of +Pat Carroll as a certainty. Whatever I may be, you are tolerably safe +as long as that is the case."</p> + +<p>"They may shoot me in mistake for you," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; that is so. Let us go back to the house. But I don't +think there would be any danger to-night anyway." Then they returned, +and found Mr. Jones alone in the dining-room. He was very melancholy +in these days, as a man must be whom ruin stares in the face.</p> + +<p>Edith had followed Ada upstairs to the bedrooms, and had crept after +her into that which had been prepared for Captain Clayton. She could +see now by the lingering light of an August evening that a tear had +fallen from each eye, and had slowly run down her sister's cheeks. +"Oh, Ada, dear Ada, what is troubling you?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing,—much."</p> + +<p>"My girl, my beauty, my darling! Much or little, what is it? Cannot +you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"He cares nothing for me," said Ada, laying her hand upon the pillow, +thus indicating the "he" whom she intended. Edith answered not a +word, but pressed her arm tight round her sister's waist. "It is so," +said Ada, turning round upon her sister as though to rebuke her. "You +know that it is so."</p> + +<p>"My beauty, my own one," said Edith, kissing her.</p> + +<p>"You know it is so. He has told you. It is not me that he loves; it +is you. You are his chosen one. I am nothing to him,—nothing, +nothing." Then she flung herself down upon the bed which her own +hands had prepared for him.</p> + +<p>It was all true. As the assertions had come from her one by one, +Edith had found herself unable to deny a tittle of what was said. +"Ada, if you knew my heart to you."</p> + +<p>"What good is it? Why did you teach me to believe a falsehood?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you will kill me if you accuse me. I have been so true to you." +Then Ada turned round upon the bed, and hid her face for a few +minutes upon the pillow. "Ada, have I not been true to you?"</p> + +<p>"But that you should have been so much mistaken;—you, who know +everything."</p> + +<p>"I have not known him," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"But you will," said Ada. "You will be his wife."</p> + +<p>"Never!" ejaculated the other.</p> + +<p>Then slowly, Ada got up from the bed and shook her hair from off her +face and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. "It must be so," she +said. "Of course it must, as he wishes it. He must have all that he +desires."</p> + +<p>"No, not so. He shall never have this."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Edith, he must and he shall. Do you not know that you loved him +before you ever bade me to do so? But why, oh why did you ever make +that great mistake? And why was I so foolish as to have believed you? +Come," she said, "I must make his bed for him once again. He will be +here soon now and we must be away." Then she did obliterate the +traces of her form which her figure had made upon the bed, and +smoothed the pillow, and wiped away the mark of her tear which had +fallen on it. "Come, Edith, come," said she, "let us go and +understand each other. He knows, for you have told him, but no one +else need know. He shall be your husband, and I will be his sister, +and all shall be bright between you."</p> + +<p>"Never," said Edith. "Never! He will never be married if he waits for +me."</p> + +<p>"My dear one, you shall be his wife," said Ada. Such were the last +words which passed between them on that night.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-30" id="c2-30"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXX.</h3> +<h4>THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The days ran on for the trial of Pat Carroll, but Edith did not again +see Captain Clayton. There came tidings to Morony Castle of the new +honours which Mr. O'Mahony had achieved.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that the country will be much the wiser for his +services," said Captain Clayton. "He will go altogether with those +wretched Landleaguers."</p> + +<p>"He will be the best of the lot," said Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"It is saying very little for him," said Captain Clayton.</p> + +<p>"He is an honest man, and I take him to be the only honest man among +them."</p> + +<p>"He won't remain a Landleaguer long if he is honest. But what about +his daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Frank has seen her down in Cavan, and declares that she is about to +make any amount of money at the London theatres."</p> + +<p>"I take it they will find it quite a new thing to have a Member of +Parliament among their number with an income," said Clayton. "But +I'll bet any man a new hat that there is a split between him and them +before the next Parliament is half over."</p> + +<p>This took place during one of the visits which Captain Clayton had +made to Morony Castle in reference to the coming trial. Florian had +been already sent on to Mr. Blake's of Carnlough, and was to be +picked up there on that very afternoon by Mr. Jones, and driven to +Ballyglunin, so as to be taken from thence to the assize town by +train. This was thought to be most expedient, as the boy would not be +on the road for above half an hour.</p> + +<p>After Captain Clayton had gone, Mr. Jones asked after Edith, and was +told that she was away in Headford. She had walked into town to call +on Mrs. Armstrong, with a view of getting a few articles which Mrs. +Armstrong had promised to buy for her. Such was the story as given to +Mr. Jones, and fully believed by him; but the reader may be permitted +to think that the young lady was not anxious to meet the young +gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Ada," said Mr. Jones suddenly, "is there anything between Edith and +Captain Clayton?"</p> + +<p>"What makes you ask, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Because Peter has hinted it. I do not care to have such things told +me of my own family by the servant."</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is, papa," said Ada boldly. "Captain Clayton is in love +with Edith."</p> + +<p>"This is no time for marrying or giving in marriage."</p> + +<p>Ada made no reply, but thought that it must at the same time be a +very good time for becoming engaged. It would have been so for her +had such been her luck. But of herself she said nothing. She had made +her statement openly and bravely to her sister, so that there should +be no departing from it. Mr. Jones said nothing further at the +moment, but before the girls had separated for the night Ada had told +Edith what had occurred.</p> + +<p>At that time they were in the house alone together,—alone as +regarded the family, though they still had the protection of Peter. +Mr. Jones had started on his journey to Galway.</p> + +<p>"Papa," said Ada, "knows all about Yorke."</p> + +<p>"Knows what?" demanded Edith.</p> + +<p>"That you and he are engaged together."</p> + +<p>"He knows more than I do, then. He knows more than I ever shall know. +Ada, you should not have said so. It will have to be all unsaid."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, dear."</p> + +<p>"It will all have to be unsaid. Have you been speaking to Captain +Clayton on the subject?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word. Indeed it was not I who told papa. It was Peter. Peter +said that there was something between you and him, and papa asked me. +I told papa that he was in love with you. That was true at any rate. +You won't deny that?"</p> + +<p>"I will deny anything that connects my name with that of Captain +Yorke Clayton."</p> + +<p>But Ada had determined how that matter should arrange itself. Since +the blow had first fallen on her, she had had time to think of +it,—and she had thought of it. Edith had done her best for her +(presuming that this brave Captain was the best) and she in return +would do her best for Edith. No one knew the whole story but they +two. They were to be to her the dearest friends of her future life, +and she would not let the knowledge of such a story stand in her way +or theirs.</p> + +<p>The train was to start from the Ballyglunin station for Athenry at +4.20 p.m. It would then have left Tuam for Athenry, where it would +fall into the day mail-train from Dublin to Galway. It was something +out of the way for Mr. Jones to call at Carnlough; but Carnlough was +not three miles from Ballyglunin, and Mr. Jones made his arrangements +accordingly. He called at Carnlough, and there took up the boy on his +outside car. Peter had come with him, so as to take back the car to +Morony Castle. But Peter had made himself of late somewhat +disagreeable, and Mr. Jones had in truth been sulky.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Peter," he had said, speaking from one side of the car to +the other, "if you are afraid to come to Ballyglunin with me and +Master Flory, say so, and get down."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afeared, Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"Then don't say so. I don't believe you are afeared as you call it."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you be talking at me like that, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think you are a coward, but you are anxious to make the most +of your services on my behalf. You are telling everyone that +something special is due to you for staying in a boycotted house. +It's a kind of service for which I am grateful, but I can't be +grateful and pay too."</p> + +<p>"Why do you talk to a poor boy in that way?"</p> + +<p>"So that the poor boy may understand me. You are willing, I believe, +to stick to your old master,—from sheer good heart. But you like to +talk about it. Now I don't like to hear about it." After that Peter +drove on in silence till they came to Carnlough.</p> + +<p>The car had been seen coming up the avenue, and Mr. Blake, with his +wife and Florian, were standing on the door-steps. "Now do take care +of the poor dear boy," said Mrs. Blake. "There are such dreadful +stories told of horrible men about the country."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention such nonsense, Winifred," said her husband, "trying to +frighten the boy. There isn't a human being between this and +Ballyglunin for whom I won't be responsible. Till you come to a mile +of the station it's all my own property."</p> + +<p>"But they can shoot—" Then Mrs. Blake left the rest of her sentence +unspoken, having been checked by her husband's eye. The boy, however, +had heard it and trembled.</p> + +<p>"Come along, Florian," said the father. "Get up along with Peter." +The attempt which he had made to live with his son on affectionate +paternal relations had hardly been successful. The boy had been told +so much of murderers that he had been made to fear. Peter,—and other +Peters about the country,—had filled his mind with sad foreboding. +And there had always been something timid, something almost unmanly +in his nature. He had seemed to prefer to shrink and cower and be +mysterious with the Carrolls to coming forward boldly with such a man +as Yorke Clayton. The girls had seen this, and had declared that he +was no more than a boy; but his father had seen it and had made no +such allowance. And now he saw that he trembled. But Florian got up +on the car, and Peter drove them off to Ballyglunin.</p> + +<p>Carnlough was not above three Irish miles from Ballyglunin; and Mr. +Jones started on the little journey without a misgiving. He sat alone +on the near side of the car, and Florian sat on the other, together +with Peter who was driving. The horse was a heavy, slow-going animal, +rough and hairy in its coat, but trustworthy and an old servant. +There had been a time when Mr. Jones kept a carriage, but that had +been before the bad times had begun. The carriage horses had been +sold after the flood,—as Ada had called the memorable incident; and +now there were but three cart horses at Morony Castle, of which this +one animal alone was habitually driven in the car. The floods, +indeed, had now retreated from the lands of Ballintubber and the +flood gates were mended; but there would be no crop of hay on all +those eighty acres this year, and Mr. Jones was in no condition to +replace his private stud. As he went along on this present journey he +was thinking bitterly of the injury which had been done him. He had +lost over two hundred tons of hay, and each ton of hay would have +been worth three pounds ten shillings. He had been unable to get a +sluice gate mended till men had been brought together from Monaghan +and parts of Cavan to mend them for him, and he had even to send +these men into Limerick to buy the material, as not a piece of timber +could be procured in Galway for the use of a household so well +boycotted as was Morony Castle. There had been also various calls on +Mr. Jones from those relatives whose money had been left as mortgages +on his property. And no rent had as yet come in, although various +tenants had been necessarily evicted. Every man's hand was against +him; so that there was no money in his coffers. He who had chiefly +sinned against him,—who was the first to sin,—was the sinner whom +he was about to prosecute at Galway. It must be supposed, therefore, +that he was not in a good humour as he was driven along the road to +Ballyglunin.</p> + +<p>They had not yet passed the boundary fence between Carnlough and the +property of one of the numerous race of Bodkins, when Mr. Jones saw a +mask, which he supposed to be a mask worn by a man, through a hole in +the wall just in front of him, but high above his head. And at the +same moment he could see the muzzles of a double-barrelled rifle +presented through the hole in the wall. What he saw he saw but for a +few seconds; but he could see it plainly. He saw it so plainly as to +be able afterwards to swear to a black mask, and to a +double-barrelled gun. Then a trigger was pulled, and one bullet—the +second—went through the collar of his own coat, while the first had +had a more fatal and truer aim. The father jumped up and turning +round saw that his boy had fallen to the ground. "Oh, my God!" said +Peter, and he stopped the horse suddenly. The place was one where the +commencement had been made of a cutting in the road during the potato +failure of 1846; so that the wall and the rifle which had been passed +through it were about four or five feet above the car. Mr. Jones +rushed up the elevation, and clambered, he did not know how, into the +field. There he saw the back of a man speeding along from the wall, +and in the man's hand there was a gun. Mr. Jones looked around but +there was no one nigh him but Peter, the old servant, and his dying +boy. He could see, however, that the man who ran was short of +stature.</p> + +<p>But though his rage had sufficed to carry him up from the road into +the field, the idea that his son had been shot caused him to pause as +he ran, and to return to the road. When he got there he found two +girls about seventeen and eighteen years of age, one sitting on the +road with Florian's head on her lap, and the other kneeling and +holding the boy's hands. "Oh, yer honour! sorrow a taste in life do +we know about it," said the kneeling girl.</p> + +<p>"Not a sight did we see, or a sound did we hear," said the other, +"only the going off of the blunderbuss. Oh, wirra shure! oh, musha, +musha! and it's dead he is, the darling boy." Mr. Jones came round +and picked up poor Florian and laid him on the car. The bullet had +gone true to its mark and had buried itself in his brain. There was +the end of poor Florian Jones and all his troubles. The father did +not say a word, not even in reply to Peter's wailings or to the +girls' easy sorrow; but, taking the rein in his own hands, drove the +car with the body on it back to Carnlough.</p> + +<p>We can hardly analyse the father's mind as he went. Not a tear came +to his relief. Nor during this half hour can he hardly have been said +to sorrow. An intensity of wrath filled his breast. He had spent his +time for many a long year in doing all in his power for those around +him, and now they had brought him to this. They had robbed him of his +boy's heart. They had taught his boy to be one of them, and to be +untrue to his own people. And now, because he had yielded to better +teachings, they had murdered him. They had taught his boy to be a +coward; for even in his bereavement he remembered poor Florian's +failing. The accursed Papist people were all cowards down to their +backbones. So he said of them in his rage. There was not one of them +who could look any peril in the face as did Yorke Clayton or his son +Frank. But they were terribly powerful in their wretched want of +manliness. They could murder, and were protected in their +bloodthirstiness one by another. He did not doubt but that those two +girls who were wailing on the road knew well enough who was the +murderer, but no one would tell in this accursed, unhallowed, godless +country. The honour and honesty of one man did not, in these days, +prompt another to abstain from vice. The only heroism left in the +country was the heroism of mystery, of secret bloodshed and of hidden +attacks.</p> + +<p>He had driven back methodically to Carnlough gates, but he hesitated +to carry his burden up to the hall-door. Would it not be better for +him at once to go home, and there to endure the suffering that was in +store for him? But he remembered that it would behove him to take +what steps might be possible for tracing the murderer. That by no +steps could anything be done, he was sure; but still the attempt was +necessary. He had, however, paused a minute or two at the open gate +when he was rebuked by Peter. "Shure yer honour is going up to the +house to get the constables to scour the counthry."</p> + +<p>"Scour the country!" said the father. "All the country will turn out +to defend the murderer of my boy." But he drove up to the front, and +Peter knocked at the door.</p> + +<p>"Good heaven, Jones!" said Mr. Blake, as he looked at the car and its +occupant. The poor boy's head was supported on the pillow behind the +driver's seat, on which no one sat. Peter held him by both his feet, +and Mr. Jones had his hand within his grasp.</p> + +<p>"So it is," said the father. "You know where they have cut the road +just where your property meres with Bodkin's. There was a man above +there who had loop-holed the wall. I saw his face wearing a mask as +plain as I can see yours. And he had a double-barrelled gun. He fired +the two shots, and my boy was killed by the first."</p> + +<p>"They have struck you too on the collar of your coat."</p> + +<p>"I got into the field with the murderer, and I could have caught the +man had I been younger. But what would have been the use? No jury +would have found him guilty. What am I to do? Oh, God! what am I to +do?" Mrs. Blake and her daughter were now out upon the steps, and +were filling the hall with their wailings. "Tell me, Blake, what had +I better do?" Then Mr. Blake decided that the body should remain +there that night, and Mr. Jones also, and that the police should be +sent for to do whatever might seem fitting to the policemen's mind. +Peter was sent off to Morony Castle with such a letter as Miss Blake +was able to write to the two Jones girls. The police came from Tuam, +but the result of their enquiries on that night need not be told +here.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-31" id="c2-31"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3> +<h4>THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>There was a feeling very general in the county that the murder had +been committed by the man named Lax, who was known to have been in +the neighbourhood lately, and was declared by his friends at Headford +to be now in Galway, waiting for the trial of Pat Carroll. But there +seemed to be a feeling about the country that Florian Jones had +deserved his fate. He had, it was said, been untrue to his religion. +He had given a solemn promise to Father Brosnan,—of what nature was +not generally known,—and had broken it. "The bittherness of the +Orange feud was in his blood," said Father Brosnan. But neither did +he explain the meaning of what he said, as none of the Jones family +had ever been Orangemen. But the idea was common about Tuam and +Headford that Pat Carroll was a martyr, and that Florian had been +persuaded to turn Protestant in order that he might give false +evidence against him. The reader, however, must understand that +Florian still professed the Catholic religion at the moment of his +death, and that all Headford was aware that Pat Carroll had broken +the sluice gate at Ballintubber.</p> + +<p>After an interval of two days the trial was about to go on at Galway +in spite of the murder. It was quite true that by nothing could the +breath of life be restored to Florian Jones. His evidence, such as it +was, could now be taken only from his deposition. And such evidence +was regarded as being very unfair both on one side and on the other. +As given against Pat Carroll it was regarded as unfair, as being +incapable of subjection to cross-examination. The boy's evidence had +been extracted from him by his parents and by Captain Yorke Clayton, +in opposition to the statements which had been made scores of times +by himself on the other side, and which, if true, would all tend to +exonerate the prisoner. It had been the intention of Mr. O'Donnell, +the senior counsel employed to defend Carroll, to insist, with the +greatest severity, on the lies told by the poor boy. It was this +treatment which Florian had especially feared. There could be no such +treatment now; but Mr. O'Donnell would know well how to insist on the +injustice of the deposition, in which no allusion would be made to +the falsehood previously told. But on the other side it was said that +the witness had been removed so that his evidence should not be +given. They must now depend solely on the statement of Terry Carroll, +Pat's brother, and who also had lied terribly before he told the +truth. And he, too, was condemned more bitterly, even by Mr. Jones +and his friends, in that he was giving evidence against his brother, +than had he continued to lie on his behalf. The circumstances being +such as they were, it was felt to be almost impossible to secure the +conviction of Pat Carroll for the offence he had committed. And yet +there were certainly a dozen persons who had seen that offence +committed in the light of day, and many other dozens who knew by whom +the offence had been committed.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, the feeling had become common through the country that +all the lawyers and judges in Ireland,—the lawyers and judges that +is who were opposed to the Landleague,—could not secure a conviction +of any kind against prisoners whom the Landleague was bound to +support. It had come to be whispered about, that there were men in +the County of Galway,—and men also in other counties,—too strong +for the Government, men who could beat the Government on any point, +men whom no jury could be brought to convict by any evidence; men who +boasted of the possession of certain secret powers,—which generally +meant murder. It came to be believed that these men were possessed of +certain mysterious capabilities which the police could not handle, +nor the magistrates touch. And the danger to be feared from these men +arose chiefly from the belief in them which had become common. It was +not that they could do anything special if left to their own devices, +but that the crowds by whom they were surrounded trembled at their +existence. The man living next to you, ignorant, and a Roman +Catholic, inspired with some mysterious awe, would wish in his heart +that the country was rid of such fire-brands. He knew well that the +country, and he as part of the country, had more to get from law and +order than from murder and misrule. But murder and misrule had so +raised their heads for the present as to make themselves appear to +him more powerful than law and order. Mr. Lax, and others like him, +were keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining this belief in +their mysterious power.</p> + +<p>The trial came on, having been delayed two days by the murder of poor +Florian Jones. His body had, in the meantime, been taken home, and +the only visitor received at Morony Castle had been Yorke Clayton. On +his coming he had been at first closeted with Mr. Jones, and had then +gone out and seen the two girls together. He had taken Ada's hand +first and then Edith's, but he had held Edith's the longer. The girls +had known that it was so, but neither of them had said a word to +rebuke him. "Who was it?" asked Ada.</p> + +<p>Clayton shook his head and ground his teeth. "Do you know, or have +you an idea? You know so much about the country," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"To you two, but to you only, I do know. He and I cannot exist +together. The man's name is Lax."</p> + +<p>It may be imagined that the trial was not commenced at Galway without +the expression of much sympathy for Mr. Jones and the family at +Morony Castle. It is hard to explain the different feelings which +existed, feelings exactly opposed to each other, but which still were +both in their way general and true. He was "poor Mr. Jones," who had +lost his son, and, worse still, his eighty acres of grass, and he was +also "that fellow Jones," that enemy to the Landleague, whom it +behoved all patriotic Irishmen to get the better of and to conquer. +Florian had been murdered on the 30th of August, which was a Tuesday, +and the trial had been postponed until Friday, the 2nd of September. +It was understood that the boy was to be buried at Headford, on +Saturday, the 3rd; but, nevertheless, the father was in the assize +town on the Friday. He was in the town, and at eleven o'clock he took +his place in the Crown Court. He was a man who was still continually +summoned as a grand juror, and as such had no difficulty in securing +for himself a place. To the right of the judge sat the twelve jurors +who had been summoned to try the case, and to the left was the grand +jurors' box, in which Mr. Jones took his seat early in the day. And +Frank was also in the court, and had been stopped by no one when he +accompanied his father into the grand jurors' box.</p> + +<p>But the court was crowded in a wonderful manner, so that they who +understood the ways of criminal courts in Ireland knew that something +special was boded. As soon as Mr. Justice Parry took his seat, it was +seen that the court was much more than ordinarily filled, and was +filled by men who did not make themselves amenable to the police. +Many were the instructions given by the judge who had been selected +with a special view to this trial. Judge Parry was a Roman Catholic, +who had sat in the House of Commons as a strong Liberal, had been +Attorney-General to a Liberal Government, and had been suspected of +holding Home-Rule sentiments. But men, when they become judges, are +apt to change their ideas. And Judge Parry was now known to be a firm +man, whom nothing would turn from the execution of his duty. There +had been many Judge Parrys in Ireland, who have all gone the same +gait, and have followed the same course when they have accepted the +ermine. A man is at liberty to indulge what vagaries he pleases, as +long as he is simply a Member of Parliament. But a judge is not at +liberty. He now gave special instructions to the officers of the +court to keep quiet and to preserve order. But the court was full, +densely crowded; and the noise which arose from the crowd was only +the noise as of people whispering loudly among themselves.</p> + +<p>The jury was quickly sworn and the trial was set on foot. Pat Carroll +was made to stand up in the dock, and Mr. Jones looked at the face of +the man who had been the first on his property to show his hostility +to the idea of paying rent. He and Lax had been great friends, and it +was known that Lax had sworn that in a short time not a shilling of +rent should be paid in the County Mayo. From that assurance all these +troubles had come.</p> + +<p>Then the Attorney-General opened the case, and to tell the truth, he +made a speech which though very eloquent, was longer than necessary. +He spoke of the dreadful state of the country, a matter which he +might have left to the judge, and almost burst into tears when he +alluded to the condition of Mr. Jones, the gentleman who sat opposite +to him. And he spoke at full length of the evidence of the poor boy +whose deposition he held in his hand, which he told the jury he would +read to them later on in the day. No doubt the lad had deceived his +father since the offence had been committed. He had long declared +that he knew nothing of the perpetrators. The boy had seemed to +entertain in his mind certain ideas friendly to the Landleague, and +had made promises on behalf of Landleaguers to which he had long +adhered. But his father had at last succeeded, and the truth had been +forthcoming. His lordship would instruct them how far the boy's +deposition could be accepted as evidence, and how far it must fail. +And so at last the Attorney-General brought his eloquent speech to an +end.</p> + +<p>And now there arose a murmuring sound in the court, and a stirring of +feet and a moving of shoulders, louder than that which had been heard +before. The judge, there on his bench, looking out from under his +bushy eyebrows, could see that the people before him were all of one +class. And he could see also that the half-dozen policemen who were +kept close among the crowd, were so pressed as to be hardly masters +of their own actions. He called out a word even from the bench in +which there was something as to clearing the court; but no attempt to +clear the court was made or was apparently possible. The first +witness was summoned, and an attempt was made to bring him up through +the dock into the witness-box. This witness was Terry Carroll, the +brother of Pat, and was known to be there that he might swear away +his brother's liberty. His head no sooner appeared, as about to leave +the dock, than the whole court was filled with a yell of hatred. +There were two policemen standing between the two brothers, but Pat +only turned round and looked at the traitor with scorn. But the +voices through the court sounded louder and more venomous as Terry +Carroll stepped out of the dock among the policemen who were to make +an avenue for him up to the witness-box.</p> + +<p>It was the last step he ever made. At that moment the flash of a +pistol was seen in the court; of a pistol close at the man's ear, and +Terry Carroll was a dead man. The pistol had touched his head as it +had been fired, so that there had been no chance of escape. In this +way was the other witness removed, who had been brought thither by +the Crown to give evidence as to the demolition of Mr. Jones's flood +gates. And it was said afterwards,—for weeks afterwards,—that such +should be the fate of all witnesses who appeared in the west of +Ireland to obey the behests of the Crown.</p> + +<p>Then was seen the reason why the special crowd had been gathered +there, and of what nature were the men who had swarmed into court. +Clayton, who had been sitting at the end of the row of barristers, +jumped up over the back of the bench and rushed in among the people, +who now tried simply to hold their own places, and appeared neither +to be anxious to go in or out. "Tear an' ages, Musther Clayton, what +are you after jumping on to a fellow that way." This was said by a +brawny Miletian, on to whose shoulders our friend had leaped, meaning +to get down among the crowd. But the Miletian had struck him hard, +and would have knocked him down had there been room enough for him on +which to fall. But Clayton had minded the blow not at all, and had +minded the judge as little, making his way in through the crowd over +the dead body of Terry Carroll. He had been aware that Lax was in the +court, and had seated himself opposite to the place where the man had +stood. But Lax had moved himself during the Attorney-General's +speech, either with the view of avoiding the Captain's eyes,—or, if +he were to be the murderer, of finding the best place from which the +deed could be done. If this had been his object, certainly the place +had been well selected. It was afterwards stated, that though fifty +people at the judge's end of the court had seen the pistol, no eyes +had seen the face of him who held it. Many faces had been seen, but +nobody could connect a single face with the pistol. And it was proved +also that the ball had entered the head just under the ear, with a +slant upwards towards the brain, as though the weapon had been used +by someone crouching towards the ground.</p> + +<p>Clayton made his way out of court, followed by the faithful Hunter, +and was soon surrounded by half a score of policemen. Hunter was left +to watch the door of the court, because he was well acquainted with +Lax, and because should Lax come across Hunter, "God help Mr. Lax!" +as Clayton expressed himself. And others were sent by twos and threes +through the city to catch this man if it were possible, or to obtain +tidings respecting him. "A man cannot bury himself under the ground," +said Clayton; "we have always this pull upon them, that they cannot +make themselves invisible." But in this case it almost did appear +that Mr. Lax had the power.</p> + +<p>Though Pat Carroll was not at once set at liberty, his trial was +brought to an end. It was felt to be impossible to send the case to +the jury when the only two witnesses belonging to the Crown had been +murdered. The prisoner was remanded, or sent back to gaol, so that +the Crown might look for more evidence if more might chance to be +found, and everybody else connected in the matter was sent home. A +dark gloom settled itself on Galway, and men were heard to whisper +among themselves that the Queen's laws were no longer in force. And +there was a rowdy readiness to oppose all force, the force of the +police for instance, and the force of the military. There were men +there who seemed to think that now had come the good time when they +might knock anyone on the head at their leisure. It did not come +quite to this, as the police were still combined, and their enemies +were not so. But such men as Captain Clayton began to look as though +they doubted what would become of it. "If he thinks he is big enough +to catch a hold of Terry Lax and keep him, he'll precious soon find +his mistake." This was said by Con Heffernan of Captain Clayton.</p> + + +<p><a name="c2-32" id="c2-32"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXII.</h3> +<h4>MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Frank Jones had travelled backwards and forwards between Morony +Castle and the North more than once since these things were doing, +and had met the new member for Cavan together with Rachel on the very +evening on which poor Florian had been murdered. It was not till the +next morning that the news had become generally known. "I am sorry to +hear, Frank," said Rachel, "that you are all doing so badly at Morony +Castle."</p> + +<p>"Badly enough."</p> + +<p>"Are you fetching all these people down from here to do the work the +men there ought to do? How are the men there to get their wages?"</p> + +<p>"That is the essence of boycotting," said Frank. "The men there won't +get their wages, and can only live by robbing the governor and men +like him of their rents. And in that way they can't live long. +Everything will be disturbed and ruined."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said Rachel, "that the whole country is coming to +an end."</p> + +<p>"Your father is Member of Parliament now, and of course he will set +it all to rights."</p> + +<p>"He will at any rate do his best to do so," said Rachel, "and will +rob no man in the doing it. What do you mean to do with yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Stick to the ship till it sinks, and then go down with it."</p> + +<p>"And your sisters?"</p> + +<p>"They are of the same way of thinking, I take it. They are not good +at inventing any way of getting out of their troubles; but they know +how to endure."</p> + +<p>"Now, Frank," said she, "shall I give you a bit of advice?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! I like advice."</p> + +<p>"You wanted to kiss me just now."</p> + +<p>"That was natural at any rate."</p> + +<p>"No, it wasn't;—because you and I are two. When a young man and a +young woman are two they shouldn't kiss any more. That is logic."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about logic."</p> + +<p>"At any rate it is something of the same sort. It is the kind of +thing everybody believes in if they want to go right. You and I want +to go right, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"I believe so."</p> + +<p>"Of course we do," and she took hold of his arm and shook him. "It +would break your heart if you didn't think I was going right, and why +shouldn't I be as anxious about you? Now for my piece of advice. I am +going to make a lot of money."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear it."</p> + +<p>"Come and share it with me. I would have shared yours if you had made +a lot. You must call me Madame de Iona, or some such name as that. +The name does not matter, but the money will be all there. Won't it +be grand to be able to help your father and your sisters! Only you +men are so beastly proud. Isn't it honest money,—money that has come +by singing?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly it is."</p> + +<p>"And if the wife earns it instead of the husband;—isn't that honest? +And then you know," she said, looking up into his face, "you can kiss +me right away. Isn't that an inducement?"</p> + +<p>The offer was an inducement, but the conversation only ended in a +squabble. She rebuked him for his dishonesty, in taking the kiss +without acceding to the penalty, and he declared that according to +his view of the case, he could not become the fainéant husband of a +rich opera singer. "And yet you would ask me to become the fainéante +wife of a wealthy landowner. And because, under the stress of the +times, you are not wealthy you choose to reject the girl altogether +who has given you her heart. Go away. You are no good. When a man +stands up on his hind legs and pretends to be proud he never is any +good."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. O'Mahony came in and had a political discussion with Frank +Jones. "Yes," said the Member of Parliament, "I mean to put my +shoulder to the wheel, and do the very best that can be done. I +cannot believe but what a man in earnest will find out the truth. +Politics are not such a hopeless muddle but what some gleam of light +may be made to shine through."</p> + +<p>"There are such things as leaders," said Frank.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. O'Mahony stood up and laid his hand upon his heart. "You +remember what Van Artevelde said—'They shall murder me ere make me +go the way that is not my way, for an inch.' I say the same."</p> + +<p>"What will Mr. Parnell do with such a follower?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Parnell is also an honest man," cried Mr. O'Mahony. "Two honest +men looking for light together will never fall out. I at any rate +have some little gift of utterance. Perhaps I can persuade a man, or +two men. At any rate I will try."</p> + +<p>"But how are we to get back to London, father?" said Rachel. "I don't +think it becomes an honest Member of Parliament to take money out of +a common fund. You will have to remain here in pawn till I go and +sing you out." But Rachel had enough left of Lord Castlewell's money +to carry them back to London, on condition that they did not stop on +the road, and to this condition she was forced to bring her father.</p> + +<p>Early on the following morning before they started the news reached +Cavan of poor Florian's death. "Oh God! My brother!" exclaimed Frank; +but it was all that he did say. He was a man who like his father had +become embittered by the circumstances of the times. Mr. Jones had +bought his property, now thirty years since, with what was then +called a parliamentary title. He had paid hard money for it, and had +induced his friends to lend their money to assist the purchase, for +which he was responsible. Much of the land he had been enabled to +keep in his own hands, but on none of the tenants' had he raised the +rent. Now there had come forth a law, not from the hand of the +Landleaguers, but from the Government, who, it was believed, would +protect those who did their duty by the country. Under this law +commissioners were to be appointed,—or sub-commissioners,—men +supposed to be not of great mark in the country, who were to reduce +the rent according to their ideas of justice. If a man paid ten +pounds,—or had engaged to pay ten,—let him take his pen and write +down seven or eight as the sub-commissioner should decide. As the +outside landlords, the friends of Mr. Jones, must have five pounds +out of the original ten, that which was coming to Mr. Jones himself +would be about halved. And the condition of Mr. Jones, under the +system of boycotting which he was undergoing, was hard to endure. Now +Frank was the eldest son, and the property of Castle Morony and +Ballintubber was entailed upon him. He was brought up in his early +youth to feel that he was to fill that situation, which, of all +others, is the most attractive. He was to have been the eldest son of +a man of unembarrassed property. Now he was offered to be taken to +London as the travelling husband—or upper servant, as it might +be—of an opera singer. Then, while he was in this condition, there +came to him the news that his brother had been murdered; and he must +go home to give what assistance was in his power to his poor, +ill-used sisters. It is not to be wondered at that he was embittered. +He had been spending some hours of the last day in reading the +clauses of the Bill under which the sub-commissioners were to show +him what mercy they might think right. As he left Cavan the following +morning, his curses were more deep against the Government than +against the Landleague.</p> + +<p>Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter got back to Cecil Street in September +in a very impecunious state. He soon began to understand that the +position of Member of Parliament was more difficult and dangerous +than that of a lecturer. The police had interfered with him; but the +police had in truth done him no harm, nor had they wanted anything +from him. But as Member of Parliament for Cavan the attacks made on +his purse were very numerous. And throughout September, when the +glory of Parliament was just newly settled upon his shoulders, sundry +calls were made upon him for obedience which were distasteful to him. +He was wanted over in Ireland. Mr. O'Mahony was an outspoken, frank +man, who did not at all like to be troubled with secrets. "I haven't +got any money to come over to Ireland just at present. They took what +I had away from me in County Cavan during the election. I don't +suppose I shall have any to speak of till after Christmas, and then +it won't be much. If you have anything for a man to do in London it +will be more within my reach." It was thus he wrote to some brother +Member of Parliament who had summoned him to a grand meeting at the +Rotunda. He was wanted to address the people on the honesty of the +principle of paying no rent. "For the matter of that," he wrote to +another brother member, "I don't see the honesty. Why are we to take +the property from Jack and give it to Bill? Bill would sell it and +spend the money, and no good would then have been done to the +country. I should have to argue the matter out with you or someone +else before I could speak about it at the Rotunda." Then, there arose +a doubt whether Mr. O'Mahony was the proper member for Cavan. He +settled himself down in Cecil Street and began to write a book about +rent. When he began his book he hated rent from his very soul. The +difficulty he saw was this: what should you do with the property when +you took it away from the landlords? He quite saw his way to taking +it away; if only a new order would come from heaven for the creation +of a special set of farmers who should be wedded to their land by +some celestial matrimony, and should clearly be in possession of it +without the perpetration of any injustice. He did not quite see his +way to this by his own lights, and therefore he went to the British +Museum. When a man wants to write a book full of unassailable facts, +he always goes to the British Museum. In this way Mr. O'Mahony +purposed to spend his autumn instead of speaking at the Rotunda, +because it suited him to live in London rather than in Dublin.</p> + +<p>Cecil Street in September is not the most cheerful place in the +world. While Rachel had been singing at "The Embankment," with the +occasional excitement of a quarrel with Mr. Moss, it had been all +very well; but now while her father was studying statistics at the +British Museum, she had nothing to do but to practise her singing. "I +mean to do something, you know, towards earning that £200 which you +have lent me." This she said to Lord Castlewell, who had come up to +London to have his teeth looked after. This was the excuse he gave +for being in London at this unfashionable season. "I have to sing +from breakfast to dinner without stopping one minute, so you may go +back to the dentist at once. I haven't time even to see what he has +done."</p> + +<p>"I have to propose that you and your father shall come and dine with +me down at Richmond to-day. There is old Mrs. Peacock, who used to +sing bouffe parts at the Queen's Theatre. She is a most respectable +old party, and she shall come if you will let her."</p> + +<p>"For papa to flirt with?" said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Not at all. With a party of four there is never any flirting. It is +all solid sense. I want to have some serious conversation about that +£200. Mrs. Peacock will be able to give me her opinion."</p> + +<p>"She won't be able to lend me the money?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid she isn't a good doctor for that disease. But you must +dine somewhere, and do say you will come."</p> + +<p>But Rachel was determined not to come,—at any rate not to say that +she would come without consulting her father. So she explained that +the Member of Parliament was hard at work at the British Museum, +writing a book against the payment of rents, and that she could not +go without consulting him. But Lord Castlewell made that very easy. +"I'll go and see," said he, "how a man looks when he is writing a +book on such a subject; and I'll be back and tell you all about it. +I'll drive you down in my phaeton,—of course if your father +consents. If he wants to bring his book with him, the groom shall +carry it in a box."</p> + +<p>"And what about Mrs. Peacock?"</p> + +<p>"There won't be any trouble about her, because she lives at Richmond. +You needn't be a bit afraid for your father's sake, because she is +over sixty." Then he started off, and came back in half an hour, +saying that Mr. O'Mahony had expressed himself quite satisfied to do +as he was told.</p> + +<p>"The deceit of the world, the flesh, and the devil, get the better of +one on every side," said Rachel, when she was left to herself. "Who +would have thought of the noble lord spinning off to the British +Museum on such an errand as that! But he will give papa a good +dinner, and I shan't be any the worse. A man must be very bad before +he can do a woman an injury if she is determined not to be injured."</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell drove the two down to Richmond, and very pleasant the +drive was. The conversation consisted of quizzing Mr. O'Mahony about +his book, as to which he was already beginning to be a little out of +heart. But he bore the quizzing well, and was thoroughly +good-humoured as he saw the lord and his daughter sitting on the +front seat before him. "I am a Landleaguing Home-Ruler, you know, my +lord, of the most advanced description. The Speaker has never turned +me out of the House of Commons, only because I have never sat there. +Your character will be lost for ever." Lord Castlewell declared that +his character would be made for ever, as he had the great prima donna +of the next season at his left hand.</p> + +<p>The dinner went off very pleasantly. Old Mrs. Peacock declared that +she had never known a prima donna before to be the daughter of a +Member of Parliament. She felt that great honour was done to the +profession.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Lord Castlewell, "he is writing a book to prove that +nobody should pay any rent!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mrs. Peacock, "that would be terrible. A landlord wouldn't +be a landlord if he didn't get any rent;—or hardly." Then Mr. +O'Mahony went to work to explain that a landlord was, of his very +name and nature, an abomination before the Lord.</p> + +<p>"And yet you want houses to live in," said Lord Castlewell.</p> + +<p>When they were in the middle of their dinners they were all surprised +by the approach of Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. He was dressed up to a degree +of beauty which Rachel thought that she had never seen equalled. His +shirt-front was full of little worked holes. His studs were gold and +turquoise, and those at his wrists were double studs, also gold and +turquoise. The tie of his cravat was a thing marvellous to behold. +His waistcoat was new for the occasion, and apparently all over +marvellously fine needlework. It might, all the same, have been done +by a sewing-machine. The breadth of the satin lappets of his +dress-coat were most expansive. And his hair must have taken two +artists the whole afternoon to accomplish. It was evident to see that +he felt himself to be quite the lord's equal by the strength of his +personal adornment. "Well, yes," he said, "I have brought Madame +Tacchi down here to show her what we can do in the way of a suburban +dinner. Madame Tacchi is about to take the place which Miss O'Mahony +has vacated at 'The Embankment.' Ah, my lord, you behaved very +shabbily to us there."</p> + +<p>"If Madame Tacchi," said the lord, "can sing at all like Miss +O'Mahony, we shall have her away very soon. Is Madame Tacchi in +sight, so that I can see her?"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Moss indicated the table at which the lady sat, and with the +lady was Madame Socani.</p> + +<p>"They are a bad lot," said Lord Castlewell, as soon as Moss had +withdrawn. "I know them, and they are a bad lot, particularly that +woman who is with them. It is a marvel to me how you got among them."</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell had now become very intimate with the O'Mahonys; and +by what he said showed also his intimacy with Mrs. Peacock.</p> + +<p>"They are Americans," said O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"And so are you," said the lord. "There can be good Americans and bad +Americans. You don't mean to say that you think worse of an American +than of an Englishman."</p> + +<p>"I think higher of an Englishman than of an American, and lower also. +If I meet an American where a gentleman ought to be, I entertain a +doubt; if I meet him where a labourer ought to be, I feel very +confident. I suppose that the manager of a theatre ought to be a +gentleman."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand it all," said Mrs. Peacock.</p> + +<p>"Nor anybody else," said Rachel. "Father does fly so very high in the +air when he talks about people."</p> + +<p>After that the lord drove Miss O'Mahony and her father back to Cecil +Street, and they all agreed that they had had a very pleasant +evening.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h4>END OF VOL. II.</h4> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h6>CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<hr /> + +<p><a name="v3" id="v3"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>THE</h3> +<h1 class="title">LANDLEAGUERS</h1> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h1>ANTHONY TROLLOPE</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="175" alt="publisher's logo" /> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<h4><i>IN THREE VOLUMES — VOL. III.</i></h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>London<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY</h3> + +<h4>1883</h4> + +<h5><i>[All rights reserved]</i></h5> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h6>CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,<br /> +CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>CONTENTS.<br /> </h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="sm" style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="3"> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">CHAPTER </td><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXIII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-33" >CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXIV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-34" >LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-35" >MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXVI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-36" >RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXVII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-37" >RACHEL IS ILL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXVIII. </td><td align="left"><a href="#c3-38" >LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XXXIX. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-39" >CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XL. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-40" >YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-41" >THE STATE OF IRELAND.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-42" >LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLIII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-43" >MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLIV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-44" >FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLV. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-45" >MR. ROBERT MORRIS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLVI. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-46" >CONG.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLVII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-47" >KERRYCULLION.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XLVIII. </td> <td align="left"><a href="#c3-48" >THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#c3-49" >XLIX.</a> </td> <td align="left"> </td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> + +<p><a name="c3-33" id="c3-33"></a> </p> +<h2>THE LANDLEAGUERS.</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h3> +<h4>CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The household at Castle Morony was very sad for some time after the +trial. They had hardly begun to feel the death of Florian while the +excitement existed as they felt it afterwards. Mr. Jones, his father, +seemed to regard the lost boy as though he had been his favourite +child. It was not many months since he had refused to allow him to +eat in his presence, and had been persuaded by such a stranger as was +Captain Clayton, to treat him with some show of affection. When he +had driven him into Ballyglunin, he had been stern and harsh to him +to the very last. And now he was obliterated with sorrow because he +had been robbed of his Florian. The two girls had sorrows of their +own; though neither of them would permit her sorrow to create any +quarrel between her and her sister. And Frank, who since his return +from the North had toiled like a labourer on the property—only doing +double a labourer's work—had sorrow, too, of his own. It was +understood that he had altogether separated himself from Rachel +O'Mahony. The cause of his separation was singular in its nature.</p> + +<p>It was now November, and Rachel had already achieved a singularly +rapid success at Covent Garden. She still lived in Cecil Street, but +there was no lack of money. Indeed, her name had risen into such +repute that some Irish people began to think that her father was the +proper man for Cavan, simply because she was a great singer. It +cannot be said, however, that this was the case among the men who +were regarded as the leaders of the party, as they still doubted +O'Mahony's obedience. But money at any rate poured into Rachel's lap, +and with the money that which was quite as objectionable to poor +Frank. He had begun by asserting that he did not wish to live idle on +the earnings of a singer; and, therefore, as the singer had said, "he +and she were obliged to be two." As she explained to her father, she +was badly treated. She was very anxious to be true to her lover; but +she did not like living without some lover to whom she might be true. +"You see, as I am placed I am exposed to the Mosses. I do want to +have a husband to protect me." Then a lover had come forward. Lord +Castlewell had absolutely professed to make her the future +Marchioness of Beaulieu. Of this there must be more hereafter; but +Frank heard of it, and tore his hair in despair.</p> + +<p>And there was another misery at Castle Morony. It reached Mr. Jones's +ears that Peter was anxious to give warning. It certainly was the +case that Peter was of great use to them, and that Mr. Jones had +rebuked him more than once as having made a great favour of his +services. The fact was that Peter, if discharged, would hardly know +where to look for another place where he could be equally at home and +equally comfortable. And he was treated by the family generally with +all that confidence which his faithfulness seemed to deserve. But he +was nervous and ill at ease under his master's rebukes; and at last +there came an event which seemed to harrow up his own soul, and +instigated him to run away from County Galway altogether.</p> + +<p>"Miss Edith, Miss Edith," he said, "come in here, thin, and see what +I have got to show you." Then, with an air of great mystery, he drew +his young mistress into the pantry. "Look at that now! Was ever the +like of that seen since the mortial world began?" Then he took out +from a dirty envelope a dirty sheet of paper, and exposed it to her +eyes. On the top of it was a rude coffin. "Don't it make yer hair +stand on end, and yer very flesh creep, Miss Edith, to look at the +likes o' that!" And below the coffin there was a ruder skull and two +cross-bones. "Them's intended for what I'm to be. I understand their +language well enough. Look here," and he turned the envelope round +and showed that it was addressed to Peter McGrew, butler, Morony +Castle. "They know me well enough all the country round." The letter +was as follows:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Mr. Peter McGrew</span>,</p> + +<p>If you're not out of that before the end of the month, but +stay there doing things for them infernal blackguards, +your goose is cooked. So now you know all about it.</p> + +<p class="ind15">From yours,</p> + +<p class="ind18"><span class="smallcaps">Moonlight</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Edith attempted to laugh at this letter, but Peter made her +understand that it was no laughing matter.</p> + +<p>"I've a married darter in Dublin who won't see her father shot down +that way if she knows it."</p> + +<p>"You had better take it to papa, then, and give him warning," said +Edith.</p> + +<p>But this Peter declined to do on the spur of the moment, seeming to +be equally afraid of his master and of Captain Moonlight.</p> + +<p>"If I'd the Captain here, he'd tell me what I ought to do." The +Captain was always Captain Clayton.</p> + +<p>"He is coming here to-morrow, and I will show him the letter," said +Edith. But she did not on that account scruple to tell her father at +once.</p> + +<p>"He can go if he likes it," said Mr. Jones, and that was all that Mr. +Jones said on the subject.</p> + +<p>This was the third visit that the Captain had paid to Morony Castle +since the terrible events of the late trial. And it must be +understood that he had not spoken a word to either of the two girls +since the moment in which he had ventured to squeeze Edith's hand +with a tighter grasp than he had given to her sister. They, between +them, had discussed him and his character often; but had come to no +understanding respecting him.</p> + +<p>Ada had declared that Edith should be his, and had in some degree +recovered from the paroxysm of sorrow which had first oppressed her. +But Edith had refused altogether to look at the matter in that light. +"It was quite out of the question," she said, "and so Captain Clayton +would feel it. If you don't hold your tongue, Ada," she said, "I +shall think you're a brute."</p> + +<p>But Ada had not held her tongue, and had declared that if no one else +were to know it—no one but Edith and the Captain himself—she would +not be made miserable by it.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she said. "I thought him the best and he is the best. I +thought that he thought that I was the best; and I wasn't. It shall +be as I say."</p> + +<p>After this manner were the discussions held between them; but of +these Captain Clayton heard never a word.</p> + +<p>When he came he would seem to be full of the flood gates, and of Lax +the murderer. He had two men with him now, Hunter and another. But no +further attempt was made to shoot him in the neighbourhood of +Headford. "Lax finds it too hot," he said, "since that day in the +court house, and has gone away for the present. I nearly know where +he is; but there is no good catching him till I get some sort of +evidence against him, and if I locked him up as a 'suspect,' he would +become a martyr and a hero in the eyes of the whole party. The worst +of it is that though twenty men swore that they had seen it, no +Galway jury would convict him." But nevertheless he was indefatigable +in following up the murderer of poor Florian. "As for the murder in +the court house," he said, "I do believe that though it was done in +the presence of an immense crowd no one actually saw it. I have the +pistol, but what is that? The pistol was dropped on the floor of the +court house."</p> + +<p>On this occasion Edith brought him poor Peter's letter. As it +happened they two were then alone together. But she had taught +herself not to expect any allusion to his love. "He is a stupid +fellow," said the Captain.</p> + +<p>"But he has been faithful. And you can't expect him to look at these +things as you do."</p> + +<p>"Of course he finds it to be a great compliment. To have a special +letter addressed to him by some special Captain Moonlight is to bring +him into the history of his country."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he will go."</p> + +<p>"Then let him go. I would not on any account ask him to stay. If he +comes to me I shall tell him simply that he is a fool. Pat Carroll's +people want to bother your father, and he would be bothered if he +were to lose his man-servant. There is no doubt of that. If Peter +desires to bother him let him go. Then he has another idea that he +wants to achieve a character for fidelity. He must choose between the +two. But I wouldn't on any account ask him for a favour."</p> + +<p>Then Edith having heard the Captain's advice was preparing to leave +the room when Captain Clayton stopped her. "Edith," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, Captain Clayton."</p> + +<p>"Some months ago,—before these sad things had occurred,—I told you +what I thought of you, and I asked you for a favour."</p> + +<p>"There was a mistake made between us all,—a mistake which does not +admit of being put to rights. It was unfortunate, but those +misfortunes will occur. There is no more to be said about it."</p> + +<p>"Is the happiness of two people to be thus sacrificed, when nothing +is done for the benefit of one?"</p> + +<p>"What two?" she asked brusquely.</p> + +<p>"You and I."</p> + +<p>"My happiness will not be sacrificed, Captain Clayton," she said. +What right had he to tell that her happiness was in question? The +woman spoke,—the essence of feminine self, putting itself forward to +defend feminine rights generally against male assumption. Could any +man be justified in asserting that a woman loved him till she had +told him so? It was evident no doubt,—so she told herself. It was +true at least. As the word goes she worshipped the very ground he +stood upon. He was her hero. She had been made to think and to feel +that he was so by this mistake which had occurred between the three. +She had known it before, but it was burned in upon her now. Yet he +should not be allowed to assume it. And the one thing necessary for +her peace of mind in life would be that she should do her duty by +Ada. She had been the fool. She had instigated Ada to believe this +thing in which there was no truth. The loss of all ecstasy of +happiness must be the penalty which she would pay. And yet she +thought of him. Must he pay a similar penalty for her blunder? Surely +this would be hard! Surely this would be cruel! But then she did not +believe that man ever paid such penalty as that of which she was +thinking. He would have the work of his life. It would be the work of +her life to remember what she might have been had she not been a +fool.</p> + +<p>"If so," he said after a pause, "then there is an end of it all," and +he looked at her as though he absolutely believed her words,—as +though he had not known that her assertion had been mere feminine +pretext! She could not endure that he at any rate should not know the +sacrifice which she would have to make. But he was very hard to her. +He would not even allow her the usual right of defending her sex by +falsehood. "If so there is an end of it all," he repeated, holding +out his hand as though to bid her farewell.</p> + +<p>She believed him, and gave him her hand. "Good-bye, Captain Clayton," +she said.</p> + +<p>"Never again," he said to her very gruffly, but still with such a +look across his eyes as irradiated his whole face. "This hand shall +never again be your own to do as you please with it."</p> + +<p>"Who says so?" and she struggled as though to pull her hand away, but +he held her as though in truth her hand had gone from her for ever.</p> + +<p>"I say so, who am its legitimate owner. Now I bid you tell me the +truth, or rather I defy you to go on with the lie. Do you not love +me?"</p> + +<p>"It is a question which I shall not answer."</p> + +<p>"Then," said he, "from a woman to a man it is answered. You cannot +make me over to another. I will not be transferred."</p> + +<p>"I can do nothing with you, Captain Clayton, nor can you with me. I +know you are very strong of course." Then he loosened her hand, and +as he did so Ada came into the room.</p> + +<p>"I have asked her to be my wife," said the Captain, putting his hand +upon Edith's arm.</p> + +<p>"Let it be so," said Ada. "I have nothing to say against it."</p> + +<p>"But I have," said Edith. "I have much to say against it. We can all +live without being married, I suppose. Captain Clayton has plenty to +do without the trouble of a wife. And so have you and I. Could we +leave our father? And have we forgotten so soon poor Florian? This is +no time for marriages. Only think, papa would not have the means to +get us decent clothes. As far as I am concerned, Captain Clayton, let +there be an end of all this." Then she stalked out of the room.</p> + +<p>"Ada, you are not angry with me," said Captain Clayton, coming up to +her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! How could I be angry?"</p> + +<p>"I have not time to do as other men do. I do not know that I ever +said a word to her; and yet, God knows, that I have loved her dearly +enough. She is hot tempered now, and there are feelings in her heart +which fight against me. You will say a word in my favour?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed I will."</p> + +<p>"There shall be nothing wrong between you and me. If she becomes my +wife, you shall be my dearest sister. And I think she will at last. I +know,—I do know that she loves me. Poor Florian is dead and gone. +All his short troubles are over. We have still got our lives to lead. +And why should we not lead them as may best suit us? She talks about +your father's present want of money. I would be proud to marry your +sister standing as she is now down in the kitchen. But if I did marry +her I should have ample means to keep her as would become your +father's daughter." Then he took his leave and went back to Galway.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-34" id="c3-34"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h3> +<h4>LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>It was explained in the last chapter that Frank Jones was not in a +happy condition because of the success of the lady whom he loved. +Rachel, as Christmas drew nigh, was more and more talked about in +London, and became more and more the darling of all musical people. +She had been twelve months now on the London boards, and had fully +justified the opinion expressed of her by Messrs. Moss and Le Gros. +There were those who declared that she sang as no woman of her age +had ever sung before. And there had got abroad about her certain +stories, which were true enough in the main, but which were all the +more curious because of their truth; and yet they were not true +altogether. It was known that she was a daughter of a Landleaguing +Member of Parliament, and that she had been engaged to marry the son +of a boycotted landlord. Mr. Jones' sorrows, and the death of his +poor son, and the murder of the sinner who was to have been the +witness at the trial of his brother, were all known and commented on +in the London press; and so also was the peculiar vigour of Mr. +O'Mahony's politics. Nothing, it was said, could be severed more +entirely than were Mr. Jones and Mr. O'Mahony. The enmity was so deep +that all ideas of marriage were out of the question. It was, no +doubt, true that the gentleman was penniless and the lady rolling in +wealth; but this was a matter so grievous that so poor a thing as +money could not be allowed to prevail. And then Mr. Moss was talked +about as a dragon of iniquity,—which, indeed, was true enough,—and +was represented as having caused contracts to be executed which would +bind poor Rachel to himself, both as to voice and beauty. But Lord +Castlewell had seen her, and had heard her; and Mr. Moss, with all +his abominations, was sent down to the bottom of the nethermost pit. +The fortune of "The Embankment" was made by the number of visitors +who were sent there to see and to hear this wicked fiend; but it all +redounded to the honour and glory of Rachel.</p> + +<p>But Rachel was to be seen a <i>fêted</i> guest at all semi-musical houses. +Whispers about town were heard that that musical swell, Lord +Castlewell, had been caught at last. And in the midst of all this, +Mr. O'Mahony came in for his share of popularity. There was something +so peculiar in the connection which bound a violent Landleaguing +Member of Parliament with the prima donna of the day. They were +father and daughter, but they looked more like husband and wife, and +it always seemed that Rachel had her own way. Mr. O'Mahony had quite +achieved a character for himself before the time had come in which he +was enabled to open his mouth in the House of Commons. And some +people went so far as to declare that he was about to be the new +leader of the party.</p> + +<p>It certainly was true that about this time Lord Castlewell did make +an offer to Rachel O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"That I should have come to this!" she said to the lord when the lord +had expressed his wishes.</p> + +<p>"You deserve it all," said the gallant lord.</p> + +<p>"I think I do. But that you should have seen it,—that you should +have come to understand that if I would be your wife I would sing +every note out of my body,—to do you good if it were possible. How +have you been enlightened so far as to see that this is the way in +which you may best make yourself happy?"</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell did not quite like this; but he knew that his +wished-for bride was an unintelligible little person, to whom much +must be yielded as to her own way. He had not given way to this idea +before he had seen how well she had taken her place among the people +with whom he lived. He was forty years old, and it was time that he +should marry. His father was a very proud personage, to whom he never +spoke much. He, however, would be of opinion that any bride whom his +son might choose would be, by the very fact, raised to the top of the +peerage. His mother was a religious woman, to whom any matrimony for +her son would be an achievement. Now, of the proposed bride he had +learned all manner of good things. She had come out of Mr. Moss's +furnace absolutely unscorched; so much unscorched as to scorn the +idea of having been touched by the flames. She was thankful to Lord +Castlewell for what he had done, and expressed her thanks in a manner +that was not grateful to him. She was not in the least put about or +confused, or indeed surprised, because the heir of a marquis had made +an offer to her—a singing girl; but she let him understand that she +quite thought that she had done a good thing. "It would be so much +better for him than going on as he has gone," she said to her father. +And Lord Castlewell knew very well what were her sentiments.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said that he repented of his offer. Indeed he pressed +her for an answer more than once or twice. But her conduct to him was +certainly very aggravating. This matter of her marriage with an earl +was an affair of great moment. Indeed all London was alive with the +subject. But she had not time to give him an answer because it was +necessary that she should study a part for the theatre. This was hard +upon an earl, and was made no better by the fact that the earl was +forty. "No, my lord earl," she said laughing, "the time for that has +not come yet. You must give me a few days to think of it." This she +said when he expressed a not unnatural desire to give her a kiss.</p> + +<p>But though she apparently made light of the matter to him, and +astonished even her father by her treatment of him, yet she thought +of it with a very anxious mind. She was quite alive to the glories of +the position offered to her, and was not at all alive to its +inconveniences. People would assert that she had caught the lover who +had intended her for other purposes. "That was of course out of the +question," she said to herself. And she felt sure that she could make +as good a countess as the best of them. With her father a Member of +Parliament, and her husband an earl, she would have done very well +with herself. She would have escaped from that brute Moss, and would +have been subjected to less that was disagreeable in the encounter +than might have been expected. She must lose the public singing which +was attractive to her, and must become the wife of an old man. It was +thus in truth that she looked at the noble lord. "There would be an +end," she said, "and for ever, of 'Love's young dream.'" The dream +had been very pleasant to her. She had thoroughly liked her Frank. He +was handsome, fresh, full of passion, and a little violent when his +temper lay in that direction. But he had been generous, and she was +sure of him that he had loved her thoroughly. After all, was not +"Love's young dream" the best?</p> + +<p>An answer was at any rate due to Lord Castlewell. But she made up her +mind that before she could give the answer, she would write to Frank +himself. "My lord," she said very gravely to her suitor, "it has +become my lot in life to be engaged to marry the son of that Mr. +Jones of whom you have heard in the west of Ireland."</p> + +<p>"I am aware of it," said Lord Castlewell gravely.</p> + +<p>"It has been necessary that I should tell you myself. Now, I cannot +say whether, in all honour, that engagement has been dissolved."</p> + +<p>"I thought there was no doubt about it," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"It is as I tell you. I must write to Mr. Jones. Hearts cannot be +wrenched asunder without some effort in the wrenching. For the great +honour you have done me I am greatly thankful."</p> + +<p>"Let all that pass," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"Not so. It has to be spoken of. As I stand at present I have been +repudiated by Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to ask him to take you back again?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know how the letter will be worded, because it has not been +yet written. My object is to tell him of the honour which Lord +Castlewell proposes to me. And I have not thought it quite honest to +your lordship to do this without acquainting you."</p> + +<p>Then that interview was over, and Lord Castlewell went away no doubt +disgusted. He had not intended to be treated in this way by a singing +girl, when he proposed to make her his countess. But with the disgust +there was a strengthened feeling of admiration for her conduct. She +looked much more like the countess than the singing girl when she +spoke to him. And there certainly never came a time in which he could +tell her to go back and sing and marry Mr. Moss. Therefore the few +days necessary for an answer went by, and then she gave him her +reply. "My lord," she said, "if you wish it still, it shall be so."</p> + +<p>The time for "Love's young dream" had not gone by for Lord +Castlewell. "I do wish it still," he said in a tone of renewed joy.</p> + +<p>"Then you shall have all that you wish." Thereupon she put her little +hands on his arm, and leant her face against his breast. Then there +was a long embrace, but after the embrace she had a little speech to +make. "You ought to know, Lord Castlewell, how much I think of you +and your high position. A man, they say, trusts much of his honour +into the hands of his wife. Whatever you trust to me shall be guarded +as my very soul. You shall be to me the one man whom I am bound to +worship. I will worship you with all my heart, with all my body, with +all my soul, and with all my strength. Your wishes shall be my +wishes. I only hope that an odd stray wish of mine may occasionally +be yours." Then she smiled so sweetly that as she looked up into his +face he was more enamoured of her than ever.</p> + +<p>But now we must go back for a moment, and read the correspondence +which took place between Rachel O'Mahony and Frank Jones. Rachel's +letter ran as follows:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">My dear Frank</span>,</p> + +<p>I am afraid I must trouble you once again with my affairs; +though, indeed, after what last took place between us it +ought not to be necessary. Lord Castlewell has proposed to +make me his wife; and, to tell you the truth, looking +forward into the world, I do not wish to throw over all +its pleasures because your honour, whom I have loved, does +not wish to accept the wages of a singing girl. But the +place is open to you still,—the wages, and the singing +girl, and all. Write me a line, and say how it is to be.</p> + +<p class="ind8">Yours as you would have me to be,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Rachel +O'Mahony</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>This letter Frank Jones showed to no one. Had he allowed it to be +seen by his sister Edith, she would probably have told him that no +man ever received a sweeter love-letter from the girl whom he loved. +"The place is open to you still,—the wages, the singing girl, and +all." The girl had made nothing of this new and noble lover, except +to assure his rival that he, the rival, should be postponed to him, +the lover, if he, the lover, would write but one word to say that it +should be so. But Frank was bad at reading such words. He got it into +his head that the girl had merely written to ask the permission of +her former suitor to marry this new lordly lover, and, though he did +love the girl, with a passion which the girl could never feel for the +lord, he wrote back and refused the offer.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">My dear Rachel</span>,</p> + +<p>It is, I suppose, best as it is. We are sinking lower and +lower daily. My father is beginning to feel that we shall +never see another rent day at Castle Morony. It is not +fitting that I should think of joining my fallen fortunes +to yours, which are soaring so high. And poor Florian is +gone. We are at the present moment still struck to the +ground because of Florian. As for you, and the lord who +admires you, you have my permission to become his wife. I +have long heard that he is your declared admirer. You have +before you a glorious future, and I shall always hear with +satisfaction of your career.</p> + +<p class="ind6">Yours, with many memories of the past,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Francis +Jones</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>It was not a letter which would have put such a girl as Rachel +O'Mahony into good heart unless she had in truth wished to get his +agreement to her lordly marriage. "This twice I have thrown myself at +his head and he has rejected me." Then she abided Lord Castlewell's +coming, and the scene between them took place as above described. The +marriage was at once declared as a settled thing. "Now, my dear, you +must name the day," said Lord Castlewell, as full of joy as though he +were going to marry a duke's daughter.</p> + +<p>"I have got to finish my engagement," said Rachel; "I am bound down +to the end of May. When June comes you shan't find a girl who will be +in a greater hurry. Do you think that I do not wish to become a +countess?"</p> + +<p>He told her that he would contrive to get her engagement broken. +"Covent Garden is not going to quarrel with me about my wife, I'm +sure," he said.</p> + +<p>"Ah! but my own one," said Rachel, "we will do it all <i>selon les +règles</i>. I am in a hurry, but we won't let the world know it. I, the +future Countess of Castlewell; I, the future Marchioness of Beaulieu, +will keep my terms and my allotted times like any candle-snuffer. +What do you think Moss will say?"</p> + +<p>"What can it signify what Mr. Moss may say?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! but my own man, it does signify. Mr. Moss shall know that +through it all I have done my duty. Madame Socani will tell lies, but +she shall feel in her heart that she has once in her life come across +a woman who, when she has signed a bit of paper, intends to remain +true to the paper signed. And, my lord, there is still £100 due to +you from my father."</p> + +<p>"Gammon!" said the lord.</p> + +<p>"I could pay it by a cheque on the bank, to be sure, but let us go on +to the end of May. I want to see how all the young women will behave +when they hear of it." And so some early day in June was fixed for +the wedding.</p> + +<p>Among others who heard of it were, of course, Mr. Moss and Madame +Socani. They heard of it, but of course did not believe it. It was +too bright to be believed. When Madame Socani was assured that Rachel +had taken the money,—she and her father between them,—she declared, +with great apparent satisfaction, that Rachel must be given up as +lost. "As to that wicked old man, her +<span class="nowrap">father—"</span></p> + +<p>"He's not so very old," said Moss.</p> + +<p>"She's no chicken, and he's old enough to be her father. That is, if +he is her father. I have known that girl on the stage any day these +ten years."</p> + +<p>"No, you've not; not yet five. I don't quite know how it is." And Mr. +Moss endeavoured to think of it all in such a manner as to make it +yet possible that he might marry her. What might not they two do +together in the musical world?</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say you'd take her yet?" said Madame Socani, with +scorn.</p> + +<p>"When I take her you'll be glad enough to join us; that is, if we +will have you." Then Madame Socani ground her teeth together, and +turned up her nose with redoubled scorn.</p> + +<p>But it was soon borne in upon Mr. Moss that the marriage was to be a +marriage, and he was in truth very angry. He had been able to endure +M. Le Gros' success in carrying away Miss O'Mahony from "The +Embankment." Miss O'Mahony might come back again under that or any +other name. He—and she—had a musical future before them which might +still be made to run in accordance with his wishes. Then he had +learned with sincere sorrow that she was throwing herself into the +lord's hands, borrowing money of him. But there might be a way out of +this which would still allow him to carry out his project. But now he +heard that a real marriage was intended, and he was very angry. Not +even Madame Socani was more capable of spite than Mr. Moss, though he +was better able to hide his rage. Even now, when Christmas-time had +come, he would hardly believe the truth, and when the marriage was +not instantly carried out, new hopes came to him—that Lord +Castlewell would not at last make himself such a fool. He inquired +here and there in the musical world and the theatrical world, and +could not arrive at what he believed to be positive truth. Then +Christmas passed by, and Miss O'Mahony recommenced her singing at +Covent Garden. Three times a week the house was filled, and at last a +fourth night was added, for which the salary paid to Rachel was very +much increased.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that the salary matters very much," said Lord +Castlewell, when the matter was discussed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but, my lord, it does matter!" She always called him my lord +now, with a little emphasis laid on the "my." "They have made father +a Member of Parliament, but he does not earn anything. What I can +earn up to the last fatal day he shall have, if you will let me give +it to him."</p> + +<p>They were very bright days for Rachel, because she had all the +triumph of success,—success gained by her own efforts.</p> + +<p>"I can never do as much as this when I am your countess," she said to +her future lord. "I shall dwell in marble halls, as people say, but I +shall never cram a house so full as to be able to see, when I look up +from the stage, that there is not a place for another man's head; and +when my throat gave way the other day I could read all the +disappointment in the public papers. I shall become your wife, my +lord."</p> + +<p>"I hope so."</p> + +<p>"And if you will love me I shall be very happy for long, long years."</p> + +<p>"I will love you."</p> + +<p>"But there will be no passion of ecstasy such as this. Father says +that Home Rule won't be passed because the people will be thinking of +my singing. Of course it is all vanity, but there is an enjoyment in +it."</p> + +<p>But all this was wormwood to Mr. Moss. He had put out his hand so as +to clutch this girl now two years since, understanding all her +singing qualities, and then in truth loving her. She had taken a +positive hatred to him, and had rejected him at every turn of her +life. But he had not at all regarded that. He had managed to connect +her with his theatre, and had perceived that her voice had become +more and more sweet in its tones, and more and more rich in its +melody. He had still hoped that he would make her his wife. Madame +Socani's abominable proposal had come from an assurance on her part +that he could have all that he wished for without paying so dear for +it. There had doubtless been some whispering between them over the +matter, but the order for the proposal had not come from him. Madame +Socani had judged of Rachel as she might have judged of herself. But +all that had come to absolute failure. He felt now that he should be +paying by no means too dear by marrying the girl. It would be a great +triumph to marry her; but he was told that this absurd earl wished to +triumph in the same manner.</p> + +<p>He set afloat all manner of reports, which, in truth, wounded Lord +Castlewell sorely. Lord Castlewell had given her money, and had then +failed in his object. So said Mr. Moss. Lord Castlewell had promised +marriage, never intending it. Lord Castlewell had postponed the +marriage because as the moment drew nearer he would not sacrifice +himself. If the lady had a friend, it would be the friend's duty to +cudgel the lord, so villainous had been the noble lord's conduct. But +yet, in truth, who could have expected that the noble lord would have +married the singing girl? Was not his character known? Did anybody in +his senses expect that the noble lord would marry Miss Rachel +O'Mahony?</p> + +<p>"If I have a friend, is my friend to cudgel you, my lord?" she said, +clinging on to his arm in her usual manner. "My friend is papa, who +thinks that you are a very decent fellow, considering your misfortune +in being a lord at all. I know where all these words come from;—it +is Mahomet M. Moss. There is nothing for it but to live them down +with absolute silence."</p> + +<p>"Nothing," he replied. "They are a nuisance, but we can do nothing."</p> + +<p>But Lord Castlewell did in truth feel what was said about him. Was he +not going to pay too dearly for his whistle? No doubt Rachel was all +that she ought to be. She was honest, industrious, and high-spirited; +and, according to his thinking, she sang more divinely than any woman +of her time. And he so thought of her that he knew that she must be +his countess or be nothing at all to him. To think of her in any +other light would be an abomination to him. But yet, was it worth his +while to make her Marchioness of Beaulieu? He could only get rid of +his present engagement by some absolute change in his mode of life. +For instance, he must shut himself up in a castle and devote himself +entirely to a religious life. He must explain to her that +circumstances would not admit his marrying, and must offer to pay her +any sum of money that she or her father might think fit to name. If +he wished to escape, this must be his way; but as he looked at her +when she came off the stage, where he always attended her, he assured +himself that he did not wish to escape.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-35" id="c3-35"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXV.</h3> +<h4>MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Time went on and Parliament met. Mr. O'Mahony went before the +Speaker's table and was sworn in. He was introduced by two brother +Landleaguers, and really did take his place with some enthusiasm. He +wanted to speak on the first day, but was judiciously kept silent by +his colleagues. He expressed an idea that, until Ireland's wrongs had +been redressed, there ought not to be a moment devoted to any other +subject, and became very violent in his expressions of this opinion. +But he was not long kept dumb. Great things were expected from his +powers of speech, and, though he had to be brought to silence +ignominiously on three or four occasions, still, at last some power +of speech was permitted to him. There were those among his own +special brethren who greatly admired him and praised him; but with +others of the same class there was a shaking of the head and many +doubts. With the House generally, I fear, laughter prevailed rather +than true admiration. Mr. O'Mahony, no doubt, could speak well in a +debating society or a music hall. Words came from his tongue sweeter +than honey. But just at the beginning of the session, the Speaker was +bound to put a limit even to Irish eloquence, and in this case was +able to do so. As Mr. O'Mahony contrived to get upon his feet very +frequently, either in asking a question or in endeavouring to +animadvert on the answer given, there was something of a tussle +between him and the authority in the chair. It did not take much +above a week to make the Speaker thoroughly tired of this new member, +and threats were used towards him of a nature which his joint +Milesian and American nature could not stand. He was told of dreadful +things which could be done to him. Though as yet he could not be +turned out of the House, for the state of the young session had not +as yet admitted of that new mode of torture, still, he could be +named. "Let him name me. My name is Mr. O'Mahony." And Mr. O'Mahony +was not a man who could be happy when he was quarrelling with all +around him. He was soon worked into a violent passion, in which he +made himself ridiculous, but when he had subsided, and the storm was +past, he knew he had misbehaved, and was unhappy. And, as he was +thoroughly honest, he could not be got to obey his leaders in +everything. He wanted to abolish the Irish landlords, but he was +desirous of abolishing them after some special plan of his own, and +could hardly be got to work efficiently in harness together with +others.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think your father is making an ass of himself,—just a +little, you know?"</p> + +<p>This was said by Lord Castlewell to Rachel when the session was not +yet a fortnight old, and made Rachel very unhappy. She did think that +her father was making an ass of himself, but she did not like to be +told of it. And much as she liked music herself, dear as was her own +profession to her, still she felt that, to be a Member of Parliament, +and to have achieved the power of making speeches there, was better +than to run after opera singers. She loved the man who was going to +marry her very well,—or rather, she intended to do so.</p> + +<p>He was not to her "Love's young dream." But she intended that his +lordship should become love's old reality. She felt that this would +not become the case, if love's old reality were to tell her often +that her father was an ass. Lord Castlewell's father was, she +thought, making an ass of himself. She heard on different sides that +he was a foolish, pompous old peer, who could hardly say bo to a +goose; but it would not, she thought, become her to tell her future +husband her own opinion on that matter. She saw no reason why he +should be less reticent in his opinion as to her father. Of course he +was older, and perhaps she did not think of that as much as she ought +to have done. She ought also to have remembered that he was an earl, +and she but a singing girl, and that something was due to him for the +honour he was doing her. But of this she would take no account. She +was to be his wife, and a wife ought to be equal to the husband. Such +at least was her American view of the matter. In fact, her ideas on +the matter ran as follows: My future husband is not entitled to call +my father an ass because he is a lord, seeing that my father is a +Member of Parliament. Nor is he entitled to call him so because he is +an ass, because the same thing is true of his own father. And thus +there came to be discord in her mind.</p> + +<p>"I suppose all Parliament people make asses of themselves sometimes, +Lords as well as Commons. I don't see how a man is to go on talking +for ever about laws and landleagues, and those sort of things without +doing so. It is all bosh to me. And so I should think it must be to +you, as you don't do it. But I do not think that father is worse than +anybody else; and I think that his words are sometimes very +beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, there is not a man about London who is not laughing at +him."</p> + +<p>"I saw in <i>The Times</i> the other day that he is considered a very true +and a very honest man. Of course, they said that he talked nonsense +sometimes; but if you put the honesty against the nonsense, he will +be as good as anybody else."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you understand, my dear. Honesty is not what they +want."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"But what they don't want especially is nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Poor papa! But he doesn't mean to consult them as to what they want. +His idea is that if everybody can be got to be honest this question +may be settled among them. But it must be talked about, and he, at +any rate, is eloquent. I have heard it said that there was not a more +eloquent man in New York. I think he has got as many good gifts as +anyone else."</p> + +<p>In this way there rose some bad feeling. Lord Castlewell did think +that there was something wanting in the manner in which he was +treated by his bride. He was sure that he loved her, but he was sure +also that when a lord marries a singing girl he ought to expect some +special observance. And the fact that the singing girl's father was a +Member of Parliament was much less to him than to her. He, indeed, +would have been glad to have the father abolished altogether. But she +had become very proud of her father since he had become a Member of +Parliament. Her ideas of the British constitution were rather vague; +but she thought that a Member of Parliament was at least as good as a +lord who was not a peer. He had his wealth; but she was sure that he +was too proud to think of that.</p> + +<p>Just at this period, when the session was beginning, Rachel began to +doubt the wisdom of what she was doing. The lord was, in truth, good +enough for her. He was nearly double her age, but she had determined +to disregard that. He was plain, but that was of no moment. He had +run after twenty different women, but she could condone all that, +because he had come at last to run after her. For his wealth she +cared nothing,—or less than nothing, because by remaining single she +could command wealth of her own;—wealth which she could control +herself, and keep at her own banker's, which she suspected would not +be the case with Lord Castlewell's money. But she had found the +necessity of someone to lean upon when Frank Jones had told her that +he would not marry her, and she had feared Mr. Moss so much that she +had begun to think that he would, in truth, frighten her into doing +some horrible thing. As Frank had deserted her, it would be better +that she should marry somebody. Lord Castlewell had come, and she had +felt that the fates were very good to her. She learned from the words +of everybody around,—from her new friends at Covent Garden, and from +her old enemies at "The Embankment," and from her father himself, +that she was the luckiest singing girl at this moment known in +Europe. "By +<span class="nowrap">G——,</span> +she'll get him!" such had been the exclamation +made with horror by Mr. Moss, and the echo of it had found its way to +her ears. The more Mr. Moss was annoyed, the greater ought to have +been her delight. But,—but was she in truth delighted? As she came +to think of the reality she asked herself what were the pleasures +which were promised to her. Did she not feel that a week spent with +Frank Jones in some little cottage would be worth a twelvemonth of +golden splendour in the "Marble Halls" which Lord Castlewell was +supposed to own? And why had Frank deserted her? Simply because he +would not come with her and share her money. Frank, she told herself, +was, in truth, a gallant fellow. She did love Frank. She acknowledged +so much to herself again and again. And yet she was about to marry +Lord Castlewell, simply because her doing so would be the severest +possible blow to her old enemy, Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>Then she asked herself what would be best for her. She had made for +herself a great reputation, and she did not scruple to tell herself +that this had come from her singing. She thought very much of her +singing, but very little of her beauty. A sort of prettiness did +belong to her; a tiny prettiness which had sufficed to catch Frank +Jones. She had laughed about her prettiness and her littleness a +score of times with Ada and Edith, and also with Frank himself. There +had been the three girls who had called themselves "Beauty and the +Beast" and the "Small young woman." The reader will understand that +it had not been Ada who had chosen those names; but then Ada was not +given to be witty. Her prettiness, such as it was, had sufficed, and +Frank had loved her dearly. Then had come her great triumph, and she +knew not only that she could sing, but that the world had recognised +her singing. "I am a great woman, as women go," she had said to +herself. But her singing was to come to an end for ever and ever on +the 1st of May next. She would be the Countess of Castlewell, and in +process of time would be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. But she never +again would be a great woman. She was selling all that for the marble +halls.</p> + +<p>Was she wise in what she was doing? She had lain awake one long +morning striving to answer the question for herself. "If nobody else +should come, of course I should be an ugly old maid," she said to +herself; "but then Frank might perhaps come again,—Frank might come +again,—if Mr. Moss did not intervene in the meantime." But at last +she acknowledged to herself that she had given the lord a promise. +She would keep her promise, but she could not bring herself to exult +at the prospect. She must take care, however, that the lord should +not triumph over her. The lord had called her father an ass. She +certainly would say a rough word or two if he abused her father +again.</p> + +<p>This was the time of the "suspects." Mr. O'Mahony had already taken +an opportunity of expressing an opinion in the House of Commons that +every honest man, every patriotic man, every generous man, every man +in fact who was worth his salt, was in Ireland locked up as a +"suspect," and in saying so managed to utter very bitter words indeed +respecting him who had the locking up of these gentlemen. Poor Mr. +O'Mahony had no idea that he might have used with propriety as to +this gentleman all the epithets of which he believed the "suspects" +to be worthy; but instead of doing so he called him a "disreputable +jailer." It is not pleasant to be called a disreputable jailer in the +presence of all the best of one's fellow citizens, but the man so +called in this instance only smiled. Mr. O'Mahony had certainly made +himself ridiculous, and the whole House were loud in their clamours +at the words used. But that did not suffice. The Speaker reprimanded +Mr. O'Mahony and desired him to recall the language and apologise for +it. Then there arose a loud debate, during which the member of the +Government who had been assailed declared that Mr. O'Mahony had not +as yet been quite long enough in the House to learn the little +details of Parliamentary language; Mr. O'Mahony would no doubt soften +down his eloquence in course of time. But the Speaker would not be +content with this, and was about to order the sinner to be carried +away by the Sergeant-at-Arms, when a friend on his right and a friend +on his left, and a friend behind him, all whispered into his ear how +easy it is to apologise in the House of Commons. "You needn't say he +isn't a disreputable jailer, but only call him a distasteful +warder;—anything will do." This came from the gentleman at Mr. +O'Mahony's back, and the order for his immediate expulsion was +ringing in his ears. He had been told that he was ridiculous, and +could feel that it would be absurd to be carried somewhere into the +dungeons. And the man whom he certainly detested at the present +moment worse than any other scoundrel on the earth, had made a +good-natured apology on his behalf. If he were carried away now, he +could never come back again without a more serious apology. Then, +farewell to all power of attacking the jailer. He did as the man +whispered into his ear, and begged to substitute "distasteful warder" +for the words which had wounded so cruelly the feelings of the right +honourable gentleman. Then he looked round the House, showing that he +thought that he had misbehaved himself. After that, during Mr. +O'Mahony's career as a Member of Parliament, which lasted only for +the session, he lost his self-respect altogether. He had been driven +to withdraw the true wrath of his eloquence from him "at whose brow," +as he told Rachel the next morning, "he had hurled his words with a +force that had been found to be intolerable."</p> + +<p>Mr. O'Mahony had undoubtedly made himself an ass again on this +second, third, and perhaps tenth occasion. This was not the ass he +had made himself on the occasion to which Lord Castlewell had +referred. But yet he was a thoroughly honest, patriotic man, desirous +only of the good of his country, and wishing for nothing for himself. +Is it not possible that as much may be said for others, who from day +to day so violently excite our spleen, as to make us feel that +special Irishmen selected for special constituencies are not worthy +to be ranked with men? You shall take the whole House of Commons, +indifferent as to the side on which they sit,—some six hundred and +thirty out of the number,—and will find in conversation that the +nature of the animal, the absurdity, the selfishness, the absence of +all good qualifies, are taken for granted as matters admitting of no +dispute. But here was Mr. O'Mahony, as hot a Home-Ruler and +Landleaguer as any of them, who was undoubtedly a gentleman,—though +an American gentleman. Can it be possible that we are wrong in our +opinions respecting the others of the set?</p> + +<p>Rachel heard it all the next day, and, living as she did among +Italians and French, and theatrical Americans, and English swells, +could not endeavour to make the apology which I have just made for +the Irish Brigade generally. She knew that her father had made an ass +of himself. All the asinine proportions of the affair had been so +explained to her as to leave no doubt on her mind as to the matter. +But the more she was sure of it, the more resolved she became that +Lord Castlewell should not call her father an ass. She might do +so,—and undoubtedly would after her own fashion,—but no such +privilege should be allowed to him.</p> + +<p>"Oh! father, father," she said to him the next morning, "don't you +think you've made a goose of yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do."</p> + +<p>"Then, don't do it any more."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I shall. It isn't so very easy for a man not to make a goose of +himself in that place. You've got to sit by and do nothing for a year +or two. It is very difficult. A man cannot afford to waste his time +in that manner. There is all Ireland to be regenerated, and I have to +learn the exact words which the prudery of the House of Commons will +admit. Of course I have made a goose of myself; but the question is +whether I did not make a knave of myself in apologising for language +which was undoubtedly true. Only think that a man so brutal, so +entirely without feelings, without generosity, without any touch of +sentiment, should be empowered by the Queen of England to lock up, +not only every Irishman, but every American also, and to keep them +there just as long as he pleases! And he revels in it. I do believe +that he never eats a good breakfast unless half-a-dozen new +'suspects' are reported by the early police in the morning; and I am +not to call such a man a 'disreputable jailer.' I may call him a +'distasteful warder.' It's a disgrace to a man to sit in such a House +and in such company. Of course I was a goose, but I was only a goose +according to the practices of that special duck-pond." Mr. O'Mahony, +as he said this, walked about angrily, with his hands in his +breeches' pockets, and told himself that no honest man could draw the +breath of life comfortably except in New York.</p> + +<p>"I don't know much about it, father," said Rachel, "but I think you'd +better cut and run. Your twenty men will never do any good here. +Everybody hates them who has got any money, and their only friends +are just men as Mr. Pat Carroll, of Ballintubber."</p> + +<p>Then, later in the day, Lord Castlewell called to drive his bride in +the Park. He had so far overcome family objections as to have induced +his sister, Lady Augusta Montmorency, to accompany him. Lady Augusta +had been already introduced to Rachel, but had not been much +prepossessed. Lady Augusta was very proud of her family, was a +religious woman, and was anything but contented with her brother's +manner of life. But it was no doubt better that he should marry +Rachel than not be married at all; and therefore Lady Augusta had +allowed herself to be brought to accompany the singing girl upon this +occasion. She was, in truth, an uncommonly good young woman; not +beautiful, not clever, but most truly anxious for the welfare of her +brother. It had been represented to her that her brother was over +head and ears in love with the young lady, and looking at the matter +all round, she had thought it best to move a little from her dignity +so as to take her sister-in-law coldly by the hand. It need hardly be +said that Rachel did not like being taken coldly by the hand, and, +with her general hot mode of expression, would have declared that she +hated Augusta Montmorency. Now, the two entered the room together, +and Rachel kissed Lady Augusta, while she gave only her hand to Lord +Castlewell. But there was something in her manner on such occasions +which was intended to show affection,—and did show it very plainly. +In old days she could decline to kiss Frank in a manner that would +set Frank all on fire. It was as much as to say—of course you've a +right to it, but on this occasion I don't mean to give it to you. But +Lord Castlewell was not imaginative, and did not think of all this. +Rachel had intended him to think of it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my goodness!" began the lord, "what a mess your father did make +of it last night." And he frowned as he spoke.</p> + +<p>Rachel, as an intended bride—about to be a bride in two or three +months—did not like to be frowned at by the man who was to marry +her. "That's as people may think, my lord," she said.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say that you don't think he did make a mess of +it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course he abused that horrid man. Everybody is abusing him."</p> + +<p>"As for that, I'm not going to defend the man." For Lord Castlewell, +though by no means a strong politician, was a Tory, and unfortunately +found himself agreeing with Rachel in abusing the members of the +Government.</p> + +<p>"Then why do you say that father made a mess of it?"</p> + +<p>"Everybody is talking about it. He has made himself ridiculous before +the whole town."</p> + +<p>"What! Lord Castlewell," exclaimed Rachel.</p> + +<p>"I do believe your father is the best fellow going; but he ought not +to touch politics. He made a great mistake in getting into the House. +It is a source of misery to everyone connected with him."</p> + +<p>"Or about to be connected with him," said Lady Augusta, who had not +been appeased by the flavour of Rachel's kiss.</p> + +<p>"There's time enough to think about it yet," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"No, there's not," said Lord Castlewell, who intended to express in +rather a gallant manner his intention of going on with the marriage.</p> + +<p>"But I can assure you there is," said Rachel, "ample time. There +shall be no time for going on with it, if my father is to be abused. +As it happens, you don't agree with my father in politics. I, as a +woman, should have to call myself as belonging to your party, if we +be ever married. I do not know what that party is, and care very +little, as I am not a politician myself. And I suppose if we were +married, you would take upon yourself to abuse my father for his +politics, as he might abuse you. But while he is my father, and you +are not my husband, I will not bear it. No, thank you, Lady Augusta, +I will not drive out to-day. 'Them's my sentiments,' as people say; +and perhaps your brother had better think them over while there's +time enough." So saying, she did pertinaciously refuse to be driven +by the noble lord on that occasion.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-36" id="c3-36"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h3> +<h4>RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>What a dear fellow is Frank Jones. That was Rachel's first idea when +Lord Castlewell left her. It was an idea she had driven from out of +her mind with all the strength of which she was capable from the +moment in which his lordship had been accepted. "He never shall be +dear to me again," she had said, thinking of what would be due to her +husband; and she had disturbed herself, not without some success, in +expelling Frank Jones from her heart. It was not right that the +future Lady Castlewell should be in love with Frank Jones. But now +she could think about Frank Jones as she pleased. What a dear fellow +is Frank Jones! Now, it certainly was the case that Lord Castlewell +was not a dear fellow at all. He was many degrees better than Mr. +Moss, but for a dear fellow!—She only knew one. And she did tell +herself now that the world could hardly be a happy world to her +without one dear fellow,—at any rate, to think of.</p> + +<p>But he had positively refused to marry her! But yet she did not in +the least doubt his love. "I'm a little bit of a thing," she said to +herself; "but then he likes little bits of things. At any rate, he +likes one."</p> + +<p>And then she had thought ever so often over the cause which had +induced Frank to leave her. "Why shouldn't he take my money, since it +is here to be taken? It is all a man's beastly pride!" But then again +she contradicted the assertion to herself. It was a man's pride, but +by no means beastly. "If I were a man," she went on saying, "I don't +think I should like to pay for my coat and waistcoat with money which +a woman had earned; and I should like it the less, because things at +home, in my own house, were out of order." And then again she thought +of it all. "I should be an idiot to do that. Everybody would say so. +What! to give up my whole career for a young man's love,—merely that +I might have his arm round my waist? I to do it, who am the greatest +singer of my day, and who can, if I please, be Countess of Castlewell +to-morrow! That were losing the world for love, indeed! Can any man's +love be worth it? And I am going on to become such a singer as the +world does not possess another like me. I know it. I feel it daily in +the increasing sweetness of the music made. I see it in the wakeful +eagerness of men's ears, waiting for some charm of sound,—some +wonderful charm,—which they hardly dare to expect, but which always +comes at last. I see it in the eyes of the women, who are hardly +satisfied that another should be so great. It comes in the worship of +the people about the theatre, who have to tell me that I am their +god, and keep the strings of the sack from which money shall be +poured forth upon them. I know it is coming, and yet I am to marry +the stupid earl because I have promised him. And he thinks, too, that +his reflected honours will be more to me than all the fame that I can +earn for myself. To go down to his castle, and to be dumb for ever, +and perhaps to be mother of some hideous little imp who shall be the +coming marquis. Everything to be abandoned for that,—even Frank +Jones. But Frank Jones is not to be had! Oh, Frank Jones, Frank +Jones! If you could come and live in such a marble hall as I could +provide for you! It should have all that we want, but nothing more. +But it could not have that self-respect which it is a man's first +duty in life to achieve." But the thought that she had arrived at was +this,—that with all her best courtesy she would tell the Earl of +Castlewell to look for a bride elsewhere.</p> + +<p>But she would do nothing in a hurry. The lord had been very civil to +her, and she, on her part, would be as civil to the lord as +circumstances admitted. And she had an idea in her mind that she +could not at a moment's notice dismiss this lord and be as she was +before. Her engagement with the lord was known to all the musical +world. The Mosses and Socanis spent their mornings, noons, and nights +in talking about it,—as she well knew. And she was not quite sure +that the lord had given her such a palpable cause for quarrelling as +to justify her in throwing him over. And when she had as it were +thrown him over in her mind, she began to think of other causes for +regret. After all, it was something to be Countess of Castlewell. She +felt that she could play the part well, in spite of all Lady +Augusta's coldness. She would soon live the Lady Augusta down into a +terrible mediocrity. And then again, there would be dreams of Frank +Jones. Frank Jones had been utterly banished. But if an elderly +gentleman is desirous that his future wife shall think of no Frank +Jones, he had better not begin by calling the father of that young +lady a ridiculous ass.</p> + +<p>She was much disturbed in mind, and resolved that she would seek +counsel from her old correspondent, Frank's sister.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Edith," she began,<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">I know you +will let me write to you in my troubles. I am +in such a twitter of mind in consequence of my various +lovers that I do not know where to turn; nor do I quite +know whom I am to call lover number one. Therefore, I +write to you to ask advice. Dear old Frank used to be +lover number one. Of course I ought to call him now Mr. +Francis Jones, because another lover is really lover +number one. I am engaged to marry, as you are well aware, +no less a person than the Earl of Castlewell; and, if all +things were to go prosperously with me, I should in a +short time be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. Did you ever +think of the glory of being an absolutely live +marchioness? It is so overwhelming as to be almost too +much for me. I think that I should not cower before my +position, but that I should, on the other hand, endeavour +to soar so high that I should be consumed by my own +flames. Then there is lover number three—Mr. Moss—who, I +do believe, loves me with the truest affection of them +all. I have found him out at last. He wishes to be the +legal owner of all the salaries which the singer of La +Beata may possibly earn; and he feels that, in spite of +all that has come and gone, it is yet possible. Of all the +men who ever forgave, Mr. Moss is the most forgiving.</p> + +<p>Now, which am I to take of these three? Of course, if you +are the honest girl I take you to be, you will write back +word that one, at any rate, is not in the running. Mr. +Francis Jones has no longer the honour. But what if I am +sure that he loves me; and what, again, if I am sure that +he is the only one I love? Let this be +quite—quite—between ourselves. I am beginning to think +that because of Frank Jones I cannot marry that gorgeous +earl. What if Frank Jones has spoiled me altogether? Would +you wish to see me on this account delivered over to Mr. +Mahomet Moss as a donkey between two bundles of hay?</p> + +<p>Tell me what you think of it. He won't take my money. But +suppose I earn my money for another season or two? Would +not your Irish brutalities be then over; and my father's +eloquence, and the eccentricities of the other gentlemen? +And would not your brother and your father have in some +way settled their affairs? Surely a little money won't +then be amiss, though it may have come from the industry +of a hard-worked young woman.</p> + +<p>Of course I am asking for mercy, because I am absolutely +devoted to a certain young man. You need not tell him that +in so many words; but I do not see why I am to be ashamed +of my devotion,—seeing that I was not ashamed of my +engagement, and boasted of it to all the world. And I have +done nothing since to be ashamed of.</p> + +<p>You have never told me a word of your young man; but the +birds of the air are more communicative than some friends. +A bird of the air has told me of you, and of Ada also, and +had made me understand that from Ada has come all that +sweetness which was to be expected from her. But from you +has not come that compliance with your fate in life which +circumstances have demanded.</p> + +<p class="ind10">Your affectionate friend,</p> + +<p class="ind15"><span class="smallcaps">Rachel O'mahony</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>It could not but be the case that Edith should be gratified by the +receipt of such a letter as this. Frank was now at home, and was +terribly down in the mouth. Boycotting had lost all its novelty at +Morony Castle. His sisters had begun to feel that it was a pleasant +thing to have their butter made for them, and pleasant also not to be +introduced to a leg of mutton till it appeared upon the table. Frank, +too, had become very tired of the work which fell to his lot, though +he had been relieved in the heaviest labours of the farm by +"Emergency" men, who had been sent to him from various parts of +Ireland. But he was thoroughly depressed in heart, as also was his +father. Months had passed by since Pat Carroll had stood in the dock +at Galway ready for his trial. He was now, in March, still kept in +Galway jail under remand from the magistrates. A great clamour was +made in the county upon the subject. Florian's murder had stirred all +those who were against the League to feel that the Government should +be supported. But there had been a mystery attached to that other +murder, perpetrated in the court, which had acted strongly on the +other side,—on behalf of the League. The murder of Terry Carroll at +the moment in which he was about to give evidence,—false evidence, +as the Leaguers said,—against his brother was a great triumph to +them. It was used as an argument why Pat Carroll should be no longer +confined, while Florian's death had been a reason why he never should +be released at all. All this kept the memory of Florian's death, and +the constant thought of it, still fresh in the minds of them all at +Morony Castle, together with the poverty which had fallen upon them, +had made the two men weary of their misfortunes. Under such +misfortunes, when continued, men do become more weary than women. But +Edith thought there would be something in the constancy of Rachel's +love to cheer her brother, and therefore the letter made her +contented if not happy.</p> + +<p>For herself, she said to herself no love could cheer her. Captain +Clayton still hung about Tuam and Headford, but his presence in the +neighbourhood was always to be attributed to the evidence of which he +was in search as to Florian's death. It seemed now with him that the +one great object of his heart was the unravelling of that murder. "It +was no mystery," as he said over and over again in Edith's hearing. +He knew very well who had fired the rifle. He could see, in his +mind's eye, the slight form of the crouching wretch as he too surely +took his aim from the temporary barricade. The passion had become so +strong with him of bringing the man to justice that he almost felt, +that between him and his God he could swear to having seen it. And +yet he knew that it was not so. To have the hanging of that man would +be to him a privilege only next to that of possessing Edith Jones. +And he was a sanguine man, and did believe that in process of time +both privileges would be vouchsafed to him.</p> + +<p>But Edith was less sanguine. She could not admit to herself the +possibility that there should be successful love between her and her +hero. His presence there in the neighbourhood of her home was stained +by constant references to her brother's blood. And then, though there +was no chance for Ada, Ada's former hopes militated altogether +against Edith. "He had better go away and just leave us to +ourselves," she said to herself. But yet neither was she nor was Ada +sunk so low in heart as her father and her brother.</p> + +<p>"Frank," she said to her brother, "whom do you think this letter is +from?" and she held up in her hand Rachel's epistle.</p> + +<p>"I care not at all, unless it be from that most improbable of all +creatures, a tenant coming to pay his rent."</p> + +<p>"Nothing quite so beautiful as that."</p> + +<p>"Or from someone who has evidence to give about some of these murders +that are going on?"—A Mr. Morris from the other side of the lake, in +County Mayo, had just been killed, and the minds of men were now +disturbed with this new horror.—"Anybody can kill anybody who has a +taste in that direction. What a country for a man with his family to +pitch upon and live in! And that all this should have been kept under +so long by policemen and right-thinking individuals, and then burst +out like a subterranean fire all over the country, because the hope +has been given them of getting their land for nothing! In order to +indulge in wholesale robbery they are willing at a moment's notice to +undertake wholesale murder."</p> + +<p>After listening to words such as these, Edith found it impossible to +introduce Rachel's letter on the spur of the moment.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-37" id="c3-37"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h3> +<h4>RACHEL IS ILL.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Rachel, before the end of March, received the following letter from +her friend, but she received it in bed. The whole world of Covent +Garden Theatre had been thrown into panic-stricken dismay by the fact +that Miss O'Mahony had something the matter with her throat. This was +the second attack, the first having been so short as to have caused +no trepidations in the world of music; but this was supposed to be +sterner in its nature, and to have caused already great alarm. Before +March was over it was published to the world at large that Miss +O'Mahony would not be able to sing during the forthcoming week.</p> + +<p>In this catastrophe her lordly lover was of course the most sedulous +of attendants. In truth he was so, though when we last met him and +his bride together he had made himself very disagreeable. Rachel had +then answered him in such language as to make her think it impossible +that he should not quarrel with her; but still here he was, constant +at her chamber door. Whether his constancy was due to his position +about the theatre or to his ardour as a lover, she did not know; but +in either case it troubled her somewhat, and interfered with her +renewed dreams about Frank. Then came the following letter from +Frank's sister:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Rachel</span>,</p> + +<p>I am not very much surprised, though I was a little, that +you should have accepted Lord Castlewell; but I had not +quite known the ins and outs of it, not having been there +to see. Frank says that the separation had certainly come +from him, because he could not bring himself to burden +your prosperity with the heavy load of his misfortunes. +Poor fellow! They are very heavy. They would have made you +both miserable for awhile, unless you could have agreed to +postpone your marriage. Why should it not have been +postponed?</p> + +<p>But Lord Castlewell came in the way, and I supposed him +naturally to be as beautiful and gracious as he is +gorgeous and rich. But though you say nothing about him +there does creep out from your letter some kind of idea +that he is not quite so beautiful in your eyes as was poor +Frank. Remember that poor Frank has to wear two blue +shirts a week and no more, in order to save the washing! +How many does Lord Castlewell wear? How many will he wear +when he is a marquis?</p> + +<p>But at any rate it does seem to be the case that you and +the earl are not as happy together as your best friends +could wish. We had understood that the earl was ready to +expire for love at the sound of every note. Has he +slackened in his admiration so as to postpone his expiring +to the close of every song? Or why is it that Frank should +be allowed again to come up and trouble your dreams?</p> + +<p>You are so fond of joking that it is almost impossible for +a poor steady-going, boycotted young woman to follow you +to the end. Of course I understand that what you say about +Mr. Moss is altogether a joke. But then what you say about +Frank is, I am sure, not a joke. If you love him the best, +as I am sure you do—so very much the best as to disregard +the marble halls—I advise you, in the gentlest manner +possible, to tell the marble halls that they are not +wanted. It cannot be right to marry one man when you say +that you love another as you do Frank. Of course he will +wait if you like to wait. All I can say is, that no man +loves a girl better than he loves you.</p> + +<p>We are very much down in the world at the present. We have +literally no money. Papa's relatives have given their +money to him to invest, and he has laid it out on the +property here. Nobody was thought to have done so well as +he till lately; but now they cannot get their interest, +and, of course, they are impatient. Commissioners have sat +in the neighbourhood, and have reduced the rents all +round. But they can't reduce what doesn't exist. There are +tenants who I suppose will pay. Pat Carroll could +certainly have done so. But then papa's share in the +property will be reduced almost to nothing. He will not +get above five shillings out of every twenty shillings of +rent, such as it was supposed to be when he bought it. I +don't understand all this, and I am sure I cannot make you +do so.</p> + +<p>I have nothing to tell about my young man, as you call +him, except that he cannot be mine. I fancy that girls are +not fond of writing about their young men when they don't +belong to them. Frank, at any rate, is yours, if you will +take him; and you can write about him with an open heart. +I cannot do so. Think of poor Florian and his horrid +death. Is this a time for marriage,—if it were otherwise +possible,—which it is not?</p> + +<p>God bless you, dear Rachel. Let me hear from you again +soon. I have said nothing to Frank as yet. I attempted it +this morning, but was stopped. You can imagine that he, +poor fellow, is not very happy.—Yours very +affectionately,</p> + +<p class="ind18"><span class="smallcaps">Edith Jones</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Rachel read the letter on her sick bed, and as soon as it was read +Lord Castlewell came to her. There was always a nurse there, but Lord +Castlewell was supposed to be able to see the patient, and on one +occasion had been accompanied by his sister. It was all done in the +most proper form imaginable, much to Rachel's disgust. Incapable as +she was in her present state of carrying on any argument, she was +desirous of explaining to Lord Castlewell that he was not to hold +himself as bound to marry her. "If you think that father is an ass, +you had better say so outright, and let there be an end of it." She +wished to speak to him after this fashion. But she could not say it +in the presence of the nurse and of Lady Augusta. But Lord +Castlewell's conduct to herself made her more anxious than ever to +say something of the kind. He was very civil, even tender, in his +inquiries, but he was awfully frigid. She could tell from his manner +that that last speech of hers was rankling in his bosom as the frigid +words fell from his lips. He was waiting for some recovery,—a +partial recovery would be better than a whole one,—and then he would +speak his mind. She wanted to speak her mind first, but she could +hardly do so with her throat in its present condition.</p> + +<p>She had no other friend than her father, no other friend to take her +part with her lovers. And she had, too, fallen into such a state that +she could not say much to him. According to the orders of the +physician, she was not to interest herself at all about anything.</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether the man was ever engaged to two or three lovers at +once," she said to herself, alluding to the doctor. "He knows at any +rate of Lord Castlewell, and does he think that I am not to trouble +myself about him?"</p> + +<p>She had a tablet under her pillow, which she took out and wrote on it +certain instructions. "Dear father, C. and I quarrelled before I was +ill at all, and now he comes here just as though nothing had +happened. He said you made an ass of yourself in the House of +Commons. I won't have it, and mean to tell him so; but I can't talk. +Won't you tell him from me that I shall expect him to beg my pardon, +and that I shall never hear anything of the kind again. It must come +to this. Your own R." This was handed to Mr. O'Mahony by Rachel that +very day before he went down to the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear!" he said. Rachel only shook her head. "I can hardly +say all this about myself. I don't care twopence whether he thinks me +an ass or not."</p> + +<p>"But I do," said Rachel on the tablet.</p> + +<p>"He is an earl, and has wonderful privileges, as well as a great deal +of money."</p> + +<p>"Marble halls and impudence," said Rachel on the tablet. Then Mr. +O'Mahony, feeling that he ought to leave her in peace, made her a +promise, and went his way. At Covent Garden that evening he met the +noble lord, having searched for him in vain at Westminster. He was +much more likely to find Lord Castlewell among the singers of the +day, than with the peers; but of these things Mr. O'Mahony hardly +understood all the particulars.</p> + +<p>"Well, O'Mahony, how is your charming daughter?"</p> + +<p>"My daughter is not inclined to be charming at all. I do hope she may +be getting better, but at present she is bothering her head about +you."</p> + +<p>"It is natural that she should think of me a little sometimes," said +the flattered lord.</p> + +<p>"She has written me a message which she says that I am to deliver. +Now mind, I don't care about it the least in the world." Here the +lord looked very grave. "She says that you called me an ass. Well, I +am to you, and you're an ass to me. I am sure you won't take it as +any insult, neither do I. She wants you to promise that you won't +call me an ass any more. Of course it would follow that I shouldn't +be able to call you one. We should both be hampered, and the truth +would suffer. But as she is ill, perhaps it would be better that you +should say that you didn't mean it."</p> + +<p>But this was not at all Lord Castlewell's view of the matter. Though +he had been very glib with his tongue in calling O'Mahony an ass, he +did not at all like the compliment as paid back to him by his +father-in-law. And there was something which he did not quite +understand in the assertion that the truth would suffer. All the +world was certain that Mr. O'Mahony was an ass. He had been turned +out of the House of Commons only yesterday for saying that the +Speaker was quite wrong, and sticking to it. There was not the +slightest doubt in the world about it. But his lordship knew his +gamut, which was all that he pretended to know, and never interfered +with matters of which he was ignorant. He was treated with the +greatest respect at Covent Garden, and nobody ever suspected him of +being an ass. And then he had it in his mind to speak very seriously +to Rachel as soon as she might be well enough to hear him. "You have +spoken to me in a manner, my dear, which I am sure you did not +intend." He had all the words ready prepared on a bit of paper in his +pocket-book. And he was by no means sure but that the little quarrel +might even yet become permanent. He had discussed it frequently with +Lady Augusta, and Lady Augusta rather wished that it might become +permanent. And Lord Castlewell was not quite sure that he did not +wish it also. The young lady had a way of speaking about her own +people which was not to be borne. And now she had been guilty of the +gross indecency of sending a message to him by her own father,—the +very man whom he called an ass. And the man in return only laughed +and called him an ass.</p> + +<p>But Lord Castlewell knew the proprieties of life. Here was this—girl +whom he had proposed to marry, a sad invalid at the moment. The +doctor had, in fact, given him but a sad account of the case. "She +has strained her voice continually till it threatens to leave her," +said the doctor; "I do not say that it will be so, but it may. Her +best chance will be to abandon all professional exertions till next +year." Then the doctor told him that he had not as yet taken upon +himself to hint anything of all this to Miss O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell was puzzled in the extreme. If the lady lost her +voice and so became penniless and without a profession; and if he in +such case were to throw her over, and leave her unmarried, what would +the world say of him? Would it be possible then to make the world +understand that he had deserted her, not on account of her illness, +but because she had not liked to hear her father called an ass. And +had not Rachel already begun the battle in a manner intended to show +that she meant to be the victor? Could it be possible that she +herself was desirous of backing out. There was no knowing the extent +of the impudence to which these Americans would not go! No doubt she +had, by the use of intemperate language on the occasion when she +would not be driven out in the carriage, given him ample cause for a +breach. To tell the truth, he had thought then that a breach would be +expedient. But she had fallen ill, and it was incumbent on him to be +tender and gentle. Then, from her very sick bed, she had sent him +this impudent message.</p> + +<p>And it had been delivered so impudently! "The truth would suffer!" He +was sure that there was a meaning in the words intended to signify +that he, Lord Castlewell, was and must be an ass at all times. Then +he asked himself whether he was an ass because he did not quite +understand O'Mahony's argument. Why did the truth suffer? As to his +being an ass,—O'Mahony being an ass,—he was sure that there was no +doubt about that. All the world said so. The House of Commons knew +it,—and the newspapers. He had been turned out of the House for +saying the Speaker was wrong, and not apologising for having uttered +such words. And he, Lord Castlewell, had so expressed himself only to +the woman who was about to be his wife. Then she had had the +incredible folly to tell her father, and the father had told him that +under certain circumstances the "truth must suffer." He did not quite +understand it, but was sure that Mr. O'Mahony had meant to say that +they were two fools together.</p> + +<p>He was not at all ashamed of marrying a singing girl. It was the +thing he would be sure to do. And he thought of some singing girls +before his time, and of his time also, whom it would be an honour for +such as him to marry. But he would degrade himself—so he felt—by +the connection with an advanced Landleaguing Member of Parliament. He +looked round the lot of them, and he assured himself that there was +not one from whose loins an English nobleman could choose a wife +without disgrace. It was most unfortunate,—so he told himself. The +man had not become Member of Parliament till quite the other day. He +had not even opened his mouth in Parliament till the engagement had +been made. And now, among them all, this O'Mahony was the biggest +ass. And yet Lord Castlewell found himself quite unable to hold his +own with the Irish member when the Irish member was brought to attack +him. He certainly would have made Rachel's conduct a fair excuse for +breaking with her,—only that she was ill.</p> + +<p>If he could have known the state of Rachel's mind there might have +been an end to his troubles. She had now, at length, been made +thoroughly wretched by hearing the truth from the doctor,—or what +the doctor believed to be the truth. "Miss O'Mahony, I had better +tell you, your voice has gone, at any rate for a year."</p> + +<p>"For a year!" The hoarse, angry, rusty whisper came forth from her, +and in spite of its hoarseness and rustiness was audible enough.</p> + +<p>"I fear so. For heaven's sake don't talk; use your tablet." Rachel +drew the tablet from under her pillow and dashed it across the room. +The doctor picked it up, and, with a kind smile and a little +caressing motion of his hand, put it again back under the pillow. +Rachel buried her head amidst the bedclothes and sobbed bitterly. +"Try to make yourself happy in remembering how you have succeeded," +said the doctor.</p> + +<p>"It won't be back just the same," she wrote on her tablet.</p> + +<p>"It is in God's hands," said the doctor. There came not another word +from Rachel, either by her tablet or by any struggle at speech. The +doctor, having made what attempts at comfort he could, went his way. +Then her father, who had been in and out constantly, came to his +daughter. He had not been present when she threw the tablet away, but +he knew what the doctor had said to her.</p> + +<p>"My pet," he said. But she made no attempt to answer him. A year! At +her time of life a year is an eternity. And then this doctor had only +told her that her voice was in God's hands. She could talk to herself +without any effort. "When they say that they always condemn you. When +the doctor tells you that you are in God's hands he means the +Devil's."</p> + +<p>She had been so near the gods and goddesses, and now she was no more +than any other poor woman. She might be less, as her face had begun +to wither with her voice. She had all but succeeded; as for her face, +as for the mere look of her, let it go. She told herself that she +cared nothing for her appearance. What was Lord Castlewell to +her,—what even was Frank's love? To stand on the boards of the +theatre and become conscious of the intense silence of the crowd +before her,—so intense because the tone of her voice was the one +thing desired by all the world. And then to open her mouth and to let +the music go forth and to see the ears all erect, as she fancied she +could, so that not a sound should be lost,—should not be harvested +by the hungry hearers! That was to be a very god! As she told herself +of all her regrets, there was not a passing sorrow given to Lord +Castlewell. And what of the other man? "Oh, Frank, dear Frank, you +will know it all now. There need be no more taking money." But she +did take some comfort at last in that promise of God's hands. When +she had come, as it were, to the bitterest moment of her grief, she +told herself that, though it might be even at the end of a whole +year, there was something to be hoped.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-38" id="c3-38"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h3> +<h4>LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>When her father had been with her half-an-hour, and was beginning to +think that he could escape and go down to the House,—and he had a +rod in pickle for the Speaker's back, such a rod that the Speaker's +back should be sore for the rest of the session—Rachel began her +lengthened conversation with him. In the last half-hour she had made +up her mind as to what she would say. But the conversation was so +long and intricate, being necessarily carried on by means of her +tablet, that poor O'Mahony's rod was losing all its pickle. "Father, +you must go and see Lord Castlewell at once."</p> + +<p>"I think, my dear, he understood me altogether when I saw him before, +and he seemed to agree with me. I told him I didn't mind being called +an ass, but that you were so absurd as to dislike it. In fact, I gave +him to understand that we were three asses; but I don't think he'll +say it again."</p> + +<p>"It isn't about that at all," said the tablet.</p> + +<p>"What else do you want?"</p> + +<p>Then Rachel went to work and wrote her demand with what deliberation +she could assume.</p> + +<p>"You must go and tell him that I don't want to marry him at all. He +has been very kind, and you mustn't tell him that he's an ass any +more. But it won't do. He has proposed to marry me because he has +wanted a singing girl; and I think I should have done for him,—only +I can't sing."</p> + +<p>Then the father replied, having put himself into such a position on +the bed as to read the tablet while Rachel was filling it: "But +that'll all come right in a very short time."</p> + +<p>"It can't, and it won't. The doctor says a year; but he knows nothing +about it, and says it's in God's hands. He means by that it's as bad +as it can be."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear—"</p> + +<p>"I tell you it must be so."</p> + +<p>"But you are engaged. He would never be so base a man as to take your +word at such a moment as this. Of course he couldn't do it. If you +had had small-pox, or anything horrible like that, he would not have +been justified."</p> + +<p>"I'm as ugly as ever I can be," said the tablet, "and as poor a +creature." Then she stopped her pencil for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Of course he's engaged to you. Why, my dear, I'd have to cowhide him +if he said a word of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" said the tablet with frantic energy.</p> + +<p>"But you see if I wouldn't! You see if I don't! I suppose they think +a lord isn't to be cowhided in this country. I guess I'll let 'em +know the difference."</p> + +<p>"But I don't love him," said the tablet.</p> + +<p>"Goodness gracious me!"</p> + +<p>"I don't. When he spoke of you in that way I began to think of it, +and I found I hated him. I do hate him like poison, and I want you to +tell him so."</p> + +<p>"That will be very disagreeable," said the father.</p> + +<p>"Never mind the disagreeables. You tell him so. I tell you he won't +be the worst pleased of the lot of us. He wanted a singer, and not a +Landleaguer's daughter; now he hasn't got the singer, but has got the +Landleaguer's daughter. And I'll tell you something else I +<span class="nowrap">want—"</span></p> + +<p>"What do you want?" asked the father, when her hand for a moment +ceased to scrawl.</p> + +<p>"I want," she said, "Frank Jones. Now you know all about it."</p> + +<p>Then she hid her face beneath the bedclothes, and refused to write +another word.</p> + +<p>He went on talking to her till he had forgotten the Speaker and the +rod in pickle. He besought her to think better of it; and if not +that, just at present to postpone any action in the matter. He +explained to her how very disagreeable it would be to him to have to +go to the lord with such a message as she now proposed. But she only +enhanced the vehemence of her order by shaking her head as her face +lay buried in the pillow.</p> + +<p>"Let it wait for one fortnight," said the father.</p> + +<p>"No!" said the girl, using her own voice for the effort.</p> + +<p>Then the father slowly took himself off, and making his way to the +House of Commons, renewed his passion as he went, and had himself +again turned out before he had been half-an-hour in the House.</p> + +<p>The earl was sitting alone after breakfast two or three days +subsequently, thinking in truth of his difficulty with Rachel. It had +come to be manifest to him that he must marry the girl unless +something terrible should occur to her. "She might die," he said to +himself very sadly, trying to think of cases in which singers had +died from neglected throats. And it did make him very sad. He could +not think of the perishing of that magnificent treble without great +grief; and, after his fashion, he did love her personally. He did not +know that he could ever love anyone very much better. He had +certainly thought that it would be a good thing that his father and +mother and sister should go and live in foreign lands,—in order, in +short, that they might never more be heard of to trouble him,—but he +did not even contemplate their deaths, so sweet-minded was he. But in +the first fury of his love he had thought how nice it would be to be +left with his singing girl, and no one to trouble him. Now there came +across him an idea that something was due to the Marquis of +Beaulieu,—something, that is, to his own future position; and what +could he do with a singing girl for his wife who could not sing?</p> + +<p>He was unhappy as he thought of it all, and would ever and again, as +he meditated, be stirred up to mild anger when he remembered that he +had been told that "the truth would suffer." He had intended, at any +rate, that his singing girl should be submissive and obedient while +in his hands. But here had been an outbreak of passion! And here was +this confounded O'Mahony ready to make a fool of himself at a +moment's notice before all the world. At that moment the door was +opened and Mr. O'Mahony was shown into the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh! dear," exclaimed the lord, "how do you do, Mr. O'Mahony? I hope +I see you well."</p> + +<p>"Pretty well. But upon my word, I don't know how to tell you what +I've got to say."</p> + +<p>"Has anything gone wrong with Rachel?"</p> + +<p>"Not with her illness,—which, however, does not seem to improve. The +poor girl! But you'll say she's gone mad."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I really hardly know how I ought to break it. You must have learned +by this time that Rachel is a girl determined to have her own way."</p> + +<p>"Well; well; well!"</p> + +<p>"And, upon my word, when I think of myself, I feel that I have +nothing to do but what she bids me."</p> + +<p>"It's more than you do for the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is; I admit that. But Rachel, though she is inclined to be +tyrannical, is not such a downright positive old blue-bottle +nincompoop as that white-wigged king of kings. Rachel is bad; but +even you can't say that she is bad enough to be Speaker of the House +of Commons. My belief is, that he'll come to be locked up yet."</p> + +<p>"We have all the highest opinion of him."</p> + +<p>"It's because you like to be sat upon. You don't want to be allowed +to say bo to a goose. I have often heard in my own +<span class="nowrap">country—"</span></p> + +<p>"But you call yourself an Irishman, Mr. O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"Never did so in my life. They called me so over there when they +wanted to return me to hold my tongue in that House of Torment; but I +guess it will puzzle the best Englishman going to find out whether +I'm an American or an Irishman. They did something over there to make +me an American; but they did nothing to unmake me as an Irishman. And +there I am, member for Cavan; and it will go hard with me if I don't +break that Speaker's heart before I've done with him. What! I ain't +to say that he goes wrong when he never goes right by any chance?"</p> + +<p>"Have you come here this morning, Mr. O'Mahony, to abuse the +Speaker?"</p> + +<p>"By no means. It was you who threw the Speaker in my teeth."</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell did acknowledge to himself his own imprudence.</p> + +<p>"I came here to tell you about my daughter, and upon my word I shall +find it more difficult than anything I may have to say to the +Speaker. I have the most profound contempt for the Speaker."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he returns it."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he does, or he wouldn't make so much of me as to +turn me out of the House. When a man finds it necessary to remove an +enemy, let the cause be what it may, he cannot be said to despise +that enemy. Now, I wouldn't give a puff of breath to turn him out of +the House. In truth, I despise him too much."</p> + +<p>"He is to be pitied," said the lord, with a gentle touch of irony.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, Lord Castlewell—"</p> + +<p>"Don't go on about the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony,—pray don't."</p> + +<p>"You always begin,—but I won't. I didn't come here to speak about +him at all. And the Chairman of Committees is positively worse. You +know there's a creature called Chairman of Committees?"</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. O'Mahony, I really must beg that you will fight your +political battles anywhere but here. I'm not a politician. How is +your charming daughter this morning?"</p> + +<p>"She is anything but charming. I hardly know what to make of her, but +I find that I am always obliged to do what she tells me." There was +another allusion to the Speaker on the lord's tongue, but he +restrained himself. "She has sent me here to say that she wants the +marriage to be broken off."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!"</p> + +<p>"She does. She says that you intend to marry her because she's a +singing girl;—and now she can't sing."</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"And she thinks she oughtn't to have accepted you at all,—that's the +truth." The lord's face became very long. "I think myself that it was +a little too hurried. I don't suppose you quite knew your own minds."</p> + +<p>"If Miss O'Mahony repents—"</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss O'Mahony does repent. She has got something into her head +that I can't quite explain. She thought that she'd do for a countess +very well as long as she was on the boards of a theatre. But now that +she's to be relegated to private life she begins to feel that she +ought to look after someone about her own age."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed! Is this her message?"</p> + +<p>"Well; yes. It is her message. I shouldn't in such a matter invent it +all if she hadn't sent me. I don't know, now I think of it, that she +did say anything about her own age. But yet she did," remarked Mr. +O'Mahony, calling to mind the assertion made by Rachel that she +wanted Frank Jones. Frank Jones was about her own age, whereas the +lord was as old as her father.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, I am much obliged to Miss O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"She certainly has meant to be as courteous as she knows how," said +Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps on your side of the water they have different ideas of +courtesy. The young lady sends me word that now she means to retire +from the stage she finds I am too old for her."</p> + +<p>"Not that at all," said Mr. O'Mahony. But he said it in an apologetic +tone, as though admitting the truth.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell, as he sat there for a few moments, acknowledged to +himself that Rachel possessed certain traits of character which had +something fine about them, from whatever side of the water she had +come. He was a reasonable man, and he considered that there was a way +made for him to escape from this trouble which was not to have been +expected. Had Rachel been an English girl, or an Italian, or a +Norwegian, he would hardly have been let off so easily. As he was an +earl, and about to be a marquis, and as he was a rich man, such +suitors are not generally given up in a hurry. This young lady had +sent word to him that she had lost her voice permanently and was +therefore obliged to surrender that high title, that noble name, and +those golden hopes which had glistened before her eyes. No doubt he +had offered to marry her because of her singing;—that is, he would +not have so offered had she not have been a singer. But he could not +have departed from his engagement simply because she had become dumb. +He quite understood that Mr. O'Mahony would have been there with his +cowhide, and though he was by no means a coward be did not wish to +encounter the American Member of the House of Commons in all his +rage. In fact, he had been governed in his previous ideas by a +feeling of propriety; but propriety certainly did not demand him to +marry a young lady who had sent to tell him that he was too old. And +this irate member of the House of Commons had come to bring him the +message!</p> + +<p>"What am I expected to suggest now?" said Lord Castlewell, after +awhile.</p> + +<p>"Just your affectionate blessing, and you're very sorry," said Mr. +O'Mahony, with a shrug. "That's the kind of thing, I should say."</p> + +<p>He couldn't send her his affectionate blessing, and he couldn't say +he was very sorry. Had the young lady been about to marry his +son,—had there been such a son,—he could have blessed her; and he +felt that his own personal dignity did not admit of an expression of +sorrow.</p> + +<p>Was he to let the young lady off altogether? There was something +nearly akin,—very nearly akin,—to true love in his bosom as he +thought of this. The girl was ill, and no doubt weak, and had been +made miserable by the loss of her voice. The doctor had told him that +her voice, for all singing purposes, had probably gone for ever. But +her beauty remained;—had not so faded, at least, as to have given +any token of permanent decay. And that peculiarly bright eye was +there; and the wit of the words which had captivated him. The very +smallness of her stature, with its perfect symmetry, had also gone +far to enrapture him.</p> + +<p>No doubt, he was forty. He did not openly pretend even to be less. +And where was the young lady, singer or no singer, who if disengaged, +would reject the heir to a marquisate because he was forty? And he +did not believe that Rachel had sent him any message in which +allusion was made to his age. That had been added by the stupid +father, who was, without doubt, the biggest fool that either America +or Ireland had ever produced. Now that the matter had been brought +before him in such bald terms, he was by no means sure that he was +desirous of accepting the girl's offer to release him. And the father +evidently had no desire to catch him. He must acknowledge that Mr. +O'Mahony was an honest fool.</p> + +<p>"It's very hard to know what I'm to say." Here Mr. O'Mahony shook his +head. "I think that, perhaps, I had better come and call upon her."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't speak a word! And, if you're to be considered as no +longer engaged, perhaps there might be—you know—something—well, +something of delicacy in the matter!"</p> + +<p>Mr. O'Mahony felt at the moment that he ought to protect the +interests of Frank Jones.</p> + +<p>"I understand. At any rate I am not disposed to send her my blessing +at present as a final step. An engagement to be married is a very +serious step in life."</p> + +<p>But her father remembered that she had told him that she wanted Frank +Jones. Should he tell the lord the exact truth, and explain all about +Frank Jones? It would be the honest thing to do. And yet he felt that +his girl should have another chance. This lord was not much to his +taste; but still, for a lord, he had his good points.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better leave it for the present," said the lord. "I +feel that in the midst of all your eloquence I do not quite catch +Miss O'Mahony's meaning."</p> + +<p>O'Mahony felt that this lord was as bad a lord as any of them. He +would like to force the lord to meet him at some debating club where +there was no wretched Speaker and there force him to give an answer +on any of the burning questions which now excited the two countries.</p> + +<p>"Very well. I will explain to Rachel as soon as I can that the matter +is still left in abeyance. Of course we feel the honour done us by +your lordship in not desiring to accept at once her decision. Her +condition is no doubt sad. But I suppose she may expect to hear once +more from yourself in a short time."</p> + +<p>So Mr. O'Mahony took his leave, and as he went to Cecil Street +endeavoured in his own mind to investigate the character of Lord +Castlewell. That he was a fool there could be no doubt, a fool with +whom he would not be forced to live in the constant intercourse of +married life for any money that could be offered to him. He was a man +who, without singing himself, cared for nothing but the second-hand +life of a theatre. But then he, Mr. O'Mahony, was not a young woman, +and was not expected to marry Lord Castlewell. But he had told +himself over and over again that Lord Castlewell had been "caught." +He was a great lord rolling in money, and Rachel had "caught" him. He +had not quite approved of Rachel's conduct, but the lord had been +fair game for a woman. What the deuce was he to think now of the lord +who would not be let off?</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether it can be love for her," said he to himself; "such +love as I used to feel."</p> + +<p>Then he sighed heavily as he went home.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-39" id="c3-39"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3> +<h4>CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>It was now April, and this April was a sad month in Ireland. I do not +know why the deaths of two such men as were then murdered should +touch the heart with a deeper sorrow than is felt for the fate of +others whose lot is lower in life; why the poor widow, who has lost +her husband while doing his duty amidst outrages and unmanly +revenges, is not to be so much thought of as the sweet lady who has +been robbed of her all in the same fashion. But so it is with human +nature. We know how a people will weep for their Sovereign, and it +was with such tears as that, with tears as sincere as those shed for +the best of kings, that Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were +lamented. In April these two men had fallen, hacked to death in front +of the Viceregal Lodge. By whom they were killed, as I write now, no +one knows, and as regards Lord Frederick one can hardly guess the +reason. He had come over to Ireland on that very day, to take the +place which his luckier predecessor had just vacated, and had as yet +done no service, and excited no vengeance in Ireland. He had only +attended an opening pageant;—because with him had come a new Lord +Lieutenant,—not new indeed to the office, but new in his return. An +accident had brought the two together on the day, but Lord Frederick +was altogether a stranger, and yet he had been selected. Such had +been his fate, and such also the fate of Mr. Burke, who, next to him +in official rank, may possibly have been in truth the doomed one. +They were both dealt with horribly on that April morning,—and all +Ireland was grieving. All Ireland was repudiating the crime, and +saying that this horror had surely been done by American hands. Even +the murderers native to Ireland seemed to be thoroughly ashamed of +this deed.</p> + +<p>It would be needless here to tell,—or to attempt to tell,—how one +Lord-Lieutenant had made way for another, and one Chief Secretary for +another Chief Secretary. It would be trying to do too much. In the +pages of a novel the novelist can hardly do more than indicate the +sources of the troubles which have fallen upon the country, and can +hardly venture to deal with the names and characters of those who +have been concerned. For myself, I do most cordially agree with the +policy of him in whose place Lord Frederick had this day +suffered,—as far as his conduct in Ireland can be read from that +which he did and from that which he spoke. As far as he had agreed +with the Government in their measure for interfering with the price +paid for land in the country,—for putting up a new law devised by +themselves in lieu of that time-honoured law by which property has +ever been protected in England,—I disagree. Of my disagreement no +one will take notice;—but my story cannot be written without +expressing it.</p> + +<p>But down at Morony Castle, mingled with their sorrows, there was a +joy and a triumph; not loud indeed, not sounded with trumpets, not as +yet perfect, not quite assured even in the mind of one man; but yet +assuring in the mind of that man,—and indeed of one other,—almost +to conviction. That man was Captain Yorke Clayton, and that other man +was only poor Hunter, the wounded policeman. For such triumph as was +theirs a victim is needed; and in this case the victim, the hoped-for +victim, was Mr. Lax.</p> + +<p>Nothing had ever been made out in regard to the murder of Terry +Carroll in the Court House at Galway. Irish mysteries are coming to +be unriddled now, but there will be no unriddling of that. Yorke +Clayton, together with Hunter and all the police of County Galway, +could do nothing in regard to that mystery. They had struggled their +very best, and, from the nature of the crime, had found themselves +almost obliged to discover the perpetrator. The press of the two +countries, the newspapers in other respects so hostile to each other, +had united in declaring that the police were bound to know all about +it. The police had determined to know nothing about it, because the +Government did not dare to bring forward such evidence. This was the +Irish Landleague view; and though it contained an accusation against +the Government for having contrived the murder itself, it was all the +better on that account. The English papers simply said that the +Galway police must be fast asleep. This man had been murdered when in +the very hands of the officers of justice. The judge had seen the +shots fired. The victim fell into the hands of four policemen. The +pistol was found at his feet. It was done in daylight, and all Galway +was looking on. The kind of things that were said by one set of +newspapers and another drove Yorke Clayton almost out of his wits. He +had to maintain a show of good humour, and he did maintain it +gallantly. "My hero is a hero still," whispered Edith to her own +pillow. But, in truth, nothing could be done as to that Galway case. +Mr. Lax was still in custody, and was advised by counsel not to give +any account of himself at that time. It was indecent on the part of +the prosecution that he should be asked to do so. So said the lawyers +on his side, but it was clear that nobody in the court and nobody in +Galway could be got to say that he or she had seen him do it. And yet +Yorke Clayton had himself seen the hip of the stooping man. "I +suppose I couldn't swear to it," he said to himself; and it would be +hard to see how he could swear to the man without forswearing +himself.</p> + +<p>But while this lamentable failure was going on, success reached him +from another side. He didn't care a straw what the newspapers said of +him, so long as he could hang Mr. Lax. His triumph in that respect +would drown all other failures. Mr. Lax was still in custody, and +many insolent petitions had been made on his behalf in order that he +might be set free. "Did the Crown intend to pretend that they had any +shadow of evidence against him as to the shooting of Terry Carroll?"</p> + +<p>"No;—but there was another murder committed a day or two before. +Poor young Florian Jones had been murdered. Even presuming that Lax's +hand cannot be seen visible in the matter of Terry Carroll, there is, +we think, something to connect him with the other murder. The two, no +doubt, were committed in the same interest. The Crown is not prepared +to allow Lax to escape from its hands quite yet." Then there were +many words on the subject going on just at the time at which Lax +especially wanted his freedom, and at which, to tell the truth, Yorke +Clayton was near the end of his tether in regard to poor Florian.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of his inquiry as to the Ballyglunin murder, he +entertained an idea that Lax, after firing the shot, had been seen by +that wicked car-driver, who had boycotted Mr. Jones in his great +need. The reader will probably have forgotten that Mr. Jones had +required to be driven home to Morony Castle from Ballyglunin station, +and had been refused the accommodation by a wicked old Landleaguer, +who had joined the conspiracy formed in the neighbourhood against Mr. +Jones. He had done so, either in fear of his neighbours, or else in a +true patriot spirit—because he had gone without any supper, as had +also his horses, on the occasion. The man's name was Teddy Mooney, +the father of Kit Mooney who stopped the hunting at Moytubber. And he +certainly was patriotic. From day to day he went on refusing +fares,—for the boycotted personages were after all more capable of +paying fares than the boycotting hero of doing without +them,—suffering much himself from want of victuals, and more on +behalf of his poor animal. He saw his son Kit more than once or twice +in those days, and Kit appeared to be the stancher patriot of the +two. Kit was a baker, and did earn wages; but he utterly refused to +subsidise the patriotism of his father. "If ye can't do that for the +ould counthry," said Kit, "ye ain't half the man I took ye for." But +he refused him a gallon of oats for his horse.</p> + +<p>It was not at once that the old man gave way. He went on boycotting +individuals till he hadn't a pair of breeches left to sit upon, and +the non-boycotted tradesmen of the little towns around declined to +sit upon his car, because the poor horse, fed upon roadside grasses, +refused to be urged into a trot. "Tare and ages, man, what's the good +of it? Ain't we a-cutting the noses off our own faces, and that with +the money so scarce that I haven't seen the sight of a half-crown +this two weeks." It was thus that he declared his purpose of going +back to the common unpatriotic ways of mankind, to an old pal, whom +he had known all his days. He did do so, but found, alas! that his +trade had perished in the meanwhile or forced itself into other +channels.</p> + +<p>The result was that Teddy Mooney became very bitter in spirit, and +was for a while an Orangeman, and almost a Protestant. The evil +things that had been done to him were terrible to his spirit. He had +been threatened with eviction from ten acres of ground because he +couldn't pay his rent; or, as he said, because he had declined to +drive a maid-servant to the house of another gentleman who was also +boycotted. This had not been true, but it had served to embitter +Teddy Mooney. And now, at last, he had determined to belong to the +other side.</p> + +<p>When an Irishman does make up his mind to serve the other side he is +very much determined. There is but the meditation of two minutes +between Landleaguing and Orangeism, between boycotting landlords and +thorough devotion to the dear old landlord. When Kit Mooney had first +laid down the law to his father, how he ought to assist in boycotting +all the enemies of the Landleague, no one saw his way clearer than +did Teddy Mooney. "I wouldn't mind doing without a bit or a sup," he +said, when his son explained to him that he might have to suffer a +little for the cause. "Not a bit or a sup when the ould counthry +wants it." He had since had a few words with his son Kit, and was now +quite on the other side of the question. He was told that somebody +had threatened to cut off his old mare's tail because he had driven +Phil D'Arcy. Since that he had become a martyr as well as an +Orangeman, and was disposed to go any length "for the gintl'men." +This had come all about by degrees—had been coming about since poor +Florian's murder; and at last he wrote a letter to Yorke Clayton, or +got someone else to write it:</p> + +<p>"Yer Honour,—It was Lax as dropped Master Flory. Divil a doubt about +it. There's one as can tell more about it as is on the road from +Ballyglunin all round. This comes from a well-wisher to the ould +cause. For Muster Clayton."</p> + +<p>When Captain Clayton received this he at once knew from whom it had +come. The Landleaguing car-driver, who had turned gentlemen's friend, +was sufficiently well known to history to have been talked about. +Clayton, therefore, did not lose much time in going down to +Ballyglunin station and requiring to be driven yet once again from +thence to Carnlough. "And now, Mr. Teddy Mooney," he said, after they +had travelled together a mile or two from Ballyglunin, and had come +almost to the spot at which the poor boy had been shot, "tell me what +you know about Mr. Lax's movements in this part of the world." He had +never come there before since the fatal day without having three +policemen with him, but now he was alone. Such a man as Teddy Mooney +would be most unwilling to open his mouth in the presence of two or +more persons.</p> + +<p>"O Lord, Captain, how you come on a poor fellow all unawares!"</p> + +<p>"Stop a moment, Mr. Mooney," and the car stopped. "Whereabouts was it +the young gentleman perished?"</p> + +<p>"Them's the very shot-holes," said Teddy, pointing up to the +temporary embrasure, which had indeed been knocked down half a score +of times since the murder, and had been as often replaced by the +diligent care of Mr. Blake and Captain Clayton.</p> + +<p>"Just so. They are the shot-holes. And which way did the murderer +run?" Teddy pointed with his whip away to the east, over the ground +on which the man had made his escape. "And where did you first see +him?"</p> + +<p>"See him!" ejaculated Teddy. It became horrible to his imagination as +he thought that he was about to tell of such a deed.</p> + +<p>"Of course, we know you did see him; but I want to know the exact +spot."</p> + +<p>"It was over there, nigh to widow Dolan's cottage."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't the widow who saw him, I think?"</p> + +<p>"Faix, it was the widow thin, with her own eyes. I hardly know'd him. +And yet I did know him, for I'd seen him once travelling from +Ballinasloe with Pat Carroll. And Lax is a man as when you've once +seen him you've seen him for allays. But she knowed him well. Her +husband was one of the boys when the Fenians were up. If he didn't go +into the widow Dolan's cabin my name's not Teddy Mooney."</p> + +<p>"And who else was there?"</p> + +<p>"There was no one else; but only her darter, a slip of a girl o' +fifteen, come up while Lax was there. I know she come up, because I +saw her coming jist as I passed the door."</p> + +<p>Captain Clayton entered into very friendly relations with Teddy +Mooney on that occasion, trying to make him understand, without any +absolute promises, that all the luck and all the rewards,—in fact, +all the bacon and oats,—lay on the dish to which Mr. Lax did not +belong. Under these influences Teddy did become communicative—though +he lied most awfully. That did not in the least shock Captain +Clayton, who certainly would have believed nothing had the truth been +told him without hesitation. At last it came out that the car-driver +was sure as to the personality of Lax,—had seen him again and again +since he had first made his acquaintance in Carroll's company, and +could swear to having seen him in the widow's cabin. He knew also +that the widow and her daughter were intimate with Lax. He had not +seen the shot fired. This he said in an assured tone, but Captain +Clayton had known that before. He did not expect to find anyone who +had seen the shot fired, except Mr. Jones and Peter. As to Peter he +had his suspicions. Mr. Jones was certain that Peter had told the +truth in declaring that he had seen no one; but the Captain had +argued the matter out with him. "A fellow of that kind is in a very +hard position. You must remember that for the truth itself he cares +nothing. He finds a charm rather in the romantic beauty of a lie. Lax +is to him a lovely object, even though he be aware that he and Lax be +on different sides. And then he thoroughly believes in Lax; thinks +that Lax possesses some mysterious power of knowing what is in his +mind, and of punishing him for his enmity. All the want of evidence +in this country comes from belief in the marvellous. The people think +that their very thoughts are known to men who make their name +conspicuous, and dare not say a word which they suppose that it is +desired they shall withhold. In this case Peter no doubt is on our +side, and would gladly hang Lax with his own hand if he were sure he +would be safe. But Lax is a mysterious tyrant, who in his imagination +can slaughter him any day; whereas he knows that he shall encounter +no harm from you. He and poor Florian were sitting on the car with +their backs turned to the embrasure; and Peter's attention was given +to the driving of the car,—so that there was no ground for thinking +that he had seen the murderer. All the circumstances of the moment +ran the other way. But still it was possible."</p> + +<p>And Captain Clayton was of opinion that Peter was beginning to be +moved from the determined know-nothingness of his primary evidence. +He had seen the flash. And then, as his master had run up the bank, +he didn't know whether he hadn't caught the flying figure of a man.</p> + +<p>"I had the poor boy's head on my knees, Captain Clayton; and how is a +poor man to look much about him then?"</p> + +<p>In this condition stood Captain Clayton's mind in regard to Peter, +when he heard, for the first time, a word about the widow Dolan and +the widow Dolan's daughter.</p> + +<p>The woman swore by all her gods that she knew nothing of Lax. But +then she had already fallen into the difficulty of having been +selected as capable of giving evidence. It generally happens that no +one first person will be found even to indicate others, so that there +is no finding a beginning to the case. But when a witness has been +indicated, the witness must speak.</p> + +<p>"The big blackguard!" exclaimed Mrs. Dolan, when she heard of the +evil that had been brought her; "to have the imperence to mention my +name!"</p> + +<p>It was felt, all the country through, to be an impertinence,—for +anybody to drag anybody else into the mess of troubles which was sure +to arise from an enforced connection with a law court. Most +unwillingly the circumstances were drawn from Mrs. Dolan, and with +extreme difficulty also from that ingenious young lady her daughter. +But, still, it was made to appear that Lax had taken refuge in their +cottage, and had gone down from thence to a little brook, where he +effected the cleansing of his pistol. The young lady had done all in +her power to keep her mother silent, but the mother had at last been +tempted to speak of the weapon which Lax had used.</p> + +<p>Now there was no further question of letting Lax go loose from +prison! That very irate barrister, Mr. O'Donnell, who was accustomed +to speak of all the Landleague criminals as patriotic lambs,—whose +lamb-like qualities were exceeded only by their patriotism,—did not +dare to intimate such a wish any further. But he did urge, with all +that benevolence for which he was conspicuous, that the trial should +come on at that immediate spring assizes. A rumour had, however, +already reached the ears of Captain Clayton, and others in his +position, that a great alteration was to be effected in the law. +This, together with Mrs. Dolan's evidence, might enable him to hang +Mr. Lax. Therefore the trial was postponed;—not, indeed, with +outspoken reference as to the new measure, but with much confidence +in its resources.</p> + +<p>It would be useless here to refer to that Bill which was to have been +passed for trying certain prisoners in Ireland without the +intervention of a jury, and of the alteration which took place in it +empowering the Government to alter the venue, and to submit such +cases to a selected judge, to selected juries, to selected counties. +The Irish judges had remonstrated against the first measure, and the +second was to be first tried, so that should it fail the judges might +yet be called upon to act.</p> + +<p>Such was the law under which criminals were tried in 1882, and the +first capital convictions were made under which the country began to +breathe freely. But the tidings of the law had got abroad beforehand, +and gave a hope of triumph to such men as Captain Clayton. Let a man +undertake what duty he will in life, if he be a good man he will +desire success; and if he be a brave man he will long for victory. +The presence of such a man as Lax in the country was an eyesore to +Captain Clayton, which it was his primary duty to remove. And it was +a triumph to him now that the time had come in which he might remove +him. Three times had Mr. Lax fired at the Captain's head, and three +times had the Captain escaped. "I think he has done with his guns and +his pistols now," said Captain Clayton, in his triumph.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-40" id="c3-40"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XL.</h3> +<h4>YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>"I am not quite sure about Peter yet," said Clayton to Mr. Jones. +"But if we could look into his very soul I am afraid he could not do +much for us."</p> + +<p>"I never believed in Peter as a witness," replied Mr. Jones.</p> + +<p>"I should like to know exactly what he did see;—whether it was a +limb or a bit of his coat. But I think that young lady crept out and +saw him cleaning his pistol. And I think that the old lady had a +glimpse of the mask. I think that they can be made to say so."</p> + +<p>"I saw the mask myself, and the muzzle of the rifle;—and I saw the +man running as plainly as I see you."</p> + +<p>"That will all be wanted, Mr. Jones. But I trust that we may have to +summon you to Dublin. As things are at present, if Lax had been seen +in broad daylight firing at the poor boy by a dozen farmers it would +do no good in County Galway. There is Miss Edith out there. She is +awfully anxious about this wretch who destroyed her brother. I will +go and tell her." So Captain Clayton rushed out, anxious for another +cause for triumph.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones had heard of his suit, and had heard also that the suit was +made to Edith and not to Ada. "There is not one in a dozen who would +have taken Edith," said he to himself,—"unless it be one who saw her +with my eyes." But yet he did not approve of the marriage. "They were +poverty stricken," he said, and Clayton went about from day to day +with his life in his hand. "A brave man," he said to himself; "but +singularly foolhardy,—unless it be that he wants to die." He had not +been called upon for his consent, for Edith had never yielded. She, +too, had said that it was impossible. "If Ada would have suited, it +might have been possible, but not between Yorke and me." They had +both come now to call him by his Christian name; and they to him were +Ada and Edith; but with their father he had never quite reached the +familiarity of a Christian name.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones had, in truth, been so saddened by the circumstances of the +last two years that he could not endure the idea of marriages in his +family. "Of course, if you choose, my dear, you can do as you like," +he used to say to Edith.</p> + +<p>"But I don't choose."</p> + +<p>"What there are left of us should, I think, remain together. I +suppose they cannot turn me out of this house. The Prime Minister +will hardly bring in a Bill that the estates bought this last hundred +years shall belong to the owners of the next century. He can do so, +of course, as things go now. There are no longer any lords to stop +him, and the House of Commons, who want their seats, will do anything +he bids them. It's the First Lieutenant who looks after Ireland, who +has ideas of justice with which the angels of light have certainly +not filled his mind. That we should get nothing from our purchased +property this century, and give it up in the course of the next, is +in strict accordance with his thinking. We can depend upon nothing. +My brother-in-law can, of course, sell me out any day, and would not +stop for a moment. Everybody has to get his own, except an Irish +landlord. But I think we should fare ill all together. Your brother +is behaving nobly, and I don't think we ought to desert him. Of +course you can do as you please."</p> + +<p>Then the squire pottered on, wretched in heart; or, rather, down in +the mouth, as we say, and gave his advice to his younger daughter, +not, in truth, knowing how her heart stood. But a man, when he +undertakes to advise another, should not be down in the mouth +himself. <i>Equam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem, non secus ac +bonis</i>. If not, your thoughts will be too strongly coloured by your +own misfortunes to allow of your advising others.</p> + +<p>All this Edith knew,—except the Latin. The meaning of it had been +brought home to her by her own light. "Poor papa is so hipped," she +said to herself, "that he thinks that nobody will ever be happy +again." But still she resolved that she would not marry Yorke +Clayton. There had been a mistake, and she had made it,—a miserable +blunder for which she was responsible. She did not quite analyse the +matter in her own mind, or look into the thoughts of Ada, or of Yorke +himself,—the hero of her pillow; but she continued to tell herself +that the proper order of things would not admit it. Ada, she knew, +wished it. Yorke longed for her, more strongly even than for Lax, the +murderer. For herself, when she would allow her thoughts to stray for +a moment in that direction, all the bright azure tints of heaven were +open to her. But she had made a mistake, and she did not deserve it. +She had been a blind fool, and blind fools deserved no azure tints of +heaven.</p> + +<p>If she could have had her own way she would still have married Ada to +Yorke Clayton. When Ada told her that she had got over her foolish +love, it was the mere babble of unselfishness. Feel a passion for +such a man as Yorke Clayton, look into the depth of his blue eyes, +and fancy for herself a partnership with the spirit hidden away +within, and then get over it! Edith was guilty here of the folly of +judging of her sister as herself. And as for Yorke himself;—a man, +she said, always satisfies himself with that which is lovely and +beautiful. And with Ada he would have such other gifts as so strong a +man as Yorke always desires in his wife. In temper she was +perfect; in unselfishness she was excellent. In all those ways of +giving aid, which some women possess and some not at all,—but which, +when possessed, go so far to make the comfort of a house,—she was +supreme. If a bedroom were untidy, her eye saw it at once. If a thing +had to be done at the stroke of noon, she would remember that other +things could not be done at the same time. If a man liked his egg +half-boiled, she would bear it in her mind for ever. She would know +the proper day for making this marmalade and that preserve; and she +would never lose her good looks for a moment when she was doing these +things. With her little dusting-brush at her girdle, no eyes that +knew anything would ever take her for aught but a lady. She was just +the wife for Yorke Clayton.</p> + +<p>So Edith argued it in her own bosom, adding other wondrous mistakes +to that first mistake she had made. In thinking of it all she counted +herself for nothing, and made believe that she was ugly in all eyes. +She would not allow the man to see as his fancy led him; and could +not bring herself to think that if now the man should change his mind +and offer his hand to Ada, it would be impossible that Ada should +accept it. Nor did she perceive that Ada had not suffered as she had +suffered.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to catch you just for one moment," said Yorke Clayton, +running out so as to catch his prey. She had half wished to fly from +him, and had half told herself that any such flight was foolish.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Yorke?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I think,—I do think that I have at last got Lax upon the hip."</p> + +<p>"You are so bloody-minded about Lax."</p> + +<p>"What! Are you going to turn round and be merciful?" He was her hero, +and she certainly felt no mercy towards the murderer of her brother; +no mercy towards him who she now thought had planned all the injury +done to her father; no mercy towards him who had thrice fired at her +beloved. This wretched man had struggled to get the blood of him who +was all the world to her; and had been urged on to his black deeds by +no thought, by no feeling, that was not in itself as vile as hell! +Lax was to her a viper so noxious as to be beyond the pale of all +mercy. To crush him beneath the heel of her boot, so as to make an +end of him, as of any other poisonous animal, was the best mercy to +all other human beings. But she had said the word at the spur of the +moment, because she had been instigated by her feelings to gainsay +her hero, and to contradict him, so that he might think that he was +no hero of hers. She looked at him for the moment, and said nothing, +though he held her by the arm. "If you say I am to spare him, I will +spare him."</p> + +<p>"No," she answered, "because of your duty."</p> + +<p>"Have I followed this man simply as a duty? Have I lain awake +thinking of it till I have given to the pursuit such an amount of +energy as no duty can require? Thrice he has endeavoured to kill me, +firing at me in the dark, getting at me from behind hedges, as no one +who has anything of the spirit of man in his bosom will do when he +strives to destroy his enemy. All that has been nothing. I am a +policeman in search of him, and am the natural enemy of a murderer. +Of course in the ordinary way I would not have spared him; but the +ordinary way would have sufficed. Had he escaped me I could have +laughed at all that. But he took that poor lad's life!" Here he +looked sadly into her face, and she could see that there was a tear +within his eye. "That was much, but that was not all. That lad was +your brother, him whom you so dearly loved. He shot down the poor +child before his father's face, simply because he had said that he +would tell the truth. When you wept, when you tore your hair, when +you flung yourself in sorrow upon the body, I told myself that either +he or I must die. And now you bid me be merciful." Then the big tears +dropped down his cheeks, and he began to wail himself,—hardly like a +man.</p> + +<p>And what did Edith do? She stood and looked at him for a few moments; +then extricated herself from the hold he still had of her, and flung +herself into his arms. He put down his face and kissed her forehead +and her cheeks; but she put up her mouth and kissed his lips. Not +once or twice was that kiss given; but there they stood closely +pressed to each other in a long embrace. "My hero," she said; "my +hero." It had all come at last,—the double triumph; and there was, +he felt, no happier man in all Ireland than he. He thought, at least, +that the double battle had been now won. But even yet it was not so. +"Captain Clayton," she began.</p> + +<p>"Why Captain? Why Clayton?"</p> + +<p>"My brother Yorke," and she pressed both his hands in hers. "You can +understand that I have been carried away by my feelings, to thank you +as a sister may thank a brother."</p> + +<p>"I will not have it," he exclaimed fiercely. "You are no sister, nor +can I ever be your brother. You are my very own now, and for ever." +And he rushed at her again as though to envelop her in his arms, and +to crush her against his bosom.</p> + +<p>"No!" she exclaimed, avoiding him with the activity of a young fawn; +"not again. I had to beg your pardon, and it was so I did it."</p> + +<p>"Twenty times you have offended me, and twenty times you must repeat +your forgiveness."</p> + +<p>"No, no, it must not be so. I was wrong to say that you were +bloody-minded. I cannot tell why I said so. I would not for worlds +have you altered in anything;—except," she said, "in your love for +me."</p> + +<p>"But have you told me nothing?"</p> + +<p>"I have called you my hero,—and so you are."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Edith, it is more than that. It is not for me to remind you, +but it is more than that."</p> + +<p>She stood there blushing before him, over her cheeks and up to her +forehead; but yet did not turn away her face.</p> + +<p>"How am I to tell you why it is more than that? You cannot tell me," +she replied.</p> + +<p>"But, Edith—"</p> + +<p>"You cannot tell me. There are moments for some of us the feelings of +which can never be whispered. You shall be my hero and my brother if +you will; or my hero and my friend; or, if not that, my hero and my +enemy."</p> + +<p>"Never!"</p> + +<p>"No, my enemy you cannot be; for him who is about to revenge my +brother's death no name less sweet than dearest friend will suffice. +My hero and my dearest friend!"</p> + +<p>Then she took him by the hand, and turned away from the walk, and, +escaping by a narrow path, was seen no more till she met him at +dinner with her father and her brother and her sister.</p> + +<p>"By God! she shall be mine!" said Clayton. "She must be mine!"</p> + +<p>And then he went within, and, finding Hunter, read the details of the +evidence for the trial of Mr. Lax in Dublin, as prepared by the +proper officers in Galway city.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-41" id="c3-41"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLI.</h3> +<h4>THE STATE OF IRELAND.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>It will be well that they who are interested only in the sensational +incidents of our story to skip this chapter and go on to other parts +of our tale which may be more in accordance with their taste. It is +necessary that this one chapter shall be written in which the +accidents that occurred in the lives of our three heroines shall be +made subordinate to the political circumstances of the day. This +chapter should have been introductory and initiative; but the facts +as stated will suit better to the telling of my story if they be told +here. There can be no doubt that Ireland has been and still is in a +most precarious condition, that life has been altogether unsafe +there, and that property has been jeopardised in a degree unknown for +many years in the British Islands. It is, I think, the general +opinion that these evils have been occasioned by the influx into +Ireland of a feeling which I will not call American, but which has +been engendered in America by Irish jealousy, and warmed into hatred +by distance from English rule. As far as politics are regarded, +Ireland has been the vassal of England as Poland has been of those +masters under which she has been made to serve. She was subjected to +much ill-usage, and though she has readily accepted the language, the +civilisation, and the customs of England, and has in fact grown rich +by adopting them, the memories of former hardships have clung to her, +and have made her ready to receive willingly the teachings of those +whose only object it has been to undermine the prestige of the +British Empire. In no respect has she more readily taken to her bosom +English practices than in that of the letting and the hiring of land. +In various countries, such as Italy, Russia, France, and the United +States, systems have grown up different from that which has prevailed +in England. Whether the English system or any other may be the best +is not now the question. But in answering that question it is +material to know that Ireland has accepted and, at any rate for two +centuries, has followed that system. The landlord has been to his +tenants a beneficent or, occasionally, a hard master, and the tenants +have acknowledged themselves as dependent, generally with much +affection, though not unfrequently with loud complaint. It has been +the same in England. Questions of tenant-right, of leases, and of the +cruelty of evictions have from time to time cropped up in Ireland. +But rents were readily paid up to 1878 and 1879; though abatements +were asked for,—as was the case also in England; and there were men +ready to tell the Irish from time to time, since the days of +O'Connell downwards, that they were ill-treated in being kept out of +their "ould" properties by the rightful owners.</p> + +<p>Then the American revolt, growing out of Smith O'Brien's logic and +physical force, gave birth to Fenianism. The true Fenian I take to be +one desirous of opposing British power, by using a fulcrum placed on +American soil. Smith O'Brien's logic consisted in his assertion that +if his country wished to hammer the British Crown, they could only do +it by using hammers. Smith O'Brien achieved little beyond his own +exile;—but his words, acting upon his followers, produced Fenianism. +That died away, but the spirit remained in America; and when English +tenants began to clamour for temporary abatements in their rent, the +clamours were heard on the other side of the water, and assisted the +views of those American-Irish who had revivified Ribandism and had +given birth to the cry of Home Rule.</p> + +<p>During the time that this was going on, a long unflagging series of +beneficial Acts of Parliament, and of consequently ameliorated +circumstances, had befallen the country. I was told the other day by +an Irish Judge, whose name stands conspicuous among those who are +known for their wisdom and their patriotism, by a Roman Catholic +Judge too, that in studying the latter laws of the two countries, the +laws affecting England and Ireland in reference to each other, he +knew no law by which England was specially favoured, though he knew +various laws redounding to the benefit of Ireland. When the cry for +some relief to suffering Ireland came up, at the time of the Duchess +of Marlborough's Fund, it was alleged in proof of Ireland's poor +condition that there was not work by which the labourers could earn +wages. I have known Ireland for more than forty years,—say from 1842 +to 1882. In 1842 we paid five shillings a week for the entire work of +a man. As far as I can learn, we now pay, on an average, nine +shillings for the same. The question is not whether five shillings +was sufficient, or whether nine be insufficient, but that the normal +increase through the country has been and can be proved to be such as +is here declared.</p> + +<p>I will refer to the banks, which can now be found established in any +little town, almost in any village, through the country. Fifty years +ago they were very much rarer. Banks do not spring up without money +to support them. The increase of wages,—and the banks also in an +indirect manner,—have come from that decrease in the population +which followed the potato famine of 1846. The famine and its results +were terrible while they lasted; but they left behind them an amended +state of things. When man has failed to rule the world rightly, God +will step in, and will cause famines, and plagues, and +pestilence—even poverty itself—with His own Right Arm. But the cure +was effected, and the country was on its road to a fair amount of +prosperity, when the tocsin was sounded in America, and Home Rule +became the cry.</p> + +<p>Ireland has lain as it were between two rich countries. England, her +near neighbour, abounds in coal and iron, and has by means of these +possessions become rich among the nations. America, very much the +more distant, has by her unexampled agricultural resources put +herself in the way to equal England. It is necessary,—necessary at +any rate for England's safety,—that Ireland should belong to her. +This is here stated as a fact, and I add my own opinion that it is +equally necessary for Ireland's welfare. But on this subject there +has arisen a feud which is now being fought out by all the weapons of +rebellion on one side, and on the other by the force of a dominating +Government, restrained, as it is found to be, by the self-imposed +bonds of a democratic legislature. But there is the feud, and the +battle, and the roaring of the cannons is heard afar off.</p> + +<p>I now purpose to describe in a very few words the nature of the +warfare. It may be said that the existence of Ireland as a province +of England depends on the tenure of the land. If the land were to be +taken altogether from the present owners, and divided in perpetuity +among any possible number of tenants, so as to be the property of +each tenant, without payment of any rent, all England's sense of +justice would be outraged, the English power of governing would be +destroyed, and all that could then be done by England would be to +give a refuge to the present owners till the time should come for +righting themselves, and they should be enabled to make some further +attempt for the recovery of their possessions. This would probably +arrive, if not sooner, from the annihilation of the new proprietors +under the hands of their fellow-countrymen to whom none of the spoil +had been awarded. But English statesmen,—a small portion, that is, +of English statesmen,—have wished in their philanthropy to devise +some measure which might satisfy the present tenants of the land, +giving them a portion of the spoil; and might leave the landlords +contented,—not indeed with their lot, which they would feel to be +one of cruel deprivation, but with the feeling that something had at +any rate been left to them. A compromise would be thus effected +between the two classes whose interests have always been opposed to +each other since the world began,—between the owners of property and +those who have owned none.</p> + +<p>The statesmen in question have now come into power by means of their +philanthropy, their undoubted genius, and great gifts of eloquence. +They have almost talked the world out of its power of sober judgment. +I hold that they have so succeeded in talking to the present House of +Commons. And when the House of Commons has been so talked into any +wise or foolish decision, the House of Lords and the whole +legislating machinery of the country is bound to follow.</p> + +<p>But how should their compromises be effected? It does not suit the +present writer to name any individual statesman. He neither wishes to +assist in raising a friend to the gods, or to lend his little aid in +crushing an enemy. But to the Liberal statesmen of the day, men in +speaking well of whom—at a great distance—he has spent a long life, +he is now bound to express himself as opposed. We all remember the +manner after which the Coercion Bill of 1881 was passed. The hoarse +shrieks with which a score of Irish members ran out of the House +crying "Privilege," when their voices had been stopped by the +salutary but certainly unconstitutional word of the Speaker, is still +ringing in our ears. Then the Government and the Irish score were at +daggers-drawn with each other. To sit for thirty-six hours +endeavouring to pass a clause was then held by all men to be an +odious bondage. But when these clauses had thus roughly been made to +be the law, the sugar-plum was to follow by which all Ireland was to +be appeased. The second Bill of 1881 was passed, which, with various +additions, has given rise to Judge O'Hagan's Land Court. That, with +its various sub-commissioners, is now engaged in settling at what +rate land shall be let in Ireland.</p> + +<p>That Judge O'Hagan and his fellow commissioners are well qualified to +perform their task,—as well qualified, that is, by kindness, by +legal knowledge and general sagacity as any men can be,—I have heard +no one deny. In the performance of most difficult duties they have +hitherto encountered no censure. But they have, I think, been taxed +to perform duties beyond the reach of any mortal wisdom. They are +expected to do that which all the world has hitherto failed in +doing,—to do that against which the commonest proverbs of ancient +and modern wisdom have raised their voice. There is no proverb more +common than that of "<i>caveat emptor</i>." It is Judge O'Hagan's business +to do for the poorer party in each bargain made between a landlord +and a tenant that against which the above proverb warns him. The +landlord has declared that the tenant shall not have the land unless +he will pay £10 a year for it. The tenant agrees. Then comes Judge +O'Hagan and tells the two contracting parties to take up their pens +quickly and write down £8 as the fair rent payable for the land. And +it was with the object of doing this, of reducing every £10 by some +percentage, twenty per cent. or otherwise, that this commission was +appointed. The Government had taken upon itself to say that the greed +of Irish landlords had been too greedy, and the softness of Irish +tenants too soft, and that therefore Parliament must interfere. +Parliament has interfered, and £8 is to be written down for a term of +years in lieu of £10, and the land is to become the possession of the +tenant instead of the landlord as long as he may pay this reduced +rent. In fact all the bonds which have bound the landlord to his land +are to be annihilated. So also are the bonds which bind the tenant, +who will sell the property so acquired when he shall have found that +that for which he pays £8 per annum shall have become worth £10 in +the market.</p> + +<p>It is useless to argue with the commissioners, or with the +Government, as to the inexpediency of such an attempt to alter the +laws for governing the world, which have forced themselves on the +world's acceptance. Many such attempts have been made to alter these +laws. The Romans said that twelve per cent. should be the interest +for money. A feeling long prevailed in England that legitimate +interest should not exceed five per cent. It is now acknowledged that +money is worth what it will fetch; and the interests of the young, +the foolish, and the reckless, who are tempted to pay too much for +it, are protected only by public opinion. The usurer is hated, and +the hands of the honest men are against him. That suffices to give +the borrower such protection as is needed. So it is with landlords +and tenants. Injury is no doubt done, and injustice is enabled to +prevail here and there. But it is the lesser injury, the lesser +injustice, which cannot be prevented in the long run by any attempt +to escape the law of "<i>caveat emptor</i>."</p> + +<p>It is, however, vain to talk to benevolent commissioners, or to a +Government working by eloquence and guided by philanthropy, +regardless of political economy. "Would you have the heart," asks the +benevolent commissioner, "to evict the poor man from his small +holding on which he has lived all his life, where his only sympathies +lie, and send him abroad to a distant land, where his solitary tie +will be that of labour?" The benevolent commissioner thus expresses +with great talk and with something also of the eloquence of his +employers the feeling which prevails on that side of the question. +But that which he deprecates is just what I could do; and having seen +many Irishmen both in America and in Ireland, I know that the +American Irishman is the happiest man of the two. He eats more; and +in much eating the happiness of mankind depends greatly. He is better +clothed, better sheltered, and better instructed. Though his women +wail when he departs, he sends home money to fetch them. This may be +for the profit of America. There are many who think that it must +therefore be to the injury of England. The question now is whether +the pathetic remonstrance of the tear-laden commissioner should be +allowed to prevail. I say that the tenant who undertakes to pay for +land that which the land will not enable him to pay had better +go,—under whatever pressure.</p> + +<p>Let us see how many details, how many improbabilities, will have to +be met before the benevolence of the commissioner can be made to +prevail. The reductions made on the rent average something between +twenty and twenty-five per cent. Let us take them at twenty. If a +tenant has to be evicted for a demand of £10, will he be able to live +in comfort if he pay only £8? Shall one tenant live in comfort on a +farm, the rent of which has been reduced him from £100 to £80, and +another, the reduction having been from £20 to £16? In either case, +if a tenant shall do well with two children, how shall he do with six +or eight? A true teetotaller can certainly pay double the rent which +may be extracted from a man who drinks. Shall the normal tenant earn +wages beyond what he gets from the land under his own tillage? Shall +the idle man be made equal to the industrious,—or can this be done, +or should it be done, by any philanthropy? Statesmen sitting together +in a cabinet may resolve that they will set the world right by +eloquence and benevolence combined; but the practices to which the +world have been brought by long experience will avail more than +eloquence and benevolence. Statesmen may decree that land shall be +let at a certain rate, and the decree will prevail for a time. It may +prevail long enough to put out of gear the present affairs of the +Irish world with which these statesmen will have tampered. But the +long experience will come back, and bargains will again be made +between man and man, though the intervening injuries will be +heartbreaking.</p> + +<p>But the benevolence of the Government and its commissioners will not +have gone far. The Land Law of 1881 has, as I now write, been at work +for twelve months, and the results hitherto accomplished have been +very small. It may be doubted whether a single reluctant tenant,—a +single tenant who would have been unwilling to leave his +holding,—has been preserved from American exile by having his £10 or +£20 or £30 of rent reduced to £8 or £16 or £24. The commissioners +work slowly, having all the skill of the lawyers, on one side or the +other, against them. It is piteous to see the hopelessness of three +sub-commissioners in the midst of a crowd of Irish attorneys. And the +law, as it exists at present, can be made to act only on holdings +possessed by tenants for one year. And the skill of the lawyers is +used in proving on the part of the landlords that the land is held by +firm leases, and cannot, therefore, be subjected to the law; and then +by proving, on behalf of the tenants, that the existing leases are +illegal, and should be broken. The possession of a lease, which used +to be regarded as a safeguard and permanent blessing to the tenant, +is now held to be cruelly detrimental to him, as preventing the +lowering of his rent, and the immediate creation for him of a tenancy +for ever. It is not to be supposed that the sub-commissioners can +walk over the land and straightway reduce the rents, though the lands +would certainly be subject to such reduction did not the law +interfere. In a majority of cases,—a majority as far as all Ireland +is concerned,—a feeling of honesty does prevail between landlord and +tenant, which makes them both willing to subject themselves to the +new law without the interference of attorneys, and many are preparing +themselves for such an arrangement. The landlord is willing to lose +twenty per cent. in fear of something worse, and the tenant is +willing to take it, hardly daring to hope for anything better. Such +is the best condition which the law has ventured to anticipate. But +in either case this is to be done as tempering the wind to the shorn +lamb. The landlord is anxious if possible to save for himself and +those who may come after him something of the reality of his +property, and the tenant feels that, though something of the nobility +of property has been promised to him by the Landleaguers, he may +after all make the best bargain by so far submitting himself to his +shorn landlord.</p> + +<p>But on estates where the commissioners are allowed their full swing, +the whole nature of the property in the land will be altered. The +present tenant, paying a tax of £8 per annum which will be subjected +to no reduction and on which no abatement can be made, in lieu of a +£10 rent, will be the owner. The small man will be infinitely more +subject to disturbance than at present, because the tax must be paid. +The landlord will feel no mercy for him, seeing that the bonds +between them which demanded mercy have been abrogated. The extra £2 +or £4 or £6 will not enable the tenant to live the life of ease which +he will have promised himself. If his interest has been made to be +worth anything,—and it will be worth something, seeing that it has +been worth something, and is saleable under its present +condition,—it will be sold, and the emigration will continue. There +are cruel cases at present. There will be cases not less cruel under +the <i>régime</i> which the new law is expected to produce. But the new +law will be felt to have been unjust as having tampered with the +rights of property, and having demanded from the owners of property +its sale or other terms than those of mutual contract.</p> + +<p>But the time selected for the measure was most inappropriate. If good +in itself, it was bad at the time it was passed. Home Rule coming +across to us from America had taken the guise of rebellion. I have +met gentlemen who, as Home-Rulers, have simply desired to obtain for +their country an increase of power in the management of their own +affairs. These men have been loyal and patriotic, and it might +perhaps be well to meet their views. The Channel no doubt does make a +difference between Liverpool and Dublin. But the latter-day +Home-Rulers, of whom I speak, brought their politics, their +aspirations, and their money from New York, and boldly made use of +the means which the British Constitution afforded them to upset the +British Constitution as established in Ireland. That they should not +succeed in doing this is the determination of all, at any rate on +this side of the Channel. It is still, I believe, the desire of most +thinking men on the Irish side. But parliamentary votes are not given +only to thinking men; and consequently a body of members has appeared +in the House, energetic and now well trained, who have resolved by +the clamour of their voices to put an end to the British power of +governing the country. These members are but a minority among those +whom Ireland sends to Parliament; but they have learned what a +minority can effect by unbridled audacity. England is still writhing +in her attempt to invent some mode of controlling them. But long +before any such mode had been adopted,—had been adopted or even +planned,—the Government in 1881 brought out their plan for securing +to the tenants fair rents, fixity of tenure, and freedom of sale.</p> + +<p>As to the first, it will, of course, be admitted by all men that +rents should be fair, as also should be the price at which a horse is +sold. It is, however, beyond the power of Parliament to settle the +terms which shall be fair. "<i>Caveat emptor</i>" is the only rule by +which fair rents may be reached. By fixity of tenure is meant such a +holding of the land as shall enable the tenant to obtain an adequate +return for his labour and his capital, and to this is added a +romantic and consequently a most unjust idea that it may be well to +settle this question on behalf of the tenant by granting him such a +term as shall leave no doubt. Let him have the land for ever as long +as he will pay a stipulated sum, which shall be considerably less +than the landlord's demand. That idea I call romantic, and therefore +unjust. But, even though the beauty of the romance be held sufficient +to atone for the injustice, this was not the poetical re-arrangement +of all the circumstances of land tenure in Ireland. Freedom of sale +is necessarily annexed to fixity of tenure. If a man is to have the +possession of land in perpetuity, surely he should be allowed to sell +it. Whether he be allowed or not, he will contrive to do so. Freedom +of sale means, I take it, that the so-called landlord shall have no +power of putting a veto on the transaction. We cannot here go into +the whole question as it existed in Ulster before 1870; but the +freedom of sale intended is such, I think, as I have defined it.</p> + +<p>Whether these concessions be good or bad, this was, at any rate, no +time for granting them. They seem to me to amount to wholesale +confiscation. But supposing me to be wrong in that, can I be wrong in +thinking that a period of declared rebellion is not a time for +concessions? When the Land Bill was passed the Landleague was in full +power; boycotting had become the recognised weapon of an illegal +association; and the Home-Rulers of the day,—the party, that is, who +represented the Landleague,—were already in such possession of large +portions of the country as to prevent the possibility of carrying out +the laws.</p> + +<p>At this moment the Government brought forward its romantic theory as +to the manipulation of land, and, before that theory was at work, +commenced its benevolent intentions by locking up all those who were +supposed to be guilty of an intention to carry out the Government +project further than the Government would carry it out itself. It is +held, as a rule, in politics that coercion and concession cannot be +applied together. Ireland was in mutiny under the guidance of a +mutinous party in the House of Commons, and at that moment a +commission was put in operation, under which it was the intention of +the Government to transfer the soil of the country at a reduced price +to the very men among whom the mutineers are to be found. How do the +tidings of such a commission operate upon the ears of Irishmen at +large? He is told that under the fear of the Landleague his rent is +to be reduced to an extent which is left to his imagination; and +then, that he is to be freed altogether from the incubus of a +landlord! He is, in fact, made to understand that his cherished +Landleague has become all-powerful. And yet he hears that odious men, +whom he recognises only as tyrants, are filling the jails through the +country with all his dearest friends. Demanding concessions, and the +continued increase of them, and having learned the way to seize upon +them when they are not given, he will not stand coercion. Abated rent +soon becomes no rent. When it is left to the payer of the rent to +decide on which system he will act, it is probable that the no-rent +theory will prevail.</p> + +<p>So it was in 1882. Tenants were harassed by needy landlords, and when +they were served with forms of ejectment the landlords were simply +murdered, either in their own persons or in that of their servants. +Men finding their power, and beginning to learn how much might be +exacted from a yielding Government, hardly knew how to moderate their +aspirations. When they found that the expected results did not come +at once, they resorted to revenge. Why should these tyrants keep them +out from the good things which their American friends had promised +them, and which were so close within their grasp? And their anger +turned not only against their landlords, but against those who might +seem in any way to be fighting on the landlords' side. Did a +neighbour occupy a field from which a Landleaguing tenant had been +evicted, let the tails of that neighbour's cattle be cut off, or the +legs broken of his beasts of burden, or his sheep have their throats +cut. Or if the injured one have some scruples of conscience, let the +oppressor simply be boycotted, and put out of all intercourse with +his brother men. Let no well-intentioned Landleaguing neighbour buy +from him a ton of hay, or sell to him a loaf of bread.</p> + +<p>But as a last resource, if all others fail, let the sinner be +murdered. We all know, alas! in how many cases the sentence has been +pronounced and the judgment given, and the punishment executed.</p> + +<p>Such have been the results of the Land Law passed in 1881. And under +the curse so engendered the country is now labouring. It cannot be +denied that the promoters of the Land Laws are weak, and that the +disciples of the Landleague are strong. In order that the truth of +this may be seen and made apparent, the present story is told.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-42" id="c3-42"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLII.</h3> +<h4>LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Poor Mr. O'Mahony had enemies on every side. There had come up lately +a state of things which must be very common in political life. The +hatreds which sound so real when you read the mere words, which look +so true when you see their scornful attitudes, on which for the time +you are inclined to pin your faith so implicitly, amount to nothing. +The Right Honourable A. has to do business with the Honourable B., +and can best carry it on by loud expressions and strong arguments +such as will be palatable to readers of newspapers; but they do not +hate each other as the readers of the papers hate them, and are ready +enough to come to terms, if coming to terms is required. Each of them +respects the other, though each of them is very careful to hide his +respect. We can fancy that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable +B. in their moments of confidential intercourse laugh in their joint +sleeves at the antipathies of the public. In the present instance it +was alleged that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable B. had +come to some truce together, and had ceased for a while to hit each +other hard knocks. Such a truce was supposed to be a feather in the +cap of the Honourable B., as he was leader of a poor party of no more +than twenty; and the Right Honourable A. had in this matter the whole +House at his back. But for the nonce each had come off his high +horse, and for the moment there was peace between them.</p> + +<p>But Mr. O'Mahony would have no peace. He understood nothing of +compromises. He really believed that the Right Honourable gentleman +was the fiend which the others had only called him. To him it was a +compact with the very devil. Now the leader of his party, knowing +better what he was about, and understanding somewhat of the manner in +which politics are at present carried on, felt himself embarrassed by +the honesty of such a follower as Mr. O'Mahony. Mr. O'Mahony, when he +was asked whether he wished to lead or was willing to serve, declared +that he would neither lead nor serve. What he wanted was the "good of +Ireland." And he was sure that that was not to be obtained by +friendship with Her Majesty's Government. This was in itself very +well, but he was soon informed that it was not as a free-lance that +he had been elected member for Cavan. "That is between me and my +constituency," said Mr. O'Mahony, standing up with his head thrown +back, and his right hand on his heart. But the constituency soon gave +him to understand that he was not the man they had taken him to be.</p> + +<p>He, too, had begun to find that to spend his daughter's money in +acting patriotism in the House of Commons was not a fine <i>rôle</i> in +life. He earned nothing and he did nothing. Unless he could bind +himself hand and foot to his party he had not even a spark of +delegated power. He was not allowed to speak when he desired, and was +called upon to sit upon those weary benches hour after hour, and +night after night, only pretending to effect those things which he +and his brother members knew could not be done. He was not allowed to +be wrathful with true indignation, not for a moment; but he was +expected to be there from question time through the long watches of +the night—taking, indeed, his turn for rest and food—always ready +with some mock indignation by which his very soul was fretted; and no +one paid him the slightest respect, though he was, indeed, by no +means the least respectable of his party. He would have done true +work had it been given him to do. But at the present moment his own +party did not believe in him. There was no need at present for +independent wrathful eloquence. There seldom is need in the House of +Commons for independent eloquence. The few men who have acquired for +themselves at last the power of expressing it, not to empty benches, +not amidst coughings and hootings, and loud conversation, have had to +make their way to that point either by long efficient service or by +great gifts of pachydermatousness. Mr. O'Mahony had never served +anyone for an hour, and was as thin-skinned as a young girl; and, +though his daughter had handed him all her money, so that he might +draw upon it as he pleased, he told himself, and told her also, that +his doing so was mean. "You're welcome to every dollar, father, only +it doesn't seem to make you happy."</p> + +<p>"I should be happy to starve for the country, if starving would do +anything."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that one ever does any good by starving as long as there +is bread to eat. This isn't a romantic sort of thing, this payment of +rents; but we ought to try and find out what a man really owes."</p> + +<p>"No man owes a cent to any landlord on behalf of rent."</p> + +<p>"But how is a man to get the land?" she said. "Over in our country a +rough pioneering fellow goes and buys it, and then he sells it, and +of course the man who buys it hasn't to pay rent. But I cannot see +how any fellow here can have a right to the land for nothing." Then +Mr. O'Mahony reminded his daughter that she was ill and should not +exert herself.</p> + +<p>It was now far advanced in May, and Mr. O'Mahony had resolved to make +one crushing eloquent speech in the House of Commons and then to +retire to the United States. But he had already learned that even +this could not be effected without the overcoming of many +difficulties. In himself, in his eloquence, in the supply of words, +he trusted altogether; but there was the opportunity to be bought, +and the Speaker's eye to be found,—he regarded this Speaker's eye as +the most false of all luminaries,—and the empty benches to be +encountered, and then drowsy reporters to be stirred up; and then on +the next morning,—if any next morning should come for such a +report,—there would not be a tithe of what he had spoken to be read +by any man, and, in truth, very little of what he could speak would +be worthy of reading. His words would be honest and indignant and +fine-sounding, but the hearer would be sure to say, "What a fool is +that Mr. O'Mahony!" At any rate, he understood so much of all this +that he was determined to accept the Chiltern Hundreds and flee away +as soon as his speech should be made.</p> + +<p>It was far advanced in May, and poor Rachel was still very ill. She +was so ill that all hope had abandoned her either as to her +profession or as to either of her lovers. But there was some spirit +in her still, as when she would discuss with her father her future +projects. "Let me go back," she said, "and sing little songs for +children in that milder climate. The climate is mild down in the +South, and there I may, perhaps, find some fragment of my voice." But +he who was becoming so despondent both for himself and for his +country, still had hopes as to his daughter. Her engagement with Lord +Castlewell was not even yet broken. Lord Castlewell had gone out of +town at a most unusual period,—at a time when the theatres always +knew him, and had been away on the exact day which had been fixed for +their marriage. Rachel had done all that lay in herself to disturb +the marriage, but Lord Castlewell had held to it, urged by feelings +which he had found it difficult to analyse. Rachel had in her +sickness determined to have done with him altogether, but latterly +she had had no communication with him. She had spoken of him to her +father as though he were a being simply to be forgotten. "He has gone +away, and, as far as he is concerned, there is an end of me. It could +not have finished better." But her mind still referred to Frank +Jones, and from him she had received hardly a word of love. Further +words of love she could not send him. During her illness many +letters, or little notes rather, had been written to Castle Morony on +her behalf by her father, and to these there had come replies. Frank +was so anxious to hear of her well-doing. Frank had not cared so much +for her voice as for her general health. Frank was so sorry to hear +of her weakness. It had all been read to her, but as it had been read +she had only shaken her head; and her father had not carried the +dream on any further. To his thinking she was still engaged to the +lord, and it would be better for her that she should marry the lord. +The lord no doubt was a fool, and filled the most foolish place in +the world,—that of a silly fainéant earl. But he would do no harm to +his daughter, and the girl would learn to like the kind of life which +would be hers. At present she was very, very ill, but still there was +hope for recovery.</p> + +<p>By the treasury of the theatre she had been treated munificently. Her +engagement had been almost up to the day fixed for her marriage, and +the money which would have become due to her under it had been paid +in full. She had sent back the latter payments, but they had been +returned to her with the affectionate respects of the managers. Since +she had put her foot upon these boards she had found herself to be +popular with all around her. That, she had told herself, had been due +to the lord who was to become her husband. But Rachel had become, and +was likely to become, the means of earning money for them, and they +were grateful. To tell the truth, Lord Castlewell had had nothing to +do with it.</p> + +<p>But gradually there came upon them the conviction that her voice was +gone, and then the payment of the money ceased. She, and the doctor, +and her father, had discussed it together, and they had agreed to +settle that it must be so.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the girl, smiling, "it is bitter. All my hopes! And such +hopes! It is as though I were dead, and yet were left alive. If it +had been small-pox, or anything in that way, I could have borne it. +But this thing, this terrible misfortune!"</p> + +<p>Then she laughed, and then burst out sobbing with loud tears, and hid +her face.</p> + +<p>"You will be married, and still be happy," said the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Married! Rubbish! So much you know about it. Am I ever to get strong +in my limbs again, so as to be able to cross the water and go back to +my own country?"</p> + +<p>Here the doctor assured her that she would be able to go back to her +own country, if it were needed.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said, as soon as the doctor had left her, "let there be +an end to all this about Lord Castlewell. I will not marry him."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear!"</p> + +<p>"I will not marry him. There are two reasons why I should not. I do +not love him, and he does not love me. There are two other reasons. I +do not want to marry him, and he does not want to marry me."</p> + +<p>"But he says he does."</p> + +<p>"That is his goodness. He is very good. I do not know why a man +should be so good who has had so bad a bringing up. Think of me,—how +good I ought to be, as compared with him. I haven't done anything +naughty in all my life worse than tear my frock, or scold poor Frank; +and yet I find it harder to give him up, merely because of the +grandeur, than he does to marry me, the poor singing girl, who can +never sing again. No! My good looks are gone, such as they were. I +can feel it, even with my fingers. You had better take me back to the +States at once."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Rachel," said the lord, coming into her room the day but +one after this. Her father was not with her, as she had elected to be +alone when she would bid her adieu to her intended husband.</p> + +<p>"This is very good of you to come to me."</p> + +<p>"Of course I came."</p> + +<p>"Because you were good. You need not have come unless you had wished +it. I had so spoken to you as to justify you in staying away. My +voice is gone, and I can only squeak at you in this broken treble."</p> + +<p>"Your voice would not have mattered at all."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but it has mattered to me. What made you want to marry me?"</p> + +<p>"Your beauty quite as much as your voice," said the lord.</p> + +<p>"And that has gone too. Everything I had has gone. It is melancholy! +No, my lord," she said, interrupting him when he attempted to +contradict her, "there is not a word more to be said about it. Voice +and beauty, such as it was, and the little wit, are all gone. I did +believe in my voice myself, and therefore I felt myself fitting to +marry you. I could have left a name behind me if my voice had +remained. But, in truth, my lord, it was not fitting. I did not love +you."</p> + +<p>"That, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"As far as I know myself, I did not love you. You have heard me speak +of Frank Jones,—a man who can only wear two clean shirts a week +because he has been so boycotted by those wretched Irish as to be +able to afford no more. I would take him with one shirt to-morrow, if +I could get him. One does not know why one loves a person. Of course +he's handsome, and strong, and brave. I don't think that has done it, +but I just got the fancy into my head, and there it is still. And he +with his two shirts, working every day himself with his own hands to +earn something for his father, would not marry me because I was a +singing girl and took wages. He would not have another shirt to be +washed with my money. Oh, that the chance were given to me to go and +wash it for him with my own hands!"</p> + +<p>Lord Castlewell sat through the interview somewhat distraught, as +well he might be; but when it was over, and he had taken his leave +and kissed her forehead, as he went home in his cab, he told himself +that he had got through that little adventure very well.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-43" id="c3-43"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLIII.</h3> +<h4>MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Some days after the scene last recorded Rachel was sitting in her +bedroom, partly dressed, but she was, as she was wont to declare to +her father, as weak as a cat with only one life. She had in the +morning gone through a good deal of work. She had in the first place +counted her money. She had something over £600 at the bank, and she +had always supplied her father with what he had wanted. She had told +her future husband that she must sing one month in the year so as to +earn what would be necessary for the support of the Member of +Parliament, and singularly enough her father had yielded. But now the +six hundred and odd pounds was all that was left to take them both +back to the United States. "I think I shall be able to lecture +there," Mr. O'Mahony had said. "Wait till I express my opinion about +queens, and lords, and the Speaker! I think I shall be able to say a +word or two about the Speaker!—and the Chairman of Committees. A +poor little creature who can hardly say bo to a goose unless he had +got all the men to back him. I don't want to abuse the Queen, because +I believe she does her work like a lady; but if I don't lay it on hot +on the Speaker of the British House of Commons, my name is not Gerald +O'Mahony."</p> + +<p>"You forget your old enemy, the Secretary."</p> + +<p>"Him we used to call Buckshot? I'm not so sure about him. At any rate +he has had a downfall. When a man's had a downfall I don't care about +lecturing against him. But I don't think it probable that the Speaker +will have a downfall, and then I can have my fling."</p> + +<p>Rachel had dismissed her brougham, and she had written to Edith +Jones. That, no doubt, had been the greatest effort of the morning. +We need not give here the body of her letter, but it may be +understood that she simply declared at length the nature of the +prospect before her. There was not a word of Frank Jones in it. She +had done that before, and Frank Jones had not responded. She intended +to go with her father direct from Liverpool to New York, and her +letter was full chiefly of affectionate farewells. To Edith and to +Ada and to their father there were a thousand written kisses sent. +But there was not a kiss for Frank. There was not a word for Frank, +so that any reader of the letter, knowing there was a Frank in the +family, would have missed the mention of him, and asked why it was +so. It was very, very bitter to poor Rachel this writing to Morony +Castle without an allusion to the man; but, as she had said, he had +been right not to come and live on her wages, and he certainly was +right not to say a word as to their loss, when neither of them had +wages on which to live. It would have suited in the United States, +but she knew that it would not suit here in the old country, and +therefore when the letter was written she was sitting worn-out, jaded +and unhappy in her own bed-room.</p> + +<p>The lodging was still in Cecil Street, from which spot she and her +father had determined not to move themselves till after the marriage, +and had now resolved to remain there till Rachel should be well +enough for her journey to New York. As she sat there the servant, +whom in her later richer days she had taken to herself, came to her +and announced a visitor. Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room. "Mr. Moss +here!" The girl declared that he was in the sitting-room, and in +answer to further inquiries alleged that he was alone. How he had got +there the girl could not say. Probably somebody had received a small +bribe. Mr. O'Mahony was not in,—nor was anybody in. Rachel told the +girl to be ready when she was ready to accompany her into the +parlour, and thus resolving that she would see Mr. Moss she sent him +a message to this effect. Then she went to work and perfected her +dressing very slowly.</p> + +<p>When she had completed the work she altered her purpose, and +determined that she would see Mr. Moss alone. "You be in the little +room close at hand," she said, "and have the door ajar, so that you +can come to me if I call. I have no reason to suspect this man, and +yet I do suspect him." So saying, she put on her best manners, as it +might be those she had learned from the earl when he was to be her +husband, and walked into the room. She had often told herself, since +the old days, as she had now told the maid, that no real ground for +suspicion existed; and yet she knew that she did suspect the man.</p> + +<p>Rachel was pale and wan, and moved very slowly as though with haughty +gesture. Mr. Moss, no doubt, had reason for knowing that the marriage +with Lord Castlewell was at an end. The story had been told about +among the theatres. Lord Castlewell did not mean to marry Miss +O'Mahony; or else the other and stranger story, Miss O'Mahony did not +mean to marry Lord Castlewell. Though few believed that story, it was +often told. Theatrical people generally told it to one another as a +poetical tale. The young lady had lost her voice and her beauty. The +young lady was looking very old and could never sing again. It was +absolutely impossible that in such circumstances she should decline +to marry the lord if he were willing. But it was more than probable +that he should decline to marry her. The theatrical world had been +much astonished by Lord Castlewell's folly, and now rejoiced +generally over his escape. But that he should still want to marry the +young lady, and that she should refuse,—that was quite impossible.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Moss was somewhat different from the theatrical world in +general. He kept himself to himself, and kept his opinion very much +in the dark. Madame Socani spoke to him often about Rachel, and +expressed her loud opinion that Lord Castlewell had never been in +earnest. And she was of opinion that Rachel's voice had never had any +staying property. Madame Socani had once belittled Rachel's voice, +and now her triumph was very great. In answer to all this Mr. Moss +almost said nothing. Once he did turn round and curse the woman +violently, but that was all. Then, when the news had, he thought, +been made certain, either in one direction or the other, he came and +called on the young lady.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Moss," said the young lady, with a smile that was intended +to be most contemptible and gracious.</p> + +<p>"I have been so extremely sorry to hear of your illness, my dear +young lady."</p> + +<p>Her grandeur departed from her all at once. To be called this man's +"dear young lady" was insufferable. And grandeur did not come easily +to her, though wit and sarcasm did.</p> + +<p>"Your dear young lady, as you please to call her, has had a bad time +of it."</p> + +<p>"In memory of the old days I called you so, Miss O'Mahony. You and I +used to be thrown much together."</p> + +<p>"You and I will never be thrown together again, as my singing is all +over."</p> + +<p>"It may be so and it may not."</p> + +<p>"It is over, at any rate as far as the London theatres go,—as far as +you and I go.</p> + +<p>"I hope not."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is. I am going back to New York at once, and do not +think I shall sing another note as long as I live. I'm going to learn +to cook dishes for papa, and we mean to settle down together."</p> + +<p>"I hope not," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"Very well; but at any rate I must say good-bye to you. I am very +weak, and cannot do much in the talking line."</p> + +<p>Then she got up and stood before him, as though determined to wish +him good-bye. She was in truth weak, but she was minded to stand +there till he should have gone.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss O'Mahony, if you would sit down for a moment, I have a +proposition to make to you. I think that it is one to which you may +be induced to listen."</p> + +<p>Then she did sit down, knowing that she would want the strength which +rest would give her. The conversation with Mr. Moss might probably be +prolonged. He also sat down at a little distance, and held his +shining new hat dangling between his knees. It was part of her +quarrel with him that he had always on a new hat.</p> + +<p>"Your marriage with Lord Castlewell, I believe, is off."</p> + +<p>"Just so."</p> + +<p>"And also your marriage with Mr. Jones?"</p> + +<p>"No doubt. All my marriages are off. I don't mean to be married at +all. I tell you I'm going home to keep house for my father."</p> + +<p>"Keep house for me," said Mr. Moss.</p> + +<p>"I would rather keep house for the devil," said Rachel, rising from +her chair in wrath.</p> + +<p>"Vy?—vy?"—Mr. Moss was reduced by his eagerness and enthusiasm to +his primitive mode of speaking—"Vat is it that you shall want of a +man but that he shall love you truly? I come here ready to marry you, +and to take my chance in all things. You say your voice is gone. I am +here ready to take the risk. Lord Castlewell will not have you, but I +will take you." Now he had risen from his chair, and was standing +close to her; but she was so surprised at his manner and at his words +that she did not answer him at all. "That lord cared for you not at +all, but I care. That Mr. Jones, who was to have been your husband, +he is gone; but I am not gone. Mr. Jones!" then he threw into his +voice a tone of insufferable contempt.</p> + +<p>This Rachel could not stand.</p> + +<p>"You shall not talk to me about Mr. Jones."</p> + +<p>"I talk to you as a man who means vat he is saying. I will marry you +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I would sooner throw myself into that river," she said, pointing +down to the Thames.</p> + +<p>"You have nothing, if I understand right,—nothing! You have had a +run for a few months, and have spent all your money. I have got +£10,000! You have lost your voice,—I have got mine. You have no +theatre,—I have one of my own. I am ready to take a house and +furnish it just as you please. You are living here in these poor, +wretched lodgings. Why do I do that?" And he put up both his hands.</p> + +<p>"You never will do it," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Because I love you." Then he threw away his new hat, and fell on his +knees before her. "I will risk it all,—because I love you! If your +voice comes back,—well! If it do not come back, you will be my wife, +and I shall do my best to keep you like a lady."</p> + +<p>Here Rachel leant back in her chair, and shut her eyes. In truth she +was weak, and was hardly able to carry on the battle after her old +fashion. And she had to bethink herself whether the man was making +this offer in true faith. If so, there was something noble in it; +and, though she still hated the man, as a woman may hate her lover, +she would in such case be bound not to insult him more than she could +help. A softer feeling than usual came upon her, and she felt that he +would be sufficiently punished if she could turn him instantly out of +the room. She did not now feel disposed "to stick a knife into him," +as she had told her father when describing Mr. Moss. But he was at +her knees and the whole thing was abominable.</p> + +<p>"Rachel, say the word, and be mine at once."</p> + +<p>"You do not understand how I hate you!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Rachel, come to my arms!"</p> + +<p>Then he got up, as though to clasp the girl in his embrace. She ran +from him, and immediately called the girl whom she had desired to +remain in the next room with the door open. But the door was not +open, and the girl, though she was in the room, did not answer. +Probably the bribe which Mr. Moss had given was to her feeling rather +larger than ordinary.</p> + +<p>"My darling, my charmer, my own one, come to my arms!"</p> + +<p>And he did succeed in getting his hand round on to Rachel's waist, +and getting his lips close to her head. She did save her face so that +Mr. Moss could not kiss her, but she was knocked into a heap by his +violence, and by her own weakness. He still had hold of her as she +rose to her feet, and, though he had become acquainted with her +weapon before, he certainly did not fear it now. A sick woman, who +had just come from her bed, was not likely to have a dagger with her. +When she got up she was still more in his power. She was astray, +scrambling here and there, so as to be forced to guard against her +own awkwardness. Whatever may be the position in which a woman may +find herself, whatever battle she may have to carry on, she has first +to protect herself from unseemly attitudes. Before she could do +anything she had first to stand upon her legs, and gather her dress +around her.</p> + +<p>"My own one, my life, come to me!" he exclaimed, again attempting to +get her into his embrace.</p> + +<p>But he had the knife stuck into him. She had known that he would do +it, and now he had done it.</p> + +<p>"You fool, you," she said; "it has been your own doing."</p> + +<p>He fell on the sofa, and clasped his side, where the weapon had +struck him. She rang the bell violently, and, when the girl came, +desired her to go at once for a surgeon. Then she fainted.</p> + +<p>"I never was such a fool as to faint before," she told Frank +afterwards. "I never counted on fainting. If a girl faints, of course +she loses all her chance. It was because I was ill. But poor Mr. Moss +had the worst of it."</p> + +<p>Rachel, from the moment in which she fainted, never saw Mr. Moss any +more. Madame Socani came to visit her, and told her father, when she +failed to see her, that Mr. Moss had only three days to live. Rachel +was again in bed, and could only lift up her hands in despair. But to +her father, and to Frank Jones, she spoke with something like good +humour.</p> + +<p>"I knew it would come," she said to her father. "There was something +about his eye which told me that an attempt would be made. He would +not believe of a woman that she could have a will of her own. By +treating her like an animal he thought he would have his own way. I +don't imagine he will treat me in that way again." And then she spoke +of him to Frank. "I suppose he does like me?"</p> + +<p>"He likes your singing,—at so much a month."</p> + +<p>"That's all done now. At any rate, he cannot but know that it is an +extreme chance. He must fancy that he really likes me. A man has to +be forgiven a good deal for that. But a man must be made to +understand that if a woman won't have him, she won't! I think Mr. +Moss understands it now."</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-44" id="c3-44"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLIV.</h3> +<h4>FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>These last words had been spoken after the coming of Frank Jones, but +something has to be said of the manner of his coming, and of the +reasons which brought him, and something also which occurred before +he came. It could not be that Mr. Moss should be wounded after so +desperate a fashion and that not a word should be said about it.</p> + +<p>Of what happened at the time of the wounding Rachel knew nothing. She +had been very brave and high in courage till the thing was done, but +as soon as it was done she sent for the servant and fainted away. She +knew nothing of what had occurred till she had been removed out of +the room on one side, and he on the other. She did not hear, +therefore, of the suggestion made by Mr. Moss that some vital part of +him had been reached.</p> + +<p>He did bleed profusely, but under the aid of the doctor and Mr. +O'Mahony, who was soon on the scene, he recovered himself more +quickly than poor Rachel, who was indeed somewhat neglected till the +hero of the tragedy had been sent away. He behaved with sufficient +courage at last, though he had begun by declaring that his days were +numbered. At any rate he had said when he found the power of ordinary +speech, "Don't let a word be whispered about it to Miss O'Mahony; she +isn't like other people." Then he was taken back to his private +lodging, and confided to the care of Madame Socani, where we will for +the present leave him. Soon after the occurrence,—a day or two after +it,—Frank Jones appeared suddenly on the scene. Of course it +appeared that he had come to mourn the probable death of Mr. Moss. +But he had in truth heard nothing of the fatal encounter till he had +arrived in Cecil Street, and then could hardly make out what had +occurred amidst the confused utterances.</p> + +<p>"Frank Jones!" she exclaimed. "Father, what has brought him here?" +and she blushed up over her face and head to the very roots of her +hair. "Come up, of course he must come up. When a man has come all +the way from Castle Morony he must be allowed to come up. Why should +you wish to keep him down in the area?" Then Frank Jones soon made +his appearance within the chamber.</p> + +<p>It was midsummer, and Rachel occupied a room in the lowest house in +the street, looking right away upon the river, and her easy-chair had +been brought up to the window at which she sat, and looked out on the +tide of river life as it flowed by. She was covered at present with a +dressing gown, as sweet and fresh as the morning air. On her head she +wore a small net of the finest golden filigree, and her tiny feet +were thrust into a pair of bright blue slippers bordered with +swans-down. "Am I to come back?" her obedient father had asked. But +he had been told not to come back, not quite at present. "It is not +that I want your absence," she had said, "but he may. He can tell me +with less hesitation that he is going to set up a pig-killing +establishment in South Australia than he could probably you and me +together." So the father simply slapped him on the back, and bade him +walk upstairs till he would find No. 15 on the second landing. "Of +course you have heard," he said, as Frank was going, "of what she has +been and done to Mahomet M. Moss?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word," said Frank. "What has she done?"</p> + +<p>"Plunged a dagger into him," said Mr. O'Mahony,—in a manner which +showed to Frank that he was not much afraid of the consequences of +the accident. "You go up and no doubt she will tell you all about +it." Then Frank went up, and was soon admitted into Rachel's room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Frank!" she said, "how are you? What on earth has brought you +here?" Then he at once began to ask questions about poor Moss, and +Rachel of course to answer them. "Well, yes; how was I to help it? I +told him from the time that I was a little girl, long before I knew +you, that something of this kind would occur if he would not behave +himself."</p> + +<p>"And he didn't?" asked Frank, with some little pardonable curiosity.</p> + +<p>"No, he did not. Whether he wanted me or my voice, thinking that it +would come back again, I cannot tell, but he did want something. +There was a woman who brought messages from him, and even she wanted +something. Then his ideas ran higher."</p> + +<p>"He meant to marry you," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he did,—at last. I am very much obliged to him, but it +did not suit. Then,—to make a short story of it, Frank, I will tell +you the whole truth. He took hold of me. I cannot bear to be taken +hold of; you know that yourself."</p> + +<p>He could only remember how often he had sat with her down among the +willows at the lake side with his arm round her waist, and she had +never seemed to be impatient under the operation.</p> + +<p>"And though he has such a beautiful shiny hat he is horribly awkward. +He nearly knocked me down and fell on me, by way of embracing me."</p> + +<p>Frank thought that he had never been driven to such straits as that.</p> + +<p>"To be knocked down and trampled on by a beast like that! There are +circumstances in which a girl must protect herself, when other +circumstances have brought her into danger. In those days—yesterday, +that is, or a week ago—I was a poor singing girl. I was at every +man's disposal, and had to look after myself. There are so many white +bears about, ready to eat you, if you do not look after yourself. He +tried to eat me, and he was wounded. You do not blame me, Frank."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed; not for that."</p> + +<p>"What do you blame me for?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot think you right," he answered with almost majestic +sternness, "to have accepted the offer of Lord Castlewell."</p> + +<p>"You blame me for that."</p> + +<p>He nodded his head at her.</p> + +<p>"What would you have had me do?"</p> + +<p>"Marry a man when you love him, but not when you don't."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Frank! I couldn't. How was I to marry a man when I loved him,—I +who had been so treated? But, sir," she said, remembering herself, +"you have no right to say I did not love Lord Castlewell. You have no +business to inquire into that matter. Nobody blames you, or can, or +shall, in that affair,—not in my hearing. You behaved as gentlemen +do behave; gentlemen who cannot act otherwise, because it is born in +their bones and their flesh. I—I have not behaved quite so well. +Open confession is good for the soul. Frank, I have not behaved quite +so well. You may inquire about it. I did not love Lord Castlewell, +and I told him so. He came to me when my singing was all gone, and +generously renewed his offer. Had I not known that in his heart of +hearts he did not wish it,—that the two things were gone for which +he had wooed me,—my voice, which was grand, and my prettiness, which +was but a little thing, I should have taken his second offer, because +it would be well to let him have what he wanted. It was not so; and +therefore I sent him away, well pleased."</p> + +<p>"But why did you accept him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Frank! do not be too hard. How am I to tell you—you, of all +men, what my reasons were? I was alone in the world; alone with such +dangers before me as that which Mr. Moss brought with him. And then +my profession had become a reality, and this lord would assist me. Do +all the girls refuse the lords who come and ask them?"</p> + +<p>Then he stood close over her, and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"But I should have done so," she continued after a pause. "I +recognise it now; and let there be an end of it. There is a something +which does make a woman unfit for matrimony." And the tears coursed +themselves down her wan cheeks. "Now it has all been said that need +be said, and let there be an end of it. I have talked too much about +myself. What has brought you to London?"</p> + +<p>"Just a young woman," he whispered slowly.</p> + +<p>A pang shot through her heart; and yet not quite a pang, for with it +there was a rush of joy, which was not, however, perfect joy, because +she felt that it must be disappointed.</p> + +<p>"Bother your young woman," she said; "who cares for your young woman! +How are you going on in Galway?"</p> + +<p>"Sadly enough, to tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"No rents?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but murders and floods?"</p> + +<p>"The same damnable old story running on from day to day."</p> + +<p>"And have the girls no servants yet?"</p> + +<p>"Not a servant; except old Peter, who is not quite as faithful as he +should be."</p> + +<p>"And,—and what about that valiant gay young gentleman, Captain +Clayton?"</p> + +<p>"Everything goes amiss in love as well as war," said Frank. "Between +the three of them, I hardly know what they want."</p> + +<p>"I think I know."</p> + +<p>"Very likely. Everything goes so astray with all of us, so that the +wanting it is sufficient reason for not getting it."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you have come to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is."</p> + +<p>"Then you might have stayed away."</p> + +<p>"I may as well go, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Go? no! I am not so full of new friends that I can afford to throw +away my old like that. Of course you may not go, as you call it! Do +you suppose I do not care to hear about those girls whom I +love,—pretty nearly with all my heart? Why don't you tell me about +them, and your father? You come here, but you talk of nothing but +going. You ain't half nice."</p> + +<p>"Can I come in yet?" This belonged to a voice behind the door, which +was the property of Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"Not quite yet, father. Mr. Jones is telling me about them all at +Morony Castle."</p> + +<p>"I should have thought I might have heard that," said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"The girls have special messages to send," said Rachel.</p> + +<p>"I'll come back in another ten minutes," said Mr. O'Mahony. "I shall +not wait longer than that."</p> + +<p>"Only their love," said Frank; upon which Rachel looked as though she +thought that Frank Jones was certainly an ass.</p> + +<p>"Of course I want to hear their love," said Rachel. "Dear Ada, and +dear Edith! Why don't you tell me their love?"</p> + +<p>"My poor sick girl," he said, laying his hand upon her shoulder, and +looking into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Never mind my sickness. I know I am as thin and as wan as an ogre. +Nevertheless, I care for their love."</p> + +<p>"Rachel, do you care for mine?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't got it! Oh, Frank, why don't you speak to me? You have +spoken a word, just a word, and all the blood is coming back to my +veins already."</p> + +<p>"Dearest, dearest, dearest Rachel."</p> + +<p>"Now you have spoken; now you have told me of your sisters and your +father. Now I know it all! Now my father may come in."</p> + +<p>"Do you love me, then?"</p> + +<p>"Love you! That question you know to be unnecessary. Love you! Why I +spend every day and every night in loving you! But, Frank, you +wouldn't have me when I was going to be rich. I ought not to have you +now that I am to be poor." But by this time she was in his arms and +he was kissing her, till, as she had said, the blood was once again +running in her veins. "Oh, Frank, what a tyrant you are! Did I not +tell you to let poor father come into the room? You have said +everything now. There cannot be another word to say. Frank, Frank, +Frank! I have found it out at last. I cannot live without you."</p> + +<p>"But how are you to live with me? There is no money."</p> + +<p>"Bother money. Wealth is sordid. Washing stockings over a tub is the +only life for me,—so long as I have you to come back to me."</p> + +<p>"And your health?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is done. I was merely sick of the Jones complaint. Oh, +heavens! how I can hate people, and how I can love them!" Then she +threw herself on the sofa, absolutely worn out by the violence of her +emotions.</p> + +<p>Mr. O'Mahony was commissioned, and sat down by his girl's side to +comfort her. But she wanted no comforting. "So you and Frank have +made it up, have you?" said Mr. O'Mahony.</p> + +<p>"We have never quarrelled so far as I am concerned," said Frank. "The +moment I heard Lord Castlewell was dismissed, I came back."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said she, raising herself half up on the sofa. "Do you know +his story, father? It is rather a nice story for a girl to hear of +her own lover, and to feel that it is true. When I was about to make +I don't know how many thousand dollars a year by my singing, he would +not come and take his share of it. Then I have to think of my own +disgrace. But it enhances his glory. Because he was gone, I brought +myself to accept this lord."</p> + +<p>"Now, Rachel, you shall not exert yourself," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I will, sir," she replied, holding him by the hand. "I will tell my +story. He had retreated from the stain, and the lord had come in his +place. But he was here always," and she pressed his hand to her side. +"He could not be got rid of. Then I lost my voice, and was 'utterly +dished,' as the theatrical people say. Then the lord went,—behaving +better than I did however,—and I was alone. Oh, what bitter moments +there came then,—long enough for the post to go to Ireland and to +return! And now he is here. Once more at my feet again, old man, once +more! And then he talks to me of money! What is money to me? I have +got such a comforting portion that I care not at all for money." Then +she all but fainted once again, and Frank and her father both knelt +over her caressing her.</p> + +<p>It was a long time before Frank left her, her father going in and out +of the room as it pleased him the while. Then he declared that he +must go down to the House, assuring Frank that one blackguard there +was worse than another, but saying that he would see them to the end +as long as his time lasted. Rachel insisted that Frank should go with +him.</p> + +<p>"I am just getting up from my death-bed," she said, laughing, "and +you want me to go on like any other man's young woman. I can think +about you without talking to you." And so saying she dismissed him.</p> + +<p>On the next morning, when he came again, she discussed with him the +future arrangement of his life and hers.</p> + +<p>"Of course you must stay with your father," she said. "You do not +want to marry me at once, I suppose. And of course it is impossible +if you do. I shall go to the States with father as soon as this +Parliament affair is over. He is turned out of the House so often +that he will be off before long for good and all. But there is the +mail still running, and remember that what I say is true. I shall be +ready and willing to be made Mrs. Frank Jones as soon as you will +come and fetch me, and will tell me that you are able to provide me +just with a crust and a blanket in County Galway. Whatever little you +will do with, I will do with less."</p> + +<p>Then she sat upon his knee, and embraced him and kissed him, and +swore to him that no other Lord Castlewell who came should interfere +with his rights.</p> + +<p>"And as for Mr. Moss," she added, "I do not think that he will ever +appear again to trouble your little game."</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-45" id="c3-45"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLV.</h3> +<h4>MR. ROBERT MORRIS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>One morning, a little later in the summer, about the beginning of +August, all Galway were terrified by the tidings of another murder. +Mr. Morris had been killed,—had been "dropped," as the language of +the country now went, from behind a wall built by the roadside. It +had been done at about five in the afternoon, in full daylight; and, +as was surmised by the police, with the consciousness of many of the +peasantry around. He had been walking along the road from Cong to his +own house, and had been "dropped," and left for dead by the roadside. +Dead, indeed, he was when found. Not a word more would have been said +about it, but for the intervention of the police, who were on the +spot within three hours of the occurrence. A little girl had been +coming into Cong, and had told the news. The little girl was living +at Cong, and was supposed to be in no way connected with the murder.</p> + +<p>"It's some of them boys this side of Clonbur," said one of the men of +Cong.</p> + +<p>No one thought it necessary after that to give any further +explanation of the circumstances.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Morris was somewhat of an oddity in his way; but he was a +man who only a few months since was most unlikely to have fallen a +victim to popular anger. He was about forty years of age, and had +lived altogether at Minas Cottage, five or six miles from Cong, as +you pass up the head of Lough Corrib, on the road to Maum. He was +unmarried, and lived quite alone in a small house, trusting to the +attentions of two old domestics and their daughter. He kept a horse +and a car and a couple of cows and a few cocks and hens; but +otherwise he lived alone. He was a man of property, and had, indeed, +come from a family very long established in the county. People said +of him that he had £500 a year; but he would have been very glad to +have seen the half of it paid to his agent; for Mr. Morris, of Minas +Cottage, had his agent as well as any other gentleman. He was a +magistrate for the two counties, Galway and Mayo, and attended +sessions both at Cong and at Clonbur. But when there he did little +but agree with some more active magistrate; and what else he did with +himself no one could tell of him.</p> + +<p>But it was said in respect to him that he was a benevolent gentleman; +and but a year or two since very many in the neighbourhood would have +declared him to be especially the poor man's friend. With £500 a year +he could have done much; with half that income he could do something +to assist them, and something he still did. He had his foibles, and +fancies, but such as they were they did not tread on the corns of any +of his poorer neighbours. He was proud of his birth, proud of his +family, proud of having owned, either in his own hands or those of +his forefathers, the same few acres,—and many more also, for his +forefathers before him had terribly diminished the property. There +was a story that his great great grandfather had lived in a palatial +residence in County Kilkenny. All this he would tell freely, and +would remark that to such an extent had the family been reduced by +the extravagance of his forefathers. "But the name and the blood they +can never touch," he would remark. They would not ask as to his +successor, because they valued him too highly, and because Mr. Morris +would never have admitted that the time had come when it was too late +to bring a bride home to the western halls of his forefathers. But +the rumour went that Minas Cottage would go in the female line to a +second cousin, who had married a cloth merchant in Galway city, to +whom nor to her husband did Mr. Morris ever speak. There might be +something absurd in this, but there was nothing injurious to his +neighbours, and nothing that would be likely to displease the poorer +of them.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Morris had been made the subject of various requests from his +tenants. They had long since wanted and had received a considerable +abatement in their rent. Hence had come the straitened limits of £250 +a year. They had then offered the "Griffith's valuation." To explain +the "Griffith's valuation" a chapter must be written, and as no one +would read the explanation if given here it shall be withheld. +Indeed, the whole circumstances of Mr. Morris's property were too +intricate to require, or to admit, elucidation here. He was so driven +that if he were to keep anything for himself he must do so by means +of the sheriff's officer, and hence it had come to pass that he had +been shot down like a mad dog by the roadside.</p> + +<p>County Galway was tolerably well used to murders by this time, but +yet seemed to be specially astonished by the assassination of Mr. +Morris. The innocence of the man; for the dealings of the sheriff's +officer were hardly known beyond the town land which was concerned! +And then the taciturnity of the county side when the murder had been +effected! It was not such a deed as was the slaughtering of poor +Florian Jones, or the killing of Terry Carroll in the court house. +They had been more startling, more alarming, more awful for the +tradesmen, and such like, to talk of among themselves, but the +feeling of mystery there had been connected with the secret capacity +of one individual. Everyone, in fact, knew that those murders had +been done by Lax. And all felt that for the doing of murders Lax was +irrepressible. But over there in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, or in +the village of Cong, Lax had never appeared. There was no one in the +place to whom the police could attribute any Lax-like properties. In +that respect, the slaughtering of Mr. Morris had something in it more +terrible even than those other murders. It seemed as though murder +were becoming the ordinary popular mode by which the people should +redress themselves,—as though the idea of murder had recommended +itself easily to their intellects. And then they had quietly +submitted—all of them—to taciturnity. They who were not concerned +in the special case, the adjustment that is of Mr. Morris's rent, +accepted his murder with perfect quiescence, as did those who were +aggrieved. Nobody had seen anything. Nobody had heard anything. +Nobody had known anything. Such were the only replies that were given +to the police. If Mr. Morris, then why not another—and another—till +the whole country would be depopulated? In Mr. Morris's case a +landlord had been chosen; but in other localities agents and +sheriffs' officers,—and even those keepers on a property which a +gentleman is supposed to employ,—were falling to the right and to +the left. But of Mr. Morris and his death nothing was heard.</p> + +<p>Yorke Clayton of course went down there, for this, too, was in his +district, and Hunter went with him, anxious, if possible, to learn +something. They saw every tenant on the property; and, indeed, they +were not over numerous. There was not one as to whom they could +obtain evidence that he was ever ferocious by character. "They've got +to think that they have the right to it all. The poor creatures are +not so bad as them that is teaching them. If I think as the farm is +my own, of course I don't like to be made to pay rent for it." That +was the explanation of the circumstances, as given by Mrs. Davies, of +the hotel at Clonbur. And it was evident that she thought it to be +sufficient. The meaning of it, according to Captain Clayton's +reading, was this: "If you allow such doctrines to be preached abroad +by Members of Parliament and Landleague leaders,—to be preached as a +doctrine fit for the people,—then you cannot be surprised if the +people do as they are taught and hold their tongues afterwards."</p> + +<p>This Mr. Morris had been the first cousin of our poor old friend +Black Tom Daly.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" he exclaimed, as soon as he read the news, sitting in his +parlour at Daly's Bridge; "there is Bob Morris gone now."</p> + +<p>"Bob Morris, of Minas Cottage!" exclaimed Peter Bodkin, who had +ridden over to give Tom Daly some comfort in his solitude, if it +might be possible.</p> + +<p>"By George! yes; Bob Morris! Did you know him?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think he ever came out hunting."</p> + +<p>"Hunting, indeed! How should he, when he hadn't a horse that he could +ride upon? And Bob knew nothing of sport. The better for him, seeing +the way that things are going now. No, he never was out hunting, poor +fellow. But for downright innocence and kindness and gentleness of +heart, there is no one left like him. And now they have murdered him! +What is to be the end of it? There is Persse telling me to hold on by +the hounds, when I couldn't keep a hound in the kennels at Ahaseragh +if it were ever so."</p> + +<p>"Times will mend," said Peter.</p> + +<p>"And Raheney Gorse fired so as to drive every fox out of the country! +Persse is wrong, and I am wrong to stay at his bidding. The very +nature of mankind has altered in the old country. There are not the +same hearts within their bosoms. To burn a gorse over a fox's head! +There is a damnable cruelty in it of which men were not guilty,—by +<span class="nowrap">G——!</span> they were not +capable,—a year or two ago. These ruffians from +America have come and told them that they shall pay no rent, and +their minds have been so filled with the picture that its +magnificence has overcome them. They used to tell us that money is +the root of all evil; it proves to be true now. The idea that they +should pay no rent has been too much for them; and they have become +fiends under the feelings which have been roused. Only last year they +were mourning over a poor fox like a Christian,—a poor fox that had +been caught in a trap,—and now they would not leave a fox in the +country, because the gentlemen, they think, are fond of them. The +gentlemen are their enemies, and therefore they will spite them. They +will drive every gentleman out of the country, and where will they be +then?" Here Tom Daly sat quiet for a while, looking silent through +the open window, while Peter sat by him feeling the occasion to be +too solemn for speech. After a while Tom continued his ejaculations. +"Gladstone! Gladstone! There are those who think that man to be great +and good; but how can he be great and good if he lets loose such +spirits among us? They tell me that he's a very amiable man in his +own family, and goes to church regular; but he must be the most +ignorant human being that ever took upon himself to make laws for a +people. He can understand nothing about money, nothing about +property, nothing about rents! I suppose he thinks it fair to take +away one man's means and give them to another, simply because one is +a gentleman and the other not! A fair rent! There's nothing I hate so +much in my very soul as the idea of a fair rent. A fair rent means +half that a man pays now; but in a few years' time it will mean again +whatever the new landlord may choose to ask. And fixity of tenure! +Every man is to get what doesn't belong to him, and if a man has +anything he's to be turned out; that is fixity of tenure. And freedom +of sale! A man is to be allowed to sell what isn't his own. He thinks +that when he has thrown half an eye over a country he can improve it +by altering all the wisdom of ages. A man talks and talks, and others +listen to him till they flatter him that another God Almighty has +been sent upon earth." It was thus that Tom Daly expressed himself as +to the Prime Minister of the day; but Tom was a benighted Tory, and +had thought nothing of these subjects till they were driven into his +mind by the strange mortality of the foxes around him.</p> + +<p>Poor Mr. Morris was buried, and there was an end of him. The cloth +merchant's wife in Galway got the property; and, as far as we can +hear at present, is not likely to do as well with it as her husband +is with his bales of goods. No man perhaps more insignificant than +Mr. Robert Morris could have departed. He did nothing, and his +figure, as he walked about between Cong and Clonbur, could be well +spared. But his murder had given rise to feelings through the country +which were full of mischief and full of awe. He had lived most +inoffensively, and yet he had gone simply because it had occurred to +some poor ignorant tenant, who had held perhaps ten or fifteen acres +of land, out of which he had lived upon the potatoes grown from two +or three of them, that things would go better with him if he had not +a landlord to hurry him for rent! Then the tenant had turned in his +mind the best means of putting his landlord out of the way, and had +told himself that it was an easy thing to do. He had not, of his own, +much capacity for the use of firearms; but he had four pound ten, +which should have gone to the payment of his rent, and of this four +pound ten, fifteen shillings secured the services of some handy man +out of the next parish. He had heard the question of murder freely +discussed among his neighbours, and by listening to others had +learned the general opinion that there was no danger in it. So he +came to a decision, and Mr. Morris was murdered.</p> + +<p>So far the question was solved between this tenant and this landlord; +but each one of the neighbours, as he thought of it, felt himself +bound to secrecy <i>pro bono publico</i>. There was a certain comfort in +this, and poor Bob Morris's death seemed likely to be passed over +with an easy freedom from suspicion. Any man might be got rid of +silently, and there need be no injurious results. But men among +themselves began to talk somewhat too freely, and an awe grew among +them as this man and that man were named as objectionable. And the +men so named were not all landlords or even agents. This man was a +sheriff's officer, and that a gamekeeper. The sheriffs' officers and +gamekeepers were not all murdered, but they were named, and a feeling +of terror crept cold round the hearts of those who heard the names. +Who was to be the keeper of the list and decide finally as to the +victims? Then suddenly a man went, and no one knew why he went. He +was making a fence between two fields, and it was whispered that he +had been cautioned not to make the fence. At any rate he had been +stoned to death, and though there must have been three at least at +the work, no one knew who had stoned him. Men began to whisper among +each other, and women also, and at last it was whispered to them that +they had better not whisper at all. Then they began to feel that not +only was secrecy to be exacted from them, but they were not to be +admitted to any participation in the secrecy.</p> + +<p>And with such of the gentry as were left there had grown up +precautions which could not but fill the minds of the peasantry with +a vague sense of fear. They went about with rifle in their hands, and +were always accompanied by police. They had thick shutters made to +their windows, and barred themselves within their houses. Those who +but a few months since had been the natural friends of the people, +now appeared everywhere in arms against them. If it was necessary +that there should be intercourse between them, that intercourse took +place by means of a policeman. A further attempt at murder had been +made in the neighbourhood, and was so talked of that it seemed that +all kindly feeling had been severed. Men began to creep about and +keep out of the way lest they should be suspected; and, indeed, it +was the fact that there was hardly an able-bodied man in three +parishes to whom some suspicion did not attach itself.</p> + +<p>And thus the women would ask for fresh murders, and would feel +disappointed when none were reported to them, craving, as it were, +for blood. And all this had come to pass certainly within the space +of two years! A sweeter-tempered people than had existed there had +been found nowhere; nor a people more ignorant, and possessing less +of the comforts of civilisation. But no evil was to be expected from +them, no harm came from them—beyond a few simple lies, which were +only harmful as acting upon their own character. As Tom Daly had +said, these very men were not capable of it a few months ago. The +tuition had come from America! That, no doubt, was true; but it had +come by Irish hearts and Irish voices, by Irish longings and Irish +ambition. Nothing could be more false than to attribute the evil to +America, unless that becomes American which has once touched American +soil. But there does grow up in New York, or thereabouts, a mixture +of Irish poverty with American wealth, which calls itself "Democrat," +and forms as bad a composition as any that I know from which either +to replenish or to create a people.</p> + +<p>A very little of it goes unfortunately a long way. It is like gin +made of vitriol when mingled with water. A small modicum of gin, +though it does not add much spirit to the water, will damnably defile +a large quantity. And this gin has in it a something of flavour which +will altogether deceive an uneducated palate. There is an alcoholic +afflatus which mounts to the brain and surrounds the heart and +permeates the veins, which for the moment is believed to be true gin. +But it makes itself known in the morning, and after a few mornings +tells its own tale too well. These "democrats" could never do us the +mischief. They are not sufficient, either in intellect or in number; +but there are men among us who have taught themselves to believe that +the infuriated gin drinker is the true holder of a new gospel.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-46" id="c3-46"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLVI.</h3> +<h4>CONG.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In those days Captain Clayton spent much of his time at Cong, and +Frank Jones was often with him. Frank, however, had returned from +London a much altered man. Rachel had knocked under to him. It was +thus that he spoke of it to himself. I do not think that she spoke of +it to herself exactly in the same way. She knew her own constancy, +and felt that she was to be rewarded.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, I think, would ever have made me marry Lord Castlewell."</p> + +<p>It was thus she talked to her father while he was awaiting the period +of his dismissal.</p> + +<p>"I dare say not," said he. "Of course he is a poor weak creature. But +he would have been very good to you, and there would have been an end +to all your discomforts."</p> + +<p>Rachel turned up her nose. An end to all her discomforts!</p> + +<p>Her father knew nothing of what would comfort her and what would +discomfort.</p> + +<p>She was utterly discomforted in that her voice was gone from her. She +would lie and sob on her bed half the morning, and would feel herself +to be inconsolable. Then she would think of Frank, and tell herself +that there was some consolation in store even for her. Had her voice +been left to her she would have found it to be very difficult to +escape from the Castlewell difficulty. She would have escaped, she +thought, though the heavens might have been brought down over her +head. When the time had come for appearing at the altar, she would +have got into the first train and disappeared, or have gone to bed +and refused to leave it. She would have summoned Frank at the last +moment, and would submit to be called the worst behaved young woman +that had ever appeared on the London boards. Now she was saved from +that; but,—but at what a cost!</p> + +<p>"I might have been the greatest woman of the day, and now I must be +content to make his tea and toast."</p> + +<p>Then she began to consider whether it was good that any girl should +be the greatest woman of the day.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose the Queen has so much the best of it with a pack of +troubles on her hands."</p> + +<p>But Frank in the meantime had gone back to Galway, and Mr. Robert +Morris had been murdered. Soon after the death of Mr. Morris the man +had been killed as he was mending the ditch, and Captain Clayton +found that the tone of the people was varied in the answers which +they made to his inquiries. They were astounded, and, as it were, +struck dumb with surprise. Nobody knew anything, nobody had heard +anything, nobody had seen anything. They were as much in the dark +about poor Pat Gilligan as they had been as to Mr. Robert Morris. +They spoke of Pat as though he had been slaughtered by a direct blow +from heaven; but they trembled, and were evidently uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"That woman knows something about it," said Hunter to his master, +shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"No doubt she knows a good deal about it; but it is not because she +knows that she is bewildered and bedevilled in her intellect. She is +beginning to be afraid that the country is one in which even she +herself cannot live in safety."</p> + +<p>And the men looked to be dumbfoundered and sheepfaced. They kept out +of Captain Clayton's way, and answered him as little as possible. +"What's the good of axing when ye knows that I knows nothing?" This +was the answer of one man, and was a fair sample of the answers of +many; but they were given in such a tone that Clayton was beginning +to think that the evil was about to work its own cure.</p> + +<p>"Frank," he said one day when he was walking with his friend in the +gloom of the evening, "this state of things is too horrible to +endure." The faithful Hunter followed them, and another policeman, +for the Captain was never allowed to stir two steps without the +accompaniment of a brace of guards.</p> + +<p>"Much too horrible to be endured," said Frank. "My idea is that a +man, in order to make the best of himself, should run away from it. +Life in the United States has no such horrors as these. Though we're +apt to say that all this comes from America, I don't see American +hands in it."</p> + +<p>"You see American money."</p> + +<p>"American money in the shape of dollar bills; but they have all been +sent by Irish people. The United States is a large place, and there +is room there, I think, for an honest man."</p> + +<p>"I'll never be frightened out of my own country," said Clayton. "Nor +do I think there is occasion. These abominable reprobates are not +going to prevail in the end."</p> + +<p>"They have prevailed with poor Tom Daly. He was a man who worked as +hard as anyone to find amusement,—and employment too. He never +wronged anyone. He was even so honest as to charge a fair price for +his horses. And there he is, left high and dry, without a horse or a +hound that he can venture to keep about his own place. And simply +because the majority of the people have chosen that there shall be no +more hunting; and they have proved themselves to be able to have +their own way. It is impossible that poor Daly should hunt if they +will not permit him, and they carry their orders so far that he +cannot even keep a hound in his kennels because they do not choose to +allow it."</p> + +<p>"And this you think will be continued always?" asked Clayton.</p> + +<p>"For all that I can see it may go on for ever. My father has had +those water gates mended on the meadows though he could ill afford +it. I have told him that they may go again to-morrow. There is no +reason to judge that they should not do so. The only two men,—or the +man, rather, and the boy,—who have been punished for the last +attempt were those who endeavoured to tell of it. See what has come +of that!"</p> + +<p>"All that is true."</p> + +<p>"Will it not be better to go to America, to go to Africa, to go to +Asia, or to Russia even, than to live in a country like this, where +the law can afford you no protection, and where the lawgivers only +injure you?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing about the lawgivers," said Clayton, "but I have to +say a word or two about the law. Do you think this kind of thing is +going to remain?"</p> + +<p>"It does remain, and every day becomes worse."</p> + +<p>"An evil will always become worse till it begins to die away. I think +I see the end of things approaching. Evil-doers are afraid of each +other, and these poor fellows here live in mortal agony lest some Lax +of the moment should be turned loose at their own throats. I don't +think that Lax is an institution that will remain for ever in the +country. This present Lax we have fast locked up. Law at present, at +any rate, has so much of power that it is able to lock up a +Lax,—when it can catch him. As for this present man, I do hope that +the law will find itself powerful enough to fasten a rope round his +neck. No Galway jury would find him guilty, and that is bad enough. +But the lawgivers have done this for us, that we may try him before a +Dublin jury, and there are hopes. When Lax has been well hung out of +the world I can turn round and take a moment for my own happiness."</p> + +<p>Yorke Clayton, as he said this, was alluding to his love affair with +Edith Jones. He had now conquered all the family with one exception. +Even the father had assented that it should be so, though tardily and +with sundry misgivings. The one person was Edith herself, and it had +come to be acknowledged by all around her that she loved Yorke +Clayton. As she herself never now denied it, it was admitted on all +sides at Morony Castle that the Captain was certainly the favoured +lover. But Edith still held out, and had gone so far as to tell the +Captain that he could not be allowed to come to the Castle unless he +would desist.</p> + +<p>"I never shall desist," he had replied. "As to that you may take my +word." Then Edith had of course loved him so much the more.</p> + +<p>"I don't think this kind of thing will go on," he continued, still +addressing Frank Jones. "The people are so fickle that they cannot be +constant even to anything evil. It is quite on the cards that Black +Tom Daly should next year be the most popular master of hounds in all +Ireland, and that Mr. Kit Mooney should not be allowed to show his +face within reach of Moytubber Gorse on hunting mornings."</p> + +<p>"They'd have burned the gorse before they have come round to that +state of feeling. Look at Raheeny."</p> + +<p>"It isn't so easy to destroy anything," said the philosophic Clayton. +"If the foxes are frightened out of Raheeny or Moytubber, they will +go somewhere else. And even if poor Tom Daly were to run away from +County Galway, as you're talking of doing, the county would find +another master."</p> + +<p>"Not like Tom Daly," said Frank Jones, enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>"There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. Tom Daly is a +first-class man, I admit; and he had no more obedient slave than +myself when I used to get out hunting two or three days in the +session. But he is a desponding man, and cannot look forward to +better times. For myself, I own that my hopes are fixed. Hang Lax, +and then the millennium!"</p> + +<p>"I will quite agree as to the hanging of Lax," said Frank; "but for +any millennium, I want something more strong than Irish feeling. +You'll excuse me, old fellow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly! Of course, I'm an Irishman myself, and might have +been a Lax instead of a policeman, if chance had got hold of me in +time. As it is, I've a sort of feeling that the policeman is going to +have the best of it all through Ireland." Then there came a sudden +sound as of a sharp thud, and Yorke Clayton fell as it were dead at +Frank Jones's feet.</p> + +<p>This occurred at a corner of the road, from which a little boreen or +lane ran up the side of the mountain between walls about three feet +high. But here some benevolent enterprising gentleman, wishing to +bring water through Lower Lough Cong to Lough Corrib, had caused the +beginnings of a canal to be built, which had, however, after the +expenditure of large sums of money, come to nothing. But the ground, +or rather rock, had so been moved and excavated as to make it +practicable for some men engaged, as had been this man, to drop at +once out of sight. Hunter was at once upon his track, with the other +policeman, both of whom fired at him. But as they acknowledged +afterwards, they had barely seen the skirt of his coat in the gloom +of the evening. The whole spot up and behind the corner of the road +was so honeycombed by the works of the intended canal as to afford +hiding-places and retreats for a score of murderers. Here, as was +afterwards ascertained, there was but one, and that one had +apparently sufficed.</p> + +<p>Frank Jones had remained on the road with his friend, and had raised +him in his arms when he fell. "They have done for me this time," +Clayton had said, but had said no more. He had in truth fainted, but +Frank Jones, in his ignorance, had thought that he was dead. It +turned out afterwards that the bullet had struck his ribs in the +front of his body, and, having been turned by the bone, had passed +round to his back, and had there buried itself in the flesh. It needs +not that we dwell with any length on this part of our tale, but may +say at once that the medical skill of Cong sufficed to extract the +bullet on the next morning.</p> + +<p>After a while one of the two policemen came back to the road, and +assisted Frank Jones in carrying up poor Clayton to the inn. Hunter, +though still maimed by his wound, stuck to the pursuit, assisted by +two other policemen from Cong, who soon appeared upon the scene. But +the man escaped, and his flight was soon covered by the darkness of +night. It had been eight o'clock before the party had left the inn, +and had wandered with great imprudence further than they had +intended. At least, so it was said after the occurrence; though, had +nothing happened, they would have reached their homes before night +had in truth set in. But men said of Clayton that he had become so +hardened by the practices of his life, and by the failure of all +attempts hitherto made against him, that he had become incredulous of +harm.</p> + +<p>"They have got me at last," he said to Frank the next morning. "Thank +God it was not you instead of me. I have been thinking of it as I lay +here in the night, and have blamed myself greatly. It is my business +and not yours." And then again further on in the day he sent a +message to Edith. "Tell her from me that it is all over now, but that +had I lived she would have had to be my wife."</p> + +<p>But from that time forth he did in truth get better, though we in +these pages can never again be allowed to see him as an active +working man. It was his fault,—as the Galway doctor said his +egregious sin,—to spend the most of his time in lying on a couch out +in the garden at Morony Castle, and talking of the fate of Mr. Lax. +The remainder of his hours he devoted to the acceptance of little +sick-room favours from his hostess,—I would say from his two +hostesses, were it not that he soon came to terms with Ada, under +which Ada was not to attend to him with any particular care. "If I +could catch that fellow," he said to Ada, alluding to the man who had +intended to murder him, "I would have no harm done to him. He should +be let free at once; for I could not possibly have got such an +opportunity by any other means."</p> + +<p>But poor Edith, the while, felt herself to be badly used. She and Ada +had often talked of the terrible perils to which Yorke Clayton was +subjected, and, as the reader may remember, had discussed the +propriety of a man so situated allowing himself to become familiar +with any girl. But now Captain Clayton was declared to be safe by +everybody. The doctors united in saying that his constitution would +carry him through a cannon-ball. But Edith felt that all the danger +had fallen to her lot.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the search for the double murderers,—unless indeed +one murderer had been busy in both cases—was carried vainly along. +The horror of poor Mr. Morris's fate had almost disappeared under the +awe occasioned by the attack on Captain Clayton. It was astonishing +to see how entirely Mr. Morris, with all his family and his old +acres, and with Minas Cottage,—which, to the knowledge of the entire +population of Cong, was his own peculiar property,—was lost to +notice under the attack that had been made with so much audacity on +Captain Yorke Clayton. He, as one of four, all armed to the teeth, +was attacked by one individual, and attacked successfully. There were +those who said at first that the bars of Galway jail must have been +broken, and that Lax the omnipotent, Lax the omnipresent, had +escaped. And it certainly was the case that many were in ignorance as +to who the murderer had been. Probably all were ignorant,—all of +those who were in truth well acquainted with the person of Mr. +Morris' murderer. And in the minds of the people generally the awe +became greater than ever. To them it was evident that anybody could +murder anybody; and evident also that it was permitted to them to do +so by this new law which had sprung up of late in the country, almost +enjoining them to exercise this peculiar mode of retaliation. The +bravest thought that they were about to have their revenge against +their old masters, and determined that the revenge should be a bloody +one. But the more cowardly, and very much the more numerous on that +account, feared that, poor as they were, they might be the victims. +No man among them could be much poorer than Pat Gilligan, and he had +been chosen as one to be murdered, for some reason known only to the +murderer.</p> + +<p>A new and terrible aristocracy was growing up among them,—the +aristocracy of hidden firearms. There was but little said among them, +even by the husband to the wife, or by the father to the son; because +the husband feared his wife, and the father his own child. There had +been a feeling of old among them that they were being ground down by +the old aristocracy. There must ever be such an idea on the part of +those who do not have enough to eat in regard to their betters, who +have more than plenty. It cannot be but that want should engender +such feeling. But now the dread of the new aristocracy was becoming +worse than that of the old. In the dull, dim minds of these poor +people there arose, gradually indeed but quickly, a conviction that +the new aristocracy might be worse even than the old; and that law, +as administered by Government, might be less tyrannical than the law +of those who had no law to govern them. So the people sat silent at +their hearths, or crawled miserably about their potato patches, +speaking not at all of the life around them.</p> + +<p>When a week was over, tidings came to them that Captain Clayton, +though he had been shot right through the body,—though the bullet +had gone in at his breast and come out at his back, as the report +went,—was still alive, and likely to live. "He's a-spending every +hour of his blessed life a-making love to a young lady who is +a-nursing him." This was the report brought up to Cong by the steward +of the lake steamer, and was received as a new miracle by the Cong +people. The fates had decreed that Captain Clayton should not fall by +any bullet fired by Lax, the Landleaguer; for, though Lax, the +Landleaguer, was himself fast in prison when the attempt was made, +such became more than ever the creed of the people when it was +understood that Captain Clayton, with his own flesh and blood, was at +this moment making love to Mr. Jones's youngest daughter at Morony +Castle.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-47" id="c3-47"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLVII.</h3> +<h4>KERRYCULLION.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Captain Clayton was thoroughly enjoying life, now perhaps, for the +first time since he had had a bullet driven through his body. It had +come to pass that everything, almost everything, was done for him by +the hands of Edith. And yet Ada was willing to do everything that was +required; but she declared always that what she did was of no avail. +"Unless you take it to him, you know he won't eat it," she would +still say. No doubt this was absurd, because the sick man's appetite +was very good, considering that a hole had been made from his front +to his back within the last month. It was still September, the +weather was as warm as summer, and he insisted on lying out in the +garden with his rugs around him, and enjoying the service of all his +slaves. But among his slaves Edith was the one whom the other slaves +found it most difficult to understand.</p> + +<p>"I will go on," she said to her father, "and do everything for him +while he is an invalid. But, when he is well enough to be moved, +either he or I must go out of this."</p> + +<p>Her father simply said that he did not understand it; but then he was +one of the other slaves.</p> + +<p>"Edith," said the Captain, one day, speaking from his rugs on the +bank upon the lawn, "just say that one word, 'I yield.' It will have +to be said sooner or later."</p> + +<p>"I will not say it, Captain Clayton," said Edith with a firm voice.</p> + +<p>"So you have gone back to the Captain," said he.</p> + +<p>"I will go back further than that, if you continue to annoy me. It +shall be nothing but plain 'sir,' as hard as you please. You might as +well let go my hand; you know that I do not take it away violently, +because of your wound."</p> + +<p>"I know—I know—I know that a girl's hand is the sweetest thing in +all creation if she likes you, and leaves it with you willingly." +Then there was a little pull, but it was only very little.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I don't want to hurt you," said Edith.</p> + +<p>"And, therefore, it feels as though you loved me. Of course it does. +Your hand says one thing and your voice another. Which way does your +heart go?"</p> + +<p>"Right against you," said Edith. But she could not help blushing at +the lie as she told it. "My conscience is altogether against you, and +I advise you to attend more to that than to anything else." But still +he held her hand, and still she let him hold it.</p> + +<p>At that moment Hunter appeared upon the scene, and Edith regained her +hand. But had the Captain held the hand, Hunter would not have seen +it. Hunter was full of his own news; and, as he told it, very +dreadful the story was. "There has been a murder worse than any that +have happened yet, just the other side of the lake," and he pointed +away to the mountains, and to that part of Lough Corrib which is just +above Cong.</p> + +<p>"Another murder?" said Edith.</p> + +<p>"Oh, miss, no other murder ever told of had any horror in it equal to +this! I don't know how the governor will keep himself quiet there, +with such an affair as this to be looked after. There are six of them +down,—or at any rate five."</p> + +<p>"When a doubt creeps in, one can always disbelieve as much as one +pleases."</p> + +<p>"You can hardly disbelieve this, sir, as I have just heard the story +from Sergeant Malcolm. There were six in the house, and five have +been carried out dead. One has been taken to Cong, and he is as good +as dead. Their names are Kelly. An old man and an old woman, and +another woman and three children. The old woman was very old, and the +man appears to have been her son."</p> + +<p>"Have they got nobody?" asked Clayton.</p> + +<p>"It appears not, sir. But there is a rumour about the place that +there were many of them in it."</p> + +<p>"Looking after one another," said Clayton, "so that none should +escape his share of the guilt."</p> + +<p>"It may be so. But there were many in it, sir. I can't tell much of +the circumstances, except the fact that there are the five bodies +lying dead." And Hunter, with some touch of dramatic effect and true +pathos, pointed again to the mountains which he had indicated as the +spot where this last murder was committed.</p> + +<p>It was soon settled among them that Hunter should go off to the scene +of action, Cong, or wherever else his services might be required, and +that he should take special care to keep his master acquainted with +all details as they came to light. For us, we may give here the +details as they did reach the Captain's ears in the course of the +next few days.</p> + +<p>Hunter's story had only been too true. The six persons had been +murdered, barring one child, who had been taken into Cong in a state +which was supposed hardly to admit of his prolonged life. The others, +who now lay dead at a shebeen house in the neighbourhood, consisted +of an old woman and her son, and his wife and a grown daughter, and a +son. All these had been killed in various ways,—had been shot with +rifles, and stoned with rocks, and made away with, after any fashion +that might come most readily to the hands of brutes devoid of light, +of mercy, of conscience, and apparently of fear. It must have been a +terrible sight to see, for those who had first broken in upon the +scene of desolation. In the course of the next morning it had become +known to the police, and it was soon rumoured throughout England and +Ireland that there had been ten murderers engaged in the bloody fray. +It must have been as Captain Clayton had surmised; one with another +intent upon destroying that wretched family,—or perhaps only one +among its number,—had insisted that others should accompany him. A +man who had been one of their number was less likely to tell if he +had a hand in it himself. And so there were ten of them. It might be +that one among the number of the murdered had seen the murder of Mr. +Morris, or of Pat Gilligan, or the attempted murder of Captain +Clayton. And that one was not sure not to tell,—had perhaps shown by +some sign and indication that to tell the truth about the deed was in +his breast,—or in hers! Some woman living there might have spoken +such a word to a friend less cautious in that than were the +neighbours in general. Then we can hear, or fancy that we can hear, +the muttered reasons of those who sought to rule amidst that bloody +community. They were a family of the Kellys,—these poor doomed +creatures,—but amidst those who whispered together, amidst those who +were forced to come into the whispering, there were many of the same +family; or, at any rate, of the same name. For the Kellys were a +tribe who had been strong in the land for many years. Though each of +the ten feared to be of the bloody party, each did not like not to be +of it, for so the power would have come out of their hands. They +wished to be among the leading aristocrats, though still they feared. +And thus they came together, dreading each other, hating each other +at last; each aware that he was about to put his very life within the +other's power, and each trying to think, as far as thoughts would +come to his dim mind, that to him might come some possibility of +escape by betraying his comrades.</p> + +<p>But a miracle had occurred,—that which must have seemed to be a +miracle when they first heard it, and to the wretches themselves, +when its fatal truth was made known to them. While in the dead of +night they were carrying out this most inhuman massacre there were +other eyes watching them; six other eyes were looking at them, and +seeing what they did perhaps more plainly than they would see +themselves! Think of the scene! There were six persons doomed, and +ten who had agreed to doom them; and three others looking on from +behind a wall, so near as to enable them to see it all, under the +fitful light of the stars! Nineteen of them engaged round one small +cabin, of whom five were to die that night;—and as to ten others, it +cannot but be hoped that the whole ten may pay the penalty due to the +offended feelings of an entire nation!</p> + +<p>It may be that it shall be proved that some among the ten had not +struck a fatal blow. Or it may fail to be proved that some among the +ten have done so. It will go hard with any man to adjudge ten men to +death for one deed of murder; and it is very hard for that one to +remember always that the doom he is to give is the only means in our +power to stop the downward path of crime among us. It may be that +some among the ten shall be spared, and it may be that he or they who +spare them shall have done right.</p> + +<p>But such was not the feeling of Captain Yorke Clayton as he discussed +the matter, day after day, with Hunter, or with Frank Jones, upon the +lawn at Castle Morony. "It would be the grandest sight to see,—ten +of them hanging in a row."</p> + +<p>"The saddest sight the world could show," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Sad enough, that the world should want it. But if you had been +employed as I have for the last few years, you would not think it sad +to have achieved it. If the judge and the jury will do their work as +it should be done there will be an end to this kind of thing for many +years to come. Think of the country we are living in now! Think of +your father's condition, and of the injury which has been done to him +and to your sisters, and to yourself. If that could be prevented and +atoned for, and set right by the hanging in one row of ten such +miscreants as those, would it not be a noble deed done? These ten are +frightful to you because there are ten at once,—ten in the same +village,—ten nearly of the same name! People would call it a bloody +assize where so many are doomed. But they scruple to call the country +bloody where so many are murdered day after day. It is the honest who +are murdered; but would it not be well to rid the world of these +ruffians? And, remember, that these ten would not have been ten, if +some one or two had been dealt with for the first offence. And if the +ten were now all spared, whose life would be safe in such a Golgotha? +I say that, to those who desire to have their country once more +human, once more fit for an honest man to live in, these ten men +hanging in a row will be a goodly sight."</p> + +<p>There must have been a feeling in the minds of these three men that +some terrible step must be taken to put an end to the power of this +aristocracy, before life in the country would be again possible. When +they had come together to watch their friends and neighbours, and see +what the ten were about to do, there must have been some +determination in their hearts to tell the story of that which would +be enacted. Why should these ten have all the power in their own +hands? Why should these questions of life and death be remitted to +them, to the exclusion of those other three? And if this family of +Kellys were doomed, why should there not be other families of other +Kellys,—why not their own families? And if Kerrycullion were made to +swim in blood,—for that was the name of the townland in which these +Kellys lived,—why not any other homestead round the place in which +four or five victims may have hidden themselves? So the three, with +mutual whisperings among themselves, with many fears and with much +trembling, having obtained some tidings of what was to be done, +agreed to follow and to see. It was whispered about that one of the +family, the poor man's wife, probably, had seen the attack made upon +poor Pat Gilligan, and may, or may not, have uttered some threat of +vengeance; may have shown some sign that the murder ought to be made +known to someone. Was not Pat Gilligan her sister's husband's +brother's child? And he was not one of the other, the rich +aristocracy, against whom all men's hands were justly raised. Some +such word had probably passed the unfortunate woman's lips, and the +ten men had risen against her. The ten men, each protecting each +other, had sworn among themselves that so villainous a practice, so +glaring an evil as this, of telling aught to the other aristocracy, +must be brought to an end.</p> + +<p>But then the three interfered, and it was likely that the other, the +rich aristocracy, should now know all about it. It was not to save +the lives of those unfortunate women and children that they went. +There would be danger in that. And though the women and children +were, at any rate, their near neighbours, why should they attempt to +interfere and incur manifest dangers on their account? But they would +creep along and see, and then they could tell; or should they be +disturbed in their employment, they could escape amidst the darkness +of the night. There could be no escape for those poor wretches, +stripped in their bed; none for that aged woman, who could not take +herself away from among the guns and rocks of her pursuers; none for +those poor children; none, indeed, for the father of the family, upon +whom the ten would come in his lair. If his wife had threatened to +tell, he must pay for his wife's garrulity. Pat Gilligan had suffered +for some such offence, and it was but just that she and he and they +should suffer also. But the three might have to suffer, also, in +their turns, if they consented to subject themselves to so bloody an +aristocracy. And therefore they stalked forth at night and went up to +Kerrycullion, at the heels of the other party, and saw it all. Now, +one after another, the six were killed, or all but killed, and then +the three went back to their homes, resolved that they would have +recourse to the other aristocracy.</p> + +<p>Between Galway and Cong and Kerrycullion, Hunter was kept going in +these days, so as to obtain always the latest information for his +master. For, though the neighbourhood of Morony Castle was now +supposed to be quiet, and though the Captain was not at the moment on +active service, Hunter was still allowed to remain with him. And, +indeed, Captain Clayton's opinion was esteemed so highly, that, +though he could do nothing, he was in truth on active service. "They +are sticking to their story, all through?" he asked Hunter, or rather +communicated the fact to Hunter for his benefit.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! sir; they stick to their story. There is no doubt about +them now. They can't go back."</p> + +<p>"And that boy can talk now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; he can talk a little."</p> + +<p>"And what he says agrees with the three men? There will be no more +murders in that county, Hunter, or in County Galway either. When they +have once learned to think it possible that one man may tell of +another, there will be an end to that little game. But they must hang +them of course."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! sir," said Hunter. "I'd hang them myself; the whole ten of +them, rather than keep them waiting."</p> + +<p>"The trial is to be in Dublin. Before that day comes we shall find +what they do about Lax. I don't suppose they will want me; or if they +did, for the matter of that, I could go myself as well as ever."</p> + +<p>"You could do nothing of the kind, Captain Clayton," said Edith, who +was sitting there. "It is absurd to hear you talk in such a way."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose he could just go up to Dublin, miss," said Hunter.</p> + +<p>"Not for life and death?" roared the sick man.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you could for life and death," said Hunter,—with a little +caution.</p> + +<p>"For his own death he could," said Edith. "But it's the death of +other people that he is thinking of now."</p> + +<p>"And you, what are you thinking of?"</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, just at this moment I was thinking of yours. You +are here under our keeping, and as long as you remain so, we are +bound to do what we can to keep you from killing yourself; you ought +to be in your bed."</p> + +<p>"Tucked up all round,—and you ought to be giving me gruel." Then +Hunter simpered and went away. He generally did go away when the +love-scenes began.</p> + +<p>"You could give one something which would cure me instantly."</p> + +<p>"No, I could not! There are no such instant cures known in the +medical world for a man who has had a hole right through him."</p> + +<p>"That bullet will certainly be immortal."</p> + +<p>"But you will not if you talk of going up to Dublin."</p> + +<p>"Edith, a kiss would cure me."</p> + +<p>"Captain Clayton, you are in circumstances which should prevent you +from alluding to any such thing. I am here to nurse you, and I should +not be insulted."</p> + +<p>"That is true," he said. "And if it be an insult to tell you what a +kiss would do for me, I withdraw the word. But the feeling it would +convey, that you had in truth given yourself to me, that you were +really, really my own, would I think cure me, though a dozen bullets +had gone through me."</p> + +<p>Then when Ada had come down, Edith went to her bedroom, and kissed +the pillow, instead of him. Oh, if it might be granted to her to go +to him, and frankly to confess, that she was all, all his own! And +she felt, as days went on, she would have to yield, though honour +still told her that she should never do so.</p> + + +<p><a name="c3-48" id="c3-48"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h3> +<h4>THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>From this moment the mystery of the new aristocracy began to fade +away, and get itself abolished. Men and women began to feel that +there might be something worse in store for them than the old course +of policemen, juries, and judges. It had seemed, at first, as though +these evil things could be brought to an end, and silenced altogether +as far as their blessed country was concerned. A time was coming in +which everyone was to do as he pleased, without any fear that another +should tell of him. Though a man should be seen in the broad daylight +cutting the tails off half a score of oxen it would be recognised in +the neighbourhood as no more than a fair act of vengeance, and +nothing should be told of the deed, let the policemen busy themselves +as they might. And the beauty of the system consisted in the fact +that the fear of telling was brought home to the minds of all men, +women, and children. Though it was certain that a woman had seen a +cow's tail mangled, though it could be proved beyond all doubt that +she was in the field when the deed was done, yet if she held her +peace no punishment would await her. The policeman and the magistrate +could do nothing to her. But Thady O'Leary, the man who had cut a +cow's tail off, could certainly punish her. If nothing else were done +she could be boycotted, or, in other words, not allowed to buy or +sell the necessaries of life. Or she could herself be murdered, as +had happened to Pat Gilligan. The whole thing had seemed to run so +smoothly!</p> + +<p>But now there had come, or would soon come, a change o'er the spirit +of the dream. The murder of Pat Gilligan, though it had made one in +the necessary sequence of events, one act in the course of the drama +which, as a whole, had appeared to be so perfect, seemed to them all +to have about it something terrible. No one knew what offence Pat +Gilligan had given, or why he had been condemned. Each man began to +tremble as he thought that he too might be a Pat Gilligan, and each +woman that she might be a Mrs. Kelly. It was better to go back to the +police and the magistrates than this!</p> + +<p>I do not know that we need lean too heavily on the stupidity of the +country's side in not having perceived that this would be so. The +country's side is very slow in perceiving the course which things +will take. These ten murderers had been brought together, each from +fear of the others; and they must have felt that though they were +ten,—a number so great when they considered the employment on which +they were engaged as to cause horror to the minds of all of +them,—the ten could not include all who should have been included. +Had the other three been taken in, if that were possible, how much +better it would have been! But the desire for murder had not gone so +far,—its beauty had not been so perfectly acknowledged as to make it +even yet possible to comprise a whole parish in destroying one +family.</p> + +<p>Then the three had seen that the whole scheme, the mystery of the +thing, the very plan upon which it was founded, must be broken down +and thrown to the winds. And we can imagine that, when the idea first +came upon the minds of those three, that the entire family of the +Kellys was to be sacrificed to stop the tongue of one talkative old +woman, a horror must have fallen upon them as they recognised the +duty which was incumbent on them. The duty of saving those six +unfortunates they did not recognise. They could not screw themselves +up to the necessary pitch of courage to enable them to enter in among +loaded pistols and black-visaged murderers. The two women and the +children had to die, though the three men were so close to them; so +close as to have been certainly able to save them, or some of them, +had they rushed into the cabin and created the confusion of another +advent. To this they could not bring themselves, for are not the +murderers armed? But an awful horror must have crept round their +minds as they thought of the self-imposed task they had undertaken. +They waited until the murders had been completed, and then they went +back home and told the police.</p> + +<p>From this moment the mystery by which murders in County Galway and +elsewhere were for a short period protected was over in Ireland. Men +have not seen, as yet, how much more lovely it is to tell frankly all +that has been done, to give openly such evidence as a man may have to +police magistrates and justices of the peace, than to keep anything +wrapped within his own bosom. The charm of such outspoken truth does +not reconcile itself at once to the untrained mind; but the fact of +the loveliness does gradually creep in, and the hideous ugliness of +the other venture. On the minds of those men of Kerrycullion +something of the ugliness and something of the loveliness must have +made itself apparent. And when this had been done it was not probable +that a return to the utter ugliness of the lie should be possible. +Whether the ten be hanged,—to the intense satisfaction of Hunter and +his master,—or some fewer number, such as may suffice the mitigated +desire for revenge which at present is burning in the breasts of men, +the thing will have been done, and the mystery with all its beauty +will have passed away.</p> + +<p>At Castle Morony the beginning of the passing away of the mystery was +hailed with great delight. It took place in this wise. A little girl +who had been brought up there in the kitchen, and had reached the age +of fifteen under the eyes of Ada and Edith,—a slip of a girl, whose +feet our two girls had begun to trammel with shoes and stockings, and +who was old enough to be proud of the finery though she could not +bear the confinement,—had gone under the system of boycotting, when +all the other servants had gone also. Peter, who was very stern in +his discipline to the younger people, had caught hold of her before +she went, and had brought her to Mr. Jones, recommending that at any +rate her dress should be stripped from her back, and her shoes and +stockings from her feet. "If you war to wallop her, sir, into the +bargain, it would be a good deed done," Peter had said to his master.</p> + +<p>"Why should I wallop her for leaving my service?"</p> + +<p>"She ain't guv' no notice," said the indignant Peter.</p> + +<p>"And if I were to wallop you because you had taken it into your +stupid head to leave me at a moment's notice, should I be justified +in doing so?"</p> + +<p>"There is differences," said Peter, drawing himself up.</p> + +<p>"You are stronger, you mean, and Feemy Carroll is weak. Let her go +her own gait as she pleases. How am I to take upon myself to say that +she is not right to go? And for the shoes and stockings, let them go +with her, and the dress also, if I am supposed to have any property +in it. Fancy a Landleaguer in Parliament asking an indignant question +as to my detaining forcibly an unwilling female servant. Let them all +go; the sooner we learn to serve ourselves the better for us. I +suppose you will go too before long."</p> + +<p>This had been unkind, and Peter had made a speech in which he had +said so. But the little affair had taken place in the beginning of +the boycotting disarrangements, and Mr. Jones had been bitter in +spirit. Now the girls had shown how deftly they could do the work, +and had begun to talk pleasantly how well they could manage to save +the wages and the food. "It's my food you'll have to save, and my +wages," said Captain Clayton. But this had been before he had a hole +driven through him, and he was only awed by a frown.</p> + +<p>But now news was brought in that Feemy had crept in at the back door. +"Drat her imperence," said Peter, who brought in the news. "It's like +her ways to come when she can't get a morsel of wholesome food +elsewhere."</p> + +<p>Then Ada and Edith had rushed off to lay hold of the delinquent, who +had indeed left a feeling in the hearts of her mistresses of some +love for her little foibles. "Oh! Feemy, so you've come back again," +said Ada, "and you've grown so big!" But Feemy cowered and said not a +word. "What have you been doing all the time?" said Edith. "Miss Ada +and I have had to clean out all the pots and all the pans, and all +the gridirons, though for the matter of that there has been very +little to cook on them." Then Ada asked the girl whether she intended +to come back to her old place.</p> + +<p>"If I'm let," said the girl, bursting into tears.</p> + +<p>"Where are the shoes and stockings?" said Ada.</p> + +<p>But the girl only wept.</p> + +<p>"Of course you shall come back, shoes or no shoes. I suppose times +have been too hard with you at home to think much of shoes or +stockings. Since your poor cousin was shot in Galway +court-house,"—for Feemy was a cousin of the tribe of Carrolls,—"I +fear it hasn't gone very well with you all." But to this Feemy had +only answered by renewed sobs. She had, however, from that moment +taken up her residence as of yore in the old house, and had gone +about her business just as though no boycotting edict had been +pronounced against Castle Morony.</p> + +<p>And gradually the other servants had returned, falling back into +their places almost without a word spoken. One boy, who had in former +days looked after the cows, absolutely did come and drive them in to +be milked one morning without saying a word.</p> + +<p>"And who are you, you young deevil?" said Peter to him.</p> + +<p>"I'm just Larry O'Brien."</p> + +<p>"And what business have you here?" said Peter. "How many months ago +is it since last year you took yourself off without even a word said +to man or woman? Who wants you back again now, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>The boy, who had grown half-way to a man since he had taken his +departure, made no further answer, but went on with the milking of +his cows.</p> + +<p>And the old cook came back again from Galway, though she came after +the writing of a letter which must have taken her long to compose, +and the saying of many words.</p> + +<p>"Honoured Miss," the letter went, "I've been at Peter Corcoran's +doing work any time these twelve months. And glad I've been to find a +hole to creep into. But Peter Corcoran's house isn't like Castle +Morony, and so I've told him scores of times. But Peter is one of +them Landleaguers, and is like to be bruk', horse, foot, and +dragoons, bekaise he wouldn't serve the gentry. May the deevil go +along with him, and with his pollytiks. Sure you know, miss, they +wouldn't let me stay at Castle Morony. Wasn't one side in pollitiks +the same as another to an old woman like me, who only wants to 'arn +her bit and her sup? I don't care the vally of a tobacco-pipe for +none of them now. So if the squire would take me back again, may God +bless him for iver and iver, say I." Then this letter was signed Judy +Corcoran,—for she too was of the family of the Corcorans,—and +became the matter for many arrangements, in the course of which she +once more was put into office as cook at Castle Morony.</p> + +<p>Then Edith wrote the following letter to her friend Rachel, who still +remained in London, partly because of her health and partly because +her father had not yet quite settled his political affairs. But that +shall be explained in another chapter.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dearest Rachel</span>,</p> + +<p>Here we are beginning to see daylight, after having been +buried in Cimmerian darkness for the best part of two +years. I never thought how possible it would be to get +along without servants to look after us, and how much of +the pleasures of life might come without any of its +comforts. Ada and I for many months have made every bed +that has been slept in in the house, till we have come to +think that the making of beds is the proper employment for +ladies. And every bit of food has been cooked by us, till +that too has become ladylike in our eyes. And it has been +done for papa, who has, I think, liked his bed and his +dinner all the better, because they have passed through +his daughters' hands. But, dear papa! I'm afraid he has +not borne the Cimmerian darkness as well as have we, who +have been young enough to look forward to the return of +something better.</p> + +<p>What am I to say to you about Frank, who will not talk +much of your perfections, though he is always thinking of +them? I believe he writes to you constantly, though what +he says, or of what nature it is, I can only guess. I +presume he does not send many messages to Lord Castlewell, +who, however, as far as I can see, has behaved +beautifully. What more can a girl want than to have a lord +to fall in love with her, and to give her up just as her +inclination may declare itself?</p> + +<p>What I write for now, specially, is to add a word to what +I presume Frank may have said in one of his letters. Papa +says that neither you nor Mr. O'Mahony are to think of +leaving this side of the water without coming down to +Castle Morony. We have got a cook now, and a cow-boy. What +more can you want? And old Peter is here still, always +talking about the infinite things which he has done for +the Jones family. Joking apart, you must of course come +and see us again once before you start for New York. Is +Frank to go with you? That is a question to which we can +get no answer at all from Frank himself.</p> + +<p>In your last you asked me about my affairs. Dear girl, I +have no affairs. I am in such a position that it is +impossible for me to have what you would call affairs. +Between you and Frank everything is settled. Between me +and the man to whom you allude there is nothing +settled,—except that there is no ground for settlement. +He must go one way and I another. It is very sad, you will +say. I, however, have done it for myself and I must bear +the burden.</p> + +<p class="ind12">Yours always lovingly,</p> + +<p class="ind18"><span class="smallcaps">Edith</span>.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p><a name="c3-49" id="c3-49"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XLIX.<br /> </h3> + + +<p>It is not to be supposed that Mr. Jones succumbed altogether to the +difficulties which circumstances had placed in his way. His feelings +had been much hurt both by those who had chosen to call themselves +his enemies and by his friends, and under such usage he became +somewhat sullen. Having suffered a grievous misfortune he had become +violent with his children, and had been more severely hurt by the +death of the poor boy who had been murdered than he had confessed. +But he had still struggled on, saying but little to anybody till at +last he had taken Frank into his confidence, when Frank had returned +from London with his marriage engagement dissolved. And the +re-engagement had not at all interfered with the renewed intimacy +between Frank and his father, because the girl was absolved from her +singing. The father had feared that the son would go away from him, +and lead an idle life, enjoying the luxuries which her rich salary +would purchase. Frank had shared his father's feelings in this +respect, but still the squire had had his misgivings. All that was +now set to rights by the absolute destruction of poor Rachel's voice.</p> + +<p>Poor Mr. Jones had indeed received comfort from other sources more +material than this. His relatives had put their heads together, and +had agreed to bear some part of the loss which had fallen upon the +estate; not the loss, that is, from the submerged meadows, which was +indeed Mr. Jones's own private concern, but from the injury done to +him by the commissioners. Indeed, as things went on, that injury +appeared to be less extensive than had been imagined, though the +injustice, as it struck Mr. Jones's mind, was not less egregious. +Where there was a shred of a lease the sub-commissioners were +powerless, and though attempts had been made to break the leases they +had failed; and men were beginning to say that the new law would be +comparatively powerless because it would do so little. The advocates +for the law pointed out that, taking the land of Ireland all through, +not five per cent.,—and again others not two per cent.,—would be +affected by it. Whether it had been worth while to disturb the +sanctity of contracts for so small a result is another question; but +our Mr. Jones certainly did feel the comfort that came to him from +the fact. Certain fragments of land had been reduced by the +sub-commissioners after ponderous sittings, very beneficial to the +lawyers, but which Mr. Jones had found to be grievously costly to +him. He had thus agreed to other reductions without the lawyers, and +felt those also to be very grievous, seeing that since he had +purchased the property with a Parliamentary title he had raised +nothing. There was no satisfaction to him when he was told that a +Parliamentary title meant nothing, because a following Parliament +could undo what a preceding Parliament had done. But as the +arrangements went on he came to find that no large proportion of the +estates would be affected, and that gradually the rents would be +paid. They had not been paid as yet, but such he was told was the +coming prospect. Pat Carroll had risen up as a great authority at +Ballintubber, and had refused to pay a shilling. He had also +destroyed those eighty acres of meadow-land which had sat so near Mr. +Jones's heart. It had been found impossible to punish him, but the +impossibility was to be traced to that poor boy's delinquency. As the +owner of the property turned it all over within his own bosom, he +told himself that it was so. It was that that had grieved him most, +that which still sat heavy on his heart. But the boy was gone, and +Pat Carroll was in prison, and Pat Carroll's brother had been +murdered in Galway court-house. Lax, too, was in prison, and Yorke +Clayton swore by all his gods that he should be hanged. It was likely +that he would be hanged, and Yorke Clayton might find his comfort in +that. And now had come up this terrible affair at Kerrycullion, from +which it was probable that the whole mystery of the new aristocracy +would be abandoned. Mr. Jones, as he thought of it all, whispered to +himself that if he would still hold up his head, life might yet be +possible at Castle Morony. "It will only be for myself,—only for +myself and Ada," he said, still mourning greatly over his fate. "And +Ada will go, too. The beauty of the flock will never be left to +remain here with her father." But in truth his regrets were chiefly +for Edith. If that bloodthirsty Captain would have made himself +satisfied with Ada, he might still have been happy.</p> + +<p>In these days he would walk down frequently to the meadows and see +the work which the men were doing. He had greatly enlarged them, +having borrowed money for the purpose from the Government Land +Commissioners, and was once again allowing new hopes to spring in his +heart. Though he was a man so silent, and appearing to be so +apathetic, he was intent enough on his own purposes when they became +clear before his eyes. From his first coming into this country his +purport had been to do good, as far as the radius of his circle went, +to all whom it included. The necessity of living was no doubt the +same with him as with others,—and of living well. He must do +something for himself and his children. But together with this was +the desire, nearly equally strong, of being a benefactor to those +around him. He had declared to himself when he bought the property +that with this object would he settle himself down upon it, and he +had not departed from it. He had brought up his children with this +purpose; and they had learned to feel, one and all, that it was among +the pleasures and the duties of their life. Then had come Pat +Carroll, and everything had been embittered for him. All Ballintubber +and all Morony had seemed to turn against him. When he found that Pat +Carroll was disposed to be hostile to him, he made the man a liberal +offer to take himself off to America. But Mr. Jones, in those days, +had heard nothing of Lax, and was unaware that Lax was a dominant +spirit under whom he was doomed to suffer.</p> + +<p>"I did not know you so well then," said Captain Clayton to Mr. Jones, +now some weeks hence, "or I could have told you that Pat Carroll is +nobody. Pat Carroll is considered nobody, because he has not been to +New York. Mr. Lax has travelled, and Mr. Lax is somebody. Mr. Lax +settled himself in County Mayo, and thus he allowed his influence to +spread itself among us over here in County Galway. Mr. Lax is a great +man, but I rather think that he will have to be hanged in Galway jail +before a month has passed over his head."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones usually took his son with him when he walked about among +the meadows, and he again expressed his wishes to him as though Frank +hereafter were to have the management of everything. But on one +occasion, towards the latter half of the afternoon, he went alone. +There were different wooden barriers, having sluice gates passing +between them, over which he would walk, and at present there were +sheep on the upper meadows, on which the luxuriant grass had begun to +grow in the early summer. He was looking at his sheep now, and +thinking to himself that he could find a market for them in spite of +all that the boycotters could do to prevent him. But in one corner, +where the meadows ceased, and Pat Carroll's land began, he met an old +man whom he had known well in former years, named Con Heffernan. It +was absolutely the case that he, the landlord, did not at the present +moment know who occupied Pat Carroll's land, though he did know that +he had received no rent for the last three years. And he knew also +that Con Heffernan was a friend of Carroll's, or, as he believed, a +distant cousin. And he knew also that Con was supposed to have been +one of those who had assisted at the destruction of the sluice gates.</p> + +<p>"Well, Con; how are you?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Why thin, yer honour, I'm only puirly. It's bad times as is on us +now, indeed and indeed."</p> + +<p>"Whose fault is that?" said the squire.</p> + +<p>"Not yer honour's. I will allys say that for your honour. You never +did nothing to none of us."</p> + +<p>"You had land on the estate till some twelve months since, and then +you were evicted for five gales of rent."</p> + +<p>"That's thrue, too, yer honour."</p> + +<p>"You ought to be a rich man now, seeing that you have got +two-and-a-half years' rent in your pocket, and I ought to be poor, +seeing that I've got none of it."</p> + +<p>"Is it puir for yer honour, and is it rich for the like of me?"</p> + +<p>"What have you done with the money, Con,—the five gales of rent?"</p> + +<p>"'Deed, yer honour, and I don't be just knowing anything about it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose the Landleaguers have had some of it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose they have, thin; the black divil run away with them for +Laaguers!"</p> + +<p>"Have you quarrelled with the League, Con?"</p> + +<p>"I have quarrelled with a'most of the things which is a-going at the +present moment."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for that, as quarrels with old friends are always bad."</p> + +<p>"The Laague, then, isn't any such old friend of mine. I niver heerd +of the Laague, not till nigh three years ago. What with Faynians, and +moonlighters, and Home-Rulers, and now with thim Laaguers, they don't +lave a por boy any pace."</p> + + +<p> </p> +<div class="center"> +<table class="sm" style="margin: 0 auto"><tr><td> +<p class="noindent"><span class="large">* <span class="ind2">*</span> +<span class="ind2">*</span> <span class="ind2">*</span> +<span class="ind2">*</span></span></p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<p> </p> + + +<h3>POSTSCRIPT.</h3> + +<p>In a preliminary note to the first volume I stated why this +last-written novel of my father's was never completed. He had +intended that Yorke Clayton should marry Edith Jones, that Frank +Jones should marry Rachel O'Mahony, and that Lax should be hanged for +the murder of Florian Jones; but no other coming incident, or further +unravelling of the story, is known.</p> + +<p class="ind18"><span class="bold">H. M. T.</span><br /> </p> + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + +<p> </p> +<hr /> +<p> </p> + + +<h4>Transcriber's note:</h4> + +<div class="small"> +<p class="noindent">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected +without comment.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Specific changes in wording of the +text are listed below.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume I, Chapter V, paragraph 5. +The word "peasant" was changed to +"present" in the sentence: In regard to Ireland his theory was that +the land should be taken from the PRESENT proprietors, and divided +among the peasants who tilled it.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume I, Chapter XIII, last paragraph. +The word "evidence" was +changed to "guilt" in the sentence: She could understand that it must +be taken down in some form that would be presentable to a magistrate, +and that evidence of the guilt of Pat Carroll and evidence as to the +possible GUILT of others must not be whispered simply into her own +ears.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume I, Chapter XIV, paragraph 6. +The word "danger" was +changed to "dangers" in the sentence: Like the other letter +it was cheerful, and high-spirited; but still it seemed to +speak of impending DANGERS, which Frank, though he could not +understand them, thought that he could perceive.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume I, Chapter XV, paragraph 4. +The word "President" was changed +too "Resident" in the sentence: He had lately been appointed Joint +RESIDENT Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon, and had removed +his residence to Galway.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume II, Chapter XVIII, paragraph 20. +An em-dash was moved from +after the word "shillings" to after the word "said" in the sentence: +To tell the truth,—and as he had said,—to earn a few +shillings was the object of his ambition.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume II, Chapter XXIV, paragraph 65. +The word "daughter" +was changed to the plural in the sentence: There would be +nothing unusual under ordinary circumstances in your +DAUGHTERS going to a ball at Galway.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume II, Chapter XXVI, paragraph 64. +The word "thought" was +changed to "said" in the sentence: "I ought to have said 'my +lord,'" she SAID; "but I forgot. I hope you'll excuse me--my +lord." Also, a comma after "forgot" was changed to a full +stop.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume II, Chapter XXVII, next-to-last +paragraph. The word "is" was +deleted from the sentence: There's [IS] no knowing what a policeman +can't do in this country.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume III, Chapter XXXVI, paragraph 14. +The astute reader will +forgive Trollope, who was quite ill, for here calling Pat Carroll's +brother Jerry instead of Terry, as he has been called up to now and +will again be called later in the novel. The name has been changed +back to Terry in the sentence: The murder of TERRY Carroll at the +moment in which he was about to give evidence,—false evidence, as +the Leaguers said,—against his brother was a great triumph to them.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 4. +"Jerry" was changed to +"Terry" (<i>v.s.</i>) in the sentence: Nothing had ever been made out in +regard to the murder of TERRY Carroll in the Court House at Galway.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 5. +"Jerry" was changed to +"Terry" (<i>v.s.</i>) in the sentence: "Did the Crown intend to pretend +that they had any shadow of evidence against him as to the shooting +of TERRY Carroll?"</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 6. +"Jerry" was changed to +"Terry" (<i>v.s.</i>) in the sentence: Even presuming that Lax's hand +cannot be seen visible in the matter of TERRY Carroll, there is, we +think, something to connect him with the other murder.</p> + +<p class="noindentind">Volume III, Chapter XLVIII, paragraph 18. +The word "jail" was changed +to "Galway court-house" in the sentence beginning: Since your poor +cousin was shot in GALWAY +<span class="nowrap">COURT-HOUSE …</span></p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 30606-h.txt or 30606-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/6/0/30606">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/0/30606</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30606-h/images/logo.png b/30606-h/images/logo.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0ad58c --- /dev/null +++ b/30606-h/images/logo.png diff --git a/30606.txt b/30606.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e251d50 --- /dev/null +++ b/30606.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16644 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Landleaguers, by Anthony Trollope + + +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 Landleaguers + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: December 4, 2009 [eBook #30606] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau and Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D. + + + +Transcriber's note: + + In 1834, at age 19, Anthony Trollope became a junior clerk + in the British postal service. He did not get on well with + his superiors, and his career looked like a dead end. In + 1841 he accepted an assignment in Ireland as an inspector, + remaining there for ten years. It was there that his civil + service career began to flourish. It was there, also, that + he began writing novels. + + Several of Trollope's early novels were set in Ireland, + including _The Macdermots of Ballycloran_, his first + published novel, and _Castle Richmond_. Readers of those + early Irish novels can easily perceive Trollope's great + affection for and sympathy with the Irish people, + especially the poor. + + In 1882 Ireland was in the midst of great troubles, + including boycotts and the near breakdown of law and + order. In May of that year Lord Frederick Cavendish, the + newly-appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Thomas + Burke, a prominent civil servant, were assassinated in + Dublin. The news stirred Trollope, despite his poor + health, to travel to Ireland to see for himself the state + of things. Upon his return to England he began writing + _The Landleaguers_. He made a second journey to Ireland + in August, 1882, to seek more material for his book. He + returned to England exhausted, but he continued writing. + He had almost completed the book when he suffered a stroke + on November 3, 1882. He never recovered, and he died on + December 6. + + Trollope's second son, Henry, arranged for publication of + the almost finished novel. The reader should note Henry + Trollope's preface to Volume I and Postscript at the end + of the book. + + Readers familiar with Trollope's early Irish novels + will be struck, as they read _The Landleaguers_, by his + bitterness at what was happening in Ireland in 1881 and + 1882. + + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. I. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 +[All rights reserved] + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + I. MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY. + II. THE MAN IN THE MASK. + III. FATHER BROSNAN. + IV. MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH. + V. MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER. + VI. RACHEL AND HER LOVERS. + VII. BROWN'S. + VIII. CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880. + IX. BLACK DALY. + X. BALLYTOWNGAL. + XI. MOYTUBBER. + XII. "DON'T HATE HIM, ADA." + XIII. EDITH'S ELOQUENCE. + XIV. RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE. + XV. CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON. + XVI. CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE. + + + + +NOTE. + +This novel was to have contained sixty chapters. My father had +written as much as is now published before his last illness. It will +be seen that he had not finished the forty-ninth chapter; and the +fragmentary portion of that chapter stands now just as he left it. +He left no materials from which the tale could be completed, and no +attempt at completion will be made. At the end of the third volume I +have stated what were his intentions with regard to certain people in +the story; but beyond what is there said I know nothing. + +HENRY M. TROLLOPE. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY. + + +In the year 1850 the two estates of Ballintubber and Morony were sold +to Mr. Philip Jones, under the Estates Court, which had then been +established. They had been the property of two different owners, but +lay conveniently so as to make one possession for one proprietor. +They were in the County Galway, and lay to the right and left of +the road which runs down from the little town of Headford to Lough +Corrib. At the time when the purchase was made there was no quieter +spot in all Ireland, or one in which the lawful requirements of +a landlord were more readily performed by a poor and obedient +tenantry. The people were all Roman Catholics, were for the most part +uneducated, and it may be said of them that not only were their souls +not their own, but that they were not ambitious even of possessing +their own bodies. Circumstances have changed much with them since +that date. Not only have they in part repudiated the power of the +priest as to their souls, but, in compliance with teaching which has +come to them from America, they claim to be masters also of their +bodies. Never were a people less fitted to exercise such dominion +without control. Generous, kindly, impulsive, and docile, they have +been willing to follow any recognised leader. When Philip Jones +bought the property that had belonged to the widow O'Dwyer--for +Ballintubber had for the last hundred years been the property of the +O'Dwyers--and Morony, which, had been an outlying town-land belonging +to the Hacketts for the last two centuries, he had at first been +looked down upon as a new comer. But all that had passed by, and Mr. +Jones was as much respected as though he had been an O'Jones from the +time of Queen Elizabeth. But now the American teaching had come up, +and things were different. + +Mr. Jones had expended over L30,000 in purchasing the property, and +was congratulated by all men on having done well with his money. +There were some among his friends in England--and his friends were +all English--who had told him that he was incurring a great risk in +going into so distant and wild a country. But it was acknowledged +that he could not in England have obtained so good a return in +the way of rent. And it was soon found that the opportunities for +improving the property were many and close at hand. At the end of +ten years all men who knew Mr. Jones personally, or had seen the +increasing comforts of Morony Castle, declared that, as he liked the +kind of life, he had done uncommonly well for himself. + +Nor had he done badly for his three married sisters, each of whom had +left L4,000 in his hands. All the circumstances of the Miss Jones's +as they had been, it will be here unnecessary to explain. Since +Philip had become owner of Morony Castle, each of them had married, +and the three brothers-in-law were equally well satisfied with the +investment of their money. It will, however, thus be understood that +the property did not belong entirely to Mr. Jones, and that the +brothers-in-law and their wives were part owners. Mr. Jones, however, +had been in possession of some other means, and had been able to use +capital in improving the estate. But he was an aspiring man, and +in addition to his money had borrowed something beyond. The sum +borrowed, however, had been so small and so well expended, as to have +created no sense of embarrassment in his mind. + +When our story commences he was the father of four children. The +elder and the younger were boys, and two girls came between them. +In 1880, Frank, the elder, was two-and-twenty. The two girls who +followed close after were twenty and nineteen, and the youngest boy, +who was born after an interval of nearly ten years, was but ten years +old. Some years after the mother had died, and Mr. Jones had since +lived as a widower. It may be as well to state here that in 1880 he +was fifty-five years old. + +When his wife had died, the nature of the man had apparently been +changed. Of all men he had been the most cheerful, the most eager, +and the most easily pleased. He had worked hard at his property, and +had loved his work. He knew every man and woman about the place, and +always had a word to say to them. He had had a sailing boat on the +lake, in which he had spent much of his time, but his wife had always +been with him. Since her death he had hardly put his foot within the +boat. He had lately become quick and short-tempered, but always with +a visible attempt to be kind to those around him. But people said +of him that since his wife had died he had shown an indifference to +the affairs of the world. He was anxious--so it was said--to leave +matters as much as possible to his son; but, as has been already +stated, his son was only twenty-two. He had formerly taken a great +pleasure in attending the assizes at Galway. He had been named as a +grand juror for the county, which he had indeed regarded as a great +compliment; but since his wife's death he had not once attended. + +People said of him that he had become indifferent to the work of +his life, but in this they hardly spoke the truth. He had become +indifferent rather to what had been its pleasures. To that which his +conscience told him was its work, he applied himself with assiduity +enough. There were two cares which sat near his heart: first, that no +one should rob him; and secondly, that he should rob no one. It will +often be the case that the first will look after itself, whereas the +second will require careful watching. It was certainly the case with +Philip Jones that he was most anxious to rob no one. He was, perhaps, +a little too anxious that no one should rob him. + +A few words must be said of his children. Frank, the eldest, was +a good-looking, clever boy, who had been educated at the Queen's +College, at Galway, and would have been better trained to meet the +world had circumstances enabled him to be sent to a public school +in England. As it was he thought himself, as heir to Morony Castle, +to be a little god upon earth; and he thought also that it behoved +his sisters and his brother, and the various dependents about the +place, to treat him as though he were a god. To his father he was +respectful, and fairly obedient in all matters, save one. As to that +one matter, from which arose some trouble, much will have to be said +as the story goes on. + +The two girls were named Ada and Edith, and were, in form and figure, +very unlike each other. Ada, the eldest, was tall, fair-haired, and +very lovely. It was admitted in County Galway that among the Galway +lasses no girl exceeded Ada Jones in brightness of beauty. She was +sweet-tempered also, and gracious as she was lovely. But Edith did +not share the gifts, which the fairy had bestowed upon her sister, in +equal parts. She was, however, clever, and kind, and affectionate. In +all matters, within the house, she was ready to accept a situation +below her sister's; but this was not by her sister's doing. The +demigod of the family seemed to assume this position, but on Ada's +part there was no assumption. Edith, however, felt her infirmity. +Among girls this is made to depend more on physical beauty than on +other gifts, and there was no doubt that in this respect Edith was +the inferior. She was dark, and small of stature, not ungraceful in +her movements, or awkward in her person. She was black-haired, as had +been her mother's, and almost swarthy in her complexion, and there +was a squareness about her chin which robbed her face of much of its +feminine softness. But her eyes were very bright, and when she would +laugh, or say something intended to make another laugh, her face +would be brightened up with fun, good-humour, or wit, in a manner +which enabled no one to call her plain. + +Of the younger boy, Florian, much will be said as the story goes +on; but what can be said of a boy who is only ten which shall be +descriptive and also interesting? He was small of his age, but clever +and sharp, and, since his mother's death, had been his father's +darling. He was beautiful to look at, as were all the children, +except poor Edith, but the neighbours declared that his education +had been much neglected. His father intended to send him to college +at Galway. A bright vision had for a short time flitted before the +father's eyes, and he had thought that he would have the boy prepared +for Winchester; but lately things had not gone quite so well at +Morony Castle, and that idea had passed by. So that it was now +understood that Florian Jones would follow his brother to Galway +College. Those who used to watch his ways would declare that the +professors of Galway College would have some trouble with him. + +While the mother had lived no family had been more easily ruled than +that of the Jones's, but since her death some irregularities had gone +on. The father had made a favourite of the younger boy, and thereby +had done mischief. The eldest son, too, had become proud of his +position, and an attempt had been made to check him with a hard hand; +and yet much in the absolute working of the farm had been left to +him. Then troubles had come, in which Mr. Jones would be sometimes +too severe, and sometimes too lenient. Of the girls it must be +acknowledged that they were to be blamed for no fault after the first +blow had come. Everyone at Morony had felt that the great blow had +been the death of the mistress. But it must be confessed that other +things had happened shortly afterwards which had tended to create +disturbance. One of the family had declared that he intended to +become a Roman Catholic. The Jones's had been Protestants, the father +and mother having both come from England as Protestants. They were +not, therefore, Ultra-Protestants, as those will know who best +know Ireland. There had been no horror of a Catholic. According to +Mrs. Jones the way to heaven had been open to both Catholic and +Protestant, only it had suited her to say her prayers after the +Protestant fashion. The girls had been filled with no pious fury; +and as to Mr. Jones himself, some of the Protestant devotees in the +neighbourhood of Tuam had declared that he was only half-hearted in +the matter. An old clergyman, attached to the cathedral, and who had +been chaplain to Bishop Plunket, had been heard to declare that he +would rather have to deal with an avowed Papist. + +But the one who had now declared himself as a convert,--I will say +pervert if my readers wish it,--was no other than our young friend +Florian. He came in one day and assured his sisters that he meant +to be a Roman Catholic. They only laughed at him, and told him that +he did not know what he was talking about. "Don't I though?" said +Florian. "I've had no end of an argument with Father Malachi, and +he's got the best o' me. I'm not going to church any more." When his +brother Frank was told, he threatened to "lick the young sinner." +"That's about the best can be said for you Protestants," said the +young imp. "You lick us when you're strong enough." But the father, +when he heard the tidings, declared that he would not have his son +molested. No doubt he would live to see his mistake. It was to be +hoped that he would do so. But there should be no compulsion. So +Master Florian remained for the present attached to his Catholic +propensities, and duly went to mass at Ballintubber. This had taken +place in the autumn of the year. + +There had occurred a circumstance which may be called the beginning +of our story. It must first be told that Mr. Jones kept about four +hundred acres of the estate in his own hands, and had been held to +have done very well with it. A tract of this land lay down on Lough +Corrib, and had in former days produced almost nothing but rushes. +By means of drains and sluices, which had not been brought into use +without the expenditure of much capital, he had thoroughly fertilised +some eighty acres, where he grew large crops of hay, which he sent +across the lake to Galway, and fed his sheep on the after-grass with +great profit. But the care of the sluices had been a great labour, +and, latterly, a great trouble to Mr. Jones. He had looked for no +evil at the hands of his workmen, or tenants, or neighbours. But he +had been taught by experience to expect great carelessness. It was +when the rain had fallen in heavy quantities, and when the Lough was +full that the evil was chiefly expected. Late in the autumn there +came news up to the Castle, that the flood gates on the Ballintubber +marshes had now been opened, and that the entire eighty acres were +under water. Mr. Jones and his eldest son rushed down, and found +that it was impossible to do anything. They could only wait till the +waters had retreated, which would not take place for six months. The +entire crop for the next year had been destroyed. Then Mr. Jones +returned to the Castle stricken by a great blow, and was speechless +for the rest of the day. + +When the news had been brought, the family had been together at the +breakfast table. The father and son had gone out together with the +teller of the story. But Ada and Edith and Florian were left at the +table. They all sat looking at each other till Edith was the first to +speak. + +"Flory, what do you know of all this?" + +"What should I know?" said Flory. The two sisters looked at him, and +each was aware that he did know something. Ada was not so quick as +Edith, but even she was aroused. And from this moment Edith began to +take the lead in managing her brother. + +"You do," said Ada. "How was it done? Who did it--and why?" + +"Sorrow a know, I know," said the boy. + +"Flory, that is a lie," said Edith very solemnly, looking at him with +all her eyes. + +"You've no right to say that," said Florian. "It's just because I've +turned Catholic, and it's all your spite." But the boy blushed ruby +red, and the colour told its own story. + +As soon as the news had been announced, Edith had seen the boy's +countenance and had instantly watched him. His colour had not risen +at once; but his lower jaw had fallen, and his eyes had glanced +furtively round, and his whole frame had quivered. Then the rush of +blood had flown to his face, and the story had been told so that +Edith could read it. His first emotion had made it plain even to Ada. +"Flory, you know all about it," said Ada. + +Edith got up and went across the room and knelt down at the boy's +side, leaning against his chair and looking up into his face. "Flory, +you may lie with your voice, but you cannot stifle your heart within +you. You have confessed the truth." + +"I have not," said Flory; "I wasn't in it at all." + +"Who says that you were in it? But you know." + +"'Deed and I know nothin'." Now the boy began to cry. "You have no +right to say I did it. Why should I do the likes of that?" + +"Where were you at four o'clock yesterday afternoon?" asked Edith. + +"I was just out, up at the lodge yonder." + +"Flory, I know that you have seen this thing done. I am as certain of +it as though I had been there myself." + +"I haven't seen anything done--and I won't stay here to be questioned +this way," said the boy, feeling that his blushes would betray him, +and his incapacity to "lie square," as the Americans say. + +Then the two sisters were left to talk over the matter together. "Did +you not see it in his face?" said Edith. + +"Yes, I saw something. But you don't mean to say that he knew it was +to be done? That would make him a fiend." + +"No; I don't think he knew it was to be done. But when Frank was +teasing him the other day about his Catholic nonsense, and saying +that he would not trust a Papist, Florian took the part of Pat +Carroll. If there be a man about the place who would do a base turn +to father, it's Pat Carroll. Now I know that Flory was down near the +lough yesterday afternoon. Biddy Ryan saw him. If he went on he must +have seen the water coming in." + +"What shall we do?" asked Ada. + +"Ah!--that's just it. What shall we do? If he could be made to tell +the truth, that would be best. But as he denies it, father will +believe him. Florian will say that we are spiting him because of his +religion." + +"But, Edith, we must tell father." At last it was decided that Edith +should take the boy and talk to him. He was more prone to listen to +Edith than to Ada. Edith did find her brother, and talked to him for +an hour,--but in vain. He had managed to collect himself after his +past breakdown, and was better able to bear the examination to which +his sister put him, than at the first moment. He still blushed when +he was questioned; till he became dogged and surly. The interview +ended with repeated asseverations on Flory's part, that he knew +nothing of the meadows. + +Mr. Jones and his eldest son returned to the house, having been +absent the entire day. "As sure as I am a living man, Pat Carroll has +been at the doing of it," said Frank. + +"He cannot have done it alone," said Ada. + +"There have been others in it." + +"That has been the worst of it," said the father. "Of course I have +known since the beginning of the year, that that man would do any +devil's turn of work against me. But one man cannot do much." + +"Too much! too much!" said Edith. + +"One man can murder me, of course. But we haven't yet come to such a +state of things as that. Twelve months ago I thought there was not a +man about the place who would raise his hand to do me an ill turn. I +have done them many good turns in my time." + +"You have, father," said Ada. + +"Then this man came to me and said that because the tenants away in +County Mayo were not paying their rents, he could not pay his. And he +can sell his interest on his holding now for L150. When I endeavoured +to explain this to him, and that it was at my cost his interest in +the farm has been created, he became my enemy. I don't mind that; one +has to look for that. But that others should be joined in it, and +that there should be no one to say that they had seen it! There must +have been five pairs of hands at work, and twenty pairs of eyes must +have seen what the others were doing." + +The two sisters looked at each other, but they said nothing. "I +suppose we shall work it out of them some day," said Frank. + +"I suppose nothing of the kind," said the father. "There are eighty +acres of meadow lying under Lough Corrib this moment which will not +give a ton of hay next summer, or food for a sheep next autumn. The +pastures will be saturated, and sheep would perish with foot-rot +and fluke. Then money must be laid out again upon it, just that Mr. +Carroll may again wreak his vengeance." After that there was silence, +for the children felt that not a word could be spoken which would +comfort their father. + +When they sat down to dinner, Mr. Jones asked after Florian. "He's +not well," said Edith. + +"Florian not well! So there's another misfortune." + +"His ill-health is rather ill-humour. Biddy will take care of him, +father." + +"I do not choose that he should be looked after by Biddy in solitude. +I suppose that somebody has been teasing him." + +"No, father," said Edith, positively. + +"Has anyone been speaking to him about his religion?" + +"Not a word," said Edith. Then she told herself that to hold her +tongue at the present moment would be cowardly. "Florian, father, has +misbehaved himself, and has gone away cross. I would leave him, if I +were you, till to-morrow." + +"I know there is ill-will against him," said the father. All this was +ill-judged on behalf of Mr. Jones. Peter, the old butler, who had +lived in the family, was in the room. Peter, of course, was a Roman +Catholic, and, though he was as true as steel, it could not but be +felt that in this absurd contest he was on the side of the "young +masther." + +Down in the kitchen the conversion of the "young masther" to the true +religion was a great affair, and Mr. Frank and the young ladies were +looked upon as hard-hearted and cruel, because they stood in the way +of this act of grace. Nothing more was said about Florian that night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MAN IN THE MASK. + + +Edith, before she went to bed that night, crept up to her brother's +bedroom and seated herself on the bedside. It was a little room which +Florian occupied alone, and lay at the back of the house, next to +that in which Peter slept. Here, as she sat on the bed, she could see +by a glance that young Florian feigned to be asleep. + +"Flory, you are pretending to be asleep." Flory uttered a short +snore,--or rather snort, for he was not a good actor. "You may as +well wake up, because otherwise I shall shake you." + +"Why am I to be shaked up in bed?" + +"Because I want to speak to you." + +"Why am I to be made to speak when I want to sleep?" + +"Papa has been talking about you downstairs. He has come home from +Ballintubber, very tired and very unhappy, and he thinks you have +been made to go to bed without your supper because we have been +attacking you about religion. I have told him that nobody has said +a word to you." + +"But you did." + +"Not a word." + +"You didn't tell him all that you told me--about letting in the +water?" This was asked in a tone of great anxiety. + +"Not a word,--not as yet." + +"And you won't? Mind, I tell you it's all untrue. What do I know +about letting in the water?" + +"Who did it?" + +"I'm not going to tell." + +"You know, then?" + +"No, I don't. But I'm not going to tell as though I knew it. You +don't care about it in your religion, but we Catholics don't like +telling lies." + +"You saw nothing?" + +"Whatever I saw I'm not to tell a lie about it." + +"You've promised not, you mean?" + +"Now, Edy, you're not going to trap me. You've got your own religion +and I've got mine. It's a great thing in our religion to be able to +hold your tongue. Father Malachi says it's one of the greatest trials +which a man has to go through." + +"Then, Flory, am I to gather that you will say nothing further to +me?" Here the boy shook his head. "Because in that case I must tell +father. At any rate, he must be told, and if you do not tell him, I +shall." + +"What is there to be told?" + +"I shall tell him exactly what I saw,--and Ada. I saw,--we saw,--that +when the news came about the flood, you were conscious of it all. +If you will go to father and tell him the truth he will be but +very little angry with you. I don't suppose you had a hand in it +yourself." + +"No!" shouted the boy. + +"But I think you saw it, and that they made you swear an oath. Was +that not so?" + +"No!" whispered the boy. + +"I am sure it was so." Then the boy again plucked up his courage, and +declared with a loud voice, that it was not so. + +That night before she retired to rest, Edith went to her father and +told him all that she had to say. She took Ada with her, and together +they used all their eloquence to make their father believe as they +believed. + +"No," said Edith, "he has not confessed. But words drop from him +which make us sure that he knows who did it. I am certain that he saw +it done. I don't mean to say that he saw the whole thing. The water, +I suppose, was coming in all night." + +"The whole night! While we were sleeping in our beds, the waters of +the lough were ruining me," said the father. + +"But he saw enough to be able to tell you who did it." + +"I know who did it. It was that ruffian Carroll." + +"But father, you will want evidence." + +"Am I to bring up my own boy to swear that he was there, witnessing +what was done, as the friend of my enemies? I do not believe that he +was there at all." + +"If you question him, he will probably own to it. It will be better +to get at the truth and face it. He is only ten years old. You must +tell me the story of his pretended conversion." + +"Why should it be pretended?" asked the father. + +"Well; of his conversion," said Edith. + +"I don't see what it has to do with it? Am I to put myself forward as +a bigoted Protestant? Florian has been foolish, but am I to say that +I am angry, where I am not angry--not specially angry." + +"It will show the influence under which he has taken up Carroll's +side," said Edith. + +"Or the influence under which he has been made to hold his tongue," +said Ada. + +"Just so," said Edith. "We do not think that he has made one with +your enemies in the matter. But he has seen them at work and has been +made to promise that he will hold his tongue. I don't suppose you +mean to let the affair slip by without punishing any one." + +When the girls left him, Mr. Jones was by no means persuaded. As +far as he could ascertain from examination of the persons about the +locality, there was no one willing to state in evidence that he +had seen anything. The injury had been done in November, on a wet, +dreary, dull afternoon. He did learn that at half-past three the +meadows were in their usual condition. As to the sluices, the gates +of which had been pulled out and thrown away in twenty different +places, he could learn nothing; no one had seen a sluice gate +touched. As to Florian, and what Florian had been seen to do, he +had asked no question, because Florian's name had not then been +mentioned. But he had been struck by the awful silence of the people. +There were women there, living on the spot, with whose families +his family had been on the most kindly terms. When rheumatism +was rife,--and rheumatism down on the lough side had often been +rife--they had all come up to the Castle for port wine and solace. He +had refused them nothing,--he, or his dear wife, who had gone, or his +daughters; and, to give them their due, they had always been willing +to work for him at a moment's notice. He would have declared that no +man in Ireland was on better terms with his tenantry than he; and +now, because there had been a quarrel between him and that pestilent +fellow Carroll,--whom he had been willing to buy out from his bit +of land and let him go to America, so that they might all be at +peace,--could they all have turned against him and taken Carroll's +part? As far as he had been able to gather the feelings of the +people, from conversations with them, they had all acknowledged +Carroll to be wrong. He would have said that there was not one among +them who was not his friend rather than Carroll's. He was aware that +there had been ill-feeling about in other parts of the country. There +had been,--so he was told,--a few demagogues in Galway town, American +chiefly, who had come thither to do what harm they could; and he had +heard that there was discontent in parts of Mayo, about Ballyhaunis +and Lough Glinn; but where he lived, round Lough Corrib, there had +been no evil symptoms of such a nature. Now suddenly he found himself +as though surrounded by a nest of hornets. There were eighty acres of +his land under water, and no one would tell him how it was done, or +by whom. + +And now, to make the matter worse, there had come upon him this +trouble with reference to his own boy. He would not believe the story +which his daughters had told him; and yet he knew within his heart +that they were infinitely the better worthy of credit. He believed in +them. He knew them to be good and honest and zealous on his behalf; +but how much better did he love poor Florian! And in this matter of +the child's change of religion, in which he had foolishly taken the +child's part, he could not but think that Father Malachi had been +most unkind to him; not that he knew what Father Malachi had done +in the matter, but Florian talked as though he had been supported +all through by the priest. Father Malachi had, in truth, done very +little. He had told the boy to go to his father. The boy had said +that he had done so, and that his father had assented. "But Frank and +the girls are totally against it. They have no sense of religion at +all." Then Father Malachi had told him to say his prayers, and come +regularly to mass. + +Mr. Jones agreed with his daughters that it behoved him to punish the +culprit in this matter, but, nevertheless, he thought that it would +be better for him to let it go unpunished than to bring his boy +into collision with such a one as Pat Carroll. He twice talked the +matter over with Florian, and twice did so to no effect. At first he +threatened the young sinner, and frowned at him. But his frowns did +no good. Florian, if he could stand firm against his sister Edith, +was sure that he could do so against his father. Then Mr. Jones spoke +him fair, and endeavoured to explain to him how sad a thing it would +be if his boy were to turn against his own father and the interests +of the family generally. + +"But I haven't," said Florian confidently. + +"You should tell me what you saw on that afternoon." + +"I didn't see anything," said Florian sulkily. + +"I don't believe he knew anything about it," said Mr. Jones to Edith +afterwards. Edith could only receive this in silence, and keep her +own opinion to herself. Ada was altogether of her mind, but Frank at +last came round to his father's view. "It isn't probable," he said +to his sisters, "that a boy of his age should be able to keep such +a secret against four of us; and then it is most improbable that he +should have seen anything of the occurrence and not have come at once +to his father." But the girls held to their own opinion, till at last +they were told by Frank that they were two pig-headed nincompoops. + +Things were going on in this way, and Mr. Jones was still striving to +find out evidence by which a case might be substantiated against Pat +Carroll, when that gentleman, one winter afternoon, was using his +eloquence upon Master Florian Jones. It was four o'clock, and the +darkness of the night was now coming on very quickly. The scene was +a cottage, almost in the town of Headford, and about two miles from +the nearest part of the Morony estate. In this cottage Carroll was +sitting at one side of a turf fire, while an old woman was standing +by the doorway making a stocking. And in this cottage also was +another man, whose face was concealed by an old crape mask, which +covered his eyes and nose and mouth. He was standing on the other +side of the fireplace, and Florian was seated on a stool in front of +the fire. Ever and anon he turned his gaze round on the mysterious +man in the mask, whom he did not at all know; and, in truth, he was +frightened awfully through the whole interview by the man in the +mask, who stood there by the fireside, almost close to Florian's +elbow, without speaking a word; nor did the old woman say much, +though it must be presumed that she heard all that was said. + +"Faix, Mr. Flory, an' it's well for you you've come," said Carroll. +"Jist you sit steady there, 'cause it won't do the laist good in +life you're moving about where all the world'd see you." It was +thus that the boy was addressed by him, whom we may now call his +co-conspirator, and Carroll showed plainly, by his movements and by +the glances which he cast around him, that he understood perfectly +the dreadful nature of the business in which he was engaged. "You see +that jintl'man there?" And Carroll pointed to the man in the mask. + +"I see him," said poor Florian, almost in tears. + +"You'd better mark him, that's all. If he cotches a hould o'ye he'd +tear ye to tatthers, that's all. Not that he'd do ye the laist harum +in life if ye'd just hould yer pace, and say nothin' to nobody." + +"Not a word I'll say, Pat." + +"Don't! That's all about it. Don't! We knows,--he knows,--what +they're driving at down at the Castle. Sorra a word comes out of the +mouth o' one on 'em, but that he knows it." Here the man in the mask +shook his head and looked as horrible as a man in a mask can look. +"They'll tell ye that the father who owns ye ought to know all about +it. It's just him as shouldn't know." + +"He don't," said Florian. + +"Not a know;--an' if you main to keep yourself from being holed as +they holed Muster Bingham the other day away at Hollymount." The boy +understood perfectly well what was meant by the process of "holing." +The Mr. Bingham, a small landlord, who had been acting as his +own agent some twenty miles off, in the County of Mayo, had been +frightfully murdered three months since. It was the first murder that +had stained the quarrel which had now commenced in that part of the +country. Mr. Bingham had been unpopular, but he had had to deal with +such a small property, that no one had imagined that an attack would +be made on him. But he had been shot down as he was driving home from +Hollymount, whither he had gone to receive rent. He had been shot +down during daylight, and no one had as yet been brought to justice +for the murder. "You mind's Muster Bingham, Muster Flory; eh? He's +gone, and sorra a soul knows anything about it. It's I'd be sorry to +think you'd be polished off that way." Again the man in the mask made +signs that he was wide awake. + +To tell the truth of Florian, he felt rather complimented in the +midst of all his horrors in being thus threatened with the fate of +Mr. Bingham. He had heard much about Mr. Bingham, and regarded him +as a person of much importance since his death. He was raised to +a level now with Mr. Bingham. And then his immediate position was +very much better than Bingham's. He was alive, and up to the present +moment,--as long as he held his tongue and told nothing,--he would +be regarded with friendly eyes by that terrible man in the mask. But, +through it all, there was the agonising feeling that he was betraying +them all at home. His father and Edith and Frank would not murder him +when they found him out, but they would despise him. And the boy knew +something,--he knew much of what was due by him to his father. At +this moment he was much in dread of Pat Carroll. He was in greater +dread of the man in the mask. But as he sat there, terrified by them +as they intended to terrify him, he was aware of all that courage +would demand from him. If he could once escape from that horrid +cabin, he thought that he might be able to make a clean breast and +tell everything. "It's I that'd be awful sorry that anything like +what happened Bingham, should happen to you, Muster Flory." + +"Why wouldn't you; and I'd have done nothing against you?" said +Florian. He did feel that his conduct up to the present moment +deserved more of gratitude than of threats from Pat Carroll. + +"You're to remimber your oath, Muster Flory. You're become one of us, +as Father Brosnan was telling you. You're not to be one of us, and +then go over among them schaming Prothestants." + +"I haven't gone over among them,--only my father is one of them." + +"What's yer father to do with it now you're a Catholic? Av you is +ever false to a Catholic on behalf of them Prothestants, though he's +twice yer own father, you'd go t' hell for it; that's where you'd be +going. And it's not only that, but the jintl'man as is there will +be sending you on the journey." Then Pat signified that he alluded +to the man in the mask, and the gentleman in the mask clenched his +fist and shook it,--and shook his head also. "You ask Father Brosnan +also, whether you ain't to be thrue to us Catholics now you're one +of us? It's a great favour as has been done you. You're mindful o' +that--ain't you?" Poor Flory said that he was mindful. + +Here they were joined by another conspirator, a man whom Florian had +seen down by the sluices with Pat Carroll, and whom he thought he +remembered to have noticed among the tenants from the other side of +Ballintubber. "What's the chap up to now?" asked the stranger. + +"He ain't up to nothin'," said Carroll. "We're only a cautioning of +him." + +"Not to be splitting on yourself?" + +"Nor yet on you," said Carroll. + +"Sorra a word he can say agin me," said the stranger. "I wasn't in it +at all." + +"But you was," said Florian. "I saw you pick the latch up and throw +it away." + +"You've sharp eyes, ain't you, to be seeing what warn't there to be +seen at all? If you say you saw me in it, I'll have the tongue out of +your mouth, you young liar." + +"What's the good of frightening the boy, Michael. He's a good boy, +and isn't a going to peach upon any of us." + +"But I ain't a liar. He's a liar." This Florian said, plucking up +renewed courage from the kind words Pat Carroll had said in his +favour. + +"Never mind," said Pat, throwing oil on the troubled waters. "We're +all frinds at present, and shall be as long as we don't split on +nobody." + +"It's the meanest thing out,--that splitting on a pal," said the man +who had been called Michael. "It's twice worse when one does it to +one's father. I wouldn't show a ha'porth of mercy to such a chap as +that." + +"And to a Catholic as peached to a Prothestant," said Carroll, +intending to signify his hatred of such a wretch by spitting on the +ground. + +"Or to a son as split because his father was in question." Then +Michael spat twice upon the floor, showing the extremity of the +disgust which in such a case would overpower him. + +"I suppose I may go now," said Florian. He was told by Pat Carroll +that he might go. But just at that moment the man in the mask, who +had not spoken a word, extemporised a cross out of two bits of burned +wood from the hearth, and put it right before Florian's nose; one +hand held one stick, and the other, the other. "Swear," said the man +in the mask. + +"Bedad! he's in the right of it. Another oath will make it all the +stronger. 'That ye'll never say a word of this to mortial ears, +whether father or sister or brother, let 'em say what they will to +yer, s'help yer the Blessed Virgin.'" + +"I won't then," said Florian, struggling to get at the cross to kiss +it. + +"Stop a moment, me fine fellow," said Michael. "Nor yet to no one +else--and you'll give yourself up to hell flames av you don't keep +the blessed oath to the last day of your life. Now let him kiss it, +Pat. I wouldn't be in his shoes for a ten-pun note if he breaks that +oath." + +"Nor I neither," said Pat. "Oh laws, no." Then Florian was allowed to +escape from the cabin. This he did, and going out into the dark, and +looking about him to see that he was not watched, made his way in at +the back door of a fairly large house which stood near, still in the +outskirts of the town of Headford. It was a fairly large house in +Headford; but Headford does not contain many large houses. It was +that in which lived Father Giles, the old parish priest of Tuam;--and +with Father Giles lived his curate, that Father Brosnan of whom +mention has above been made. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FATHER BROSNAN. + + +There has come a change among the priests in Ireland during the last +fifty years, as has been natural. Among whom has there not come a +change in half a century? In England, statesmen are different, and +parsons, and judges, and peers. When an entire country has been left +unmoved by the outside world, so as to seem to have been left asleep +while others have been awake, the different classes will seem to +be the same at the end of every half century. A village lawyer in +Spain will be as was a village lawyer fifty years ago. But a parish +priest in Ireland will be an altered personage, because the country +generally has not been sleeping. + +There used to be two distinct sorts of priests; of whom the elder, +who had probably been abroad, was the better educated; whereas the +younger, who was home-nurtured, had less to say for himself on +general topics. He was generally the more zealous in his religious +duties, but the elder was the better read in doctrinal theology. As +to the political question of the day, they were both apt to be on the +list against the Government, though not so with such violence as to +make themselves often obnoxious to the laws. It was natural that they +should be opposed to the Government, as long as the Protestant Church +claimed an ascendency over them. But their feelings and aspirations +were based then on their religious opinions. Now a set of men has +risen up, with whom opposition to the rulers of the country is +connected chiefly with political ideas. A dream of Home Rule has made +them what they are, and thus they have been roused into waking life, +by the American spirit, which has been imported into the country. +There is still the old difference between the elder and the younger +priests. The parish priest is not so frequently opposed to the law, +as is his curate. The parish priest is willing that the landlord +shall receive his rents, is not at least anxious, that he shall +be dispossessed of his land. But the curate has ideas of peasant +proprietors; is very hot for Home Rule, is less obedient to the +authority of the bishops than he was of yore, and thinks more of the +political, and less of the religious state of his country. + +This variance of feeling might be seen in the three priests who have +been already mentioned in our story. Father Giles was the parish +pastor of Headford, in which position he had been for nearly forty +years. He was a man seventy years of age, in full possession of all +his faculties, very zealous in the well-being of his people, prone to +teach them that if they would say their prayers, and do as they were +bid by their betters, they would, in the long run, and after various +phases of Catholic well or ill-being, go to heaven. But they would +also have enough to eat in this world; which seemed to be almost more +prominent in Father Giles's teaching than the happy bliss of heaven. +But the older Father Giles became the more he thought of the good +things of this world, on behalf of his people, and the less he liked +being troubled with the political desires of his curate. He had gone +so far as to forbid Father Brosnan to do this, or to do that on +various occasions, to make a political speech here, or to attend +a demonstration there;--in doing which, or in not doing it, the +curate sometimes obeyed, but sometimes disobeyed the priest, thereby +bringing Father Giles in his old age into infinite trouble. + +But Father Malachi, in the neighbouring parish of Ballintubber, ran +a course somewhat intermediate between these two. He, at the present +moment, had no curate who interfered with his happiness. There was, +indeed, a curate of Ballintubber--so named; but he lived away, +not inhabiting the same house with Father Malachi, as is usual in +Ireland; having a chapel to himself, and seldom making his way into +our part of the country. Father Malachi was a strong-minded man, who +knew the world. He, too, had an inclination for Home Rule, and still +entertained a jealousy against the quasi-ascendency of a Protestant +bishop; but he had no sympathy whatever with Father Brosnan. Ireland +for the Irish might be very well, but he did not at all want to have +Ireland for the Americans. Father Giles and Father Malachi certainly +agreed on one thing--that Brosnan was a great trouble. + +If the conversion of Florian Jones was to be attributed to any +clerical influence, Father Brosnan was entitled to claim the good or +the evil done; but in truth very few polemical arguments had been +used on the occasion. The boy's head had been filled with the idea +of doing something remarkable, and he had himself gone to the priest. +When a Protestant child does go to a priest on such a mission, what +can the priest do but accept him? He is bound to look upon the +suppliant as a brand to be saved from the burning. "You stupid young +ass!" the priest may say to himself, apostrophising the boy; "why +don't you remain as you are for the present? Why do you come to +trouble me with a matter you can know nothing about?" But the priest +must do as his Church directs him, and the brands have to be saved +from the burning. Father Brosnan sent the boy to Father Malachi, and +Father Malachi told the lad to go to his terrestrial father. It was +this that Mr. Jones had expected, and there the boy was received as a +Catholic. + +But to Father Brosnan the matter was much more important in its +political view. Father Brosnan knew the application as to his rent +which had been made by Pat Carroll to his landlord. He was of opinion +that no rent ought to be paid by any Irish tenant to any landlord--no +rent, at least, to a Protestant landlord. Wrath boiled within his +bosom when he heard of the answer which was given, as though Mr. +Jones had robbed the man by his refusal. Mr. Brosnan thought that +for the present a tenant was, as a matter of course, entitled to +abatement in his rent, as in a short time he must be entitled to his +land without paying any. He considered not at all the circumstances, +whether, as had been the case on certain properties in Mayo, all +money expended had been so expended by the tenant, or by the +landlord, as had been the case with Pat Carroll's land. That was an +injustice, according to Mr. Brosnan's theory; as is all property in +accordance with the teaching of some political doctors who are not +burdened with any. + +It would have been unfair to Mr. Brosnan to say that he sympathised +with murderers, or that he agreed with those who considered that +midnight outrages were fair atonements; he demanded rights. He +himself would have been hot with righteous indignation, had such +a charge been made against him. But in the quarrel which was now +beginning all his sympathies were with the Carrolls at large, and +not with the Jones's at large. At every victory won by the British +Parliament his heart again boiled with indignation. At every +triumphant note that came over the water from America--which was +generally raised by the record of the dollars sent--he boiled, on +the other hand, with joy. He had gleams in his mind of a Republic. +He thought of a Saxon as an evil being. The Queen, he would say, was +very well, but she was better at a distance. The Lord-Lieutenant +was a British vanity, and English pomp, but the Chief Secretary +was a minister of the evil one himself. He believed that England +was enriched by many millions a year robbed from Ireland, and that +Ireland was impoverished to the same extent. He was a man thoroughly +disloyal, and at the same time thoroughly ignorant, altogether in +the dark as to the truth of things, a man who, whatever might be +his fitness for the duties of the priesthood, to which he had been +educated, had no capability of perceiving political facts, and no +honesty in teaching them. But it would have been unjust to him to say +that he was a murderer, or that he countenanced murder. To him it was +that young Florian now betook himself, and found him seated alone in +the back parlour in Father Giles's house. The old priest was out, and +Father Brosnan was engaged on some portion of clerical duties. To +give him his due, he performed those duties rigidly, and the more +rigidly when, in doing them, he obeyed the letter of the law rather +than the spirit. As Father Giles, in his idea of his duties, took +altogether the other side of the question, and, in thinking of the +spirit, had nearly altogether ignored the letter, it may be imagined +that the two men did not agree together very well. In truth, Father +Giles looked upon Father Brosnan as an ignorant, impertinent puppy, +whereas Father Brosnan returned the compliment by regarding Father +Giles as half an infidel, and almost as bad as a Protestant. + +"Well, Master Florian," said the priest, "and how are things going +with you?" + +"Oh! Father Brosnan, I'm in terrible throuble." + +"What throuble's up now?" + +"They're all agin me at home, and father's nearly as bad as any of +them. It's all along of my religion." + +"I thought your father had given his consent?" + +"So he has; but still he's agin me. And my two sisters are dead agin +me. What am I to do about Pat Carroll?" + +"Just hould your tongue." + +"They do be saying that because what Pat and the other boys did was +agin father's interest, I am bound to tell." + +"You've given a promise?" + +"I did give a promise." + +"And you swore an oath," said the priest solemnly. + +"I did swear an oath certainly." + +"Then you must hould your tongue. In such a case as this I cannot +absolve you from your word. I don't know what it is that Pat Carroll +did." Here it must be admitted Father Brosnan did not stick to the +absolute truth. He did know what Pat Carroll had done. All Headford +knew that Mr. Jones's meadows had been flooded, and the priest must +have known that the present cause of trouble at Castle Morony, +was the injury thus done. Father Brosnan knew and approved of Pat +Carroll's enmity to the Jones family. But he was able to justify the +falsehood of his own heart, by stumbling over the degree of knowledge +necessary. There was a sense in which he did not know it. He need +not have sworn to it in a Court of Law. So he told himself, and so +justified his conscience. "You need not tell me," he went on to say +when the boy was proceeding to whisper the story, "I am not bound +to know what it is that Pat Carroll does, and what it is that your +father suffers. Do you go home, and keep your toe in your pump, +as they say, and come to me for confession a day or two before +Christmas. And if any of them say anything to you about your +religion, just sit quiet and bear it." + +The boy was then dismissed, and went home to his father's home, +indifferent as to who might see him now, because he had come from the +priest's house. But the terror of that man in the mask still clung +to him; and mingled with that was the righteous fear, which still +struck cold to his heart, of the wicked injury which he was doing his +father. Boy though he was, he knew well what truth and loyalty, and +the bonds which should bind a family together, demanded from him. He +was miserable with a woe which he had not known how to explain to the +priest, as he thought of his terrible condition. At first Pat Carroll +and his friends had recommended themselves to him. He had, in truth, +only come on the scene of devastation down by the lough, by mere +accident. But he had before heard that Pat was an aggrieved man in +reference to his rent, and had taken it into his boyish heart to +sympathise with such sorrows. When Pat had got hold of him on the +spot, and had first exacted the promise of secrecy, Florian had given +it willingly. He had not expected to be questioned on the subject, +and had not attributed the importance to it which it had afterwards +assumed. He had since denied all knowledge of it, and was of course +burdened with a boy's fear of having to acknowledge the falsehood. +And now there had been added to it that awful scene in the cabin at +Headford, and on the top of that had come the priest's injunction. +"In such a case as this I cannot absolve you from your word." It was +so that the priest had addressed him, and there was something in it +that struck his young mind with awe. There was the man in the mask +tendering to him the oath upon the cross; and there had been Pat +Carroll assuring him of that man's wrath. Then there had come the +other stranger, speaking out angrily, and promising to him all evil, +were he to divulge a word. + +Nevertheless, his conscience was so strong within him, that when he +reached the Castle he had almost made up his mind to tell his father +everything. But just as he was about to enter the Lodge gate, he was +touched on the arm by a female. "Master Florian," said the female, +"we is all in your hands." It was now dark night, and he could +not even see the woman's face. She seemed indeed to keep her face +covered, and yet he could see the gleam of her eyes. "You're one of +us now, Master Florian." + +"I'm a Catholic, if you mean that." + +"What else should I main? Would ye be unthrue to your own people? +Do ye know what would happen you if ye commit such a sin as that? I +tould them up there that you'd never bring down hell fire upon yer +head, by such a deed as that. It isn't what ye can do to him he'll +mind, I said, but the anger o' the Blessed Virgin. Worn't it thrue +for me what I said, Master Florian?" She held him in the dark, and he +could see the glimmer of her eyes, and hear the whisper of her voice, +and she frightened him with the fear of the world to come. As he +made his way up to the hall door, it was not the dread of the man in +the mask, so much as the fear inspired by this woman which made him +resolve that, come what come might, he must stick to the lie which he +had told. + +After breakfast the next morning, his father summoned him into +his room. "Now," said Flory to himself, as he followed his father +trembling,--"now must I be true." By this he meant that he must be +true to his co-conspirators. If he were false to them, he would have +to incur the anger of the Blessed Virgin. How this should be made +to fall upon him, he did not in the least understand; but he did +understand that the Virgin as he had thought her, should be kind, and +mild, and gracious. He had never stopped to think whether the curse +as uttered by the woman, might or might not be true. Of loyalty to +his father he had thought much; but now he believed that it behoved +him to think more of loyalty to the Virgin, as defined by the woman +in the dark. + +He followed his father into the magistrates' room, leaving his +brother and two sisters in the parlour. He was glad that none of +them were invited to accompany him, for he felt that his father was +more prone to believe him, than were either his sisters or even his +brother. "Florian," said his father, "you know, do you not, the +trouble to which I have been put about this man, Pat Carroll?" + +"Yes, father; I know you have." + +"And the terrible loss which I have incurred! Eighty acres are under +water. I suppose the miscreant will have cost me between L400 and +L500." + +"As much as that?" said Florian, frightened by the magnitude of the +sum named. + +"Indeed he will. It is hard to calculate the extent of the malignity +of a wicked man. Whether the barony will share the loss with me I +cannot yet say; but in either case the wickedness will be the same. +There is no word bad enough for it. It is altogether damnable; +and this is done by a man who calls me in question because of my +religion." Here the father paused, but Florian stood by without an +answer. If Pat Carroll was right in his religion, his father must be +wrong; and Florian thought that Pat Carroll was right. But he did +not see how the two things were joined together,--the opening of the +sluices, and the truth of Pat Carroll's religious convictions. "But +bad as the matter is as regards Pat Carroll, it is all as nothing in +reference to the accusation made against you." Here the father came +up, and laying his two hands on the boy's shoulders looked sadly into +his face. "I cannot believe that my own boy, my darling boy, has +joined in this evil deed against me!" Here the father ceased and +waited for his son to speak. + +The son remembered the determination to which he had come, and +resolved to adhere to it. "I didn't," he said after a pause. + +"I cannot believe it of you; and yet, your sisters who are as true as +steel, who are so good that I bless God morning and night that He in +His mercy has left me such treasures,--they believe it." + +"They are against me because of my religion." + +"No, Florian, not so; they disapprove of your change in religion, but +they are not brought to accuse you by such a feeling. They say that +they see it in your face." + +"How can they see all that in my face?" + +"That though you are lying persistently, you cannot hide from them +that you are lying. They are not only good girls, but they have very +sharp wits. A cleverer girl than Edith, or one better able to read +the truth of a boy's head, or even a man's, I have never known. I +hardly dare to put my own judgment against hers." + +"In this case she knows nothing about it." + +"But to me it is of such vital importance! It is not simply that your +evidence is needed to punish the man; I would let the man go and all +the evil that he has done me. But not for any money that I could name +would I entertain such an opinion of my son. Were I convinced at this +moment that you are innocent, I should be a happy man." + +"Then you may, father." + +"But your manner is against you. You do not answer me with that +appearance of frankness which I should have expected." + +"Of course it all makes me very miserable. How can a fellow be frank +when he's suspected like this?" + +"Florian, do you give me your most solemn assurance that you saw +nothing of this evil work while it was being perpetrated?" + +"Yes, father." + +"You saw nothing, and you knew nothing?" + +"No, father." + +"You have no reason to accuse Pat Carroll, except by what you have +heard?" + +"No, father." + +"Nor anyone else?" + +"No, father." Then Mr. Jones stood silent, looking at his son. +And the more he looked the more he doubted him. When the boy had +uttered "No, father," for the last time, Mr. Jones felt almost +convinced--almost convinced that Edith was right. "You may go now, +Florian," he said. And the boy departed, fully convinced that his +father had disbelieved him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH. + + +Three or four days after the occurrences narrated in the last +chapter, Mr. Jones got on to his car and had himself driven down to +Carnlough, the seat of Mr. Thomas Blake, a gentleman living about two +miles the other side of Tuam. To reach Carnlough he had a journey to +make of about ten miles, and as he seldom went, in these days, so far +away from home, the fact of his going was known to all the household. + +"Father is going to Carnlough," Florian said to Peter, the butler. +"What is he going for?" + +"'Deed, then, Master Flory, who can tell that? Mr. Blake is a very +old friend of master's." + +"But why is he going now? It isn't often he goes to Carnlough; and +when he does go, he is sure to say why." + +"I shouldn't wonder af he's going to ax him as to how he shall get +rid of the waters." + +"He knows that better than Mr. Blake can tell him." + +"Or maybe he's going to inquire how he shall cotch a hould of Pat +Carroll." + +It was evident, from the butler's answers, that all the world at +Morony Castle felt that at present Mr. Jones could engage himself on +no other subject than that of the flood. + +"I wish father wouldn't think so much about the flood. After all, +what's L500? It won't ruin a man like my father." + +But the butler showed by his visage that he regarded L500 as a +very serious matter, and that he was not at all astonished by the +occupation which it gave to his master's thoughts. + +Mr. Blake, of Carnlough, was the first Irishman with whom Mr. Jones +had become acquainted in the County Galway. It was through his +instance, indeed, that the Morony and Ballintubber properties had +been bought, so that the acquaintance must have been well established +before the purchase had been made. Mr. Blake was a man of good +property, who, in former years, had always been regarded as popular +in the county. He was a Protestant, but had not made himself odious +to the Roman Catholics around him as an Orangeman, nor had he ever +been considered to be hard as a landlord. He thought, perhaps, a +little too much of popularity, and had prided himself a little +perhaps, on managing "his boys"--as he called the tenants--with +peculiar skill. Even still he could boast of his success, though +there had arisen some little difficulties as to rent over at +Carnlough; and, indeed, he was frightened lest some of the evil ways +which had begun to prevail in the neighbouring parts of County Mayo, +should make their way into County Galway. + +Mr. Blake and Mr. Jones had been very intimate. It had been at Mr. +Blake's instance that Mr. Jones had been brought on to the Grand +Jury. But latterly they had not seen very much of each other. Mr. +Jones, since the death of his wife, did not go frequently to Galway, +and Carnlough was a long distance for a morning's drive. But on this +occasion Mr. Jones drove himself over simply with the view of making +a morning call. "Well, Jones, how are you;--and how are the girls, +and how is Frank, and how is that young pickle, Master Florian?" +These questions were answered by others of a similar nature. "How +are the girls, and how is Mrs. Blake, and what is going on here at +Carnlough?" There was no inquiry after the eldest son, for it was Mr. +Blake's misfortune that he had no male child to inherit his property. + +"Faith, then, things ain't going on a bit too well," said Mr. Blake. +"Abatement, abatement, nothing but abatement! Nobody abates me +anything. I have to pay all family charges just the same as ever. +What would they say if I was to take away my wife and girls, shut +up Carnlough, and go and live in France? I could give them some +abatement then and be a richer man. But how would they like to have +Carnlough empty?" + +"There's no danger of that, I think." + +"Upon my word, I don't know. The girls are talking of it, and when +they begin to talk of a thing, I am very likely to do it. And Mrs. +Blake is quite ready." + +"You wouldn't leave the country?" + +"That's just it. I'll stay if they'll let me. If they'll pay me rent +enough to enable me to live here comfortably, I'll not desert them. +But if they think that I'm to keep up the place on borrowed money, +they'll find their mistake. I didn't mind ten per cent. for the last +two years, though I have taken to drinking whisky punch in my old +age, instead of claret and sherry. And I don't mind ten per cent. for +this year, though I am sorely in want of a young horse to carry me. +But if the ten per cent. is to go on, or to become twenty per cent. +as one blackguard hinted, I shall say good-bye to Carnlough. They may +fight it out then with Terry Daly as they can." Now, Terry Daly was +the well-known agent for the lands of Carnlough. "What has brought +you over here to-day?" asked Mr. Blake. "I can see with half an eye +that there is some fresh trouble." + +"Indeed there is." + +"I have heard what they did with your sluices. That's another trick +they've learnt out of County Mayo. When a landlord is not rich enough +to give them all that they want, they make the matter easier by doing +the best they can to ruin him. I don't think anything of that kind +has been done at Carnlough." + +"There is worse than that," said Mr. Jones sorrowfully. + +"The devil there is! They have not mutilated any of your cattle?" + +"No, there is nothing of that kind. The only enemy I've got about the +place, as far as I know, is one Pat Carroll. It was he and others, +whom he paid to serve him, that have let the waters in upon the +meadows. Eighty acres are under water at this moment. But I can bear +that like a man. The worst of that is, that all the neighbours should +have seen him do it, and not one of them have come forward to tell +me." + +"That is the worst," said Mr. Blake. "There must be some terrible +understanding among them, some compact for evil, when twenty men are +afraid to tell what one man has been seen to do. It's fearful to +think that the priests should not put a stop to it. How is Master +Florian getting on with his priest?" + +"It's about him that I have come to speak to you," said Mr. Jones. + +"About Florian?" + +"Yes; indeed. When I tell you my story, I think you will understand +that I would tell it to no one but yourself in County Galway. I fear +that Florian saw the men at work upon the flood gates." + +"And will he not tell the truth?" + +"You must remember that I cannot say that I know anything. The boy +declares that he saw nothing; that he knows nothing. I have no +evidence; but his sisters are sure that it is so. Edith says that he +certainly was present when the gates were removed. She only judges +from his manner and his countenance." + +"What made her suspect him?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"Only that she saw him when the news was brought to us. Edith is +not ill-natured. She would not be prone to make a story against her +brother." + +"If Edith says so, it is so," said Mr. Blake, who among all Edith's +admirers was one of the most ardent. + +"I don't quite say that. I only mean to express my conviction that +she intends to get at the truth." + +"I'll wager my life upon her," said Mr. Blake. "As to the +other;--well, you know, Jones, that he has turned Roman Catholic." + +"That means nothing," said the distressed father. "He is only ten +years old. Of course he's a fool for his pains; but he would not on +that account do such a deed as this." + +"I don't know. You must remember that he will be telling everything +to the priests." + +"We have two priests about us," said Mr. Jones, "and I would trust +them in anything. There is Father Giles at Headford, and he is as +fair a man as any clergyman of our own could be. You cannot imagine +that he would give such advice to my boy?" + +"Not Father Giles certainly," said the other man. + +"Then down with us at Ballintubber there is Father Malachi." + +"I know him too," said Mr. Blake. "He would not interfere with a boy +like Florian. Is there no one else? What curate lives with Father +Malachi?" + +"There is none with him at Ballintubber. One Brosnan lives with +Father Giles." + +"That man is a firebrand," said Mr. Blake. "He is a wretched +politician, always preaching up Home Rule." + +"But I do not think that even he would teach a boy to deceive his own +father in such a matter as this." + +"I am not sure," said Blake. "It is very difficult to get at the +vagaries of mind in such a man as Mr. Brosnan. But what do you intend +to do?" + +"I have come to you for advice. But remember this:--in my present +frame of mind, the suspicion that I feel as to poor Florian is ten +times worse to me than the loss of all my meadows. If I could find +out Edith to have been wrong, I should be at once relieved of the +great trouble which sits heaviest at my heart." + +"I fear that Edith is right," said Mr. Blake. + +"You are prejudiced a little in her favour. Whatever she says you +will think right." + +"You must weigh that, and take it for what it's worth," said Mr. +Blake. "We know that the boy has got himself into bad hands. You do +not suspect him of a desire to injure you?" + +"Oh, no!" said the father. + +"But he has seen these men do it, and now refuses to tell you. They +have terrified him." + +"He is not a cowardly boy," said Mr. Jones, still standing up for his +son. + +"But they have made him swear an oath that he will not tell. There +has been something of that sort. What does he say himself?" + +"Simply that he knows nothing about it." + +"But how does he say it? Does he look you in the face? A boy of that +kind may lie. Boys do--and girls also. When people say they don't, +they know nothing about it; but if it's worth one's while to look at +them one can generally tell when they're lying. I'm not a bit afraid +of a boy when he is lying,--but only of one who can lie as though he +didn't lie." + +"I think that Florian is lying," said Mr. Jones slowly; "he does not +look me in the face, and he does not lie straightforward." + +"Then Edith is right; and I am right when I swear by her." + +"But what am I to do with him? If, as I suppose, he saw Pat Carroll +do the mischief, he must have seen others with him. If we knew who +were the lot, we could certainly get the truth out of some of them, +so as to get evidence for a conviction." + +"Can't he be made to speak?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"How can I make him? It will be understood all about Morony that +he has been lying. And I feel that it is thought that he has made +himself a hero by sticking to his lie. If they should turn upon him?" +Mr. Blake sat silent but made no immediate reply. "It would be better +for me to let the whole thing slide. If they were to kill him!" + +"They would not do that. Here in County Galway they have not come +to that as yet. There is not a county in all Ireland in which such +a deed could be done," said Mr. Blake, standing up for his country. +"Are you to let this ruffian pass unpunished while you have the power +of convicting him? I think that you are bound to punish him. For the +sake of your country you are bound to do so." + +"And the boy?" said Mr. Jones hoarsely. + +"He is but ten years old, and will soon live it down. And the +disgrace of the lie will be drowned in the triumph of telling the +truth at last. We should all feel,--I should feel,--that he would +in such case deserve well, rather than ill, of his father and of me, +and of all of us. Besides you had some idea of sending him to school +in England." Here Mr. Jones shook his head, intending to indicate +that no such expensive step as that would be possible after the loss +incurred by the flooding of the eighty acres. "At any rate my advice +to you is to make him declare the truth. I think little harm of a +boy for lying, but I do think harm of those who allow a lie to pass +unnoticed." So saying Mr. Blake ended the meeting, and took Mr. Jones +away to see Mrs. Blake and the girls. + +"I do suppose that father has gone to Carnlough, to consult with Mr. +Blake about this affair of the flood." It was thus that Ada spoke to +her brother Florian, when he came to her discussing the matter of +their father's absence. + +"What can Mr. Blake know about it?" said Florian. + +"I suppose he means to ask about you. It is quite clear, Florian, +that no one in the house believes you." + +"Peter does." + +"You mean that Peter thinks you are right to stand to the lie now you +have told it. More shame for Peter if he does." + +"You wouldn't have a fellow go and put himself out of favour with all +the boys through the country? There is a horrible man that wears a +mask--" Then he remembered, and stopped himself. He was on closer +terms with Ada than with Edith, but not on terms so close as to +justify his whispering a word about the man in the mask. + +"Where did you see the man in the mask?" asked Ada. "Who is the man +in the mask?" + +"I don't know." + +"But you know where you saw him. You must know that. What did the man +in the mask say to you?" + +"I am not going to tell you anything about him," said the boy. "I +am not going to have my secrets got out of me in that way. It isn't +honest. Nobody but a Protestant would do it." So saying Florian left +his sister, with the tale of the man in the mask only half told. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER. + + +We must now turn to another personage in our story, and tell +our readers something of the adventures and conditions of this +gentleman;--something also of his daughter. The adventures of her +early life will occupy much of our time and many of our pages; and +though her father may not be so interesting as it is hoped that she +will become, still he was so peculiar in his modes of thought, and +so honest, though by no means wise, in his manner of thinking, as to +make his story also perhaps worth the telling. + +Gerald O'Mahony was at the time of the flooding of Mr. Jones's +meadows not much more than forty years old. But he was already the +father of a daughter nearly twenty. Where he was born, from what +parents, or to what portion of Ireland his family belonged, no one +knew. He himself had been heard to declare a suspicion that his +father had come from County Kerry. But as he himself had been, +according to his own statement, probably born in the United States, +the county to which his father had belonged is not important. He had +been bred up as a Roman Catholic, but had long since thrown over all +the prejudices of his religion. He had married when he was quite +young, and had soon lost his wife. But in talking of her now he +always described her as an angel. But though he looked to be so young +as to be his daughter's brother, rather than her father, he had never +thought of marrying again. His daughter he declared was everything to +him. But those who knew him well said that politics were dearer to +him even than his daughter. Since he had been known in County Galway, +he had passed and repassed nearly a dozen times between New York and +Ireland; and his daughter had twice come with him. He had no declared +means, but he had never been known to borrow a shilling, or to leave +a bill unpaid. But he had frequently said aloud that he had no money +left, and that unless he returned to his own country he and his +daughter must be taken in by some poor-house. For Mr. O'Mahony, fond +as he was of Ireland, allowed no one to say that he was an Irishman. + +But his troubles were apparently no troubles to him. He was always +good-humoured, and seemed always to be happy--except when in public, +when he was engaged upon politics. Then he would work himself up +to such a state of indignant anger as seemed to be altogether +antagonistic to good-humour. The position he filled,--or had +filled,--was that of lecturer on behalf of the United States. He had +lectured at Manchester, at Glasgow, at Liverpool, and lately all over +Ireland. But he had risen to such a height of wrath in advocating the +doctrine of Republicanism that he had been stopped by the police. He +had been held to have said things disrespectful of the Queen. This +he loudly denied. He had always, he said, spoken of the Queen's +virtues, her graces, and general fitness for her high office. He had +declared,--and this was true,--that of all kings and queens of whom +he had read in history she was the best. But, he had gone on to say +there should be no king or queen. The practice was an absurdity. The +reverence paid even to the high office was such as, in his idea, +degraded a man. Even in America, the Kotooing which took place before +the President's toe was to him an abomination. No man in accordance +with his theory should worship another man. Titles should only be +used as indicative of a man's trade or occupation. As one man was Mr. +General Grant, another man should be Mr. Bricklayer Green. He could +not do away with the Queen. But for the woman, he was quite disposed +to worship her. All women were to be worshipped, and it was a +privilege of a man to worship a woman. When a woman possessed so +many virtues as did the Queen of England, it became a man's duty to +worship them. But it was a woman whom he would worship, and not the +Queen. This was carried to such a length, and he was so eloquent on +the subject that the police were desired to interfere, and he was +made to hold his tongue,--at any rate as far as England and Ireland +were concerned. + +He had made Galway a kind of centre home, attracted thither by the +friendship which his daughter had made with Ada and Edith Jones. For +though Ada and Edith were by no means Republican in their thoughts +and feelings, it had come to pass that they dearly loved the American +girl who was so. Rachel O'Mahony had frequently been at Morony +Castle, as had also her father; and Mr. Jones had taken delight in +controverting the arguments of the American, because, as he had said, +the American had been unselfish and true. But since his lecturing had +been stopped, it had become necessary that he should go elsewhere +to look for means of livelihood, and he had now betaken himself to +London for that purpose,--a circumstance which will be explained at +greater length as the story progresses. + +Republicanism was not the only matter in his political creed to +which Gerald O'Mahony was devoted. Though he was no Irishman, as he +delighted to intimate, his heart was Irish; and during his various +visits to the country, he had filled his bosom with thoughts of +Irish wrongs. No educated man was ever born and bred in more utter +ignorance of all political truths than this amiable and philanthropic +gentleman. In regard to Ireland his theory was that the land should +be taken from the present proprietors, and divided among the peasants +who tilled it. When asked what should be done with the present +owners, he was quite ready with his answer: "Let them be paid for the +property by the State!" He would have no man injured to the extent +of a shilling. When asked where the State was to get the money, he +declared that that was a mere detail. States did get money. As for +the landlords themselves, with the money in their pockets, let them +emigrate to the United States, if they were in want of something +to do. As to the division of the land,--that he said would settle +itself. One man would have ten acres, and another fifty; but that +would be fair, because one man had been used to pay for ten, and +another to pay for fifty. As for the men who got no land in the +scramble he could see no injustice. The man who chanced to have been +a tenant for the last twelve months, must take the benefit of his +position. No doubt such man could sell his land immediately after he +got it, because Freedom of Sale was one of the points of his charter. +He could see the injustice of giving the land at a rent fixed by +the State, because the State has no right to interfere in ordinary +contracts between man and man. But if the land was to be given up +without any rent, then he could see no injustice. Thus, and thus +only, could Ireland be made to return to the beauty and the grace of +her original simplicity. + +But on the wrongs arising from the want of Home Rule he was +warmer even than on those which the land question had produced. +"Why should Ireland be governed by a British Parliament, a +British Lord-Lieutenant, a British Chief-Secretary, a British +Commander-in-Chief, and trodden under foot by a British soldiery? +Why should Scotland be so governed, why should Wales, why should +Yorkshire?" Mr. Jones would reply, "Repeal the Unions; restore +the Heptarchy!" Mr. O'Mahony had but a confused idea of what the +Heptarchy had been. But he was sure that it would be for the benefit +of Ireland, that Irish knives should be made of Irish steel. "As +undoubtedly would have been the case if the question of protection +were to be left to an Irish Parliament to settle," said Mr. Jones. +"Heaven help the man who would want to cut his mutton. His best +chance would be that he would soon have no mutton to cut." + +So the dispute was carried on with much warmth on one side, and with +many arguments on the other, but without any quarrelling. It was +impossible to quarrel with O'Mahony, who was thoroughly unselfish, +and desirous of no violence. When he had heard what had been done in +reference to Mr. Jones's meadows, and had been told of the suspected +conduct of Pat Carroll, he was as indignant as though he had himself +been a landed proprietor, or even an Orangeman. And on Mr. Jones's +part there was a desire to do justice to all around him, which came +within the capacity of O'Mahony's vision. He knew that Mr. Jones +himself was a fair-dealing, honest gentleman, and he could not, +therefore, quarrel with him. + +There is a steamer running from the town of Galway, across Lough +Corrib, to the little village of Cong, on the Mayo side of the lake, +which stops and picks up passengers within a mile of Morony Castle. +From this, passengers are landed, so that the means of transit +between Galway and Mr. Jones's house are peculiarly easy. Up and down +by this steamer Ada and Edith Jones had frequently gone to visit +their friend, and as frequently that friend had come to visit them. +But unfortunately the steamer had been open to others besides the +young ladies, and Rachel O'Mahony had found a dearer friend than +either of the girls at Morony Castle. It had come to pass that Frank +Jones and Rachel O'Mahony had declared themselves to be engaged. +On no such ground as want of wealth, or want of family, or want of +education, had Mr. Jones based his objection to the match; but there +had been a peculiarity in the position of Rachel which had made him +hesitate. It was not that she was an American, but such an American! +It was not that he was a Republican, but such a Republican! And she +was more anxious to carry Frank away with her to the United States, +and to join him in a political partnership with her father, than to +come and settle herself down at the Castle. Thus there had arisen an +understanding on the part of the young people, that, though they were +engaged, they were engaged without the consent of the young man's +father. Rachel therefore was not to be brought to the Castle while +Frank was there. To all this Rachel's father had assented, in a +smiling indifferent manner, half intended to ridicule all who were +concerned. As it was not a question of politics, Mr. O'Mahony could +not work himself up to any anger, or apparently even to anxiety in +the matter. "Your young people,"--here he meant English and Irish +generally,--"are taught to think they should begin the world where we +leave it off." + +"Your young people are just as fond of what money will buy as are +ours," said Mr. Jones. + +"But they are fonder of one another, even, than of money. When they +love one another they become engaged. Then they marry. And as a rule +they don't starve. As a rule people with us seldom do starve. As for +making out an income for a young man to start with, that with us is +quite out of the question. Frank some day will have this property." + +"That won't give him much of an income," said Mr. Jones, who since +the affair of the flood had become very despondent in reference to +the estate. + +"Then he's as well off now as ever he will be, and might as well +marry the girl." But all this was said with no eagerness. + +"They are merely boy and girl as yet," said Mr. Jones. + +"I was married, and Rachel was born before I was Frank's age." So +saying, Mr. O'Mahony consented to come to Morony Castle, and bid them +adieu, without bringing his girl with him. This was hard upon Ada +and Edith, as Mr. Frank, of course, went into Galway as often as he +pleased, and made his adieu after his own fashion. + +And there had come up another cause which had created further +objections to the marriage in Mr. Jones's mind. Mr. O'Mahony had +declared that as his lecturing was brought to an end by the police, +he must throw himself upon Rachel's capabilities for earning some +money. Rachel's capabilities had been often discussed at the Castle, +but with various feelings on the three sides into which the party had +formed themselves. All the Jones's were on one side, and declared +that the capability had better not be exercised. In this they were +probably wrong;--but it was their opinion. They had lived for many +years away from London. The children had so lived all their lives; +and they conceived that prejudices still existed which had now +been banished or nearly banished from the world. Mr. O'Mahony, who +formed another party, thought that the matter was one of supreme +indifference. As long as he could earn money by lecturing it was well +that he should earn it. It was always better that the men of a family +should work than the women; but, if the man's talent was of no use, +then it might be well to fall back upon the woman. He only laughed +at the existence of a prejudice in the matter. He himself had no +prejudices. He regarded all prejudices as the triumph of folly over +education. + +But Rachel, who was the third party in the discussion, had a very +strong feeling of her own. She was of opinion that if the capability +in question existed, it ought to be exercised. On that subject,--her +possession of the capability,--she entertained, she said, strong +doubts. But if the capability existed it certainly ought to be used. +That was Rachel's opinion, expressed with all the vigour which she +knew how to throw into the subject. + +This capability had already been exercised in New York, where it had +been efficacious, though the effect had not been great. She had been +brought up to sing, and great things had been promised of her voice. +An American manager had thought much of her performance, though she +had hitherto, he said, been young, and had not come to the strength +of her throat. But he had himself seen to her education, almost as +a child, and had been sure that sooner or later she would do great +things in the musical world. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss was the gentleman +in question, and he at present was in London. That such a voice as +Rachel O'Mahony's should be lost to the world, was to his thinking +a profanity, an indecency, an iniquity, a wasting of God's choicest +gifts, and an abomination not to be thought of; for Mr. Mahomet +M. Moss was in the affairs of his own profession a most energetic +gentleman. Rachel rather turned up her nose at Mr. Mahomet M. Moss; +but she was very anxious to go to London and to take her chance, and +to do something, as she said, laughing, just to keep her father's pot +a little on the boil;--but for Mr. Mahomet M. Moss she did not care +one straw. Mr. O'Mahony was therefore ready to start on the journey, +and had now come to Morony Castle to say farewell to his friend Mr. +Jones. "Are you sure about that fellow Moss?" said Mr. Jones. + +"What do you call sure about him? He's as big a swindler, I guess, as +you shall find from here to himself." + +"And are you going to put Rachel into his hands?" + +"Well, I think so;--after a sort of fashion. He'll swindle her out of +three parts of what she earns;--but she'll get the fourth part. It's +always the way with a young girl when she's first brought out." + +"I don't mean about money. Will you leave her conduct in his hands?" + +"He'll be a clever chap who'll undertake to look after Rachel's +conduct. I guess she'll conduct herself mostly." + +"You'll be there to be sure," said Mr. Jones. + +"Yes, I shall be there; and she'll conduct me too. Very likely." + +"But, Mr. O'Mahony,--as a father!" + +"I know pretty well what you would be saying. Our young folk grow old +quicker a long sight than yours do. Now your girls here are as sweet +as primroses out of the wood. But Rachel is like a rose that has been +brought up to stand firm on its own bush. I'm not a bit afraid of +her. Nor yet is your son. She looks as though you might blow her away +with the breath from your mouth. You try her, and you'll find that +she'll want a deal of blowing." + +"Does not a young girl lose something of the aroma of her youth by +seeing too much of the world too soon?" + +"How old do you expect her to be when she's to die?" + +"Rachel! How can I tell? She is only as yet entering upon life, and +her health seems to be quite confirmed." + +"The best confirmed I ever knew in my life. She never has a day's +illness. Taking all the chances one way and another, shall we say +sixty?" + +"More than that, I should think," said Mr. Jones. + +"Say sixty. She may fall down a trap in the theatre, or be drowned in +one of your Cunarders." + +"The Cunard steamers never drown anybody," said Mr. Jones. + +"Well, then, a White Star--or any cockle-shell you may please to +name. We'll put her down for sixty as an average." + +"I don't know what you are driving at," said Mr. Jones. + +"She has lived a third of her life already, and you expect her to +know nothing, so that the aroma may still cling to her. Aroma does +very well for earls' daughters and young marchionesses, though as +far as I can learn, it's going out of fashion with them. What has an +American girl to do with aroma, who's got her bread to earn? She's +got to look to her conduct, and to be sharp at the same time. Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss will rob her of seventy-five cents out of every +dollar for the next twelve months. In three years' time he'll rob her +of nothing. Only that she knows what conduct means, he'd have to look +very sharp to keep his own." + +"It is not natural," said Mr. Jones. + +"But it's American. Marvels are not natural, and we are marvellous +people. I don't know much about aroma, but I think you'll find Rachel +will come out of the washing without losing much colour in the +process." + +Then the two friends parted, and Mr. O'Mahony went back to Galway, +preparatory to his journey to London. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +RACHEL AND HER LOVERS. + + +On the day following that of O'Mahony's return to Galway, he, and +his daughter, and Frank Jones were together at the Galway Station +preparatory to the departure of the O'Mahonys for Dublin and London. +"I guess you two have got something to say to each other, so I'll +leave you to yourselves," said the father. + +"I guess we have," said Rachel, "so if you'll wait here we'll come +to you when the cars are fixed." So saying, Rachel put her hand on +her lover's arm and walked off with him along the platform. Rachel +O'Mahony had not been badly described when her father said of her +that she looked as though she might be blown away. She was very fair, +and small and frail to look at. Her father had also said of her that +her health was remarkably good,--"the best confirmed that he had ever +known in his life." But though this too, was true, she hardly looked +it. No one could have pointed out any sign of malady about her; only +one would have said that there was nothing of her. And the colour on +her face was so evanescent that he who watched her was inclined to +think that she herself was like her colour. And she moved as though +she was always on the vanishing point. "I'm very fond of eating," she +had been heard to say. "I know it's vulgar; but it's true." No doubt +she was fond of eating, but so is a sparrow. There was nothing she +would not attempt to do in the way of taking exercise. She would +undertake very long walks, and would then fail, and declare that +she must be carried home; but she would finally get through the +day's work better than another woman who appeared to have double her +strength. Her feet and hands were the tiniest little adjuncts to a +grown human body that could be seen anywhere. They looked at least to +be so. But they were in perfect symmetry with her legs and arms. "I +wish I were bigger," she had once been heard to say, "because I could +hit a man." The man to whom she alluded was Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. +"I sometimes want to hit a woman, but that would be such a small +triumph." And yet she had a pride in her little female fineries. +"Now, Frank," she had once said, "I guess you won't get another woman +in all Galway to put her foot into that boot; nor yet in New York +either." + +"I don't think I could," said the enraptured Frank. + +"You'd better take it to New York and try, and if you find the lady +you can bring her back with you." + +Frank refused the commission, saying something of course very pretty +as to his mistress's foot. "Ten buttons! These only have eight," she +said, objecting to a present which her lover had just brought her. +"If I had ten buttons, and the gloves to fit me, I'd cut my arm off +and put it under a glass case. Lovers are sent out to do all possible +and impossible things in order to deserve their lady-loves. You shall +go and wander about till you find a glove with ten buttons to fit +me, then I'll consent to be Mrs.----Jones." By all of which little +manoeuvres Frank was charmed and oppressed to the last degree. When +she would call herself the "future Mrs.----Jones," he would almost +feel inclined to abandon both the name and the property. "Why not +be Mrs. Morony," Rachel would say, "or Mrs. Ballintubber? The +Ballintubber, of Ballintubber, would sound exquisitely, and then I +should always be called 'Madam.'" + +Her beauty was all but perfect, as far as symmetry was concerned, +only that there was not enough of it; and for the perfection of +female beauty a tone of colour is, methinks, needed somewhat darker +than that which prevailed with Rachel O'Mahony. Her hair was so light +that one felt it rather than saw it, as one feels the sunlight. It +was soft and feathery, as is the under plumage on the wings of some +small tropical birds. "A lock of my hair!" she had once said to +Frank; "but it will all go into nothing. You should have paid your +vows to some girl who could give you a good lump of hair fit to stuff +a pillow with. If you have mine you will think in a few weeks that +the spiders have been there and have left their dust behind." But +she gave him the lock of hair, and laid it on his lips with her own +little hands. + +There was not enough of her beauty. Even in touching her a lover +could not but feel that he had to deal with a little child. In +looking at her he could only look down upon her. It was not till +she spoke, and that her words came to his assistance, that he found +that he had to deal with one who was not altogether a child. "Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss declares his opinion that I shall be seen above the +gaslights. It was very civil and complimentary of Mahomet M. M. But +I mean to make myself heard. Mahomet M. M. did not seem to think of +this." Since Frank had known her she had taken every opportunity in +her power of belittling Mahomet M. M., as she was wont to call Mr. +Moss. + +Frank Jones was, in truth, a handsome stalwart young man, clever +enough for the world, who thought a good deal of himself, and who +thought very much more of the girl whom he loved. It was chiefly +because he was absolutely unlike an American that Rachel O'Mahony +had come to love him. Who does not know the "got up" look of the +gentleman from the other side of the water, who seems to know himself +to be much better than his father, and infinitely superior to his +grandfather; who is always ready to make a speech on every occasion, +and who feels himself to be fit company for a Prime Minister as soon +as he has left school. Probably he is. Young Jones was not so; and it +was on account of this deficiency that Rachel prized him. "I'm not +like a young girl myself," she had said to her father, "but I do love +a jolly nice boy. With us at sixteen, they are all but decrepit old +men, and yet they are such little monkeys." + +"For a little monkey, what do you think of yourself?" her father had +replied. But the conversation then had not gone any further. + +"I know you'll be after me before long," Rachel said to Frank, as +they walked up and down the platform together. + +"If I do, I shall ask you to marry me at once," he replied. + +"I shall never do that without your father's leave." + +"Is that the way they manage things in America?" + +"It's the way I shall manage them here," said Rachel. "I'm in the +unfortunate position of having three papas to whom I must attend. +There is papa O'Mahony--" + +"You will never be incommoded much by him," he replied. + +"He is the least potent of the three, no doubt. Then there is papa +Jones. He is absolutely omnipotent in this matter. He would not let +me come down to Castle Morony for fear I should contaminate you all. +I obeyed without even daring to feel the slightest snub, and if I +were married to-morrow, I should kiss his toe in token of respect, +and with a great deal more affection than I should kiss your +half-bearded lips, sir." Here Frank got a hold of her hand beneath +his arm, and gave it a squeeze. "He is the real old-fashioned father +in the play, who is expected to come out at last with a hundred +thousand dollars and his blessing." + +"And who is the third papa?" + +"Don't you know? Mahomet M. Moss. He is the third papa--if only he +would consent to remain in that comparatively humble position." Here +Frank listened to her words with sharp ears, but he said nothing at +the moment. "Mahomet M. Moss is at any rate my lord and master for +the present." + +"Not whilst I am alive," said Frank. + +"But he is. There is no use in rebelling. You are not my lord and +master until you have gone through a certain ceremony. I wish you +were. Will that satisfy you?" + +"There is something in the name of lord and master which a girl +shouldn't apply to anyone but to him who is to be her husband." + +"Fiddlestick! Mr. Lord and Master that is to be, but is not as yet. +But he is, in many respects. I don't think, Frank, you can imagine +the horror I feel in reference to that vilest of human beings. I +shall carry a dagger with me, in order to have it ready for any +occasion." + +"What does he do? You shall not go to be subjected to such danger and +such annoyance." + +She turned round, and looked up into his face as with derision. "The +annoyance no doubt will be mine, Frank, and must be endured; the +danger will be his, I think. Nor shall I use the dagger that I spoke +of. I can look at him, and I can make him hear my voice, in spite of +the smallness of my stature. But there is no one in this world whom I +detest as I do that greasy Jew. It is not for what he does, but that +I simply detest him. He makes love to me." + +"What!" + +"Oh! he does. You needn't look like that. You needn't be a bit +jealous." + +"I shall come over at once." + +"And knock him on the head! You had better not do that, because we +want to make some money by his means. As a lover I can keep him at a +distance. I wish I could do so to you, Mr. Jones." + +"Why do you wish to keep me at a distance?" + +"Because you know how to be troublesome. It is much harder to +keep a lover at a distance when you really love him with all your +heart"--here she looked up into his face and squeezed his arm, and +nearly made him mad for the moment--"than a beast like that, who is +no better than a toad to you. There, do you see that ugly old man +there?" She pointed to a cross-looking old gentleman of sixty, who +was scolding a porter violently. "Why aren't you jealous of that +man?" + +"You never saw him before." + +"That's just the reason. He may be worth my affection, but I know +that that Mahomet M. M. is not. You begin with the most bitter hatred +on my part. I don't hate that old gentleman. I rather like him on +the whole, though he was so cross. At any rate he's not a greasy Jew. +Papa says that hating Jews is a prejudice. Loving you is a prejudice, +I suppose." + +"My darling!" + +"You can't suppose you are the best man I ever saw, can you?" + +"It's a sort of thing we are not to reason about." + +"Then it's a prejudice. I'm prejudiced against Mahomet M. M. I'm +equally prejudiced in favour of Mr. Jones, junior, of Ballintubber. +It's horrible to be troubled by the one." + +"Well!" + +"Well! There's nothing more coming, Mr. Jones. Only don't you come +over in any of your fits of jealousy, or you'll have to be sent back +again. You're not my lord and master--yet." + +"I wish I were." + +"So do I. What more do you want than that? I don't believe there's +another girl in New York would say as much to you,--nor yet in County +Galway." + +"But what does he say to you?" + +"Well; just the kind of things that you never say. And he certainly +never does the kind of things which you do; and that, Mr. Jones, is +an improvement. But papa is in a hurry, and I shouldn't wonder if the +train didn't go on in a quarter of an hour. I'll write to you about +Mahomet M. M.; and if I behave very badly, such as prodding him with +the dagger, or something of that sort, then I will let you know the +details. You can't do it here, so you may as well go." So saying, +she jumped into the carriage, and the train had started before Frank +Jones had begun to think whether he could do it there or no. + +"He's a good fellow, take him all round," said Mr. O'Mahony, when the +carriages had left the station. + +"As good as the rest of them." + +"I think he is better." + +"Of course we all think so of our own. Why should he be better than +any other young lady's Mr. Jones? I don't suppose he is better; but +we'll endeavour to believe that he is up to the average." + +"Is that all that you've got to say for him, Rachel?" + +"What! To you? Not exactly--if I am to speak the solid truth; which I +don't see why I should have to do, even to my own father. I do think +him above the average. I think him so much above the average as to +be the best of all. But why? Simply because I believe him when he +says he wants to marry me, and make me his companion for life. And +then there's an affinity between us which God certainly manages. Why +should I trust him in every detail of life with a perfect faith, and +not trust Mr. Mahomet M. Moss to the extent of half-a-crown? If he +were to ask me for everything I have in the world, I should give it +to him, without a thought except of his goodness in taking care of it +for me. I wouldn't let Mahomet M. Moss have a dollar of mine without +giving me his bond. Papa, there will be a row between me and Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss, and so it's well to put you on your guard." + +"What sort of a row, my dear?" + +"A very rowy row. I don't mean about dollars, for you'll have to +manage that just at first. When we have got into the running, I think +I shall have something to say on that subject too." + +"What row do you mean?" + +"He'll misbehave himself. He always does, more or less." + +"The poor fellow can't open his mouth without your saying that he +misbehaves himself." + +"That's quite true; he can't. He can't brush his hair, or tie his +cravat, or settle his pantaloons, without misbehaving himself. He +certainly can't look out of his eye without gross misbehaviour." + +"What is he to do then?" said Mr. O'Mahony. "Nature has imbued him +with all these peculiarities, and you are fantastic to find fault +with him." + +"Perhaps so--but then I am fantastic. When you've got a dirty coat +on, or Frank, I don't find fault with it; but when he's got a clean +coat, I writhe at him in my disgust. Yet, upon the whole, I like men +to have clean coats." + +"But you haven't said how the row is to come." + +"Because I don't know; but it will come. It won't be about his coat, +nor yet his hat, unless he puts it close down under my nose. My time, +as I understand, is to be at his disposal." + +"There will be an agreement made as to all that." + +"An agreement as to my performances. I quite understand that I must +be present at fixed times at the theatre, and that he must fix them. +That will not worry me; particularly if you will go to the theatre +with me." + +"Of course I will do that when you want it." + +"But he is to come to me with his beastly lessons. Am I to have no +relief from that?" + +"The hours can be fixed." + +"But they won't be fixed. There's no doubt that he understands his +trade. He can make me open my mouth and keep it open. And he can +tell me when I sing false or flat. Providence when she gave him that +horrid head of hair, did give him also the peculiarity of a fine ear. +I think it is the meanest thing out for a man to be proud of that. If +you can run a straight furrow with a plough it is quite as great a +gift." + +"That is nonsense, my dear. Such an ear as Mr. Moss's is very rare." + +"A man who can see exactly across an entire field is just as rare. +I don't see the difference. Nor when a woman sings do I respect her +especially because of her voice. When a man can write a poem like +Homer, or rule a country like Washington, there is something to +say for him. I shall tell him that I will devote one hour a day to +practising, and no more." + +"That will settle the difficulty; if it be enough." + +"But during that hour, there is to be no word spoken except what has +to do with the lessons. You'll bear me out in that?" + +"There must be some give and take in regard to ordinary +conversation." + +"You don't know what a beast he is, papa. What am I to do if he tells +me to my face that I'm a beautiful young woman?" + +"Tell him that you are quite aware of the fact, but that it is a +matter you do not care to talk about." + +"And then he'll simper. You do not know what a vile creature he can +be. I can take care of myself. You needn't be a bit afraid about +that. I fancy I could give him a slap on the face which would startle +him a little. And if we came to blows, I do believe that he would not +have a leg to stand upon. He is nearly fifty." + +"My dear!" + +"Say forty. But I do believe a good shove would knock him off his +nasty little legs. I used to think he wore a wig; but no hairdresser +could be such a disgrace to his profession to let such a wig as that +go out of his shop." + +"I always regarded him as a good-looking young man," said Mr. +O'Mahony. Here Rachel shook her head, and made a terrible grimace. +"It's all fancy you know," continued he. + +"I suppose it is. But if you hear that I have told him that I regard +him as a disgusting monkey, you must not be surprised." This was the +last conversation which Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter had respecting +Mahomet M. Moss, till they reached London. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BROWN'S. + + +When Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter stepped out of the train on the +platform at Euston Square, they were at once encountered by Mr. +Mahomet M. Moss. "Oh, dear!" ejaculated Miss O'Mahony, turning back +upon her father. "Cannot you get rid of him?" Mr. O'Mahony, without +a word of reply to his daughter, at once greeted Mr. Moss most +affectionately. "Yes, my bird is here--as you see. You have taken a +great deal of trouble in coming to meet us." Mr. Moss begged that the +trouble might be taken as being the greatest pleasure he had ever had +in his life. "Nothing could be too much to do for Miss O'Mahony." He +had had, he said, the wires at work, and had been taught to expect +them by this train. Would Miss O'Mahony condescend to take a seat in +the carriage which was waiting for her? She had not spoken a word, +but had laid fast hold of her father's arm. "I had better look after +the luggage," said the father, shaking the daughter off. "Perhaps +Mr. Moss will go with you," said she;--and at the moment she looked +anything but pleasant. Mr. Moss expressed his sense of the high +honour which was done him by her command, but suggested that she +should seat herself in the carriage. "I will stand here under this +pillar," she said. And as she took her stand it would have required +a man with more effrontery than Mr. Moss possessed, to attempt to +move her. We have seen Miss O'Mahony taking a few liberties with her +lover, but still very affectionate. And we have seen her enjoying the +badinage of perfect equality with her papa. There was nothing then +of the ferocious young lady about her. Young ladies,--some young +ladies,--can be very ferocious. Miss O'Mahony appeared to be one of +them. As she stood under the iron post waiting till her father and +Mr. Moss returned, with two porters carrying the luggage, the pretty +little fair, fly-away Rachel looked as though she had in her hand +the dagger of which she had once spoken, and was waiting for an +opportunity to use it. + +"Is your maid here, Miss O'Mahony?" asked Mr. Moss. + +"I haven't got a maid," said Rachel, looking at him as though she +intended to annihilate him. + +They all seated themselves in the carriage with their small parcels, +leaving their luggage to come after them in a cab which Mr. Moss had +had allowed to him. But they, the O'Mahonys, knew nothing of their +immediate destination. It had been clearly the father's business to +ask; but he was a man possessed of no presence of mind. Suddenly the +idea struck Rachel, and she called out with a loud voice, "Father, +where on earth are we going?" + +"I suppose Mr. Moss can tell us." + +"You are going to apartments which I have secured for Miss O'Mahony +at considerable trouble," said Mr. Moss. "The theatres are all +stirring." + +"But we are not going to live in a theatre." + +"The ladies of the theatres find only one situation convenient. +They must live somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Strand. I have +secured two sitting-rooms and two bedrooms on the first floor, +overlooking the views at Brown's." + +"Won't they cost money?" asked the father. + +"Of course they will," said Rachel. "What fools we have been! We +intended to go to some inn for one night till we could find a fitting +place,--somewhere about Gower Street." + +"Gower Street wouldn't do at all," said Mr. Moss. "The distance from +everything would be very great." Two ideas passed at that moment +through Rachel's mind. The first was that the distance might serve +to keep Mr. Moss out of her sitting-room, and the second was that +were she to succeed in doing this, she might be forced to go to +his sitting-room. "I think Gower Street would be found to be +inconvenient, Miss O'Mahony." + +"Bloomsbury Square is very near. Here we are at the hotel. Now, +father, before you have anything taken off the carriages, ask the +prices." + +Then Mr. Moss, still keeping his seat, made a little speech. "I think +if Miss O'Mahony would allow me, I would counsel her against too +rigid an economy. She will have heard of the old proverb,--'A penny +wise and a pound foolish.'" + +"'Cut your coat according to your cloth,' I have heard of that too; +and I have heard of 'Burning a candle at both ends.'" + +"'You shouldn't spoil your ship for a ha'porth of tar,'" said Mr. +Moss with a smile, which showed his idea, that he had the best of the +argument. + +"It won't matter for one night," said Mr. O'Mahony, getting out of +the carriage. Half the packages had been already taken off the cab. + +Rachel followed her father, and without attending to Mr. Moss got +hold of her father in the street. "I don't like the look of the house +at all, father, you don't know what the people would be up to. I +shall never go to sleep in this house." Mr. Moss, with his hat off, +was standing in the doorway, suffused, as to his face, with a bland +smile. + +It may be as well to say at once that the house was all that an hotel +ought to be, excepting, perhaps, that the prices were a little high. +The two sitting-rooms and the two bedrooms--with the maid's room, +which had also been taken--did seem to be very heavy to Rachel, who +knew down to a shilling--or rather, to a dollar, as she would have +said--how much her father had in his pocket. Indefinite promises of +great wealth had been also made to herself; but according to a scale +suggested by Mr. Moss, a pound a night, out of which she would have +to keep herself, was the remuneration immediately promised. Then +a sudden thought struck Miss O'Mahony. They were still standing +discussing the price in one of the sitting-rooms, and Mr. Moss was +also there. "Father," she said, "I'm sure that Frank would not +approve." + +"I don't think that he would feel himself bound to interfere," said +Mr. O'Mahony. + +"When a young woman is engaged to a young man it does make a +difference," she replied, looking Mr. Moss full in the face. + +"The happy man," said Mr. Moss, still bowing and smiling, "would +not be so unreasonable as to interfere with the career of his fair +_fiancee_." + +"If we stay here very long," said Rachel, still addressing her +father, "I guess we should have to pawn our watches. But here we are +for the present, and here we must remain. I am awfully tired now, and +should so like to have a cup of tea--by ourselves." Then Mr. Moss +took his leave, promising to appear again upon the scene at eleven +o'clock on the following day. "Thank you," said Rachel, "you are very +kind, but I rather think I shall be out at eleven o'clock." + +"What is the use of your carrying on like that with the man?" said +her father. + +"Because he's a beast." + +"My dear, he's not a beast. He's not a beast that you ought to treat +in that way. You'll be a beast too if you come to rise high in your +profession. It is a kind of work which sharpens the intellect, but is +apt to make men and women beasts. Did you ever hear of a prima donna +who thought that another prima donna sang better than she did?" + +"I guess that all the prima donnas sing better than I do." + +"But you have not got to the position yet. Mr. Moss, I take it, was +doing very well in New York, so as to have become a beast, as you +call him. But he's very good-natured." + +"He's a nasty, stuck-up, greasy Jew. A decent young woman is insulted +by being spoken to by him." + +"What made you tell him that you were engaged to Frank Jones?" + +"I thought it might protect me--but it won't. I shall tell him next +time that I am Frank's wife. But even that will not protect me." + +"You will have to see him very often." + +"And very often I shall have to be insulted. I guess he does the same +kind of thing with all the singing girls who come into his hands." + +"Give it up, Rachel." + +"I don't mind being insulted so much as some girls do, you know. I +can't fancy an English girl putting up with him--unless she liked to +do as he pleased. I hate him;--but I think I can endure him. The only +thing is, whether he would turn against me and rend me. Then we shall +come utterly to the ground, here in London." + +"Give it up." + +"No! You can lecture and I can sing, and it's odd if we can't make +one profession or the other pay. I think I shall have to fight with +him, but I won't give it up. What I am afraid is that Frank should +appear on the scene. And then, oh law! if Mr. Moss should get one +blow in the eye!" + +There she sat, sipping her tea and eating her toast, with her feet +upon the fender, while Mr. O'Mahony ate his mutton-chop and drank his +whisky and water. + +"Father, now I'm coming back to my temper, I want something better +than this buttered toast. Could they get me a veal cutlet, or a bit +of cold chicken?" + +A waiter was summoned. + +"And you must give me a little bit of ham with the cold chicken. No, +father; I won't have any wine because it would get into my head, and +then I should kill Mr. Mahomet M. Moss." + +"My dear," said her father when the man had left the room, "do you +wish to declare all your animosities before the waiter?" + +"Well, yes, I think I do. If we are to remain here it will be better +that they should all know that I regard this man as my schoolmaster. +I know what I'm about; I don't let a word go without thinking of it." + +Then again they remained silent, and Mr. O'Mahony pretended to go to +sleep--and eventually did do so. He devoted himself for the time to +Home Rule, and got himself into a frame of mind in which he really +thought of Ireland. + +"The first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea." + +Why should she not be so? She had all the sentiment necessary, +all the poetry, all the eloquence, all the wit. And then when he +was beginning to think whether something more than sentiment and +eloquence were not necessary, he went to sleep. + +But Rachel was not sleeping. Her thoughts were less stationary than +her father's, and her ideas more realistic. She had been told that +she could sing, and she had sung at New York with great applause. And +she had gone on studying, or rather practising, the art with great +diligence. She had already become aware that practice was more needed +than study. All, nearly all, this man could teach her was to open +her mouth. Nature had given her an ear, and a voice, if she would +work hard so as to use it. It was there before her. But it had seemed +to her that her career was clogged with the necessary burden of Mr. +Moss. Mr. Moss had got hold of her, and how should she get rid of +him? He was the Old Man of the Sea, and how should she shake him off? +And then there was present to her alone a vision of Frank Jones. To +live at Morony Castle and be Frank Jones's wife, would not that be +sweeter than to sing at a theatre under the care of Mr. Mahomet M. +Moss? All the sweetness of a country life in a pleasant house by the +lake side, and a husband with her who would endure all the little +petulancy, and vagaries, and excesses of her wayward but affectionate +temper, all these things were present to her mind. And to be Mistress +Jones, who could look all the world in the face, this--as compared +with the gaslight of a theatre, which might mean failure, and could +only mean gaslight--this, on the present occasion, did tempt her +sorely. Her moods were very various. There were moments of her life +when the gaslight had its charm, and in which she declared to herself +that she was willing to run all the chances of failure for the hope +of success. There were moments in which Mr. Moss loomed less odious +before her eyes. Should she be afraid of Mr. Moss, and fly from +her destiny because a man was greasy? And to this view of her +circumstances she always came at last when her father's condition +pressed itself upon her. The house beside the lake was not her own as +yet, nor would it be her husband's when she was married. + +Nor could there be a home for her father there as long as old Mr. +Jones was alive, nor possibly when his son should come to the throne. +For a time he must go to America, and she must go with him. She had +declared to herself that she could not go back to the United States +unless she could go back as a successful singer. For these reasons +she resolved that she would face Mr. Moss bravely and all his +horrors. + +"If that gentleman comes here to-morrow at eleven, show him up here," +she said to the waiter. + +"Mr. Moss, ma'am?" the waiter asked. + +"Yes, Mr. Moss," she answered in a loud voice, which told the man +much of her story. "Where did that piano come from?" she asked +brusquely. + +"Mr. Moss had it sent in," said the man. + +"And my father is paying separate rent for it?" she asked. + +"What's that, my dear? What's that about rent?" + +"We have got this piano to pay for. It's one of Erard's. Mr. Moss has +sent it, and of course we must pay till we have sent it back again. +That'll do." Then the man went. + +"It's my belief that he intends to get us into pecuniary +difficulties. You have only got L62 left." + +"But you are to have twenty shillings a day till Christmas." + +"What's that?" + +"According to what he says it will be increased after Christmas. He +spoke of L2 a day." + +"Yes; if my singing be approved of. But who is to be the judge? If +the musical world choose to say that they must have Rachel O'Mahony, +that will be all very well. Am I to sing at twenty shillings a day +for just as long as Mr. Moss may want me? And are we to remain here, +and run up a bill which we shall never be able to pay, till they put +us out of the door and call us swindlers?" + +"Frank Jones would help us at a pinch if we came to that difficulty," +said the father. + +"I wouldn't take a shilling from Frank Jones. Frank Jones is all the +world to me, but he cannot help me till he has made me his wife. We +must go out of this at the end of the first week, and send the piano +back. As far as I can make it out, our expenses here will be about +L17 10s. a week. What the piano will cost, I don't know; but we'll +learn that from Mr. Moss. I'll make him understand that we can't +stay here, having no more than twenty shillings a day. If he won't +undertake to give me L2 a day immediately after Christmas, we must go +back to New York while we've got money left to take us." + +"Have it your own way," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"I don't mean to remain here and wake up some morning and find that I +can't stir a step without asking Mahomet M. M. for some money favour. +I know I can sing; I can sing, at any rate, to the extent of forty +shillings a day. For forty shillings a day I'll stay; but if I can't +earn that at once let us go back to New York. It is not the poverty I +mind so much, nor yet the debt, nor yet even your distress, you dear +old father. You and I could weather it out together on a twopenny +roll. Things would never be altogether bad with us as long as we are +together; and as long as we have not put ourselves in the power of +Mahomet M. M. Fancy owing Mr. Moss a sum of money which we couldn't +pay! Mahomet's 'little bill!' I would say to a Christian: 'All right, +Mr. Christian, you shall have your money in good time, and if you +don't it won't hurt you.' He wouldn't be any more than an ordinary +Christian, and would pull a long face; but he would have no little +scheme ready, cut and dry, for getting my body and soul under his +thumb." + +"You are very unchristian yourself, my dear." + +"I certainly have my own opinion of Mahomet M. M., and I shall tell +him to-morrow morning that I don't mean to run the danger." + +Then they went to bed, and slept the sleep of the just. They ordered +breakfast at nine, so that, as Rachel said, the heavy mutton-chop +might not be sticking in her throat as she attempted to show off +before Mr. Moss on his arrival. But from eight till nine she passed +her time in the double employment of brushing her hair and preparing +the conversation as it was to take place between herself and Mr. +Moss. When a young lady boasts that she doesn't "let a word go +without thinking of it," she has to be careful in preparing her +words. And she prepared them now. + +"There will be two of them against me," she said to herself as she +made the preparation. "There'll be the dear old governor, and the +governor that isn't dear. If I were left quite to myself, I think I +could do it easier. But then it might come to sticking a knife into +him." + +"Father," she said, during breakfast, "I'm going to practise for half +an hour before this man comes." + +"That means that I'm to go away." + +"Not in the least. I shall go into the next room where the piano +lives, and you can come or not just as you please. I shall be +squalling all the time, and as we do have the grandeur of two rooms +for the present, you might as well use them. But when he comes we +must take care and see that matters go right. You had better leave +us alone at first, that I may sing to him. Then, when that's over, +do you be in waiting to be called in. I mean to have a little bit +of business with my trusted agent, manager, and parent in music, +'Mahomet M. M.'" + +She went to the instrument, and practised there till half-past +eleven, at which hour Mr. Moss presented himself. "You'll want +to hear me sing of course," she said without getting up from the +music-stool. + +"Just a bar or two to know how you have improved. But it is hardly +necessary. I see from the motion of your lips that you have been +keeping your mouth open. And I hear from the tone of your voice, that +it is all there. There is no doubt about you, if you have practised +opening your mouth." + +"At any rate you shall hear, and if you will stand there you shall +see." + +Then the music lesson began, and Mr. Moss proved himself to be an +adept in his art. Rachel did not in the least doubt his skill, and +obeyed him in everything as faithfully as she would have done, had he +been personally a favourite with her. "Allow me to express my great +delight and my strong admiration for the young debutante. As far as +Miss O'Mahony is concerned the word failure may be struck out of the +language. And no epithet should be used to qualify success, but one +in the most superlative degree. Allow me to--" And he attempted to +raise her hand to his lips, and to express his homage in a manner +certainly not unusual with gentlemen of his profession. + +"Mr. Moss," said the young lady starting up, "there need be nothing +of that kind. There had better not. When a young woman is going to +be married to a young man, she can't be too careful. You don't know, +perhaps, but I'm going to be Mrs. Jones. Mr. Jones is apt to dislike +such things. If you'll wait half a moment, I'll bring papa in." So +saying she ran out of the room, and in two minutes returned, followed +by her father. The two men shook hands, and each of them looked as +though he did not know what he was expected to say to the other. "Now +then, father, you must arrange things with Mr. Moss." + +Mr. Moss bowed. "I don't exactly know what I have got to arrange," +said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"We've got to arrange so that we shan't get into debt with Mr. Moss." + +"There need not be the least fear in the world as to that," said Mr. +Moss. + +"Ah; but that's just what we do fear, and what we must fear." + +"So unnecessary,--so altogether unnecessary," said Mr. Moss, +expecting to be allowed to be the banker for the occasion. "If you +will just draw on me for what you want." + +"But that is just what we won't do." Then there was a pause, and Mr. +Moss shrugged his shoulders. "It's as well to understand that at the +beginning. Of course this place is too expensive for us and we must +get out of it as soon as possible." + +"Why in such a hurry?" said Mr. Moss raising his two hands. + +"And we must send back the piano. It was so good of you to think of +it! But it must go back." + +"No, no, no!" shouted Mr. Moss. "The piano is my affair. A piano more +or less for a few months is nothing between me and Erard's people. +They are only too happy." + +"I do not in the least doubt it. Messrs. Erard's people are always +glad to secure a lady who is about to come out as a singer. But they +send the bill in at last." + +"Not to you;--not to you." + +"But to you. That would be a great deal worse, would it not, father? +We might as well understand each other." + +"Mr. O'Mahony and I will understand each other very well." + +"But it is necessary that Miss O'Mahony and you should understand +each other also. My father trusts me, and I cannot tell you how +absolutely I obey him." + +"Or he you," said Mr. Moss laughing. + +"At any rate we two know what we are about, sir. You will not find us +differing. Now Mr. Moss, you are to pay me twenty shillings a day." + +"Till Christmas;--twenty shillings a night till Christmas." + +"Of course we cannot live here on twenty shillings a day. The rooms +nearly take it all. We can't live on twenty shillings a day, anyhow." + +"Then make it forty shillings immediately after the Christmas +holidays." + +"I must have an agreement to that effect," said Rachel, "or we must +go back to Ireland. I must have the agreement before Christmas, or we +shall go back. We have a few pounds which will take us away." + +"You must not speak of going away, really, Miss O'Mahony." + +"Then I must have an agreement signed. You understand that. And +we shall look for cheaper rooms to-day. There is a little street +close by where we can manage it. But on the one thing we are +determined;--we will not get into debt." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1880. + + +On Christmas-day Rachel O'Mahony wrote a letter to her lover at +Morony Castle: + + + Cecil Street, Christmas-day, 1880. + + DEAREST FRANK, + + You do love me, don't you? What's the use of my loving + you, and thinking that you are everything, only that you + are to love me? I am quite content that it should be so. + Only let it be so. You'll ask me what reason I have to be + jealous. I am not jealous. I do think in my heart that you + think that I'm--just perfect. And when I tell myself that + it is so, I lay myself back in my chair and kiss at you + with my lips till I am tired of kissing the space where + you ain't. But if I am wrong, and if you are having a good + time of it with Miss Considine at Mrs. McKeon's ball, and + are not thinking a bit of me and my kisses, what's the + use? It's a very unfair bargain that a woman makes with a + man. "Yes; I do love you," I say,--"but--" Then there's a + sigh. "Yes; I'll love you," you say--"if--" Then there's + a laugh. If I tell a fib, and am not worth having, you + can always recuperate. But we can't recuperate. I'm to go + about the world and be laughed at, as the girl that Frank + Jones made a fool of. Oh! Mr. Jones, if you treat me in + that way, won't I punish you? I'll jump into the lough + with a label round my neck telling the whole story. But I + am not a bit jealous, because I know you are good. + + And now I must tell you a bit more of my history. We got + rid of that lovely hotel, paying L6 10s., when that just + earned L1. And I have brought the piano with me. The man + at Erard's told me that I should have it for L2 10s. a + month, frankly owning that he hoped to get my custom. "But + Mr. Moss is to pay nothing?" I asked. He swore that Mr. + Moss would have to pay nothing, and leave what occurred + between him and me. I don't think he will. L30 a year + ought to be enough for the hire of a piano. So here we + are established, at L10 a month--the first-floor, with + father's bedroom behind the sitting-room. I have the room + upstairs over the sitting-room. They are small stumpy + little rooms,--"but mine own." Who says--"But mine own?" + Somebody does, and I repeat it. They are mine own, at any + rate till next Saturday. + + And we have settled this terrible engagement and signed + it. I'm to sing for Moss at "The Embankment" for four + months, at the rate of L600 a year. It was a Jew's + bargain, for I really had filled the house for a + fortnight. Fancy a theatre called "The Embankment"! There + is a nasty muddy rheumatic sound about it; but it's very + prettily got up, and the exits and entrances are also + good. Father goes with me every night, but I mean to let + him off the terrible task soon. He smiles, and says he + likes it. I only tell him he would be a child if he did. + They want to change the piece, but I shall make them + pay me for my dresses; I am not going to wear any other + woman's old clothes. It's not the proper way to begin, + you have to begin as a slave or as an empress. Of course, + anybody prefers to do the empress. They try, and then they + fail, and tumble down. I shall tumble down, no doubt; but + I may as well have my chance. + + And now I'm going to make you say that I'm a beast. And + so I am. I make a little use of Mahomet M. M.'s passion + to achieve my throne instead of taking up at once with + serfdom. But I do it without vouchsafing him even the + first corner of a smile. The harshest treatment is all + that he gets. Men such as Mahomet M. will live on harsh + treatment for a while, looking forward to revenge when + their time comes. But I shall soon have made sure of my + throne, or shall have failed; and in either case shall + cease to care for Mahomet M. By bullying him and by + treating him as dust beneath my feet, I can do something + to show how proud I am, and how sure I am of success. He + offers me money--not paid money down, which would have + certain allurements. I shouldn't take it. I needn't + tell you that. I should like to have plenty of loose + sovereigns, so as to hire broughams from the yard, instead + of walking, or going in a 'bus about London, which is very + upsetting to my pride. Father and I go down to the theatre + in a hansom, when we feel ourselves quite smart. But it + isn't money like that which he offers. He wants to pay me + a month in advance, and suggests that I shall get into + debt, and come to him to get me out of it. There was some + talk of papa going to New York for a few weeks, and he + said he would come and look after me in his absence. + "Thank you, Mr. Moss," I said, "but I'm not sure I should + want any looking after, only for such as you." Those are + the very words I spoke, and I looked him full in the face. + "Why, what do you expect from me?" he said. "Insult," I + replied, as bold as brass. And then we are playing the + two lovers at "The Embankment." Isn't it a pretty family + history? He said nothing at the moment, but came back in + half an hour to make some unnecessary remarks about the + part. "Why did you say just now that I insulted you?" + he asked. "Because you do," I replied. "Never, never!" + he exclaimed, with most grotesque energy. "I have never + insulted you." You know, my dear, he has twenty times + endeavoured to kiss my hand, and once he saw fit to stroke + my hair. Beast! If you knew the sort of feeling I have for + him--such as you would have if you found a cockroach in + your dressing-case. Of course in our life young women have + to put up with this kind of thing, and some of them like + it. But he knows that I am going to be married, or at any + rate am engaged, Mr. Frank. I make constant use of your + name, telling everybody that I am the future Mrs. Jones, + putting such weight upon the Jones. With me he knows that + it is an insult; but I don't want to quarrel with him if + I can help it, and therefore I softened it down. "You hear + me say, Mr. Moss, that I'm an engaged young woman. Knowing + that, you oughtn't to speak to me as you do." "Why, what + do I say?" You should have seen his grin as he asked me; + such a leer of triumph, as though he knew that he were + getting the better of me. "Mr. Jones wouldn't approve + if he were to see it." "But luckily he don't," said my + admirer. Oh, if you knew how willingly I'd stand at a + tub and wash your shirts, while the very touch of his + gloves makes me creep all over with horror. "Let us have + peace for the future," I said. "I dislike all those + familiarities. If you will only give them up we shall + go on like a house on fire." Then the beast made an + attempt to squeeze my hand as he went out of the room. + I retreated, however, behind the table, and escaped + untouched on that occasion. + + You are not to come over, whatever happens, until I tell + you. You ought to know very well by this time that I can + fight my battles by myself; and if you did come, there + would be an end altogether to the L200 which I am earning. + To give him his due, he's very punctual with his money, + only that he wants to pay me in advance, which I will + never have. He has been liberal about my dresses, telling + me to order just what I want, and have the bill sent in + to the costume manager. When I have worn them they become + the property of the theatre. God help any poor young woman + that will ever be expected to get into them. So now you + know exactly how I am standing with Mahomet M. M. + + Poor father goes about to public meetings, but never is + allowed to open his mouth for fear he should say something + about the Queen. I don't mean that he is really watched, + but he promised in Ireland not to lecture any more if they + would let him go, and he wishes to keep his word. But I + fear it makes him very unhappy. He has, at any rate, the + comfort of coming home and giving me the lecture, which + he ought to have delivered to more sympathetic ears. Not + but what I do care about the people; only how am I to + know whether they ought to be allowed to make their own + petticoats, or why it is that they don't do so? He says + it's the London Parliament; and that if they had members + in College Green, the young women would go to work at + once, and make petticoats for all the world. I don't + understand it, and wish that he had someone else to + lecture to. + + How are you getting on with all your own pet troubles? Is + the little subsiding lake at Ballintubber still a lake? + And what about poor Florian and his religion? Has he told + up as yet? I fear, I fear, that poor Florian has been + fibbing, and that there will be no peace for him or for + your father till the truth has been told. + + Now, sir, I have told you everything, just as a young + woman ought to tell her future lord and master. You + say you ought to know what Moss is doing. You do know, + exactly, as far as I can tell you. Of course you wouldn't + like to see him, but then you have the comfort of knowing + that I don't like it either. I suppose it is a comfort, + eh, my bold young man? Of course you want me to hate the + pig, and I do hate him. You may be sure that I will get + rid of him as soon as I conveniently can. But for the + present he is a necessary evil. If you had a home to give + me, I would come to it--oh, so readily! There is something + in the glitter of a theatre--what people call the boards, + the gaslights, the music, the mock love-making, the + pretence of being somebody, the feeling of mystery which + is attached to you, and the feeling you have that you are + generally unlike the world at large--which has its charms. + Even your name, blazoned in a dirty playbill, without any + Mister or Mistress to guard you, so unlike the ways of + ordinary life, does gratify one's vanity. I can't say why + it should be so, but it is. I always feel a little prouder + of myself when father is not with me. I am Miss O'Mahony, + looking after myself, whereas other young ladies have to + be watched. It has its attractions. + + But--but to be the wife of Frank Jones, and to look after + Frank's little house, and to cook for him his chicken and + his bacon, and to feel that I am all the world to him, and + to think--! But, oh, Frank, I cannot tell you what things + I think. I do feel, as I think them, that I have not been + made to stand long before the glare of the gas, and that + the time will certainly come when I shall walk about + Ballintubber leaning on your arm, and hearing all your + future troubles about rents not paid, and waters that have + come in. + + Your own, own girl, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BLACK DALY. + + +Frank Jones received his letter just as he was about to leave +Castle Morony for the meet at Ballytowngal, the seat, as everybody +knows, of Sir Nicholas Bodkin. Ballytowngal is about two miles from +Claregalway, on the road to Oranmore. Sir Nicholas is known all +through the West of Ireland, as a sporting man, and is held in high +esteem. But there is, I think, something different in the estimation +which he now enjoys from that which he possessed twenty years ago. +He was then, as now, a Roman Catholic,--as were also his wife and +children; and, as a Roman Catholic, he was more popular with the +lower classes, and with the priests, who are their natural friends, +than with his brother grand-jurors of the country, who were, for the +most part, Protestants. + +Sir Nicholas is now sixty years old, and when he came to the title at +thirty, he was regarded certainly as a poor man's friend. He always +lived on the estate. He rarely went up to Dublin, except for a +fortnight, when the hunting was over, and when he paid his respects +to the Lord Lieutenant. The house at Ballytowngal was said, in those +days, to be as well kept up as any mansion in County Galway. But the +saying came probably from those who were not intimate in the more +gloriously maintained mansions. Sir Nicholas had L5000 a year, and +though he did manage to pay his bills annually, spent every shilling +of it. He preserved his foxes loyally, and was quite as keen about +the fishing of a little river that he owned, and which ran down from +his demesne into Lough Corrib. He was particular also about his +snipe, and would boast that in a little spinney at Ballytowngal were +to be met the earliest woodcock found in the West of Ireland. He was +a thorough sportsman;--but a Roman Catholic--and as a Roman Catholic +he was hardly equal in standing to some of his Protestant neighbours. +He voted for Major Stackpoole, when Major Stackpoole stood for the +county on the Liberal interest, and was once requested to come +forward himself, and stand for the City as a Roman Catholic. This +he did not do, being a prudent man; but at that period, from twenty +to thirty years ago, he was certainly regarded as inferior to a +Protestant by many of the Protestant gentlemen of the country. + +But things are changed now. Sir Nicholas's neighbours, such of them +at least that are Protestants, regard Sir Nicholas as equal to +themselves. They do not care much for his religion, but they know +that he is not a Home-Ruler, or latterly, since the Land League +sprang into existence, a Land Leaguer. He is, in fact, one of +themselves as a county gentleman, and the question of religion has +gone altogether into abeyance. Had you known the county thirty years +ago, and had now heard Sir Nicholas talking of county matters, you +would think that he was one of the old Protestants. It was so that +the rich people regarded him,--and so also the poor. But Sir Nicholas +had not varied at all. He liked to get his rents paid, and as long as +his tenants would pay them, he was at one with them. They had begun +now to have opinions of their own upon the subject, and he was at one +with them no longer. + +Frank Jones had heard in Galway, that there was to be a difficulty +about drawing the Ballytowngal coverts. The hounds were to be +allowed to draw the demesne coverts, but beyond that they were to +be interrupted. Foxes seldom broke from Ballytowngal, or if they +did they ran to Moytubber. At Moytubber the hounds would probably +change,--or would do so if allowed to continue their sport in peace. +But at Moytubber the row would begin. Knowing this, Frank Jones was +anxious to leave his home in time, as he was aware that the hounds +would be carried on to Moytubber as quickly as possible. Black Daly +had sworn a solemn oath that he would draw Moytubber in the teeth of +every Home-Ruler and Land Leaguer in County Galway. + +A word or two must be said descriptive of Black Daly, as he was +called, the master of the Galway hounds. They used to be called the +Galway blazers, but the name had nearly dropped out of fashion since +Black Daly had become their master, a quarter of a century since. +Who Black Daly was or whence he had come, many men, even in County +Galway, did not know. It was not that he had no property, but that +his property was so small, as to make it seem improbable that the +owner of it should be the master of the county hounds. But in truth +Black Daly lived at Daly's Bridge, in the neighbourhood of Castle +Blakeney, when he was supposed to be at home. And the house in which +he lived he had undoubtedly inherited from his father. But he was not +often there, and kept his kennels at Ahaseragh, five miles away from +Daly's Bridge. Much was not therefore known of Mr. Daly, in his own +house. + +But in the field no man was better known, or more popular, if +thorough obedience is an element of popularity. The old gentry of +the county could tell why Mr. Daly had been put into his present +situation five-and-twenty years ago; but the manner of his election +was not often talked about. He had no money, and very few acres of +his own on which to preserve foxes. He had never done anything to +earn a shilling since he had been born, unless he may have been said +to have earned shillings by his present occupation. As he got his +living out of it, he certainly may have been said to have done so. He +never borrowed a shilling from any man, and certainly paid his way. +But if he told a young man that he ought to buy a horse the young +man certainly bought it. And if he told a young man that he must pay +a certain price, the young man generally paid it. But if the young +man were not ready with his money by the day fixed, that young man +generally had a bad time of it. Young men have been known to be +driven not only out of County Galway, but out of Ireland itself, by +the tone of Mr. Daly's voice, and by the blackness of his frown. And +yet it was said generally that neither young men nor old men were +injured in their dealings with Mr. Daly. "That horse won't be much +the worse for his splint, and he's worth L70 to you, because you can +ride him ten stone. You had better give me L70 for him." Then the +young man would promise the L70 in three months' time, and if he kept +his word, would swear by Black Daly ever afterwards. In this way Mr. +Daly sold a great many horses. + +But he had been put into his present position because he hunted the +hounds, during the illness of a distant cousin, who was the then +master. The master had died, but the county had the best sport that +winter that it had ever enjoyed. "I don't see why I should not do +it, as well as another," Tom Daly had said. He was then known as Tom +Daly. "You've got no money," his cousin had said, the son of the old +gentleman who was just dead. It was well understood that the cousin +wished to have the hounds, but that he was thought not to have all +the necessary attributes. "I suppose the county means to pay for all +sport," said Tom. Then the hat went round, and an annual sum of L900 +a year was voted. Since that the hounds have gone on, and the bills +have been paid; and Tom has raised the number of days' hunting to +four a week, or has lowered it to two, according to the amount of +money given. He makes no proposition now, but declares what he means +to do. "Things are dearer," he said last year, "and you won't have +above five days a fortnight, unless you can make the money up to +L1,200. I want L400 a day, and L400 I must have." The county had +then voted him the money in the plenitude of its power, and Daly had +hunted seven days a fortnight. But all the Galway world felt that +there was about to be a fall. + +Black Daly was a man quite as dark as his sobriquet described him. He +was tall, but very thin and bony, and seemed not to have an ounce of +flesh about his face or body. He had large, black whiskers,--coarse +and jet black,--which did not quite meet beneath his chin. And he +wore no other beard, no tuft, no imperial, no moustachios; but when +he was seen before shaving on a morning, he would seem to be black +all over, and his hair was black, short, and harsh; and though black, +round about his ears it was beginning to be tinged with grey. He was +now over fifty years of age; but the hair on his head was as thick +as it had been when he first undertook the hounds. He had great dark +eyes in his head, deep down, so that they seemed to glitter at you +out of caverns. And above them were great, bushy eyebrows, every +hair of which seemed to be black, and harsh, and hard. His nose was +well-formed and prominent; but of cheeks he had apparently none. +Between his whiskers and his nose, and the corners of his mouth, +there was nothing but two hollow cavities. He was somewhat over six +feet high, but from his extraordinary thinness gave the appearance +of much greater height. His arms were long, and the waistcoat which +he wore was always long; his breeches were very long; and his boots +seemed the longest thing about him--unless his spurs seemed longer. +He had no flesh about him, and it was boasted of him that, in spite +of his length, and in spite of his height, he could ride under twelve +stone. Of himself, and of his doings, he never talked. They were +secrets of his own, of which he might have to make money. And no one +had a right to ask him questions. He did not conceive that it would +be necessary for a gentleman to declare his weight unless he were +about to ride a race. Now it was understood that for the last ten +years Black Daly had ridden no races. + +He was a man of whom it might be said that he never joked. Though +his life was devoted in a peculiar manner to sport, and there may be +thought to be something akin between the amusements and the lightness +of life, it was all serious to him. Though he was bitter over it, or +happy; triumphant, or occasionally in despair--as when the money was +not forthcoming--he never laughed. It was all serious to him, and +apparently sad, from the first note of a hound in the early covert, +down to the tidings that a poor fox had been found poisoned near his +earth. He had much to do to find sport for the county on such limited +means, and he was always doing it. + +He not only knew every hound in his pack, but he knew their ages, +their sires, and their dams; and the sires and the dams of most of +their sires and dams. He knew the constitution of each, and to what +extent their noses were to be trusted. "It's a very heavy scent +to-day," he would say, "because Gaylap carries it over the plough. +It's only a catching scent because the drops don't hang on the +bushes." His lore on all such matters was incredible, but he would +never listen to any argument. A man had a right to his own opinion; +but then the man who differed from him knew nothing. He gave out his +little laws to favoured individuals; not by way of conversation, +for which he cared nothing, but because it might be well that the +favoured individual should know the truth on that occasion. + +As a man to ride he was a complete master of his art. There was +nothing which a horse could do with a man on his back, which Daly +could not make him do; and when he had ridden a horse he would know +exactly what was within his power. But there was no desire with him +for the showing off of a horse. He often rode to sell a horse, but +he never seemed to do so. He never rode at difficult places unless +driven to do so by the exigencies of the moment. He was always quiet +in the field, unless when driven to express himself as to the faults +of some young man. Then he could blaze forth in his anger with great +power. He was constantly to be seen trotting along a road when hounds +were running, because he had no desire to achieve for himself a +character for hard riding. But he was always with his hounds when he +was wanted, and it was boasted of him that he had ridden four days a +week through the season on three horses, and had never lamed one of +them. He was rarely known to have a second horse out, and when he did +so, it was for some purpose peculiar to the day's work. On such days +he had generally a horse to sell. + +It is hardly necessary to say that Black Daly was an unmarried man. +No one who knew him could conceive that he should have had a wife. +His hounds were his children, and he could have taught no wife to +assist him in looking after them, with the constant attention and +tender care which was given to them by Barney Smith, his huntsman. A +wife, had she seen to the feeding of the numerous babies, would have +given them too much to eat, and had she not undertaken this care, +she would have been useless at Daly's Bridge. But Barney Smith was +invaluable; double the amount of work got usually from a huntsman +was done by him. There was no kennel man, no second horseman, no +stud-groom at the Ahaseragh kennels. It may be said that Black Daly +filled all these positions himself, and that in each Barney Smith +was his first lieutenant. Circumstances had given him the use of the +Ahaseragh kennels, which had been the property of his cousin, and +circumstances had not enabled him to build others at Daly's Bridge. +Gradually he had found it easier to move himself than the hounds. And +so it had come to pass that two rooms had been prepared for him close +to the kennels, and that Mr. Barney Smith gave him such attendance as +was necessary. Of strictly personal attendance Black Daly wanted very +little; but the discomforts of that home, while one pair of breeches +were supposed to be at Daly's Bridge, and the others at Ahaseragh, +were presumed by the world at large to be very grievous. + +But the personal appearance of Mr. Daly on hunting mornings, was not +a matter of indifference. It was not that he wore beautiful pink +tops, or came out guarded from the dust by little aprons, or had his +cravat just out of the bandbox, or his scarlet coat always new, and +in the latest fashion, nor had his hat just come from the shop in +Piccadilly with the newest twist to its rim. But there was something +manly, and even powerful about his whole apparel. He was always the +same, so that by men even in his own county, he would hardly have +been known in other garments. The strong, broad brimmed high hat, +with the cord passing down his back beneath his coat, that had known +the weather of various winters; the dark, red coat, with long swallow +tails, which had grown nearly black under many storms; the dark, buff +striped waistcoat, with the stripes running downwards, long, so as to +come well down over his breeches; the breeches themselves, which were +always of leather, but which had become nearly brown under the hands +of Barney Smith or his wife, and the mahogany top-boots, of which the +tops seemed to be a foot in length, could none of them have been worn +by any but Black Daly. His very spurs must have surely been made for +him, they were in length and weight; and general strength of leather, +so peculiarly his own. He was unlike other masters of hounds in this, +that he never carried a horn; but he spoke to his hounds in a loud, +indistinct chirruping voice, which all County Galway believed to be +understood to every hound in the park. + +One other fact must be told respecting Mr. Daly. He was a +Protestant--as opposed to a Roman Catholic. No one had ever known +him go to church, or speak a word in reference to religion. He was +equally civil or uncivil to priest and parson when priest or parson +appeared in the field. But on no account would he speak to either +of them if he could avoid it. But he had in his heart a thorough +conviction that all Roman Catholics ought to be regarded as +enemies by all Protestants, and that the feeling was one entirely +independent of faith and prayerbooks, or crosses and masses. For him +fox-hunting--fox-hunting for others--was the work of his life, and +he did not care to meddle with what he did not understand. But he +was a Protestant, and Sir Nicholas Bodkin was a Roman Catholic, and +therefore an enemy--as a dog may be supposed to declare himself a +dog, and a cat a cat, if called upon to explain the cause for the old +family quarrel. + +Now there had come a cloud over his spirit in reference to the state +of his country. He could see that the quarrel was not entirely one +between Protestant and Catholic as it used to be, but still he could +not get it out of his mind, but that the old causes were producing in +a different way their old effects. Whiteboys, Terryalts, Ribbonmen, +Repeaters, Physical-Forcemen, Fenians, Home-Rulers, Professors of +Dynamite, and American-Irish, were, to his thinking, all the same. +He never talked much about it, because he did not like to expose his +ignorance; but his convictions were not the less formed. It was the +business of a Protestant to take rent, and of a Roman Catholic to pay +rent. There were certain deviations in this ordained rule of life, +but they were only exceptions. The Roman Catholics had the worst of +this position, and the Protestants the best. Therefore the Roman +Catholics were of course quarrelling with it, and therefore the Roman +Catholics must be kept down. Such had been Mr. Daly's general outlook +into life. But now the advancing evil of the time was about to fall +even upon himself, and upon his beneficent labours, done for the +world at large. It was whispered in County Galway that the people +were about to rise and interfere with fox-hunting! It may be imagined +that on this special day Mr. Daly's heart was low beneath his +black-striped waistcoat, as he rode on his way to draw the coverts at +Ballytowngal. + +At the cross-roads of Monivea he met Peter Bodkin, the eldest son +of Sir Nicholas. Now Peter Bodkin had quarrelled long and very +bitterly with his father. Every acre of the property at Ballytowngal +was entailed upon him, and Peter had thought that under such +circumstances his father was not doing enough for him. The quarrel +had been made up, but still the evil rankled in Peter's bosom, who +was driven to live with his wife and family on L500 a year; and had +found himself hardly driven to keep himself out of the hands of the +Jews. His father had wished him to follow some profession, but this +had been contrary to Peter's idea of what was becoming. But though he +had only L500 a year, and five children, he did manage to keep two +horses, and saw a good deal of hunting. + +And among all the hunting men in County Galway he was the one who +lived on the closest terms of intimacy with Black Daly. For, though +he was a Roman Catholic, his religion did not trouble him much; and +he was undoubtedly on the same side with Daly in the feuds that were +coming on the country. Indeed, he and Daly had entertained the same +feelings for some years; for, in the quarrels which had been rife +between the father and son, Mr. Daly had taken the son's part, as far +as so silent a man can be said to have taken any part at all. + +"Well, Peter." "Well, Daly," were the greetings, as the two men met; +and then they rode on together in silence for a mile. "Have you heard +what the boys are going to do?" asked the master. Peter shook his +head. "I suppose there's nothing in it?" + +"I fear there is." + +"What will they do?" asked Mr. Daly. + +"Just prevent your hunting." + +"If they touch me, or either of the men, by God! I'll shoot some of +them." Then he put his hand into his pocket, as much as to explain a +pistol was there. After that the two men rode on in silence till they +came to the gates of Ballytowngal. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BALLYTOWNGAL. + + +Daly, among other virtues, or vices, was famed for punctuality. He +wore a large silver watch in his pocket which was as true as the +sun, or at any rate was believed by its owner to be so. From Daly's +watch on hunting mornings there was no appeal. He always reached +the appointed meet at five minutes before eleven, by his watch, and +by his watch the hounds were always moved from their haunches at +five minutes past eleven. Though the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief +Secretary and the Lord Chancellor had been there, there would have +been no deviation. The interval of ten minutes he generally spent in +whispered confabulations with the earth-warners, secrets into which +no attendant horseman ever dived; for Black Daly was a mysterious +man, who did not choose to be inquired into as to his movements. On +this occasion he said not a word to any earth-warner, though two were +in attendance; but he sat silent and more gloomy than ever on his big +black horse, waiting for the minutes to pass by till he should be +able to run his hounds through the Ballytowngal coverts, and then +hurry on to Moytubber. + +Mr. Daly's mind was, in truth, fixed upon Moytubber, and what would +there be done this morning. He was a simple-minded man, who kept his +thoughts fixed for the most part on one object. He knew that it was +his privilege to draw the coverts of Moytubber, and to hunt the +country around; and he felt also, after some gallant fashion, that +it was his business to protect the rights of others in the pursuit +of their favourite amusement. No man could touch him or either of +his servants in the way of violence without committing an offence +which he would be bound to oppose by violence. He was no lawyer, and +understood not at all the statutes as fixed upon the subject. If a +man laid a hand upon him violently, and would not take his hand off +again when desired, he would be entitled to shoot that man. Such was +the law, as in his simplicity and manliness he believed it to exist. +He was a man not given to pistols; but when he heard that he was to +be stopped in his hunting on this morning, and stopped by dastardly, +pernicious curs who called themselves Landleaguers, he went into +Ballinasloe, and bought himself a pistol. Black Daly was a sad, +serious man, who could not put up with the frivolities of life; to +whom the necessity of providing for that large family of children was +very serious; but he was not of his nature a quarrelsome man. But +now he was threatened on the tenderest point; and with much simpler +thought had resolved that it would be his duty to quarrel. + +But just when he had spoken the word on which Barney and the +hounds were prepared to move, Sir Nicholas trotted up to him. Sir +Nicholas and all the sporting gentlemen of County Galway were there, +whispering with each other, having collected themselves in crowds +much bigger than usual. There was much whispering, and many opinions +had been given as to the steps which it would be well that the hunt +should take if interrupted in their sport. But at last Peter Bodkin +had singled out his father, and had communicated to him the fact of +Black Daly's pistol. "He'll use it, as sure as eggs are eggs," said +Peter whispering to his father. + +"Then there'll be murder," said Sir Nicholas, who though a good +hunting neighbour had never been on very friendly terms with Mr. +Daly. + +"When Tom Daly says he'll do a thing, he means to do it," said Peter. +"He won't be stopped by my calling it murder." Then Sir Nicholas +had quickly discussed the matter with sundry other sportsmen of the +neighbourhood. There were Mr. Persse of Doneraile, and Mr. Blake of +Letterkenny, and Lord Ardrahan, and Sir Jasper Lynch, of Bohernane. +During the ten minutes that were allowed to them, they put their +heads together, and with much forethought made Mr. Persse their +spokesman. Lord Ardrahan and Sir Jasper might have seemed to take +upon themselves an authority which Daly would not endure. And +Blake, of Letterkenny, would have been too young to carry with him +sufficient weight. Sir Nicholas himself was a Roman Catholic, and was +Peter's father, and Peter would have been in a scrape for having told +the story of the pistol. So Mr. Persse put himself forward. "Daly," +he said, trotting up to the master, "I'm afraid we're going to +encounter a lot of these Landleaguers at Moytubber." + +"What do they want at Moytubber? Nobody is doing anything to them." + +"Of course not; they are a set of miserable ruffians. I'm sorry to +say that there are a lot of my tenants among them. But it's no use +discussing that now." + +"I can only go on," said Daly, "as though they were in bed." Then he +put his hand in his pocket, and felt that the pistol was there. + +Mr. Persse saw what he did, and knew that his hand was on the pistol. +"We have only a minute now to decide," he said. + +"To decide what?" asked Daly. + +"There must be no violence on our side." Daly turned round his +face upon him, and looked at him from the bottom of those two dark +caverns. "Believe me when I say it; there must be no violence on our +side." + +"If they attempt to stop my horse?" + +"There must be no violence on our side to bring us, or rather you, to +further grief." + +"By God! I'd shoot the man who did it," said Daly. + +"No, no; let there be no shooting. Were you to do so, there can be no +doubt that you would be tried by a jury and--" + +"Hanged," said Daly. "May be so; I have got to look that in the face. +It is an accursed country in which we are living." + +"But you would not encounter the danger in carrying out a trifling +amusement such as this?" + +Daly again turned round and looked at him. Was this work of his life, +this employment on which he was so conscientiously eager, to be +called trifling? Did they know the thoughts which it cost him, the +hard work by which it was achieved, the days and nights which were +devoted to it? Trifling amusement! To him it was the work of his +life. To those around him it was the best part of theirs. + +"I will not interfere with them," Daly said. + +He alluded here to the enemies of hunting generally. He had not +hunted the country so long without having had many rows with many +men. Farmers, angry with him for the moment, had endeavoured to stop +him as he rode upon their land; and they had poisoned his foxes from +revenge, or stolen them from cupidity. He had borne with such men, +expressing the severity of his judgment chiefly by the look of his +eyes; but he had never quarrelled with them violently. They had been +contemptible people whom it would be better to look at than to shoot. +But here were men coming, or were there now, prepared to fight with +him for his rights. And he would fight with them, even though hanging +should be the end of it. + +"I will not interfere with them, unless they interfere with me." + +"Have you a pistol with you, Daly?" said Persse. + +"I have." + +"Then give it me." + +"Not so. If I want to use a pistol it will be better to have it in my +own pocket than in yours. If I do not want to use it I can keep it +myself, and no one will be the wiser." + +"Listen to me, Daly." + +"Well, Mr. Persse?" + +"Do not call me 'Mr. Persse,' as though you were determined to +quarrel with me. It will be well that you should take advice in this +matter from those whom you have known all your life. There is Sir +Nicholas Bodkin--" + +"He may be one of them for all that I can tell," said Daly. + +"Lord Ardrahan is not one of them. And Sir Jasper Lynch, and Blake +of Letterkenny, they are all there, if you will speak to them. In +such a matter as this it is not worth your while to get into serious +trouble. To you and me hunting is a matter of much importance; but +the world at large will not regard it as one in which blood should be +shed. They will come prepared to make themselves disagreeable, but if +there be bloodshed it will simply be by your hands. And think what an +injury you would do to your side of the question, and what a benefit +to theirs!" + +"How so?" + +"We are regarded as the dominant party, as gentlemen who ought to do +what is right, and support the laws." + +"If I am attacked may I not defend myself?" + +"No; not by a pistol carried loaded into a hunting-field. You would +have all the world against you." + +Then the two men rode on silently together. The hounds were drawing +the woods of Ballytowngal, but had not found, and were prepared to go +on to Moytubber. But, according to the Galway custom, Barney Smith +was waiting for orders from his master. Daly now sat stock still upon +his horse for awhile, looking at the dark fringe of trees by which +the park was surrounded. He was thinking, as well as he knew how to +think, of the position in which he was placed. To be driven to go +contrary to his fixed purpose by fear was a course intolerable to +him. But to have done that which was clearly injurious to his party +was as bad. And this Persse to whom he had shown his momentary anger +by calling him Mr., was a man whom he greatly regarded. There was +no one in the field whose word would go further with him in hunting +matters. He had clearly been rightly chosen as a deputation. But +Daly knew that as he had gone to bed the previous night, and as he +had got up in the morning, and as he had trotted along by Monivea +cross-roads, and had met Peter Bodkin, every thought of his mind +had been intent on the pistol within his pocket. To shoot a man who +should lay hold of him or his horse, or endeavour to stop his horse, +had seemed to him to be bare justice. But he had resolved that he +would first give some spoken warning to the sinner. After that, God +help the man; for he would find no help in Black Tom Daly. + +But now his mind was shaken by the admonitions of Mr. Persse. He +could not say of Mr. Persse as he had said, most unjustly, of Sir +Nicholas, that he was one of them. Mr. Persse was well-known as a +Tory and a Protestant, and an indefatigable opponent of Home-Rulers. +To Sir Nicholas, in the minds of some men, there attached a slight +stain of his religion. "I will keep the pistol in my pocket," said +Tom Daly, without turning his eyes away from the belt of trees. + +"Had you not better trust it with me?" said Mr. Persse. + +"No, I am not such an idiot as to shoot a man when I do not intend +it." + +"Seeing how moved you are, I thought that perhaps the pistol might be +safer in my hands." + +"No, the pistol shall remain with me." Then he turned round to join +Barney Smith, who was waiting for him up by the gate out of the +covert. But he turned again to say a word to Mr. Persse. "Thank you, +Persse, I am obliged to you. It might be inconvenient being locked up +before the season is over." Then a weird grin covered his face; which +was the nearest approach to laughter ever seen with Black Tom Daly. + +From Ballytowngal to Moytubber was about a mile and a half. Some few, +during the conversation between Mr. Persse and the master, had gone +on, so that they might be the first to see what was in store for +them. But the crowd of horsemen had remained with their eyes fixed +upon Daly. He rode up to them and passed on without speaking a word, +except that he gave the necessary orders to Barney Smith. Then two +or three clustered round Mr. Persse, asking him whispered questions. +"It'll be all right," said Persse, nodding his head; and so the +_cortege_ passed on. But not a word was spoken by Daly himself, +either then or afterwards, except a whispered order or two given to +Barney Smith. Moytubber is a gorse covert lying about three hundred +yards from the road, and through it the horsemen always passed; on +other occasions it was locked. Now the gate had been taken off its +hinges and thrown back upon the bank; and Daly, as he passed into the +field, perceived that the covert was surrounded by a crowd. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MOYTUBBER. + + +"What's all this about?" said Tom as he rode up the covert side, +and addressing a man whose face he happened to know. He was one Kit +Mooney, a baker from Claregalway, who in these latter days had turned +Landleaguer. But he was one who simply thought that his bread might +be better buttered for him on that side of the question. He was not +an ardent politician; but few local Irishmen were so. Had no stirring +spirits been wafted across the waters from America to teach Irishmen +that one man is as good as another, or generally better, Kit Mooney +would never have found it out. Had not his zeal been awakened by the +eloquence of Mr. O'Meagher, the member for Athlone, who had just made +a grand speech to the people at Athenry, Kit Mooney would have gone +on in his old ways, and would at this moment have been touching his +hat to Tom Daly, and whispering to him of the fox that had lately +been seen "staling away jist there, Mr. Daly, 'fore a'most yer very +eyes." But Mr. O'Meagher had spent three glorious weeks in New York, +and, having practised the art of speaking on board the steamer as he +returned, had come to Athenry and filled the mind of Kit Mooney and +sundry others with political truth of the deepest dye. But the gist +of the truths so taught had been chiefly this:--that if a man did not +pay his rent, but kept his money in his pocket, he manifestly did +two good things; he enriched himself, and he so far pauperised the +landlord, who was naturally his enemy. What other teaching could be +necessary to make Kit understand,--Kit Mooney who held twenty acres +of meadow land convenient to the town of Claregalway,--that this +was the way to thrive in the world? "Rent is not known in America, +that great and glorious country. Every man owns the fields which he +cultivates. Why should you here allow yourself to be degraded by the +unmanly name of tenants? The earth which supports you should be as +free to you as the air you breathe." Such had been the eloquence of +Mr. O'Meagher; and it had stirred the mind of Kit Mooney and made +him feel that life should be recommenced by him under new principles. +Things had not quite gone swimmingly with him since, because Nicholas +Bodkin's agent had caused a sheriff's bailiff to appear upon the +scene, and the notion of keeping the landlord's rent in the pocket +had been found to be surrounded with difficulties. But the great +principle was there, and there had come another eloquent man, who had +also been in America; and Kit Mooney was now a confirmed Landleaguer. + +"Faix thin, yer honour, it isn't much hunting the quality will see +this day out of Moytubber; nor yet nowhere round, av the boys are as +good as their word." + +"Why should they not hunt at Moytubber?" said Mr. Daly, who, as he +looked around saw indeed ample cause why there should be no hunting. +He had thought as he trotted along the road that some individual +Landleaguer would hold his horse by the rein and cause him to stop +him in the performance of his duty; but there were two hundred +footmen there roaming at will through the sacred precincts of the +gorse, and Daly knew well that no fox could have remained there with +such a crowd around him. + +"The boys are just taking their pleasure themselves this fine +Christmas morning," said Kit, who had not moved from the bank on +which he had been found sitting. "Begorra, you'll find 'em all out +about the counthry, intirely, Mr. Daly. They're out to make your +honour welcome. There is lashings of 'em across in Phil French's +woods and all down to Peter Brown's, away at Oranmore. There is not +a boy in the barony but what is out to bid yer honour welcome this +morning." + +Kit Mooney could not have given a more exact account of what was +being done by "the boys" on that morning had he owned all those +rich gifts of eloquence which Mr. O'Meagher possessed. Tom Daly at +once saw that there was no need for shooting any culprit, and was +thankful. The interruption to the sport of the county had become much +more general than he had expected, and it was apparently so organised +as to have spread itself over all that portion of County Galway, in +which his hounds ran. "Bedad, Mr. Daly, what Kit says is thrue," said +another man whom he did not know. "You'll find 'em out everywhere. +Why ain't the boys to be having their fun?" + +It was useless to allow a hound to go into the covert of Moytubber. +The crowd around was waiting anxiously to see the attempt made, so +that they might enjoy their triumph. To watch Black Tom drawing +Moytubber without a fox would be nuts to them; and then to follow the +hounds on to the next covert, and to the next, with the same result, +would afford them an ample day's amusement. But the Bodkins, and the +Blakes, and the Persses were quite alive to this, and so also was Tom +Daly. A council of war was therefore held, in order that the line of +conduct might be adopted which might be held to be most conducive to +the general dignity of the hunt. + +"I should send the hounds home," said Lord Ardrahan. "If Mr. Daly +would call at my place and lunch, as he goes by, I should be most +happy." + +Tom Daly, on hearing this, only shook his head. The shake was +intended to signify that he did not like the advice tendered, nor +the accompanying hospitable offer. To go home would be to throw down +their arms at once, and acknowledge themselves beaten. If beaten +to-day, why should they not be beaten on another day, and then what +would become of Tom Daly's employment? A sad idea came across his +mind, as he shook his head, warning him that in this terrible affair +of to-day, he might see the end of all his life's work. Such a +thought had never occurred to him before. If a crowd of disloyal +Roman Catholics chose to prevent the gentry in their hunting, +undoubtedly they had the power. Daly was slow at thinking, but an +idea when it had once come home to him, struck him forcibly. As +he shook his head at that moment he bethought himself, what would +become of Black Daly if the people of the county refused to allow his +hounds to run? And a second idea struck him,--that he certainly would +not lunch with Lord Ardrahan. Lord Ardrahan was, to his thinking, +somewhat pompous, and had been felt by Tom to expect that he, Tom, +should acknowledge the inferiority of his position by his demeanour. +Now such an idea as this was altogether in opposition to Tom's mode +of living. Even though the hounds were to be taken away from him, and +he were left at Daly's Bridge with the L200 a year which had come to +him from his father, he would make no such acknowledgment as that to +any gentleman in County Galway. So he shook his head, and said not a +word in answer to Lord Ardrahan. + +"What do you propose to do, Daly?" demanded Mr. Persse. + +"Go on and draw till night. There's a moon, and if we can find a fox +before ten, Barney and I will manage to kill him. Those blackguards +can't keep on with us." This was Daly's plan, spoken out within +hearing of many of the blackguards. + +"You had better take my offer, and come to Ardrahan Castle," said his +lordship. + +"No, my lord," said Daly, with the tone of authority which a master +of hounds always knows how to assume. + +"I shall draw on. Barney, get the hounds together." Then he whispered +to Barney Smith that the hounds should go on to Kilcornan. Now +Kilcornan was a place much beloved by foxes, about ten miles distant +from Moytubber. It was not among the coverts appointed to be drawn +on that day, which all lay back towards Ahaseragh. At Kilcornan the +earths would be found to open. But it would be better to trot off +rapidly to some distant home for foxes, even though the day's sport +might be lost. Daly was very anxious that it should not be said +through the country that he had been driven home by a set of roughs +from any one covert or another. The day's draw would be known--the +line of the country, that is, which, in the ordinary course of +things, he would follow on that day. But by going to Kilcornan +he might throw them off his scent. So he started for Kilcornan, +having whispered his orders to Barney Smith, but communicating his +intentions to no one else. + +"What will you do, Daly?" said Sir Jasper Lynch. + +"Go on." + +"But where will you go?" inquired the baronet. He was a man about +Daly's age, with whom Daly was on comfortable terms. He had no cause +for being crabbed with Sir Jasper as with Lord Ardrahan. But he did +not want to declare his purpose to any man. There is no one in the +ordinary work of his life so mysterious as a master of hounds. And +among masters no one was more mysterious than Tom Daly. And this, +too, was no ordinary day. Tom only shook his head and trotted on in +advance. His secret had been told only to Barney Smith, and with +Barney Smith he knew that it would be safe. + +So they all trotted off at a pace much faster than usual. "What's up +with Black Tom now?" asked Sir Nicholas of Sir Jasper. "What's Daly +up to now?" asked Mr. Blake of Mr. Persse. They all shook their +heads, and declared themselves willing to follow their leader without +further inquiry. "I suppose he knows what he's about," said Mr. +Persse; "but we, at any rate, must go and see." So they followed him; +and in half an hour's time it became apparent that they were going to +Kilcornan. + +But at Kilcornan they found a crowd almost equal to that which had +stopped them at Moytubber. Kilcornan is a large demesne, into which +they would, in the ordinary course, have made their entrance through +the lodge gate. At present they went at once to an outlying covert, +which was supposed to be especially the abode of foxes; but even +here, as Barney trotted up with his hounds, at a pace much quicker +than usual, they found that the ground before them had been occupied +by Landleaguers. "You'll not do much in the hunting way to-day, +Muster Daly," said one of the intruders. "When we heard you were +a-coming we had a little hunt of our own. There ain't a fox anywhere +about the place now, Muster Daly." Tom Daly turned round and sat on +his big black horse, frowning at the world before him; a sorrowful +man. What shall we do next? It does not behove a master of hounds +to seek counsel in difficulty from anyone. A man, if he is master, +should be sufficient to himself in all emergencies. No man felt this +more clearly than did Black Tom Daly. He had been ashamed of himself +once this morning, because he had taken advice from Mr. Persse. But +now he must think the matter out for himself and follow his own +devices. + +It was as yet only two o'clock, but he had come on at a great pace, +taking much more out of his horse than was usual to him on such +occasions. But, sitting there, he did make up his mind. He would go +on to Mr. Lambert's place at Clare, and would draw the coverts, going +there as fast as the horse's legs would carry him. There he would +borrow two horses if it were possible, but one, at least, for Barney +Smith. Then he would draw back by impossible routes, to the kennels +at Ahaseragh. Men might come with him or might go; but to none would +he tell his mind. If Providence would only send him a fox on the +route, all things, he thought, might still be well with him. It would +be odd if he and Barney Smith, between them, were not able to give +an account of that fox when they had done with him. But if he should +find no such fox--if he, the master of the Galway hounds, should have +ridden backwards and forwards across County Galway, and have been +impeded altogether in his efforts by wretched Landleaguers, then--as +he thought--a final day would have to come for him. + +He spoke no word to anyone, but he did go on just as he proposed to +himself. He drew Clare, but drew it blank; and then, leaving his own +horses, he borrowed two others for himself and Barney, and went on +upon his route. Before the day was over--or rather, before the night +was far advanced--he had borrowed three others, in his course about +the country, for himself and his servants. Quick as lightning he went +from covert to covert; but the conspiracy had been well arranged, +and a holiday for the foxes in County Galway was established for +that day. Some men were very stanch to him, going with him whither +they knew not, so that "poor dear Tom" might not be left alone; but +alone he was during the long evening of that day, as far as all +conversation went. He spoke to no one, except to Barney, and to him +only a few words; giving him a direction as to where he should go +next, and into what covert he should put the hounds. They, too, must +have been much surprised and very weary, as they dragged their tired +limbs to their kennel, at about eight o'clock. And Tom Daly's ride +across the country will long be remembered, and the exertions which +he made to find a fox on that day. + +But it was all in vain. As Tom ate his solitary mutton-chop, and +drank his cold whisky and water, and then took himself to bed, he was +a melancholy man. The occupation of his life, he thought, was gone. +These reprobates, whom he now hated worse than ever, having learned +their powers to disturb the amusements of their betters, would never +allow another day's hunting in the county. He was aware now, though +he never had thought of it before, by how weak a hold his right of +hunting the country was held. He and his hounds could go into any +covert; but so also could any other man, with or without hounds. To +disturb a fox, three or four men would suffice; one would suffice +according to Tom's idea of a fox. The occupation of his life was +over. + +Tom Daly was by nature a melancholy man. All County Galway knew that. +He was a man not given to many words, by no means devoted to sport +in the ordinary sense. It was a hard business that he had undertaken. +The work was in every sense hard, and the payment made was very +small. In fact no payment was made, other than that of his being +lifted into a position in which he was able to hold his head high +among gentlemen of property. What should he do with himself during +the remainder of his life, if hunting in County Galway was brought to +an end? He was an intent, eager man, whom it was hard to teach that +the occupations of his life were less worthy than those of other men. +But there had come moments of doubt as he had sat alone in his little +room at Ahaseragh and had meditated, whether the pursuit of vermin +was worthy all the energy which he had given to it. + +"You may sell those brutes of yours now, and then perhaps you'll be +able to educate your children." So Sir Nicholas Bodkin had addressed +his eldest son, as they rode home together on that occasion. + +"Why so?" Peter had asked, thinking more of the "brutes" alluded to +than of the children. He was accustomed to the tone of his father's +remarks, and cared for them not more than the ordinary son cares for +the expression of the ordinary father's ill humour. But now he knew +that some reference was intended to the interruption that had been +made in their day's sport, and was anxious to learn what his father +thought about it. "Why so?" he asked. + +"Because you won't want them for this game any longer. Hunting is +done with in these parts. When a blackguard like Kit Mooney is able +to address such a one as Tom Daly after that fashion, anything that +requires respect may be said to be over. Hunting has existed solely +on respect. I had intended to buy that mare of French's, but I shan't +now." + +"What does all that mean, Lynch?" said Mr. Persse to Sir Jasper, as +they rode home together. + +"It means quarrelling to the knife." + +"In a quarrel to the knife," said Mr. Persse, "all lighter things +must be thrown away. Daly had brought a pistol in his pocket as +you heard this morning. I have been thinking of it ever since; and, +putting two and two together, it seems to me to be almost impossible +that hunting should go on in County Galway." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"DON'T HATE HIM, ADA." + + +Among those who had gone as far as Mr. Lambert's, but had not +proceeded further, had been Frank Jones. He had heard and seen what +has been narrated, and was as much impressed as others with the +condition of the country. The populace generally--for so it had +seemed to be--had risen _en masse_ to put down the amusement of the +gentry, and there had been a secret conspiracy, so that they had been +able to do the same thing in different parts of the county. Frank, as +he rode back to Morony Castle, a long way from Mr. Lambert's covert, +was very melancholy in his mind. The persecution of Mahomet M. Moss +and of the Landleaguers together was almost too much for him. + +When he got home his father also was melancholy, and the girls were +melancholy. "What sport have you had, Frank?" said the father. But he +asked the question in a melancholy tone, simply as being one which +the son expects on returning from hunting. In this expectation Mr. +Jones gave way. Frank shook his head, but did not utter a word. + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the father. + +"The whole country is in arms." This, no doubt, was an exaggeration, +as the only arms that had been brought to Moytubber on the occasion +had been the pistol in Tom Daly's pocket. + +"In arms?" said Philip Jones. + +"Well, yes! I call it so. I call men in arms, when they are prepared +to carry out any illegal purpose by violence, and these men have done +that all through the County Galway." + +"What have they done?" + +"You know where the meet was; well, they drew Ballytowngal, and found +no fox there. It was not expected, and nothing happened there. The +people did not come into old Nick Bodkin's demesne, but we had heard +by the time that we were there that we should come across a lot of +Landleaguers at Moytubber. There they were as thick as bees round the +covert, and there was one man who had the impudence to tell Tom Daly +that draw where he might, he would draw in vain for a fox to-day in +County Galway." + +"Do you mean that there was a crowd?" asked Mr. Jones. + +"A crowd! Yes, all Claregalway seemed to have turned out. Claregalway +is not much of a place, but everyone was there from Oranmore and from +Athenry, and half the town from Galway city." This certainly was an +exaggeration on the part of Frank, but was excused by his desire to +impress his father with the real truth in the matter. "I never saw +half such a number of people by a covert side. But the truth was +soon known. They had beat Moytubber, and kicked up such a row as the +foxes in that gorse had never heard before. And they were not slow in +obtaining their object." + +"Their object was clear enough." + +"They didn't intend that the hounds should hunt that day either at +Moytubber or elsewhere. Daly did not put his hounds into the covert +at all; but rode away as fast as his horse's legs could carry him to +Kilcornan." + +"That must be ten miles at least," said his father. + +"Twenty, I should think. But we rode away at a hand-gallop, leaving +the crowd behind us." This again was an exaggeration. "But when we +got to the covert at Kilcornan there was just the same sort of crowd, +and just the same work had been on foot. The men there all told us +that we need not expect to find a fox. A rumour had got about the +field by this time that Tom Daly had a loaded pistol in his pocket. +What he meant to do with it I don't know. He could have done no good +without a regular massacre." + +"Did he show his pistol?" + +"I didn't see it; but I do believe it was there. Some of the old +fogies were awfully solemn about it." + +"What was the end of it all?" asked Edith, who together with her +sister was now listening to Frank's narrative. + +"You know Mr. Lambert's place on the road towards Gort. It's a long +way off, and I'm a little out of my latitude there. But I went as far +as that, and found a bigger crowd than ever. They said that all Gort +was there; but Tom having drawn the covert, went on, and swore that +he wouldn't leave a place in all County Galway untried. He borrowed +fresh horses, and went on with Barney Smith as grim as death. He is +still drawing his covert somewhere." + +It was thus that Frank Jones told the story of that day's hunting. +To his father's ears it sounded as being very ominous. He did not +care much for hunting himself, nor would it much perplex him if the +Landleaguers would confine themselves to this mode of operations. But +as he heard of the crowds surrounding the coverts through the county, +he thought also of his many acres still under water, by the operation +of a man who had taken upon himself to be his enemy. And the whole +morning had been spent in fruitless endeavours to make Florian tell +the truth. The boy had remained surly, sullen, and silent. "He will +tell me at last," Edith had said to her father. But her father had +said, that unless the truth were now told, he must allow the affair +to go by. "The time for dealing with the matter will be gone," he +had said. "Pat Carroll is going about the country as bold as brass, +and says that he will fix his own rent; whereas I know, and all the +tenants know, that he ought to be in Galway jail. There isn't a man +on the estate who isn't certain that it was he, with five or six +others, who let the waters in upon the meadows." + +"Then why on earth cannot you make them tell?" + +"They say that they only think it," said Edith. + +"The very best of them only think it," said Ada. + +"And there is not one of them," said Mr. Jones, "whom you could trust +to put into a witness-box. To tell the truth, I do not see what +right I have to ask them to go there. If I was to select a man,--or +two, how can I say to them, 'forget yourself, forget your wife and +children, encounter possible murder, and probable ruin, in order that +I may get my revenge on this man'?" + +"It is not revenge but justice," said Frank. + +"It would be revenge to their minds. And if it came to pass that +there was a man who would thus sacrifice himself to me, what must I +do with him afterwards? Were I to send him to America with money, and +take his land into my own hand, see what horrible things would be +said of me. The sort of witness I want to back up others, who would +then be made to come, is Florian." + +"What would they do to him?" asked Edith. + +"I could send him to an English school for a couple of years, till +all this should have passed by. I have thought of that." + +"That, too, would cost money," said Ada. + +"Of course it would cost money, but it would be forthcoming, rather +than that the boy should be in danger. But the feeling, to me, as +to the boy himself, comes uppermost. It is that he himself should +have such a secret in his bosom, and keep it there, locked fast, in +opposition to his own father. I want to get it out of him while he +is yet a boy, so that his name shall not go abroad as one who, by +such manifest falsehood, took part against his own father. It is the +injury done to him, rather than the injury done to me." + +"He has promised his priest that he will not tell," said Edith, +making what excuse she could for her brother. + +"He has not promised his priest," said Mr. Jones. "He has made no +promise to Father Malachi, of Ballintubber. If he has promised at all +it is to that pestilent fellow at Headford. The curate at Headford is +not his priest, and why should a promise made to any priest be more +sacred than one made to another, unless it were made in confession? I +cannot understand Florian. It seems as though he were anxious to take +part with these wretches against his country, against his religion, +and against his father. It is unintelligible to me that a boy of his +age should, at the same time, be so precocious and so stupid. I have +told him that I know him to be a liar, and that until he will tell +the truth he shall not come into my presence." Having so spoken the +father sat silent, while Frank went off to dress. + +It was felt by them all that a terrible decision had been come to in +the family. A verdict had gone out and had pronounced Florian guilty. +They had all gradually come to think that it was so. But now the +judge had pronounced the doom. The lad was not to be allowed into his +presence during the continuance of the present state of things. In +the first place, how was he to be kept out of his father's presence? +And the boy was one who would turn mutinous in spirit under such a +command. The meaning of it was that he should not sit at table with +his father. But, in accordance with the ways of the family, he had +always done so. A separate breakfast must be provided for him, and +a separate dinner. Then would there not be danger that he should be +driven to look for his friends elsewhere? Would he not associate with +Father Brosnan, or, worse again, with Pat Carroll? "Ada," said Edith +that night as they sat together, "Florian must be made to confess." + +"How make him?" + +"You and I must do it." + +"That's all very well," said Ada, "but how? You have been at him now +for nine months, and have not moved him. He's the most obstinate boy, +I think, that ever lived." + +"Do you know, there is something in it all that makes me love him the +better?" said Edith. + +"Is there? There is something in it that almost makes me hate him." + +"Don't hate him, Ada--if you can help it. He has got some religious +idea into his head. It is all stupid." + +"It is beastly," said Ada. + +"You may call it as you please," said the other, "it is stupid and +beastly. He is travelling altogether in a wrong direction, and is +putting everybody concerned with him in immense trouble. It may be +quite right that a person should be a Roman Catholic--or that he +should be a Protestant; but before one turns from one to the other, +one should be old enough to know something about it. It is very +vexatious; but with Flory there is, I think, some idea of an idea. He +has got it into his head that the Catholics are a downtrodden people, +and therefore he will be one of them." + +"That is such bosh," said Ada. + +"It is so, to your thinking, but not to his. In loving him or hating +him you've got to love him or hate him as a boy. Of course it's +wicked that a boy should lie,--or a man, or a woman, or a girl; but +they do. I don't see why we are to turn against a boy of our own, +when we know that other boys lie. He has got a notion into his head +that he is doing quite right, because the priest has told him." + +"He is doing quite wrong," said Ada. + +"And now what are we to do about his breakfast? Papa says that he is +not to be allowed to come into the room, and papa means it. You and I +will have to breakfast with him and dine with him, first one and then +the other." + +"But papa will miss us." + +"We must go through the ceremony of a second breakfast and a second +dinner." This was the beginning of Edith's scheme. "Of course it's a +bore; all things are bores. This about the flood is the most terrible +bore I ever knew. But I'm not going to let Flory go to the devil +without making an effort to save him. It would be going to the devil, +if he were left alone in his present position." + +"Papa will see that we don't eat anything." + +"Of course he must be told. There never ought to be any secrets in +anything. Of course he'll grow used to it, and won't expect us to sit +there always and eat nothing. He thinks he's right, and perhaps he +is. Flory will feel the weight of his displeasure; and if we talk to +him we may persuade him." + +This state of things at Morony Castle was allowed to go on with few +other words said upon the subject. The father became more and more +gloomy, as the floods held their own upon the broad meadows. Pat +Carroll had been before the magistrates at Headford, and had been +discharged, as all evidence was lacking to connect him with the +occurrence. Further effort none was made, and Pat Carroll went on in +his course, swearing that not a shilling of rent should be paid by +him in next March. "The floods had done him a great injury," he said +laughingly among his companions, "so that it was unreasonable to +expect that he should pay." It was true he had owed a half-year's +rent last November; but then it had become customary with Mr. Jones's +tenants to be allowed the indulgence of six months. No more at any +rate would be said about rent till March should come. + +And now, superinduced upon this cause of misery, had come the tidings +which had been spread everywhere through the county in regard to the +Galway hunt. Tom Daly had gone on regularly with his meets, and had +not indeed been stopped everywhere. His heart had been gladdened by +a wonderful run which he had had from Carnlough. The people had not +interfered there, and the day had been altogether propitious. Tom had +for the moment been in high good humour; but the interruption had +come again, and had been so repeated as to make him feel that his +occupation was in truth gone. The gentry of the county had then held +a meeting at Ballinasloe, and had decided that the hounds should be +withdrawn for the remainder of the season. No one who has not ridden +with the hounds regularly can understand the effect of such an order. +There was no old woman with a turkey in her possession who did not +feel herself thereby entitled to destroy the fox who came lurking +about her poultry-yard. Nor was there a gentleman who owned a +pheasant who did not feel himself animated in some degree by the same +feeling. "As there's to be an end of fox-hunting in County Galway, +we can do what we like with our own coverts." "I shall go in for +shooting," Sir Nicholas Bodkin had been heard to say. + +But Black Tom Daly sat alone gloomily in his room at Ahaseragh, where +it suited him still to be present and look after the hounds, and told +himself that the occupation of his life was gone. Who would want to +buy a horse even, now that the chief object for horses was at an end? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +EDITH'S ELOQUENCE. + + +Thus they lived through the months of January and February, 1881, at +Morony Castle, and Florian had not as yet told his secret. As a boy +his nature had seemed to be entirely altered during the last six +months. He was thoughtful, morose, and obstinate to a degree, which +his father was unable to fathom. But during these last two months +there had been no intercourse between them. It may almost be said +that no word had been addressed by either to the other. No further +kind of punishment had been inflicted. Indeed, the boy enjoyed a much +wider liberty than had been given to him before, or than was good for +him. For his father not only gave no orders to him, but seldom spoke +concerning him. It was, however, a terrible trouble to his mind, the +fact that his own son should be thus possessed of his own peculiar +secret, and should continue from month to month hiding it within +his own bosom. With Father Malachi Mr. Jones was on good terms, but +to him he could say nothing on the subject. The absurdity of the +conversion, or perversion, of the boy, in reference to his religion, +made Mr. Jones unwilling to speak of him to any Roman Catholic +priest. Father Malachi would no doubt have owned that the boy had +been altogether unable to see, by his own light, the difference +between the two religions. But he would have attributed the change +to the direct interposition of God. He would not have declared in so +many words that a miracle had been performed in the boy's favour, but +this would have been the meaning of the argument he would have used. +In fact, the gaining of a proselyte under any circumstances would +have been an advantage too great to jeopardise by any arguments in +the matter. The Protestant clergyman at Headford, in whose parish +Morony Castle was supposed to have been situated, was a thin, bigoted +Protestant, of that kind which used to be common in Ireland. Mr. +Armstrong was a gentleman, who held it to be an established fact +that a Roman Catholic must necessarily go to the devil. In all the +moralities he was perfect. He was a married man, with a wife and +six children, all of whom he brought up and educated on L250 a year. +He never was in debt; he performed all his duties--such as they +were--and passed his time in making rude and unavailing attempts to +convert his poorer neighbours. There was a union,--or poor-house--in +the neighbourhood, to which he would carry morsels of meat in his +pocket on Friday, thinking that the poor wretches who had flown in +the face of their priest by eating the unhallowed morsels, would then +have made a first step towards Protestantism. He was charitable, with +so little means for charity; he was very eager in his discourses, +in the course of which he would preach to a dozen Protestants for +three-quarters of an hour, and would confine himself to one subject, +the iniquities of the Roman Catholic religion. He had heard of +Florian's perversion, and had made it the topic on which he had +declaimed for two Sundays. He had attempted to argue with Father +Brosnan, but had been like a babe in his hands. He ate and drank of +the poorest, and clothed himself so as just to maintain his clerical +aspect. All his aspirations were of such a nature as to entitle him +to a crown of martyrdom. But they were certainly not of a nature to +justify him in expecting any promotion on this earth. Such was Mr. +Joseph Armstrong, of Headford, and from him no aid, or counsel, or +pleasant friendship could be expected in this matter. + +The trouble of Florian's education fell for the nonce into Edith's +hands. He had hitherto worked under various preceptors; his father, +his sister, and his brother; also a private school at Galway for a +time had had the charge of him. But now Edith alone undertook the +duty. Gradually the boy began to have a way of his own, and to tell +himself that he was only bound to be obedient during certain hours of +the morning. In this way the whole day after twelve o'clock was at +his own disposal, and he never told any of the family what he then +did. Peter, the butler, perhaps knew where he went, but even to Peter +the butler, the knowledge was a trouble; for Peter, though a stanch +Roman Catholic, was not inclined to side with anyone against his own +master. Florian, in truth, did see more of Pat Carroll than he should +have done; and, though it would be wrong to suppose that he took a +part against his father, he no doubt discussed the questions which +were of interest to Pat Carroll, in a manner that would have been +very displeasing to his father. "Faix, Mr. Flory," Pat would say to +him, "'av you're one of us, you've got to be one of us; you've had a +glimmer of light, as Father Brosnan says, to see the errors of your +way; but you've got to see the errors of your way on 'arth as well +as above. Dragging the rint out o' the body and bones o' the people, +like hair from a woman's head, isn't the way, and so you'll have to +larn." Then Florian would endeavour to argue with his friend, and +struggle to make him understand that in the present complicated state +of things it was necessary that a certain amount of rent should go to +Morony Castle to keep up the expenses there. + +"We couldn't do, you know, without Peter; nor yet very well without +the carriage and horses. It's all nonsense saying that there should +be no rent; where are we to get our clothes from?" But these +arguments, though very good of their kind, had no weight with Pat +Carroll, whose great doctrine it was that rent was an evil _per se_; +and that his world would certainly go on a great deal better if there +were no rent. + +"Haven't you got half the land of Ballintubber in your hands?" said +Carroll. Here Florian in a whisper reminded Pat that the lands of +Ballintubber were at this moment under water, and had been put so by +his operation. "Why wouldn't he make me a statement when I asked for +it?" said Carroll, with a coarse grin, which almost frightened the +boy. + +"Flory," said Edith to the boy that afternoon, "you did see the men +at work upon the sluices that afternoon?" + +"I didn't," said Florian. + +"We all believe that you did." + +"But I didn't." + +"You may as well listen to me this once. We all believe that you +did--papa and I, and Frank and Ada; Peter believes it; there's not a +servant about the place but what believes it. Everybody believes it +at Headford. Mr. Blake at Carnlough, and all the Blakes believe it." + +"I don't care a bit about Mr. Blake," said the boy. + +"But you do care about your own father. If you were to go up and +down to Galway by the boat, you would find that everybody on board +believes it. The country people would say that you had turned against +your father because of your religion. Mr. Morris, from beyond Cong, +was here the other day, and from what he said about the floods it was +easy to see that he believed it." + +"If you believe Mr. Morris better than you do me, you may go your own +ways by yourself." + +"I don't see that, Flory. I may believe Mr. Morris in this matter +better than I do you, and yet not intend to go my own ways by myself. +I don't believe you at all on this subject." + +"Very well, then, don't." + +"But I want to find out, if I can, what may be the cause of so +terrible a falsehood on your part. It has come to that, that though +you tell the lie, you almost admit that it is a lie." + +"I don't admit it." + +"It is as good as admitted. The position you assume is this: 'I +saw the gates destroyed, but I am not going to say so in evidence, +because it suits me to take part with Pat Carroll, and to go against +my own father.'" + +"You've no business to put words like that into my mouth." + +"I'm telling you what everybody thinks. Would your father treat you +as he does now without a cause? And are you to remain here, and to go +down and down in the world till you become such a one as Pat Carroll? +And you will have to live like Pat Carroll, with the knowledge in +everyone's heart that you have been untrue to your father. They are +becoming dishonest, false knaves, untrue to their promises, the very +scum of the earth, because of their credulity and broken vows; but +what am I to say of you? You will have been as false and perfidious +and credulous as they. You will have thrown away everything good to +gratify the ambition of some empty traitor. And you will have done it +all against your own father." Here she paused and looked at him. They +were roaming at the time round the demesne, and he walked on, but +said nothing. "I know what you are thinking of, Flory." + +"What am I thinking of?" + +"You're thinking of your duty; you are thinking whether you can bring +yourself to make a clean breast of it, and break the promises which +you have made." + +"Nobody should break a promise," said he. + +"And nobody should tell a lie. When one finds oneself in the +difficulty one has to go back and find out where the evil thing first +began." + +"I gave the promise first," said Florian. + +"No such promise should ever have been given. Your first duty in the +matter was to your father." + +"I don't see that at all," said Florian. "My first duty is to my +religion." + +"Even to do evil for its sake? Go to Father Malachi, and ask him." + +"Father Malachi isn't the man to whom I should like to tell +everything. Father Brosnan is a much better sort of clergyman. He is +my confessor, and I choose to go by what he tells me." + +"Then you will be a traitor to your father." + +"I am not a traitor," said Florian. + +"And yet you admit that some promise has been given--some promise +which you dare not own. You cannot but know in your own heart that +I know the truth. You have seen that man Carroll doing the mischief, +and have promised him to hold your tongue about it. You have not, +then, understood at all the nature or extent of the evil done. You +have not, then, known that it would be your father's duty to put +down this turbulent ruffian. You have promised, and having promised, +Father Brosnan has frightened you. He and Pat Carroll together have +cowed the very heart within you. The consequence is that you are +becoming one of them, and instead of moving as a gentleman on the +face of the earth, you will be such as they are. Tell the truth, and +your father will at once send you to some school in England, where +you will be educated as becomes my brother." + +The boy now was sobbing in tears. He lacked the resolution to +continue his lie, but did not dare to tell the truth. + +"I will," he whispered. + +"What will you do?" + +"I will tell all that I know about it." + +"Tell me, then, now." + +"No, Edith, not now," he said. + +"Will you tell papa, then?" said Edith. + +"Papa is so hard to me." + +"Whom will you tell, and when?" + +"I will tell you, but not now. I will first tell Father Brosnan that +I am going to do it; I shall not then have told the lie absolutely to +my priest." + +On this occasion Edith could do nothing further with him; and, +indeed, the nature of the confession which she expected him to make +was such that it should be made to some person beyond herself. She +could understand that it must be taken down in some form that would +be presentable to a magistrate, and that evidence of the guilt of Pat +Carroll and evidence as to the possible guilt of others must not be +whispered simply into her own ears. But she had now brought him to +such a condition that she did think that his story would be told. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE. + + +There was another cause of trouble at Morony Castle, which at the +present moment annoyed them much. Frank had received three or four +letters from Rachel O'Mahony, the purport of them all being to +explain her troubles with Mahomet M. M., as she called the man; but +still so as to prevent Frank from attempting to interfere personally. + +"No doubt the man is a brute," she had said, "if a young lady, +without ceasing to be ladylike, may so describe so elegant a +gentleman. If not so, still he is a brute, because I can't declare +otherwise, even for the sake of being ladylike. But what you say +about coming is out of the question. You can't meddle with my affairs +till you've a title to meddle. Now, you know the truth. I'm going to +stick to you, and I expect you to stick to me. For certain paternal +reasons you want to put the marriage off. Very well. I'm agreeable, +as the folks say. If you would say that you would be ready to marry +me on the first of April, again I should be agreeable. You can +nowhere find a more agreeable young woman than I am. But I must be +one thing or the other." + +Then he wrote to her the sort of love-letter which the reader can +understand. It was full of kisses and vows and ecstatic hopes but did +not name a day. In fact Mr. Jones, in the middle of his troubles, was +unable to promise an immediate union, and did not choose that his son +should marry in order that he might be supported by a singing girl. +But to this letter Frank added a request--or rather a command--that +he should be allowed to come over at once and see Mr. Mahomet. It was +no doubt true that his father was, for the minute, a little backward +in the matter of his income; but still he wanted to look after +Mahomet, and he wanted to be kissed. + + + You must not come at all, and I won't even see you if you + do. You men are always so weak, and want such a lot of + petting. Mahomet tried to kiss me last night when I was + singing to him before going to dress. I have to practise + with him. I gave him such a blow in the face that I don't + think he'll repeat the experiment, and I had my eyes about + me. You needn't be at all afraid of me but what I am + quick enough. He was startled at the moment, and I merely + laughed. I'm not going to give up L100 a month because + he makes a beast of himself; and I'm not going to call + in father as long as I can help it; nor do I mean to call + in your royal highness at all. I tell everybody that I'm + going to marry your royal highness, king Jones; there + isn't a bit of a secret about it. I talk of my Mr. Jones + just as if we were married, because it all comes easier to + me in that way. You will see that I absolutely believe in + you and I expect that you shall absolutely believe in me. + Send you a kiss! Of course I do; I am not at all coy of my + favours. You ask Mahomet also as to what he thinks of the + strength of my right arm. I examined his face so minutely + when I had to fall into his arms on the stage, and there I + saw the round mark of my fist, and the swelling all round + it. And I thought to myself as I was singing my devotion + that he should have it next time in his eye. But, Frank, + mark my words: I won't have you here till you can come to + marry me. + + +Frank did not go over, even on this occasion, as he was detained, not +only by his mistress's danger, but by his father's troubles. Florian +had almost, but had not quite, told the entire truth. He had said +that he had seen the sluices broken, but had not quite owned who had +broken them. He had declared that Pat Carroll had done "mischief," +but had not quite said of what nature was the mischief which Carroll +had done. It was now March, and the hunting troubles were still going +on. The whole gentry in County Galway had determined to take Black +Tom Daly's part, and to carry him on through the contest. But the +effect of taking Black Tom Daly's part was to take the part against +which the Land Leaguers were determined to enrol themselves. For of +all men in the county, Black Tom was the most unpopular. And of all +men he was the most determined; with him it was literally a question +between God and Mammon. A man could not serve both. In the simplicity +of his heart, he thought that the Landleaguers were children of +Satan, and that to have any dealings with them, or the passage of +any kindness, was in itself Satanic. He said very little, but he +spent whole hours in thinking of the evil that they were doing. And +among the evils was the unparalleled insolence which they displayed +in entering coverts in County Galway. Now Frank Jones, who had not +hitherto been very intimate with Tom, had taken up his part, and was +fighting for him at this moment. Nevertheless the provocation to him +to go to London was very great, and he had only put it off till the +last coverts should be drawn on Saturday the 2nd of April. The hunt +had determined to stop their proceedings earlier than usual; but +still there was to be one day in April, for the sake of honour and +glory. + +But in the latter days of March there came a third letter from Rachel +O'Mahony. Like the other letter it was cheerful, and high-spirited; +but still it seemed to speak of impending dangers, which Frank, +though he could not understand them, thought that he could perceive. + + + My present engagement is to go on till the end of July, + with an understanding that I am to have twenty guineas + a night, for any evening that I may be required to sing + in August. This your highness will perceive is a very + considerable increase, and at three nights a week might + afford an income on which your highness would perhaps + condescend to come and eat a potato, in the honour of + "ould" Ireland, till better times should come. That would + be the happy potato which would be the first bought for + such a purpose! But you must see that I cannot expect + a continuance of my present engagement as the head of + your royal highness' seraglio. I should have to look for + another Chancellor of the Exchequer, and should probably + find him. Mr. Mahomet M. Moss would hardly endure me + as being part of the properties belonging to your royal + highness. + + And now I must tell you my own little news. Beelzebub has + taken a worse devil to himself, so that I am likely to be + trodden down into the very middle of the pit. I choose to + tell you because I won't have you think that I have ever + kept anything secret from you. If I describe the roars of + Mrs. Beelzebub to you, and her red claws, and her forky + tongue, and her fiery tail, it is not because I like her + as a subject of poetry, but because this special subject + comes uppermost; and you shall never say to me, why didn't + you tell me when you were introduced to Beelzebub's wife? + and assert, as men are apt to do, that you would not + have allowed me to make her acquaintance. Mrs. Beelzebub + appears on the stage as belonging to Mahomet but how they + have mixed it all up together among themselves, I do not + quite know. I do not think that they're in love with one + another, because she is not jealous of me. She is Madame + Socani in the plot, and a genuine American from New York; + but she can sing; she has a delicious soprano voice, soft + and powerful; but she has also a temper and temperament + such as no woman, nor yet no devil, ought to possess. Of + Monsieur Socani, or Signor Socani, or Herr Socani, I never + yet heard. But such men do not always make themselves + troublesome. I have to sing with her, and a woman you may + say would not be troublesome, but she and Mahomet between + them consider themselves competent to get me under their + thumb. I don't intend to be under their thumb. I intend + to be under nobody's thumb but yours; and the sooner the + better. Now you know all about it; but as you shall value + the first squeeze which you shall get when you do come, + don't come till your coming has been properly settled. + + +Then there was a fourth letter in which she described her troubles, +still humorously, and with some attempt at absolute comedy. But she +certainly wrote with a purpose of making him understand that she was +subjected to very considerable annoyance. She was still determined +not to call upon him for assistance; and she warned him that any +assistance whatever would be out of his power. A lover on the scene, +who could not declare his purpose of speedy marriage, would be worse +than useless. All that she saw plainly,--or at any rate declared that +she saw plainly, though she was altogether unable to explain it to +Frank Jones. + + + Mrs. Beelzebub is certainly the queen of the devils. I + remember when you read "Paradise Lost" to us at Morony + Castle, which I thought very dull. Milton arranged the + ranks in Pandemonium differently; but there has been a + revolution since that, and Mrs. Beelzebub has everything + just as she pleases. I am beginning to pity Mahomet, and + pity, they say, is akin to love. She urges him,--well, + just to make love to me. What reason there is between + them I don't know, but I am sure she wants him to get me + altogether into his hands. I'm not sure but what she is + Mahomet's own wife. This is a horrid kettle of fish, as + you will see. But I think I'll turn out to be head cook + yet. If God does not walk atop of the devils what's the + use of running straight? But I am sure he will, and the + more so because there is in truth no temptation. + + She told me the other day to my face, that I was a fool. + "I know I am," said I demurely, "but why?" Then she came + out with her demand. It was very simple, and did not in + truth amount to much. I was to become just--mistress to + Mr. Moss. + + +Frank Jones, when he read this, crushed the paper up in his hand and +went upstairs to his bedroom, determined to pack up immediately. +But before he had progressed far, he got out the letter and read the +remainder. + + + "You," I said, "are an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Moss." + + "I am his particular friend," she said, with that peculiar + New York aping of a foreign accent, which is the language + that was, I am sure, generally used by the devils. + + "Ask him, with my best compliments," I said, "whether he + remembers the blow I hit him in the face. Tell him I can + hit much harder than that; tell him that he will never + find me unprepared, for a moment." + + Now I have got another little bit of news for you. + Somebody has found out in New York that I am making + money. It is true, in a limited way. L100 a month is + something, and so they've asked papa to subscribe as + largely as he can to a grand Home-Rule, anti-Protestant, + hate-the-English, stars-and-stripes society. It is the + most loyal and beneficent thing out, and dear papa thinks + I can do nothing better with my wealth than bestow it + upon these birds of freedom. I have no doubt they are + all right, because I am an American-Irish, and have not + the pleasure of knowing Black Tom Daly. I have given + them L200, and am, therefore, at this moment, nearly + impecunious. On this account I do not choose to give up my + engagement--L100 a month, with an additional possibility + of twenty guineas a night when August shall be here. You + will tell me that after the mild suggestion made by Mrs. + Beelzebub, I ought to walk out of the house, and go back + to County Galway immediately. I don't think so. I am + learning every day how best to stand fast on my own feet. + I am earning my money honestly, and men and women here + in London are saying that in truth I can sing. A very + nice old gentleman called on me the other day from Covent + Garden, and, making me two low bows, asked whether I was + my own mistress some time in October next. I thought at + the moment that I was at any rate free from the further + engagement proposed by Mrs. Beelzebub, and told him that I + was free. Then he made me two lower bows, touched the tip + of my fingers, and said that he would be proud to wait + upon me in a few days with a definite proposal. This old + gentleman may mean twenty guineas a night for the whole + of next winter, or something like L250 a month. Think + of that, Mr. Jones. But how am I to go on in my present + impecunious position if I quarrel altogether with my bread + and butter? So now you know all about it. + + Remember that I have told my father nothing as to Mrs. + Beelzebub's proposition. It is better not; he would disown + it, and would declare that I had invented it from vanity. + I do think that a woman in this country can look after + herself if she be minded so to do. I know that I am + stronger than Mr. Moss and Mrs. Beelzebub together. I do + believe that he will pay me his money, as he has always + done, and I want to earn my money. I have some little + precautions--just for a rainy day. I have told you + everything--everything, because you are to be my husband. + But you can do me no good by coming here, but may cause me + a peck of troubles. Now, good-bye, and God bless you. A + thousand kisses. + + Ever your own, + + R. + + Tell everybody that I'm to be Mrs. Jones some day. + + +Frank finished packing up, and then told his father that he was going +off to Athenry at once, there to meet the night mail train up to +Dublin. + +"Why are you going at once, in this sudden manner?" asked his father. + +Frank then remembered that he could not tell openly the story of Mrs. +Beelzebub. Rachel had told him in pure simple-minded confidence, and +though he was prepared to disobey her, he would not betray her. "She +is on the stage," he said. + +"I am aware of it," replied his father, intending to signify that his +son's betrothed was not employed as he would have wished. + +"At the Charing Cross Opera," said the son, endeavouring to make the +best of it. + +"Yes; at the Charing Cross Opera, if that makes a difference." + +"She is earning her bread honestly." + +"I believe so," said Mr. Jones, "I do believe so, I do think that +Rachel O'Mahony is a thoroughly good girl." + +"I am sure of it," said Ada and Edith almost in the same breath. + +"But not less on that account is the profession distasteful to me. +You do not wish to see your sisters on the stage?" + +"I have thought of all that, sir," said Frank, "I have quite made up +my mind to make Rachel my wife, if it be possible." + +"Do you mean to live on what she may earn as an actress?" Here Frank +remained silent for a moment. "Because if you do, I must tell you +that it will not become you as a gentleman to accept her income." + +"You cannot give us an income on which we may live." + +"Certainly not at this moment. With things as they are in Ireland +now, I do not know how long I may have a shilling with which to bless +myself. It seems to me that for the present it is your duty to stay +at home, and not to trouble Rachel by going to her in London." + +"At this moment I must go to her." + +"You have given no reason for your going." Frank thought of it, and +told himself that there was in truth no reason. His going would +be a trouble to Rachel, and yet there were reasons which made it +imperative for him to go. "Have you asked yourself what will be the +expense?" said his father. + +"It may cost I suppose twelve pounds, going and coming." + +"And have you asked yourself how many twelve pounds will be likely to +fall into your hands just at present? Is she in any trouble?" + +"I had rather not talk about her affairs," said Frank. + +"Is not her father with her?" + +"I do not think he is the best man in the world to help a girl in +such an emergency." But he had not described what was the emergency. + +"You think that a young man, who certainly will be looked on as the +young lady's lover, but by no means so certainly as the young lady's +future husband, will be more successful?" + +"I do," said Frank, getting up and walking out of the room. He was +determined at any rate that nothing which his father could say should +stop him, as he had resolved to disobey all the orders which Rachel +had given him. At any rate, during that night and the following day +he made his way up to London. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON. + + +At this period of our story much had already been said in the outside +world as to flooding the meadows of Ballintubber. Like other outrages +of the same kind, it had not at first been noticed otherwise than in +the immediate neighbourhood; and though a terrible injury had been +inflicted, equal in value to the loss of five or six hundred pounds, +it had seemed as though it would pass away unnoticed, simply because +Mr. Jones had lacked evidence to bring it home to any guilty party. +But gradually it had become known that Pat Carroll had been the +sinner, and the causes also which had brought about the crime were +known. It was known that Pat Carroll had joined the Landleaguers in +the neighbouring county of Mayo with great violence, and that he had +made a threat that he would pay no further rent to his landlord. The +days of the no-rent manifestation had not yet come, as the obnoxious +Members of Parliament were not yet in prison; but no-rent was already +firmly fixed in the minds of many men, about to lead in the process +of time to "Arrears Bills," and other abominations of injustice. And +among those conspicuous in the West, who were ready to seize fortune +by the forelock, was Mr. Pat Carroll. In this way his name had come +forward, and inquiries were made of Mr. Jones which distressed him +much. For though he was ready to sacrifice his meadows, and his +tenant, and his rent, he was most unwilling to do it if he should be +called upon at the same time to sacrifice his boy's character for +loyalty. + +There had been a man stationed at Castlerea for some months past, who +in celebrity had almost beaten the notorious Pat Carroll. This was +one Captain Yorke Clayton, who for nearly twelve months had been in +the County Mayo. It was supposed that he had first shown himself +there as a constabulary officer, and had then very suddenly been +appointed resident magistrate. Why he was Captain nobody knew. It +was the fact, indeed, that he had been employed as adjutant in a +volunteer regiment in England, having gone over there from the police +force in the north of Ireland. His title had gone with him by no +fault or no virtue of his own, and he had blossomed forth to the +world of Connaught as Captain Clayton before he knew why he was about +to become famous. Famous, however, he did become. + +He had two attributes which, if Fortune helps, may serve to make any +man famous. They were recklessness of life and devotion to an idea. +If Fortune do not help, recklessness of life amidst such dangers +as those which surrounded Captain Clayton will soon bring a man to +his end, so that there will be no question of fame. But we see men +occasionally who seem to find it impossible to encounter death. It +is not at all probable that this man wished to die. Life seemed to +him to be pleasant enough: he was no forlorn lover; he had fairly +good health and strength; people said of him that he had small but +comfortable private means; he was remarkable among all men for his +good looks; and he lacked nothing necessary to make life happy. +But he appeared to be always in a hurry to leave it. A hundred men +in Mayo had sworn that he should die. This was told to him very +freely; but he had only laughed at it, and was generally called "the +woodcock," as he rode about among his daily employments. The ordinary +life of a woodcock calls upon him to be shot at; but yet a woodcock +is not an easy bird to hit. + +Then there was his devotion to an idea! I will not call it loyalty, +lest I should seem to praise the man too vehemently for that which +probably was simply an instinct in his own heart. He lived upon his +hatred of a Landleaguer. It was probably some conviction on his own +part that the original Landleaguer had come from New York, which +produced this feeling. And it must be acknowledged of him with +reference to the lower order of Landleaguers that he did admit in +his mind a possibility that they were curable. There were to him +Landleaguers and Landleaguers; but the Landleaguer whom Captain Yorke +Clayton hated with the bitterest prejudice was the Landleaguing +Member of Parliament. Some of his worst enemies believed that he +might be detected in breaking out into illegal expressions of hatred, +or, more unfortunately still, into illegal acts, and that so the +Government might be compelled to dismiss him with disgrace. Others, +his warmest friends, hoped that by such a process his life might +be eventually saved. But for the present Captain Yorke Clayton had +saved both his character and his neck, to the great surprise both of +those who loved him and the reverse. He had lately been appointed +Joint Resident Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon, and had +removed his residence to Galway. To him also had Pat Carroll become +intimately known, and to him the floods of Ballintubber were a +peculiar case. It was one great desire of his heart to have Pat +Carroll incarcerated as a penal felon. He did not very often express +himself on this subject, but Pat Carroll knew well the nature of his +wishes. "A thundering bloody rapparee" was the name by which Carroll +delighted to call him. But Carroll was one who exercised none of that +control over his own tongue for which Captain Clayton was said to +be so conspicuous. During the last month Mr. Jones had seen Captain +Clayton more than once at Galway, and on one occasion he had come +down to Morony Castle attended by a man who was supposed to travel +as his servant, but who was known by all the world to be a policeman +in disguise. For Captain Clayton had been strictly forbidden by the +authorities of the Castle to travel without such a companion; and an +attempt had already been made to have him dismissed for disobedience +to these orders. + +Captain Clayton, when he had been at Morony Castle, had treated Flory +with great kindness, declining to cross-question him at all. "I would +endeavour to save him from these gentlemen," he had said to his +father. "I don't quite think that we understand what is going on +within his mind;" but this had been before the conversation last +mentioned which had taken place between Flory and his sisters. Now he +was to come again, and make further inquiry, and meet half-a-dozen +policemen from the neighbourhood. But Florian had as yet but half +confessed, and almost hoped that Captain Clayton would appear among +them as his friend. + +The girls, to tell the truth, had been much taken with the appearance +of the gallant Captain. It seems to be almost a shame to tell the +truth of what modest girls may think of any man whom they may chance +to meet. They would never tell it to themselves. Even two sisters +can hardly do so. And when the man comes before them, just for once +or twice, to be judged and thought of at a single interview, the +girl,--such as were these girls,--can hardly tell it to herself. "He +is manly and brave, and has so much to say for himself, and is so +good-looking, that what can any girl who has her heart at her own +disposal wish for better than such a lover?" It would have been quite +impossible that either of Mr. Jones's daughters could ever have so +whispered to herself. But was it not natural that such an unwhispered +thought should have passed through the mind of Ada--Ada the +beautiful, Ada the sentimental, Ada the young lady who certainly was +in want of a lover? "He is very nice, certainly," said Ada, allowing +herself not another word, to her sister. + +"But what is the good of a man being nice when he is a 'woodcock'?" +said Edith. "Everybody says that his destiny is before him. I daresay +he is nice, but what's the use?" + +"You don't mean to say that you think he'll be killed?" said Ada. + +"I do, and I mean to say that if I were a man, it might be that I +should have to be killed too. A man has to run his chance, and if he +falls into such a position as this, of course he must put up with it. +I don't mean to say that I don't like him the better for it." + +"Why does he not go away and leave the horrid country?" said Ada. + +"Because the more brave men that go away the more horrid the country +will become. And then I think a man is always the happier if he has +something really to think of. Such a one as Captain Clayton does not +want to go to balls." + +"I suppose not," said Ada plaintively, as though she thought it a +thousand pities that Captain Clayton should not want to go to balls. + +"Such a man," said Edith with an air of firmness, "finds a woman when +he wants to marry, who will suit him,--and then he marries her. There +is no necessity for any balls there." + +"Then he ought not to dance at all. Such a man ought not to want to +get married." + +"Not if he means to be killed out of hand," said Edith. "The possible +young woman must be left to judge of that. I shouldn't like to marry +a 'woodcock,' however much I might admire him. I do think it well +that there should be such men as Captain Clayton. I feel that if I +were a man I ought to wish to be one myself. But I am sure I should +feel that I oughtn't to ask a girl to share the world with me. Fancy +marrying a man merely to be left a sorrowing widow! It is part of the +horror of his business that he shouldn't even venture to dance, lest +some poor female should be captivated." + +"A girl might be captivated without dancing," said Ada. + +"I don't mean to say that such a man should absolutely tie himself up +in a bag so that no poor female should run any possible danger, but +he oughtn't to encourage such risks. To tell the truth, I don't think +that Captain Clayton does." + +Ada that afternoon thought a great deal of the position,--not, of +course, in reference to herself. Was it proper that such a man as +Captain Yorke Clayton should abstain from falling in love with +a girl, or even from allowing a girl to fall in love with him +because he was in danger of being shot? It was certainly a difficult +question. Was any man to be debarred from the pleasures, and +incidents, and natural excitements of a man's life because of the +possible dangers which might possibly happen to a possible young +woman? Looking at the matter all round, Ada did not see that the man +could help himself unless he were to be shut up in a bag, as Edith +had said, so as to prevent a young woman from falling in love with +him. Although he were a "woodcock," the thing must go on in its own +natural course. If misfortunes did come, why misfortunes must come. +It was the same thing with any soldier or any sailor. If she were to +fall in love with some officer,--for the supposition in its vague, +undefined form was admissible even to poor Ada's imagination,--she +would not be debarred from marrying him merely by the fact that he +would have to go to the wars. Of course, as regarded Captain Yorke +Clayton, this was merely a speculation. He might be engaged to some +other girl already for anything she knew;--"or cared," as she told +herself with more or less of truth. + +Captain Yorke Clayton came down by the boat that afternoon to Morony +Castle, Frank Jones having started for London two or three days +before. He reached the pier at about four o'clock, accompanied by his +faithful follower, and was there met by Mr. Jones himself, who walked +up with him to the Castle. There was a short cut across the fields to +Mr. Jones's house; and as they left the road about a furlong up from +the pier, they were surrounded by the waters which Mr. Carroll had +let in upon the Ballintubber meadows. + +"You won't mind my fellow coming with us?" said Captain Clayton. + +"'Your fellow,' as you call him, is more than welcome. I came across +this way because some of Pat Carroll's friends may be out on the high +road. If they fire half-a-dozen rifles from behind a wall at your +luggage, they won't do so much harm as if they shot at yourself." + +"There won't be any shooting here," said Clayton, shaking his head, +"he's not had time to get a stranger down and pay him. They always +require two or three days' notice for that work; and there isn't a +wall about the place. You're not giving Mr. Pat Carroll a fair chance +for his friends. I could dodge them always with perfect security by +myself, only the beaks up in Dublin have given a strict order. As +they pay for the pistols, I am bound to carry them." Then he lifted +up the lappets of his coat and waistcoat, and showed half-a-dozen +pistols stuck into his girdle. "Our friend there has got as many +more." + +"I have a couple myself," said Mr. Jones, indicating their +whereabouts, and showing that he was not as yet so used to carry +them, as to have provided himself with a belt for the purpose. + +Then they walked on, chatting indifferently about the Landleaguers +till they reached the Castle. "The people are not cowards," Captain +Clayton had said. "I believe that men do become cowards when they are +tempted to become liars by getting into Parliament. An Irishman of a +certain class does at any rate. But those fellows, if they were put +into a regiment, would fight like grim death. That man there," and he +pointed back over his shoulder, "is as brave a fellow as I ever came +across in my life. I don't think that he would hesitate a moment in +attacking three or four men armed with revolvers. And gold wouldn't +induce him to be false to me. But if Mr. Pat Carroll had by chance +got hold of him before he had come my way, he might have been the +very man to shoot you or me from behind a wall, with a bit of black +crape on his face. What's the reason of it? I love that man as my +brother, but I might have hated him as the very devil." + +"The force of example, sir," said Mr. Jones, as he led the way into +the quiet, modern residence which rejoiced to call itself Morony +Castle. + +"What are we to do about this boy?" said Mr. Jones, when they had +seated themselves in his study. + +"Are you friends with him yet?" + +"No; I declared to his sisters that I would not sit down to table +with him till he had told the truth, and I have kept my word." + +"How does he bear it?" + +"But badly," said the father. "It has told upon him very much. He +complains to his sister that I have utterly cast him off." + +"It is the oddest case I ever heard of in my life," said the Captain. +"I suppose his change of religion has been at the bottom of it--that +and the machinations of the priest down at Headford. When we +recollect that there must have been quite a crowd of people looking +on all the while, it does seem odd that we should be unable to get a +single witness to tell the truth, knowing, as we do, that this lad +was there. If he would only name two who were certainly there, and +who certainly saw the deed done, that would be enough; for the people +are not, in themselves, hostile to you." + +"You know he has owned that he did see it," said the father. "And +he has acknowledged that Pat Carroll was there, though he has never +mentioned the man's name. His sisters have told him that I will not +be satisfied unless I hear him declare that Pat Carroll was one of +the offenders." + +"Let us have him in, sir, if you don't mind." + +"Just as he is?" + +"I should say so. Or let the young ladies come with him, if you do +not object. Which of them has been most with him since your edict +went forth?" + +Mr. Jones declared that Edith had been most with her brother, and the +order went forth that Edith and Florian should be summoned into the +apartment. + +Ada and Edith were together when the order came. Edith was to go down +and present herself before Captain Yorke Clayton. + +"Mercy me!" said Edith jumping up, "I hope they won't shoot at him +through the window whilst I am there." + +"Oh! Edith, how can you think of such a thing?" + +"It would be very unpleasant if some assassin were to take my back +hair for Captain Clayton's brown head. They're very nearly the same +colour." + +And Edith prepared to leave the room, hearing her brother's slow, +heavy step as he passed before the door. + +"Won't you go first and brush your hair?" said Ada; "and do put a +ribbon on your neck." + +"I'll do nothing of the kind. It would be a sheer manoeuvring to +entrap a man who ought to be safeguarded against all such female +wiles. Besides, I don't believe a bit that Captain Clayton would know +the difference between a young lady with or without a ribbon. What +evidence I can give;--that's the question." + +So saying, Edith descended to her father's room. + +She found Florian with his hand upon the door, and they both +entered the room. I have said that Captain Clayton was a remarkably +good-looking man, and I ought, perhaps, to give some explanation of +the term when first introducing him to the reader in the presence of +a lady who is intended to become the heroine of this story; but it +must suffice that I have declared him to be good-looking, and that +I add to that the fact that though he was thirty-five years old, he +did not look to be more than five-and-twenty. The two peculiarities +of his face were very light blue eyes, and very long moustachios. +"Florian and I have come to see the latter-day hero," said Edith +laughing as she entered the room; "though I know that you are so done +up with pistols that no peaceable young woman ought to come near +you." To this he made some sportive reply, and then before a minute +had passed over their heads he had taken Florian by the hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE. + + +"Well, my boy, how are you?" asked the Captain. + +"There's nothing particularly the matter with me," said Florian. + +"I suppose all this is troubling you?" + +"All what? You mean about Pat Carroll. Of course it's troubling me. +Nobody will believe a word that I say." + +"But they do believe you now that you are telling the truth," said +Edith. + +"Do you hold your tongue, miss," said the boy, "I don't see why you +should have so much to say about it." + +"She has been your best friend from first to last," said the father. +"If it had not been for Edith I would have turned you out of the +house. It is terrible to me to think that a boy of mine should refuse +to say what he saw in such a matter as this. You are putting yourself +on a par with the enemies of your own family. You do not know it, but +you are nearly sending me to the grave." Then there was a long pause, +during which the Captain kept his eyes fixed on the boy's face. And +Edith had moved round so as to seat herself close to her brother, and +had taken his hand in hers. + +"Don't, Edith," said the boy. "Leave me alone, I don't want to be +meddled with," and he withdrew his hand. + +"Oh, Florian!" said the girl, "try to tell the truth and be a +gentleman, whether it be for you or against you, tell the truth." + +"I'm not to mind a bit about my religion then?" + +"Does your religion bid you tell a lie?" asked the Captain. + +"I'm not telling a lie, I am just holding my tongue. A Catholic has a +right to hold his tongue when he is among Protestants." + +"Even to the ruin of his father," suggested the Captain. + +"I don't want to ruin papa. He said he was going to turn--to turn me +out of the house. I would go and drown myself in the lake if he did, +or in one of those big dykes which divide the meadows. I am miserable +among them--quite miserable. Edith never gives me any peace, day +or night. She comes and sits in my bedroom, begging me to tell the +truth. It ought to be enough when I say that I will hold my tongue. +Papa can turn me out to drown myself if he pleases. Edith goes on +cheating the words out of me till I don't know what I'm saying. If +I am to be brought up to tell it all before the judge I shan't know +what I have said before, or what I have not said." + +"_Nil conscire tibi_," said the father, who had already taught his +son so much Latin as that. + +"But you did see the sluice gates torn down, and thrown back into the +water?" said the Captain. Here Florian shook his head mournfully. "I +understood you to acknowledge that you had seen the gates destroyed." + +"I never said as much to you," said the boy. + +"But you did to me," said Edith. + +"If a fellow says a word to you, it is repeated to all the world. +I never would have you joined with me in a secret. You are a great +deal worse than--, well, those fellows that you abuse me about. They +never tell anything that they have heard among themselves, to people +outside." + +"Pat Carroll, you mean?" asked the Captain. + +"He isn't the only one. There's more in it than him." + +"Oh yes; we know that. There were many others in it besides Pat +Carroll, when they let the waters in through the dyke gates. There +must have been twenty there." + +"No, there weren't--not that I saw." + +"A dozen, perhaps?" + +"You are laying traps for me, but I am not going to be caught. I +was there, and I did see it. You may make the most of that. Though +you have me up before the judge, I needn't say a word more than I +please." + +"He is more obstinate," said his father, "than any rebel that you can +meet." + +"But so mistaken," said the Captain, "because he can refuse to answer +us who are treating him with such tenderness and affection, who did +not even want to wound his feelings more than we can help, he thinks +that he can hold his peace in the same fashion, before the entire +court; and that he can do so, although he has owned that he knows the +men." + +"I have never owned that," said the boy. + +"Not to your sister?" + +"I only owned to one." + +"Pat Carroll?" said the Captain; but giving the name merely as a hint +to help the boy's memory. + +But the boy was too sharp for him. "That's another of your traps, +Captain Clayton. If she says Pat Carroll, I can say it was Tim Brady. +A boy's word will be as good as a girl's, I suppose." + +"A lie can never be as good as the truth, whether from a boy or +a girl," said the Captain, endeavouring to look him through and +through. The boy quavered beneath his gaze, and the Captain went on +with his questioning. "I suppose we may take it for granted that Pat +Carroll was there, and that you did see him?" + +"You may take anything for granted." + +"You would have to swear before a jury that Pat Carroll was there." + +Then there was another pause, but at last, with a long sigh, the boy +spoke out. "He was there, and I did see him." Then he burst into +tears and threw himself down on the ground, and hid his face in his +sister's lap. + +"Dear Flory," said she. "My own brother! I knew that you would +struggle to be a gentleman at last." + +"It will all come right with him now," said the Captain. But the +father frowned and shook his head. "How many were there with him?" +asked the Captain, intent on the main business. + +But Florian feeling that it would be as good to be hung for a sheep +as a lamb, and feeling also that he had at last cast aside all the +bonds which bound him to Pat Carroll and Father Brosnan,--feeling +that there was nothing left for him but the internecine enmity of his +old friends,--got up from the floor, and wiping away the tears from +his face, spoke out boldly the whole truth as he knew it. "It was +dark, and I didn't see them all. There were only six whom I could +see, though I know that there were many others round about among the +meadows whose names I had heard, though I do not remember them." + +"We will confine ourselves to the six whom you did see," said the +Captain, preparing to listen quietly to the boy's story. The father +took out a pen and ink, but soon pushed it on one side. Edith again +got hold of the boy's hand, and held it within her own till his story +was finished. + +"I didn't see the six all at once. The first whom I did see was Pat +Carroll, and his brother Terry, and Tim Brady. They were up there +just where the lane has turned down from the steamboat road. I had +gone down to the big sluice gates before anyone had noticed me, and +there were Tim and Terry smashing away at the gate hinges, up to +their middles in mud; and Pat Carroll was handing them down a big +crowbar. Terry, when he saw me, fell flat forward into the water, and +had to be picked out again." + +"Did they say anything to threaten you?" said the Captain. + +"Tim Brady said that I was all right, and was a great friend of +Father Brosnan's. Then they whispered together, and I heard Terry say +that he wouldn't go against anything that Father Brosnan might say. +Then Pat Carroll came and stood over me with the crowbar." + +"Did he threaten you?" + +"He didn't do it in a threatening way; but only asked me to be hand +and glove with them." + +"Had you been intimate with this man before? asked the Captain. + +"He had been very intimate with him," said the father. "All this +calamity has come of his intimacy. He has changed his religion and +ceased to be a gentleman." Here the boy again sobbed, but Edith still +squeezed his hand. + +"What did you say?" asked the Captain, "when he bade you be hand and +glove with him?" + +"I said that I would. Then they made the sign of a cross, and swore +me on it. And they swore me specially to say nothing up here. And +they swore me again when they met down at Tim Rafferty's house in +Headford. I intended to keep my word, and I think that you ought to +have let me keep it." + +"But there were three others whom you saw," urged the Captain. + +"There was Con Heffernan, and a man they call Lax, who had come from +Lough Conn beyond Castlebar." + +"He's not a man of this county." + +"I think not, though I had seen him here before. He has had something +to do with the Landleaguers up about Foxford." + +"I think I have a speaking acquaintance with that Mr. Lax," said the +Captain; and everybody could perceive that the tone of his voice was +altered as he spoke about Mr. Lax. "And who was the sixth?" + +"There was that old man, papa, whom they call Terry. But he wasn't +doing anything in particular." + +"He is the greatest blackguard on the estate," said the father. + +"But we will confine ourselves to the five," said the Captain, "not +forgetting Mr. Lax. What was Mr. Lax doing?" + +"I can't remember what they were all doing. How is a fellow to +remember them all? There were those two at the hinges, and Pat +Carroll was there pulling his brother out of the water." + +"Terry was Pat's brother?" + +"They are brothers," said the father. + +"And then they went on, and took no notice of me for a time. Lax came +up and scowled at me, and told me that if a word was said I should +never draw the breath of life again." + +"But he didn't do anything?" asked the Captain. + +"I don't remember. How is a fellow to remember after so many months?" + +"Why didn't you tell the truth at the time?" said his father angrily. +Another tear stood in each of the poor boy's eyes, and Edith got +closer to him, and threw her left arm round his waist. "You are +spoiling him by being so soft with him," said the father. + +"He is doing the best he can, Mr. Jones," said the Captain. "Don't be +harsh with him now. Well, Florian, what came next?" + +"They bade me go away, and again made me swear another oath. It was +nearly dark then, and it was quite dark night before I got up to the +house. But before I went I saw that there were many others standing +idle about the place." + +"Do you remember any particularly?" + +"Well, there was another of the Carrolls, a nephew of Pat's; and +there was Tony Brady, Tim's brother. I can't at this moment say who +else there were." + +"It would be as well to have as many as we do know, not to prosecute +them, but to ask them for their evidence. Three or four men will +often contradict each other, and then they will break down. I think +we have enough now. But you must remember that I have only questioned +you as your friend and as your father's friend. I have not taken down +a word that you have said. My object has been simply that we might +all act together to punish a vindictive and infamous outrage. Pat +Carroll has had nothing to get by flooding your father's meadows. But +because your father has not chosen to forgive him his rent, he has +thought fit to do him all the injury in his power. I fear that there +are others in it, who are more to blame even than Pat Carroll. But if +we can get hold of this gentleman, and also of his friend Mr. Lax, we +shall have done much." + +Then the meeting was over for that evening, and Captain Clayton +retired to his own room. "You needn't mind following me here, +Hunter," he said to the policeman. + +"I wouldn't be too sure, sir." + +"You may be sure in Mr. Jones's house. And no one in the country has +any idea of committing murder on his own behalf. I am safe till they +would have had time to send for someone out of another county. But we +shall be back in Galway to-morrow." So saying, Hunter left his master +alone, and the Captain sat down to write an account of the scene +which had just taken place. In this he gave every name as the boy had +given it, with accuracy; but, nevertheless, he added to his little +story the fact that it had been related from memory. + +Edith took her brother away into her own room, and there covered him +with kisses. "Why is papa so hard to me?" said the boy sobbing. Then +she explained to him as gently as she could, the grounds which had +existed for hardness on his father's part. She bade him consider how +terrible a thing it must be to a father, to have to think that his +own son should have turned against him, while the country was in such +a condition. + +"It is not the flood, Flory, nor the loss of the meadows being under +water. It is not the injury that Pat Carroll has done him, or any of +the men whom Pat Carroll has talked into enmity. That, indeed, is +very dreadful. To these very men he has been their best friend for +many years. And now they would help in his ruin, and turn us and him +out as beggars upon the world, because he has not chosen to obey the +unjust bidding of one of them." Here the boy hung down his head, and +turned away his face. "But it is not that. All that has had no effect +in nigh breaking his heart. Money is but money. No one can bear its +loss better than our papa. Though he might have to starve, he would +starve like a gallant man; and we could starve with him. You and I, +Frank and Ada, would bear all that he could bear. But--" The boy +looked up into her face again, as though imploring her to spare him, +but she went on with her speech. "But that a son of his should cease +to feel as a gentleman should feel,--and a Christian! It is that +which moves him to be hard, as you call it. But he is not hard; he is +a man, and he cannot kiss you as a woman does;--as your sister does;" +here she almost smothered the boy with kisses, "but, Florian, it is +not too late; it is never too late while you still see that truth is +godlike, and that a lie is of all things the most devilish. It is +never too late while you feel what duty calls you to do." And again +she covered him with kisses, and then allowed him to go away to his +own room. + +When Edith was alone she sat back in an easy-chair, with her feet on +the fender before the turf fire, and began to consider how things +might go with her poor brother. "If they should get hold of him, and +murder him!" she said to herself. The thought was very dreadful, but +she comforted herself with reflecting that he might be sent out of +the country, before the knowledge of what he had done should get +abroad. And then by means of that current of thought, which always +runs where it listeth, independent of the will of the thinker, her +ideas flew off to Captain Yorke Clayton. In her imagination she had +put down Captain Clayton as a possible lover for her sister. She +possessed a girlish intuition into her sister's mind which made her +feel that her sister would not dislike such an arrangement. Ada was +the beauty of the family, and was supposed, at any rate by Edith, to +be the most susceptible of the two sisters. She had always called +herself a violent old maid, who was determined to have her own way. +But no one had ever heard Ada speak of herself as an old maid. And +then as to that danger of which Ada had spoken, Edith knew that such +perils must be overlooked altogether among the incidents of life. If +it came to her would she refuse her hand to a man because his courage +led him into special perils? She knew that it would only be an +additional ground for her love. And of Ada, in that respect, she +judged as she did of herself. She knew that Ada thought much of manly +beauty, and her eyes told her that Captain Yorke Clayton was very +handsome. "If he were as black as Beelzebub," she said to herself, "I +should like him the better for it; but Ada would prefer a man to be +beautiful." She went to work to make a match in her own mind between +Ada and Captain Clayton; but the more she made it, the more she +continued to think--on her own behalf--that of all men she had +ever seen, this man had pleased her fancy most. "But Captain Yorke +Clayton, you were never more mistaken in all your life if you think +that Edith Jones has taken a fancy to your handsome physiognomy." +This she said in almost audible words. "But nevertheless, I do think +that you are a hero. For myself, I don't want a hero--and if I did, I +shouldn't get one." But the arrangements made in the house that night +were those which are customary for a favoured young man's reception +when such matters are left to the favouring young lady in the family. + +When Mr. Jones found himself alone in his study, he began to think of +the confession which Florian had made. It had gradually come to pass +that he had been sure of the truth for some months, though he had +never before heard it declared by his son's lips. Since the day on +which he had called on Mr. Blake at Carnlough, he had been quite sure +that Edith was right. He was almost sure before. Now the truth was +declared exactly as she had surmised it. And what should he do with +the boy? He could not merely put him forward as a witness in this +case. Some reason must be given, why the truth had not been told +during the last six months. As he thought of this, he felt that the +boy had disgraced himself for ever. + +And he thought of the boy's danger. He had rashly promised that the +boy should be sent to England out of harm's way; but he now told +himself that the means of doing so were further from him than ever; +and that he was daily becoming a poorer, if not a ruined man. Of the +rents then due to him, not a penny would, he feared, be paid. + + +END OF VOL. I. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. II. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + XVII. RACHEL IS FREE. + XVIII. FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST. + XIX. FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT. + XX. BOYCOTTING. + XXI. LAX, THE MURDERER. + XXII. MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED. + XXIII. TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED. + XXIV. "FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS." + XXV. THE GALWAY BALL. + XXVI. LORD CASTLEWELL. + XXVII. HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED. + XXVIII. WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + XXIX. WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + XXX. THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN. + XXXI. THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE. + XXXII. MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RACHEL IS FREE. + + +Rachel O'Mahony found her position to be very embarrassing. She had +thought it out to the best of her ability, and had told herself that +it would be better for her not to acquaint her father with all the +circumstances. Had he been told the nature of the offer made to her +by Madame Socani, he would at once, she thought, have taken her away +from the theatre. She would have to abandon the theatre, at which she +was earning her money. This would have been very bad. There would +have been some lawsuit with Mahomet Moss, as to which she could not +have defended herself by putting Madame Socani into the witness-box. +There had been no third person present, and any possible amount of +lying would have been very easy to Madame Socani. Rachel was quick +enough, and could see at a moment all that lying could do against +her. "But he tried to kiss me," she would have had to say. Then she +could see how, with a shrug of his shoulders, her enemy would have +ruined her. From such a contest a man like Moss comes forth without +even a scratch that can injure him. But Rachel felt that she would +have been utterly annihilated. She must tell someone, but that +someone must be he whom she intended to marry. + +And she, too, had not been quite prudent in all respects since she +had come to London. It had been whispered to her that a singer of +such pretensions should be brought to the theatre and carried home in +her private brougham. Therefore, she had spent more money than was +compatible with the assistance given to her father, and was something +in debt. It was indispensable to her that she should go on with her +engagement. + +But she told her father that it was absolutely necessary that he +should go with her to the theatre every night that she sang. It +was but three nights a week, and the hours of her work were only +from eight till ten. He had, however, unfortunately made another +engagement for himself. There was a debating society, dramatic in +its manner of carrying on its business, at which three or four Irish +Home-Rulers were accustomed to argue among themselves, before a mixed +audience of Englishmen and Irishmen, as to the futility of English +government. Here Mr. O'Mahony was popular among the debaters, and was +paid for his services. Not many knew that the eloquent Irishman was +the father of the singer who, in truth, was achieving for herself a +grand reputation. But such was the case. A stop had been put upon his +lecturings at Galway; but no policeman in London seemed to be aware +that the Galway incendiary and the London debater were one and the +same person. So there came to him an opening for picking up a few +pounds towards their joint expenses. + +"But why should you want me now, more than for the last fortnight?" +he said, contending for the use of his own time. + +"Mr. Moss is disagreeable." + +"Has he done anything new?" he asked. + +"He is always doing things new--that is more beastly--one day than +the day before." + +"He doesn't come and sing with you now at your own rooms." + +"No; I have got through that, thank Heaven! To tell the truth, +father, I am not in the least afraid of Mr. Moss. Before he should +touch me you may be sure that he would have the worst of it." + +"Of course I will do what you want," said her father; "but only if it +be not necessary--" + +"It is necessary. Of course, I do not wish to be dragged up to the +police-court for sticking Mr. Moss in the abdomen. That's what it +would come to if we were left together." + +"Do you mean to say that you require my presence to prevent anything +so disagreeable as that?" + +"If they know, or if he knows that you're in the house, there will +be nothing of the kind. Can't you arrange your debates for the other +nights?" + +So it was, in fact, settled. Everybody about the theatre seemed to be +aware that something was wrong. Mr. O'Mahony had not come back to be +constantly on the watch, like a Newfoundland dog, without an object. +To himself it was an intolerable nuisance. He suspected his daughter +not at all. He was so far from suspecting her that he imagined her +to be safe, though half-a-dozen Mosses should surround her. He could +only stand idle behind the scenes, or sit in her dressing-room and +yawn. But still he did it, and asked no further questions. + +Then while all this was going on, the polite old gentleman from +Covent Garden had called at her lodgings in Cecil Street, and had +found both her and her father at home. + +"Oh, M. Le Gros," she had said, "I am so glad that you should meet my +father here." + +Then there was a multiplicity of bowing, and M. Le Gros had declared +that he had never had so much honour done him as in being introduced +to him who was about to become the father of the undoubted prima +donna of the day. At all which Mr. O'Mahony made many bows, and +Rachel laughed very heartily; but in the end an engagement was +proposed and thankfully accepted, which was to commence in the +next October. It did not take two minutes in the making. It was an +engagement only for a couple of months; but, as M. Le Gros observed, +such an engagement would undoubtedly lead to one for all time. If +Covent Garden could only secure the permanent aid of Mademoiselle +O'Mahony, Covent Garden's fortune would be as good as made. M. Le +Gros had quite felt the dishonesty of even suggesting a longer +engagement to mademoiselle. The rate of payment would be very much +higher, ve-ry, ve-ry, ve-ry much higher when mademoiselle's voice +should have once been heard on the boards of a true operatic theatre. +M. Le Gros had done himself the honour of being present on one or +two occasions at the Charing Cross little playhouse. He did believe +himself to have some small critical judgment in musical matters. +He thought he might venture--he really did think that he might +venture--to bespeak a brilliant career for mademoiselle. Then, with +a great many more bowings and scrapings, M. Le Gros, having done his +business, took his leave. + +"I like him better than Mahomet M.," said Rachel to her father. + +"They're both very civil," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"One has all the courtesy of hell! With the other it is--well, not +quite the manners of heaven. I can imagine something brighter even +than M. Le Gros; but it does very well for earth. M. Le Gros knows +that a young woman should be treated as a human being; and even his +blandishments are pleasant enough, as they are to take the shape of +golden guineas. As for me, M. Le Gros is quite good enough for my +idea of this world." + +But on the next day, a misfortune took place which well-nigh +obliterated all the joy which M. Le Gros had produced. It was not +singing night, and Mr. O'Mahony had just taken up his hat to go away +to his debating society, when Frank Jones was announced. "Frank, what +on earth did you come here for?" These were the words with which the +lover was greeted. He had endeavoured to take the girl in his arms, +but she had receded from his embrace. + +"Why, Rachel!" he exclaimed. + +"I told you not to come. I told you especially that you were not to +come." + +"Why did you tell him so?" said Mr. O'Mahony; "and why has he come?" + +"Not one kiss, Rachel?" said the lover. + +"Oh, kisses, yes! If I didn't kiss you father would think that we +had already quarrelled. But it may be that we must do so. When I had +told you everything, that you should rush up to London to look after +me--as though you suspected me!" + +"What is there to suspect?" said the father. + +"Nothing--I suspect nothing," said Frank. "But there were things +which made it impossible that I should not wish to be nearer. She was +insulted." + +"Who insulted her?" + +"The devil in the shape of a woman," said Rachel. "He takes that +shape as often as the other." + +"Rachel should not be left in such hands," said Frank. + +"My dear Mr. Jones, you have no right to say in what hands I shall be +left. My father and I have got to look after that between us. I have +told you over and over again what are my intentions in the matter. +They have been made in utter disregard of myself, and with the most +perfect confidence in you. You tell me that you cannot marry me." + +"Not quite at present." + +"Very well; I have been satisfied to remain as engaged to you; but I +am not satisfied to be subject to your interference." + +"Interference!" he said. + +"Well now; I'm going." This came from Mr. O'Mahony. "I've got to see +if I can earn a few shillings, and tell a few truths. I will leave +you to fight out your battles among you." + +"There will be no battles," said Frank. + +"I hope not, but I feel that I can do no good. I have such absolute +trust in Rachel, that you may be quite sure that I shall back her up +in whatever she says. Now, good-night," and with that he took his +leave. + +"I am glad he has gone, because he would do us no good," said Rachel. +"You were angry with me just now because I spoke of interference. I +meant it. I will not admit of any interference from you." Then she +sat with her two hands on her knees, looking him full in the face. +"I love you with all my heart, and am ready to tell everyone that +I am to become your wife. They have a joke about it in the theatre +calling me Mrs. Jones; and because nobody believes what anybody says +they think you're a myth. I suppose it is queer that a singing girl +should marry Mr. Jones. I'm to go in the autumn to Covent Garden, +and get ever so much more money, and I shall still talk about Mr. +Jones,--unless you and I agree to break it off." + +"Certainly not that," said he. + +"But it is by no means certain. Will you go back to Ireland to-morrow +morning, and undertake not to see me again, until you come prepared +to marry me? If not we must break it off." + +"I can hardly do that" + +"Then," said she, rising from her chair, "it is broken off, and I +will not call myself Mrs. Jones any more." He too rose from his +chair, and frowned at her by way of an answer. "I have one other +suggestion to make," she said. "I shall receive next October what +will be quite sufficient for both of us, and for father too. Come and +bear the rough and the smooth together with us." + +"And live upon you?" + +"I should live upon you without scruple if you had got it. And then +I shall bear your interference without a word of complaint. Nay, I +shall thank you for it. I shall come to you for advice in everything. +What you say will be my law. You shall knock down all the Mosses for +me;--or lock them up, which would be so much better. But you must be +my husband." + +"Not yet. You should not ask me as yet. Think of my father's +position. Let this one sad year pass by." + +"Two--three, if there are to be two or three sad years! I will wait +for you till you are as grey as old Peter, and I have not a note left +in my throat. I will stick to you like beeswax. But I will not have +you here hanging about me. Do you think that it would not be pleasant +for me to have a lover to congratulate me every day on my little +triumphs? Do you think that I should not be proud to be seen leaning +always on your arm, with the consciousness that Mr. Moss would be +annihilated at his very first word? But when a year had passed by, +where should I be? No, Frank, it will not do. If you were at Morony +Castle things would go on very well. As you choose to assume to +yourself the right of interference, we must part." + +"When you tell me of such a proposition as that made to you by the +woman, am I to say nothing?" + +"Not a word;--unless it be by letter from Morony Castle, and then +only to me. I will not have you here meddling with my affairs. I +told you, though I didn't tell my father, because I would tell you +everything." + +"And I am to leave you,--without another word?" + +"Yes, without another word. And remember that from this moment I am +free to marry any man that may come the way." + +"Rachel!" + +"I am free to marry any man that may come the way. I don't say I +shall do so. It may take me some little time to forget you. But I am +free. When that has been understood between us I am sure you will +interfere no longer; you will not be so unkind as to force upon +me the necessity of telling the truth to all the people about the +theatre. Let us understand each other." + +"I understand," said he, with the air of a much injured man. + +"I quite know your position. Trusting to your own prospects, you +cannot marry me at present, and you do not choose to accept such +income as I can give you. I respect and even approve your motives. +I am living a life before the public as a singer, in which it is +necessary that I should encounter certain dangers. I can do so +without fear, if I be left alone. You won't leave me alone. You won't +marry me, and yet you won't leave me to my own devices;--therefore, +we had better part." He took her by the hand sorrowfully, as though +preparing to embrace her. "No, Mr. Jones," she said, "that is all +done. I kissed you when my father was here, because I was then +engaged to be your wife. That is over now, and I can only say +good-bye." So saying, she retired, leaving him standing there in her +sitting-room. + +He remained for awhile meditating on his position, till he began to +think that it would be useless for him to remain there. She certainly +would not come down; and he, though he were to wait for her father's +return, would get no more favourable reply from him. He, as he had +promised, would certainly "back up" his daughter in all that she had +said. As he went down out of the room with that feeling of insult +which clings to a man when he has been forced to quit a house without +any farewell ceremony, he certainly did feel that he had been +ill-used. But he could not but acknowledge that she was justified. +There was a certain imperiousness about her which wounded his +feelings as a man. He ought to have been allowed to be dominant. But +then he knew that he could not live upon her income. His father would +not speak to him had he gone back to Morony Castle expressing his +intention of doing so. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +FRANK JONES HAS CEASED TO EXIST. + + +To tell the truth, Rachel had a thorough good cry before she went to +bed that night. Though there was something hard, fixed, imperious, +almost manlike about her manner, still she was as soft-hearted as +any other girl. We may best describe her by saying that she was an +American and an actress. It was impossible to doubt her. No one +who had once known her could believe her to be other than she had +declared herself. She was loyal, affectionate, and dutiful. But there +was missing to her a feminine weakness, which of all her gifts is +the most valuable to an English woman, till she makes the mistake of +bartering it away for women's rights. We can imagine, however, that +the stanchest woman's-right lady should cry for her lost lover. And +Rachel O'Mahony cried bitterly for hers. "It had to be done," she +said, jumping up at last in her bedroom, and clenching her fist as +she walked about the chamber. "It had to be done. A girl situated as +I am cannot look too close after herself. Father is more like my son +than my father; he has no idea that I want anything done for me. Nor +do I want much," she said, as she went on rapidly taking the short +course of the room. "No one could say a word about me till I brought +my lover forward and showed him to the theatre. I think they did +believe him to be a myth; but a myth in that direction does no harm +till he appears in the flesh. They think that I have made an empty +boast about my Mr. Jones. The ugliest girl that ever came out may do +the same thing, and nobody ever thinks anything of it. A lover in the +clouds never does any harm, and now my lover is in the clouds. I know +that he has gone, and will never come to earth again. How much better +I love him because he would not take my offer. Then there would have +been a little contempt. And how could I expect him to yield to me in +everything, with this brute Moss insulting me at every turn? I do not +think he had the courage to send me that message, but still! What +could I do but tell Frank? And then what could Frank do but come? I +would have come, let any girl have bade me to stay away!" Here she +had imagined herself to be the lover, and not the girl who was loved. +"But it only shows that we are better apart. He cannot marry me, and +I cannot marry him. The Squire is at his wits' end with grief." By +"the Squire" Mr. Jones had been signified. "It is better as it is. +Father and the Squire ought never to have been brought together,--nor +ought I and Frank. I suppose I must tell them all at the theatre that +Mr. Jones belongs to me no longer. Only if I did so, they would think +that I was holding out a lure to Mahomet M. There's papa. I'll go +down and tell him all that need be told about it." So saying she +ascended to their sitting-room. + +"Well, my dear, what did you do with Frank?" + +"He has gone back to Ireland under the name of Mr. Jones." + +"Then there was a quarrel?" + +"Oh dear yes! there was safe to be a quarrel." + +"Does it suit your book upon the whole?" + +"Not in the least. You see before you the most wretched heroine that +ever appeared on the boards of any theatre. You may laugh, but it's +true. I don't know what I've got to say to Mr. Moss now. If he comes +forward in a proper manner, and can prove to me that Madame Socani +is not Madame Mahomet M. Moss, I don't know what I can do but accept +him. The Adriatic is free to wed another." Then she walked about the +room, laughing to prevent her tears. + +"Did you hear anything about Castle Morony?" + +"Not a word." + +"Or the boy Florian?" + +"Not a syllable;--though I was most anxious to ask the question. When +you are intent upon any matter, it does not do to go away to other +things. I should have never made him believe that he was to leave me +in earnest, had I allowed him to talk about Florian and the girls. +He has gone now. Well;--good-night, father. You and I, father, are +all in all to each other now. Not but what somebody else will come, +I suppose." + +"Do you wish that somebody else should come, as you say?" + +"I suppose so. Do not look so surprised, father. Girls very seldom +have to say what they really wish. I have done with him now. I had +him because I really loved him,--like a fool as I was. I have got +to go in for being a singing girl. A singing woman is better than a +singing girl. If they don't have husbands, they are supposed to have +lovers. I hope to have one or the other, and I prefer the husband. +Mr. Jones has gone. Who knows but what the Marquis de Carabas may +come next." + +"Could you change so soon?" + +"Yes;--immediately. I don't say I should love the Marquis, but I +should treat him well. Don't look so shocked, dear father. I never +shall treat a man badly,--unless I stick a knife into Mahomet M. +Moss. It would be best perhaps to get a singing marquis, so that the +two of us might go walking about the world together, till we had got +money enough to buy a castle. I am beginning to believe M. Le Gros. I +think I can sing. Don't you think, father, that I can sing?" + +"They all say so." + +"It is very good to have one about me, like you, who are not +enthusiastic. But I can sing, and I am pretty too;--pretty enough +along with my singing to get some fool to care for me. Yes; you may +look astonished. Over there in Galway I was fool enough to fall in +love. What has come of it? The man tells me that he cannot marry me. +And it is true. If he were to marry me what would become of you?" + +"Never mind me," said her father. + +"And what would become of him; and what would become of me? And what +would become of the dreadful little impediments which might follow? +Of course to me Frank Jones is the best of men. I can't have him; +and that is just all about it. I am not going to give up the world +because Frank Jones is lost. Love is not to be lord of all with me. +I shall steer my little boat among the shiny waters of the London +theatres, and may perhaps venture among the waves of Paris and +New York; but I shall do so always with my eyes open. Gas is the +atmosphere in which I am destined to glitter; and if a Marquis comes +in the way,--why, I shall do the best I can with the Marquis. I won't +bring you to trouble if I can help it, or anyone else with whom I +have to do. So good-night, father." Then she kissed his forehead, +and went up to bed leaving him to wonder at the intricacies of his +position. + +He had that night been specially eloquent and awfully indignant as +to the wrongs done to Ireland by England. He had dealt with millions +of which Great Britain was supposed by him to have robbed her poor +sister. He was not a good financier, but he did in truth believe in +the millions. He had not much capacity for looking into questions of +political economy, but he had great capacity for arguing about them +and for believing his own arguments. The British Parliament was to +him an abomination. He read the papers daily, and he saw that the +number of votes on his side fell from sixty to forty, and thirty, and +twenty; and he found also that the twenty were men despised by their +own countrymen as well as Englishmen; that they were men trained to +play a false game in order to achieve their objects;--and yet he +believed in the twenty against all the world, and threw in his lot +without a scruple and without a doubt. Nor did he understand at all +the strength of his own words. He had been silenced in Ireland and +had rigorously obeyed the pledge that he had given. For he was a +man to whom personally his word was a bond. Now he had come over to +London, and being under no promise, had begun again to use the words +which came to him without an effort. As he would sweep back his long +hair from his brows, and send sparks of fire out of his eyes, he +would look to be the spirit of patriotic indignation; but he did not +know that he was thus powerful. To tell the truth,--and as he had +said,--to earn a few shillings was the object of his ambition. But +now, on this evening, three London policemen in their full police +uniform, with their fearful police helmets on, had appeared in the +room in which his dramatic associates had on this evening given way +to Gerald O'Mahony's eloquence. Nothing had been said to him; but as +he came home he was aware that two policemen had watched him. And he +was aware also that his words had been taken down in shorthand. Then +he had encountered his daughter, and all her love troubles. He had +heard her expound her views as to life, and had listened as she +had expressed her desire to meet with some Marquis de Carabas. She +had said nothing with which he could find fault; but her whole +views of life were absolutely different from his. According to his +ideas, there should be no Marquises, no singing girls making huge +fortunes--only singing girls in receipt of modest sums of money; and +that when dire necessity compelled them. There should be no gorgeous +theatres flaring with gas, and certainly no policemen to take down +men's words. Everything in the world was wrong,--except those twenty +Members of Parliament. + +Three or four days after this, Rachel found that a report was abroad +at the theatre that she had dissolved her engagement with Mr. Jones. +At this time the three policemen had already expressed their opinion +about Mr. O'Mahony; but they, for the present, may be left in +obscurity. "_Est-il vrai que M. Jones n'existe plus?_" These words +were whispered to her, as she was dressing, by Madame Socani, while +Mr. O'Mahony had gone out to say a word to a police detective, +who had called to see him at the theatre. As Madame Socani was an +American woman, there was no reason why she should not have asked the +question in English--were it not that as it referred to an affair of +love it may be thought that French was the proper language. + +"Mr. Jones isn't any more, as far as I am concerned," said Rachel, +passing on. + +"Oh, he has gone!" said Madame Socani, following her into the slips. +They were both going on to the stage, but two minutes were allowed +to them, while Mahomet M. Moss declared, in piteous accents, the +woe which awaited him because Alberta,--who was personated by +Rachel,--had preferred the rustic Trullo to him who was by birth a +Prince of the Empire. + +"Yes, Mr. Jones has gone, Madame,--as you are so anxious to know." + +"But why? Can it be that there was no Mr. Jones?" Then Rachel flashed +round upon the woman. "I suppose there was no Mr. Jones?" + +"_O, mio tesor._" These last three words were sung in a delicious +contralto voice by Elmira,--the Madame Socani of the occasion,--and +were addressed to the Prince of the Empire, who, for the last six +weeks, had been neglecting her charms. Rachel was furious at the +attack made upon her, but in the midst of her fury she rushed on to +the stage, and kneeling at the feet of Elmira, declared her purpose +of surrendering the Prince altogether. The rustic Trullo was quite +sufficient for her. "Go, fond girl. Trullo is there, tying up the +odoriferous rose." Then they all four broke out into that grand +quartette, in the performance of which M. Le Gros had formed that +opinion which had induced him to hold out such golden hopes to +Rachel. Rachel looked up during one of her grand shakes and saw Frank +Jones seated far back among the boxes. "Oh, he hasn't left London +yet," she said to herself, as she prepared for another shake. + +"Your papa desires me to say with his kindest love, that he has had +to leave the theatre." This came from Mr. Moss when the piece was +ended. + +He was dressed as princes of the empire generally do dress on the +stage, and she as the daughter of the keeper of the king's garden. + +"So they tell me; very well. I will go home. I suppose he has had +business." + +"A policeman I fear. Some little pecuniary embarrassment." A rumour +had got about the theatre that Mr. O'Mahony was overwhelmed with +money difficulties. Mr. Moss had probably overheard the rumour. + +"I don't believe that at all. It's something political, more likely." + +"Very likely, I don't know, I will see you to your house." And +Mahomet M. looked as though he were going to jump into the brougham +in the garments of the imperial prince. + +"Mr. Moss, I can go very well alone;" and she turned round upon him +and stood in the doorway so as to oppose his coming out, and frowned +upon him with that look of anger which she knew so well how to +assume. + +"I have that to say to you which has to be said at once." + +"You drive about London with me in that dress? It would be absurd. +You are painted all round your eyes. I wouldn't get into a carriage +with you on any account." + +"In five minutes I will have dressed myself." + +"Whether dressed or undressed it does not signify. You know very +well that I would on no account get into a carriage with you. You +are taking advantage of me because my father is not here. If you +accompany me I will call for a policeman directly we get into the +street." + +"Ah, you do not know," said Mr. Moss. And he looked at her exactly as +he had looked about an hour ago, when he was making love to her as +Trullo's betrothed. + +"Here is my father," she said; for at that moment Mr. O'Mahony +appeared within the theatre, having made his way up from the door in +time to take his daughter home. + +"Mr. O'Mahony," said Mr. Moss, "I shall do myself the honour of +calling to-morrow and seeing your daughter at her apartments in Gower +Street." + +"You will see father too," said Rachel. + +"I shall be delighted," said Moss. "It will give me the greatest +pleasure on earth to see Mr. O'Mahony on this occasion." So saying +the imperial prince made a low bow, paint and all, and allowed the +two to go down into the street, and get into the brougham. + +Mr. O'Mahony at once began with his own story. The policeman who had +called for him had led him away round the corner into Scotland Yard, +and had there treated him with the utmost deference. Nothing could +be more civil to him than had been the officer. But the officer had +suggested to him that he had been the man who had said some rough +words about the Queen, in Galway, and had promised to abstain in +future from lecturing. "To this I replied," said he, "that I had +said nothing rough about the Queen. I had said that the Queen was as +nearly an angel on earth as a woman could be. I had merely doubted +whether there should be Queens. Thereupon the policeman shook his +head and declared that he could not admit any doubt on that question. +'But you wouldn't expect me to allow it in New York,' said I. 'You've +got to allow it here,' said he. 'But my pledge was made as to +Ireland,' said I. 'It is all written down in some magistrate's book, +and you'll find it if you send over there.' Then I told him that I +wouldn't break my word for him or his Queen either. Upon that he +thanked me very much for my civility, and told me that if I would +hurry back to the theatre I should be in time to take you home. If +it was necessary he would let me hear from him again. 'You will know +where to find me,' said I, and I gave him our address in Farringdon +Street, and told him I should be there to-morrow at half-past eight. +He shook hands with me as though I had been his brother;--and so here +I am." + +Then she began to tell her story, but there did not seem to be much +of interest in it. "I suppose he'll come?" said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Oh, yes, he'll come." + +"It's something about M. Le Gros," said he. "You'll find that he'll +abuse that poor Frenchman." + +"He may save himself the trouble," said Rachel. Then they reached +Gower Street, and went to bed, having eaten two mutton-chops apiece. + +On the next morning at eleven o'clock tidings were brought up +to Rachel in her bedroom that Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room +downstairs. + +"Father is there?" exclaimed Rachel. + +Then the girl, who had learned to understand that Mr. Moss was not +regarded as a welcome visitor, assured her that he was at the moment +entertained by Mr. O'Mahony. "He's a-telling of what the perlice said +to him in the City, but I don't think as the Jew gentleman minds +him much." From which it may be gathered that Rachel had not been +discreet in speaking of her admirer before the lodging-house servant. + +She dressed herself, not in a very great hurry. Her father, she knew, +had no other occupation at this hour in the morning, and she did not +in the least regard how Mr. Moss might waste his time. And she had to +think of many things before she could go down to meet him. Meditating +upon it all, she was inclined to think that the interview was +intended as hostile to M. Le Gros. M. Le Gros would be represented, +no doubt, as a Jew twice more Jewish than Mr. Moss himself. But +Rachel had a strong idea that M. Le Gros was a very nice old French +gentleman. When he had uttered all those "ve-rys," one after another +with still increasing emphasis, Rachel had no doubt believed them +all. And she was taking great trouble with herself, practising every +day for two hours together, with a looking-glass before her on the +pianoforte, as Mr. Moss had made her quite understand that the +opening of her mouth wide was the chief qualification necessary to +her, beyond that which nature had done for her. Rachel did think it +possible that she might become the undoubted prima donna of the day, +as M. Le Gros had called her; and she thought it much more probable +that she should do so under the auspices of M. Le Gros, than those of +Mr. Moss. When, therefore, she went down at last to the sitting-room, +she did so, determined to oppose Mr. Moss, as bidding for her voice, +rather than as a candidate for her love. When she entered the room, +she could not help beginning with something of an apology, in that +she had kept the man waiting; but Mr. Moss soon stopped her. "It +does not signify the least in the world," he said, laying his hand +upon his waistcoat. "If only I can get this opportunity of speaking +to you while your father is present." Then, when she looked at the +brilliance of his garments, and heard the tones of his voice, she was +sure that the attack on this occasion was not to be made on M. Le +Gros. She remained silent, and sat square on her chair, looking at +him. A man must be well-versed in feminine wiles, who could decipher +under Rachel's manners her determination to look as ugly as possible +on the occasion. In a moment she had flattened every jaunty twist +and turn out of her habiliments, and had given to herself an air of +absolute dowdyism. Her father sat by without saying a word. "Miss +O'Mahony, if I may venture to ask a question, I trust you may not be +offended." + +"I suppose not as my father is present," she replied. + +"Am I right in believing the engagement to be over which bound you to +Mr.--Jones?" + +"You are," said Rachel, quite out loud, giving another quite +unnecessary twist to her gown. + +"That obstacle is then removed?" + +"Mr. Jones is removed, and has gone to Ireland." Then Mr. Moss sighed +deeply. "I can manage my singing very well without Mr.--Jones." + +"Not a doubt. Not a doubt. And I have heard that you have made an +engagement in all respects beneficial with M. Le Gros, of Covent +Garden. M. Le Gros is a gentleman for whom I have a most profound +respect." + +"So have I." + +"Had I been at your elbow, it is possible that something better might +have been done; but two months;--they run by--oh, so quickly!" + +"Quite so. If I can do any good I shall quickly get another +engagement." + +"You will no doubt do a great deal of good. But Mr. Jones is now at +an end." + +"Mr. Jones is at an end," said Rachel, with another blow at her gown. +"A singing girl like me does better without a lover,--especially if +she has got a father to look after her." + +"That's as may be," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"That's as may be," said Mr. Moss, again laying his hand upon his +heart. The tone in which Mr. Moss repeated Mr. O'Mahony's words was +indicative of the feeling and poetry within him. "If you had a lover +such as is your faithful Moss," the words seemed to say, "no father +could look after you half so well." + +"I believe I could do very well with no one to look after me." + +"Of course you and I have misunderstood each other hitherto." + +"Not at all," said Rachel. + +"I was unaware at first that Mr. Jones was an absolute reality. You +must excuse me, but the name misled me." + +"Why shouldn't a girl be engaged to a man named Jones? Jones is as +good a name as Moss, at any rate; and a deal more--" She had been +going to remark that Jones was the more Christian of the two, but +stopped herself. + +"At any rate you are now free?" he said. + +"No, I am not. Yes, I am. I am free, and I mean to remain so. Why +don't you tell him, father?" + +"I have got nothing to tell him, my dear. You are so much better able +to tell him everything yourself." + +"If you would only listen to me, Miss O'Mahony." + +"You had better listen to him, Rachel." + +"Very well; I will listen. Now go on." Then she again thumped +herself. And she had thumped her hair, and thumped herself all round +till she was as limp and dowdy as the elder sister of a Low Church +clergyman of forty. + +"I wish you to believe, Miss O'Mahony, that my attachment to you is +most devoted." She pursed her lips together and looked straight out +of her eyes at the wall opposite. "We belong to the same class of +life, and our careers lie in the same groove." Hereupon she crossed +her hands before her on her lap, while her father sat speculating +whether she might not have done better to come out on the comic +stage. "I wish you to believe that I am quite sincere in the +expression which I make of a most ardent affection." Here again he +slapped his waistcoat and threw himself into an attitude. He was by +no means an ill-looking man, and though he was forty years old, he +did not appear to be so much. He had been a public singer all his +life, and was known by Rachel to have been connected for many years +with theatres both in London and New York. She had heard many stories +as to his amorous adventures, but knew nothing against his character +in money matters. He had, in truth, always behaved well to her in +whatever pecuniary transactions there had been between them. But he +had ventured to make love to her, and had done so in a manner which +had altogether disgusted her. She now waited till he paused for a +moment in his eloquence, and then she spoke a word. + +"What about Madame Socani?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FIFTH AVENUE AND NEWPORT. + + +"What about Madame Socani?" Rachel, as she said this, abandoned for +the moment her look against the wall, and shook herself instantly +free of all her dowdiness. She flashed fire at him from her eyes, and +jumping up from her seat, took hold of her father by his shoulder. He +encircled her waist with his arm, but otherwise sat silent, looking +Mr. Moss full in the face. It must be acknowledged on the part of +Rachel that she was prepared to make her accusation against Mr. Moss +on perhaps insufficient grounds. She had heard among the people at +the theatre, who did not pretend to know much of Mr. Moss and his +antecedents, that there was a belief that Madame Socani was his wife. +There was something in this which offended her more grossly than +ever,--and a wickedness which horrified her. But she certainly knew +nothing about it; and Madame Socani's proposition to herself had come +to her from Madame Socani, and not from Mr. Moss. All she knew of +Madame Socani was that she had been on the boards in New York, and +had there made for herself a reputation. Rachel had on one occasion +sung with her, but it had been when she was little more than a child. + +"What is Madame Socani to me?" said Mr. Moss. + +"I believe her to be your wife." + +"Oh, heavens! My wife! I never had a wife, Miss O'Mahony;--not yet! +Why do you say things so cruel to me?" + +He, at any rate, she was sure, had sent her that message. She thought +that she was sure of his villainous misconduct to her in that +respect. She believed that she did know him to be a devil, whether he +was a married man or not. + +"What message did you send to me by Madame Socani?" + +"What message? None!" and again he laid his hand upon his waistcoat. + +"He asked me to be--" But she could not tell her father of what +nature was the message. "Father, he is a reptile. If you knew all, +you would be unable to keep your hands from his throat. And now he +dares to come here and talk to me of his affection. You had better +bid him leave the room and have done with him." + +"You hear what my daughter says, Mr. Moss." + +"Yes, I hear her," answered the poor innocent-looking tenor. "But +what does she mean? Why is she so fierce?" + +"He knows, father," said Rachel. "Have nothing further to say to +him." + +"I don't think that I do quite know," said Mr. O'Mahony. "But you can +see, at any rate, Mr. Moss, that she does not return your feeling." + +"I would make her my wife to-morrow," said Mr. Moss, slapping his +waistcoat once more. "And do you, as the young lady's papa, think +of what we two might do together. I know myself, I know my power. +Madame Socani is a jealous woman. She would wish to be taken into +partnership with me,--not a partnership of hearts, but of theatres. +She has come with some insolent message, but not from me;--ah, not +from me!" + +"You never tried to kiss me? You did not make two attempts?" + +"I would make two thousand if I were to consult my own heart." + +"When you knew that I was engaged to Mr. Jones!" + +"What was Mr. Jones to me? Now I ask your respectable parent, is +Miss Rachel unreasonable? When a gentleman has lost his heart in +true love, is he to be reproached because he endeavours to seize one +little kiss? Did not Mr. Jones do the same?" + +"Bother Mr. Jones!" said Rachel, overcome by the absurdity of the +occasion. "As you observed just now, Mr. Jones and I are two. Things +have not turned out happily, though I am not obliged to explain all +that to you. But Mr. Jones is to me all that a man should be; you, +Mr. Moss, are not. Now, father, had he not better go?" + +"I don't think any good is to be done, I really don't," said Mr. +O'Mahony. + +"Why am I to be treated in this way?" + +"Because you come here persevering when you know it's no good." + +"I think of what you and I might do together with Moss's theatre +between us." + +"Oh, heavens!" + +"You should be called the O'Mahony. Your respectable papa should keep +an eye to your pecuniary interest." + +"I could keep an eye myself for that." + +"You would be my own wife, of course--my own wife." + +"I wouldn't be anything of the kind." + +"Ah, but listen!" continued Mr. Moss. "You do not know how the +profits run away into the pockets of _impresarios_ and lessees and +money-lenders. We should have it all ourselves. I have L30,000 of +my own, and my respectable parent in New York has as much more. It +would all be the same as ours. Only think! Before long we would have +a house on the Fifth Avenue so furnished that all the world should +wonder; and another at Newport, where the world should not be +admitted to wonder. Only think!" + +"And Madame Socani to look after the furniture!" said Rachel. + +"Madame Socani should be nowheres." + +"And I also will be nowheres. Pray remember that in making all your +little domestic plans. If you live in the Fifth Avenue, I will live +in 350 Street; or perhaps I should like it better to have a little +house here in Albert Place. Father, don't you think Mr. Moss might go +away?" + +"I think you have said all that there is to be said." Then Mr. +O'Mahony got up from his chair as though to show Mr. Moss out of the +room. + +"Not quite, Mr. O'Mahony. Allow me for one moment. As the young +lady's papa you are bound to look to these things. Though the +theatre would be a joint affair, Miss O'Mahony would have her fixed +salary;--that is to say, Mrs. Moss would." + +"I won't stand it," said Rachel getting up. "I won't allow any man to +call me by so abominable a name,--or any woman." Then she bounced out +of the room. + +"It's no good, you see," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"I by no means see that so certain. Of course a young lady like your +daughter knows her own value, and does not yield all at once." + +"I tell you it's no good. I know my own daughter." + +"Excuse me, Mr. O'Mahony, but I doubt whether you know the sex." + +The two men were very nearly of an age; but O'Mahony assumed the +manners of an old man, and Mr. Moss of a young one. + +"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"They have been my study up from my cradle," said Mr. Moss. + +"No doubt." + +"And I think that I have carried on the battle not without some +little _eclat_." + +"I am quite sure of it." + +"I still hope that I may succeed with your sweet daughter." + +"Here the battle is of a different kind," not without a touch of +satire in the tone of his voice, whatever there might be in the words +which he used. "In tournaments of love, you have, I do not doubt, +been very successful; but here, it seems to me that the struggle is +for money." + +"That is only an accident." + +"But the accident rises above everything. It does not matter in the +least which comes first. Whether it be for love or money my daughter +will certainly have a will of her own. You may take my word that she +is not to be talked out of her mind." + +"But Mr. Jones is gone?" asked Moss. + +"But she is not on that account ready to transfer her affections +at a moment's notice. To her view of the matter there seems to be +something a little indelicate in the idea." + +"Bah!" said Mr. Moss. + +"You cannot make her change her mind by saying bah." + +"Professional interests have to be considered," said Mr. Moss. + +"No doubt; my daughter does consider her professional interests every +day when she practises for two hours." + +"That is excellent,--and with such glorious effects! She has only now +got the full use of her voice. My G----! what could she not do if she +had the full run of Moss's Theatre! She might choose whatever operas +would suit her best; and she would have me to guide her judgment! I +do know my profession, Mr. O'Mahony. A lady in her line should always +marry a gentleman in mine; that is if she cares about matrimony." + +"Of course she did intend to be married to Mr. Jones." + +"Oh! Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones! I am sick of Mr. Jones. What could Mr. +Jones do? He is only a poor ruined Irishman. You must feel that Mr. +Jones was only in the way. I am offering her all that professional +experience and capital can do. What are her allurements?" + +"I don't in the least know, Mr. Moss." + +"Only her beauty." + +"I thought, perhaps it was her singing." + +"That joined," said Mr. Moss. "No doubt her voice and her beauty +joined together. Madame Socani's voice is as valuable,--almost as +valuable." + +"I would marry Madame Socani if I were you." + +"No! Madame Socani is,--well a leetle past her prime. Madame Socani +and I have known each other for twenty years. Madame Socani is aware +that I am attached to your daughter. Well; I do not mind telling you +the truth. Madame Socani and I have been on very intimate terms. I +did offer once to make Madame Socani my wife. She did not see her way +in money matters. She was making an income greater than mine. Things +have changed since that. Madame Socani is very well, but she is a +jealous woman. Madame Socani hates your daughter. Oh, heavens, yes! +But she was never my wife. Oh, no! A woman at this profession grows +old quicker than a man. And she has never succeeded in getting a +theatre of her own. She did try her hand at it at New York, but that +came to nothing. If Miss Rachel will venture along with me, we will +have 500,000 dollars before five years are gone. She shall have +everything that the world can offer--jewels, furniture, hangings! +She shall keep the best table in New York, and shall have her own +banker's account. There's no such success to be found anywhere +for a young woman. If you will only just turn it in your mind, Mr. +O'Mahony." Then Mr. Moss brushed his hat with the sleeve of his coat +and took his leave. + +He had nearly told the entire truth to Mr. O'Mahony. He had never +married Madame Socani. As far as Madame Socani knew, her veritable +husband, Socani, was still alive. And it was not true that Mr. Moss +had sent that abominable message to Rachel. The message, no doubt, +had expressed a former wish on his part; but that wish was now in +abeyance. Miss O'Mahony's voice had proved itself to him to be worth +matrimony,--that and her beauty together. In former days, when he had +tried to kiss her, he had valued her less highly. Now, as he left the +room, he was fully content with the bargain he had suggested. Mr. +Jones was out of the way, and her voice had proved itself to his +judgment to be worth the price he had offered. + +When her father saw her again he began meekly to plead for Mr. Moss. + +"Do you mean to say, father," she exclaimed, "that you have joined +yourself to him?" + +"I am only telling you what he says." + +"Tell me nothing at all. You ought to know that he is an abomination. +Though he had the whole Fifth Avenue to offer to me I would not touch +him with a pair of tongs." + +But she, in the midst of her singing, had been much touched by seeing +Frank Jones among the listeners in the back of one of the boxes. When +the piece was over there had come upon her a desire to go to him and +tell him that, in spite of all she had said, she would wait for him +if only he would profess himself ready to wait for her. There was not +much in it,--that a man should wait in town for two or three days, +and should return to the theatre to see the girl whom he professed to +regard. It was only that, but it had again stirred her love. She had +endeavoured to send to him when the piece was over; but he was gone, +and she saw him no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +BOYCOTTING. + + +Frank Jones went back to County Galway, having caught a last glimpse +of his lady-love. But his lady-love could not very well make herself +known to him from the stage as she was occupied at the moment with +Trullo. And as he had left the theatre before her message had been +brought round, he did so with a bitter conviction that everything +between them was over. He felt very angry with her,--no doubt +unreasonably. The lady was about to make a pocketful of money; and +had offered to share it with him. He refused to take any part of +it, and declined altogether to incur any of the responsibilities of +marriage for the present. His father's circumstances too were of such +a nature as to make him almost hopeless for the future. What would he +have had her do? Nevertheless he was very angry with her. + +As he made his way westward through Ireland he heard more and more of +the troubles of the country. He had not in fact been gone much more +than a week, but during that week sad things had happened. Boycotting +had commenced, and had already become very prevalent. To boycott +a man, or a house, or a firm, or a class of men, or a trade, or a +flock of sheep, or a drove of oxen, or unfortunately a county hunt, +had become an exact science, and was exactly obeyed. It must be +acknowledged that throughout the south and west of Ireland the +quickness and perfection with which this science was understood +and practised was very much to the credit of the intelligence of +the people. We can understand that boycotting should be studied in +Yorkshire, and practised,--after an experience of many years. Laying +on one side for the moment all ideas as to the honesty and expediency +of the measure, we think that Yorkshire might in half a century +learn how to boycott its neighbours. A Yorkshire man might boycott a +Lancashire man, or Lincoln might boycott Nottingham. It would require +much teaching;--many books would have to be written, and an infinite +amount of heavy slow imperfect practice would follow. But County Mayo +and County Galway rose to the requirements of the art almost in a +night! Gradually we Englishmen learned to know in a dull glimmering +way what they were about; but at the first whisper of the word all +Ireland knew how to ruin itself. This was done readily by people of +the poorer class,--without any gifts of education, and certainly +the immoderate practice of the science displays great national +intelligence. + +As Frank Jones passed through Dublin he learned that Morony Castle +had been boycotted; and he was enough of an Irishman to know +immediately what was meant. And he heard, too, while in the train +that the kennels at Ahaseragh had been boycotted. He knew that with +the kennels would be included Black Daly, and with Morony Castle his +unfortunate father. According to the laws on which the practice was +carried on nothing was to be bought from the land of Morony Castle, +and nothing sold to the owners of it. No service was to be done for +the inhabitants, as far as the laws of boycotting might be made to +prevail. He learned from a newspaper he bought in Dublin that the +farm servants had all left the place, and that the maids had been +given to understand that they would encounter the wrath of the new +lords in the land if they made a bed for any Jones to lie upon. + +As he went on upon his journey his imagination went to work to +picture to himself the state of his father's life under these +circumstances. But his imagination was soon outstripped by the +information which reached him from fellow-travellers. "Did ye hear +what happened to old Phil Jones down at Morony?" said a passenger, +who got in at Moate, to another who had joined them at Athlone. + +"Divil a hear thin." + +"Old Phil wanted to get across from Ballyglunin to his own place. +He had been down to Athenry. There was that chap who is always +there with a car. Divil a foot would he stir for Phil. Phil has had +some row with the boys there about his meadows, and he's trying to +prosecute. More fool he. A quiet, aisy-going fellow he used to be. +But it seems he has been stirred now. He has got some man in Galway +jail, and all the country is agin him. Anyways he had to foot it +from Ballyglunin to Headford, and then to send home to Morony for +his own car." In this way did Frank learn that his father had in +truth incurred boycotting severity. He knew well the old man who had +attended the Ballyglunin station with almost a hopeless desire of +getting a fare, and was sure that nothing short of an imperious edict +from the great Landleaguing authorities in the district, would have +driven him to the necessity of repudiating a passenger. + +But when he had reached the further station of Ballinasloe he learned +sadder tidings in regard to his friend Tom Daly. Tom Daly had put no +man in prison, and yet the kennels at Ahaseragh had been burned to +the ground. This had occurred only on the preceding day; and he got +the account of what had happened from a hunting man he knew well. +"The hounds were out you know last Saturday week as a finish, and +poor Tom did hope that we might get through without any further +trouble. We met at Ballinamona, and we drew Blake's coverts without +a word. We killed our fox too and then went away to Pulhaddin gorse. +I'll be blest if all the county weren't there. I never saw the boys +swarm about a place so thick. Pulhaddin is the best gorse in the +county. Of course it was no use drawing it; but as we were going away +on the road to Loughrea the crowd was so thick that there was no +riding among them. Ever so many horsemen got into the fields to be +away from the crowd. But Tom wouldn't allow Barney and the hounds to +be driven from the road. I never saw a man look so angry in my life. +You could see the passion that was on him. He never spoke a word, +nor raised a hand, nor touched his horse with his spur; but he got +blacker and blacker, and would go on whether the crowd moved asunder +or not. And he told Barney to follow him with the hounds, which +Barney did, looking back ever and anon at the poor brutes, and giving +his instructions to the whips to see well after that they did not +wander. They threatened Barney scores of times with their sticks, but +he came on, funking awfully, but still doing whatever Tom told him. I +was riding just behind him among the hounds so that I could see all +that took place. At last a ruffian with his shillelagh struck Barney +over the thigh. I had not time to get to him; indeed I doubt whether +I should have done so, but Tom,--; by George, he saw out of the back +of his head. He turned round, and, without touching his horse with +spur or whip, rode right at the ruffian. If they had struck himself, +I think he would have borne it more easily." + +"How did it end?" + +"They said that the blackguard was hurt, but I saw him escape and get +away over the fence. Then they all set upon Tom, but by G---- it was +glorious to see the way in which he held his own. Out came that cross +of his, four foot and a half long, with a thong as heavy as a flail. +He soon had the road clear around him, and the big black horse you +remember, stood as steady as a statue till he was bidden to move +on. Then when he had the hounds, and Barney Smith and the whips +to himself,--and I was there--we all rode off at a fast trot to +Loughrea." + +"And then?" + +"We could do nothing but go home; the whole county seemed to be in a +ferment. At Loughrea we went away in our own directions, and poor Tom +with Barney Smith rode home to Ahaseragh. But not a word did he speak +to anyone, even to Barney; nor did Barney dare to speak a word to +him. He trotted all the way to Ahaseragh in moody silence, thinking +of the terrible ill that had been done him. I have known Tom for +twenty years, and I think that if he loves any man he loves me. But +he parted from me that day without a word." + +"And then the kennels were set on fire?" + +"Before I left Loughrea I heard the report, spread about everywhere, +that Tom Daly had recklessly ridden down three or four more poor +countrymen on the road. I knew then that some mischief would be in +hand. It was altogether untrue that he had hurt anyone. And he was +bound to interfere on behalf of his own servant. But when I heard +this morning that a score of men had been there in the night and had +burned the kennels to the ground, I was not surprised." Such was the +story that Frank Jones heard as to Tom Daly before he got home. + +On reaching Ballyglunin he looked out for the carman, but he was not +there. Perhaps the interference with his task had banished him. Frank +went on to Tuam, which increased slightly the distance by road to +Morony. But at Tuam he found that Morony had in truth been boycotted. +He could not get a car for love or money. There were many cars there, +and the men would not explain to him their reasons for declining to +take him home; but they all refused. "We can't do it, Mr. Frank," +said one man; and that was the nearest approach to an explanation +that was forthcoming. He walked into town and called at various +houses; but it was to no purpose. It was with difficulty that he +found himself allowed to leave his baggage at a grocer's shop, so +strict was the boycotting exacted. And then he too had to walk home +through Headford to Morony Castle. + +When he reached the house he first encountered Peter, the butler. +"Faix thin, Mr. Frank," said Peter, "throubles niver comed in 'arnest +till now. Why didn't they allow Mr. Flory just to hould his pace and +say nothing about it to no one?" + +"Why has all this been done?" demanded Frank. + +"It's that born divil, Pat Carroll," whispered Peter. "I wouldn't be +saying it so that any of the boys or girls should hear me,--not for +my throat's sake. I am the only one of 'em," he added, whispering +still lower than before, "that's doing a ha'porth for the masther. +There are the two young ladies a-working their very fingers off down +to the knuckles. As for me, I've got it all on my shoulders." No +doubt Peter was true to his master in adversity, but he did not allow +the multiplicity of his occupations to interfere with his eloquence. + +Then Frank went in and found his father seated alone in his +magistrate's room. "This is bad, father," said Frank, taking him by +the hand. + +"Bad! yes, you may call it bad. I am ruined, I suppose. There are +twenty heifers ready for market next week, and I am told that not a +butcher in County Galway will look at one of them." + +"Then you must send them on to Westmeath; I suppose the Mullingar +butchers won't boycott you?" + +"It's just what they will do." + +"Then send them on to Dublin." + +"Who's to take them to Dublin?" said the father, in his distress. + +"I will if there be no one else. We are not going to be knocked out +of time for want of two or three pairs of hands." + +"There are two policemen here to watch the herd at night. They'd cut +the tails off them otherwise as they did over at Ballinrobe last +autumn. To whom am I to consign 'em in Dublin? While I am making new +arrangements of that kind their time will have gone by. There are +five cows should be milked morning and night. Who is to milk them?" + +"Who is milking them?" + +"Your sisters are doing it, with the aid of an old woman who has come +from Galway. She says she has not long to live, and with the help of +half-a-crown a day cares nothing for the Landleaguers. I wish someone +would pay me half-a-crown a day, and perhaps I should not care." + +Then Frank passed on through the house to find his sisters, or Flory +as it might be. He had said not a word to his father in regard to +Florian, fearing to touch upon a subject which, as he well knew, must +be very sore. Had Florian told the truth when the deed was done, Pat +Carroll would have been tried at once, and, whether convicted or +acquitted, the matter would have been over long ago. In those days +Pat Carroll had not become a national or even a county hero. But now +he was able to secure the boycotting of his enemy even as far distant +as Ballyglunin or Tuam. In the kitchen he found Ada and Edith, who +had no comfort in these perilous days except when they could do +everything together. At the present moment they were roasting a +leg of mutton and boiling potatoes, which Frank knew were intended +especially for his own eating. + +"Well, my girls, you are busy here," he said. + +"Oh, yes, busy!" said Ada, who had put up her face to be kissed so as +not to soil her brother's coat by touching it with her hands. "How is +Rachel?" + +"Rachel is pretty well, I believe. We will not talk of Rachel just at +present." + +"Is anything wrong," asked Edith. + +"We will not talk about her, not now. What is all this that has +happened here?" + +"We are just boycotted," said Ada; "that's all." + +"And you think that it's the best joke in the world?" + +"Think it a joke!" said Edith. + +"Why we have to be up every morning at five o'clock," said Ada; "and +at six we are out with the cows." + +"It is no joke," said Edith, very seriously. "Papa is broken-hearted +about it. Your coming will be of the greatest comfort to us, if only +because of the pair of hands you bring. And poor Flory!" + +"How has it gone with Flory?" he asked. Then Edith told the tale as +it had to be told of Florian, and of what had happened because of the +evidence he had given. He had come forward under the hands of Captain +Yorke Clayton and repeated his whole story, giving it in testimony +before the magistrates. He declared it all exactly as he had done +before in the presence of his father and his sister and Captain +Clayton. And he had sworn to it, and had had his deposition read to +him. He was sharp enough, and understood well what he was doing. The +other two men were brought up to support him,--the old man Terry and +Con Heffernan. They of course had not been present at the examination +of Flory, and were asked,--first one and then the other,--what they +knew of the transactions of the afternoon on which the waters had +been let in on the meadows of Ballintubber. They knew nothing at all, +they said. They "disremembered" whether they had been there on the +occasion, "at all, at all." Yes; they knew that the waters had been +in upon the meadows, and they believed that they were in again still. +They didn't think that the meadows were of much good for this year. +They didn't know who had done it, "at all, at all." People did be +saying that Mr. Florian had done it himself, so as to spite his +father because he had turned Catholic. They couldn't say whether Mr. +Florian could do it alone or not. They thought Mr. Florian and Peter, +the butler, and perhaps one other, might do it amongst them. They +thought that Yorke Clayton might perhaps have been the man to help +him. They didn't know that Yorke Clayton hadn't been in the county +at that time. They wished with all their hearts that he wasn't there +now, because he was the biggest blackguard they had ever heard tell +of. + +Such was the story which was now told to Frank of the examination +which took place in consequence of Florian's confession. The results +were that Pat Carroll was in Galway jail, committed to take his trial +at the next assizes in August for the offence which he had committed; +and that Florian had been bound over to give evidence. "What does +Florian do with himself?" his brother asked. + +"I am afraid he is frightened," said Ada. + +"Of course he is frightened," said her sister. "How should he not +be frightened? These men have been telling him for the last six +months that they would surely murder him if he turned round and gave +evidence against them. Oh, Frank, I fear that I have been wrong in +persuading him to tell the truth." + +"Not though his life were sacrificed to-morrow. To have kept the +counsels of such a ruffian as that against his own father would have +been a disgrace to him for ever. Does not my father think of sending +him to England?" + +"He says that he has not the money," said Edith. + +"Is it so bad as that with him?" + +"I am afraid it is very bad,--bad at any rate, for the time coming. +He has not had a shilling of rent for this spring, and he has to pay +the money to Mrs. Pulteney and the others. Poor papa is sorely vexed, +and we do not like to press him. He suggested himself that he would +send Florian over to Mr. Blake's; but we think that Carnlough is not +far enough, and that it would be unfair to impose such a trouble on +another man." + +"Could he not send him to Mrs. Pulteney?" Now Mrs. Pulteney was a +sister of Mr. Jones. + +"He does not like to ask her," said Edith. "He thinks that Mrs. +Pulteney has not shown herself very kind of late. We are waiting till +you speak to him about it." + +"But what does Florian do with himself?" he asked. + +"You will see. He does little or nothing, but roams about the house +and talks to Peter. He did not even go to mass last Sunday. He says +that the whole congregation would accuse him of being a liar." + +"Does he not know that he has done his duty by the lie he has told?" + +"But to go alone among these people!" said Ada. + +"And to hear their damnable taunts!" said Edith. "It is very hard +upon him. I think it is papa's idea to keep him here till after the +trial in August, and then, if possible, to send him to England. There +would be the double journey else, and papa thinks that there would be +no real danger till his evidence had been given." + +Then Frank went out of the house and walked round the demesne, so +that he might think at his ease of all the troubles of his family. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +LAX, THE MURDERER. + + +Frank Jones found his brother Florian alone in the butler's pantry, +and was told that Peter was engaged in feeding the horses and +cleaning out the stables. "He's mostly engaged in that kind of work +now," said Florian. + +"Who lays the tablecloth?" asked Frank. + +"I do; or Edith; sometimes we don't have any tablecloth, or any clean +knives and forks. Perhaps they'll have one to-day because you have +come." + +"I wouldn't give them increased trouble," said Frank. + +"Papa told them to put their best foot forward because you are here. +I don't think he minds at all about himself. I think papa is very +unhappy." + +"Of course he's unhappy, because they have boycotted him. How should +he not be unhappy." + +"It's worse than that," whispered Florian. + +"What can be worse?" + +"If you'll come with me I'll tell you. I don't want to say it here, +because the girls will hear me;--and that old Peter will know +everything that's said." + +"Come out into the grounds, and take a turn before dinner." At this +Florian shook his head. "Why not, Flory." + +"There are fellows about," said Flory. + +"What fellows?" + +"The very fellows that said they'd kill me. Do you know that fellow +Lax? He's the worst of them." + +"But he doesn't live here." + +"All the same, I saw him yesterday." + +"You were out then, yesterday?" + +"Not to say out," said Flory. "I was in the orchard just behind the +stables; and I could see across into the ten-acre piece. There, at +the further side of the field, I saw a fellow, who I am sure was Lax. +Nobody walks like him, he's got that quick, suspicious way of going. +It was just nearly dark; it was well-nigh seven, and I had been with +Peter in the stables, helping to make up the horses, and I am sure it +was Lax." + +"He won't come near you and me on the broad walk," said Frank. + +"Won't he? You don't know him. There are half-a-dozen places there +where he could hit us from behind the wall. Come up into your room, +and I'll tell you what it is that makes papa unhappy." Then Frank +led the way upstairs to his bedroom, and Florian followed him. When +inside he shut the door, and seated himself on the bed close to his +brother. "Now I'll tell you," said he. + +"What is it ails him?" + +"He's frightened," said Florian, "because he doesn't wish me to +be--murdered." + +"My poor boy! Who could wish it?" Here Florian shook his head. "Of +course he doesn't wish it." + +"He made me tell about the meadow gates." + +"You had to tell that, Flory." + +"But it will bring them to murder me. If you had heard them make me +promise and had seen their looks! Papa never thought about that till +the man had come and worked it all out of me." + +"What man?" + +"The head of the policemen, Yorke Clayton. Papa was so fierce upon me +then, that he made me do it." + +"You had to do it," said Frank. "Let things go as they might, you had +to do it. You would not have it said of you that you had joined these +ruffians against your father." + +"I had sworn to Father Brosnan not to tell. But you care nothing for +a priest, of course." + +"Nothing in the least." + +"Nor does father. But when I had told it all at his bidding, and +had gone before the magistrates, and they had written it down, and +that man Clayton had read it all and I had signed it, and papa had +seen the look which Pat Carroll had turned upon me, then he became +frightened. I knew that that man Lax was in the room at the moment. I +did not see him, but I felt that he was there. Now I don't go out at +all, except just into the orchard and front garden. I won't go even +there, as I saw Lax about the place yesterday. I know that they mean +to murder me." + +"There will be no danger," said Frank, "unless Carroll be convicted. +In that case your father will have you sent to a school in England." + +"Papa hasn't got the money; I heard him tell Edith so. And they +wouldn't know how to carry me to the station at Ballyglunin. Those +boys from Ballintubber would shoot at me on the road. It's that that +makes papa so unhappy." + +Then they all went to dinner with a cloth laid fair on the table, for +Frank, who was as it were a stranger. And there were many inquiries +made after Rachel and her theatrical performances. Tidings as to her +success had already reached Morony, and wonderful accounts of the +pecuniary results. They had seen stories in the newspapers of the +close friendship which existed between her and Mr. Moss, and hints +had been given for a closer tie. "I don't think it is likely," said +Frank. + +"But is anything the matter between you and Rachel?" asked Edith. + +At that moment Peter was walking off with the leg of mutton, and Ada +had run into the kitchen to fetch the rice pudding, which she had +made to celebrate her brother's return. Edith winked at her brother +to show that all questions as to the tender subject should be +postponed for the moment. + +"But is it true," said Ada, "that Rachel is making a lot of money?" + +"That is true, certainly," said her brother. + +"And that she sings gloriously?" + +"She always did sing gloriously," said Edith. "I was sure that Rachel +was intended for a success." + +"I wonder what Captain Yorke Clayton would think about her," said +Ada. "He does understand music, and is very fond of young ladies who +can sing. I heard him say that the Miss Ormesbys of Castlebar sang +beautifully; and he sings himself, I know." + +"Captain Clayton has something else to do at present than to watch +the career of Miss O'Mahony in London." This was said by their +father, and was the first word he had spoken since they had sat down +to dinner. It was felt to convey some reproach as to Rachel; but why +a reproach was necessary was not explained. + +Peter was now out of the room, and the door was shut. + +"Rachel and I have come to understand each other," said Frank. "She +is to have the spending of her money by herself, and I by myself am +to enjoy life at Morony Castle." + +"Is this her decision?" asked Edith. + +It was on Frank's lips to declare that it was so; but he remembered +himself, and swallowed down the falsehood unspoken. + +"No," he said; "it was not her decision. She offered to share it all +with me." + +"And you?" said his father. + +"Well, I didn't consent; and so we arranged that matters should be +brought to an end between us." + +"I knew what she would do," said Ada. + +"Just what she ought," said Edith. "Rachel is a fine girl. Nothing +else was to be expected from her." + +"And nothing else was possible with you," said their father. And so +that conversation was brought to an end. + +On the next day Captain Clayton came up the lake from Galway, and +was again engaged,--or pretended to be engaged,--in looking up for +evidence in reference to the trial of Pat Carroll. Or it might be +that he wanted to sun himself again in the bright eyes of Ada Jones. +Again he brought Hunter, his double, with him, and boldly walked from +Morony Castle into Headford, disregarding altogether the loaded guns +of Pat Carroll's friends. In company with Frank he paid a visit to +Tom Lafferty in his own house at Headford. But as he went there he +insisted that Frank should carry a brace of pistols in his trousers' +pockets. "It's as well to do it, though you should never use them, or +a great deal better that you should never use them. You don't want to +get into all the muck of shooting a wretched, cowardly Landleaguer. +If all the leaders had but one life among them there would be +something worth going in for. But it is well that they should believe +that you have got them. They are such cowards that if they know +you've got a pistol with you they will be afraid to get near enough +to shoot you with a rifle. If you are in a room with fellows who see +that you have your hand in your trousers' pocket, they will be in +such a funk that you cow half-a-dozen of them. They look upon Hunter +and me as though we were an armed company of policemen." So Frank +carried the pistols. + +"Well, Mr. Lafferty, how are things going with you to-day?" + +"'Deed, then, Captain Clayton, it ain't much as I'm able to say for +myself. I've the decentry that bad in my innards as I'm all in the +twitters." + +"I'm sorry for that, Mr. Lafferty. Are you well enough to tell me +where did Mr. Lax go when he left you this morning?" + +"Who's Mr. Lax? I don't know no such person." + +"Don't you, now? I thought that Mr. Lax was as well-known in Headford +as the parish priest. Why, he's first cousin to your second cousin, +Pat Carroll." + +"'Deed and he ain't then;--not that I ever heard tell of." + +"I've no doubt you know what relations he's got in these parts." + +"I don't know nothin' about Terry Lax." + +"Except that his name is Terry," said the Captain. + +"I don't know nothin' about him, and I won't tell nothin' either." + +"But he was here this morning, Mr. Lafferty?" + +"Not that I know of. I won't say nothin' more about him. It's as bad +as lying you are with that d----d artful way of entrapping a fellow." + +Here Terry Carroll, Pat's brother, entered the cabin, and took off +his hat, with an air of great courtesy. "More power to you, Mr. +Frank," he said, "it's I that am glad to see you back from London. +These are bad tidings they got up at the Castle. To think of Mr. +Flory having such a story to tell as that." + +"It's a true story at any rate," said Frank. + +"Musha thin, not one o' us rightly knows. It's a long time ago, and +if I were there at all, I disremember it. Maybe I was, though I +wasn't doing anything on me own account. If Pat was to bid me, I'd do +that or any other mortal thing at Pat's bidding." + +"If you are so good a brother as that, your complaisance is likely +to bring you into trouble, Mr. Carroll. Come along, Jones, I've +got pretty nearly what I wanted from them." Then when they were in +the street, he continued speaking to Frank. "Your brother is right, +though I wouldn't have believed it on any other testimony than one +of themselves. That man Lax was here in the county yesterday. A more +murderous fellow than he is not to be found in Connaught; and he's +twice worse than any of the fellows about here. They will do it for +revenge, or party purposes. He has a regular tariff for cutting +throats. I should not wonder if he has come here for the sake of +carrying out the threats which they made against your poor brother." + +"Do you mean that he will be murdered?" + +"We must not let it come to that. We must have Lax up before the +magistrate for having been present when they broke the flood gates." + +"Have you got evidence of that?" + +"We can make the evidence serve its purpose for a time. If we can +keep him locked up till after the trial we shall have done much. By +heavens, there he is!" + +As he spoke the flash of a shot glimmered across their eyes, and +seemed to have been fired almost within a yard of them; but they were +neither of them hit. Frank turned round and fired in the direction +from whence the attack had come, but it was in vain. Clayton did +bring his revolver from out his pocket, but held his fire. They were +walking in a lane just out of the town that would carry them by a +field-path to Morony Castle, and Clayton had chosen the path in order +that he might be away from the public road. It was still daylight +though it was evening, and the aggressor might have been seen had he +attempted to cross their path. The lane was, as it were, built up on +both sides with cabins, which had become ruins, each one of which +might serve as a hiding-place. Hunter was standing close to them +before another word was spoken. + +"Did you see him?" demanded Clayton. + +"Not a glimpse; but I heard him through there, where the dead leaves +are lying." There were a lot of dead leaves strewed about, some of +which were in sight, within an enclosure separated from them by a low +ruined wall. On leaving this the Captain was over it in a moment, but +he was over it in vain. "For God's sake, sir, don't go after him in +that way," said Hunter, who followed close upon his track. "It's no +more than to throw your life away." + +"I'd give the world to have one shot at him," said Clayton. "I don't +think I would miss him within ten paces." + +"But he'd have had you, Captain, within three, had he waited for +you." + +"He never would have waited. A man who fires at you from behind a +wall never will wait. Where on earth has he taken himself?" And +Clayton, with the open pistol in his hand, began to search the +neighbouring hovels. + +"He's away out of that by this time," said Hunter. + +"I heard the bullet pass by my ears," said Frank. + +"No doubt you did, but a miss is as good as a mile any day. That a +fellow like that who is used to shooting shouldn't do better is a +disgrace to the craft. It's that fellow Lax, and as I'm standing on +the ground this moment I'll have his life before I've done with him." + +Nothing further came from this incident till the three started on +their walk back to Morony Castle. But they did not do this till they +had thoroughly investigated the ruins. "Do you know anything of the +man?" said Frank, "as to his whereabouts? or where he comes from?" +Then Clayton gave some short account of the hero. He had first come +across him in the neighbourhood of Foxford near Lough Conn, and had +there run him very hard, as the Captain said, in reference to an +agrarian murder. He knew, he said, that the man had received thirty +shillings for killing an old man who had taken a farm from which a +tenant had been evicted. But he had on that occasion been tried and +acquitted. He had since that lived on the spoils acquired after the +same fashion. He was supposed to have come originally from Kilkenny, +and whether his real name was or was not Lax, Captain Clayton did not +pretend to say. + +"But he had a fair shot at me," said Captain Clayton, "and it shall +go hard with me but I shall have as fair a one at him. I think it was +Urlingford gave the fellow his birth. I doubt whether he will ever +see Urlingford again." + +So they walked back, and by the time they had reached the Castle +were quite animated and lively with the little incident. "It may be +possible," said the Captain to Mr. Jones, "that he expected my going +to Headford. It certainly was known in Galway yesterday, that I was +to come across the lake this morning, and the tidings may have come +up by some fellow-traveller. He would drop word with some of the +boys at Ballintubber as he passed by. And they might have thought it +likely that I should go to Headford. They have had their chance on +this occasion, and they have not done any good with it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +MORONY CASTLE IS BOYCOTTED. + + +The men seemed to make a good joke of the afternoon's employment, +but not so the young ladies. In the evening they had a little music, +and Captain Clayton declared that the Miss Ormesbys were grand +performers. "And I am told that they are lovely girls," said Ada. + +"Well, yes; lovely is a very strong word." + +"I'd rather be called lovely than anything," said Ada. + +"Now, Captain Clayton," said Edith, "if you wish for my respect, +don't fall into the trap which Ada has so openly laid for you." + +"I meant nothing of the kind," said Ada. "I hope that Captain Clayton +knows me better. But, Captain Clayton, you don't mean that you'll +walk down to the boat to-morrow?" + +"Why not? He'll never have the pluck to fire at me two days running. +And I doubt whether he'll allow me so fair a chance of seeing him." + +"I wonder how you can sleep at night, knowing that such a man as this +is always after your life." + +"I wonder whether he sleeps at night, when he thinks such a man as +I am after his life. And I allow him, to boot, all his walks and +hiding-places." Then Ada began to implore him not to be too rash. +She endeavoured to teach him that no good could come from such +foolhardiness. If his life was of no value to himself, it was of +great value to others;--to his mother, for instance, and to his +sister. "A man's life is of no real value," said the Captain, "until +he has got a wife and family--or at any rate, a wife." + +"You don't think the wife that is to be need mind it?" said Edith. + +"The wife that is to be must be in the clouds, and in all +probability, will never come any nearer. I cannot allow that a man +can be justified in neglecting his duties for the sake of a cloudy +wife." + +"Not in neglecting absolute duties," said Ada, sadly. + +"A man in my position neglects his duty if he leaves a stone unturned +in pursuit of such a blackguard as this. And when a man is used to +it, he likes it. There's your brother quite enjoyed being shot at, +just as though he were resident magistrate; at any rate, he looked as +though he did." + +So the conversation went on through the evening, during the whole of +which poor Florian made one of the party. He said very little, but +sat close to his sister Edith, who frequently had his hand in her +own. The Captain constantly had his eye upon him without seeming to +watch him, but still was thinking of him as the minutes flew by. +It was not that the boy was in danger; for the Captain thought the +danger to be small, and that it was reduced almost to nothing as long +as he remained in the house,--but what would be the effect of fear on +the boy's mind? And if he were thus harassed could he be expected to +give his evidence in a clear manner? Mr. Jones was not present after +dinner, having retired at once to his own room. But just as the girls +had risen to go to bed, and as Florian was preparing to accompany +them, Peter brought a message saying that Mr. Jones would be glad to +see Captain Clayton before he went for the night. Then the Captain +got up, and bidding them all farewell, followed Peter to Mr. Jones's +room. "I shall go on by the early boat," he said as he was leaving +the room. + +"You'll have breakfast first, at any rate," said Ada. The Captain +swore that he wouldn't, and the girls swore that he should. "We never +let anybody go without breakfast," said Ada. + +"And particularly not a man," said Edith, "who has just been shot at +on our behalf," But the Captain explained that it might be as well +that he should be down waiting for the boat half an hour at any rate +before it started. + +"I and Hunter," said he, "would have a fair look out around us there, +so that no one could get within rifle shot of us without our seeing +them, and they won't look out for us so early. I don't think much +of Mr. Lax's courage, but it may be as well to keep a watch when it +can be so easily done." Then Ada went off to her bed, resolving that +the breakfast should be ready, though it was an hour before the boat +time. The boat called at the wharf at eight in the morning, and the +wharf was three miles distant from the house. She could manage to +have breakfast ready at half-past six. + +"Ada, my girl," said Edith, as they departed together, "don't you +make a fool of that young man." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Didn't you tell me that a man who has to be shot at ought not to be +married; and didn't he say that he would leave his future wife up +among the clouds?" + +"He may leave her where he likes for me," said Ada. "When a man is +doing so much for us oughtn't he to have his breakfast ready for him +at half-past six o'clock?" There was no more then said between them +on that subject; but Edith resolved that as far as boiling the water +was concerned, she would be up as soon as Ada. + +When the Captain went into Mr. Jones's room he was asked to sit down, +and had a cigar offered to him. "Thanks, no; I don't think I'll +smoke. Smoking may have some sort of effect on a fellow's hand. +There's a gentleman in these parts who I should be sorry should owe +his life to any little indulgence of that sort on my behalf." + +"You are thinking of the man who fired at you?" + +"Well, yes; I am. Not that I shall have any chance at him just +at present. He won't come near me again this visit. The next +that I shall hear from him will be from round some corner in +the neighbourhood of Galway. I think I know every turn in that +blackguard's mind." + +"Have you been speaking to Florian about him, Captain Clayton?" + +"Not a word." + +"Nor has his brother?" + +"I think not." + +"What am I to do about the poor boy?" said the anxious father. + +"Because of his fear about this very man?" + +"He is only a boy, you know." + +"Of course he is only a boy. You've no right to expect from him the +pluck of a man. When he is as old as his brother he'll have his +brother's nerve. I like to see a man plucky under fire when he is not +used to it. When you've got into the way of it, it means nothing." + +"What am I do about Florian? There are four months before the +assizes. He cannot remain in the house for four months." + +"What would he be at the end of it?" said the Captain. "That is what +we have to think of." + +"Would it alter him?" + +"I suppose it would,--if he were here with his sister, talking of +nothing but this wretched man, who seems to haunt him. We have to +remember, Mr. Jones, how long it was before he came forward with his +story." + +"I think he will be firm with it now." + +"No doubt,--if he had to tell it out in direct evidence. When he is +there in the court telling it, he will not think much of Mr. Lax, +nor even of Pat Carroll, who will be in the dock glaring at him; +nor would he think much of anything but his direct story, while a +friendly barrister is drawing it out of him; but when it comes to his +cross-examination, it will be different. He will want all his pluck +then, and all the simplicity which he can master. You must remember +that a skilful man will have been turned loose on him with all the +ferocity of a bloodhound; a man who will have all the cruelty of Lax, +but will have nothing to fear; a man who will be serving his purpose +all round if he can only dumbfound that poor boy by his words and +his looks. A man, when he has taken up the cause of these ruffians, +learns to sympathise with them. If they hate the Queen, hate the +laws, hate all justice, these men learn to hate them too. When they +get hold of me, and I look into the eyes of such a one, I see there +my bitterest enemy. He holds Captain Yorke Clayton up to the hatred +of the whole court, as though he were a brute unworthy of the +slightest mercy,--a venomous reptile, against whom the whole country +should rise to tear him in pieces. And I look round and see the same +feeling written in the eyes of them all. I found it more hard to get +used to that than to the snap of a pistol; but I have got used to it. +Poor Florian will have had no such experience. And there will be no +mercy shown to him because he is only a boy. Neither sex nor age is +supposed to render any such feeling necessary to a lawyer. A lawyer +in defending the worst ruffian that ever committed a crime will +know that he is called upon to spare nothing that is tender. He is +absolved from all the laws common to humanity. And then poor Florian +has lied." A gloomy look of sad, dull pain came across the father's +brow as he heard these words. "We must look it in the face, Mr. +Jones." + +"Yes, look it all in the face." + +"He has repeated the lie again and again for six months. He has been +in close friendship with these men. It will be made out that he has +been present at all their secret meetings. He has been present at +some of them. It will be very hard to get a jury to convict on his +evidence if it be unsupported." + +"Shall we withdraw him?" asked Mr. Jones. + +"You cannot do it. His deposition has been sworn and put forward in +the proper course. Besides it is his duty and yours,--and mine," he +added. "He must tell his story once again, and must endure whatever +torment the law-rebels of the court have in store for him. Only it +will be well to think what course of treatment may best prepare him +for the trial. You should treat him with the greatest kindness." + +"He is treated kindly." + +"But you, I think, and his sisters and his brother should endeavour +to make him feel that you do not think harshly of him because of +the falsehoods he has told. Go out with him occasionally." Here Mr. +Jones raised his eyebrows as feeling surprised at the kind of counsel +given. "Put some constraint on yourself so as to make him feel by the +time he has to go into court with you that he has a friend with him." + +"I trust that he always feels that," said Mr. Jones. + +They went on discussing the matter till late at night, and Captain +Clayton made the father understand what it was that he intended. He +meant that the boy should be made to know that his father was to him +as are other fathers, in spite of the lie which he had told, and of +the terrible trouble which he had caused by telling it. But Mr. Jones +felt that the task imposed upon him would be almost impossible. He +was heavy at heart, and unable to recall to himself his old spirits. +He had been thoroughly ashamed of his son, and was not possessed of +that agility of heart which is able to leap into good-humour at once. +Florian had been restored to his old manner of life; sitting at table +with his father and occasionally spoken to by him. He had been so +far forgiven; but the father was still aware that there was still +a dismal gap between himself and his younger boy, as regarded that +affectionate intercourse which Captain Clayton recommended. And yet +he knew that it was needed, and resolved that he would do his best, +however imperfectly it might be done. + +On the next morning the Captain went his way, and did ample homage to +the kindly exertions made on his behalf by the two girls. "Now I know +you must have been up all night, for you couldn't have done it all +without a servant in the house." + +"How dare you belittle our establishment!" said Ada. "What do you +think of Peter? Is Peter nobody? And it was poor Florian who boiled +the kettle. I really don't know whether we should not get on better +altogether without servants than with them." The breakfast was eaten +both by the Captain in the parlour and by Hunter in the kitchen in +great good humour. "Now, my fine fellow," said the former, "have +you got your pistols ready? I don't think we shall want them this +morning, but it's as well not to give these fellows a chance." Hunter +was pleased by being thus called into council before the young +ladies, and they both started in the highest good humour. Captain +Clayton, as he went, told himself that Ada Jones was the prettiest +girl of his acquaintance. His last sentimental affinity with the +youngest Miss Ormesby waxed feeble and insipid as he thought of Ada. +Perhaps Edith, he said to himself, is the sharpest of the two, but +in good looks she can't hold a candle to her sister. So he passed on, +and with his myrmidon reached Galway, without incurring any +impediment from Mr. Lax. + +In the course of the morning, Mr. Jones sent for Florian, and +proposed to walk out with him about the demesne. "I don't think there +will be any danger," he said. "Captain Clayton went this morning, and +the people don't know yet whether he has gone. I think it is better +that you should get accustomed to it, and not give way to idle +fears." The boy apparently agreed to this, and got his hat. But he +did not leave the shelter of the house without sundry misgivings. Mr. +Jones had determined to act at once upon the Captain's advice, and +had bethought himself that he could best do so by telling the whole +truth to the boy. "Now, Florian, I think it would be as well that you +and I should understand each other." Florian looked up at him with +fearful eyes, but made no reply. "Of course I was angry with you +while you were hesitating about those ruffians." + +"Yes; you were," said Florian. + +"I can quite understand that you have felt a difficulty." + +"Yes, I did," said Florian. + +"But that is all over now." + +"If they don't fire at me it is over, I suppose, till August." + +"They shan't fire at you. Don't be afraid. If they fire at you, they +must fire at me too." The father was walking with his arm about the +boy's neck. "You, at any rate, shall incur no danger which I do not +share. You will understand--won't you--that my anger against you is +passed and gone?" + +"I don't know," said the boy. + +"It is so,--altogether. I hope to be able to send you to school in +England very soon after the trial is over. You shall go to Mr. Monro +at first, and to Winchester afterwards, if I can manage it. But we +won't think of Winchester just at present. We must do the best we can +to get a good place for you on your first going into the school." + +"I am not afraid about that," said Florian, thinking that at the time +when the school should have come all the evils of the trials would +have been passed away and gone. + +"All the same you might come and read with me every morning for an +hour, and then for an hour with each of your sisters. You will want +something to do to make up your time. And remember, Florian, that +all my anger has passed away. We will be the best of friends, as in +former days, so that when the time shall have come for you to go into +court, you may be quite sure that you have a friend with you there." + +To all this Florian made very little reply; but Mr. Jones remembered +that he could not expect to do much at a first attempt. Weary as the +task would be he would persevere. For the task would be weary even +with his own son. He was a man who could do nothing graciously which +he could not do _con amore_. And he felt that all immediate warm +liking for the poor boy had perished in his heart. The boy had +made himself the friend of such a one as Pat Carroll, and in his +friendship for him had lied grossly. Mr. Jones had told himself +that it was his duty to forgive him, and had struggled to perform +his duty. For the performance of any deed necessary for the boy's +security, he could count upon himself. But he could not be happy in +his company as he was with Edith. The boy had been foully untrue to +him--but still he would do his best. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +TOM DALY IS BOYCOTTED. + + +When the time came round, Frank Jones started for Ballinasloe, with +his father's cattle and with Peter to help him. They did succeed in +getting a boy to go with them, who had been seduced by a heavy bribe +to come down for the purpose from Ballinasloe to Morony Castle. As he +had been used to cattle, Peter's ignorance and Frank's also were of +less account. They drove the cattle to Tuam, and there got them on +the railway, the railway with its servants being beyond the power of +the boycotters. At Ballinasloe they could not sell the cattle, as the +name of Mr. Jones of Morony had become terribly notorious throughout +County Galway. But arrangements had been made to send them to a +salesman up in Dublin, and from Ballinasloe they had gone under the +custody of Peter and the boy. No attempt was made absolutely to harm +the beasts, or even to stop them in the streets. But throughout the +town it seemed to be perfectly understood that they were the property +of Philip Jones of Morony Castle, and that Philip Jones had been +boycotted by the League. The poor beasts were sent on to Dublin +without a truss of hay among them, and even Frank himself was refused +a meal at the first inn at which he had called. He did afterwards +procure accommodation; but he heard while in the house, that the +innkeeper was threatened for what he had done. Had it not been that +Peter had brought with him a large basket of provisions for himself +and the boy, they, too, would have been forced to go on dinnerless +and supperless to Dublin. + +Frank, on his way back home, resolved that he would call on Mr. Daly +at Daly's Bridge, near Castle Blakeney. It was Daly's wont to live +at Daly's Bridge when the hounds were not hunting, though he would +generally go four or five times a week from Daly's Bridge to the +kennels. To Castle Blakeney a public car was running, and the public +car did not dare, or probably did not wish, to boycott anyone. He +walked up to the open door at Daly's Bridge and soon found himself in +the presence of Black Tom Daly. "So you are boycotted?" said Tom. + +"Horse, foot, and dragoons," said Frank. + +"What's to come of it, I wonder?" Tom as he said this was sitting at +an open window making up some horse's drug to which was attached some +very strong odour. "I am boycotted too, and the poor hounds, which +have given hours of amusement to many of these wretches, for which +they have not been called upon to pay a shilling. I shall have to +sell the pack, I'm afraid," said Tom, sadly. + +"Not yet, I hope, Mr. Daly." + +"What do you mean by that? Who's to keep them without any +subscription? And who's to subscribe without any prospect of hunting? +For the matter of that who's to feed the poor dumb brutes? One pack +will be boycotted after another till not a pack of hounds will be +wanted in all Ireland." + +"Has the same thing happened to any other pack?" asked Frank. + +"Certainly it has. They turned out against the Muskerry; and there's +been a row in Kildare. We are only at the beginning of it yet." + +"I don't suppose it will go on for ever," said Frank. + +"Why don't you suppose so? What's to be the end of it all? Do you see +any way out of it?--for I do not. Does your father see his way to +bringing those meadows back into his hands? I'm told that some of +those fellows shot at Clayton the other day down at Headford. How are +we to expect a man like Clayton to come forward and be shot at in +that fashion? As far as I can see there will be no possibility for +anyone to live in this country again. Of course it's all over with +me. I haven't got any rents to speak of, and the only property I +possess is now useless." + +"What property?" asked Frank. + +"What property?" rejoined Tom in a voice of anger. "What property? +Ain't the hounds property, or were property a few weeks ago? Who'll +subscribe for next year? We had a meeting in February, you know, and +the fellows put down their names the same as ever. But they can't be +expected to pay when there will be no coverts for them to draw. The +country can do nothing to put a stop to this blackguardism. When +they've passed this Coercion Bill they're going to have some sort +of Land Bill,--just a law to give away the land to somebody. What's +to come of the poor country with such men as Mr. Gladstone and Mr. +Bright to govern it? They're the two very worst men in the whole +empire for governing a country. Martial law with a regiment in each +county, and a strong colonel to carry it out,--that is the only +way of governing left us. I don't pretend to understand politics, +but every child can see that. And you should do away with the +constituencies, at any rate for the next five years. What are you to +expect with such a set of men as that in Parliament,--men whom no one +would speak to if they were to attempt to ride to hounds in County +Galway. It makes me sick when I hear of it." + +Such were Tom Daly's sad outlooks into the world. And sad as they +were, they seemed to be justified by circumstances as they operated +upon him. There could be no hunting in County Galway next session +unless things were to change very much for the better. And there was +no prospect of any such change. "It's nonsense talking of a poor +devil like me being ruined. You ask me what property I have got." + +"I don't think I ever asked that," said Frank. + +"It don't matter. You're quite welcome. You'll find eight or nine +pair of leather breeches in that press in there. And round about the +room somewhere there are over a dozen pair of top-boots. They are the +only available property I have got. They are paid for, and I can do +what I please with them. The four or five hundred acres over there on +the road to Tuam are mostly bog, and are strictly entailed so that I +cannot touch them. As there is not a tenant will pay the rent since +I've been boycotted it doesn't make much matter. I have not had a +shilling from them for more than twelve months; and I don't suppose +I ever shall see another. The poor hounds are eating their heads off; +as fine a pack of hounds as any man ever owned, as far as their +number goes. I can't keep them, and who'll buy them? They tell me I +must send them over to Tattersall's. But as things are now I don't +suppose they'll pay the expense. I don't care who knows it, but I +haven't three hundred pounds in the world. And I'm over fifty years +of age. What do you think of that as the condition for a man to be +brought to?" + +Frank Jones had never heard Daly speak at such length before, nor had +he given him credit for so much eloquence. Nor, indeed, had anyone +in the County of Galway heard him speak so many words till this +misfortune had fallen upon him. And he would still be silent and +reserved with all except a few hunting men whom he believed to be +strongly influenced by the same political feeling as he was himself. +Here was he boycotted most cruelly, but not more cruelly than was Mr. +Jones of Morony Castle. The story of Florian Jones had got about the +county, and had caused Mr. Jones to be pitied greatly by such men as +Tom Daly. "His own boy to turn against him!" Tom had said. "And to +become a Papist! A boy of ten years old to call himself a Papist, as +if he would know anything about it. And then to lie,--to lie like +that! I feel that his case is almost worse than mine." Therefore he +had burst out with his sudden eloquence to Frank Jones, whom he had +liked. "Oh, yes! I can send you over to Woodlawn Station. I have +got a horse and car left about the place. Here's William Persse of +Galway. He's the stanchest man we have in the county, but even he can +do nothing." + +Then Mr. Persse rode into the yard,--that Mr. Persse who, when the +hounds met at Ballytowngal, had so strongly dissuaded Daly from using +his pistol. He was a man who was reputed to have a good income, or at +any rate a large estate,--though the two things at the present moment +were likely to have a very various meaning. But he was a man less +despondent in his temperament than Tom Daly, and one that was likely +to prevail with Tom by the strength of his character. "Well, Tom," +said Persse, as he walked into the house, "how are things using you +now? How are you, Jones? I'm afraid your father is getting it rather +hot at Morony Castle." + +"They've boycotted us, that's all." + +"So I understand. Is it not odd that some self-appointed individual +should send out an edict, and that suddenly all organised modes of +living among people should be put a stop to! Here's Tom not allowed +to get a packet of greaves into his establishment unless he sends to +Dublin for it." + +"Nor to have it sent over here," said Tom, "unless I'll send my own +horse and cart to fetch it. And every man and boy I have about the +place is desired to leave me at the command of some d----d O'Toole, +whose father kept a tinker's shop somewhere in County Mayo, and whose +mother took in washing." + +There was a depth of scorn intended to be conveyed by all this, +because in Daly's estimation County Mayo was but a poor county to +live in, as it had not for many a year possessed an advertised pack +of fox-hounds. And the O'Tooles were not one of the tribes of Galway, +or a clan especially esteemed in that most aristocratic of the +western counties. + +"Have all the helpers gone?" + +"I haven't asked them to stay; but unless they have stayed of their +own accord I have just shaken hands with them. It's all that one +gentleman can do to another when he meets him." + +"Mr. Daly is talking of selling the hounds," said Frank Jones. + +"Not quite yet, Tom," said Mr. Persse. "You mustn't do anything in a +hurry." + +"They'll have to starve if they remain here," said the master of +hounds. + +"I have come over here to say a word about them. I don't suppose this +kind of thing will last for ever, you know." + +"Can you see any end to it?" said the other. + +"Not as yet I can't, except that troubles when they come generally +do have an end. We always think that evils will last for ever,--and +blessings too. When two-year-old ewes went up to three pound ten at +Ballinasloe, we thought that we were to get that price for ever, but +they were soon down to two seventeen six; and when we had had two +years of the potato famine, we thought that there would never be +another potato in County Galway. For the last five years we've had +them as fine at Doneraile as ever I saw them. Nobody is ever quite +ruined, or quite has his fortune made." + +"I am very near the ruin," said Tom Daly. + +"I would struggle to hold on a little longer yet," said the other. +"How many horses have you got here and at Ahaseragh?" + +"There are something over a dozen," said Tom. "There may be +fifteen in all. I was thinking of sending a draught over to +Tattersall's next week. There are some of them would not be worth a +five-and-twenty-pound note when you got them there!" + +"Well, now I'll tell you what I propose. You shall send over +four or five to be summered at Doneraile. There is grass enough +there, and though I can't pay my debts, my credit is good at the +corn-chandler's." Black Tom, as he heard this, sat still looking +blacker than ever. He was a man who hated to have a favour offered +to him. But he could bear the insult better from Persse of Doneraile +than from anyone else in the county. "I've talked the matter over +with Lynch--" + +"D---- Lynch," said Daly. He didn't dislike Sir Jasper, but Sir +Jasper did not stand quite so high in his favour as did Mr. Persse of +Doneraile. + +"You needn't d---- anybody; but just listen to me. Sir Jasper says +that he will take three, and Nicholas Bodkin will do the same." + +"They are both baronets," said Daly. "I hate a man with a handle to +his name; he always seems to me to be stuck-up, as though he demanded +something more than other people. There is that Lord Ardrahan--" + +"A very good fellow too. Don't you be an ass. Lord Ardrahan has +offered to take three more." + +"I knew it," said Tom. + +"It's not as though any favour were offered or received. Though the +horses are your own property, they are kept for the services of the +hunt. We all understand very well how things are circumstanced at +present." + +"How do you think I am to feed my hounds if you take away the horses +which they would eat?" said Daly, with an attempt at a grim joke. +But after the joke Tom became sad again, almost to tears, and he +allowed his friend to make almost what arrangements he pleased for +distributing both hounds and horses among the gentry of the hunt. +"And when they are gone," said he, "I am to sit here alone with +nothing on earth to do. What on earth is to become of me when I have +not a hound left to give a dose of physic to?" + +"We'll not leave you in such a sad strait as that," said Mr. Persse. + +"It will be sad enough. If you had had a pack of hounds to look after +for thirty summers, you wouldn't like to get rid of them in a hurry. +I'm like an old nurse who is sending her babies out, or some mother, +rather, who is putting her children into the workhouse because she +cannot feed them herself. It is sad, though you don't see it in that +light." + +Frank Jones got home to Castle Morony that night full of sorrow and +trouble. The cattle had been got off to Dublin in their starved +condition, but he, as he had come back, had been boycotted every yard +of the way. He could get in no car, nor yet in all Tuam could he +secure the services of a boy to carry his bag for him. He learned in +the town that the girls had sent over to purchase a joint of meat, +but had been refused at every shop. "Is trade so plentiful?" asked +Frank, "that you can afford to do without it?" + +"We can't afford to do with it," said the butcher, "if it's to come +from Morony Castle." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +"FROM THE FULL HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS." + + +Ada was making the beds upstairs, and Edith was churning the butter +down below in the dairy, when a little bare-footed boy came in with a +letter. + +"Please, miss, it's from the Captain, and he says I'm not to stir out +of this till I come back with an answer." + +The letter was delivered to Edith at the dairy door, and she saw that +it was addressed to herself. She had never before seen the Captain's +handwriting, and she looked at it somewhat curiously. "If he's +to write to one of us it should be to Ada," she said to herself, +laughing. Then she opened the envelope, which enclosed a large square +stout letter. It contained a card and a written note, and on the card +was an invitation, as follows: "The Colonel and Officers of the West +Bromwich Regiment request the pleasure of the company of Mr. Jones, +the Misses Jones, and Mr. Francis Jones to a dance at the Galway +Barracks, on the 20th of May, 1881. Dancing to commence at ten +o'clock." + +Then there was the note, which Edith read before she took the card +upstairs. + +"My dear Miss Jones," the letter began. Edith again looked at the +envelope and perceived that the despatch had been certainly addressed +to herself--Miss Edith Jones; but between herself and her sister +there could be no jealousy as to the opening of a letter. Letters for +one were generally intended for the other also. + + + I hope you will both come. You ought to do so to show + the county that, though you are boycotted, you are not + smashed, and to let them understand that you are not + afraid to come out of the house although certain persons + have made themselves terrible. I send this to you instead + of to your sister, because perhaps you have a little + higher pluck. But do tell your father from me that I think + he ought, as a matter of policy, to insist on your both + coming. You could come down by the boat one day and return + the next; and I'll meet you, for fear your brother should + not be there.--Yours very faithfully, + + YORKE CLAYTON. + + I have got the fellows of the West Bromwich to entrust the + card to me, and have undertaken to see it duly delivered. + I hope you'll approve of my Mercury. Hunter says he + doesn't care how often he's shot at. + + +It was, in the first place, necessary to provide for the Mercury, +because even a god cannot be sent away after the performance of such +a journey without some provisions; and Edith, to tell the truth, +wanted to look at the ball all round before she ventured to express +an opinion to her sister and father. Her father, of course, would +not go; but should he be left alone at Morony Castle to the tender +mercies of Peter? and should Florian be left also without any woman's +hands to take charge of him? And the butter, too, was on the point of +coming, which was a matter of importance. But at last, having pulled +off her butter-making apron and having duly patted the roll of +butter, she went upstairs to her sister. + +"Ada," she said, "here is such a letter;" and she held up the letter +and the card. + +"Who is it from?" + +"You must guess," said Edith. + +"I am bad at guessing, I cannot guess. Is it Mr. Blake of Carnlough?" + +"A great deal more interesting than that." + +"It can't be Captain Clayton," said Ada. + +"Out of the full heart the mouth speaks. It is Captain Clayton." + +"What does he say, and what is the card? Give it me. It looks like an +invitation." + +"Then it tells no story, because it is an invitation. It is from the +officers of the West Bromwich regiment; and it asks us to a dance on +the 20th of May." + +"But that's not from Captain Clayton." + +"Captain Clayton has written,--to me and not to you at all. You will +be awfully jealous; and he says that I have twice as much courage as +you." + +"That's true, at any rate," said Ada, in a melancholy tone. + +"Yes; and as the officers want all the girls at the ball to be at +any rate as brave as themselves, that's a matter of great importance. +He has asked me to go with a pair of pistols at my belt; but he is +afraid that you would not shoot anybody." + +"May I not look at his letter?" + +"Oh, no! That would not be at all proper. The letter is addressed to +me, Miss Edith Jones. And as it has come from such a very dashing +young man, and pays me particular compliments as to my courage, I +don't think I shall let anybody else see it. It doesn't say anything +special about beauty, which I think uncivil. If he had been writing +to you, it would all have been about feminine loveliness of course." + +"What nonsense you do talk, Edith." + +"Well, there it is. As you will read it, you must. You'll be awfully +disappointed, because there is not a word about you in it." + +Then Ada read the letter. "He says he hopes we shall both come." + +"Well, yes! Your existence is certainly implied in those words." + +"He explains why he writes to you instead of me." + +"Another actual reference to yourself, no doubt. But then he goes on +to talk of my pluck." + +"He says it's a little higher than mine," said Ada, who was +determined to extract from the Captain's words as much good as was +possible, and as little evil to herself. + +"So it is; only a little higher pluck! Of course he means that I +can't come near himself." + +"You wouldn't pretend to?" asked Ada. + +"What! to be shot at like him, and to like it. I don't know any girl +that can come quite up to that. Only if one becomes quite cock-sure, +as he is, that one won't be hit, I don't see the courage." + +"Oh, I do!" + +"But now about this ball?" said Edith. "Here we are, lone damsels, +making butter in our father's halls, and turning down the beds in the +lady's chamber, unable to buy anything because we are boycotted, and +with no money to buy it if we were not. And we can't stir out of the +house lest we should be shot, and I don't suppose that such a thing +as a pair of gloves is to be got anywhere." + +"I've got gloves for both of us," said Ada. + +"Put by for a rainy day. What a girl you are for providing for +difficulties! And you've got silk stockings too, I shouldn't wonder." + +"Of course I have." + +"And two ball dresses, quite new?" + +"Not quite new. They are those we wore at Hacketstown before the +flood." + +"Good gracious! How were Noah's daughters dressed? Or were they +dressed at all?" + +"You always turn everything into nonsense," said Ada, petulantly. + +"To be told I'm to wear a dress that had touched the heart of a +patriarch, and had perhaps gone well nigh to make me a patriarch's +bride! But taking it for granted that the ball dresses with all their +appurtenances are here, fit to win the heart of a modern Captain +instead of an old patriarch, is there no other reason why we should +not go?" + +"What reason?" asked Ada, in a melancholy tone. + +"There are reasons. You go to papa, and see whether he has not +reasons. He will tell you that every shilling should be saved for +Florian's school." + +"It won't take many shillings to go to Galway. We couldn't well write +to Captain Clayton and tell him that we can't afford it." + +"People keep those reasons in the background," said Edith, "though +people understand them. And then papa will say that in our condition +we ought to be ashamed to show our faces." + +"What have we done amiss?" + +"Not you or I perhaps," said Edith; "but poor Florian. I am +determined,--and so are you,--to take Florian to our very hearts, and +to forgive him as though this thing had never been done. He is to +us the same darling boy, as though he had never been present at the +flood gates; as though he had had no hand in bringing these evils to +Morony Castle. You and I have been angry, but we have forgiven him. +To us he is as dear as ever he was. But they know in the county what +it was that was done by Florian Jones, and they talk about it among +themselves, and they speak of you and me as Florian's sisters. And +they speak of papa as Florian's father. I think it may well be that +papa should not wish us to go to this ball." + +Then there came a look of disappointment over Ada's face, as though +her doom had already been spoken. A ball to Ada, and especially a +ball at Galway,--a coming ball,--was a promise of infinite enjoyment; +but a ball with Captain Yorke Clayton would be heaven on earth. And +by the way in which this invitation had come he had been secured as a +partner for the evening. He could not write to them, and especially +call upon them to come without doing all he could to make the evening +pleasant for them. She included Edith in all these promises of +pleasantness. But Edith, if the thing was to be done at all, would +do it all for Ada. As for the danger in which the man passed his +life, that must be left in the hands of God. Looking at it with great +seriousness, as in the midst of her joking she did look at these +things, she told herself that Ada was very lovely, and that this man +was certainly lovable. And she had taken it into her imagination that +Captain Clayton was certainly in the road to fall in love with Ada. +Why should not Ada have her chance? And why should not the Captain +have his? Why should not she have her chance of having a gallant +lovable gentleman for a brother-in-law? Edith was not at all prepared +to give the world up for lost, because Pat Carroll had made himself a +brute, and because the neighbours were idiots and had boycotted them. +It must all depend upon their father, whether they should or should +not go to the ball. And she had not thought it prudent to appear too +full of hope when talking of it to Ada; but for herself she quite +agreed with the Captain that policy required them to go. + +"I suppose you would like it?" she said to her sister. + +"I always was fond of dancing," replied Ada. + +"Especially with heroes." + +"Of course you laugh at me, but Captain Clayton won't be there as an +officer; he's only a resident magistrate." + +"He's the best of all the officers," said Edith with enthusiasm. "I +won't have our hero run down. I believe him to have twice as much +in him as any of the officers. He's the gallantest fellow I know. I +think we ought to go, if it's only because he wants it." + +"I don't want not to go," said Ada. + +"I daresay not; but papa will be the difficulty." + +"He'll think more of you than of me, Edith. Suppose you go and talk +to him." + +So it was decided; and Edith went away to her father, leaving Ada +still among the beds. Of Frank not a word had been spoken. Frank +would go as a matter of course if Mr. Jones consented. But Ada, +though she was left among the beds, did not at once go on with her +work; but sat down on that special bed by which her attention was +needed, and thought of the circumstances which surrounded her. Was it +a fact that she was in love with the Captain? To be in love to her +was a very serious thing,--but so delightful. She had been already +once,--well, not in love, but preoccupied just a little in thinking +of one young man. The one young man was an officer, but was now in +India, and Ada had not ventured even to mention his name in her +father's presence. Edith had of course known the secret, but Edith +had frowned upon it. She had said that Lieutenant Talbot was no +better than a stick, although he had L400 a year of his own. "He'd +give you nothing to talk about," said Edith, "but his L400 a year." +Therefore when Lieutenant Talbot went to India, Ada Jones did not +break her heart. But now Edith called Captain Clayton a hero, and +seemed in all respects to approve of him; and Edith seemed to think +that he certainly admired Ada. It was a dreadful thing to have to +fall in love with a woodcock. Ada felt that if, as things went on, +the woodcock should become her woodcock, the bullet which reached his +heart would certainly pierce her own bosom also. But such was the way +of the world. Edith had seemed to think that the man was entitled to +have a lady of his own to love; and if so, Ada seemed to think that +the place would be one very well suited to herself. Therefore she was +anxious for the ball; and at the present moment thought only of the +difficulties to be incurred by Edith in discussing the matter with +her father. + +"Papa, Captain Clayton wants us to go to a ball at Galway," it was +thus that Edith began her task. + +"Wants you to go a ball! What has Captain Clayton to do with you +two?" + +"Nothing on earth;--at any rate not with me. Here is his letter, +which speaks for itself. He seems to think that we should show +ourselves to everybody around, to let them know that we are not +crushed by what such a one as Pat Carroll can do to us." + +"Who says that we are crushed?" + +"It is the people who are crushed that generally say so of +themselves. There would be nothing unusual under ordinary +circumstances in your daughters going to a ball at Galway." + +"That's as may be." + +"We can stay the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and she will be delighted +to have us. If we never show ourselves it would be as though we +acknowledged ourselves to be crushed. And to tell the truth, papa, I +don't think it is quite fair to Ada to keep her here always. She is +very beautiful, and at the same time fond of society. She is doing +her duty here bravely; there is nothing about the house that she will +not put her hand to. She is better than any servant for the way she +does her work. I think you ought to let her go; it is but for the one +night." + +"And you?" asked the father. + +"I must go with her, I suppose, to keep her company." + +"And are not you fond of society?" + +"No;--not as she is. I like the rattle very well just for a few +minutes." + +"And are not you beautiful?" he asked. + +"Good gracious, no! Don't be such a goose, papa." + +"To me you are quite as lovely as is Ada." + +"Because you are only a stupid, old papa," but she kissed him as she +said it. "You have no right to expect to have two beauties in the +family. If I were a beauty I should go away and leave you, as will +Ada. It's her destiny to be carried off by someone. Why not by some +of these gallant fellows at Galway? It's my destiny to remain at +home; and so you may know what you have got to expect." + +"If it should turn out to be so, there will be one immeasurable +comfort to me in the midst of all my troubles." + +"It shall be so," said she, whispering into his ear. "But, papa, you +will let us go to this ball in Galway, will you not? Ada has set her +heart upon it." So the matter was settled. + +The answer to Captain Clayton, sent by Edith, was as follows; but +it was not sent till the boy had been allowed to stuff himself with +buttered toast and tea, which, to such a boy, is the acme of all +happiness. + + + Morony Castle, 8th of May, 1881. + + DEAR CAPTAIN CLAYTON, + + We will both come, of course, and are infinitely obliged + to you for the trouble you have taken on our behalf. Papa + will not come, of course. Frank will, no doubt; but he is + out after a salmon in the Hacketstown river. I hope he + will get one, as we are badly off for provisions. If he + cannot find a salmon, I hope he will find trout, or we + shall have nothing for three days running. Ada and I think + we can manage a leg of mutton between us, as far as the + cooking goes, but we haven't had a chance of trying our + hands yet. Frank, however, will write to the officers by + post. We shall sleep the night at Mrs. D'Arcy's, and can + get there very well by ourselves. All the same, we shall + be delighted to see you, if you will come down to the + boat. + + Yours very truly, + + EDITH JONES. + + I must tell you what Ada said about our dresses, only pray + don't tell any of the officers. Of course we had to have a + consultation about our frocks, because everything in the + shops is boycotted for us. "Oh," said Ada, "there are the + gauze dresses we wore at Hacketstown _before the flood!_" + Only think of Ada and I at a ball with the Miss Noahs, + four or five thousand years ago. + + +Frank consented to go of course, but not without some little +difficulty. He didn't think it was a time for balls. According to his +view of things ginger should be no longer hot in the mouth. + +"But why not?" said Edith. "If a ball at any time is a good thing, +why should it be bad now? Are we all to go into mourning, because +Mr. Carroll has so decreed? For myself I don't care twopence for the +ball. I don't think it is worth the ten shillings which it will cost. +But I am all for showing that we don't care so much for Mr. Carroll." + +"Carroll is in prison," said Frank. + +"Nor yet for Terry Lax, or Tim Brady, or Terry Carroll, or Tony +Brady. The world is not to be turned away from its proper course by +such a scum of men as that. Of course you'll do as a brother should +do, and come with us." + +To this Frank assented, and on the next day went out for another +salmon, thinking no more about the party at Galway. + +But the party at Galway was a matter of infinite trouble and infinite +interest to the two girls. Those dresses which had been put by from +before the flood were brought forth, and ironed, and re-ribboned, and +re-designed, as though the fate of heroes and heroines depended upon +them. And it was clearly intended that the fate of one hero and of +one heroine should depend on them, though nothing absolutely to that +effect was said at present between the sisters. It was not said, but +it was understood by both of them that it was so; and each understood +what was in the heart of the other. "Dear, dear Edith," said Ada. +"Let them boycott us as they will," said Edith, "but my pet shall +be as bright as any of them." There was a ribbon that had not been +tossed, a false flower that had on it something of the bloom of +newness. A faint offer was made by Ada to abandon some of these +prettinesses to her sister, but Edith would have none of them. Edith +pooh-poohed the idea as though it were monstrous. "Don't be a goose, +Ada," she said; "of course this is to be your night. What does it +signify what I wear?" + +"Oh, but it does;--just the same as for me. I don't see why you are +not to be just as nice as myself." + +"That's not true, my dear." + +"Why not true? There is quite as much depends on your good fortune as +on mine. And then you are so much the cleverer of the two." + +Then when the day for the ball drew near, there came to be some more +serious conversation between them. + +"Ada, love, you mean to enjoy yourself, don't you?" + +"If I can I will. When I go to these things I never know whether they +will lead to enjoyment or the reverse. Some little thing happens so +often, and everything seems to go wrong." + +"They shouldn't go wrong with you, my pet." + +"Why not with me as well as with others?" + +"Because you are so beautiful to look at. You are made to be queen of +a ball-room; not a London ball-room, where everything, I take it, is +flash and faded, painted and stale, and worn out; but down here in +the country, where there is some life among us, and where a girl may +be supposed to be excited over her dancing. It is in such rooms as +this that hearts are won and lost; a bid made for diamonds is all +that is done in London." + +"I never was at a London ball," said Ada. + +"Nor I either; but one reads of them. I can fancy a man really caring +for a girl down in Galway. Can you fancy a man caring for a girl?" + +"I don't know," said Ada. + +"For yourself, now?" + +"I don't think anybody will ever care much for me." + +"Oh, Ada, what a fib. It is all very pretty, your mock modestly, but +it is so untrue. A man not love you! Why, I can fancy a man thinking +that the gods could not allow him a greater grace than the privilege +of taking you in his arms." + +"Isn't anyone to take you in his arms, then?" + +"No, no one. I am not a thing to be looked at in that light. I mean +eventually to take to women's rights, and to make myself generally +odious. Only I have promised to stick to papa, and I have got to do +that first. You;--who will you stick to?" + +"I don't know," said Ada. + +"If I were to suggest Captain Yorke Clayton? If I were to suppose +that he is the man who is to have the privilege?" + +"Don't, Edith." + +"He is my hero, and you are my pet, and I want to bring you two +together. I want to have my share in the hero; and still to keep a +share in my pet. Is not that rational?" + +"I don't know that there is anything rational in it all," said Ada. +But still she went to bed well pleased that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE GALWAY BALL. + + +When the 20th of May came, the three started off together for Galway, +happy in spite of their boycotting. The girls at least were happy, +though Frank was still somewhat sombre as he thought of the edict +which Rachel O'Mahony had pronounced against him. When the boat +arrived at the quay at Galway, Captain Clayton, with one of the +officers of the West Bromwich, was there to meet it. "He is a wise +man," whispered Edith to Ada, "he takes care to provide for number +one." + +"I don't see that at all," said Ada. + +"That brave little warrior, who is four feet and a half high, is +intended for my escort. Two is company and three is none. I quite +agree as to that." Then they left the boat, and Edith so arranged the +party that she was to walk between the small warrior and her brother, +whereas Ada followed with Captain Clayton. In such straits of +circumstances a man always has to do what he is told. Presence of +mind and readiness is needful, but the readiness of a man is never +equal to that of a woman. So they went off to Mrs. D'Arcy's house, +and Ada enjoyed all the little preliminary sweets of the Captain's +conversation. The words that were spoken all had reference to Edith +herself; but they came from the Captain and were assuredly sweet. + +"And it's really true that you are boycotted?" Mrs. D'Arcy asked. + +"Certainly it's true." + +"And what do they do to you? Do all the servants leave you?" + +"Unless there be any like Peter who make up their minds to face the +wrath of Landleaguers. Peter has lived with us a long time, and has +to ask himself whether it will be best for him to stay or go." + +"And he stays? What a noble fellow," said Mrs. D'Arcy. + +"What would he do with himself if he didn't stay?" said Edith. "I +don't suppose they'd shoot him, and he gets plenty to eat. The girls +who were in the house and the young men about the place had friends +of their own living near them, so they thought it better to go. +Everybody of course does what is best for himself. And Peter, though +he has suited himself, is already making a favour of it. Papa told +him only yesterday that he might go himself if he pleased. Only +think, we had to send all the horses last week into Galway to be +shod;--and then they wouldn't do it, except one man who made a +tremendous favour of it, and after doing it charged double." + +"But won't they sell you anything at Tuam?" + +"Not a ha'porth. We couldn't get so much as soap for house-washing, +unless Mrs. Blake had stood by us and let us have her soap. Ada and +I have to do every bit of washing about the place. I do think well +of Peter because he insists on washing his own shirts and stockings. +Unfortunately we haven't got a mangle, and we have to iron the sheets +if we want them to look at all nice. Ada's sheets and mine, and +Florian's, are only just rough pressed. Of course we get tea and +those things down from Dublin. Only think of the way in which the +tradespeople are ruining themselves. Everything has to go to Dublin +to be sold: potatoes and cattle, and now butter. Papa says that +they won't pay for the carriage. When you come to think of it, this +boycotting is the most ruinous invention on both sides. When poor +Florian declared that he would go to mass after he had first told the +story about Pat Carroll, they swore they would boycott the chapel if +he entered the door. Not a single person would stay to receive the +mass. So he wouldn't go. It was not long after that when he became +afraid to show his face outside the hall-door." + +"And yet you can come here to this ball?" said Mrs. D'Arcy. + +"Exactly so. I will go where I please till they boycott the very +roads from under my feet. I expect to hear soon that they have +boycotted Ada and me, so that no young man shall come and marry us. +Of course, I don't understand such things, but it seems to me that +the Government should interfere to defend us." + +When the evening came, and the witching hour was there, Ada and Edith +appeared at the barracks as bright as their second-hand finery could +make them. They had awarded to them something of especial glory as +being boycotted heroines, and were regarded with a certain amount of +envy by the Miss Blakes, Miss Bodkins, Miss Lamberts, Miss Ffrenchs, +and Miss Parsons of the neighbourhood. They had, none of them, as yet +achieved the full honours of boycotting, though some of them were +half-way to it. The Miss Ffrenchs told them how their father's sheep +had been boycotted, the shepherd having been made to leave his place. +The Miss Blakes had been boycotted because their brother had been +refused a car. And the Bodkins of Ballytowngal were held to have been +boycotted _en masse_ because of the doings at Moytubber gorse. But +none of them had been boycotted as had been the Miss Jones'; and +therefore the Miss Jones' were the heroines of the evening. + +"I declare it is very nice," Ada said to her sister that night, when +they got home to Mrs. D'Arcy's, "because it got for us the pick of +all the partners." + +"It got for you one partner, at any rate," said Edith, "either the +boycotting or something else." Edith had determined that it should be +so; or had determined at any rate that it should seem to be so. In +her resolution that the hero of the day should fall in love with her +sister, she had almost taught herself to think that the process had +already taken place. It was so natural that the bravest man should +fall in love with the fairest lady, that Edith took it for granted +that it already was so. She too in some sort was in love with her own +sister. Ada to her was so fair, so soft, so innocent, so feminine and +so lovable, that her very heart was in the project,--and the project +that Ada should have the hero of the hour to herself. And yet she too +had a heart of her own, and had told herself in so many words, that +she herself would have loved the man,--had it been fitting that she +should burden him with such a love. She had rejected the idea as +unfitting, impossible, and almost unfeminine. There was nothing in +her to attract the man. The idea had sprung up but for a moment, and +had been cast out as being monstrous. There was Ada, the very queen +of beauty. And the gallant hero was languishing in her smiles. It was +thus that her imagination carried her on, after the notion had once +been entertained. At the ball Edith did in fact dance with Captain +Clayton quite as often as did Ada herself, but she danced with him, +she said, as the darling sister of his supposed bride. All her talk +had been about Ada,--because Edith had so chosen the subject. But +with Ada the conversation had all been about Edith, because the +Captain had selected the subject. + +We all know how a little party is made up on such occasions. Though +the party dance also with other people on occasions, they are there +especially to dance with each other. An interloper or two now and +again is very useful, so as to keep up appearances. The little +warrior whom Edith had ill-naturedly declared to be four feet and a +half high, but who was in truth five feet and a half, made up the +former. Frank did not do much dancing, devoting himself to thinking +of Rachel O'Mahony. The little man, who was a distinguished officer +named Captain Butler, of the West Bromwich, had a very good time of +it, dancing with Ada when Captain Clayton was not doing so. "The +greatest brick I ever saw in my life!"--it was thus Captain Butler +afterwards spoke of Edith, "but Ada is the girl for me, you know." +Had Edith heard this, which she could not do, because she was then on +the boat going back to Morony Castle, she would have informed Captain +Butler that Ada was not the girl for him; but Captain Clayton, who +heard the announcement made, did not seem to be much disturbed by it. + +"It was a very nice party, Mrs. D'Arcy," said Edith the next morning. + +"Was there a supper?" + +"There was plenty to eat and drink, if you mean that, but we did not +waste our time sitting down. I hate having to sit down opposite to a +great ham when I am in the full tide of my emotions." + +"There were emotions then?" + +"Of course there were. What's the good of a ball without them? Fancy +Captain Butler and no emotions, or Captain Clayton! Ask Ada if there +were not. But as far as we were concerned, it was I who had the best +of it. Captain Butler was my special man for the evening, and he had +on a beautiful red jacket with gold buttons. You never saw anything +so lovely. But Captain Clayton had just a simple black coat. That is +so ugly, you know." + +"Is Captain Clayton Ada's special young man?" + +"Most particularly special, is he not, Ada?" + +"What nonsense you do talk, Edith. He is not my special young man at +all. I'm afraid he won't be any young woman's special young man very +long, if he goes on as he does at present. Do you hear what he did +over at Ardfry? There was some cattle to be seized for rent, and all +the people on that side of the country were there. Ever so many shots +were fired, and poor Hunter got wounded in his shoulder." + +"He just had his skin raised," said Edith. + +"And Captain Clayton got terribly mauled in the crowd. But he +wouldn't fire a pistol at any of them. He brought some ringleader +away prisoner,--he and two policemen. But they got all the cattle, +and the tenants had to buy them back and pay their rent. When we try +to seize cattle at Ballintubber they are always driven away to County +Mayo. I do think that Captain Clayton is a real hero." + +"Of course he is, my dear; that's given up to him long ago,--and to +you." + +In the afternoon they went home by boat, and Frank made himself +disagreeable by croaking. "Upon my word," he said, "I think that this +is hardly a fit time for giving balls." + +"Ginger should not be hot in the mouth," said Edith. + +"You may put it in what language you like, but that is about what I +mean. The people who go to the balls cannot in truth afford it." + +"That's the officers' look out." + +"And they are here on a very sad occasion. Everything is going to +ruin in the country." + +"I won't be put down by Pat Carroll," said Edith. "He shall not be +able to boast to himself that he has changed the natural course of my +life." + +"He has changed it altogether." + +"You know what I mean. I am not going to yield to him or to any of +them. I mean to hold my own against it as far as I can do so. I'll go +to church, and to balls, and I'll visit my friends, and I'll eat my +dinner every day of my life just as though Pat Carroll didn't exist. +He's in prison just at present, and therefore so far we have got the +best of him." + +"But we can't sell a head of cattle without sending it up to Dublin. +And we can't find a man to take charge of it on the journey. We can't +get a shilling of rent, and we hardly dare to walk about the place +in the broad light of day lest we should be shot at. While things +are in this condition it is no time for dancing at balls. I am so +broken-hearted at the present moment that but for my father and for +you I would cut the place and go to America." + +"Taking Rachel with you?" said Edith. + +"Rachel just now is as prosperous as we are the reverse. Rachel would +not go. It is all very well for Rachel, as things are prosperous with +her. But here we have the reverse of prosperity, and according to my +feelings there should be no gaiety. Do you ever realise to yourself +what it is to think that your father is ruined?" + +"We ought not to have gone," said Ada. + +"Never say die," said Edith, slapping her little hand down on the +gunwale of the boat. "Morony Castle and Ballintubber belong to papa, +and I will never admit that he is ruined because a few dishonest +tenants refuse to pay their rents for a time. A man such as Pat +Carroll can do him an injury, but papa is big enough to rise above +that in the long run. At any rate I will live as becomes papa's +daughter, as long as he approves and I have the power." Discussing +these matters they reached the quay near Morony Castle, and Edith as +she jumped ashore felt something of triumph in her bosom. She had at +any rate succeeded in her object. "I am sure we were right to go," +she whispered to Ada. + +Their father received them with but very few words; nor had Florian +much to say as to the glories of the ball. His mind was devoted at +present to the coming trial. And indeed, in a more open and energetic +manner, so was the mind of Captain Clayton. "This will be the last +holiday for me," he had said to Edith at the ball, "before the great +day comes off for Patrick Carroll, Esq. It's all very well for a man +once in a way, but there should not be too much of it." + +"You have not to complain deeply of yourself on that head." + +"I have had my share of fun in the world," he said; "but it grows +less as I grow older. It is always so with a man as he gets into his +work. I think my hair will grow grey very soon, if I do not succeed +in having Mr. Carroll locked up for his life." + +"Do you think they will convict him?" + +"I think they will? I do think they will. We have got one of the +men who is ready to swear that he assisted him in pulling down the +gates." + +"Which of the men?" she asked. + +"I will tell you because I trust you as my very soul. His own +brother, Terry, is the man. Pat, it seems, is a terrible tyrant +among his own friends, and Terry is willing to turn against him, on +condition that a passage to America be provided for him. Of course +he is to have a free pardon for himself. We do want one man to +corroborate your brother's evidence. Your brother no doubt was not +quite straight at first." + +"He lied," said Edith. "When you and I talk about it together, we +should tell the simple truth. We have pardoned him his lie;--but he +lied." + +"We have now the one man necessary to confirm his testimony." + +"But he is the brother." + +"No doubt. But in such a case as this anything is fair to get at the +truth. And we shall employ no falsehoods. This younger Carroll was +instigated by his brother to assist him in the deed. And he was seen +by your brother to be one of those who assisted. It seems to me to be +quite right." + +"It is very terrible," Edith said. + +"Yes; it is terrible. A brother will have to swear against a brother, +and will be bribed to do it. I know what will be said to me very +well. They have tried to shoot me down like a rat; but I mean to get +the better of them. And when I shall have succeeded in removing Mr. +Pat Carroll from his present sphere of life, I shall have a second +object of ambition before me. Mr. Lax is another gentleman whom I +wish to remove. Three times he has shot at me, but he has not hit me +yet." + +From that time forth there had certainly been no more dances for +Captain Clayton. His mind had been altogether devoted to his work, +and amidst that work the trial of Pat Carroll had stood prominent. +"He and I are equally eager, or at any rate equally anxious;" he +had said to Edith, speaking of her brother, when he had met her +subsequent to the ball. "But the time is coming soon, and we shall +know all about it in another six weeks." This was said in June, and +the trial was to take place in August. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +LORD CASTLEWELL. + + +The spring and early summer had worn themselves away in London, and +Rachel O'Mahony was still singing at the Embankment Theatre. She and +her father were still living in Cecil Street. The glorious day of +October, which had been fixed at last for the 24th, on which Rachel +was to appear on the Covent Garden boards, was yet still distant, and +she was performing under Mr. Moss's behests at a weekly stipend of +L15, to which there would be some addition when the last weeks of the +season had come about, the end of July and beginning of August. But, +alas! Rachel hardly knew what she would do to support herself during +the dead months from August to October. "Fashionable people always go +out of town, father," she said. + +"Then let us be fashionable." + +"Fashionable people go to Scotland, but they won't take one in there +without money. We shan't have L50 left when our debts are paid. And +L50 would do nothing for us." + +"They've stopped me altogether," said Mr. O'Mahony. "At any rate +they have stopped the money-making part of the business. They have +threatened to take the man's license away, and therefore that place +is shut up." + +"Isn't that unjust, father?" + +"Unjust! Everything done in England as to Ireland is unjust. They +carried an Act of Parliament the other day, when in accordance with +the ancient privileges of members it was within the power of a dozen +stalwart Irishmen to stop it. The dozen stalwart Irishmen were there, +but they were silenced by a brutal majority. The dozen Irishmen were +turned out of the House, one after the other, in direct opposition to +the ancient privileges; and so a Bill was passed robbing five million +Irishmen of their liberties. So gross an injustice was never before +perpetrated--not even when the bribed members sold their country and +effected the accursed Union." + +"I know that was very bad, father, but the bribes were taken by +Irishmen. Be that as it may, what are we to do with ourselves next +autumn?" + +"The only thing for us is to seek for assistance in the United +States." + +"They won't lend us L100." + +"We must overrun this country by the force of true liberal opinion. +The people themselves will rise when they have the Americans to lead +them. What is wanted now are the voices of true patriots loud enough +to reach the people." + +"And L100," said she, speaking into his ear, "to keep us alive from +the middle of August to the end of October." + +"For myself, I have been invited to come into Parliament. The County +of Cavan will be vacant." + +"Is there a salary attached?" + +"One or two leading Irish members are speaking of it," said Mr. +O'Mahony, carried away by the grandeur of the idea, "but the amount +has not been fixed yet. And they seem to think that it is wanted +chiefly for the parliamentary session. I have not promised because I +do not quite see my way. And to tell the truth, I am not sure that it +is in Parliament that an honest Irishman will shine the best. What's +the good when you can be silenced at a moment's notice by the word +of some mock Speaker, who upsets all the rules of his office to put +a gag upon a dozen men. When America has come to understand what it +is that the lawless tyrant did on that night when the Irishmen were +turned out of the House, will she not rise in her wrath, and declare +that such things shall no longer be?" All this occurred in Cecil +Street, and Rachel, who well understood her father's wrath, allowed +him to expend in words the anger which would last hardly longer than +the sound of them. + +"But you won't be in Parliament for County Cavan before next August?" +she asked. + +"I suppose not." + +"Nor will the United States have risen in their wrath so as to have +settled the entire question before that time?" + +"Perhaps not," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"And if they did I don't see what good it would do to us as to +finding for us the money that we want." + +"I am so full of Ireland's wrongs at this moment, and with the manner +in which these policemen interfered with me, that I can hardly bring +myself to think of your autumn plans." + +"What are yours?" she asked. + +"I suppose we should always have money enough to go to America. In +America a man can at any rate open his mouth." + +"Or a woman either. But according to what M. Le Gros says, in England +they pay better at the present moment. Mr. Moss has offered to lend +me the money; but for myself I would sooner go into an English +workhouse than accept money from Mr. Moss which I had not earned." + +In truth, Rachel had been very foolish with her money, spending it +as though there were no end to the source from which it had come, +and her father had not been more prudent. He was utterly reckless +in regard to such considerations, and would simply declare that he +was altogether indifferent to his dinner, or to the new hat he had +proposed to buy for himself when the subject was brought under his +notice. He had latterly become more eager than ever as to politics, +and was supremely happy as long as he was at liberty to speak before +any audience those angry words which had however been, unfortunately +for him, declared to be treasonable. He had, till lately, been taught +to understand that the House of Commons was the only arena on which +such permission would be freely granted,--and could be granted of +course only to Members of the House. Therefore the idea had entered +his head that it would suit him to become a member,--more especially +as there had arisen a grand scheme of a salary for certain Irish +members of which he would be one. But even here the brutality of +England had at last interfered, and men were not to be allowed to say +what they pleased any longer even in the House of Commons. Therefore +Mr. O'Mahony was much disturbed; and although he was anxious to +quarrel with no one individually, not even the policemen who arrested +him, he was full of indignant wrath against the tyranny of England +generally. + +Rachel, when she could get no good advice from her father with +regard to her future funds, went back again to her singing. It +was necessary, at any rate, that she should carry out her present +arrangement with Mr. Moss, and she was sure at least of receiving +from him the money which she earned. But, alas! she could not +practise the economy which she knew to be necessary. The people at +the theatre had talked her into hiring a one-horse open carriage in +which she delighted to drive about, and in which, to tell the truth, +her father delighted to accompany her. She had thought that she could +allow herself this indulgence out of her L15 a week. And though she +paid for the indulgence monthly, that and their joint living nearly +consumed the stipend. And now, as her father's advice did not get +beyond the very doubtful salary which might accrue to him as the +future member for the County Cavan, her mind naturally turned itself +to other sources. From M. Le Gros, or from M. Le Gros' employers, she +was to receive L300 for singing in the two months before Christmas, +with an assurance of a greatly increased though hitherto unfixed +stipend afterwards. Personally she as yet knew no one connected with +her future theatrical home but M. Le Gros. Of M. Le Gros all her +thoughts had been favourable. Should she ask M. Le Gros to lend her +some small sum of money in advance for the uses of the autumn? Mr. +Moss had made to her a fixed proposition on the subject which she had +altogether declined. She had declined it with scorn as she was wont +to do all favours proffered by Mr. Moss. Mr. Moss had still been +gracious, and had smiled, and had ventured to express "a renewed +hope," as he called it, that Miss O'Mahony would even yet condescend +to look with regard on the sincere affection of her most humble +servant. And then he had again expatiated on the immense success in +theatrical life which would attend a partnership entered into between +the skill and beauty and power of voice of Miss O'Mahony on the one +side, and the energy, devotion, and capital of Mr. Moss on the other. +"Psha!" had been Rachel's only reply; and so that interview had been +brought to an end. But Rachel, when she came to think of M. Le Gros, +and the money she was desirous of borrowing, was afflicted by certain +qualms. That she should have borrowed from Mr. Moss, considering the +length of their acquaintance might not have been unnatural; but of M. +Le Gros she knew nothing but his civility. Nor had she any reason for +supposing that M. Le Gros had money of his own at his disposal; nor +did she know where M. Le Gros lived. She could go to Covent Garden +and ask for him there; but that was all. + +So she dressed herself prettily--neatly, as she called it--and had +herself driven to the theatre. There, as chance would have it, she +found M. Le Gros standing under the portico with a gentleman whom she +represented to herself as an elderly old buck. M. Le Gros saw her and +came down into the street at once with his hat in his hand. + +"M. Le Gros," said she, "I want you to do me a great favour, but I +have hardly the impudence to ask it. Can you lend me some money this +autumn--say L100?" Thereupon M. Le Gros' face fell, and his cheeks +were elongated, and his eyes were very sorrowful. "Ah, then, I see +you can't," she said. "I will not put you to the pain of saying so. +I ought not to have suggested it. My dealings with you have seemed to +be so pleasant, and they have not been quite of the same nature down +at 'The Embankment.'" + +"My dear young lady--" + +"Not another word; and I beg your pardon most heartily for having +given you this moment's annoyance." + +"There is one of the lessees there," said M. Le Gros, pointing back +to the gentleman on the top of the steps, "who has been to hear +you and to look at you this two times--this three times at 'The +Embankment.' He do think you will become the grand singer of the +age." + +"Who is the judicious gentleman?" asked Rachel, whispering to M. Le +Gros out of the carriage. + +"He is Lord Castlewell. He is the eldest son of the Marquis of +Beaulieu. He have--oh!--lots of money. He was saying--ah! I must not +tell you what his lordship was saying of you because it will make you +vain." + +"Nothing that any lord can say of me will make me vain," said Rachel, +chucking up her head. Then his lordship, thinking that he had been +kept long enough standing on the top of the theatre steps, lifted +his hat and came down to the carriage, the occupant of which he had +recognised. + +"May I have the extreme honour of introducing Mademoiselle O'Mahony +to Lord Castlewell?" and M. Le Gros again pulled off his hat as +he made the introduction. Miss O'Mahony found that she had become +Mademoiselle as soon as she had drawn up her carriage at the front +door of the genuine Italian Opera. + +"This is a pleasure indeed," said Lord Castlewell. "I am +delighted--more than delighted, to find that my friend Le Gros has +engaged the services of Mademoiselle O'Mahony for our theatre." + +"But our engagement does not commence quite yet, I am sorry to say," +replied Rachel. Then she prepared herself to be driven away, not +caring much for the combination of lord and lessee who stood in the +street speaking to her. A lessee should be a lessee, she thought, and +a lord a lord. + +"May I do myself the honour of waiting upon you some day at 'The +Embankment,'" said the lord, again pulling off his hat. + +"Oh! certainly," said Rachel; "I should be delighted to see you." +Then she was driven away, and did not know whether to be angry or not +in having given Lord Castlewell so warm a welcome. As a mere stray +lord there was no possible reason why he should call upon her; nor +for her why she should receive him. Though Frank Jones had been +dismissed, and though she felt herself to be free to accept any +eligible lover who might present himself, she still felt herself +bound on his behalf to keep herself free from all elderly theatrical +hangers-on, especially from such men when she heard that they were +also lords. But as she was driven away, she took another glance at +the lord, and thought that he did not look so old as when she had +seen him at a greater distance. + +But she had failed altogether in her purpose of borrowing money from +M. Le Gros. And for his sake she regretted much that the attempt had +been made. She had already learned one or two details with reference +to M. Le Gros. Though his manners and appearance were so pleasant, he +was only a subaltern about the theatre; and he was a subaltern whom +this lord and lessee called simply Le Gros. And from the melancholy +nature of his face when the application for money was made to him, +she had learned that he was both good-natured and impecunious. Of +herself, in regard to the money, she thought very little at the +present moment. There were still six weeks to run, and Rachel's +nature was such that she could not distress herself six weeks in +advance of any misfortune. She was determined that she would not tell +her father of her failure. As for him, he would not probably say a +word further of their want of money till the time should come. He +confined his prudence to keeping a sum in his pocket sufficient to +take them back to New York. + +As the days went on which were to bring her engagement at "The +Embankment" to an end, Rachel heard a further rumour about herself. +Rumours did spring up at "The Embankment" to which she paid very +little attention. She had heard the same sort of things said as to +other ladies at the theatre, and took them all as a matter of course. +Had she been asked, she would have attributed them all to Madame +Socani; because Madame Socani was the one person whom, next to Mr. +Moss, she hated the most. The rumour in this case simply stated that +she had already been married to Mr. Jones, and had separated from her +husband. "Why do they care about such a matter as that?" she said to +the female from whom she heard the rumour. "It can't matter to me as +a singer whether I have five husbands." + +"But it is so interesting," said the female, "when a lady has a +husband and doesn't own him; or when she owns him and hasn't really +got him; it adds a piquancy to life, especially to theatrical life, +which does want these little assistances." + +Then one evening Lord Castlewell did call upon her at "The +Embankment." Her father was not with her, and she was constrained by +the circumstances of the moment to see his lordship alone. + +"I do feel, you know, Miss O'Mahony," he said, thus coming back +for the moment into everyday life, "that I am entitled to take an +interest in you." + +"Your lordship is very kind." + +"I suppose you never heard of me before?" + +"Not a word, my lord. I'm an American girl, and I know very little +about English lords." + +"I hope that you may come to know more. My special _metier_ in life +brings me among the theatres. I am very fond of music,--and perhaps a +little fond of beauty also." + +"I am glad you have the sense, my lord, to put music the first." + +"I don't know about that. In regard to you I cannot say which +predominates." + +"You are at liberty at any rate to talk about the one, as you are +bidding for it at your own theatre. As to the other, you will excuse +me for saying that it is a matter between me and my friends." + +"Among whom I trust before long I may be allowed to be counted." + +The little dialogue had been carried on with smiles and good humour, +and Rachel now did not choose to interfere with them. After all she +was only a public singer, and as such was hardly entitled to the full +consideration of a gentlewoman. It was thus that she argued with +herself. Nevertheless she had uttered her little reprimand and had +intended him to take it as such. + +"You are coming to us, you know, after the holidays." + +"And will bring my voice with me, such as it is." + +"But not your smiles, you mean to say." + +"They are sure to come with me, for I am always laughing,--unless I +am roused to terrible wrath. I am sure that will not be the case at +Covent Garden." + +"I hope not. You will find that you have come among a set who are +quite prepared to accept you as a friend." Here she made a little +curtsy. "And now I have to offer my sincere apologies for the little +proposition I am about to make." It immediately occurred to her that +M. Le Gros had betrayed her. He was a very civil spoken, affable, +kind old man; but he had betrayed her. "M. Le Gros happened to +mention that you were anxious to draw in advance for some portion of +the salary coming to you for the next two months." M. Le Gros had at +any rate betrayed her in the most courteous terms. + +"Well, yes; M. Le Gros explained that the proposition was not _selon +les regles_, and it does not matter the least in the world." + +"M. Le Gros has explained that? I did not know that M. Le Gros had +explained anything." + +"Well, then, he looked it," said Rachel. + +"His looks must be wonderfully expressive. He did not look it to me +at all. He simply told me, as one of the managers of the theatre, I +was to let you have whatever money you wanted. And he did whisper to +me,--may I tell you what he whispered?" + +"I suppose you may. He seems to me to be a very good-natured kind of +man." + +"Poor old Le Gros! A very good-natured man, I should say. He doesn't +carry the house, that's all." + +"You do that." Then she remembered that the man was a lord. "I ought +to have said 'my lord,'" she said; "but I forgot. I hope you'll +excuse me--my lord." + +"We are not very particular about that in theatrical matters; or, +rather, I am particular with some and not with others. You'll learn +all about it in process of time. M. Le Gros whispered that he thought +there was not the pleasantest understanding in the world between you +and the people here." + +"Well, no; there is not,--my lord." + +"Bother the lord,--just now." + +"With all my heart," said Rachel, who could not avoid the little +bit of fun which was here implied. "Not but what the--the people +here--would find me any amount of money I chose to ask for. There are +people, you see, one does not wish to borrow money from. I take my +salary here, but nothing more. The fact is, I have not only taken it, +but spent it, and to tell the truth, I have not a shilling to amuse +myself with during the dull season. Mr. Moss knows all about it, and +has simply asked how much I wanted. 'Nothing,' I replied, 'nothing at +all; nothing at all.' And that's how I am situated." + +"No debts?" + +"Not a dollar. Beyond that I shouldn't have a dollar left to get out +of London with." Then she remembered herself,--that it was expedient +that she should tell this man something about herself. "I have got a +father, you know, and he has to be paid for as well as me. He is the +sweetest, kindest, most generous father that a girl ever had, and he +could make lots of money for himself, only the police won't let him." + +"What do the police do to him?" said Lord Castlewell. + +"He is not a burglar, you know, or anything of that kind." + +"He is an Irish politician, isn't he?" + +"He is very much of a politician; but he is not an Irishman." + +"Irish name," suggested the lord. + +"Irish name, yes; so are half the names in my country. My father +comes from the United States. And he is strongly impressed with +the necessity of putting down the horrid injustice with which the +poor Irish are treated by the monstrous tyranny of you English +aristocrats. You are very nice to look at." + +"Thank you, Miss O'Mahony." + +"But you are very bad to go. You are not the kind of horses I care to +drive at all. Thieves, traitors, murderers, liars." + +"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the lord. + +"I don't say anything for myself, because I am only a singing girl, +and understand nothing about politics. But these are the very +lightest words which he has at his tongue's end when he talks about +you. He is the most good-tempered fellow in the world, and you would +like him very much. Here is Mr. Moss." Mr. Moss had opened the door +and had entered the room. + +The greeting between the two men was closely observed by Rachel, who, +though she was very imprudent in much that she did and much that she +said, never allowed anything to pass by her unobserved. Mr. Moss, +though he affected an intimacy with the lord, was beyond measure +servile. Lord Castlewell accepted the intimacy without repudiating +it, but accepted also the servility. "Well, Moss, how are you getting +on in this little house?" + +"Ah, my lord, you are going to rob us of our one attraction," and +having bowed to the lord he turned round and bowed to the lady. + +"You have no right to keep such a treasure in a little place like +this." + +"We can afford to pay for it, you know, my lord. M. Le Gros came here +a little behind my back, and carried her off." + +"Much to her advantage, I should say." + +"We can pay," said Mr. Moss. + +"To such a singer as Mademoiselle O'Mahony paying is not everything. +An audience large enough, and sufficiently intelligent to appreciate +her, is something more than mere money." + +"We have the most intelligent audience in all London," Mr. Moss said +in defence of his own theatre. + +"No doubt," said the lord. He had, during this little intercourse of +compliments, managed to write a word or two on a slip of paper, which +he now handed to Rachel--"Will L200 do?" This he put into her hand, +and then left her, saying that he would do himself the honour of +calling upon her again at her own lodgings, "where I shall hope," he +said, "to make the acquaintance of the most good-tempered fellow in +the world." Then he took his leave. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOW FUNDS WERE PROVIDED. + + +Mr. Moss at this interview again pressed his loan of money upon poor +Rachel. + +"You cannot get on, my dear young lady, in this world without money. +If you have spent your income hitherto, what do you mean to do till +the end of November? At Covent Garden the salaries are all paid +monthly." + +There was something so ineffably low and greasy in his tone of +addressing her, that it was impossible to be surprised at the disgust +which she expressed for him. + +"Mr. Moss, I am not your dear young lady," she said. + +"Would that you were! We should be as happy as the day is long. +There would be no money troubles then." She could not fail to make +comparisons between him and the English nobleman who had just left +her, which left the Englishman infinitely superior; although, with +the few thoughts she had given to him, she had already begun to doubt +whether Lord Castlewell's morality stood very high. "What will you do +for money for the next three months? You cannot do without money," +said Mr. Moss. + +"I have already found a friend," said Rachel most imprudently. + +"What! his lordship there?" + +"I am not bound to answer any such questions." + +"But I know; I can see the game is all up if it has come to that. I +am a fellow-workman, and there have been, and perhaps will be, many +relations between us. A hundred pounds advanced here or there must be +brought into the accounts sooner or later. That is honest; that will +bear daylight; no young lady need be ashamed of that; even if you +were Mrs. Jones you need not be ashamed of such a transaction." + +"I am not Mrs. Jones," said Rachel in great anger. + +"But if you were, Mr. Jones would have no ground of complaint, unless +indeed on the score of extravagance. But a present from this lord!" + +"It is no present. It does not come from the lord; it comes from the +funds of the theatre." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Moss. "Is that the little game with which +he attempts to cajole you? How has he got his hand into the treasury +of the theatre, so that he may be able to help you so conveniently? +You have not got the money yet, I suppose?" + +"I have not got his money--which may be dangerous, or yours--which +would certainly be more so. Though from neither of you could the bare +money hurt me, if it were taken with an innocent heart. From you it +would be a distress, an annoyance, a blister. From him it would be +simply a loan either from himself or from the theatre with which he +is connected. I may be mistaken, but I have imagined that it would +come from the theatre; I will ascertain, and if it be not so, I will +decline the loan." + +"Do you not know his character? nor his mode of living, nor his +dealing with actresses? You will not at any rate get credit for such +innocence when you tell the story. Why;--he has come here to call +upon you, and of course it is all over the theatre already that you +are his mistress. I came in here to endeavour to save you; but I fear +it is too late." + +"Impudent scoundrel," said Rachel, jumping up and glaring at him. + +"That is all very well, but I have endeavoured to save you. I would +believe none of them when they told me that you would not be my wife +because you were married to Mr. Jones. Nor would I believe them when +they have told me since that you were not fit to be the wife of +anyone." Rachel's hand went in among the folds of her dress, and +returned with a dagger in it. Words had been said to her now which +she swore to herself were unbearable. "Yes; you are in a passion +now;" and as he said so, he contrived to get the round table with +which the room was garnished between himself and her. + +"It is true," she said, "your words have been so base that I am no +doubt angry." + +"But if you knew it, I am endeavouring to save you. Imprudent as +you have been I still wish to make you my wife." Here Rachel in her +indignation spat upon the floor. "Yes; I am anxious to make you an +honest woman." + +"You can make no woman honest. It is altogether beyond your power." + +"It will be so when you have taken this lord's money." + +"I have not at any rate taken yours. It is that which would disgrace +me. Between this lord and me there has been no word that could do +so." + +"Will he make you his wife?" + +"Wife! No. He is married for aught that I know. He has spoken to me +no word except about my profession. Nor shall you. Cannot a woman +sing without being wife to any man?" + +"Ha, ha, yes indeed!" + +She understood the scorn intended to be thrown on her line of life by +his words, and was wretched to think that he was getting the better +of her in conversation. "I can sing and I need no husband." + +"It is common with the friends of the lord that they do not generally +rank very high in their profession. I have endeavoured to save you +from this kind of thing, and see the return that I get! You will, +however, soon have left us, and you will then find that to fill first +place at 'The Embankment' is better than a second or a third at +Covent Garden." + +During these hot words on both sides she had been standing at a +pier-glass, arranging something in her dress intended to suit Moss's +fancy upon the stage,--Moss who was about to enact her princely +lover--and then she walked off without another word. She went through +her part with all her usual vigour and charm, and so did he. Elmira +also was more pathetic than ever, as the night was supposed to be +something special, because a royal duke and his young bride were in +the stage box. The plaudits given would have been tremendous only +that the building was so small, and the grand quartette became such a +masterpiece that there was half a column concerning it in the musical +corner of the next morning's _Daily Telephone_. "If that girl would +only go as I'd have her," said Mr. Moss to the most confidential of +his theatrical friends, "I'd make her Mrs. Moss to-morrow, and her +fame should be blazoned all over the world before twelve months had +gone as Madame Moussa." + +But Rachel, though she was enabled so to overcome her rage as to +remember only her theatrical passion when she was on the stage, spent +the whole of the subsequent night in thinking over the difficulty +into which she had brought herself by her imprudence. She understood +to the full the meaning of all those innuendoes which Mr. Moss had +provided for her; and she knew that though there was in them not a +spark of truth as regarded herself, still they were so truth-like as +to meet with acceptance, at any rate from all theatrical personages. +She had gone to M. Le Gros for the money clearly as one of the +theatrical company with which she was about to connect herself. M. +Le Gros had, to her intelligence, distinctly though very courteously +declined her request. It might be well that the company would accede +to no such request; but M. Le Gros, in his questionable civility, had +told the whole story to Lord Castlewell, who had immediately offered +her a loan of L200 out of his own pocket. It had not occurred to her +in the moment in which she had first read the words in the presence +of Mahomet M. M. that such must necessarily be the case. Was it +probable that Lord Castlewell should on his own behalf recover from +the treasury of the theatre the sum of L200? And then the nature of +this lord's character opened itself to her eyes in all the forms +which Mr. Moss had intended that it should wear. A man did not lend +a young lady L200 without meaning to secure for himself some reward. +And as she thought of it all she remembered the kind of language +in which she had spoken of her father. She had described him as an +American in words which might so probably give this noble old _roue_ +a false impression as to his character. And yet she liked the noble +old _roue_--liked him so infinitely better than she did Mr. Moss. M. +Le Gros had betrayed her, or had, perhaps, said words leading to her +betrayal; but still she greatly preferred M. Le Gros to Mr. Moss. + +She was safe as yet with this lord. Not a sparkle of his gold had +she received. No doubt the story about the money would be spread +about from her own telling of it. People would believe it because she +herself had said so. But it was still within her power to take care +that it should not be true. She did what was usual on such occasions. +She abused the ill-feeling of the world which by the malignity of +its suspicions would not scruple to drag her into the depths of +misfortune, forgetting probably that her estimation of others was the +same as others of her. She did not bethink herself that had another +young lady at another theatre accepted a loan from an unmarried lord +of such a character, she would have thought ill of that young lady. +The world ought to be perfectly innocent in regard to her because +she believed herself to be innocent; and Mr. Moss in expressing the +opinions of others, and exposing to her the position in which she had +placed herself, had simply proved himself to be the blackest of human +beings. + +But it was necessary that she should at once do something to +whitewash her own character in her own esteem. This lord had declared +that he himself would call, and she was at first minded to wait +till he did so, and then to hand back to him the cheque which she +believed that he would bring, and to assure him that under altered +circumstances it would not be wanted. But she felt that it would best +become her to write to him openly, and to explain the circumstances +which had led to his offering the loan. "There is nothing like being +straightforward," she said to herself, "and if he does not choose to +believe me, that is his fault." So she took up her pen, and wrote +quickly, to the following effect: + + + MY DEAR LORD CASTLEWELL, + + I want to tell you that I do not wish to have the L200 + which you were good enough to say that you would lend me. + Indeed I cannot take it under any circumstances. I must + explain to you all about it, if your lordship pleases. I + had intended to ask M. Le Gros to get the theatre people + to advance me some small sum on my future engagement, and + I had not thought how impossible it was that they should + do so, as of course I might die before I had sung a single + note. I never dreamed of coming to you, whose lordship's + name I had not even heard in my ignorance. Then M. Le Gros + spoke to you, and you came and made your proposition in + the most good-natured way in the world. I was such a fool + as not to see that the money must of course come from + yourself. + + Mr. Moss has enlightened me, and has made me understand + that no respectable young woman would accept a loan of + money from you without blemish to her character. Mr. Moss, + whom I do not in the least like, has been right in this. I + should be very sorry if you should be taught to think evil + of me before I go to your theatre; or indeed, if I do not + go at all. I am not up to all these things, and I suppose + I ought to have consulted my father the moment I got your + little note. Pray do not take any further notice of it. + + I am, very faithfully, + Your lordship's humble servant, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +Then there was added a postscript: "Your note has just come and I +return the cheque." As chance would have it the cheque had come just +as Rachel had finished her letter, and with the cheque there had been +a short scrawl as follows: "I send the money as settled, and will +call to-morrow." + +Whatever may have been Lord Castlewell's general sins among actresses +and actors, his feelings hitherto in regard to Miss O'Mahony had not +done him discredit. He had already heard her name frequently when he +had seen her in her little carriage before the steps of Covent Garden +Theatre, and had heard her sing at "The Embankment." Her voice and +tone and feeling had enchanted him as he had wont to be enchanted by +new singers of high quality, and he had been greatly struck by the +brightness of her beauty. When M. Le Gros had told him of her little +wants, he had perceived at once her innocence, and had determined to +relieve her wants. Then, when she had told him of her father, and +had explained to him the kind of terms on which they lived together, +he was sure that she was pure as snow. But she was very lovely, and +he could not undertake to answer for what feelings might spring up +in her bosom. Now he had received this letter, and every word of it +spoke to him in her favour. He took, therefore, a little trouble, and +calling upon her the next morning at her lodgings, found her seated +with Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Father," she said, when the lord was ushered into the room, "this is +Lord Castlewell. Lord Castlewell, this is my father." + +Then she sat down, leaving the two to begin the conversation as they +might best please. She had told her father nothing about the money, +simply explaining that on the steps of the theatre she had met the +lord, who was one of its proprietors. + +"Lord Castlewell," said Mr. O'Mahony, "I am very proud," then he +bowed. "I know very little about stage affairs, but I am confident +that my daughter will do her duty to the best of her ability." + +"Not more so than I am," said Lord Castlewell, upon which Mr. +O'Mahony bowed again. "You have heard about this little _contretemps_ +about the money." + +"Not a word," said Mr. O'Mahony, shaking his head. + +"Nor of the terrible character which has been given you by your +daughter?" + +"That I can well understand," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"She says that you wish to abolish all the English aristocracy." + +"Most of them," said Mr. O'Mahony. "Peradventure ten shall be found +honest, and I will not destroy them for ten's sake; but I doubt +whether there be one." + +"I should be grieved to think that you were the judge." + +"And so should I," said Mr. O'Mahony. "It is so easy to utter curses +when no power accompanies the utterances. The Lord must have found it +uncomfortable in regard to Sodom. I can spit out all my fury against +English vices and British greed without suffering one pang at my +heart. What is this that you were saying about Rachel and her money?" + +"She is in a little trouble about cash at the present moment." + +"Not a doubt about it." + +"And I have offered to lend her a trifle--L200 or so, just till she +can work it off up at the theatre there." + +"Then there is one of the ten at any rate," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Meaning me?" asked the lord. + +"Just so. Lending us L200, when neither of us have a shilling in our +pocket, is a very good deed. Don't you think so, Rachel?" + +"No," said Rachel. "Lord Castlewell is not a fit person to lend me +L200 out of his pocket, and I will not have it." + +"I did not know," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"You never know anything, you are such a dear, innocent old father." + +"There's an end of it then," said he, addressing himself to the lord. +He did not look in the least annoyed because his daughter had refused +to take the loan, nor had he shown the slightest feeling of any +impropriety when there was a question as to her accepting it. + +"Of course I cannot force it upon you," said Lord Castlewell. + +"No; a lord cannot do that, even in this country, where lords go for +so much. But we are not a whit the less obliged to your lordship. +There are proprieties and improprieties which I don't understand. +Rachel knows all about them. Such a knowledge comes to a girl +naturally, and she chooses either the one or the other, according to +her nature. Rachel is a dragon of propriety." + +"Father, you are a goose," said Rachel. + +"I am telling his lordship the truth. There is some reason why you +should not take the money, and you won't take it. I think it very +hard that I should not have been allowed to earn it." + +"Why were you not allowed?" asked the lord. + +"Lest the people should be persuaded to rise up against you +lords,--which they very soon would do,--and will do. You are right in +your generation. The people were paying twenty-five cents a night to +come and hear me, and so I was informed that I must not speak to them +any more. I had been silenced in Galway before; but then I had spoken +about your Queen." + +"We can't endure that, you know." + +"So I learn. She's a holy of holies. But I promised to say nothing +further about her, and I haven't. I was talking about your Speaker of +the House of Commons." + +"That's nearly as bad," said Lord Castlewell, shaking his head. + +"A second-rate holy of holies. When I said that he ought to obey +certain rules which had been laid down for his guidance, I was told +to walk out. 'What may I talk about?' I asked. Then the policeman +told me 'the weather.' Even an Englishman is not stupid enough to pay +twenty-five cents for that. I am only telling you this to explain why +we are so impecunious." + +"The policeman won't prevent my lending you L200." + +"Won't he now? There's no knowing what a policeman can't do in this +country. They are very good-natured, all the same." + +Then Lord Castlewell turned to Rachel, and asked her whether her +suspicions would go so far as to interfere between him and her +father. "It is because I am a pretty girl that you are going to do +it," she said, frowning, "or because you pretend to think so." Here +the father broke out into a laugh, and the lord followed him. "You +had better keep your money to yourself, my lord. You never can have +used it with less chance of getting any return." This interview, +however, was ended by the acceptance of a cheque from Lord Castlewell +for L200, payable to the order of Gerald O'Mahony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WHAT WAS NOT DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + + +"She has taken his money all the same." This was said some weeks +after the transaction as described in the last chapter, and was +spoken by Madame Socani to Mr. Moss. + +"How do you know?" + +"I know very well. You are so infatuated by that young woman that you +will believe nothing against her." + +"I am infatuated with her voice; I know what she is going to do in +the world. Old Barytone told me that he had never heard such a voice +from a woman's mouth since the days of Malibran; and if there is a +man who knows one voice from another, it is Barytone. He can taste +the richness of the instrument down to its lowest tinkling sound." + +"And you would marry such a one as she for her voice." + +"And she can act. Ah! if you could have acted as she does, it might +have been different." + +"She has got a husband just the same as me." + +"I don't believe it; but never mind, I would risk all that. And I +will do it yet. If you will only keep your toe in your pump, we will +have such a company as nothing that Le Gros can do will be able to +cut us down." + +"And she is taking money from that lord." + +"They all take money from lords," he replied. "What does it matter? +And she is as stout a piece of goods as ever you came across. She has +given me more impudence in the last eight months than ever I took +from any of them. And by Jupiter I never so much as got a kiss from +her." + +"A kiss!" said Madame Socani with great contempt. + +"And she has hit me a box on the cheek which I have had to put up +with. She has always got a dagger about her somewhere, to give a +fellow a prod in her passion." Here Mr. Moss laughed or affected to +laugh at the idea of the dagger. "I tell you that she would have it +into a fellow in no time." + +"Then why don't you leave her alone? A little wizened monkey like +that!" It was thus that Madame Socani expressed her opinion of her +rival. "A creature without an ounce of flesh on her bones. Her voice +won't last long. It never does with those little mean made apes. +There was Grisi and Tietjens,--they had something of a body for a +voice to come out of. And here is this girl that you think so much +of, taking money hand over hand from the very first lord she comes +across." + +"I don't believe a word of it," said the faithful Moss. + +"You'll find that it is true. She will go away to some watering-place +in the autumn, and he'll be after her. Did you ever know him spare +one of them? or one of them, poor little creatures, that wouldn't +rise to his bait?" + +"She has got her father with her." + +"Her father! What is the good of fathers? He'll take some of the +money, that's all. I'll tell you what it is, Moss, if you don't drop +her you and I will be two." + +"With all my heart, Madame Socani," said Moss. "I have not the +slightest intention of dropping her. And as for you and me, we can +get on very well apart." + +But Madame Socani, though she would be roused by jealousy to make +this threat once a month, knew very well that she could not afford +to sever herself from Mr. Moss; and she knew also that Mr. Moss +was bound to show her some observance, or, at any rate, to find +employment for her as long as she could sing. + +But Mr. Moss was anxious to find out whether any money arrangements +did or did not exist between Miss O'Mahony and the lord, and was +resolved to ask the question in a straightforward manner. He had +already found out that his old pupil had no power of keeping a secret +to herself when thus asked. She would sternly refuse to give any +reply; but she would make her refusal in such a manner as to tell the +whole truth. In fact, Rachel, among her accomplishments, had not the +power of telling a lie in such language as to make herself believed. +It was not that she would scruple in the least to declare to Mr. +Moss the very opposite to the truth in a matter in which he had, she +thought, no business to be inquisitive; but when she did so she had +no power to look the lie. You might say of her frequently that she +was a downright liar. But of all human beings whom you could meet she +was the least sly. "My dear child," the father used to say to her, +"words to you are worth nothing, unless it be to sing them. You can +make no impression with them in any other way." Therefore it was that +Mr. Moss felt that he could learn the truth from simply questioning +his pupil. + +"Miss O'Mahony, may I say a few words to you?" So said Mr. Moss, +having knocked at the door of Rachel's sitting-room. He had some +months ago fallen into the habit of announcing himself, when he had +come to give her lessons, and would inform the servant that he would +take up his own name. Rachel had done what she could do to put an end +to the practice, but it still prevailed. + +"Certainly, Mr. Moss. Was not the girl there to show you up?" + +"No doubt she was. But such ceremony between us is hardly necessary." + +"I should prefer to be warned of the coming of my master. I will see +to that in future. Such little ceremonies do have their uses." + +"Shall I go down and make her say that I am here, and then come up +again?" + +"It shall not be necessary, but you take a chair and begin!" Then Mr. +Moss considered how he had better do so. He knew well that the girl +would not answer kindly to such a question as he was desirous of +asking. And it might be that she would be very uncivil. He was by no +means a coward, but he had a vivid recollection of the gleam of her +dagger. He smiled, and she looked at him more suspiciously because of +his smile. He was sitting on a sofa opposite to her as she sat on a +music-stool which she had turned round, so as to face him, and he +fancied that he could see her right hand hide itself among the folds +of her dress. "Is it about the theatre?" + +"Well, it is;--and yet it isn't." + +"I wish it were something about the theatre. It always seems to come +more natural between you and me." + +"I want you to tell me what you did at last about Lord Castlewell's +money." + +"Why am I to tell you what I did?" + +"For friendship." + +"I do not feel any." + +"That's an uncivil word to say, mademoiselle." + +"But it's true. You have no business to ask me about the lord's +money, and I won't be questioned." + +"It will be so deleterious to you if you accept it." + +"I can take care of myself," she said, jumping off the chair. "I +shall have left this place now in another month, and shall utterly +disregard the words which anyone at your theatre may say of me. I +shall not tell you whether the lord has lent me money or not." + +"I know he has." + +"Very well. Then leave the room. Knowing as you do that I am living +here with my own father, your interference is grossly impertinent." + +"Your father is not going with you, I am afraid." She rushed at the +bell and pulled it till the bell rope came down from the wire, but +nobody answered the bell. "Can it be possible that you should not be +anxious to begin your new career under respectable auspices?" + +"I will not stand this. Leave the room, sir. This apartment is my +own." + +"Miss O'Mahony, you see my hand; with this I am ready to offer at +once to place you in a position in which the world would look up to +you." + +"You have done so before, Mr. Moss, and your doing so again is an +insult. It would not be done to any young lady unless she were on the +stage, and were thought on that account to be open to any man about +the theatre to say what he pleased to her." + +"Any gentleman is at liberty to make any lady an offer." + +"I have answered it. Now leave the room." + +"I cannot do so until I have heard that you have not taken money from +this reprobate." + +At the moment the door opened, and the reprobate entered the room. + +"Your servant told me that Mr. Moss was here, and therefore I walked +up at once," said the reprobate. + +"I am so much obliged to you," said Rachel. "Oh Lord Castlewell! I am +so much obliged to you. He tells me in the first place that you are a +reprobate." + +"Never mind me," said the lord. + +"I don't mind what he says of you. He declares that my character will +be gone for ever because you have lent my father some money." + +"So it will," said Moss, who was not afraid to stand up to his guns. + +"And how if she had accepted your offer?" + +"No one would have thought of it. Come, my lord, you know the +difference. I am anxious only to save her." + +"It is to her father I have lent the money, who explained to me the +somewhat cruel treatment he had received at the hands of the police. +I think you are making an ass of yourself, Mr. Moss." + +"Very well, my lord; very well," said Mr. Moss. "All the world no +doubt will know that you have lent the money to the Irish Landleaguer +because of your political sympathy with him, and will not think for a +minute that you have been attracted by our pretty young friend here. +It will not suspect that it is she who has paid for the loan!" + +"Mr. Moss, you are a brute," said the lord. + +"Can't he be turned out of the room?" asked Rachel. + +"Well, yes; it is possible," said the lord, who slowly prepared to +walk up and take some steps towards expelling Mr. Moss. + +"It shall not be necessary," said Mahomet M. M. "You could not get me +out, but there would be a terrible row in the house, which could not +fail to be disagreeable to Miss O'Mahony. I leave her in your hands, +and I do not think I could possibly leave her in worse. I have wished +to make her an honest woman; what you want of her you can explain +to herself." In saying this Mr. Moss walked downstairs and left the +house, feeling, as he went, that he had got the better both of the +lord and of the lady. + +With Mr. Moss there was a double motive, neither of which was very +bright, but both of which he followed with considerable energy. He +had at first been attracted by her good looks, which he had desired +to make his own--at the cheapest price at which they might be had +in the market. If marriage were necessary, so be it, but it might +be that the young lady would not be so exigeant. It was probably +the expression of some such feelings in the early days of their +acquaintance which had made him so odious to her. Then Frank Jones +had come forward; and like any good honest girl, in a position so +public, she had at once let the fact of Mr. Jones be made known, so +as to protect her. But it had not protected her, and Mr. Moss had +been doubly odious. Then, by degrees, he had become aware of the +value of her voice, and he perceived the charms that there were in +what he pictured to himself as a professional partnership as well as +a marriage. Various ideas floated through his mind, down even to the +creation of fresh names, grand married names, for his wife. And if +she could be got to see it in the light he saw it, what a stroke of +business they might do! He was aware that she expressed personal +dislike to him; but he did not think much of that. He did not in +the least understand the nature of such dislike as she exhibited. +He thought himself to be a very good-looking man. He was one of a +profession to which she also belonged. He had no idea that he was not +a gentleman but that she was a lady. He did not know that there were +such things. Madame Socani told him that this young woman was already +married to Mr. Jones, but had left that gentleman because he had no +money. He did not believe this; but in any case he would be willing +to risk it. The peril would be hers and not his. It was his object +to establish the partnership, and he did not even yet see any fatal +impediment to it. + +This lord who had been trapped by her beauty, by that and by her +theatrical standing, was an impediment, but could be removed. He had +known Lord Castlewell to be in love with a dozen singers, partly +because he thought himself to be a judge of music, and partly simply +because he had liked their looks. The lord had now taken a fancy to +Miss O'Mahony, and had begun by lending her money. That the father +should take the money instead of the daughter, was quite natural +to his thinking. But he might still succeed in looking after Miss +O'Mahony, and rescuing the singer from the lord. By keeping a close +watch on her he must make it impossible for the lord to hold her. +Therefore, when he went away, leaving the lord and the singer +together, he thought that for the present he had got the better of +both. + +"Why did he tell you that I was a reprobate?" said the lord, when he +found himself alone with the lady. + +"Well, perhaps it was because you are one, my lord," said Rachel, +laughing. She would constantly remember herself, and tell herself +that as long as she called him by his title, she was protecting +herself from that familiarity which would be dangerous. + +"I hope you don't think so." + +"Gentlemen generally are reprobates, I believe. It is not disgraceful +for a gentleman to be a reprobate, but it is pleasant. The young +women I daresay find it pleasant, but then it is disgraceful. I do +not mean to disgrace myself, Lord Castlewell." + +"I am sure you will not." + +"I want you to be sure of it, quite sure. I am a singing girl; but I +don't mean to be any man's mistress." He stared at her as she said +this. "And I don't mean to be any man's wife, unless I downright love +him. Now you may keep out of my way, if you please. I daresay you +are a reprobate, my lord; but with that I have got nothing to do. +Touching this money, I suppose father has not got it yet?" + +"I have sent it." + +"You are to get nothing for it, but simply to have it returned, +without interest, as soon as I have earned it. You have only to say +the word and I will take care that father shall send it you back +again." + +Lord Castlewell felt that the girl was very unlike others whom he +had known, and who had either rejected his offers with scorn or +had accepted them with delight. This young lady did neither. She +apparently accepted the proffered friendship, and simply desired him +to carry his reprobate qualities elsewhere. There was a frankness +about her which pleased him much, though it hardly tended to make him +in love with her. One thing he did resolve on the spur of the moment, +that he would never say a word to her which her father might not +hear. It was quite a new sensation to him, this of simple friendship +with a singer, with a singer whom he had met in the doubtful custody +of Mr. Moss; but he did believe her to be a good girl,--a good girl +who could speak out her mind freely; and as such he both respected +and liked her. "Of course I shan't take back the money till it +becomes due. You'll have to work hard for it before I get it." + +"I shall be quite contented to do that, my lord." Then the interview +was over and his lordship left the room. + +But Lord Castlewell felt as he went home that this girl was worth +more than other girls. She laughed at him for being a lord, but she +could accept a favour from him, and then tell him to his face that +he should do her no harm because she had accepted it. He had met +some terrible rebuffs in his career, the memory of which had been +unpleasant to him; and he had been greeted with many smiles, all of +which had been insipid. What should he do with this girl, so as to +make the best of her? The only thing that occurred to him was to +marry her! And yet such a marriage would be altogether out of his +line of life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE FUNDS. + + +The L200 was not spent in a manner of which Lord Castlewell would +have altogether approved. About the end of August Mr. O'Mahony was +summoned back to Ireland, and was induced, at a meeting held at the +Rotunda, to give certain pledges which justified the advanced Irish +party in putting him forward as a new member for the County of Cavan. +The advanced Irish party had no doubt been attracted by the eloquence +he had exhibited both in Galway and in London, and by the patriotic +sentiments which he had displayed. He was known to be a Republican, +and to look for the formation of a Republic to American aid. He had +expressed most sincere scorn for everything English, and professed +ideas as to Irish property generally in regard to which he was +altogether ignorant of their meaning. As he was a sincerely honest +man, he did think that something good for his old country would be +achieved by Home Rule; though how the Home-Rulers would set to work +when Home Rule should be the law of the land, he had not the remotest +conception. There were many reasons, therefore, why he should be a +fit member for an Irish county. But it must be admitted that he would +not have been so unanimously selected had all the peculiarities of +his mind been known. It might be probable that he would run riot +under the lash of his leader, as others have done both before and +since, when he should come to see all the wiles of that strategy +which he would be called upon to support. And in such case the +quarrel with him would be more internecine than with other foes, +such as English members, Scotch members, Conservative Irish members, +and Liberal Irish members, not sworn to follow certain leaders. A +recreant one out of twenty friends would be regarded with more bitter +hatred than perhaps six hundred and thirty ordinary enemies. It +might be, therefore, that a time of tribulation was in store for Mr. +O'Mahony, but he did not consider these matters very deeply when the +cheers rang loud in the hall of the Rotunda; nor did he then reflect +that he was about to spend in an injudicious manner the money which +must be earned by Rachel's future work. + +When Rachel had completed her engagement with Mr. Moss, it had been +intended that they should go down to Ambleside and there spend Lord +Castlewell's money in the humble innocent enjoyment of nature. There +had at that moment been nothing decided as to the County of Cavan. A +pork-butcher possessed of some small means and unlimited impudence +had put himself forward. But The Twenty had managed to put him +through his facings, and had found him to be very ignorant in his use +of the Queen's English. Now of late there had come up a notion that +the small party required to make up for the thinness of their members +by the strength of their eloquence. Practice makes perfect, and it is +not to be wondered at therefore if a large proportion of The Twenty +had become fluent. But more were wanted, and of our friend O'Mahony's +fluency there could be no doubt. Therefore he was sent for, and on +the very day of his arrival he proved to the patriotic spirits of +Dublin that he was the man for Cavan. Three days afterwards he went +down, and Cavan obediently accepted its man. With her father went +Rachel, and was carried through the towns of Virginia, Bailyborough, +and Ballyjamesduff, in great triumph on a one-horse car. + +This occurred about the end of August, and Lord Castlewell's L200 +was very soon spent. She had not thought much about it, but had been +quite willing to be the daughter of a Member of Parliament, if a +constituency could be found willing to select her father. She did not +think much of the duties of Parliament, if they came within the reach +of her father's ability. She did not in truth think that he could +under any circumstances do half a day's work. She had known what it +was to practise, and, having determined to succeed, she had worked +as only a singer can work who determines that she will succeed. Hour +after hour she had gone on before the looking-glass, and even Mr. +Moss had expressed his approval. But during the years that she had +been so at work, she had never seen her father do anything. She knew +that he talked what she called patriotic buncombe. It might be that +he would become a very fitting Member of Parliament, but Rachel had +her doubt. She could see, however, that the L200 quickly vanished +during their triumphant journeyings on the one-horse car. Everybody +in County Cavan seemed to know that there was L200 and no more to be +spent by the new member. There he was, however, Member of Parliament +for the County of Cavan, and his breast was filled with new +aspirations. Enmity, the bitterest enmity to everything English, +was the one lesson taught him. But he himself had other feelings. +What if he could talk over that Speaker, and that Prime Minister, +that Government generally, and all the House of Commons, and all +the House of Lords! Why should not England go her way and Ireland +hers,--England have her monarchy and Ireland her republic, but still +with some kind of union between them, as to the nature of which Mr. +O'Mahony had no fixed idea in his brain whatsoever. But he knew that +he could talk, and he knew also that he must now talk on an arena +for admission to which the public would not pay twenty-five cents or +more. His breast was much disturbed by the consideration that for all +the work which he proposed to do no wages were to be forthcoming. + +But while Mr. O'Mahony was being elected Member of Parliament for +County Cavan, things were going on very sadly in County Galway. +Wednesday, the 31st of August, had been the day fixed for the trial +of Pat Carroll; and the month of August was quickly wearing itself +away. But during the month of August Captain Clayton found occasion +more than once to come into the neighbourhood of Headford. And though +Mr. Jones was of an opinion that his presence there was adequately +accounted for by the details of the coming trial, the two girls +evidently thought that some other cause might be added to that which +Pat Carroll had produced. + +It must be explained that at this period Frank Jones was absent from +Morony Castle, looking out for emergency men who could be brought +down to the neighbourhood of Headford, in sufficient number to save +the crop on Mr. Jones's farm. And with him was Tom Daly, who had some +scheme in his own head with reference to his horses and his hounds. +Mr. Persse and Sir Jasper Lynch had been threatened with a wide +system of boycotting, unless they would give up Tom Daly's animals. +A decree had gone forth in the county, that nothing belonging to +the hunt should be allowed to live within its precincts. All the +bitterness and the cruelty and the horror arising from this order are +beyond the limit of this story. But it may be well to explain that at +the present moment Frank Jones was away from Castle Morony, working +hard on his father's behalf. + +And so were the girls working hard--making the butter, and cooking +the meat, and attending to the bedrooms. And Peter was busy with them +as their lieutenant. It might be thought that the present was no time +for love-making, and that Captain Clayton could not have been in the +mood. But it may be observed that at any period of special toil in a +family, when infinitely more has to be done than at any other time, +then love-making will go on with more than ordinary energy. Edith +was generally to be found with her hair tucked tight off her face +and enveloped in a coarse dairymaid's apron, and Ada, when she ran +downstairs, would do so with a housemaid's dusting-brush at her +girdle, and they were neither of them, when so attired, in the +least afraid of encountering Captain Clayton as he would come out +from their father's room. All the world knew that they were being +boycotted, and very happy the girls were during the process. "Poor +papa" did not like it so well. Poor papa thought of his banker's +account, or rather of that bank at which there was, so to say, no +longer any account. But the girls were light of heart, and in the +pride of their youth. But, alas! they had both of them blundered +frightfully. It was Edith, Edith the prudent, Edith the wise, Edith, +who was supposed to know everything, who had first gone astray in +her blundering, and had taken Ada with her; but the story with its +details must be told. + +"My pet," she said to her elder sister, as they were standing +together at the kitchen dresser, "I know he means to speak to you +to-day." + +"What nonsense, Edith!" + +"It has to be done some day, you know. And he is just the man to come +upon one in the time of one's dire distress. Of course we haven't got +a halfpenny now belonging to us. I was thinking only the other day +how comfortable it is that we never go out of the house because we +haven't the means to buy boots. Now Captain Clayton is just the man +to be doubly attracted by such penury." + +"I don't know why a man is to make an offer to a girl just because he +finds her working like a housemaid." + +"I do. I can see it all. He is just the man to take you in his arms +because he found you peeling potatoes." + +"I beg he will do nothing of the kind," said Ada. "He has never said +a word to me, or I to him, to justify such a proceeding. I should at +once hit him over the head with my brush." + +"Here he comes, and now we will see how far I understand such +matters." + +"Don't go, Edith," said Ada. "Pray don't go. If you go I shall go +with you. These things ought always to come naturally,--that is if +they come at all." + +It did not "come" at that moment, for Edith was so far mistaken that +Captain Clayton, after saying a few words to the girls, passed on +out of the back-door, intent on special business. "What a wretched +individual he is," said Edith. "Fancy pinning one's character on +the doings of such a man as that. However, he will be back again +to dinner, and you will not be so hard upon him then with your +dusting-brush." + +Before dinner the Captain did return, and found himself alone with +Edith in the kitchen. It was her turn on this occasion to send up +whatever meal in the shape of dinner Castle Morony could afford. +"There you have it, sir," she said, pointing to a boiled neck of +mutton, which had been cut from the remains of a sheep sent in to +supply the family wants. + +"I see," said he. "It will make a very good dinner,--or a very bad +one, according to circumstances, as they may fall out before the +dinner leaves the kitchen." + +"Then they will have to fall out very quickly," said Edith. But the +colour had flown to her face, and in that moment she had learned to +suspect the truth. And her mind flew back rapidly over all her doings +and sayings for the last three months. If it was so, she could never +forgive herself. If it was so, Ada would never forgive her. If it was +so, they two and Captain Yorke Clayton must be separated for ever. +"Well; what is it?" she said, roughly. The joint of meat had fallen +from her hands, and she looked up at Captain Clayton with all the +anger she could bring into her face. + +"Edith," he said, "you surely know that I love you." + +"I know nothing of the kind. There can be no reason why I should know +it,--why I should guess it. It cannot be so without grievous wrong on +your part." + +"What wrong?" + +"Base wrong done to my sister," she answered. Then she remembered +that she had betrayed her sister, and she remembered too how much of +the supposed love-making had been done by her own words, and not by +any spoken by Captain Clayton. And there came upon her at that moment +a remembrance also of that other moment in which she had acknowledged +to herself that she had loved this man, and had told herself that the +love was vain, and had sworn to herself that she would never stand +in Ada's way, and had promised to herself that all things should be +happy to her as this man's sister-in-law. Acting then on this idea +merely because Ada had been beautiful she had gone to work,--and this +had come of it! In that minute that was allowed to her as the boiled +mutton was cooling on the dresser beneath her hand, all this passed +through her mind. + +"Wrong done by me to Ada!" said the Captain. + +"I have said it; but if you are a gentleman you will forget it. I +know that you are a gentleman,--a gallant man, such as few I think +exist anywhere. Captain Clayton, there are but two of us. Take the +best; take the fairest; take the sweetest. Let all this be as though +it had never been spoken. I will be such a sister to you as no man +ever won for himself. And Ada will be as loving a wife as ever graced +a man's home. Let it be so, and I will bless every day of your life." + +"No," he said slowly, "I cannot let it be like that. I have learned +to love you and you only, and I thought that you had known it." + +"Never!" + +"I had thought so. It cannot be as you propose. I shall never speak +of your sister to a living man. I shall never whisper a word of her +regard even here in her own family. But I cannot change my heart as +you propose. Your sister is beautiful, and sweet, and good; but she +is not the girl who has crept into my heart, and made a lasting home +for herself there,--if the girl who has done so would but accept +it. Ada is not the girl whose brightness, whose bravery, whose wit +and ready spirit have won me. These things go, I think, without any +effort. I have known that there has been no attempt on your part; but +the thing has been done and I had hoped that you were aware of it. It +cannot now be undone. I cannot be passed on to another. Here, here, +here is what I want," and he put his two hands upon her shoulders. +"There is no other girl in all Ireland that can supply her place if +she be lost to me." + +He had spoken very solemnly, and she had stood there in solemn mood +listening to him. By degrees the conviction had come upon her that he +was in earnest, and was not to be changed in his purpose by anything +that she could say to him. She had blundered, had blundered awfully. +She had thought that with a man beauty would be everything; but with +this man beauty had been nothing; nor had good temper and a sense of +duty availed anything. She rushed into the dining-room carrying the +boiled mutton with her, and he followed. What should she do now? Ada +would yield--would give him up--would retire into the background, and +would declare that Edith should be made happy, but would never lift +up her head again. And she--she herself--could also give him up, +and would lift up her head again. She knew that she had a power of +bearing sorrow, and going on with the work of the world, in spite of +all troubles, which Ada did not possess. It might, therefore, have +all been settled, but that the man was stubborn, and would not be +changed. "Of course, he is a man," said Edith to herself, as she put +the mutton down. "Of course he must have it all to please himself. Of +course he will be selfish." + +"I thought you were never coming with our morsel of dinner," said Mr. +Jones. + +"Here is the morsel of dinner; but I could have dished it in half the +time if Captain Clayton had not been there." + +"Of course I am the offender," said he, as he sat down. "And now I +have forgotten to bring the potatoes." So he started off, and met +Florian at the door coming in with them. Mr. Jones carved the mutton, +and Captain Clayton was helped first. In a boycotted house you will +always find that the gentlemen are helped before the ladies. It +is a part of the principle of boycotting that women shall subject +themselves. + +Captain Clayton, after his first little stir about the potatoes, ate +his dinner in perfect silence. That which had taken place upset him +more completely than the rifles of two or three Landleaguers. Mr. +Jones was also silent. He was a man at the present moment nearly +overwhelmed by his cares. And Ada, too, was silent. As Edith looked +at her furtively she began to fear that her pet suspected something. +There was a look of suffering in her face which Edith could read, +though it was not plain enough written there to be legible to others. +Her father and Florian had no key by which to read it, and Captain +Clayton never allowed his eyes to turn towards Ada's face. But it was +imperative on both that they should not all fall into some feeling of +special sorrow through their silence. "It is just one week more," she +said, "before you men must be at Galway." + +"Only one week," said Florian. + +"It will be much better to have it over," said the father. "I do not +think you need come back at all, but start at once from Galway. Your +sisters can bring what things you want, and say good-bye at Athenry." + +"My poor Florian," said Edith. + +"I shan't mind it so much when I get to England," said the boy. "I +suppose I shall come home for the Christmas holidays." + +"I don't know about that," said the father. "It will depend upon the +state of the country." + +"You will come and meet him, Ada?" asked Edith. + +"I suppose so," said Ada. And her sister knew from the tone of her +voice that some evil was already suspected. + +There was nothing more said that night till Edith and Ada were +together. Mr. Jones lingered with his daughters, and the Captain took +Florian out about the orchard, thinking it well to make him used +to whatever danger might come to him from being out of the house. +"They will never come where they will be sure to be known," said the +Captain; "and known by various witnesses. And they won't come for +the chance of a pop shot. I am getting to know their ways as well as +though I had lived there all my life. They count on the acquittal of +Pat Carroll as a certainty. Whatever I may be, you are tolerably safe +as long as that is the case." + +"They may shoot me in mistake for you," said the boy. + +"Well, yes; that is so. Let us go back to the house. But I don't +think there would be any danger to-night anyway." Then they returned, +and found Mr. Jones alone in the dining-room. He was very melancholy +in these days, as a man must be whom ruin stares in the face. + +Edith had followed Ada upstairs to the bedrooms, and had crept after +her into that which had been prepared for Captain Clayton. She could +see now by the lingering light of an August evening that a tear had +fallen from each eye, and had slowly run down her sister's cheeks. +"Oh, Ada, dear Ada, what is troubling you?" + +"Nothing,--much." + +"My girl, my beauty, my darling! Much or little, what is it? Cannot +you tell me?" + +"He cares nothing for me," said Ada, laying her hand upon the pillow, +thus indicating the "he" whom she intended. Edith answered not a +word, but pressed her arm tight round her sister's waist. "It is so," +said Ada, turning round upon her sister as though to rebuke her. "You +know that it is so." + +"My beauty, my own one," said Edith, kissing her. + +"You know it is so. He has told you. It is not me that he loves; +it is you. You are his chosen one. I am nothing to him,--nothing, +nothing." Then she flung herself down upon the bed which her own +hands had prepared for him. + +It was all true. As the assertions had come from her one by one, +Edith had found herself unable to deny a tittle of what was said. +"Ada, if you knew my heart to you." + +"What good is it? Why did you teach me to believe a falsehood?" + +"Oh! you will kill me if you accuse me. I have been so true to you." +Then Ada turned round upon the bed, and hid her face for a few +minutes upon the pillow. "Ada, have I not been true to you?" + +"But that you should have been so much mistaken;--you, who know +everything." + +"I have not known him," said Edith. + +"But you will," said Ada. "You will be his wife." + +"Never!" ejaculated the other. + +Then slowly, Ada got up from the bed and shook her hair from off her +face and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. "It must be so," she +said. "Of course it must, as he wishes it. He must have all that he +desires." + +"No, not so. He shall never have this." + +"Yes, Edith, he must and he shall. Do you not know that you loved him +before you ever bade me to do so? But why, oh why did you ever make +that great mistake? And why was I so foolish as to have believed +you? Come," she said, "I must make his bed for him once again. He +will be here soon now and we must be away." Then she did obliterate +the traces of her form which her figure had made upon the bed, and +smoothed the pillow, and wiped away the mark of her tear which +had fallen on it. "Come, Edith, come," said she, "let us go and +understand each other. He knows, for you have told him, but no one +else need know. He shall be your husband, and I will be his sister, +and all shall be bright between you." + +"Never," said Edith. "Never! He will never be married if he waits for +me." + +"My dear one, you shall be his wife," said Ada. Such were the last +words which passed between them on that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE ROAD TO BALLYGLUNIN. + + +The days ran on for the trial of Pat Carroll, but Edith did not again +see Captain Clayton. There came tidings to Morony Castle of the new +honours which Mr. O'Mahony had achieved. + +"I don't know that the country will be much the wiser for his +services," said Captain Clayton. "He will go altogether with those +wretched Landleaguers." + +"He will be the best of the lot," said Mr. Jones. + +"It is saying very little for him," said Captain Clayton. + +"He is an honest man, and I take him to be the only honest man among +them." + +"He won't remain a Landleaguer long if he is honest. But what about +his daughter?" + +"Frank has seen her down in Cavan, and declares that she is about to +make any amount of money at the London theatres." + +"I take it they will find it quite a new thing to have a Member of +Parliament among their number with an income," said Clayton. "But +I'll bet any man a new hat that there is a split between him and them +before the next Parliament is half over." + +This took place during one of the visits which Captain Clayton had +made to Morony Castle in reference to the coming trial. Florian had +been already sent on to Mr. Blake's of Carnlough, and was to be +picked up there on that very afternoon by Mr. Jones, and driven to +Ballyglunin, so as to be taken from thence to the assize town by +train. This was thought to be most expedient, as the boy would not be +on the road for above half an hour. + +After Captain Clayton had gone, Mr. Jones asked after Edith, and was +told that she was away in Headford. She had walked into town to call +on Mrs. Armstrong, with a view of getting a few articles which Mrs. +Armstrong had promised to buy for her. Such was the story as given to +Mr. Jones, and fully believed by him; but the reader may be permitted +to think that the young lady was not anxious to meet the young +gentleman. + +"Ada," said Mr. Jones suddenly, "is there anything between Edith and +Captain Clayton?" + +"What makes you ask, papa?" + +"Because Peter has hinted it. I do not care to have such things told +me of my own family by the servant." + +"Yes, there is, papa," said Ada boldly. "Captain Clayton is in love +with Edith." + +"This is no time for marrying or giving in marriage." + +Ada made no reply, but thought that it must at the same time be a +very good time for becoming engaged. It would have been so for her +had such been her luck. But of herself she said nothing. She had +made her statement openly and bravely to her sister, so that there +should be no departing from it. Mr. Jones said nothing further at the +moment, but before the girls had separated for the night Ada had told +Edith what had occurred. + +At that time they were in the house alone together,--alone as +regarded the family, though they still had the protection of Peter. +Mr. Jones had started on his journey to Galway. + +"Papa," said Ada, "knows all about Yorke." + +"Knows what?" demanded Edith. + +"That you and he are engaged together." + +"He knows more than I do, then. He knows more than I ever shall know. +Ada, you should not have said so. It will have to be all unsaid." + +"Not at all, dear." + +"It will all have to be unsaid. Have you been speaking to Captain +Clayton on the subject?" + +"Not a word. Indeed it was not I who told papa. It was Peter. Peter +said that there was something between you and him, and papa asked me. +I told papa that he was in love with you. That was true at any rate. +You won't deny that?" + +"I will deny anything that connects my name with that of Captain +Yorke Clayton." + +But Ada had determined how that matter should arrange itself. Since +the blow had first fallen on her, she had had time to think of +it,--and she had thought of it. Edith had done her best for her +(presuming that this brave Captain was the best) and she in return +would do her best for Edith. No one knew the whole story but they +two. They were to be to her the dearest friends of her future life, +and she would not let the knowledge of such a story stand in her way +or theirs. + +The train was to start from the Ballyglunin station for Athenry at +4.20 p.m. It would then have left Tuam for Athenry, where it would +fall into the day mail-train from Dublin to Galway. It was something +out of the way for Mr. Jones to call at Carnlough; but Carnlough was +not three miles from Ballyglunin, and Mr. Jones made his arrangements +accordingly. He called at Carnlough, and there took up the boy on +his outside car. Peter had come with him, so as to take back the +car to Morony Castle. But Peter had made himself of late somewhat +disagreeable, and Mr. Jones had in truth been sulky. + +"Look here, Peter," he had said, speaking from one side of the car +to the other, "if you are afraid to come to Ballyglunin with me and +Master Flory, say so, and get down." + +"I'm not afeared, Mr. Jones." + +"Then don't say so. I don't believe you are afeared as you call it." + +"Then why do you be talking at me like that, sir?" + +"I don't think you are a coward, but you are anxious to make the +most of your services on my behalf. You are telling everyone that +something special is due to you for staying in a boycotted house. +It's a kind of service for which I am grateful, but I can't be +grateful and pay too." + +"Why do you talk to a poor boy in that way?" + +"So that the poor boy may understand me. You are willing, I believe, +to stick to your old master,--from sheer good heart. But you like to +talk about it. Now I don't like to hear about it." After that Peter +drove on in silence till they came to Carnlough. + +The car had been seen coming up the avenue, and Mr. Blake, with his +wife and Florian, were standing on the door-steps. "Now do take care +of the poor dear boy," said Mrs. Blake. "There are such dreadful +stories told of horrible men about the country." + +"Don't mention such nonsense, Winifred," said her husband, "trying +to frighten the boy. There isn't a human being between this and +Ballyglunin for whom I won't be responsible. Till you come to a mile +of the station it's all my own property." + +"But they can shoot--" Then Mrs. Blake left the rest of her sentence +unspoken, having been checked by her husband's eye. The boy, however, +had heard it and trembled. + +"Come along, Florian," said the father. "Get up along with Peter." +The attempt which he had made to live with his son on affectionate +paternal relations had hardly been successful. The boy had been told +so much of murderers that he had been made to fear. Peter,--and other +Peters about the country,--had filled his mind with sad foreboding. +And there had always been something timid, something almost unmanly +in his nature. He had seemed to prefer to shrink and cower and be +mysterious with the Carrolls to coming forward boldly with such a man +as Yorke Clayton. The girls had seen this, and had declared that he +was no more than a boy; but his father had seen it and had made no +such allowance. And now he saw that he trembled. But Florian got up +on the car, and Peter drove them off to Ballyglunin. + +Carnlough was not above three Irish miles from Ballyglunin; and Mr. +Jones started on the little journey without a misgiving. He sat alone +on the near side of the car, and Florian sat on the other, together +with Peter who was driving. The horse was a heavy, slow-going animal, +rough and hairy in its coat, but trustworthy and an old servant. +There had been a time when Mr. Jones kept a carriage, but that had +been before the bad times had begun. The carriage horses had been +sold after the flood,--as Ada had called the memorable incident; +and now there were but three cart horses at Morony Castle, of which +this one animal alone was habitually driven in the car. The floods, +indeed, had now retreated from the lands of Ballintubber and the +flood gates were mended; but there would be no crop of hay on all +those eighty acres this year, and Mr. Jones was in no condition to +replace his private stud. As he went along on this present journey he +was thinking bitterly of the injury which had been done him. He had +lost over two hundred tons of hay, and each ton of hay would have +been worth three pounds ten shillings. He had been unable to get a +sluice gate mended till men had been brought together from Monaghan +and parts of Cavan to mend them for him, and he had even to send +these men into Limerick to buy the material, as not a piece of timber +could be procured in Galway for the use of a household so well +boycotted as was Morony Castle. There had been also various calls on +Mr. Jones from those relatives whose money had been left as mortgages +on his property. And no rent had as yet come in, although various +tenants had been necessarily evicted. Every man's hand was against +him; so that there was no money in his coffers. He who had chiefly +sinned against him,--who was the first to sin,--was the sinner whom +he was about to prosecute at Galway. It must be supposed, therefore, +that he was not in a good humour as he was driven along the road to +Ballyglunin. + +They had not yet passed the boundary fence between Carnlough and +the property of one of the numerous race of Bodkins, when Mr. Jones +saw a mask, which he supposed to be a mask worn by a man, through a +hole in the wall just in front of him, but high above his head. And +at the same moment he could see the muzzles of a double-barrelled +rifle presented through the hole in the wall. What he saw he saw +but for a few seconds; but he could see it plainly. He saw it so +plainly as to be able afterwards to swear to a black mask, and to a +double-barrelled gun. Then a trigger was pulled, and one bullet--the +second--went through the collar of his own coat, while the first had +had a more fatal and truer aim. The father jumped up and turning +round saw that his boy had fallen to the ground. "Oh, my God!" said +Peter, and he stopped the horse suddenly. The place was one where the +commencement had been made of a cutting in the road during the potato +failure of 1846; so that the wall and the rifle which had been passed +through it were about four or five feet above the car. Mr. Jones +rushed up the elevation, and clambered, he did not know how, into +the field. There he saw the back of a man speeding along from the +wall, and in the man's hand there was a gun. Mr. Jones looked around +but there was no one nigh him but Peter, the old servant, and his +dying boy. He could see, however, that the man who ran was short of +stature. + +But though his rage had sufficed to carry him up from the road into +the field, the idea that his son had been shot caused him to pause +as he ran, and to return to the road. When he got there he found +two girls about seventeen and eighteen years of age, one sitting on +the road with Florian's head on her lap, and the other kneeling and +holding the boy's hands. "Oh, yer honour! sorrow a taste in life do +we know about it," said the kneeling girl. + +"Not a sight did we see, or a sound did we hear," said the other, +"only the going off of the blunderbuss. Oh, wirra shure! oh, musha, +musha! and it's dead he is, the darling boy." Mr. Jones came round +and picked up poor Florian and laid him on the car. The bullet had +gone true to its mark and had buried itself in his brain. There was +the end of poor Florian Jones and all his troubles. The father did +not say a word, not even in reply to Peter's wailings or to the +girls' easy sorrow; but, taking the rein in his own hands, drove the +car with the body on it back to Carnlough. + +We can hardly analyse the father's mind as he went. Not a tear came +to his relief. Nor during this half hour can he hardly have been said +to sorrow. An intensity of wrath filled his breast. He had spent his +time for many a long year in doing all in his power for those around +him, and now they had brought him to this. They had robbed him of his +boy's heart. They had taught his boy to be one of them, and to be +untrue to his own people. And now, because he had yielded to better +teachings, they had murdered him. They had taught his boy to be a +coward; for even in his bereavement he remembered poor Florian's +failing. The accursed Papist people were all cowards down to their +backbones. So he said of them in his rage. There was not one of +them who could look any peril in the face as did Yorke Clayton or +his son Frank. But they were terribly powerful in their wretched +want of manliness. They could murder, and were protected in their +bloodthirstiness one by another. He did not doubt but that those +two girls who were wailing on the road knew well enough who was the +murderer, but no one would tell in this accursed, unhallowed, godless +country. The honour and honesty of one man did not, in these days, +prompt another to abstain from vice. The only heroism left in the +country was the heroism of mystery, of secret bloodshed and of hidden +attacks. + +He had driven back methodically to Carnlough gates, but he hesitated +to carry his burden up to the hall-door. Would it not be better for +him at once to go home, and there to endure the suffering that was +in store for him? But he remembered that it would behove him to take +what steps might be possible for tracing the murderer. That by no +steps could anything be done, he was sure; but still the attempt was +necessary. He had, however, paused a minute or two at the open gate +when he was rebuked by Peter. "Shure yer honour is going up to the +house to get the constables to scour the counthry." + +"Scour the country!" said the father. "All the country will turn out +to defend the murderer of my boy." But he drove up to the front, and +Peter knocked at the door. + +"Good heaven, Jones!" said Mr. Blake, as he looked at the car and its +occupant. The poor boy's head was supported on the pillow behind the +driver's seat, on which no one sat. Peter held him by both his feet, +and Mr. Jones had his hand within his grasp. + +"So it is," said the father. "You know where they have cut the road +just where your property meres with Bodkin's. There was a man above +there who had loop-holed the wall. I saw his face wearing a mask as +plain as I can see yours. And he had a double-barrelled gun. He fired +the two shots, and my boy was killed by the first." + +"They have struck you too on the collar of your coat." + +"I got into the field with the murderer, and I could have caught the +man had I been younger. But what would have been the use? No jury +would have found him guilty. What am I to do? Oh, God! what am I to +do?" Mrs. Blake and her daughter were now out upon the steps, and +were filling the hall with their wailings. "Tell me, Blake, what had +I better do?" Then Mr. Blake decided that the body should remain +there that night, and Mr. Jones also, and that the police should be +sent for to do whatever might seem fitting to the policemen's mind. +Peter was sent off to Morony Castle with such a letter as Miss Blake +was able to write to the two Jones girls. The police came from Tuam, +but the result of their enquiries on that night need not be told +here. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE GALWAY COURT HOUSE. + + +There was a feeling very general in the county that the murder had +been committed by the man named Lax, who was known to have been in +the neighbourhood lately, and was declared by his friends at Headford +to be now in Galway, waiting for the trial of Pat Carroll. But there +seemed to be a feeling about the country that Florian Jones had +deserved his fate. He had, it was said, been untrue to his religion. +He had given a solemn promise to Father Brosnan,--of what nature was +not generally known,--and had broken it. "The bittherness of the +Orange feud was in his blood," said Father Brosnan. But neither did +he explain the meaning of what he said, as none of the Jones family +had ever been Orangemen. But the idea was common about Tuam and +Headford that Pat Carroll was a martyr, and that Florian had been +persuaded to turn Protestant in order that he might give false +evidence against him. The reader, however, must understand that +Florian still professed the Catholic religion at the moment of his +death, and that all Headford was aware that Pat Carroll had broken +the sluice gate at Ballintubber. + +After an interval of two days the trial was about to go on at Galway +in spite of the murder. It was quite true that by nothing could the +breath of life be restored to Florian Jones. His evidence, such as it +was, could now be taken only from his deposition. And such evidence +was regarded as being very unfair both on one side and on the other. +As given against Pat Carroll it was regarded as unfair, as being +incapable of subjection to cross-examination. The boy's evidence had +been extracted from him by his parents and by Captain Yorke Clayton, +in opposition to the statements which had been made scores of times +by himself on the other side, and which, if true, would all tend to +exonerate the prisoner. It had been the intention of Mr. O'Donnell, +the senior counsel employed to defend Carroll, to insist, with the +greatest severity, on the lies told by the poor boy. It was this +treatment which Florian had especially feared. There could be no such +treatment now; but Mr. O'Donnell would know well how to insist on +the injustice of the deposition, in which no allusion would be made +to the falsehood previously told. But on the other side it was said +that the witness had been removed so that his evidence should not be +given. They must now depend solely on the statement of Terry Carroll, +Pat's brother, and who also had lied terribly before he told the +truth. And he, too, was condemned more bitterly, even by Mr. Jones +and his friends, in that he was giving evidence against his brother, +than had he continued to lie on his behalf. The circumstances being +such as they were, it was felt to be almost impossible to secure +the conviction of Pat Carroll for the offence he had committed. And +yet there were certainly a dozen persons who had seen that offence +committed in the light of day, and many other dozens who knew by whom +the offence had been committed. + +And, indeed, the feeling had become common through the country that +all the lawyers and judges in Ireland,--the lawyers and judges that +is who were opposed to the Landleague,--could not secure a conviction +of any kind against prisoners whom the Landleague was bound to +support. It had come to be whispered about, that there were men in +the County of Galway,--and men also in other counties,--too strong +for the Government, men who could beat the Government on any point, +men whom no jury could be brought to convict by any evidence; men who +boasted of the possession of certain secret powers,--which generally +meant murder. It came to be believed that these men were possessed +of certain mysterious capabilities which the police could not handle, +nor the magistrates touch. And the danger to be feared from these +men arose chiefly from the belief in them which had become common. +It was not that they could do anything special if left to their own +devices, but that the crowds by whom they were surrounded trembled at +their existence. The man living next to you, ignorant, and a Roman +Catholic, inspired with some mysterious awe, would wish in his heart +that the country was rid of such fire-brands. He knew well that the +country, and he as part of the country, had more to get from law and +order than from murder and misrule. But murder and misrule had so +raised their heads for the present as to make themselves appear to +him more powerful than law and order. Mr. Lax, and others like him, +were keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining this belief in +their mysterious power. + +The trial came on, having been delayed two days by the murder of poor +Florian Jones. His body had, in the meantime, been taken home, and +the only visitor received at Morony Castle had been Yorke Clayton. On +his coming he had been at first closeted with Mr. Jones, and had then +gone out and seen the two girls together. He had taken Ada's hand +first and then Edith's, but he had held Edith's the longer. The girls +had known that it was so, but neither of them had said a word to +rebuke him. "Who was it?" asked Ada. + +Clayton shook his head and ground his teeth. "Do you know, or have +you an idea? You know so much about the country," said Edith. + +"To you two, but to you only, I do know. He and I cannot exist +together. The man's name is Lax." + +It may be imagined that the trial was not commenced at Galway without +the expression of much sympathy for Mr. Jones and the family at +Morony Castle. It is hard to explain the different feelings which +existed, feelings exactly opposed to each other, but which still were +both in their way general and true. He was "poor Mr. Jones," who had +lost his son, and, worse still, his eighty acres of grass, and he +was also "that fellow Jones," that enemy to the Landleague, whom it +behoved all patriotic Irishmen to get the better of and to conquer. +Florian had been murdered on the 30th of August, which was a Tuesday, +and the trial had been postponed until Friday, the 2nd of September. +It was understood that the boy was to be buried at Headford, on +Saturday, the 3rd; but, nevertheless, the father was in the assize +town on the Friday. He was in the town, and at eleven o'clock he took +his place in the Crown Court. He was a man who was still continually +summoned as a grand juror, and as such had no difficulty in securing +for himself a place. To the right of the judge sat the twelve jurors +who had been summoned to try the case, and to the left was the grand +jurors' box, in which Mr. Jones took his seat early in the day. And +Frank was also in the court, and had been stopped by no one when he +accompanied his father into the grand jurors' box. + +But the court was crowded in a wonderful manner, so that they who +understood the ways of criminal courts in Ireland knew that something +special was boded. As soon as Mr. Justice Parry took his seat, it was +seen that the court was much more than ordinarily filled, and was +filled by men who did not make themselves amenable to the police. +Many were the instructions given by the judge who had been selected +with a special view to this trial. Judge Parry was a Roman Catholic, +who had sat in the House of Commons as a strong Liberal, had been +Attorney-General to a Liberal Government, and had been suspected of +holding Home-Rule sentiments. But men, when they become judges, are +apt to change their ideas. And Judge Parry was now known to be a firm +man, whom nothing would turn from the execution of his duty. There +had been many Judge Parrys in Ireland, who have all gone the same +gait, and have followed the same course when they have accepted the +ermine. A man is at liberty to indulge what vagaries he pleases, as +long as he is simply a Member of Parliament. But a judge is not at +liberty. He now gave special instructions to the officers of the +court to keep quiet and to preserve order. But the court was full, +densely crowded; and the noise which arose from the crowd was only +the noise as of people whispering loudly among themselves. + +The jury was quickly sworn and the trial was set on foot. Pat Carroll +was made to stand up in the dock, and Mr. Jones looked at the face of +the man who had been the first on his property to show his hostility +to the idea of paying rent. He and Lax had been great friends, and it +was known that Lax had sworn that in a short time not a shilling of +rent should be paid in the County Mayo. From that assurance all these +troubles had come. + +Then the Attorney-General opened the case, and to tell the truth, he +made a speech which though very eloquent, was longer than necessary. +He spoke of the dreadful state of the country, a matter which he +might have left to the judge, and almost burst into tears when he +alluded to the condition of Mr. Jones, the gentleman who sat opposite +to him. And he spoke at full length of the evidence of the poor boy +whose deposition he held in his hand, which he told the jury he would +read to them later on in the day. No doubt the lad had deceived his +father since the offence had been committed. He had long declared +that he knew nothing of the perpetrators. The boy had seemed to +entertain in his mind certain ideas friendly to the Landleague, and +had made promises on behalf of Landleaguers to which he had long +adhered. But his father had at last succeeded, and the truth had +been forthcoming. His lordship would instruct them how far the boy's +deposition could be accepted as evidence, and how far it must fail. +And so at last the Attorney-General brought his eloquent speech to an +end. + +And now there arose a murmuring sound in the court, and a stirring of +feet and a moving of shoulders, louder than that which had been heard +before. The judge, there on his bench, looking out from under his +bushy eyebrows, could see that the people before him were all of one +class. And he could see also that the half-dozen policemen who were +kept close among the crowd, were so pressed as to be hardly masters +of their own actions. He called out a word even from the bench in +which there was something as to clearing the court; but no attempt +to clear the court was made or was apparently possible. The first +witness was summoned, and an attempt was made to bring him up through +the dock into the witness-box. This witness was Terry Carroll, the +brother of Pat, and was known to be there that he might swear away +his brother's liberty. His head no sooner appeared, as about to leave +the dock, than the whole court was filled with a yell of hatred. +There were two policemen standing between the two brothers, but Pat +only turned round and looked at the traitor with scorn. But the +voices through the court sounded louder and more venomous as Terry +Carroll stepped out of the dock among the policemen who were to make +an avenue for him up to the witness-box. + +It was the last step he ever made. At that moment the flash of a +pistol was seen in the court; of a pistol close at the man's ear, and +Terry Carroll was a dead man. The pistol had touched his head as it +had been fired, so that there had been no chance of escape. In this +way was the other witness removed, who had been brought thither by +the Crown to give evidence as to the demolition of Mr. Jones's flood +gates. And it was said afterwards,--for weeks afterwards,--that such +should be the fate of all witnesses who appeared in the west of +Ireland to obey the behests of the Crown. + +Then was seen the reason why the special crowd had been gathered +there, and of what nature were the men who had swarmed into court. +Clayton, who had been sitting at the end of the row of barristers, +jumped up over the back of the bench and rushed in among the people, +who now tried simply to hold their own places, and appeared neither +to be anxious to go in or out. "Tear an' ages, Musther Clayton, what +are you after jumping on to a fellow that way." This was said by a +brawny Miletian, on to whose shoulders our friend had leaped, meaning +to get down among the crowd. But the Miletian had struck him hard, +and would have knocked him down had there been room enough for him on +which to fall. But Clayton had minded the blow not at all, and had +minded the judge as little, making his way in through the crowd over +the dead body of Terry Carroll. He had been aware that Lax was in the +court, and had seated himself opposite to the place where the man +had stood. But Lax had moved himself during the Attorney-General's +speech, either with the view of avoiding the Captain's eyes,--or, if +he were to be the murderer, of finding the best place from which the +deed could be done. If this had been his object, certainly the place +had been well selected. It was afterwards stated, that though fifty +people at the judge's end of the court had seen the pistol, no eyes +had seen the face of him who held it. Many faces had been seen, but +nobody could connect a single face with the pistol. And it was proved +also that the ball had entered the head just under the ear, with a +slant upwards towards the brain, as though the weapon had been used +by someone crouching towards the ground. + +Clayton made his way out of court, followed by the faithful Hunter, +and was soon surrounded by half a score of policemen. Hunter was left +to watch the door of the court, because he was well acquainted with +Lax, and because should Lax come across Hunter, "God help Mr. Lax!" +as Clayton expressed himself. And others were sent by twos and threes +through the city to catch this man if it were possible, or to obtain +tidings respecting him. "A man cannot bury himself under the ground," +said Clayton; "we have always this pull upon them, that they cannot +make themselves invisible." But in this case it almost did appear +that Mr. Lax had the power. + +Though Pat Carroll was not at once set at liberty, his trial was +brought to an end. It was felt to be impossible to send the case to +the jury when the only two witnesses belonging to the Crown had been +murdered. The prisoner was remanded, or sent back to gaol, so that +the Crown might look for more evidence if more might chance to be +found, and everybody else connected in the matter was sent home. A +dark gloom settled itself on Galway, and men were heard to whisper +among themselves that the Queen's laws were no longer in force. And +there was a rowdy readiness to oppose all force, the force of the +police for instance, and the force of the military. There were men +there who seemed to think that now had come the good time when they +might knock anyone on the head at their leisure. It did not come +quite to this, as the police were still combined, and their enemies +were not so. But such men as Captain Clayton began to look as though +they doubted what would become of it. "If he thinks he is big enough +to catch a hold of Terry Lax and keep him, he'll precious soon find +his mistake." This was said by Con Heffernan of Captain Clayton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +MR. O'MAHONY AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. + + +Frank Jones had travelled backwards and forwards between Morony +Castle and the North more than once since these things were doing, +and had met the new member for Cavan together with Rachel on the very +evening on which poor Florian had been murdered. It was not till the +next morning that the news had become generally known. "I am sorry to +hear, Frank," said Rachel, "that you are all doing so badly at Morony +Castle." + +"Badly enough." + +"Are you fetching all these people down from here to do the work the +men there ought to do? How are the men there to get their wages?" + +"That is the essence of boycotting," said Frank. "The men there won't +get their wages, and can only live by robbing the governor and men +like him of their rents. And in that way they can't live long. +Everything will be disturbed and ruined." + +"It seems to me," said Rachel, "that the whole country is coming to +an end." + +"Your father is Member of Parliament now, and of course he will set +it all to rights." + +"He will at any rate do his best to do so," said Rachel, "and will +rob no man in the doing it. What do you mean to do with yourself?" + +"Stick to the ship till it sinks, and then go down with it." + +"And your sisters?" + +"They are of the same way of thinking, I take it. They are not good +at inventing any way of getting out of their troubles; but they know +how to endure." + +"Now, Frank," said she, "shall I give you a bit of advice?" + +"Oh yes! I like advice." + +"You wanted to kiss me just now." + +"That was natural at any rate." + +"No, it wasn't;--because you and I are two. When a young man and a +young woman are two they shouldn't kiss any more. That is logic." + +"I don't know about logic." + +"At any rate it is something of the same sort. It is the kind of +thing everybody believes in if they want to go right. You and I want +to go right, don't we?" + +"I believe so." + +"Of course we do," and she took hold of his arm and shook him. "It +would break your heart if you didn't think I was going right, and why +shouldn't I be as anxious about you? Now for my piece of advice. I am +going to make a lot of money." + +"I am glad to hear it." + +"Come and share it with me. I would have shared yours if you had made +a lot. You must call me Madame de Iona, or some such name as that. +The name does not matter, but the money will be all there. Won't it +be grand to be able to help your father and your sisters! Only you +men are so beastly proud. Isn't it honest money,--money that has come +by singing?" + +"Certainly it is." + +"And if the wife earns it instead of the husband;--isn't that honest? +And then you know," she said, looking up into his face, "you can kiss +me right away. Isn't that an inducement?" + +The offer was an inducement, but the conversation only ended in a +squabble. She rebuked him for his dishonesty, in taking the kiss +without acceding to the penalty, and he declared that according to +his view of the case, he could not become the faineant husband of a +rich opera singer. "And yet you would ask me to become the faineante +wife of a wealthy landowner. And because, under the stress of the +times, you are not wealthy you choose to reject the girl altogether +who has given you her heart. Go away. You are no good. When a man +stands up on his hind legs and pretends to be proud he never is any +good." + +Then Mr. O'Mahony came in and had a political discussion with Frank +Jones. "Yes," said the Member of Parliament, "I mean to put my +shoulder to the wheel, and do the very best that can be done. I +cannot believe but what a man in earnest will find out the truth. +Politics are not such a hopeless muddle but what some gleam of light +may be made to shine through." + +"There are such things as leaders," said Frank. + +Then Mr. O'Mahony stood up and laid his hand upon his heart. "You +remember what Van Artevelde said--'They shall murder me ere make me +go the way that is not my way, for an inch.' I say the same." + +"What will Mr. Parnell do with such a follower?" + +"Mr. Parnell is also an honest man," cried Mr. O'Mahony. "Two honest +men looking for light together will never fall out. I at any rate +have some little gift of utterance. Perhaps I can persuade a man, or +two men. At any rate I will try." + +"But how are we to get back to London, father?" said Rachel. "I don't +think it becomes an honest Member of Parliament to take money out of +a common fund. You will have to remain here in pawn till I go and +sing you out." But Rachel had enough left of Lord Castlewell's money +to carry them back to London, on condition that they did not stop on +the road, and to this condition she was forced to bring her father. + +Early on the following morning before they started the news reached +Cavan of poor Florian's death. "Oh God! My brother!" exclaimed Frank; +but it was all that he did say. He was a man who like his father +had become embittered by the circumstances of the times. Mr. Jones +had bought his property, now thirty years since, with what was then +called a parliamentary title. He had paid hard money for it, and had +induced his friends to lend their money to assist the purchase, for +which he was responsible. Much of the land he had been enabled to +keep in his own hands, but on none of the tenants' had he raised +the rent. Now there had come forth a law, not from the hand of the +Landleaguers, but from the Government, who, it was believed, would +protect those who did their duty by the country. Under this law +commissioners were to be appointed,--or sub-commissioners,--men +supposed to be not of great mark in the country, who were to reduce +the rent according to their ideas of justice. If a man paid ten +pounds,--or had engaged to pay ten,--let him take his pen and write +down seven or eight as the sub-commissioner should decide. As the +outside landlords, the friends of Mr. Jones, must have five pounds +out of the original ten, that which was coming to Mr. Jones himself +would be about halved. And the condition of Mr. Jones, under the +system of boycotting which he was undergoing, was hard to endure. +Now Frank was the eldest son, and the property of Castle Morony and +Ballintubber was entailed upon him. He was brought up in his early +youth to feel that he was to fill that situation, which, of all +others, is the most attractive. He was to have been the eldest son +of a man of unembarrassed property. Now he was offered to be taken +to London as the travelling husband--or upper servant, as it might +be--of an opera singer. Then, while he was in this condition, there +came to him the news that his brother had been murdered; and he +must go home to give what assistance was in his power to his poor, +ill-used sisters. It is not to be wondered at that he was embittered. +He had been spending some hours of the last day in reading the +clauses of the Bill under which the sub-commissioners were to show +him what mercy they might think right. As he left Cavan the following +morning, his curses were more deep against the Government than +against the Landleague. + +Mr. O'Mahony and his daughter got back to Cecil Street in September +in a very impecunious state. He soon began to understand that the +position of Member of Parliament was more difficult and dangerous +than that of a lecturer. The police had interfered with him; but the +police had in truth done him no harm, nor had they wanted anything +from him. But as Member of Parliament for Cavan the attacks made on +his purse were very numerous. And throughout September, when the +glory of Parliament was just newly settled upon his shoulders, sundry +calls were made upon him for obedience which were distasteful to him. +He was wanted over in Ireland. Mr. O'Mahony was an outspoken, frank +man, who did not at all like to be troubled with secrets. "I haven't +got any money to come over to Ireland just at present. They took +what I had away from me in County Cavan during the election. I don't +suppose I shall have any to speak of till after Christmas, and then +it won't be much. If you have anything for a man to do in London it +will be more within my reach." It was thus he wrote to some brother +Member of Parliament who had summoned him to a grand meeting at the +Rotunda. He was wanted to address the people on the honesty of the +principle of paying no rent. "For the matter of that," he wrote to +another brother member, "I don't see the honesty. Why are we to +take the property from Jack and give it to Bill? Bill would sell it +and spend the money, and no good would then have been done to the +country. I should have to argue the matter out with you or someone +else before I could speak about it at the Rotunda." Then, there arose +a doubt whether Mr. O'Mahony was the proper member for Cavan. He +settled himself down in Cecil Street and began to write a book about +rent. When he began his book he hated rent from his very soul. The +difficulty he saw was this: what should you do with the property when +you took it away from the landlords? He quite saw his way to taking +it away; if only a new order would come from heaven for the creation +of a special set of farmers who should be wedded to their land by +some celestial matrimony, and should clearly be in possession of it +without the perpetration of any injustice. He did not quite see his +way to this by his own lights, and therefore he went to the British +Museum. When a man wants to write a book full of unassailable facts, +he always goes to the British Museum. In this way Mr. O'Mahony +purposed to spend his autumn instead of speaking at the Rotunda, +because it suited him to live in London rather than in Dublin. + +Cecil Street in September is not the most cheerful place in the +world. While Rachel had been singing at "The Embankment," with the +occasional excitement of a quarrel with Mr. Moss, it had been all +very well; but now while her father was studying statistics at the +British Museum, she had nothing to do but to practise her singing. "I +mean to do something, you know, towards earning that L200 which you +have lent me." This she said to Lord Castlewell, who had come up to +London to have his teeth looked after. This was the excuse he gave +for being in London at this unfashionable season. "I have to sing +from breakfast to dinner without stopping one minute, so you may go +back to the dentist at once. I haven't time even to see what he has +done." + +"I have to propose that you and your father shall come and dine with +me down at Richmond to-day. There is old Mrs. Peacock, who used to +sing bouffe parts at the Queen's Theatre. She is a most respectable +old party, and she shall come if you will let her." + +"For papa to flirt with?" said Rachel. + +"Not at all. With a party of four there is never any flirting. It is +all solid sense. I want to have some serious conversation about that +L200. Mrs. Peacock will be able to give me her opinion." + +"She won't be able to lend me the money?" + +"I'm afraid she isn't a good doctor for that disease. But you must +dine somewhere, and do say you will come." + +But Rachel was determined not to come,--at any rate not to say that +she would come without consulting her father. So she explained that +the Member of Parliament was hard at work at the British Museum, +writing a book against the payment of rents, and that she could not +go without consulting him. But Lord Castlewell made that very easy. +"I'll go and see," said he, "how a man looks when he is writing a +book on such a subject; and I'll be back and tell you all about +it. I'll drive you down in my phaeton,--of course if your father +consents. If he wants to bring his book with him, the groom shall +carry it in a box." + +"And what about Mrs. Peacock?" + +"There won't be any trouble about her, because she lives at Richmond. +You needn't be a bit afraid for your father's sake, because she is +over sixty." Then he started off, and came back in half an hour, +saying that Mr. O'Mahony had expressed himself quite satisfied to do +as he was told. + +"The deceit of the world, the flesh, and the devil, get the better of +one on every side," said Rachel, when she was left to herself. "Who +would have thought of the noble lord spinning off to the British +Museum on such an errand as that! But he will give papa a good +dinner, and I shan't be any the worse. A man must be very bad before +he can do a woman an injury if she is determined not to be injured." + +Lord Castlewell drove the two down to Richmond, and very pleasant +the drive was. The conversation consisted of quizzing Mr. O'Mahony +about his book, as to which he was already beginning to be a little +out of heart. But he bore the quizzing well, and was thoroughly +good-humoured as he saw the lord and his daughter sitting on the +front seat before him. "I am a Landleaguing Home-Ruler, you know, my +lord, of the most advanced description. The Speaker has never turned +me out of the House of Commons, only because I have never sat there. +Your character will be lost for ever." Lord Castlewell declared that +his character would be made for ever, as he had the great prima donna +of the next season at his left hand. + +The dinner went off very pleasantly. Old Mrs. Peacock declared that +she had never known a prima donna before to be the daughter of a +Member of Parliament. She felt that great honour was done to the +profession. + +"Why," said Lord Castlewell, "he is writing a book to prove that +nobody should pay any rent!" + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Peacock, "that would be terrible. A landlord wouldn't +be a landlord if he didn't get any rent;--or hardly." Then Mr. +O'Mahony went to work to explain that a landlord was, of his very +name and nature, an abomination before the Lord. + +"And yet you want houses to live in," said Lord Castlewell. + +When they were in the middle of their dinners they were all surprised +by the approach of Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. He was dressed up to a degree +of beauty which Rachel thought that she had never seen equalled. His +shirt-front was full of little worked holes. His studs were gold and +turquoise, and those at his wrists were double studs, also gold and +turquoise. The tie of his cravat was a thing marvellous to behold. +His waistcoat was new for the occasion, and apparently all over +marvellously fine needlework. It might, all the same, have been +done by a sewing-machine. The breadth of the satin lappets of his +dress-coat were most expansive. And his hair must have taken two +artists the whole afternoon to accomplish. It was evident to see that +he felt himself to be quite the lord's equal by the strength of his +personal adornment. "Well, yes," he said, "I have brought Madame +Tacchi down here to show her what we can do in the way of a suburban +dinner. Madame Tacchi is about to take the place which Miss O'Mahony +has vacated at 'The Embankment.' Ah, my lord, you behaved very +shabbily to us there." + +"If Madame Tacchi," said the lord, "can sing at all like Miss +O'Mahony, we shall have her away very soon. Is Madame Tacchi in +sight, so that I can see her?" + +Then Mr. Moss indicated the table at which the lady sat, and with the +lady was Madame Socani. + +"They are a bad lot," said Lord Castlewell, as soon as Moss had +withdrawn. "I know them, and they are a bad lot, particularly that +woman who is with them. It is a marvel to me how you got among them." + +Lord Castlewell had now become very intimate with the O'Mahonys; and +by what he said showed also his intimacy with Mrs. Peacock. + +"They are Americans," said O'Mahony. + +"And so are you," said the lord. "There can be good Americans and bad +Americans. You don't mean to say that you think worse of an American +than of an Englishman." + +"I think higher of an Englishman than of an American, and lower also. +If I meet an American where a gentleman ought to be, I entertain +a doubt; if I meet him where a labourer ought to be, I feel very +confident. I suppose that the manager of a theatre ought to be a +gentleman." + +"I don't quite understand it all," said Mrs. Peacock. + +"Nor anybody else," said Rachel. "Father does fly so very high in the +air when he talks about people." + +After that the lord drove Miss O'Mahony and her father back to +Cecil Street, and they all agreed that they had had a very pleasant +evening. + + +END OF VOL. II. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Three Volumes--VOL. III. + + + + + + + +London +Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly +1883 +[All rights reserved] + +Charles Dickens and Evans, +Crystal Palace Press. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter + + XXXIII. CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING. + XXXIV. LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING. + XXXV. MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY. + XXXVI. RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS. + XXXVII. RACHEL IS ILL. + XXXVIII. LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED. + XXXIX. CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH. + XL. YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE. + XLI. THE STATE OF IRELAND. + XLII. LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL. + XLIII. MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED. + XLIV. FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN. + XLV. MR. ROBERT MORRIS. + XLVI. CONG. + XLVII. KERRYCULLION. + XLVIII. THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS. + XLIX. + + + + +THE LANDLEAGUERS. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S LOVE-MAKING. + + +The household at Castle Morony was very sad for some time after the +trial. They had hardly begun to feel the death of Florian while the +excitement existed as they felt it afterwards. Mr. Jones, his father, +seemed to regard the lost boy as though he had been his favourite +child. It was not many months since he had refused to allow him to +eat in his presence, and had been persuaded by such a stranger as was +Captain Clayton, to treat him with some show of affection. When he +had driven him into Ballyglunin, he had been stern and harsh to him +to the very last. And now he was obliterated with sorrow because he +had been robbed of his Florian. The two girls had sorrows of their +own; though neither of them would permit her sorrow to create any +quarrel between her and her sister. And Frank, who since his return +from the North had toiled like a labourer on the property--only +doing double a labourer's work--had sorrow, too, of his own. It was +understood that he had altogether separated himself from Rachel +O'Mahony. The cause of his separation was singular in its nature. + +It was now November, and Rachel had already achieved a singularly +rapid success at Covent Garden. She still lived in Cecil Street, but +there was no lack of money. Indeed, her name had risen into such +repute that some Irish people began to think that her father was +the proper man for Cavan, simply because she was a great singer. It +cannot be said, however, that this was the case among the men who +were regarded as the leaders of the party, as they still doubted +O'Mahony's obedience. But money at any rate poured into Rachel's lap, +and with the money that which was quite as objectionable to poor +Frank. He had begun by asserting that he did not wish to live idle +on the earnings of a singer; and, therefore, as the singer had said, +"he and she were obliged to be two." As she explained to her father, +she was badly treated. She was very anxious to be true to her lover; +but she did not like living without some lover to whom she might be +true. "You see, as I am placed I am exposed to the Mosses. I do want +to have a husband to protect me." Then a lover had come forward. +Lord Castlewell had absolutely professed to make her the future +Marchioness of Beaulieu. Of this there must be more hereafter; but +Frank heard of it, and tore his hair in despair. + +And there was another misery at Castle Morony. It reached Mr. Jones's +ears that Peter was anxious to give warning. It certainly was the +case that Peter was of great use to them, and that Mr. Jones had +rebuked him more than once as having made a great favour of his +services. The fact was that Peter, if discharged, would hardly know +where to look for another place where he could be equally at home and +equally comfortable. And he was treated by the family generally with +all that confidence which his faithfulness seemed to deserve. But +he was nervous and ill at ease under his master's rebukes; and at +last there came an event which seemed to harrow up his own soul, and +instigated him to run away from County Galway altogether. + +"Miss Edith, Miss Edith," he said, "come in here, thin, and see what +I have got to show you." Then, with an air of great mystery, he drew +his young mistress into the pantry. "Look at that now! Was ever the +like of that seen since the mortial world began?" Then he took out +from a dirty envelope a dirty sheet of paper, and exposed it to her +eyes. On the top of it was a rude coffin. "Don't it make yer hair +stand on end, and yer very flesh creep, Miss Edith, to look at the +likes o' that!" And below the coffin there was a ruder skull and two +cross-bones. "Them's intended for what I'm to be. I understand their +language well enough. Look here," and he turned the envelope round +and showed that it was addressed to Peter McGrew, butler, Morony +Castle. "They know me well enough all the country round." The letter +was as follows: + + + MR. PETER MCGREW, + + If you're not out of that before the end of the month, but + stay there doing things for them infernal blackguards, + your goose is cooked. So now you know all about it. + + From yours, + + MOONLIGHT. + + +Edith attempted to laugh at this letter, but Peter made her +understand that it was no laughing matter. + +"I've a married darter in Dublin who won't see her father shot down +that way if she knows it." + +"You had better take it to papa, then, and give him warning," said +Edith. + +But this Peter declined to do on the spur of the moment, seeming to +be equally afraid of his master and of Captain Moonlight. + +"If I'd the Captain here, he'd tell me what I ought to do." The +Captain was always Captain Clayton. + +"He is coming here to-morrow, and I will show him the letter," said +Edith. But she did not on that account scruple to tell her father at +once. + +"He can go if he likes it," said Mr. Jones, and that was all that Mr. +Jones said on the subject. + +This was the third visit that the Captain had paid to Morony +Castle since the terrible events of the late trial. And it must be +understood that he had not spoken a word to either of the two girls +since the moment in which he had ventured to squeeze Edith's hand +with a tighter grasp than he had given to her sister. They, between +them, had discussed him and his character often; but had come to no +understanding respecting him. + +Ada had declared that Edith should be his, and had in some degree +recovered from the paroxysm of sorrow which had first oppressed her. +But Edith had refused altogether to look at the matter in that light. +"It was quite out of the question," she said, "and so Captain Clayton +would feel it. If you don't hold your tongue, Ada," she said, "I +shall think you're a brute." + +But Ada had not held her tongue, and had declared that if no one else +were to know it--no one but Edith and the Captain himself--she would +not be made miserable by it. + +"What is it?" she said. "I thought him the best and he is the best. I +thought that he thought that I was the best; and I wasn't. It shall +be as I say." + +After this manner were the discussions held between them; but of +these Captain Clayton heard never a word. + +When he came he would seem to be full of the flood gates, and of Lax +the murderer. He had two men with him now, Hunter and another. But +no further attempt was made to shoot him in the neighbourhood of +Headford. "Lax finds it too hot," he said, "since that day in the +court house, and has gone away for the present. I nearly know where +he is; but there is no good catching him till I get some sort of +evidence against him, and if I locked him up as a 'suspect,' he would +become a martyr and a hero in the eyes of the whole party. The worst +of it is that though twenty men swore that they had seen it, no +Galway jury would convict him." But nevertheless he was indefatigable +in following up the murderer of poor Florian. "As for the murder in +the court house," he said, "I do believe that though it was done in +the presence of an immense crowd no one actually saw it. I have the +pistol, but what is that? The pistol was dropped on the floor of the +court house." + +On this occasion Edith brought him poor Peter's letter. As it +happened they two were then alone together. But she had taught +herself not to expect any allusion to his love. "He is a stupid +fellow," said the Captain. + +"But he has been faithful. And you can't expect him to look at these +things as you do." + +"Of course he finds it to be a great compliment. To have a special +letter addressed to him by some special Captain Moonlight is to bring +him into the history of his country." + +"I suppose he will go." + +"Then let him go. I would not on any account ask him to stay. If he +comes to me I shall tell him simply that he is a fool. Pat Carroll's +people want to bother your father, and he would be bothered if he +were to lose his man-servant. There is no doubt of that. If Peter +desires to bother him let him go. Then he has another idea that he +wants to achieve a character for fidelity. He must choose between the +two. But I wouldn't on any account ask him for a favour." + +Then Edith having heard the Captain's advice was preparing to leave +the room when Captain Clayton stopped her. "Edith," he said. + +"Well, Captain Clayton." + +"Some months ago,--before these sad things had occurred,--I told you +what I thought of you, and I asked you for a favour." + +"There was a mistake made between us all,--a mistake which does +not admit of being put to rights. It was unfortunate, but those +misfortunes will occur. There is no more to be said about it." + +"Is the happiness of two people to be thus sacrificed, when nothing +is done for the benefit of one?" + +"What two?" she asked brusquely. + +"You and I." + +"My happiness will not be sacrificed, Captain Clayton," she said. +What right had he to tell that her happiness was in question? The +woman spoke,--the essence of feminine self, putting itself forward to +defend feminine rights generally against male assumption. Could any +man be justified in asserting that a woman loved him till she had +told him so? It was evident no doubt,--so she told herself. It was +true at least. As the word goes she worshipped the very ground he +stood upon. He was her hero. She had been made to think and to feel +that he was so by this mistake which had occurred between the three. +She had known it before, but it was burned in upon her now. Yet he +should not be allowed to assume it. And the one thing necessary +for her peace of mind in life would be that she should do her duty +by Ada. She had been the fool. She had instigated Ada to believe +this thing in which there was no truth. The loss of all ecstasy +of happiness must be the penalty which she would pay. And yet she +thought of him. Must he pay a similar penalty for her blunder? Surely +this would be hard! Surely this would be cruel! But then she did not +believe that man ever paid such penalty as that of which she was +thinking. He would have the work of his life. It would be the work +of her life to remember what she might have been had she not been a +fool. + +"If so," he said after a pause, "then there is an end of it all," +and he looked at her as though he absolutely believed her words,--as +though he had not known that her assertion had been mere feminine +pretext! She could not endure that he at any rate should not know the +sacrifice which she would have to make. But he was very hard to her. +He would not even allow her the usual right of defending her sex by +falsehood. "If so there is an end of it all," he repeated, holding +out his hand as though to bid her farewell. + +She believed him, and gave him her hand. "Good-bye, Captain Clayton," +she said. + +"Never again," he said to her very gruffly, but still with such a +look across his eyes as irradiated his whole face. "This hand shall +never again be your own to do as you please with it." + +"Who says so?" and she struggled as though to pull her hand away, but +he held her as though in truth her hand had gone from her for ever. + +"I say so, who am its legitimate owner. Now I bid you tell me the +truth, or rather I defy you to go on with the lie. Do you not love +me?" + +"It is a question which I shall not answer." + +"Then," said he, "from a woman to a man it is answered. You cannot +make me over to another. I will not be transferred." + +"I can do nothing with you, Captain Clayton, nor can you with me. I +know you are very strong of course." Then he loosened her hand, and +as he did so Ada came into the room. + +"I have asked her to be my wife," said the Captain, putting his hand +upon Edith's arm. + +"Let it be so," said Ada. "I have nothing to say against it." + +"But I have," said Edith. "I have much to say against it. We can all +live without being married, I suppose. Captain Clayton has plenty to +do without the trouble of a wife. And so have you and I. Could we +leave our father? And have we forgotten so soon poor Florian? This is +no time for marriages. Only think, papa would not have the means to +get us decent clothes. As far as I am concerned, Captain Clayton, let +there be an end of all this." Then she stalked out of the room. + +"Ada, you are not angry with me," said Captain Clayton, coming up to +her. + +"Oh, no! How could I be angry?" + +"I have not time to do as other men do. I do not know that I ever +said a word to her; and yet, God knows, that I have loved her dearly +enough. She is hot tempered now, and there are feelings in her heart +which fight against me. You will say a word in my favour?" + +"Indeed, indeed I will." + +"There shall be nothing wrong between you and me. If she becomes my +wife, you shall be my dearest sister. And I think she will at last. +I know,--I do know that she loves me. Poor Florian is dead and gone. +All his short troubles are over. We have still got our lives to lead. +And why should we not lead them as may best suit us? She talks about +your father's present want of money. I would be proud to marry your +sister standing as she is now down in the kitchen. But if I did +marry her I should have ample means to keep her as would become your +father's daughter." Then he took his leave and went back to Galway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +LORD CASTLEWELL'S LOVE-MAKING. + + +It was explained in the last chapter that Frank Jones was not in a +happy condition because of the success of the lady whom he loved. +Rachel, as Christmas drew nigh, was more and more talked about in +London, and became more and more the darling of all musical people. +She had been twelve months now on the London boards, and had fully +justified the opinion expressed of her by Messrs. Moss and Le Gros. +There were those who declared that she sang as no woman of her age +had ever sung before. And there had got abroad about her certain +stories, which were true enough in the main, but which were all the +more curious because of their truth; and yet they were not true +altogether. It was known that she was a daughter of a Landleaguing +Member of Parliament, and that she had been engaged to marry the +son of a boycotted landlord. Mr. Jones' sorrows, and the death of +his poor son, and the murder of the sinner who was to have been the +witness at the trial of his brother, were all known and commented +on in the London press; and so also was the peculiar vigour of Mr. +O'Mahony's politics. Nothing, it was said, could be severed more +entirely than were Mr. Jones and Mr. O'Mahony. The enmity was so +deep that all ideas of marriage were out of the question. It was, no +doubt, true that the gentleman was penniless and the lady rolling in +wealth; but this was a matter so grievous that so poor a thing as +money could not be allowed to prevail. And then Mr. Moss was talked +about as a dragon of iniquity,--which, indeed, was true enough,--and +was represented as having caused contracts to be executed which would +bind poor Rachel to himself, both as to voice and beauty. But Lord +Castlewell had seen her, and had heard her; and Mr. Moss, with all +his abominations, was sent down to the bottom of the nethermost pit. +The fortune of "The Embankment" was made by the number of visitors +who were sent there to see and to hear this wicked fiend; but it all +redounded to the honour and glory of Rachel. + +But Rachel was to be seen a _feted_ guest at all semi-musical +houses. Whispers about town were heard that that musical swell, Lord +Castlewell, had been caught at last. And in the midst of all this, +Mr. O'Mahony came in for his share of popularity. There was something +so peculiar in the connection which bound a violent Landleaguing +Member of Parliament with the prima donna of the day. They were +father and daughter, but they looked more like husband and wife, and +it always seemed that Rachel had her own way. Mr. O'Mahony had quite +achieved a character for himself before the time had come in which +he was enabled to open his mouth in the House of Commons. And some +people went so far as to declare that he was about to be the new +leader of the party. + +It certainly was true that about this time Lord Castlewell did make +an offer to Rachel O'Mahony. + +"That I should have come to this!" she said to the lord when the lord +had expressed his wishes. + +"You deserve it all," said the gallant lord. + +"I think I do. But that you should have seen it,--that you should +have come to understand that if I would be your wife I would sing +every note out of my body,--to do you good if it were possible. How +have you been enlightened so far as to see that this is the way in +which you may best make yourself happy?" + +Lord Castlewell did not quite like this; but he knew that his +wished-for bride was an unintelligible little person, to whom much +must be yielded as to her own way. He had not given way to this idea +before he had seen how well she had taken her place among the people +with whom he lived. He was forty years old, and it was time that he +should marry. His father was a very proud personage, to whom he never +spoke much. He, however, would be of opinion that any bride whom his +son might choose would be, by the very fact, raised to the top of the +peerage. His mother was a religious woman, to whom any matrimony for +her son would be an achievement. Now, of the proposed bride he had +learned all manner of good things. She had come out of Mr. Moss's +furnace absolutely unscorched; so much unscorched as to scorn the +idea of having been touched by the flames. She was thankful to Lord +Castlewell for what he had done, and expressed her thanks in a manner +that was not grateful to him. She was not in the least put about or +confused, or indeed surprised, because the heir of a marquis had made +an offer to her--a singing girl; but she let him understand that she +quite thought that she had done a good thing. "It would be so much +better for him than going on as he has gone," she said to her father. +And Lord Castlewell knew very well what were her sentiments. + +It cannot be said that he repented of his offer. Indeed he pressed +her for an answer more than once or twice. But her conduct to him was +certainly very aggravating. This matter of her marriage with an earl +was an affair of great moment. Indeed all London was alive with the +subject. But she had not time to give him an answer because it was +necessary that she should study a part for the theatre. This was hard +upon an earl, and was made no better by the fact that the earl was +forty. "No, my lord earl," she said laughing, "the time for that has +not come yet. You must give me a few days to think of it." This she +said when he expressed a not unnatural desire to give her a kiss. + +But though she apparently made light of the matter to him, and +astonished even her father by her treatment of him, yet she thought +of it with a very anxious mind. She was quite alive to the glories +of the position offered to her, and was not at all alive to its +inconveniences. People would assert that she had caught the lover who +had intended her for other purposes. "That was of course out of the +question," she said to herself. And she felt sure that she could make +as good a countess as the best of them. With her father a Member of +Parliament, and her husband an earl, she would have done very well +with herself. She would have escaped from that brute Moss, and would +have been subjected to less that was disagreeable in the encounter +than might have been expected. She must lose the public singing which +was attractive to her, and must become the wife of an old man. It was +thus in truth that she looked at the noble lord. "There would be an +end," she said, "and for ever, of 'Love's young dream.'" The dream +had been very pleasant to her. She had thoroughly liked her Frank. +He was handsome, fresh, full of passion, and a little violent when +his temper lay in that direction. But he had been generous, and she +was sure of him that he had loved her thoroughly. After all, was not +"Love's young dream" the best? + +An answer was at any rate due to Lord Castlewell. But she made up +her mind that before she could give the answer, she would write to +Frank himself. "My lord," she said very gravely to her suitor, "it +has become my lot in life to be engaged to marry the son of that Mr. +Jones of whom you have heard in the west of Ireland." + +"I am aware of it," said Lord Castlewell gravely. + +"It has been necessary that I should tell you myself. Now, I cannot +say whether, in all honour, that engagement has been dissolved." + +"I thought there was no doubt about it," said the lord. + +"It is as I tell you. I must write to Mr. Jones. Hearts cannot be +wrenched asunder without some effort in the wrenching. For the great +honour you have done me I am greatly thankful." + +"Let all that pass," said the lord. + +"Not so. It has to be spoken of. As I stand at present I have been +repudiated by Mr. Jones." + +"Do you mean to ask him to take you back again?" + +"I do not know how the letter will be worded, because it has not +been yet written. My object is to tell him of the honour which Lord +Castlewell proposes to me. And I have not thought it quite honest to +your lordship to do this without acquainting you." + +Then that interview was over, and Lord Castlewell went away no doubt +disgusted. He had not intended to be treated in this way by a singing +girl, when he proposed to make her his countess. But with the disgust +there was a strengthened feeling of admiration for her conduct. She +looked much more like the countess than the singing girl when she +spoke to him. And there certainly never came a time in which he +could tell her to go back and sing and marry Mr. Moss. Therefore the +few days necessary for an answer went by, and then she gave him her +reply. "My lord," she said, "if you wish it still, it shall be so." + +The time for "Love's young dream" had not gone by for Lord +Castlewell. "I do wish it still," he said in a tone of renewed joy. + +"Then you shall have all that you wish." Thereupon she put her little +hands on his arm, and leant her face against his breast. Then there +was a long embrace, but after the embrace she had a little speech to +make. "You ought to know, Lord Castlewell, how much I think of you +and your high position. A man, they say, trusts much of his honour +into the hands of his wife. Whatever you trust to me shall be guarded +as my very soul. You shall be to me the one man whom I am bound to +worship. I will worship you with all my heart, with all my body, +with all my soul, and with all my strength. Your wishes shall be my +wishes. I only hope that an odd stray wish of mine may occasionally +be yours." Then she smiled so sweetly that as she looked up into his +face he was more enamoured of her than ever. + +But now we must go back for a moment, and read the correspondence +which took place between Rachel O'Mahony and Frank Jones. Rachel's +letter ran as follows: + + + MY DEAR FRANK, + + I am afraid I must trouble you once again with my affairs; + though, indeed, after what last took place between us it + ought not to be necessary. Lord Castlewell has proposed + to make me his wife; and, to tell you the truth, looking + forward into the world, I do not wish to throw over all + its pleasures because your honour, whom I have loved, does + not wish to accept the wages of a singing girl. But the + place is open to you still,--the wages, and the singing + girl, and all. Write me a line, and say how it is to be. + + Yours as you would have me to be, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +This letter Frank Jones showed to no one. Had he allowed it to be +seen by his sister Edith, she would probably have told him that no +man ever received a sweeter love-letter from the girl whom he loved. +"The place is open to you still,--the wages, the singing girl, and +all." The girl had made nothing of this new and noble lover, except +to assure his rival that he, the rival, should be postponed to him, +the lover, if he, the lover, would write but one word to say that it +should be so. But Frank was bad at reading such words. He got it into +his head that the girl had merely written to ask the permission of +her former suitor to marry this new lordly lover, and, though he did +love the girl, with a passion which the girl could never feel for the +lord, he wrote back and refused the offer. + + + MY DEAR RACHEL, + + It is, I suppose, best as it is. We are sinking lower and + lower daily. My father is beginning to feel that we shall + never see another rent day at Castle Morony. It is not + fitting that I should think of joining my fallen fortunes + to yours, which are soaring so high. And poor Florian is + gone. We are at the present moment still struck to the + ground because of Florian. As for you, and the lord who + admires you, you have my permission to become his wife. I + have long heard that he is your declared admirer. You have + before you a glorious future, and I shall always hear with + satisfaction of your career. + + Yours, with many memories of the past, + + FRANCIS JONES. + + +It was not a letter which would have put such a girl as Rachel +O'Mahony into good heart unless she had in truth wished to get his +agreement to her lordly marriage. "This twice I have thrown myself at +his head and he has rejected me." Then she abided Lord Castlewell's +coming, and the scene between them took place as above described. The +marriage was at once declared as a settled thing. "Now, my dear, you +must name the day," said Lord Castlewell, as full of joy as though he +were going to marry a duke's daughter. + +"I have got to finish my engagement," said Rachel; "I am bound down +to the end of May. When June comes you shan't find a girl who will +be in a greater hurry. Do you think that I do not wish to become a +countess?" + +He told her that he would contrive to get her engagement broken. +"Covent Garden is not going to quarrel with me about my wife, I'm +sure," he said. + +"Ah! but my own one," said Rachel, "we will do it all _selon les +regles_. I am in a hurry, but we won't let the world know it. I, the +future Countess of Castlewell; I, the future Marchioness of Beaulieu, +will keep my terms and my allotted times like any candle-snuffer. +What do you think Moss will say?" + +"What can it signify what Mr. Moss may say?" + +"Ah! but my own man, it does signify. Mr. Moss shall know that +through it all I have done my duty. Madame Socani will tell lies, but +she shall feel in her heart that she has once in her life come across +a woman who, when she has signed a bit of paper, intends to remain +true to the paper signed. And, my lord, there is still L100 due to +you from my father." + +"Gammon!" said the lord. + +"I could pay it by a cheque on the bank, to be sure, but let us go on +to the end of May. I want to see how all the young women will behave +when they hear of it." And so some early day in June was fixed for +the wedding. + +Among others who heard of it were, of course, Mr. Moss and Madame +Socani. They heard of it, but of course did not believe it. It was +too bright to be believed. When Madame Socani was assured that Rachel +had taken the money,--she and her father between them,--she declared, +with great apparent satisfaction, that Rachel must be given up as +lost. "As to that wicked old man, her father--" + +"He's not so very old," said Moss. + +"She's no chicken, and he's old enough to be her father. That is, if +he is her father. I have known that girl on the stage any day these +ten years." + +"No, you've not; not yet five. I don't quite know how it is." And Mr. +Moss endeavoured to think of it all in such a manner as to make it +yet possible that he might marry her. What might not they two do +together in the musical world? + +"You don't mean to say you'd take her yet?" said Madame Socani, with +scorn. + +"When I take her you'll be glad enough to join us; that is, if we +will have you." Then Madame Socani ground her teeth together, and +turned up her nose with redoubled scorn. + +But it was soon borne in upon Mr. Moss that the marriage was to be +a marriage, and he was in truth very angry. He had been able to +endure M. Le Gros' success in carrying away Miss O'Mahony from "The +Embankment." Miss O'Mahony might come back again under that or any +other name. He--and she--had a musical future before them which might +still be made to run in accordance with his wishes. Then he had +learned with sincere sorrow that she was throwing herself into the +lord's hands, borrowing money of him. But there might be a way out of +this which would still allow him to carry out his project. But now he +heard that a real marriage was intended, and he was very angry. Not +even Madame Socani was more capable of spite than Mr. Moss, though +he was better able to hide his rage. Even now, when Christmas-time +had come, he would hardly believe the truth, and when the marriage +was not instantly carried out, new hopes came to him--that Lord +Castlewell would not at last make himself such a fool. He inquired +here and there in the musical world and the theatrical world, and +could not arrive at what he believed to be positive truth. Then +Christmas passed by, and Miss O'Mahony recommenced her singing at +Covent Garden. Three times a week the house was filled, and at last a +fourth night was added, for which the salary paid to Rachel was very +much increased. + +"I don't see that the salary matters very much," said Lord +Castlewell, when the matter was discussed. + +"Oh, but, my lord, it does matter!" She always called him my lord +now, with a little emphasis laid on the "my." "They have made father +a Member of Parliament, but he does not earn anything. What I can +earn up to the last fatal day he shall have, if you will let me give +it to him." + +They were very bright days for Rachel, because she had all the +triumph of success,--success gained by her own efforts. + +"I can never do as much as this when I am your countess," she said +to her future lord. "I shall dwell in marble halls, as people say, +but I shall never cram a house so full as to be able to see, when I +look up from the stage, that there is not a place for another man's +head; and when my throat gave way the other day I could read all the +disappointment in the public papers. I shall become your wife, my +lord." + +"I hope so." + +"And if you will love me I shall be very happy for long, long years." + +"I will love you." + +"But there will be no passion of ecstasy such as this. Father says +that Home Rule won't be passed because the people will be thinking of +my singing. Of course it is all vanity, but there is an enjoyment in +it." + +But all this was wormwood to Mr. Moss. He had put out his hand so +as to clutch this girl now two years since, understanding all her +singing qualities, and then in truth loving her. She had taken a +positive hatred to him, and had rejected him at every turn of her +life. But he had not at all regarded that. He had managed to connect +her with his theatre, and had perceived that her voice had become +more and more sweet in its tones, and more and more rich in its +melody. He had still hoped that he would make her his wife. Madame +Socani's abominable proposal had come from an assurance on her part +that he could have all that he wished for without paying so dear for +it. There had doubtless been some whispering between them over the +matter, but the order for the proposal had not come from him. Madame +Socani had judged of Rachel as she might have judged of herself. But +all that had come to absolute failure. He felt now that he should be +paying by no means too dear by marrying the girl. It would be a great +triumph to marry her; but he was told that this absurd earl wished to +triumph in the same manner. + +He set afloat all manner of reports, which, in truth, wounded Lord +Castlewell sorely. Lord Castlewell had given her money, and had then +failed in his object. So said Mr. Moss. Lord Castlewell had promised +marriage, never intending it. Lord Castlewell had postponed the +marriage because as the moment drew nearer he would not sacrifice +himself. If the lady had a friend, it would be the friend's duty to +cudgel the lord, so villainous had been the noble lord's conduct. But +yet, in truth, who could have expected that the noble lord would have +married the singing girl? Was not his character known? Did anybody +in his senses expect that the noble lord would marry Miss Rachel +O'Mahony? + +"If I have a friend, is my friend to cudgel you, my lord?" she said, +clinging on to his arm in her usual manner. "My friend is papa, who +thinks that you are a very decent fellow, considering your misfortune +in being a lord at all. I know where all these words come from;--it +is Mahomet M. Moss. There is nothing for it but to live them down +with absolute silence." + +"Nothing," he replied. "They are a nuisance, but we can do nothing." + +But Lord Castlewell did in truth feel what was said about him. Was he +not going to pay too dearly for his whistle? No doubt Rachel was all +that she ought to be. She was honest, industrious, and high-spirited; +and, according to his thinking, she sang more divinely than any woman +of her time. And he so thought of her that he knew that she must be +his countess or be nothing at all to him. To think of her in any +other light would be an abomination to him. But yet, was it worth +his while to make her Marchioness of Beaulieu? He could only get rid +of his present engagement by some absolute change in his mode of +life. For instance, he must shut himself up in a castle and devote +himself entirely to a religious life. He must explain to her that +circumstances would not admit his marrying, and must offer to pay her +any sum of money that she or her father might think fit to name. If +he wished to escape, this must be his way; but as he looked at her +when she came off the stage, where he always attended her, he assured +himself that he did not wish to escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +MR. O'MAHONY'S APOLOGY. + + +Time went on and Parliament met. Mr. O'Mahony went before the +Speaker's table and was sworn in. He was introduced by two brother +Landleaguers, and really did take his place with some enthusiasm. He +wanted to speak on the first day, but was judiciously kept silent by +his colleagues. He expressed an idea that, until Ireland's wrongs had +been redressed, there ought not to be a moment devoted to any other +subject, and became very violent in his expressions of this opinion. +But he was not long kept dumb. Great things were expected from +his powers of speech, and, though he had to be brought to silence +ignominiously on three or four occasions, still, at last some power +of speech was permitted to him. There were those among his own +special brethren who greatly admired him and praised him; but with +others of the same class there was a shaking of the head and many +doubts. With the House generally, I fear, laughter prevailed rather +than true admiration. Mr. O'Mahony, no doubt, could speak well in a +debating society or a music hall. Words came from his tongue sweeter +than honey. But just at the beginning of the session, the Speaker +was bound to put a limit even to Irish eloquence, and in this case +was able to do so. As Mr. O'Mahony contrived to get upon his feet +very frequently, either in asking a question or in endeavouring to +animadvert on the answer given, there was something of a tussle +between him and the authority in the chair. It did not take much +above a week to make the Speaker thoroughly tired of this new member, +and threats were used towards him of a nature which his joint +Milesian and American nature could not stand. He was told of dreadful +things which could be done to him. Though as yet he could not be +turned out of the House, for the state of the young session had not +as yet admitted of that new mode of torture, still, he could be +named. "Let him name me. My name is Mr. O'Mahony." And Mr. O'Mahony +was not a man who could be happy when he was quarrelling with all +around him. He was soon worked into a violent passion, in which he +made himself ridiculous, but when he had subsided, and the storm +was past, he knew he had misbehaved, and was unhappy. And, as he +was thoroughly honest, he could not be got to obey his leaders in +everything. He wanted to abolish the Irish landlords, but he was +desirous of abolishing them after some special plan of his own, and +could hardly be got to work efficiently in harness together with +others. + +"Don't you think your father is making an ass of himself,--just a +little, you know?" + +This was said by Lord Castlewell to Rachel when the session was not +yet a fortnight old, and made Rachel very unhappy. She did think that +her father was making an ass of himself, but she did not like to be +told of it. And much as she liked music herself, dear as was her own +profession to her, still she felt that, to be a Member of Parliament, +and to have achieved the power of making speeches there, was better +than to run after opera singers. She loved the man who was going to +marry her very well,--or rather, she intended to do so. + +He was not to her "Love's young dream." But she intended that his +lordship should become love's old reality. She felt that this would +not become the case, if love's old reality were to tell her often +that her father was an ass. Lord Castlewell's father was, she +thought, making an ass of himself. She heard on different sides that +he was a foolish, pompous old peer, who could hardly say bo to a +goose; but it would not, she thought, become her to tell her future +husband her own opinion on that matter. She saw no reason why he +should be less reticent in his opinion as to her father. Of course he +was older, and perhaps she did not think of that as much as she ought +to have done. She ought also to have remembered that he was an earl, +and she but a singing girl, and that something was due to him for the +honour he was doing her. But of this she would take no account. She +was to be his wife, and a wife ought to be equal to the husband. Such +at least was her American view of the matter. In fact, her ideas on +the matter ran as follows: My future husband is not entitled to call +my father an ass because he is a lord, seeing that my father is a +Member of Parliament. Nor is he entitled to call him so because he is +an ass, because the same thing is true of his own father. And thus +there came to be discord in her mind. + +"I suppose all Parliament people make asses of themselves sometimes, +Lords as well as Commons. I don't see how a man is to go on talking +for ever about laws and landleagues, and those sort of things without +doing so. It is all bosh to me. And so I should think it must be to +you, as you don't do it. But I do not think that father is worse than +anybody else; and I think that his words are sometimes very +beautiful." + +"Why, my dear, there is not a man about London who is not laughing at +him." + +"I saw in _The Times_ the other day that he is considered a very true +and a very honest man. Of course, they said that he talked nonsense +sometimes; but if you put the honesty against the nonsense, he will +be as good as anybody else." + +"I don't think you understand, my dear. Honesty is not what they +want." + +"Oh!" + +"But what they don't want especially is nonsense." + +"Poor papa! But he doesn't mean to consult them as to what they want. +His idea is that if everybody can be got to be honest this question +may be settled among them. But it must be talked about, and he, at +any rate, is eloquent. I have heard it said that there was not a more +eloquent man in New York. I think he has got as many good gifts as +anyone else." + +In this way there rose some bad feeling. Lord Castlewell did think +that there was something wanting in the manner in which he was +treated by his bride. He was sure that he loved her, but he was sure +also that when a lord marries a singing girl he ought to expect some +special observance. And the fact that the singing girl's father was +a Member of Parliament was much less to him than to her. He, indeed, +would have been glad to have the father abolished altogether. But she +had become very proud of her father since he had become a Member of +Parliament. Her ideas of the British constitution were rather vague; +but she thought that a Member of Parliament was at least as good as a +lord who was not a peer. He had his wealth; but she was sure that he +was too proud to think of that. + +Just at this period, when the session was beginning, Rachel began to +doubt the wisdom of what she was doing. The lord was, in truth, good +enough for her. He was nearly double her age, but she had determined +to disregard that. He was plain, but that was of no moment. He had +run after twenty different women, but she could condone all that, +because he had come at last to run after her. For his wealth she +cared nothing,--or less than nothing, because by remaining single +she could command wealth of her own;--wealth which she could control +herself, and keep at her own banker's, which she suspected would +not be the case with Lord Castlewell's money. But she had found the +necessity of someone to lean upon when Frank Jones had told her that +he would not marry her, and she had feared Mr. Moss so much that she +had begun to think that he would, in truth, frighten her into doing +some horrible thing. As Frank had deserted her, it would be better +that she should marry somebody. Lord Castlewell had come, and she had +felt that the fates were very good to her. She learned from the words +of everybody around,--from her new friends at Covent Garden, and from +her old enemies at "The Embankment," and from her father himself, +that she was the luckiest singing girl at this moment known in +Europe. "By G----, she'll get him!" such had been the exclamation +made with horror by Mr. Moss, and the echo of it had found its way to +her ears. The more Mr. Moss was annoyed, the greater ought to have +been her delight. But,--but was she in truth delighted? As she came +to think of the reality she asked herself what were the pleasures +which were promised to her. Did she not feel that a week spent with +Frank Jones in some little cottage would be worth a twelvemonth of +golden splendour in the "Marble Halls" which Lord Castlewell was +supposed to own? And why had Frank deserted her? Simply because he +would not come with her and share her money. Frank, she told herself, +was, in truth, a gallant fellow. She did love Frank. She acknowledged +so much to herself again and again. And yet she was about to marry +Lord Castlewell, simply because her doing so would be the severest +possible blow to her old enemy, Mr. Moss. + +Then she asked herself what would be best for her. She had made for +herself a great reputation, and she did not scruple to tell herself +that this had come from her singing. She thought very much of her +singing, but very little of her beauty. A sort of prettiness did +belong to her; a tiny prettiness which had sufficed to catch Frank +Jones. She had laughed about her prettiness and her littleness a +score of times with Ada and Edith, and also with Frank himself. There +had been the three girls who had called themselves "Beauty and the +Beast" and the "Small young woman." The reader will understand that +it had not been Ada who had chosen those names; but then Ada was not +given to be witty. Her prettiness, such as it was, had sufficed, and +Frank had loved her dearly. Then had come her great triumph, and she +knew not only that she could sing, but that the world had recognised +her singing. "I am a great woman, as women go," she had said to +herself. But her singing was to come to an end for ever and ever on +the 1st of May next. She would be the Countess of Castlewell, and in +process of time would be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. But she never +again would be a great woman. She was selling all that for the marble +halls. + +Was she wise in what she was doing? She had lain awake one long +morning striving to answer the question for herself. "If nobody else +should come, of course I should be an ugly old maid," she said to +herself; "but then Frank might perhaps come again,--Frank might come +again,--if Mr. Moss did not intervene in the meantime." But at last +she acknowledged to herself that she had given the lord a promise. +She would keep her promise, but she could not bring herself to exult +at the prospect. She must take care, however, that the lord should +not triumph over her. The lord had called her father an ass. She +certainly would say a rough word or two if he abused her father +again. + +This was the time of the "suspects." Mr. O'Mahony had already taken +an opportunity of expressing an opinion in the House of Commons that +every honest man, every patriotic man, every generous man, every +man in fact who was worth his salt, was in Ireland locked up as a +"suspect," and in saying so managed to utter very bitter words indeed +respecting him who had the locking up of these gentlemen. Poor Mr. +O'Mahony had no idea that he might have used with propriety as to +this gentleman all the epithets of which he believed the "suspects" +to be worthy; but instead of doing so he called him a "disreputable +jailer." It is not pleasant to be called a disreputable jailer in the +presence of all the best of one's fellow citizens, but the man so +called in this instance only smiled. Mr. O'Mahony had certainly made +himself ridiculous, and the whole House were loud in their clamours +at the words used. But that did not suffice. The Speaker reprimanded +Mr. O'Mahony and desired him to recall the language and apologise +for it. Then there arose a loud debate, during which the member of +the Government who had been assailed declared that Mr. O'Mahony had +not as yet been quite long enough in the House to learn the little +details of Parliamentary language; Mr. O'Mahony would no doubt soften +down his eloquence in course of time. But the Speaker would not be +content with this, and was about to order the sinner to be carried +away by the Sergeant-at-Arms, when a friend on his right and a friend +on his left, and a friend behind him, all whispered into his ear +how easy it is to apologise in the House of Commons. "You needn't +say he isn't a disreputable jailer, but only call him a distasteful +warder;--anything will do." This came from the gentleman at Mr. +O'Mahony's back, and the order for his immediate expulsion was +ringing in his ears. He had been told that he was ridiculous, and +could feel that it would be absurd to be carried somewhere into the +dungeons. And the man whom he certainly detested at the present +moment worse than any other scoundrel on the earth, had made a +good-natured apology on his behalf. If he were carried away now, he +could never come back again without a more serious apology. Then, +farewell to all power of attacking the jailer. He did as the man +whispered into his ear, and begged to substitute "distasteful warder" +for the words which had wounded so cruelly the feelings of the right +honourable gentleman. Then he looked round the House, showing that +he thought that he had misbehaved himself. After that, during Mr. +O'Mahony's career as a Member of Parliament, which lasted only for +the session, he lost his self-respect altogether. He had been driven +to withdraw the true wrath of his eloquence from him "at whose brow," +as he told Rachel the next morning, "he had hurled his words with a +force that had been found to be intolerable." + +Mr. O'Mahony had undoubtedly made himself an ass again on this +second, third, and perhaps tenth occasion. This was not the ass +he had made himself on the occasion to which Lord Castlewell had +referred. But yet he was a thoroughly honest, patriotic man, desirous +only of the good of his country, and wishing for nothing for himself. +Is it not possible that as much may be said for others, who from +day to day so violently excite our spleen, as to make us feel that +special Irishmen selected for special constituencies are not worthy +to be ranked with men? You shall take the whole House of Commons, +indifferent as to the side on which they sit,--some six hundred and +thirty out of the number,--and will find in conversation that the +nature of the animal, the absurdity, the selfishness, the absence +of all good qualifies, are taken for granted as matters admitting +of no dispute. But here was Mr. O'Mahony, as hot a Home-Ruler and +Landleaguer as any of them, who was undoubtedly a gentleman,--though +an American gentleman. Can it be possible that we are wrong in our +opinions respecting the others of the set? + +Rachel heard it all the next day, and, living as she did among +Italians and French, and theatrical Americans, and English swells, +could not endeavour to make the apology which I have just made for +the Irish Brigade generally. She knew that her father had made an ass +of himself. All the asinine proportions of the affair had been so +explained to her as to leave no doubt on her mind as to the matter. +But the more she was sure of it, the more resolved she became that +Lord Castlewell should not call her father an ass. She might do +so,--and undoubtedly would after her own fashion,--but no such +privilege should be allowed to him. + +"Oh! father, father," she said to him the next morning, "don't you +think you've made a goose of yourself?" + +"Yes, I do." + +"Then, don't do it any more." + +"Yes, I shall. It isn't so very easy for a man not to make a goose of +himself in that place. You've got to sit by and do nothing for a year +or two. It is very difficult. A man cannot afford to waste his time +in that manner. There is all Ireland to be regenerated, and I have to +learn the exact words which the prudery of the House of Commons will +admit. Of course I have made a goose of myself; but the question is +whether I did not make a knave of myself in apologising for language +which was undoubtedly true. Only think that a man so brutal, so +entirely without feelings, without generosity, without any touch +of sentiment, should be empowered by the Queen of England to lock +up, not only every Irishman, but every American also, and to keep +them there just as long as he pleases! And he revels in it. I do +believe that he never eats a good breakfast unless half-a-dozen new +'suspects' are reported by the early police in the morning; and I +am not to call such a man a 'disreputable jailer.' I may call him a +'distasteful warder.' It's a disgrace to a man to sit in such a House +and in such company. Of course I was a goose, but I was only a goose +according to the practices of that special duck-pond." Mr. O'Mahony, +as he said this, walked about angrily, with his hands in his +breeches' pockets, and told himself that no honest man could draw the +breath of life comfortably except in New York. + +"I don't know much about it, father," said Rachel, "but I think you'd +better cut and run. Your twenty men will never do any good here. +Everybody hates them who has got any money, and their only friends +are just men as Mr. Pat Carroll, of Ballintubber." + +Then, later in the day, Lord Castlewell called to drive his bride +in the Park. He had so far overcome family objections as to have +induced his sister, Lady Augusta Montmorency, to accompany him. Lady +Augusta had been already introduced to Rachel, but had not been +much prepossessed. Lady Augusta was very proud of her family, was a +religious woman, and was anything but contented with her brother's +manner of life. But it was no doubt better that he should marry +Rachel than not be married at all; and therefore Lady Augusta had +allowed herself to be brought to accompany the singing girl upon this +occasion. She was, in truth, an uncommonly good young woman; not +beautiful, not clever, but most truly anxious for the welfare of her +brother. It had been represented to her that her brother was over +head and ears in love with the young lady, and looking at the matter +all round, she had thought it best to move a little from her dignity +so as to take her sister-in-law coldly by the hand. It need hardly +be said that Rachel did not like being taken coldly by the hand, and, +with her general hot mode of expression, would have declared that she +hated Augusta Montmorency. Now, the two entered the room together, +and Rachel kissed Lady Augusta, while she gave only her hand to Lord +Castlewell. But there was something in her manner on such occasions +which was intended to show affection,--and did show it very plainly. +In old days she could decline to kiss Frank in a manner that would +set Frank all on fire. It was as much as to say--of course you've a +right to it, but on this occasion I don't mean to give it to you. But +Lord Castlewell was not imaginative, and did not think of all this. +Rachel had intended him to think of it. + +"Oh, my goodness!" began the lord, "what a mess your father did make +of it last night." And he frowned as he spoke. + +Rachel, as an intended bride--about to be a bride in two or three +months--did not like to be frowned at by the man who was to marry +her. "That's as people may think, my lord," she said. + +"You don't mean to say that you don't think he did make a mess of +it?" + +"Of course he abused that horrid man. Everybody is abusing him." + +"As for that, I'm not going to defend the man." For Lord Castlewell, +though by no means a strong politician, was a Tory, and unfortunately +found himself agreeing with Rachel in abusing the members of the +Government. + +"Then why do you say that father made a mess of it?" + +"Everybody is talking about it. He has made himself ridiculous before +the whole town." + +"What! Lord Castlewell," exclaimed Rachel. + +"I do believe your father is the best fellow going; but he ought not +to touch politics. He made a great mistake in getting into the House. +It is a source of misery to everyone connected with him." + +"Or about to be connected with him," said Lady Augusta, who had not +been appeased by the flavour of Rachel's kiss. + +"There's time enough to think about it yet," said Rachel. + +"No, there's not," said Lord Castlewell, who intended to express in +rather a gallant manner his intention of going on with the marriage. + +"But I can assure you there is," said Rachel, "ample time. There +shall be no time for going on with it, if my father is to be abused. +As it happens, you don't agree with my father in politics. I, as a +woman, should have to call myself as belonging to your party, if we +be ever married. I do not know what that party is, and care very +little, as I am not a politician myself. And I suppose if we were +married, you would take upon yourself to abuse my father for his +politics, as he might abuse you. But while he is my father, and you +are not my husband, I will not bear it. No, thank you, Lady Augusta, +I will not drive out to-day. 'Them's my sentiments,' as people say; +and perhaps your brother had better think them over while there's +time enough." So saying, she did pertinaciously refuse to be driven +by the noble lord on that occasion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +RACHEL WRITES ABOUT HER LOVERS. + + +What a dear fellow is Frank Jones. That was Rachel's first idea when +Lord Castlewell left her. It was an idea she had driven from out of +her mind with all the strength of which she was capable from the +moment in which his lordship had been accepted. "He never shall be +dear to me again," she had said, thinking of what would be due to +her husband; and she had disturbed herself, not without some success, +in expelling Frank Jones from her heart. It was not right that the +future Lady Castlewell should be in love with Frank Jones. But now +she could think about Frank Jones as she pleased. What a dear fellow +is Frank Jones! Now, it certainly was the case that Lord Castlewell +was not a dear fellow at all. He was many degrees better than Mr. +Moss, but for a dear fellow!--She only knew one. And she did tell +herself now that the world could hardly be a happy world to her +without one dear fellow,--at any rate, to think of. + +But he had positively refused to marry her! But yet she did not in +the least doubt his love. "I'm a little bit of a thing," she said to +herself; "but then he likes little bits of things. At any rate, he +likes one." + +And then she had thought ever so often over the cause which had +induced Frank to leave her. "Why shouldn't he take my money, since it +is here to be taken? It is all a man's beastly pride!" But then again +she contradicted the assertion to herself. It was a man's pride, but +by no means beastly. "If I were a man," she went on saying, "I don't +think I should like to pay for my coat and waistcoat with money which +a woman had earned; and I should like it the less, because things at +home, in my own house, were out of order." And then again she thought +of it all. "I should be an idiot to do that. Everybody would say so. +What! to give up my whole career for a young man's love,--merely that +I might have his arm round my waist? I to do it, who am the greatest +singer of my day, and who can, if I please, be Countess of Castlewell +to-morrow! That were losing the world for love, indeed! Can any man's +love be worth it? And I am going on to become such a singer as the +world does not possess another like me. I know it. I feel it daily in +the increasing sweetness of the music made. I see it in the wakeful +eagerness of men's ears, waiting for some charm of sound,--some +wonderful charm,--which they hardly dare to expect, but which always +comes at last. I see it in the eyes of the women, who are hardly +satisfied that another should be so great. It comes in the worship +of the people about the theatre, who have to tell me that I am their +god, and keep the strings of the sack from which money shall be +poured forth upon them. I know it is coming, and yet I am to marry +the stupid earl because I have promised him. And he thinks, too, that +his reflected honours will be more to me than all the fame that I can +earn for myself. To go down to his castle, and to be dumb for ever, +and perhaps to be mother of some hideous little imp who shall be the +coming marquis. Everything to be abandoned for that,--even Frank +Jones. But Frank Jones is not to be had! Oh, Frank Jones, Frank +Jones! If you could come and live in such a marble hall as I could +provide for you! It should have all that we want, but nothing more. +But it could not have that self-respect which it is a man's first +duty in life to achieve." But the thought that she had arrived at was +this,--that with all her best courtesy she would tell the Earl of +Castlewell to look for a bride elsewhere. + +But she would do nothing in a hurry. The lord had been very civil +to her, and she, on her part, would be as civil to the lord as +circumstances admitted. And she had an idea in her mind that she +could not at a moment's notice dismiss this lord and be as she was +before. Her engagement with the lord was known to all the musical +world. The Mosses and Socanis spent their mornings, noons, and nights +in talking about it,--as she well knew. And she was not quite sure +that the lord had given her such a palpable cause for quarrelling as +to justify her in throwing him over. And when she had as it were +thrown him over in her mind, she began to think of other causes for +regret. After all, it was something to be Countess of Castlewell. +She felt that she could play the part well, in spite of all Lady +Augusta's coldness. She would soon live the Lady Augusta down into a +terrible mediocrity. And then again, there would be dreams of Frank +Jones. Frank Jones had been utterly banished. But if an elderly +gentleman is desirous that his future wife shall think of no Frank +Jones, he had better not begin by calling the father of that young +lady a ridiculous ass. + +She was much disturbed in mind, and resolved that she would seek +counsel from her old correspondent, Frank's sister. + +"Dearest Edith," she began, + + + I know you will let me write to you in my troubles. I am + in such a twitter of mind in consequence of my various + lovers that I do not know where to turn; nor do I quite + know whom I am to call lover number one. Therefore, I + write to you to ask advice. Dear old Frank used to be + lover number one. Of course I ought to call him now Mr. + Francis Jones, because another lover is really lover + number one. I am engaged to marry, as you are well aware, + no less a person than the Earl of Castlewell; and, if + all things were to go prosperously with me, I should in + a short time be the Marchioness of Beaulieu. Did you + ever think of the glory of being an absolutely live + marchioness? It is so overwhelming as to be almost too + much for me. I think that I should not cower before my + position, but that I should, on the other hand, endeavour + to soar so high that I should be consumed by my own + flames. Then there is lover number three--Mr. Moss--who, + I do believe, loves me with the truest affection of them + all. I have found him out at last. He wishes to be the + legal owner of all the salaries which the singer of La + Beata may possibly earn; and he feels that, in spite of + all that has come and gone, it is yet possible. Of all the + men who ever forgave, Mr. Moss is the most forgiving. + + Now, which am I to take of these three? Of course, if + you are the honest girl I take you to be, you will write + back word that one, at any rate, is not in the running. + Mr. Francis Jones has no longer the honour. But what + if I am sure that he loves me; and what, again, if I + am sure that he is the only one I love? Let this be + quite--quite--between ourselves. I am beginning to think + that because of Frank Jones I cannot marry that gorgeous + earl. What if Frank Jones has spoiled me altogether? Would + you wish to see me on this account delivered over to Mr. + Mahomet Moss as a donkey between two bundles of hay? + + Tell me what you think of it. He won't take my money. But + suppose I earn my money for another season or two? Would + not your Irish brutalities be then over; and my father's + eloquence, and the eccentricities of the other gentlemen? + And would not your brother and your father have in some + way settled their affairs? Surely a little money won't + then be amiss, though it may have come from the industry + of a hard-worked young woman. + + Of course I am asking for mercy, because I am absolutely + devoted to a certain young man. You need not tell him that + in so many words; but I do not see why I am to be ashamed + of my devotion,--seeing that I was not ashamed of my + engagement, and boasted of it to all the world. And I have + done nothing since to be ashamed of. + + You have never told me a word of your young man; but the + birds of the air are more communicative than some friends. + A bird of the air has told me of you, and of Ada also, and + had made me understand that from Ada has come all that + sweetness which was to be expected from her. But from you + has not come that compliance with your fate in life which + circumstances have demanded. + + Your affectionate friend, + + RACHEL O'MAHONY. + + +It could not but be the case that Edith should be gratified by the +receipt of such a letter as this. Frank was now at home, and was +terribly down in the mouth. Boycotting had lost all its novelty at +Morony Castle. His sisters had begun to feel that it was a pleasant +thing to have their butter made for them, and pleasant also not to +be introduced to a leg of mutton till it appeared upon the table. +Frank, too, had become very tired of the work which fell to his lot, +though he had been relieved in the heaviest labours of the farm by +"Emergency" men, who had been sent to him from various parts of +Ireland. But he was thoroughly depressed in heart, as also was his +father. Months had passed by since Pat Carroll had stood in the dock +at Galway ready for his trial. He was now, in March, still kept in +Galway jail under remand from the magistrates. A great clamour was +made in the county upon the subject. Florian's murder had stirred all +those who were against the League to feel that the Government should +be supported. But there had been a mystery attached to that other +murder, perpetrated in the court, which had acted strongly on the +other side,--on behalf of the League. The murder of Terry Carroll at +the moment in which he was about to give evidence,--false evidence, +as the Leaguers said,--against his brother was a great triumph to +them. It was used as an argument why Pat Carroll should be no longer +confined, while Florian's death had been a reason why he never should +be released at all. All this kept the memory of Florian's death, +and the constant thought of it, still fresh in the minds of them all +at Morony Castle, together with the poverty which had fallen upon +them, had made the two men weary of their misfortunes. Under such +misfortunes, when continued, men do become more weary than women. +But Edith thought there would be something in the constancy of +Rachel's love to cheer her brother, and therefore the letter made +her contented if not happy. + +For herself, she said to herself no love could cheer her. Captain +Clayton still hung about Tuam and Headford, but his presence in the +neighbourhood was always to be attributed to the evidence of which he +was in search as to Florian's death. It seemed now with him that the +one great object of his heart was the unravelling of that murder. "It +was no mystery," as he said over and over again in Edith's hearing. +He knew very well who had fired the rifle. He could see, in his +mind's eye, the slight form of the crouching wretch as he too surely +took his aim from the temporary barricade. The passion had become so +strong with him of bringing the man to justice that he almost felt, +that between him and his God he could swear to having seen it. And +yet he knew that it was not so. To have the hanging of that man would +be to him a privilege only next to that of possessing Edith Jones. +And he was a sanguine man, and did believe that in process of time +both privileges would be vouchsafed to him. + +But Edith was less sanguine. She could not admit to herself the +possibility that there should be successful love between her and +her hero. His presence there in the neighbourhood of her home was +stained by constant references to her brother's blood. And then, +though there was no chance for Ada, Ada's former hopes militated +altogether against Edith. "He had better go away and just leave us to +ourselves," she said to herself. But yet neither was she nor was Ada +sunk so low in heart as her father and her brother. + +"Frank," she said to her brother, "whom do you think this letter is +from?" and she held up in her hand Rachel's epistle. + +"I care not at all, unless it be from that most improbable of all +creatures, a tenant coming to pay his rent." + +"Nothing quite so beautiful as that." + +"Or from someone who has evidence to give about some of these murders +that are going on?"--A Mr. Morris from the other side of the lake, +in County Mayo, had just been killed, and the minds of men were now +disturbed with this new horror.--"Anybody can kill anybody who has a +taste in that direction. What a country for a man with his family to +pitch upon and live in! And that all this should have been kept under +so long by policemen and right-thinking individuals, and then burst +out like a subterranean fire all over the country, because the hope +has been given them of getting their land for nothing! In order to +indulge in wholesale robbery they are willing at a moment's notice to +undertake wholesale murder." + +After listening to words such as these, Edith found it impossible to +introduce Rachel's letter on the spur of the moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +RACHEL IS ILL. + + +Rachel, before the end of March, received the following letter from +her friend, but she received it in bed. The whole world of Covent +Garden Theatre had been thrown into panic-stricken dismay by the fact +that Miss O'Mahony had something the matter with her throat. This was +the second attack, the first having been so short as to have caused +no trepidations in the world of music; but this was supposed to be +sterner in its nature, and to have caused already great alarm. Before +March was over it was published to the world at large that Miss +O'Mahony would not be able to sing during the forthcoming week. + +In this catastrophe her lordly lover was of course the most sedulous +of attendants. In truth he was so, though when we last met him and +his bride together he had made himself very disagreeable. Rachel had +then answered him in such language as to make her think it impossible +that he should not quarrel with her; but still here he was, constant +at her chamber door. Whether his constancy was due to his position +about the theatre or to his ardour as a lover, she did not know; but +in either case it troubled her somewhat, and interfered with her +renewed dreams about Frank. Then came the following letter from +Frank's sister: + + + DEAR RACHEL, + + I am not very much surprised, though I was a little, that + you should have accepted Lord Castlewell; but I had not + quite known the ins and outs of it, not having been there + to see. Frank says that the separation had certainly come + from him, because he could not bring himself to burden + your prosperity with the heavy load of his misfortunes. + Poor fellow! They are very heavy. They would have made you + both miserable for awhile, unless you could have agreed + to postpone your marriage. Why should it not have been + postponed? + + But Lord Castlewell came in the way, and I supposed + him naturally to be as beautiful and gracious as he is + gorgeous and rich. But though you say nothing about him + there does creep out from your letter some kind of idea + that he is not quite so beautiful in your eyes as was + poor Frank. Remember that poor Frank has to wear two blue + shirts a week and no more, in order to save the washing! + How many does Lord Castlewell wear? How many will he wear + when he is a marquis? + + But at any rate it does seem to be the case that you and + the earl are not as happy together as your best friends + could wish. We had understood that the earl was ready + to expire for love at the sound of every note. Has he + slackened in his admiration so as to postpone his expiring + to the close of every song? Or why is it that Frank should + be allowed again to come up and trouble your dreams? + + You are so fond of joking that it is almost impossible for + a poor steady-going, boycotted young woman to follow you + to the end. Of course I understand that what you say about + Mr. Moss is altogether a joke. But then what you say about + Frank is, I am sure, not a joke. If you love him the best, + as I am sure you do--so very much the best as to disregard + the marble halls--I advise you, in the gentlest manner + possible, to tell the marble halls that they are not + wanted. It cannot be right to marry one man when you say + that you love another as you do Frank. Of course he will + wait if you like to wait. All I can say is, that no man + loves a girl better than he loves you. + + We are very much down in the world at the present. We have + literally no money. Papa's relatives have given their + money to him to invest, and he has laid it out on the + property here. Nobody was thought to have done so well as + he till lately; but now they cannot get their interest, + and, of course, they are impatient. Commissioners have + sat in the neighbourhood, and have reduced the rents all + round. But they can't reduce what doesn't exist. There + are tenants who I suppose will pay. Pat Carroll could + certainly have done so. But then papa's share in the + property will be reduced almost to nothing. He will not + get above five shillings out of every twenty shillings of + rent, such as it was supposed to be when he bought it. I + don't understand all this, and I am sure I cannot make you + do so. + + I have nothing to tell about my young man, as you call + him, except that he cannot be mine. I fancy that girls are + not fond of writing about their young men when they don't + belong to them. Frank, at any rate, is yours, if you will + take him; and you can write about him with an open heart. + I cannot do so. Think of poor Florian and his horrid + death. Is this a time for marriage,--if it were otherwise + possible,--which it is not? + + God bless you, dear Rachel. Let me hear from you again + soon. I have said nothing to Frank as yet. I attempted + it this morning, but was stopped. You can imagine + that he, poor fellow, is not very happy.--Yours very + affectionately, + + EDITH JONES. + + +Rachel read the letter on her sick bed, and as soon as it was read +Lord Castlewell came to her. There was always a nurse there, but Lord +Castlewell was supposed to be able to see the patient, and on one +occasion had been accompanied by his sister. It was all done in the +most proper form imaginable, much to Rachel's disgust. Incapable as +she was in her present state of carrying on any argument, she was +desirous of explaining to Lord Castlewell that he was not to hold +himself as bound to marry her. "If you think that father is an ass, +you had better say so outright, and let there be an end of it." +She wished to speak to him after this fashion. But she could not +say it in the presence of the nurse and of Lady Augusta. But Lord +Castlewell's conduct to herself made her more anxious than ever to +say something of the kind. He was very civil, even tender, in his +inquiries, but he was awfully frigid. She could tell from his manner +that that last speech of hers was rankling in his bosom as the frigid +words fell from his lips. He was waiting for some recovery,--a +partial recovery would be better than a whole one,--and then he would +speak his mind. She wanted to speak her mind first, but she could +hardly do so with her throat in its present condition. + +She had no other friend than her father, no other friend to take her +part with her lovers. And she had, too, fallen into such a state +that she could not say much to him. According to the orders of the +physician, she was not to interest herself at all about anything. + +"I wonder whether the man was ever engaged to two or three lovers at +once," she said to herself, alluding to the doctor. "He knows at any +rate of Lord Castlewell, and does he think that I am not to trouble +myself about him?" + +She had a tablet under her pillow, which she took out and wrote on +it certain instructions. "Dear father, C. and I quarrelled before +I was ill at all, and now he comes here just as though nothing +had happened. He said you made an ass of yourself in the House of +Commons. I won't have it, and mean to tell him so; but I can't talk. +Won't you tell him from me that I shall expect him to beg my pardon, +and that I shall never hear anything of the kind again. It must come +to this. Your own R." This was handed to Mr. O'Mahony by Rachel that +very day before he went down to the House of Commons. + +"But, my dear!" he said. Rachel only shook her head. "I can hardly +say all this about myself. I don't care twopence whether he thinks me +an ass or not." + +"But I do," said Rachel on the tablet. + +"He is an earl, and has wonderful privileges, as well as a great deal +of money." + +"Marble halls and impudence," said Rachel on the tablet. Then Mr. +O'Mahony, feeling that he ought to leave her in peace, made her a +promise, and went his way. At Covent Garden that evening he met the +noble lord, having searched for him in vain at Westminster. He was +much more likely to find Lord Castlewell among the singers of the +day, than with the peers; but of these things Mr. O'Mahony hardly +understood all the particulars. + +"Well, O'Mahony, how is your charming daughter?" + +"My daughter is not inclined to be charming at all. I do hope she may +be getting better, but at present she is bothering her head about +you." + +"It is natural that she should think of me a little sometimes," said +the flattered lord. + +"She has written me a message which she says that I am to deliver. +Now mind, I don't care about it the least in the world." Here the +lord looked very grave. "She says that you called me an ass. Well, +I am to you, and you're an ass to me. I am sure you won't take it as +any insult, neither do I. She wants you to promise that you won't +call me an ass any more. Of course it would follow that I shouldn't +be able to call you one. We should both be hampered, and the truth +would suffer. But as she is ill, perhaps it would be better that you +should say that you didn't mean it." + +But this was not at all Lord Castlewell's view of the matter. +Though he had been very glib with his tongue in calling O'Mahony an +ass, he did not at all like the compliment as paid back to him by +his father-in-law. And there was something which he did not quite +understand in the assertion that the truth would suffer. All the +world was certain that Mr. O'Mahony was an ass. He had been turned +out of the House of Commons only yesterday for saying that the +Speaker was quite wrong, and sticking to it. There was not the +slightest doubt in the world about it. But his lordship knew his +gamut, which was all that he pretended to know, and never interfered +with matters of which he was ignorant. He was treated with the +greatest respect at Covent Garden, and nobody ever suspected him of +being an ass. And then he had it in his mind to speak very seriously +to Rachel as soon as she might be well enough to hear him. "You +have spoken to me in a manner, my dear, which I am sure you did not +intend." He had all the words ready prepared on a bit of paper in his +pocket-book. And he was by no means sure but that the little quarrel +might even yet become permanent. He had discussed it frequently with +Lady Augusta, and Lady Augusta rather wished that it might become +permanent. And Lord Castlewell was not quite sure that he did not +wish it also. The young lady had a way of speaking about her own +people which was not to be borne. And now she had been guilty of the +gross indecency of sending a message to him by her own father,--the +very man whom he called an ass. And the man in return only laughed +and called him an ass. + +But Lord Castlewell knew the proprieties of life. Here was this--girl +whom he had proposed to marry, a sad invalid at the moment. The +doctor had, in fact, given him but a sad account of the case. "She +has strained her voice continually till it threatens to leave her," +said the doctor; "I do not say that it will be so, but it may. Her +best chance will be to abandon all professional exertions till next +year." Then the doctor told him that he had not as yet taken upon +himself to hint anything of all this to Miss O'Mahony. + +Lord Castlewell was puzzled in the extreme. If the lady lost her +voice and so became penniless and without a profession; and if he in +such case were to throw her over, and leave her unmarried, what would +the world say of him? Would it be possible then to make the world +understand that he had deserted her, not on account of her illness, +but because she had not liked to hear her father called an ass. And +had not Rachel already begun the battle in a manner intended to +show that she meant to be the victor? Could it be possible that she +herself was desirous of backing out. There was no knowing the extent +of the impudence to which these Americans would not go! No doubt she +had, by the use of intemperate language on the occasion when she +would not be driven out in the carriage, given him ample cause for a +breach. To tell the truth, he had thought then that a breach would +be expedient. But she had fallen ill, and it was incumbent on him to +be tender and gentle. Then, from her very sick bed, she had sent him +this impudent message. + +And it had been delivered so impudently! "The truth would suffer!" He +was sure that there was a meaning in the words intended to signify +that he, Lord Castlewell, was and must be an ass at all times. Then +he asked himself whether he was an ass because he did not quite +understand O'Mahony's argument. Why did the truth suffer? As to his +being an ass,--O'Mahony being an ass,--he was sure that there was no +doubt about that. All the world said so. The House of Commons knew +it,--and the newspapers. He had been turned out of the House for +saying the Speaker was wrong, and not apologising for having uttered +such words. And he, Lord Castlewell, had so expressed himself only +to the woman who was about to be his wife. Then she had had the +incredible folly to tell her father, and the father had told him that +under certain circumstances the "truth must suffer." He did not quite +understand it, but was sure that Mr. O'Mahony had meant to say that +they were two fools together. + +He was not at all ashamed of marrying a singing girl. It was the +thing he would be sure to do. And he thought of some singing girls +before his time, and of his time also, whom it would be an honour for +such as him to marry. But he would degrade himself--so he felt--by +the connection with an advanced Landleaguing Member of Parliament. +He looked round the lot of them, and he assured himself that there +was not one from whose loins an English nobleman could choose a wife +without disgrace. It was most unfortunate,--so he told himself. The +man had not become Member of Parliament till quite the other day. He +had not even opened his mouth in Parliament till the engagement had +been made. And now, among them all, this O'Mahony was the biggest +ass. And yet Lord Castlewell found himself quite unable to hold his +own with the Irish member when the Irish member was brought to attack +him. He certainly would have made Rachel's conduct a fair excuse for +breaking with her,--only that she was ill. + +If he could have known the state of Rachel's mind there might have +been an end to his troubles. She had now, at length, been made +thoroughly wretched by hearing the truth from the doctor,--or what +the doctor believed to be the truth. "Miss O'Mahony, I had better +tell you, your voice has gone, at any rate for a year." + +"For a year!" The hoarse, angry, rusty whisper came forth from her, +and in spite of its hoarseness and rustiness was audible enough. + +"I fear so. For heaven's sake don't talk; use your tablet." Rachel +drew the tablet from under her pillow and dashed it across the +room. The doctor picked it up, and, with a kind smile and a little +caressing motion of his hand, put it again back under the pillow. +Rachel buried her head amidst the bedclothes and sobbed bitterly. +"Try to make yourself happy in remembering how you have succeeded," +said the doctor. + +"It won't be back just the same," she wrote on her tablet. + +"It is in God's hands," said the doctor. There came not another word +from Rachel, either by her tablet or by any struggle at speech. The +doctor, having made what attempts at comfort he could, went his way. +Then her father, who had been in and out constantly, came to his +daughter. He had not been present when she threw the tablet away, but +he knew what the doctor had said to her. + +"My pet," he said. But she made no attempt to answer him. A year! At +her time of life a year is an eternity. And then this doctor had only +told her that her voice was in God's hands. She could talk to herself +without any effort. "When they say that they always condemn you. +When the doctor tells you that you are in God's hands he means the +Devil's." + +She had been so near the gods and goddesses, and now she was no more +than any other poor woman. She might be less, as her face had begun +to wither with her voice. She had all but succeeded; as for her +face, as for the mere look of her, let it go. She told herself that +she cared nothing for her appearance. What was Lord Castlewell to +her,--what even was Frank's love? To stand on the boards of the +theatre and become conscious of the intense silence of the crowd +before her,--so intense because the tone of her voice was the one +thing desired by all the world. And then to open her mouth and to let +the music go forth and to see the ears all erect, as she fancied she +could, so that not a sound should be lost,--should not be harvested +by the hungry hearers! That was to be a very god! As she told herself +of all her regrets, there was not a passing sorrow given to Lord +Castlewell. And what of the other man? "Oh, Frank, dear Frank, you +will know it all now. There need be no more taking money." But she +did take some comfort at last in that promise of God's hands. When +she had come, as it were, to the bitterest moment of her grief, she +told herself that, though it might be even at the end of a whole +year, there was something to be hoped. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +LORD CASTLEWELL IS MUCH TROUBLED. + + +When her father had been with her half-an-hour, and was beginning to +think that he could escape and go down to the House,--and he had a +rod in pickle for the Speaker's back, such a rod that the Speaker's +back should be sore for the rest of the session--Rachel began her +lengthened conversation with him. In the last half-hour she had made +up her mind as to what she would say. But the conversation was so +long and intricate, being necessarily carried on by means of her +tablet, that poor O'Mahony's rod was losing all its pickle. "Father, +you must go and see Lord Castlewell at once." + +"I think, my dear, he understood me altogether when I saw him before, +and he seemed to agree with me. I told him I didn't mind being called +an ass, but that you were so absurd as to dislike it. In fact, I gave +him to understand that we were three asses; but I don't think he'll +say it again." + +"It isn't about that at all," said the tablet. + +"What else do you want?" + +Then Rachel went to work and wrote her demand with what deliberation +she could assume. + +"You must go and tell him that I don't want to marry him at all. He +has been very kind, and you mustn't tell him that he's an ass any +more. But it won't do. He has proposed to marry me because he has +wanted a singing girl; and I think I should have done for him,--only +I can't sing." + +Then the father replied, having put himself into such a position +on the bed as to read the tablet while Rachel was filling it: "But +that'll all come right in a very short time." + +"It can't, and it won't. The doctor says a year; but he knows nothing +about it, and says it's in God's hands. He means by that it's as bad +as it can be." + +"But, my dear--" + +"I tell you it must be so." + +"But you are engaged. He would never be so base a man as to take your +word at such a moment as this. Of course he couldn't do it. If you +had had small-pox, or anything horrible like that, he would not have +been justified." + +"I'm as ugly as ever I can be," said the tablet, "and as poor a +creature." Then she stopped her pencil for a moment. + +"Of course he's engaged to you. Why, my dear, I'd have to cowhide him +if he said a word of the kind." + +"Oh, no!" said the tablet with frantic energy. + +"But you see if I wouldn't! You see if I don't! I suppose they think +a lord isn't to be cowhided in this country. I guess I'll let 'em +know the difference." + +"But I don't love him," said the tablet. + +"Goodness gracious me!" + +"I don't. When he spoke of you in that way I began to think of it, +and I found I hated him. I do hate him like poison, and I want you to +tell him so." + +"That will be very disagreeable," said the father. + +"Never mind the disagreeables. You tell him so. I tell you he won't +be the worst pleased of the lot of us. He wanted a singer, and not a +Landleaguer's daughter; now he hasn't got the singer, but has got the +Landleaguer's daughter. And I'll tell you something else I want--" + +"What do you want?" asked the father, when her hand for a moment +ceased to scrawl. + +"I want," she said, "Frank Jones. Now you know all about it." + +Then she hid her face beneath the bedclothes, and refused to write +another word. + +He went on talking to her till he had forgotten the Speaker and +the rod in pickle. He besought her to think better of it; and if +not that, just at present to postpone any action in the matter. He +explained to her how very disagreeable it would be to him to have to +go to the lord with such a message as she now proposed. But she only +enhanced the vehemence of her order by shaking her head as her face +lay buried in the pillow. + +"Let it wait for one fortnight," said the father. + +"No!" said the girl, using her own voice for the effort. + +Then the father slowly took himself off, and making his way to the +House of Commons, renewed his passion as he went, and had himself +again turned out before he had been half-an-hour in the House. + +The earl was sitting alone after breakfast two or three days +subsequently, thinking in truth of his difficulty with Rachel. It +had come to be manifest to him that he must marry the girl unless +something terrible should occur to her. "She might die," he said to +himself very sadly, trying to think of cases in which singers had +died from neglected throats. And it did make him very sad. He could +not think of the perishing of that magnificent treble without great +grief; and, after his fashion, he did love her personally. He did +not know that he could ever love anyone very much better. He had +certainly thought that it would be a good thing that his father and +mother and sister should go and live in foreign lands,--in order, in +short, that they might never more be heard of to trouble him,--but he +did not even contemplate their deaths, so sweet-minded was he. But +in the first fury of his love he had thought how nice it would be to +be left with his singing girl, and no one to trouble him. Now there +came across him an idea that something was due to the Marquis of +Beaulieu,--something, that is, to his own future position; and what +could he do with a singing girl for his wife who could not sing? + +He was unhappy as he thought of it all, and would ever and again, as +he meditated, be stirred up to mild anger when he remembered that he +had been told that "the truth would suffer." He had intended, at any +rate, that his singing girl should be submissive and obedient while +in his hands. But here had been an outbreak of passion! And here +was this confounded O'Mahony ready to make a fool of himself at a +moment's notice before all the world. At that moment the door was +opened and Mr. O'Mahony was shown into the room. + +"Oh! dear," exclaimed the lord, "how do you do, Mr. O'Mahony? I hope +I see you well." + +"Pretty well. But upon my word, I don't know how to tell you what +I've got to say." + +"Has anything gone wrong with Rachel?" + +"Not with her illness,--which, however, does not seem to improve. The +poor girl! But you'll say she's gone mad." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I really hardly know how I ought to break it. You must have learned +by this time that Rachel is a girl determined to have her own way." + +"Well; well; well!" + +"And, upon my word, when I think of myself, I feel that I have +nothing to do but what she bids me." + +"It's more than you do for the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony." + +"Yes, it is; I admit that. But Rachel, though she is inclined to +be tyrannical, is not such a downright positive old blue-bottle +nincompoop as that white-wigged king of kings. Rachel is bad; but +even you can't say that she is bad enough to be Speaker of the House +of Commons. My belief is, that he'll come to be locked up yet." + +"We have all the highest opinion of him." + +"It's because you like to be sat upon. You don't want to be allowed +to say bo to a goose. I have often heard in my own country--" + +"But you call yourself an Irishman, Mr. O'Mahony." + +"Never did so in my life. They called me so over there when they +wanted to return me to hold my tongue in that House of Torment; but +I guess it will puzzle the best Englishman going to find out whether +I'm an American or an Irishman. They did something over there to make +me an American; but they did nothing to unmake me as an Irishman. And +there I am, member for Cavan; and it will go hard with me if I don't +break that Speaker's heart before I've done with him. What! I ain't +to say that he goes wrong when he never goes right by any chance?" + +"Have you come here this morning, Mr. O'Mahony, to abuse the +Speaker?" + +"By no means. It was you who threw the Speaker in my teeth." + +Lord Castlewell did acknowledge to himself his own imprudence. + +"I came here to tell you about my daughter, and upon my word I +shall find it more difficult than anything I may have to say to the +Speaker. I have the most profound contempt for the Speaker." + +"Perhaps he returns it." + +"I don't believe he does, or he wouldn't make so much of me as to +turn me out of the House. When a man finds it necessary to remove an +enemy, let the cause be what it may, he cannot be said to despise +that enemy. Now, I wouldn't give a puff of breath to turn him out of +the House. In truth, I despise him too much." + +"He is to be pitied," said the lord, with a gentle touch of irony. + +"I'll tell you what, Lord Castlewell--" + +"Don't go on about the Speaker, Mr. O'Mahony,--pray don't." + +"You always begin,--but I won't. I didn't come here to speak about +him at all. And the Chairman of Committees is positively worse. You +know there's a creature called Chairman of Committees?" + +"Now, Mr. O'Mahony, I really must beg that you will fight your +political battles anywhere but here. I'm not a politician. How is +your charming daughter this morning?" + +"She is anything but charming. I hardly know what to make of her, +but I find that I am always obliged to do what she tells me." There +was another allusion to the Speaker on the lord's tongue, but he +restrained himself. "She has sent me here to say that she wants the +marriage to be broken off." + +"Good Heavens!" + +"She does. She says that you intend to marry her because she's a +singing girl;--and now she can't sing." + +"Not exactly that," said the lord. + +"And she thinks she oughtn't to have accepted you at all,--that's the +truth." The lord's face became very long. "I think myself that it was +a little too hurried. I don't suppose you quite knew your own minds." + +"If Miss O'Mahony repents--" + +"Well, Miss O'Mahony does repent. She has got something into her head +that I can't quite explain. She thought that she'd do for a countess +very well as long as she was on the boards of a theatre. But now that +she's to be relegated to private life she begins to feel that she +ought to look after someone about her own age." + +"Oh, indeed! Is this her message?" + +"Well; yes. It is her message. I shouldn't in such a matter invent +it all if she hadn't sent me. I don't know, now I think of it, that +she did say anything about her own age. But yet she did," remarked +Mr. O'Mahony, calling to mind the assertion made by Rachel that she +wanted Frank Jones. Frank Jones was about her own age, whereas the +lord was as old as her father. + +"Upon my word, I am much obliged to Miss O'Mahony." + +"She certainly has meant to be as courteous as she knows how," said +Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Perhaps on your side of the water they have different ideas of +courtesy. The young lady sends me word that now she means to retire +from the stage she finds I am too old for her." + +"Not that at all," said Mr. O'Mahony. But he said it in an apologetic +tone, as though admitting the truth. + +Lord Castlewell, as he sat there for a few moments, acknowledged to +himself that Rachel possessed certain traits of character which had +something fine about them, from whatever side of the water she had +come. He was a reasonable man, and he considered that there was a +way made for him to escape from this trouble which was not to have +been expected. Had Rachel been an English girl, or an Italian, or a +Norwegian, he would hardly have been let off so easily. As he was +an earl, and about to be a marquis, and as he was a rich man, such +suitors are not generally given up in a hurry. This young lady had +sent word to him that she had lost her voice permanently and was +therefore obliged to surrender that high title, that noble name, and +those golden hopes which had glistened before her eyes. No doubt he +had offered to marry her because of her singing;--that is, he would +not have so offered had she not have been a singer. But he could not +have departed from his engagement simply because she had become dumb. +He quite understood that Mr. O'Mahony would have been there with +his cowhide, and though he was by no means a coward be did not wish +to encounter the American Member of the House of Commons in all +his rage. In fact, he had been governed in his previous ideas by a +feeling of propriety; but propriety certainly did not demand him to +marry a young lady who had sent to tell him that he was too old. And +this irate member of the House of Commons had come to bring him the +message! + +"What am I expected to suggest now?" said Lord Castlewell, after +awhile. + +"Just your affectionate blessing, and you're very sorry," said Mr. +O'Mahony, with a shrug. "That's the kind of thing, I should say." + +He couldn't send her his affectionate blessing, and he couldn't +say he was very sorry. Had the young lady been about to marry his +son,--had there been such a son,--he could have blessed her; and he +felt that his own personal dignity did not admit of an expression of +sorrow. + +Was he to let the young lady off altogether? There was something +nearly akin,--very nearly akin,--to true love in his bosom as he +thought of this. The girl was ill, and no doubt weak, and had been +made miserable by the loss of her voice. The doctor had told him that +her voice, for all singing purposes, had probably gone for ever. But +her beauty remained;--had not so faded, at least, as to have given +any token of permanent decay. And that peculiarly bright eye was +there; and the wit of the words which had captivated him. The very +smallness of her stature, with its perfect symmetry, had also gone +far to enrapture him. + +No doubt, he was forty. He did not openly pretend even to be less. +And where was the young lady, singer or no singer, who if disengaged, +would reject the heir to a marquisate because he was forty? And +he did not believe that Rachel had sent him any message in which +allusion was made to his age. That had been added by the stupid +father, who was, without doubt, the biggest fool that either America +or Ireland had ever produced. Now that the matter had been brought +before him in such bald terms, he was by no means sure that he was +desirous of accepting the girl's offer to release him. And the father +evidently had no desire to catch him. He must acknowledge that Mr. +O'Mahony was an honest fool. + +"It's very hard to know what I'm to say." Here Mr. O'Mahony shook his +head. "I think that, perhaps, I had better come and call upon her." + +"You mustn't speak a word! And, if you're to be considered as no +longer engaged, perhaps there might be--you know--something--well, +something of delicacy in the matter!" + +Mr. O'Mahony felt at the moment that he ought to protect the +interests of Frank Jones. + +"I understand. At any rate I am not disposed to send her my blessing +at present as a final step. An engagement to be married is a very +serious step in life." + +But her father remembered that she had told him that she wanted Frank +Jones. Should he tell the lord the exact truth, and explain all about +Frank Jones? It would be the honest thing to do. And yet he felt that +his girl should have another chance. This lord was not much to his +taste; but still, for a lord, he had his good points. + +"I think we had better leave it for the present," said the lord. "I +feel that in the midst of all your eloquence I do not quite catch +Miss O'Mahony's meaning." + +O'Mahony felt that this lord was as bad a lord as any of them. He +would like to force the lord to meet him at some debating club where +there was no wretched Speaker and there force him to give an answer +on any of the burning questions which now excited the two countries. + +"Very well. I will explain to Rachel as soon as I can that the matter +is still left in abeyance. Of course we feel the honour done us by +your lordship in not desiring to accept at once her decision. Her +condition is no doubt sad. But I suppose she may expect to hear once +more from yourself in a short time." + +So Mr. O'Mahony took his leave, and as he went to Cecil Street +endeavoured in his own mind to investigate the character of Lord +Castlewell. That he was a fool there could be no doubt, a fool with +whom he would not be forced to live in the constant intercourse of +married life for any money that could be offered to him. He was a man +who, without singing himself, cared for nothing but the second-hand +life of a theatre. But then he, Mr. O'Mahony, was not a young woman, +and was not expected to marry Lord Castlewell. But he had told +himself over and over again that Lord Castlewell had been "caught." +He was a great lord rolling in money, and Rachel had "caught" him. +He had not quite approved of Rachel's conduct, but the lord had been +fair game for a woman. What the deuce was he to think now of the lord +who would not be let off? + +"I wonder whether it can be love for her," said he to himself; "such +love as I used to feel." + +Then he sighed heavily as he went home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +CAPTAIN CLAYTON'S FIRST TRIUMPH. + + +It was now April, and this April was a sad month in Ireland. I do +not know why the deaths of two such men as were then murdered should +touch the heart with a deeper sorrow than is felt for the fate of +others whose lot is lower in life; why the poor widow, who has +lost her husband while doing his duty amidst outrages and unmanly +revenges, is not to be so much thought of as the sweet lady who has +been robbed of her all in the same fashion. But so it is with human +nature. We know how a people will weep for their Sovereign, and it +was with such tears as that, with tears as sincere as those shed for +the best of kings, that Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were +lamented. In April these two men had fallen, hacked to death in front +of the Viceregal Lodge. By whom they were killed, as I write now, no +one knows, and as regards Lord Frederick one can hardly guess the +reason. He had come over to Ireland on that very day, to take the +place which his luckier predecessor had just vacated, and had as yet +done no service, and excited no vengeance in Ireland. He had only +attended an opening pageant;--because with him had come a new Lord +Lieutenant,--not new indeed to the office, but new in his return. An +accident had brought the two together on the day, but Lord Frederick +was altogether a stranger, and yet he had been selected. Such had +been his fate, and such also the fate of Mr. Burke, who, next to him +in official rank, may possibly have been in truth the doomed one. +They were both dealt with horribly on that April morning,--and all +Ireland was grieving. All Ireland was repudiating the crime, and +saying that this horror had surely been done by American hands. Even +the murderers native to Ireland seemed to be thoroughly ashamed of +this deed. + +It would be needless here to tell,--or to attempt to tell,--how one +Lord-Lieutenant had made way for another, and one Chief Secretary +for another Chief Secretary. It would be trying to do too much. In +the pages of a novel the novelist can hardly do more than indicate +the sources of the troubles which have fallen upon the country, +and can hardly venture to deal with the names and characters of +those who have been concerned. For myself, I do most cordially agree +with the policy of him in whose place Lord Frederick had this day +suffered,--as far as his conduct in Ireland can be read from that +which he did and from that which he spoke. As far as he had agreed +with the Government in their measure for interfering with the price +paid for land in the country,--for putting up a new law devised by +themselves in lieu of that time-honoured law by which property has +ever been protected in England,--I disagree. Of my disagreement +no one will take notice;--but my story cannot be written without +expressing it. + +But down at Morony Castle, mingled with their sorrows, there was a +joy and a triumph; not loud indeed, not sounded with trumpets, not as +yet perfect, not quite assured even in the mind of one man; but yet +assuring in the mind of that man,--and indeed of one other,--almost +to conviction. That man was Captain Yorke Clayton, and that other man +was only poor Hunter, the wounded policeman. For such triumph as was +theirs a victim is needed; and in this case the victim, the hoped-for +victim, was Mr. Lax. + +Nothing had ever been made out in regard to the murder of Terry +Carroll in the Court House at Galway. Irish mysteries are coming to +be unriddled now, but there will be no unriddling of that. Yorke +Clayton, together with Hunter and all the police of County Galway, +could do nothing in regard to that mystery. They had struggled their +very best, and, from the nature of the crime, had found themselves +almost obliged to discover the perpetrator. The press of the two +countries, the newspapers in other respects so hostile to each other, +had united in declaring that the police were bound to know all about +it. The police had determined to know nothing about it, because the +Government did not dare to bring forward such evidence. This was the +Irish Landleague view; and though it contained an accusation against +the Government for having contrived the murder itself, it was all +the better on that account. The English papers simply said that the +Galway police must be fast asleep. This man had been murdered when +in the very hands of the officers of justice. The judge had seen +the shots fired. The victim fell into the hands of four policemen. +The pistol was found at his feet. It was done in daylight, and all +Galway was looking on. The kind of things that were said by one set +of newspapers and another drove Yorke Clayton almost out of his wits. +He had to maintain a show of good humour, and he did maintain it +gallantly. "My hero is a hero still," whispered Edith to her own +pillow. But, in truth, nothing could be done as to that Galway case. +Mr. Lax was still in custody, and was advised by counsel not to give +any account of himself at that time. It was indecent on the part of +the prosecution that he should be asked to do so. So said the lawyers +on his side, but it was clear that nobody in the court and nobody in +Galway could be got to say that he or she had seen him do it. And +yet Yorke Clayton had himself seen the hip of the stooping man. "I +suppose I couldn't swear to it," he said to himself; and it would +be hard to see how he could swear to the man without forswearing +himself. + +But while this lamentable failure was going on, success reached him +from another side. He didn't care a straw what the newspapers said +of him, so long as he could hang Mr. Lax. His triumph in that respect +would drown all other failures. Mr. Lax was still in custody, and +many insolent petitions had been made on his behalf in order that he +might be set free. "Did the Crown intend to pretend that they had any +shadow of evidence against him as to the shooting of Terry Carroll?" + +"No;--but there was another murder committed a day or two before. +Poor young Florian Jones had been murdered. Even presuming that Lax's +hand cannot be seen visible in the matter of Terry Carroll, there is, +we think, something to connect him with the other murder. The two, no +doubt, were committed in the same interest. The Crown is not prepared +to allow Lax to escape from its hands quite yet." Then there were +many words on the subject going on just at the time at which Lax +especially wanted his freedom, and at which, to tell the truth, Yorke +Clayton was near the end of his tether in regard to poor Florian. + +In the beginning of his inquiry as to the Ballyglunin murder, he +entertained an idea that Lax, after firing the shot, had been seen +by that wicked car-driver, who had boycotted Mr. Jones in his great +need. The reader will probably have forgotten that Mr. Jones had +required to be driven home to Morony Castle from Ballyglunin station, +and had been refused the accommodation by a wicked old Landleaguer, +who had joined the conspiracy formed in the neighbourhood against +Mr. Jones. He had done so, either in fear of his neighbours, or +else in a true patriot spirit--because he had gone without any +supper, as had also his horses, on the occasion. The man's name was +Teddy Mooney, the father of Kit Mooney who stopped the hunting at +Moytubber. And he certainly was patriotic. From day to day he went +on refusing fares,--for the boycotted personages were after all more +capable of paying fares than the boycotting hero of doing without +them,--suffering much himself from want of victuals, and more on +behalf of his poor animal. He saw his son Kit more than once or twice +in those days, and Kit appeared to be the stancher patriot of the +two. Kit was a baker, and did earn wages; but he utterly refused to +subsidise the patriotism of his father. "If ye can't do that for the +ould counthry," said Kit, "ye ain't half the man I took ye for." But +he refused him a gallon of oats for his horse. + +It was not at once that the old man gave way. He went on boycotting +individuals till he hadn't a pair of breeches left to sit upon, and +the non-boycotted tradesmen of the little towns around declined to +sit upon his car, because the poor horse, fed upon roadside grasses, +refused to be urged into a trot. "Tare and ages, man, what's the good +of it? Ain't we a-cutting the noses off our own faces, and that with +the money so scarce that I haven't seen the sight of a half-crown +this two weeks." It was thus that he declared his purpose of going +back to the common unpatriotic ways of mankind, to an old pal, whom +he had known all his days. He did do so, but found, alas! that his +trade had perished in the meanwhile or forced itself into other +channels. + +The result was that Teddy Mooney became very bitter in spirit, and +was for a while an Orangeman, and almost a Protestant. The evil +things that had been done to him were terrible to his spirit. He had +been threatened with eviction from ten acres of ground because he +couldn't pay his rent; or, as he said, because he had declined to +drive a maid-servant to the house of another gentleman who was also +boycotted. This had not been true, but it had served to embitter +Teddy Mooney. And now, at last, he had determined to belong to the +other side. + +When an Irishman does make up his mind to serve the other side he +is very much determined. There is but the meditation of two minutes +between Landleaguing and Orangeism, between boycotting landlords and +thorough devotion to the dear old landlord. When Kit Mooney had first +laid down the law to his father, how he ought to assist in boycotting +all the enemies of the Landleague, no one saw his way clearer than +did Teddy Mooney. "I wouldn't mind doing without a bit or a sup," +he said, when his son explained to him that he might have to suffer +a little for the cause. "Not a bit or a sup when the ould counthry +wants it." He had since had a few words with his son Kit, and was +now quite on the other side of the question. He was told that +somebody had threatened to cut off his old mare's tail because he +had driven Phil D'Arcy. Since that he had become a martyr as well as +an Orangeman, and was disposed to go any length "for the gintl'men." +This had come all about by degrees--had been coming about since poor +Florian's murder; and at last he wrote a letter to Yorke Clayton, or +got someone else to write it: + +"Yer Honour,--It was Lax as dropped Master Flory. Divil a doubt about +it. There's one as can tell more about it as is on the road from +Ballyglunin all round. This comes from a well-wisher to the ould +cause. For Muster Clayton." + +When Captain Clayton received this he at once knew from whom it +had come. The Landleaguing car-driver, who had turned gentlemen's +friend, was sufficiently well known to history to have been talked +about. Clayton, therefore, did not lose much time in going down to +Ballyglunin station and requiring to be driven yet once again from +thence to Carnlough. "And now, Mr. Teddy Mooney," he said, after they +had travelled together a mile or two from Ballyglunin, and had come +almost to the spot at which the poor boy had been shot, "tell me what +you know about Mr. Lax's movements in this part of the world." He +had never come there before since the fatal day without having three +policemen with him, but now he was alone. Such a man as Teddy Mooney +would be most unwilling to open his mouth in the presence of two or +more persons. + +"O Lord, Captain, how you come on a poor fellow all unawares!" + +"Stop a moment, Mr. Mooney," and the car stopped. "Whereabouts was it +the young gentleman perished?" + +"Them's the very shot-holes," said Teddy, pointing up to the +temporary embrasure, which had indeed been knocked down half a score +of times since the murder, and had been as often replaced by the +diligent care of Mr. Blake and Captain Clayton. + +"Just so. They are the shot-holes. And which way did the murderer +run?" Teddy pointed with his whip away to the east, over the ground +on which the man had made his escape. "And where did you first see +him?" + +"See him!" ejaculated Teddy. It became horrible to his imagination as +he thought that he was about to tell of such a deed. + +"Of course, we know you did see him; but I want to know the exact +spot." + +"It was over there, nigh to widow Dolan's cottage." + +"It wasn't the widow who saw him, I think?" + +"Faix, it was the widow thin, with her own eyes. I hardly know'd +him. And yet I did know him, for I'd seen him once travelling from +Ballinasloe with Pat Carroll. And Lax is a man as when you've once +seen him you've seen him for allays. But she knowed him well. Her +husband was one of the boys when the Fenians were up. If he didn't go +into the widow Dolan's cabin my name's not Teddy Mooney." + +"And who else was there?" + +"There was no one else; but only her darter, a slip of a girl o' +fifteen, come up while Lax was there. I know she come up, because I +saw her coming jist as I passed the door." + +Captain Clayton entered into very friendly relations with Teddy +Mooney on that occasion, trying to make him understand, without any +absolute promises, that all the luck and all the rewards,--in fact, +all the bacon and oats,--lay on the dish to which Mr. Lax did not +belong. Under these influences Teddy did become communicative--though +he lied most awfully. That did not in the least shock Captain +Clayton, who certainly would have believed nothing had the truth been +told him without hesitation. At last it came out that the car-driver +was sure as to the personality of Lax,--had seen him again and again +since he had first made his acquaintance in Carroll's company, and +could swear to having seen him in the widow's cabin. He knew also +that the widow and her daughter were intimate with Lax. He had not +seen the shot fired. This he said in an assured tone, but Captain +Clayton had known that before. He did not expect to find anyone who +had seen the shot fired, except Mr. Jones and Peter. As to Peter +he had his suspicions. Mr. Jones was certain that Peter had told +the truth in declaring that he had seen no one; but the Captain had +argued the matter out with him. "A fellow of that kind is in a very +hard position. You must remember that for the truth itself he cares +nothing. He finds a charm rather in the romantic beauty of a lie. Lax +is to him a lovely object, even though he be aware that he and Lax be +on different sides. And then he thoroughly believes in Lax; thinks +that Lax possesses some mysterious power of knowing what is in his +mind, and of punishing him for his enmity. All the want of evidence +in this country comes from belief in the marvellous. The people +think that their very thoughts are known to men who make their name +conspicuous, and dare not say a word which they suppose that it is +desired they shall withhold. In this case Peter no doubt is on our +side, and would gladly hang Lax with his own hand if he were sure he +would be safe. But Lax is a mysterious tyrant, who in his imagination +can slaughter him any day; whereas he knows that he shall encounter +no harm from you. He and poor Florian were sitting on the car with +their backs turned to the embrasure; and Peter's attention was given +to the driving of the car,--so that there was no ground for thinking +that he had seen the murderer. All the circumstances of the moment +ran the other way. But still it was possible." + +And Captain Clayton was of opinion that Peter was beginning to be +moved from the determined know-nothingness of his primary evidence. +He had seen the flash. And then, as his master had run up the bank, +he didn't know whether he hadn't caught the flying figure of a man. + +"I had the poor boy's head on my knees, Captain Clayton; and how is a +poor man to look much about him then?" + +In this condition stood Captain Clayton's mind in regard to Peter, +when he heard, for the first time, a word about the widow Dolan and +the widow Dolan's daughter. + +The woman swore by all her gods that she knew nothing of Lax. But +then she had already fallen into the difficulty of having been +selected as capable of giving evidence. It generally happens that no +one first person will be found even to indicate others, so that there +is no finding a beginning to the case. But when a witness has been +indicated, the witness must speak. + +"The big blackguard!" exclaimed Mrs. Dolan, when she heard of the +evil that had been brought her; "to have the imperence to mention my +name!" + +It was felt, all the country through, to be an impertinence,--for +anybody to drag anybody else into the mess of troubles which was +sure to arise from an enforced connection with a law court. Most +unwillingly the circumstances were drawn from Mrs. Dolan, and with +extreme difficulty also from that ingenious young lady her daughter. +But, still, it was made to appear that Lax had taken refuge in their +cottage, and had gone down from thence to a little brook, where he +effected the cleansing of his pistol. The young lady had done all in +her power to keep her mother silent, but the mother had at last been +tempted to speak of the weapon which Lax had used. + +Now there was no further question of letting Lax go loose from +prison! That very irate barrister, Mr. O'Donnell, who was accustomed +to speak of all the Landleague criminals as patriotic lambs,--whose +lamb-like qualities were exceeded only by their patriotism,--did not +dare to intimate such a wish any further. But he did urge, with all +that benevolence for which he was conspicuous, that the trial should +come on at that immediate spring assizes. A rumour had, however, +already reached the ears of Captain Clayton, and others in his +position, that a great alteration was to be effected in the law. +This, together with Mrs. Dolan's evidence, might enable him to hang +Mr. Lax. Therefore the trial was postponed;--not, indeed, with +outspoken reference as to the new measure, but with much confidence +in its resources. + +It would be useless here to refer to that Bill which was to have +been passed for trying certain prisoners in Ireland without the +intervention of a jury, and of the alteration which took place in +it empowering the Government to alter the venue, and to submit such +cases to a selected judge, to selected juries, to selected counties. +The Irish judges had remonstrated against the first measure, and the +second was to be first tried, so that should it fail the judges might +yet be called upon to act. + +Such was the law under which criminals were tried in 1882, and the +first capital convictions were made under which the country began to +breathe freely. But the tidings of the law had got abroad beforehand, +and gave a hope of triumph to such men as Captain Clayton. Let a man +undertake what duty he will in life, if he be a good man he will +desire success; and if he be a brave man he will long for victory. +The presence of such a man as Lax in the country was an eyesore to +Captain Clayton, which it was his primary duty to remove. And it was +a triumph to him now that the time had come in which he might remove +him. Three times had Mr. Lax fired at the Captain's head, and three +times had the Captain escaped. "I think he has done with his guns and +his pistols now," said Captain Clayton, in his triumph. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +YORKE CLAYTON AGAIN MAKES LOVE. + + +"I am not quite sure about Peter yet," said Clayton to Mr. Jones. +"But if we could look into his very soul I am afraid he could not do +much for us." + +"I never believed in Peter as a witness," replied Mr. Jones. + +"I should like to know exactly what he did see;--whether it was a +limb or a bit of his coat. But I think that young lady crept out and +saw him cleaning his pistol. And I think that the old lady had a +glimpse of the mask. I think that they can be made to say so." + +"I saw the mask myself, and the muzzle of the rifle;--and I saw the +man running as plainly as I see you." + +"That will all be wanted, Mr. Jones. But I trust that we may have to +summon you to Dublin. As things are at present, if Lax had been seen +in broad daylight firing at the poor boy by a dozen farmers it would +do no good in County Galway. There is Miss Edith out there. She is +awfully anxious about this wretch who destroyed her brother. I will +go and tell her." So Captain Clayton rushed out, anxious for another +cause for triumph. + +Mr. Jones had heard of his suit, and had heard also that the suit was +made to Edith and not to Ada. "There is not one in a dozen who would +have taken Edith," said he to himself,--"unless it be one who saw her +with my eyes." But yet he did not approve of the marriage. "They were +poverty stricken," he said, and Clayton went about from day to day +with his life in his hand. "A brave man," he said to himself; "but +singularly foolhardy,--unless it be that he wants to die." He had not +been called upon for his consent, for Edith had never yielded. She, +too, had said that it was impossible. "If Ada would have suited, it +might have been possible, but not between Yorke and me." They had +both come now to call him by his Christian name; and they to him were +Ada and Edith; but with their father he had never quite reached the +familiarity of a Christian name. + +Mr. Jones had, in truth, been so saddened by the circumstances of the +last two years that he could not endure the idea of marriages in his +family. "Of course, if you choose, my dear, you can do as you like," +he used to say to Edith. + +"But I don't choose." + +"What there are left of us should, I think, remain together. I +suppose they cannot turn me out of this house. The Prime Minister +will hardly bring in a Bill that the estates bought this last hundred +years shall belong to the owners of the next century. He can do so, +of course, as things go now. There are no longer any lords to stop +him, and the House of Commons, who want their seats, will do anything +he bids them. It's the First Lieutenant who looks after Ireland, who +has ideas of justice with which the angels of light have certainly +not filled his mind. That we should get nothing from our purchased +property this century, and give it up in the course of the next, is +in strict accordance with his thinking. We can depend upon nothing. +My brother-in-law can, of course, sell me out any day, and would not +stop for a moment. Everybody has to get his own, except an Irish +landlord. But I think we should fare ill all together. Your brother +is behaving nobly, and I don't think we ought to desert him. Of +course you can do as you please." + +Then the squire pottered on, wretched in heart; or, rather, down in +the mouth, as we say, and gave his advice to his younger daughter, +not, in truth, knowing how her heart stood. But a man, when he +undertakes to advise another, should not be down in the mouth +himself. _Equam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem, non secus ac +bonis_. If not, your thoughts will be too strongly coloured by your +own misfortunes to allow of your advising others. + +All this Edith knew,--except the Latin. The meaning of it had been +brought home to her by her own light. "Poor papa is so hipped," she +said to herself, "that he thinks that nobody will ever be happy +again." But still she resolved that she would not marry Yorke +Clayton. There had been a mistake, and she had made it,--a miserable +blunder for which she was responsible. She did not quite analyse the +matter in her own mind, or look into the thoughts of Ada, or of Yorke +himself,--the hero of her pillow; but she continued to tell herself +that the proper order of things would not admit it. Ada, she knew, +wished it. Yorke longed for her, more strongly even than for Lax, the +murderer. For herself, when she would allow her thoughts to stray for +a moment in that direction, all the bright azure tints of heaven were +open to her. But she had made a mistake, and she did not deserve it. +She had been a blind fool, and blind fools deserved no azure tints of +heaven. + +If she could have had her own way she would still have married Ada to +Yorke Clayton. When Ada told her that she had got over her foolish +love, it was the mere babble of unselfishness. Feel a passion for +such a man as Yorke Clayton, look into the depth of his blue eyes, +and fancy for herself a partnership with the spirit hidden away +within, and then get over it! Edith was guilty here of the folly of +judging of her sister as herself. And as for Yorke himself;--a man, +she said, always satisfies himself with that which is lovely and +beautiful. And with Ada he would have such other gifts as so strong +a man as Yorke always desires in his wife. In temper she was perfect; +in unselfishness she was excellent. In all those ways of giving +aid, which some women possess and some not at all,--but which, when +possessed, go so far to make the comfort of a house,--she was supreme. +If a bedroom were untidy, her eye saw it at once. If a thing had +to be done at the stroke of noon, she would remember that other +things could not be done at the same time. If a man liked his egg +half-boiled, she would bear it in her mind for ever. She would know +the proper day for making this marmalade and that preserve; and she +would never lose her good looks for a moment when she was doing these +things. With her little dusting-brush at her girdle, no eyes that +knew anything would ever take her for aught but a lady. She was just +the wife for Yorke Clayton. + +So Edith argued it in her own bosom, adding other wondrous mistakes +to that first mistake she had made. In thinking of it all she counted +herself for nothing, and made believe that she was ugly in all eyes. +She would not allow the man to see as his fancy led him; and could +not bring herself to think that if now the man should change his mind +and offer his hand to Ada, it would be impossible that Ada should +accept it. Nor did she perceive that Ada had not suffered as she had +suffered. + +"I wanted to catch you just for one moment," said Yorke Clayton, +running out so as to catch his prey. She had half wished to fly from +him, and had half told herself that any such flight was foolish. + +"What is it, Yorke?" she said. + +"I think,--I do think that I have at last got Lax upon the hip." + +"You are so bloody-minded about Lax." + +"What! Are you going to turn round and be merciful?" He was her hero, +and she certainly felt no mercy towards the murderer of her brother; +no mercy towards him who she now thought had planned all the injury +done to her father; no mercy towards him who had thrice fired at her +beloved. This wretched man had struggled to get the blood of him who +was all the world to her; and had been urged on to his black deeds +by no thought, by no feeling, that was not in itself as vile as hell! +Lax was to her a viper so noxious as to be beyond the pale of all +mercy. To crush him beneath the heel of her boot, so as to make an +end of him, as of any other poisonous animal, was the best mercy to +all other human beings. But she had said the word at the spur of the +moment, because she had been instigated by her feelings to gainsay +her hero, and to contradict him, so that he might think that he was +no hero of hers. She looked at him for the moment, and said nothing, +though he held her by the arm. "If you say I am to spare him, I will +spare him." + +"No," she answered, "because of your duty." + +"Have I followed this man simply as a duty? Have I lain awake +thinking of it till I have given to the pursuit such an amount of +energy as no duty can require? Thrice he has endeavoured to kill me, +firing at me in the dark, getting at me from behind hedges, as no +one who has anything of the spirit of man in his bosom will do when +he strives to destroy his enemy. All that has been nothing. I am a +policeman in search of him, and am the natural enemy of a murderer. +Of course in the ordinary way I would not have spared him; but the +ordinary way would have sufficed. Had he escaped me I could have +laughed at all that. But he took that poor lad's life!" Here he +looked sadly into her face, and she could see that there was a tear +within his eye. "That was much, but that was not all. That lad was +your brother, him whom you so dearly loved. He shot down the poor +child before his father's face, simply because he had said that he +would tell the truth. When you wept, when you tore your hair, when +you flung yourself in sorrow upon the body, I told myself that either +he or I must die. And now you bid me be merciful." Then the big tears +dropped down his cheeks, and he began to wail himself,--hardly like a +man. + +And what did Edith do? She stood and looked at him for a few moments; +then extricated herself from the hold he still had of her, and flung +herself into his arms. He put down his face and kissed her forehead +and her cheeks; but she put up her mouth and kissed his lips. Not +once or twice was that kiss given; but there they stood closely +pressed to each other in a long embrace. "My hero," she said; "my +hero." It had all come at last,--the double triumph; and there was, +he felt, no happier man in all Ireland than he. He thought, at least, +that the double battle had been now won. But even yet it was not so. +"Captain Clayton," she began. + +"Why Captain? Why Clayton?" + +"My brother Yorke," and she pressed both his hands in hers. "You can +understand that I have been carried away by my feelings, to thank you +as a sister may thank a brother." + +"I will not have it," he exclaimed fiercely. "You are no sister, nor +can I ever be your brother. You are my very own now, and for ever." +And he rushed at her again as though to envelop her in his arms, and +to crush her against his bosom. + +"No!" she exclaimed, avoiding him with the activity of a young fawn; +"not again. I had to beg your pardon, and it was so I did it." + +"Twenty times you have offended me, and twenty times you must repeat +your forgiveness." + +"No, no, it must not be so. I was wrong to say that you were +bloody-minded. I cannot tell why I said so. I would not for worlds +have you altered in anything;--except," she said, "in your love for +me." + +"But have you told me nothing?" + +"I have called you my hero,--and so you are." + +"Nay, Edith, it is more than that. It is not for me to remind you, +but it is more than that." + +She stood there blushing before him, over her cheeks and up to her +forehead; but yet did not turn away her face. + +"How am I to tell you why it is more than that? You cannot tell me," +she replied. + +"But, Edith--" + +"You cannot tell me. There are moments for some of us the feelings of +which can never be whispered. You shall be my hero and my brother if +you will; or my hero and my friend; or, if not that, my hero and my +enemy." + +"Never!" + +"No, my enemy you cannot be; for him who is about to revenge my +brother's death no name less sweet than dearest friend will suffice. +My hero and my dearest friend!" + +Then she took him by the hand, and turned away from the walk, and, +escaping by a narrow path, was seen no more till she met him at +dinner with her father and her brother and her sister. + +"By God! she shall be mine!" said Clayton. "She must be mine!" + +And then he went within, and, finding Hunter, read the details of +the evidence for the trial of Mr. Lax in Dublin, as prepared by the +proper officers in Galway city. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +THE STATE OF IRELAND. + + +It will be well that they who are interested only in the sensational +incidents of our story to skip this chapter and go on to other parts +of our tale which may be more in accordance with their taste. It +is necessary that this one chapter shall be written in which the +accidents that occurred in the lives of our three heroines shall be +made subordinate to the political circumstances of the day. This +chapter should have been introductory and initiative; but the facts +as stated will suit better to the telling of my story if they be told +here. There can be no doubt that Ireland has been and still is in +a most precarious condition, that life has been altogether unsafe +there, and that property has been jeopardised in a degree unknown +for many years in the British Islands. It is, I think, the general +opinion that these evils have been occasioned by the influx into +Ireland of a feeling which I will not call American, but which has +been engendered in America by Irish jealousy, and warmed into hatred +by distance from English rule. As far as politics are regarded, +Ireland has been the vassal of England as Poland has been of those +masters under which she has been made to serve. She was subjected to +much ill-usage, and though she has readily accepted the language, the +civilisation, and the customs of England, and has in fact grown rich +by adopting them, the memories of former hardships have clung to +her, and have made her ready to receive willingly the teachings of +those whose only object it has been to undermine the prestige of the +British Empire. In no respect has she more readily taken to her bosom +English practices than in that of the letting and the hiring of land. +In various countries, such as Italy, Russia, France, and the United +States, systems have grown up different from that which has prevailed +in England. Whether the English system or any other may be the +best is not now the question. But in answering that question it is +material to know that Ireland has accepted and, at any rate for two +centuries, has followed that system. The landlord has been to his +tenants a beneficent or, occasionally, a hard master, and the tenants +have acknowledged themselves as dependent, generally with much +affection, though not unfrequently with loud complaint. It has been +the same in England. Questions of tenant-right, of leases, and of the +cruelty of evictions have from time to time cropped up in Ireland. +But rents were readily paid up to 1878 and 1879; though abatements +were asked for,--as was the case also in England; and there were +men ready to tell the Irish from time to time, since the days of +O'Connell downwards, that they were ill-treated in being kept out of +their "ould" properties by the rightful owners. + +Then the American revolt, growing out of Smith O'Brien's logic and +physical force, gave birth to Fenianism. The true Fenian I take to be +one desirous of opposing British power, by using a fulcrum placed on +American soil. Smith O'Brien's logic consisted in his assertion that +if his country wished to hammer the British Crown, they could only +do it by using hammers. Smith O'Brien achieved little beyond his own +exile;--but his words, acting upon his followers, produced Fenianism. +That died away, but the spirit remained in America; and when English +tenants began to clamour for temporary abatements in their rent, the +clamours were heard on the other side of the water, and assisted the +views of those American-Irish who had revivified Ribandism and had +given birth to the cry of Home Rule. + +During the time that this was going on, a long unflagging series +of beneficial Acts of Parliament, and of consequently ameliorated +circumstances, had befallen the country. I was told the other day by +an Irish Judge, whose name stands conspicuous among those who are +known for their wisdom and their patriotism, by a Roman Catholic +Judge too, that in studying the latter laws of the two countries, the +laws affecting England and Ireland in reference to each other, he +knew no law by which England was specially favoured, though he knew +various laws redounding to the benefit of Ireland. When the cry for +some relief to suffering Ireland came up, at the time of the Duchess +of Marlborough's Fund, it was alleged in proof of Ireland's poor +condition that there was not work by which the labourers could earn +wages. I have known Ireland for more than forty years,--say from 1842 +to 1882. In 1842 we paid five shillings a week for the entire work +of a man. As far as I can learn, we now pay, on an average, nine +shillings for the same. The question is not whether five shillings +was sufficient, or whether nine be insufficient, but that the normal +increase through the country has been and can be proved to be such as +is here declared. + +I will refer to the banks, which can now be found established in any +little town, almost in any village, through the country. Fifty years +ago they were very much rarer. Banks do not spring up without money +to support them. The increase of wages,--and the banks also in an +indirect manner,--have come from that decrease in the population +which followed the potato famine of 1846. The famine and its results +were terrible while they lasted; but they left behind them an +amended state of things. When man has failed to rule the world +rightly, God will step in, and will cause famines, and plagues, and +pestilence--even poverty itself--with His own Right Arm. But the cure +was effected, and the country was on its road to a fair amount of +prosperity, when the tocsin was sounded in America, and Home Rule +became the cry. + +Ireland has lain as it were between two rich countries. England, +her near neighbour, abounds in coal and iron, and has by means of +these possessions become rich among the nations. America, very much +the more distant, has by her unexampled agricultural resources put +herself in the way to equal England. It is necessary,--necessary at +any rate for England's safety,--that Ireland should belong to her. +This is here stated as a fact, and I add my own opinion that it is +equally necessary for Ireland's welfare. But on this subject there +has arisen a feud which is now being fought out by all the weapons of +rebellion on one side, and on the other by the force of a dominating +Government, restrained, as it is found to be, by the self-imposed +bonds of a democratic legislature. But there is the feud, and the +battle, and the roaring of the cannons is heard afar off. + +I now purpose to describe in a very few words the nature of the +warfare. It may be said that the existence of Ireland as a province +of England depends on the tenure of the land. If the land were to be +taken altogether from the present owners, and divided in perpetuity +among any possible number of tenants, so as to be the property of +each tenant, without payment of any rent, all England's sense of +justice would be outraged, the English power of governing would be +destroyed, and all that could then be done by England would be to +give a refuge to the present owners till the time should come for +righting themselves, and they should be enabled to make some further +attempt for the recovery of their possessions. This would probably +arrive, if not sooner, from the annihilation of the new proprietors +under the hands of their fellow-countrymen to whom none of the spoil +had been awarded. But English statesmen,--a small portion, that is, +of English statesmen,--have wished in their philanthropy to devise +some measure which might satisfy the present tenants of the land, +giving them a portion of the spoil; and might leave the landlords +contented,--not indeed with their lot, which they would feel to be +one of cruel deprivation, but with the feeling that something had +at any rate been left to them. A compromise would be thus effected +between the two classes whose interests have always been opposed to +each other since the world began,--between the owners of property and +those who have owned none. + +The statesmen in question have now come into power by means of their +philanthropy, their undoubted genius, and great gifts of eloquence. +They have almost talked the world out of its power of sober judgment. +I hold that they have so succeeded in talking to the present House +of Commons. And when the House of Commons has been so talked into +any wise or foolish decision, the House of Lords and the whole +legislating machinery of the country is bound to follow. + +But how should their compromises be effected? It does not suit the +present writer to name any individual statesman. He neither wishes to +assist in raising a friend to the gods, or to lend his little aid in +crushing an enemy. But to the Liberal statesmen of the day, men in +speaking well of whom--at a great distance--he has spent a long life, +he is now bound to express himself as opposed. We all remember the +manner after which the Coercion Bill of 1881 was passed. The hoarse +shrieks with which a score of Irish members ran out of the House +crying "Privilege," when their voices had been stopped by the +salutary but certainly unconstitutional word of the Speaker, is +still ringing in our ears. Then the Government and the Irish score +were at daggers-drawn with each other. To sit for thirty-six hours +endeavouring to pass a clause was then held by all men to be an +odious bondage. But when these clauses had thus roughly been made to +be the law, the sugar-plum was to follow by which all Ireland was to +be appeased. The second Bill of 1881 was passed, which, with various +additions, has given rise to Judge O'Hagan's Land Court. That, with +its various sub-commissioners, is now engaged in settling at what +rate land shall be let in Ireland. + +That Judge O'Hagan and his fellow commissioners are well qualified +to perform their task,--as well qualified, that is, by kindness, +by legal knowledge and general sagacity as any men can be,--I have +heard no one deny. In the performance of most difficult duties they +have hitherto encountered no censure. But they have, I think, been +taxed to perform duties beyond the reach of any mortal wisdom. They +are expected to do that which all the world has hitherto failed in +doing,--to do that against which the commonest proverbs of ancient +and modern wisdom have raised their voice. There is no proverb more +common than that of "_caveat emptor_." It is Judge O'Hagan's business +to do for the poorer party in each bargain made between a landlord +and a tenant that against which the above proverb warns him. The +landlord has declared that the tenant shall not have the land unless +he will pay L10 a year for it. The tenant agrees. Then comes Judge +O'Hagan and tells the two contracting parties to take up their pens +quickly and write down L8 as the fair rent payable for the land. And +it was with the object of doing this, of reducing every L10 by some +percentage, twenty per cent. or otherwise, that this commission was +appointed. The Government had taken upon itself to say that the +greed of Irish landlords had been too greedy, and the softness of +Irish tenants too soft, and that therefore Parliament must interfere. +Parliament has interfered, and L8 is to be written down for a term +of years in lieu of L10, and the land is to become the possession of +the tenant instead of the landlord as long as he may pay this reduced +rent. In fact all the bonds which have bound the landlord to his land +are to be annihilated. So also are the bonds which bind the tenant, +who will sell the property so acquired when he shall have found that +that for which he pays L8 per annum shall have become worth L10 in +the market. + +It is useless to argue with the commissioners, or with the +Government, as to the inexpediency of such an attempt to alter the +laws for governing the world, which have forced themselves on the +world's acceptance. Many such attempts have been made to alter these +laws. The Romans said that twelve per cent. should be the interest +for money. A feeling long prevailed in England that legitimate +interest should not exceed five per cent. It is now acknowledged that +money is worth what it will fetch; and the interests of the young, +the foolish, and the reckless, who are tempted to pay too much for +it, are protected only by public opinion. The usurer is hated, and +the hands of the honest men are against him. That suffices to give +the borrower such protection as is needed. So it is with landlords +and tenants. Injury is no doubt done, and injustice is enabled to +prevail here and there. But it is the lesser injury, the lesser +injustice, which cannot be prevented in the long run by any attempt +to escape the law of "_caveat emptor_." + +It is, however, vain to talk to benevolent commissioners, or to +a Government working by eloquence and guided by philanthropy, +regardless of political economy. "Would you have the heart," asks +the benevolent commissioner, "to evict the poor man from his small +holding on which he has lived all his life, where his only sympathies +lie, and send him abroad to a distant land, where his solitary tie +will be that of labour?" The benevolent commissioner thus expresses +with great talk and with something also of the eloquence of his +employers the feeling which prevails on that side of the question. +But that which he deprecates is just what I could do; and having +seen many Irishmen both in America and in Ireland, I know that the +American Irishman is the happiest man of the two. He eats more; and +in much eating the happiness of mankind depends greatly. He is better +clothed, better sheltered, and better instructed. Though his women +wail when he departs, he sends home money to fetch them. This may +be for the profit of America. There are many who think that it must +therefore be to the injury of England. The question now is whether +the pathetic remonstrance of the tear-laden commissioner should be +allowed to prevail. I say that the tenant who undertakes to pay +for land that which the land will not enable him to pay had better +go,--under whatever pressure. + +Let us see how many details, how many improbabilities, will have to +be met before the benevolence of the commissioner can be made to +prevail. The reductions made on the rent average something between +twenty and twenty-five per cent. Let us take them at twenty. If a +tenant has to be evicted for a demand of L10, will he be able to live +in comfort if he pay only L8? Shall one tenant live in comfort on a +farm, the rent of which has been reduced him from L100 to L80, and +another, the reduction having been from L20 to L16? In either case, +if a tenant shall do well with two children, how shall he do with six +or eight? A true teetotaller can certainly pay double the rent which +may be extracted from a man who drinks. Shall the normal tenant earn +wages beyond what he gets from the land under his own tillage? Shall +the idle man be made equal to the industrious,--or can this be done, +or should it be done, by any philanthropy? Statesmen sitting together +in a cabinet may resolve that they will set the world right by +eloquence and benevolence combined; but the practices to which the +world have been brought by long experience will avail more than +eloquence and benevolence. Statesmen may decree that land shall be +let at a certain rate, and the decree will prevail for a time. It +may prevail long enough to put out of gear the present affairs of +the Irish world with which these statesmen will have tampered. But +the long experience will come back, and bargains will again be +made between man and man, though the intervening injuries will be +heartbreaking. + +But the benevolence of the Government and its commissioners will +not have gone far. The Land Law of 1881 has, as I now write, been +at work for twelve months, and the results hitherto accomplished +have been very small. It may be doubted whether a single reluctant +tenant,--a single tenant who would have been unwilling to leave his +holding,--has been preserved from American exile by having his L10 +or L20 or L30 of rent reduced to L8 or L16 or L24. The commissioners +work slowly, having all the skill of the lawyers, on one side or the +other, against them. It is piteous to see the hopelessness of three +sub-commissioners in the midst of a crowd of Irish attorneys. And the +law, as it exists at present, can be made to act only on holdings +possessed by tenants for one year. And the skill of the lawyers is +used in proving on the part of the landlords that the land is held by +firm leases, and cannot, therefore, be subjected to the law; and then +by proving, on behalf of the tenants, that the existing leases are +illegal, and should be broken. The possession of a lease, which used +to be regarded as a safeguard and permanent blessing to the tenant, +is now held to be cruelly detrimental to him, as preventing the +lowering of his rent, and the immediate creation for him of a tenancy +for ever. It is not to be supposed that the sub-commissioners can +walk over the land and straightway reduce the rents, though the +lands would certainly be subject to such reduction did not the law +interfere. In a majority of cases,--a majority as far as all Ireland +is concerned,--a feeling of honesty does prevail between landlord and +tenant, which makes them both willing to subject themselves to the +new law without the interference of attorneys, and many are preparing +themselves for such an arrangement. The landlord is willing to lose +twenty per cent. in fear of something worse, and the tenant is +willing to take it, hardly daring to hope for anything better. Such +is the best condition which the law has ventured to anticipate. +But in either case this is to be done as tempering the wind to the +shorn lamb. The landlord is anxious if possible to save for himself +and those who may come after him something of the reality of his +property, and the tenant feels that, though something of the nobility +of property has been promised to him by the Landleaguers, he may +after all make the best bargain by so far submitting himself to his +shorn landlord. + +But on estates where the commissioners are allowed their full swing, +the whole nature of the property in the land will be altered. The +present tenant, paying a tax of L8 per annum which will be subjected +to no reduction and on which no abatement can be made, in lieu of a +L10 rent, will be the owner. The small man will be infinitely more +subject to disturbance than at present, because the tax must be +paid. The landlord will feel no mercy for him, seeing that the bonds +between them which demanded mercy have been abrogated. The extra +L2 or L4 or L6 will not enable the tenant to live the life of ease +which he will have promised himself. If his interest has been made +to be worth anything,--and it will be worth something, seeing that +it has been worth something, and is saleable under its present +condition,--it will be sold, and the emigration will continue. There +are cruel cases at present. There will be cases not less cruel under +the _regime_ which the new law is expected to produce. But the new +law will be felt to have been unjust as having tampered with the +rights of property, and having demanded from the owners of property +its sale or other terms than those of mutual contract. + +But the time selected for the measure was most inappropriate. If good +in itself, it was bad at the time it was passed. Home Rule coming +across to us from America had taken the guise of rebellion. I have +met gentlemen who, as Home-Rulers, have simply desired to obtain +for their country an increase of power in the management of their +own affairs. These men have been loyal and patriotic, and it might +perhaps be well to meet their views. The Channel no doubt does +make a difference between Liverpool and Dublin. But the latter-day +Home-Rulers, of whom I speak, brought their politics, their +aspirations, and their money from New York, and boldly made use of +the means which the British Constitution afforded them to upset the +British Constitution as established in Ireland. That they should not +succeed in doing this is the determination of all, at any rate on +this side of the Channel. It is still, I believe, the desire of most +thinking men on the Irish side. But parliamentary votes are not given +only to thinking men; and consequently a body of members has appeared +in the House, energetic and now well trained, who have resolved by +the clamour of their voices to put an end to the British power of +governing the country. These members are but a minority among those +whom Ireland sends to Parliament; but they have learned what a +minority can effect by unbridled audacity. England is still writhing +in her attempt to invent some mode of controlling them. But long +before any such mode had been adopted,--had been adopted or even +planned,--the Government in 1881 brought out their plan for securing +to the tenants fair rents, fixity of tenure, and freedom of sale. + +As to the first, it will, of course, be admitted by all men that +rents should be fair, as also should be the price at which a horse is +sold. It is, however, beyond the power of Parliament to settle the +terms which shall be fair. "_Caveat emptor_" is the only rule by +which fair rents may be reached. By fixity of tenure is meant such a +holding of the land as shall enable the tenant to obtain an adequate +return for his labour and his capital, and to this is added a +romantic and consequently a most unjust idea that it may be well to +settle this question on behalf of the tenant by granting him such a +term as shall leave no doubt. Let him have the land for ever as long +as he will pay a stipulated sum, which shall be considerably less +than the landlord's demand. That idea I call romantic, and therefore +unjust. But, even though the beauty of the romance be held sufficient +to atone for the injustice, this was not the poetical re-arrangement +of all the circumstances of land tenure in Ireland. Freedom of sale +is necessarily annexed to fixity of tenure. If a man is to have the +possession of land in perpetuity, surely he should be allowed to sell +it. Whether he be allowed or not, he will contrive to do so. Freedom +of sale means, I take it, that the so-called landlord shall have no +power of putting a veto on the transaction. We cannot here go into +the whole question as it existed in Ulster before 1870; but the +freedom of sale intended is such, I think, as I have defined it. + +Whether these concessions be good or bad, this was, at any rate, +no time for granting them. They seem to me to amount to wholesale +confiscation. But supposing me to be wrong in that, can I be wrong +in thinking that a period of declared rebellion is not a time for +concessions? When the Land Bill was passed the Landleague was in full +power; boycotting had become the recognised weapon of an illegal +association; and the Home-Rulers of the day,--the party, that is, who +represented the Landleague,--were already in such possession of large +portions of the country as to prevent the possibility of carrying out +the laws. + +At this moment the Government brought forward its romantic theory +as to the manipulation of land, and, before that theory was at work, +commenced its benevolent intentions by locking up all those who were +supposed to be guilty of an intention to carry out the Government +project further than the Government would carry it out itself. It +is held, as a rule, in politics that coercion and concession cannot +be applied together. Ireland was in mutiny under the guidance of +a mutinous party in the House of Commons, and at that moment a +commission was put in operation, under which it was the intention of +the Government to transfer the soil of the country at a reduced price +to the very men among whom the mutineers are to be found. How do the +tidings of such a commission operate upon the ears of Irishmen at +large? He is told that under the fear of the Landleague his rent +is to be reduced to an extent which is left to his imagination; +and then, that he is to be freed altogether from the incubus of a +landlord! He is, in fact, made to understand that his cherished +Landleague has become all-powerful. And yet he hears that odious men, +whom he recognises only as tyrants, are filling the jails through the +country with all his dearest friends. Demanding concessions, and the +continued increase of them, and having learned the way to seize upon +them when they are not given, he will not stand coercion. Abated rent +soon becomes no rent. When it is left to the payer of the rent to +decide on which system he will act, it is probable that the no-rent +theory will prevail. + +So it was in 1882. Tenants were harassed by needy landlords, and when +they were served with forms of ejectment the landlords were simply +murdered, either in their own persons or in that of their servants. +Men finding their power, and beginning to learn how much might be +exacted from a yielding Government, hardly knew how to moderate their +aspirations. When they found that the expected results did not come +at once, they resorted to revenge. Why should these tyrants keep them +out from the good things which their American friends had promised +them, and which were so close within their grasp? And their anger +turned not only against their landlords, but against those who +might seem in any way to be fighting on the landlords' side. Did a +neighbour occupy a field from which a Landleaguing tenant had been +evicted, let the tails of that neighbour's cattle be cut off, or the +legs broken of his beasts of burden, or his sheep have their throats +cut. Or if the injured one have some scruples of conscience, let the +oppressor simply be boycotted, and put out of all intercourse with +his brother men. Let no well-intentioned Landleaguing neighbour buy +from him a ton of hay, or sell to him a loaf of bread. + +But as a last resource, if all others fail, let the sinner be +murdered. We all know, alas! in how many cases the sentence has been +pronounced and the judgment given, and the punishment executed. + +Such have been the results of the Land Law passed in 1881. And under +the curse so engendered the country is now labouring. It cannot be +denied that the promoters of the Land Laws are weak, and that the +disciples of the Landleague are strong. In order that the truth of +this may be seen and made apparent, the present story is told. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +LORD CASTLEWELL'S FAREWELL. + + +Poor Mr. O'Mahony had enemies on every side. There had come up lately +a state of things which must be very common in political life. The +hatreds which sound so real when you read the mere words, which look +so true when you see their scornful attitudes, on which for the time +you are inclined to pin your faith so implicitly, amount to nothing. +The Right Honourable A. has to do business with the Honourable B., +and can best carry it on by loud expressions and strong arguments +such as will be palatable to readers of newspapers; but they do not +hate each other as the readers of the papers hate them, and are ready +enough to come to terms, if coming to terms is required. Each of them +respects the other, though each of them is very careful to hide his +respect. We can fancy that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable +B. in their moments of confidential intercourse laugh in their joint +sleeves at the antipathies of the public. In the present instance it +was alleged that the Right Honourable A. and the Honourable B. had +come to some truce together, and had ceased for a while to hit each +other hard knocks. Such a truce was supposed to be a feather in the +cap of the Honourable B., as he was leader of a poor party of no +more than twenty; and the Right Honourable A. had in this matter the +whole House at his back. But for the nonce each had come off his high +horse, and for the moment there was peace between them. + +But Mr. O'Mahony would have no peace. He understood nothing of +compromises. He really believed that the Right Honourable gentleman +was the fiend which the others had only called him. To him it was a +compact with the very devil. Now the leader of his party, knowing +better what he was about, and understanding somewhat of the manner in +which politics are at present carried on, felt himself embarrassed by +the honesty of such a follower as Mr. O'Mahony. Mr. O'Mahony, when he +was asked whether he wished to lead or was willing to serve, declared +that he would neither lead nor serve. What he wanted was the "good +of Ireland." And he was sure that that was not to be obtained by +friendship with Her Majesty's Government. This was in itself very +well, but he was soon informed that it was not as a free-lance that +he had been elected member for Cavan. "That is between me and my +constituency," said Mr. O'Mahony, standing up with his head thrown +back, and his right hand on his heart. But the constituency soon gave +him to understand that he was not the man they had taken him to be. + +He, too, had begun to find that to spend his daughter's money in +acting patriotism in the House of Commons was not a fine _role_ +in life. He earned nothing and he did nothing. Unless he could +bind himself hand and foot to his party he had not even a spark of +delegated power. He was not allowed to speak when he desired, and +was called upon to sit upon those weary benches hour after hour, and +night after night, only pretending to effect those things which he +and his brother members knew could not be done. He was not allowed +to be wrathful with true indignation, not for a moment; but he was +expected to be there from question time through the long watches of +the night--taking, indeed, his turn for rest and food--always ready +with some mock indignation by which his very soul was fretted; and +no one paid him the slightest respect, though he was, indeed, by no +means the least respectable of his party. He would have done true +work had it been given him to do. But at the present moment his +own party did not believe in him. There was no need at present for +independent wrathful eloquence. There seldom is need in the House of +Commons for independent eloquence. The few men who have acquired for +themselves at last the power of expressing it, not to empty benches, +not amidst coughings and hootings, and loud conversation, have had +to make their way to that point either by long efficient service or +by great gifts of pachydermatousness. Mr. O'Mahony had never served +anyone for an hour, and was as thin-skinned as a young girl; and, +though his daughter had handed him all her money, so that he might +draw upon it as he pleased, he told himself, and told her also, that +his doing so was mean. "You're welcome to every dollar, father, only +it doesn't seem to make you happy." + +"I should be happy to starve for the country, if starving would do +anything." + +"I don't see that one ever does any good by starving as long as there +is bread to eat. This isn't a romantic sort of thing, this payment of +rents; but we ought to try and find out what a man really owes." + +"No man owes a cent to any landlord on behalf of rent." + +"But how is a man to get the land?" she said. "Over in our country a +rough pioneering fellow goes and buys it, and then he sells it, and +of course the man who buys it hasn't to pay rent. But I cannot see +how any fellow here can have a right to the land for nothing." Then +Mr. O'Mahony reminded his daughter that she was ill and should not +exert herself. + +It was now far advanced in May, and Mr. O'Mahony had resolved to +make one crushing eloquent speech in the House of Commons and then +to retire to the United States. But he had already learned that +even this could not be effected without the overcoming of many +difficulties. In himself, in his eloquence, in the supply of words, +he trusted altogether; but there was the opportunity to be bought, +and the Speaker's eye to be found,--he regarded this Speaker's eye +as the most false of all luminaries,--and the empty benches to be +encountered, and then drowsy reporters to be stirred up; and then +on the next morning,--if any next morning should come for such a +report,--there would not be a tithe of what he had spoken to be read +by any man, and, in truth, very little of what he could speak would +be worthy of reading. His words would be honest and indignant and +fine-sounding, but the hearer would be sure to say, "What a fool is +that Mr. O'Mahony!" At any rate, he understood so much of all this +that he was determined to accept the Chiltern Hundreds and flee away +as soon as his speech should be made. + +It was far advanced in May, and poor Rachel was still very ill. +She was so ill that all hope had abandoned her either as to her +profession or as to either of her lovers. But there was some spirit +in her still, as when she would discuss with her father her future +projects. "Let me go back," she said, "and sing little songs for +children in that milder climate. The climate is mild down in the +South, and there I may, perhaps, find some fragment of my voice." +But he who was becoming so despondent both for himself and for his +country, still had hopes as to his daughter. Her engagement with Lord +Castlewell was not even yet broken. Lord Castlewell had gone out of +town at a most unusual period,--at a time when the theatres always +knew him, and had been away on the exact day which had been fixed for +their marriage. Rachel had done all that lay in herself to disturb +the marriage, but Lord Castlewell had held to it, urged by feelings +which he had found it difficult to analyse. Rachel had in her +sickness determined to have done with him altogether, but latterly +she had had no communication with him. She had spoken of him to her +father as though he were a being simply to be forgotten. "He has +gone away, and, as far as he is concerned, there is an end of me. +It could not have finished better." But her mind still referred to +Frank Jones, and from him she had received hardly a word of love. +Further words of love she could not send him. During her illness many +letters, or little notes rather, had been written to Castle Morony on +her behalf by her father, and to these there had come replies. Frank +was so anxious to hear of her well-doing. Frank had not cared so much +for her voice as for her general health. Frank was so sorry to hear +of her weakness. It had all been read to her, but as it had been read +she had only shaken her head; and her father had not carried the +dream on any further. To his thinking she was still engaged to the +lord, and it would be better for her that she should marry the lord. +The lord no doubt was a fool, and filled the most foolish place in +the world,--that of a silly faineant earl. But he would do no harm to +his daughter, and the girl would learn to like the kind of life which +would be hers. At present she was very, very ill, but still there was +hope for recovery. + +By the treasury of the theatre she had been treated munificently. Her +engagement had been almost up to the day fixed for her marriage, and +the money which would have become due to her under it had been paid +in full. She had sent back the latter payments, but they had been +returned to her with the affectionate respects of the managers. Since +she had put her foot upon these boards she had found herself to be +popular with all around her. That, she had told herself, had been due +to the lord who was to become her husband. But Rachel had become, and +was likely to become, the means of earning money for them, and they +were grateful. To tell the truth, Lord Castlewell had had nothing to +do with it. + +But gradually there came upon them the conviction that her voice was +gone, and then the payment of the money ceased. She, and the doctor, +and her father, had discussed it together, and they had agreed to +settle that it must be so. + +"Yes," said the girl, smiling, "it is bitter. All my hopes! And such +hopes! It is as though I were dead, and yet were left alive. If it +had been small-pox, or anything in that way, I could have borne it. +But this thing, this terrible misfortune!" + +Then she laughed, and then burst out sobbing with loud tears, and hid +her face. + +"You will be married, and still be happy," said the doctor. + +"Married! Rubbish! So much you know about it. Am I ever to get strong +in my limbs again, so as to be able to cross the water and go back to +my own country?" + +Here the doctor assured her that she would be able to go back to her +own country, if it were needed. + +"Father," she said, as soon as the doctor had left her, "let there be +an end to all this about Lord Castlewell. I will not marry him." + +"But, my dear!" + +"I will not marry him. There are two reasons why I should not. I do +not love him, and he does not love me. There are two other reasons. I +do not want to marry him, and he does not want to marry me." + +"But he says he does." + +"That is his goodness. He is very good. I do not know why a man +should be so good who has had so bad a bringing up. Think of me,--how +good I ought to be, as compared with him. I haven't done anything +naughty in all my life worse than tear my frock, or scold poor Frank; +and yet I find it harder to give him up, merely because of the +grandeur, than he does to marry me, the poor singing girl, who can +never sing again. No! My good looks are gone, such as they were. I +can feel it, even with my fingers. You had better take me back to the +States at once." + +"Good-bye, Rachel," said the lord, coming into her room the day but +one after this. Her father was not with her, as she had elected to be +alone when she would bid her adieu to her intended husband. + +"This is very good of you to come to me." + +"Of course I came." + +"Because you were good. You need not have come unless you had wished +it. I had so spoken to you as to justify you in staying away. My +voice is gone, and I can only squeak at you in this broken treble." + +"Your voice would not have mattered at all." + +"Ah, but it has mattered to me. What made you want to marry me?" + +"Your beauty quite as much as your voice," said the lord. + +"And that has gone too. Everything I had has gone. It is melancholy! +No, my lord," she said, interrupting him when he attempted to +contradict her, "there is not a word more to be said about it. Voice +and beauty, such as it was, and the little wit, are all gone. I did +believe in my voice myself, and therefore I felt myself fitting +to marry you. I could have left a name behind me if my voice had +remained. But, in truth, my lord, it was not fitting. I did not love +you." + +"That, indeed!" + +"As far as I know myself, I did not love you. You have heard me speak +of Frank Jones,--a man who can only wear two clean shirts a week +because he has been so boycotted by those wretched Irish as to be +able to afford no more. I would take him with one shirt to-morrow, if +I could get him. One does not know why one loves a person. Of course +he's handsome, and strong, and brave. I don't think that has done it, +but I just got the fancy into my head, and there it is still. And he +with his two shirts, working every day himself with his own hands to +earn something for his father, would not marry me because I was a +singing girl and took wages. He would not have another shirt to be +washed with my money. Oh, that the chance were given to me to go and +wash it for him with my own hands!" + +Lord Castlewell sat through the interview somewhat distraught, as +well he might be; but when it was over, and he had taken his leave +and kissed her forehead, as he went home in his cab, he told himself +that he had got through that little adventure very well. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +MR. MOSS IS FINALLY ANSWERED. + + +Some days after the scene last recorded Rachel was sitting in her +bedroom, partly dressed, but she was, as she was wont to declare +to her father, as weak as a cat with only one life. She had in the +morning gone through a good deal of work. She had in the first place +counted her money. She had something over L600 at the bank, and she +had always supplied her father with what he had wanted. She had told +her future husband that she must sing one month in the year so as +to earn what would be necessary for the support of the Member of +Parliament, and singularly enough her father had yielded. But now +the six hundred and odd pounds was all that was left to take them +both back to the United States. "I think I shall be able to lecture +there," Mr. O'Mahony had said. "Wait till I express my opinion about +queens, and lords, and the Speaker! I think I shall be able to say +a word or two about the Speaker!--and the Chairman of Committees. A +poor little creature who can hardly say bo to a goose unless he had +got all the men to back him. I don't want to abuse the Queen, because +I believe she does her work like a lady; but if I don't lay it on hot +on the Speaker of the British House of Commons, my name is not Gerald +O'Mahony." + +"You forget your old enemy, the Secretary." + +"Him we used to call Buckshot? I'm not so sure about him. At any rate +he has had a downfall. When a man's had a downfall I don't care about +lecturing against him. But I don't think it probable that the Speaker +will have a downfall, and then I can have my fling." + +Rachel had dismissed her brougham, and she had written to Edith +Jones. That, no doubt, had been the greatest effort of the morning. +We need not give here the body of her letter, but it may be +understood that she simply declared at length the nature of the +prospect before her. There was not a word of Frank Jones in it. She +had done that before, and Frank Jones had not responded. She intended +to go with her father direct from Liverpool to New York, and her +letter was full chiefly of affectionate farewells. To Edith and to +Ada and to their father there were a thousand written kisses sent. +But there was not a kiss for Frank. There was not a word for Frank, +so that any reader of the letter, knowing there was a Frank in the +family, would have missed the mention of him, and asked why it was +so. It was very, very bitter to poor Rachel this writing to Morony +Castle without an allusion to the man; but, as she had said, he had +been right not to come and live on her wages, and he certainly was +right not to say a word as to their loss, when neither of them had +wages on which to live. It would have suited in the United States, +but she knew that it would not suit here in the old country, and +therefore when the letter was written she was sitting worn-out, jaded +and unhappy in her own bed-room. + +The lodging was still in Cecil Street, from which spot she and her +father had determined not to move themselves till after the marriage, +and had now resolved to remain there till Rachel should be well +enough for her journey to New York. As she sat there the servant, +whom in her later richer days she had taken to herself, came to her +and announced a visitor. Mr. Moss was in the sitting-room. "Mr. Moss +here!" The girl declared that he was in the sitting-room, and in +answer to further inquiries alleged that he was alone. How he had got +there the girl could not say. Probably somebody had received a small +bribe. Mr. O'Mahony was not in,--nor was anybody in. Rachel told +the girl to be ready when she was ready to accompany her into the +parlour, and thus resolving that she would see Mr. Moss she sent him +a message to this effect. Then she went to work and perfected her +dressing very slowly. + +When she had completed the work she altered her purpose, and +determined that she would see Mr. Moss alone. "You be in the little +room close at hand," she said, "and have the door ajar, so that you +can come to me if I call. I have no reason to suspect this man, and +yet I do suspect him." So saying, she put on her best manners, as it +might be those she had learned from the earl when he was to be her +husband, and walked into the room. She had often told herself, since +the old days, as she had now told the maid, that no real ground for +suspicion existed; and yet she knew that she did suspect the man. + +Rachel was pale and wan, and moved very slowly as though with +haughty gesture. Mr. Moss, no doubt, had reason for knowing that the +marriage with Lord Castlewell was at an end. The story had been told +about among the theatres. Lord Castlewell did not mean to marry Miss +O'Mahony; or else the other and stranger story, Miss O'Mahony did not +mean to marry Lord Castlewell. Though few believed that story, it was +often told. Theatrical people generally told it to one another as a +poetical tale. The young lady had lost her voice and her beauty. The +young lady was looking very old and could never sing again. It was +absolutely impossible that in such circumstances she should decline +to marry the lord if he were willing. But it was more than probable +that he should decline to marry her. The theatrical world had +been much astonished by Lord Castlewell's folly, and now rejoiced +generally over his escape. But that he should still want to marry the +young lady, and that she should refuse,--that was quite impossible. + +But Mr. Moss was somewhat different from the theatrical world in +general. He kept himself to himself, and kept his opinion very much +in the dark. Madame Socani spoke to him often about Rachel, and +expressed her loud opinion that Lord Castlewell had never been in +earnest. And she was of opinion that Rachel's voice had never had any +staying property. Madame Socani had once belittled Rachel's voice, +and now her triumph was very great. In answer to all this Mr. Moss +almost said nothing. Once he did turn round and curse the woman +violently, but that was all. Then, when the news had, he thought, +been made certain, either in one direction or the other, he came and +called on the young lady. + +"Well, Mr. Moss," said the young lady, with a smile that was intended +to be most contemptible and gracious. + +"I have been so extremely sorry to hear of your illness, my dear +young lady." + +Her grandeur departed from her all at once. To be called this man's +"dear young lady" was insufferable. And grandeur did not come easily +to her, though wit and sarcasm did. + +"Your dear young lady, as you please to call her, has had a bad time +of it." + +"In memory of the old days I called you so, Miss O'Mahony. You and I +used to be thrown much together." + +"You and I will never be thrown together again, as my singing is all +over." + +"It may be so and it may not." + +"It is over, at any rate as far as the London theatres go,--as far as +you and I go. + +"I hope not." + +"I tell you it is. I am going back to New York at once, and do not +think I shall sing another note as long as I live. I'm going to learn +to cook dishes for papa, and we mean to settle down together." + +"I hope not," he repeated. + +"Very well; but at any rate I must say good-bye to you. I am very +weak, and cannot do much in the talking line." + +Then she got up and stood before him, as though determined to wish +him good-bye. She was in truth weak, but she was minded to stand +there till he should have gone. + +"My dear Miss O'Mahony, if you would sit down for a moment, I have a +proposition to make to you. I think that it is one to which you may +be induced to listen." + +Then she did sit down, knowing that she would want the strength which +rest would give her. The conversation with Mr. Moss might probably +be prolonged. He also sat down at a little distance, and held his +shining new hat dangling between his knees. It was part of her +quarrel with him that he had always on a new hat. + +"Your marriage with Lord Castlewell, I believe, is off." + +"Just so." + +"And also your marriage with Mr. Jones?" + +"No doubt. All my marriages are off. I don't mean to be married at +all. I tell you I'm going home to keep house for my father." + +"Keep house for me," said Mr. Moss. + +"I would rather keep house for the devil," said Rachel, rising from +her chair in wrath. + +"Vy?--vy?"--Mr. Moss was reduced by his eagerness and enthusiasm to +his primitive mode of speaking--"Vat is it that you shall want of a +man but that he shall love you truly? I come here ready to marry you, +and to take my chance in all things. You say your voice is gone. I am +here ready to take the risk. Lord Castlewell will not have you, but +I will take you." Now he had risen from his chair, and was standing +close to her; but she was so surprised at his manner and at his words +that she did not answer him at all. "That lord cared for you not at +all, but I care. That Mr. Jones, who was to have been your husband, +he is gone; but I am not gone. Mr. Jones!" then he threw into his +voice a tone of insufferable contempt. + +This Rachel could not stand. + +"You shall not talk to me about Mr. Jones." + +"I talk to you as a man who means vat he is saying. I will marry you +to-morrow." + +"I would sooner throw myself into that river," she said, pointing +down to the Thames. + +"You have nothing, if I understand right,--nothing! You have had +a run for a few months, and have spent all your money. I have got +L10,000! You have lost your voice,--I have got mine. You have no +theatre,--I have one of my own. I am ready to take a house and +furnish it just as you please. You are living here in these poor, +wretched lodgings. Why do I do that?" And he put up both his hands. + +"You never will do it," said Rachel. + +"Because I love you." Then he threw away his new hat, and fell on his +knees before her. "I will risk it all,--because I love you! If your +voice comes back,--well! If it do not come back, you will be my wife, +and I shall do my best to keep you like a lady." + +Here Rachel leant back in her chair, and shut her eyes. In truth she +was weak, and was hardly able to carry on the battle after her old +fashion. And she had to bethink herself whether the man was making +this offer in true faith. If so, there was something noble in it; +and, though she still hated the man, as a woman may hate her lover, +she would in such case be bound not to insult him more than she could +help. A softer feeling than usual came upon her, and she felt that he +would be sufficiently punished if she could turn him instantly out of +the room. She did not now feel disposed "to stick a knife into him," +as she had told her father when describing Mr. Moss. But he was at +her knees and the whole thing was abominable. + +"Rachel, say the word, and be mine at once." + +"You do not understand how I hate you!" she exclaimed. + +"Rachel, come to my arms!" + +Then he got up, as though to clasp the girl in his embrace. She ran +from him, and immediately called the girl whom she had desired to +remain in the next room with the door open. But the door was not +open, and the girl, though she was in the room, did not answer. +Probably the bribe which Mr. Moss had given was to her feeling rather +larger than ordinary. + +"My darling, my charmer, my own one, come to my arms!" + +And he did succeed in getting his hand round on to Rachel's waist, +and getting his lips close to her head. She did save her face so that +Mr. Moss could not kiss her, but she was knocked into a heap by his +violence, and by her own weakness. He still had hold of her as she +rose to her feet, and, though he had become acquainted with her +weapon before, he certainly did not fear it now. A sick woman, who +had just come from her bed, was not likely to have a dagger with her. +When she got up she was still more in his power. She was astray, +scrambling here and there, so as to be forced to guard against her +own awkwardness. Whatever may be the position in which a woman may +find herself, whatever battle she may have to carry on, she has first +to protect herself from unseemly attitudes. Before she could do +anything she had first to stand upon her legs, and gather her dress +around her. + +"My own one, my life, come to me!" he exclaimed, again attempting to +get her into his embrace. + +But he had the knife stuck into him. She had known that he would do +it, and now he had done it. + +"You fool, you," she said; "it has been your own doing." + +He fell on the sofa, and clasped his side, where the weapon had +struck him. She rang the bell violently, and, when the girl came, +desired her to go at once for a surgeon. Then she fainted. + +"I never was such a fool as to faint before," she told Frank +afterwards. "I never counted on fainting. If a girl faints, of course +she loses all her chance. It was because I was ill. But poor Mr. Moss +had the worst of it." + +Rachel, from the moment in which she fainted, never saw Mr. Moss any +more. Madame Socani came to visit her, and told her father, when she +failed to see her, that Mr. Moss had only three days to live. Rachel +was again in bed, and could only lift up her hands in despair. But to +her father, and to Frank Jones, she spoke with something like good +humour. + +"I knew it would come," she said to her father. "There was something +about his eye which told me that an attempt would be made. He would +not believe of a woman that she could have a will of her own. By +treating her like an animal he thought he would have his own way. I +don't imagine he will treat me in that way again." And then she spoke +of him to Frank. "I suppose he does like me?" + +"He likes your singing,--at so much a month." + +"That's all done now. At any rate, he cannot but know that it is +an extreme chance. He must fancy that he really likes me. A man +has to be forgiven a good deal for that. But a man must be made to +understand that if a woman won't have him, she won't! I think Mr. +Moss understands it now." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +FRANK JONES COMES BACK AGAIN. + + +These last words had been spoken after the coming of Frank Jones, but +something has to be said of the manner of his coming, and of the +reasons which brought him, and something also which occurred before +he came. It could not be that Mr. Moss should be wounded after so +desperate a fashion and that not a word should be said about it. + +Of what happened at the time of the wounding Rachel knew nothing. +She had been very brave and high in courage till the thing was done, +but as soon as it was done she sent for the servant and fainted away. +She knew nothing of what had occurred till she had been removed +out of the room on one side, and he on the other. She did not hear, +therefore, of the suggestion made by Mr. Moss that some vital part of +him had been reached. + +He did bleed profusely, but under the aid of the doctor and Mr. +O'Mahony, who was soon on the scene, he recovered himself more +quickly than poor Rachel, who was indeed somewhat neglected till the +hero of the tragedy had been sent away. He behaved with sufficient +courage at last, though he had begun by declaring that his days were +numbered. At any rate he had said when he found the power of ordinary +speech, "Don't let a word be whispered about it to Miss O'Mahony; +she isn't like other people." Then he was taken back to his private +lodging, and confided to the care of Madame Socani, where we will +for the present leave him. Soon after the occurrence,--a day or two +after it,--Frank Jones appeared suddenly on the scene. Of course it +appeared that he had come to mourn the probable death of Mr. Moss. +But he had in truth heard nothing of the fatal encounter till he had +arrived in Cecil Street, and then could hardly make out what had +occurred amidst the confused utterances. + +"Frank Jones!" she exclaimed. "Father, what has brought him here?" +and she blushed up over her face and head to the very roots of her +hair. "Come up, of course he must come up. When a man has come all +the way from Castle Morony he must be allowed to come up. Why should +you wish to keep him down in the area?" Then Frank Jones soon made +his appearance within the chamber. + +It was midsummer, and Rachel occupied a room in the lowest house in +the street, looking right away upon the river, and her easy-chair had +been brought up to the window at which she sat, and looked out on the +tide of river life as it flowed by. She was covered at present with +a dressing gown, as sweet and fresh as the morning air. On her head +she wore a small net of the finest golden filigree, and her tiny +feet were thrust into a pair of bright blue slippers bordered with +swans-down. "Am I to come back?" her obedient father had asked. But +he had been told not to come back, not quite at present. "It is not +that I want your absence," she had said, "but he may. He can tell +me with less hesitation that he is going to set up a pig-killing +establishment in South Australia than he could probably you and me +together." So the father simply slapped him on the back, and bade him +walk upstairs till he would find No. 15 on the second landing. "Of +course you have heard," he said, as Frank was going, "of what she has +been and done to Mahomet M. Moss?" + +"Not a word," said Frank. "What has she done?" + +"Plunged a dagger into him," said Mr. O'Mahony,--in a manner which +showed to Frank that he was not much afraid of the consequences of +the accident. "You go up and no doubt she will tell you all about +it." Then Frank went up, and was soon admitted into Rachel's room. + +"Oh, Frank!" she said, "how are you? What on earth has brought you +here?" Then he at once began to ask questions about poor Moss, and +Rachel of course to answer them. "Well, yes; how was I to help it? I +told him from the time that I was a little girl, long before I knew +you, that something of this kind would occur if he would not behave +himself." + +"And he didn't?" asked Frank, with some little pardonable curiosity. + +"No, he did not. Whether he wanted me or my voice, thinking that +it would come back again, I cannot tell, but he did want something. +There was a woman who brought messages from him, and even she wanted +something. Then his ideas ran higher." + +"He meant to marry you," said Frank. + +"I suppose he did,--at last. I am very much obliged to him, but it +did not suit. Then,--to make a short story of it, Frank, I will tell +you the whole truth. He took hold of me. I cannot bear to be taken +hold of; you know that yourself." + +He could only remember how often he had sat with her down among the +willows at the lake side with his arm round her waist, and she had +never seemed to be impatient under the operation. + +"And though he has such a beautiful shiny hat he is horribly awkward. +He nearly knocked me down and fell on me, by way of embracing me." + +Frank thought that he had never been driven to such straits as that. + +"To be knocked down and trampled on by a beast like that! There +are circumstances in which a girl must protect herself, when other +circumstances have brought her into danger. In those days--yesterday, +that is, or a week ago--I was a poor singing girl. I was at every +man's disposal, and had to look after myself. There are so many white +bears about, ready to eat you, if you do not look after yourself. He +tried to eat me, and he was wounded. You do not blame me, Frank." + +"No, indeed; not for that." + +"What do you blame me for?" + +"I cannot think you right," he answered with almost majestic +sternness, "to have accepted the offer of Lord Castlewell." + +"You blame me for that." + +He nodded his head at her. + +"What would you have had me do?" + +"Marry a man when you love him, but not when you don't." + +"Oh, Frank! I couldn't. How was I to marry a man when I loved him,--I +who had been so treated? But, sir," she said, remembering herself, +"you have no right to say I did not love Lord Castlewell. You have no +business to inquire into that matter. Nobody blames you, or can, or +shall, in that affair,--not in my hearing. You behaved as gentlemen +do behave; gentlemen who cannot act otherwise, because it is born +in their bones and their flesh. I--I have not behaved quite so well. +Open confession is good for the soul. Frank, I have not behaved quite +so well. You may inquire about it. I did not love Lord Castlewell, +and I told him so. He came to me when my singing was all gone, and +generously renewed his offer. Had I not known that in his heart of +hearts he did not wish it,--that the two things were gone for which +he had wooed me,--my voice, which was grand, and my prettiness, which +was but a little thing, I should have taken his second offer, because +it would be well to let him have what he wanted. It was not so; and +therefore I sent him away, well pleased." + +"But why did you accept him?" + +"Oh, Frank! do not be too hard. How am I to tell you--you, of all +men, what my reasons were? I was alone in the world; alone with such +dangers before me as that which Mr. Moss brought with him. And then +my profession had become a reality, and this lord would assist me. Do +all the girls refuse the lords who come and ask them?" + +Then he stood close over her, and shook his head. + +"But I should have done so," she continued after a pause. "I +recognise it now; and let there be an end of it. There is a something +which does make a woman unfit for matrimony." And the tears coursed +themselves down her wan cheeks. "Now it has all been said that need +be said, and let there be an end of it. I have talked too much about +myself. What has brought you to London?" + +"Just a young woman," he whispered slowly. + +A pang shot through her heart; and yet not quite a pang, for with it +there was a rush of joy, which was not, however, perfect joy, because +she felt that it must be disappointed. + +"Bother your young woman," she said; "who cares for your young woman! +How are you going on in Galway?" + +"Sadly enough, to tell the truth." + +"No rents?" + +He shook his head. + +"Nothing but murders and floods?" + +"The same damnable old story running on from day to day." + +"And have the girls no servants yet?" + +"Not a servant; except old Peter, who is not quite as faithful as he +should be." + +"And,--and what about that valiant gay young gentleman, Captain +Clayton?" + +"Everything goes amiss in love as well as war," said Frank. "Between +the three of them, I hardly know what they want." + +"I think I know." + +"Very likely. Everything goes so astray with all of us, so that the +wanting it is sufficient reason for not getting it." + +"Is that all you have come to tell me?" + +"I suppose it is." + +"Then you might have stayed away." + +"I may as well go, perhaps." + +"Go? no! I am not so full of new friends that I can afford to throw +away my old like that. Of course you may not go, as you call it! +Do you suppose I do not care to hear about those girls whom I +love,--pretty nearly with all my heart? Why don't you tell me about +them, and your father? You come here, but you talk of nothing but +going. You ain't half nice." + +"Can I come in yet?" This belonged to a voice behind the door, which +was the property of Mr. O'Mahony. + +"Not quite yet, father. Mr. Jones is telling me about them all at +Morony Castle." + +"I should have thought I might have heard that," said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"The girls have special messages to send," said Rachel. + +"I'll come back in another ten minutes," said Mr. O'Mahony. "I shall +not wait longer than that." + +"Only their love," said Frank; upon which Rachel looked as though she +thought that Frank Jones was certainly an ass. + +"Of course I want to hear their love," said Rachel. "Dear Ada, and +dear Edith! Why don't you tell me their love?" + +"My poor sick girl," he said, laying his hand upon her shoulder, and +looking into her eyes. + +"Never mind my sickness. I know I am as thin and as wan as an ogre. +Nevertheless, I care for their love." + +"Rachel, do you care for mine?" + +"I haven't got it! Oh, Frank, why don't you speak to me? You have +spoken a word, just a word, and all the blood is coming back to my +veins already." + +"Dearest, dearest, dearest Rachel." + +"Now you have spoken; now you have told me of your sisters and your +father. Now I know it all! Now my father may come in." + +"Do you love me, then?" + +"Love you! That question you know to be unnecessary. Love you! Why +I spend every day and every night in loving you! But, Frank, you +wouldn't have me when I was going to be rich. I ought not to have +you now that I am to be poor." But by this time she was in his arms +and he was kissing her, till, as she had said, the blood was once +again running in her veins. "Oh, Frank, what a tyrant you are! Did +I not tell you to let poor father come into the room? You have said +everything now. There cannot be another word to say. Frank, Frank, +Frank! I have found it out at last. I cannot live without you." + +"But how are you to live with me? There is no money." + +"Bother money. Wealth is sordid. Washing stockings over a tub is the +only life for me,--so long as I have you to come back to me." + +"And your health?" + +"I tell you it is done. I was merely sick of the Jones complaint. Oh, +heavens! how I can hate people, and how I can love them!" Then she +threw herself on the sofa, absolutely worn out by the violence of her +emotions. + +Mr. O'Mahony was commissioned, and sat down by his girl's side to +comfort her. But she wanted no comforting. "So you and Frank have +made it up, have you?" said Mr. O'Mahony. + +"We have never quarrelled so far as I am concerned," said Frank. "The +moment I heard Lord Castlewell was dismissed, I came back." + +"Yes," said she, raising herself half up on the sofa. "Do you know +his story, father? It is rather a nice story for a girl to hear of +her own lover, and to feel that it is true. When I was about to make +I don't know how many thousand dollars a year by my singing, he would +not come and take his share of it. Then I have to think of my own +disgrace. But it enhances his glory. Because he was gone, I brought +myself to accept this lord." + +"Now, Rachel, you shall not exert yourself," said Frank. + +"I will, sir," she replied, holding him by the hand. "I will tell my +story. He had retreated from the stain, and the lord had come in his +place. But he was here always," and she pressed his hand to her side. +"He could not be got rid of. Then I lost my voice, and was 'utterly +dished,' as the theatrical people say. Then the lord went,--behaving +better than I did however,--and I was alone. Oh, what bitter moments +there came then,--long enough for the post to go to Ireland and to +return! And now he is here. Once more at my feet again, old man, once +more! And then he talks to me of money! What is money to me? I have +got such a comforting portion that I care not at all for money." Then +she all but fainted once again, and Frank and her father both knelt +over her caressing her. + +It was a long time before Frank left her, her father going in and out +of the room as it pleased him the while. Then he declared that he +must go down to the House, assuring Frank that one blackguard there +was worse than another, but saying that he would see them to the end +as long as his time lasted. Rachel insisted that Frank should go with +him. + +"I am just getting up from my death-bed," she said, laughing, "and +you want me to go on like any other man's young woman. I can think +about you without talking to you." And so saying she dismissed him. + +On the next morning, when he came again, she discussed with him the +future arrangement of his life and hers. + +"Of course you must stay with your father," she said. "You do not +want to marry me at once, I suppose. And of course it is impossible +if you do. I shall go to the States with father as soon as this +Parliament affair is over. He is turned out of the House so often +that he will be off before long for good and all. But there is the +mail still running, and remember that what I say is true. I shall be +ready and willing to be made Mrs. Frank Jones as soon as you will +come and fetch me, and will tell me that you are able to provide me +just with a crust and a blanket in County Galway. Whatever little you +will do with, I will do with less." + +Then she sat upon his knee, and embraced him and kissed him, and +swore to him that no other Lord Castlewell who came should interfere +with his rights. + +"And as for Mr. Moss," she added, "I do not think that he will ever +appear again to trouble your little game." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +MR. ROBERT MORRIS. + + +One morning, a little later in the summer, about the beginning of +August, all Galway were terrified by the tidings of another murder. +Mr. Morris had been killed,--had been "dropped," as the language of +the country now went, from behind a wall built by the roadside. It +had been done at about five in the afternoon, in full daylight; and, +as was surmised by the police, with the consciousness of many of the +peasantry around. He had been walking along the road from Cong to his +own house, and had been "dropped," and left for dead by the roadside. +Dead, indeed, he was when found. Not a word more would have been said +about it, but for the intervention of the police, who were on the +spot within three hours of the occurrence. A little girl had been +coming into Cong, and had told the news. The little girl was living +at Cong, and was supposed to be in no way connected with the murder. + +"It's some of them boys this side of Clonbur," said one of the men of +Cong. + +No one thought it necessary after that to give any further +explanation of the circumstances. + +Mr. Robert Morris was somewhat of an oddity in his way; but he was +a man who only a few months since was most unlikely to have fallen +a victim to popular anger. He was about forty years of age, and +had lived altogether at Minas Cottage, five or six miles from Cong, +as you pass up the head of Lough Corrib, on the road to Maum. He +was unmarried, and lived quite alone in a small house, trusting to +the attentions of two old domestics and their daughter. He kept a +horse and a car and a couple of cows and a few cocks and hens; but +otherwise he lived alone. He was a man of property, and had, indeed, +come from a family very long established in the county. People said +of him that he had L500 a year; but he would have been very glad +to have seen the half of it paid to his agent; for Mr. Morris, of +Minas Cottage, had his agent as well as any other gentleman. He was +a magistrate for the two counties, Galway and Mayo, and attended +sessions both at Cong and at Clonbur. But when there he did little +but agree with some more active magistrate; and what else he did with +himself no one could tell of him. + +But it was said in respect to him that he was a benevolent gentleman; +and but a year or two since very many in the neighbourhood would have +declared him to be especially the poor man's friend. With L500 a year +he could have done much; with half that income he could do something +to assist them, and something he still did. He had his foibles, and +fancies, but such as they were they did not tread on the corns of any +of his poorer neighbours. He was proud of his birth, proud of his +family, proud of having owned, either in his own hands or those of +his forefathers, the same few acres,--and many more also, for his +forefathers before him had terribly diminished the property. There +was a story that his great great grandfather had lived in a palatial +residence in County Kilkenny. All this he would tell freely, and +would remark that to such an extent had the family been reduced by +the extravagance of his forefathers. "But the name and the blood +they can never touch," he would remark. They would not ask as to his +successor, because they valued him too highly, and because Mr. Morris +would never have admitted that the time had come when it was too late +to bring a bride home to the western halls of his forefathers. But +the rumour went that Minas Cottage would go in the female line to a +second cousin, who had married a cloth merchant in Galway city, to +whom nor to her husband did Mr. Morris ever speak. There might be +something absurd in this, but there was nothing injurious to his +neighbours, and nothing that would be likely to displease the poorer +of them. + +But Mr. Morris had been made the subject of various requests from his +tenants. They had long since wanted and had received a considerable +abatement in their rent. Hence had come the straitened limits of L250 +a year. They had then offered the "Griffith's valuation." To explain +the "Griffith's valuation" a chapter must be written, and as no +one would read the explanation if given here it shall be withheld. +Indeed, the whole circumstances of Mr. Morris's property were too +intricate to require, or to admit, elucidation here. He was so driven +that if he were to keep anything for himself he must do so by means +of the sheriff's officer, and hence it had come to pass that he had +been shot down like a mad dog by the roadside. + +County Galway was tolerably well used to murders by this time, but +yet seemed to be specially astonished by the assassination of Mr. +Morris. The innocence of the man; for the dealings of the sheriff's +officer were hardly known beyond the town land which was concerned! +And then the taciturnity of the county side when the murder had been +effected! It was not such a deed as was the slaughtering of poor +Florian Jones, or the killing of Terry Carroll in the court house. +They had been more startling, more alarming, more awful for the +tradesmen, and such like, to talk of among themselves, but the +feeling of mystery there had been connected with the secret capacity +of one individual. Everyone, in fact, knew that those murders had +been done by Lax. And all felt that for the doing of murders Lax was +irrepressible. But over there in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, or in +the village of Cong, Lax had never appeared. There was no one in the +place to whom the police could attribute any Lax-like properties. In +that respect, the slaughtering of Mr. Morris had something in it more +terrible even than those other murders. It seemed as though murder +were becoming the ordinary popular mode by which the people should +redress themselves,--as though the idea of murder had recommended +itself easily to their intellects. And then they had quietly +submitted--all of them--to taciturnity. They who were not concerned +in the special case, the adjustment that is of Mr. Morris's rent, +accepted his murder with perfect quiescence, as did those who were +aggrieved. Nobody had seen anything. Nobody had heard anything. +Nobody had known anything. Such were the only replies that were given +to the police. If Mr. Morris, then why not another--and another--till +the whole country would be depopulated? In Mr. Morris's case a +landlord had been chosen; but in other localities agents and +sheriffs' officers,--and even those keepers on a property which a +gentleman is supposed to employ,--were falling to the right and to +the left. But of Mr. Morris and his death nothing was heard. + +Yorke Clayton of course went down there, for this, too, was in his +district, and Hunter went with him, anxious, if possible, to learn +something. They saw every tenant on the property; and, indeed, they +were not over numerous. There was not one as to whom they could +obtain evidence that he was ever ferocious by character. "They've got +to think that they have the right to it all. The poor creatures are +not so bad as them that is teaching them. If I think as the farm is +my own, of course I don't like to be made to pay rent for it." That +was the explanation of the circumstances, as given by Mrs. Davies, +of the hotel at Clonbur. And it was evident that she thought it to +be sufficient. The meaning of it, according to Captain Clayton's +reading, was this: "If you allow such doctrines to be preached abroad +by Members of Parliament and Landleague leaders,--to be preached as +a doctrine fit for the people,--then you cannot be surprised if the +people do as they are taught and hold their tongues afterwards." + +This Mr. Morris had been the first cousin of our poor old friend +Black Tom Daly. + +"Good God!" he exclaimed, as soon as he read the news, sitting in his +parlour at Daly's Bridge; "there is Bob Morris gone now." + +"Bob Morris, of Minas Cottage!" exclaimed Peter Bodkin, who had +ridden over to give Tom Daly some comfort in his solitude, if it +might be possible. + +"By George! yes; Bob Morris! Did you know him?" + +"I don't think he ever came out hunting." + +"Hunting, indeed! How should he, when he hadn't a horse that he could +ride upon? And Bob knew nothing of sport. The better for him, seeing +the way that things are going now. No, he never was out hunting, poor +fellow. But for downright innocence and kindness and gentleness of +heart, there is no one left like him. And now they have murdered him! +What is to be the end of it? There is Persse telling me to hold on by +the hounds, when I couldn't keep a hound in the kennels at Ahaseragh +if it were ever so." + +"Times will mend," said Peter. + +"And Raheney Gorse fired so as to drive every fox out of the country! +Persse is wrong, and I am wrong to stay at his bidding. The very +nature of mankind has altered in the old country. There are not the +same hearts within their bosoms. To burn a gorse over a fox's head! +There is a damnable cruelty in it of which men were not guilty,--by +G----! they were not capable,--a year or two ago. These ruffians +from America have come and told them that they shall pay no rent, +and their minds have been so filled with the picture that its +magnificence has overcome them. They used to tell us that money is +the root of all evil; it proves to be true now. The idea that they +should pay no rent has been too much for them; and they have become +fiends under the feelings which have been roused. Only last year they +were mourning over a poor fox like a Christian,--a poor fox that had +been caught in a trap,--and now they would not leave a fox in the +country, because the gentlemen, they think, are fond of them. The +gentlemen are their enemies, and therefore they will spite them. They +will drive every gentleman out of the country, and where will they be +then?" Here Tom Daly sat quiet for a while, looking silent through +the open window, while Peter sat by him feeling the occasion to be +too solemn for speech. After a while Tom continued his ejaculations. +"Gladstone! Gladstone! There are those who think that man to be great +and good; but how can he be great and good if he lets loose such +spirits among us? They tell me that he's a very amiable man in his +own family, and goes to church regular; but he must be the most +ignorant human being that ever took upon himself to make laws for +a people. He can understand nothing about money, nothing about +property, nothing about rents! I suppose he thinks it fair to take +away one man's means and give them to another, simply because one is +a gentleman and the other not! A fair rent! There's nothing I hate so +much in my very soul as the idea of a fair rent. A fair rent means +half that a man pays now; but in a few years' time it will mean again +whatever the new landlord may choose to ask. And fixity of tenure! +Every man is to get what doesn't belong to him, and if a man has +anything he's to be turned out; that is fixity of tenure. And freedom +of sale! A man is to be allowed to sell what isn't his own. He thinks +that when he has thrown half an eye over a country he can improve it +by altering all the wisdom of ages. A man talks and talks, and others +listen to him till they flatter him that another God Almighty has +been sent upon earth." It was thus that Tom Daly expressed himself as +to the Prime Minister of the day; but Tom was a benighted Tory, and +had thought nothing of these subjects till they were driven into his +mind by the strange mortality of the foxes around him. + +Poor Mr. Morris was buried, and there was an end of him. The cloth +merchant's wife in Galway got the property; and, as far as we can +hear at present, is not likely to do as well with it as her husband +is with his bales of goods. No man perhaps more insignificant than +Mr. Robert Morris could have departed. He did nothing, and his +figure, as he walked about between Cong and Clonbur, could be well +spared. But his murder had given rise to feelings through the country +which were full of mischief and full of awe. He had lived most +inoffensively, and yet he had gone simply because it had occurred to +some poor ignorant tenant, who had held perhaps ten or fifteen acres +of land, out of which he had lived upon the potatoes grown from two +or three of them, that things would go better with him if he had not +a landlord to hurry him for rent! Then the tenant had turned in his +mind the best means of putting his landlord out of the way, and had +told himself that it was an easy thing to do. He had not, of his own, +much capacity for the use of firearms; but he had four pound ten, +which should have gone to the payment of his rent, and of this four +pound ten, fifteen shillings secured the services of some handy man +out of the next parish. He had heard the question of murder freely +discussed among his neighbours, and by listening to others had +learned the general opinion that there was no danger in it. So he +came to a decision, and Mr. Morris was murdered. + +So far the question was solved between this tenant and this landlord; +but each one of the neighbours, as he thought of it, felt himself +bound to secrecy _pro bono publico_. There was a certain comfort in +this, and poor Bob Morris's death seemed likely to be passed over +with an easy freedom from suspicion. Any man might be got rid of +silently, and there need be no injurious results. But men among +themselves began to talk somewhat too freely, and an awe grew among +them as this man and that man were named as objectionable. And the +men so named were not all landlords or even agents. This man was a +sheriff's officer, and that a gamekeeper. The sheriffs' officers and +gamekeepers were not all murdered, but they were named, and a feeling +of terror crept cold round the hearts of those who heard the names. +Who was to be the keeper of the list and decide finally as to the +victims? Then suddenly a man went, and no one knew why he went. He +was making a fence between two fields, and it was whispered that he +had been cautioned not to make the fence. At any rate he had been +stoned to death, and though there must have been three at least at +the work, no one knew who had stoned him. Men began to whisper among +each other, and women also, and at last it was whispered to them that +they had better not whisper at all. Then they began to feel that not +only was secrecy to be exacted from them, but they were not to be +admitted to any participation in the secrecy. + +And with such of the gentry as were left there had grown up +precautions which could not but fill the minds of the peasantry with +a vague sense of fear. They went about with rifle in their hands, and +were always accompanied by police. They had thick shutters made to +their windows, and barred themselves within their houses. Those who +but a few months since had been the natural friends of the people, +now appeared everywhere in arms against them. If it was necessary +that there should be intercourse between them, that intercourse took +place by means of a policeman. A further attempt at murder had been +made in the neighbourhood, and was so talked of that it seemed that +all kindly feeling had been severed. Men began to creep about and +keep out of the way lest they should be suspected; and, indeed, +it was the fact that there was hardly an able-bodied man in three +parishes to whom some suspicion did not attach itself. + +And thus the women would ask for fresh murders, and would feel +disappointed when none were reported to them, craving, as it were, +for blood. And all this had come to pass certainly within the space +of two years! A sweeter-tempered people than had existed there had +been found nowhere; nor a people more ignorant, and possessing less +of the comforts of civilisation. But no evil was to be expected from +them, no harm came from them--beyond a few simple lies, which were +only harmful as acting upon their own character. As Tom Daly had +said, these very men were not capable of it a few months ago. The +tuition had come from America! That, no doubt, was true; but it had +come by Irish hearts and Irish voices, by Irish longings and Irish +ambition. Nothing could be more false than to attribute the evil to +America, unless that becomes American which has once touched American +soil. But there does grow up in New York, or thereabouts, a mixture +of Irish poverty with American wealth, which calls itself "Democrat," +and forms as bad a composition as any that I know from which either +to replenish or to create a people. + +A very little of it goes unfortunately a long way. It is like gin +made of vitriol when mingled with water. A small modicum of gin, +though it does not add much spirit to the water, will damnably defile +a large quantity. And this gin has in it a something of flavour which +will altogether deceive an uneducated palate. There is an alcoholic +afflatus which mounts to the brain and surrounds the heart and +permeates the veins, which for the moment is believed to be true gin. +But it makes itself known in the morning, and after a few mornings +tells its own tale too well. These "democrats" could never do us the +mischief. They are not sufficient, either in intellect or in number; +but there are men among us who have taught themselves to believe that +the infuriated gin drinker is the true holder of a new gospel. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +CONG. + + +In those days Captain Clayton spent much of his time at Cong, and +Frank Jones was often with him. Frank, however, had returned from +London a much altered man. Rachel had knocked under to him. It was +thus that he spoke of it to himself. I do not think that she spoke of +it to herself exactly in the same way. She knew her own constancy, +and felt that she was to be rewarded. + +"Nothing, I think, would ever have made me marry Lord Castlewell." + +It was thus she talked to her father while he was awaiting the period +of his dismissal. + +"I dare say not," said he. "Of course he is a poor weak creature. But +he would have been very good to you, and there would have been an end +to all your discomforts." + +Rachel turned up her nose. An end to all her discomforts! + +Her father knew nothing of what would comfort her and what would +discomfort. + +She was utterly discomforted in that her voice was gone from her. She +would lie and sob on her bed half the morning, and would feel herself +to be inconsolable. Then she would think of Frank, and tell herself +that there was some consolation in store even for her. Had her voice +been left to her she would have found it to be very difficult to +escape from the Castlewell difficulty. She would have escaped, she +thought, though the heavens might have been brought down over her +head. When the time had come for appearing at the altar, she would +have got into the first train and disappeared, or have gone to bed +and refused to leave it. She would have summoned Frank at the last +moment, and would submit to be called the worst behaved young woman +that had ever appeared on the London boards. Now she was saved from +that; but,--but at what a cost! + +"I might have been the greatest woman of the day, and now I must be +content to make his tea and toast." + +Then she began to consider whether it was good that any girl should +be the greatest woman of the day. + +"I don't suppose the Queen has so much the best of it with a pack of +troubles on her hands." + +But Frank in the meantime had gone back to Galway, and Mr. Robert +Morris had been murdered. Soon after the death of Mr. Morris the man +had been killed as he was mending the ditch, and Captain Clayton +found that the tone of the people was varied in the answers which +they made to his inquiries. They were astounded, and, as it were, +struck dumb with surprise. Nobody knew anything, nobody had heard +anything, nobody had seen anything. They were as much in the dark +about poor Pat Gilligan as they had been as to Mr. Robert Morris. +They spoke of Pat as though he had been slaughtered by a direct blow +from heaven; but they trembled, and were evidently uncomfortable. + +"That woman knows something about it," said Hunter to his master, +shaking his head. + +"No doubt she knows a good deal about it; but it is not because she +knows that she is bewildered and bedevilled in her intellect. She +is beginning to be afraid that the country is one in which even she +herself cannot live in safety." + +And the men looked to be dumbfoundered and sheepfaced. They kept out +of Captain Clayton's way, and answered him as little as possible. +"What's the good of axing when ye knows that I knows nothing?" This +was the answer of one man, and was a fair sample of the answers of +many; but they were given in such a tone that Clayton was beginning +to think that the evil was about to work its own cure. + +"Frank," he said one day when he was walking with his friend in +the gloom of the evening, "this state of things is too horrible to +endure." The faithful Hunter followed them, and another policeman, +for the Captain was never allowed to stir two steps without the +accompaniment of a brace of guards. + +"Much too horrible to be endured," said Frank. "My idea is that a +man, in order to make the best of himself, should run away from it. +Life in the United States has no such horrors as these. Though we're +apt to say that all this comes from America, I don't see American +hands in it." + +"You see American money." + +"American money in the shape of dollar bills; but they have all been +sent by Irish people. The United States is a large place, and there +is room there, I think, for an honest man." + +"I'll never be frightened out of my own country," said Clayton. "Nor +do I think there is occasion. These abominable reprobates are not +going to prevail in the end." + +"They have prevailed with poor Tom Daly. He was a man who worked +as hard as anyone to find amusement,--and employment too. He never +wronged anyone. He was even so honest as to charge a fair price for +his horses. And there he is, left high and dry, without a horse or +a hound that he can venture to keep about his own place. And simply +because the majority of the people have chosen that there shall be +no more hunting; and they have proved themselves to be able to have +their own way. It is impossible that poor Daly should hunt if they +will not permit him, and they carry their orders so far that he +cannot even keep a hound in his kennels because they do not choose +to allow it." + +"And this you think will be continued always?" asked Clayton. + +"For all that I can see it may go on for ever. My father has had +those water gates mended on the meadows though he could ill afford +it. I have told him that they may go again to-morrow. There is no +reason to judge that they should not do so. The only two men,--or +the man, rather, and the boy,--who have been punished for the last +attempt were those who endeavoured to tell of it. See what has come +of that!" + +"All that is true." + +"Will it not be better to go to America, to go to Africa, to go to +Asia, or to Russia even, than to live in a country like this, where +the law can afford you no protection, and where the lawgivers only +injure you?" + +"I know nothing about the lawgivers," said Clayton, "but I have to +say a word or two about the law. Do you think this kind of thing is +going to remain?" + +"It does remain, and every day becomes worse." + +"An evil will always become worse till it begins to die away. I think +I see the end of things approaching. Evil-doers are afraid of each +other, and these poor fellows here live in mortal agony lest some Lax +of the moment should be turned loose at their own throats. I don't +think that Lax is an institution that will remain for ever in the +country. This present Lax we have fast locked up. Law at present, at +any rate, has so much of power that it is able to lock up a +Lax,--when it can catch him. As for this present man, I do hope that +the law will find itself powerful enough to fasten a rope round his +neck. No Galway jury would find him guilty, and that is bad enough. +But the lawgivers have done this for us, that we may try him before a +Dublin jury, and there are hopes. When Lax has been well hung out of +the world I can turn round and take a moment for my own happiness." + +Yorke Clayton, as he said this, was alluding to his love affair with +Edith Jones. He had now conquered all the family with one exception. +Even the father had assented that it should be so, though tardily +and with sundry misgivings. The one person was Edith herself, and it +had come to be acknowledged by all around her that she loved Yorke +Clayton. As she herself never now denied it, it was admitted on all +sides at Morony Castle that the Captain was certainly the favoured +lover. But Edith still held out, and had gone so far as to tell the +Captain that he could not be allowed to come to the Castle unless he +would desist. + +"I never shall desist," he had replied. "As to that you may take my +word." Then Edith had of course loved him so much the more. + +"I don't think this kind of thing will go on," he continued, still +addressing Frank Jones. "The people are so fickle that they cannot be +constant even to anything evil. It is quite on the cards that Black +Tom Daly should next year be the most popular master of hounds in all +Ireland, and that Mr. Kit Mooney should not be allowed to show his +face within reach of Moytubber Gorse on hunting mornings." + +"They'd have burned the gorse before they have come round to that +state of feeling. Look at Raheeny." + +"It isn't so easy to destroy anything," said the philosophic Clayton. +"If the foxes are frightened out of Raheeny or Moytubber, they will +go somewhere else. And even if poor Tom Daly were to run away from +County Galway, as you're talking of doing, the county would find +another master." + +"Not like Tom Daly," said Frank Jones, enthusiastically. + +"There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. Tom Daly is a +first-class man, I admit; and he had no more obedient slave than +myself when I used to get out hunting two or three days in the +session. But he is a desponding man, and cannot look forward to +better times. For myself, I own that my hopes are fixed. Hang Lax, +and then the millennium!" + +"I will quite agree as to the hanging of Lax," said Frank; "but for +any millennium, I want something more strong than Irish feeling. +You'll excuse me, old fellow." + +"Oh, certainly! Of course, I'm an Irishman myself, and might have +been a Lax instead of a policeman, if chance had got hold of me in +time. As it is, I've a sort of feeling that the policeman is going to +have the best of it all through Ireland." Then there came a sudden +sound as of a sharp thud, and Yorke Clayton fell as it were dead at +Frank Jones's feet. + +This occurred at a corner of the road, from which a little boreen or +lane ran up the side of the mountain between walls about three feet +high. But here some benevolent enterprising gentleman, wishing to +bring water through Lower Lough Cong to Lough Corrib, had caused +the beginnings of a canal to be built, which had, however, after +the expenditure of large sums of money, come to nothing. But the +ground, or rather rock, had so been moved and excavated as to make +it practicable for some men engaged, as had been this man, to drop +at once out of sight. Hunter was at once upon his track, with the +other policeman, both of whom fired at him. But as they acknowledged +afterwards, they had barely seen the skirt of his coat in the gloom +of the evening. The whole spot up and behind the corner of the road +was so honeycombed by the works of the intended canal as to afford +hiding-places and retreats for a score of murderers. Here, as +was afterwards ascertained, there was but one, and that one had +apparently sufficed. + +Frank Jones had remained on the road with his friend, and had raised +him in his arms when he fell. "They have done for me this time," +Clayton had said, but had said no more. He had in truth fainted, +but Frank Jones, in his ignorance, had thought that he was dead. It +turned out afterwards that the bullet had struck his ribs in the +front of his body, and, having been turned by the bone, had passed +round to his back, and had there buried itself in the flesh. It needs +not that we dwell with any length on this part of our tale, but may +say at once that the medical skill of Cong sufficed to extract the +bullet on the next morning. + +After a while one of the two policemen came back to the road, and +assisted Frank Jones in carrying up poor Clayton to the inn. Hunter, +though still maimed by his wound, stuck to the pursuit, assisted by +two other policemen from Cong, who soon appeared upon the scene. But +the man escaped, and his flight was soon covered by the darkness +of night. It had been eight o'clock before the party had left the +inn, and had wandered with great imprudence further than they had +intended. At least, so it was said after the occurrence; though, had +nothing happened, they would have reached their homes before night +had in truth set in. But men said of Clayton that he had become so +hardened by the practices of his life, and by the failure of all +attempts hitherto made against him, that he had become incredulous of +harm. + +"They have got me at last," he said to Frank the next morning. "Thank +God it was not you instead of me. I have been thinking of it as I lay +here in the night, and have blamed myself greatly. It is my business +and not yours." And then again further on in the day he sent a +message to Edith. "Tell her from me that it is all over now, but that +had I lived she would have had to be my wife." + +But from that time forth he did in truth get better, though we in +these pages can never again be allowed to see him as an active +working man. It was his fault,--as the Galway doctor said his +egregious sin,--to spend the most of his time in lying on a couch +out in the garden at Morony Castle, and talking of the fate of Mr. +Lax. The remainder of his hours he devoted to the acceptance of +little sick-room favours from his hostess,--I would say from his two +hostesses, were it not that he soon came to terms with Ada, under +which Ada was not to attend to him with any particular care. "If I +could catch that fellow," he said to Ada, alluding to the man who +had intended to murder him, "I would have no harm done to him. He +should be let free at once; for I could not possibly have got such +an opportunity by any other means." + +But poor Edith, the while, felt herself to be badly used. She and +Ada had often talked of the terrible perils to which Yorke Clayton +was subjected, and, as the reader may remember, had discussed the +propriety of a man so situated allowing himself to become familiar +with any girl. But now Captain Clayton was declared to be safe by +everybody. The doctors united in saying that his constitution would +carry him through a cannon-ball. But Edith felt that all the danger +had fallen to her lot. + +In the meantime the search for the double murderers,--unless indeed +one murderer had been busy in both cases--was carried vainly along. +The horror of poor Mr. Morris's fate had almost disappeared under the +awe occasioned by the attack on Captain Clayton. It was astonishing +to see how entirely Mr. Morris, with all his family and his old +acres, and with Minas Cottage,--which, to the knowledge of the entire +population of Cong, was his own peculiar property,--was lost to +notice under the attack that had been made with so much audacity on +Captain Yorke Clayton. He, as one of four, all armed to the teeth, +was attacked by one individual, and attacked successfully. There +were those who said at first that the bars of Galway jail must have +been broken, and that Lax the omnipotent, Lax the omnipresent, had +escaped. And it certainly was the case that many were in ignorance +as to who the murderer had been. Probably all were ignorant,--all +of those who were in truth well acquainted with the person of Mr. +Morris' murderer. And in the minds of the people generally the awe +became greater than ever. To them it was evident that anybody could +murder anybody; and evident also that it was permitted to them to do +so by this new law which had sprung up of late in the country, almost +enjoining them to exercise this peculiar mode of retaliation. The +bravest thought that they were about to have their revenge against +their old masters, and determined that the revenge should be a bloody +one. But the more cowardly, and very much the more numerous on that +account, feared that, poor as they were, they might be the victims. +No man among them could be much poorer than Pat Gilligan, and he had +been chosen as one to be murdered, for some reason known only to the +murderer. + +A new and terrible aristocracy was growing up among them,--the +aristocracy of hidden firearms. There was but little said among them, +even by the husband to the wife, or by the father to the son; because +the husband feared his wife, and the father his own child. There had +been a feeling of old among them that they were being ground down by +the old aristocracy. There must ever be such an idea on the part of +those who do not have enough to eat in regard to their betters, who +have more than plenty. It cannot be but that want should engender +such feeling. But now the dread of the new aristocracy was becoming +worse than that of the old. In the dull, dim minds of these poor +people there arose, gradually indeed but quickly, a conviction that +the new aristocracy might be worse even than the old; and that law, +as administered by Government, might be less tyrannical than the law +of those who had no law to govern them. So the people sat silent +at their hearths, or crawled miserably about their potato patches, +speaking not at all of the life around them. + +When a week was over, tidings came to them that Captain Clayton, +though he had been shot right through the body,--though the bullet +had gone in at his breast and come out at his back, as the report +went,--was still alive, and likely to live. "He's a-spending every +hour of his blessed life a-making love to a young lady who is +a-nursing him." This was the report brought up to Cong by the steward +of the lake steamer, and was received as a new miracle by the Cong +people. The fates had decreed that Captain Clayton should not fall +by any bullet fired by Lax, the Landleaguer; for, though Lax, the +Landleaguer, was himself fast in prison when the attempt was made, +such became more than ever the creed of the people when it was +understood that Captain Clayton, with his own flesh and blood, was at +this moment making love to Mr. Jones's youngest daughter at Morony +Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +KERRYCULLION. + + +Captain Clayton was thoroughly enjoying life, now perhaps, for the +first time since he had had a bullet driven through his body. It had +come to pass that everything, almost everything, was done for him by +the hands of Edith. And yet Ada was willing to do everything that was +required; but she declared always that what she did was of no avail. +"Unless you take it to him, you know he won't eat it," she would +still say. No doubt this was absurd, because the sick man's appetite +was very good, considering that a hole had been made from his front +to his back within the last month. It was still September, the +weather was as warm as summer, and he insisted on lying out in the +garden with his rugs around him, and enjoying the service of all his +slaves. But among his slaves Edith was the one whom the other slaves +found it most difficult to understand. + +"I will go on," she said to her father, "and do everything for him +while he is an invalid. But, when he is well enough to be moved, +either he or I must go out of this." + +Her father simply said that he did not understand it; but then he was +one of the other slaves. + +"Edith," said the Captain, one day, speaking from his rugs on the +bank upon the lawn, "just say that one word, 'I yield.' It will have +to be said sooner or later." + +"I will not say it, Captain Clayton," said Edith with a firm voice. + +"So you have gone back to the Captain," said he. + +"I will go back further than that, if you continue to annoy me. It +shall be nothing but plain 'sir,' as hard as you please. You might as +well let go my hand; you know that I do not take it away violently, +because of your wound." + +"I know--I know--I know that a girl's hand is the sweetest thing in +all creation if she likes you, and leaves it with you willingly." +Then there was a little pull, but it was only very little. + +"Of course, I don't want to hurt you," said Edith. + +"And, therefore, it feels as though you loved me. Of course it does. +Your hand says one thing and your voice another. Which way does your +heart go?" + +"Right against you," said Edith. But she could not help blushing at +the lie as she told it. "My conscience is altogether against you, and +I advise you to attend more to that than to anything else." But still +he held her hand, and still she let him hold it. + +At that moment Hunter appeared upon the scene, and Edith regained +her hand. But had the Captain held the hand, Hunter would not have +seen it. Hunter was full of his own news; and, as he told it, very +dreadful the story was. "There has been a murder worse than any that +have happened yet, just the other side of the lake," and he pointed +away to the mountains, and to that part of Lough Corrib which is just +above Cong. + +"Another murder?" said Edith. + +"Oh, miss, no other murder ever told of had any horror in it equal +to this! I don't know how the governor will keep himself quiet there, +with such an affair as this to be looked after. There are six of them +down,--or at any rate five." + +"When a doubt creeps in, one can always disbelieve as much as one +pleases." + +"You can hardly disbelieve this, sir, as I have just heard the story +from Sergeant Malcolm. There were six in the house, and five have +been carried out dead. One has been taken to Cong, and he is as good +as dead. Their names are Kelly. An old man and an old woman, and +another woman and three children. The old woman was very old, and the +man appears to have been her son." + +"Have they got nobody?" asked Clayton. + +"It appears not, sir. But there is a rumour about the place that +there were many of them in it." + +"Looking after one another," said Clayton, "so that none should +escape his share of the guilt." + +"It may be so. But there were many in it, sir. I can't tell much of +the circumstances, except the fact that there are the five bodies +lying dead." And Hunter, with some touch of dramatic effect and true +pathos, pointed again to the mountains which he had indicated as the +spot where this last murder was committed. + +It was soon settled among them that Hunter should go off to the scene +of action, Cong, or wherever else his services might be required, +and that he should take special care to keep his master acquainted +with all details as they came to light. For us, we may give here the +details as they did reach the Captain's ears in the course of the +next few days. + +Hunter's story had only been too true. The six persons had been +murdered, barring one child, who had been taken into Cong in a state +which was supposed hardly to admit of his prolonged life. The others, +who now lay dead at a shebeen house in the neighbourhood, consisted +of an old woman and her son, and his wife and a grown daughter, and a +son. All these had been killed in various ways,--had been shot with +rifles, and stoned with rocks, and made away with, after any fashion +that might come most readily to the hands of brutes devoid of light, +of mercy, of conscience, and apparently of fear. It must have been +a terrible sight to see, for those who had first broken in upon the +scene of desolation. In the course of the next morning it had become +known to the police, and it was soon rumoured throughout England and +Ireland that there had been ten murderers engaged in the bloody fray. +It must have been as Captain Clayton had surmised; one with another +intent upon destroying that wretched family,--or perhaps only one +among its number,--had insisted that others should accompany him. A +man who had been one of their number was less likely to tell if he +had a hand in it himself. And so there were ten of them. It might +be that one among the number of the murdered had seen the murder of +Mr. Morris, or of Pat Gilligan, or the attempted murder of Captain +Clayton. And that one was not sure not to tell,--had perhaps shown +by some sign and indication that to tell the truth about the deed +was in his breast,--or in hers! Some woman living there might have +spoken such a word to a friend less cautious in that than were the +neighbours in general. Then we can hear, or fancy that we can hear, +the muttered reasons of those who sought to rule amidst that bloody +community. They were a family of the Kellys,--these poor doomed +creatures,--but amidst those who whispered together, amidst those who +were forced to come into the whispering, there were many of the same +family; or, at any rate, of the same name. For the Kellys were a +tribe who had been strong in the land for many years. Though each of +the ten feared to be of the bloody party, each did not like not to +be of it, for so the power would have come out of their hands. They +wished to be among the leading aristocrats, though still they feared. +And thus they came together, dreading each other, hating each other +at last; each aware that he was about to put his very life within the +other's power, and each trying to think, as far as thoughts would +come to his dim mind, that to him might come some possibility of +escape by betraying his comrades. + +But a miracle had occurred,--that which must have seemed to be a +miracle when they first heard it, and to the wretches themselves, +when its fatal truth was made known to them. While in the dead of +night they were carrying out this most inhuman massacre there were +other eyes watching them; six other eyes were looking at them, +and seeing what they did perhaps more plainly than they would see +themselves! Think of the scene! There were six persons doomed, and +ten who had agreed to doom them; and three others looking on from +behind a wall, so near as to enable them to see it all, under the +fitful light of the stars! Nineteen of them engaged round one small +cabin, of whom five were to die that night;--and as to ten others, it +cannot but be hoped that the whole ten may pay the penalty due to the +offended feelings of an entire nation! + +It may be that it shall be proved that some among the ten had not +struck a fatal blow. Or it may fail to be proved that some among the +ten have done so. It will go hard with any man to adjudge ten men to +death for one deed of murder; and it is very hard for that one to +remember always that the doom he is to give is the only means in our +power to stop the downward path of crime among us. It may be that +some among the ten shall be spared, and it may be that he or they who +spare them shall have done right. + +But such was not the feeling of Captain Yorke Clayton as he discussed +the matter, day after day, with Hunter, or with Frank Jones, upon the +lawn at Castle Morony. "It would be the grandest sight to see,--ten +of them hanging in a row." + +"The saddest sight the world could show," said Frank. + +"Sad enough, that the world should want it. But if you had been +employed as I have for the last few years, you would not think it sad +to have achieved it. If the judge and the jury will do their work as +it should be done there will be an end to this kind of thing for many +years to come. Think of the country we are living in now! Think of +your father's condition, and of the injury which has been done to +him and to your sisters, and to yourself. If that could be prevented +and atoned for, and set right by the hanging in one row of ten such +miscreants as those, would it not be a noble deed done? These ten +are frightful to you because there are ten at once,--ten in the same +village,--ten nearly of the same name! People would call it a bloody +assize where so many are doomed. But they scruple to call the country +bloody where so many are murdered day after day. It is the honest +who are murdered; but would it not be well to rid the world of these +ruffians? And, remember, that these ten would not have been ten, if +some one or two had been dealt with for the first offence. And if the +ten were now all spared, whose life would be safe in such a Golgotha? +I say that, to those who desire to have their country once more +human, once more fit for an honest man to live in, these ten men +hanging in a row will be a goodly sight." + +There must have been a feeling in the minds of these three men that +some terrible step must be taken to put an end to the power of this +aristocracy, before life in the country would be again possible. +When they had come together to watch their friends and neighbours, +and see what the ten were about to do, there must have been some +determination in their hearts to tell the story of that which would +be enacted. Why should these ten have all the power in their own +hands? Why should these questions of life and death be remitted to +them, to the exclusion of those other three? And if this family of +Kellys were doomed, why should there not be other families of other +Kellys,--why not their own families? And if Kerrycullion were made to +swim in blood,--for that was the name of the townland in which these +Kellys lived,--why not any other homestead round the place in which +four or five victims may have hidden themselves? So the three, with +mutual whisperings among themselves, with many fears and with much +trembling, having obtained some tidings of what was to be done, +agreed to follow and to see. It was whispered about that one of the +family, the poor man's wife, probably, had seen the attack made upon +poor Pat Gilligan, and may, or may not, have uttered some threat +of vengeance; may have shown some sign that the murder ought to be +made known to someone. Was not Pat Gilligan her sister's husband's +brother's child? And he was not one of the other, the rich +aristocracy, against whom all men's hands were justly raised. Some +such word had probably passed the unfortunate woman's lips, and the +ten men had risen against her. The ten men, each protecting each +other, had sworn among themselves that so villainous a practice, so +glaring an evil as this, of telling aught to the other aristocracy, +must be brought to an end. + +But then the three interfered, and it was likely that the other, the +rich aristocracy, should now know all about it. It was not to save +the lives of those unfortunate women and children that they went. +There would be danger in that. And though the women and children +were, at any rate, their near neighbours, why should they attempt to +interfere and incur manifest dangers on their account? But they would +creep along and see, and then they could tell; or should they be +disturbed in their employment, they could escape amidst the darkness +of the night. There could be no escape for those poor wretches, +stripped in their bed; none for that aged woman, who could not take +herself away from among the guns and rocks of her pursuers; none for +those poor children; none, indeed, for the father of the family, upon +whom the ten would come in his lair. If his wife had threatened to +tell, he must pay for his wife's garrulity. Pat Gilligan had suffered +for some such offence, and it was but just that she and he and they +should suffer also. But the three might have to suffer, also, in +their turns, if they consented to subject themselves to so bloody an +aristocracy. And therefore they stalked forth at night and went up to +Kerrycullion, at the heels of the other party, and saw it all. Now, +one after another, the six were killed, or all but killed, and then +the three went back to their homes, resolved that they would have +recourse to the other aristocracy. + +Between Galway and Cong and Kerrycullion, Hunter was kept going +in these days, so as to obtain always the latest information for +his master. For, though the neighbourhood of Morony Castle was now +supposed to be quiet, and though the Captain was not at the moment +on active service, Hunter was still allowed to remain with him. And, +indeed, Captain Clayton's opinion was esteemed so highly, that, +though he could do nothing, he was in truth on active service. "They +are sticking to their story, all through?" he asked Hunter, or rather +communicated the fact to Hunter for his benefit. + +"Oh, yes! sir; they stick to their story. There is no doubt about +them now. They can't go back." + +"And that boy can talk now?" + +"Yes, sir; he can talk a little." + +"And what he says agrees with the three men? There will be no more +murders in that county, Hunter, or in County Galway either. When +they have once learned to think it possible that one man may tell of +another, there will be an end to that little game. But they must hang +them of course." + +"Oh, yes! sir," said Hunter. "I'd hang them myself; the whole ten of +them, rather than keep them waiting." + +"The trial is to be in Dublin. Before that day comes we shall find +what they do about Lax. I don't suppose they will want me; or if they +did, for the matter of that, I could go myself as well as ever." + +"You could do nothing of the kind, Captain Clayton," said Edith, who +was sitting there. "It is absurd to hear you talk in such a way." + +"I don't suppose he could just go up to Dublin, miss," said Hunter. + +"Not for life and death?" roared the sick man. + +"I suppose you could for life and death," said Hunter,--with a little +caution. + +"For his own death he could," said Edith. "But it's the death of +other people that he is thinking of now." + +"And you, what are you thinking of?" + +"To tell the truth, just at this moment I was thinking of yours. You +are here under our keeping, and as long as you remain so, we are +bound to do what we can to keep you from killing yourself; you ought +to be in your bed." + +"Tucked up all round,--and you ought to be giving me gruel." Then +Hunter simpered and went away. He generally did go away when the +love-scenes began. + +"You could give one something which would cure me instantly." + +"No, I could not! There are no such instant cures known in the +medical world for a man who has had a hole right through him." + +"That bullet will certainly be immortal." + +"But you will not if you talk of going up to Dublin." + +"Edith, a kiss would cure me." + +"Captain Clayton, you are in circumstances which should prevent you +from alluding to any such thing. I am here to nurse you, and I should +not be insulted." + +"That is true," he said. "And if it be an insult to tell you what a +kiss would do for me, I withdraw the word. But the feeling it would +convey, that you had in truth given yourself to me, that you were +really, really my own, would I think cure me, though a dozen bullets +had gone through me." + +Then when Ada had come down, Edith went to her bedroom, and kissed +the pillow, instead of him. Oh, if it might be granted to her to go +to him, and frankly to confess, that she was all, all his own! And +she felt, as days went on, she would have to yield, though honour +still told her that she should never do so. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +THE NEW ARISTOCRACY FAILS. + + +From this moment the mystery of the new aristocracy began to fade +away, and get itself abolished. Men and women began to feel that +there might be something worse in store for them than the old course +of policemen, juries, and judges. It had seemed, at first, as though +these evil things could be brought to an end, and silenced altogether +as far as their blessed country was concerned. A time was coming in +which everyone was to do as he pleased, without any fear that another +should tell of him. Though a man should be seen in the broad daylight +cutting the tails off half a score of oxen it would be recognised +in the neighbourhood as no more than a fair act of vengeance, and +nothing should be told of the deed, let the policemen busy themselves +as they might. And the beauty of the system consisted in the fact +that the fear of telling was brought home to the minds of all men, +women, and children. Though it was certain that a woman had seen a +cow's tail mangled, though it could be proved beyond all doubt that +she was in the field when the deed was done, yet if she held her +peace no punishment would await her. The policeman and the magistrate +could do nothing to her. But Thady O'Leary, the man who had cut a +cow's tail off, could certainly punish her. If nothing else were done +she could be boycotted, or, in other words, not allowed to buy or +sell the necessaries of life. Or she could herself be murdered, as +had happened to Pat Gilligan. The whole thing had seemed to run so +smoothly! + +But now there had come, or would soon come, a change o'er the spirit +of the dream. The murder of Pat Gilligan, though it had made one in +the necessary sequence of events, one act in the course of the drama +which, as a whole, had appeared to be so perfect, seemed to them all +to have about it something terrible. No one knew what offence Pat +Gilligan had given, or why he had been condemned. Each man began to +tremble as he thought that he too might be a Pat Gilligan, and each +woman that she might be a Mrs. Kelly. It was better to go back to the +police and the magistrates than this! + +I do not know that we need lean too heavily on the stupidity of the +country's side in not having perceived that this would be so. The +country's side is very slow in perceiving the course which things +will take. These ten murderers had been brought together, each from +fear of the others; and they must have felt that though they were +ten,--a number so great when they considered the employment on +which they were engaged as to cause horror to the minds of all of +them,--the ten could not include all who should have been included. +Had the other three been taken in, if that were possible, how much +better it would have been! But the desire for murder had not gone so +far,--its beauty had not been so perfectly acknowledged as to make +it even yet possible to comprise a whole parish in destroying one +family. + +Then the three had seen that the whole scheme, the mystery of the +thing, the very plan upon which it was founded, must be broken down +and thrown to the winds. And we can imagine that, when the idea first +came upon the minds of those three, that the entire family of the +Kellys was to be sacrificed to stop the tongue of one talkative +old woman, a horror must have fallen upon them as they recognised +the duty which was incumbent on them. The duty of saving those six +unfortunates they did not recognise. They could not screw themselves +up to the necessary pitch of courage to enable them to enter in among +loaded pistols and black-visaged murderers. The two women and the +children had to die, though the three men were so close to them; so +close as to have been certainly able to save them, or some of them, +had they rushed into the cabin and created the confusion of another +advent. To this they could not bring themselves, for are not the +murderers armed? But an awful horror must have crept round their +minds as they thought of the self-imposed task they had undertaken. +They waited until the murders had been completed, and then they went +back home and told the police. + +From this moment the mystery by which murders in County Galway and +elsewhere were for a short period protected was over in Ireland. Men +have not seen, as yet, how much more lovely it is to tell frankly all +that has been done, to give openly such evidence as a man may have to +police magistrates and justices of the peace, than to keep anything +wrapped within his own bosom. The charm of such outspoken truth does +not reconcile itself at once to the untrained mind; but the fact of +the loveliness does gradually creep in, and the hideous ugliness +of the other venture. On the minds of those men of Kerrycullion +something of the ugliness and something of the loveliness must have +made itself apparent. And when this had been done it was not probable +that a return to the utter ugliness of the lie should be possible. +Whether the ten be hanged,--to the intense satisfaction of Hunter and +his master,--or some fewer number, such as may suffice the mitigated +desire for revenge which at present is burning in the breasts of men, +the thing will have been done, and the mystery with all its beauty +will have passed away. + +At Castle Morony the beginning of the passing away of the mystery was +hailed with great delight. It took place in this wise. A little girl +who had been brought up there in the kitchen, and had reached the age +of fifteen under the eyes of Ada and Edith,--a slip of a girl, whose +feet our two girls had begun to trammel with shoes and stockings, and +who was old enough to be proud of the finery though she could not +bear the confinement,--had gone under the system of boycotting, when +all the other servants had gone also. Peter, who was very stern in +his discipline to the younger people, had caught hold of her before +she went, and had brought her to Mr. Jones, recommending that at any +rate her dress should be stripped from her back, and her shoes and +stockings from her feet. "If you war to wallop her, sir, into the +bargain, it would be a good deed done," Peter had said to his master. + +"Why should I wallop her for leaving my service?" + +"She ain't guv' no notice," said the indignant Peter. + +"And if I were to wallop you because you had taken it into your +stupid head to leave me at a moment's notice, should I be justified +in doing so?" + +"There is differences," said Peter, drawing himself up. + +"You are stronger, you mean, and Feemy Carroll is weak. Let her go +her own gait as she pleases. How am I to take upon myself to say that +she is not right to go? And for the shoes and stockings, let them go +with her, and the dress also, if I am supposed to have any property +in it. Fancy a Landleaguer in Parliament asking an indignant question +as to my detaining forcibly an unwilling female servant. Let them +all go; the sooner we learn to serve ourselves the better for us. I +suppose you will go too before long." + +This had been unkind, and Peter had made a speech in which he had +said so. But the little affair had taken place in the beginning of +the boycotting disarrangements, and Mr. Jones had been bitter in +spirit. Now the girls had shown how deftly they could do the work, +and had begun to talk pleasantly how well they could manage to save +the wages and the food. "It's my food you'll have to save, and my +wages," said Captain Clayton. But this had been before he had a hole +driven through him, and he was only awed by a frown. + +But now news was brought in that Feemy had crept in at the back door. +"Drat her imperence," said Peter, who brought in the news. "It's +like her ways to come when she can't get a morsel of wholesome food +elsewhere." + +Then Ada and Edith had rushed off to lay hold of the delinquent, who +had indeed left a feeling in the hearts of her mistresses of some +love for her little foibles. "Oh! Feemy, so you've come back again," +said Ada, "and you've grown so big!" But Feemy cowered and said not +a word. "What have you been doing all the time?" said Edith. "Miss +Ada and I have had to clean out all the pots and all the pans, and +all the gridirons, though for the matter of that there has been very +little to cook on them." Then Ada asked the girl whether she intended +to come back to her old place. + +"If I'm let," said the girl, bursting into tears. + +"Where are the shoes and stockings?" said Ada. + +But the girl only wept. + +"Of course you shall come back, shoes or no shoes. I suppose +times have been too hard with you at home to think much of +shoes or stockings. Since your poor cousin was shot in Galway +court-house,"--for Feemy was a cousin of the tribe of Carrolls,--"I +fear it hasn't gone very well with you all." But to this Feemy had +only answered by renewed sobs. She had, however, from that moment +taken up her residence as of yore in the old house, and had gone +about her business just as though no boycotting edict had been +pronounced against Castle Morony. + +And gradually the other servants had returned, falling back into +their places almost without a word spoken. One boy, who had in former +days looked after the cows, absolutely did come and drive them in to +be milked one morning without saying a word. + +"And who are you, you young deevil?" said Peter to him. + +"I'm just Larry O'Brien." + +"And what business have you here?" said Peter. "How many months ago +is it since last year you took yourself off without even a word said +to man or woman? Who wants you back again now, I wonder?" + +The boy, who had grown half-way to a man since he had taken his +departure, made no further answer, but went on with the milking of +his cows. + +And the old cook came back again from Galway, though she came after +the writing of a letter which must have taken her long to compose, +and the saying of many words. + +"Honoured Miss," the letter went, "I've been at Peter Corcoran's +doing work any time these twelve months. And glad I've been to find +a hole to creep into. But Peter Corcoran's house isn't like Castle +Morony, and so I've told him scores of times. But Peter is one +of them Landleaguers, and is like to be bruk', horse, foot, and +dragoons, bekaise he wouldn't serve the gentry. May the deevil go +along with him, and with his pollytiks. Sure you know, miss, they +wouldn't let me stay at Castle Morony. Wasn't one side in pollitiks +the same as another to an old woman like me, who only wants to 'arn +her bit and her sup? I don't care the vally of a tobacco-pipe for +none of them now. So if the squire would take me back again, may God +bless him for iver and iver, say I." Then this letter was signed +Judy Corcoran,--for she too was of the family of the Corcorans,--and +became the matter for many arrangements, in the course of which she +once more was put into office as cook at Castle Morony. + +Then Edith wrote the following letter to her friend Rachel, who still +remained in London, partly because of her health and partly because +her father had not yet quite settled his political affairs. But that +shall be explained in another chapter. + + + DEAREST RACHEL, + + Here we are beginning to see daylight, after having been + buried in Cimmerian darkness for the best part of two + years. I never thought how possible it would be to get + along without servants to look after us, and how much + of the pleasures of life might come without any of its + comforts. Ada and I for many months have made every bed + that has been slept in in the house, till we have come to + think that the making of beds is the proper employment for + ladies. And every bit of food has been cooked by us, till + that too has become ladylike in our eyes. And it has been + done for papa, who has, I think, liked his bed and his + dinner all the better, because they have passed through + his daughters' hands. But, dear papa! I'm afraid he has + not borne the Cimmerian darkness as well as have we, who + have been young enough to look forward to the return of + something better. + + What am I to say to you about Frank, who will not talk + much of your perfections, though he is always thinking + of them? I believe he writes to you constantly, though + what he says, or of what nature it is, I can only + guess. I presume he does not send many messages to Lord + Castlewell, who, however, as far as I can see, has behaved + beautifully. What more can a girl want than to have a lord + to fall in love with her, and to give her up just as her + inclination may declare itself? + + What I write for now, specially, is to add a word to what + I presume Frank may have said in one of his letters. Papa + says that neither you nor Mr. O'Mahony are to think of + leaving this side of the water without coming down to + Castle Morony. We have got a cook now, and a cow-boy. What + more can you want? And old Peter is here still, always + talking about the infinite things which he has done for + the Jones family. Joking apart, you must of course come + and see us again once before you start for New York. Is + Frank to go with you? That is a question to which we can + get no answer at all from Frank himself. + + In your last you asked me about my affairs. Dear girl, + I have no affairs. I am in such a position that it is + impossible for me to have what you would call affairs. + Between you and Frank everything is settled. Between + me and the man to whom you allude there is nothing + settled,--except that there is no ground for settlement. + He must go one way and I another. It is very sad, you will + say. I, however, have done it for myself and I must bear + the burden. + + Yours always lovingly, + + EDITH. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + + +It is not to be supposed that Mr. Jones succumbed altogether to the +difficulties which circumstances had placed in his way. His feelings +had been much hurt both by those who had chosen to call themselves +his enemies and by his friends, and under such usage he became +somewhat sullen. Having suffered a grievous misfortune he had become +violent with his children, and had been more severely hurt by the +death of the poor boy who had been murdered than he had confessed. +But he had still struggled on, saying but little to anybody till at +last he had taken Frank into his confidence, when Frank had returned +from London with his marriage engagement dissolved. And the +re-engagement had not at all interfered with the renewed intimacy +between Frank and his father, because the girl was absolved from her +singing. The father had feared that the son would go away from him, +and lead an idle life, enjoying the luxuries which her rich salary +would purchase. Frank had shared his father's feelings in this +respect, but still the squire had had his misgivings. All that was +now set to rights by the absolute destruction of poor Rachel's voice. + +Poor Mr. Jones had indeed received comfort from other sources more +material than this. His relatives had put their heads together, and +had agreed to bear some part of the loss which had fallen upon the +estate; not the loss, that is, from the submerged meadows, which was +indeed Mr. Jones's own private concern, but from the injury done to +him by the commissioners. Indeed, as things went on, that injury +appeared to be less extensive than had been imagined, though the +injustice, as it struck Mr. Jones's mind, was not less egregious. +Where there was a shred of a lease the sub-commissioners were +powerless, and though attempts had been made to break the leases they +had failed; and men were beginning to say that the new law would be +comparatively powerless because it would do so little. The advocates +for the law pointed out that, taking the land of Ireland all through, +not five per cent.,--and again others not two per cent.,--would be +affected by it. Whether it had been worth while to disturb the +sanctity of contracts for so small a result is another question; but +our Mr. Jones certainly did feel the comfort that came to him from +the fact. Certain fragments of land had been reduced by the +sub-commissioners after ponderous sittings, very beneficial to the +lawyers, but which Mr. Jones had found to be grievously costly to +him. He had thus agreed to other reductions without the lawyers, and +felt those also to be very grievous, seeing that since he had +purchased the property with a Parliamentary title he had raised +nothing. There was no satisfaction to him when he was told that a +Parliamentary title meant nothing, because a following Parliament +could undo what a preceding Parliament had done. But as the +arrangements went on he came to find that no large proportion of the +estates would be affected, and that gradually the rents would be +paid. They had not been paid as yet, but such he was told was the +coming prospect. Pat Carroll had risen up as a great authority at +Ballintubber, and had refused to pay a shilling. He had also +destroyed those eighty acres of meadow-land which had sat so near Mr. +Jones's heart. It had been found impossible to punish him, but the +impossibility was to be traced to that poor boy's delinquency. As the +owner of the property turned it all over within his own bosom, he +told himself that it was so. It was that that had grieved him most, +that which still sat heavy on his heart. But the boy was gone, and +Pat Carroll was in prison, and Pat Carroll's brother had been +murdered in Galway court-house. Lax, too, was in prison, and Yorke +Clayton swore by all his gods that he should be hanged. It was likely +that he would be hanged, and Yorke Clayton might find his comfort in +that. And now had come up this terrible affair at Kerrycullion, from +which it was probable that the whole mystery of the new aristocracy +would be abandoned. Mr. Jones, as he thought of it all, whispered to +himself that if he would still hold up his head, life might yet be +possible at Castle Morony. "It will only be for myself,--only for +myself and Ada," he said, still mourning greatly over his fate. "And +Ada will go, too. The beauty of the flock will never be left to +remain here with her father." But in truth his regrets were chiefly +for Edith. If that bloodthirsty Captain would have made himself +satisfied with Ada, he might still have been happy. + +In these days he would walk down frequently to the meadows and see +the work which the men were doing. He had greatly enlarged them, +having borrowed money for the purpose from the Government Land +Commissioners, and was once again allowing new hopes to spring in his +heart. Though he was a man so silent, and appearing to be so +apathetic, he was intent enough on his own purposes when they became +clear before his eyes. From his first coming into this country his +purport had been to do good, as far as the radius of his circle went, +to all whom it included. The necessity of living was no doubt the +same with him as with others,--and of living well. He must do +something for himself and his children. But together with this was +the desire, nearly equally strong, of being a benefactor to those +around him. He had declared to himself when he bought the property +that with this object would he settle himself down upon it, and he +had not departed from it. He had brought up his children with this +purpose; and they had learned to feel, one and all, that it was among +the pleasures and the duties of their life. Then had come Pat +Carroll, and everything had been embittered for him. All Ballintubber +and all Morony had seemed to turn against him. When he found that Pat +Carroll was disposed to be hostile to him, he made the man a liberal +offer to take himself off to America. But Mr. Jones, in those days, +had heard nothing of Lax, and was unaware that Lax was a dominant +spirit under whom he was doomed to suffer. + +"I did not know you so well then," said Captain Clayton to Mr. Jones, +now some weeks hence, "or I could have told you that Pat Carroll is +nobody. Pat Carroll is considered nobody, because he has not been to +New York. Mr. Lax has travelled, and Mr. Lax is somebody. Mr. Lax +settled himself in County Mayo, and thus he allowed his influence to +spread itself among us over here in County Galway. Mr. Lax is a great +man, but I rather think that he will have to be hanged in Galway jail +before a month has passed over his head." + +Mr. Jones usually took his son with him when he walked about among +the meadows, and he again expressed his wishes to him as though Frank +hereafter were to have the management of everything. But on one +occasion, towards the latter half of the afternoon, he went alone. +There were different wooden barriers, having sluice gates passing +between them, over which he would walk, and at present there were +sheep on the upper meadows, on which the luxuriant grass had begun to +grow in the early summer. He was looking at his sheep now, and +thinking to himself that he could find a market for them in spite of +all that the boycotters could do to prevent him. But in one corner, +where the meadows ceased, and Pat Carroll's land began, he met an old +man whom he had known well in former years, named Con Heffernan. It +was absolutely the case that he, the landlord, did not at the present +moment know who occupied Pat Carroll's land, though he did know that +he had received no rent for the last three years. And he knew also +that Con Heffernan was a friend of Carroll's, or, as he believed, a +distant cousin. And he knew also that Con was supposed to have been +one of those who had assisted at the destruction of the sluice gates. + +"Well, Con; how are you?" he said. + +"Why thin, yer honour, I'm only puirly. It's bad times as is on us +now, indeed and indeed." + +"Whose fault is that?" said the squire. + +"Not yer honour's. I will allys say that for your honour. You never +did nothing to none of us." + +"You had land on the estate till some twelve months since, and then +you were evicted for five gales of rent." + +"That's thrue, too, yer honour." + +"You ought to be a rich man now, seeing that you have got +two-and-a-half years' rent in your pocket, and I ought to be poor, +seeing that I've got none of it." + +"Is it puir for yer honour, and is it rich for the like of me?" + +"What have you done with the money, Con,--the five gales of rent?" + +"'Deed, yer honour, and I don't be just knowing anything about it." + +"I suppose the Landleaguers have had some of it." + +"I suppose they have, thin; the black divil run away with them for +Laaguers!" + +"Have you quarrelled with the League, Con?" + +"I have quarrelled with a'most of the things which is a-going at the +present moment." + +"I'm sorry for that, as quarrels with old friends are always bad." + +"The Laague, then, isn't any such old friend of mine. I niver heerd +of the Laague, not till nigh three years ago. What with Faynians, and +moonlighters, and Home-Rulers, and now with thim Laaguers, they don't +lave a por boy any pace." + + + * * * * * + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +In a preliminary note to the first volume I stated why this +last-written novel of my father's was never completed. He had +intended that Yorke Clayton should marry Edith Jones, that Frank +Jones should marry Rachel O'Mahony, and that Lax should be hanged for +the murder of Florian Jones; but no other coming incident, or further +unravelling of the story, is known. + +H. M. T. + + +THE END. + +Charles Dickens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious typographical errors have been corrected without comment. + +Specific changes in wording of the text are listed below. + + Volume I, Chapter V, paragraph 5. The word "peasant" was + changed to "present" in the sentence: In regard to Ireland + his theory was that the land should be taken from the PRESENT + proprietors, and divided among the peasants who tilled it. + + Volume I, Chapter XIII, last paragraph. The word "evidence" + was changed to "guilt" in the sentence: She could understand + that it must be taken down in some form that would be + presentable to a magistrate, and that evidence of the guilt + of Pat Carroll and evidence as to the possible GUILT of + others must not be whispered simply into her own ears. + + Volume I, Chapter XIV, paragraph 6. The word "danger" was + changed to "dangers" in the sentence: Like the other letter + it was cheerful, and high-spirited; but still it seemed to + speak of impending DANGERS, which Frank, though he could not + understand them, thought that he could perceive. + + Volume I, Chapter XV, paragraph 4. The word "President" was + changed too "Resident" in the sentence: He had lately been + appointed Joint RESIDENT Magistrate for Galway, Mayo, and + Roscommon, and had removed his residence to Galway. + + Volume II, Chapter XVIII, paragraph 20. An em-dash was moved + from after the word "shillings" to after the word "said" in + the sentence: To tell the truth,--and as he had said,--to + earn a few shillings was the object of his ambition. + + Volume II, Chapter XXIV, paragraph 65. The word "daughter" + was changed to the plural in the sentence: There would be + nothing unusual under ordinary circumstances in your + DAUGHTERS going to a ball at Galway. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVI, paragraph 64. The word "thought" was + changed to "said" in the sentence: "I ought to have said 'my + lord,'" she SAID; "but I forgot. I hope you'll excuse me--my + lord." Also, a comma after "forgot" was changed to a full + stop. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVII, next-to-last paragraph. The word + "is" was deleted from the sentence: There's [IS] no knowing + what a policeman can't do in this country. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXVI, paragraph 14. The astute reader + will forgive Trollope, who was quite ill, for here calling + Pat Carroll's brother Jerry instead of Terry, as he has been + called up to now and will again be called later in the novel. + The name has been changed back to Terry in the sentence: + The murder of TERRY Carroll at the moment in which he was + about to give evidence,--false evidence, as the Leaguers + said,--against his brother was a great triumph to them. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 4. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: Nothing had ever been + made out in regard to the murder of TERRY Carroll in the + Court House at Galway. + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 5. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: "Did the Crown intend to + pretend that they had any shadow of evidence against him as + to the shooting of TERRY Carroll?" + + Volume III, Chapter XXXIX, paragraph 6. "Jerry" was changed + to "Terry" (_v.s._) in the sentence: Even presuming that + Lax's hand cannot be seen visible in the matter of TERRY + Carroll, there is, we think, something to connect him with + the other murder. + + Volume III, Chapter XLVIII, paragraph 18. The word "jail" was + changed to "Galway court-house" in the sentence beginning: + Since your poor cousin was shot in GALWAY COURT-HOUSE . . . + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LANDLEAGUERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 30606.txt or 30606.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/6/0/30606 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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