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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/38861-8.txt b/38861-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b29a938 --- /dev/null +++ b/38861-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7814 @@ +Project Gutenberg's My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III), by Lewis Wingfield + +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: My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38861] + +Language: Englishs + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?id=qecBAAAAQAAJ + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + _A CHRONICLE OF IRELAND, FROM THE CONVENTION + TO THE UNION_. + + + + + + BY + + HON. LEWIS WINGFIELD, + + AUTHOR OF 'LADY GRIZEL,' ETC. + + + + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + + + + + LONDON: + + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1879. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + 'God of Peace! before Thee + Peaceful here we kneel, + Humbly to implore Thee + For a nation's weal. + Calm her sons' dissensions, + Bid their discord cease, + End their mad contentions-- + Hear us, God of Peace!' + (_Spirit of the Nation_.) + + + + + + + TO + + E. W. B. + + I inscribe this Book + + IN MEMORY OF + + A CLOSE FRIENDSHIP. + + + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + + CHAPTER + + I. MIRAGE. + + II. RETROSPECT. + + III. SHADOWS. + + IV. BANISHMENT. + + V. STROGUE ABBEY. + + VI. MY LADY'S PROJECT. + + VII. TRINITY. + + VIII. CAIN AND ABEL. + + IX. THE PRIORY. + + X. LOVES AND DOVES? + + XI. STORMY WEATHER. + + XII. A MOTHER'S WILES. + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + MIRAGE. + + 'Hurrah! 'tis done--our freedom's won--hurrah for the Volunteers! + + By arms we've got the rights we sought through long and wretched + years. + + Remember still through good and ill how vain were prayers and + tears-- + + How vain were words till flashed the swords of the Irish + Volunteers.' + + +So sang all Dublin in a delirium of triumph on the 9th of November, +1783. From the dawn of day joy-bells had rung jocund peals; rich +tapestries and silken folds of green and orange had swayed from every +balcony; citizens in military garb, with green cockades, had silently +clasped one another's hands as they met in the street. There was no +need for speech. One thought engrossed every mind; one common +sacrifice of thanksgiving rolled up to heaven. For Ireland had fought +her bloodless fight, had shaken off the yoke of England, and was +free--at last! + +The capital was crowded with armed men and bravely-bedizened dames. +Carriages, gay with emblazoned panels, blocked up the narrow +thoroughfares, darkened to twilight-pitch by the boughs and garlands +that festooned the overhanging eaves. Noddies and whiskies and sedans, +bedecked with wreaths and ribbons, jostled one another into the +gutter. Troops of horse, splendidly accoutred--officers mounted upon +noble hunters--clattered hither and thither, crushing country folk +against mire-stained walls and tattered booths, where victuals were +dispensed, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Strangers, arrived +but now from across Channel, marvelled at the spectacle, as they +marked the signs of widespread luxury--the strange mingling of +the pomp and circumstance of war with the panoply of peace--the +palaces--the gorgeously-attired ladies in semi-martial garb, swinging +up and down Dame Street in gilded chairs between the Castle and the +Senate House, and back again--dressed, some of them, in broidered +uniforms, some in rich satin and brocade. Sure the homely court of +Farmer George in London could not compare in splendour, or in female +beauty either, with that of his Viceroy here. + +A stranger could perceive at once that some important ceremony was +afoot, for all along the leading streets long galleries had been +erected, decorated each with sumptuous hangings, crowded since +daybreak with a living burthen; while every window showed its freight +of faces, every row of housetops its sea of heads. From the Castle to +Trinity College (where a huge green banner waved) the road was lined +with troops in brand-new uniforms of every cut and colour--scarlet +edged with black, blue lined with buff, white turned up with red, +black piped with grey; while the stately colonnades of the Parliament +House over against the College were guarded by the Barristers' +Grenadiers, a picked body of stalwart fellows who looked in their tall +caps like giants, with muskets slung and bright battle-axes on their +shoulders. King William's effigy, emblem of bitter feuds, was in gala +attire to-day, as if to suggest that rival creeds were met for once in +amity. Newly painted white, the Protestant joss towered above the +crowd, draped in an orange cloak, crowned with orange lilies; while +his horse was muffled thick with orange scarves and streamers, and +wore a huge collar of white ribbons tied about his neck. Placards +inscribed with legends in large characters were suspended from the +pedestal to remind the cits for what they were rejoicing. 'A Glorious +Revolution!' 'A Free Country!' One bigger than the rest swung in the +breeze, announcing to the few who as yet knew it not, that 'The +Volunteers, having overturned a cadaverous Repeal, will now effectuate +a Real Representation of the People!' Yes. That was why Dublin was +come out into the streets. The victorious Volunteers had untied the +Irish Ixion from a torture-wheel of centuries, and, encouraged by +their first success, were preparing now to pass a stern judgment on a +venal parliament. + +From the period of her annexation to England in the twelfth century, +down to the close of the seventeenth, Ireland had been barbarous and +restless; too feeble and disunited to shake off her shackles, too +proud and too exasperated to despair, alternating in dreary sequence +between wild exertions of delirious strength and the troubled sleep of +exhausted fury. But that was over now. The chain was snapped; and the +first vengeance of the sons who had freed her was to be poured on the +senate who were pensioners of Britain; who had sold their conscience +for a price, their honour for a wage. A grand Convention was to be +opened this day at the Rotunda, from which special delegates would be +despatched to Lords and Commons, demanding in the name of Ireland an +account of a neglected stewardship. No wonder that the populace, +dazzled by an unexpected triumph, were come out with joy to see the +sight. Light-hearted, despite their sorrows, the Irish are only too +ready to be jubilant. But there were some looking down from out the +windows who shook their heads in doubt. The scene was bright, though +the November day was overcast--pretty and picturesque, vastly engaging +to the eye. So also is a skull wreathed with flowers, provided that +the blossoms are strewn with lavish hand. These croakers were fain to +admit that the Volunteers had done wonders. The prestige of victory +was theirs. Yet is it a task hedged round with peril--the wholesale +upsetting of powers that be. It was not likely that England would +tamely give up her prey. She was ready to take advantage of a slip. +Ireland had cause to be aware of this; but Ireland thought fit to +forget it. A fig for England! she was a turnip-spectre illumined by a +rushlight. A new era was dawning. Even the schisms of party-bigotry +had yielded for a moment to the common weal. Catholics and Protestants +had exchanged the kiss of Judas; and Dublin resigned herself to +sottish conviviality. + +Hark! The thunder of artillery. The first procession is on its way. It +is that of the Viceroy, who, attended by as many peers as he can +muster, will solemnly protest against the new-fledged insolence of a +domineering soldiery who dare to set their house in order and sweep +away the cobwebs. He will make a pompous progress round the promenade +of Stephen's Green; thence by the chief streets and quays to King +William's statue, where he will gravely descend from his equipage and +bow to the Protestant Juggernaut. This awful ceremony over, he will +walk on foot to the House of Lords hard-by, and the holiday-makers +will be stricken with repentant terror. He has his private suspicions +upon this subject though--a secret dread of the mob and of the College +lads of Trinity; for rumour whispers that the wild youths will make a +raid on him, and they have an ugly way of running-a-muck with +bludgeons and heavy stones sewn in their hanging sleeves. So he has +taken his precautions by establishing about the statue a bodyguard--a +cordon of trusty troops--whose aggressive band has been braying since +daybreak 'Protestant Boys,' 'God save the King,' and 'King William +over the water.' + +But the undergraduates are too much occupied at present in struggling +for seats within the Commons to trouble about the English Viceroy. For +the heads of the Convention are to arrive in state, and Colonel +Grattan, it is said, will appear in person to impeach the Assembly of +which he is a member. Their gallery is crammed to suffocation. Peers' +sons with gold-braided gowns occupy the bench in front, silver-braided +baronets crowd in behind. Peeresses too there are in their own place +opposite, like a bevy of macaws. A sprinkling only; for most of the +ladies, caring more for show than politics, prefer a window at Daly's +club-house next door, where members drop in from time to time by their +private passage to gossip a little and taste a dish of tea, while +their wives enjoy the humours of the crowd and ogle the patriot +soldiers. + +What is that? A crack of musketry; a _feu de joie_, which tells that +the second procession has started; that my lord of Derry is on his way +to the Rotunda. And what a grand Bashaw he is, this Earl of Bristol +and Bishop of Derry, who, more Irish than the Irish, has thrown +himself heart and soul into their cause! There is little doubt of his +popularity, for yells rend the air as he goes by, and hats are tossed +up, and men clamber on his carriage. It is as much as his outriders +can do to force aside the throng. A magnificent Bashaw entirely, with +a right royal following. A prince of the Church as well as a grandee; +handsome and _débonaire_; robed from top to toe in purple silk, with +diamond buttons and gold fringe about the sleeves, and monster tassels +depending from each wrist. A troop of light cavalry goes before, +followed by a bodyguard of parsons--dashing young sparks in +cauliflower wigs. Then some five or six coaches wheeze along. Then +comes my lord himself in an open landau, bowing to left and right, +kissing his finger-tips to the peeresses at Daly's; and after him more +Volunteers on magnificent horses and a complete rookery of clergy. He +turns the corner of the House of Lords, and in front of its portico in +Westmoreland Street cries a halt, to gaze with satisfaction for a +moment on the broad straight vista of what now is Sackville Street, +which has opened suddenly before him. As far as eye may reach--away to +the Rotunda--are two long lines of gallant horsemen in all the nodding +bravery of plumes and pennons--a selected squadron of Volunteers which +consists wholly of private gentlemen--the pride and flower of the +National Army. + +When the cavalcade stops there is a stir among the peeresses, for they +cannot see round the corner, and are much disgusted by the fact. A +clangour of trumpets wakes the echoes of the corridors. My lords have +just finished prayers, and, marvelling at the strange flourish, run in +a body to the entrance. The Volunteers present arms, the bishop bows +his powdered head, while a smile of triumphant vanity curls the corner +of his lip, and he gives the order to proceed. The lords stand +shamefaced and uneasy while the people hoot at them, and the bishop's +procession--with new shouts and acclamations--crawls slowly on its +way. + +One of the attendant carriages has detached itself from the line and +comes to a stand at Daly's. Its suite divide the mob with blows from +their long canes. Two running footmen in amber silk, two pages in +hunting-caps and scarlet tunics, twelve mounted liverymen with +coronets upon their backs. The coach-door is flung open, and a +dissipated person, looking older than his years, emerges thence, and +throwing largesse to the crowd, goes languidly upstairs to join the +ladies. + +It is my Lord Glandore of Strogue and Ennishowen, and the party up at +the window to which he nods is his family. That tall refined lady of +forty or thereabouts who acknowledges by a cold bow his lordship's +careless salute is the Countess of Glandore (mark her well; for we +shall see much of her). She has a high nose, thin lips, a querulous +expression, and a quantity of built-up hair which shows tawny through +its powder. She will remind you of Zucchero's portrait of Queen Bess. +There is the same uncompromising mouth and pinched nostril, colourless +face and haughty brow. You will wonder whether she is a bad woman or +one who has suffered much; whether the wealth amid which she lives has +hardened her, or whether troubles kept at bay by pride have darkened +the daylight in her eyes. Stay! as your attention is turned to them +you will be struck by their haggard weariness. If she is addressed +suddenly their pupils dilate with a movement of fear. She sighs too at +times--a tired sigh like Lady Macbeth's, as though a weight were laid +on her too heavy for those aristocratic shoulders to endure. What is +it that frets my lady's spirit? It cannot be my lord's unfaithfulness +(though truly he's a sad rake), for this happy pair settled long since +to pursue each a solitary road. Neither can it be the carking care of +money troubles, such as afflict so many Irish nobles, for all the +world knows that my Lord Glandore--the Pirate Earl, as he is +called--is immensely wealthy, possessing a hoary old abbey which has +dipped its feet in Dublin Bay for ages, and vast estates in Derry and +Donegal, away in the far north. + +Why the Pirate Earl? Because both his houses are on the sea; because +his claret, which is of the best and poured forth like water, is +brought in his own yacht from the Isle of Man, without troubling the +excise; because the founder of the family--Sir Amorey Crosbie, who +dislodged the Danes in 1177--was a pirate by calling; and because the +Crosbies of Glandore have dutifully exhibited piratical proclivities +ever since. Not that the present earl looks like a sea-faring +evil-doer, with his sallow effeminate countenance and coquettish +uniform. He is a high-bred, highly-polished, devil-may-care, reckless +Irish peer, who, at a moment's notice, would pink his enemy in the +street, or beat the watch, or bait a bull, or set a main of cocks +a-spurring, or wrong a wench, or break his neck over a stone wall from +sheer bravado--after the lively fashion of his order at the period. +Before he came into the title he was known as fighting Crosbie. The +tales told of his vagaries would set your humdrum modern hair on +end--of how he pistolled his whipper-in because he lost a fox, and +then set about preparing an islet of his on the Atlantic for a siege; +of how he sent my Lord North a douceur of five thousand pounds as the +price of pardon, and reappeared in Dublin as a hero; of how, when the +earldom fell to him, he settled down by eloping with Miss Wolfe, or +rather by carrying her off _vi et armis_, as was the amiable habit of +young bloods. It was a singular Irish custom, since happily exploded, +that of winning a bride by force, as the Sabine maidens were won. Yet +it obtained in many parts of Ireland by general consent till the +middle of the eighteenth century. Abduction clubs existed whose object +was the counteracting of unjust freaks of fortune by tying up +heiresses to penniless sparks. Some of the young ladies (notably the +two celebrated Misses Kennedy) objected to the process, while most of +them found in the prospect of it a pleasing excitement. Irish girls +have always had a spice of the devil in them. It is not surprising +that they should have looked kindly upon men who risked life and +liberty for their sweet sakes. + +Lord Glandore followed the prevailing fashion, carried off Miss Wolfe +to his wild isle in Donegal, and society said it was well done. She +was no heiress, but that too was well, for my lord was rich enough for +both. The parson of Letterkenny was summoned to the islet to tie the +knot (it was unmodish for persons of quality to be married in a +church), and a year later the twain returned to the metropolis, with a +baby heir and every prospect of future happiness. But somehow there +was a gulf between them. Young, rich, worshipped, they were not happy. +My lord went back to his old ways--drinking, hunting, fighting, +wenching--my lady moped. Six years later another son was born to them, +whose advent, strange to say, instead of being a blessing, was a +curse, and divided the ill-assorted pair still further. Each shrined a +son as special favourite, my lord taking to his bosom the younger, +Terence--whilst my lady doted with a hungry love upon the elder, +Shane. My lord, out of perversity maybe, swore that Shane was stupid +and viciously inclined, unworthy to inherit the honours of Sir Amorey. +My lady, spiteful perchance through heartache, devoured her darling +with embraces, adored the ground he trod on, kissed in private the +baby stockings he had outgrown, the toys he had thrown aside; and +seemed to grudge the younger one the very meat which nourished him. +This hint given, you can mark how the case stands as my lord enters +the upper room at Daly's. Shane, a handsome, delicate youth, far up in +his teens, retires nervously behind his mother, whilst Terence, a +chubby child of twelve, runs forward with a shout to search his +father's pocket for good things. What a pity, you think no doubt, for +a family to whom fortune has been so generous to be divided in so +singular a manner. + +'What!' cries my lord, as, laughing, he tosses the lad into the air. +'More comfits? No, no. They'd ruin thy pretty teeth, to say nothing of +thy stomach. Go play with mammy's bayonet. By-and-by thou shalt have +sword and pistol of thine own--aye, and a horse to ride--a dozen of +them!' And the boy, without fear, obeys the odd behest, for he knows +that in his father's presence my lady dares not chide him, albeit she +makes no pretence of love. He takes the dainty weapon from its sheath +and makes passes at his big brother with it; for my Lady Glandore, +like many another patriotic peeress, wears a toy-bayonet at her side, +just as she wears the scarlet jacket piped with black of her husband's +regiment, the high black stock, and a headdress resembling its helmet. + +Let us survey the remaining members of the family. The little girl, +who looks unmoved out of great brown eyes at the glancing weapon's +sheen, is first cousin to the boys; daughter of my lady's brother, +honest Arthur Wolfe, who, leaning against the casement, smiles down +upon the crowd. He is, folks say, a lawyer of promise, though not +gifted. Rumour even whispers that if Fitzgibbon should become lord +chancellor, Mr. Wolfe would succeed to the post of attorney-general. +Not by reason of his talents, for Arthur, though plodding and upright, +can never hope to hold his own at the Irish Bar by his wits. There are +too many resin torches about for his horn lantern to make much show. +But then you see he is of gentle blood, and influence is of more +practical worth than talent. His sister, who loves him fondly, is +Countess of Glandore, which fact may be counted unto him as equivalent +to much cleverness. He knows that he is not bright, and is honest +enough to revere in others the genius which is denied to himself. That +is the reason why, not heeding my lord's entrance, he bows eagerly to +somebody in the street, and bids his little daughter kiss her hand and +nod. + +My lady, to avoid looking at her husband, follows his eyes and +exclaims, with a contraction of her brows: + +'Good heavens, Arthur! who in the world's your friend? He looks like a +grimy monkey in beggar's rags! Sure you can't know the scarecrow?' + +'That is one of the cleverest men in Dublin,' returns her brother. +'He'll make a show some day. Even the arrogant Fitzgibbon, before +whose eye the Viceroy quails, is afraid of that dirty little man. That +is John Philpot Curran, M.P. for Kilbeggan, who has just taken silk. +The staunchest, worthiest, wittiest, ugliest lawyer in all Ireland.' + +'Curran!' echoed my lord with curiosity; 'I've heard of him. He dared +t'other day to flout Fitzgibbon himself in parliament, and the ceiling +didn't crumble. Let's have him up; he may divert us.' + +But Curran took no heed of Arthur's beckoning. He knew that his +exterior was homely, and moreover liked not the society of lords and +ladies. Born of the lower class, he loved them for their sufferings, +identified himself with their wrongs, and was wont frequently to say +that 'twixt the nobles and the people there was an impassable abyss. +Besides, though brave as a lion, he respected his skin somewhat, and +knew that my lord was as likely as not to prod him with a rapier-point +if he ventured on a sally which was beyond his aristocratic +comprehension. Turning, therefore, to a young man who was his +companion, he whispered: + +'Let us be off, Theobald. The likes of us are too humble for such +company,' and was making good his retreat, when he heard the imperious +voice shout out: + +'Bring him here, I say--some of you--shoeblacks, chairmen, +somebody--or by the Hokey ye'll taste of my rascal-thrasher.' + +Then, amused at the conceit of being summoned like a lackey, he +shrugged his round shoulders, and saying, 'Isn't it wondrous, +Theobald, how these spoilt pets of fortune rule us!' turned into +Daly's with his comrade, and was ushered up the stairs. + +Mr. Wolfe gave a hand to each of the new-comers, and presented them to +his sister. 'Mr. Curran's name is sufficient passport to your favour,' +he said, in his gentle way. 'This young man is my godson and +_protégé_, also at the bar--Theobald Wolfe Tone;' then added in a +whisper, 'son of the coach-maker of whom you have heard me speak. A +stout-souled young fellow, if a trifle hotheaded and romantic.' + +All the peeresses turned from the windows to look at Mr. Curran, whose +boldness in asserting popular views was bringing him steadily to the +front, while his intimacy with Grattan (the popular hero) caused him +to be treated with a respect which his mean aspect hardly warranted. +In person he was short, thin, ungraceful. His complexion had the same +muddy tinge which distinguished Dean Swift's, and his hair lay in +ragged masses of jet black about his square brows, unrestrained by bow +or ribbon. His features were coarse and heavy in repose, but when +thought illumined his humorous eye there was a sudden gush of mind +into his countenance which dilated every fibre with the glow of sacred +fire. As a companion he was unrivalled both as wit and _raconteur_, +which may account for my lord's sudden whim of civility to the +low-born advocate; but there was also a profound undercurrent of +melancholy (deeper than that which is common to all Irishmen) which +seemed to tell prophetically of those terrible nights and days, as yet +on the dim horizon of coming years, when he should wrestle hand to +hand with Moloch for the blood of his victims till sweat would pour +down his forehead and his soul would faint with despair. By God's +mercy the future is a closed book to us; and Curran knew not the agony +which lay in wait for him, though even now he was suspicious of the +joy that intoxicated Dublin. + +'Well, gentlemen,' remarked his lordship, amiably; 'this is a glorious +day for Ireland, is it not? Her sons have united. She stands redeemed +and disenthralled. The work is nearly finished. Thanks to Mr. Grattan +and the Bishop of Derry, we are once more a nation. I vow it is a +pretty sight.' + +'How long will it last?' asked Curran, with a dubious headshake. 'That +gorgeous bishop is a charlatan, I fear. We're only a ladder in his +hand, to be kicked over by-and-by. All this is hollow, for in the +hubbub the real danger is forgotten.' + +'To unwind a wrong knit up through many centuries is no easy matter,' +assented Arthur Wolfe. + +'It's done with, and there's an end of it,' decided his lordship, who +was not good at argument. 'If the parliament submits with grace to the +new _régime_, then we shall have all we want.' + +'There's the Penal Code still,' returned Curran, shaking his head, +while Theobald, his young companion, sighed. 'Four-fifths of the +nation remains in slavery. The accursed Penal Code stands yet, with +menace at the cradle of the Catholic, with threats at his bridal bed, +with triumph beside his coffin. I can hardly expect your lordship to +join in my indignation, for you are a member of the Protestant +Englishry, and as such look with contempt on such as we. The relation +of the victorious minority to the vanquished majority remains as +disgracefully the same as ever. It is that of the first William's +followers to the Saxon churls, of the cohorts of Cortès to the Indians +of Peru. Depend upon it, that till the Catholics are emancipated from +their serfdom there can be no real peace for Ireland.' + +Theobald, whom his godfather had charged with a tendency to romance, +here blurted out with the self-sufficiency of youth, 'United! of +course not. How can a work stand which will benefit the few and; not +the many? This movement is for a faction, not for a people. Look at +that statue there, with the idiots marching round it! It is the +accepted symbol of a persecution as vile as any that disgraced the +Inquisition! I'd like to drag it down. It's a Juggernaut that has +crushed our spirit out. The Volunteers have set us free, have they? +Yet no Catholic may carry arms, no Catholic may hold a post more +important than that of village rat-catcher; no Catholic may publicly +receive the first rudiments of education. If he knows how to read he +has picked up his learning under a hedge, in fear and trembling; he's +on the level of the beast; yet has he a soul as we have, and is, +besides, the original possessor of the soil!' + +The young man (pale-faced he was, and slight of build) stopped +abruptly and turned red, for my lady's look was fixed on him with +undisguised displeasure. + +'I beg pardon,' he stammered, 'but I feel strongly----' + +'Are you a Roman Catholic?' she asked. + +'No,' replied her brother for him, as he patted the scapegrace on the +shoulder. 'But he is bitten with a mania to become a champion of the +oppressed. He has written burning pamphlets, which, though I cannot +quite approve of them, I am bound to confess have merit.' + +'That have they!' said Curran, warmly. 'The enthusiasm's there, and +the cause is good. But if a man would sleep on roses he had best leave +it alone, for anguish will be the certain portion of him who'd fight +the Penal Code. Modern patriotism consists too much of eating and +drinking and fine clothes to be of real worth.' + +'I believe you are too convivially disposed to object to a good +dinner!' laughed Lord Glandore. 'There's a power of cant in these +patriotic views. As regards us Englishry, the inferiority of our +numbers is more than compensated by commanding vigour and +organisation. It's a law of nature that a weak vessel should give way +before a strong one. History tells us that our ancestors, the English +colonists, sturdy to begin with, were compelled by their position to +cultivate energy and perseverance, while the aborigines never worked +till they felt the pangs of hunger, and were content to lie down in +the straw beside their cattle. The Catholics are the helot class. Let +them prove themselves worthy of consideration if they can.' + +'The Irish Catholics of ability,' returned the neophyte, 'are at +Versailles or Ildefonso, driven from here long since.' + +'False reasoning, my lord,' said doughty Curran. 'The "Englishry," as +you call them, are the servants of England. Their interests are the +same, because England pays them well. How can a nation's limbs obey +her will if it is weighed to the earth by gyves? First knock off the +irons, then bid her stand upon her feet. As the boy says, folks are +too fond of prancing round that statue. I don't myself see a way out +of the darkness. Why should it not be given to him, and such as he, to +lead us from the labyrinth?' + +My lord wished he had not summoned these low persons. Before he could +reply the young man said sadly: + +'What can a lawyer do but prose?' + +And Arthur Wolfe, perceiving a storm brewing, cried out with nervous +merriment: + +'What! harping on the old string, Theobald? Still pining for a +military frock and helmet? Boy, boy! Look at the pageant that is +spread before our eyes. The triumph of this day is due to its +bloodlessness. This grand array would not disgrace its cloth, I'm +sure, in the battle; but happily success has been achieved by moral +force alone. Right is might with the Volunteers. May their swords +never leave their scabbards!' + +'You cannot deny,' persisted the froward youth, 'that yonder +battalions would be a grander sight if they really represented the +nation without regard to creed--if, for example, every other man among +them was a Catholic!' + +My lord looked cross, my lady black as thunder, so Wolfe, the +peacemaker, struck in again as he twisted his fingers in his little +daughter's curls. + +'I agree that it is monstrous,' he said, with hesitation, 'that three +million men with souls should be plough-horses for conscience' sake. +In these days it's a scandal. Sister, you must admit that. Perhaps we +are entering on a better time. A reformed parliament, if you can get +it, will no doubt emancipate the Catholics. You are a hare-brained +lad, my godson; but here is a Catholic little girl who shall thank +you. Doreen, my treasure, you may shake hands with Theobald.' + +My lord waxed peevish, and drummed his fingers on the shutters and +yawned in the face of Curran, for he sniffed in the wind a quarrel +which would bore him. If folks would only refrain, he thought, from +gabbling about these Catholics, what a comfort it would be. My lady, +usually disagreeable, was threatening a scene; for they had got on the +one subject which set all the family agog. Her spouse wished heartily +that she would retire to the family vault, or be less ill-tempered; +for what can be more odious than a snappish better-half? + +Religious differences had set the country by the ears ever since the +Reformation, turning father against son, kinsman against kinsman; and +this especial family was no exception to the rule. Lady Glandore hated +the Papists with all the energy of one whose soul is filled with gall, +and who lacks a fitting outlet for its bitterness. What must then have +been her feelings when, ten years before the opening of this +chronicle, her only brother, whom she loved, thought fit to wed a +Catholic? It was a weak, faded chit of a thing who lived for a year +after her marriage in terror of my lady, gave birth to a daughter and +then died. The countess, who had endured her existence under protest, +was glad at least that she was well behaved enough to die; some people +said indeed that she had frightened Arthur's submissive wife into her +untimely grave. Be this as it may, the incubus removed, my lady girded +up her loins for the effacing of the blot on the escutcheon. The +puling slut was gone--that was a mercy. Why had she not proved barren? +There was still a way of setting matters straight. Little Doreen must +be washed clean from Papist mummeries, and received into the bosom of +THE Church, and the world would forget in course of time how the young +lawyer, usually as soft as wax, had flown in the face of his +belongings. To her horror and amazement Arthur for once proved +adamant--he who had always given way rather than break a lance in the +lists--sternly commanding his sister to hold her tongue. His Papist +wife, whom he regretted sorely, had exacted a promise on her deathbed +that Doreen should be brought up in her mother's faith, and a Papist +Doreen should be, he swore, at least till she arrived at an age to +settle the question for herself. He would be glad though, he +continued, seeing with pain how shocked my lady looked, if in her +sisterly affection she would lay prejudice aside and help to rear the +child; for the sharpest of men, as all the world knows, is no better +than a fool in dealing with babies. And so it befell that the Countess +of Glandore, the haughty chatelaine who scoffed at 'mummeries' and +worshipped King William as champion of the Faith, nourished a scorpion +in her bosom for Arthur's sake, and permitted the little scarlet lady +to consort with her own lads. My lady's hatred of the national creed +had a more bitter cause even than class prejudice. She had a private +and absorbing reason for it, more feminine than theological. That +reason was--a woman, and a rival--a certain Madam Gillin, widow of a +small shopkeeper, with whom the rakish earl chose to be too familiar. +Vainly she had swallowed her pride to the extent of begging him to +respect his wife in public. He had called her names, bidding her mind +her distaff; then had carried in mischief the story to his love, who +set herself straightway to be revenged upon my lady. + +'The stuck-up bit of buckram's a half-caste at the best!' she had +exclaimed. 'She forgets that a Cromwellian trooper was her ancestor, +whilst I can trace my lineage from a race of kings. The blood of Ollam +Fodlah's in my veins. My forefathers were reigning princes before Anno +Domini was thought of, and received baptism at the hands of St. +Columba before Erin was a land of bondage. It is seldom that one of my +faith can bring sorrow on one of hers; and, please the pigs, I'll not +miss my opportunity.' + +And indeed Madam Gillin showed all a woman's ingenuity in torturing +another. She dragged my lord, who was nothing loth, at her kirtle +strings, all through Dublin; paraded him everywhere as her own +chattel; kept him dangling by her side at ridottos and masquerades, +till my lady, whose mainspring was pride, dared not to show her face +at Smock Alley or Fishamble Street, or even on the public drive of +Stephen's Green, for fear of being insulted by this Popish hussy. She +strove to find comfort in her family, as many an outraged woman does, +but that was worse than all; for she looked with groaning on her +eldest born, whom his father could not endure, then at that rosy, +chubby younger one, and loathed him. Truly the life of the Countess of +Glandore was as bran in the mouth to her, despite the wealth of my +lord, his great position, and his influence. No wonder if there was an +expression of settled weariness about those handsome eyes and peevish +lines about her jaded mouth. + +My lord drummed his white fingers impatiently--the dry-skinned +fingers that mark the libertine--because of all things he hated being +bored, and knew that religious discussions would bring reproaches +anent Gillin. It was with relief that he beheld a gay coach +half-filled with flowers, swaying in the crowd below, which contained +the graces _en titre_ of Dublin, Darkey Kelly, Peg Plunkett, and Maria +Llewellyn--over-painted, over-feathered, over-dressed, like a +_parterre_ of full-blown peonies. Their apparition caused a diversion +at the windows. All the peeresses stared stonily through gold-rimmed +glasses as the trio passed with the calm impertinence of high-born +fine ladies, for it stirreth the curiosity of the most _blasée_ +Ariadne to mark what manner of female it is who hath robbed her of her +Theseus. My lord roared with laughter to see the sorry fashion in +which the houris bore the ordeal, vowing 'fore Gad that he must go +help them with his countenance; for there is naught so discomfiting to +a fair one who is frail as a public display of contempt from one who +is not. Out he sallied, therefore, drawing his sword as a hint for the +scum to clear a passage; but, ere he could reach the Graces, they were +borne away by the stream, and their coach had made way for a noddy, in +which sat a comely woman, with bright mouse-like eyes, and a +complexion of milk and roses. When the newcomer observed my lord +buffeting in her direction, her lips parted in a gratified smile, and +she cast a glance of triumph at the club-house; for she knew that at a +window there a certain high nose might be discerned, which set her +teeth on edge--set in a white scornful face, whose aspect made her +blood to boil. + +'That woman again!' my lady was heard to murmur, as she abruptly +quitted her place. 'The globe's not large enough for her and me. I +hate the baggage!' + +Mr. Curran, who, if untidy and unkempt, was a man of the world and +shrewd withal, tried a little joke by way of clearing the sulphur from +the atmosphere; but it fell quite flat, and he looked round with a +wistful air of apology as a dog does that has wagged his tail +inopportunely. + +'Let's be off, Theobald, 'he suggested. 'Whatever can the Volunteers +be doing? Why does their return procession tarry? They should be here +by this, for 'tis past three. Ah, here's Fitzgibbon, the high and +mighty Lucifer, who'd wipe his shoes upon us if he dared. Maybe he +brings us news.' + +Instinctively everybody made way for Fitzgibbon, the brilliant +statesman who already swept all before him. Even his enemies admitted +his ability, whilst deploring his flagrant errors. In his fitful +nature good and evil were ever struggling for the mastery. Was he +destined to achieve perennial fame, or doomed to eternal obloquy? +Liberal, hospitable, munificent, he was; but unscrupulous to boot, and +arrogant and domineering. A man who must become a prodigious success, +or an awful ruin. For him was no middle path. Which was it to be? +Opinion was divided; but as at present his star was in the ascendant, +his foes were outnumbered by his friends. + +This man who aspired to be chancellor, and as such to direct the Privy +Council, was dark, of middle height, with a sharp hatchet face and +oblique cast of eye. No one could be pleasanter or more flashy than +Fitzgibbon if he chose, for he united the manners of a grand seigneur +with some culture, and could keep his temper under admirable control. +But he preferred always to browbeat rather than conciliate, though he +was a master of diplomacy, if such became worth his while. On the +present occasion he strode hastily into the room as though Daly's was +his private property, and, with a polished obeisance to the peeresses, +flourished a perfumed kerchief. + +'It's all over for the present,' he cried, with a harsh chuckle. 'The +fatuous fools have postponed their grand coup till to-morrow, not +perceiving that dissension is already at work among them. Oh, these +Irish! They are only fit to burrow in holes and dig roots out of the +earth. There is no keeping them in unison for two consecutive minutes. +The sooner England swallows them the better, the silly donkeys!' + +'I believe your honour is an Irishman?' asked Curran, dryly. + +'Bedlamites, one and all, who crave for the impossible. I've no +patience with them.' Here Mr. Fitzgibbon helped himself to a pinch +from my lady's snuffbox. + +'Bedad, ye're right,' sneered Curran. 'We're absurd to pretend to a +heart and ventricles all to ourselves. We should be grateful--mere +Irish--to be by favour the Great Toe of an empire!' + +'England has always betrayed us!' cried out young Tone, the neophyte. +'Knowing we're hungry, she throws poisoned bones to us. The only way +to set right our parliament will be to break with England altogether!' + +The bold sentiment set all the peeresses tittering. They cackled of +freedom, and were bedizened in smart uniforms; yet were there few of +these noble ladies whose hearts were really with the new crusade. It +was vastly diverting to hear this David attacking the great Goliath. +They settled their skirts to see fair play; but Fitzgibbon for once +was ungallant. + +'Your godson, isn't it, Wolfe?' he remarked carelessly. 'Send for the +child's nurse that he may be put to bed.' + +He could not sweep Curran aside in this magnificent fashion, so he +elected to be unaware of his presence. He disliked the little advocate +because he feared him. Yes, the would-be aristocrat was mortally +afraid of the plebeian--a privilege which he accorded to few men on +earth. The two had risen at the Bar side by side, till the influence +which Fitzgibbon could command gave him an advantage which his +undoubted talent enabled him to keep. With sure and steady progress he +forced himself above his fellows, and won the adulation which +accompanies success. It was his crumpled roseleaf that Curran should +be keen enough to gauge his real value; that he should despise him as +a mountebank, that he should read within his heart that personal +ambition was his motive-spring, not love of country. As it happened, +Curran was a master of invective, and no niggard of his shafts; so +Fitzgibbon tried flattery, and got jeered at for his pains, which +produced a hurricane of sarcasm. It was with rage that he accepted at +last a fact. If there was one person who could stop his soaring +Pegasus in full career, that man was common-looking Curran. So the +arrogant candidate for honours marked out his enemy as one who must be +watched, and if possible circumvented; and the more he watched the +more he detested that odious little creature. + +He did not choose therefore to take umbrage at his taunts; but, +mindful of the adage that to be anhungered is to be cross, announced +that a collation awaited the pleasure of their ladyships. Now +patriotism is one thing, and fine clothes another; but there are times +when cold beef will bear the palm from either. So was it on this +occasion. The peeresses rose up with unromantic unanimity at the mere +mention of cold beef, seizing each the arm of the nearest gentleman; +and so Curran and his young friend, being unable to escape, found +themselves standing presently before a well-furnished board, hemmed in +on either side by a lady of high rank. + +The showy Fitzgibbon was master of the situation, for Curran was not a +lady's man, and the neophyte in such noble company was sheepish. His +harsh voice rose unchallenged in polished periods as he explained +between two mouthfuls the mess the Volunteers were making. Curran +smiled at his imprudence; for was he not flinging dirt at the popular +idol--that glittering national army which had worked such miracles; +whose many-coloured uniforms sparkled in every street, on the very +backs of the dainty dames who looked up at him surprised? + +'No good will come of it,' cried the contemptuous great man, as he +waved a silver tankard. 'They are acting illegally; are pausing before +they dare to overthrow constitutional authority, as the regicides did +before they chopped off Charles's head. A little ham, my lady? No? Do, +to please me. Will you, my dear Curran? Just a little skelp? Pray do, +for you look as if you'd eat me raw; and that young man too. I vow he +is a cannibal. What was I saying? He who vilifies those who are in +power is sure of an audience, you know. Positively, this regeneration +scheme is laughable, quite laughable!' + +'Stop your friend,' said some one to Curran, 'or there'll be swords +drawn before the ladies;' to which the other answered, 'Friend! No +friend of mine, or indeed of any one except himself, the maniac +incendiary! Ask Arthur Wolfe. Perhaps he will interfere.' + +But Fitzgibbon was not acting without a purpose. He ate his ham with +studied nonchalance, shaking back his ruffles with unrivalled grace; +and he at least was sorry when an unexpected circumstance occurred +which withdrew the attention of his audience from himself and his +insidious talk. + +There was a mighty noise without which shook the windows. The +undergraduates, hearing that the battle was postponed, poured forth +from their gallery in the Commons with the fury of a pent-up river +suddenly let loose. They had wasted their time and energies. Their +lithe young limbs were cramped. Something must be done to set the +blood dancing through their veins again. What did they behold as they +dashed out into the street? Peg Plunkett and her companions flirting +with soldiers--not Volunteers, but actually English soldiers, members +of the Viceroy's bodyguard. It must never be said that Irish Phrynes +gave their favours to English soldiers--at such a time too! Fie on +them for graceless harlots! Their feathers should be plucked out--they +should be ducked--the English Lotharios should be well drubbed--driven +back to the Castle with contumely and bloody noses. Hurrah! Pack a +stone in the sleeve and have at them, the spalpeens! It was well for +the Viceroy that he went home when he did, without strutting, as he +proposed to do, once more round Juggernaut; or he would certainly have +been assaulted by the mischievous collegians, and a serious riot would +have been the consequence. But Darkey Kelly and Maria Llewellyn! Pooh! +it served them right, and no one pitied them. At all events, the +peeresses (mothers of the lads) said so, as they leisurely returned to +the discussion of cold beef and politics. They were too well broken to +street brawls to care much about a stampede of college youths. But +that Fitzgibbon should presume to attack the national army was too +bad, and touched them home. None of them dared admit that English gold +was more precious than national freedom. There are secrets that for +very shame we would go any lengths rather than divulge. These ladies +made believe to be terribly shocked--threatened to assail the +adventurous wight like bewitching Amazons; but he knew them too well +to be alarmed. If Curran could read him, he could read the peeresses; +and neither subject was an edifying one for investigation. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + RETROSPECT + + +The brief career of the Volunteer army stands as a unique example for +students of history to marvel at. Urged by a strange series of events, +Ireland, like Cinderella, rose up from her dustheap, and was clad by a +fairy in gorgeous garments. All at once she flung aside her mop, and +demanded to be raised from the three-legged stool in the scullery to +the daïs whereon her wicked sister sat. And the wicked sister, being +at the time sorely put about through her own misconduct, embraced her +drudge with effusion on each cheek, instead of belabouring her with a +broom, as had been her pleasant way, vowing that the straw pallet and +short commons of a lifetime were all a mistake, and that nought but +samite and diamonds of the first water were good enough for the sweet +girl. She killed the fatted calf, and drew a fine robe out of +lavender, and grinned as many a spiteful woman will whom rage is +consuming inwardly, registering at the same time a secret oath to drub +the saucy minx when occasion should serve--a not uncommon practice +among ladies. + +Events followed one another in this wise. France, natural enemy of +England, had suffered sore tribulation at the hands of my Lord +Chatham, who routed her armies and sunk her ships, and filled his +prisons with the flower of her youth. But my Lord Chatham's mighty +spirit succumbed to chronic gout; an incompetent minister took his +place, whose folly lashed the young colonies of America to rebellion, +and France saw with joy such a blow struck across the face of her too +prosperous rival as brought her reeling to her knees. This was the +moment for reprisals. France breathed again. Quick! she said, a deft +scheme of revenge! How shall we find out the weakest point? We will +invade Ireland which is defenceless, and so establish a raw in the +very flank of our enemy. But Ireland had no idea of tamely submitting +to a hostile French occupation. Unhappily for her, she was never +completely conquered, and was ever over-fond of nourishing wild hopes +of independence--of formal recognition as a nation among nations. To +become a slave to France would be no improvement upon her present +slavery, and she had already been a subject of conflict for centuries. +She cried out therefore to the wicked sister, 'Save me from invasion. +Send me men to garrison my fortresses; ships to protect my harbours.' +But England turned a deaf ear, being herself in a dire strait; +bandaging her own limbs, nursing her own wounds. 'Then,' said +Cinderella, 'give me arms at least. I come of a good fighting stock, +and will even make shift in the emergency to defend myself.' Here were +the horns of a dilemma. Unarmed and undefended, Ireland would of a +surety fall an easy prey to France, which would be a serious mishap +indeed. On the other hand, deliberately to place a weapon in the grasp +of a young sister whom we have wronged and hectored all her life, and +who ominously reminds us that though slavery has curbed her spirit she +comes of a good fighting stock, is surely rash. Forgiveness of +injuries savours too much of heaven for mere daughters of earth, and +it is more than probable that, having repulsed the invader, this child +of warlike sires will seize the opportunity to smite us under our own +fifth rib. However, there was nothing for it but to risk that danger; +so England sent over with a good grace a quantity of arms, and +secretly vowed to whip the naughty jade on a later day for having been +the innocent cause of the difficulty. + +That which Britain feared took place. For six hundred years she had +persistently been sowing dragons' teeth in the Isle of Saints, and +perseveringly watering them with blood; and lo, in a night, they rose +up armed men--a threatening host of warriors, who with one voice +demanded their just rights, unjustly withheld so long. England bit her +lips, and parleyed. She felt herself the laughingstock of Europe, and +her humiliation was rendered doubly acute by the dignified bearing of +the new-born battalions. They did not bully; they did not revile. +They calmly claimed their own, with the least little click of a +well-polished firelock, the slightest flutter of a green silk banner. +'To suit your own selfish ends,' they declared, 'you have robbed us of +our trade and suborned our legislature. Give us back our trade; permit +us to reform our senate. You have stripped us of our commerce +piecemeal. Return it, to the last shred. In the days of the first +Tudor, when you were strong and we were weak, a decree of Sir E. +Poyning's became law, whereby we were to be ruled henceforth from +distant London. The operation of all English statutes was to extend to +Ireland; the previous consent of an English Council was necessary to +render legal acts passed at home. By the 6th of George III. this was +made absolute; the Irish senate was decreed to be a chapel of ease to +that of Westminster. When we were weak our gyves were riveted tightly +upon our legs. Now our conditions are reversed; yet claim we nothing +but our own. Bring forth the anvil and the hammer. Strike off with +your own hand these fetters, for we will wear no bonds but those of +equal fellowship. Give us a free constitution and free trade, and let +bygones be bygones.' + +Attentive Europe admired the position of Ireland at this moment. A +change was creeping across the world of which this situation was a +natural result. A cloud, like a man's hand, had arisen on the horizon +of America, which in time was to overshadow the globe. A warlike fever +possessed the Irish people. They became imbued with an all-engrossing +fervour, an epidemic of patriotism. The important question was, could +they keep it up? Irish veterans, who had fought under Washington, +returned home invalided, to thrill their audience by the peat fire +with tales that sounded like fairy lore of Liberty and Fraternity and +Freedom of Conscience; to whisper that their country was a nation, not +a shire; that an end must be put to bigotry, that accursed twin-sister +of religion; that if the King of England wished to rule the Isle of +Saints, he must do so henceforth by right of his Irish, not his +English, crown, governing each kingdom by distinct laws according to +its case. + +High and low were stricken with the new enthusiasm; some generously, +some driven by shame to assume a virtue which they had not. Laird, +squire, and shopkeeper--all donned the Volunteer uniform. All looked, +or affected to look, to the eagle of America as a symbol of a new +hope. A race of serfs were transformed into a nation of soldiers. Many +really thought themselves sincere who fell away when their own +interests became involved. + +And this sudden upheaving was at first without danger to the body +politic. The French Revolution, with its overturning of social grades, +had yet to come. Classes found themselves for a brief space thrown +together, between whom usually a great gulf was fixed, and the +temporary commingling was, by giving a new direction to the mind, for +the mutual benefit of both. The very singularity of such a state of +things (in an age before democratic principles began to obtain) showed +a seriousness of purpose which caused the ruling spirits of the new +military association to carry all before them by the impetus of +self-respect. Their mother had suffered bitterly and long; no one +denied that. The time was come for her rescue. The task was arduous, +but the cause was excellent. It behoved her sons then to raise their +minds above the trammels of the earth--to become Sir Galahads--for was +not their task to the full as pious as the mystic quest after the +Grail? It behoved them, while the holy fervour lasted (alas! man is +unstable at the best, and the Irishman more so than most), to set +their house thoroughly in order, and the powerless English Cabinet +from across the Channel watched the operation with anxiety. + +When a wedge is inserted in so unnatural a bundle as this was, it will +speedily fall asunder, and that which was a formidable coalition will +be reduced to a ridiculous wreck. Who was to insert the wedge? Would +time alone do it, or would perfidious aid from London be required? +That it should be inserted somehow, was decided _nem. con_. in London. + +Alas! in the moment of supreme triumph, whilst the Volunteers caracole +so bravely down Sackville Street, we may detect grave symptoms of +danger, which argus-eyed England scans with hope, while the Viceroy is +laughing in the Castle. + +Ireland had during ages been the butt of fortune. A train of English +kings had entreated her evilly, and the native bards reviewed the sad +story with untiring zeal. + +First they sang of Norman thieves--turbulent barons who, troublesome +at home, were despatched to get rid of superfluous energy at the +expense of Keltic princes. They slurred over the reign of the first +Edward, for with him came a deceptive ray of hope. He threatened to +visit the island in person. Had he done so, he would have quelled the +Irish thoroughly, as he did the Welsh, and so have nipped their +delusive dream of freedom in the bud. The most aristocratic race in +the world would have become loyal, for they would have seen the face +of their lord, and the face of royalty is as a sun unto them. But they +did not become loyal, for they saw their lord's face as little then as +they see that of their lady now. Nor he, nor any of the brave +Plantagenets ever came to Ireland, for they were pursuing an _ignis +fatuus_ in France, instead of attending to their own business at home. +Henry V. and Edward III. sought fame, which might not be obtained, +they thought, by obscure squabbling with saffron-mantled savages in a +barbarous dependency. + +Events shuffled along in slipshod, careless fashion, till the period +when crook-backed Richard met his end at Bosworth. By that time a +mixed population held undisputed possession of the island--a bastard +race, half Keltic, half Norman. The 'English of the Pale,' or early +settlers, had found Irish brides. They wore the saffron mantle and +spoke the Keltish tongue. But the first Tudor, who had no sympathy +with savages, declared 'this might not be.' He had a spite against +them which he was but too glad to gratify, for in the absence of a +king they had crowned an ape--or rather an impostor, Simnel. In +virtuous indignation, he vowed that it was revolting to see noble +knights reduced to the serfs' level; to which the chiefs replied with +one accord: + +'We are no serfs, but freemen, as ye are yourselves; for Ireland was +never conquered, though she did lip-homage.' + +The Tudor did not choose to be so bearded. 'Indeed! You were not +conquered?' he said, surprised. 'I will send commissioners who shall +straightway solve for me this riddle.' And he sent Sir Edward +Poynings, who arrived in state, with special instructions to set the +chiefs a-quarrelling. + +The guileless princes received the commissioner cordially, who +diligently sowed dissensions, setting race against race, by declaring +(in 1494) that none of English blood might wed a Keltic wife, or hold +communion with the Irishry, or even learn their tongue. O'Neil was +pitted against Geraldine, Desmond against Tyrone, with double-faced +advice; and, his dastardly commission done, Sir Edward bowed himself +away with smiles, leaving behind the celebrated act which bears his +name, and which was as a red rag between the nations ever after, till +it was taken in hand by the Volunteers. + +Up to this moment the frequent bickerings which disturbed the +fellowship of the two islands were concerning land or race; but with +the reign of the eighth Henry, the true demon of discord woke to wave +the sword of persecution over the distracted country. The Reformation, +which brought so much trouble on the world, was no kinder to the Irish +than to other nations. Henry, angry with a people who would not do as +they were bid, drove the natives from the holdings which their septs +had held for centuries, away to the wild fastness beyond the Shannon. +(A sinful scheme, which is often fathered upon Cromwell, who has much +besides to answer for.) He ravaged the land with fire and sword, +resolved at least that it should have the peace of death if none other +was attainable; and these tactics his dutiful child Elizabeth pursued, +till her dependency was a waste of blood and ashes. Like her +grandfather, she had a private cause for spite. As a nation, the Irish +declined to be anything but Catholics; and so, refusing to acknowledge +Queen Katherine's divorce, they looked on Anne Boleyn's daughter as a +bastard and a usurper. This prompted her to filial piety. Hardly was +she seated on the throne at Westminster, than she summoned a +parliament in Dublin, and shook her pet prayer-book at the Catholics. +The religion of Christ, the meek and lowly, she preached to them in +this wise. Every layman who should use any prayer-book but her pet one +was to be imprisoned for a year. On each recurring Sunday, every adult +of every persuasion was to attend Protestant service, or be heavily +mulcted for the benefit of her treasury. Not content with crushing +their faith, she let loose a horde of adventurers upon the unhappy +Irish. They fought for their fields as well as their religion. One of +the characteristics of her reign was a spirit of adventure, which +descended in regular gamut from the loftiest heroism to the vilest +cupidity. The eagles sought doubloons on the Spanish main; the +vultures swept down on Ireland with ravenous beaks. Elizabeth's own +deputy wrote thus to her in horror: + +'From every corner of the woods did the people come, creeping on their +hands, for their legs would not bear them. They looked like anatomies +of death; they spake like ghosts; they did eat carrion, happy when +they could find them, yea, and one another; in so much that the very +carcases they spared not to scrape out of their graves.' + +Indeed, Queen Bess left her dependency a reeking slaughter-house, in +so abject a misery, that when her successor cleared a whole province +to plant it with Scotchmen, the natives made no resistance, but +plodded listlessly away. Is it surprising that their descendants +should have hated England, and its truckling Anglo-Irish Senate? + +In due course followed Charles I., who, with the ingrained perfidy of +all the Stuarts, fleeced his Irish subjects, and then cheated them by +evading the graces for which they paid their gold. His creature +Strafford went too far, and they turned as worms will. There was a +grand Protestant massacre in Ulster, an appalling picture of a +vengeance such as a brutalised people will wreak on its oppressor; and +Cromwell took advantage of this as an excuse for still further +grinding down the Catholics. It was a fine opportunity to avenge the +sufferings of Protestants in other lands--the affair of Nantes, +Bartholomew, and so forth. He made a finished job of it, as he did of +most things to which he set his shoulder. It was no felony now to slay +an Irishman, whose very name was a reproach. He was well-nigh swept +from off the earth. Famine and pestilence reigned together alone. +Wolves roamed at will in the dismantled towns. Newly-appointed +colonists refused to build the walls of shattered cities, for the +stench of the rotting bodies poisoned the breeze. + +It remained for Orange William and good Queen Anne (neither of whom +could be expected to feel interest in Ireland) to add a finishing +touch, and the Penal Code was a _chef d'[oe]uvre_. Under its sweet +influence no Catholic could dwell in Ireland save under such +conditions as no man who stood erect might bear, and so there +commenced an exodus of independent spirits, who flocked into the +service of France and Germany, and filled the navies of Holland and of +Spain. Thus did British rulers educate their dependency to loving +obedience, by teaching its children to revile the name of law. Verily +it is no wonder that they loathed the English; that they distrusted +British amenities, and looked askance at the half-English upper class. + +When the Volunteers determined to regenerate their motherland, +there were two great evils with which they had to cope. Two deep +plague-spots. It remained to be seen whether they were wise enough and +steadfast enough to eradicate the virus. A rotten legislature, an +impossible Penal Code. Could Sir Galahad reform so base a parliament? +Would the champion dare to free the serfs from thraldom? The first was +a Herculean labour, because both Lords and Commons drew much of their +revenue from British ministers; the second was even a more Titanic +task. Possession is nine points of the law, and the soil was in +possession of the small knot of Protestants, who knew that their +existence depended on keeping the majority in chains. Like the +emigrants of the _Mayflower_, they said: 'Resolved, that the earth is +the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; that the Lord hath given the +earth as an heritage unto His saints; and that we are His saints. +_Ergo_: the earth is ours, to have and to hold by pillage and +persecution, and murder, if need be, just as the chosen people of old +seized and held Canaan, the land of promise, flowing with milk and +honey.' + +Truly the parliament was a plague-spot fit to gangrene a whole body; +for it in nowise represented the nation, consisting as it did of three +hundred members, seventy-two only of whom were elected by the people. +The rest were nominees of large Protestant proprietors who returned +members for every squalid hamlet on their estates, and kept their +voters in the condition of tame dogs through a constant terror of +ejectment. Of three million Catholics not one had a voice in the +elections; for by law they existed not at all. Like Milton's devils +they occupied no space, while the Protestant angels filled the air +with their proportions. + +It was said of the Irish gentry of the last century that they +possessed the materials of distinguished men with the propensities of +obscure ones, which is a picturesque way of admitting that they were +incorrigibly idle. To indolence add poverty and a propensity for +drink, and you have a promising hotbed for the growth of every ill. +The aristocratic pensioners were, as a rule, lapped in excessive +luxury, which could not be kept up without extraneous help; half +English by education as well as origin, they naturally leaned for +protection towards the English Government. + +The gentry, ignorant and sensual, were given to profuse hospitality, +regardless of mortgaged acres and embarrassed lands. Dog-boys and +horse-boys hung about their gates; keepers and retainers lolled +upon their doorsteps, together with a posse of half-mounted poor +relations--all of them too genteel to do anything useful--fishing for +the speckled trout by day, drinking huge beakers of claret and +quarrelling among themselves by night, till in many cases there was +little left, after a few years, for the filling of a hundred mouths +beyond a nominal rent-roll and the hereditary curse of idleness. Not a +squire but was more or less floundering in debt, and (his sense of +honour blunted by necessity) only too anxious for a little cash at any +price. Government agents were always conveniently turning up ready and +willing to purchase mortgages and notes of hand, which were duly +stored in the coffers of the Castle as a means of prospective coercion +by-and-by. + +With such materials for a national 'Lords and Commons,' it is little +wonder if a sudden revulsion in favour of patriotism on the part of a +body of enthusiasts should threaten to set the country agog. How was +the parliament to be purified? That was the rub. Was it to be exhorted +to virtue gently, or flogged into improvement? The leaders of the +Volunteers had carried their first point with a rush. The parliament +was with them, or feigned to be so. But what if the existence of the +Parliament should come to be threatened? The sincerity of its +professions would be put to a crucial test. Careless lords and +impecunious squires babbled of freedom and cackled of free trade, +because it was become the fashion and pleased the Volunteers. What +cared they for free trade? That was a question which affected the men +of Ulster, to whom commerce was as lifeblood, and who indeed were the +prime workers in this movement. The dissenting traders of Belfast had +demanded a free trade, and British ministers had given way. Therefore +Lords and Commons joined in the popular cry, and pretended that it +interested them. The position was a paradox. Here was all at once a +military supremacy independent of the crown, and ministers in London +were compelled to countenance it. It was humiliating; but their +comfort lay in this. Would the Volunteer leaders allow zeal to +overstep prudence? Probably they would. They might be coaxed by crafty +submission to do so. If a collision could only be brought about +between a self-elected military despotism and an effete but +constitutional senate, there were the materials for such a pretty +quarrel as might produce a repetition of the fate of the Kilkenny +cats. One would devour the other, and England would gloat over the +tails. The British premier made a parade of 'doing something for +Ireland' to oblige the Volunteers. + +With a flourish of alarums he repealed some obnoxious laws, which +graceful conduct was received in Dublin with gratitude, till somebody +pointed out that Albion was at her tricks again: whilst seeming +gracefully to give way, she was really strengthening her own position +by establishing a new precedent on the basis of the Poynings statute, +to the effect that such favours were in the gift of England's +Parliament--not Ireland's--and might accordingly be withdrawn at any +time. The Volunteers were furious, Albion was perfidious; the Irish +senate was playing a double game, there was no use in mincing matters +in the way of compromise. England must distinctly abdicate all +parliamentary dominion; parliament must be remodelled on new lines. In +the future the senate must be upright, zealous, independent, +incorruptible; English gold must be as dross; an English coronet hold +no allurement. + +As might be expected, the new cry created a commotion. Patriots there +were both in Lords and Commons, who were prepared to sacrifice part of +their income for the general good, but they were few. If pensions were +withdrawn and mortgages foreclosed and proprietors in prison, what +mattered to these last a national liberty? The notion was an insult, +and parliament stood at bay. But the ardour of the Volunteers would +brook no dallying. Ulster, as usual, took the lead. Sharpwitted, +frugal, Scotch, the battalions of the North convened a general +assembly. On Feb. 15, 1782, one of the most impressive scenes which +Ireland ever witnessed took place at Duncannon, where two hundred +delegated volunteers marched two and two, calm, steadfast, virtuous, +determined to pledge themselves before the altar of that sacred place +to measures which might save their motherland or kill her. After +earnest thought, a manifesto was framed--a dignified declaration of +rights and grievances, a solemn statement of the people's will, a +protest against English craft and Irish corruption--inviting the armed +bodies of other provinces to aid in the process of regeneration. + +Can you conceive anything more glorious and touching than the quiet +gathering on the promontory of Duncannon? A towering fort frowns down +upon the harbour, commanding a spacious basin formed by the waters of +three rivers. Imagine the simple country gentlemen, the homely +squires, the traders of Belfast, abandoning for a while their vices +and their quarrels, to deliberate sword in hand over the grievous +shortcomings of their brethren. I see them in the gloaming, with +high-collared coats and anxious faces, puzzling their poor brains over +a way out of the labyrinth. The lovely land, stretched out on either +side in a jagged line of coast, whose slopes had been watered to +greenness with blood and tears, must haply be soaked again in the +stream of war. For the last time. Once more--only once--a final +sanctifying baptism which should leave it clean and sweet for +evermore. They penned a temperate document--a dignified manifesto. +Could they be single-minded to the end, or would discord fling her +apple among them? + +So soon as the delegates of the North received the concurrence of the +provinces, the senate in Dublin changed its tone, for no immediate +succour could be hoped from England. It affected a complete +patriotism, and made believe to go all lengths with the Volunteers. +Patriots--real and sham--thundered in the House, and were applauded to +the echo. It was impossible to tell who was in earnest and who was +not. First, said the wily senators, make it clear that we are free, +and then by remodelling the Senate we will prove ourselves worthy of +the gift you have bestowed. Grattan towered above all others. He spoke +as one inspired, and the meshes of the web seemed to shrivel before +his breath. + +The army patrolled the streets, and review succeeded review in the +Ph[oe]nix Park; the national artillery lined the quays. Loyalty, +Dignity, Forbearance, were grouped round the god of war. All the +virtues, posing around Mars, hovered in ether over Dublin. Never was a +city so happy or so proud. But the English Viceroy, though outwardly +perturbed, was laughing in the Castle while the ignorant people +jigged. + +'Fools!' he scoffed. 'The meeting at Duncannon, of which you are so +vain, was but the thin end of the wedge which we were looking for. You +shall be played one against the other--people against parliament and +parliament against people--till you break your silly pates. We stoop +to conquer, as your own Goldy hath it. A little more and you will be +undone. A little, little more!'--and he was right. The Commons, with +mortgages before their eyes, wavered and prevaricated. The Volunteers, +exasperated, openly denounced the senate. The people, taking fire, +vowed they would obey no laws, whether good or bad, which were +dictated under the rose by the perfidious one. The statute-book was +rent in pieces; anarchy threatened to supervene; England prepared to +take possession again. But the Volunteers, sublime at this moment, +came once more to the rescue. They chid the weak and reproved the +strong; even formed themselves into a night-police for the security of +the capital. This hour was that of pride before a fall. + +In prosperity they gave way to indiscretion. Enjoying as they did an +unnatural existence, for which the only excuse was transcendent +virtue, it was the more needful for them to be of one mind as to a +chief. But they split on this important point. One party declared for +the Earl of Charlemont, an amiable nobleman of whose mediocrity it was +said that his mind was without a flower or a weed; another was for my +lord of Deny, a bold, unsteady prelate, who, sincere or not, was but +too likely to lead his flock into a quagmire. + +They wavered, when to hesitate was to be lost. They did worse; they +dirtied their own nest in a public place. Each rival chief, in his +struggle for supremacy, lost more than half his influence. Tongues +wagged to the discredit of all parties. Sir Galahad, feeling that he +was in the toils of sirens, made a prodigious effort to escape with +dignity. If parliament were not remodelled the fire would end in +smoke. _Coûte qui coûte_, this must be done at once, or England would +step in triumphant, and dire would be the vengeance. All hands were +quarrelling. Was it already too late? A wild and desperate effort must +be made to regain ground, lost by infirmity of purpose. The +Volunteers, all prudence cast aside, determined to strike a blow in +sledge-hammer fashion. They deliberately decided to send three hundred +of their number in open and official manner to Lords and Commons, +bidding them reform themselves at once; offering even to teach them +how to do it. And so the extraordinary spectacle came to be seen in +Dublin, of two governments--one civil, one military--sitting at the +same moment in the same city--within sight of each other--each equally +resolved to strain every nerve in order that the other might not live. + +Sir Galahad blundered woefully! He had concentrated his attention with +all his muddled might and main on the lesser instead of the greater +plague-spot. 'Free Trade' had been his shibboleth, then a 'Reformed +Parliament,' though how it was to be reformed he did not know. It +escaped the shortness of his vision that 'Freedom of Conscience' would +have been the nobler cry. Had he first freed the three million slaves +from the bondage of the half million, the air would have been cleared +for the disinfecting of his senate. But no. He was blind and tripped, +and England saw the stumble. Well might the Viceroy laugh, while he +made believe to tremble, as he thought of the Kilkenny cats. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + SHADOWS. + + +As day waned, the Volunteers perceived that they must pass the night +as watchmen if they wished the capital to be sufficiently peaceful on +the morrow to attend to the parliamentary tournament. What the +gownsmen intended for a frolic developed into a riot, thanks to the +national love of a row and the complicated feuds which were +continually breaking forth. No sooner had the undergraduates pumped +upon the Graces and driven the English detachment into Castle Yard +than they found themselves hemmed in by their natural enemies, the +butchers of Ormond Quay, who owed the college gentlemen a grudge +because they invariably took up the cudgels of the Liberty-lads when +these sworn foes thought fit to have a brush. + +The weavers were every bit as pugnacious as the butchers. Dulness of +trade, hot weather, a passing thunder-shower, were excuse sufficient +for a breaking of the peace; and then shops were closed and business +suspended along the Liffey banks, as bridges were taken and retaken +amid showers of stones, till one or other of the belligerents was +driven from the field. It was one of the singular contradictions of +the time that youths of high degree should always be ready to join the +dregs of the city in these outrages; that members of an intensely +exclusive class should unite with coal-porters or weavers against +butchers, to the risk of life and limb. But so it was, and frightful +casualties were the result sometimes; for the butchers were playful +with their knives, using them, not to stab their opponents, which they +would have considered cowardly, but to hough or cut the tendon of the +leg, thus rendering their adversaries lame for life. Sometimes they +dragged their captives to the market, and hung them to the meat-hooks +by the jaws until their party came to rescue them. Not but what the +aristocratic gownsmen were quite capable of holding their own, as had +been proved, a few weeks before the commencement of this history, by +the result of a conflict on Bloody Bridge, on which occasion a rash +detachment of the Ormond Boys was driven straight into the river, +where many perished by drowning before they could be extricated. The +butchers vowed vengeance for this feat, yet were kept quiet for a +while by the attitude of the Volunteers; but now they sprang blithely +to arms with marrow-bone and cleaver upon hearing that their foes were +on the war-path. + +At a moment so big with fate as this was, the Volunteers could permit +of no such kicking up of heels. The dignity of the situation would be +compromised by vulgar brawling. Peg Plunket and Darkey Kelly were +clapped into the Black Dog, dripping wet, to repent on bread and water +their having flaunted forth this day. Lord Glandore's regiment was +detached to sweep the riff-raff to the Liberties at once, then to coax +back in less violent fashion the gownsmen to Alma Mater. A charge of +the splendid hunters which the men rode soon sent the factions +swirling like dead leaves, after which the armed patriots quietly +jog-trotted towards College Green, driving their scapegrace brothers +and sons before them with flat of sword and many a merry jest. The +affair was so good-humoured that the lads did not look on it as +serious. They had been commanded to drop stones and fling shillalaghs +into the water, and had been compelled to obey the mandate; but their +door-keys remained to them--heavy keys which, slung in kerchiefs, were +formidable weapons--and they valiantly decided upon just another sally +before being shut up, if only to show how game they were. Upon turning +into Dame Street from the quay, behold! another woman, of churlish +breeding, showy and pink and plump, sitting in a noddy, conversing +with a friend. It was clearly not fair to drench Peg and Darkey and +Maria and leave this one to go scot-free! So, with the college +war-cry, they made a swoop at her. Half a dozen youth clambered into +the carriage, while one leaped on horseback and another seized the +reins, and then the cavalcade started at a gallop with a pack of +madcaps bellowing after, all vowing she should have a muddy bath. +Vainly she shrieked and wrung her pretty hands for mercy. She was no +Phryne, she bawled. A respectable married lady, a descendant of Brian +Borohme and Ollam Fodlah and ever so many mighty princes. Ah now! +would the darlints let her go! They wouldn't? Then they were wretches +who should repent their act, for she had friends--powerful friends +among the Englishry--who would avenge the outrage. Her cries only +amused her tormentors. The more she bawled the more they yelled and +whooped and danced about like demons; the faster on they galloped. So +recklessly, that in skirting William's effigy a wheel caught against +the pedestal and the noddy was overturned--a wreck. This was great +fun. The mischief-makers formed a circle, and whirled singing round +their prey. She was in piteous plight from mire and scratches. What +rarer sport than this? The wench was sleek and well-to-do; it would be +grand to set her floundering in the filthy stream before returning +home to college. But she was right. She had a powerful friend--close +by too--one whose temper was short, whose sword was sharp; no less a +person than the colonel of the regiment that, with quip and quirk, was +coaxing them homewards. At the sound of Mrs. Gillin's lamentations, +Lord Glandore waved his sword and thundered out 'Desist!' He might as +well have argued with the winds. The phosphorescent light of menace +which folks dreaded in the eye of a Glandore glimmered forth from his. +With a fierce oath he spurred his horse, and, beside himself with +passion, plunged blindly with his weapon into the heap of sable gowns. + +A luckless youth with gold braid upon his vesture, who was bending +down to extricate the lady, received the sword-point in his back, and, +screaming, swooned away. A cry of enraged horror burst from all, and, +like a swarm of angry bees, the boys fixed, without thought of +consequences, on the aggressor. They were of his own class; their +blood as hot and blue as his, although so young. What! murder a +gownsman for a bit of folly? 'Twas but a frolic, which he had turned +to tragedy. A peasant would not have mattered--but one of noble +lineage! Vengeance should fall swift and terrible. They dared the +soldiery to interfere. A hundred hands dragged the colonel from his +horse, which, with a blow, was sent riderless down Sackville Street. +His clothes were in tatters in a twinkling. A dozen heavy keys flew +through the air with so sure an aim that he staggered and fell prone. +One youth picked up the weapon, which yet reeked with his comrade's +blood, and broke it on the backbone of his destroyer. In a trice the +tragedy was complete. Ere his men could reach him, Lord Glandore lay +motionless; and Gillin was rending the air with shrieks which were +re-echoed from the club-house. + +And now the _mêlée_ became general, for some weavers who had lingered +in the rear gave the alarm; the Liberty-boys sallied forth again, and +the chairmen, hewing their staves in twain, belaboured all +impartially, adding to the general disturbance. This was no vulgar +riot now, for blood had been twice drawn--that of the privileged +class--and gentlemen, fearing for their sons who were only armed with +keys, rushed out from club and tavern to form a bulwark round the +gownsmen against the rage of the infuriated soldiery. Thus sons and +fathers were smiting right and left below, whilst mothers were +screaming from the windows; and the peeresses saw more than they came +out to see ere swords were sheathed and peace could be restored. They +had lingered, many of them, at Daly's till past the tea-hour, to +inspect the illuminations before adjourning to the Fishamble Street +Masquerade; and crowded in a bevy round the club-house door as the +dying earl and his distracted love were borne into the coffee-room; +while the collegians retired backwards in compact order, silent but +menacing, till the gates of Alma Mater opened and clanged to on them. + +The peeresses had bawled as loud as Madam Gillin, and now cried with +one voice for pouncet-boxes. The one of their order whom the tragedy +chiefly concerned uttered never a word. With dry eye and distended +nostril my lady looked on the prostrate figures--the still one of her +lord--the picturesquely hysterical form of the hated Gillin--and bit +her white lip as the frown, which was become habitual, deepened on her +face. Little Doreen looked on in unblinking wonder, till her father +clasped his fingers on her eyes to shut out the horrid sight from +them. Members entered hurriedly by the private way from the Parliament +Houses, and smirked and looked demure, and, feeling that they had no +business there, retired on tiptoe. The peeresses felt that a +prospective widow is best left alone, and one by one retreated, +skimming away like seamews to gabble of the dread event to +scandalmongers less blest than they, leaving the two women to face +their bereavement and speak to each other for the first time. Strange +to say, these rivals had never had speech together in their lives. +Madam Gillin choked her sobs after a while and revived, sitting up +stupidly and staring half-stunned, as she picked with mechanical +fretfulness at the feathers of her fan. The shock of so sudden a +misfortune took her breath away; but, perceiving the haughty eyes of +her enemy fixed gloomily upon her, she rallied and strung up her +nerves to face the mongrel daughter of the Sassanagh. + +My lady--erect and towering in martial frock and helm--pointed with +stern finger at the door. Of her own will the real wife would never +soil her lips by speaking to this woman; but she, assuming a dogged +smile as she rearrayed her garments, tossed her head unheeding, till +Arthur Wolfe took her hand and strove to lead her thence. She pushed +him back and leaned over the impromptu bed which lacqueys had built up +of chairs and tables; for at this moment my lord moved, opened his +eyes which sought those of his mistress, and, struggling in the grip +of Death, essayed to speak. His wife moved a step nearer to catch his +words, but, consistent to the end, he motioned her impatiently away. +The face of the countess burned with shame and wrath as she turned to +the window, and, clasping her eldest-born to her bosom, pressed a hot +cheek against the panes. He could not forbear to humiliate her, even +before the club-servants--before vulgar little Curran and the foolish +neophyte--before the horrible woman who had usurped her place in his +affections. Was it the hussy's mission to insult her always--to cover +her with unending mortification? No! Thank goodness. That ordeal was +nearly overpast, but she would forget its corroding bitterness never! +My lord's sand was ebbing visibly. In an hour at most he must pass the +Rubicon. Then the minx should be stripped of borrowed plumes and +turned out upon the world, even as Jane Shore was centuries ago. +Ignominy should be piled back upon the papist a hundredfold. She knew, +or thought she knew, that my lord was too careless to have thought of +a last testament. At all events, a legacy from a Protestant to a +Catholic was fraught with legal pitfalls. But she started from false +premises, as her astonished ears soon told her. + +My lord, raising himself upon his elbows, spoke--slowly, with +labouring breath; for his life was oozing in scarlet throbs through +the sword-gash, and grave-damps were gathering upon his skin. + +'Gillin dear!' he gasped, with a diabolical emphasis to disgust his +wife. 'I have loved you, for you were always gay and cheerful and +forgiving, not glaring and reproachful like that stony figure there! I +leave you well provided for. The Little House is yours, with the farm +and the land about it; in return for which I lay a duty on you. My +lady will not be pleased,' he continued, with a look of hate; 'for she +will never be able to drive out of Strogue without passing before your +doors. And she must live there--there or at Ennishowen, or by my will +she will forfeit certain rights. Lift me up. I can hardly breathe.' + +Both Wolfe and Curran made a movement of indignation as the departing +sinner exposed his plans. What a fiendish thing, so to shame a wife +whose only apparent crime was a coldness of demeanour! Well, well! The +Glandores were always mad, and this one more crazy than his +forefathers. + +My lord marked the movement, and, turning his glazing eyes towards his +second son, smiled faintly. 'Not so bad as you think,' he panted. 'I +have bequeathed the Little House to your daughter, Gillin, to be held +in trust for you, then to be hers absolutely--to pretty Norah, who, at +my wish you know, was baptised a Protestant. I will that the two +families should live side by side, in order that his mother may do no +harm to my second child, whom she abhors. I do not think she would do +him active wrong. But we can never tell what a woman will do if +goaded. Swear to watch over the boy, Gillin; and if evil befall, point +the finger of public opinion at his mother. She will always bow to +that, I know. Bring lights. Hold up my little Terence that I may look +at him. Lights! It is very dark.' + +A candle was brought in a great silver sconce, but my lord had looked +his last on earth. Vainly he peered through a gathering film. The +child's blonde locks were hidden from his sight; and then, feeling +that the portals of one world were shut ere those of the other were +ajar, he was seized with a quaking dread like ague. The devil-may-care +swagger of the Glandores was gone. He strove with groans to recall a +long-forgotten prayer, and the spectators of his death-bed were +stricken with awe. + +'Gillin,' he murmured, in so strange and hoarse a voice as to make her +shudder. 'It is an awful wrong we've done. Why did you let me? Too +late now. I cannot set it right, but she--call my lady--why is she not +here?' + +The tall countess was standing sternly over him, close by, with +crossed arms, but he could not see her. + +'I am here. What would you?' she said; as white as he, with a growing +look of dread. + +'That wrong!' he gurgled. 'That dreadful thing. Oh, set it right while +you have time; for my sake; for your own, that you may escape this +torment. If I might live an hour--O God! but one! We three only know. +If I could----' + +The wretched man made an effort to rise--a last supreme effort. A +spasm seized his throat. He flung his arms into the air and fell +back--dead. + +Doreen, the brown-eyed girl, cowered against her father and began to +cry. The boys, who looked on the work of the White Pilgrim for the +first time, clung trembling in an embrace with twitching lips. The two +women--so dissimilar in birth and breeding--bound by a strange secret +link--scrutinised each other long and steadily across the corpse, as +skilful swordsmen do who would gauge a rival's skill. They were about +to skirmish now. In the future might one be called upon to run the +other through? Who can tell what lurks behind the veil? + +The countess winced under the insolent gaze with which Madam Gillin +looked her up and down. With a tinge of half-alarmed contempt she +broke the silence. + +'Arthur,' she said, 'take that chit away. With her mother's craven +soul in her, she's like to have a fit. At any rate, save my conscience +that. Fear not for me, though they _have_ all run off as if I were +plague-stricken. Mr. Curran I dare say, or some one, will see me taken +care of. You will have details to look to for me. Take the girl hence. +No. Leave the boys.' + +Arthur Wolfe departed, taking with him Doreen and his godson Tone; and +Mr. Curran, nodding to them, withdrew to the antechamber. + +The women were alone with their dead. My lady stood frowning at the +usurper, who, no whit abashed, laid a hand upon the corpse and said, +in solemn accents: 'So help me God--I'll do his bidding. Do not glare +at me, woman, or you may drive me to use my nails. I know your secret, +for your husband babbled of it as he slept. It is a fearful wrong. +Many a time I've urged him to see justice done, no matter at what cost +to you and to himself. But he was weak and wicked too. I suppose it is +now too late, for you are as bad as he, and vain as well of your murky +half-caste blood!' + +Madam Gillin drew back a step; for, stung to the quick by the +beginning of her speech, my lady made as if to strike her foe with the +toy-bayonet; but, reason coming to the rescue, she tossed it on the +ground. This last insult was too much. To speak plainly of such +shameful things to her very face! The brazen hardened papist hussy! +But vulgar Gillin laughed at the fierce impulse with such a jeering +crow as startled Mr. Curran in the antechamber. + +'Do you want fisticuffs?' she gibed, with a plump white fist on either +hip. 'I warrant ye'd get the worst of such a tussle, my fine madam, +for all your haughty airs--_you_--who should act as serving-wench to +such as I. Nay! Calm yourself. I'm off. This is the first time we've +ever spoken--I hope it may be the last, for that will mean that you +have behaved properly to your second son. I've no desire to cross your +path; you cruel, wicked, heartless woman!' + +Lady Glandore, her thin lips curling, took Terence by the hand for all +reply, and bade him kneel. + +'Swear,' she said in low clear tones, drawing forward the astonished +Shane, 'that you will be faithful to your elder brother as a vassal to +a suzerain, that you will do him no treason, but act as a junior +should with submission to the head of his house.' + +The little boy had been crying with all his might ever since they +brought in that ghastly heap. Confused and awed by his mother's hard +manner he repeated her words, then broke into fresh sobs, whilst Madam +Gillin stared and clasped her hands together as she turned to go. + +'Sure the woman's cracked,' she muttered. 'What does she mean? The +feudal system's passed. No oath can be binding on a child of twelve. +Maybe she's not wicked--only mad--as mad as my lord was. Well, God +help the child! What's bred in the bone will out! Deary me! There's +something quare about all these half-English nobles.' + +Mr. Curran waited, according to agreement, lest anything should be +required by my lady; and though by no means a lady's man, was not +sorry so to do, for the conduct of the countess in her sudden +bereavement had been, to say the least of it, extraordinary, and he +was curious to observe what would happen next. There was something +beneath that haughty calmness which roused his curiosity. Was she +regretting the past, conscious only of the sunshine, forgetful now of +storms; or was she rejoicing at a release? Holding no clue, conjecture +was waste of brain-power. + +So Mr. Curran resolved to reserve his judgment, and turned his +attention to what was going on without, while the servants stole +backwards and forwards, improvising the preparations for a wake. + +The proceedings outside were well-nigh as lugubrious as those within. +A thick mist and drizzling rain were descending on the town, turning +the roads to quagmires, the ornamental draperies to dish-clouts, the +wreaths to funereal garlands. The illuminations, concerning which +expectation had been so exercised, flickered and guttered dismally. +Groups of men in scarlet, their powder in wet mud upon their coats, +reeled down the greasy pavement, waking the echoes with a drunken +view-halloo or a fragment of the Volunteer hymn. Some were making an +exhaustive tour of the boozing-kens; some staggered towards the +lottery-rooms in Capel Street, or the Hells of Skinner's Row; some +were running-a-muck with unsteady gait, and sword-tip protruded +through the scabbard for the behoof of chairmen's calves; while some +again, in a glimmer of sobriety, were examining the smirched stockings +and spattered breeches which precluded their appearance at Smock +Alley. Chairs and coaches flitted by, making for Moira House or the +Palace of his Grace of Leinster, for all kept open-house to-night, and +Mr. Curran's crab-apple features puckered into a grin as he marked how +fearfully faces were upturned to Daly's, where one of the elect was +lying stiff and stark. But the grin soon faded into a look of sadness, +as, like some seer, he apostrophised his countrymen. + +'O people!' he reflected, 'easily gulled and hoodwinked, how long will +your triumph last? This is but a grazing of the ark on Ararat--a +delusive omen of the subsiding of the waters. Our bark is yet to be +tossed, not on a sinking, but on a more angry flood than heretofore. +Eat and drink, for to-morrow you die. What was your ancestors' sin +that ye should be saddled with a curse for ever? Your land was the +Isle of Saints, yet were ye pre-doomed from the beginning; for when +the broth of your character was brewed, prudence was left out and +discord tossed in instead. And the taskmaster, knowing that in discord +lies his strength, plays on your foibles for your undoing. How long +may the prodigy of your co-operation last? Alas! It pales already. +To-morrow is your supreme trial of strength, and your chiefs are at +daggers-drawn. What will be the end? What will be the end?' + +He shook himself free from the dismal prospect of his thoughts, for +since Madam Gillin bustled out my lady had been very quiet. He peeped +through the doorway. No! She had not moved since he looked in an hour +ago; but was sitting still with her chin on her two hands--gazing with +knitted brows at the body as it lay, its form defined dimly through +the sheet that covered it. + +Terence, lulled by tears, had fallen asleep long since upon the floor. +Shane walked hither and thither, biting his nails furtively; for he +was a brave boy who feared not his father dead, though he trembled in +his presence whilst alive. Had he dared he would have gone forth into +the street to see the gay folks, the lights, and junketing, for he was +high up in his teens and longed to be a man. But it would not do to +leave the mother whom he loved and dreaded to the protection of +Curran--the low lawyer. He was my lord now, and the head of his house, +and must protect her who had hitherto protected him. He marvelled, +though, in his slow brain, as it wandered round the knotty subject, +over the passage of arms betwixt the ladies; their covert menace; the +oath the little lad was made to swear. It was all strange--his mother +of all the strangest. Protect her, forsooth! The uncompromising mouth +and square chin of her ladyship--the steely glitter of her light grey +eye--showed independent will enough for two. Clearly she was intended +to protect others, rather than herself to need protection. But her +manner was odd, her frown of evil augury. At a moment of soul-stirring +woe, such calmness as this of hers could bode no good. + +All through the night she sat reviewing her life, while Shane walked +in a fidget, and patient Curran waited. She brooded over the past, +examined the threatening future, without moving once or uttering a +sound. She was deciding in her mind on a future plan of action which +should lead her safely through a sea of dangers. Was she as relentless +as she looked? Was this an innately wicked nature, set free at last +from duress, revolving how best to abuse its liberty; or was it one at +bottom good, but prejudiced and narrow, chained down and warped awry, +and dulled by circumstance? + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + BANISHMENT. + + +Years went by. The volcano burned blithely, and the upper orders +danced on it. No court was more like that of a stage potentate than +the court of the Irish Viceroy. No ridottos were so gorgeous as those +of Dublin; no equipages so sumptuous; no nobles so magnificently +reckless. Mr. Handel averred in broken German that he adored the +Hibernian capital, and gave birth to his sublime creations for the +edification of Dublin belles. The absentees returned home in troops, +finding that in their mother's mansion were many fatted calves; and +vied with one another, in the matter of Italian stuccoists and +Parisian painters, for the display of a genteel taste. But, as the +poet hath it, 'things are not always as they seem.' The crust of the +volcano grew daily thinner. What a gnashing of teeth would result from +its collapse! + +The Grand Convention fell a victim to its leaders, and from a mighty +engine of the national will shrivelled into an antic posturing. Mr. +Grattan (the man of eighty-two _par excellence_) perceived that he was +overreached; that perfidious Albion shuffled one by one out of her +engagements, that the independence, over which he had crowed like a +revolutionary cock, was no more than an illusory phantom. The +Renunciation Act was repealable at pleasure, he found, and no +renunciation save in name. The horrid Poyning, the objectionable 6th +of George III., tossed into limbo with such pomp, might become law +again by a mere pen-scratch. Ireland was decked in the frippery of +freedom, which, torn off piecemeal, would leave her naked and ashamed. +The Volunteers, perceiving that their blaring and strutting had +produced nothing real, looked sheepishly at one another and returned +to their plain clothes. After all, they were asses in lions' skins; +their association a theatrical pageant of national chivalry, which +dazzled Europe for an instant till men smelt the sawdust and the +orange-peel and recognised in the helmet a dishcover. During all +this vapouring and trumpeting, England had held her own, by means of +the subservient Lords and the heavily mortgaged Commons. The +parliament, too base for shame, smiled unabashed; the Volunteers, +conscience-smitten and in despair, broke up and fell to pieces. The +Catholics were as much serfs as ever. Derry, whose conscience was +troubled with compunctious visitings, went so far as to propose that +the Catholics (burning source of trouble in all altercations) should +emigrate _en masse_ to Rome as a bodyguard for his Holiness; but the +latter, dreading an incursion of three million savages, which would +have been like an invasion of the Huns, declined with thanks the +present, and the laudable scheme was given up. + +Far-sighted folks became aware that the pretty tricks of the puppets +were due to an English punchinello. The fantoccini did credit to their +machinist, who was skilful at pulling of wires. Who was he? Why, Mr. +Pitt the younger, who would have his dolls jump as he listed, though +they should come to be shattered in the jumping. Mr. Pitt, the British +premier, set his wits to work to keep all grades and classes +squabbling. At one time, to exasperate the Papists, he gave an extra +twist to the penal screw; at another, he untwisted it suddenly to +anger the Orangemen. Coercion and relief were two reins in his skilled +hands wherewith he sawed the mouth of poor rawboned Rosinante, till +the harried animal came down upon its haunches. He established a +forty-shilling franchise which gave votes to the poorest, most +ignorant, and most dependent peasantry in Europe. This he declared was +the divine gift of liberty. Nothing of the sort. It merely placed a +fresh tool in the hands of large proprietors who were dying to be +bribed and charmed to have something new to sell. + +Though the Volunteers ceased to be a cause of uneasiness, it was plain +to Mr. Pitt that a repetition of their military fandango must be made +impossible. How was this to be accomplished? As it was, they had left +behind them, when they vanished, the nucleus of a disease--a small +but sturdy band of patriots, who were not to be bought or cajoled. +Unless treated in time, this spot might inflame and grow contagious. +How was it to be treated? That was the grave question whereon hung the +peace of Erin. The honest handful saw the rock on which the Convention +had split, and were humble enough to try and remedy the error. +Theobald--romantic young _protégé_ of Arthur Wolfe--was the first to +show them the true case, to demonstrate that Ireland's harmony was +England's disappointment; that the only hope for motherland lay, not +in a commingling of a few red uniforms, or a picturesque mixing of +social grades, but in a compact welding together for the common weal +of the different religious creeds which had distracted the land with +its dissensions since the Reformation. 'Till this is done,' he said, +'the Sassanagh will toss us as a battledore a shuttlecock. Establish +the grand principle of liberty of conscience, bridge the abyss of +mutual intolerance, stay the carnage of the first emotions of the +heart! If the rights of men be duties to God, then are we of the same +religion. Our creed of civil faith is the same. Let us agree then to +exclude from our thoughts all things in which we differ, and be +brethren in heart and mind for our mother's sake.' The words of the +romantic young apostle touched his hearers on their tenderest chord, +and they swore to learn wisdom by the past, and live in amity for +ever. The quick revulsion from bigotry to tolerance was not so amazing +as it seems, for Theobald Wolfe Tone was but the visible expression of +the spirit of his age--the abuse-abhorring spirit which distinguished +the eighteenth century, and culminated in the French upheaving of '89. + +That sanguinary outburst, which blew into the elements a long-rooted +despotism, and which clenched the new-fangled faith enunciated in the +War of Independence, had an enormous effect on Ireland--an effect of +which Mr. Pitt availed himself for his own purposes with his usual +tact. The principle of '89 made its way to England, where the genius +of the Constitution prevailed against its allurements; then passed +across the Channel, where it was eagerly received by men who were +being hounded on to recklessness. The adverse religious sects which +had just vowed eternal amity, seeing what passed in Paris, looked on +one another with alarm. The Catholic clergy grew suspicious of the +reformers who extolled the conduct of France, because the new _régime_ +had produced Free Thought, or rather had endowed the bantling with +strength which the great Voltaire had nourished. People were startled +by bold views which were new to them. The timid looked down a chasm to +which they could perceive no bottom, and shrank back. A fanatical few +were for going all lengths at once, and demanding the help of France +to produce an Irish upheaval. At this juncture a friendly English +policy--a judicious combination of discipline and conciliation--would +have allayed the brewing storm. But it was not the intention of +British ministers that the country should be tranquillised just yet. +Quite the contrary. They resolved to stir up such a tempest as should +frighten Erin out of her poor wits, and drive her to distrust her own +strength and her own wisdom for the rest of her natural existence. + +Theobald Wolfe Tone--ardent, patriotic, fired by the golden thoughts +of youth, and bursting with Utopian schemes--was just such a catspaw +as was wanted. His bright earnest face beamed with the rays of truth; +his pure life compelled respect; his rapt eloquence lured many to his +side, despite the warnings of their judgment. Though a Protestant, he +was scandalised by the Penal Code. He wandered like a discontented +young Moses among his enslaved countrymen. From pamphleteering he took +to declamation, and, like many another, became convinced by his own +discourse. He started a society among the Presbyterians of Ulster for +the encouragement of universal love, and dubbed it the Society of +United Irishmen. It grew and flourished at Belfast, for all Irish +projects which were bold and enterprising came into being in the +north. In spite of Mr. Wolfe, of Curran, of Lady Glandore (who took up +her brother's _protégé_), young Tone abandoned the Bar, and +deliberately developed into an incendiary. He travelled over the +country haranguing crowds, addressing meetings, demonstrating home +truths, exhorting all to join the cause which should promote concord +amongst Irishmen of all persuasions. A bloodless revolution was to be +organised like that of '82, but on a surer basis. Instead of five +hundred thousand, five millions of men were to stand up as one to +demand a clear ratification of their rights, and, really united at +last, would be certain of the crown of victory. Vainly his friends +warned him off the precipice, declaring that the world was not ripe +for a millennium, that the heart of man is desperately wicked, that +five millions of men never were yet of one mind, that even a dozen +Irishmen never yet agreed upon any given subject whatsoever. Tone was +infatuated with his Utopian scheme, prepared like the pure-souled +enthusiast that he was to give up his all to bring about its +furtherance. What better catspaw could be selected by Mr. Pitt than +this artless apostle in whom was no taint of guile? + +If Tone's society had been left alone, it would have dwindled as +over-virtuous for this world. It must be persecuted (so Mr. Pitt +determined) till it flourished like a bay-tree. Then Tone and the +United Irishmen must be stamped beneath the heel, and it would be odd +indeed if they did not drag their tottering country in their downfall. +So Mr. Pitt sat down to play a game of chess with unconscious +Theobald, permitting him to frisk his pieces about the board till he +chose to take them one by one. The game was heartless, for the players +were deplorably ill-matched. What could a knot of earnest youths do +against the forces of established government--a government which was +not squeamish as to the weapons it employed? Master Tone was agitating +for the Catholics, was he? Out with a relief bill, which, by bestowing +illusory concessions, should exasperate the ultra-Protestants. Then +with lightning-speed, in dazzling sequence, a host of contradictory +enactments, such as should keep the ball a-rolling. Towns were +garrisoned with English troops, armed assemblies suppressed, public +discussions forbidden, the sale of ammunition prohibited, conventions +of delegates rendered penal. A deft touch of personal persecution +besides, and the United Irishmen would become martyrs. + +Before they could fully understand this complex phalanx of decrees, +Tone and his lieutenants--driven by events as by a remorseless +broom--found themselves transformed from a harmless debating club into +a secret society, proscribed and outlawed. They discovered, too, that +an illegal Star Chamber--a threatening Wehmgericht--had been created +somehow to spy out their ways; that a secret council was established +in the Castle, which was garnished with bristling bayonets, and +supplied with paid informers. + +They buffeted like beasts in a net. The more they struggled, the more +entangled they became. Then, hot-headed to begin with, they grew +frantic. Must it be war? they howled. War be it then, though you have +arms and we have none. With the sacred cause we will win or perish. +Tear your colours from the staff, O people; muffle your drums and beat +your funeral march if ye are not prepared to stand in the breach with +us, to fall or conquer, for God and motherland! + +Fate gave Mr. Pitt a cruel game to play, but he was not one to blench +at phantoms. It was a game beset with difficulties--tortuous, dirty, +dark. So he turned up his cuffs and played it like the bold man he +was, without flinching; in an age, too, when the end was acknowledged +to justify the means. The crime which he had to commit was of his +master's ordering, and must lie at his door--at the door of good King +George, that well-meaning stupid boor. On his shoulders and no others +must be laid the horrors of '98--of that hideous carnival which, +though it took place but eighty years ago, stands without rival in the +annals of human wickedness. Some, maybe, will hope that this chronicle +is overdrawn. Unhappily it is not so. There is no historical fact +recorded in these pages in connection with that bitter time for which +there exists not ample evidence. The cruelty of devils lies dormant in +each one of us. From 1796 to 1800, it had full play in Ireland. There +is no doubt that if Mr. Pitt had been allowed his way, he would have +dealt fairly by the sister island; that he intended a broad +emancipation of the serfs, an honourable course which would have +landed him on his father's pinnacle. But his hands were tied in two +ways. First by the bigotry of George, who loathed with a lunatic +abhorrence all opinions which differed from his own; secondly, by the +upheaval of '89, which, by overturning established dogmas, opened out +awful vistas of new danger to the body politic. The position being +what it was, he cut his coat according to his cloth, accepted what he +could not help, and arranged that a religious feud must be fomented to +boiling-point, in order to make its suppression an excuse for +political slavery. + +To carry out this project he needed a trusty coadjutor; one who was +crafty, ambitious, selfish, clever, unprincipled, and, above all, +Irish; and this _rara avis_ he found in the Irish chancellor, Lord +Clare (whose acquaintance we made in 1783, when he was Fitzgibbon, +attorney-general). This man he reckoned up at once at his true worth, +and set him accordingly to fight the battle with the patriots. A +better tool it was not possible to find, for he despised his +countrymen for their unpractical romance, looking on them as +stepping-stones for his own personal aggrandisement. His domineering +airs had in the intervening time coerced to his own way of thinking a +host of weathercock viceroys, had raised him to the woolsack, rendered +him supreme in the law courts. Mr. Pitt begged this glorious creature +to make a trip to London, and proceeded to open his mind to him, or +rather that murky cupboard which he exposed as such to the admiration +of his dolls, when he chose to cajole them into the belief that they +were colleagues. + +'We have an ensanguined path to tread, my dear Lord Clare,' he said, +with raised eyebrows; 'but it is the shortest and the safest. We must +coax on these boys to displays of rashness till they shall drive the +most respectable to take refuge in our bosom. A prison shall cool the +ardour of the fanatics. Gold shall be the portion of those who waver. +Bloody, say you? Is not Ireland already traceable in the statute-book +as a wounded man in a crowd is tracked by his wounds? A few transitory +troubles--mere spasms, nothing more--and our patient will be calm. Let +the jade be tied hand and foot, and we'll mop up the blood and she +will come to hug her chains. As for you, my dear lord,' he went on +with a familiar smirk, which warmed Lord Clare with pleasure, 'you +will be a gainer in several ways. Your talents are wasted in that poky +little house on College Green. We want men of your kidney at St. +Stephen's, 'fore Gad we do!' and Lord Clare took the bait, and the +English premier rubbed his hands behind his back. It was but a new +phase of a time-honoured policy. Chancellor and patriots should be +made to plunge their paws into the fire; then Mr. Pitt in his ambush +would quietly eat the nut. + +So the new society of United Irishmen pursued its desperate way, +upheld in fainting moments by the ardour of its young apostle; and the +chancellor returned home to set traps to catch his feet; and in order +to facilitate his movements a new viceroy was sent over--a gabbling +weak man, who would do as he was bid; whose private life was +irreproachable; who in public was an idiot; who would obey the +chancellor in all things; whose name was my Lord Camden. + +As might have been expected, Theobald fell into the snare. His +lieutenants were locked up. Undismayed, he prated, with increased +vehemence, of a bondage worse than that of Egypt, called on the men of +Ulster to break down the Penal Code; pointed out that the oppressor +was as vicious as an Eastern despot, that the oppressed was disfigured +into the semblance of a beast. The awakened Presbyterians answered to +his call; and, when they had sufficiently committed themselves, the +watchful chancellor put down his claw on them. Tone's career was +short. Very soon he too was cast into gaol, while small fry were +allowed to flap their wings till their mission, too, should be +accomplished. But Mr. Pitt, if a strong, was not an ungenerous foe. He +respected the young man, who was made of the stuff which makes heroes. +By his command Theobald was incarcerated in Newgate for a brief space, +to chew the cud of his vain imaginings, and then was given back his +liberty on condition of departing from the country which he loved. +Sadly he accepted the boon which was tossed to him--for choice lay +'twixt exile and the Kilmainham minuet; despatched his faithful wife +before him to America; and (Mr. Pitt and the chancellor permitting) +called his closest friends around him once again ere he shook their +hands for the last time. He stands in the gloaming now, bareheaded, to +pour out a last burning exhortation to his disciples as we take up the +clue of this our chronicle, whose thread shall no more be broken. + +It is the lovely evening of the 12th of July, 1795. The scene a +triangular field known as 'The Garden' on the shore of Dublin Bay, +from whence may be duskily distinguished on the one side the cupolas +and spires of the city; on the other, at the end of a promontory +jutting out into the sea, the ivy-clad walls of Strogue Abbey, bowered +in umbrageous woods. Joy-chimes are wafted on the breeze, and now and +again a puff of smoke shows as a white spot across the bay, and a +second later the boom of a royal salute shakes the hollyhocks and +causes the little group to shiver. It is the anniversary of William, +who saved us from wooden shoes. Mr. Curran--apart from the rest--beats +his cane testily upon the ground, and murmurs: 'Lord Clare is +justified in despising them. The pack of fools! Jigging round +Juggernaut at this minute with orange lilies and foolish banners! Even +so Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Will my countrymen learn wisdom? Of +course not. Never.' + +The evening light shines full on the face of the young enthusiast, +marking in relief the deep cuts chiselled by premature sorrow on his +cheek. He is effeminate-looking but genteel, with long lank hair +simply caught back behind. His thin figure appears more slight than +usual, his pale face more wan, in the anxious eyes of his companions; +his hands more thin and feverish as one by one he clasps with a +lingering pressure those that are held out to him. + +'Thanks, friends!' he says, with a weary smile. 'It was idle in me to +bid you take the oath once more; for having once sworn I know you will +be faithful. Yet will it be as music to mine ears, as I roam in a +foreign land, to recall the solemn cadence of your beloved voices. +Nay--weep not! Be of good cheer. See these flowers around, and take +courage with the omen. Mark how they droop and sink--grieving together +for the dying-day. A few hours of sleep and they will wake refreshed +again, and lift up their loving heads unto the sun, with dew-tears of +gladness glistening upon their eyelids.' + +'Oh, Theobald, what will become of us when you are gone?' cries out +Robert Emmett, a boy of seventeen. 'You carry hope with you in the +folds of your mantle. Once gone, we shall be left in darkness, +groping.' + +Tone shuddered, and fought with himself against presentiment. + +'I have watched over the cradle of Liberty,' he whispered, dreamily. +'God forbid that I should ever see its hearse.' Then passing his palm +across his eyes as if to shut out a nightmare, he said, laying a hand +on the broad shoulder of a young man beside him, 'Courage, boy Robert! +True, I go from you. But here is the Elisha who shall take up the +mantle which I leave a legacy with Hope wrapped in it. Look up to your +brother Thomas, Robert--the wise and prudent, the sage man in counsel. +Follow him as you have followed me; faithfully, truly, till I return. +For I shall return, if God so wills it, I promise you. This night I +sail for America, but am under no promise to stay there. I shall make +my way to France, and lay our grievances at the feet of the Directory. +There is nothing for it but to amputate the right hand of England. Oh, +how I hate the name of the thrice accursed! France is the surgeon who +shall do the job. I would fain give a toast before I go, if Doreen +will lend the flask she hugs so carefully.' + +'It is for your journey, Theobald,' was Doreen's soft answer. + +'Never mind me,' he returned, with assumed gaiety. 'Let us pour a last +libation to our common mother.' + +A man who had been spreading his great length upon the grass, now +jumped up with an oath. A giant he was; evidently, from his dress, +belonging to the half-mounted class. His big kindly flat face was +shaded by a Beresford bobwig, under which twinkled a pair of roguish +eyes set in a sallow skin. His buckskin breeches were worn and greasy; +his half-jack-boots were adorned with huge silver spurs; while a faded +scarlet vest (fur-trimmed, though it was summer) closed over his broad +chest; and a square-cut snuff-coloured coat, with all the cloth in it, +hung from his brawny shoulders. + +'Theobald!' he shouted, in a voice which sent the owls whirling +seaward, 'you shall not go from us. Why not lie hidden somewhere, and +direct us still? Can we not be trusted to keep the secret? You look at +things too blackly. We need no French help, but can win our way as the +Volunteers did--by moral force; or if we must fight, can quite look +after ourselves. Don't tell me. These English are not ogres.' + +'Oh, stay with us, dear Theobald!' cried eagerly Robert Emmett, +the boy of seventeen. 'Cassidy is right. We will have no help from +France--for that would imply bloodshed--the blood of our own +brethren--and the curse of God is upon fratricide.' + +Tone shook his head, and answered bluntly: + +'No! That was all very well twelve years since; but the day for a +peaceful revolution's past. On the heads of those who forced us to +seek foreign aid shall the blood-curse be. Our omelette can't be made +without a breaking of eggs. For three years we've dribbled in and out +of Newgate and Kilmainham, and know all their holes and corners, and +dread neither prison any more. We must strike, and that sharply, but +are not strong enough alone.' + +'Theobald!' observed Mr. Curran, from his grass-knoll, 'it's a +Upas-tree you've planted. Take heed lest it blight the land.' + +'We must not be led away by a morbid anxiety about a little life,' +rejoined the apostle. 'I go a solitary wanderer, but shall return with +an army at my back--and then!' He paused, as though delving into +futurity, and the prospect which he saw upon its mirror was +reassuring; for with new courage he turned to his band and said: 'Keep +together, Protestant and Catholic, for _L'Union fait la Force_, and +Britain will try to divide you. Come what may, hold on by one another. +Thomas Emmet, old friend! as a literary man and editor of the "Press," +it is your duty to keep this before the public. Study the tactics of +the foe, that one by one they may be exposed in time. And you, +Cassidy,' he continued, laying a hand tenderly on the giant's arm, +'keep watch over your too ingenuous nature, lest you find yourself +betrayed. In your way you are a clever fellow, but, like most people +of your bulk, unduly innocent. I speak with loving authority to you, +for is not your sister my dear wife, who, next to Erin, holds all my +heart? You are too servile to Lord Clare, Cassidy, who, himself an +Irishman, is the bitterest enemy that Ireland ever had. Beware lest he +twist you to his purpose, for the undoing of us all. You are also on +too intimate terms with Sirr--the town-major--that shameful jackal of +my Lord Clare's.' + +'You would not suspect me, Theobald!' cried the giant, ruefully. 'I'm +not more wise than others, but I mean well.' + +'No, indeed!' returned his brother-in-law. 'Would to God that we had +more such hearts as yours amongst us! But keep watch and ward, lest +you be overreached, for you are simple.' + +'My Lord Clare is partial to me, and tells me many things,' apologised +the giant, with a twinkle in his eye. 'Maybe I'm not so stupid as I +look, and can unravel a fact from a careless hint. As for Sirr, I +don't care two pins for him; yet who knows how useful he may prove to +us? He has apartments in the Castle--is hand and glove with Secretary +Cooke; through him we may be able to tamper with the soldiery, turning +the arms of Government against itself, for the town-major is no man of +straw.' + +But Tone shook his head. + +'It is ill dealing with traitors' weapons,' he retorted. 'In a passage +of wits, you will certainly be worsted, for you are too open, too +blundering.' + +Cassidy looked demurely at the rest, with his whimsical half-smile, as +though to ask whether this verdict on his character were a compliment +or not; and handsome Doreen smiled back on him in her grave way as she +handed the flask and cup to Tone, and twined her arm round Sara +Curran's waist. + +A pretty picture were these two girls--who loitered a little amongst +the darkling flowers, while Tone was speaking his farewell. Doreen had +fulfilled the promise of her childhood, and was now a statuesque woman +of two-and-twenty, with rich warm blood mantling under an olive +skin--soft eyes of the brown colour of a mountain stream, shaded by +long silken lashes--and an aquiline nose whose nostrils were as finely +cut and sensitive as were her aunt's. People wondered where she got +her scornful look, for Mr. Arthur Wolfe (attorney-general now) was the +most peaceable and quiet of men, while all the world knew that her +retiring mother had faded from excess of meekness. Her aunt, Lady +Glandore, had watched her growth approvingly, for the tall supple form +was what her own had been--as was the swan-like neck and head-toss. +She approved and seemed quite to like her niece till she remembered +that she was a Papist and a blot on the escutcheon; then she despised +her, yet never dared to touch forbidden ground save in a covert way; +for Doreen had a temper, when roused, as self-asserting as her own, +and her aunt was grown old before her time; too old to rise without an +effort at the sound of the war-trumpet. + +Doreen was dutiful to her aunt in most things; but on the subject of +her oppressed religion was a very tigress. If Lady Glandore permitted +herself too broad a sally, those eyes with the strongly-marked black +pupils would shoot forth a cairngorm flame--that mass of dark brown +hair which hung in natural curls after the Irish fashion down her +back, would shake like a lion's crest, and my lady would retire from +the field discomfited. Yet this occurred but seldom, and folks could +only guess how the Penal Code burned into her flesh by a certain +unnatural quietude and an artificial repose of manner beyond her +years. + +Of course she adored Tone, the champion who had wrecked his life on +behalf of three million serfs who were her brethren, and under his +guidance became quite a little conspirator, niece though she was of an +ultra-Protestant grandee, daughter of the attorney-general, who, as +such, was crown prosecutor of her allies. It may be asked, how came +her aunt to permit the girl to form such dangerous ties? The damsel +was wayward, and the aunt a victim of some secret canker, over which +she brooded more and more as her hair blanched. A hard tussle or two, +and practically she lowered her standard. The girl went whither she +listed, and chose as bosom friend Sara Curran, daughter of the member +of parliament, to whom her father was deeply attached; and who had on +the occasion of her uncle's tragic end struck up a queer friendship +with her aunt, which flourished by reason of its incongruity. + +Doreen, from the time she could first toddle, had been accustomed +to scour the country on ponyback in company with her cousins, +and these rides--more frequently than not--had for object the +Priory--a comfortable nest which Curran had taken to himself near +Rathfarnham--where they were regaled on tea and cakes by little Sara, +the lawyer's baby child. Sara and Doreen became fast friends as they +grew up--the faster probably because Doreen, who was the elder by +several years, was strong as the sapling oak, while Sara was clinging +like the honeysuckle. + +Of course Curran, whose business kept him for many hours daily in the +courts of law and House of Commons, could desire no better companion +for his pet than the niece of the Countess of Glandore--the daughter +of his friend and superior, Arthur Wolfe; and so as her cousins grew +into men and left her more and more alone, she frequented more and +more the Priory, where no one mocked her faith, and where she +frequently met Theobald. + +Wolfe-Tone and the Emmetts met frequently at Curran's, and their +large-minded talk and broad generous views seemed to her like the wind +which has passed over seaweed, compared with her aunt's narrow drone, +the vain self-vaunting of my Lord Clare, the drunken ribaldry and +coarse jests of her cousin Lord Glandore. So she, in her goldlaced +riding-habit, had come too to the tryst that she might look on her +hero once again; and for propriety's sake had brought as escort Papa +Curran and gentle Sara, who, though only sixteen, was already casting +timid sheep's-eyes at the younger of the two Emmetts--a gownsman at +this time in the University. + +Bashful Sara had relapsed into tears several times during Tone's +discourse--a pale, fair, pretty creature she was, with a dazzling skin +and light-blue eyes--and showed symptoms of hysteria when the patriot +proposed a final libation. Not that she had any reason for emotion +(such as Doreen might with more reason have displayed), being the +eye-apple of a prosperous barrister who professed the dominant faith; +but she knew that young Robert, whose shoes she would have knelt and +kissed, was deeply bitten with the prevailing mania, and maybe she had +besides a dim presentiment of the trouble which was to pour later upon +her head and his. Be that as it may, she sank upon the ground now and +sobbed, while Tone held forth the cup which Doreen had filled with a +steady hand. + +'A toast, dear friends--the last we may drink together!' he said; and +gazed on the plashing waters, which glowed with the last gleam of the +sun that was no more. 'I give you Mother Erin! May she soon be decked +in green ribbons by a French milliner!' + +Again and again did Doreen, a calm Hebe, fill the goblet, which was +drained by each man present with a murmured 'Amen!' + +The sun had died behind the Wicklow hills; still the Protestant chimes +brayed fitfully across the sea, though the cannon at dusk were silent. +Far off from the direction of Strogue Abbey came a noise of galloping +hoofs, which grew gradually louder and louder, while every man looked +at his neighbour as though expecting some new misfortune. No wonder +they were uneasy, for their proceedings were watched, and a new +disaster happened daily. Presently Mr. Curran, established as vidette, +descried a well-known horseman, who pulled up sharply in the road, and +dismounting, vaulted lightly over the wall. + +'Terence!' he exclaimed with mixed feelings, as he beheld a +finely-grown young man, whose round face was remarkable for mobile +eyebrows, a fearless eye, and puckers of fun about a sensitive mouth, +'what are you doing here? Be off!' + +'Yes, Terence,' returned a cheery voice, 'or Councillor Crosbie, if +you please, since I have the honour now to act as your worship's +junior. Where's Tone? Not gone. Thank goodness! I must clasp the dear +lad's hand before he goes.' + +Mr. Curran shook his mane back like a retriever that has bathed, which +was a trick he had when worried. + +'Donkey! what do you here?' he grumbled. 'Are we not fools enough +without you? You belong to another race, which has nought in common +with our troubles. Take my advice, and just trot home again. If you +want to be silly, join the Cherokees as your brother has, or the +Blasters, or the Hellfires. Leave plotting to the children of the +soil.' + +The young man, who was good-looking, with the comeliness which a fresh +complexion gives, showed his white teeth, and broke into a merry +laugh. + +'In an evil temper,' he remarked. 'Gone without dinner, eh? If I am +not a drunkard and a gambler, whose fault is it, sir, but yours? Who +taught me that as a younger son I have my way to carve through life? +Who made me choose the Bar? Who superintended my studies, and gave a +helping hand? _You_--you cross Curran! and, believe me, I'm not +ungrateful, though a bit more idle than you like.' + +'Then get you gone, and leave us to our folly,' was the testy +rejoinder. 'I won't have your mother saying some day that I brought +her boy to danger, and instilled ideas into his vacant mind which put +his neck in danger.' + +'Fiddlededee!' laughed the good-humoured scapegrace. 'You are no more +a conspirator than I. Why are you here, and why have you brought my +cousin if awful rites are going forward?' + +'Because I'm an ass!' growled the other. 'Conspirator--why not, pray? +My heart is sick when I look round me. Why should I not be maddened as +others are? Do I love Erin less? Doreen belongs through her religion +to the people, and it is fitting she should sorrow with them. Yes, it +is maddening?' he pursued, kindling suddenly, and breaking through the +crust in which for prudence' sake he cased himself, as the thoughts +over which he had been brooding took form. 'What is to become of us? +It would have been merciful if Spencer's desire had been gratified, +and the land turned into a seapool. Our travail is long, and endeth +not. Our master gives us a hangman and a taxgatherer; what more should +such as we require? His laws are like shoes sent forth for +exportation. 'Twere idle to take our measures, for if they pinch us, +what matters it? We stand between a social Scylla and Charybdis. Poets +and visionaries, like this poor fool here, work on the hare-brained +people, whose craving for freedom is whetted to voracity; and, led by +the blind, they tumble into traps, at which a less ardent nation would +be moved to laughter. Temerity, despair, annihilation--that is the +_mot d'ordre_. See if I am not a true prophet. And the luxurious +nobles--do they help with their counsel? Not they! Their twin-gods are +their belly and their lust. They have nothing in common with the +people.' + +'The French shall drive them into the sea,' remarked Tone, placidly. + +'The French, the French!' retorted Curran. 'Much good may they do us! +A revolution achieved by such means would merely mean a change of +masters. You live in a fool's paradise, Theobald. I can see farther +into futurity than you, for I'm older, worse luck. I see a time +coming--nay, it's close at hand--when a spectre will be set up and +nicknamed Justice; which, if God wills, it shall be my mission to tear +down. Yet what may I do with my little weight? A mean weak man with +feeble health. May I be the log to stop the wheels of the triumphal +car? Verily, the ways of Heaven are inscrutable!' + +It was rarely that the little advocate spoke out so plainly. His +friends knew that he ever regarded his country with the idolatry of a +lover, that to her he gave freely all he had to give; through the +stages of her pride, her hope, her struggles and despondency, his +heart was hers for better and for worse; and therefore many marvelled +that, actively, he should have held aloof from the patriot band. +Nobody could charge him with cowardice. Terence himself had never +solved this mystery, although as his junior he saw more than most of +the workings of Curran's mind. He had wondered at his chief's coldness +in a careless way, till now, when it became patent to him, as to the +rest, that Curran's second sight beheld the possibility of state +trials in the future, where one would be needed to stand up for the +accused whose heart was steadfast, whose courage was indomitable. +Terence felt sure his chief was wrong--the beardless are always wisest +in their own esteem--for to the honest boy it seemed impossible that +Albion could be so base. + +Yet the notion was grand that, despising dignities, the little lawyer +should be keeping himself in reserve for a Herculean labour, that he +should be deliberately laying himself out to stand by those whom +others would desert; and so, to the knot of bystanders in the +gloaming, the ugly pigmy of a man appeared sublime, as he sat in an +attitude of profound dejection, with the sweat of strong emotion in +beads upon his forehead and on the black elflocks of his untidy hair. + +The jolly giant Cassidy rapped out a huge oath, and vowed with a +string of expletives that he should be 'shillooed' forthwith. The +Emmett brothers fairly wept; tears stood in the eyes of the statuesque +Doreen; Theobald knelt down before him on the dewy grass, and +entreated a farewell blessing ere he went. + +'The Lord bless and keep you, my poor friend!' Curran whispered in a +broken voice. 'Whether He wills that you should die an exile, or that +you should return to us with glory, God be with you! May it never be +my lot to stand up in court for you! or if it must be so, may inspired +words be given me to save you from your danger! Now we must be +separating, or we'll have the Castle spies on us.' + +Followed by many a God-speed Tone vanished in the darkness. All +listened to his retreating steps, wondering when and how they might +ever meet again. Curran heaved a sigh, and was the cynical man of the +world once more, with the dancing eye and whimsical half-melancholy +smile, who threw all the judges on circuit into convulsions with his +wit, and stirred the jury to unseemly laughter. + +'Terence,' he said, linking his arm in that of his junior, while the +young ladies, helped by the Emmetts, mounted their horses, 'you were +wrong to come here. My lady will be angry if you mix with the common +riffraff. What would you say if she pulled her purse-strings tight, +you extravagant young dog? The idea of one of your birth worrying +himself about the people's wrongs is of course preposterous; +therefore, to please your mother, you had best give them a wide berth. +My Lord Clare shall get you a snug post with nothing to do, and vast +emoluments such as becomes a lord's brother, and then you'll be rich +and independent in no time, while I am still prosing over briefs.' + +Terence, in whose face the wicked Glandore expression was tempered by +good-nature, was not pleased with the banter of his chief, for his +cousin was at his elbow, who always persisted in looking on him as a +boy, though he was a great fellow of four-and-twenty who was +constantly arraying himself in gorgeous clothes to please her. A +tantalising cousin was Miss Doreen to him; suggesting broidered capes +and becoming ruffles when amiably disposed, which, when with pain and +grief he got them made, received no notice from her whatsoever. He +chose to imagine that he was desperately in love with the beautiful +Miss Wolfe, and was proud of his passion, though she laughed at him. +Vainly he sighed; yet no worm fed upon his damask cheek. Albeit he +pretended to be very wretched, he was not; for his life was before him +and he enjoyed it thoroughly, and was the victim of an amazing +appetite, and would probably have forgotten all about Miss Wolfe in a +week (though he would have smitten you with a big stick if you dared +to hint as much) if her lithe figure had been removed from his sight +for that brief period. Sometimes he took it into his head that she +fancied Shane, and then he was pierced through and through with +jealousy, for the brothers never could get on, and the younger one +knew my lord to be not only thick of skull, but drunken and dissolute +too, even beyond the average of his compeers; a fire-eater, whose hand +was never off his sword, who cared more for dogs than women, more for +himself than either, and who as a husband would be certain to bring +misery upon the girl. Then again he would be consoled for an instant +by the reflection that it does not answer at all for first cousins to +marry; and then his longings would get the better of him, as he marked +the wealth of the brown hair which had a golden ripple through it, the +finely developed bust, the eyes like peatwater. She was interesting, +and his heart was soft. He watched her furtively sometimes in her fits +of sadness; when she sat behind a tambour at the Strogue hall-window, +gazing, with eyes that saw nothing, at the fishing-boats upon the bay, +as they splashed along with yellow sails and clumsy oars upon their +mirrored doubles, till tears fell one by one upon her work, like +thunderdrops upon a window-pane; and he could tell that she was +dreaming of her people. Then his heart yearned towards Doreen. He +longed to seize her in his lusty arms, crying: + +'My beloved! I am poor, and you are rich' (for Mr. Wolfe had put by a +cosy nest-egg). 'Our tastes are simple. I will try to live upon love +and my allowance. You shall keep all your fortune to yourself--only be +mine, my very own!' But somehow he never said the words, for something +told him that she would only smile, and on second thoughts he was glad +he had not spoken. + +It would have been wrong in her to scoff, for the proposal would have +been as unusual as disinterested; but girls will laugh at improper +moments. Miss Wolfe was an heiress as times went, and likely to be +richer; impecunious squires and squireens were legion; and the +abduction clubs not yet quite stamped out. This, indeed, was one +reason why she spent most of her time at Strogue instead of with her +father in Dublin; for he, easygoing in most things, was painfully +alive to the possibility of finding his daughter stolen one day when +he was in court, to be bucketed about the country without a change +of linen till his reluctant consent was wrung to a match with some +ne'er-do-well. + +At Strogue such a thing could hardly happen, for the prestige of the +Glandores was hedged about with terror, and every ne'er-do-well knew +that to play Paris to the Helen of the fair Doreen--to carry her off +from the sanctuary of Strogue Abbey--would be to call down dolorous +reprisals from her two stalwart cousins. + +So, having her constantly before his vision, Terence adored the damsel +wildly by fits and starts, hating her when she snubbed him, taking a +loyal interest, for her sake, in the Penal Code and the United +Irishmen; and was not aware that he stood on the verge of the +political maelstrom, in whoso eddies so many good Irishmen had come to +drowning. + +Terence professed in nowise to be a patriot. He said openly that the +United Irishmen deceived themselves, that they were fond of inventing +imaginary terrors, that Lord Clare, though personally he disliked him, +was an estimable statesman, the right man in the right place. Doreen +was angry with him at times for this. Then he had an excuse for +kissing her to make it up, for the flash from her grave eyes was only +summer lightning. But to be accused of mercenary motives, even in +banter, was quite another thing, because all the world knew that the +Irish aristocracy, as a body, did not shine in the way of +unselfishness, and Terence's nature was too open and honest, his +carelessness as to money too deep-seated, for him to feel aught but +disgust at being coupled with the pensioners. It was not true that he +was mercenary, but it might easily have been so. Who knows what might +have been if my lady had not proved liberal--a kind mother? Many are +virtuous so long as they are not tempted. Yes. You will doubtless be +surprised to hear that my lady had worked no evil to her second son. +Madam Gillin's singular office had for the space of twelve years been +a sinecure. The Countess never refused him money when he asked for it, +and was apparently a model mother to the youth, though she certainly +showed a strong partiality for Shane, which may be accounted for by +the fact that mothers invariably doat upon their prodigals, and milord +resembled his father not a little. + +Now Curran, being quite at home at the Abbey, knew all these ins and +outs and petty details. Terence's indignation, therefore, amused him. +He burst into a peal of merriment when the young man asked, tartly, +what he meant by his insinuations. + +'I know Lord Clare offered me a place,' he said, with a side-glance of +apology at his cousin; 'but I refused it with disdain. Though he's a +worthy man I don't like him, because he orders us about, and I would +not be under any obligation to him for the world. My mother's too fond +of the chancellor----' + +'What if you were assured that he's a traitor?' Curran asked, with +mock gravity. + +'I'd become a United Irishman to upset him!' returned the prompt +scapegrace. + +'Nonsense!' replied his friend, growing serious. 'No, no. It's an ill +subject for jesting. Treason is a dangerous pastime, which it behoves +you to keep clear of for the sake of your noble name. Don't forget +that, being half an Englishman, half of your allegiance is due to the +British Crown--at least so the Lords think. With us it's different. To +try the bird, the spur must touch his blood. Come, let's be off. +Good-night, boys!' + +And so the conference terminated. + +The elder Emmett rode moodily to Dublin, concocting inflammatory +articles for the benefit of the newspaper which he edited, reflecting +too, not without misgivings, upon the mantle which had fallen, +unbidden, on his shoulders. Robert, his excitable brother, walked home +to Trinity College with elastic step, his brain still whirling with +the outlaw's parting words. The rest were bound for Strogue, where my +lady sat wondering, no doubt, what could keep them out so late. +Cassidy, who was a good singer, and amusing in other ways, had been +invited to the Abbey by Terence. As for Curran and his daughter, they +often sojourned there, and were certain of a hearty welcome, for their +own sake now, as well as Arthur Wolfe's. + +None of the party spoke as they cantered briskly by the shore. Curran +was upbraiding himself for want of caution in betraying his true +sentiments even to close friends. Few saw as far as he, and the very +air of Innisfail breathed treachery. His daughter, gentle Sara, whose +fair locks clustered like silk cocoons about her baby-face, was in an +ecstatic trance as she bumped up and down on her rough pony. + +What signified bumps, when the subject of her thoughts was Robert, the +dear, delightful undergraduate? She would have bumped all the world +over for him, though she was modesty itself, and he oblivious that she +existed. It was pleasant to think that he, at least, was bound by no +rash oath. It would be a sweet task, if possible, to keep him from the +toils. + +Doreen rode ahead, plunged in one of her sad moods, as she thought of +the future of the wanderer, who had given up all he possessed in the +world to bring about the freeing of her people. Might any woman's +platonic worship make good that loss to him? Would she ever see him +again, and under what circumstances? + +Terence read her thoughts, and was cross at her devotion to this +outlaw, a condition of mind which even he perceived was not proper in +a well-brought-up young lady. Of course everybody respected Tone, and +liked him, too, for his excellent qualities. She could not marry him, +that was one comfort, for he was already married to the sister of this +great hulking giant, Cassidy, who chirruped out scraps of song as +though Erin was the most prosperous of motherlands. But it certainly +seemed wrong, to the sage youth, that a handsome young woman should be +on confidential terms with so many strange young men. Her aunt, he +knew, objected to it strongly, but unaccountably held her peace. Then +he laughed, in spite of his displeasure, at the conceit of any one +interfering with Doreen--the demure damsel who pursued her calm way, +enslaving all and taking note of none, as though she had taken vows of +perpetual maidenhood--had cut herself adrift for the role of a Jeanne +d'Arc. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + STROGUE ABBEY. + + +The home of the Glandores on Dublin Bay is a unique place, perched on +rising ground, shaded by fine old timber. Originally an ecclesiastical +establishment, it was turned into a fortress by Sir Amorey Crosbie in +1177, and has been altered and gutted, and rebuilt, with here a wing +and here a bay, and there a winding staircase, or mysterious recess, +to suit the whim of each succeeding owner, till it has swelled into a +stunted honeycomb of meandering suites of rooms, whose geography +puzzles a stranger on his first visit there. The only portions of it +which remain intact, are (as may be seen by the great thickness of the +walls) the hall, a long, low, narrow space, panelled in black oak and +ceiled in squares; the huge kitchen, where meat might be roasted for +an army; and the dungeons below ground. The remaining rooms (many of +them like monkish cells) are of every shape and pattern, alike only in +having heavy casement frames set with diamond panes, enormous +obstinate doors, which creak and moan, declining to close or open +unless violently coerced, and worm-eaten floors that slope in every +freak of crooked line except the normal horizontal one. Indeed, the +varied levels of the bedroom floor (there is but one storey) are so +wildly erratic, that a visitor, who wakes for the first time in one of +the pigeonholes that open one on the other, like the alleys of a +rabbit warren, clings instinctively to his bedclothes as people do at +sea, and, on second thoughts, is seized with a new panic lest the +house be about to fall--an idle fear, as my lady is fond of showing; +for the cyclopean rafters, that were laid in their places by the +crumbled monks, are hard and black as iron, so seasoned by sea-air +that they will possibly stand good so long as Ireland remains above +the water. A gloomier abode than this it is scarce possible to +picture; for the window-sashes are of exceeding clumsiness, the +ornamentation of a ponderous flamboyancy in which all styles are +twisted, without regard for canons, into curls and scrolls; and yet +there is a blunt cosiness about the ensemble which seems to say, 'Here +at least you are safe. If Dublin Bay were full of hostile ships, the +adjacent land teeming with the enemy in arms, they might batter on for +ever. They might beat at our portals till the last trump should summon +them to more important business, but our panels would never budge. + +On approaching the Abbey by the avenue, you are not aware of it--so +masked is it by trees and ivy--till a sharp turn brings you upon a +gravelled quadrangle, three sides of which are closed in by walls, +while the fourth is marked out by a row of statues (white nymphs with +pitchers), whose background is the chameleon sea. Directly facing +these figures--at the opposite end of the square, that is--a short +wide flight of steps, and a low terrace paved with coloured marbles, +lead to the front entrance. The left side of the quadrangle is the +'Young Men's Wing,' sacred to whips and fishing-tackle, pierced by +separate little doors for convenience on hunting mornings--two sets of +separate chambers, in fact, which may be entered without passing +through the hall; and above them is the armoury, a neglected museum of +rusty swords and matchlocks, an eyrie of ghosts and goblins, which is +never disturbed by household broom. The right side is bounded by a +close-clipped ivied wall, pierced by an archway which gives access to +the stables and the kennels, ended by a mouldering turret, converted +long since into a water-tower. + +The grand hall, low and dark as it is with sable oak and stiff +limnings of dead Crosbies, occupies the whole length and width of the +central portion of the house, or rather of the narrow band which +joins the two side blocks together. You may learn, by looking at the +time-discoloured map which hangs over its sculptured mantelpiece, that +the ground-plan of the Abbey is shaped like the letter H, whose left +limb forms the young men's wing, the offices, and dining-room; whose +right limb is made up of my lady's bedroom, the staircase vestibule, +and the reception saloons; while the grand hall, or portrait gallery, +reproduces the connecting bar. Five steps, with a curiously-carved +banister, lead out of the grand hall at either end; that to the left +opening into the dining-room--a finely-proportioned chamber, panelled +from floor to ceiling with trophies of rusty armour breaking its +sombre richness; that to the right communicating with my lady's +bedroom, painted apple-green with arabesques of gold, which is chiefly +remarkable for luxuriously-cushioned window-seats, from whence a fine +view may be obtained of the operations in the stable-yard. The late +lord used to sip his chocolate here in brocaded morning-gown and +nightcap, haranguing his whipper-in and bullying the horse-boys, or +tossing scraps to favourite hounds as they were trotted by for his +inspection; and my lady has continued the practice through her +widowhood, for it gratifies her vanity, as chatelaine, to watch the +numberless grooms and lacqueys, the feudal array of servants and +retainers. An odd nest for a lady, no doubt; but the countess chooses +to inhabit it, she says, till her son brings home a bride, for the +late lord sent for Italian workmen to decorate it according to her +taste, and in it she will remain till the hour for abdication shall +arrive. + +A second door, at right angles to my lady's, opens from the hall on to +the staircase with its heraldic flight of beasts; beyond this is the +chintz drawing-room, a cheery pale-tinted chamber which Doreen has +taken to herself as a boudoir, although it is practically no better +than a passage-room leading to the tapestried saloons. She likes it +for its brightness, and because it looks out on the garden front, +known as 'Miss Wolfe's Plot,' a little square fenced in at one end by +the hall, on the further side by the dining-room, while at the other +end there is a tall gilt grille of florid design, through which you +may wander, if it pleases you, into the pleasaunce. This small quaint +enclosure is Doreen's favourite haunt. She has laid it out with her +own hands in strange devices of pebbles and clipped box, with a crazy +sun-dial for a centre, and sits there for hours with needlework that +advances not, dreaming sombrely, and sighing now and then, as her eyes +travel along the cut beech hedges, smooth leafy walls, which spread +inland in vistas beyond the golden gate, like the arms of some giant +starfish. These hedges are the most remarkable things about a very +remarkable abode. They are each of them half a mile long, thirty-six +feet high, and twelve feet thick, perforated at intervals by arches; +and they form together a series of triangular spaces sheltered from +sea-blasts, in which flourish such a wealth of roses as is a marvel to +all comers. + +Obese, old-fashioned roses, as big as your fist, hang in cataracts +from tottering posts which once were orchard trees; large pink +blossoms or bunches of small white ones, whose perfume weighs down the +air; balls of glorious colour, which, when a rare breeze shakes them, +shower their sweet petals in a lazy swirl upon the grass, whence +Doreen gleans and harvests them for winter, with cunning condiments, +in jars. From time to time the perfume varies, as the wind sets E. or +W., from that of Araby the blest to one of the salt sea--a tarry, +seaweedy, nautico-piratical odour, with a strong dash of brine in it, +which seems wafted upward from below to remind the dwellers in the +Abbey of their long line of corsair ancestors. + +The most sumptuous of all the apartments is undoubtedly the tapestried +saloon, nicknamed by wags my lady's presence-chamber; for there, +looking out upon the roses, she loves to sit erect surrounded by +ghostly Crosbies whose mighty deeds are recorded on the walls, +portrayed by the most skilful hands upon miracles of Gobelin +manufacture. Mr. Curran often wondered, as he played cribbage with the +chatelaine, whether those deeds were fabulous; for if not, he +reflected, judging the present by the past--then were the mighty +grievously come down. Here was Sir Amorey alone on a spotty horse +trouncing a whole army with his doughty sword. There was Sir Teague at +the head of his Kernes, making short work of the French at Agincourt. +Further on the first earl--prince of salt-water thieves, with a +vanquished Desmond grimacing underneath his heel. How different were +these from the present and last Glandores, whose lives were filled up +to overflowing with wine and with debauchery; whose sins lacked the +picturesque wickedness of these defunct seafaring murderers. Then, +perceiving the countess's eye fixed on him, her crony would feel +guilty for his unflattering reflections, and rapidly pursue the game; +for my lady as she aged grew just the least bit garrulous, and as he +loved not the aristocracy as such, it was afflicting to listen to +long-winded dissertations upon the family magnificence, which he +declared she invented as she went along. He was never tired though, +when he could snatch a rare holiday from his professional labours, of +exploring the dungeons and chimney recesses and awful holes and +crannies. He it was who ferreted out the long-lost secret way beneath +the sea from the water-tower to Ireland's Eye; and bitterly he +repented later that he had not kept that discovery to himself; for by +means of it he might have brought about the vanishing of many of the +proscribed, instead of--but we travel on too fast. + +My lady sat upright in the tapestried saloon, marvelling that no one +filled the teapot. It was with a distressed amazement, like that of +Louis XIV. when he waited, that she stared at the silver equipage, at +the pathetically hissing urn. Where was Doreen the tea-maker? It was +quite dark, and the incorrigible damsel was still galloping about the +country, who might tell whither? It really was shocking; no wonder if +milady's quills of propriety stood out, after the manner of the +fretful one. It's that drop of Papist blood, she muttered; then turned +to admonish her brother as to his heiress. But Arthur Wolfe listened +without a word, for he was accustomed to his sister's querulous +complaining, and built a bulwark of silence against her jeremiads. +People said all his time was spent in negative apologies for the one +error of his youth; and it did look like it; for he was marvellously +patient in the face of her most tyrannical whims, listening without a +struggle to endless sermons which prated of the woe to come, +reflecting that, poor soul, she had much to put up with. Although she +was reticent and mysterious to an extreme degree, Arthur Wolfe knew +that her lines were not cast in pleasant places; for did not flaunting +Gillen abide at the very gates, whose odious vicinity caused her to +shrink as much as might be from passing beyond her own domains? + +Time and this bitter pill had made of her ladyship a 'swaddler.' Like +many of the oldsters of the patrician order, she grew sorely repentant +for youthful peccadilloes, took to psalm-singing, displayed strong +ultra-Protestant proclivities. The prejudices of a less enlightened +age curtained her brain with cobwebs which excluded the daylight from +the vermin they engendered. On this 12th of July she set aside, +according to custom, the pearly grey which becomes her age so well, to +don weird orange vestments which make her look like a macaw--she who +is usually dressed in such perfect taste in a robe of silvered satin, +with snowy hair in rolls unpowdered. Although she is but fifty-two, my +lady is a white-haired queen Bess; and handsome in an imposing way, +which she never was in youth. The thin nose looks higher than it used +to be, and pinched. The cheek is pale and marked with anxious +wrinkles; but the straight line of imperious brow remains the same, +and the eyes--netted with crowsfeet--assume a more vigorous life by +reason of the fading of their surroundings. The Countess of Glandore +has in twelve years become an awful dowager, before whom the cottagers +shake in their shoes; for to a misleading appearance of patriarchal +majesty she adds a quick incisive way of speech, and the bodily +activity of a middle-aged woman who enjoys a perfect constitution. +Those startled eyes tell tales, though, of a diseased mind, and +sleepless nights of tossing. And she does pass sleepless nights, +despite the Consoler's fanning, when the secret chord is struck. Then +as she lies on her laced pillows she sees once more the sheeted body +at the clubhouse, hears the last warning wail, 'For my sake, for your +own--that you may be spared this torment!' and then she lights a lamp +and reads angrily till daylight--loathing herself for what her sound +sense condemns as morbidness--lest peradventure her thoughts should +drive her mad. Then rising with a headache and haggard looks, she sits +in the window-seat and feeds the hounds, and reflects with stern +satisfaction that the odious baggage who lives in the Little House +has never found joints in her armour--has never caught her tripping +with regard to her younger son. Since my lord's death no spiteful +unduly-elected guardian could complain of the boy's treatment. Her +purse had always been open to him; from childhood he was rich in guns +and ponies. But she failed sufficiently to consider that there was one +thing for which the warm-hearted lad had pined and which she had +consistently denied him--love. It is evident that we cannot bestow +that which we have not to give. This reproach therefore sat lightly on +her mind. The deficit in affection was made up with bank-notes, and +she bred unconsciously in her second-born a recklessness in spending +which his after-income would by no means justify. Her influence over +him was small. Not that this mattered much, for he was a bright +good-natured lad, such as give little serious trouble to their elders. +He had a way of quarrelling with Shane though, which opened dread +visions of possible complications in the future. Sometimes the +brothers were so near the point of open rupture, that milady had to +interfere, and then with undutiful fierceness my lord would remind her +of the oath she had herself extorted, and she would be stricken dumb, +cursing herself for the idle folly of the act. If my lady nourished +old-fashioned feudal views about the conduct of one brother to +another, she was clumsy in her method of realising them. Terence +ignored the whole proceeding, and to prove his freedom kept the +household in a constant state of simmering breeziness, which was more +lively than comfortable. Shane, on the other hand, was disposed to be +benignant if Terence would abstain from being rude. There was little +in common between the two, and it would have been odd if Shane had +kept his temper when Terence flogged his horse-boy, though he had a +private young henchman of his own. My lady looked with uneasiness at +the constant trivial squabblings, and was not altogether sorry, as the +twain grew up, to see that their tastes divided them, that they met +less and less; for Shane became engrossed with the pleasures of the +capital, while Curran, taking a fancy for the second son, turned his +attention to the Bar. + +The young lord emancipated himself from leading-strings, and became a +pattern Dublin buck. He wore gorgeous raiment, carried wonderful +walking-sticks with jewelled tops and incrusted mottoes; was elected +President of the Blaster and Cherokee clubs, which honourable post +made it his duty to fight at least one duel a week, and to force +quarrels upon people whom he had never seen before. There were several +established ways (as all the world knows) of bringing this about. +Sometimes he sat in a window and spat on the hats of passers-by, or +stood over a crossing pushing folks into the mire, or kissed a pretty +girl in the presence of her male protector, or flung chicken bones +from a balcony at a passing horseman in full fig. His mother took no +heed of these vagaries; the ways of the Glandores had been imperious +for generations. But in course of time an event happened which sent +the blood rushing in a tumult to her heart. At a masquerade one night +my lord met a maid who smote his fancy. She was cheerful, and not too +modest (his one terror was a lady of quality), with eyes like a mouse +and a good set of teeth. Her mamma, a homely, buxom dame of forty, +invited him home to supper, and he was as surprised as charmed to +discover that the sprightly pair were his neighbours, who on account +of some crotchet or other his mother declined to visit. He was +received with open arms; nothing could be more jolly than his welcome. + +''Deed the space is limited,' mamma observed, with a guffaw. 'If ye +put your arm down the chimbly ye could raise the door-latch; but, +sure, a snug mouthful's better than a feast any day.' + +He remained toasting his hostesses till daylight; called in a week; +stopped to dinner; was treated as an honoured guest. Madam was a +Papist, he found out, which would account for my lady's prejudice, but +my lord had no such prejudices. If a young lady touch your fancy, do +you ask her to say her Catechism? + +When the terrible fact broke upon my lady, she groaned in spirit and +was stunned. The spiteful baggage, baffled by her rival's exemplary +conduct as a mother, had hit on a new way to torture her. The damsel +in question was Madam Gillin's daughter, who had been brought up a +Protestant, at the late lord's special wish. The reason for this +singular proceeding was only too clear. That low hateful wretch, who +had remained quiescent till the countess was almost at ease, was still +pursuing her. Of course she could not be so truly wicked as to mean +anything serious--for her own child's sake. It was a sword tied over +her head to force her to grovel down upon her knees. But boys +(specially heads of houses) always begin by falling in love with the +wrong people. This was a transitory flirtation. Shane would grow tired +of the vulgar chit. Vainly my lady hoped. Then with beatings of the +breast it occurred to her, that as Gillin was a Catholic she must of +course be capable of any crime. Before things attained a hopeless +pitch, would it be needful for my lady to bow her haughty neck under +Gillin's caudine forks? Oh! the agony of a stubborn pride which must +publicly do penance! Would the ruthless tormentor exact such abasement +as an exposure to her own children of the insulting behaviour of their +father? Would it be requisite to crave a boon of the too jolly tyrant? +Never! my lady decided that such humiliation might never be--death +would be preferable. She would bide awhile and take refuge in +religion, and pray that the cup might in mercy be removed. + +The petty annoyances which made up the sum of my lady's bitterness +were endless. She was in the habit of bestowing broken meats upon the +cottagers with stately condescension, accompanied sometimes with +drugs. Mrs. Gillin followed suit. There were two ladies bountiful in +the field, and the dowager sometimes came off second best; for, as +amateur doctors will, she made mistakes, and killed people with fresh +patent medicines, whilst her rival escaped active harm, because her +boluses were innocent through lengthened sleep in the village +apothecary's phials. So the cottagers only trembled and curtsied when +the chatelaine called to see them, and emptied her bottles on the sly, +whilst they eagerly consulted Madam Gillin as to their ailments, a +preference of which madam made the most, when the ladies met over an +invalid. Faithful to her _rôle_, she never spoke to the scowling +dowager, but addressed scathing remarks to a third person who was +always the companion of her wanderings--one Jug Coyle, her ancient +nurse, who passed with many for a witch, whilst all admitted that she +was a 'wise-woman.' This old harridan, who was learned in the use of +simples, was established by her mistress in a one-eyed alehouse on the +verge of her little property--on the outside edge of it which looked +towards the Abbey. The noise of roysterous shouting there penetrated +sometimes as far as my lady's chamber, yet she did not complain. It +was one of her rival's thorns--one of the petty persecutions which the +chatelaine was doomed to bear. + +Sure the late lord would have spared his widow had he realised the +worries which would come on her by reason of the proximity of Gillin. +The mistress of the Little House gave excellent rowdy suppers, and +entertained the _élite_ of Dublin. The judges bibbed her claret, and +shook the night air with choruses, whereas they only paid state visits +to the abbey once or twice a year. Her nurse's shebeen--a tumble-down +festering hostelry thatched with decaying straw--was no better than a +dog-boy's boozing ken, a disgraceful trysting-place for drunken +soldiers, who were enticed thither by its excellent poteen. Jug +Coyle's shock-pated daughter Biddy was a scandal to the neighbourhood, +so recklessly did she profess to adore sodgers; while as for mischief, +there was none perpetrated within ten miles round but that red-poled +slattern was at the bottom of it. By-and-by Old Jug hung out a sign, a +rude picture of a chained man, with 'The Irish Slave' as cognizance; +and after that mysterious persons were seen to arrive at unseasonable +hours who might or might not be United Irishmen. My lady knew all +these doings, and hoped fervently that the new clients would turn out +conspirators, for in that case there seemed a chance that she might +sweep away the nuisance which vexed her day by day. I say _she_ +advisedly, because Shane was too busily engaged as King of Cherokees, +to look after his property, and was only too thankful to his mother +for undertaking the management of the estates. + +In intervals of complaining about the still absent tea-maker, the +countess exposed her views for the hundredth time, as to the enormity +of the obnoxious Gillin, to her ally Lord Clare, who smiled and +nodded. The chancellor was a constant visitor at the Abbey, riding +over frequently to dinner for a gossip or a game of cards with his old +friend. He told her the last scandal, discussed the political +situation, dropped hints about the movements of the patriots, lamented +the mad folly of her brother Arthur's _protégé_; and unconsciously she +came to see things through his spectacles, living herself a retired +life. Not but what she heard something of the other side from Mr. +Curran; but then he seemed to avoid these subjects, while Lord Clare +delighted in gloating on them. The two mortal foes met frequently at +the Abbey as on neutral ground, and snarled and showed their teeth, +and thereby exemplified in their own persons one of the most singular +features of a society now happily died away. During the last +tempestuous years which preceded the Union, members of all parties +were accustomed to meet in social intercourse, dining to-day with men +they would hang tomorrow, even in some cases advancing funds out of +their own pockets to secure the escape of those whom it was their duty +to convict. The cause of the anomaly is not far to seek. Dublin +society, though magnificent, was limited to a tiny circle. Absenteeism +being voted low, the great families became interwoven by a series of +intermarriages, while they were torn at the same time by religious or +political dissensions. If your wife's brother holds precisely opposite +views to your own, and is in danger of losing his head, still he is +your near relative, and as such you will save him from the gallows if +you may. It was not surprising then that Mr. Curran, when at length he +arrived with the rest, should have courteously taken Lord Clare's +jewelled fingers in his own with a hope that his health was good, +though he loved him as dogs love cats. Was he not obliged to meet him +several times a day in the four courts, or at Daly's? The city would +have been too small to hold them if they had come to open strife. + +My lady dropped her jeremiad when the young people entered, for +the Little House and its belongings formed a mystery which they might +not fathom. If Shane chose to distress his mother by flirting with +Norah Gillin, it behoved the rest to ignore his sin. Even independent +Doreen, who would have liked to scrape acquaintance with a +co-religionist, abstained from so doing lest she should offend her +aunt. Once, when in a passion, she threatened to call at the Little +House, but my lady appeared so pained that she repented the idle +threat. + +My lady looked at Lord Clare as if to bid him start a subject, then +shook her head at Curran for keeping the girls out so late. + +Lord Clare was in excellent spirits as he crossed one natty stocking +over the other, and, fingertip to fingertip, began to purr over the +virtues of the new Viceroy. 'Lord Camden,' he averred, 'was an angel. +He was open to advice. Things would have to take place sooner or later +which would make it essential that those who governed should be of one +mind. The silly geese who dubbed themselves patriots had received a +check by the discomfiture of young Tone, but the snake was scotched, +not killed. They would doubtless find leaders, and again leaders, who +would have to be crushed in turn, and Government had hit on a bright +idea for the simplifying of the process of suppression. By virtue of +an English law there was a foolish rule which forbade conviction for +treason save on the testimony of two witnesses. How ponderous a piece +of mechanism! The wheels of the Irish car of justice wanted greasing. +Why not one witness? One dear, delightful, useful creature, who would +come forward and say his say and finish off the matter in a trice. +What did Mr. Curran think of it, that clever advocate?' + +Mr. Curran sipped his tea in silence, while his dusky cheek turned +dun. They would not dare pass so outrageous an enactment, he +reflected. They would dare much, but, with the eyes of Europe on them, +not so much as that. The chancellor was drawing him out. So he smiled +sweetly, and, handing his cup to be refilled, observed that as Justice +did not live in Ireland, it would be folly to provide a car for her. +The spectacle of an English Viceroy making believe to dally with the +stranger would be as astounding to Irishmen as the spectacle of a +horse-racing Venetian. + +'Lord Clare likes his joke,' chorused the giant Cassidy, 'but Curran +won't be hoodwinked.' + +'I assure you I am in earnest,' declared the chancellor, eyeing his +foe from under alligator lids. 'I protest the idea is splendid. If +they are bent on hanging themselves, why not give them rope? One +witness, my dear Curran, would surely be enough.' + +'Your joke is a bad one, my lord,' returned the other, sulkily. 'There +are hundreds of idle wretches, hanging round Castle-yard, who for a +pittance would swear anything. Is it so much trouble to suborn two? +Major Sirr, your lordship's jackal, would see to it, I'm sure.' + +'An admirable person!' murmured the chancellor. + +'If he's not a villain,' retorted his enemy, 'give me as offal to the +curs of Ormond Quay. Cassidy here was reproved only an hour ago by one +whom we all respect for being too intimate with the rascal.' + +'I can only repeat,' said Cassidy, with the crumpling of skin which +made his flat face so droll, 'that I care nought for him, though I +should be sorry if he came to be put away as his paid informers often +are--_consigned to Moiley_, as the common people say. It is important +for a poor man like me to have a friend at court. I might be taken any +day on false information, and lie perdu in Newgate till my bones +rotted. My Lord Clare is a kind patron, but too much engaged to heed +the fate of such humble squireens as I. I have no genius like Mr. +Curran. My disappearance would cause no hue-and-cry. We must look +after our own bodies, and Sirr is my sheet-anchor.' + +The chancellor glanced at Cassidy with a whimsical expression on his +face, half curiosity, half contempt, while Curran said: + +'That town-major is too much considered. Beware, my lord, of +Jacks-in-office, who, in the intoxication of gratified vanity, mistake +the dictates of passion for the suggestions of duty, and consider that +power unemployed is so much wasted. But I'm a fool. Your lordship is +laughing at me.' + +Doreen, having presided over the tea-table, retired to the open +window, for her heart was full of Theobald, and this chatter grated on +her nerves. My lady seized the opportunity to discourse of the +proceedings of the day, of how Lord Camden had marched round William's +statue with all his peers, and of how the scum had looked stupidly at +the pageant with angry scowls. 'I was glad to see it,' she went on +complacently, 'for tribulation is good for their sins, and bears +fruit. There have been a blessed number of conversions of late.' + +'Some are too weak to endure oppression,' remarked Arthur, gently, +'and turn Protestant to escape from misery.' + +'Then it is good that the oppression, as you call it, should +continue,' returned his sister, with decision. 'The scarlet woman and +her progeny of vices shall be extinguished. When people are so +ignorant and brutish, they must be snatched from the fire by any +means.' + +'My lady, my lady!' laughed Curran. 'Your speech and your deeds are +ever at variance. Your words breathe fire and sword, yet none are more +kindly to the poor. Extremes meet, you know. I believe that you will +die a Catholic.' + +My lady glanced at Doreen, pursed up her lips, and said nothing. + +'Did we not agree t'other day about true religion? It lies not in +abusing our neighbours, but in cultivating a heart void of offence to +God and man. Remember that definition, Terence, and act on it, my boy. +It was a saying of the great Lord Chatham.' + +'If only Luther had never been born!' groaned Arthur Wolfe. +'Christianity was good enough for Christendom in old days.' + +This was an awkward subject. Lord Clare changed it with accustomed +tact. + +'Do you know, Curran,' he said, 'that Tone has left a sting behind him +which till yesterday we did not suspect? We have reason to believe +that the University, of which we are all so justly proud, has been +tampered with. That's bad, you know. I am informed that there are no +less than four branches of the secret society within its walls. +Severest measures may be necessary. As chancellor of Trinity I will +see to it.' + +Doreen turned round and listened. So did Terence, for he had many +friends in Trinity. + +'Have you any basis to work upon?' asked my lady. + +'Certainly! A man whom I can trust in every way is hand and glove with +them. The unhappy wretches have a traitor in their midst. Young +McLaughlin is bitten with the mania, a sad scatterbrain and Bond, and +Ford, who's half an idiot. The only one I'm sorry for is young Emmett, +who should know better, being son of a State-physician. But then his +brother, who dabbles in journalism, is a bad example. I should not be +surprised if he were hanged some day.' + +Poor Sara, who had gone to where Doreen was sitting, glanced from one +at another, her pupils expanded by terror. She knew that the dear +undergraduate had not taken the oath. But to be suspected at such +times as were looming was a matter of grave jeopardy. Her father +looked serious, and so did Terence. Both liked the Emmetts, and were +sorry to hear about this traitor. My Lord Clare's flippant discourse +was distasteful to all. Was he making himself disagreeable on purpose? +Curran was shaking his hair ominously. Terence burst out in defence of +the young men who were, he swore, as good as gold, and his personal +friends--more worthy than others who should be nameless. My lady, in +her orange robe, looked like a thunder-cloud. Cassidy, to pour oil on +the troubled waters, proposed that Miss Wolfe should sing, and Arthur, +relieved at the diversion, drew out his girl's harp into the room. + +Doreen would have refused if she had dared, for these covert +bickerings constantly renewed upon topics which moved her so strongly, +were wearing to the nerves. But everybody suddenly desired music. + +'Something Irish, set to one of your own melodies,' suggested Cassidy. +'Sure, Curran will play a second on his violoncello; and I'll give you +a new song afterwards.' + +Well, anything was better than the grating of Lord Clare's harsh +voice. Listlessly sitting down to the harp, Doreen permitted her +shapely arms to wander over its strings. Then, fired by a kind of +desperation, she lifted her proud head and began in a rich contralto, +while Mr. Curran, on a low stool beside her, scraped out an impromptu +bass: + + + '"Brothers, arise! The hour has come to strike a blow for Truth + and God. + Why sit ye folded up and dumb? why, bending, kiss a tyrant's + rod? + For what is death to him who dies, the martyr's crown upon his + head? + A charter--not a sacrifice--a life immortal for the dead. + And life itself is only great when man devotes himself to be + By virtue, thought, and deed the mate of God's true children and + the free!"' + + +Her voice trembled and gave way, and bowing her neck over the +instrument, the girl wept. Sara stole up and kissed away the tears. +Her own heart was exceeding heavy, she knew not why, except that she +saw visions of Robert in peril, such as she was thankful to think were +only visions. If aught befell him, she would lie down and die--of that +she was quite sure--foolish virgin! She had bestowed her pure heart +unasked. Would he who held it value the priceless gift? + +My lady and Lord Clare looked at Arthur Wolfe in consternation. Where +did the naughty damsel learn such a song? Of what dangerous stuff was +she made to presume to chant it before the chancellor himself? 'It is +the cloven foot,' her aunt thought with fury. That terrible blot! +Anxieties were thickening. Something must be done, or the girl would +go to perdition even faster than she galloped across country. + +Arthur looked wistfully at his sister, then at his child, who, the +paroxysm past, was a cold statue again--haughty, unabashed. To look at +her, you would feel assured that she had done right, while all the +rest were wrong. Some people are incorrigible, and Miss Wolfe was +evidently one of them. Her father suspected shrewdly that she had +learnt the song at Curran's. He knew that she worshipped Tone, and +that she had been in the habit of meeting him at the Priory. But he +never had the courage to stand between the Catholic and the Protestant +champion of her faith. As usual, he temporised, striving to serve two +masters, and, as usual, suffered for his weakness. + +Lord Clare read him like a book, and was disgusted with his friend. +Wolfe's sensitive conscience was constantly racked by doubts which a +natural diffidence magnified into bugbears. Clare's inflexibly +ambitious mind despised the hysterics of the country which he +governed; brazen and hard, he was a fit tool for Mr. Pitt. As he +looked at Arthur, who hung his head over his daughter's escapade, +he decided that this was a square peg in a round hole. As +attorney-general, acts might be demanded of him by-and-by, from which +he would shrink with lamentable want of character. What if he were to +shillyshally when prompt action was urgent! He might upset the deftest +schemes, overturn the most skilful combinations, by his bungling. Only +a few minutes ago, his tell-tale face had shown how he disapproved of +the one witness project. What a pity it was that the inoffensive +fellow had ever been promoted, for as a simple lawyer he would have +been pushed by events into the background. Well, well! He must be +tried, and trotted forth to test his mettle. If he were proved +wanting, there would be nothing for it but to pass him on again--to +shelve him somewhere in the Lords, where he might drone harmlessly. + +But this outrageous bit of scorn--his daughter! My lady must have a +hard time with her. She was going awry, as hysterical girls will; yet +surely the dowager was more than capable of coping with this febrile +phase of a strong nature half developed? Then the astute idea passed +through the schemer's brain of how convenient it would be if the +budding Joan of Arc could be used as an unconscious spy upon her +party. An ingenious notion, but one difficult to carry out--a delicate +game, which would have to be worked through the countess, who was a +crotchety soured woman, with a nice sense of honour, who would slave +night and day for a cause which she esteemed a rightful one, but who +would rather cut off her hand than stoop to what she knew was a +meanness--provided that it did not affect her interests. + +My Lord Clare could not forbear smiling when, glancing round the +party, he noted the effect of the song. My lady dumbly furious; Arthur +apologetic; Doreen herself indifferent; Terence uneasy and taken +aback. One savage breast alone had music soothed; and Terence, who +revered his chief, thanked Cassidy with a nod for having withdrawn him +from further contest. Once with his huge machine between his feet, he +was invulnerable even to Erin's wrongs, scraping himself into a +condition of ecstatic beatitude, from which there was no fretting him. +any more. There he sat, crouching like a black-beetle on a kitchen +boiler, his underlip protruded, his face lighted with satisfaction, +his head nodding to the time, and his frenzied eye fixed on the +coat-of-arms upon the ceiling, as though to invoke its supporting +monsters to turn and cock their ears. My Lord Clare's smile faded +presently; he hated music nearly as much as he hated Curran. + +'Turn out the lights!' he cried. 'I wonder your ladyship has patience +with the fellow's grimaces. And you, my lad,' he continued seriously, +addressing Terence, 'accept the lesson of the times and avoid +enthusiasm. In this country it leads to the halter. Steer your course +wisely. Take a safer pilot to guide your inexperience than yonder +hurdy-gurdyman, so that you may find yourself on the winning side at +last. There is no doubt which that will be.' + +'I will use my own judgment,' replied Terence, simply, with a dignity +which would have won approval from his cousin, had she not just +descended into the pleasaunce to recover, amid the influences of +night, her natural calmness of demeanour. + +'That beast's din addles my brains,' went on the chancellor, rising to +depart. 'Drive back with me, Arthur. I have a special subject to talk +to you about. You must take a bolder course in politics. The ball is +at your feet. We must teach you to find pluck enough to strike it.' + +Wolfe smiled gently as he answered: + +'I'll take a drive with pleasure, but you'll find me terribly +deceitful; for I must grub up money for my daughter's sake; and yet, +in certain ways, I'm an impracticable person--a mule with his feet +together. Vacillating you think me. In some things you'll find I'm +adamant.' + +All were glad when at last the chancellor departed. Even my lady +admitted that he could be crabbed at times. He was gone, but, like the +gentleman in black, he left an evil savour in his wake. + +Startled from reverie by the clang of the hall-door, Curran threw +aside his bow and scratched his elf-locks pensively. + +'No!' he said. 'These laws which they are continually framing are too +dreadful. If the testimony of one witness is to be sufficient to +convict us, then, are we foredoomed; for any one may be summoned to +join in the Kilmainham minuet by the malice of a discharged groom, or +the greed of the meanest cowboy. Trial and evidence are not children's +baubles; they were not even established for the sole purpose of +punishing the guilty; their most precious use is for the security of +innocence.' + +The little lawyer looked so horror-stricken, that both my lady and the +giant burst out a-laughing. + +'Come,' said the former, wresting the violoncello from his grasp, +'your music carries you too far. Lord Clare was out of sorts, and +played upon your fears. Thank heaven he is no Blunderbore, or he would +not be my welcome guest. Now to bed. Sara looks worn out.' + +'He has no sense of right and wrong,' grumbled Curran. + +'For shame! You are both good men. What a pity you can only agree in +looking at each other through distorted glasses!' + +'Faix, her ladyship's right,' acquiesced Cassidy, with a grin. 'You +magnify the number of the informers. I should be sorry to believe +there are half as many as you think.' + +'Did not Tone say you were simple?' asked Curran, sadly. 'So there's +some one watching the Emmetts? Can you guess? No! Nor I; but they must +be warned. Clare is brewing some new devil's haricot, and will dip +Arthur's ladle in it, if he may. What a net it is that they are +winding about Erin! Pray God that we and ours may escape +entanglement!' + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + MY LADY'S PROJECT. + + +Doreen stood by the crazy sun-dial, looking at the milky way, and +reflecting upon the chatter which had assailed her ears. Consigned to +Moiley! The dragon of the new _régime_ was beginning to show that his +hunger was insatiable. The prisons were filling apace. Lord Clare had +hinted that worse was yet to come, that the shadow of the gibbet was +to stretch across the earth, that hemp would soon be at a premium. But +there were two Moileys--two goddesses of vengeance and retaliation, +ready to strike, one for the oppressor, one for the oppressed. If +their blood was roused, who might foretell what havoc they would make +ere they sheathed their swords again! + +The rustle of my lady's skirts recalled the maiden to herself, and she +perceived her aunt descending into the garden. It was seldom that my +lady changed her routine in the smallest particular. What could be the +cause of this sudden fancy for star-gazing? + +'A lovely night,' exclaimed her ladyship. 'How sweet the roses smell! +I vow it is a sin to go to bed.' + +'Shane seems to think so,' returned Doreen. 'He never comes in till +the small hours.' + +My lady looked sharply in her niece's face, but was nothing there save +a settled sadness. + +'Come,' she said, 'Curran and his child are gone to rest. We'll take a +turn in the pleasaunce.' + +They sauntered through the golden gate and down a leafy avenue, in +silence, while owls and bats flitted past their heads and circled away +among the foliage. My lady had something to say, and did not know how +to say it. Doreen was thinking of the dear wanderer, who was tossing +on the sea by this time. Presently my lady said abruptly: + +'Doreen, you must change your ways.' + +The damsel's nostrils dilated a little; but, biting her lip, she +answered nothing. + +'You are twenty-two,' pursued her aunt. 'It is time that you gave up +playing Miss Hoyden, and settled down into a respectable married +woman.' + +The girl walked on without a word, wondering what was coming next, +while her aunt, growing exasperated at what she was pleased to +consider stubbornness, bent down to sniff a rose which wept gems upon +her dress. + +'Does it trouble you,' she said, wiping the dew from her skirts +carefully with a handkerchief, 'that Shane should stop out so late? +The Glandores were always rakes, but were none the worse for that. For +my part I hate a milksop.' + +Poor lady! The late lord had given her little experience of the +milksop! + +'What can it signify to me what he does?' asked Doreen, with a tinge +of bitterness. 'He is drinking to King William now, no doubt, if not +insensible beneath the table.' + +This was awkward, for my lady desired to make the best of Shane, and +the fact of his doing homage to the Immortal memory was not likely to +be pleasing to a Roman Catholic. So she turned her batteries. + +'You are wild, and will come to shipwreck,' she declared, 'if we do +not set some one to look after you. The way you behaved just now was +most deplorable. Your poor father looked wretched; but the dear soul +is a goose. Unless you mend your ways you will find no one to marry +you at all, which will be dreadful, and a disgrace to all of us. Your +behaviour to Terence is not quite seemly, for you forget that he is +grown up, and that you should not trifle with an inflammable youth.' + +This shot went home. Thoroughly taken aback, Doreen cried: + +'Terence! You must be jesting, aunt! He is my first cousin, almost my +brother. You will accuse me of flirting with Shane next.' + +'That is quite another matter,' replied my lady, coldly, for she was +nettled at the contemptuous manner in which the girl spoke of her +favourite son. 'I say you must be married before you disgrace us all, +which you certainly will do unless curbed, being half a plebeian +born.' + +The blood flooded the girl's face, and she clasped her bosom with both +hands to still the indignation rising there. For my lady, when annoyed +beyond a given point, was apt to make sneering remarks about the late +Mrs. Wolfe which filled her child with rage. + +'What do you mean?' she exclaimed haughtily. 'There is no _must_ about +the matter. You should have learned by this time that I will not be +driven by any one on earth; certainly not by you.' Then recovering +herself, she went on more softly: 'What a puzzle you are! Sometimes so +kind, sometimes so cruel! I think you really care for me; you were so +good to the motherless little one. If my mother had lived I might have +been different. A Miss Hoyden, am I? I have never had any one in whom +to put my trust, to whom I might tell my troubles; and a heart closed +up, without sympathy, is a sore thing for one of my age!' + +The girl's voice died away, and her aunt felt uncomfortable. + +'To-day,' Doreen resumed, 'I went to see Ally Brady, who is dying, and +nearly threw myself upon the neck of the lady who is nursing her. She +looked so kind and hearty as her tears fell for the peasant-woman, and +she clings to the prescribed creed as I do. It was Mrs. Gillin, of the +Little House.' + +My lady looked up sharply. + +'You dared to speak to her?' + +'No; I retired. But she looked after me with such a strange pity. +Aunt, why do you object to my knowing this lady, though all the world +speaks well of her? Shane goes to the Little House, and Norah makes +him welcome. He told me so. I have seen Norah often, and she is very +pretty. What does it all mean? Is Shane going to marry her? May I +speak to her when she's Shane's wife? If he knows and likes the +Gillins, why should not I, who, as a Catholic, have a sort of right to +cherish them?' + +My lady started and stood still, as if she had seen an adder in her +path, and said in an altered voice: + +'Have I not commanded you never to mention that woman's name before +me? Shane is more wild than I could wish. He does what he chooses; +and, besides, a man may do what a woman may not. If he were well +married, he would grow quieter, no doubt. Your father's wish is the +same as mine. You know it, and are obstinate.' + +Doreen was astonished, for Lady Glandore was not given to displays of +emotion; and now she was much agitated, while her features worked as +if in physical pain. Kissing her niece on the forehead, she gathered +up her skirts and walked rapidly back towards the house. + +For an hour and more the girl wandered in the pleasaunce, taking no +heed of dew, though her high-waisted dress was of the thinnest muslin. +She was weighing her aunt's hints, and the strange complications of +her own position. + +There could be no further doubt that my lady desired to unite her +niece to Shane. Doreen had suspected it before, but the idea seemed +too preposterous. What motive could be strong enough to bring about so +amazing a desire on the part of the proud chatelaine, as a union +between one of the hated faith, whose mother was of doubtful origin, +and the dearly-loved head of the Glandores, who was young, rich, +Protestant, good-looking? That she should ever come to permit a match +even with the poor younger son, whom she did not love, would be +surprising enough; but a motive might be found for that in his poverty +and extravagance, and her trifling nest-egg. The blot on the +escutcheon would not have mattered so much in his case, for he was +unlikely ever to wear the coronet, and the attorney-general's +scrapings would have gilded a more unpleasant bolus than his handsome +daughter. + +But Shane, who by reason of his wealth and position was a great catch, +who might throw his handkerchief to whom he pleased! What could be the +reason? Was it that his mother dreaded his being caught by some low +and penniless adventuress--he who was so self-willed and given to low +company? It could hardly be that; for in the eyes of the chatelaine, +Doreen herself was little better, save in the way of money; and where +the young earl was himself so wealthy, her little fortune could not be +taken into consideration. If he would only go into good society, Shane +might aspire to the most brilliant match. + +It was a riddle to which the damsel could find no solution, so she +began calmly to consider how she should act herself. Should she yield +to her aunt's wishes, and assume the high position of the young earl's +bride? If she said 'Yes,' would Shane indeed take her to his bosom, or +would he be disobedient in this as other things? If he came and asked +her, would she say 'Yes,' or 'No?' She was amazed to find that she was +by no means sure. He was an ignoble sot, a drunkard, and a debauchee; +but, in the eyes of most young ladies, such qualities were rather +admired than not. It was thought fine for a spark's eye to have a +noble fierceness which softened to the mildness of the dove when +contemplating 'the sex.' But then Doreen's education had been +peculiar--different in many ways to that of other young ladies--partly +on account of her motherlessness, partly because of the faith she +professed. The Penal Code had eaten into her soul--she was more +thoughtful and sober than girls of her age usually are; was given to +day-dreams and impracticable heroic longings, tinged, all of them, by +a romance due to her Irish nature and the romantic conditions of her +time. + +She had never thought much of marrying or giving in marriage, and it +came upon her now as a new light, that by a marriage she might benefit +the 'cause.' As she sauntered up and down, she reflected that, by +espousing Shane, she might make of herself a Judith for her people's +sake. Shane was already sodden and sottish, given to excessive +tippling. She, Doreen, was of a masculine strength of character, and +knew it. Once established at the Abbey as its mistress, why should she +not take on herself the control of the estates, as the present +countess did, and manage them according to her liking? The United +Irishmen were sadly in need of funds. Tone had said that a bloodless +revolution was impossible. Arms and powder would be required when the +struggle came. Why should not she provide a portion of it out of the +wealth of the lord of Strogue? It seemed an ignoble thing to do; yet, +for the cause's sake, was not anything justifiable? Did not Judith, +the noblest of women, the purest of patriots, lower herself to the +disguise of a harlot for the saving of her people? Doreen felt the +holy flame burning within her, which goes to the making of Judiths. + +Her father, though she loved him fondly, could never be of real +service to her. What would he think of such a wedding? It mattered +not, situated as she was. Her battle of life must be fought alone, +without help from any one. She was fully aware of that, and was +prepared to fight it--to the end--after her own fashion. + +She was startled from her reverie by the banging of doors and shouts +of discordant laughter. Cassidy had been singing some time since in +the young men's wing, trolling out pathetic ballads for the +edification of Terence and his chief--but these had retired to rest +long since. This must be the young lord and his boon companions--come +to finish the night in wine and play as joyous gallants should. It +would be awkward to meet them in their cups; so she stole as +noiselessly as might be through the golden gate, past the sun-dial +among the flowers, and reached her chamber, which was over the chintz +drawing-room (her own boudoir), just as there came a crash and awful +din in the hall. Then followed a babel of angry voices. Lights +appeared in the dining-hall opposite, the blinds of which were not +drawn down, and a posse of young nobles--their clothes muddy +and disarranged; their hair dishevelled; their action wild and +excited--crowded in around their host. She could distinguish my lord +by the glistening of his diamond coat-buttons as he was held back by +four companions, from whose grasp he strove to free himself. One of +them, whose brain was less heated than the rest, had removed his +_couteau de chasse_ from its sheath, and was expostulating with him; +but he was evidently not to be appeased without a scapegoat, for he +kept pointing angrily at a broken bust of William III. which my lady +had crowned with laurel that very day. + +She could see that somebody had upset the bust, and that my lord +wished to wipe out the insult to the Protestant champion with the +blood of the offender. My lady did not appear. She had been well +broken to orgies of the kind by the late lord, and took no heed of the +uproar; but the aged butler, who, as a matter of course, had produced +magnums of claret in tin frames upon the appearance of the party, +seemed to be coaxing his young master into good temper, and with some +success apparently, for by-and-by the _couteau de chasse_ was given +back and the party settled down amicably, having first tossed the +offender out of window, who lay snoring upon the flower-beds till +morning, wrapped in the sound sleep of drunkards. + +Doreen sat at the open window, her chin buried in her hand, watching +the proceedings of her cousin. His cravat was gone; his fair young +chest exposed; his velvet surtout torn and stained; his striped silk +stockings in tatters; the bunches of ribbon wrenched from off his +half-boots. His face was blotched and bloated; his forehead disfigured +by an ugly cicatrice which turned of a bright red when he was far gone +in liquor or in passion. She saw him rise on his unsteady legs and +wave a goblet at the fractured bust, while he clung with the other arm +round the neck of the youth next to him. Then all the rest rose and +bowed as well as they were able; some falling on the floor in the +attempt and remaining there, while the others sat down to their drink +again and clamoured for cards, shouting the while a chorus, which came +muffled to her through the window-glass. + + + 'And it's ho! ro! the sup of good drink-- + And ho! ro! the heart would not think; + Oh, had I a shilling lapped up in a clout, + It's a sup of good drink that would wheedle it out!' + + +Doreen sat staring till the chill of morning penetrated to her bones +through the light robe of muslin. Then she crept stiff and weary into +bed, while her teeth chattered and alternate douches of hot and cold +water seemed pouring down her back. She had been studying Shane with a +new interest, and trembled for her future peace, for, as she watched +with senses sharpened, she was dismayed at the hideous preponderance +of the animal in her cousin's nature. Never had she looked at him so +earnestly before. It was like binding one's self to a hog for life. +Sure Holofernes was not so degraded, or the fortitude of Judith would +have given way. He was a warrior, mighty in battle, who, though an +enemy, commanded respect. A glorious athlete such as 'tis woman's +prerogative to outwit--as Delilah outwitted Samson, as Omphale +conquered Hercules. Her ordeal too was of short duration. How +differently severe would be the self-appointed task of this modern +Judith, who contemplated tying herself deliberately for the whole of +her life to a man who disgusted her in spite of his good looks; who, +when shorn of the vulgar halo of animal courage, was no better than a +brawler and a bravo. She might not strive to reform him, for with his +reformation he would of course take the reins of his affairs, and the +power of his wife would end, for which alone she married him. It would +be her duty rather to encourage him in evil ways, and coax him down +the ladder. Was she capable, she kept asking herself, as shuddering +she drew the sheets around her, of so tremendous a sacrifice as this? +Tone's, sublime as she considered it, was nothing to what hers would +be. He had thrown away earthly pelf, was a fugitive and an outlaw; but +he retained his self-respect. Could she retain hers if Shane became +her husband? No. Doreen confessed to herself that the position would +be impossible. If it had been Terence, now! He was foolish and gay and +distressingly healthy; under no pressure whatever could he bud into a +hero. He was humdrum, and her native romance revolted from the +humdrum. A fine grown man with a good temper and a prosaic appetite. +Why, if he were to occupy Shane's shoes, all Dublin would be envying +her luck and remarking how brazenly she had set her cap at him. Horror +of horrors! How terribly commonplace! Then the girl upbraided herself +for such foolish thoughts. Terence would never become Lord Glandore, +and as a simple fisherman and sportsman could never win his cousin. +Perhaps my lady was right in warning her to remember that he was grown +up. He was a dear good boy, but wofully prosaic. But what had such as +she to do with unmaidenly meditations anent marrying and giving in +marriage? Sackcloth and ashes were the portion of the Catholics, who +were treated as the Jews had been by the Crusaders. The sooner they +died out the better. What a wonderful idea that was of Aunt +Glandore's! If she were seriously bent on anything, she was not easy +to baffle. Would it be best to speak out at once and brave a certain +storm, or to let things be, hoping to be delivered by some unexpected +means? While she was debating this knotty question, her thoughts +became gradually confused, and she sank into troubled slumber. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + TRINITY. + + +Mr. Curran took the bait tendered to him by the chancellor. He made +inquiries, sorted the fragments of his puzzle after his own fashion, +and, filled with suspicions, became anxious to unveil without delay +the fresh dangers which menaced his friends. And dangers so easy to +unveil! The fowler cared not, it seemed, to mask his engines of +destruction. Mr. Curran, from his place in the senate, publicly warned +ministers of the iniquity of their proceedings, but nobody troubled to +listen. The friends of government gaped, vowing that the orator was a +maniac, that he had the secret society on the brain, and ought to be +carted to the madhouse; the few who were on the other side laughed, +declaring that Mr. Curran was misinformed. What could he do then but +sigh and hold his peace? At least he would speak to the Emmetts and +adjure them to be cautious, for the sake of all concerned. + +When Tone's society for the promotion of universal concord was +driven by artful goading to become a secret one, the conspirators met +to discuss their grievances in a cellar in Backlane, near the +corn-market; but when the time came for extinguishing Tone and others, +Sirr, the captain of Lord Clare's sbirri, swept them thence, and they +were forced to find another trysting-place. Pending final decision on +this point, it was arranged as a miracle of cleverness that the +younger Emmett should suddenly become hospitable. Trinity was always +celebrated for its rollicking wine-parties. What more natural than +that young Robert should do as others did; that he, hitherto so +studious, should be led astray a little by the contagious force of bad +example? A good cellaret of claret was provided at the common expense; +songs were sung with open windows, at all hours of the day and night, +of a convivial and bacchanalian character. There was no end to the +shifts to which the patriots resorted, under the belief that they were +hoodwinking Major Sirr. There arose a mania for ball-playing. Clerks, +shopkeepers, attorneys, would meet of an afternoon at a hall taken for +the purpose, and emerge thence in an hour or two singularly cool and +fresh for men who had been practising athletics. There was also a rage +for fencing--a plausible excuse enough for meeting in numbers, +considering that the fire-eaters of the south had just revised the +laws of the duello. The youthful aristocracy, in accordance with one +of the new rules, had already formed themselves into a club, called +the Knights of Tara, whose members met three times a week in the +theatre at Capel Street to display their prowess with the rapier +before an audience of Dublin belles. What then should there be +suspicious if the middle class followed their example? + +The case was not quite the same, though; for while the Knights of Tara +courted observation and loved to be seen lounging in cambric shirts +and broidered slippers, with their hair in curl-papers, the members of +the other fencing club kept rigorously closed doors, through which no +one ever heard the familiar cry, sharp as a pistol-crack, of 'Ha! a +hit!' + +One evening, shortly after Tone's departure, there was a full +gathering in the chambers on the second floor which looked on the +grand quadrangle. It was necessary to instal with solemn rites a new +chief in place of the wanderer, and to fix on a distinct plan of +operations for enlarging the limits of the society. Tone had left his +mantle to Thomas Addis Emmett as the oldest and wisest of the band--he +was thirty-five--and so, in obedience to his last wishes, the editor +of the _Press_ was duly elected to the dangerous pre-eminence. +Submitting to his brother's entreaties, he commenced his reign by +administering the oath to young Robert, the dreamy lad of seventeen, +which was done with awful ceremonies, as became the doings of +conspirators. Blinds were drawn for a few minutes that no prying gaze +might penetrate the Holy of Holies; then all sat down, with the +neophyte standing in their midst, while their president read through +the constitution. Then the oath was administered upon the Scriptures, +which, together with the constitution, were clasped on the bared +breast, and after that a lock of hair was cut away under the queue +behind, and a formula learnt by heart, by means of which one member +could recognise another. It was touching to look on these brothers +standing side by side, the elder receiving the younger into a +fraternity, each unit of which, before many months were out, might +possibly be called upon to meet an ignominious death. Thomas was big +and burly, with a sedate cast of countenance which betokened thought, +whilst Robert was slight of build, and looked almost like a girl, as +with eyes fixed on space he repeated the strange sentences, his face +aglow with enthusiasm, his body trembling like a leaf. + +'Are you straight?' + +'I am.' + +'How straight?' + +'As straight as a rush.' + +'Go on then?' + +'In truth and trust; in unity and liberty.' + +'What have you in your hand?' + +'A green bough.' + +'Where did it grow?' + +'In America.' + +'Where did it bud?' + +'In France.' + +'Where will you plant it?' + +'In the Crown of Great Britain.' + +'God be with you then, and with us all,' Thomas concluded; 'and now a +glass all round to the health of the new member.' + +The pledge was gravely accepted, each one raising his beaker and +saying: 'To the diffusion of light!' ere he drained its contents and +replaced it on the table bottom upwards. + +'Now, gentlemen,' pursued Thomas. 'We have serious business before us. +Theobald will be away a year at least before help can come, and it is +his wish that we should without delay prepare to graft the military +upon our civil functions. With arms and ammunition Tone will provide +us if he can, but they will be of little service unless we know how to +use them. In the halcyon days of the Volunteers every Irishman was a +soldier. Let us show that the martial spirit of our ancient kings, +which then for awhile revived, is not quite dead in us.' + +'I will never consent to bloodshed,' shuddered young Robert. +'Internecine strife is too horrible!' + +'You have been sworn in by your own desire,' returned his brother, +sternly, 'and your first duty is blind obedience. It is Tone's +conviction that we must fight, and fight we will when the time +comes--to the death! In revolutions there is nothing certain but +blood. The march of the captives is through a Red Sea. After forty +years of seeking new abodes, which of those who lead them shall touch +the Promised Land? Lord Clare shows us his cards, and a pretty hand it +is. Sirr is organising his paid spies into a battalion who are to +dwell at the Castle like pampered pets. It is hard to believe that +Irishmen will be so base. These informers are to lie _perdu_ until +wanted--are to worm themselves into the confidence of suspected +persons, to eat of their bread and salt, to nurse their little ones +upon their knees, and then, upon a signal, to give them over to the +hangman.' + +'But the Viceroy!' cried Cassidy in indignation. 'Lord Camden is a man +of honour who would never consent to such a plan!' + +Thomas Emmett shook his head mournfully. + +'We all know,' he said, 'that the cabinet rules the Viceroy, and that +Lord Clare is master of the cabinet.' + +'Seeing's believing,' retorted the giant doggedly, as he stretched out +his great hand for the claret bottle. 'Of course we must watch that no +such villain shall creep among us. I won't believe that the English +are without mercy.' + +'At the battle of Aughrim,' replied Thomas, 'the blood sank into the +soil of seven thousand Irishmen who were only defending their rights.' + +'As for drilling and such like,' said Cassidy, 'I'm with you, and the +sooner we start the business the better. I've learnt a new song that +we'll sing as we march to battle----' + +'Oh, you simpleton!' laughed Terence Crosbie, who, slightly touched +with wine, had followed the proceedings of the two Emmetts with +amusement. 'Romancing as usual--giving credence to every scandalous +tale you hear. Even if there were truth in them, your grievances would +not give birth to generals. You will never make colonels out of +linendrapers.' + +'No more than purses out of sows' ears,' returned Cassidy, with a +merry twinkle. 'No, councillor, that we never will. But we'll wheedle +a few aristocrats like your honour, whose blue blood shall mingle with +our muddy stuff. When the day dawns, you and a few like yourself shall +lead the boys to victory.' + +Terence looked annoyed, but said nothing; while Cassidy and the others +scanned his face narrowly. He was not affiliated to the society, nor +had the remotest ambition of becoming so; for he knew that it behoved +not one of his order to join in such movements as this. Yet there was +a fascination for him in its doings, which kept him dangling upon its +outskirts. Some of his most valued friends were enrolled on the list +of United Irishmen, and he knew well how Doreen was praying for their +success. So he attended the supper-parties sometimes in his +purposeless way, and they permitted him to do so freely, despite the +maxim that in troublous times half-friends are no friends. They knew, +or thought they knew, that he was the soul of honour, who would never +betray a confidence; and hoped, encouraged by Cassidy, that some day +he might be cajoled or stung into their ranks, which would be a +feather in their cap indeed; for to be led by a Crosbie of Ennishowen +would give them a prestige at once such as in these democratic days we +can hardly realise. And Terence, seeing through the simple scheme (for +he was sharp enough, though lazy), was flattered by their confidence. +Yet for all that he promised himself to hold aloof from active +co-operation with hot-pated friends who made mountains out of +mole-hills. He had no intention of heading the forlorn hope of a +misguided rabblement who would fly helter-skelter before the first +puff of cannon smoke. So he prudently refrained from picking up the +gauntlet, and listened to the giant, who was delivered of an idea. + +'I've a notion!' cried Cassidy, thumping the table till the glasses +rang again. + +'Be cool now!' cautioned Tom Emmett. 'You are as dangerous as a +powder-magazine.' + +'Is it dangerous I am?' grumbled the other. 'Sure something must be +risked, or we'll niver get along. I've an idaya, gintlemen, which I'm +willing to see to at my own expense, though a poor man. I've reason to +know that the militia may be tampered with. Their hearts are with the +cause, and they're as poor as rats or your humble servant. Money and +drink will do much, and women will settle the matter. Here's a letter +from Belfast which says that two hundred and fifty of the men in camp +there have secretly declared for us, and that it only needs the +personal presence of a delegate to bring over half the rest. When the +French land they'll rise and kill their officers. Think of the fine +fright that'll give the royalists! Sure and isn't that the way to +out-plot England? Shall I go to Belfast and reconnoitre? Of coorse ye +must give me credentials. A little note, signed, will do the trick, +and show I'm honest. As for the town-major of whom ye're all so +frightened, his bark's worse nor his bite. The Irish Jonathan Wild can +be bribed. I'll answer for him; but there's time galore for that. +Dangerous, am I? I'm the only one, I think, with a drain of sperit. +There's a great speech. Phew, I'm dhry! Hand round the clart, boys, +and we'll have a stave.' + +The simple giant's harangue was favourably received, the paper was +penned and signed, and he was wetting his whistle for a song when Tom +Emmett raised his hand. + +'Hark! who comes?' + +There was a footstep on the creaking stair; then a knock; and a +familiar voice said: 'It is I. Curran.' + +'Nurse Curran!' sneered Cassidy, annoyed. 'Come to look after his +foster-babby.' + +The little advocate entered, and leaned against the door with his arms +folded. + +'Terence, my lad,' he said. 'You must come away with me. What would my +lady say, if you came to be arrested?' + +'Arrested!' echoed a dozen voices. 'Within Trinity? Impossible!' + +'I fail to see that it's impossible,' snarled Curran. 'Hide those +foolish papers there, or burn them--children, too easily beguiled with +toys! And you, Terence, come away with me at once. Why? Are not +convenient edicts being passed each day to simplify the work of +government? Laws for the suppression of gaming, profane swearing, +atheistical assemblies, which places every man's home under +surveillance of the town-major?' + +'You have explicit information?' inquired Tom Emmett, anxiously. + +'I don't say that!' stammered Curran, somewhat confused. 'I only say +that your threshold might be invaded at any moment, and that ye've +yourselves to thank if ye get into a hopeless scrape. A few hours +since, a carpenter who is under obligation to me was at work in Ely +Place. While repairing the floor between two double doors he +distinctly heard Lord Clare in conversation with the town-major, in +which Sirr told his chief that there would be a strong muster to-night +in this boy's chambers. Am I making too free in asking you to lock +away those documents, or would ye prefer hanging at once to save +trouble? The carpenter wrenched off a hinge and begged to be allowed +to fetch a new one; but instead of going straight to the ironmonger's +he ran to me with commendable speed, gave the office, and returned to +his work. What it all means I am not in a position to say; but mark my +words, you have a traitor in your midst, who reports to the enemy +every word you utter. Your necks are your own, to do with as you like; +but I'm responsible for you, Terence, to your mother, and I summon you +to go away with me.' + +Tom Emmett flushed scarlet, and involuntarily placed a hand upon the +pistol in his breast. A low murmur went round the room as Cassidy +sprang to his feet. + +'Take care!' he shouted, 'how ye bring vague charges. Many a +disfigured corpse has Moiley eaten--many an informer has floated out +to sea. Give a name--only a name--and I'll scrunch the spalpeen so +flat that ye'll not know him from a sheet of paper, save for the coat +on him!' + +Curran shrugged his shoulders. + +'Do you think if I knew the scoundrel I'd not have pointed at him long +ago? It's for you to find him out. Don't glare at me, man--I'm not a +youngster who has never blazed. Mind, I've warned you to be +circumspect. The Irish nature is too open. It can't keep a secret +without telling a lie, and lies lead to awful tangles. It's no affair +of mine. Terence, come along.' + +The junior rose and stretched himself, and prepared to follow his +chief. + +A betrayer in their midst! The case did seem hopeless to the young +councillor; so hopeless as to be almost contemptible. Possibly Lord +Clare was a trifle over-strict with them, but he certainly appeared +justified to a certain extent in assuming with the children the manner +of a severe pedagogue. What a pity that they persisted in fathering +every enormity upon him! + +'It's a bad job, my friends,' he said. 'Curran's right about the +papers. Good-night.' + +As they crossed the quadrangle his mentor became wondrous voluble. He +was garrulous as to my lady, and her unfortunate penchant for the +chancellor; talked of Glandore, and all the titled in the land, till +his companion eyed him in indolent surprise. To occupy his attention +was the design of his mentor, for lurking in the shadow of doorways +were certain darkling figures who were not gownsmen; and the little +king's counsel feared lest Terence, if he perceived danger to be +imminent, should be ill-judged enough to retrace his steps and get +mixed up in the misfortunes of his friends. + +The spectres allowed the pair to pass, and then, gliding to the door +from which they had issued, left half their number there, whilst the +rest stole through the gateway to the inner court--so as to command +two special windows which were pointed out to them. + +Meanwhile the party above, having completed the business of the +evening, prepared itself to be jolly. The story of the proposed +arrest, the vague charge about an informer, were evidently Bugaboos +invented by nurse Curran for the luring away of his junior. + +Cassidy, who was in great spirits to-night, and had drank deeply, +demonstrated with the utmost clearness that the fabrication was +absurd. By an old law of Queen Elizabeth (the only pleasant law she +ever made for Ireland), no bumbailiff or importunate creditor might set +his foot within the College-gates. Alma Mater was a sanctuary from +which none might be taken an any account without an order from the +authorities of Trinity, who were too jealous of their rights ever to +grant such order. Moreover, the watch (harmless old women!) were +always friends with the gownsmen--ready to lend a staff or lanthorn, +or feign sleep or assume deafness, just as the frolicsome young +gentlemen should decree. It was quite unlikely that they would witness +any threatening demonstration without instantly giving an alarm, and +even Sirr would think twice before daring an assault upon the inmates +of Trinity without the assistance of the junior dean. Not that the +undergraduates were as bold a body now as when they slew my Lord +Glandore, or so unanimous either, as none knew better than Lord Clare. +Yet they were no cowards, and always ready for a 'blaze.' + +The younger Emmett, alarmed at first by Curran's dismal prophecies, +was convinced by Cassidy's gibes that his terrors were ill-placed, and +set about producing from mysterious lurking-places the elements of a +good supper--ham, chickens, bread--furtively glancing in the mirror +now and then at the tiny tonsure which marked him for a patriot. The +giant arranged knives and forks, and filled the round-bottomed claret +decanters, trimming the table with a tasty eye as a patriotic table +should be laid. In the centre he placed the constitution--bulwark of +the society--throned on a loaf of bread. Close to it the president's +badge, whilom Tone's--Tom Emmett's bauble now which consisted of a +shamrock in green silk bearing a harp without a crown. Near this the +copy of the Scriptures; and by his own place a list of toasts such as +should help to pass the time till chapel-hour. When all was ready he +called on his companions to fall to; and discussed with the president, +while the viands disappeared, the details of his journey to Belfast. + +As they talked the claret waned, and the views of the company grew +rosier. Thomas agreed that it would be a wise system to spread +disaffection among the soldiery. The patriotism of the militia might +surely be counted on, he thought. With the yeomanry it might be +otherwise, as it was officered by the upper class. Deliberation and +prudence must be the watchwords of the giant at Belfast, for months +must pass before Tone could hope to accomplish anything; and all were +of one mind as to the necessity of French assistance. At the earliest, +no French fleet could be expected till the summer of '96, therefore it +behoved the leaders of the cause to keep the broth gently simmering +till the moment of the crisis--organising battalions, drilling +companies during the night, establishing a vast military system which +should enable the four provinces to effect a simultaneous rising. That +was the important point, spontaneity of movement; and he, Emmett, +would make it his business to see that the unity of action should be +complete. + +The danger was (he impressed on Cassidy) lest the wickedness of +England should exasperate the people too soon. A given degree of +cruelty will drive the wisest mad. Patience is among the greatest of +virtues. Here was another thing, which it was all-important to +consider. Terence Crosbie had put his finger on one of their weakest +points--their lack of military genius. The best army in Christendom is +powerless without a general. What a pity that Tone should be gone +away, for the germ was visible in him which would have blossomed forth +into glorious fruition under the sun of opportunity! + +'Now!' Cassidy cried, after a while, remarking that some of the +delegates were beginning to snore, 'fill your glasses, and I'll sing +ye the new song which shall sound the knell of the Sassanagh. 'Tis +written by Barry, a mere gossoon, who's in Kilmainham at this minute. +Bad cess to the ruffians as put him there!' Then, draining off a +bumper, he loosened the voluminous folds of his cravat, and commenced +in his mellow voice, while those who were sober enough yelled the +refrain: + + + '"What rights the brave? The sword! + What frees the slave? The sword! + What cleaves in twain the despot's chain, and makes his gyves + and dungeons vain? The sword! + Then cease the proud task never! while rests a link to sever. + Guard of the free, well cherish thee, and keep thee bright for + ever!"' + + +So loudly was 'The Sword' trolled forth, that more peaceful +neighbours, worn out with study, turned uneasily in bed, cursing the +rackety crew ere they slept again; so loudly was the final chorus +shrieked, that none heard the tramp of footsteps on the stairs, none +heeded the groping of unaccustomed fingers upon the handle, till the +door was flung open, displaying a body of men upon the landing whose +crossbelts showed white through a disguise. The young men stared +bewildered as on some horrid vision, and strove to get up on their +feet. Thomas, more sober than the rest, laid his hand upon his pistol, +but withdrew it again, seeing how numerous were those who stood +without. + +'What do you want?' he asked. + +A short man stepped from behind the rest. He was remarkable for a +hooked beak, eyes too close together, shaded by heavy brows which met +in a tuft over his nose. He wore a tight stock with a large silver +buckle, hair plainly clubbed, and a silver whistle like a boatswain's +attached to a buttonhole by a thong. + +'I am Major Sirr,' he snapped, 'and arrest all present in the King's +name. Seize those documents!' + +Cassidy took a paper from his flapped pocket and tried to swallow it, +but the major's men, marking his clumsy movement, pressed his +bull-throat till he gave it forth again. How arbitrary is the effect +of drink! Some men it renders furious, endowing them with double +strength; others it makes dull and stupid, robbing them of the power +that they had. Cassidy's giant bulk and tremendous muscles should have +stood him in good stead now or never; but he certainly had imbibed a +portentous quantity of claret, and the shaking he was getting seemed +quite to muddle him. + +'Ah now, major dear,' he whimpered, smiling a sickly smile, 'you'd not +take it from me and shame a poor colleen? Don't look at her name now! +Bad luck to ye! Don't, now!' + +''Tis an order signed by the committee of the United Irishmen--no +lady's billet,' Major Sirr replied coldly, holding the paper to the +candle. 'My friend, I regret to see you in this plight--but I must do +my duty.' + +Robert, on the first entrance of Sirr's lambs--for such he knew them +at once to be, though robed in long gowns--made a rush to the window +of the inner room in order to alarm the college, but speedily drew in +his head again, for a row of muskets was pointed at him which glinted, +pallid, in the light of early dawn. + +'Trapped!' he exclaimed, wringing his hands in despair. 'No, not yet!' +Then, perceiving that Sirr and his band, expecting no resistance, were +busily engaged gleaning together badge, constitution, and list of +treasonable toasts, he stole to the discomfited giant--a hero but a +moment since--and whispered rapidly, 'Come! A dash at the door, and we +can get downstairs. I'll lead you to the campanile. One ring at the +bell, and the college will awake!' + +Cassidy shook himself and appeared to understand. Flinging aside the +two men who loosely held him, he butted forward, upsetting table and +lights, and in the confusion and darkness all who barred the passage. +Swiftly he rolled, rather than ran, down the steep staircase, closely +followed by Robert, and sent sprawling in the doorway a fat old +person, who yelped piteously for mercy. + +'The junior dean!' ejaculated Robert. 'The dastard! Himself to betray +our ancient rights! But come--we'll attend to him later--to the +campanile, to rouse the college!' + +Sirr's lambs, recovering from their surprise, pursued the fugitives; +but a little time was gained by their all tumbling in a heap over the +unhappy dean, before he had time to scramble out of the way. + +'O Lord! O Lord! I'm kilt! Follow them!' he panted; 'the campanile's +at the corner of the inner yard. If they ring the bell for a rescue, +I'm a dead man, for they'll surely murder me! Oh that I had never +mixed in this hellish business!' + +His lamentations died away in a groan, for Sirr held a pistol to his +head, calling the skies to witness that he would shoot him unless he +instantly led the way. Never since he was a child did the pursy old +gentleman run as fast as he did now. Terror gave wings to his gouty +feet, and the invading party reached the campanile to see Cassidy's +burly shoulder force in the door, and Robert Emmett precipitate +himself within. It was a race who should first reach the platform. + +'Is it the dean that's rooned us?' Cassidy had been exclaiming. 'By +Jabers, then, I'll wring his neck for him before he's much older! Run, +jewel, for you know the place, which I don't, while I attend to him. +Here's a string that'll do the job.' + +And in a trice he had cut the rope which swung before him as high up +as his long arms reached, and was fastening at one end a noose. + +'What are you doing?' cried Robert, in dismay, 'the ringing-rope of +the great bell!' + +'Oh, tear and 'ounds! is it?' murmured the giant, with a blank look, +as he dropped it. 'Sure, I tuk it to hang the dean with!' + +It was a fatal piece of stupidity, but the mischief was irretrievable. +The rope-end dangled just out of Robert's reach. The men who had been +watching in the inner yard closed in, and levelling their muskets, +summoned them to surrender quietly. By the time Sirr's party came up +with the panting dean the giant was pinioned with the unlucky rope, +while Robert was in the grip of two sturdy soldiers. + +So much rowdiness was habitually perpetrated within Trinity--such a +succession of practical jokes and madcap tricks--that none were likely +to heed the hubbub of this chase. Thomas, who had so sagely +recommended prudence half an hour since, stood in bitter reverie among +his fellow-prisoners, reproaching himself mournfully for his +blindness; wondering in self-abasement whether it was not better after +all that one who had at starting shown himself so bad a chief, should +be thus summarily deposed from office. For he saw at once that his +fate would be the same as that of those already sacrificed--either +exile beyond seas, or dreary rotting in Newgate or Kilmainham--for was +not his signature appended, in the capacity of newly-elected +president, to the paper which loyal Cassidy had tried to swallow? And +what a covey had been captured beside himself! what gaps there would +be now in the already thinned ranks of those who were prepared to +win or perish! Curran's words had come true with regard to the +capture--was his other assertion equally correct? Was there a Judas in +their midst who was handing them over to the avenger, the while he +gave the kiss of fellowship? The thought was too horrible. Whom was he +to suspect? Not Cassidy, or Bond, or McLaughlin, or his fervent +brother Robert--or Curran himself. None of these--who then? It must be +Terence Crosbie, whom they had weakly admitted behind the veil, +trusting to his honour as a gentleman. His honour! One of the +semi-English aristocrats, whose brother was a Blaster--whose mother +was Clare's dearest friend. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes, and +he stood staring at his own folly. It was evident that Terence had +coquetted with them merely to study their plans. That frank air of +_bonhomie_ was assumed. He was like his brother Glandore--only more +crafty and astute instead of imbecile; that was all. He was deceiving +Curran now as he had deceived them, and Curran was watching over him +with the solicitude of a father. It was all too horrible--the world a +place of blackest infamy--Ireland the darkest spot upon its face. Yet +no. His better judgment revolted against such a belief. The fresh air +was balmy; the yellowing sky of surpassing loveliness. Man, if made of +stuff so innately vile, would never have been placed in so fair a +casket. Facts are stubborn things, though. The meeting had been +betrayed by somebody. Who was the wretch? + +It was by this time quite light, and the town-major deemed it wise to +remove his prey before early-rising undergraduates should be stirring. +He gave his orders therefore--softly, but with martinet decision--and +the party marched away, leaving Robert sitting on the platform. + +'I am ready,' he said, leaping up. 'I am one with them, and will go +quietly;' but Major Sirr held up his hand and grinned. + +'You are fine devil's spawn, no doubt,' he said, while his nose +wrinkled, 'but we don't want you just yet. You're but a baby +blustering like a man. Look at his smooth chin--or is it a girl? +Newgate's a brave residence for summer, if your purse is well lined; +if not, best hang yourself before going thither. No, no! I've no +warrant to arrest your ladyship--but your time will come, I doubt +not.' + +'Let him be!' cried his brother Thomas. 'Whither do you take us?' + +'First to Kilmainham with you,' Sirr replied sharply. 'Then with the +rest to Newgate; then to your offices to seize your precious +newspaper, demolish your press, and scatter your type. Have you any +objection?' + +'That is illegal,' Thomas affirmed, 'till the paper is condemned for +sedition.' + +The town-major gave vent to a grumbling cachinnation like the rattling +of a skeleton in a cupboard, but no smile lit up his sinister +countenance. Then he echoed: + +'Illegal, ha, ha! That can be set right. Forward--march!' + +The cortége moved across the quadrangle, and the massive gates of Alma +Mater closed behind it. Robert Emmett sat dazed, while the yellow in +the sky above the roofs changed to pink and then to blue; for they +were gone--away from the sanctuary into the wicked world without; no +hue and cry could save them now. The junior dean, his nerves calmed by +whisky-punch, lay cosily between the blankets, dreaming of the +bishopric he had won that night. An early gownsman, flinging wide his +shutters before settling to his morning's work, smiled down on the +wild rake who must have come in too drunk to find his way to bed. Boys +will be boys, though their mammas wish that they would act as sages; +and they must season their heads while they are young. + +But the studious undergraduate was wrong in his surmise. Excitable by +temperament, delicate in body, and overwrought in mind, Robert Emmett +had swooned away. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + CAIN AND ABEL. + + +Next morning Mr. Curran rode early to the Abbey, with news of the +arrests which he had been powerless to prevent. He looked with an eye +less jaundiced than usual upon the world, for the sea-breeze instilled +fresh life into him, weary and jaded as he was from many causes, and +he felt that he deserved well of her ladyship for saving her son from +a scandal. Though he laughed and joked in company, in private he was +nearly always sad, partly by constitution, partly by reason of the +sights he saw around him; and as he rode along this morning and +meditated concerning his foe Lord Clare, the flecks of sunlight that +chequered his mind vanished, leaving only darkness and despondency +behind. Oh, that chancellor! Would no one free Ireland from a tutelage +which became hourly more oppressive and capricious? Why could not the +innocent conspirators be left alone? Theobald, the whale, was gone. +Sure, naught but stirring up of dirty water could be gained by +harrying the minnows. It was unwise to have locked up the lads with +such a rattling of locks and muskets. The raid upon Tom Emmett's +office, too, was a deplorable proceeding. No new or special charge of +iniquity had been brought against his paper. Yet the place was +ransacked in his absence, his property destroyed, his chairs and +tables tossed out of window as though they carried treason in their +varnish. Lord Clare must be mad, or desperately wicked. If he brought +the country to ruin, it should not be for want of warning. To protest +in parliament is one thing, to argue and implore in private is +another. The little lawyer decided to speak openly to Lord Clare at +their very next meeting, and clinched the matter in his mind with such +a thump of his hunting-crop as caused his pony to leap forward and +nearly throw his master from the saddle. + +Madam Gillin and her daughter Norah were gardening as he rode past +their hedge, and the former hallooed to him to stop. Mr. Curran could +scarce forbear laughing at her appearance, so grotesquely serious did +she look in a frayed turban soiled with pomade, and a crumpled frock +of extravagant fashion, from under which peeped a pair of satin +slippers down at heel. It was a thrifty habit with Madam Gillin to +wear out her old quality-clothes at home, for she said that Norah must +have a fine dowry somehow, and that for that purpose it would be +needful to economise. Now her garments and her child's were always of +the flimsiest and most tawdry mode, profusely adorned with feathers +and spangles, trimmed with outrageous frills and furbelows; and the +twain, who did not trouble soap and water unless about to receive +company, might be seen any day over the hedge which divided their +property from the main-road, strutting up and down among the +flower-beds like moulting peacocks or birds of paradise in a decline. +Madam Gillin was lying nervously in wait for news this morning, and +hailed Curran's appearance with relief, for her nurse, Jug Coyle, had +heard of the arrests from frequenters of her shebeen, and vague +rumours were afloat that Terence was among the captured. Oddly enough, +although she had appointed herself guardian in ambush to the younger +son, she had never spoken to him: yet was she well posted in all that +concerned her _protégé_ down to minutest details; for were not all the +array of grooms, farriers, dog-boys, foot-boys, tay-boys--what +not?--in the habit of frequenting that too-convenient boozing-ken +whose insidious hospitality was so offensive to their mistress at the +Abbey? This was Madam Gillin's real reason for having established Jug +at the Irish Slave. Through her she commanded an army of spies who, +for a drop of the crather, studied my lady's face, translated her +thoughts, imagined motives, as servants will who are argus-eyed, +imaginative, inquisitive, endowed with a hundred ears. She was true to +her trust of watching over Terence, though she seemed to know nothing +at all about him, resolved, if need were, to do battle on his behalf, +to point the finger of public-opinion at my lady if she behaved badly; +and now she was sore perplexed concerning him, albeit he wist not of a +guardian angel in a dirty old turban and crushed ostrich feathers. + +Mr. Curran set her mind at rest, and turned up the avenue which led to +the Abbey. The youth had certainly been present at the meeting, +because the Emmetts were among his closest friends; but he was not +affiliated, he assured her; and both agreed that his imagination must +not be permitted to take fire; that he must never be allowed to become +a member of the society. + +When his nag turned the corner of the shrubbery, the little lawyer +found those he sought grouped in front of the hall-door. My lady, in +grey brocade, with a twist of lace through her white hair, was +standing erect with crossed arms, looking with satisfaction at Doreen +and Shane. The girl, though self-willed, had evidently taken her hint, +and was preparing to lay siege to Shane; at least his fond mother +chose to think so, and was deceived, as mothers often are. Just as +grave people, for an idle whim, will turn for a moment from lofty +contemplations to consider a pebble by the wayside, so calm Doreen had +been bitten by a conceit. In her self-examination she had become +convinced, with sorrow, that the part of Judith was beyond her +strength, if Shane was to play Holofernes; and, disgusted with her own +weakness, had permitted her mind to settle on my lady's nickname of +Miss Hoyden. Being proved incapable of supreme sacrifice, she felt a +wrathful desire for self-abasement, and resolved that, if she could +not please her aunt in great things, she would do so at least in +little ones, at the expense of private tastes. + +So, to Lady Glandore's surprise, she appeared on this very morning in +fashionable attire, which a week ago she had haughtily declined to +wear; a sumptuous high-waisted percale, broidered in forget-me-nots, +with great puffed sleeves and tight short skirt; low shoes of blue +satin with wide strings; her beautiful hair in a straight sheet down +her back, plaited together with straw, as the prevailing fashion was. +Perched on the top of her head was a dainty straw bonnet, fit only for +a fairy, and she looked under it, with her thoughtful brown face and +solemn eyes, like some lovely victim tricked out in incongruous +frippery, who was destined to figure in some Hibernian _auto-da-fé_. + +'Young ladies of a strong-minded and serious turn do evidently not +array themselves in wonderful garments without a reason,' so my lady +argued. 'Neither do they descend to coquetry, save for the snaring of +young men. Whom could Miss Wolfe desire to snare, if not her cousin +Shane?' + +This was well--extremely well. Unhappily, the young lord was not +struck with the bonnet, or with the forget-me-nots. His mother saw +that she would have to guide his attention to his cousin's +blandishments. + +Alack! he was in no mood to play the lover, being prosaically +engrossed with a throbbing brow and swollen tongue. Shane, although he +had 'made his head,' and could drink claret against most people, was +apt to feel faded of a morning, and to retaliate for physical ills +upon the first person who came within his reach. Last night he had +presided over the Blasters, had shattered a decanter on the pate of a +gentleman who presumed to breathe hard in his presence, and who, of +course, had challenged him to fight. So far so good; but the stranger +had shown himself so ill-bred as absolutely to decline to draw his +sword till certain business matters could be arranged, and so the +meeting was perforce postponed for a few hours--a most rude and +inconsiderate proceeding! For might not the champion Blaster, the +admirable Hellfire, the Prince of Cherokees, have other work upon his +hands before dinner-time? And besides, though money-debts may wait for +months without a smirching of the niceties of honour, it is a bad +example for the multitude to allow duels to accumulate. Moreover, +Shane had promised, as it happened, to promenade with the Gillins, in +the Beaux Walk, on this particular afternoon. Even an Irish earl +cannot, like Roche's bird, be in two places at a time; and so the +youthful fire-eater fretted and fumed, cross with himself and +everybody else, heedless of his cousin's bonnet, and longed to force a +quarrel upon some one. + +Terence was seated a few yards off, on the steps of the young men's +wing, which led to his own apartment, giving some directions to his +private henchman with regard to the manufacture of flies. Now and then +he threw a displeased glance at his pretty cousin, marvelling for +whose behoof she had made herself so bewitching, and then, gnawed by +carking jealousy, turned to vent his spleen upon his servant. + +But honest Phil only grinned as he twined the bright feathers with a +skilful hand, nor heeded his master's ill-humour; for was he not his +foster-brother, who loved the ground he trod on with the blind +devotion of a clansman? He had been brought up with Terence at a +respectful distance, had learnt Bible-stories with him from the tiles +about the hearth, and made himself generally useful as he increased in +years. Nothing came amiss to him. He could farry, cure a cow of the +murrain, tin a saucepan, dance a jig, knit a stocking, sing a cronane +against any young fellow in the county. There was nothing he would not +do for Master Terence. He followed at his heels like a dog, looking +into his eyes for orders as dogs do, bearing his whims and caprices +with stoical endurance, as we bear the wind that blows on us. He was a +type, was Phil, of a creature who vanished with the century; who, +sharp and clever enough, professed to no intellect of his own, and was +content to be led in all things by another. His attire under all +circumstances was the same. A green plush coat, a scarlet vest, and +buckskin breeches. A black leather hunting-cap was always, in or out +of doors, cocked on one side of his shock head. Some people said he +went to bed in it. In his capacity of farrier, he invariably carried a +firing-iron as a walking-stick; so that what with the angel in ambush +in the dirty finery, and the athletic follower with the firing-iron, +Terence Crosbie may be said to have been well protected, even in days +when none were out of danger. + +The Abbey party had also heard of the arrests, and were all equally +pleased when Curran's figure turned the corner of the drive--the queer +squat figure which all Dublin looked on with respect, with its +tightly-buttoned high-collared coat, snuffy wave of loose necktie, +white kerseymere breeches, and top-boots. + +'Yes,' he said, in answer to a chorus of inquiries, 'the evil rumour +was too true. He had ridden over early to beg my lady to interfere on +behalf of the young people. Her influence over the chancellor was +great. The father of the Emmetts had been state-physician, and, as +such, had often prescribed draughts for the countess's household. +Would she try to save his sons from peril?' + +'No, she would not. Lord Clare doubtless had the best motives for what +he did, and it would be unseemly in the associate of his leisure-hours +to meddle in state affairs. It was plain that the scum must be kept in +their place, or what would become of the nobles? The abrogation of the +Penal Code was the wild fantasy of optimists; for you might as well +give power to monkeys as to Catholics. It could not, should not, be +altered or lightened, for the safety of the dominant minority depended +on the Penal Code. The French disgrace of '89 would never have +appalled Europe, if the King had been less soft-hearted.' + +So spake my lady, in her most majestic way, and Curran, as he smiled +at the kindly, narrow-minded woman, thought she looked more like Queen +Bess than ever. There was no help to be expected from this quarter for +the poor fellows; Doreen's stern face convinced him of that much. He +must even buckle on his armour and have at Lord Clare in person, when +the first opportunity offered. + +Terence's brow darkened as his chief talked of the arrests, and of the +outrage at Tone's offices. If the chancellor was personally +responsible for the ill-judged performance, then was he distinctly in +the wrong. Might there be some truth in the pile of accusations which +were being heaped upon the minister in power? + +My lady's high-flown babble jarred on his nerves. Is there anything +more painful than hearing one you love and respect talking nonsense? +But no! It was not possible that the chancellor should be acting as he +did without good reason. We are all apt to jump at conclusions and to +blame people, without seeking first for motives which may not happen +to lie upon the surface. Terence tried to shake off his suspicions, +and succeeded to a certain extent, moved thereto, possibly, by feeling +Doreen's scrutiny fixed on him. When she appeared on the terrace in +her strange costume, she found the brothers at high words, and +reproved them straightway. Shane had used bad language in an +undertone; Terence had blushed, and hung his head. There was thunder +in the air, which the damsel had striven to dissipate. She was looking +anxiously on now, fearful of a collision of antagonistic elements, and +bit her lips and stamped her little foot as Shane turned crossly to +the visitor. + +'Is it true, Curran,' he asked, with dyspeptic peevishness, 'that my +brother was with those rascals? I've asked him more than once, but it +seems he's afraid to confess.' + +'Afraid!' Terence cried, as white as ashes; then, catching his +cousin's eye, he went back, with set teeth, to his fly-making. + +'I ought to have said _ashamed_,' apologised his languid lordship. 'I +presume that, being a Crosbie, you are capable of feeling shame? Or +not? You are so queer, I think you were changed at birth.' + +'To please _me_, be quiet,' implored Miss Wolfe, with an earnestness +which charmed my lady. 'You two are perpetually squabbling!' + +'It is not my fault,' Terence grumbled, crushing his fingers together +to keep down his ire. 'Never think, please, that I am afraid of you, +Shane. We cannot be afraid of that which we despise. If I am queer, +you are more so. I did not answer, because I don't choose that you +should interfere with me; but there is no reason why I should not. I +was at Robert's chambers last night. What then? The purity of that +handful of fellows shines out through the general darkness in a way +that enforces one's respect. I do not say that they may not be carried +too far, but sometimes they make me loathe myself and you and all my +belongings; for in the abstract we are bad, and deserve any +retribution which may fall on us.' + +'Better join them,' sneered Shane, with a feverish hand upon his +throbbing temples. 'When they confiscate this property, maybe they'll +make you a present of it with the title. Oh, my head!' + +'Yes, I was there,' continued Terence, doggedly; 'and they spoke +wisdom mixed with folly--with more of the one and less of the other +than you are accustomed to bestow on us. I do not mind admitting that +I wish I'd stopped. Maybe they'll think that, knowing what was going +to happen, I sneaked away, and then I shall lose their esteem.' + +'Oho! What a delectable conspirator!' laughed my lord, cooling his +aching head against the wall, while the cicatrice on his forehead grew +red, and an evil glitter shone in his eyes. 'Love and esteem, eh? And +how about mine? Will ye take a corner of that?' + +With a spiteful movement he flicked a square of cambric at his +brother, who placed his hands behind him and drew back; for the +insulting action, innocent in itself, was one much in vogue for egging +on a quarrel. + +My lady turned as white as Terence, while she cried out hastily: + +'Shane! what are you doing?' + +Doreen looked on distressed, and Curran sighed, while honest Phil was +too discreetly busy with his hackles to note anything that passed. + +'Shane, how dare you, before my face!' said his mother; then, her +anger kindling, she turned sharply on her younger son. 'It is your +fault. You know how easily provoked he is. I cannot wonder at his +being shocked by your behaviour.' + +'I too, mother, am easily provoked,' Terence answered, his brow black +with frowns. + +'As I have said before, more than once, though you take no heed, you +disgrace yourself by the society you keep. The Emmetts are well +enough--I say nothing to the contrary, for indeed their father was a +worthy man. But I am told that some of these people are linen-drapers. +Is it fitting that a Crosbie should associate with tradesmen? They act +blindly because they are low and do not know better, but the same +cannot be said of you.' + +My lady's lecture broke down, for whilst speaking of low people she +remembered that her favourite Shane also was addicted to low company. +Alas! she knew too well that he was the beloved of tavern-roysterers +and petticoat-pensioners, who wept oily drops of maudlin affection +over his drunken generosity, and that that smart zebra-suit of +his--yellow and crimson striped--had not been donned to captivate his +family. + +If Shane was easily provoked, which was very true, he was also as +easily bored as his father. Rising with a gesture of impatience to +retire from the field, he cried out: + +'There, there! what a pother, to be sure! I was only in joke. To hear +your clatter, mother, one would think the house was burning. If +Terence likes linen-drapers, I have no objection, but I can't admire +his taste. Faugh! He's no better than a _half-mounted!_' + +'Mother,' whispered Terence, trembling, 'do you stand by and hear +him?' + +But my lady made as though she was unaware of this fresh taunt, though +it was a dreadful one. What a fearful thing for the head of a noble +house to brand his heir-presumptive with being a 'half-mounted!' Now +the half-mounted were a distinct class--a reckless feckless crew, each +of whom possessed little beyond his horse and suit of clothes; who had +no principles or education; who existed by pandering to the vices of +their betters. They kept the ground at horse-races, helped a lord to +steal a wench, knocked down her male relations, and made themselves +generally agreeable; in return for which they were tolerated, supplied +with bed and board, and treated to as much claret as they could carry. +They swarmed, not to be industrious like the working bee, but to +consume like the drone, and to do mischief like the wasp. This class +it was which in '97 and '98 developed into the royalist yeomanry--the +bully band of licentious executioners who did the filthy work which +was disdained by English soldiers. A noble was described by the +peasantry at this time as 'a gentleman to the backbone;' a landed +squire as 'a gentleman every inch of him.' The younger sons of one of +these, restrained as they were by gentility from any but three +professions, sank more often than not into the habits of dissolute +idleness to which young Ireland was constitutionally prone, and +dwindled into the condition of the 'half-mounted,' whose career was +usually closed by a tap from a shillalagh in a brawl, or an attack of +delirium tremens. Therefore, that Terence should be accused of being +one of the swashbucklers by his overbearing brother cut him to the +quick, while it roused as well the anger of the man who was as a +second father to him. Mr. Curran might possibly have given the earl a +bit of his mind, and so have hammered such a breach 'twixt the two +families as both would have deplored in equal measure, had not happily +a huge golden coach come rumbling round the corner at this moment, +whose gorgeousness attracted general attention, and diverted the +thoughts of the group into another channel. + +Its body glistened in the sun like brass. Each door-panel was adorned +by an allegorical picture by Mr. Hamilton, R.A. A posse of sculptured +cupids on the roof groaned under an enormous coronet; Wisdom and +Justice, carved and gilded, supported the coachman on either side; +while Commerce and Industry stretched forth their cornucopiæ behind +and clasped their hands together around the footmen's legs. A +triumphal car it was, blazing with gold and colour, enriched with +velvet and embroidery, weighed down with gilded figures, dragged along +by six black horses sumptuously caparisoned. This was my Lord Clare's +new coach, which had cost him no less than four thousand guineas--the +outward and visible sign of his amazing arrogance and splendour. The +party on the steps stood wonder-stricken; but what surprised Curran +even more than the magnificent carriage, was the presence of the +person within it, who sat beside the chancellor. It was Cassidy, the +jolly giant, whom report said to be in durance vile. He was released +then. So were, of course, the others, and Lord Clare had remedied his +blunder before its effects could be seriously felt. So much the +better. Such gladness of heart was the little lawyer's that he forgot +all about the half-mounted, and proceeded to congratulate his enemy. + +'I don't understand,' the latter drawled, looking down from under +half-closed lids. 'Mr. Cassidy is out because there was really nothing +against him, and his excellency talks of freeing the others by-and-by, +except Emmett, who is a ringleader--a beast who must be caged.' + +Curran felt a twinge of disappointment. 'A man who must be made a +martyr!' he retorted. 'If you leave him languishing, and free the +rest, the injustice of the proceeding will set them plotting more than +ever. That which is now but a heat-spot may be irritated into a +prevailing gangrene. Mind, I have warned you. Yet how idle is it! Such +tricks as yours may be expected from a renegade!' + +The last words were muttered to himself, yet Lord Clare heard them, +but pretended not to do so, as it was always his policy to excite his +adversary whilst keeping his own temper. + +'I assure you I am powerless,' he remarked blandly. 'The Privy +Council----' + +'Potent, grave, and reverend seniors!' scoffed the other; +'scene-shifters and candle-snuffers from Smock Ally, robed in old +curtains!' + +'These turbulent fellows would destroy the Constitution, my good +Curran.' + +'Turbulent! A pack of boys! What does not exist cannot be destroyed. A +Commons chosen by the people who hold thereby the strings of the +public purse--that is the first principle of a constitution. The sham +you prate about is, as you know right well, deluged with corruption, +flooded with iniquity, a mere puppet in your hands, Lord Clare. How +sad it is that the vital interests of millions should be sacrificed to +the vices of an individual! You, and such as you, who have risen from +small things to a place in the Upper House, should unite the nobles +and the people instead of trying to estrange them. But no, you think +of none except yourself. Erin is divided between the slaves of your +dominion, the servants of your patronage, the enemies of your tyranny. +Your ambition will wreck us all. Your monument shall be the execration +of your motherland--the curse of a ruined race your requiem!' + +Lord Clare's impudent leer was doing its work, for Curran, with every +moment, grew more chafed. + +'Really, our friend is quite amusing!' exclaimed the chancellor, +pleasantly. 'Your ladyship's jester assumes all the license which +custom accords to such persons. I confess that his exuberance bears me +down, for the art of managing foolish people is as distinct and +arduous as that of governing lunatics.' + +'Whenever I see a man treat the world as if it were made of fools,' +sneered Curran, 'I suspect him instantly to be a knave.' + +'Very pretty!' laughed the other. 'Parliament, my good fellow----' + +'Parliament!' echoed his foe. 'You are always ringing the changes on +parliament and constitution in a jangle that means nothing. Your +parliament has as much to do with the country as a corpse with a +crowner's quest. The rulers of this unhappy land have played bowls +with the constitution. Our experience of government is through the +vices of its shifting plunderers, instead of the paternal protection +of its sovereign--harpies who encamp awhile, then retire laden with +spoil--all save one, who, to our grief, is bone of our bone, flesh of +our flesh. That one, my lord, is splendid indeed--by the grandeur of +his infamy--for he never knew shame or decency or conscience! He is +double-faced; a traitor to that which he should love most in all the +world. He degrades his talent to the vilest uses, and invents sham +dangers to hide real ones. Like the sailor who, to possess himself of +a bag of money, tossed a burning brand into the hold, he cries "Fire, +fire!" to divert attention from himself.' + +'Really, really, my lady!' laughed the chancellor, with constraint, +'your jester improves daily. He wallows in imagery as the swine in +mire. My good fellow, I fail to follow your meanderings, though I seem +to apprehend that you are cross about these arrests? I have naught to +do with them--will you be more comfortable if I swear it?--but I must +admit, while doing so, that I am no advocate for ill-judged leniency.' + +'If a man is so poor a rider as to cling to his nag by the spurs, he +must needs apply a strong curb to control the madness he provokes.' + +'And I am that rider? Thank you. Your ladyship's palace resembles the +home of the tranced Beauty. It is grievously begirt with thorns and +stinging-nettles. I vow I know not why our dear Curran nourishes such +asperity against me, for I never did him a favour. But there, there! +He's politically insane. A mountebank with one half his talent for +rant would make his fortune!' + +'Were I one, my lord,' returned Curran, with a bow, 'so presumptuous +as to set my little head against the opinions of a nation, I should be +glad if folks said I were insane!' + +Lord Clare's cheeks were beginning to be unusually rosy, for Doreen +gazed at him with undisguised contempt, and my lady was evidently +amused in a half-malicious way at the encounter. + +'If you think,' he said loftily, 'that it will help you into +consequence, you are welcome to bespatter me; but be assured that I +value you so little, either as a lawyer or a man, that I must decline +to address you further till you learn manners.' + +Lord Glandore was enchanted, and almost forgot his headache, for he +sniffed a good duel in the wind, and was an artist in such matters. + +'I desired to plead with you against yourself,' the little man said +stiffly, 'wherein I was a fool, because your heart, as we know, is +ice. Nay, I have done; for I may not carry on a conflict wherein +victory can bring no honour!' + +The countess smiled with thin lips, as Bess may have smiled when +Leicester and Essex were bickering. The fact of these sworn foes being +constantly here together, was in itself an indirect compliment to her +fascinations. Bowing low to her ladyship, Curran trudged across to the +stable-yard, whither his pony had trotted before; and Terence, from +whose face the devil had been peeping ever since the speech about the +half-mounted, followed him in silence thither. + +Lord Clare flicked the dust from his pink silk stockings, and plumed +himself complacently, as a hawk does after a tussle with some +formidable fowl. + +'Fore Gad, my lady,' he said, 'you are too indulgent. That animal must +be banished from your menagerie, for he is too rough a bear!' + +'A good man and true!' returned my lady, with decision; 'despite his +sharp tongue and unprepossessing shell. He was hard on you, touching +you on the raw, and you got the worst of it, and flew in a passion, +and were rude, though you pride yourself upon your temper. You must +make it up before you sit down to breakfast.' + +Terence found his chief standing over his pony, a prey to violent +agitation. + +'My boy,' he cried out at once, 'I must have a blaze at that rascal!' + +'What rascal?' asked the other, who, wounded by his mother's +indifference, was brooding on his own trouble. + +'There's but one rascal in the world, and his name's Clare! I'll make +a window through him, I will, with sword or pistol, as suits him best. +Go and tell him so.' + +'Most obliging, no doubt,' said Terence, with a half-smile; 'but you +must refrain this time, for my sake. Indeed, you employed language +such as sure never before was used to a lord chancellor. If he +survives your words, no bullet can affect him.' + +'It's no use!' persisted the little man, shivering like an aspen; 'I +shan't sleep until I shoot that rascal.' + +But Terence passed his arm affectionately within his, and Curran +perceived that there was something amiss with him. + +'You have other duties, my old friend,' the young man sighed. 'Come, +come--you must be dignified.' + +'Is it I?' returned the other, rubbing his nose ruefully. 'I fear +dignity is a robe which he who would box must lay aside during the +sparring. Maybe, when the fight's done, he'll find that it has been +stolen during the battle! A fig for dignity! I'd rather have a blaze.' + +'No!' pursued the young man, mournfully. 'For my sake, you will +abandon this quarrel. I must leave this house, and to whose should I +fly if not to yours? I must go away, for this can be borne no longer. +There is a limit to human patience, and mine is a small allowance.' + +'Do nothing rashly,' Curran urged. + +'I tell you I cannot bear it,' the young man retorted with vehemence. +'Who knows to what I might be tempted if Shane should go too far? I +tell you I dare not trust myself. And my mother has no sympathy for +me, as you saw; for she was superbly indifferent when he threw that +insult in my teeth. What cares she if I am insulted or not? Such words +from another man, and I would have sprung at his throat at once. When +we fear temptation, it is best to run away from it.' + +Curran reflected for a moment, and then grunted: + +'Boy! Coriolanus replied to his pleading parent, "Mother, you have +conquered." To oblige you, I will not shoot Lord Clare.' + +'I thank you for making an old woman of me!' Terence replied, with a +tinge of humour. 'My conduct was somewhat like a woman's, I confess, +for sure no man should bear so great an insult, even from a brother!' + +'You know best,' the little man said, patting his companion's shoulder +fondly. 'But it seems sad thus to shake off the dust of your ancestral +home. Maybe, if he sees you won't be put upon, my lord may grow more +civil. Shane no doubt is trying, and you are a warm-complexioned young +gentleman. Having no son, I would gladly take you to fill the vacant +place, as no one knows better than yourself. You shall stay with me +for a few months, and I'll speak to her ladyship about my lord, who +must be taught to cultivate a civil tongue and apologise; for there +must be no open rupture between you. We'll say it's for convenience' +sake, as I want to make a great lawyer of you. There are briefs you +must study for me, and they pour in, you know. How'll I get through +the papers at all at all, unless I have my junior near me?' + +And thus the matter was settled between them, while the elder wondered +what Mrs. Gillin would think of the arrangement. She must be +hoodwinked without delay to prevent mischief, or she would come +clamouring up to the Abbey in her quality-clothes, and all the fat +would be in the fire at once. + +Hearing a light footstep on the gravel, Terence turned, and a pang +shot through his heart as he beheld his cousin. It was dreadful to +leave her behind, in the maw as it were of Shane. Yet what difference +could his absence make to one who treated him so scurvily? And those +smart garments, too--that aggravatingly bewitching bonnet--for whose +behoof were they intended? Not for his, certainly. All things +considered, it was best that he should go. + +Meanwhile my lady calmly discussed a late breakfast in the oak parlour +with Lord Clare, unconscious that the behaviour of her sons had been +more indecorous than usual, while the originator of the quarrel +trifled languidly with an egg, speculating about time and place, +whether the duel between Curran and the chancellor was to be with +sword or pistol. Why not directly after breakfast in the rosary? a +capital spot, sheltered from wind and observation. Terence would of +course be Curran's second; Cassidy here, who had been hanging about in +a deprecatory manner, first on one leg, then on the other, would be +the chancellor's; while he, my lord, would see fair play. An excellent +arrangement. Then the combatants might amicably return together to +Dublin in the golden coach to set about the business of the day. + +Having settled the party of pleasure to his liking and reviewed its +details, the King of the Cherokees was no little disgusted to see Mr. +Curran enter presently and take his seat as if nothing had happened. +My lady, on the other hand, was mightily relieved, for she liked the +two almost equally well, leaning a little perhaps to the side of the +chancellor, on account of his polish and fine manners. She was not +blind to the faults of either of her friends. Clare, she knew, +despised literature, in which Curran delighted. He disdained the arts +of winning; was sullen sometimes, and always overbearing; and when he +condescended to be jocular was usually offensive. But then he was a +dazzling light. Curran was particularly interesting to the stately +countess by reason of his marvellous energy and originality. He was +quicksilver--surcharged with life--restless, sparkling, bewildering; +and it amused her to try to control his erratic movements. Many a time +she lectured, in private, Curran with reference to Clare--Clare with +regard to Curran. + +The latter was in the habit of deploring that the former was a patriot +lost, seduced by England, because of his aristocratic proclivities. A +patriot cannot be a courtier, he constantly declared. The ways of the +aristocracy grow more brutal and more reckless with impunity; the +coarseness of their debauchery would have disgusted the crew of Comus; +their drunkenness, their blasphemy, their ferocity, have left the +ignorant English squires far behind. To this the countess would reply +(who knew little of the Dublin _monde_, living as she did a retired +life) that he was biassed by the prejudice of his Irish slovenliness, +in that he could not look upon a man as honest who wore clean linen +and velvet small-clothes. And so the friendly conflict would go on, +one scoring a point and then the other, one breaking into rage and the +other apologising; and so the incongruous cronies wrangled along the +road of life, battling with the breezes which blew round them, whether +from east or west. + +Mr. Curran sat down to his breakfast as if nothing had happened, +tucking a napkin into his vest, and handing my Lord Clare, with biting +amiability, the salt or the butter or the bread, while my lady marked +with satisfaction that this tempest was but a squall. That the chairs +of Terence and her niece should remain unoccupied was a matter of no +moment, for the former was probably sulky after his snubbing; while as +for Doreen, her conduct was always more or less improper. Perhaps her +serene ladyship would have been ruffled if she could have looked on +them in the stable-yard, for they were standing very close together, +the one subdued by the prospect of leaving his home for the first +time, the other saddened with thinking of the arrests. + +They stood very close together, oblivious of the morning meal; and +Terence caressed the moist muzzles of the hounds with lingering +fingers, while his cousin observed that an interesting air of sadness +suited him. A too healthy look, a too ruddy cheek, are to be +deprecated as unfavourable to romance; yet is there a peculiar and +specially captivating interest about a humdrum exterior with a blight +on it. Terence was too fat and sleek; unheroic, prosaic to an absurd +degree. At least his cousin chose to think so as she looked at him. +Then she glanced down at her own fine raiment with disgust, and hated +prosperity. What right had she to flaunt in delicate muslins while her +people were in bondage? Sackcloth and ashes would become her better, +now that the last champions of her faith were pining in duress. As for +the youth here, it was only fitting that he should be fat and sleek; +for was he not a Protestant, one of the oppressors? What was his +trouble to her trouble--sorrow for a race ground down? True, his +mother loved him not, and his brother was inconsiderate. He should +have spoken boldly, putting his foot down as Doreen would have done, +though his was big and hers was tiny--demanding at least some sort of +respectful consideration, instead of wrapping himself in injured airs +as he proposed to do. And as the thought passed through her mind it +was touched by a tinge of self; for if Terence were to go away, one of +the safeguards of his cousin's peace would slip from her. With the +instinct of intrigue, which is planted in the staidest of female +bosoms, she had determined that the best way, perhaps, of +counteracting her aunt's eccentric marriage scheme would be to play +one brother off against the other. As to a match with Shane, that was +out of the question; to marry Terence would be equally undesirable. +Even now, the wistful humility with which he surveyed her fairy bonnet +was conducive only to laughter. He did not care for her any more than +she cared for him--of course not. But is it not _de rigueur_ for +youths to sigh intermittently after domesticated cousins till the +moment for the _grande passion_ arrives, when they breathe like +furnaces and threaten to fling themselves out of windows? His was +clearly a case of primary intermittent fever, which was not a serious +cause for alarm; and the damsel was quite justified in employing its +vagaries for the protection of her own peace. My lady's project, she +considered, would tumble to pieces in time through inherent weakness. +Till that auspicious moment arrived it would be necessary to stave off +a crisis. It was merely a matter of time--a brief struggle between two +strong wills, in which my lady would succumb, as she invariably did +when pitted against her stubborn niece. For this reason it was +annoying that Terence should go away, and Doreen felt tempted to +employ such arts as she might, without being unmaidenly, for the +prevention of a family split. She said therefore, with a distracting +glance of her brown eyes, while eager muzzles wormed into her hand: + +'Is this quite irrevocable? The house will be so dull without you.' + +'I would stay if you really wished it,' blurted out the inflammable +youth, pinching a cold nose till the dog--its owner--broke away +howling. 'You know there is nothing I would not do to please you, +Doreen!' + +'Is there not?' she returned, with a ring of bitterness, for she was +too straightforward to feel aught but impatience for idle +protestations. 'To please me, would you give up all for Erin, as +Theobald has done? No--you would not. A fine-weather sailor, Terence! +_You_ give up anything, who have all your life been lapped in +luxury--and why should you? Thanks to Mr. Curran, the legal ball is at +your foot, and you only need to work to become rich and happy. But I +shall be sorry to miss your bright face, for all that.' + +A second flash, as of a burn in sunlight, carried the lad beyond his +usual prudence. With disconcerting suddenness he seized her hand and +brought his flushed cheek close to hers. + +'Doreen!' he gasped. 'If you will love me and be my wife, I will do +anything and bear anything. You've only to direct. I'm poor I know, +but I will work, for I am capable of better things if I have an +object.' + +But Miss Wolfe, though far from a coquette, was gifted with presence +of mind. Her intention had been not to provoke an untoward declaration +such as would exasperate her aunt, and, possibly, Lord Glandore; but +to use this impulsive swain as a bulwark of protection against the +assaults of my lady. Perchance, under the circumstances, it was better +that he should depart for a few months to cool his too explosive +ardour. It would not do to encourage, nor yet to quarrel with him. She +escaped from him therefore, holding up her pretty hands, and said +demurely: + +'Of course, if Mr. Curran really wishes it, you had better obey. It is +a long ride for you every morning from the Abbey to the Four-courts.' + +The Priory, on the other side of Dublin, was about the same distance +from the Four-courts, Terence thought with anger. The girl was playing +with him, as she always did. + +'I hope Sara will make you comfortable,' she went on. 'No doubt she +will, she is so sweet a girl. Then we shall meet at Castle balls, and +you shall lead me out for a rigadoon like a mere stranger. That will +be funny, will it not? You don't mean what you say one bit, and it is +a relief to me to know that it is all flummery--you silly, hot-pated, +blarneying Pat! Come along. We will go and eat our breakfast and be +thankful that we have one to eat, instead of talking nonsense. That is +all that you or I are fit for, I am afraid! For it is not such as you +nor I who are destined to save poor Ireland!' + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE PRIORY. + + +A year went by, and Terence was still away from home, an inmate of the +Priory; settled down, much against his will, as a sober councillor, +principal assistant to Mr. Curran, the continually rising advocate. +Sober is scarcely the fitting epithet, for conviviality was the +besetting sin of all classes of Irish in the eighteenth century, and +it was notorious that legal gentlemen, from Judge Clonmel to the +meanest attorney, were constantly in the habit of going drunk to +roost. Where lawyers led, Dublin was fain to follow, for the Bar +took the lead in the society of the metropolis, occupying a strong +middle position of its own between 'gentlemen to the backbone' and +'half-mounted' ditto, from, which it dictated to both. As the policy +of ministers grew more and more unpopular, it became more and more +urgent that Government patronage should be expended in purchasing +support for the measures under which the country groaned; and where +could support be more easily found than among the exponents of +forensic wisdom? + +Successfully to do battle with Flood and Grattan it was necessary to +scrape together as much intellect as was available, and so every +promising barrister became certain of a seat in parliament if he would +furbish up his brains for the Viceroy's benefit. This gave to the +lawyers a prestige which drew sons of peers within their ranks, and +they assumed superior airs, which no man challenged, in that their +profession was a nursery to the senate--a step-ladder to the highest +honours. Younger sons of noble houses invariably lean towards the +middle class, because a wide difference of income divides them in +feeling and ways of thought from their elder brothers. Such lordlings +as possessed a competence chose to while away their hours elegantly in +gowns and bands. And so the Bar became the fashion, the lawyers being +credited with such attributes as they thought proper to adopt, and +being permitted to wield an arbitrary sway which was beneficial and +mirth-inspiring. They assumed the right of mind over matter, and +people bowed the knee without inquiry, for they were pre-eminently +jolly dogs who made life the merrier, whose scraps of legal lore +sounded mightily sonorous to ignorant ears, and who, if one was rash +enough to presume to dispute their law, were always ready to take +refuge behind the inevitable pistol. But human nature at its best is +frail, and even lawyers are not always pure. When came the tug of +war--when the Four-courts were closed and courts-martial juggled away +men's lives--the councillors prated no more of their incorruptible +virtue, but donned the uniform as others did, and truckled, with a few +bright exceptions, as meanly as the rest. + +But we are now in 1796, when King Claret ruled the roast; when all +were besotted with drink, from Clonmel who gave sentence with a drop +in his eye, to the beggar in the dock who starved his stomach to buy a +drain of spirits; when out of the six thousand houses which formed +Dublin, thirteen hundred were occupied as boozing-kens; when guests +were deprived of their shoes by a host who understood hospitality, and +broken glass was sprinkled in the passages to prevent a man from +jibbing at his liquor. + +Mr. Curran's fears were being realised in this year of '96, for the +criminal business to which he had turned his attention was increasing +on his hands through the swelling torrent of treasonable charges. My +Lord Clare's policy was bearing its full crop of evils, for he had +succeeded in moulding the too plastic Viceroy into the shape that +suited him, according to the plan laid down by Mr. Pitt. Lord Camden, +whilst meaning to do well, was repeatedly led astray, as many a better +man has been before him. To Clare he was a docile cat. He submitted to +the secret council of Lords--that mysterious wehmgericht--who were +urged by the chancellor to the most violent proceedings, and became +unconsciously a scapegoat for the bearing of the sins of others. + +Under skilful manipulation the Society of United Irishmen flourished +prodigiously. Tom Emmett and Neilson were kept in prison, where they +languished without trial. Others were let out and caged again as +occasion required, that they might inflame their fellows with a +catalogue of dread experiences. Midnight meetings resulted, wherein +orators declaimed of the wickedness of the perfidious one, and +summoned all true patriots to take the fatal oath. The decision which +had been come to on the disastrous night in Trinity was carried out to +the letter, and was much assisted in its fulfilmeut by the harsh +treatment of the chiefs. The military system was engrafted on the +civil. + +Faithful to his promise, Cassidy rode to Belfast, delivered Emmett's +order to the delegates there, and then with commendable prudence +subsided into the background. The provincial committee spread out its +arms, from which new ones were speedily engendered, and passed +resolutions of grave import, while England stifled her merriment. +Civil officers were to wear military titles. A secretary over twelve +was to become a petty officer with gewgaws on his coat; a delegate +over five of these, a captain, with more gewgaws; a superior over five +captains, a colonel with a plume; mighty fine! The colonels of each +county were to send three names to the central directory, from which +one was to be chosen adjutant-general of his county to deal directly +with the capital. And thus a national army was forming in the dark, +just as the Volunteer army had sprung up in the daylight, with the +important difference that by this time England had cured her wounds +and regained her pristine strength. + +I protest that this linen-draper-medley masquerading in galoon would +be laughable, were it not so sad a spectacle. But who shall dare to +laugh at honest men, whose delusions are nursed and played upon +instead of being tenderly swept away? Curran's sympathies were with +the reformers, but not his judgment; and he became a sort of link +between two parties. His position as a lawyer gave him the _entrée_ to +the best houses, whilst his homely habits and untidy dress caused the +lower orders to look on him as one of themselves. Between the rival +parties he shillyshallied with a weakness which his character belied, +grumbling at the patriots for their imprudence, growling at the sins +of Government, very uncomfortable in his mind, and of no use so far to +either of the opposing factions. + +As the members of the society committed themselves more deeply, Lord +Clare became more gay. He hinted to the half-mounted gentry that if +they liked it they might volunteer as active agents against the +misguided youths who were preparing to turn Ireland topsy-turvy. +Nothing could please the squireens better than this tacit permission +to give vent to their worst passions. Brutal, cruel, sycophantic (as +ignorant and depraved natures are), they began to band themselves in +regiments, with nobles for superior officers, and to commit outrages +on those below them, pretty certain that they would be indemnified for +any atrocity they might commit. _L'appétit vient en mangeant_. The +peasant, ground down and wretched to the level of the serf of +Elizabeth, howled out that Justice was indeed fled, and hearkened with +ravenous avidity to the voice of the charmer who sang of French ships +in the offing, and a proximate term to misery. Drilling went on under +cover of night, and the practice of the pike, since gunpowder could +not be purchased; and the shibboleth anent the bough which was to be +planted in England's crown might be heard a hundred times in whispers +on every market-day. + +But, misery or no misery, folks must eat and drink, and the +Hibernian nature--as quick to resent as to forgive, as vehement as +indiscreet--is given to extremes, from sadness to mirth and back +again. + +Mr. Curran, though his heart was sore, was fond of dainty viands, and +beguiled himself, as others did, with the pleasures of the table; +striving to drown, with a clatter of knives and forks, the din of +approaching tempest. His board was ever sumptuously garnished, his +claret of the best, his welcome of the warmest, and few who were +bidden to partake of it ever declined his hospitality. + +Timid Arthur Wolfe, who was growing more cautious every day, and doing +his best to serve two masters for his daughter's sake, implored his +friend to take example by himself, demonstrating in the clearest way +that the history of my Lord Clare was becoming the history of all +Ireland, and that a man with a child's future in his hands has no +right to run a-muck. He had found out that the chancellor had +endeavoured to buy Curran, and failing ignominiously in that attempt, +was trying to undermine his business. Why be for ever snarling at Lord +Clare? It would be the old story of the pipkin and the iron pot. To +which arguments Curran answered, laughing: + +'Is it I that's the frog, and he the bull? Maybe it'll turn out +t'other way. I'm mad, no doubt, to set my small pebble to stop his +chariot, but many a trivial thing has proved the factor in a great +catastrophe, and I'll even insert my pebble. Fudge, Arthur! I'm too +popular, and my life's too open for even Lord Clare to wreak his +vengeance on me.' + +Then Arthur Wolfe persisted, entreating that at least he would avoid +the charge of holding seditious meetings at his house. The weekly +dinners at the Priory were jovial, he admitted, beyond compare. The +cup went round as merrily as if Erin were a buxom wench, dimpled, and +well-to-do--but there could be no denying that those who drank of it +were marked men mostly, who knew the inside of Newgate as well as the +Priory parlour, and these were ticklish times for political +flirtation. What would befall Sara, honest Arthur pleaded, if an +accident were to befall the councillor? So delicate a blossom would +shrivel under the first frostnipping. On her father's head must rest +the consequence if misfortune crushed his child. + +At mention of Sara Mr. Curran would become exceedingly perplexed, torn +by two apparently incompatible duties, as he reflected on his pale +primrose. How wonderful are the decrees of Fate! Why are beings, +abnormally sensitive and delicate--whose fibres are liable to injury +by the most careful handling--pitchforked into a world of stones for +the express purpose of being bruised? Sara's nature was one which +needed sun and flowers, hourly solicitude and broidered blanketing, +yet here was she cast upon a rocky coast, battered by cold winds, +which threatened to become each day more easterly! Was she sent to +earth merely to bear pain, to linger for a space in more or less +protracted agony, and then to die? Possibly. It is a cruel creed to +accept, but the experience of the world we live in forces it upon us. +Perchance we shall learn to see a reason for it later on. + +The crash was coming, as none perceived more clearly than Mr. Curran. +Might anything avert it? Nothing. What would happen to cherished +ones in the throes of the hurricane? But how bootless was such +self-communing! _Fais ce que devra!_ Mr. Curran was determined not to +shrink from duty to the soil which gave him birth. Though the days of +Roman virtue were overpast, he would sacrifice his heart's treasure on +the altar if need were, trusting to God's mercy for the rest; and it +was the kernel of his project to keep watch over the society--with it +in the spirit, but not of it in the body. He was wont to say with +pride that he had never wittingly snubbed any man who was in earnest. +Self-willed himself, he respected those who strove to make themselves, +and respected men doubly if their aspirations were unselfish. He said +to himself that the motives of this small self-sacrificing band were +pure where all else was foul; that though for their own sakes he dared +not espouse their tenets openly, yet it would be a coward's act to +deprive them of his countenance and advice because they walked in +danger. So he shook his head at time-serving Arthur Wolfe, and went +his independent way, and waited for his chosen guests each Wednesday +afternoon, caring no fig for Lord Clare's menaces, sorry only that he +continued to exist. + +He stood straddle-legged at the hour of five on a reception-day, among +the dishevelled laurestinus bushes, which he was pleased to call his +avenue, swinging his portly watch by its ribbon--as his way was when +guests were late. The Priory was a snug abode, if not endowed with +beauty; but then the works of man in Ireland are seldom in beautiful +accordance with the handiwork of God. It was a frightful ungainly +villa erected in the hideous style of Irish suburban architecture, +with attenuated slits of windows and tall consumptive doors set +half-way up in a bald waste of rough whitewashed wall. The usual +alpine stair led to the entrance; arranged, as it appeared, for the +purpose of setting an honoured guest on a glorious pinnacle of +observation, till slipshod Kathy could hitch up her draggled skirts to +let him in. + +From the parlour window might be admired a prospect of barn, dunghill, +dovecote, horsepond, piggery, which offered to the nose in summer a +bouquet of varied sweets; while the usual yard or two of road swept +round the usual dark circular grassplot with a mouldy rhododendron in +the centre of it. The orchard behind was christened by its owner his +pistol-gallery, but it was at the same time a forum; for there might +Mr. Curran frequently be seen of a morning, declaiming with +Demosthenic energy, whilst he lodged bullets at intervals in the bark +of special trees. + +The odour of savoury viands assailed his nostrils as he stood +statue-like on the pinnacle and whirled his watch, for he hated +unpunctuality above all things. His beetle-brows were knit, his lower +lip protruded, and he wondered whether any of his guests had been +arrested. That was naturally his first fear, and he wagged his head +with gloom at some ducks that quacked in a neighbouring puddle as he +surveyed the lugubrious possibility. + +'Idiots!' he moralised. 'Pictures of ourselves, who dream of dinner as +though sorrow could not wake. Alas! Fate is common and the future is +unseen, as the Arab proverb has it. You rejoice in the balmy showers, +do you?--not knowing, in your crass ignorance, that they will make the +peas grow! And here are we, as foolish as you, going in for a +jollification, as though a few months might not bring grief to all of +us! Ahem! It is well that we are a careless nation, or every Irishman +would cut his throat before he grew to manhood.' + +Terence, who was drawing corks as if catering for an army, laughed +aloud, for he at least showed no signs of brooding melancholy; being +prepared rather to take life as he found it, and enjoy it too, for his +bright brave nature endeared him to all, and he was himself too frank +to believe in the pervading blackness of the human heart. As Doreen +pictured, he had attended the Castle balls during the winter, and had +led out his cousin for a turn of passepied or rigadoon without much +sighing; had dutifully called on his mother when Shane was safe away, +and had spent the rest of his time yawning over briefs for the behoof +of Mr. Curran. + +These briefs caused little disputes sometimes between the two, which +it became Sara's duty to smooth away--for Terence was wofully idle and +abhorred his work, being wont to declare that intellectual labour was +one thing, and unintellectual drudgery another, till his chief waxed +exceeding wroth, and asserted that idleness led to mischief. Sometimes +there appeared a flickering flame of ambition in him, which Curran +tried hard to foster; but before he had time to fan it, Terence would +cry, 'Oh, bother?' and, flinging the brief into the garden, go forth +to fish with Phil. No one could be angry with him long. Idleness seems +to suit some natures, which appear moulded for the enjoyment of other +people's labour. + +In the ways of the world Terence was an infant; in the balance of +right and wrong inclined to be unsteady from sheer indolence of brain. +His bubbling, brawling flow of spirits deceived casual observers, who +set him down as frivolous, impelled by the lightest breeze. Doreen, +whose experience was limited, thought him so with a feeling of +affection, in which contempt was mingled; but Curran knew better. He +knew that many a sensitive man wilfully assumes a disparaging exterior +to mask his holy of holies even from himself. He knew that few among +us ever quite know ourselves; but wake up sometimes in the decline of +life to discover new virtues or new vices, of whose existence we were +quite unconscious; that we come to know our own characters by flashes, +just as we learn those of our nearest and dearest friends. + +Terence was a general favourite; a hearty devil-may-care young fellow, +with a good digestion and few individual troubles, and was looked upon +with awe by gentle little Sara, as he helped in her household cares. +Indeed, Mr. Curran was justified in being cross this day, for the +repast was ready, if the guests were not. Veal, turkey, ham--all +piping hot--smoked in their respective dishes. Powldoody oysters +smiled as a centre-piece, flanked by speckled trout, caught but an +hour ago by Terence's servant Phil. Rows of wine-bottles garnished the +parlour wainscoting; the trim little hostess was squeezing lemons into +a jug on the hearthstone, with a view to prospective punch. He spun +his watch faster and faster as moments waned, more and more certain +that something untoward must have happened, and was no little relieved +by the sound of horses' feet, and the sight of his party approaching. + +'Hooroo, boys!' he cried cheerily, shaking off his gloom. 'Ye're late, +but no mather; ye're welcome, and shall carry home what ye like with +ye, rather than an appetite.' + +Sara had a becoming blush ready for her undergraduate, as he +approached to kiss her hand. She looked shyly in his eyes, and marked +with uneasiness that they were growing very dreamy, while an habitual +contraction fretted his forehead, which she knew came from distress +about his brother. She knew--for sometimes she took entrancing walks +with him--that his temper was becoming soured and his spirit chafed, +in that Tom languished on in prison without trial. Was not such +injustice outrageous? The charges against him were grave, no doubt; +that bit of paper which blundering Cassidy had failed to swallow was +compromising in a high degree; but then others quite as much +compromised were let off long since with a fine, whilst Tom remained +untried. Any trial--before a jury however packed--would be better than +such lingering suspense. If the worst came to the worst, the crown of +martyrdom, which would go with conviction, would be some small +comfort; but to have lain rotting in a gaol for a year, to be immured +without a term till well-nigh forgotten, was like the death of a rat +in a hole; and as ardent young Robert thought of it, his +constitutional dread of bloodshed almost went from him. Seeing what he +was forced to see, he regretted his oath in nowise. + +Among many enthusiasts few were so enthusiastic as this boy--few +looked so hopefully for news of Tone and of his doings in France. The +newspaper of his imprisoned brother had somehow revived, though the +guiding hand was shackled, and wonderful articles appeared in its +pages which might well have brought down, for the second time, the +chancellor's vengeful claw on it. But such rash ebullitions of an +imprudent ardour were just what Lord Clare required. Nobody knew who +edited Tom's journal now (possibly many had a finger in it). It +certainly was not Robert, for he was but eighteen and a student still +of Trinity; but that he helped and gambolled on the chasm's verge, his +friends did know, and remonstrated with him more than once. + +Curran was constantly lecturing him, but without effect, for the +froward boy only bade him attend to his own affairs; suggested that if +he wanted to save somebody from the vortex he had better look after +his own future son-in-law, and this made Curran angry. Yes; this was +one of the things which had resulted from Terence's leaving home. +Busybodies had winked and nodded, declaring that the little lawyer was +wise in his generation; that, having feathered his nest, he might do +worse for Sara than introduce her into the peerage with a plump dowry. +If a trifle reckless he was shrewd, they said; for whilst dallying +with the United Irishmen he had taken care to drag along with him the +brother of a great lord, who could not well interfere on behalf of a +near kinsman without also throwing the ægis of his rank over another +who ran in couples with him. The busybodies talked nonsense, as they +generally do. Mr. Curran had no views as yet with regard to Sara, and +required the protection of no aristocratic ægis. His reputation had +risen so high during the last twelve months by reason of the splendid +bravery with which he had defended the foes of established government, +that neither Pitt nor Clare dared at this moment to touch the +champion. His place at the Bar was so unique that there was no man, +not merely next, but near him. Other advocates were to him as the +stars to the sunbeam. In court he was at once persuasive, eloquent, +acute, argumentative; striking with cunning hand the chord of pity, +then (for he knew his audience) checking the rising tear with +laughter. As a cross-examiner he was unrivalled. Let truth and +falsehood be ever so intricately dovetailed, he could part them with a +touch. Swiftly he would place his finger on a vital point, untwist a +tangle and involve perjury in the confusion of its contradictions. So +long as he retained his purity, it would never do to assail this +Galahad. All were aware of that, and so he needed no help from a great +lord. + +Yet many wondered whether he might be secretly afraid of being +ensnared; whether, foreseeing the struggle that was imminent, he might +not deem it prudent to prepare a sure method of escape. The children +of darkness have more ways of circumventing the children of light than +it is at all pleasant for you and me (who of course belong to the +latter category) to reflect upon. He was ill-judged, possibly, in +throwing a young man like Terence into too close contact with the +would-be reformers. But then was not that youth already a friend of +the Emmetts and of Tone? Was not his innate laziness a bulwark of +defence? Was he not in the habit of defending Lord Clare, and of +pointing out that party-spirit embitters people to the point of +shameful slander? As yet he declined to admit that the chancellor had +horns and hoofs. + +Although he scorned the worldly-wise advice of Arthur Wolfe, Mr. +Curran was careful, when he could, to check open expressions of +sedition at his table. On this very day he found it necessary several +times to change the current of talk before the cloth was removed, when +Sara, nodding pleasantly to Terence and to her undergraduate, rose and +withdrew to her chamber. + +But there was a special reason on this particular day for an extra +amount of wrath on the part of the young men, his guests, which did +not fail to produce its answering growl from their host. That fresh +arbitrary arrests should have taken place surprised him not at +all--such proceedings were of daily occurrence. That Sirr, the +town-major, should be enlarging his paid army of false-witnesses, who +were becoming notorious as 'the band of testimony,' was also, alas, no +new thing. That a man's life could be sworn away by one witness who +had never seen him before was an awful fact; but then he, Mr. Curran, +was at hand to protest, and the recognised forms of law still +permitted an accused sometimes to baffle the paid malice of the +informer. + +It was an open question, all admitted, how far a government might go +in espionage. In moments of peril to the public weal it is certain +that ministers must draw their information from any quarter, however +foul; but to offer a premium to rascality is surely criminal. To +gain information of facts from detectives is quite a different matter +from the employment of secret agents to tempt people into sin and +then hound them down. Robert Emmett brought news with him this day +that seemed to foreshadow a change of tactics on the part of the +executive--ominous news the discussion of which had made the party +late upon the road, and which caused the young men, so soon as their +hostess had retired, to abandon social gossip for more grave +communion. + +'Friends,' Robert said, 'they intend to exasperate us. There can be no +more doubt about it, though I am in the dark as to their motives. +Please God, Theobald's mission will be accomplished ere 'tis too late; +the French will come to our succour before we are goaded to despair.' + +Cassidy, who had such a blundering tendency to do the wrong thing in +the wrong place, here broke out into a new ditty which was beginning +to be popular, trolling forth in his mellow voice: + + + 'The French are on the say, says the Shan van Vocht; + And will be here without delay, says the Shan van Vocht;' + + +but he was sternly bidden to fill his glass and pass the +round-bottomed bottle without making himself noisily objectionable; +and, whatever other peccadillo he might think proper to commit, above +all things to drink fair. + +'Major Sirr's banditti,' the undergraduate went on, so soon as the +bottle, being empty, could be laid down, 'have taken on them a new +function. They arrogate to themselves now a right of paying +domiciliary visits without search-warrants, of forcing open a person's +door whensoever the outrage may suit their whim. A year ago they +wormed their way into Trinity, and by an accident we were unable to +rouse the college.' + +'Arrah, thin,' grumbled Cassidy, 'will ye always be pitching my big +shoulder sand empty head in my teeth? I was sorry for my awkwardness, +and that's enough.' + +'But at that time they were right to take us, if they could; for in +truth we were conspiring--a red-letter day in my memory, the day I +took the oath! Hearken to this, all of you! You know Tim Flanagan, of +Ormond's Quay, whose lady--God rest her soul!--was brought to bed a +week ago? She died, so did the child, last night; and Tim, gone wild +with sorrow, threw himself on the floor beside the corpse, refusing to +be comforted. There came a knocking at his warehouse entry; it was +barred, and the men away. His sister, from a window, desired to +know what was wanted. Sirr answered that he was come to search the +house--for what, in the Lord's name? Gunpowder cannot be bought. The +sister offered money if they would respect their grief, but not +enough. In the warehouses nothing compromising was found, of course. +The room where the corpse lay was to be searched also. They battered +in the door of the guarded chamber, but recoiled in a fright, for Tim +stood with a threatening glare of madness beside his young wife, a +knife clutched in his right hand. They fled, these myrmidons who +disregarded an agony of soul which a savage would respect; and Tim +knelt down there and then, with his appalled sister, swearing, on the +blue lips of her who was gone before, an eternal enmity against the +Castle tyrants.' + +There was a long silence, during which Curran hung his head, while the +brow of his junior darkened, and honest Phil, his goggle-eyed +henchman, poured claret in his master's lap instead of into his glass. + +'It is horrible!' sighed Cassidy, and swore a string of oaths. 'Tim +Flanagan had fought shy of the society,' he shouted, 'but now would +surely join it. His was but one case out of many. The wickedness of +those in power would surely drive all Ireland to take the oath, and +then the sons of the soil would rise as one man and hunt the tyrants +into the Channel.' + +Mr. Curran shook his rough head. + +'They are working for a purpose, as Robert says,' he remarked; 'a +wicked purpose, which aims at our eternal slavery. Instead of +sowing seeds of wholesome trees, beneath which our children may seek +shelter, they cherish poisonous roots, with the intent to squat like +witches in a plantation of nightshade. You will never hunt them into +the Channel. Do you know that they are flooding the island with +troops--_disciplined troops_, who will part your ill-trained myriads +like water? I see their aim, though they would fain hide it till the +fruit is ripe. They will goad us by insidious outrage to despair, then +stamp on us with an overwhelming force, and, when we are faint and +bleeding, will tie us, gagged and chained, to the car of England for +evermore.' + +'What do you mean?' Terence inquired sternly. + +'I mean,' responded his chief, 'that when we are ground into the dust, +they will sweep us from the list of nations. Cobwebs will gather round +the locks of our senate-house; our exchange will be silent as the +tomb, our docks empty, our quays deserted. England will swallow us +body and soul; will devour our liberty, and with it our existence.' + +'Never!' bawled impetuous Cassidy. 'We will die first, if it's thrue +what he says, and he's more wise than I. We are men, aren't we, who +can die but once? Shall we lie down to be whipped, like dancing-dogs? +There's no going back, except for cowards, boys! All must fall in, or +be disgraced. What say you, Master Crosbie, will you sit by and see +Ould Erin sold?' + +The excitement of this bellowing athlete was contagious. + +'If I believed that there was one tittle of truth in the suspicions of +my old friend, I'd take the oath to-morrow,' cried Terence, with a +slap upon the table. 'But he exaggerates.' + +'Do I?' growled Curran. 'I say that they mean to unite Ireland to +England, and that their present operations are tending to that end; +and I also affirm that, whether you take the oath or whether you do +not, that important ceremony will have no effect whatever on the +end--you coxcomb!' + +'Be their intentions what they may, there is no going back now,' +echoed young Robert, sipping his claret dreamily. 'All who have a real +stake in the country must see that. Is not our first stake our +national honour? and how may we bow our necks beneath the Saxon's heel +without eternal shame? The truculent, bloody Saxon! who has left his +track like a livid welt across our land, in altars polluted and laid +low, pledges made and broken, a long trail of lust and rapine and +crime.' + +A faint smile flitted over Cassidy's features, for this was the turgid +eloquence of the mysterious newspaper whose editor was in Newgate. + +'Boy, you chatter balderdash,' Curran snapped shortly; 'such +balderdash as the ignorant drink too eagerly for truth. Oh for a +little ballast to keep us steady! An Irishman, when not stranded on +the Scylla of indolence, is certain to flounder headforemost on the +Charybdis of enthusiasm; and, of the two dangers, the latter is +generally the worst.' + +'Deed, it's thrue what ye say, councillor dear,' Cassidy murmured, in +a coaxing tone. 'But sure, though you rail at us, you would not stand +by neither, any more nor this young gintleman? We know well enough +your heart is with us.' + +'You are no better than baaing sheep following one another into the +shambles,' answered the host testily, for he was taken aback by this +open assault upon himself and Terence. 'Your ill-digested plans must +fail.' + +'Fail!' echoed Robert and Cassidy together. 'Why,' continued the +former, forgetting his horror of bloodshed, 'when the time comes we +shall count upon a hundred thousand men. I know it by the returns sent +in to the Directory.' + +'On paper.' + +'And the French will be here in force--the veterans of the Republic.' + +'The French, the French!' growled Curran. 'Say that they land and beat +the armies of King George, which I much doubt; will they not soon +weary of a precarious possession, and, carrying you to market in some +treaty of peace, barter you away to be well scourged? I vow I have no +patience with you, grieved though I be for the humble order of the +people, who from lack of education are easily deluded. Depend upon it, +your acts are all known in London. By the time you are ready, the +towns will seethe with British troops. I tremble to think of the +result.' + +'Would ye have us turn the cheek like good Christians, then?' jeered +the giant, who, under influence of wine, was becoming warm. 'Are the +sons of the ancient kings meekly to become galley-slaves?' + +'What would I have ye do?' retorted the host, who perceived with wrath +that he was being driven into a corner. 'I'd have ye keep a civil +tongue, and talk no treason till ye're outside my privet-hedge. If ye +do not, I'll report what's been said to Clare; I will, upon my honour, +to save ye from worse folly.' + +The sturdy little man looked as if he were quite capable of carrying +out his threat. If he were to disclose all he knew of them, it would +be terrible indeed. + +Cassidy, the claret mounting to his muddled brain, seized a decanter +with the laudable intention of belabouring his host with it. + +'A traitor!' he muttered fiercely. 'That's the lowest beast that +crawls. If ye spake ere a word of us, I'll pistol ye in the street!' + +The lawyer looked calmly up at the menacing giant and laughed. 'Put it +down, big baby,' he said. 'You dare to think me half-hearted because I +won't take a pike and try to knock down St. Patrick's. Does any man in +Ireland love Erin more than I? Learn, fool, that men have different +functions assigned to them. Do your best, if God wills it so. When the +battle's lost ye'll want me to bind your gashes. I've listened to much +rubbish this afternoon. Now you, in your turn, listen to the truth, +which is bad enough--ochone! I _know_ that all your martial goings-out +and comings-in are reported one by one; I _know_ that they are +broidured and embellished before they cross the sea. I have reason to +suspect--I admit I cannot prove it yet--that such cooked accounts are +given of your doings as actually to alarm the British cabinet. You are +playing into Pitt's hands. I have heard that they even talk of +"martial-law" as possible. If they come to that, the Lord be merciful +to our poor Erin!' + +Mr. Curran's head sank on his breast, and tears ran down his rugged +cheeks; while the conspirators glanced one at the other with pallid +faces. Martial law! rough and ready tribunals presided over by the +tools of England! Sure their host's terrors must carry him away. And +yet he might be right, judging from the past. It was quite possible +that they were being deliberately driven to the shambles in cold +blood--like victims marked out for slaughter by some savage despot. +Cassidy laid down the decanter, and began to stammer apologies for his +petulance. + +The noise of voices at high words brought Sara into the room, who, +frightened at the sudden dread which seemed to have invaded the party, +clung to her father, while she turned an inquiring glance to the +undergraduate. + +'What is it, father?' she murmured with dim fear, for the adored face +of Robert was distorted with passion, while his hands shook like +leaves. + +'A Union is it that they want?' the boy muttered 'twixt chattering +teeth. 'I will resist it to the last gasp of my existence--to the last +drop of my blood--and when death comes, I will call down the eternal +curse of Heaven upon the destroyers of our freedom!' + +Sara felt dizzy, and would have fallen but for her father's encircling +arm. Dark shadows of foreboding were flitting across her mind. Was he +whom she elected to worship to be drawn into the whirlpool after all? +Was Robert to share Theobald's fate--to be banished from friends and +motherland? In her gentle loving heart she registered a vow that if +that fate should come on him, the sorrow of his exile should be +soothed by no hand but hers. + +Mr. Curran set himself to calm his darling. 'Silly child!' he said, +patting her yellow curls. 'There, there, why not in bed? Fie! young +ladies mustn't rush in where gintlemen are toping. Well, as ye are +here, pick up the matarials from the hearth, my love, and squeeze in +another lemon. This won't do. I shall lose my reputation as a _bon +viveur_. A sentiment? Bravo! Here 'tis. Come, bumpers! "If a man fills +the bottom of his glass, more shame to him if he doesn't fill the top; +and if he empties the top, sure he'd not be so base as to deny the +bottom the same compliment!" Now we'll lock the doors, and my big +friend shall expend his exuberance in song. A toast first. You too +shall sip of it, my blossom, for there's ne'er a bit of treason in +it.' Then, clasping Sara's slender waist, he raised his haggard eyes, +and said solemnly: 'As God in these latter days is unfolding in His +creatures strange new powers, so may they all tend to Freedom, Peace, +and Harmony. May those who are free never be enslaved--may those who +are slaves be speedily set free. Amen!' + +Cassidy, quite good-humoured and repentant now--for his bark was +always more awful than his bite--tuned up and sang his choicest +ditties; yet somehow there was a pall over the party which music could +not dissipate. Truths had slipped out in the desultory talk which +weighed down the souls of all. Mr. Curran, usually a pearl among +hosts, was worried and absent, for, look at the situation as he would, +there was nothing to be seen but impending disaster, and he thought +that perhaps he had spoken out too openly. Terence, too, seemed much +disturbed in mind; more moved at Robert's story and his own hints than +he liked to see. Perchance it would be safest to pack him home without +delay. Yet no--his was not the soul-harrowing indignation which +exercised the patriots. He was shocked, but there was no real danger +of his being trapped. It would lie heavy on his conscience, though, if +this artless joyous creature should be dragged into the vortex. Much +better that he should shoot, and hunt, and fish, and make the most of +the happy accident of his social standing. Certainly he would show +little affection for his _protégé_ if he permitted him to be trapped, +and Cassidy showed wondrous anxiety to trap him. An odd person, +Cassidy; a whimsical combination of opposing essences; one of those +dangerous hot natures whose ill-balanced zeal is more fatal to a cause +than enmity. No one could on occasion be more oafishly stupid than he, +or more rashly brave; and yet the way he kept up a show of intercourse +with Major Sirr and my Lord Clare, after the fashion of a safety-rope +to which to cling in peril, was worthy of quite a subtle plotter. That +the giant meant well there could be no doubt. But if he, Curran, had +had aught to do with the society, he would have stipulated that this +firebrand should be kept as much as might be in the background. + +While he meditated thus the punch-bowl was emptied, and, as he made a +move to refill it, the party broke into knots and resumed the topic +which engrossed them. + +Terence listened to young Robert's views, which, under the auspices of +liquor, grew more rosy and more loud. + +'I don't mind telling you about it,' the boy was saying, 'for I know +that your honour is too fine to allow the smallest hint to be dropped +of what I say. The French will come with 15,000 men, and gunpowder, +and muskets. Pikeheads are being hammered out of hours on hundreds of +village anvils.' + +'They will never send 15,000 men,' Terence objected, with a doggedness +induced by drink. 'Their coffers are empty. Holland, Switzerland, the +Rhine, claim the attention of their arms.' + +'If they send but 5,000 the work can be done. You don't believe it? +With three hundred as officers to head our own people, we could make +an effort.' + +'What can a rabble hope to do against a disciplined force?' exclaimed +Terence, with animation. 'The French could not spare three hundred +officers to this outlying island. Who have you amongst you who could +teach a single military man[oe]uvre? Who could save an army from rout +if attacked in rear, or judiciously decide upon a line of +entrenchment? What a reckless waste of life--a march into the grave!' + +'There are cultivated gintlemen who will come forward when they see +that we are in earnest,' put in Cassidy slyly; 'lots of them. There is +no telling what mines of military genius may be found amongst the +high-born. I confess I'd like to know what we really may expect from +France. Theobald has been ten months in Paris, is hand and glove they +say with General Hoche, and Carnot, the "Organiser of Victory." +Strange he should never write.' + +'My cousin Doreen has letters from him,' Terence said, in thick +accents. 'Maybe she'd tell us if we coaxed her.' Then, rising, he +flung wide the shutters and opened the window, through which streamed +such a flood of morning light and perfumed air as caused his wits to +reel. Cassidy grinned, as he marked the 'us,' and, encouraged by so +good a sign, made bold to clap the young patrician upon the shoulder. + +'Sure she'd tell you, councillor darlint,' he whispered; 'for she +likes you, and I can get nothing serious out of her. Faix! it's the +dainty colleen she is!' + +'I dare say she would,' returned Terence, while lines of latent humour +puckered up the giant's face. Councillor Crosbie's lofty patronage +amused him, for, of the two, Mr. Cassidy had seen most of the Abbey +during the past year. 'The day is come,' he urged; 'the very hour for +a ride. Will ye go and find out something to make our minds aisy, or +do ye think Misthress Doreen would be cross wid ye?' + +Cassidy was taking liberties. Of that Terence felt hazily assured. + +'Yes,' he replied, 'I will canter over to Strogue to see what I can +gather; a gallop by the beach will steady my nerves for the business +of the infernal Four-courts. Tell Phil, Cassidy, to saddle the horses +at once.' + +Cassidy humbly obeyed orders, while Curran, who was watching, laughed, +despite his dreary thoughts. How translucent is the strategy of youth! +The squireen's familiar manner of mentioning Doreen had stung her +cousin, and filled him with a desire to warn her of the oaf's +presumption. It was a fine excuse for stealing a delicious hour with a +girl who loved not flirtation; who crumpled up her admirers with +scorn; who might, without some such excuse, resent even a cousin's +interference with the stern duties of matutinal chicken-feeding. + +'Go!' Mr. Curran laughed, his conscience relieved, as he placed his +hand on the broad straight back of his favourite. 'Go, lad, and learn +what you can from that lovely conspiring siren. I think my Sally must +go too, to protect you. Stop a minute while I write a line to my lady. +I'm sorry we've not had so gay a time as usual--but sure gaiety is +being squeezed quite out of us. One Doughan Dourish before we +separate. Here's to Innisfail, and may God have mercy on her! And now +good-night, or rather good-morning. I've a heavy day before me, and +must e'en steal forty winks.' + +The party mounted their horses and rode away, and Mr. Curran went to +bed and slept, quite persuaded now that Terence must go home and stop +there. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + LOVES AND DOVES? + + +Honest Phil saddled the horses and brought them round in a +twinkling, delighted always with a journey to the Abbey; for did not +red-haired Biddy, who held his large heart in keeping, abide at the +shebeen foreninst the Little House with her mamma, Jug Coyle? Jug +Coyle--the Collough--or wise woman, mistress of hidden arts, whose +little public-house, on Madam Gillin's land, had grown more orderly +than heretofore during the last few months. It was not that grooms and +soldiers frequented it the less, but that, instead of sitting on the +bench without, roaring ribald staves into the small hours, as had been +the objectionable custom, they now preferred the innermost room with a +well-closed door. Yet, roistering or silent, there was the shebeen +with its mouldering thatched roof and discoloured whitewash walls, and +one of its tiny windows roughly boarded up, at the very gate of the +lordly Abbey--an undiminished eyesore to the chatelaine. + +Sara, whose gentle nature was perturbed by the scene at the +supper-table--the pale faces and haggard looks--slept not a wink all +night, and was most glad to join Terence in a canter by the seashore. +She daily grew fonder of Doreen, whose quiet manner seemed to instil +calmness into her own soul; who allowed the child in a gracious way to +cling to her, to prattle of her little troubles, her suspicions and +her fears, and her adoration of the undergraduate. Her father was too +busy to listen to her babbling; the dear young undergraduate too much +absorbed in what he called the cycle of injustice. All those with whom +she had to do--except Doreen--were for ever prating of the Saxon's +iron heel, shaking their fists at Heaven, venting dark anathemas and +muttering such threats as terrified her. Something dreadfully +mysterious was to take place soon--of that she felt assured--though +when she asked questions, Mr. Curran pinched her chin, calling her a +little silly kitten; then mused with eyes averted. Yes, there was a +heavy intangible cloud o'ershadowing those she loved; all the little +maid could do was to pour out her innocent soul to God, imploring His +mercy for her father and her friends. + +Wiser eyes than Sara's saw the cloud--observed that it grew blacker +and more thunderous as it lowered nearer earth--that its lining, +instead of being silvern, was lurid red. Some, like wreckers on a +craggy beach, rejoiced in the approach of a storm which would bring +them pelf; others watched it wistfully, as it darkened the sun, with a +sickening sense of powerlessness to avert its coming. Among these was +Doreen, who, surveying the gloomy prospect as from a watch-tower, grew +hourly more grave and self-contained. Her position at the Abbey had +changed but little during the interval. The dowager had never directly +referred to the conversation in the rosary, but the damsel was not +slow in perceiving that Shane and herself were thrown together as +often as was practicable. Then this wild scheme was not to be +abandoned idly? What could be the reason for it? Once, in her desire +to escape from a false position, she begged her easy-going parent to +take her to live with him in Dublin, telling him plainly that she +could never marry Shane, imploring him to spare her a distressing +ordeal. He only patted her hands, however, and nodded perplexedly, +with an assurance that she should never be forced into anything she +did not like. It was clear that Mr. Wolfe was growing more and more +afraid of his sister, also that public affairs distressed him; for he +plunged daily more deeply into routine business, attempting in a weak +way now and then to pour oil upon the waters between Curran and Clare, +carefully keeping his daughter out of the capital as much as he was +able. Not but what he would stand up for his girl upon occasion, when +my lady was too hard upon her. The dowager never grew weary of lifting +up her voice against Doreen's unseemly proclivities, her free and easy +ways, her ridings hither and thither, her expeditions none knew +whither. It was a disgrace to the family, she averred--for in her own +girlhood Irish ladies were content to sit by the fireside, or look +after the pastry, study the art of dumpling-making, concoct cunning +gooseberry-wine and raspberry-vinegar, prepare delicious minglings of +roseleaves and lavender for the sweetening of the family linen. To all +of which Mr. Wolfe was wont to reply mildly: + +'The maiden is of a masculine turn, who delights not in +sampler-stitching or pie-baking. She is three-and-twenty, of unusually +staid manners. I'd like to see the man who dared insult her! Let be, +let be. None would be more glad than I if she would think less of +politics and the dreadful Penal Code. Guide her inexperience gently, +if you will; but do not attempt coercion, or you'll get the worst of +it.' + +Despite this prudent counsel, there were several tussles 'twixt the +maiden and her aunt; in one of which the elder dropped some incautious +words, which were a revelation to Doreen. + +'You play with edged tools, girl!' she had said. 'You form friendships +with the enemies of the executive and urge them to deeds of rashness, +knowing that, come what may, you, as a woman, will escape scot-free. +Your unwarrantable proceedings fill your father with such anxiety that +he dares not have you home, lest in Dublin you should set up for a +heroine and disgrace us. You are the most stubborn stiff-necked piece +of goods the world ever saw! Yet what can be expected of a Papist? +This is Nemesis upon him for having married one.' + +Then this was the cause of her being left at the Abbey--of Mr. Wolfe's +evident anxiety? He dreaded lest--in her sorrow for her people--she +should do something which would involve him in difficulties with +Government. Poor, weak, loving father! No. That she clearly had no +right to do. Yet she could surely not be expected to approve the acts +of the executive; she, a Catholic, whose heart was rendered so +sensitive by the iron which had worn into it from childhood. Was it +her fault if her mind turned itself towards passing events instead of +being absorbed by the manufacture of tarts? Surely not! Hers was a +sturdier, braver nature than her father's. Loving him as she did, she +strove not to perceive his truckling ways. Had she been a man she +would have done as Tone had done--have seized a buckler and girded by +her side a sword--to have at the oppressor, whose tricks were so +crafty and so base. So both her father and her aunt suspected her, did +they, of urging men on to conspire against the state? My lady would +doubtless have placed her under lock and key if her brother had +permitted of such a measure. And knowing or suspecting what she did, +she was still anxious to bring about a union between the young +people--her favourite son, the wealthy Earl of Glandore, and the +Papist heiress who was so unmanageable. It was most amazing. Doreen +failed to track out the slightest clue to the mystery. + +Finding it so knotty she gave it up, choosing rather to ponder on the +turn affairs were taking. She hated Lord Clare now with an indignant +hatred, for he had raised his mask a little, and she had seen the +devil's lineaments looking out from under it. He made no secret of his +dislike of the Catholics, telling her to her face one day, with an +arrogant hauteur which made her blood tingle, that he was going to +make it his especial business to pull down the altars of Baal. Oh, if +this Sisera would only lie down to sleep before her--with what +satisfaction would she drive a great nail into his temple! + +The lord chancellor was aware that the beautiful Miss Wolfe loved him +not, and was wont to jest thereat when taking a dish of tea with his +old flame the dowager. My lady smiled at his tirades, making merry +over the appalling catalogue of things which he intended to do; for, +being a brilliant Irishman, he of course had the national tendency to +romancing, and it never entered into her mind to conceive that he +actually could mean what he said. Though shrewd enough, my lady was +quite taken in by my Lord Clare, who seeing in her a swaddler--one of +those bigots who mistake rancour for virtue--was minded to make his +ancient ally useful to his ends. + +He failed to realise that my lady's bigotry was only skin-deep--that +it was her way of protesting against the many disagreeable things +which she had been forced to endure, and, thanks to Gillin, was still +enduring. He therefore feared not to propose to her a something, at +which her pride should have recoiled with horror, but which--thanks to +his persuasive arts and her belief in his talent and integrity, she +agreed at least to consider before repudiating. First he commiserated +her position in being burthened with the responsible care of a damsel +who was like to bring disgrace upon them all. + +Behind the scenes as he was, he could see farther among the machinery +than most people, and deeply deplored what seemed inevitable--namely, +that the rash young lady would certainly commit herself with regard to +the members of the Secret Society--be drawn into their schemes--and +work grave mischief, such as should bring shame on the names both of +Wolfe and Crosbie, unless something were done to circumvent her. +Violent means were of course vulgar, and dangerous to boot, by reason +of Miss Wolfe's character. My lady wished to unite her to her eldest +son, did she? Well, it was an odd fancy, at which it was not his place +to cavil. All the more reason then to render the folly of the girl of +no effect by artifice. Once settled down as a wife and mother, she +would forget the errors of her girlhood, and even thank her friends +for having saved her from herself. + +Now my Lord Clare knew through Mr. Pitt, whose spies in Paris told him +everything, that Tone kept up a correspondence with Miss Wolfe under +the name of Smith--that she fetched her letters from Jug Coyle's +shebeen, where they were left for her under a prearranged name. His +own spies told him that she talked sometimes with mysterious men, who +came and went in a suspicious manner, between the environs of Dublin +and the outlying districts. Yes, it was too true; my lady might well +look shocked. The conspirators were making a catspaw of her niece, who +hovered between two duties--the one to her Protestant father, the +other to her crushed co-religionists. + +Did my lady's eyes ask what was to be done? This, and only this. For +it was clear, was it not, that her mines must be countermined for her +own sake and that of her belongings? It would not do to seize the +letters, because the villain in Paris would then invent some new +method of communication, which it might take the spies some time to +discover, and time was important just now. The young lady, being +enthusiastic and inexperienced, was most shamefully _exploitée_--the +executive saw that, and were prepared to make allowances, provided her +family would play a little into their hands. Did she see what he +meant? No! Then my lady was duller than usual, and he must dot his +i's. The executive knew that Miss Wolfe was artfully used as a +spreader of secrets, because no one else in all Ireland occupied a +position of similar complexity. Her heart was with the malcontents, to +begin with. She, as daughter of the attorney-general--most cautious of +time-servers--was not likely to be suspected of overt acts of treason. +She was clearheaded, too, and resolute, useful in council. Ill-judged +in other things, the conspirators had done wisely to employ Miss Wolfe +as a means of intercommunication. + +It would never do for Mr. Wolfe to be told of his child's +transgressions, as he would only whimper and cry out; the stronger +hand of his sister therefore must take the tiller, and steer the +family through this difficulty. Did my lady see now? No! Well, the +spies of the executive were cunning, no doubt; but their eyes could +not pierce stone walls or sheets of paper tied tight with ribbon. My +Lord Camden and the Privy Council wanted to know what the letters +contained which were dropped at the 'Irish Slave' for Miss Doreen. +Would my lady undertake the little service of finding out, and then +tell her dear friend Lord Clare what plans were suggested, what names +mentioned? He, on his side, would of course promise to be prudence +personified, and swear never to divulge by what means the information +had been obtained. + +The countess winced at the suggestion, and her face crimsoned. If +Government chose to establish a bureau of paid informers, who were +dubbed the Battalion of Testimony, it was no affair of hers, though +she could not approve the principle; but as to becoming one herself, +the bare idea was an audacious insult. The chancellor laughed airily +as she turned on him, for he expected some such ebullition of feeling, +and waited a little while ere he proceeded. Then, like the serpent +luring Eve, he strove to decide her with specious arguments. He showed +that, by helping to circumvent their plans, she might do signal +service against the Catholics; that both her brother and eldest son +might be made to benefit indirectly by her acts, and that nobody would +know anything of what she had done. In love and war all means are +fair. The girl had no excuse for the line she chose to take. It was +right and fitting that the lower orders should be cowed; that the +Papists should be stamped down into the serfdom from which in their +insolence they struggled to escape; that this Tone, whom people had +liked till he took up the cudgels of Antichrist, should be brought to +punishment. + +These were good reasons--strong enough surely to decide my lady. If +she wanted another, let her think of Gillin and her 'Irish Slave.' It +would be strange if that hateful enemy could not be mixed in the +coming struggle, and crushed in the downfall of the conspirators. This +last stroke almost settled the resolve of the wavering countess, whose +mental mirror had been blurred by long dabbling in questionable +waters, which, rising in her husband's throat to choking, had wrung +that last cry from him before he died. It would be delightful to +discomfit Gillin. It would be odd, too, if Doreen, in the contrition +which follows upon being found out, did not throw herself on her +aunt's mercy, and joyfully do as she was told, on condition of being +saved. After meditating awhile, my lady said she would think about it; +and Lord Clare, having planted his arrow, rode back to town, satisfied +that he had gained his end. + +Doreen was not chicken-feeding, as Terence had thought probable, on +the morning when the riders started from the Priory. Yet was she up +and about, for there is naught so invigorating as fresh sea-air with a +whiff of tar in it, and the evenings at the Abbey were dreary enough +to induce the most wakeful to take refuge betimes in bed. She tended +the flowers in the tiny square called Miss Wolfe's plot, spent a few +moments in affectionate communion with some eager wet muzzles and +wagging tails in the kennels, then tripped away to the rosary, to +study a letter received the night before--a letter signed 'Smith,' in +a cramped hand. When such reached her, she invariably retired thither +to decipher them; for in the seclusion formed by the high clipped +hedges, she was sure of privacy, none being able to wander among the +shady avenues of beech without giving notice of their intention by the +clang of the golden grille, or the creaking of a lesser gate situated +at the other end of the pleasaunce. + +It was a letter which gave food for concern. Impetuous, hot, Keltic; +dealing, too, with details which told of action imminent. + + +'I will have no priests in the business,' it said. 'Most of them are +enemies to the French revolution. They will only do mischief. The +republic is on the move; will give us five thousand men. I would +attempt it with one hundred. My own life is of little consequence. +Please God, though, the dogs shall not have my poor blood to lick. I +am willing to encounter any danger as a soldier, but have a violent +objection to being hanged as a traitor, consequently I have claimed a +commission in the French army. This to ensure being treated as a +soldier in case of the fortune of war throwing me into the hands of +England.' + + +'His life--noble young hero!' Doreen reflected. 'Suppose that he were +to lose his life in the coming struggle! If Moiley needed such a +sacrifice, better that he should fall fighting than die a dog's death +by the noose!' + +As she thought what a blow his death would be, her bosom swelled with +anxiety; for every earnest woman sets up an idol in her heart, to be +clothed in the trappings of her own belief, which she takes for its +native adornments. She sits and keeps pious vigil over it, and weaves +ennobling legends concerning it, seeming to become purified by contact +with a nobler power, which, after all, is but the reflection of her +own better self. That her influence over Theobald was great, Doreen +knew, but not so great as his was over her. There seemed to her mind, +twisted as it was by circumstance into a sombre shape, something +sublime even in the light way in which he wrote of gravest things. His +letters were schoolboy documents, full of homely jests, quaint +sayings, quotations from bad plays. Yet what a marvellous work was he +achieving. A year ago he had gone forth a wanderer, armed with a few +pounds and a large stock of hope. He had sailed to New York, narrowly +escaping seizure by the crimpers on the sea; had then made for Paris, +whither he arrived almost without a penny. He knew scarce a word of +French, yet went he straight to Carnot, who, in a satin dressing-gown, +was holding _levées_ at the Luxembourg. Partly in broken words, much +more by signs, he made known his wishes to the Organiser of Victory, +and, through him, to the Directory. They saw in his project for an +invasion of Ireland a tempting way of harassing perfidious Albion, but +unfortunately their treasury was empty, their armies disorganised, and +so they gave to their suppliant a cool reception. But Tone was not to +be easily put off. He haunted the antechambers of the ministers, +learned their language, prepared statements, suggested plans; +importuned all and each in broken jargon, till, amazed at his energy, +filled with respect for his pure motives and simple life, they gave +him a high place amongst their own officers, and promised that his +desires should be gratified. + +Doreen followed the rapidity of his proceedings with astonished +admiration, marvelling that he should work as he worked from sheer +love of humankind; was quite persuaded that all he did was right; +compared him daily to the men she saw around her--arrogant Clare, +swinish Shane, idle, prosaic Terence--and felt almost prepared +sometimes, if need were, to cast in her lot (as the chancellor +surmised) with her mother's oppressed people, rather than with those +of her highly-connected father. Gusts of loathing swept over her soul +for the feudal magnificence of the Abbey; she seemed thrown on a bed +of roses whose perfume sickened her. The idea of wedding all this +splendour while her people groaned, was in itself revolting; to +espouse Shane with it, filled the measure of her horror. Rather than +submit to my lady's eccentric wish, she was prepared to run away--to +hide herself in Connaught, anywhere; and this being comfortably +settled, she went on with Theobald's last letter. + + +'Independence at all hazards. If the men of property won't help us, +they must fall, and we must support ourselves by the aid of that +numerous community, _the men of no property_. Alas for poor Pat! He is +fallible; but a lame dog has been helped over a stile before now. The +_arme blanche_ is the system of the French, and, I believe, for the +Irish too. At least I shall recommend it, as Pat, being very savage +and furious, takes more naturally to the pike than the musket, and the +tactics of every nation should be adapted to its character. As for +Dublin, one of two things must happen. Its garrison is at least five +thousand strong. If a landing were effected. Government would either +retain the garrison for their own security (in which case there would +be five thousand men idle on the part of the enemy), or they would +march them to oppose us, and then the people would seize the capital. +Any way, we could starve Dublin in a week, without striking a blow.' + + +'Starve Dublin in a week!' Doreen pondered. 'What would happen to +outlying places like the Abbey?' Then an idea struck her, whereby her +own annoyances might be considerably lightened. 'Why not,' she +thought, 'work on my aunt's prudential fears, and induce her to +transfer the establishment to Ennishowen, in the north? Thus may +Shane and his mother be removed from danger, whilst I am free of a +dilemma--for, of course, when the moment of peril comes, my place will +be beside my father.' + +The golden grille clanged. A slight female figure, in a blue velvet +habit and peaked hat, after the new mode, made its way among the +roses, and Doreen advanced to welcome Sara. + +Mr. Curran's pet was always a favourite of Miss Wolfe's, to whom her +prattle was a rest in the midst of many perplexities. She rallied her +archly about the undergraduate, marking, with a grave smile, the +confusion in the young maid's face; listening absently to ecstatic +descriptions of his numerous perfections, with a tender indulgence +mixed with sadness; for it undoubtedly was sad to observe how blindly +and artlessly the gay kitten gambolled, in spite of that threatening +cloud; wondering, wide-eyed, whether he really and positively ever +could come to care a tiny bit for a silly little thing like her. + +Doreen knew quite well that Robert Emmett's was a lovable nature, that +he was free from the ordinary frailties of youth, sensitive to a +fault, just such a visionary as would suffer terribly in a great +crisis such as was at hand. Just as Tone was a chivalrous man of +action, so the younger Emmett was a dreamer of the most unpractical +kind--one who, staring at the stars, and striving to pierce their +mysteries, would plunge head-foremost into the first pitfall that was +made ready for his feet. His admiration for Theobald was as great as +Doreen's. When that cloud should burst, he would surely be found +by his side--might possibly stumble where the other could stand +erect--and, if aught befell him, what then would happen to the +Primrose? But what is the use of courting melancholy? Doreen this +morning, as at other times, shook off the dismal effects of her gay +friend's castle-building, made efforts to meet her half-way, spoke +hopefully of days to come, when Ireland should be content, when Sara +should have become a wrinkled matron with a parterre of yellow +blossoms round her, and beloved Robert a happy old paterfamilias with +a treble chin. + +Sara's peachy cheeks broke into dimples of pleasure at the +description, as she looked up sideways like a bird. + +'You are wasting your holiest affections, my child!' Doreen observed +demurely; 'for men are dreadful, dreadful creatures who deceive and +ride away. They don't care about our love one bit, unless we pretend +to withhold it.' + +'I love him so very much,' returned Sara, with a rapt gaze and +trembling accents, 'that I could be content to worship him from a long +way off if he would let me--he is so good and kind and noble!' + +'He has never spoken to you of love?' + +'Never.' + +The child's eyes filled with tears, and Doreen's heart tightened for +her. Poor fragile blossom. What might the nipping blast have in store +for it? + +'If any mischance were to befall him----' began the elder girl. + +'I should die,' Sara answered simply, as though such a result was the +only one which could be possible. + +Doreen walked on in silence. She was twenty-three, her companion five +years younger. Yet she could not comprehend this innocent pure heart +which at eighteen gave itself unconditionally away to be trampled upon +or treasured as its recipient should elect. She was sure that she had +herself never loved any one, except Tone, and her father, and her +mother's memory. The iron of the Penal Code had seared the germ of +such a love within her if it ever had existed. She recalled the cold +way in which she had calculated her capacity for playing Judith, and +felt ashamed. But why should she, after all? The practical and the +romantic were singularly blended in her character. What had a Catholic +to do with love and the exchanging of young hearts? Fretfully she +turned away from the enchantments of conservatories and hen-houses +which she was displaying to her friend, and remarked as she led the +way to the kennels: + +'You said you had brought Terence with you. Can he be closeted all +this while with his mother? That would be unusual. He does not favour +us with much of his society. As I live, here's another visitor. It is +such a lovely morning that I shall lay violent hands upon you all. Mr. +Cassidy here is one of the best yachtsmen on the bay. We might go for +a sail round Ireland's Eye if Terence would only condescend to show +himself.' + +'Oh yes!' cried ecstatic Sara, 'it would be entrancingly delicious.' +She would run and tell my lady, who was probably breakfasting, that +she must give us her son for the general good. + +It was the jolly giant, who on his big bay hunter clattered into the +courtyard; come, probably, in search of news on his own account, in +spite of what he had said to Terence a few hours before. He had +watered his horse at the shebeen, had taken a plunge into the sea to +dissipate the fumes of last night's revel, had given red-haired Biddy +such a smacking kiss as would have roused the ire of Terence's devoted +henchman if he had been within fifty yards, and was now come to pay +his respects to the inmates of the Abbey. + +He praised the dogs in a flurried sort of way, stood on one great foot +and then the other, rapping the dust from his full-skirted riding-coat +with his hunting-crop, whilst his eyes devoured the fine lines of Miss +Wolfe's figure, which indeed compelled admiration through its +tight-fitting, high-waisted frock. During the last year he had made +considerable advance in the good graces of the chatelaine, and of her +first-born. She, as chatelaines ought to be, was delighted to have a +host of philanderers hanging about the Abbey, swilling its liquor, +devouring its beef, while my lord deigned to make the squireen useful +in a multitude of ways. Belonging as he did to the half-mounted class, +such homage as he could pay was due to a great lord, who was kind +enough to smile upon him. That he might be hand and glove with the +United Irishmen was neither here nor there; was he not also an ally of +Major Sirr's as well as a _protégé_ of the chancellor's--tolerated too +by Curran, Lord Clare's arch-enemy? He was all things to all men, a +typical 'tame cat:' it remained to be seen which side he would take +when the crisis should come--at least so people remarked who did not +know, as we do, that he had taken the oath and was given to mystical +questions anent the placing of a bough in the crown of England. A man +who can turn his hand to anything, rides well to hounds, sings jovial +ditties, makes genteel play with a rapier, can sigh like a furnace, +and look languishingly at a pretty girl, is sure of being a general +favourite. Doreen liked Mr. Cassidy as much as Shane did, an unusual +circumstance, for his likes and dislikes were generally in direct +opposition to hers. She was wont to jest at his many blunders, lecture +him for his stupidity, allow him greater liberties than were usual +between an heiress and a 'half-mounted.' For there was no harm in him. +He would not be likely to try to run off with this prize, for Shane's +sword--champion-spit of the Cherokees and Blasters--was a universally +dreaded weapon, and Mr. Cassidy was too fond of the good things of +this life to think of suddenly quitting it with daylight through his +vitals. Sometimes he made love to her. Then she held out a warning +finger while smiles wreathed her ruddy lips, as she would have done to +any inmate of the kennels that should dare leap with dirty paws upon +her flowered muslin. + +This morning his behaviour was not what it should have been. Sure that +dip in Dublin Bay had not washed away the impudence begot of claret. +She looked so ravishingly fresh and neat in the chip hat which, with a +plain white ribbon knotted beneath the chin, gave a yet fuller glow to +her rich complexion, the close-clinging robe spangled here and there +with a bunch of poppies, that there was little wonder if prudence was +for once outrun by passion. She was not Miss Hoyden any more. Her +clothes were of the most fashionable cut; nimblest-fingered of Dublin +tailoresses made her frock; long mitts of daintiest Carrick lace +masked only to accentuate the golden ripeness of her finely modelled +arms; a pair of stout pointed brogues, silver buckled, drew down the +eye to the clean ankle and high instep, which told of healthful +exercise by a series of suave contours and voluptuous curves. + +Now the mind of Cassidy was gross in its essence; jaded too by +appetites in riot. What would be more likely to stimulate a coarse +illiterate squireen than the aspect of such a living paradox as this? +His political intentions were admirable, doubtless; possibly when the +time came he, like a few others, would rise to the occasion, cast +aside low vices, and, passing like gold through the fire, achieve +deeds which would endear him to his countrymen. That was possibly in +the future. The present only whispered, as his eyes wandered over the +figure of the girl before him, that such a morsel could not be too +dearly bought. With unwonted courage, he blurted out the original +remark: + +'Mistress Doreen, you're monsthrous beautiful!' + +'Am I?' she replied, raising her eyebrows. 'Alas! it's of little +consequence.' + +'Is it now?' returned Cassidy, endeavouring in his murky brain to plod +out a reason for the statement. 'Oh!' he said at length, 'becase +you're booked, and you don't care whether my lord is pleased or not.' + +'My lord?' inquired the girl, her brows arching yet higher. + +'Aren't you to be the future lady of Ennishowen? I can put two and two +together.' + +So this hateful match was being freely canvassed. Even muddlepated +Cassidy had penetrated my lady's plans. He was peering straight into +her eyes, trying to find what he could at the bottom of their brown +depths. The heat of angry humiliation sent the blood bubbling to her +face. Cassidy observed it, and leered pleasantly. + +'He's not good enough for you--I don't like your marrying him,' he +observed with decision. + +'No more do I,' returned calm Miss Wolfe. + +Cassidy's looks sought the ground--his big hand fondled the muzzles of +the dogs. After a long pause, he said in a low voice: + +'If you don't care about him it's small blame to you.' + +'Neither for him, nor anybody else.' (The slightest contraction of a +fine nostril.) + +'Don't say that, Miss Doreen, darlint,' said the giant, quickly. +'There's many a stout fellow about, whose heart it would plase if ye'd +rub your pretty brogues on it, who'd like to set fire to the tobaccy +in his pipe every blessed day by the light of your lovely eyes.' + +Doreen glanced up at the giant with an amused smile. + +'Fie! Mr. Cassidy. If I didn't think you too sensible a man, I should +believe you were trying to propose to me.' Then it struck her that it +was on this very spot that Terence had asked if he might hope. + +'What possesses the men? How odd it is,' she said, thinking aloud. +'Fate settled long since that I was to die an old maid; and everybody +seems to want to marry me. Why? I am surely not so irresistible? There +are scores of girls who would be delighted to marry any one, but +somehow nobody cares to ask them! Why not try Norah Gillin--Shane at +least thinks her a paragon--and she has the advantage of being a +Protestant.' + +'Miss Doreen,' Cassidy whispered, 'if I undertook to work heart and +soul for the cause you care so much for; if I made use of my +opportunities--went about for you--as your agents do (you see I know +all about it); if, when the hour comes, I promised to risk my life and +all I have for you--'tisn't much--would you change your mind then?' + +Miss Wolfe felt his hot breath upon her hair, and began to feel +uncomfortable. It was her own fault. She should have cried 'Down!' to +this importunate dog before. + +'Mr. Cassidy,' she said, with the quiet dignity which was her best +protection, 'you show yourself in a false light. You belong to the +society--I fully believe--from conviction of the holiness of its aims. +Although a Protestant, you are an Irishman, as I am an Irishwoman. Our +wrongs are common. Don't let me suppose you to be suggesting a +bargain.' + +'It is that good-for-nothing young councillor!' the giant muttered, +grinding his teeth fiercely. 'If I was sure of it, I'd run him +through! Have a care, young lady; don't trifle with honest men--or +wigs will be on the green, and you may be sorry!' + +The interview was becoming extremely painful. Cassidy, when tried, was +showing the cloven foot, as under-bred persons will. Miss Wolfe drew +herself up to her full height, knitted her dark brows, and said +coldly: + +'You forget yourself strangely, sir! My aunt and my cousin have been +over-kind to you; I have tried, for my poor part, to make your visits +pleasant, believing you, as I still believe, to be honest, if bearish +and uncouth. If you dare to persecute me any further I will speak to +my aunt, and the doors of the Abbey will be closed to you for ever. +Then seeing how rueful, how dismayed the hapless giant looked, she +took compassion and held out a frank little brown hand. 'Come, come! +This is childish nonsense. I must not be hard on you. We must not +quarrel, you know, but cling together closely for the good cause's +sake. If petty private feuds begin to divide us, the enemy will dance +for joy. I want a friend in whom to trust. You shall be that friend. +Will you? Come! Be good, and I will pardon you.' + +She placed her hand in his, where it lay like a small leaf, and her +companion said sulkily, as he stroked it with a great finger: + +'You evaded the question about Mr. Crosbie.' + +'Well then,' she answered, 'I care no more for him than for Shane or +you. I will never marry till Erin is righted. Ah me! doesn't that look +like perpetual maidenhood? My husband, too, must have won his spurs as +a hero, and heroes are scarce. There. Shake hands, and let there be an +end of it. Your heart is in the cause, as mine is. Your acts speak for +you, and Theobald shall thank you some day. Depend on it, the best +tenure of earthly attachment is tenancy at will. You have the use of +the soil, and nothing you plant in it shoots so deeply but it may be +removed with ease. Let us be friends--trusty friends, Mr. Cassidy--no +more.' + +At this juncture, Terence came briskly round the corner, and started +to see the attitude of the twain. His sudden suspicion cooled, +however, upon perceiving that his cousin was no whit confused. Her +hand still remained in that of Cassidy, and she said, laughing, as she +swung it to and fro: + +'Here is a big creature who threatens by-and-by to bud into a hero of +romance. When he kneels victorious in the lists, I, as queen of +beauty, am to bestow the laurel crown. What a delectable picture, +isn't it? Glad to see you, Terence. You are determined we shall value +your society. You give us so very little of it.' + +'You look like having quite enough of it by-and-by,' Terence answered +moodily. 'I brought with me a note from Mr. Curran to my mother, in +which he says that he won't have me at the Priory any more; that I +must come home like an obedient child, and wash my face and brush my +hair and say I'm sorry. If I had known what was in the letter I should +have stayed away.' + +'But you'll stop,' Doreen said, so earnestly as to cause the giant to +look askance at her. 'It is sad for members of a family to be at +daggers-drawn. Come--to please me--let me be peacemaker. Shane shall +say you are welcome, and we'll all be in harmony together again. +Promise me--and I'll tell you some rare news that has been burning my +tongue this month past. You are both to be trusted, I know.' + +'I would every one was as thrue as the councillor here and I!' +ejaculated the giant, his frown breaking into sunshine, as if suddenly +convinced, by some queer reasoning, that there was nothing between +Terence and Miss Wolfe. 'It's mighty careful we'll have to be +by-and-by with them rapscallions of ould Sirr's. Wisht! now, and I'll +tell ye what he told me,' he pursued, lowering his voice and glancing +round as though the dogs could speak. 'There's a place called the +Staghouse, over foreninst Kilmainham gaol, bad cess to it, where the +Battalion of Testimony are housed and fed, as these hounds are. They +have their rations and potteen and a penny or two for toh-baccy--for +all the world like gentlemen born. I'll make it my business to stroll +in there some day, just to draw their pictures on my mind's eye. Maybe +it'll be useful to know the spalpeens' faces.' + +'This system of spies is terribly base,' Terence said, sighing. +'Enough to bring down chastisement upon any cause. I don't believe +Lord Camden knows of it. The gentry are arming right and left, my +mother says, in case the people should be ill-advised enough to rise. +Yeomanry corps are being formed in every county. Shane has been this +morning applied to, to take the lead in this district.' + +'Shane raise a regiment? With what result?' Doreen inquired quickly. + +'With none as yet,' answered Terence, laughing; 'because my lord is +sleeping off the effects of a terrible bout last night, which ended in +two duels and the killing of a baker, and probably will allow my +mother and Lord Clare to settle such a thing as that, as they may deem +most wise.' + +'It is too late for such organisation to be dangerous,' Doreen +affirmed gaily. 'Now I'll tell you the great secret, for it is only +fair you, Mr. Cassidy, should know, and Terence will not divulge. Now, +lend me your ears. The French fleet is almost ready to sail. Our +friends will start in two parties before the summer's over, from a +northern port; making the one for Cork, the other for some point on +the west coast. Hoche himself has promised to lead the expedition. The +delegates of our own provincial centres have secret orders. We may +expect to look on the ships which shall bring us deliverance by the +commencement of the autumn at the latest. Here's Theobald's last +letter; you may read it.' + +The giant looked eagerly to seaward, sniffing like a war-horse, as +though already he could discern the vessels in the offing; and +whistled a subdued whistle, as if saying to himself, 'This is news +worth taking that early ride for.' With each great fist deep in a +breeches-pocket, he listened to the letter, and then said: '_Arme +blanche_. Eh! He agrees with us then, and is right. The pike's the +thing for Paddy. The difficulty of landing powder enough to be of +service would be enormous. Moreover, since the Gunpowder Act, Pat +knows nothing of its use, and would do more harm to himself in the +long-run than to the enemy.' + +Doreen declared that of such details she could of course know nothing, +to which the giant retorted that there were hosts of reasons in favour +of the pike. The Hessian and Hanoverian mercenaries who were being +slowly drafted into Ireland were experienced only in the orthodox mode +of warfare. The courage of armies is so uncertain that they are often +disconcerted and panic-stricken by a style of fighting to which they +are unaccustomed. + +'See here!' the giant said, drawing a paper from his pocket and +presenting it to Terence. 'This is a model by which thousands are +being made all over the country. Long, flat, ugly no doubt--but easily +forged. Could ye improve on that?' + +Now Terence, had he been wise, would have refused the challenge, +sapiently declining to know anything of the model pike, for the giant +was bent somehow on securing him--but, intoxicated by the enthusiasm +of his pretty cousin, whose cairngorm eyes, under their long lashes, +were as usual making sad havoc of his judgment, he took the design and +thought he could improve upon it. Cassidy's muddle-headedness stood in +the way of his understanding, and the young councillor was forced to +sketch out a new design, with elaborate instructions as to how it +might be hammered out with a maximum of wounding power and a minimum +of labour. Of course 'it was just the thing,' Cassidy declared, +delighted, and brought down his sledge-hammer palm upon the other's +shoulder. + +'We'll have to crimp you?' he vowed, with a peal of merriment in which +Doreen softly joined, 'and so gain a gineral, as the Sassanagh gains +sailors. Ye'll be with us some day, Masther Terence, see if you +aren't!' + +And now, too, he declared that he must have more advice about these +said pikes--there was terrible difficulty in storing them as they were +made. He had an audacious idea. What did Master Terence think of it? +Some of the gentry from the Staghouse were, he was informed, +constantly on the prowl in search of such information as might be +bartered against good living; for Major Sirr laid it down as an +initial axiom, that a member of his battalion who remained silent +beyond a certain limit of time was to be cashiered as incompetent. It +was literally a case of 'singing for supper,' and one of the simplest +methods of obtaining credit with the town-major was to discover and +denounce a depot of concealed weapons. + +Now Jug Coyle (mistress of the shebeen hard-by)--this was a tremendous +secret--was deeply involved in the affairs of the society. Her back +garden contained many more pike-heads than praties. It stood to reason +that she should be so involved, for was she not a collough, a +trafficker in charms and simples, who was called in by the peasantry +around for the curing of their bodily ills; and was it possible for +one who was bone of their bone to refrain from meddling with their +wrongs also? Well, she could store no more without awaking the +suspicions of the Staghouse gentry, who seemed already to suspect that +seditious meetings were held under her thatch; and yet it was very +necessary that many more weapons should be stored somewhere in the +immediate neighbourhood of the city. The question was, where could a +spot be found for them to lie snugly--a place where folks would least +suspect their existence? + +The giant was becoming so earnest, and so lucid in his earnestness, +that Doreen quite marvelled at him. She knew more of Jug Coyle's +manage than he was aware of, and listened with growing interest, for +red-polled Biddy, whilst acting as Theobald's post-office, was +constantly declaring that she felt like living on a powder-magazine. + +'It has been suggested,' the giant went on, 'that Mrs. Gillin of the +Little House should take some; but that would not be wise, for she is +a Catholic whose opinions are well known, though latterly she has +cultivated a discreet tongue. It might enter the head of the +town-major to search her place.' + +'It would certainly be unwise!' Terence said. 'Remember her daughter's +connection with my brother. May she be trusted? There are female spies +as well as male, I suppose. You people are dreadfully rash, Cassidy.' + +'Never fear, Master Terence,' returned the giant, with a twinkle in +his eye. 'Both she and her daughter are children of the people, who +would sacrifice this lord and many another to boot for the good cause, +if need were. Her heart is with us, like many another; but in this +case at least it's best she should play blind.' + +'But what is your suggestion?' Doreen inquired, for the giant was +beating about the bush in an exasperating manner. + +'This is it. Don't cry out now when ye hear it.' He glanced round with +caution, and lowered his voice. 'The ould armoury above in the young +men's wing there.' + +'What! Here at the Abbey!' Terence exclaimed. 'You are mad.' + +Cassidy was watching him in sidelong fashion as he felt his way. + +'Sure there's a power of blackguard knives there already, which no one +touches from year's end to year's end, as the cobwebs show. I'd stake +my life ye've not been in there yourself this year or two. Nobody +would search there, would they? They might be passed up from the +shebeen at night-time--Biddy and your man Phil would see to it--over +the old ivy wall, and exchange a kiss or two into the bargain.' + +'Phil is not affiliated,' objected Terence. + +'Is he not?' grunted the giant, shortly. 'It's surprised I'd be if he +could not tell us as much about a green bough in England's crown as is +known to you or I.' + +Doreen's eyes were on her cousin. Her face wore its usual serene look. +The enormity of the proceeding did not seem so great to her as it did +to him. He did not take into consideration the sublime manner in which +women look straight to a goal, without marking the mud which may have +to be crossed to reach it. A thought shot through his brain, flooding +it with joy. If she could contemplate such a trick being played upon +the earl, she could not care about him. That was a rare thing to know. +And why should it not be played on him? The brothers were so +estranged, that the younger one felt no call to interfere in such a +matter on behalf of the elder. It was impossible that he should have +lived so long on terms of familiarity with the disaffected without +being unconsciously tainted to at least a small extent with their +oft-repeated complaints. Not that he was prepared to admit that these +modern grievances were well-founded. No doubt it had been very +improper--all those years ago--for a Protestant invader to seize, _vi +et armis_, the territory of a Catholic nation--to eject the sons of +the soil by force, in favour of themselves and their heirs. But really +it was too late now to remedy that misfortune. + +The English were to all seeming a happy and contented people, who had +long since given up groaning over the Norman invasion and the +freebooting proceedings of William the Conqueror. It was merely +a matter of time. Ireland must accept the past, and pick out the +thorns from the bed on which she lay as well as she could. Thus was +Terence, in his idle good-humoured way, accustomed to argue when his +personal friends gnashed their teeth at the Sassanagh. But these new +theories that were beginning to be broached--even by Mr. Curran +himself--charging the executive with motives which, if they in +truth existed, were _lèse-patrie_ of the most heinous kind, caused +even his careless junior to pause and think. And then he consoled +himself with considering that high-principled King George could not be +Blunderbore--that my Lord Clare was not a Feefofum. Yet there was no +doubt that my Lord Clare was unduly harsh--that the low-bred squireens +were apt to treat the common folk cruelly to curry favour with the +Castle. He did not pause to ask himself why cruelty to common folk +should be pleasing in the Castle's eye. These yeomanry corps were +likely to be productive of much evil. Terence had said as much to his +mother but now. It was possible that Shane, in his overbearing pride +of birth and fierce tendency to fire-eating, might become a terrible +flail if he accepted the task of organising a regiment--indeed from +his nature he was sure to do so. It would be a whimsical revenge for +the people that he should be unconsciously guarding their weapons for +them. + +Councillor Crosbie laughed loud at the conceit, declaring that he saw +no reason why pikeheads should not be added to the 'blackguard knives' +in the armoury, and his cousin gave him such a distracting look of +thanks that he chid himself for considering the matter at all; while +Cassidy, who also caught the look, glared out to seaward, clenching +his fists in his deep pockets. + +'That eccentric person, Mrs. Gillin!' Terence cried gaily. 'So she's +mixed up with all this plotting, is she? Has she taken the oath, +or is she but a privileged outsider like myself? And my man Phil, +too--that's to please red-polled Biddy, doubtless. Let's take the +oath, Doreen, while we can make a favour of it, for all Ireland will, +it seems, be in it soon. The good lady was in her garden as I passed +this morning, strutting about with leather gloves and garden-shears, +and bowed solemnly to me as I passed. What a queer woman! At the +Rotunda the other day she came and stood before me, though we have +never been introduced, and said, "Are you sure, young man, that you +left your home of your free will?" When I said "Certainly," she +gave a satisfied nod and disappeared in the crowd. If her daughter is +pining for Shane, her mother evidently sets her cap at me. I trust you +will all be civil to the future Madam Crosbie. This is the way she +walks----' and the irreverent scapegrace proceeded to waddle up and +down with so exact an imitation of Mrs. Gillin's peculiarities that +Cassidy fairly shouted. That lady and her doings being a tabooed +subject at the Abbey, there was special delight in talking of her on +the sly. + +All three were guiltily startled by the opening of my lady's bedroom +window (which looked upon the courtyard), and the apparition of Queen +Bess in a bad temper, summoning Miss Wolfe to her presence. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + STORMY WEATHER. + + +My lady was walking up and down the tapestry-saloon with hands clasped +behind her back, when her niece joined her--a prey evidently to +considerable agitation. Doreen marked the deepened wrinkles on her +forehead, the tightening of the thin lips, the contraction of the +nostrils, and waited with accustomed self-possession to hear her +elder's pleasure. The countess was displeased about something. Her +fine face was pale, her eyes tinged with red. Her majestic draperies +seemed to whisper in their soft rustle that something was seriously +disturbing the spirit of the chatelaine. Wheeling round presently, she +faced her niece, and, scrutinising her narrowly, spoke. + +'Terence has come home to live,' she remarked. 'Mr. Curran cannot bear +him any more, and I am not surprised. We must put up with him; he's +enough to vex a saint!' + +Doreen's cheek flushed with swift anger at his mother's unwarrantable +speech. + +'Oh, aunt!' she said, 'dare you speak thus of your own child!' + +'Ah!' ejaculated the countess, still frowning at Miss Wolfe, 'let us +understand each other at once. I will never allow of any nonsense +between you and that boy--do you hear?--NEVER. I presume that he would +not dare to marry without my consent. You are capable of anything, I +know. I sincerely believe that he, as yet, is one shade less +undutiful. He has been showing much independence lately, though. +There's no knowing,' she went on in a low absent manner, 'what he +might not do if he knew----' + +'Knew what?' asked Doreen. + +My lady started and pushed her fingers through her white hair. +'Nothing, nothing! Mind this--_I will never give my consent to a union +between you and my second son_. Understand this, once and for all.' + +'You need not distress yourself, aunt,' Doreen replied. + +'Doreen!' my lady said abruptly, after a pause, 'you were talking +about _that woman_ at the kennel gate just now. I could see you were, +by Terence's mimicry. What was it about?' + +This was the real cause of her aunt's ill-humour: the red rag, Mrs. +Gillin. That foolish idea about Terence was of course only a cloak to +conceal unreasonable wrath. It was quite too tyrannical of her, +though. They were speaking no ill of their neighbour. + +'We were talking of Norah and Shane,' the girl replied, with a touch +of hauteur. 'Nothing wonderful in that, for all the world talks about +them. I suppose I may be bridesmaid, aunt?' + +To her surprise the blood faded slowly from my lady's face, leaving +her lips white, while her breast heaved and her fingers tightened. The +girl regretted her pert remark, though her aunt speedily recovered +herself. + +'You could stop this disgrace if you would,' she said in husky tones. +'Last year I thought that you encouraged Shane; then you turned round +again. For shame! That Arthur Wolfe's daughter should be a flirt! But +it's the other blood that's working in you. Your father was always too +weak and too indulgent. You are a sly, artful girl! Yes, it is right +that you should hear the truth. You do no credit to your bringing-up. +Is it maidenly to receive letters from a man in secret--to retire, as +I have ofttimes seen you do, to a secluded spot in the rosary, there +to gloat over them--and that man married, and an outlaw! Fie upon you! +Your father is not aware of this, or it would break his heart; for, +God help him! he loves you beyond your deserts. But there, there! I +will not waste my breath in railing; for what else could be expected +of your blood and your religion?' + +Doreen's cheek, too, had paled. She trembled violently, and was forced +to cling to a table ere she could still her anger sufficiently to +answer. At length she mastered her voice, which rang out low but +clear. + +'Lady Glandore,' she said, with flashing eyes, 'it ill becomes one of +your years to say cruel things to one of mine, for if you crush out my +respect for you as a woman, I choose to remember your white hairs. +However bitter you may allow your tongue to be, I will not lower +myself to a retort; but let me beg you to remember that some +things spoken intemperately will rankle in the heart for ever. No +after-apologies will quite wash them out.' + +Oh, naughty damsel, to prate of white hair, and suggest that my lady +was an octogenarian! She was no more than five-and-fifty, as her niece +knew right well--but, bless my heart! we must not survey feminine +weapons too closely. + +'I am a disgrace to my bringing-up!' pursued Doreen, warming to the +fray. 'Yet she who brought me up condescends to act the spy on me! A +flirt, am I? I never, upon my honour, gave the least encouragement to +either of your sons. They are not such Admirable Crichtons! Seeing +that you are beset by some hallucination on this subject, I have again +and again implored my father to take me hence in vain. I hereby swear +to you by the Holy Mother and my hopes of salvation, that I will never +be Shane's wife--never, never, never! Perhaps now you will leave me at +peace. Though I am a Catholic, madam, I decline to brook insult. Here +are my cards--face upwards on the table. Show me yours.' + +The girl, who was usually so quiet and grave, had lashed her wrath to +foam, and was grievously exercised to restrain fast-gathering tears. +She would rather have died, however, than have lowered her standard to +my lady. With a violent effort, then, she kept them back, and faced +the chatelaine with a front as proud as hers. + +This was all very shocking: the ill-mannered allusion to hoary locks, +the rash oath never to marry Shane, the truculent bearing. Mild +Arthur's counsel was wise. My lady generally got the worst of it in +conflicts with this girl. It would have been best to have vented her +ill-humour upon Terence: who was forbearing towards his mother. But +then her victories over him were too easily gained to be worth +anything, for he was good-tempered, and respected his mother greatly; +and besides, every well-ordered man will always gladly resign to a +female antagonist the glory of winning a battle of words. + +My lady stalked in silence up and down, retiring behind the +entrenchments of her outraged dignity. But Doreen perceived that to +make her triumph good she must dare another sortie, and disarm her +antagonist; so, after a pause for breath, she repeated: + +'I have shown you my cards, Lady Glandore--show me yours. You are bent +upon my marrying Shane--the compliment is great--far greater than my +poor worth deserves. Though you constantly fling insults at me about +my manners, my blood, and my religion, yet you are willing--nay, +anxious--condoning these crimes, to accept me as a daughter! Why? The +lady of the Little House, who is good and charitable, if innocently +vulgar, is a standing bugbear to you. Why? Yet, by a singular +contradiction, you allow your paragon to make himself at home with +her, and make much of her child, who, to be sure, is a Protestant, but +low-born. She is penniless--I am an heiress: hence, of the two, +I should be the better prize for him. I see that; but what, in +Heaven's name! is to prevent his sallying forth in Dublin, and +finding there a fitting partner? Sure there's not a noble Protestant +family in Ireland that wouldn't jump at him! A drunkard, no doubt, +and a fire-eater--which some folks are rude enough to translate +murderer--what of that? It is the custom of his cloth. A coronet well +filled with gold covers a multitude of sins! No doubt Mrs. Gillin +would dearly like such a son-in-law--it's the way of the world, and I +do not blame her--but you, I know, would not care for such a daughter +as Norah. Are you not afraid that some fine morning holy Church will +join them, and that you will come down to breakfast to find them in an +edifying position on their knees, claiming mamma's blessing?' + +My lady had sunk into a chair, her pale face paler. + +'No, no,' she murmured; 'that could not be. He toys with a pretty +wench as a young spark will. Why would I gladly have him marry you? +Because I know he has faults--the faults of youth, which time will +remedy--and I feel, dear Doreen, that your strong common-sense will be +a stay to his weakness. Once united to you, he will change, and you +will be very happy together.' + +There was something so pitiable in this abject discomfiture--in this +refusal to be insulted--that Miss Wolfe's resolution failed her. Yet +her curiosity was too thoroughly roused to permit of dropping the +subject. + +'Then I'm to be the scapegoat?' she said, with a tinge of scorn. 'I'm +to lick the whelp into shape--no matter if my heart is broken in the +process. Thank you! A vow once sworn need never be repeated. Yet do +not forget, aunt, if you please, that it is registered. He refuses to +go into highborn society where noble ladies are, preferring play and +duelling-clubs, and you dread his making a _mésalliance_, rather than +which you would accept poor me as a _pis-aller_.' (Here the young lady +made a curtsey.) 'Many thanks. Is this at all like the truth? Pardon +my speaking plainly. It's best to be aboveboard. After this time we +will, with your good leave, never return to the hateful subject. That +I shall not be poor can surely claim no part in your calculations, for +he is thirty times wealthier than I can ever be. Rich!' she repeated, +with a harsh laugh. 'A rich Catholic will be a curiosity, _n'est ce +pas?_ If this is at all your course of thought, why not prevent his +going to the Little House? Speak to Mrs. Gillin as harshly as you +began to speak to me to-day, and there will surely be an end of the +matter. Or,' pursued the crafty maiden, remembering Tone's last +epistle, 'brush Norah from his mind by change of scene. Why not remove +for a few months to Ennishowen? It is long since you were there. Your +presence would do much to keep disloyal tenants quiet in these +disloyal times. Would not that be a capital example? The boys used to +love Ennishowen. Shane will forget the objectionable Norah whilst +pursuing the shy seal or shooting wild birds round Malin Head. Do you +remember the delirious delight of him and Terence when they dragged +their first seal into the boat under Glas-aitch-é Cliff, and how you +told me not to be afraid of looking over the garden parapet into the +green water dashing so far below? Ah, those were days!' the girl +pursued, kindling. 'Our only care whether the fish would bite or the +shot carry----' then she was stopped by a lump rising in her throat, +stirred by the thought of how different those days were from these, +when the thunderous cloud was drawing lower, lower--and she--a +reserved young lady--was becoming alarmingly familiarised with secret +despatches; a political phantasmagoria; a threatened collision between +two classes, whose hate was bubbling over. + +The rebellious tears well-nigh burst their bonds; but a strong will +was throned within that shapely head. My lady turned angrily upon her +niece; for though discomfited and prepared to run up a flag of truce, +it was not to be expected that she should endure this last speech +without resenting it. Miss Wolfe's pertness harrowed her proud soul. +She had pretended to look on her aunt as in her dotage--a toothless +harridan, with no distinguishing attribute except white hair, and had +presumed to charge her with ridiculous motives; had torn the dazzling +glamour of his rank from Shane, exposing to view a skin as shaggy as +the ass's; even going so far as to stigmatise him to his doting mother +as a drunkard and a murderer; and, to cap all, had wound up with +patronising advice. An ordinary lady of middle age would resent such +treatment; how much more then the stern Countess of Glandore, whose +nature was toughened by contact with the fire, who was always regarded +with awe-stricken terror when she deigned to honour any of the Castle +festivities, and who was quite a terrifying personage even to the +wives and daughters of contemporary grandees. + +Would the stubborn girl be true to her hasty vow? My lady feared she +would, though for the moment she was too angry to consider calmly of +it. Fierce wrath darted from under her squared brows; her high nose +grew thinner; a network of small meshes twitched about her mouth; her +long fingers tightly clutched the gold snuffbox which usually lay +within them. Yet Miss Wolfe, having recovered her self-possession, +looked sombrely at the frost-crowned volcano without a tremor. + +'Doreen,' my lady said, 'if your father knew of you what I know, it +would kill him; but I elect to hold my tongue, because I love my +brother more than you your father. That you should be insolent to me +is what I might expect; so I bear that with equanimity. Thank you for +showing me how wrong I was in forming a Utopian scheme for joining my +brother's child to Shane. We will say no more about that.' (Doreen +heaved a sigh of relief.) 'The indelicacy of your proceedings has +shown me that such a thing would be an insult to our name. What! a +girl who corresponds clandestinely with a married man; who gallops +like a trull about the country, regardless, not only of her own fair +fame, but of her family's; who is on terms of familiar intercourse +with a parcel of scatter-brained youths who make the capital of +notoriety out of the jingle of sedition. Is this a girl to be received +in respectable society? You spoke plainly; so do I. If I were to +publish what I chance to know of you, no decent family would receive +you within their doors. But I must bear with you for many reasons; +your base mother's blood among the rest. You must be the skeleton in +our cupboard. All I beg is, that you will rattle your bones less +publicly.' + +Doreen's dark skin was mottled with pallor; her breath laboured; her +lips formed words, yet no sound issued thence. At last she panted out: + +'Aunt! you do not believe this of me! You must know me better!' + +Then she stopped, perceiving Miss Curran's startled visage in the +doorway, which my lady could not, having her back turned to it. + +'Believe it? Yes, I do,' cried the exasperated countess; 'I believe +that you----' + +'No! Hold your tongue! If you have no respect for yourself or me, have +some for Sara!' Doreen exclaimed, as she hurried to the door. + +My lady was filled with remorse, and bit her lips. Her temper had got +the better of her prudence; and regret followed swiftly upon angry +words. + +'Doreen!' she cried, in a sudden desire to make good in some sort the +mischief which was done; 'Doreen, at least be careful with your +correspondence; see that no one intercepts it; that no one tampers +with your letters!' + +'My letters are my own,' Doreen retorted over her shoulder, haughtily. +'Don't you ever dare to touch them.' Then passing her arm round the +waist of trembling Sara, she led her away to enjoy a delightful duet +of tears in private. + +My lady remained for a long while looking straight before her, +bewailing much the unexpected turn which things had taken. It was +unwise, considering what lay at the bottom of her heart, to have +goaded the damsel as she had done. A high mettled steed resents the +curb. Now all that had been said about clandestine correspondence, and +so on, was strictly true; was only what it behoved a judicious +relative to place in its true light before an impulsive girl, who +might come to find her reputation gone before she was aware there was +a stain on it. Yet her heart smote the countess when she marked the +look of horrified dismay which dawned in her niece's face during the +last harangue. It is an ill thing to corrupt a mind which is innocent. +Unhappily this is a wicked world, in which it is necessary for us to +note certain sinful details for our own safety's sake. Yet it is not a +pleasing job to impart such intelligence for the first time, +especially when ill-temper bids us make the worst of it. Lady Glandore +knew perfectly well that there could be nothing in the letters from +the married man, except treason; and that she had done wrong in +suggesting something else. Doreen, she thought, was not a girl to +break off the correspondence in consequence of this new light. +Indignant, strong in the purity of her motives, she would only hate +her aunt and cling the more persistently to the married man and all +the other scatter-brained young persons, and plunge more deeply into +danger, through bravado. + +As she meditated, examining each thrust that had been made on either +side, she regretted bitterly her foolish speeches; and then her heart +grew sick within her as she came upon a barb, which, flung without +aim, hung from a smarting wound. As the maiden had suggested, what +should prevent reckless Shane from marching off to church some day +with pretty Norah, and returning to crave a blessing? The very thought +of such a fatal proceeding caused my lady to rise from her seat with a +bound, and wring her hands in anguish. + +'What have I done--what have I done?' she groaned, 'that an earthly +purgatory should be my lot? Did I fail in my duty to my lord? Was I +not too indulgent a wife, screening his unfaithfulness, enduring +insult without end from that dreadful woman?' + +Then she reflected how his death had not brought peace to her; how +relentless Time had administered secret scourgings, whilst she +appeared to be sitting--a noble, envied widow--between two growing +sons. Was her torment to go on increasing, instead of wearing itself +out with its own rigour? What would be the end? That early sin which +took place so long ago--could any one declare that she was aught but +an unwilling agent in it? Might the trace of it never be washed clean? +Was suicide the only means of escape from an agony to which on earth +there seemed no term? If, driven by despair, she were to hurry +unbidden into the presence of her Maker, might she not hope to be +forgiven? If your cross is too heavy for your strength, sure you may +be pardoned for casting it aside! + +As she writhed, a prey to phantoms of retrospect, she felt that her +sin was not a faded one of long ago; that it continued still, and that +while she permitted it to roll on unchecked, numbers at compound +interest were being chalked to her account. That dreadful secret which +had blanched her hair! Years had woven such confusing complications +round it, that were she, taking her courage in both hands, to speak +out now, it would be only to transfer a burthen, not destroy it. No, +no! Ten times no! The time for setting right the wrong was past--past, +irretrievably. Instead of moaning over it, it were better to +concentrate all attention upon this matter of Shane and Norah. At all +hazards, the billing and cooing of that couple must be stopped while +there was time. Shane was the late earl's eldest son, and Mrs. +Gillin----! And Norah was sixteen years old, bred a Protestant by my +lord's special desire. Could his wife be misled in her suspicions? The +conduct of Mrs. Gillin in the matter was most amazing. My lady +surveyed it from all points of view. Truly she was racked by many +torments. Até was at work. The orders of the dread goddess were being +carried out by the Eumenides. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + A MOTHER'S WILES. + + +Having indulged in a soothing torrent of tears, Doreen departed with +lightened heart with the other young people for an excursion on the +bay. She felt all the better for the passage of arms, for her breezy +common-sense told her that my lady's charges resulted from momentary +pique, and had no foundation in conviction. But, resulting from the +quarrel, a vista had risen in her mind for the first time of what she +might be sacrificing for her people's sake. Evil tongues will wag. +Women who brave public opinion have always gone to the wall, time out +of mind. No. Not always. Scandal had nothing to say against the maid +of Domrémy; Judith's fair fame was smirched in nowise by that little +supper _en tête-à-tête_ with Holofernes. Miss Wolfe failed to consider +that the rapid action of that Jewish tragedy, with its pitiless +termination in the murder of a helpless sleeper, did much to keep the +tongue of scandal quiet. Had she held clandestine interviews with the +doughty general, walked with him by moonlight and so forth, it is +highly probable that all the geese in Jewry would have cackled, and +that the heroine would have been tabooed for a brazen slut. Now the +young lady whose peculiar position interests us so much at present, +while perfectly innocent of wrong-doing, could not but see that her +motives might possibly be misinterpreted; that spiteful remarks, +similar to her aunt's, would probably go the round of Dublin. Was she +prepared to endure opprobrium? was the game worth the candle she was +burning for it? was the good she was likely to achieve at all in +proportion to the social ruin which would fall upon herself? Like the +generous young person that she was, her first romantic feeling was an +exultant glow at the distant prospect of martyrdom; her second--due to +the practical firmness of her character--a doubt whether she might not +be self-deceived by inexperience. Then her father too--the good weak +father who cared very much for sublunary fleshpots--what would he say +when he came to know how deeply circumstances were involving his child +in matters which he would surely disapprove? She could not help the +stirring of an idea (which she strove hard to lull to rest) to the +effect that it is not very heroic to drag innocent people into a mess; +and a second one moved at the stirring of the first, which whispered +that if her own name were to be publicly bandied, her father would +certainly get into trouble for not keeping her in check. Her aunt's +was the wisdom of the world; there was no doubt about it. + +It is all very well to sacrifice yourself, vow that you will never +marry, that no woodbine-bonds of family affection shall be permitted +to spring up around you--provided that you stand quite alone. If you +have a parent who delights in fleshpots, who holds an honourable +situation of which your own heroics may deprive him, it is surely a +matter of doubt whether your better part would not be the dusting of +household furniture, the warming of slippers, the mending of old +stockings, instead of the more picturesque operation of donning +plume and helm. What, I wonder, did the parents of Joan of Arc +think of their daughter when she abandoned the care of sheep to go +a-soldiering? Doreen recognised the objections to her proposed course +with a pang, but wavered, searching for an excuse such as should +render her desires commendable. She would have liked to go down to +posterity as a female Moses. The position of the budding lawgiver at +Pharaoh's court was somewhat like her own, save in the important point +that he had no father who loved fleshpots. If it might only be +permitted for Arthur Wolfe's daughter to wean him from them to better +things! But that seemed too good a prospect to be hoped for, so with a +sigh she put it from her. + +As, after the recent skirmish, she reviewed the situation, I grieve to +relate she was not sorry for her pertness. My lady had no business to +say what she had said, to make rude speeches, and to worry about +Shane. The young lady conceived herself bound to speak up boldly in +self-defence, to put my lady down on the subject of private liberty, +as she often did in the matter of King William. The two ladies started +in all things from two opposite poles. That they should clash was +inevitable. But she did promise herself to be more prudent in the +future for her father's sake; to do what was feasible for the good +cause in private, strictly remaining in the background herself, come +what might. And this resolution being firmly graven on her mind, she +busied herself about fishing-tackle with the placid calm which passed +with her for cheerfulness. + +Meanwhile my lady sat alone in the tapestry-saloon among the faded +effigies of departed Crosbies, looking appealingly at them as though +they could help her in an extremity. The guiding spring of her life +had been pride, which became firmly grafted by marriage in the glory +of her husband's lineage. Pride it was which had supported her +fainting heart in many a bitter struggle. Black care had thinned her +cheek, had pressed crow's-feet about her restless eyes; yet, save for +a querulous manner and the peculiar sudden dilation of the pupil which +struck us when first we were introduced to the stately countess in +'83, there was but little that was unusual on the surface to tell a +new acquaintance that the battle which she fought was never-ceasing. + +In the late lord's lifetime she was wretched enough--but with a +numbing dulness which is its own anodyne. Moreover, as we discovered +on his deathbed, the important secret, if important it were, had +been shared between the two. A secret known to even one other person, +whose feelings in the matter are similar to our own, is lightened by +more than half its weight. He died. His widow was condemned to drag +the chain alone--worse than alone, for yet one other person knew +of it whose feelings were remote from friendly. The late lord's +devil-may-care visage glanced sideways down with an eternal smirk from +its frame upon the wall. He was dead. His breast was unburthened. He +slept in peace, and there was his smiling counterfeit grinning at his +unhappy partner. Did he sleep in peace? Oh! If she could have been +sure of that! But no. Possibly he was enduring torments even worse +than hers. As he lay choking between the confines of two worlds, +perchance he had been allowed to see what was still concealed from her +human ken--and then had cried out the warning--'Set right that wrong +while you have the opportunity.' How horribly unjust seemed the +retribution which pursued her! Her sin had been the negative one of +living a long lie. If she had had courage to confess--to abase her +stiff-necked pride--the wrong might have been set right with but +little serious injury to any but herself. But my lord--the prime +sinner--had encouraged this pride, declaring that there was no call +for a great sacrifice--until the last moment when his eyes were +opened, and he called out in his agony, 'Beware!' By that time the +pride so long nurtured was become a second nature. + +She could not all of a sudden break through the ramparts of long +usage. It was very well for him to cry 'Stand on the pillory,' when he +was himself flitting beyond the reach of stone-throwing. It was very +well for his odious concubine to cry 'Confess!' who would be no +sufferer by the confession. By that improvised death-couch the widow +had turned the matter over in all its phases. Then she had not +perceived that, with every rising sun, the confession would become +more difficult--that (despite the lying proverb) the rolling stone +would gather moss till it should move slowly and more slowly, pressing +her breath out by degrees ere it ground her to powder under its +weight. + +Sometimes she tried to forget, and almost fancied that she succeeded, +almost believed that her conscience was quite hardened. Then something +would take place--a trivial circumstance--one of Doreen's idle shafts, +which set her nerves jarring, and the painful truth forced itself upon +her that there are tender spots on the most seared of consciences. She +had wild accesses of rage within the secrecy of her own chamber, in +that my lord who simpered on the wall should have wrecked her life so +utterly. She took refuge in religion, loathing the faith of the +surviving participator in her secret as an outlet for surging hate and +bitterness. She tried to take refuge from her own trouble by smoothing +that of others, but even in this--the last resource of those who see +life through jaundiced spectacles--she found little consolation, for +the trouble which she soothed was at least open and laid bare. And so +the distinct working of a double consciousness--one for good and one +for evil at the same time--(which we all feel within us) became +unusually evident in Lady Glandore, urging her at one moment to a rash +act for which she was gnawed by deep remorse the next. May this +account for the growing dislike which she nourished for her second +son, while she fed the poor with soup and wrapped their limbs in +flannel? Perhaps it was the singular contradictions of her character +which induced Lord Clare to like and to respect her so much, and which +permitted him at the same time to make that disgraceful suggestion +without fear of exclusion from the Abbey, anent Tone's letter. + +For the thousandth time, as she twisted in the great chair, my lady +wondered whether it was really too late to humble herself, to grovel +in the dust, and make confession. There was an obstacle which rendered +a tardy repentance impossible, at least until it was removed. That +long-cherished match between Shane and Doreen must be accomplished +first; then, perhaps--but surely it could not be so absolutely urgent! +Time, so far, had brought with him only a complication of troubles, +more tangled than his usual fardel. Where was his all-comforting +finger, about which the poets have raved? Sure he would relent, and +spare the countess the supreme sacrifice. Not that so far he showed +much sign of relenting. This idea of Doreen's about a secret marriage, +which had sent the blood tearing back to her aunt's heart, was an +extra knot in the web that was smothering her. Norah must be put away; +Shane must be seriously exhorted to observe his cousin's charms. Of +course she would never marry Terence; nobody wished her to do so. This +my lady decided comfortably, on the principle that we easily believe +that which we desire. How could Arthur Wolfe be bolstered into showing +greater strength of character, and induced to obey his sister? If she +were to tell him what she knew of Doreen, to impress on him by this +means that a speedy marriage was necessary for her.--No! That would +not do. He would be capable of carrying her off in a fright to London, +Paris, Rome--anywhere out of temptation's reach. + +Then, again, the dowager reflected on the chances of who Norah's +father was; and again her agony ascended to a paroxysm. At all hazards +so awful a shadow as this hideous new one that loomed must be +exorcised. How? Mrs. Gillin was brutish and pitiless, of course. Why +did she encourage this terrible flirtation? She could not realise, +surely, the sharpness of the tools with which she played. Come what +might of it, it was plainly her duty, for everybody's sake (so the +chatelaine pondered), to take Madam Gillin to task as to her present +conduct. + +It is all very well to stick pins in your rival's seat (so she must +explain to her), but it is your distinct interest to be quite certain +that you yourself may not be called upon to sit on them. Gillin's +spite against my lady was doubtless great. She would do much to injure +her, but not to the extent of ruining her own daughter, surely? For, +somehow or other--probably on the principle that life not being hard +enough, we must practise self-torture--my lady had quite made up her +mind as to Norah's parentage. Now Gillin must be bidden forthwith to +stop this scandal--and my lady was the one person who could venture to +broach the subject. Then qualms of pride arose within the latter's +breast. The twain had never spoken but once--on the dreadful evening +at Daly's club-house. At Castle-balls they had looked with Medusan +gaze right through each other; for the compact was there--no less +binding that it was unwritten--that the mistress and the wife should +never speak, save on the subject of that secret. Had things not gone +crooked, nothing could have been more satisfactory than such a +compact. As things were, was not Mrs. Gillin--inflamed to vulgar wrath +through her sinful designs being exposed--certain to set her foul +tongue clacking, to delve into old sores whose cicatrices were yet +soft, to plunge into long-buried matters within hearing, perhaps, of +other vulgar wretches, who, in surprised horror, would blab to all the +world. Thus did my lady attempt to gloss over her own dread, to veneer +the promptings of her pride with plausible reasons for avoiding that +which conscience--speaking through unconscious Doreen--had specially +declared must be done without delay. + +But it was more than a merely human woman might be called upon to do. +In my lord's time people, more sensitive than the herd, marvelled that +the countess could bear the insulting presence of her flaunting rival +with such stoical equanimity. That much she had bravely borne. But of +her own free will to descend from a pedestal occupied with dignity +during half a lifetime; to lower herself to an interview with the +concubine, who would surely jump upon the rival, voluntarily abased, +was more, much more, than might be demanded of a mortal. It was not +possible to call upon Mrs. Gillin. The only remaining plan was to take +Shane away; to follow Doreen's counsel, and move the household to +Ennishowen. + +At this point in her self-communing, the limbs of the countess shook +with palsy, and her haggard face looked really aged. Since the +commencement of her married life, she had carefully eschewed +Glas-aitch-é, the wild islet on Lough Swilly, where the decayed castle +of Ennishowen stood, and where _that_ had taken place which was the +beginning of her troubles. It would be dreadful to have to revisit +that spot; yet to that sacrifice at least she was able to resign +herself, hoping that it might be counted as half a penance. But Shane, +would he consent to be carried thither? to forego the society of +Norah, the allurements of Dublin taverns? And if he did in this much +obey his mother, could the match with his cousin be in anywise +promoted? My lady's brain grew weary and bewildered as she tried to +fit into harmony the pieces of her puzzle. + +There was beloved Shane, galloping in, unkempt, from last night's +debauch. So soon as he had had time to bathe and dress himself, his +mother resolved to summon the dear prodigal to her presence-chamber, +and try what her influence could accomplish. + +When her favourite son appeared before her, with two pointers +gambolling about him, the countess's stern face softened; and well it +might, for he was a comely spectacle. Rather low in stature, but +elegantly made, with hair brushed backwards and fastened by a diamond +clasp, he looked, with his delicate wan face, and eyes rendered the +more lustrous for the dark circles round them, a fit guardian of the +honour of Glandore. His air and manner when in his mother's presence +(as, indeed, in that of Doll Tearsheet, or any other woman) assumed an +exquisite blandness, such as gave a false first impression of +effeminacy, which was corroborated by the tiny dimensions of his hand. +But are not first impressions snares, my brethren, for the deceiving +of the unwary? That gazelle-like eye could, on occasion, shoot forth a +light of cold ferocity; that finely-modelled little forefinger had +many a time sent a hapless boon companion to his last account for an +idle jest, with a cool precision and nonchalance which compelled an +unwilling sort of admiration, despite its ruffianism. But this morning +he was in the best of humours, as Eblana and Aileach danced about him, +wagging their tails and tumbling over and over, in their delight at +his friendly notice; for his head did not burn, neither was his tongue +parched, and he registered a mental resolution to send a yacht +forthwith to Douglas for another hogshead or two of that especially +pure claret. + +Drawing around him the ample folds of his morning-gown (that +becoming one of rose-coloured brocade, thickly frogged and tasselled +in gold), he kissed his mother lightly, and played with the jewelled +watch-chains which dangled from either fob. As her eyes wandered over +his neat limbs, which looked their best in tight blue-striped +pantaloons that ended midway down the calf in a great bunch of +ribbons, her spirits rose, for sure no damsel in her senses could long +resist so refined a combination of elegant graces, leaving the lustre +of the coronet quite out of the question. But the female heart--as my +lady might be expected to remember--is prone to erratic courses; to +start off down crooked byways, instead of keeping the straight road; +to take distracting and inconvenient fancies, and generally to +distress its friends. + +But Shane was a _parti comme il y en a peu_. If he could only be +induced to abandon the Doll Tearsheets, and direct amorous glances at +the high-born young ladies of the metropolis, Doreen might be +permitted to run her foolish race unchecked, for Shane could be well +married without her. Unluckily the male heart is not too justly +balanced neither. Shane liked something more highly spiced than an +innocent miss, who, he declared, always made him qualmish with a smell +of bread and butter. Nobody could accuse Doreen of anything so vapid, +and Shane certainly liked Doreen after a careless fashion, though he +never in his life had made love to her. My lady now proposed to rate +him on this subject, for the possibility of choosing another bride for +him in due time was finally put out of the question by the imminent +danger of some catastrophe with Norah. It was clear, all things +considered, that there was nothing for it but to remove my lord +forthwith to his fastness in the north, and keep him there for a time; +and it was quite certain that no high-born damsels with suitable +attributes were to be found in the wilds of Donegal, straying about in +search of husbands. + +'Mother!' Shane said gaily, 'we had such a whimsical accident last +night. George Fitzgerald wagered to keep three of the best of us at +bay with his single rapier-point, for a whole hour. I saw he was too +drunk to stand, so I took the bet at once, and off we marched, +borrowing their lanterns from the watchmen as we passed, to the ring +in Stephen's Green. George steadied himself against the statue, and +really made superb play--I could not have done better myself--till +somebody in the crowd shouted, "For God's sake part them!" to which +another blackguard hallooed, "Let them have it out, for one will be +killed, and the rest hanged for murder, and so we shall be rid of a +bunch of pests." Of course this roused us, so we all turned on him, +just to show he was wrong; and faix he was wrong, sure enough, for +'twas he that got killed, and none of us are ripe for hanging.' + +'But, Shane!' my lady exclaimed, 'who was the man? You are so +imprudent.' + +'No one of any importance,' responded her son, carelessly. 'An old +busybody--a shoemaker, I think, or a baker. Sure it was an accident, +for George meant only to pink the spalpeen, and his sword went in too +far--a miscalculation. Do you know, mother, that there'll soon be no +end to the insolence of these ruffians? There's a report at the Castle +that that crazy idiot Tone, to whom you were always much too kind, has +succeeded in persuading the French to take up his cudgels. He'll dance +the Kilmainham minuet, as the saying is, take my word for it, and +serve him right; but Lord Camden really thinks it's serious. He talked +with such mystery of plots last evening, of some scheme for attacking +Dublin, that I thought his excellency was having a joke with us, till +he said if things go on as they are going, there'll be nothing for it +but to proclaim martial law.' + +My lady meditated for a time, reviewing this intelligence. 'Then these +United Irish did not intend to be mere wind-bags?' she thought, and my +Lord Camden was beginning to be afraid of them. Her common-sense told +her that if, in a tussle, they got even for a moment the upper hand, +their vengeance would fall heavily upon the perpetrators of such +reckless escapades as that which Shane had just narrated. At any rate, +it was not good to give them such food for complaint. My lady's caste +prejudices blinded her to the fact that when half-a-dozen youths (even +blue-blood ones) set on a single man and slay him, the act is no +better than murder, though they are content to deplore it for a minute +as an accident. There was no doubt left in her mind that Doreen's +advice had been of the very best. She must even go to Ennishowen, +however great the pain might be to herself in the revival of +unpleasant memories. So, shaking her head, she remarked: 'Dear Shane! +in '45 the Scotch rebels advanced within a hundred miles of London. If +5,000 ragged Highlanders are capable of that, why should not the +French army march on Dublin? Lord Clare spoke to me yesterday on the +subject of the yeomanry. It seems that the Privy Council expect you to +undertake this district.' + +'I should like that!' Shane said. + +'It would not be wise, though,' returned his mother, quietly. 'The +aristocracy will have a difficult game to play if these silly people +really aim at violence. The executive will have brought it on +themselves, and it's only fair that they should get out of their own +difficulties in their own way. In '82, when your father and I both +wore the uniform, the case was different. Landlord and tenant were +united, as lord and servant of the soil, against a foreigner who had +maltreated both. Things have changed since then. The position of the +nobles is different. They have become Anglicised. Much of their +interest is English. Yet it would be best for them not too openly to +join the foreigner in coercing their own tenants--at least, not just +now.' + +The cunning old lady was saying what she did not quite believe, having +in view an object, and Shane looked at her in surprise. + +'If riots take place,' the countess proceeded, 'the commander-in-chief +will put them down, if he thinks proper, with the English troops who +have come over lately; and he and they will bear the odium. The Irish +nobles would be placing themselves in a false position by interfering +against their own people with too great alacrity. At all events, they +will gain a point by waiting.' + +'But, mother, the other lords are heading the squireens. If I hold +back they will say I am a coward!' + +'Not so, my son. Your proceedings every day would give the lie to +that. I grant that if you sat here, or roystered on in Dublin, you +might be accused of shuffling, which would not do. But if you went +away? Not to England, no! That would not do either. Why not go to +Ennishowen, under the pretext that here everything is safe under the +paternal rule of the executive, whilst in the vast wild northern +district, over which you hold sway, it would be politic for the lord +to be amongst his tenants? You would be of local service, and at that +distance no one could be sure whether or no your future actions were +guided by events.' + +'You do not believe that this pack of fools will do any harm?' + +'Certainly not, or I would not counsel you to go away. Cannot you see +that in ignoble squabbles with the scum it is best to keep clean hands +by remaining neutral? They will be put down--of course they will be +put down; but, you stupid fellow, we must so manage that you have no +hand in it. We will go to Glas-aitch-é. 'Tis long since we were +there.' + +Shane twirled the satin ear of Eblana round his finger absently. This +move of his mother's puzzled him. What would his life be away at wild +Glas-aitch-é without his boon companions, among boors who had probably +never heard of a Hellfire Club? In earlier days he used to be madly +fond of field-sports, was still devoted to certain branches of the +chase. But suddenly to leave the joys of a gay metropolis to bury +himself in a hut on practically a desert island, was no pleasant +prospect. And dear Norah, too, must she be left behind? Accustomed as +he was to bow to his mother's ascendency in political questions as in +the management of the estates, the vision of Norah deploring in +dishevelled loneliness the absence of his fascinating self was too +much for him. + +'I cannot go, mother! It would look like flight,' he said with a show +of firmness. + +My lady was too acute not to read his thoughts; too wise to expect her +son to yield without a flutter. She moved with stately sweep to where +he sat, and, pressing his face with her two hands, whispered fondly as +she knelt down beside him. 'My darling, do you not know that I would +cut my heart out for you, that I would walk to the stake to save you +one needless pang? Men can never realise the fulness of a mother's +love--the sublimity of its unselfishness--the majesty of its devotion. +It is the one ray of the Divine which has been allowed to glimmer +forth on our dull earth. Do you suppose I would counsel you to aught +that could bring you injury? that I have not anxiously weighed each +side of the question before deciding what is best? You know that I +love you much better than myself. You know that Heaven has denied you +cleverness. You are not clever, my poor child; but we can't help that, +can we? And you are not good, I am sorely afraid. Yet as your mother I +love you no whit the less. Try to comprehend what a mother's love is +like--how large--how grandly blind in that it might see but will not!' + +As she spoke, the poor lady who had been so buffeted by worldly +troubles was transfigured by the strength of her affection for this +one being. The fact of her loving nothing else served but to increase +her love. As one, some of whose senses have decayed whilst others are +proportionately sensitised, she felt with intensity all which affected +her firstborn. It was strange that she could not remember that Terence +also was her son--that he had pined for such a display as this all his +life in vain--that even now (yawning in the Four-courts) he would have +upset the presiding judge and sent all the attorneys to a man into +the Liffey, and galloped at breakneck speed to Strogue if his mother +would only have given him one of the looks which she was lavishing on +Shane--one of those hand-touches that are in nowise akin to +'paddling,' but which send stronger thrills through us than the most +languishing of eyes. + +'Ireland is being involved in complicated difficulties,' she pursued. +'You must be obedient, and allow me to lead you through them safely. +It will only be for a month or two. Then all will be over, and we can +come back here again. Say you will do as I wish?' + +Shane never could long withstand his mother's coaxing, when she +condescended to implore. Is it not always thus? Is it not worth while +to be haughty, arrogant, ill-tempered--as the case may be--if only for +the fuller appreciation of our benignity when we elect to be benign? +Shane clung to the dowager's last straw, which with artful artlessness +she had held out to him. It would only be for a month or two. It would +do Norah all the good in life to miss her beloved for a space; while +he was away, she would measure his merits, and fly with rapture to his +bosom on his return. It would be rather fun, too, again to visit for a +few weeks the haunts he used so to doat upon. But it ill became him as +one of the sterner sex to be over-easily persuaded. + +'It will be very dull up there, mother,' he objected. + +'How civil of you,' the countess said, kissing him, for she saw the +point was gained. 'If you are a good boy, I will ask your uncle to let +Doreen come too. Her eccentricities will enliven us.' + +'You are always talking of Doreen?' complained my lord. 'I can't see +why you make so much fuss about her.' + +'Then we won't take her,' responded my lady, with prompt and +Machiavellian wisdom. + +'I care not,' he returned 'Perhaps we had better take her, and I'll +teach her to shoot seals.' + +And so the matter was decided, whilst my lady made up her mind that, +once in Donegal, her son should stop there under one pretext or +another until all danger from Miss Gillin should be averted. + + + + END Of VOL. I. + + + + * * * * * + BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _S. & H_. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. 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A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the +Union. Vol. I.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="Hon. Lewis Wingfield"> + +<meta name="Publisher" content="Richard Bentley and Son"> +<meta name="Date" content="1879"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +.center {margin: auto; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} +.stage {margin-left:10%} + + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + + +.poem0 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem1 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 2em; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem2 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem3 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 30%; + margin-right: 30%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + + + + + +figcenter {margin:auto; text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} +.t9 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:9em; margin-right:0px;} +.t10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10em; margin-right:0px;} +.t11 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:11em; margin-right:0px;} +.t12 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:12em; margin-right:0px;} +.t13 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:13em; margin-right:0px;} +.t14 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:14em; margin-right:0px;} +.t15 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:15em; margin-right:0px;} +.t16 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:16em; margin-right:0px;} + + +.quote {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} +.ctrquote {text-align: center; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} + +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-right:10%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:110%;} +span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:0em;} + + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III), by Lewis Wingfield + +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: My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38861] + +Language: Englishs + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> + +1. Page scan source:<br> +http://books.google.com/books?id=qecBAAAAQAAJ</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>MY LORDS OF STROGUE.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>MY LORDS OF STROGUE.</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h4><i>A CHRONICLE OF IRELAND, FROM THE CONVENTION<br> +TO THE UNION</i>.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h2>HON. LEWIS WINGFIELD,</h2> + +<h5>AUTHOR OF 'LADY GRIZEL,' ETC.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>IN THREE VOLUMES.<br> + +VOL. I.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3><span class="sc">LONDON:</span><br> + +RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,<br> + +<span style="font-size:smaller">Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.</span><br> + +1879.<br> + +[<span style="font-size:smaller"><i>All Rights Reserved</i>.</span>]</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div class="poem3"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +'God of Peace! before Thee</p> +<p class="t1">Peaceful here we kneel,</p> +<p class="t0">Humbly to implore Thee</p> +<p class="t1">For a nation's weal.</p> +<p class="t0">Calm her sons' dissensions,</p> +<p class="t1">Bid their discord cease,</p> +<p class="t0">End their mad contentions--</p> +<p class="t1">Hear us, God of Peace!'</p> +<p class="t6">(<i>Spirit of the Nation</i>.)</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>TO</h5> + +<h2>E. W. B.</h2> + +<h3>I inscribe this Book</h3> + +<h4>IN MEMORY OF</h4> + +<h3>A CLOSE FRIENDSHIP.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</h2> +<br> +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%; font-weight:bold"> +<colgroup><col style="width:10%; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td><span class="sc2">CHAPTER</span></td> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td>I.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">MIRAGE.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>II.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">RETROSPECT.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>III.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">SHADOWS.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IV.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">BANISHMENT.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>V.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">STROGUE ABBEY.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">MY LADY'S PROJECT.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">TRINITY.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">CAIN AND ABEL.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IX.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">THE PRIORY.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>X.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">LOVES AND DOVES?</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">STORMY WEATHER.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">A MOTHER'S WILES.</a></td> +</tr></table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>MY LORDS OF STROGUE.</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">MIRAGE.</a></h3> + +<p class="hang1">'Hurrah! 'tis done--our freedom's won--hurrah for the Volunteers!</p> + +<p class="hang1">By arms we've got the rights we sought through long and wretched +years.</p> + +<p class="hang1">Remember still through good and ill how vain were prayers and +tears--</p> + +<p class="hang1">How vain were words till flashed the swords of the Irish +Volunteers.'</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">So sang all Dublin in a delirium of triumph on the 9th of November, +1783. From the dawn of day joy-bells had rung jocund peals; rich +tapestries and silken folds of green and orange had swayed from every +balcony; citizens in military garb, with green cockades, had silently +clasped one another's hands as they met in the street. There was no +need for speech. One thought engrossed every mind; one common +sacrifice of thanksgiving rolled up to heaven. For Ireland had fought +her bloodless fight, had shaken off the yoke of England, and was +free--at last!</p> + +<p class="normal">The capital was crowded with armed men and bravely-bedizened dames. +Carriages, gay with emblazoned panels, blocked up the narrow +thoroughfares, darkened to twilight-pitch by the boughs and garlands +that festooned the overhanging eaves. Noddies and whiskies and sedans, +bedecked with wreaths and ribbons, jostled one another into the +gutter. Troops of horse, splendidly accoutred--officers mounted upon +noble hunters--clattered hither and thither, crushing country folk +against mire-stained walls and tattered booths, where victuals were +dispensed, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Strangers, arrived +but now from across Channel, marvelled at the spectacle, as they +marked the signs of widespread luxury--the strange mingling of +the pomp and circumstance of war with the panoply of peace--the +palaces--the gorgeously-attired ladies in semi-martial garb, swinging +up and down Dame Street in gilded chairs between the Castle and the +Senate House, and back again--dressed, some of them, in broidered +uniforms, some in rich satin and brocade. Sure the homely court of +Farmer George in London could not compare in splendour, or in female +beauty either, with that of his Viceroy here.</p> + +<p class="normal">A stranger could perceive at once that some important ceremony was +afoot, for all along the leading streets long galleries had been +erected, decorated each with sumptuous hangings, crowded since +daybreak with a living burthen; while every window showed its freight +of faces, every row of housetops its sea of heads. From the Castle to +Trinity College (where a huge green banner waved) the road was lined +with troops in brand-new uniforms of every cut and colour--scarlet +edged with black, blue lined with buff, white turned up with red, +black piped with grey; while the stately colonnades of the Parliament +House over against the College were guarded by the Barristers' +Grenadiers, a picked body of stalwart fellows who looked in their tall +caps like giants, with muskets slung and bright battle-axes on their +shoulders. King William's effigy, emblem of bitter feuds, was in gala +attire to-day, as if to suggest that rival creeds were met for once in +amity. Newly painted white, the Protestant joss towered above the +crowd, draped in an orange cloak, crowned with orange lilies; while +his horse was muffled thick with orange scarves and streamers, and +wore a huge collar of white ribbons tied about his neck. Placards +inscribed with legends in large characters were suspended from the +pedestal to remind the cits for what they were rejoicing. 'A Glorious +Revolution!' 'A Free Country!' One bigger than the rest swung in the +breeze, announcing to the few who as yet knew it not, that 'The +Volunteers, having overturned a cadaverous Repeal, will now effectuate +a Real Representation of the People!' Yes. That was why Dublin was +come out into the streets. The victorious Volunteers had untied the +Irish Ixion from a torture-wheel of centuries, and, encouraged by +their first success, were preparing now to pass a stern judgment on a +venal parliament.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the period of her annexation to England in the twelfth century, +down to the close of the seventeenth, Ireland had been barbarous and +restless; too feeble and disunited to shake off her shackles, too +proud and too exasperated to despair, alternating in dreary sequence +between wild exertions of delirious strength and the troubled sleep of +exhausted fury. But that was over now. The chain was snapped; and the +first vengeance of the sons who had freed her was to be poured on the +senate who were pensioners of Britain; who had sold their conscience +for a price, their honour for a wage. A grand Convention was to be +opened this day at the Rotunda, from which special delegates would be +despatched to Lords and Commons, demanding in the name of Ireland an +account of a neglected stewardship. No wonder that the populace, +dazzled by an unexpected triumph, were come out with joy to see the +sight. Light-hearted, despite their sorrows, the Irish are only too +ready to be jubilant. But there were some looking down from out the +windows who shook their heads in doubt. The scene was bright, though +the November day was overcast--pretty and picturesque, vastly engaging +to the eye. So also is a skull wreathed with flowers, provided that +the blossoms are strewn with lavish hand. These croakers were fain to +admit that the Volunteers had done wonders. The prestige of victory +was theirs. Yet is it a task hedged round with peril--the wholesale +upsetting of powers that be. It was not likely that England would +tamely give up her prey. She was ready to take advantage of a slip. +Ireland had cause to be aware of this; but Ireland thought fit to +forget it. A fig for England! she was a turnip-spectre illumined by a +rushlight. A new era was dawning. Even the schisms of party-bigotry +had yielded for a moment to the common weal. Catholics and Protestants +had exchanged the kiss of Judas; and Dublin resigned herself to +sottish conviviality.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hark! The thunder of artillery. The first procession is on its way. It +is that of the Viceroy, who, attended by as many peers as he can +muster, will solemnly protest against the new-fledged insolence of a +domineering soldiery who dare to set their house in order and sweep +away the cobwebs. He will make a pompous progress round the promenade +of Stephen's Green; thence by the chief streets and quays to King +William's statue, where he will gravely descend from his equipage and +bow to the Protestant Juggernaut. This awful ceremony over, he will +walk on foot to the House of Lords hard-by, and the holiday-makers +will be stricken with repentant terror. He has his private suspicions +upon this subject though--a secret dread of the mob and of the College +lads of Trinity; for rumour whispers that the wild youths will make a +raid on him, and they have an ugly way of running-a-muck with +bludgeons and heavy stones sewn in their hanging sleeves. So he has +taken his precautions by establishing about the statue a bodyguard--a +cordon of trusty troops--whose aggressive band has been braying since +daybreak 'Protestant Boys,' 'God save the King,' and 'King William +over the water.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But the undergraduates are too much occupied at present in struggling +for seats within the Commons to trouble about the English Viceroy. For +the heads of the Convention are to arrive in state, and Colonel +Grattan, it is said, will appear in person to impeach the Assembly of +which he is a member. Their gallery is crammed to suffocation. Peers' +sons with gold-braided gowns occupy the bench in front, silver-braided +baronets crowd in behind. Peeresses too there are in their own place +opposite, like a bevy of macaws. A sprinkling only; for most of the +ladies, caring more for show than politics, prefer a window at Daly's +club-house next door, where members drop in from time to time by their +private passage to gossip a little and taste a dish of tea, while +their wives enjoy the humours of the crowd and ogle the patriot +soldiers.</p> + +<p class="normal">What is that? A crack of musketry; a <i>feu de joie</i>, which tells that +the second procession has started; that my lord of Derry is on his way +to the Rotunda. And what a grand Bashaw he is, this Earl of Bristol +and Bishop of Derry, who, more Irish than the Irish, has thrown +himself heart and soul into their cause! There is little doubt of his +popularity, for yells rend the air as he goes by, and hats are tossed +up, and men clamber on his carriage. It is as much as his outriders +can do to force aside the throng. A magnificent Bashaw entirely, with +a right royal following. A prince of the Church as well as a grandee; +handsome and <i>débonaire</i>; robed from top to toe in purple silk, with +diamond buttons and gold fringe about the sleeves, and monster tassels +depending from each wrist. A troop of light cavalry goes before, +followed by a bodyguard of parsons--dashing young sparks in +cauliflower wigs. Then some five or six coaches wheeze along. Then +comes my lord himself in an open landau, bowing to left and right, +kissing his finger-tips to the peeresses at Daly's; and after him more +Volunteers on magnificent horses and a complete rookery of clergy. He +turns the corner of the House of Lords, and in front of its portico in +Westmoreland Street cries a halt, to gaze with satisfaction for a +moment on the broad straight vista of what now is Sackville Street, +which has opened suddenly before him. As far as eye may reach--away to +the Rotunda--are two long lines of gallant horsemen in all the nodding +bravery of plumes and pennons--a selected squadron of Volunteers which +consists wholly of private gentlemen--the pride and flower of the +National Army.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the cavalcade stops there is a stir among the peeresses, for they +cannot see round the corner, and are much disgusted by the fact. A +clangour of trumpets wakes the echoes of the corridors. My lords have +just finished prayers, and, marvelling at the strange flourish, run in +a body to the entrance. The Volunteers present arms, the bishop bows +his powdered head, while a smile of triumphant vanity curls the corner +of his lip, and he gives the order to proceed. The lords stand +shamefaced and uneasy while the people hoot at them, and the bishop's +procession--with new shouts and acclamations--crawls slowly on its +way.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the attendant carriages has detached itself from the line and +comes to a stand at Daly's. Its suite divide the mob with blows from +their long canes. Two running footmen in amber silk, two pages in +hunting-caps and scarlet tunics, twelve mounted liverymen with +coronets upon their backs. The coach-door is flung open, and a +dissipated person, looking older than his years, emerges thence, and +throwing largesse to the crowd, goes languidly upstairs to join the +ladies.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is my Lord Glandore of Strogue and Ennishowen, and the party up at +the window to which he nods is his family. That tall refined lady of +forty or thereabouts who acknowledges by a cold bow his lordship's +careless salute is the Countess of Glandore (mark her well; for we +shall see much of her). She has a high nose, thin lips, a querulous +expression, and a quantity of built-up hair which shows tawny through +its powder. She will remind you of Zucchero's portrait of Queen Bess. +There is the same uncompromising mouth and pinched nostril, colourless +face and haughty brow. You will wonder whether she is a bad woman or +one who has suffered much; whether the wealth amid which she lives has +hardened her, or whether troubles kept at bay by pride have darkened +the daylight in her eyes. Stay! as your attention is turned to them +you will be struck by their haggard weariness. If she is addressed +suddenly their pupils dilate with a movement of fear. She sighs too at +times--a tired sigh like Lady Macbeth's, as though a weight were laid +on her too heavy for those aristocratic shoulders to endure. What is +it that frets my lady's spirit? It cannot be my lord's unfaithfulness +(though truly he's a sad rake), for this happy pair settled long since +to pursue each a solitary road. Neither can it be the carking care of +money troubles, such as afflict so many Irish nobles, for all the +world knows that my Lord Glandore--the Pirate Earl, as he is +called--is immensely wealthy, possessing a hoary old abbey which has +dipped its feet in Dublin Bay for ages, and vast estates in Derry and +Donegal, away in the far north.</p> + +<p class="normal">Why the Pirate Earl? Because both his houses are on the sea; because +his claret, which is of the best and poured forth like water, is +brought in his own yacht from the Isle of Man, without troubling the +excise; because the founder of the family--Sir Amorey Crosbie, who +dislodged the Danes in 1177--was a pirate by calling; and because the +Crosbies of Glandore have dutifully exhibited piratical proclivities +ever since. Not that the present earl looks like a sea-faring +evil-doer, with his sallow effeminate countenance and coquettish +uniform. He is a high-bred, highly-polished, devil-may-care, reckless +Irish peer, who, at a moment's notice, would pink his enemy in the +street, or beat the watch, or bait a bull, or set a main of cocks +a-spurring, or wrong a wench, or break his neck over a stone wall from +sheer bravado--after the lively fashion of his order at the period. +Before he came into the title he was known as fighting Crosbie. The +tales told of his vagaries would set your humdrum modern hair on +end--of how he pistolled his whipper-in because he lost a fox, and +then set about preparing an islet of his on the Atlantic for a siege; +of how he sent my Lord North a douceur of five thousand pounds as the +price of pardon, and reappeared in Dublin as a hero; of how, when the +earldom fell to him, he settled down by eloping with Miss Wolfe, or +rather by carrying her off <i>vi et armis</i>, as was the amiable habit of +young bloods. It was a singular Irish custom, since happily exploded, +that of winning a bride by force, as the Sabine maidens were won. Yet +it obtained in many parts of Ireland by general consent till the +middle of the eighteenth century. Abduction clubs existed whose object +was the counteracting of unjust freaks of fortune by tying up +heiresses to penniless sparks. Some of the young ladies (notably the +two celebrated Misses Kennedy) objected to the process, while most of +them found in the prospect of it a pleasing excitement. Irish girls +have always had a spice of the devil in them. It is not surprising +that they should have looked kindly upon men who risked life and +liberty for their sweet sakes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Glandore followed the prevailing fashion, carried off Miss Wolfe +to his wild isle in Donegal, and society said it was well done. She +was no heiress, but that too was well, for my lord was rich enough for +both. The parson of Letterkenny was summoned to the islet to tie the +knot (it was unmodish for persons of quality to be married in a +church), and a year later the twain returned to the metropolis, with a +baby heir and every prospect of future happiness. But somehow there +was a gulf between them. Young, rich, worshipped, they were not happy. +My lord went back to his old ways--drinking, hunting, fighting, +wenching--my lady moped. Six years later another son was born to them, +whose advent, strange to say, instead of being a blessing, was a +curse, and divided the ill-assorted pair still further. Each shrined a +son as special favourite, my lord taking to his bosom the younger, +Terence--whilst my lady doted with a hungry love upon the elder, +Shane. My lord, out of perversity maybe, swore that Shane was stupid +and viciously inclined, unworthy to inherit the honours of Sir Amorey. +My lady, spiteful perchance through heartache, devoured her darling +with embraces, adored the ground he trod on, kissed in private the +baby stockings he had outgrown, the toys he had thrown aside; and +seemed to grudge the younger one the very meat which nourished him. +This hint given, you can mark how the case stands as my lord enters +the upper room at Daly's. Shane, a handsome, delicate youth, far up in +his teens, retires nervously behind his mother, whilst Terence, a +chubby child of twelve, runs forward with a shout to search his +father's pocket for good things. What a pity, you think no doubt, for +a family to whom fortune has been so generous to be divided in so +singular a manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What!' cries my lord, as, laughing, he tosses the lad into the air. +'More comfits? No, no. They'd ruin thy pretty teeth, to say nothing of +thy stomach. Go play with mammy's bayonet. By-and-by thou shalt have +sword and pistol of thine own--aye, and a horse to ride--a dozen of +them!' And the boy, without fear, obeys the odd behest, for he knows +that in his father's presence my lady dares not chide him, albeit she +makes no pretence of love. He takes the dainty weapon from its sheath +and makes passes at his big brother with it; for my Lady Glandore, +like many another patriotic peeress, wears a toy-bayonet at her side, +just as she wears the scarlet jacket piped with black of her husband's +regiment, the high black stock, and a headdress resembling its helmet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Let us survey the remaining members of the family. The little girl, +who looks unmoved out of great brown eyes at the glancing weapon's +sheen, is first cousin to the boys; daughter of my lady's brother, +honest Arthur Wolfe, who, leaning against the casement, smiles down +upon the crowd. He is, folks say, a lawyer of promise, though not +gifted. Rumour even whispers that if Fitzgibbon should become lord +chancellor, Mr. Wolfe would succeed to the post of attorney-general. +Not by reason of his talents, for Arthur, though plodding and upright, +can never hope to hold his own at the Irish Bar by his wits. There are +too many resin torches about for his horn lantern to make much show. +But then you see he is of gentle blood, and influence is of more +practical worth than talent. His sister, who loves him fondly, is +Countess of Glandore, which fact may be counted unto him as equivalent +to much cleverness. He knows that he is not bright, and is honest +enough to revere in others the genius which is denied to himself. That +is the reason why, not heeding my lord's entrance, he bows eagerly to +somebody in the street, and bids his little daughter kiss her hand and +nod.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady, to avoid looking at her husband, follows his eyes and +exclaims, with a contraction of her brows:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Good heavens, Arthur! who in the world's your friend? He looks like a +grimy monkey in beggar's rags! Sure you can't know the scarecrow?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'That is one of the cleverest men in Dublin,' returns her brother. +'He'll make a show some day. Even the arrogant Fitzgibbon, before +whose eye the Viceroy quails, is afraid of that dirty little man. That +is John Philpot Curran, M.P. for Kilbeggan, who has just taken silk. +The staunchest, worthiest, wittiest, ugliest lawyer in all Ireland.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Curran!' echoed my lord with curiosity; 'I've heard of him. He dared +t'other day to flout Fitzgibbon himself in parliament, and the ceiling +didn't crumble. Let's have him up; he may divert us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Curran took no heed of Arthur's beckoning. He knew that his +exterior was homely, and moreover liked not the society of lords and +ladies. Born of the lower class, he loved them for their sufferings, +identified himself with their wrongs, and was wont frequently to say +that 'twixt the nobles and the people there was an impassable abyss. +Besides, though brave as a lion, he respected his skin somewhat, and +knew that my lord was as likely as not to prod him with a rapier-point +if he ventured on a sally which was beyond his aristocratic +comprehension. Turning, therefore, to a young man who was his +companion, he whispered:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Let us be off, Theobald. The likes of us are too humble for such +company,' and was making good his retreat, when he heard the imperious +voice shout out:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Bring him here, I say--some of you--shoeblacks, chairmen, +somebody--or by the Hokey ye'll taste of my rascal-thrasher.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, amused at the conceit of being summoned like a lackey, he +shrugged his round shoulders, and saying, 'Isn't it wondrous, +Theobald, how these spoilt pets of fortune rule us!' turned into +Daly's with his comrade, and was ushered up the stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Wolfe gave a hand to each of the new-comers, and presented them to +his sister. 'Mr. Curran's name is sufficient passport to your favour,' +he said, in his gentle way. 'This young man is my godson and +<i>protégé</i>, also at the bar--Theobald Wolfe Tone;' then added in a +whisper, 'son of the coach-maker of whom you have heard me speak. A +stout-souled young fellow, if a trifle hotheaded and romantic.'</p> + +<p class="normal">All the peeresses turned from the windows to look at Mr. Curran, whose +boldness in asserting popular views was bringing him steadily to the +front, while his intimacy with Grattan (the popular hero) caused him +to be treated with a respect which his mean aspect hardly warranted. +In person he was short, thin, ungraceful. His complexion had the same +muddy tinge which distinguished Dean Swift's, and his hair lay in +ragged masses of jet black about his square brows, unrestrained by bow +or ribbon. His features were coarse and heavy in repose, but when +thought illumined his humorous eye there was a sudden gush of mind +into his countenance which dilated every fibre with the glow of sacred +fire. As a companion he was unrivalled both as wit and <i>raconteur</i>, +which may account for my lord's sudden whim of civility to the +low-born advocate; but there was also a profound undercurrent of +melancholy (deeper than that which is common to all Irishmen) which +seemed to tell prophetically of those terrible nights and days, as yet +on the dim horizon of coming years, when he should wrestle hand to +hand with Moloch for the blood of his victims till sweat would pour +down his forehead and his soul would faint with despair. By God's +mercy the future is a closed book to us; and Curran knew not the agony +which lay in wait for him, though even now he was suspicious of the +joy that intoxicated Dublin.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Well, gentlemen,' remarked his lordship, amiably; 'this is a glorious +day for Ireland, is it not? Her sons have united. She stands redeemed +and disenthralled. The work is nearly finished. Thanks to Mr. Grattan +and the Bishop of Derry, we are once more a nation. I vow it is a +pretty sight.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'How long will it last?' asked Curran, with a dubious headshake. 'That +gorgeous bishop is a charlatan, I fear. We're only a ladder in his +hand, to be kicked over by-and-by. All this is hollow, for in the +hubbub the real danger is forgotten.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'To unwind a wrong knit up through many centuries is no easy matter,' +assented Arthur Wolfe.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's done with, and there's an end of it,' decided his lordship, who +was not good at argument. 'If the parliament submits with grace to the +new <i>régime</i>, then we shall have all we want.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'There's the Penal Code still,' returned Curran, shaking his head, +while Theobald, his young companion, sighed. 'Four-fifths of the +nation remains in slavery. The accursed Penal Code stands yet, with +menace at the cradle of the Catholic, with threats at his bridal bed, +with triumph beside his coffin. I can hardly expect your lordship to +join in my indignation, for you are a member of the Protestant +Englishry, and as such look with contempt on such as we. The relation +of the victorious minority to the vanquished majority remains as +disgracefully the same as ever. It is that of the first William's +followers to the Saxon churls, of the cohorts of Cortès to the Indians +of Peru. Depend upon it, that till the Catholics are emancipated from +their serfdom there can be no real peace for Ireland.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald, whom his godfather had charged with a tendency to romance, +here blurted out with the self-sufficiency of youth, 'United! of +course not. How can a work stand which will benefit the few and; not +the many? This movement is for a faction, not for a people. Look at +that statue there, with the idiots marching round it! It is the +accepted symbol of a persecution as vile as any that disgraced the +Inquisition! I'd like to drag it down. It's a Juggernaut that has +crushed our spirit out. The Volunteers have set us free, have they? +Yet no Catholic may carry arms, no Catholic may hold a post more +important than that of village rat-catcher; no Catholic may publicly +receive the first rudiments of education. If he knows how to read he +has picked up his learning under a hedge, in fear and trembling; he's +on the level of the beast; yet has he a soul as we have, and is, +besides, the original possessor of the soil!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man (pale-faced he was, and slight of build) stopped +abruptly and turned red, for my lady's look was fixed on him with +undisguised displeasure.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I beg pardon,' he stammered, 'but I feel strongly----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Are you a Roman Catholic?' she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">'No,' replied her brother for him, as he patted the scapegrace on the +shoulder. 'But he is bitten with a mania to become a champion of the +oppressed. He has written burning pamphlets, which, though I cannot +quite approve of them, I am bound to confess have merit.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'That have they!' said Curran, warmly. 'The enthusiasm's there, and +the cause is good. But if a man would sleep on roses he had best leave +it alone, for anguish will be the certain portion of him who'd fight +the Penal Code. Modern patriotism consists too much of eating and +drinking and fine clothes to be of real worth.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I believe you are too convivially disposed to object to a good +dinner!' laughed Lord Glandore. 'There's a power of cant in these +patriotic views. As regards us Englishry, the inferiority of our +numbers is more than compensated by commanding vigour and +organisation. It's a law of nature that a weak vessel should give way +before a strong one. History tells us that our ancestors, the English +colonists, sturdy to begin with, were compelled by their position to +cultivate energy and perseverance, while the aborigines never worked +till they felt the pangs of hunger, and were content to lie down in +the straw beside their cattle. The Catholics are the helot class. Let +them prove themselves worthy of consideration if they can.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'The Irish Catholics of ability,' returned the neophyte, 'are at +Versailles or Ildefonso, driven from here long since.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'False reasoning, my lord,' said doughty Curran. 'The "Englishry," as +you call them, are the servants of England. Their interests are the +same, because England pays them well. How can a nation's limbs obey +her will if it is weighed to the earth by gyves? First knock off the +irons, then bid her stand upon her feet. As the boy says, folks are +too fond of prancing round that statue. I don't myself see a way out +of the darkness. Why should it not be given to him, and such as he, to +lead us from the labyrinth?'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord wished he had not summoned these low persons. Before he could +reply the young man said sadly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'What can a lawyer do but prose?'</p> + +<p class="normal">And Arthur Wolfe, perceiving a storm brewing, cried out with nervous +merriment:</p> + +<p class="normal">'What! harping on the old string, Theobald? Still pining for a +military frock and helmet? Boy, boy! Look at the pageant that is +spread before our eyes. The triumph of this day is due to its +bloodlessness. This grand array would not disgrace its cloth, I'm +sure, in the battle; but happily success has been achieved by moral +force alone. Right is might with the Volunteers. May their swords +never leave their scabbards!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You cannot deny,' persisted the froward youth, 'that yonder +battalions would be a grander sight if they really represented the +nation without regard to creed--if, for example, every other man among +them was a Catholic!'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord looked cross, my lady black as thunder, so Wolfe, the +peacemaker, struck in again as he twisted his fingers in his little +daughter's curls.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I agree that it is monstrous,' he said, with hesitation, 'that three +million men with souls should be plough-horses for conscience' sake. +In these days it's a scandal. Sister, you must admit that. Perhaps we +are entering on a better time. A reformed parliament, if you can get +it, will no doubt emancipate the Catholics. You are a hare-brained +lad, my godson; but here is a Catholic little girl who shall thank +you. Doreen, my treasure, you may shake hands with Theobald.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord waxed peevish, and drummed his fingers on the shutters and +yawned in the face of Curran, for he sniffed in the wind a quarrel +which would bore him. If folks would only refrain, he thought, from +gabbling about these Catholics, what a comfort it would be. My lady, +usually disagreeable, was threatening a scene; for they had got on the +one subject which set all the family agog. Her spouse wished heartily +that she would retire to the family vault, or be less ill-tempered; +for what can be more odious than a snappish better-half?</p> + +<p class="normal">Religious differences had set the country by the ears ever since the +Reformation, turning father against son, kinsman against kinsman; and +this especial family was no exception to the rule. Lady Glandore hated +the Papists with all the energy of one whose soul is filled with gall, +and who lacks a fitting outlet for its bitterness. What must then have +been her feelings when, ten years before the opening of this +chronicle, her only brother, whom she loved, thought fit to wed a +Catholic? It was a weak, faded chit of a thing who lived for a year +after her marriage in terror of my lady, gave birth to a daughter and +then died. The countess, who had endured her existence under protest, +was glad at least that she was well behaved enough to die; some people +said indeed that she had frightened Arthur's submissive wife into her +untimely grave. Be this as it may, the incubus removed, my lady girded +up her loins for the effacing of the blot on the escutcheon. The +puling slut was gone--that was a mercy. Why had she not proved barren? +There was still a way of setting matters straight. Little Doreen must +be washed clean from Papist mummeries, and received into the bosom of +THE Church, and the world would forget in course of time how the young +lawyer, usually as soft as wax, had flown in the face of his +belongings. To her horror and amazement Arthur for once proved +adamant--he who had always given way rather than break a lance in the +lists--sternly commanding his sister to hold her tongue. His Papist +wife, whom he regretted sorely, had exacted a promise on her deathbed +that Doreen should be brought up in her mother's faith, and a Papist +Doreen should be, he swore, at least till she arrived at an age to +settle the question for herself. He would be glad though, he +continued, seeing with pain how shocked my lady looked, if in her +sisterly affection she would lay prejudice aside and help to rear the +child; for the sharpest of men, as all the world knows, is no better +than a fool in dealing with babies. And so it befell that the Countess +of Glandore, the haughty chatelaine who scoffed at 'mummeries' and +worshipped King William as champion of the Faith, nourished a scorpion +in her bosom for Arthur's sake, and permitted the little scarlet lady +to consort with her own lads. My lady's hatred of the national creed +had a more bitter cause even than class prejudice. She had a private +and absorbing reason for it, more feminine than theological. That +reason was--a woman, and a rival--a certain Madam Gillin, widow of a +small shopkeeper, with whom the rakish earl chose to be too familiar. +Vainly she had swallowed her pride to the extent of begging him to +respect his wife in public. He had called her names, bidding her mind +her distaff; then had carried in mischief the story to his love, who +set herself straightway to be revenged upon my lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The stuck-up bit of buckram's a half-caste at the best!' she had +exclaimed. 'She forgets that a Cromwellian trooper was her ancestor, +whilst I can trace my lineage from a race of kings. The blood of Ollam +Fodlah's in my veins. My forefathers were reigning princes before Anno +Domini was thought of, and received baptism at the hands of St. +Columba before Erin was a land of bondage. It is seldom that one of my +faith can bring sorrow on one of hers; and, please the pigs, I'll not +miss my opportunity.'</p> + +<p class="normal">And indeed Madam Gillin showed all a woman's ingenuity in torturing +another. She dragged my lord, who was nothing loth, at her kirtle +strings, all through Dublin; paraded him everywhere as her own +chattel; kept him dangling by her side at ridottos and masquerades, +till my lady, whose mainspring was pride, dared not to show her face +at Smock Alley or Fishamble Street, or even on the public drive of +Stephen's Green, for fear of being insulted by this Popish hussy. She +strove to find comfort in her family, as many an outraged woman does, +but that was worse than all; for she looked with groaning on her +eldest born, whom his father could not endure, then at that rosy, +chubby younger one, and loathed him. Truly the life of the Countess of +Glandore was as bran in the mouth to her, despite the wealth of my +lord, his great position, and his influence. No wonder if there was an +expression of settled weariness about those handsome eyes and peevish +lines about her jaded mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord drummed his white fingers impatiently--the dry-skinned +fingers that mark the libertine--because of all things he hated being +bored, and knew that religious discussions would bring reproaches +anent Gillin. It was with relief that he beheld a gay coach +half-filled with flowers, swaying in the crowd below, which contained +the graces <i>en titre</i> of Dublin, Darkey Kelly, Peg Plunkett, and Maria +Llewellyn--over-painted, over-feathered, over-dressed, like a +<i>parterre</i> of full-blown peonies. Their apparition caused a diversion +at the windows. All the peeresses stared stonily through gold-rimmed +glasses as the trio passed with the calm impertinence of high-born +fine ladies, for it stirreth the curiosity of the most <i>blasée</i> +Ariadne to mark what manner of female it is who hath robbed her of her +Theseus. My lord roared with laughter to see the sorry fashion in +which the houris bore the ordeal, vowing 'fore Gad that he must go +help them with his countenance; for there is naught so discomfiting to +a fair one who is frail as a public display of contempt from one who +is not. Out he sallied, therefore, drawing his sword as a hint for the +scum to clear a passage; but, ere he could reach the Graces, they were +borne away by the stream, and their coach had made way for a noddy, in +which sat a comely woman, with bright mouse-like eyes, and a +complexion of milk and roses. When the newcomer observed my lord +buffeting in her direction, her lips parted in a gratified smile, and +she cast a glance of triumph at the club-house; for she knew that at a +window there a certain high nose might be discerned, which set her +teeth on edge--set in a white scornful face, whose aspect made her +blood to boil.</p> + +<p class="normal">'That woman again!' my lady was heard to murmur, as she abruptly +quitted her place. 'The globe's not large enough for her and me. I +hate the baggage!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran, who, if untidy and unkempt, was a man of the world and +shrewd withal, tried a little joke by way of clearing the sulphur from +the atmosphere; but it fell quite flat, and he looked round with a +wistful air of apology as a dog does that has wagged his tail +inopportunely.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Let's be off, Theobald, 'he suggested. 'Whatever can the Volunteers +be doing? Why does their return procession tarry? They should be here +by this, for 'tis past three. Ah, here's Fitzgibbon, the high and +mighty Lucifer, who'd wipe his shoes upon us if he dared. Maybe he +brings us news.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Instinctively everybody made way for Fitzgibbon, the brilliant +statesman who already swept all before him. Even his enemies admitted +his ability, whilst deploring his flagrant errors. In his fitful +nature good and evil were ever struggling for the mastery. Was he +destined to achieve perennial fame, or doomed to eternal obloquy? +Liberal, hospitable, munificent, he was; but unscrupulous to boot, and +arrogant and domineering. A man who must become a prodigious success, +or an awful ruin. For him was no middle path. Which was it to be? +Opinion was divided; but as at present his star was in the ascendant, +his foes were outnumbered by his friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">This man who aspired to be chancellor, and as such to direct the Privy +Council, was dark, of middle height, with a sharp hatchet face and +oblique cast of eye. No one could be pleasanter or more flashy than +Fitzgibbon if he chose, for he united the manners of a grand seigneur +with some culture, and could keep his temper under admirable control. +But he preferred always to browbeat rather than conciliate, though he +was a master of diplomacy, if such became worth his while. On the +present occasion he strode hastily into the room as though Daly's was +his private property, and, with a polished obeisance to the peeresses, +flourished a perfumed kerchief.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's all over for the present,' he cried, with a harsh chuckle. 'The +fatuous fools have postponed their grand coup till to-morrow, not +perceiving that dissension is already at work among them. Oh, these +Irish! They are only fit to burrow in holes and dig roots out of the +earth. There is no keeping them in unison for two consecutive minutes. +The sooner England swallows them the better, the silly donkeys!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I believe your honour is an Irishman?' asked Curran, dryly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Bedlamites, one and all, who crave for the impossible. I've no +patience with them.' Here Mr. Fitzgibbon helped himself to a pinch +from my lady's snuffbox.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Bedad, ye're right,' sneered Curran. 'We're absurd to pretend to a +heart and ventricles all to ourselves. We should be grateful--mere +Irish--to be by favour the Great Toe of an empire!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'England has always betrayed us!' cried out young Tone, the neophyte. +'Knowing we're hungry, she throws poisoned bones to us. The only way +to set right our parliament will be to break with England altogether!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The bold sentiment set all the peeresses tittering. They cackled of +freedom, and were bedizened in smart uniforms; yet were there few of +these noble ladies whose hearts were really with the new crusade. It +was vastly diverting to hear this David attacking the great Goliath. +They settled their skirts to see fair play; but Fitzgibbon for once +was ungallant.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Your godson, isn't it, Wolfe?' he remarked carelessly. 'Send for the +child's nurse that he may be put to bed.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He could not sweep Curran aside in this magnificent fashion, so he +elected to be unaware of his presence. He disliked the little advocate +because he feared him. Yes, the would-be aristocrat was mortally +afraid of the plebeian--a privilege which he accorded to few men on +earth. The two had risen at the Bar side by side, till the influence +which Fitzgibbon could command gave him an advantage which his +undoubted talent enabled him to keep. With sure and steady progress he +forced himself above his fellows, and won the adulation which +accompanies success. It was his crumpled roseleaf that Curran should +be keen enough to gauge his real value; that he should despise him as +a mountebank, that he should read within his heart that personal +ambition was his motive-spring, not love of country. As it happened, +Curran was a master of invective, and no niggard of his shafts; so +Fitzgibbon tried flattery, and got jeered at for his pains, which +produced a hurricane of sarcasm. It was with rage that he accepted at +last a fact. If there was one person who could stop his soaring +Pegasus in full career, that man was common-looking Curran. So the +arrogant candidate for honours marked out his enemy as one who must be +watched, and if possible circumvented; and the more he watched the +more he detested that odious little creature.</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not choose therefore to take umbrage at his taunts; but, +mindful of the adage that to be anhungered is to be cross, announced +that a collation awaited the pleasure of their ladyships. Now +patriotism is one thing, and fine clothes another; but there are times +when cold beef will bear the palm from either. So was it on this +occasion. The peeresses rose up with unromantic unanimity at the mere +mention of cold beef, seizing each the arm of the nearest gentleman; +and so Curran and his young friend, being unable to escape, found +themselves standing presently before a well-furnished board, hemmed in +on either side by a lady of high rank.</p> + +<p class="normal">The showy Fitzgibbon was master of the situation, for Curran was not a +lady's man, and the neophyte in such noble company was sheepish. His +harsh voice rose unchallenged in polished periods as he explained +between two mouthfuls the mess the Volunteers were making. Curran +smiled at his imprudence; for was he not flinging dirt at the popular +idol--that glittering national army which had worked such miracles; +whose many-coloured uniforms sparkled in every street, on the very +backs of the dainty dames who looked up at him surprised?</p> + +<p class="normal">'No good will come of it,' cried the contemptuous great man, as he +waved a silver tankard. 'They are acting illegally; are pausing before +they dare to overthrow constitutional authority, as the regicides did +before they chopped off Charles's head. A little ham, my lady? No? Do, +to please me. Will you, my dear Curran? Just a little skelp? Pray do, +for you look as if you'd eat me raw; and that young man too. I vow he +is a cannibal. What was I saying? He who vilifies those who are in +power is sure of an audience, you know. Positively, this regeneration +scheme is laughable, quite laughable!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Stop your friend,' said some one to Curran, 'or there'll be swords +drawn before the ladies;' to which the other answered, 'Friend! No +friend of mine, or indeed of any one except himself, the maniac +incendiary! Ask Arthur Wolfe. Perhaps he will interfere.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Fitzgibbon was not acting without a purpose. He ate his ham with +studied nonchalance, shaking back his ruffles with unrivalled grace; +and he at least was sorry when an unexpected circumstance occurred +which withdrew the attention of his audience from himself and his +insidious talk.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a mighty noise without which shook the windows. The +undergraduates, hearing that the battle was postponed, poured forth +from their gallery in the Commons with the fury of a pent-up river +suddenly let loose. They had wasted their time and energies. Their +lithe young limbs were cramped. Something must be done to set the +blood dancing through their veins again. What did they behold as they +dashed out into the street? Peg Plunkett and her companions flirting +with soldiers--not Volunteers, but actually English soldiers, members +of the Viceroy's bodyguard. It must never be said that Irish Phrynes +gave their favours to English soldiers--at such a time too! Fie on +them for graceless harlots! Their feathers should be plucked out--they +should be ducked--the English Lotharios should be well drubbed--driven +back to the Castle with contumely and bloody noses. Hurrah! Pack a +stone in the sleeve and have at them, the spalpeens! It was well for +the Viceroy that he went home when he did, without strutting, as he +proposed to do, once more round Juggernaut; or he would certainly have +been assaulted by the mischievous collegians, and a serious riot would +have been the consequence. But Darkey Kelly and Maria Llewellyn! Pooh! +it served them right, and no one pitied them. At all events, the +peeresses (mothers of the lads) said so, as they leisurely returned to +the discussion of cold beef and politics. They were too well broken to +street brawls to care much about a stampede of college youths. But +that Fitzgibbon should presume to attack the national army was too +bad, and touched them home. None of them dared admit that English gold +was more precious than national freedom. There are secrets that for +very shame we would go any lengths rather than divulge. These ladies +made believe to be terribly shocked--threatened to assail the +adventurous wight like bewitching Amazons; but he knew them too well +to be alarmed. If Curran could read him, he could read the peeresses; +and neither subject was an edifying one for investigation.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">RETROSPECT</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The brief career of the Volunteer army stands as a unique example for +students of history to marvel at. Urged by a strange series of events, +Ireland, like Cinderella, rose up from her dustheap, and was clad by a +fairy in gorgeous garments. All at once she flung aside her mop, and +demanded to be raised from the three-legged stool in the scullery to +the daïs whereon her wicked sister sat. And the wicked sister, being +at the time sorely put about through her own misconduct, embraced her +drudge with effusion on each cheek, instead of belabouring her with a +broom, as had been her pleasant way, vowing that the straw pallet and +short commons of a lifetime were all a mistake, and that nought but +samite and diamonds of the first water were good enough for the sweet +girl. She killed the fatted calf, and drew a fine robe out of +lavender, and grinned as many a spiteful woman will whom rage is +consuming inwardly, registering at the same time a secret oath to drub +the saucy minx when occasion should serve--a not uncommon practice +among ladies.</p> + +<p class="normal">Events followed one another in this wise. France, natural enemy of +England, had suffered sore tribulation at the hands of my Lord +Chatham, who routed her armies and sunk her ships, and filled his +prisons with the flower of her youth. But my Lord Chatham's mighty +spirit succumbed to chronic gout; an incompetent minister took his +place, whose folly lashed the young colonies of America to rebellion, +and France saw with joy such a blow struck across the face of her too +prosperous rival as brought her reeling to her knees. This was the +moment for reprisals. France breathed again. Quick! she said, a deft +scheme of revenge! How shall we find out the weakest point? We will +invade Ireland which is defenceless, and so establish a raw in the +very flank of our enemy. But Ireland had no idea of tamely submitting +to a hostile French occupation. Unhappily for her, she was never +completely conquered, and was ever over-fond of nourishing wild hopes +of independence--of formal recognition as a nation among nations. To +become a slave to France would be no improvement upon her present +slavery, and she had already been a subject of conflict for centuries. +She cried out therefore to the wicked sister, 'Save me from invasion. +Send me men to garrison my fortresses; ships to protect my harbours.' +But England turned a deaf ear, being herself in a dire strait; +bandaging her own limbs, nursing her own wounds. 'Then,' said +Cinderella, 'give me arms at least. I come of a good fighting stock, +and will even make shift in the emergency to defend myself.' Here were +the horns of a dilemma. Unarmed and undefended, Ireland would of a +surety fall an easy prey to France, which would be a serious mishap +indeed. On the other hand, deliberately to place a weapon in the grasp +of a young sister whom we have wronged and hectored all her life, and +who ominously reminds us that though slavery has curbed her spirit she +comes of a good fighting stock, is surely rash. Forgiveness of +injuries savours too much of heaven for mere daughters of earth, and +it is more than probable that, having repulsed the invader, this child +of warlike sires will seize the opportunity to smite us under our own +fifth rib. However, there was nothing for it but to risk that danger; +so England sent over with a good grace a quantity of arms, and +secretly vowed to whip the naughty jade on a later day for having been +the innocent cause of the difficulty.</p> + +<p class="normal">That which Britain feared took place. For six hundred years she had +persistently been sowing dragons' teeth in the Isle of Saints, and +perseveringly watering them with blood; and lo, in a night, they rose +up armed men--a threatening host of warriors, who with one voice +demanded their just rights, unjustly withheld so long. England bit her +lips, and parleyed. She felt herself the laughingstock of Europe, and +her humiliation was rendered doubly acute by the dignified bearing of +the new-born battalions. They did not bully; they did not revile. +They calmly claimed their own, with the least little click of a +well-polished firelock, the slightest flutter of a green silk banner. +'To suit your own selfish ends,' they declared, 'you have robbed us of +our trade and suborned our legislature. Give us back our trade; permit +us to reform our senate. You have stripped us of our commerce +piecemeal. Return it, to the last shred. In the days of the first +Tudor, when you were strong and we were weak, a decree of Sir E. +Poyning's became law, whereby we were to be ruled henceforth from +distant London. The operation of all English statutes was to extend to +Ireland; the previous consent of an English Council was necessary to +render legal acts passed at home. By the 6th of George III. this was +made absolute; the Irish senate was decreed to be a chapel of ease to +that of Westminster. When we were weak our gyves were riveted tightly +upon our legs. Now our conditions are reversed; yet claim we nothing +but our own. Bring forth the anvil and the hammer. Strike off with +your own hand these fetters, for we will wear no bonds but those of +equal fellowship. Give us a free constitution and free trade, and let +bygones be bygones.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Attentive Europe admired the position of Ireland at this moment. A +change was creeping across the world of which this situation was a +natural result. A cloud, like a man's hand, had arisen on the horizon +of America, which in time was to overshadow the globe. A warlike fever +possessed the Irish people. They became imbued with an all-engrossing +fervour, an epidemic of patriotism. The important question was, could +they keep it up? Irish veterans, who had fought under Washington, +returned home invalided, to thrill their audience by the peat fire +with tales that sounded like fairy lore of Liberty and Fraternity and +Freedom of Conscience; to whisper that their country was a nation, not +a shire; that an end must be put to bigotry, that accursed twin-sister +of religion; that if the King of England wished to rule the Isle of +Saints, he must do so henceforth by right of his Irish, not his +English, crown, governing each kingdom by distinct laws according to +its case.</p> + +<p class="normal">High and low were stricken with the new enthusiasm; some generously, +some driven by shame to assume a virtue which they had not. Laird, +squire, and shopkeeper--all donned the Volunteer uniform. All looked, +or affected to look, to the eagle of America as a symbol of a new +hope. A race of serfs were transformed into a nation of soldiers. Many +really thought themselves sincere who fell away when their own +interests became involved.</p> + +<p class="normal">And this sudden upheaving was at first without danger to the body +politic. The French Revolution, with its overturning of social grades, +had yet to come. Classes found themselves for a brief space thrown +together, between whom usually a great gulf was fixed, and the +temporary commingling was, by giving a new direction to the mind, for +the mutual benefit of both. The very singularity of such a state of +things (in an age before democratic principles began to obtain) showed +a seriousness of purpose which caused the ruling spirits of the new +military association to carry all before them by the impetus of +self-respect. Their mother had suffered bitterly and long; no one +denied that. The time was come for her rescue. The task was arduous, +but the cause was excellent. It behoved her sons then to raise their +minds above the trammels of the earth--to become Sir Galahads--for was +not their task to the full as pious as the mystic quest after the +Grail? It behoved them, while the holy fervour lasted (alas! man is +unstable at the best, and the Irishman more so than most), to set +their house thoroughly in order, and the powerless English Cabinet +from across the Channel watched the operation with anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">When a wedge is inserted in so unnatural a bundle as this was, it will +speedily fall asunder, and that which was a formidable coalition will +be reduced to a ridiculous wreck. Who was to insert the wedge? Would +time alone do it, or would perfidious aid from London be required? +That it should be inserted somehow, was decided <i>nem. con</i>. in London.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alas! in the moment of supreme triumph, whilst the Volunteers caracole +so bravely down Sackville Street, we may detect grave symptoms of +danger, which argus-eyed England scans with hope, while the Viceroy is +laughing in the Castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ireland had during ages been the butt of fortune. A train of English +kings had entreated her evilly, and the native bards reviewed the sad +story with untiring zeal.</p> + +<p class="normal">First they sang of Norman thieves--turbulent barons who, troublesome +at home, were despatched to get rid of superfluous energy at the +expense of Keltic princes. They slurred over the reign of the first +Edward, for with him came a deceptive ray of hope. He threatened to +visit the island in person. Had he done so, he would have quelled the +Irish thoroughly, as he did the Welsh, and so have nipped their +delusive dream of freedom in the bud. The most aristocratic race in +the world would have become loyal, for they would have seen the face +of their lord, and the face of royalty is as a sun unto them. But they +did not become loyal, for they saw their lord's face as little then as +they see that of their lady now. Nor he, nor any of the brave +Plantagenets ever came to Ireland, for they were pursuing an <i>ignis +fatuus</i> in France, instead of attending to their own business at home. +Henry V. and Edward III. sought fame, which might not be obtained, +they thought, by obscure squabbling with saffron-mantled savages in a +barbarous dependency.</p> + +<p class="normal">Events shuffled along in slipshod, careless fashion, till the period +when crook-backed Richard met his end at Bosworth. By that time a +mixed population held undisputed possession of the island--a bastard +race, half Keltic, half Norman. The 'English of the Pale,' or early +settlers, had found Irish brides. They wore the saffron mantle and +spoke the Keltish tongue. But the first Tudor, who had no sympathy +with savages, declared 'this might not be.' He had a spite against +them which he was but too glad to gratify, for in the absence of a +king they had crowned an ape--or rather an impostor, Simnel. In +virtuous indignation, he vowed that it was revolting to see noble +knights reduced to the serfs' level; to which the chiefs replied with +one accord:</p> + +<p class="normal">'We are no serfs, but freemen, as ye are yourselves; for Ireland was +never conquered, though she did lip-homage.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tudor did not choose to be so bearded. 'Indeed! You were not +conquered?' he said, surprised. 'I will send commissioners who shall +straightway solve for me this riddle.' And he sent Sir Edward +Poynings, who arrived in state, with special instructions to set the +chiefs a-quarrelling.</p> + +<p class="normal">The guileless princes received the commissioner cordially, who +diligently sowed dissensions, setting race against race, by declaring +(in 1494) that none of English blood might wed a Keltic wife, or hold +communion with the Irishry, or even learn their tongue. O'Neil was +pitted against Geraldine, Desmond against Tyrone, with double-faced +advice; and, his dastardly commission done, Sir Edward bowed himself +away with smiles, leaving behind the celebrated act which bears his +name, and which was as a red rag between the nations ever after, till +it was taken in hand by the Volunteers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Up to this moment the frequent bickerings which disturbed the +fellowship of the two islands were concerning land or race; but with +the reign of the eighth Henry, the true demon of discord woke to wave +the sword of persecution over the distracted country. The Reformation, +which brought so much trouble on the world, was no kinder to the Irish +than to other nations. Henry, angry with a people who would not do as +they were bid, drove the natives from the holdings which their septs +had held for centuries, away to the wild fastness beyond the Shannon. +(A sinful scheme, which is often fathered upon Cromwell, who has much +besides to answer for.) He ravaged the land with fire and sword, +resolved at least that it should have the peace of death if none other +was attainable; and these tactics his dutiful child Elizabeth pursued, +till her dependency was a waste of blood and ashes. Like her +grandfather, she had a private cause for spite. As a nation, the Irish +declined to be anything but Catholics; and so, refusing to acknowledge +Queen Katherine's divorce, they looked on Anne Boleyn's daughter as a +bastard and a usurper. This prompted her to filial piety. Hardly was +she seated on the throne at Westminster, than she summoned a +parliament in Dublin, and shook her pet prayer-book at the Catholics. +The religion of Christ, the meek and lowly, she preached to them in +this wise. Every layman who should use any prayer-book but her pet one +was to be imprisoned for a year. On each recurring Sunday, every adult +of every persuasion was to attend Protestant service, or be heavily +mulcted for the benefit of her treasury. Not content with crushing +their faith, she let loose a horde of adventurers upon the unhappy +Irish. They fought for their fields as well as their religion. One of +the characteristics of her reign was a spirit of adventure, which +descended in regular gamut from the loftiest heroism to the vilest +cupidity. The eagles sought doubloons on the Spanish main; the +vultures swept down on Ireland with ravenous beaks. Elizabeth's own +deputy wrote thus to her in horror:</p> + +<p class="normal">'From every corner of the woods did the people come, creeping on their +hands, for their legs would not bear them. They looked like anatomies +of death; they spake like ghosts; they did eat carrion, happy when +they could find them, yea, and one another; in so much that the very +carcases they spared not to scrape out of their graves.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Indeed, Queen Bess left her dependency a reeking slaughter-house, in +so abject a misery, that when her successor cleared a whole province +to plant it with Scotchmen, the natives made no resistance, but +plodded listlessly away. Is it surprising that their descendants +should have hated England, and its truckling Anglo-Irish Senate?</p> + +<p class="normal">In due course followed Charles I., who, with the ingrained perfidy of +all the Stuarts, fleeced his Irish subjects, and then cheated them by +evading the graces for which they paid their gold. His creature +Strafford went too far, and they turned as worms will. There was a +grand Protestant massacre in Ulster, an appalling picture of a +vengeance such as a brutalised people will wreak on its oppressor; and +Cromwell took advantage of this as an excuse for still further +grinding down the Catholics. It was a fine opportunity to avenge the +sufferings of Protestants in other lands--the affair of Nantes, +Bartholomew, and so forth. He made a finished job of it, as he did of +most things to which he set his shoulder. It was no felony now to slay +an Irishman, whose very name was a reproach. He was well-nigh swept +from off the earth. Famine and pestilence reigned together alone. +Wolves roamed at will in the dismantled towns. Newly-appointed +colonists refused to build the walls of shattered cities, for the +stench of the rotting bodies poisoned the breeze.</p> + +<p class="normal">It remained for Orange William and good Queen Anne (neither of whom +could be expected to feel interest in Ireland) to add a finishing +touch, and the Penal Code was a <i>chef d'œuvre</i>. Under its sweet +influence no Catholic could dwell in Ireland save under such +conditions as no man who stood erect might bear, and so there +commenced an exodus of independent spirits, who flocked into the +service of France and Germany, and filled the navies of Holland and of +Spain. Thus did British rulers educate their dependency to loving +obedience, by teaching its children to revile the name of law. Verily +it is no wonder that they loathed the English; that they distrusted +British amenities, and looked askance at the half-English upper class.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Volunteers determined to regenerate their motherland, +there were two great evils with which they had to cope. Two deep +plague-spots. It remained to be seen whether they were wise enough and +steadfast enough to eradicate the virus. A rotten legislature, an +impossible Penal Code. Could Sir Galahad reform so base a parliament? +Would the champion dare to free the serfs from thraldom? The first was +a Herculean labour, because both Lords and Commons drew much of their +revenue from British ministers; the second was even a more Titanic +task. Possession is nine points of the law, and the soil was in +possession of the small knot of Protestants, who knew that their +existence depended on keeping the majority in chains. Like the +emigrants of the <i>Mayflower</i>, they said: 'Resolved, that the earth is +the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; that the Lord hath given the +earth as an heritage unto His saints; and that we are His saints. +<i>Ergo</i>: the earth is ours, to have and to hold by pillage and +persecution, and murder, if need be, just as the chosen people of old +seized and held Canaan, the land of promise, flowing with milk and +honey.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Truly the parliament was a plague-spot fit to gangrene a whole body; +for it in nowise represented the nation, consisting as it did of three +hundred members, seventy-two only of whom were elected by the people. +The rest were nominees of large Protestant proprietors who returned +members for every squalid hamlet on their estates, and kept their +voters in the condition of tame dogs through a constant terror of +ejectment. Of three million Catholics not one had a voice in the +elections; for by law they existed not at all. Like Milton's devils +they occupied no space, while the Protestant angels filled the air +with their proportions.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was said of the Irish gentry of the last century that they +possessed the materials of distinguished men with the propensities of +obscure ones, which is a picturesque way of admitting that they were +incorrigibly idle. To indolence add poverty and a propensity for +drink, and you have a promising hotbed for the growth of every ill. +The aristocratic pensioners were, as a rule, lapped in excessive +luxury, which could not be kept up without extraneous help; half +English by education as well as origin, they naturally leaned for +protection towards the English Government.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentry, ignorant and sensual, were given to profuse hospitality, +regardless of mortgaged acres and embarrassed lands. Dog-boys and +horse-boys hung about their gates; keepers and retainers lolled +upon their doorsteps, together with a posse of half-mounted poor +relations--all of them too genteel to do anything useful--fishing for +the speckled trout by day, drinking huge beakers of claret and +quarrelling among themselves by night, till in many cases there was +little left, after a few years, for the filling of a hundred mouths +beyond a nominal rent-roll and the hereditary curse of idleness. Not a +squire but was more or less floundering in debt, and (his sense of +honour blunted by necessity) only too anxious for a little cash at any +price. Government agents were always conveniently turning up ready and +willing to purchase mortgages and notes of hand, which were duly +stored in the coffers of the Castle as a means of prospective coercion +by-and-by.</p> + +<p class="normal">With such materials for a national 'Lords and Commons,' it is little +wonder if a sudden revulsion in favour of patriotism on the part of a +body of enthusiasts should threaten to set the country agog. How was +the parliament to be purified? That was the rub. Was it to be exhorted +to virtue gently, or flogged into improvement? The leaders of the +Volunteers had carried their first point with a rush. The parliament +was with them, or feigned to be so. But what if the existence of the +Parliament should come to be threatened? The sincerity of its +professions would be put to a crucial test. Careless lords and +impecunious squires babbled of freedom and cackled of free trade, +because it was become the fashion and pleased the Volunteers. What +cared they for free trade? That was a question which affected the men +of Ulster, to whom commerce was as lifeblood, and who indeed were the +prime workers in this movement. The dissenting traders of Belfast had +demanded a free trade, and British ministers had given way. Therefore +Lords and Commons joined in the popular cry, and pretended that it +interested them. The position was a paradox. Here was all at once a +military supremacy independent of the crown, and ministers in London +were compelled to countenance it. It was humiliating; but their +comfort lay in this. Would the Volunteer leaders allow zeal to +overstep prudence? Probably they would. They might be coaxed by crafty +submission to do so. If a collision could only be brought about +between a self-elected military despotism and an effete but +constitutional senate, there were the materials for such a pretty +quarrel as might produce a repetition of the fate of the Kilkenny +cats. One would devour the other, and England would gloat over the +tails. The British premier made a parade of 'doing something for +Ireland' to oblige the Volunteers.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a flourish of alarums he repealed some obnoxious laws, which +graceful conduct was received in Dublin with gratitude, till somebody +pointed out that Albion was at her tricks again: whilst seeming +gracefully to give way, she was really strengthening her own position +by establishing a new precedent on the basis of the Poynings statute, +to the effect that such favours were in the gift of England's +Parliament--not Ireland's--and might accordingly be withdrawn at any +time. The Volunteers were furious, Albion was perfidious; the Irish +senate was playing a double game, there was no use in mincing matters +in the way of compromise. England must distinctly abdicate all +parliamentary dominion; parliament must be remodelled on new lines. In +the future the senate must be upright, zealous, independent, +incorruptible; English gold must be as dross; an English coronet hold +no allurement.</p> + +<p class="normal">As might be expected, the new cry created a commotion. Patriots there +were both in Lords and Commons, who were prepared to sacrifice part of +their income for the general good, but they were few. If pensions were +withdrawn and mortgages foreclosed and proprietors in prison, what +mattered to these last a national liberty? The notion was an insult, +and parliament stood at bay. But the ardour of the Volunteers would +brook no dallying. Ulster, as usual, took the lead. Sharpwitted, +frugal, Scotch, the battalions of the North convened a general +assembly. On Feb. 15, 1782, one of the most impressive scenes which +Ireland ever witnessed took place at Duncannon, where two hundred +delegated volunteers marched two and two, calm, steadfast, virtuous, +determined to pledge themselves before the altar of that sacred place +to measures which might save their motherland or kill her. After +earnest thought, a manifesto was framed--a dignified declaration of +rights and grievances, a solemn statement of the people's will, a +protest against English craft and Irish corruption--inviting the armed +bodies of other provinces to aid in the process of regeneration.</p> + +<p class="normal">Can you conceive anything more glorious and touching than the quiet +gathering on the promontory of Duncannon? A towering fort frowns down +upon the harbour, commanding a spacious basin formed by the waters of +three rivers. Imagine the simple country gentlemen, the homely +squires, the traders of Belfast, abandoning for a while their vices +and their quarrels, to deliberate sword in hand over the grievous +shortcomings of their brethren. I see them in the gloaming, with +high-collared coats and anxious faces, puzzling their poor brains over +a way out of the labyrinth. The lovely land, stretched out on either +side in a jagged line of coast, whose slopes had been watered to +greenness with blood and tears, must haply be soaked again in the +stream of war. For the last time. Once more--only once--a final +sanctifying baptism which should leave it clean and sweet for +evermore. They penned a temperate document--a dignified manifesto. +Could they be single-minded to the end, or would discord fling her +apple among them?</p> + +<p class="normal">So soon as the delegates of the North received the concurrence of the +provinces, the senate in Dublin changed its tone, for no immediate +succour could be hoped from England. It affected a complete +patriotism, and made believe to go all lengths with the Volunteers. +Patriots--real and sham--thundered in the House, and were applauded to +the echo. It was impossible to tell who was in earnest and who was +not. First, said the wily senators, make it clear that we are free, +and then by remodelling the Senate we will prove ourselves worthy of +the gift you have bestowed. Grattan towered above all others. He spoke +as one inspired, and the meshes of the web seemed to shrivel before +his breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">The army patrolled the streets, and review succeeded review in the +Phœnix Park; the national artillery lined the quays. Loyalty, +Dignity, Forbearance, were grouped round the god of war. All the +virtues, posing around Mars, hovered in ether over Dublin. Never was a +city so happy or so proud. But the English Viceroy, though outwardly +perturbed, was laughing in the Castle while the ignorant people +jigged.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fools!' he scoffed. 'The meeting at Duncannon, of which you are so +vain, was but the thin end of the wedge which we were looking for. You +shall be played one against the other--people against parliament and +parliament against people--till you break your silly pates. We stoop +to conquer, as your own Goldy hath it. A little more and you will be +undone. A little, little more!'--and he was right. The Commons, with +mortgages before their eyes, wavered and prevaricated. The Volunteers, +exasperated, openly denounced the senate. The people, taking fire, +vowed they would obey no laws, whether good or bad, which were +dictated under the rose by the perfidious one. The statute-book was +rent in pieces; anarchy threatened to supervene; England prepared to +take possession again. But the Volunteers, sublime at this moment, +came once more to the rescue. They chid the weak and reproved the +strong; even formed themselves into a night-police for the security of +the capital. This hour was that of pride before a fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">In prosperity they gave way to indiscretion. Enjoying as they did an +unnatural existence, for which the only excuse was transcendent +virtue, it was the more needful for them to be of one mind as to a +chief. But they split on this important point. One party declared for +the Earl of Charlemont, an amiable nobleman of whose mediocrity it was +said that his mind was without a flower or a weed; another was for my +lord of Deny, a bold, unsteady prelate, who, sincere or not, was but +too likely to lead his flock into a quagmire.</p> + +<p class="normal">They wavered, when to hesitate was to be lost. They did worse; they +dirtied their own nest in a public place. Each rival chief, in his +struggle for supremacy, lost more than half his influence. Tongues +wagged to the discredit of all parties. Sir Galahad, feeling that he +was in the toils of sirens, made a prodigious effort to escape with +dignity. If parliament were not remodelled the fire would end in +smoke. <i>Coûte qui coûte</i>, this must be done at once, or England would +step in triumphant, and dire would be the vengeance. All hands were +quarrelling. Was it already too late? A wild and desperate effort must +be made to regain ground, lost by infirmity of purpose. The +Volunteers, all prudence cast aside, determined to strike a blow in +sledge-hammer fashion. They deliberately decided to send three hundred +of their number in open and official manner to Lords and Commons, +bidding them reform themselves at once; offering even to teach them +how to do it. And so the extraordinary spectacle came to be seen in +Dublin, of two governments--one civil, one military--sitting at the +same moment in the same city--within sight of each other--each equally +resolved to strain every nerve in order that the other might not live.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Galahad blundered woefully! He had concentrated his attention with +all his muddled might and main on the lesser instead of the greater +plague-spot. 'Free Trade' had been his shibboleth, then a 'Reformed +Parliament,' though how it was to be reformed he did not know. It +escaped the shortness of his vision that 'Freedom of Conscience' would +have been the nobler cry. Had he first freed the three million slaves +from the bondage of the half million, the air would have been cleared +for the disinfecting of his senate. But no. He was blind and tripped, +and England saw the stumble. Well might the Viceroy laugh, while he +made believe to tremble, as he thought of the Kilkenny cats.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">SHADOWS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">As day waned, the Volunteers perceived that they must pass the night +as watchmen if they wished the capital to be sufficiently peaceful on +the morrow to attend to the parliamentary tournament. What the +gownsmen intended for a frolic developed into a riot, thanks to the +national love of a row and the complicated feuds which were +continually breaking forth. No sooner had the undergraduates pumped +upon the Graces and driven the English detachment into Castle Yard +than they found themselves hemmed in by their natural enemies, the +butchers of Ormond Quay, who owed the college gentlemen a grudge +because they invariably took up the cudgels of the Liberty-lads when +these sworn foes thought fit to have a brush.</p> + +<p class="normal">The weavers were every bit as pugnacious as the butchers. Dulness of +trade, hot weather, a passing thunder-shower, were excuse sufficient +for a breaking of the peace; and then shops were closed and business +suspended along the Liffey banks, as bridges were taken and retaken +amid showers of stones, till one or other of the belligerents was +driven from the field. It was one of the singular contradictions of +the time that youths of high degree should always be ready to join the +dregs of the city in these outrages; that members of an intensely +exclusive class should unite with coal-porters or weavers against +butchers, to the risk of life and limb. But so it was, and frightful +casualties were the result sometimes; for the butchers were playful +with their knives, using them, not to stab their opponents, which they +would have considered cowardly, but to hough or cut the tendon of the +leg, thus rendering their adversaries lame for life. Sometimes they +dragged their captives to the market, and hung them to the meat-hooks +by the jaws until their party came to rescue them. Not but what the +aristocratic gownsmen were quite capable of holding their own, as had +been proved, a few weeks before the commencement of this history, by +the result of a conflict on Bloody Bridge, on which occasion a rash +detachment of the Ormond Boys was driven straight into the river, +where many perished by drowning before they could be extricated. The +butchers vowed vengeance for this feat, yet were kept quiet for a +while by the attitude of the Volunteers; but now they sprang blithely +to arms with marrow-bone and cleaver upon hearing that their foes were +on the war-path.</p> + +<p class="normal">At a moment so big with fate as this was, the Volunteers could permit +of no such kicking up of heels. The dignity of the situation would be +compromised by vulgar brawling. Peg Plunket and Darkey Kelly were +clapped into the Black Dog, dripping wet, to repent on bread and water +their having flaunted forth this day. Lord Glandore's regiment was +detached to sweep the riff-raff to the Liberties at once, then to coax +back in less violent fashion the gownsmen to Alma Mater. A charge of +the splendid hunters which the men rode soon sent the factions +swirling like dead leaves, after which the armed patriots quietly +jog-trotted towards College Green, driving their scapegrace brothers +and sons before them with flat of sword and many a merry jest. The +affair was so good-humoured that the lads did not look on it as +serious. They had been commanded to drop stones and fling shillalaghs +into the water, and had been compelled to obey the mandate; but their +door-keys remained to them--heavy keys which, slung in kerchiefs, were +formidable weapons--and they valiantly decided upon just another sally +before being shut up, if only to show how game they were. Upon turning +into Dame Street from the quay, behold! another woman, of churlish +breeding, showy and pink and plump, sitting in a noddy, conversing +with a friend. It was clearly not fair to drench Peg and Darkey and +Maria and leave this one to go scot-free! So, with the college +war-cry, they made a swoop at her. Half a dozen youth clambered into +the carriage, while one leaped on horseback and another seized the +reins, and then the cavalcade started at a gallop with a pack of +madcaps bellowing after, all vowing she should have a muddy bath. +Vainly she shrieked and wrung her pretty hands for mercy. She was no +Phryne, she bawled. A respectable married lady, a descendant of Brian +Borohme and Ollam Fodlah and ever so many mighty princes. Ah now! +would the darlints let her go! They wouldn't? Then they were wretches +who should repent their act, for she had friends--powerful friends +among the Englishry--who would avenge the outrage. Her cries only +amused her tormentors. The more she bawled the more they yelled and +whooped and danced about like demons; the faster on they galloped. So +recklessly, that in skirting William's effigy a wheel caught against +the pedestal and the noddy was overturned--a wreck. This was great +fun. The mischief-makers formed a circle, and whirled singing round +their prey. She was in piteous plight from mire and scratches. What +rarer sport than this? The wench was sleek and well-to-do; it would be +grand to set her floundering in the filthy stream before returning +home to college. But she was right. She had a powerful friend--close +by too--one whose temper was short, whose sword was sharp; no less a +person than the colonel of the regiment that, with quip and quirk, was +coaxing them homewards. At the sound of Mrs. Gillin's lamentations, +Lord Glandore waved his sword and thundered out 'Desist!' He might as +well have argued with the winds. The phosphorescent light of menace +which folks dreaded in the eye of a Glandore glimmered forth from his. +With a fierce oath he spurred his horse, and, beside himself with +passion, plunged blindly with his weapon into the heap of sable gowns.</p> + +<p class="normal">A luckless youth with gold braid upon his vesture, who was bending +down to extricate the lady, received the sword-point in his back, and, +screaming, swooned away. A cry of enraged horror burst from all, and, +like a swarm of angry bees, the boys fixed, without thought of +consequences, on the aggressor. They were of his own class; their +blood as hot and blue as his, although so young. What! murder a +gownsman for a bit of folly? 'Twas but a frolic, which he had turned +to tragedy. A peasant would not have mattered--but one of noble +lineage! Vengeance should fall swift and terrible. They dared the +soldiery to interfere. A hundred hands dragged the colonel from his +horse, which, with a blow, was sent riderless down Sackville Street. +His clothes were in tatters in a twinkling. A dozen heavy keys flew +through the air with so sure an aim that he staggered and fell prone. +One youth picked up the weapon, which yet reeked with his comrade's +blood, and broke it on the backbone of his destroyer. In a trice the +tragedy was complete. Ere his men could reach him, Lord Glandore lay +motionless; and Gillin was rending the air with shrieks which were +re-echoed from the club-house.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the <i>mêlée</i> became general, for some weavers who had lingered +in the rear gave the alarm; the Liberty-boys sallied forth again, and +the chairmen, hewing their staves in twain, belaboured all +impartially, adding to the general disturbance. This was no vulgar +riot now, for blood had been twice drawn--that of the privileged +class--and gentlemen, fearing for their sons who were only armed with +keys, rushed out from club and tavern to form a bulwark round the +gownsmen against the rage of the infuriated soldiery. Thus sons and +fathers were smiting right and left below, whilst mothers were +screaming from the windows; and the peeresses saw more than they came +out to see ere swords were sheathed and peace could be restored. They +had lingered, many of them, at Daly's till past the tea-hour, to +inspect the illuminations before adjourning to the Fishamble Street +Masquerade; and crowded in a bevy round the club-house door as the +dying earl and his distracted love were borne into the coffee-room; +while the collegians retired backwards in compact order, silent but +menacing, till the gates of Alma Mater opened and clanged to on them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The peeresses had bawled as loud as Madam Gillin, and now cried with +one voice for pouncet-boxes. The one of their order whom the tragedy +chiefly concerned uttered never a word. With dry eye and distended +nostril my lady looked on the prostrate figures--the still one of her +lord--the picturesquely hysterical form of the hated Gillin--and bit +her white lip as the frown, which was become habitual, deepened on her +face. Little Doreen looked on in unblinking wonder, till her father +clasped his fingers on her eyes to shut out the horrid sight from +them. Members entered hurriedly by the private way from the Parliament +Houses, and smirked and looked demure, and, feeling that they had no +business there, retired on tiptoe. The peeresses felt that a +prospective widow is best left alone, and one by one retreated, +skimming away like seamews to gabble of the dread event to +scandalmongers less blest than they, leaving the two women to face +their bereavement and speak to each other for the first time. Strange +to say, these rivals had never had speech together in their lives. +Madam Gillin choked her sobs after a while and revived, sitting up +stupidly and staring half-stunned, as she picked with mechanical +fretfulness at the feathers of her fan. The shock of so sudden a +misfortune took her breath away; but, perceiving the haughty eyes of +her enemy fixed gloomily upon her, she rallied and strung up her +nerves to face the mongrel daughter of the Sassanagh.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady--erect and towering in martial frock and helm--pointed with +stern finger at the door. Of her own will the real wife would never +soil her lips by speaking to this woman; but she, assuming a dogged +smile as she rearrayed her garments, tossed her head unheeding, till +Arthur Wolfe took her hand and strove to lead her thence. She pushed +him back and leaned over the impromptu bed which lacqueys had built up +of chairs and tables; for at this moment my lord moved, opened his +eyes which sought those of his mistress, and, struggling in the grip +of Death, essayed to speak. His wife moved a step nearer to catch his +words, but, consistent to the end, he motioned her impatiently away. +The face of the countess burned with shame and wrath as she turned to +the window, and, clasping her eldest-born to her bosom, pressed a hot +cheek against the panes. He could not forbear to humiliate her, even +before the club-servants--before vulgar little Curran and the foolish +neophyte--before the horrible woman who had usurped her place in his +affections. Was it the hussy's mission to insult her always--to cover +her with unending mortification? No! Thank goodness. That ordeal was +nearly overpast, but she would forget its corroding bitterness never! +My lord's sand was ebbing visibly. In an hour at most he must pass the +Rubicon. Then the minx should be stripped of borrowed plumes and +turned out upon the world, even as Jane Shore was centuries ago. +Ignominy should be piled back upon the papist a hundredfold. She knew, +or thought she knew, that my lord was too careless to have thought of +a last testament. At all events, a legacy from a Protestant to a +Catholic was fraught with legal pitfalls. But she started from false +premises, as her astonished ears soon told her.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord, raising himself upon his elbows, spoke--slowly, with +labouring breath; for his life was oozing in scarlet throbs through +the sword-gash, and grave-damps were gathering upon his skin.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Gillin dear!' he gasped, with a diabolical emphasis to disgust his +wife. 'I have loved you, for you were always gay and cheerful and +forgiving, not glaring and reproachful like that stony figure there! I +leave you well provided for. The Little House is yours, with the farm +and the land about it; in return for which I lay a duty on you. My +lady will not be pleased,' he continued, with a look of hate; 'for she +will never be able to drive out of Strogue without passing before your +doors. And she must live there--there or at Ennishowen, or by my will +she will forfeit certain rights. Lift me up. I can hardly breathe.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Both Wolfe and Curran made a movement of indignation as the departing +sinner exposed his plans. What a fiendish thing, so to shame a wife +whose only apparent crime was a coldness of demeanour! Well, well! The +Glandores were always mad, and this one more crazy than his +forefathers.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lord marked the movement, and, turning his glazing eyes towards his +second son, smiled faintly. 'Not so bad as you think,' he panted. 'I +have bequeathed the Little House to your daughter, Gillin, to be held +in trust for you, then to be hers absolutely--to pretty Norah, who, at +my wish you know, was baptised a Protestant. I will that the two +families should live side by side, in order that his mother may do no +harm to my second child, whom she abhors. I do not think she would do +him active wrong. But we can never tell what a woman will do if +goaded. Swear to watch over the boy, Gillin; and if evil befall, point +the finger of public opinion at his mother. She will always bow to +that, I know. Bring lights. Hold up my little Terence that I may look +at him. Lights! It is very dark.'</p> + +<p class="normal">A candle was brought in a great silver sconce, but my lord had looked +his last on earth. Vainly he peered through a gathering film. The +child's blonde locks were hidden from his sight; and then, feeling +that the portals of one world were shut ere those of the other were +ajar, he was seized with a quaking dread like ague. The devil-may-care +swagger of the Glandores was gone. He strove with groans to recall a +long-forgotten prayer, and the spectators of his death-bed were +stricken with awe.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Gillin,' he murmured, in so strange and hoarse a voice as to make her +shudder. 'It is an awful wrong we've done. Why did you let me? Too +late now. I cannot set it right, but she--call my lady--why is she not +here?'</p> + +<p class="normal">The tall countess was standing sternly over him, close by, with +crossed arms, but he could not see her.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am here. What would you?' she said; as white as he, with a growing +look of dread.</p> + +<p class="normal">'That wrong!' he gurgled. 'That dreadful thing. Oh, set it right while +you have time; for my sake; for your own, that you may escape this +torment. If I might live an hour--O God! but one! We three only know. +If I could----'</p> + +<p class="normal">The wretched man made an effort to rise--a last supreme effort. A +spasm seized his throat. He flung his arms into the air and fell +back--dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, the brown-eyed girl, cowered against her father and began to +cry. The boys, who looked on the work of the White Pilgrim for the +first time, clung trembling in an embrace with twitching lips. The two +women--so dissimilar in birth and breeding--bound by a strange secret +link--scrutinised each other long and steadily across the corpse, as +skilful swordsmen do who would gauge a rival's skill. They were about +to skirmish now. In the future might one be called upon to run the +other through? Who can tell what lurks behind the veil?</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess winced under the insolent gaze with which Madam Gillin +looked her up and down. With a tinge of half-alarmed contempt she +broke the silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Arthur,' she said, 'take that chit away. With her mother's craven +soul in her, she's like to have a fit. At any rate, save my conscience +that. Fear not for me, though they <i>have</i> all run off as if I were +plague-stricken. Mr. Curran I dare say, or some one, will see me taken +care of. You will have details to look to for me. Take the girl hence. +No. Leave the boys.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Arthur Wolfe departed, taking with him Doreen and his godson Tone; and +Mr. Curran, nodding to them, withdrew to the antechamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">The women were alone with their dead. My lady stood frowning at the +usurper, who, no whit abashed, laid a hand upon the corpse and said, +in solemn accents: 'So help me God--I'll do his bidding. Do not glare +at me, woman, or you may drive me to use my nails. I know your secret, +for your husband babbled of it as he slept. It is a fearful wrong. +Many a time I've urged him to see justice done, no matter at what cost +to you and to himself. But he was weak and wicked too. I suppose it is +now too late, for you are as bad as he, and vain as well of your murky +half-caste blood!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Madam Gillin drew back a step; for, stung to the quick by the +beginning of her speech, my lady made as if to strike her foe with the +toy-bayonet; but, reason coming to the rescue, she tossed it on the +ground. This last insult was too much. To speak plainly of such +shameful things to her very face! The brazen hardened papist hussy! +But vulgar Gillin laughed at the fierce impulse with such a jeering +crow as startled Mr. Curran in the antechamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do you want fisticuffs?' she gibed, with a plump white fist on either +hip. 'I warrant ye'd get the worst of such a tussle, my fine madam, +for all your haughty airs--<i>you</i>--who should act as serving-wench to +such as I. Nay! Calm yourself. I'm off. This is the first time we've +ever spoken--I hope it may be the last, for that will mean that you +have behaved properly to your second son. I've no desire to cross your +path; you cruel, wicked, heartless woman!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lady Glandore, her thin lips curling, took Terence by the hand for all +reply, and bade him kneel.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Swear,' she said in low clear tones, drawing forward the astonished +Shane, 'that you will be faithful to your elder brother as a vassal to +a suzerain, that you will do him no treason, but act as a junior +should with submission to the head of his house.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The little boy had been crying with all his might ever since they +brought in that ghastly heap. Confused and awed by his mother's hard +manner he repeated her words, then broke into fresh sobs, whilst Madam +Gillin stared and clasped her hands together as she turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Sure the woman's cracked,' she muttered. 'What does she mean? The +feudal system's passed. No oath can be binding on a child of twelve. +Maybe she's not wicked--only mad--as mad as my lord was. Well, God +help the child! What's bred in the bone will out! Deary me! There's +something quare about all these half-English nobles.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran waited, according to agreement, lest anything should be +required by my lady; and though by no means a lady's man, was not +sorry so to do, for the conduct of the countess in her sudden +bereavement had been, to say the least of it, extraordinary, and he +was curious to observe what would happen next. There was something +beneath that haughty calmness which roused his curiosity. Was she +regretting the past, conscious only of the sunshine, forgetful now of +storms; or was she rejoicing at a release? Holding no clue, conjecture +was waste of brain-power.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Mr. Curran resolved to reserve his judgment, and turned his +attention to what was going on without, while the servants stole +backwards and forwards, improvising the preparations for a wake.</p> + +<p class="normal">The proceedings outside were well-nigh as lugubrious as those within. +A thick mist and drizzling rain were descending on the town, turning +the roads to quagmires, the ornamental draperies to dish-clouts, the +wreaths to funereal garlands. The illuminations, concerning which +expectation had been so exercised, flickered and guttered dismally. +Groups of men in scarlet, their powder in wet mud upon their coats, +reeled down the greasy pavement, waking the echoes with a drunken +view-halloo or a fragment of the Volunteer hymn. Some were making an +exhaustive tour of the boozing-kens; some staggered towards the +lottery-rooms in Capel Street, or the Hells of Skinner's Row; some +were running-a-muck with unsteady gait, and sword-tip protruded +through the scabbard for the behoof of chairmen's calves; while some +again, in a glimmer of sobriety, were examining the smirched stockings +and spattered breeches which precluded their appearance at Smock +Alley. Chairs and coaches flitted by, making for Moira House or the +Palace of his Grace of Leinster, for all kept open-house to-night, and +Mr. Curran's crab-apple features puckered into a grin as he marked how +fearfully faces were upturned to Daly's, where one of the elect was +lying stiff and stark. But the grin soon faded into a look of sadness, +as, like some seer, he apostrophised his countrymen.</p> + +<p class="normal">'O people!' he reflected, 'easily gulled and hoodwinked, how long will +your triumph last? This is but a grazing of the ark on Ararat--a +delusive omen of the subsiding of the waters. Our bark is yet to be +tossed, not on a sinking, but on a more angry flood than heretofore. +Eat and drink, for to-morrow you die. What was your ancestors' sin +that ye should be saddled with a curse for ever? Your land was the +Isle of Saints, yet were ye pre-doomed from the beginning; for when +the broth of your character was brewed, prudence was left out and +discord tossed in instead. And the taskmaster, knowing that in discord +lies his strength, plays on your foibles for your undoing. How long +may the prodigy of your co-operation last? Alas! It pales already. +To-morrow is your supreme trial of strength, and your chiefs are at +daggers-drawn. What will be the end? What will be the end?'</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook himself free from the dismal prospect of his thoughts, for +since Madam Gillin bustled out my lady had been very quiet. He peeped +through the doorway. No! She had not moved since he looked in an hour +ago; but was sitting still with her chin on her two hands--gazing with +knitted brows at the body as it lay, its form defined dimly through +the sheet that covered it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence, lulled by tears, had fallen asleep long since upon the floor. +Shane walked hither and thither, biting his nails furtively; for he +was a brave boy who feared not his father dead, though he trembled in +his presence whilst alive. Had he dared he would have gone forth into +the street to see the gay folks, the lights, and junketing, for he was +high up in his teens and longed to be a man. But it would not do to +leave the mother whom he loved and dreaded to the protection of +Curran--the low lawyer. He was my lord now, and the head of his house, +and must protect her who had hitherto protected him. He marvelled, +though, in his slow brain, as it wandered round the knotty subject, +over the passage of arms betwixt the ladies; their covert menace; the +oath the little lad was made to swear. It was all strange--his mother +of all the strangest. Protect her, forsooth! The uncompromising mouth +and square chin of her ladyship--the steely glitter of her light grey +eye--showed independent will enough for two. Clearly she was intended +to protect others, rather than herself to need protection. But her +manner was odd, her frown of evil augury. At a moment of soul-stirring +woe, such calmness as this of hers could bode no good.</p> + +<p class="normal">All through the night she sat reviewing her life, while Shane walked +in a fidget, and patient Curran waited. She brooded over the past, +examined the threatening future, without moving once or uttering a +sound. She was deciding in her mind on a future plan of action which +should lead her safely through a sea of dangers. Was she as relentless +as she looked? Was this an innately wicked nature, set free at last +from duress, revolving how best to abuse its liberty; or was it one at +bottom good, but prejudiced and narrow, chained down and warped awry, +and dulled by circumstance?</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">BANISHMENT.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Years went by. The volcano burned blithely, and the upper orders +danced on it. No court was more like that of a stage potentate than +the court of the Irish Viceroy. No ridottos were so gorgeous as those +of Dublin; no equipages so sumptuous; no nobles so magnificently +reckless. Mr. Handel averred in broken German that he adored the +Hibernian capital, and gave birth to his sublime creations for the +edification of Dublin belles. The absentees returned home in troops, +finding that in their mother's mansion were many fatted calves; and +vied with one another, in the matter of Italian stuccoists and +Parisian painters, for the display of a genteel taste. But, as the +poet hath it, 'things are not always as they seem.' The crust of the +volcano grew daily thinner. What a gnashing of teeth would result from +its collapse!</p> + +<p class="normal">The Grand Convention fell a victim to its leaders, and from a mighty +engine of the national will shrivelled into an antic posturing. Mr. +Grattan (the man of eighty-two <i>par excellence</i>) perceived that he was +overreached; that perfidious Albion shuffled one by one out of her +engagements, that the independence, over which he had crowed like a +revolutionary cock, was no more than an illusory phantom. The +Renunciation Act was repealable at pleasure, he found, and no +renunciation save in name. The horrid Poyning, the objectionable 6th +of George III., tossed into limbo with such pomp, might become law +again by a mere pen-scratch. Ireland was decked in the frippery of +freedom, which, torn off piecemeal, would leave her naked and ashamed. +The Volunteers, perceiving that their blaring and strutting had +produced nothing real, looked sheepishly at one another and returned +to their plain clothes. After all, they were asses in lions' skins; +their association a theatrical pageant of national chivalry, which +dazzled Europe for an instant till men smelt the sawdust and the +orange-peel and recognised in the helmet a dishcover. During all +this vapouring and trumpeting, England had held her own, by means of +the subservient Lords and the heavily mortgaged Commons. The +parliament, too base for shame, smiled unabashed; the Volunteers, +conscience-smitten and in despair, broke up and fell to pieces. The +Catholics were as much serfs as ever. Derry, whose conscience was +troubled with compunctious visitings, went so far as to propose that +the Catholics (burning source of trouble in all altercations) should +emigrate <i>en masse</i> to Rome as a bodyguard for his Holiness; but the +latter, dreading an incursion of three million savages, which would +have been like an invasion of the Huns, declined with thanks the +present, and the laudable scheme was given up.</p> + +<p class="normal">Far-sighted folks became aware that the pretty tricks of the puppets +were due to an English punchinello. The fantoccini did credit to their +machinist, who was skilful at pulling of wires. Who was he? Why, Mr. +Pitt the younger, who would have his dolls jump as he listed, though +they should come to be shattered in the jumping. Mr. Pitt, the British +premier, set his wits to work to keep all grades and classes +squabbling. At one time, to exasperate the Papists, he gave an extra +twist to the penal screw; at another, he untwisted it suddenly to +anger the Orangemen. Coercion and relief were two reins in his skilled +hands wherewith he sawed the mouth of poor rawboned Rosinante, till +the harried animal came down upon its haunches. He established a +forty-shilling franchise which gave votes to the poorest, most +ignorant, and most dependent peasantry in Europe. This he declared was +the divine gift of liberty. Nothing of the sort. It merely placed a +fresh tool in the hands of large proprietors who were dying to be +bribed and charmed to have something new to sell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Though the Volunteers ceased to be a cause of uneasiness, it was plain +to Mr. Pitt that a repetition of their military fandango must be made +impossible. How was this to be accomplished? As it was, they had left +behind them, when they vanished, the nucleus of a disease--a small +but sturdy band of patriots, who were not to be bought or cajoled. +Unless treated in time, this spot might inflame and grow contagious. +How was it to be treated? That was the grave question whereon hung the +peace of Erin. The honest handful saw the rock on which the Convention +had split, and were humble enough to try and remedy the error. +Theobald--romantic young <i>protégé</i> of Arthur Wolfe--was the first to +show them the true case, to demonstrate that Ireland's harmony was +England's disappointment; that the only hope for motherland lay, not +in a commingling of a few red uniforms, or a picturesque mixing of +social grades, but in a compact welding together for the common weal +of the different religious creeds which had distracted the land with +its dissensions since the Reformation. 'Till this is done,' he said, +'the Sassanagh will toss us as a battledore a shuttlecock. Establish +the grand principle of liberty of conscience, bridge the abyss of +mutual intolerance, stay the carnage of the first emotions of the +heart! If the rights of men be duties to God, then are we of the same +religion. Our creed of civil faith is the same. Let us agree then to +exclude from our thoughts all things in which we differ, and be +brethren in heart and mind for our mother's sake.' The words of the +romantic young apostle touched his hearers on their tenderest chord, +and they swore to learn wisdom by the past, and live in amity for +ever. The quick revulsion from bigotry to tolerance was not so amazing +as it seems, for Theobald Wolfe Tone was but the visible expression of +the spirit of his age--the abuse-abhorring spirit which distinguished +the eighteenth century, and culminated in the French upheaving of '89.</p> + +<p class="normal">That sanguinary outburst, which blew into the elements a long-rooted +despotism, and which clenched the new-fangled faith enunciated in the +War of Independence, had an enormous effect on Ireland--an effect of +which Mr. Pitt availed himself for his own purposes with his usual +tact. The principle of '89 made its way to England, where the genius +of the Constitution prevailed against its allurements; then passed +across the Channel, where it was eagerly received by men who were +being hounded on to recklessness. The adverse religious sects which +had just vowed eternal amity, seeing what passed in Paris, looked on +one another with alarm. The Catholic clergy grew suspicious of the +reformers who extolled the conduct of France, because the new <i>régime</i> +had produced Free Thought, or rather had endowed the bantling with +strength which the great Voltaire had nourished. People were startled +by bold views which were new to them. The timid looked down a chasm to +which they could perceive no bottom, and shrank back. A fanatical few +were for going all lengths at once, and demanding the help of France +to produce an Irish upheaval. At this juncture a friendly English +policy--a judicious combination of discipline and conciliation--would +have allayed the brewing storm. But it was not the intention of +British ministers that the country should be tranquillised just yet. +Quite the contrary. They resolved to stir up such a tempest as should +frighten Erin out of her poor wits, and drive her to distrust her own +strength and her own wisdom for the rest of her natural existence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald Wolfe Tone--ardent, patriotic, fired by the golden thoughts +of youth, and bursting with Utopian schemes--was just such a catspaw +as was wanted. His bright earnest face beamed with the rays of truth; +his pure life compelled respect; his rapt eloquence lured many to his +side, despite the warnings of their judgment. Though a Protestant, he +was scandalised by the Penal Code. He wandered like a discontented +young Moses among his enslaved countrymen. From pamphleteering he took +to declamation, and, like many another, became convinced by his own +discourse. He started a society among the Presbyterians of Ulster for +the encouragement of universal love, and dubbed it the Society of +United Irishmen. It grew and flourished at Belfast, for all Irish +projects which were bold and enterprising came into being in the +north. In spite of Mr. Wolfe, of Curran, of Lady Glandore (who took up +her brother's <i>protégé</i>), young Tone abandoned the Bar, and +deliberately developed into an incendiary. He travelled over the +country haranguing crowds, addressing meetings, demonstrating home +truths, exhorting all to join the cause which should promote concord +amongst Irishmen of all persuasions. A bloodless revolution was to be +organised like that of '82, but on a surer basis. Instead of five +hundred thousand, five millions of men were to stand up as one to +demand a clear ratification of their rights, and, really united at +last, would be certain of the crown of victory. Vainly his friends +warned him off the precipice, declaring that the world was not ripe +for a millennium, that the heart of man is desperately wicked, that +five millions of men never were yet of one mind, that even a dozen +Irishmen never yet agreed upon any given subject whatsoever. Tone was +infatuated with his Utopian scheme, prepared like the pure-souled +enthusiast that he was to give up his all to bring about its +furtherance. What better catspaw could be selected by Mr. Pitt than +this artless apostle in whom was no taint of guile?</p> + +<p class="normal">If Tone's society had been left alone, it would have dwindled as +over-virtuous for this world. It must be persecuted (so Mr. Pitt +determined) till it flourished like a bay-tree. Then Tone and the +United Irishmen must be stamped beneath the heel, and it would be odd +indeed if they did not drag their tottering country in their downfall. +So Mr. Pitt sat down to play a game of chess with unconscious +Theobald, permitting him to frisk his pieces about the board till he +chose to take them one by one. The game was heartless, for the players +were deplorably ill-matched. What could a knot of earnest youths do +against the forces of established government--a government which was +not squeamish as to the weapons it employed? Master Tone was agitating +for the Catholics, was he? Out with a relief bill, which, by bestowing +illusory concessions, should exasperate the ultra-Protestants. Then +with lightning-speed, in dazzling sequence, a host of contradictory +enactments, such as should keep the ball a-rolling. Towns were +garrisoned with English troops, armed assemblies suppressed, public +discussions forbidden, the sale of ammunition prohibited, conventions +of delegates rendered penal. A deft touch of personal persecution +besides, and the United Irishmen would become martyrs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before they could fully understand this complex phalanx of decrees, +Tone and his lieutenants--driven by events as by a remorseless +broom--found themselves transformed from a harmless debating club into +a secret society, proscribed and outlawed. They discovered, too, that +an illegal Star Chamber--a threatening Wehmgericht--had been created +somehow to spy out their ways; that a secret council was established +in the Castle, which was garnished with bristling bayonets, and +supplied with paid informers.</p> + +<p class="normal">They buffeted like beasts in a net. The more they struggled, the more +entangled they became. Then, hot-headed to begin with, they grew +frantic. Must it be war? they howled. War be it then, though you have +arms and we have none. With the sacred cause we will win or perish. +Tear your colours from the staff, O people; muffle your drums and beat +your funeral march if ye are not prepared to stand in the breach with +us, to fall or conquer, for God and motherland!</p> + +<p class="normal">Fate gave Mr. Pitt a cruel game to play, but he was not one to blench +at phantoms. It was a game beset with difficulties--tortuous, dirty, +dark. So he turned up his cuffs and played it like the bold man he +was, without flinching; in an age, too, when the end was acknowledged +to justify the means. The crime which he had to commit was of his +master's ordering, and must lie at his door--at the door of good King +George, that well-meaning stupid boor. On his shoulders and no others +must be laid the horrors of '98--of that hideous carnival which, +though it took place but eighty years ago, stands without rival in the +annals of human wickedness. Some, maybe, will hope that this chronicle +is overdrawn. Unhappily it is not so. There is no historical fact +recorded in these pages in connection with that bitter time for which +there exists not ample evidence. The cruelty of devils lies dormant in +each one of us. From 1796 to 1800, it had full play in Ireland. There +is no doubt that if Mr. Pitt had been allowed his way, he would have +dealt fairly by the sister island; that he intended a broad +emancipation of the serfs, an honourable course which would have +landed him on his father's pinnacle. But his hands were tied in two +ways. First by the bigotry of George, who loathed with a lunatic +abhorrence all opinions which differed from his own; secondly, by the +upheaval of '89, which, by overturning established dogmas, opened out +awful vistas of new danger to the body politic. The position being +what it was, he cut his coat according to his cloth, accepted what he +could not help, and arranged that a religious feud must be fomented to +boiling-point, in order to make its suppression an excuse for +political slavery.</p> + +<p class="normal">To carry out this project he needed a trusty coadjutor; one who was +crafty, ambitious, selfish, clever, unprincipled, and, above all, +Irish; and this <i>rara avis</i> he found in the Irish chancellor, Lord +Clare (whose acquaintance we made in 1783, when he was Fitzgibbon, +attorney-general). This man he reckoned up at once at his true worth, +and set him accordingly to fight the battle with the patriots. A +better tool it was not possible to find, for he despised his +countrymen for their unpractical romance, looking on them as +stepping-stones for his own personal aggrandisement. His domineering +airs had in the intervening time coerced to his own way of thinking a +host of weathercock viceroys, had raised him to the woolsack, rendered +him supreme in the law courts. Mr. Pitt begged this glorious creature +to make a trip to London, and proceeded to open his mind to him, or +rather that murky cupboard which he exposed as such to the admiration +of his dolls, when he chose to cajole them into the belief that they +were colleagues.</p> + +<p class="normal">'We have an ensanguined path to tread, my dear Lord Clare,' he said, +with raised eyebrows; 'but it is the shortest and the safest. We must +coax on these boys to displays of rashness till they shall drive the +most respectable to take refuge in our bosom. A prison shall cool the +ardour of the fanatics. Gold shall be the portion of those who waver. +Bloody, say you? Is not Ireland already traceable in the statute-book +as a wounded man in a crowd is tracked by his wounds? A few transitory +troubles--mere spasms, nothing more--and our patient will be calm. Let +the jade be tied hand and foot, and we'll mop up the blood and she +will come to hug her chains. As for you, my dear lord,' he went on +with a familiar smirk, which warmed Lord Clare with pleasure, 'you +will be a gainer in several ways. Your talents are wasted in that poky +little house on College Green. We want men of your kidney at St. +Stephen's, 'fore Gad we do!' and Lord Clare took the bait, and the +English premier rubbed his hands behind his back. It was but a new +phase of a time-honoured policy. Chancellor and patriots should be +made to plunge their paws into the fire; then Mr. Pitt in his ambush +would quietly eat the nut.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the new society of United Irishmen pursued its desperate way, +upheld in fainting moments by the ardour of its young apostle; and the +chancellor returned home to set traps to catch his feet; and in order +to facilitate his movements a new viceroy was sent over--a gabbling +weak man, who would do as he was bid; whose private life was +irreproachable; who in public was an idiot; who would obey the +chancellor in all things; whose name was my Lord Camden.</p> + +<p class="normal">As might have been expected, Theobald fell into the snare. His +lieutenants were locked up. Undismayed, he prated, with increased +vehemence, of a bondage worse than that of Egypt, called on the men of +Ulster to break down the Penal Code; pointed out that the oppressor +was as vicious as an Eastern despot, that the oppressed was disfigured +into the semblance of a beast. The awakened Presbyterians answered to +his call; and, when they had sufficiently committed themselves, the +watchful chancellor put down his claw on them. Tone's career was +short. Very soon he too was cast into gaol, while small fry were +allowed to flap their wings till their mission, too, should be +accomplished. But Mr. Pitt, if a strong, was not an ungenerous foe. He +respected the young man, who was made of the stuff which makes heroes. +By his command Theobald was incarcerated in Newgate for a brief space, +to chew the cud of his vain imaginings, and then was given back his +liberty on condition of departing from the country which he loved. +Sadly he accepted the boon which was tossed to him--for choice lay +'twixt exile and the Kilmainham minuet; despatched his faithful wife +before him to America; and (Mr. Pitt and the chancellor permitting) +called his closest friends around him once again ere he shook their +hands for the last time. He stands in the gloaming now, bareheaded, to +pour out a last burning exhortation to his disciples as we take up the +clue of this our chronicle, whose thread shall no more be broken.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is the lovely evening of the 12th of July, 1795. The scene a +triangular field known as 'The Garden' on the shore of Dublin Bay, +from whence may be duskily distinguished on the one side the cupolas +and spires of the city; on the other, at the end of a promontory +jutting out into the sea, the ivy-clad walls of Strogue Abbey, bowered +in umbrageous woods. Joy-chimes are wafted on the breeze, and now and +again a puff of smoke shows as a white spot across the bay, and a +second later the boom of a royal salute shakes the hollyhocks and +causes the little group to shiver. It is the anniversary of William, +who saved us from wooden shoes. Mr. Curran--apart from the rest--beats +his cane testily upon the ground, and murmurs: 'Lord Clare is +justified in despising them. The pack of fools! Jigging round +Juggernaut at this minute with orange lilies and foolish banners! Even +so Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Will my countrymen learn wisdom? Of +course not. Never.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening light shines full on the face of the young enthusiast, +marking in relief the deep cuts chiselled by premature sorrow on his +cheek. He is effeminate-looking but genteel, with long lank hair +simply caught back behind. His thin figure appears more slight than +usual, his pale face more wan, in the anxious eyes of his companions; +his hands more thin and feverish as one by one he clasps with a +lingering pressure those that are held out to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Thanks, friends!' he says, with a weary smile. 'It was idle in me to +bid you take the oath once more; for having once sworn I know you will +be faithful. Yet will it be as music to mine ears, as I roam in a +foreign land, to recall the solemn cadence of your beloved voices. +Nay--weep not! Be of good cheer. See these flowers around, and take +courage with the omen. Mark how they droop and sink--grieving together +for the dying-day. A few hours of sleep and they will wake refreshed +again, and lift up their loving heads unto the sun, with dew-tears of +gladness glistening upon their eyelids.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, Theobald, what will become of us when you are gone?' cries out +Robert Emmett, a boy of seventeen. 'You carry hope with you in the +folds of your mantle. Once gone, we shall be left in darkness, +groping.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Tone shuddered, and fought with himself against presentiment.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have watched over the cradle of Liberty,' he whispered, dreamily. +'God forbid that I should ever see its hearse.' Then passing his palm +across his eyes as if to shut out a nightmare, he said, laying a hand +on the broad shoulder of a young man beside him, 'Courage, boy Robert! +True, I go from you. But here is the Elisha who shall take up the +mantle which I leave a legacy with Hope wrapped in it. Look up to your +brother Thomas, Robert--the wise and prudent, the sage man in counsel. +Follow him as you have followed me; faithfully, truly, till I return. +For I shall return, if God so wills it, I promise you. This night I +sail for America, but am under no promise to stay there. I shall make +my way to France, and lay our grievances at the feet of the Directory. +There is nothing for it but to amputate the right hand of England. Oh, +how I hate the name of the thrice accursed! France is the surgeon who +shall do the job. I would fain give a toast before I go, if Doreen +will lend the flask she hugs so carefully.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is for your journey, Theobald,' was Doreen's soft answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Never mind me,' he returned, with assumed gaiety. 'Let us pour a last +libation to our common mother.'</p> + +<p class="normal">A man who had been spreading his great length upon the grass, now +jumped up with an oath. A giant he was; evidently, from his dress, +belonging to the half-mounted class. His big kindly flat face was +shaded by a Beresford bobwig, under which twinkled a pair of roguish +eyes set in a sallow skin. His buckskin breeches were worn and greasy; +his half-jack-boots were adorned with huge silver spurs; while a faded +scarlet vest (fur-trimmed, though it was summer) closed over his broad +chest; and a square-cut snuff-coloured coat, with all the cloth in it, +hung from his brawny shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Theobald!' he shouted, in a voice which sent the owls whirling +seaward, 'you shall not go from us. Why not lie hidden somewhere, and +direct us still? Can we not be trusted to keep the secret? You look at +things too blackly. We need no French help, but can win our way as the +Volunteers did--by moral force; or if we must fight, can quite look +after ourselves. Don't tell me. These English are not ogres.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, stay with us, dear Theobald!' cried eagerly Robert Emmett, +the boy of seventeen. 'Cassidy is right. We will have no help from +France--for that would imply bloodshed--the blood of our own +brethren--and the curse of God is upon fratricide.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Tone shook his head, and answered bluntly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'No! That was all very well twelve years since; but the day for a +peaceful revolution's past. On the heads of those who forced us to +seek foreign aid shall the blood-curse be. Our omelette can't be made +without a breaking of eggs. For three years we've dribbled in and out +of Newgate and Kilmainham, and know all their holes and corners, and +dread neither prison any more. We must strike, and that sharply, but +are not strong enough alone.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Theobald!' observed Mr. Curran, from his grass-knoll, 'it's a +Upas-tree you've planted. Take heed lest it blight the land.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'We must not be led away by a morbid anxiety about a little life,' +rejoined the apostle. 'I go a solitary wanderer, but shall return with +an army at my back--and then!' He paused, as though delving into +futurity, and the prospect which he saw upon its mirror was +reassuring; for with new courage he turned to his band and said: 'Keep +together, Protestant and Catholic, for <i>L'Union fait la Force</i>, and +Britain will try to divide you. Come what may, hold on by one another. +Thomas Emmet, old friend! as a literary man and editor of the "Press," +it is your duty to keep this before the public. Study the tactics of +the foe, that one by one they may be exposed in time. And you, +Cassidy,' he continued, laying a hand tenderly on the giant's arm, +'keep watch over your too ingenuous nature, lest you find yourself +betrayed. In your way you are a clever fellow, but, like most people +of your bulk, unduly innocent. I speak with loving authority to you, +for is not your sister my dear wife, who, next to Erin, holds all my +heart? You are too servile to Lord Clare, Cassidy, who, himself an +Irishman, is the bitterest enemy that Ireland ever had. Beware lest he +twist you to his purpose, for the undoing of us all. You are also on +too intimate terms with Sirr--the town-major--that shameful jackal of +my Lord Clare's.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You would not suspect me, Theobald!' cried the giant, ruefully. 'I'm +not more wise than others, but I mean well.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No, indeed!' returned his brother-in-law. 'Would to God that we had +more such hearts as yours amongst us! But keep watch and ward, lest +you be overreached, for you are simple.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'My Lord Clare is partial to me, and tells me many things,' apologised +the giant, with a twinkle in his eye. 'Maybe I'm not so stupid as I +look, and can unravel a fact from a careless hint. As for Sirr, I +don't care two pins for him; yet who knows how useful he may prove to +us? He has apartments in the Castle--is hand and glove with Secretary +Cooke; through him we may be able to tamper with the soldiery, turning +the arms of Government against itself, for the town-major is no man of +straw.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Tone shook his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is ill dealing with traitors' weapons,' he retorted. 'In a passage +of wits, you will certainly be worsted, for you are too open, too +blundering.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy looked demurely at the rest, with his whimsical half-smile, as +though to ask whether this verdict on his character were a compliment +or not; and handsome Doreen smiled back on him in her grave way as she +handed the flask and cup to Tone, and twined her arm round Sara +Curran's waist.</p> + +<p class="normal">A pretty picture were these two girls--who loitered a little amongst +the darkling flowers, while Tone was speaking his farewell. Doreen had +fulfilled the promise of her childhood, and was now a statuesque woman +of two-and-twenty, with rich warm blood mantling under an olive +skin--soft eyes of the brown colour of a mountain stream, shaded by +long silken lashes--and an aquiline nose whose nostrils were as finely +cut and sensitive as were her aunt's. People wondered where she got +her scornful look, for Mr. Arthur Wolfe (attorney-general now) was the +most peaceable and quiet of men, while all the world knew that her +retiring mother had faded from excess of meekness. Her aunt, Lady +Glandore, had watched her growth approvingly, for the tall supple form +was what her own had been--as was the swan-like neck and head-toss. +She approved and seemed quite to like her niece till she remembered +that she was a Papist and a blot on the escutcheon; then she despised +her, yet never dared to touch forbidden ground save in a covert way; +for Doreen had a temper, when roused, as self-asserting as her own, +and her aunt was grown old before her time; too old to rise without an +effort at the sound of the war-trumpet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was dutiful to her aunt in most things; but on the subject of +her oppressed religion was a very tigress. If Lady Glandore permitted +herself too broad a sally, those eyes with the strongly-marked black +pupils would shoot forth a cairngorm flame--that mass of dark brown +hair which hung in natural curls after the Irish fashion down her +back, would shake like a lion's crest, and my lady would retire from +the field discomfited. Yet this occurred but seldom, and folks could +only guess how the Penal Code burned into her flesh by a certain +unnatural quietude and an artificial repose of manner beyond her +years.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course she adored Tone, the champion who had wrecked his life on +behalf of three million serfs who were her brethren, and under his +guidance became quite a little conspirator, niece though she was of an +ultra-Protestant grandee, daughter of the attorney-general, who, as +such, was crown prosecutor of her allies. It may be asked, how came +her aunt to permit the girl to form such dangerous ties? The damsel +was wayward, and the aunt a victim of some secret canker, over which +she brooded more and more as her hair blanched. A hard tussle or two, +and practically she lowered her standard. The girl went whither she +listed, and chose as bosom friend Sara Curran, daughter of the member +of parliament, to whom her father was deeply attached; and who had on +the occasion of her uncle's tragic end struck up a queer friendship +with her aunt, which flourished by reason of its incongruity.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, from the time she could first toddle, had been accustomed +to scour the country on ponyback in company with her cousins, +and these rides--more frequently than not--had for object the +Priory--a comfortable nest which Curran had taken to himself near +Rathfarnham--where they were regaled on tea and cakes by little Sara, +the lawyer's baby child. Sara and Doreen became fast friends as they +grew up--the faster probably because Doreen, who was the elder by +several years, was strong as the sapling oak, while Sara was clinging +like the honeysuckle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course Curran, whose business kept him for many hours daily in the +courts of law and House of Commons, could desire no better companion +for his pet than the niece of the Countess of Glandore--the daughter +of his friend and superior, Arthur Wolfe; and so as her cousins grew +into men and left her more and more alone, she frequented more and +more the Priory, where no one mocked her faith, and where she +frequently met Theobald.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wolfe-Tone and the Emmetts met frequently at Curran's, and their +large-minded talk and broad generous views seemed to her like the wind +which has passed over seaweed, compared with her aunt's narrow drone, +the vain self-vaunting of my Lord Clare, the drunken ribaldry and +coarse jests of her cousin Lord Glandore. So she, in her goldlaced +riding-habit, had come too to the tryst that she might look on her +hero once again; and for propriety's sake had brought as escort Papa +Curran and gentle Sara, who, though only sixteen, was already casting +timid sheep's-eyes at the younger of the two Emmetts--a gownsman at +this time in the University.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bashful Sara had relapsed into tears several times during Tone's +discourse--a pale, fair, pretty creature she was, with a dazzling skin +and light-blue eyes--and showed symptoms of hysteria when the patriot +proposed a final libation. Not that she had any reason for emotion +(such as Doreen might with more reason have displayed), being the +eye-apple of a prosperous barrister who professed the dominant faith; +but she knew that young Robert, whose shoes she would have knelt and +kissed, was deeply bitten with the prevailing mania, and maybe she had +besides a dim presentiment of the trouble which was to pour later upon +her head and his. Be that as it may, she sank upon the ground now and +sobbed, while Tone held forth the cup which Doreen had filled with a +steady hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">'A toast, dear friends--the last we may drink together!' he said; and +gazed on the plashing waters, which glowed with the last gleam of the +sun that was no more. 'I give you Mother Erin! May she soon be decked +in green ribbons by a French milliner!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Again and again did Doreen, a calm Hebe, fill the goblet, which was +drained by each man present with a murmured 'Amen!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun had died behind the Wicklow hills; still the Protestant chimes +brayed fitfully across the sea, though the cannon at dusk were silent. +Far off from the direction of Strogue Abbey came a noise of galloping +hoofs, which grew gradually louder and louder, while every man looked +at his neighbour as though expecting some new misfortune. No wonder +they were uneasy, for their proceedings were watched, and a new +disaster happened daily. Presently Mr. Curran, established as vidette, +descried a well-known horseman, who pulled up sharply in the road, and +dismounting, vaulted lightly over the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence!' he exclaimed with mixed feelings, as he beheld a +finely-grown young man, whose round face was remarkable for mobile +eyebrows, a fearless eye, and puckers of fun about a sensitive mouth, +'what are you doing here? Be off!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes, Terence,' returned a cheery voice, 'or Councillor Crosbie, if +you please, since I have the honour now to act as your worship's +junior. Where's Tone? Not gone. Thank goodness! I must clasp the dear +lad's hand before he goes.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran shook his mane back like a retriever that has bathed, which +was a trick he had when worried.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Donkey! what do you here?' he grumbled. 'Are we not fools enough +without you? You belong to another race, which has nought in common +with our troubles. Take my advice, and just trot home again. If you +want to be silly, join the Cherokees as your brother has, or the +Blasters, or the Hellfires. Leave plotting to the children of the +soil.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man, who was good-looking, with the comeliness which a fresh +complexion gives, showed his white teeth, and broke into a merry +laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">'In an evil temper,' he remarked. 'Gone without dinner, eh? If I am +not a drunkard and a gambler, whose fault is it, sir, but yours? Who +taught me that as a younger son I have my way to carve through life? +Who made me choose the Bar? Who superintended my studies, and gave a +helping hand? <i>You</i>--you cross Curran! and, believe me, I'm not +ungrateful, though a bit more idle than you like.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then get you gone, and leave us to our folly,' was the testy +rejoinder. 'I won't have your mother saying some day that I brought +her boy to danger, and instilled ideas into his vacant mind which put +his neck in danger.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fiddlededee!' laughed the good-humoured scapegrace. 'You are no more +a conspirator than I. Why are you here, and why have you brought my +cousin if awful rites are going forward?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Because I'm an ass!' growled the other. 'Conspirator--why not, pray? +My heart is sick when I look round me. Why should I not be maddened as +others are? Do I love Erin less? Doreen belongs through her religion +to the people, and it is fitting she should sorrow with them. Yes, it +is maddening?' he pursued, kindling suddenly, and breaking through the +crust in which for prudence' sake he cased himself, as the thoughts +over which he had been brooding took form. 'What is to become of us? +It would have been merciful if Spencer's desire had been gratified, +and the land turned into a seapool. Our travail is long, and endeth +not. Our master gives us a hangman and a taxgatherer; what more should +such as we require? His laws are like shoes sent forth for +exportation. 'Twere idle to take our measures, for if they pinch us, +what matters it? We stand between a social Scylla and Charybdis. Poets +and visionaries, like this poor fool here, work on the hare-brained +people, whose craving for freedom is whetted to voracity; and, led by +the blind, they tumble into traps, at which a less ardent nation would +be moved to laughter. Temerity, despair, annihilation--that is the +<i>mot d'ordre</i>. See if I am not a true prophet. And the luxurious +nobles--do they help with their counsel? Not they! Their twin-gods are +their belly and their lust. They have nothing in common with the +people.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'The French shall drive them into the sea,' remarked Tone, placidly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The French, the French!' retorted Curran. 'Much good may they do us! +A revolution achieved by such means would merely mean a change of +masters. You live in a fool's paradise, Theobald. I can see farther +into futurity than you, for I'm older, worse luck. I see a time +coming--nay, it's close at hand--when a spectre will be set up and +nicknamed Justice; which, if God wills, it shall be my mission to tear +down. Yet what may I do with my little weight? A mean weak man with +feeble health. May I be the log to stop the wheels of the triumphal +car? Verily, the ways of Heaven are inscrutable!'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was rarely that the little advocate spoke out so plainly. His +friends knew that he ever regarded his country with the idolatry of a +lover, that to her he gave freely all he had to give; through the +stages of her pride, her hope, her struggles and despondency, his +heart was hers for better and for worse; and therefore many marvelled +that, actively, he should have held aloof from the patriot band. +Nobody could charge him with cowardice. Terence himself had never +solved this mystery, although as his junior he saw more than most of +the workings of Curran's mind. He had wondered at his chief's coldness +in a careless way, till now, when it became patent to him, as to the +rest, that Curran's second sight beheld the possibility of state +trials in the future, where one would be needed to stand up for the +accused whose heart was steadfast, whose courage was indomitable. +Terence felt sure his chief was wrong--the beardless are always wisest +in their own esteem--for to the honest boy it seemed impossible that +Albion could be so base.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet the notion was grand that, despising dignities, the little lawyer +should be keeping himself in reserve for a Herculean labour, that he +should be deliberately laying himself out to stand by those whom +others would desert; and so, to the knot of bystanders in the +gloaming, the ugly pigmy of a man appeared sublime, as he sat in an +attitude of profound dejection, with the sweat of strong emotion in +beads upon his forehead and on the black elflocks of his untidy hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">The jolly giant Cassidy rapped out a huge oath, and vowed with a +string of expletives that he should be 'shillooed' forthwith. The +Emmett brothers fairly wept; tears stood in the eyes of the statuesque +Doreen; Theobald knelt down before him on the dewy grass, and +entreated a farewell blessing ere he went.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The Lord bless and keep you, my poor friend!' Curran whispered in a +broken voice. 'Whether He wills that you should die an exile, or that +you should return to us with glory, God be with you! May it never be +my lot to stand up in court for you! or if it must be so, may inspired +words be given me to save you from your danger! Now we must be +separating, or we'll have the Castle spies on us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Followed by many a God-speed Tone vanished in the darkness. All +listened to his retreating steps, wondering when and how they might +ever meet again. Curran heaved a sigh, and was the cynical man of the +world once more, with the dancing eye and whimsical half-melancholy +smile, who threw all the judges on circuit into convulsions with his +wit, and stirred the jury to unseemly laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence,' he said, linking his arm in that of his junior, while the +young ladies, helped by the Emmetts, mounted their horses, 'you were +wrong to come here. My lady will be angry if you mix with the common +riffraff. What would you say if she pulled her purse-strings tight, +you extravagant young dog? The idea of one of your birth worrying +himself about the people's wrongs is of course preposterous; +therefore, to please your mother, you had best give them a wide berth. +My Lord Clare shall get you a snug post with nothing to do, and vast +emoluments such as becomes a lord's brother, and then you'll be rich +and independent in no time, while I am still prosing over briefs.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence, in whose face the wicked Glandore expression was tempered by +good-nature, was not pleased with the banter of his chief, for his +cousin was at his elbow, who always persisted in looking on him as a +boy, though he was a great fellow of four-and-twenty who was +constantly arraying himself in gorgeous clothes to please her. A +tantalising cousin was Miss Doreen to him; suggesting broidered capes +and becoming ruffles when amiably disposed, which, when with pain and +grief he got them made, received no notice from her whatsoever. He +chose to imagine that he was desperately in love with the beautiful +Miss Wolfe, and was proud of his passion, though she laughed at him. +Vainly he sighed; yet no worm fed upon his damask cheek. Albeit he +pretended to be very wretched, he was not; for his life was before him +and he enjoyed it thoroughly, and was the victim of an amazing +appetite, and would probably have forgotten all about Miss Wolfe in a +week (though he would have smitten you with a big stick if you dared +to hint as much) if her lithe figure had been removed from his sight +for that brief period. Sometimes he took it into his head that she +fancied Shane, and then he was pierced through and through with +jealousy, for the brothers never could get on, and the younger one +knew my lord to be not only thick of skull, but drunken and dissolute +too, even beyond the average of his compeers; a fire-eater, whose hand +was never off his sword, who cared more for dogs than women, more for +himself than either, and who as a husband would be certain to bring +misery upon the girl. Then again he would be consoled for an instant +by the reflection that it does not answer at all for first cousins to +marry; and then his longings would get the better of him, as he marked +the wealth of the brown hair which had a golden ripple through it, the +finely developed bust, the eyes like peatwater. She was interesting, +and his heart was soft. He watched her furtively sometimes in her fits +of sadness; when she sat behind a tambour at the Strogue hall-window, +gazing, with eyes that saw nothing, at the fishing-boats upon the bay, +as they splashed along with yellow sails and clumsy oars upon their +mirrored doubles, till tears fell one by one upon her work, like +thunderdrops upon a window-pane; and he could tell that she was +dreaming of her people. Then his heart yearned towards Doreen. He +longed to seize her in his lusty arms, crying:</p> + +<p class="normal">'My beloved! I am poor, and you are rich' (for Mr. Wolfe had put by a +cosy nest-egg). 'Our tastes are simple. I will try to live upon love +and my allowance. You shall keep all your fortune to yourself--only be +mine, my very own!' But somehow he never said the words, for something +told him that she would only smile, and on second thoughts he was glad +he had not spoken.</p> + +<p class="normal">It would have been wrong in her to scoff, for the proposal would have +been as unusual as disinterested; but girls will laugh at improper +moments. Miss Wolfe was an heiress as times went, and likely to be +richer; impecunious squires and squireens were legion; and the +abduction clubs not yet quite stamped out. This, indeed, was one +reason why she spent most of her time at Strogue instead of with her +father in Dublin; for he, easygoing in most things, was painfully +alive to the possibility of finding his daughter stolen one day when +he was in court, to be bucketed about the country without a change +of linen till his reluctant consent was wrung to a match with some +ne'er-do-well.</p> + +<p class="normal">At Strogue such a thing could hardly happen, for the prestige of the +Glandores was hedged about with terror, and every ne'er-do-well knew +that to play Paris to the Helen of the fair Doreen--to carry her off +from the sanctuary of Strogue Abbey--would be to call down dolorous +reprisals from her two stalwart cousins.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, having her constantly before his vision, Terence adored the damsel +wildly by fits and starts, hating her when she snubbed him, taking a +loyal interest, for her sake, in the Penal Code and the United +Irishmen; and was not aware that he stood on the verge of the +political maelstrom, in whoso eddies so many good Irishmen had come to +drowning.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence professed in nowise to be a patriot. He said openly that the +United Irishmen deceived themselves, that they were fond of inventing +imaginary terrors, that Lord Clare, though personally he disliked him, +was an estimable statesman, the right man in the right place. Doreen +was angry with him at times for this. Then he had an excuse for +kissing her to make it up, for the flash from her grave eyes was only +summer lightning. But to be accused of mercenary motives, even in +banter, was quite another thing, because all the world knew that the +Irish aristocracy, as a body, did not shine in the way of +unselfishness, and Terence's nature was too open and honest, his +carelessness as to money too deep-seated, for him to feel aught but +disgust at being coupled with the pensioners. It was not true that he +was mercenary, but it might easily have been so. Who knows what might +have been if my lady had not proved liberal--a kind mother? Many are +virtuous so long as they are not tempted. Yes. You will doubtless be +surprised to hear that my lady had worked no evil to her second son. +Madam Gillin's singular office had for the space of twelve years been +a sinecure. The Countess never refused him money when he asked for it, +and was apparently a model mother to the youth, though she certainly +showed a strong partiality for Shane, which may be accounted for by +the fact that mothers invariably doat upon their prodigals, and milord +resembled his father not a little.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Curran, being quite at home at the Abbey, knew all these ins and +outs and petty details. Terence's indignation, therefore, amused him. +He burst into a peal of merriment when the young man asked, tartly, +what he meant by his insinuations.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I know Lord Clare offered me a place,' he said, with a side-glance of +apology at his cousin; 'but I refused it with disdain. Though he's a +worthy man I don't like him, because he orders us about, and I would +not be under any obligation to him for the world. My mother's too fond +of the chancellor----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What if you were assured that he's a traitor?' Curran asked, with +mock gravity.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I'd become a United Irishman to upset him!' returned the prompt +scapegrace.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Nonsense!' replied his friend, growing serious. 'No, no. It's an ill +subject for jesting. Treason is a dangerous pastime, which it behoves +you to keep clear of for the sake of your noble name. Don't forget +that, being half an Englishman, half of your allegiance is due to the +British Crown--at least so the Lords think. With us it's different. To +try the bird, the spur must touch his blood. Come, let's be off. +Good-night, boys!'</p> + +<p class="normal">And so the conference terminated.</p> + +<p class="normal">The elder Emmett rode moodily to Dublin, concocting inflammatory +articles for the benefit of the newspaper which he edited, reflecting +too, not without misgivings, upon the mantle which had fallen, +unbidden, on his shoulders. Robert, his excitable brother, walked home +to Trinity College with elastic step, his brain still whirling with +the outlaw's parting words. The rest were bound for Strogue, where my +lady sat wondering, no doubt, what could keep them out so late. +Cassidy, who was a good singer, and amusing in other ways, had been +invited to the Abbey by Terence. As for Curran and his daughter, they +often sojourned there, and were certain of a hearty welcome, for their +own sake now, as well as Arthur Wolfe's.</p> + +<p class="normal">None of the party spoke as they cantered briskly by the shore. Curran +was upbraiding himself for want of caution in betraying his true +sentiments even to close friends. Few saw as far as he, and the very +air of Innisfail breathed treachery. His daughter, gentle Sara, whose +fair locks clustered like silk cocoons about her baby-face, was in an +ecstatic trance as she bumped up and down on her rough pony.</p> + +<p class="normal">What signified bumps, when the subject of her thoughts was Robert, the +dear, delightful undergraduate? She would have bumped all the world +over for him, though she was modesty itself, and he oblivious that she +existed. It was pleasant to think that he, at least, was bound by no +rash oath. It would be a sweet task, if possible, to keep him from the +toils.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen rode ahead, plunged in one of her sad moods, as she thought of +the future of the wanderer, who had given up all he possessed in the +world to bring about the freeing of her people. Might any woman's +platonic worship make good that loss to him? Would she ever see him +again, and under what circumstances?</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence read her thoughts, and was cross at her devotion to this +outlaw, a condition of mind which even he perceived was not proper in +a well-brought-up young lady. Of course everybody respected Tone, and +liked him, too, for his excellent qualities. She could not marry him, +that was one comfort, for he was already married to the sister of this +great hulking giant, Cassidy, who chirruped out scraps of song as +though Erin was the most prosperous of motherlands. But it certainly +seemed wrong, to the sage youth, that a handsome young woman should be +on confidential terms with so many strange young men. Her aunt, he +knew, objected to it strongly, but unaccountably held her peace. Then +he laughed, in spite of his displeasure, at the conceit of any one +interfering with Doreen--the demure damsel who pursued her calm way, +enslaving all and taking note of none, as though she had taken vows of +perpetual maidenhood--had cut herself adrift for the role of a Jeanne +d'Arc.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">STROGUE ABBEY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The home of the Glandores on Dublin Bay is a unique place, perched on +rising ground, shaded by fine old timber. Originally an ecclesiastical +establishment, it was turned into a fortress by Sir Amorey Crosbie in +1177, and has been altered and gutted, and rebuilt, with here a wing +and here a bay, and there a winding staircase, or mysterious recess, +to suit the whim of each succeeding owner, till it has swelled into a +stunted honeycomb of meandering suites of rooms, whose geography +puzzles a stranger on his first visit there. The only portions of it +which remain intact, are (as may be seen by the great thickness of the +walls) the hall, a long, low, narrow space, panelled in black oak and +ceiled in squares; the huge kitchen, where meat might be roasted for +an army; and the dungeons below ground. The remaining rooms (many of +them like monkish cells) are of every shape and pattern, alike only in +having heavy casement frames set with diamond panes, enormous +obstinate doors, which creak and moan, declining to close or open +unless violently coerced, and worm-eaten floors that slope in every +freak of crooked line except the normal horizontal one. Indeed, the +varied levels of the bedroom floor (there is but one storey) are so +wildly erratic, that a visitor, who wakes for the first time in one of +the pigeonholes that open one on the other, like the alleys of a +rabbit warren, clings instinctively to his bedclothes as people do at +sea, and, on second thoughts, is seized with a new panic lest the +house be about to fall--an idle fear, as my lady is fond of showing; +for the cyclopean rafters, that were laid in their places by the +crumbled monks, are hard and black as iron, so seasoned by sea-air +that they will possibly stand good so long as Ireland remains above +the water. A gloomier abode than this it is scarce possible to +picture; for the window-sashes are of exceeding clumsiness, the +ornamentation of a ponderous flamboyancy in which all styles are +twisted, without regard for canons, into curls and scrolls; and yet +there is a blunt cosiness about the ensemble which seems to say, 'Here +at least you are safe. If Dublin Bay were full of hostile ships, the +adjacent land teeming with the enemy in arms, they might batter on for +ever. They might beat at our portals till the last trump should summon +them to more important business, but our panels would never budge.</p> + +<p class="normal">On approaching the Abbey by the avenue, you are not aware of it--so +masked is it by trees and ivy--till a sharp turn brings you upon a +gravelled quadrangle, three sides of which are closed in by walls, +while the fourth is marked out by a row of statues (white nymphs with +pitchers), whose background is the chameleon sea. Directly facing +these figures--at the opposite end of the square, that is--a short +wide flight of steps, and a low terrace paved with coloured marbles, +lead to the front entrance. The left side of the quadrangle is the +'Young Men's Wing,' sacred to whips and fishing-tackle, pierced by +separate little doors for convenience on hunting mornings--two sets of +separate chambers, in fact, which may be entered without passing +through the hall; and above them is the armoury, a neglected museum of +rusty swords and matchlocks, an eyrie of ghosts and goblins, which is +never disturbed by household broom. The right side is bounded by a +close-clipped ivied wall, pierced by an archway which gives access to +the stables and the kennels, ended by a mouldering turret, converted +long since into a water-tower.</p> + +<p class="normal">The grand hall, low and dark as it is with sable oak and stiff +limnings of dead Crosbies, occupies the whole length and width of the +central portion of the house, or rather of the narrow band which +joins the two side blocks together. You may learn, by looking at the +time-discoloured map which hangs over its sculptured mantelpiece, that +the ground-plan of the Abbey is shaped like the letter H, whose left +limb forms the young men's wing, the offices, and dining-room; whose +right limb is made up of my lady's bedroom, the staircase vestibule, +and the reception saloons; while the grand hall, or portrait gallery, +reproduces the connecting bar. Five steps, with a curiously-carved +banister, lead out of the grand hall at either end; that to the left +opening into the dining-room--a finely-proportioned chamber, panelled +from floor to ceiling with trophies of rusty armour breaking its +sombre richness; that to the right communicating with my lady's +bedroom, painted apple-green with arabesques of gold, which is chiefly +remarkable for luxuriously-cushioned window-seats, from whence a fine +view may be obtained of the operations in the stable-yard. The late +lord used to sip his chocolate here in brocaded morning-gown and +nightcap, haranguing his whipper-in and bullying the horse-boys, or +tossing scraps to favourite hounds as they were trotted by for his +inspection; and my lady has continued the practice through her +widowhood, for it gratifies her vanity, as chatelaine, to watch the +numberless grooms and lacqueys, the feudal array of servants and +retainers. An odd nest for a lady, no doubt; but the countess chooses +to inhabit it, she says, till her son brings home a bride, for the +late lord sent for Italian workmen to decorate it according to her +taste, and in it she will remain till the hour for abdication shall +arrive.</p> + +<p class="normal">A second door, at right angles to my lady's, opens from the hall on to +the staircase with its heraldic flight of beasts; beyond this is the +chintz drawing-room, a cheery pale-tinted chamber which Doreen has +taken to herself as a boudoir, although it is practically no better +than a passage-room leading to the tapestried saloons. She likes it +for its brightness, and because it looks out on the garden front, +known as 'Miss Wolfe's Plot,' a little square fenced in at one end by +the hall, on the further side by the dining-room, while at the other +end there is a tall gilt grille of florid design, through which you +may wander, if it pleases you, into the pleasaunce. This small quaint +enclosure is Doreen's favourite haunt. She has laid it out with her +own hands in strange devices of pebbles and clipped box, with a crazy +sun-dial for a centre, and sits there for hours with needlework that +advances not, dreaming sombrely, and sighing now and then, as her eyes +travel along the cut beech hedges, smooth leafy walls, which spread +inland in vistas beyond the golden gate, like the arms of some giant +starfish. These hedges are the most remarkable things about a very +remarkable abode. They are each of them half a mile long, thirty-six +feet high, and twelve feet thick, perforated at intervals by arches; +and they form together a series of triangular spaces sheltered from +sea-blasts, in which flourish such a wealth of roses as is a marvel to +all comers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Obese, old-fashioned roses, as big as your fist, hang in cataracts +from tottering posts which once were orchard trees; large pink +blossoms or bunches of small white ones, whose perfume weighs down the +air; balls of glorious colour, which, when a rare breeze shakes them, +shower their sweet petals in a lazy swirl upon the grass, whence +Doreen gleans and harvests them for winter, with cunning condiments, +in jars. From time to time the perfume varies, as the wind sets E. or +W., from that of Araby the blest to one of the salt sea--a tarry, +seaweedy, nautico-piratical odour, with a strong dash of brine in it, +which seems wafted upward from below to remind the dwellers in the +Abbey of their long line of corsair ancestors.</p> + +<p class="normal">The most sumptuous of all the apartments is undoubtedly the tapestried +saloon, nicknamed by wags my lady's presence-chamber; for there, +looking out upon the roses, she loves to sit erect surrounded by +ghostly Crosbies whose mighty deeds are recorded on the walls, +portrayed by the most skilful hands upon miracles of Gobelin +manufacture. Mr. Curran often wondered, as he played cribbage with the +chatelaine, whether those deeds were fabulous; for if not, he +reflected, judging the present by the past--then were the mighty +grievously come down. Here was Sir Amorey alone on a spotty horse +trouncing a whole army with his doughty sword. There was Sir Teague at +the head of his Kernes, making short work of the French at Agincourt. +Further on the first earl--prince of salt-water thieves, with a +vanquished Desmond grimacing underneath his heel. How different were +these from the present and last Glandores, whose lives were filled up +to overflowing with wine and with debauchery; whose sins lacked the +picturesque wickedness of these defunct seafaring murderers. Then, +perceiving the countess's eye fixed on him, her crony would feel +guilty for his unflattering reflections, and rapidly pursue the game; +for my lady as she aged grew just the least bit garrulous, and as he +loved not the aristocracy as such, it was afflicting to listen to +long-winded dissertations upon the family magnificence, which he +declared she invented as she went along. He was never tired though, +when he could snatch a rare holiday from his professional labours, of +exploring the dungeons and chimney recesses and awful holes and +crannies. He it was who ferreted out the long-lost secret way beneath +the sea from the water-tower to Ireland's Eye; and bitterly he +repented later that he had not kept that discovery to himself; for by +means of it he might have brought about the vanishing of many of the +proscribed, instead of--but we travel on too fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady sat upright in the tapestried saloon, marvelling that no one +filled the teapot. It was with a distressed amazement, like that of +Louis XIV. when he waited, that she stared at the silver equipage, at +the pathetically hissing urn. Where was Doreen the tea-maker? It was +quite dark, and the incorrigible damsel was still galloping about the +country, who might tell whither? It really was shocking; no wonder if +milady's quills of propriety stood out, after the manner of the +fretful one. It's that drop of Papist blood, she muttered; then turned +to admonish her brother as to his heiress. But Arthur Wolfe listened +without a word, for he was accustomed to his sister's querulous +complaining, and built a bulwark of silence against her jeremiads. +People said all his time was spent in negative apologies for the one +error of his youth; and it did look like it; for he was marvellously +patient in the face of her most tyrannical whims, listening without a +struggle to endless sermons which prated of the woe to come, +reflecting that, poor soul, she had much to put up with. Although she +was reticent and mysterious to an extreme degree, Arthur Wolfe knew +that her lines were not cast in pleasant places; for did not flaunting +Gillen abide at the very gates, whose odious vicinity caused her to +shrink as much as might be from passing beyond her own domains?</p> + +<p class="normal">Time and this bitter pill had made of her ladyship a 'swaddler.' Like +many of the oldsters of the patrician order, she grew sorely repentant +for youthful peccadilloes, took to psalm-singing, displayed strong +ultra-Protestant proclivities. The prejudices of a less enlightened +age curtained her brain with cobwebs which excluded the daylight from +the vermin they engendered. On this 12th of July she set aside, +according to custom, the pearly grey which becomes her age so well, to +don weird orange vestments which make her look like a macaw--she who +is usually dressed in such perfect taste in a robe of silvered satin, +with snowy hair in rolls unpowdered. Although she is but fifty-two, my +lady is a white-haired queen Bess; and handsome in an imposing way, +which she never was in youth. The thin nose looks higher than it used +to be, and pinched. The cheek is pale and marked with anxious +wrinkles; but the straight line of imperious brow remains the same, +and the eyes--netted with crowsfeet--assume a more vigorous life by +reason of the fading of their surroundings. The Countess of Glandore +has in twelve years become an awful dowager, before whom the cottagers +shake in their shoes; for to a misleading appearance of patriarchal +majesty she adds a quick incisive way of speech, and the bodily +activity of a middle-aged woman who enjoys a perfect constitution. +Those startled eyes tell tales, though, of a diseased mind, and +sleepless nights of tossing. And she does pass sleepless nights, +despite the Consoler's fanning, when the secret chord is struck. Then +as she lies on her laced pillows she sees once more the sheeted body +at the clubhouse, hears the last warning wail, 'For my sake, for your +own--that you may be spared this torment!' and then she lights a lamp +and reads angrily till daylight--loathing herself for what her sound +sense condemns as morbidness--lest peradventure her thoughts should +drive her mad. Then rising with a headache and haggard looks, she sits +in the window-seat and feeds the hounds, and reflects with stern +satisfaction that the odious baggage who lives in the Little House +has never found joints in her armour--has never caught her tripping +with regard to her younger son. Since my lord's death no spiteful +unduly-elected guardian could complain of the boy's treatment. Her +purse had always been open to him; from childhood he was rich in guns +and ponies. But she failed sufficiently to consider that there was one +thing for which the warm-hearted lad had pined and which she had +consistently denied him--love. It is evident that we cannot bestow +that which we have not to give. This reproach therefore sat lightly on +her mind. The deficit in affection was made up with bank-notes, and +she bred unconsciously in her second-born a recklessness in spending +which his after-income would by no means justify. Her influence over +him was small. Not that this mattered much, for he was a bright +good-natured lad, such as give little serious trouble to their elders. +He had a way of quarrelling with Shane though, which opened dread +visions of possible complications in the future. Sometimes the +brothers were so near the point of open rupture, that milady had to +interfere, and then with undutiful fierceness my lord would remind her +of the oath she had herself extorted, and she would be stricken dumb, +cursing herself for the idle folly of the act. If my lady nourished +old-fashioned feudal views about the conduct of one brother to +another, she was clumsy in her method of realising them. Terence +ignored the whole proceeding, and to prove his freedom kept the +household in a constant state of simmering breeziness, which was more +lively than comfortable. Shane, on the other hand, was disposed to be +benignant if Terence would abstain from being rude. There was little +in common between the two, and it would have been odd if Shane had +kept his temper when Terence flogged his horse-boy, though he had a +private young henchman of his own. My lady looked with uneasiness at +the constant trivial squabblings, and was not altogether sorry, as the +twain grew up, to see that their tastes divided them, that they met +less and less; for Shane became engrossed with the pleasures of the +capital, while Curran, taking a fancy for the second son, turned his +attention to the Bar.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young lord emancipated himself from leading-strings, and became a +pattern Dublin buck. He wore gorgeous raiment, carried wonderful +walking-sticks with jewelled tops and incrusted mottoes; was elected +President of the Blaster and Cherokee clubs, which honourable post +made it his duty to fight at least one duel a week, and to force +quarrels upon people whom he had never seen before. There were several +established ways (as all the world knows) of bringing this about. +Sometimes he sat in a window and spat on the hats of passers-by, or +stood over a crossing pushing folks into the mire, or kissed a pretty +girl in the presence of her male protector, or flung chicken bones +from a balcony at a passing horseman in full fig. His mother took no +heed of these vagaries; the ways of the Glandores had been imperious +for generations. But in course of time an event happened which sent +the blood rushing in a tumult to her heart. At a masquerade one night +my lord met a maid who smote his fancy. She was cheerful, and not too +modest (his one terror was a lady of quality), with eyes like a mouse +and a good set of teeth. Her mamma, a homely, buxom dame of forty, +invited him home to supper, and he was as surprised as charmed to +discover that the sprightly pair were his neighbours, who on account +of some crotchet or other his mother declined to visit. He was +received with open arms; nothing could be more jolly than his welcome.</p> + +<p class="normal">''Deed the space is limited,' mamma observed, with a guffaw. 'If ye +put your arm down the chimbly ye could raise the door-latch; but, +sure, a snug mouthful's better than a feast any day.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He remained toasting his hostesses till daylight; called in a week; +stopped to dinner; was treated as an honoured guest. Madam was a +Papist, he found out, which would account for my lady's prejudice, but +my lord had no such prejudices. If a young lady touch your fancy, do +you ask her to say her Catechism?</p> + +<p class="normal">When the terrible fact broke upon my lady, she groaned in spirit and +was stunned. The spiteful baggage, baffled by her rival's exemplary +conduct as a mother, had hit on a new way to torture her. The damsel +in question was Madam Gillin's daughter, who had been brought up a +Protestant, at the late lord's special wish. The reason for this +singular proceeding was only too clear. That low hateful wretch, who +had remained quiescent till the countess was almost at ease, was still +pursuing her. Of course she could not be so truly wicked as to mean +anything serious--for her own child's sake. It was a sword tied over +her head to force her to grovel down upon her knees. But boys +(specially heads of houses) always begin by falling in love with the +wrong people. This was a transitory flirtation. Shane would grow tired +of the vulgar chit. Vainly my lady hoped. Then with beatings of the +breast it occurred to her, that as Gillin was a Catholic she must of +course be capable of any crime. Before things attained a hopeless +pitch, would it be needful for my lady to bow her haughty neck under +Gillin's caudine forks? Oh! the agony of a stubborn pride which must +publicly do penance! Would the ruthless tormentor exact such abasement +as an exposure to her own children of the insulting behaviour of their +father? Would it be requisite to crave a boon of the too jolly tyrant? +Never! my lady decided that such humiliation might never be--death +would be preferable. She would bide awhile and take refuge in +religion, and pray that the cup might in mercy be removed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The petty annoyances which made up the sum of my lady's bitterness +were endless. She was in the habit of bestowing broken meats upon the +cottagers with stately condescension, accompanied sometimes with +drugs. Mrs. Gillin followed suit. There were two ladies bountiful in +the field, and the dowager sometimes came off second best; for, as +amateur doctors will, she made mistakes, and killed people with fresh +patent medicines, whilst her rival escaped active harm, because her +boluses were innocent through lengthened sleep in the village +apothecary's phials. So the cottagers only trembled and curtsied when +the chatelaine called to see them, and emptied her bottles on the sly, +whilst they eagerly consulted Madam Gillin as to their ailments, a +preference of which madam made the most, when the ladies met over an +invalid. Faithful to her <i>rôle</i>, she never spoke to the scowling +dowager, but addressed scathing remarks to a third person who was +always the companion of her wanderings--one Jug Coyle, her ancient +nurse, who passed with many for a witch, whilst all admitted that she +was a 'wise-woman.' This old harridan, who was learned in the use of +simples, was established by her mistress in a one-eyed alehouse on the +verge of her little property--on the outside edge of it which looked +towards the Abbey. The noise of roysterous shouting there penetrated +sometimes as far as my lady's chamber, yet she did not complain. It +was one of her rival's thorns--one of the petty persecutions which the +chatelaine was doomed to bear.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sure the late lord would have spared his widow had he realised the +worries which would come on her by reason of the proximity of Gillin. +The mistress of the Little House gave excellent rowdy suppers, and +entertained the <i>élite</i> of Dublin. The judges bibbed her claret, and +shook the night air with choruses, whereas they only paid state visits +to the abbey once or twice a year. Her nurse's shebeen--a tumble-down +festering hostelry thatched with decaying straw--was no better than a +dog-boy's boozing ken, a disgraceful trysting-place for drunken +soldiers, who were enticed thither by its excellent poteen. Jug +Coyle's shock-pated daughter Biddy was a scandal to the neighbourhood, +so recklessly did she profess to adore sodgers; while as for mischief, +there was none perpetrated within ten miles round but that red-poled +slattern was at the bottom of it. By-and-by Old Jug hung out a sign, a +rude picture of a chained man, with 'The Irish Slave' as cognizance; +and after that mysterious persons were seen to arrive at unseasonable +hours who might or might not be United Irishmen. My lady knew all +these doings, and hoped fervently that the new clients would turn out +conspirators, for in that case there seemed a chance that she might +sweep away the nuisance which vexed her day by day. I say <i>she</i> +advisedly, because Shane was too busily engaged as King of Cherokees, +to look after his property, and was only too thankful to his mother +for undertaking the management of the estates.</p> + +<p class="normal">In intervals of complaining about the still absent tea-maker, the +countess exposed her views for the hundredth time, as to the enormity +of the obnoxious Gillin, to her ally Lord Clare, who smiled and +nodded. The chancellor was a constant visitor at the Abbey, riding +over frequently to dinner for a gossip or a game of cards with his old +friend. He told her the last scandal, discussed the political +situation, dropped hints about the movements of the patriots, lamented +the mad folly of her brother Arthur's <i>protégé</i>; and unconsciously she +came to see things through his spectacles, living herself a retired +life. Not but what she heard something of the other side from Mr. +Curran; but then he seemed to avoid these subjects, while Lord Clare +delighted in gloating on them. The two mortal foes met frequently at +the Abbey as on neutral ground, and snarled and showed their teeth, +and thereby exemplified in their own persons one of the most singular +features of a society now happily died away. During the last +tempestuous years which preceded the Union, members of all parties +were accustomed to meet in social intercourse, dining to-day with men +they would hang tomorrow, even in some cases advancing funds out of +their own pockets to secure the escape of those whom it was their duty +to convict. The cause of the anomaly is not far to seek. Dublin +society, though magnificent, was limited to a tiny circle. Absenteeism +being voted low, the great families became interwoven by a series of +intermarriages, while they were torn at the same time by religious or +political dissensions. If your wife's brother holds precisely opposite +views to your own, and is in danger of losing his head, still he is +your near relative, and as such you will save him from the gallows if +you may. It was not surprising then that Mr. Curran, when at length he +arrived with the rest, should have courteously taken Lord Clare's +jewelled fingers in his own with a hope that his health was good, +though he loved him as dogs love cats. Was he not obliged to meet him +several times a day in the four courts, or at Daly's? The city would +have been too small to hold them if they had come to open strife.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady dropped her jeremiad when the young people entered, for +the Little House and its belongings formed a mystery which they might +not fathom. If Shane chose to distress his mother by flirting with +Norah Gillin, it behoved the rest to ignore his sin. Even independent +Doreen, who would have liked to scrape acquaintance with a +co-religionist, abstained from so doing lest she should offend her +aunt. Once, when in a passion, she threatened to call at the Little +House, but my lady appeared so pained that she repented the idle +threat.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady looked at Lord Clare as if to bid him start a subject, then +shook her head at Curran for keeping the girls out so late.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare was in excellent spirits as he crossed one natty stocking +over the other, and, fingertip to fingertip, began to purr over the +virtues of the new Viceroy. 'Lord Camden,' he averred, 'was an angel. +He was open to advice. Things would have to take place sooner or later +which would make it essential that those who governed should be of one +mind. The silly geese who dubbed themselves patriots had received a +check by the discomfiture of young Tone, but the snake was scotched, +not killed. They would doubtless find leaders, and again leaders, who +would have to be crushed in turn, and Government had hit on a bright +idea for the simplifying of the process of suppression. By virtue of +an English law there was a foolish rule which forbade conviction for +treason save on the testimony of two witnesses. How ponderous a piece +of mechanism! The wheels of the Irish car of justice wanted greasing. +Why not one witness? One dear, delightful, useful creature, who would +come forward and say his say and finish off the matter in a trice. +What did Mr. Curran think of it, that clever advocate?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran sipped his tea in silence, while his dusky cheek turned +dun. They would not dare pass so outrageous an enactment, he +reflected. They would dare much, but, with the eyes of Europe on them, +not so much as that. The chancellor was drawing him out. So he smiled +sweetly, and, handing his cup to be refilled, observed that as Justice +did not live in Ireland, it would be folly to provide a car for her. +The spectacle of an English Viceroy making believe to dally with the +stranger would be as astounding to Irishmen as the spectacle of a +horse-racing Venetian.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Lord Clare likes his joke,' chorused the giant Cassidy, 'but Curran +won't be hoodwinked.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I assure you I am in earnest,' declared the chancellor, eyeing his +foe from under alligator lids. 'I protest the idea is splendid. If +they are bent on hanging themselves, why not give them rope? One +witness, my dear Curran, would surely be enough.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Your joke is a bad one, my lord,' returned the other, sulkily. 'There +are hundreds of idle wretches, hanging round Castle-yard, who for a +pittance would swear anything. Is it so much trouble to suborn two? +Major Sirr, your lordship's jackal, would see to it, I'm sure.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'An admirable person!' murmured the chancellor.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If he's not a villain,' retorted his enemy, 'give me as offal to the +curs of Ormond Quay. Cassidy here was reproved only an hour ago by one +whom we all respect for being too intimate with the rascal.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I can only repeat,' said Cassidy, with the crumpling of skin which +made his flat face so droll, 'that I care nought for him, though I +should be sorry if he came to be put away as his paid informers often +are--<i>consigned to Moiley</i>, as the common people say. It is important +for a poor man like me to have a friend at court. I might be taken any +day on false information, and lie perdu in Newgate till my bones +rotted. My Lord Clare is a kind patron, but too much engaged to heed +the fate of such humble squireens as I. I have no genius like Mr. +Curran. My disappearance would cause no hue-and-cry. We must look +after our own bodies, and Sirr is my sheet-anchor.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor glanced at Cassidy with a whimsical expression on his +face, half curiosity, half contempt, while Curran said:</p> + +<p class="normal">'That town-major is too much considered. Beware, my lord, of +Jacks-in-office, who, in the intoxication of gratified vanity, mistake +the dictates of passion for the suggestions of duty, and consider that +power unemployed is so much wasted. But I'm a fool. Your lordship is +laughing at me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, having presided over the tea-table, retired to the open +window, for her heart was full of Theobald, and this chatter grated on +her nerves. My lady seized the opportunity to discourse of the +proceedings of the day, of how Lord Camden had marched round William's +statue with all his peers, and of how the scum had looked stupidly at +the pageant with angry scowls. 'I was glad to see it,' she went on +complacently, 'for tribulation is good for their sins, and bears +fruit. There have been a blessed number of conversions of late.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Some are too weak to endure oppression,' remarked Arthur, gently, +'and turn Protestant to escape from misery.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then it is good that the oppression, as you call it, should +continue,' returned his sister, with decision. 'The scarlet woman and +her progeny of vices shall be extinguished. When people are so +ignorant and brutish, they must be snatched from the fire by any +means.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'My lady, my lady!' laughed Curran. 'Your speech and your deeds are +ever at variance. Your words breathe fire and sword, yet none are more +kindly to the poor. Extremes meet, you know. I believe that you will +die a Catholic.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady glanced at Doreen, pursed up her lips, and said nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Did we not agree t'other day about true religion? It lies not in +abusing our neighbours, but in cultivating a heart void of offence to +God and man. Remember that definition, Terence, and act on it, my boy. +It was a saying of the great Lord Chatham.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If only Luther had never been born!' groaned Arthur Wolfe. +'Christianity was good enough for Christendom in old days.'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was an awkward subject. Lord Clare changed it with accustomed +tact.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do you know, Curran,' he said, 'that Tone has left a sting behind him +which till yesterday we did not suspect? We have reason to believe +that the University, of which we are all so justly proud, has been +tampered with. That's bad, you know. I am informed that there are no +less than four branches of the secret society within its walls. +Severest measures may be necessary. As chancellor of Trinity I will +see to it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen turned round and listened. So did Terence, for he had many +friends in Trinity.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Have you any basis to work upon?' asked my lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Certainly! A man whom I can trust in every way is hand and glove with +them. The unhappy wretches have a traitor in their midst. Young +McLaughlin is bitten with the mania, a sad scatterbrain and Bond, and +Ford, who's half an idiot. The only one I'm sorry for is young Emmett, +who should know better, being son of a State-physician. But then his +brother, who dabbles in journalism, is a bad example. I should not be +surprised if he were hanged some day.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor Sara, who had gone to where Doreen was sitting, glanced from one +at another, her pupils expanded by terror. She knew that the dear +undergraduate had not taken the oath. But to be suspected at such +times as were looming was a matter of grave jeopardy. Her father +looked serious, and so did Terence. Both liked the Emmetts, and were +sorry to hear about this traitor. My Lord Clare's flippant discourse +was distasteful to all. Was he making himself disagreeable on purpose? +Curran was shaking his hair ominously. Terence burst out in defence of +the young men who were, he swore, as good as gold, and his personal +friends--more worthy than others who should be nameless. My lady, in +her orange robe, looked like a thunder-cloud. Cassidy, to pour oil on +the troubled waters, proposed that Miss Wolfe should sing, and Arthur, +relieved at the diversion, drew out his girl's harp into the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen would have refused if she had dared, for these covert +bickerings constantly renewed upon topics which moved her so strongly, +were wearing to the nerves. But everybody suddenly desired music.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Something Irish, set to one of your own melodies,' suggested Cassidy. +'Sure, Curran will play a second on his violoncello; and I'll give you +a new song afterwards.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, anything was better than the grating of Lord Clare's harsh +voice. Listlessly sitting down to the harp, Doreen permitted her +shapely arms to wander over its strings. Then, fired by a kind of +desperation, she lifted her proud head and began in a rich contralto, +while Mr. Curran, on a low stool beside her, scraped out an impromptu +bass:</p> +<div class="poem0"> +<p class="t6" style="text-indent:-16pt"> +'"Brothers, arise! The hour has come to strike a blow for Truth +and God.<br> +Why sit ye folded up and dumb? why, bending, kiss a tyrant's +rod?<br> +For what is death to him who dies, the martyr's crown upon his +head?</p> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:2em">A charter--not a sacrifice--a life immortal for the dead. +And life itsel3 is only great when man devotes himself to be +By virtue, thought, and deed the mate of God's true children and +the free!"'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Her voice trembled and gave way, and bowing her neck over the +instrument, the girl wept. Sara stole up and kissed away the tears. +Her own heart was exceeding heavy, she knew not why, except that she +saw visions of Robert in peril, such as she was thankful to think were +only visions. If aught befell him, she would lie down and die--of that +she was quite sure--foolish virgin! She had bestowed her pure heart +unasked. Would he who held it value the priceless gift?</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady and Lord Clare looked at Arthur Wolfe in consternation. Where +did the naughty damsel learn such a song? Of what dangerous stuff was +she made to presume to chant it before the chancellor himself? 'It is +the cloven foot,' her aunt thought with fury. That terrible blot! +Anxieties were thickening. Something must be done, or the girl would +go to perdition even faster than she galloped across country.</p> + +<p class="normal">Arthur looked wistfully at his sister, then at his child, who, the +paroxysm past, was a cold statue again--haughty, unabashed. To look at +her, you would feel assured that she had done right, while all the +rest were wrong. Some people are incorrigible, and Miss Wolfe was +evidently one of them. Her father suspected shrewdly that she had +learnt the song at Curran's. He knew that she worshipped Tone, and +that she had been in the habit of meeting him at the Priory. But he +never had the courage to stand between the Catholic and the Protestant +champion of her faith. As usual, he temporised, striving to serve two +masters, and, as usual, suffered for his weakness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare read him like a book, and was disgusted with his friend. +Wolfe's sensitive conscience was constantly racked by doubts which a +natural diffidence magnified into bugbears. Clare's inflexibly +ambitious mind despised the hysterics of the country which he +governed; brazen and hard, he was a fit tool for Mr. Pitt. As he +looked at Arthur, who hung his head over his daughter's escapade, +he decided that this was a square peg in a round hole. As +attorney-general, acts might be demanded of him by-and-by, from which +he would shrink with lamentable want of character. What if he were to +shillyshally when prompt action was urgent! He might upset the deftest +schemes, overturn the most skilful combinations, by his bungling. Only +a few minutes ago, his tell-tale face had shown how he disapproved of +the one witness project. What a pity it was that the inoffensive +fellow had ever been promoted, for as a simple lawyer he would have +been pushed by events into the background. Well, well! He must be +tried, and trotted forth to test his mettle. If he were proved +wanting, there would be nothing for it but to pass him on again--to +shelve him somewhere in the Lords, where he might drone harmlessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this outrageous bit of scorn--his daughter! My lady must have a +hard time with her. She was going awry, as hysterical girls will; yet +surely the dowager was more than capable of coping with this febrile +phase of a strong nature half developed? Then the astute idea passed +through the schemer's brain of how convenient it would be if the +budding Joan of Arc could be used as an unconscious spy upon her +party. An ingenious notion, but one difficult to carry out--a delicate +game, which would have to be worked through the countess, who was a +crotchety soured woman, with a nice sense of honour, who would slave +night and day for a cause which she esteemed a rightful one, but who +would rather cut off her hand than stoop to what she knew was a +meanness--provided that it did not affect her interests.</p> + +<p class="normal">My Lord Clare could not forbear smiling when, glancing round the +party, he noted the effect of the song. My lady dumbly furious; Arthur +apologetic; Doreen herself indifferent; Terence uneasy and taken +aback. One savage breast alone had music soothed; and Terence, who +revered his chief, thanked Cassidy with a nod for having withdrawn him +from further contest. Once with his huge machine between his feet, he +was invulnerable even to Erin's wrongs, scraping himself into a +condition of ecstatic beatitude, from which there was no fretting him. +any more. There he sat, crouching like a black-beetle on a kitchen +boiler, his underlip protruded, his face lighted with satisfaction, +his head nodding to the time, and his frenzied eye fixed on the +coat-of-arms upon the ceiling, as though to invoke its supporting +monsters to turn and cock their ears. My Lord Clare's smile faded +presently; he hated music nearly as much as he hated Curran.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Turn out the lights!' he cried. 'I wonder your ladyship has patience +with the fellow's grimaces. And you, my lad,' he continued seriously, +addressing Terence, 'accept the lesson of the times and avoid +enthusiasm. In this country it leads to the halter. Steer your course +wisely. Take a safer pilot to guide your inexperience than yonder +hurdy-gurdyman, so that you may find yourself on the winning side at +last. There is no doubt which that will be.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I will use my own judgment,' replied Terence, simply, with a dignity +which would have won approval from his cousin, had she not just +descended into the pleasaunce to recover, amid the influences of +night, her natural calmness of demeanour.</p> + +<p class="normal">'That beast's din addles my brains,' went on the chancellor, rising to +depart. 'Drive back with me, Arthur. I have a special subject to talk +to you about. You must take a bolder course in politics. The ball is +at your feet. We must teach you to find pluck enough to strike it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Wolfe smiled gently as he answered:</p> + +<p class="normal">'I'll take a drive with pleasure, but you'll find me terribly +deceitful; for I must grub up money for my daughter's sake; and yet, +in certain ways, I'm an impracticable person--a mule with his feet +together. Vacillating you think me. In some things you'll find I'm +adamant.'</p> + +<p class="normal">All were glad when at last the chancellor departed. Even my lady +admitted that he could be crabbed at times. He was gone, but, like the +gentleman in black, he left an evil savour in his wake.</p> + +<p class="normal">Startled from reverie by the clang of the hall-door, Curran threw +aside his bow and scratched his elf-locks pensively.</p> + +<p class="normal">'No!' he said. 'These laws which they are continually framing are too +dreadful. If the testimony of one witness is to be sufficient to +convict us, then, are we foredoomed; for any one may be summoned to +join in the Kilmainham minuet by the malice of a discharged groom, or +the greed of the meanest cowboy. Trial and evidence are not children's +baubles; they were not even established for the sole purpose of +punishing the guilty; their most precious use is for the security of +innocence.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The little lawyer looked so horror-stricken, that both my lady and the +giant burst out a-laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Come,' said the former, wresting the violoncello from his grasp, +'your music carries you too far. Lord Clare was out of sorts, and +played upon your fears. Thank heaven he is no Blunderbore, or he would +not be my welcome guest. Now to bed. Sara looks worn out.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'He has no sense of right and wrong,' grumbled Curran.</p> + +<p class="normal">'For shame! You are both good men. What a pity you can only agree in +looking at each other through distorted glasses!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Faix, her ladyship's right,' acquiesced Cassidy, with a grin. 'You +magnify the number of the informers. I should be sorry to believe +there are half as many as you think.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Did not Tone say you were simple?' asked Curran, sadly. 'So there's +some one watching the Emmetts? Can you guess? No! Nor I; but they must +be warned. Clare is brewing some new devil's haricot, and will dip +Arthur's ladle in it, if he may. What a net it is that they are +winding about Erin! Pray God that we and ours may escape +entanglement!'</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">MY LADY'S PROJECT.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Doreen stood by the crazy sun-dial, looking at the milky way, and +reflecting upon the chatter which had assailed her ears. Consigned to +Moiley! The dragon of the new <i>régime</i> was beginning to show that his +hunger was insatiable. The prisons were filling apace. Lord Clare had +hinted that worse was yet to come, that the shadow of the gibbet was +to stretch across the earth, that hemp would soon be at a premium. But +there were two Moileys--two goddesses of vengeance and retaliation, +ready to strike, one for the oppressor, one for the oppressed. If +their blood was roused, who might foretell what havoc they would make +ere they sheathed their swords again!</p> + +<p class="normal">The rustle of my lady's skirts recalled the maiden to herself, and she +perceived her aunt descending into the garden. It was seldom that my +lady changed her routine in the smallest particular. What could be the +cause of this sudden fancy for star-gazing?</p> + +<p class="normal">'A lovely night,' exclaimed her ladyship. 'How sweet the roses smell! +I vow it is a sin to go to bed.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Shane seems to think so,' returned Doreen. 'He never comes in till +the small hours.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady looked sharply in her niece's face, but was nothing there save +a settled sadness.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Come,' she said, 'Curran and his child are gone to rest. We'll take a +turn in the pleasaunce.'</p> + +<p class="normal">They sauntered through the golden gate and down a leafy avenue, in +silence, while owls and bats flitted past their heads and circled away +among the foliage. My lady had something to say, and did not know how +to say it. Doreen was thinking of the dear wanderer, who was tossing +on the sea by this time. Presently my lady said abruptly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Doreen, you must change your ways.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The damsel's nostrils dilated a little; but, biting her lip, she +answered nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are twenty-two,' pursued her aunt. 'It is time that you gave up +playing Miss Hoyden, and settled down into a respectable married +woman.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl walked on without a word, wondering what was coming next, +while her aunt, growing exasperated at what she was pleased to +consider stubbornness, bent down to sniff a rose which wept gems upon +her dress.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Does it trouble you,' she said, wiping the dew from her skirts +carefully with a handkerchief, 'that Shane should stop out so late? +The Glandores were always rakes, but were none the worse for that. For +my part I hate a milksop.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor lady! The late lord had given her little experience of the +milksop!</p> + +<p class="normal">'What can it signify to me what he does?' asked Doreen, with a tinge +of bitterness. 'He is drinking to King William now, no doubt, if not +insensible beneath the table.'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was awkward, for my lady desired to make the best of Shane, and +the fact of his doing homage to the Immortal memory was not likely to +be pleasing to a Roman Catholic. So she turned her batteries.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are wild, and will come to shipwreck,' she declared, 'if we do +not set some one to look after you. The way you behaved just now was +most deplorable. Your poor father looked wretched; but the dear soul +is a goose. Unless you mend your ways you will find no one to marry +you at all, which will be dreadful, and a disgrace to all of us. Your +behaviour to Terence is not quite seemly, for you forget that he is +grown up, and that you should not trifle with an inflammable youth.'</p> + +<p class="normal">This shot went home. Thoroughly taken aback, Doreen cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence! You must be jesting, aunt! He is my first cousin, almost my +brother. You will accuse me of flirting with Shane next.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'That is quite another matter,' replied my lady, coldly, for she was +nettled at the contemptuous manner in which the girl spoke of her +favourite son. 'I say you must be married before you disgrace us all, +which you certainly will do unless curbed, being half a plebeian +born.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The blood flooded the girl's face, and she clasped her bosom with both +hands to still the indignation rising there. For my lady, when annoyed +beyond a given point, was apt to make sneering remarks about the late +Mrs. Wolfe which filled her child with rage.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What do you mean?' she exclaimed haughtily. 'There is no <i>must</i> about +the matter. You should have learned by this time that I will not be +driven by any one on earth; certainly not by you.' Then recovering +herself, she went on more softly: 'What a puzzle you are! Sometimes so +kind, sometimes so cruel! I think you really care for me; you were so +good to the motherless little one. If my mother had lived I might have +been different. A Miss Hoyden, am I? I have never had any one in whom +to put my trust, to whom I might tell my troubles; and a heart closed +up, without sympathy, is a sore thing for one of my age!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl's voice died away, and her aunt felt uncomfortable.</p> + +<p class="normal">'To-day,' Doreen resumed, 'I went to see Ally Brady, who is dying, and +nearly threw myself upon the neck of the lady who is nursing her. She +looked so kind and hearty as her tears fell for the peasant-woman, and +she clings to the prescribed creed as I do. It was Mrs. Gillin, of the +Little House.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady looked up sharply.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You dared to speak to her?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No; I retired. But she looked after me with such a strange pity. +Aunt, why do you object to my knowing this lady, though all the world +speaks well of her? Shane goes to the Little House, and Norah makes +him welcome. He told me so. I have seen Norah often, and she is very +pretty. What does it all mean? Is Shane going to marry her? May I +speak to her when she's Shane's wife? If he knows and likes the +Gillins, why should not I, who, as a Catholic, have a sort of right to +cherish them?'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady started and stood still, as if she had seen an adder in her +path, and said in an altered voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Have I not commanded you never to mention that woman's name before +me? Shane is more wild than I could wish. He does what he chooses; +and, besides, a man may do what a woman may not. If he were well +married, he would grow quieter, no doubt. Your father's wish is the +same as mine. You know it, and are obstinate.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was astonished, for Lady Glandore was not given to displays of +emotion; and now she was much agitated, while her features worked as +if in physical pain. Kissing her niece on the forehead, she gathered +up her skirts and walked rapidly back towards the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">For an hour and more the girl wandered in the pleasaunce, taking no +heed of dew, though her high-waisted dress was of the thinnest muslin. +She was weighing her aunt's hints, and the strange complications of +her own position.</p> + +<p class="normal">There could be no further doubt that my lady desired to unite her +niece to Shane. Doreen had suspected it before, but the idea seemed +too preposterous. What motive could be strong enough to bring about so +amazing a desire on the part of the proud chatelaine, as a union +between one of the hated faith, whose mother was of doubtful origin, +and the dearly-loved head of the Glandores, who was young, rich, +Protestant, good-looking? That she should ever come to permit a match +even with the poor younger son, whom she did not love, would be +surprising enough; but a motive might be found for that in his poverty +and extravagance, and her trifling nest-egg. The blot on the +escutcheon would not have mattered so much in his case, for he was +unlikely ever to wear the coronet, and the attorney-general's +scrapings would have gilded a more unpleasant bolus than his handsome +daughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Shane, who by reason of his wealth and position was a great catch, +who might throw his handkerchief to whom he pleased! What could be the +reason? Was it that his mother dreaded his being caught by some low +and penniless adventuress--he who was so self-willed and given to low +company? It could hardly be that; for in the eyes of the chatelaine, +Doreen herself was little better, save in the way of money; and where +the young earl was himself so wealthy, her little fortune could not be +taken into consideration. If he would only go into good society, Shane +might aspire to the most brilliant match.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a riddle to which the damsel could find no solution, so she +began calmly to consider how she should act herself. Should she yield +to her aunt's wishes, and assume the high position of the young earl's +bride? If she said 'Yes,' would Shane indeed take her to his bosom, or +would he be disobedient in this as other things? If he came and asked +her, would she say 'Yes,' or 'No?' She was amazed to find that she was +by no means sure. He was an ignoble sot, a drunkard, and a debauchee; +but, in the eyes of most young ladies, such qualities were rather +admired than not. It was thought fine for a spark's eye to have a +noble fierceness which softened to the mildness of the dove when +contemplating 'the sex.' But then Doreen's education had been +peculiar--different in many ways to that of other young ladies--partly +on account of her motherlessness, partly because of the faith she +professed. The Penal Code had eaten into her soul--she was more +thoughtful and sober than girls of her age usually are; was given to +day-dreams and impracticable heroic longings, tinged, all of them, by +a romance due to her Irish nature and the romantic conditions of her +time.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had never thought much of marrying or giving in marriage, and it +came upon her now as a new light, that by a marriage she might benefit +the 'cause.' As she sauntered up and down, she reflected that, by +espousing Shane, she might make of herself a Judith for her people's +sake. Shane was already sodden and sottish, given to excessive +tippling. She, Doreen, was of a masculine strength of character, and +knew it. Once established at the Abbey as its mistress, why should she +not take on herself the control of the estates, as the present +countess did, and manage them according to her liking? The United +Irishmen were sadly in need of funds. Tone had said that a bloodless +revolution was impossible. Arms and powder would be required when the +struggle came. Why should not she provide a portion of it out of the +wealth of the lord of Strogue? It seemed an ignoble thing to do; yet, +for the cause's sake, was not anything justifiable? Did not Judith, +the noblest of women, the purest of patriots, lower herself to the +disguise of a harlot for the saving of her people? Doreen felt the +holy flame burning within her, which goes to the making of Judiths.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her father, though she loved him fondly, could never be of real +service to her. What would he think of such a wedding? It mattered +not, situated as she was. Her battle of life must be fought alone, +without help from any one. She was fully aware of that, and was +prepared to fight it--to the end--after her own fashion.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was startled from her reverie by the banging of doors and shouts +of discordant laughter. Cassidy had been singing some time since in +the young men's wing, trolling out pathetic ballads for the +edification of Terence and his chief--but these had retired to rest +long since. This must be the young lord and his boon companions--come +to finish the night in wine and play as joyous gallants should. It +would be awkward to meet them in their cups; so she stole as +noiselessly as might be through the golden gate, past the sun-dial +among the flowers, and reached her chamber, which was over the chintz +drawing-room (her own boudoir), just as there came a crash and awful +din in the hall. Then followed a babel of angry voices. Lights +appeared in the dining-hall opposite, the blinds of which were not +drawn down, and a posse of young nobles--their clothes muddy +and disarranged; their hair dishevelled; their action wild and +excited--crowded in around their host. She could distinguish my lord +by the glistening of his diamond coat-buttons as he was held back by +four companions, from whose grasp he strove to free himself. One of +them, whose brain was less heated than the rest, had removed his +<i>couteau de chasse</i> from its sheath, and was expostulating with him; +but he was evidently not to be appeased without a scapegoat, for he +kept pointing angrily at a broken bust of William III. which my lady +had crowned with laurel that very day.</p> + +<p class="normal">She could see that somebody had upset the bust, and that my lord +wished to wipe out the insult to the Protestant champion with the +blood of the offender. My lady did not appear. She had been well +broken to orgies of the kind by the late lord, and took no heed of the +uproar; but the aged butler, who, as a matter of course, had produced +magnums of claret in tin frames upon the appearance of the party, +seemed to be coaxing his young master into good temper, and with some +success apparently, for by-and-by the <i>couteau de chasse</i> was given +back and the party settled down amicably, having first tossed the +offender out of window, who lay snoring upon the flower-beds till +morning, wrapped in the sound sleep of drunkards.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen sat at the open window, her chin buried in her hand, watching +the proceedings of her cousin. His cravat was gone; his fair young +chest exposed; his velvet surtout torn and stained; his striped silk +stockings in tatters; the bunches of ribbon wrenched from off his +half-boots. His face was blotched and bloated; his forehead disfigured +by an ugly cicatrice which turned of a bright red when he was far gone +in liquor or in passion. She saw him rise on his unsteady legs and +wave a goblet at the fractured bust, while he clung with the other arm +round the neck of the youth next to him. Then all the rest rose and +bowed as well as they were able; some falling on the floor in the +attempt and remaining there, while the others sat down to their drink +again and clamoured for cards, shouting the while a chorus, which came +muffled to her through the window-glass.</p> +<div class="poem1"> +<p class="t6" style="text-indent:-6pt">'And it's ho! ro! the sup of good drink--<br> +And ho! ro! the heart would not think;<br> +Oh, had I a shilling lapped up in a clout,<br> +It's a sup of good drink that would wheedle it out!'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Doreen sat staring till the chill of morning penetrated to her bones +through the light robe of muslin. Then she crept stiff and weary into +bed, while her teeth chattered and alternate douches of hot and cold +water seemed pouring down her back. She had been studying Shane with a +new interest, and trembled for her future peace, for, as she watched +with senses sharpened, she was dismayed at the hideous preponderance +of the animal in her cousin's nature. Never had she looked at him so +earnestly before. It was like binding one's self to a hog for life. +Sure Holofernes was not so degraded, or the fortitude of Judith would +have given way. He was a warrior, mighty in battle, who, though an +enemy, commanded respect. A glorious athlete such as 'tis woman's +prerogative to outwit--as Delilah outwitted Samson, as Omphale +conquered Hercules. Her ordeal too was of short duration. How +differently severe would be the self-appointed task of this modern +Judith, who contemplated tying herself deliberately for the whole of +her life to a man who disgusted her in spite of his good looks; who, +when shorn of the vulgar halo of animal courage, was no better than a +brawler and a bravo. She might not strive to reform him, for with his +reformation he would of course take the reins of his affairs, and the +power of his wife would end, for which alone she married him. It would +be her duty rather to encourage him in evil ways, and coax him down +the ladder. Was she capable, she kept asking herself, as shuddering +she drew the sheets around her, of so tremendous a sacrifice as this? +Tone's, sublime as she considered it, was nothing to what hers would +be. He had thrown away earthly pelf, was a fugitive and an outlaw; but +he retained his self-respect. Could she retain hers if Shane became +her husband? No. Doreen confessed to herself that the position would +be impossible. If it had been Terence, now! He was foolish and gay and +distressingly healthy; under no pressure whatever could he bud into a +hero. He was humdrum, and her native romance revolted from the +humdrum. A fine grown man with a good temper and a prosaic appetite. +Why, if he were to occupy Shane's shoes, all Dublin would be envying +her luck and remarking how brazenly she had set her cap at him. Horror +of horrors! How terribly commonplace! Then the girl upbraided herself +for such foolish thoughts. Terence would never become Lord Glandore, +and as a simple fisherman and sportsman could never win his cousin. +Perhaps my lady was right in warning her to remember that he was grown +up. He was a dear good boy, but wofully prosaic. But what had such as +she to do with unmaidenly meditations anent marrying and giving in +marriage? Sackcloth and ashes were the portion of the Catholics, who +were treated as the Jews had been by the Crusaders. The sooner they +died out the better. What a wonderful idea that was of Aunt +Glandore's! If she were seriously bent on anything, she was not easy +to baffle. Would it be best to speak out at once and brave a certain +storm, or to let things be, hoping to be delivered by some unexpected +means? While she was debating this knotty question, her thoughts +became gradually confused, and she sank into troubled slumber.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">TRINITY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran took the bait tendered to him by the chancellor. He made +inquiries, sorted the fragments of his puzzle after his own fashion, +and, filled with suspicions, became anxious to unveil without delay +the fresh dangers which menaced his friends. And dangers so easy to +unveil! The fowler cared not, it seemed, to mask his engines of +destruction. Mr. Curran, from his place in the senate, publicly warned +ministers of the iniquity of their proceedings, but nobody troubled to +listen. The friends of government gaped, vowing that the orator was a +maniac, that he had the secret society on the brain, and ought to be +carted to the madhouse; the few who were on the other side laughed, +declaring that Mr. Curran was misinformed. What could he do then but +sigh and hold his peace? At least he would speak to the Emmetts and +adjure them to be cautious, for the sake of all concerned.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Tone's society for the promotion of universal concord was +driven by artful goading to become a secret one, the conspirators met +to discuss their grievances in a cellar in Backlane, near the +corn-market; but when the time came for extinguishing Tone and others, +Sirr, the captain of Lord Clare's sbirri, swept them thence, and they +were forced to find another trysting-place. Pending final decision on +this point, it was arranged as a miracle of cleverness that the +younger Emmett should suddenly become hospitable. Trinity was always +celebrated for its rollicking wine-parties. What more natural than +that young Robert should do as others did; that he, hitherto so +studious, should be led astray a little by the contagious force of bad +example? A good cellaret of claret was provided at the common expense; +songs were sung with open windows, at all hours of the day and night, +of a convivial and bacchanalian character. There was no end to the +shifts to which the patriots resorted, under the belief that they were +hoodwinking Major Sirr. There arose a mania for ball-playing. Clerks, +shopkeepers, attorneys, would meet of an afternoon at a hall taken for +the purpose, and emerge thence in an hour or two singularly cool and +fresh for men who had been practising athletics. There was also a rage +for fencing--a plausible excuse enough for meeting in numbers, +considering that the fire-eaters of the south had just revised the +laws of the duello. The youthful aristocracy, in accordance with one +of the new rules, had already formed themselves into a club, called +the Knights of Tara, whose members met three times a week in the +theatre at Capel Street to display their prowess with the rapier +before an audience of Dublin belles. What then should there be +suspicious if the middle class followed their example?</p> + +<p class="normal">The case was not quite the same, though; for while the Knights of Tara +courted observation and loved to be seen lounging in cambric shirts +and broidered slippers, with their hair in curl-papers, the members of +the other fencing club kept rigorously closed doors, through which no +one ever heard the familiar cry, sharp as a pistol-crack, of 'Ha! a +hit!'</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening, shortly after Tone's departure, there was a full +gathering in the chambers on the second floor which looked on the +grand quadrangle. It was necessary to instal with solemn rites a new +chief in place of the wanderer, and to fix on a distinct plan of +operations for enlarging the limits of the society. Tone had left his +mantle to Thomas Addis Emmett as the oldest and wisest of the band--he +was thirty-five--and so, in obedience to his last wishes, the editor +of the <i>Press</i> was duly elected to the dangerous pre-eminence. +Submitting to his brother's entreaties, he commenced his reign by +administering the oath to young Robert, the dreamy lad of seventeen, +which was done with awful ceremonies, as became the doings of +conspirators. Blinds were drawn for a few minutes that no prying gaze +might penetrate the Holy of Holies; then all sat down, with the +neophyte standing in their midst, while their president read through +the constitution. Then the oath was administered upon the Scriptures, +which, together with the constitution, were clasped on the bared +breast, and after that a lock of hair was cut away under the queue +behind, and a formula learnt by heart, by means of which one member +could recognise another. It was touching to look on these brothers +standing side by side, the elder receiving the younger into a +fraternity, each unit of which, before many months were out, might +possibly be called upon to meet an ignominious death. Thomas was big +and burly, with a sedate cast of countenance which betokened thought, +whilst Robert was slight of build, and looked almost like a girl, as +with eyes fixed on space he repeated the strange sentences, his face +aglow with enthusiasm, his body trembling like a leaf.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Are you straight?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'How straight?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'As straight as a rush.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Go on then?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'In truth and trust; in unity and liberty.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What have you in your hand?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'A green bough.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Where did it grow?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'In America.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Where did it bud?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'In France.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Where will you plant it?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'In the Crown of Great Britain.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'God be with you then, and with us all,' Thomas concluded; 'and now a +glass all round to the health of the new member.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The pledge was gravely accepted, each one raising his beaker and +saying: 'To the diffusion of light!' ere he drained its contents and +replaced it on the table bottom upwards.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Now, gentlemen,' pursued Thomas. 'We have serious business before us. +Theobald will be away a year at least before help can come, and it is +his wish that we should without delay prepare to graft the military +upon our civil functions. With arms and ammunition Tone will provide +us if he can, but they will be of little service unless we know how to +use them. In the halcyon days of the Volunteers every Irishman was a +soldier. Let us show that the martial spirit of our ancient kings, +which then for awhile revived, is not quite dead in us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I will never consent to bloodshed,' shuddered young Robert. +'Internecine strife is too horrible!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You have been sworn in by your own desire,' returned his brother, +sternly, 'and your first duty is blind obedience. It is Tone's +conviction that we must fight, and fight we will when the time +comes--to the death! In revolutions there is nothing certain but +blood. The march of the captives is through a Red Sea. After forty +years of seeking new abodes, which of those who lead them shall touch +the Promised Land? Lord Clare shows us his cards, and a pretty hand it +is. Sirr is organising his paid spies into a battalion who are to +dwell at the Castle like pampered pets. It is hard to believe that +Irishmen will be so base. These informers are to lie <i>perdu</i> until +wanted--are to worm themselves into the confidence of suspected +persons, to eat of their bread and salt, to nurse their little ones +upon their knees, and then, upon a signal, to give them over to the +hangman.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But the Viceroy!' cried Cassidy in indignation. 'Lord Camden is a man +of honour who would never consent to such a plan!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Thomas Emmett shook his head mournfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">'We all know,' he said, 'that the cabinet rules the Viceroy, and that +Lord Clare is master of the cabinet.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Seeing's believing,' retorted the giant doggedly, as he stretched out +his great hand for the claret bottle. 'Of course we must watch that no +such villain shall creep among us. I won't believe that the English +are without mercy.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'At the battle of Aughrim,' replied Thomas, 'the blood sank into the +soil of seven thousand Irishmen who were only defending their rights.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'As for drilling and such like,' said Cassidy, 'I'm with you, and the +sooner we start the business the better. I've learnt a new song that +we'll sing as we march to battle----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, you simpleton!' laughed Terence Crosbie, who, slightly touched +with wine, had followed the proceedings of the two Emmetts with +amusement. 'Romancing as usual--giving credence to every scandalous +tale you hear. Even if there were truth in them, your grievances would +not give birth to generals. You will never make colonels out of +linendrapers.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No more than purses out of sows' ears,' returned Cassidy, with a +merry twinkle. 'No, councillor, that we never will. But we'll wheedle +a few aristocrats like your honour, whose blue blood shall mingle with +our muddy stuff. When the day dawns, you and a few like yourself shall +lead the boys to victory.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence looked annoyed, but said nothing; while Cassidy and the others +scanned his face narrowly. He was not affiliated to the society, nor +had the remotest ambition of becoming so; for he knew that it behoved +not one of his order to join in such movements as this. Yet there was +a fascination for him in its doings, which kept him dangling upon its +outskirts. Some of his most valued friends were enrolled on the list +of United Irishmen, and he knew well how Doreen was praying for their +success. So he attended the supper-parties sometimes in his +purposeless way, and they permitted him to do so freely, despite the +maxim that in troublous times half-friends are no friends. They knew, +or thought they knew, that he was the soul of honour, who would never +betray a confidence; and hoped, encouraged by Cassidy, that some day +he might be cajoled or stung into their ranks, which would be a +feather in their cap indeed; for to be led by a Crosbie of Ennishowen +would give them a prestige at once such as in these democratic days we +can hardly realise. And Terence, seeing through the simple scheme (for +he was sharp enough, though lazy), was flattered by their confidence. +Yet for all that he promised himself to hold aloof from active +co-operation with hot-pated friends who made mountains out of +mole-hills. He had no intention of heading the forlorn hope of a +misguided rabblement who would fly helter-skelter before the first +puff of cannon smoke. So he prudently refrained from picking up the +gauntlet, and listened to the giant, who was delivered of an idea.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I've a notion!' cried Cassidy, thumping the table till the glasses +rang again.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Be cool now!' cautioned Tom Emmett. 'You are as dangerous as a +powder-magazine.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it dangerous I am?' grumbled the other. 'Sure something must be +risked, or we'll niver get along. I've an idaya, gintlemen, which I'm +willing to see to at my own expense, though a poor man. I've reason to +know that the militia may be tampered with. Their hearts are with the +cause, and they're as poor as rats or your humble servant. Money and +drink will do much, and women will settle the matter. Here's a letter +from Belfast which says that two hundred and fifty of the men in camp +there have secretly declared for us, and that it only needs the +personal presence of a delegate to bring over half the rest. When the +French land they'll rise and kill their officers. Think of the fine +fright that'll give the royalists! Sure and isn't that the way to +out-plot England? Shall I go to Belfast and reconnoitre? Of coorse ye +must give me credentials. A little note, signed, will do the trick, +and show I'm honest. As for the town-major of whom ye're all so +frightened, his bark's worse nor his bite. The Irish Jonathan Wild can +be bribed. I'll answer for him; but there's time galore for that. +Dangerous, am I? I'm the only one, I think, with a drain of sperit. +There's a great speech. Phew, I'm dhry! Hand round the clart, boys, +and we'll have a stave.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The simple giant's harangue was favourably received, the paper was +penned and signed, and he was wetting his whistle for a song when Tom +Emmett raised his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hark! who comes?'</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a footstep on the creaking stair; then a knock; and a +familiar voice said: 'It is I. Curran.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Nurse Curran!' sneered Cassidy, annoyed. 'Come to look after his +foster-babby.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The little advocate entered, and leaned against the door with his arms +folded.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence, my lad,' he said. 'You must come away with me. What would my +lady say, if you came to be arrested?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Arrested!' echoed a dozen voices. 'Within Trinity? Impossible!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I fail to see that it's impossible,' snarled Curran. 'Hide those +foolish papers there, or burn them--children, too easily beguiled with +toys! And you, Terence, come away with me at once. Why? Are not +convenient edicts being passed each day to simplify the work of +government? Laws for the suppression of gaming, profane swearing, +atheistical assemblies, which places every man's home under +surveillance of the town-major?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You have explicit information?' inquired Tom Emmett, anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I don't say that!' stammered Curran, somewhat confused. 'I only say +that your threshold might be invaded at any moment, and that ye've +yourselves to thank if ye get into a hopeless scrape. A few hours +since, a carpenter who is under obligation to me was at work in Ely +Place. While repairing the floor between two double doors he +distinctly heard Lord Clare in conversation with the town-major, in +which Sirr told his chief that there would be a strong muster to-night +in this boy's chambers. Am I making too free in asking you to lock +away those documents, or would ye prefer hanging at once to save +trouble? The carpenter wrenched off a hinge and begged to be allowed +to fetch a new one; but instead of going straight to the ironmonger's +he ran to me with commendable speed, gave the office, and returned to +his work. What it all means I am not in a position to say; but mark my +words, you have a traitor in your midst, who reports to the enemy +every word you utter. Your necks are your own, to do with as you like; +but I'm responsible for you, Terence, to your mother, and I summon you +to go away with me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Tom Emmett flushed scarlet, and involuntarily placed a hand upon the +pistol in his breast. A low murmur went round the room as Cassidy +sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Take care!' he shouted, 'how ye bring vague charges. Many a +disfigured corpse has Moiley eaten--many an informer has floated out +to sea. Give a name--only a name--and I'll scrunch the spalpeen so +flat that ye'll not know him from a sheet of paper, save for the coat +on him!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do you think if I knew the scoundrel I'd not have pointed at him long +ago? It's for you to find him out. Don't glare at me, man--I'm not a +youngster who has never blazed. Mind, I've warned you to be +circumspect. The Irish nature is too open. It can't keep a secret +without telling a lie, and lies lead to awful tangles. It's no affair +of mine. Terence, come along.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The junior rose and stretched himself, and prepared to follow his +chief.</p> + +<p class="normal">A betrayer in their midst! The case did seem hopeless to the young +councillor; so hopeless as to be almost contemptible. Possibly Lord +Clare was a trifle over-strict with them, but he certainly appeared +justified to a certain extent in assuming with the children the manner +of a severe pedagogue. What a pity that they persisted in fathering +every enormity upon him!</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's a bad job, my friends,' he said. 'Curran's right about the +papers. Good-night.'</p> + +<p class="normal">As they crossed the quadrangle his mentor became wondrous voluble. He +was garrulous as to my lady, and her unfortunate penchant for the +chancellor; talked of Glandore, and all the titled in the land, till +his companion eyed him in indolent surprise. To occupy his attention +was the design of his mentor, for lurking in the shadow of doorways +were certain darkling figures who were not gownsmen; and the little +king's counsel feared lest Terence, if he perceived danger to be +imminent, should be ill-judged enough to retrace his steps and get +mixed up in the misfortunes of his friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spectres allowed the pair to pass, and then, gliding to the door +from which they had issued, left half their number there, whilst the +rest stole through the gateway to the inner court--so as to command +two special windows which were pointed out to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the party above, having completed the business of the +evening, prepared itself to be jolly. The story of the proposed +arrest, the vague charge about an informer, were evidently Bugaboos +invented by nurse Curran for the luring away of his junior.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy, who was in great spirits to-night, and had drank deeply, +demonstrated with the utmost clearness that the fabrication was +absurd. By an old law of Queen Elizabeth (the only pleasant law she +ever made for Ireland), no bumbailiff or importunate creditor might set +his foot within the College-gates. Alma Mater was a sanctuary from +which none might be taken an any account without an order from the +authorities of Trinity, who were too jealous of their rights ever to +grant such order. Moreover, the watch (harmless old women!) were +always friends with the gownsmen--ready to lend a staff or lanthorn, +or feign sleep or assume deafness, just as the frolicsome young +gentlemen should decree. It was quite unlikely that they would witness +any threatening demonstration without instantly giving an alarm, and +even Sirr would think twice before daring an assault upon the inmates +of Trinity without the assistance of the junior dean. Not that the +undergraduates were as bold a body now as when they slew my Lord +Glandore, or so unanimous either, as none knew better than Lord Clare. +Yet they were no cowards, and always ready for a 'blaze.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The younger Emmett, alarmed at first by Curran's dismal prophecies, +was convinced by Cassidy's gibes that his terrors were ill-placed, and +set about producing from mysterious lurking-places the elements of a +good supper--ham, chickens, bread--furtively glancing in the mirror +now and then at the tiny tonsure which marked him for a patriot. The +giant arranged knives and forks, and filled the round-bottomed claret +decanters, trimming the table with a tasty eye as a patriotic table +should be laid. In the centre he placed the constitution--bulwark of +the society--throned on a loaf of bread. Close to it the president's +badge, whilom Tone's--Tom Emmett's bauble now which consisted of a +shamrock in green silk bearing a harp without a crown. Near this the +copy of the Scriptures; and by his own place a list of toasts such as +should help to pass the time till chapel-hour. When all was ready he +called on his companions to fall to; and discussed with the president, +while the viands disappeared, the details of his journey to Belfast.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they talked the claret waned, and the views of the company grew +rosier. Thomas agreed that it would be a wise system to spread +disaffection among the soldiery. The patriotism of the militia might +surely be counted on, he thought. With the yeomanry it might be +otherwise, as it was officered by the upper class. Deliberation and +prudence must be the watchwords of the giant at Belfast, for months +must pass before Tone could hope to accomplish anything; and all were +of one mind as to the necessity of French assistance. At the earliest, +no French fleet could be expected till the summer of '96, therefore it +behoved the leaders of the cause to keep the broth gently simmering +till the moment of the crisis--organising battalions, drilling +companies during the night, establishing a vast military system which +should enable the four provinces to effect a simultaneous rising. That +was the important point, spontaneity of movement; and he, Emmett, +would make it his business to see that the unity of action should be +complete.</p> + +<p class="normal">The danger was (he impressed on Cassidy) lest the wickedness of +England should exasperate the people too soon. A given degree of +cruelty will drive the wisest mad. Patience is among the greatest of +virtues. Here was another thing, which it was all-important to +consider. Terence Crosbie had put his finger on one of their weakest +points--their lack of military genius. The best army in Christendom is +powerless without a general. What a pity that Tone should be gone +away, for the germ was visible in him which would have blossomed forth +into glorious fruition under the sun of opportunity!</p> + +<p class="normal">'Now!' Cassidy cried, after a while, remarking that some of the +delegates were beginning to snore, 'fill your glasses, and I'll sing +ye the new song which shall sound the knell of the Sassanagh. 'Tis +written by Barry, a mere gossoon, who's in Kilmainham at this minute. +Bad cess to the ruffians as put him there!' Then, draining off a +bumper, he loosened the voluminous folds of his cravat, and commenced +in his mellow voice, while those who were sober enough yelled the +refrain:</p> +<div class="poem0"> +<p class="t8" style="text-indent:-16pt">'"What rights the brave? The sword!<br> +What frees the slave? The sword!</p> +<p class="t0" style="margin-left:4em; text-indent:-4em">What cleaves in twain the despot's chain, and makes his gyves<br> +and dungeons vain? The sword!</p> +<p class="t0">Then cease the proud task never! while rests a link to sever.<br> +Guard of the free, well cherish thee, and keep thee bright for +ever!"'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">So loudly was 'The Sword' trolled forth, that more peaceful +neighbours, worn out with study, turned uneasily in bed, cursing the +rackety crew ere they slept again; so loudly was the final chorus +shrieked, that none heard the tramp of footsteps on the stairs, none +heeded the groping of unaccustomed fingers upon the handle, till the +door was flung open, displaying a body of men upon the landing whose +crossbelts showed white through a disguise. The young men stared +bewildered as on some horrid vision, and strove to get up on their +feet. Thomas, more sober than the rest, laid his hand upon his pistol, +but withdrew it again, seeing how numerous were those who stood +without.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What do you want?' he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">A short man stepped from behind the rest. He was remarkable for a +hooked beak, eyes too close together, shaded by heavy brows which met +in a tuft over his nose. He wore a tight stock with a large silver +buckle, hair plainly clubbed, and a silver whistle like a boatswain's +attached to a buttonhole by a thong.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am Major Sirr,' he snapped, 'and arrest all present in the King's +name. Seize those documents!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy took a paper from his flapped pocket and tried to swallow it, +but the major's men, marking his clumsy movement, pressed his +bull-throat till he gave it forth again. How arbitrary is the effect +of drink! Some men it renders furious, endowing them with double +strength; others it makes dull and stupid, robbing them of the power +that they had. Cassidy's giant bulk and tremendous muscles should have +stood him in good stead now or never; but he certainly had imbibed a +portentous quantity of claret, and the shaking he was getting seemed +quite to muddle him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ah now, major dear,' he whimpered, smiling a sickly smile, 'you'd not +take it from me and shame a poor colleen? Don't look at her name now! +Bad luck to ye! Don't, now!'</p> + +<p class="normal">''Tis an order signed by the committee of the United Irishmen--no +lady's billet,' Major Sirr replied coldly, holding the paper to the +candle. 'My friend, I regret to see you in this plight--but I must do +my duty.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert, on the first entrance of Sirr's lambs--for such he knew them +at once to be, though robed in long gowns--made a rush to the window +of the inner room in order to alarm the college, but speedily drew in +his head again, for a row of muskets was pointed at him which glinted, +pallid, in the light of early dawn.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Trapped!' he exclaimed, wringing his hands in despair. 'No, not yet!' +Then, perceiving that Sirr and his band, expecting no resistance, were +busily engaged gleaning together badge, constitution, and list of +treasonable toasts, he stole to the discomfited giant--a hero but a +moment since--and whispered rapidly, 'Come! A dash at the door, and we +can get downstairs. I'll lead you to the campanile. One ring at the +bell, and the college will awake!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy shook himself and appeared to understand. Flinging aside the +two men who loosely held him, he butted forward, upsetting table and +lights, and in the confusion and darkness all who barred the passage. +Swiftly he rolled, rather than ran, down the steep staircase, closely +followed by Robert, and sent sprawling in the doorway a fat old +person, who yelped piteously for mercy.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The junior dean!' ejaculated Robert. 'The dastard! Himself to betray +our ancient rights! But come--we'll attend to him later--to the +campanile, to rouse the college!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sirr's lambs, recovering from their surprise, pursued the fugitives; +but a little time was gained by their all tumbling in a heap over the +unhappy dean, before he had time to scramble out of the way.</p> + +<p class="normal">'O Lord! O Lord! I'm kilt! Follow them!' he panted; 'the campanile's +at the corner of the inner yard. If they ring the bell for a rescue, +I'm a dead man, for they'll surely murder me! Oh that I had never +mixed in this hellish business!'</p> + +<p class="normal">His lamentations died away in a groan, for Sirr held a pistol to his +head, calling the skies to witness that he would shoot him unless he +instantly led the way. Never since he was a child did the pursy old +gentleman run as fast as he did now. Terror gave wings to his gouty +feet, and the invading party reached the campanile to see Cassidy's +burly shoulder force in the door, and Robert Emmett precipitate +himself within. It was a race who should first reach the platform.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it the dean that's rooned us?' Cassidy had been exclaiming. 'By +Jabers, then, I'll wring his neck for him before he's much older! Run, +jewel, for you know the place, which I don't, while I attend to him. +Here's a string that'll do the job.'</p> + +<p class="normal">And in a trice he had cut the rope which swung before him as high up +as his long arms reached, and was fastening at one end a noose.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What are you doing?' cried Robert, in dismay, 'the ringing-rope of +the great bell!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, tear and 'ounds! is it?' murmured the giant, with a blank look, +as he dropped it. 'Sure, I tuk it to hang the dean with!'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a fatal piece of stupidity, but the mischief was irretrievable. +The rope-end dangled just out of Robert's reach. The men who had been +watching in the inner yard closed in, and levelling their muskets, +summoned them to surrender quietly. By the time Sirr's party came up +with the panting dean the giant was pinioned with the unlucky rope, +while Robert was in the grip of two sturdy soldiers.</p> + +<p class="normal">So much rowdiness was habitually perpetrated within Trinity--such a +succession of practical jokes and madcap tricks--that none were likely +to heed the hubbub of this chase. Thomas, who had so sagely +recommended prudence half an hour since, stood in bitter reverie among +his fellow-prisoners, reproaching himself mournfully for his +blindness; wondering in self-abasement whether it was not better after +all that one who had at starting shown himself so bad a chief, should +be thus summarily deposed from office. For he saw at once that his +fate would be the same as that of those already sacrificed--either +exile beyond seas, or dreary rotting in Newgate or Kilmainham--for was +not his signature appended, in the capacity of newly-elected +president, to the paper which loyal Cassidy had tried to swallow? And +what a covey had been captured beside himself! what gaps there would +be now in the already thinned ranks of those who were prepared to +win or perish! Curran's words had come true with regard to the +capture--was his other assertion equally correct? Was there a Judas in +their midst who was handing them over to the avenger, the while he +gave the kiss of fellowship? The thought was too horrible. Whom was he +to suspect? Not Cassidy, or Bond, or McLaughlin, or his fervent +brother Robert--or Curran himself. None of these--who then? It must be +Terence Crosbie, whom they had weakly admitted behind the veil, +trusting to his honour as a gentleman. His honour! One of the +semi-English aristocrats, whose brother was a Blaster--whose mother +was Clare's dearest friend. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes, and +he stood staring at his own folly. It was evident that Terence had +coquetted with them merely to study their plans. That frank air of +<i>bonhomie</i> was assumed. He was like his brother Glandore--only more +crafty and astute instead of imbecile; that was all. He was deceiving +Curran now as he had deceived them, and Curran was watching over him +with the solicitude of a father. It was all too horrible--the world a +place of blackest infamy--Ireland the darkest spot upon its face. Yet +no. His better judgment revolted against such a belief. The fresh air +was balmy; the yellowing sky of surpassing loveliness. Man, if made of +stuff so innately vile, would never have been placed in so fair a +casket. Facts are stubborn things, though. The meeting had been +betrayed by somebody. Who was the wretch?</p> + +<p class="normal">It was by this time quite light, and the town-major deemed it wise to +remove his prey before early-rising undergraduates should be stirring. +He gave his orders therefore--softly, but with martinet decision--and +the party marched away, leaving Robert sitting on the platform.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am ready,' he said, leaping up. 'I am one with them, and will go +quietly;' but Major Sirr held up his hand and grinned.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are fine devil's spawn, no doubt,' he said, while his nose +wrinkled, 'but we don't want you just yet. You're but a baby +blustering like a man. Look at his smooth chin--or is it a girl? +Newgate's a brave residence for summer, if your purse is well lined; +if not, best hang yourself before going thither. No, no! I've no +warrant to arrest your ladyship--but your time will come, I doubt +not.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Let him be!' cried his brother Thomas. 'Whither do you take us?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'First to Kilmainham with you,' Sirr replied sharply. 'Then with the +rest to Newgate; then to your offices to seize your precious +newspaper, demolish your press, and scatter your type. Have you any +objection?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'That is illegal,' Thomas affirmed, 'till the paper is condemned for +sedition.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The town-major gave vent to a grumbling cachinnation like the rattling +of a skeleton in a cupboard, but no smile lit up his sinister +countenance. Then he echoed:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Illegal, ha, ha! That can be set right. Forward--march!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The cortége moved across the quadrangle, and the massive gates of Alma +Mater closed behind it. Robert Emmett sat dazed, while the yellow in +the sky above the roofs changed to pink and then to blue; for they +were gone--away from the sanctuary into the wicked world without; no +hue and cry could save them now. The junior dean, his nerves calmed by +whisky-punch, lay cosily between the blankets, dreaming of the +bishopric he had won that night. An early gownsman, flinging wide his +shutters before settling to his morning's work, smiled down on the +wild rake who must have come in too drunk to find his way to bed. Boys +will be boys, though their mammas wish that they would act as sages; +and they must season their heads while they are young.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the studious undergraduate was wrong in his surmise. Excitable by +temperament, delicate in body, and overwrought in mind, Robert Emmett +had swooned away.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">CAIN AND ABEL.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Next morning Mr. Curran rode early to the Abbey, with news of the +arrests which he had been powerless to prevent. He looked with an eye +less jaundiced than usual upon the world, for the sea-breeze instilled +fresh life into him, weary and jaded as he was from many causes, and +he felt that he deserved well of her ladyship for saving her son from +a scandal. Though he laughed and joked in company, in private he was +nearly always sad, partly by constitution, partly by reason of the +sights he saw around him; and as he rode along this morning and +meditated concerning his foe Lord Clare, the flecks of sunlight that +chequered his mind vanished, leaving only darkness and despondency +behind. Oh, that chancellor! Would no one free Ireland from a tutelage +which became hourly more oppressive and capricious? Why could not the +innocent conspirators be left alone? Theobald, the whale, was gone. +Sure, naught but stirring up of dirty water could be gained by +harrying the minnows. It was unwise to have locked up the lads with +such a rattling of locks and muskets. The raid upon Tom Emmett's +office, too, was a deplorable proceeding. No new or special charge of +iniquity had been brought against his paper. Yet the place was +ransacked in his absence, his property destroyed, his chairs and +tables tossed out of window as though they carried treason in their +varnish. Lord Clare must be mad, or desperately wicked. If he brought +the country to ruin, it should not be for want of warning. To protest +in parliament is one thing, to argue and implore in private is +another. The little lawyer decided to speak openly to Lord Clare at +their very next meeting, and clinched the matter in his mind with such +a thump of his hunting-crop as caused his pony to leap forward and +nearly throw his master from the saddle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Madam Gillin and her daughter Norah were gardening as he rode past +their hedge, and the former hallooed to him to stop. Mr. Curran could +scarce forbear laughing at her appearance, so grotesquely serious did +she look in a frayed turban soiled with pomade, and a crumpled frock +of extravagant fashion, from under which peeped a pair of satin +slippers down at heel. It was a thrifty habit with Madam Gillin to +wear out her old quality-clothes at home, for she said that Norah must +have a fine dowry somehow, and that for that purpose it would be +needful to economise. Now her garments and her child's were always of +the flimsiest and most tawdry mode, profusely adorned with feathers +and spangles, trimmed with outrageous frills and furbelows; and the +twain, who did not trouble soap and water unless about to receive +company, might be seen any day over the hedge which divided their +property from the main-road, strutting up and down among the +flower-beds like moulting peacocks or birds of paradise in a decline. +Madam Gillin was lying nervously in wait for news this morning, and +hailed Curran's appearance with relief, for her nurse, Jug Coyle, had +heard of the arrests from frequenters of her shebeen, and vague +rumours were afloat that Terence was among the captured. Oddly enough, +although she had appointed herself guardian in ambush to the younger +son, she had never spoken to him: yet was she well posted in all that +concerned her <i>protégé</i> down to minutest details; for were not all the +array of grooms, farriers, dog-boys, foot-boys, tay-boys--what +not?--in the habit of frequenting that too-convenient boozing-ken +whose insidious hospitality was so offensive to their mistress at the +Abbey? This was Madam Gillin's real reason for having established Jug +at the Irish Slave. Through her she commanded an army of spies who, +for a drop of the crather, studied my lady's face, translated her +thoughts, imagined motives, as servants will who are argus-eyed, +imaginative, inquisitive, endowed with a hundred ears. She was true to +her trust of watching over Terence, though she seemed to know nothing +at all about him, resolved, if need were, to do battle on his behalf, +to point the finger of public-opinion at my lady if she behaved badly; +and now she was sore perplexed concerning him, albeit he wist not of a +guardian angel in a dirty old turban and crushed ostrich feathers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran set her mind at rest, and turned up the avenue which led to +the Abbey. The youth had certainly been present at the meeting, +because the Emmetts were among his closest friends; but he was not +affiliated, he assured her; and both agreed that his imagination must +not be permitted to take fire; that he must never be allowed to become +a member of the society.</p> + +<p class="normal">When his nag turned the corner of the shrubbery, the little lawyer +found those he sought grouped in front of the hall-door. My lady, in +grey brocade, with a twist of lace through her white hair, was +standing erect with crossed arms, looking with satisfaction at Doreen +and Shane. The girl, though self-willed, had evidently taken her hint, +and was preparing to lay siege to Shane; at least his fond mother +chose to think so, and was deceived, as mothers often are. Just as +grave people, for an idle whim, will turn for a moment from lofty +contemplations to consider a pebble by the wayside, so calm Doreen had +been bitten by a conceit. In her self-examination she had become +convinced, with sorrow, that the part of Judith was beyond her +strength, if Shane was to play Holofernes; and, disgusted with her own +weakness, had permitted her mind to settle on my lady's nickname of +Miss Hoyden. Being proved incapable of supreme sacrifice, she felt a +wrathful desire for self-abasement, and resolved that, if she could +not please her aunt in great things, she would do so at least in +little ones, at the expense of private tastes.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, to Lady Glandore's surprise, she appeared on this very morning in +fashionable attire, which a week ago she had haughtily declined to +wear; a sumptuous high-waisted percale, broidered in forget-me-nots, +with great puffed sleeves and tight short skirt; low shoes of blue +satin with wide strings; her beautiful hair in a straight sheet down +her back, plaited together with straw, as the prevailing fashion was. +Perched on the top of her head was a dainty straw bonnet, fit only for +a fairy, and she looked under it, with her thoughtful brown face and +solemn eyes, like some lovely victim tricked out in incongruous +frippery, who was destined to figure in some Hibernian <i>auto-da-fé</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Young ladies of a strong-minded and serious turn do evidently not +array themselves in wonderful garments without a reason,' so my lady +argued. 'Neither do they descend to coquetry, save for the snaring of +young men. Whom could Miss Wolfe desire to snare, if not her cousin +Shane?'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was well--extremely well. Unhappily, the young lord was not +struck with the bonnet, or with the forget-me-nots. His mother saw +that she would have to guide his attention to his cousin's +blandishments.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alack! he was in no mood to play the lover, being prosaically +engrossed with a throbbing brow and swollen tongue. Shane, although he +had 'made his head,' and could drink claret against most people, was +apt to feel faded of a morning, and to retaliate for physical ills +upon the first person who came within his reach. Last night he had +presided over the Blasters, had shattered a decanter on the pate of a +gentleman who presumed to breathe hard in his presence, and who, of +course, had challenged him to fight. So far so good; but the stranger +had shown himself so ill-bred as absolutely to decline to draw his +sword till certain business matters could be arranged, and so the +meeting was perforce postponed for a few hours--a most rude and +inconsiderate proceeding! For might not the champion Blaster, the +admirable Hellfire, the Prince of Cherokees, have other work upon his +hands before dinner-time? And besides, though money-debts may wait for +months without a smirching of the niceties of honour, it is a bad +example for the multitude to allow duels to accumulate. Moreover, +Shane had promised, as it happened, to promenade with the Gillins, in +the Beaux Walk, on this particular afternoon. Even an Irish earl +cannot, like Roche's bird, be in two places at a time; and so the +youthful fire-eater fretted and fumed, cross with himself and +everybody else, heedless of his cousin's bonnet, and longed to force a +quarrel upon some one.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence was seated a few yards off, on the steps of the young men's +wing, which led to his own apartment, giving some directions to his +private henchman with regard to the manufacture of flies. Now and then +he threw a displeased glance at his pretty cousin, marvelling for +whose behoof she had made herself so bewitching, and then, gnawed by +carking jealousy, turned to vent his spleen upon his servant.</p> + +<p class="normal">But honest Phil only grinned as he twined the bright feathers with a +skilful hand, nor heeded his master's ill-humour; for was he not his +foster-brother, who loved the ground he trod on with the blind +devotion of a clansman? He had been brought up with Terence at a +respectful distance, had learnt Bible-stories with him from the tiles +about the hearth, and made himself generally useful as he increased in +years. Nothing came amiss to him. He could farry, cure a cow of the +murrain, tin a saucepan, dance a jig, knit a stocking, sing a cronane +against any young fellow in the county. There was nothing he would not +do for Master Terence. He followed at his heels like a dog, looking +into his eyes for orders as dogs do, bearing his whims and caprices +with stoical endurance, as we bear the wind that blows on us. He was a +type, was Phil, of a creature who vanished with the century; who, +sharp and clever enough, professed to no intellect of his own, and was +content to be led in all things by another. His attire under all +circumstances was the same. A green plush coat, a scarlet vest, and +buckskin breeches. A black leather hunting-cap was always, in or out +of doors, cocked on one side of his shock head. Some people said he +went to bed in it. In his capacity of farrier, he invariably carried a +firing-iron as a walking-stick; so that what with the angel in ambush +in the dirty finery, and the athletic follower with the firing-iron, +Terence Crosbie may be said to have been well protected, even in days +when none were out of danger.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Abbey party had also heard of the arrests, and were all equally +pleased when Curran's figure turned the corner of the drive--the queer +squat figure which all Dublin looked on with respect, with its +tightly-buttoned high-collared coat, snuffy wave of loose necktie, +white kerseymere breeches, and top-boots.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes,' he said, in answer to a chorus of inquiries, 'the evil rumour +was too true. He had ridden over early to beg my lady to interfere on +behalf of the young people. Her influence over the chancellor was +great. The father of the Emmetts had been state-physician, and, as +such, had often prescribed draughts for the countess's household. +Would she try to save his sons from peril?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No, she would not. Lord Clare doubtless had the best motives for what +he did, and it would be unseemly in the associate of his leisure-hours +to meddle in state affairs. It was plain that the scum must be kept in +their place, or what would become of the nobles? The abrogation of the +Penal Code was the wild fantasy of optimists; for you might as well +give power to monkeys as to Catholics. It could not, should not, be +altered or lightened, for the safety of the dominant minority depended +on the Penal Code. The French disgrace of '89 would never have +appalled Europe, if the King had been less soft-hearted.'</p> + +<p class="normal">So spake my lady, in her most majestic way, and Curran, as he smiled +at the kindly, narrow-minded woman, thought she looked more like Queen +Bess than ever. There was no help to be expected from this quarter for +the poor fellows; Doreen's stern face convinced him of that much. He +must even buckle on his armour and have at Lord Clare in person, when +the first opportunity offered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence's brow darkened as his chief talked of the arrests, and of the +outrage at Tone's offices. If the chancellor was personally +responsible for the ill-judged performance, then was he distinctly in +the wrong. Might there be some truth in the pile of accusations which +were being heaped upon the minister in power?</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady's high-flown babble jarred on his nerves. Is there anything +more painful than hearing one you love and respect talking nonsense? +But no! It was not possible that the chancellor should be acting as he +did without good reason. We are all apt to jump at conclusions and to +blame people, without seeking first for motives which may not happen +to lie upon the surface. Terence tried to shake off his suspicions, +and succeeded to a certain extent, moved thereto, possibly, by feeling +Doreen's scrutiny fixed on him. When she appeared on the terrace in +her strange costume, she found the brothers at high words, and +reproved them straightway. Shane had used bad language in an +undertone; Terence had blushed, and hung his head. There was thunder +in the air, which the damsel had striven to dissipate. She was looking +anxiously on now, fearful of a collision of antagonistic elements, and +bit her lips and stamped her little foot as Shane turned crossly to +the visitor.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it true, Curran,' he asked, with dyspeptic peevishness, 'that my +brother was with those rascals? I've asked him more than once, but it +seems he's afraid to confess.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Afraid!' Terence cried, as white as ashes; then, catching his +cousin's eye, he went back, with set teeth, to his fly-making.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I ought to have said <i>ashamed</i>,' apologised his languid lordship. 'I +presume that, being a Crosbie, you are capable of feeling shame? Or +not? You are so queer, I think you were changed at birth.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'To please <i>me</i>, be quiet,' implored Miss Wolfe, with an earnestness +which charmed my lady. 'You two are perpetually squabbling!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is not my fault,' Terence grumbled, crushing his fingers together +to keep down his ire. 'Never think, please, that I am afraid of you, +Shane. We cannot be afraid of that which we despise. If I am queer, +you are more so. I did not answer, because I don't choose that you +should interfere with me; but there is no reason why I should not. I +was at Robert's chambers last night. What then? The purity of that +handful of fellows shines out through the general darkness in a way +that enforces one's respect. I do not say that they may not be carried +too far, but sometimes they make me loathe myself and you and all my +belongings; for in the abstract we are bad, and deserve any +retribution which may fall on us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Better join them,' sneered Shane, with a feverish hand upon his +throbbing temples. 'When they confiscate this property, maybe they'll +make you a present of it with the title. Oh, my head!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes, I was there,' continued Terence, doggedly; 'and they spoke +wisdom mixed with folly--with more of the one and less of the other +than you are accustomed to bestow on us. I do not mind admitting that +I wish I'd stopped. Maybe they'll think that, knowing what was going +to happen, I sneaked away, and then I shall lose their esteem.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oho! What a delectable conspirator!' laughed my lord, cooling his +aching head against the wall, while the cicatrice on his forehead grew +red, and an evil glitter shone in his eyes. 'Love and esteem, eh? And +how about mine? Will ye take a corner of that?'</p> + +<p class="normal">With a spiteful movement he flicked a square of cambric at his +brother, who placed his hands behind him and drew back; for the +insulting action, innocent in itself, was one much in vogue for egging +on a quarrel.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady turned as white as Terence, while she cried out hastily:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Shane! what are you doing?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen looked on distressed, and Curran sighed, while honest Phil was +too discreetly busy with his hackles to note anything that passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Shane, how dare you, before my face!' said his mother; then, her +anger kindling, she turned sharply on her younger son. 'It is your +fault. You know how easily provoked he is. I cannot wonder at his +being shocked by your behaviour.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I too, mother, am easily provoked,' Terence answered, his brow black +with frowns.</p> + +<p class="normal">'As I have said before, more than once, though you take no heed, you +disgrace yourself by the society you keep. The Emmetts are well +enough--I say nothing to the contrary, for indeed their father was a +worthy man. But I am told that some of these people are linen-drapers. +Is it fitting that a Crosbie should associate with tradesmen? They act +blindly because they are low and do not know better, but the same +cannot be said of you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady's lecture broke down, for whilst speaking of low people she +remembered that her favourite Shane also was addicted to low company. +Alas! she knew too well that he was the beloved of tavern-roysterers +and petticoat-pensioners, who wept oily drops of maudlin affection +over his drunken generosity, and that that smart zebra-suit of +his--yellow and crimson striped--had not been donned to captivate his +family.</p> + +<p class="normal">If Shane was easily provoked, which was very true, he was also as +easily bored as his father. Rising with a gesture of impatience to +retire from the field, he cried out:</p> + +<p class="normal">'There, there! what a pother, to be sure! I was only in joke. To hear +your clatter, mother, one would think the house was burning. If +Terence likes linen-drapers, I have no objection, but I can't admire +his taste. Faugh! He's no better than a <i>half-mounted!</i>'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mother,' whispered Terence, trembling, 'do you stand by and hear +him?'</p> + +<p class="normal">But my lady made as though she was unaware of this fresh taunt, though +it was a dreadful one. What a fearful thing for the head of a noble +house to brand his heir-presumptive with being a 'half-mounted!' Now +the half-mounted were a distinct class--a reckless feckless crew, each +of whom possessed little beyond his horse and suit of clothes; who had +no principles or education; who existed by pandering to the vices of +their betters. They kept the ground at horse-races, helped a lord to +steal a wench, knocked down her male relations, and made themselves +generally agreeable; in return for which they were tolerated, supplied +with bed and board, and treated to as much claret as they could carry. +They swarmed, not to be industrious like the working bee, but to +consume like the drone, and to do mischief like the wasp. This class +it was which in '97 and '98 developed into the royalist yeomanry--the +bully band of licentious executioners who did the filthy work which +was disdained by English soldiers. A noble was described by the +peasantry at this time as 'a gentleman to the backbone;' a landed +squire as 'a gentleman every inch of him.' The younger sons of one of +these, restrained as they were by gentility from any but three +professions, sank more often than not into the habits of dissolute +idleness to which young Ireland was constitutionally prone, and +dwindled into the condition of the 'half-mounted,' whose career was +usually closed by a tap from a shillalagh in a brawl, or an attack of +delirium tremens. Therefore, that Terence should be accused of being +one of the swashbucklers by his overbearing brother cut him to the +quick, while it roused as well the anger of the man who was as a +second father to him. Mr. Curran might possibly have given the earl a +bit of his mind, and so have hammered such a breach 'twixt the two +families as both would have deplored in equal measure, had not happily +a huge golden coach come rumbling round the corner at this moment, +whose gorgeousness attracted general attention, and diverted the +thoughts of the group into another channel.</p> + +<p class="normal">Its body glistened in the sun like brass. Each door-panel was adorned +by an allegorical picture by Mr. Hamilton, R.A. A posse of sculptured +cupids on the roof groaned under an enormous coronet; Wisdom and +Justice, carved and gilded, supported the coachman on either side; +while Commerce and Industry stretched forth their cornucopiæ behind +and clasped their hands together around the footmen's legs. A +triumphal car it was, blazing with gold and colour, enriched with +velvet and embroidery, weighed down with gilded figures, dragged along +by six black horses sumptuously caparisoned. This was my Lord Clare's +new coach, which had cost him no less than four thousand guineas--the +outward and visible sign of his amazing arrogance and splendour. The +party on the steps stood wonder-stricken; but what surprised Curran +even more than the magnificent carriage, was the presence of the +person within it, who sat beside the chancellor. It was Cassidy, the +jolly giant, whom report said to be in durance vile. He was released +then. So were, of course, the others, and Lord Clare had remedied his +blunder before its effects could be seriously felt. So much the +better. Such gladness of heart was the little lawyer's that he forgot +all about the half-mounted, and proceeded to congratulate his enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I don't understand,' the latter drawled, looking down from under +half-closed lids. 'Mr. Cassidy is out because there was really nothing +against him, and his excellency talks of freeing the others by-and-by, +except Emmett, who is a ringleader--a beast who must be caged.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran felt a twinge of disappointment. 'A man who must be made a +martyr!' he retorted. 'If you leave him languishing, and free the +rest, the injustice of the proceeding will set them plotting more than +ever. That which is now but a heat-spot may be irritated into a +prevailing gangrene. Mind, I have warned you. Yet how idle is it! Such +tricks as yours may be expected from a renegade!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The last words were muttered to himself, yet Lord Clare heard them, +but pretended not to do so, as it was always his policy to excite his +adversary whilst keeping his own temper.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I assure you I am powerless,' he remarked blandly. 'The Privy +Council----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Potent, grave, and reverend seniors!' scoffed the other; +'scene-shifters and candle-snuffers from Smock Ally, robed in old +curtains!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'These turbulent fellows would destroy the Constitution, my good +Curran.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Turbulent! A pack of boys! What does not exist cannot be destroyed. A +Commons chosen by the people who hold thereby the strings of the +public purse--that is the first principle of a constitution. The sham +you prate about is, as you know right well, deluged with corruption, +flooded with iniquity, a mere puppet in your hands, Lord Clare. How +sad it is that the vital interests of millions should be sacrificed to +the vices of an individual! You, and such as you, who have risen from +small things to a place in the Upper House, should unite the nobles +and the people instead of trying to estrange them. But no, you think +of none except yourself. Erin is divided between the slaves of your +dominion, the servants of your patronage, the enemies of your tyranny. +Your ambition will wreck us all. Your monument shall be the execration +of your motherland--the curse of a ruined race your requiem!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare's impudent leer was doing its work, for Curran, with every +moment, grew more chafed.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Really, our friend is quite amusing!' exclaimed the chancellor, +pleasantly. 'Your ladyship's jester assumes all the license which +custom accords to such persons. I confess that his exuberance bears me +down, for the art of managing foolish people is as distinct and +arduous as that of governing lunatics.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Whenever I see a man treat the world as if it were made of fools,' +sneered Curran, 'I suspect him instantly to be a knave.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Very pretty!' laughed the other. 'Parliament, my good fellow----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Parliament!' echoed his foe. 'You are always ringing the changes on +parliament and constitution in a jangle that means nothing. Your +parliament has as much to do with the country as a corpse with a +crowner's quest. The rulers of this unhappy land have played bowls +with the constitution. Our experience of government is through the +vices of its shifting plunderers, instead of the paternal protection +of its sovereign--harpies who encamp awhile, then retire laden with +spoil--all save one, who, to our grief, is bone of our bone, flesh of +our flesh. That one, my lord, is splendid indeed--by the grandeur of +his infamy--for he never knew shame or decency or conscience! He is +double-faced; a traitor to that which he should love most in all the +world. He degrades his talent to the vilest uses, and invents sham +dangers to hide real ones. Like the sailor who, to possess himself of +a bag of money, tossed a burning brand into the hold, he cries "Fire, +fire!" to divert attention from himself.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Really, really, my lady!' laughed the chancellor, with constraint, +'your jester improves daily. He wallows in imagery as the swine in +mire. My good fellow, I fail to follow your meanderings, though I seem +to apprehend that you are cross about these arrests? I have naught to +do with them--will you be more comfortable if I swear it?--but I must +admit, while doing so, that I am no advocate for ill-judged leniency.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If a man is so poor a rider as to cling to his nag by the spurs, he +must needs apply a strong curb to control the madness he provokes.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'And I am that rider? Thank you. Your ladyship's palace resembles the +home of the tranced Beauty. It is grievously begirt with thorns and +stinging-nettles. I vow I know not why our dear Curran nourishes such +asperity against me, for I never did him a favour. But there, there! +He's politically insane. A mountebank with one half his talent for +rant would make his fortune!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Were I one, my lord,' returned Curran, with a bow, 'so presumptuous +as to set my little head against the opinions of a nation, I should be +glad if folks said I were insane!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare's cheeks were beginning to be unusually rosy, for Doreen +gazed at him with undisguised contempt, and my lady was evidently +amused in a half-malicious way at the encounter.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If you think,' he said loftily, 'that it will help you into +consequence, you are welcome to bespatter me; but be assured that I +value you so little, either as a lawyer or a man, that I must decline +to address you further till you learn manners.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Glandore was enchanted, and almost forgot his headache, for he +sniffed a good duel in the wind, and was an artist in such matters.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I desired to plead with you against yourself,' the little man said +stiffly, 'wherein I was a fool, because your heart, as we know, is +ice. Nay, I have done; for I may not carry on a conflict wherein +victory can bring no honour!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess smiled with thin lips, as Bess may have smiled when +Leicester and Essex were bickering. The fact of these sworn foes being +constantly here together, was in itself an indirect compliment to her +fascinations. Bowing low to her ladyship, Curran trudged across to the +stable-yard, whither his pony had trotted before; and Terence, from +whose face the devil had been peeping ever since the speech about the +half-mounted, followed him in silence thither.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare flicked the dust from his pink silk stockings, and plumed +himself complacently, as a hawk does after a tussle with some +formidable fowl.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fore Gad, my lady,' he said, 'you are too indulgent. That animal must +be banished from your menagerie, for he is too rough a bear!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'A good man and true!' returned my lady, with decision; 'despite his +sharp tongue and unprepossessing shell. He was hard on you, touching +you on the raw, and you got the worst of it, and flew in a passion, +and were rude, though you pride yourself upon your temper. You must +make it up before you sit down to breakfast.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence found his chief standing over his pony, a prey to violent +agitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">'My boy,' he cried out at once, 'I must have a blaze at that rascal!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What rascal?' asked the other, who, wounded by his mother's +indifference, was brooding on his own trouble.</p> + +<p class="normal">'There's but one rascal in the world, and his name's Clare! I'll make +a window through him, I will, with sword or pistol, as suits him best. +Go and tell him so.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Most obliging, no doubt,' said Terence, with a half-smile; 'but you +must refrain this time, for my sake. Indeed, you employed language +such as sure never before was used to a lord chancellor. If he +survives your words, no bullet can affect him.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's no use!' persisted the little man, shivering like an aspen; 'I +shan't sleep until I shoot that rascal.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Terence passed his arm affectionately within his, and Curran +perceived that there was something amiss with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You have other duties, my old friend,' the young man sighed. 'Come, +come--you must be dignified.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it I?' returned the other, rubbing his nose ruefully. 'I fear +dignity is a robe which he who would box must lay aside during the +sparring. Maybe, when the fight's done, he'll find that it has been +stolen during the battle! A fig for dignity! I'd rather have a blaze.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No!' pursued the young man, mournfully. 'For my sake, you will +abandon this quarrel. I must leave this house, and to whose should I +fly if not to yours? I must go away, for this can be borne no longer. +There is a limit to human patience, and mine is a small allowance.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do nothing rashly,' Curran urged.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I tell you I cannot bear it,' the young man retorted with vehemence. +'Who knows to what I might be tempted if Shane should go too far? I +tell you I dare not trust myself. And my mother has no sympathy for +me, as you saw; for she was superbly indifferent when he threw that +insult in my teeth. What cares she if I am insulted or not? Such words +from another man, and I would have sprung at his throat at once. When +we fear temptation, it is best to run away from it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran reflected for a moment, and then grunted:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Boy! Coriolanus replied to his pleading parent, "Mother, you have +conquered." To oblige you, I will not shoot Lord Clare.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I thank you for making an old woman of me!' Terence replied, with a +tinge of humour. 'My conduct was somewhat like a woman's, I confess, +for sure no man should bear so great an insult, even from a brother!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You know best,' the little man said, patting his companion's shoulder +fondly. 'But it seems sad thus to shake off the dust of your ancestral +home. Maybe, if he sees you won't be put upon, my lord may grow more +civil. Shane no doubt is trying, and you are a warm-complexioned young +gentleman. Having no son, I would gladly take you to fill the vacant +place, as no one knows better than yourself. You shall stay with me +for a few months, and I'll speak to her ladyship about my lord, who +must be taught to cultivate a civil tongue and apologise; for there +must be no open rupture between you. We'll say it's for convenience' +sake, as I want to make a great lawyer of you. There are briefs you +must study for me, and they pour in, you know. How'll I get through +the papers at all at all, unless I have my junior near me?'</p> + +<p class="normal">And thus the matter was settled between them, while the elder wondered +what Mrs. Gillin would think of the arrangement. She must be +hoodwinked without delay to prevent mischief, or she would come +clamouring up to the Abbey in her quality-clothes, and all the fat +would be in the fire at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hearing a light footstep on the gravel, Terence turned, and a pang +shot through his heart as he beheld his cousin. It was dreadful to +leave her behind, in the maw as it were of Shane. Yet what difference +could his absence make to one who treated him so scurvily? And those +smart garments, too--that aggravatingly bewitching bonnet--for whose +behoof were they intended? Not for his, certainly. All things +considered, it was best that he should go.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile my lady calmly discussed a late breakfast in the oak parlour +with Lord Clare, unconscious that the behaviour of her sons had been +more indecorous than usual, while the originator of the quarrel +trifled languidly with an egg, speculating about time and place, +whether the duel between Curran and the chancellor was to be with +sword or pistol. Why not directly after breakfast in the rosary? a +capital spot, sheltered from wind and observation. Terence would of +course be Curran's second; Cassidy here, who had been hanging about in +a deprecatory manner, first on one leg, then on the other, would be +the chancellor's; while he, my lord, would see fair play. An excellent +arrangement. Then the combatants might amicably return together to +Dublin in the golden coach to set about the business of the day.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having settled the party of pleasure to his liking and reviewed its +details, the King of the Cherokees was no little disgusted to see Mr. +Curran enter presently and take his seat as if nothing had happened. +My lady, on the other hand, was mightily relieved, for she liked the +two almost equally well, leaning a little perhaps to the side of the +chancellor, on account of his polish and fine manners. She was not +blind to the faults of either of her friends. Clare, she knew, +despised literature, in which Curran delighted. He disdained the arts +of winning; was sullen sometimes, and always overbearing; and when he +condescended to be jocular was usually offensive. But then he was a +dazzling light. Curran was particularly interesting to the stately +countess by reason of his marvellous energy and originality. He was +quicksilver--surcharged with life--restless, sparkling, bewildering; +and it amused her to try to control his erratic movements. Many a time +she lectured, in private, Curran with reference to Clare--Clare with +regard to Curran.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter was in the habit of deploring that the former was a patriot +lost, seduced by England, because of his aristocratic proclivities. A +patriot cannot be a courtier, he constantly declared. The ways of the +aristocracy grow more brutal and more reckless with impunity; the +coarseness of their debauchery would have disgusted the crew of Comus; +their drunkenness, their blasphemy, their ferocity, have left the +ignorant English squires far behind. To this the countess would reply +(who knew little of the Dublin <i>monde</i>, living as she did a retired +life) that he was biassed by the prejudice of his Irish slovenliness, +in that he could not look upon a man as honest who wore clean linen +and velvet small-clothes. And so the friendly conflict would go on, +one scoring a point and then the other, one breaking into rage and the +other apologising; and so the incongruous cronies wrangled along the +road of life, battling with the breezes which blew round them, whether +from east or west.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran sat down to his breakfast as if nothing had happened, +tucking a napkin into his vest, and handing my Lord Clare, with biting +amiability, the salt or the butter or the bread, while my lady marked +with satisfaction that this tempest was but a squall. That the chairs +of Terence and her niece should remain unoccupied was a matter of no +moment, for the former was probably sulky after his snubbing; while as +for Doreen, her conduct was always more or less improper. Perhaps her +serene ladyship would have been ruffled if she could have looked on +them in the stable-yard, for they were standing very close together, +the one subdued by the prospect of leaving his home for the first +time, the other saddened with thinking of the arrests.</p> + +<p class="normal">They stood very close together, oblivious of the morning meal; and +Terence caressed the moist muzzles of the hounds with lingering +fingers, while his cousin observed that an interesting air of sadness +suited him. A too healthy look, a too ruddy cheek, are to be +deprecated as unfavourable to romance; yet is there a peculiar and +specially captivating interest about a humdrum exterior with a blight +on it. Terence was too fat and sleek; unheroic, prosaic to an absurd +degree. At least his cousin chose to think so as she looked at him. +Then she glanced down at her own fine raiment with disgust, and hated +prosperity. What right had she to flaunt in delicate muslins while her +people were in bondage? Sackcloth and ashes would become her better, +now that the last champions of her faith were pining in duress. As for +the youth here, it was only fitting that he should be fat and sleek; +for was he not a Protestant, one of the oppressors? What was his +trouble to her trouble--sorrow for a race ground down? True, his +mother loved him not, and his brother was inconsiderate. He should +have spoken boldly, putting his foot down as Doreen would have done, +though his was big and hers was tiny--demanding at least some sort of +respectful consideration, instead of wrapping himself in injured airs +as he proposed to do. And as the thought passed through her mind it +was touched by a tinge of self; for if Terence were to go away, one of +the safeguards of his cousin's peace would slip from her. With the +instinct of intrigue, which is planted in the staidest of female +bosoms, she had determined that the best way, perhaps, of +counteracting her aunt's eccentric marriage scheme would be to play +one brother off against the other. As to a match with Shane, that was +out of the question; to marry Terence would be equally undesirable. +Even now, the wistful humility with which he surveyed her fairy bonnet +was conducive only to laughter. He did not care for her any more than +she cared for him--of course not. But is it not <i>de rigueur</i> for +youths to sigh intermittently after domesticated cousins till the +moment for the <i>grande passion</i> arrives, when they breathe like +furnaces and threaten to fling themselves out of windows? His was +clearly a case of primary intermittent fever, which was not a serious +cause for alarm; and the damsel was quite justified in employing its +vagaries for the protection of her own peace. My lady's project, she +considered, would tumble to pieces in time through inherent weakness. +Till that auspicious moment arrived it would be necessary to stave off +a crisis. It was merely a matter of time--a brief struggle between two +strong wills, in which my lady would succumb, as she invariably did +when pitted against her stubborn niece. For this reason it was +annoying that Terence should go away, and Doreen felt tempted to +employ such arts as she might, without being unmaidenly, for the +prevention of a family split. She said therefore, with a distracting +glance of her brown eyes, while eager muzzles wormed into her hand:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is this quite irrevocable? The house will be so dull without you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I would stay if you really wished it,' blurted out the inflammable +youth, pinching a cold nose till the dog--its owner--broke away +howling. 'You know there is nothing I would not do to please you, +Doreen!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is there not?' she returned, with a ring of bitterness, for she was +too straightforward to feel aught but impatience for idle +protestations. 'To please me, would you give up all for Erin, as +Theobald has done? No--you would not. A fine-weather sailor, Terence! +<i>You</i> give up anything, who have all your life been lapped in +luxury--and why should you? Thanks to Mr. Curran, the legal ball is at +your foot, and you only need to work to become rich and happy. But I +shall be sorry to miss your bright face, for all that.'</p> + +<p class="normal">A second flash, as of a burn in sunlight, carried the lad beyond his +usual prudence. With disconcerting suddenness he seized her hand and +brought his flushed cheek close to hers.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Doreen!' he gasped. 'If you will love me and be my wife, I will do +anything and bear anything. You've only to direct. I'm poor I know, +but I will work, for I am capable of better things if I have an +object.'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Miss Wolfe, though far from a coquette, was gifted with presence +of mind. Her intention had been not to provoke an untoward declaration +such as would exasperate her aunt, and, possibly, Lord Glandore; but +to use this impulsive swain as a bulwark of protection against the +assaults of my lady. Perchance, under the circumstances, it was better +that he should depart for a few months to cool his too explosive +ardour. It would not do to encourage, nor yet to quarrel with him. She +escaped from him therefore, holding up her pretty hands, and said +demurely:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Of course, if Mr. Curran really wishes it, you had better obey. It is +a long ride for you every morning from the Abbey to the Four-courts.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The Priory, on the other side of Dublin, was about the same distance +from the Four-courts, Terence thought with anger. The girl was playing +with him, as she always did.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I hope Sara will make you comfortable,' she went on. 'No doubt she +will, she is so sweet a girl. Then we shall meet at Castle balls, and +you shall lead me out for a rigadoon like a mere stranger. That will +be funny, will it not? You don't mean what you say one bit, and it is +a relief to me to know that it is all flummery--you silly, hot-pated, +blarneying Pat! Come along. We will go and eat our breakfast and be +thankful that we have one to eat, instead of talking nonsense. That is +all that you or I are fit for, I am afraid! For it is not such as you +nor I who are destined to save poor Ireland!'</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">THE PRIORY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">A year went by, and Terence was still away from home, an inmate of the +Priory; settled down, much against his will, as a sober councillor, +principal assistant to Mr. Curran, the continually rising advocate. +Sober is scarcely the fitting epithet, for conviviality was the +besetting sin of all classes of Irish in the eighteenth century, and +it was notorious that legal gentlemen, from Judge Clonmel to the +meanest attorney, were constantly in the habit of going drunk to +roost. Where lawyers led, Dublin was fain to follow, for the Bar +took the lead in the society of the metropolis, occupying a strong +middle position of its own between 'gentlemen to the backbone' and +'half-mounted' ditto, from, which it dictated to both. As the policy +of ministers grew more and more unpopular, it became more and more +urgent that Government patronage should be expended in purchasing +support for the measures under which the country groaned; and where +could support be more easily found than among the exponents of +forensic wisdom?</p> + +<p class="normal">Successfully to do battle with Flood and Grattan it was necessary to +scrape together as much intellect as was available, and so every +promising barrister became certain of a seat in parliament if he would +furbish up his brains for the Viceroy's benefit. This gave to the +lawyers a prestige which drew sons of peers within their ranks, and +they assumed superior airs, which no man challenged, in that their +profession was a nursery to the senate--a step-ladder to the highest +honours. Younger sons of noble houses invariably lean towards the +middle class, because a wide difference of income divides them in +feeling and ways of thought from their elder brothers. Such lordlings +as possessed a competence chose to while away their hours elegantly in +gowns and bands. And so the Bar became the fashion, the lawyers being +credited with such attributes as they thought proper to adopt, and +being permitted to wield an arbitrary sway which was beneficial and +mirth-inspiring. They assumed the right of mind over matter, and +people bowed the knee without inquiry, for they were pre-eminently +jolly dogs who made life the merrier, whose scraps of legal lore +sounded mightily sonorous to ignorant ears, and who, if one was rash +enough to presume to dispute their law, were always ready to take +refuge behind the inevitable pistol. But human nature at its best is +frail, and even lawyers are not always pure. When came the tug of +war--when the Four-courts were closed and courts-martial juggled away +men's lives--the councillors prated no more of their incorruptible +virtue, but donned the uniform as others did, and truckled, with a few +bright exceptions, as meanly as the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">But we are now in 1796, when King Claret ruled the roast; when all +were besotted with drink, from Clonmel who gave sentence with a drop +in his eye, to the beggar in the dock who starved his stomach to buy a +drain of spirits; when out of the six thousand houses which formed +Dublin, thirteen hundred were occupied as boozing-kens; when guests +were deprived of their shoes by a host who understood hospitality, and +broken glass was sprinkled in the passages to prevent a man from +jibbing at his liquor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran's fears were being realised in this year of '96, for the +criminal business to which he had turned his attention was increasing +on his hands through the swelling torrent of treasonable charges. My +Lord Clare's policy was bearing its full crop of evils, for he had +succeeded in moulding the too plastic Viceroy into the shape that +suited him, according to the plan laid down by Mr. Pitt. Lord Camden, +whilst meaning to do well, was repeatedly led astray, as many a better +man has been before him. To Clare he was a docile cat. He submitted to +the secret council of Lords--that mysterious wehmgericht--who were +urged by the chancellor to the most violent proceedings, and became +unconsciously a scapegoat for the bearing of the sins of others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Under skilful manipulation the Society of United Irishmen flourished +prodigiously. Tom Emmett and Neilson were kept in prison, where they +languished without trial. Others were let out and caged again as +occasion required, that they might inflame their fellows with a +catalogue of dread experiences. Midnight meetings resulted, wherein +orators declaimed of the wickedness of the perfidious one, and +summoned all true patriots to take the fatal oath. The decision which +had been come to on the disastrous night in Trinity was carried out to +the letter, and was much assisted in its fulfilmeut by the harsh +treatment of the chiefs. The military system was engrafted on the +civil.</p> + +<p class="normal">Faithful to his promise, Cassidy rode to Belfast, delivered Emmett's +order to the delegates there, and then with commendable prudence +subsided into the background. The provincial committee spread out its +arms, from which new ones were speedily engendered, and passed +resolutions of grave import, while England stifled her merriment. +Civil officers were to wear military titles. A secretary over twelve +was to become a petty officer with gewgaws on his coat; a delegate +over five of these, a captain, with more gewgaws; a superior over five +captains, a colonel with a plume; mighty fine! The colonels of each +county were to send three names to the central directory, from which +one was to be chosen adjutant-general of his county to deal directly +with the capital. And thus a national army was forming in the dark, +just as the Volunteer army had sprung up in the daylight, with the +important difference that by this time England had cured her wounds +and regained her pristine strength.</p> + +<p class="normal">I protest that this linen-draper-medley masquerading in galoon would +be laughable, were it not so sad a spectacle. But who shall dare to +laugh at honest men, whose delusions are nursed and played upon +instead of being tenderly swept away? Curran's sympathies were with +the reformers, but not his judgment; and he became a sort of link +between two parties. His position as a lawyer gave him the <i>entrée</i> to +the best houses, whilst his homely habits and untidy dress caused the +lower orders to look on him as one of themselves. Between the rival +parties he shillyshallied with a weakness which his character belied, +grumbling at the patriots for their imprudence, growling at the sins +of Government, very uncomfortable in his mind, and of no use so far to +either of the opposing factions.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the members of the society committed themselves more deeply, Lord +Clare became more gay. He hinted to the half-mounted gentry that if +they liked it they might volunteer as active agents against the +misguided youths who were preparing to turn Ireland topsy-turvy. +Nothing could please the squireens better than this tacit permission +to give vent to their worst passions. Brutal, cruel, sycophantic (as +ignorant and depraved natures are), they began to band themselves in +regiments, with nobles for superior officers, and to commit outrages +on those below them, pretty certain that they would be indemnified for +any atrocity they might commit. <i>L'appétit vient en mangeant</i>. The +peasant, ground down and wretched to the level of the serf of +Elizabeth, howled out that Justice was indeed fled, and hearkened with +ravenous avidity to the voice of the charmer who sang of French ships +in the offing, and a proximate term to misery. Drilling went on under +cover of night, and the practice of the pike, since gunpowder could +not be purchased; and the shibboleth anent the bough which was to be +planted in England's crown might be heard a hundred times in whispers +on every market-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, misery or no misery, folks must eat and drink, and the +Hibernian nature--as quick to resent as to forgive, as vehement as +indiscreet--is given to extremes, from sadness to mirth and back +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran, though his heart was sore, was fond of dainty viands, and +beguiled himself, as others did, with the pleasures of the table; +striving to drown, with a clatter of knives and forks, the din of +approaching tempest. His board was ever sumptuously garnished, his +claret of the best, his welcome of the warmest, and few who were +bidden to partake of it ever declined his hospitality.</p> + +<p class="normal">Timid Arthur Wolfe, who was growing more cautious every day, and doing +his best to serve two masters for his daughter's sake, implored his +friend to take example by himself, demonstrating in the clearest way +that the history of my Lord Clare was becoming the history of all +Ireland, and that a man with a child's future in his hands has no +right to run a-muck. He had found out that the chancellor had +endeavoured to buy Curran, and failing ignominiously in that attempt, +was trying to undermine his business. Why be for ever snarling at Lord +Clare? It would be the old story of the pipkin and the iron pot. To +which arguments Curran answered, laughing:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it I that's the frog, and he the bull? Maybe it'll turn out +t'other way. I'm mad, no doubt, to set my small pebble to stop his +chariot, but many a trivial thing has proved the factor in a great +catastrophe, and I'll even insert my pebble. Fudge, Arthur! I'm too +popular, and my life's too open for even Lord Clare to wreak his +vengeance on me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Arthur Wolfe persisted, entreating that at least he would avoid +the charge of holding seditious meetings at his house. The weekly +dinners at the Priory were jovial, he admitted, beyond compare. The +cup went round as merrily as if Erin were a buxom wench, dimpled, and +well-to-do--but there could be no denying that those who drank of it +were marked men mostly, who knew the inside of Newgate as well as the +Priory parlour, and these were ticklish times for political +flirtation. What would befall Sara, honest Arthur pleaded, if an +accident were to befall the councillor? So delicate a blossom would +shrivel under the first frostnipping. On her father's head must rest +the consequence if misfortune crushed his child.</p> + +<p class="normal">At mention of Sara Mr. Curran would become exceedingly perplexed, torn +by two apparently incompatible duties, as he reflected on his pale +primrose. How wonderful are the decrees of Fate! Why are beings, +abnormally sensitive and delicate--whose fibres are liable to injury +by the most careful handling--pitchforked into a world of stones for +the express purpose of being bruised? Sara's nature was one which +needed sun and flowers, hourly solicitude and broidered blanketing, +yet here was she cast upon a rocky coast, battered by cold winds, +which threatened to become each day more easterly! Was she sent to +earth merely to bear pain, to linger for a space in more or less +protracted agony, and then to die? Possibly. It is a cruel creed to +accept, but the experience of the world we live in forces it upon us. +Perchance we shall learn to see a reason for it later on.</p> + +<p class="normal">The crash was coming, as none perceived more clearly than Mr. Curran. +Might anything avert it? Nothing. What would happen to cherished +ones in the throes of the hurricane? But how bootless was such +self-communing! <i>Fais ce que devra!</i> Mr. Curran was determined not to +shrink from duty to the soil which gave him birth. Though the days of +Roman virtue were overpast, he would sacrifice his heart's treasure on +the altar if need were, trusting to God's mercy for the rest; and it +was the kernel of his project to keep watch over the society--with it +in the spirit, but not of it in the body. He was wont to say with +pride that he had never wittingly snubbed any man who was in earnest. +Self-willed himself, he respected those who strove to make themselves, +and respected men doubly if their aspirations were unselfish. He said +to himself that the motives of this small self-sacrificing band were +pure where all else was foul; that though for their own sakes he dared +not espouse their tenets openly, yet it would be a coward's act to +deprive them of his countenance and advice because they walked in +danger. So he shook his head at time-serving Arthur Wolfe, and went +his independent way, and waited for his chosen guests each Wednesday +afternoon, caring no fig for Lord Clare's menaces, sorry only that he +continued to exist.</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood straddle-legged at the hour of five on a reception-day, among +the dishevelled laurestinus bushes, which he was pleased to call his +avenue, swinging his portly watch by its ribbon--as his way was when +guests were late. The Priory was a snug abode, if not endowed with +beauty; but then the works of man in Ireland are seldom in beautiful +accordance with the handiwork of God. It was a frightful ungainly +villa erected in the hideous style of Irish suburban architecture, +with attenuated slits of windows and tall consumptive doors set +half-way up in a bald waste of rough whitewashed wall. The usual +alpine stair led to the entrance; arranged, as it appeared, for the +purpose of setting an honoured guest on a glorious pinnacle of +observation, till slipshod Kathy could hitch up her draggled skirts to +let him in.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the parlour window might be admired a prospect of barn, dunghill, +dovecote, horsepond, piggery, which offered to the nose in summer a +bouquet of varied sweets; while the usual yard or two of road swept +round the usual dark circular grassplot with a mouldy rhododendron in +the centre of it. The orchard behind was christened by its owner his +pistol-gallery, but it was at the same time a forum; for there might +Mr. Curran frequently be seen of a morning, declaiming with +Demosthenic energy, whilst he lodged bullets at intervals in the bark +of special trees.</p> + +<p class="normal">The odour of savoury viands assailed his nostrils as he stood +statue-like on the pinnacle and whirled his watch, for he hated +unpunctuality above all things. His beetle-brows were knit, his lower +lip protruded, and he wondered whether any of his guests had been +arrested. That was naturally his first fear, and he wagged his head +with gloom at some ducks that quacked in a neighbouring puddle as he +surveyed the lugubrious possibility.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Idiots!' he moralised. 'Pictures of ourselves, who dream of dinner as +though sorrow could not wake. Alas! Fate is common and the future is +unseen, as the Arab proverb has it. You rejoice in the balmy showers, +do you?--not knowing, in your crass ignorance, that they will make the +peas grow! And here are we, as foolish as you, going in for a +jollification, as though a few months might not bring grief to all of +us! Ahem! It is well that we are a careless nation, or every Irishman +would cut his throat before he grew to manhood.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence, who was drawing corks as if catering for an army, laughed +aloud, for he at least showed no signs of brooding melancholy; being +prepared rather to take life as he found it, and enjoy it too, for his +bright brave nature endeared him to all, and he was himself too frank +to believe in the pervading blackness of the human heart. As Doreen +pictured, he had attended the Castle balls during the winter, and had +led out his cousin for a turn of passepied or rigadoon without much +sighing; had dutifully called on his mother when Shane was safe away, +and had spent the rest of his time yawning over briefs for the behoof +of Mr. Curran.</p> + +<p class="normal">These briefs caused little disputes sometimes between the two, which +it became Sara's duty to smooth away--for Terence was wofully idle and +abhorred his work, being wont to declare that intellectual labour was +one thing, and unintellectual drudgery another, till his chief waxed +exceeding wroth, and asserted that idleness led to mischief. Sometimes +there appeared a flickering flame of ambition in him, which Curran +tried hard to foster; but before he had time to fan it, Terence would +cry, 'Oh, bother?' and, flinging the brief into the garden, go forth +to fish with Phil. No one could be angry with him long. Idleness seems +to suit some natures, which appear moulded for the enjoyment of other +people's labour.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the ways of the world Terence was an infant; in the balance of +right and wrong inclined to be unsteady from sheer indolence of brain. +His bubbling, brawling flow of spirits deceived casual observers, who +set him down as frivolous, impelled by the lightest breeze. Doreen, +whose experience was limited, thought him so with a feeling of +affection, in which contempt was mingled; but Curran knew better. He +knew that many a sensitive man wilfully assumes a disparaging exterior +to mask his holy of holies even from himself. He knew that few among +us ever quite know ourselves; but wake up sometimes in the decline of +life to discover new virtues or new vices, of whose existence we were +quite unconscious; that we come to know our own characters by flashes, +just as we learn those of our nearest and dearest friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence was a general favourite; a hearty devil-may-care young fellow, +with a good digestion and few individual troubles, and was looked upon +with awe by gentle little Sara, as he helped in her household cares. +Indeed, Mr. Curran was justified in being cross this day, for the +repast was ready, if the guests were not. Veal, turkey, ham--all +piping hot--smoked in their respective dishes. Powldoody oysters +smiled as a centre-piece, flanked by speckled trout, caught but an +hour ago by Terence's servant Phil. Rows of wine-bottles garnished the +parlour wainscoting; the trim little hostess was squeezing lemons into +a jug on the hearthstone, with a view to prospective punch. He spun +his watch faster and faster as moments waned, more and more certain +that something untoward must have happened, and was no little relieved +by the sound of horses' feet, and the sight of his party approaching.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hooroo, boys!' he cried cheerily, shaking off his gloom. 'Ye're late, +but no mather; ye're welcome, and shall carry home what ye like with +ye, rather than an appetite.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara had a becoming blush ready for her undergraduate, as he +approached to kiss her hand. She looked shyly in his eyes, and marked +with uneasiness that they were growing very dreamy, while an habitual +contraction fretted his forehead, which she knew came from distress +about his brother. She knew--for sometimes she took entrancing walks +with him--that his temper was becoming soured and his spirit chafed, +in that Tom languished on in prison without trial. Was not such +injustice outrageous? The charges against him were grave, no doubt; +that bit of paper which blundering Cassidy had failed to swallow was +compromising in a high degree; but then others quite as much +compromised were let off long since with a fine, whilst Tom remained +untried. Any trial--before a jury however packed--would be better than +such lingering suspense. If the worst came to the worst, the crown of +martyrdom, which would go with conviction, would be some small +comfort; but to have lain rotting in a gaol for a year, to be immured +without a term till well-nigh forgotten, was like the death of a rat +in a hole; and as ardent young Robert thought of it, his +constitutional dread of bloodshed almost went from him. Seeing what he +was forced to see, he regretted his oath in nowise.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among many enthusiasts few were so enthusiastic as this boy--few +looked so hopefully for news of Tone and of his doings in France. The +newspaper of his imprisoned brother had somehow revived, though the +guiding hand was shackled, and wonderful articles appeared in its +pages which might well have brought down, for the second time, the +chancellor's vengeful claw on it. But such rash ebullitions of an +imprudent ardour were just what Lord Clare required. Nobody knew who +edited Tom's journal now (possibly many had a finger in it). It +certainly was not Robert, for he was but eighteen and a student still +of Trinity; but that he helped and gambolled on the chasm's verge, his +friends did know, and remonstrated with him more than once.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran was constantly lecturing him, but without effect, for the +froward boy only bade him attend to his own affairs; suggested that if +he wanted to save somebody from the vortex he had better look after +his own future son-in-law, and this made Curran angry. Yes; this was +one of the things which had resulted from Terence's leaving home. +Busybodies had winked and nodded, declaring that the little lawyer was +wise in his generation; that, having feathered his nest, he might do +worse for Sara than introduce her into the peerage with a plump dowry. +If a trifle reckless he was shrewd, they said; for whilst dallying +with the United Irishmen he had taken care to drag along with him the +brother of a great lord, who could not well interfere on behalf of a +near kinsman without also throwing the ægis of his rank over another +who ran in couples with him. The busybodies talked nonsense, as they +generally do. Mr. Curran had no views as yet with regard to Sara, and +required the protection of no aristocratic ægis. His reputation had +risen so high during the last twelve months by reason of the splendid +bravery with which he had defended the foes of established government, +that neither Pitt nor Clare dared at this moment to touch the +champion. His place at the Bar was so unique that there was no man, +not merely next, but near him. Other advocates were to him as the +stars to the sunbeam. In court he was at once persuasive, eloquent, +acute, argumentative; striking with cunning hand the chord of pity, +then (for he knew his audience) checking the rising tear with +laughter. As a cross-examiner he was unrivalled. Let truth and +falsehood be ever so intricately dovetailed, he could part them with a +touch. Swiftly he would place his finger on a vital point, untwist a +tangle and involve perjury in the confusion of its contradictions. So +long as he retained his purity, it would never do to assail this +Galahad. All were aware of that, and so he needed no help from a great +lord.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet many wondered whether he might be secretly afraid of being +ensnared; whether, foreseeing the struggle that was imminent, he might +not deem it prudent to prepare a sure method of escape. The children +of darkness have more ways of circumventing the children of light than +it is at all pleasant for you and me (who of course belong to the +latter category) to reflect upon. He was ill-judged, possibly, in +throwing a young man like Terence into too close contact with the +would-be reformers. But then was not that youth already a friend of +the Emmetts and of Tone? Was not his innate laziness a bulwark of +defence? Was he not in the habit of defending Lord Clare, and of +pointing out that party-spirit embitters people to the point of +shameful slander? As yet he declined to admit that the chancellor had +horns and hoofs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although he scorned the worldly-wise advice of Arthur Wolfe, Mr. +Curran was careful, when he could, to check open expressions of +sedition at his table. On this very day he found it necessary several +times to change the current of talk before the cloth was removed, when +Sara, nodding pleasantly to Terence and to her undergraduate, rose and +withdrew to her chamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there was a special reason on this particular day for an extra +amount of wrath on the part of the young men, his guests, which did +not fail to produce its answering growl from their host. That fresh +arbitrary arrests should have taken place surprised him not at +all--such proceedings were of daily occurrence. That Sirr, the +town-major, should be enlarging his paid army of false-witnesses, who +were becoming notorious as 'the band of testimony,' was also, alas, no +new thing. That a man's life could be sworn away by one witness who +had never seen him before was an awful fact; but then he, Mr. Curran, +was at hand to protest, and the recognised forms of law still +permitted an accused sometimes to baffle the paid malice of the +informer.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was an open question, all admitted, how far a government might go +in espionage. In moments of peril to the public weal it is certain +that ministers must draw their information from any quarter, however +foul; but to offer a premium to rascality is surely criminal. To +gain information of facts from detectives is quite a different matter +from the employment of secret agents to tempt people into sin and +then hound them down. Robert Emmett brought news with him this day +that seemed to foreshadow a change of tactics on the part of the +executive--ominous news the discussion of which had made the party +late upon the road, and which caused the young men, so soon as their +hostess had retired, to abandon social gossip for more grave +communion.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Friends,' Robert said, 'they intend to exasperate us. There can be no +more doubt about it, though I am in the dark as to their motives. +Please God, Theobald's mission will be accomplished ere 'tis too late; +the French will come to our succour before we are goaded to despair.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy, who had such a blundering tendency to do the wrong thing in +the wrong place, here broke out into a new ditty which was beginning +to be popular, trolling forth in his mellow voice:</p> +<div class="poem0"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">'The French are on the say, says the Shan van Vocht;<br> +And will be here without delay, says the Shan van Vocht;'</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">but he was sternly bidden to fill his glass and pass the +round-bottomed bottle without making himself noisily objectionable; +and, whatever other peccadillo he might think proper to commit, above +all things to drink fair.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Major Sirr's banditti,' the undergraduate went on, so soon as the +bottle, being empty, could be laid down, 'have taken on them a new +function. They arrogate to themselves now a right of paying +domiciliary visits without search-warrants, of forcing open a person's +door whensoever the outrage may suit their whim. A year ago they +wormed their way into Trinity, and by an accident we were unable to +rouse the college.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Arrah, thin,' grumbled Cassidy, 'will ye always be pitching my big +shoulder sand empty head in my teeth? I was sorry for my awkwardness, +and that's enough.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But at that time they were right to take us, if they could; for in +truth we were conspiring--a red-letter day in my memory, the day I +took the oath! Hearken to this, all of you! You know Tim Flanagan, of +Ormond's Quay, whose lady--God rest her soul!--was brought to bed a +week ago? She died, so did the child, last night; and Tim, gone wild +with sorrow, threw himself on the floor beside the corpse, refusing to +be comforted. There came a knocking at his warehouse entry; it was +barred, and the men away. His sister, from a window, desired to +know what was wanted. Sirr answered that he was come to search the +house--for what, in the Lord's name? Gunpowder cannot be bought. The +sister offered money if they would respect their grief, but not +enough. In the warehouses nothing compromising was found, of course. +The room where the corpse lay was to be searched also. They battered +in the door of the guarded chamber, but recoiled in a fright, for Tim +stood with a threatening glare of madness beside his young wife, a +knife clutched in his right hand. They fled, these myrmidons who +disregarded an agony of soul which a savage would respect; and Tim +knelt down there and then, with his appalled sister, swearing, on the +blue lips of her who was gone before, an eternal enmity against the +Castle tyrants.'</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a long silence, during which Curran hung his head, while the +brow of his junior darkened, and honest Phil, his goggle-eyed +henchman, poured claret in his master's lap instead of into his glass.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is horrible!' sighed Cassidy, and swore a string of oaths. 'Tim +Flanagan had fought shy of the society,' he shouted, 'but now would +surely join it. His was but one case out of many. The wickedness of +those in power would surely drive all Ireland to take the oath, and +then the sons of the soil would rise as one man and hunt the tyrants +into the Channel.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran shook his rough head.</p> + +<p class="normal">'They are working for a purpose, as Robert says,' he remarked; 'a +wicked purpose, which aims at our eternal slavery. Instead of +sowing seeds of wholesome trees, beneath which our children may seek +shelter, they cherish poisonous roots, with the intent to squat like +witches in a plantation of nightshade. You will never hunt them into +the Channel. Do you know that they are flooding the island with +troops--<i>disciplined troops</i>, who will part your ill-trained myriads +like water? I see their aim, though they would fain hide it till the +fruit is ripe. They will goad us by insidious outrage to despair, then +stamp on us with an overwhelming force, and, when we are faint and +bleeding, will tie us, gagged and chained, to the car of England for +evermore.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What do you mean?' Terence inquired sternly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I mean,' responded his chief, 'that when we are ground into the dust, +they will sweep us from the list of nations. Cobwebs will gather round +the locks of our senate-house; our exchange will be silent as the +tomb, our docks empty, our quays deserted. England will swallow us +body and soul; will devour our liberty, and with it our existence.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Never!' bawled impetuous Cassidy. 'We will die first, if it's thrue +what he says, and he's more wise than I. We are men, aren't we, who +can die but once? Shall we lie down to be whipped, like dancing-dogs? +There's no going back, except for cowards, boys! All must fall in, or +be disgraced. What say you, Master Crosbie, will you sit by and see +Ould Erin sold?'</p> + +<p class="normal">The excitement of this bellowing athlete was contagious.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If I believed that there was one tittle of truth in the suspicions of +my old friend, I'd take the oath to-morrow,' cried Terence, with a +slap upon the table. 'But he exaggerates.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do I?' growled Curran. 'I say that they mean to unite Ireland to +England, and that their present operations are tending to that end; +and I also affirm that, whether you take the oath or whether you do +not, that important ceremony will have no effect whatever on the +end--you coxcomb!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Be their intentions what they may, there is no going back now,' +echoed young Robert, sipping his claret dreamily. 'All who have a real +stake in the country must see that. Is not our first stake our +national honour? and how may we bow our necks beneath the Saxon's heel +without eternal shame? The truculent, bloody Saxon! who has left his +track like a livid welt across our land, in altars polluted and laid +low, pledges made and broken, a long trail of lust and rapine and +crime.'</p> + +<p class="normal">A faint smile flitted over Cassidy's features, for this was the turgid +eloquence of the mysterious newspaper whose editor was in Newgate.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Boy, you chatter balderdash,' Curran snapped shortly; 'such +balderdash as the ignorant drink too eagerly for truth. Oh for a +little ballast to keep us steady! An Irishman, when not stranded on +the Scylla of indolence, is certain to flounder headforemost on the +Charybdis of enthusiasm; and, of the two dangers, the latter is +generally the worst.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Deed, it's thrue what ye say, councillor dear,' Cassidy murmured, in +a coaxing tone. 'But sure, though you rail at us, you would not stand +by neither, any more nor this young gintleman? We know well enough +your heart is with us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are no better than baaing sheep following one another into the +shambles,' answered the host testily, for he was taken aback by this +open assault upon himself and Terence. 'Your ill-digested plans must +fail.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fail!' echoed Robert and Cassidy together. 'Why,' continued the +former, forgetting his horror of bloodshed, 'when the time comes we +shall count upon a hundred thousand men. I know it by the returns sent +in to the Directory.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'On paper.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'And the French will be here in force--the veterans of the Republic.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'The French, the French!' growled Curran. 'Say that they land and beat +the armies of King George, which I much doubt; will they not soon +weary of a precarious possession, and, carrying you to market in some +treaty of peace, barter you away to be well scourged? I vow I have no +patience with you, grieved though I be for the humble order of the +people, who from lack of education are easily deluded. Depend upon it, +your acts are all known in London. By the time you are ready, the +towns will seethe with British troops. I tremble to think of the +result.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Would ye have us turn the cheek like good Christians, then?' jeered +the giant, who, under influence of wine, was becoming warm. 'Are the +sons of the ancient kings meekly to become galley-slaves?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What would I have ye do?' retorted the host, who perceived with wrath +that he was being driven into a corner. 'I'd have ye keep a civil +tongue, and talk no treason till ye're outside my privet-hedge. If ye +do not, I'll report what's been said to Clare; I will, upon my honour, +to save ye from worse folly.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The sturdy little man looked as if he were quite capable of carrying +out his threat. If he were to disclose all he knew of them, it would +be terrible indeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy, the claret mounting to his muddled brain, seized a decanter +with the laudable intention of belabouring his host with it.</p> + +<p class="normal">'A traitor!' he muttered fiercely. 'That's the lowest beast that +crawls. If ye spake ere a word of us, I'll pistol ye in the street!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The lawyer looked calmly up at the menacing giant and laughed. 'Put it +down, big baby,' he said. 'You dare to think me half-hearted because I +won't take a pike and try to knock down St. Patrick's. Does any man in +Ireland love Erin more than I? Learn, fool, that men have different +functions assigned to them. Do your best, if God wills it so. When the +battle's lost ye'll want me to bind your gashes. I've listened to much +rubbish this afternoon. Now you, in your turn, listen to the truth, +which is bad enough--ochone! I <i>know</i> that all your martial goings-out +and comings-in are reported one by one; I <i>know</i> that they are +broidured and embellished before they cross the sea. I have reason to +suspect--I admit I cannot prove it yet--that such cooked accounts are +given of your doings as actually to alarm the British cabinet. You are +playing into Pitt's hands. I have heard that they even talk of +"martial-law" as possible. If they come to that, the Lord be merciful +to our poor Erin!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran's head sank on his breast, and tears ran down his rugged +cheeks; while the conspirators glanced one at the other with pallid +faces. Martial law! rough and ready tribunals presided over by the +tools of England! Sure their host's terrors must carry him away. And +yet he might be right, judging from the past. It was quite possible +that they were being deliberately driven to the shambles in cold +blood--like victims marked out for slaughter by some savage despot. +Cassidy laid down the decanter, and began to stammer apologies for his +petulance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The noise of voices at high words brought Sara into the room, who, +frightened at the sudden dread which seemed to have invaded the party, +clung to her father, while she turned an inquiring glance to the +undergraduate.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What is it, father?' she murmured with dim fear, for the adored face +of Robert was distorted with passion, while his hands shook like +leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">'A Union is it that they want?' the boy muttered 'twixt chattering +teeth. 'I will resist it to the last gasp of my existence--to the last +drop of my blood--and when death comes, I will call down the eternal +curse of Heaven upon the destroyers of our freedom!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara felt dizzy, and would have fallen but for her father's encircling +arm. Dark shadows of foreboding were flitting across her mind. Was he +whom she elected to worship to be drawn into the whirlpool after all? +Was Robert to share Theobald's fate--to be banished from friends and +motherland? In her gentle loving heart she registered a vow that if +that fate should come on him, the sorrow of his exile should be +soothed by no hand but hers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran set himself to calm his darling. 'Silly child!' he said, +patting her yellow curls. 'There, there, why not in bed? Fie! young +ladies mustn't rush in where gintlemen are toping. Well, as ye are +here, pick up the matarials from the hearth, my love, and squeeze in +another lemon. This won't do. I shall lose my reputation as a <i>bon +viveur</i>. A sentiment? Bravo! Here 'tis. Come, bumpers! "If a man fills +the bottom of his glass, more shame to him if he doesn't fill the top; +and if he empties the top, sure he'd not be so base as to deny the +bottom the same compliment!" Now we'll lock the doors, and my big +friend shall expend his exuberance in song. A toast first. You too +shall sip of it, my blossom, for there's ne'er a bit of treason in +it.' Then, clasping Sara's slender waist, he raised his haggard eyes, +and said solemnly: 'As God in these latter days is unfolding in His +creatures strange new powers, so may they all tend to Freedom, Peace, +and Harmony. May those who are free never be enslaved--may those who +are slaves be speedily set free. Amen!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy, quite good-humoured and repentant now--for his bark was +always more awful than his bite--tuned up and sang his choicest +ditties; yet somehow there was a pall over the party which music could +not dissipate. Truths had slipped out in the desultory talk which +weighed down the souls of all. Mr. Curran, usually a pearl among +hosts, was worried and absent, for, look at the situation as he would, +there was nothing to be seen but impending disaster, and he thought +that perhaps he had spoken out too openly. Terence, too, seemed much +disturbed in mind; more moved at Robert's story and his own hints than +he liked to see. Perchance it would be safest to pack him home without +delay. Yet no--his was not the soul-harrowing indignation which +exercised the patriots. He was shocked, but there was no real danger +of his being trapped. It would lie heavy on his conscience, though, if +this artless joyous creature should be dragged into the vortex. Much +better that he should shoot, and hunt, and fish, and make the most of +the happy accident of his social standing. Certainly he would show +little affection for his <i>protégé</i> if he permitted him to be trapped, +and Cassidy showed wondrous anxiety to trap him. An odd person, +Cassidy; a whimsical combination of opposing essences; one of those +dangerous hot natures whose ill-balanced zeal is more fatal to a cause +than enmity. No one could on occasion be more oafishly stupid than he, +or more rashly brave; and yet the way he kept up a show of intercourse +with Major Sirr and my Lord Clare, after the fashion of a safety-rope +to which to cling in peril, was worthy of quite a subtle plotter. That +the giant meant well there could be no doubt. But if he, Curran, had +had aught to do with the society, he would have stipulated that this +firebrand should be kept as much as might be in the background.</p> + +<p class="normal">While he meditated thus the punch-bowl was emptied, and, as he made a +move to refill it, the party broke into knots and resumed the topic +which engrossed them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence listened to young Robert's views, which, under the auspices of +liquor, grew more rosy and more loud.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I don't mind telling you about it,' the boy was saying, 'for I know +that your honour is too fine to allow the smallest hint to be dropped +of what I say. The French will come with 15,000 men, and gunpowder, +and muskets. Pikeheads are being hammered out of hours on hundreds of +village anvils.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'They will never send 15,000 men,' Terence objected, with a doggedness +induced by drink. 'Their coffers are empty. Holland, Switzerland, the +Rhine, claim the attention of their arms.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If they send but 5,000 the work can be done. You don't believe it? +With three hundred as officers to head our own people, we could make +an effort.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What can a rabble hope to do against a disciplined force?' exclaimed +Terence, with animation. 'The French could not spare three hundred +officers to this outlying island. Who have you amongst you who could +teach a single military manœuvre? Who could save an army from rout +if attacked in rear, or judiciously decide upon a line of +entrenchment? What a reckless waste of life--a march into the grave!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'There are cultivated gintlemen who will come forward when they see +that we are in earnest,' put in Cassidy slyly; 'lots of them. There is +no telling what mines of military genius may be found amongst the +high-born. I confess I'd like to know what we really may expect from +France. Theobald has been ten months in Paris, is hand and glove they +say with General Hoche, and Carnot, the "Organiser of Victory." +Strange he should never write.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'My cousin Doreen has letters from him,' Terence said, in thick +accents. 'Maybe she'd tell us if we coaxed her.' Then, rising, he +flung wide the shutters and opened the window, through which streamed +such a flood of morning light and perfumed air as caused his wits to +reel. Cassidy grinned, as he marked the 'us,' and, encouraged by so +good a sign, made bold to clap the young patrician upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Sure she'd tell you, councillor darlint,' he whispered; 'for she +likes you, and I can get nothing serious out of her. Faix! it's the +dainty colleen she is!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I dare say she would,' returned Terence, while lines of latent humour +puckered up the giant's face. Councillor Crosbie's lofty patronage +amused him, for, of the two, Mr. Cassidy had seen most of the Abbey +during the past year. 'The day is come,' he urged; 'the very hour for +a ride. Will ye go and find out something to make our minds aisy, or +do ye think Misthress Doreen would be cross wid ye?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy was taking liberties. Of that Terence felt hazily assured.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes,' he replied, 'I will canter over to Strogue to see what I can +gather; a gallop by the beach will steady my nerves for the business +of the infernal Four-courts. Tell Phil, Cassidy, to saddle the horses +at once.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy humbly obeyed orders, while Curran, who was watching, laughed, +despite his dreary thoughts. How translucent is the strategy of youth! +The squireen's familiar manner of mentioning Doreen had stung her +cousin, and filled him with a desire to warn her of the oaf's +presumption. It was a fine excuse for stealing a delicious hour with a +girl who loved not flirtation; who crumpled up her admirers with +scorn; who might, without some such excuse, resent even a cousin's +interference with the stern duties of matutinal chicken-feeding.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Go!' Mr. Curran laughed, his conscience relieved, as he placed his +hand on the broad straight back of his favourite. 'Go, lad, and learn +what you can from that lovely conspiring siren. I think my Sally must +go too, to protect you. Stop a minute while I write a line to my lady. +I'm sorry we've not had so gay a time as usual--but sure gaiety is +being squeezed quite out of us. One Doughan Dourish before we +separate. Here's to Innisfail, and may God have mercy on her! And now +good-night, or rather good-morning. I've a heavy day before me, and +must e'en steal forty winks.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The party mounted their horses and rode away, and Mr. Curran went to +bed and slept, quite persuaded now that Terence must go home and stop +there.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">LOVES AND DOVES?</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">2222Honest Phil saddled the horses and brought them round in a +twinkling, delighted always with a journey to the Abbey; for did not +red-haired Biddy, who held his large heart in keeping, abide at the +shebeen foreninst the Little House with her mamma, Jug Coyle? Jug +Coyle--the Collough--or wise woman, mistress of hidden arts, whose +little public-house, on Madam Gillin's land, had grown more orderly +than heretofore during the last few months. It was not that grooms and +soldiers frequented it the less, but that, instead of sitting on the +bench without, roaring ribald staves into the small hours, as had been +the objectionable custom, they now preferred the innermost room with a +well-closed door. Yet, roistering or silent, there was the shebeen +with its mouldering thatched roof and discoloured whitewash walls, and +one of its tiny windows roughly boarded up, at the very gate of the +lordly Abbey--an undiminished eyesore to the chatelaine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara, whose gentle nature was perturbed by the scene at the +supper-table--the pale faces and haggard looks--slept not a wink all +night, and was most glad to join Terence in a canter by the seashore. +She daily grew fonder of Doreen, whose quiet manner seemed to instil +calmness into her own soul; who allowed the child in a gracious way to +cling to her, to prattle of her little troubles, her suspicions and +her fears, and her adoration of the undergraduate. Her father was too +busy to listen to her babbling; the dear young undergraduate too much +absorbed in what he called the cycle of injustice. All those with whom +she had to do--except Doreen--were for ever prating of the Saxon's +iron heel, shaking their fists at Heaven, venting dark anathemas and +muttering such threats as terrified her. Something dreadfully +mysterious was to take place soon--of that she felt assured--though +when she asked questions, Mr. Curran pinched her chin, calling her a +little silly kitten; then mused with eyes averted. Yes, there was a +heavy intangible cloud o'ershadowing those she loved; all the little +maid could do was to pour out her innocent soul to God, imploring His +mercy for her father and her friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wiser eyes than Sara's saw the cloud--observed that it grew blacker +and more thunderous as it lowered nearer earth--that its lining, +instead of being silvern, was lurid red. Some, like wreckers on a +craggy beach, rejoiced in the approach of a storm which would bring +them pelf; others watched it wistfully, as it darkened the sun, with a +sickening sense of powerlessness to avert its coming. Among these was +Doreen, who, surveying the gloomy prospect as from a watch-tower, grew +hourly more grave and self-contained. Her position at the Abbey had +changed but little during the interval. The dowager had never directly +referred to the conversation in the rosary, but the damsel was not +slow in perceiving that Shane and herself were thrown together as +often as was practicable. Then this wild scheme was not to be +abandoned idly? What could be the reason for it? Once, in her desire +to escape from a false position, she begged her easy-going parent to +take her to live with him in Dublin, telling him plainly that she +could never marry Shane, imploring him to spare her a distressing +ordeal. He only patted her hands, however, and nodded perplexedly, +with an assurance that she should never be forced into anything she +did not like. It was clear that Mr. Wolfe was growing more and more +afraid of his sister, also that public affairs distressed him; for he +plunged daily more deeply into routine business, attempting in a weak +way now and then to pour oil upon the waters between Curran and Clare, +carefully keeping his daughter out of the capital as much as he was +able. Not but what he would stand up for his girl upon occasion, when +my lady was too hard upon her. The dowager never grew weary of lifting +up her voice against Doreen's unseemly proclivities, her free and easy +ways, her ridings hither and thither, her expeditions none knew +whither. It was a disgrace to the family, she averred--for in her own +girlhood Irish ladies were content to sit by the fireside, or look +after the pastry, study the art of dumpling-making, concoct cunning +gooseberry-wine and raspberry-vinegar, prepare delicious minglings of +roseleaves and lavender for the sweetening of the family linen. To all +of which Mr. Wolfe was wont to reply mildly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'The maiden is of a masculine turn, who delights not in +sampler-stitching or pie-baking. She is three-and-twenty, of unusually +staid manners. I'd like to see the man who dared insult her! Let be, +let be. None would be more glad than I if she would think less of +politics and the dreadful Penal Code. Guide her inexperience gently, +if you will; but do not attempt coercion, or you'll get the worst of +it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Despite this prudent counsel, there were several tussles 'twixt the +maiden and her aunt; in one of which the elder dropped some incautious +words, which were a revelation to Doreen.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You play with edged tools, girl!' she had said. 'You form friendships +with the enemies of the executive and urge them to deeds of rashness, +knowing that, come what may, you, as a woman, will escape scot-free. +Your unwarrantable proceedings fill your father with such anxiety that +he dares not have you home, lest in Dublin you should set up for a +heroine and disgrace us. You are the most stubborn stiff-necked piece +of goods the world ever saw! Yet what can be expected of a Papist? +This is Nemesis upon him for having married one.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then this was the cause of her being left at the Abbey--of Mr. Wolfe's +evident anxiety? He dreaded lest--in her sorrow for her people--she +should do something which would involve him in difficulties with +Government. Poor, weak, loving father! No. That she clearly had no +right to do. Yet she could surely not be expected to approve the acts +of the executive; she, a Catholic, whose heart was rendered so +sensitive by the iron which had worn into it from childhood. Was it +her fault if her mind turned itself towards passing events instead of +being absorbed by the manufacture of tarts? Surely not! Hers was a +sturdier, braver nature than her father's. Loving him as she did, she +strove not to perceive his truckling ways. Had she been a man she +would have done as Tone had done--have seized a buckler and girded by +her side a sword--to have at the oppressor, whose tricks were so +crafty and so base. So both her father and her aunt suspected her, did +they, of urging men on to conspire against the state? My lady would +doubtless have placed her under lock and key if her brother had +permitted of such a measure. And knowing or suspecting what she did, +she was still anxious to bring about a union between the young +people--her favourite son, the wealthy Earl of Glandore, and the +Papist heiress who was so unmanageable. It was most amazing. Doreen +failed to track out the slightest clue to the mystery.</p> + +<p class="normal">Finding it so knotty she gave it up, choosing rather to ponder on the +turn affairs were taking. She hated Lord Clare now with an indignant +hatred, for he had raised his mask a little, and she had seen the +devil's lineaments looking out from under it. He made no secret of his +dislike of the Catholics, telling her to her face one day, with an +arrogant hauteur which made her blood tingle, that he was going to +make it his especial business to pull down the altars of Baal. Oh, if +this Sisera would only lie down to sleep before her--with what +satisfaction would she drive a great nail into his temple!</p> + +<p class="normal">The lord chancellor was aware that the beautiful Miss Wolfe loved him +not, and was wont to jest thereat when taking a dish of tea with his +old flame the dowager. My lady smiled at his tirades, making merry +over the appalling catalogue of things which he intended to do; for, +being a brilliant Irishman, he of course had the national tendency to +romancing, and it never entered into her mind to conceive that he +actually could mean what he said. Though shrewd enough, my lady was +quite taken in by my Lord Clare, who seeing in her a swaddler--one of +those bigots who mistake rancour for virtue--was minded to make his +ancient ally useful to his ends.</p> + +<p class="normal">He failed to realise that my lady's bigotry was only skin-deep--that +it was her way of protesting against the many disagreeable things +which she had been forced to endure, and, thanks to Gillin, was still +enduring. He therefore feared not to propose to her a something, at +which her pride should have recoiled with horror, but which--thanks to +his persuasive arts and her belief in his talent and integrity, she +agreed at least to consider before repudiating. First he commiserated +her position in being burthened with the responsible care of a damsel +who was like to bring disgrace upon them all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Behind the scenes as he was, he could see farther among the machinery +than most people, and deeply deplored what seemed inevitable--namely, +that the rash young lady would certainly commit herself with regard to +the members of the Secret Society--be drawn into their schemes--and +work grave mischief, such as should bring shame on the names both of +Wolfe and Crosbie, unless something were done to circumvent her. +Violent means were of course vulgar, and dangerous to boot, by reason +of Miss Wolfe's character. My lady wished to unite her to her eldest +son, did she? Well, it was an odd fancy, at which it was not his place +to cavil. All the more reason then to render the folly of the girl of +no effect by artifice. Once settled down as a wife and mother, she +would forget the errors of her girlhood, and even thank her friends +for having saved her from herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now my Lord Clare knew through Mr. Pitt, whose spies in Paris told him +everything, that Tone kept up a correspondence with Miss Wolfe under +the name of Smith--that she fetched her letters from Jug Coyle's +shebeen, where they were left for her under a prearranged name. His +own spies told him that she talked sometimes with mysterious men, who +came and went in a suspicious manner, between the environs of Dublin +and the outlying districts. Yes, it was too true; my lady might well +look shocked. The conspirators were making a catspaw of her niece, who +hovered between two duties--the one to her Protestant father, the +other to her crushed co-religionists.</p> + +<p class="normal">Did my lady's eyes ask what was to be done? This, and only this. For +it was clear, was it not, that her mines must be countermined for her +own sake and that of her belongings? It would not do to seize the +letters, because the villain in Paris would then invent some new +method of communication, which it might take the spies some time to +discover, and time was important just now. The young lady, being +enthusiastic and inexperienced, was most shamefully <i>exploitée</i>--the +executive saw that, and were prepared to make allowances, provided her +family would play a little into their hands. Did she see what he +meant? No! Then my lady was duller than usual, and he must dot his +i's. The executive knew that Miss Wolfe was artfully used as a +spreader of secrets, because no one else in all Ireland occupied a +position of similar complexity. Her heart was with the malcontents, to +begin with. She, as daughter of the attorney-general--most cautious of +time-servers--was not likely to be suspected of overt acts of treason. +She was clearheaded, too, and resolute, useful in council. Ill-judged +in other things, the conspirators had done wisely to employ Miss Wolfe +as a means of intercommunication.</p> + +<p class="normal">It would never do for Mr. Wolfe to be told of his child's +transgressions, as he would only whimper and cry out; the stronger +hand of his sister therefore must take the tiller, and steer the +family through this difficulty. Did my lady see now? No! Well, the +spies of the executive were cunning, no doubt; but their eyes could +not pierce stone walls or sheets of paper tied tight with ribbon. My +Lord Camden and the Privy Council wanted to know what the letters +contained which were dropped at the 'Irish Slave' for Miss Doreen. +Would my lady undertake the little service of finding out, and then +tell her dear friend Lord Clare what plans were suggested, what names +mentioned? He, on his side, would of course promise to be prudence +personified, and swear never to divulge by what means the information +had been obtained.</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess winced at the suggestion, and her face crimsoned. If +Government chose to establish a bureau of paid informers, who were +dubbed the Battalion of Testimony, it was no affair of hers, though +she could not approve the principle; but as to becoming one herself, +the bare idea was an audacious insult. The chancellor laughed airily +as she turned on him, for he expected some such ebullition of feeling, +and waited a little while ere he proceeded. Then, like the serpent +luring Eve, he strove to decide her with specious arguments. He showed +that, by helping to circumvent their plans, she might do signal +service against the Catholics; that both her brother and eldest son +might be made to benefit indirectly by her acts, and that nobody would +know anything of what she had done. In love and war all means are +fair. The girl had no excuse for the line she chose to take. It was +right and fitting that the lower orders should be cowed; that the +Papists should be stamped down into the serfdom from which in their +insolence they struggled to escape; that this Tone, whom people had +liked till he took up the cudgels of Antichrist, should be brought to +punishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">These were good reasons--strong enough surely to decide my lady. If +she wanted another, let her think of Gillin and her 'Irish Slave.' It +would be strange if that hateful enemy could not be mixed in the +coming struggle, and crushed in the downfall of the conspirators. This +last stroke almost settled the resolve of the wavering countess, whose +mental mirror had been blurred by long dabbling in questionable +waters, which, rising in her husband's throat to choking, had wrung +that last cry from him before he died. It would be delightful to +discomfit Gillin. It would be odd, too, if Doreen, in the contrition +which follows upon being found out, did not throw herself on her +aunt's mercy, and joyfully do as she was told, on condition of being +saved. After meditating awhile, my lady said she would think about it; +and Lord Clare, having planted his arrow, rode back to town, satisfied +that he had gained his end.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was not chicken-feeding, as Terence had thought probable, on +the morning when the riders started from the Priory. Yet was she up +and about, for there is naught so invigorating as fresh sea-air with a +whiff of tar in it, and the evenings at the Abbey were dreary enough +to induce the most wakeful to take refuge betimes in bed. She tended +the flowers in the tiny square called Miss Wolfe's plot, spent a few +moments in affectionate communion with some eager wet muzzles and +wagging tails in the kennels, then tripped away to the rosary, to +study a letter received the night before--a letter signed 'Smith,' in +a cramped hand. When such reached her, she invariably retired thither +to decipher them; for in the seclusion formed by the high clipped +hedges, she was sure of privacy, none being able to wander among the +shady avenues of beech without giving notice of their intention by the +clang of the golden grille, or the creaking of a lesser gate situated +at the other end of the pleasaunce.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a letter which gave food for concern. Impetuous, hot, Keltic; +dealing, too, with details which told of action imminent.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">'I will have no priests in the business,' it said. 'Most of them are +enemies to the French revolution. They will only do mischief. The +republic is on the move; will give us five thousand men. I would +attempt it with one hundred. My own life is of little consequence. +Please God, though, the dogs shall not have my poor blood to lick. I +am willing to encounter any danger as a soldier, but have a violent +objection to being hanged as a traitor, consequently I have claimed a +commission in the French army. This to ensure being treated as a +soldier in case of the fortune of war throwing me into the hands of +England.'</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">'His life--noble young hero!' Doreen reflected. 'Suppose that he were +to lose his life in the coming struggle! If Moiley needed such a +sacrifice, better that he should fall fighting than die a dog's death +by the noose!'</p> + +<p class="normal">As she thought what a blow his death would be, her bosom swelled with +anxiety; for every earnest woman sets up an idol in her heart, to be +clothed in the trappings of her own belief, which she takes for its +native adornments. She sits and keeps pious vigil over it, and weaves +ennobling legends concerning it, seeming to become purified by contact +with a nobler power, which, after all, is but the reflection of her +own better self. That her influence over Theobald was great, Doreen +knew, but not so great as his was over her. There seemed to her mind, +twisted as it was by circumstance into a sombre shape, something +sublime even in the light way in which he wrote of gravest things. His +letters were schoolboy documents, full of homely jests, quaint +sayings, quotations from bad plays. Yet what a marvellous work was he +achieving. A year ago he had gone forth a wanderer, armed with a few +pounds and a large stock of hope. He had sailed to New York, narrowly +escaping seizure by the crimpers on the sea; had then made for Paris, +whither he arrived almost without a penny. He knew scarce a word of +French, yet went he straight to Carnot, who, in a satin dressing-gown, +was holding <i>levées</i> at the Luxembourg. Partly in broken words, much +more by signs, he made known his wishes to the Organiser of Victory, +and, through him, to the Directory. They saw in his project for an +invasion of Ireland a tempting way of harassing perfidious Albion, but +unfortunately their treasury was empty, their armies disorganised, and +so they gave to their suppliant a cool reception. But Tone was not to +be easily put off. He haunted the antechambers of the ministers, +learned their language, prepared statements, suggested plans; +importuned all and each in broken jargon, till, amazed at his energy, +filled with respect for his pure motives and simple life, they gave +him a high place amongst their own officers, and promised that his +desires should be gratified.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen followed the rapidity of his proceedings with astonished +admiration, marvelling that he should work as he worked from sheer +love of humankind; was quite persuaded that all he did was right; +compared him daily to the men she saw around her--arrogant Clare, +swinish Shane, idle, prosaic Terence--and felt almost prepared +sometimes, if need were, to cast in her lot (as the chancellor +surmised) with her mother's oppressed people, rather than with those +of her highly-connected father. Gusts of loathing swept over her soul +for the feudal magnificence of the Abbey; she seemed thrown on a bed +of roses whose perfume sickened her. The idea of wedding all this +splendour while her people groaned, was in itself revolting; to +espouse Shane with it, filled the measure of her horror. Rather than +submit to my lady's eccentric wish, she was prepared to run away--to +hide herself in Connaught, anywhere; and this being comfortably +settled, she went on with Theobald's last letter.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">'Independence at all hazards. If the men of property won't help us, +they must fall, and we must support ourselves by the aid of that +numerous community, <i>the men of no property</i>. Alas for poor Pat! He is +fallible; but a lame dog has been helped over a stile before now. The +<i>arme blanche</i> is the system of the French, and, I believe, for the +Irish too. At least I shall recommend it, as Pat, being very savage +and furious, takes more naturally to the pike than the musket, and the +tactics of every nation should be adapted to its character. As for +Dublin, one of two things must happen. Its garrison is at least five +thousand strong. If a landing were effected. Government would either +retain the garrison for their own security (in which case there would +be five thousand men idle on the part of the enemy), or they would +march them to oppose us, and then the people would seize the capital. +Any way, we could starve Dublin in a week, without striking a blow.'</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">'Starve Dublin in a week!' Doreen pondered. 'What would happen to +outlying places like the Abbey?' Then an idea struck her, whereby her +own annoyances might be considerably lightened. 'Why not,' she +thought, 'work on my aunt's prudential fears, and induce her to +transfer the establishment to Ennishowen, in the north? Thus may +Shane and his mother be removed from danger, whilst I am free of a +dilemma--for, of course, when the moment of peril comes, my place will +be beside my father.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The golden grille clanged. A slight female figure, in a blue velvet +habit and peaked hat, after the new mode, made its way among the +roses, and Doreen advanced to welcome Sara.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran's pet was always a favourite of Miss Wolfe's, to whom her +prattle was a rest in the midst of many perplexities. She rallied her +archly about the undergraduate, marking, with a grave smile, the +confusion in the young maid's face; listening absently to ecstatic +descriptions of his numerous perfections, with a tender indulgence +mixed with sadness; for it undoubtedly was sad to observe how blindly +and artlessly the gay kitten gambolled, in spite of that threatening +cloud; wondering, wide-eyed, whether he really and positively ever +could come to care a tiny bit for a silly little thing like her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen knew quite well that Robert Emmett's was a lovable nature, that +he was free from the ordinary frailties of youth, sensitive to a +fault, just such a visionary as would suffer terribly in a great +crisis such as was at hand. Just as Tone was a chivalrous man of +action, so the younger Emmett was a dreamer of the most unpractical +kind--one who, staring at the stars, and striving to pierce their +mysteries, would plunge head-foremost into the first pitfall that was +made ready for his feet. His admiration for Theobald was as great as +Doreen's. When that cloud should burst, he would surely be found +by his side--might possibly stumble where the other could stand +erect--and, if aught befell him, what then would happen to the +Primrose? But what is the use of courting melancholy? Doreen this +morning, as at other times, shook off the dismal effects of her gay +friend's castle-building, made efforts to meet her half-way, spoke +hopefully of days to come, when Ireland should be content, when Sara +should have become a wrinkled matron with a parterre of yellow +blossoms round her, and beloved Robert a happy old paterfamilias with +a treble chin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara's peachy cheeks broke into dimples of pleasure at the +description, as she looked up sideways like a bird.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are wasting your holiest affections, my child!' Doreen observed +demurely; 'for men are dreadful, dreadful creatures who deceive and +ride away. They don't care about our love one bit, unless we pretend +to withhold it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I love him so very much,' returned Sara, with a rapt gaze and +trembling accents, 'that I could be content to worship him from a long +way off if he would let me--he is so good and kind and noble!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'He has never spoken to you of love?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Never.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The child's eyes filled with tears, and Doreen's heart tightened for +her. Poor fragile blossom. What might the nipping blast have in store +for it?</p> + +<p class="normal">'If any mischance were to befall him----' began the elder girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I should die,' Sara answered simply, as though such a result was the +only one which could be possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen walked on in silence. She was twenty-three, her companion five +years younger. Yet she could not comprehend this innocent pure heart +which at eighteen gave itself unconditionally away to be trampled upon +or treasured as its recipient should elect. She was sure that she had +herself never loved any one, except Tone, and her father, and her +mother's memory. The iron of the Penal Code had seared the germ of +such a love within her if it ever had existed. She recalled the cold +way in which she had calculated her capacity for playing Judith, and +felt ashamed. But why should she, after all? The practical and the +romantic were singularly blended in her character. What had a Catholic +to do with love and the exchanging of young hearts? Fretfully she +turned away from the enchantments of conservatories and hen-houses +which she was displaying to her friend, and remarked as she led the +way to the kennels:</p> + +<p class="normal">'You said you had brought Terence with you. Can he be closeted all +this while with his mother? That would be unusual. He does not favour +us with much of his society. As I live, here's another visitor. It is +such a lovely morning that I shall lay violent hands upon you all. Mr. +Cassidy here is one of the best yachtsmen on the bay. We might go for +a sail round Ireland's Eye if Terence would only condescend to show +himself.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh yes!' cried ecstatic Sara, 'it would be entrancingly delicious.' +She would run and tell my lady, who was probably breakfasting, that +she must give us her son for the general good.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the jolly giant, who on his big bay hunter clattered into the +courtyard; come, probably, in search of news on his own account, in +spite of what he had said to Terence a few hours before. He had +watered his horse at the shebeen, had taken a plunge into the sea to +dissipate the fumes of last night's revel, had given red-haired Biddy +such a smacking kiss as would have roused the ire of Terence's devoted +henchman if he had been within fifty yards, and was now come to pay +his respects to the inmates of the Abbey.</p> + +<p class="normal">He praised the dogs in a flurried sort of way, stood on one great foot +and then the other, rapping the dust from his full-skirted riding-coat +with his hunting-crop, whilst his eyes devoured the fine lines of Miss +Wolfe's figure, which indeed compelled admiration through its +tight-fitting, high-waisted frock. During the last year he had made +considerable advance in the good graces of the chatelaine, and of her +first-born. She, as chatelaines ought to be, was delighted to have a +host of philanderers hanging about the Abbey, swilling its liquor, +devouring its beef, while my lord deigned to make the squireen useful +in a multitude of ways. Belonging as he did to the half-mounted class, +such homage as he could pay was due to a great lord, who was kind +enough to smile upon him. That he might be hand and glove with the +United Irishmen was neither here nor there; was he not also an ally of +Major Sirr's as well as a <i>protégé</i> of the chancellor's--tolerated too +by Curran, Lord Clare's arch-enemy? He was all things to all men, a +typical 'tame cat:' it remained to be seen which side he would take +when the crisis should come--at least so people remarked who did not +know, as we do, that he had taken the oath and was given to mystical +questions anent the placing of a bough in the crown of England. A man +who can turn his hand to anything, rides well to hounds, sings jovial +ditties, makes genteel play with a rapier, can sigh like a furnace, +and look languishingly at a pretty girl, is sure of being a general +favourite. Doreen liked Mr. Cassidy as much as Shane did, an unusual +circumstance, for his likes and dislikes were generally in direct +opposition to hers. She was wont to jest at his many blunders, lecture +him for his stupidity, allow him greater liberties than were usual +between an heiress and a 'half-mounted.' For there was no harm in him. +He would not be likely to try to run off with this prize, for Shane's +sword--champion-spit of the Cherokees and Blasters--was a universally +dreaded weapon, and Mr. Cassidy was too fond of the good things of +this life to think of suddenly quitting it with daylight through his +vitals. Sometimes he made love to her. Then she held out a warning +finger while smiles wreathed her ruddy lips, as she would have done to +any inmate of the kennels that should dare leap with dirty paws upon +her flowered muslin.</p> + +<p class="normal">This morning his behaviour was not what it should have been. Sure that +dip in Dublin Bay had not washed away the impudence begot of claret. +She looked so ravishingly fresh and neat in the chip hat which, with a +plain white ribbon knotted beneath the chin, gave a yet fuller glow to +her rich complexion, the close-clinging robe spangled here and there +with a bunch of poppies, that there was little wonder if prudence was +for once outrun by passion. She was not Miss Hoyden any more. Her +clothes were of the most fashionable cut; nimblest-fingered of Dublin +tailoresses made her frock; long mitts of daintiest Carrick lace +masked only to accentuate the golden ripeness of her finely modelled +arms; a pair of stout pointed brogues, silver buckled, drew down the +eye to the clean ankle and high instep, which told of healthful +exercise by a series of suave contours and voluptuous curves.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the mind of Cassidy was gross in its essence; jaded too by +appetites in riot. What would be more likely to stimulate a coarse +illiterate squireen than the aspect of such a living paradox as this? +His political intentions were admirable, doubtless; possibly when the +time came he, like a few others, would rise to the occasion, cast +aside low vices, and, passing like gold through the fire, achieve +deeds which would endear him to his countrymen. That was possibly in +the future. The present only whispered, as his eyes wandered over the +figure of the girl before him, that such a morsel could not be too +dearly bought. With unwonted courage, he blurted out the original +remark:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mistress Doreen, you're monsthrous beautiful!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Am I?' she replied, raising her eyebrows. 'Alas! it's of little +consequence.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it now?' returned Cassidy, endeavouring in his murky brain to plod +out a reason for the statement. 'Oh!' he said at length, 'becase +you're booked, and you don't care whether my lord is pleased or not.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'My lord?' inquired the girl, her brows arching yet higher.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Aren't you to be the future lady of Ennishowen? I can put two and two +together.'</p> + +<p class="normal">So this hateful match was being freely canvassed. Even muddlepated +Cassidy had penetrated my lady's plans. He was peering straight into +her eyes, trying to find what he could at the bottom of their brown +depths. The heat of angry humiliation sent the blood bubbling to her +face. Cassidy observed it, and leered pleasantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'He's not good enough for you--I don't like your marrying him,' he +observed with decision.</p> + +<p class="normal">'No more do I,' returned calm Miss Wolfe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy's looks sought the ground--his big hand fondled the muzzles of +the dogs. After a long pause, he said in a low voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">'If you don't care about him it's small blame to you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Neither for him, nor anybody else.' (The slightest contraction of a +fine nostril.)</p> + +<p class="normal">'Don't say that, Miss Doreen, darlint,' said the giant, quickly. +'There's many a stout fellow about, whose heart it would plase if ye'd +rub your pretty brogues on it, who'd like to set fire to the tobaccy +in his pipe every blessed day by the light of your lovely eyes.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen glanced up at the giant with an amused smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fie! Mr. Cassidy. If I didn't think you too sensible a man, I should +believe you were trying to propose to me.' Then it struck her that it +was on this very spot that Terence had asked if he might hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What possesses the men? How odd it is,' she said, thinking aloud. +'Fate settled long since that I was to die an old maid; and everybody +seems to want to marry me. Why? I am surely not so irresistible? There +are scores of girls who would be delighted to marry any one, but +somehow nobody cares to ask them! Why not try Norah Gillin--Shane at +least thinks her a paragon--and she has the advantage of being a +Protestant.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Miss Doreen,' Cassidy whispered, 'if I undertook to work heart and +soul for the cause you care so much for; if I made use of my +opportunities--went about for you--as your agents do (you see I know +all about it); if, when the hour comes, I promised to risk my life and +all I have for you--'tisn't much--would you change your mind then?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe felt his hot breath upon her hair, and began to feel +uncomfortable. It was her own fault. She should have cried 'Down!' to +this importunate dog before.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mr. Cassidy,' she said, with the quiet dignity which was her best +protection, 'you show yourself in a false light. You belong to the +society--I fully believe--from conviction of the holiness of its aims. +Although a Protestant, you are an Irishman, as I am an Irishwoman. Our +wrongs are common. Don't let me suppose you to be suggesting a +bargain.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is that good-for-nothing young councillor!' the giant muttered, +grinding his teeth fiercely. 'If I was sure of it, I'd run him +through! Have a care, young lady; don't trifle with honest men--or +wigs will be on the green, and you may be sorry!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The interview was becoming extremely painful. Cassidy, when tried, was +showing the cloven foot, as under-bred persons will. Miss Wolfe drew +herself up to her full height, knitted her dark brows, and said +coldly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'You forget yourself strangely, sir! My aunt and my cousin have been +over-kind to you; I have tried, for my poor part, to make your visits +pleasant, believing you, as I still believe, to be honest, if bearish +and uncouth. If you dare to persecute me any further I will speak to +my aunt, and the doors of the Abbey will be closed to you for ever. +Then seeing how rueful, how dismayed the hapless giant looked, she +took compassion and held out a frank little brown hand. 'Come, come! +This is childish nonsense. I must not be hard on you. We must not +quarrel, you know, but cling together closely for the good cause's +sake. If petty private feuds begin to divide us, the enemy will dance +for joy. I want a friend in whom to trust. You shall be that friend. +Will you? Come! Be good, and I will pardon you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">She placed her hand in his, where it lay like a small leaf, and her +companion said sulkily, as he stroked it with a great finger:</p> + +<p class="normal">'You evaded the question about Mr. Crosbie.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Well then,' she answered, 'I care no more for him than for Shane or +you. I will never marry till Erin is righted. Ah me! doesn't that look +like perpetual maidenhood? My husband, too, must have won his spurs as +a hero, and heroes are scarce. There. Shake hands, and let there be an +end of it. Your heart is in the cause, as mine is. Your acts speak for +you, and Theobald shall thank you some day. Depend on it, the best +tenure of earthly attachment is tenancy at will. You have the use of +the soil, and nothing you plant in it shoots so deeply but it may be +removed with ease. Let us be friends--trusty friends, Mr. Cassidy--no +more.'</p> + +<p class="normal">At this juncture, Terence came briskly round the corner, and started +to see the attitude of the twain. His sudden suspicion cooled, +however, upon perceiving that his cousin was no whit confused. Her +hand still remained in that of Cassidy, and she said, laughing, as she +swung it to and fro:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Here is a big creature who threatens by-and-by to bud into a hero of +romance. When he kneels victorious in the lists, I, as queen of +beauty, am to bestow the laurel crown. What a delectable picture, +isn't it? Glad to see you, Terence. You are determined we shall value +your society. You give us so very little of it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You look like having quite enough of it by-and-by,' Terence answered +moodily. 'I brought with me a note from Mr. Curran to my mother, in +which he says that he won't have me at the Priory any more; that I +must come home like an obedient child, and wash my face and brush my +hair and say I'm sorry. If I had known what was in the letter I should +have stayed away.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But you'll stop,' Doreen said, so earnestly as to cause the giant to +look askance at her. 'It is sad for members of a family to be at +daggers-drawn. Come--to please me--let me be peacemaker. Shane shall +say you are welcome, and we'll all be in harmony together again. +Promise me--and I'll tell you some rare news that has been burning my +tongue this month past. You are both to be trusted, I know.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I would every one was as thrue as the councillor here and I!' +ejaculated the giant, his frown breaking into sunshine, as if suddenly +convinced, by some queer reasoning, that there was nothing between +Terence and Miss Wolfe. 'It's mighty careful we'll have to be +by-and-by with them rapscallions of ould Sirr's. Wisht! now, and I'll +tell ye what he told me,' he pursued, lowering his voice and glancing +round as though the dogs could speak. 'There's a place called the +Staghouse, over foreninst Kilmainham gaol, bad cess to it, where the +Battalion of Testimony are housed and fed, as these hounds are. They +have their rations and potteen and a penny or two for toh-baccy--for +all the world like gentlemen born. I'll make it my business to stroll +in there some day, just to draw their pictures on my mind's eye. Maybe +it'll be useful to know the spalpeens' faces.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'This system of spies is terribly base,' Terence said, sighing. +'Enough to bring down chastisement upon any cause. I don't believe +Lord Camden knows of it. The gentry are arming right and left, my +mother says, in case the people should be ill-advised enough to rise. +Yeomanry corps are being formed in every county. Shane has been this +morning applied to, to take the lead in this district.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Shane raise a regiment? With what result?' Doreen inquired quickly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'With none as yet,' answered Terence, laughing; 'because my lord is +sleeping off the effects of a terrible bout last night, which ended in +two duels and the killing of a baker, and probably will allow my +mother and Lord Clare to settle such a thing as that, as they may deem +most wise.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It is too late for such organisation to be dangerous,' Doreen +affirmed gaily. 'Now I'll tell you the great secret, for it is only +fair you, Mr. Cassidy, should know, and Terence will not divulge. Now, +lend me your ears. The French fleet is almost ready to sail. Our +friends will start in two parties before the summer's over, from a +northern port; making the one for Cork, the other for some point on +the west coast. Hoche himself has promised to lead the expedition. The +delegates of our own provincial centres have secret orders. We may +expect to look on the ships which shall bring us deliverance by the +commencement of the autumn at the latest. Here's Theobald's last +letter; you may read it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The giant looked eagerly to seaward, sniffing like a war-horse, as +though already he could discern the vessels in the offing; and +whistled a subdued whistle, as if saying to himself, 'This is news +worth taking that early ride for.' With each great fist deep in a +breeches-pocket, he listened to the letter, and then said: '<i>Arme +blanche</i>. Eh! He agrees with us then, and is right. The pike's the +thing for Paddy. The difficulty of landing powder enough to be of +service would be enormous. Moreover, since the Gunpowder Act, Pat +knows nothing of its use, and would do more harm to himself in the +long-run than to the enemy.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen declared that of such details she could of course know nothing, +to which the giant retorted that there were hosts of reasons in favour +of the pike. The Hessian and Hanoverian mercenaries who were being +slowly drafted into Ireland were experienced only in the orthodox mode +of warfare. The courage of armies is so uncertain that they are often +disconcerted and panic-stricken by a style of fighting to which they +are unaccustomed.</p> + +<p class="normal">'See here!' the giant said, drawing a paper from his pocket and +presenting it to Terence. 'This is a model by which thousands are +being made all over the country. Long, flat, ugly no doubt--but easily +forged. Could ye improve on that?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Terence, had he been wise, would have refused the challenge, +sapiently declining to know anything of the model pike, for the giant +was bent somehow on securing him--but, intoxicated by the enthusiasm +of his pretty cousin, whose cairngorm eyes, under their long lashes, +were as usual making sad havoc of his judgment, he took the design and +thought he could improve upon it. Cassidy's muddle-headedness stood in +the way of his understanding, and the young councillor was forced to +sketch out a new design, with elaborate instructions as to how it +might be hammered out with a maximum of wounding power and a minimum +of labour. Of course 'it was just the thing,' Cassidy declared, +delighted, and brought down his sledge-hammer palm upon the other's +shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">'We'll have to crimp you?' he vowed, with a peal of merriment in which +Doreen softly joined, 'and so gain a gineral, as the Sassanagh gains +sailors. Ye'll be with us some day, Masther Terence, see if you +aren't!'</p> + +<p class="normal">And now, too, he declared that he must have more advice about these +said pikes--there was terrible difficulty in storing them as they were +made. He had an audacious idea. What did Master Terence think of it? +Some of the gentry from the Staghouse were, he was informed, +constantly on the prowl in search of such information as might be +bartered against good living; for Major Sirr laid it down as an +initial axiom, that a member of his battalion who remained silent +beyond a certain limit of time was to be cashiered as incompetent. It +was literally a case of 'singing for supper,' and one of the simplest +methods of obtaining credit with the town-major was to discover and +denounce a depot of concealed weapons.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Jug Coyle (mistress of the shebeen hard-by)--this was a tremendous +secret--was deeply involved in the affairs of the society. Her back +garden contained many more pike-heads than praties. It stood to reason +that she should be so involved, for was she not a collough, a +trafficker in charms and simples, who was called in by the peasantry +around for the curing of their bodily ills; and was it possible for +one who was bone of their bone to refrain from meddling with their +wrongs also? Well, she could store no more without awaking the +suspicions of the Staghouse gentry, who seemed already to suspect that +seditious meetings were held under her thatch; and yet it was very +necessary that many more weapons should be stored somewhere in the +immediate neighbourhood of the city. The question was, where could a +spot be found for them to lie snugly--a place where folks would least +suspect their existence?</p> + +<p class="normal">The giant was becoming so earnest, and so lucid in his earnestness, +that Doreen quite marvelled at him. She knew more of Jug Coyle's +manage than he was aware of, and listened with growing interest, for +red-polled Biddy, whilst acting as Theobald's post-office, was +constantly declaring that she felt like living on a powder-magazine.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It has been suggested,' the giant went on, 'that Mrs. Gillin of the +Little House should take some; but that would not be wise, for she is +a Catholic whose opinions are well known, though latterly she has +cultivated a discreet tongue. It might enter the head of the +town-major to search her place.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It would certainly be unwise!' Terence said. 'Remember her daughter's +connection with my brother. May she be trusted? There are female spies +as well as male, I suppose. You people are dreadfully rash, Cassidy.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Never fear, Master Terence,' returned the giant, with a twinkle in +his eye. 'Both she and her daughter are children of the people, who +would sacrifice this lord and many another to boot for the good cause, +if need were. Her heart is with us, like many another; but in this +case at least it's best she should play blind.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But what is your suggestion?' Doreen inquired, for the giant was +beating about the bush in an exasperating manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">'This is it. Don't cry out now when ye hear it.' He glanced round with +caution, and lowered his voice. 'The ould armoury above in the young +men's wing there.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What! Here at the Abbey!' Terence exclaimed. 'You are mad.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy was watching him in sidelong fashion as he felt his way.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Sure there's a power of blackguard knives there already, which no one +touches from year's end to year's end, as the cobwebs show. I'd stake +my life ye've not been in there yourself this year or two. Nobody +would search there, would they? They might be passed up from the +shebeen at night-time--Biddy and your man Phil would see to it--over +the old ivy wall, and exchange a kiss or two into the bargain.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Phil is not affiliated,' objected Terence.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is he not?' grunted the giant, shortly. 'It's surprised I'd be if he +could not tell us as much about a green bough in England's crown as is +known to you or I.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen's eyes were on her cousin. Her face wore its usual serene look. +The enormity of the proceeding did not seem so great to her as it did +to him. He did not take into consideration the sublime manner in which +women look straight to a goal, without marking the mud which may have +to be crossed to reach it. A thought shot through his brain, flooding +it with joy. If she could contemplate such a trick being played upon +the earl, she could not care about him. That was a rare thing to know. +And why should it not be played on him? The brothers were so +estranged, that the younger one felt no call to interfere in such a +matter on behalf of the elder. It was impossible that he should have +lived so long on terms of familiarity with the disaffected without +being unconsciously tainted to at least a small extent with their +oft-repeated complaints. Not that he was prepared to admit that these +modern grievances were well-founded. No doubt it had been very +improper--all those years ago--for a Protestant invader to seize, <i>vi +et armis</i>, the territory of a Catholic nation--to eject the sons of +the soil by force, in favour of themselves and their heirs. But really +it was too late now to remedy that misfortune.</p> + +<p class="normal">The English were to all seeming a happy and contented people, who had +long since given up groaning over the Norman invasion and the +freebooting proceedings of William the Conqueror. It was merely +a matter of time. Ireland must accept the past, and pick out the +thorns from the bed on which she lay as well as she could. Thus was +Terence, in his idle good-humoured way, accustomed to argue when his +personal friends gnashed their teeth at the Sassanagh. But these new +theories that were beginning to be broached--even by Mr. Curran +himself--charging the executive with motives which, if they in +truth existed, were <i>lèse-patrie</i> of the most heinous kind, caused +even his careless junior to pause and think. And then he consoled +himself with considering that high-principled King George could not be +Blunderbore--that my Lord Clare was not a Feefofum. Yet there was no +doubt that my Lord Clare was unduly harsh--that the low-bred squireens +were apt to treat the common folk cruelly to curry favour with the +Castle. He did not pause to ask himself why cruelty to common folk +should be pleasing in the Castle's eye. These yeomanry corps were +likely to be productive of much evil. Terence had said as much to his +mother but now. It was possible that Shane, in his overbearing pride +of birth and fierce tendency to fire-eating, might become a terrible +flail if he accepted the task of organising a regiment--indeed from +his nature he was sure to do so. It would be a whimsical revenge for +the people that he should be unconsciously guarding their weapons for +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Councillor Crosbie laughed loud at the conceit, declaring that he saw +no reason why pikeheads should not be added to the 'blackguard knives' +in the armoury, and his cousin gave him such a distracting look of +thanks that he chid himself for considering the matter at all; while +Cassidy, who also caught the look, glared out to seaward, clenching +his fists in his deep pockets.</p> + +<p class="normal">'That eccentric person, Mrs. Gillin!' Terence cried gaily. 'So she's +mixed up with all this plotting, is she? Has she taken the oath, +or is she but a privileged outsider like myself? And my man Phil, +too--that's to please red-polled Biddy, doubtless. Let's take the +oath, Doreen, while we can make a favour of it, for all Ireland will, +it seems, be in it soon. The good lady was in her garden as I passed +this morning, strutting about with leather gloves and garden-shears, +and bowed solemnly to me as I passed. What a queer woman! At the +Rotunda the other day she came and stood before me, though we have +never been introduced, and said, "Are you sure, young man, that you +left your home of your free will?" When I said "Certainly," she +gave a satisfied nod and disappeared in the crowd. If her daughter is +pining for Shane, her mother evidently sets her cap at me. I trust you +will all be civil to the future Madam Crosbie. This is the way she +walks----' and the irreverent scapegrace proceeded to waddle up and +down with so exact an imitation of Mrs. Gillin's peculiarities that +Cassidy fairly shouted. That lady and her doings being a tabooed +subject at the Abbey, there was special delight in talking of her on +the sly.</p> + +<p class="normal">All three were guiltily startled by the opening of my lady's bedroom +window (which looked upon the courtyard), and the apparition of Queen +Bess in a bad temper, summoning Miss Wolfe to her presence.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">STORMY WEATHER.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">My lady was walking up and down the tapestry-saloon with hands clasped +behind her back, when her niece joined her--a prey evidently to +considerable agitation. Doreen marked the deepened wrinkles on her +forehead, the tightening of the thin lips, the contraction of the +nostrils, and waited with accustomed self-possession to hear her +elder's pleasure. The countess was displeased about something. Her +fine face was pale, her eyes tinged with red. Her majestic draperies +seemed to whisper in their soft rustle that something was seriously +disturbing the spirit of the chatelaine. Wheeling round presently, she +faced her niece, and, scrutinising her narrowly, spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence has come home to live,' she remarked. 'Mr. Curran cannot bear +him any more, and I am not surprised. We must put up with him; he's +enough to vex a saint!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen's cheek flushed with swift anger at his mother's unwarrantable +speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, aunt!' she said, 'dare you speak thus of your own child!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ah!' ejaculated the countess, still frowning at Miss Wolfe, 'let us +understand each other at once. I will never allow of any nonsense +between you and that boy--do you hear?--NEVER. I presume that he would +not dare to marry without my consent. You are capable of anything, I +know. I sincerely believe that he, as yet, is one shade less +undutiful. He has been showing much independence lately, though. +There's no knowing,' she went on in a low absent manner, 'what he +might not do if he knew----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Knew what?' asked Doreen.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady started and pushed her fingers through her white hair. +'Nothing, nothing! Mind this--<i>I will never give my consent to a union +between you and my second son</i>. Understand this, once and for all.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You need not distress yourself, aunt,' Doreen replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Doreen!' my lady said abruptly, after a pause, 'you were talking +about <i>that woman</i> at the kennel gate just now. I could see you were, +by Terence's mimicry. What was it about?'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the real cause of her aunt's ill-humour: the red rag, Mrs. +Gillin. That foolish idea about Terence was of course only a cloak to +conceal unreasonable wrath. It was quite too tyrannical of her, +though. They were speaking no ill of their neighbour.</p> + +<p class="normal">'We were talking of Norah and Shane,' the girl replied, with a touch +of hauteur. 'Nothing wonderful in that, for all the world talks about +them. I suppose I may be bridesmaid, aunt?'</p> + +<p class="normal">To her surprise the blood faded slowly from my lady's face, leaving +her lips white, while her breast heaved and her fingers tightened. The +girl regretted her pert remark, though her aunt speedily recovered +herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You could stop this disgrace if you would,' she said in husky tones. +'Last year I thought that you encouraged Shane; then you turned round +again. For shame! That Arthur Wolfe's daughter should be a flirt! But +it's the other blood that's working in you. Your father was always too +weak and too indulgent. You are a sly, artful girl! Yes, it is right +that you should hear the truth. You do no credit to your bringing-up. +Is it maidenly to receive letters from a man in secret--to retire, as +I have ofttimes seen you do, to a secluded spot in the rosary, there +to gloat over them--and that man married, and an outlaw! Fie upon you! +Your father is not aware of this, or it would break his heart; for, +God help him! he loves you beyond your deserts. But there, there! I +will not waste my breath in railing; for what else could be expected +of your blood and your religion?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen's cheek, too, had paled. She trembled violently, and was forced +to cling to a table ere she could still her anger sufficiently to +answer. At length she mastered her voice, which rang out low but +clear.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Lady Glandore,' she said, with flashing eyes, 'it ill becomes one of +your years to say cruel things to one of mine, for if you crush out my +respect for you as a woman, I choose to remember your white hairs. +However bitter you may allow your tongue to be, I will not lower +myself to a retort; but let me beg you to remember that some +things spoken intemperately will rankle in the heart for ever. No +after-apologies will quite wash them out.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Oh, naughty damsel, to prate of white hair, and suggest that my lady +was an octogenarian! She was no more than five-and-fifty, as her niece +knew right well--but, bless my heart! we must not survey feminine +weapons too closely.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am a disgrace to my bringing-up!' pursued Doreen, warming to the +fray. 'Yet she who brought me up condescends to act the spy on me! A +flirt, am I? I never, upon my honour, gave the least encouragement to +either of your sons. They are not such Admirable Crichtons! Seeing +that you are beset by some hallucination on this subject, I have again +and again implored my father to take me hence in vain. I hereby swear +to you by the Holy Mother and my hopes of salvation, that I will never +be Shane's wife--never, never, never! Perhaps now you will leave me at +peace. Though I am a Catholic, madam, I decline to brook insult. Here +are my cards--face upwards on the table. Show me yours.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl, who was usually so quiet and grave, had lashed her wrath to +foam, and was grievously exercised to restrain fast-gathering tears. +She would rather have died, however, than have lowered her standard to +my lady. With a violent effort, then, she kept them back, and faced +the chatelaine with a front as proud as hers.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was all very shocking: the ill-mannered allusion to hoary locks, +the rash oath never to marry Shane, the truculent bearing. Mild +Arthur's counsel was wise. My lady generally got the worst of it in +conflicts with this girl. It would have been best to have vented her +ill-humour upon Terence: who was forbearing towards his mother. But +then her victories over him were too easily gained to be worth +anything, for he was good-tempered, and respected his mother greatly; +and besides, every well-ordered man will always gladly resign to a +female antagonist the glory of winning a battle of words.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady stalked in silence up and down, retiring behind the +entrenchments of her outraged dignity. But Doreen perceived that to +make her triumph good she must dare another sortie, and disarm her +antagonist; so, after a pause for breath, she repeated:</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have shown you my cards, Lady Glandore--show me yours. You are bent +upon my marrying Shane--the compliment is great--far greater than my +poor worth deserves. Though you constantly fling insults at me about +my manners, my blood, and my religion, yet you are willing--nay, +anxious--condoning these crimes, to accept me as a daughter! Why? The +lady of the Little House, who is good and charitable, if innocently +vulgar, is a standing bugbear to you. Why? Yet, by a singular +contradiction, you allow your paragon to make himself at home with +her, and make much of her child, who, to be sure, is a Protestant, but +low-born. She is penniless--I am an heiress: hence, of the two, +I should be the better prize for him. I see that; but what, in +Heaven's name! is to prevent his sallying forth in Dublin, and +finding there a fitting partner? Sure there's not a noble Protestant +family in Ireland that wouldn't jump at him! A drunkard, no doubt, +and a fire-eater--which some folks are rude enough to translate +murderer--what of that? It is the custom of his cloth. A coronet well +filled with gold covers a multitude of sins! No doubt Mrs. Gillin +would dearly like such a son-in-law--it's the way of the world, and I +do not blame her--but you, I know, would not care for such a daughter +as Norah. Are you not afraid that some fine morning holy Church will +join them, and that you will come down to breakfast to find them in an +edifying position on their knees, claiming mamma's blessing?'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady had sunk into a chair, her pale face paler.</p> + +<p class="normal">'No, no,' she murmured; 'that could not be. He toys with a pretty +wench as a young spark will. Why would I gladly have him marry you? +Because I know he has faults--the faults of youth, which time will +remedy--and I feel, dear Doreen, that your strong common-sense will be +a stay to his weakness. Once united to you, he will change, and you +will be very happy together.'</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something so pitiable in this abject discomfiture--in this +refusal to be insulted--that Miss Wolfe's resolution failed her. Yet +her curiosity was too thoroughly roused to permit of dropping the +subject.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then I'm to be the scapegoat?' she said, with a tinge of scorn. 'I'm +to lick the whelp into shape--no matter if my heart is broken in the +process. Thank you! A vow once sworn need never be repeated. Yet do +not forget, aunt, if you please, that it is registered. He refuses to +go into highborn society where noble ladies are, preferring play and +duelling-clubs, and you dread his making a <i>mésalliance</i>, rather than +which you would accept poor me as a <i>pis-aller</i>.' (Here the young lady +made a curtsey.) 'Many thanks. Is this at all like the truth? Pardon +my speaking plainly. It's best to be aboveboard. After this time we +will, with your good leave, never return to the hateful subject. That +I shall not be poor can surely claim no part in your calculations, for +he is thirty times wealthier than I can ever be. Rich!' she repeated, +with a harsh laugh. 'A rich Catholic will be a curiosity, <i>n'est ce +pas?</i> If this is at all your course of thought, why not prevent his +going to the Little House? Speak to Mrs. Gillin as harshly as you +began to speak to me to-day, and there will surely be an end of the +matter. Or,' pursued the crafty maiden, remembering Tone's last +epistle, 'brush Norah from his mind by change of scene. Why not remove +for a few months to Ennishowen? It is long since you were there. Your +presence would do much to keep disloyal tenants quiet in these +disloyal times. Would not that be a capital example? The boys used to +love Ennishowen. Shane will forget the objectionable Norah whilst +pursuing the shy seal or shooting wild birds round Malin Head. Do you +remember the delirious delight of him and Terence when they dragged +their first seal into the boat under Glas-aitch-é Cliff, and how you +told me not to be afraid of looking over the garden parapet into the +green water dashing so far below? Ah, those were days!' the girl +pursued, kindling. 'Our only care whether the fish would bite or the +shot carry----' then she was stopped by a lump rising in her throat, +stirred by the thought of how different those days were from these, +when the thunderous cloud was drawing lower, lower--and she--a +reserved young lady--was becoming alarmingly familiarised with secret +despatches; a political phantasmagoria; a threatened collision between +two classes, whose hate was bubbling over.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rebellious tears well-nigh burst their bonds; but a strong will +was throned within that shapely head. My lady turned angrily upon her +niece; for though discomfited and prepared to run up a flag of truce, +it was not to be expected that she should endure this last speech +without resenting it. Miss Wolfe's pertness harrowed her proud soul. +She had pretended to look on her aunt as in her dotage--a toothless +harridan, with no distinguishing attribute except white hair, and had +presumed to charge her with ridiculous motives; had torn the dazzling +glamour of his rank from Shane, exposing to view a skin as shaggy as +the ass's; even going so far as to stigmatise him to his doting mother +as a drunkard and a murderer; and, to cap all, had wound up with +patronising advice. An ordinary lady of middle age would resent such +treatment; how much more then the stern Countess of Glandore, whose +nature was toughened by contact with the fire, who was always regarded +with awe-stricken terror when she deigned to honour any of the Castle +festivities, and who was quite a terrifying personage even to the +wives and daughters of contemporary grandees.</p> + +<p class="normal">Would the stubborn girl be true to her hasty vow? My lady feared she +would, though for the moment she was too angry to consider calmly of +it. Fierce wrath darted from under her squared brows; her high nose +grew thinner; a network of small meshes twitched about her mouth; her +long fingers tightly clutched the gold snuffbox which usually lay +within them. Yet Miss Wolfe, having recovered her self-possession, +looked sombrely at the frost-crowned volcano without a tremor.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Doreen,' my lady said, 'if your father knew of you what I know, it +would kill him; but I elect to hold my tongue, because I love my +brother more than you your father. That you should be insolent to me +is what I might expect; so I bear that with equanimity. Thank you for +showing me how wrong I was in forming a Utopian scheme for joining my +brother's child to Shane. We will say no more about that.' (Doreen +heaved a sigh of relief.) 'The indelicacy of your proceedings has +shown me that such a thing would be an insult to our name. What! a +girl who corresponds clandestinely with a married man; who gallops +like a trull about the country, regardless, not only of her own fair +fame, but of her family's; who is on terms of familiar intercourse +with a parcel of scatter-brained youths who make the capital of +notoriety out of the jingle of sedition. Is this a girl to be received +in respectable society? You spoke plainly; so do I. If I were to +publish what I chance to know of you, no decent family would receive +you within their doors. But I must bear with you for many reasons; +your base mother's blood among the rest. You must be the skeleton in +our cupboard. All I beg is, that you will rattle your bones less +publicly.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen's dark skin was mottled with pallor; her breath laboured; her +lips formed words, yet no sound issued thence. At last she panted out:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Aunt! you do not believe this of me! You must know me better!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she stopped, perceiving Miss Curran's startled visage in the +doorway, which my lady could not, having her back turned to it.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Believe it? Yes, I do,' cried the exasperated countess; 'I believe +that you----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No! Hold your tongue! If you have no respect for yourself or me, have +some for Sara!' Doreen exclaimed, as she hurried to the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady was filled with remorse, and bit her lips. Her temper had got +the better of her prudence; and regret followed swiftly upon angry +words.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Doreen!' she cried, in a sudden desire to make good in some sort the +mischief which was done; 'Doreen, at least be careful with your +correspondence; see that no one intercepts it; that no one tampers +with your letters!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'My letters are my own,' Doreen retorted over her shoulder, haughtily. +'Don't you ever dare to touch them.' Then passing her arm round the +waist of trembling Sara, she led her away to enjoy a delightful duet +of tears in private.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady remained for a long while looking straight before her, +bewailing much the unexpected turn which things had taken. It was +unwise, considering what lay at the bottom of her heart, to have +goaded the damsel as she had done. A high mettled steed resents the +curb. Now all that had been said about clandestine correspondence, and +so on, was strictly true; was only what it behoved a judicious +relative to place in its true light before an impulsive girl, who +might come to find her reputation gone before she was aware there was +a stain on it. Yet her heart smote the countess when she marked the +look of horrified dismay which dawned in her niece's face during the +last harangue. It is an ill thing to corrupt a mind which is innocent. +Unhappily this is a wicked world, in which it is necessary for us to +note certain sinful details for our own safety's sake. Yet it is not a +pleasing job to impart such intelligence for the first time, +especially when ill-temper bids us make the worst of it. Lady Glandore +knew perfectly well that there could be nothing in the letters from +the married man, except treason; and that she had done wrong in +suggesting something else. Doreen, she thought, was not a girl to +break off the correspondence in consequence of this new light. +Indignant, strong in the purity of her motives, she would only hate +her aunt and cling the more persistently to the married man and all +the other scatter-brained young persons, and plunge more deeply into +danger, through bravado.</p> + +<p class="normal">As she meditated, examining each thrust that had been made on either +side, she regretted bitterly her foolish speeches; and then her heart +grew sick within her as she came upon a barb, which, flung without +aim, hung from a smarting wound. As the maiden had suggested, what +should prevent reckless Shane from marching off to church some day +with pretty Norah, and returning to crave a blessing? The very thought +of such a fatal proceeding caused my lady to rise from her seat with a +bound, and wring her hands in anguish.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What have I done--what have I done?' she groaned, 'that an earthly +purgatory should be my lot? Did I fail in my duty to my lord? Was I +not too indulgent a wife, screening his unfaithfulness, enduring +insult without end from that dreadful woman?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she reflected how his death had not brought peace to her; how +relentless Time had administered secret scourgings, whilst she +appeared to be sitting--a noble, envied widow--between two growing +sons. Was her torment to go on increasing, instead of wearing itself +out with its own rigour? What would be the end? That early sin which +took place so long ago--could any one declare that she was aught but +an unwilling agent in it? Might the trace of it never be washed clean? +Was suicide the only means of escape from an agony to which on earth +there seemed no term? If, driven by despair, she were to hurry +unbidden into the presence of her Maker, might she not hope to be +forgiven? If your cross is too heavy for your strength, sure you may +be pardoned for casting it aside!</p> + +<p class="normal">As she writhed, a prey to phantoms of retrospect, she felt that her +sin was not a faded one of long ago; that it continued still, and that +while she permitted it to roll on unchecked, numbers at compound +interest were being chalked to her account. That dreadful secret which +had blanched her hair! Years had woven such confusing complications +round it, that were she, taking her courage in both hands, to speak +out now, it would be only to transfer a burthen, not destroy it. No, +no! Ten times no! The time for setting right the wrong was past--past, +irretrievably. Instead of moaning over it, it were better to +concentrate all attention upon this matter of Shane and Norah. At all +hazards, the billing and cooing of that couple must be stopped while +there was time. Shane was the late earl's eldest son, and Mrs. +Gillin----! And Norah was sixteen years old, bred a Protestant by my +lord's special desire. Could his wife be misled in her suspicions? The +conduct of Mrs. Gillin in the matter was most amazing. My lady +surveyed it from all points of view. Truly she was racked by many +torments. Até was at work. The orders of the dread goddess were being +carried out by the Eumenides.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">A MOTHER'S WILES.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Having indulged in a soothing torrent of tears, Doreen departed with +lightened heart with the other young people for an excursion on the +bay. She felt all the better for the passage of arms, for her breezy +common-sense told her that my lady's charges resulted from momentary +pique, and had no foundation in conviction. But, resulting from the +quarrel, a vista had risen in her mind for the first time of what she +might be sacrificing for her people's sake. Evil tongues will wag. +Women who brave public opinion have always gone to the wall, time out +of mind. No. Not always. Scandal had nothing to say against the maid +of Domrémy; Judith's fair fame was smirched in nowise by that little +supper <i>en tête-à-tête</i> with Holofernes. Miss Wolfe failed to consider +that the rapid action of that Jewish tragedy, with its pitiless +termination in the murder of a helpless sleeper, did much to keep the +tongue of scandal quiet. Had she held clandestine interviews with the +doughty general, walked with him by moonlight and so forth, it is +highly probable that all the geese in Jewry would have cackled, and +that the heroine would have been tabooed for a brazen slut. Now the +young lady whose peculiar position interests us so much at present, +while perfectly innocent of wrong-doing, could not but see that her +motives might possibly be misinterpreted; that spiteful remarks, +similar to her aunt's, would probably go the round of Dublin. Was she +prepared to endure opprobrium? was the game worth the candle she was +burning for it? was the good she was likely to achieve at all in +proportion to the social ruin which would fall upon herself? Like the +generous young person that she was, her first romantic feeling was an +exultant glow at the distant prospect of martyrdom; her second--due to +the practical firmness of her character--a doubt whether she might not +be self-deceived by inexperience. Then her father too--the good weak +father who cared very much for sublunary fleshpots--what would he say +when he came to know how deeply circumstances were involving his child +in matters which he would surely disapprove? She could not help the +stirring of an idea (which she strove hard to lull to rest) to the +effect that it is not very heroic to drag innocent people into a mess; +and a second one moved at the stirring of the first, which whispered +that if her own name were to be publicly bandied, her father would +certainly get into trouble for not keeping her in check. Her aunt's +was the wisdom of the world; there was no doubt about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is all very well to sacrifice yourself, vow that you will never +marry, that no woodbine-bonds of family affection shall be permitted +to spring up around you--provided that you stand quite alone. If you +have a parent who delights in fleshpots, who holds an honourable +situation of which your own heroics may deprive him, it is surely a +matter of doubt whether your better part would not be the dusting of +household furniture, the warming of slippers, the mending of old +stockings, instead of the more picturesque operation of donning +plume and helm. What, I wonder, did the parents of Joan of Arc +think of their daughter when she abandoned the care of sheep to go +a-soldiering? Doreen recognised the objections to her proposed course +with a pang, but wavered, searching for an excuse such as should +render her desires commendable. She would have liked to go down to +posterity as a female Moses. The position of the budding lawgiver at +Pharaoh's court was somewhat like her own, save in the important point +that he had no father who loved fleshpots. If it might only be +permitted for Arthur Wolfe's daughter to wean him from them to better +things! But that seemed too good a prospect to be hoped for, so with a +sigh she put it from her.</p> + +<p class="normal">As, after the recent skirmish, she reviewed the situation, I grieve to +relate she was not sorry for her pertness. My lady had no business to +say what she had said, to make rude speeches, and to worry about +Shane. The young lady conceived herself bound to speak up boldly in +self-defence, to put my lady down on the subject of private liberty, +as she often did in the matter of King William. The two ladies started +in all things from two opposite poles. That they should clash was +inevitable. But she did promise herself to be more prudent in the +future for her father's sake; to do what was feasible for the good +cause in private, strictly remaining in the background herself, come +what might. And this resolution being firmly graven on her mind, she +busied herself about fishing-tackle with the placid calm which passed +with her for cheerfulness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile my lady sat alone in the tapestry-saloon among the faded +effigies of departed Crosbies, looking appealingly at them as though +they could help her in an extremity. The guiding spring of her life +had been pride, which became firmly grafted by marriage in the glory +of her husband's lineage. Pride it was which had supported her +fainting heart in many a bitter struggle. Black care had thinned her +cheek, had pressed crow's-feet about her restless eyes; yet, save for +a querulous manner and the peculiar sudden dilation of the pupil which +struck us when first we were introduced to the stately countess in +'83, there was but little that was unusual on the surface to tell a +new acquaintance that the battle which she fought was never-ceasing.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the late lord's lifetime she was wretched enough--but with a +numbing dulness which is its own anodyne. Moreover, as we discovered +on his deathbed, the important secret, if important it were, had +been shared between the two. A secret known to even one other person, +whose feelings in the matter are similar to our own, is lightened by +more than half its weight. He died. His widow was condemned to drag +the chain alone--worse than alone, for yet one other person knew +of it whose feelings were remote from friendly. The late lord's +devil-may-care visage glanced sideways down with an eternal smirk from +its frame upon the wall. He was dead. His breast was unburthened. He +slept in peace, and there was his smiling counterfeit grinning at his +unhappy partner. Did he sleep in peace? Oh! If she could have been +sure of that! But no. Possibly he was enduring torments even worse +than hers. As he lay choking between the confines of two worlds, +perchance he had been allowed to see what was still concealed from her +human ken--and then had cried out the warning--'Set right that wrong +while you have the opportunity.' How horribly unjust seemed the +retribution which pursued her! Her sin had been the negative one of +living a long lie. If she had had courage to confess--to abase her +stiff-necked pride--the wrong might have been set right with but +little serious injury to any but herself. But my lord--the prime +sinner--had encouraged this pride, declaring that there was no call +for a great sacrifice--until the last moment when his eyes were +opened, and he called out in his agony, 'Beware!' By that time the +pride so long nurtured was become a second nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">She could not all of a sudden break through the ramparts of long +usage. It was very well for him to cry 'Stand on the pillory,' when he +was himself flitting beyond the reach of stone-throwing. It was very +well for his odious concubine to cry 'Confess!' who would be no +sufferer by the confession. By that improvised death-couch the widow +had turned the matter over in all its phases. Then she had not +perceived that, with every rising sun, the confession would become +more difficult--that (despite the lying proverb) the rolling stone +would gather moss till it should move slowly and more slowly, pressing +her breath out by degrees ere it ground her to powder under its +weight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sometimes she tried to forget, and almost fancied that she succeeded, +almost believed that her conscience was quite hardened. Then something +would take place--a trivial circumstance--one of Doreen's idle shafts, +which set her nerves jarring, and the painful truth forced itself upon +her that there are tender spots on the most seared of consciences. She +had wild accesses of rage within the secrecy of her own chamber, in +that my lord who simpered on the wall should have wrecked her life so +utterly. She took refuge in religion, loathing the faith of the +surviving participator in her secret as an outlet for surging hate and +bitterness. She tried to take refuge from her own trouble by smoothing +that of others, but even in this--the last resource of those who see +life through jaundiced spectacles--she found little consolation, for +the trouble which she soothed was at least open and laid bare. And so +the distinct working of a double consciousness--one for good and one +for evil at the same time--(which we all feel within us) became +unusually evident in Lady Glandore, urging her at one moment to a rash +act for which she was gnawed by deep remorse the next. May this +account for the growing dislike which she nourished for her second +son, while she fed the poor with soup and wrapped their limbs in +flannel? Perhaps it was the singular contradictions of her character +which induced Lord Clare to like and to respect her so much, and which +permitted him at the same time to make that disgraceful suggestion +without fear of exclusion from the Abbey, anent Tone's letter.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the thousandth time, as she twisted in the great chair, my lady +wondered whether it was really too late to humble herself, to grovel +in the dust, and make confession. There was an obstacle which rendered +a tardy repentance impossible, at least until it was removed. That +long-cherished match between Shane and Doreen must be accomplished +first; then, perhaps--but surely it could not be so absolutely urgent! +Time, so far, had brought with him only a complication of troubles, +more tangled than his usual fardel. Where was his all-comforting +finger, about which the poets have raved? Sure he would relent, and +spare the countess the supreme sacrifice. Not that so far he showed +much sign of relenting. This idea of Doreen's about a secret marriage, +which had sent the blood tearing back to her aunt's heart, was an +extra knot in the web that was smothering her. Norah must be put away; +Shane must be seriously exhorted to observe his cousin's charms. Of +course she would never marry Terence; nobody wished her to do so. This +my lady decided comfortably, on the principle that we easily believe +that which we desire. How could Arthur Wolfe be bolstered into showing +greater strength of character, and induced to obey his sister? If she +were to tell him what she knew of Doreen, to impress on him by this +means that a speedy marriage was necessary for her.--No! That would +not do. He would be capable of carrying her off in a fright to London, +Paris, Rome--anywhere out of temptation's reach.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, again, the dowager reflected on the chances of who Norah's +father was; and again her agony ascended to a paroxysm. At all hazards +so awful a shadow as this hideous new one that loomed must be +exorcised. How? Mrs. Gillin was brutish and pitiless, of course. Why +did she encourage this terrible flirtation? She could not realise, +surely, the sharpness of the tools with which she played. Come what +might of it, it was plainly her duty, for everybody's sake (so the +chatelaine pondered), to take Madam Gillin to task as to her present +conduct.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is all very well to stick pins in your rival's seat (so she must +explain to her), but it is your distinct interest to be quite certain +that you yourself may not be called upon to sit on them. Gillin's +spite against my lady was doubtless great. She would do much to injure +her, but not to the extent of ruining her own daughter, surely? For, +somehow or other--probably on the principle that life not being hard +enough, we must practise self-torture--my lady had quite made up her +mind as to Norah's parentage. Now Gillin must be bidden forthwith to +stop this scandal--and my lady was the one person who could venture to +broach the subject. Then qualms of pride arose within the latter's +breast. The twain had never spoken but once--on the dreadful evening +at Daly's club-house. At Castle-balls they had looked with Medusan +gaze right through each other; for the compact was there--no less +binding that it was unwritten--that the mistress and the wife should +never speak, save on the subject of that secret. Had things not gone +crooked, nothing could have been more satisfactory than such a +compact. As things were, was not Mrs. Gillin--inflamed to vulgar wrath +through her sinful designs being exposed--certain to set her foul +tongue clacking, to delve into old sores whose cicatrices were yet +soft, to plunge into long-buried matters within hearing, perhaps, of +other vulgar wretches, who, in surprised horror, would blab to all the +world. Thus did my lady attempt to gloss over her own dread, to veneer +the promptings of her pride with plausible reasons for avoiding that +which conscience--speaking through unconscious Doreen--had specially +declared must be done without delay.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was more than a merely human woman might be called upon to do. +In my lord's time people, more sensitive than the herd, marvelled that +the countess could bear the insulting presence of her flaunting rival +with such stoical equanimity. That much she had bravely borne. But of +her own free will to descend from a pedestal occupied with dignity +during half a lifetime; to lower herself to an interview with the +concubine, who would surely jump upon the rival, voluntarily abased, +was more, much more, than might be demanded of a mortal. It was not +possible to call upon Mrs. Gillin. The only remaining plan was to take +Shane away; to follow Doreen's counsel, and move the household to +Ennishowen.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this point in her self-communing, the limbs of the countess shook +with palsy, and her haggard face looked really aged. Since the +commencement of her married life, she had carefully eschewed +Glas-aitch-é, the wild islet on Lough Swilly, where the decayed castle +of Ennishowen stood, and where <i>that</i> had taken place which was the +beginning of her troubles. It would be dreadful to have to revisit +that spot; yet to that sacrifice at least she was able to resign +herself, hoping that it might be counted as half a penance. But Shane, +would he consent to be carried thither? to forego the society of +Norah, the allurements of Dublin taverns? And if he did in this much +obey his mother, could the match with his cousin be in anywise +promoted? My lady's brain grew weary and bewildered as she tried to +fit into harmony the pieces of her puzzle.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was beloved Shane, galloping in, unkempt, from last night's +debauch. So soon as he had had time to bathe and dress himself, his +mother resolved to summon the dear prodigal to her presence-chamber, +and try what her influence could accomplish.</p> + +<p class="normal">When her favourite son appeared before her, with two pointers +gambolling about him, the countess's stern face softened; and well it +might, for he was a comely spectacle. Rather low in stature, but +elegantly made, with hair brushed backwards and fastened by a diamond +clasp, he looked, with his delicate wan face, and eyes rendered the +more lustrous for the dark circles round them, a fit guardian of the +honour of Glandore. His air and manner when in his mother's presence +(as, indeed, in that of Doll Tearsheet, or any other woman) assumed an +exquisite blandness, such as gave a false first impression of +effeminacy, which was corroborated by the tiny dimensions of his hand. +But are not first impressions snares, my brethren, for the deceiving +of the unwary? That gazelle-like eye could, on occasion, shoot forth a +light of cold ferocity; that finely-modelled little forefinger had +many a time sent a hapless boon companion to his last account for an +idle jest, with a cool precision and nonchalance which compelled an +unwilling sort of admiration, despite its ruffianism. But this morning +he was in the best of humours, as Eblana and Aileach danced about him, +wagging their tails and tumbling over and over, in their delight at +his friendly notice; for his head did not burn, neither was his tongue +parched, and he registered a mental resolution to send a yacht +forthwith to Douglas for another hogshead or two of that especially +pure claret.</p> + +<p class="normal">Drawing around him the ample folds of his morning-gown (that +becoming one of rose-coloured brocade, thickly frogged and tasselled +in gold), he kissed his mother lightly, and played with the jewelled +watch-chains which dangled from either fob. As her eyes wandered over +his neat limbs, which looked their best in tight blue-striped +pantaloons that ended midway down the calf in a great bunch of +ribbons, her spirits rose, for sure no damsel in her senses could long +resist so refined a combination of elegant graces, leaving the lustre +of the coronet quite out of the question. But the female heart--as my +lady might be expected to remember--is prone to erratic courses; to +start off down crooked byways, instead of keeping the straight road; +to take distracting and inconvenient fancies, and generally to +distress its friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Shane was a <i>parti comme il y en a peu</i>. If he could only be +induced to abandon the Doll Tearsheets, and direct amorous glances at +the high-born young ladies of the metropolis, Doreen might be +permitted to run her foolish race unchecked, for Shane could be well +married without her. Unluckily the male heart is not too justly +balanced neither. Shane liked something more highly spiced than an +innocent miss, who, he declared, always made him qualmish with a smell +of bread and butter. Nobody could accuse Doreen of anything so vapid, +and Shane certainly liked Doreen after a careless fashion, though he +never in his life had made love to her. My lady now proposed to rate +him on this subject, for the possibility of choosing another bride for +him in due time was finally put out of the question by the imminent +danger of some catastrophe with Norah. It was clear, all things +considered, that there was nothing for it but to remove my lord +forthwith to his fastness in the north, and keep him there for a time; +and it was quite certain that no high-born damsels with suitable +attributes were to be found in the wilds of Donegal, straying about in +search of husbands.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mother!' Shane said gaily, 'we had such a whimsical accident last +night. George Fitzgerald wagered to keep three of the best of us at +bay with his single rapier-point, for a whole hour. I saw he was too +drunk to stand, so I took the bet at once, and off we marched, +borrowing their lanterns from the watchmen as we passed, to the ring +in Stephen's Green. George steadied himself against the statue, and +really made superb play--I could not have done better myself--till +somebody in the crowd shouted, "For God's sake part them!" to which +another blackguard hallooed, "Let them have it out, for one will be +killed, and the rest hanged for murder, and so we shall be rid of a +bunch of pests." Of course this roused us, so we all turned on him, +just to show he was wrong; and faix he was wrong, sure enough, for +'twas he that got killed, and none of us are ripe for hanging.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But, Shane!' my lady exclaimed, 'who was the man? You are so +imprudent.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No one of any importance,' responded her son, carelessly. 'An old +busybody--a shoemaker, I think, or a baker. Sure it was an accident, +for George meant only to pink the spalpeen, and his sword went in too +far--a miscalculation. Do you know, mother, that there'll soon be no +end to the insolence of these ruffians? There's a report at the Castle +that that crazy idiot Tone, to whom you were always much too kind, has +succeeded in persuading the French to take up his cudgels. He'll dance +the Kilmainham minuet, as the saying is, take my word for it, and +serve him right; but Lord Camden really thinks it's serious. He talked +with such mystery of plots last evening, of some scheme for attacking +Dublin, that I thought his excellency was having a joke with us, till +he said if things go on as they are going, there'll be nothing for it +but to proclaim martial law.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady meditated for a time, reviewing this intelligence. 'Then these +United Irish did not intend to be mere wind-bags?' she thought, and my +Lord Camden was beginning to be afraid of them. Her common-sense told +her that if, in a tussle, they got even for a moment the upper hand, +their vengeance would fall heavily upon the perpetrators of such +reckless escapades as that which Shane had just narrated. At any rate, +it was not good to give them such food for complaint. My lady's caste +prejudices blinded her to the fact that when half-a-dozen youths (even +blue-blood ones) set on a single man and slay him, the act is no +better than murder, though they are content to deplore it for a minute +as an accident. There was no doubt left in her mind that Doreen's +advice had been of the very best. She must even go to Ennishowen, +however great the pain might be to herself in the revival of +unpleasant memories. So, shaking her head, she remarked: 'Dear Shane! +in '45 the Scotch rebels advanced within a hundred miles of London. If +5,000 ragged Highlanders are capable of that, why should not the +French army march on Dublin? Lord Clare spoke to me yesterday on the +subject of the yeomanry. It seems that the Privy Council expect you to +undertake this district.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I should like that!' Shane said.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It would not be wise, though,' returned his mother, quietly. 'The +aristocracy will have a difficult game to play if these silly people +really aim at violence. The executive will have brought it on +themselves, and it's only fair that they should get out of their own +difficulties in their own way. In '82, when your father and I both +wore the uniform, the case was different. Landlord and tenant were +united, as lord and servant of the soil, against a foreigner who had +maltreated both. Things have changed since then. The position of the +nobles is different. They have become Anglicised. Much of their +interest is English. Yet it would be best for them not too openly to +join the foreigner in coercing their own tenants--at least, not just +now.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The cunning old lady was saying what she did not quite believe, having +in view an object, and Shane looked at her in surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If riots take place,' the countess proceeded, 'the commander-in-chief +will put them down, if he thinks proper, with the English troops who +have come over lately; and he and they will bear the odium. The Irish +nobles would be placing themselves in a false position by interfering +against their own people with too great alacrity. At all events, they +will gain a point by waiting.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'But, mother, the other lords are heading the squireens. If I hold +back they will say I am a coward!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Not so, my son. Your proceedings every day would give the lie to +that. I grant that if you sat here, or roystered on in Dublin, you +might be accused of shuffling, which would not do. But if you went +away? Not to England, no! That would not do either. Why not go to +Ennishowen, under the pretext that here everything is safe under the +paternal rule of the executive, whilst in the vast wild northern +district, over which you hold sway, it would be politic for the lord +to be amongst his tenants? You would be of local service, and at that +distance no one could be sure whether or no your future actions were +guided by events.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You do not believe that this pack of fools will do any harm?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Certainly not, or I would not counsel you to go away. Cannot you see +that in ignoble squabbles with the scum it is best to keep clean hands +by remaining neutral? They will be put down--of course they will be +put down; but, you stupid fellow, we must so manage that you have no +hand in it. We will go to Glas-aitch-é. 'Tis long since we were +there.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane twirled the satin ear of Eblana round his finger absently. This +move of his mother's puzzled him. What would his life be away at wild +Glas-aitch-é without his boon companions, among boors who had probably +never heard of a Hellfire Club? In earlier days he used to be madly +fond of field-sports, was still devoted to certain branches of the +chase. But suddenly to leave the joys of a gay metropolis to bury +himself in a hut on practically a desert island, was no pleasant +prospect. And dear Norah, too, must she be left behind? Accustomed as +he was to bow to his mother's ascendency in political questions as in +the management of the estates, the vision of Norah deploring in +dishevelled loneliness the absence of his fascinating self was too +much for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I cannot go, mother! It would look like flight,' he said with a show +of firmness.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady was too acute not to read his thoughts; too wise to expect her +son to yield without a flutter. She moved with stately sweep to where +he sat, and, pressing his face with her two hands, whispered fondly as +she knelt down beside him. 'My darling, do you not know that I would +cut my heart out for you, that I would walk to the stake to save you +one needless pang? Men can never realise the fulness of a mother's +love--the sublimity of its unselfishness--the majesty of its devotion. +It is the one ray of the Divine which has been allowed to glimmer +forth on our dull earth. Do you suppose I would counsel you to aught +that could bring you injury? that I have not anxiously weighed each +side of the question before deciding what is best? You know that I +love you much better than myself. You know that Heaven has denied you +cleverness. You are not clever, my poor child; but we can't help that, +can we? And you are not good, I am sorely afraid. Yet as your mother I +love you no whit the less. Try to comprehend what a mother's love is +like--how large--how grandly blind in that it might see but will not!'</p> + +<p class="normal">As she spoke, the poor lady who had been so buffeted by worldly +troubles was transfigured by the strength of her affection for this +one being. The fact of her loving nothing else served but to increase +her love. As one, some of whose senses have decayed whilst others are +proportionately sensitised, she felt with intensity all which affected +her firstborn. It was strange that she could not remember that Terence +also was her son--that he had pined for such a display as this all his +life in vain--that even now (yawning in the Four-courts) he would have +upset the presiding judge and sent all the attorneys to a man into +the Liffey, and galloped at breakneck speed to Strogue if his mother +would only have given him one of the looks which she was lavishing on +Shane--one of those hand-touches that are in nowise akin to +'paddling,' but which send stronger thrills through us than the most +languishing of eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ireland is being involved in complicated difficulties,' she pursued. +'You must be obedient, and allow me to lead you through them safely. +It will only be for a month or two. Then all will be over, and we can +come back here again. Say you will do as I wish?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane never could long withstand his mother's coaxing, when she +condescended to implore. Is it not always thus? Is it not worth while +to be haughty, arrogant, ill-tempered--as the case may be--if only for +the fuller appreciation of our benignity when we elect to be benign? +Shane clung to the dowager's last straw, which with artful artlessness +she had held out to him. It would only be for a month or two. It would +do Norah all the good in life to miss her beloved for a space; while +he was away, she would measure his merits, and fly with rapture to his +bosom on his return. It would be rather fun, too, again to visit for a +few weeks the haunts he used so to doat upon. But it ill became him as +one of the sterner sex to be over-easily persuaded.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It will be very dull up there, mother,' he objected.</p> + +<p class="normal">'How civil of you,' the countess said, kissing him, for she saw the +point was gained. 'If you are a good boy, I will ask your uncle to let +Doreen come too. Her eccentricities will enliven us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are always talking of Doreen?' complained my lord. 'I can't see +why you make so much fuss about her.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then we won't take her,' responded my lady, with prompt and +Machiavellian wisdom.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I care not,' he returned 'Perhaps we had better take her, and I'll +teach her to shoot seals.'</p> + +<p class="normal">And so the matter was decided, whilst my lady made up her mind that, +once in Donegal, her son should stop there under one pretext or +another until all danger from Miss Gillin should be averted.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>END Of VOL. I.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W90"> +<h5>BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. +<i>S. & H</i>.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. 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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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38861] + +Language: Englishs + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?id=qecBAAAAQAAJ + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + _A CHRONICLE OF IRELAND, FROM THE CONVENTION + TO THE UNION_. + + + + + + BY + + HON. LEWIS WINGFIELD, + + AUTHOR OF 'LADY GRIZEL,' ETC. + + + + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + + + + + LONDON: + + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1879. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + 'God of Peace! before Thee + Peaceful here we kneel, + Humbly to implore Thee + For a nation's weal. + Calm her sons' dissensions, + Bid their discord cease, + End their mad contentions-- + Hear us, God of Peace!' + (_Spirit of the Nation_.) + + + + + + + TO + + E. W. B. + + I inscribe this Book + + IN MEMORY OF + + A CLOSE FRIENDSHIP. + + + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + + CHAPTER + + I. MIRAGE. + + II. RETROSPECT. + + III. SHADOWS. + + IV. BANISHMENT. + + V. STROGUE ABBEY. + + VI. MY LADY'S PROJECT. + + VII. TRINITY. + + VIII. CAIN AND ABEL. + + IX. THE PRIORY. + + X. LOVES AND DOVES? + + XI. STORMY WEATHER. + + XII. A MOTHER'S WILES. + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + MIRAGE. + + 'Hurrah! 'tis done--our freedom's won--hurrah for the Volunteers! + + By arms we've got the rights we sought through long and wretched + years. + + Remember still through good and ill how vain were prayers and + tears-- + + How vain were words till flashed the swords of the Irish + Volunteers.' + + +So sang all Dublin in a delirium of triumph on the 9th of November, +1783. From the dawn of day joy-bells had rung jocund peals; rich +tapestries and silken folds of green and orange had swayed from every +balcony; citizens in military garb, with green cockades, had silently +clasped one another's hands as they met in the street. There was no +need for speech. One thought engrossed every mind; one common +sacrifice of thanksgiving rolled up to heaven. For Ireland had fought +her bloodless fight, had shaken off the yoke of England, and was +free--at last! + +The capital was crowded with armed men and bravely-bedizened dames. +Carriages, gay with emblazoned panels, blocked up the narrow +thoroughfares, darkened to twilight-pitch by the boughs and garlands +that festooned the overhanging eaves. Noddies and whiskies and sedans, +bedecked with wreaths and ribbons, jostled one another into the +gutter. Troops of horse, splendidly accoutred--officers mounted upon +noble hunters--clattered hither and thither, crushing country folk +against mire-stained walls and tattered booths, where victuals were +dispensed, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Strangers, arrived +but now from across Channel, marvelled at the spectacle, as they +marked the signs of widespread luxury--the strange mingling of +the pomp and circumstance of war with the panoply of peace--the +palaces--the gorgeously-attired ladies in semi-martial garb, swinging +up and down Dame Street in gilded chairs between the Castle and the +Senate House, and back again--dressed, some of them, in broidered +uniforms, some in rich satin and brocade. Sure the homely court of +Farmer George in London could not compare in splendour, or in female +beauty either, with that of his Viceroy here. + +A stranger could perceive at once that some important ceremony was +afoot, for all along the leading streets long galleries had been +erected, decorated each with sumptuous hangings, crowded since +daybreak with a living burthen; while every window showed its freight +of faces, every row of housetops its sea of heads. From the Castle to +Trinity College (where a huge green banner waved) the road was lined +with troops in brand-new uniforms of every cut and colour--scarlet +edged with black, blue lined with buff, white turned up with red, +black piped with grey; while the stately colonnades of the Parliament +House over against the College were guarded by the Barristers' +Grenadiers, a picked body of stalwart fellows who looked in their tall +caps like giants, with muskets slung and bright battle-axes on their +shoulders. King William's effigy, emblem of bitter feuds, was in gala +attire to-day, as if to suggest that rival creeds were met for once in +amity. Newly painted white, the Protestant joss towered above the +crowd, draped in an orange cloak, crowned with orange lilies; while +his horse was muffled thick with orange scarves and streamers, and +wore a huge collar of white ribbons tied about his neck. Placards +inscribed with legends in large characters were suspended from the +pedestal to remind the cits for what they were rejoicing. 'A Glorious +Revolution!' 'A Free Country!' One bigger than the rest swung in the +breeze, announcing to the few who as yet knew it not, that 'The +Volunteers, having overturned a cadaverous Repeal, will now effectuate +a Real Representation of the People!' Yes. That was why Dublin was +come out into the streets. The victorious Volunteers had untied the +Irish Ixion from a torture-wheel of centuries, and, encouraged by +their first success, were preparing now to pass a stern judgment on a +venal parliament. + +From the period of her annexation to England in the twelfth century, +down to the close of the seventeenth, Ireland had been barbarous and +restless; too feeble and disunited to shake off her shackles, too +proud and too exasperated to despair, alternating in dreary sequence +between wild exertions of delirious strength and the troubled sleep of +exhausted fury. But that was over now. The chain was snapped; and the +first vengeance of the sons who had freed her was to be poured on the +senate who were pensioners of Britain; who had sold their conscience +for a price, their honour for a wage. A grand Convention was to be +opened this day at the Rotunda, from which special delegates would be +despatched to Lords and Commons, demanding in the name of Ireland an +account of a neglected stewardship. No wonder that the populace, +dazzled by an unexpected triumph, were come out with joy to see the +sight. Light-hearted, despite their sorrows, the Irish are only too +ready to be jubilant. But there were some looking down from out the +windows who shook their heads in doubt. The scene was bright, though +the November day was overcast--pretty and picturesque, vastly engaging +to the eye. So also is a skull wreathed with flowers, provided that +the blossoms are strewn with lavish hand. These croakers were fain to +admit that the Volunteers had done wonders. The prestige of victory +was theirs. Yet is it a task hedged round with peril--the wholesale +upsetting of powers that be. It was not likely that England would +tamely give up her prey. She was ready to take advantage of a slip. +Ireland had cause to be aware of this; but Ireland thought fit to +forget it. A fig for England! she was a turnip-spectre illumined by a +rushlight. A new era was dawning. Even the schisms of party-bigotry +had yielded for a moment to the common weal. Catholics and Protestants +had exchanged the kiss of Judas; and Dublin resigned herself to +sottish conviviality. + +Hark! The thunder of artillery. The first procession is on its way. It +is that of the Viceroy, who, attended by as many peers as he can +muster, will solemnly protest against the new-fledged insolence of a +domineering soldiery who dare to set their house in order and sweep +away the cobwebs. He will make a pompous progress round the promenade +of Stephen's Green; thence by the chief streets and quays to King +William's statue, where he will gravely descend from his equipage and +bow to the Protestant Juggernaut. This awful ceremony over, he will +walk on foot to the House of Lords hard-by, and the holiday-makers +will be stricken with repentant terror. He has his private suspicions +upon this subject though--a secret dread of the mob and of the College +lads of Trinity; for rumour whispers that the wild youths will make a +raid on him, and they have an ugly way of running-a-muck with +bludgeons and heavy stones sewn in their hanging sleeves. So he has +taken his precautions by establishing about the statue a bodyguard--a +cordon of trusty troops--whose aggressive band has been braying since +daybreak 'Protestant Boys,' 'God save the King,' and 'King William +over the water.' + +But the undergraduates are too much occupied at present in struggling +for seats within the Commons to trouble about the English Viceroy. For +the heads of the Convention are to arrive in state, and Colonel +Grattan, it is said, will appear in person to impeach the Assembly of +which he is a member. Their gallery is crammed to suffocation. Peers' +sons with gold-braided gowns occupy the bench in front, silver-braided +baronets crowd in behind. Peeresses too there are in their own place +opposite, like a bevy of macaws. A sprinkling only; for most of the +ladies, caring more for show than politics, prefer a window at Daly's +club-house next door, where members drop in from time to time by their +private passage to gossip a little and taste a dish of tea, while +their wives enjoy the humours of the crowd and ogle the patriot +soldiers. + +What is that? A crack of musketry; a _feu de joie_, which tells that +the second procession has started; that my lord of Derry is on his way +to the Rotunda. And what a grand Bashaw he is, this Earl of Bristol +and Bishop of Derry, who, more Irish than the Irish, has thrown +himself heart and soul into their cause! There is little doubt of his +popularity, for yells rend the air as he goes by, and hats are tossed +up, and men clamber on his carriage. It is as much as his outriders +can do to force aside the throng. A magnificent Bashaw entirely, with +a right royal following. A prince of the Church as well as a grandee; +handsome and _debonaire_; robed from top to toe in purple silk, with +diamond buttons and gold fringe about the sleeves, and monster tassels +depending from each wrist. A troop of light cavalry goes before, +followed by a bodyguard of parsons--dashing young sparks in +cauliflower wigs. Then some five or six coaches wheeze along. Then +comes my lord himself in an open landau, bowing to left and right, +kissing his finger-tips to the peeresses at Daly's; and after him more +Volunteers on magnificent horses and a complete rookery of clergy. He +turns the corner of the House of Lords, and in front of its portico in +Westmoreland Street cries a halt, to gaze with satisfaction for a +moment on the broad straight vista of what now is Sackville Street, +which has opened suddenly before him. As far as eye may reach--away to +the Rotunda--are two long lines of gallant horsemen in all the nodding +bravery of plumes and pennons--a selected squadron of Volunteers which +consists wholly of private gentlemen--the pride and flower of the +National Army. + +When the cavalcade stops there is a stir among the peeresses, for they +cannot see round the corner, and are much disgusted by the fact. A +clangour of trumpets wakes the echoes of the corridors. My lords have +just finished prayers, and, marvelling at the strange flourish, run in +a body to the entrance. The Volunteers present arms, the bishop bows +his powdered head, while a smile of triumphant vanity curls the corner +of his lip, and he gives the order to proceed. The lords stand +shamefaced and uneasy while the people hoot at them, and the bishop's +procession--with new shouts and acclamations--crawls slowly on its +way. + +One of the attendant carriages has detached itself from the line and +comes to a stand at Daly's. Its suite divide the mob with blows from +their long canes. Two running footmen in amber silk, two pages in +hunting-caps and scarlet tunics, twelve mounted liverymen with +coronets upon their backs. The coach-door is flung open, and a +dissipated person, looking older than his years, emerges thence, and +throwing largesse to the crowd, goes languidly upstairs to join the +ladies. + +It is my Lord Glandore of Strogue and Ennishowen, and the party up at +the window to which he nods is his family. That tall refined lady of +forty or thereabouts who acknowledges by a cold bow his lordship's +careless salute is the Countess of Glandore (mark her well; for we +shall see much of her). She has a high nose, thin lips, a querulous +expression, and a quantity of built-up hair which shows tawny through +its powder. She will remind you of Zucchero's portrait of Queen Bess. +There is the same uncompromising mouth and pinched nostril, colourless +face and haughty brow. You will wonder whether she is a bad woman or +one who has suffered much; whether the wealth amid which she lives has +hardened her, or whether troubles kept at bay by pride have darkened +the daylight in her eyes. Stay! as your attention is turned to them +you will be struck by their haggard weariness. If she is addressed +suddenly their pupils dilate with a movement of fear. She sighs too at +times--a tired sigh like Lady Macbeth's, as though a weight were laid +on her too heavy for those aristocratic shoulders to endure. What is +it that frets my lady's spirit? It cannot be my lord's unfaithfulness +(though truly he's a sad rake), for this happy pair settled long since +to pursue each a solitary road. Neither can it be the carking care of +money troubles, such as afflict so many Irish nobles, for all the +world knows that my Lord Glandore--the Pirate Earl, as he is +called--is immensely wealthy, possessing a hoary old abbey which has +dipped its feet in Dublin Bay for ages, and vast estates in Derry and +Donegal, away in the far north. + +Why the Pirate Earl? Because both his houses are on the sea; because +his claret, which is of the best and poured forth like water, is +brought in his own yacht from the Isle of Man, without troubling the +excise; because the founder of the family--Sir Amorey Crosbie, who +dislodged the Danes in 1177--was a pirate by calling; and because the +Crosbies of Glandore have dutifully exhibited piratical proclivities +ever since. Not that the present earl looks like a sea-faring +evil-doer, with his sallow effeminate countenance and coquettish +uniform. He is a high-bred, highly-polished, devil-may-care, reckless +Irish peer, who, at a moment's notice, would pink his enemy in the +street, or beat the watch, or bait a bull, or set a main of cocks +a-spurring, or wrong a wench, or break his neck over a stone wall from +sheer bravado--after the lively fashion of his order at the period. +Before he came into the title he was known as fighting Crosbie. The +tales told of his vagaries would set your humdrum modern hair on +end--of how he pistolled his whipper-in because he lost a fox, and +then set about preparing an islet of his on the Atlantic for a siege; +of how he sent my Lord North a douceur of five thousand pounds as the +price of pardon, and reappeared in Dublin as a hero; of how, when the +earldom fell to him, he settled down by eloping with Miss Wolfe, or +rather by carrying her off _vi et armis_, as was the amiable habit of +young bloods. It was a singular Irish custom, since happily exploded, +that of winning a bride by force, as the Sabine maidens were won. Yet +it obtained in many parts of Ireland by general consent till the +middle of the eighteenth century. Abduction clubs existed whose object +was the counteracting of unjust freaks of fortune by tying up +heiresses to penniless sparks. Some of the young ladies (notably the +two celebrated Misses Kennedy) objected to the process, while most of +them found in the prospect of it a pleasing excitement. Irish girls +have always had a spice of the devil in them. It is not surprising +that they should have looked kindly upon men who risked life and +liberty for their sweet sakes. + +Lord Glandore followed the prevailing fashion, carried off Miss Wolfe +to his wild isle in Donegal, and society said it was well done. She +was no heiress, but that too was well, for my lord was rich enough for +both. The parson of Letterkenny was summoned to the islet to tie the +knot (it was unmodish for persons of quality to be married in a +church), and a year later the twain returned to the metropolis, with a +baby heir and every prospect of future happiness. But somehow there +was a gulf between them. Young, rich, worshipped, they were not happy. +My lord went back to his old ways--drinking, hunting, fighting, +wenching--my lady moped. Six years later another son was born to them, +whose advent, strange to say, instead of being a blessing, was a +curse, and divided the ill-assorted pair still further. Each shrined a +son as special favourite, my lord taking to his bosom the younger, +Terence--whilst my lady doted with a hungry love upon the elder, +Shane. My lord, out of perversity maybe, swore that Shane was stupid +and viciously inclined, unworthy to inherit the honours of Sir Amorey. +My lady, spiteful perchance through heartache, devoured her darling +with embraces, adored the ground he trod on, kissed in private the +baby stockings he had outgrown, the toys he had thrown aside; and +seemed to grudge the younger one the very meat which nourished him. +This hint given, you can mark how the case stands as my lord enters +the upper room at Daly's. Shane, a handsome, delicate youth, far up in +his teens, retires nervously behind his mother, whilst Terence, a +chubby child of twelve, runs forward with a shout to search his +father's pocket for good things. What a pity, you think no doubt, for +a family to whom fortune has been so generous to be divided in so +singular a manner. + +'What!' cries my lord, as, laughing, he tosses the lad into the air. +'More comfits? No, no. They'd ruin thy pretty teeth, to say nothing of +thy stomach. Go play with mammy's bayonet. By-and-by thou shalt have +sword and pistol of thine own--aye, and a horse to ride--a dozen of +them!' And the boy, without fear, obeys the odd behest, for he knows +that in his father's presence my lady dares not chide him, albeit she +makes no pretence of love. He takes the dainty weapon from its sheath +and makes passes at his big brother with it; for my Lady Glandore, +like many another patriotic peeress, wears a toy-bayonet at her side, +just as she wears the scarlet jacket piped with black of her husband's +regiment, the high black stock, and a headdress resembling its helmet. + +Let us survey the remaining members of the family. The little girl, +who looks unmoved out of great brown eyes at the glancing weapon's +sheen, is first cousin to the boys; daughter of my lady's brother, +honest Arthur Wolfe, who, leaning against the casement, smiles down +upon the crowd. He is, folks say, a lawyer of promise, though not +gifted. Rumour even whispers that if Fitzgibbon should become lord +chancellor, Mr. Wolfe would succeed to the post of attorney-general. +Not by reason of his talents, for Arthur, though plodding and upright, +can never hope to hold his own at the Irish Bar by his wits. There are +too many resin torches about for his horn lantern to make much show. +But then you see he is of gentle blood, and influence is of more +practical worth than talent. His sister, who loves him fondly, is +Countess of Glandore, which fact may be counted unto him as equivalent +to much cleverness. He knows that he is not bright, and is honest +enough to revere in others the genius which is denied to himself. That +is the reason why, not heeding my lord's entrance, he bows eagerly to +somebody in the street, and bids his little daughter kiss her hand and +nod. + +My lady, to avoid looking at her husband, follows his eyes and +exclaims, with a contraction of her brows: + +'Good heavens, Arthur! who in the world's your friend? He looks like a +grimy monkey in beggar's rags! Sure you can't know the scarecrow?' + +'That is one of the cleverest men in Dublin,' returns her brother. +'He'll make a show some day. Even the arrogant Fitzgibbon, before +whose eye the Viceroy quails, is afraid of that dirty little man. That +is John Philpot Curran, M.P. for Kilbeggan, who has just taken silk. +The staunchest, worthiest, wittiest, ugliest lawyer in all Ireland.' + +'Curran!' echoed my lord with curiosity; 'I've heard of him. He dared +t'other day to flout Fitzgibbon himself in parliament, and the ceiling +didn't crumble. Let's have him up; he may divert us.' + +But Curran took no heed of Arthur's beckoning. He knew that his +exterior was homely, and moreover liked not the society of lords and +ladies. Born of the lower class, he loved them for their sufferings, +identified himself with their wrongs, and was wont frequently to say +that 'twixt the nobles and the people there was an impassable abyss. +Besides, though brave as a lion, he respected his skin somewhat, and +knew that my lord was as likely as not to prod him with a rapier-point +if he ventured on a sally which was beyond his aristocratic +comprehension. Turning, therefore, to a young man who was his +companion, he whispered: + +'Let us be off, Theobald. The likes of us are too humble for such +company,' and was making good his retreat, when he heard the imperious +voice shout out: + +'Bring him here, I say--some of you--shoeblacks, chairmen, +somebody--or by the Hokey ye'll taste of my rascal-thrasher.' + +Then, amused at the conceit of being summoned like a lackey, he +shrugged his round shoulders, and saying, 'Isn't it wondrous, +Theobald, how these spoilt pets of fortune rule us!' turned into +Daly's with his comrade, and was ushered up the stairs. + +Mr. Wolfe gave a hand to each of the new-comers, and presented them to +his sister. 'Mr. Curran's name is sufficient passport to your favour,' +he said, in his gentle way. 'This young man is my godson and +_protege_, also at the bar--Theobald Wolfe Tone;' then added in a +whisper, 'son of the coach-maker of whom you have heard me speak. A +stout-souled young fellow, if a trifle hotheaded and romantic.' + +All the peeresses turned from the windows to look at Mr. Curran, whose +boldness in asserting popular views was bringing him steadily to the +front, while his intimacy with Grattan (the popular hero) caused him +to be treated with a respect which his mean aspect hardly warranted. +In person he was short, thin, ungraceful. His complexion had the same +muddy tinge which distinguished Dean Swift's, and his hair lay in +ragged masses of jet black about his square brows, unrestrained by bow +or ribbon. His features were coarse and heavy in repose, but when +thought illumined his humorous eye there was a sudden gush of mind +into his countenance which dilated every fibre with the glow of sacred +fire. As a companion he was unrivalled both as wit and _raconteur_, +which may account for my lord's sudden whim of civility to the +low-born advocate; but there was also a profound undercurrent of +melancholy (deeper than that which is common to all Irishmen) which +seemed to tell prophetically of those terrible nights and days, as yet +on the dim horizon of coming years, when he should wrestle hand to +hand with Moloch for the blood of his victims till sweat would pour +down his forehead and his soul would faint with despair. By God's +mercy the future is a closed book to us; and Curran knew not the agony +which lay in wait for him, though even now he was suspicious of the +joy that intoxicated Dublin. + +'Well, gentlemen,' remarked his lordship, amiably; 'this is a glorious +day for Ireland, is it not? Her sons have united. She stands redeemed +and disenthralled. The work is nearly finished. Thanks to Mr. Grattan +and the Bishop of Derry, we are once more a nation. I vow it is a +pretty sight.' + +'How long will it last?' asked Curran, with a dubious headshake. 'That +gorgeous bishop is a charlatan, I fear. We're only a ladder in his +hand, to be kicked over by-and-by. All this is hollow, for in the +hubbub the real danger is forgotten.' + +'To unwind a wrong knit up through many centuries is no easy matter,' +assented Arthur Wolfe. + +'It's done with, and there's an end of it,' decided his lordship, who +was not good at argument. 'If the parliament submits with grace to the +new _regime_, then we shall have all we want.' + +'There's the Penal Code still,' returned Curran, shaking his head, +while Theobald, his young companion, sighed. 'Four-fifths of the +nation remains in slavery. The accursed Penal Code stands yet, with +menace at the cradle of the Catholic, with threats at his bridal bed, +with triumph beside his coffin. I can hardly expect your lordship to +join in my indignation, for you are a member of the Protestant +Englishry, and as such look with contempt on such as we. The relation +of the victorious minority to the vanquished majority remains as +disgracefully the same as ever. It is that of the first William's +followers to the Saxon churls, of the cohorts of Cortes to the Indians +of Peru. Depend upon it, that till the Catholics are emancipated from +their serfdom there can be no real peace for Ireland.' + +Theobald, whom his godfather had charged with a tendency to romance, +here blurted out with the self-sufficiency of youth, 'United! of +course not. How can a work stand which will benefit the few and; not +the many? This movement is for a faction, not for a people. Look at +that statue there, with the idiots marching round it! It is the +accepted symbol of a persecution as vile as any that disgraced the +Inquisition! I'd like to drag it down. It's a Juggernaut that has +crushed our spirit out. The Volunteers have set us free, have they? +Yet no Catholic may carry arms, no Catholic may hold a post more +important than that of village rat-catcher; no Catholic may publicly +receive the first rudiments of education. If he knows how to read he +has picked up his learning under a hedge, in fear and trembling; he's +on the level of the beast; yet has he a soul as we have, and is, +besides, the original possessor of the soil!' + +The young man (pale-faced he was, and slight of build) stopped +abruptly and turned red, for my lady's look was fixed on him with +undisguised displeasure. + +'I beg pardon,' he stammered, 'but I feel strongly----' + +'Are you a Roman Catholic?' she asked. + +'No,' replied her brother for him, as he patted the scapegrace on the +shoulder. 'But he is bitten with a mania to become a champion of the +oppressed. He has written burning pamphlets, which, though I cannot +quite approve of them, I am bound to confess have merit.' + +'That have they!' said Curran, warmly. 'The enthusiasm's there, and +the cause is good. But if a man would sleep on roses he had best leave +it alone, for anguish will be the certain portion of him who'd fight +the Penal Code. Modern patriotism consists too much of eating and +drinking and fine clothes to be of real worth.' + +'I believe you are too convivially disposed to object to a good +dinner!' laughed Lord Glandore. 'There's a power of cant in these +patriotic views. As regards us Englishry, the inferiority of our +numbers is more than compensated by commanding vigour and +organisation. It's a law of nature that a weak vessel should give way +before a strong one. History tells us that our ancestors, the English +colonists, sturdy to begin with, were compelled by their position to +cultivate energy and perseverance, while the aborigines never worked +till they felt the pangs of hunger, and were content to lie down in +the straw beside their cattle. The Catholics are the helot class. Let +them prove themselves worthy of consideration if they can.' + +'The Irish Catholics of ability,' returned the neophyte, 'are at +Versailles or Ildefonso, driven from here long since.' + +'False reasoning, my lord,' said doughty Curran. 'The "Englishry," as +you call them, are the servants of England. Their interests are the +same, because England pays them well. How can a nation's limbs obey +her will if it is weighed to the earth by gyves? First knock off the +irons, then bid her stand upon her feet. As the boy says, folks are +too fond of prancing round that statue. I don't myself see a way out +of the darkness. Why should it not be given to him, and such as he, to +lead us from the labyrinth?' + +My lord wished he had not summoned these low persons. Before he could +reply the young man said sadly: + +'What can a lawyer do but prose?' + +And Arthur Wolfe, perceiving a storm brewing, cried out with nervous +merriment: + +'What! harping on the old string, Theobald? Still pining for a +military frock and helmet? Boy, boy! Look at the pageant that is +spread before our eyes. The triumph of this day is due to its +bloodlessness. This grand array would not disgrace its cloth, I'm +sure, in the battle; but happily success has been achieved by moral +force alone. Right is might with the Volunteers. May their swords +never leave their scabbards!' + +'You cannot deny,' persisted the froward youth, 'that yonder +battalions would be a grander sight if they really represented the +nation without regard to creed--if, for example, every other man among +them was a Catholic!' + +My lord looked cross, my lady black as thunder, so Wolfe, the +peacemaker, struck in again as he twisted his fingers in his little +daughter's curls. + +'I agree that it is monstrous,' he said, with hesitation, 'that three +million men with souls should be plough-horses for conscience' sake. +In these days it's a scandal. Sister, you must admit that. Perhaps we +are entering on a better time. A reformed parliament, if you can get +it, will no doubt emancipate the Catholics. You are a hare-brained +lad, my godson; but here is a Catholic little girl who shall thank +you. Doreen, my treasure, you may shake hands with Theobald.' + +My lord waxed peevish, and drummed his fingers on the shutters and +yawned in the face of Curran, for he sniffed in the wind a quarrel +which would bore him. If folks would only refrain, he thought, from +gabbling about these Catholics, what a comfort it would be. My lady, +usually disagreeable, was threatening a scene; for they had got on the +one subject which set all the family agog. Her spouse wished heartily +that she would retire to the family vault, or be less ill-tempered; +for what can be more odious than a snappish better-half? + +Religious differences had set the country by the ears ever since the +Reformation, turning father against son, kinsman against kinsman; and +this especial family was no exception to the rule. Lady Glandore hated +the Papists with all the energy of one whose soul is filled with gall, +and who lacks a fitting outlet for its bitterness. What must then have +been her feelings when, ten years before the opening of this +chronicle, her only brother, whom she loved, thought fit to wed a +Catholic? It was a weak, faded chit of a thing who lived for a year +after her marriage in terror of my lady, gave birth to a daughter and +then died. The countess, who had endured her existence under protest, +was glad at least that she was well behaved enough to die; some people +said indeed that she had frightened Arthur's submissive wife into her +untimely grave. Be this as it may, the incubus removed, my lady girded +up her loins for the effacing of the blot on the escutcheon. The +puling slut was gone--that was a mercy. Why had she not proved barren? +There was still a way of setting matters straight. Little Doreen must +be washed clean from Papist mummeries, and received into the bosom of +THE Church, and the world would forget in course of time how the young +lawyer, usually as soft as wax, had flown in the face of his +belongings. To her horror and amazement Arthur for once proved +adamant--he who had always given way rather than break a lance in the +lists--sternly commanding his sister to hold her tongue. His Papist +wife, whom he regretted sorely, had exacted a promise on her deathbed +that Doreen should be brought up in her mother's faith, and a Papist +Doreen should be, he swore, at least till she arrived at an age to +settle the question for herself. He would be glad though, he +continued, seeing with pain how shocked my lady looked, if in her +sisterly affection she would lay prejudice aside and help to rear the +child; for the sharpest of men, as all the world knows, is no better +than a fool in dealing with babies. And so it befell that the Countess +of Glandore, the haughty chatelaine who scoffed at 'mummeries' and +worshipped King William as champion of the Faith, nourished a scorpion +in her bosom for Arthur's sake, and permitted the little scarlet lady +to consort with her own lads. My lady's hatred of the national creed +had a more bitter cause even than class prejudice. She had a private +and absorbing reason for it, more feminine than theological. That +reason was--a woman, and a rival--a certain Madam Gillin, widow of a +small shopkeeper, with whom the rakish earl chose to be too familiar. +Vainly she had swallowed her pride to the extent of begging him to +respect his wife in public. He had called her names, bidding her mind +her distaff; then had carried in mischief the story to his love, who +set herself straightway to be revenged upon my lady. + +'The stuck-up bit of buckram's a half-caste at the best!' she had +exclaimed. 'She forgets that a Cromwellian trooper was her ancestor, +whilst I can trace my lineage from a race of kings. The blood of Ollam +Fodlah's in my veins. My forefathers were reigning princes before Anno +Domini was thought of, and received baptism at the hands of St. +Columba before Erin was a land of bondage. It is seldom that one of my +faith can bring sorrow on one of hers; and, please the pigs, I'll not +miss my opportunity.' + +And indeed Madam Gillin showed all a woman's ingenuity in torturing +another. She dragged my lord, who was nothing loth, at her kirtle +strings, all through Dublin; paraded him everywhere as her own +chattel; kept him dangling by her side at ridottos and masquerades, +till my lady, whose mainspring was pride, dared not to show her face +at Smock Alley or Fishamble Street, or even on the public drive of +Stephen's Green, for fear of being insulted by this Popish hussy. She +strove to find comfort in her family, as many an outraged woman does, +but that was worse than all; for she looked with groaning on her +eldest born, whom his father could not endure, then at that rosy, +chubby younger one, and loathed him. Truly the life of the Countess of +Glandore was as bran in the mouth to her, despite the wealth of my +lord, his great position, and his influence. No wonder if there was an +expression of settled weariness about those handsome eyes and peevish +lines about her jaded mouth. + +My lord drummed his white fingers impatiently--the dry-skinned +fingers that mark the libertine--because of all things he hated being +bored, and knew that religious discussions would bring reproaches +anent Gillin. It was with relief that he beheld a gay coach +half-filled with flowers, swaying in the crowd below, which contained +the graces _en titre_ of Dublin, Darkey Kelly, Peg Plunkett, and Maria +Llewellyn--over-painted, over-feathered, over-dressed, like a +_parterre_ of full-blown peonies. Their apparition caused a diversion +at the windows. All the peeresses stared stonily through gold-rimmed +glasses as the trio passed with the calm impertinence of high-born +fine ladies, for it stirreth the curiosity of the most _blasee_ +Ariadne to mark what manner of female it is who hath robbed her of her +Theseus. My lord roared with laughter to see the sorry fashion in +which the houris bore the ordeal, vowing 'fore Gad that he must go +help them with his countenance; for there is naught so discomfiting to +a fair one who is frail as a public display of contempt from one who +is not. Out he sallied, therefore, drawing his sword as a hint for the +scum to clear a passage; but, ere he could reach the Graces, they were +borne away by the stream, and their coach had made way for a noddy, in +which sat a comely woman, with bright mouse-like eyes, and a +complexion of milk and roses. When the newcomer observed my lord +buffeting in her direction, her lips parted in a gratified smile, and +she cast a glance of triumph at the club-house; for she knew that at a +window there a certain high nose might be discerned, which set her +teeth on edge--set in a white scornful face, whose aspect made her +blood to boil. + +'That woman again!' my lady was heard to murmur, as she abruptly +quitted her place. 'The globe's not large enough for her and me. I +hate the baggage!' + +Mr. Curran, who, if untidy and unkempt, was a man of the world and +shrewd withal, tried a little joke by way of clearing the sulphur from +the atmosphere; but it fell quite flat, and he looked round with a +wistful air of apology as a dog does that has wagged his tail +inopportunely. + +'Let's be off, Theobald, 'he suggested. 'Whatever can the Volunteers +be doing? Why does their return procession tarry? They should be here +by this, for 'tis past three. Ah, here's Fitzgibbon, the high and +mighty Lucifer, who'd wipe his shoes upon us if he dared. Maybe he +brings us news.' + +Instinctively everybody made way for Fitzgibbon, the brilliant +statesman who already swept all before him. Even his enemies admitted +his ability, whilst deploring his flagrant errors. In his fitful +nature good and evil were ever struggling for the mastery. Was he +destined to achieve perennial fame, or doomed to eternal obloquy? +Liberal, hospitable, munificent, he was; but unscrupulous to boot, and +arrogant and domineering. A man who must become a prodigious success, +or an awful ruin. For him was no middle path. Which was it to be? +Opinion was divided; but as at present his star was in the ascendant, +his foes were outnumbered by his friends. + +This man who aspired to be chancellor, and as such to direct the Privy +Council, was dark, of middle height, with a sharp hatchet face and +oblique cast of eye. No one could be pleasanter or more flashy than +Fitzgibbon if he chose, for he united the manners of a grand seigneur +with some culture, and could keep his temper under admirable control. +But he preferred always to browbeat rather than conciliate, though he +was a master of diplomacy, if such became worth his while. On the +present occasion he strode hastily into the room as though Daly's was +his private property, and, with a polished obeisance to the peeresses, +flourished a perfumed kerchief. + +'It's all over for the present,' he cried, with a harsh chuckle. 'The +fatuous fools have postponed their grand coup till to-morrow, not +perceiving that dissension is already at work among them. Oh, these +Irish! They are only fit to burrow in holes and dig roots out of the +earth. There is no keeping them in unison for two consecutive minutes. +The sooner England swallows them the better, the silly donkeys!' + +'I believe your honour is an Irishman?' asked Curran, dryly. + +'Bedlamites, one and all, who crave for the impossible. I've no +patience with them.' Here Mr. Fitzgibbon helped himself to a pinch +from my lady's snuffbox. + +'Bedad, ye're right,' sneered Curran. 'We're absurd to pretend to a +heart and ventricles all to ourselves. We should be grateful--mere +Irish--to be by favour the Great Toe of an empire!' + +'England has always betrayed us!' cried out young Tone, the neophyte. +'Knowing we're hungry, she throws poisoned bones to us. The only way +to set right our parliament will be to break with England altogether!' + +The bold sentiment set all the peeresses tittering. They cackled of +freedom, and were bedizened in smart uniforms; yet were there few of +these noble ladies whose hearts were really with the new crusade. It +was vastly diverting to hear this David attacking the great Goliath. +They settled their skirts to see fair play; but Fitzgibbon for once +was ungallant. + +'Your godson, isn't it, Wolfe?' he remarked carelessly. 'Send for the +child's nurse that he may be put to bed.' + +He could not sweep Curran aside in this magnificent fashion, so he +elected to be unaware of his presence. He disliked the little advocate +because he feared him. Yes, the would-be aristocrat was mortally +afraid of the plebeian--a privilege which he accorded to few men on +earth. The two had risen at the Bar side by side, till the influence +which Fitzgibbon could command gave him an advantage which his +undoubted talent enabled him to keep. With sure and steady progress he +forced himself above his fellows, and won the adulation which +accompanies success. It was his crumpled roseleaf that Curran should +be keen enough to gauge his real value; that he should despise him as +a mountebank, that he should read within his heart that personal +ambition was his motive-spring, not love of country. As it happened, +Curran was a master of invective, and no niggard of his shafts; so +Fitzgibbon tried flattery, and got jeered at for his pains, which +produced a hurricane of sarcasm. It was with rage that he accepted at +last a fact. If there was one person who could stop his soaring +Pegasus in full career, that man was common-looking Curran. So the +arrogant candidate for honours marked out his enemy as one who must be +watched, and if possible circumvented; and the more he watched the +more he detested that odious little creature. + +He did not choose therefore to take umbrage at his taunts; but, +mindful of the adage that to be anhungered is to be cross, announced +that a collation awaited the pleasure of their ladyships. Now +patriotism is one thing, and fine clothes another; but there are times +when cold beef will bear the palm from either. So was it on this +occasion. The peeresses rose up with unromantic unanimity at the mere +mention of cold beef, seizing each the arm of the nearest gentleman; +and so Curran and his young friend, being unable to escape, found +themselves standing presently before a well-furnished board, hemmed in +on either side by a lady of high rank. + +The showy Fitzgibbon was master of the situation, for Curran was not a +lady's man, and the neophyte in such noble company was sheepish. His +harsh voice rose unchallenged in polished periods as he explained +between two mouthfuls the mess the Volunteers were making. Curran +smiled at his imprudence; for was he not flinging dirt at the popular +idol--that glittering national army which had worked such miracles; +whose many-coloured uniforms sparkled in every street, on the very +backs of the dainty dames who looked up at him surprised? + +'No good will come of it,' cried the contemptuous great man, as he +waved a silver tankard. 'They are acting illegally; are pausing before +they dare to overthrow constitutional authority, as the regicides did +before they chopped off Charles's head. A little ham, my lady? No? Do, +to please me. Will you, my dear Curran? Just a little skelp? Pray do, +for you look as if you'd eat me raw; and that young man too. I vow he +is a cannibal. What was I saying? He who vilifies those who are in +power is sure of an audience, you know. Positively, this regeneration +scheme is laughable, quite laughable!' + +'Stop your friend,' said some one to Curran, 'or there'll be swords +drawn before the ladies;' to which the other answered, 'Friend! No +friend of mine, or indeed of any one except himself, the maniac +incendiary! Ask Arthur Wolfe. Perhaps he will interfere.' + +But Fitzgibbon was not acting without a purpose. He ate his ham with +studied nonchalance, shaking back his ruffles with unrivalled grace; +and he at least was sorry when an unexpected circumstance occurred +which withdrew the attention of his audience from himself and his +insidious talk. + +There was a mighty noise without which shook the windows. The +undergraduates, hearing that the battle was postponed, poured forth +from their gallery in the Commons with the fury of a pent-up river +suddenly let loose. They had wasted their time and energies. Their +lithe young limbs were cramped. Something must be done to set the +blood dancing through their veins again. What did they behold as they +dashed out into the street? Peg Plunkett and her companions flirting +with soldiers--not Volunteers, but actually English soldiers, members +of the Viceroy's bodyguard. It must never be said that Irish Phrynes +gave their favours to English soldiers--at such a time too! Fie on +them for graceless harlots! Their feathers should be plucked out--they +should be ducked--the English Lotharios should be well drubbed--driven +back to the Castle with contumely and bloody noses. Hurrah! Pack a +stone in the sleeve and have at them, the spalpeens! It was well for +the Viceroy that he went home when he did, without strutting, as he +proposed to do, once more round Juggernaut; or he would certainly have +been assaulted by the mischievous collegians, and a serious riot would +have been the consequence. But Darkey Kelly and Maria Llewellyn! Pooh! +it served them right, and no one pitied them. At all events, the +peeresses (mothers of the lads) said so, as they leisurely returned to +the discussion of cold beef and politics. They were too well broken to +street brawls to care much about a stampede of college youths. But +that Fitzgibbon should presume to attack the national army was too +bad, and touched them home. None of them dared admit that English gold +was more precious than national freedom. There are secrets that for +very shame we would go any lengths rather than divulge. These ladies +made believe to be terribly shocked--threatened to assail the +adventurous wight like bewitching Amazons; but he knew them too well +to be alarmed. If Curran could read him, he could read the peeresses; +and neither subject was an edifying one for investigation. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + RETROSPECT + + +The brief career of the Volunteer army stands as a unique example for +students of history to marvel at. Urged by a strange series of events, +Ireland, like Cinderella, rose up from her dustheap, and was clad by a +fairy in gorgeous garments. All at once she flung aside her mop, and +demanded to be raised from the three-legged stool in the scullery to +the dais whereon her wicked sister sat. And the wicked sister, being +at the time sorely put about through her own misconduct, embraced her +drudge with effusion on each cheek, instead of belabouring her with a +broom, as had been her pleasant way, vowing that the straw pallet and +short commons of a lifetime were all a mistake, and that nought but +samite and diamonds of the first water were good enough for the sweet +girl. She killed the fatted calf, and drew a fine robe out of +lavender, and grinned as many a spiteful woman will whom rage is +consuming inwardly, registering at the same time a secret oath to drub +the saucy minx when occasion should serve--a not uncommon practice +among ladies. + +Events followed one another in this wise. France, natural enemy of +England, had suffered sore tribulation at the hands of my Lord +Chatham, who routed her armies and sunk her ships, and filled his +prisons with the flower of her youth. But my Lord Chatham's mighty +spirit succumbed to chronic gout; an incompetent minister took his +place, whose folly lashed the young colonies of America to rebellion, +and France saw with joy such a blow struck across the face of her too +prosperous rival as brought her reeling to her knees. This was the +moment for reprisals. France breathed again. Quick! she said, a deft +scheme of revenge! How shall we find out the weakest point? We will +invade Ireland which is defenceless, and so establish a raw in the +very flank of our enemy. But Ireland had no idea of tamely submitting +to a hostile French occupation. Unhappily for her, she was never +completely conquered, and was ever over-fond of nourishing wild hopes +of independence--of formal recognition as a nation among nations. To +become a slave to France would be no improvement upon her present +slavery, and she had already been a subject of conflict for centuries. +She cried out therefore to the wicked sister, 'Save me from invasion. +Send me men to garrison my fortresses; ships to protect my harbours.' +But England turned a deaf ear, being herself in a dire strait; +bandaging her own limbs, nursing her own wounds. 'Then,' said +Cinderella, 'give me arms at least. I come of a good fighting stock, +and will even make shift in the emergency to defend myself.' Here were +the horns of a dilemma. Unarmed and undefended, Ireland would of a +surety fall an easy prey to France, which would be a serious mishap +indeed. On the other hand, deliberately to place a weapon in the grasp +of a young sister whom we have wronged and hectored all her life, and +who ominously reminds us that though slavery has curbed her spirit she +comes of a good fighting stock, is surely rash. Forgiveness of +injuries savours too much of heaven for mere daughters of earth, and +it is more than probable that, having repulsed the invader, this child +of warlike sires will seize the opportunity to smite us under our own +fifth rib. However, there was nothing for it but to risk that danger; +so England sent over with a good grace a quantity of arms, and +secretly vowed to whip the naughty jade on a later day for having been +the innocent cause of the difficulty. + +That which Britain feared took place. For six hundred years she had +persistently been sowing dragons' teeth in the Isle of Saints, and +perseveringly watering them with blood; and lo, in a night, they rose +up armed men--a threatening host of warriors, who with one voice +demanded their just rights, unjustly withheld so long. England bit her +lips, and parleyed. She felt herself the laughingstock of Europe, and +her humiliation was rendered doubly acute by the dignified bearing of +the new-born battalions. They did not bully; they did not revile. +They calmly claimed their own, with the least little click of a +well-polished firelock, the slightest flutter of a green silk banner. +'To suit your own selfish ends,' they declared, 'you have robbed us of +our trade and suborned our legislature. Give us back our trade; permit +us to reform our senate. You have stripped us of our commerce +piecemeal. Return it, to the last shred. In the days of the first +Tudor, when you were strong and we were weak, a decree of Sir E. +Poyning's became law, whereby we were to be ruled henceforth from +distant London. The operation of all English statutes was to extend to +Ireland; the previous consent of an English Council was necessary to +render legal acts passed at home. By the 6th of George III. this was +made absolute; the Irish senate was decreed to be a chapel of ease to +that of Westminster. When we were weak our gyves were riveted tightly +upon our legs. Now our conditions are reversed; yet claim we nothing +but our own. Bring forth the anvil and the hammer. Strike off with +your own hand these fetters, for we will wear no bonds but those of +equal fellowship. Give us a free constitution and free trade, and let +bygones be bygones.' + +Attentive Europe admired the position of Ireland at this moment. A +change was creeping across the world of which this situation was a +natural result. A cloud, like a man's hand, had arisen on the horizon +of America, which in time was to overshadow the globe. A warlike fever +possessed the Irish people. They became imbued with an all-engrossing +fervour, an epidemic of patriotism. The important question was, could +they keep it up? Irish veterans, who had fought under Washington, +returned home invalided, to thrill their audience by the peat fire +with tales that sounded like fairy lore of Liberty and Fraternity and +Freedom of Conscience; to whisper that their country was a nation, not +a shire; that an end must be put to bigotry, that accursed twin-sister +of religion; that if the King of England wished to rule the Isle of +Saints, he must do so henceforth by right of his Irish, not his +English, crown, governing each kingdom by distinct laws according to +its case. + +High and low were stricken with the new enthusiasm; some generously, +some driven by shame to assume a virtue which they had not. Laird, +squire, and shopkeeper--all donned the Volunteer uniform. All looked, +or affected to look, to the eagle of America as a symbol of a new +hope. A race of serfs were transformed into a nation of soldiers. Many +really thought themselves sincere who fell away when their own +interests became involved. + +And this sudden upheaving was at first without danger to the body +politic. The French Revolution, with its overturning of social grades, +had yet to come. Classes found themselves for a brief space thrown +together, between whom usually a great gulf was fixed, and the +temporary commingling was, by giving a new direction to the mind, for +the mutual benefit of both. The very singularity of such a state of +things (in an age before democratic principles began to obtain) showed +a seriousness of purpose which caused the ruling spirits of the new +military association to carry all before them by the impetus of +self-respect. Their mother had suffered bitterly and long; no one +denied that. The time was come for her rescue. The task was arduous, +but the cause was excellent. It behoved her sons then to raise their +minds above the trammels of the earth--to become Sir Galahads--for was +not their task to the full as pious as the mystic quest after the +Grail? It behoved them, while the holy fervour lasted (alas! man is +unstable at the best, and the Irishman more so than most), to set +their house thoroughly in order, and the powerless English Cabinet +from across the Channel watched the operation with anxiety. + +When a wedge is inserted in so unnatural a bundle as this was, it will +speedily fall asunder, and that which was a formidable coalition will +be reduced to a ridiculous wreck. Who was to insert the wedge? Would +time alone do it, or would perfidious aid from London be required? +That it should be inserted somehow, was decided _nem. con_. in London. + +Alas! in the moment of supreme triumph, whilst the Volunteers caracole +so bravely down Sackville Street, we may detect grave symptoms of +danger, which argus-eyed England scans with hope, while the Viceroy is +laughing in the Castle. + +Ireland had during ages been the butt of fortune. A train of English +kings had entreated her evilly, and the native bards reviewed the sad +story with untiring zeal. + +First they sang of Norman thieves--turbulent barons who, troublesome +at home, were despatched to get rid of superfluous energy at the +expense of Keltic princes. They slurred over the reign of the first +Edward, for with him came a deceptive ray of hope. He threatened to +visit the island in person. Had he done so, he would have quelled the +Irish thoroughly, as he did the Welsh, and so have nipped their +delusive dream of freedom in the bud. The most aristocratic race in +the world would have become loyal, for they would have seen the face +of their lord, and the face of royalty is as a sun unto them. But they +did not become loyal, for they saw their lord's face as little then as +they see that of their lady now. Nor he, nor any of the brave +Plantagenets ever came to Ireland, for they were pursuing an _ignis +fatuus_ in France, instead of attending to their own business at home. +Henry V. and Edward III. sought fame, which might not be obtained, +they thought, by obscure squabbling with saffron-mantled savages in a +barbarous dependency. + +Events shuffled along in slipshod, careless fashion, till the period +when crook-backed Richard met his end at Bosworth. By that time a +mixed population held undisputed possession of the island--a bastard +race, half Keltic, half Norman. The 'English of the Pale,' or early +settlers, had found Irish brides. They wore the saffron mantle and +spoke the Keltish tongue. But the first Tudor, who had no sympathy +with savages, declared 'this might not be.' He had a spite against +them which he was but too glad to gratify, for in the absence of a +king they had crowned an ape--or rather an impostor, Simnel. In +virtuous indignation, he vowed that it was revolting to see noble +knights reduced to the serfs' level; to which the chiefs replied with +one accord: + +'We are no serfs, but freemen, as ye are yourselves; for Ireland was +never conquered, though she did lip-homage.' + +The Tudor did not choose to be so bearded. 'Indeed! You were not +conquered?' he said, surprised. 'I will send commissioners who shall +straightway solve for me this riddle.' And he sent Sir Edward +Poynings, who arrived in state, with special instructions to set the +chiefs a-quarrelling. + +The guileless princes received the commissioner cordially, who +diligently sowed dissensions, setting race against race, by declaring +(in 1494) that none of English blood might wed a Keltic wife, or hold +communion with the Irishry, or even learn their tongue. O'Neil was +pitted against Geraldine, Desmond against Tyrone, with double-faced +advice; and, his dastardly commission done, Sir Edward bowed himself +away with smiles, leaving behind the celebrated act which bears his +name, and which was as a red rag between the nations ever after, till +it was taken in hand by the Volunteers. + +Up to this moment the frequent bickerings which disturbed the +fellowship of the two islands were concerning land or race; but with +the reign of the eighth Henry, the true demon of discord woke to wave +the sword of persecution over the distracted country. The Reformation, +which brought so much trouble on the world, was no kinder to the Irish +than to other nations. Henry, angry with a people who would not do as +they were bid, drove the natives from the holdings which their septs +had held for centuries, away to the wild fastness beyond the Shannon. +(A sinful scheme, which is often fathered upon Cromwell, who has much +besides to answer for.) He ravaged the land with fire and sword, +resolved at least that it should have the peace of death if none other +was attainable; and these tactics his dutiful child Elizabeth pursued, +till her dependency was a waste of blood and ashes. Like her +grandfather, she had a private cause for spite. As a nation, the Irish +declined to be anything but Catholics; and so, refusing to acknowledge +Queen Katherine's divorce, they looked on Anne Boleyn's daughter as a +bastard and a usurper. This prompted her to filial piety. Hardly was +she seated on the throne at Westminster, than she summoned a +parliament in Dublin, and shook her pet prayer-book at the Catholics. +The religion of Christ, the meek and lowly, she preached to them in +this wise. Every layman who should use any prayer-book but her pet one +was to be imprisoned for a year. On each recurring Sunday, every adult +of every persuasion was to attend Protestant service, or be heavily +mulcted for the benefit of her treasury. Not content with crushing +their faith, she let loose a horde of adventurers upon the unhappy +Irish. They fought for their fields as well as their religion. One of +the characteristics of her reign was a spirit of adventure, which +descended in regular gamut from the loftiest heroism to the vilest +cupidity. The eagles sought doubloons on the Spanish main; the +vultures swept down on Ireland with ravenous beaks. Elizabeth's own +deputy wrote thus to her in horror: + +'From every corner of the woods did the people come, creeping on their +hands, for their legs would not bear them. They looked like anatomies +of death; they spake like ghosts; they did eat carrion, happy when +they could find them, yea, and one another; in so much that the very +carcases they spared not to scrape out of their graves.' + +Indeed, Queen Bess left her dependency a reeking slaughter-house, in +so abject a misery, that when her successor cleared a whole province +to plant it with Scotchmen, the natives made no resistance, but +plodded listlessly away. Is it surprising that their descendants +should have hated England, and its truckling Anglo-Irish Senate? + +In due course followed Charles I., who, with the ingrained perfidy of +all the Stuarts, fleeced his Irish subjects, and then cheated them by +evading the graces for which they paid their gold. His creature +Strafford went too far, and they turned as worms will. There was a +grand Protestant massacre in Ulster, an appalling picture of a +vengeance such as a brutalised people will wreak on its oppressor; and +Cromwell took advantage of this as an excuse for still further +grinding down the Catholics. It was a fine opportunity to avenge the +sufferings of Protestants in other lands--the affair of Nantes, +Bartholomew, and so forth. He made a finished job of it, as he did of +most things to which he set his shoulder. It was no felony now to slay +an Irishman, whose very name was a reproach. He was well-nigh swept +from off the earth. Famine and pestilence reigned together alone. +Wolves roamed at will in the dismantled towns. Newly-appointed +colonists refused to build the walls of shattered cities, for the +stench of the rotting bodies poisoned the breeze. + +It remained for Orange William and good Queen Anne (neither of whom +could be expected to feel interest in Ireland) to add a finishing +touch, and the Penal Code was a _chef d'[oe]uvre_. Under its sweet +influence no Catholic could dwell in Ireland save under such +conditions as no man who stood erect might bear, and so there +commenced an exodus of independent spirits, who flocked into the +service of France and Germany, and filled the navies of Holland and of +Spain. Thus did British rulers educate their dependency to loving +obedience, by teaching its children to revile the name of law. Verily +it is no wonder that they loathed the English; that they distrusted +British amenities, and looked askance at the half-English upper class. + +When the Volunteers determined to regenerate their motherland, +there were two great evils with which they had to cope. Two deep +plague-spots. It remained to be seen whether they were wise enough and +steadfast enough to eradicate the virus. A rotten legislature, an +impossible Penal Code. Could Sir Galahad reform so base a parliament? +Would the champion dare to free the serfs from thraldom? The first was +a Herculean labour, because both Lords and Commons drew much of their +revenue from British ministers; the second was even a more Titanic +task. Possession is nine points of the law, and the soil was in +possession of the small knot of Protestants, who knew that their +existence depended on keeping the majority in chains. Like the +emigrants of the _Mayflower_, they said: 'Resolved, that the earth is +the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; that the Lord hath given the +earth as an heritage unto His saints; and that we are His saints. +_Ergo_: the earth is ours, to have and to hold by pillage and +persecution, and murder, if need be, just as the chosen people of old +seized and held Canaan, the land of promise, flowing with milk and +honey.' + +Truly the parliament was a plague-spot fit to gangrene a whole body; +for it in nowise represented the nation, consisting as it did of three +hundred members, seventy-two only of whom were elected by the people. +The rest were nominees of large Protestant proprietors who returned +members for every squalid hamlet on their estates, and kept their +voters in the condition of tame dogs through a constant terror of +ejectment. Of three million Catholics not one had a voice in the +elections; for by law they existed not at all. Like Milton's devils +they occupied no space, while the Protestant angels filled the air +with their proportions. + +It was said of the Irish gentry of the last century that they +possessed the materials of distinguished men with the propensities of +obscure ones, which is a picturesque way of admitting that they were +incorrigibly idle. To indolence add poverty and a propensity for +drink, and you have a promising hotbed for the growth of every ill. +The aristocratic pensioners were, as a rule, lapped in excessive +luxury, which could not be kept up without extraneous help; half +English by education as well as origin, they naturally leaned for +protection towards the English Government. + +The gentry, ignorant and sensual, were given to profuse hospitality, +regardless of mortgaged acres and embarrassed lands. Dog-boys and +horse-boys hung about their gates; keepers and retainers lolled +upon their doorsteps, together with a posse of half-mounted poor +relations--all of them too genteel to do anything useful--fishing for +the speckled trout by day, drinking huge beakers of claret and +quarrelling among themselves by night, till in many cases there was +little left, after a few years, for the filling of a hundred mouths +beyond a nominal rent-roll and the hereditary curse of idleness. Not a +squire but was more or less floundering in debt, and (his sense of +honour blunted by necessity) only too anxious for a little cash at any +price. Government agents were always conveniently turning up ready and +willing to purchase mortgages and notes of hand, which were duly +stored in the coffers of the Castle as a means of prospective coercion +by-and-by. + +With such materials for a national 'Lords and Commons,' it is little +wonder if a sudden revulsion in favour of patriotism on the part of a +body of enthusiasts should threaten to set the country agog. How was +the parliament to be purified? That was the rub. Was it to be exhorted +to virtue gently, or flogged into improvement? The leaders of the +Volunteers had carried their first point with a rush. The parliament +was with them, or feigned to be so. But what if the existence of the +Parliament should come to be threatened? The sincerity of its +professions would be put to a crucial test. Careless lords and +impecunious squires babbled of freedom and cackled of free trade, +because it was become the fashion and pleased the Volunteers. What +cared they for free trade? That was a question which affected the men +of Ulster, to whom commerce was as lifeblood, and who indeed were the +prime workers in this movement. The dissenting traders of Belfast had +demanded a free trade, and British ministers had given way. Therefore +Lords and Commons joined in the popular cry, and pretended that it +interested them. The position was a paradox. Here was all at once a +military supremacy independent of the crown, and ministers in London +were compelled to countenance it. It was humiliating; but their +comfort lay in this. Would the Volunteer leaders allow zeal to +overstep prudence? Probably they would. They might be coaxed by crafty +submission to do so. If a collision could only be brought about +between a self-elected military despotism and an effete but +constitutional senate, there were the materials for such a pretty +quarrel as might produce a repetition of the fate of the Kilkenny +cats. One would devour the other, and England would gloat over the +tails. The British premier made a parade of 'doing something for +Ireland' to oblige the Volunteers. + +With a flourish of alarums he repealed some obnoxious laws, which +graceful conduct was received in Dublin with gratitude, till somebody +pointed out that Albion was at her tricks again: whilst seeming +gracefully to give way, she was really strengthening her own position +by establishing a new precedent on the basis of the Poynings statute, +to the effect that such favours were in the gift of England's +Parliament--not Ireland's--and might accordingly be withdrawn at any +time. The Volunteers were furious, Albion was perfidious; the Irish +senate was playing a double game, there was no use in mincing matters +in the way of compromise. England must distinctly abdicate all +parliamentary dominion; parliament must be remodelled on new lines. In +the future the senate must be upright, zealous, independent, +incorruptible; English gold must be as dross; an English coronet hold +no allurement. + +As might be expected, the new cry created a commotion. Patriots there +were both in Lords and Commons, who were prepared to sacrifice part of +their income for the general good, but they were few. If pensions were +withdrawn and mortgages foreclosed and proprietors in prison, what +mattered to these last a national liberty? The notion was an insult, +and parliament stood at bay. But the ardour of the Volunteers would +brook no dallying. Ulster, as usual, took the lead. Sharpwitted, +frugal, Scotch, the battalions of the North convened a general +assembly. On Feb. 15, 1782, one of the most impressive scenes which +Ireland ever witnessed took place at Duncannon, where two hundred +delegated volunteers marched two and two, calm, steadfast, virtuous, +determined to pledge themselves before the altar of that sacred place +to measures which might save their motherland or kill her. After +earnest thought, a manifesto was framed--a dignified declaration of +rights and grievances, a solemn statement of the people's will, a +protest against English craft and Irish corruption--inviting the armed +bodies of other provinces to aid in the process of regeneration. + +Can you conceive anything more glorious and touching than the quiet +gathering on the promontory of Duncannon? A towering fort frowns down +upon the harbour, commanding a spacious basin formed by the waters of +three rivers. Imagine the simple country gentlemen, the homely +squires, the traders of Belfast, abandoning for a while their vices +and their quarrels, to deliberate sword in hand over the grievous +shortcomings of their brethren. I see them in the gloaming, with +high-collared coats and anxious faces, puzzling their poor brains over +a way out of the labyrinth. The lovely land, stretched out on either +side in a jagged line of coast, whose slopes had been watered to +greenness with blood and tears, must haply be soaked again in the +stream of war. For the last time. Once more--only once--a final +sanctifying baptism which should leave it clean and sweet for +evermore. They penned a temperate document--a dignified manifesto. +Could they be single-minded to the end, or would discord fling her +apple among them? + +So soon as the delegates of the North received the concurrence of the +provinces, the senate in Dublin changed its tone, for no immediate +succour could be hoped from England. It affected a complete +patriotism, and made believe to go all lengths with the Volunteers. +Patriots--real and sham--thundered in the House, and were applauded to +the echo. It was impossible to tell who was in earnest and who was +not. First, said the wily senators, make it clear that we are free, +and then by remodelling the Senate we will prove ourselves worthy of +the gift you have bestowed. Grattan towered above all others. He spoke +as one inspired, and the meshes of the web seemed to shrivel before +his breath. + +The army patrolled the streets, and review succeeded review in the +Ph[oe]nix Park; the national artillery lined the quays. Loyalty, +Dignity, Forbearance, were grouped round the god of war. All the +virtues, posing around Mars, hovered in ether over Dublin. Never was a +city so happy or so proud. But the English Viceroy, though outwardly +perturbed, was laughing in the Castle while the ignorant people +jigged. + +'Fools!' he scoffed. 'The meeting at Duncannon, of which you are so +vain, was but the thin end of the wedge which we were looking for. You +shall be played one against the other--people against parliament and +parliament against people--till you break your silly pates. We stoop +to conquer, as your own Goldy hath it. A little more and you will be +undone. A little, little more!'--and he was right. The Commons, with +mortgages before their eyes, wavered and prevaricated. The Volunteers, +exasperated, openly denounced the senate. The people, taking fire, +vowed they would obey no laws, whether good or bad, which were +dictated under the rose by the perfidious one. The statute-book was +rent in pieces; anarchy threatened to supervene; England prepared to +take possession again. But the Volunteers, sublime at this moment, +came once more to the rescue. They chid the weak and reproved the +strong; even formed themselves into a night-police for the security of +the capital. This hour was that of pride before a fall. + +In prosperity they gave way to indiscretion. Enjoying as they did an +unnatural existence, for which the only excuse was transcendent +virtue, it was the more needful for them to be of one mind as to a +chief. But they split on this important point. One party declared for +the Earl of Charlemont, an amiable nobleman of whose mediocrity it was +said that his mind was without a flower or a weed; another was for my +lord of Deny, a bold, unsteady prelate, who, sincere or not, was but +too likely to lead his flock into a quagmire. + +They wavered, when to hesitate was to be lost. They did worse; they +dirtied their own nest in a public place. Each rival chief, in his +struggle for supremacy, lost more than half his influence. Tongues +wagged to the discredit of all parties. Sir Galahad, feeling that he +was in the toils of sirens, made a prodigious effort to escape with +dignity. If parliament were not remodelled the fire would end in +smoke. _Coute qui coute_, this must be done at once, or England would +step in triumphant, and dire would be the vengeance. All hands were +quarrelling. Was it already too late? A wild and desperate effort must +be made to regain ground, lost by infirmity of purpose. The +Volunteers, all prudence cast aside, determined to strike a blow in +sledge-hammer fashion. They deliberately decided to send three hundred +of their number in open and official manner to Lords and Commons, +bidding them reform themselves at once; offering even to teach them +how to do it. And so the extraordinary spectacle came to be seen in +Dublin, of two governments--one civil, one military--sitting at the +same moment in the same city--within sight of each other--each equally +resolved to strain every nerve in order that the other might not live. + +Sir Galahad blundered woefully! He had concentrated his attention with +all his muddled might and main on the lesser instead of the greater +plague-spot. 'Free Trade' had been his shibboleth, then a 'Reformed +Parliament,' though how it was to be reformed he did not know. It +escaped the shortness of his vision that 'Freedom of Conscience' would +have been the nobler cry. Had he first freed the three million slaves +from the bondage of the half million, the air would have been cleared +for the disinfecting of his senate. But no. He was blind and tripped, +and England saw the stumble. Well might the Viceroy laugh, while he +made believe to tremble, as he thought of the Kilkenny cats. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + SHADOWS. + + +As day waned, the Volunteers perceived that they must pass the night +as watchmen if they wished the capital to be sufficiently peaceful on +the morrow to attend to the parliamentary tournament. What the +gownsmen intended for a frolic developed into a riot, thanks to the +national love of a row and the complicated feuds which were +continually breaking forth. No sooner had the undergraduates pumped +upon the Graces and driven the English detachment into Castle Yard +than they found themselves hemmed in by their natural enemies, the +butchers of Ormond Quay, who owed the college gentlemen a grudge +because they invariably took up the cudgels of the Liberty-lads when +these sworn foes thought fit to have a brush. + +The weavers were every bit as pugnacious as the butchers. Dulness of +trade, hot weather, a passing thunder-shower, were excuse sufficient +for a breaking of the peace; and then shops were closed and business +suspended along the Liffey banks, as bridges were taken and retaken +amid showers of stones, till one or other of the belligerents was +driven from the field. It was one of the singular contradictions of +the time that youths of high degree should always be ready to join the +dregs of the city in these outrages; that members of an intensely +exclusive class should unite with coal-porters or weavers against +butchers, to the risk of life and limb. But so it was, and frightful +casualties were the result sometimes; for the butchers were playful +with their knives, using them, not to stab their opponents, which they +would have considered cowardly, but to hough or cut the tendon of the +leg, thus rendering their adversaries lame for life. Sometimes they +dragged their captives to the market, and hung them to the meat-hooks +by the jaws until their party came to rescue them. Not but what the +aristocratic gownsmen were quite capable of holding their own, as had +been proved, a few weeks before the commencement of this history, by +the result of a conflict on Bloody Bridge, on which occasion a rash +detachment of the Ormond Boys was driven straight into the river, +where many perished by drowning before they could be extricated. The +butchers vowed vengeance for this feat, yet were kept quiet for a +while by the attitude of the Volunteers; but now they sprang blithely +to arms with marrow-bone and cleaver upon hearing that their foes were +on the war-path. + +At a moment so big with fate as this was, the Volunteers could permit +of no such kicking up of heels. The dignity of the situation would be +compromised by vulgar brawling. Peg Plunket and Darkey Kelly were +clapped into the Black Dog, dripping wet, to repent on bread and water +their having flaunted forth this day. Lord Glandore's regiment was +detached to sweep the riff-raff to the Liberties at once, then to coax +back in less violent fashion the gownsmen to Alma Mater. A charge of +the splendid hunters which the men rode soon sent the factions +swirling like dead leaves, after which the armed patriots quietly +jog-trotted towards College Green, driving their scapegrace brothers +and sons before them with flat of sword and many a merry jest. The +affair was so good-humoured that the lads did not look on it as +serious. They had been commanded to drop stones and fling shillalaghs +into the water, and had been compelled to obey the mandate; but their +door-keys remained to them--heavy keys which, slung in kerchiefs, were +formidable weapons--and they valiantly decided upon just another sally +before being shut up, if only to show how game they were. Upon turning +into Dame Street from the quay, behold! another woman, of churlish +breeding, showy and pink and plump, sitting in a noddy, conversing +with a friend. It was clearly not fair to drench Peg and Darkey and +Maria and leave this one to go scot-free! So, with the college +war-cry, they made a swoop at her. Half a dozen youth clambered into +the carriage, while one leaped on horseback and another seized the +reins, and then the cavalcade started at a gallop with a pack of +madcaps bellowing after, all vowing she should have a muddy bath. +Vainly she shrieked and wrung her pretty hands for mercy. She was no +Phryne, she bawled. A respectable married lady, a descendant of Brian +Borohme and Ollam Fodlah and ever so many mighty princes. Ah now! +would the darlints let her go! They wouldn't? Then they were wretches +who should repent their act, for she had friends--powerful friends +among the Englishry--who would avenge the outrage. Her cries only +amused her tormentors. The more she bawled the more they yelled and +whooped and danced about like demons; the faster on they galloped. So +recklessly, that in skirting William's effigy a wheel caught against +the pedestal and the noddy was overturned--a wreck. This was great +fun. The mischief-makers formed a circle, and whirled singing round +their prey. She was in piteous plight from mire and scratches. What +rarer sport than this? The wench was sleek and well-to-do; it would be +grand to set her floundering in the filthy stream before returning +home to college. But she was right. She had a powerful friend--close +by too--one whose temper was short, whose sword was sharp; no less a +person than the colonel of the regiment that, with quip and quirk, was +coaxing them homewards. At the sound of Mrs. Gillin's lamentations, +Lord Glandore waved his sword and thundered out 'Desist!' He might as +well have argued with the winds. The phosphorescent light of menace +which folks dreaded in the eye of a Glandore glimmered forth from his. +With a fierce oath he spurred his horse, and, beside himself with +passion, plunged blindly with his weapon into the heap of sable gowns. + +A luckless youth with gold braid upon his vesture, who was bending +down to extricate the lady, received the sword-point in his back, and, +screaming, swooned away. A cry of enraged horror burst from all, and, +like a swarm of angry bees, the boys fixed, without thought of +consequences, on the aggressor. They were of his own class; their +blood as hot and blue as his, although so young. What! murder a +gownsman for a bit of folly? 'Twas but a frolic, which he had turned +to tragedy. A peasant would not have mattered--but one of noble +lineage! Vengeance should fall swift and terrible. They dared the +soldiery to interfere. A hundred hands dragged the colonel from his +horse, which, with a blow, was sent riderless down Sackville Street. +His clothes were in tatters in a twinkling. A dozen heavy keys flew +through the air with so sure an aim that he staggered and fell prone. +One youth picked up the weapon, which yet reeked with his comrade's +blood, and broke it on the backbone of his destroyer. In a trice the +tragedy was complete. Ere his men could reach him, Lord Glandore lay +motionless; and Gillin was rending the air with shrieks which were +re-echoed from the club-house. + +And now the _melee_ became general, for some weavers who had lingered +in the rear gave the alarm; the Liberty-boys sallied forth again, and +the chairmen, hewing their staves in twain, belaboured all +impartially, adding to the general disturbance. This was no vulgar +riot now, for blood had been twice drawn--that of the privileged +class--and gentlemen, fearing for their sons who were only armed with +keys, rushed out from club and tavern to form a bulwark round the +gownsmen against the rage of the infuriated soldiery. Thus sons and +fathers were smiting right and left below, whilst mothers were +screaming from the windows; and the peeresses saw more than they came +out to see ere swords were sheathed and peace could be restored. They +had lingered, many of them, at Daly's till past the tea-hour, to +inspect the illuminations before adjourning to the Fishamble Street +Masquerade; and crowded in a bevy round the club-house door as the +dying earl and his distracted love were borne into the coffee-room; +while the collegians retired backwards in compact order, silent but +menacing, till the gates of Alma Mater opened and clanged to on them. + +The peeresses had bawled as loud as Madam Gillin, and now cried with +one voice for pouncet-boxes. The one of their order whom the tragedy +chiefly concerned uttered never a word. With dry eye and distended +nostril my lady looked on the prostrate figures--the still one of her +lord--the picturesquely hysterical form of the hated Gillin--and bit +her white lip as the frown, which was become habitual, deepened on her +face. Little Doreen looked on in unblinking wonder, till her father +clasped his fingers on her eyes to shut out the horrid sight from +them. Members entered hurriedly by the private way from the Parliament +Houses, and smirked and looked demure, and, feeling that they had no +business there, retired on tiptoe. The peeresses felt that a +prospective widow is best left alone, and one by one retreated, +skimming away like seamews to gabble of the dread event to +scandalmongers less blest than they, leaving the two women to face +their bereavement and speak to each other for the first time. Strange +to say, these rivals had never had speech together in their lives. +Madam Gillin choked her sobs after a while and revived, sitting up +stupidly and staring half-stunned, as she picked with mechanical +fretfulness at the feathers of her fan. The shock of so sudden a +misfortune took her breath away; but, perceiving the haughty eyes of +her enemy fixed gloomily upon her, she rallied and strung up her +nerves to face the mongrel daughter of the Sassanagh. + +My lady--erect and towering in martial frock and helm--pointed with +stern finger at the door. Of her own will the real wife would never +soil her lips by speaking to this woman; but she, assuming a dogged +smile as she rearrayed her garments, tossed her head unheeding, till +Arthur Wolfe took her hand and strove to lead her thence. She pushed +him back and leaned over the impromptu bed which lacqueys had built up +of chairs and tables; for at this moment my lord moved, opened his +eyes which sought those of his mistress, and, struggling in the grip +of Death, essayed to speak. His wife moved a step nearer to catch his +words, but, consistent to the end, he motioned her impatiently away. +The face of the countess burned with shame and wrath as she turned to +the window, and, clasping her eldest-born to her bosom, pressed a hot +cheek against the panes. He could not forbear to humiliate her, even +before the club-servants--before vulgar little Curran and the foolish +neophyte--before the horrible woman who had usurped her place in his +affections. Was it the hussy's mission to insult her always--to cover +her with unending mortification? No! Thank goodness. That ordeal was +nearly overpast, but she would forget its corroding bitterness never! +My lord's sand was ebbing visibly. In an hour at most he must pass the +Rubicon. Then the minx should be stripped of borrowed plumes and +turned out upon the world, even as Jane Shore was centuries ago. +Ignominy should be piled back upon the papist a hundredfold. She knew, +or thought she knew, that my lord was too careless to have thought of +a last testament. At all events, a legacy from a Protestant to a +Catholic was fraught with legal pitfalls. But she started from false +premises, as her astonished ears soon told her. + +My lord, raising himself upon his elbows, spoke--slowly, with +labouring breath; for his life was oozing in scarlet throbs through +the sword-gash, and grave-damps were gathering upon his skin. + +'Gillin dear!' he gasped, with a diabolical emphasis to disgust his +wife. 'I have loved you, for you were always gay and cheerful and +forgiving, not glaring and reproachful like that stony figure there! I +leave you well provided for. The Little House is yours, with the farm +and the land about it; in return for which I lay a duty on you. My +lady will not be pleased,' he continued, with a look of hate; 'for she +will never be able to drive out of Strogue without passing before your +doors. And she must live there--there or at Ennishowen, or by my will +she will forfeit certain rights. Lift me up. I can hardly breathe.' + +Both Wolfe and Curran made a movement of indignation as the departing +sinner exposed his plans. What a fiendish thing, so to shame a wife +whose only apparent crime was a coldness of demeanour! Well, well! The +Glandores were always mad, and this one more crazy than his +forefathers. + +My lord marked the movement, and, turning his glazing eyes towards his +second son, smiled faintly. 'Not so bad as you think,' he panted. 'I +have bequeathed the Little House to your daughter, Gillin, to be held +in trust for you, then to be hers absolutely--to pretty Norah, who, at +my wish you know, was baptised a Protestant. I will that the two +families should live side by side, in order that his mother may do no +harm to my second child, whom she abhors. I do not think she would do +him active wrong. But we can never tell what a woman will do if +goaded. Swear to watch over the boy, Gillin; and if evil befall, point +the finger of public opinion at his mother. She will always bow to +that, I know. Bring lights. Hold up my little Terence that I may look +at him. Lights! It is very dark.' + +A candle was brought in a great silver sconce, but my lord had looked +his last on earth. Vainly he peered through a gathering film. The +child's blonde locks were hidden from his sight; and then, feeling +that the portals of one world were shut ere those of the other were +ajar, he was seized with a quaking dread like ague. The devil-may-care +swagger of the Glandores was gone. He strove with groans to recall a +long-forgotten prayer, and the spectators of his death-bed were +stricken with awe. + +'Gillin,' he murmured, in so strange and hoarse a voice as to make her +shudder. 'It is an awful wrong we've done. Why did you let me? Too +late now. I cannot set it right, but she--call my lady--why is she not +here?' + +The tall countess was standing sternly over him, close by, with +crossed arms, but he could not see her. + +'I am here. What would you?' she said; as white as he, with a growing +look of dread. + +'That wrong!' he gurgled. 'That dreadful thing. Oh, set it right while +you have time; for my sake; for your own, that you may escape this +torment. If I might live an hour--O God! but one! We three only know. +If I could----' + +The wretched man made an effort to rise--a last supreme effort. A +spasm seized his throat. He flung his arms into the air and fell +back--dead. + +Doreen, the brown-eyed girl, cowered against her father and began to +cry. The boys, who looked on the work of the White Pilgrim for the +first time, clung trembling in an embrace with twitching lips. The two +women--so dissimilar in birth and breeding--bound by a strange secret +link--scrutinised each other long and steadily across the corpse, as +skilful swordsmen do who would gauge a rival's skill. They were about +to skirmish now. In the future might one be called upon to run the +other through? Who can tell what lurks behind the veil? + +The countess winced under the insolent gaze with which Madam Gillin +looked her up and down. With a tinge of half-alarmed contempt she +broke the silence. + +'Arthur,' she said, 'take that chit away. With her mother's craven +soul in her, she's like to have a fit. At any rate, save my conscience +that. Fear not for me, though they _have_ all run off as if I were +plague-stricken. Mr. Curran I dare say, or some one, will see me taken +care of. You will have details to look to for me. Take the girl hence. +No. Leave the boys.' + +Arthur Wolfe departed, taking with him Doreen and his godson Tone; and +Mr. Curran, nodding to them, withdrew to the antechamber. + +The women were alone with their dead. My lady stood frowning at the +usurper, who, no whit abashed, laid a hand upon the corpse and said, +in solemn accents: 'So help me God--I'll do his bidding. Do not glare +at me, woman, or you may drive me to use my nails. I know your secret, +for your husband babbled of it as he slept. It is a fearful wrong. +Many a time I've urged him to see justice done, no matter at what cost +to you and to himself. But he was weak and wicked too. I suppose it is +now too late, for you are as bad as he, and vain as well of your murky +half-caste blood!' + +Madam Gillin drew back a step; for, stung to the quick by the +beginning of her speech, my lady made as if to strike her foe with the +toy-bayonet; but, reason coming to the rescue, she tossed it on the +ground. This last insult was too much. To speak plainly of such +shameful things to her very face! The brazen hardened papist hussy! +But vulgar Gillin laughed at the fierce impulse with such a jeering +crow as startled Mr. Curran in the antechamber. + +'Do you want fisticuffs?' she gibed, with a plump white fist on either +hip. 'I warrant ye'd get the worst of such a tussle, my fine madam, +for all your haughty airs--_you_--who should act as serving-wench to +such as I. Nay! Calm yourself. I'm off. This is the first time we've +ever spoken--I hope it may be the last, for that will mean that you +have behaved properly to your second son. I've no desire to cross your +path; you cruel, wicked, heartless woman!' + +Lady Glandore, her thin lips curling, took Terence by the hand for all +reply, and bade him kneel. + +'Swear,' she said in low clear tones, drawing forward the astonished +Shane, 'that you will be faithful to your elder brother as a vassal to +a suzerain, that you will do him no treason, but act as a junior +should with submission to the head of his house.' + +The little boy had been crying with all his might ever since they +brought in that ghastly heap. Confused and awed by his mother's hard +manner he repeated her words, then broke into fresh sobs, whilst Madam +Gillin stared and clasped her hands together as she turned to go. + +'Sure the woman's cracked,' she muttered. 'What does she mean? The +feudal system's passed. No oath can be binding on a child of twelve. +Maybe she's not wicked--only mad--as mad as my lord was. Well, God +help the child! What's bred in the bone will out! Deary me! There's +something quare about all these half-English nobles.' + +Mr. Curran waited, according to agreement, lest anything should be +required by my lady; and though by no means a lady's man, was not +sorry so to do, for the conduct of the countess in her sudden +bereavement had been, to say the least of it, extraordinary, and he +was curious to observe what would happen next. There was something +beneath that haughty calmness which roused his curiosity. Was she +regretting the past, conscious only of the sunshine, forgetful now of +storms; or was she rejoicing at a release? Holding no clue, conjecture +was waste of brain-power. + +So Mr. Curran resolved to reserve his judgment, and turned his +attention to what was going on without, while the servants stole +backwards and forwards, improvising the preparations for a wake. + +The proceedings outside were well-nigh as lugubrious as those within. +A thick mist and drizzling rain were descending on the town, turning +the roads to quagmires, the ornamental draperies to dish-clouts, the +wreaths to funereal garlands. The illuminations, concerning which +expectation had been so exercised, flickered and guttered dismally. +Groups of men in scarlet, their powder in wet mud upon their coats, +reeled down the greasy pavement, waking the echoes with a drunken +view-halloo or a fragment of the Volunteer hymn. Some were making an +exhaustive tour of the boozing-kens; some staggered towards the +lottery-rooms in Capel Street, or the Hells of Skinner's Row; some +were running-a-muck with unsteady gait, and sword-tip protruded +through the scabbard for the behoof of chairmen's calves; while some +again, in a glimmer of sobriety, were examining the smirched stockings +and spattered breeches which precluded their appearance at Smock +Alley. Chairs and coaches flitted by, making for Moira House or the +Palace of his Grace of Leinster, for all kept open-house to-night, and +Mr. Curran's crab-apple features puckered into a grin as he marked how +fearfully faces were upturned to Daly's, where one of the elect was +lying stiff and stark. But the grin soon faded into a look of sadness, +as, like some seer, he apostrophised his countrymen. + +'O people!' he reflected, 'easily gulled and hoodwinked, how long will +your triumph last? This is but a grazing of the ark on Ararat--a +delusive omen of the subsiding of the waters. Our bark is yet to be +tossed, not on a sinking, but on a more angry flood than heretofore. +Eat and drink, for to-morrow you die. What was your ancestors' sin +that ye should be saddled with a curse for ever? Your land was the +Isle of Saints, yet were ye pre-doomed from the beginning; for when +the broth of your character was brewed, prudence was left out and +discord tossed in instead. And the taskmaster, knowing that in discord +lies his strength, plays on your foibles for your undoing. How long +may the prodigy of your co-operation last? Alas! It pales already. +To-morrow is your supreme trial of strength, and your chiefs are at +daggers-drawn. What will be the end? What will be the end?' + +He shook himself free from the dismal prospect of his thoughts, for +since Madam Gillin bustled out my lady had been very quiet. He peeped +through the doorway. No! She had not moved since he looked in an hour +ago; but was sitting still with her chin on her two hands--gazing with +knitted brows at the body as it lay, its form defined dimly through +the sheet that covered it. + +Terence, lulled by tears, had fallen asleep long since upon the floor. +Shane walked hither and thither, biting his nails furtively; for he +was a brave boy who feared not his father dead, though he trembled in +his presence whilst alive. Had he dared he would have gone forth into +the street to see the gay folks, the lights, and junketing, for he was +high up in his teens and longed to be a man. But it would not do to +leave the mother whom he loved and dreaded to the protection of +Curran--the low lawyer. He was my lord now, and the head of his house, +and must protect her who had hitherto protected him. He marvelled, +though, in his slow brain, as it wandered round the knotty subject, +over the passage of arms betwixt the ladies; their covert menace; the +oath the little lad was made to swear. It was all strange--his mother +of all the strangest. Protect her, forsooth! The uncompromising mouth +and square chin of her ladyship--the steely glitter of her light grey +eye--showed independent will enough for two. Clearly she was intended +to protect others, rather than herself to need protection. But her +manner was odd, her frown of evil augury. At a moment of soul-stirring +woe, such calmness as this of hers could bode no good. + +All through the night she sat reviewing her life, while Shane walked +in a fidget, and patient Curran waited. She brooded over the past, +examined the threatening future, without moving once or uttering a +sound. She was deciding in her mind on a future plan of action which +should lead her safely through a sea of dangers. Was she as relentless +as she looked? Was this an innately wicked nature, set free at last +from duress, revolving how best to abuse its liberty; or was it one at +bottom good, but prejudiced and narrow, chained down and warped awry, +and dulled by circumstance? + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + BANISHMENT. + + +Years went by. The volcano burned blithely, and the upper orders +danced on it. No court was more like that of a stage potentate than +the court of the Irish Viceroy. No ridottos were so gorgeous as those +of Dublin; no equipages so sumptuous; no nobles so magnificently +reckless. Mr. Handel averred in broken German that he adored the +Hibernian capital, and gave birth to his sublime creations for the +edification of Dublin belles. The absentees returned home in troops, +finding that in their mother's mansion were many fatted calves; and +vied with one another, in the matter of Italian stuccoists and +Parisian painters, for the display of a genteel taste. But, as the +poet hath it, 'things are not always as they seem.' The crust of the +volcano grew daily thinner. What a gnashing of teeth would result from +its collapse! + +The Grand Convention fell a victim to its leaders, and from a mighty +engine of the national will shrivelled into an antic posturing. Mr. +Grattan (the man of eighty-two _par excellence_) perceived that he was +overreached; that perfidious Albion shuffled one by one out of her +engagements, that the independence, over which he had crowed like a +revolutionary cock, was no more than an illusory phantom. The +Renunciation Act was repealable at pleasure, he found, and no +renunciation save in name. The horrid Poyning, the objectionable 6th +of George III., tossed into limbo with such pomp, might become law +again by a mere pen-scratch. Ireland was decked in the frippery of +freedom, which, torn off piecemeal, would leave her naked and ashamed. +The Volunteers, perceiving that their blaring and strutting had +produced nothing real, looked sheepishly at one another and returned +to their plain clothes. After all, they were asses in lions' skins; +their association a theatrical pageant of national chivalry, which +dazzled Europe for an instant till men smelt the sawdust and the +orange-peel and recognised in the helmet a dishcover. During all +this vapouring and trumpeting, England had held her own, by means of +the subservient Lords and the heavily mortgaged Commons. The +parliament, too base for shame, smiled unabashed; the Volunteers, +conscience-smitten and in despair, broke up and fell to pieces. The +Catholics were as much serfs as ever. Derry, whose conscience was +troubled with compunctious visitings, went so far as to propose that +the Catholics (burning source of trouble in all altercations) should +emigrate _en masse_ to Rome as a bodyguard for his Holiness; but the +latter, dreading an incursion of three million savages, which would +have been like an invasion of the Huns, declined with thanks the +present, and the laudable scheme was given up. + +Far-sighted folks became aware that the pretty tricks of the puppets +were due to an English punchinello. The fantoccini did credit to their +machinist, who was skilful at pulling of wires. Who was he? Why, Mr. +Pitt the younger, who would have his dolls jump as he listed, though +they should come to be shattered in the jumping. Mr. Pitt, the British +premier, set his wits to work to keep all grades and classes +squabbling. At one time, to exasperate the Papists, he gave an extra +twist to the penal screw; at another, he untwisted it suddenly to +anger the Orangemen. Coercion and relief were two reins in his skilled +hands wherewith he sawed the mouth of poor rawboned Rosinante, till +the harried animal came down upon its haunches. He established a +forty-shilling franchise which gave votes to the poorest, most +ignorant, and most dependent peasantry in Europe. This he declared was +the divine gift of liberty. Nothing of the sort. It merely placed a +fresh tool in the hands of large proprietors who were dying to be +bribed and charmed to have something new to sell. + +Though the Volunteers ceased to be a cause of uneasiness, it was plain +to Mr. Pitt that a repetition of their military fandango must be made +impossible. How was this to be accomplished? As it was, they had left +behind them, when they vanished, the nucleus of a disease--a small +but sturdy band of patriots, who were not to be bought or cajoled. +Unless treated in time, this spot might inflame and grow contagious. +How was it to be treated? That was the grave question whereon hung the +peace of Erin. The honest handful saw the rock on which the Convention +had split, and were humble enough to try and remedy the error. +Theobald--romantic young _protege_ of Arthur Wolfe--was the first to +show them the true case, to demonstrate that Ireland's harmony was +England's disappointment; that the only hope for motherland lay, not +in a commingling of a few red uniforms, or a picturesque mixing of +social grades, but in a compact welding together for the common weal +of the different religious creeds which had distracted the land with +its dissensions since the Reformation. 'Till this is done,' he said, +'the Sassanagh will toss us as a battledore a shuttlecock. Establish +the grand principle of liberty of conscience, bridge the abyss of +mutual intolerance, stay the carnage of the first emotions of the +heart! If the rights of men be duties to God, then are we of the same +religion. Our creed of civil faith is the same. Let us agree then to +exclude from our thoughts all things in which we differ, and be +brethren in heart and mind for our mother's sake.' The words of the +romantic young apostle touched his hearers on their tenderest chord, +and they swore to learn wisdom by the past, and live in amity for +ever. The quick revulsion from bigotry to tolerance was not so amazing +as it seems, for Theobald Wolfe Tone was but the visible expression of +the spirit of his age--the abuse-abhorring spirit which distinguished +the eighteenth century, and culminated in the French upheaving of '89. + +That sanguinary outburst, which blew into the elements a long-rooted +despotism, and which clenched the new-fangled faith enunciated in the +War of Independence, had an enormous effect on Ireland--an effect of +which Mr. Pitt availed himself for his own purposes with his usual +tact. The principle of '89 made its way to England, where the genius +of the Constitution prevailed against its allurements; then passed +across the Channel, where it was eagerly received by men who were +being hounded on to recklessness. The adverse religious sects which +had just vowed eternal amity, seeing what passed in Paris, looked on +one another with alarm. The Catholic clergy grew suspicious of the +reformers who extolled the conduct of France, because the new _regime_ +had produced Free Thought, or rather had endowed the bantling with +strength which the great Voltaire had nourished. People were startled +by bold views which were new to them. The timid looked down a chasm to +which they could perceive no bottom, and shrank back. A fanatical few +were for going all lengths at once, and demanding the help of France +to produce an Irish upheaval. At this juncture a friendly English +policy--a judicious combination of discipline and conciliation--would +have allayed the brewing storm. But it was not the intention of +British ministers that the country should be tranquillised just yet. +Quite the contrary. They resolved to stir up such a tempest as should +frighten Erin out of her poor wits, and drive her to distrust her own +strength and her own wisdom for the rest of her natural existence. + +Theobald Wolfe Tone--ardent, patriotic, fired by the golden thoughts +of youth, and bursting with Utopian schemes--was just such a catspaw +as was wanted. His bright earnest face beamed with the rays of truth; +his pure life compelled respect; his rapt eloquence lured many to his +side, despite the warnings of their judgment. Though a Protestant, he +was scandalised by the Penal Code. He wandered like a discontented +young Moses among his enslaved countrymen. From pamphleteering he took +to declamation, and, like many another, became convinced by his own +discourse. He started a society among the Presbyterians of Ulster for +the encouragement of universal love, and dubbed it the Society of +United Irishmen. It grew and flourished at Belfast, for all Irish +projects which were bold and enterprising came into being in the +north. In spite of Mr. Wolfe, of Curran, of Lady Glandore (who took up +her brother's _protege_), young Tone abandoned the Bar, and +deliberately developed into an incendiary. He travelled over the +country haranguing crowds, addressing meetings, demonstrating home +truths, exhorting all to join the cause which should promote concord +amongst Irishmen of all persuasions. A bloodless revolution was to be +organised like that of '82, but on a surer basis. Instead of five +hundred thousand, five millions of men were to stand up as one to +demand a clear ratification of their rights, and, really united at +last, would be certain of the crown of victory. Vainly his friends +warned him off the precipice, declaring that the world was not ripe +for a millennium, that the heart of man is desperately wicked, that +five millions of men never were yet of one mind, that even a dozen +Irishmen never yet agreed upon any given subject whatsoever. Tone was +infatuated with his Utopian scheme, prepared like the pure-souled +enthusiast that he was to give up his all to bring about its +furtherance. What better catspaw could be selected by Mr. Pitt than +this artless apostle in whom was no taint of guile? + +If Tone's society had been left alone, it would have dwindled as +over-virtuous for this world. It must be persecuted (so Mr. Pitt +determined) till it flourished like a bay-tree. Then Tone and the +United Irishmen must be stamped beneath the heel, and it would be odd +indeed if they did not drag their tottering country in their downfall. +So Mr. Pitt sat down to play a game of chess with unconscious +Theobald, permitting him to frisk his pieces about the board till he +chose to take them one by one. The game was heartless, for the players +were deplorably ill-matched. What could a knot of earnest youths do +against the forces of established government--a government which was +not squeamish as to the weapons it employed? Master Tone was agitating +for the Catholics, was he? Out with a relief bill, which, by bestowing +illusory concessions, should exasperate the ultra-Protestants. Then +with lightning-speed, in dazzling sequence, a host of contradictory +enactments, such as should keep the ball a-rolling. Towns were +garrisoned with English troops, armed assemblies suppressed, public +discussions forbidden, the sale of ammunition prohibited, conventions +of delegates rendered penal. A deft touch of personal persecution +besides, and the United Irishmen would become martyrs. + +Before they could fully understand this complex phalanx of decrees, +Tone and his lieutenants--driven by events as by a remorseless +broom--found themselves transformed from a harmless debating club into +a secret society, proscribed and outlawed. They discovered, too, that +an illegal Star Chamber--a threatening Wehmgericht--had been created +somehow to spy out their ways; that a secret council was established +in the Castle, which was garnished with bristling bayonets, and +supplied with paid informers. + +They buffeted like beasts in a net. The more they struggled, the more +entangled they became. Then, hot-headed to begin with, they grew +frantic. Must it be war? they howled. War be it then, though you have +arms and we have none. With the sacred cause we will win or perish. +Tear your colours from the staff, O people; muffle your drums and beat +your funeral march if ye are not prepared to stand in the breach with +us, to fall or conquer, for God and motherland! + +Fate gave Mr. Pitt a cruel game to play, but he was not one to blench +at phantoms. It was a game beset with difficulties--tortuous, dirty, +dark. So he turned up his cuffs and played it like the bold man he +was, without flinching; in an age, too, when the end was acknowledged +to justify the means. The crime which he had to commit was of his +master's ordering, and must lie at his door--at the door of good King +George, that well-meaning stupid boor. On his shoulders and no others +must be laid the horrors of '98--of that hideous carnival which, +though it took place but eighty years ago, stands without rival in the +annals of human wickedness. Some, maybe, will hope that this chronicle +is overdrawn. Unhappily it is not so. There is no historical fact +recorded in these pages in connection with that bitter time for which +there exists not ample evidence. The cruelty of devils lies dormant in +each one of us. From 1796 to 1800, it had full play in Ireland. There +is no doubt that if Mr. Pitt had been allowed his way, he would have +dealt fairly by the sister island; that he intended a broad +emancipation of the serfs, an honourable course which would have +landed him on his father's pinnacle. But his hands were tied in two +ways. First by the bigotry of George, who loathed with a lunatic +abhorrence all opinions which differed from his own; secondly, by the +upheaval of '89, which, by overturning established dogmas, opened out +awful vistas of new danger to the body politic. The position being +what it was, he cut his coat according to his cloth, accepted what he +could not help, and arranged that a religious feud must be fomented to +boiling-point, in order to make its suppression an excuse for +political slavery. + +To carry out this project he needed a trusty coadjutor; one who was +crafty, ambitious, selfish, clever, unprincipled, and, above all, +Irish; and this _rara avis_ he found in the Irish chancellor, Lord +Clare (whose acquaintance we made in 1783, when he was Fitzgibbon, +attorney-general). This man he reckoned up at once at his true worth, +and set him accordingly to fight the battle with the patriots. A +better tool it was not possible to find, for he despised his +countrymen for their unpractical romance, looking on them as +stepping-stones for his own personal aggrandisement. His domineering +airs had in the intervening time coerced to his own way of thinking a +host of weathercock viceroys, had raised him to the woolsack, rendered +him supreme in the law courts. Mr. Pitt begged this glorious creature +to make a trip to London, and proceeded to open his mind to him, or +rather that murky cupboard which he exposed as such to the admiration +of his dolls, when he chose to cajole them into the belief that they +were colleagues. + +'We have an ensanguined path to tread, my dear Lord Clare,' he said, +with raised eyebrows; 'but it is the shortest and the safest. We must +coax on these boys to displays of rashness till they shall drive the +most respectable to take refuge in our bosom. A prison shall cool the +ardour of the fanatics. Gold shall be the portion of those who waver. +Bloody, say you? Is not Ireland already traceable in the statute-book +as a wounded man in a crowd is tracked by his wounds? A few transitory +troubles--mere spasms, nothing more--and our patient will be calm. Let +the jade be tied hand and foot, and we'll mop up the blood and she +will come to hug her chains. As for you, my dear lord,' he went on +with a familiar smirk, which warmed Lord Clare with pleasure, 'you +will be a gainer in several ways. Your talents are wasted in that poky +little house on College Green. We want men of your kidney at St. +Stephen's, 'fore Gad we do!' and Lord Clare took the bait, and the +English premier rubbed his hands behind his back. It was but a new +phase of a time-honoured policy. Chancellor and patriots should be +made to plunge their paws into the fire; then Mr. Pitt in his ambush +would quietly eat the nut. + +So the new society of United Irishmen pursued its desperate way, +upheld in fainting moments by the ardour of its young apostle; and the +chancellor returned home to set traps to catch his feet; and in order +to facilitate his movements a new viceroy was sent over--a gabbling +weak man, who would do as he was bid; whose private life was +irreproachable; who in public was an idiot; who would obey the +chancellor in all things; whose name was my Lord Camden. + +As might have been expected, Theobald fell into the snare. His +lieutenants were locked up. Undismayed, he prated, with increased +vehemence, of a bondage worse than that of Egypt, called on the men of +Ulster to break down the Penal Code; pointed out that the oppressor +was as vicious as an Eastern despot, that the oppressed was disfigured +into the semblance of a beast. The awakened Presbyterians answered to +his call; and, when they had sufficiently committed themselves, the +watchful chancellor put down his claw on them. Tone's career was +short. Very soon he too was cast into gaol, while small fry were +allowed to flap their wings till their mission, too, should be +accomplished. But Mr. Pitt, if a strong, was not an ungenerous foe. He +respected the young man, who was made of the stuff which makes heroes. +By his command Theobald was incarcerated in Newgate for a brief space, +to chew the cud of his vain imaginings, and then was given back his +liberty on condition of departing from the country which he loved. +Sadly he accepted the boon which was tossed to him--for choice lay +'twixt exile and the Kilmainham minuet; despatched his faithful wife +before him to America; and (Mr. Pitt and the chancellor permitting) +called his closest friends around him once again ere he shook their +hands for the last time. He stands in the gloaming now, bareheaded, to +pour out a last burning exhortation to his disciples as we take up the +clue of this our chronicle, whose thread shall no more be broken. + +It is the lovely evening of the 12th of July, 1795. The scene a +triangular field known as 'The Garden' on the shore of Dublin Bay, +from whence may be duskily distinguished on the one side the cupolas +and spires of the city; on the other, at the end of a promontory +jutting out into the sea, the ivy-clad walls of Strogue Abbey, bowered +in umbrageous woods. Joy-chimes are wafted on the breeze, and now and +again a puff of smoke shows as a white spot across the bay, and a +second later the boom of a royal salute shakes the hollyhocks and +causes the little group to shiver. It is the anniversary of William, +who saved us from wooden shoes. Mr. Curran--apart from the rest--beats +his cane testily upon the ground, and murmurs: 'Lord Clare is +justified in despising them. The pack of fools! Jigging round +Juggernaut at this minute with orange lilies and foolish banners! Even +so Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Will my countrymen learn wisdom? Of +course not. Never.' + +The evening light shines full on the face of the young enthusiast, +marking in relief the deep cuts chiselled by premature sorrow on his +cheek. He is effeminate-looking but genteel, with long lank hair +simply caught back behind. His thin figure appears more slight than +usual, his pale face more wan, in the anxious eyes of his companions; +his hands more thin and feverish as one by one he clasps with a +lingering pressure those that are held out to him. + +'Thanks, friends!' he says, with a weary smile. 'It was idle in me to +bid you take the oath once more; for having once sworn I know you will +be faithful. Yet will it be as music to mine ears, as I roam in a +foreign land, to recall the solemn cadence of your beloved voices. +Nay--weep not! Be of good cheer. See these flowers around, and take +courage with the omen. Mark how they droop and sink--grieving together +for the dying-day. A few hours of sleep and they will wake refreshed +again, and lift up their loving heads unto the sun, with dew-tears of +gladness glistening upon their eyelids.' + +'Oh, Theobald, what will become of us when you are gone?' cries out +Robert Emmett, a boy of seventeen. 'You carry hope with you in the +folds of your mantle. Once gone, we shall be left in darkness, +groping.' + +Tone shuddered, and fought with himself against presentiment. + +'I have watched over the cradle of Liberty,' he whispered, dreamily. +'God forbid that I should ever see its hearse.' Then passing his palm +across his eyes as if to shut out a nightmare, he said, laying a hand +on the broad shoulder of a young man beside him, 'Courage, boy Robert! +True, I go from you. But here is the Elisha who shall take up the +mantle which I leave a legacy with Hope wrapped in it. Look up to your +brother Thomas, Robert--the wise and prudent, the sage man in counsel. +Follow him as you have followed me; faithfully, truly, till I return. +For I shall return, if God so wills it, I promise you. This night I +sail for America, but am under no promise to stay there. I shall make +my way to France, and lay our grievances at the feet of the Directory. +There is nothing for it but to amputate the right hand of England. Oh, +how I hate the name of the thrice accursed! France is the surgeon who +shall do the job. I would fain give a toast before I go, if Doreen +will lend the flask she hugs so carefully.' + +'It is for your journey, Theobald,' was Doreen's soft answer. + +'Never mind me,' he returned, with assumed gaiety. 'Let us pour a last +libation to our common mother.' + +A man who had been spreading his great length upon the grass, now +jumped up with an oath. A giant he was; evidently, from his dress, +belonging to the half-mounted class. His big kindly flat face was +shaded by a Beresford bobwig, under which twinkled a pair of roguish +eyes set in a sallow skin. His buckskin breeches were worn and greasy; +his half-jack-boots were adorned with huge silver spurs; while a faded +scarlet vest (fur-trimmed, though it was summer) closed over his broad +chest; and a square-cut snuff-coloured coat, with all the cloth in it, +hung from his brawny shoulders. + +'Theobald!' he shouted, in a voice which sent the owls whirling +seaward, 'you shall not go from us. Why not lie hidden somewhere, and +direct us still? Can we not be trusted to keep the secret? You look at +things too blackly. We need no French help, but can win our way as the +Volunteers did--by moral force; or if we must fight, can quite look +after ourselves. Don't tell me. These English are not ogres.' + +'Oh, stay with us, dear Theobald!' cried eagerly Robert Emmett, +the boy of seventeen. 'Cassidy is right. We will have no help from +France--for that would imply bloodshed--the blood of our own +brethren--and the curse of God is upon fratricide.' + +Tone shook his head, and answered bluntly: + +'No! That was all very well twelve years since; but the day for a +peaceful revolution's past. On the heads of those who forced us to +seek foreign aid shall the blood-curse be. Our omelette can't be made +without a breaking of eggs. For three years we've dribbled in and out +of Newgate and Kilmainham, and know all their holes and corners, and +dread neither prison any more. We must strike, and that sharply, but +are not strong enough alone.' + +'Theobald!' observed Mr. Curran, from his grass-knoll, 'it's a +Upas-tree you've planted. Take heed lest it blight the land.' + +'We must not be led away by a morbid anxiety about a little life,' +rejoined the apostle. 'I go a solitary wanderer, but shall return with +an army at my back--and then!' He paused, as though delving into +futurity, and the prospect which he saw upon its mirror was +reassuring; for with new courage he turned to his band and said: 'Keep +together, Protestant and Catholic, for _L'Union fait la Force_, and +Britain will try to divide you. Come what may, hold on by one another. +Thomas Emmet, old friend! as a literary man and editor of the "Press," +it is your duty to keep this before the public. Study the tactics of +the foe, that one by one they may be exposed in time. And you, +Cassidy,' he continued, laying a hand tenderly on the giant's arm, +'keep watch over your too ingenuous nature, lest you find yourself +betrayed. In your way you are a clever fellow, but, like most people +of your bulk, unduly innocent. I speak with loving authority to you, +for is not your sister my dear wife, who, next to Erin, holds all my +heart? You are too servile to Lord Clare, Cassidy, who, himself an +Irishman, is the bitterest enemy that Ireland ever had. Beware lest he +twist you to his purpose, for the undoing of us all. You are also on +too intimate terms with Sirr--the town-major--that shameful jackal of +my Lord Clare's.' + +'You would not suspect me, Theobald!' cried the giant, ruefully. 'I'm +not more wise than others, but I mean well.' + +'No, indeed!' returned his brother-in-law. 'Would to God that we had +more such hearts as yours amongst us! But keep watch and ward, lest +you be overreached, for you are simple.' + +'My Lord Clare is partial to me, and tells me many things,' apologised +the giant, with a twinkle in his eye. 'Maybe I'm not so stupid as I +look, and can unravel a fact from a careless hint. As for Sirr, I +don't care two pins for him; yet who knows how useful he may prove to +us? He has apartments in the Castle--is hand and glove with Secretary +Cooke; through him we may be able to tamper with the soldiery, turning +the arms of Government against itself, for the town-major is no man of +straw.' + +But Tone shook his head. + +'It is ill dealing with traitors' weapons,' he retorted. 'In a passage +of wits, you will certainly be worsted, for you are too open, too +blundering.' + +Cassidy looked demurely at the rest, with his whimsical half-smile, as +though to ask whether this verdict on his character were a compliment +or not; and handsome Doreen smiled back on him in her grave way as she +handed the flask and cup to Tone, and twined her arm round Sara +Curran's waist. + +A pretty picture were these two girls--who loitered a little amongst +the darkling flowers, while Tone was speaking his farewell. Doreen had +fulfilled the promise of her childhood, and was now a statuesque woman +of two-and-twenty, with rich warm blood mantling under an olive +skin--soft eyes of the brown colour of a mountain stream, shaded by +long silken lashes--and an aquiline nose whose nostrils were as finely +cut and sensitive as were her aunt's. People wondered where she got +her scornful look, for Mr. Arthur Wolfe (attorney-general now) was the +most peaceable and quiet of men, while all the world knew that her +retiring mother had faded from excess of meekness. Her aunt, Lady +Glandore, had watched her growth approvingly, for the tall supple form +was what her own had been--as was the swan-like neck and head-toss. +She approved and seemed quite to like her niece till she remembered +that she was a Papist and a blot on the escutcheon; then she despised +her, yet never dared to touch forbidden ground save in a covert way; +for Doreen had a temper, when roused, as self-asserting as her own, +and her aunt was grown old before her time; too old to rise without an +effort at the sound of the war-trumpet. + +Doreen was dutiful to her aunt in most things; but on the subject of +her oppressed religion was a very tigress. If Lady Glandore permitted +herself too broad a sally, those eyes with the strongly-marked black +pupils would shoot forth a cairngorm flame--that mass of dark brown +hair which hung in natural curls after the Irish fashion down her +back, would shake like a lion's crest, and my lady would retire from +the field discomfited. Yet this occurred but seldom, and folks could +only guess how the Penal Code burned into her flesh by a certain +unnatural quietude and an artificial repose of manner beyond her +years. + +Of course she adored Tone, the champion who had wrecked his life on +behalf of three million serfs who were her brethren, and under his +guidance became quite a little conspirator, niece though she was of an +ultra-Protestant grandee, daughter of the attorney-general, who, as +such, was crown prosecutor of her allies. It may be asked, how came +her aunt to permit the girl to form such dangerous ties? The damsel +was wayward, and the aunt a victim of some secret canker, over which +she brooded more and more as her hair blanched. A hard tussle or two, +and practically she lowered her standard. The girl went whither she +listed, and chose as bosom friend Sara Curran, daughter of the member +of parliament, to whom her father was deeply attached; and who had on +the occasion of her uncle's tragic end struck up a queer friendship +with her aunt, which flourished by reason of its incongruity. + +Doreen, from the time she could first toddle, had been accustomed +to scour the country on ponyback in company with her cousins, +and these rides--more frequently than not--had for object the +Priory--a comfortable nest which Curran had taken to himself near +Rathfarnham--where they were regaled on tea and cakes by little Sara, +the lawyer's baby child. Sara and Doreen became fast friends as they +grew up--the faster probably because Doreen, who was the elder by +several years, was strong as the sapling oak, while Sara was clinging +like the honeysuckle. + +Of course Curran, whose business kept him for many hours daily in the +courts of law and House of Commons, could desire no better companion +for his pet than the niece of the Countess of Glandore--the daughter +of his friend and superior, Arthur Wolfe; and so as her cousins grew +into men and left her more and more alone, she frequented more and +more the Priory, where no one mocked her faith, and where she +frequently met Theobald. + +Wolfe-Tone and the Emmetts met frequently at Curran's, and their +large-minded talk and broad generous views seemed to her like the wind +which has passed over seaweed, compared with her aunt's narrow drone, +the vain self-vaunting of my Lord Clare, the drunken ribaldry and +coarse jests of her cousin Lord Glandore. So she, in her goldlaced +riding-habit, had come too to the tryst that she might look on her +hero once again; and for propriety's sake had brought as escort Papa +Curran and gentle Sara, who, though only sixteen, was already casting +timid sheep's-eyes at the younger of the two Emmetts--a gownsman at +this time in the University. + +Bashful Sara had relapsed into tears several times during Tone's +discourse--a pale, fair, pretty creature she was, with a dazzling skin +and light-blue eyes--and showed symptoms of hysteria when the patriot +proposed a final libation. Not that she had any reason for emotion +(such as Doreen might with more reason have displayed), being the +eye-apple of a prosperous barrister who professed the dominant faith; +but she knew that young Robert, whose shoes she would have knelt and +kissed, was deeply bitten with the prevailing mania, and maybe she had +besides a dim presentiment of the trouble which was to pour later upon +her head and his. Be that as it may, she sank upon the ground now and +sobbed, while Tone held forth the cup which Doreen had filled with a +steady hand. + +'A toast, dear friends--the last we may drink together!' he said; and +gazed on the plashing waters, which glowed with the last gleam of the +sun that was no more. 'I give you Mother Erin! May she soon be decked +in green ribbons by a French milliner!' + +Again and again did Doreen, a calm Hebe, fill the goblet, which was +drained by each man present with a murmured 'Amen!' + +The sun had died behind the Wicklow hills; still the Protestant chimes +brayed fitfully across the sea, though the cannon at dusk were silent. +Far off from the direction of Strogue Abbey came a noise of galloping +hoofs, which grew gradually louder and louder, while every man looked +at his neighbour as though expecting some new misfortune. No wonder +they were uneasy, for their proceedings were watched, and a new +disaster happened daily. Presently Mr. Curran, established as vidette, +descried a well-known horseman, who pulled up sharply in the road, and +dismounting, vaulted lightly over the wall. + +'Terence!' he exclaimed with mixed feelings, as he beheld a +finely-grown young man, whose round face was remarkable for mobile +eyebrows, a fearless eye, and puckers of fun about a sensitive mouth, +'what are you doing here? Be off!' + +'Yes, Terence,' returned a cheery voice, 'or Councillor Crosbie, if +you please, since I have the honour now to act as your worship's +junior. Where's Tone? Not gone. Thank goodness! I must clasp the dear +lad's hand before he goes.' + +Mr. Curran shook his mane back like a retriever that has bathed, which +was a trick he had when worried. + +'Donkey! what do you here?' he grumbled. 'Are we not fools enough +without you? You belong to another race, which has nought in common +with our troubles. Take my advice, and just trot home again. If you +want to be silly, join the Cherokees as your brother has, or the +Blasters, or the Hellfires. Leave plotting to the children of the +soil.' + +The young man, who was good-looking, with the comeliness which a fresh +complexion gives, showed his white teeth, and broke into a merry +laugh. + +'In an evil temper,' he remarked. 'Gone without dinner, eh? If I am +not a drunkard and a gambler, whose fault is it, sir, but yours? Who +taught me that as a younger son I have my way to carve through life? +Who made me choose the Bar? Who superintended my studies, and gave a +helping hand? _You_--you cross Curran! and, believe me, I'm not +ungrateful, though a bit more idle than you like.' + +'Then get you gone, and leave us to our folly,' was the testy +rejoinder. 'I won't have your mother saying some day that I brought +her boy to danger, and instilled ideas into his vacant mind which put +his neck in danger.' + +'Fiddlededee!' laughed the good-humoured scapegrace. 'You are no more +a conspirator than I. Why are you here, and why have you brought my +cousin if awful rites are going forward?' + +'Because I'm an ass!' growled the other. 'Conspirator--why not, pray? +My heart is sick when I look round me. Why should I not be maddened as +others are? Do I love Erin less? Doreen belongs through her religion +to the people, and it is fitting she should sorrow with them. Yes, it +is maddening?' he pursued, kindling suddenly, and breaking through the +crust in which for prudence' sake he cased himself, as the thoughts +over which he had been brooding took form. 'What is to become of us? +It would have been merciful if Spencer's desire had been gratified, +and the land turned into a seapool. Our travail is long, and endeth +not. Our master gives us a hangman and a taxgatherer; what more should +such as we require? His laws are like shoes sent forth for +exportation. 'Twere idle to take our measures, for if they pinch us, +what matters it? We stand between a social Scylla and Charybdis. Poets +and visionaries, like this poor fool here, work on the hare-brained +people, whose craving for freedom is whetted to voracity; and, led by +the blind, they tumble into traps, at which a less ardent nation would +be moved to laughter. Temerity, despair, annihilation--that is the +_mot d'ordre_. See if I am not a true prophet. And the luxurious +nobles--do they help with their counsel? Not they! Their twin-gods are +their belly and their lust. They have nothing in common with the +people.' + +'The French shall drive them into the sea,' remarked Tone, placidly. + +'The French, the French!' retorted Curran. 'Much good may they do us! +A revolution achieved by such means would merely mean a change of +masters. You live in a fool's paradise, Theobald. I can see farther +into futurity than you, for I'm older, worse luck. I see a time +coming--nay, it's close at hand--when a spectre will be set up and +nicknamed Justice; which, if God wills, it shall be my mission to tear +down. Yet what may I do with my little weight? A mean weak man with +feeble health. May I be the log to stop the wheels of the triumphal +car? Verily, the ways of Heaven are inscrutable!' + +It was rarely that the little advocate spoke out so plainly. His +friends knew that he ever regarded his country with the idolatry of a +lover, that to her he gave freely all he had to give; through the +stages of her pride, her hope, her struggles and despondency, his +heart was hers for better and for worse; and therefore many marvelled +that, actively, he should have held aloof from the patriot band. +Nobody could charge him with cowardice. Terence himself had never +solved this mystery, although as his junior he saw more than most of +the workings of Curran's mind. He had wondered at his chief's coldness +in a careless way, till now, when it became patent to him, as to the +rest, that Curran's second sight beheld the possibility of state +trials in the future, where one would be needed to stand up for the +accused whose heart was steadfast, whose courage was indomitable. +Terence felt sure his chief was wrong--the beardless are always wisest +in their own esteem--for to the honest boy it seemed impossible that +Albion could be so base. + +Yet the notion was grand that, despising dignities, the little lawyer +should be keeping himself in reserve for a Herculean labour, that he +should be deliberately laying himself out to stand by those whom +others would desert; and so, to the knot of bystanders in the +gloaming, the ugly pigmy of a man appeared sublime, as he sat in an +attitude of profound dejection, with the sweat of strong emotion in +beads upon his forehead and on the black elflocks of his untidy hair. + +The jolly giant Cassidy rapped out a huge oath, and vowed with a +string of expletives that he should be 'shillooed' forthwith. The +Emmett brothers fairly wept; tears stood in the eyes of the statuesque +Doreen; Theobald knelt down before him on the dewy grass, and +entreated a farewell blessing ere he went. + +'The Lord bless and keep you, my poor friend!' Curran whispered in a +broken voice. 'Whether He wills that you should die an exile, or that +you should return to us with glory, God be with you! May it never be +my lot to stand up in court for you! or if it must be so, may inspired +words be given me to save you from your danger! Now we must be +separating, or we'll have the Castle spies on us.' + +Followed by many a God-speed Tone vanished in the darkness. All +listened to his retreating steps, wondering when and how they might +ever meet again. Curran heaved a sigh, and was the cynical man of the +world once more, with the dancing eye and whimsical half-melancholy +smile, who threw all the judges on circuit into convulsions with his +wit, and stirred the jury to unseemly laughter. + +'Terence,' he said, linking his arm in that of his junior, while the +young ladies, helped by the Emmetts, mounted their horses, 'you were +wrong to come here. My lady will be angry if you mix with the common +riffraff. What would you say if she pulled her purse-strings tight, +you extravagant young dog? The idea of one of your birth worrying +himself about the people's wrongs is of course preposterous; +therefore, to please your mother, you had best give them a wide berth. +My Lord Clare shall get you a snug post with nothing to do, and vast +emoluments such as becomes a lord's brother, and then you'll be rich +and independent in no time, while I am still prosing over briefs.' + +Terence, in whose face the wicked Glandore expression was tempered by +good-nature, was not pleased with the banter of his chief, for his +cousin was at his elbow, who always persisted in looking on him as a +boy, though he was a great fellow of four-and-twenty who was +constantly arraying himself in gorgeous clothes to please her. A +tantalising cousin was Miss Doreen to him; suggesting broidered capes +and becoming ruffles when amiably disposed, which, when with pain and +grief he got them made, received no notice from her whatsoever. He +chose to imagine that he was desperately in love with the beautiful +Miss Wolfe, and was proud of his passion, though she laughed at him. +Vainly he sighed; yet no worm fed upon his damask cheek. Albeit he +pretended to be very wretched, he was not; for his life was before him +and he enjoyed it thoroughly, and was the victim of an amazing +appetite, and would probably have forgotten all about Miss Wolfe in a +week (though he would have smitten you with a big stick if you dared +to hint as much) if her lithe figure had been removed from his sight +for that brief period. Sometimes he took it into his head that she +fancied Shane, and then he was pierced through and through with +jealousy, for the brothers never could get on, and the younger one +knew my lord to be not only thick of skull, but drunken and dissolute +too, even beyond the average of his compeers; a fire-eater, whose hand +was never off his sword, who cared more for dogs than women, more for +himself than either, and who as a husband would be certain to bring +misery upon the girl. Then again he would be consoled for an instant +by the reflection that it does not answer at all for first cousins to +marry; and then his longings would get the better of him, as he marked +the wealth of the brown hair which had a golden ripple through it, the +finely developed bust, the eyes like peatwater. She was interesting, +and his heart was soft. He watched her furtively sometimes in her fits +of sadness; when she sat behind a tambour at the Strogue hall-window, +gazing, with eyes that saw nothing, at the fishing-boats upon the bay, +as they splashed along with yellow sails and clumsy oars upon their +mirrored doubles, till tears fell one by one upon her work, like +thunderdrops upon a window-pane; and he could tell that she was +dreaming of her people. Then his heart yearned towards Doreen. He +longed to seize her in his lusty arms, crying: + +'My beloved! I am poor, and you are rich' (for Mr. Wolfe had put by a +cosy nest-egg). 'Our tastes are simple. I will try to live upon love +and my allowance. You shall keep all your fortune to yourself--only be +mine, my very own!' But somehow he never said the words, for something +told him that she would only smile, and on second thoughts he was glad +he had not spoken. + +It would have been wrong in her to scoff, for the proposal would have +been as unusual as disinterested; but girls will laugh at improper +moments. Miss Wolfe was an heiress as times went, and likely to be +richer; impecunious squires and squireens were legion; and the +abduction clubs not yet quite stamped out. This, indeed, was one +reason why she spent most of her time at Strogue instead of with her +father in Dublin; for he, easygoing in most things, was painfully +alive to the possibility of finding his daughter stolen one day when +he was in court, to be bucketed about the country without a change +of linen till his reluctant consent was wrung to a match with some +ne'er-do-well. + +At Strogue such a thing could hardly happen, for the prestige of the +Glandores was hedged about with terror, and every ne'er-do-well knew +that to play Paris to the Helen of the fair Doreen--to carry her off +from the sanctuary of Strogue Abbey--would be to call down dolorous +reprisals from her two stalwart cousins. + +So, having her constantly before his vision, Terence adored the damsel +wildly by fits and starts, hating her when she snubbed him, taking a +loyal interest, for her sake, in the Penal Code and the United +Irishmen; and was not aware that he stood on the verge of the +political maelstrom, in whoso eddies so many good Irishmen had come to +drowning. + +Terence professed in nowise to be a patriot. He said openly that the +United Irishmen deceived themselves, that they were fond of inventing +imaginary terrors, that Lord Clare, though personally he disliked him, +was an estimable statesman, the right man in the right place. Doreen +was angry with him at times for this. Then he had an excuse for +kissing her to make it up, for the flash from her grave eyes was only +summer lightning. But to be accused of mercenary motives, even in +banter, was quite another thing, because all the world knew that the +Irish aristocracy, as a body, did not shine in the way of +unselfishness, and Terence's nature was too open and honest, his +carelessness as to money too deep-seated, for him to feel aught but +disgust at being coupled with the pensioners. It was not true that he +was mercenary, but it might easily have been so. Who knows what might +have been if my lady had not proved liberal--a kind mother? Many are +virtuous so long as they are not tempted. Yes. You will doubtless be +surprised to hear that my lady had worked no evil to her second son. +Madam Gillin's singular office had for the space of twelve years been +a sinecure. The Countess never refused him money when he asked for it, +and was apparently a model mother to the youth, though she certainly +showed a strong partiality for Shane, which may be accounted for by +the fact that mothers invariably doat upon their prodigals, and milord +resembled his father not a little. + +Now Curran, being quite at home at the Abbey, knew all these ins and +outs and petty details. Terence's indignation, therefore, amused him. +He burst into a peal of merriment when the young man asked, tartly, +what he meant by his insinuations. + +'I know Lord Clare offered me a place,' he said, with a side-glance of +apology at his cousin; 'but I refused it with disdain. Though he's a +worthy man I don't like him, because he orders us about, and I would +not be under any obligation to him for the world. My mother's too fond +of the chancellor----' + +'What if you were assured that he's a traitor?' Curran asked, with +mock gravity. + +'I'd become a United Irishman to upset him!' returned the prompt +scapegrace. + +'Nonsense!' replied his friend, growing serious. 'No, no. It's an ill +subject for jesting. Treason is a dangerous pastime, which it behoves +you to keep clear of for the sake of your noble name. Don't forget +that, being half an Englishman, half of your allegiance is due to the +British Crown--at least so the Lords think. With us it's different. To +try the bird, the spur must touch his blood. Come, let's be off. +Good-night, boys!' + +And so the conference terminated. + +The elder Emmett rode moodily to Dublin, concocting inflammatory +articles for the benefit of the newspaper which he edited, reflecting +too, not without misgivings, upon the mantle which had fallen, +unbidden, on his shoulders. Robert, his excitable brother, walked home +to Trinity College with elastic step, his brain still whirling with +the outlaw's parting words. The rest were bound for Strogue, where my +lady sat wondering, no doubt, what could keep them out so late. +Cassidy, who was a good singer, and amusing in other ways, had been +invited to the Abbey by Terence. As for Curran and his daughter, they +often sojourned there, and were certain of a hearty welcome, for their +own sake now, as well as Arthur Wolfe's. + +None of the party spoke as they cantered briskly by the shore. Curran +was upbraiding himself for want of caution in betraying his true +sentiments even to close friends. Few saw as far as he, and the very +air of Innisfail breathed treachery. His daughter, gentle Sara, whose +fair locks clustered like silk cocoons about her baby-face, was in an +ecstatic trance as she bumped up and down on her rough pony. + +What signified bumps, when the subject of her thoughts was Robert, the +dear, delightful undergraduate? She would have bumped all the world +over for him, though she was modesty itself, and he oblivious that she +existed. It was pleasant to think that he, at least, was bound by no +rash oath. It would be a sweet task, if possible, to keep him from the +toils. + +Doreen rode ahead, plunged in one of her sad moods, as she thought of +the future of the wanderer, who had given up all he possessed in the +world to bring about the freeing of her people. Might any woman's +platonic worship make good that loss to him? Would she ever see him +again, and under what circumstances? + +Terence read her thoughts, and was cross at her devotion to this +outlaw, a condition of mind which even he perceived was not proper in +a well-brought-up young lady. Of course everybody respected Tone, and +liked him, too, for his excellent qualities. She could not marry him, +that was one comfort, for he was already married to the sister of this +great hulking giant, Cassidy, who chirruped out scraps of song as +though Erin was the most prosperous of motherlands. But it certainly +seemed wrong, to the sage youth, that a handsome young woman should be +on confidential terms with so many strange young men. Her aunt, he +knew, objected to it strongly, but unaccountably held her peace. Then +he laughed, in spite of his displeasure, at the conceit of any one +interfering with Doreen--the demure damsel who pursued her calm way, +enslaving all and taking note of none, as though she had taken vows of +perpetual maidenhood--had cut herself adrift for the role of a Jeanne +d'Arc. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + STROGUE ABBEY. + + +The home of the Glandores on Dublin Bay is a unique place, perched on +rising ground, shaded by fine old timber. Originally an ecclesiastical +establishment, it was turned into a fortress by Sir Amorey Crosbie in +1177, and has been altered and gutted, and rebuilt, with here a wing +and here a bay, and there a winding staircase, or mysterious recess, +to suit the whim of each succeeding owner, till it has swelled into a +stunted honeycomb of meandering suites of rooms, whose geography +puzzles a stranger on his first visit there. The only portions of it +which remain intact, are (as may be seen by the great thickness of the +walls) the hall, a long, low, narrow space, panelled in black oak and +ceiled in squares; the huge kitchen, where meat might be roasted for +an army; and the dungeons below ground. The remaining rooms (many of +them like monkish cells) are of every shape and pattern, alike only in +having heavy casement frames set with diamond panes, enormous +obstinate doors, which creak and moan, declining to close or open +unless violently coerced, and worm-eaten floors that slope in every +freak of crooked line except the normal horizontal one. Indeed, the +varied levels of the bedroom floor (there is but one storey) are so +wildly erratic, that a visitor, who wakes for the first time in one of +the pigeonholes that open one on the other, like the alleys of a +rabbit warren, clings instinctively to his bedclothes as people do at +sea, and, on second thoughts, is seized with a new panic lest the +house be about to fall--an idle fear, as my lady is fond of showing; +for the cyclopean rafters, that were laid in their places by the +crumbled monks, are hard and black as iron, so seasoned by sea-air +that they will possibly stand good so long as Ireland remains above +the water. A gloomier abode than this it is scarce possible to +picture; for the window-sashes are of exceeding clumsiness, the +ornamentation of a ponderous flamboyancy in which all styles are +twisted, without regard for canons, into curls and scrolls; and yet +there is a blunt cosiness about the ensemble which seems to say, 'Here +at least you are safe. If Dublin Bay were full of hostile ships, the +adjacent land teeming with the enemy in arms, they might batter on for +ever. They might beat at our portals till the last trump should summon +them to more important business, but our panels would never budge. + +On approaching the Abbey by the avenue, you are not aware of it--so +masked is it by trees and ivy--till a sharp turn brings you upon a +gravelled quadrangle, three sides of which are closed in by walls, +while the fourth is marked out by a row of statues (white nymphs with +pitchers), whose background is the chameleon sea. Directly facing +these figures--at the opposite end of the square, that is--a short +wide flight of steps, and a low terrace paved with coloured marbles, +lead to the front entrance. The left side of the quadrangle is the +'Young Men's Wing,' sacred to whips and fishing-tackle, pierced by +separate little doors for convenience on hunting mornings--two sets of +separate chambers, in fact, which may be entered without passing +through the hall; and above them is the armoury, a neglected museum of +rusty swords and matchlocks, an eyrie of ghosts and goblins, which is +never disturbed by household broom. The right side is bounded by a +close-clipped ivied wall, pierced by an archway which gives access to +the stables and the kennels, ended by a mouldering turret, converted +long since into a water-tower. + +The grand hall, low and dark as it is with sable oak and stiff +limnings of dead Crosbies, occupies the whole length and width of the +central portion of the house, or rather of the narrow band which +joins the two side blocks together. You may learn, by looking at the +time-discoloured map which hangs over its sculptured mantelpiece, that +the ground-plan of the Abbey is shaped like the letter H, whose left +limb forms the young men's wing, the offices, and dining-room; whose +right limb is made up of my lady's bedroom, the staircase vestibule, +and the reception saloons; while the grand hall, or portrait gallery, +reproduces the connecting bar. Five steps, with a curiously-carved +banister, lead out of the grand hall at either end; that to the left +opening into the dining-room--a finely-proportioned chamber, panelled +from floor to ceiling with trophies of rusty armour breaking its +sombre richness; that to the right communicating with my lady's +bedroom, painted apple-green with arabesques of gold, which is chiefly +remarkable for luxuriously-cushioned window-seats, from whence a fine +view may be obtained of the operations in the stable-yard. The late +lord used to sip his chocolate here in brocaded morning-gown and +nightcap, haranguing his whipper-in and bullying the horse-boys, or +tossing scraps to favourite hounds as they were trotted by for his +inspection; and my lady has continued the practice through her +widowhood, for it gratifies her vanity, as chatelaine, to watch the +numberless grooms and lacqueys, the feudal array of servants and +retainers. An odd nest for a lady, no doubt; but the countess chooses +to inhabit it, she says, till her son brings home a bride, for the +late lord sent for Italian workmen to decorate it according to her +taste, and in it she will remain till the hour for abdication shall +arrive. + +A second door, at right angles to my lady's, opens from the hall on to +the staircase with its heraldic flight of beasts; beyond this is the +chintz drawing-room, a cheery pale-tinted chamber which Doreen has +taken to herself as a boudoir, although it is practically no better +than a passage-room leading to the tapestried saloons. She likes it +for its brightness, and because it looks out on the garden front, +known as 'Miss Wolfe's Plot,' a little square fenced in at one end by +the hall, on the further side by the dining-room, while at the other +end there is a tall gilt grille of florid design, through which you +may wander, if it pleases you, into the pleasaunce. This small quaint +enclosure is Doreen's favourite haunt. She has laid it out with her +own hands in strange devices of pebbles and clipped box, with a crazy +sun-dial for a centre, and sits there for hours with needlework that +advances not, dreaming sombrely, and sighing now and then, as her eyes +travel along the cut beech hedges, smooth leafy walls, which spread +inland in vistas beyond the golden gate, like the arms of some giant +starfish. These hedges are the most remarkable things about a very +remarkable abode. They are each of them half a mile long, thirty-six +feet high, and twelve feet thick, perforated at intervals by arches; +and they form together a series of triangular spaces sheltered from +sea-blasts, in which flourish such a wealth of roses as is a marvel to +all comers. + +Obese, old-fashioned roses, as big as your fist, hang in cataracts +from tottering posts which once were orchard trees; large pink +blossoms or bunches of small white ones, whose perfume weighs down the +air; balls of glorious colour, which, when a rare breeze shakes them, +shower their sweet petals in a lazy swirl upon the grass, whence +Doreen gleans and harvests them for winter, with cunning condiments, +in jars. From time to time the perfume varies, as the wind sets E. or +W., from that of Araby the blest to one of the salt sea--a tarry, +seaweedy, nautico-piratical odour, with a strong dash of brine in it, +which seems wafted upward from below to remind the dwellers in the +Abbey of their long line of corsair ancestors. + +The most sumptuous of all the apartments is undoubtedly the tapestried +saloon, nicknamed by wags my lady's presence-chamber; for there, +looking out upon the roses, she loves to sit erect surrounded by +ghostly Crosbies whose mighty deeds are recorded on the walls, +portrayed by the most skilful hands upon miracles of Gobelin +manufacture. Mr. Curran often wondered, as he played cribbage with the +chatelaine, whether those deeds were fabulous; for if not, he +reflected, judging the present by the past--then were the mighty +grievously come down. Here was Sir Amorey alone on a spotty horse +trouncing a whole army with his doughty sword. There was Sir Teague at +the head of his Kernes, making short work of the French at Agincourt. +Further on the first earl--prince of salt-water thieves, with a +vanquished Desmond grimacing underneath his heel. How different were +these from the present and last Glandores, whose lives were filled up +to overflowing with wine and with debauchery; whose sins lacked the +picturesque wickedness of these defunct seafaring murderers. Then, +perceiving the countess's eye fixed on him, her crony would feel +guilty for his unflattering reflections, and rapidly pursue the game; +for my lady as she aged grew just the least bit garrulous, and as he +loved not the aristocracy as such, it was afflicting to listen to +long-winded dissertations upon the family magnificence, which he +declared she invented as she went along. He was never tired though, +when he could snatch a rare holiday from his professional labours, of +exploring the dungeons and chimney recesses and awful holes and +crannies. He it was who ferreted out the long-lost secret way beneath +the sea from the water-tower to Ireland's Eye; and bitterly he +repented later that he had not kept that discovery to himself; for by +means of it he might have brought about the vanishing of many of the +proscribed, instead of--but we travel on too fast. + +My lady sat upright in the tapestried saloon, marvelling that no one +filled the teapot. It was with a distressed amazement, like that of +Louis XIV. when he waited, that she stared at the silver equipage, at +the pathetically hissing urn. Where was Doreen the tea-maker? It was +quite dark, and the incorrigible damsel was still galloping about the +country, who might tell whither? It really was shocking; no wonder if +milady's quills of propriety stood out, after the manner of the +fretful one. It's that drop of Papist blood, she muttered; then turned +to admonish her brother as to his heiress. But Arthur Wolfe listened +without a word, for he was accustomed to his sister's querulous +complaining, and built a bulwark of silence against her jeremiads. +People said all his time was spent in negative apologies for the one +error of his youth; and it did look like it; for he was marvellously +patient in the face of her most tyrannical whims, listening without a +struggle to endless sermons which prated of the woe to come, +reflecting that, poor soul, she had much to put up with. Although she +was reticent and mysterious to an extreme degree, Arthur Wolfe knew +that her lines were not cast in pleasant places; for did not flaunting +Gillen abide at the very gates, whose odious vicinity caused her to +shrink as much as might be from passing beyond her own domains? + +Time and this bitter pill had made of her ladyship a 'swaddler.' Like +many of the oldsters of the patrician order, she grew sorely repentant +for youthful peccadilloes, took to psalm-singing, displayed strong +ultra-Protestant proclivities. The prejudices of a less enlightened +age curtained her brain with cobwebs which excluded the daylight from +the vermin they engendered. On this 12th of July she set aside, +according to custom, the pearly grey which becomes her age so well, to +don weird orange vestments which make her look like a macaw--she who +is usually dressed in such perfect taste in a robe of silvered satin, +with snowy hair in rolls unpowdered. Although she is but fifty-two, my +lady is a white-haired queen Bess; and handsome in an imposing way, +which she never was in youth. The thin nose looks higher than it used +to be, and pinched. The cheek is pale and marked with anxious +wrinkles; but the straight line of imperious brow remains the same, +and the eyes--netted with crowsfeet--assume a more vigorous life by +reason of the fading of their surroundings. The Countess of Glandore +has in twelve years become an awful dowager, before whom the cottagers +shake in their shoes; for to a misleading appearance of patriarchal +majesty she adds a quick incisive way of speech, and the bodily +activity of a middle-aged woman who enjoys a perfect constitution. +Those startled eyes tell tales, though, of a diseased mind, and +sleepless nights of tossing. And she does pass sleepless nights, +despite the Consoler's fanning, when the secret chord is struck. Then +as she lies on her laced pillows she sees once more the sheeted body +at the clubhouse, hears the last warning wail, 'For my sake, for your +own--that you may be spared this torment!' and then she lights a lamp +and reads angrily till daylight--loathing herself for what her sound +sense condemns as morbidness--lest peradventure her thoughts should +drive her mad. Then rising with a headache and haggard looks, she sits +in the window-seat and feeds the hounds, and reflects with stern +satisfaction that the odious baggage who lives in the Little House +has never found joints in her armour--has never caught her tripping +with regard to her younger son. Since my lord's death no spiteful +unduly-elected guardian could complain of the boy's treatment. Her +purse had always been open to him; from childhood he was rich in guns +and ponies. But she failed sufficiently to consider that there was one +thing for which the warm-hearted lad had pined and which she had +consistently denied him--love. It is evident that we cannot bestow +that which we have not to give. This reproach therefore sat lightly on +her mind. The deficit in affection was made up with bank-notes, and +she bred unconsciously in her second-born a recklessness in spending +which his after-income would by no means justify. Her influence over +him was small. Not that this mattered much, for he was a bright +good-natured lad, such as give little serious trouble to their elders. +He had a way of quarrelling with Shane though, which opened dread +visions of possible complications in the future. Sometimes the +brothers were so near the point of open rupture, that milady had to +interfere, and then with undutiful fierceness my lord would remind her +of the oath she had herself extorted, and she would be stricken dumb, +cursing herself for the idle folly of the act. If my lady nourished +old-fashioned feudal views about the conduct of one brother to +another, she was clumsy in her method of realising them. Terence +ignored the whole proceeding, and to prove his freedom kept the +household in a constant state of simmering breeziness, which was more +lively than comfortable. Shane, on the other hand, was disposed to be +benignant if Terence would abstain from being rude. There was little +in common between the two, and it would have been odd if Shane had +kept his temper when Terence flogged his horse-boy, though he had a +private young henchman of his own. My lady looked with uneasiness at +the constant trivial squabblings, and was not altogether sorry, as the +twain grew up, to see that their tastes divided them, that they met +less and less; for Shane became engrossed with the pleasures of the +capital, while Curran, taking a fancy for the second son, turned his +attention to the Bar. + +The young lord emancipated himself from leading-strings, and became a +pattern Dublin buck. He wore gorgeous raiment, carried wonderful +walking-sticks with jewelled tops and incrusted mottoes; was elected +President of the Blaster and Cherokee clubs, which honourable post +made it his duty to fight at least one duel a week, and to force +quarrels upon people whom he had never seen before. There were several +established ways (as all the world knows) of bringing this about. +Sometimes he sat in a window and spat on the hats of passers-by, or +stood over a crossing pushing folks into the mire, or kissed a pretty +girl in the presence of her male protector, or flung chicken bones +from a balcony at a passing horseman in full fig. His mother took no +heed of these vagaries; the ways of the Glandores had been imperious +for generations. But in course of time an event happened which sent +the blood rushing in a tumult to her heart. At a masquerade one night +my lord met a maid who smote his fancy. She was cheerful, and not too +modest (his one terror was a lady of quality), with eyes like a mouse +and a good set of teeth. Her mamma, a homely, buxom dame of forty, +invited him home to supper, and he was as surprised as charmed to +discover that the sprightly pair were his neighbours, who on account +of some crotchet or other his mother declined to visit. He was +received with open arms; nothing could be more jolly than his welcome. + +''Deed the space is limited,' mamma observed, with a guffaw. 'If ye +put your arm down the chimbly ye could raise the door-latch; but, +sure, a snug mouthful's better than a feast any day.' + +He remained toasting his hostesses till daylight; called in a week; +stopped to dinner; was treated as an honoured guest. Madam was a +Papist, he found out, which would account for my lady's prejudice, but +my lord had no such prejudices. If a young lady touch your fancy, do +you ask her to say her Catechism? + +When the terrible fact broke upon my lady, she groaned in spirit and +was stunned. The spiteful baggage, baffled by her rival's exemplary +conduct as a mother, had hit on a new way to torture her. The damsel +in question was Madam Gillin's daughter, who had been brought up a +Protestant, at the late lord's special wish. The reason for this +singular proceeding was only too clear. That low hateful wretch, who +had remained quiescent till the countess was almost at ease, was still +pursuing her. Of course she could not be so truly wicked as to mean +anything serious--for her own child's sake. It was a sword tied over +her head to force her to grovel down upon her knees. But boys +(specially heads of houses) always begin by falling in love with the +wrong people. This was a transitory flirtation. Shane would grow tired +of the vulgar chit. Vainly my lady hoped. Then with beatings of the +breast it occurred to her, that as Gillin was a Catholic she must of +course be capable of any crime. Before things attained a hopeless +pitch, would it be needful for my lady to bow her haughty neck under +Gillin's caudine forks? Oh! the agony of a stubborn pride which must +publicly do penance! Would the ruthless tormentor exact such abasement +as an exposure to her own children of the insulting behaviour of their +father? Would it be requisite to crave a boon of the too jolly tyrant? +Never! my lady decided that such humiliation might never be--death +would be preferable. She would bide awhile and take refuge in +religion, and pray that the cup might in mercy be removed. + +The petty annoyances which made up the sum of my lady's bitterness +were endless. She was in the habit of bestowing broken meats upon the +cottagers with stately condescension, accompanied sometimes with +drugs. Mrs. Gillin followed suit. There were two ladies bountiful in +the field, and the dowager sometimes came off second best; for, as +amateur doctors will, she made mistakes, and killed people with fresh +patent medicines, whilst her rival escaped active harm, because her +boluses were innocent through lengthened sleep in the village +apothecary's phials. So the cottagers only trembled and curtsied when +the chatelaine called to see them, and emptied her bottles on the sly, +whilst they eagerly consulted Madam Gillin as to their ailments, a +preference of which madam made the most, when the ladies met over an +invalid. Faithful to her _role_, she never spoke to the scowling +dowager, but addressed scathing remarks to a third person who was +always the companion of her wanderings--one Jug Coyle, her ancient +nurse, who passed with many for a witch, whilst all admitted that she +was a 'wise-woman.' This old harridan, who was learned in the use of +simples, was established by her mistress in a one-eyed alehouse on the +verge of her little property--on the outside edge of it which looked +towards the Abbey. The noise of roysterous shouting there penetrated +sometimes as far as my lady's chamber, yet she did not complain. It +was one of her rival's thorns--one of the petty persecutions which the +chatelaine was doomed to bear. + +Sure the late lord would have spared his widow had he realised the +worries which would come on her by reason of the proximity of Gillin. +The mistress of the Little House gave excellent rowdy suppers, and +entertained the _elite_ of Dublin. The judges bibbed her claret, and +shook the night air with choruses, whereas they only paid state visits +to the abbey once or twice a year. Her nurse's shebeen--a tumble-down +festering hostelry thatched with decaying straw--was no better than a +dog-boy's boozing ken, a disgraceful trysting-place for drunken +soldiers, who were enticed thither by its excellent poteen. Jug +Coyle's shock-pated daughter Biddy was a scandal to the neighbourhood, +so recklessly did she profess to adore sodgers; while as for mischief, +there was none perpetrated within ten miles round but that red-poled +slattern was at the bottom of it. By-and-by Old Jug hung out a sign, a +rude picture of a chained man, with 'The Irish Slave' as cognizance; +and after that mysterious persons were seen to arrive at unseasonable +hours who might or might not be United Irishmen. My lady knew all +these doings, and hoped fervently that the new clients would turn out +conspirators, for in that case there seemed a chance that she might +sweep away the nuisance which vexed her day by day. I say _she_ +advisedly, because Shane was too busily engaged as King of Cherokees, +to look after his property, and was only too thankful to his mother +for undertaking the management of the estates. + +In intervals of complaining about the still absent tea-maker, the +countess exposed her views for the hundredth time, as to the enormity +of the obnoxious Gillin, to her ally Lord Clare, who smiled and +nodded. The chancellor was a constant visitor at the Abbey, riding +over frequently to dinner for a gossip or a game of cards with his old +friend. He told her the last scandal, discussed the political +situation, dropped hints about the movements of the patriots, lamented +the mad folly of her brother Arthur's _protege_; and unconsciously she +came to see things through his spectacles, living herself a retired +life. Not but what she heard something of the other side from Mr. +Curran; but then he seemed to avoid these subjects, while Lord Clare +delighted in gloating on them. The two mortal foes met frequently at +the Abbey as on neutral ground, and snarled and showed their teeth, +and thereby exemplified in their own persons one of the most singular +features of a society now happily died away. During the last +tempestuous years which preceded the Union, members of all parties +were accustomed to meet in social intercourse, dining to-day with men +they would hang tomorrow, even in some cases advancing funds out of +their own pockets to secure the escape of those whom it was their duty +to convict. The cause of the anomaly is not far to seek. Dublin +society, though magnificent, was limited to a tiny circle. Absenteeism +being voted low, the great families became interwoven by a series of +intermarriages, while they were torn at the same time by religious or +political dissensions. If your wife's brother holds precisely opposite +views to your own, and is in danger of losing his head, still he is +your near relative, and as such you will save him from the gallows if +you may. It was not surprising then that Mr. Curran, when at length he +arrived with the rest, should have courteously taken Lord Clare's +jewelled fingers in his own with a hope that his health was good, +though he loved him as dogs love cats. Was he not obliged to meet him +several times a day in the four courts, or at Daly's? The city would +have been too small to hold them if they had come to open strife. + +My lady dropped her jeremiad when the young people entered, for +the Little House and its belongings formed a mystery which they might +not fathom. If Shane chose to distress his mother by flirting with +Norah Gillin, it behoved the rest to ignore his sin. Even independent +Doreen, who would have liked to scrape acquaintance with a +co-religionist, abstained from so doing lest she should offend her +aunt. Once, when in a passion, she threatened to call at the Little +House, but my lady appeared so pained that she repented the idle +threat. + +My lady looked at Lord Clare as if to bid him start a subject, then +shook her head at Curran for keeping the girls out so late. + +Lord Clare was in excellent spirits as he crossed one natty stocking +over the other, and, fingertip to fingertip, began to purr over the +virtues of the new Viceroy. 'Lord Camden,' he averred, 'was an angel. +He was open to advice. Things would have to take place sooner or later +which would make it essential that those who governed should be of one +mind. The silly geese who dubbed themselves patriots had received a +check by the discomfiture of young Tone, but the snake was scotched, +not killed. They would doubtless find leaders, and again leaders, who +would have to be crushed in turn, and Government had hit on a bright +idea for the simplifying of the process of suppression. By virtue of +an English law there was a foolish rule which forbade conviction for +treason save on the testimony of two witnesses. How ponderous a piece +of mechanism! The wheels of the Irish car of justice wanted greasing. +Why not one witness? One dear, delightful, useful creature, who would +come forward and say his say and finish off the matter in a trice. +What did Mr. Curran think of it, that clever advocate?' + +Mr. Curran sipped his tea in silence, while his dusky cheek turned +dun. They would not dare pass so outrageous an enactment, he +reflected. They would dare much, but, with the eyes of Europe on them, +not so much as that. The chancellor was drawing him out. So he smiled +sweetly, and, handing his cup to be refilled, observed that as Justice +did not live in Ireland, it would be folly to provide a car for her. +The spectacle of an English Viceroy making believe to dally with the +stranger would be as astounding to Irishmen as the spectacle of a +horse-racing Venetian. + +'Lord Clare likes his joke,' chorused the giant Cassidy, 'but Curran +won't be hoodwinked.' + +'I assure you I am in earnest,' declared the chancellor, eyeing his +foe from under alligator lids. 'I protest the idea is splendid. If +they are bent on hanging themselves, why not give them rope? One +witness, my dear Curran, would surely be enough.' + +'Your joke is a bad one, my lord,' returned the other, sulkily. 'There +are hundreds of idle wretches, hanging round Castle-yard, who for a +pittance would swear anything. Is it so much trouble to suborn two? +Major Sirr, your lordship's jackal, would see to it, I'm sure.' + +'An admirable person!' murmured the chancellor. + +'If he's not a villain,' retorted his enemy, 'give me as offal to the +curs of Ormond Quay. Cassidy here was reproved only an hour ago by one +whom we all respect for being too intimate with the rascal.' + +'I can only repeat,' said Cassidy, with the crumpling of skin which +made his flat face so droll, 'that I care nought for him, though I +should be sorry if he came to be put away as his paid informers often +are--_consigned to Moiley_, as the common people say. It is important +for a poor man like me to have a friend at court. I might be taken any +day on false information, and lie perdu in Newgate till my bones +rotted. My Lord Clare is a kind patron, but too much engaged to heed +the fate of such humble squireens as I. I have no genius like Mr. +Curran. My disappearance would cause no hue-and-cry. We must look +after our own bodies, and Sirr is my sheet-anchor.' + +The chancellor glanced at Cassidy with a whimsical expression on his +face, half curiosity, half contempt, while Curran said: + +'That town-major is too much considered. Beware, my lord, of +Jacks-in-office, who, in the intoxication of gratified vanity, mistake +the dictates of passion for the suggestions of duty, and consider that +power unemployed is so much wasted. But I'm a fool. Your lordship is +laughing at me.' + +Doreen, having presided over the tea-table, retired to the open +window, for her heart was full of Theobald, and this chatter grated on +her nerves. My lady seized the opportunity to discourse of the +proceedings of the day, of how Lord Camden had marched round William's +statue with all his peers, and of how the scum had looked stupidly at +the pageant with angry scowls. 'I was glad to see it,' she went on +complacently, 'for tribulation is good for their sins, and bears +fruit. There have been a blessed number of conversions of late.' + +'Some are too weak to endure oppression,' remarked Arthur, gently, +'and turn Protestant to escape from misery.' + +'Then it is good that the oppression, as you call it, should +continue,' returned his sister, with decision. 'The scarlet woman and +her progeny of vices shall be extinguished. When people are so +ignorant and brutish, they must be snatched from the fire by any +means.' + +'My lady, my lady!' laughed Curran. 'Your speech and your deeds are +ever at variance. Your words breathe fire and sword, yet none are more +kindly to the poor. Extremes meet, you know. I believe that you will +die a Catholic.' + +My lady glanced at Doreen, pursed up her lips, and said nothing. + +'Did we not agree t'other day about true religion? It lies not in +abusing our neighbours, but in cultivating a heart void of offence to +God and man. Remember that definition, Terence, and act on it, my boy. +It was a saying of the great Lord Chatham.' + +'If only Luther had never been born!' groaned Arthur Wolfe. +'Christianity was good enough for Christendom in old days.' + +This was an awkward subject. Lord Clare changed it with accustomed +tact. + +'Do you know, Curran,' he said, 'that Tone has left a sting behind him +which till yesterday we did not suspect? We have reason to believe +that the University, of which we are all so justly proud, has been +tampered with. That's bad, you know. I am informed that there are no +less than four branches of the secret society within its walls. +Severest measures may be necessary. As chancellor of Trinity I will +see to it.' + +Doreen turned round and listened. So did Terence, for he had many +friends in Trinity. + +'Have you any basis to work upon?' asked my lady. + +'Certainly! A man whom I can trust in every way is hand and glove with +them. The unhappy wretches have a traitor in their midst. Young +McLaughlin is bitten with the mania, a sad scatterbrain and Bond, and +Ford, who's half an idiot. The only one I'm sorry for is young Emmett, +who should know better, being son of a State-physician. But then his +brother, who dabbles in journalism, is a bad example. I should not be +surprised if he were hanged some day.' + +Poor Sara, who had gone to where Doreen was sitting, glanced from one +at another, her pupils expanded by terror. She knew that the dear +undergraduate had not taken the oath. But to be suspected at such +times as were looming was a matter of grave jeopardy. Her father +looked serious, and so did Terence. Both liked the Emmetts, and were +sorry to hear about this traitor. My Lord Clare's flippant discourse +was distasteful to all. Was he making himself disagreeable on purpose? +Curran was shaking his hair ominously. Terence burst out in defence of +the young men who were, he swore, as good as gold, and his personal +friends--more worthy than others who should be nameless. My lady, in +her orange robe, looked like a thunder-cloud. Cassidy, to pour oil on +the troubled waters, proposed that Miss Wolfe should sing, and Arthur, +relieved at the diversion, drew out his girl's harp into the room. + +Doreen would have refused if she had dared, for these covert +bickerings constantly renewed upon topics which moved her so strongly, +were wearing to the nerves. But everybody suddenly desired music. + +'Something Irish, set to one of your own melodies,' suggested Cassidy. +'Sure, Curran will play a second on his violoncello; and I'll give you +a new song afterwards.' + +Well, anything was better than the grating of Lord Clare's harsh +voice. Listlessly sitting down to the harp, Doreen permitted her +shapely arms to wander over its strings. Then, fired by a kind of +desperation, she lifted her proud head and began in a rich contralto, +while Mr. Curran, on a low stool beside her, scraped out an impromptu +bass: + + + '"Brothers, arise! The hour has come to strike a blow for Truth + and God. + Why sit ye folded up and dumb? why, bending, kiss a tyrant's + rod? + For what is death to him who dies, the martyr's crown upon his + head? + A charter--not a sacrifice--a life immortal for the dead. + And life itself is only great when man devotes himself to be + By virtue, thought, and deed the mate of God's true children and + the free!"' + + +Her voice trembled and gave way, and bowing her neck over the +instrument, the girl wept. Sara stole up and kissed away the tears. +Her own heart was exceeding heavy, she knew not why, except that she +saw visions of Robert in peril, such as she was thankful to think were +only visions. If aught befell him, she would lie down and die--of that +she was quite sure--foolish virgin! She had bestowed her pure heart +unasked. Would he who held it value the priceless gift? + +My lady and Lord Clare looked at Arthur Wolfe in consternation. Where +did the naughty damsel learn such a song? Of what dangerous stuff was +she made to presume to chant it before the chancellor himself? 'It is +the cloven foot,' her aunt thought with fury. That terrible blot! +Anxieties were thickening. Something must be done, or the girl would +go to perdition even faster than she galloped across country. + +Arthur looked wistfully at his sister, then at his child, who, the +paroxysm past, was a cold statue again--haughty, unabashed. To look at +her, you would feel assured that she had done right, while all the +rest were wrong. Some people are incorrigible, and Miss Wolfe was +evidently one of them. Her father suspected shrewdly that she had +learnt the song at Curran's. He knew that she worshipped Tone, and +that she had been in the habit of meeting him at the Priory. But he +never had the courage to stand between the Catholic and the Protestant +champion of her faith. As usual, he temporised, striving to serve two +masters, and, as usual, suffered for his weakness. + +Lord Clare read him like a book, and was disgusted with his friend. +Wolfe's sensitive conscience was constantly racked by doubts which a +natural diffidence magnified into bugbears. Clare's inflexibly +ambitious mind despised the hysterics of the country which he +governed; brazen and hard, he was a fit tool for Mr. Pitt. As he +looked at Arthur, who hung his head over his daughter's escapade, +he decided that this was a square peg in a round hole. As +attorney-general, acts might be demanded of him by-and-by, from which +he would shrink with lamentable want of character. What if he were to +shillyshally when prompt action was urgent! He might upset the deftest +schemes, overturn the most skilful combinations, by his bungling. Only +a few minutes ago, his tell-tale face had shown how he disapproved of +the one witness project. What a pity it was that the inoffensive +fellow had ever been promoted, for as a simple lawyer he would have +been pushed by events into the background. Well, well! He must be +tried, and trotted forth to test his mettle. If he were proved +wanting, there would be nothing for it but to pass him on again--to +shelve him somewhere in the Lords, where he might drone harmlessly. + +But this outrageous bit of scorn--his daughter! My lady must have a +hard time with her. She was going awry, as hysterical girls will; yet +surely the dowager was more than capable of coping with this febrile +phase of a strong nature half developed? Then the astute idea passed +through the schemer's brain of how convenient it would be if the +budding Joan of Arc could be used as an unconscious spy upon her +party. An ingenious notion, but one difficult to carry out--a delicate +game, which would have to be worked through the countess, who was a +crotchety soured woman, with a nice sense of honour, who would slave +night and day for a cause which she esteemed a rightful one, but who +would rather cut off her hand than stoop to what she knew was a +meanness--provided that it did not affect her interests. + +My Lord Clare could not forbear smiling when, glancing round the +party, he noted the effect of the song. My lady dumbly furious; Arthur +apologetic; Doreen herself indifferent; Terence uneasy and taken +aback. One savage breast alone had music soothed; and Terence, who +revered his chief, thanked Cassidy with a nod for having withdrawn him +from further contest. Once with his huge machine between his feet, he +was invulnerable even to Erin's wrongs, scraping himself into a +condition of ecstatic beatitude, from which there was no fretting him. +any more. There he sat, crouching like a black-beetle on a kitchen +boiler, his underlip protruded, his face lighted with satisfaction, +his head nodding to the time, and his frenzied eye fixed on the +coat-of-arms upon the ceiling, as though to invoke its supporting +monsters to turn and cock their ears. My Lord Clare's smile faded +presently; he hated music nearly as much as he hated Curran. + +'Turn out the lights!' he cried. 'I wonder your ladyship has patience +with the fellow's grimaces. And you, my lad,' he continued seriously, +addressing Terence, 'accept the lesson of the times and avoid +enthusiasm. In this country it leads to the halter. Steer your course +wisely. Take a safer pilot to guide your inexperience than yonder +hurdy-gurdyman, so that you may find yourself on the winning side at +last. There is no doubt which that will be.' + +'I will use my own judgment,' replied Terence, simply, with a dignity +which would have won approval from his cousin, had she not just +descended into the pleasaunce to recover, amid the influences of +night, her natural calmness of demeanour. + +'That beast's din addles my brains,' went on the chancellor, rising to +depart. 'Drive back with me, Arthur. I have a special subject to talk +to you about. You must take a bolder course in politics. The ball is +at your feet. We must teach you to find pluck enough to strike it.' + +Wolfe smiled gently as he answered: + +'I'll take a drive with pleasure, but you'll find me terribly +deceitful; for I must grub up money for my daughter's sake; and yet, +in certain ways, I'm an impracticable person--a mule with his feet +together. Vacillating you think me. In some things you'll find I'm +adamant.' + +All were glad when at last the chancellor departed. Even my lady +admitted that he could be crabbed at times. He was gone, but, like the +gentleman in black, he left an evil savour in his wake. + +Startled from reverie by the clang of the hall-door, Curran threw +aside his bow and scratched his elf-locks pensively. + +'No!' he said. 'These laws which they are continually framing are too +dreadful. If the testimony of one witness is to be sufficient to +convict us, then, are we foredoomed; for any one may be summoned to +join in the Kilmainham minuet by the malice of a discharged groom, or +the greed of the meanest cowboy. Trial and evidence are not children's +baubles; they were not even established for the sole purpose of +punishing the guilty; their most precious use is for the security of +innocence.' + +The little lawyer looked so horror-stricken, that both my lady and the +giant burst out a-laughing. + +'Come,' said the former, wresting the violoncello from his grasp, +'your music carries you too far. Lord Clare was out of sorts, and +played upon your fears. Thank heaven he is no Blunderbore, or he would +not be my welcome guest. Now to bed. Sara looks worn out.' + +'He has no sense of right and wrong,' grumbled Curran. + +'For shame! You are both good men. What a pity you can only agree in +looking at each other through distorted glasses!' + +'Faix, her ladyship's right,' acquiesced Cassidy, with a grin. 'You +magnify the number of the informers. I should be sorry to believe +there are half as many as you think.' + +'Did not Tone say you were simple?' asked Curran, sadly. 'So there's +some one watching the Emmetts? Can you guess? No! Nor I; but they must +be warned. Clare is brewing some new devil's haricot, and will dip +Arthur's ladle in it, if he may. What a net it is that they are +winding about Erin! Pray God that we and ours may escape +entanglement!' + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + MY LADY'S PROJECT. + + +Doreen stood by the crazy sun-dial, looking at the milky way, and +reflecting upon the chatter which had assailed her ears. Consigned to +Moiley! The dragon of the new _regime_ was beginning to show that his +hunger was insatiable. The prisons were filling apace. Lord Clare had +hinted that worse was yet to come, that the shadow of the gibbet was +to stretch across the earth, that hemp would soon be at a premium. But +there were two Moileys--two goddesses of vengeance and retaliation, +ready to strike, one for the oppressor, one for the oppressed. If +their blood was roused, who might foretell what havoc they would make +ere they sheathed their swords again! + +The rustle of my lady's skirts recalled the maiden to herself, and she +perceived her aunt descending into the garden. It was seldom that my +lady changed her routine in the smallest particular. What could be the +cause of this sudden fancy for star-gazing? + +'A lovely night,' exclaimed her ladyship. 'How sweet the roses smell! +I vow it is a sin to go to bed.' + +'Shane seems to think so,' returned Doreen. 'He never comes in till +the small hours.' + +My lady looked sharply in her niece's face, but was nothing there save +a settled sadness. + +'Come,' she said, 'Curran and his child are gone to rest. We'll take a +turn in the pleasaunce.' + +They sauntered through the golden gate and down a leafy avenue, in +silence, while owls and bats flitted past their heads and circled away +among the foliage. My lady had something to say, and did not know how +to say it. Doreen was thinking of the dear wanderer, who was tossing +on the sea by this time. Presently my lady said abruptly: + +'Doreen, you must change your ways.' + +The damsel's nostrils dilated a little; but, biting her lip, she +answered nothing. + +'You are twenty-two,' pursued her aunt. 'It is time that you gave up +playing Miss Hoyden, and settled down into a respectable married +woman.' + +The girl walked on without a word, wondering what was coming next, +while her aunt, growing exasperated at what she was pleased to +consider stubbornness, bent down to sniff a rose which wept gems upon +her dress. + +'Does it trouble you,' she said, wiping the dew from her skirts +carefully with a handkerchief, 'that Shane should stop out so late? +The Glandores were always rakes, but were none the worse for that. For +my part I hate a milksop.' + +Poor lady! The late lord had given her little experience of the +milksop! + +'What can it signify to me what he does?' asked Doreen, with a tinge +of bitterness. 'He is drinking to King William now, no doubt, if not +insensible beneath the table.' + +This was awkward, for my lady desired to make the best of Shane, and +the fact of his doing homage to the Immortal memory was not likely to +be pleasing to a Roman Catholic. So she turned her batteries. + +'You are wild, and will come to shipwreck,' she declared, 'if we do +not set some one to look after you. The way you behaved just now was +most deplorable. Your poor father looked wretched; but the dear soul +is a goose. Unless you mend your ways you will find no one to marry +you at all, which will be dreadful, and a disgrace to all of us. Your +behaviour to Terence is not quite seemly, for you forget that he is +grown up, and that you should not trifle with an inflammable youth.' + +This shot went home. Thoroughly taken aback, Doreen cried: + +'Terence! You must be jesting, aunt! He is my first cousin, almost my +brother. You will accuse me of flirting with Shane next.' + +'That is quite another matter,' replied my lady, coldly, for she was +nettled at the contemptuous manner in which the girl spoke of her +favourite son. 'I say you must be married before you disgrace us all, +which you certainly will do unless curbed, being half a plebeian +born.' + +The blood flooded the girl's face, and she clasped her bosom with both +hands to still the indignation rising there. For my lady, when annoyed +beyond a given point, was apt to make sneering remarks about the late +Mrs. Wolfe which filled her child with rage. + +'What do you mean?' she exclaimed haughtily. 'There is no _must_ about +the matter. You should have learned by this time that I will not be +driven by any one on earth; certainly not by you.' Then recovering +herself, she went on more softly: 'What a puzzle you are! Sometimes so +kind, sometimes so cruel! I think you really care for me; you were so +good to the motherless little one. If my mother had lived I might have +been different. A Miss Hoyden, am I? I have never had any one in whom +to put my trust, to whom I might tell my troubles; and a heart closed +up, without sympathy, is a sore thing for one of my age!' + +The girl's voice died away, and her aunt felt uncomfortable. + +'To-day,' Doreen resumed, 'I went to see Ally Brady, who is dying, and +nearly threw myself upon the neck of the lady who is nursing her. She +looked so kind and hearty as her tears fell for the peasant-woman, and +she clings to the prescribed creed as I do. It was Mrs. Gillin, of the +Little House.' + +My lady looked up sharply. + +'You dared to speak to her?' + +'No; I retired. But she looked after me with such a strange pity. +Aunt, why do you object to my knowing this lady, though all the world +speaks well of her? Shane goes to the Little House, and Norah makes +him welcome. He told me so. I have seen Norah often, and she is very +pretty. What does it all mean? Is Shane going to marry her? May I +speak to her when she's Shane's wife? If he knows and likes the +Gillins, why should not I, who, as a Catholic, have a sort of right to +cherish them?' + +My lady started and stood still, as if she had seen an adder in her +path, and said in an altered voice: + +'Have I not commanded you never to mention that woman's name before +me? Shane is more wild than I could wish. He does what he chooses; +and, besides, a man may do what a woman may not. If he were well +married, he would grow quieter, no doubt. Your father's wish is the +same as mine. You know it, and are obstinate.' + +Doreen was astonished, for Lady Glandore was not given to displays of +emotion; and now she was much agitated, while her features worked as +if in physical pain. Kissing her niece on the forehead, she gathered +up her skirts and walked rapidly back towards the house. + +For an hour and more the girl wandered in the pleasaunce, taking no +heed of dew, though her high-waisted dress was of the thinnest muslin. +She was weighing her aunt's hints, and the strange complications of +her own position. + +There could be no further doubt that my lady desired to unite her +niece to Shane. Doreen had suspected it before, but the idea seemed +too preposterous. What motive could be strong enough to bring about so +amazing a desire on the part of the proud chatelaine, as a union +between one of the hated faith, whose mother was of doubtful origin, +and the dearly-loved head of the Glandores, who was young, rich, +Protestant, good-looking? That she should ever come to permit a match +even with the poor younger son, whom she did not love, would be +surprising enough; but a motive might be found for that in his poverty +and extravagance, and her trifling nest-egg. The blot on the +escutcheon would not have mattered so much in his case, for he was +unlikely ever to wear the coronet, and the attorney-general's +scrapings would have gilded a more unpleasant bolus than his handsome +daughter. + +But Shane, who by reason of his wealth and position was a great catch, +who might throw his handkerchief to whom he pleased! What could be the +reason? Was it that his mother dreaded his being caught by some low +and penniless adventuress--he who was so self-willed and given to low +company? It could hardly be that; for in the eyes of the chatelaine, +Doreen herself was little better, save in the way of money; and where +the young earl was himself so wealthy, her little fortune could not be +taken into consideration. If he would only go into good society, Shane +might aspire to the most brilliant match. + +It was a riddle to which the damsel could find no solution, so she +began calmly to consider how she should act herself. Should she yield +to her aunt's wishes, and assume the high position of the young earl's +bride? If she said 'Yes,' would Shane indeed take her to his bosom, or +would he be disobedient in this as other things? If he came and asked +her, would she say 'Yes,' or 'No?' She was amazed to find that she was +by no means sure. He was an ignoble sot, a drunkard, and a debauchee; +but, in the eyes of most young ladies, such qualities were rather +admired than not. It was thought fine for a spark's eye to have a +noble fierceness which softened to the mildness of the dove when +contemplating 'the sex.' But then Doreen's education had been +peculiar--different in many ways to that of other young ladies--partly +on account of her motherlessness, partly because of the faith she +professed. The Penal Code had eaten into her soul--she was more +thoughtful and sober than girls of her age usually are; was given to +day-dreams and impracticable heroic longings, tinged, all of them, by +a romance due to her Irish nature and the romantic conditions of her +time. + +She had never thought much of marrying or giving in marriage, and it +came upon her now as a new light, that by a marriage she might benefit +the 'cause.' As she sauntered up and down, she reflected that, by +espousing Shane, she might make of herself a Judith for her people's +sake. Shane was already sodden and sottish, given to excessive +tippling. She, Doreen, was of a masculine strength of character, and +knew it. Once established at the Abbey as its mistress, why should she +not take on herself the control of the estates, as the present +countess did, and manage them according to her liking? The United +Irishmen were sadly in need of funds. Tone had said that a bloodless +revolution was impossible. Arms and powder would be required when the +struggle came. Why should not she provide a portion of it out of the +wealth of the lord of Strogue? It seemed an ignoble thing to do; yet, +for the cause's sake, was not anything justifiable? Did not Judith, +the noblest of women, the purest of patriots, lower herself to the +disguise of a harlot for the saving of her people? Doreen felt the +holy flame burning within her, which goes to the making of Judiths. + +Her father, though she loved him fondly, could never be of real +service to her. What would he think of such a wedding? It mattered +not, situated as she was. Her battle of life must be fought alone, +without help from any one. She was fully aware of that, and was +prepared to fight it--to the end--after her own fashion. + +She was startled from her reverie by the banging of doors and shouts +of discordant laughter. Cassidy had been singing some time since in +the young men's wing, trolling out pathetic ballads for the +edification of Terence and his chief--but these had retired to rest +long since. This must be the young lord and his boon companions--come +to finish the night in wine and play as joyous gallants should. It +would be awkward to meet them in their cups; so she stole as +noiselessly as might be through the golden gate, past the sun-dial +among the flowers, and reached her chamber, which was over the chintz +drawing-room (her own boudoir), just as there came a crash and awful +din in the hall. Then followed a babel of angry voices. Lights +appeared in the dining-hall opposite, the blinds of which were not +drawn down, and a posse of young nobles--their clothes muddy +and disarranged; their hair dishevelled; their action wild and +excited--crowded in around their host. She could distinguish my lord +by the glistening of his diamond coat-buttons as he was held back by +four companions, from whose grasp he strove to free himself. One of +them, whose brain was less heated than the rest, had removed his +_couteau de chasse_ from its sheath, and was expostulating with him; +but he was evidently not to be appeased without a scapegoat, for he +kept pointing angrily at a broken bust of William III. which my lady +had crowned with laurel that very day. + +She could see that somebody had upset the bust, and that my lord +wished to wipe out the insult to the Protestant champion with the +blood of the offender. My lady did not appear. She had been well +broken to orgies of the kind by the late lord, and took no heed of the +uproar; but the aged butler, who, as a matter of course, had produced +magnums of claret in tin frames upon the appearance of the party, +seemed to be coaxing his young master into good temper, and with some +success apparently, for by-and-by the _couteau de chasse_ was given +back and the party settled down amicably, having first tossed the +offender out of window, who lay snoring upon the flower-beds till +morning, wrapped in the sound sleep of drunkards. + +Doreen sat at the open window, her chin buried in her hand, watching +the proceedings of her cousin. His cravat was gone; his fair young +chest exposed; his velvet surtout torn and stained; his striped silk +stockings in tatters; the bunches of ribbon wrenched from off his +half-boots. His face was blotched and bloated; his forehead disfigured +by an ugly cicatrice which turned of a bright red when he was far gone +in liquor or in passion. She saw him rise on his unsteady legs and +wave a goblet at the fractured bust, while he clung with the other arm +round the neck of the youth next to him. Then all the rest rose and +bowed as well as they were able; some falling on the floor in the +attempt and remaining there, while the others sat down to their drink +again and clamoured for cards, shouting the while a chorus, which came +muffled to her through the window-glass. + + + 'And it's ho! ro! the sup of good drink-- + And ho! ro! the heart would not think; + Oh, had I a shilling lapped up in a clout, + It's a sup of good drink that would wheedle it out!' + + +Doreen sat staring till the chill of morning penetrated to her bones +through the light robe of muslin. Then she crept stiff and weary into +bed, while her teeth chattered and alternate douches of hot and cold +water seemed pouring down her back. She had been studying Shane with a +new interest, and trembled for her future peace, for, as she watched +with senses sharpened, she was dismayed at the hideous preponderance +of the animal in her cousin's nature. Never had she looked at him so +earnestly before. It was like binding one's self to a hog for life. +Sure Holofernes was not so degraded, or the fortitude of Judith would +have given way. He was a warrior, mighty in battle, who, though an +enemy, commanded respect. A glorious athlete such as 'tis woman's +prerogative to outwit--as Delilah outwitted Samson, as Omphale +conquered Hercules. Her ordeal too was of short duration. How +differently severe would be the self-appointed task of this modern +Judith, who contemplated tying herself deliberately for the whole of +her life to a man who disgusted her in spite of his good looks; who, +when shorn of the vulgar halo of animal courage, was no better than a +brawler and a bravo. She might not strive to reform him, for with his +reformation he would of course take the reins of his affairs, and the +power of his wife would end, for which alone she married him. It would +be her duty rather to encourage him in evil ways, and coax him down +the ladder. Was she capable, she kept asking herself, as shuddering +she drew the sheets around her, of so tremendous a sacrifice as this? +Tone's, sublime as she considered it, was nothing to what hers would +be. He had thrown away earthly pelf, was a fugitive and an outlaw; but +he retained his self-respect. Could she retain hers if Shane became +her husband? No. Doreen confessed to herself that the position would +be impossible. If it had been Terence, now! He was foolish and gay and +distressingly healthy; under no pressure whatever could he bud into a +hero. He was humdrum, and her native romance revolted from the +humdrum. A fine grown man with a good temper and a prosaic appetite. +Why, if he were to occupy Shane's shoes, all Dublin would be envying +her luck and remarking how brazenly she had set her cap at him. Horror +of horrors! How terribly commonplace! Then the girl upbraided herself +for such foolish thoughts. Terence would never become Lord Glandore, +and as a simple fisherman and sportsman could never win his cousin. +Perhaps my lady was right in warning her to remember that he was grown +up. He was a dear good boy, but wofully prosaic. But what had such as +she to do with unmaidenly meditations anent marrying and giving in +marriage? Sackcloth and ashes were the portion of the Catholics, who +were treated as the Jews had been by the Crusaders. The sooner they +died out the better. What a wonderful idea that was of Aunt +Glandore's! If she were seriously bent on anything, she was not easy +to baffle. Would it be best to speak out at once and brave a certain +storm, or to let things be, hoping to be delivered by some unexpected +means? While she was debating this knotty question, her thoughts +became gradually confused, and she sank into troubled slumber. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + TRINITY. + + +Mr. Curran took the bait tendered to him by the chancellor. He made +inquiries, sorted the fragments of his puzzle after his own fashion, +and, filled with suspicions, became anxious to unveil without delay +the fresh dangers which menaced his friends. And dangers so easy to +unveil! The fowler cared not, it seemed, to mask his engines of +destruction. Mr. Curran, from his place in the senate, publicly warned +ministers of the iniquity of their proceedings, but nobody troubled to +listen. The friends of government gaped, vowing that the orator was a +maniac, that he had the secret society on the brain, and ought to be +carted to the madhouse; the few who were on the other side laughed, +declaring that Mr. Curran was misinformed. What could he do then but +sigh and hold his peace? At least he would speak to the Emmetts and +adjure them to be cautious, for the sake of all concerned. + +When Tone's society for the promotion of universal concord was +driven by artful goading to become a secret one, the conspirators met +to discuss their grievances in a cellar in Backlane, near the +corn-market; but when the time came for extinguishing Tone and others, +Sirr, the captain of Lord Clare's sbirri, swept them thence, and they +were forced to find another trysting-place. Pending final decision on +this point, it was arranged as a miracle of cleverness that the +younger Emmett should suddenly become hospitable. Trinity was always +celebrated for its rollicking wine-parties. What more natural than +that young Robert should do as others did; that he, hitherto so +studious, should be led astray a little by the contagious force of bad +example? A good cellaret of claret was provided at the common expense; +songs were sung with open windows, at all hours of the day and night, +of a convivial and bacchanalian character. There was no end to the +shifts to which the patriots resorted, under the belief that they were +hoodwinking Major Sirr. There arose a mania for ball-playing. Clerks, +shopkeepers, attorneys, would meet of an afternoon at a hall taken for +the purpose, and emerge thence in an hour or two singularly cool and +fresh for men who had been practising athletics. There was also a rage +for fencing--a plausible excuse enough for meeting in numbers, +considering that the fire-eaters of the south had just revised the +laws of the duello. The youthful aristocracy, in accordance with one +of the new rules, had already formed themselves into a club, called +the Knights of Tara, whose members met three times a week in the +theatre at Capel Street to display their prowess with the rapier +before an audience of Dublin belles. What then should there be +suspicious if the middle class followed their example? + +The case was not quite the same, though; for while the Knights of Tara +courted observation and loved to be seen lounging in cambric shirts +and broidered slippers, with their hair in curl-papers, the members of +the other fencing club kept rigorously closed doors, through which no +one ever heard the familiar cry, sharp as a pistol-crack, of 'Ha! a +hit!' + +One evening, shortly after Tone's departure, there was a full +gathering in the chambers on the second floor which looked on the +grand quadrangle. It was necessary to instal with solemn rites a new +chief in place of the wanderer, and to fix on a distinct plan of +operations for enlarging the limits of the society. Tone had left his +mantle to Thomas Addis Emmett as the oldest and wisest of the band--he +was thirty-five--and so, in obedience to his last wishes, the editor +of the _Press_ was duly elected to the dangerous pre-eminence. +Submitting to his brother's entreaties, he commenced his reign by +administering the oath to young Robert, the dreamy lad of seventeen, +which was done with awful ceremonies, as became the doings of +conspirators. Blinds were drawn for a few minutes that no prying gaze +might penetrate the Holy of Holies; then all sat down, with the +neophyte standing in their midst, while their president read through +the constitution. Then the oath was administered upon the Scriptures, +which, together with the constitution, were clasped on the bared +breast, and after that a lock of hair was cut away under the queue +behind, and a formula learnt by heart, by means of which one member +could recognise another. It was touching to look on these brothers +standing side by side, the elder receiving the younger into a +fraternity, each unit of which, before many months were out, might +possibly be called upon to meet an ignominious death. Thomas was big +and burly, with a sedate cast of countenance which betokened thought, +whilst Robert was slight of build, and looked almost like a girl, as +with eyes fixed on space he repeated the strange sentences, his face +aglow with enthusiasm, his body trembling like a leaf. + +'Are you straight?' + +'I am.' + +'How straight?' + +'As straight as a rush.' + +'Go on then?' + +'In truth and trust; in unity and liberty.' + +'What have you in your hand?' + +'A green bough.' + +'Where did it grow?' + +'In America.' + +'Where did it bud?' + +'In France.' + +'Where will you plant it?' + +'In the Crown of Great Britain.' + +'God be with you then, and with us all,' Thomas concluded; 'and now a +glass all round to the health of the new member.' + +The pledge was gravely accepted, each one raising his beaker and +saying: 'To the diffusion of light!' ere he drained its contents and +replaced it on the table bottom upwards. + +'Now, gentlemen,' pursued Thomas. 'We have serious business before us. +Theobald will be away a year at least before help can come, and it is +his wish that we should without delay prepare to graft the military +upon our civil functions. With arms and ammunition Tone will provide +us if he can, but they will be of little service unless we know how to +use them. In the halcyon days of the Volunteers every Irishman was a +soldier. Let us show that the martial spirit of our ancient kings, +which then for awhile revived, is not quite dead in us.' + +'I will never consent to bloodshed,' shuddered young Robert. +'Internecine strife is too horrible!' + +'You have been sworn in by your own desire,' returned his brother, +sternly, 'and your first duty is blind obedience. It is Tone's +conviction that we must fight, and fight we will when the time +comes--to the death! In revolutions there is nothing certain but +blood. The march of the captives is through a Red Sea. After forty +years of seeking new abodes, which of those who lead them shall touch +the Promised Land? Lord Clare shows us his cards, and a pretty hand it +is. Sirr is organising his paid spies into a battalion who are to +dwell at the Castle like pampered pets. It is hard to believe that +Irishmen will be so base. These informers are to lie _perdu_ until +wanted--are to worm themselves into the confidence of suspected +persons, to eat of their bread and salt, to nurse their little ones +upon their knees, and then, upon a signal, to give them over to the +hangman.' + +'But the Viceroy!' cried Cassidy in indignation. 'Lord Camden is a man +of honour who would never consent to such a plan!' + +Thomas Emmett shook his head mournfully. + +'We all know,' he said, 'that the cabinet rules the Viceroy, and that +Lord Clare is master of the cabinet.' + +'Seeing's believing,' retorted the giant doggedly, as he stretched out +his great hand for the claret bottle. 'Of course we must watch that no +such villain shall creep among us. I won't believe that the English +are without mercy.' + +'At the battle of Aughrim,' replied Thomas, 'the blood sank into the +soil of seven thousand Irishmen who were only defending their rights.' + +'As for drilling and such like,' said Cassidy, 'I'm with you, and the +sooner we start the business the better. I've learnt a new song that +we'll sing as we march to battle----' + +'Oh, you simpleton!' laughed Terence Crosbie, who, slightly touched +with wine, had followed the proceedings of the two Emmetts with +amusement. 'Romancing as usual--giving credence to every scandalous +tale you hear. Even if there were truth in them, your grievances would +not give birth to generals. You will never make colonels out of +linendrapers.' + +'No more than purses out of sows' ears,' returned Cassidy, with a +merry twinkle. 'No, councillor, that we never will. But we'll wheedle +a few aristocrats like your honour, whose blue blood shall mingle with +our muddy stuff. When the day dawns, you and a few like yourself shall +lead the boys to victory.' + +Terence looked annoyed, but said nothing; while Cassidy and the others +scanned his face narrowly. He was not affiliated to the society, nor +had the remotest ambition of becoming so; for he knew that it behoved +not one of his order to join in such movements as this. Yet there was +a fascination for him in its doings, which kept him dangling upon its +outskirts. Some of his most valued friends were enrolled on the list +of United Irishmen, and he knew well how Doreen was praying for their +success. So he attended the supper-parties sometimes in his +purposeless way, and they permitted him to do so freely, despite the +maxim that in troublous times half-friends are no friends. They knew, +or thought they knew, that he was the soul of honour, who would never +betray a confidence; and hoped, encouraged by Cassidy, that some day +he might be cajoled or stung into their ranks, which would be a +feather in their cap indeed; for to be led by a Crosbie of Ennishowen +would give them a prestige at once such as in these democratic days we +can hardly realise. And Terence, seeing through the simple scheme (for +he was sharp enough, though lazy), was flattered by their confidence. +Yet for all that he promised himself to hold aloof from active +co-operation with hot-pated friends who made mountains out of +mole-hills. He had no intention of heading the forlorn hope of a +misguided rabblement who would fly helter-skelter before the first +puff of cannon smoke. So he prudently refrained from picking up the +gauntlet, and listened to the giant, who was delivered of an idea. + +'I've a notion!' cried Cassidy, thumping the table till the glasses +rang again. + +'Be cool now!' cautioned Tom Emmett. 'You are as dangerous as a +powder-magazine.' + +'Is it dangerous I am?' grumbled the other. 'Sure something must be +risked, or we'll niver get along. I've an idaya, gintlemen, which I'm +willing to see to at my own expense, though a poor man. I've reason to +know that the militia may be tampered with. Their hearts are with the +cause, and they're as poor as rats or your humble servant. Money and +drink will do much, and women will settle the matter. Here's a letter +from Belfast which says that two hundred and fifty of the men in camp +there have secretly declared for us, and that it only needs the +personal presence of a delegate to bring over half the rest. When the +French land they'll rise and kill their officers. Think of the fine +fright that'll give the royalists! Sure and isn't that the way to +out-plot England? Shall I go to Belfast and reconnoitre? Of coorse ye +must give me credentials. A little note, signed, will do the trick, +and show I'm honest. As for the town-major of whom ye're all so +frightened, his bark's worse nor his bite. The Irish Jonathan Wild can +be bribed. I'll answer for him; but there's time galore for that. +Dangerous, am I? I'm the only one, I think, with a drain of sperit. +There's a great speech. Phew, I'm dhry! Hand round the clart, boys, +and we'll have a stave.' + +The simple giant's harangue was favourably received, the paper was +penned and signed, and he was wetting his whistle for a song when Tom +Emmett raised his hand. + +'Hark! who comes?' + +There was a footstep on the creaking stair; then a knock; and a +familiar voice said: 'It is I. Curran.' + +'Nurse Curran!' sneered Cassidy, annoyed. 'Come to look after his +foster-babby.' + +The little advocate entered, and leaned against the door with his arms +folded. + +'Terence, my lad,' he said. 'You must come away with me. What would my +lady say, if you came to be arrested?' + +'Arrested!' echoed a dozen voices. 'Within Trinity? Impossible!' + +'I fail to see that it's impossible,' snarled Curran. 'Hide those +foolish papers there, or burn them--children, too easily beguiled with +toys! And you, Terence, come away with me at once. Why? Are not +convenient edicts being passed each day to simplify the work of +government? Laws for the suppression of gaming, profane swearing, +atheistical assemblies, which places every man's home under +surveillance of the town-major?' + +'You have explicit information?' inquired Tom Emmett, anxiously. + +'I don't say that!' stammered Curran, somewhat confused. 'I only say +that your threshold might be invaded at any moment, and that ye've +yourselves to thank if ye get into a hopeless scrape. A few hours +since, a carpenter who is under obligation to me was at work in Ely +Place. While repairing the floor between two double doors he +distinctly heard Lord Clare in conversation with the town-major, in +which Sirr told his chief that there would be a strong muster to-night +in this boy's chambers. Am I making too free in asking you to lock +away those documents, or would ye prefer hanging at once to save +trouble? The carpenter wrenched off a hinge and begged to be allowed +to fetch a new one; but instead of going straight to the ironmonger's +he ran to me with commendable speed, gave the office, and returned to +his work. What it all means I am not in a position to say; but mark my +words, you have a traitor in your midst, who reports to the enemy +every word you utter. Your necks are your own, to do with as you like; +but I'm responsible for you, Terence, to your mother, and I summon you +to go away with me.' + +Tom Emmett flushed scarlet, and involuntarily placed a hand upon the +pistol in his breast. A low murmur went round the room as Cassidy +sprang to his feet. + +'Take care!' he shouted, 'how ye bring vague charges. Many a +disfigured corpse has Moiley eaten--many an informer has floated out +to sea. Give a name--only a name--and I'll scrunch the spalpeen so +flat that ye'll not know him from a sheet of paper, save for the coat +on him!' + +Curran shrugged his shoulders. + +'Do you think if I knew the scoundrel I'd not have pointed at him long +ago? It's for you to find him out. Don't glare at me, man--I'm not a +youngster who has never blazed. Mind, I've warned you to be +circumspect. The Irish nature is too open. It can't keep a secret +without telling a lie, and lies lead to awful tangles. It's no affair +of mine. Terence, come along.' + +The junior rose and stretched himself, and prepared to follow his +chief. + +A betrayer in their midst! The case did seem hopeless to the young +councillor; so hopeless as to be almost contemptible. Possibly Lord +Clare was a trifle over-strict with them, but he certainly appeared +justified to a certain extent in assuming with the children the manner +of a severe pedagogue. What a pity that they persisted in fathering +every enormity upon him! + +'It's a bad job, my friends,' he said. 'Curran's right about the +papers. Good-night.' + +As they crossed the quadrangle his mentor became wondrous voluble. He +was garrulous as to my lady, and her unfortunate penchant for the +chancellor; talked of Glandore, and all the titled in the land, till +his companion eyed him in indolent surprise. To occupy his attention +was the design of his mentor, for lurking in the shadow of doorways +were certain darkling figures who were not gownsmen; and the little +king's counsel feared lest Terence, if he perceived danger to be +imminent, should be ill-judged enough to retrace his steps and get +mixed up in the misfortunes of his friends. + +The spectres allowed the pair to pass, and then, gliding to the door +from which they had issued, left half their number there, whilst the +rest stole through the gateway to the inner court--so as to command +two special windows which were pointed out to them. + +Meanwhile the party above, having completed the business of the +evening, prepared itself to be jolly. The story of the proposed +arrest, the vague charge about an informer, were evidently Bugaboos +invented by nurse Curran for the luring away of his junior. + +Cassidy, who was in great spirits to-night, and had drank deeply, +demonstrated with the utmost clearness that the fabrication was +absurd. By an old law of Queen Elizabeth (the only pleasant law she +ever made for Ireland), no bumbailiff or importunate creditor might set +his foot within the College-gates. Alma Mater was a sanctuary from +which none might be taken an any account without an order from the +authorities of Trinity, who were too jealous of their rights ever to +grant such order. Moreover, the watch (harmless old women!) were +always friends with the gownsmen--ready to lend a staff or lanthorn, +or feign sleep or assume deafness, just as the frolicsome young +gentlemen should decree. It was quite unlikely that they would witness +any threatening demonstration without instantly giving an alarm, and +even Sirr would think twice before daring an assault upon the inmates +of Trinity without the assistance of the junior dean. Not that the +undergraduates were as bold a body now as when they slew my Lord +Glandore, or so unanimous either, as none knew better than Lord Clare. +Yet they were no cowards, and always ready for a 'blaze.' + +The younger Emmett, alarmed at first by Curran's dismal prophecies, +was convinced by Cassidy's gibes that his terrors were ill-placed, and +set about producing from mysterious lurking-places the elements of a +good supper--ham, chickens, bread--furtively glancing in the mirror +now and then at the tiny tonsure which marked him for a patriot. The +giant arranged knives and forks, and filled the round-bottomed claret +decanters, trimming the table with a tasty eye as a patriotic table +should be laid. In the centre he placed the constitution--bulwark of +the society--throned on a loaf of bread. Close to it the president's +badge, whilom Tone's--Tom Emmett's bauble now which consisted of a +shamrock in green silk bearing a harp without a crown. Near this the +copy of the Scriptures; and by his own place a list of toasts such as +should help to pass the time till chapel-hour. When all was ready he +called on his companions to fall to; and discussed with the president, +while the viands disappeared, the details of his journey to Belfast. + +As they talked the claret waned, and the views of the company grew +rosier. Thomas agreed that it would be a wise system to spread +disaffection among the soldiery. The patriotism of the militia might +surely be counted on, he thought. With the yeomanry it might be +otherwise, as it was officered by the upper class. Deliberation and +prudence must be the watchwords of the giant at Belfast, for months +must pass before Tone could hope to accomplish anything; and all were +of one mind as to the necessity of French assistance. At the earliest, +no French fleet could be expected till the summer of '96, therefore it +behoved the leaders of the cause to keep the broth gently simmering +till the moment of the crisis--organising battalions, drilling +companies during the night, establishing a vast military system which +should enable the four provinces to effect a simultaneous rising. That +was the important point, spontaneity of movement; and he, Emmett, +would make it his business to see that the unity of action should be +complete. + +The danger was (he impressed on Cassidy) lest the wickedness of +England should exasperate the people too soon. A given degree of +cruelty will drive the wisest mad. Patience is among the greatest of +virtues. Here was another thing, which it was all-important to +consider. Terence Crosbie had put his finger on one of their weakest +points--their lack of military genius. The best army in Christendom is +powerless without a general. What a pity that Tone should be gone +away, for the germ was visible in him which would have blossomed forth +into glorious fruition under the sun of opportunity! + +'Now!' Cassidy cried, after a while, remarking that some of the +delegates were beginning to snore, 'fill your glasses, and I'll sing +ye the new song which shall sound the knell of the Sassanagh. 'Tis +written by Barry, a mere gossoon, who's in Kilmainham at this minute. +Bad cess to the ruffians as put him there!' Then, draining off a +bumper, he loosened the voluminous folds of his cravat, and commenced +in his mellow voice, while those who were sober enough yelled the +refrain: + + + '"What rights the brave? The sword! + What frees the slave? The sword! + What cleaves in twain the despot's chain, and makes his gyves + and dungeons vain? The sword! + Then cease the proud task never! while rests a link to sever. + Guard of the free, well cherish thee, and keep thee bright for + ever!"' + + +So loudly was 'The Sword' trolled forth, that more peaceful +neighbours, worn out with study, turned uneasily in bed, cursing the +rackety crew ere they slept again; so loudly was the final chorus +shrieked, that none heard the tramp of footsteps on the stairs, none +heeded the groping of unaccustomed fingers upon the handle, till the +door was flung open, displaying a body of men upon the landing whose +crossbelts showed white through a disguise. The young men stared +bewildered as on some horrid vision, and strove to get up on their +feet. Thomas, more sober than the rest, laid his hand upon his pistol, +but withdrew it again, seeing how numerous were those who stood +without. + +'What do you want?' he asked. + +A short man stepped from behind the rest. He was remarkable for a +hooked beak, eyes too close together, shaded by heavy brows which met +in a tuft over his nose. He wore a tight stock with a large silver +buckle, hair plainly clubbed, and a silver whistle like a boatswain's +attached to a buttonhole by a thong. + +'I am Major Sirr,' he snapped, 'and arrest all present in the King's +name. Seize those documents!' + +Cassidy took a paper from his flapped pocket and tried to swallow it, +but the major's men, marking his clumsy movement, pressed his +bull-throat till he gave it forth again. How arbitrary is the effect +of drink! Some men it renders furious, endowing them with double +strength; others it makes dull and stupid, robbing them of the power +that they had. Cassidy's giant bulk and tremendous muscles should have +stood him in good stead now or never; but he certainly had imbibed a +portentous quantity of claret, and the shaking he was getting seemed +quite to muddle him. + +'Ah now, major dear,' he whimpered, smiling a sickly smile, 'you'd not +take it from me and shame a poor colleen? Don't look at her name now! +Bad luck to ye! Don't, now!' + +''Tis an order signed by the committee of the United Irishmen--no +lady's billet,' Major Sirr replied coldly, holding the paper to the +candle. 'My friend, I regret to see you in this plight--but I must do +my duty.' + +Robert, on the first entrance of Sirr's lambs--for such he knew them +at once to be, though robed in long gowns--made a rush to the window +of the inner room in order to alarm the college, but speedily drew in +his head again, for a row of muskets was pointed at him which glinted, +pallid, in the light of early dawn. + +'Trapped!' he exclaimed, wringing his hands in despair. 'No, not yet!' +Then, perceiving that Sirr and his band, expecting no resistance, were +busily engaged gleaning together badge, constitution, and list of +treasonable toasts, he stole to the discomfited giant--a hero but a +moment since--and whispered rapidly, 'Come! A dash at the door, and we +can get downstairs. I'll lead you to the campanile. One ring at the +bell, and the college will awake!' + +Cassidy shook himself and appeared to understand. Flinging aside the +two men who loosely held him, he butted forward, upsetting table and +lights, and in the confusion and darkness all who barred the passage. +Swiftly he rolled, rather than ran, down the steep staircase, closely +followed by Robert, and sent sprawling in the doorway a fat old +person, who yelped piteously for mercy. + +'The junior dean!' ejaculated Robert. 'The dastard! Himself to betray +our ancient rights! But come--we'll attend to him later--to the +campanile, to rouse the college!' + +Sirr's lambs, recovering from their surprise, pursued the fugitives; +but a little time was gained by their all tumbling in a heap over the +unhappy dean, before he had time to scramble out of the way. + +'O Lord! O Lord! I'm kilt! Follow them!' he panted; 'the campanile's +at the corner of the inner yard. If they ring the bell for a rescue, +I'm a dead man, for they'll surely murder me! Oh that I had never +mixed in this hellish business!' + +His lamentations died away in a groan, for Sirr held a pistol to his +head, calling the skies to witness that he would shoot him unless he +instantly led the way. Never since he was a child did the pursy old +gentleman run as fast as he did now. Terror gave wings to his gouty +feet, and the invading party reached the campanile to see Cassidy's +burly shoulder force in the door, and Robert Emmett precipitate +himself within. It was a race who should first reach the platform. + +'Is it the dean that's rooned us?' Cassidy had been exclaiming. 'By +Jabers, then, I'll wring his neck for him before he's much older! Run, +jewel, for you know the place, which I don't, while I attend to him. +Here's a string that'll do the job.' + +And in a trice he had cut the rope which swung before him as high up +as his long arms reached, and was fastening at one end a noose. + +'What are you doing?' cried Robert, in dismay, 'the ringing-rope of +the great bell!' + +'Oh, tear and 'ounds! is it?' murmured the giant, with a blank look, +as he dropped it. 'Sure, I tuk it to hang the dean with!' + +It was a fatal piece of stupidity, but the mischief was irretrievable. +The rope-end dangled just out of Robert's reach. The men who had been +watching in the inner yard closed in, and levelling their muskets, +summoned them to surrender quietly. By the time Sirr's party came up +with the panting dean the giant was pinioned with the unlucky rope, +while Robert was in the grip of two sturdy soldiers. + +So much rowdiness was habitually perpetrated within Trinity--such a +succession of practical jokes and madcap tricks--that none were likely +to heed the hubbub of this chase. Thomas, who had so sagely +recommended prudence half an hour since, stood in bitter reverie among +his fellow-prisoners, reproaching himself mournfully for his +blindness; wondering in self-abasement whether it was not better after +all that one who had at starting shown himself so bad a chief, should +be thus summarily deposed from office. For he saw at once that his +fate would be the same as that of those already sacrificed--either +exile beyond seas, or dreary rotting in Newgate or Kilmainham--for was +not his signature appended, in the capacity of newly-elected +president, to the paper which loyal Cassidy had tried to swallow? And +what a covey had been captured beside himself! what gaps there would +be now in the already thinned ranks of those who were prepared to +win or perish! Curran's words had come true with regard to the +capture--was his other assertion equally correct? Was there a Judas in +their midst who was handing them over to the avenger, the while he +gave the kiss of fellowship? The thought was too horrible. Whom was he +to suspect? Not Cassidy, or Bond, or McLaughlin, or his fervent +brother Robert--or Curran himself. None of these--who then? It must be +Terence Crosbie, whom they had weakly admitted behind the veil, +trusting to his honour as a gentleman. His honour! One of the +semi-English aristocrats, whose brother was a Blaster--whose mother +was Clare's dearest friend. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes, and +he stood staring at his own folly. It was evident that Terence had +coquetted with them merely to study their plans. That frank air of +_bonhomie_ was assumed. He was like his brother Glandore--only more +crafty and astute instead of imbecile; that was all. He was deceiving +Curran now as he had deceived them, and Curran was watching over him +with the solicitude of a father. It was all too horrible--the world a +place of blackest infamy--Ireland the darkest spot upon its face. Yet +no. His better judgment revolted against such a belief. The fresh air +was balmy; the yellowing sky of surpassing loveliness. Man, if made of +stuff so innately vile, would never have been placed in so fair a +casket. Facts are stubborn things, though. The meeting had been +betrayed by somebody. Who was the wretch? + +It was by this time quite light, and the town-major deemed it wise to +remove his prey before early-rising undergraduates should be stirring. +He gave his orders therefore--softly, but with martinet decision--and +the party marched away, leaving Robert sitting on the platform. + +'I am ready,' he said, leaping up. 'I am one with them, and will go +quietly;' but Major Sirr held up his hand and grinned. + +'You are fine devil's spawn, no doubt,' he said, while his nose +wrinkled, 'but we don't want you just yet. You're but a baby +blustering like a man. Look at his smooth chin--or is it a girl? +Newgate's a brave residence for summer, if your purse is well lined; +if not, best hang yourself before going thither. No, no! I've no +warrant to arrest your ladyship--but your time will come, I doubt +not.' + +'Let him be!' cried his brother Thomas. 'Whither do you take us?' + +'First to Kilmainham with you,' Sirr replied sharply. 'Then with the +rest to Newgate; then to your offices to seize your precious +newspaper, demolish your press, and scatter your type. Have you any +objection?' + +'That is illegal,' Thomas affirmed, 'till the paper is condemned for +sedition.' + +The town-major gave vent to a grumbling cachinnation like the rattling +of a skeleton in a cupboard, but no smile lit up his sinister +countenance. Then he echoed: + +'Illegal, ha, ha! That can be set right. Forward--march!' + +The cortege moved across the quadrangle, and the massive gates of Alma +Mater closed behind it. Robert Emmett sat dazed, while the yellow in +the sky above the roofs changed to pink and then to blue; for they +were gone--away from the sanctuary into the wicked world without; no +hue and cry could save them now. The junior dean, his nerves calmed by +whisky-punch, lay cosily between the blankets, dreaming of the +bishopric he had won that night. An early gownsman, flinging wide his +shutters before settling to his morning's work, smiled down on the +wild rake who must have come in too drunk to find his way to bed. Boys +will be boys, though their mammas wish that they would act as sages; +and they must season their heads while they are young. + +But the studious undergraduate was wrong in his surmise. Excitable by +temperament, delicate in body, and overwrought in mind, Robert Emmett +had swooned away. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + CAIN AND ABEL. + + +Next morning Mr. Curran rode early to the Abbey, with news of the +arrests which he had been powerless to prevent. He looked with an eye +less jaundiced than usual upon the world, for the sea-breeze instilled +fresh life into him, weary and jaded as he was from many causes, and +he felt that he deserved well of her ladyship for saving her son from +a scandal. Though he laughed and joked in company, in private he was +nearly always sad, partly by constitution, partly by reason of the +sights he saw around him; and as he rode along this morning and +meditated concerning his foe Lord Clare, the flecks of sunlight that +chequered his mind vanished, leaving only darkness and despondency +behind. Oh, that chancellor! Would no one free Ireland from a tutelage +which became hourly more oppressive and capricious? Why could not the +innocent conspirators be left alone? Theobald, the whale, was gone. +Sure, naught but stirring up of dirty water could be gained by +harrying the minnows. It was unwise to have locked up the lads with +such a rattling of locks and muskets. The raid upon Tom Emmett's +office, too, was a deplorable proceeding. No new or special charge of +iniquity had been brought against his paper. Yet the place was +ransacked in his absence, his property destroyed, his chairs and +tables tossed out of window as though they carried treason in their +varnish. Lord Clare must be mad, or desperately wicked. If he brought +the country to ruin, it should not be for want of warning. To protest +in parliament is one thing, to argue and implore in private is +another. The little lawyer decided to speak openly to Lord Clare at +their very next meeting, and clinched the matter in his mind with such +a thump of his hunting-crop as caused his pony to leap forward and +nearly throw his master from the saddle. + +Madam Gillin and her daughter Norah were gardening as he rode past +their hedge, and the former hallooed to him to stop. Mr. Curran could +scarce forbear laughing at her appearance, so grotesquely serious did +she look in a frayed turban soiled with pomade, and a crumpled frock +of extravagant fashion, from under which peeped a pair of satin +slippers down at heel. It was a thrifty habit with Madam Gillin to +wear out her old quality-clothes at home, for she said that Norah must +have a fine dowry somehow, and that for that purpose it would be +needful to economise. Now her garments and her child's were always of +the flimsiest and most tawdry mode, profusely adorned with feathers +and spangles, trimmed with outrageous frills and furbelows; and the +twain, who did not trouble soap and water unless about to receive +company, might be seen any day over the hedge which divided their +property from the main-road, strutting up and down among the +flower-beds like moulting peacocks or birds of paradise in a decline. +Madam Gillin was lying nervously in wait for news this morning, and +hailed Curran's appearance with relief, for her nurse, Jug Coyle, had +heard of the arrests from frequenters of her shebeen, and vague +rumours were afloat that Terence was among the captured. Oddly enough, +although she had appointed herself guardian in ambush to the younger +son, she had never spoken to him: yet was she well posted in all that +concerned her _protege_ down to minutest details; for were not all the +array of grooms, farriers, dog-boys, foot-boys, tay-boys--what +not?--in the habit of frequenting that too-convenient boozing-ken +whose insidious hospitality was so offensive to their mistress at the +Abbey? This was Madam Gillin's real reason for having established Jug +at the Irish Slave. Through her she commanded an army of spies who, +for a drop of the crather, studied my lady's face, translated her +thoughts, imagined motives, as servants will who are argus-eyed, +imaginative, inquisitive, endowed with a hundred ears. She was true to +her trust of watching over Terence, though she seemed to know nothing +at all about him, resolved, if need were, to do battle on his behalf, +to point the finger of public-opinion at my lady if she behaved badly; +and now she was sore perplexed concerning him, albeit he wist not of a +guardian angel in a dirty old turban and crushed ostrich feathers. + +Mr. Curran set her mind at rest, and turned up the avenue which led to +the Abbey. The youth had certainly been present at the meeting, +because the Emmetts were among his closest friends; but he was not +affiliated, he assured her; and both agreed that his imagination must +not be permitted to take fire; that he must never be allowed to become +a member of the society. + +When his nag turned the corner of the shrubbery, the little lawyer +found those he sought grouped in front of the hall-door. My lady, in +grey brocade, with a twist of lace through her white hair, was +standing erect with crossed arms, looking with satisfaction at Doreen +and Shane. The girl, though self-willed, had evidently taken her hint, +and was preparing to lay siege to Shane; at least his fond mother +chose to think so, and was deceived, as mothers often are. Just as +grave people, for an idle whim, will turn for a moment from lofty +contemplations to consider a pebble by the wayside, so calm Doreen had +been bitten by a conceit. In her self-examination she had become +convinced, with sorrow, that the part of Judith was beyond her +strength, if Shane was to play Holofernes; and, disgusted with her own +weakness, had permitted her mind to settle on my lady's nickname of +Miss Hoyden. Being proved incapable of supreme sacrifice, she felt a +wrathful desire for self-abasement, and resolved that, if she could +not please her aunt in great things, she would do so at least in +little ones, at the expense of private tastes. + +So, to Lady Glandore's surprise, she appeared on this very morning in +fashionable attire, which a week ago she had haughtily declined to +wear; a sumptuous high-waisted percale, broidered in forget-me-nots, +with great puffed sleeves and tight short skirt; low shoes of blue +satin with wide strings; her beautiful hair in a straight sheet down +her back, plaited together with straw, as the prevailing fashion was. +Perched on the top of her head was a dainty straw bonnet, fit only for +a fairy, and she looked under it, with her thoughtful brown face and +solemn eyes, like some lovely victim tricked out in incongruous +frippery, who was destined to figure in some Hibernian _auto-da-fe_. + +'Young ladies of a strong-minded and serious turn do evidently not +array themselves in wonderful garments without a reason,' so my lady +argued. 'Neither do they descend to coquetry, save for the snaring of +young men. Whom could Miss Wolfe desire to snare, if not her cousin +Shane?' + +This was well--extremely well. Unhappily, the young lord was not +struck with the bonnet, or with the forget-me-nots. His mother saw +that she would have to guide his attention to his cousin's +blandishments. + +Alack! he was in no mood to play the lover, being prosaically +engrossed with a throbbing brow and swollen tongue. Shane, although he +had 'made his head,' and could drink claret against most people, was +apt to feel faded of a morning, and to retaliate for physical ills +upon the first person who came within his reach. Last night he had +presided over the Blasters, had shattered a decanter on the pate of a +gentleman who presumed to breathe hard in his presence, and who, of +course, had challenged him to fight. So far so good; but the stranger +had shown himself so ill-bred as absolutely to decline to draw his +sword till certain business matters could be arranged, and so the +meeting was perforce postponed for a few hours--a most rude and +inconsiderate proceeding! For might not the champion Blaster, the +admirable Hellfire, the Prince of Cherokees, have other work upon his +hands before dinner-time? And besides, though money-debts may wait for +months without a smirching of the niceties of honour, it is a bad +example for the multitude to allow duels to accumulate. Moreover, +Shane had promised, as it happened, to promenade with the Gillins, in +the Beaux Walk, on this particular afternoon. Even an Irish earl +cannot, like Roche's bird, be in two places at a time; and so the +youthful fire-eater fretted and fumed, cross with himself and +everybody else, heedless of his cousin's bonnet, and longed to force a +quarrel upon some one. + +Terence was seated a few yards off, on the steps of the young men's +wing, which led to his own apartment, giving some directions to his +private henchman with regard to the manufacture of flies. Now and then +he threw a displeased glance at his pretty cousin, marvelling for +whose behoof she had made herself so bewitching, and then, gnawed by +carking jealousy, turned to vent his spleen upon his servant. + +But honest Phil only grinned as he twined the bright feathers with a +skilful hand, nor heeded his master's ill-humour; for was he not his +foster-brother, who loved the ground he trod on with the blind +devotion of a clansman? He had been brought up with Terence at a +respectful distance, had learnt Bible-stories with him from the tiles +about the hearth, and made himself generally useful as he increased in +years. Nothing came amiss to him. He could farry, cure a cow of the +murrain, tin a saucepan, dance a jig, knit a stocking, sing a cronane +against any young fellow in the county. There was nothing he would not +do for Master Terence. He followed at his heels like a dog, looking +into his eyes for orders as dogs do, bearing his whims and caprices +with stoical endurance, as we bear the wind that blows on us. He was a +type, was Phil, of a creature who vanished with the century; who, +sharp and clever enough, professed to no intellect of his own, and was +content to be led in all things by another. His attire under all +circumstances was the same. A green plush coat, a scarlet vest, and +buckskin breeches. A black leather hunting-cap was always, in or out +of doors, cocked on one side of his shock head. Some people said he +went to bed in it. In his capacity of farrier, he invariably carried a +firing-iron as a walking-stick; so that what with the angel in ambush +in the dirty finery, and the athletic follower with the firing-iron, +Terence Crosbie may be said to have been well protected, even in days +when none were out of danger. + +The Abbey party had also heard of the arrests, and were all equally +pleased when Curran's figure turned the corner of the drive--the queer +squat figure which all Dublin looked on with respect, with its +tightly-buttoned high-collared coat, snuffy wave of loose necktie, +white kerseymere breeches, and top-boots. + +'Yes,' he said, in answer to a chorus of inquiries, 'the evil rumour +was too true. He had ridden over early to beg my lady to interfere on +behalf of the young people. Her influence over the chancellor was +great. The father of the Emmetts had been state-physician, and, as +such, had often prescribed draughts for the countess's household. +Would she try to save his sons from peril?' + +'No, she would not. Lord Clare doubtless had the best motives for what +he did, and it would be unseemly in the associate of his leisure-hours +to meddle in state affairs. It was plain that the scum must be kept in +their place, or what would become of the nobles? The abrogation of the +Penal Code was the wild fantasy of optimists; for you might as well +give power to monkeys as to Catholics. It could not, should not, be +altered or lightened, for the safety of the dominant minority depended +on the Penal Code. The French disgrace of '89 would never have +appalled Europe, if the King had been less soft-hearted.' + +So spake my lady, in her most majestic way, and Curran, as he smiled +at the kindly, narrow-minded woman, thought she looked more like Queen +Bess than ever. There was no help to be expected from this quarter for +the poor fellows; Doreen's stern face convinced him of that much. He +must even buckle on his armour and have at Lord Clare in person, when +the first opportunity offered. + +Terence's brow darkened as his chief talked of the arrests, and of the +outrage at Tone's offices. If the chancellor was personally +responsible for the ill-judged performance, then was he distinctly in +the wrong. Might there be some truth in the pile of accusations which +were being heaped upon the minister in power? + +My lady's high-flown babble jarred on his nerves. Is there anything +more painful than hearing one you love and respect talking nonsense? +But no! It was not possible that the chancellor should be acting as he +did without good reason. We are all apt to jump at conclusions and to +blame people, without seeking first for motives which may not happen +to lie upon the surface. Terence tried to shake off his suspicions, +and succeeded to a certain extent, moved thereto, possibly, by feeling +Doreen's scrutiny fixed on him. When she appeared on the terrace in +her strange costume, she found the brothers at high words, and +reproved them straightway. Shane had used bad language in an +undertone; Terence had blushed, and hung his head. There was thunder +in the air, which the damsel had striven to dissipate. She was looking +anxiously on now, fearful of a collision of antagonistic elements, and +bit her lips and stamped her little foot as Shane turned crossly to +the visitor. + +'Is it true, Curran,' he asked, with dyspeptic peevishness, 'that my +brother was with those rascals? I've asked him more than once, but it +seems he's afraid to confess.' + +'Afraid!' Terence cried, as white as ashes; then, catching his +cousin's eye, he went back, with set teeth, to his fly-making. + +'I ought to have said _ashamed_,' apologised his languid lordship. 'I +presume that, being a Crosbie, you are capable of feeling shame? Or +not? You are so queer, I think you were changed at birth.' + +'To please _me_, be quiet,' implored Miss Wolfe, with an earnestness +which charmed my lady. 'You two are perpetually squabbling!' + +'It is not my fault,' Terence grumbled, crushing his fingers together +to keep down his ire. 'Never think, please, that I am afraid of you, +Shane. We cannot be afraid of that which we despise. If I am queer, +you are more so. I did not answer, because I don't choose that you +should interfere with me; but there is no reason why I should not. I +was at Robert's chambers last night. What then? The purity of that +handful of fellows shines out through the general darkness in a way +that enforces one's respect. I do not say that they may not be carried +too far, but sometimes they make me loathe myself and you and all my +belongings; for in the abstract we are bad, and deserve any +retribution which may fall on us.' + +'Better join them,' sneered Shane, with a feverish hand upon his +throbbing temples. 'When they confiscate this property, maybe they'll +make you a present of it with the title. Oh, my head!' + +'Yes, I was there,' continued Terence, doggedly; 'and they spoke +wisdom mixed with folly--with more of the one and less of the other +than you are accustomed to bestow on us. I do not mind admitting that +I wish I'd stopped. Maybe they'll think that, knowing what was going +to happen, I sneaked away, and then I shall lose their esteem.' + +'Oho! What a delectable conspirator!' laughed my lord, cooling his +aching head against the wall, while the cicatrice on his forehead grew +red, and an evil glitter shone in his eyes. 'Love and esteem, eh? And +how about mine? Will ye take a corner of that?' + +With a spiteful movement he flicked a square of cambric at his +brother, who placed his hands behind him and drew back; for the +insulting action, innocent in itself, was one much in vogue for egging +on a quarrel. + +My lady turned as white as Terence, while she cried out hastily: + +'Shane! what are you doing?' + +Doreen looked on distressed, and Curran sighed, while honest Phil was +too discreetly busy with his hackles to note anything that passed. + +'Shane, how dare you, before my face!' said his mother; then, her +anger kindling, she turned sharply on her younger son. 'It is your +fault. You know how easily provoked he is. I cannot wonder at his +being shocked by your behaviour.' + +'I too, mother, am easily provoked,' Terence answered, his brow black +with frowns. + +'As I have said before, more than once, though you take no heed, you +disgrace yourself by the society you keep. The Emmetts are well +enough--I say nothing to the contrary, for indeed their father was a +worthy man. But I am told that some of these people are linen-drapers. +Is it fitting that a Crosbie should associate with tradesmen? They act +blindly because they are low and do not know better, but the same +cannot be said of you.' + +My lady's lecture broke down, for whilst speaking of low people she +remembered that her favourite Shane also was addicted to low company. +Alas! she knew too well that he was the beloved of tavern-roysterers +and petticoat-pensioners, who wept oily drops of maudlin affection +over his drunken generosity, and that that smart zebra-suit of +his--yellow and crimson striped--had not been donned to captivate his +family. + +If Shane was easily provoked, which was very true, he was also as +easily bored as his father. Rising with a gesture of impatience to +retire from the field, he cried out: + +'There, there! what a pother, to be sure! I was only in joke. To hear +your clatter, mother, one would think the house was burning. If +Terence likes linen-drapers, I have no objection, but I can't admire +his taste. Faugh! He's no better than a _half-mounted!_' + +'Mother,' whispered Terence, trembling, 'do you stand by and hear +him?' + +But my lady made as though she was unaware of this fresh taunt, though +it was a dreadful one. What a fearful thing for the head of a noble +house to brand his heir-presumptive with being a 'half-mounted!' Now +the half-mounted were a distinct class--a reckless feckless crew, each +of whom possessed little beyond his horse and suit of clothes; who had +no principles or education; who existed by pandering to the vices of +their betters. They kept the ground at horse-races, helped a lord to +steal a wench, knocked down her male relations, and made themselves +generally agreeable; in return for which they were tolerated, supplied +with bed and board, and treated to as much claret as they could carry. +They swarmed, not to be industrious like the working bee, but to +consume like the drone, and to do mischief like the wasp. This class +it was which in '97 and '98 developed into the royalist yeomanry--the +bully band of licentious executioners who did the filthy work which +was disdained by English soldiers. A noble was described by the +peasantry at this time as 'a gentleman to the backbone;' a landed +squire as 'a gentleman every inch of him.' The younger sons of one of +these, restrained as they were by gentility from any but three +professions, sank more often than not into the habits of dissolute +idleness to which young Ireland was constitutionally prone, and +dwindled into the condition of the 'half-mounted,' whose career was +usually closed by a tap from a shillalagh in a brawl, or an attack of +delirium tremens. Therefore, that Terence should be accused of being +one of the swashbucklers by his overbearing brother cut him to the +quick, while it roused as well the anger of the man who was as a +second father to him. Mr. Curran might possibly have given the earl a +bit of his mind, and so have hammered such a breach 'twixt the two +families as both would have deplored in equal measure, had not happily +a huge golden coach come rumbling round the corner at this moment, +whose gorgeousness attracted general attention, and diverted the +thoughts of the group into another channel. + +Its body glistened in the sun like brass. Each door-panel was adorned +by an allegorical picture by Mr. Hamilton, R.A. A posse of sculptured +cupids on the roof groaned under an enormous coronet; Wisdom and +Justice, carved and gilded, supported the coachman on either side; +while Commerce and Industry stretched forth their cornucopiae behind +and clasped their hands together around the footmen's legs. A +triumphal car it was, blazing with gold and colour, enriched with +velvet and embroidery, weighed down with gilded figures, dragged along +by six black horses sumptuously caparisoned. This was my Lord Clare's +new coach, which had cost him no less than four thousand guineas--the +outward and visible sign of his amazing arrogance and splendour. The +party on the steps stood wonder-stricken; but what surprised Curran +even more than the magnificent carriage, was the presence of the +person within it, who sat beside the chancellor. It was Cassidy, the +jolly giant, whom report said to be in durance vile. He was released +then. So were, of course, the others, and Lord Clare had remedied his +blunder before its effects could be seriously felt. So much the +better. Such gladness of heart was the little lawyer's that he forgot +all about the half-mounted, and proceeded to congratulate his enemy. + +'I don't understand,' the latter drawled, looking down from under +half-closed lids. 'Mr. Cassidy is out because there was really nothing +against him, and his excellency talks of freeing the others by-and-by, +except Emmett, who is a ringleader--a beast who must be caged.' + +Curran felt a twinge of disappointment. 'A man who must be made a +martyr!' he retorted. 'If you leave him languishing, and free the +rest, the injustice of the proceeding will set them plotting more than +ever. That which is now but a heat-spot may be irritated into a +prevailing gangrene. Mind, I have warned you. Yet how idle is it! Such +tricks as yours may be expected from a renegade!' + +The last words were muttered to himself, yet Lord Clare heard them, +but pretended not to do so, as it was always his policy to excite his +adversary whilst keeping his own temper. + +'I assure you I am powerless,' he remarked blandly. 'The Privy +Council----' + +'Potent, grave, and reverend seniors!' scoffed the other; +'scene-shifters and candle-snuffers from Smock Ally, robed in old +curtains!' + +'These turbulent fellows would destroy the Constitution, my good +Curran.' + +'Turbulent! A pack of boys! What does not exist cannot be destroyed. A +Commons chosen by the people who hold thereby the strings of the +public purse--that is the first principle of a constitution. The sham +you prate about is, as you know right well, deluged with corruption, +flooded with iniquity, a mere puppet in your hands, Lord Clare. How +sad it is that the vital interests of millions should be sacrificed to +the vices of an individual! You, and such as you, who have risen from +small things to a place in the Upper House, should unite the nobles +and the people instead of trying to estrange them. But no, you think +of none except yourself. Erin is divided between the slaves of your +dominion, the servants of your patronage, the enemies of your tyranny. +Your ambition will wreck us all. Your monument shall be the execration +of your motherland--the curse of a ruined race your requiem!' + +Lord Clare's impudent leer was doing its work, for Curran, with every +moment, grew more chafed. + +'Really, our friend is quite amusing!' exclaimed the chancellor, +pleasantly. 'Your ladyship's jester assumes all the license which +custom accords to such persons. I confess that his exuberance bears me +down, for the art of managing foolish people is as distinct and +arduous as that of governing lunatics.' + +'Whenever I see a man treat the world as if it were made of fools,' +sneered Curran, 'I suspect him instantly to be a knave.' + +'Very pretty!' laughed the other. 'Parliament, my good fellow----' + +'Parliament!' echoed his foe. 'You are always ringing the changes on +parliament and constitution in a jangle that means nothing. Your +parliament has as much to do with the country as a corpse with a +crowner's quest. The rulers of this unhappy land have played bowls +with the constitution. Our experience of government is through the +vices of its shifting plunderers, instead of the paternal protection +of its sovereign--harpies who encamp awhile, then retire laden with +spoil--all save one, who, to our grief, is bone of our bone, flesh of +our flesh. That one, my lord, is splendid indeed--by the grandeur of +his infamy--for he never knew shame or decency or conscience! He is +double-faced; a traitor to that which he should love most in all the +world. He degrades his talent to the vilest uses, and invents sham +dangers to hide real ones. Like the sailor who, to possess himself of +a bag of money, tossed a burning brand into the hold, he cries "Fire, +fire!" to divert attention from himself.' + +'Really, really, my lady!' laughed the chancellor, with constraint, +'your jester improves daily. He wallows in imagery as the swine in +mire. My good fellow, I fail to follow your meanderings, though I seem +to apprehend that you are cross about these arrests? I have naught to +do with them--will you be more comfortable if I swear it?--but I must +admit, while doing so, that I am no advocate for ill-judged leniency.' + +'If a man is so poor a rider as to cling to his nag by the spurs, he +must needs apply a strong curb to control the madness he provokes.' + +'And I am that rider? Thank you. Your ladyship's palace resembles the +home of the tranced Beauty. It is grievously begirt with thorns and +stinging-nettles. I vow I know not why our dear Curran nourishes such +asperity against me, for I never did him a favour. But there, there! +He's politically insane. A mountebank with one half his talent for +rant would make his fortune!' + +'Were I one, my lord,' returned Curran, with a bow, 'so presumptuous +as to set my little head against the opinions of a nation, I should be +glad if folks said I were insane!' + +Lord Clare's cheeks were beginning to be unusually rosy, for Doreen +gazed at him with undisguised contempt, and my lady was evidently +amused in a half-malicious way at the encounter. + +'If you think,' he said loftily, 'that it will help you into +consequence, you are welcome to bespatter me; but be assured that I +value you so little, either as a lawyer or a man, that I must decline +to address you further till you learn manners.' + +Lord Glandore was enchanted, and almost forgot his headache, for he +sniffed a good duel in the wind, and was an artist in such matters. + +'I desired to plead with you against yourself,' the little man said +stiffly, 'wherein I was a fool, because your heart, as we know, is +ice. Nay, I have done; for I may not carry on a conflict wherein +victory can bring no honour!' + +The countess smiled with thin lips, as Bess may have smiled when +Leicester and Essex were bickering. The fact of these sworn foes being +constantly here together, was in itself an indirect compliment to her +fascinations. Bowing low to her ladyship, Curran trudged across to the +stable-yard, whither his pony had trotted before; and Terence, from +whose face the devil had been peeping ever since the speech about the +half-mounted, followed him in silence thither. + +Lord Clare flicked the dust from his pink silk stockings, and plumed +himself complacently, as a hawk does after a tussle with some +formidable fowl. + +'Fore Gad, my lady,' he said, 'you are too indulgent. That animal must +be banished from your menagerie, for he is too rough a bear!' + +'A good man and true!' returned my lady, with decision; 'despite his +sharp tongue and unprepossessing shell. He was hard on you, touching +you on the raw, and you got the worst of it, and flew in a passion, +and were rude, though you pride yourself upon your temper. You must +make it up before you sit down to breakfast.' + +Terence found his chief standing over his pony, a prey to violent +agitation. + +'My boy,' he cried out at once, 'I must have a blaze at that rascal!' + +'What rascal?' asked the other, who, wounded by his mother's +indifference, was brooding on his own trouble. + +'There's but one rascal in the world, and his name's Clare! I'll make +a window through him, I will, with sword or pistol, as suits him best. +Go and tell him so.' + +'Most obliging, no doubt,' said Terence, with a half-smile; 'but you +must refrain this time, for my sake. Indeed, you employed language +such as sure never before was used to a lord chancellor. If he +survives your words, no bullet can affect him.' + +'It's no use!' persisted the little man, shivering like an aspen; 'I +shan't sleep until I shoot that rascal.' + +But Terence passed his arm affectionately within his, and Curran +perceived that there was something amiss with him. + +'You have other duties, my old friend,' the young man sighed. 'Come, +come--you must be dignified.' + +'Is it I?' returned the other, rubbing his nose ruefully. 'I fear +dignity is a robe which he who would box must lay aside during the +sparring. Maybe, when the fight's done, he'll find that it has been +stolen during the battle! A fig for dignity! I'd rather have a blaze.' + +'No!' pursued the young man, mournfully. 'For my sake, you will +abandon this quarrel. I must leave this house, and to whose should I +fly if not to yours? I must go away, for this can be borne no longer. +There is a limit to human patience, and mine is a small allowance.' + +'Do nothing rashly,' Curran urged. + +'I tell you I cannot bear it,' the young man retorted with vehemence. +'Who knows to what I might be tempted if Shane should go too far? I +tell you I dare not trust myself. And my mother has no sympathy for +me, as you saw; for she was superbly indifferent when he threw that +insult in my teeth. What cares she if I am insulted or not? Such words +from another man, and I would have sprung at his throat at once. When +we fear temptation, it is best to run away from it.' + +Curran reflected for a moment, and then grunted: + +'Boy! Coriolanus replied to his pleading parent, "Mother, you have +conquered." To oblige you, I will not shoot Lord Clare.' + +'I thank you for making an old woman of me!' Terence replied, with a +tinge of humour. 'My conduct was somewhat like a woman's, I confess, +for sure no man should bear so great an insult, even from a brother!' + +'You know best,' the little man said, patting his companion's shoulder +fondly. 'But it seems sad thus to shake off the dust of your ancestral +home. Maybe, if he sees you won't be put upon, my lord may grow more +civil. Shane no doubt is trying, and you are a warm-complexioned young +gentleman. Having no son, I would gladly take you to fill the vacant +place, as no one knows better than yourself. You shall stay with me +for a few months, and I'll speak to her ladyship about my lord, who +must be taught to cultivate a civil tongue and apologise; for there +must be no open rupture between you. We'll say it's for convenience' +sake, as I want to make a great lawyer of you. There are briefs you +must study for me, and they pour in, you know. How'll I get through +the papers at all at all, unless I have my junior near me?' + +And thus the matter was settled between them, while the elder wondered +what Mrs. Gillin would think of the arrangement. She must be +hoodwinked without delay to prevent mischief, or she would come +clamouring up to the Abbey in her quality-clothes, and all the fat +would be in the fire at once. + +Hearing a light footstep on the gravel, Terence turned, and a pang +shot through his heart as he beheld his cousin. It was dreadful to +leave her behind, in the maw as it were of Shane. Yet what difference +could his absence make to one who treated him so scurvily? And those +smart garments, too--that aggravatingly bewitching bonnet--for whose +behoof were they intended? Not for his, certainly. All things +considered, it was best that he should go. + +Meanwhile my lady calmly discussed a late breakfast in the oak parlour +with Lord Clare, unconscious that the behaviour of her sons had been +more indecorous than usual, while the originator of the quarrel +trifled languidly with an egg, speculating about time and place, +whether the duel between Curran and the chancellor was to be with +sword or pistol. Why not directly after breakfast in the rosary? a +capital spot, sheltered from wind and observation. Terence would of +course be Curran's second; Cassidy here, who had been hanging about in +a deprecatory manner, first on one leg, then on the other, would be +the chancellor's; while he, my lord, would see fair play. An excellent +arrangement. Then the combatants might amicably return together to +Dublin in the golden coach to set about the business of the day. + +Having settled the party of pleasure to his liking and reviewed its +details, the King of the Cherokees was no little disgusted to see Mr. +Curran enter presently and take his seat as if nothing had happened. +My lady, on the other hand, was mightily relieved, for she liked the +two almost equally well, leaning a little perhaps to the side of the +chancellor, on account of his polish and fine manners. She was not +blind to the faults of either of her friends. Clare, she knew, +despised literature, in which Curran delighted. He disdained the arts +of winning; was sullen sometimes, and always overbearing; and when he +condescended to be jocular was usually offensive. But then he was a +dazzling light. Curran was particularly interesting to the stately +countess by reason of his marvellous energy and originality. He was +quicksilver--surcharged with life--restless, sparkling, bewildering; +and it amused her to try to control his erratic movements. Many a time +she lectured, in private, Curran with reference to Clare--Clare with +regard to Curran. + +The latter was in the habit of deploring that the former was a patriot +lost, seduced by England, because of his aristocratic proclivities. A +patriot cannot be a courtier, he constantly declared. The ways of the +aristocracy grow more brutal and more reckless with impunity; the +coarseness of their debauchery would have disgusted the crew of Comus; +their drunkenness, their blasphemy, their ferocity, have left the +ignorant English squires far behind. To this the countess would reply +(who knew little of the Dublin _monde_, living as she did a retired +life) that he was biassed by the prejudice of his Irish slovenliness, +in that he could not look upon a man as honest who wore clean linen +and velvet small-clothes. And so the friendly conflict would go on, +one scoring a point and then the other, one breaking into rage and the +other apologising; and so the incongruous cronies wrangled along the +road of life, battling with the breezes which blew round them, whether +from east or west. + +Mr. Curran sat down to his breakfast as if nothing had happened, +tucking a napkin into his vest, and handing my Lord Clare, with biting +amiability, the salt or the butter or the bread, while my lady marked +with satisfaction that this tempest was but a squall. That the chairs +of Terence and her niece should remain unoccupied was a matter of no +moment, for the former was probably sulky after his snubbing; while as +for Doreen, her conduct was always more or less improper. Perhaps her +serene ladyship would have been ruffled if she could have looked on +them in the stable-yard, for they were standing very close together, +the one subdued by the prospect of leaving his home for the first +time, the other saddened with thinking of the arrests. + +They stood very close together, oblivious of the morning meal; and +Terence caressed the moist muzzles of the hounds with lingering +fingers, while his cousin observed that an interesting air of sadness +suited him. A too healthy look, a too ruddy cheek, are to be +deprecated as unfavourable to romance; yet is there a peculiar and +specially captivating interest about a humdrum exterior with a blight +on it. Terence was too fat and sleek; unheroic, prosaic to an absurd +degree. At least his cousin chose to think so as she looked at him. +Then she glanced down at her own fine raiment with disgust, and hated +prosperity. What right had she to flaunt in delicate muslins while her +people were in bondage? Sackcloth and ashes would become her better, +now that the last champions of her faith were pining in duress. As for +the youth here, it was only fitting that he should be fat and sleek; +for was he not a Protestant, one of the oppressors? What was his +trouble to her trouble--sorrow for a race ground down? True, his +mother loved him not, and his brother was inconsiderate. He should +have spoken boldly, putting his foot down as Doreen would have done, +though his was big and hers was tiny--demanding at least some sort of +respectful consideration, instead of wrapping himself in injured airs +as he proposed to do. And as the thought passed through her mind it +was touched by a tinge of self; for if Terence were to go away, one of +the safeguards of his cousin's peace would slip from her. With the +instinct of intrigue, which is planted in the staidest of female +bosoms, she had determined that the best way, perhaps, of +counteracting her aunt's eccentric marriage scheme would be to play +one brother off against the other. As to a match with Shane, that was +out of the question; to marry Terence would be equally undesirable. +Even now, the wistful humility with which he surveyed her fairy bonnet +was conducive only to laughter. He did not care for her any more than +she cared for him--of course not. But is it not _de rigueur_ for +youths to sigh intermittently after domesticated cousins till the +moment for the _grande passion_ arrives, when they breathe like +furnaces and threaten to fling themselves out of windows? His was +clearly a case of primary intermittent fever, which was not a serious +cause for alarm; and the damsel was quite justified in employing its +vagaries for the protection of her own peace. My lady's project, she +considered, would tumble to pieces in time through inherent weakness. +Till that auspicious moment arrived it would be necessary to stave off +a crisis. It was merely a matter of time--a brief struggle between two +strong wills, in which my lady would succumb, as she invariably did +when pitted against her stubborn niece. For this reason it was +annoying that Terence should go away, and Doreen felt tempted to +employ such arts as she might, without being unmaidenly, for the +prevention of a family split. She said therefore, with a distracting +glance of her brown eyes, while eager muzzles wormed into her hand: + +'Is this quite irrevocable? The house will be so dull without you.' + +'I would stay if you really wished it,' blurted out the inflammable +youth, pinching a cold nose till the dog--its owner--broke away +howling. 'You know there is nothing I would not do to please you, +Doreen!' + +'Is there not?' she returned, with a ring of bitterness, for she was +too straightforward to feel aught but impatience for idle +protestations. 'To please me, would you give up all for Erin, as +Theobald has done? No--you would not. A fine-weather sailor, Terence! +_You_ give up anything, who have all your life been lapped in +luxury--and why should you? Thanks to Mr. Curran, the legal ball is at +your foot, and you only need to work to become rich and happy. But I +shall be sorry to miss your bright face, for all that.' + +A second flash, as of a burn in sunlight, carried the lad beyond his +usual prudence. With disconcerting suddenness he seized her hand and +brought his flushed cheek close to hers. + +'Doreen!' he gasped. 'If you will love me and be my wife, I will do +anything and bear anything. You've only to direct. I'm poor I know, +but I will work, for I am capable of better things if I have an +object.' + +But Miss Wolfe, though far from a coquette, was gifted with presence +of mind. Her intention had been not to provoke an untoward declaration +such as would exasperate her aunt, and, possibly, Lord Glandore; but +to use this impulsive swain as a bulwark of protection against the +assaults of my lady. Perchance, under the circumstances, it was better +that he should depart for a few months to cool his too explosive +ardour. It would not do to encourage, nor yet to quarrel with him. She +escaped from him therefore, holding up her pretty hands, and said +demurely: + +'Of course, if Mr. Curran really wishes it, you had better obey. It is +a long ride for you every morning from the Abbey to the Four-courts.' + +The Priory, on the other side of Dublin, was about the same distance +from the Four-courts, Terence thought with anger. The girl was playing +with him, as she always did. + +'I hope Sara will make you comfortable,' she went on. 'No doubt she +will, she is so sweet a girl. Then we shall meet at Castle balls, and +you shall lead me out for a rigadoon like a mere stranger. That will +be funny, will it not? You don't mean what you say one bit, and it is +a relief to me to know that it is all flummery--you silly, hot-pated, +blarneying Pat! Come along. We will go and eat our breakfast and be +thankful that we have one to eat, instead of talking nonsense. That is +all that you or I are fit for, I am afraid! For it is not such as you +nor I who are destined to save poor Ireland!' + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE PRIORY. + + +A year went by, and Terence was still away from home, an inmate of the +Priory; settled down, much against his will, as a sober councillor, +principal assistant to Mr. Curran, the continually rising advocate. +Sober is scarcely the fitting epithet, for conviviality was the +besetting sin of all classes of Irish in the eighteenth century, and +it was notorious that legal gentlemen, from Judge Clonmel to the +meanest attorney, were constantly in the habit of going drunk to +roost. Where lawyers led, Dublin was fain to follow, for the Bar +took the lead in the society of the metropolis, occupying a strong +middle position of its own between 'gentlemen to the backbone' and +'half-mounted' ditto, from, which it dictated to both. As the policy +of ministers grew more and more unpopular, it became more and more +urgent that Government patronage should be expended in purchasing +support for the measures under which the country groaned; and where +could support be more easily found than among the exponents of +forensic wisdom? + +Successfully to do battle with Flood and Grattan it was necessary to +scrape together as much intellect as was available, and so every +promising barrister became certain of a seat in parliament if he would +furbish up his brains for the Viceroy's benefit. This gave to the +lawyers a prestige which drew sons of peers within their ranks, and +they assumed superior airs, which no man challenged, in that their +profession was a nursery to the senate--a step-ladder to the highest +honours. Younger sons of noble houses invariably lean towards the +middle class, because a wide difference of income divides them in +feeling and ways of thought from their elder brothers. Such lordlings +as possessed a competence chose to while away their hours elegantly in +gowns and bands. And so the Bar became the fashion, the lawyers being +credited with such attributes as they thought proper to adopt, and +being permitted to wield an arbitrary sway which was beneficial and +mirth-inspiring. They assumed the right of mind over matter, and +people bowed the knee without inquiry, for they were pre-eminently +jolly dogs who made life the merrier, whose scraps of legal lore +sounded mightily sonorous to ignorant ears, and who, if one was rash +enough to presume to dispute their law, were always ready to take +refuge behind the inevitable pistol. But human nature at its best is +frail, and even lawyers are not always pure. When came the tug of +war--when the Four-courts were closed and courts-martial juggled away +men's lives--the councillors prated no more of their incorruptible +virtue, but donned the uniform as others did, and truckled, with a few +bright exceptions, as meanly as the rest. + +But we are now in 1796, when King Claret ruled the roast; when all +were besotted with drink, from Clonmel who gave sentence with a drop +in his eye, to the beggar in the dock who starved his stomach to buy a +drain of spirits; when out of the six thousand houses which formed +Dublin, thirteen hundred were occupied as boozing-kens; when guests +were deprived of their shoes by a host who understood hospitality, and +broken glass was sprinkled in the passages to prevent a man from +jibbing at his liquor. + +Mr. Curran's fears were being realised in this year of '96, for the +criminal business to which he had turned his attention was increasing +on his hands through the swelling torrent of treasonable charges. My +Lord Clare's policy was bearing its full crop of evils, for he had +succeeded in moulding the too plastic Viceroy into the shape that +suited him, according to the plan laid down by Mr. Pitt. Lord Camden, +whilst meaning to do well, was repeatedly led astray, as many a better +man has been before him. To Clare he was a docile cat. He submitted to +the secret council of Lords--that mysterious wehmgericht--who were +urged by the chancellor to the most violent proceedings, and became +unconsciously a scapegoat for the bearing of the sins of others. + +Under skilful manipulation the Society of United Irishmen flourished +prodigiously. Tom Emmett and Neilson were kept in prison, where they +languished without trial. Others were let out and caged again as +occasion required, that they might inflame their fellows with a +catalogue of dread experiences. Midnight meetings resulted, wherein +orators declaimed of the wickedness of the perfidious one, and +summoned all true patriots to take the fatal oath. The decision which +had been come to on the disastrous night in Trinity was carried out to +the letter, and was much assisted in its fulfilmeut by the harsh +treatment of the chiefs. The military system was engrafted on the +civil. + +Faithful to his promise, Cassidy rode to Belfast, delivered Emmett's +order to the delegates there, and then with commendable prudence +subsided into the background. The provincial committee spread out its +arms, from which new ones were speedily engendered, and passed +resolutions of grave import, while England stifled her merriment. +Civil officers were to wear military titles. A secretary over twelve +was to become a petty officer with gewgaws on his coat; a delegate +over five of these, a captain, with more gewgaws; a superior over five +captains, a colonel with a plume; mighty fine! The colonels of each +county were to send three names to the central directory, from which +one was to be chosen adjutant-general of his county to deal directly +with the capital. And thus a national army was forming in the dark, +just as the Volunteer army had sprung up in the daylight, with the +important difference that by this time England had cured her wounds +and regained her pristine strength. + +I protest that this linen-draper-medley masquerading in galoon would +be laughable, were it not so sad a spectacle. But who shall dare to +laugh at honest men, whose delusions are nursed and played upon +instead of being tenderly swept away? Curran's sympathies were with +the reformers, but not his judgment; and he became a sort of link +between two parties. His position as a lawyer gave him the _entree_ to +the best houses, whilst his homely habits and untidy dress caused the +lower orders to look on him as one of themselves. Between the rival +parties he shillyshallied with a weakness which his character belied, +grumbling at the patriots for their imprudence, growling at the sins +of Government, very uncomfortable in his mind, and of no use so far to +either of the opposing factions. + +As the members of the society committed themselves more deeply, Lord +Clare became more gay. He hinted to the half-mounted gentry that if +they liked it they might volunteer as active agents against the +misguided youths who were preparing to turn Ireland topsy-turvy. +Nothing could please the squireens better than this tacit permission +to give vent to their worst passions. Brutal, cruel, sycophantic (as +ignorant and depraved natures are), they began to band themselves in +regiments, with nobles for superior officers, and to commit outrages +on those below them, pretty certain that they would be indemnified for +any atrocity they might commit. _L'appetit vient en mangeant_. The +peasant, ground down and wretched to the level of the serf of +Elizabeth, howled out that Justice was indeed fled, and hearkened with +ravenous avidity to the voice of the charmer who sang of French ships +in the offing, and a proximate term to misery. Drilling went on under +cover of night, and the practice of the pike, since gunpowder could +not be purchased; and the shibboleth anent the bough which was to be +planted in England's crown might be heard a hundred times in whispers +on every market-day. + +But, misery or no misery, folks must eat and drink, and the +Hibernian nature--as quick to resent as to forgive, as vehement as +indiscreet--is given to extremes, from sadness to mirth and back +again. + +Mr. Curran, though his heart was sore, was fond of dainty viands, and +beguiled himself, as others did, with the pleasures of the table; +striving to drown, with a clatter of knives and forks, the din of +approaching tempest. His board was ever sumptuously garnished, his +claret of the best, his welcome of the warmest, and few who were +bidden to partake of it ever declined his hospitality. + +Timid Arthur Wolfe, who was growing more cautious every day, and doing +his best to serve two masters for his daughter's sake, implored his +friend to take example by himself, demonstrating in the clearest way +that the history of my Lord Clare was becoming the history of all +Ireland, and that a man with a child's future in his hands has no +right to run a-muck. He had found out that the chancellor had +endeavoured to buy Curran, and failing ignominiously in that attempt, +was trying to undermine his business. Why be for ever snarling at Lord +Clare? It would be the old story of the pipkin and the iron pot. To +which arguments Curran answered, laughing: + +'Is it I that's the frog, and he the bull? Maybe it'll turn out +t'other way. I'm mad, no doubt, to set my small pebble to stop his +chariot, but many a trivial thing has proved the factor in a great +catastrophe, and I'll even insert my pebble. Fudge, Arthur! I'm too +popular, and my life's too open for even Lord Clare to wreak his +vengeance on me.' + +Then Arthur Wolfe persisted, entreating that at least he would avoid +the charge of holding seditious meetings at his house. The weekly +dinners at the Priory were jovial, he admitted, beyond compare. The +cup went round as merrily as if Erin were a buxom wench, dimpled, and +well-to-do--but there could be no denying that those who drank of it +were marked men mostly, who knew the inside of Newgate as well as the +Priory parlour, and these were ticklish times for political +flirtation. What would befall Sara, honest Arthur pleaded, if an +accident were to befall the councillor? So delicate a blossom would +shrivel under the first frostnipping. On her father's head must rest +the consequence if misfortune crushed his child. + +At mention of Sara Mr. Curran would become exceedingly perplexed, torn +by two apparently incompatible duties, as he reflected on his pale +primrose. How wonderful are the decrees of Fate! Why are beings, +abnormally sensitive and delicate--whose fibres are liable to injury +by the most careful handling--pitchforked into a world of stones for +the express purpose of being bruised? Sara's nature was one which +needed sun and flowers, hourly solicitude and broidered blanketing, +yet here was she cast upon a rocky coast, battered by cold winds, +which threatened to become each day more easterly! Was she sent to +earth merely to bear pain, to linger for a space in more or less +protracted agony, and then to die? Possibly. It is a cruel creed to +accept, but the experience of the world we live in forces it upon us. +Perchance we shall learn to see a reason for it later on. + +The crash was coming, as none perceived more clearly than Mr. Curran. +Might anything avert it? Nothing. What would happen to cherished +ones in the throes of the hurricane? But how bootless was such +self-communing! _Fais ce que devra!_ Mr. Curran was determined not to +shrink from duty to the soil which gave him birth. Though the days of +Roman virtue were overpast, he would sacrifice his heart's treasure on +the altar if need were, trusting to God's mercy for the rest; and it +was the kernel of his project to keep watch over the society--with it +in the spirit, but not of it in the body. He was wont to say with +pride that he had never wittingly snubbed any man who was in earnest. +Self-willed himself, he respected those who strove to make themselves, +and respected men doubly if their aspirations were unselfish. He said +to himself that the motives of this small self-sacrificing band were +pure where all else was foul; that though for their own sakes he dared +not espouse their tenets openly, yet it would be a coward's act to +deprive them of his countenance and advice because they walked in +danger. So he shook his head at time-serving Arthur Wolfe, and went +his independent way, and waited for his chosen guests each Wednesday +afternoon, caring no fig for Lord Clare's menaces, sorry only that he +continued to exist. + +He stood straddle-legged at the hour of five on a reception-day, among +the dishevelled laurestinus bushes, which he was pleased to call his +avenue, swinging his portly watch by its ribbon--as his way was when +guests were late. The Priory was a snug abode, if not endowed with +beauty; but then the works of man in Ireland are seldom in beautiful +accordance with the handiwork of God. It was a frightful ungainly +villa erected in the hideous style of Irish suburban architecture, +with attenuated slits of windows and tall consumptive doors set +half-way up in a bald waste of rough whitewashed wall. The usual +alpine stair led to the entrance; arranged, as it appeared, for the +purpose of setting an honoured guest on a glorious pinnacle of +observation, till slipshod Kathy could hitch up her draggled skirts to +let him in. + +From the parlour window might be admired a prospect of barn, dunghill, +dovecote, horsepond, piggery, which offered to the nose in summer a +bouquet of varied sweets; while the usual yard or two of road swept +round the usual dark circular grassplot with a mouldy rhododendron in +the centre of it. The orchard behind was christened by its owner his +pistol-gallery, but it was at the same time a forum; for there might +Mr. Curran frequently be seen of a morning, declaiming with +Demosthenic energy, whilst he lodged bullets at intervals in the bark +of special trees. + +The odour of savoury viands assailed his nostrils as he stood +statue-like on the pinnacle and whirled his watch, for he hated +unpunctuality above all things. His beetle-brows were knit, his lower +lip protruded, and he wondered whether any of his guests had been +arrested. That was naturally his first fear, and he wagged his head +with gloom at some ducks that quacked in a neighbouring puddle as he +surveyed the lugubrious possibility. + +'Idiots!' he moralised. 'Pictures of ourselves, who dream of dinner as +though sorrow could not wake. Alas! Fate is common and the future is +unseen, as the Arab proverb has it. You rejoice in the balmy showers, +do you?--not knowing, in your crass ignorance, that they will make the +peas grow! And here are we, as foolish as you, going in for a +jollification, as though a few months might not bring grief to all of +us! Ahem! It is well that we are a careless nation, or every Irishman +would cut his throat before he grew to manhood.' + +Terence, who was drawing corks as if catering for an army, laughed +aloud, for he at least showed no signs of brooding melancholy; being +prepared rather to take life as he found it, and enjoy it too, for his +bright brave nature endeared him to all, and he was himself too frank +to believe in the pervading blackness of the human heart. As Doreen +pictured, he had attended the Castle balls during the winter, and had +led out his cousin for a turn of passepied or rigadoon without much +sighing; had dutifully called on his mother when Shane was safe away, +and had spent the rest of his time yawning over briefs for the behoof +of Mr. Curran. + +These briefs caused little disputes sometimes between the two, which +it became Sara's duty to smooth away--for Terence was wofully idle and +abhorred his work, being wont to declare that intellectual labour was +one thing, and unintellectual drudgery another, till his chief waxed +exceeding wroth, and asserted that idleness led to mischief. Sometimes +there appeared a flickering flame of ambition in him, which Curran +tried hard to foster; but before he had time to fan it, Terence would +cry, 'Oh, bother?' and, flinging the brief into the garden, go forth +to fish with Phil. No one could be angry with him long. Idleness seems +to suit some natures, which appear moulded for the enjoyment of other +people's labour. + +In the ways of the world Terence was an infant; in the balance of +right and wrong inclined to be unsteady from sheer indolence of brain. +His bubbling, brawling flow of spirits deceived casual observers, who +set him down as frivolous, impelled by the lightest breeze. Doreen, +whose experience was limited, thought him so with a feeling of +affection, in which contempt was mingled; but Curran knew better. He +knew that many a sensitive man wilfully assumes a disparaging exterior +to mask his holy of holies even from himself. He knew that few among +us ever quite know ourselves; but wake up sometimes in the decline of +life to discover new virtues or new vices, of whose existence we were +quite unconscious; that we come to know our own characters by flashes, +just as we learn those of our nearest and dearest friends. + +Terence was a general favourite; a hearty devil-may-care young fellow, +with a good digestion and few individual troubles, and was looked upon +with awe by gentle little Sara, as he helped in her household cares. +Indeed, Mr. Curran was justified in being cross this day, for the +repast was ready, if the guests were not. Veal, turkey, ham--all +piping hot--smoked in their respective dishes. Powldoody oysters +smiled as a centre-piece, flanked by speckled trout, caught but an +hour ago by Terence's servant Phil. Rows of wine-bottles garnished the +parlour wainscoting; the trim little hostess was squeezing lemons into +a jug on the hearthstone, with a view to prospective punch. He spun +his watch faster and faster as moments waned, more and more certain +that something untoward must have happened, and was no little relieved +by the sound of horses' feet, and the sight of his party approaching. + +'Hooroo, boys!' he cried cheerily, shaking off his gloom. 'Ye're late, +but no mather; ye're welcome, and shall carry home what ye like with +ye, rather than an appetite.' + +Sara had a becoming blush ready for her undergraduate, as he +approached to kiss her hand. She looked shyly in his eyes, and marked +with uneasiness that they were growing very dreamy, while an habitual +contraction fretted his forehead, which she knew came from distress +about his brother. She knew--for sometimes she took entrancing walks +with him--that his temper was becoming soured and his spirit chafed, +in that Tom languished on in prison without trial. Was not such +injustice outrageous? The charges against him were grave, no doubt; +that bit of paper which blundering Cassidy had failed to swallow was +compromising in a high degree; but then others quite as much +compromised were let off long since with a fine, whilst Tom remained +untried. Any trial--before a jury however packed--would be better than +such lingering suspense. If the worst came to the worst, the crown of +martyrdom, which would go with conviction, would be some small +comfort; but to have lain rotting in a gaol for a year, to be immured +without a term till well-nigh forgotten, was like the death of a rat +in a hole; and as ardent young Robert thought of it, his +constitutional dread of bloodshed almost went from him. Seeing what he +was forced to see, he regretted his oath in nowise. + +Among many enthusiasts few were so enthusiastic as this boy--few +looked so hopefully for news of Tone and of his doings in France. The +newspaper of his imprisoned brother had somehow revived, though the +guiding hand was shackled, and wonderful articles appeared in its +pages which might well have brought down, for the second time, the +chancellor's vengeful claw on it. But such rash ebullitions of an +imprudent ardour were just what Lord Clare required. Nobody knew who +edited Tom's journal now (possibly many had a finger in it). It +certainly was not Robert, for he was but eighteen and a student still +of Trinity; but that he helped and gambolled on the chasm's verge, his +friends did know, and remonstrated with him more than once. + +Curran was constantly lecturing him, but without effect, for the +froward boy only bade him attend to his own affairs; suggested that if +he wanted to save somebody from the vortex he had better look after +his own future son-in-law, and this made Curran angry. Yes; this was +one of the things which had resulted from Terence's leaving home. +Busybodies had winked and nodded, declaring that the little lawyer was +wise in his generation; that, having feathered his nest, he might do +worse for Sara than introduce her into the peerage with a plump dowry. +If a trifle reckless he was shrewd, they said; for whilst dallying +with the United Irishmen he had taken care to drag along with him the +brother of a great lord, who could not well interfere on behalf of a +near kinsman without also throwing the aegis of his rank over another +who ran in couples with him. The busybodies talked nonsense, as they +generally do. Mr. Curran had no views as yet with regard to Sara, and +required the protection of no aristocratic aegis. His reputation had +risen so high during the last twelve months by reason of the splendid +bravery with which he had defended the foes of established government, +that neither Pitt nor Clare dared at this moment to touch the +champion. His place at the Bar was so unique that there was no man, +not merely next, but near him. Other advocates were to him as the +stars to the sunbeam. In court he was at once persuasive, eloquent, +acute, argumentative; striking with cunning hand the chord of pity, +then (for he knew his audience) checking the rising tear with +laughter. As a cross-examiner he was unrivalled. Let truth and +falsehood be ever so intricately dovetailed, he could part them with a +touch. Swiftly he would place his finger on a vital point, untwist a +tangle and involve perjury in the confusion of its contradictions. So +long as he retained his purity, it would never do to assail this +Galahad. All were aware of that, and so he needed no help from a great +lord. + +Yet many wondered whether he might be secretly afraid of being +ensnared; whether, foreseeing the struggle that was imminent, he might +not deem it prudent to prepare a sure method of escape. The children +of darkness have more ways of circumventing the children of light than +it is at all pleasant for you and me (who of course belong to the +latter category) to reflect upon. He was ill-judged, possibly, in +throwing a young man like Terence into too close contact with the +would-be reformers. But then was not that youth already a friend of +the Emmetts and of Tone? Was not his innate laziness a bulwark of +defence? Was he not in the habit of defending Lord Clare, and of +pointing out that party-spirit embitters people to the point of +shameful slander? As yet he declined to admit that the chancellor had +horns and hoofs. + +Although he scorned the worldly-wise advice of Arthur Wolfe, Mr. +Curran was careful, when he could, to check open expressions of +sedition at his table. On this very day he found it necessary several +times to change the current of talk before the cloth was removed, when +Sara, nodding pleasantly to Terence and to her undergraduate, rose and +withdrew to her chamber. + +But there was a special reason on this particular day for an extra +amount of wrath on the part of the young men, his guests, which did +not fail to produce its answering growl from their host. That fresh +arbitrary arrests should have taken place surprised him not at +all--such proceedings were of daily occurrence. That Sirr, the +town-major, should be enlarging his paid army of false-witnesses, who +were becoming notorious as 'the band of testimony,' was also, alas, no +new thing. That a man's life could be sworn away by one witness who +had never seen him before was an awful fact; but then he, Mr. Curran, +was at hand to protest, and the recognised forms of law still +permitted an accused sometimes to baffle the paid malice of the +informer. + +It was an open question, all admitted, how far a government might go +in espionage. In moments of peril to the public weal it is certain +that ministers must draw their information from any quarter, however +foul; but to offer a premium to rascality is surely criminal. To +gain information of facts from detectives is quite a different matter +from the employment of secret agents to tempt people into sin and +then hound them down. Robert Emmett brought news with him this day +that seemed to foreshadow a change of tactics on the part of the +executive--ominous news the discussion of which had made the party +late upon the road, and which caused the young men, so soon as their +hostess had retired, to abandon social gossip for more grave +communion. + +'Friends,' Robert said, 'they intend to exasperate us. There can be no +more doubt about it, though I am in the dark as to their motives. +Please God, Theobald's mission will be accomplished ere 'tis too late; +the French will come to our succour before we are goaded to despair.' + +Cassidy, who had such a blundering tendency to do the wrong thing in +the wrong place, here broke out into a new ditty which was beginning +to be popular, trolling forth in his mellow voice: + + + 'The French are on the say, says the Shan van Vocht; + And will be here without delay, says the Shan van Vocht;' + + +but he was sternly bidden to fill his glass and pass the +round-bottomed bottle without making himself noisily objectionable; +and, whatever other peccadillo he might think proper to commit, above +all things to drink fair. + +'Major Sirr's banditti,' the undergraduate went on, so soon as the +bottle, being empty, could be laid down, 'have taken on them a new +function. They arrogate to themselves now a right of paying +domiciliary visits without search-warrants, of forcing open a person's +door whensoever the outrage may suit their whim. A year ago they +wormed their way into Trinity, and by an accident we were unable to +rouse the college.' + +'Arrah, thin,' grumbled Cassidy, 'will ye always be pitching my big +shoulder sand empty head in my teeth? I was sorry for my awkwardness, +and that's enough.' + +'But at that time they were right to take us, if they could; for in +truth we were conspiring--a red-letter day in my memory, the day I +took the oath! Hearken to this, all of you! You know Tim Flanagan, of +Ormond's Quay, whose lady--God rest her soul!--was brought to bed a +week ago? She died, so did the child, last night; and Tim, gone wild +with sorrow, threw himself on the floor beside the corpse, refusing to +be comforted. There came a knocking at his warehouse entry; it was +barred, and the men away. His sister, from a window, desired to +know what was wanted. Sirr answered that he was come to search the +house--for what, in the Lord's name? Gunpowder cannot be bought. The +sister offered money if they would respect their grief, but not +enough. In the warehouses nothing compromising was found, of course. +The room where the corpse lay was to be searched also. They battered +in the door of the guarded chamber, but recoiled in a fright, for Tim +stood with a threatening glare of madness beside his young wife, a +knife clutched in his right hand. They fled, these myrmidons who +disregarded an agony of soul which a savage would respect; and Tim +knelt down there and then, with his appalled sister, swearing, on the +blue lips of her who was gone before, an eternal enmity against the +Castle tyrants.' + +There was a long silence, during which Curran hung his head, while the +brow of his junior darkened, and honest Phil, his goggle-eyed +henchman, poured claret in his master's lap instead of into his glass. + +'It is horrible!' sighed Cassidy, and swore a string of oaths. 'Tim +Flanagan had fought shy of the society,' he shouted, 'but now would +surely join it. His was but one case out of many. The wickedness of +those in power would surely drive all Ireland to take the oath, and +then the sons of the soil would rise as one man and hunt the tyrants +into the Channel.' + +Mr. Curran shook his rough head. + +'They are working for a purpose, as Robert says,' he remarked; 'a +wicked purpose, which aims at our eternal slavery. Instead of +sowing seeds of wholesome trees, beneath which our children may seek +shelter, they cherish poisonous roots, with the intent to squat like +witches in a plantation of nightshade. You will never hunt them into +the Channel. Do you know that they are flooding the island with +troops--_disciplined troops_, who will part your ill-trained myriads +like water? I see their aim, though they would fain hide it till the +fruit is ripe. They will goad us by insidious outrage to despair, then +stamp on us with an overwhelming force, and, when we are faint and +bleeding, will tie us, gagged and chained, to the car of England for +evermore.' + +'What do you mean?' Terence inquired sternly. + +'I mean,' responded his chief, 'that when we are ground into the dust, +they will sweep us from the list of nations. Cobwebs will gather round +the locks of our senate-house; our exchange will be silent as the +tomb, our docks empty, our quays deserted. England will swallow us +body and soul; will devour our liberty, and with it our existence.' + +'Never!' bawled impetuous Cassidy. 'We will die first, if it's thrue +what he says, and he's more wise than I. We are men, aren't we, who +can die but once? Shall we lie down to be whipped, like dancing-dogs? +There's no going back, except for cowards, boys! All must fall in, or +be disgraced. What say you, Master Crosbie, will you sit by and see +Ould Erin sold?' + +The excitement of this bellowing athlete was contagious. + +'If I believed that there was one tittle of truth in the suspicions of +my old friend, I'd take the oath to-morrow,' cried Terence, with a +slap upon the table. 'But he exaggerates.' + +'Do I?' growled Curran. 'I say that they mean to unite Ireland to +England, and that their present operations are tending to that end; +and I also affirm that, whether you take the oath or whether you do +not, that important ceremony will have no effect whatever on the +end--you coxcomb!' + +'Be their intentions what they may, there is no going back now,' +echoed young Robert, sipping his claret dreamily. 'All who have a real +stake in the country must see that. Is not our first stake our +national honour? and how may we bow our necks beneath the Saxon's heel +without eternal shame? The truculent, bloody Saxon! who has left his +track like a livid welt across our land, in altars polluted and laid +low, pledges made and broken, a long trail of lust and rapine and +crime.' + +A faint smile flitted over Cassidy's features, for this was the turgid +eloquence of the mysterious newspaper whose editor was in Newgate. + +'Boy, you chatter balderdash,' Curran snapped shortly; 'such +balderdash as the ignorant drink too eagerly for truth. Oh for a +little ballast to keep us steady! An Irishman, when not stranded on +the Scylla of indolence, is certain to flounder headforemost on the +Charybdis of enthusiasm; and, of the two dangers, the latter is +generally the worst.' + +'Deed, it's thrue what ye say, councillor dear,' Cassidy murmured, in +a coaxing tone. 'But sure, though you rail at us, you would not stand +by neither, any more nor this young gintleman? We know well enough +your heart is with us.' + +'You are no better than baaing sheep following one another into the +shambles,' answered the host testily, for he was taken aback by this +open assault upon himself and Terence. 'Your ill-digested plans must +fail.' + +'Fail!' echoed Robert and Cassidy together. 'Why,' continued the +former, forgetting his horror of bloodshed, 'when the time comes we +shall count upon a hundred thousand men. I know it by the returns sent +in to the Directory.' + +'On paper.' + +'And the French will be here in force--the veterans of the Republic.' + +'The French, the French!' growled Curran. 'Say that they land and beat +the armies of King George, which I much doubt; will they not soon +weary of a precarious possession, and, carrying you to market in some +treaty of peace, barter you away to be well scourged? I vow I have no +patience with you, grieved though I be for the humble order of the +people, who from lack of education are easily deluded. Depend upon it, +your acts are all known in London. By the time you are ready, the +towns will seethe with British troops. I tremble to think of the +result.' + +'Would ye have us turn the cheek like good Christians, then?' jeered +the giant, who, under influence of wine, was becoming warm. 'Are the +sons of the ancient kings meekly to become galley-slaves?' + +'What would I have ye do?' retorted the host, who perceived with wrath +that he was being driven into a corner. 'I'd have ye keep a civil +tongue, and talk no treason till ye're outside my privet-hedge. If ye +do not, I'll report what's been said to Clare; I will, upon my honour, +to save ye from worse folly.' + +The sturdy little man looked as if he were quite capable of carrying +out his threat. If he were to disclose all he knew of them, it would +be terrible indeed. + +Cassidy, the claret mounting to his muddled brain, seized a decanter +with the laudable intention of belabouring his host with it. + +'A traitor!' he muttered fiercely. 'That's the lowest beast that +crawls. If ye spake ere a word of us, I'll pistol ye in the street!' + +The lawyer looked calmly up at the menacing giant and laughed. 'Put it +down, big baby,' he said. 'You dare to think me half-hearted because I +won't take a pike and try to knock down St. Patrick's. Does any man in +Ireland love Erin more than I? Learn, fool, that men have different +functions assigned to them. Do your best, if God wills it so. When the +battle's lost ye'll want me to bind your gashes. I've listened to much +rubbish this afternoon. Now you, in your turn, listen to the truth, +which is bad enough--ochone! I _know_ that all your martial goings-out +and comings-in are reported one by one; I _know_ that they are +broidured and embellished before they cross the sea. I have reason to +suspect--I admit I cannot prove it yet--that such cooked accounts are +given of your doings as actually to alarm the British cabinet. You are +playing into Pitt's hands. I have heard that they even talk of +"martial-law" as possible. If they come to that, the Lord be merciful +to our poor Erin!' + +Mr. Curran's head sank on his breast, and tears ran down his rugged +cheeks; while the conspirators glanced one at the other with pallid +faces. Martial law! rough and ready tribunals presided over by the +tools of England! Sure their host's terrors must carry him away. And +yet he might be right, judging from the past. It was quite possible +that they were being deliberately driven to the shambles in cold +blood--like victims marked out for slaughter by some savage despot. +Cassidy laid down the decanter, and began to stammer apologies for his +petulance. + +The noise of voices at high words brought Sara into the room, who, +frightened at the sudden dread which seemed to have invaded the party, +clung to her father, while she turned an inquiring glance to the +undergraduate. + +'What is it, father?' she murmured with dim fear, for the adored face +of Robert was distorted with passion, while his hands shook like +leaves. + +'A Union is it that they want?' the boy muttered 'twixt chattering +teeth. 'I will resist it to the last gasp of my existence--to the last +drop of my blood--and when death comes, I will call down the eternal +curse of Heaven upon the destroyers of our freedom!' + +Sara felt dizzy, and would have fallen but for her father's encircling +arm. Dark shadows of foreboding were flitting across her mind. Was he +whom she elected to worship to be drawn into the whirlpool after all? +Was Robert to share Theobald's fate--to be banished from friends and +motherland? In her gentle loving heart she registered a vow that if +that fate should come on him, the sorrow of his exile should be +soothed by no hand but hers. + +Mr. Curran set himself to calm his darling. 'Silly child!' he said, +patting her yellow curls. 'There, there, why not in bed? Fie! young +ladies mustn't rush in where gintlemen are toping. Well, as ye are +here, pick up the matarials from the hearth, my love, and squeeze in +another lemon. This won't do. I shall lose my reputation as a _bon +viveur_. A sentiment? Bravo! Here 'tis. Come, bumpers! "If a man fills +the bottom of his glass, more shame to him if he doesn't fill the top; +and if he empties the top, sure he'd not be so base as to deny the +bottom the same compliment!" Now we'll lock the doors, and my big +friend shall expend his exuberance in song. A toast first. You too +shall sip of it, my blossom, for there's ne'er a bit of treason in +it.' Then, clasping Sara's slender waist, he raised his haggard eyes, +and said solemnly: 'As God in these latter days is unfolding in His +creatures strange new powers, so may they all tend to Freedom, Peace, +and Harmony. May those who are free never be enslaved--may those who +are slaves be speedily set free. Amen!' + +Cassidy, quite good-humoured and repentant now--for his bark was +always more awful than his bite--tuned up and sang his choicest +ditties; yet somehow there was a pall over the party which music could +not dissipate. Truths had slipped out in the desultory talk which +weighed down the souls of all. Mr. Curran, usually a pearl among +hosts, was worried and absent, for, look at the situation as he would, +there was nothing to be seen but impending disaster, and he thought +that perhaps he had spoken out too openly. Terence, too, seemed much +disturbed in mind; more moved at Robert's story and his own hints than +he liked to see. Perchance it would be safest to pack him home without +delay. Yet no--his was not the soul-harrowing indignation which +exercised the patriots. He was shocked, but there was no real danger +of his being trapped. It would lie heavy on his conscience, though, if +this artless joyous creature should be dragged into the vortex. Much +better that he should shoot, and hunt, and fish, and make the most of +the happy accident of his social standing. Certainly he would show +little affection for his _protege_ if he permitted him to be trapped, +and Cassidy showed wondrous anxiety to trap him. An odd person, +Cassidy; a whimsical combination of opposing essences; one of those +dangerous hot natures whose ill-balanced zeal is more fatal to a cause +than enmity. No one could on occasion be more oafishly stupid than he, +or more rashly brave; and yet the way he kept up a show of intercourse +with Major Sirr and my Lord Clare, after the fashion of a safety-rope +to which to cling in peril, was worthy of quite a subtle plotter. That +the giant meant well there could be no doubt. But if he, Curran, had +had aught to do with the society, he would have stipulated that this +firebrand should be kept as much as might be in the background. + +While he meditated thus the punch-bowl was emptied, and, as he made a +move to refill it, the party broke into knots and resumed the topic +which engrossed them. + +Terence listened to young Robert's views, which, under the auspices of +liquor, grew more rosy and more loud. + +'I don't mind telling you about it,' the boy was saying, 'for I know +that your honour is too fine to allow the smallest hint to be dropped +of what I say. The French will come with 15,000 men, and gunpowder, +and muskets. Pikeheads are being hammered out of hours on hundreds of +village anvils.' + +'They will never send 15,000 men,' Terence objected, with a doggedness +induced by drink. 'Their coffers are empty. Holland, Switzerland, the +Rhine, claim the attention of their arms.' + +'If they send but 5,000 the work can be done. You don't believe it? +With three hundred as officers to head our own people, we could make +an effort.' + +'What can a rabble hope to do against a disciplined force?' exclaimed +Terence, with animation. 'The French could not spare three hundred +officers to this outlying island. Who have you amongst you who could +teach a single military man[oe]uvre? Who could save an army from rout +if attacked in rear, or judiciously decide upon a line of +entrenchment? What a reckless waste of life--a march into the grave!' + +'There are cultivated gintlemen who will come forward when they see +that we are in earnest,' put in Cassidy slyly; 'lots of them. There is +no telling what mines of military genius may be found amongst the +high-born. I confess I'd like to know what we really may expect from +France. Theobald has been ten months in Paris, is hand and glove they +say with General Hoche, and Carnot, the "Organiser of Victory." +Strange he should never write.' + +'My cousin Doreen has letters from him,' Terence said, in thick +accents. 'Maybe she'd tell us if we coaxed her.' Then, rising, he +flung wide the shutters and opened the window, through which streamed +such a flood of morning light and perfumed air as caused his wits to +reel. Cassidy grinned, as he marked the 'us,' and, encouraged by so +good a sign, made bold to clap the young patrician upon the shoulder. + +'Sure she'd tell you, councillor darlint,' he whispered; 'for she +likes you, and I can get nothing serious out of her. Faix! it's the +dainty colleen she is!' + +'I dare say she would,' returned Terence, while lines of latent humour +puckered up the giant's face. Councillor Crosbie's lofty patronage +amused him, for, of the two, Mr. Cassidy had seen most of the Abbey +during the past year. 'The day is come,' he urged; 'the very hour for +a ride. Will ye go and find out something to make our minds aisy, or +do ye think Misthress Doreen would be cross wid ye?' + +Cassidy was taking liberties. Of that Terence felt hazily assured. + +'Yes,' he replied, 'I will canter over to Strogue to see what I can +gather; a gallop by the beach will steady my nerves for the business +of the infernal Four-courts. Tell Phil, Cassidy, to saddle the horses +at once.' + +Cassidy humbly obeyed orders, while Curran, who was watching, laughed, +despite his dreary thoughts. How translucent is the strategy of youth! +The squireen's familiar manner of mentioning Doreen had stung her +cousin, and filled him with a desire to warn her of the oaf's +presumption. It was a fine excuse for stealing a delicious hour with a +girl who loved not flirtation; who crumpled up her admirers with +scorn; who might, without some such excuse, resent even a cousin's +interference with the stern duties of matutinal chicken-feeding. + +'Go!' Mr. Curran laughed, his conscience relieved, as he placed his +hand on the broad straight back of his favourite. 'Go, lad, and learn +what you can from that lovely conspiring siren. I think my Sally must +go too, to protect you. Stop a minute while I write a line to my lady. +I'm sorry we've not had so gay a time as usual--but sure gaiety is +being squeezed quite out of us. One Doughan Dourish before we +separate. Here's to Innisfail, and may God have mercy on her! And now +good-night, or rather good-morning. I've a heavy day before me, and +must e'en steal forty winks.' + +The party mounted their horses and rode away, and Mr. Curran went to +bed and slept, quite persuaded now that Terence must go home and stop +there. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + LOVES AND DOVES? + + +Honest Phil saddled the horses and brought them round in a +twinkling, delighted always with a journey to the Abbey; for did not +red-haired Biddy, who held his large heart in keeping, abide at the +shebeen foreninst the Little House with her mamma, Jug Coyle? Jug +Coyle--the Collough--or wise woman, mistress of hidden arts, whose +little public-house, on Madam Gillin's land, had grown more orderly +than heretofore during the last few months. It was not that grooms and +soldiers frequented it the less, but that, instead of sitting on the +bench without, roaring ribald staves into the small hours, as had been +the objectionable custom, they now preferred the innermost room with a +well-closed door. Yet, roistering or silent, there was the shebeen +with its mouldering thatched roof and discoloured whitewash walls, and +one of its tiny windows roughly boarded up, at the very gate of the +lordly Abbey--an undiminished eyesore to the chatelaine. + +Sara, whose gentle nature was perturbed by the scene at the +supper-table--the pale faces and haggard looks--slept not a wink all +night, and was most glad to join Terence in a canter by the seashore. +She daily grew fonder of Doreen, whose quiet manner seemed to instil +calmness into her own soul; who allowed the child in a gracious way to +cling to her, to prattle of her little troubles, her suspicions and +her fears, and her adoration of the undergraduate. Her father was too +busy to listen to her babbling; the dear young undergraduate too much +absorbed in what he called the cycle of injustice. All those with whom +she had to do--except Doreen--were for ever prating of the Saxon's +iron heel, shaking their fists at Heaven, venting dark anathemas and +muttering such threats as terrified her. Something dreadfully +mysterious was to take place soon--of that she felt assured--though +when she asked questions, Mr. Curran pinched her chin, calling her a +little silly kitten; then mused with eyes averted. Yes, there was a +heavy intangible cloud o'ershadowing those she loved; all the little +maid could do was to pour out her innocent soul to God, imploring His +mercy for her father and her friends. + +Wiser eyes than Sara's saw the cloud--observed that it grew blacker +and more thunderous as it lowered nearer earth--that its lining, +instead of being silvern, was lurid red. Some, like wreckers on a +craggy beach, rejoiced in the approach of a storm which would bring +them pelf; others watched it wistfully, as it darkened the sun, with a +sickening sense of powerlessness to avert its coming. Among these was +Doreen, who, surveying the gloomy prospect as from a watch-tower, grew +hourly more grave and self-contained. Her position at the Abbey had +changed but little during the interval. The dowager had never directly +referred to the conversation in the rosary, but the damsel was not +slow in perceiving that Shane and herself were thrown together as +often as was practicable. Then this wild scheme was not to be +abandoned idly? What could be the reason for it? Once, in her desire +to escape from a false position, she begged her easy-going parent to +take her to live with him in Dublin, telling him plainly that she +could never marry Shane, imploring him to spare her a distressing +ordeal. He only patted her hands, however, and nodded perplexedly, +with an assurance that she should never be forced into anything she +did not like. It was clear that Mr. Wolfe was growing more and more +afraid of his sister, also that public affairs distressed him; for he +plunged daily more deeply into routine business, attempting in a weak +way now and then to pour oil upon the waters between Curran and Clare, +carefully keeping his daughter out of the capital as much as he was +able. Not but what he would stand up for his girl upon occasion, when +my lady was too hard upon her. The dowager never grew weary of lifting +up her voice against Doreen's unseemly proclivities, her free and easy +ways, her ridings hither and thither, her expeditions none knew +whither. It was a disgrace to the family, she averred--for in her own +girlhood Irish ladies were content to sit by the fireside, or look +after the pastry, study the art of dumpling-making, concoct cunning +gooseberry-wine and raspberry-vinegar, prepare delicious minglings of +roseleaves and lavender for the sweetening of the family linen. To all +of which Mr. Wolfe was wont to reply mildly: + +'The maiden is of a masculine turn, who delights not in +sampler-stitching or pie-baking. She is three-and-twenty, of unusually +staid manners. I'd like to see the man who dared insult her! Let be, +let be. None would be more glad than I if she would think less of +politics and the dreadful Penal Code. Guide her inexperience gently, +if you will; but do not attempt coercion, or you'll get the worst of +it.' + +Despite this prudent counsel, there were several tussles 'twixt the +maiden and her aunt; in one of which the elder dropped some incautious +words, which were a revelation to Doreen. + +'You play with edged tools, girl!' she had said. 'You form friendships +with the enemies of the executive and urge them to deeds of rashness, +knowing that, come what may, you, as a woman, will escape scot-free. +Your unwarrantable proceedings fill your father with such anxiety that +he dares not have you home, lest in Dublin you should set up for a +heroine and disgrace us. You are the most stubborn stiff-necked piece +of goods the world ever saw! Yet what can be expected of a Papist? +This is Nemesis upon him for having married one.' + +Then this was the cause of her being left at the Abbey--of Mr. Wolfe's +evident anxiety? He dreaded lest--in her sorrow for her people--she +should do something which would involve him in difficulties with +Government. Poor, weak, loving father! No. That she clearly had no +right to do. Yet she could surely not be expected to approve the acts +of the executive; she, a Catholic, whose heart was rendered so +sensitive by the iron which had worn into it from childhood. Was it +her fault if her mind turned itself towards passing events instead of +being absorbed by the manufacture of tarts? Surely not! Hers was a +sturdier, braver nature than her father's. Loving him as she did, she +strove not to perceive his truckling ways. Had she been a man she +would have done as Tone had done--have seized a buckler and girded by +her side a sword--to have at the oppressor, whose tricks were so +crafty and so base. So both her father and her aunt suspected her, did +they, of urging men on to conspire against the state? My lady would +doubtless have placed her under lock and key if her brother had +permitted of such a measure. And knowing or suspecting what she did, +she was still anxious to bring about a union between the young +people--her favourite son, the wealthy Earl of Glandore, and the +Papist heiress who was so unmanageable. It was most amazing. Doreen +failed to track out the slightest clue to the mystery. + +Finding it so knotty she gave it up, choosing rather to ponder on the +turn affairs were taking. She hated Lord Clare now with an indignant +hatred, for he had raised his mask a little, and she had seen the +devil's lineaments looking out from under it. He made no secret of his +dislike of the Catholics, telling her to her face one day, with an +arrogant hauteur which made her blood tingle, that he was going to +make it his especial business to pull down the altars of Baal. Oh, if +this Sisera would only lie down to sleep before her--with what +satisfaction would she drive a great nail into his temple! + +The lord chancellor was aware that the beautiful Miss Wolfe loved him +not, and was wont to jest thereat when taking a dish of tea with his +old flame the dowager. My lady smiled at his tirades, making merry +over the appalling catalogue of things which he intended to do; for, +being a brilliant Irishman, he of course had the national tendency to +romancing, and it never entered into her mind to conceive that he +actually could mean what he said. Though shrewd enough, my lady was +quite taken in by my Lord Clare, who seeing in her a swaddler--one of +those bigots who mistake rancour for virtue--was minded to make his +ancient ally useful to his ends. + +He failed to realise that my lady's bigotry was only skin-deep--that +it was her way of protesting against the many disagreeable things +which she had been forced to endure, and, thanks to Gillin, was still +enduring. He therefore feared not to propose to her a something, at +which her pride should have recoiled with horror, but which--thanks to +his persuasive arts and her belief in his talent and integrity, she +agreed at least to consider before repudiating. First he commiserated +her position in being burthened with the responsible care of a damsel +who was like to bring disgrace upon them all. + +Behind the scenes as he was, he could see farther among the machinery +than most people, and deeply deplored what seemed inevitable--namely, +that the rash young lady would certainly commit herself with regard to +the members of the Secret Society--be drawn into their schemes--and +work grave mischief, such as should bring shame on the names both of +Wolfe and Crosbie, unless something were done to circumvent her. +Violent means were of course vulgar, and dangerous to boot, by reason +of Miss Wolfe's character. My lady wished to unite her to her eldest +son, did she? Well, it was an odd fancy, at which it was not his place +to cavil. All the more reason then to render the folly of the girl of +no effect by artifice. Once settled down as a wife and mother, she +would forget the errors of her girlhood, and even thank her friends +for having saved her from herself. + +Now my Lord Clare knew through Mr. Pitt, whose spies in Paris told him +everything, that Tone kept up a correspondence with Miss Wolfe under +the name of Smith--that she fetched her letters from Jug Coyle's +shebeen, where they were left for her under a prearranged name. His +own spies told him that she talked sometimes with mysterious men, who +came and went in a suspicious manner, between the environs of Dublin +and the outlying districts. Yes, it was too true; my lady might well +look shocked. The conspirators were making a catspaw of her niece, who +hovered between two duties--the one to her Protestant father, the +other to her crushed co-religionists. + +Did my lady's eyes ask what was to be done? This, and only this. For +it was clear, was it not, that her mines must be countermined for her +own sake and that of her belongings? It would not do to seize the +letters, because the villain in Paris would then invent some new +method of communication, which it might take the spies some time to +discover, and time was important just now. The young lady, being +enthusiastic and inexperienced, was most shamefully _exploitee_--the +executive saw that, and were prepared to make allowances, provided her +family would play a little into their hands. Did she see what he +meant? No! Then my lady was duller than usual, and he must dot his +i's. The executive knew that Miss Wolfe was artfully used as a +spreader of secrets, because no one else in all Ireland occupied a +position of similar complexity. Her heart was with the malcontents, to +begin with. She, as daughter of the attorney-general--most cautious of +time-servers--was not likely to be suspected of overt acts of treason. +She was clearheaded, too, and resolute, useful in council. Ill-judged +in other things, the conspirators had done wisely to employ Miss Wolfe +as a means of intercommunication. + +It would never do for Mr. Wolfe to be told of his child's +transgressions, as he would only whimper and cry out; the stronger +hand of his sister therefore must take the tiller, and steer the +family through this difficulty. Did my lady see now? No! Well, the +spies of the executive were cunning, no doubt; but their eyes could +not pierce stone walls or sheets of paper tied tight with ribbon. My +Lord Camden and the Privy Council wanted to know what the letters +contained which were dropped at the 'Irish Slave' for Miss Doreen. +Would my lady undertake the little service of finding out, and then +tell her dear friend Lord Clare what plans were suggested, what names +mentioned? He, on his side, would of course promise to be prudence +personified, and swear never to divulge by what means the information +had been obtained. + +The countess winced at the suggestion, and her face crimsoned. If +Government chose to establish a bureau of paid informers, who were +dubbed the Battalion of Testimony, it was no affair of hers, though +she could not approve the principle; but as to becoming one herself, +the bare idea was an audacious insult. The chancellor laughed airily +as she turned on him, for he expected some such ebullition of feeling, +and waited a little while ere he proceeded. Then, like the serpent +luring Eve, he strove to decide her with specious arguments. He showed +that, by helping to circumvent their plans, she might do signal +service against the Catholics; that both her brother and eldest son +might be made to benefit indirectly by her acts, and that nobody would +know anything of what she had done. In love and war all means are +fair. The girl had no excuse for the line she chose to take. It was +right and fitting that the lower orders should be cowed; that the +Papists should be stamped down into the serfdom from which in their +insolence they struggled to escape; that this Tone, whom people had +liked till he took up the cudgels of Antichrist, should be brought to +punishment. + +These were good reasons--strong enough surely to decide my lady. If +she wanted another, let her think of Gillin and her 'Irish Slave.' It +would be strange if that hateful enemy could not be mixed in the +coming struggle, and crushed in the downfall of the conspirators. This +last stroke almost settled the resolve of the wavering countess, whose +mental mirror had been blurred by long dabbling in questionable +waters, which, rising in her husband's throat to choking, had wrung +that last cry from him before he died. It would be delightful to +discomfit Gillin. It would be odd, too, if Doreen, in the contrition +which follows upon being found out, did not throw herself on her +aunt's mercy, and joyfully do as she was told, on condition of being +saved. After meditating awhile, my lady said she would think about it; +and Lord Clare, having planted his arrow, rode back to town, satisfied +that he had gained his end. + +Doreen was not chicken-feeding, as Terence had thought probable, on +the morning when the riders started from the Priory. Yet was she up +and about, for there is naught so invigorating as fresh sea-air with a +whiff of tar in it, and the evenings at the Abbey were dreary enough +to induce the most wakeful to take refuge betimes in bed. She tended +the flowers in the tiny square called Miss Wolfe's plot, spent a few +moments in affectionate communion with some eager wet muzzles and +wagging tails in the kennels, then tripped away to the rosary, to +study a letter received the night before--a letter signed 'Smith,' in +a cramped hand. When such reached her, she invariably retired thither +to decipher them; for in the seclusion formed by the high clipped +hedges, she was sure of privacy, none being able to wander among the +shady avenues of beech without giving notice of their intention by the +clang of the golden grille, or the creaking of a lesser gate situated +at the other end of the pleasaunce. + +It was a letter which gave food for concern. Impetuous, hot, Keltic; +dealing, too, with details which told of action imminent. + + +'I will have no priests in the business,' it said. 'Most of them are +enemies to the French revolution. They will only do mischief. The +republic is on the move; will give us five thousand men. I would +attempt it with one hundred. My own life is of little consequence. +Please God, though, the dogs shall not have my poor blood to lick. I +am willing to encounter any danger as a soldier, but have a violent +objection to being hanged as a traitor, consequently I have claimed a +commission in the French army. This to ensure being treated as a +soldier in case of the fortune of war throwing me into the hands of +England.' + + +'His life--noble young hero!' Doreen reflected. 'Suppose that he were +to lose his life in the coming struggle! If Moiley needed such a +sacrifice, better that he should fall fighting than die a dog's death +by the noose!' + +As she thought what a blow his death would be, her bosom swelled with +anxiety; for every earnest woman sets up an idol in her heart, to be +clothed in the trappings of her own belief, which she takes for its +native adornments. She sits and keeps pious vigil over it, and weaves +ennobling legends concerning it, seeming to become purified by contact +with a nobler power, which, after all, is but the reflection of her +own better self. That her influence over Theobald was great, Doreen +knew, but not so great as his was over her. There seemed to her mind, +twisted as it was by circumstance into a sombre shape, something +sublime even in the light way in which he wrote of gravest things. His +letters were schoolboy documents, full of homely jests, quaint +sayings, quotations from bad plays. Yet what a marvellous work was he +achieving. A year ago he had gone forth a wanderer, armed with a few +pounds and a large stock of hope. He had sailed to New York, narrowly +escaping seizure by the crimpers on the sea; had then made for Paris, +whither he arrived almost without a penny. He knew scarce a word of +French, yet went he straight to Carnot, who, in a satin dressing-gown, +was holding _levees_ at the Luxembourg. Partly in broken words, much +more by signs, he made known his wishes to the Organiser of Victory, +and, through him, to the Directory. They saw in his project for an +invasion of Ireland a tempting way of harassing perfidious Albion, but +unfortunately their treasury was empty, their armies disorganised, and +so they gave to their suppliant a cool reception. But Tone was not to +be easily put off. He haunted the antechambers of the ministers, +learned their language, prepared statements, suggested plans; +importuned all and each in broken jargon, till, amazed at his energy, +filled with respect for his pure motives and simple life, they gave +him a high place amongst their own officers, and promised that his +desires should be gratified. + +Doreen followed the rapidity of his proceedings with astonished +admiration, marvelling that he should work as he worked from sheer +love of humankind; was quite persuaded that all he did was right; +compared him daily to the men she saw around her--arrogant Clare, +swinish Shane, idle, prosaic Terence--and felt almost prepared +sometimes, if need were, to cast in her lot (as the chancellor +surmised) with her mother's oppressed people, rather than with those +of her highly-connected father. Gusts of loathing swept over her soul +for the feudal magnificence of the Abbey; she seemed thrown on a bed +of roses whose perfume sickened her. The idea of wedding all this +splendour while her people groaned, was in itself revolting; to +espouse Shane with it, filled the measure of her horror. Rather than +submit to my lady's eccentric wish, she was prepared to run away--to +hide herself in Connaught, anywhere; and this being comfortably +settled, she went on with Theobald's last letter. + + +'Independence at all hazards. If the men of property won't help us, +they must fall, and we must support ourselves by the aid of that +numerous community, _the men of no property_. Alas for poor Pat! He is +fallible; but a lame dog has been helped over a stile before now. The +_arme blanche_ is the system of the French, and, I believe, for the +Irish too. At least I shall recommend it, as Pat, being very savage +and furious, takes more naturally to the pike than the musket, and the +tactics of every nation should be adapted to its character. As for +Dublin, one of two things must happen. Its garrison is at least five +thousand strong. If a landing were effected. Government would either +retain the garrison for their own security (in which case there would +be five thousand men idle on the part of the enemy), or they would +march them to oppose us, and then the people would seize the capital. +Any way, we could starve Dublin in a week, without striking a blow.' + + +'Starve Dublin in a week!' Doreen pondered. 'What would happen to +outlying places like the Abbey?' Then an idea struck her, whereby her +own annoyances might be considerably lightened. 'Why not,' she +thought, 'work on my aunt's prudential fears, and induce her to +transfer the establishment to Ennishowen, in the north? Thus may +Shane and his mother be removed from danger, whilst I am free of a +dilemma--for, of course, when the moment of peril comes, my place will +be beside my father.' + +The golden grille clanged. A slight female figure, in a blue velvet +habit and peaked hat, after the new mode, made its way among the +roses, and Doreen advanced to welcome Sara. + +Mr. Curran's pet was always a favourite of Miss Wolfe's, to whom her +prattle was a rest in the midst of many perplexities. She rallied her +archly about the undergraduate, marking, with a grave smile, the +confusion in the young maid's face; listening absently to ecstatic +descriptions of his numerous perfections, with a tender indulgence +mixed with sadness; for it undoubtedly was sad to observe how blindly +and artlessly the gay kitten gambolled, in spite of that threatening +cloud; wondering, wide-eyed, whether he really and positively ever +could come to care a tiny bit for a silly little thing like her. + +Doreen knew quite well that Robert Emmett's was a lovable nature, that +he was free from the ordinary frailties of youth, sensitive to a +fault, just such a visionary as would suffer terribly in a great +crisis such as was at hand. Just as Tone was a chivalrous man of +action, so the younger Emmett was a dreamer of the most unpractical +kind--one who, staring at the stars, and striving to pierce their +mysteries, would plunge head-foremost into the first pitfall that was +made ready for his feet. His admiration for Theobald was as great as +Doreen's. When that cloud should burst, he would surely be found +by his side--might possibly stumble where the other could stand +erect--and, if aught befell him, what then would happen to the +Primrose? But what is the use of courting melancholy? Doreen this +morning, as at other times, shook off the dismal effects of her gay +friend's castle-building, made efforts to meet her half-way, spoke +hopefully of days to come, when Ireland should be content, when Sara +should have become a wrinkled matron with a parterre of yellow +blossoms round her, and beloved Robert a happy old paterfamilias with +a treble chin. + +Sara's peachy cheeks broke into dimples of pleasure at the +description, as she looked up sideways like a bird. + +'You are wasting your holiest affections, my child!' Doreen observed +demurely; 'for men are dreadful, dreadful creatures who deceive and +ride away. They don't care about our love one bit, unless we pretend +to withhold it.' + +'I love him so very much,' returned Sara, with a rapt gaze and +trembling accents, 'that I could be content to worship him from a long +way off if he would let me--he is so good and kind and noble!' + +'He has never spoken to you of love?' + +'Never.' + +The child's eyes filled with tears, and Doreen's heart tightened for +her. Poor fragile blossom. What might the nipping blast have in store +for it? + +'If any mischance were to befall him----' began the elder girl. + +'I should die,' Sara answered simply, as though such a result was the +only one which could be possible. + +Doreen walked on in silence. She was twenty-three, her companion five +years younger. Yet she could not comprehend this innocent pure heart +which at eighteen gave itself unconditionally away to be trampled upon +or treasured as its recipient should elect. She was sure that she had +herself never loved any one, except Tone, and her father, and her +mother's memory. The iron of the Penal Code had seared the germ of +such a love within her if it ever had existed. She recalled the cold +way in which she had calculated her capacity for playing Judith, and +felt ashamed. But why should she, after all? The practical and the +romantic were singularly blended in her character. What had a Catholic +to do with love and the exchanging of young hearts? Fretfully she +turned away from the enchantments of conservatories and hen-houses +which she was displaying to her friend, and remarked as she led the +way to the kennels: + +'You said you had brought Terence with you. Can he be closeted all +this while with his mother? That would be unusual. He does not favour +us with much of his society. As I live, here's another visitor. It is +such a lovely morning that I shall lay violent hands upon you all. Mr. +Cassidy here is one of the best yachtsmen on the bay. We might go for +a sail round Ireland's Eye if Terence would only condescend to show +himself.' + +'Oh yes!' cried ecstatic Sara, 'it would be entrancingly delicious.' +She would run and tell my lady, who was probably breakfasting, that +she must give us her son for the general good. + +It was the jolly giant, who on his big bay hunter clattered into the +courtyard; come, probably, in search of news on his own account, in +spite of what he had said to Terence a few hours before. He had +watered his horse at the shebeen, had taken a plunge into the sea to +dissipate the fumes of last night's revel, had given red-haired Biddy +such a smacking kiss as would have roused the ire of Terence's devoted +henchman if he had been within fifty yards, and was now come to pay +his respects to the inmates of the Abbey. + +He praised the dogs in a flurried sort of way, stood on one great foot +and then the other, rapping the dust from his full-skirted riding-coat +with his hunting-crop, whilst his eyes devoured the fine lines of Miss +Wolfe's figure, which indeed compelled admiration through its +tight-fitting, high-waisted frock. During the last year he had made +considerable advance in the good graces of the chatelaine, and of her +first-born. She, as chatelaines ought to be, was delighted to have a +host of philanderers hanging about the Abbey, swilling its liquor, +devouring its beef, while my lord deigned to make the squireen useful +in a multitude of ways. Belonging as he did to the half-mounted class, +such homage as he could pay was due to a great lord, who was kind +enough to smile upon him. That he might be hand and glove with the +United Irishmen was neither here nor there; was he not also an ally of +Major Sirr's as well as a _protege_ of the chancellor's--tolerated too +by Curran, Lord Clare's arch-enemy? He was all things to all men, a +typical 'tame cat:' it remained to be seen which side he would take +when the crisis should come--at least so people remarked who did not +know, as we do, that he had taken the oath and was given to mystical +questions anent the placing of a bough in the crown of England. A man +who can turn his hand to anything, rides well to hounds, sings jovial +ditties, makes genteel play with a rapier, can sigh like a furnace, +and look languishingly at a pretty girl, is sure of being a general +favourite. Doreen liked Mr. Cassidy as much as Shane did, an unusual +circumstance, for his likes and dislikes were generally in direct +opposition to hers. She was wont to jest at his many blunders, lecture +him for his stupidity, allow him greater liberties than were usual +between an heiress and a 'half-mounted.' For there was no harm in him. +He would not be likely to try to run off with this prize, for Shane's +sword--champion-spit of the Cherokees and Blasters--was a universally +dreaded weapon, and Mr. Cassidy was too fond of the good things of +this life to think of suddenly quitting it with daylight through his +vitals. Sometimes he made love to her. Then she held out a warning +finger while smiles wreathed her ruddy lips, as she would have done to +any inmate of the kennels that should dare leap with dirty paws upon +her flowered muslin. + +This morning his behaviour was not what it should have been. Sure that +dip in Dublin Bay had not washed away the impudence begot of claret. +She looked so ravishingly fresh and neat in the chip hat which, with a +plain white ribbon knotted beneath the chin, gave a yet fuller glow to +her rich complexion, the close-clinging robe spangled here and there +with a bunch of poppies, that there was little wonder if prudence was +for once outrun by passion. She was not Miss Hoyden any more. Her +clothes were of the most fashionable cut; nimblest-fingered of Dublin +tailoresses made her frock; long mitts of daintiest Carrick lace +masked only to accentuate the golden ripeness of her finely modelled +arms; a pair of stout pointed brogues, silver buckled, drew down the +eye to the clean ankle and high instep, which told of healthful +exercise by a series of suave contours and voluptuous curves. + +Now the mind of Cassidy was gross in its essence; jaded too by +appetites in riot. What would be more likely to stimulate a coarse +illiterate squireen than the aspect of such a living paradox as this? +His political intentions were admirable, doubtless; possibly when the +time came he, like a few others, would rise to the occasion, cast +aside low vices, and, passing like gold through the fire, achieve +deeds which would endear him to his countrymen. That was possibly in +the future. The present only whispered, as his eyes wandered over the +figure of the girl before him, that such a morsel could not be too +dearly bought. With unwonted courage, he blurted out the original +remark: + +'Mistress Doreen, you're monsthrous beautiful!' + +'Am I?' she replied, raising her eyebrows. 'Alas! it's of little +consequence.' + +'Is it now?' returned Cassidy, endeavouring in his murky brain to plod +out a reason for the statement. 'Oh!' he said at length, 'becase +you're booked, and you don't care whether my lord is pleased or not.' + +'My lord?' inquired the girl, her brows arching yet higher. + +'Aren't you to be the future lady of Ennishowen? I can put two and two +together.' + +So this hateful match was being freely canvassed. Even muddlepated +Cassidy had penetrated my lady's plans. He was peering straight into +her eyes, trying to find what he could at the bottom of their brown +depths. The heat of angry humiliation sent the blood bubbling to her +face. Cassidy observed it, and leered pleasantly. + +'He's not good enough for you--I don't like your marrying him,' he +observed with decision. + +'No more do I,' returned calm Miss Wolfe. + +Cassidy's looks sought the ground--his big hand fondled the muzzles of +the dogs. After a long pause, he said in a low voice: + +'If you don't care about him it's small blame to you.' + +'Neither for him, nor anybody else.' (The slightest contraction of a +fine nostril.) + +'Don't say that, Miss Doreen, darlint,' said the giant, quickly. +'There's many a stout fellow about, whose heart it would plase if ye'd +rub your pretty brogues on it, who'd like to set fire to the tobaccy +in his pipe every blessed day by the light of your lovely eyes.' + +Doreen glanced up at the giant with an amused smile. + +'Fie! Mr. Cassidy. If I didn't think you too sensible a man, I should +believe you were trying to propose to me.' Then it struck her that it +was on this very spot that Terence had asked if he might hope. + +'What possesses the men? How odd it is,' she said, thinking aloud. +'Fate settled long since that I was to die an old maid; and everybody +seems to want to marry me. Why? I am surely not so irresistible? There +are scores of girls who would be delighted to marry any one, but +somehow nobody cares to ask them! Why not try Norah Gillin--Shane at +least thinks her a paragon--and she has the advantage of being a +Protestant.' + +'Miss Doreen,' Cassidy whispered, 'if I undertook to work heart and +soul for the cause you care so much for; if I made use of my +opportunities--went about for you--as your agents do (you see I know +all about it); if, when the hour comes, I promised to risk my life and +all I have for you--'tisn't much--would you change your mind then?' + +Miss Wolfe felt his hot breath upon her hair, and began to feel +uncomfortable. It was her own fault. She should have cried 'Down!' to +this importunate dog before. + +'Mr. Cassidy,' she said, with the quiet dignity which was her best +protection, 'you show yourself in a false light. You belong to the +society--I fully believe--from conviction of the holiness of its aims. +Although a Protestant, you are an Irishman, as I am an Irishwoman. Our +wrongs are common. Don't let me suppose you to be suggesting a +bargain.' + +'It is that good-for-nothing young councillor!' the giant muttered, +grinding his teeth fiercely. 'If I was sure of it, I'd run him +through! Have a care, young lady; don't trifle with honest men--or +wigs will be on the green, and you may be sorry!' + +The interview was becoming extremely painful. Cassidy, when tried, was +showing the cloven foot, as under-bred persons will. Miss Wolfe drew +herself up to her full height, knitted her dark brows, and said +coldly: + +'You forget yourself strangely, sir! My aunt and my cousin have been +over-kind to you; I have tried, for my poor part, to make your visits +pleasant, believing you, as I still believe, to be honest, if bearish +and uncouth. If you dare to persecute me any further I will speak to +my aunt, and the doors of the Abbey will be closed to you for ever. +Then seeing how rueful, how dismayed the hapless giant looked, she +took compassion and held out a frank little brown hand. 'Come, come! +This is childish nonsense. I must not be hard on you. We must not +quarrel, you know, but cling together closely for the good cause's +sake. If petty private feuds begin to divide us, the enemy will dance +for joy. I want a friend in whom to trust. You shall be that friend. +Will you? Come! Be good, and I will pardon you.' + +She placed her hand in his, where it lay like a small leaf, and her +companion said sulkily, as he stroked it with a great finger: + +'You evaded the question about Mr. Crosbie.' + +'Well then,' she answered, 'I care no more for him than for Shane or +you. I will never marry till Erin is righted. Ah me! doesn't that look +like perpetual maidenhood? My husband, too, must have won his spurs as +a hero, and heroes are scarce. There. Shake hands, and let there be an +end of it. Your heart is in the cause, as mine is. Your acts speak for +you, and Theobald shall thank you some day. Depend on it, the best +tenure of earthly attachment is tenancy at will. You have the use of +the soil, and nothing you plant in it shoots so deeply but it may be +removed with ease. Let us be friends--trusty friends, Mr. Cassidy--no +more.' + +At this juncture, Terence came briskly round the corner, and started +to see the attitude of the twain. His sudden suspicion cooled, +however, upon perceiving that his cousin was no whit confused. Her +hand still remained in that of Cassidy, and she said, laughing, as she +swung it to and fro: + +'Here is a big creature who threatens by-and-by to bud into a hero of +romance. When he kneels victorious in the lists, I, as queen of +beauty, am to bestow the laurel crown. What a delectable picture, +isn't it? Glad to see you, Terence. You are determined we shall value +your society. You give us so very little of it.' + +'You look like having quite enough of it by-and-by,' Terence answered +moodily. 'I brought with me a note from Mr. Curran to my mother, in +which he says that he won't have me at the Priory any more; that I +must come home like an obedient child, and wash my face and brush my +hair and say I'm sorry. If I had known what was in the letter I should +have stayed away.' + +'But you'll stop,' Doreen said, so earnestly as to cause the giant to +look askance at her. 'It is sad for members of a family to be at +daggers-drawn. Come--to please me--let me be peacemaker. Shane shall +say you are welcome, and we'll all be in harmony together again. +Promise me--and I'll tell you some rare news that has been burning my +tongue this month past. You are both to be trusted, I know.' + +'I would every one was as thrue as the councillor here and I!' +ejaculated the giant, his frown breaking into sunshine, as if suddenly +convinced, by some queer reasoning, that there was nothing between +Terence and Miss Wolfe. 'It's mighty careful we'll have to be +by-and-by with them rapscallions of ould Sirr's. Wisht! now, and I'll +tell ye what he told me,' he pursued, lowering his voice and glancing +round as though the dogs could speak. 'There's a place called the +Staghouse, over foreninst Kilmainham gaol, bad cess to it, where the +Battalion of Testimony are housed and fed, as these hounds are. They +have their rations and potteen and a penny or two for toh-baccy--for +all the world like gentlemen born. I'll make it my business to stroll +in there some day, just to draw their pictures on my mind's eye. Maybe +it'll be useful to know the spalpeens' faces.' + +'This system of spies is terribly base,' Terence said, sighing. +'Enough to bring down chastisement upon any cause. I don't believe +Lord Camden knows of it. The gentry are arming right and left, my +mother says, in case the people should be ill-advised enough to rise. +Yeomanry corps are being formed in every county. Shane has been this +morning applied to, to take the lead in this district.' + +'Shane raise a regiment? With what result?' Doreen inquired quickly. + +'With none as yet,' answered Terence, laughing; 'because my lord is +sleeping off the effects of a terrible bout last night, which ended in +two duels and the killing of a baker, and probably will allow my +mother and Lord Clare to settle such a thing as that, as they may deem +most wise.' + +'It is too late for such organisation to be dangerous,' Doreen +affirmed gaily. 'Now I'll tell you the great secret, for it is only +fair you, Mr. Cassidy, should know, and Terence will not divulge. Now, +lend me your ears. The French fleet is almost ready to sail. Our +friends will start in two parties before the summer's over, from a +northern port; making the one for Cork, the other for some point on +the west coast. Hoche himself has promised to lead the expedition. The +delegates of our own provincial centres have secret orders. We may +expect to look on the ships which shall bring us deliverance by the +commencement of the autumn at the latest. Here's Theobald's last +letter; you may read it.' + +The giant looked eagerly to seaward, sniffing like a war-horse, as +though already he could discern the vessels in the offing; and +whistled a subdued whistle, as if saying to himself, 'This is news +worth taking that early ride for.' With each great fist deep in a +breeches-pocket, he listened to the letter, and then said: '_Arme +blanche_. Eh! He agrees with us then, and is right. The pike's the +thing for Paddy. The difficulty of landing powder enough to be of +service would be enormous. Moreover, since the Gunpowder Act, Pat +knows nothing of its use, and would do more harm to himself in the +long-run than to the enemy.' + +Doreen declared that of such details she could of course know nothing, +to which the giant retorted that there were hosts of reasons in favour +of the pike. The Hessian and Hanoverian mercenaries who were being +slowly drafted into Ireland were experienced only in the orthodox mode +of warfare. The courage of armies is so uncertain that they are often +disconcerted and panic-stricken by a style of fighting to which they +are unaccustomed. + +'See here!' the giant said, drawing a paper from his pocket and +presenting it to Terence. 'This is a model by which thousands are +being made all over the country. Long, flat, ugly no doubt--but easily +forged. Could ye improve on that?' + +Now Terence, had he been wise, would have refused the challenge, +sapiently declining to know anything of the model pike, for the giant +was bent somehow on securing him--but, intoxicated by the enthusiasm +of his pretty cousin, whose cairngorm eyes, under their long lashes, +were as usual making sad havoc of his judgment, he took the design and +thought he could improve upon it. Cassidy's muddle-headedness stood in +the way of his understanding, and the young councillor was forced to +sketch out a new design, with elaborate instructions as to how it +might be hammered out with a maximum of wounding power and a minimum +of labour. Of course 'it was just the thing,' Cassidy declared, +delighted, and brought down his sledge-hammer palm upon the other's +shoulder. + +'We'll have to crimp you?' he vowed, with a peal of merriment in which +Doreen softly joined, 'and so gain a gineral, as the Sassanagh gains +sailors. Ye'll be with us some day, Masther Terence, see if you +aren't!' + +And now, too, he declared that he must have more advice about these +said pikes--there was terrible difficulty in storing them as they were +made. He had an audacious idea. What did Master Terence think of it? +Some of the gentry from the Staghouse were, he was informed, +constantly on the prowl in search of such information as might be +bartered against good living; for Major Sirr laid it down as an +initial axiom, that a member of his battalion who remained silent +beyond a certain limit of time was to be cashiered as incompetent. It +was literally a case of 'singing for supper,' and one of the simplest +methods of obtaining credit with the town-major was to discover and +denounce a depot of concealed weapons. + +Now Jug Coyle (mistress of the shebeen hard-by)--this was a tremendous +secret--was deeply involved in the affairs of the society. Her back +garden contained many more pike-heads than praties. It stood to reason +that she should be so involved, for was she not a collough, a +trafficker in charms and simples, who was called in by the peasantry +around for the curing of their bodily ills; and was it possible for +one who was bone of their bone to refrain from meddling with their +wrongs also? Well, she could store no more without awaking the +suspicions of the Staghouse gentry, who seemed already to suspect that +seditious meetings were held under her thatch; and yet it was very +necessary that many more weapons should be stored somewhere in the +immediate neighbourhood of the city. The question was, where could a +spot be found for them to lie snugly--a place where folks would least +suspect their existence? + +The giant was becoming so earnest, and so lucid in his earnestness, +that Doreen quite marvelled at him. She knew more of Jug Coyle's +manage than he was aware of, and listened with growing interest, for +red-polled Biddy, whilst acting as Theobald's post-office, was +constantly declaring that she felt like living on a powder-magazine. + +'It has been suggested,' the giant went on, 'that Mrs. Gillin of the +Little House should take some; but that would not be wise, for she is +a Catholic whose opinions are well known, though latterly she has +cultivated a discreet tongue. It might enter the head of the +town-major to search her place.' + +'It would certainly be unwise!' Terence said. 'Remember her daughter's +connection with my brother. May she be trusted? There are female spies +as well as male, I suppose. You people are dreadfully rash, Cassidy.' + +'Never fear, Master Terence,' returned the giant, with a twinkle in +his eye. 'Both she and her daughter are children of the people, who +would sacrifice this lord and many another to boot for the good cause, +if need were. Her heart is with us, like many another; but in this +case at least it's best she should play blind.' + +'But what is your suggestion?' Doreen inquired, for the giant was +beating about the bush in an exasperating manner. + +'This is it. Don't cry out now when ye hear it.' He glanced round with +caution, and lowered his voice. 'The ould armoury above in the young +men's wing there.' + +'What! Here at the Abbey!' Terence exclaimed. 'You are mad.' + +Cassidy was watching him in sidelong fashion as he felt his way. + +'Sure there's a power of blackguard knives there already, which no one +touches from year's end to year's end, as the cobwebs show. I'd stake +my life ye've not been in there yourself this year or two. Nobody +would search there, would they? They might be passed up from the +shebeen at night-time--Biddy and your man Phil would see to it--over +the old ivy wall, and exchange a kiss or two into the bargain.' + +'Phil is not affiliated,' objected Terence. + +'Is he not?' grunted the giant, shortly. 'It's surprised I'd be if he +could not tell us as much about a green bough in England's crown as is +known to you or I.' + +Doreen's eyes were on her cousin. Her face wore its usual serene look. +The enormity of the proceeding did not seem so great to her as it did +to him. He did not take into consideration the sublime manner in which +women look straight to a goal, without marking the mud which may have +to be crossed to reach it. A thought shot through his brain, flooding +it with joy. If she could contemplate such a trick being played upon +the earl, she could not care about him. That was a rare thing to know. +And why should it not be played on him? The brothers were so +estranged, that the younger one felt no call to interfere in such a +matter on behalf of the elder. It was impossible that he should have +lived so long on terms of familiarity with the disaffected without +being unconsciously tainted to at least a small extent with their +oft-repeated complaints. Not that he was prepared to admit that these +modern grievances were well-founded. No doubt it had been very +improper--all those years ago--for a Protestant invader to seize, _vi +et armis_, the territory of a Catholic nation--to eject the sons of +the soil by force, in favour of themselves and their heirs. But really +it was too late now to remedy that misfortune. + +The English were to all seeming a happy and contented people, who had +long since given up groaning over the Norman invasion and the +freebooting proceedings of William the Conqueror. It was merely +a matter of time. Ireland must accept the past, and pick out the +thorns from the bed on which she lay as well as she could. Thus was +Terence, in his idle good-humoured way, accustomed to argue when his +personal friends gnashed their teeth at the Sassanagh. But these new +theories that were beginning to be broached--even by Mr. Curran +himself--charging the executive with motives which, if they in +truth existed, were _lese-patrie_ of the most heinous kind, caused +even his careless junior to pause and think. And then he consoled +himself with considering that high-principled King George could not be +Blunderbore--that my Lord Clare was not a Feefofum. Yet there was no +doubt that my Lord Clare was unduly harsh--that the low-bred squireens +were apt to treat the common folk cruelly to curry favour with the +Castle. He did not pause to ask himself why cruelty to common folk +should be pleasing in the Castle's eye. These yeomanry corps were +likely to be productive of much evil. Terence had said as much to his +mother but now. It was possible that Shane, in his overbearing pride +of birth and fierce tendency to fire-eating, might become a terrible +flail if he accepted the task of organising a regiment--indeed from +his nature he was sure to do so. It would be a whimsical revenge for +the people that he should be unconsciously guarding their weapons for +them. + +Councillor Crosbie laughed loud at the conceit, declaring that he saw +no reason why pikeheads should not be added to the 'blackguard knives' +in the armoury, and his cousin gave him such a distracting look of +thanks that he chid himself for considering the matter at all; while +Cassidy, who also caught the look, glared out to seaward, clenching +his fists in his deep pockets. + +'That eccentric person, Mrs. Gillin!' Terence cried gaily. 'So she's +mixed up with all this plotting, is she? Has she taken the oath, +or is she but a privileged outsider like myself? And my man Phil, +too--that's to please red-polled Biddy, doubtless. Let's take the +oath, Doreen, while we can make a favour of it, for all Ireland will, +it seems, be in it soon. The good lady was in her garden as I passed +this morning, strutting about with leather gloves and garden-shears, +and bowed solemnly to me as I passed. What a queer woman! At the +Rotunda the other day she came and stood before me, though we have +never been introduced, and said, "Are you sure, young man, that you +left your home of your free will?" When I said "Certainly," she +gave a satisfied nod and disappeared in the crowd. If her daughter is +pining for Shane, her mother evidently sets her cap at me. I trust you +will all be civil to the future Madam Crosbie. This is the way she +walks----' and the irreverent scapegrace proceeded to waddle up and +down with so exact an imitation of Mrs. Gillin's peculiarities that +Cassidy fairly shouted. That lady and her doings being a tabooed +subject at the Abbey, there was special delight in talking of her on +the sly. + +All three were guiltily startled by the opening of my lady's bedroom +window (which looked upon the courtyard), and the apparition of Queen +Bess in a bad temper, summoning Miss Wolfe to her presence. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + STORMY WEATHER. + + +My lady was walking up and down the tapestry-saloon with hands clasped +behind her back, when her niece joined her--a prey evidently to +considerable agitation. Doreen marked the deepened wrinkles on her +forehead, the tightening of the thin lips, the contraction of the +nostrils, and waited with accustomed self-possession to hear her +elder's pleasure. The countess was displeased about something. Her +fine face was pale, her eyes tinged with red. Her majestic draperies +seemed to whisper in their soft rustle that something was seriously +disturbing the spirit of the chatelaine. Wheeling round presently, she +faced her niece, and, scrutinising her narrowly, spoke. + +'Terence has come home to live,' she remarked. 'Mr. Curran cannot bear +him any more, and I am not surprised. We must put up with him; he's +enough to vex a saint!' + +Doreen's cheek flushed with swift anger at his mother's unwarrantable +speech. + +'Oh, aunt!' she said, 'dare you speak thus of your own child!' + +'Ah!' ejaculated the countess, still frowning at Miss Wolfe, 'let us +understand each other at once. I will never allow of any nonsense +between you and that boy--do you hear?--NEVER. I presume that he would +not dare to marry without my consent. You are capable of anything, I +know. I sincerely believe that he, as yet, is one shade less +undutiful. He has been showing much independence lately, though. +There's no knowing,' she went on in a low absent manner, 'what he +might not do if he knew----' + +'Knew what?' asked Doreen. + +My lady started and pushed her fingers through her white hair. +'Nothing, nothing! Mind this--_I will never give my consent to a union +between you and my second son_. Understand this, once and for all.' + +'You need not distress yourself, aunt,' Doreen replied. + +'Doreen!' my lady said abruptly, after a pause, 'you were talking +about _that woman_ at the kennel gate just now. I could see you were, +by Terence's mimicry. What was it about?' + +This was the real cause of her aunt's ill-humour: the red rag, Mrs. +Gillin. That foolish idea about Terence was of course only a cloak to +conceal unreasonable wrath. It was quite too tyrannical of her, +though. They were speaking no ill of their neighbour. + +'We were talking of Norah and Shane,' the girl replied, with a touch +of hauteur. 'Nothing wonderful in that, for all the world talks about +them. I suppose I may be bridesmaid, aunt?' + +To her surprise the blood faded slowly from my lady's face, leaving +her lips white, while her breast heaved and her fingers tightened. The +girl regretted her pert remark, though her aunt speedily recovered +herself. + +'You could stop this disgrace if you would,' she said in husky tones. +'Last year I thought that you encouraged Shane; then you turned round +again. For shame! That Arthur Wolfe's daughter should be a flirt! But +it's the other blood that's working in you. Your father was always too +weak and too indulgent. You are a sly, artful girl! Yes, it is right +that you should hear the truth. You do no credit to your bringing-up. +Is it maidenly to receive letters from a man in secret--to retire, as +I have ofttimes seen you do, to a secluded spot in the rosary, there +to gloat over them--and that man married, and an outlaw! Fie upon you! +Your father is not aware of this, or it would break his heart; for, +God help him! he loves you beyond your deserts. But there, there! I +will not waste my breath in railing; for what else could be expected +of your blood and your religion?' + +Doreen's cheek, too, had paled. She trembled violently, and was forced +to cling to a table ere she could still her anger sufficiently to +answer. At length she mastered her voice, which rang out low but +clear. + +'Lady Glandore,' she said, with flashing eyes, 'it ill becomes one of +your years to say cruel things to one of mine, for if you crush out my +respect for you as a woman, I choose to remember your white hairs. +However bitter you may allow your tongue to be, I will not lower +myself to a retort; but let me beg you to remember that some +things spoken intemperately will rankle in the heart for ever. No +after-apologies will quite wash them out.' + +Oh, naughty damsel, to prate of white hair, and suggest that my lady +was an octogenarian! She was no more than five-and-fifty, as her niece +knew right well--but, bless my heart! we must not survey feminine +weapons too closely. + +'I am a disgrace to my bringing-up!' pursued Doreen, warming to the +fray. 'Yet she who brought me up condescends to act the spy on me! A +flirt, am I? I never, upon my honour, gave the least encouragement to +either of your sons. They are not such Admirable Crichtons! Seeing +that you are beset by some hallucination on this subject, I have again +and again implored my father to take me hence in vain. I hereby swear +to you by the Holy Mother and my hopes of salvation, that I will never +be Shane's wife--never, never, never! Perhaps now you will leave me at +peace. Though I am a Catholic, madam, I decline to brook insult. Here +are my cards--face upwards on the table. Show me yours.' + +The girl, who was usually so quiet and grave, had lashed her wrath to +foam, and was grievously exercised to restrain fast-gathering tears. +She would rather have died, however, than have lowered her standard to +my lady. With a violent effort, then, she kept them back, and faced +the chatelaine with a front as proud as hers. + +This was all very shocking: the ill-mannered allusion to hoary locks, +the rash oath never to marry Shane, the truculent bearing. Mild +Arthur's counsel was wise. My lady generally got the worst of it in +conflicts with this girl. It would have been best to have vented her +ill-humour upon Terence: who was forbearing towards his mother. But +then her victories over him were too easily gained to be worth +anything, for he was good-tempered, and respected his mother greatly; +and besides, every well-ordered man will always gladly resign to a +female antagonist the glory of winning a battle of words. + +My lady stalked in silence up and down, retiring behind the +entrenchments of her outraged dignity. But Doreen perceived that to +make her triumph good she must dare another sortie, and disarm her +antagonist; so, after a pause for breath, she repeated: + +'I have shown you my cards, Lady Glandore--show me yours. You are bent +upon my marrying Shane--the compliment is great--far greater than my +poor worth deserves. Though you constantly fling insults at me about +my manners, my blood, and my religion, yet you are willing--nay, +anxious--condoning these crimes, to accept me as a daughter! Why? The +lady of the Little House, who is good and charitable, if innocently +vulgar, is a standing bugbear to you. Why? Yet, by a singular +contradiction, you allow your paragon to make himself at home with +her, and make much of her child, who, to be sure, is a Protestant, but +low-born. She is penniless--I am an heiress: hence, of the two, +I should be the better prize for him. I see that; but what, in +Heaven's name! is to prevent his sallying forth in Dublin, and +finding there a fitting partner? Sure there's not a noble Protestant +family in Ireland that wouldn't jump at him! A drunkard, no doubt, +and a fire-eater--which some folks are rude enough to translate +murderer--what of that? It is the custom of his cloth. A coronet well +filled with gold covers a multitude of sins! No doubt Mrs. Gillin +would dearly like such a son-in-law--it's the way of the world, and I +do not blame her--but you, I know, would not care for such a daughter +as Norah. Are you not afraid that some fine morning holy Church will +join them, and that you will come down to breakfast to find them in an +edifying position on their knees, claiming mamma's blessing?' + +My lady had sunk into a chair, her pale face paler. + +'No, no,' she murmured; 'that could not be. He toys with a pretty +wench as a young spark will. Why would I gladly have him marry you? +Because I know he has faults--the faults of youth, which time will +remedy--and I feel, dear Doreen, that your strong common-sense will be +a stay to his weakness. Once united to you, he will change, and you +will be very happy together.' + +There was something so pitiable in this abject discomfiture--in this +refusal to be insulted--that Miss Wolfe's resolution failed her. Yet +her curiosity was too thoroughly roused to permit of dropping the +subject. + +'Then I'm to be the scapegoat?' she said, with a tinge of scorn. 'I'm +to lick the whelp into shape--no matter if my heart is broken in the +process. Thank you! A vow once sworn need never be repeated. Yet do +not forget, aunt, if you please, that it is registered. He refuses to +go into highborn society where noble ladies are, preferring play and +duelling-clubs, and you dread his making a _mesalliance_, rather than +which you would accept poor me as a _pis-aller_.' (Here the young lady +made a curtsey.) 'Many thanks. Is this at all like the truth? Pardon +my speaking plainly. It's best to be aboveboard. After this time we +will, with your good leave, never return to the hateful subject. That +I shall not be poor can surely claim no part in your calculations, for +he is thirty times wealthier than I can ever be. Rich!' she repeated, +with a harsh laugh. 'A rich Catholic will be a curiosity, _n'est ce +pas?_ If this is at all your course of thought, why not prevent his +going to the Little House? Speak to Mrs. Gillin as harshly as you +began to speak to me to-day, and there will surely be an end of the +matter. Or,' pursued the crafty maiden, remembering Tone's last +epistle, 'brush Norah from his mind by change of scene. Why not remove +for a few months to Ennishowen? It is long since you were there. Your +presence would do much to keep disloyal tenants quiet in these +disloyal times. Would not that be a capital example? The boys used to +love Ennishowen. Shane will forget the objectionable Norah whilst +pursuing the shy seal or shooting wild birds round Malin Head. Do you +remember the delirious delight of him and Terence when they dragged +their first seal into the boat under Glas-aitch-e Cliff, and how you +told me not to be afraid of looking over the garden parapet into the +green water dashing so far below? Ah, those were days!' the girl +pursued, kindling. 'Our only care whether the fish would bite or the +shot carry----' then she was stopped by a lump rising in her throat, +stirred by the thought of how different those days were from these, +when the thunderous cloud was drawing lower, lower--and she--a +reserved young lady--was becoming alarmingly familiarised with secret +despatches; a political phantasmagoria; a threatened collision between +two classes, whose hate was bubbling over. + +The rebellious tears well-nigh burst their bonds; but a strong will +was throned within that shapely head. My lady turned angrily upon her +niece; for though discomfited and prepared to run up a flag of truce, +it was not to be expected that she should endure this last speech +without resenting it. Miss Wolfe's pertness harrowed her proud soul. +She had pretended to look on her aunt as in her dotage--a toothless +harridan, with no distinguishing attribute except white hair, and had +presumed to charge her with ridiculous motives; had torn the dazzling +glamour of his rank from Shane, exposing to view a skin as shaggy as +the ass's; even going so far as to stigmatise him to his doting mother +as a drunkard and a murderer; and, to cap all, had wound up with +patronising advice. An ordinary lady of middle age would resent such +treatment; how much more then the stern Countess of Glandore, whose +nature was toughened by contact with the fire, who was always regarded +with awe-stricken terror when she deigned to honour any of the Castle +festivities, and who was quite a terrifying personage even to the +wives and daughters of contemporary grandees. + +Would the stubborn girl be true to her hasty vow? My lady feared she +would, though for the moment she was too angry to consider calmly of +it. Fierce wrath darted from under her squared brows; her high nose +grew thinner; a network of small meshes twitched about her mouth; her +long fingers tightly clutched the gold snuffbox which usually lay +within them. Yet Miss Wolfe, having recovered her self-possession, +looked sombrely at the frost-crowned volcano without a tremor. + +'Doreen,' my lady said, 'if your father knew of you what I know, it +would kill him; but I elect to hold my tongue, because I love my +brother more than you your father. That you should be insolent to me +is what I might expect; so I bear that with equanimity. Thank you for +showing me how wrong I was in forming a Utopian scheme for joining my +brother's child to Shane. We will say no more about that.' (Doreen +heaved a sigh of relief.) 'The indelicacy of your proceedings has +shown me that such a thing would be an insult to our name. What! a +girl who corresponds clandestinely with a married man; who gallops +like a trull about the country, regardless, not only of her own fair +fame, but of her family's; who is on terms of familiar intercourse +with a parcel of scatter-brained youths who make the capital of +notoriety out of the jingle of sedition. Is this a girl to be received +in respectable society? You spoke plainly; so do I. If I were to +publish what I chance to know of you, no decent family would receive +you within their doors. But I must bear with you for many reasons; +your base mother's blood among the rest. You must be the skeleton in +our cupboard. All I beg is, that you will rattle your bones less +publicly.' + +Doreen's dark skin was mottled with pallor; her breath laboured; her +lips formed words, yet no sound issued thence. At last she panted out: + +'Aunt! you do not believe this of me! You must know me better!' + +Then she stopped, perceiving Miss Curran's startled visage in the +doorway, which my lady could not, having her back turned to it. + +'Believe it? Yes, I do,' cried the exasperated countess; 'I believe +that you----' + +'No! Hold your tongue! If you have no respect for yourself or me, have +some for Sara!' Doreen exclaimed, as she hurried to the door. + +My lady was filled with remorse, and bit her lips. Her temper had got +the better of her prudence; and regret followed swiftly upon angry +words. + +'Doreen!' she cried, in a sudden desire to make good in some sort the +mischief which was done; 'Doreen, at least be careful with your +correspondence; see that no one intercepts it; that no one tampers +with your letters!' + +'My letters are my own,' Doreen retorted over her shoulder, haughtily. +'Don't you ever dare to touch them.' Then passing her arm round the +waist of trembling Sara, she led her away to enjoy a delightful duet +of tears in private. + +My lady remained for a long while looking straight before her, +bewailing much the unexpected turn which things had taken. It was +unwise, considering what lay at the bottom of her heart, to have +goaded the damsel as she had done. A high mettled steed resents the +curb. Now all that had been said about clandestine correspondence, and +so on, was strictly true; was only what it behoved a judicious +relative to place in its true light before an impulsive girl, who +might come to find her reputation gone before she was aware there was +a stain on it. Yet her heart smote the countess when she marked the +look of horrified dismay which dawned in her niece's face during the +last harangue. It is an ill thing to corrupt a mind which is innocent. +Unhappily this is a wicked world, in which it is necessary for us to +note certain sinful details for our own safety's sake. Yet it is not a +pleasing job to impart such intelligence for the first time, +especially when ill-temper bids us make the worst of it. Lady Glandore +knew perfectly well that there could be nothing in the letters from +the married man, except treason; and that she had done wrong in +suggesting something else. Doreen, she thought, was not a girl to +break off the correspondence in consequence of this new light. +Indignant, strong in the purity of her motives, she would only hate +her aunt and cling the more persistently to the married man and all +the other scatter-brained young persons, and plunge more deeply into +danger, through bravado. + +As she meditated, examining each thrust that had been made on either +side, she regretted bitterly her foolish speeches; and then her heart +grew sick within her as she came upon a barb, which, flung without +aim, hung from a smarting wound. As the maiden had suggested, what +should prevent reckless Shane from marching off to church some day +with pretty Norah, and returning to crave a blessing? The very thought +of such a fatal proceeding caused my lady to rise from her seat with a +bound, and wring her hands in anguish. + +'What have I done--what have I done?' she groaned, 'that an earthly +purgatory should be my lot? Did I fail in my duty to my lord? Was I +not too indulgent a wife, screening his unfaithfulness, enduring +insult without end from that dreadful woman?' + +Then she reflected how his death had not brought peace to her; how +relentless Time had administered secret scourgings, whilst she +appeared to be sitting--a noble, envied widow--between two growing +sons. Was her torment to go on increasing, instead of wearing itself +out with its own rigour? What would be the end? That early sin which +took place so long ago--could any one declare that she was aught but +an unwilling agent in it? Might the trace of it never be washed clean? +Was suicide the only means of escape from an agony to which on earth +there seemed no term? If, driven by despair, she were to hurry +unbidden into the presence of her Maker, might she not hope to be +forgiven? If your cross is too heavy for your strength, sure you may +be pardoned for casting it aside! + +As she writhed, a prey to phantoms of retrospect, she felt that her +sin was not a faded one of long ago; that it continued still, and that +while she permitted it to roll on unchecked, numbers at compound +interest were being chalked to her account. That dreadful secret which +had blanched her hair! Years had woven such confusing complications +round it, that were she, taking her courage in both hands, to speak +out now, it would be only to transfer a burthen, not destroy it. No, +no! Ten times no! The time for setting right the wrong was past--past, +irretrievably. Instead of moaning over it, it were better to +concentrate all attention upon this matter of Shane and Norah. At all +hazards, the billing and cooing of that couple must be stopped while +there was time. Shane was the late earl's eldest son, and Mrs. +Gillin----! And Norah was sixteen years old, bred a Protestant by my +lord's special desire. Could his wife be misled in her suspicions? The +conduct of Mrs. Gillin in the matter was most amazing. My lady +surveyed it from all points of view. Truly she was racked by many +torments. Ate was at work. The orders of the dread goddess were being +carried out by the Eumenides. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + A MOTHER'S WILES. + + +Having indulged in a soothing torrent of tears, Doreen departed with +lightened heart with the other young people for an excursion on the +bay. She felt all the better for the passage of arms, for her breezy +common-sense told her that my lady's charges resulted from momentary +pique, and had no foundation in conviction. But, resulting from the +quarrel, a vista had risen in her mind for the first time of what she +might be sacrificing for her people's sake. Evil tongues will wag. +Women who brave public opinion have always gone to the wall, time out +of mind. No. Not always. Scandal had nothing to say against the maid +of Domremy; Judith's fair fame was smirched in nowise by that little +supper _en tete-a-tete_ with Holofernes. Miss Wolfe failed to consider +that the rapid action of that Jewish tragedy, with its pitiless +termination in the murder of a helpless sleeper, did much to keep the +tongue of scandal quiet. Had she held clandestine interviews with the +doughty general, walked with him by moonlight and so forth, it is +highly probable that all the geese in Jewry would have cackled, and +that the heroine would have been tabooed for a brazen slut. Now the +young lady whose peculiar position interests us so much at present, +while perfectly innocent of wrong-doing, could not but see that her +motives might possibly be misinterpreted; that spiteful remarks, +similar to her aunt's, would probably go the round of Dublin. Was she +prepared to endure opprobrium? was the game worth the candle she was +burning for it? was the good she was likely to achieve at all in +proportion to the social ruin which would fall upon herself? Like the +generous young person that she was, her first romantic feeling was an +exultant glow at the distant prospect of martyrdom; her second--due to +the practical firmness of her character--a doubt whether she might not +be self-deceived by inexperience. Then her father too--the good weak +father who cared very much for sublunary fleshpots--what would he say +when he came to know how deeply circumstances were involving his child +in matters which he would surely disapprove? She could not help the +stirring of an idea (which she strove hard to lull to rest) to the +effect that it is not very heroic to drag innocent people into a mess; +and a second one moved at the stirring of the first, which whispered +that if her own name were to be publicly bandied, her father would +certainly get into trouble for not keeping her in check. Her aunt's +was the wisdom of the world; there was no doubt about it. + +It is all very well to sacrifice yourself, vow that you will never +marry, that no woodbine-bonds of family affection shall be permitted +to spring up around you--provided that you stand quite alone. If you +have a parent who delights in fleshpots, who holds an honourable +situation of which your own heroics may deprive him, it is surely a +matter of doubt whether your better part would not be the dusting of +household furniture, the warming of slippers, the mending of old +stockings, instead of the more picturesque operation of donning +plume and helm. What, I wonder, did the parents of Joan of Arc +think of their daughter when she abandoned the care of sheep to go +a-soldiering? Doreen recognised the objections to her proposed course +with a pang, but wavered, searching for an excuse such as should +render her desires commendable. She would have liked to go down to +posterity as a female Moses. The position of the budding lawgiver at +Pharaoh's court was somewhat like her own, save in the important point +that he had no father who loved fleshpots. If it might only be +permitted for Arthur Wolfe's daughter to wean him from them to better +things! But that seemed too good a prospect to be hoped for, so with a +sigh she put it from her. + +As, after the recent skirmish, she reviewed the situation, I grieve to +relate she was not sorry for her pertness. My lady had no business to +say what she had said, to make rude speeches, and to worry about +Shane. The young lady conceived herself bound to speak up boldly in +self-defence, to put my lady down on the subject of private liberty, +as she often did in the matter of King William. The two ladies started +in all things from two opposite poles. That they should clash was +inevitable. But she did promise herself to be more prudent in the +future for her father's sake; to do what was feasible for the good +cause in private, strictly remaining in the background herself, come +what might. And this resolution being firmly graven on her mind, she +busied herself about fishing-tackle with the placid calm which passed +with her for cheerfulness. + +Meanwhile my lady sat alone in the tapestry-saloon among the faded +effigies of departed Crosbies, looking appealingly at them as though +they could help her in an extremity. The guiding spring of her life +had been pride, which became firmly grafted by marriage in the glory +of her husband's lineage. Pride it was which had supported her +fainting heart in many a bitter struggle. Black care had thinned her +cheek, had pressed crow's-feet about her restless eyes; yet, save for +a querulous manner and the peculiar sudden dilation of the pupil which +struck us when first we were introduced to the stately countess in +'83, there was but little that was unusual on the surface to tell a +new acquaintance that the battle which she fought was never-ceasing. + +In the late lord's lifetime she was wretched enough--but with a +numbing dulness which is its own anodyne. Moreover, as we discovered +on his deathbed, the important secret, if important it were, had +been shared between the two. A secret known to even one other person, +whose feelings in the matter are similar to our own, is lightened by +more than half its weight. He died. His widow was condemned to drag +the chain alone--worse than alone, for yet one other person knew +of it whose feelings were remote from friendly. The late lord's +devil-may-care visage glanced sideways down with an eternal smirk from +its frame upon the wall. He was dead. His breast was unburthened. He +slept in peace, and there was his smiling counterfeit grinning at his +unhappy partner. Did he sleep in peace? Oh! If she could have been +sure of that! But no. Possibly he was enduring torments even worse +than hers. As he lay choking between the confines of two worlds, +perchance he had been allowed to see what was still concealed from her +human ken--and then had cried out the warning--'Set right that wrong +while you have the opportunity.' How horribly unjust seemed the +retribution which pursued her! Her sin had been the negative one of +living a long lie. If she had had courage to confess--to abase her +stiff-necked pride--the wrong might have been set right with but +little serious injury to any but herself. But my lord--the prime +sinner--had encouraged this pride, declaring that there was no call +for a great sacrifice--until the last moment when his eyes were +opened, and he called out in his agony, 'Beware!' By that time the +pride so long nurtured was become a second nature. + +She could not all of a sudden break through the ramparts of long +usage. It was very well for him to cry 'Stand on the pillory,' when he +was himself flitting beyond the reach of stone-throwing. It was very +well for his odious concubine to cry 'Confess!' who would be no +sufferer by the confession. By that improvised death-couch the widow +had turned the matter over in all its phases. Then she had not +perceived that, with every rising sun, the confession would become +more difficult--that (despite the lying proverb) the rolling stone +would gather moss till it should move slowly and more slowly, pressing +her breath out by degrees ere it ground her to powder under its +weight. + +Sometimes she tried to forget, and almost fancied that she succeeded, +almost believed that her conscience was quite hardened. Then something +would take place--a trivial circumstance--one of Doreen's idle shafts, +which set her nerves jarring, and the painful truth forced itself upon +her that there are tender spots on the most seared of consciences. She +had wild accesses of rage within the secrecy of her own chamber, in +that my lord who simpered on the wall should have wrecked her life so +utterly. She took refuge in religion, loathing the faith of the +surviving participator in her secret as an outlet for surging hate and +bitterness. She tried to take refuge from her own trouble by smoothing +that of others, but even in this--the last resource of those who see +life through jaundiced spectacles--she found little consolation, for +the trouble which she soothed was at least open and laid bare. And so +the distinct working of a double consciousness--one for good and one +for evil at the same time--(which we all feel within us) became +unusually evident in Lady Glandore, urging her at one moment to a rash +act for which she was gnawed by deep remorse the next. May this +account for the growing dislike which she nourished for her second +son, while she fed the poor with soup and wrapped their limbs in +flannel? Perhaps it was the singular contradictions of her character +which induced Lord Clare to like and to respect her so much, and which +permitted him at the same time to make that disgraceful suggestion +without fear of exclusion from the Abbey, anent Tone's letter. + +For the thousandth time, as she twisted in the great chair, my lady +wondered whether it was really too late to humble herself, to grovel +in the dust, and make confession. There was an obstacle which rendered +a tardy repentance impossible, at least until it was removed. That +long-cherished match between Shane and Doreen must be accomplished +first; then, perhaps--but surely it could not be so absolutely urgent! +Time, so far, had brought with him only a complication of troubles, +more tangled than his usual fardel. Where was his all-comforting +finger, about which the poets have raved? Sure he would relent, and +spare the countess the supreme sacrifice. Not that so far he showed +much sign of relenting. This idea of Doreen's about a secret marriage, +which had sent the blood tearing back to her aunt's heart, was an +extra knot in the web that was smothering her. Norah must be put away; +Shane must be seriously exhorted to observe his cousin's charms. Of +course she would never marry Terence; nobody wished her to do so. This +my lady decided comfortably, on the principle that we easily believe +that which we desire. How could Arthur Wolfe be bolstered into showing +greater strength of character, and induced to obey his sister? If she +were to tell him what she knew of Doreen, to impress on him by this +means that a speedy marriage was necessary for her.--No! That would +not do. He would be capable of carrying her off in a fright to London, +Paris, Rome--anywhere out of temptation's reach. + +Then, again, the dowager reflected on the chances of who Norah's +father was; and again her agony ascended to a paroxysm. At all hazards +so awful a shadow as this hideous new one that loomed must be +exorcised. How? Mrs. Gillin was brutish and pitiless, of course. Why +did she encourage this terrible flirtation? She could not realise, +surely, the sharpness of the tools with which she played. Come what +might of it, it was plainly her duty, for everybody's sake (so the +chatelaine pondered), to take Madam Gillin to task as to her present +conduct. + +It is all very well to stick pins in your rival's seat (so she must +explain to her), but it is your distinct interest to be quite certain +that you yourself may not be called upon to sit on them. Gillin's +spite against my lady was doubtless great. She would do much to injure +her, but not to the extent of ruining her own daughter, surely? For, +somehow or other--probably on the principle that life not being hard +enough, we must practise self-torture--my lady had quite made up her +mind as to Norah's parentage. Now Gillin must be bidden forthwith to +stop this scandal--and my lady was the one person who could venture to +broach the subject. Then qualms of pride arose within the latter's +breast. The twain had never spoken but once--on the dreadful evening +at Daly's club-house. At Castle-balls they had looked with Medusan +gaze right through each other; for the compact was there--no less +binding that it was unwritten--that the mistress and the wife should +never speak, save on the subject of that secret. Had things not gone +crooked, nothing could have been more satisfactory than such a +compact. As things were, was not Mrs. Gillin--inflamed to vulgar wrath +through her sinful designs being exposed--certain to set her foul +tongue clacking, to delve into old sores whose cicatrices were yet +soft, to plunge into long-buried matters within hearing, perhaps, of +other vulgar wretches, who, in surprised horror, would blab to all the +world. Thus did my lady attempt to gloss over her own dread, to veneer +the promptings of her pride with plausible reasons for avoiding that +which conscience--speaking through unconscious Doreen--had specially +declared must be done without delay. + +But it was more than a merely human woman might be called upon to do. +In my lord's time people, more sensitive than the herd, marvelled that +the countess could bear the insulting presence of her flaunting rival +with such stoical equanimity. That much she had bravely borne. But of +her own free will to descend from a pedestal occupied with dignity +during half a lifetime; to lower herself to an interview with the +concubine, who would surely jump upon the rival, voluntarily abased, +was more, much more, than might be demanded of a mortal. It was not +possible to call upon Mrs. Gillin. The only remaining plan was to take +Shane away; to follow Doreen's counsel, and move the household to +Ennishowen. + +At this point in her self-communing, the limbs of the countess shook +with palsy, and her haggard face looked really aged. Since the +commencement of her married life, she had carefully eschewed +Glas-aitch-e, the wild islet on Lough Swilly, where the decayed castle +of Ennishowen stood, and where _that_ had taken place which was the +beginning of her troubles. It would be dreadful to have to revisit +that spot; yet to that sacrifice at least she was able to resign +herself, hoping that it might be counted as half a penance. But Shane, +would he consent to be carried thither? to forego the society of +Norah, the allurements of Dublin taverns? And if he did in this much +obey his mother, could the match with his cousin be in anywise +promoted? My lady's brain grew weary and bewildered as she tried to +fit into harmony the pieces of her puzzle. + +There was beloved Shane, galloping in, unkempt, from last night's +debauch. So soon as he had had time to bathe and dress himself, his +mother resolved to summon the dear prodigal to her presence-chamber, +and try what her influence could accomplish. + +When her favourite son appeared before her, with two pointers +gambolling about him, the countess's stern face softened; and well it +might, for he was a comely spectacle. Rather low in stature, but +elegantly made, with hair brushed backwards and fastened by a diamond +clasp, he looked, with his delicate wan face, and eyes rendered the +more lustrous for the dark circles round them, a fit guardian of the +honour of Glandore. His air and manner when in his mother's presence +(as, indeed, in that of Doll Tearsheet, or any other woman) assumed an +exquisite blandness, such as gave a false first impression of +effeminacy, which was corroborated by the tiny dimensions of his hand. +But are not first impressions snares, my brethren, for the deceiving +of the unwary? That gazelle-like eye could, on occasion, shoot forth a +light of cold ferocity; that finely-modelled little forefinger had +many a time sent a hapless boon companion to his last account for an +idle jest, with a cool precision and nonchalance which compelled an +unwilling sort of admiration, despite its ruffianism. But this morning +he was in the best of humours, as Eblana and Aileach danced about him, +wagging their tails and tumbling over and over, in their delight at +his friendly notice; for his head did not burn, neither was his tongue +parched, and he registered a mental resolution to send a yacht +forthwith to Douglas for another hogshead or two of that especially +pure claret. + +Drawing around him the ample folds of his morning-gown (that +becoming one of rose-coloured brocade, thickly frogged and tasselled +in gold), he kissed his mother lightly, and played with the jewelled +watch-chains which dangled from either fob. As her eyes wandered over +his neat limbs, which looked their best in tight blue-striped +pantaloons that ended midway down the calf in a great bunch of +ribbons, her spirits rose, for sure no damsel in her senses could long +resist so refined a combination of elegant graces, leaving the lustre +of the coronet quite out of the question. But the female heart--as my +lady might be expected to remember--is prone to erratic courses; to +start off down crooked byways, instead of keeping the straight road; +to take distracting and inconvenient fancies, and generally to +distress its friends. + +But Shane was a _parti comme il y en a peu_. If he could only be +induced to abandon the Doll Tearsheets, and direct amorous glances at +the high-born young ladies of the metropolis, Doreen might be +permitted to run her foolish race unchecked, for Shane could be well +married without her. Unluckily the male heart is not too justly +balanced neither. Shane liked something more highly spiced than an +innocent miss, who, he declared, always made him qualmish with a smell +of bread and butter. Nobody could accuse Doreen of anything so vapid, +and Shane certainly liked Doreen after a careless fashion, though he +never in his life had made love to her. My lady now proposed to rate +him on this subject, for the possibility of choosing another bride for +him in due time was finally put out of the question by the imminent +danger of some catastrophe with Norah. It was clear, all things +considered, that there was nothing for it but to remove my lord +forthwith to his fastness in the north, and keep him there for a time; +and it was quite certain that no high-born damsels with suitable +attributes were to be found in the wilds of Donegal, straying about in +search of husbands. + +'Mother!' Shane said gaily, 'we had such a whimsical accident last +night. George Fitzgerald wagered to keep three of the best of us at +bay with his single rapier-point, for a whole hour. I saw he was too +drunk to stand, so I took the bet at once, and off we marched, +borrowing their lanterns from the watchmen as we passed, to the ring +in Stephen's Green. George steadied himself against the statue, and +really made superb play--I could not have done better myself--till +somebody in the crowd shouted, "For God's sake part them!" to which +another blackguard hallooed, "Let them have it out, for one will be +killed, and the rest hanged for murder, and so we shall be rid of a +bunch of pests." Of course this roused us, so we all turned on him, +just to show he was wrong; and faix he was wrong, sure enough, for +'twas he that got killed, and none of us are ripe for hanging.' + +'But, Shane!' my lady exclaimed, 'who was the man? You are so +imprudent.' + +'No one of any importance,' responded her son, carelessly. 'An old +busybody--a shoemaker, I think, or a baker. Sure it was an accident, +for George meant only to pink the spalpeen, and his sword went in too +far--a miscalculation. Do you know, mother, that there'll soon be no +end to the insolence of these ruffians? There's a report at the Castle +that that crazy idiot Tone, to whom you were always much too kind, has +succeeded in persuading the French to take up his cudgels. He'll dance +the Kilmainham minuet, as the saying is, take my word for it, and +serve him right; but Lord Camden really thinks it's serious. He talked +with such mystery of plots last evening, of some scheme for attacking +Dublin, that I thought his excellency was having a joke with us, till +he said if things go on as they are going, there'll be nothing for it +but to proclaim martial law.' + +My lady meditated for a time, reviewing this intelligence. 'Then these +United Irish did not intend to be mere wind-bags?' she thought, and my +Lord Camden was beginning to be afraid of them. Her common-sense told +her that if, in a tussle, they got even for a moment the upper hand, +their vengeance would fall heavily upon the perpetrators of such +reckless escapades as that which Shane had just narrated. At any rate, +it was not good to give them such food for complaint. My lady's caste +prejudices blinded her to the fact that when half-a-dozen youths (even +blue-blood ones) set on a single man and slay him, the act is no +better than murder, though they are content to deplore it for a minute +as an accident. There was no doubt left in her mind that Doreen's +advice had been of the very best. She must even go to Ennishowen, +however great the pain might be to herself in the revival of +unpleasant memories. So, shaking her head, she remarked: 'Dear Shane! +in '45 the Scotch rebels advanced within a hundred miles of London. If +5,000 ragged Highlanders are capable of that, why should not the +French army march on Dublin? Lord Clare spoke to me yesterday on the +subject of the yeomanry. It seems that the Privy Council expect you to +undertake this district.' + +'I should like that!' Shane said. + +'It would not be wise, though,' returned his mother, quietly. 'The +aristocracy will have a difficult game to play if these silly people +really aim at violence. The executive will have brought it on +themselves, and it's only fair that they should get out of their own +difficulties in their own way. In '82, when your father and I both +wore the uniform, the case was different. Landlord and tenant were +united, as lord and servant of the soil, against a foreigner who had +maltreated both. Things have changed since then. The position of the +nobles is different. They have become Anglicised. Much of their +interest is English. Yet it would be best for them not too openly to +join the foreigner in coercing their own tenants--at least, not just +now.' + +The cunning old lady was saying what she did not quite believe, having +in view an object, and Shane looked at her in surprise. + +'If riots take place,' the countess proceeded, 'the commander-in-chief +will put them down, if he thinks proper, with the English troops who +have come over lately; and he and they will bear the odium. The Irish +nobles would be placing themselves in a false position by interfering +against their own people with too great alacrity. At all events, they +will gain a point by waiting.' + +'But, mother, the other lords are heading the squireens. If I hold +back they will say I am a coward!' + +'Not so, my son. Your proceedings every day would give the lie to +that. I grant that if you sat here, or roystered on in Dublin, you +might be accused of shuffling, which would not do. But if you went +away? Not to England, no! That would not do either. Why not go to +Ennishowen, under the pretext that here everything is safe under the +paternal rule of the executive, whilst in the vast wild northern +district, over which you hold sway, it would be politic for the lord +to be amongst his tenants? You would be of local service, and at that +distance no one could be sure whether or no your future actions were +guided by events.' + +'You do not believe that this pack of fools will do any harm?' + +'Certainly not, or I would not counsel you to go away. Cannot you see +that in ignoble squabbles with the scum it is best to keep clean hands +by remaining neutral? They will be put down--of course they will be +put down; but, you stupid fellow, we must so manage that you have no +hand in it. We will go to Glas-aitch-e. 'Tis long since we were +there.' + +Shane twirled the satin ear of Eblana round his finger absently. This +move of his mother's puzzled him. What would his life be away at wild +Glas-aitch-e without his boon companions, among boors who had probably +never heard of a Hellfire Club? In earlier days he used to be madly +fond of field-sports, was still devoted to certain branches of the +chase. But suddenly to leave the joys of a gay metropolis to bury +himself in a hut on practically a desert island, was no pleasant +prospect. And dear Norah, too, must she be left behind? Accustomed as +he was to bow to his mother's ascendency in political questions as in +the management of the estates, the vision of Norah deploring in +dishevelled loneliness the absence of his fascinating self was too +much for him. + +'I cannot go, mother! It would look like flight,' he said with a show +of firmness. + +My lady was too acute not to read his thoughts; too wise to expect her +son to yield without a flutter. She moved with stately sweep to where +he sat, and, pressing his face with her two hands, whispered fondly as +she knelt down beside him. 'My darling, do you not know that I would +cut my heart out for you, that I would walk to the stake to save you +one needless pang? Men can never realise the fulness of a mother's +love--the sublimity of its unselfishness--the majesty of its devotion. +It is the one ray of the Divine which has been allowed to glimmer +forth on our dull earth. Do you suppose I would counsel you to aught +that could bring you injury? that I have not anxiously weighed each +side of the question before deciding what is best? You know that I +love you much better than myself. You know that Heaven has denied you +cleverness. You are not clever, my poor child; but we can't help that, +can we? And you are not good, I am sorely afraid. Yet as your mother I +love you no whit the less. Try to comprehend what a mother's love is +like--how large--how grandly blind in that it might see but will not!' + +As she spoke, the poor lady who had been so buffeted by worldly +troubles was transfigured by the strength of her affection for this +one being. The fact of her loving nothing else served but to increase +her love. As one, some of whose senses have decayed whilst others are +proportionately sensitised, she felt with intensity all which affected +her firstborn. It was strange that she could not remember that Terence +also was her son--that he had pined for such a display as this all his +life in vain--that even now (yawning in the Four-courts) he would have +upset the presiding judge and sent all the attorneys to a man into +the Liffey, and galloped at breakneck speed to Strogue if his mother +would only have given him one of the looks which she was lavishing on +Shane--one of those hand-touches that are in nowise akin to +'paddling,' but which send stronger thrills through us than the most +languishing of eyes. + +'Ireland is being involved in complicated difficulties,' she pursued. +'You must be obedient, and allow me to lead you through them safely. +It will only be for a month or two. Then all will be over, and we can +come back here again. Say you will do as I wish?' + +Shane never could long withstand his mother's coaxing, when she +condescended to implore. Is it not always thus? Is it not worth while +to be haughty, arrogant, ill-tempered--as the case may be--if only for +the fuller appreciation of our benignity when we elect to be benign? +Shane clung to the dowager's last straw, which with artful artlessness +she had held out to him. It would only be for a month or two. It would +do Norah all the good in life to miss her beloved for a space; while +he was away, she would measure his merits, and fly with rapture to his +bosom on his return. It would be rather fun, too, again to visit for a +few weeks the haunts he used so to doat upon. But it ill became him as +one of the sterner sex to be over-easily persuaded. + +'It will be very dull up there, mother,' he objected. + +'How civil of you,' the countess said, kissing him, for she saw the +point was gained. 'If you are a good boy, I will ask your uncle to let +Doreen come too. Her eccentricities will enliven us.' + +'You are always talking of Doreen?' complained my lord. 'I can't see +why you make so much fuss about her.' + +'Then we won't take her,' responded my lady, with prompt and +Machiavellian wisdom. + +'I care not,' he returned 'Perhaps we had better take her, and I'll +teach her to shoot seals.' + +And so the matter was decided, whilst my lady made up her mind that, +once in Donegal, her son should stop there under one pretext or +another until all danger from Miss Gillin should be averted. + + + + END Of VOL. I. + + + + * * * * * + BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _S. & H_. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. 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