initial commit of ebook 38862HEADmain

9 files changed, 23199 insertions, 0 deletions

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/38862-8.txt b/38862-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55761f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7679 @@
+Project Gutenberg's My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (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. II (of III)
+       A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention  to the Union
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38862]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+
+
+
+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. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+
+                       RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
+
+           Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+
+                                1879.
+
+                       [_All Rights Reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+           'God of Battles! aid us;
+              Let no despot's might
+            Trample or degrade us,
+              Seeking this our right!
+            Arm us for the danger;
+              Keep our craven fear
+            To our breasts a stranger--
+              God of Battles! Hear!'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
+
+
+   CHAPTER
+
+         I. A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.
+
+        II. DOREEN'S PLANS.
+
+       III. THE CLOVEN FOOT.
+
+        IV. WE PIPED UNTO YOU.
+
+         V. AWAY TO DONEGAL.
+
+        VI. GLAS-AITCH-É.
+
+       VII. SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.
+
+      VIII. MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.
+
+        IX. THE DUEL.
+
+         X. THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.
+
+        XI. THE RISING OF THE TEMPEST.
+
+       XII. DANGER.
+
+      XIII. THE HURRY.
+
+       XIV. VAE VICTIS!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         MY LORDS OF STROGUE
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                       A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.
+
+
+The dowager's words produced their effect upon Doreen, despite her
+virtuous indignation. She no longer committed herself by indiscreet
+communings with the 'scatter-brained young men.' She seemed to be
+growing lukewarm to the cause as the decisive moment approached,
+shirking responsibility in a way her character belied, to the surprise
+of the patriots, amongst whom we must count Cassidy. The giant
+remarked with pained astonishment that she gave him no grateful look
+when he whispered about the pikes, when he hinted with dark nods that
+Phil and Biddy had been busy in the night; and he reflected with
+self-upbraiding that this change must be due to his ill-timed wooing.
+No doubt it was presumptuous in a 'half-mounted' to aspire to an
+heiress, but sure she should accept as a compliment a piece of
+bungling for which her own charms were entirely responsible. He
+resolved to be more careful in the future, striving to bridge the
+breach by a nimble deference tempered by judicious sadness; and let no
+opportunity pass of making himself useful to the young earl. His hands
+were pretty full, thanks to my Lords Clare and Camden, who pursued the
+stormy tenor of their way with an edifying steadiness of purpose. He
+gladly rode errands for Lord Glandore, did shopping for the countess,
+drank bumpers in the Castle-yard in company with Major Sirr, waited
+about in my Lord Clare's anteroom; became a ubiquitous, faithful, and
+generally useful personage. He brought news sometimes of the gravest
+moment to the mysterious resorts where Dublin 'prentices were
+pretending to play ball; which hints resulted more frequently than not
+in a message smuggled in a loaf to the prisoners at Kilmainham and a
+courier sent galloping far away into the country.
+
+The electric cloud loomed near on the horizon. Lord Clare watched the
+threatening vapour as it rolled, increasing hourly in volume, and,
+laughing, showed his gums. The ranks of the yeomanry were swelling day
+by day, thanks to the exertions of large proprietors whose interest it
+was to be well with the court; thanks to the complaisant alacrity of
+the squireens who acted at the beck of the great landowners. Small
+riots took place both in the capital and in the provinces, tussles
+between browbeaten peasants and a soldiery who grew hourly more
+insolent, which originated for the most part in taunts at the old
+faith. Rumours floating vaguely, none knew whence, became current
+gossip, hints of a French invasion, of a landing somewhere in the
+north, which should set free the enslaved Catholics--of a Republican
+crusade in favour of liberty of conscience. The Orange societies of
+the north took the alarm. 'Liberty of conscience indeed!' they cried.
+'We remember what happened in King James's time, when the national
+religion was for a brief space triumphant; how Protestants were
+massacred and their property destroyed. We will repel such an invasion
+with all our might, and will just prick these presuming slaves a
+little as a warning of what may follow.' There were excesses in Armagh
+and the cities of the north; wherein cottages were burnt, cattle
+confiscated, their owners hewn in pieces. News of military outrages
+arrived in Dublin; and the public, growing uneasy, looked to the
+Castle to mark its attitude. Ever since Lord Camden's advent, people
+remarked, things had been going wrong. Traitors by dozens had been
+imprisoned or executed. Coercion was the order of the day. But popular
+opinion had been divided; one party declaring that traitors must be
+hanged for the security of the body politic, the opposite party
+cogently pointing out that if Government acted with more prudence, men
+would not be driven into treason. But now the matter was taking a new
+form. One class, which had always been antagonistic to the other, was
+showing overt symptoms of the harshest tyranny. The Protestant
+ascendency party had banded itself together in armed force at the call
+of Government for the protection of the land. It was obvious that this
+armed force must not be permitted to exert its strength against its
+own brethren of another faith--to convert a deplorable harshness, of
+which in memory of man the instances were isolated, into a regularly
+organised system like that of Elizabeth. Government must interfere
+promptly, men said. These savage squireens, who swaggered in the
+King's colours, must be taught at once to curb their brutal
+proclivities, or a reign of terror would result such as shocked Europe
+in '89.
+
+But Government did nothing of the kind. My Lord Clare held up his
+delicate hands in the lobby of the House of Lords, and, under shadow
+of William's statue, harangued passing senators upon the iniquity of
+the lower orders.
+
+'It is awful,' he declared in his rasping voice. 'What will Mr. Pitt
+say? He will withdraw your pensions, my poor gentlemen, unless you act
+with decision. Arm your vassals, my lords. The French will come and
+murder us in our beds. I vow the country is in danger. The Catholics
+must be shown their place.'
+
+That the country was in danger there could be little doubt; but it was
+not precisely from the side to which the crafty chancellor thought fit
+to point.
+
+Parliament met in solemn conclave, and did as it was told. Curran and
+a few others rose up in their places, solemnly protesting against a
+policy which sprang from a hidden fear of the lower orders. An Act of
+Indemnity was passed with regard to the proceedings in the north.
+Magistrates and petty officers were held to have behaved wisely in
+permitting cottages to be burnt in the name of religion, in allowing
+fathers of families to be kidnapped in the night, and spirited away no
+one might tell whither. A profound feeling of wrath was stirred over
+all the land by the passing of this, and the Insurrection Bill which
+allowed it; whereby, amongst other things, a power of arbitrary
+transportation was given to magistrates, and outrages made legal which
+till now had been accomplished in defiance of the law. People saw
+clearly that the majority of both Lords and Commons were merely the
+representatives of their own greed and their own venality; that
+nothing could free motherland from a vicious thraldom of unpatriotic
+selfishness but a reform of Parliament and a complete change in the
+system of Government. How was this to be accomplished? There was the
+knotty point. Was the threatened rising of the masses really
+inevitable? Could they accomplish their objects at all if France
+should refuse substantial help? Was Government deliberately acting for
+a wicked purpose, or was the crime merely the negative one of
+incapacity? Agitation-meetings blaming the executive were held about
+the country, at which, when he heard of them, my Lord Clare expressed
+his amazement, ingeniously stating in public that he was astonished at
+the mildness of the Viceroy in not severely punishing the agitators.
+Such a hint was not lost upon his amateur colonels and military
+magistrates. They began to exhibit renewed examples of vigorous zeal,
+destroying property at pleasure, searching houses for arms, treating
+the inhabitants with such brutality that women fell into convulsions
+and brought forth children before their time. A singular effect of
+these proceedings, which in itself spoke volumes, was a sudden moral
+reform among the peasantry. Men who had been drunken became reclaimed;
+fairs and markets were undisturbed by quarrelling; factions which had
+been at feud for centuries smoked the pipe of peace together. Hatred,
+kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.
+It was felt that a moment was imminent when man might endure no more,
+when a down-trodden race must conquer its persecutors or seek relief
+from misery in death.
+
+Doreen, from her retreat among the roses, watched the current of
+events which now rushed with rapid impetuosity towards an horizon of
+blood; and as month followed month, each laden with its progressive
+freight of trouble, wondered with beating heart that no news should be
+received from Tone. Had his projects failed? She knew that the
+difficulties with which he was called to cope were immense. The last
+letter she had had from him, long ago now, spoke of an expedition
+getting ready, which should start before the end of summer. It was now
+August, and as she sat waiting week after week, both hope and
+expectation waning, a feeling of heart-sickness crept over her, which
+seemed to chill her life-blood and dry up her bones. One day,
+listlessly gazing as usual across the sea, she looked up and beheld
+red-polled Biddy making uncouth signals from the shrubbery--signals
+she had looked for so frequently in vain. A letter! Yes. It was--at
+last! But it brought no comfort. An expedition was nearly ready; but
+the leading spirit vacillated. General Hoche doubted whether the
+forces given to him were strong enough to do efficient service;
+whether the Irish were ready to receive them; whether the resources of
+Ireland had been truthfully laid before him.
+
+To Tone's chagrin Hoche informed the Directory that it was fitting,
+before their ships and treasure were committed to the waters,
+that somebody of weight should come to France from Ireland, to
+corroborate Tone's statements and bring the latest news. It was
+vexatious--despairing! What was to be done? In this new strait the
+young patriot urgently applied to his friend Miss Wolfe, to consult
+with the United Irishmen as to some one being sent without delay. One
+of the Emmetts, Russell, Neilson, anybody who knew anything. She must
+see to this, or all was lost; for if no satisfactory tidings were
+speedily received the expedition would be diverted to some other
+purpose, and Ireland left to fight her battles single-handed. In his
+trouble he had made statements which were rash, no doubt--had promised
+large sums to France, in the name of the future Directory of Ireland,
+and had said that many men of property desired the Revolution. Whoever
+was sent over must, to prevent further parleying, corroborate these
+statements. She must show extra caution however in dealing with this
+business, for a Judas was abroad, more than one, perhaps--there could
+be no doubt of that. Mr. Pitt seemed informed of everything that
+passed in Ireland--and in Paris too, for that matter. Caution and
+despatch were needful above all things.
+
+Doreen laid down this letter to consider it, with a presentiment of
+evil. The fevered workings of our distempered minds are not so
+terrible as the sledge-hammer blows which sometimes fall on us. Even
+the harassed conjectures born of fear prove less dreadful than
+realities. This was a blow which numbed her faculties. For her
+father's sake, who loved the fleshpots, she had resolved to be a calm
+spectator of the coming struggle--to mark the arrival of the French
+convoy and its certain triumph; to crown the successful heroes in
+private with metaphorical laurels; to forego for her living father's
+sake the joy of publicly helping in the emancipation of her dead
+mother's people. But here was something which put all her resolutions
+to flight.
+
+The entire scaffolding threatened to tumble about the ears of those
+who held her sympathies; and it seemed that it might be in her power
+to prevent that catastrophe. So long as neutrality was likely to do
+the Catholic party no harm, she was prepared to sacrifice the vanities
+which hang about picturesque heroism--to view the glorious results as
+a mere spectator instead of walking in the procession under the
+triumphal arches. But this letter woefully changed the face of the
+prospect. It was quite possible apparently (and she felt cold as she
+realised it) that the gorgeous fabric in which her soul revelled was
+to vanish into air, and that she might afterwards be accused of having
+by apathy brought about its crumbling! What was she to do? What in the
+scale was this twaddle of the dowager's--this buckram rubbish of an
+old school--this bit of red-tape, which might come to be the halter of
+liberty! But then her father--could she possibly have a right to bring
+suffering on him--to be in her own person the Nemesis who should deal
+punishment on him for his time-serving weakness?
+
+The tumult within her was such that her ears throbbed and her throat
+seemed closing--yet her unaided judgment must settle this question
+with calm pros and cons. There is nothing so clearing to a healthy
+intellect, temporarily clouded, as strong muscular exertion. Miss
+Wolfe stepped into the cockleshell which was her own, and went for a
+row upon the bay.
+
+She watched the shadows of the herring-boats, listened absently to the
+rhythmed cry of the fisherfolk as they landed the produce of their
+night's labour on the little quay, nodded in acknowledgment of their
+salutes, rowed herself with firm nervous strokes into mid-water, and
+then drifted. The freshness of a light breeze and the exertion seemed
+to string her nerves and clear her mind. She lay back in the light
+shallop, and trailing her brown fingers in the water, meditated. No!
+Her allegiance was due equally to both parents. Her father had cast
+his lot with the mammon of unrighteousness and gleaned the pleasant
+result of the proceeding. That was no reason for her to betray her
+mother's people. Much as she loved her father she differed widely from
+his views. She would keep in the background as much as might be, for
+his sake; but it certainly behoved her to act with promptitude and
+energy now. Send somebody over! Whom was she to send? Who was
+important enough for the mission? In whom might complete faith be
+placed? Cassidy was too bungling and stupid. Moreover he knew no word
+of French, and would be sure to make mistakes. Robert Emmett? Too
+young, too romantic; a student in Trinity besides, whose lengthened
+absence would be remarked. Thomas Emmett, alas! was in durance vile.
+Whom might she send? Whom? If Terence would only take things
+seriously, he was the very man for the undertaking. What a pity she
+had not used her influence with him to good purpose, Miss Wolfe
+thought with compunction. The Judith and Holofernes idea was idiotic,
+of course; but Terence was a fish that might have been played with a
+satisfactory result. Yet, after all, could the sacredness of the cause
+justify her in enacting Delilah to his Samson? Surely not. With
+humiliation she admitted that the trick would be unworthy of one who
+lived under the roof of Strogue.
+
+Terence had grown dreadfully cross of late. Once or twice her heart
+had bounded, for she had seemed to see that he was moody and disturbed
+on account of the way events were marching. Certainly he came home
+sometimes from the Four-courts with fierce denunciations on his lips
+anent the culpable folly of Lord Camden--but then he always calmed
+down again, when he was no longer hungry, hoping for better days, if
+Lord Clare would really take the helm. His belief in Lord Clare was
+the blindness which might be expected from a too simple mind.
+
+As the damsel drifted she built castles for herself. If Terence, who
+was manly enough and true enough, would only take things a little more
+_au sérieux!_ If men would only be true to their first impulse for
+good, what a much better world it would be! for, taken unawares, it is
+nearly always our good angel who speaks first. He is always awake, if
+timid; but his dusky, coarse-natured fellow snores so loudly, that it
+is no easy matter to make out clearly what he counsels. Terence grew
+indignant often; was very hot over the Indemnity Bill and Insurrection
+ditto, but neither ever disturbed his sleep one jot, or interfered in
+the smallest degree with his capacity for grouse and claret. What a
+pity it was! A dependable man, a man of rank, whose heart was in the
+right place if it would but speak--a man who, from his position, would
+with a breath remove Hoche's scruples. But there was no use in
+thinking of him. Somebody must be sent, and speedily, or the interests
+of the United Irishmen would be compromised. Somebody must be
+sent--but who?
+
+The young lady became aware that she was drifting out to sea--that it
+would require all her nautical science and muscular power to bring her
+frail boat to port by sunset; and she was bound to be home again by
+sunset on this especial evening, because it was a 'lady's night' at
+Crow Street Theatre, and my lady had warned her that loyal ladies must
+'show' there, because the Viceroy would be present, supported by a
+galaxy of beauty. So she handled her sculls like a true connexion of
+the pirate-earls; and as the warm blood tingled in her veins with the
+exertion, sent her little bark dancing over the water, her brain
+working busily the while.
+
+She decided that it was not possible to stand aloof at this juncture.
+Tone--the hero, at whose shrine she worshipped--conjured her to act.
+She would meet at Crow Street, probably, several of the prominent
+United Irishmen, and must choose her opportunity to confer secretly
+with them. Who could be sent to Paris with safety? None but Cassidy.
+What a pity he was so stupid! He meant well--of that she felt assured;
+but he would plead poverty--that was little matter, for she had jewels
+which might be pledged. But might he claim something more? Love-making
+and conspiracy do not go well together. A certain scene at the kennels
+recurred to her mind; and it was with a flush, more due to displeasure
+than healthful exercise, that at length she shot her boat beside the
+landing-stage. An unaccustomed shadow caused her to start and look
+upwards. A man was looking at her, with his thin legs apart and his
+arms folded across his chest--a little man, with elf-locks hanging
+about his face, and a strange melancholy smile upon his lips.
+
+'Faix! and ye're a grand boatwoman, Miss Doreen,' Mr. Curran said;
+'and ye look mighty well fingering those planks. I've bin watching you
+this half-hour, and wondering too--wondering whether, if I had been
+out alone where you were, I could ever be coaxed to return.'
+
+Doreen looked up quickly at him. Had something dreadful come to pass?
+Something dreadful was happening hourly with exasperating monotony.
+'We didn't expect you over to-day. Is Sara with you?'
+
+'No. I trotted over on my nag to see if Terence had returned; and must
+go back at once, as Sara wants to go to Crow Street.'
+
+'Is there anything new?' the young lady inquired, with averted face,
+as she fastened up her boat. She was constantly fretting morbidly
+about the slowness of Tim's tread, as people will who are devoured
+with impatience, and yet half-dread the fulfilment of their wishes.
+
+'New! No,' grunted the small lawyer. 'Would to heaven there were! No
+change could be for the worse. I have been engrossed these two days
+past in the Orr trial. Didn't Terence tell you? Well, well, he
+wouldn't shock ye. It's nothing new, faith! And there's no good
+talking of such things at home. They gave the verdict against us,
+despite all that I could urge; and the injustice was so glaring
+that Terence flew in a passion. Upon my word, he looked as fierce
+as his brother, the Prince of Cherokees! He vowed there was some
+mistake--that he would in person explain matters to the Viceroy
+(foolish lad--not to have learnt better by this time!); and so I
+trotted over to hear if he had succeeded in his suit.'
+
+'What was the case?'
+
+'Nothing particularly novel--another of the many evil results of the
+chancellor's Insurrection Bill,' grumbled Curran. 'One of its clauses
+breathes dire vengeance against such as administer illegal oaths.
+Rubbish! considering what you and I, young lady, know about a green
+bough in Britain's crown. Such oaths will be administered so long as
+this corrupt _régime_ continues--just as they have been for five years
+and more. A fine would meet the case--and it should be a light one;
+for indeed the provocation is not slight. But now such administering
+has become penal. A soldier--a drunken fellow in the Fencibles--comes
+forward, swears that one Orr--a harmless, obscure farmer, against whom
+he probably has a grudge--has induced him to take the oath, "Are you
+straight? as straight as a rush," and the rest. Maybe he has, maybe he
+hasn't--that's not the point; the jury retire, and remain closed up
+for hours--all through last night--far into this morning, and
+by-and-by give in a verdict of guilty. That farmer, who, on my
+conscience, I believe was innocent, is swinging by this time unless
+Terence's mission has been successful.'
+
+The two walked up the steep path, which led to the Abbey terrace, in
+silence. Doreen was thinking that her resolve was right. It should be
+no fault of hers if the French fleet failed to come with healing on
+its wings. Curran was plunged in sadness, for he was beginning to
+be convinced that the triumphal car of Government would bear him
+down--chosen champion, as he believed himself--with its overpowering
+weight, as it did others. Of what use was his eloquence as an advocate
+in presence of packed juries and bribed witnesses? It was talking to
+the wall--or worse, for at least the wall serves its purpose without
+shame, and is washed white, and receives no bribes; Major Sirr's
+juries and witnesses were accustomed, on the other hand, to arrange
+their affairs in a jovial fashion in the major's sanctum before coming
+into court. There was little of the whitewash about them!
+
+When Doreen conducted the lawyer into the tapestry-saloon, my lady was
+concerned at her eccentric little friend's dejection; and easily
+prevailed on him to dine before returning to the Priory. Terence did
+not appear, which was of evil augury; so his chief took the
+opportunity of the ladies retiring to their toilet, to mount his nag
+and gallop homewards, with a leaden weight within his breast.
+
+Neither the dowager nor her niece were theatre-going people. The
+former held dim uncomplimentary opinions about the private lives of
+actresses, and her pride of caste revolted at the familiar behaviour
+of the gallery, who were given to homely conversation with their
+betters in the boxes, and to making rude comments upon the proceedings
+on the stage. Miss Wolfe disliked the play, because mimic woes and
+mimic laughter were alike an insult to the soreness of her heart, and
+the too real sorrows of the world in which she lived. Yet both were
+compelled by fashion to show themselves in Crow Street whenever a
+specially prominent goddess of _ton_ thought fit to command a night.
+On such occasions the auditorium was illuminated with wax candles; the
+rank of the metropolis in diamonds and feathers filled the boxes;
+pit-tickets were freely distributed among the tradespeople with whom
+the lady dealt, whilst she took up her own position at the extreme end
+of the refection-room (a fine gallery erected by Mr. Fred. Jones, the
+manager), bowing a welcome to all who rallied round her.
+
+On this particular evening the Lady-Lieutenant herself had commanded
+the performance, so all the adherents of the Castle were there in
+state--members of the peerage in brand-new uniforms; the cabinet,
+consisting of the chancellor, the chief secretary, the speaker, and
+the attorney--and such a show of female beauty as Dublin can always
+boast. Lady Camden held quite a court in the refection-room, supported
+by Lord Clare, whose arrogant countenance beamed with the
+consciousness of strength. My Lord Camden had shuffled away to the
+curtained viceregal box, pretending to be engrossed with the
+wretchedness of Lucy Lockit; the fact being that his conscience began
+to worry him, and that he withdrew from public gaze as much as
+ceremony would permit.
+
+My lord chancellor was not a man ever to lurk in corners, or to shun a
+few paltry hisses. He stood forward beside the Viceroy's wife, nodding
+to the crowds who bowed before him with a loathsome smirk, too coldly
+overbearing to reck what men thought of him, provided they bent the
+knee. He had reached at this time the acme of his power. His word was
+law. He browbeat his comrades in the cabinet till honest Arthur Wolfe
+quite winced. He had undertaken to mould into shape a corrupt upper
+class, and his first move had been to give a rein to their bad
+passions. His second was to cultivate an unusual urbanity; for it
+would be needful by-and-by to win the members of the Bar, and to lay
+in a good stock of promising raw material in the shape of young M.P.'s
+just rough from grass. He made a point, too, of being particularly
+civil to girls, for he said that if the confidence of the females in a
+house is won, the men may be counted on as gained. Satan found no
+footing in Paradise till he made sure of Eve.
+
+So my Lord Clare tripped hither and thither in his natty attire,
+complimenting one, grinning at another; suggesting an ice to a young
+lady; confounding a sheepish youth by offering his jewelled snuff-box;
+laughing a hyena-laugh at some feeble joke; making himself so pleasant
+that folks stared in wonder. Ladies of highest rank rustled up and
+curtseyed, then formed into a parterre of shot silks and waving plumes
+behind my Lady Camden. It was a magnificent spectacle of brilliancy
+and wealth.
+
+What mattered the cries of those who sat in darkness? what signified
+the cloud that was rolling quickly nearer? The Countess of Glandore, a
+grand sight, in the family jewels, swept into her place, led forward
+by Mr. Wolfe, who had advanced to meet his sister; whilst Lord Clare
+raised Doreen's fingers to his lips with a gallant bow, vowing that
+her father should be proud of such rare charms. And well he might, and
+was, indeed, for there lingered on the girl's face a heightened colour
+which gave a lustre to her eye, while the roundness of her tall figure
+was shown off at its very best by a tightfitting robe of yellow crape,
+elaborately embroidered with silver tassels. Her dark coils of hair
+were knotted round her head in a plain thick diadem, raised high
+behind to show its noble contour where it joined her neck; while the
+olive skin seemed to acquire a richer hue by contrast with a pale
+coral necklet and long ear-drops. Lord Clare looked at her with a
+half-sarcastic smile, and said:
+
+'Will you walk in the lobby and survey the house? I always like to
+show myself with a lovely girl upon my arm. There is a sight there,
+too, that will please you, I think.'
+
+Calmly she took his arm. Etiquette demanded that she should remain in
+the theatre for half-an-hour. It mattered little how she killed the
+time; nevertheless her eyes wandered restlessly about in search of
+Cassidy, to whom she was resolved to speak if possible. Suddenly she
+started and turned scarlet. In an upper box, talking earnestly
+together, were Cassidy and young Robert; with them Tom Emmett,
+Russell, and the rest, whom she supposed to be safe under lock and key
+within Kilmainham gaol.
+
+'I thought you would be surprised,' drawled the chancellor. 'See how
+Government is maligned! The proceedings of those young gentlemen were
+such that we were obliged to lock them up. We could not do otherwise,
+you know. But having given them this lesson, you see we've humanely
+let them out again. Let us hope they'll be wise--wiser, for instance,
+than Mr. Tone appears to be--who is indeed singularly foolish. He
+seems to imagine that men of property will rally to his standard when
+he arrives with his precious expedition. Oh, my country! How truly is
+thy colour green! Here is an adventurer without a sou, grandiloquently
+promising to pay vast debts of gratitude!'
+
+Doreen looked up in the speaker's face suspiciously. The very language
+of the letter she had received that day! Her aunt's warning, hitherto
+forgotten, flashed across her. '_See that your correspondence is not
+tampered with_.' Verily, Tone was right. There was a Judas playing a
+devilish game somewhere.
+
+'Mr. Tone has been long absent,' she said, with a troubled face.
+
+'None the less mischievous,' retorted the other, carelessly. 'But his
+claws are cut, for we know all he does as soon as it is done. Now, if
+Government has erred, is it not on the side of leniency?'
+
+'The fox was very civil to the bird on the tree-branch,' Mr. Curran
+observed dryly, who with Sara now joined them, 'until the fowl was
+fool enough to drop his cake! Your lordship is a bad Irishman, we
+know; but you should not take us for a race of idiots. The people are
+too quiet. You miss the trenchant articles in Tom Emmett's newspaper.
+You perceive that even the Orange outrages of Armagh have failed to
+goad the poor cowed creatures to rebellion. Give them more rope, my
+lord, and they'll certainly hang themselves--aye, and me too amongst
+them, I dare say!'
+
+Lord Clare coloured slightly, and bit his lip, but answered nothing.
+
+'At a moment when the foe is at our gates,' Curran pursued
+bitterly--'for the French armament at Brest is surely meant for
+Ireland--do you strive to unite all parties against a common enemy?
+No! Look at the scenes which are daily enacted under your auspices in
+the north. Robbery, rape, and murder; one brother at another brother's
+throat. Yet I am wrong. We are of one accord on one point. You are
+uniting us as one man against the conciliation of our animosities and
+the consolidation of our strength. Alas for Erin! Rent by faction as
+she is, there is nothing for her but a bridewell or a guard-house--the
+grinding tyranny of England or the military despotism of France!'
+
+Arthur Wolfe, who was always endeavouring to prevent these two from
+snarling, here interposed, and dragged the irascible little lawyer
+away. The chancellor, however, fired a parting shot--crying out in a
+tone of airy innocence:
+
+'On my honour, I know not what you'd have. We give every one as much
+liberty as possible. Look up at the gallery this moment. Every man in
+it has a bludgeon or shillalagh--and they're all staring at the box
+where the ex-prisoners are. I vow they look monstrous dangerous. It's
+brave of my lord-lieutenant to sit there so quietly!'
+
+It was true that all eyes were turned from time to time to that
+particular box, as though something unusual might be expected to take
+place. Meanwhile the unconscious lady-lieutenant in the refection-room
+continued to smirk and bow, highly pleased at the full gathering
+around her.
+
+Stout Madam Gillin panted through the crowd in an amazing turban of
+coquelicot and gold, distributing hearty handshakes to the right and
+left; and Norah looked so pretty as she brought up the rear, that the
+Countess of Glandore's ire was kindled, and she glanced anxiously
+about for her elder son. He was not present though, for he never would
+go anywhere where there were high-born young ladies.
+
+Mrs. Gillin too was looking out for somebody, and, perceiving Curran,
+beckoned him with her fan.
+
+'The young man,' she said in an undertone--'you know who I mean--I
+hear from old Jug that he's mighty annoyed about this Orr case. Indeed
+it's bad enough i' faith, but don't let him be rash.'
+
+'Terence?' Curran replied; 'I've been expecting him every moment.'
+
+'He's not here,' returned Mrs. Gillin. 'His man Phil's below with
+orders to await his coming. I don't like his getting mixed up in these
+things. It's not his place, you know. If his mother had a grain of
+goodness--but there! I can't mention her with patience.'
+
+Curran looked grave, and hurried away to cross-question Phil. It was
+singular that Terence should not have appeared. The two ladies,
+between whom there was the bond of a secret, looked each other in the
+eyes, and temptation was too much for my lady to resist.
+
+'These are indeed dangerous times,' she remarked sweetly to Lady
+Camden, 'when it behoves us all to do our duty. I beg you will assure
+his excellency that Glandore will not shrink from his. He can be of
+little use here where so many have come forward; but he will retire to
+Donegal as soon as it shall seem needful to watch over his tenants in
+the interest of Government. And I should not be surprised--but it is a
+terrible indiscretion--_if when things are settled he should bring
+back with him a bride_.'
+
+The stroke went home. Norah turned deadly pale; and Madam Gillin, who
+had commenced confidences about flannel with a neighbour, found
+herself suddenly called upon to attend to her daughter, who was
+fainting. Scarcely had the court circle gathered round the girl, than
+a new source of commotion became evident in the lobby. High words were
+being bandied, with a low accompaniment of murmuring. The harsh
+accents of the chancellor were ringing in remonstrance; Doreen, who,
+despite her aunt's frowns, had handed her pouncet-box to Madam Gillin,
+became aware that the other voice was Terence's, raised in unusual
+indignation. She was quickly carried by the stream to the scene of the
+disturbance.
+
+Yes; it was Terence, sure enough--in his boots; his hair disordered; a
+look of menace on his white face; and Lord Clare was striving to bar
+his passage. Honest Phil behind, firing-iron in hand as usual, stood
+watching his master's eye.
+
+'Let me pass, my lord!' the young man was saying fiercely. 'An
+innocent man's life hangs on a thread. I have striven to see his
+excellency for hours, but have been prevented. He is in his box I
+know, and I will see him. It cannot be that he knows what's happening!
+The conscience-stricken jury have repented of their crime, they have
+made solemn oath that they convicted Orr (God have mercy on them!)
+when they had been made hopelessly drunk by Major Sirr. Even that's
+not all. The soldier, too, is afraid of what he's done, and owns that
+he had a private reason for his malice. Orr will be hanged at dawn
+unless Lord Camden signs his respite. I'm sure his excellency cannot
+know what's passing! It's the effect of this horrible one-witness law
+of yours. Even Caiaphas and his Sanhedrim dared not, in the great
+judicial murder, to set aside the law which demands at least two
+witnesses. Even Jezebel suborned two men of Belial to bring about the
+end of Naboth!'
+
+Perceiving that the throng were in favour of the pleader, Lord Clare
+strove to draw away the son of his old friend, lest the public should
+think fit to take an inconvenient part in the discussion--an effort in
+which he found unexpected help from Curran. The party retreated
+therefore into an adjoining cloak-room, followed only by a few, while
+Phil kept doughty guard without, and Lady Camden tried to look as if
+she were not flustered.
+
+'Oh, that drunkenness should be employed to procure the murder of a
+man!' Terence cried in agitation. 'If Orr dies, this will be the most
+savage act which has disgraced even our tribunals. I have striven to
+believe in the honesty of Government. Let us go together and explain
+to his excellency while there's yet time!'
+
+The chancellor laid his hand on the young man's shoulder as if to
+soothe a petulant child; while Curran sat on a table with arms crossed
+and a sour smile flitting about his lips.
+
+'Young gentleman,' Lord Clare said, 'take the advice of an older man
+and your mother's friend. Keep aloof from these matters, and don't
+give credence to grandams' tales. We understand what we are doing, and
+want no dictation from raw youths--we are satisfied of Orr's guilt.
+You are keeping bad company, as I warned you once' (with a furtive
+side-glance at Mr. Curran), 'and will get yourself into trouble!'
+
+Terence's arms dropped to his sides, and he stood thinking. A
+whispering without could plainly be distinguished through the closed
+door. He looked for help to his chief, who had spoken out so bravely
+at the trial, but who now swung his legs in silence.
+
+Presently he sighed, and passing both hands over his face, said
+slowly: 'Then they were right--I could not, and would not believe it.
+The lord-lieutenant, then, is a passive instrument in the hands of
+wicked men--he is made, for a purpose, grossly, inhumanly, to abuse
+the royal prerogative of mercy, of which the King himself is but a
+trustee for the benefit of his people. Some of those jurymen were
+threatened by suborned fellow-jurors--their tottering consciences
+deadened for awhile by drink; but they have woke to remorse in time.
+You say this hideous farce may not be stopped! Beware, Lord Clare!
+Remember to whom you must answer for this man's life! It's true--all
+true--and I am helpless!'
+
+Lord Clare was provoked. Things were assuming an awkward and
+unexpected phase. It would not do to have a scandal in the theatre.
+Suppressing his wrath, he whispered to Mr. Curran before leaving the
+apartment:
+
+'This boy must not be made a scapegoat. I rely on you to use your
+influence over him for his family's sake. He has listened to idle
+gossip, and ardent youth is easily set ablaze. This is most untoward.
+I will remove their excellencies at once and disappoint those donkeys
+who are greedily on the look-out for an _esclandre_.'
+
+His rasping voice was heard presently above the hum in polished
+periods, deploring that false reports should so easily be credited;
+explaining that the too sensitive Viceroy must be protected from his
+own softness, calling for their excellencies' coach without delay.
+
+'Can nothing more be done for Orr? It is too awful!' the junior asked
+his chief, clinging to his coat with anxious hands.
+
+'If aught could be done, should I have remained silent?' was the dry
+rejoinder.
+
+Then the lawyer bethought him of his child in the crush, and sallied
+forth in search of her.
+
+Master Phil, with instinctive respect for a great man, stood aside
+when the chancellor made his exit, allowing the cloak-room to be
+flooded with eager inquirers. First entered Cassidy and Doreen,
+burning to hear news.
+
+Terence roused himself from his reverie, and, clasping a hand of each,
+muttered in choking words:
+
+'I have fought against conviction long enough. There are limits to an
+honest man's forbearance. Cassidy! I'll take the oath.'
+
+The giant knitted his brows, and, staring at the cornice, whistled.
+Doreen darted forth such a golden flash from her cairngorm eyes as
+flooded the heart of the tempest-tossed young man with a gleam of
+sunshine.
+
+'Oh, cousin!' he murmured. 'You who are my star! Forgive me for having
+mistrusted the direction of your guidance! I am easy-going, and not
+prone to believe evil. But my eyes are opened now. Ireland's soil is
+sick with the blood of centuries. A little while, and please God she
+shall bleed no more!'
+
+'Mr. Cassidy!' the girl said, with heaving breast and such a joyous
+confusion as prevented her from reading the giant's face, 'did I not
+say to you just now that after darkness comes the morning? Surely
+night must be at its blackest now, Terence. I take you at your word.
+This change is a miracle wrought by heaven in the nick of time to
+prevent Theobald's efforts from being frustrated. I see it, and am
+grateful. A champion must be tried, you know,' she whispered, smiling,
+'and pass through the ordeal which is to prove his faith. I give you
+yours at once. It is urgently needful that some one should start
+forthwith for France, to act in concert there with Theobald. Can you
+make up your mind to this? Yes or no--there is no time for
+hesitation.'
+
+Terence, a prey still to overmastering agitation, clasped the brown
+hand that was like a leaf in both of his, while the giant's frown was
+fixed on one and then the other.
+
+'I told you one day,' the young man whispered, 'that for one reward I
+would set at naught the traditions of my family. If I succeed in the
+task which you assign to me----'
+
+A shade passed across the sunlight of Doreen's enthusiasm. How
+persistently people tried to rehearse love-passages on the floor of
+the charnel-house!
+
+'Do not let us talk of such things,' she faltered dreamily. 'Mr.
+Cassidy, you can see the oath administered this evening. Come straight
+home, Terence--and I'll manage to meet you when the rest are gone to
+bed. You will have to start betimes, _mon preux chevalier_; and return
+as quickly as you may, bearing good news. See to the taking of the
+oath, Mr. Cassidy, and for once do not make mistakes.'
+
+'I will see to all!' ejaculated the giant, hoarsely; 'though I risk my
+neck in doing it.'
+
+Another warm pressure of the hand--a lingering look--and Doreen was
+gone. My lady had harshly summoned her, dismayed at Mr. Curran's
+recital of the scene, and had bade her don her mantle--wrapt herself
+in the contemplation of fresh troubles. Madam Gillin, too, had
+listened to his story, and her round, good-humoured face was drawn out
+as she listened to inordinate length.
+
+'I can't stand this,' she said by-and-by, to Mr. Curran, as he cloaked
+her. 'That magnificent dowager who has trundled off in the grand
+carriage will--as I judge--leave difficulties to unravel themselves.
+She doesn't like the boy, and would be glad he should come to ruin for
+reasons buried in her stony heart. But I promised his father to be a
+guardian angel, and, please God, I will. You must keep him out of
+mischief--do you hear?'
+
+Keep him out of mischief! Easier said than done; but it was worth
+trying for. Mr. Curran, unaware of the interchange of sundry tender
+glances in the cloak-room, did not despair of success. He elbowed in
+the throng till he met his junior, and bade him be in attendance early
+at the Four-courts.
+
+'The Four-courts!' scoffed Terence, with lamentable disrespect. 'When
+justice dies, why dally with her empty robes? I've other fish to fry.'
+
+'Sure it's Misthress Doreen that's been at him,' laughed big Cassidy,
+with rather forced indifference. 'Who'd be proof against the blarney
+of the Dhas Astore?'
+
+'Has Miss Wolfe been up to anything? what?' demanded the lawyer,
+knitting his shaggy eyebrows.
+
+'It's a match they'll be making of it--Lord love the purty pair!'
+bawled the nettled giant. 'The gintleman's to be complimented who's
+thus favoured.'
+
+'Is this true?' Curran inquired. 'Has she been persuading you to make
+a fool of yourself? I turned you out of my house, though I love you
+like a son, to withdraw you from what might prove a dangerous
+atmosphere. Maybe I'd better have kept you after all.'
+
+'Perhaps, if I succeed in this mission, she may be mine!' Terence
+muttered in ecstasy, oblivious for the moment of the fate of the
+condemned.
+
+'And for such a vague _perhaps_,' Curran retorted in disgust, 'these
+goslings will risk their lives!'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+                           DOREEN'S PLANS.
+
+
+It is proverbial that the preaching of the wisest sage may be reckoned
+as naught in its influence on a young man's fancy when opposed by a
+siren's smile. Doreen had never, during the years of her sojourn at
+the Abbey, tried to enlist Terence on the side of her oppressed
+people. It would have been disloyal to have done so. But now that his
+long-careless heart had taken the flame of its own accord, it was not
+likely she should attempt to extinguish it. Having communed with Tom
+Emmett, she directed her admirer to ride forthwith to Cork, ostensibly
+on professional business, slip thence with secrecy across the water to
+see Hoche, and then return with as little delay as might be. He was to
+tell the French general that ten thousand soldiers were expected--that
+less than five thousand would be useless--that arms without soldiers
+would be refused, because a rising would be the immediate consequence
+of a landing of arms, and it was not thought desirable to turn the
+attempt, which should be made in force, into a desultory species of
+Chouannerie. Further, he was to employ all his eloquence to ensure a
+speedy start, declaring that Erin yearned to break her bonds, that a
+small nucleus of regular troops was all that was required to start
+with, as the peasantry were prepared to rise if sure of being properly
+led.
+
+These orders being succinctly given by a demure girl with rich dark
+hair and a touching sadness of expression, was it probable that the
+diatribes of an insignificant little person with shaggy elf-locks and
+questionable linen should meet with even common courtesy? Curran
+argued with his junior contrary to his own convictions, striving by
+forensic imagery to save him from the vortex if he could; declared
+that nothing but ruin could possibly come of a rising; that the
+popular cause was hopeless; that the French would possibly make a
+temporary disturbance to spite perfidious Albion, but that so soon as
+it should suit their interests, Erin would be blandly restored to the
+avenger, to reap the reward of her temerity. What sympathy could
+France have for Ireland? What recked the Directory, or Hoche, or
+Buonaparte (the clever young general who was becoming celebrated),
+whether Erin was a slave or not? Other nations as interesting as the
+Irish were slaves, and would remain so. Just now Hoche was warm upon
+the subject because he was jealous of Buonaparte and eager for rival
+laurels. Granted that he were victorious, he would soon weary of what
+to him must be a worthless and precarious possession, would carry it
+to market in a treaty of peace, and surrender it to expiate by yet
+more grinding servitude the false hopes which were born only to
+perish. But Mr. Curran (who didn't quite believe all this in his heart
+of hearts) might as well have talked to the trees in his own Priory
+orchard.
+
+'You'll be dragged farther than you intend,' he urged. 'Your vanity
+will induce you to take an active part, and then you'll be punished by
+the revolting slavery entailed by a mob command.'
+
+It was all in vain. Terence went away, and his chief gave out that he
+had despatched him on business to Cork.
+
+The unfortunate Orr was hanged, and the result quite pleased the
+chancellor. A thrill of horror ran through all but the most callous.
+The oath anent the bough was taken by hundreds in desperation. The
+toast 'Remember Orr!' became a watchword. People shook their heads,
+wondering what would come of it. Riots grew more frequent, which were
+suppressed or not according to caprice. Major Sirr's Battalion of
+Testimony lived on the fat of the land, for there was no difficulty in
+unearthing traitors, now that the spirit of recklessness had gone
+forth. Lord Clare pretended to be pained. The ingratitude and
+wickedness of his countrymen--their hardened fits of daring--made him
+blush, he vowed. The country was in danger, the yeomanry must bestir
+themselves, England must send regiments too steady to be undermined;
+if the people were so disgracefully unruly, martial law would have to
+be proclaimed. He deeply grieved to suggest such a thing, but the
+majesty of the executive, whose gravest sin was leniency, must at all
+hazards be respected.
+
+The capital was quite in a fever, shivering as pigeons do in their
+cote when they feel the electric current. Every one was looking
+towards France. Was that armament which was assembling at Brest
+intended for their coasts? If the fleet were to appear in the offing,
+how would Government behave? It seemed evident enough how they would
+behave, for troops kept pouring in from England. Hessians,
+Highlanders, Englishmen, under command of Lord Carhampton, arrived by
+shiploads, and, spreading over the counties, were placed at free
+quarters in the cottages. Dublin and the great towns undertook to look
+to themselves. The armed squireens, yeomanry, fencibles, strutted in
+scarlet in the streets, clothed in the bully airs which characterise
+brief authority.
+
+The burning zeal of Orangeism was let loose in all its excess of
+wildness, and a fanatical orgy commenced--a saturnalia of fiends who
+acted in the name of religion--which endured for two whole years. Men,
+who in the past had made themselves objectionable to Government, were
+not forgotten now. Even the semblance of moderation was tossed aside.
+They were delivered to privileged marauders, to be kept under lock and
+key and ultimately sacrificed in the 'confusion of the times;' whilst
+as for private enemies, nothing was easier than to charge such an one
+with treason, and lay him low by purchasing the good offices of an
+informer. People went openly to the Staghouse, where the 'band of
+testimony' were kennelled, just as in our modern days they go to
+Scotland Yard to engage the services of a detective.
+
+In the military mania which revived (how different from the Volunteer
+movement! the first was an impulse towards good; the latter a carnival
+of demons), everybody sported a uniform. The Bar chose its special
+facings, so did the 'prentices, so did the adherents of each opulent
+grandee. My Lord Powerscourt armed his tenants, but retained them in
+the hills of Wicklow, declaring that his contingent was not to be
+made a rabble of aggression. Even the Catholics deemed it prudent
+to don the red coat in self-defence, as a disguise; and went forth
+rebel-hunting, sometimes to lay violent hands on their own brethren.
+But the warriors somehow invariably took the wrong road, or
+discovered, upon reaching their destination, that gossoons had run
+forward to give warning. The Right Honourable Claudius Beresford, not
+to be outdone in zeal, set up a riding-school on Marlborough Green,
+which later on assumed infamous notoriety as a torture-chamber. Here
+the yeomen met to try their horses, to accustom them to the sound of
+drum and clarion, to break a friendly bottle. Dublin assumed the
+aspect of a garrison; the country of a vast camp.
+
+Still my lord-chancellor vapoured airily of 'martial law;' not that it
+signified much practically whether such were declared or no, but it
+was as well to accustom polite ears to the words before they became
+legal facts.
+
+The arch-conspirators being unaccountably set free, without any
+promises having been extorted from them, they naturally set to work at
+once to take advantage of the general simmering, and the peculiar
+condition of society was favourable to the attainment of their ends.
+More than ever now was the anomaly made manifest which has been hinted
+at before, namely, the promiscuous mixing in convivial intercourse of
+persons of the most opposite views. At time-serving Arthur Wolfe's,
+for instance, Clare hobbed and nobbed with the disaffected; such,
+that is, as had not gone so far as to frighten the well-meaning
+attorney-general. At Strogue Abbey, again, he chatted quite amicably
+with Curran, who was never weary of abusing him in Parliament, or
+strolled in the rosary with Cassidy, who was known to be a United
+Irishman. But the strangest scene of all was the Beaux-walk in
+Stephen's Green, more especially on a fine Sabbath, when the _beau
+monde_ appeared in glory. The mall, where carriages paraded, ran at
+that time along the north side, between a low wall and an impregnable
+haha, or dyke; and there, on a Sunday afternoon, might be seen the
+strangest medley of muslins and chip hats, fine coaches and swinging
+noddies, mingled with cross-belts and helmets and military plumes and
+gear; might be heard the wildest diversity of opinions openly broached
+and bandied. Horse-races took place sometimes as an ostensible reason
+for the gathering, and none marvelled to behold those who were
+prisoned traitors a week ago arm in arm with Government officials, or
+to hear acquaintances joking each other on the inconvenience of
+getting hanged. Thus it failed specially to shock young Robert as a
+piece of bad taste, when, walking with other undergraduates, if a
+friend rallied him about his brother's newspaper, and the certain fate
+which must befall its owner; though it must be admitted that such was
+not the case with Sara, who moaned and shuddered with dismay, like a
+rabbit in a den of serpents. Tom Emmett's newspaper was openly
+published now twice a week, and no one interfered with it, though it
+sought out the joints of Lord Clare's harness; and the chief of the
+Directory was weak enough to imagine that his foe had grown afraid of
+him for his boldness in pointing at injustice. Other newspapers were
+gagged or bribed; why should his be privileged? Tom Emmett and Bond
+and the rest held their secret meetings as heretofore, and strolled in
+the Beaux-walk, and talked treason, like hot-pated Patlanders, to the
+top of their bent, oblivious of the claw of the cat, because it
+remained uplifted--poor guileless band of mice! They met frequently
+and talked earnestly, and squabbled not a little among themselves, for
+their opinions were divided on a point--a most important point, upon
+which unanimity was essential--no less a one than the grand basis of
+future operations.
+
+Bond and Russell and others argued that misgovernment had come to such
+a pass, that it might be endured no more without merited disgrace.
+These bully squireens, these venal, brow-beating grandees, must be
+shown, before more harm was done, that there must be a bound to their
+arrogance.
+
+If a tide be bravely stemmed, it will rage awhile; then settle within
+its limits. Were the French coming? French or no French, the people
+must rise; observant Europe would applaud, for even unfortunate
+heroism commands respect and pity; pike-heads by thousands lurked
+beneath potato plots, pike-poles in myriads were stacked under
+thatched roofs. Surely the spirit of the ancient kings would animate
+their sons in this emergency!
+
+Most of the conspirators were for doing something definite at once.
+Tom Emmett and his brother were in favour of delay.
+
+'We have waited so long,' Tom said, 'that a few weeks more will make
+little difference, save in the increased exasperation of the people.
+Lord Clare was obliged by public opinion to set us free. We must do
+our duty as men. With French assistance success is certain; without
+it, more than doubtful. Wait, at least, till Terence Crosbie's
+return--the young aristocrat who has taken up our cudgels. We shall be
+none the worse for waiting; and now that he has been baptised into the
+true cause, his presence will be valuable in our councils. The
+labourer who entered the vineyard at the last hour was not deprived of
+his reward. We are terribly weak in military capacity; maybe Heaven,
+who has awakened so late in the day a scion of a noble house, may
+point to him as a future leader. Wait at least and see him.'
+
+Young Robert enthusiastically seconded his brother's motion, for his
+instinctive dread of bloodshed impelled him to postpone the decisive
+moment; and he was possessed, besides, with a strong belief in
+Terence, whom he had known intimately during his sojourn at the
+Priory. Russell and the others obstinately combated the point, urged
+thereto by youthful jealousy and wounded self-esteem. True, none of
+the council were of mature years; but to be lectured and prated at by
+this boy Robert, who was yet a student in Alma Mater, was an indignity
+which it behoved them to resent.
+
+Doreen, who, after her noteworthy row upon the bay, threw aside the
+appearance of apathy she had assumed, saw this new danger with
+concern. Torn well-nigh to death already by factions of many kinds,
+was Erin to sit by and see her last forlorn hope, her last bodyguard
+of champions, scattered by the same curse? Miss Wolfe became seized by
+a frenzy for galloping across country. Her horses were constantly
+brought back to the stable with their coats turned, their flanks
+heaving, their skins reeking with foam.
+
+'No doubt the girl was crazed,' my lady averred, as constantly as she
+marked the grooming of the animals from her bedroom window-seat. 'Why
+could she not ride like a well-brought-up young person in the green
+alleys of the Ph[oe]nix, or amble on the mall of Stephen's Green?'
+
+My lady did not know that Doreen met separately, at certain cottages,
+the different members of the Directory; that she prayed and exhorted
+each one, as though he were alone to blame, to wisdom and a sacrifice
+of paltry vanity; and that she came away from each interview with such
+a dread of impending failure--a distrust of these budding
+generalissimos--that it required the most reckless gallops, with a
+dangerous fence or two _en route_, to calm her nerves sufficiently to
+meet my lady's scrutiny with the accustomed mask of composure on her
+face.
+
+At the Abbey she had little to complain of now, for all were too busy
+to take much heed of her. Shane, with a prospect of departing
+northward, which rumours of accumulating outrages seemed to make more
+and more urgent, shilly-shallied and delayed, and selected guns and
+fishing-rods, and invited little knots of Cherokees, and spent more
+and more time at the Little House, as though the effort to tear
+himself away from Dublin delights and beloved Norah were too much for
+his resolution.
+
+Under the circumstances he was not likely to trouble his cousin with
+attentions; and Doreen breathed freely again so far as her private
+affairs were concerned, for she perceived that this project of her
+aunt's was fading into a vision which never would and never could be
+realised. Any one who watched might see that Shane was desperately
+smitten with Norah, and Doreen was in no wise jealous. Norah was a
+nice girl, Doreen determined, who was worthy to become a countess, and
+she would help to make her happy as much as she could.
+
+My lady's fancies were mere whimsies. If the marriage could be
+accomplished, she would of course come in time to like her new
+daughter-in-law. Many domineering old ladies object to eligible
+maidens, merely because they have not fixed on them themselves.
+
+Miss Wolfe, in her regained independence of thought, felt half
+inclined to carry it beyond her own concerns, to speak openly to
+Shane, to go and call on Norah, or meet her as if by chance, and
+declare that she had come over to the enemy.
+
+But the little love-idyl was destined to an interruption, whether she
+interfered or not; for Glandore was pledged to go to the north--to
+tear himself from the arms of metaphoric Capua. Would he remain
+faithful to his lady-love, when removed from the direct influence of
+her attractions? The notion of his going, Doreen remembered with a
+quiet sense of fun, was her own; and selfishly glad she was to have
+been so inspired, for away at Ennishowen his thoughts would be
+diverted into a new channel. Even if he did not learn there to forget
+Norah, his mind would certainly be freed from vague visions of his
+absent cousin. Thus she, in any case, would be safe. Situated as the
+concerns of the patriots were, all her own energies would be needed on
+the spot--for without some one to threaten and cajole, the bundle was
+sure to fall to pieces.
+
+She would be glad, therefore, when the establishment at the Abbey
+should break up, when all the vans and horses and carriages should
+migrate to Donegal, leaving her--a waif--behind, with nothing to
+attend to but serious business.
+
+Of course when my lady and her son started for Ennishowen, she would
+return to her old home in Dublin. She would inhabit once more her
+little bedroom in Molesworth Street, and would make herself so
+necessary to her father by fond artful prodigalities of love and
+tenderness, as to prevent him from ever allowing her to leave him any
+more. It was all very well, when she was a child, to send her to abide
+with her aunt, but now she was a woman, and her place was with her
+father. Then a small inward voice whispered, which caused her heart to
+beat quick time:
+
+'What if, by my loving influence, I might change at length his views?
+He is weak, but so kind and excellent; he leans on my aunt because
+hers is the more masculine nature of the two; and he yearns for
+support and countenance. Why should he not come to lean on me? My will
+is as strong as hers--our mutual affection unstained by a difference,
+unruffled by a ripple! Oh! if I could persuade him that there are
+nobler aspirations than mere gathering of gold. That if, instead of
+money-grubbing to make me a fortune (well-meaning, tender father!) he
+would spend all he has freely for his country's sake, I would love him
+all the more dearly for my beggary; what if, by constant dropping on
+the stone of obstinacy, I could bring him to feel this--how happy, how
+truly happy, we might come to be together!'
+
+Then, in less exalted moments of reflection, she felt that she
+deceived herself, that this might never be; that if she elected, in
+theory, to embrace for a holy cause the vow of poverty in her own
+person, she had no right to force her convictions upon a man whose
+glass of life was more than half run out, whose life ran in a groove,
+and who had so distinct a predilection for flesh-pots. Well, without
+going to extremes, it would be a joy to guide him just a little, to
+prevent his truckling too glaringly to Castle influence. If only he
+were not attorney-general and prosecutor for the Crown!' When the
+French expedition shall have arrived,' she thought, 'and swept this
+wicked Government into the sea, how intense a satisfaction will it be
+to say to the Irish Directory, "Spare at least my father, for my sake!
+I have worked heart and soul in the cause; you owe me this boon, the
+only one I ask of you!"'
+
+Certainly, from every point of view it seemed necessary for the young
+lady to separate herself from the Abbey and her prejudiced aunt with
+all speed, and assume her proper place in her own home.
+
+Hence for more reasons than one she looked forward to the forthcoming
+break in the Abbey _ménage_ as to the commencement of a new era of
+reviving hope and usefulness, and quite longed for Shane's departure
+with all his bags and baggage.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                           THE CLOVEN HOOF.
+
+
+My lady's preparations were completed at last, and, thanks to her
+maternal supervision, so were those of her favourite son. Though so
+close at hand, she went little into Dublin; for the sight of many
+strange uniforms reminded her of a past time, the associations
+connected with which she did her best to bury. She knew only,
+therefore, by rumour what was passing--by the reports of the
+_Gazette_, by conversations with Lord Clare. As for Curran, there was
+nothing to be got from him. He was as surly and morose as possible;
+said rude things about the Orange Societies; told her details of
+atrocities which, she felt sure, must be exaggerated; quarrelled with
+her about the scarlet woman; showed signs of becoming as bigoted on
+one side as she half admitted herself to be on the other.
+
+She grew almost reconciled to the necessity of going northwards, for
+Shane's conduct gave her serious alarm. He almost lived at the Little
+House, and she saw the possibility, if the journey were delayed much
+longer, of his declining to go at all. For all Norah's influence was
+evidently thrown into the scale against her, and she bitterly
+regretted now having shot off that arrow at Crow Street.
+
+The artful damsel was striving to instil into her lover's mind that it
+was cowardly to go away at this juncture; and it was only by
+pretending to have private intelligence from the chancellor that his
+mother could soothe his _amour propre_ to sleep.
+
+She was credibly informed, so she declared, that Paris spies had told
+Dublin spies, who had whispered it at the Castle, that the French
+fleet would certainly make for the north. It stood to reason they
+would not sail into Cork Harbour or Dublin Bay, where their foe was
+ready to receive them. Not a bit of it. They would make for the
+lonely, rock-bound coast of Donegal or Antrim, and young Lord Glandore
+would cover himself with glory by appearing at the head of the
+yeomanry in the neighbourhood to harass the landing of the troops.
+
+This was just such a wild idea as suited the youthful fire-eater. He
+saw, in his mind's eye, the shattered vessels on his iron rocks of
+Ennishowen; a feeble resistance and surrender--for a mere handful
+could do anything on those cliffs--and gave way, as usual, to his
+mother. But she felt that, if they were to go, they must be off as
+speedily as possible, or even her influence would fail at the last
+moment, and that which she most dreaded might take place, despite her
+efforts.
+
+Her indignation against the lady of the Little House knew no bounds.
+That she should immolate her own daughter for the mean purpose of
+revenging herself upon a rival, was too horrible! It was really
+amazing to consider what these Catholics were capable of! They had no
+consciences. They were ready to commit any enormity, because when it
+was done they could go to confession, wipe the stain off the slate,
+and come back smiling. Lord Clare was perfectly right about the
+scarlet woman, and Mr. Curran in his dotage. For every sort of reason
+these Catholics must be kept down. No punishment was bad enough for
+them--they should be locked in cages like wild beasts--they were
+absolutely incorrigible--at least, so thought the Swaddler. Doreen was
+turning out abominably. If she too were not soon caged, she would be
+running off some day with a groom--or a United Irishman, which was
+worse, breaking her father's heart, and dragging his name through the
+mire. She preached to her brother on this subject, making him very
+uneasy, and gave up looking after her poor, lest, meeting Mrs. Gillin,
+she might forget herself.
+
+Her preparations were complete, yet still she lingered at the Abbey.
+Society was in such a state of suspense that freedom of action seemed
+paralysed. The lady-lieutenant was frightened, and talked of fleeing
+to London, yet she delayed her journey. The mall and the Beaux-walk
+were both as full as ever. People went thither in hopes of decided
+news one way or other--which never came; and being there, they rode
+and gossiped and joked, because it was the habit to do so.
+
+Emmett and his friends were becoming grievously troubled, for the
+split in their camp widened daily. Were the French playing with their
+Irish allies? This continued inaction on their part was
+incomprehensible; for summer had faded to autumn, autumn was
+shrivelling into winter--it was almost too late to expect assistance
+now. Must the effort be postponed till next year? or a forlorn
+hope be attempted single-handed? To make it now would be madness, for
+rains were pouring down with Hibernian vehemence--the country was
+sodden--would soon be frozen--the exposed patriots would die off like
+rotten sheep. To wait till next year was a bad prospect--who can
+calculate what may happen in six months? The evil acts of the
+executive were piling up with terrible velocity. A sense of treachery
+and of dismay seemed to hang over the capital, for none could be
+certain who had taken the oath and who had not. Fathers were known to
+be loyalists whose sons had received the tonsure. Peasant mothers had
+put pikes in hiding whose daughters were living with the soldiers.
+Friends met and dined, and laughed with each other about the wide
+divergence of their views, just as they had done for some time past;
+but the feeling that though they differed their friendship would not
+wane was beginning to be shaken, for Major Sirr and his sinister band
+were abroad. No one was safe from the informer.
+
+There was a dinner-party at the Abbey--a party of typical incongruity.
+The chancellor was there, all smiles and airiness. Mr. Curran was
+there, who was becoming strangely absent and sour; his little primrose
+Sara too, who looked delicate and nervous, and shrank, as if in pain,
+from conversation, which of course turned on politics. Cassidy was
+there too, in humble attendance on Doreen; and young Robert Emmett,
+whom the chancellor condescended to twit scornfully on his behaviour.
+
+'Keep your head out of the noose, my dear young friend!' he said. 'No
+one is so small as to escape the vigilant eye of a paternal
+government. Do you suppose we are not informed of your pratings within
+Trinity? Your bursts of baby-eloquence, which are flowery but foolish?
+It is a harmless amusement possibly within those aged walls, and the
+wild talk of undergraduates is of little moment, yet I warn you that
+it will not be permitted much longer. Oh dear no! We won't do you the
+honour of arresting you. That would give you too much importance. But
+it may become my painful duty, as chancellor of that university as
+well as of this realm, to erase your name with others from its books,
+unless you mend your manners--that's all; so be warned and wise in
+time.
+
+Robert chafed and choked at such language as this, which seemed to
+mark him for a schoolboy before his wistful love; but he stood in such
+awe of the stately dowager that he only reddened and hung his head.
+Then Lord Clare, feeling merry, felt disposed to break a lance with
+his ancient enemy of the Bar; he therefore gaily asked if he might
+take a glass with Colonel Curran of the Lawyer's Corps--whose military
+skill would soon be brought into play, considering that the paternal
+Government had decided at last to propose a suspension of Habeas
+Corpus. The United Irishmen were behaving so badly--were declaiming in
+so provoking a fashion about their bonds, that it was as well to show
+them for a moment what slavery really meant. But this pleasant little
+sally fell dismally flat; for Curran was already aware of this
+dreadful resolve, and did not rise in vehement expostulation, as the
+other expected. So had Doreen heard of it. Her eye brightened a
+little, but her hand never shook as she leisurely peeled a peach.
+
+When the news had first gone forth, she had ridden over to the Priory,
+lest haply some one might be there who could advise what might best be
+done. She found Curran on his doorstep, putting on his gloves.
+
+'I knew they'd do it,' was all he said to her. 'You stop here till I
+return. I am going to Mr. Grattan.'
+
+Presently he came cantering back on his shaggy pony, and said to the
+anxious girl:
+
+'There is nothing for it but patience. Mr. Grattan expected this, and
+so did I. We shall oppose the bill, but that will make no difference.
+This wretched land is doomed. If the bill is carried, Mr. Grattan will
+retire from parliament, and so shall I. We are both sick of the
+murderous farce.' Then, drumming his fingers on the window, in an
+attempt to keep down his agitation, he muttered forth at intervals:
+'Habeas Corpus! the very last guardian of our liberties! They'll bring
+in the knife when every one's asleep, and stab our guardian in the
+dark!'
+
+So the lawyer--not taken unawares--only smiled, and, bowing stiffly
+over his glass, asked quietly:
+
+'Did you ever read Æschylus, my lord? I know you are a fine scholar.
+You always remind me of Mercury in "Prometheus Vinctus," who was
+constantly abusing the poor martyr for howling, when his only
+grievance was a stake of adamant through his breast!'
+
+The party broke up early, as both of the elder gentlemen were due at
+the House, and the social atmosphere was stormy. My Lord Clare
+whispered to his old friend at starting that he would call round in
+the morning, as he had something very particular to say to her. Doreen
+took the opportunity of imploring Curran to send a message to the
+shebeen, with intelligence as to the fate of the bill (care of
+red-polled Biddy), that she might know from him what happened with as
+small a delay as possible.
+
+That astute person turned out but too true a prophet. The bill which
+was to close the courts of law, and place power over life and property
+in the hands of military despots (and such despots!), was shuffled
+into the House by the attorney-general at 2 a.m., and read for the
+second time after _grave and mature deliberation_ at 2.10 a.m.; and
+Doreen, when she read the note which informed her that it was carried
+by 137 against 7, had an extra douche of sorrow poured over her, in
+that her too facile parent had been its godfather!
+
+So martial law was declared, and the humane and benignant soldiery,
+whose good feeling had already been proven at Armagh and elsewhere,
+were to work their wicked will unrestrained. Doreen was too much upset
+to appear at breakfast, so my lady picnicked alone on the window-seat
+which looked upon the stable-yard, watching for her vagrant darling,
+keeping a keen look-out, too, as to whether her niece went out for a
+scamper. For my lady had passed a sleepless night--one of those
+terrible _nuits blanches_ much worse than any nightmare--when all our
+sins sit heavy on our chests; when our brains throb to bursting, and
+we hope there is no hereafter. She tossed--listening for Shane's
+return--growing more feverish as hour after hour passed silently.
+Still at the Little House! This was maddening. The vision of Shane and
+Norah arriving to throw themselves upon their knees, danced before her
+eyes. Once or twice, when sinking into a doze, she sat up with a
+start, clutching the luxuriant braids of white hair which gave her in
+her looking-glass such an odd look of winter and autumn united.
+Manfully she had quelled any shrinking on her own account about
+returning to Ennishowen. To her who had borne so much, what mattered a
+little extra suffering? It was excellent advice that her niece had
+given her. The way, and the only way, out of the labyrinth was to
+transfer the establishment _en bloc_; she had recognised the fact, and
+had resolved, for her dear boy's sake, not to spare herself. But now,
+in dead of night, when the past stood out in phosphorescent light, and
+the future loomed even yet more ghastly, she had to fight the old
+weary moral fight again, in which she had so frequently been worsted.
+Again she saw her husband on that bed of chairs at Daly's. Again she
+heard him say, ere the last rattle stopped his voice for ever, 'Make
+right that wrong while there is time!' Again she welled over with
+impotent rage, whimsically mixed with penitence, in that she must wear
+the Nessus shirt which he had shuffled off long since. She realised,
+as she ruminated, that she had been deceiving herself as to the
+motives which kept her still at Strogue. It was a terror of the island
+of Glas-aitch-é at Ennishowen--of the tales which each twig and shrub
+would tell her there--of the songs which the waves would sing to her
+as they dashed against the cliffs--which had really delayed her
+starting. But there must be an end of this weakness. All was ready.
+For Shane's sake she would like to start upon the morrow, for the
+sooner she drank her dose the better; but, unfortunately, a promise
+had been given to attend their excellencies at a great ball which was
+to take place at the Castle--and to retire suddenly, in ticklish times
+like these, would certainly be construed as big with political import.
+But after all, this fête (which was to show the scum that their
+betters did not fear them) would be past in a few days. Till that time
+arrived my lady would continue to wait; but in order to underline for
+herself in her midnight self-communing the determination that there
+was to be no more cowardice, she then and there resolved that the
+great coach should take them upon the very same evening within the
+Castle-yard, and spirit them forward on their way, instead of making a
+fresh start from the Abbey on the morrow. This resolution being come
+to, my lady's mind became calmer. As the blue light of wintry morning
+struggled in she felt quite relieved, and got up presently--as
+imperious as usual--to await Lord Clare's communication, and watch the
+stable-yard for Shane's return.
+
+It was fully eleven o'clock before Lord Clare's carriage wheezed up
+the avenue--the casket which held Ireland's great man. For once Doreen
+had not bucketed forth on one of her wild rides. Shane had not yet
+come in.
+
+My lady swept out upon the narrow terrace in front of the hall-door to
+receive her guest. He must stand in need of refreshment; what would he
+please to take?
+
+He would take nothing for the moment. Yes--he would. It was a strange
+conceit in one who had visited there as a familiar gossip during so
+many years. He would take a view of Strogue Abbey--he would be shown
+over the mansion by its chatelaine. My lady was surprised. Indeed, she
+had not been over the quaint place herself for ages. What did my Lord
+Clare desire to see? Was it the dungeon? or the ancient kitchen and
+buttery, with its black woodwork, or the water-tower?
+
+He would see everything while he was about it, he said. In the first
+instance the young men's wing, with its museum of fishing-rods and
+guns--and--what was that over it--an armoury? Oh, indeed! he would
+like to look at it.
+
+'But perchance I should disturb the young gentlemen,' her guest said
+with hesitation. 'By-the-bye, has your son gone out?'
+
+To Lord Clare's genuine astonishment, my lady reddened and looked
+away. Could she know the mission on which he had come? If so, then she
+was a greater mistress of her face than he supposed. If not, what
+troubled her? He forgot that shrined in her love there was but one
+son. That while he was hinting of the second, she, with sorrow, was
+thinking of the first--who was dallying--where?
+
+The twain wandered in the young men's rooms--in Shane's, whose bed was
+smooth and neat--in Terence's, where faithful Phil was sitting, deeply
+engrossed in fly-making, as innocently as if he had never heard of a
+bough in England's crown.
+
+'Both boys out, then? so much the better,' gaily quoth the chancellor,
+who chose for a moment to ignore Terence's mysterious absence. 'I hope
+Terence is safe; I can assure you Shane is; I saw him not an hour
+since. He roystered with the Blasters all night, and of course had to
+fight a duel in the morning. Is not the motto of their gay society
+"Nemo me impune lacessit"? But he didn't get a scratch--indeed he's a
+splendid swordsman--such a tactician--so sharp and quick of eye! I
+must really congratulate him when he comes in by-and-by. Those spiral
+stairs? Ah! That's the armoury.'
+
+Phil dropped his flies, and leapt up from his seat. My lady and her
+guest, taking no heed of him, climbed upward, opened the armoury-door,
+went in and shut it. He could hear the creaking of their feet
+above. What could he do? Nothing! He sank panting on his seat,
+bewildered--then, stealing out, made the best of his way to the
+shebeen.
+
+'By-the-bye, where is Terence?' asked Lord Clare. 'You don't know? I
+do. My poor old friend, prepare yourself for a shock. Sit down.'
+
+With a gentleness which would have astonished his numerous enemies,
+the chancellor laid his two hands on my lady's shoulders and pressed
+her into a seat. The pupils of her eyes assumed that look, as of a
+startled hare, which shone in them sometimes. She sat down silently
+and waited.
+
+Had Terence been guilty of something base? That was her first thought,
+in which there was a touch of remorse. Then came a feeling of anger in
+that he existed at all. Oh that he had never been born, or had died
+in his early childhood! This in its turn was followed by intense
+self-loathing; but her face remained immovable, while she looked up
+with inquiring gaze.
+
+'I have most unpleasant news for you,' said Lord Clare kindly, for he
+liked my lady better than any one except himself, 'and thought it
+would come best to you from me. For we'll hush the matter up--rest
+easy on that score, trusting that no worse may come of it. Terence, as
+you know, was rude to me at Crow Street, t'other day. I didn't mind
+his petulance, of course; but for your sake I was hurt that he should
+have gone astray and made an exhibition of himself in public. It's
+your rough diamond Curran's fault, with his romantic balderdash about
+his country. He threw the young man into dangerous society, forgetting
+that it takes a seasoned head to weigh the hollowness of enthusiasm.
+Terence has been bitten by the prevailing rabies; the fever's hot upon
+him, and being of a higher breed than his companions, has rushed
+straightway into action, instead of merely prating like the others. As
+his mother, you should have greater influence over him than any one.
+Argue him out of his dangerous course. You think he's at Cork on law
+business? He's strutting up and down the landing-stage at Brest, with
+Tone and Hoche, and all the rest of the jays in peacock-plumes. He's
+urging the bevy of juvenile generals there to come across the water,
+despite the lateness of the season; in fact, he's beginning the risky
+game which brought Balmerino, Kilmarnock, Lovat, to the block. I'm
+sure of what I state--trust me for that. Why! these hot-pated fools do
+nothing that we're not informed of; and Mr. Pitt's staff in France is
+every whit as sharp as ours here. Do you desire a proof that I speak
+with authority? What are these things stacked here, under these
+cloths, within these presses, even piled, as you see, right up the
+chimney!' Lord Clare moved about the room with the precision of
+one who is sure of what he does. 'Pikeheads, my lady--rough but
+efficient--which are to rip his Majesty's soldiers when the struggle
+shall begin. It was an ingenious notion to store them under the roof
+of a known loyalist. Who placed them here? Your ingenuous boy,
+Terence, with the assistance of the people at the shebeen below. That
+"Irish Slave," by the way, must have a visit from us; also the fair
+dame on whose ground it stands. Look at this paper. A design for a
+pikehead, precisely like these, with written directions--in whose
+hand? Terence's! I gave five hundred guineas for that piece of paper.
+See! do not tremble--it's destroyed--the evidence is gone.'
+
+My lady sat upright in her chair without moving, staring up at the
+speaker, scarcely comprehending what he said, through the singing in
+her ears. Terence, her son, had actually joined the disaffected--these
+deluded persons whose proceedings shocked all her prejudices--whom she
+sincerely believed were only fit for Bedlam. He might come to an
+ignominious death unless she put forth all her influence to drag him
+from the danger. What influence could she expect to have? Whose fault
+was it that she had none? Her sin was finding her out in an unexpected
+fashion. A great cry rose up within her, that her fortitude was near
+its end. It broke from her bosom in a sigh of weariness. She looked
+old and haggard as she stared up at the chancellor. Her ancient
+friends poke of the situation: of how the commander-in-chief my Lord
+Carhampton must inaugurate a new régime, now that martial law was
+declared; of how, all things considered, in the complications which
+were arising, it would be wise for the denizens of the Abbey to depart
+shortly. Terence might be expected back in a day or two; then his
+mother must speak to him and take him with her if she could. It would
+be well to take Miss Wolfe away too, as she was playing the fool most
+egregiously. She, too, had a hand in this pike-stacking.
+
+My Lord Clare laughed in his disagreeable manner as he recounted how
+he had succeeded in terrifying poor vacillating Arthur Wolfe about
+her. At all events it was most wise that Lord Glandore should go; for
+it would be a terrible thing--supposing Terence proved obstinate--if
+the brothers should come to be in rival camps upon the scene of
+action.
+
+'My dear lady,' he concluded, 'we shall have a hot time of it before
+we've done, I do assure you. Take your measures as I advise. Now I
+must be off to turn the screw upon the "Irish Slave."'
+
+The coach rolled citywards. My lady, face to face with a new trouble,
+clung to the one speck of brightness which glittered like a star.
+Gillin certainly was committing herself. There was to be a search upon
+her premises. Her ruin would surely follow. The pressure from that
+side would be removed. Thank heaven for that! Yes! This was a real ray
+of light shining from out the gloom. Things at their worst must mend.
+With firm step the countess swept along the passages, striving to
+stifle the remorse which whispered that if evil came to Terence, she
+would be responsible. She would follow her friend's sage advice to the
+letter, she determined. It was time to do battle with Doreen, as to
+her proposed visit to the north.
+
+Miss Wolfe was bending over the sun-dial in her little flower-plot,
+which was sad-looking with quaint-toned chrysanthemums, her head bowed
+upon her arms--a statue of despair. An open letter lay crumpled at her
+feet. My lady saw it and smiled grimly. Indeed, the poor maiden had
+received a terrible blow--one heavy enough to stagger even her
+firmly-knit nature. The beauteous _Château en Irlande_, which she had
+been so busy building, had come crashing down. Its gargoyles and
+turrets were admirable to behold--but, alas! its foundations were of
+sand. It had toppled bodily upon her head, and she was stunned by the
+completeness of the ruin. Her fond parent had indited her a note
+bidding her pack up her clothes; for, that she might be removed from
+danger, she was to go to Glas-aitch-é with her aunt.
+
+She was caught in her own trap. Those dainty visions of returning to
+her father, of weaning him from the flesh-pots, of bolstering him up
+in the buckram of her love against his weak sensual self, were
+vanished. 'She was to be taken away out of danger,' her cruel father
+wrote, as though she did not pant for danger as doth the war-horse!
+The misfortunes which might result from this unlooked-for arrangement
+rose up before her one by one, each armed with its separate shiver.
+The struggle would come. She, whose heart was wrapped in it--who had
+made up her mind in which direction duty lay--would be a prisoner far
+away in a desert island, to which news would trickle slowly: that was
+bad enough. But of late she had become morbidly anxious, on account of
+the disorganisation which delay was causing among the United Irishmen.
+It was only by her own personal influence that Russell and Bond had
+bowed to Tom Emmett's dictum, and consented to await Terence's return.
+Were the French coming, or were they not? If not, would the society
+fling down the gauntlet alone? If it should do so, what would be the
+result? Would Emmett continue to carry his point as to delay? If he
+failed in his endeavours, what could be expected to take place? Even
+if he should be able to control the unruly, how fraught with danger
+was the prospect. Help from France was the willow that bound the
+sticks; that band removed, with what ease might each separately be
+broken!
+
+At sound of my lady's footstep, Doreen started from her crouching
+attitude. Her aunt's were the last eyes on earth which she would wish
+to pry into her despair. She was vaguely suspicious too that her
+aunt's wild projects of matrimony had something to do with this last
+arrangement. It was, beside the others, a mild phase of annoyance no
+doubt, but it certainly was annoying to consider that in Donegal she
+would find herself shut up well-nigh alone with Shane, who, urged by
+his mother, might tease her dreadfully. Taken altogether, her future
+looked black as Styx. She promised herself to make one effort more to
+remain behind in Dublin. Then it flashed upon her that perchance some
+one had warned her father of the prominence which she had assumed of
+late. Yet who would tell him? Her precautions were always well taken.
+In public she acted with extreme reserve towards Tom Emmett and the
+rest. Private interviews had always been held at obscure cottages,
+whose owners she knew would be hanged ere they betrayed her. There was
+no doubt though, she reflected with sore foreboding, that there were
+traitors somewhere. If only they could be unmasked. Well, well! time
+unravels many tangles.
+
+'I see your father has written to you,' my lady said, stepping down
+into the garden. 'He must even defend you against yourself. Upon my
+word, the Irish are all insane. I shall have the honour to be your
+keeper for awhile--in a most impregnable asylum.'
+
+Then it was her aunt who had suggested this step. At this instant how
+bitterly she hated her!
+
+'I have yet to learn,' she said with hauteur, 'what business you have
+to interfere with me. I am of age, and not your daughter.'
+
+'You will not presume to disobey your father, I suppose?' the countess
+inquired coldly. 'Though I ought rather to be surprised if for once
+you are dutiful.'
+
+'My duty is to my mother's people!' Doreen murmured absently.
+
+'I told you once before,' her aunt went on, unheeding, 'that you would
+disgrace the family and break your father's heart. For both reasons it
+is my distinct business to interfere with you. The friends whom you
+have chosen to make, are rushing like sheep to the slaughter. You
+shall not be one of the flock if I can help it. I have spoken gravely
+to your father about you; and so has some one else--Lord Clare.'
+
+'Lord Clare!' echoed Doreen, astonished. 'What does he know about me?'
+
+'Too much,' retorted her aunt, dryly. 'He showed me, just now, a
+delectable sight in the armoury, a discovery which cost him five
+hundred guineas. For shame! It is kindness to deem you mad.'
+
+'How did he know of the pikes?' startled Doreen inquired.
+
+'Through Terence,' replied my lady, shortly--for she knew not how much
+or how little her niece and son were mixed up in this affair, and
+always instinctively avoided talking of the latter to the former.
+There was a long pause, during which the dowager continued to eye her
+niece.
+
+'Aunt, I will go with you to Donegal!' Miss Wolfe said slowly, her
+large eyes peering with vague terror into space. 'I think now I will
+take a walk, for I am rather upset;' and quietly taking her garden-hat
+from the bench hard-by, she knotted its ribbons under her chin, and
+disappeared between the beech hedges of the rosary.
+
+There are moments in most lives when so sharp a pang shoots through
+our hearts, that we feel there is nothing left but to seek a remote
+covert and wait for death. Such strokes age us suddenly and surely. To
+few is it given to become old by slow and imperceptible steps. We
+remain in the solitude of our covert without speech; almost without
+feeling. Presently we perceive that we were mistaken about death (for
+the White Pilgrim comes not for the bidding); and emerge into the
+world again, apparently the same as before--young outwardly, and
+smooth-browed, but really altogether different. Poets have sung much
+of broken hearts, at which cynics have scoffed, time out of mind.
+Hearts have broken under a sudden mental shock, but seldom. They are
+more usually turned inside out and changed.
+
+Doreen had just received such a shock as calls imperatively for
+solitude. Then the snake in the grass--the Judas--was Terence--her own
+cousin! Rapidly she walked through the rosary, and out by the wooden
+gate into the open--away--inland across the fields, for miles.
+
+She was surprised to find that she felt more grieved than was at all
+necessary, in that the snake was Terence. Only a few minutes ago she
+had been praying heaven to unmask the villain, with the laudable
+intention of pointing him out to the reprobation and contempt of the
+society. But Terence! The open-visaged, careless youth who exasperated
+her, as a woman, chiefly because he was prodigal of promise which was
+not likely to be fulfilled. He had been so importunate in blundering
+puppy fashion (really almost as ridiculous as Cassidy), heaving absurd
+sighs, carrying on his intermittent wooing in so ludicrously naïve a
+manner, as to provoke scorn in so high-spirited a mistress. Looking
+within herself, she discovered that behind her light estimate of his
+amatory ravings there was a genuine liking for the lad. Could she have
+been entirely mistaken in him? Could her judgment have been utterly at
+fault when she decided, that if feebly endowed by nature, he was at
+least honest and true? For the more she considered the subject as she
+trudged across country, the more she felt that it would be indeed
+grievous if that fine open face, which had looked so noble in its
+indignation on account of the martyr Orr, should turn out to be only a
+grinning mask.
+
+Terence the Judas--the betrayer of the innocent--the snarer of the
+unwary! Terence, her cousin, whose jocund visage she admitted to be
+rather dear to her. If he proved so base a scoundrel, in whom then
+might an earnest soul place trust? Was his perfidy a fall, or original
+sin? She remembered how she had read wise thoughts in books, wherein
+sages had explained that our nature is unstable, liable to trip--that
+none can resist temptation if clothed in the fittest garb. Is not the
+prayer which should be oftenest on our lips, 'Lead us not, O God, into
+temptation?' Women are perverse, choosing always the left one, when
+they ought to take the right turning; and with the perversity of women
+Doreen chose at once to accept the most distasteful phase of the
+situation. She took it for granted that Terence was in the wrong,
+instead of more prudently suspending her judgment till his return from
+France.
+
+The feet of her cousin were cloven. He wore a tail and smelt of
+brimstone. She stood still beside a paling as she thought of him, and
+shook it in a rage with both her hands, while a vague feeling of
+uneasiness came over her in that she should care so much that Terence
+should prove the Judas. Yet was she not quite justified in her dismay?
+Was it not natural that her faith in truth and goodness should be
+thrown out of gear by such low calculating turpitude? Clutching the
+gnarled paling, the unhappy lady bowed her face on it and burst into
+sobs which shook her to the centre.
+
+Five hundred guineas! That was the sharpest of the many thongs which
+smote her. She had declined to look at the sordid motive--it was so
+very mean and vile. But now it clamoured with open palms at the gates
+of her brain, and shouted deafeningly. Vulgar money troubles are at
+the bottom of everything that's base! What a pity that there should be
+such a thing as money! Five hundred guineas! How small--how miserable
+a sum! He was always in debt, she knew: to such easy-going creatures
+as he always seemed to be, debt was a state of nature. But could he
+have sunk so low as this? Was he capable, for five hundred guineas, of
+suddenly assuming a noble love of motherland, which was a farce--of
+laying a gin for the feet of persons who had never injured him--nay,
+whom he reckoned among his dearest friends? For the wretched price of
+five hundred guineas, could he look her--his cousin, almost his
+sister--in the face, and endeavour to steal her heart, that he might
+stick it on a pole for the amusement of fellow-traitors? Traitor!
+Arch-traitor--wretch! Tears having come to her relief, Doreen sat on
+the grass and wept, and felt like the wounded beast within the covert.
+
+Piecing scraps together, with the key which my lady had furnished,
+many cloudy matters became clear. My lady was proud and prejudiced,
+but her pride revolted against treachery. If not, why had she suddenly
+warned her niece to see that her correspondence was not tampered with?
+Who should tamper with it? Not Jug, or Biddy, or Phil. They were
+children of the soil, who knew not treachery. How could my lady know
+of any tampering of theirs? No! It was against Terence--the son whom
+my lady loved not--whose unworthy proceedings filled her aristocratic
+soul with repugnance--that she had warned her niece. Lord Clare knew
+the very wording of Theobald's last letter--through whom? Through
+Terence, of course--for five hundred guineas--alas! alas!
+
+All of a sudden a new idea struck Doreen, and she sat up, her cheeks
+blanched and tear-stained. The traitor had worked well for the
+degrading pittance. He had succeeded in hoodwinking the society as
+well as herself. He was now at Brest, with every secret in his
+possession--every detail--every aspiration--cut and dried--in cold
+black and white--and she it was who had despatched him. The Emmetts,
+Russell, Bond, were doomed men. Their young lives were unconsciously
+sacrificed by her. There was no end to the blood for which she would
+be answerable. The cycle of her frenzied thoughts came back to the
+point at which she started. She had been trifling like some innocent
+child with burning brands which had scorched her. Not herself alone.
+Her life was her own, for better or for worse. When she should be
+called to appear before the throne to account for her deeds, she would
+be asked, 'Why broke you your father's heart for a chimera? why did
+you lead Emmett, Russell, Bond, by your wiles to the scaffold? Who
+were you to set yourself up as a teacher? To lure honest men, like a
+siren, to destruction? What could her faltering answer be? I meant
+well. I acted for the best. I was presumptuous. I am sorry.... Can
+regret undo the injuries which are due to our presumption? No. The
+wretched Doreen was crushed by an overwhelming sense of her own
+littleness and failure. There was nothing for it but to kneel down and
+cry, 'I have sinned;' to clasp her sorrow and take it to the north,
+there to hold vigils of unfruitful repentance, whilst praying humbly
+to be released from earth. The wilds of Glas-aitch-é should be her
+covert. Into it she would creep like a stricken doe. If the White
+Pilgrim would obey her summons, with what gratitude she would cling to
+his filmy raiment! If he refused to hearken to her pleading--why then
+she must, kneeling on the stones, endure unto the end with such
+meekness as a vengeful heaven might vouchsafe to her.
+
+The wild paroxysm past, she got up and returned with trailing feet
+towards the Abbey. Her limbs were aching from contact with dank
+herbage: her brogues and stockings soiled with clinging mud. A
+drizzling veil was settling on the earth, which looked, as far as ken
+might reach, dun-toned and colourless. Raising dazed eyes, she beheld
+a slim figure moving with rapid strides, and recognised young Robert
+from afar.
+
+What could he be doing? Was he also crushed in spirit, as weary of the
+world as she; wandering in search of peace? or on one of his many
+missions of private charity?
+
+He had been to the Abbey in quest of her; was told by a garden-lad
+that she had passed through the wooden postern, and had tracked her
+wanderings from hut to hut.
+
+'They are going too far!' he said abruptly, with bent brows, as he
+turned to walk back with her. 'Already the squireens are abroad,
+imitating their fellows in the north. Dublin's in a ferment. It needs
+but the coming of the French to settle the affair at a blow. Every
+magistrate has received orders to raise twenty men to preserve the
+peace in place of the militia, should these be ordered to the coast.
+But they overreach themselves. Decent people are so furious at the
+tactics of Lord Clare, that even the militia are dying to turn against
+the Government. Cassidy says so, who should know, seeing that he keeps
+up a friendship with the Castle. I speak to-night at the Debating
+Club. Look at these notes,' he added, smiling. '"Recipe to make a
+Rebel! Take one loyal subject uninfluenced by pension; burn his house
+over his head; murder his wife and babes before his eyes; march away
+with such plunder as you choose to save from the flames----" But what
+is the matter? You look ill!'
+
+'I am leaving Dublin almost at once,' Doreen said, 'and am glad of it.
+If there is one power which has the gift of withering up the soul, it
+is treachery! I am sick of the world. Go to your brother. Tell him the
+cause is lost. One who held all their secrets has betrayed them--for
+five hundred guineas; that is their value in his eyes.'
+
+Here the girl broke into wild laughter--she who never laughed; and
+Robert looked at her in surprise, with a sense of coldness, creeping.
+Then, with a hectic spot upon each cheek, she eased her breast with
+words; recounted all she knew, and much more which was conjecture,
+though in her perturbed state she was not aware of it. Explained that
+they were all dupes of Terence's false _bonhomie_--that he had coldly
+and deliberately played a part; had, as it were, eaten their bread and
+salt, and then stabbed them in the back. In the midst of the hideous
+recital, her voice choked in a great gulp, and clasping her hot face
+with her hands, she burst into a flood of tears.
+
+Ardent young Robert was shocked, but not convinced. Terence! whom
+every one loved for his bright eyes, through which shone forth an
+honest soul. To whom Robert and fellow-undergraduates looked up as to
+a _preux chevalier_ in the matter of grouse-shooting and the beguiling
+of the wily trout. He could not believe such a thing, and would not.
+Lord Clare was capable of any amount of lying. His ways were so
+tortuous that they were difficult to follow. His spies were legion,
+who ferreted out everything. No doubt Phil and Biddy had been watched;
+they had billed and cooed too loudly as they had handed the pikes over
+the wall. Terence was unduly heedless about money; his friends
+frequently declared that he didn't know its value. It was absolutely
+out of the question that he should suddenly be tempted to do so crafty
+and mean a thing. As for the delegates of the society being betrayed
+and their secrets known, there was nothing new in that. Had they not,
+months ago, been arrested at his own chambers, their papers seized,
+themselves arbitrarily imprisoned, and afterwards as arbitrarily
+released? He could not fathom the tactics of the executive, the youth
+was forced to confess, for their movements seemed planned to
+circumvent each other. The rank and file were being captured by dozens
+and hanged, while the commanders and organisers of the scheme were
+permitted to remain at large.
+
+It was not unpleasing to Doreen to hear her cousin defended; but she
+shook her head.
+
+'If the French were to come now,' she said, 'they might set things
+right; but then they must come in force; and Terence, having gone to
+Brest, would probably clinch the irresolution of Hoche, and
+effectually decide him not to come at all. Verily, the world and its
+affairs were vexation of spirit; conspiracy a disheartening game;
+Ireland an accursed land, foredoomed to eternal misery.'
+
+By the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary, stood a group
+of peasants, who humbly bowed to Miss Wolfe, then returned to the
+dirge of lamentation which her appearance had interrupted.
+
+'Jug Coyle, what is the matter?' Doreen inquired; for she recognised
+in a heaving heap before her the shattered remains of that lady.
+
+'Whisht! acushla!' a man whispered. 'Let her tears flow. Sure she's
+burned out of house and home. Her cabin's desthroyed. The sodgers--bad
+luck to 'em!--have taken her bit of bacon and the dhrop of potteen
+the quality used to loike, and thin they began to turn up the
+pratey-garden, and Biddy gave a yelp and wanted to run to the Little
+House, but the blagyards gagged her mouth with an ould rag, and tuk
+her away screeching.'
+
+'The "Irish Slave" destroyed?' inquired Robert.
+
+'Yes, your honour,' replied the man, lowering his voice as he glanced
+around. 'But they didn't find much. Phil, Masther Terence's man, came
+down from the Abbey to give the office, and most of the pike-heads
+were tossed over the wall, till we can put 'em back to-night. Wake up,
+Jug, and spake with the lady. Sure the shock has druv the collough
+crazy. When the thatch was all ablaze we went up to Madam Gillin, who
+always has the kind word and bit and sup; but she said she could do
+nothing, and bade us come to you.'
+
+'To me!' echoed Doreen, bitterly. 'Am I not too a Catholic, and
+helpless?'
+
+'But it's your father's the great gintleman,' urged the fellow
+coaxingly, as he twisted his corbeen between his horny hands. 'If ye'd
+spake the word, acushla----'
+
+'My father!' Doreen groaned, breaking abruptly through the knot of
+suppliants. 'What can he do? He is sending me away. I'll pray to God
+for you; but He has been deaf this long while.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                          WE PIPED UNTO YOU.
+
+
+So the "Irish Slave" was destroyed by fire, and its hapless occupant,
+finding that no redress might be obtained through, Miss Wolfe, crawled
+to the Little House, where she was taken in by its kind mistress, who
+in her turn received, a few minutes later, a visit from Major Sirr. He
+pointed out with deferential politeness to the good-humoured dame
+that, as a Catholic possessing property, it was scarcely wise to
+harbour traitors, whereat the stout lady broke into her hearty laugh
+and invited him to lunch.
+
+'Is it me, meejor, that causes the Secret Council to shiver in their
+shoes,' she asked, 'with a Protestant daughter to go bail for me, and
+meeself, all but the fine airs, an aristocrat? Not but what Ollam
+Fodlah, mee ancestor, was better than the best of the stuck-up
+crathers! I'm a "no-party woman," as all the world knows, just as the
+buckramed bag-o'-bones at the Abbey foreninst us is a "no-popery
+woman." Let my ould collough be; she was my nurse, and won't trouble
+any one for long. Come in. Ye shall taste a gulp of my fine claret
+just to show there's no spite betune us--the very same, on my word of
+honour, as Justice Carleton and Judge Clonmel have such a tooth for.'
+
+And Major Sirr pledged his hostess in his best manner, with a smirk on
+his thin features and a worldly twinkle glimmering from under his
+bushy brows, and departed presently to report at the Castle that Madam
+Gillin was a staunch loyalist who had miraculously escaped the taint
+which poisoned most ladies of her creed.
+
+When he had departed, the good lady's face lost its dimples and grew
+long.
+
+'That wicked fellow will bring them all to the gallows,' she muttered
+to herself, frowning at some one she saw in her mind's eye who was not
+Major Sirr. 'And my lips are sealed! It's a fearsome thing to have to
+watch what's going on, and not dare speak a word of warning. If he
+only didn't know that I take Norah to the mass! Yet I'm bound to do my
+best for the child's soul, though my lord would have her brought up a
+Protestant. Sure Father Daly said I must bring the pet to chapel for
+her soul's sake as well as mine.'
+
+Then Madam Gillin, who was dividing the sheep from the goats in the
+matter of faded frippery in an untidy cupboard, resigned herself to
+unwonted meditation, with lines of gravity about her mouth which
+seldom rested there, as she recalled the day some time since, when he
+whom she had looked upon as friend unveiled himself to her in drunken
+frenzy as a viper; when she had stared into his big jolly face with an
+expression that had sobered him, while he explained that for the
+future she must do as she was bidden, or else all sorts of penalties
+would swoop upon her for tampering with the religion of a Protestant.
+On that occasion he fairly terrified her, and she kept the secret as
+to his being a viper in disguise, though it sickened her to think of
+it o' nights. She recalled the scene now for the thousandth time, and
+shuddered; and her best frock slipped out of her hands on the dirty
+floor while she contemplated that genial pleasant boon companion as
+she and only a few others knew him. Norah found her standing absently
+among crumpled gauzes when she returned from a jaunt to Dublin, and
+rallied her mother on her looks, with a smacking kiss like a
+whip-crack.
+
+'Have ye heard a banshee, mamma?' she asked. 'See! I've done all the
+commissions. Feathers a foot long, lovely flowers for our skirts, and
+gloves to cover the elbow. I met Shane upon the road, and we went
+together; but I could not wheedle him into coming to the ball, though
+I did my best. He said the grand ladies frightened him--bored him more
+likely. He's mighty timid for a Blaster. It's a wonder he's not afraid
+of _me_.'
+
+As the girl surveyed herself archly in the glass, she perceived why
+her lover feared her not. Indeed there was little of the grand style
+about the colleen. A rosy cheek; a liquid merry eye; a large ripe
+mouth, and an impudent upturned nose. No classical belle was poor
+Norah--only a healthy, comely wench--just such an one as would be
+likely to enchain a man with no loftier aspirations than Glandore's.
+
+Though mamma was inclined to be glum, her daughter was in the highest
+spirits; for before her was the delicious prospect of the ball (such
+gaieties were becoming rarer and more rare), and she was quite
+convinced, from what Shane had said, that that spiteful cat the
+countess had lied when conversing at Crow Street with Lady Camden. It
+was true, certainly, that he was going away for a few weeks. It
+appeared that he had duties to perform, and she liked him too well to
+stand in the way of his duties. But as to that sinful, deceitful,
+odious story about bringing home a bride, the notion was quite too
+foolish. He had sworn as much with entrancing kisses, and was she not
+delighted to believe him? Why, there would be only two ladies of the
+party, he averred. Did his little goose suppose that he could lead his
+own mother to the altar? As for Doreen, the idea was quite as
+preposterous. Her frigid ways and tiresome national wrongs were not to
+his taste at all. Therefore Miss Norah was quite content, though she
+had just bidden her lover farewell. She would see him no more for
+several months, perhaps; for, to avoid attending a ball where
+objectionable fine ladies would congregate, my lord had settled to
+ride as _avant courier_ to Drogheda, to superintend the preparations
+at the inn where my lady and the household were to sojourn.
+
+Though the volcano was heaving in portentous fashion, society seemed
+of one mind as to dancing jigs upon it to the last. Upon formal
+proclamation of martial law, the yeomanry had thrown off all disguise.
+The squireens were ruffianly through ignorance, their betters through
+self-interest, for it was easy to detect which way the wind was
+blowing. The chancellor was plainly for harsh measures. 'I will make
+these Irish as tame as cats,' he was heard incautiously to say. It was
+to be a war of class against class, in which both parties were
+artistically goaded by dark suspicions and deftly-spread falsehoods.
+Internecine strife is always remarkable for a display of the vilest
+passions. It seems as if the flow of gall is the more bitter from the
+difficulty of first pumping it to the surface. Major Sirr and his gang
+took to prowling in the night-houses--to making evening raids on
+taverns--a species of political crimping which was fruitful of
+brilliant hawls. Lists were even despatched to the Staghouse by Mr.
+Secretary Cooke that the town-major's lambs might study them, and
+'pencil off such as they deemed dangerous to the country.' Bands of
+armed squireens sallied out in the mad frolics begot by drink, to
+'give their opinion' to the disaffected, and the result was such a
+succession of night-brawls that Lord Clare was sorry and hurt.
+
+'What are we to do with these depraved turbulent creatures?' he
+plaintively inquired of the cabinet. And one and all--Arthur Wolfe
+even reluctantly consenting--admitted that stringent measures were
+imperative, or anarchy would surely supervene. So an order went forth
+that none should appear in Dublin streets after eight o'clock p.m.,
+unless armed with a special permit to do so. The theatres were closed.
+The city was in a state of siege, as though really Hoche were at its
+gates.
+
+But this was too dull for my lords and my ladies, who were not given
+to reading books, and had no intention that annoyance should fall upon
+themselves. They met for cards at one another's houses, their sedans
+protected by retinues of servants; but this was a poor pastime to
+folks who were accustomed to the public dances of Fishamble
+Street--the sumptuous entertainments at the Castle. They grumbled that
+this premature alarm was ridiculous. The French were not in Ireland,
+though the 'Shan van Vocht' was wont lyrically to declare at all hours
+of the day that they were on the sea. As for the United Irishmen, they
+were a 'Bugaboo.' With the troops which had been sent over any
+attempted rising could be frustrated at once; but they would not be so
+stupid as to rise--the tongues of these foul-mouthed patriots were
+more killing than their swords. My Lord Clare must be losing his
+nerve, he was not severe enough. They--the lords, urged by their
+ladies--would see that a proper spirit of terror was instilled into
+the scum, so that even if called on by their chiefs to rise, they
+would sit like beaten hounds--their tails between their legs. Lord
+Clare looked at Lord Camden from under his beetling penthouse. Lord
+Camden looked at Lord Clare and hummed, and hawed, and shuffled. For
+the unfortunate gentleman who represented majesty, though he lived as
+much as he could, like some Japanese monarch behind screens, could not
+hide himself so well but that unpleasant speeches reached his ears. He
+had consented tacitly to make a Guy Fawkes of himself, and permit the
+bearers of the pageant to explode malodorous squibs under his nose;
+but when the evil savours choked him he winced in tribulation. He grew
+to hate his tormentor well-nigh as much as the people did, which was
+no little. But Lord Clare's day of triumph seemed in nowise on the
+wane--everything went as he wished it to go. His ruthless bearing had
+made him a despot in the imbecile senate. His colleagues, forgetting
+their rank, their country, and their dignity, yielded to the spell of
+his dictation as a fascinated bird drops before the snake. The letters
+of congratulation which he received from Pitt and others were
+accumulating within his escritoire. So soon as he should have tamed
+the tiger-Irish, how great would his reward be! He saw in the
+distance a vision no longer dim. An English peerage. A position in the
+English House of Lords, where great statesmen should listen to his
+periods--where Nestors should encourage his ambition. There seemed no
+end to the gorgeous vista. Why not some day assume the place of Pitt
+himself, who, though young, was (at least the world said so) eaten up
+by debauchery and excess? And what was there which stood 'twixt
+himself and this glorious prospect? His own country, its interests,
+its safety, its political existence--nothing more! Pooh! Time works
+wonders. Things were going well. If those idiots would only fall upon
+the swords which were held out to them, there was no knowing what
+might not be accomplished. The Hibernian lords and gentlemen were in a
+fair way of exhibiting themselves to the odium of the world. Having
+danced their infernal dance at the bidding of those who clutched the
+purse-strings, they would make a sorry figure when the latter spurned
+them in disgust. What would they do then? Only sink lower still, and
+become more abject, till the pit of degradation should know no deeper
+depth. That was the way to work on them! To hold out threats that
+pensions would not be paid unless certain dirty work was done. To
+declare then that it was much too dirty--that by disobeying
+instructions they had forfeited the right to sit in the presence of
+decent people; that, having gone so far, all sense of respect must be
+abandoned; that, honour being lost, nothing was left to them but
+money; that with their own guilty hands they must cut the throat of
+their legislature, and drown remorse so long as the blood-money should
+last. This was to be the crowning edifice of my Lord Clare's scheme;
+and Mr. Pitt laughed a sardonic laugh as he tied a wet towel round his
+throbbing temples. He had got very drunk and lost at whist, had the
+gay young British premier; but the excellence of this conceit caused
+him to grin, despite his headache.
+
+'This Irishman,' he laughed, 'talks monstrous fine about the low ebb
+to which the Irish lords have sunk--forgetting that his own place is
+lower still than theirs; but he does his burrowing with rare ability.'
+
+So Lord Clare worked and wormed with consummate diplomacy and tact,
+while those who employed him despised their tool in increasing ratio
+with his success; and Lord Camden's seat of thorns became daily more
+galling, and the silly mice gambolled with a recklessness which
+compelled pity--and old Father Time hurried on, afraid to look behind
+him.
+
+My lords and my ladies, finding Dublin very dull, began to vent their
+spleen. The chancellor therefore saw that he must break the ice, which
+had been freezing up too rapidly. He announced, accordingly, that the
+Castle festivities would not be postponed, as had been intended. The
+grand ball, usually given on Christmas Eve, would take place a week
+later instead--no other change would result from the threatening state
+of affairs. Gentlemen, however, were requested to wear their swords;
+for all sorts of rumours were abroad, which the executive sincerely
+hoped were merely the invention of the enemy. How any enemy could be
+so heartless as to plot and conspire against so angelic an executive,
+etc., etc., as usual.
+
+That the great ball was really to take place, was hailed with
+universal delight. Everybody knows St. Patrick's hall--its magnificent
+proportions, the suite of state-rooms to which it leads; the splendid
+staircases, balconies, lobbies; ideal spots for flirtation--or
+conspiracy. All parties, patriotic and the reverse, rejoiced at
+prospect of this _fête_, for several reasons.
+
+Sirr and his Battalion of Testimony were becoming so
+ubiquitous--informers had a way of turning up so unexpectedly--that it
+grew daily more difficult to hit on a place of meeting secure from
+their spying presence. Of course only gentlemen and ladies 'to the
+backbone' could expect to gain admittance to Castle dinners and
+concerts; but with the St. Patrick balls it was otherwise. These
+assemblies bore so official a character that respectable citizens of
+all denominations were certain of receiving an invitation. Lord Clare,
+aware of this, had made his calculations. The United Irishmen were
+sure to be there in force; it would not be his fault if they did not
+flounder into a hole.
+
+It was for this ball on New Year's Eve that Norah Gillin had gone
+forth to purchase ribbons and plumes. It was for this ball that my
+Lady Glandore had waited--after which she and Miss Wolfe were to start
+for Donegal, changing their gala-dresses at the first stage upon the
+road.
+
+Sara, who burned to see Robert and hear how his red-hot speech at the
+debating society had been received, importuned her father with unusual
+eagerness to take her to this ball. Was his little primrose becoming
+worldly? he inquired, with a gloomy smile. No, no! Twinkling feet
+should go with light hearts. Whose hearts might be light at this awful
+crisis? His girl must stop at home and say her prayers for Erin, and
+he would soothe himself and her by strains on the violoncello. That
+instrument was constantly in his hand now, whenever he was at home;
+and folks trembled as they passed by at night, for sure such dreadful
+sounds must come from the damned in agony!
+
+Mr. Curran was exceeding sick at heart. His friend Wolfe upbraided him
+constantly for too openly opposing Government; whilst, on the other
+hand, anonymous letters arrived by dozens, abusing him for
+lukewarmness in the cause. He shook his head at the latter, muttering,
+as he tossed them into the fire, 'Blind fools! Mine is the waiting
+game. Ye'll be glad enough by-and-by that I stood neutral!'
+
+But on the morning of the 29th a report came to the lawyer's ears
+which filled him with amazement. He put aside his beloved violoncello,
+and trotted to Dublin to see Emmett, Russell, Bond. The report was
+true, he found. Vainly he argued and protested--vowed that to save
+them from their madness he must go and tell Lord Clare. No! He would
+not betray them, but would go and intercede. The chancellor was not at
+home to him, though he saw him come from behind a curtain; so,
+retiring disconsolately to the Priory, he bade Sara fetch out her
+gewgaws, as he must even take her to the Castle after all.
+
+St. Patrick's hall was crowded when he and his child entered it--she
+in a white muslin dress, with a single frilling round its short skirt,
+a scarf of soft green about her neck, for the night was bitter, and
+the dancing-room beset by draughts. It was a gay assemblage, for
+General Lake (who had arrived recently) and all his staff were present
+in glittering English uniforms, which were not to be outdone in
+splendour by the officers of Irish militia. Even Mr. Curran's
+unmartial figure was buckramed in gold and scarlet, for was not he too
+an officer of the Lawyer's corps, which forbade its members to wear
+mufti?
+
+The national love of parade showed strongly in the martial costume
+which the sons of Erin donned. Sumptuous embroidery was scattered
+with a lavish hand over cuffs, high collars, padded breasts, and
+tight-fitting pantaloons; while some regiments, whose colonels
+boasted of picturesque proclivities, were grand in the matter of
+shoulder-knots and becoming scarves around the waist. The effect was
+enhanced by contrast, for metal ornaments were little used at that day
+to adorn the dresses of the fair, who with towering ostrich feathers,
+silken fillets, lofty wreaths of flowers, could afford to resign to
+their lords and masters the glories of gold and silver. Variety of
+texture, too, heightened the fine effect; for whilst men were swathed
+quite stiff in gold-laced coats and voluminous cravats, young ladies
+wore as little as possible, and that of thinnest gauze or crape, and
+their mammas the scantiest quantity of shot or patterned silk.
+
+The scene was the more animated for the strangeness of its component
+parts. Irish patriotic belles were putting forth all their attractions
+to pump young English exquisites--aides-de-camp to Lake or
+Abercromby--to entrap them into unguarded statements, which might
+convey useful information to their brothers. General Lake himself was
+literally besieged by beauty, who lavished before that vain person the
+fascination of neat ankles, the flash of diamond eyes, the charms of
+pouting bosoms--in order to wring from him, in spite of caution, some
+hint of the intentions of the military. This was a game open to both
+parties. Aides-de-camp were instructed to ensnare their partners as to
+the plans of the United Irishmen; to discover, if possible, under the
+mask of innocent flirtation, who the acting delegates were, what were
+their views, their capacities, their characters; but it must be
+admitted that the weak sex generally had the best of it, for
+hot-headed youth is apt to be distracted by externals, and the costume
+of the period was characterised by peculiarities which were calculated
+to mislead young men.
+
+This practice of seeking the society of political opponents for the
+purpose of discovering secrets, and of frustrating designs by sly
+hand-pressure or furtive kissing behind doors, was one quite after the
+burrowing heart of the astute lord chancellor, who stood smiling by
+the side of the throne, his dapper figure clothed in official costume,
+his neat limbs displaying their roundness in black silk breeches and
+stockings. He was chatting with my Lady Glandore, who with Doreen
+sat close to Lady Camden, directing her attention to some prettier
+girl than usual--(where are more to be found than in the Irish
+capital?)--some peculiar headdress or _outré_ garment. Nothing could
+seem more guileless than he, as he busied his pure soul with
+trifles--the colour of a shoe--the fashion of a sash. When Curran and
+Sara entered he changed colour, muttering ere he recovered himself:
+'What brings him here, I wonder?'
+
+He was not left long in suspense; for the lawyer bowed before the
+Viceroy, made straight for my lady's bench, and having deposited Sara
+by Doreen, began to speak abruptly in undertones.
+
+'I tried to see you to-day, my lord, and could not. We were friends
+once, though it is long since we quarrelled. Yet I feel impelled to
+make one more protest. You are driving this unhappy country to the
+brink of a great tragedy. You, and you alone, are responsible for
+this. It is not yet too late, but to-morrow it may be. Reflect, Lord
+Clare, while yet there's time!'
+
+Curran grasped the chancellor's arm in his earnestness.
+
+'Do you refer to the United Irishmen?' drawled the latter.
+
+'Do not despise your enemy, my lord. That association at first was
+small,' pursued Curran, 'the earth seemed to drink it as a rivulet. A
+thousand streams, through the secret windings of the earth, found
+their way to one source and swelled its waters; it is prepared now to
+burst forth as a great river--what will its cataracts not sweep away?
+It is you, my lord, who will have aggravated sedition into rebellion.'
+
+'Dear, dear!' smiled Lord Clare. 'Do you, too, listen to their
+claptrap? I say to you, as I've said openly all along, nothing can be
+more lenient than the executive! We stand simply on the defensive. I
+don't mind telling you in confidence,' he continued, eyeing his
+companion askance, 'that there is a plot which is to be carried out at
+this very ball to-night, for kidnapping his excellency and your humble
+servant, and locking us up somewhere quite cosy and comfortable.
+Audacious and clever, is it not? Yes, we have all the details--indeed,
+we had them yesterday, which may account to you for the muster of
+troops in the yard below, and the display of scarlet on the stairs and
+in the corridors. Clever, but, oh dear, how wild! I hope for their own
+sakes that the troops will daunt them; for nothing could come of this
+but an unseemly scuffle which would distress the ladies. Would you
+like to hear the rest of the plot? If these fools shall succeed in
+possessing themselves of our valuable carcases, a rocket is to be sent
+up from the corner of Ormond's quay, when two parties will start
+simultaneously--one to seize the artillery at Chapelizod, the other to
+surprise Newgate and Kilmainham. You look astonished. Well you may,
+for it is indeed astonishing.'
+
+Curran looked deeply pained, but made no reply. The chancellor's cold
+flippant tones pierced his heart like knives. How could a band of
+unwary, warm-hearted, impulsive fellows, who were prepared to dare all
+for motherland, cope with this hard calculating schemer? Truly, it was
+well for them that _he_ was there. The feeblest arm may be nerved by
+wrong for miracles. It was news of this rash project which had changed
+his plans as to the ball. He saw at a glance that it was
+impracticable. He had explained this to those whom it concerned; that
+it was an impossible compromise between those of the Directory who
+wished to wait, and those others who were for commencing a regular war
+this winter, which could be productive of nothing but disaster. The
+enthusiasm of the delegates had simply exasperated him. The God of
+battles, they said, was always on the side of right! Was He? Such had
+not been the experience of Mr. Curran's schooling. All he could do was
+to intercede with those in power--to make a final call on their
+humanity; and if that failed, humbly to bend the knee to Providence.
+
+He was moving away when Lord Clare stopped him.
+
+'Mr. Curran,' he said, with a winning show of teeth, 'as you said, we
+once were friends; why not again? It's not my fault, mind. The heroic
+rôle no doubt is charming; but, believe me, fitted more for
+adolescence than for men in middle life. You aim at becoming the
+champion of the oppressed. You will come to grief with them, I fear.'
+
+'In a general intoxication the most grievous of offenders is he who
+passes the cup, refusing to be degraded,' snapped the lawyer.
+
+'Rebuking by importunate sobriety the indecent revelry around--eh, Mr.
+Curran?' laughed the chancellor. 'That's a fit finish to your period,
+I think. What a mistake it is when orators forget that they are not
+always addressing juries or constituents.'
+
+As the lawyer plunged into the crowd, Lord Clare muttered:
+
+'Damn him, he can't be bought; let us try what traps will do.' Then
+cried with the artlessness of infancy, 'Miss Wolfe! Miss Wolfe! What
+makes you look so animated? The statue has come to life while I've
+been gossiping with that eccentric friend of ours.'
+
+Pupil of Machiavelli! He knew as well as did Doreen, though his back
+was turned--for he had a way of looking aslant like a hare--that a
+party of young men had just appeared in the grand doorway, who not
+long since were suffering as traitors. Tom Emmett and his associates
+presented themselves before their natural enemy, the Viceroy; then
+retired into a side-room to deliberate. Things were going wrong, yet
+the Emmetts did not despair. Tom had fought with all his might in
+council against the kidnapping scheme--in vain--and was no little
+relieved when he discovered that the massing of troops about the
+Castle had rendered this plot abortive. As they marched up the grand
+staircase the delegates scrutinised each soldier who stood upright and
+impassive on each step. One hummed between his teeth of a 'green
+bough,' but met with no response. The executive fell into no errors.
+These soldiers, ostensibly placed there as a new spectacle for Dublin
+eyes, belonged to a regiment just landed, who could not by any
+possibility know aught about a green bough, or care about it, or
+bestow mysterious sidewinks upon such as chose to babble of it. The
+mine had through treachery of some sort been countermined. Those two
+parties who were waiting in ambush for a signal must wait and shiver
+in the cold; there could be no starting either for Chapelizod or
+Kilmainham. Perhaps they would all agree now to place firmer faith in
+their chief--to trust to the judgment of him who stood in the shoes of
+Tone. Why, the French might be under weigh by this time. A pretty
+thing it would be if upon his landing Hoche found the ground already
+cut from beneath his feet by the precipitancy of his Irish allies!
+They had been awaiting intelligence for weeks. Terence would return
+anon with news--something tangible on which to build up future
+edifices.
+
+At mention of Terence a shade of coldness came over the faces of some
+of the young men. Cassidy--who was in splendid military garb, which
+made his stalwart figure look like a modern Mars--had joined them on
+their entry; and chid them severely now for daring to be suspicious of
+Mr. Crosbie.
+
+'What matters it,' he asked, 'about his brother's views? Brothers
+usually take up opinions as diametrically opposed as possible, as
+though to establish a family balance.' He himself who spoke, whom none
+would presume to suspect, had angled after Councillor Crosbie as an
+invaluable accession to their ranks; had angled in vain for long,
+till the Orr atrocity had roused even him. He, Cassidy, their old
+boon-companion, who would give his lifeblood for any of them, would go
+bail for the honesty of Terence. 'His honesty, forsooth! The suspicion
+was ludicrous. What had he to gain by joining them, in proportion
+with what he lost? He, an aristocrat, who might be Earl of Glandore
+to-morrow--his brother being the fighting champion of the Cherokees.'
+
+Robert followed suit with grateful glances at Cassidy. 'Their faith
+had been shaken by Miss Wolfe, than whom there was no patriot more
+earnest. But they must remember that Miss Wolfe, masculine and shrewd
+as by whiffs she seemed, was a woman who was, like all women, guided
+by her heart rather than her head. Terence, for aught he knew, might
+have been worshipping at some other shrine than hers, which, to a
+woman's mind, would be quite excuse enough for allowing private malice
+to trip up public good. Terence had been his (Robert's) friend for
+years. Aye, and Tom's too. They must beg the members of the Irish
+Directory to avoid hasty decisions which afterwards they might repent.
+Terence should have been back ere this, no doubt; but when he did
+arrive he would show good reason for delay.'
+
+This discussion was carried on in whispers in the little drawing-room
+through which a flirting couple strolled now and then on the way to
+the buffet. Therefore Cassidy, who of late had begun to assume a
+whimsically patriarchal air in his communion with the delegates,
+because he was by a few years their senior, thought it prudent to
+stroll up and down the room now and again, lest haply his ubiquitous
+friend Sirr should be lurking behind a shutter, or the lord chancellor
+himself be squatting under a chair. The situation, to our modern
+minds, is well-nigh impossible to realise. Traitors wandering close
+under the viceregal nose, which they had arranged that very night to
+tweak; traitors who were marked men, yet who were allowed to be at
+large; who made no pretence to loyalty, who openly admitted that they
+panted to see the tricolour; that when this hour should come their
+vengeance would be like a thunderbolt. Spies, too, in all directions,
+and families rent in twain by greed of gold, and rare examples of
+honesty. Brothers against brothers, fathers against sons, daughters
+against mothers; yet all dancing and smirking together on the powder
+magazine which might be fired at any moment.
+
+Cassidy deemed it prudent to keep watch and ward, to be sure that no
+eavesdroppers were listening to the squabbles of the delegates; and,
+in wheeling his big body round, caught sight of a new figure entering
+the ball-room.
+
+Could it be? Terence! returned from Cork, looking handsome and well in
+the dress of the Lawyer's corps. The jealous giant ground his teeth as
+he marked him pressing gently through the crowd to make his bow,
+smiling his bright smile to his numerous friends, then turning to the
+left to where his relations sat. Doreen affected not to see him,
+Cassidy perceived with glee. She would not speak to him at all. She
+was busy arranging Sara's scarf about her neck. This was prime. He
+must see what happened next. Alas! the devil gets hold of the best
+of us through jealousy! So, whispering, 'Whisht! boys--here's
+Terence--returned!' he hurried to observe what was passing, pursued
+shortly after by the others, who for a second had been transfixed by
+the sudden appearance of the man about whose conduct they were
+quarrelling.
+
+'Hope you enjoyed yourself at Cork. The sea-breeze has done you good,'
+my lady was saying in frigid accents to her son; for she resented the
+unfailing good-humour of this boy who was always respectfully dutiful,
+as if he were not the seed of his mother's long remorse. It was the
+thought of him that had sent the crows to plough furrows on her face;
+that kept her awake sometimes all through the dreary night. If he had
+only reviled her, she would have preferred it to this studied
+courtesy. If he would only complain--but her conscience was leading
+her astray. He knew nothing, except that she loved him not. Why should
+he revile her? She had promised Lord Clare to caution him about his
+conduct; therefore she asked him to sit beside her. But for once he
+appeared undutiful, for he hurriedly postponed the invitation.
+
+'I want to talk to you, Terence; sit by me,' she said.
+
+'Presently, mother,' he answered. 'I will come back by-and-by; there
+is business that must be seen to.'
+
+Then turning his back on her, he looked towards Doreen. She was so
+much occupied with that scarf of Sara's that it engrossed all her
+attention. She would not look up.
+
+'I have come back, Doreen,' he whispered. 'Have you nothing to ask
+me?'
+
+She raised her brown eyes to his for a moment. 'Nothing!' she said,
+then resumed her occupation.
+
+Biting his lip he turned away, to be received in the exuberant embrace
+of his dear Cassidy, behind whom came trooping Tom Emmett and Robert;
+Russell, Bond, and others hanging back waveringly, as if not quite
+certain how they should act. Was he not an aristocrat? Had not Miss
+Wolfe warned them? Was it not too likely that he should be playing a
+double game? How difficult a task it was to separate friends from
+foes!
+
+Terence, despite his cousin's ill-humour, was in great spirits.
+Eagerly he conducted his friends into a remote boudoir. He was dying
+to tell his news, and to hear theirs. So earnest was he, so strong a
+ring of truth was in his voice, that the delegates could doubt no
+more. Bond, Russell, gathered round as anxiously as the two Emmetts.
+Cassidy's broad visage was alight with grins. He slapped his thigh in
+huge delight as Terence unfolded his budget. He had been treated with
+every civility at Brest. Hoche, his fears removed, was taking up the
+matter with all his might; his rival, young Buonaparte, was getting on
+too well. Both these generals were straining every nerve to outstrip
+each other. The Irish envoy had seen Tone in his uniform as général de
+brigade. He was to sail in the expedition aboard the _Indomptable_.
+The force was of fifteen sail of the line, ten frigates, and seven
+transports. There was some diversity of opinion as to the plan to be
+pursued, for Admiral Gardner was cruising in the Channel with the
+English fleet, and, crowded as the ships were with troops, it was well
+to avoid a sea-fight if possible. The message to the Irish Directory
+was that their allies might be expected at any moment--_where_, it was
+impossible to say--for much would depend on events, and it was taken
+for granted that on the first signal the country would rise _en
+masse_. Terence, indeed, was surprised that nothing had yet taken
+place, for when he left Brest on the 10th all was ready, the men
+embarked--thirteen thousand strong--the état-major prepared to follow.
+He, the envoy, had been compelled to travel through England, which had
+delayed his coming; but he had ridden as fast as possible, lest all
+should be over before he could arrive.
+
+'Started at last!' exclaimed Robert, full of glee.
+
+'Ready to start twenty days ago!' ejaculated Emmett, with a long face.
+'Please God no evil has befallen them.'
+
+The conspirators looked one at the other uneasily. What if that
+English fleet should have intercepted the convoy?
+
+'They've bin weather-bound,' Cassidy declared with confidence. 'Bad
+news flies quickly. If the English had done anything, we should have
+had them crowing over us long since.'
+
+'There were fogs in the Channel, I remarked that,' assented Terence.
+'I went down into the great cabin of the _Indomptable_ on the evening
+of the tenth, to wish the officers God-speed. It was an exhilarating
+spectacle. The ceiling was a mass of firelocks; the candlesticks were
+bayonets, stuck in the table. A fine band was playing the
+"Marseillaise;" the officers, in full fig, were lounging about, some
+playing cards, some singing to the time--all full of hope. As my boat
+rowed me away, the effect of the grand hymn on the water, diminishing
+as the black hull seemed flitting into haze, was delicious. It is
+surprising, though, that they delay so long.'
+
+The colloquy was interrupted by a general move to supper. It might
+create suspicion if they were to stand too long aloof from the
+company.
+
+Arthur Wolfe plucked Curran by the sleeve, as he met him, in
+mid-stream, and whispered in his ear:
+
+'I saw you talking to Lord Clare. Ye've not been insulting him, I
+trust? Take the advice of your friend. Do not make an enemy of him,
+for he'll have it all his own way by-and-by, depend on it.'
+
+Curran shrugged his shoulders with contempt.
+
+'Intelligence of some sort has arrived,' continued the
+attorney-general, gravely. 'Lord Camden was called away half an hour
+ago, and sent presently for Clare, who was rubbing his hands and
+smiling when the two came back again. I overheard him say, "With your
+permission, I'll announce it after supper. It will make a good
+impression."'
+
+'It's something cruel, then,' returned Curran, sadly. 'It's always
+something cruel when the chancellor looks pleased!'
+
+Supper was served in the picture-gallery which adjoins St. Patrick's
+hall, and it was a splendid _coup d'[oe]il_ that met your eye as you
+crossed the threshold. Two long lines of snowy cloth, illuminated by
+myriads of wax-lights in massive silver candelabra, vanished in
+perspective like the iridescent path cloven by a ship at night-time.
+Great piles of fruit and flowers gave relief to the scarlet and gold
+masses of the uniforms, broken as they were, in regular sequence, by
+the plumes and dresses of the ladies; whilst the general richness of
+effect was still further heightened by dark rows of feathery palms and
+large-leaved shrubs, which served as a sombre background.
+
+At the centre of the chief table, the Countess of Glandore occupied
+the place of honour beside the Viceroy, faced by Lord Clare, with Lady
+Camden on his right and Doreen on his left. On glancing down the
+table, my lady perceived with rage that the chances of the rush had
+placed Sara upon one side of Terence, while--(was this accident, or
+fate?)--the other was occupied by Madam Gillin! The young man seemed
+highly amused by his elderly companion, who--two monstrous ostrich
+feathers nodding over her the while--was vowing by her soul and body
+that she couldn't touch another skelp of jelly--no, not the tiniest
+wee bit--unless somebody fed her with a spoon; which Terence, entering
+into the humour of the situation, proceeded immediately to do, amid
+the laughter and applause of all his neighbours.
+
+The human animal being apt to run after bellwethers, it may be looked
+upon as natural that this strange conduct of a respectable matron was
+speedily imitated by the girls. They vowed one and all, at this end of
+the table, with a unanimity which looked like an epidemic, that they
+must be fed with spoons; and fed they were accordingly, by amorous
+sons of Mars, whose blood bubbled to their brains at close contact
+with perfumed curls; whilst their cheeks glowed, fanned by fragrant
+breath, and their eyes were dazzled by snowy busts thrown back, their
+nerves thrilled by fairy little kicks from elfin feet and pinches from
+pink fingers, in the course of this bringing-up by hand of grown-up
+bantlings.
+
+Claret and champagne assisting, it must be admitted that at this end
+of the table the hilarity was more joyous than genteel. My lady looked
+thitherward several times with frowns, for in her day men, when they
+worshipped Bacchus, did so when the ladies had withdrawn. Then it
+mattered little what jests were bandied, what coarse freedom used. But
+it shocked her that a sabbat such as this should take place in the
+presence of his Majesty's representatives, of high-born dames and
+dowagers, of young girls who were presumably innocent, and that her
+own son should set it going.
+
+'That boy is a thorn in my side,' she reflected, with grim resentment.
+'He has never brought me anything but trouble from the moment of his
+birth till now. I promised to reason with him, and he has declined
+even to hear me speak. On his own shoulders then let the burthen of
+the future lie.'
+
+The Countess of Glandore, stung by the humiliation which her pride was
+just then suffering, irritated as it was by the canker which had
+poisoned the maternal milk in her breast so long, almost wished, in a
+throb of wickedness, that her second-born might entangle himself
+irrevocably. Her evil monitor whispered that if he were to die or
+disappear, the numbing dread which had sallowed her life would be
+buried in his grave. So are we impelled by little puffs of wind, when
+we have once started in the ice-sleigh down the slippery incline hewn
+out like a steel ribbon, our vision blinded by snow swirls and the
+rapidity of transit, till with amaze we find ourselves at the bottom
+with a jerk, not knowing what urged us on the road.
+
+When Madam Gillin had convinced her beau that she could take no more
+jelly without choking, he desisted from his well-meant efforts, and
+the two began to converse on a pleasantly easy-going basis.
+
+'Indeed, ye're a strapping chap,' she declared, with a tap of her fan
+and a great laugh, 'although ye're a bad neighbour. I like your face,
+and I'm a quare body. Would ye make me a promise now, just to plase a
+fanciful old woman? I wouldn't have an oath, there are too many,
+about, worse luck! Ye would? Promise me, then, on your honour, that if
+ever ye get into a scrape, in which I can be of service, ye'll come to
+the Little House? Now didn't I say I was a quare woman, and you almost
+a stranger? You're a lad of your word, I know.' Then she added,
+exchanging her tone of banter for a serious whisper: 'Maybe I know
+more of ye than ye think, with the lock of hair cut away behind. Ye've
+taken up the cause. Bedad, I can't blame ye, though I'm sad for your
+sake. Mum's the word. We're strangers till you need me. Hush! They are
+watching us.'
+
+Terence had scarcely recovered his surprise at the eccentric conduct
+of Madam Gillin, before there was a clattering of glasses and a hum,
+then a dead stillness of respect, for the Viceroy had risen on his
+legs.
+
+He mumbled slavish platitudes anent the virtues of his gracious
+Majesty. No doubt everybody present was in the habit of reading the
+_Gazette_. Of course they were, for they loved their sovereign, and
+were thankful for the privilege of watching, with respectful awe, his
+daily movements. He was at Weymouth, indulging in warm baths; so was
+her Majesty Queen Charlotte, and so likewise were their august
+children the Princesses. For his part, he, the unworthy representative
+of so perfect and enlightened and generally admirable a monarch, could
+scarcely peruse without tears the simple bulletin of that household.
+'This morning the Princess Amelia walked, with her gouvernante, on the
+sands, to study the wonders of the shore. The Princesses Augusta and
+Elizabeth rode for two hours, on their Shetland ponies, whilst their
+Majesties were enjoying a bath!' Indeed it was a high privilege for a
+nation to have daily before its eyes so pure and noble an example of
+unsullied virtue, of innocent enjoyment and sterling worth. With
+heartfelt thankfulness for the blessing bestowed by Providence, he
+would propose the health of 'The King and Queen--God bless them!'
+upstanding, with all the honours.
+
+All this time claret and champagne had been freely going the rounds.
+The roses had deepened from pink to damask on the cheeks of the Dublin
+fair--the young officers of yeomanry and militia had reached the stage
+of aberration which follows thirst and precedes coma. Standing on
+their chairs the better to let loose their bursting loyalty, they
+drank the health of their Majesties; whilst others--amongst whom some
+of our friends were--raised their glasses with a flourish, muttering
+as they did so, 'Remember Orr!'
+
+Terence, with his arm round Sara, who shrank at the uproarious din,
+took her glass, and, pressing to his lips the place where hers had
+touched it, whispered in her ear--then in that of Madam Gillin: 'To
+the diffusion of Light--may it break upon us soon!'
+
+Then--silence being with difficulty restored--Lord Clare stood up to
+speak.
+
+He surveyed the assemblage for a moment, casting his eagle eye on one
+and then another as though to consider how best to touch the
+sympathies and flick the raws of so incongruous a gathering. The
+attention of all was riveted on his smiling face, for a murmur had
+flitted along the lines like a breeze over corn, which was an echo of
+Arthur Wolfe's surmise. There was something behind--some intelligence
+of moment--the divulging of which the all-powerful lord chancellor had
+expressly reserved to himself.
+
+'It is nearly twelve o'clock,' he said at length, in the rasping voice
+which set so many people's teeth on edge. 'We have gone through a year
+of trouble and anxiety, and are on the eve of a new one, which, I
+trust, will prove vastly different from that which is now dying. I
+will venture to propose a toast to you--gentlemen and ladies
+all--which may at first seem a riddle--but which you will, I know, all
+join with me in drinking, trusting to a satisfactory solution. I beg
+you to drink to the Wind.'
+
+The chancellor paused--one white hand upon his hip--to mark the effect
+of his exordium. Young' officers banged applause upon the table, not
+knowing why they did it, save that the leading spirit who guided
+them seemed to expect the silence to be broken. Arthur Wolfe made
+bread-pills with feverish absentness. Curran placed his hand behind
+his ear, and leaned forward with impatient anxiety. Doreen sat, her
+hands folded in her lap, staring before her into space.
+
+'I give you the Wind,' the chancellor went on, with the clear coldness
+of a glacier rivulet 'because those who deplore the evil which has
+gathered of late like a mist over our unhappy country, will have to
+thank the wind for driving it away, and leaving a clear atmosphere.
+Alas! I cannot say that the horizon is as yet quite clear--small
+cloudlets float still upon the waters--but those heavy banks of rain,
+which we have all feared would drench us presently, are in mercy put
+to rout, and it is the wind that we have to thank for it. "The French
+are on the sea, said the Shan van Vocht." So runs the ditty which was
+in all careless mouths to-day. Well! I am authorised by his
+excellency's goodness to tell you that the French _are_ on the
+sea--but flying back to their native ports by this time in every phase
+of discomfiture and distress.'
+
+A pause--while the doves shivered. Girls drew their feet into safety
+under chairs, and pushed away--shuddering--the importunate hands of
+British aides-de-camp.
+
+'Some among you,' innocently insinuated the speaker, 'may possibly be
+aware that the French have been preparing for some time past to make a
+descent upon our coasts, and I tell you now (danger being over) that
+supposing they could have evaded the English fleet and landed in
+force, much difficulty might have resulted. But thanks to the wind
+which has blown persistently for days, although they did escape for
+awhile the vigilance of the English admiral, yet are they, by heaven's
+mercy, routed and put to flight, after beating about in the offing for
+well-nigh a week.'
+
+Again the speaker paused to mark the success of his efforts. Curran,
+like Arthur, was rolling pills of bread upon the tablecloth; the young
+ladies, so demonstratively lively but a few moments before, were
+glancing at each other with blanched lips. Mrs. Gillin was sitting
+bolt upright, her trembling fingers making sad havoc with her fan. A
+low hum of dismay passed along the tables. The sound seemed to tickle
+my Lord Clare's ear. He waited for a moment or so, and fixed his eye
+upon Miss Wolfe as he took up the thread of his discourse.
+
+'Yes!' he said with exultation. 'The French fleet has come and gone!
+The menacing danger has faded harmlessly away. It started 15,000
+strong. Tempests arose, such as are always at the beck of Britain when
+invasion threatens her rights, which scattered the Gallic fleet.
+Hoche--who was to do such wonders--was aboard the admiral's ship;
+General Wolfe Tone (who by-the-bye will certainly, though he dubs
+himself general, bring himself to the gallows) was aboard another. The
+flower of Republican valour was packed like herrings between decks.
+Where now are those gawdy cohorts? Making for Brest as fast as fear
+can drive them. I pray that the King's admiral may intercept them in
+their flight!'
+
+The chancellor's little oration came upon the party like a
+thunderclap. There was no more flirting now, or dallying with taper
+waists. Doreen, at mention of her hero, woke with a start from
+reverie. Her lids quivered for a second, and shrank as though her eyes
+were blinded by the lightning. She cast one wild glance of reproach at
+her cousin--then was herself again--a trifle paler maybe; but
+otherwise the staid, impassive maiden whose grave austerity so awed
+the turbulent squireens. The Emmetts and their friends seemed stunned.
+Their hopes were blasted now, as it appeared, for ever. It would have
+been better not to have waited for tardy assistance so feebly
+administered. At times of deep anguish, thoughts whirl through the
+brain in vivid flashes. Tom Emmett saw at once that the executive had
+won a double victory. The bugbear which had threatened them was
+dissolved and gone. The members of the Irish Directory, who had been
+for acting at once, would turn now upon their comrades with a
+plausible appearance of justice, and revile them for having allowed
+precious moments to slip by. The breach in the national bulwark, which
+had been showing in dangerous fissures, would be rent into chasms
+now--the edifice, which had taken such anxious pains to rear, would
+crumble into dust. It was the oppressor's hour of triumph. Ireland's
+fate was sealed. Such were the gloomy thoughts which crushed the
+leader of the patriots. With the majority of the party present it
+was far otherwise. A mighty huzza shook the rafters--another and
+another--like waves rolling in to shore. The officers of yeomanry and
+militia saw before them a bright perspective of lawlessness, wherein
+the Helots would be handed over to their mercy--to smite, and revile,
+and torture, and kill--wherein their daughters would become a
+legitimate prey, their flocks and herds a booty, their household gods
+an appanage. Now was the time come when it behoved them to display
+their zeal. So thought the squireens, so also thought the lords their
+leaders, who hoped that they might earn extra pensions by accepting
+the bait that was held out. So the glittering assemblage rose with one
+accord--on the chairs--even on the tables, and the luckless professors
+of a different creed were compelled to follow suit, as small stones
+are dashed along at the mercy of the breakers. With shouts, with
+frantic wavings of swords and handkerchiefs--supporting each other as
+they swayed in their excitement---the lord-lieutenant's guests drank
+to the wind, and, at the same time, to the new year, which was thus
+heralded to the Irish capital in noise and drunken tumult.
+
+The chancellor had turned up a trump and played it skilfully. With
+smiles on their faces and despair in their hearts, the Dublin belles
+returned to the dancing-hall. But the innate ruffianism of the
+yeomanry officers had been let loose by wine and frenzy. The girls
+fled to their brothers for protection--their excellencies retired to
+their own apartments m a hurry. A youth with down upon his lip seized
+the green scarf of pretty Sara, and wrenched it from her neck with a
+brutal jest.
+
+'What do you hide?' he gibed. 'That lily bosom may not be hidden by
+the rebel colour--off with it!'
+
+The youth sprawled prone at once, felled by a blow between the eyes.
+Sara shrieked, and clung to a protecting arm. It was Terence who had
+knocked him down, and who was soon the centre of a _mêlée_. Madam
+Gillin's feathers were seen tossing in the throng, while her voice
+added to the hubbub.
+
+'In the days of Brian Buroo,' she wailed, 'bejewelled leedies might
+walk alone from one end to t'other of Innisfail! Now, faith, we can't
+be safe even in Pat's hall!'
+
+My lady and Doreen made the best of their way to their coach. The
+soldiers stood in motionless rows upon the stairs, as though there was
+no brawl above. Their captain had hurried to the chancellor to ask if
+he should clear the hall.
+
+'No!' was the laughing reply. 'Their blood is hot--a little phlebotomy
+won't hurt them. Let be! let be! It's not a good omen for the year
+though, that it should dawn in bloodshed!'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                           AWAY TO DONEGAL.
+
+
+The countess was much scandalised at the scene from which she had
+escaped, and favoured her niece with decided opinions on the subject,
+as six horses dragged the carriage through the night along the road to
+Drogheda.
+
+'This will give you a notion, my dear,' she said, 'of the results of
+letting low people have too much of their own way. I confess that Lord
+Clare's conduct surprises me. If your friends the United Irishmen were
+to obtain the upper hand for a few days, they would disgrace
+themselves and disgust the world. You can't expect wisdom from a
+Helot-class.'
+
+'It was not my friends who misbehaved themselves to-night,' Doreen
+retorted, 'but yours; the vulgar squireens and half-mounted gentry,
+who belong to the dominant party.'
+
+'They certainly should have learnt manners from their betters,'
+acquiesced my lady, lowering her standard. She had seen but little of
+the world of late, had been content to view events through coloured
+glasses, and the hasty glimpse of garish daylight which had just
+flashed out saddened and shocked her. She began unconsciously to
+wonder whether Lord Clare had always spoken the truth. It would be
+hard, she felt, to lose faith in her old friend. Then the tangle of
+long-rooted prejudice, parted for an instant, closed round her again.
+'Well, well! the squireens might possibly be more brutish than was
+desirable; but they were at least Protestants, and as such, superior
+to the Helots over whom they tyrannized!'
+
+This reflection was a comfort to my lady; for she was not a bad woman,
+but one whose sympathies had been narrowed by the hardness of the
+world, and who had grown as uncharitable as many excellent people are
+who, professing to be more enlightened than their neighbours, are
+certain that they only are right, and all those who differ from them
+wrong.
+
+Doreen lay back on the cushions, too sore in mind and body to carry on
+the argument. All that she could distinctly realise was that hope had
+flown away; that Theobald had been near at hand and was gone; that
+perhaps he had been captured and executed. What must he have suffered
+to have been within touch of motherland, only to be swept back again
+to sea! Hope, forsooth! What is hope? too often but long-drawn
+disappointment in disguise!
+
+The party jerked and jolted over the interminable road. The hostelries
+at Drogheda and Dundalk were full. It was well that my lord had ridden
+forward, for so many families were beginning to steal out of Dublin
+that, as an ostler put it, there was a 'furious penury of beds.'
+
+At Derry they were compelled to leave the great family coach, for
+there was only a rough track along each wild bank of Lough Swilly, at
+whose mouth--its feet laved by the Atlantic--stood the island home of
+the pirate earls of Ennishowen. Their yacht lay ready in Rathmelton
+harbour; but Shane said he preferred riding across the bog to Malin
+Head, whence a boat would transport him in no time to Glas-aitch-é;
+and Doreen offered to ride too, even in his company--so anxious was
+she in her numbed condition to divert her thoughts by exercise. My
+lady--her projects being what they were--was little likely to object
+to a prolonged _tête-à-tête_ which might assist in the realisation of
+cherished wishes; but her own riding-days were over, she said. She
+would take the yacht, and would not be sorry of a few hours' solitude.
+Poor mother! She was sacrificing more to her elder-born than he would
+probably ever know, in revisiting the ill-omened place--where that
+which darkened her life had been accomplished--where everything would
+prattle of that past time which it had been a never-ending struggle to
+forget. She desired to look again on the weather-worn parapets and
+slender watch-tower of Glas-aitch-é Castle alone, lest her face should
+betray her feelings, and hint at the secret which had blanched her
+hair before its time.
+
+The triangular peninsula which lies 'twixt Lough Swilly and Lough
+Foyle has been known, time out of mind, as Ennishowen; has belonged to
+the pirate earls for centuries, who, by reason of their craft, built
+themselves a fortress years ago on the sea as more convenient than a
+dwelling on mainland. It was a territory well suited to such masters,
+for, by guarding its narrow neck, it could be converted into an
+impenetrable fastness which was protected by sheer cliffs to seaward,
+whilst its internal features rendered it a foolhardy proceeding to
+attempt to invade it from the land side. Hence its population was a
+peculiar one, differing in many respects from the other dwellers in
+Donegal. When James I. planted Ulster with staunch Protestants, the
+ousted Catholics fled, some to Connaught, some to the extreme points
+of the north-western county where nothing flourished but wild birds. A
+large number took refuge in Ennishowen, where they embraced the trade
+of fishing, eking out a precarious existence by rearing flocks of
+geese upon the barren moors, whilst their wives wove frieze for
+clothing. An independent, warm-hearted, frugal, superstitious colony,
+extremely poor but decent, accustomed from the cradle to endure all
+hardships with a cheerful mien, too far removed from the world to know
+aught of Orangeism. Imbued with the clannish feeling which elsewhere
+had nearly vanished, they looked to Glas-aitch-é with reverence as to
+a holy shrine, and fully believed that the bodyguard of Sir Amorey
+were sleeping by their horses in the sea-caves ready to defend the
+fortress if peril dared to threaten it. It was evident that if the
+disease, which Lord Clare was so fond of discussing, should take a
+serious turn in the north, it would be well for the chiefs to be among
+their followers, at least those who were friendly with the Government;
+for a timely word might prevent much trouble--a timely order be of
+incalculable service. My Lord Glandore, then, carried with him the
+blessings of the executive, with sundry vague promises of good things
+in store for him if he showed prudence, and directions as to how his
+time would be best spent; namely, in cajoling the peasants to put
+their shoulders to the wheel for the speedy erection of beacons along
+the seaboard. The recent Gallic escapade (for Hoche's expedition was
+really nothing more) taught the executive a lesson. Happily the fleet,
+or a portion of it, had been driven upon the coast of Bantry, whose
+inhabitants, being disinclined to rebellion, looked on the tricolour
+with the eye of unconcern. But for the blessed wind, the expedition
+might have landed on some more friendly spot, and be half-way to
+Dublin before the Viceroy heard anything about it. The enemy must not
+have such a chance again. Martello towers must be built within short
+distances all round the coast. On the apparition of the tricolour a
+fire must be kindled, which should be the signal for a second on the
+summit of the next tower, and so on; so that in case of danger a
+girdle of fires would encircle the island, warning the soldiery in all
+directions--speeding intelligence to the capital in the twinkling of
+an eye.
+
+My Lord Glandore was to busy himself with this matter so far as
+Donegal was concerned, and his sense of self-importance was so far
+tickled and amused that for awhile he endured, without too much
+swearing, the temporary separation from his Norah.
+
+So my lady sailed up Lough Swilly, marking the new forts of Rathmullen
+and Knockalla, of Duneen and Inch, which gave to it a resemblance to a
+shark's mouth with teeth set raggedly in either jaw; whilst her son
+and niece started in the twilight before sunrise with a wild ride
+before them of forty miles and more. First they passed rows of
+mud-huts in straggling knots beside the way, which became more sparse
+as they advanced; crazy hovels whose rotten roofs were kept together
+by hay-ropes--thatch dyed to richness by decay, adorned with dry tufts
+of oats and barley, wafted in the summertime from some less forbidding
+spot. Their ears could catch the clicking of a homely loom within as
+they passed, ere the housewife, low-browed and heavy-jowled, came to
+her door to gape at the unusual sight of strangers, an amusement in
+which she was speedily joined by a pack of naked children, then by her
+goodman, who rose as if out of a dung-heap--a dudheen between his
+coarse lips, a long coat of faded homespun on his back.
+
+Presently the road became a mere track upon the heather, which,
+leaving the lough to the left, struck out across the hills inland--a
+wheel-track over a vast expanse of purple prairie, now deep-indented
+in the bog, now barely discernible on a plateau of rock--impression of
+the rude carts of the turf-cutters across the mountains. No human
+dwelling might be seen for miles; no human figure, save perhaps an
+elfish child plying knitting-needles on a stone as she watched her
+herd of geese for fear of foxes--an uncanny, shock-pated pixie who
+seemed half-sister to the herons that were scrutinising their
+portraits in the pools.
+
+Mountain succeeded mountain with a great heaving like that of the
+ocean hard-by, sometimes in an unbroken wave of black and russet;
+sometimes rent into a gorge where it had been torn by a strong
+convulsion, with overhanging crags of grey and twisted trees bent awry
+by the sea-blasts. Sometimes in the hazy distance might be detected a
+string of circular stains of a blacker colour than the rest--tarns in
+the moorland, home of the silver trout. Bushy and reedy some--some
+tawny with the paled glories of dead water-lilies. Then would the
+scene change to a bleak spread of stones--flat stones of monster size,
+with rifts like rivulets between, choked thick with feathery herbage.
+It was as though the rubbish left from the creation of the world had
+been carted and shot out there--a secluded medley of unconsidered
+trifles, of no value or consequence to the human race. Then again
+would the stones give place to water--morasses of peat sodden with
+salt ooze which quaked under the weight of the traveller, the
+hoof-marks of his horse bubbling with slimy wash as he splashed on his
+uncertain way; troops of scurrying fowl starting up before him,
+protesting loudly as they fled at the irruption into their cherished
+solitude.
+
+Shane and Doreen arrived by-and-by at the summit of a hill-crest, from
+which the northern half of the promontory lay spread like a map before
+them. Just below was a white speck--the village of Carndonagh--beyond,
+a row of lakes, tiny mirrors set in the hill-flank--on either side the
+jagged lines of Loughs Foyle and Swilly, varied with many a peaked
+headland and jutting point and shelving bay scooped out of the living
+rock. In front, a flat stretch on which cloud-shadows were playing
+hide-and-seek--a bopeep dance of subtly-chequered tones; and away
+still farther, looming through the mist, the bluffs of Malin Head, the
+extreme limit, to the north, of Ireland. As they looked, the mists
+melted in eddying swirls of gold, unveiling an expanse of immense and
+lonely sea, dotted with fairy islets strewn in a ravelled fringe--the
+long span of the blue-green Atlantic, marked with a line of white
+where it seethed and moaned and lashed without ceasing against the
+foot of the beetling cliff.
+
+'What a lovely spot!' Doreen exclaimed, as she sniffed the brisk
+breeze; 'how wild--how desolate--how weirdly fair! Not the vestige of
+a dwelling as far as eye can reach--except that speck below us.'
+
+Unpoetic Shane had been busy counting the wildfowl, watching the
+hawks, marking the sublime slow wheeling of a pair of eagles far away
+in ether heavenward. At the call of his cousin he brought his thoughts
+down to earth, and cried out:
+
+'By the Hokey! a nice coast for the French to land upon. I wish them
+joy of it if they try. If they do we shall be in the thick of it, for
+look! You can just discern Glas-aitch-é---that dot in the sea, no
+bigger than a pin's point--between Dunaff and Malin. A fleet would
+have to pass close by us that was making either for Lough Swilly or
+Lough Foyle. But come--a canter down the hill, and we will see what we
+can get to eat. This sharp air gives one a plaguy appetite!'
+
+Doreen spoke truly, for Ennishowen is weirdly fair. The atmosphere of
+winter gave the desolation she had passed through a special charm. The
+ponderous banks of rolling steel-grey clouds, which had only just been
+conquered by a battling sun, gave a ghastly beauty to its wildness.
+Dun and steel-grey, sage-green and russet-brown, with here and there a
+bit of genuine colour--a vivid tuft of the Osmunda fern. Such
+chromatic attributes were well in harmony with the intense stillness,
+broken only by the rustle now and then of whirring wings, or the sharp
+boom of the frightened bittern. But beyond Carndonagh the face of
+nature changed--or would have, if it had been summer--for bleak
+elevated moorland and iron gorge vary but little with the season,
+whilst lower-lying districts are more privileged. During the warm
+months the track between Carndonagh and Malin is like a garden--an
+oasis of rich, damp, dewy verdure from the ever-dripping vapours of
+the Atlantic--an expanse of emerald mead saturated with the moisture
+of the ocean. Every bush and bank breaks forth in myriad flowers. Each
+tarn is edged with blossom, each path is tricked with glory. It is as
+if Persephone had here passed through the granite-bound gates of hell,
+and had dropped her garland at its portals. White starry water-lilies
+clothe the lakelets. The bells of the fuschia-hedges glow red from
+beneath a burthen of honeysuckle and dog-roses; orange-lilies and
+sheets of yellow iris cast ruddy reflections into the streams, while
+purple heather and patches of wild heartsease vie with each other in a
+friendly struggle to mask the wealth of green.
+
+Strabagy Bay cuts deep into the peninsula. A rider must skirt its edge
+with patience, rewarded now and again by some vision of surprise, as
+he finds himself at a turn in the pathway on the summit of a precipice
+1200 feet above the water, or in a sheltered cove where waves of
+_céladon_ and malachite plash upon a tawny bed. At one point, if the
+tide happens to be in, he must sit and await its ebb; for the only
+passage is by a ford across the sand, which is dangerous to the
+stranger at high-water. Not so to the dwellers in this latitude, for
+they speed like monkeys along the overhanging crags, or like the
+waddling penguins and sea-parrots that are padding yonder crannies
+with the softest down from off their breasts for the behoof of a yet
+unborn brood.
+
+Towards Malin Head the ground rises gradually from a shingly beach
+till it breaks off abruptly to seaward in a sheer wall of quartz and
+granite--a vast frowning face, vexed by centuries of tempest, battered
+by perennial storms, comforted by the clinging embrace of vegetation,
+red and russet heath of every shade, delicate ferns drooping from
+cracks and fissures, hoary lichens, velvet mosses, warm-tinted
+cranesbill; from out of which peeps here and there the glitter of a
+point of spar, a stain of metal or of clay, a sparkling vein of ore.
+The white-crested swell which never sleeps laps round its foot in
+curdled foam; for the bosom of the Atlantic is ever breathing--heaving
+in arterial throbs below, however calm it may seem upon the surface.
+Away down through the crystal water you can detect the blackened base
+resting on a bank of weed--dense, slippery citrine hair, swinging in
+twilit masses slowly to and fro, as if humming to itself, under the
+surface, of the march of Time, whose hurry affects it not; for what
+have human cares, human soul-travail, human agony, to do with this
+enchanted spot, which is, as it were, just without the threshold of
+the world? The winter waves, which dash high above the bluffs in
+spray, have fretted, by a perseverance of many decades, a series of
+caverns half-submerged; viscous arcades, where strange winged
+creatures lurk that hate the light; beasts that, hanging like some
+villanous fruit in clusters, blink with purblind eyes at the fishes
+which dart in and out, fragments of the sunshine they abhor; at the
+invading shoals of seals, which gambol and turn in clumsy sport, with
+a glint of white bellies as they roll, and a shower of prismatic gems.
+
+In June the salmon arrive in schools, led each by a solemn pioneer,
+who knows his own special river; and then the fisher-folk are busy. So
+are the seals, whose appetite is dainty. Yet the hardy storm-children
+of Ennishowen love the seals although they eat their fish--for their
+coats are warm and soft to wear; their oil gives light through the
+long winter evenings for weaving of stuff and net-mending. There is a
+superstition which accounts for their views as to the seals; for they
+believe them to be animated by the souls of deceased maiden-aunts. It
+is only fair, in the inevitable equalisation of earthly matter, that
+our maiden-aunts should taste of our good things, and that we in our
+turn should live on theirs.
+
+A mile from the shore--at Swilly's mouth--stands Glas-aitch-é Island,
+a mere rock, a hundred feet above sea-level, crowned by an antique
+fortress, which was modernised and rendered habitable by a caprice of
+the late lord. At the period which now occupies us, it consisted of a
+dwelling rising sheer from the rock on three sides; its rough walls
+pierced by small windows, and topped by a watch-tower, on which was an
+iron beacon-basket. The fourth side looked upon a little garden,
+where, protected by low scrub and chronically asthmatic trees, a few
+flowers grew unkempt--planted there by my lady when she first visited
+the place as mistress. On this side, too, was a little creek which
+served as harbour for the boats--a great many boats of every sort and
+size; for the only amusement at Glas-aitch-é was boating, with a cast
+for a salmon or a codling now and again, and an occasional shot at a
+seal or cormorant.
+
+My lady arrived there in the yacht, and spent her afternoon alone as
+she wished, for it was late at night before Shane and Doreen were
+rowed across--the latter wearied by the long ride, but calmed in
+spirit by communing with nature.
+
+It was with a gloomy face and set lips that the Countess of Glandore
+wandered from room to room, all damp and chill from long neglect, each
+chair and table telling its own tale, each faded carpet and curtain
+whispering of the hated past, with its desperate anguish of
+humiliation. For this was the heart-chord which twanged most painfully
+in my lady's breast upon revisiting the place again. 'Set right the
+wrong while yet there is time'--how often had that wailing cry echoed
+in her ears! Yet while there still was time that wrong was never
+righted; for my lady had been so humbled, so abased, so utterly
+wrenched and mangled, during the year she had dwelt upon that island
+with my lord, that she revolted, with indignant protest, at a
+possibility of having to traverse the dark Valley of the Shadow yet
+again.
+
+As she looked at the chairs and tables, the whole bitterness of that
+degradation flooded back on her. She recalled how, sobbing on that
+sofa, she had prayed for death with scorching tears; how, standing by
+that casement, the sublime panorama of Donegal had been shut out by
+boiling drops of agony.
+
+She sat down on an old chair, and looked back upon her life since last
+she touched its worm-eaten woodwork. A life lulled sometimes to a half
+forgetfulness, which was nearer to positive happiness than she ever
+expected to attain. The reflection returned again and again to her,
+that what had been done was my lord's fault, not hers--that she had
+acquiesced as the weaker vessel, and had washed her hands of the
+consequences. But then, several times, her peace had been rudely
+broken by vague terror of troubles renewed.
+
+Would she be able to avert them? Would her puny woman's arm be strong
+enough to grapple with Fate? Events certainly looked threatening.
+Terence had involved himself in a forlorn hope. What if he should
+fall? My lady rose hastily, and flinging wide the window, panted there
+for breath. She realised, with a tingling horror of abasement, that if
+he fell, her own burthen would be lightened--that far away, muffled in
+her inmost soul, there was a voice babbling a hint that it would be a
+mercy if he fell. Her own son! It was a mother's inner voice that
+spoke! She pressed her face helplessly upon the tattered curtain, as
+she had used to do when imploring a release, and groaned aloud--it was
+well that the others had not yet arrived.
+
+Then, her mental vision sharpened by this pang, she wandered on,
+oblivious of the stories murmured by the tables and the chairs--for
+she was peering with all her might into the future now. Things were
+going crooked. There could be no denying that. She had schemed for the
+best. What would come of her scheming? Shane was deplorably difficult
+to manage--looked so like his father sometimes when angered, that she
+recoiled as she remembered the expression of his visage when she
+moaned over her fate to him upon this very spot all those years ago.
+He grew daily more difficult to manage, did Shane; because he was a
+Cherokee, a Hellfire; and it stands to reason that an important
+attribute for a Hellfire to cultivate must be a scorn of maternal
+lecturing and fiddlefaddle.
+
+Lady Glandore (taught by a rough apprenticeship) quite admitted this;
+but looked forward now with satisfaction to the taming his spirit
+would undergo through a judiciously prolonged residence on a barren
+rock, with no one to uphold him in resistance to her will. Here he had
+no bully-Blasters to oppose a check to her influence. He would have
+nobody to talk to but the fisherfolk, save when he sailed down the
+lough to Letterkenny to be entertained by the squireens in garrison.
+
+She did not fear their influence--poor country oafs! She gauged the
+inherent weakness of Shane's nature, which cloaked itself under a mask
+of fierceness; she knew his overbearing, swashbuckling ways would sink
+into a minor key of mewing if they had no encouraging sympathy from
+without. She knew better than really to believe that 'absence makes
+the heart grow fonder.' Nonsense! The heart is too selfish a thing to
+feed long upon itself or shadows. If she could only manage to keep
+Shane here long enough, he would become as meek as a lamb, and would
+cease to bleat of Norah in his dreams.
+
+On one side things were going crooked, no doubt, but on the other they
+were preternaturally straight. Could they be expected to remain so?
+
+Arthur Wolfe, whose self-interest told him to stay on in Dublin and
+watch events, was only too thankful to throw a responsibility on his
+sister (in whom he trusted), who, oddly enough, was gracious as to the
+burthen. He might have been compelled to leave Ireland for Doreen's
+sake--to take her away out of a false position, and so sacrifice the
+opportunity of rapid advancement, which is the marked characteristic
+of a turbulent time.
+
+But this difficulty was got rid off by packing the girl off to
+Donegal. He could drift where expediency drove, unshackled, to add to
+his darling's fortune. Nothing could be more satisfactory to her
+father's peace of mind; nothing could jump better with my lady's
+long-established plan of joining these two incongruous cousins in holy
+matrimony. Shut up in idleness in Glas-aitch-é (for the building of
+Martello towers could not really engross his attention), what else
+could he do but fall a victim to the charms of his handsome cousin?
+
+One little ghost of doubt yet lingered in my lady's mind, which she
+did her best to exorcise. Doreen was dreadfully pigheaded. What if
+moping were to render her more obstinate? She was not a Blaster or a
+Cherokee, but a stern-browed damsel, with much romance, tempered by a
+little common-sense, and an awkward tendency to rely upon her own
+judgment. Being a woman, too, she would probably detect at once
+another woman's web, such as might hope to escape the scrutiny of male
+observation. Was it possible that she might choose to upset all her
+aunt's elaborate scaffolding, after all?
+
+She had her own reasons for determining to tie Shane, wealthy Lord
+Glandore though he might be, to somebody with money. What a pity that
+he declined polite society, where complaisant heiresses were to be met
+with who would joyfully take his coronet, and afterwards obey his
+mother. Circumstances had so ordained it that there was absolutely no
+available or possible heiress for him but this stiff-necked Catholic.
+
+It is exasperating, is it not, to mark how people persist in opposing
+that which others think is best for them? The prejudiced, warped
+Countess of Glandore must have had urgent motives indeed for the
+prosecution of her project to account for the way in which she was
+stooping from her pedestal. Doreen was sharp enough to recognise this
+fact, and was never weary of marvelling at the enigma which seemed
+ever and anon to languish, then to spring to new life again. But Lady
+Glandore, when her mind was made up, could be obstinate too, though
+she had suffered much buffeting in life's conflict. That these two
+cousins were to be drawn together somehow, she was resolved.
+Opposition would come probably from Doreen's side, not Shane's. When
+her friends of the forlorn hope were slain and gone, she would surely
+succumb from mere despair.
+
+My lady was glad, then, when she meditated on Lord Clare's hints as to
+the certain fate of the United Irishmen. It was distressful, though,
+that her own son should be amongst them. Was it distressful, or a
+relief? Would his mother be sorry if word came that he was dead?
+
+My lady buried her face in the curtain yet again, and rocked her bowed
+form and wrung her hands. There is a phase of self-hatred and
+upbraiding which is more poignant than any physical pain, from which
+we emerge more wrecked and broken after each fresh access, and pray
+more desperately to be set free from torment.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                            GLAS-AITCH-É.
+
+
+The nautico-arcadian life of Glas-aitch-é restored Doreen's mental
+equilibrium by degrees, which had been sorely shaken by recent
+proceedings in Dublin. There she had come to ask herself whether there
+could be indeed a God with eyes to see and ears to hear, or whether
+the new-fangled creed was the correct one, which spoke of a mysterious
+principle--a species of magnet--in accordance with whose influence, as
+a dumb machine, the affairs of the world marched in established
+sequence. But in the front of this superb nature it was impossible to
+hold any such cold-blooded theory. When on waking she opened her
+casement to drink the brine-laden air, her youthful vigour got the
+better of her sorrows. She marked, stretching on the one hand as fare
+as ken could reach, the wondrous _silhouette_ of mountains, rising
+tier behind tier in its series of morning changes from jetty black to
+purple and then orange; or, not so far away, the chameleon cliffs
+whose varieties of effect were endless. She watched the seals tumbling
+in flocks; the guillemots and gannets at play, and shrieking petrels,
+Cassandras of the deep; and the eagles that had their eyrie in the
+dizzy crags of Malin-Head, disdaining low companionship. Then peering
+down from her window-sill, straight as a plummet-line, into that
+wondrously pellucid ripple, she mused of the legends of the place
+concerning the McSweenys--kings of those parts; known as the McSwynes
+of the unconquered axe, till Sir Amorey set his foot upon their necks;
+of how the rude chieftains had built themselves this fortalice,
+defended by three rows of concentric battlements, and had held it in
+the teeth of Corsair-fleets till the awful day of retribution for long
+thieving, when Sir Amorey Crosbie came--himself the greatest thief; of
+how, by stratagem, he lured the defendants out upon the narrow strip
+of sand which the waves leave bare at ebb, then scaled the rocks upon
+the other side with all his merry men, and watched with laughter while
+the garrison perished in the rising waters; of how their bracelets and
+ornaments and collars of gold were washed up from time to time to
+attest the truth of the story; of how the elfin-guard were sleeping
+even now within circumjacent caves, to clatter forth in force when
+wanted. If that were true, sure they would have come out long since,
+seeing what their motherland had suffered. Yet, after all, not so: for
+this wild region had naught to do with the throes which had racked
+Erin's frame for seven centuries. It was cut off, severed as by a
+spell from the world's troubles and its tragedies.
+
+Doreen felt this strongly when she went among the people on the
+mainland. Not one of them could speak anything but Gaelic--their
+mental ken saw nothing beyond the arrival of the salmon, or the number
+of distressful rents in a new fishing-net. They talked with awe of the
+sleeping bodyguard; had pricks of conscience when they slew their
+maiden-aunts; looked with compassion on Miss Wolfe when she entered
+upon mundane arguments. Vainly she strove to persuade them that the
+treasures which the waves threw up were relics of the Spanish
+Armada--a portion of which was shattered in these ironbound creeks and
+gullies. They preferred to believe in the McSwynes, and did; yet for
+all that they came to adore Doreen, who was of their own faith; who
+never shot her coracle upon the beach but she was sure to be
+surrounded forthwith by a bevy of dancing, screaming imps that
+sprawled upon the sand, that sidled up to have their heads patted like
+little tame nut-brown birds; then fluttered off to herald out the fact
+that the good lady had arrived ashore. The people loved her, and she
+loved the people. The Irish heart is so warm, that a very little
+kindness will win it--for that very reason, perhaps, their English
+foes have chosen to repulse the gift, as one of too easy attainment to
+be worth the winning!
+
+Once or twice she was persuaded by her cunning aunt to accompany Shane
+along the northern coast in the yacht. He was making a prodigious fuss
+about the Martello towers, and it would amuse her to explore the bays
+and inlets. Once--only once--she sailed down Lough Swilly, when her
+cousin went thither to examine the forts of Knockalla and Inch; and
+was royally entertained at the barracks of Letterkenny, by the amateur
+soldiers quartered there. It was like returning into Hades after a
+glimpse of the stars. The sheepish looks and bungling compliments of
+the squireens could not hide from her that this was the fabric from
+which the yeomanry were cut who hanged the people and burnt their
+cottages.
+
+At Letterkenny the world began again--the wicked, cruel world.
+Inwardly she prayed that at least the harmless folks of Ennishowen
+might be spared, though all the isle beside should have to pass under
+the yoke. But the sight of these ruffians in uniform made her quail
+for them. Since Fate debarred her from the right of joining her people
+in their suffering, she would close her ears to their cries if she
+could, and return into the world no more.
+
+The gentry about Derry and Antrim were divided upon all subjects
+except ruffianism. On this point they were in surprising concord. They
+were for the most part Presbyterians. The republican nature of their
+tenets disposed them to join the United Irishmen, and many entered
+heartily into the conspiracy, until Government agents demonstrated
+that the triumph of the popular party would bring with it Catholic
+emancipation.
+
+Now the Ulster men of the middle and upper class were Orange as well
+as Presbyterian. They looked upon a Catholic as a toad--an unclean
+thing which had no business to be created--which must be hurried out
+of life without delay, as a lesson to their Maker to make such
+mistakes no more.
+
+Therefore, upon this fact being made quite plain to them, their
+patriotic ardour cooled amazingly, and they bade fair to rival the
+excesses of their brethren down south.
+
+At this very dinner a tipsy young 'half-mounted' told as a fine joke a
+tale of what had happened at Armagh when he went there 't'other day to
+buy a horse. A certain rapscallion,' he said, 'was suspected of having
+some gunpowder concealed, contrary to the mandate of his Majesty.
+Shots had been heard in the neighbourhood of his cabin--that was
+enough. He denied the charge, and so must be made to confess. How was
+it done? Mighty ingeniously, i' faith! He was hung up by the heels
+with a rope full of twist, by which means he whirled round most
+laughably, like a bird before the fire; while the soldiers lashed him
+with their belts to make him speak. But his stupid old father spoiled
+the joke; for upon his son calling on him for help he up with a
+turf-spade and broke a soldier's pate open; upon which, of course, the
+old fool had to be disembowelled.' The other sparks laughed with great
+he-haws at; this funny anecdote, till one of them, looking at Miss
+Wolfe, thought 'maybe the leedy didn't loike it.' And Shane, surprised
+that his stiff cousin should be such a milksop, changed the subject to
+the building of his towers. The stone being handy, they would take but
+little time, he said. So soon as his task was complete he would send
+down the yacht for these agreeable young sons of Mars, and entertain
+them at his quaint old castle.
+
+'It was indeed moighty koind in his lordship, to be sure; anything
+they could do to obleege,' etc., etc. So there was a great shaking of
+hands and display of newly-acquired military salutes, and everybody
+was charmed with everybody, except Doreen, who voted them bears and
+brutes, whilst they thought her stuck-up.
+
+After this episode, nothing could induce her to revisit Letterkenny.
+She spent her time in daydreams, drifting about in her coracle for
+hours, to return dripping wet, but, in a hazy way, more than half
+content. There is never much snow in Ennishowen, because brine is
+inimical to snow; but in winter there is much rain and mist and dense
+sea-fog, which penetrates to the bones and chills them. When the
+revolving cycle brought fine weather, she liked to establish herself
+by her window, to watch the strange glory of the dawn, sitting, as she
+smilingly observed, in her 'Grianan,' or sun-chamber. And what a
+spectacle it was to lull a vexed spirit into peace! First, as light
+crept near, she was aware of nothing but a vast sheet of pearl--above,
+below, around--without line to mark where earth or sea joined heaven.
+Her enchanted prison seemed the centre of an orient jewel, through
+which the light of heaven filtered dimly. She occupied a magician's
+castle, suspended by mystic agency in a translucent ether of opal hue.
+The illusion was complete, for presently tiny cloudlets of rose and
+grey flecked the space above, to be repeated in dappled reflections on
+the still mirror below, which as yet knew no rim. Cloudlets overhead;
+cloudlets far down, under the hanging castle. Then, by imperceptible
+degrees, the opal flushed to brass with spots of tarnish (where
+seaweed banks shone through). Then a ridge of palest pink loomed into
+shape from nothingness, warming slowly to blood-red, and darkening to
+Tyrian purple--and the misty film was rent and crumbled, and lo! there
+was the rim to the still mirror--the glorious rim of that noble
+mountain-chain, now turned to a sharply-defined deep-blue--in unison
+with sky and water.
+
+Doreen was comforted for the day when nature chose thus to open the
+casket for her; and rowed, or fished over the garden parapet, and was,
+by reason of her new peacefulness, more soft than heretofore with her
+aunt; and even strove sometimes to make herself agreeable to Shane. My
+lady marked the improvement as a good omen of success, but was not
+quite satisfied; for there was mixed with the damsel's good behaviour
+a cool indifference which suggested a carelessness of what should next
+befall.
+
+When Shane was cross (alas! he grew crosser as he grew bored),
+Doreen's face never lost its calm. If it had, her aunt would have felt
+more easy, for it would have shown that the young lady noticed her
+cousin's moods. But no; she was kindly and polite--was not even
+shocked, as his mother was, when my lord made a boon-companion of the
+skipper of his yacht, hobbing and nobbing till both master and man
+were magnificently drunk. My lady was really displeased at this, for
+it wounded her pride that the head of the house should condescend to
+such companionship. Squireens from Letterkenny would have been better;
+but then they might have made love to the young lady, and my lady had
+settled in her mind that nobody must do that but Shane.
+
+Poor mother! How earnestly she schemed, and how little came of her
+scheming! With what angelic self-denial she endured the ghostly
+whisperings of the chairs and tables, which would keep babbling of
+that past, however much she stopped her ears. Shane made no effort to
+woo his cousin. On the contrary, her superior manners and serene airs
+provoked him, by causing him to feel how inferior he himself was to
+her. Norah never made him feel this, for she did dreadfully vulgar
+things sometimes, for which he liked her as he chid her--things
+which would have made his mother's white hair stand straight up on
+end--tricks which the colleen had learnt from her good-natured
+plebeian mamma. Now he never would have dared to chide Miss Wolfe; for
+even in her wildest escapades--when conversing with mysterious young
+men at night, or galloping helter-skelter over the country--she
+carried matters with so high a hand that even my lady herself was
+routed. Indeed Shane, though far enough off, was nearer to love than
+she was, for he felt something akin to a good wholesome hatred of his
+cousin, whilst she was only indifferent to him.
+
+The fact was, that Shane, not being fond of booklore, became sullen
+and fiercely sulky, as week followed week and he found himself a
+prisoner with no prospect of release. He had a suspicion that he had
+been trapped. Yet, while he revolted at the thought of it, his nature
+was too weak to permit of his shaking himself free without, at least,
+somebody's friendly countenance.
+
+Now and then he ventured to suggest that there really was no reason
+why they should not return to Strogue. The French fiasco had put an
+end to danger from the Continent, as well as to the pretensions of the
+United Irishmen. What was his mother's opinion? Surely she must be
+tired of being cooped up, much as she seemed to love the place--(love
+it! poor lady!)--for she never went on shore among the benighted
+Catholics, being content, as a change, to make a solemn progress on
+the lough on calm days, rowed by ten sturdy rowers. Should her son
+order the yacht to take in bag and baggage? Should he send a messenger
+on horseback, to announce their proximate arrival in Dublin?
+
+To all of these insidious proposals my lady merely opposed a quiet
+negative, producing budgets from her pocket--voluminous letters from
+Lord Clare--upon the events which were passing in the capital.
+
+According to him, affairs grew worse and worse, instead of better. The
+perverseness of his countrymen was appalling to an enlightened mind.
+There was no knowing what might happen. His dear old friend's second
+son was behaving ill. Happily, the loyal behaviour of the elder one
+would be counted as righteousness to the family, by a forgiving and
+benignant Government.
+
+'It was evident from this,' she declared, with a decision there was no
+gainsaying, 'that Shane must do as he was doing. Terence might choose
+to disgrace himself; so Shane's conduct must be all the more
+immaculate.' (My lady's voice did not falter as she discussed this
+delicate matter. Doreen merely frowned and turned away.) 'It was the
+duty of Shane, for the sake of the honour of the Glandores, to keep
+staunch to the side of Government--the side of law and order--and the
+best way of doing that was by stopping where he was.'
+
+Shane groaned in spirit, but submitted, and cursed the patriots by all
+his gods--empty-headed, crack-brained fools--who thus stood betwixt
+him and pleasure. He pined for Norah, for Cherokee suppers, Blaster
+orgies. Why, he was almost forgetting what a duel was like! His rapier
+was rusting on the wall. He became crabbed in his enforced idleness;
+pinched viciously the satin skins of his pet dogs, instead of stroking
+them; took more and more to claret; was constantly making trips to
+Letterkenny.
+
+With the exception of Lord Clare's occasional budgets, the party
+received little news, save garbled accounts from Letterkenny barracks.
+My lady insisted upon reading her own letters aloud, for the benefit
+of her niece; but that young person heeded not the chancellor's
+prosing, being serenely occupied in following the gyrations of a
+seamew, or the eccentric movements of a fishing cormorant, so that
+oft-reiterated abuse of her friends troubled her temper in nowise; and
+her aunt marvelled how it could be that the froward girl should have
+become proper and submissive, like well-behaved young ladies.
+
+Is it not singular how to some people we unaccountably and invariably
+are impelled to show only the ugly or seamy side, which forms part of
+all our characters, and how to others we, without special effort,
+always turn the best? My lady and Doreen, though they dwelt together,
+never really knew each other. At times Doreen considered my lady mad;
+always harsh and disagreeable; while it was never given to my lady to
+detect the unselfish devotion and the strong worship of all that is
+beautiful and free, and the overpowering horror of all that is unjust
+and base, which was the better phase of her niece's character.
+
+As for the newspapers, nothing could be gleaned from them. So soon as
+a paper became popular, it was acquired by money or threats (with the
+exception of Tom Emmett's, which ran its rigs unchecked), and
+patriotism gave way to padding. There was little Irish intelligence.
+The Dublin prints might as well have been edited at Sierra Leone; and
+Doreen turned with impatience from their dulness. She received few
+letters herself, for there was no one to write to her except the
+proscribed, and, of course, it would not do for treasonable
+correspondence to pass through the hands of Lord Glandore, who amused
+himself by sailing to Rathmelton for the bag. There was no convenient
+shebeen here, where notes might cunningly be dropped; no useful Biddy
+or Jug Coyle--not even a handy cabin; for, whilst the peasantry round
+Dublin were one and all ready to do anything for the cause, those of
+Ennishowen cared not about it. And she was not sorry for this. With
+the French fiasco her hopes had melted--she knew too well the
+discordant elements which composed the Irish Directory. All that had
+kept its members together had been the expectation of French
+assistance--now that that was over they would fall asunder, and
+Cinderella would sit down again amongst the ashes. And was it not
+indeed better so? The wrath of God was kindled, for some reason which
+she knew not, against unhappy motherland. Was it not better, then,
+that her sons should accept their bondage with meekness rather than
+waste their blood uselessly? Doreen's contentment sprang in the first
+instance from the nipping of despair. A moment comes to us in our sore
+trouble, when we fold our arms and murmur, 'By God's mercy there is a
+limit to the sense of feeling. We have reached that limit, and will
+feel no more;' and, strange as it may seem, with that resolve comes an
+impression of calm, which, in its way, is a sort of negative
+happiness. We have lost something, we are bereft of something which
+above all things we valued, yet we seem vaguely better for the loss.
+It is like the expression of peace which all blind faces wear, though
+their most precious treasure has been stolen--the sense of sight.
+
+Doreen shrank from probing her own feelings with regard to Terence.
+Certainly his conduct distressed her more than seemed warranted by
+circumstances. She did not love him. No, not so bad as that, happily.
+She liked him as a fond sister might like a brother many years her
+junior, with a good-humoured satisfaction when he did well--for
+instance, when he made a splendid leap out hunting, or a particularly
+felicitous shot with his gun; and a feeling of pained displeasure when
+he did ill. And she told herself that he had behaved very ill, so ill
+that the fact of his existence must be erased from the tablets of her
+memory. That he should prove to be so double-dyed a traitor, so
+despicable and dastardly a schemer, filled her soul with horror.
+
+Being a hero-worshipper, she had always despised him in a kindly
+superior way, for he was sleek and contented and commonplace, blessed
+with a good digestion; had looked on his grovelling contentment with
+pity, and is not pity contempt clothed in tenderness? To have been so
+interesting Manfred must have had a terrible digestion; while as for
+the Corsair, I know that in private he suffered from dyspepsia. Whilst
+taking it for granted that Terence was too easy-going ever to become
+truly heroic, his cousin had warmed to him on the night at the
+theatre, when his indignation induced him to take the oath. That all
+that fervour should have been craftily assumed for the purpose of
+deceit was too repulsive a subject for reflection, and she put it from
+her. Maybe if she had calmly brought her mind to bear on it, she might
+have perceived that she was hasty, and have remembered that it is not
+right to condemn criminals unheard. But she had caught a glimpse of
+two ugly facts, and withdrew her gaze from them at once without
+further inquiry.
+
+Somebody was a traitor. The delegates had been betrayed more than once
+under the cloak of friendship. My lady had told her distinctly (or in
+her haste she thought so) that Terence had done the evil deed, for the
+paltry wage of five hundred pounds. She had deemed that her cousin at
+least was honest, and before thrusting his image from her sight, had
+felt, with a soreness for which she could not account, that she would
+have been very, very glad if she could have pronounced him innocent.
+Doreen, though she diverted her attention from the painful subject,
+was wondrously interested--down in her inmost heart--in the guilt or
+innocence of Terence, and felt a feeble flutter there, whose cause, if
+she had understood it, would have disgusted her. As it was, the
+flutter in time died a natural death, and, disillusioned, she sank
+into the apathetic condition of one who drifts and is content to
+drift--a rudderless resignation which is beyond despondency--an utter
+hopelessness with which his behaviour, though she wist it not, may
+have had something to do.
+
+Not long after her arrival at Glas-aitch-é she received a letter from
+her father, in which was enclosed another, with whose seal the upright
+gentleman had refrained from tampering. It was brought to him by an
+aged crone, who extracted a solemn promise that he would not open it.
+
+'If ye promise,' she said, 'I'll believe ye, Arthur Wolfe, for ye're a
+good man, or ye would not be given so good a child.'
+
+The eccentricity of the speech pleased the attorney-general, who sent
+on the letter. It was from his godson Theobald, and Doreen recognised
+with gratitude the delicate tact which induced her father to pretend
+that he did not know from whom it came. It removed from her mind the
+portion of its load which was endured on his behalf; for the young
+hero was safe. His vessel escaped as by a miracle through the centre
+of the English fleet. Hoche too was safe. Both were to join the army
+of the Sambre and Meuse at once. He spoke no more of help from France;
+was evidently as disappointed as Miss Wolfe was. The dream was over.
+His sword belonged to the French Republic now, his uniform was that of
+a French general. He must carve a name for himself among the ranks of
+the foes of France. Doreen thanked God that his pure young life had
+not been idly thrown away. Might it be reserved for glorious deeds on
+behalf of Erin in the future? It was not likely. Better far that he
+too should have abandoned hope; for Ireland was prostrate, never to
+rise either in his lifetime or in hers. All they could do was to bear
+as humbly as they might, shading their eyes from cruel sights--waiting
+as serenely as was possible for the call to a less hateful world.
+
+So Doreen considered the seabirds and the transparent deeps, and
+patted little savages on the pate, and smiled her quiet smile, and
+made believe to be tranquilly resigned; though all the while she was
+entranced--numbed as by a spell.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                        SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.
+
+
+Doreen was wrong. The French did not abandon so lightly their scheme
+of striking at Albion through Cinderella. They revictualled their
+fleet, made good the damage done by winds and waves, and looked
+forward to the accomplishment of their object within half a year or so
+of their first failure. To make victory doubly sure, a second fleet
+was got together in the Texel, under the command of the solid
+Dutchman, De Winter, who agreed with the Gallic Directory that
+now was the time or never; for the British navy was utterly
+disorganised--there were mutinies among the sailors at Plymouth and at
+Portsmouth, and one more serious still, under Parker, at the Nore.
+What moment could be better chosen for conveying an army to Ireland
+than one in which the mistress of the seas lay crippled; when the
+Channel--unusual circumstance--was open to the world? Wolfe Tone,
+however, did not recover his enthusiasm. The conduct of his brethren
+at home, when friendly vessels were in the offing, had been
+reprehensible--pusillanimous. Instead of rising and making a vigorous
+effort for freedom, those who pretended to be their chiefs had
+bickered and shilly-shallied among themselves--a sight to command the
+scorn of honest men--and the young hero was profoundly discouraged. He
+began to doubt his countrymen; yet would he not desert them though
+they seemed inclined to desert themselves, but joined the Texel fleet,
+under Daendels and De Winter, hoping and praying for the best. It was
+a fine fleet of fifteen sail of the line and ten frigates. If the wind
+would only blow fair--if the shoals and sandbanks of the Texel were
+once safely passed--then success was certain. For Admiral Duncan, who
+was watching, had but a few vessels under his command, and even some
+of these were called home in consequence of the Nore troubles.
+
+'Hurry then!' cried De Winter and old Daendels. 'Ship the troops, and
+let us be off.'
+
+The troops were shipped--everything was ready; but Daendels and De
+Winter whistled vainly for a fair wind. The elements, as usual, were
+on the side of England. Before, there had been too much wind; now, not
+a breath stirred the air. The sea was a dead calm. The admirals and
+generals marched up and down the deck--beautiful--in blue, with
+rainbow sashes, and hats prodigious with great plumes of the three
+colours. But no breeze moved a feather of the plumes. Exasperated,
+they descended to the cabin to while away the time with music, while
+the precious sand was dripping in the glass. De Winter had a pretty
+talent on the flute, as also had Tone, and so these two warriors
+obliged the company with duets--artistic trills and variations--what a
+strange spectacle! But by-and-by their patience oozed out of the
+flute-holes--they cursed themselves, and flung about the music in a
+passion; and indeed the clerk of the weather was vexing. June was
+merging into July--the mutinies were being put down--the golden
+opportunity was slipping visibly away; Lord Bridport cruised out with
+a fleet to watch the French at Brest; Duncan's handful became a
+squadron, swinging idly at the Texel's mouth; the soldiers,
+unaccustomed to close packing, showed signs of sickness; the
+provisions were sensibly diminishing; unless fortune should choose to
+turn her wheel with speed this expedition would be a greater fiasco
+even than the other.
+
+Meanwhile there was a panic amongst the friends of Government in
+Dublin, who knew not that the elements were fighting for them. The
+position of England was most critical. Should this new enterprise
+succeed, what chance of succour could there be from Britain? None. She
+had quite enough to do to cope with her own difficulties. There were
+forty thousand soldiers who had been drafted into Ireland by degrees;
+but could these be relied on? The Hessians were beery brutal wretches,
+who would probably turn coward at a pinch. The Scotch and English
+regiments made no secret of their abhorrence of the attitude of the
+native yeomanry. As for the militia, it was disaffected, and would
+certainly fling itself into the balance on the side of probable
+success. The people were fiercely sullen--in a dangerous mood, like
+rats prepared to spring. If the French should come and be victorious,
+they would rally like one man round the tricolour, and then woe to the
+small knot of tyrants! Not one of the ascendency party could hope to
+escape. Not a Protestant lord or lady in the land but would be hacked
+in pieces with the inevitably accompanying atrocities of internecine
+strife. It was an awful prospect. My lords, who had been blindly
+following the lead of the executive, looked uneasily towards the
+Castle. They had done as they were bidden, aided by promises and
+pensions--but of what use is a pension when your throat is cut? Were
+they to be protected from the growling rabble--these hereditary
+legislators, who had abused their trust--these amateur colonels who
+had disgraced their cloth--this venal degraded senate which was a
+byword among senates? Members of both Houses were nervous. Had
+their zeal led them perhaps too far? Would it be better to hedge a
+little--to permit the miserable cottagers to exist in peace? The Privy
+Council debated long and anxiously. Lord Camden was frightened at the
+acts which were perpetrated in his name. Mr. Speaker ventured to
+remark that a line of commendation from Mr. Pitt, and a promise of
+help in case of need, would be consoling to his coadjutors. Arthur
+Wolfe became plunged in melancholy. He was drifting on a stream which
+sickened him, towards a palpable goal which he contemplated with
+terror. Was there no escape from the horror that was looming? He
+looked to Lord Clare as to a helmsman who is responsible for the
+safety of the crew.
+
+But Lord Clare's nerves did not desert him at this crisis. His clear
+intellect told him that it was too late for hedging; now there was no
+retreat. King George hated the Catholics, and would smile on those who
+evilly entreated them. Mr. Pitt had sketched out a plan of action long
+ago, which must be carried out faithfully to the letter. Mr. Pitt had
+decided that Cinderella must be put on the rack; that her limbs must
+be given a good wrenching; and that afterwards--so soon as she should
+know by experience what agony really is--she should be tucked up
+cosily and made comfortably bedridden for the rest of her natural
+existence. It stood to reason that she would scream--so would you or I
+if thus surgically treated; but when once we grow used to it, there is
+a charm about being bedridden. People come to amuse us--to feed us
+with dainty things; they coddle us and comfort us, and we are really
+not unhappy. Therefore, although these unfortunate mutinies had
+somewhat complicated the case, it would never do to blench at so
+critical a moment. Having put his hand to the wheel, my lord
+chancellor knew that he must look steadily forward, and not backward.
+His countrymen must be taught that any _régime_ would be better than
+the one under which they groaned; the senate must be made so to commit
+itself that it could never raise its head again so long as the world
+rolled; then what would be easier than to consummate the original
+plan, to abolish the senate, and absorb Ireland by stratagem into the
+body of a complete British empire--one and indivisible?
+
+So wrote the chancellor to Mr. Pitt, who replied in courteous
+language; for his chief puppet was jumping admirably: he would soon be
+battered and worn out--would then have to be replaced by another. But
+the doll was not past service yet--it was still gay and bright with
+paint; was still capable of dancing: so Mr. Pitt wrote civil letters
+to Lord Clare, bidding him not to stick at trifles. Thus supported,
+Lord Clare spoke clearly at the Council Board. Desperate diseases must
+be met with desperate remedies, he said. Arthegal, figure of justice
+in the Faery Queen, is armed with an iron flail. The people are
+furious, are they? Then they must be made more furious still. When you
+want to tame a lion do you pat him? No, or he would rend you. You
+strike him with whips--touch him with red-hot irons. To be governed he
+must be ruled by fear; and so is it with the people of this island.
+Having gone as far as we have, it will never do to show that we're
+afraid of them. They must be ground down--must be rendered so passive
+by exhaustion that, French or no French, they will be too weak to do
+much harm. In the first place we'll arrest those lads again who have
+been playing the fool too long. We will make a plunge at the leaders,
+so that if the Gauls should happen to arrive, they will find nobody in
+authority to co-operate with them.
+
+Lord Camden endorsed these sentiments, mumbling platitudes about
+self-preservation; that it has unpleasant duties, but that many
+unpleasant things have to be done, etc., etc., and the council broke
+up; my Lord Clare strutting forth to give his orders, Arthur Wolfe
+moving slowly homeward with a worn and troubled face. Then by deft
+hints and nods and winks, my Lord Clare brought those who served him
+to know what was expected of them. He rallied the members of the
+Houses on their nervousness.
+
+'You wear his Majesty's uniform, my lords and gentlemen,' he said. 'I
+presume you would not wish to be mere carpet-knights. The Irish always
+were good fighters. You will defend the King's rights if it comes to a
+brush with the rabble?' He gave the squireens to understand that they
+were fine jovial fellows, with a strong sense of humour and a subtle
+appreciation of a practical joke. 'Now that recent invention of
+yours,' he observed airily, 'of wringing confession from a man by
+hanging him, then cutting him down before his soul has had time to
+escape, is vastly droll!'
+
+Thereupon the jolly boys, determined to win yet further commendation,
+and delighted to give vent unrestrained to the native brutality of
+uneducated man, set their wits to work and gave birth to other
+inventions. We know that a demand invariably creates a supply. The
+gentlemen of the yeomanry vied one with the other in cultivation of
+their inventive faculty and the result was an array of practical
+jokes, novel and splendid indeed! Even the great French reign of
+terror was thrown into the shade. The French, as we all know, are not
+inventive or witty. A guillotine--a constant flow of blood and falling
+heads; a boat with a trap-door to drown people by the dozen--amusing
+rather for a minute, then nauseously dull and monotonous. The jolly
+Irish boys were much wittier than this, and more ingenious; and yet,
+by one of the strange chances of history, people shudder still over
+Robespierre and Marat and their doings, and are absolutely careless
+and ignorant as to what was done at home not ninety years ago.
+
+Lady Camden grew terrified at reports which reached her ears. Lord
+Camden shut himself up at the Viceregal Lodge, and promenaded the
+Ph[oe]nix Park, round which was a protecting military cordon. Lords
+and ladies left Dublin furtively. Some for England--some for their
+family acres in the far west; impelled--some by fear--some by the
+promptings of the chancellor--a few only by a sense of duty to their
+tenantry.
+
+A certain earl set up a triangle in his barrack-yard, and was never
+weary of flaying the backs of the neighbouring peasants. To such
+lengths went he and his, that an English colonel, also quartered
+there, was forced to expostulate with his lordship, to the chagrin of
+the latter. My Lord Downshire retired to his hills, and kept his
+regiment within bounds. Indeed, he and my Lord Powerscourt were
+severely rebuked by the chancellor--the latter especially; for he
+dared to say that his tenants had been armed at his own expense for
+the protection of property, not for the commission of murders--upon
+which the chancellor groaned aloud; for this was a malignant example
+to others. My Lord Powerscourt, however, was not to be persuaded. He
+locked up his grand house in Dublin, and revisited it no more until
+the legislative struggle took place which concluded the century.
+
+Nothing could be more dismal than the Irish capital now. There was a
+species of curfew at sunset, after which few ventured in the street.
+Major Sirr and his myrmidons glided hither and thither on their
+devilish errand of cajoling men to their destruction. It was the
+business of these miscreants to provide victims for the lash by any
+means. Bands of drunken yeomanry awoke the midnight echoes with their
+shouting as they returned from breaking into a dwelling, or from
+flogging victims in the riding-school. For Claudius Beresford's
+riding-school had been turned by one of the practical jokes into a
+torture-chamber, where men, kidnapped on mere suspicion, were dragged
+and tied up, and lacerated without mercy night and day; whilst
+scurrying passers-by fled onward with their fingers in their ears.
+Some died under the lash--some swooned, to wake up idiots
+afterwards--some recovered, to wear till death livid welts upon their
+backs and inextinguishable hatred in their hearts.
+
+My Lady Camden, growing more and more apprehensive--for her lord's
+babble was incoherent--resolved to go down into the city and see for
+herself what passed there. She drove her four ponies along Ormond
+Quay, which was as deserted as if the town were plague-stricken; they
+swerved, and well-nigh upset her ladyship, for a single naked figure
+came tearing round a corner with wild yells and windmill arms, who,
+rushing past, flung himself over the parapet into the Liffey.
+Helter-skelter behind him came the hounds--in scarlet coats and
+pipe-clayed cross-belts--but the lady-lieutenant saw them not. The
+agonised victim of a joke wore a pitched cap upon his head, which was
+set ablaze and was grilling his living brains. This pleasantry was
+spoiled, for the wretch had presence of mind left to seek oblivion in
+the water. But another joke succeeded, which bade fair to end badly
+for the jokers. The Viceroy's lady lay back in a dead faint. Her
+ponies galloped along the street with her, their reins catching round
+their legs. The joke might have ended in the breaking of her
+excellency's precious neck. As soon as possible after this episode,
+she retired to England, and my Lord Clare made capital out of the
+circumstance. Were not the people behaving disreputably, when even the
+wife of the King's representative had thought it necessary to take
+refuge in flight? There had been, he averred, a new project to storm
+Kilmainham and set the criminals at liberty. To what a horrid nation
+was it his destiny to belong!
+
+It is not surprising that at this juncture he should have found an
+annoying stumbling-block in Curran. That worthy could do nothing but
+protest; but people who protest can make themselves very disagreeable,
+especially if they chance to peer further than the mob, and choose to
+tell what they see. Cassandra was only a mad woman, but we all know
+how unpleasant she could make herself. Curran had a clear head, a
+sharp wit, a biting tongue, and he exercised all three in the House of
+Commons, much to Lord Clare's displeasure. Now we have all learned
+that as we mount the rungs of the social ladder, society bows more and
+more before conventionality. Such a thing is 'vulgar'--such another
+'low;' why or wherefore nobody can tell, though it probably arises
+from the fact that the more rarified the atmosphere, the more
+artificial become those who breathe it, the less liable to think for
+themselves, the more ready to lean on others' crutches, the more
+likely to be shocked at the enunciation of new problems, which they
+are too idle or too prejudiced or too stupid or too sluggish to
+trouble about sifting for themselves. It might be taken for granted
+that the senators of both Houses were aware--down in their
+soul-caves--how base was their line of conduct. But for the sake of
+their own interest, they had agreed to fence themselves about with a
+quickset of make-belief, for the concealment of their shame and the
+protection of their phantom-honour. It was a very vexatious thing,
+then, for a man who was gifted with an epigrammatic way of
+crystallising truths to make a snuffy little Solomon Eagle of
+himself--to persist in uncovering cancers which were decorously
+sheeted over, to unveil sores which were neatly trimmed about with
+sham roses.
+
+Lord Clare, in his wrath, resolved to make another attempt to crush
+the viper. He set a specially rowdy band of jokers at free quarters at
+the Priory. They rollicked about, frightened Sara out of her wits,
+drank the lawyer's best whisky; but that vexed him not, for he was
+incorrigibly hospitable. He locked himself into his bedroom with his
+child, and droned out, to soothe her, a fantasia on the violoncello.
+It may possibly have soothed Sara (though she was in awful trepidation
+lest young Robert should ride up and perceive how she was insulted),
+but it most certainly succeeded in irritating the jovial sons of Mars
+in the dining-parlour below. They yelled to Curran to come forth. He
+came. They took his violoncello and smashed it into bits. Sara quailed
+lest her father's choler should outstrip his reason; but he only
+murmured:
+
+'They are actors, playing parts which are set down for them;' and
+addressing them, said, with scorching contempt: 'Sirs, you are sent
+here to insult, under his own roof, a man old enough to be your
+parent, and a young lady whose health is delicate. I sorrow to think
+that you are Irish, and that the fine cloth you wear should not
+exclusively be used by gentlemen.' Then, passing through their midst,
+he saddled his nag, and, trotting into town, related his story to his
+friend Arthur Wolfe.
+
+The attorney-general was terribly distressed. This stream, on whose
+bosom he had elected to sail, was taking him--whither? He flew to Ely
+Place, scolded the chancellor in terms which made the autocrat
+stare--in such terms of burning reproach that the latter saw he had
+made a blunder; that he had outstripped prudence, and sulkily signed
+the order to remove the obnoxious soldiery.
+
+But he was not to be turned from his purpose by any maundering
+sentimentality on the part of the attorney-general. It was necessary,
+was it, to leave Mr. Curran alone? That was a pity, but all the more
+reason for a display of energy in another quarter. In pursuance of his
+determination, so sweetly expressed in metaphor, to tame the lion with
+blows and hot irons, Lord Clare proceeded, as chancellor of the
+University, to hold a visitation there, in order publicly to deplore
+the doings of the undergraduates.
+
+The worthy gentleman was pained, he said. Alma Mater had taken the
+fell disease, the contagious epidemic (there could be no doubt about
+it), the only remedy against the spread of which was cautery. A number
+of students were ignominiously expelled; foremost amongst them Robert
+Emmett, (who was conspicuous for a tendency to inconvenient argument,)
+although his tutor, Mr. Graves, pleaded hard for him. Robert, filled
+with glee, rushed off to his brother's office to tell the glorious
+news--that he, boy though he were, had been deemed worthy of the
+martyr's crown. But when he reached the place he found that there were
+to be other martyrs besides himself. For the second time the house of
+his brother Tom was attacked and gutted. As he turned into the street,
+the presses were being pitched out of window, the types strewn in the
+mire, the tables and office-stools broken up to make a bonfire.
+Knitting his brows, he crossed his arms and stood watching the
+yeomanry at play; then wheeling about, he made the best of his way to
+Cutpurse Row, where, in the cellar of a crazy tenement, the patriots
+were accustomed to assemble, instead of riding out to the 'Irish
+Slave,' as they used more warily to do, before the destruction of the
+shebeen.
+
+Russell, Bond, Dease, and others were there, delegates of the society
+for Dublin and its environs. Robert, looking round, perceived Cassidy
+fidgeting in a corner. Terence was not present. Cassidy observed this,
+and growled with disappointment between his teeth.
+
+Tom Emmett was finishing a speech, wherein he declared to his audience
+that his opinions were changed. The French were coming; were, indeed,
+expected hourly. But it would not do to wait for them, as on a late
+disastrous occasion; a blow must be struck, a heavy and united blow.
+If the French came to follow it up, so much the better. The shocking
+behaviour of the friends of Government was becoming hourly more
+unbearable; the outrages committed by soldiers at free-quarters daily
+more flagrant and atrocious. He spoke with Irish hyperbole and a
+burning fervour of conviction which just suited the temper of his
+hearers.
+
+'We must heed no more,' he cried, 'the glare of hired soldiery or
+aristocratic yeomanry. War, and war alone, must occupy every mind and
+every hand in Ireland, till its oppressed soil be purged of all its
+enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen! vengeance on your oppressors! Remember
+the crimes of years! Remember their burnings, their torturings, their
+legal murders! Remember Orr!'
+
+At the end of a long peroration he paused for breath; and Cassidy, who
+was evidently anxious to 'catch the speaker's eye,' trolled forth in
+his rich voice the words which were becoming familiar to every one's
+lips:
+
+
+                    '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!'
+
+
+All present took up the chorus, and looked towards the giants as
+though waiting for the next verse; but he raised his hand for silence,
+and said:
+
+'Bedad, ye're right, friends. The sword's the only thing for poor Pat.
+But be careful now. Where's the young lordling who makes himself so
+busy?'
+
+'Councillor Crosbie should have been here,' returned a delegate.
+'Maybe he's bin detained.'
+
+Cassidy smiled a smile of meaning, and leisurely surveying the knot of
+men before him, replied with a dry cough:
+
+'Maybe he has! Let's hope it's upon honest business. I've come here to
+give ye a word of warning, a friendly hint I gleaned up at the Castle.
+I'd advise none of yez to go back to their own homes this day.'
+
+'Why? Speak out, man. We are all friends here,' said Tom Emmett,
+calmly.
+
+'Becase ye'll chance to find visitors if you do,' was the blunt
+rejoinder. 'Now I'm off.'
+
+Robert Emmett eagerly corroborated the giant's hint. He had seen the
+soldiery but now in his brother's house. It was likely that if one was
+attacked, the dwellings of the rest would likewise receive a visit. It
+would never do for the prime movers in the conspiracy all to be
+trapped. Perhaps it was a false alarm, though. At Tom Emmett's a
+seditious print was published, which it was a wonder had been spared
+so long. The case of the delegates was different, for strict secrecy
+had been maintained concerning them. None save the members themselves
+knew who formed the central committee. Government spies had no means
+of knowing their names. In this at least they were cautious. That they
+had all taken the oath, was neither here nor there. If Government
+intended of a sudden to lay hands upon every Irishman who had taken
+the oath, they would do well to follow Herod's example at once, and
+order a general massacre. No, no. It was absolutely impossible that
+either my Lords Clare or Camden, or Secretary Cooke, could possibly
+know who all the leading spirits were by whose agency the vast machine
+of conspiracy was set in motion. Tom Emmett must disappear for a
+while. His paper put him too much _en evidence_. It was good of
+faithful Cassidy to keep his ears open. Blunderer though he was, and
+lamentable as had more than once been the fruit of his blundering, yet
+was he now and then most useful, and deserved a special vote of thanks
+from the Directory, which then and there they passed on him.
+
+Apparently he was modest as well as virtuous, for in the cackle which
+followed his announcement he departed, his flat face aglow, his eyes
+twinkling with satisfaction at their compliments.
+
+'So Emmett's paper was to be stopped at last,' they said one to
+another. 'The only marvel was that it should have been permitted so
+prolonged an existence. The last mouth which had lifted up its voice
+to speak the truth was to be gagged. It was indeed time to draw the
+sword.
+
+Then Robert proudly told of his expulsion from Alma Mater; of my Lord
+Clare's overbearing mien at the visitation; of the many warm hands
+which had gripped his, as, disgraced but proud, he quitted the
+quadrangle.
+
+Tom, his eye kindling with emotion, laid his hand upon his younger
+brother's head.
+
+'Robert,' he said, 'what e'er betide, if, in the conflict which is
+imminent, we two be separated, the one who survives will be proud of
+him who's fallen. We shall conquer. Erin shall be free! But many must
+first lay down their lives for her! I pray God that it may be His
+pleasure to spare yours!'
+
+Robert turned white, though his heart was stout. He was brave with the
+highest of all bravery, for though the sight of a cut finger made him
+ill, yet was he determined now to face the sea of blood, if need were,
+without blenching. His was a higher courage than that common one which
+looks on danger without fear. He knew that in action he should be in
+mortal dread; but he knew too that, upheld by duty, he would
+nevertheless be always in the van. A thought crossed his mind which
+brought with it a momentary tremor. When the fiery cross was at last
+lighted--when the hands of kinsmen were at each other's throats--when
+Dublin was burning--her gutters running red--what would be the fate of
+delicate sensitive natures like that of Sara--of sweet, pale Sara
+Curran, round whose form his heart-strings were softly wrapping
+themselves? What if he were to fall? what if fortune should not smile
+upon the patriots? He was quite aware that Heaven frequently delights
+in persecuting those who do well, and showering favours on the most
+undeserving, almost offering a premium for evildoing. Therefore,
+however just the cause of Erin, it was possible that her probation was
+not over--in such a case what would become of Sara, and such as her?
+Dear gentle Primrose! He thrust the unwelcome thought aside. There
+were enough lugubrious subjects which might not be escaped, without
+wilfully conjuring up baleful images. He returned the pressure of his
+brother's hand, and with ardent eyes upraised, broke out into song
+once more, in which all joined solemnly, as though offering up a
+war-hymn:
+
+
+             'What shelter's right? The sword!
+              What makes it might? The sword!
+              What strikes the crown of tyrants down--
+              And answers with its flash the frown?
+                                          The sword!'
+
+
+Truly there must have been something ill-omened about this special
+hymn. For the second time it served to cloak the advancing footsteps
+of the enemy. For the second time it was interrupted by the rap of the
+same unfriendly fingers.
+
+Somebody was knocking--somebody gave the password 'Mr. Green.' It must
+be Terence. He had promised to come, in order that a military scheme
+of his might be discussed; one of which Emmett approved highly, though
+stupid Cassidy had affected to laugh at it. Certainly it must be
+Terence, who bade fair to become the leader they had all been sighing
+for so long in vain. Why did not some one run and open the door? It is
+but poor manners to keep a gentleman waiting in the street. Robert was
+hastening to do so--for he loved Terence dearly--when he was stopped
+by the old woman who kept the house.
+
+'Whisht! Master Robert, darlint,' she said in a terrified whisper.
+'Sure, I looked from the garret window and saw the glint of bayonets.
+For the love of the Holy Mother have a care!'
+
+Swiftly the boy climbed the stairs and looked out. The hag's aged eyes
+had not deceived her. The street was surrounded by a cordon of
+soldiers, who stopped passengers at either end at the bayonet's point.
+A guard of yeomanry was stationed at the front door; another at the
+private back-entrance, which was accessible by a tortuous passage into
+a side-street. A short person with hooked beak, eyes too close
+together, shaded by brows which met in a tuft over his nose, was
+knocking. It was Major Sirr. How could he know of this back-entrance?
+How did he know that the watchword was 'Mr. Green'? There was of a
+surety hideous treachery somewhere!
+
+Robert returned to his comrades and told them who was outside. Then
+Cassidy had been muddleheaded once again! The news he had brought was
+worse than none, for it was misleading. Instead of bidding them escape
+forthwith from Cutpurse Row, he had told them to avoid their homes.
+The houses was surrounded. _The secret back entrance upon which they
+relied was known_. Who was the Judas?
+
+Having revealed so much, how much more might he not reveal? With
+troubled brain and clouded eye Tom Emmett looked on one and then
+another of the haggard faces before him.
+
+The knocking continued. Some step must be taken. Happily half a dozen
+of the delegates were absent. The town-major might smoke out the nest.
+Some of the hornets were abroad. This was a mercy. The entire brood
+would not be taken. Who were the absent ones? Terence! Tom Emmett
+wrung his hands together as the light broke on him. How blind! It was
+to him Cassidy had vaguely pointed. What a snake in the grass, with
+his clever military plan and pinchbeck enthusiasm! Tom remembered now
+the behaviour of Miss Wolfe to her cousin at the ball. Her veiled
+warnings. She was as true as steel. Alas! She could aid them no longer
+with her counsels. She had seen through her cousin, and, her family
+feeling coming into jarring juxtaposition with her devotion to unhappy
+Erin, had retired from the field, too deeply wounded to take any
+further part in the affray. Yes! It must be Councillor Crosbie who was
+the Judas. Tom Emmett saw it now that it was too late. In a few hasty
+words he conveyed his impression to his brother.
+
+Robert opened his mouth indignantly to defend the councillor; but he
+only sighed, for, from whatever side the treachery came, it was
+soul-wearing. His forebodings of a few minutes since crowded up again
+like visions in a nightmare. A pitfall had been cunningly prepared for
+the patriots to their undoing. A few were yet abroad who might take a
+responsible part, but this was a withering blow. Treachery? Of course
+there was. It was altogether a bewildering occupation to pass trusted
+characters and names in mental review with an eye to the detection of
+the traitor. That there was a traitor there could now be no doubt, but
+Robert swore to himself with sturdy faith, that, be he whom he might,
+his name was not Terence Crosbie!
+
+The knocking became louder--more peremptory. There was no escape.
+There was nothing for it but submission. With dry lustrous eyes Tom
+Emmett bade his brother go and open the door.
+
+There would be a trial--a court-martial. Vain mockery! Would the
+result be execution--or lifelong servitude--or banishment? The
+chief of the Irish Directory felt the humbling conviction that he was
+not fit for his post. Like Phæton he had leapt into the sun-chariot.
+He had been fooled and toyed with. The precious deposit whose
+care he had presumptuously accepted was shattered through his
+fault--yes--certainly through his fault. He should have been more
+cautious in accepting Crosbie's overtures. Precious lives would now be
+sacrificed--the cause gravely compromised, if not altogether ruined.
+Execution--lifelong servitude? How wildly did Tom Emmett long at this
+moment for the former--how gladly would he have hugged the rope--how
+joyfully would he even have walked to the riding-school where
+Beresford and his fellow-devils carried on their fiendish work! Any
+personal pain--the more poignant the more welcome! Anything which
+might rouse the hapless patriot from the grinding weight which crushed
+him now, as prone on his face he lay sobbing on a form.
+
+Many an encouraging hand was laid upon his shoulder.
+
+'Cheer up, man! we're in the same boat,' the delegates murmured. 'It's
+the chance of war--of an ignoble war waged in the dark against honest
+men by an ignoble adversary. Fortune is cruel to us; but we'll snap
+our fingers in her face. If we are to die, let us die as men--not in
+tears like women. Rouse up, Tom! rouse up, boy! Put on a good front.
+Open the door, Robert. If they have learned to probe thus deeply in
+our secrets, they will know more--enough to hang us every one. There's
+no good in battling with them.'
+
+Major Sirr entered, and saluted his victims with one of the elaborate
+military evolutions which had become the vogue. Tom Emmett started
+from the form, and held himself erect. A paper caught his eyes. He
+clutched and tore it into fragments.
+
+'Gentlemen, you are my prisoners!' Major Sirr said, with a portentous
+sword-wave. 'It's no good resisting. I'm glad to see you know better
+than to resist. Here is my warrant--made out in all your names. We
+will go, if you please, in the first instance to Castle-yard; then to
+Kilmainham, where you'll meet your friends.' He smiled at Tom Emmett
+with a sinister smile, and stirred the fluttering fragments of paper
+with his swordpoint. 'What's this?' he said, the tuft of eyebrows
+wrinkling down his nose. 'I know what it is--a list of your precious
+society, I dare say. Ye're mighty fond of waging war on paper,
+gentlemen! Look here now! All we want to know of ye we do know--or
+could speedily learn. I might have those bits picked up and glued
+together. But I won't, for 'tisn't worth my while. There! Come,
+gentlemen, march! Dease--where's Dease? I saw him but now. We mustn't
+lose him, for he's a docthor, and Kilmainham's terrible full of sick!
+Dease, where are yez? I have him on the list.'
+
+But the delegate who answered to the name of Dease had no intention of
+visiting Kilmainham. Upon the first entrance of Sirr, he had withdrawn
+in the confusion to an upper room, and making use of his surgical
+knowledge, had severed the femoral artery. When the soldiers found him
+he was dying; which aggravated Sirr no little, who was proud of his
+masterly treatment of the hornet's nest.
+
+'Come, put out a nimble leg!' he cried crossly. 'We've parleyed too
+long. To business! to business!'
+
+Between a double file of soldiers the delegates were marched off, down
+several streets, to Castle-yard, while the populace looked on,
+dull-browed. They attempted no rescue. It is probable that few
+realised what band it was which was being thus openly conducted to its
+fate (many such bands passed along Dublin streets)--that few were
+aware that in this little knot were centred the hopes of deliverance
+for which all were praying.
+
+They were gone. Only Robert Emmett and Major Sirr were left behind.
+
+'Am I to go with you? I will go,' Robert said.
+
+The major looked at him, and gave way to a sepulchral cachinnation.
+Then by his action he belied the language he had used just now. With
+the greatest care and deliberation he stooped and picked up the torn
+scraps of paper. When they were bestowed to his satisfaction in a
+wallet, he looked at Robert and laughed again, wrinkling his sinister
+eyebrow tuft:
+
+'Adieu, my lad! and good luck!' he grunted. 'No, no! We don't want you
+yet, my little cockatrice! All in good time--when ye're fledged!
+Good-bye! or rather _au revoir!_'
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                    MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.
+
+
+Major Sirr's ill-timed mirth rankled in Robert's bosom. He was not
+worth taking, then! Yet Lord Clare had deemed him dangerous enough to
+justify expulsion from Alma Mater. Lord Clare. What did he intend
+doing with this last haul of the net? That document which Sirr had
+picked up so carefully would provide him with such a list of country
+members as would satisfy for awhile even his rapacious gullet.
+
+Would he hang them all, or be content, for the present, to cage them
+as he did before? No. Times were changed since then. He was
+deliberately scourging the land with scorpions. No mercy might be
+expected at his hands. Was Tom Emmett to be hanged? Was he to suffer
+an ignominious death before he had had time to strike a blow for
+motherland? That would be too hard. It must be prevented somehow. It
+was providential that the younger brother should not have been
+kidnapped too. It was a miraculous intervention, for duty shone clear
+before him. He must obtain the release of the patriots, even if to do
+so he should have to kneel at King George's feet. Intercession must be
+made. At the thought the lad's courage rose. He would go and consult
+Curran on the subject.
+
+As he hurried on down Dame Street, he strove to comb his tangled
+thoughts into some symmetry. Who could the Judas be who wore his mask
+so deftly? Sirr's Battalion of Testimony was spreading to huge
+proportions; the Staghouse by Kilmainham, where the wolves dwelt,
+could scarcely hold them now. Doubtless there was a secret service as
+well as this public one so insolently flaunted.
+
+'Of whom does it consist?' Robert kept asking himself. 'Of whom? The
+friends of our hearts--the wives of our bosoms. It is awful to think
+how, when a country is well stirred up, the mud will rise to the
+surface!' Then, ruminating as he went, he thought of Terence, and
+murmured mournfully, 'Could it be he? I pray not, for I love him as a
+brother!'
+
+A shadow lay stretched before him. With a shudder he turned aside to
+avoid the effigy of a good man, who by a singular caprice of history
+has been elected high-priest of a mean purblindness, which he above
+all others would himself have most abhorred. William III.'s effigy, in
+its incongruous classical costume, is no whit more contemptible than
+some of his admirers have tried to make his character. But such is the
+way of the world. We set up a pole, and drape it with our own
+sentiments, then kneel down to worship, crying, 'How perfect is our
+idol!' Of course it is; for the drapery is woven, as a spider's web
+is, from out of our own bowels; what can be so perfect as that we have
+ourselves created, however loosely it may hang on the support we have
+selected to bear it?
+
+Turning away from the Juggernaut of Orangeism, Robert beheld the
+subject of his thoughts, and the man of whom he was in search. Mr.
+Curran and his ex-junior were standing in earnest talk under the
+colonnade of the senate-house. The rush of events had changed both
+men even in their externals. The older one seemed shrunken and
+grey-skinned. His unkempt elf-locks were more wild, his uncleanly
+linen more disordered, his eye more bright and restless, than of yore.
+
+Those who knew him well perceived that he was torn in sunder by two
+antagonistic selves. He yearned in secret for the success of the
+popular movement; he peered out anxiously for the first glimmering
+white sail in the offing; his soul bled for his country's misery; he
+longed to know precisely the patriot leaders' plan, that his keen
+brain might advise upon it--yet he railed at and derided those very
+leaders to their faces, spoke scoffingly of France, declared that all
+was hopeless; snapped up any incautious delegate who spoke to him too
+openly of the society.
+
+The reason for his odd conduct is obvious. His judicial mind--expert
+in weighing evidence--had seen long ago that the combatants were
+ill-matched--that it was Honesty fighting against Guile. It was
+possible--just possible--that Heaven for once would change its usual
+tactics, and permit Honesty to come off the conqueror. It was
+possible--but oh, how improbable! Curran saw that so soon as Honesty
+had tumbled into the Slough of Despond, the firm grasp of a friend who
+was a paradox would be needed to pull him out; of one who should be
+protected by the glamour of his own virtue against the dagger of the
+murderer, even as medieval saints are mythically supposed to have been
+protected against the torments of the caldron and the wheel. Such a
+peculiar and delicate position Curran actually occupied.
+
+As we have seen, he remained in close friendship with Emmett and the
+rest, and also with such important people in the opposite camp as the
+Glandores, without the faintest suspicion of treachery falling on him.
+He fearlessly rose and poured forth such denunciations against the
+executive in parliament, as would have brought any other man to
+Kilmainham and its minuet. But for all that, the informer dared not
+point his finger at him; even Lord Clare was convinced that he must be
+endured or bought--not browbeaten.
+
+Once or twice he had been hustled in the street, but had curbed his
+peppery nature by a sublime effort. His life was of more value to his
+country than that of many drunken rufflers. He quietly refused to
+fight now with any such paltry ruffians.
+
+Councillor Crosbie was more altered than his chief; the expression of
+his face was changed. As Robert surveyed it he endured the compunction
+of remorse, in that for an instant he had doubted him. If Doreen had
+not been perversely haughty, she could not have accepted her aunt's
+garbled tale so readily. But then her spirit was wrung awry by
+long-continued crooning over wrongs; and being unhealthily sensitive,
+was predisposed to look out for evil. She had seen so much trouble
+that she had come to believe there could be nothing else in store.
+
+Terence's face had lost the open laugh of careless _bonhomie_ which
+had vexed her--which was so well suited to its Irish cast of
+features--by which I do not mean the confined forehead and coarsely
+gaping mouth, which make many of our countrymen so uncomely--but the
+highly-coloured, cheery face, with ruddy lips, which when they are
+parted display a row of dazzling teeth. His eye, whose unruly dancing
+defied fate, was strangely at variance now with the moody brow, till
+lately so unwrinkled; while a reckless swagger, which was a new
+characteristic, spoke of a bitterness and chafing defiance which a
+green tabinet necktie, with bows ostentatively displayed, served but
+further to accentuate. He stood in earnest converse with Mr. Curran,
+who sourly shook his head. Just out of earshot faithful Phil leaned
+against the wall, firing-iron in hand, watching his master in his
+dog-like fashion--sporting also, in humble imitation, a rag of green
+about his neck.
+
+Rapidly Robert unfolded his budget. The visitation at Trinity was mere
+child's play; not so this wholesale arrest. Even Curran forgot his
+customary caution, and put quick sharp questions as his face grew
+greyer. Emmett, Russell, Bond, were in prison, then. They would be
+tried--how? The law courts were closed and silent. By court-martial?
+Hardly. Lord Clare was too clever for that. Given the heads of a
+conspiracy who had grievously compromised themselves, he would of
+course get up a pompous series of mock state trials, with 'juries of
+the right sort' to bring the pageant to a predetermined end, and so
+justify and whitewash his arbitrary acts in the world's eyes. This was
+what he would do.
+
+'The patriots should be defended!' Curran swore. He would defend them
+himself, no matter at what personal risk; in spite of any amount of
+threatening. The bursts of eloquence which before now had startled his
+audience to conviction, should be nothing to the burning words by
+which he would wring these unselfish lives from the jaws of death.
+
+It was for this that he had rested on his oars so long. He had
+defended many of the proscribed with varying success. But these were
+the chiefs, the head and front of the offending. He felt that the
+power was there, a precious gift direct from God. He would blast the
+witness, whoever he might be, as he sat upon the table, till even a
+jury of the right sort would not dare to convict upon his evidence; he
+would paint in vivid colours what he and his fellows were--wretches
+who, buried as men, had slept in the tomb till their hearts festered
+and dissolved--to be dug up thereafter as informers.
+
+He bade Robert be of good cheer, and listened, with a kindly arm about
+the lad's neck, to his project of going to England. He would go to the
+fountain-head, vowed Robert, for no mercy could be expected here; he
+would waylay Mr. Pitt himself--would force himself into the Royal
+presence--would compel England to listen to a recital of her sister's
+tribulations. The English could not know what was going forward--the
+King, whom people dubbed good King George, could not know of it. If he
+did, he was a hypocrite who ought to be unmasked--but of course he did
+not. The ardent lad quivered with excitement and noble fervour, while
+the little lawyer felt himself invaded by pity. The poor boy persisted
+in believing that Right was sure to triumph. He believed that his
+story would rouse the English to interference--Mr. Pitt to contrition
+for excessive sinfulness--that it would melt like snow the prejudices
+of the most ignorant and pigheaded monarch who ever occupied a throne.
+Poor lad! In spite of all he saw, his illusions had not yet been taken
+from him. Some people require an operation with pincers. The dreadful
+moment had yet to come when he would wake up and know with certainty
+that his doll's inside was bran.
+
+'My boy,' the lawyer said, 'the impulse is excellent. Go, and prosper,
+if the Fates will it so. To tell the truth, I believe more in my
+powers of oratory here than yours over yonder. I ought to have special
+interest in you,' he pursued, with a sad smile, 'though it's to the
+lowering of my own conceit. I made the discovery this morning--what
+owls we old fogies are!--that it is not for the sake of my brilliant
+conversation that you young butterflies choose to flutter about the
+Priory. Upon my word, I used to think it was, and that your taste was
+vastly fine.'
+
+Robert's face assumed a guilty hue, and he lowered his eyes.
+
+'Nay--don't blush, man!' returned the elder, whilst Terence looked
+from one to the other curiously. 'When the spring comes, birds will
+mate even on battle-fields! The perseverance of nature, despite
+obstacles, is incorrigible! Would ye believe it, Terence? A girl to
+whom I'm a bit partial flung herself into my arms this very morning
+with shrieks, declaring that if all a foolish servant told her was
+true, and Ireland doomed to be a slaughter-house, one crathur at least
+must be saved--who was not her papa! She expects me, I suppose, to
+build an ark for this new deluge, and take in of every animal two
+after his kind.'
+
+'Oh, sir!' Robert murmured timidly. 'If things go well----'
+
+'No, sir,' returned Curran, with sudden roughness. 'Things aren't like
+to go well. Do not deceive yourself or her. You, for one, are nearer
+to the gallows than the bridal bed! When Ireland is free, when my lord
+chancellor is higher even than he is--as high as Haman--then maybe
+we'll talk of such follies, but not till then. Meanwhile, mark you,
+the gates of the Priory open to you no more. There shall be no more
+dangling after my Primrose till the crisis is over, for better or for
+worse. Get ye gone, now, and good luck betide ye! There must be a
+power of it somewhere, for here we've got ne'er a scrap.'
+
+Young Robert did as he determined; and so for awhile we shall not look
+on him. In London he was kept dallying by a judicious diet of delusive
+hopes in accordance with a suggestion from the Irish chancellor, who
+wished him kept well in tow, lest haply he might turn out useful
+later. Amuse this baby brand, he wrote; manage him cleverly, and lull
+him for a few months to sleep.
+
+Sara saw him no more. He came no more to the Priory, and she was glad
+of it. The child was dazed and bewildered by the reports which reached
+her through the servants. She made no pretence of comprehending
+politics. She only knew that so long as Robert remained away, he would
+be kept safe out of the perilous vortex. She had faith in her father's
+genius, and in his power, if need were, to protect both himself and
+her; yet woke she up sometimes in the night with a cry, having dreamed
+that misfortune had befallen Robert. She could not shake off a
+foreboding that, young and excitable as he was, he would entangle
+himself in the toils; and so it was with a whimsical thankfulness that
+she heard that he whom she worshipped was gone, and joyfully counted
+the months of his absence.
+
+When Robert broke in upon the converse under the colonnade, Master
+Phil did not at first take heed of him, for that worthy, who was
+always ready to touch his hunting-cap with good-humour to any of his
+master's friends, was in rueful contemplation of a fact which had
+lately come to his knowledge--namely, that red-haired Biddy was not
+true to him--that the colleen who had enthralled his affections was
+sadly misbehaving herself among the soldiery. Honest Phil was not
+specially quick-witted, yet he could put two and two together after a
+clumsy fashion, and he saw darkly with sorrow that the carroty-polled
+virgin could scarcely have been ever true if she could thus brazenly
+go over to the enemy. He revolved the facts in his mind that she it
+was who had been Miss Wolfe's post-office--that it was she who with
+him had carried out the pike-packing in the armoury, which had so
+oddly been discovered; that she it was who had wormed secrets out of
+him--the honest but incautious youth--which she might or might not
+hold _in terrorem_ now over the heads of those whom he loved best.
+There was but too much proof of the frail fair one's delinquency. When
+the Irish Slave was sacked, she had rushed yelping to the Little
+House, giving tongue with such vociferous howls that two soldiers
+speedily pursued and brought her back, and finally carried her off
+kicking--a special prize. For a long while her disconsolate adorer
+(when not on duty in surveillance over his master) searched high and
+low for her. Had anybody beheld a beautiful creature with ruddy locks
+of gold?--to see which would be to adore for ever--and so forth.
+
+But as time went on, his master's self-appointed duties became so
+engrossing and erratic that the servant was fain to sacrifice his
+private interests altogether for the nonce, trusting that some day the
+fair creature would turn up entrancingly spotless--constant to her
+swain. It was with no slight pang, then, that on that very morning he
+had recognised a well-known back and followed it--a broad square back
+covered now with purple velvet, surmounted by the well-known locks,
+which were shaded by a wondrous hat and feathers. The apparition led
+him to the riding-school!--the dreadful hall of torment which people
+shuddered at as they went by. Too much amazed to realise what he did,
+he followed still. She entered--so did he. Noisily she was embraced at
+once by a dozen half-drunken men in uniform, and returned their
+salutes with strict impartiality. He was thunderstruck! Then with
+terror, from his sheltered nook, he surveyed the scene.
+
+Screams for mercy made his blood run cold. Two men lay panting on a
+heap of straw; one quite old and feeble, released but recently from
+the lash. The elder would evidently soon be quit of his destroyers,
+for his lips were blue and his eyes glazed. The other, roused by a
+shout of laughter, stirred his head to curse his tormentors. This was
+enough for them. What a fine opportunity for a newly-developed joke!
+Quick--some gunpowder! Biddy poured some into two outstretched, palms.
+Rub it well into his hair--with a will now, Biddy--for it's shock, and
+will hold a prime dose. Now, stand well aside while we fire it with a
+long match. Horror-stricken, Phil escaped--his slow brains chaotic in
+unaccustomed whirl. What should he do? His charmer had developed into
+a fiend. Was she who had enthralled his affections the one who was at
+the bottom of all the mischief--the arch-betrayer of secrets? She had
+been in everybody's confidence--Miss Wolfe's (God bless her!), Mr.
+Cassidy's, Master Terence's--all! The snake in the grass, whose
+existence puzzled the gentry so. Could it be she? Had he not better
+speak out and tell them? No. They were conversing so earnestly. It was
+not his place to interrupt his betters. The intelligence would keep.
+He would make a clean breast of all he suspected to his master in
+private.
+
+And his betters had good cause for the earnestness of their talk. When
+Mr. Grattan threw up his parliamentary seat, Curran had twitted him
+for loss of temper. But now his turn was come. He had spoken out
+rashly in the debate, which was still droning on--had distributed
+rhetorical slaps in the face, which caused the friends of Government
+to wince. Then one, bolder than the rest, interrupted the flow of his
+eloquence by saying:
+
+'We're growing warm. Will any gintleman tell us an anecdote to bring
+us into a better temper?' And then Curran, flying in a rage, declared
+that he was wasting the energies which would serve him better in
+another place, and proceeded to abdicate with scorn his seat as
+member.
+
+Terence, when he heard of it, doubted the wisdom of the move, and
+begged leave to know, as nearly as he might, what the orator had said.
+
+'I charged them openly,' was the simple reply, 'with their corrupt
+practices. I charged them with a systematic endeavour to undermine the
+constitution in violation of the law of the land. I charged them with
+being public malefactors, public criminals. Then I was called to
+order, and I repeated the charge even yet more strongly, bawling out:
+"Why not expel me now? Why not send me to the bar of the Lords? Going
+out, I will repeat the accusation, and the winds shall carry it--that
+the ministers are traitors, who should be publicly impeached--and,
+advancing to the bar of the Lords, I will repeat it there. If I am to
+suffer in the public cause, I will go further than my prosecutors in
+virtue as in danger."'
+
+'That wasn't wise, for nothing could come of it but noise,' Terence
+said, shaking his head at his old mentor. 'This is the time not for
+talk, but action.'
+
+'It may happen,' returned the other gently, 'that the boys of action
+may come to need the help of a silver tongue--after all! I know not
+for certain how far ye're in it, Terence; and it's best I shouldn't
+know. Any way, I'm glad ye're not like your brother, who's a
+half-caste in character, more than half Englishman. You, at any rate,
+are not ashamed,' he continued slily, 'of going to _tay_ with your
+mammy, or of perambulating by the _say_ with a colleen asthore! I wish
+ye'd keep clear of this, though.'
+
+'Would you have had me stand by--a _man_--a cold spectator of events?
+Would you have me show the white feather now, when so many have been
+kidnapped? No--I know you would not,' Terence said, looking in the
+little lawyer's eyes (into which the tears started) with a hand placed
+on either shoulder.
+
+Curran said nothing for a few moments, then, blowing his nose,
+whispered rapidly:
+
+'If there's naught to be gained by noise, my boy, still less will
+foolhardiness avail us. Why will you wear that gorgeous scarf of
+green? If you are to do man's work, do not act like a baby. There's
+only you and Cassidy left now to give directions to the country
+delegates. I don't know much, and it's not my business; but I can see
+now the tail of the Erin-go-bragh order sparkling within your vest.
+Two hands fraternally gripped. How lamentably childish, when so much
+may depend on you! Erin's cause will be none the less well served, I
+warrant, for fewer gewgaws on the persons of her sons. Too much green
+ribbon, Terence! Every man among you sports a green ribbon, and has
+some compromising paper in his pocket! Why, here's a roll in yours.
+For shame!'
+
+'That's the military plan,' Terence returned, 'which I was to have
+shown to-day to our friends. It was a mercy, certainly, that you
+detained me here, or else----'
+
+'You would have fallen a sacrifice to overweening prudence! Therein
+lies Erin's curse. Her sons are faithful enough, and earnest enough;
+but they're all impractical and scatter-brained.'
+
+'Faithful, are they?' echoed Terence, mournfully. 'So many traitors
+walk among us, that no one can swear any day whether he's like to
+sleep or hang at night!'
+
+'Traitors!' repeated Curran between his teeth, as he turned his head.
+'Yes. Traitors galore! There walks the arch-traitor. Lucifer among his
+cohorts.'
+
+Lord Clare was coming up the steps towards the lobby of the House of
+Commons, surrounded by a bevy of obsequious gentlemen who had rushed
+round to the 'Lords' entrance,' in Westmoreland Street, to warn the
+chancellor that dreadful things were happening. His hatchet face wore
+an evil expression which, melting away, gave place to beaming looks
+when he perceived before him his hated enemy.
+
+'Ah! Mr. Curran. Taking the air? You're looking well, Terence,' he
+cried in his rasping voice, holding out a hand to each. 'Anything
+doing in the Commons? Not much to do, eh? Dull times. Sad--sad times,
+my friends! Dangerous, too; very dangerous.'
+
+'You are right there, my lord,' returned the lawyer, curtly. 'Tyrants
+should remember that secret murder is the special weapon of the weak
+against the strong.'
+
+The chancellor bit his lip, then showed his teeth again. He would not
+lose his temper. But it was singularly ill-mannered of this demagogue
+to try and make a scene in the public colonnade!
+
+'I have warned you solemnly before, my lord, of what you are doing!'
+went on the sturdy little man. 'You play with awkward weapons. Take
+care they don't slip and cut you. The Staghouse overflows with guests,
+I know. Yet more than one has lately disappeared.'
+
+'Consigned to Moiley?' laughed Lord Clare. 'Well, they weigh, I
+suppose, like wise men, the risks of their position against its
+advantages. We are quits. For I have warned you too. You'll get
+nothing by your present attitude, I do assure you. It is lamentable to
+see a clever man so waste his opportunity. I am sure if Terence's
+mother was here she would say the same. You believe in her, I think,
+though you've always done me the injury to mistrust me.'
+
+Here he gave a friendly nod to Terence, who took no heed of it.
+
+'Would you have me tie my countrymen in bundles?' inquired Curran, 'to
+raise myself to wealth and to remorse? The envy of fools--the contempt
+of the wise. No! Come what may, I will mourn over and console them;
+aye, and rebuke them too when they act against themselves.'
+
+'Which is pretty frequently the case!' returned Lord Clare. 'I assure
+you I weep quite as much as you can over my country's misfortunes!'
+
+Mr. Curran waxed peppery, for he hated humbug.
+
+'And yet, my lord,' he sneered, 'your glittering optic is so dry that
+the finest gunpowder might be dried on it!'
+
+This was uphill work; but the chancellor still smiled, though a hectic
+spot showed upon his cheekbone; for the squireens around were
+beginning to hee-haw, and he felt he was playing _le rôle ridicule_.
+
+'It is a sad thing, when the interests of millions are placed at the
+mercy of one man's selfish ambition--or error, if you prefer it--for
+what is individual ambition but error?'
+
+'Selfish ambition!' echoed Lord Clare, grandly. 'I have the honour to
+be a chosen servant of the King, and as such I humbly strive to do my
+duty--nothing more.'
+
+'You owe no allegiance to the land that gave you birth? I tell you, my
+lord, here before these gentlemen, that as chancellor you are
+betraying those rights which you have sworn to maintain; that you are
+involving Government in disgrace--a kingdom in consternation; that
+you are sacrificing to your own avarice and vanity every sacred duty,
+every solemn engagement which binds you to yourself, your country, and
+your God!'
+
+'Mr. Curran!' cried the chancellor, drawing back.
+
+But the little man was not to be stopped now; his blood was up, and
+his eyes flashed fire.
+
+'You are too arrogant to learn a lesson from history. Think why the
+royal ship of France went down. That of England labours now. "Throw
+the people overboard," say you, and such as you, "and ballast with
+abuses." Blind pilot! Throw your abuses overboard, say I, and ballast
+with your people!'
+
+Lord Clare was getting very much the worst of it. He could not
+prematurely broach the question of a Union before all these people. He
+scarce knew how to act.
+
+'You are bent on tieing Ireland to England--I can see through you.
+What is the price to be?'
+
+'You are forcing a quarrel on me!' stammered the chancellor, who was
+scarlet. 'I call these gentlemen to witness that it is so; why, I know
+not, for I never injured you!'
+
+'You are stabbing your mother and mine to death! Is that no injury?'
+returned the other, sternly crossing his arms. 'If it were possible to
+collect the innocent blood which you have shed and are shedding into
+one great reservoir, your lordship might have a good long swim in it.
+As wicked a game as it is short-sighted. When you guillotine a man you
+get rid of an individual, it's true, but you make all his friends and
+relations your enemies for ever.'
+
+Things had gone too far to remain as they were. The wily chancellor,
+much as he deprecated appearing in open antagonism to the popular
+demagogue, was obliged for his own sake--for that of the Government
+which he represented--to take up the gauntlet which was tossed to him.
+If Lord Glandore, King of Cherokees, had only been present, he would
+have had the satisfaction of at last superintending the duel, the
+compromise of which, on a previous occasion, had so mortified him.
+
+All agreed that the trifling matter had better be settled off-hand
+with as little delay as possible, for the shades of evening were
+closing in, and it is a pity that pretty bullet-practice should be
+spoiled by darkness. Terence of course offered himself as second to
+his ex-chief, while my lord beckoned to our old friend Cassidy, who
+happened to come upon the scene, and was only too delighted at the
+honour which was thus conferred by a chancellor of Ireland upon one
+who, however useful and fascinating, was no better socially than a
+'half-mounted.'
+
+Lord Clare proposed an immediate adjournment to Leinster Lawn, where
+the affair might be quietly concluded without witnesses; but his
+second would not hear of it. No, indeed! It was not often that he
+would have the opportunity of showing himself off as best man to so
+high a dignitary, and was by no means inclined to hide his light under
+a bushel. Stephen's Green was the place, quite close and handy. Among
+the trees there was a splendid spot for sport. In his delight he
+clapped his brother second on the back, vowing that it would be only
+right for them to have a tilt upon their own account!
+
+To this Terence demurred, however, marvelling why the friendly giant
+should show such an itching to have a shot at him. That worthy seemed
+singularly aggrieved at his offer being refused, but consoled himself
+by grumbling:
+
+'I thought you were more game! No mather--when the principals have
+done, we might have a turn. I remember when Lord Mountgarret was
+winged at the first fire, that his son tuk his place, not to
+disappoint the audience. And we all thought it mighty polite and
+proper in the gintleman.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+                              THE DUEL.
+
+
+When they had had time to reflect, both combatants were equally sorry
+for the fracas. Curran was specially meek, and apologised humbly to
+his second, as they walked arm-in-arm to the trysting-place.
+
+'Indeed, and I'm an old fool,' he admitted. 'Nothing, as you said, can
+come of this sort of thing but noise. I can't afford to be kilt, for
+I'll be wanted later.' Then a thought came as a gleam of comfort. 'If
+I could kill my man,' he said, 'that would be doing good service to
+ould Ireland. But the devil looks after his own. He's much more likely
+to make daylight through me.'
+
+Lord Clare was more than annoyed; he was seriously disturbed. If he
+were to kill Curran, his position would be fraught with difficulty.
+The mob loved Curran; they would certainly tear to pieces the man who
+slew him. If he, by chance, escaped, he would be able to show his face
+no more; and, having ceased to be useful, the authorities in London
+would certainly throw him over. Was this wretched little pigmy always
+to cross his path? Lord Clare ground out a curse, and determined (with
+a hasty prayer to his tutelary deity with the horns and hoofs) that if
+the first fire turned out harmless, he would declare his honour
+satisfied, and decline a second shot. Meanwhile he improved
+the shining moments--Cassidy having rushed off to fetch the
+barking-irons--by sending a special messenger to Ely Place, to order a
+saddled horse to be brought to the mall in Stephen's Green; a
+precaution in favour of escape, in case an accident should happen to
+the popular favourite.
+
+Speedily as challenge had followed insult, he saw with chagrin that
+there was no hope of keeping the matter secret. The altercation had
+been witnessed by several gownsmen who happened to be passing out of
+the Commons, and who, rushing across the road to Trinity, had bawled
+to all whom it interested that 'Curran was about to pistol the
+chancellor to Hades.'
+
+The news flew like wildfire from court to court, for the
+undergraduates bore the latter no goodwill, by reason of the recent
+visitation. They poured out like a flock of rooks, and were already
+perched on wall and branch when the interested parties arrived.
+
+There were not two opinions as to which way they hoped the affair
+would end. Of the chancellor's enemies among the scum, there was no
+slight sprinkling, Phil having also rushed away to announce to sundry
+cronies that there was going to be great sport. Lord Clare regretted
+his choice of a second. He had selected him as likely to obey his
+principal, instead of leading him, as he had a right to do; but he
+reckoned without the pugnacity which underlies the Irish character,
+and which is certain to burst forth on the first symptom of a row. How
+could Cassidy guess (who was, by nature, blundering and muddle-pated),
+that my lord chancellor really wished to back out of his challenge?
+Was he not an Irishman? That he was no coward all the world knew. The
+giant put down his peculiar manner to an ultra-refinement of courtesy
+and high-breeding, and was specially anxious to allow him to air his
+politeness without losing a point. He was extremely obstinate,
+therefore, declining to listen to anything his principal proposed--so
+peremptorily, indeed, that he would have marvelled at his own
+audacity, but for a conviction that he was doing what was expected of
+him.
+
+'Ground! gintlemen, ground!' he cried in delight, as a sort of
+salutation. 'Blow measurement! We'll hip the puny babbler, my lord!
+Hip him--hip--hip! Bedad, your lordship's puce silk coat is in your
+favour. The daylight's waning. I can hardly distinguish your figure
+from the grass. Sure it's dewy, and your shoes are thin. Stand on my
+roquelaure. 'Twill prevent your taking could!'
+
+'Damn his officiousness!' muttered his principal, with a scowl.
+
+Mr. Curran met with such an ovation from the heavy flight of rooks in
+the trees, as his small figure loomed in the twilight, that his
+spirits rose again. His temporary humility was gone. He, too, was a
+Hibernian war-horse, with a love for the clarion's bray, although his
+bouts were more in the way of arguments than cudgel-playing. The idea
+of shooting down, with his own dusky hand, Ireland's recreant son, her
+bitterest foe, might well raise his spirits.
+
+Charlotte Corday, even though she did her country transcendant
+service, cannot be acquitted of the charge of murder. It is not
+_convenable_ for a young lady to enter the bath-room of an unprotected
+gentleman, and, having lodged a knife in his flesh, to retire behind a
+curtain and await her fate. But here was an analogous case, without
+its indecorous elements. A frowsy-looking mouse had bearded a gorgeous
+lion, and told him the simple truth about himself, which more timorous
+animals were content to whisper behind his back. That lion, taking
+offence, had challenged his small foe to mortal combat. Well, the
+mouse would try to slay that lion, and, the combat being on equal
+terms, there was no murder about the business at all; a case of
+retribution, simply. David and Goliath--nothing more. Anything more
+_convenable_ could not possibly be seen.
+
+So Mr. Curran became quite jubilant, and seeming, to his surprise, to
+detect something which looked like the hesitation of fear, set himself
+to taunt the fine-looking gentleman opposite, who made really a
+splendid appearance in his exquisitely-fitting silken clothes, with a
+large diamond glimmering in a soft fall of lace, another in his
+hat-loop; while, as for the silver-hilted _couteau de chasse_ which
+dangled from a silver belt, nothing could be more perfect in
+workmanship, more chaste and elegant in design.
+
+'Is the _State-doctor_ ready?' shouted Mr. Curran, who was in highest
+spirits by this time, amid crows of merriment. 'Sure he's always
+prescribing _steel_ to his patient; bad luck to him!'
+
+'Is it steel?' retorted Cassidy, whose principal pretended not to
+hear. 'Here's steel for ye! The prettiest irons in all Leinster; a
+gift to me from Lord Glandore. Twelve inches long they are. Tear and
+owns! but they're lovely boys; as bright as moonbames. If they could
+spake, they'd thank ye for giving them their liberty. Why, they've not
+been aired these six weeks.'
+
+'Take care,' Terence observed, laughing; 'the one ye're flourishing is
+at full-cock.'
+
+'Then full-cock your own, and let's blaze,' retorted the other,
+readily; which sally produced a yell from the rookery.
+
+'If Mr. Curran will apologise----' Lord Clare began, glancing
+nervously round, for it was nearly dark, and the mob was thickening
+fast.
+
+'Ah! Go on, now; it's joking ye're,' shouted Cassidy, holding his
+sides. 'Your lordship's too polite entirely. Sure ye couldn't do it.
+Here are the rules laid down by the Knights of Tara, which you know
+may not be broke' (taking a small manuscript book out of his
+voluminous breeches-pocket). 'See No. 7: "No apology can be accepted
+after the parties meet, without a fire." Come, gintlemin. Proceed,
+proceed. Ould locks--barrels and stocks! Go on, _du_ now! Here are
+your pair of bullies, nicely primed, my lord.'
+
+'One will be sufficient, probably,' frowned his principal.
+
+'Rule 33,' retorted the glib fire-eater: '"You may not be satisfied
+till two shots are fired at least, unless the apologiser hands the
+other a cane and submits to a good beating."'
+
+'That's a Galway rule, which doesn't obtain in Dublin,' Terence
+remarked. 'Not that my principal means to apologise; far from it.'
+
+'Irish blackguard is one of our staple manufactures,' suggested Mr.
+Curran, to keep the ball rolling; but his adversary was imperturbable.
+He was a cur as well as a tyrant, then?
+
+'Listen to me, my lord,' cried the sturdy advocate, crossing his arms.
+'In 1173, MacMurrough betrayed the land to Strongbow, as you are
+betraying it now to Pitt, and received the wages of sin. Take a lesson
+from history. Hunted by despair, he died by his own hand. Under Henry
+II. England and Ireland were for a moment one. But England grew sick
+of the faint smell of the shambles, and abandoned her slave. Much good
+did that Union do!'
+
+Lord Clare was stung to desperation. Openly to talk of a Union at this
+juncture might be productive of incalculable harm.
+
+'Make haste, make haste!' he said pettishly. 'We don't want all the
+metropolis to look at us.'
+
+The first shot did no mischief. The chancellor fired wide, his
+wandering bullet creating a transitory excitement in a knot of
+bystanders. Mr. Curran's pierced his adversary's coat.
+
+'The devil looks after his own, I might have known it,' he muttered,
+tossing away one pistol and raising the other. 'The gentleman stands
+too far off. Let him come closer. I can't see him.'
+
+Lord Clare approached nearer, and again fired wildly; while his
+opponent was so diabolically deliberate, that he could not help
+observing through the stillness of expectation: 'It won't be your
+fault if you don't kill me, Curran!'
+
+'Did ye ever hear tell of Moran's collar?' inquired the advocate, as,
+closing one eye and screwing up his mouth into an O, he covered the
+chancellor. 'It was worn by justices in ould days, and had the
+wondrous property of contracting or relaxing according to his just or
+unjust conduct. How mightily it would have choked your lordship!'
+
+Curran fired at last. The chancellor staggered, but recovered himself.
+
+'A hit!' shouted Curran.
+
+'A hit, a hit!' yelled the rooks, in the gathering darkness. One
+piping bird-voice cried above the rest, 'Moiley shall eat him!'
+
+A multitude of friends vied with each other in sympathy for the
+chancellor. Cassidy supported him, despite his struggles, on his knee,
+while one ripped open his small clothes and another produced a probe.
+
+On the fair skin there was a dark mark--a tiny trickle of blood like a
+pin's scratch. The sight of it produced a murmur of astonishment. Lord
+Clare could conceal his fury no longer.
+
+'Damn you all! Damn you, I say! for a pack of donkeys!' he cried,
+almost foaming. 'It's the gingerbread nuts that I eat in the long
+debate--they've saved me from a bullet-wound--there--laugh away, and
+get you gone--I've danced too long already to your asinine piping!'
+
+'One more blaze, my lord?' coaxed Cassidy, unconvinced, amid general
+tittering.
+
+But he was not long unconvinced. He saw _that_ in his principal's eye
+which reduced him to lowliness at once, and he bowed his head as the
+wounded warrior quoted with majesty Rule 22:
+
+'"If a wound agitates the nerves and makes the hand shake, the
+business must end for that day at least." The gingerbread nuts have
+made my hand shake: at all events you may take it so, if you please.
+Provoke me no longer--clear away this rabble of idiots at once, or I
+tell you plainly, Mr. Cassidy, that you'll be sorry for it.'
+
+The giant could not but perceive that his principal really was
+frantic, and hastened to obey his behests.
+
+'Well, well,' he meditated. 'I'd rather be badly wounded than be saved
+by gingerbread nuts! It's an ignominious accident, and laughable, and
+the chancellor cannot bear being laughed at.'
+
+Cassidy busied himself in 'claring the coorse,' as he termed it; and
+while he did so, the aggrieved chancellor watched him with a sullen
+and lowering gaze. It was quite dark by this time.
+
+'Terence,' he said presently, with unaccustomed kindness in his voice,
+'come hither. You dislike me, I know; and no wonder, prejudiced as you
+necessarily are by the company you choose to keep. Yet, for your
+mother's sake, I fain would be your friend. You are a plucky fellow. I
+honour pluck, and genuinely like you, for yourself, in spite of you.
+I'm not so bad as I'm painted. Few people are. I'll give you a bit of
+advice. Act on it.'
+
+Curran approached to listen (comforted, though he had not killed his
+enemy, by the axiom he was so fond of quoting, that the devil, who is
+more powerful than the best of men, looks after his own). He was
+amazed to behold quite a human look on the dragon's face. The
+toothsome smile, so redolent of falseness, was gone; the hatchet lines
+had curled themselves up into a mask which really resembled
+_bonhomie_. Can grapes grow on thistles? Was it possible that this
+adamantine nature could be softened? Wonders will never cease,
+although some people do say that there's nothing new under the sun.
+Curran listened, trying to follow the direction of those wandering
+eyes in the obscurity which he could not pierce.
+
+'Terence,' the chancellor said, 'you have a foe--unscrupulous and
+bitter--who will ruin you if possible. I know not why. Be very
+careful, or you will come to ruin. One foe in the dark is worse than a
+score by day. You have slighted that enemy somehow. You are on the
+edge of quicksand; once beyond the brink, you must be swallowed up.
+For your dear mother's sake I will save you while I can. But I may not
+be here always. A thousand things might happen. It's due to her as
+well as to yourself to keep yourself free from obloquy. Think how her
+pride would suffer. Take off that ridiculous necktie.'
+
+Honest Phil was also listening with craned neck and goggle eyes.
+
+'It must be Biddy. She hates Master Terence, does she?' he muttered to
+himself. 'Why? maybe she thought him comely, and he would have naught
+to do wid her, being so tight entranced by Mistress Doreen, God bless
+her! Faix, she's a bad lot--taking to sodgers! And I thought her fit
+for Paradise. I saw her just now by the quickset beyant, in her velvet
+hat and feathers, and my lord saw her too, no doubt. I'll tell the
+masther who 'tis that's working the mischief, and set his mind at
+rest.'
+
+'Half-confidences are worse than none, my lord,' blurted out Curran.
+'If you'd really do the lad a turn, speak out. Why give him a nut to
+crack?'
+
+'Betwixt you and me, sir,' Clare said with hauteur, 'there can be
+nothing but animosity. I try to make things as pleasant as I can, and
+you publicly insult me. I purposely fire wide; you try all you know to
+kill me. I would gladly have been your friend.'
+
+'Begorra! such a friend,' growled Curran, 'as I'd help out of mee
+cabin with mee boot! But never mind us. We're talking of this lad.
+Who's his enemy--who is it that's playing devil's capers among honest
+men? We know that they're not all saints who use holy water!'
+
+Lord Clare was still looking away into the darkness, while Phil
+followed the direction of his glance, and said nothing.
+
+'Don't press him,' Terence said, with coldness as chilling as the
+chancellor's. 'If he chooses to make confession for conscience' sake,
+so be it---I will be under no personal obligation to his clemency.'
+
+'Silly boy! I want to save you, and, like the other asses, you pose
+and mouth heroics!' Clare said impatiently. 'Your name was on the list
+of those scatter-brains who were caged to-day, but I struck it through
+with my own pen. Yet I tell you fairly that if you commit yourself
+beyond a certain point, I shall be powerless to protect you. I should
+bring more odium than I dare upon the Government, if I were
+instrumental in stringing up a lot who deserve the rope, and saving
+the worst of all because he happened to be my old friend's son. I
+can't do more than I am doing. Even Mr. Curran here should tell you
+that. I tell you that you have an enemy who would gladly destroy you.
+You must guess who it is. Who is there whom you have injured? I tell
+you further that Lord Camden has signed a warrant for your arrest,
+which I believe is in his bureau. He deplores with me that one of the
+aristocracy should be a cause of scandal. But he may be called upon to
+permit execution of that warrant, and, acting as you do, I don't see
+how he can refuse to let justice take its course. Had you no enemy it
+might probably lie snug enough. But that enemy will ferret it out ere
+long, I fear. My boy, I earnestly implore you to leave the country.
+Every port shall be left open. Go to Paris--Vienna--Rome--anywhere. If
+you are short of funds I will provide them--come! I would so gladly
+see you gone,' he concluded after a pause, during which Terence's
+heart was touched, and Curran stared at this new aspect of the lord
+chancellor. 'For if I mistake not, such events will happen here ere
+long as will cause the best-balanced mind to quake.'
+
+What a pity that he uttered those last few words! Curran beheld again
+the well-known Lord Clare. Terence became hot with resentment.
+
+'If you are preparing a St. Bartholomew,' he said, 'why should I be
+specially favoured? Murderer!'
+
+'Murderer?' echoed Curran, with a scorn which incensed the chancellor.
+'Worse than murderer! Common butcher of your fellows! You have netted
+the leaders--you will goad the leaderless sheep to leap after them.
+You will drive them to rise against you. Then you'll massacre them for
+rising. You'll turn your artillery against the helpless peasants.
+You'll mow them down like grass. You know their peculiarities--so far
+you are Irish. With a cudgel or a shillalagh there's none can beat
+'em. But they're bad at firearms. Firearms! The use of gunpowder's
+been forbidden them for ever so many years!'
+
+'On my honour, it's provoking to save people despite themselves,'
+affirmed the exasperated chancellor. 'If the boy's hanged it'll be
+your fault, Curran.'
+
+'I wish for no mercy,' said moody Terence, 'from such hands as yours,
+my lord. I remember Orr. So will you on your death-bed. Here comes
+Cassidy again. Come, Mr. Curran, we'll stroll to his chambers for a
+glass of claret.'
+
+The trio departed together arm-in-arm, and Lord Clare looked after
+their retreating figures with extreme vexation as, mounting his horse,
+he rode slowly to Ely Place.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                       THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.
+
+
+The three allies retired to Cassidy's chambers, to laugh at their ease
+over Lord Clare's discomfiture.
+
+'Bedad! he's losing his nerve,' Cassidy asserted, as he poured a ruby
+bumper down his throat. 'Did ye see how wild he aimed--like a gossoon
+that had never blazed? Maybe he's of the same kidney as the spalpeen
+in the play who betune the sheets is frighted by the Banshees.'
+
+'Richard the Third at Bosworth?' suggested Mr. Curran. 'If he gets his
+deserts the chancellor's death-bed will be a fearsome spectacle.'
+
+'It must be an awful thing to have innocent blood upon your
+conscience,' Terence mused. 'Yet how many are there among us now whose
+arms are steeped in it to the shoulder! Is it not strange that
+confessions of murder are nearly always of some single case? Wholesale
+murderers don't seem to be so troubled. The heart must be callous, I
+suppose, before it becomes capable of wholesale murder. Hence
+Shakespeare was wrong as to his ghosts on Bosworth Field. Richard
+slept undisturbed the sleep of the infantine and just.'
+
+Cassidy seized the bottle, and poured himself out another bumper. 'I
+hate this city at night!' he said. 'Since General Lake's curfew order,
+it is like a sepulchre. I vow it's pleasant to hear the patrol, or the
+jolly sodger-boys returning home. What, Mr. Curran, are you off? These
+are ticklish times for night-journeys. Be not too venturesome. Better
+stop here. Sure I'll be glad to give you hospitality till morning.'
+
+'And leave my Primrose to fret alone at home? No, thank you. She'll be
+dying to hear how her favourite is going on. I must say I'm as
+relieved as she can be that he should leave for England. One
+half-fledged victim saved at any rate out of the nest from the maw of
+Moiley.'
+
+'What was Lord Clare talking of when I came up?' asked the giant,
+abruptly.
+
+'He was advising this imprudent young gentleman to make for other
+shores,' grunted Curran, strapping on spatterdashes for his ride; 'and
+he was right.'
+
+'You know you don't think so in your heart,' Terence retorted. 'With
+Tom Emmett and others at Kilmainham, it is more necessary than ever
+that Cassidy here and I should be vigilant. We've put our hands to the
+rudder, you know. We must summon hither some of the head men from
+Cork, at once. If Cassidy agrees with me, we'll write the letters
+before morning. It is essential that the gaps in the central committee
+should be filled up.'
+
+'Can't you see how you are playing into their hands? Poor flies, whose
+feet stick in the web!' Curran sneered. 'You break from one mesh to
+catch in the next. Each time you break away, the struggle becomes
+harder; because the spider gums his lines, and your legs are sticky
+with the gluten! Little by little, by small crafty hawls, the
+executive are draining the society of all its master-minds. When they
+shall be safely snared; when no leaders with any pretension to worth
+are left, then they'll bring about a rising. The plan shows intimate
+knowledge of Irish nature capped by British phlegm. It's enough to
+make a man with his wits about him pitch himself headlong down the
+nearest well.'
+
+'We will be very prudent,' Terence said. 'Yet of what avail is
+prudence with secret sleuthhounds on our track?'
+
+Honest Phil, who had been squatting in a corner on the floor, with his
+gaze fixed upon his master, could bear this talk no longer.
+
+'Faix! it's meeself that knows who 'tis. Ochone! sad's the day, I know
+it,' he murmured in the voice of tribulation.
+
+The three turned eagerly round. 'You know who 'tis!' they cried out in
+chorus.
+
+Then Phil related all he knew of Biddy--interlarding the narrative
+with many groans, in that the golden-tressed darling of his heart
+should, by turning out such a shocking monster, seem to impugn his
+taste.
+
+Cassidy emptied the claret bottle, then flung it on the ground in his
+boisterous way--swearing, with ogrish snapping of the jaws, that he'd
+be even with the traitress; that he would throttle her with his own
+big fingers.
+
+Knitting his brows Mr. Curran walked up and down, his hands behind his
+back. Terence stared at his henchman, bewildered by this new light.
+
+After a pause Mr. Curran spoke. 'Phil's right and wrong,' he said.
+'The woman may have betrayed much. But now her teeth are drawn--that's
+as regards the present, I mean. What a labyrinth it is! She may rake
+up old stories of the past, of which "juries of the right sort" will
+make the properest use--but she can tell nothing that has happened
+since the "Irish Slave" was burnt.'
+
+'Her mother Jug Coyle's still living at the Little House,' Cassidy
+suggested; 'maybe she----'
+
+'Impossible. We know now that after the destruction of the shebeen
+this precious young lady went to live in barracks with the soldiers.'
+
+'Murther! and I've kissed her often,' the giant sighed with
+contrition, as though by that unlucky fact virtue must have gone out
+of him.
+
+'Anyways,' added Terence, 'she could never have had a hand in the
+arrest at Cutpurse Row. Somebody supplied a list of delegates. Who was
+it? It's terrible not to know!'
+
+'Therein lies the hopelessness of the whole affair,' declared Mr.
+Curran, preparing to depart. 'Blindman's-buff's nothing to it. With
+such wriggling in the grass it's simply putting honest heads into the
+wild beast's mouth for nothing. I won't say what I should think about
+it were circumstances otherwise. But as the wretched case stands, it
+would be a great load off my mind, my dear boy, if you were out of the
+_bagarre_.'
+
+Cassidy scrutinised the face of Terence narrowly, who wore a look of
+moody uncertainty. 'Councillor Curran's right,' he said at length.
+'Better show a clean pair of heels, and save your neck.'
+
+The young man glanced up in anger, and the other smiled with a
+good-humoured nod.
+
+'It was kind of Lord Clare,' Curran went on, walking hither and
+thither, much perturbed--'it certainly was kind of him to speak as he
+did. Maybe he's not so bad as I think. If so, the Lord forgive me!
+That there should be a warrant for you ready signed is not surprising.
+Warrants are pretty nearly dead letters just now, but it would not do
+to kidnap the brother of Lord Glandore without proper authority; and
+this secret foe that he spoke about is too sharp to do things
+unwarily. Once taken, your life's not worth a pin's fee with the
+Staghouse crew, ready to swear anything, and some one prepared to
+dictate. Who have ye ever injured, Terence?--think.'
+
+'My Lord Clare said all that!' exclaimed Cassidy, disconcerted.
+Plunging his hands deep in his breeches-pockets, he whistled 'The
+Sword' softly to himself, while an expression of concern puckered his
+jolly lineaments.
+
+'The hopes of the society will centre on you now,' the giant observed
+presently. 'As it is, the peculiarity of the attitude ye have taken
+these several months past, combined with your exalted rank, makes your
+position dangerous. The society'll look to you, now that Emmett and
+the rest are gone. Though all my heart's with it, it's little real use
+myself'll be, worse luck--I'm stupid. Theobald told me so. Tom
+Emmett's often called me a blundering booby.'
+
+This confession was made with such deprecating humility that Terence
+was touched, and held out his hand.
+
+'You wrong yourself,' he said. 'Cheer up. We'll stand by each other.
+But I'm not above taking good advice.'
+
+'Ye'll go?' his two friends said, in different cadence.
+
+'No, no!' replied Terence. 'That may not be. It's plain my duty's
+here, and here I'll remain. But Emmett and the others were foolhardy;
+for the future I'll keep myself concealed. We'll knead together a new
+directory at once. A great responsibility has fallen on my shoulders
+for which I am not fitted; yet I'll do my best, and play my part as
+others do. It is possible, as you say, that the delegates will look up
+to me. They'll want to be kept together--no easy task. Would that Miss
+Wolfe were here to help!' he concluded, sighing.
+
+A malignant shadow flitted across the giant's face, and faded. 'Hide!'
+he echoed, with a bluntness which sounded a little like a taunt.
+'Where can ye hide, and Sirr not find ye?'
+
+'I'll go home to Strogue to-morrow, and then----'
+
+'The first place they would go to if you were wanted,' objected
+Curran.
+
+'Only to look over some papers and destroy them. I know of a safe
+place where they'll not find me.'
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed the giant, with a tinge of curiosity, 'and you've
+papers to destroy at Strogue?'
+
+'Here is a scheme I've drawn out for the capture of Dublin. The lords
+of the Privy Council----'
+
+'Put it away!' roared the choleric little lawyer. 'Is it the back of
+me ye want to see? I won't know these things, since I still wear the
+King's silk gown, yet ye're for ever flourishing them under my nose!'
+
+In a tantrum Mr. Curran departed, like a small snuff-scented
+whirlwind, accompanied by Phil, who went to fetch his horse.
+
+Terence and Cassidy exchanged glances, and burst into peals of
+laughter.
+
+'What a character it is!' Cassidy declared, as he busied himself with
+the brewing of cold punch--a grave matter, in which his companion too
+was soon equally engrossed.
+
+'A good brew,' Terence announced, presently, amid solemn silence.
+'We'll sit up all night, for there's much to be done. To-morrow I
+shall vanish from the world--in the body.'
+
+'It's curious that you should ever have turned Croppy, Master
+Terence,' the giant mused, as with cuffs turned up he peeled the
+lemons. 'You--a member of the Englishry, who may become my Lord
+Glandore to-morrow--fond as his lordship is of fighting. But then, of
+course, ye'd change your politics. Sure your head'll come to be worth
+a big lot, if the rising doesn't succeed--a power of money, surelie!'
+
+'But it _shall_ succeed!' returned Terence, cheerily, 'Then it will be
+our turn to offer rewards. What will Lord Clare be worth, think you?'
+
+'He'll never fly,' asserted the giant, eyeing his punch with lazy
+satisfaction. 'When Ould Ireland's fought her fight and conquered,
+we'll find he's died game in the streets somewhere. His behaviour on
+the Green to-night was quare, though--devilish quare!--It's absent in
+the body ye say ye'll be?' he asked, after a pause; 'but present in
+the spirit, I hope, for Erin's sake?'
+
+'Never fear! One more glass of punch, and then to work. You think
+the first place Sirr would look for me would be at Strogue? But if,
+seeing the danger, I had fled from Strogue? Where would he search
+for me then? In the liberties about St. Patrick's--the Wicklow
+Hills--anywhere but in the neighbourhood of Strogue. Yet no
+neighbourhood could be so convenient. Men go fishing there in little
+boats, and may land from time to time without causing suspicion. If
+there was an alarm, it would be strange if I could not conceal myself
+among the rocks, or get across to Ireland's Eye, and baffle pursuers
+somehow till I was fetched away.'
+
+'It's a pity, councillor, that the shebeen was burnt!'
+
+'Better than the shebeen, old friend! Now I'll tell you a secret. You
+can keep a secret? Of course you can, for my sake and that of the good
+cause. That old figure of fun, Mrs. Gillin--whom my mother hates, for
+some odd reason--has, for some other odd reason, taken a fancy to me.
+That's funny, isn't it? She told me one day, that if ever I needed
+help which she could give, I might rely on her. Now where could I
+better conceal myself than at the Little House? It's within easy
+access of Dublin. No one is aware that I even know her, for we haven't
+exchanged more than half a dozen words in our lives. Though she's a
+Catholic, her daughter isn't; and, being anxious to make that young
+person my Lady Glandore, she naturally is interested in the
+aristocratic party. At the same time she feels the position of her
+co-religionists. I've been credibly informed so. Isn't that a good
+idea? Her place is in a manner sacred. She's a friend of all the
+judges.'
+
+Cassidy ruminated, and whistled a soft air.
+
+'A capital idea indeed! Then ye'll disappear, and I'll not see ye,
+maybe, for months--that is, till the signal's given.'
+
+'How so?'
+
+'Madam Gillin and I aren't friends. She'd not like to see me hanging
+about her doors. It wouldn't be prudent, neither. You'll be afther
+playing your big part while I play my little one. I'm right with the
+Castle people, as yourself knows well. Sirr likes me, so does
+Secretary Cooke. I'll ingratiate myself still more wid 'em. When the
+signal comes, maybe we might take the lord-lieutenant in his bed. It's
+worth considering. Anyhow, I'd better seem cool with the society. I
+won't come to the Little House. Don't talk to her of me--'twould vex
+the mistress.'
+
+Terence trimmed the lamp, knitting his brows the while.
+
+'I hardly like your intimacy with the Castle-folk,' he said. 'It seems
+scarcely manly to worm out their secrets under a mask of friendship.'
+
+Cassidy burst into one of his great laughs.
+
+'Oh murther, Master Terence!' he cried, wiping the tears from his
+eyes. 'Ye'll never win Erin's battles if ye're so lofty. We must fight
+men wid their own weapons if we'd beat 'em. That's true generalship.
+They set their spies on us. We set ours on them. That's quits, I know,
+though I am a booby. Take your pen now. Here's a list of the country
+delegates: mark out who ye think'll be best, while I brew another
+bowl.'
+
+'No more, Cassidy, my friend! Let's keep our heads clear for
+business.'
+
+'Be aisy! One more'll do neither of us harm.'
+
+It was five o'clock before Terence was satisfied with his work. He had
+a task which was uncongenial to his habits, for he was more skilful
+with the rod or gun than with ink; and it was a matter of grievous
+slavery and toil to draw up a series of letters, such as should
+explain clearly to the country leaders of the United Irishmen the full
+bearing of the late disaster.
+
+Tom Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, were in duress. A temporary
+arrangement must be come to, lest the French should arrive and find
+the patriots chaotic. No time was to be lost, for they might appear at
+any moment, when it would be above all things needful that French and
+Irish should be prepared to act in concert without loss of time. He,
+the writer (old college-friend as they knew of the incarcerated
+leaders, late special envoy also to France), was willing to co-operate
+with the rest in forming a provisional committee, etc., etc.
+
+Wearied and worn out with the unaccustomed mental effort, he dropped
+the pen at last from his stiffened fingers, and, wrapping his
+riding-cloak around him, sank well-nigh at once into deep slumber;
+while Cassidy, instead of following so good an example, placed the
+bundle of letters in his long-flapped pocket, and stood for a minute
+looking down upon the sleeper.
+
+'The dark colleen may never be mine,' he muttered between his teeth,
+while he wagged his bullet-head; 'but she'll not be yours neither, my
+fine fellar!' Then, peering out into the silent street which was
+paling wan in the early dawn, he stole forth on tiptoe, over the body
+of Phil, lying prostrate across the passage, and opening the door
+stealthily, made the best of his way towards the Castle.
+
+The day was half spent before Terence woke. The giant, who could turn
+his hand to most things, washed and aglow with health, was busily
+preparing breakfast: broiling steaks over a fire, fussing hither and
+thither as merry as a grig, assisted by Phil, who was kept on the
+broad grin by his lively sallies.
+
+'The commander-in-chief of the national army is taking it out of
+Murphy while he can!' he roared in his jolly voice. 'Well, let him
+lie, God bless him! By-and-by it's little he'll see of Murphy--riding
+about all night along the ranks to encourage his troops for the
+battle. What! awake, Master Terence? I've bin up this long while. Your
+letters are on the road. I've tidied up the room, and opened some
+tipple for your meal. What'll I get from ye, gineral? Is it your
+_eu-de-shamp_ that ye'll be making me? It's glad I'll be of the
+office. I've bad news, though, for ye too. I met Sirr just now, who
+was on the prowl. The French expedition's come to grief again! No
+mather! we'll fight now for ourselves--bad luck to the mounseers, they
+are chicken-hearted! That at least is the official news, arrived from
+London a few hours ago.'
+
+Terence rubbed his eyes and stared, unable on first awaking to realise
+such disastrous intelligence. Then he dipped his head in a basin of
+water which Phil presented to him, tidied his dress, combed out his
+long hair, and caught it back with a ribbon in the accustomed manner.
+After that he set to work upon a luscious steak with the energy of
+youth, and washed it down with claret, while Cassidy, too, made pretty
+play with knife and fork--both of them too preoccupied for speech.
+
+Another French fiasco! How strangely fortune favoured England! This
+time the fleets had remained weather-bound, unable to start at all
+until the golden moments were gone--till opportunity had slid into the
+past. It was too bad. Terence's blood boiled whilst he assuaged his
+tremendous appetite--so did Cassidy's, finding vent as usual in loud
+oaths and noisy execrations.
+
+After breakfast the two shook hands and parted--when to meet
+again?--when and how?--under what strangely altered auspices? It was
+agreed that the members of the new Directory should communicate in the
+first instance with Terence, in person, somewhere on the shore near
+the Little House where he was to hide. The letters would speedily
+reach their destinations, Cassidy assured him. This new turn of events
+might induce Government to take active measures of some kind. What
+would they do? Repent them of their evil ways and take to leniency,
+or, thinking they had their victim quite at their mercy, still further
+goad and harass her? What would Terence's private enemy do--he of whom
+my Lord Clare so mysteriously spoke?
+
+With so many spies about, it was almost inevitable that the active
+part that the young councillor was playing would become known to
+Government. Would they wink at this backsliding of an aristocrat--or
+would they make an example of him by putting a heavy price upon his
+head? Be that as it might, it would never do, in Cassidy's opinion,
+for him to share the fate of Emmett and the others. The giant was
+vehement on this point. He must go into hiding forthwith, and employ
+the most extreme precautions lest Sirr should discover his lair.
+Cassidy, being known as his friend, would make a point of never taking
+the air in that direction. He would hang about the Castle
+ostentatiously, and report what he might have to say to some prominent
+member of the society, who would take up his abode in Dublin. Indeed
+he thought it would be wise to abuse the society in public--to declare
+that once he had been seduced by specious argument into joining it,
+but that now he saw the error of his ways, and sang 'Peccavi.'
+
+Much as he disliked his method, Terence was obliged to confess that
+the giant was right, and felt at the same time a small internal
+marvelling in that he was really shrewd and rather astute--by no means
+the hopeless bungler that Emmett had considered him.
+
+He took hearty leave of his friend, and, accompanied by Phil, made the
+best of his way to Strogue. It was a gloomy place to live alone in, as
+he had discovered since the departure of the family. Even his
+brother's sneers and his mother's coldness were better than this
+chilling solitude. He lived at this time in his own little chambers in
+the 'young men's wing' under the armoury, gaining access to them by
+his own private door, so that the Abbey was to all intents and
+purposes shut up, being only inhabited by a few old retainers who
+dwelt away over the stable-yard at the other side of the house. To his
+dismay his things had been disturbed--he detected the fact at once. By
+whom? How tiresome old family servants are! Disobeying orders, they
+will rummage and clean by fits and starts, regardless of the havoc
+they innocently make. Then Terence remembered that neither old Kathy
+nor her spouse, Tim the coachman, were more given to cleanliness than
+Irish domestics usually are.
+
+This must have been a sudden and most inconvenient gush of virtue! He
+would at once give Tim and Kathy a vigorous bit of his mind. They
+should be convinced for ever after that obedience is the most cardinal
+of all the virtues as far as servants are concerned, standing indeed
+before cleanliness. They should shiver and quake in their shoes after
+the jobation their young master would administer. But instead of
+quaking they both lifted up their voices and howled, swearing that
+young masther was distraught. Go among his bits of things indeed! Not
+they. Sorra a haporth of dusting had they done. Why should they, since
+master agreed with them that it was waste of labour? Kathy had stepped
+in to make the bed, but finding it undisturbed, had stepped out again
+at once. Then somebody else must have been there. Who could have an
+interest in the few scraps of property which were of no value at all
+except to their owner? The fishing-rods were overset--the cupboards
+had been rifled--the precious collection of hackles (apple of Phil's
+eye) were strewn on the floor as if somebody had been in haste,
+searching for some special object which he could not find.
+
+The owner of the treasures began to look grave. Who would steal his
+things--things moreover which were not worth stealing? None of the
+peasantry about. Irish peasants, though they will pick off their man
+blithely from behind a stone, are little given to petty pilfering.
+
+Terence looked around, and his heart beat fast. Nothing had been taken
+except--his papers! Rough drafts of manifestoes, over which, in the
+hot zeal of youth, he had consumed the oil of midnight. Projects for
+the capture of the gaols--rough plans; the very documents which, being
+compromising and not particularly useful, he had come hither to
+destroy. How silly and imprudent not to have destroyed them sooner!
+
+Sirr for months past had been in the habit of making forcible entries
+into houses, on the chance of unearthing treason. What more likely
+than that he should think of making a perquisition upon Councillor
+Crosbie, who flaunted his opinions before the world in the outward
+form of a green tabinet neckerchief? Fool--babyish dolt! Idiot! Every
+one had spoken about that necktie. In a passion he tore it from his
+throat, and hurled it out of the open window. Conduct more childish
+still! The evil was done. Could it be remedied? His smooth forehead
+puckered itself into wrinkles as he strove to remember what the bundle
+of documents contained. Three forms of manifesto--to be printed and
+placarded so soon as Dublin should be taken. The rules and regulations
+of the society. A memorandum of prominent members--oh, horror! He knew
+he had been suspected of treachery by some. This list, incautiously
+kept, might bring about the death of many. Would he not be guilty, by
+gross carelessness, of their murder? Would they not have a right to
+curse him as they swung?
+
+For a while his spirit was invaded by the same rush of unworthiness
+which had so unnerved Tom Emmett when he was arrested. He too felt the
+bitter sense of upbraiding humiliation with which Tom had asked
+himself what right had one, who was incapable of common prudence, to
+traffic thus rashly with the lives of other men? Do his duty! Was it
+his duty to put himself forward in this affair, or was it merely a
+culpable personal vanity disguised as self-sacrifice? He strove
+earnestly to settle that question--so earnestly that Phil, who watched
+him, was aghast at his distress, and endeavoured by humble barks and
+frolicking: to cheer his master from the dumps. To no purpose. With
+grief be it admitted that his master cursed him roundly, abused him
+with such unnecessary harshness that the poor fellow slunk away with
+tears in his eyes, under pretence of fetching the green kerchief. Big
+drops of sweat stood on the young man's brow. His brains had never in
+all his years been so tried as during the last few months. Only those
+usually unused to thought can tell of the dreadful addled feeling of
+helplessness which comes upon the muddled intellect during its first
+feeble struggles into work.
+
+After a time he grew calmer, as the one bright point stood out
+distinctly. It was not the vanity of power--the attribute of
+Jack-in-office, which had galvanised his careless nature into serious
+purpose. Look at it how he would, he was clearly above such meanness.
+He had no personal ambition--that was what Doreen had constantly
+dinned into his ears with scorn--and he had wished that, to please
+her, he could have become ambitious. But it was out of the question.
+He liked the world--its bright sun, its flowers, its myriad life--but
+with no desire for exclusive possession of its delights. He was not
+discontented with his lot, even though his brother was rude sometimes,
+and his mother cold and unaffectionate. His only troubles had been his
+trivial debts; they alone had stirred his brains to scheming, and he
+had borne them good-humouredly as his share of the ills of life. He
+thought Doreen bewitching--deliriously delightful. Her he would fain
+possess as his own--his very own. There was nothing specially
+ambitious in that; for the lowly sparrow, as well as the stately fowl
+of Cochin, is justified in seeking out a mate--the best who will
+accept him. No; he was indolently, comfortably content to take the
+world as he found it, making excuses for its bumps, palliating its
+disagreeables--until that time when his eyes had been opened as though
+scales had fallen from them. Since then he was an altered man; sobered
+by the shock of suddenly perceiving the precipice on which his country
+stood. At first he had refused to gauge the depth of the abyss; it was
+so much pleasanter to turn aside to dally with the flowers. Then the
+upright courage which had hitherto lain dormant spoke, bidding him
+mark Erin's loveliness--commanding him to stretch out his hand to stay
+her tottering form, whispering sternly that if she fell before his
+eyes without an effort made to save, the guilt of her shattered limbs
+would haunt him for evermore.
+
+No! His conscience absolved him of personal ambition. If Erin were
+saved through his agency he would be content to retire again into the
+background--well-paid by her grateful smile. His error had been great,
+because its consequences might be serious. But humanity is prone to
+error. Youth must learn experience by stumbling. A man must expect to
+receive many stabs who fights with a concealed enemy. He must practise
+prudence, make no movement without exceeding caution; but at the best
+what a disheartening conflict--what a one-sided fight!
+
+Terence had received two blows this very day. France could not be
+depended on for help. Twice within less than a year had she made
+herself a laughing-stock. And now--this capture of his papers, which,
+if the foe were relentless, would compromise him hopelessly. It was
+more than ever needful to conceal himself, if his life were to be of
+real use before he laid it down. Trouble seasons the character
+quickly. The young man was already beginning to calculate expediencies
+with gravity and precision. If he was spared, time might make of him a
+valuable champion.
+
+He whistled Phil, who came up fawning like a hound that is forgiven.
+
+'Follow me. And whatever you do, keep your tongue within your teeth,'
+he said. Then calling Kathy, he flung to her the key of his little
+door, remarking that he was called to Cork on business, and might be
+long detained. If my lady should write (alas! she never wrote) the
+letters might wait.
+
+Then, followed by his faithful henchman who shouldered his fire-iron
+as though meaning business, he turned out of the great gate up the
+by-lane which led, before meandering elsewhere, to the back-entrance
+of the Little House; rung the bell, and waited to see the mistress.
+
+Madam Gillin answered it in person, bedizened in a weird wrapper, a
+wisp of soiled crape wound over the curl-papers about her head and
+under her chin like a cerecloth. Her sleeves were tucked up above the
+elbow. In her hand she bore a rolling-pin; her fingers wore a cuticle
+of dough. Expressing no surprise, she remarked simply:
+
+'I expected you before this. There is no one in the house but myself,
+Norah, and the collough, my ould nurse. She's to be trusted. Ye're
+welcome, and your man. Come here, Norah; kiss your brother-in-law as
+will be some day. You may kiss me too, for I mean to be your
+aunt-in-law. Look me in the eyes. A handsome fellar! I know more of
+you than ye'll ever know yourself, unless the Holy Mother wills it.
+Come in, for we may be watched; and bar the door.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+                      THE RISING OP THE TEMPEST.
+
+
+Nothing could be kinder than the stout homely lady's treatment of her
+guest. He seemed to have a sad sort of fascination for her. He caught
+her watching him sometimes with a queer expression of pity, which
+broke into amicable grins and head-shakings so soon as she found
+herself detected. Norah, too, turned out to be a good-natured,
+unpretentious creature.
+
+On the whole, Terence was not surprised at his brother's choice,
+considering what a terror that truculent individual betrayed for
+high-bred damosels, and how little he was able to appreciate the
+refined fascinations of the haughty, calm Doreen.
+
+'It stood to reason,' so Terence argued, 'that if he were blind to the
+existence of a divinity who, in semblance of a mortal maid, abode by
+his fireside, then, of course, his senses must be gross, and nothing
+would suit him but a house-wench.'
+
+Despite the draggled ball-room finery in which Norah elected to array
+herself for breakfast, in honour of the guest, he could not but
+perceive that she was no better than a serving-wench in mistress's
+attire. But then she was a cheery, pleasant house-wench, instead of a
+designing, cross one, as might have been the case. So he clasped her
+to his bosom, and the twain were soon fast friends.
+
+In the kitchen things did not go so smoothly. Phil's orders were that
+he must never go out by daylight; so he sat in the kitchen all day
+long, staring at Jug Coyle, the collough, who sat muttering and
+growling as she stared at him.
+
+For many years, when mistress of the 'Irish Slave,' Jug had nourished
+a resentment against this unoffending youth, shaking a lean fist at
+him as he passed her door, muttering a curse when he called in for
+'the laste taste in life of the crayther.'
+
+Why? Because she was a collough and he a farrier; or, if he wasn't,
+why should he wield a firing-iron? Colloughs have always hated
+farriers, time out of mind, because they are rival practitioners in
+the art of medicine, and the colloughs nourish a vague belief that, in
+the days of the Bound Towers, the herbalists were lady-doctors, and
+that they enjoyed an undisputed sway over both kine and gentlefolk
+until Crummell introduced the veterinary as a special branch of
+Æsculapian science.
+
+He tried to ingratiate himself with the old dame by playing Peter to
+her Nurse; but she scorned to be so wheedled, remarking curtly, when
+he was particularly civil:
+
+'The curse of Crummell light on yez, breed, seed, and branch, ye
+villainous cow-doctor. The Lord planted our cures in the fields before
+there was no 'pothecaries.'
+
+Which remark being usually irrelevant, not to say incomprehensible, he
+met it by a good-tempered nod, which brought the irate lady to the
+extreme of patience.
+
+The days dragged on thus but slowly. Madam Gillin was a strange
+mixture of bravery and pusillanimity. As we have seen, she stood in
+terror of a particular gentleman, because he had discovered that she
+took her Protestant child to mass, and had threatened to expose the
+awful secret. Such a matter would disturb no one at the present day;
+but at that time it was a heinous sin, which would have pointed the
+sinner out for some practical joking on the part of the Protestant
+squireens. At the same time she fearlessly harboured one who was a
+marked man, upon whose head shortly a price might be set, who might
+drag her with him to ruin, if the worst came to the worst; and all
+because she had sworn an oath once to a dying paramour, and had
+watched, with anger mingled with sorrow, the career of the child she
+had promised to protect.
+
+Knowing Ireland's wrongs better than he did, and learning from hearsay
+how proud-stomached a boy he was, she had always dreaded that which
+actually came to pass. She and Curran agreed that it would be
+deplorable if he joined the popular party; but as both secretly leaned
+in that direction, they could not discountenance him for having the
+courage to maintain, in face of danger, what they felt to be the
+rightful cause. For all their sakes, however, she acted with feminine
+tact. She kept him a close prisoner in a garret while it was day,
+sitting alone herself in the garden during fine weather, where all who
+passed along the high-road might perceive a strange figure they were
+little likely to forget. At night she took him out under personal
+escort to take the air, bidding Phil march forty yards in front and
+whistle at the first hint of danger, while Norah fulfilled the same
+office behind; Jug meanwhile being strictly enjoined to allow no
+strange foot to cross the threshold, under any pretence whatever.
+
+In the course of these walks they wandered by the shore, coming quite
+accidentally, sometimes, upon a group of fishermen, who bowed to the
+young man with respect, and conversed with him in long and earnest
+whispers. It transpired by-and-by that some of the ubiquitous
+informers were beginning to turn their attention to the rage for
+fishing which seemed to have arisen about Strogue Point. Then Madam
+Gillin forbade even the solace of these nocturnal wanderings.
+
+It became known that many of the marked ones were journeying to and
+fro, in a suspicious and mysterious manner, between Wexford and Dublin
+and the adjacent districts. It also became a matter of public scandal
+that the object of the journeys was to commune with a personage of
+rank, the only one who dared to prefer his country to his class.
+Unwise conspirators began to babble of a lordling who would shortly
+lead them to certain victory--who, English though he might be by
+lineage, did not forget how many centuries of sojourn bound his family
+to the sister island. They spoke with gratitude and pride of this
+_rara avis_, all the more incautiously, perhaps, because they knew him
+to be safely hidden beyond the ken of Sirr and of his bloodhounds.
+
+Now as week followed week, and month glided after month, it chanced
+that my Lord Clare departed to the bath of Harrogate to drink the
+waters for his health. By a singular coincidence, Mr. Pitt also
+travelled thitherward. It was, of course, a coincidence; but folks did
+say--well, no matter what they said.
+
+When Lord Clare returned to the Irish metropolis, he discovered, with
+concern, that the secret committee of Lords--the Wehmgericht who still
+performed in the shadow unholy and illegal deeds--had requested the
+Viceroy to issue a certain warrant.
+
+Lord Camden, rather pleased for once to act upon his separate account,
+mumbled that the lords were quite right to keep their own nest clean;
+that it was shocking to think that one of their body should so
+fearfully misbehave himself. He went further. Other younger sons of an
+adventurous turn might follow this pernicious example. Not only must
+he be taken forthwith, but must also be made an example of. His
+brother might object possibly--that nice loyal young nobleman, who had
+assisted in building many Martello towers; but his outcry, should he
+presume to make one, must be stopped by timely courtesy. The Glandores
+of Strogue were earls; why should they not be created marquises?
+
+So my Lord Camden delivered the warrant, which had for long been lying
+in his escritoire, to Major Sirr, and offered, as well, a reward of a
+thousand guineas for the culprit, alive or dead.
+
+Quite a tremor went through both Houses. One of the nobles! This was
+serious. A few thousand peasants, more or less, mattered to nobody;
+but it was a pity to touch the _noblesse_. Then they talked of
+Lafayette, who was a marquis, whilst this was only an earl's younger
+son, and soon felt quite comfortable; even applauded the Viceroy's
+timely severity.
+
+Lord Clare was more troubled, when he learned these things, than his
+enemies would have deemed possible. He wrote to his dear old friend at
+Glas-aitch-é, bidding her not grieve too much. It was done in his
+absence. He dared not openly interfere in favour of her misguided son,
+but would make a personal request to Mr. Pitt to urge his Majesty to
+clemency. He had done much work for Mr. Pitt (forgetting to state how
+dirty that work was); and no doubt his boon would be granted. If not,
+still must his loving mother not despair. Prison bars might be sawn;
+turnkeys were very shortsighted. There were boats about, and men to
+man them.
+
+He never doubted for a moment that the reward would be claimed. How
+blind both Curran and his _protégé_ had been not to guess his
+transparent riddle! My lady wrote back in course of time, deploring,
+in bitter terms, the blow which had befallen the family; the dart
+which had transfixed her heart. And my Lord Clare was no little amazed
+to perceive, or to seem to perceive, that my lady took her anguish
+calmly. Either she was a Stoic, or more unfeeling as to her offspring
+than he liked to consider a lady to be who was also his old friend.
+
+Thus did events unroll themselves, till one fine day a party of
+yeomanry, more intoxicated even than they usually were, took it into
+their wise heads to investigate the Little House. Happily the
+chatelaine was at home to defend her penates, whilst old Jug shrieked
+maledictions on the party like a frantic Chorus. Madam Gillin stoutly
+(in both senses of the word) spread her redundant charms across her
+entrance-stone, daring them one and all to come forward and strike a
+woman. She threatened them--Catholic though she was--with the
+vengeance of the Bar. Was she not the chosen ally of my Lords Clonmell
+and Carleton--those gay and festive judges--who held her company and
+her wine in such deservedly high esteem? Did not even the gradually
+saddening attorney-general--Mr. Arthur Wolfe--count her among his
+friends? Woe be to the military gentlemen who should outrage her
+sacred hearth. They might come in and do their worst, for she had
+naught to hide. What could she have to hide? But she warned them, in
+very positive language indeed, that they would rue the day they did
+it. They were abashed, but loath to retire, after drunken blustering,
+before a mere woman's tongue. Such a woman and such a tongue! Would
+she give the boys some drink? the captain coaxingly suggested. She
+pertinently retorted that if they or some of their kidney had not
+already destroyed the shebeen, which she had set up for the benefit of
+arid throats, drink might be got in plenty without stealing it from a
+lone woman. Yet would she even give them drink if they'd promise to be
+off. Not special drink, such as the judges drank, but some other, by
+no means despicable.
+
+She showed the officers into the dining-parlour; produced for them a
+few bottles of undeniable Lafitte, bidding Norah act Hebe (who
+objected not at all), and ordering Jug to distribute jorums of whisky
+among the common men upon the lawn. It soon became an orgie. One man
+said something rude to Jug about her erring Biddy with the carroty
+poll, which sent the hag into a fury. If Biddy was sliding from the
+straight path, the sin must lie on her head, not her mother's. They
+were spalpeens, she yelled, who would rot some time--the sooner the
+better. When should come Judgment-day they would not awake, ne'er a
+recreant sowl of them, having long ago been absorbed by lean pigs that
+were their betters. One man bade her keep a civil tongue, or it would
+be the worse for her. A riot ensued, which the mistress of the
+dwelling hurried forth to quell. Before the officers could interfere,
+Madam Gillin had received a scratch upon her arm, which she exhibited
+in the moonlight, swearing she was 'kilt entirely,' with an
+accompaniment of screams from Norah, who was really terrified. The
+judges should hear of the outrage--my lords Clonmell and Carleton--she
+vociferated, and the rapscallions should be drummed out of the
+regiment for insulting lone women who had friends among the great. The
+party stole away, ashamed of the din, but Madam Gillin made capital of
+the incident. Bandaging her arm in bloody linen, she drove into the
+capital, laid a complaint there, and made believe to see a surgeon.
+Every day for many days she drove into town and back again, closely
+draped in shawls, with ensanguined bandages exposed. Long ago she
+perceived that if Terence was to consent to continued imprisonment,
+his mind must be set at rest by communication with the Directory. He
+chafed so in his cage that she dreaded sometimes whether he might not
+escape in the night while the kindly gaoleress slept. Therefore,
+knowing what a hue-and-cry there was after him--or rather after the
+unlucky thousand pounds reward--she became in some sort a conspirator
+herself, going daily to and fro to see her doctor, who was no other
+than one of the new delegates, and who thus was enabled to commune
+with the lordling in spite of Sirr and his battalion of watchers.
+
+There was a lull of expectation in Dublin. Reports flew over the
+city--no one could tell how or whence they came--reports which set
+quiet citizens quivering in their beds. Hints of murder, rapine,
+kidnapping, explosion. Rumour swept howling over the city. The Castle
+would be blown into the air; it was known that the train was laid,
+that the match was ready. The lives of the Viceroy and his ministers
+were not worth a groat. What wonder if loyal yeoman souls were yet
+further set aflame? What wonder if the terrified senate acquiesced
+without murmuring at the line of action which the loyalists pursued.
+Soon so many prospective victims choked the alleys of the
+Riding-school that extra triangles had to be set up elsewhere. The
+Royal Exchange itself echoed with the thud of the cat; the screams of
+the victims for mercy could be heard in the viceregal apartments hard
+by. Happily for Lady Camden's peace of mind, she had fled long since.
+Soldiers were sent out at free quarters to the right and left, with
+hints that it would be well that their hosts should not forget their
+coming. Virgins were tossed naked in blankets, while their fathers and
+brothers were compelled to watch their shame. The pitch-cap was in
+daily use; gunpowder was exploded in the hair. A new and splendid jest
+was invented by a merry dog. Why not _picket_ the recalcitrant scum?
+What better joke than to poise an insolent fellow barefoot upon a
+pointed stake? His movements would be mirth-inspiring--so grotesque
+and comical! The only drawback was (as experiment showed) that he
+fainted all too soon. No; decidedly there was nothing better than the
+old-fashioned lash. Men swooned under it no doubt; some died; some
+went raving mad. But even when these misfortunes chanced there was
+diversion to be had from the expectant moans of those who were
+awaiting a like fate. Some even lost consciousness before they were
+tied up at all. Such a lack of humorous perception was disgusting.
+Why, a rat in a pit gives sport, though his fate is predetermined. A
+man, though low-born, should shame to be less plucky than a rat! It
+was rather amusing, and salutary to a certain point in its results, to
+shoot down children--babes and sucklings--before their mothers' eyes.
+Yet no! there was so little variety in the behaviour of the mothers.
+They all rocked themselves and stretched their palms to heaven. It was
+monotonous and dull. Even the imagination of the squireens, spurred as
+it was by enterprising colonels, began to flag. Perhaps, after all,
+they were not so very much more witty or more inventive than the
+French in the Reign of Terror. Their superiors grew ashamed of them,
+forgetting that in our imperfect state there is a limit to the human
+intellect. They grew ashamed of their own dearth of ingenuity, being
+by this time so swinish and sodden with alcohol and blood-quaffing,
+that the English and Scotch regiments turned their backs on them,
+declining to associate with their Irish comrades at all, even under
+stress of orders and of whisky.
+
+Winter had come again; not white this time, but red--a dusky red, by
+reason of the shadow of that thunderous cloud which, bloated now, was
+on the eve of bursting. If there is a limit set to the torturing
+ingenuity of fiends, so is there--by Divine ordinance--to the
+endurance even of slaves. A roar swept across the land--a roar of
+expostulation with the Most High in that He had slept too long. Sure
+man was not created only for the sake of torment. Children were not
+born merely to be ripped asunder--virgins to be ravished--men to be
+done to death by inches? Why, whilst the sun smiled on earth for good
+and bad alike--its glory heightened by a casual vapour-fleck--was
+Ireland alone exempted from the boon of light? The last trump had not
+yet sounded. Why was Erin alone to be a hell? Messengers moved like
+ants on the earth's surface. Something was preparing. After many
+delays and feints the real crisis was at hand at last. The cloud,
+three years ago no bigger than a hand, blackened the horizon. Even the
+chancellor's stony face grew wan--his nature of adamant faltered--when
+he surveyed the darkened heavens, hushed in an awful stillness, and
+waited for what might come. For a moment he trembled like Frankenstein
+before the monster he had fashioned.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XII.
+
+                               DANGER.
+
+
+Through Madam Gillin Terence heard of these things, and was fretted
+beyond measure in his seclusion. The plot was ripe. Vague tales of
+succour were wafted from France, but the conspirators knew better now
+than to lean on broken reeds. They were resolved to make a frantic
+effort on their own account, independent of extraneous aid. Men can
+die but once. Death by rope or musket-ball would be preferable to such
+life as this--life with a brutal soldiery at free quarters in the
+houses; with triangles in every barrack-yard, each bearing its
+quivering burthen. Details had been laboriously gone into by Terence
+and the Wexford chiefs. The project was complete in all its details.
+The counties were to rise simultaneously at a given signal. The
+Viceroy and the members of his privy council were each to be captured
+in his bed. A detachment was to seize the artillery at Chapelizod; a
+second was to storm Kilmainham and set free the patriot leaders. It
+was the old plan which had always proved abortive; could it be brought
+to fruition now? Horses would be in waiting, so that each leader could
+escape and scamper off to assume the post allotted to him. The men
+were enthusiastic, the Wexford chiefs declared, and built great hopes
+on the fact of having a noble in their ranks. The only objection which
+Terence's anxious eye could detect was that the lower order among the
+priests were assuming an authority to which they were not entitled;
+one which, by reason of their want of education, might prove
+mischievous. Tone, in all his letters, had always laid stress upon
+this point.
+
+'Keep the priests out of it,' he had constantly written to Miss Wolfe
+(Terence remembered it now). 'They will mean well, but are
+outrageously illiterate and given to fable, which might have a
+pernicious effect, their influence being enormous.'
+
+A certain Father Roche and a Father Murphy were never weary of writing
+letters, suggesting changes, offering wild advice. It would be well
+for the Church militant to be nipped in the bud. The leaders now in
+Kilmainham should be warned to see to this. Councillor Crosbie would
+have liked more muskets and a supply of gunpowder. What a pity it was
+that the French attempts had failed! After all, it was perhaps better
+as it was. The pike was the weapon for Pat; and though many had been
+captured, the land was bristling with them. Cars, too, would be
+useful for barricades. The small farmers must be told to keep their
+market-cars in constant readiness. Terence's eye scanned the details.
+They were not to be improved. All was ready.
+
+Nothing remained but to fix a day. New Year's Eve was suggested, in
+order that the year 1798 might be well begun. It was amazing and
+disheartening to find how impossible it was for Pat to keep a secret.
+A week before the old year expired, proclamations appeared on all the
+walls, which showed that Government was aware of what was doing. Each
+householder was commanded, under pain of flogging, to chalk a list on
+the outer door of the persons who dwelt upon his premises; with the
+exception (so ran the quaint document) of those who might be suffering
+from pecuniary embarrassment, whose names were to be transmitted
+privately to the Lord Mayor. He was likewise bidden to see that no one
+under his roof went forth into the street between nine at night and
+five in the morning. Could the conspirators doubt that somehow their
+every movement was reported?
+
+Madam Gillin, who, strive to control herself as she would, was
+feverishly excited about the future, discussed the plot in all its
+bearings with her guest when shutters were shut and curtains drawn. It
+was a marvel, she declared, that his retreat had remained so long
+undiscovered. It was a narrow escape though, when the yeomanry
+arrived; but that was evidently due to accident. There was no cause to
+suspect treachery there. It spoke well for the country chiefs--at
+least the few who had been let into the secret; for a thousand pounds
+is a tidy nest-egg--a by no means despicable windfall. She liked those
+leaders whom she had seen when pretending to visit her doctor in
+Dublin. The best of them was a certain Mr. Bagenal Harvey--a nice
+gintleman--one of the few who has much personal property at stake.
+'He's prudent too, for an Irishman. And so are you, my child!' she
+remarked, laying a plump hand affectionately on his arm. 'You've never
+even told your mother where you're hid. I verily believe she hates me
+so that, if she knew, she'd write and tell the chancellor!'
+
+'I fear she doesn't care,' returned Terence, sadly. 'Nor does Doreen.'
+
+The strange look of compassion flitted across the face of his hostess
+which he had observed there before. She muttered something which he
+did not catch, but he knew by the tone that it was uncomplimentary to
+her ladyship.
+
+'You mustn't think ill of my lady,' he said, with an attempt at
+cheerfulness. 'Indeed, she so dotes on Shane that there's no room in
+her heart for poor me! He quite filled up that shrine before ever I
+came into the world. If I thought she would have been anxious, I would
+have informed her. But nobody cared, so I told nobody--except one.'
+
+'You told some one! Who was that?'
+
+'A trusty old friend of long standing--true as gold, if a little
+stupid--Tim Cassidy. By-the-bye, he said you didn't like him. He's
+good, but not clever; though I've been a little shaken of late as to
+the weakness of his intellect. It's wonderful how circumstances bring
+people out!'
+
+Madam Gillin sat bolt upright, her fat hands clasped round her fat
+knees.
+
+'You told _him!_' she cried aghast.
+
+'Yes. Do not fear. He's playing a useful game, if a shady one. Each of
+us must do what he can, you know.'
+
+Mrs. Gillin was so taken aback that, to conceal her emotion, she
+retired abruptly from the garret, and stared out of the landing-window
+to consider this intelligence.
+
+'A useful game for _himself_,' she murmured. '_He_ knows--he who has
+wrecked them all--and has left this one here so long with a thousand
+pounds upon his head! What can he mean? Can he in this be sincere? No.
+The days of miracles are past.'
+
+Madam Gillin had seen our friend Cassidy once without his jovial mask.
+It is astonishing how deceived we are in people! We may live with them
+on familiar terms for years, and discover at last by a gleam that
+their real selves are quite other from what we thought. Sometimes the
+gleam never comes at all. How many sons are there who never knew their
+mothers? How many mothers who have never known their sons--the real
+person with the veil withdrawn? Madam Gillin had seen Cassidy once
+when he was himself, and felt satisfied that he could never be true
+except to his own interests. Then this new position which looked the
+darker for the light she could throw on it, twisted itself in her
+mind, displaying all its facets. _He_ knew that the young man, on whom
+so much depended, had been lying for weeks and weeks in ambush at the
+Little House. Why did he leave him there? Was he waiting for the
+reward to be doubled? When the moment arrived for her _protégé_ to be
+taken--when he chose to speak, what would become of HER? He would
+surely ruin her. Could the judges save her from the penalties which
+would accrue from taking a Protestant under age to mass, as well as
+harbouring an arch-rebel?
+
+'Well, I can't help it,' she said aloud, mentally tossing up the
+sponge. 'I've done what I thought right. It's difficult to see the
+way. He must be got out of this while there's time, and New Year's Eve
+so near, too! Oh that I had learnt this before!' Painful misgivings
+possessed her mind. 'Pray God and the Holy Mother that the poor boy
+may be spared!' she whispered. 'Knowing what I do, it's bitterly sorry
+I am for him. That proud mother of his will burn for what she's doing
+some time or other, though she's happy now.'
+
+Mrs. Gillin, argus-eyed as she thought herself, could not know that
+the chatelaine of Strogue had already passed through a part of the
+travail of her punishment. She had to judge by the face, which was a
+mask--the face which was stony and cold enough--as cold as a face of
+marble.
+
+Suddenly (as she meditated) the buxom lady saw something which caused
+her to crouch down and draw hastily back from the window.
+
+'It's come!' she murmured; 'I felt it _here_ in my heart. What a mercy
+that he told me, or it would have come on us unawares! Norah!' she
+called with caution down the stairs, 'send Phil up here this minute.'
+Then she sped to the garret. 'My lad,' she said quickly, 'hurry now!
+Get through the trap on to the roof. Phil must do the same. I'll tidy
+the place in a jiffy! Ye can both lie cosy in the valley of the roof.'
+
+'What's the matter?' asked Terence, without moving.
+
+'Matter enough. There's a party coming down the road. I'll stake my
+head it's Sirr or some of them. They're coming to look for you!'
+
+'Then give them some of your Lafitte, my second mother!' laughed
+Terence, carelessly, 'and pack them about their business.'
+
+'No,' Mrs. Gillin said, 'I can't explain now. They must go over the
+house, and be convinced that ye're not in it; and to-night we'll pack
+ye somewhere else for safety.'
+
+There was no withstanding her energy. The two young men obeyed their
+peremptory hostess, marvelling much at her. It was Sirr, sure enough.
+His peculiar stoop could be recognised a mile off. Behind him were a
+dozen redcoats.
+
+Mrs. Gillin was snipping dead twigs with a large pair of scissors; she
+wore a loose green kerchief over her turban, so unbecomingly arranged
+that it was evident she expected no visitors. Norah was dutifully
+holding a basket. How idle of the gardener to have neglected to trim
+those hedges! Old Jug sat crooning in the wintry sun, her eyes
+twinkling like beads from under a tangle of sandy elf-locks and
+flopping cap, her favourite dudheen between her lips.
+
+'Misthress dear!' she croaked between two puffs of smoke, 'it's the
+meejor.'
+
+But that lady was too much absorbed in gardening to hear.
+
+'Good-day, madam,' quoth Sirr, wrinkling down his brow-tufts with a
+smirk, and saluting in military fashion.
+
+'Bless the pigs, meejor! is it you?' she cried, throwing down her
+scissors. 'Ye've called to ask after my arm? It's mighty kind! The
+ruffin gave my poor hand a terrible wrench, and sprains are slow to
+cure. The bleeding's stopped this long while, but the docthor's eating
+the sowl out of me. I go to be bandaged three times a week. It's not
+your boys, meejor, that would outrage a leedy so!'
+
+Major Sirr was disconcerted, and began to stammer:
+
+'Glad ye're better, madam--hugely glad! I would not for the world do
+anything disagreeable to a lady--but business is business, isn't it?'
+
+'What's up?' cried the amazed little woman.
+
+'I'm here, I regret to say, on painful business. May we come inside?
+Thank you!'
+
+'The meejor's always welcome,' affably returned the other, with one of
+those superb but ceremonious curtseys wherewith she was wont to
+electrify the Viceroy. Then, plucking off the kerchief, she whispered
+audibly to Norah, 'Begorrer, it's rooned we are! To be seen with a
+square of green silk round mee ould noddle! But the meejor won't
+tell.'
+
+Major Sirr observed with sorrow that the lady was not so cordial as
+usual. There was an air of suspicious virtue with the ears set back
+which distressed him, for he was really partial to her, though he
+loved her claret better.
+
+''Tis with deepest pain----' he was beginning, when she cut him short.
+
+'Give tongue!' she said curtly. 'What ails you?'
+
+This was a slap in the face. He was accustomed to be fondled and
+caressed by those whom it was his painful duty to flay alive. She
+could not be so hoighty-toighty if afraid.
+
+'You are right,' he returned; 'business is business. I regret to say I
+must search your house, for I've reason to know that Councillor
+Crosbie is concealed here. I advise you to produce him, and have done
+with it.'
+
+Oh, Major Sirr! Major Sirr! You should have sent your better-half to
+cope with Mrs. Gillin. What are a dozen men against one woman, in a
+battle of wits? What are two dozen men against one woman whose blood
+is roused, who stands like a tigress 'twixt her whelp and danger?
+
+Major Sirr expected her to change colour, to betray at least a quiver
+of the lip, a tremor of the fingers; then, recovering herself, to deny
+largely and pour forth claret with effusion. Such signs would have
+been the sure tokens of guilt, and he would have known how to act
+accordingly.
+
+Instead of this she stabbed him, rather too hard for playfulness, with
+her scissors, and skipped away laughing with elephantine grace. Then
+wagging her turban at him (which was wofully awry), she set her hands
+akimbo on her high waistband, thereby sending her elbows almost to the
+level of her ears, and remarked with unusual bluntness:
+
+'Pah! ye stink of the Staghouse! Stale blood and brains! Go on,
+hangman; do your worst. Mr. Crosbie _was_ here--has been here for
+weeks. I won't deny, since ye know all about it. If ye hadn't been a
+dolt, ye'd have found him long ago. Why, he walked out with Norah each
+evening on the shore. He was here when the yeoman blackguards wounded
+and hurt my arm. Do ye think, if it was otherwise, I'd have stooped to
+give them drink? Not likely! Mr. Crosbie _was_ here, but the bird's
+flown. You may well look glum. Sorra a drop of the crathur your men'll
+get out of me this day. Go, search the house; turn it inside out. He
+lived in the right-hand garret. Ye'll find some of his things about,
+though he's in Wexford by this time. Here are all my keys (except the
+cellar key). Search!'
+
+This was disheartening. Behaviour coarse and rude. But duty is duty.
+Sirr stooped to pick up the keys, which had been tossed to his feet,
+and, wrapping himself in a rag of dignity, proceeded to examine the
+premises. It was as she said. There was no one there, though there
+were signs of recent occupation. Ruefully the major looked into the
+dining-parlour. There were no nice things laid out for his behoof.
+
+'I've only done my duty,' he urged, as he clutched the virtuous lady's
+fat hand. 'Don't be cross with me. I'm glad my mission's failed,
+though I should have won a thousand by it--there!'
+
+But she shook him off and swept away, murmuring over her shoulder,
+with sniffing nostrils, that she had done with him; would never meet
+him as a friend again (though her house was open to examination
+whensoever he was anxious for an outrage); that she would take it as a
+personal favour if he would save her the pain of cutting him dead in
+public; for under no conditions whatsoever would she consent to
+condone this insult.
+
+Sirr was sorry, but shrugged his shoulders. He ordered his men to
+march on to Strogue. Perhaps the culprit was not gone to Wexford, but
+was lying perdu in the vaults of the ancient Abbey. Mrs. Gillin
+screamed to old Jug, from an upper window, to run round to Larry in
+the farm-buildings, and bid him bring out the carriage. She must go to
+Dublin to the doctor. Her nerves were rooned now, as well as her
+spirits and poor arm.
+
+Then, closing the window, she called on the fugitives to come forth.
+
+'There's no time to be lost,' she said. 'Sirr suspects nothing, but
+the other will. The serpent! He is capable of coming down himself, in
+a friendly way, to spend the evening; and that's more than I could
+endure, even for you.'
+
+'Of whom do you speak?' asked Terence, bewildered.
+
+'Don't chatter!' interrupted the kind lady. ''Twill be twilight in an
+hour or so. You must get out of this before Sirr gets back, and
+reports to the other what he's done. Then the brute may come, and
+welcome. It'll be a pleasure to laugh at him. Sirr'll be an hour or so
+rummaging through the Abbey. Meanwhile you'll take my place in the
+coach. You're just my size and figure. Your arm looks awful bad. You
+want a doctor sadly. But that gossoon there; he can't go too, as I've
+always gone alone. Unlucky! He can't stay, either; that's certain.
+What'll we do at all?' She tore off the soiled turban to rub her head,
+for the better coaxing of her ingenuity. Presently she clapped her
+hands. 'That's it. Ye'll go separate to the same rendezvous. You,
+Phil, shall go first, for ye must walk. It's like a masquerade in the
+good old times; yet my heart is dreadful sore--ochone!'
+
+Rapidly Madam Gillin produced some sailor-slops which her own boatman
+used to wear when she took her pleasure on the bay. 'Phil will wear
+these and start at once,' she explained. 'His face must not be seen;
+it's too well known. In the boathouse yonder he'll find a coil of
+rope. He must bear it on his shoulders as a motive, and let a loop or
+two fall over his forehead. Be off now, and be careful. Take a knife,
+in case of accidents. Ye must be clear off before Sirr returns from
+the Abbey. If by ill-luck ye were to come face to face, stab at his
+legs. He wears a coat of mail. _I felt it with my scissors_. Away!'
+
+Phil departed, quite glad of the excitement, delighted to break
+through his long and weariful incarceration.
+
+Terence was packed in the celebrated wrapper, which once to see was
+never to forget. A beaver bonnet and veil covered his head. An arm was
+deftly bandaged. He stepped into the coach, drew up the glasses, and
+leaning back in the shadow as the coachman whipped his horses, began
+to collect his thoughts. Whew! What a whirl it was! Why dear Madam
+Gillin should suddenly become nervous, and wag her plumes so, he could
+not imagine. Unpleasant things are ofttimes for the best. Concealed in
+the capital itself he would be all the better able to superintend in
+person the proceedings of New Year's Eve. Yes! It was quite fortunate
+that she should thus have sent him off. He would see some of the
+delegates that very evening; concert passwords and signals. Five
+minutes' talk is worth a dozen letters. He would send round for
+Cassidy, who, faithful to his _rôle_, should be able to unravel for
+them the ins and outs of the Castle tactics, some of which seemed
+hazy. He would---- What was that? Sirr and his men! Then they had not
+lingered at the Abbey, but had started Dublinwards before him? No
+matter. All was right. The major had peered into the carriage, and,
+perceiving the wounded arm and well-known wrapper, had turned away his
+head abruptly. How cleverly Mrs. Gillin had managed the whole thing!
+Why had she taken such a fancy to him? If he were her own son, she
+could not be more loving and considerate.--What was that? A man
+bending under a load. Phil, of course. How slow he walked! Sirr's men
+seemed stepping out. Please Heaven they would not overtake him. No.
+And if they did, what then? A boor with a burthen of rope. A guilty
+conscience; how it racks and torments us about nothing!
+
+Hark! a sound--audible through the rumbling coach-wheels. A shout--a
+cry! Unable to resist the impulse, Terence lowered a glass and
+protruded his head, with the beaver bonnet and veil. Great heavens!
+The soldiers had gained on Phil, whose burthen impeded movement; had,
+from sheer brutality, torn it from him and disclosed his features. He
+had been recognised! Sirr saw through the trick, and shook his fist
+with balked fury. He was gesticulating in the road. Some soldiers were
+hailing the coach from afar, but Larry whipped his horses with a will.
+Some more, jumping a ditch, had broken through a hedge and vanished.
+Poor Phil! he would be murdered. Was it not base to leave him thus
+unaided? Yet--the Cause. Terence felt that his life was not his own.
+Eagerly he looked backwards as the road took a loop-turn. He must see
+the last of poor Phil--probably the very last of his faithful
+henchman. Phil had ceased struggling. Terence drew in his head, and,
+man though he was, burst into a flood of tears. Poor, faithful Phil!
+What a sad end!
+
+Half-way betwixt Strogue and Dublin the road leaves the shore, and
+winds inland with an intricate series of doubles--arranged so for the
+benefit of certain small villa-holders, round whose tiny properties
+the way meanders. Terence forgot this fact, so absorbed was he in the
+fate of his attached servant, otherwise he would have seen his danger,
+and, throwing off his disguise, would have trusted to a hare's tactics
+in the open. But, clad in woman's attire, he was weeping like a woman,
+and bemoaning his fate, when the carriage came to a standstill with a
+shock. A detachment of soldiers, taking a short cut, had come upon the
+carriage, and, springing on the bits, had thrust back the horses on
+their haunches.
+
+Deception was futile now. Dragging off the ignoble bonnet and wrapper,
+Terence sprang lightly out, and drawing a pistol, prepared to barter
+his life against as many of the foe as possible.
+
+One man shot poor Larry on his box, lest he should take part in the
+scuffle; another hamstrung the off-horse, which whinnied, and leaped
+up with pain. The shot was answered by a hulloo and rush of feet.
+Through the hedge-gap appeared Sirr, breathless but foaming, urging on
+his men, two of whom dragged Phil, an inert mass, between them.
+
+'Murther!' groaned Phil. 'That the masther should be tuk, and through
+me!'
+
+'Yes,' jeered Sirr; 'we have him now. Having detected you, I knew at
+once that he could not be far off!'
+
+Terence discharged his pistols with good effect. A man fell to each of
+them. Then, drawing a dagger, he leaned his back against a tree.
+
+Sirr, as his way was on these occasions, withdrew to the rear, content
+with egging on his hounds from a safe distance. The men waited for a
+second, watching the eye of the man who stood at bay. Phil saw his
+opportunity, and took it. With a jerk he freed himself, stabbed one
+fellow, and, lunging at another, slipped, and tumbled on the moist
+earth. But he was not to be thus foiled. Wriggling along the ground,
+he reached Major Sirr, and slashed him across both legs, who,
+springing into the air with a howl, tossed away the sword-cane that he
+had unsheathed and fell disabled. Phil caught it, and stabbed the
+shrieking major again and again till it broke. 'Right she was!' he
+said; 'the dastard does wear mail!'
+
+The diversion seemed likely to save Terence, who, turning, sped
+swiftly along the furrows, favoured by sinking twilight.
+
+'Run, masther, run!' Phil screamed. 'Please the Lord, he'll be safe
+yet.'
+
+'Dead or alive!' howled Sirr, who clawed the ground with his fingers
+in his pain.
+
+A man levelled his musket and fired. Terence turned like a top,
+dropped on his knees, then struggling up, moved on as swiftly as
+before. Another fired, but missed. The fugitive flew on, but not so
+fast. A mere youth outstripped him, and stooping down in front,
+tripped him by the feet. Both fell heavily. The bigger of the two
+being uppermost--his right arm swinging loose--made a desperate effort
+to throttle the boy with his left hand. It took several men, pressing
+his chest with heavy muskets, to tear his prey from him, and bind him
+in such a way as to prevent further resistance.
+
+Terence and Phil were taken to the provost, whilst Sirr (vowing
+vengeance especially against the latter) was borne away to have the
+wounds dressed which disfigured his comely calves.
+
+Madam Gillin sat at home in a perspiration, waiting for news. No news!
+That looked well. It was dawn before she sought her couch, determined
+to try and sleep. A hubbub aroused the three occupants of the Little
+House. What was it? eight o'clock! An enormous detachment of soldiers'
+wives, with kettles, equipage, and baggage, demanding hospitality,
+producing an official order to that effect. Free quarters; and for
+women, too--the dirty, drunken drabs! Madam Gillin clasped her fat
+hands in anguish. Then the stratagem must have been discovered. One
+had been taken--which? or both? Oh, Heaven! Would no one tell her?
+
+A blowsy wife, more compassionate than the rest, said that all the
+world knew by this time that the meejor had won the big reward.
+
+Madam Gillin tightened her lips, and said no more, while Jug whistled
+lamentations through her gums. 'It's the curse of Crummell on the
+farriers--breed, seed, and branch. If he'd gone alone he'd have been
+safe.' Which, in all probability, was true enough, though not because
+Phil chose to wield a firing-iron. But Madam Gillin would not listen
+to her nurse. Poor lad! To be taken without striking a blow--without
+even the threadbare satisfaction which belongs to a leader of forlorn
+hopes--of laying down life, perhaps, but at a heavy price. What an
+unjust world it is! Mrs. Gillin felt it more and more.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                              THE HURRY.
+
+
+Mr. Pitt's scheme was doing well. Protestants and Catholics, the upper
+and the lower class, having been successfully set at each other's
+throats--the leading spirits of the popular party being snugly
+caged--the executive thought the moment come to harvest their Dead-sea
+apples. The capture of Terence was accomplished at a fortunate moment;
+for things had gone too far now for the project of resistance to be
+tamely abandoned. The proposed rising was perforce postponed that the
+harried Directory might for a fourth time reorganise itself. Ill-luck
+haunted that Directory. Tone, inaugurator of the society, was a
+broken-spirited exile; Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, zealous
+disciples of their prophet, languished in Kilmainham; the Honourable
+Terence Crosbie (most promising blossom on the stem) lay
+wounded--delirious from fever--within the provost. None of the
+projectors of rebellion were permitted to take part in it; yet it was
+evident that the days of meek endurance were at an end. The places of
+the absent were supplied by men, ambitious but incapable: small
+country gentlemen of limited attainment, or farmers of little culture,
+who were speedily swallowed by the flood, to be supplanted in turn by
+furious fanatics, as ignorant but more unscrupulous than they.
+
+Nothing was attempted on New Year's Eve. January and February passed;
+March and April came, and were gone. Lord Clare wondered whether he
+had been too precipitate, and digested Sully's saying: 'Pour la
+populace ce n'est jamais par envie d'attaquer qu'elle se soulève, mais
+par impatience de souffrir.' Had the people not suffered enough yet?
+The yeomanry motto had been, 'Soyons frères, ou je t'assomme!' and
+nobly they had acted on it. The people glared and showed their fangs,
+ready and willing for the fray; but they were leaderless. Those who in
+the emergency affected to command, racked by indecision, put off the
+important moment. Rebel and royalist frowned silently one at the
+other, lance in rest, both itching to go to work, both declining the
+odium of the first move. It was the last brief lull of stillness
+before the bursting of the storm--of the storm which had been so long
+in bursting. Dublin was uncertain how to proceed. If the Croppies
+would rise and gain one decisive victory, then Dublin, joining them
+openly, would turn and tear its rulers. On the other hand, should the
+Croppies encounter tribulation the capital would grovel at the
+mumbling Viceroy's feet, presenting both cheeks to the smiter with
+expressions of Christian meekness.
+
+It was an anxious time for the lord-lieutenant and his Privy Council.
+
+To the chancellor's disgust General Abercromby (who supplanted
+Carhampton), on whom he had counted for friendly co-operation as
+commander of the forces, chose this awkward period of uncertainty to
+retire.
+
+'Nothing,' he bluffly said, 'could justify the behaviour of
+Government. If the two Houses of Parliament chose to turn their
+motherland into a slaughter-house, dire retribution would be sure to
+fall upon them some day. At all events he, a stranger, would have
+nothing to do with political crimes.' And so he went away; and the
+supreme command was accepted _pro tem_, by General Lake, till such
+time as a fit substitute could be selected.
+
+The attitude of pugnacious Pat, eager for the fight, but lance in
+rest, could not be permitted to endure. That those who were wont to
+tread on the tails of each other's coats at Donnybrook should in
+incongruous fashion assume patience like that of St. Simon Stylites
+was merely an insult to their masters. A little more humour must be
+displayed by the friends of England--a few more jokes, quite broad
+ones now. A dozen or so of judicious murders, a grand confiscation of
+poor men's cattle, a few more virgins ravished--a real sharp touch of
+the spur, in fact. The jokers acted with a will, and the desired
+effect was gained. Kildare rose on the 23rd of May. Simultaneous
+attacks of a timorous kind were made on various strongholds, of which
+one only could be pronounced successful. The barrack of Prosperous was
+surprised in the night, the commandant killed, and a few officers
+sacrificed, the place committed to the flames. This was encouraging,
+and Government could well afford the loss of a few lives. But the
+rebels needed a deal of spurring; they were still too craven for an
+important venture; their hands were unnerved; their blood was chilled
+by fear of treachery. Oh! degenerate scions of turbulent Keltic kings!
+
+The boys of Kildare, who were the first, casting distrust aside, to
+take the field, had been ground too low to allow the lamp of
+patriotism to burn steadily. After an abortive effort of a few days
+they sued for mercy. Slaves of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of
+water, they were doomed to be; their leaders saw it now, and roundly
+told them so, and they retorted on their leaders. Both indeed were
+sadly below the mark. If those who endeavoured to command were unable
+to manage their rabble, the latter were no better than the most
+innocent of savages. In presence of the foe they forgot the little
+drilling they had learned, danced forward like children, with hats on
+pikes and wild gestures of defiance, and tumbled pellmell over each
+other, hit or alarmed at the first blare of musketry. The business of
+the disciplined cohorts was simply to stand quiet until the gibbering
+simpletons advanced to an easy distance; then to cut them down as the
+sickle mows the corn, in serried heaps upon the furrows. The boys of
+Kildare sued for mercy, and were graciously informed that if they
+would come to the Gibbet-Rath on the Curragh, within given hours on a
+certain day, and there deliver up all weapons of offence, they might
+be permitted to return to bondage and be happy. They came, having been
+assured that General Dundas had received permission from the Castle to
+show clemency. Thirteen cartloads of pikes were delivered on the
+plain. General Duff, who, assisted by the colonel of the Foxhunters,
+was acting for Dundas, bade the rebels make of these a heap, and
+confessing on their knees their insolence and wickedness, beg the
+King's pardon humbly. The craven wretches obeyed, for no vestige of
+courage was left in them. Bereft even of the courage to die, they
+kneeled, praying that the agony of death might be past. They kneeled,
+with misery too intense for speech, on the great plain, with heads
+bowed and hands clutched together--a spectacle of human abjectness
+harrowing enough to have made the angels weep.
+
+'Charge!' shouted General Duff, 'and spare no rebel!'
+
+The obedient Foxhunters (so called from the brushes they wore in their
+helmets) hacked down with their sabres the defenceless peasants to the
+number of three hundred and more. There were eighty-five widows in one
+single street of Kildare that afternoon. It is but fair to say that no
+part of the infamy of this splendid joke attaches to General Dundas,
+for the massacre was shown to have taken place without his knowledge
+or consent. Duff and the colonel of the Foxhunters must bear the brunt
+of it alone, along with other jests of equal brilliancy. A few of the
+victims managed to scuttle off, hiding in furze-bushes or behind
+walls, and reached Kildare at nightfall, to tell the tale of butchery.
+A woman who lay ill ten miles off, woke (so it is said) from a vision
+of her husband weltering in gore, and nothing would appease her but
+that her daughter and aged father should go forth to seek him. They
+were met by knots of country-folk flying along the road in wildest
+excitement.
+
+'Bad news, old man!' they wailed as they pursued their course
+like a whirl of wraiths. 'Our friends lie kilt--God rest their
+sowls--_all_--on the Curragh, this day!'
+
+Old man and grandchild harnessed a horse and car, determined to
+learn more. The gloaming rested on the plain when they reached the
+Gibbet-Rath.
+
+Two hundred bodies were turned over before they came upon the one they
+sought. Its hands moved, in an effort to stanch a wound with a remnant
+of an old cravat, and in the increasing darkness they chanced to
+observe the flutter. But for that movement, where so many around were
+still, they might have passed by their bread-winner. Filled with
+thankfulness in that he yet lived, they stretched him on the car, for
+prudence' sake in corpse-like attitude, shaded his eyes with a hat,
+sprinkled some soiled hay over his prostrate form, and hurried home in
+haste. But a rumour somehow got wind that 'the Croppies were getting
+alive again,' and so the military were sent round to scour the
+adjacent country to make certain that no such untoward circumstance
+occurred.
+
+Two men belonging to the Ancient Britons approached the hut at
+midnight where this man lay, snatched by a marvel from the jaws of
+Death.
+
+'What!' one said, 'that Croppy living still?'
+
+'Yes, your honour,' replied the sick wife, with meekness. 'The Lord
+has been pleased to grant the boy a longer day.'
+
+'Come, come!' was the jocose retort. 'He'll be best out of misery, for
+he can't possibly recover. Leastways, his curing will be tedious to an
+ailing wife like you.' And the wretch pistolled him in cold blood then
+and there, while the frenzied widow shrieked for mercy, and the
+daughter strove to shield him with her own body in the ecstasy of her
+despair.
+
+This carnival on the Gibbet-Rath finally snuffed out Kildare; but
+Wexford, which was made of different materials, rose up to take her
+place. The men of Wexford belonged to another caste, had different
+hair and features, were of a fiercer nature than the Kelts. They rose
+with one accord, their blood stirred to fever-frenzy by the
+intelligence which drifted down to them. Kildare had disgraced the
+emerald flag; it should be the privilege of Wexford to retrieve its
+tarnished honour. They would set an example to pusillanimous counties
+that still hesitated about rising. War to the knife! no quarter given!
+Such should be their watchword. Proudly let the green banner wave.
+Victory or Death!
+
+These raw but doughty warriors meant business. They set about
+establishing themselves, therefore, in true military array; and in the
+first instance collected their strength into two detachments, the
+first of which, mustering three thousand men, encamped on Killthomas
+Hill, where three hundred of the yeomanry gave them battle and
+obtained a bloodless victory. Not quite bloodless though, for one
+Lieutenant Bookey lost his life, and his indignant comrades offered to
+his manes (after a massacre on Killthomas Hill which was only
+business) the sacrifice of several Popish chapels and at least a
+hundred Catholic dwellings on their next day's march. This had the
+auspicious effect of infuriating to delirium the second and greater
+camp, whose leading spirits saw that, for them and theirs, their motto
+was but too prophetic a one. Unless they were prepared to see their
+faith stamped out, there was clearly nothing for the men of Wexford
+but Death or Victory.
+
+Like desperate men as they were, they set about accomplishing the
+latter straightway. On the rising ground of Oulart, distant eight
+miles from Wexford town, they rallied round the green at least four
+thousand strong. With proud defiance and undaunted mien they beheld
+the enemy's approach--red coats dimmed by dust and mist, and bayonets
+glimmering. They awaited the onset with stern determination, and--fled
+helter-skelter on the first attack. The yeomanry pursued with shouts
+and jeers, following fast over rock and boulder, sweeping the rebels
+before them as a broom sweeps chaff. But, arrived at the summit of the
+hill, a hint came to the insurgents that cavalry lay in ambush on the
+other side to intercept their flight. Cavalry! To their untutored
+minds a charge of horsemen meant instant annihilation, whilst they
+were quite resolved to live--for Victory. They rallied, turned on the
+disordered and breathless pursuers, and charging downward with their
+pikes, bore all before them. Taken by surprise, out of breath,
+disorganised, none of the quondam pursuers survived to tell of their
+defeat, save the lieutenant-colonel, a sergeant, and three privates.
+Many of the rebels succumbed, but what mattered that? Those who
+remained alive were masters of the situation. Theirs was the prestige
+of having beaten the royalist soldiers in the open field. Numbers had
+vanquished discipline; ignorance had made science of none effect; the
+spirits of the enemy were lowered in proportion to their own triumph.
+Hosts of peasants, lukewarm hitherto through fear, flocked to join the
+victors. Mustering now quite four thousand strong, and burning to add
+new leaves of laurel to their chaplet, they marched with childish
+gesture, intoning as they marched the 'Marseillaise,' to storm the
+town of Enniscorthy.
+
+Those who led them saw that if the God of battles would continue to
+favour them, their condition might be greatly improved, even to the
+point of rendering their unwieldy host truly formidable. The capture
+of Enniscorthy would aid the insurgents much, for that place (twelve
+miles or so from Wexford) is bisected by the Slaney, whose ebb and
+flow permits vessels of light tonnage to approach the bridge which
+unites the two portions of the town. Hence it was certain to be well
+stocked with useful things, lying there for transmission up the
+country. It might contain ammunition too--a precious find indeed--for
+the Wexford men were good shots with a gun, accustomed to earn a
+modest wage by shooting waterfowl for the markets of Dublin and of
+Cork, in consequence of which they had obtained exemption from the
+more vexatious clauses of the Gunpowder Act. If Enniscorthy should
+fall into their hands they would find themselves provided, too, with a
+splendid camping-ground called Vinegar Hill, which rose adjacent to
+the city. At their leisure they might take ship, and, sailing down the
+Slaney, seize the town of Wexford--a seaport with a magnificent
+harbour. What a pity the French had been so unfortunate! How gladly
+they would have welcomed the tricolour as it glided through the narrow
+entrance which admits into that glorious anchorage!
+
+Certain intelligence arrived at Enniscorthy that it would be attacked
+on the 28th at midday. The drums beat to arms; the garrison took their
+posts. The North Cork Militia occupied the bridge; cavalry were posted
+in the leading street; a detachment of yeomanry occupied an elevation
+three or four hundred yards in front of the chief gate. On perceiving
+the latter, the insurgent column halted and deployed, extending
+largely to the right and left, to outflank the small band before them,
+and cut it off from the town. Then they moved forward, driving cattle
+in advance of them, opening at the same time a well-directed fire. The
+yeomanry, perceiving their tactics, retired within the walls, covered
+by a charge of cavalry which, whilst dispersing a band that was
+pressing them too closely, came itself to tribulation by reason of the
+cattle. A second body, with a second lot of kine, made for a gate to
+westward, which was protected by a tributary stream. The ford had
+previously been deepened, and was considered dangerous enough to act
+as its own defence. A gigantic priest, who wore a broad crossbelt and
+a dragoon's sabre swinging, was equal to the occasion:
+
+'Drive in the cattle, boys, and swarm over their backs!'
+
+No sooner said than done. Goaded by pikes the animals rushed headlong
+into the gulf, and the rebels, crossing the palpitating bridge, crept
+unperceived into the town, which was by this time a mass of flame. The
+disaffected inhabitants picked off the soldiery from their windows;
+fired their own houses to burn them out when the royalists sought
+protection there; dragged away frieze-coated bodies, that the carnage
+might not discourage the survivors; while women and young girls, in
+the heroism born of excitement, ran hither and thither among the
+bullets, administering new courage in the welcome shape of whisky. The
+streets were so involved in smoke that the yeomen could not perceive
+the rebels till they felt their pikes within their flesh. The whirling
+flame flared in such a sheet as to unite in a seething arch over their
+heads--singeing the bearskin of their caps, scorching their very hair
+and eyelashes. After a conflict wherein for three hours each inch was
+savagely disputed, the loyalists found themselves pushed backwards
+into the central square. 'Victory!' hallooed the insurgents--just a
+little bit too soon. A heavy discharge from the market-house made them
+waver. Profiting by their recoil, cavalry and infantry rallied. Their
+discipline stood them in good stead at the turning of the tide. They
+dashed forward; drove the huge wave in a vast roll before them, which
+ebbed across the bridge, down the straight street, away out of the
+town--a turbulent maelstrom of discomfited fugitives. Though the
+rebels were for the time repulsed, it was certain that they would
+return again on the morrow and sweep the place clean by sheer weight
+of numbers. The little garrison was weakened by half its strength. The
+loyalists, unwitting of the insidious purpose of Lord Clare, loudly
+blamed the executive for leaving so inadequate a force to battle with
+so immense a mob. It was a pernicious want of forethought which would
+cost many lives. A strong force of regulars, they complained, and this
+Hurry would be over in two days at most. Guileless loyalists of
+Enniscorthy! After all the labour of incubation, it was not fitting
+that the trouble should be too brief. The chancellor's twitter of
+conscience was past, and his hand was steady on the plough again, to
+force it through roots and stones. The iron, being drawn, might not be
+sheathed again before it had cut into the writhing soul of Erin
+ineffaceably. She must remember the Hurry to the end of her existence,
+as an awful sample of the terrors which would fall even yet more
+heavily upon her if she should dare again to rouse the wrath of her
+elder sister. Consistently, therefore, till the lesson was complete,
+two hundred regulars or so were always expected to cope with two
+thousand rebels; and, even with those odds against them, the former,
+more frequently than not, obtained the upper hand. In the present
+instance, however, it was not so; for it was clear that the loyalists
+must desert the town or be killed to a man. In the mid-hour of night,
+lighted by the afterglow of conflagration, they retreated without
+warning to Wexford--a melancholy train; bearing their women and their
+wounded on their horses; leaving infants by the wayside, while the
+aged sank down from weariness and were abandoned to the tender mercies
+of the mob.
+
+On the 1st of June the great camping-ground hard-by Enniscorthy
+presented a strange picture, occupied as it had then become by an
+armed host of ten thousand men, independent of a grand array of
+camp-followers, suttlers, women and children, who flocked in from all
+quarters to applaud the defenders of their hearths. From a military
+point of view, Vinegar Hill is strong. High grounds are crowned by a
+cone of bold ascent, capped by a ruined mill, while the cultivated
+fields beneath are divided into small enclosures, intersected by stone
+walls and trenches. For defence by irregular troops who trusted rather
+to numbers than to skill, such a position was particularly favourable;
+for the enclosures afforded safe cover for skirmishers, who could
+watch the approach of an enemy whilst they remained themselves unseen.
+The appearance of the singular mushroom-bed which speedily sprouted up
+was extremely picturesque, in keeping with the wildness of guerilla
+warfare. Tents of the Donnybrook pattern rose on all sides. Vinegar
+Hill was intended to become a temporary home; for the chiefs were
+resolved that this should be the centre of their operations until such
+time as they could be masters of the Castle. Long avenues of bent
+wattles like straggling caterpillars of every hue crawled up the
+slope, covered with the spoils of Enniscorthy--patchwork-quilts,
+sheets, ripped sacks, rugs, blankets. At intervals a smaller edifice,
+crowned by an old brush and swinging lantern, invited to a temporary
+shebeen. If an old pot dangled too, it was a sign that food might also
+be procured there; though, the weather being warm, the soup-caldrons
+were usually placed without, that all the ragged host might lick their
+lips over the good things which tumbled into them for a ragout. Nor
+were the more æsthetic pleasures of the eye and ear neglected. The
+organ of Enniscorthy church and its peal of bells were brought thither
+in state for some one or other to jangle upon night and day; whilst as
+for flags, the camp was alive with them, of every colour except
+orange, bearing each a rude harp without a crown. One, conspicuous
+above the rest, was black, with the cognisance M. W. S. in white; and
+this the loyalists in their charity chose to unriddle as 'Murder
+without sin,' whereas its real meaning was 'Marksmen of Wexford and of
+Shelmalier.' Among the throng might be observed men in the King's
+uniform--bright spots in the mass of brown. Such soldier prisoners as
+the crew had taken were treated well and guarded with care, for they
+were of the greatest value as drill-sergeants, and might be seen day
+and night plodding up and down with awkward squads, into whom they
+were striving to instil the first germs of military science. What an
+unmanageable mob it was! swelling hourly through the constant influx
+of recruits, not one of whom possessed the faintest idea of
+discipline; each one of whom had a predilection for poteen and a
+dim suspicion of the incompetence of his leaders. It was at this
+juncture that the weak, well-intentioned country gentlemen, who had
+striven to occupy the empty shoes of their imprisoned betters, were
+swept into the shade by the unscrupulous influence of the lower
+clergy--uncultured, ferocious creatures, whose worst passions were
+aroused by the burning of their chapels, the desecration of their
+altars; men who scrupled not to play upon the vulgar superstition of a
+half-savage multitude for the gaining of a cherished end. They became
+hideous tyrants--such men as the priests of Tallat and of Boulovogue;
+merciless as their persecutors had been without mercy. Inflamed by
+wrong and intoxicated by a little brief authority, they were guilty of
+enormities which, at a quieter moment, they would themselves have
+surveyed with horror. The higher Catholic clergy withstood the force
+of the current, and, resisting temptation, publicly disapproved and
+deplored their acts; yet who (looking on the picture calmly at this
+distance of time) will throw the first stone at them? The multitude
+had, with deliberate art, been stung to madness. The bad passions of
+their teachers had been stirred in their most vital place. If the
+people were as ignorant as their own cattle, who was accountable for
+it? England, through the cruel enactments of centuries. If the members
+of the inferior priesthood were debased and wicked, who made them so?
+England, by persecuting them without ceasing, by forbidding their
+minds to be illumined by education--England, by her accursed Penal
+Code.
+
+The original champions being caged, three Catholic priests. Fathers
+Murphy, Kearnes, and Roche, overturning established authority, assumed
+the conduct of affairs, and set about the organising of their army.
+What had been hitherto a conflict of classes tinged with a religious
+bias, became now a purely religious crusade, accompanied by all the
+crimes which, through the history of the world, have been intimately
+associated with religion. What an inscrutable vision it is--that of
+the stately Spirit walking through earth's story, her fair features
+distorted, her white robes edged with blood, her pure skirts soiled by
+the vilest lees of the human heart--_always!_
+
+The new leaders divided their host into three divisions, with each a
+special mission. The first, under Father Kearnes, was to possess
+itself of Newtown Barry. This expedition proved abortive. The second,
+under Father Roche (which, owing to lack of space on Vinegar Hill, was
+encamped at Carrickbyrne with an outpost at Scullabogue), was to
+attack New Ross, then, proceeding northward, was to join the third
+body in a grand attempt on Dublin. This plan was plausible enough, for
+Gorey, Arklow, and Wicklow were weakly garrisoned, and, should those
+citadels give way, the road to the capital lay open--undefended. Perry
+of Inch and Father Murphy (who commanded the third division) were
+mighty men of valour. The latter swore by the Holy Mother that he was
+invulnerable, carrying bullets in his pockets to prove the miracle.
+Chances seemed fairly in favour of success. The garrison of Gorey, for
+instance, numbered but a hundred and thirty men. What could they hope
+to do--disciplined though they were--against a rabble of six thousand?
+They did what was wisest under the circumstances; called temerity to
+their aid, and essayed to brazen out the difficulty of their position.
+Instead of waiting to be attacked, they rushed out upon the road,
+raising such clouds of summer dust that the advancing rebels,
+supposing reinforcements to have arrived, turned and fled in terror.
+The advanced guard of the insurgents slinking off, had taken the
+courage from the rest. Each man vied with his neighbour in the race,
+and the Irish peasant is wondrous fleet of foot.
+
+Father Kearnes' detachment met with more grave misfortune than this
+merely temporary rout. The simultaneous attempt upon New Ross
+(nineteen miles from Wexford) was the hardest-fought day of the entire
+Hurry--one, too, which will be darkened through all time by the memory
+of a deplorable outrage. The object in gaining possession of New Ross
+was the same as had induced the taking of Enniscorthy. For as the one
+stood on the Slaney, with water-access to Wexford Harbour, so did the
+other command water also, standing as it did upon the Nore and Barrow,
+within similar distance of the important port of Waterford. New Ross,
+too, was placed on the very border of Kilkenny. All the disaffected in
+that county were expected to join the insurgents in a united gigantic
+effort to win so fine a jewel; for, as soon as it was captured,
+nothing would have been easier than to drop down to Waterford, which
+loved not the Castle joss; which was weakly garrisoned, and tempting
+to boot in the way of plunder. But this well-balanced scheme was
+frustrated and made of no effect by the god of war's ill-temper. Sure
+he's as fickle and as false as Fortune is--that arrant feckless jade!
+And has not her excuse neither--being a man, who, by reason of his
+sex, should be above lowering his dignity by feminine whimsies. On
+this 5th of June he got out of bed on the wrong side (in consequence
+of being called so early maybe), and the plan against New Ross
+miscarried. At 3 a.m. Bagenal Harvey, who commanded in conjunction
+with Father Roche, despatched a flag of truce, imploring the garrison
+not to provoke rapine by useless resistance. He bade them look up at
+the heights which commanded the town, and count the myriads whose
+frieze turned the landscape dun. For the good of all 'twere better to
+surrender at once, rather than uselessly to sacrifice precious life. A
+letter worthy of the kindly soft-hearted gentleman who wrote it.
+
+The flag of truce was slain. His name was Furlong, a popular man. The
+insurgents, watching from above, beheld him lying prone--shot through
+the heart by an outpost sentinel. With fury they upbraided Harvey as
+an old dame for his ill-timed courtesy, vowing that they would obey no
+one but the priest that day. Maddened by the sight of that single
+corpse lying far below upon its face, they poured with the
+overwhelming impulse of a destroying flood unexpectedly set free down
+the steep declivity--an avenging awful host, numbering twenty
+thousand--and battered in the Three-bullet Gate. If the huge force
+could have been divided by scientific skill, an attack might have been
+made on the three gates at once, and every loyalist would have
+miserably perished. But even the priest was powerless to cope with the
+boiling throng. Yelling and screaming, by mere weight they drove in
+the pickets; cavalry went down like barley; nothing could withstand
+the avalanche. In vain the principal thoroughfare of New Ross was
+swept by the steady fire of artillery, which, falling on a dense mass
+of men wedged tight together in a narrow street, shore down the
+column's head as often as it rose. The legend of the dragon's teeth
+was realised that day; as fast as row drooped over row, so did other
+rows spring up, propelled by a giant force behind. One fanatic pushed
+to the gun's very muzzle, and, plunging in his hat and wig, cried,
+'Come on, boys! her mouth's stopped!' The next moment he was blown
+into the air, but the gun was trodden down, dismounted--rendered
+useless; and the yeomanry retired under shelter. If the Croppies had
+obeyed their priest, all would have gone well. But much as they adored
+their Church, much as they longed for beatific rest in Paradise, they
+at this moment loved mundane whisky more. They plundered the houses of
+meat and drink, broached barrels in the market-place, poured fiery
+rivers of consolation down their parched gullets. In vain Mr. Harvey
+begged them to desist; in vain Father Roche threatened them with
+purgatorial ills. They snapped their fingers at their God and at His
+minister. Had they not already suffered hell? Well, then, they were
+used to it. Its terrors had ceased to fill their souls with dread.
+
+The royalist commandant was amazed at what he saw. It was a
+Pandemonium--but one whose horrors were evanescent. He only had to
+wait under his shelter. One little hour of drunken madness such as
+this, and the day would be his after all, in spite of apparently
+adverse destiny. The insurgents thought no more of a foe who had only
+retired out of sight down a by-street. They laughed and sang, and
+danced, and whirled in idiot frenzy; then fell into the gutter--drunk!
+By three in the afternoon such of the mob as could totter were hunted
+out of the town--those who remained were handed over to the tormentor.
+In the alleys and byways bodies choked the path three deep; two
+thousand more were borne away on carts. New Ross remained to his
+Majesty King George; but the terrors of the black 5th of June were not
+yet over. The gates were closed on the expulsion of the rabblement so
+quickly that many stragglers among the royalists were left without to
+batter on the wood in vain. The wounded amongst them were mercilessly
+piked, unless by a Romanist shibboleth they could 'bless themselves.'
+If they could go through the formula they might be saved--if not, they
+would, as a natural consequence, be butchered. A woman, vagrant in the
+turmoil, beheld a wounded friend who was a Protestant, and knew that
+he could not pass the ordeal. She knelt by him, whispered some words
+which he repeated, and for that time was saved. But a more awful
+vengeance than this in the lanes around New Ross had been already
+wreaked away at Scullabogue. I have mentioned above that Kearnes'
+detachment had come from Carrickbyrne, close to which lies
+Scullabogue; but I did not mention that at that place there was a
+goodly barn--strong, well-built--which was excellently useful as a
+prison-house, and at this time contained some three hundred and twenty
+prisoners--men, women, and children.
+
+When the tide at New Ross began to turn against the insurgents, Father
+Roche--whose reason had toppled, who was mad in that his influence had
+shrivelled away from him--swore to be revenged somehow, not on his own
+erring flock, but on those whom the ill-conditioned god of war was
+permitting to win the day! It was one of those awful moments when
+blinding ferocity dictates unchecked, which make one almost believe in
+the existence of Lucifer; when the human tendency to evil seems to
+pile itself up into a monument of what wickedness may be able to
+accomplish. A messenger was despatched to Scullabogue with a command
+to immolate the prisoners. Their gaoler, appalled at this cold-blooded
+order, refused to obey it unless the directions were more explicit.
+These arrived in due course, very clear indeed. 'The priest says the
+prisoners must be put to death.' There was no disobeying this.
+Croppies took off their long coats to carry out the priest's decree.
+The handful of men were brought out and shot; the doors were firmly
+barred; the barn was set ablaze there is no use in going into detail.
+
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+By-and-by the flames slackened; the fire smouldered with fetid smoke;
+all was still within. The three hundred innocent women and children
+had been consumed as a holocaust on the altar of his majesty King
+George; who, large-minded man, was consistently without mercy for the
+Isle which God had given to his keeping; who was pitiless for the
+professors of a faith which did not agree with his own fancy; who, by
+reason of his policy regarding Ireland, must be held accountable for
+the tragedy which took place on that fifth of June within the barn at
+Scullabogue.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                              VÆ VICTIS!
+
+
+After all, Scullabogue was but a retaliation for the eccentricities of
+the Gibbet-Rath, where the upper class had given the lower a harsh
+lesson in the amenities of warfare. The effect of any great breach of
+the law of order is always to throw out of gear the minds of those who
+come within its influence, which disturbance varies in form according
+to the mental state of the individual affected. The sensitive shrink
+appalled; those whose latent propensities to violence are usually kept
+within bounds by the law of order escape from its trammels. A large
+part of the community is kept to decent courses by fear of social
+regulations. It needs but the disturbing force of war, aided by the
+example of crime in superiors, to weaken this compelling sense of
+discipline and let loose the natural passions.
+
+But let us hurry on; the tale is distressing still, though time has
+masked it with a veil of ninety years.
+
+A body of insurgents succeeded in taking Wexford, whose garrison
+evacuated it, retiring to Duncannon in disorder. The loyalists there
+who had howled over the loss of Enniscorthy, and were still in the
+dark as to the tactics of the Executive, grew furious. What was this?
+The Helots were ousting their lords and masters, were daring to be
+successful; even presumed to follow the example of the squireens, who
+had set the fashion of practical jokes. What is fun in one person may
+become impudence in another. Pitch-caps and half hangings were met by
+_carding_--a bit of genuine humour, whereby the rebels proceeded to
+tear the backs of their prisoners with boards stuck full of nails. So
+long as the loyalists had it their own way the conceit was amusing;
+now it became revoltingly vulgar. Retaliations and reprisals followed
+thick on one another. It was no longer a struggle of man against man,
+but of beast against beast--worse, of savage against savage.
+
+Murphy's detachment, which, it will be remembered, fled precipitately
+at sight of a cloud of dust, rallied, and hung about the neighbourhood
+watching the moment to attack. They got horses how they could; sacked
+and burned private dwellings, whose rare spoils in the way of books
+were converted into saddles, with hay-ropes for stirrups. For
+ammunition they used pebbles or hardened balls of clay, and by
+pounding the necessary materials in mortars, fabricated a kind of
+gunpowder which, while fresh, served its purpose well enough. Two or
+three cannons which they had captured were mounted on jaunting-cars,
+and exploded in awkward fashion by means of wisps of straw in guise of
+matches. Strange men, in half priestly garb, arose among the dragons'
+teeth, wearing one a helmet, another a clerical head-piece or
+discarded bearskin; vying one with the other in ferocious
+recklessness. It was now a religious crusade indeed, Protestant
+against Catholic, Catholic against Protestant, to the very death.
+Theological quibbles were forcibly disentangled.
+
+The little garrison of Gorey, which had done such good service by
+sallying out and frightening the rebels, begged for reinforcements.
+Such a deed of prowess as was theirs may not, without serious hazard,
+be repeated twice. It would be awkward for Gorey to fall just now, for
+it was on the high road to the capital, and an accident might produce
+fatal riots there. Therefore, although it was not in accordance with
+the plan laid down, it was resolved at the Castle to assist Gorey. One
+Walpole, a carpet-knight, connected by blood with my lord Camden, was
+sent out to try his wings; and he caracoled upon his excursion as, in
+a non-hunting district, one might go out to exterminate a batch of fox
+cubs. Carelessly he led his reinforcements, enlivening the way with
+buoyant jest, as if the enemy was too contemptible to be really
+dangerous; neglecting the commonest precautions, though warned of his
+rashness by his officers. At a spot called Tubbineering the aspect of
+the landscape, flat hitherto, changes. The road leaves the open, and
+plunges between high banks, with wide ditches at their bases, and rows
+of close bushes on their tops. Dense hedges intersect the fields,
+which (in the month of June) are thick with luxuriant foliage, while
+the ground is occupied by rich potato-crops, standing corn, and waving
+grass, affording ample concealment for such as may choose to lurk in
+it.
+
+Through this defile Walpole led his men towards Gorey, carolling his
+stave, piping his little song, in close column, without flanking
+parties or skirmishers. The infantry were well advanced. As the road
+narrowed the progress of the column became slow and difficult.
+Suddenly, from the enclosures, a wild yell burst forth, accompanied by
+a rain of musketry. The carpet-knight fell on the first fire. The
+confusion was tremendous; to fight or to retreat impossible. The
+height and mazy number of the fences made the ground most favourable
+for bandit warfare, as the long pikes of the insurgents reached
+well-nigh across the narrow road, and those who escaped the first fire
+were perforated from behind by invisible assailants. The surprise of
+the troops was complete. Dragoons and infantry rolled in hopeless
+confusion one on the other. They were butchered to a man. The
+victorious rebels followed up their advantage, and hastened to occupy
+Gorey, but alas! cajoled by whisky the men of Father Murphy were no
+more tractable than the men of Father Roche. Vainly he set mattrasses
+against the cellar-doors, in hopes that these would escape their
+scrutiny. But the instinct of Pat would find out a cellar-door on the
+pitchiest night. Regardless of the father's exhortations, Pat hurried
+to put that in his mouth which should steal away his brains--aye, and
+his hopes too--and remained in a frantic paroxysm of drunkenness for
+five whole days and nights.
+
+Now, had this triumphant detachment (twenty thousand strong it was)
+marched straight on Arklow, then on Wicklow, both would certainly have
+given way without an effort, and Father Murphy's ambition might have
+been gratified of sleeping in my lord Camden's bed. But as the
+elements fought for England, so did the unstable Irish nature combat
+on the side of the Executive. There was a panic, of course, in Dublin.
+The Senate tore up Dame Street to the Castle, begging, with tears,
+that their valuable lives might not be placed in jeopardy. And the
+Privy Council, perceiving that things might be going just a little too
+far, graciously acceded to the humble petition of the faithful Lords
+and Commons, and despatched reinforcements southwards.
+
+At this moment the position of the insurgents was by no means a
+despicable one, despite the weakness of their leaders. The failure at
+New Ross had compelled them for the time to abandon their attack on
+Waterford. But they held Enniscorthy and its river, and Wexford with
+its noble harbour; while, for a base of operations, nothing could have
+been better than Vinegar Hill. To the north, too, they held Gorey,
+which was almost, from their point of view, the key of the capital
+itself. The hedges along the Dublin road were alive with disaffected
+peasants, who were longing for an opportunity of joining the advancing
+host. Arklow was half garrisoned, Wicklow scarcely garrisoned at all.
+If the rebel host had, ignoring whisky, marched straight northward,
+the march would have been an exultant progress of heroes, swelled as
+it proceeded by a torrent of exhilarated patriots.
+
+But now the mice had played enough. They had nibbled the cheese and
+made unpleasant holes in it. It was time for the cat to pounce, and to
+pounce with a will. How dared these arrogant mice make holes in his
+Majesty's cheese? Arklow would be the next point--of course it
+would--so soon as the victors of Gorey could tear themselves away from
+alcohol. Five days of constant intoxication is trying to the most
+vigorous frame. Five days of cessation of hostilities is eminently
+convenient to an enemy who desires to act unflurried. Dublin was
+frightened out of its wits; the heads of the Catholic clergy were
+indignant and ashamed. Those lords and gentlemen who did not happen to
+be slaves of Lord Clare, or pensioners of England, shut themselves up
+in their country mansions to brood over their grief. Erin was in the
+convulsions which precede dissolution. The Executive--calculating
+spectators of the agony--deemed it time to come to her succour,
+provided she would swear an oath to behave herself for ever and ever
+more. The Executive shook its wig and declared that to stop so awful a
+scandal any means were permissible. Instead of dribbling
+reinforcements by two or three hundred at a time, and so feeding the
+hopes of the rebels with sham victories, the Privy Council promised
+that the whole military strength at their command should be put in
+motion to punish the iniquitous with a severe and righteous sternness.
+Lord Clare assumed a picturesque attitude, in which sorrow was
+elegantly blended with anger--like that aggressive angel who never
+sinned, and who, glorying in the fact, postured with his waving sword
+at the gates of Eden. Lord Camden mumbled, as usual, that the whole
+affair was 'really too awful;' that he was glad her ladyship was safe;
+that he ought to be elevated to at least a dukedom as a reward for his
+prodigious services. The Protestant inhabitants of Wexford, whose
+lives for the last week or so had resembled those of the chosen people
+by the waters of Babylon, must instantly be relieved, he gurgled.
+Enniscorthy must be retaken; the camp at Vinegar Hill, and the hill
+itself, if necessary, must be blown into smithereens. Small men had
+been good enough for small work. Now General Lake himself, Commander
+of the Forces _pro tem_., must head the Royal troops; the loyal Lords
+and Commons had no need to knock their knees together, their precious,
+honourable lives were in no real danger--never had been. General Lake
+and his men would set matters straight in a trice.
+
+Having torn them at last from the whisky-bottle of Capua, Father
+Murphy led his forces against Arklow. His men were dispirited,
+unnerved by excessive carousing. Their heads ached; they felt unwell.
+Murphy and some other warrior-priests said mass for them as they stood
+bareheaded in the June sunlight, with nature smiling around.
+
+'It was a holy war,' Murphy said. 'They had been guilty of
+backsliding; but man is weak and temptation is great; he would pray to
+the Holy Mother for them, that the cause might not suffer through
+their sin. He who addressed them, was, as they knew, invulnerable.
+These myriad bullets which he held in his hand had passed through his
+coat' ('See, boys, the holes!'), 'but could not hurt his skin. 'Twas
+the Holy Mother who watched over him and them. He would lead the van.
+Sure they would follow their priest--their pastor--their friend--their
+gineral!'
+
+With howls of ecstatic and repentant fervour they cried out that they
+would. He had always led them to victory, their doughty priest! One
+more, two more successes, and Dublin would be theirs; then the whole
+country would unite; the Sassenagh would be driven into the sea; the
+object of the crusade would be accomplished--and through them,
+miserable sinners though they were.
+
+They marched against Arklow on the 9th, and were repulsed thence with
+awful slaughter. The Royalists lost sixty men, the rebels left a
+thousand corpses stark upon the grass--amongst them, Murphy the
+invulnerable. With dismay and despair they beheld his body roasted by
+the enlightened foe; in the gloaming they saw devils, in the guise of
+yeomen, dancing round the steaming corpse; fiends cleaning their boots
+with the fat that dripped from it. With howls of superstitious horror
+now they scurried away in the darkness, over field and hedge and
+fosse, through dyke and brake, in an agony of desperate fear quite
+different from a battle-panic, and arrived at length at the rendezvous
+like madmen, panting, incoherent, to tell their fearsome story.
+
+Orders were issued to the Royalist forces to hold themselves in
+readiness. They had been ready for months past. A grand combined
+attack was to be made upon the rebel base, at Vinegar Hill, on the
+21st of June. Lock, stock, and barrel, these insolent varlets were to
+be stamped out of existence, without parleying, as a warning to all
+traitors. Eight generals (no less) and twenty thousand soldiers were
+to take part in this glorious field-day. Why had this force lain idle
+hitherto? Why were driblets despatched to contend with myriads? It was
+now the 10th. With a cunning steadiness of purpose, almost too wicked
+even for humankind, ten days were permitted to elapse before the final
+blow was struck. Ten days of inaction--ten days of rumination over the
+awful future--ten days wherein to become utterly disorganised, and to
+commit such deeds as a carefully-fanned flame of accumulated hate and
+the hopelessness of unutterable despair should dictate. The insurgents
+saw themselves on the eve of destruction, taught by a bitter past that
+there was no hope or chance of mercy. Flung out of the pale of
+humanity, they were to be hunted down like vermin--like vermin then
+they would fly at the throats of the hunters, and do all the harm they
+could ere they received the _coup de grace_. A scene of horror
+commenced at Wexford, and endured during these ten days, over which we
+will draw a veil. Those who know aught of this spasm in Irish history
+will have been already sickened by the deeds on Wexford Bridge, and
+will be glad to be spared a new recital of them. Suffice it, that if
+General Lake had started immediately after the repulse of Arklow,
+these deeds would never have been committed. The desperate wretches
+would never have entered on their carnival of carnage; would never
+have been guilty of the crimes which, like Scullabogue and other
+nightmares, must all lie at good Farmer George's door.
+
+The eight generals and the twenty thousand soldiers set off at last.
+Lake's plan was committed to paper in the clearest black and white. A
+simultaneous attack was to be made on Wexford and Enniscorthy, while
+the main body directed its attention to Vinegar Hill, which was to be
+carefully surrounded in order that no vermin might escape. If this
+delectable plan had been successfully carried out, the rebels would
+have been netted and slaughtered by thousands; but that Providence
+which had slept so long, which had been so blind to human wrongs, so
+deaf to human prayers, awoke at last and prevented this wicked thing.
+At the critical moment two brigades were missing, the circle was
+incomplete, and, after a feeble cannonade, the rebel masses retired
+through the gap left by the missing links, to spread terror in the
+streets of Enniscorthy. Lake was furious. All that ingenuity could
+suggest had been brought to bear upon his plan. It is provoking when
+accident upsets our craftiest calculations. He had the mortification
+to perceive that he had not crushed the rebellion so completely as he
+had wished--by driving all the malcontents off the face of the earth.
+He abused his generals, but they showed that the fault was none of
+theirs; a higher power had checked their movements. Moore had met
+accidentally with a small detachment of rebels, who engaged him at
+Foulke's Mill; Needham, with a vivid remembrance of the disaster at
+Tubberneering, had moved through gorges with caution, delayed now and
+again by the errors of disaffected guides, the sulky inaction of
+impressed drivers. Lake might swear, but these were the facts. It was
+a pity; for, with the exception of the two missing links, the Royalist
+columns behaved admirably. They arrived at their posts in the nick of
+time. The rebels, in spite of their strong position, did little
+damage, for they aimed, as usual, too high. The priestly warriors
+acted with undaunted bravery, exhorting their men, horsewhipping them,
+even pistolling some who were endeavouring to seek safety in flight.
+
+Father Roche was everywhere at once, clad in his vestments, with a
+brass helmet on his head. Father Clinch, of Enniscorthy, a man of huge
+stature, was conspicuous upon the hill; his broad cross-belts and
+large white horse were constantly looming through the smoke; his hat,
+with a crucifix stuck in it, was visible in six places at a time.
+
+But no amount of desperate personal valour could save the doomed
+crowds. They fell back on Enniscorthy; sued there for mercy, in vain.
+They promised, as the men of Wexford had just done, to lay down their
+arms and return to their allegiance. Lake retorted by an offer of
+terms which were impossible of acceptance, and continued his bloody
+work. Every foot of Enniscorthy was stubbornly disputed, every yard
+was fiercely contested. The bridge was cleared at last. The jostling,
+shrieking mob spread itself upon the plain; their bodies lay heaped
+about the fields.
+
+So the eight generals were crowned with laurels. The entire struggle
+had lasted a month, which might have been put down in two days. The
+enemy was finished off at a single blow--at last--a worthy enemy! An
+honourable triumph! Disciplined forces had fought successfully against
+a rabble so besotted as to believe that a blessed bit of paper round
+the neck would make them bullet-proof; so ignorant as to run after
+falling shells and pick them up, wondering, as they did so, what the
+strange things were that 'spat at them.'
+
+When Scotland chose to rise, her misguided antics were repressed at
+once. Her leaders met the fate which they had courted, and there was
+an end of the matter. With Ireland it was otherwise. The freaks of her
+unstable nature were coldly calculated on; gins were set for her
+sliding feet; she fell into a trap, and grievous was her punishment.
+When the Americans rose against British misrule, their commanders were
+always treated with military courtesy. In Ireland masters and men were
+strung up side by side, or shot down, without a 'by your leave,' like
+dogs. Till the horror of a war of classes was intensified by the
+grafting on it of religious fanaticism, the opinions of the
+malcontents were of the broadest kind. All they demanded was social
+equality and freedom of conscience. Their demands were met by blows.
+Innocent and harmless men were lacerated by petty tyranny and wanton
+ill-usage, till they could endure no more. Then prudence was thrown to
+the winds. It was like the herd of maddened swine rushing headlong
+down a precipice into the gulf.
+
+As far as concerns the 'Hurry,' the example of massacre was set in the
+first instance by the 'Party of Order.' The rebels tried sometimes to
+proselytise; the Royalists were content to murder. The Royalists were
+never anything but cruel. The rebels hovered strangely 'twixt lenity
+and cruelty, according to the humour of the moment. With the supposed
+advantage of a little education, the squireens out-heroded the conduct
+of those who were quite ignorant; whereby we may gather that a little
+knowledge is as fatal as a little of anything else; for their scraps
+of education, instead of tempering their native savagery, merely
+served to instil into their warped minds an idea of superiority and
+dominion.
+
+So far as the Croppies were concerned, the rebellion ended with the
+clever feat of General Lake. The few who escaped his vengeance spread
+themselves over the country in predatory bands. Some sought refuge in
+the Wicklow hills; some perished miserably as banditti; few ever
+returned to their homes. It was not death so much that the Irish
+peasant feared. His life was wretched. He had been brought up to
+consider that three kinds of death were natural--first, in his bed;
+secondly, by hanging at assize time; thirdly, of collapse when the
+potato crop went wrong. He could face death. _It was torture that he
+dreaded_--the pitch-caps, the picketings, the roastings alive, the
+lash. These it was that made a savage and a coward of him.
+
+So far as the executive was concerned, the rebellion was by no means
+over. Gordon, a Protestant clergyman and reliable witness, tells us
+that 'more than fell in battle in Wexford were slain afterwards in
+cold blood.' Those who would not surrender were hunted down; those who
+did were strung up without a form of trial. Vinegar Hill became
+_elastic_ through the numberless victims who had found rest and a
+merciful oblivion beneath its sod.
+
+So soon as massacre, in garb of war, had done her work, judicial
+murder commenced on a more extended scale. When the appetite of Até
+was sated in the country, she moved with the Eumenides--faithful and
+obedient maids of honour--to the capital, for change of air and scene.
+
+
+                           END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III), by 
+Lewis Wingfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38862-8.txt or 38862-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38862/
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/38862-8.zip b/38862-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e9cd5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862-8.zip
diff --git a/38862-h.zip b/38862-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5db3da2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862-h.zip
diff --git a/38862-h/38862-h.htm b/38862-h/38862-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf51890
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862-h/38862-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,7825 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>My Lords of Strogue. A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the
+Union. Vol. II.</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. II (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. II (of III)
+       A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention  to the Union
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38862]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+
+
+
+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. II.</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 Battles! aid us;</p>
+<p class="t1">Let no despot's might</p>
+<p class="t0">Trample or degrade us,</p>
+<p class="t1">Seeking this our right!</p>
+<p class="t0">Arm us for the danger;</p>
+<p class="t1">Keep our craven fear</p>
+<p class="t0">To our breasts a stranger--</p>
+<p class="t1">God of Battles! Hear!'</p>
+</div>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</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>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">DOREEN'S PLANS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">THE CLOVEN FOOT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">WE PIPED UNTO YOU.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">AWAY TO DONEGAL.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">GLAS-AITCH-É.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>IX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">THE DUEL.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>X.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">THE RISING OF THE TEMPEST.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">DANGER.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">THE HURRY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XIV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">VAE VICTIS!</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">A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The dowager's words produced their effect upon Doreen, despite her
+virtuous indignation. She no longer committed herself by indiscreet
+communings with the 'scatter-brained young men.' She seemed to be
+growing lukewarm to the cause as the decisive moment approached,
+shirking responsibility in a way her character belied, to the surprise
+of the patriots, amongst whom we must count Cassidy. The giant
+remarked with pained astonishment that she gave him no grateful look
+when he whispered about the pikes, when he hinted with dark nods that
+Phil and Biddy had been busy in the night; and he reflected with
+self-upbraiding that this change must be due to his ill-timed wooing.
+No doubt it was presumptuous in a 'half-mounted' to aspire to an
+heiress, but sure she should accept as a compliment a piece of
+bungling for which her own charms were entirely responsible. He
+resolved to be more careful in the future, striving to bridge the
+breach by a nimble deference tempered by judicious sadness; and let no
+opportunity pass of making himself useful to the young earl. His hands
+were pretty full, thanks to my Lords Clare and Camden, who pursued the
+stormy tenor of their way with an edifying steadiness of purpose. He
+gladly rode errands for Lord Glandore, did shopping for the countess,
+drank bumpers in the Castle-yard in company with Major Sirr, waited
+about in my Lord Clare's anteroom; became a ubiquitous, faithful, and
+generally useful personage. He brought news sometimes of the gravest
+moment to the mysterious resorts where Dublin 'prentices were
+pretending to play ball; which hints resulted more frequently than not
+in a message smuggled in a loaf to the prisoners at Kilmainham and a
+courier sent galloping far away into the country.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The electric cloud loomed near on the horizon. Lord Clare watched the
+threatening vapour as it rolled, increasing hourly in volume, and,
+laughing, showed his gums. The ranks of the yeomanry were swelling day
+by day, thanks to the exertions of large proprietors whose interest it
+was to be well with the court; thanks to the complaisant alacrity of
+the squireens who acted at the beck of the great landowners. Small
+riots took place both in the capital and in the provinces, tussles
+between browbeaten peasants and a soldiery who grew hourly more
+insolent, which originated for the most part in taunts at the old
+faith. Rumours floating vaguely, none knew whence, became current
+gossip, hints of a French invasion, of a landing somewhere in the
+north, which should set free the enslaved Catholics--of a Republican
+crusade in favour of liberty of conscience. The Orange societies of
+the north took the alarm. 'Liberty of conscience indeed!' they cried.
+'We remember what happened in King James's time, when the national
+religion was for a brief space triumphant; how Protestants were
+massacred and their property destroyed. We will repel such an invasion
+with all our might, and will just prick these presuming slaves a
+little as a warning of what may follow.' There were excesses in Armagh
+and the cities of the north; wherein cottages were burnt, cattle
+confiscated, their owners hewn in pieces. News of military outrages
+arrived in Dublin; and the public, growing uneasy, looked to the
+Castle to mark its attitude. Ever since Lord Camden's advent, people
+remarked, things had been going wrong. Traitors by dozens had been
+imprisoned or executed. Coercion was the order of the day. But popular
+opinion had been divided; one party declaring that traitors must be
+hanged for the security of the body politic, the opposite party
+cogently pointing out that if Government acted with more prudence, men
+would not be driven into treason. But now the matter was taking a new
+form. One class, which had always been antagonistic to the other, was
+showing overt symptoms of the harshest tyranny. The Protestant
+ascendency party had banded itself together in armed force at the call
+of Government for the protection of the land. It was obvious that this
+armed force must not be permitted to exert its strength against its
+own brethren of another faith--to convert a deplorable harshness, of
+which in memory of man the instances were isolated, into a regularly
+organised system like that of Elizabeth. Government must interfere
+promptly, men said. These savage squireens, who swaggered in the
+King's colours, must be taught at once to curb their brutal
+proclivities, or a reign of terror would result such as shocked Europe
+in '89.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Government did nothing of the kind. My Lord Clare held up his
+delicate hands in the lobby of the House of Lords, and, under shadow
+of William's statue, harangued passing senators upon the iniquity of
+the lower orders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is awful,' he declared in his rasping voice. 'What will Mr. Pitt
+say? He will withdraw your pensions, my poor gentlemen, unless you act
+with decision. Arm your vassals, my lords. The French will come and
+murder us in our beds. I vow the country is in danger. The Catholics
+must be shown their place.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That the country was in danger there could be little doubt; but it was
+not precisely from the side to which the crafty chancellor thought fit
+to point.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Parliament met in solemn conclave, and did as it was told. Curran and
+a few others rose up in their places, solemnly protesting against a
+policy which sprang from a hidden fear of the lower orders. An Act of
+Indemnity was passed with regard to the proceedings in the north.
+Magistrates and petty officers were held to have behaved wisely in
+permitting cottages to be burnt in the name of religion, in allowing
+fathers of families to be kidnapped in the night, and spirited away no
+one might tell whither. A profound feeling of wrath was stirred over
+all the land by the passing of this, and the Insurrection Bill which
+allowed it; whereby, amongst other things, a power of arbitrary
+transportation was given to magistrates, and outrages made legal which
+till now had been accomplished in defiance of the law. People saw
+clearly that the majority of both Lords and Commons were merely the
+representatives of their own greed and their own venality; that
+nothing could free motherland from a vicious thraldom of unpatriotic
+selfishness but a reform of Parliament and a complete change in the
+system of Government. How was this to be accomplished? There was the
+knotty point. Was the threatened rising of the masses really
+inevitable? Could they accomplish their objects at all if France
+should refuse substantial help? Was Government deliberately acting for
+a wicked purpose, or was the crime merely the negative one of
+incapacity? Agitation-meetings blaming the executive were held about
+the country, at which, when he heard of them, my Lord Clare expressed
+his amazement, ingeniously stating in public that he was astonished at
+the mildness of the Viceroy in not severely punishing the agitators.
+Such a hint was not lost upon his amateur colonels and military
+magistrates. They began to exhibit renewed examples of vigorous zeal,
+destroying property at pleasure, searching houses for arms, treating
+the inhabitants with such brutality that women fell into convulsions
+and brought forth children before their time. A singular effect of
+these proceedings, which in itself spoke volumes, was a sudden moral
+reform among the peasantry. Men who had been drunken became reclaimed;
+fairs and markets were undisturbed by quarrelling; factions which had
+been at feud for centuries smoked the pipe of peace together. Hatred,
+kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.
+It was felt that a moment was imminent when man might endure no more,
+when a down-trodden race must conquer its persecutors or seek relief
+from misery in death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen, from her retreat among the roses, watched the current of
+events which now rushed with rapid impetuosity towards an horizon of
+blood; and as month followed month, each laden with its progressive
+freight of trouble, wondered with beating heart that no news should be
+received from Tone. Had his projects failed? She knew that the
+difficulties with which he was called to cope were immense. The last
+letter she had had from him, long ago now, spoke of an expedition
+getting ready, which should start before the end of summer. It was now
+August, and as she sat waiting week after week, both hope and
+expectation waning, a feeling of heart-sickness crept over her, which
+seemed to chill her life-blood and dry up her bones. One day,
+listlessly gazing as usual across the sea, she looked up and beheld
+red-polled Biddy making uncouth signals from the shrubbery--signals
+she had looked for so frequently in vain. A letter! Yes. It was--at
+last! But it brought no comfort. An expedition was nearly ready; but
+the leading spirit vacillated. General Hoche doubted whether the
+forces given to him were strong enough to do efficient service;
+whether the Irish were ready to receive them; whether the resources of
+Ireland had been truthfully laid before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To Tone's chagrin Hoche informed the Directory that it was fitting,
+before their ships and treasure were committed to the waters,
+that somebody of weight should come to France from Ireland, to
+corroborate Tone's statements and bring the latest news. It was
+vexatious--despairing! What was to be done? In this new strait the
+young patriot urgently applied to his friend Miss Wolfe, to consult
+with the United Irishmen as to some one being sent without delay. One
+of the Emmetts, Russell, Neilson, anybody who knew anything. She must
+see to this, or all was lost; for if no satisfactory tidings were
+speedily received the expedition would be diverted to some other
+purpose, and Ireland left to fight her battles single-handed. In his
+trouble he had made statements which were rash, no doubt--had promised
+large sums to France, in the name of the future Directory of Ireland,
+and had said that many men of property desired the Revolution. Whoever
+was sent over must, to prevent further parleying, corroborate these
+statements. She must show extra caution however in dealing with this
+business, for a Judas was abroad, more than one, perhaps--there could
+be no doubt of that. Mr. Pitt seemed informed of everything that
+passed in Ireland--and in Paris too, for that matter. Caution and
+despatch were needful above all things.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen laid down this letter to consider it, with a presentiment of
+evil. The fevered workings of our distempered minds are not so
+terrible as the sledge-hammer blows which sometimes fall on us. Even
+the harassed conjectures born of fear prove less dreadful than
+realities. This was a blow which numbed her faculties. For her
+father's sake, who loved the fleshpots, she had resolved to be a calm
+spectator of the coming struggle--to mark the arrival of the French
+convoy and its certain triumph; to crown the successful heroes in
+private with metaphorical laurels; to forego for her living father's
+sake the joy of publicly helping in the emancipation of her dead
+mother's people. But here was something which put all her resolutions
+to flight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The entire scaffolding threatened to tumble about the ears of those
+who held her sympathies; and it seemed that it might be in her power
+to prevent that catastrophe. So long as neutrality was likely to do
+the Catholic party no harm, she was prepared to sacrifice the vanities
+which hang about picturesque heroism--to view the glorious results as
+a mere spectator instead of walking in the procession under the
+triumphal arches. But this letter woefully changed the face of the
+prospect. It was quite possible apparently (and she felt cold as she
+realised it) that the gorgeous fabric in which her soul revelled was
+to vanish into air, and that she might afterwards be accused of having
+by apathy brought about its crumbling! What was she to do? What in the
+scale was this twaddle of the dowager's--this buckram rubbish of an
+old school--this bit of red-tape, which might come to be the halter of
+liberty! But then her father--could she possibly have a right to bring
+suffering on him--to be in her own person the Nemesis who should deal
+punishment on him for his time-serving weakness?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The tumult within her was such that her ears throbbed and her throat
+seemed closing--yet her unaided judgment must settle this question
+with calm pros and cons. There is nothing so clearing to a healthy
+intellect, temporarily clouded, as strong muscular exertion. Miss
+Wolfe stepped into the cockleshell which was her own, and went for a
+row upon the bay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She watched the shadows of the herring-boats, listened absently to the
+rhythmed cry of the fisherfolk as they landed the produce of their
+night's labour on the little quay, nodded in acknowledgment of their
+salutes, rowed herself with firm nervous strokes into mid-water, and
+then drifted. The freshness of a light breeze and the exertion seemed
+to string her nerves and clear her mind. She lay back in the light
+shallop, and trailing her brown fingers in the water, meditated. No!
+Her allegiance was due equally to both parents. Her father had cast
+his lot with the mammon of unrighteousness and gleaned the pleasant
+result of the proceeding. That was no reason for her to betray her
+mother's people. Much as she loved her father she differed widely from
+his views. She would keep in the background as much as might be, for
+his sake; but it certainly behoved her to act with promptitude and
+energy now. Send somebody over! Whom was she to send? Who was
+important enough for the mission? In whom might complete faith be
+placed? Cassidy was too bungling and stupid. Moreover he knew no word
+of French, and would be sure to make mistakes. Robert Emmett? Too
+young, too romantic; a student in Trinity besides, whose lengthened
+absence would be remarked. Thomas Emmett, alas! was in durance vile.
+Whom might she send? Whom? If Terence would only take things
+seriously, he was the very man for the undertaking. What a pity she
+had not used her influence with him to good purpose, Miss Wolfe
+thought with compunction. The Judith and Holofernes idea was idiotic,
+of course; but Terence was a fish that might have been played with a
+satisfactory result. Yet, after all, could the sacredness of the cause
+justify her in enacting Delilah to his Samson? Surely not. With
+humiliation she admitted that the trick would be unworthy of one who
+lived under the roof of Strogue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence had grown dreadfully cross of late. Once or twice her heart
+had bounded, for she had seemed to see that he was moody and disturbed
+on account of the way events were marching. Certainly he came home
+sometimes from the Four-courts with fierce denunciations on his lips
+anent the culpable folly of Lord Camden--but then he always calmed
+down again, when he was no longer hungry, hoping for better days, if
+Lord Clare would really take the helm. His belief in Lord Clare was
+the blindness which might be expected from a too simple mind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the damsel drifted she built castles for herself. If Terence, who
+was manly enough and true enough, would only take things a little more
+<i>au sérieux!</i> If men would only be true to their first impulse for
+good, what a much better world it would be! for, taken unawares, it is
+nearly always our good angel who speaks first. He is always awake, if
+timid; but his dusky, coarse-natured fellow snores so loudly, that it
+is no easy matter to make out clearly what he counsels. Terence grew
+indignant often; was very hot over the Indemnity Bill and Insurrection
+ditto, but neither ever disturbed his sleep one jot, or interfered in
+the smallest degree with his capacity for grouse and claret. What a
+pity it was! A dependable man, a man of rank, whose heart was in the
+right place if it would but speak--a man who, from his position, would
+with a breath remove Hoche's scruples. But there was no use in
+thinking of him. Somebody must be sent, and speedily, or the interests
+of the United Irishmen would be compromised. Somebody must be
+sent--but who?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young lady became aware that she was drifting out to sea--that it
+would require all her nautical science and muscular power to bring her
+frail boat to port by sunset; and she was bound to be home again by
+sunset on this especial evening, because it was a 'lady's night' at
+Crow Street Theatre, and my lady had warned her that loyal ladies must
+'show' there, because the Viceroy would be present, supported by a
+galaxy of beauty. So she handled her sculls like a true connexion of
+the pirate-earls; and as the warm blood tingled in her veins with the
+exertion, sent her little bark dancing over the water, her brain
+working busily the while.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She decided that it was not possible to stand aloof at this juncture.
+Tone--the hero, at whose shrine she worshipped--conjured her to act.
+She would meet at Crow Street, probably, several of the prominent
+United Irishmen, and must choose her opportunity to confer secretly
+with them. Who could be sent to Paris with safety? None but Cassidy.
+What a pity he was so stupid! He meant well--of that she felt assured;
+but he would plead poverty--that was little matter, for she had jewels
+which might be pledged. But might he claim something more? Love-making
+and conspiracy do not go well together. A certain scene at the kennels
+recurred to her mind; and it was with a flush, more due to displeasure
+than healthful exercise, that at length she shot her boat beside the
+landing-stage. An unaccustomed shadow caused her to start and look
+upwards. A man was looking at her, with his thin legs apart and his
+arms folded across his chest--a little man, with elf-locks hanging
+about his face, and a strange melancholy smile upon his lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Faix! and ye're a grand boatwoman, Miss Doreen,' Mr. Curran said;
+'and ye look mighty well fingering those planks. I've bin watching you
+this half-hour, and wondering too--wondering whether, if I had been
+out alone where you were, I could ever be coaxed to return.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen looked up quickly at him. Had something dreadful come to pass?
+Something dreadful was happening hourly with exasperating monotony.
+'We didn't expect you over to-day. Is Sara with you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No. I trotted over on my nag to see if Terence had returned; and must
+go back at once, as Sara wants to go to Crow Street.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is there anything new?' the young lady inquired, with averted face,
+as she fastened up her boat. She was constantly fretting morbidly
+about the slowness of Tim's tread, as people will who are devoured
+with impatience, and yet half-dread the fulfilment of their wishes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'New! No,' grunted the small lawyer. 'Would to heaven there were! No
+change could be for the worse. I have been engrossed these two days
+past in the Orr trial. Didn't Terence tell you? Well, well, he
+wouldn't shock ye. It's nothing new, faith! And there's no good
+talking of such things at home. They gave the verdict against us,
+despite all that I could urge; and the injustice was so glaring
+that Terence flew in a passion. Upon my word, he looked as fierce
+as his brother, the Prince of Cherokees! He vowed there was some
+mistake--that he would in person explain matters to the Viceroy
+(foolish lad--not to have learnt better by this time!); and so I
+trotted over to hear if he had succeeded in his suit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What was the case?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing particularly novel--another of the many evil results of the
+chancellor's Insurrection Bill,' grumbled Curran. 'One of its clauses
+breathes dire vengeance against such as administer illegal oaths.
+Rubbish! considering what you and I, young lady, know about a green
+bough in Britain's crown. Such oaths will be administered so long as
+this corrupt <i>régime</i> continues--just as they have been for five years
+and more. A fine would meet the case--and it should be a light one;
+for indeed the provocation is not slight. But now such administering
+has become penal. A soldier--a drunken fellow in the Fencibles--comes
+forward, swears that one Orr--a harmless, obscure farmer, against whom
+he probably has a grudge--has induced him to take the oath, &quot;Are you
+straight? as straight as a rush,&quot; and the rest. Maybe he has, maybe he
+hasn't--that's not the point; the jury retire, and remain closed up
+for hours--all through last night--far into this morning, and
+by-and-by give in a verdict of guilty. That farmer, who, on my
+conscience, I believe was innocent, is swinging by this time unless
+Terence's mission has been successful.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two walked up the steep path, which led to the Abbey terrace, in
+silence. Doreen was thinking that her resolve was right. It should be
+no fault of hers if the French fleet failed to come with healing on
+its wings. Curran was plunged in sadness, for he was beginning to
+be convinced that the triumphal car of Government would bear him
+down--chosen champion, as he believed himself--with its overpowering
+weight, as it did others. Of what use was his eloquence as an advocate
+in presence of packed juries and bribed witnesses? It was talking to
+the wall--or worse, for at least the wall serves its purpose without
+shame, and is washed white, and receives no bribes; Major Sirr's
+juries and witnesses were accustomed, on the other hand, to arrange
+their affairs in a jovial fashion in the major's sanctum before coming
+into court. There was little of the whitewash about them!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Doreen conducted the lawyer into the tapestry-saloon, my lady was
+concerned at her eccentric little friend's dejection; and easily
+prevailed on him to dine before returning to the Priory. Terence did
+not appear, which was of evil augury; so his chief took the
+opportunity of the ladies retiring to their toilet, to mount his nag
+and gallop homewards, with a leaden weight within his breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Neither the dowager nor her niece were theatre-going people. The
+former held dim uncomplimentary opinions about the private lives of
+actresses, and her pride of caste revolted at the familiar behaviour
+of the gallery, who were given to homely conversation with their
+betters in the boxes, and to making rude comments upon the proceedings
+on the stage. Miss Wolfe disliked the play, because mimic woes and
+mimic laughter were alike an insult to the soreness of her heart, and
+the too real sorrows of the world in which she lived. Yet both were
+compelled by fashion to show themselves in Crow Street whenever a
+specially prominent goddess of <i>ton</i> thought fit to command a night.
+On such occasions the auditorium was illuminated with wax candles; the
+rank of the metropolis in diamonds and feathers filled the boxes;
+pit-tickets were freely distributed among the tradespeople with whom
+the lady dealt, whilst she took up her own position at the extreme end
+of the refection-room (a fine gallery erected by Mr. Fred. Jones, the
+manager), bowing a welcome to all who rallied round her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On this particular evening the Lady-Lieutenant herself had commanded
+the performance, so all the adherents of the Castle were there in
+state--members of the peerage in brand-new uniforms; the cabinet,
+consisting of the chancellor, the chief secretary, the speaker, and
+the attorney--and such a show of female beauty as Dublin can always
+boast. Lady Camden held quite a court in the refection-room, supported
+by Lord Clare, whose arrogant countenance beamed with the
+consciousness of strength. My Lord Camden had shuffled away to the
+curtained viceregal box, pretending to be engrossed with the
+wretchedness of Lucy Lockit; the fact being that his conscience began
+to worry him, and that he withdrew from public gaze as much as
+ceremony would permit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lord chancellor was not a man ever to lurk in corners, or to shun a
+few paltry hisses. He stood forward beside the Viceroy's wife, nodding
+to the crowds who bowed before him with a loathsome smirk, too coldly
+overbearing to reck what men thought of him, provided they bent the
+knee. He had reached at this time the acme of his power. His word was
+law. He browbeat his comrades in the cabinet till honest Arthur Wolfe
+quite winced. He had undertaken to mould into shape a corrupt upper
+class, and his first move had been to give a rein to their bad
+passions. His second was to cultivate an unusual urbanity; for it
+would be needful by-and-by to win the members of the Bar, and to lay
+in a good stock of promising raw material in the shape of young M.P.'s
+just rough from grass. He made a point, too, of being particularly
+civil to girls, for he said that if the confidence of the females in a
+house is won, the men may be counted on as gained. Satan found no
+footing in Paradise till he made sure of Eve.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So my Lord Clare tripped hither and thither in his natty attire,
+complimenting one, grinning at another; suggesting an ice to a young
+lady; confounding a sheepish youth by offering his jewelled snuff-box;
+laughing a hyena-laugh at some feeble joke; making himself so pleasant
+that folks stared in wonder. Ladies of highest rank rustled up and
+curtseyed, then formed into a parterre of shot silks and waving plumes
+behind my Lady Camden. It was a magnificent spectacle of brilliancy
+and wealth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What mattered the cries of those who sat in darkness? what signified
+the cloud that was rolling quickly nearer? The Countess of Glandore, a
+grand sight, in the family jewels, swept into her place, led forward
+by Mr. Wolfe, who had advanced to meet his sister; whilst Lord Clare
+raised Doreen's fingers to his lips with a gallant bow, vowing that
+her father should be proud of such rare charms. And well he might, and
+was, indeed, for there lingered on the girl's face a heightened colour
+which gave a lustre to her eye, while the roundness of her tall figure
+was shown off at its very best by a tightfitting robe of yellow crape,
+elaborately embroidered with silver tassels. Her dark coils of hair
+were knotted round her head in a plain thick diadem, raised high
+behind to show its noble contour where it joined her neck; while the
+olive skin seemed to acquire a richer hue by contrast with a pale
+coral necklet and long ear-drops. Lord Clare looked at her with a
+half-sarcastic smile, and said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Will you walk in the lobby and survey the house? I always like to
+show myself with a lovely girl upon my arm. There is a sight there,
+too, that will please you, I think.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Calmly she took his arm. Etiquette demanded that she should remain in
+the theatre for half-an-hour. It mattered little how she killed the
+time; nevertheless her eyes wandered restlessly about in search of
+Cassidy, to whom she was resolved to speak if possible. Suddenly she
+started and turned scarlet. In an upper box, talking earnestly
+together, were Cassidy and young Robert; with them Tom Emmett,
+Russell, and the rest, whom she supposed to be safe under lock and key
+within Kilmainham gaol.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thought you would be surprised,' drawled the chancellor. 'See how
+Government is maligned! The proceedings of those young gentlemen were
+such that we were obliged to lock them up. We could not do otherwise,
+you know. But having given them this lesson, you see we've humanely
+let them out again. Let us hope they'll be wise--wiser, for instance,
+than Mr. Tone appears to be--who is indeed singularly foolish. He
+seems to imagine that men of property will rally to his standard when
+he arrives with his precious expedition. Oh, my country! How truly is
+thy colour green! Here is an adventurer without a sou, grandiloquently
+promising to pay vast debts of gratitude!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen looked up in the speaker's face suspiciously. The very language
+of the letter she had received that day! Her aunt's warning, hitherto
+forgotten, flashed across her. '<i>See that your correspondence is not
+tampered with</i>.' Verily, Tone was right. There was a Judas playing a
+devilish game somewhere.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mr. Tone has been long absent,' she said, with a troubled face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None the less mischievous,' retorted the other, carelessly. 'But his
+claws are cut, for we know all he does as soon as it is done. Now, if
+Government has erred, is it not on the side of leniency?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The fox was very civil to the bird on the tree-branch,' Mr. Curran
+observed dryly, who with Sara now joined them, 'until the fowl was
+fool enough to drop his cake! Your lordship is a bad Irishman, we
+know; but you should not take us for a race of idiots. The people are
+too quiet. You miss the trenchant articles in Tom Emmett's newspaper.
+You perceive that even the Orange outrages of Armagh have failed to
+goad the poor cowed creatures to rebellion. Give them more rope, my
+lord, and they'll certainly hang themselves--aye, and me too amongst
+them, I dare say!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare coloured slightly, and bit his lip, but answered nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At a moment when the foe is at our gates,' Curran pursued
+bitterly--'for the French armament at Brest is surely meant for
+Ireland--do you strive to unite all parties against a common enemy?
+No! Look at the scenes which are daily enacted under your auspices in
+the north. Robbery, rape, and murder; one brother at another brother's
+throat. Yet I am wrong. We are of one accord on one point. You are
+uniting us as one man against the conciliation of our animosities and
+the consolidation of our strength. Alas for Erin! Rent by faction as
+she is, there is nothing for her but a bridewell or a guard-house--the
+grinding tyranny of England or the military despotism of France!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Arthur Wolfe, who was always endeavouring to prevent these two from
+snarling, here interposed, and dragged the irascible little lawyer
+away. The chancellor, however, fired a parting shot--crying out in a
+tone of airy innocence:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'On my honour, I know not what you'd have. We give every one as much
+liberty as possible. Look up at the gallery this moment. Every man in
+it has a bludgeon or shillalagh--and they're all staring at the box
+where the ex-prisoners are. I vow they look monstrous dangerous. It's
+brave of my lord-lieutenant to sit there so quietly!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was true that all eyes were turned from time to time to that
+particular box, as though something unusual might be expected to take
+place. Meanwhile the unconscious lady-lieutenant in the refection-room
+continued to smirk and bow, highly pleased at the full gathering
+around her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Stout Madam Gillin panted through the crowd in an amazing turban of
+coquelicot and gold, distributing hearty handshakes to the right and
+left; and Norah looked so pretty as she brought up the rear, that the
+Countess of Glandore's ire was kindled, and she glanced anxiously
+about for her elder son. He was not present though, for he never would
+go anywhere where there were high-born young ladies.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin too was looking out for somebody, and, perceiving Curran,
+beckoned him with her fan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The young man,' she said in an undertone--'you know who I mean--I
+hear from old Jug that he's mighty annoyed about this Orr case. Indeed
+it's bad enough i' faith, but don't let him be rash.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Terence?' Curran replied; 'I've been expecting him every moment.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He's not here,' returned Mrs. Gillin. 'His man Phil's below with
+orders to await his coming. I don't like his getting mixed up in these
+things. It's not his place, you know. If his mother had a grain of
+goodness--but there! I can't mention her with patience.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran looked grave, and hurried away to cross-question Phil. It was
+singular that Terence should not have appeared. The two ladies,
+between whom there was the bond of a secret, looked each other in the
+eyes, and temptation was too much for my lady to resist.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'These are indeed dangerous times,' she remarked sweetly to Lady
+Camden, 'when it behoves us all to do our duty. I beg you will assure
+his excellency that Glandore will not shrink from his. He can be of
+little use here where so many have come forward; but he will retire to
+Donegal as soon as it shall seem needful to watch over his tenants in
+the interest of Government. And I should not be surprised--but it is a
+terrible indiscretion--<i>if when things are settled he should bring
+back with him a bride</i>.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The stroke went home. Norah turned deadly pale; and Madam Gillin, who
+had commenced confidences about flannel with a neighbour, found
+herself suddenly called upon to attend to her daughter, who was
+fainting. Scarcely had the court circle gathered round the girl, than
+a new source of commotion became evident in the lobby. High words were
+being bandied, with a low accompaniment of murmuring. The harsh
+accents of the chancellor were ringing in remonstrance; Doreen, who,
+despite her aunt's frowns, had handed her pouncet-box to Madam Gillin,
+became aware that the other voice was Terence's, raised in unusual
+indignation. She was quickly carried by the stream to the scene of the
+disturbance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yes; it was Terence, sure enough--in his boots; his hair disordered; a
+look of menace on his white face; and Lord Clare was striving to bar
+his passage. Honest Phil behind, firing-iron in hand as usual, stood
+watching his master's eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Let me pass, my lord!' the young man was saying fiercely. 'An
+innocent man's life hangs on a thread. I have striven to see his
+excellency for hours, but have been prevented. He is in his box I
+know, and I will see him. It cannot be that he knows what's happening!
+The conscience-stricken jury have repented of their crime, they have
+made solemn oath that they convicted Orr (God have mercy on them!)
+when they had been made hopelessly drunk by Major Sirr. Even that's
+not all. The soldier, too, is afraid of what he's done, and owns that
+he had a private reason for his malice. Orr will be hanged at dawn
+unless Lord Camden signs his respite. I'm sure his excellency cannot
+know what's passing! It's the effect of this horrible one-witness law
+of yours. Even Caiaphas and his Sanhedrim dared not, in the great
+judicial murder, to set aside the law which demands at least two
+witnesses. Even Jezebel suborned two men of Belial to bring about the
+end of Naboth!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Perceiving that the throng were in favour of the pleader, Lord Clare
+strove to draw away the son of his old friend, lest the public should
+think fit to take an inconvenient part in the discussion--an effort in
+which he found unexpected help from Curran. The party retreated
+therefore into an adjoining cloak-room, followed only by a few, while
+Phil kept doughty guard without, and Lady Camden tried to look as if
+she were not flustered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, that drunkenness should be employed to procure the murder of a
+man!' Terence cried in agitation. 'If Orr dies, this will be the most
+savage act which has disgraced even our tribunals. I have striven to
+believe in the honesty of Government. Let us go together and explain
+to his excellency while there's yet time!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chancellor laid his hand on the young man's shoulder as if to
+soothe a petulant child; while Curran sat on a table with arms crossed
+and a sour smile flitting about his lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Young gentleman,' Lord Clare said, 'take the advice of an older man
+and your mother's friend. Keep aloof from these matters, and don't
+give credence to grandams' tales. We understand what we are doing, and
+want no dictation from raw youths--we are satisfied of Orr's guilt.
+You are keeping bad company, as I warned you once' (with a furtive
+side-glance at Mr. Curran), 'and will get yourself into trouble!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence's arms dropped to his sides, and he stood thinking. A
+whispering without could plainly be distinguished through the closed
+door. He looked for help to his chief, who had spoken out so bravely
+at the trial, but who now swung his legs in silence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently he sighed, and passing both hands over his face, said
+slowly: 'Then they were right--I could not, and would not believe it.
+The lord-lieutenant, then, is a passive instrument in the hands of
+wicked men--he is made, for a purpose, grossly, inhumanly, to abuse
+the royal prerogative of mercy, of which the King himself is but a
+trustee for the benefit of his people. Some of those jurymen were
+threatened by suborned fellow-jurors--their tottering consciences
+deadened for awhile by drink; but they have woke to remorse in time.
+You say this hideous farce may not be stopped! Beware, Lord Clare!
+Remember to whom you must answer for this man's life! It's true--all
+true--and I am helpless!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was provoked. Things were assuming an awkward and
+unexpected phase. It would not do to have a scandal in the theatre.
+Suppressing his wrath, he whispered to Mr. Curran before leaving the
+apartment:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This boy must not be made a scapegoat. I rely on you to use your
+influence over him for his family's sake. He has listened to idle
+gossip, and ardent youth is easily set ablaze. This is most untoward.
+I will remove their excellencies at once and disappoint those donkeys
+who are greedily on the look-out for an <i>esclandre</i>.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His rasping voice was heard presently above the hum in polished
+periods, deploring that false reports should so easily be credited;
+explaining that the too sensitive Viceroy must be protected from his
+own softness, calling for their excellencies' coach without delay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Can nothing more be done for Orr? It is too awful!' the junior asked
+his chief, clinging to his coat with anxious hands.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If aught could be done, should I have remained silent?' was the dry
+rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then the lawyer bethought him of his child in the crush, and sallied
+forth in search of her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Master Phil, with instinctive respect for a great man, stood aside
+when the chancellor made his exit, allowing the cloak-room to be
+flooded with eager inquirers. First entered Cassidy and Doreen,
+burning to hear news.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence roused himself from his reverie, and, clasping a hand of each,
+muttered in choking words:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have fought against conviction long enough. There are limits to an
+honest man's forbearance. Cassidy! I'll take the oath.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The giant knitted his brows, and, staring at the cornice, whistled.
+Doreen darted forth such a golden flash from her cairngorm eyes as
+flooded the heart of the tempest-tossed young man with a gleam of
+sunshine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, cousin!' he murmured. 'You who are my star! Forgive me for having
+mistrusted the direction of your guidance! I am easy-going, and not
+prone to believe evil. But my eyes are opened now. Ireland's soil is
+sick with the blood of centuries. A little while, and please God she
+shall bleed no more!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mr. Cassidy!' the girl said, with heaving breast and such a joyous
+confusion as prevented her from reading the giant's face, 'did I not
+say to you just now that after darkness comes the morning? Surely
+night must be at its blackest now, Terence. I take you at your word.
+This change is a miracle wrought by heaven in the nick of time to
+prevent Theobald's efforts from being frustrated. I see it, and am
+grateful. A champion must be tried, you know,' she whispered, smiling,
+'and pass through the ordeal which is to prove his faith. I give you
+yours at once. It is urgently needful that some one should start
+forthwith for France, to act in concert there with Theobald. Can you
+make up your mind to this? Yes or no--there is no time for
+hesitation.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence, a prey still to overmastering agitation, clasped the brown
+hand that was like a leaf in both of his, while the giant's frown was
+fixed on one and then the other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I told you one day,' the young man whispered, 'that for one reward I
+would set at naught the traditions of my family. If I succeed in the
+task which you assign to me----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A shade passed across the sunlight of Doreen's enthusiasm. How
+persistently people tried to rehearse love-passages on the floor of
+the charnel-house!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not let us talk of such things,' she faltered dreamily. 'Mr.
+Cassidy, you can see the oath administered this evening. Come straight
+home, Terence--and I'll manage to meet you when the rest are gone to
+bed. You will have to start betimes, <i>mon preux chevalier</i>; and return
+as quickly as you may, bearing good news. See to the taking of the
+oath, Mr. Cassidy, and for once do not make mistakes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will see to all!' ejaculated the giant, hoarsely; 'though I risk my
+neck in doing it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Another warm pressure of the hand--a lingering look--and Doreen was
+gone. My lady had harshly summoned her, dismayed at Mr. Curran's
+recital of the scene, and had bade her don her mantle--wrapt herself
+in the contemplation of fresh troubles. Madam Gillin, too, had
+listened to his story, and her round, good-humoured face was drawn out
+as she listened to inordinate length.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I can't stand this,' she said by-and-by, to Mr. Curran, as he cloaked
+her. 'That magnificent dowager who has trundled off in the grand
+carriage will--as I judge--leave difficulties to unravel themselves.
+She doesn't like the boy, and would be glad he should come to ruin for
+reasons buried in her stony heart. But I promised his father to be a
+guardian angel, and, please God, I will. You must keep him out of
+mischief--do you hear?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Keep him out of mischief! Easier said than done; but it was worth
+trying for. Mr. Curran, unaware of the interchange of sundry tender
+glances in the cloak-room, did not despair of success. He elbowed in
+the throng till he met his junior, and bade him be in attendance early
+at the Four-courts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Four-courts!' scoffed Terence, with lamentable disrespect. 'When
+justice dies, why dally with her empty robes? I've other fish to fry.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Sure it's Misthress Doreen that's been at him,' laughed big Cassidy,
+with rather forced indifference. 'Who'd be proof against the blarney
+of the Dhas Astore?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Has Miss Wolfe been up to anything? what?' demanded the lawyer,
+knitting his shaggy eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It's a match they'll be making of it--Lord love the purty pair!'
+bawled the nettled giant. 'The gintleman's to be complimented who's
+thus favoured.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is this true?' Curran inquired. 'Has she been persuading you to make
+a fool of yourself? I turned you out of my house, though I love you
+like a son, to withdraw you from what might prove a dangerous
+atmosphere. Maybe I'd better have kept you after all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Perhaps, if I succeed in this mission, she may be mine!' Terence
+muttered in ecstasy, oblivious for the moment of the fate of the
+condemned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And for such a vague <i>perhaps</i>,' Curran retorted in disgust, 'these
+goslings will risk their lives!'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">DOREEN'S PLANS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It is proverbial that the preaching of the wisest sage may be reckoned
+as naught in its influence on a young man's fancy when opposed by a
+siren's smile. Doreen had never, during the years of her sojourn at
+the Abbey, tried to enlist Terence on the side of her oppressed
+people. It would have been disloyal to have done so. But now that his
+long-careless heart had taken the flame of its own accord, it was not
+likely she should attempt to extinguish it. Having communed with Tom
+Emmett, she directed her admirer to ride forthwith to Cork, ostensibly
+on professional business, slip thence with secrecy across the water to
+see Hoche, and then return with as little delay as might be. He was to
+tell the French general that ten thousand soldiers were expected--that
+less than five thousand would be useless--that arms without soldiers
+would be refused, because a rising would be the immediate consequence
+of a landing of arms, and it was not thought desirable to turn the
+attempt, which should be made in force, into a desultory species of
+Chouannerie. Further, he was to employ all his eloquence to ensure a
+speedy start, declaring that Erin yearned to break her bonds, that a
+small nucleus of regular troops was all that was required to start
+with, as the peasantry were prepared to rise if sure of being properly
+led.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These orders being succinctly given by a demure girl with rich dark
+hair and a touching sadness of expression, was it probable that the
+diatribes of an insignificant little person with shaggy elf-locks and
+questionable linen should meet with even common courtesy? Curran
+argued with his junior contrary to his own convictions, striving by
+forensic imagery to save him from the vortex if he could; declared
+that nothing but ruin could possibly come of a rising; that the
+popular cause was hopeless; that the French would possibly make a
+temporary disturbance to spite perfidious Albion, but that so soon as
+it should suit their interests, Erin would be blandly restored to the
+avenger, to reap the reward of her temerity. What sympathy could
+France have for Ireland? What recked the Directory, or Hoche, or
+Buonaparte (the clever young general who was becoming celebrated),
+whether Erin was a slave or not? Other nations as interesting as the
+Irish were slaves, and would remain so. Just now Hoche was warm upon
+the subject because he was jealous of Buonaparte and eager for rival
+laurels. Granted that he were victorious, he would soon weary of what
+to him must be a worthless and precarious possession, would carry it
+to market in a treaty of peace, and surrender it to expiate by yet
+more grinding servitude the false hopes which were born only to
+perish. But Mr. Curran (who didn't quite believe all this in his heart
+of hearts) might as well have talked to the trees in his own Priory
+orchard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You'll be dragged farther than you intend,' he urged. 'Your vanity
+will induce you to take an active part, and then you'll be punished by
+the revolting slavery entailed by a mob command.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was all in vain. Terence went away, and his chief gave out that he
+had despatched him on business to Cork.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The unfortunate Orr was hanged, and the result quite pleased the
+chancellor. A thrill of horror ran through all but the most callous.
+The oath anent the bough was taken by hundreds in desperation. The
+toast 'Remember Orr!' became a watchword. People shook their heads,
+wondering what would come of it. Riots grew more frequent, which were
+suppressed or not according to caprice. Major Sirr's Battalion of
+Testimony lived on the fat of the land, for there was no difficulty in
+unearthing traitors, now that the spirit of recklessness had gone
+forth. Lord Clare pretended to be pained. The ingratitude and
+wickedness of his countrymen--their hardened fits of daring--made him
+blush, he vowed. The country was in danger, the yeomanry must bestir
+themselves, England must send regiments too steady to be undermined;
+if the people were so disgracefully unruly, martial law would have to
+be proclaimed. He deeply grieved to suggest such a thing, but the
+majesty of the executive, whose gravest sin was leniency, must at all
+hazards be respected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The capital was quite in a fever, shivering as pigeons do in their
+cote when they feel the electric current. Every one was looking
+towards France. Was that armament which was assembling at Brest
+intended for their coasts? If the fleet were to appear in the offing,
+how would Government behave? It seemed evident enough how they would
+behave, for troops kept pouring in from England. Hessians,
+Highlanders, Englishmen, under command of Lord Carhampton, arrived by
+shiploads, and, spreading over the counties, were placed at free
+quarters in the cottages. Dublin and the great towns undertook to look
+to themselves. The armed squireens, yeomanry, fencibles, strutted in
+scarlet in the streets, clothed in the bully airs which characterise
+brief authority.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The burning zeal of Orangeism was let loose in all its excess of
+wildness, and a fanatical orgy commenced--a saturnalia of fiends who
+acted in the name of religion--which endured for two whole years. Men,
+who in the past had made themselves objectionable to Government, were
+not forgotten now. Even the semblance of moderation was tossed aside.
+They were delivered to privileged marauders, to be kept under lock and
+key and ultimately sacrificed in the 'confusion of the times;' whilst
+as for private enemies, nothing was easier than to charge such an one
+with treason, and lay him low by purchasing the good offices of an
+informer. People went openly to the Staghouse, where the 'band of
+testimony' were kennelled, just as in our modern days they go to
+Scotland Yard to engage the services of a detective.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the military mania which revived (how different from the Volunteer
+movement! the first was an impulse towards good; the latter a carnival
+of demons), everybody sported a uniform. The Bar chose its special
+facings, so did the 'prentices, so did the adherents of each opulent
+grandee. My Lord Powerscourt armed his tenants, but retained them in
+the hills of Wicklow, declaring that his contingent was not to be
+made a rabble of aggression. Even the Catholics deemed it prudent
+to don the red coat in self-defence, as a disguise; and went forth
+rebel-hunting, sometimes to lay violent hands on their own brethren.
+But the warriors somehow invariably took the wrong road, or
+discovered, upon reaching their destination, that gossoons had run
+forward to give warning. The Right Honourable Claudius Beresford, not
+to be outdone in zeal, set up a riding-school on Marlborough Green,
+which later on assumed infamous notoriety as a torture-chamber. Here
+the yeomen met to try their horses, to accustom them to the sound of
+drum and clarion, to break a friendly bottle. Dublin assumed the
+aspect of a garrison; the country of a vast camp.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Still my lord-chancellor vapoured airily of 'martial law;' not that it
+signified much practically whether such were declared or no, but it
+was as well to accustom polite ears to the words before they became
+legal facts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The arch-conspirators being unaccountably set free, without any
+promises having been extorted from them, they naturally set to work at
+once to take advantage of the general simmering, and the peculiar
+condition of society was favourable to the attainment of their ends.
+More than ever now was the anomaly made manifest which has been hinted
+at before, namely, the promiscuous mixing in convivial intercourse of
+persons of the most opposite views. At time-serving Arthur Wolfe's,
+for instance, Clare hobbed and nobbed with the disaffected; such,
+that is, as had not gone so far as to frighten the well-meaning
+attorney-general. At Strogue Abbey, again, he chatted quite amicably
+with Curran, who was never weary of abusing him in Parliament, or
+strolled in the rosary with Cassidy, who was known to be a United
+Irishman. But the strangest scene of all was the Beaux-walk in
+Stephen's Green, more especially on a fine Sabbath, when the <i>beau
+monde</i> appeared in glory. The mall, where carriages paraded, ran at
+that time along the north side, between a low wall and an impregnable
+haha, or dyke; and there, on a Sunday afternoon, might be seen the
+strangest medley of muslins and chip hats, fine coaches and swinging
+noddies, mingled with cross-belts and helmets and military plumes and
+gear; might be heard the wildest diversity of opinions openly broached
+and bandied. Horse-races took place sometimes as an ostensible reason
+for the gathering, and none marvelled to behold those who were
+prisoned traitors a week ago arm in arm with Government officials, or
+to hear acquaintances joking each other on the inconvenience of
+getting hanged. Thus it failed specially to shock young Robert as a
+piece of bad taste, when, walking with other undergraduates, if a
+friend rallied him about his brother's newspaper, and the certain fate
+which must befall its owner; though it must be admitted that such was
+not the case with Sara, who moaned and shuddered with dismay, like a
+rabbit in a den of serpents. Tom Emmett's newspaper was openly
+published now twice a week, and no one interfered with it, though it
+sought out the joints of Lord Clare's harness; and the chief of the
+Directory was weak enough to imagine that his foe had grown afraid of
+him for his boldness in pointing at injustice. Other newspapers were
+gagged or bribed; why should his be privileged? Tom Emmett and Bond
+and the rest held their secret meetings as heretofore, and strolled in
+the Beaux-walk, and talked treason, like hot-pated Patlanders, to the
+top of their bent, oblivious of the claw of the cat, because it
+remained uplifted--poor guileless band of mice! They met frequently
+and talked earnestly, and squabbled not a little among themselves, for
+their opinions were divided on a point--a most important point, upon
+which unanimity was essential--no less a one than the grand basis of
+future operations.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Bond and Russell and others argued that misgovernment had come to such
+a pass, that it might be endured no more without merited disgrace.
+These bully squireens, these venal, brow-beating grandees, must be
+shown, before more harm was done, that there must be a bound to their
+arrogance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">If a tide be bravely stemmed, it will rage awhile; then settle within
+its limits. Were the French coming? French or no French, the people
+must rise; observant Europe would applaud, for even unfortunate
+heroism commands respect and pity; pike-heads by thousands lurked
+beneath potato plots, pike-poles in myriads were stacked under
+thatched roofs. Surely the spirit of the ancient kings would animate
+their sons in this emergency!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Most of the conspirators were for doing something definite at once.
+Tom Emmett and his brother were in favour of delay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We have waited so long,' Tom said, 'that a few weeks more will make
+little difference, save in the increased exasperation of the people.
+Lord Clare was obliged by public opinion to set us free. We must do
+our duty as men. With French assistance success is certain; without
+it, more than doubtful. Wait, at least, till Terence Crosbie's
+return--the young aristocrat who has taken up our cudgels. We shall be
+none the worse for waiting; and now that he has been baptised into the
+true cause, his presence will be valuable in our councils. The
+labourer who entered the vineyard at the last hour was not deprived of
+his reward. We are terribly weak in military capacity; maybe Heaven,
+who has awakened so late in the day a scion of a noble house, may
+point to him as a future leader. Wait at least and see him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Young Robert enthusiastically seconded his brother's motion, for his
+instinctive dread of bloodshed impelled him to postpone the decisive
+moment; and he was possessed, besides, with a strong belief in
+Terence, whom he had known intimately during his sojourn at the
+Priory. Russell and the others obstinately combated the point, urged
+thereto by youthful jealousy and wounded self-esteem. True, none of
+the council were of mature years; but to be lectured and prated at by
+this boy Robert, who was yet a student in Alma Mater, was an indignity
+which it behoved them to resent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen, who, after her noteworthy row upon the bay, threw aside the
+appearance of apathy she had assumed, saw this new danger with
+concern. Torn well-nigh to death already by factions of many kinds,
+was Erin to sit by and see her last forlorn hope, her last bodyguard
+of champions, scattered by the same curse? Miss Wolfe became seized by
+a frenzy for galloping across country. Her horses were constantly
+brought back to the stable with their coats turned, their flanks
+heaving, their skins reeking with foam.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No doubt the girl was crazed,' my lady averred, as constantly as she
+marked the grooming of the animals from her bedroom window-seat. 'Why
+could she not ride like a well-brought-up young person in the green
+alleys of the Ph&#339;nix, or amble on the mall of Stephen's Green?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady did not know that Doreen met separately, at certain cottages,
+the different members of the Directory; that she prayed and exhorted
+each one, as though he were alone to blame, to wisdom and a sacrifice
+of paltry vanity; and that she came away from each interview with such
+a dread of impending failure--a distrust of these budding
+generalissimos--that it required the most reckless gallops, with a
+dangerous fence or two <i>en route</i>, to calm her nerves sufficiently to
+meet my lady's scrutiny with the accustomed mask of composure on her
+face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the Abbey she had little to complain of now, for all were too busy
+to take much heed of her. Shane, with a prospect of departing
+northward, which rumours of accumulating outrages seemed to make more
+and more urgent, shilly-shallied and delayed, and selected guns and
+fishing-rods, and invited little knots of Cherokees, and spent more
+and more time at the Little House, as though the effort to tear
+himself away from Dublin delights and beloved Norah were too much for
+his resolution.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Under the circumstances he was not likely to trouble his cousin with
+attentions; and Doreen breathed freely again so far as her private
+affairs were concerned, for she perceived that this project of her
+aunt's was fading into a vision which never would and never could be
+realised. Any one who watched might see that Shane was desperately
+smitten with Norah, and Doreen was in no wise jealous. Norah was a
+nice girl, Doreen determined, who was worthy to become a countess, and
+she would help to make her happy as much as she could.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady's fancies were mere whimsies. If the marriage could be
+accomplished, she would of course come in time to like her new
+daughter-in-law. Many domineering old ladies object to eligible
+maidens, merely because they have not fixed on them themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe, in her regained independence of thought, felt half
+inclined to carry it beyond her own concerns, to speak openly to
+Shane, to go and call on Norah, or meet her as if by chance, and
+declare that she had come over to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the little love-idyl was destined to an interruption, whether she
+interfered or not; for Glandore was pledged to go to the north--to
+tear himself from the arms of metaphoric Capua. Would he remain
+faithful to his lady-love, when removed from the direct influence of
+her attractions? The notion of his going, Doreen remembered with a
+quiet sense of fun, was her own; and selfishly glad she was to have
+been so inspired, for away at Ennishowen his thoughts would be
+diverted into a new channel. Even if he did not learn there to forget
+Norah, his mind would certainly be freed from vague visions of his
+absent cousin. Thus she, in any case, would be safe. Situated as the
+concerns of the patriots were, all her own energies would be needed on
+the spot--for without some one to threaten and cajole, the bundle was
+sure to fall to pieces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She would be glad, therefore, when the establishment at the Abbey
+should break up, when all the vans and horses and carriages should
+migrate to Donegal, leaving her--a waif--behind, with nothing to
+attend to but serious business.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of course when my lady and her son started for Ennishowen, she would
+return to her old home in Dublin. She would inhabit once more her
+little bedroom in Molesworth Street, and would make herself so
+necessary to her father by fond artful prodigalities of love and
+tenderness, as to prevent him from ever allowing her to leave him any
+more. It was all very well, when she was a child, to send her to abide
+with her aunt, but now she was a woman, and her place was with her
+father. Then a small inward voice whispered, which caused her heart to
+beat quick time:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What if, by my loving influence, I might change at length his views?
+He is weak, but so kind and excellent; he leans on my aunt because
+hers is the more masculine nature of the two; and he yearns for
+support and countenance. Why should he not come to lean on me? My will
+is as strong as hers--our mutual affection unstained by a difference,
+unruffled by a ripple! Oh! if I could persuade him that there are
+nobler aspirations than mere gathering of gold. That if, instead of
+money-grubbing to make me a fortune (well-meaning, tender father!) he
+would spend all he has freely for his country's sake, I would love him
+all the more dearly for my beggary; what if, by constant dropping on
+the stone of obstinacy, I could bring him to feel this--how happy, how
+truly happy, we might come to be together!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, in less exalted moments of reflection, she felt that she
+deceived herself, that this might never be; that if she elected, in
+theory, to embrace for a holy cause the vow of poverty in her own
+person, she had no right to force her convictions upon a man whose
+glass of life was more than half run out, whose life ran in a groove,
+and who had so distinct a predilection for flesh-pots. Well, without
+going to extremes, it would be a joy to guide him just a little, to
+prevent his truckling too glaringly to Castle influence. If only he
+were not attorney-general and prosecutor for the Crown!' When the
+French expedition shall have arrived,' she thought, 'and swept this
+wicked Government into the sea, how intense a satisfaction will it be
+to say to the Irish Directory, &quot;Spare at least my father, for my sake!
+I have worked heart and soul in the cause; you owe me this boon, the
+only one I ask of you!&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Certainly, from every point of view it seemed necessary for the young
+lady to separate herself from the Abbey and her prejudiced aunt with
+all speed, and assume her proper place in her own home.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hence for more reasons than one she looked forward to the forthcoming
+break in the Abbey <i>ménage</i> as to the commencement of a new era of
+reviving hope and usefulness, and quite longed for Shane's departure
+with all his bags and baggage.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">THE CLOVEN HOOF.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady's preparations were completed at last, and, thanks to her
+maternal supervision, so were those of her favourite son. Though so
+close at hand, she went little into Dublin; for the sight of many
+strange uniforms reminded her of a past time, the associations
+connected with which she did her best to bury. She knew only,
+therefore, by rumour what was passing--by the reports of the
+<i>Gazette</i>, by conversations with Lord Clare. As for Curran, there was
+nothing to be got from him. He was as surly and morose as possible;
+said rude things about the Orange Societies; told her details of
+atrocities which, she felt sure, must be exaggerated; quarrelled with
+her about the scarlet woman; showed signs of becoming as bigoted on
+one side as she half admitted herself to be on the other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She grew almost reconciled to the necessity of going northwards, for
+Shane's conduct gave her serious alarm. He almost lived at the Little
+House, and she saw the possibility, if the journey were delayed much
+longer, of his declining to go at all. For all Norah's influence was
+evidently thrown into the scale against her, and she bitterly
+regretted now having shot off that arrow at Crow Street.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The artful damsel was striving to instil into her lover's mind that it
+was cowardly to go away at this juncture; and it was only by
+pretending to have private intelligence from the chancellor that his
+mother could soothe his <i>amour propre</i> to sleep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She was credibly informed, so she declared, that Paris spies had told
+Dublin spies, who had whispered it at the Castle, that the French
+fleet would certainly make for the north. It stood to reason they
+would not sail into Cork Harbour or Dublin Bay, where their foe was
+ready to receive them. Not a bit of it. They would make for the
+lonely, rock-bound coast of Donegal or Antrim, and young Lord Glandore
+would cover himself with glory by appearing at the head of the
+yeomanry in the neighbourhood to harass the landing of the troops.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was just such a wild idea as suited the youthful fire-eater. He
+saw, in his mind's eye, the shattered vessels on his iron rocks of
+Ennishowen; a feeble resistance and surrender--for a mere handful
+could do anything on those cliffs--and gave way, as usual, to his
+mother. But she felt that, if they were to go, they must be off as
+speedily as possible, or even her influence would fail at the last
+moment, and that which she most dreaded might take place, despite her
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her indignation against the lady of the Little House knew no bounds.
+That she should immolate her own daughter for the mean purpose of
+revenging herself upon a rival, was too horrible! It was really
+amazing to consider what these Catholics were capable of! They had no
+consciences. They were ready to commit any enormity, because when it
+was done they could go to confession, wipe the stain off the slate,
+and come back smiling. Lord Clare was perfectly right about the
+scarlet woman, and Mr. Curran in his dotage. For every sort of reason
+these Catholics must be kept down. No punishment was bad enough for
+them--they should be locked in cages like wild beasts--they were
+absolutely incorrigible--at least, so thought the Swaddler. Doreen was
+turning out abominably. If she too were not soon caged, she would be
+running off some day with a groom--or a United Irishman, which was
+worse, breaking her father's heart, and dragging his name through the
+mire. She preached to her brother on this subject, making him very
+uneasy, and gave up looking after her poor, lest, meeting Mrs. Gillin,
+she might forget herself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her preparations were complete, yet still she lingered at the Abbey.
+Society was in such a state of suspense that freedom of action seemed
+paralysed. The lady-lieutenant was frightened, and talked of fleeing
+to London, yet she delayed her journey. The mall and the Beaux-walk
+were both as full as ever. People went thither in hopes of decided
+news one way or other--which never came; and being there, they rode
+and gossiped and joked, because it was the habit to do so.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Emmett and his friends were becoming grievously troubled, for the
+split in their camp widened daily. Were the French playing with their
+Irish allies? This continued inaction on their part was
+incomprehensible; for summer had faded to autumn, autumn was
+shrivelling into winter--it was almost too late to expect assistance
+now. Must the effort be postponed till next year? or a forlorn
+hope be attempted single-handed? To make it now would be madness, for
+rains were pouring down with Hibernian vehemence--the country was
+sodden--would soon be frozen--the exposed patriots would die off like
+rotten sheep. To wait till next year was a bad prospect--who can
+calculate what may happen in six months? The evil acts of the
+executive were piling up with terrible velocity. A sense of treachery
+and of dismay seemed to hang over the capital, for none could be
+certain who had taken the oath and who had not. Fathers were known to
+be loyalists whose sons had received the tonsure. Peasant mothers had
+put pikes in hiding whose daughters were living with the soldiers.
+Friends met and dined, and laughed with each other about the wide
+divergence of their views, just as they had done for some time past;
+but the feeling that though they differed their friendship would not
+wane was beginning to be shaken, for Major Sirr and his sinister band
+were abroad. No one was safe from the informer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a dinner-party at the Abbey--a party of typical incongruity.
+The chancellor was there, all smiles and airiness. Mr. Curran was
+there, who was becoming strangely absent and sour; his little primrose
+Sara too, who looked delicate and nervous, and shrank, as if in pain,
+from conversation, which of course turned on politics. Cassidy was
+there too, in humble attendance on Doreen; and young Robert Emmett,
+whom the chancellor condescended to twit scornfully on his behaviour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Keep your head out of the noose, my dear young friend!' he said. 'No
+one is so small as to escape the vigilant eye of a paternal
+government. Do you suppose we are not informed of your pratings within
+Trinity? Your bursts of baby-eloquence, which are flowery but foolish?
+It is a harmless amusement possibly within those aged walls, and the
+wild talk of undergraduates is of little moment, yet I warn you that
+it will not be permitted much longer. Oh dear no! We won't do you the
+honour of arresting you. That would give you too much importance. But
+it may become my painful duty, as chancellor of that university as
+well as of this realm, to erase your name with others from its books,
+unless you mend your manners--that's all; so be warned and wise in
+time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert chafed and choked at such language as this, which seemed to
+mark him for a schoolboy before his wistful love; but he stood in such
+awe of the stately dowager that he only reddened and hung his head.
+Then Lord Clare, feeling merry, felt disposed to break a lance with
+his ancient enemy of the Bar; he therefore gaily asked if he might
+take a glass with Colonel Curran of the Lawyer's Corps--whose military
+skill would soon be brought into play, considering that the paternal
+Government had decided at last to propose a suspension of Habeas
+Corpus. The United Irishmen were behaving so badly--were declaiming in
+so provoking a fashion about their bonds, that it was as well to show
+them for a moment what slavery really meant. But this pleasant little
+sally fell dismally flat; for Curran was already aware of this
+dreadful resolve, and did not rise in vehement expostulation, as the
+other expected. So had Doreen heard of it. Her eye brightened a
+little, but her hand never shook as she leisurely peeled a peach.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the news had first gone forth, she had ridden over to the Priory,
+lest haply some one might be there who could advise what might best be
+done. She found Curran on his doorstep, putting on his gloves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I knew they'd do it,' was all he said to her. 'You stop here till I
+return. I am going to Mr. Grattan.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently he came cantering back on his shaggy pony, and said to the
+anxious girl:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There is nothing for it but patience. Mr. Grattan expected this, and
+so did I. We shall oppose the bill, but that will make no difference.
+This wretched land is doomed. If the bill is carried, Mr. Grattan will
+retire from parliament, and so shall I. We are both sick of the
+murderous farce.' Then, drumming his fingers on the window, in an
+attempt to keep down his agitation, he muttered forth at intervals:
+'Habeas Corpus! the very last guardian of our liberties! They'll bring
+in the knife when every one's asleep, and stab our guardian in the
+dark!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So the lawyer--not taken unawares--only smiled, and, bowing stiffly
+over his glass, asked quietly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Did you ever read Æschylus, my lord? I know you are a fine scholar.
+You always remind me of Mercury in &quot;Prometheus Vinctus,&quot; who was
+constantly abusing the poor martyr for howling, when his only
+grievance was a stake of adamant through his breast!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The party broke up early, as both of the elder gentlemen were due at
+the House, and the social atmosphere was stormy. My Lord Clare
+whispered to his old friend at starting that he would call round in
+the morning, as he had something very particular to say to her. Doreen
+took the opportunity of imploring Curran to send a message to the
+shebeen, with intelligence as to the fate of the bill (care of
+red-polled Biddy), that she might know from him what happened with as
+small a delay as possible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That astute person turned out but too true a prophet. The bill which
+was to close the courts of law, and place power over life and property
+in the hands of military despots (and such despots!), was shuffled
+into the House by the attorney-general at 2 a.m., and read for the
+second time after <i>grave and mature deliberation</i> at 2.10 a.m.; and
+Doreen, when she read the note which informed her that it was carried
+by 137 against 7, had an extra douche of sorrow poured over her, in
+that her too facile parent had been its godfather!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So martial law was declared, and the humane and benignant soldiery,
+whose good feeling had already been proven at Armagh and elsewhere,
+were to work their wicked will unrestrained. Doreen was too much upset
+to appear at breakfast, so my lady picnicked alone on the window-seat
+which looked upon the stable-yard, watching for her vagrant darling,
+keeping a keen look-out, too, as to whether her niece went out for a
+scamper. For my lady had passed a sleepless night--one of those
+terrible <i>nuits blanches</i> much worse than any nightmare--when all our
+sins sit heavy on our chests; when our brains throb to bursting, and
+we hope there is no hereafter. She tossed--listening for Shane's
+return--growing more feverish as hour after hour passed silently.
+Still at the Little House! This was maddening. The vision of Shane and
+Norah arriving to throw themselves upon their knees, danced before her
+eyes. Once or twice, when sinking into a doze, she sat up with a
+start, clutching the luxuriant braids of white hair which gave her in
+her looking-glass such an odd look of winter and autumn united.
+Manfully she had quelled any shrinking on her own account about
+returning to Ennishowen. To her who had borne so much, what mattered a
+little extra suffering? It was excellent advice that her niece had
+given her. The way, and the only way, out of the labyrinth was to
+transfer the establishment <i>en bloc</i>; she had recognised the fact, and
+had resolved, for her dear boy's sake, not to spare herself. But now,
+in dead of night, when the past stood out in phosphorescent light, and
+the future loomed even yet more ghastly, she had to fight the old
+weary moral fight again, in which she had so frequently been worsted.
+Again she saw her husband on that bed of chairs at Daly's. Again she
+heard him say, ere the last rattle stopped his voice for ever, 'Make
+right that wrong while there is time!' Again she welled over with
+impotent rage, whimsically mixed with penitence, in that she must wear
+the Nessus shirt which he had shuffled off long since. She realised,
+as she ruminated, that she had been deceiving herself as to the
+motives which kept her still at Strogue. It was a terror of the island
+of Glas-aitch-é at Ennishowen--of the tales which each twig and shrub
+would tell her there--of the songs which the waves would sing to her
+as they dashed against the cliffs--which had really delayed her
+starting. But there must be an end of this weakness. All was ready.
+For Shane's sake she would like to start upon the morrow, for the
+sooner she drank her dose the better; but, unfortunately, a promise
+had been given to attend their excellencies at a great ball which was
+to take place at the Castle--and to retire suddenly, in ticklish times
+like these, would certainly be construed as big with political import.
+But after all, this fête (which was to show the scum that their
+betters did not fear them) would be past in a few days. Till that time
+arrived my lady would continue to wait; but in order to underline for
+herself in her midnight self-communing the determination that there
+was to be no more cowardice, she then and there resolved that the
+great coach should take them upon the very same evening within the
+Castle-yard, and spirit them forward on their way, instead of making a
+fresh start from the Abbey on the morrow. This resolution being come
+to, my lady's mind became calmer. As the blue light of wintry morning
+struggled in she felt quite relieved, and got up presently--as
+imperious as usual--to await Lord Clare's communication, and watch the
+stable-yard for Shane's return.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was fully eleven o'clock before Lord Clare's carriage wheezed up
+the avenue--the casket which held Ireland's great man. For once Doreen
+had not bucketed forth on one of her wild rides. Shane had not yet
+come in.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady swept out upon the narrow terrace in front of the hall-door to
+receive her guest. He must stand in need of refreshment; what would he
+please to take?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He would take nothing for the moment. Yes--he would. It was a strange
+conceit in one who had visited there as a familiar gossip during so
+many years. He would take a view of Strogue Abbey--he would be shown
+over the mansion by its chatelaine. My lady was surprised. Indeed, she
+had not been over the quaint place herself for ages. What did my Lord
+Clare desire to see? Was it the dungeon? or the ancient kitchen and
+buttery, with its black woodwork, or the water-tower?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He would see everything while he was about it, he said. In the first
+instance the young men's wing, with its museum of fishing-rods and
+guns--and--what was that over it--an armoury? Oh, indeed! he would
+like to look at it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But perchance I should disturb the young gentlemen,' her guest said
+with hesitation. 'By-the-bye, has your son gone out?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To Lord Clare's genuine astonishment, my lady reddened and looked
+away. Could she know the mission on which he had come? If so, then she
+was a greater mistress of her face than he supposed. If not, what
+troubled her? He forgot that shrined in her love there was but one
+son. That while he was hinting of the second, she, with sorrow, was
+thinking of the first--who was dallying--where?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The twain wandered in the young men's rooms--in Shane's, whose bed was
+smooth and neat--in Terence's, where faithful Phil was sitting, deeply
+engrossed in fly-making, as innocently as if he had never heard of a
+bough in England's crown.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Both boys out, then? so much the better,' gaily quoth the chancellor,
+who chose for a moment to ignore Terence's mysterious absence. 'I hope
+Terence is safe; I can assure you Shane is; I saw him not an hour
+since. He roystered with the Blasters all night, and of course had to
+fight a duel in the morning. Is not the motto of their gay society
+&quot;Nemo me impune lacessit&quot;? But he didn't get a scratch--indeed he's a
+splendid swordsman--such a tactician--so sharp and quick of eye! I
+must really congratulate him when he comes in by-and-by. Those spiral
+stairs? Ah! That's the armoury.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Phil dropped his flies, and leapt up from his seat. My lady and her
+guest, taking no heed of him, climbed upward, opened the armoury-door,
+went in and shut it. He could hear the creaking of their feet
+above. What could he do? Nothing! He sank panting on his seat,
+bewildered--then, stealing out, made the best of his way to the
+shebeen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'By-the-bye, where is Terence?' asked Lord Clare. 'You don't know? I
+do. My poor old friend, prepare yourself for a shock. Sit down.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a gentleness which would have astonished his numerous enemies,
+the chancellor laid his two hands on my lady's shoulders and pressed
+her into a seat. The pupils of her eyes assumed that look, as of a
+startled hare, which shone in them sometimes. She sat down silently
+and waited.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Had Terence been guilty of something base? That was her first thought,
+in which there was a touch of remorse. Then came a feeling of anger in
+that he existed at all. Oh that he had never been born, or had died
+in his early childhood! This in its turn was followed by intense
+self-loathing; but her face remained immovable, while she looked up
+with inquiring gaze.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have most unpleasant news for you,' said Lord Clare kindly, for he
+liked my lady better than any one except himself, 'and thought it
+would come best to you from me. For we'll hush the matter up--rest
+easy on that score, trusting that no worse may come of it. Terence, as
+you know, was rude to me at Crow Street, t'other day. I didn't mind
+his petulance, of course; but for your sake I was hurt that he should
+have gone astray and made an exhibition of himself in public. It's
+your rough diamond Curran's fault, with his romantic balderdash about
+his country. He threw the young man into dangerous society, forgetting
+that it takes a seasoned head to weigh the hollowness of enthusiasm.
+Terence has been bitten by the prevailing rabies; the fever's hot upon
+him, and being of a higher breed than his companions, has rushed
+straightway into action, instead of merely prating like the others. As
+his mother, you should have greater influence over him than any one.
+Argue him out of his dangerous course. You think he's at Cork on law
+business? He's strutting up and down the landing-stage at Brest, with
+Tone and Hoche, and all the rest of the jays in peacock-plumes. He's
+urging the bevy of juvenile generals there to come across the water,
+despite the lateness of the season; in fact, he's beginning the risky
+game which brought Balmerino, Kilmarnock, Lovat, to the block. I'm
+sure of what I state--trust me for that. Why! these hot-pated fools do
+nothing that we're not informed of; and Mr. Pitt's staff in France is
+every whit as sharp as ours here. Do you desire a proof that I speak
+with authority? What are these things stacked here, under these
+cloths, within these presses, even piled, as you see, right up the
+chimney!' Lord Clare moved about the room with the precision of
+one who is sure of what he does. 'Pikeheads, my lady--rough but
+efficient--which are to rip his Majesty's soldiers when the struggle
+shall begin. It was an ingenious notion to store them under the roof
+of a known loyalist. Who placed them here? Your ingenuous boy,
+Terence, with the assistance of the people at the shebeen below. That
+&quot;Irish Slave,&quot; by the way, must have a visit from us; also the fair
+dame on whose ground it stands. Look at this paper. A design for a
+pikehead, precisely like these, with written directions--in whose
+hand? Terence's! I gave five hundred guineas for that piece of paper.
+See! do not tremble--it's destroyed--the evidence is gone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady sat upright in her chair without moving, staring up at the
+speaker, scarcely comprehending what he said, through the singing in
+her ears. Terence, her son, had actually joined the disaffected--these
+deluded persons whose proceedings shocked all her prejudices--whom she
+sincerely believed were only fit for Bedlam. He might come to an
+ignominious death unless she put forth all her influence to drag him
+from the danger. What influence could she expect to have? Whose fault
+was it that she had none? Her sin was finding her out in an unexpected
+fashion. A great cry rose up within her, that her fortitude was near
+its end. It broke from her bosom in a sigh of weariness. She looked
+old and haggard as she stared up at the chancellor. Her ancient
+friends poke of the situation: of how the commander-in-chief my Lord
+Carhampton must inaugurate a new régime, now that martial law was
+declared; of how, all things considered, in the complications which
+were arising, it would be wise for the denizens of the Abbey to depart
+shortly. Terence might be expected back in a day or two; then his
+mother must speak to him and take him with her if she could. It would
+be well to take Miss Wolfe away too, as she was playing the fool most
+egregiously. She, too, had a hand in this pike-stacking.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My Lord Clare laughed in his disagreeable manner as he recounted how
+he had succeeded in terrifying poor vacillating Arthur Wolfe about
+her. At all events it was most wise that Lord Glandore should go; for
+it would be a terrible thing--supposing Terence proved obstinate--if
+the brothers should come to be in rival camps upon the scene of
+action.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My dear lady,' he concluded, 'we shall have a hot time of it before
+we've done, I do assure you. Take your measures as I advise. Now I
+must be off to turn the screw upon the &quot;Irish Slave.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The coach rolled citywards. My lady, face to face with a new trouble,
+clung to the one speck of brightness which glittered like a star.
+Gillin certainly was committing herself. There was to be a search upon
+her premises. Her ruin would surely follow. The pressure from that
+side would be removed. Thank heaven for that! Yes! This was a real ray
+of light shining from out the gloom. Things at their worst must mend.
+With firm step the countess swept along the passages, striving to
+stifle the remorse which whispered that if evil came to Terence, she
+would be responsible. She would follow her friend's sage advice to the
+letter, she determined. It was time to do battle with Doreen, as to
+her proposed visit to the north.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe was bending over the sun-dial in her little flower-plot,
+which was sad-looking with quaint-toned chrysanthemums, her head bowed
+upon her arms--a statue of despair. An open letter lay crumpled at her
+feet. My lady saw it and smiled grimly. Indeed, the poor maiden had
+received a terrible blow--one heavy enough to stagger even her
+firmly-knit nature. The beauteous <i>Château en Irlande</i>, which she had
+been so busy building, had come crashing down. Its gargoyles and
+turrets were admirable to behold--but, alas! its foundations were of
+sand. It had toppled bodily upon her head, and she was stunned by the
+completeness of the ruin. Her fond parent had indited her a note
+bidding her pack up her clothes; for, that she might be removed from
+danger, she was to go to Glas-aitch-é with her aunt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She was caught in her own trap. Those dainty visions of returning to
+her father, of weaning him from the flesh-pots, of bolstering him up
+in the buckram of her love against his weak sensual self, were
+vanished. 'She was to be taken away out of danger,' her cruel father
+wrote, as though she did not pant for danger as doth the war-horse!
+The misfortunes which might result from this unlooked-for arrangement
+rose up before her one by one, each armed with its separate shiver.
+The struggle would come. She, whose heart was wrapped in it--who had
+made up her mind in which direction duty lay--would be a prisoner far
+away in a desert island, to which news would trickle slowly: that was
+bad enough. But of late she had become morbidly anxious, on account of
+the disorganisation which delay was causing among the United Irishmen.
+It was only by her own personal influence that Russell and Bond had
+bowed to Tom Emmett's dictum, and consented to await Terence's return.
+Were the French coming, or were they not? If not, would the society
+fling down the gauntlet alone? If it should do so, what would be the
+result? Would Emmett continue to carry his point as to delay? If he
+failed in his endeavours, what could be expected to take place? Even
+if he should be able to control the unruly, how fraught with danger
+was the prospect. Help from France was the willow that bound the
+sticks; that band removed, with what ease might each separately be
+broken!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At sound of my lady's footstep, Doreen started from her crouching
+attitude. Her aunt's were the last eyes on earth which she would wish
+to pry into her despair. She was vaguely suspicious too that her
+aunt's wild projects of matrimony had something to do with this last
+arrangement. It was, beside the others, a mild phase of annoyance no
+doubt, but it certainly was annoying to consider that in Donegal she
+would find herself shut up well-nigh alone with Shane, who, urged by
+his mother, might tease her dreadfully. Taken altogether, her future
+looked black as Styx. She promised herself to make one effort more to
+remain behind in Dublin. Then it flashed upon her that perchance some
+one had warned her father of the prominence which she had assumed of
+late. Yet who would tell him? Her precautions were always well taken.
+In public she acted with extreme reserve towards Tom Emmett and the
+rest. Private interviews had always been held at obscure cottages,
+whose owners she knew would be hanged ere they betrayed her. There was
+no doubt though, she reflected with sore foreboding, that there were
+traitors somewhere. If only they could be unmasked. Well, well! time
+unravels many tangles.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I see your father has written to you,' my lady said, stepping down
+into the garden. 'He must even defend you against yourself. Upon my
+word, the Irish are all insane. I shall have the honour to be your
+keeper for awhile--in a most impregnable asylum.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then it was her aunt who had suggested this step. At this instant how
+bitterly she hated her!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have yet to learn,' she said with hauteur, 'what business you have
+to interfere with me. I am of age, and not your daughter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You will not presume to disobey your father, I suppose?' the countess
+inquired coldly. 'Though I ought rather to be surprised if for once
+you are dutiful.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My duty is to my mother's people!' Doreen murmured absently.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I told you once before,' her aunt went on, unheeding, 'that you would
+disgrace the family and break your father's heart. For both reasons it
+is my distinct business to interfere with you. The friends whom you
+have chosen to make, are rushing like sheep to the slaughter. You
+shall not be one of the flock if I can help it. I have spoken gravely
+to your father about you; and so has some one else--Lord Clare.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Lord Clare!' echoed Doreen, astonished. 'What does he know about me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Too much,' retorted her aunt, dryly. 'He showed me, just now, a
+delectable sight in the armoury, a discovery which cost him five
+hundred guineas. For shame! It is kindness to deem you mad.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How did he know of the pikes?' startled Doreen inquired.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Through Terence,' replied my lady, shortly--for she knew not how much
+or how little her niece and son were mixed up in this affair, and
+always instinctively avoided talking of the latter to the former.
+There was a long pause, during which the dowager continued to eye her
+niece.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Aunt, I will go with you to Donegal!' Miss Wolfe said slowly, her
+large eyes peering with vague terror into space. 'I think now I will
+take a walk, for I am rather upset;' and quietly taking her garden-hat
+from the bench hard-by, she knotted its ribbons under her chin, and
+disappeared between the beech hedges of the rosary.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There are moments in most lives when so sharp a pang shoots through
+our hearts, that we feel there is nothing left but to seek a remote
+covert and wait for death. Such strokes age us suddenly and surely. To
+few is it given to become old by slow and imperceptible steps. We
+remain in the solitude of our covert without speech; almost without
+feeling. Presently we perceive that we were mistaken about death (for
+the White Pilgrim comes not for the bidding); and emerge into the
+world again, apparently the same as before--young outwardly, and
+smooth-browed, but really altogether different. Poets have sung much
+of broken hearts, at which cynics have scoffed, time out of mind.
+Hearts have broken under a sudden mental shock, but seldom. They are
+more usually turned inside out and changed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen had just received such a shock as calls imperatively for
+solitude. Then the snake in the grass--the Judas--was Terence--her own
+cousin! Rapidly she walked through the rosary, and out by the wooden
+gate into the open--away--inland across the fields, for miles.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She was surprised to find that she felt more grieved than was at all
+necessary, in that the snake was Terence. Only a few minutes ago she
+had been praying heaven to unmask the villain, with the laudable
+intention of pointing him out to the reprobation and contempt of the
+society. But Terence! The open-visaged, careless youth who exasperated
+her, as a woman, chiefly because he was prodigal of promise which was
+not likely to be fulfilled. He had been so importunate in blundering
+puppy fashion (really almost as ridiculous as Cassidy), heaving absurd
+sighs, carrying on his intermittent wooing in so ludicrously naïve a
+manner, as to provoke scorn in so high-spirited a mistress. Looking
+within herself, she discovered that behind her light estimate of his
+amatory ravings there was a genuine liking for the lad. Could she have
+been entirely mistaken in him? Could her judgment have been utterly at
+fault when she decided, that if feebly endowed by nature, he was at
+least honest and true? For the more she considered the subject as she
+trudged across country, the more she felt that it would be indeed
+grievous if that fine open face, which had looked so noble in its
+indignation on account of the martyr Orr, should turn out to be only a
+grinning mask.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence the Judas--the betrayer of the innocent--the snarer of the
+unwary! Terence, her cousin, whose jocund visage she admitted to be
+rather dear to her. If he proved so base a scoundrel, in whom then
+might an earnest soul place trust? Was his perfidy a fall, or original
+sin? She remembered how she had read wise thoughts in books, wherein
+sages had explained that our nature is unstable, liable to trip--that
+none can resist temptation if clothed in the fittest garb. Is not the
+prayer which should be oftenest on our lips, 'Lead us not, O God, into
+temptation?' Women are perverse, choosing always the left one, when
+they ought to take the right turning; and with the perversity of women
+Doreen chose at once to accept the most distasteful phase of the
+situation. She took it for granted that Terence was in the wrong,
+instead of more prudently suspending her judgment till his return from
+France.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The feet of her cousin were cloven. He wore a tail and smelt of
+brimstone. She stood still beside a paling as she thought of him, and
+shook it in a rage with both her hands, while a vague feeling of
+uneasiness came over her in that she should care so much that Terence
+should prove the Judas. Yet was she not quite justified in her dismay?
+Was it not natural that her faith in truth and goodness should be
+thrown out of gear by such low calculating turpitude? Clutching the
+gnarled paling, the unhappy lady bowed her face on it and burst into
+sobs which shook her to the centre.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Five hundred guineas! That was the sharpest of the many thongs which
+smote her. She had declined to look at the sordid motive--it was so
+very mean and vile. But now it clamoured with open palms at the gates
+of her brain, and shouted deafeningly. Vulgar money troubles are at
+the bottom of everything that's base! What a pity that there should be
+such a thing as money! Five hundred guineas! How small--how miserable
+a sum! He was always in debt, she knew: to such easy-going creatures
+as he always seemed to be, debt was a state of nature. But could he
+have sunk so low as this? Was he capable, for five hundred guineas, of
+suddenly assuming a noble love of motherland, which was a farce--of
+laying a gin for the feet of persons who had never injured him--nay,
+whom he reckoned among his dearest friends? For the wretched price of
+five hundred guineas, could he look her--his cousin, almost his
+sister--in the face, and endeavour to steal her heart, that he might
+stick it on a pole for the amusement of fellow-traitors? Traitor!
+Arch-traitor--wretch! Tears having come to her relief, Doreen sat on
+the grass and wept, and felt like the wounded beast within the covert.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Piecing scraps together, with the key which my lady had furnished,
+many cloudy matters became clear. My lady was proud and prejudiced,
+but her pride revolted against treachery. If not, why had she suddenly
+warned her niece to see that her correspondence was not tampered with?
+Who should tamper with it? Not Jug, or Biddy, or Phil. They were
+children of the soil, who knew not treachery. How could my lady know
+of any tampering of theirs? No! It was against Terence--the son whom
+my lady loved not--whose unworthy proceedings filled her aristocratic
+soul with repugnance--that she had warned her niece. Lord Clare knew
+the very wording of Theobald's last letter--through whom? Through
+Terence, of course--for five hundred guineas--alas! alas!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All of a sudden a new idea struck Doreen, and she sat up, her cheeks
+blanched and tear-stained. The traitor had worked well for the
+degrading pittance. He had succeeded in hoodwinking the society as
+well as herself. He was now at Brest, with every secret in his
+possession--every detail--every aspiration--cut and dried--in cold
+black and white--and she it was who had despatched him. The Emmetts,
+Russell, Bond, were doomed men. Their young lives were unconsciously
+sacrificed by her. There was no end to the blood for which she would
+be answerable. The cycle of her frenzied thoughts came back to the
+point at which she started. She had been trifling like some innocent
+child with burning brands which had scorched her. Not herself alone.
+Her life was her own, for better or for worse. When she should be
+called to appear before the throne to account for her deeds, she would
+be asked, 'Why broke you your father's heart for a chimera? why did
+you lead Emmett, Russell, Bond, by your wiles to the scaffold? Who
+were you to set yourself up as a teacher? To lure honest men, like a
+siren, to destruction? What could her faltering answer be? I meant
+well. I acted for the best. I was presumptuous. I am sorry.... Can
+regret undo the injuries which are due to our presumption? No. The
+wretched Doreen was crushed by an overwhelming sense of her own
+littleness and failure. There was nothing for it but to kneel down and
+cry, 'I have sinned;' to clasp her sorrow and take it to the north,
+there to hold vigils of unfruitful repentance, whilst praying humbly
+to be released from earth. The wilds of Glas-aitch-é should be her
+covert. Into it she would creep like a stricken doe. If the White
+Pilgrim would obey her summons, with what gratitude she would cling to
+his filmy raiment! If he refused to hearken to her pleading--why then
+she must, kneeling on the stones, endure unto the end with such
+meekness as a vengeful heaven might vouchsafe to her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The wild paroxysm past, she got up and returned with trailing feet
+towards the Abbey. Her limbs were aching from contact with dank
+herbage: her brogues and stockings soiled with clinging mud. A
+drizzling veil was settling on the earth, which looked, as far as ken
+might reach, dun-toned and colourless. Raising dazed eyes, she beheld
+a slim figure moving with rapid strides, and recognised young Robert
+from afar.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What could he be doing? Was he also crushed in spirit, as weary of the
+world as she; wandering in search of peace? or on one of his many
+missions of private charity?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had been to the Abbey in quest of her; was told by a garden-lad
+that she had passed through the wooden postern, and had tracked her
+wanderings from hut to hut.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'They are going too far!' he said abruptly, with bent brows, as he
+turned to walk back with her. 'Already the squireens are abroad,
+imitating their fellows in the north. Dublin's in a ferment. It needs
+but the coming of the French to settle the affair at a blow. Every
+magistrate has received orders to raise twenty men to preserve the
+peace in place of the militia, should these be ordered to the coast.
+But they overreach themselves. Decent people are so furious at the
+tactics of Lord Clare, that even the militia are dying to turn against
+the Government. Cassidy says so, who should know, seeing that he keeps
+up a friendship with the Castle. I speak to-night at the Debating
+Club. Look at these notes,' he added, smiling. '&quot;Recipe to make a
+Rebel! Take one loyal subject uninfluenced by pension; burn his house
+over his head; murder his wife and babes before his eyes; march away
+with such plunder as you choose to save from the flames----&quot; But what
+is the matter? You look ill!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am leaving Dublin almost at once,' Doreen said, 'and am glad of it.
+If there is one power which has the gift of withering up the soul, it
+is treachery! I am sick of the world. Go to your brother. Tell him the
+cause is lost. One who held all their secrets has betrayed them--for
+five hundred guineas; that is their value in his eyes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here the girl broke into wild laughter--she who never laughed; and
+Robert looked at her in surprise, with a sense of coldness, creeping.
+Then, with a hectic spot upon each cheek, she eased her breast with
+words; recounted all she knew, and much more which was conjecture,
+though in her perturbed state she was not aware of it. Explained that
+they were all dupes of Terence's false <i>bonhomie</i>--that he had coldly
+and deliberately played a part; had, as it were, eaten their bread and
+salt, and then stabbed them in the back. In the midst of the hideous
+recital, her voice choked in a great gulp, and clasping her hot face
+with her hands, she burst into a flood of tears.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ardent young Robert was shocked, but not convinced. Terence! whom
+every one loved for his bright eyes, through which shone forth an
+honest soul. To whom Robert and fellow-undergraduates looked up as to
+a <i>preux chevalier</i> in the matter of grouse-shooting and the beguiling
+of the wily trout. He could not believe such a thing, and would not.
+Lord Clare was capable of any amount of lying. His ways were so
+tortuous that they were difficult to follow. His spies were legion,
+who ferreted out everything. No doubt Phil and Biddy had been watched;
+they had billed and cooed too loudly as they had handed the pikes over
+the wall. Terence was unduly heedless about money; his friends
+frequently declared that he didn't know its value. It was absolutely
+out of the question that he should suddenly be tempted to do so crafty
+and mean a thing. As for the delegates of the society being betrayed
+and their secrets known, there was nothing new in that. Had they not,
+months ago, been arrested at his own chambers, their papers seized,
+themselves arbitrarily imprisoned, and afterwards as arbitrarily
+released? He could not fathom the tactics of the executive, the youth
+was forced to confess, for their movements seemed planned to
+circumvent each other. The rank and file were being captured by dozens
+and hanged, while the commanders and organisers of the scheme were
+permitted to remain at large.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was not unpleasing to Doreen to hear her cousin defended; but she
+shook her head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If the French were to come now,' she said, 'they might set things
+right; but then they must come in force; and Terence, having gone to
+Brest, would probably clinch the irresolution of Hoche, and
+effectually decide him not to come at all. Verily, the world and its
+affairs were vexation of spirit; conspiracy a disheartening game;
+Ireland an accursed land, foredoomed to eternal misery.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">By the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary, stood a group
+of peasants, who humbly bowed to Miss Wolfe, then returned to the
+dirge of lamentation which her appearance had interrupted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Jug Coyle, what is the matter?' Doreen inquired; for she recognised
+in a heaving heap before her the shattered remains of that lady.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Whisht! acushla!' a man whispered. 'Let her tears flow. Sure she's
+burned out of house and home. Her cabin's desthroyed. The sodgers--bad
+luck to 'em!--have taken her bit of bacon and the dhrop of potteen
+the quality used to loike, and thin they began to turn up the
+pratey-garden, and Biddy gave a yelp and wanted to run to the Little
+House, but the blagyards gagged her mouth with an ould rag, and tuk
+her away screeching.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The &quot;Irish Slave&quot; destroyed?' inquired Robert.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, your honour,' replied the man, lowering his voice as he glanced
+around. 'But they didn't find much. Phil, Masther Terence's man, came
+down from the Abbey to give the office, and most of the pike-heads
+were tossed over the wall, till we can put 'em back to-night. Wake up,
+Jug, and spake with the lady. Sure the shock has druv the collough
+crazy. When the thatch was all ablaze we went up to Madam Gillin, who
+always has the kind word and bit and sup; but she said she could do
+nothing, and bade us come to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To me!' echoed Doreen, bitterly. 'Am I not too a Catholic, and
+helpless?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But it's your father's the great gintleman,' urged the fellow
+coaxingly, as he twisted his corbeen between his horny hands. 'If ye'd
+spake the word, acushla----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My father!' Doreen groaned, breaking abruptly through the knot of
+suppliants. 'What can he do? He is sending me away. I'll pray to God
+for you; but He has been deaf this long while.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">WE PIPED UNTO YOU.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">So the &quot;Irish Slave&quot; was destroyed by fire, and its hapless occupant,
+finding that no redress might be obtained through, Miss Wolfe, crawled
+to the Little House, where she was taken in by its kind mistress, who
+in her turn received, a few minutes later, a visit from Major Sirr. He
+pointed out with deferential politeness to the good-humoured dame
+that, as a Catholic possessing property, it was scarcely wise to
+harbour traitors, whereat the stout lady broke into her hearty laugh
+and invited him to lunch.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is it me, meejor, that causes the Secret Council to shiver in their
+shoes,' she asked, 'with a Protestant daughter to go bail for me, and
+meeself, all but the fine airs, an aristocrat? Not but what Ollam
+Fodlah, mee ancestor, was better than the best of the stuck-up
+crathers! I'm a &quot;no-party woman,&quot; as all the world knows, just as the
+buckramed bag-o'-bones at the Abbey foreninst us is a &quot;no-popery
+woman.&quot; Let my ould collough be; she was my nurse, and won't trouble
+any one for long. Come in. Ye shall taste a gulp of my fine claret
+just to show there's no spite betune us--the very same, on my word of
+honour, as Justice Carleton and Judge Clonmel have such a tooth for.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And Major Sirr pledged his hostess in his best manner, with a smirk on
+his thin features and a worldly twinkle glimmering from under his
+bushy brows, and departed presently to report at the Castle that Madam
+Gillin was a staunch loyalist who had miraculously escaped the taint
+which poisoned most ladies of her creed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he had departed, the good lady's face lost its dimples and grew
+long.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That wicked fellow will bring them all to the gallows,' she muttered
+to herself, frowning at some one she saw in her mind's eye who was not
+Major Sirr. 'And my lips are sealed! It's a fearsome thing to have to
+watch what's going on, and not dare speak a word of warning. If he
+only didn't know that I take Norah to the mass! Yet I'm bound to do my
+best for the child's soul, though my lord would have her brought up a
+Protestant. Sure Father Daly said I must bring the pet to chapel for
+her soul's sake as well as mine.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Madam Gillin, who was dividing the sheep from the goats in the
+matter of faded frippery in an untidy cupboard, resigned herself to
+unwonted meditation, with lines of gravity about her mouth which
+seldom rested there, as she recalled the day some time since, when he
+whom she had looked upon as friend unveiled himself to her in drunken
+frenzy as a viper; when she had stared into his big jolly face with an
+expression that had sobered him, while he explained that for the
+future she must do as she was bidden, or else all sorts of penalties
+would swoop upon her for tampering with the religion of a Protestant.
+On that occasion he fairly terrified her, and she kept the secret as
+to his being a viper in disguise, though it sickened her to think of
+it o' nights. She recalled the scene now for the thousandth time, and
+shuddered; and her best frock slipped out of her hands on the dirty
+floor while she contemplated that genial pleasant boon companion as
+she and only a few others knew him. Norah found her standing absently
+among crumpled gauzes when she returned from a jaunt to Dublin, and
+rallied her mother on her looks, with a smacking kiss like a
+whip-crack.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have ye heard a banshee, mamma?' she asked. 'See! I've done all the
+commissions. Feathers a foot long, lovely flowers for our skirts, and
+gloves to cover the elbow. I met Shane upon the road, and we went
+together; but I could not wheedle him into coming to the ball, though
+I did my best. He said the grand ladies frightened him--bored him more
+likely. He's mighty timid for a Blaster. It's a wonder he's not afraid
+of <i>me</i>.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the girl surveyed herself archly in the glass, she perceived why
+her lover feared her not. Indeed there was little of the grand style
+about the colleen. A rosy cheek; a liquid merry eye; a large ripe
+mouth, and an impudent upturned nose. No classical belle was poor
+Norah--only a healthy, comely wench--just such an one as would be
+likely to enchain a man with no loftier aspirations than Glandore's.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though mamma was inclined to be glum, her daughter was in the highest
+spirits; for before her was the delicious prospect of the ball (such
+gaieties were becoming rarer and more rare), and she was quite
+convinced, from what Shane had said, that that spiteful cat the
+countess had lied when conversing at Crow Street with Lady Camden. It
+was true, certainly, that he was going away for a few weeks. It
+appeared that he had duties to perform, and she liked him too well to
+stand in the way of his duties. But as to that sinful, deceitful,
+odious story about bringing home a bride, the notion was quite too
+foolish. He had sworn as much with entrancing kisses, and was she not
+delighted to believe him? Why, there would be only two ladies of the
+party, he averred. Did his little goose suppose that he could lead his
+own mother to the altar? As for Doreen, the idea was quite as
+preposterous. Her frigid ways and tiresome national wrongs were not to
+his taste at all. Therefore Miss Norah was quite content, though she
+had just bidden her lover farewell. She would see him no more for
+several months, perhaps; for, to avoid attending a ball where
+objectionable fine ladies would congregate, my lord had settled to
+ride as <i>avant courier</i> to Drogheda, to superintend the preparations
+at the inn where my lady and the household were to sojourn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though the volcano was heaving in portentous fashion, society seemed
+of one mind as to dancing jigs upon it to the last. Upon formal
+proclamation of martial law, the yeomanry had thrown off all disguise.
+The squireens were ruffianly through ignorance, their betters through
+self-interest, for it was easy to detect which way the wind was
+blowing. The chancellor was plainly for harsh measures. 'I will make
+these Irish as tame as cats,' he was heard incautiously to say. It was
+to be a war of class against class, in which both parties were
+artistically goaded by dark suspicions and deftly-spread falsehoods.
+Internecine strife is always remarkable for a display of the vilest
+passions. It seems as if the flow of gall is the more bitter from the
+difficulty of first pumping it to the surface. Major Sirr and his gang
+took to prowling in the night-houses--to making evening raids on
+taverns--a species of political crimping which was fruitful of
+brilliant hawls. Lists were even despatched to the Staghouse by Mr.
+Secretary Cooke that the town-major's lambs might study them, and
+'pencil off such as they deemed dangerous to the country.' Bands of
+armed squireens sallied out in the mad frolics begot by drink, to
+'give their opinion' to the disaffected, and the result was such a
+succession of night-brawls that Lord Clare was sorry and hurt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What are we to do with these depraved turbulent creatures?' he
+plaintively inquired of the cabinet. And one and all--Arthur Wolfe
+even reluctantly consenting--admitted that stringent measures were
+imperative, or anarchy would surely supervene. So an order went forth
+that none should appear in Dublin streets after eight o'clock p.m.,
+unless armed with a special permit to do so. The theatres were closed.
+The city was in a state of siege, as though really Hoche were at its
+gates.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this was too dull for my lords and my ladies, who were not given
+to reading books, and had no intention that annoyance should fall upon
+themselves. They met for cards at one another's houses, their sedans
+protected by retinues of servants; but this was a poor pastime to
+folks who were accustomed to the public dances of Fishamble
+Street--the sumptuous entertainments at the Castle. They grumbled that
+this premature alarm was ridiculous. The French were not in Ireland,
+though the 'Shan van Vocht' was wont lyrically to declare at all hours
+of the day that they were on the sea. As for the United Irishmen, they
+were a 'Bugaboo.' With the troops which had been sent over any
+attempted rising could be frustrated at once; but they would not be so
+stupid as to rise--the tongues of these foul-mouthed patriots were
+more killing than their swords. My Lord Clare must be losing his
+nerve, he was not severe enough. They--the lords, urged by their
+ladies--would see that a proper spirit of terror was instilled into
+the scum, so that even if called on by their chiefs to rise, they
+would sit like beaten hounds--their tails between their legs. Lord
+Clare looked at Lord Camden from under his beetling penthouse. Lord
+Camden looked at Lord Clare and hummed, and hawed, and shuffled. For
+the unfortunate gentleman who represented majesty, though he lived as
+much as he could, like some Japanese monarch behind screens, could not
+hide himself so well but that unpleasant speeches reached his ears. He
+had consented tacitly to make a Guy Fawkes of himself, and permit the
+bearers of the pageant to explode malodorous squibs under his nose;
+but when the evil savours choked him he winced in tribulation. He grew
+to hate his tormentor well-nigh as much as the people did, which was
+no little. But Lord Clare's day of triumph seemed in nowise on the
+wane--everything went as he wished it to go. His ruthless bearing had
+made him a despot in the imbecile senate. His colleagues, forgetting
+their rank, their country, and their dignity, yielded to the spell of
+his dictation as a fascinated bird drops before the snake. The letters
+of congratulation which he received from Pitt and others were
+accumulating within his escritoire. So soon as he should have tamed
+the tiger-Irish, how great would his reward be! He saw in the
+distance a vision no longer dim. An English peerage. A position in the
+English House of Lords, where great statesmen should listen to his
+periods--where Nestors should encourage his ambition. There seemed no
+end to the gorgeous vista. Why not some day assume the place of Pitt
+himself, who, though young, was (at least the world said so) eaten up
+by debauchery and excess? And what was there which stood 'twixt
+himself and this glorious prospect? His own country, its interests,
+its safety, its political existence--nothing more! Pooh! Time works
+wonders. Things were going well. If those idiots would only fall upon
+the swords which were held out to them, there was no knowing what
+might not be accomplished. The Hibernian lords and gentlemen were in a
+fair way of exhibiting themselves to the odium of the world. Having
+danced their infernal dance at the bidding of those who clutched the
+purse-strings, they would make a sorry figure when the latter spurned
+them in disgust. What would they do then? Only sink lower still, and
+become more abject, till the pit of degradation should know no deeper
+depth. That was the way to work on them! To hold out threats that
+pensions would not be paid unless certain dirty work was done. To
+declare then that it was much too dirty--that by disobeying
+instructions they had forfeited the right to sit in the presence of
+decent people; that, having gone so far, all sense of respect must be
+abandoned; that, honour being lost, nothing was left to them but
+money; that with their own guilty hands they must cut the throat of
+their legislature, and drown remorse so long as the blood-money should
+last. This was to be the crowning edifice of my Lord Clare's scheme;
+and Mr. Pitt laughed a sardonic laugh as he tied a wet towel round his
+throbbing temples. He had got very drunk and lost at whist, had the
+gay young British premier; but the excellence of this conceit caused
+him to grin, despite his headache.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This Irishman,' he laughed, 'talks monstrous fine about the low ebb
+to which the Irish lords have sunk--forgetting that his own place is
+lower still than theirs; but he does his burrowing with rare ability.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So Lord Clare worked and wormed with consummate diplomacy and tact,
+while those who employed him despised their tool in increasing ratio
+with his success; and Lord Camden's seat of thorns became daily more
+galling, and the silly mice gambolled with a recklessness which
+compelled pity--and old Father Time hurried on, afraid to look behind
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lords and my ladies, finding Dublin very dull, began to vent their
+spleen. The chancellor therefore saw that he must break the ice, which
+had been freezing up too rapidly. He announced, accordingly, that the
+Castle festivities would not be postponed, as had been intended. The
+grand ball, usually given on Christmas Eve, would take place a week
+later instead--no other change would result from the threatening state
+of affairs. Gentlemen, however, were requested to wear their swords;
+for all sorts of rumours were abroad, which the executive sincerely
+hoped were merely the invention of the enemy. How any enemy could be
+so heartless as to plot and conspire against so angelic an executive,
+etc., etc., as usual.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That the great ball was really to take place, was hailed with
+universal delight. Everybody knows St. Patrick's hall--its magnificent
+proportions, the suite of state-rooms to which it leads; the splendid
+staircases, balconies, lobbies; ideal spots for flirtation--or
+conspiracy. All parties, patriotic and the reverse, rejoiced at
+prospect of this <i>fête</i>, for several reasons.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sirr and his Battalion of Testimony were becoming so
+ubiquitous--informers had a way of turning up so unexpectedly--that it
+grew daily more difficult to hit on a place of meeting secure from
+their spying presence. Of course only gentlemen and ladies 'to the
+backbone' could expect to gain admittance to Castle dinners and
+concerts; but with the St. Patrick balls it was otherwise. These
+assemblies bore so official a character that respectable citizens of
+all denominations were certain of receiving an invitation. Lord Clare,
+aware of this, had made his calculations. The United Irishmen were
+sure to be there in force; it would not be his fault if they did not
+flounder into a hole.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was for this ball on New Year's Eve that Norah Gillin had gone
+forth to purchase ribbons and plumes. It was for this ball that my
+Lady Glandore had waited--after which she and Miss Wolfe were to start
+for Donegal, changing their gala-dresses at the first stage upon the
+road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sara, who burned to see Robert and hear how his red-hot speech at the
+debating society had been received, importuned her father with unusual
+eagerness to take her to this ball. Was his little primrose becoming
+worldly? he inquired, with a gloomy smile. No, no! Twinkling feet
+should go with light hearts. Whose hearts might be light at this awful
+crisis? His girl must stop at home and say her prayers for Erin, and
+he would soothe himself and her by strains on the violoncello. That
+instrument was constantly in his hand now, whenever he was at home;
+and folks trembled as they passed by at night, for sure such dreadful
+sounds must come from the damned in agony!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mr. Curran was exceeding sick at heart. His friend Wolfe upbraided him
+constantly for too openly opposing Government; whilst, on the other
+hand, anonymous letters arrived by dozens, abusing him for
+lukewarmness in the cause. He shook his head at the latter, muttering,
+as he tossed them into the fire, 'Blind fools! Mine is the waiting
+game. Ye'll be glad enough by-and-by that I stood neutral!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But on the morning of the 29th a report came to the lawyer's ears
+which filled him with amazement. He put aside his beloved violoncello,
+and trotted to Dublin to see Emmett, Russell, Bond. The report was
+true, he found. Vainly he argued and protested--vowed that to save
+them from their madness he must go and tell Lord Clare. No! He would
+not betray them, but would go and intercede. The chancellor was not at
+home to him, though he saw him come from behind a curtain; so,
+retiring disconsolately to the Priory, he bade Sara fetch out her
+gewgaws, as he must even take her to the Castle after all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">St. Patrick's hall was crowded when he and his child entered it--she
+in a white muslin dress, with a single frilling round its short skirt,
+a scarf of soft green about her neck, for the night was bitter, and
+the dancing-room beset by draughts. It was a gay assemblage, for
+General Lake (who had arrived recently) and all his staff were present
+in glittering English uniforms, which were not to be outdone in
+splendour by the officers of Irish militia. Even Mr. Curran's
+unmartial figure was buckramed in gold and scarlet, for was not he too
+an officer of the Lawyer's corps, which forbade its members to wear
+mufti?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The national love of parade showed strongly in the martial costume
+which the sons of Erin donned. Sumptuous embroidery was scattered
+with a lavish hand over cuffs, high collars, padded breasts, and
+tight-fitting pantaloons; while some regiments, whose colonels
+boasted of picturesque proclivities, were grand in the matter of
+shoulder-knots and becoming scarves around the waist. The effect was
+enhanced by contrast, for metal ornaments were little used at that day
+to adorn the dresses of the fair, who with towering ostrich feathers,
+silken fillets, lofty wreaths of flowers, could afford to resign to
+their lords and masters the glories of gold and silver. Variety of
+texture, too, heightened the fine effect; for whilst men were swathed
+quite stiff in gold-laced coats and voluminous cravats, young ladies
+wore as little as possible, and that of thinnest gauze or crape, and
+their mammas the scantiest quantity of shot or patterned silk.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The scene was the more animated for the strangeness of its component
+parts. Irish patriotic belles were putting forth all their attractions
+to pump young English exquisites--aides-de-camp to Lake or
+Abercromby--to entrap them into unguarded statements, which might
+convey useful information to their brothers. General Lake himself was
+literally besieged by beauty, who lavished before that vain person the
+fascination of neat ankles, the flash of diamond eyes, the charms of
+pouting bosoms--in order to wring from him, in spite of caution, some
+hint of the intentions of the military. This was a game open to both
+parties. Aides-de-camp were instructed to ensnare their partners as to
+the plans of the United Irishmen; to discover, if possible, under the
+mask of innocent flirtation, who the acting delegates were, what were
+their views, their capacities, their characters; but it must be
+admitted that the weak sex generally had the best of it, for
+hot-headed youth is apt to be distracted by externals, and the costume
+of the period was characterised by peculiarities which were calculated
+to mislead young men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This practice of seeking the society of political opponents for the
+purpose of discovering secrets, and of frustrating designs by sly
+hand-pressure or furtive kissing behind doors, was one quite after the
+burrowing heart of the astute lord chancellor, who stood smiling by
+the side of the throne, his dapper figure clothed in official costume,
+his neat limbs displaying their roundness in black silk breeches and
+stockings. He was chatting with my Lady Glandore, who with Doreen
+sat close to Lady Camden, directing her attention to some prettier
+girl than usual--(where are more to be found than in the Irish
+capital?)--some peculiar headdress or <i>outré</i> garment. Nothing could
+seem more guileless than he, as he busied his pure soul with
+trifles--the colour of a shoe--the fashion of a sash. When Curran and
+Sara entered he changed colour, muttering ere he recovered himself:
+'What brings him here, I wonder?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was not left long in suspense; for the lawyer bowed before the
+Viceroy, made straight for my lady's bench, and having deposited Sara
+by Doreen, began to speak abruptly in undertones.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I tried to see you to-day, my lord, and could not. We were friends
+once, though it is long since we quarrelled. Yet I feel impelled to
+make one more protest. You are driving this unhappy country to the
+brink of a great tragedy. You, and you alone, are responsible for
+this. It is not yet too late, but to-morrow it may be. Reflect, Lord
+Clare, while yet there's time!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran grasped the chancellor's arm in his earnestness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you refer to the United Irishmen?' drawled the latter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not despise your enemy, my lord. That association at first was
+small,' pursued Curran, 'the earth seemed to drink it as a rivulet. A
+thousand streams, through the secret windings of the earth, found
+their way to one source and swelled its waters; it is prepared now to
+burst forth as a great river--what will its cataracts not sweep away?
+It is you, my lord, who will have aggravated sedition into rebellion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Dear, dear!' smiled Lord Clare. 'Do you, too, listen to their
+claptrap? I say to you, as I've said openly all along, nothing can be
+more lenient than the executive! We stand simply on the defensive. I
+don't mind telling you in confidence,' he continued, eyeing his
+companion askance, 'that there is a plot which is to be carried out at
+this very ball to-night, for kidnapping his excellency and your humble
+servant, and locking us up somewhere quite cosy and comfortable.
+Audacious and clever, is it not? Yes, we have all the details--indeed,
+we had them yesterday, which may account to you for the muster of
+troops in the yard below, and the display of scarlet on the stairs and
+in the corridors. Clever, but, oh dear, how wild! I hope for their own
+sakes that the troops will daunt them; for nothing could come of this
+but an unseemly scuffle which would distress the ladies. Would you
+like to hear the rest of the plot? If these fools shall succeed in
+possessing themselves of our valuable carcases, a rocket is to be sent
+up from the corner of Ormond's quay, when two parties will start
+simultaneously--one to seize the artillery at Chapelizod, the other to
+surprise Newgate and Kilmainham. You look astonished. Well you may,
+for it is indeed astonishing.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran looked deeply pained, but made no reply. The chancellor's cold
+flippant tones pierced his heart like knives. How could a band of
+unwary, warm-hearted, impulsive fellows, who were prepared to dare all
+for motherland, cope with this hard calculating schemer? Truly, it was
+well for them that <i>he</i> was there. The feeblest arm may be nerved by
+wrong for miracles. It was news of this rash project which had changed
+his plans as to the ball. He saw at a glance that it was
+impracticable. He had explained this to those whom it concerned; that
+it was an impossible compromise between those of the Directory who
+wished to wait, and those others who were for commencing a regular war
+this winter, which could be productive of nothing but disaster. The
+enthusiasm of the delegates had simply exasperated him. The God of
+battles, they said, was always on the side of right! Was He? Such had
+not been the experience of Mr. Curran's schooling. All he could do was
+to intercede with those in power--to make a final call on their
+humanity; and if that failed, humbly to bend the knee to Providence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was moving away when Lord Clare stopped him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mr. Curran,' he said, with a winning show of teeth, 'as you said, we
+once were friends; why not again? It's not my fault, mind. The heroic
+rôle no doubt is charming; but, believe me, fitted more for
+adolescence than for men in middle life. You aim at becoming the
+champion of the oppressed. You will come to grief with them, I fear.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In a general intoxication the most grievous of offenders is he who
+passes the cup, refusing to be degraded,' snapped the lawyer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Rebuking by importunate sobriety the indecent revelry around--eh, Mr.
+Curran?' laughed the chancellor. 'That's a fit finish to your period,
+I think. What a mistake it is when orators forget that they are not
+always addressing juries or constituents.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the lawyer plunged into the crowd, Lord Clare muttered:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Damn him, he can't be bought; let us try what traps will do.' Then
+cried with the artlessness of infancy, 'Miss Wolfe! Miss Wolfe! What
+makes you look so animated? The statue has come to life while I've
+been gossiping with that eccentric friend of ours.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Pupil of Machiavelli! He knew as well as did Doreen, though his back
+was turned--for he had a way of looking aslant like a hare--that a
+party of young men had just appeared in the grand doorway, who not
+long since were suffering as traitors. Tom Emmett and his associates
+presented themselves before their natural enemy, the Viceroy; then
+retired into a side-room to deliberate. Things were going wrong, yet
+the Emmetts did not despair. Tom had fought with all his might in
+council against the kidnapping scheme--in vain--and was no little
+relieved when he discovered that the massing of troops about the
+Castle had rendered this plot abortive. As they marched up the grand
+staircase the delegates scrutinised each soldier who stood upright and
+impassive on each step. One hummed between his teeth of a 'green
+bough,' but met with no response. The executive fell into no errors.
+These soldiers, ostensibly placed there as a new spectacle for Dublin
+eyes, belonged to a regiment just landed, who could not by any
+possibility know aught about a green bough, or care about it, or
+bestow mysterious sidewinks upon such as chose to babble of it. The
+mine had through treachery of some sort been countermined. Those two
+parties who were waiting in ambush for a signal must wait and shiver
+in the cold; there could be no starting either for Chapelizod or
+Kilmainham. Perhaps they would all agree now to place firmer faith in
+their chief--to trust to the judgment of him who stood in the shoes of
+Tone. Why, the French might be under weigh by this time. A pretty
+thing it would be if upon his landing Hoche found the ground already
+cut from beneath his feet by the precipitancy of his Irish allies!
+They had been awaiting intelligence for weeks. Terence would return
+anon with news--something tangible on which to build up future
+edifices.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At mention of Terence a shade of coldness came over the faces of some
+of the young men. Cassidy--who was in splendid military garb, which
+made his stalwart figure look like a modern Mars--had joined them on
+their entry; and chid them severely now for daring to be suspicious of
+Mr. Crosbie.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What matters it,' he asked, 'about his brother's views? Brothers
+usually take up opinions as diametrically opposed as possible, as
+though to establish a family balance.' He himself who spoke, whom none
+would presume to suspect, had angled after Councillor Crosbie as an
+invaluable accession to their ranks; had angled in vain for long,
+till the Orr atrocity had roused even him. He, Cassidy, their old
+boon-companion, who would give his lifeblood for any of them, would go
+bail for the honesty of Terence. 'His honesty, forsooth! The suspicion
+was ludicrous. What had he to gain by joining them, in proportion
+with what he lost? He, an aristocrat, who might be Earl of Glandore
+to-morrow--his brother being the fighting champion of the Cherokees.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert followed suit with grateful glances at Cassidy. 'Their faith
+had been shaken by Miss Wolfe, than whom there was no patriot more
+earnest. But they must remember that Miss Wolfe, masculine and shrewd
+as by whiffs she seemed, was a woman who was, like all women, guided
+by her heart rather than her head. Terence, for aught he knew, might
+have been worshipping at some other shrine than hers, which, to a
+woman's mind, would be quite excuse enough for allowing private malice
+to trip up public good. Terence had been his (Robert's) friend for
+years. Aye, and Tom's too. They must beg the members of the Irish
+Directory to avoid hasty decisions which afterwards they might repent.
+Terence should have been back ere this, no doubt; but when he did
+arrive he would show good reason for delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This discussion was carried on in whispers in the little drawing-room
+through which a flirting couple strolled now and then on the way to
+the buffet. Therefore Cassidy, who of late had begun to assume a
+whimsically patriarchal air in his communion with the delegates,
+because he was by a few years their senior, thought it prudent to
+stroll up and down the room now and again, lest haply his ubiquitous
+friend Sirr should be lurking behind a shutter, or the lord chancellor
+himself be squatting under a chair. The situation, to our modern
+minds, is well-nigh impossible to realise. Traitors wandering close
+under the viceregal nose, which they had arranged that very night to
+tweak; traitors who were marked men, yet who were allowed to be at
+large; who made no pretence to loyalty, who openly admitted that they
+panted to see the tricolour; that when this hour should come their
+vengeance would be like a thunderbolt. Spies, too, in all directions,
+and families rent in twain by greed of gold, and rare examples of
+honesty. Brothers against brothers, fathers against sons, daughters
+against mothers; yet all dancing and smirking together on the powder
+magazine which might be fired at any moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy deemed it prudent to keep watch and ward, to be sure that no
+eavesdroppers were listening to the squabbles of the delegates; and,
+in wheeling his big body round, caught sight of a new figure entering
+the ball-room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Could it be? Terence! returned from Cork, looking handsome and well in
+the dress of the Lawyer's corps. The jealous giant ground his teeth as
+he marked him pressing gently through the crowd to make his bow,
+smiling his bright smile to his numerous friends, then turning to the
+left to where his relations sat. Doreen affected not to see him,
+Cassidy perceived with glee. She would not speak to him at all. She
+was busy arranging Sara's scarf about her neck. This was prime. He
+must see what happened next. Alas! the devil gets hold of the best
+of us through jealousy! So, whispering, 'Whisht! boys--here's
+Terence--returned!' he hurried to observe what was passing, pursued
+shortly after by the others, who for a second had been transfixed by
+the sudden appearance of the man about whose conduct they were
+quarrelling.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hope you enjoyed yourself at Cork. The sea-breeze has done you good,'
+my lady was saying in frigid accents to her son; for she resented the
+unfailing good-humour of this boy who was always respectfully dutiful,
+as if he were not the seed of his mother's long remorse. It was the
+thought of him that had sent the crows to plough furrows on her face;
+that kept her awake sometimes all through the dreary night. If he had
+only reviled her, she would have preferred it to this studied
+courtesy. If he would only complain--but her conscience was leading
+her astray. He knew nothing, except that she loved him not. Why should
+he revile her? She had promised Lord Clare to caution him about his
+conduct; therefore she asked him to sit beside her. But for once he
+appeared undutiful, for he hurriedly postponed the invitation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I want to talk to you, Terence; sit by me,' she said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Presently, mother,' he answered. 'I will come back by-and-by; there
+is business that must be seen to.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then turning his back on her, he looked towards Doreen. She was so
+much occupied with that scarf of Sara's that it engrossed all her
+attention. She would not look up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have come back, Doreen,' he whispered. 'Have you nothing to ask
+me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She raised her brown eyes to his for a moment. 'Nothing!' she said,
+then resumed her occupation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Biting his lip he turned away, to be received in the exuberant embrace
+of his dear Cassidy, behind whom came trooping Tom Emmett and Robert;
+Russell, Bond, and others hanging back waveringly, as if not quite
+certain how they should act. Was he not an aristocrat? Had not Miss
+Wolfe warned them? Was it not too likely that he should be playing a
+double game? How difficult a task it was to separate friends from
+foes!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence, despite his cousin's ill-humour, was in great spirits.
+Eagerly he conducted his friends into a remote boudoir. He was dying
+to tell his news, and to hear theirs. So earnest was he, so strong a
+ring of truth was in his voice, that the delegates could doubt no
+more. Bond, Russell, gathered round as anxiously as the two Emmetts.
+Cassidy's broad visage was alight with grins. He slapped his thigh in
+huge delight as Terence unfolded his budget. He had been treated with
+every civility at Brest. Hoche, his fears removed, was taking up the
+matter with all his might; his rival, young Buonaparte, was getting on
+too well. Both these generals were straining every nerve to outstrip
+each other. The Irish envoy had seen Tone in his uniform as général de
+brigade. He was to sail in the expedition aboard the <i>Indomptable</i>.
+The force was of fifteen sail of the line, ten frigates, and seven
+transports. There was some diversity of opinion as to the plan to be
+pursued, for Admiral Gardner was cruising in the Channel with the
+English fleet, and, crowded as the ships were with troops, it was well
+to avoid a sea-fight if possible. The message to the Irish Directory
+was that their allies might be expected at any moment--<i>where</i>, it was
+impossible to say--for much would depend on events, and it was taken
+for granted that on the first signal the country would rise <i>en
+masse</i>. Terence, indeed, was surprised that nothing had yet taken
+place, for when he left Brest on the 10th all was ready, the men
+embarked--thirteen thousand strong--the état-major prepared to follow.
+He, the envoy, had been compelled to travel through England, which had
+delayed his coming; but he had ridden as fast as possible, lest all
+should be over before he could arrive.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Started at last!' exclaimed Robert, full of glee.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ready to start twenty days ago!' ejaculated Emmett, with a long face.
+'Please God no evil has befallen them.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The conspirators looked one at the other uneasily. What if that
+English fleet should have intercepted the convoy?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'They've bin weather-bound,' Cassidy declared with confidence. 'Bad
+news flies quickly. If the English had done anything, we should have
+had them crowing over us long since.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There were fogs in the Channel, I remarked that,' assented Terence.
+'I went down into the great cabin of the <i>Indomptable</i> on the evening
+of the tenth, to wish the officers God-speed. It was an exhilarating
+spectacle. The ceiling was a mass of firelocks; the candlesticks were
+bayonets, stuck in the table. A fine band was playing the
+&quot;Marseillaise;&quot; the officers, in full fig, were lounging about, some
+playing cards, some singing to the time--all full of hope. As my boat
+rowed me away, the effect of the grand hymn on the water, diminishing
+as the black hull seemed flitting into haze, was delicious. It is
+surprising, though, that they delay so long.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The colloquy was interrupted by a general move to supper. It might
+create suspicion if they were to stand too long aloof from the
+company.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Arthur Wolfe plucked Curran by the sleeve, as he met him, in
+mid-stream, and whispered in his ear:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I saw you talking to Lord Clare. Ye've not been insulting him, I
+trust? Take the advice of your friend. Do not make an enemy of him,
+for he'll have it all his own way by-and-by, depend on it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran shrugged his shoulders with contempt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Intelligence of some sort has arrived,' continued the
+attorney-general, gravely. 'Lord Camden was called away half an hour
+ago, and sent presently for Clare, who was rubbing his hands and
+smiling when the two came back again. I overheard him say, &quot;With your
+permission, I'll announce it after supper. It will make a good
+impression.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It's something cruel, then,' returned Curran, sadly. 'It's always
+something cruel when the chancellor looks pleased!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Supper was served in the picture-gallery which adjoins St. Patrick's
+hall, and it was a splendid <i>coup d'&#339;il</i> that met your eye as you
+crossed the threshold. Two long lines of snowy cloth, illuminated by
+myriads of wax-lights in massive silver candelabra, vanished in
+perspective like the iridescent path cloven by a ship at night-time.
+Great piles of fruit and flowers gave relief to the scarlet and gold
+masses of the uniforms, broken as they were, in regular sequence, by
+the plumes and dresses of the ladies; whilst the general richness of
+effect was still further heightened by dark rows of feathery palms and
+large-leaved shrubs, which served as a sombre background.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the centre of the chief table, the Countess of Glandore occupied
+the place of honour beside the Viceroy, faced by Lord Clare, with Lady
+Camden on his right and Doreen on his left. On glancing down the
+table, my lady perceived with rage that the chances of the rush had
+placed Sara upon one side of Terence, while--(was this accident, or
+fate?)--the other was occupied by Madam Gillin! The young man seemed
+highly amused by his elderly companion, who--two monstrous ostrich
+feathers nodding over her the while--was vowing by her soul and body
+that she couldn't touch another skelp of jelly--no, not the tiniest
+wee bit--unless somebody fed her with a spoon; which Terence, entering
+into the humour of the situation, proceeded immediately to do, amid
+the laughter and applause of all his neighbours.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The human animal being apt to run after bellwethers, it may be looked
+upon as natural that this strange conduct of a respectable matron was
+speedily imitated by the girls. They vowed one and all, at this end of
+the table, with a unanimity which looked like an epidemic, that they
+must be fed with spoons; and fed they were accordingly, by amorous
+sons of Mars, whose blood bubbled to their brains at close contact
+with perfumed curls; whilst their cheeks glowed, fanned by fragrant
+breath, and their eyes were dazzled by snowy busts thrown back, their
+nerves thrilled by fairy little kicks from elfin feet and pinches from
+pink fingers, in the course of this bringing-up by hand of grown-up
+bantlings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Claret and champagne assisting, it must be admitted that at this end
+of the table the hilarity was more joyous than genteel. My lady looked
+thitherward several times with frowns, for in her day men, when they
+worshipped Bacchus, did so when the ladies had withdrawn. Then it
+mattered little what jests were bandied, what coarse freedom used. But
+it shocked her that a sabbat such as this should take place in the
+presence of his Majesty's representatives, of high-born dames and
+dowagers, of young girls who were presumably innocent, and that her
+own son should set it going.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That boy is a thorn in my side,' she reflected, with grim resentment.
+'He has never brought me anything but trouble from the moment of his
+birth till now. I promised to reason with him, and he has declined
+even to hear me speak. On his own shoulders then let the burthen of
+the future lie.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess of Glandore, stung by the humiliation which her pride was
+just then suffering, irritated as it was by the canker which had
+poisoned the maternal milk in her breast so long, almost wished, in a
+throb of wickedness, that her second-born might entangle himself
+irrevocably. Her evil monitor whispered that if he were to die or
+disappear, the numbing dread which had sallowed her life would be
+buried in his grave. So are we impelled by little puffs of wind, when
+we have once started in the ice-sleigh down the slippery incline hewn
+out like a steel ribbon, our vision blinded by snow swirls and the
+rapidity of transit, till with amaze we find ourselves at the bottom
+with a jerk, not knowing what urged us on the road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Madam Gillin had convinced her beau that she could take no more
+jelly without choking, he desisted from his well-meant efforts, and
+the two began to converse on a pleasantly easy-going basis.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Indeed, ye're a strapping chap,' she declared, with a tap of her fan
+and a great laugh, 'although ye're a bad neighbour. I like your face,
+and I'm a quare body. Would ye make me a promise now, just to plase a
+fanciful old woman? I wouldn't have an oath, there are too many,
+about, worse luck! Ye would? Promise me, then, on your honour, that if
+ever ye get into a scrape, in which I can be of service, ye'll come to
+the Little House? Now didn't I say I was a quare woman, and you almost
+a stranger? You're a lad of your word, I know.' Then she added,
+exchanging her tone of banter for a serious whisper: 'Maybe I know
+more of ye than ye think, with the lock of hair cut away behind. Ye've
+taken up the cause. Bedad, I can't blame ye, though I'm sad for your
+sake. Mum's the word. We're strangers till you need me. Hush! They are
+watching us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence had scarcely recovered his surprise at the eccentric conduct
+of Madam Gillin, before there was a clattering of glasses and a hum,
+then a dead stillness of respect, for the Viceroy had risen on his
+legs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He mumbled slavish platitudes anent the virtues of his gracious
+Majesty. No doubt everybody present was in the habit of reading the
+<i>Gazette</i>. Of course they were, for they loved their sovereign, and
+were thankful for the privilege of watching, with respectful awe, his
+daily movements. He was at Weymouth, indulging in warm baths; so was
+her Majesty Queen Charlotte, and so likewise were their august
+children the Princesses. For his part, he, the unworthy representative
+of so perfect and enlightened and generally admirable a monarch, could
+scarcely peruse without tears the simple bulletin of that household.
+'This morning the Princess Amelia walked, with her gouvernante, on the
+sands, to study the wonders of the shore. The Princesses Augusta and
+Elizabeth rode for two hours, on their Shetland ponies, whilst their
+Majesties were enjoying a bath!' Indeed it was a high privilege for a
+nation to have daily before its eyes so pure and noble an example of
+unsullied virtue, of innocent enjoyment and sterling worth. With
+heartfelt thankfulness for the blessing bestowed by Providence, he
+would propose the health of 'The King and Queen--God bless them!'
+upstanding, with all the honours.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All this time claret and champagne had been freely going the rounds.
+The roses had deepened from pink to damask on the cheeks of the Dublin
+fair--the young officers of yeomanry and militia had reached the stage
+of aberration which follows thirst and precedes coma. Standing on
+their chairs the better to let loose their bursting loyalty, they
+drank the health of their Majesties; whilst others--amongst whom some
+of our friends were--raised their glasses with a flourish, muttering
+as they did so, 'Remember Orr!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence, with his arm round Sara, who shrank at the uproarious din,
+took her glass, and, pressing to his lips the place where hers had
+touched it, whispered in her ear--then in that of Madam Gillin: 'To
+the diffusion of Light--may it break upon us soon!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then--silence being with difficulty restored--Lord Clare stood up to
+speak.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He surveyed the assemblage for a moment, casting his eagle eye on one
+and then another as though to consider how best to touch the
+sympathies and flick the raws of so incongruous a gathering. The
+attention of all was riveted on his smiling face, for a murmur had
+flitted along the lines like a breeze over corn, which was an echo of
+Arthur Wolfe's surmise. There was something behind--some intelligence
+of moment--the divulging of which the all-powerful lord chancellor had
+expressly reserved to himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is nearly twelve o'clock,' he said at length, in the rasping voice
+which set so many people's teeth on edge. 'We have gone through a year
+of trouble and anxiety, and are on the eve of a new one, which, I
+trust, will prove vastly different from that which is now dying. I
+will venture to propose a toast to you--gentlemen and ladies
+all--which may at first seem a riddle--but which you will, I know, all
+join with me in drinking, trusting to a satisfactory solution. I beg
+you to drink to the Wind.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chancellor paused--one white hand upon his hip--to mark the effect
+of his exordium. Young' officers banged applause upon the table, not
+knowing why they did it, save that the leading spirit who guided
+them seemed to expect the silence to be broken. Arthur Wolfe made
+bread-pills with feverish absentness. Curran placed his hand behind
+his ear, and leaned forward with impatient anxiety. Doreen sat, her
+hands folded in her lap, staring before her into space.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I give you the Wind,' the chancellor went on, with the clear coldness
+of a glacier rivulet 'because those who deplore the evil which has
+gathered of late like a mist over our unhappy country, will have to
+thank the wind for driving it away, and leaving a clear atmosphere.
+Alas! I cannot say that the horizon is as yet quite clear--small
+cloudlets float still upon the waters--but those heavy banks of rain,
+which we have all feared would drench us presently, are in mercy put
+to rout, and it is the wind that we have to thank for it. &quot;The French
+are on the sea, said the Shan van Vocht.&quot; So runs the ditty which was
+in all careless mouths to-day. Well! I am authorised by his
+excellency's goodness to tell you that the French <i>are</i> on the
+sea--but flying back to their native ports by this time in every phase
+of discomfiture and distress.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A pause--while the doves shivered. Girls drew their feet into safety
+under chairs, and pushed away--shuddering--the importunate hands of
+British aides-de-camp.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Some among you,' innocently insinuated the speaker, 'may possibly be
+aware that the French have been preparing for some time past to make a
+descent upon our coasts, and I tell you now (danger being over) that
+supposing they could have evaded the English fleet and landed in
+force, much difficulty might have resulted. But thanks to the wind
+which has blown persistently for days, although they did escape for
+awhile the vigilance of the English admiral, yet are they, by heaven's
+mercy, routed and put to flight, after beating about in the offing for
+well-nigh a week.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again the speaker paused to mark the success of his efforts. Curran,
+like Arthur, was rolling pills of bread upon the tablecloth; the young
+ladies, so demonstratively lively but a few moments before, were
+glancing at each other with blanched lips. Mrs. Gillin was sitting
+bolt upright, her trembling fingers making sad havoc with her fan. A
+low hum of dismay passed along the tables. The sound seemed to tickle
+my Lord Clare's ear. He waited for a moment or so, and fixed his eye
+upon Miss Wolfe as he took up the thread of his discourse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes!' he said with exultation. 'The French fleet has come and gone!
+The menacing danger has faded harmlessly away. It started 15,000
+strong. Tempests arose, such as are always at the beck of Britain when
+invasion threatens her rights, which scattered the Gallic fleet.
+Hoche--who was to do such wonders--was aboard the admiral's ship;
+General Wolfe Tone (who by-the-bye will certainly, though he dubs
+himself general, bring himself to the gallows) was aboard another. The
+flower of Republican valour was packed like herrings between decks.
+Where now are those gawdy cohorts? Making for Brest as fast as fear
+can drive them. I pray that the King's admiral may intercept them in
+their flight!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chancellor's little oration came upon the party like a
+thunderclap. There was no more flirting now, or dallying with taper
+waists. Doreen, at mention of her hero, woke with a start from
+reverie. Her lids quivered for a second, and shrank as though her eyes
+were blinded by the lightning. She cast one wild glance of reproach at
+her cousin--then was herself again--a trifle paler maybe; but
+otherwise the staid, impassive maiden whose grave austerity so awed
+the turbulent squireens. The Emmetts and their friends seemed stunned.
+Their hopes were blasted now, as it appeared, for ever. It would have
+been better not to have waited for tardy assistance so feebly
+administered. At times of deep anguish, thoughts whirl through the
+brain in vivid flashes. Tom Emmett saw at once that the executive had
+won a double victory. The bugbear which had threatened them was
+dissolved and gone. The members of the Irish Directory, who had been
+for acting at once, would turn now upon their comrades with a
+plausible appearance of justice, and revile them for having allowed
+precious moments to slip by. The breach in the national bulwark, which
+had been showing in dangerous fissures, would be rent into chasms
+now--the edifice, which had taken such anxious pains to rear, would
+crumble into dust. It was the oppressor's hour of triumph. Ireland's
+fate was sealed. Such were the gloomy thoughts which crushed the
+leader of the patriots. With the majority of the party present it
+was far otherwise. A mighty huzza shook the rafters--another and
+another--like waves rolling in to shore. The officers of yeomanry and
+militia saw before them a bright perspective of lawlessness, wherein
+the Helots would be handed over to their mercy--to smite, and revile,
+and torture, and kill--wherein their daughters would become a
+legitimate prey, their flocks and herds a booty, their household gods
+an appanage. Now was the time come when it behoved them to display
+their zeal. So thought the squireens, so also thought the lords their
+leaders, who hoped that they might earn extra pensions by accepting
+the bait that was held out. So the glittering assemblage rose with one
+accord--on the chairs--even on the tables, and the luckless professors
+of a different creed were compelled to follow suit, as small stones
+are dashed along at the mercy of the breakers. With shouts, with
+frantic wavings of swords and handkerchiefs--supporting each other as
+they swayed in their excitement---the lord-lieutenant's guests drank
+to the wind, and, at the same time, to the new year, which was thus
+heralded to the Irish capital in noise and drunken tumult.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chancellor had turned up a trump and played it skilfully. With
+smiles on their faces and despair in their hearts, the Dublin belles
+returned to the dancing-hall. But the innate ruffianism of the
+yeomanry officers had been let loose by wine and frenzy. The girls
+fled to their brothers for protection--their excellencies retired to
+their own apartments m a hurry. A youth with down upon his lip seized
+the green scarf of pretty Sara, and wrenched it from her neck with a
+brutal jest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What do you hide?' he gibed. 'That lily bosom may not be hidden by
+the rebel colour--off with it!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The youth sprawled prone at once, felled by a blow between the eyes.
+Sara shrieked, and clung to a protecting arm. It was Terence who had
+knocked him down, and who was soon the centre of a <i>mêlée</i>. Madam
+Gillin's feathers were seen tossing in the throng, while her voice
+added to the hubbub.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In the days of Brian Buroo,' she wailed, 'bejewelled leedies might
+walk alone from one end to t'other of Innisfail! Now, faith, we can't
+be safe even in Pat's hall!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady and Doreen made the best of their way to their coach. The
+soldiers stood in motionless rows upon the stairs, as though there was
+no brawl above. Their captain had hurried to the chancellor to ask if
+he should clear the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No!' was the laughing reply. 'Their blood is hot--a little phlebotomy
+won't hurt them. Let be! let be! It's not a good omen for the year
+though, that it should dawn in bloodshed!'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">AWAY TO DONEGAL.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The countess was much scandalised at the scene from which she had
+escaped, and favoured her niece with decided opinions on the subject,
+as six horses dragged the carriage through the night along the road to
+Drogheda.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This will give you a notion, my dear,' she said, 'of the results of
+letting low people have too much of their own way. I confess that Lord
+Clare's conduct surprises me. If your friends the United Irishmen were
+to obtain the upper hand for a few days, they would disgrace
+themselves and disgust the world. You can't expect wisdom from a
+Helot-class.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was not my friends who misbehaved themselves to-night,' Doreen
+retorted, 'but yours; the vulgar squireens and half-mounted gentry,
+who belong to the dominant party.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'They certainly should have learnt manners from their betters,'
+acquiesced my lady, lowering her standard. She had seen but little of
+the world of late, had been content to view events through coloured
+glasses, and the hasty glimpse of garish daylight which had just
+flashed out saddened and shocked her. She began unconsciously to
+wonder whether Lord Clare had always spoken the truth. It would be
+hard, she felt, to lose faith in her old friend. Then the tangle of
+long-rooted prejudice, parted for an instant, closed round her again.
+'Well, well! the squireens might possibly be more brutish than was
+desirable; but they were at least Protestants, and as such, superior
+to the Helots over whom they tyrannized!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This reflection was a comfort to my lady; for she was not a bad woman,
+but one whose sympathies had been narrowed by the hardness of the
+world, and who had grown as uncharitable as many excellent people are
+who, professing to be more enlightened than their neighbours, are
+certain that they only are right, and all those who differ from them
+wrong.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen lay back on the cushions, too sore in mind and body to carry on
+the argument. All that she could distinctly realise was that hope had
+flown away; that Theobald had been near at hand and was gone; that
+perhaps he had been captured and executed. What must he have suffered
+to have been within touch of motherland, only to be swept back again
+to sea! Hope, forsooth! What is hope? too often but long-drawn
+disappointment in disguise!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The party jerked and jolted over the interminable road. The hostelries
+at Drogheda and Dundalk were full. It was well that my lord had ridden
+forward, for so many families were beginning to steal out of Dublin
+that, as an ostler put it, there was a 'furious penury of beds.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At Derry they were compelled to leave the great family coach, for
+there was only a rough track along each wild bank of Lough Swilly, at
+whose mouth--its feet laved by the Atlantic--stood the island home of
+the pirate earls of Ennishowen. Their yacht lay ready in Rathmelton
+harbour; but Shane said he preferred riding across the bog to Malin
+Head, whence a boat would transport him in no time to Glas-aitch-é;
+and Doreen offered to ride too, even in his company--so anxious was
+she in her numbed condition to divert her thoughts by exercise. My
+lady--her projects being what they were--was little likely to object
+to a prolonged <i>tête-à-tête</i> which might assist in the realisation of
+cherished wishes; but her own riding-days were over, she said. She
+would take the yacht, and would not be sorry of a few hours' solitude.
+Poor mother! She was sacrificing more to her elder-born than he would
+probably ever know, in revisiting the ill-omened place--where that
+which darkened her life had been accomplished--where everything would
+prattle of that past time which it had been a never-ending struggle to
+forget. She desired to look again on the weather-worn parapets and
+slender watch-tower of Glas-aitch-é Castle alone, lest her face should
+betray her feelings, and hint at the secret which had blanched her
+hair before its time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The triangular peninsula which lies 'twixt Lough Swilly and Lough
+Foyle has been known, time out of mind, as Ennishowen; has belonged to
+the pirate earls for centuries, who, by reason of their craft, built
+themselves a fortress years ago on the sea as more convenient than a
+dwelling on mainland. It was a territory well suited to such masters,
+for, by guarding its narrow neck, it could be converted into an
+impenetrable fastness which was protected by sheer cliffs to seaward,
+whilst its internal features rendered it a foolhardy proceeding to
+attempt to invade it from the land side. Hence its population was a
+peculiar one, differing in many respects from the other dwellers in
+Donegal. When James I. planted Ulster with staunch Protestants, the
+ousted Catholics fled, some to Connaught, some to the extreme points
+of the north-western county where nothing flourished but wild birds. A
+large number took refuge in Ennishowen, where they embraced the trade
+of fishing, eking out a precarious existence by rearing flocks of
+geese upon the barren moors, whilst their wives wove frieze for
+clothing. An independent, warm-hearted, frugal, superstitious colony,
+extremely poor but decent, accustomed from the cradle to endure all
+hardships with a cheerful mien, too far removed from the world to know
+aught of Orangeism. Imbued with the clannish feeling which elsewhere
+had nearly vanished, they looked to Glas-aitch-é with reverence as to
+a holy shrine, and fully believed that the bodyguard of Sir Amorey
+were sleeping by their horses in the sea-caves ready to defend the
+fortress if peril dared to threaten it. It was evident that if the
+disease, which Lord Clare was so fond of discussing, should take a
+serious turn in the north, it would be well for the chiefs to be among
+their followers, at least those who were friendly with the Government;
+for a timely word might prevent much trouble--a timely order be of
+incalculable service. My Lord Glandore, then, carried with him the
+blessings of the executive, with sundry vague promises of good things
+in store for him if he showed prudence, and directions as to how his
+time would be best spent; namely, in cajoling the peasants to put
+their shoulders to the wheel for the speedy erection of beacons along
+the seaboard. The recent Gallic escapade (for Hoche's expedition was
+really nothing more) taught the executive a lesson. Happily the fleet,
+or a portion of it, had been driven upon the coast of Bantry, whose
+inhabitants, being disinclined to rebellion, looked on the tricolour
+with the eye of unconcern. But for the blessed wind, the expedition
+might have landed on some more friendly spot, and be half-way to
+Dublin before the Viceroy heard anything about it. The enemy must not
+have such a chance again. Martello towers must be built within short
+distances all round the coast. On the apparition of the tricolour a
+fire must be kindled, which should be the signal for a second on the
+summit of the next tower, and so on; so that in case of danger a
+girdle of fires would encircle the island, warning the soldiery in all
+directions--speeding intelligence to the capital in the twinkling of
+an eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My Lord Glandore was to busy himself with this matter so far as
+Donegal was concerned, and his sense of self-importance was so far
+tickled and amused that for awhile he endured, without too much
+swearing, the temporary separation from his Norah.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So my lady sailed up Lough Swilly, marking the new forts of Rathmullen
+and Knockalla, of Duneen and Inch, which gave to it a resemblance to a
+shark's mouth with teeth set raggedly in either jaw; whilst her son
+and niece started in the twilight before sunrise with a wild ride
+before them of forty miles and more. First they passed rows of
+mud-huts in straggling knots beside the way, which became more sparse
+as they advanced; crazy hovels whose rotten roofs were kept together
+by hay-ropes--thatch dyed to richness by decay, adorned with dry tufts
+of oats and barley, wafted in the summertime from some less forbidding
+spot. Their ears could catch the clicking of a homely loom within as
+they passed, ere the housewife, low-browed and heavy-jowled, came to
+her door to gape at the unusual sight of strangers, an amusement in
+which she was speedily joined by a pack of naked children, then by her
+goodman, who rose as if out of a dung-heap--a dudheen between his
+coarse lips, a long coat of faded homespun on his back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently the road became a mere track upon the heather, which,
+leaving the lough to the left, struck out across the hills inland--a
+wheel-track over a vast expanse of purple prairie, now deep-indented
+in the bog, now barely discernible on a plateau of rock--impression of
+the rude carts of the turf-cutters across the mountains. No human
+dwelling might be seen for miles; no human figure, save perhaps an
+elfish child plying knitting-needles on a stone as she watched her
+herd of geese for fear of foxes--an uncanny, shock-pated pixie who
+seemed half-sister to the herons that were scrutinising their
+portraits in the pools.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mountain succeeded mountain with a great heaving like that of the
+ocean hard-by, sometimes in an unbroken wave of black and russet;
+sometimes rent into a gorge where it had been torn by a strong
+convulsion, with overhanging crags of grey and twisted trees bent awry
+by the sea-blasts. Sometimes in the hazy distance might be detected a
+string of circular stains of a blacker colour than the rest--tarns in
+the moorland, home of the silver trout. Bushy and reedy some--some
+tawny with the paled glories of dead water-lilies. Then would the
+scene change to a bleak spread of stones--flat stones of monster size,
+with rifts like rivulets between, choked thick with feathery herbage.
+It was as though the rubbish left from the creation of the world had
+been carted and shot out there--a secluded medley of unconsidered
+trifles, of no value or consequence to the human race. Then again
+would the stones give place to water--morasses of peat sodden with
+salt ooze which quaked under the weight of the traveller, the
+hoof-marks of his horse bubbling with slimy wash as he splashed on his
+uncertain way; troops of scurrying fowl starting up before him,
+protesting loudly as they fled at the irruption into their cherished
+solitude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Shane and Doreen arrived by-and-by at the summit of a hill-crest, from
+which the northern half of the promontory lay spread like a map before
+them. Just below was a white speck--the village of Carndonagh--beyond,
+a row of lakes, tiny mirrors set in the hill-flank--on either side the
+jagged lines of Loughs Foyle and Swilly, varied with many a peaked
+headland and jutting point and shelving bay scooped out of the living
+rock. In front, a flat stretch on which cloud-shadows were playing
+hide-and-seek--a bopeep dance of subtly-chequered tones; and away
+still farther, looming through the mist, the bluffs of Malin Head, the
+extreme limit, to the north, of Ireland. As they looked, the mists
+melted in eddying swirls of gold, unveiling an expanse of immense and
+lonely sea, dotted with fairy islets strewn in a ravelled fringe--the
+long span of the blue-green Atlantic, marked with a line of white
+where it seethed and moaned and lashed without ceasing against the
+foot of the beetling cliff.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What a lovely spot!' Doreen exclaimed, as she sniffed the brisk
+breeze; 'how wild--how desolate--how weirdly fair! Not the vestige of
+a dwelling as far as eye can reach--except that speck below us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Unpoetic Shane had been busy counting the wildfowl, watching the
+hawks, marking the sublime slow wheeling of a pair of eagles far away
+in ether heavenward. At the call of his cousin he brought his thoughts
+down to earth, and cried out:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'By the Hokey! a nice coast for the French to land upon. I wish them
+joy of it if they try. If they do we shall be in the thick of it, for
+look! You can just discern Glas-aitch-é---that dot in the sea, no
+bigger than a pin's point--between Dunaff and Malin. A fleet would
+have to pass close by us that was making either for Lough Swilly or
+Lough Foyle. But come--a canter down the hill, and we will see what we
+can get to eat. This sharp air gives one a plaguy appetite!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen spoke truly, for Ennishowen is weirdly fair. The atmosphere of
+winter gave the desolation she had passed through a special charm. The
+ponderous banks of rolling steel-grey clouds, which had only just been
+conquered by a battling sun, gave a ghastly beauty to its wildness.
+Dun and steel-grey, sage-green and russet-brown, with here and there a
+bit of genuine colour--a vivid tuft of the Osmunda fern. Such
+chromatic attributes were well in harmony with the intense stillness,
+broken only by the rustle now and then of whirring wings, or the sharp
+boom of the frightened bittern. But beyond Carndonagh the face of
+nature changed--or would have, if it had been summer--for bleak
+elevated moorland and iron gorge vary but little with the season,
+whilst lower-lying districts are more privileged. During the warm
+months the track between Carndonagh and Malin is like a garden--an
+oasis of rich, damp, dewy verdure from the ever-dripping vapours of
+the Atlantic--an expanse of emerald mead saturated with the moisture
+of the ocean. Every bush and bank breaks forth in myriad flowers. Each
+tarn is edged with blossom, each path is tricked with glory. It is as
+if Persephone had here passed through the granite-bound gates of hell,
+and had dropped her garland at its portals. White starry water-lilies
+clothe the lakelets. The bells of the fuschia-hedges glow red from
+beneath a burthen of honeysuckle and dog-roses; orange-lilies and
+sheets of yellow iris cast ruddy reflections into the streams, while
+purple heather and patches of wild heartsease vie with each other in a
+friendly struggle to mask the wealth of green.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Strabagy Bay cuts deep into the peninsula. A rider must skirt its edge
+with patience, rewarded now and again by some vision of surprise, as
+he finds himself at a turn in the pathway on the summit of a precipice
+1200 feet above the water, or in a sheltered cove where waves of
+<i>céladon</i> and malachite plash upon a tawny bed. At one point, if the
+tide happens to be in, he must sit and await its ebb; for the only
+passage is by a ford across the sand, which is dangerous to the
+stranger at high-water. Not so to the dwellers in this latitude, for
+they speed like monkeys along the overhanging crags, or like the
+waddling penguins and sea-parrots that are padding yonder crannies
+with the softest down from off their breasts for the behoof of a yet
+unborn brood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Towards Malin Head the ground rises gradually from a shingly beach
+till it breaks off abruptly to seaward in a sheer wall of quartz and
+granite--a vast frowning face, vexed by centuries of tempest, battered
+by perennial storms, comforted by the clinging embrace of vegetation,
+red and russet heath of every shade, delicate ferns drooping from
+cracks and fissures, hoary lichens, velvet mosses, warm-tinted
+cranesbill; from out of which peeps here and there the glitter of a
+point of spar, a stain of metal or of clay, a sparkling vein of ore.
+The white-crested swell which never sleeps laps round its foot in
+curdled foam; for the bosom of the Atlantic is ever breathing--heaving
+in arterial throbs below, however calm it may seem upon the surface.
+Away down through the crystal water you can detect the blackened base
+resting on a bank of weed--dense, slippery citrine hair, swinging in
+twilit masses slowly to and fro, as if humming to itself, under the
+surface, of the march of Time, whose hurry affects it not; for what
+have human cares, human soul-travail, human agony, to do with this
+enchanted spot, which is, as it were, just without the threshold of
+the world? The winter waves, which dash high above the bluffs in
+spray, have fretted, by a perseverance of many decades, a series of
+caverns half-submerged; viscous arcades, where strange winged
+creatures lurk that hate the light; beasts that, hanging like some
+villanous fruit in clusters, blink with purblind eyes at the fishes
+which dart in and out, fragments of the sunshine they abhor; at the
+invading shoals of seals, which gambol and turn in clumsy sport, with
+a glint of white bellies as they roll, and a shower of prismatic gems.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In June the salmon arrive in schools, led each by a solemn pioneer,
+who knows his own special river; and then the fisher-folk are busy. So
+are the seals, whose appetite is dainty. Yet the hardy storm-children
+of Ennishowen love the seals although they eat their fish--for their
+coats are warm and soft to wear; their oil gives light through the
+long winter evenings for weaving of stuff and net-mending. There is a
+superstition which accounts for their views as to the seals; for they
+believe them to be animated by the souls of deceased maiden-aunts. It
+is only fair, in the inevitable equalisation of earthly matter, that
+our maiden-aunts should taste of our good things, and that we in our
+turn should live on theirs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A mile from the shore--at Swilly's mouth--stands Glas-aitch-é Island,
+a mere rock, a hundred feet above sea-level, crowned by an antique
+fortress, which was modernised and rendered habitable by a caprice of
+the late lord. At the period which now occupies us, it consisted of a
+dwelling rising sheer from the rock on three sides; its rough walls
+pierced by small windows, and topped by a watch-tower, on which was an
+iron beacon-basket. The fourth side looked upon a little garden,
+where, protected by low scrub and chronically asthmatic trees, a few
+flowers grew unkempt--planted there by my lady when she first visited
+the place as mistress. On this side, too, was a little creek which
+served as harbour for the boats--a great many boats of every sort and
+size; for the only amusement at Glas-aitch-é was boating, with a cast
+for a salmon or a codling now and again, and an occasional shot at a
+seal or cormorant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady arrived there in the yacht, and spent her afternoon alone as
+she wished, for it was late at night before Shane and Doreen were
+rowed across--the latter wearied by the long ride, but calmed in
+spirit by communing with nature.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was with a gloomy face and set lips that the Countess of Glandore
+wandered from room to room, all damp and chill from long neglect, each
+chair and table telling its own tale, each faded carpet and curtain
+whispering of the hated past, with its desperate anguish of
+humiliation. For this was the heart-chord which twanged most painfully
+in my lady's breast upon revisiting the place again. 'Set right the
+wrong while yet there is time'--how often had that wailing cry echoed
+in her ears! Yet while there still was time that wrong was never
+righted; for my lady had been so humbled, so abased, so utterly
+wrenched and mangled, during the year she had dwelt upon that island
+with my lord, that she revolted, with indignant protest, at a
+possibility of having to traverse the dark Valley of the Shadow yet
+again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she looked at the chairs and tables, the whole bitterness of that
+degradation flooded back on her. She recalled how, sobbing on that
+sofa, she had prayed for death with scorching tears; how, standing by
+that casement, the sublime panorama of Donegal had been shut out by
+boiling drops of agony.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She sat down on an old chair, and looked back upon her life since last
+she touched its worm-eaten woodwork. A life lulled sometimes to a half
+forgetfulness, which was nearer to positive happiness than she ever
+expected to attain. The reflection returned again and again to her,
+that what had been done was my lord's fault, not hers--that she had
+acquiesced as the weaker vessel, and had washed her hands of the
+consequences. But then, several times, her peace had been rudely
+broken by vague terror of troubles renewed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Would she be able to avert them? Would her puny woman's arm be strong
+enough to grapple with Fate? Events certainly looked threatening.
+Terence had involved himself in a forlorn hope. What if he should
+fall? My lady rose hastily, and flinging wide the window, panted there
+for breath. She realised, with a tingling horror of abasement, that if
+he fell, her own burthen would be lightened--that far away, muffled in
+her inmost soul, there was a voice babbling a hint that it would be a
+mercy if he fell. Her own son! It was a mother's inner voice that
+spoke! She pressed her face helplessly upon the tattered curtain, as
+she had used to do when imploring a release, and groaned aloud--it was
+well that the others had not yet arrived.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, her mental vision sharpened by this pang, she wandered on,
+oblivious of the stories murmured by the tables and the chairs--for
+she was peering with all her might into the future now. Things were
+going crooked. There could be no denying that. She had schemed for the
+best. What would come of her scheming? Shane was deplorably difficult
+to manage--looked so like his father sometimes when angered, that she
+recoiled as she remembered the expression of his visage when she
+moaned over her fate to him upon this very spot all those years ago.
+He grew daily more difficult to manage, did Shane; because he was a
+Cherokee, a Hellfire; and it stands to reason that an important
+attribute for a Hellfire to cultivate must be a scorn of maternal
+lecturing and fiddlefaddle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lady Glandore (taught by a rough apprenticeship) quite admitted this;
+but looked forward now with satisfaction to the taming his spirit
+would undergo through a judiciously prolonged residence on a barren
+rock, with no one to uphold him in resistance to her will. Here he had
+no bully-Blasters to oppose a check to her influence. He would have
+nobody to talk to but the fisherfolk, save when he sailed down the
+lough to Letterkenny to be entertained by the squireens in garrison.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She did not fear their influence--poor country oafs! She gauged the
+inherent weakness of Shane's nature, which cloaked itself under a mask
+of fierceness; she knew his overbearing, swashbuckling ways would sink
+into a minor key of mewing if they had no encouraging sympathy from
+without. She knew better than really to believe that 'absence makes
+the heart grow fonder.' Nonsense! The heart is too selfish a thing to
+feed long upon itself or shadows. If she could only manage to keep
+Shane here long enough, he would become as meek as a lamb, and would
+cease to bleat of Norah in his dreams.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On one side things were going crooked, no doubt, but on the other they
+were preternaturally straight. Could they be expected to remain so?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Arthur Wolfe, whose self-interest told him to stay on in Dublin and
+watch events, was only too thankful to throw a responsibility on his
+sister (in whom he trusted), who, oddly enough, was gracious as to the
+burthen. He might have been compelled to leave Ireland for Doreen's
+sake--to take her away out of a false position, and so sacrifice the
+opportunity of rapid advancement, which is the marked characteristic
+of a turbulent time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this difficulty was got rid off by packing the girl off to
+Donegal. He could drift where expediency drove, unshackled, to add to
+his darling's fortune. Nothing could be more satisfactory to her
+father's peace of mind; nothing could jump better with my lady's
+long-established plan of joining these two incongruous cousins in holy
+matrimony. Shut up in idleness in Glas-aitch-é (for the building of
+Martello towers could not really engross his attention), what else
+could he do but fall a victim to the charms of his handsome cousin?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One little ghost of doubt yet lingered in my lady's mind, which she
+did her best to exorcise. Doreen was dreadfully pigheaded. What if
+moping were to render her more obstinate? She was not a Blaster or a
+Cherokee, but a stern-browed damsel, with much romance, tempered by a
+little common-sense, and an awkward tendency to rely upon her own
+judgment. Being a woman, too, she would probably detect at once
+another woman's web, such as might hope to escape the scrutiny of male
+observation. Was it possible that she might choose to upset all her
+aunt's elaborate scaffolding, after all?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She had her own reasons for determining to tie Shane, wealthy Lord
+Glandore though he might be, to somebody with money. What a pity that
+he declined polite society, where complaisant heiresses were to be met
+with who would joyfully take his coronet, and afterwards obey his
+mother. Circumstances had so ordained it that there was absolutely no
+available or possible heiress for him but this stiff-necked Catholic.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It is exasperating, is it not, to mark how people persist in opposing
+that which others think is best for them? The prejudiced, warped
+Countess of Glandore must have had urgent motives indeed for the
+prosecution of her project to account for the way in which she was
+stooping from her pedestal. Doreen was sharp enough to recognise this
+fact, and was never weary of marvelling at the enigma which seemed
+ever and anon to languish, then to spring to new life again. But Lady
+Glandore, when her mind was made up, could be obstinate too, though
+she had suffered much buffeting in life's conflict. That these two
+cousins were to be drawn together somehow, she was resolved.
+Opposition would come probably from Doreen's side, not Shane's. When
+her friends of the forlorn hope were slain and gone, she would surely
+succumb from mere despair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady was glad, then, when she meditated on Lord Clare's hints as to
+the certain fate of the United Irishmen. It was distressful, though,
+that her own son should be amongst them. Was it distressful, or a
+relief? Would his mother be sorry if word came that he was dead?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lady buried her face in the curtain yet again, and rocked her bowed
+form and wrung her hands. There is a phase of self-hatred and
+upbraiding which is more poignant than any physical pain, from which
+we emerge more wrecked and broken after each fresh access, and pray
+more desperately to be set free from torment.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">GLAS-AITCH-É.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The nautico-arcadian life of Glas-aitch-é restored Doreen's mental
+equilibrium by degrees, which had been sorely shaken by recent
+proceedings in Dublin. There she had come to ask herself whether there
+could be indeed a God with eyes to see and ears to hear, or whether
+the new-fangled creed was the correct one, which spoke of a mysterious
+principle--a species of magnet--in accordance with whose influence, as
+a dumb machine, the affairs of the world marched in established
+sequence. But in the front of this superb nature it was impossible to
+hold any such cold-blooded theory. When on waking she opened her
+casement to drink the brine-laden air, her youthful vigour got the
+better of her sorrows. She marked, stretching on the one hand as fare
+as ken could reach, the wondrous <i>silhouette</i> of mountains, rising
+tier behind tier in its series of morning changes from jetty black to
+purple and then orange; or, not so far away, the chameleon cliffs
+whose varieties of effect were endless. She watched the seals tumbling
+in flocks; the guillemots and gannets at play, and shrieking petrels,
+Cassandras of the deep; and the eagles that had their eyrie in the
+dizzy crags of Malin-Head, disdaining low companionship. Then peering
+down from her window-sill, straight as a plummet-line, into that
+wondrously pellucid ripple, she mused of the legends of the place
+concerning the McSweenys--kings of those parts; known as the McSwynes
+of the unconquered axe, till Sir Amorey set his foot upon their necks;
+of how the rude chieftains had built themselves this fortalice,
+defended by three rows of concentric battlements, and had held it in
+the teeth of Corsair-fleets till the awful day of retribution for long
+thieving, when Sir Amorey Crosbie came--himself the greatest thief; of
+how, by stratagem, he lured the defendants out upon the narrow strip
+of sand which the waves leave bare at ebb, then scaled the rocks upon
+the other side with all his merry men, and watched with laughter while
+the garrison perished in the rising waters; of how their bracelets and
+ornaments and collars of gold were washed up from time to time to
+attest the truth of the story; of how the elfin-guard were sleeping
+even now within circumjacent caves, to clatter forth in force when
+wanted. If that were true, sure they would have come out long since,
+seeing what their motherland had suffered. Yet, after all, not so: for
+this wild region had naught to do with the throes which had racked
+Erin's frame for seven centuries. It was cut off, severed as by a
+spell from the world's troubles and its tragedies.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen felt this strongly when she went among the people on the
+mainland. Not one of them could speak anything but Gaelic--their
+mental ken saw nothing beyond the arrival of the salmon, or the number
+of distressful rents in a new fishing-net. They talked with awe of the
+sleeping bodyguard; had pricks of conscience when they slew their
+maiden-aunts; looked with compassion on Miss Wolfe when she entered
+upon mundane arguments. Vainly she strove to persuade them that the
+treasures which the waves threw up were relics of the Spanish
+Armada--a portion of which was shattered in these ironbound creeks and
+gullies. They preferred to believe in the McSwynes, and did; yet for
+all that they came to adore Doreen, who was of their own faith; who
+never shot her coracle upon the beach but she was sure to be
+surrounded forthwith by a bevy of dancing, screaming imps that
+sprawled upon the sand, that sidled up to have their heads patted like
+little tame nut-brown birds; then fluttered off to herald out the fact
+that the good lady had arrived ashore. The people loved her, and she
+loved the people. The Irish heart is so warm, that a very little
+kindness will win it--for that very reason, perhaps, their English
+foes have chosen to repulse the gift, as one of too easy attainment to
+be worth the winning!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Once or twice she was persuaded by her cunning aunt to accompany Shane
+along the northern coast in the yacht. He was making a prodigious fuss
+about the Martello towers, and it would amuse her to explore the bays
+and inlets. Once--only once--she sailed down Lough Swilly, when her
+cousin went thither to examine the forts of Knockalla and Inch; and
+was royally entertained at the barracks of Letterkenny, by the amateur
+soldiers quartered there. It was like returning into Hades after a
+glimpse of the stars. The sheepish looks and bungling compliments of
+the squireens could not hide from her that this was the fabric from
+which the yeomanry were cut who hanged the people and burnt their
+cottages.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At Letterkenny the world began again--the wicked, cruel world.
+Inwardly she prayed that at least the harmless folks of Ennishowen
+might be spared, though all the isle beside should have to pass under
+the yoke. But the sight of these ruffians in uniform made her quail
+for them. Since Fate debarred her from the right of joining her people
+in their suffering, she would close her ears to their cries if she
+could, and return into the world no more.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gentry about Derry and Antrim were divided upon all subjects
+except ruffianism. On this point they were in surprising concord. They
+were for the most part Presbyterians. The republican nature of their
+tenets disposed them to join the United Irishmen, and many entered
+heartily into the conspiracy, until Government agents demonstrated
+that the triumph of the popular party would bring with it Catholic
+emancipation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now the Ulster men of the middle and upper class were Orange as well
+as Presbyterian. They looked upon a Catholic as a toad--an unclean
+thing which had no business to be created--which must be hurried out
+of life without delay, as a lesson to their Maker to make such
+mistakes no more.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Therefore, upon this fact being made quite plain to them, their
+patriotic ardour cooled amazingly, and they bade fair to rival the
+excesses of their brethren down south.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this very dinner a tipsy young 'half-mounted' told as a fine joke a
+tale of what had happened at Armagh when he went there 't'other day to
+buy a horse. A certain rapscallion,' he said, 'was suspected of having
+some gunpowder concealed, contrary to the mandate of his Majesty.
+Shots had been heard in the neighbourhood of his cabin--that was
+enough. He denied the charge, and so must be made to confess. How was
+it done? Mighty ingeniously, i' faith! He was hung up by the heels
+with a rope full of twist, by which means he whirled round most
+laughably, like a bird before the fire; while the soldiers lashed him
+with their belts to make him speak. But his stupid old father spoiled
+the joke; for upon his son calling on him for help he up with a
+turf-spade and broke a soldier's pate open; upon which, of course, the
+old fool had to be disembowelled.' The other sparks laughed with great
+he-haws at; this funny anecdote, till one of them, looking at Miss
+Wolfe, thought 'maybe the leedy didn't loike it.' And Shane, surprised
+that his stiff cousin should be such a milksop, changed the subject to
+the building of his towers. The stone being handy, they would take but
+little time, he said. So soon as his task was complete he would send
+down the yacht for these agreeable young sons of Mars, and entertain
+them at his quaint old castle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was indeed moighty koind in his lordship, to be sure; anything
+they could do to obleege,' etc., etc. So there was a great shaking of
+hands and display of newly-acquired military salutes, and everybody
+was charmed with everybody, except Doreen, who voted them bears and
+brutes, whilst they thought her stuck-up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After this episode, nothing could induce her to revisit Letterkenny.
+She spent her time in daydreams, drifting about in her coracle for
+hours, to return dripping wet, but, in a hazy way, more than half
+content. There is never much snow in Ennishowen, because brine is
+inimical to snow; but in winter there is much rain and mist and dense
+sea-fog, which penetrates to the bones and chills them. When the
+revolving cycle brought fine weather, she liked to establish herself
+by her window, to watch the strange glory of the dawn, sitting, as she
+smilingly observed, in her 'Grianan,' or sun-chamber. And what a
+spectacle it was to lull a vexed spirit into peace! First, as light
+crept near, she was aware of nothing but a vast sheet of pearl--above,
+below, around--without line to mark where earth or sea joined heaven.
+Her enchanted prison seemed the centre of an orient jewel, through
+which the light of heaven filtered dimly. She occupied a magician's
+castle, suspended by mystic agency in a translucent ether of opal hue.
+The illusion was complete, for presently tiny cloudlets of rose and
+grey flecked the space above, to be repeated in dappled reflections on
+the still mirror below, which as yet knew no rim. Cloudlets overhead;
+cloudlets far down, under the hanging castle. Then, by imperceptible
+degrees, the opal flushed to brass with spots of tarnish (where
+seaweed banks shone through). Then a ridge of palest pink loomed into
+shape from nothingness, warming slowly to blood-red, and darkening to
+Tyrian purple--and the misty film was rent and crumbled, and lo! there
+was the rim to the still mirror--the glorious rim of that noble
+mountain-chain, now turned to a sharply-defined deep-blue--in unison
+with sky and water.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen was comforted for the day when nature chose thus to open the
+casket for her; and rowed, or fished over the garden parapet, and was,
+by reason of her new peacefulness, more soft than heretofore with her
+aunt; and even strove sometimes to make herself agreeable to Shane. My
+lady marked the improvement as a good omen of success, but was not
+quite satisfied; for there was mixed with the damsel's good behaviour
+a cool indifference which suggested a carelessness of what should next
+befall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Shane was cross (alas! he grew crosser as he grew bored),
+Doreen's face never lost its calm. If it had, her aunt would have felt
+more easy, for it would have shown that the young lady noticed her
+cousin's moods. But no; she was kindly and polite--was not even
+shocked, as his mother was, when my lord made a boon-companion of the
+skipper of his yacht, hobbing and nobbing till both master and man
+were magnificently drunk. My lady was really displeased at this, for
+it wounded her pride that the head of the house should condescend to
+such companionship. Squireens from Letterkenny would have been better;
+but then they might have made love to the young lady, and my lady had
+settled in her mind that nobody must do that but Shane.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Poor mother! How earnestly she schemed, and how little came of her
+scheming! With what angelic self-denial she endured the ghostly
+whisperings of the chairs and tables, which would keep babbling of
+that past, however much she stopped her ears. Shane made no effort to
+woo his cousin. On the contrary, her superior manners and serene airs
+provoked him, by causing him to feel how inferior he himself was to
+her. Norah never made him feel this, for she did dreadfully vulgar
+things sometimes, for which he liked her as he chid her--things
+which would have made his mother's white hair stand straight up on
+end--tricks which the colleen had learnt from her good-natured
+plebeian mamma. Now he never would have dared to chide Miss Wolfe; for
+even in her wildest escapades--when conversing with mysterious young
+men at night, or galloping helter-skelter over the country--she
+carried matters with so high a hand that even my lady herself was
+routed. Indeed Shane, though far enough off, was nearer to love than
+she was, for he felt something akin to a good wholesome hatred of his
+cousin, whilst she was only indifferent to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The fact was, that Shane, not being fond of booklore, became sullen
+and fiercely sulky, as week followed week and he found himself a
+prisoner with no prospect of release. He had a suspicion that he had
+been trapped. Yet, while he revolted at the thought of it, his nature
+was too weak to permit of his shaking himself free without, at least,
+somebody's friendly countenance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now and then he ventured to suggest that there really was no reason
+why they should not return to Strogue. The French fiasco had put an
+end to danger from the Continent, as well as to the pretensions of the
+United Irishmen. What was his mother's opinion? Surely she must be
+tired of being cooped up, much as she seemed to love the place--(love
+it! poor lady!)--for she never went on shore among the benighted
+Catholics, being content, as a change, to make a solemn progress on
+the lough on calm days, rowed by ten sturdy rowers. Should her son
+order the yacht to take in bag and baggage? Should he send a messenger
+on horseback, to announce their proximate arrival in Dublin?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To all of these insidious proposals my lady merely opposed a quiet
+negative, producing budgets from her pocket--voluminous letters from
+Lord Clare--upon the events which were passing in the capital.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">According to him, affairs grew worse and worse, instead of better. The
+perverseness of his countrymen was appalling to an enlightened mind.
+There was no knowing what might happen. His dear old friend's second
+son was behaving ill. Happily, the loyal behaviour of the elder one
+would be counted as righteousness to the family, by a forgiving and
+benignant Government.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was evident from this,' she declared, with a decision there was no
+gainsaying, 'that Shane must do as he was doing. Terence might choose
+to disgrace himself; so Shane's conduct must be all the more
+immaculate.' (My lady's voice did not falter as she discussed this
+delicate matter. Doreen merely frowned and turned away.) 'It was the
+duty of Shane, for the sake of the honour of the Glandores, to keep
+staunch to the side of Government--the side of law and order--and the
+best way of doing that was by stopping where he was.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Shane groaned in spirit, but submitted, and cursed the patriots by all
+his gods--empty-headed, crack-brained fools--who thus stood betwixt
+him and pleasure. He pined for Norah, for Cherokee suppers, Blaster
+orgies. Why, he was almost forgetting what a duel was like! His rapier
+was rusting on the wall. He became crabbed in his enforced idleness;
+pinched viciously the satin skins of his pet dogs, instead of stroking
+them; took more and more to claret; was constantly making trips to
+Letterkenny.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With the exception of Lord Clare's occasional budgets, the party
+received little news, save garbled accounts from Letterkenny barracks.
+My lady insisted upon reading her own letters aloud, for the benefit
+of her niece; but that young person heeded not the chancellor's
+prosing, being serenely occupied in following the gyrations of a
+seamew, or the eccentric movements of a fishing cormorant, so that
+oft-reiterated abuse of her friends troubled her temper in nowise; and
+her aunt marvelled how it could be that the froward girl should have
+become proper and submissive, like well-behaved young ladies.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Is it not singular how to some people we unaccountably and invariably
+are impelled to show only the ugly or seamy side, which forms part of
+all our characters, and how to others we, without special effort,
+always turn the best? My lady and Doreen, though they dwelt together,
+never really knew each other. At times Doreen considered my lady mad;
+always harsh and disagreeable; while it was never given to my lady to
+detect the unselfish devotion and the strong worship of all that is
+beautiful and free, and the overpowering horror of all that is unjust
+and base, which was the better phase of her niece's character.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As for the newspapers, nothing could be gleaned from them. So soon as
+a paper became popular, it was acquired by money or threats (with the
+exception of Tom Emmett's, which ran its rigs unchecked), and
+patriotism gave way to padding. There was little Irish intelligence.
+The Dublin prints might as well have been edited at Sierra Leone; and
+Doreen turned with impatience from their dulness. She received few
+letters herself, for there was no one to write to her except the
+proscribed, and, of course, it would not do for treasonable
+correspondence to pass through the hands of Lord Glandore, who amused
+himself by sailing to Rathmelton for the bag. There was no convenient
+shebeen here, where notes might cunningly be dropped; no useful Biddy
+or Jug Coyle--not even a handy cabin; for, whilst the peasantry round
+Dublin were one and all ready to do anything for the cause, those of
+Ennishowen cared not about it. And she was not sorry for this. With
+the French fiasco her hopes had melted--she knew too well the
+discordant elements which composed the Irish Directory. All that had
+kept its members together had been the expectation of French
+assistance--now that that was over they would fall asunder, and
+Cinderella would sit down again amongst the ashes. And was it not
+indeed better so? The wrath of God was kindled, for some reason which
+she knew not, against unhappy motherland. Was it not better, then,
+that her sons should accept their bondage with meekness rather than
+waste their blood uselessly? Doreen's contentment sprang in the first
+instance from the nipping of despair. A moment comes to us in our sore
+trouble, when we fold our arms and murmur, 'By God's mercy there is a
+limit to the sense of feeling. We have reached that limit, and will
+feel no more;' and, strange as it may seem, with that resolve comes an
+impression of calm, which, in its way, is a sort of negative
+happiness. We have lost something, we are bereft of something which
+above all things we valued, yet we seem vaguely better for the loss.
+It is like the expression of peace which all blind faces wear, though
+their most precious treasure has been stolen--the sense of sight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen shrank from probing her own feelings with regard to Terence.
+Certainly his conduct distressed her more than seemed warranted by
+circumstances. She did not love him. No, not so bad as that, happily.
+She liked him as a fond sister might like a brother many years her
+junior, with a good-humoured satisfaction when he did well--for
+instance, when he made a splendid leap out hunting, or a particularly
+felicitous shot with his gun; and a feeling of pained displeasure when
+he did ill. And she told herself that he had behaved very ill, so ill
+that the fact of his existence must be erased from the tablets of her
+memory. That he should prove to be so double-dyed a traitor, so
+despicable and dastardly a schemer, filled her soul with horror.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Being a hero-worshipper, she had always despised him in a kindly
+superior way, for he was sleek and contented and commonplace, blessed
+with a good digestion; had looked on his grovelling contentment with
+pity, and is not pity contempt clothed in tenderness? To have been so
+interesting Manfred must have had a terrible digestion; while as for
+the Corsair, I know that in private he suffered from dyspepsia. Whilst
+taking it for granted that Terence was too easy-going ever to become
+truly heroic, his cousin had warmed to him on the night at the
+theatre, when his indignation induced him to take the oath. That all
+that fervour should have been craftily assumed for the purpose of
+deceit was too repulsive a subject for reflection, and she put it from
+her. Maybe if she had calmly brought her mind to bear on it, she might
+have perceived that she was hasty, and have remembered that it is not
+right to condemn criminals unheard. But she had caught a glimpse of
+two ugly facts, and withdrew her gaze from them at once without
+further inquiry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Somebody was a traitor. The delegates had been betrayed more than once
+under the cloak of friendship. My lady had told her distinctly (or in
+her haste she thought so) that Terence had done the evil deed, for the
+paltry wage of five hundred pounds. She had deemed that her cousin at
+least was honest, and before thrusting his image from her sight, had
+felt, with a soreness for which she could not account, that she would
+have been very, very glad if she could have pronounced him innocent.
+Doreen, though she diverted her attention from the painful subject,
+was wondrously interested--down in her inmost heart--in the guilt or
+innocence of Terence, and felt a feeble flutter there, whose cause, if
+she had understood it, would have disgusted her. As it was, the
+flutter in time died a natural death, and, disillusioned, she sank
+into the apathetic condition of one who drifts and is content to
+drift--a rudderless resignation which is beyond despondency--an utter
+hopelessness with which his behaviour, though she wist it not, may
+have had something to do.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Not long after her arrival at Glas-aitch-é she received a letter from
+her father, in which was enclosed another, with whose seal the upright
+gentleman had refrained from tampering. It was brought to him by an
+aged crone, who extracted a solemn promise that he would not open it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If ye promise,' she said, 'I'll believe ye, Arthur Wolfe, for ye're a
+good man, or ye would not be given so good a child.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The eccentricity of the speech pleased the attorney-general, who sent
+on the letter. It was from his godson Theobald, and Doreen recognised
+with gratitude the delicate tact which induced her father to pretend
+that he did not know from whom it came. It removed from her mind the
+portion of its load which was endured on his behalf; for the young
+hero was safe. His vessel escaped as by a miracle through the centre
+of the English fleet. Hoche too was safe. Both were to join the army
+of the Sambre and Meuse at once. He spoke no more of help from France;
+was evidently as disappointed as Miss Wolfe was. The dream was over.
+His sword belonged to the French Republic now, his uniform was that of
+a French general. He must carve a name for himself among the ranks of
+the foes of France. Doreen thanked God that his pure young life had
+not been idly thrown away. Might it be reserved for glorious deeds on
+behalf of Erin in the future? It was not likely. Better far that he
+too should have abandoned hope; for Ireland was prostrate, never to
+rise either in his lifetime or in hers. All they could do was to bear
+as humbly as they might, shading their eyes from cruel sights--waiting
+as serenely as was possible for the call to a less hateful world.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So Doreen considered the seabirds and the transparent deeps, and
+patted little savages on the pate, and smiled her quiet smile, and
+made believe to be tranquilly resigned; though all the while she was
+entranced--numbed as by a spell.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Doreen was wrong. The French did not abandon so lightly their scheme
+of striking at Albion through Cinderella. They revictualled their
+fleet, made good the damage done by winds and waves, and looked
+forward to the accomplishment of their object within half a year or so
+of their first failure. To make victory doubly sure, a second fleet
+was got together in the Texel, under the command of the solid
+Dutchman, De Winter, who agreed with the Gallic Directory that
+now was the time or never; for the British navy was utterly
+disorganised--there were mutinies among the sailors at Plymouth and at
+Portsmouth, and one more serious still, under Parker, at the Nore.
+What moment could be better chosen for conveying an army to Ireland
+than one in which the mistress of the seas lay crippled; when the
+Channel--unusual circumstance--was open to the world? Wolfe Tone,
+however, did not recover his enthusiasm. The conduct of his brethren
+at home, when friendly vessels were in the offing, had been
+reprehensible--pusillanimous. Instead of rising and making a vigorous
+effort for freedom, those who pretended to be their chiefs had
+bickered and shilly-shallied among themselves--a sight to command the
+scorn of honest men--and the young hero was profoundly discouraged. He
+began to doubt his countrymen; yet would he not desert them though
+they seemed inclined to desert themselves, but joined the Texel fleet,
+under Daendels and De Winter, hoping and praying for the best. It was
+a fine fleet of fifteen sail of the line and ten frigates. If the wind
+would only blow fair--if the shoals and sandbanks of the Texel were
+once safely passed--then success was certain. For Admiral Duncan, who
+was watching, had but a few vessels under his command, and even some
+of these were called home in consequence of the Nore troubles.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hurry then!' cried De Winter and old Daendels. 'Ship the troops, and
+let us be off.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The troops were shipped--everything was ready; but Daendels and De
+Winter whistled vainly for a fair wind. The elements, as usual, were
+on the side of England. Before, there had been too much wind; now, not
+a breath stirred the air. The sea was a dead calm. The admirals and
+generals marched up and down the deck--beautiful--in blue, with
+rainbow sashes, and hats prodigious with great plumes of the three
+colours. But no breeze moved a feather of the plumes. Exasperated,
+they descended to the cabin to while away the time with music, while
+the precious sand was dripping in the glass. De Winter had a pretty
+talent on the flute, as also had Tone, and so these two warriors
+obliged the company with duets--artistic trills and variations--what a
+strange spectacle! But by-and-by their patience oozed out of the
+flute-holes--they cursed themselves, and flung about the music in a
+passion; and indeed the clerk of the weather was vexing. June was
+merging into July--the mutinies were being put down--the golden
+opportunity was slipping visibly away; Lord Bridport cruised out with
+a fleet to watch the French at Brest; Duncan's handful became a
+squadron, swinging idly at the Texel's mouth; the soldiers,
+unaccustomed to close packing, showed signs of sickness; the
+provisions were sensibly diminishing; unless fortune should choose to
+turn her wheel with speed this expedition would be a greater fiasco
+even than the other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile there was a panic amongst the friends of Government in
+Dublin, who knew not that the elements were fighting for them. The
+position of England was most critical. Should this new enterprise
+succeed, what chance of succour could there be from Britain? None. She
+had quite enough to do to cope with her own difficulties. There were
+forty thousand soldiers who had been drafted into Ireland by degrees;
+but could these be relied on? The Hessians were beery brutal wretches,
+who would probably turn coward at a pinch. The Scotch and English
+regiments made no secret of their abhorrence of the attitude of the
+native yeomanry. As for the militia, it was disaffected, and would
+certainly fling itself into the balance on the side of probable
+success. The people were fiercely sullen--in a dangerous mood, like
+rats prepared to spring. If the French should come and be victorious,
+they would rally like one man round the tricolour, and then woe to the
+small knot of tyrants! Not one of the ascendency party could hope to
+escape. Not a Protestant lord or lady in the land but would be hacked
+in pieces with the inevitably accompanying atrocities of internecine
+strife. It was an awful prospect. My lords, who had been blindly
+following the lead of the executive, looked uneasily towards the
+Castle. They had done as they were bidden, aided by promises and
+pensions--but of what use is a pension when your throat is cut? Were
+they to be protected from the growling rabble--these hereditary
+legislators, who had abused their trust--these amateur colonels who
+had disgraced their cloth--this venal degraded senate which was a
+byword among senates? Members of both Houses were nervous. Had
+their zeal led them perhaps too far? Would it be better to hedge a
+little--to permit the miserable cottagers to exist in peace? The Privy
+Council debated long and anxiously. Lord Camden was frightened at the
+acts which were perpetrated in his name. Mr. Speaker ventured to
+remark that a line of commendation from Mr. Pitt, and a promise of
+help in case of need, would be consoling to his coadjutors. Arthur
+Wolfe became plunged in melancholy. He was drifting on a stream which
+sickened him, towards a palpable goal which he contemplated with
+terror. Was there no escape from the horror that was looming? He
+looked to Lord Clare as to a helmsman who is responsible for the
+safety of the crew.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Lord Clare's nerves did not desert him at this crisis. His clear
+intellect told him that it was too late for hedging; now there was no
+retreat. King George hated the Catholics, and would smile on those who
+evilly entreated them. Mr. Pitt had sketched out a plan of action long
+ago, which must be carried out faithfully to the letter. Mr. Pitt had
+decided that Cinderella must be put on the rack; that her limbs must
+be given a good wrenching; and that afterwards--so soon as she should
+know by experience what agony really is--she should be tucked up
+cosily and made comfortably bedridden for the rest of her natural
+existence. It stood to reason that she would scream--so would you or I
+if thus surgically treated; but when once we grow used to it, there is
+a charm about being bedridden. People come to amuse us--to feed us
+with dainty things; they coddle us and comfort us, and we are really
+not unhappy. Therefore, although these unfortunate mutinies had
+somewhat complicated the case, it would never do to blench at so
+critical a moment. Having put his hand to the wheel, my lord
+chancellor knew that he must look steadily forward, and not backward.
+His countrymen must be taught that any <i>régime</i> would be better than
+the one under which they groaned; the senate must be made so to commit
+itself that it could never raise its head again so long as the world
+rolled; then what would be easier than to consummate the original
+plan, to abolish the senate, and absorb Ireland by stratagem into the
+body of a complete British empire--one and indivisible?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So wrote the chancellor to Mr. Pitt, who replied in courteous
+language; for his chief puppet was jumping admirably: he would soon be
+battered and worn out--would then have to be replaced by another. But
+the doll was not past service yet--it was still gay and bright with
+paint; was still capable of dancing: so Mr. Pitt wrote civil letters
+to Lord Clare, bidding him not to stick at trifles. Thus supported,
+Lord Clare spoke clearly at the Council Board. Desperate diseases must
+be met with desperate remedies, he said. Arthegal, figure of justice
+in the Faery Queen, is armed with an iron flail. The people are
+furious, are they? Then they must be made more furious still. When you
+want to tame a lion do you pat him? No, or he would rend you. You
+strike him with whips--touch him with red-hot irons. To be governed he
+must be ruled by fear; and so is it with the people of this island.
+Having gone as far as we have, it will never do to show that we're
+afraid of them. They must be ground down--must be rendered so passive
+by exhaustion that, French or no French, they will be too weak to do
+much harm. In the first place we'll arrest those lads again who have
+been playing the fool too long. We will make a plunge at the leaders,
+so that if the Gauls should happen to arrive, they will find nobody in
+authority to co-operate with them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Camden endorsed these sentiments, mumbling platitudes about
+self-preservation; that it has unpleasant duties, but that many
+unpleasant things have to be done, etc., etc., and the council broke
+up; my Lord Clare strutting forth to give his orders, Arthur Wolfe
+moving slowly homeward with a worn and troubled face. Then by deft
+hints and nods and winks, my Lord Clare brought those who served him
+to know what was expected of them. He rallied the members of the
+Houses on their nervousness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You wear his Majesty's uniform, my lords and gentlemen,' he said. 'I
+presume you would not wish to be mere carpet-knights. The Irish always
+were good fighters. You will defend the King's rights if it comes to a
+brush with the rabble?' He gave the squireens to understand that they
+were fine jovial fellows, with a strong sense of humour and a subtle
+appreciation of a practical joke. 'Now that recent invention of
+yours,' he observed airily, 'of wringing confession from a man by
+hanging him, then cutting him down before his soul has had time to
+escape, is vastly droll!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thereupon the jolly boys, determined to win yet further commendation,
+and delighted to give vent unrestrained to the native brutality of
+uneducated man, set their wits to work and gave birth to other
+inventions. We know that a demand invariably creates a supply. The
+gentlemen of the yeomanry vied one with the other in cultivation of
+their inventive faculty and the result was an array of practical
+jokes, novel and splendid indeed! Even the great French reign of
+terror was thrown into the shade. The French, as we all know, are not
+inventive or witty. A guillotine--a constant flow of blood and falling
+heads; a boat with a trap-door to drown people by the dozen--amusing
+rather for a minute, then nauseously dull and monotonous. The jolly
+Irish boys were much wittier than this, and more ingenious; and yet,
+by one of the strange chances of history, people shudder still over
+Robespierre and Marat and their doings, and are absolutely careless
+and ignorant as to what was done at home not ninety years ago.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lady Camden grew terrified at reports which reached her ears. Lord
+Camden shut himself up at the Viceregal Lodge, and promenaded the
+Ph&#339;nix Park, round which was a protecting military cordon. Lords
+and ladies left Dublin furtively. Some for England--some for their
+family acres in the far west; impelled--some by fear--some by the
+promptings of the chancellor--a few only by a sense of duty to their
+tenantry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A certain earl set up a triangle in his barrack-yard, and was never
+weary of flaying the backs of the neighbouring peasants. To such
+lengths went he and his, that an English colonel, also quartered
+there, was forced to expostulate with his lordship, to the chagrin of
+the latter. My Lord Downshire retired to his hills, and kept his
+regiment within bounds. Indeed, he and my Lord Powerscourt were
+severely rebuked by the chancellor--the latter especially; for he
+dared to say that his tenants had been armed at his own expense for
+the protection of property, not for the commission of murders--upon
+which the chancellor groaned aloud; for this was a malignant example
+to others. My Lord Powerscourt, however, was not to be persuaded. He
+locked up his grand house in Dublin, and revisited it no more until
+the legislative struggle took place which concluded the century.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nothing could be more dismal than the Irish capital now. There was a
+species of curfew at sunset, after which few ventured in the street.
+Major Sirr and his myrmidons glided hither and thither on their
+devilish errand of cajoling men to their destruction. It was the
+business of these miscreants to provide victims for the lash by any
+means. Bands of drunken yeomanry awoke the midnight echoes with their
+shouting as they returned from breaking into a dwelling, or from
+flogging victims in the riding-school. For Claudius Beresford's
+riding-school had been turned by one of the practical jokes into a
+torture-chamber, where men, kidnapped on mere suspicion, were dragged
+and tied up, and lacerated without mercy night and day; whilst
+scurrying passers-by fled onward with their fingers in their ears.
+Some died under the lash--some swooned, to wake up idiots
+afterwards--some recovered, to wear till death livid welts upon their
+backs and inextinguishable hatred in their hearts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My Lady Camden, growing more and more apprehensive--for her lord's
+babble was incoherent--resolved to go down into the city and see for
+herself what passed there. She drove her four ponies along Ormond
+Quay, which was as deserted as if the town were plague-stricken; they
+swerved, and well-nigh upset her ladyship, for a single naked figure
+came tearing round a corner with wild yells and windmill arms, who,
+rushing past, flung himself over the parapet into the Liffey.
+Helter-skelter behind him came the hounds--in scarlet coats and
+pipe-clayed cross-belts--but the lady-lieutenant saw them not. The
+agonised victim of a joke wore a pitched cap upon his head, which was
+set ablaze and was grilling his living brains. This pleasantry was
+spoiled, for the wretch had presence of mind left to seek oblivion in
+the water. But another joke succeeded, which bade fair to end badly
+for the jokers. The Viceroy's lady lay back in a dead faint. Her
+ponies galloped along the street with her, their reins catching round
+their legs. The joke might have ended in the breaking of her
+excellency's precious neck. As soon as possible after this episode,
+she retired to England, and my Lord Clare made capital out of the
+circumstance. Were not the people behaving disreputably, when even the
+wife of the King's representative had thought it necessary to take
+refuge in flight? There had been, he averred, a new project to storm
+Kilmainham and set the criminals at liberty. To what a horrid nation
+was it his destiny to belong!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It is not surprising that at this juncture he should have found an
+annoying stumbling-block in Curran. That worthy could do nothing but
+protest; but people who protest can make themselves very disagreeable,
+especially if they chance to peer further than the mob, and choose to
+tell what they see. Cassandra was only a mad woman, but we all know
+how unpleasant she could make herself. Curran had a clear head, a
+sharp wit, a biting tongue, and he exercised all three in the House of
+Commons, much to Lord Clare's displeasure. Now we have all learned
+that as we mount the rungs of the social ladder, society bows more and
+more before conventionality. Such a thing is 'vulgar'--such another
+'low;' why or wherefore nobody can tell, though it probably arises
+from the fact that the more rarified the atmosphere, the more
+artificial become those who breathe it, the less liable to think for
+themselves, the more ready to lean on others' crutches, the more
+likely to be shocked at the enunciation of new problems, which they
+are too idle or too prejudiced or too stupid or too sluggish to
+trouble about sifting for themselves. It might be taken for granted
+that the senators of both Houses were aware--down in their
+soul-caves--how base was their line of conduct. But for the sake of
+their own interest, they had agreed to fence themselves about with a
+quickset of make-belief, for the concealment of their shame and the
+protection of their phantom-honour. It was a very vexatious thing,
+then, for a man who was gifted with an epigrammatic way of
+crystallising truths to make a snuffy little Solomon Eagle of
+himself--to persist in uncovering cancers which were decorously
+sheeted over, to unveil sores which were neatly trimmed about with
+sham roses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare, in his wrath, resolved to make another attempt to crush
+the viper. He set a specially rowdy band of jokers at free quarters at
+the Priory. They rollicked about, frightened Sara out of her wits,
+drank the lawyer's best whisky; but that vexed him not, for he was
+incorrigibly hospitable. He locked himself into his bedroom with his
+child, and droned out, to soothe her, a fantasia on the violoncello.
+It may possibly have soothed Sara (though she was in awful trepidation
+lest young Robert should ride up and perceive how she was insulted),
+but it most certainly succeeded in irritating the jovial sons of Mars
+in the dining-parlour below. They yelled to Curran to come forth. He
+came. They took his violoncello and smashed it into bits. Sara quailed
+lest her father's choler should outstrip his reason; but he only
+murmured:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'They are actors, playing parts which are set down for them;' and
+addressing them, said, with scorching contempt: 'Sirs, you are sent
+here to insult, under his own roof, a man old enough to be your
+parent, and a young lady whose health is delicate. I sorrow to think
+that you are Irish, and that the fine cloth you wear should not
+exclusively be used by gentlemen.' Then, passing through their midst,
+he saddled his nag, and, trotting into town, related his story to his
+friend Arthur Wolfe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The attorney-general was terribly distressed. This stream, on whose
+bosom he had elected to sail, was taking him--whither? He flew to Ely
+Place, scolded the chancellor in terms which made the autocrat
+stare--in such terms of burning reproach that the latter saw he had
+made a blunder; that he had outstripped prudence, and sulkily signed
+the order to remove the obnoxious soldiery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he was not to be turned from his purpose by any maundering
+sentimentality on the part of the attorney-general. It was necessary,
+was it, to leave Mr. Curran alone? That was a pity, but all the more
+reason for a display of energy in another quarter. In pursuance of his
+determination, so sweetly expressed in metaphor, to tame the lion with
+blows and hot irons, Lord Clare proceeded, as chancellor of the
+University, to hold a visitation there, in order publicly to deplore
+the doings of the undergraduates.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The worthy gentleman was pained, he said. Alma Mater had taken the
+fell disease, the contagious epidemic (there could be no doubt about
+it), the only remedy against the spread of which was cautery. A number
+of students were ignominiously expelled; foremost amongst them Robert
+Emmett, (who was conspicuous for a tendency to inconvenient argument,)
+although his tutor, Mr. Graves, pleaded hard for him. Robert, filled
+with glee, rushed off to his brother's office to tell the glorious
+news--that he, boy though he were, had been deemed worthy of the
+martyr's crown. But when he reached the place he found that there were
+to be other martyrs besides himself. For the second time the house of
+his brother Tom was attacked and gutted. As he turned into the street,
+the presses were being pitched out of window, the types strewn in the
+mire, the tables and office-stools broken up to make a bonfire.
+Knitting his brows, he crossed his arms and stood watching the
+yeomanry at play; then wheeling about, he made the best of his way to
+Cutpurse Row, where, in the cellar of a crazy tenement, the patriots
+were accustomed to assemble, instead of riding out to the 'Irish
+Slave,' as they used more warily to do, before the destruction of the
+shebeen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Russell, Bond, Dease, and others were there, delegates of the society
+for Dublin and its environs. Robert, looking round, perceived Cassidy
+fidgeting in a corner. Terence was not present. Cassidy observed this,
+and growled with disappointment between his teeth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Tom Emmett was finishing a speech, wherein he declared to his audience
+that his opinions were changed. The French were coming; were, indeed,
+expected hourly. But it would not do to wait for them, as on a late
+disastrous occasion; a blow must be struck, a heavy and united blow.
+If the French came to follow it up, so much the better. The shocking
+behaviour of the friends of Government was becoming hourly more
+unbearable; the outrages committed by soldiers at free-quarters daily
+more flagrant and atrocious. He spoke with Irish hyperbole and a
+burning fervour of conviction which just suited the temper of his
+hearers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We must heed no more,' he cried, 'the glare of hired soldiery or
+aristocratic yeomanry. War, and war alone, must occupy every mind and
+every hand in Ireland, till its oppressed soil be purged of all its
+enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen! vengeance on your oppressors! Remember
+the crimes of years! Remember their burnings, their torturings, their
+legal murders! Remember Orr!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the end of a long peroration he paused for breath; and Cassidy, who
+was evidently anxious to 'catch the speaker's eye,' trolled forth in
+his rich voice the words which were becoming familiar to every one's
+lips:</p>
+<div class="poem0">
+<p class="t8" style="text-indent:-6pt">'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
+and dungeons vain? The sword!</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">All present took up the chorus, and looked towards the giants as
+though waiting for the next verse; but he raised his hand for silence,
+and said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bedad, ye're right, friends. The sword's the only thing for poor Pat.
+But be careful now. Where's the young lordling who makes himself so
+busy?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Councillor Crosbie should have been here,' returned a delegate.
+'Maybe he's bin detained.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy smiled a smile of meaning, and leisurely surveying the knot of
+men before him, replied with a dry cough:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Maybe he has! Let's hope it's upon honest business. I've come here to
+give ye a word of warning, a friendly hint I gleaned up at the Castle.
+I'd advise none of yez to go back to their own homes this day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why? Speak out, man. We are all friends here,' said Tom Emmett,
+calmly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Becase ye'll chance to find visitors if you do,' was the blunt
+rejoinder. 'Now I'm off.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert Emmett eagerly corroborated the giant's hint. He had seen the
+soldiery but now in his brother's house. It was likely that if one was
+attacked, the dwellings of the rest would likewise receive a visit. It
+would never do for the prime movers in the conspiracy all to be
+trapped. Perhaps it was a false alarm, though. At Tom Emmett's a
+seditious print was published, which it was a wonder had been spared
+so long. The case of the delegates was different, for strict secrecy
+had been maintained concerning them. None save the members themselves
+knew who formed the central committee. Government spies had no means
+of knowing their names. In this at least they were cautious. That they
+had all taken the oath, was neither here nor there. If Government
+intended of a sudden to lay hands upon every Irishman who had taken
+the oath, they would do well to follow Herod's example at once, and
+order a general massacre. No, no. It was absolutely impossible that
+either my Lords Clare or Camden, or Secretary Cooke, could possibly
+know who all the leading spirits were by whose agency the vast machine
+of conspiracy was set in motion. Tom Emmett must disappear for a
+while. His paper put him too much <i>en evidence</i>. It was good of
+faithful Cassidy to keep his ears open. Blunderer though he was, and
+lamentable as had more than once been the fruit of his blundering, yet
+was he now and then most useful, and deserved a special vote of thanks
+from the Directory, which then and there they passed on him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Apparently he was modest as well as virtuous, for in the cackle which
+followed his announcement he departed, his flat face aglow, his eyes
+twinkling with satisfaction at their compliments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So Emmett's paper was to be stopped at last,' they said one to
+another. 'The only marvel was that it should have been permitted so
+prolonged an existence. The last mouth which had lifted up its voice
+to speak the truth was to be gagged. It was indeed time to draw the
+sword.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Robert proudly told of his expulsion from Alma Mater; of my Lord
+Clare's overbearing mien at the visitation; of the many warm hands
+which had gripped his, as, disgraced but proud, he quitted the
+quadrangle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Tom, his eye kindling with emotion, laid his hand upon his younger
+brother's head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Robert,' he said, 'what e'er betide, if, in the conflict which is
+imminent, we two be separated, the one who survives will be proud of
+him who's fallen. We shall conquer. Erin shall be free! But many must
+first lay down their lives for her! I pray God that it may be His
+pleasure to spare yours!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert turned white, though his heart was stout. He was brave with the
+highest of all bravery, for though the sight of a cut finger made him
+ill, yet was he determined now to face the sea of blood, if need were,
+without blenching. His was a higher courage than that common one which
+looks on danger without fear. He knew that in action he should be in
+mortal dread; but he knew too that, upheld by duty, he would
+nevertheless be always in the van. A thought crossed his mind which
+brought with it a momentary tremor. When the fiery cross was at last
+lighted--when the hands of kinsmen were at each other's throats--when
+Dublin was burning--her gutters running red--what would be the fate of
+delicate sensitive natures like that of Sara--of sweet, pale Sara
+Curran, round whose form his heart-strings were softly wrapping
+themselves? What if he were to fall? what if fortune should not smile
+upon the patriots? He was quite aware that Heaven frequently delights
+in persecuting those who do well, and showering favours on the most
+undeserving, almost offering a premium for evildoing. Therefore,
+however just the cause of Erin, it was possible that her probation was
+not over--in such a case what would become of Sara, and such as her?
+Dear gentle Primrose! He thrust the unwelcome thought aside. There
+were enough lugubrious subjects which might not be escaped, without
+wilfully conjuring up baleful images. He returned the pressure of his
+brother's hand, and with ardent eyes upraised, broke out into song
+once more, in which all joined solemnly, as though offering up a
+war-hymn:</p>
+<div class="poem1">
+<p class="t2" style="text-indent:-6pt">'What shelter's right? The sword!<br>
+What makes it might? The sword!<br>
+What strikes the crown of tyrants down--<br>
+And answers with its flash the frown?</p>
+<p class="t0" style="text-indent:16em">The sword!'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">Truly there must have been something ill-omened about this special
+hymn. For the second time it served to cloak the advancing footsteps
+of the enemy. For the second time it was interrupted by the rap of the
+same unfriendly fingers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Somebody was knocking--somebody gave the password 'Mr. Green.' It must
+be Terence. He had promised to come, in order that a military scheme
+of his might be discussed; one of which Emmett approved highly, though
+stupid Cassidy had affected to laugh at it. Certainly it must be
+Terence, who bade fair to become the leader they had all been sighing
+for so long in vain. Why did not some one run and open the door? It is
+but poor manners to keep a gentleman waiting in the street. Robert was
+hastening to do so--for he loved Terence dearly--when he was stopped
+by the old woman who kept the house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Whisht! Master Robert, darlint,' she said in a terrified whisper.
+'Sure, I looked from the garret window and saw the glint of bayonets.
+For the love of the Holy Mother have a care!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Swiftly the boy climbed the stairs and looked out. The hag's aged eyes
+had not deceived her. The street was surrounded by a cordon of
+soldiers, who stopped passengers at either end at the bayonet's point.
+A guard of yeomanry was stationed at the front door; another at the
+private back-entrance, which was accessible by a tortuous passage into
+a side-street. A short person with hooked beak, eyes too close
+together, shaded by brows which met in a tuft over his nose, was
+knocking. It was Major Sirr. How could he know of this back-entrance?
+How did he know that the watchword was 'Mr. Green'? There was of a
+surety hideous treachery somewhere!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert returned to his comrades and told them who was outside. Then
+Cassidy had been muddleheaded once again! The news he had brought was
+worse than none, for it was misleading. Instead of bidding them escape
+forthwith from Cutpurse Row, he had told them to avoid their homes.
+The houses was surrounded. <i>The secret back entrance upon which they
+relied was known</i>. Who was the Judas?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having revealed so much, how much more might he not reveal? With
+troubled brain and clouded eye Tom Emmett looked on one and then
+another of the haggard faces before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knocking continued. Some step must be taken. Happily half a dozen
+of the delegates were absent. The town-major might smoke out the nest.
+Some of the hornets were abroad. This was a mercy. The entire brood
+would not be taken. Who were the absent ones? Terence! Tom Emmett
+wrung his hands together as the light broke on him. How blind! It was
+to him Cassidy had vaguely pointed. What a snake in the grass, with
+his clever military plan and pinchbeck enthusiasm! Tom remembered now
+the behaviour of Miss Wolfe to her cousin at the ball. Her veiled
+warnings. She was as true as steel. Alas! She could aid them no longer
+with her counsels. She had seen through her cousin, and, her family
+feeling coming into jarring juxtaposition with her devotion to unhappy
+Erin, had retired from the field, too deeply wounded to take any
+further part in the affray. Yes! It must be Councillor Crosbie who was
+the Judas. Tom Emmett saw it now that it was too late. In a few hasty
+words he conveyed his impression to his brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert opened his mouth indignantly to defend the councillor; but he
+only sighed, for, from whatever side the treachery came, it was
+soul-wearing. His forebodings of a few minutes since crowded up again
+like visions in a nightmare. A pitfall had been cunningly prepared for
+the patriots to their undoing. A few were yet abroad who might take a
+responsible part, but this was a withering blow. Treachery? Of course
+there was. It was altogether a bewildering occupation to pass trusted
+characters and names in mental review with an eye to the detection of
+the traitor. That there was a traitor there could now be no doubt, but
+Robert swore to himself with sturdy faith, that, be he whom he might,
+his name was not Terence Crosbie!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knocking became louder--more peremptory. There was no escape.
+There was nothing for it but submission. With dry lustrous eyes Tom
+Emmett bade his brother go and open the door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There would be a trial--a court-martial. Vain mockery! Would the
+result be execution--or lifelong servitude--or banishment? The
+chief of the Irish Directory felt the humbling conviction that he was
+not fit for his post. Like Phæton he had leapt into the sun-chariot.
+He had been fooled and toyed with. The precious deposit whose
+care he had presumptuously accepted was shattered through his
+fault--yes--certainly through his fault. He should have been more
+cautious in accepting Crosbie's overtures. Precious lives would now be
+sacrificed--the cause gravely compromised, if not altogether ruined.
+Execution--lifelong servitude? How wildly did Tom Emmett long at this
+moment for the former--how gladly would he have hugged the rope--how
+joyfully would he even have walked to the riding-school where
+Beresford and his fellow-devils carried on their fiendish work! Any
+personal pain--the more poignant the more welcome! Anything which
+might rouse the hapless patriot from the grinding weight which crushed
+him now, as prone on his face he lay sobbing on a form.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Many an encouraging hand was laid upon his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Cheer up, man! we're in the same boat,' the delegates murmured. 'It's
+the chance of war--of an ignoble war waged in the dark against honest
+men by an ignoble adversary. Fortune is cruel to us; but we'll snap
+our fingers in her face. If we are to die, let us die as men--not in
+tears like women. Rouse up, Tom! rouse up, boy! Put on a good front.
+Open the door, Robert. If they have learned to probe thus deeply in
+our secrets, they will know more--enough to hang us every one. There's
+no good in battling with them.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Major Sirr entered, and saluted his victims with one of the elaborate
+military evolutions which had become the vogue. Tom Emmett started
+from the form, and held himself erect. A paper caught his eyes. He
+clutched and tore it into fragments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Gentlemen, you are my prisoners!' Major Sirr said, with a portentous
+sword-wave. 'It's no good resisting. I'm glad to see you know better
+than to resist. Here is my warrant--made out in all your names. We
+will go, if you please, in the first instance to Castle-yard; then to
+Kilmainham, where you'll meet your friends.' He smiled at Tom Emmett
+with a sinister smile, and stirred the fluttering fragments of paper
+with his swordpoint. 'What's this?' he said, the tuft of eyebrows
+wrinkling down his nose. 'I know what it is--a list of your precious
+society, I dare say. Ye're mighty fond of waging war on paper,
+gentlemen! Look here now! All we want to know of ye we do know--or
+could speedily learn. I might have those bits picked up and glued
+together. But I won't, for 'tisn't worth my while. There! Come,
+gentlemen, march! Dease--where's Dease? I saw him but now. We mustn't
+lose him, for he's a docthor, and Kilmainham's terrible full of sick!
+Dease, where are yez? I have him on the list.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the delegate who answered to the name of Dease had no intention of
+visiting Kilmainham. Upon the first entrance of Sirr, he had withdrawn
+in the confusion to an upper room, and making use of his surgical
+knowledge, had severed the femoral artery. When the soldiers found him
+he was dying; which aggravated Sirr no little, who was proud of his
+masterly treatment of the hornet's nest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Come, put out a nimble leg!' he cried crossly. 'We've parleyed too
+long. To business! to business!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Between a double file of soldiers the delegates were marched off, down
+several streets, to Castle-yard, while the populace looked on,
+dull-browed. They attempted no rescue. It is probable that few
+realised what band it was which was being thus openly conducted to its
+fate (many such bands passed along Dublin streets)--that few were
+aware that in this little knot were centred the hopes of deliverance
+for which all were praying.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They were gone. Only Robert Emmett and Major Sirr were left behind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Am I to go with you? I will go,' Robert said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The major looked at him, and gave way to a sepulchral cachinnation.
+Then by his action he belied the language he had used just now. With
+the greatest care and deliberation he stooped and picked up the torn
+scraps of paper. When they were bestowed to his satisfaction in a
+wallet, he looked at Robert and laughed again, wrinkling his sinister
+eyebrow tuft:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Adieu, my lad! and good luck!' he grunted. 'No, no! We don't want you
+yet, my little cockatrice! All in good time--when ye're fledged!
+Good-bye! or rather <i>au revoir!</i>'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Major Sirr's ill-timed mirth rankled in Robert's bosom. He was not
+worth taking, then! Yet Lord Clare had deemed him dangerous enough to
+justify expulsion from Alma Mater. Lord Clare. What did he intend
+doing with this last haul of the net? That document which Sirr had
+picked up so carefully would provide him with such a list of country
+members as would satisfy for awhile even his rapacious gullet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Would he hang them all, or be content, for the present, to cage them
+as he did before? No. Times were changed since then. He was
+deliberately scourging the land with scorpions. No mercy might be
+expected at his hands. Was Tom Emmett to be hanged? Was he to suffer
+an ignominious death before he had had time to strike a blow for
+motherland? That would be too hard. It must be prevented somehow. It
+was providential that the younger brother should not have been
+kidnapped too. It was a miraculous intervention, for duty shone clear
+before him. He must obtain the release of the patriots, even if to do
+so he should have to kneel at King George's feet. Intercession must be
+made. At the thought the lad's courage rose. He would go and consult
+Curran on the subject.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he hurried on down Dame Street, he strove to comb his tangled
+thoughts into some symmetry. Who could the Judas be who wore his mask
+so deftly? Sirr's Battalion of Testimony was spreading to huge
+proportions; the Staghouse by Kilmainham, where the wolves dwelt,
+could scarcely hold them now. Doubtless there was a secret service as
+well as this public one so insolently flaunted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Of whom does it consist?' Robert kept asking himself. 'Of whom? The
+friends of our hearts--the wives of our bosoms. It is awful to think
+how, when a country is well stirred up, the mud will rise to the
+surface!' Then, ruminating as he went, he thought of Terence, and
+murmured mournfully, 'Could it be he? I pray not, for I love him as a
+brother!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A shadow lay stretched before him. With a shudder he turned aside to
+avoid the effigy of a good man, who by a singular caprice of history
+has been elected high-priest of a mean purblindness, which he above
+all others would himself have most abhorred. William III.'s effigy, in
+its incongruous classical costume, is no whit more contemptible than
+some of his admirers have tried to make his character. But such is the
+way of the world. We set up a pole, and drape it with our own
+sentiments, then kneel down to worship, crying, 'How perfect is our
+idol!' Of course it is; for the drapery is woven, as a spider's web
+is, from out of our own bowels; what can be so perfect as that we have
+ourselves created, however loosely it may hang on the support we have
+selected to bear it?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Turning away from the Juggernaut of Orangeism, Robert beheld the
+subject of his thoughts, and the man of whom he was in search. Mr.
+Curran and his ex-junior were standing in earnest talk under the
+colonnade of the senate-house. The rush of events had changed both
+men even in their externals. The older one seemed shrunken and
+grey-skinned. His unkempt elf-locks were more wild, his uncleanly
+linen more disordered, his eye more bright and restless, than of yore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Those who knew him well perceived that he was torn in sunder by two
+antagonistic selves. He yearned in secret for the success of the
+popular movement; he peered out anxiously for the first glimmering
+white sail in the offing; his soul bled for his country's misery; he
+longed to know precisely the patriot leaders' plan, that his keen
+brain might advise upon it--yet he railed at and derided those very
+leaders to their faces, spoke scoffingly of France, declared that all
+was hopeless; snapped up any incautious delegate who spoke to him too
+openly of the society.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The reason for his odd conduct is obvious. His judicial mind--expert
+in weighing evidence--had seen long ago that the combatants were
+ill-matched--that it was Honesty fighting against Guile. It was
+possible--just possible--that Heaven for once would change its usual
+tactics, and permit Honesty to come off the conqueror. It was
+possible--but oh, how improbable! Curran saw that so soon as Honesty
+had tumbled into the Slough of Despond, the firm grasp of a friend who
+was a paradox would be needed to pull him out; of one who should be
+protected by the glamour of his own virtue against the dagger of the
+murderer, even as medieval saints are mythically supposed to have been
+protected against the torments of the caldron and the wheel. Such a
+peculiar and delicate position Curran actually occupied.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As we have seen, he remained in close friendship with Emmett and the
+rest, and also with such important people in the opposite camp as the
+Glandores, without the faintest suspicion of treachery falling on him.
+He fearlessly rose and poured forth such denunciations against the
+executive in parliament, as would have brought any other man to
+Kilmainham and its minuet. But for all that, the informer dared not
+point his finger at him; even Lord Clare was convinced that he must be
+endured or bought--not browbeaten.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Once or twice he had been hustled in the street, but had curbed his
+peppery nature by a sublime effort. His life was of more value to his
+country than that of many drunken rufflers. He quietly refused to
+fight now with any such paltry ruffians.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Councillor Crosbie was more altered than his chief; the expression of
+his face was changed. As Robert surveyed it he endured the compunction
+of remorse, in that for an instant he had doubted him. If Doreen had
+not been perversely haughty, she could not have accepted her aunt's
+garbled tale so readily. But then her spirit was wrung awry by
+long-continued crooning over wrongs; and being unhealthily sensitive,
+was predisposed to look out for evil. She had seen so much trouble
+that she had come to believe there could be nothing else in store.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence's face had lost the open laugh of careless <i>bonhomie</i> which
+had vexed her--which was so well suited to its Irish cast of
+features--by which I do not mean the confined forehead and coarsely
+gaping mouth, which make many of our countrymen so uncomely--but the
+highly-coloured, cheery face, with ruddy lips, which when they are
+parted display a row of dazzling teeth. His eye, whose unruly dancing
+defied fate, was strangely at variance now with the moody brow, till
+lately so unwrinkled; while a reckless swagger, which was a new
+characteristic, spoke of a bitterness and chafing defiance which a
+green tabinet necktie, with bows ostentatively displayed, served but
+further to accentuate. He stood in earnest converse with Mr. Curran,
+who sourly shook his head. Just out of earshot faithful Phil leaned
+against the wall, firing-iron in hand, watching his master in his
+dog-like fashion--sporting also, in humble imitation, a rag of green
+about his neck.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rapidly Robert unfolded his budget. The visitation at Trinity was mere
+child's play; not so this wholesale arrest. Even Curran forgot his
+customary caution, and put quick sharp questions as his face grew
+greyer. Emmett, Russell, Bond, were in prison, then. They would be
+tried--how? The law courts were closed and silent. By court-martial?
+Hardly. Lord Clare was too clever for that. Given the heads of a
+conspiracy who had grievously compromised themselves, he would of
+course get up a pompous series of mock state trials, with 'juries of
+the right sort' to bring the pageant to a predetermined end, and so
+justify and whitewash his arbitrary acts in the world's eyes. This was
+what he would do.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The patriots should be defended!' Curran swore. He would defend them
+himself, no matter at what personal risk; in spite of any amount of
+threatening. The bursts of eloquence which before now had startled his
+audience to conviction, should be nothing to the burning words by
+which he would wring these unselfish lives from the jaws of death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was for this that he had rested on his oars so long. He had
+defended many of the proscribed with varying success. But these were
+the chiefs, the head and front of the offending. He felt that the
+power was there, a precious gift direct from God. He would blast the
+witness, whoever he might be, as he sat upon the table, till even a
+jury of the right sort would not dare to convict upon his evidence; he
+would paint in vivid colours what he and his fellows were--wretches
+who, buried as men, had slept in the tomb till their hearts festered
+and dissolved--to be dug up thereafter as informers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He bade Robert be of good cheer, and listened, with a kindly arm about
+the lad's neck, to his project of going to England. He would go to the
+fountain-head, vowed Robert, for no mercy could be expected here; he
+would waylay Mr. Pitt himself--would force himself into the Royal
+presence--would compel England to listen to a recital of her sister's
+tribulations. The English could not know what was going forward--the
+King, whom people dubbed good King George, could not know of it. If he
+did, he was a hypocrite who ought to be unmasked--but of course he did
+not. The ardent lad quivered with excitement and noble fervour, while
+the little lawyer felt himself invaded by pity. The poor boy persisted
+in believing that Right was sure to triumph. He believed that his
+story would rouse the English to interference--Mr. Pitt to contrition
+for excessive sinfulness--that it would melt like snow the prejudices
+of the most ignorant and pigheaded monarch who ever occupied a throne.
+Poor lad! In spite of all he saw, his illusions had not yet been taken
+from him. Some people require an operation with pincers. The dreadful
+moment had yet to come when he would wake up and know with certainty
+that his doll's inside was bran.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My boy,' the lawyer said, 'the impulse is excellent. Go, and prosper,
+if the Fates will it so. To tell the truth, I believe more in my
+powers of oratory here than yours over yonder. I ought to have special
+interest in you,' he pursued, with a sad smile, 'though it's to the
+lowering of my own conceit. I made the discovery this morning--what
+owls we old fogies are!--that it is not for the sake of my brilliant
+conversation that you young butterflies choose to flutter about the
+Priory. Upon my word, I used to think it was, and that your taste was
+vastly fine.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Robert's face assumed a guilty hue, and he lowered his eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nay--don't blush, man!' returned the elder, whilst Terence looked
+from one to the other curiously. 'When the spring comes, birds will
+mate even on battle-fields! The perseverance of nature, despite
+obstacles, is incorrigible! Would ye believe it, Terence? A girl to
+whom I'm a bit partial flung herself into my arms this very morning
+with shrieks, declaring that if all a foolish servant told her was
+true, and Ireland doomed to be a slaughter-house, one crathur at least
+must be saved--who was not her papa! She expects me, I suppose, to
+build an ark for this new deluge, and take in of every animal two
+after his kind.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, sir!' Robert murmured timidly. 'If things go well----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, sir,' returned Curran, with sudden roughness. 'Things aren't like
+to go well. Do not deceive yourself or her. You, for one, are nearer
+to the gallows than the bridal bed! When Ireland is free, when my lord
+chancellor is higher even than he is--as high as Haman--then maybe
+we'll talk of such follies, but not till then. Meanwhile, mark you,
+the gates of the Priory open to you no more. There shall be no more
+dangling after my Primrose till the crisis is over, for better or for
+worse. Get ye gone, now, and good luck betide ye! There must be a
+power of it somewhere, for here we've got ne'er a scrap.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Young Robert did as he determined; and so for awhile we shall not look
+on him. In London he was kept dallying by a judicious diet of delusive
+hopes in accordance with a suggestion from the Irish chancellor, who
+wished him kept well in tow, lest haply he might turn out useful
+later. Amuse this baby brand, he wrote; manage him cleverly, and lull
+him for a few months to sleep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sara saw him no more. He came no more to the Priory, and she was glad
+of it. The child was dazed and bewildered by the reports which reached
+her through the servants. She made no pretence of comprehending
+politics. She only knew that so long as Robert remained away, he would
+be kept safe out of the perilous vortex. She had faith in her father's
+genius, and in his power, if need were, to protect both himself and
+her; yet woke she up sometimes in the night with a cry, having dreamed
+that misfortune had befallen Robert. She could not shake off a
+foreboding that, young and excitable as he was, he would entangle
+himself in the toils; and so it was with a whimsical thankfulness that
+she heard that he whom she worshipped was gone, and joyfully counted
+the months of his absence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Robert broke in upon the converse under the colonnade, Master
+Phil did not at first take heed of him, for that worthy, who was
+always ready to touch his hunting-cap with good-humour to any of his
+master's friends, was in rueful contemplation of a fact which had
+lately come to his knowledge--namely, that red-haired Biddy was not
+true to him--that the colleen who had enthralled his affections was
+sadly misbehaving herself among the soldiery. Honest Phil was not
+specially quick-witted, yet he could put two and two together after a
+clumsy fashion, and he saw darkly with sorrow that the carroty-polled
+virgin could scarcely have been ever true if she could thus brazenly
+go over to the enemy. He revolved the facts in his mind that she it
+was who had been Miss Wolfe's post-office--that it was she who with
+him had carried out the pike-packing in the armoury, which had so
+oddly been discovered; that she it was who had wormed secrets out of
+him--the honest but incautious youth--which she might or might not
+hold <i>in terrorem</i> now over the heads of those whom he loved best.
+There was but too much proof of the frail fair one's delinquency. When
+the Irish Slave was sacked, she had rushed yelping to the Little
+House, giving tongue with such vociferous howls that two soldiers
+speedily pursued and brought her back, and finally carried her off
+kicking--a special prize. For a long while her disconsolate adorer
+(when not on duty in surveillance over his master) searched high and
+low for her. Had anybody beheld a beautiful creature with ruddy locks
+of gold?--to see which would be to adore for ever--and so forth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But as time went on, his master's self-appointed duties became so
+engrossing and erratic that the servant was fain to sacrifice his
+private interests altogether for the nonce, trusting that some day the
+fair creature would turn up entrancingly spotless--constant to her
+swain. It was with no slight pang, then, that on that very morning he
+had recognised a well-known back and followed it--a broad square back
+covered now with purple velvet, surmounted by the well-known locks,
+which were shaded by a wondrous hat and feathers. The apparition led
+him to the riding-school!--the dreadful hall of torment which people
+shuddered at as they went by. Too much amazed to realise what he did,
+he followed still. She entered--so did he. Noisily she was embraced at
+once by a dozen half-drunken men in uniform, and returned their
+salutes with strict impartiality. He was thunderstruck! Then with
+terror, from his sheltered nook, he surveyed the scene.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Screams for mercy made his blood run cold. Two men lay panting on a
+heap of straw; one quite old and feeble, released but recently from
+the lash. The elder would evidently soon be quit of his destroyers,
+for his lips were blue and his eyes glazed. The other, roused by a
+shout of laughter, stirred his head to curse his tormentors. This was
+enough for them. What a fine opportunity for a newly-developed joke!
+Quick--some gunpowder! Biddy poured some into two outstretched, palms.
+Rub it well into his hair--with a will now, Biddy--for it's shock, and
+will hold a prime dose. Now, stand well aside while we fire it with a
+long match. Horror-stricken, Phil escaped--his slow brains chaotic in
+unaccustomed whirl. What should he do? His charmer had developed into
+a fiend. Was she who had enthralled his affections the one who was at
+the bottom of all the mischief--the arch-betrayer of secrets? She had
+been in everybody's confidence--Miss Wolfe's (God bless her!), Mr.
+Cassidy's, Master Terence's--all! The snake in the grass, whose
+existence puzzled the gentry so. Could it be she? Had he not better
+speak out and tell them? No. They were conversing so earnestly. It was
+not his place to interrupt his betters. The intelligence would keep.
+He would make a clean breast of all he suspected to his master in
+private.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And his betters had good cause for the earnestness of their talk. When
+Mr. Grattan threw up his parliamentary seat, Curran had twitted him
+for loss of temper. But now his turn was come. He had spoken out
+rashly in the debate, which was still droning on--had distributed
+rhetorical slaps in the face, which caused the friends of Government
+to wince. Then one, bolder than the rest, interrupted the flow of his
+eloquence by saying:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We're growing warm. Will any gintleman tell us an anecdote to bring
+us into a better temper?' And then Curran, flying in a rage, declared
+that he was wasting the energies which would serve him better in
+another place, and proceeded to abdicate with scorn his seat as
+member.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence, when he heard of it, doubted the wisdom of the move, and
+begged leave to know, as nearly as he might, what the orator had said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I charged them openly,' was the simple reply, 'with their corrupt
+practices. I charged them with a systematic endeavour to undermine the
+constitution in violation of the law of the land. I charged them with
+being public malefactors, public criminals. Then I was called to
+order, and I repeated the charge even yet more strongly, bawling out:
+&quot;Why not expel me now? Why not send me to the bar of the Lords? Going
+out, I will repeat the accusation, and the winds shall carry it--that
+the ministers are traitors, who should be publicly impeached--and,
+advancing to the bar of the Lords, I will repeat it there. If I am to
+suffer in the public cause, I will go further than my prosecutors in
+virtue as in danger.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That wasn't wise, for nothing could come of it but noise,' Terence
+said, shaking his head at his old mentor. 'This is the time not for
+talk, but action.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It may happen,' returned the other gently, 'that the boys of action
+may come to need the help of a silver tongue--after all! I know not
+for certain how far ye're in it, Terence; and it's best I shouldn't
+know. Any way, I'm glad ye're not like your brother, who's a
+half-caste in character, more than half Englishman. You, at any rate,
+are not ashamed,' he continued slily, 'of going to <i>tay</i> with your
+mammy, or of perambulating by the <i>say</i> with a colleen asthore! I wish
+ye'd keep clear of this, though.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Would you have had me stand by--a <i>man</i>--a cold spectator of events?
+Would you have me show the white feather now, when so many have been
+kidnapped? No--I know you would not,' Terence said, looking in the
+little lawyer's eyes (into which the tears started) with a hand placed
+on either shoulder.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran said nothing for a few moments, then, blowing his nose,
+whispered rapidly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If there's naught to be gained by noise, my boy, still less will
+foolhardiness avail us. Why will you wear that gorgeous scarf of
+green? If you are to do man's work, do not act like a baby. There's
+only you and Cassidy left now to give directions to the country
+delegates. I don't know much, and it's not my business; but I can see
+now the tail of the Erin-go-bragh order sparkling within your vest.
+Two hands fraternally gripped. How lamentably childish, when so much
+may depend on you! Erin's cause will be none the less well served, I
+warrant, for fewer gewgaws on the persons of her sons. Too much green
+ribbon, Terence! Every man among you sports a green ribbon, and has
+some compromising paper in his pocket! Why, here's a roll in yours.
+For shame!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That's the military plan,' Terence returned, 'which I was to have
+shown to-day to our friends. It was a mercy, certainly, that you
+detained me here, or else----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You would have fallen a sacrifice to overweening prudence! Therein
+lies Erin's curse. Her sons are faithful enough, and earnest enough;
+but they're all impractical and scatter-brained.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Faithful, are they?' echoed Terence, mournfully. 'So many traitors
+walk among us, that no one can swear any day whether he's like to
+sleep or hang at night!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Traitors!' repeated Curran between his teeth, as he turned his head.
+'Yes. Traitors galore! There walks the arch-traitor. Lucifer among his
+cohorts.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was coming up the steps towards the lobby of the House of
+Commons, surrounded by a bevy of obsequious gentlemen who had rushed
+round to the 'Lords' entrance,' in Westmoreland Street, to warn the
+chancellor that dreadful things were happening. His hatchet face wore
+an evil expression which, melting away, gave place to beaming looks
+when he perceived before him his hated enemy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah! Mr. Curran. Taking the air? You're looking well, Terence,' he
+cried in his rasping voice, holding out a hand to each. 'Anything
+doing in the Commons? Not much to do, eh? Dull times. Sad--sad times,
+my friends! Dangerous, too; very dangerous.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are right there, my lord,' returned the lawyer, curtly. 'Tyrants
+should remember that secret murder is the special weapon of the weak
+against the strong.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chancellor bit his lip, then showed his teeth again. He would not
+lose his temper. But it was singularly ill-mannered of this demagogue
+to try and make a scene in the public colonnade!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have warned you solemnly before, my lord, of what you are doing!'
+went on the sturdy little man. 'You play with awkward weapons. Take
+care they don't slip and cut you. The Staghouse overflows with guests,
+I know. Yet more than one has lately disappeared.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Consigned to Moiley?' laughed Lord Clare. 'Well, they weigh, I
+suppose, like wise men, the risks of their position against its
+advantages. We are quits. For I have warned you too. You'll get
+nothing by your present attitude, I do assure you. It is lamentable to
+see a clever man so waste his opportunity. I am sure if Terence's
+mother was here she would say the same. You believe in her, I think,
+though you've always done me the injury to mistrust me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here he gave a friendly nod to Terence, who took no heed of it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Would you have me tie my countrymen in bundles?' inquired Curran, 'to
+raise myself to wealth and to remorse? The envy of fools--the contempt
+of the wise. No! Come what may, I will mourn over and console them;
+aye, and rebuke them too when they act against themselves.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Which is pretty frequently the case!' returned Lord Clare. 'I assure
+you I weep quite as much as you can over my country's misfortunes!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mr. Curran waxed peppery, for he hated humbug.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And yet, my lord,' he sneered, 'your glittering optic is so dry that
+the finest gunpowder might be dried on it!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was uphill work; but the chancellor still smiled, though a hectic
+spot showed upon his cheekbone; for the squireens around were
+beginning to hee-haw, and he felt he was playing <i>le rôle ridicule</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is a sad thing, when the interests of millions are placed at the
+mercy of one man's selfish ambition--or error, if you prefer it--for
+what is individual ambition but error?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Selfish ambition!' echoed Lord Clare, grandly. 'I have the honour to
+be a chosen servant of the King, and as such I humbly strive to do my
+duty--nothing more.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You owe no allegiance to the land that gave you birth? I tell you, my
+lord, here before these gentlemen, that as chancellor you are
+betraying those rights which you have sworn to maintain; that you are
+involving Government in disgrace--a kingdom in consternation; that
+you are sacrificing to your own avarice and vanity every sacred duty,
+every solemn engagement which binds you to yourself, your country, and
+your God!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mr. Curran!' cried the chancellor, drawing back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the little man was not to be stopped now; his blood was up, and
+his eyes flashed fire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are too arrogant to learn a lesson from history. Think why the
+royal ship of France went down. That of England labours now. &quot;Throw
+the people overboard,&quot; say you, and such as you, &quot;and ballast with
+abuses.&quot; Blind pilot! Throw your abuses overboard, say I, and ballast
+with your people!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was getting very much the worst of it. He could not
+prematurely broach the question of a Union before all these people. He
+scarce knew how to act.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are bent on tieing Ireland to England--I can see through you.
+What is the price to be?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are forcing a quarrel on me!' stammered the chancellor, who was
+scarlet. 'I call these gentlemen to witness that it is so; why, I know
+not, for I never injured you!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are stabbing your mother and mine to death! Is that no injury?'
+returned the other, sternly crossing his arms. 'If it were possible to
+collect the innocent blood which you have shed and are shedding into
+one great reservoir, your lordship might have a good long swim in it.
+As wicked a game as it is short-sighted. When you guillotine a man you
+get rid of an individual, it's true, but you make all his friends and
+relations your enemies for ever.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Things had gone too far to remain as they were. The wily chancellor,
+much as he deprecated appearing in open antagonism to the popular
+demagogue, was obliged for his own sake--for that of the Government
+which he represented--to take up the gauntlet which was tossed to him.
+If Lord Glandore, King of Cherokees, had only been present, he would
+have had the satisfaction of at last superintending the duel, the
+compromise of which, on a previous occasion, had so mortified him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All agreed that the trifling matter had better be settled off-hand
+with as little delay as possible, for the shades of evening were
+closing in, and it is a pity that pretty bullet-practice should be
+spoiled by darkness. Terence of course offered himself as second to
+his ex-chief, while my lord beckoned to our old friend Cassidy, who
+happened to come upon the scene, and was only too delighted at the
+honour which was thus conferred by a chancellor of Ireland upon one
+who, however useful and fascinating, was no better socially than a
+'half-mounted.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare proposed an immediate adjournment to Leinster Lawn, where
+the affair might be quietly concluded without witnesses; but his
+second would not hear of it. No, indeed! It was not often that he
+would have the opportunity of showing himself off as best man to so
+high a dignitary, and was by no means inclined to hide his light under
+a bushel. Stephen's Green was the place, quite close and handy. Among
+the trees there was a splendid spot for sport. In his delight he
+clapped his brother second on the back, vowing that it would be only
+right for them to have a tilt upon their own account!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To this Terence demurred, however, marvelling why the friendly giant
+should show such an itching to have a shot at him. That worthy seemed
+singularly aggrieved at his offer being refused, but consoled himself
+by grumbling:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thought you were more game! No mather--when the principals have
+done, we might have a turn. I remember when Lord Mountgarret was
+winged at the first fire, that his son tuk his place, not to
+disappoint the audience. And we all thought it mighty polite and
+proper in the gintleman.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">THE DUEL.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">When they had had time to reflect, both combatants were equally sorry
+for the fracas. Curran was specially meek, and apologised humbly to
+his second, as they walked arm-in-arm to the trysting-place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Indeed, and I'm an old fool,' he admitted. 'Nothing, as you said, can
+come of this sort of thing but noise. I can't afford to be kilt, for
+I'll be wanted later.' Then a thought came as a gleam of comfort. 'If
+I could kill my man,' he said, 'that would be doing good service to
+ould Ireland. But the devil looks after his own. He's much more likely
+to make daylight through me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was more than annoyed; he was seriously disturbed. If he
+were to kill Curran, his position would be fraught with difficulty.
+The mob loved Curran; they would certainly tear to pieces the man who
+slew him. If he, by chance, escaped, he would be able to show his face
+no more; and, having ceased to be useful, the authorities in London
+would certainly throw him over. Was this wretched little pigmy always
+to cross his path? Lord Clare ground out a curse, and determined (with
+a hasty prayer to his tutelary deity with the horns and hoofs) that if
+the first fire turned out harmless, he would declare his honour
+satisfied, and decline a second shot. Meanwhile he improved
+the shining moments--Cassidy having rushed off to fetch the
+barking-irons--by sending a special messenger to Ely Place, to order a
+saddled horse to be brought to the mall in Stephen's Green; a
+precaution in favour of escape, in case an accident should happen to
+the popular favourite.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Speedily as challenge had followed insult, he saw with chagrin that
+there was no hope of keeping the matter secret. The altercation had
+been witnessed by several gownsmen who happened to be passing out of
+the Commons, and who, rushing across the road to Trinity, had bawled
+to all whom it interested that 'Curran was about to pistol the
+chancellor to Hades.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The news flew like wildfire from court to court, for the
+undergraduates bore the latter no goodwill, by reason of the recent
+visitation. They poured out like a flock of rooks, and were already
+perched on wall and branch when the interested parties arrived.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There were not two opinions as to which way they hoped the affair
+would end. Of the chancellor's enemies among the scum, there was no
+slight sprinkling, Phil having also rushed away to announce to sundry
+cronies that there was going to be great sport. Lord Clare regretted
+his choice of a second. He had selected him as likely to obey his
+principal, instead of leading him, as he had a right to do; but he
+reckoned without the pugnacity which underlies the Irish character,
+and which is certain to burst forth on the first symptom of a row. How
+could Cassidy guess (who was, by nature, blundering and muddle-pated),
+that my lord chancellor really wished to back out of his challenge?
+Was he not an Irishman? That he was no coward all the world knew. The
+giant put down his peculiar manner to an ultra-refinement of courtesy
+and high-breeding, and was specially anxious to allow him to air his
+politeness without losing a point. He was extremely obstinate,
+therefore, declining to listen to anything his principal proposed--so
+peremptorily, indeed, that he would have marvelled at his own
+audacity, but for a conviction that he was doing what was expected of
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ground! gintlemen, ground!' he cried in delight, as a sort of
+salutation. 'Blow measurement! We'll hip the puny babbler, my lord!
+Hip him--hip--hip! Bedad, your lordship's puce silk coat is in your
+favour. The daylight's waning. I can hardly distinguish your figure
+from the grass. Sure it's dewy, and your shoes are thin. Stand on my
+roquelaure. 'Twill prevent your taking could!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Damn his officiousness!' muttered his principal, with a scowl.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mr. Curran met with such an ovation from the heavy flight of rooks in
+the trees, as his small figure loomed in the twilight, that his
+spirits rose again. His temporary humility was gone. He, too, was a
+Hibernian war-horse, with a love for the clarion's bray, although his
+bouts were more in the way of arguments than cudgel-playing. The idea
+of shooting down, with his own dusky hand, Ireland's recreant son, her
+bitterest foe, might well raise his spirits.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Charlotte Corday, even though she did her country transcendant
+service, cannot be acquitted of the charge of murder. It is not
+<i>convenable</i> for a young lady to enter the bath-room of an unprotected
+gentleman, and, having lodged a knife in his flesh, to retire behind a
+curtain and await her fate. But here was an analogous case, without
+its indecorous elements. A frowsy-looking mouse had bearded a gorgeous
+lion, and told him the simple truth about himself, which more timorous
+animals were content to whisper behind his back. That lion, taking
+offence, had challenged his small foe to mortal combat. Well, the
+mouse would try to slay that lion, and, the combat being on equal
+terms, there was no murder about the business at all; a case of
+retribution, simply. David and Goliath--nothing more. Anything more
+<i>convenable</i> could not possibly be seen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So Mr. Curran became quite jubilant, and seeming, to his surprise, to
+detect something which looked like the hesitation of fear, set himself
+to taunt the fine-looking gentleman opposite, who made really a
+splendid appearance in his exquisitely-fitting silken clothes, with a
+large diamond glimmering in a soft fall of lace, another in his
+hat-loop; while, as for the silver-hilted <i>couteau de chasse</i> which
+dangled from a silver belt, nothing could be more perfect in
+workmanship, more chaste and elegant in design.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is the <i>State-doctor</i> ready?' shouted Mr. Curran, who was in highest
+spirits by this time, amid crows of merriment. 'Sure he's always
+prescribing <i>steel</i> to his patient; bad luck to him!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is it steel?' retorted Cassidy, whose principal pretended not to
+hear. 'Here's steel for ye! The prettiest irons in all Leinster; a
+gift to me from Lord Glandore. Twelve inches long they are. Tear and
+owns! but they're lovely boys; as bright as moonbames. If they could
+spake, they'd thank ye for giving them their liberty. Why, they've not
+been aired these six weeks.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Take care,' Terence observed, laughing; 'the one ye're flourishing is
+at full-cock.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then full-cock your own, and let's blaze,' retorted the other,
+readily; which sally produced a yell from the rookery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If Mr. Curran will apologise----' Lord Clare began, glancing
+nervously round, for it was nearly dark, and the mob was thickening
+fast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah! Go on, now; it's joking ye're,' shouted Cassidy, holding his
+sides. 'Your lordship's too polite entirely. Sure ye couldn't do it.
+Here are the rules laid down by the Knights of Tara, which you know
+may not be broke' (taking a small manuscript book out of his
+voluminous breeches-pocket). 'See No. 7: &quot;No apology can be accepted
+after the parties meet, without a fire.&quot; Come, gintlemin. Proceed,
+proceed. Ould locks--barrels and stocks! Go on, <i>du</i> now! Here are
+your pair of bullies, nicely primed, my lord.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'One will be sufficient, probably,' frowned his principal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Rule 33,' retorted the glib fire-eater: '&quot;You may not be satisfied
+till two shots are fired at least, unless the apologiser hands the
+other a cane and submits to a good beating.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That's a Galway rule, which doesn't obtain in Dublin,' Terence
+remarked. 'Not that my principal means to apologise; far from it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Irish blackguard is one of our staple manufactures,' suggested Mr.
+Curran, to keep the ball rolling; but his adversary was imperturbable.
+He was a cur as well as a tyrant, then?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Listen to me, my lord,' cried the sturdy advocate, crossing his arms.
+'In 1173, MacMurrough betrayed the land to Strongbow, as you are
+betraying it now to Pitt, and received the wages of sin. Take a lesson
+from history. Hunted by despair, he died by his own hand. Under Henry
+II. England and Ireland were for a moment one. But England grew sick
+of the faint smell of the shambles, and abandoned her slave. Much good
+did that Union do!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was stung to desperation. Openly to talk of a Union at this
+juncture might be productive of incalculable harm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Make haste, make haste!' he said pettishly. 'We don't want all the
+metropolis to look at us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first shot did no mischief. The chancellor fired wide, his
+wandering bullet creating a transitory excitement in a knot of
+bystanders. Mr. Curran's pierced his adversary's coat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The devil looks after his own, I might have known it,' he muttered,
+tossing away one pistol and raising the other. 'The gentleman stands
+too far off. Let him come closer. I can't see him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare approached nearer, and again fired wildly; while his
+opponent was so diabolically deliberate, that he could not help
+observing through the stillness of expectation: 'It won't be your
+fault if you don't kill me, Curran!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Did ye ever hear tell of Moran's collar?' inquired the advocate, as,
+closing one eye and screwing up his mouth into an O, he covered the
+chancellor. 'It was worn by justices in ould days, and had the
+wondrous property of contracting or relaxing according to his just or
+unjust conduct. How mightily it would have choked your lordship!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran fired at last. The chancellor staggered, but recovered himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A hit!' shouted Curran.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A hit, a hit!' yelled the rooks, in the gathering darkness. One
+piping bird-voice cried above the rest, 'Moiley shall eat him!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A multitude of friends vied with each other in sympathy for the
+chancellor. Cassidy supported him, despite his struggles, on his knee,
+while one ripped open his small clothes and another produced a probe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the fair skin there was a dark mark--a tiny trickle of blood like a
+pin's scratch. The sight of it produced a murmur of astonishment. Lord
+Clare could conceal his fury no longer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Damn you all! Damn you, I say! for a pack of donkeys!' he cried,
+almost foaming. 'It's the gingerbread nuts that I eat in the long
+debate--they've saved me from a bullet-wound--there--laugh away, and
+get you gone--I've danced too long already to your asinine piping!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'One more blaze, my lord?' coaxed Cassidy, unconvinced, amid general
+tittering.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he was not long unconvinced. He saw <i>that</i> in his principal's eye
+which reduced him to lowliness at once, and he bowed his head as the
+wounded warrior quoted with majesty Rule 22:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'&quot;If a wound agitates the nerves and makes the hand shake, the
+business must end for that day at least.&quot; The gingerbread nuts have
+made my hand shake: at all events you may take it so, if you please.
+Provoke me no longer--clear away this rabble of idiots at once, or I
+tell you plainly, Mr. Cassidy, that you'll be sorry for it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The giant could not but perceive that his principal really was
+frantic, and hastened to obey his behests.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, well,' he meditated. 'I'd rather be badly wounded than be saved
+by gingerbread nuts! It's an ignominious accident, and laughable, and
+the chancellor cannot bear being laughed at.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy busied himself in 'claring the coorse,' as he termed it; and
+while he did so, the aggrieved chancellor watched him with a sullen
+and lowering gaze. It was quite dark by this time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Terence,' he said presently, with unaccustomed kindness in his voice,
+'come hither. You dislike me, I know; and no wonder, prejudiced as you
+necessarily are by the company you choose to keep. Yet, for your
+mother's sake, I fain would be your friend. You are a plucky fellow. I
+honour pluck, and genuinely like you, for yourself, in spite of you.
+I'm not so bad as I'm painted. Few people are. I'll give you a bit of
+advice. Act on it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curran approached to listen (comforted, though he had not killed his
+enemy, by the axiom he was so fond of quoting, that the devil, who is
+more powerful than the best of men, looks after his own). He was
+amazed to behold quite a human look on the dragon's face. The
+toothsome smile, so redolent of falseness, was gone; the hatchet lines
+had curled themselves up into a mask which really resembled
+<i>bonhomie</i>. Can grapes grow on thistles? Was it possible that this
+adamantine nature could be softened? Wonders will never cease,
+although some people do say that there's nothing new under the sun.
+Curran listened, trying to follow the direction of those wandering
+eyes in the obscurity which he could not pierce.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Terence,' the chancellor said, 'you have a foe--unscrupulous and
+bitter--who will ruin you if possible. I know not why. Be very
+careful, or you will come to ruin. One foe in the dark is worse than a
+score by day. You have slighted that enemy somehow. You are on the
+edge of quicksand; once beyond the brink, you must be swallowed up.
+For your dear mother's sake I will save you while I can. But I may not
+be here always. A thousand things might happen. It's due to her as
+well as to yourself to keep yourself free from obloquy. Think how her
+pride would suffer. Take off that ridiculous necktie.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Honest Phil was also listening with craned neck and goggle eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It must be Biddy. She hates Master Terence, does she?' he muttered to
+himself. 'Why? maybe she thought him comely, and he would have naught
+to do wid her, being so tight entranced by Mistress Doreen, God bless
+her! Faix, she's a bad lot--taking to sodgers! And I thought her fit
+for Paradise. I saw her just now by the quickset beyant, in her velvet
+hat and feathers, and my lord saw her too, no doubt. I'll tell the
+masther who 'tis that's working the mischief, and set his mind at
+rest.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Half-confidences are worse than none, my lord,' blurted out Curran.
+'If you'd really do the lad a turn, speak out. Why give him a nut to
+crack?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Betwixt you and me, sir,' Clare said with hauteur, 'there can be
+nothing but animosity. I try to make things as pleasant as I can, and
+you publicly insult me. I purposely fire wide; you try all you know to
+kill me. I would gladly have been your friend.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Begorra! such a friend,' growled Curran, 'as I'd help out of mee
+cabin with mee boot! But never mind us. We're talking of this lad.
+Who's his enemy--who is it that's playing devil's capers among honest
+men? We know that they're not all saints who use holy water!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was still looking away into the darkness, while Phil
+followed the direction of his glance, and said nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Don't press him,' Terence said, with coldness as chilling as the
+chancellor's. 'If he chooses to make confession for conscience' sake,
+so be it---I will be under no personal obligation to his clemency.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Silly boy! I want to save you, and, like the other asses, you pose
+and mouth heroics!' Clare said impatiently. 'Your name was on the list
+of those scatter-brains who were caged to-day, but I struck it through
+with my own pen. Yet I tell you fairly that if you commit yourself
+beyond a certain point, I shall be powerless to protect you. I should
+bring more odium than I dare upon the Government, if I were
+instrumental in stringing up a lot who deserve the rope, and saving
+the worst of all because he happened to be my old friend's son. I
+can't do more than I am doing. Even Mr. Curran here should tell you
+that. I tell you that you have an enemy who would gladly destroy you.
+You must guess who it is. Who is there whom you have injured? I tell
+you further that Lord Camden has signed a warrant for your arrest,
+which I believe is in his bureau. He deplores with me that one of the
+aristocracy should be a cause of scandal. But he may be called upon to
+permit execution of that warrant, and, acting as you do, I don't see
+how he can refuse to let justice take its course. Had you no enemy it
+might probably lie snug enough. But that enemy will ferret it out ere
+long, I fear. My boy, I earnestly implore you to leave the country.
+Every port shall be left open. Go to Paris--Vienna--Rome--anywhere. If
+you are short of funds I will provide them--come! I would so gladly
+see you gone,' he concluded after a pause, during which Terence's
+heart was touched, and Curran stared at this new aspect of the lord
+chancellor. 'For if I mistake not, such events will happen here ere
+long as will cause the best-balanced mind to quake.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What a pity that he uttered those last few words! Curran beheld again
+the well-known Lord Clare. Terence became hot with resentment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If you are preparing a St. Bartholomew,' he said, 'why should I be
+specially favoured? Murderer!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Murderer?' echoed Curran, with a scorn which incensed the chancellor.
+'Worse than murderer! Common butcher of your fellows! You have netted
+the leaders--you will goad the leaderless sheep to leap after them.
+You will drive them to rise against you. Then you'll massacre them for
+rising. You'll turn your artillery against the helpless peasants.
+You'll mow them down like grass. You know their peculiarities--so far
+you are Irish. With a cudgel or a shillalagh there's none can beat
+'em. But they're bad at firearms. Firearms! The use of gunpowder's
+been forbidden them for ever so many years!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'On my honour, it's provoking to save people despite themselves,'
+affirmed the exasperated chancellor. 'If the boy's hanged it'll be
+your fault, Curran.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I wish for no mercy,' said moody Terence, 'from such hands as yours,
+my lord. I remember Orr. So will you on your death-bed. Here comes
+Cassidy again. Come, Mr. Curran, we'll stroll to his chambers for a
+glass of claret.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The trio departed together arm-in-arm, and Lord Clare looked after
+their retreating figures with extreme vexation as, mounting his horse,
+he rode slowly to Ely Place.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The three allies retired to Cassidy's chambers, to laugh at their ease
+over Lord Clare's discomfiture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bedad! he's losing his nerve,' Cassidy asserted, as he poured a ruby
+bumper down his throat. 'Did ye see how wild he aimed--like a gossoon
+that had never blazed? Maybe he's of the same kidney as the spalpeen
+in the play who betune the sheets is frighted by the Banshees.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Richard the Third at Bosworth?' suggested Mr. Curran. 'If he gets his
+deserts the chancellor's death-bed will be a fearsome spectacle.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It must be an awful thing to have innocent blood upon your
+conscience,' Terence mused. 'Yet how many are there among us now whose
+arms are steeped in it to the shoulder! Is it not strange that
+confessions of murder are nearly always of some single case? Wholesale
+murderers don't seem to be so troubled. The heart must be callous, I
+suppose, before it becomes capable of wholesale murder. Hence
+Shakespeare was wrong as to his ghosts on Bosworth Field. Richard
+slept undisturbed the sleep of the infantine and just.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy seized the bottle, and poured himself out another bumper. 'I
+hate this city at night!' he said. 'Since General Lake's curfew order,
+it is like a sepulchre. I vow it's pleasant to hear the patrol, or the
+jolly sodger-boys returning home. What, Mr. Curran, are you off? These
+are ticklish times for night-journeys. Be not too venturesome. Better
+stop here. Sure I'll be glad to give you hospitality till morning.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And leave my Primrose to fret alone at home? No, thank you. She'll be
+dying to hear how her favourite is going on. I must say I'm as
+relieved as she can be that he should leave for England. One
+half-fledged victim saved at any rate out of the nest from the maw of
+Moiley.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What was Lord Clare talking of when I came up?' asked the giant,
+abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He was advising this imprudent young gentleman to make for other
+shores,' grunted Curran, strapping on spatterdashes for his ride; 'and
+he was right.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know you don't think so in your heart,' Terence retorted. 'With
+Tom Emmett and others at Kilmainham, it is more necessary than ever
+that Cassidy here and I should be vigilant. We've put our hands to the
+rudder, you know. We must summon hither some of the head men from
+Cork, at once. If Cassidy agrees with me, we'll write the letters
+before morning. It is essential that the gaps in the central committee
+should be filled up.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Can't you see how you are playing into their hands? Poor flies, whose
+feet stick in the web!' Curran sneered. 'You break from one mesh to
+catch in the next. Each time you break away, the struggle becomes
+harder; because the spider gums his lines, and your legs are sticky
+with the gluten! Little by little, by small crafty hawls, the
+executive are draining the society of all its master-minds. When they
+shall be safely snared; when no leaders with any pretension to worth
+are left, then they'll bring about a rising. The plan shows intimate
+knowledge of Irish nature capped by British phlegm. It's enough to
+make a man with his wits about him pitch himself headlong down the
+nearest well.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We will be very prudent,' Terence said. 'Yet of what avail is
+prudence with secret sleuthhounds on our track?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Honest Phil, who had been squatting in a corner on the floor, with his
+gaze fixed upon his master, could bear this talk no longer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Faix! it's meeself that knows who 'tis. Ochone! sad's the day, I know
+it,' he murmured in the voice of tribulation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The three turned eagerly round. 'You know who 'tis!' they cried out in
+chorus.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then Phil related all he knew of Biddy--interlarding the narrative
+with many groans, in that the golden-tressed darling of his heart
+should, by turning out such a shocking monster, seem to impugn his
+taste.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy emptied the claret bottle, then flung it on the ground in his
+boisterous way--swearing, with ogrish snapping of the jaws, that he'd
+be even with the traitress; that he would throttle her with his own
+big fingers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Knitting his brows Mr. Curran walked up and down, his hands behind his
+back. Terence stared at his henchman, bewildered by this new light.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After a pause Mr. Curran spoke. 'Phil's right and wrong,' he said.
+'The woman may have betrayed much. But now her teeth are drawn--that's
+as regards the present, I mean. What a labyrinth it is! She may rake
+up old stories of the past, of which &quot;juries of the right sort&quot; will
+make the properest use--but she can tell nothing that has happened
+since the &quot;Irish Slave&quot; was burnt.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Her mother Jug Coyle's still living at the Little House,' Cassidy
+suggested; 'maybe she----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Impossible. We know now that after the destruction of the shebeen
+this precious young lady went to live in barracks with the soldiers.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Murther! and I've kissed her often,' the giant sighed with
+contrition, as though by that unlucky fact virtue must have gone out
+of him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Anyways,' added Terence, 'she could never have had a hand in the
+arrest at Cutpurse Row. Somebody supplied a list of delegates. Who was
+it? It's terrible not to know!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Therein lies the hopelessness of the whole affair,' declared Mr.
+Curran, preparing to depart. 'Blindman's-buff's nothing to it. With
+such wriggling in the grass it's simply putting honest heads into the
+wild beast's mouth for nothing. I won't say what I should think about
+it were circumstances otherwise. But as the wretched case stands, it
+would be a great load off my mind, my dear boy, if you were out of the
+<i>bagarre</i>.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy scrutinised the face of Terence narrowly, who wore a look of
+moody uncertainty. 'Councillor Curran's right,' he said at length.
+'Better show a clean pair of heels, and save your neck.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man glanced up in anger, and the other smiled with a
+good-humoured nod.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was kind of Lord Clare,' Curran went on, walking hither and
+thither, much perturbed--'it certainly was kind of him to speak as he
+did. Maybe he's not so bad as I think. If so, the Lord forgive me!
+That there should be a warrant for you ready signed is not surprising.
+Warrants are pretty nearly dead letters just now, but it would not do
+to kidnap the brother of Lord Glandore without proper authority; and
+this secret foe that he spoke about is too sharp to do things
+unwarily. Once taken, your life's not worth a pin's fee with the
+Staghouse crew, ready to swear anything, and some one prepared to
+dictate. Who have ye ever injured, Terence?--think.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My Lord Clare said all that!' exclaimed Cassidy, disconcerted.
+Plunging his hands deep in his breeches-pockets, he whistled 'The
+Sword' softly to himself, while an expression of concern puckered his
+jolly lineaments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The hopes of the society will centre on you now,' the giant observed
+presently. 'As it is, the peculiarity of the attitude ye have taken
+these several months past, combined with your exalted rank, makes your
+position dangerous. The society'll look to you, now that Emmett and
+the rest are gone. Though all my heart's with it, it's little real use
+myself'll be, worse luck--I'm stupid. Theobald told me so. Tom
+Emmett's often called me a blundering booby.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This confession was made with such deprecating humility that Terence
+was touched, and held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You wrong yourself,' he said. 'Cheer up. We'll stand by each other.
+But I'm not above taking good advice.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ye'll go?' his two friends said, in different cadence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, no!' replied Terence. 'That may not be. It's plain my duty's
+here, and here I'll remain. But Emmett and the others were foolhardy;
+for the future I'll keep myself concealed. We'll knead together a new
+directory at once. A great responsibility has fallen on my shoulders
+for which I am not fitted; yet I'll do my best, and play my part as
+others do. It is possible, as you say, that the delegates will look up
+to me. They'll want to be kept together--no easy task. Would that Miss
+Wolfe were here to help!' he concluded, sighing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A malignant shadow flitted across the giant's face, and faded. 'Hide!'
+he echoed, with a bluntness which sounded a little like a taunt.
+'Where can ye hide, and Sirr not find ye?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I'll go home to Strogue to-morrow, and then----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The first place they would go to if you were wanted,' objected
+Curran.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Only to look over some papers and destroy them. I know of a safe
+place where they'll not find me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah!' exclaimed the giant, with a tinge of curiosity, 'and you've
+papers to destroy at Strogue?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Here is a scheme I've drawn out for the capture of Dublin. The lords
+of the Privy Council----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Put it away!' roared the choleric little lawyer. 'Is it the back of
+me ye want to see? I won't know these things, since I still wear the
+King's silk gown, yet ye're for ever flourishing them under my nose!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In a tantrum Mr. Curran departed, like a small snuff-scented
+whirlwind, accompanied by Phil, who went to fetch his horse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence and Cassidy exchanged glances, and burst into peals of
+laughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What a character it is!' Cassidy declared, as he busied himself with
+the brewing of cold punch--a grave matter, in which his companion too
+was soon equally engrossed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A good brew,' Terence announced, presently, amid solemn silence.
+'We'll sit up all night, for there's much to be done. To-morrow I
+shall vanish from the world--in the body.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It's curious that you should ever have turned Croppy, Master
+Terence,' the giant mused, as with cuffs turned up he peeled the
+lemons. 'You--a member of the Englishry, who may become my Lord
+Glandore to-morrow--fond as his lordship is of fighting. But then, of
+course, ye'd change your politics. Sure your head'll come to be worth
+a big lot, if the rising doesn't succeed--a power of money, surelie!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But it <i>shall</i> succeed!' returned Terence, cheerily, 'Then it will be
+our turn to offer rewards. What will Lord Clare be worth, think you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He'll never fly,' asserted the giant, eyeing his punch with lazy
+satisfaction. 'When Ould Ireland's fought her fight and conquered,
+we'll find he's died game in the streets somewhere. His behaviour on
+the Green to-night was quare, though--devilish quare!--It's absent in
+the body ye say ye'll be?' he asked, after a pause; 'but present in
+the spirit, I hope, for Erin's sake?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Never fear! One more glass of punch, and then to work. You think
+the first place Sirr would look for me would be at Strogue? But if,
+seeing the danger, I had fled from Strogue? Where would he search
+for me then? In the liberties about St. Patrick's--the Wicklow
+Hills--anywhere but in the neighbourhood of Strogue. Yet no
+neighbourhood could be so convenient. Men go fishing there in little
+boats, and may land from time to time without causing suspicion. If
+there was an alarm, it would be strange if I could not conceal myself
+among the rocks, or get across to Ireland's Eye, and baffle pursuers
+somehow till I was fetched away.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It's a pity, councillor, that the shebeen was burnt!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Better than the shebeen, old friend! Now I'll tell you a secret. You
+can keep a secret? Of course you can, for my sake and that of the good
+cause. That old figure of fun, Mrs. Gillin--whom my mother hates, for
+some odd reason--has, for some other odd reason, taken a fancy to me.
+That's funny, isn't it? She told me one day, that if ever I needed
+help which she could give, I might rely on her. Now where could I
+better conceal myself than at the Little House? It's within easy
+access of Dublin. No one is aware that I even know her, for we haven't
+exchanged more than half a dozen words in our lives. Though she's a
+Catholic, her daughter isn't; and, being anxious to make that young
+person my Lady Glandore, she naturally is interested in the
+aristocratic party. At the same time she feels the position of her
+co-religionists. I've been credibly informed so. Isn't that a good
+idea? Her place is in a manner sacred. She's a friend of all the
+judges.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy ruminated, and whistled a soft air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A capital idea indeed! Then ye'll disappear, and I'll not see ye,
+maybe, for months--that is, till the signal's given.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How so?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Madam Gillin and I aren't friends. She'd not like to see me hanging
+about her doors. It wouldn't be prudent, neither. You'll be afther
+playing your big part while I play my little one. I'm right with the
+Castle people, as yourself knows well. Sirr likes me, so does
+Secretary Cooke. I'll ingratiate myself still more wid 'em. When the
+signal comes, maybe we might take the lord-lieutenant in his bed. It's
+worth considering. Anyhow, I'd better seem cool with the society. I
+won't come to the Little House. Don't talk to her of me--'twould vex
+the mistress.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence trimmed the lamp, knitting his brows the while.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I hardly like your intimacy with the Castle-folk,' he said. 'It seems
+scarcely manly to worm out their secrets under a mask of friendship.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Cassidy burst into one of his great laughs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh murther, Master Terence!' he cried, wiping the tears from his
+eyes. 'Ye'll never win Erin's battles if ye're so lofty. We must fight
+men wid their own weapons if we'd beat 'em. That's true generalship.
+They set their spies on us. We set ours on them. That's quits, I know,
+though I am a booby. Take your pen now. Here's a list of the country
+delegates: mark out who ye think'll be best, while I brew another
+bowl.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No more, Cassidy, my friend! Let's keep our heads clear for
+business.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Be aisy! One more'll do neither of us harm.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was five o'clock before Terence was satisfied with his work. He had
+a task which was uncongenial to his habits, for he was more skilful
+with the rod or gun than with ink; and it was a matter of grievous
+slavery and toil to draw up a series of letters, such as should
+explain clearly to the country leaders of the United Irishmen the full
+bearing of the late disaster.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Tom Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, were in duress. A temporary
+arrangement must be come to, lest the French should arrive and find
+the patriots chaotic. No time was to be lost, for they might appear at
+any moment, when it would be above all things needful that French and
+Irish should be prepared to act in concert without loss of time. He,
+the writer (old college-friend as they knew of the incarcerated
+leaders, late special envoy also to France), was willing to co-operate
+with the rest in forming a provisional committee, etc., etc.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Wearied and worn out with the unaccustomed mental effort, he dropped
+the pen at last from his stiffened fingers, and, wrapping his
+riding-cloak around him, sank well-nigh at once into deep slumber;
+while Cassidy, instead of following so good an example, placed the
+bundle of letters in his long-flapped pocket, and stood for a minute
+looking down upon the sleeper.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The dark colleen may never be mine,' he muttered between his teeth,
+while he wagged his bullet-head; 'but she'll not be yours neither, my
+fine fellar!' Then, peering out into the silent street which was
+paling wan in the early dawn, he stole forth on tiptoe, over the body
+of Phil, lying prostrate across the passage, and opening the door
+stealthily, made the best of his way towards the Castle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The day was half spent before Terence woke. The giant, who could turn
+his hand to most things, washed and aglow with health, was busily
+preparing breakfast: broiling steaks over a fire, fussing hither and
+thither as merry as a grig, assisted by Phil, who was kept on the
+broad grin by his lively sallies.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The commander-in-chief of the national army is taking it out of
+Murphy while he can!' he roared in his jolly voice. 'Well, let him
+lie, God bless him! By-and-by it's little he'll see of Murphy--riding
+about all night along the ranks to encourage his troops for the
+battle. What! awake, Master Terence? I've bin up this long while. Your
+letters are on the road. I've tidied up the room, and opened some
+tipple for your meal. What'll I get from ye, gineral? Is it your
+<i>eu-de-shamp</i> that ye'll be making me? It's glad I'll be of the
+office. I've bad news, though, for ye too. I met Sirr just now, who
+was on the prowl. The French expedition's come to grief again! No
+mather! we'll fight now for ourselves--bad luck to the mounseers, they
+are chicken-hearted! That at least is the official news, arrived from
+London a few hours ago.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence rubbed his eyes and stared, unable on first awaking to realise
+such disastrous intelligence. Then he dipped his head in a basin of
+water which Phil presented to him, tidied his dress, combed out his
+long hair, and caught it back with a ribbon in the accustomed manner.
+After that he set to work upon a luscious steak with the energy of
+youth, and washed it down with claret, while Cassidy, too, made pretty
+play with knife and fork--both of them too preoccupied for speech.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Another French fiasco! How strangely fortune favoured England! This
+time the fleets had remained weather-bound, unable to start at all
+until the golden moments were gone--till opportunity had slid into the
+past. It was too bad. Terence's blood boiled whilst he assuaged his
+tremendous appetite--so did Cassidy's, finding vent as usual in loud
+oaths and noisy execrations.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After breakfast the two shook hands and parted--when to meet
+again?--when and how?--under what strangely altered auspices? It was
+agreed that the members of the new Directory should communicate in the
+first instance with Terence, in person, somewhere on the shore near
+the Little House where he was to hide. The letters would speedily
+reach their destinations, Cassidy assured him. This new turn of events
+might induce Government to take active measures of some kind. What
+would they do? Repent them of their evil ways and take to leniency,
+or, thinking they had their victim quite at their mercy, still further
+goad and harass her? What would Terence's private enemy do--he of whom
+my Lord Clare so mysteriously spoke?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With so many spies about, it was almost inevitable that the active
+part that the young councillor was playing would become known to
+Government. Would they wink at this backsliding of an aristocrat--or
+would they make an example of him by putting a heavy price upon his
+head? Be that as it might, it would never do, in Cassidy's opinion,
+for him to share the fate of Emmett and the others. The giant was
+vehement on this point. He must go into hiding forthwith, and employ
+the most extreme precautions lest Sirr should discover his lair.
+Cassidy, being known as his friend, would make a point of never taking
+the air in that direction. He would hang about the Castle
+ostentatiously, and report what he might have to say to some prominent
+member of the society, who would take up his abode in Dublin. Indeed
+he thought it would be wise to abuse the society in public--to declare
+that once he had been seduced by specious argument into joining it,
+but that now he saw the error of his ways, and sang 'Peccavi.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Much as he disliked his method, Terence was obliged to confess that
+the giant was right, and felt at the same time a small internal
+marvelling in that he was really shrewd and rather astute--by no means
+the hopeless bungler that Emmett had considered him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He took hearty leave of his friend, and, accompanied by Phil, made the
+best of his way to Strogue. It was a gloomy place to live alone in, as
+he had discovered since the departure of the family. Even his
+brother's sneers and his mother's coldness were better than this
+chilling solitude. He lived at this time in his own little chambers in
+the 'young men's wing' under the armoury, gaining access to them by
+his own private door, so that the Abbey was to all intents and
+purposes shut up, being only inhabited by a few old retainers who
+dwelt away over the stable-yard at the other side of the house. To his
+dismay his things had been disturbed--he detected the fact at once. By
+whom? How tiresome old family servants are! Disobeying orders, they
+will rummage and clean by fits and starts, regardless of the havoc
+they innocently make. Then Terence remembered that neither old Kathy
+nor her spouse, Tim the coachman, were more given to cleanliness than
+Irish domestics usually are.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This must have been a sudden and most inconvenient gush of virtue! He
+would at once give Tim and Kathy a vigorous bit of his mind. They
+should be convinced for ever after that obedience is the most cardinal
+of all the virtues as far as servants are concerned, standing indeed
+before cleanliness. They should shiver and quake in their shoes after
+the jobation their young master would administer. But instead of
+quaking they both lifted up their voices and howled, swearing that
+young masther was distraught. Go among his bits of things indeed! Not
+they. Sorra a haporth of dusting had they done. Why should they, since
+master agreed with them that it was waste of labour? Kathy had stepped
+in to make the bed, but finding it undisturbed, had stepped out again
+at once. Then somebody else must have been there. Who could have an
+interest in the few scraps of property which were of no value at all
+except to their owner? The fishing-rods were overset--the cupboards
+had been rifled--the precious collection of hackles (apple of Phil's
+eye) were strewn on the floor as if somebody had been in haste,
+searching for some special object which he could not find.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The owner of the treasures began to look grave. Who would steal his
+things--things moreover which were not worth stealing? None of the
+peasantry about. Irish peasants, though they will pick off their man
+blithely from behind a stone, are little given to petty pilfering.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence looked around, and his heart beat fast. Nothing had been taken
+except--his papers! Rough drafts of manifestoes, over which, in the
+hot zeal of youth, he had consumed the oil of midnight. Projects for
+the capture of the gaols--rough plans; the very documents which, being
+compromising and not particularly useful, he had come hither to
+destroy. How silly and imprudent not to have destroyed them sooner!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sirr for months past had been in the habit of making forcible entries
+into houses, on the chance of unearthing treason. What more likely
+than that he should think of making a perquisition upon Councillor
+Crosbie, who flaunted his opinions before the world in the outward
+form of a green tabinet neckerchief? Fool--babyish dolt! Idiot! Every
+one had spoken about that necktie. In a passion he tore it from his
+throat, and hurled it out of the open window. Conduct more childish
+still! The evil was done. Could it be remedied? His smooth forehead
+puckered itself into wrinkles as he strove to remember what the bundle
+of documents contained. Three forms of manifesto--to be printed and
+placarded so soon as Dublin should be taken. The rules and regulations
+of the society. A memorandum of prominent members--oh, horror! He knew
+he had been suspected of treachery by some. This list, incautiously
+kept, might bring about the death of many. Would he not be guilty, by
+gross carelessness, of their murder? Would they not have a right to
+curse him as they swung?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a while his spirit was invaded by the same rush of unworthiness
+which had so unnerved Tom Emmett when he was arrested. He too felt the
+bitter sense of upbraiding humiliation with which Tom had asked
+himself what right had one, who was incapable of common prudence, to
+traffic thus rashly with the lives of other men? Do his duty! Was it
+his duty to put himself forward in this affair, or was it merely a
+culpable personal vanity disguised as self-sacrifice? He strove
+earnestly to settle that question--so earnestly that Phil, who watched
+him, was aghast at his distress, and endeavoured by humble barks and
+frolicking: to cheer his master from the dumps. To no purpose. With
+grief be it admitted that his master cursed him roundly, abused him
+with such unnecessary harshness that the poor fellow slunk away with
+tears in his eyes, under pretence of fetching the green kerchief. Big
+drops of sweat stood on the young man's brow. His brains had never in
+all his years been so tried as during the last few months. Only those
+usually unused to thought can tell of the dreadful addled feeling of
+helplessness which comes upon the muddled intellect during its first
+feeble struggles into work.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After a time he grew calmer, as the one bright point stood out
+distinctly. It was not the vanity of power--the attribute of
+Jack-in-office, which had galvanised his careless nature into serious
+purpose. Look at it how he would, he was clearly above such meanness.
+He had no personal ambition--that was what Doreen had constantly
+dinned into his ears with scorn--and he had wished that, to please
+her, he could have become ambitious. But it was out of the question.
+He liked the world--its bright sun, its flowers, its myriad life--but
+with no desire for exclusive possession of its delights. He was not
+discontented with his lot, even though his brother was rude sometimes,
+and his mother cold and unaffectionate. His only troubles had been his
+trivial debts; they alone had stirred his brains to scheming, and he
+had borne them good-humouredly as his share of the ills of life. He
+thought Doreen bewitching--deliriously delightful. Her he would fain
+possess as his own--his very own. There was nothing specially
+ambitious in that; for the lowly sparrow, as well as the stately fowl
+of Cochin, is justified in seeking out a mate--the best who will
+accept him. No; he was indolently, comfortably content to take the
+world as he found it, making excuses for its bumps, palliating its
+disagreeables--until that time when his eyes had been opened as though
+scales had fallen from them. Since then he was an altered man; sobered
+by the shock of suddenly perceiving the precipice on which his country
+stood. At first he had refused to gauge the depth of the abyss; it was
+so much pleasanter to turn aside to dally with the flowers. Then the
+upright courage which had hitherto lain dormant spoke, bidding him
+mark Erin's loveliness--commanding him to stretch out his hand to stay
+her tottering form, whispering sternly that if she fell before his
+eyes without an effort made to save, the guilt of her shattered limbs
+would haunt him for evermore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No! His conscience absolved him of personal ambition. If Erin were
+saved through his agency he would be content to retire again into the
+background--well-paid by her grateful smile. His error had been great,
+because its consequences might be serious. But humanity is prone to
+error. Youth must learn experience by stumbling. A man must expect to
+receive many stabs who fights with a concealed enemy. He must practise
+prudence, make no movement without exceeding caution; but at the best
+what a disheartening conflict--what a one-sided fight!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence had received two blows this very day. France could not be
+depended on for help. Twice within less than a year had she made
+herself a laughing-stock. And now--this capture of his papers, which,
+if the foe were relentless, would compromise him hopelessly. It was
+more than ever needful to conceal himself, if his life were to be of
+real use before he laid it down. Trouble seasons the character
+quickly. The young man was already beginning to calculate expediencies
+with gravity and precision. If he was spared, time might make of him a
+valuable champion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He whistled Phil, who came up fawning like a hound that is forgiven.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Follow me. And whatever you do, keep your tongue within your teeth,'
+he said. Then calling Kathy, he flung to her the key of his little
+door, remarking that he was called to Cork on business, and might be
+long detained. If my lady should write (alas! she never wrote) the
+letters might wait.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, followed by his faithful henchman who shouldered his fire-iron
+as though meaning business, he turned out of the great gate up the
+by-lane which led, before meandering elsewhere, to the back-entrance
+of the Little House; rung the bell, and waited to see the mistress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin answered it in person, bedizened in a weird wrapper, a
+wisp of soiled crape wound over the curl-papers about her head and
+under her chin like a cerecloth. Her sleeves were tucked up above the
+elbow. In her hand she bore a rolling-pin; her fingers wore a cuticle
+of dough. Expressing no surprise, she remarked simply:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I expected you before this. There is no one in the house but myself,
+Norah, and the collough, my ould nurse. She's to be trusted. Ye're
+welcome, and your man. Come here, Norah; kiss your brother-in-law as
+will be some day. You may kiss me too, for I mean to be your
+aunt-in-law. Look me in the eyes. A handsome fellar! I know more of
+you than ye'll ever know yourself, unless the Holy Mother wills it.
+Come in, for we may be watched; and bar the door.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">THE RISING OP THE TEMPEST.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Nothing could be kinder than the stout homely lady's treatment of her
+guest. He seemed to have a sad sort of fascination for her. He caught
+her watching him sometimes with a queer expression of pity, which
+broke into amicable grins and head-shakings so soon as she found
+herself detected. Norah, too, turned out to be a good-natured,
+unpretentious creature.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the whole, Terence was not surprised at his brother's choice,
+considering what a terror that truculent individual betrayed for
+high-bred damosels, and how little he was able to appreciate the
+refined fascinations of the haughty, calm Doreen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It stood to reason,' so Terence argued, 'that if he were blind to the
+existence of a divinity who, in semblance of a mortal maid, abode by
+his fireside, then, of course, his senses must be gross, and nothing
+would suit him but a house-wench.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Despite the draggled ball-room finery in which Norah elected to array
+herself for breakfast, in honour of the guest, he could not but
+perceive that she was no better than a serving-wench in mistress's
+attire. But then she was a cheery, pleasant house-wench, instead of a
+designing, cross one, as might have been the case. So he clasped her
+to his bosom, and the twain were soon fast friends.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the kitchen things did not go so smoothly. Phil's orders were that
+he must never go out by daylight; so he sat in the kitchen all day
+long, staring at Jug Coyle, the collough, who sat muttering and
+growling as she stared at him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For many years, when mistress of the 'Irish Slave,' Jug had nourished
+a resentment against this unoffending youth, shaking a lean fist at
+him as he passed her door, muttering a curse when he called in for
+'the laste taste in life of the crayther.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Why? Because she was a collough and he a farrier; or, if he wasn't,
+why should he wield a firing-iron? Colloughs have always hated
+farriers, time out of mind, because they are rival practitioners in
+the art of medicine, and the colloughs nourish a vague belief that, in
+the days of the Bound Towers, the herbalists were lady-doctors, and
+that they enjoyed an undisputed sway over both kine and gentlefolk
+until Crummell introduced the veterinary as a special branch of
+Æsculapian science.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He tried to ingratiate himself with the old dame by playing Peter to
+her Nurse; but she scorned to be so wheedled, remarking curtly, when
+he was particularly civil:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The curse of Crummell light on yez, breed, seed, and branch, ye
+villainous cow-doctor. The Lord planted our cures in the fields before
+there was no 'pothecaries.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Which remark being usually irrelevant, not to say incomprehensible, he
+met it by a good-tempered nod, which brought the irate lady to the
+extreme of patience.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The days dragged on thus but slowly. Madam Gillin was a strange
+mixture of bravery and pusillanimity. As we have seen, she stood in
+terror of a particular gentleman, because he had discovered that she
+took her Protestant child to mass, and had threatened to expose the
+awful secret. Such a matter would disturb no one at the present day;
+but at that time it was a heinous sin, which would have pointed the
+sinner out for some practical joking on the part of the Protestant
+squireens. At the same time she fearlessly harboured one who was a
+marked man, upon whose head shortly a price might be set, who might
+drag her with him to ruin, if the worst came to the worst; and all
+because she had sworn an oath once to a dying paramour, and had
+watched, with anger mingled with sorrow, the career of the child she
+had promised to protect.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Knowing Ireland's wrongs better than he did, and learning from hearsay
+how proud-stomached a boy he was, she had always dreaded that which
+actually came to pass. She and Curran agreed that it would be
+deplorable if he joined the popular party; but as both secretly leaned
+in that direction, they could not discountenance him for having the
+courage to maintain, in face of danger, what they felt to be the
+rightful cause. For all their sakes, however, she acted with feminine
+tact. She kept him a close prisoner in a garret while it was day,
+sitting alone herself in the garden during fine weather, where all who
+passed along the high-road might perceive a strange figure they were
+little likely to forget. At night she took him out under personal
+escort to take the air, bidding Phil march forty yards in front and
+whistle at the first hint of danger, while Norah fulfilled the same
+office behind; Jug meanwhile being strictly enjoined to allow no
+strange foot to cross the threshold, under any pretence whatever.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the course of these walks they wandered by the shore, coming quite
+accidentally, sometimes, upon a group of fishermen, who bowed to the
+young man with respect, and conversed with him in long and earnest
+whispers. It transpired by-and-by that some of the ubiquitous
+informers were beginning to turn their attention to the rage for
+fishing which seemed to have arisen about Strogue Point. Then Madam
+Gillin forbade even the solace of these nocturnal wanderings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It became known that many of the marked ones were journeying to and
+fro, in a suspicious and mysterious manner, between Wexford and Dublin
+and the adjacent districts. It also became a matter of public scandal
+that the object of the journeys was to commune with a personage of
+rank, the only one who dared to prefer his country to his class.
+Unwise conspirators began to babble of a lordling who would shortly
+lead them to certain victory--who, English though he might be by
+lineage, did not forget how many centuries of sojourn bound his family
+to the sister island. They spoke with gratitude and pride of this
+<i>rara avis</i>, all the more incautiously, perhaps, because they knew him
+to be safely hidden beyond the ken of Sirr and of his bloodhounds.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now as week followed week, and month glided after month, it chanced
+that my Lord Clare departed to the bath of Harrogate to drink the
+waters for his health. By a singular coincidence, Mr. Pitt also
+travelled thitherward. It was, of course, a coincidence; but folks did
+say--well, no matter what they said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Lord Clare returned to the Irish metropolis, he discovered, with
+concern, that the secret committee of Lords--the Wehmgericht who still
+performed in the shadow unholy and illegal deeds--had requested the
+Viceroy to issue a certain warrant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Camden, rather pleased for once to act upon his separate account,
+mumbled that the lords were quite right to keep their own nest clean;
+that it was shocking to think that one of their body should so
+fearfully misbehave himself. He went further. Other younger sons of an
+adventurous turn might follow this pernicious example. Not only must
+he be taken forthwith, but must also be made an example of. His
+brother might object possibly--that nice loyal young nobleman, who had
+assisted in building many Martello towers; but his outcry, should he
+presume to make one, must be stopped by timely courtesy. The Glandores
+of Strogue were earls; why should they not be created marquises?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So my Lord Camden delivered the warrant, which had for long been lying
+in his escritoire, to Major Sirr, and offered, as well, a reward of a
+thousand guineas for the culprit, alive or dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Quite a tremor went through both Houses. One of the nobles! This was
+serious. A few thousand peasants, more or less, mattered to nobody;
+but it was a pity to touch the <i>noblesse</i>. Then they talked of
+Lafayette, who was a marquis, whilst this was only an earl's younger
+son, and soon felt quite comfortable; even applauded the Viceroy's
+timely severity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lord Clare was more troubled, when he learned these things, than his
+enemies would have deemed possible. He wrote to his dear old friend at
+Glas-aitch-é, bidding her not grieve too much. It was done in his
+absence. He dared not openly interfere in favour of her misguided son,
+but would make a personal request to Mr. Pitt to urge his Majesty to
+clemency. He had done much work for Mr. Pitt (forgetting to state how
+dirty that work was); and no doubt his boon would be granted. If not,
+still must his loving mother not despair. Prison bars might be sawn;
+turnkeys were very shortsighted. There were boats about, and men to
+man them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He never doubted for a moment that the reward would be claimed. How
+blind both Curran and his <i>protégé</i> had been not to guess his
+transparent riddle! My lady wrote back in course of time, deploring,
+in bitter terms, the blow which had befallen the family; the dart
+which had transfixed her heart. And my Lord Clare was no little amazed
+to perceive, or to seem to perceive, that my lady took her anguish
+calmly. Either she was a Stoic, or more unfeeling as to her offspring
+than he liked to consider a lady to be who was also his old friend.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus did events unroll themselves, till one fine day a party of
+yeomanry, more intoxicated even than they usually were, took it into
+their wise heads to investigate the Little House. Happily the
+chatelaine was at home to defend her penates, whilst old Jug shrieked
+maledictions on the party like a frantic Chorus. Madam Gillin stoutly
+(in both senses of the word) spread her redundant charms across her
+entrance-stone, daring them one and all to come forward and strike a
+woman. She threatened them--Catholic though she was--with the
+vengeance of the Bar. Was she not the chosen ally of my Lords Clonmell
+and Carleton--those gay and festive judges--who held her company and
+her wine in such deservedly high esteem? Did not even the gradually
+saddening attorney-general--Mr. Arthur Wolfe--count her among his
+friends? Woe be to the military gentlemen who should outrage her
+sacred hearth. They might come in and do their worst, for she had
+naught to hide. What could she have to hide? But she warned them, in
+very positive language indeed, that they would rue the day they did
+it. They were abashed, but loath to retire, after drunken blustering,
+before a mere woman's tongue. Such a woman and such a tongue! Would
+she give the boys some drink? the captain coaxingly suggested. She
+pertinently retorted that if they or some of their kidney had not
+already destroyed the shebeen, which she had set up for the benefit of
+arid throats, drink might be got in plenty without stealing it from a
+lone woman. Yet would she even give them drink if they'd promise to be
+off. Not special drink, such as the judges drank, but some other, by
+no means despicable.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She showed the officers into the dining-parlour; produced for them a
+few bottles of undeniable Lafitte, bidding Norah act Hebe (who
+objected not at all), and ordering Jug to distribute jorums of whisky
+among the common men upon the lawn. It soon became an orgie. One man
+said something rude to Jug about her erring Biddy with the carroty
+poll, which sent the hag into a fury. If Biddy was sliding from the
+straight path, the sin must lie on her head, not her mother's. They
+were spalpeens, she yelled, who would rot some time--the sooner the
+better. When should come Judgment-day they would not awake, ne'er a
+recreant sowl of them, having long ago been absorbed by lean pigs that
+were their betters. One man bade her keep a civil tongue, or it would
+be the worse for her. A riot ensued, which the mistress of the
+dwelling hurried forth to quell. Before the officers could interfere,
+Madam Gillin had received a scratch upon her arm, which she exhibited
+in the moonlight, swearing she was 'kilt entirely,' with an
+accompaniment of screams from Norah, who was really terrified. The
+judges should hear of the outrage--my lords Clonmell and Carleton--she
+vociferated, and the rapscallions should be drummed out of the
+regiment for insulting lone women who had friends among the great. The
+party stole away, ashamed of the din, but Madam Gillin made capital of
+the incident. Bandaging her arm in bloody linen, she drove into the
+capital, laid a complaint there, and made believe to see a surgeon.
+Every day for many days she drove into town and back again, closely
+draped in shawls, with ensanguined bandages exposed. Long ago she
+perceived that if Terence was to consent to continued imprisonment,
+his mind must be set at rest by communication with the Directory. He
+chafed so in his cage that she dreaded sometimes whether he might not
+escape in the night while the kindly gaoleress slept. Therefore,
+knowing what a hue-and-cry there was after him--or rather after the
+unlucky thousand pounds reward--she became in some sort a conspirator
+herself, going daily to and fro to see her doctor, who was no other
+than one of the new delegates, and who thus was enabled to commune
+with the lordling in spite of Sirr and his battalion of watchers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a lull of expectation in Dublin. Reports flew over the
+city--no one could tell how or whence they came--reports which set
+quiet citizens quivering in their beds. Hints of murder, rapine,
+kidnapping, explosion. Rumour swept howling over the city. The Castle
+would be blown into the air; it was known that the train was laid,
+that the match was ready. The lives of the Viceroy and his ministers
+were not worth a groat. What wonder if loyal yeoman souls were yet
+further set aflame? What wonder if the terrified senate acquiesced
+without murmuring at the line of action which the loyalists pursued.
+Soon so many prospective victims choked the alleys of the
+Riding-school that extra triangles had to be set up elsewhere. The
+Royal Exchange itself echoed with the thud of the cat; the screams of
+the victims for mercy could be heard in the viceregal apartments hard
+by. Happily for Lady Camden's peace of mind, she had fled long since.
+Soldiers were sent out at free quarters to the right and left, with
+hints that it would be well that their hosts should not forget their
+coming. Virgins were tossed naked in blankets, while their fathers and
+brothers were compelled to watch their shame. The pitch-cap was in
+daily use; gunpowder was exploded in the hair. A new and splendid jest
+was invented by a merry dog. Why not <i>picket</i> the recalcitrant scum?
+What better joke than to poise an insolent fellow barefoot upon a
+pointed stake? His movements would be mirth-inspiring--so grotesque
+and comical! The only drawback was (as experiment showed) that he
+fainted all too soon. No; decidedly there was nothing better than the
+old-fashioned lash. Men swooned under it no doubt; some died; some
+went raving mad. But even when these misfortunes chanced there was
+diversion to be had from the expectant moans of those who were
+awaiting a like fate. Some even lost consciousness before they were
+tied up at all. Such a lack of humorous perception was disgusting.
+Why, a rat in a pit gives sport, though his fate is predetermined. A
+man, though low-born, should shame to be less plucky than a rat! It
+was rather amusing, and salutary to a certain point in its results, to
+shoot down children--babes and sucklings--before their mothers' eyes.
+Yet no! there was so little variety in the behaviour of the mothers.
+They all rocked themselves and stretched their palms to heaven. It was
+monotonous and dull. Even the imagination of the squireens, spurred as
+it was by enterprising colonels, began to flag. Perhaps, after all,
+they were not so very much more witty or more inventive than the
+French in the Reign of Terror. Their superiors grew ashamed of them,
+forgetting that in our imperfect state there is a limit to the human
+intellect. They grew ashamed of their own dearth of ingenuity, being
+by this time so swinish and sodden with alcohol and blood-quaffing,
+that the English and Scotch regiments turned their backs on them,
+declining to associate with their Irish comrades at all, even under
+stress of orders and of whisky.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Winter had come again; not white this time, but red--a dusky red, by
+reason of the shadow of that thunderous cloud which, bloated now, was
+on the eve of bursting. If there is a limit set to the torturing
+ingenuity of fiends, so is there--by Divine ordinance--to the
+endurance even of slaves. A roar swept across the land--a roar of
+expostulation with the Most High in that He had slept too long. Sure
+man was not created only for the sake of torment. Children were not
+born merely to be ripped asunder--virgins to be ravished--men to be
+done to death by inches? Why, whilst the sun smiled on earth for good
+and bad alike--its glory heightened by a casual vapour-fleck--was
+Ireland alone exempted from the boon of light? The last trump had not
+yet sounded. Why was Erin alone to be a hell? Messengers moved like
+ants on the earth's surface. Something was preparing. After many
+delays and feints the real crisis was at hand at last. The cloud,
+three years ago no bigger than a hand, blackened the horizon. Even the
+chancellor's stony face grew wan--his nature of adamant faltered--when
+he surveyed the darkened heavens, hushed in an awful stillness, and
+waited for what might come. For a moment he trembled like Frankenstein
+before the monster he had fashioned.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">DANGER.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Through Madam Gillin Terence heard of these things, and was fretted
+beyond measure in his seclusion. The plot was ripe. Vague tales of
+succour were wafted from France, but the conspirators knew better now
+than to lean on broken reeds. They were resolved to make a frantic
+effort on their own account, independent of extraneous aid. Men can
+die but once. Death by rope or musket-ball would be preferable to such
+life as this--life with a brutal soldiery at free quarters in the
+houses; with triangles in every barrack-yard, each bearing its
+quivering burthen. Details had been laboriously gone into by Terence
+and the Wexford chiefs. The project was complete in all its details.
+The counties were to rise simultaneously at a given signal. The
+Viceroy and the members of his privy council were each to be captured
+in his bed. A detachment was to seize the artillery at Chapelizod; a
+second was to storm Kilmainham and set free the patriot leaders. It
+was the old plan which had always proved abortive; could it be brought
+to fruition now? Horses would be in waiting, so that each leader could
+escape and scamper off to assume the post allotted to him. The men
+were enthusiastic, the Wexford chiefs declared, and built great hopes
+on the fact of having a noble in their ranks. The only objection which
+Terence's anxious eye could detect was that the lower order among the
+priests were assuming an authority to which they were not entitled;
+one which, by reason of their want of education, might prove
+mischievous. Tone, in all his letters, had always laid stress upon
+this point.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Keep the priests out of it,' he had constantly written to Miss Wolfe
+(Terence remembered it now). 'They will mean well, but are
+outrageously illiterate and given to fable, which might have a
+pernicious effect, their influence being enormous.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A certain Father Roche and a Father Murphy were never weary of writing
+letters, suggesting changes, offering wild advice. It would be well
+for the Church militant to be nipped in the bud. The leaders now in
+Kilmainham should be warned to see to this. Councillor Crosbie would
+have liked more muskets and a supply of gunpowder. What a pity it was
+that the French attempts had failed! After all, it was perhaps better
+as it was. The pike was the weapon for Pat; and though many had been
+captured, the land was bristling with them. Cars, too, would be
+useful for barricades. The small farmers must be told to keep their
+market-cars in constant readiness. Terence's eye scanned the details.
+They were not to be improved. All was ready.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nothing remained but to fix a day. New Year's Eve was suggested, in
+order that the year 1798 might be well begun. It was amazing and
+disheartening to find how impossible it was for Pat to keep a secret.
+A week before the old year expired, proclamations appeared on all the
+walls, which showed that Government was aware of what was doing. Each
+householder was commanded, under pain of flogging, to chalk a list on
+the outer door of the persons who dwelt upon his premises; with the
+exception (so ran the quaint document) of those who might be suffering
+from pecuniary embarrassment, whose names were to be transmitted
+privately to the Lord Mayor. He was likewise bidden to see that no one
+under his roof went forth into the street between nine at night and
+five in the morning. Could the conspirators doubt that somehow their
+every movement was reported?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin, who, strive to control herself as she would, was
+feverishly excited about the future, discussed the plot in all its
+bearings with her guest when shutters were shut and curtains drawn. It
+was a marvel, she declared, that his retreat had remained so long
+undiscovered. It was a narrow escape though, when the yeomanry
+arrived; but that was evidently due to accident. There was no cause to
+suspect treachery there. It spoke well for the country chiefs--at
+least the few who had been let into the secret; for a thousand pounds
+is a tidy nest-egg--a by no means despicable windfall. She liked those
+leaders whom she had seen when pretending to visit her doctor in
+Dublin. The best of them was a certain Mr. Bagenal Harvey--a nice
+gintleman--one of the few who has much personal property at stake.
+'He's prudent too, for an Irishman. And so are you, my child!' she
+remarked, laying a plump hand affectionately on his arm. 'You've never
+even told your mother where you're hid. I verily believe she hates me
+so that, if she knew, she'd write and tell the chancellor!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I fear she doesn't care,' returned Terence, sadly. 'Nor does Doreen.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The strange look of compassion flitted across the face of his hostess
+which he had observed there before. She muttered something which he
+did not catch, but he knew by the tone that it was uncomplimentary to
+her ladyship.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You mustn't think ill of my lady,' he said, with an attempt at
+cheerfulness. 'Indeed, she so dotes on Shane that there's no room in
+her heart for poor me! He quite filled up that shrine before ever I
+came into the world. If I thought she would have been anxious, I would
+have informed her. But nobody cared, so I told nobody--except one.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You told some one! Who was that?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A trusty old friend of long standing--true as gold, if a little
+stupid--Tim Cassidy. By-the-bye, he said you didn't like him. He's
+good, but not clever; though I've been a little shaken of late as to
+the weakness of his intellect. It's wonderful how circumstances bring
+people out!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin sat bolt upright, her fat hands clasped round her fat
+knees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You told <i>him!</i>' she cried aghast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes. Do not fear. He's playing a useful game, if a shady one. Each of
+us must do what he can, you know.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin was so taken aback that, to conceal her emotion, she
+retired abruptly from the garret, and stared out of the landing-window
+to consider this intelligence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A useful game for <i>himself</i>,' she murmured. '<i>He</i> knows--he who has
+wrecked them all--and has left this one here so long with a thousand
+pounds upon his head! What can he mean? Can he in this be sincere? No.
+The days of miracles are past.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin had seen our friend Cassidy once without his jovial mask.
+It is astonishing how deceived we are in people! We may live with them
+on familiar terms for years, and discover at last by a gleam that
+their real selves are quite other from what we thought. Sometimes the
+gleam never comes at all. How many sons are there who never knew their
+mothers? How many mothers who have never known their sons--the real
+person with the veil withdrawn? Madam Gillin had seen Cassidy once
+when he was himself, and felt satisfied that he could never be true
+except to his own interests. Then this new position which looked the
+darker for the light she could throw on it, twisted itself in her
+mind, displaying all its facets. <i>He</i> knew that the young man, on whom
+so much depended, had been lying for weeks and weeks in ambush at the
+Little House. Why did he leave him there? Was he waiting for the
+reward to be doubled? When the moment arrived for her <i>protégé</i> to be
+taken--when he chose to speak, what would become of HER? He would
+surely ruin her. Could the judges save her from the penalties which
+would accrue from taking a Protestant under age to mass, as well as
+harbouring an arch-rebel?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, I can't help it,' she said aloud, mentally tossing up the
+sponge. 'I've done what I thought right. It's difficult to see the
+way. He must be got out of this while there's time, and New Year's Eve
+so near, too! Oh that I had learnt this before!' Painful misgivings
+possessed her mind. 'Pray God and the Holy Mother that the poor boy
+may be spared!' she whispered. 'Knowing what I do, it's bitterly sorry
+I am for him. That proud mother of his will burn for what she's doing
+some time or other, though she's happy now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin, argus-eyed as she thought herself, could not know that
+the chatelaine of Strogue had already passed through a part of the
+travail of her punishment. She had to judge by the face, which was a
+mask--the face which was stony and cold enough--as cold as a face of
+marble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Suddenly (as she meditated) the buxom lady saw something which caused
+her to crouch down and draw hastily back from the window.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It's come!' she murmured; 'I felt it <i>here</i> in my heart. What a mercy
+that he told me, or it would have come on us unawares! Norah!' she
+called with caution down the stairs, 'send Phil up here this minute.'
+Then she sped to the garret. 'My lad,' she said quickly, 'hurry now!
+Get through the trap on to the roof. Phil must do the same. I'll tidy
+the place in a jiffy! Ye can both lie cosy in the valley of the roof.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What's the matter?' asked Terence, without moving.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Matter enough. There's a party coming down the road. I'll stake my
+head it's Sirr or some of them. They're coming to look for you!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then give them some of your Lafitte, my second mother!' laughed
+Terence, carelessly, 'and pack them about their business.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' Mrs. Gillin said, 'I can't explain now. They must go over the
+house, and be convinced that ye're not in it; and to-night we'll pack
+ye somewhere else for safety.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was no withstanding her energy. The two young men obeyed their
+peremptory hostess, marvelling much at her. It was Sirr, sure enough.
+His peculiar stoop could be recognised a mile off. Behind him were a
+dozen redcoats.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin was snipping dead twigs with a large pair of scissors; she
+wore a loose green kerchief over her turban, so unbecomingly arranged
+that it was evident she expected no visitors. Norah was dutifully
+holding a basket. How idle of the gardener to have neglected to trim
+those hedges! Old Jug sat crooning in the wintry sun, her eyes
+twinkling like beads from under a tangle of sandy elf-locks and
+flopping cap, her favourite dudheen between her lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Misthress dear!' she croaked between two puffs of smoke, 'it's the
+meejor.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But that lady was too much absorbed in gardening to hear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good-day, madam,' quoth Sirr, wrinkling down his brow-tufts with a
+smirk, and saluting in military fashion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bless the pigs, meejor! is it you?' she cried, throwing down her
+scissors. 'Ye've called to ask after my arm? It's mighty kind! The
+ruffin gave my poor hand a terrible wrench, and sprains are slow to
+cure. The bleeding's stopped this long while, but the docthor's eating
+the sowl out of me. I go to be bandaged three times a week. It's not
+your boys, meejor, that would outrage a leedy so!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Major Sirr was disconcerted, and began to stammer:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Glad ye're better, madam--hugely glad! I would not for the world do
+anything disagreeable to a lady--but business is business, isn't it?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What's up?' cried the amazed little woman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I'm here, I regret to say, on painful business. May we come inside?
+Thank you!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The meejor's always welcome,' affably returned the other, with one of
+those superb but ceremonious curtseys wherewith she was wont to
+electrify the Viceroy. Then, plucking off the kerchief, she whispered
+audibly to Norah, 'Begorrer, it's rooned we are! To be seen with a
+square of green silk round mee ould noddle! But the meejor won't
+tell.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Major Sirr observed with sorrow that the lady was not so cordial as
+usual. There was an air of suspicious virtue with the ears set back
+which distressed him, for he was really partial to her, though he
+loved her claret better.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">''Tis with deepest pain----' he was beginning, when she cut him short.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Give tongue!' she said curtly. 'What ails you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was a slap in the face. He was accustomed to be fondled and
+caressed by those whom it was his painful duty to flay alive. She
+could not be so hoighty-toighty if afraid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are right,' he returned; 'business is business. I regret to say I
+must search your house, for I've reason to know that Councillor
+Crosbie is concealed here. I advise you to produce him, and have done
+with it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, Major Sirr! Major Sirr! You should have sent your better-half to
+cope with Mrs. Gillin. What are a dozen men against one woman, in a
+battle of wits? What are two dozen men against one woman whose blood
+is roused, who stands like a tigress 'twixt her whelp and danger?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Major Sirr expected her to change colour, to betray at least a quiver
+of the lip, a tremor of the fingers; then, recovering herself, to deny
+largely and pour forth claret with effusion. Such signs would have
+been the sure tokens of guilt, and he would have known how to act
+accordingly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Instead of this she stabbed him, rather too hard for playfulness, with
+her scissors, and skipped away laughing with elephantine grace. Then
+wagging her turban at him (which was wofully awry), she set her hands
+akimbo on her high waistband, thereby sending her elbows almost to the
+level of her ears, and remarked with unusual bluntness:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Pah! ye stink of the Staghouse! Stale blood and brains! Go on,
+hangman; do your worst. Mr. Crosbie <i>was</i> here--has been here for
+weeks. I won't deny, since ye know all about it. If ye hadn't been a
+dolt, ye'd have found him long ago. Why, he walked out with Norah each
+evening on the shore. He was here when the yeoman blackguards wounded
+and hurt my arm. Do ye think, if it was otherwise, I'd have stooped to
+give them drink? Not likely! Mr. Crosbie <i>was</i> here, but the bird's
+flown. You may well look glum. Sorra a drop of the crathur your men'll
+get out of me this day. Go, search the house; turn it inside out. He
+lived in the right-hand garret. Ye'll find some of his things about,
+though he's in Wexford by this time. Here are all my keys (except the
+cellar key). Search!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was disheartening. Behaviour coarse and rude. But duty is duty.
+Sirr stooped to pick up the keys, which had been tossed to his feet,
+and, wrapping himself in a rag of dignity, proceeded to examine the
+premises. It was as she said. There was no one there, though there
+were signs of recent occupation. Ruefully the major looked into the
+dining-parlour. There were no nice things laid out for his behoof.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I've only done my duty,' he urged, as he clutched the virtuous lady's
+fat hand. 'Don't be cross with me. I'm glad my mission's failed,
+though I should have won a thousand by it--there!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But she shook him off and swept away, murmuring over her shoulder,
+with sniffing nostrils, that she had done with him; would never meet
+him as a friend again (though her house was open to examination
+whensoever he was anxious for an outrage); that she would take it as a
+personal favour if he would save her the pain of cutting him dead in
+public; for under no conditions whatsoever would she consent to
+condone this insult.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sirr was sorry, but shrugged his shoulders. He ordered his men to
+march on to Strogue. Perhaps the culprit was not gone to Wexford, but
+was lying perdu in the vaults of the ancient Abbey. Mrs. Gillin
+screamed to old Jug, from an upper window, to run round to Larry in
+the farm-buildings, and bid him bring out the carriage. She must go to
+Dublin to the doctor. Her nerves were rooned now, as well as her
+spirits and poor arm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, closing the window, she called on the fugitives to come forth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There's no time to be lost,' she said. 'Sirr suspects nothing, but
+the other will. The serpent! He is capable of coming down himself, in
+a friendly way, to spend the evening; and that's more than I could
+endure, even for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Of whom do you speak?' asked Terence, bewildered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Don't chatter!' interrupted the kind lady. ''Twill be twilight in an
+hour or so. You must get out of this before Sirr gets back, and
+reports to the other what he's done. Then the brute may come, and
+welcome. It'll be a pleasure to laugh at him. Sirr'll be an hour or so
+rummaging through the Abbey. Meanwhile you'll take my place in the
+coach. You're just my size and figure. Your arm looks awful bad. You
+want a doctor sadly. But that gossoon there; he can't go too, as I've
+always gone alone. Unlucky! He can't stay, either; that's certain.
+What'll we do at all?' She tore off the soiled turban to rub her head,
+for the better coaxing of her ingenuity. Presently she clapped her
+hands. 'That's it. Ye'll go separate to the same rendezvous. You,
+Phil, shall go first, for ye must walk. It's like a masquerade in the
+good old times; yet my heart is dreadful sore--ochone!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rapidly Madam Gillin produced some sailor-slops which her own boatman
+used to wear when she took her pleasure on the bay. 'Phil will wear
+these and start at once,' she explained. 'His face must not be seen;
+it's too well known. In the boathouse yonder he'll find a coil of
+rope. He must bear it on his shoulders as a motive, and let a loop or
+two fall over his forehead. Be off now, and be careful. Take a knife,
+in case of accidents. Ye must be clear off before Sirr returns from
+the Abbey. If by ill-luck ye were to come face to face, stab at his
+legs. He wears a coat of mail. <i>I felt it with my scissors</i>. Away!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Phil departed, quite glad of the excitement, delighted to break
+through his long and weariful incarceration.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence was packed in the celebrated wrapper, which once to see was
+never to forget. A beaver bonnet and veil covered his head. An arm was
+deftly bandaged. He stepped into the coach, drew up the glasses, and
+leaning back in the shadow as the coachman whipped his horses, began
+to collect his thoughts. Whew! What a whirl it was! Why dear Madam
+Gillin should suddenly become nervous, and wag her plumes so, he could
+not imagine. Unpleasant things are ofttimes for the best. Concealed in
+the capital itself he would be all the better able to superintend in
+person the proceedings of New Year's Eve. Yes! It was quite fortunate
+that she should thus have sent him off. He would see some of the
+delegates that very evening; concert passwords and signals. Five
+minutes' talk is worth a dozen letters. He would send round for
+Cassidy, who, faithful to his <i>rôle</i>, should be able to unravel for
+them the ins and outs of the Castle tactics, some of which seemed
+hazy. He would---- What was that? Sirr and his men! Then they had not
+lingered at the Abbey, but had started Dublinwards before him? No
+matter. All was right. The major had peered into the carriage, and,
+perceiving the wounded arm and well-known wrapper, had turned away his
+head abruptly. How cleverly Mrs. Gillin had managed the whole thing!
+Why had she taken such a fancy to him? If he were her own son, she
+could not be more loving and considerate.--What was that? A man
+bending under a load. Phil, of course. How slow he walked! Sirr's men
+seemed stepping out. Please Heaven they would not overtake him. No.
+And if they did, what then? A boor with a burthen of rope. A guilty
+conscience; how it racks and torments us about nothing!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hark! a sound--audible through the rumbling coach-wheels. A shout--a
+cry! Unable to resist the impulse, Terence lowered a glass and
+protruded his head, with the beaver bonnet and veil. Great heavens!
+The soldiers had gained on Phil, whose burthen impeded movement; had,
+from sheer brutality, torn it from him and disclosed his features. He
+had been recognised! Sirr saw through the trick, and shook his fist
+with balked fury. He was gesticulating in the road. Some soldiers were
+hailing the coach from afar, but Larry whipped his horses with a will.
+Some more, jumping a ditch, had broken through a hedge and vanished.
+Poor Phil! he would be murdered. Was it not base to leave him thus
+unaided? Yet--the Cause. Terence felt that his life was not his own.
+Eagerly he looked backwards as the road took a loop-turn. He must see
+the last of poor Phil--probably the very last of his faithful
+henchman. Phil had ceased struggling. Terence drew in his head, and,
+man though he was, burst into a flood of tears. Poor, faithful Phil!
+What a sad end!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Half-way betwixt Strogue and Dublin the road leaves the shore, and
+winds inland with an intricate series of doubles--arranged so for the
+benefit of certain small villa-holders, round whose tiny properties
+the way meanders. Terence forgot this fact, so absorbed was he in the
+fate of his attached servant, otherwise he would have seen his danger,
+and, throwing off his disguise, would have trusted to a hare's tactics
+in the open. But, clad in woman's attire, he was weeping like a woman,
+and bemoaning his fate, when the carriage came to a standstill with a
+shock. A detachment of soldiers, taking a short cut, had come upon the
+carriage, and, springing on the bits, had thrust back the horses on
+their haunches.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Deception was futile now. Dragging off the ignoble bonnet and wrapper,
+Terence sprang lightly out, and drawing a pistol, prepared to barter
+his life against as many of the foe as possible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One man shot poor Larry on his box, lest he should take part in the
+scuffle; another hamstrung the off-horse, which whinnied, and leaped
+up with pain. The shot was answered by a hulloo and rush of feet.
+Through the hedge-gap appeared Sirr, breathless but foaming, urging on
+his men, two of whom dragged Phil, an inert mass, between them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Murther!' groaned Phil. 'That the masther should be tuk, and through
+me!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes,' jeered Sirr; 'we have him now. Having detected you, I knew at
+once that he could not be far off!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence discharged his pistols with good effect. A man fell to each of
+them. Then, drawing a dagger, he leaned his back against a tree.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sirr, as his way was on these occasions, withdrew to the rear, content
+with egging on his hounds from a safe distance. The men waited for a
+second, watching the eye of the man who stood at bay. Phil saw his
+opportunity, and took it. With a jerk he freed himself, stabbed one
+fellow, and, lunging at another, slipped, and tumbled on the moist
+earth. But he was not to be thus foiled. Wriggling along the ground,
+he reached Major Sirr, and slashed him across both legs, who,
+springing into the air with a howl, tossed away the sword-cane that he
+had unsheathed and fell disabled. Phil caught it, and stabbed the
+shrieking major again and again till it broke. 'Right she was!' he
+said; 'the dastard does wear mail!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The diversion seemed likely to save Terence, who, turning, sped
+swiftly along the furrows, favoured by sinking twilight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Run, masther, run!' Phil screamed. 'Please the Lord, he'll be safe
+yet.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Dead or alive!' howled Sirr, who clawed the ground with his fingers
+in his pain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A man levelled his musket and fired. Terence turned like a top,
+dropped on his knees, then struggling up, moved on as swiftly as
+before. Another fired, but missed. The fugitive flew on, but not so
+fast. A mere youth outstripped him, and stooping down in front,
+tripped him by the feet. Both fell heavily. The bigger of the two
+being uppermost--his right arm swinging loose--made a desperate effort
+to throttle the boy with his left hand. It took several men, pressing
+his chest with heavy muskets, to tear his prey from him, and bind him
+in such a way as to prevent further resistance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Terence and Phil were taken to the provost, whilst Sirr (vowing
+vengeance especially against the latter) was borne away to have the
+wounds dressed which disfigured his comely calves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin sat at home in a perspiration, waiting for news. No news!
+That looked well. It was dawn before she sought her couch, determined
+to try and sleep. A hubbub aroused the three occupants of the Little
+House. What was it? eight o'clock! An enormous detachment of soldiers'
+wives, with kettles, equipage, and baggage, demanding hospitality,
+producing an official order to that effect. Free quarters; and for
+women, too--the dirty, drunken drabs! Madam Gillin clasped her fat
+hands in anguish. Then the stratagem must have been discovered. One
+had been taken--which? or both? Oh, Heaven! Would no one tell her?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A blowsy wife, more compassionate than the rest, said that all the
+world knew by this time that the meejor had won the big reward.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madam Gillin tightened her lips, and said no more, while Jug whistled
+lamentations through her gums. 'It's the curse of Crummell on the
+farriers--breed, seed, and branch. If he'd gone alone he'd have been
+safe.' Which, in all probability, was true enough, though not because
+Phil chose to wield a firing-iron. But Madam Gillin would not listen
+to her nurse. Poor lad! To be taken without striking a blow--without
+even the threadbare satisfaction which belongs to a leader of forlorn
+hopes--of laying down life, perhaps, but at a heavy price. What an
+unjust world it is! Mrs. Gillin felt it more and more.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">THE HURRY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Mr. Pitt's scheme was doing well. Protestants and Catholics, the upper
+and the lower class, having been successfully set at each other's
+throats--the leading spirits of the popular party being snugly
+caged--the executive thought the moment come to harvest their Dead-sea
+apples. The capture of Terence was accomplished at a fortunate moment;
+for things had gone too far now for the project of resistance to be
+tamely abandoned. The proposed rising was perforce postponed that the
+harried Directory might for a fourth time reorganise itself. Ill-luck
+haunted that Directory. Tone, inaugurator of the society, was a
+broken-spirited exile; Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, zealous
+disciples of their prophet, languished in Kilmainham; the Honourable
+Terence Crosbie (most promising blossom on the stem) lay
+wounded--delirious from fever--within the provost. None of the
+projectors of rebellion were permitted to take part in it; yet it was
+evident that the days of meek endurance were at an end. The places of
+the absent were supplied by men, ambitious but incapable: small
+country gentlemen of limited attainment, or farmers of little culture,
+who were speedily swallowed by the flood, to be supplanted in turn by
+furious fanatics, as ignorant but more unscrupulous than they.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nothing was attempted on New Year's Eve. January and February passed;
+March and April came, and were gone. Lord Clare wondered whether he
+had been too precipitate, and digested Sully's saying: 'Pour la
+populace ce n'est jamais par envie d'attaquer qu'elle se soulève, mais
+par impatience de souffrir.' Had the people not suffered enough yet?
+The yeomanry motto had been, 'Soyons frères, ou je t'assomme!' and
+nobly they had acted on it. The people glared and showed their fangs,
+ready and willing for the fray; but they were leaderless. Those who in
+the emergency affected to command, racked by indecision, put off the
+important moment. Rebel and royalist frowned silently one at the
+other, lance in rest, both itching to go to work, both declining the
+odium of the first move. It was the last brief lull of stillness
+before the bursting of the storm--of the storm which had been so long
+in bursting. Dublin was uncertain how to proceed. If the Croppies
+would rise and gain one decisive victory, then Dublin, joining them
+openly, would turn and tear its rulers. On the other hand, should the
+Croppies encounter tribulation the capital would grovel at the
+mumbling Viceroy's feet, presenting both cheeks to the smiter with
+expressions of Christian meekness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was an anxious time for the lord-lieutenant and his Privy Council.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To the chancellor's disgust General Abercromby (who supplanted
+Carhampton), on whom he had counted for friendly co-operation as
+commander of the forces, chose this awkward period of uncertainty to
+retire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing,' he bluffly said, 'could justify the behaviour of
+Government. If the two Houses of Parliament chose to turn their
+motherland into a slaughter-house, dire retribution would be sure to
+fall upon them some day. At all events he, a stranger, would have
+nothing to do with political crimes.' And so he went away; and the
+supreme command was accepted <i>pro tem</i>, by General Lake, till such
+time as a fit substitute could be selected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The attitude of pugnacious Pat, eager for the fight, but lance in
+rest, could not be permitted to endure. That those who were wont to
+tread on the tails of each other's coats at Donnybrook should in
+incongruous fashion assume patience like that of St. Simon Stylites
+was merely an insult to their masters. A little more humour must be
+displayed by the friends of England--a few more jokes, quite broad
+ones now. A dozen or so of judicious murders, a grand confiscation of
+poor men's cattle, a few more virgins ravished--a real sharp touch of
+the spur, in fact. The jokers acted with a will, and the desired
+effect was gained. Kildare rose on the 23rd of May. Simultaneous
+attacks of a timorous kind were made on various strongholds, of which
+one only could be pronounced successful. The barrack of Prosperous was
+surprised in the night, the commandant killed, and a few officers
+sacrificed, the place committed to the flames. This was encouraging,
+and Government could well afford the loss of a few lives. But the
+rebels needed a deal of spurring; they were still too craven for an
+important venture; their hands were unnerved; their blood was chilled
+by fear of treachery. Oh! degenerate scions of turbulent Keltic kings!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The boys of Kildare, who were the first, casting distrust aside, to
+take the field, had been ground too low to allow the lamp of
+patriotism to burn steadily. After an abortive effort of a few days
+they sued for mercy. Slaves of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of
+water, they were doomed to be; their leaders saw it now, and roundly
+told them so, and they retorted on their leaders. Both indeed were
+sadly below the mark. If those who endeavoured to command were unable
+to manage their rabble, the latter were no better than the most
+innocent of savages. In presence of the foe they forgot the little
+drilling they had learned, danced forward like children, with hats on
+pikes and wild gestures of defiance, and tumbled pellmell over each
+other, hit or alarmed at the first blare of musketry. The business of
+the disciplined cohorts was simply to stand quiet until the gibbering
+simpletons advanced to an easy distance; then to cut them down as the
+sickle mows the corn, in serried heaps upon the furrows. The boys of
+Kildare sued for mercy, and were graciously informed that if they
+would come to the Gibbet-Rath on the Curragh, within given hours on a
+certain day, and there deliver up all weapons of offence, they might
+be permitted to return to bondage and be happy. They came, having been
+assured that General Dundas had received permission from the Castle to
+show clemency. Thirteen cartloads of pikes were delivered on the
+plain. General Duff, who, assisted by the colonel of the Foxhunters,
+was acting for Dundas, bade the rebels make of these a heap, and
+confessing on their knees their insolence and wickedness, beg the
+King's pardon humbly. The craven wretches obeyed, for no vestige of
+courage was left in them. Bereft even of the courage to die, they
+kneeled, praying that the agony of death might be past. They kneeled,
+with misery too intense for speech, on the great plain, with heads
+bowed and hands clutched together--a spectacle of human abjectness
+harrowing enough to have made the angels weep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Charge!' shouted General Duff, 'and spare no rebel!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The obedient Foxhunters (so called from the brushes they wore in their
+helmets) hacked down with their sabres the defenceless peasants to the
+number of three hundred and more. There were eighty-five widows in one
+single street of Kildare that afternoon. It is but fair to say that no
+part of the infamy of this splendid joke attaches to General Dundas,
+for the massacre was shown to have taken place without his knowledge
+or consent. Duff and the colonel of the Foxhunters must bear the brunt
+of it alone, along with other jests of equal brilliancy. A few of the
+victims managed to scuttle off, hiding in furze-bushes or behind
+walls, and reached Kildare at nightfall, to tell the tale of butchery.
+A woman who lay ill ten miles off, woke (so it is said) from a vision
+of her husband weltering in gore, and nothing would appease her but
+that her daughter and aged father should go forth to seek him. They
+were met by knots of country-folk flying along the road in wildest
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bad news, old man!' they wailed as they pursued their course
+like a whirl of wraiths. 'Our friends lie kilt--God rest their
+sowls--<i>all</i>--on the Curragh, this day!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Old man and grandchild harnessed a horse and car, determined to
+learn more. The gloaming rested on the plain when they reached the
+Gibbet-Rath.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Two hundred bodies were turned over before they came upon the one they
+sought. Its hands moved, in an effort to stanch a wound with a remnant
+of an old cravat, and in the increasing darkness they chanced to
+observe the flutter. But for that movement, where so many around were
+still, they might have passed by their bread-winner. Filled with
+thankfulness in that he yet lived, they stretched him on the car, for
+prudence' sake in corpse-like attitude, shaded his eyes with a hat,
+sprinkled some soiled hay over his prostrate form, and hurried home in
+haste. But a rumour somehow got wind that 'the Croppies were getting
+alive again,' and so the military were sent round to scour the
+adjacent country to make certain that no such untoward circumstance
+occurred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Two men belonging to the Ancient Britons approached the hut at
+midnight where this man lay, snatched by a marvel from the jaws of
+Death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What!' one said, 'that Croppy living still?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, your honour,' replied the sick wife, with meekness. 'The Lord
+has been pleased to grant the boy a longer day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Come, come!' was the jocose retort. 'He'll be best out of misery, for
+he can't possibly recover. Leastways, his curing will be tedious to an
+ailing wife like you.' And the wretch pistolled him in cold blood then
+and there, while the frenzied widow shrieked for mercy, and the
+daughter strove to shield him with her own body in the ecstasy of her
+despair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This carnival on the Gibbet-Rath finally snuffed out Kildare; but
+Wexford, which was made of different materials, rose up to take her
+place. The men of Wexford belonged to another caste, had different
+hair and features, were of a fiercer nature than the Kelts. They rose
+with one accord, their blood stirred to fever-frenzy by the
+intelligence which drifted down to them. Kildare had disgraced the
+emerald flag; it should be the privilege of Wexford to retrieve its
+tarnished honour. They would set an example to pusillanimous counties
+that still hesitated about rising. War to the knife! no quarter given!
+Such should be their watchword. Proudly let the green banner wave.
+Victory or Death!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These raw but doughty warriors meant business. They set about
+establishing themselves, therefore, in true military array; and in the
+first instance collected their strength into two detachments, the
+first of which, mustering three thousand men, encamped on Killthomas
+Hill, where three hundred of the yeomanry gave them battle and
+obtained a bloodless victory. Not quite bloodless though, for one
+Lieutenant Bookey lost his life, and his indignant comrades offered to
+his manes (after a massacre on Killthomas Hill which was only
+business) the sacrifice of several Popish chapels and at least a
+hundred Catholic dwellings on their next day's march. This had the
+auspicious effect of infuriating to delirium the second and greater
+camp, whose leading spirits saw that, for them and theirs, their motto
+was but too prophetic a one. Unless they were prepared to see their
+faith stamped out, there was clearly nothing for the men of Wexford
+but Death or Victory.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Like desperate men as they were, they set about accomplishing the
+latter straightway. On the rising ground of Oulart, distant eight
+miles from Wexford town, they rallied round the green at least four
+thousand strong. With proud defiance and undaunted mien they beheld
+the enemy's approach--red coats dimmed by dust and mist, and bayonets
+glimmering. They awaited the onset with stern determination, and--fled
+helter-skelter on the first attack. The yeomanry pursued with shouts
+and jeers, following fast over rock and boulder, sweeping the rebels
+before them as a broom sweeps chaff. But, arrived at the summit of the
+hill, a hint came to the insurgents that cavalry lay in ambush on the
+other side to intercept their flight. Cavalry! To their untutored
+minds a charge of horsemen meant instant annihilation, whilst they
+were quite resolved to live--for Victory. They rallied, turned on the
+disordered and breathless pursuers, and charging downward with their
+pikes, bore all before them. Taken by surprise, out of breath,
+disorganised, none of the quondam pursuers survived to tell of their
+defeat, save the lieutenant-colonel, a sergeant, and three privates.
+Many of the rebels succumbed, but what mattered that? Those who
+remained alive were masters of the situation. Theirs was the prestige
+of having beaten the royalist soldiers in the open field. Numbers had
+vanquished discipline; ignorance had made science of none effect; the
+spirits of the enemy were lowered in proportion to their own triumph.
+Hosts of peasants, lukewarm hitherto through fear, flocked to join the
+victors. Mustering now quite four thousand strong, and burning to add
+new leaves of laurel to their chaplet, they marched with childish
+gesture, intoning as they marched the 'Marseillaise,' to storm the
+town of Enniscorthy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Those who led them saw that if the God of battles would continue to
+favour them, their condition might be greatly improved, even to the
+point of rendering their unwieldy host truly formidable. The capture
+of Enniscorthy would aid the insurgents much, for that place (twelve
+miles or so from Wexford) is bisected by the Slaney, whose ebb and
+flow permits vessels of light tonnage to approach the bridge which
+unites the two portions of the town. Hence it was certain to be well
+stocked with useful things, lying there for transmission up the
+country. It might contain ammunition too--a precious find indeed--for
+the Wexford men were good shots with a gun, accustomed to earn a
+modest wage by shooting waterfowl for the markets of Dublin and of
+Cork, in consequence of which they had obtained exemption from the
+more vexatious clauses of the Gunpowder Act. If Enniscorthy should
+fall into their hands they would find themselves provided, too, with a
+splendid camping-ground called Vinegar Hill, which rose adjacent to
+the city. At their leisure they might take ship, and, sailing down the
+Slaney, seize the town of Wexford--a seaport with a magnificent
+harbour. What a pity the French had been so unfortunate! How gladly
+they would have welcomed the tricolour as it glided through the narrow
+entrance which admits into that glorious anchorage!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Certain intelligence arrived at Enniscorthy that it would be attacked
+on the 28th at midday. The drums beat to arms; the garrison took their
+posts. The North Cork Militia occupied the bridge; cavalry were posted
+in the leading street; a detachment of yeomanry occupied an elevation
+three or four hundred yards in front of the chief gate. On perceiving
+the latter, the insurgent column halted and deployed, extending
+largely to the right and left, to outflank the small band before them,
+and cut it off from the town. Then they moved forward, driving cattle
+in advance of them, opening at the same time a well-directed fire. The
+yeomanry, perceiving their tactics, retired within the walls, covered
+by a charge of cavalry which, whilst dispersing a band that was
+pressing them too closely, came itself to tribulation by reason of the
+cattle. A second body, with a second lot of kine, made for a gate to
+westward, which was protected by a tributary stream. The ford had
+previously been deepened, and was considered dangerous enough to act
+as its own defence. A gigantic priest, who wore a broad crossbelt and
+a dragoon's sabre swinging, was equal to the occasion:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Drive in the cattle, boys, and swarm over their backs!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No sooner said than done. Goaded by pikes the animals rushed headlong
+into the gulf, and the rebels, crossing the palpitating bridge, crept
+unperceived into the town, which was by this time a mass of flame. The
+disaffected inhabitants picked off the soldiery from their windows;
+fired their own houses to burn them out when the royalists sought
+protection there; dragged away frieze-coated bodies, that the carnage
+might not discourage the survivors; while women and young girls, in
+the heroism born of excitement, ran hither and thither among the
+bullets, administering new courage in the welcome shape of whisky. The
+streets were so involved in smoke that the yeomen could not perceive
+the rebels till they felt their pikes within their flesh. The whirling
+flame flared in such a sheet as to unite in a seething arch over their
+heads--singeing the bearskin of their caps, scorching their very hair
+and eyelashes. After a conflict wherein for three hours each inch was
+savagely disputed, the loyalists found themselves pushed backwards
+into the central square. 'Victory!' hallooed the insurgents--just a
+little bit too soon. A heavy discharge from the market-house made them
+waver. Profiting by their recoil, cavalry and infantry rallied. Their
+discipline stood them in good stead at the turning of the tide. They
+dashed forward; drove the huge wave in a vast roll before them, which
+ebbed across the bridge, down the straight street, away out of the
+town--a turbulent maelstrom of discomfited fugitives. Though the
+rebels were for the time repulsed, it was certain that they would
+return again on the morrow and sweep the place clean by sheer weight
+of numbers. The little garrison was weakened by half its strength. The
+loyalists, unwitting of the insidious purpose of Lord Clare, loudly
+blamed the executive for leaving so inadequate a force to battle with
+so immense a mob. It was a pernicious want of forethought which would
+cost many lives. A strong force of regulars, they complained, and this
+Hurry would be over in two days at most. Guileless loyalists of
+Enniscorthy! After all the labour of incubation, it was not fitting
+that the trouble should be too brief. The chancellor's twitter of
+conscience was past, and his hand was steady on the plough again, to
+force it through roots and stones. The iron, being drawn, might not be
+sheathed again before it had cut into the writhing soul of Erin
+ineffaceably. She must remember the Hurry to the end of her existence,
+as an awful sample of the terrors which would fall even yet more
+heavily upon her if she should dare again to rouse the wrath of her
+elder sister. Consistently, therefore, till the lesson was complete,
+two hundred regulars or so were always expected to cope with two
+thousand rebels; and, even with those odds against them, the former,
+more frequently than not, obtained the upper hand. In the present
+instance, however, it was not so; for it was clear that the loyalists
+must desert the town or be killed to a man. In the mid-hour of night,
+lighted by the afterglow of conflagration, they retreated without
+warning to Wexford--a melancholy train; bearing their women and their
+wounded on their horses; leaving infants by the wayside, while the
+aged sank down from weariness and were abandoned to the tender mercies
+of the mob.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the 1st of June the great camping-ground hard-by Enniscorthy
+presented a strange picture, occupied as it had then become by an
+armed host of ten thousand men, independent of a grand array of
+camp-followers, suttlers, women and children, who flocked in from all
+quarters to applaud the defenders of their hearths. From a military
+point of view, Vinegar Hill is strong. High grounds are crowned by a
+cone of bold ascent, capped by a ruined mill, while the cultivated
+fields beneath are divided into small enclosures, intersected by stone
+walls and trenches. For defence by irregular troops who trusted rather
+to numbers than to skill, such a position was particularly favourable;
+for the enclosures afforded safe cover for skirmishers, who could
+watch the approach of an enemy whilst they remained themselves unseen.
+The appearance of the singular mushroom-bed which speedily sprouted up
+was extremely picturesque, in keeping with the wildness of guerilla
+warfare. Tents of the Donnybrook pattern rose on all sides. Vinegar
+Hill was intended to become a temporary home; for the chiefs were
+resolved that this should be the centre of their operations until such
+time as they could be masters of the Castle. Long avenues of bent
+wattles like straggling caterpillars of every hue crawled up the
+slope, covered with the spoils of Enniscorthy--patchwork-quilts,
+sheets, ripped sacks, rugs, blankets. At intervals a smaller edifice,
+crowned by an old brush and swinging lantern, invited to a temporary
+shebeen. If an old pot dangled too, it was a sign that food might also
+be procured there; though, the weather being warm, the soup-caldrons
+were usually placed without, that all the ragged host might lick their
+lips over the good things which tumbled into them for a ragout. Nor
+were the more æsthetic pleasures of the eye and ear neglected. The
+organ of Enniscorthy church and its peal of bells were brought thither
+in state for some one or other to jangle upon night and day; whilst as
+for flags, the camp was alive with them, of every colour except
+orange, bearing each a rude harp without a crown. One, conspicuous
+above the rest, was black, with the cognisance M. W. S. in white; and
+this the loyalists in their charity chose to unriddle as 'Murder
+without sin,' whereas its real meaning was 'Marksmen of Wexford and of
+Shelmalier.' Among the throng might be observed men in the King's
+uniform--bright spots in the mass of brown. Such soldier prisoners as
+the crew had taken were treated well and guarded with care, for they
+were of the greatest value as drill-sergeants, and might be seen day
+and night plodding up and down with awkward squads, into whom they
+were striving to instil the first germs of military science. What an
+unmanageable mob it was! swelling hourly through the constant influx
+of recruits, not one of whom possessed the faintest idea of
+discipline; each one of whom had a predilection for poteen and a
+dim suspicion of the incompetence of his leaders. It was at this
+juncture that the weak, well-intentioned country gentlemen, who had
+striven to occupy the empty shoes of their imprisoned betters, were
+swept into the shade by the unscrupulous influence of the lower
+clergy--uncultured, ferocious creatures, whose worst passions were
+aroused by the burning of their chapels, the desecration of their
+altars; men who scrupled not to play upon the vulgar superstition of a
+half-savage multitude for the gaining of a cherished end. They became
+hideous tyrants--such men as the priests of Tallat and of Boulovogue;
+merciless as their persecutors had been without mercy. Inflamed by
+wrong and intoxicated by a little brief authority, they were guilty of
+enormities which, at a quieter moment, they would themselves have
+surveyed with horror. The higher Catholic clergy withstood the force
+of the current, and, resisting temptation, publicly disapproved and
+deplored their acts; yet who (looking on the picture calmly at this
+distance of time) will throw the first stone at them? The multitude
+had, with deliberate art, been stung to madness. The bad passions of
+their teachers had been stirred in their most vital place. If the
+people were as ignorant as their own cattle, who was accountable for
+it? England, through the cruel enactments of centuries. If the members
+of the inferior priesthood were debased and wicked, who made them so?
+England, by persecuting them without ceasing, by forbidding their
+minds to be illumined by education--England, by her accursed Penal
+Code.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The original champions being caged, three Catholic priests. Fathers
+Murphy, Kearnes, and Roche, overturning established authority, assumed
+the conduct of affairs, and set about the organising of their army.
+What had been hitherto a conflict of classes tinged with a religious
+bias, became now a purely religious crusade, accompanied by all the
+crimes which, through the history of the world, have been intimately
+associated with religion. What an inscrutable vision it is--that of
+the stately Spirit walking through earth's story, her fair features
+distorted, her white robes edged with blood, her pure skirts soiled by
+the vilest lees of the human heart--<i>always!</i></p>
+
+<p class="normal">The new leaders divided their host into three divisions, with each a
+special mission. The first, under Father Kearnes, was to possess
+itself of Newtown Barry. This expedition proved abortive. The second,
+under Father Roche (which, owing to lack of space on Vinegar Hill, was
+encamped at Carrickbyrne with an outpost at Scullabogue), was to
+attack New Ross, then, proceeding northward, was to join the third
+body in a grand attempt on Dublin. This plan was plausible enough, for
+Gorey, Arklow, and Wicklow were weakly garrisoned, and, should those
+citadels give way, the road to the capital lay open--undefended. Perry
+of Inch and Father Murphy (who commanded the third division) were
+mighty men of valour. The latter swore by the Holy Mother that he was
+invulnerable, carrying bullets in his pockets to prove the miracle.
+Chances seemed fairly in favour of success. The garrison of Gorey, for
+instance, numbered but a hundred and thirty men. What could they hope
+to do--disciplined though they were--against a rabble of six thousand?
+They did what was wisest under the circumstances; called temerity to
+their aid, and essayed to brazen out the difficulty of their position.
+Instead of waiting to be attacked, they rushed out upon the road,
+raising such clouds of summer dust that the advancing rebels,
+supposing reinforcements to have arrived, turned and fled in terror.
+The advanced guard of the insurgents slinking off, had taken the
+courage from the rest. Each man vied with his neighbour in the race,
+and the Irish peasant is wondrous fleet of foot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Father Kearnes' detachment met with more grave misfortune than this
+merely temporary rout. The simultaneous attempt upon New Ross
+(nineteen miles from Wexford) was the hardest-fought day of the entire
+Hurry--one, too, which will be darkened through all time by the memory
+of a deplorable outrage. The object in gaining possession of New Ross
+was the same as had induced the taking of Enniscorthy. For as the one
+stood on the Slaney, with water-access to Wexford Harbour, so did the
+other command water also, standing as it did upon the Nore and Barrow,
+within similar distance of the important port of Waterford. New Ross,
+too, was placed on the very border of Kilkenny. All the disaffected in
+that county were expected to join the insurgents in a united gigantic
+effort to win so fine a jewel; for, as soon as it was captured,
+nothing would have been easier than to drop down to Waterford, which
+loved not the Castle joss; which was weakly garrisoned, and tempting
+to boot in the way of plunder. But this well-balanced scheme was
+frustrated and made of no effect by the god of war's ill-temper. Sure
+he's as fickle and as false as Fortune is--that arrant feckless jade!
+And has not her excuse neither--being a man, who, by reason of his
+sex, should be above lowering his dignity by feminine whimsies. On
+this 5th of June he got out of bed on the wrong side (in consequence
+of being called so early maybe), and the plan against New Ross
+miscarried. At 3 a.m. Bagenal Harvey, who commanded in conjunction
+with Father Roche, despatched a flag of truce, imploring the garrison
+not to provoke rapine by useless resistance. He bade them look up at
+the heights which commanded the town, and count the myriads whose
+frieze turned the landscape dun. For the good of all 'twere better to
+surrender at once, rather than uselessly to sacrifice precious life. A
+letter worthy of the kindly soft-hearted gentleman who wrote it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The flag of truce was slain. His name was Furlong, a popular man. The
+insurgents, watching from above, beheld him lying prone--shot through
+the heart by an outpost sentinel. With fury they upbraided Harvey as
+an old dame for his ill-timed courtesy, vowing that they would obey no
+one but the priest that day. Maddened by the sight of that single
+corpse lying far below upon its face, they poured with the
+overwhelming impulse of a destroying flood unexpectedly set free down
+the steep declivity--an avenging awful host, numbering twenty
+thousand--and battered in the Three-bullet Gate. If the huge force
+could have been divided by scientific skill, an attack might have been
+made on the three gates at once, and every loyalist would have
+miserably perished. But even the priest was powerless to cope with the
+boiling throng. Yelling and screaming, by mere weight they drove in
+the pickets; cavalry went down like barley; nothing could withstand
+the avalanche. In vain the principal thoroughfare of New Ross was
+swept by the steady fire of artillery, which, falling on a dense mass
+of men wedged tight together in a narrow street, shore down the
+column's head as often as it rose. The legend of the dragon's teeth
+was realised that day; as fast as row drooped over row, so did other
+rows spring up, propelled by a giant force behind. One fanatic pushed
+to the gun's very muzzle, and, plunging in his hat and wig, cried,
+'Come on, boys! her mouth's stopped!' The next moment he was blown
+into the air, but the gun was trodden down, dismounted--rendered
+useless; and the yeomanry retired under shelter. If the Croppies had
+obeyed their priest, all would have gone well. But much as they adored
+their Church, much as they longed for beatific rest in Paradise, they
+at this moment loved mundane whisky more. They plundered the houses of
+meat and drink, broached barrels in the market-place, poured fiery
+rivers of consolation down their parched gullets. In vain Mr. Harvey
+begged them to desist; in vain Father Roche threatened them with
+purgatorial ills. They snapped their fingers at their God and at His
+minister. Had they not already suffered hell? Well, then, they were
+used to it. Its terrors had ceased to fill their souls with dread.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The royalist commandant was amazed at what he saw. It was a
+Pandemonium--but one whose horrors were evanescent. He only had to
+wait under his shelter. One little hour of drunken madness such as
+this, and the day would be his after all, in spite of apparently
+adverse destiny. The insurgents thought no more of a foe who had only
+retired out of sight down a by-street. They laughed and sang, and
+danced, and whirled in idiot frenzy; then fell into the gutter--drunk!
+By three in the afternoon such of the mob as could totter were hunted
+out of the town--those who remained were handed over to the tormentor.
+In the alleys and byways bodies choked the path three deep; two
+thousand more were borne away on carts. New Ross remained to his
+Majesty King George; but the terrors of the black 5th of June were not
+yet over. The gates were closed on the expulsion of the rabblement so
+quickly that many stragglers among the royalists were left without to
+batter on the wood in vain. The wounded amongst them were mercilessly
+piked, unless by a Romanist shibboleth they could 'bless themselves.'
+If they could go through the formula they might be saved--if not, they
+would, as a natural consequence, be butchered. A woman, vagrant in the
+turmoil, beheld a wounded friend who was a Protestant, and knew that
+he could not pass the ordeal. She knelt by him, whispered some words
+which he repeated, and for that time was saved. But a more awful
+vengeance than this in the lanes around New Ross had been already
+wreaked away at Scullabogue. I have mentioned above that Kearnes'
+detachment had come from Carrickbyrne, close to which lies
+Scullabogue; but I did not mention that at that place there was a
+goodly barn--strong, well-built--which was excellently useful as a
+prison-house, and at this time contained some three hundred and twenty
+prisoners--men, women, and children.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the tide at New Ross began to turn against the insurgents, Father
+Roche--whose reason had toppled, who was mad in that his influence had
+shrivelled away from him--swore to be revenged somehow, not on his own
+erring flock, but on those whom the ill-conditioned god of war was
+permitting to win the day! It was one of those awful moments when
+blinding ferocity dictates unchecked, which make one almost believe in
+the existence of Lucifer; when the human tendency to evil seems to
+pile itself up into a monument of what wickedness may be able to
+accomplish. A messenger was despatched to Scullabogue with a command
+to immolate the prisoners. Their gaoler, appalled at this cold-blooded
+order, refused to obey it unless the directions were more explicit.
+These arrived in due course, very clear indeed. 'The priest says the
+prisoners must be put to death.' There was no disobeying this.
+Croppies took off their long coats to carry out the priest's decree.
+The handful of men were brought out and shot; the doors were firmly
+barred; the barn was set ablaze there is no use in going into detail.</p>
+<br>
+
+<p style="text-align:center; letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">By-and-by the flames slackened; the fire smouldered with fetid smoke;
+all was still within. The three hundred innocent women and children
+had been consumed as a holocaust on the altar of his majesty King
+George; who, large-minded man, was consistently without mercy for the
+Isle which God had given to his keeping; who was pitiless for the
+professors of a faith which did not agree with his own fancy; who, by
+reason of his policy regarding Ireland, must be held accountable for
+the tragedy which took place on that fifth of June within the barn at
+Scullabogue.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">VÆ VICTIS!</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">After all, Scullabogue was but a retaliation for the eccentricities of
+the Gibbet-Rath, where the upper class had given the lower a harsh
+lesson in the amenities of warfare. The effect of any great breach of
+the law of order is always to throw out of gear the minds of those who
+come within its influence, which disturbance varies in form according
+to the mental state of the individual affected. The sensitive shrink
+appalled; those whose latent propensities to violence are usually kept
+within bounds by the law of order escape from its trammels. A large
+part of the community is kept to decent courses by fear of social
+regulations. It needs but the disturbing force of war, aided by the
+example of crime in superiors, to weaken this compelling sense of
+discipline and let loose the natural passions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But let us hurry on; the tale is distressing still, though time has
+masked it with a veil of ninety years.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A body of insurgents succeeded in taking Wexford, whose garrison
+evacuated it, retiring to Duncannon in disorder. The loyalists there
+who had howled over the loss of Enniscorthy, and were still in the
+dark as to the tactics of the Executive, grew furious. What was this?
+The Helots were ousting their lords and masters, were daring to be
+successful; even presumed to follow the example of the squireens, who
+had set the fashion of practical jokes. What is fun in one person may
+become impudence in another. Pitch-caps and half hangings were met by
+<i>carding</i>--a bit of genuine humour, whereby the rebels proceeded to
+tear the backs of their prisoners with boards stuck full of nails. So
+long as the loyalists had it their own way the conceit was amusing;
+now it became revoltingly vulgar. Retaliations and reprisals followed
+thick on one another. It was no longer a struggle of man against man,
+but of beast against beast--worse, of savage against savage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Murphy's detachment, which, it will be remembered, fled precipitately
+at sight of a cloud of dust, rallied, and hung about the neighbourhood
+watching the moment to attack. They got horses how they could; sacked
+and burned private dwellings, whose rare spoils in the way of books
+were converted into saddles, with hay-ropes for stirrups. For
+ammunition they used pebbles or hardened balls of clay, and by
+pounding the necessary materials in mortars, fabricated a kind of
+gunpowder which, while fresh, served its purpose well enough. Two or
+three cannons which they had captured were mounted on jaunting-cars,
+and exploded in awkward fashion by means of wisps of straw in guise of
+matches. Strange men, in half priestly garb, arose among the dragons'
+teeth, wearing one a helmet, another a clerical head-piece or
+discarded bearskin; vying one with the other in ferocious
+recklessness. It was now a religious crusade indeed, Protestant
+against Catholic, Catholic against Protestant, to the very death.
+Theological quibbles were forcibly disentangled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The little garrison of Gorey, which had done such good service by
+sallying out and frightening the rebels, begged for reinforcements.
+Such a deed of prowess as was theirs may not, without serious hazard,
+be repeated twice. It would be awkward for Gorey to fall just now, for
+it was on the high road to the capital, and an accident might produce
+fatal riots there. Therefore, although it was not in accordance with
+the plan laid down, it was resolved at the Castle to assist Gorey. One
+Walpole, a carpet-knight, connected by blood with my lord Camden, was
+sent out to try his wings; and he caracoled upon his excursion as, in
+a non-hunting district, one might go out to exterminate a batch of fox
+cubs. Carelessly he led his reinforcements, enlivening the way with
+buoyant jest, as if the enemy was too contemptible to be really
+dangerous; neglecting the commonest precautions, though warned of his
+rashness by his officers. At a spot called Tubbineering the aspect of
+the landscape, flat hitherto, changes. The road leaves the open, and
+plunges between high banks, with wide ditches at their bases, and rows
+of close bushes on their tops. Dense hedges intersect the fields,
+which (in the month of June) are thick with luxuriant foliage, while
+the ground is occupied by rich potato-crops, standing corn, and waving
+grass, affording ample concealment for such as may choose to lurk in
+it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Through this defile Walpole led his men towards Gorey, carolling his
+stave, piping his little song, in close column, without flanking
+parties or skirmishers. The infantry were well advanced. As the road
+narrowed the progress of the column became slow and difficult.
+Suddenly, from the enclosures, a wild yell burst forth, accompanied by
+a rain of musketry. The carpet-knight fell on the first fire. The
+confusion was tremendous; to fight or to retreat impossible. The
+height and mazy number of the fences made the ground most favourable
+for bandit warfare, as the long pikes of the insurgents reached
+well-nigh across the narrow road, and those who escaped the first fire
+were perforated from behind by invisible assailants. The surprise of
+the troops was complete. Dragoons and infantry rolled in hopeless
+confusion one on the other. They were butchered to a man. The
+victorious rebels followed up their advantage, and hastened to occupy
+Gorey, but alas! cajoled by whisky the men of Father Murphy were no
+more tractable than the men of Father Roche. Vainly he set mattrasses
+against the cellar-doors, in hopes that these would escape their
+scrutiny. But the instinct of Pat would find out a cellar-door on the
+pitchiest night. Regardless of the father's exhortations, Pat hurried
+to put that in his mouth which should steal away his brains--aye, and
+his hopes too--and remained in a frantic paroxysm of drunkenness for
+five whole days and nights.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now, had this triumphant detachment (twenty thousand strong it was)
+marched straight on Arklow, then on Wicklow, both would certainly have
+given way without an effort, and Father Murphy's ambition might have
+been gratified of sleeping in my lord Camden's bed. But as the
+elements fought for England, so did the unstable Irish nature combat
+on the side of the Executive. There was a panic, of course, in Dublin.
+The Senate tore up Dame Street to the Castle, begging, with tears,
+that their valuable lives might not be placed in jeopardy. And the
+Privy Council, perceiving that things might be going just a little too
+far, graciously acceded to the humble petition of the faithful Lords
+and Commons, and despatched reinforcements southwards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this moment the position of the insurgents was by no means a
+despicable one, despite the weakness of their leaders. The failure at
+New Ross had compelled them for the time to abandon their attack on
+Waterford. But they held Enniscorthy and its river, and Wexford with
+its noble harbour; while, for a base of operations, nothing could have
+been better than Vinegar Hill. To the north, too, they held Gorey,
+which was almost, from their point of view, the key of the capital
+itself. The hedges along the Dublin road were alive with disaffected
+peasants, who were longing for an opportunity of joining the advancing
+host. Arklow was half garrisoned, Wicklow scarcely garrisoned at all.
+If the rebel host had, ignoring whisky, marched straight northward,
+the march would have been an exultant progress of heroes, swelled as
+it proceeded by a torrent of exhilarated patriots.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But now the mice had played enough. They had nibbled the cheese and
+made unpleasant holes in it. It was time for the cat to pounce, and to
+pounce with a will. How dared these arrogant mice make holes in his
+Majesty's cheese? Arklow would be the next point--of course it
+would--so soon as the victors of Gorey could tear themselves away from
+alcohol. Five days of constant intoxication is trying to the most
+vigorous frame. Five days of cessation of hostilities is eminently
+convenient to an enemy who desires to act unflurried. Dublin was
+frightened out of its wits; the heads of the Catholic clergy were
+indignant and ashamed. Those lords and gentlemen who did not happen to
+be slaves of Lord Clare, or pensioners of England, shut themselves up
+in their country mansions to brood over their grief. Erin was in the
+convulsions which precede dissolution. The Executive--calculating
+spectators of the agony--deemed it time to come to her succour,
+provided she would swear an oath to behave herself for ever and ever
+more. The Executive shook its wig and declared that to stop so awful a
+scandal any means were permissible. Instead of dribbling
+reinforcements by two or three hundred at a time, and so feeding the
+hopes of the rebels with sham victories, the Privy Council promised
+that the whole military strength at their command should be put in
+motion to punish the iniquitous with a severe and righteous sternness.
+Lord Clare assumed a picturesque attitude, in which sorrow was
+elegantly blended with anger--like that aggressive angel who never
+sinned, and who, glorying in the fact, postured with his waving sword
+at the gates of Eden. Lord Camden mumbled, as usual, that the whole
+affair was 'really too awful;' that he was glad her ladyship was safe;
+that he ought to be elevated to at least a dukedom as a reward for his
+prodigious services. The Protestant inhabitants of Wexford, whose
+lives for the last week or so had resembled those of the chosen people
+by the waters of Babylon, must instantly be relieved, he gurgled.
+Enniscorthy must be retaken; the camp at Vinegar Hill, and the hill
+itself, if necessary, must be blown into smithereens. Small men had
+been good enough for small work. Now General Lake himself, Commander
+of the Forces <i>pro tem</i>., must head the Royal troops; the loyal Lords
+and Commons had no need to knock their knees together, their precious,
+honourable lives were in no real danger--never had been. General Lake
+and his men would set matters straight in a trice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having torn them at last from the whisky-bottle of Capua, Father
+Murphy led his forces against Arklow. His men were dispirited,
+unnerved by excessive carousing. Their heads ached; they felt unwell.
+Murphy and some other warrior-priests said mass for them as they stood
+bareheaded in the June sunlight, with nature smiling around.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was a holy war,' Murphy said. 'They had been guilty of
+backsliding; but man is weak and temptation is great; he would pray to
+the Holy Mother for them, that the cause might not suffer through
+their sin. He who addressed them, was, as they knew, invulnerable.
+These myriad bullets which he held in his hand had passed through his
+coat' ('See, boys, the holes!'), 'but could not hurt his skin. 'Twas
+the Holy Mother who watched over him and them. He would lead the van.
+Sure they would follow their priest--their pastor--their friend--their
+gineral!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With howls of ecstatic and repentant fervour they cried out that they
+would. He had always led them to victory, their doughty priest! One
+more, two more successes, and Dublin would be theirs; then the whole
+country would unite; the Sassenagh would be driven into the sea; the
+object of the crusade would be accomplished--and through them,
+miserable sinners though they were.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They marched against Arklow on the 9th, and were repulsed thence with
+awful slaughter. The Royalists lost sixty men, the rebels left a
+thousand corpses stark upon the grass--amongst them, Murphy the
+invulnerable. With dismay and despair they beheld his body roasted by
+the enlightened foe; in the gloaming they saw devils, in the guise of
+yeomen, dancing round the steaming corpse; fiends cleaning their boots
+with the fat that dripped from it. With howls of superstitious horror
+now they scurried away in the darkness, over field and hedge and
+fosse, through dyke and brake, in an agony of desperate fear quite
+different from a battle-panic, and arrived at length at the rendezvous
+like madmen, panting, incoherent, to tell their fearsome story.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Orders were issued to the Royalist forces to hold themselves in
+readiness. They had been ready for months past. A grand combined
+attack was to be made upon the rebel base, at Vinegar Hill, on the
+21st of June. Lock, stock, and barrel, these insolent varlets were to
+be stamped out of existence, without parleying, as a warning to all
+traitors. Eight generals (no less) and twenty thousand soldiers were
+to take part in this glorious field-day. Why had this force lain idle
+hitherto? Why were driblets despatched to contend with myriads? It was
+now the 10th. With a cunning steadiness of purpose, almost too wicked
+even for humankind, ten days were permitted to elapse before the final
+blow was struck. Ten days of inaction--ten days of rumination over the
+awful future--ten days wherein to become utterly disorganised, and to
+commit such deeds as a carefully-fanned flame of accumulated hate and
+the hopelessness of unutterable despair should dictate. The insurgents
+saw themselves on the eve of destruction, taught by a bitter past that
+there was no hope or chance of mercy. Flung out of the pale of
+humanity, they were to be hunted down like vermin--like vermin then
+they would fly at the throats of the hunters, and do all the harm they
+could ere they received the <i>coup de grace</i>. A scene of horror
+commenced at Wexford, and endured during these ten days, over which we
+will draw a veil. Those who know aught of this spasm in Irish history
+will have been already sickened by the deeds on Wexford Bridge, and
+will be glad to be spared a new recital of them. Suffice it, that if
+General Lake had started immediately after the repulse of Arklow,
+these deeds would never have been committed. The desperate wretches
+would never have entered on their carnival of carnage; would never
+have been guilty of the crimes which, like Scullabogue and other
+nightmares, must all lie at good Farmer George's door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The eight generals and the twenty thousand soldiers set off at last.
+Lake's plan was committed to paper in the clearest black and white. A
+simultaneous attack was to be made on Wexford and Enniscorthy, while
+the main body directed its attention to Vinegar Hill, which was to be
+carefully surrounded in order that no vermin might escape. If this
+delectable plan had been successfully carried out, the rebels would
+have been netted and slaughtered by thousands; but that Providence
+which had slept so long, which had been so blind to human wrongs, so
+deaf to human prayers, awoke at last and prevented this wicked thing.
+At the critical moment two brigades were missing, the circle was
+incomplete, and, after a feeble cannonade, the rebel masses retired
+through the gap left by the missing links, to spread terror in the
+streets of Enniscorthy. Lake was furious. All that ingenuity could
+suggest had been brought to bear upon his plan. It is provoking when
+accident upsets our craftiest calculations. He had the mortification
+to perceive that he had not crushed the rebellion so completely as he
+had wished--by driving all the malcontents off the face of the earth.
+He abused his generals, but they showed that the fault was none of
+theirs; a higher power had checked their movements. Moore had met
+accidentally with a small detachment of rebels, who engaged him at
+Foulke's Mill; Needham, with a vivid remembrance of the disaster at
+Tubberneering, had moved through gorges with caution, delayed now and
+again by the errors of disaffected guides, the sulky inaction of
+impressed drivers. Lake might swear, but these were the facts. It was
+a pity; for, with the exception of the two missing links, the Royalist
+columns behaved admirably. They arrived at their posts in the nick of
+time. The rebels, in spite of their strong position, did little
+damage, for they aimed, as usual, too high. The priestly warriors
+acted with undaunted bravery, exhorting their men, horsewhipping them,
+even pistolling some who were endeavouring to seek safety in flight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Father Roche was everywhere at once, clad in his vestments, with a
+brass helmet on his head. Father Clinch, of Enniscorthy, a man of huge
+stature, was conspicuous upon the hill; his broad cross-belts and
+large white horse were constantly looming through the smoke; his hat,
+with a crucifix stuck in it, was visible in six places at a time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But no amount of desperate personal valour could save the doomed
+crowds. They fell back on Enniscorthy; sued there for mercy, in vain.
+They promised, as the men of Wexford had just done, to lay down their
+arms and return to their allegiance. Lake retorted by an offer of
+terms which were impossible of acceptance, and continued his bloody
+work. Every foot of Enniscorthy was stubbornly disputed, every yard
+was fiercely contested. The bridge was cleared at last. The jostling,
+shrieking mob spread itself upon the plain; their bodies lay heaped
+about the fields.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So the eight generals were crowned with laurels. The entire struggle
+had lasted a month, which might have been put down in two days. The
+enemy was finished off at a single blow--at last--a worthy enemy! An
+honourable triumph! Disciplined forces had fought successfully against
+a rabble so besotted as to believe that a blessed bit of paper round
+the neck would make them bullet-proof; so ignorant as to run after
+falling shells and pick them up, wondering, as they did so, what the
+strange things were that 'spat at them.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Scotland chose to rise, her misguided antics were repressed at
+once. Her leaders met the fate which they had courted, and there was
+an end of the matter. With Ireland it was otherwise. The freaks of her
+unstable nature were coldly calculated on; gins were set for her
+sliding feet; she fell into a trap, and grievous was her punishment.
+When the Americans rose against British misrule, their commanders were
+always treated with military courtesy. In Ireland masters and men were
+strung up side by side, or shot down, without a 'by your leave,' like
+dogs. Till the horror of a war of classes was intensified by the
+grafting on it of religious fanaticism, the opinions of the
+malcontents were of the broadest kind. All they demanded was social
+equality and freedom of conscience. Their demands were met by blows.
+Innocent and harmless men were lacerated by petty tyranny and wanton
+ill-usage, till they could endure no more. Then prudence was thrown to
+the winds. It was like the herd of maddened swine rushing headlong
+down a precipice into the gulf.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As far as concerns the 'Hurry,' the example of massacre was set in the
+first instance by the 'Party of Order.' The rebels tried sometimes to
+proselytise; the Royalists were content to murder. The Royalists were
+never anything but cruel. The rebels hovered strangely 'twixt lenity
+and cruelty, according to the humour of the moment. With the supposed
+advantage of a little education, the squireens out-heroded the conduct
+of those who were quite ignorant; whereby we may gather that a little
+knowledge is as fatal as a little of anything else; for their scraps
+of education, instead of tempering their native savagery, merely
+served to instil into their warped minds an idea of superiority and
+dominion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So far as the Croppies were concerned, the rebellion ended with the
+clever feat of General Lake. The few who escaped his vengeance spread
+themselves over the country in predatory bands. Some sought refuge in
+the Wicklow hills; some perished miserably as banditti; few ever
+returned to their homes. It was not death so much that the Irish
+peasant feared. His life was wretched. He had been brought up to
+consider that three kinds of death were natural--first, in his bed;
+secondly, by hanging at assize time; thirdly, of collapse when the
+potato crop went wrong. He could face death. <i>It was torture that he
+dreaded</i>--the pitch-caps, the picketings, the roastings alive, the
+lash. These it was that made a savage and a coward of him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So far as the executive was concerned, the rebellion was by no means
+over. Gordon, a Protestant clergyman and reliable witness, tells us
+that 'more than fell in battle in Wexford were slain afterwards in
+cold blood.' Those who would not surrender were hunted down; those who
+did were strung up without a form of trial. Vinegar Hill became
+<i>elastic</i> through the numberless victims who had found rest and a
+merciful oblivion beneath its sod.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So soon as massacre, in garb of war, had done her work, judicial
+murder commenced on a more extended scale. When the appetite of Até
+was sated in the country, she moved with the Eumenides--faithful and
+obedient maids of honour--to the capital, for change of air and scene.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>END Of VOL. II.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="W90">
+<h5>BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY.
+<i>S. &amp; H</i>.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III), by 
+Lewis Wingfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38862-h.htm or 38862-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38862/
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
diff --git a/38862.txt b/38862.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d46f7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7679 @@
+Project Gutenberg's My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (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. II (of III)
+       A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention  to the Union
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38862]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+
+
+
+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. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+
+                       RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
+
+           Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+
+                                1879.
+
+                       [_All Rights Reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+           'God of Battles! aid us;
+              Let no despot's might
+            Trample or degrade us,
+              Seeking this our right!
+            Arm us for the danger;
+              Keep our craven fear
+            To our breasts a stranger--
+              God of Battles! Hear!'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
+
+
+   CHAPTER
+
+         I. A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.
+
+        II. DOREEN'S PLANS.
+
+       III. THE CLOVEN FOOT.
+
+        IV. WE PIPED UNTO YOU.
+
+         V. AWAY TO DONEGAL.
+
+        VI. GLAS-AITCH-E.
+
+       VII. SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.
+
+      VIII. MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.
+
+        IX. THE DUEL.
+
+         X. THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.
+
+        XI. THE RISING OF THE TEMPEST.
+
+       XII. DANGER.
+
+      XIII. THE HURRY.
+
+       XIV. VAE VICTIS!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         MY LORDS OF STROGUE
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                       A NIGHT AT CROW STREET.
+
+
+The dowager's words produced their effect upon Doreen, despite her
+virtuous indignation. She no longer committed herself by indiscreet
+communings with the 'scatter-brained young men.' She seemed to be
+growing lukewarm to the cause as the decisive moment approached,
+shirking responsibility in a way her character belied, to the surprise
+of the patriots, amongst whom we must count Cassidy. The giant
+remarked with pained astonishment that she gave him no grateful look
+when he whispered about the pikes, when he hinted with dark nods that
+Phil and Biddy had been busy in the night; and he reflected with
+self-upbraiding that this change must be due to his ill-timed wooing.
+No doubt it was presumptuous in a 'half-mounted' to aspire to an
+heiress, but sure she should accept as a compliment a piece of
+bungling for which her own charms were entirely responsible. He
+resolved to be more careful in the future, striving to bridge the
+breach by a nimble deference tempered by judicious sadness; and let no
+opportunity pass of making himself useful to the young earl. His hands
+were pretty full, thanks to my Lords Clare and Camden, who pursued the
+stormy tenor of their way with an edifying steadiness of purpose. He
+gladly rode errands for Lord Glandore, did shopping for the countess,
+drank bumpers in the Castle-yard in company with Major Sirr, waited
+about in my Lord Clare's anteroom; became a ubiquitous, faithful, and
+generally useful personage. He brought news sometimes of the gravest
+moment to the mysterious resorts where Dublin 'prentices were
+pretending to play ball; which hints resulted more frequently than not
+in a message smuggled in a loaf to the prisoners at Kilmainham and a
+courier sent galloping far away into the country.
+
+The electric cloud loomed near on the horizon. Lord Clare watched the
+threatening vapour as it rolled, increasing hourly in volume, and,
+laughing, showed his gums. The ranks of the yeomanry were swelling day
+by day, thanks to the exertions of large proprietors whose interest it
+was to be well with the court; thanks to the complaisant alacrity of
+the squireens who acted at the beck of the great landowners. Small
+riots took place both in the capital and in the provinces, tussles
+between browbeaten peasants and a soldiery who grew hourly more
+insolent, which originated for the most part in taunts at the old
+faith. Rumours floating vaguely, none knew whence, became current
+gossip, hints of a French invasion, of a landing somewhere in the
+north, which should set free the enslaved Catholics--of a Republican
+crusade in favour of liberty of conscience. The Orange societies of
+the north took the alarm. 'Liberty of conscience indeed!' they cried.
+'We remember what happened in King James's time, when the national
+religion was for a brief space triumphant; how Protestants were
+massacred and their property destroyed. We will repel such an invasion
+with all our might, and will just prick these presuming slaves a
+little as a warning of what may follow.' There were excesses in Armagh
+and the cities of the north; wherein cottages were burnt, cattle
+confiscated, their owners hewn in pieces. News of military outrages
+arrived in Dublin; and the public, growing uneasy, looked to the
+Castle to mark its attitude. Ever since Lord Camden's advent, people
+remarked, things had been going wrong. Traitors by dozens had been
+imprisoned or executed. Coercion was the order of the day. But popular
+opinion had been divided; one party declaring that traitors must be
+hanged for the security of the body politic, the opposite party
+cogently pointing out that if Government acted with more prudence, men
+would not be driven into treason. But now the matter was taking a new
+form. One class, which had always been antagonistic to the other, was
+showing overt symptoms of the harshest tyranny. The Protestant
+ascendency party had banded itself together in armed force at the call
+of Government for the protection of the land. It was obvious that this
+armed force must not be permitted to exert its strength against its
+own brethren of another faith--to convert a deplorable harshness, of
+which in memory of man the instances were isolated, into a regularly
+organised system like that of Elizabeth. Government must interfere
+promptly, men said. These savage squireens, who swaggered in the
+King's colours, must be taught at once to curb their brutal
+proclivities, or a reign of terror would result such as shocked Europe
+in '89.
+
+But Government did nothing of the kind. My Lord Clare held up his
+delicate hands in the lobby of the House of Lords, and, under shadow
+of William's statue, harangued passing senators upon the iniquity of
+the lower orders.
+
+'It is awful,' he declared in his rasping voice. 'What will Mr. Pitt
+say? He will withdraw your pensions, my poor gentlemen, unless you act
+with decision. Arm your vassals, my lords. The French will come and
+murder us in our beds. I vow the country is in danger. The Catholics
+must be shown their place.'
+
+That the country was in danger there could be little doubt; but it was
+not precisely from the side to which the crafty chancellor thought fit
+to point.
+
+Parliament met in solemn conclave, and did as it was told. Curran and
+a few others rose up in their places, solemnly protesting against a
+policy which sprang from a hidden fear of the lower orders. An Act of
+Indemnity was passed with regard to the proceedings in the north.
+Magistrates and petty officers were held to have behaved wisely in
+permitting cottages to be burnt in the name of religion, in allowing
+fathers of families to be kidnapped in the night, and spirited away no
+one might tell whither. A profound feeling of wrath was stirred over
+all the land by the passing of this, and the Insurrection Bill which
+allowed it; whereby, amongst other things, a power of arbitrary
+transportation was given to magistrates, and outrages made legal which
+till now had been accomplished in defiance of the law. People saw
+clearly that the majority of both Lords and Commons were merely the
+representatives of their own greed and their own venality; that
+nothing could free motherland from a vicious thraldom of unpatriotic
+selfishness but a reform of Parliament and a complete change in the
+system of Government. How was this to be accomplished? There was the
+knotty point. Was the threatened rising of the masses really
+inevitable? Could they accomplish their objects at all if France
+should refuse substantial help? Was Government deliberately acting for
+a wicked purpose, or was the crime merely the negative one of
+incapacity? Agitation-meetings blaming the executive were held about
+the country, at which, when he heard of them, my Lord Clare expressed
+his amazement, ingeniously stating in public that he was astonished at
+the mildness of the Viceroy in not severely punishing the agitators.
+Such a hint was not lost upon his amateur colonels and military
+magistrates. They began to exhibit renewed examples of vigorous zeal,
+destroying property at pleasure, searching houses for arms, treating
+the inhabitants with such brutality that women fell into convulsions
+and brought forth children before their time. A singular effect of
+these proceedings, which in itself spoke volumes, was a sudden moral
+reform among the peasantry. Men who had been drunken became reclaimed;
+fairs and markets were undisturbed by quarrelling; factions which had
+been at feud for centuries smoked the pipe of peace together. Hatred,
+kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.
+It was felt that a moment was imminent when man might endure no more,
+when a down-trodden race must conquer its persecutors or seek relief
+from misery in death.
+
+Doreen, from her retreat among the roses, watched the current of
+events which now rushed with rapid impetuosity towards an horizon of
+blood; and as month followed month, each laden with its progressive
+freight of trouble, wondered with beating heart that no news should be
+received from Tone. Had his projects failed? She knew that the
+difficulties with which he was called to cope were immense. The last
+letter she had had from him, long ago now, spoke of an expedition
+getting ready, which should start before the end of summer. It was now
+August, and as she sat waiting week after week, both hope and
+expectation waning, a feeling of heart-sickness crept over her, which
+seemed to chill her life-blood and dry up her bones. One day,
+listlessly gazing as usual across the sea, she looked up and beheld
+red-polled Biddy making uncouth signals from the shrubbery--signals
+she had looked for so frequently in vain. A letter! Yes. It was--at
+last! But it brought no comfort. An expedition was nearly ready; but
+the leading spirit vacillated. General Hoche doubted whether the
+forces given to him were strong enough to do efficient service;
+whether the Irish were ready to receive them; whether the resources of
+Ireland had been truthfully laid before him.
+
+To Tone's chagrin Hoche informed the Directory that it was fitting,
+before their ships and treasure were committed to the waters,
+that somebody of weight should come to France from Ireland, to
+corroborate Tone's statements and bring the latest news. It was
+vexatious--despairing! What was to be done? In this new strait the
+young patriot urgently applied to his friend Miss Wolfe, to consult
+with the United Irishmen as to some one being sent without delay. One
+of the Emmetts, Russell, Neilson, anybody who knew anything. She must
+see to this, or all was lost; for if no satisfactory tidings were
+speedily received the expedition would be diverted to some other
+purpose, and Ireland left to fight her battles single-handed. In his
+trouble he had made statements which were rash, no doubt--had promised
+large sums to France, in the name of the future Directory of Ireland,
+and had said that many men of property desired the Revolution. Whoever
+was sent over must, to prevent further parleying, corroborate these
+statements. She must show extra caution however in dealing with this
+business, for a Judas was abroad, more than one, perhaps--there could
+be no doubt of that. Mr. Pitt seemed informed of everything that
+passed in Ireland--and in Paris too, for that matter. Caution and
+despatch were needful above all things.
+
+Doreen laid down this letter to consider it, with a presentiment of
+evil. The fevered workings of our distempered minds are not so
+terrible as the sledge-hammer blows which sometimes fall on us. Even
+the harassed conjectures born of fear prove less dreadful than
+realities. This was a blow which numbed her faculties. For her
+father's sake, who loved the fleshpots, she had resolved to be a calm
+spectator of the coming struggle--to mark the arrival of the French
+convoy and its certain triumph; to crown the successful heroes in
+private with metaphorical laurels; to forego for her living father's
+sake the joy of publicly helping in the emancipation of her dead
+mother's people. But here was something which put all her resolutions
+to flight.
+
+The entire scaffolding threatened to tumble about the ears of those
+who held her sympathies; and it seemed that it might be in her power
+to prevent that catastrophe. So long as neutrality was likely to do
+the Catholic party no harm, she was prepared to sacrifice the vanities
+which hang about picturesque heroism--to view the glorious results as
+a mere spectator instead of walking in the procession under the
+triumphal arches. But this letter woefully changed the face of the
+prospect. It was quite possible apparently (and she felt cold as she
+realised it) that the gorgeous fabric in which her soul revelled was
+to vanish into air, and that she might afterwards be accused of having
+by apathy brought about its crumbling! What was she to do? What in the
+scale was this twaddle of the dowager's--this buckram rubbish of an
+old school--this bit of red-tape, which might come to be the halter of
+liberty! But then her father--could she possibly have a right to bring
+suffering on him--to be in her own person the Nemesis who should deal
+punishment on him for his time-serving weakness?
+
+The tumult within her was such that her ears throbbed and her throat
+seemed closing--yet her unaided judgment must settle this question
+with calm pros and cons. There is nothing so clearing to a healthy
+intellect, temporarily clouded, as strong muscular exertion. Miss
+Wolfe stepped into the cockleshell which was her own, and went for a
+row upon the bay.
+
+She watched the shadows of the herring-boats, listened absently to the
+rhythmed cry of the fisherfolk as they landed the produce of their
+night's labour on the little quay, nodded in acknowledgment of their
+salutes, rowed herself with firm nervous strokes into mid-water, and
+then drifted. The freshness of a light breeze and the exertion seemed
+to string her nerves and clear her mind. She lay back in the light
+shallop, and trailing her brown fingers in the water, meditated. No!
+Her allegiance was due equally to both parents. Her father had cast
+his lot with the mammon of unrighteousness and gleaned the pleasant
+result of the proceeding. That was no reason for her to betray her
+mother's people. Much as she loved her father she differed widely from
+his views. She would keep in the background as much as might be, for
+his sake; but it certainly behoved her to act with promptitude and
+energy now. Send somebody over! Whom was she to send? Who was
+important enough for the mission? In whom might complete faith be
+placed? Cassidy was too bungling and stupid. Moreover he knew no word
+of French, and would be sure to make mistakes. Robert Emmett? Too
+young, too romantic; a student in Trinity besides, whose lengthened
+absence would be remarked. Thomas Emmett, alas! was in durance vile.
+Whom might she send? Whom? If Terence would only take things
+seriously, he was the very man for the undertaking. What a pity she
+had not used her influence with him to good purpose, Miss Wolfe
+thought with compunction. The Judith and Holofernes idea was idiotic,
+of course; but Terence was a fish that might have been played with a
+satisfactory result. Yet, after all, could the sacredness of the cause
+justify her in enacting Delilah to his Samson? Surely not. With
+humiliation she admitted that the trick would be unworthy of one who
+lived under the roof of Strogue.
+
+Terence had grown dreadfully cross of late. Once or twice her heart
+had bounded, for she had seemed to see that he was moody and disturbed
+on account of the way events were marching. Certainly he came home
+sometimes from the Four-courts with fierce denunciations on his lips
+anent the culpable folly of Lord Camden--but then he always calmed
+down again, when he was no longer hungry, hoping for better days, if
+Lord Clare would really take the helm. His belief in Lord Clare was
+the blindness which might be expected from a too simple mind.
+
+As the damsel drifted she built castles for herself. If Terence, who
+was manly enough and true enough, would only take things a little more
+_au serieux!_ If men would only be true to their first impulse for
+good, what a much better world it would be! for, taken unawares, it is
+nearly always our good angel who speaks first. He is always awake, if
+timid; but his dusky, coarse-natured fellow snores so loudly, that it
+is no easy matter to make out clearly what he counsels. Terence grew
+indignant often; was very hot over the Indemnity Bill and Insurrection
+ditto, but neither ever disturbed his sleep one jot, or interfered in
+the smallest degree with his capacity for grouse and claret. What a
+pity it was! A dependable man, a man of rank, whose heart was in the
+right place if it would but speak--a man who, from his position, would
+with a breath remove Hoche's scruples. But there was no use in
+thinking of him. Somebody must be sent, and speedily, or the interests
+of the United Irishmen would be compromised. Somebody must be
+sent--but who?
+
+The young lady became aware that she was drifting out to sea--that it
+would require all her nautical science and muscular power to bring her
+frail boat to port by sunset; and she was bound to be home again by
+sunset on this especial evening, because it was a 'lady's night' at
+Crow Street Theatre, and my lady had warned her that loyal ladies must
+'show' there, because the Viceroy would be present, supported by a
+galaxy of beauty. So she handled her sculls like a true connexion of
+the pirate-earls; and as the warm blood tingled in her veins with the
+exertion, sent her little bark dancing over the water, her brain
+working busily the while.
+
+She decided that it was not possible to stand aloof at this juncture.
+Tone--the hero, at whose shrine she worshipped--conjured her to act.
+She would meet at Crow Street, probably, several of the prominent
+United Irishmen, and must choose her opportunity to confer secretly
+with them. Who could be sent to Paris with safety? None but Cassidy.
+What a pity he was so stupid! He meant well--of that she felt assured;
+but he would plead poverty--that was little matter, for she had jewels
+which might be pledged. But might he claim something more? Love-making
+and conspiracy do not go well together. A certain scene at the kennels
+recurred to her mind; and it was with a flush, more due to displeasure
+than healthful exercise, that at length she shot her boat beside the
+landing-stage. An unaccustomed shadow caused her to start and look
+upwards. A man was looking at her, with his thin legs apart and his
+arms folded across his chest--a little man, with elf-locks hanging
+about his face, and a strange melancholy smile upon his lips.
+
+'Faix! and ye're a grand boatwoman, Miss Doreen,' Mr. Curran said;
+'and ye look mighty well fingering those planks. I've bin watching you
+this half-hour, and wondering too--wondering whether, if I had been
+out alone where you were, I could ever be coaxed to return.'
+
+Doreen looked up quickly at him. Had something dreadful come to pass?
+Something dreadful was happening hourly with exasperating monotony.
+'We didn't expect you over to-day. Is Sara with you?'
+
+'No. I trotted over on my nag to see if Terence had returned; and must
+go back at once, as Sara wants to go to Crow Street.'
+
+'Is there anything new?' the young lady inquired, with averted face,
+as she fastened up her boat. She was constantly fretting morbidly
+about the slowness of Tim's tread, as people will who are devoured
+with impatience, and yet half-dread the fulfilment of their wishes.
+
+'New! No,' grunted the small lawyer. 'Would to heaven there were! No
+change could be for the worse. I have been engrossed these two days
+past in the Orr trial. Didn't Terence tell you? Well, well, he
+wouldn't shock ye. It's nothing new, faith! And there's no good
+talking of such things at home. They gave the verdict against us,
+despite all that I could urge; and the injustice was so glaring
+that Terence flew in a passion. Upon my word, he looked as fierce
+as his brother, the Prince of Cherokees! He vowed there was some
+mistake--that he would in person explain matters to the Viceroy
+(foolish lad--not to have learnt better by this time!); and so I
+trotted over to hear if he had succeeded in his suit.'
+
+'What was the case?'
+
+'Nothing particularly novel--another of the many evil results of the
+chancellor's Insurrection Bill,' grumbled Curran. 'One of its clauses
+breathes dire vengeance against such as administer illegal oaths.
+Rubbish! considering what you and I, young lady, know about a green
+bough in Britain's crown. Such oaths will be administered so long as
+this corrupt _regime_ continues--just as they have been for five years
+and more. A fine would meet the case--and it should be a light one;
+for indeed the provocation is not slight. But now such administering
+has become penal. A soldier--a drunken fellow in the Fencibles--comes
+forward, swears that one Orr--a harmless, obscure farmer, against whom
+he probably has a grudge--has induced him to take the oath, "Are you
+straight? as straight as a rush," and the rest. Maybe he has, maybe he
+hasn't--that's not the point; the jury retire, and remain closed up
+for hours--all through last night--far into this morning, and
+by-and-by give in a verdict of guilty. That farmer, who, on my
+conscience, I believe was innocent, is swinging by this time unless
+Terence's mission has been successful.'
+
+The two walked up the steep path, which led to the Abbey terrace, in
+silence. Doreen was thinking that her resolve was right. It should be
+no fault of hers if the French fleet failed to come with healing on
+its wings. Curran was plunged in sadness, for he was beginning to
+be convinced that the triumphal car of Government would bear him
+down--chosen champion, as he believed himself--with its overpowering
+weight, as it did others. Of what use was his eloquence as an advocate
+in presence of packed juries and bribed witnesses? It was talking to
+the wall--or worse, for at least the wall serves its purpose without
+shame, and is washed white, and receives no bribes; Major Sirr's
+juries and witnesses were accustomed, on the other hand, to arrange
+their affairs in a jovial fashion in the major's sanctum before coming
+into court. There was little of the whitewash about them!
+
+When Doreen conducted the lawyer into the tapestry-saloon, my lady was
+concerned at her eccentric little friend's dejection; and easily
+prevailed on him to dine before returning to the Priory. Terence did
+not appear, which was of evil augury; so his chief took the
+opportunity of the ladies retiring to their toilet, to mount his nag
+and gallop homewards, with a leaden weight within his breast.
+
+Neither the dowager nor her niece were theatre-going people. The
+former held dim uncomplimentary opinions about the private lives of
+actresses, and her pride of caste revolted at the familiar behaviour
+of the gallery, who were given to homely conversation with their
+betters in the boxes, and to making rude comments upon the proceedings
+on the stage. Miss Wolfe disliked the play, because mimic woes and
+mimic laughter were alike an insult to the soreness of her heart, and
+the too real sorrows of the world in which she lived. Yet both were
+compelled by fashion to show themselves in Crow Street whenever a
+specially prominent goddess of _ton_ thought fit to command a night.
+On such occasions the auditorium was illuminated with wax candles; the
+rank of the metropolis in diamonds and feathers filled the boxes;
+pit-tickets were freely distributed among the tradespeople with whom
+the lady dealt, whilst she took up her own position at the extreme end
+of the refection-room (a fine gallery erected by Mr. Fred. Jones, the
+manager), bowing a welcome to all who rallied round her.
+
+On this particular evening the Lady-Lieutenant herself had commanded
+the performance, so all the adherents of the Castle were there in
+state--members of the peerage in brand-new uniforms; the cabinet,
+consisting of the chancellor, the chief secretary, the speaker, and
+the attorney--and such a show of female beauty as Dublin can always
+boast. Lady Camden held quite a court in the refection-room, supported
+by Lord Clare, whose arrogant countenance beamed with the
+consciousness of strength. My Lord Camden had shuffled away to the
+curtained viceregal box, pretending to be engrossed with the
+wretchedness of Lucy Lockit; the fact being that his conscience began
+to worry him, and that he withdrew from public gaze as much as
+ceremony would permit.
+
+My lord chancellor was not a man ever to lurk in corners, or to shun a
+few paltry hisses. He stood forward beside the Viceroy's wife, nodding
+to the crowds who bowed before him with a loathsome smirk, too coldly
+overbearing to reck what men thought of him, provided they bent the
+knee. He had reached at this time the acme of his power. His word was
+law. He browbeat his comrades in the cabinet till honest Arthur Wolfe
+quite winced. He had undertaken to mould into shape a corrupt upper
+class, and his first move had been to give a rein to their bad
+passions. His second was to cultivate an unusual urbanity; for it
+would be needful by-and-by to win the members of the Bar, and to lay
+in a good stock of promising raw material in the shape of young M.P.'s
+just rough from grass. He made a point, too, of being particularly
+civil to girls, for he said that if the confidence of the females in a
+house is won, the men may be counted on as gained. Satan found no
+footing in Paradise till he made sure of Eve.
+
+So my Lord Clare tripped hither and thither in his natty attire,
+complimenting one, grinning at another; suggesting an ice to a young
+lady; confounding a sheepish youth by offering his jewelled snuff-box;
+laughing a hyena-laugh at some feeble joke; making himself so pleasant
+that folks stared in wonder. Ladies of highest rank rustled up and
+curtseyed, then formed into a parterre of shot silks and waving plumes
+behind my Lady Camden. It was a magnificent spectacle of brilliancy
+and wealth.
+
+What mattered the cries of those who sat in darkness? what signified
+the cloud that was rolling quickly nearer? The Countess of Glandore, a
+grand sight, in the family jewels, swept into her place, led forward
+by Mr. Wolfe, who had advanced to meet his sister; whilst Lord Clare
+raised Doreen's fingers to his lips with a gallant bow, vowing that
+her father should be proud of such rare charms. And well he might, and
+was, indeed, for there lingered on the girl's face a heightened colour
+which gave a lustre to her eye, while the roundness of her tall figure
+was shown off at its very best by a tightfitting robe of yellow crape,
+elaborately embroidered with silver tassels. Her dark coils of hair
+were knotted round her head in a plain thick diadem, raised high
+behind to show its noble contour where it joined her neck; while the
+olive skin seemed to acquire a richer hue by contrast with a pale
+coral necklet and long ear-drops. Lord Clare looked at her with a
+half-sarcastic smile, and said:
+
+'Will you walk in the lobby and survey the house? I always like to
+show myself with a lovely girl upon my arm. There is a sight there,
+too, that will please you, I think.'
+
+Calmly she took his arm. Etiquette demanded that she should remain in
+the theatre for half-an-hour. It mattered little how she killed the
+time; nevertheless her eyes wandered restlessly about in search of
+Cassidy, to whom she was resolved to speak if possible. Suddenly she
+started and turned scarlet. In an upper box, talking earnestly
+together, were Cassidy and young Robert; with them Tom Emmett,
+Russell, and the rest, whom she supposed to be safe under lock and key
+within Kilmainham gaol.
+
+'I thought you would be surprised,' drawled the chancellor. 'See how
+Government is maligned! The proceedings of those young gentlemen were
+such that we were obliged to lock them up. We could not do otherwise,
+you know. But having given them this lesson, you see we've humanely
+let them out again. Let us hope they'll be wise--wiser, for instance,
+than Mr. Tone appears to be--who is indeed singularly foolish. He
+seems to imagine that men of property will rally to his standard when
+he arrives with his precious expedition. Oh, my country! How truly is
+thy colour green! Here is an adventurer without a sou, grandiloquently
+promising to pay vast debts of gratitude!'
+
+Doreen looked up in the speaker's face suspiciously. The very language
+of the letter she had received that day! Her aunt's warning, hitherto
+forgotten, flashed across her. '_See that your correspondence is not
+tampered with_.' Verily, Tone was right. There was a Judas playing a
+devilish game somewhere.
+
+'Mr. Tone has been long absent,' she said, with a troubled face.
+
+'None the less mischievous,' retorted the other, carelessly. 'But his
+claws are cut, for we know all he does as soon as it is done. Now, if
+Government has erred, is it not on the side of leniency?'
+
+'The fox was very civil to the bird on the tree-branch,' Mr. Curran
+observed dryly, who with Sara now joined them, 'until the fowl was
+fool enough to drop his cake! Your lordship is a bad Irishman, we
+know; but you should not take us for a race of idiots. The people are
+too quiet. You miss the trenchant articles in Tom Emmett's newspaper.
+You perceive that even the Orange outrages of Armagh have failed to
+goad the poor cowed creatures to rebellion. Give them more rope, my
+lord, and they'll certainly hang themselves--aye, and me too amongst
+them, I dare say!'
+
+Lord Clare coloured slightly, and bit his lip, but answered nothing.
+
+'At a moment when the foe is at our gates,' Curran pursued
+bitterly--'for the French armament at Brest is surely meant for
+Ireland--do you strive to unite all parties against a common enemy?
+No! Look at the scenes which are daily enacted under your auspices in
+the north. Robbery, rape, and murder; one brother at another brother's
+throat. Yet I am wrong. We are of one accord on one point. You are
+uniting us as one man against the conciliation of our animosities and
+the consolidation of our strength. Alas for Erin! Rent by faction as
+she is, there is nothing for her but a bridewell or a guard-house--the
+grinding tyranny of England or the military despotism of France!'
+
+Arthur Wolfe, who was always endeavouring to prevent these two from
+snarling, here interposed, and dragged the irascible little lawyer
+away. The chancellor, however, fired a parting shot--crying out in a
+tone of airy innocence:
+
+'On my honour, I know not what you'd have. We give every one as much
+liberty as possible. Look up at the gallery this moment. Every man in
+it has a bludgeon or shillalagh--and they're all staring at the box
+where the ex-prisoners are. I vow they look monstrous dangerous. It's
+brave of my lord-lieutenant to sit there so quietly!'
+
+It was true that all eyes were turned from time to time to that
+particular box, as though something unusual might be expected to take
+place. Meanwhile the unconscious lady-lieutenant in the refection-room
+continued to smirk and bow, highly pleased at the full gathering
+around her.
+
+Stout Madam Gillin panted through the crowd in an amazing turban of
+coquelicot and gold, distributing hearty handshakes to the right and
+left; and Norah looked so pretty as she brought up the rear, that the
+Countess of Glandore's ire was kindled, and she glanced anxiously
+about for her elder son. He was not present though, for he never would
+go anywhere where there were high-born young ladies.
+
+Mrs. Gillin too was looking out for somebody, and, perceiving Curran,
+beckoned him with her fan.
+
+'The young man,' she said in an undertone--'you know who I mean--I
+hear from old Jug that he's mighty annoyed about this Orr case. Indeed
+it's bad enough i' faith, but don't let him be rash.'
+
+'Terence?' Curran replied; 'I've been expecting him every moment.'
+
+'He's not here,' returned Mrs. Gillin. 'His man Phil's below with
+orders to await his coming. I don't like his getting mixed up in these
+things. It's not his place, you know. If his mother had a grain of
+goodness--but there! I can't mention her with patience.'
+
+Curran looked grave, and hurried away to cross-question Phil. It was
+singular that Terence should not have appeared. The two ladies,
+between whom there was the bond of a secret, looked each other in the
+eyes, and temptation was too much for my lady to resist.
+
+'These are indeed dangerous times,' she remarked sweetly to Lady
+Camden, 'when it behoves us all to do our duty. I beg you will assure
+his excellency that Glandore will not shrink from his. He can be of
+little use here where so many have come forward; but he will retire to
+Donegal as soon as it shall seem needful to watch over his tenants in
+the interest of Government. And I should not be surprised--but it is a
+terrible indiscretion--_if when things are settled he should bring
+back with him a bride_.'
+
+The stroke went home. Norah turned deadly pale; and Madam Gillin, who
+had commenced confidences about flannel with a neighbour, found
+herself suddenly called upon to attend to her daughter, who was
+fainting. Scarcely had the court circle gathered round the girl, than
+a new source of commotion became evident in the lobby. High words were
+being bandied, with a low accompaniment of murmuring. The harsh
+accents of the chancellor were ringing in remonstrance; Doreen, who,
+despite her aunt's frowns, had handed her pouncet-box to Madam Gillin,
+became aware that the other voice was Terence's, raised in unusual
+indignation. She was quickly carried by the stream to the scene of the
+disturbance.
+
+Yes; it was Terence, sure enough--in his boots; his hair disordered; a
+look of menace on his white face; and Lord Clare was striving to bar
+his passage. Honest Phil behind, firing-iron in hand as usual, stood
+watching his master's eye.
+
+'Let me pass, my lord!' the young man was saying fiercely. 'An
+innocent man's life hangs on a thread. I have striven to see his
+excellency for hours, but have been prevented. He is in his box I
+know, and I will see him. It cannot be that he knows what's happening!
+The conscience-stricken jury have repented of their crime, they have
+made solemn oath that they convicted Orr (God have mercy on them!)
+when they had been made hopelessly drunk by Major Sirr. Even that's
+not all. The soldier, too, is afraid of what he's done, and owns that
+he had a private reason for his malice. Orr will be hanged at dawn
+unless Lord Camden signs his respite. I'm sure his excellency cannot
+know what's passing! It's the effect of this horrible one-witness law
+of yours. Even Caiaphas and his Sanhedrim dared not, in the great
+judicial murder, to set aside the law which demands at least two
+witnesses. Even Jezebel suborned two men of Belial to bring about the
+end of Naboth!'
+
+Perceiving that the throng were in favour of the pleader, Lord Clare
+strove to draw away the son of his old friend, lest the public should
+think fit to take an inconvenient part in the discussion--an effort in
+which he found unexpected help from Curran. The party retreated
+therefore into an adjoining cloak-room, followed only by a few, while
+Phil kept doughty guard without, and Lady Camden tried to look as if
+she were not flustered.
+
+'Oh, that drunkenness should be employed to procure the murder of a
+man!' Terence cried in agitation. 'If Orr dies, this will be the most
+savage act which has disgraced even our tribunals. I have striven to
+believe in the honesty of Government. Let us go together and explain
+to his excellency while there's yet time!'
+
+The chancellor laid his hand on the young man's shoulder as if to
+soothe a petulant child; while Curran sat on a table with arms crossed
+and a sour smile flitting about his lips.
+
+'Young gentleman,' Lord Clare said, 'take the advice of an older man
+and your mother's friend. Keep aloof from these matters, and don't
+give credence to grandams' tales. We understand what we are doing, and
+want no dictation from raw youths--we are satisfied of Orr's guilt.
+You are keeping bad company, as I warned you once' (with a furtive
+side-glance at Mr. Curran), 'and will get yourself into trouble!'
+
+Terence's arms dropped to his sides, and he stood thinking. A
+whispering without could plainly be distinguished through the closed
+door. He looked for help to his chief, who had spoken out so bravely
+at the trial, but who now swung his legs in silence.
+
+Presently he sighed, and passing both hands over his face, said
+slowly: 'Then they were right--I could not, and would not believe it.
+The lord-lieutenant, then, is a passive instrument in the hands of
+wicked men--he is made, for a purpose, grossly, inhumanly, to abuse
+the royal prerogative of mercy, of which the King himself is but a
+trustee for the benefit of his people. Some of those jurymen were
+threatened by suborned fellow-jurors--their tottering consciences
+deadened for awhile by drink; but they have woke to remorse in time.
+You say this hideous farce may not be stopped! Beware, Lord Clare!
+Remember to whom you must answer for this man's life! It's true--all
+true--and I am helpless!'
+
+Lord Clare was provoked. Things were assuming an awkward and
+unexpected phase. It would not do to have a scandal in the theatre.
+Suppressing his wrath, he whispered to Mr. Curran before leaving the
+apartment:
+
+'This boy must not be made a scapegoat. I rely on you to use your
+influence over him for his family's sake. He has listened to idle
+gossip, and ardent youth is easily set ablaze. This is most untoward.
+I will remove their excellencies at once and disappoint those donkeys
+who are greedily on the look-out for an _esclandre_.'
+
+His rasping voice was heard presently above the hum in polished
+periods, deploring that false reports should so easily be credited;
+explaining that the too sensitive Viceroy must be protected from his
+own softness, calling for their excellencies' coach without delay.
+
+'Can nothing more be done for Orr? It is too awful!' the junior asked
+his chief, clinging to his coat with anxious hands.
+
+'If aught could be done, should I have remained silent?' was the dry
+rejoinder.
+
+Then the lawyer bethought him of his child in the crush, and sallied
+forth in search of her.
+
+Master Phil, with instinctive respect for a great man, stood aside
+when the chancellor made his exit, allowing the cloak-room to be
+flooded with eager inquirers. First entered Cassidy and Doreen,
+burning to hear news.
+
+Terence roused himself from his reverie, and, clasping a hand of each,
+muttered in choking words:
+
+'I have fought against conviction long enough. There are limits to an
+honest man's forbearance. Cassidy! I'll take the oath.'
+
+The giant knitted his brows, and, staring at the cornice, whistled.
+Doreen darted forth such a golden flash from her cairngorm eyes as
+flooded the heart of the tempest-tossed young man with a gleam of
+sunshine.
+
+'Oh, cousin!' he murmured. 'You who are my star! Forgive me for having
+mistrusted the direction of your guidance! I am easy-going, and not
+prone to believe evil. But my eyes are opened now. Ireland's soil is
+sick with the blood of centuries. A little while, and please God she
+shall bleed no more!'
+
+'Mr. Cassidy!' the girl said, with heaving breast and such a joyous
+confusion as prevented her from reading the giant's face, 'did I not
+say to you just now that after darkness comes the morning? Surely
+night must be at its blackest now, Terence. I take you at your word.
+This change is a miracle wrought by heaven in the nick of time to
+prevent Theobald's efforts from being frustrated. I see it, and am
+grateful. A champion must be tried, you know,' she whispered, smiling,
+'and pass through the ordeal which is to prove his faith. I give you
+yours at once. It is urgently needful that some one should start
+forthwith for France, to act in concert there with Theobald. Can you
+make up your mind to this? Yes or no--there is no time for
+hesitation.'
+
+Terence, a prey still to overmastering agitation, clasped the brown
+hand that was like a leaf in both of his, while the giant's frown was
+fixed on one and then the other.
+
+'I told you one day,' the young man whispered, 'that for one reward I
+would set at naught the traditions of my family. If I succeed in the
+task which you assign to me----'
+
+A shade passed across the sunlight of Doreen's enthusiasm. How
+persistently people tried to rehearse love-passages on the floor of
+the charnel-house!
+
+'Do not let us talk of such things,' she faltered dreamily. 'Mr.
+Cassidy, you can see the oath administered this evening. Come straight
+home, Terence--and I'll manage to meet you when the rest are gone to
+bed. You will have to start betimes, _mon preux chevalier_; and return
+as quickly as you may, bearing good news. See to the taking of the
+oath, Mr. Cassidy, and for once do not make mistakes.'
+
+'I will see to all!' ejaculated the giant, hoarsely; 'though I risk my
+neck in doing it.'
+
+Another warm pressure of the hand--a lingering look--and Doreen was
+gone. My lady had harshly summoned her, dismayed at Mr. Curran's
+recital of the scene, and had bade her don her mantle--wrapt herself
+in the contemplation of fresh troubles. Madam Gillin, too, had
+listened to his story, and her round, good-humoured face was drawn out
+as she listened to inordinate length.
+
+'I can't stand this,' she said by-and-by, to Mr. Curran, as he cloaked
+her. 'That magnificent dowager who has trundled off in the grand
+carriage will--as I judge--leave difficulties to unravel themselves.
+She doesn't like the boy, and would be glad he should come to ruin for
+reasons buried in her stony heart. But I promised his father to be a
+guardian angel, and, please God, I will. You must keep him out of
+mischief--do you hear?'
+
+Keep him out of mischief! Easier said than done; but it was worth
+trying for. Mr. Curran, unaware of the interchange of sundry tender
+glances in the cloak-room, did not despair of success. He elbowed in
+the throng till he met his junior, and bade him be in attendance early
+at the Four-courts.
+
+'The Four-courts!' scoffed Terence, with lamentable disrespect. 'When
+justice dies, why dally with her empty robes? I've other fish to fry.'
+
+'Sure it's Misthress Doreen that's been at him,' laughed big Cassidy,
+with rather forced indifference. 'Who'd be proof against the blarney
+of the Dhas Astore?'
+
+'Has Miss Wolfe been up to anything? what?' demanded the lawyer,
+knitting his shaggy eyebrows.
+
+'It's a match they'll be making of it--Lord love the purty pair!'
+bawled the nettled giant. 'The gintleman's to be complimented who's
+thus favoured.'
+
+'Is this true?' Curran inquired. 'Has she been persuading you to make
+a fool of yourself? I turned you out of my house, though I love you
+like a son, to withdraw you from what might prove a dangerous
+atmosphere. Maybe I'd better have kept you after all.'
+
+'Perhaps, if I succeed in this mission, she may be mine!' Terence
+muttered in ecstasy, oblivious for the moment of the fate of the
+condemned.
+
+'And for such a vague _perhaps_,' Curran retorted in disgust, 'these
+goslings will risk their lives!'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+                           DOREEN'S PLANS.
+
+
+It is proverbial that the preaching of the wisest sage may be reckoned
+as naught in its influence on a young man's fancy when opposed by a
+siren's smile. Doreen had never, during the years of her sojourn at
+the Abbey, tried to enlist Terence on the side of her oppressed
+people. It would have been disloyal to have done so. But now that his
+long-careless heart had taken the flame of its own accord, it was not
+likely she should attempt to extinguish it. Having communed with Tom
+Emmett, she directed her admirer to ride forthwith to Cork, ostensibly
+on professional business, slip thence with secrecy across the water to
+see Hoche, and then return with as little delay as might be. He was to
+tell the French general that ten thousand soldiers were expected--that
+less than five thousand would be useless--that arms without soldiers
+would be refused, because a rising would be the immediate consequence
+of a landing of arms, and it was not thought desirable to turn the
+attempt, which should be made in force, into a desultory species of
+Chouannerie. Further, he was to employ all his eloquence to ensure a
+speedy start, declaring that Erin yearned to break her bonds, that a
+small nucleus of regular troops was all that was required to start
+with, as the peasantry were prepared to rise if sure of being properly
+led.
+
+These orders being succinctly given by a demure girl with rich dark
+hair and a touching sadness of expression, was it probable that the
+diatribes of an insignificant little person with shaggy elf-locks and
+questionable linen should meet with even common courtesy? Curran
+argued with his junior contrary to his own convictions, striving by
+forensic imagery to save him from the vortex if he could; declared
+that nothing but ruin could possibly come of a rising; that the
+popular cause was hopeless; that the French would possibly make a
+temporary disturbance to spite perfidious Albion, but that so soon as
+it should suit their interests, Erin would be blandly restored to the
+avenger, to reap the reward of her temerity. What sympathy could
+France have for Ireland? What recked the Directory, or Hoche, or
+Buonaparte (the clever young general who was becoming celebrated),
+whether Erin was a slave or not? Other nations as interesting as the
+Irish were slaves, and would remain so. Just now Hoche was warm upon
+the subject because he was jealous of Buonaparte and eager for rival
+laurels. Granted that he were victorious, he would soon weary of what
+to him must be a worthless and precarious possession, would carry it
+to market in a treaty of peace, and surrender it to expiate by yet
+more grinding servitude the false hopes which were born only to
+perish. But Mr. Curran (who didn't quite believe all this in his heart
+of hearts) might as well have talked to the trees in his own Priory
+orchard.
+
+'You'll be dragged farther than you intend,' he urged. 'Your vanity
+will induce you to take an active part, and then you'll be punished by
+the revolting slavery entailed by a mob command.'
+
+It was all in vain. Terence went away, and his chief gave out that he
+had despatched him on business to Cork.
+
+The unfortunate Orr was hanged, and the result quite pleased the
+chancellor. A thrill of horror ran through all but the most callous.
+The oath anent the bough was taken by hundreds in desperation. The
+toast 'Remember Orr!' became a watchword. People shook their heads,
+wondering what would come of it. Riots grew more frequent, which were
+suppressed or not according to caprice. Major Sirr's Battalion of
+Testimony lived on the fat of the land, for there was no difficulty in
+unearthing traitors, now that the spirit of recklessness had gone
+forth. Lord Clare pretended to be pained. The ingratitude and
+wickedness of his countrymen--their hardened fits of daring--made him
+blush, he vowed. The country was in danger, the yeomanry must bestir
+themselves, England must send regiments too steady to be undermined;
+if the people were so disgracefully unruly, martial law would have to
+be proclaimed. He deeply grieved to suggest such a thing, but the
+majesty of the executive, whose gravest sin was leniency, must at all
+hazards be respected.
+
+The capital was quite in a fever, shivering as pigeons do in their
+cote when they feel the electric current. Every one was looking
+towards France. Was that armament which was assembling at Brest
+intended for their coasts? If the fleet were to appear in the offing,
+how would Government behave? It seemed evident enough how they would
+behave, for troops kept pouring in from England. Hessians,
+Highlanders, Englishmen, under command of Lord Carhampton, arrived by
+shiploads, and, spreading over the counties, were placed at free
+quarters in the cottages. Dublin and the great towns undertook to look
+to themselves. The armed squireens, yeomanry, fencibles, strutted in
+scarlet in the streets, clothed in the bully airs which characterise
+brief authority.
+
+The burning zeal of Orangeism was let loose in all its excess of
+wildness, and a fanatical orgy commenced--a saturnalia of fiends who
+acted in the name of religion--which endured for two whole years. Men,
+who in the past had made themselves objectionable to Government, were
+not forgotten now. Even the semblance of moderation was tossed aside.
+They were delivered to privileged marauders, to be kept under lock and
+key and ultimately sacrificed in the 'confusion of the times;' whilst
+as for private enemies, nothing was easier than to charge such an one
+with treason, and lay him low by purchasing the good offices of an
+informer. People went openly to the Staghouse, where the 'band of
+testimony' were kennelled, just as in our modern days they go to
+Scotland Yard to engage the services of a detective.
+
+In the military mania which revived (how different from the Volunteer
+movement! the first was an impulse towards good; the latter a carnival
+of demons), everybody sported a uniform. The Bar chose its special
+facings, so did the 'prentices, so did the adherents of each opulent
+grandee. My Lord Powerscourt armed his tenants, but retained them in
+the hills of Wicklow, declaring that his contingent was not to be
+made a rabble of aggression. Even the Catholics deemed it prudent
+to don the red coat in self-defence, as a disguise; and went forth
+rebel-hunting, sometimes to lay violent hands on their own brethren.
+But the warriors somehow invariably took the wrong road, or
+discovered, upon reaching their destination, that gossoons had run
+forward to give warning. The Right Honourable Claudius Beresford, not
+to be outdone in zeal, set up a riding-school on Marlborough Green,
+which later on assumed infamous notoriety as a torture-chamber. Here
+the yeomen met to try their horses, to accustom them to the sound of
+drum and clarion, to break a friendly bottle. Dublin assumed the
+aspect of a garrison; the country of a vast camp.
+
+Still my lord-chancellor vapoured airily of 'martial law;' not that it
+signified much practically whether such were declared or no, but it
+was as well to accustom polite ears to the words before they became
+legal facts.
+
+The arch-conspirators being unaccountably set free, without any
+promises having been extorted from them, they naturally set to work at
+once to take advantage of the general simmering, and the peculiar
+condition of society was favourable to the attainment of their ends.
+More than ever now was the anomaly made manifest which has been hinted
+at before, namely, the promiscuous mixing in convivial intercourse of
+persons of the most opposite views. At time-serving Arthur Wolfe's,
+for instance, Clare hobbed and nobbed with the disaffected; such,
+that is, as had not gone so far as to frighten the well-meaning
+attorney-general. At Strogue Abbey, again, he chatted quite amicably
+with Curran, who was never weary of abusing him in Parliament, or
+strolled in the rosary with Cassidy, who was known to be a United
+Irishman. But the strangest scene of all was the Beaux-walk in
+Stephen's Green, more especially on a fine Sabbath, when the _beau
+monde_ appeared in glory. The mall, where carriages paraded, ran at
+that time along the north side, between a low wall and an impregnable
+haha, or dyke; and there, on a Sunday afternoon, might be seen the
+strangest medley of muslins and chip hats, fine coaches and swinging
+noddies, mingled with cross-belts and helmets and military plumes and
+gear; might be heard the wildest diversity of opinions openly broached
+and bandied. Horse-races took place sometimes as an ostensible reason
+for the gathering, and none marvelled to behold those who were
+prisoned traitors a week ago arm in arm with Government officials, or
+to hear acquaintances joking each other on the inconvenience of
+getting hanged. Thus it failed specially to shock young Robert as a
+piece of bad taste, when, walking with other undergraduates, if a
+friend rallied him about his brother's newspaper, and the certain fate
+which must befall its owner; though it must be admitted that such was
+not the case with Sara, who moaned and shuddered with dismay, like a
+rabbit in a den of serpents. Tom Emmett's newspaper was openly
+published now twice a week, and no one interfered with it, though it
+sought out the joints of Lord Clare's harness; and the chief of the
+Directory was weak enough to imagine that his foe had grown afraid of
+him for his boldness in pointing at injustice. Other newspapers were
+gagged or bribed; why should his be privileged? Tom Emmett and Bond
+and the rest held their secret meetings as heretofore, and strolled in
+the Beaux-walk, and talked treason, like hot-pated Patlanders, to the
+top of their bent, oblivious of the claw of the cat, because it
+remained uplifted--poor guileless band of mice! They met frequently
+and talked earnestly, and squabbled not a little among themselves, for
+their opinions were divided on a point--a most important point, upon
+which unanimity was essential--no less a one than the grand basis of
+future operations.
+
+Bond and Russell and others argued that misgovernment had come to such
+a pass, that it might be endured no more without merited disgrace.
+These bully squireens, these venal, brow-beating grandees, must be
+shown, before more harm was done, that there must be a bound to their
+arrogance.
+
+If a tide be bravely stemmed, it will rage awhile; then settle within
+its limits. Were the French coming? French or no French, the people
+must rise; observant Europe would applaud, for even unfortunate
+heroism commands respect and pity; pike-heads by thousands lurked
+beneath potato plots, pike-poles in myriads were stacked under
+thatched roofs. Surely the spirit of the ancient kings would animate
+their sons in this emergency!
+
+Most of the conspirators were for doing something definite at once.
+Tom Emmett and his brother were in favour of delay.
+
+'We have waited so long,' Tom said, 'that a few weeks more will make
+little difference, save in the increased exasperation of the people.
+Lord Clare was obliged by public opinion to set us free. We must do
+our duty as men. With French assistance success is certain; without
+it, more than doubtful. Wait, at least, till Terence Crosbie's
+return--the young aristocrat who has taken up our cudgels. We shall be
+none the worse for waiting; and now that he has been baptised into the
+true cause, his presence will be valuable in our councils. The
+labourer who entered the vineyard at the last hour was not deprived of
+his reward. We are terribly weak in military capacity; maybe Heaven,
+who has awakened so late in the day a scion of a noble house, may
+point to him as a future leader. Wait at least and see him.'
+
+Young Robert enthusiastically seconded his brother's motion, for his
+instinctive dread of bloodshed impelled him to postpone the decisive
+moment; and he was possessed, besides, with a strong belief in
+Terence, whom he had known intimately during his sojourn at the
+Priory. Russell and the others obstinately combated the point, urged
+thereto by youthful jealousy and wounded self-esteem. True, none of
+the council were of mature years; but to be lectured and prated at by
+this boy Robert, who was yet a student in Alma Mater, was an indignity
+which it behoved them to resent.
+
+Doreen, who, after her noteworthy row upon the bay, threw aside the
+appearance of apathy she had assumed, saw this new danger with
+concern. Torn well-nigh to death already by factions of many kinds,
+was Erin to sit by and see her last forlorn hope, her last bodyguard
+of champions, scattered by the same curse? Miss Wolfe became seized by
+a frenzy for galloping across country. Her horses were constantly
+brought back to the stable with their coats turned, their flanks
+heaving, their skins reeking with foam.
+
+'No doubt the girl was crazed,' my lady averred, as constantly as she
+marked the grooming of the animals from her bedroom window-seat. 'Why
+could she not ride like a well-brought-up young person in the green
+alleys of the Ph[oe]nix, or amble on the mall of Stephen's Green?'
+
+My lady did not know that Doreen met separately, at certain cottages,
+the different members of the Directory; that she prayed and exhorted
+each one, as though he were alone to blame, to wisdom and a sacrifice
+of paltry vanity; and that she came away from each interview with such
+a dread of impending failure--a distrust of these budding
+generalissimos--that it required the most reckless gallops, with a
+dangerous fence or two _en route_, to calm her nerves sufficiently to
+meet my lady's scrutiny with the accustomed mask of composure on her
+face.
+
+At the Abbey she had little to complain of now, for all were too busy
+to take much heed of her. Shane, with a prospect of departing
+northward, which rumours of accumulating outrages seemed to make more
+and more urgent, shilly-shallied and delayed, and selected guns and
+fishing-rods, and invited little knots of Cherokees, and spent more
+and more time at the Little House, as though the effort to tear
+himself away from Dublin delights and beloved Norah were too much for
+his resolution.
+
+Under the circumstances he was not likely to trouble his cousin with
+attentions; and Doreen breathed freely again so far as her private
+affairs were concerned, for she perceived that this project of her
+aunt's was fading into a vision which never would and never could be
+realised. Any one who watched might see that Shane was desperately
+smitten with Norah, and Doreen was in no wise jealous. Norah was a
+nice girl, Doreen determined, who was worthy to become a countess, and
+she would help to make her happy as much as she could.
+
+My lady's fancies were mere whimsies. If the marriage could be
+accomplished, she would of course come in time to like her new
+daughter-in-law. Many domineering old ladies object to eligible
+maidens, merely because they have not fixed on them themselves.
+
+Miss Wolfe, in her regained independence of thought, felt half
+inclined to carry it beyond her own concerns, to speak openly to
+Shane, to go and call on Norah, or meet her as if by chance, and
+declare that she had come over to the enemy.
+
+But the little love-idyl was destined to an interruption, whether she
+interfered or not; for Glandore was pledged to go to the north--to
+tear himself from the arms of metaphoric Capua. Would he remain
+faithful to his lady-love, when removed from the direct influence of
+her attractions? The notion of his going, Doreen remembered with a
+quiet sense of fun, was her own; and selfishly glad she was to have
+been so inspired, for away at Ennishowen his thoughts would be
+diverted into a new channel. Even if he did not learn there to forget
+Norah, his mind would certainly be freed from vague visions of his
+absent cousin. Thus she, in any case, would be safe. Situated as the
+concerns of the patriots were, all her own energies would be needed on
+the spot--for without some one to threaten and cajole, the bundle was
+sure to fall to pieces.
+
+She would be glad, therefore, when the establishment at the Abbey
+should break up, when all the vans and horses and carriages should
+migrate to Donegal, leaving her--a waif--behind, with nothing to
+attend to but serious business.
+
+Of course when my lady and her son started for Ennishowen, she would
+return to her old home in Dublin. She would inhabit once more her
+little bedroom in Molesworth Street, and would make herself so
+necessary to her father by fond artful prodigalities of love and
+tenderness, as to prevent him from ever allowing her to leave him any
+more. It was all very well, when she was a child, to send her to abide
+with her aunt, but now she was a woman, and her place was with her
+father. Then a small inward voice whispered, which caused her heart to
+beat quick time:
+
+'What if, by my loving influence, I might change at length his views?
+He is weak, but so kind and excellent; he leans on my aunt because
+hers is the more masculine nature of the two; and he yearns for
+support and countenance. Why should he not come to lean on me? My will
+is as strong as hers--our mutual affection unstained by a difference,
+unruffled by a ripple! Oh! if I could persuade him that there are
+nobler aspirations than mere gathering of gold. That if, instead of
+money-grubbing to make me a fortune (well-meaning, tender father!) he
+would spend all he has freely for his country's sake, I would love him
+all the more dearly for my beggary; what if, by constant dropping on
+the stone of obstinacy, I could bring him to feel this--how happy, how
+truly happy, we might come to be together!'
+
+Then, in less exalted moments of reflection, she felt that she
+deceived herself, that this might never be; that if she elected, in
+theory, to embrace for a holy cause the vow of poverty in her own
+person, she had no right to force her convictions upon a man whose
+glass of life was more than half run out, whose life ran in a groove,
+and who had so distinct a predilection for flesh-pots. Well, without
+going to extremes, it would be a joy to guide him just a little, to
+prevent his truckling too glaringly to Castle influence. If only he
+were not attorney-general and prosecutor for the Crown!' When the
+French expedition shall have arrived,' she thought, 'and swept this
+wicked Government into the sea, how intense a satisfaction will it be
+to say to the Irish Directory, "Spare at least my father, for my sake!
+I have worked heart and soul in the cause; you owe me this boon, the
+only one I ask of you!"'
+
+Certainly, from every point of view it seemed necessary for the young
+lady to separate herself from the Abbey and her prejudiced aunt with
+all speed, and assume her proper place in her own home.
+
+Hence for more reasons than one she looked forward to the forthcoming
+break in the Abbey _menage_ as to the commencement of a new era of
+reviving hope and usefulness, and quite longed for Shane's departure
+with all his bags and baggage.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                           THE CLOVEN HOOF.
+
+
+My lady's preparations were completed at last, and, thanks to her
+maternal supervision, so were those of her favourite son. Though so
+close at hand, she went little into Dublin; for the sight of many
+strange uniforms reminded her of a past time, the associations
+connected with which she did her best to bury. She knew only,
+therefore, by rumour what was passing--by the reports of the
+_Gazette_, by conversations with Lord Clare. As for Curran, there was
+nothing to be got from him. He was as surly and morose as possible;
+said rude things about the Orange Societies; told her details of
+atrocities which, she felt sure, must be exaggerated; quarrelled with
+her about the scarlet woman; showed signs of becoming as bigoted on
+one side as she half admitted herself to be on the other.
+
+She grew almost reconciled to the necessity of going northwards, for
+Shane's conduct gave her serious alarm. He almost lived at the Little
+House, and she saw the possibility, if the journey were delayed much
+longer, of his declining to go at all. For all Norah's influence was
+evidently thrown into the scale against her, and she bitterly
+regretted now having shot off that arrow at Crow Street.
+
+The artful damsel was striving to instil into her lover's mind that it
+was cowardly to go away at this juncture; and it was only by
+pretending to have private intelligence from the chancellor that his
+mother could soothe his _amour propre_ to sleep.
+
+She was credibly informed, so she declared, that Paris spies had told
+Dublin spies, who had whispered it at the Castle, that the French
+fleet would certainly make for the north. It stood to reason they
+would not sail into Cork Harbour or Dublin Bay, where their foe was
+ready to receive them. Not a bit of it. They would make for the
+lonely, rock-bound coast of Donegal or Antrim, and young Lord Glandore
+would cover himself with glory by appearing at the head of the
+yeomanry in the neighbourhood to harass the landing of the troops.
+
+This was just such a wild idea as suited the youthful fire-eater. He
+saw, in his mind's eye, the shattered vessels on his iron rocks of
+Ennishowen; a feeble resistance and surrender--for a mere handful
+could do anything on those cliffs--and gave way, as usual, to his
+mother. But she felt that, if they were to go, they must be off as
+speedily as possible, or even her influence would fail at the last
+moment, and that which she most dreaded might take place, despite her
+efforts.
+
+Her indignation against the lady of the Little House knew no bounds.
+That she should immolate her own daughter for the mean purpose of
+revenging herself upon a rival, was too horrible! It was really
+amazing to consider what these Catholics were capable of! They had no
+consciences. They were ready to commit any enormity, because when it
+was done they could go to confession, wipe the stain off the slate,
+and come back smiling. Lord Clare was perfectly right about the
+scarlet woman, and Mr. Curran in his dotage. For every sort of reason
+these Catholics must be kept down. No punishment was bad enough for
+them--they should be locked in cages like wild beasts--they were
+absolutely incorrigible--at least, so thought the Swaddler. Doreen was
+turning out abominably. If she too were not soon caged, she would be
+running off some day with a groom--or a United Irishman, which was
+worse, breaking her father's heart, and dragging his name through the
+mire. She preached to her brother on this subject, making him very
+uneasy, and gave up looking after her poor, lest, meeting Mrs. Gillin,
+she might forget herself.
+
+Her preparations were complete, yet still she lingered at the Abbey.
+Society was in such a state of suspense that freedom of action seemed
+paralysed. The lady-lieutenant was frightened, and talked of fleeing
+to London, yet she delayed her journey. The mall and the Beaux-walk
+were both as full as ever. People went thither in hopes of decided
+news one way or other--which never came; and being there, they rode
+and gossiped and joked, because it was the habit to do so.
+
+Emmett and his friends were becoming grievously troubled, for the
+split in their camp widened daily. Were the French playing with their
+Irish allies? This continued inaction on their part was
+incomprehensible; for summer had faded to autumn, autumn was
+shrivelling into winter--it was almost too late to expect assistance
+now. Must the effort be postponed till next year? or a forlorn
+hope be attempted single-handed? To make it now would be madness, for
+rains were pouring down with Hibernian vehemence--the country was
+sodden--would soon be frozen--the exposed patriots would die off like
+rotten sheep. To wait till next year was a bad prospect--who can
+calculate what may happen in six months? The evil acts of the
+executive were piling up with terrible velocity. A sense of treachery
+and of dismay seemed to hang over the capital, for none could be
+certain who had taken the oath and who had not. Fathers were known to
+be loyalists whose sons had received the tonsure. Peasant mothers had
+put pikes in hiding whose daughters were living with the soldiers.
+Friends met and dined, and laughed with each other about the wide
+divergence of their views, just as they had done for some time past;
+but the feeling that though they differed their friendship would not
+wane was beginning to be shaken, for Major Sirr and his sinister band
+were abroad. No one was safe from the informer.
+
+There was a dinner-party at the Abbey--a party of typical incongruity.
+The chancellor was there, all smiles and airiness. Mr. Curran was
+there, who was becoming strangely absent and sour; his little primrose
+Sara too, who looked delicate and nervous, and shrank, as if in pain,
+from conversation, which of course turned on politics. Cassidy was
+there too, in humble attendance on Doreen; and young Robert Emmett,
+whom the chancellor condescended to twit scornfully on his behaviour.
+
+'Keep your head out of the noose, my dear young friend!' he said. 'No
+one is so small as to escape the vigilant eye of a paternal
+government. Do you suppose we are not informed of your pratings within
+Trinity? Your bursts of baby-eloquence, which are flowery but foolish?
+It is a harmless amusement possibly within those aged walls, and the
+wild talk of undergraduates is of little moment, yet I warn you that
+it will not be permitted much longer. Oh dear no! We won't do you the
+honour of arresting you. That would give you too much importance. But
+it may become my painful duty, as chancellor of that university as
+well as of this realm, to erase your name with others from its books,
+unless you mend your manners--that's all; so be warned and wise in
+time.
+
+Robert chafed and choked at such language as this, which seemed to
+mark him for a schoolboy before his wistful love; but he stood in such
+awe of the stately dowager that he only reddened and hung his head.
+Then Lord Clare, feeling merry, felt disposed to break a lance with
+his ancient enemy of the Bar; he therefore gaily asked if he might
+take a glass with Colonel Curran of the Lawyer's Corps--whose military
+skill would soon be brought into play, considering that the paternal
+Government had decided at last to propose a suspension of Habeas
+Corpus. The United Irishmen were behaving so badly--were declaiming in
+so provoking a fashion about their bonds, that it was as well to show
+them for a moment what slavery really meant. But this pleasant little
+sally fell dismally flat; for Curran was already aware of this
+dreadful resolve, and did not rise in vehement expostulation, as the
+other expected. So had Doreen heard of it. Her eye brightened a
+little, but her hand never shook as she leisurely peeled a peach.
+
+When the news had first gone forth, she had ridden over to the Priory,
+lest haply some one might be there who could advise what might best be
+done. She found Curran on his doorstep, putting on his gloves.
+
+'I knew they'd do it,' was all he said to her. 'You stop here till I
+return. I am going to Mr. Grattan.'
+
+Presently he came cantering back on his shaggy pony, and said to the
+anxious girl:
+
+'There is nothing for it but patience. Mr. Grattan expected this, and
+so did I. We shall oppose the bill, but that will make no difference.
+This wretched land is doomed. If the bill is carried, Mr. Grattan will
+retire from parliament, and so shall I. We are both sick of the
+murderous farce.' Then, drumming his fingers on the window, in an
+attempt to keep down his agitation, he muttered forth at intervals:
+'Habeas Corpus! the very last guardian of our liberties! They'll bring
+in the knife when every one's asleep, and stab our guardian in the
+dark!'
+
+So the lawyer--not taken unawares--only smiled, and, bowing stiffly
+over his glass, asked quietly:
+
+'Did you ever read AEschylus, my lord? I know you are a fine scholar.
+You always remind me of Mercury in "Prometheus Vinctus," who was
+constantly abusing the poor martyr for howling, when his only
+grievance was a stake of adamant through his breast!'
+
+The party broke up early, as both of the elder gentlemen were due at
+the House, and the social atmosphere was stormy. My Lord Clare
+whispered to his old friend at starting that he would call round in
+the morning, as he had something very particular to say to her. Doreen
+took the opportunity of imploring Curran to send a message to the
+shebeen, with intelligence as to the fate of the bill (care of
+red-polled Biddy), that she might know from him what happened with as
+small a delay as possible.
+
+That astute person turned out but too true a prophet. The bill which
+was to close the courts of law, and place power over life and property
+in the hands of military despots (and such despots!), was shuffled
+into the House by the attorney-general at 2 a.m., and read for the
+second time after _grave and mature deliberation_ at 2.10 a.m.; and
+Doreen, when she read the note which informed her that it was carried
+by 137 against 7, had an extra douche of sorrow poured over her, in
+that her too facile parent had been its godfather!
+
+So martial law was declared, and the humane and benignant soldiery,
+whose good feeling had already been proven at Armagh and elsewhere,
+were to work their wicked will unrestrained. Doreen was too much upset
+to appear at breakfast, so my lady picnicked alone on the window-seat
+which looked upon the stable-yard, watching for her vagrant darling,
+keeping a keen look-out, too, as to whether her niece went out for a
+scamper. For my lady had passed a sleepless night--one of those
+terrible _nuits blanches_ much worse than any nightmare--when all our
+sins sit heavy on our chests; when our brains throb to bursting, and
+we hope there is no hereafter. She tossed--listening for Shane's
+return--growing more feverish as hour after hour passed silently.
+Still at the Little House! This was maddening. The vision of Shane and
+Norah arriving to throw themselves upon their knees, danced before her
+eyes. Once or twice, when sinking into a doze, she sat up with a
+start, clutching the luxuriant braids of white hair which gave her in
+her looking-glass such an odd look of winter and autumn united.
+Manfully she had quelled any shrinking on her own account about
+returning to Ennishowen. To her who had borne so much, what mattered a
+little extra suffering? It was excellent advice that her niece had
+given her. The way, and the only way, out of the labyrinth was to
+transfer the establishment _en bloc_; she had recognised the fact, and
+had resolved, for her dear boy's sake, not to spare herself. But now,
+in dead of night, when the past stood out in phosphorescent light, and
+the future loomed even yet more ghastly, she had to fight the old
+weary moral fight again, in which she had so frequently been worsted.
+Again she saw her husband on that bed of chairs at Daly's. Again she
+heard him say, ere the last rattle stopped his voice for ever, 'Make
+right that wrong while there is time!' Again she welled over with
+impotent rage, whimsically mixed with penitence, in that she must wear
+the Nessus shirt which he had shuffled off long since. She realised,
+as she ruminated, that she had been deceiving herself as to the
+motives which kept her still at Strogue. It was a terror of the island
+of Glas-aitch-e at Ennishowen--of the tales which each twig and shrub
+would tell her there--of the songs which the waves would sing to her
+as they dashed against the cliffs--which had really delayed her
+starting. But there must be an end of this weakness. All was ready.
+For Shane's sake she would like to start upon the morrow, for the
+sooner she drank her dose the better; but, unfortunately, a promise
+had been given to attend their excellencies at a great ball which was
+to take place at the Castle--and to retire suddenly, in ticklish times
+like these, would certainly be construed as big with political import.
+But after all, this fete (which was to show the scum that their
+betters did not fear them) would be past in a few days. Till that time
+arrived my lady would continue to wait; but in order to underline for
+herself in her midnight self-communing the determination that there
+was to be no more cowardice, she then and there resolved that the
+great coach should take them upon the very same evening within the
+Castle-yard, and spirit them forward on their way, instead of making a
+fresh start from the Abbey on the morrow. This resolution being come
+to, my lady's mind became calmer. As the blue light of wintry morning
+struggled in she felt quite relieved, and got up presently--as
+imperious as usual--to await Lord Clare's communication, and watch the
+stable-yard for Shane's return.
+
+It was fully eleven o'clock before Lord Clare's carriage wheezed up
+the avenue--the casket which held Ireland's great man. For once Doreen
+had not bucketed forth on one of her wild rides. Shane had not yet
+come in.
+
+My lady swept out upon the narrow terrace in front of the hall-door to
+receive her guest. He must stand in need of refreshment; what would he
+please to take?
+
+He would take nothing for the moment. Yes--he would. It was a strange
+conceit in one who had visited there as a familiar gossip during so
+many years. He would take a view of Strogue Abbey--he would be shown
+over the mansion by its chatelaine. My lady was surprised. Indeed, she
+had not been over the quaint place herself for ages. What did my Lord
+Clare desire to see? Was it the dungeon? or the ancient kitchen and
+buttery, with its black woodwork, or the water-tower?
+
+He would see everything while he was about it, he said. In the first
+instance the young men's wing, with its museum of fishing-rods and
+guns--and--what was that over it--an armoury? Oh, indeed! he would
+like to look at it.
+
+'But perchance I should disturb the young gentlemen,' her guest said
+with hesitation. 'By-the-bye, has your son gone out?'
+
+To Lord Clare's genuine astonishment, my lady reddened and looked
+away. Could she know the mission on which he had come? If so, then she
+was a greater mistress of her face than he supposed. If not, what
+troubled her? He forgot that shrined in her love there was but one
+son. That while he was hinting of the second, she, with sorrow, was
+thinking of the first--who was dallying--where?
+
+The twain wandered in the young men's rooms--in Shane's, whose bed was
+smooth and neat--in Terence's, where faithful Phil was sitting, deeply
+engrossed in fly-making, as innocently as if he had never heard of a
+bough in England's crown.
+
+'Both boys out, then? so much the better,' gaily quoth the chancellor,
+who chose for a moment to ignore Terence's mysterious absence. 'I hope
+Terence is safe; I can assure you Shane is; I saw him not an hour
+since. He roystered with the Blasters all night, and of course had to
+fight a duel in the morning. Is not the motto of their gay society
+"Nemo me impune lacessit"? But he didn't get a scratch--indeed he's a
+splendid swordsman--such a tactician--so sharp and quick of eye! I
+must really congratulate him when he comes in by-and-by. Those spiral
+stairs? Ah! That's the armoury.'
+
+Phil dropped his flies, and leapt up from his seat. My lady and her
+guest, taking no heed of him, climbed upward, opened the armoury-door,
+went in and shut it. He could hear the creaking of their feet
+above. What could he do? Nothing! He sank panting on his seat,
+bewildered--then, stealing out, made the best of his way to the
+shebeen.
+
+'By-the-bye, where is Terence?' asked Lord Clare. 'You don't know? I
+do. My poor old friend, prepare yourself for a shock. Sit down.'
+
+With a gentleness which would have astonished his numerous enemies,
+the chancellor laid his two hands on my lady's shoulders and pressed
+her into a seat. The pupils of her eyes assumed that look, as of a
+startled hare, which shone in them sometimes. She sat down silently
+and waited.
+
+Had Terence been guilty of something base? That was her first thought,
+in which there was a touch of remorse. Then came a feeling of anger in
+that he existed at all. Oh that he had never been born, or had died
+in his early childhood! This in its turn was followed by intense
+self-loathing; but her face remained immovable, while she looked up
+with inquiring gaze.
+
+'I have most unpleasant news for you,' said Lord Clare kindly, for he
+liked my lady better than any one except himself, 'and thought it
+would come best to you from me. For we'll hush the matter up--rest
+easy on that score, trusting that no worse may come of it. Terence, as
+you know, was rude to me at Crow Street, t'other day. I didn't mind
+his petulance, of course; but for your sake I was hurt that he should
+have gone astray and made an exhibition of himself in public. It's
+your rough diamond Curran's fault, with his romantic balderdash about
+his country. He threw the young man into dangerous society, forgetting
+that it takes a seasoned head to weigh the hollowness of enthusiasm.
+Terence has been bitten by the prevailing rabies; the fever's hot upon
+him, and being of a higher breed than his companions, has rushed
+straightway into action, instead of merely prating like the others. As
+his mother, you should have greater influence over him than any one.
+Argue him out of his dangerous course. You think he's at Cork on law
+business? He's strutting up and down the landing-stage at Brest, with
+Tone and Hoche, and all the rest of the jays in peacock-plumes. He's
+urging the bevy of juvenile generals there to come across the water,
+despite the lateness of the season; in fact, he's beginning the risky
+game which brought Balmerino, Kilmarnock, Lovat, to the block. I'm
+sure of what I state--trust me for that. Why! these hot-pated fools do
+nothing that we're not informed of; and Mr. Pitt's staff in France is
+every whit as sharp as ours here. Do you desire a proof that I speak
+with authority? What are these things stacked here, under these
+cloths, within these presses, even piled, as you see, right up the
+chimney!' Lord Clare moved about the room with the precision of
+one who is sure of what he does. 'Pikeheads, my lady--rough but
+efficient--which are to rip his Majesty's soldiers when the struggle
+shall begin. It was an ingenious notion to store them under the roof
+of a known loyalist. Who placed them here? Your ingenuous boy,
+Terence, with the assistance of the people at the shebeen below. That
+"Irish Slave," by the way, must have a visit from us; also the fair
+dame on whose ground it stands. Look at this paper. A design for a
+pikehead, precisely like these, with written directions--in whose
+hand? Terence's! I gave five hundred guineas for that piece of paper.
+See! do not tremble--it's destroyed--the evidence is gone.'
+
+My lady sat upright in her chair without moving, staring up at the
+speaker, scarcely comprehending what he said, through the singing in
+her ears. Terence, her son, had actually joined the disaffected--these
+deluded persons whose proceedings shocked all her prejudices--whom she
+sincerely believed were only fit for Bedlam. He might come to an
+ignominious death unless she put forth all her influence to drag him
+from the danger. What influence could she expect to have? Whose fault
+was it that she had none? Her sin was finding her out in an unexpected
+fashion. A great cry rose up within her, that her fortitude was near
+its end. It broke from her bosom in a sigh of weariness. She looked
+old and haggard as she stared up at the chancellor. Her ancient
+friends poke of the situation: of how the commander-in-chief my Lord
+Carhampton must inaugurate a new regime, now that martial law was
+declared; of how, all things considered, in the complications which
+were arising, it would be wise for the denizens of the Abbey to depart
+shortly. Terence might be expected back in a day or two; then his
+mother must speak to him and take him with her if she could. It would
+be well to take Miss Wolfe away too, as she was playing the fool most
+egregiously. She, too, had a hand in this pike-stacking.
+
+My Lord Clare laughed in his disagreeable manner as he recounted how
+he had succeeded in terrifying poor vacillating Arthur Wolfe about
+her. At all events it was most wise that Lord Glandore should go; for
+it would be a terrible thing--supposing Terence proved obstinate--if
+the brothers should come to be in rival camps upon the scene of
+action.
+
+'My dear lady,' he concluded, 'we shall have a hot time of it before
+we've done, I do assure you. Take your measures as I advise. Now I
+must be off to turn the screw upon the "Irish Slave."'
+
+The coach rolled citywards. My lady, face to face with a new trouble,
+clung to the one speck of brightness which glittered like a star.
+Gillin certainly was committing herself. There was to be a search upon
+her premises. Her ruin would surely follow. The pressure from that
+side would be removed. Thank heaven for that! Yes! This was a real ray
+of light shining from out the gloom. Things at their worst must mend.
+With firm step the countess swept along the passages, striving to
+stifle the remorse which whispered that if evil came to Terence, she
+would be responsible. She would follow her friend's sage advice to the
+letter, she determined. It was time to do battle with Doreen, as to
+her proposed visit to the north.
+
+Miss Wolfe was bending over the sun-dial in her little flower-plot,
+which was sad-looking with quaint-toned chrysanthemums, her head bowed
+upon her arms--a statue of despair. An open letter lay crumpled at her
+feet. My lady saw it and smiled grimly. Indeed, the poor maiden had
+received a terrible blow--one heavy enough to stagger even her
+firmly-knit nature. The beauteous _Chateau en Irlande_, which she had
+been so busy building, had come crashing down. Its gargoyles and
+turrets were admirable to behold--but, alas! its foundations were of
+sand. It had toppled bodily upon her head, and she was stunned by the
+completeness of the ruin. Her fond parent had indited her a note
+bidding her pack up her clothes; for, that she might be removed from
+danger, she was to go to Glas-aitch-e with her aunt.
+
+She was caught in her own trap. Those dainty visions of returning to
+her father, of weaning him from the flesh-pots, of bolstering him up
+in the buckram of her love against his weak sensual self, were
+vanished. 'She was to be taken away out of danger,' her cruel father
+wrote, as though she did not pant for danger as doth the war-horse!
+The misfortunes which might result from this unlooked-for arrangement
+rose up before her one by one, each armed with its separate shiver.
+The struggle would come. She, whose heart was wrapped in it--who had
+made up her mind in which direction duty lay--would be a prisoner far
+away in a desert island, to which news would trickle slowly: that was
+bad enough. But of late she had become morbidly anxious, on account of
+the disorganisation which delay was causing among the United Irishmen.
+It was only by her own personal influence that Russell and Bond had
+bowed to Tom Emmett's dictum, and consented to await Terence's return.
+Were the French coming, or were they not? If not, would the society
+fling down the gauntlet alone? If it should do so, what would be the
+result? Would Emmett continue to carry his point as to delay? If he
+failed in his endeavours, what could be expected to take place? Even
+if he should be able to control the unruly, how fraught with danger
+was the prospect. Help from France was the willow that bound the
+sticks; that band removed, with what ease might each separately be
+broken!
+
+At sound of my lady's footstep, Doreen started from her crouching
+attitude. Her aunt's were the last eyes on earth which she would wish
+to pry into her despair. She was vaguely suspicious too that her
+aunt's wild projects of matrimony had something to do with this last
+arrangement. It was, beside the others, a mild phase of annoyance no
+doubt, but it certainly was annoying to consider that in Donegal she
+would find herself shut up well-nigh alone with Shane, who, urged by
+his mother, might tease her dreadfully. Taken altogether, her future
+looked black as Styx. She promised herself to make one effort more to
+remain behind in Dublin. Then it flashed upon her that perchance some
+one had warned her father of the prominence which she had assumed of
+late. Yet who would tell him? Her precautions were always well taken.
+In public she acted with extreme reserve towards Tom Emmett and the
+rest. Private interviews had always been held at obscure cottages,
+whose owners she knew would be hanged ere they betrayed her. There was
+no doubt though, she reflected with sore foreboding, that there were
+traitors somewhere. If only they could be unmasked. Well, well! time
+unravels many tangles.
+
+'I see your father has written to you,' my lady said, stepping down
+into the garden. 'He must even defend you against yourself. Upon my
+word, the Irish are all insane. I shall have the honour to be your
+keeper for awhile--in a most impregnable asylum.'
+
+Then it was her aunt who had suggested this step. At this instant how
+bitterly she hated her!
+
+'I have yet to learn,' she said with hauteur, 'what business you have
+to interfere with me. I am of age, and not your daughter.'
+
+'You will not presume to disobey your father, I suppose?' the countess
+inquired coldly. 'Though I ought rather to be surprised if for once
+you are dutiful.'
+
+'My duty is to my mother's people!' Doreen murmured absently.
+
+'I told you once before,' her aunt went on, unheeding, 'that you would
+disgrace the family and break your father's heart. For both reasons it
+is my distinct business to interfere with you. The friends whom you
+have chosen to make, are rushing like sheep to the slaughter. You
+shall not be one of the flock if I can help it. I have spoken gravely
+to your father about you; and so has some one else--Lord Clare.'
+
+'Lord Clare!' echoed Doreen, astonished. 'What does he know about me?'
+
+'Too much,' retorted her aunt, dryly. 'He showed me, just now, a
+delectable sight in the armoury, a discovery which cost him five
+hundred guineas. For shame! It is kindness to deem you mad.'
+
+'How did he know of the pikes?' startled Doreen inquired.
+
+'Through Terence,' replied my lady, shortly--for she knew not how much
+or how little her niece and son were mixed up in this affair, and
+always instinctively avoided talking of the latter to the former.
+There was a long pause, during which the dowager continued to eye her
+niece.
+
+'Aunt, I will go with you to Donegal!' Miss Wolfe said slowly, her
+large eyes peering with vague terror into space. 'I think now I will
+take a walk, for I am rather upset;' and quietly taking her garden-hat
+from the bench hard-by, she knotted its ribbons under her chin, and
+disappeared between the beech hedges of the rosary.
+
+There are moments in most lives when so sharp a pang shoots through
+our hearts, that we feel there is nothing left but to seek a remote
+covert and wait for death. Such strokes age us suddenly and surely. To
+few is it given to become old by slow and imperceptible steps. We
+remain in the solitude of our covert without speech; almost without
+feeling. Presently we perceive that we were mistaken about death (for
+the White Pilgrim comes not for the bidding); and emerge into the
+world again, apparently the same as before--young outwardly, and
+smooth-browed, but really altogether different. Poets have sung much
+of broken hearts, at which cynics have scoffed, time out of mind.
+Hearts have broken under a sudden mental shock, but seldom. They are
+more usually turned inside out and changed.
+
+Doreen had just received such a shock as calls imperatively for
+solitude. Then the snake in the grass--the Judas--was Terence--her own
+cousin! Rapidly she walked through the rosary, and out by the wooden
+gate into the open--away--inland across the fields, for miles.
+
+She was surprised to find that she felt more grieved than was at all
+necessary, in that the snake was Terence. Only a few minutes ago she
+had been praying heaven to unmask the villain, with the laudable
+intention of pointing him out to the reprobation and contempt of the
+society. But Terence! The open-visaged, careless youth who exasperated
+her, as a woman, chiefly because he was prodigal of promise which was
+not likely to be fulfilled. He had been so importunate in blundering
+puppy fashion (really almost as ridiculous as Cassidy), heaving absurd
+sighs, carrying on his intermittent wooing in so ludicrously naive a
+manner, as to provoke scorn in so high-spirited a mistress. Looking
+within herself, she discovered that behind her light estimate of his
+amatory ravings there was a genuine liking for the lad. Could she have
+been entirely mistaken in him? Could her judgment have been utterly at
+fault when she decided, that if feebly endowed by nature, he was at
+least honest and true? For the more she considered the subject as she
+trudged across country, the more she felt that it would be indeed
+grievous if that fine open face, which had looked so noble in its
+indignation on account of the martyr Orr, should turn out to be only a
+grinning mask.
+
+Terence the Judas--the betrayer of the innocent--the snarer of the
+unwary! Terence, her cousin, whose jocund visage she admitted to be
+rather dear to her. If he proved so base a scoundrel, in whom then
+might an earnest soul place trust? Was his perfidy a fall, or original
+sin? She remembered how she had read wise thoughts in books, wherein
+sages had explained that our nature is unstable, liable to trip--that
+none can resist temptation if clothed in the fittest garb. Is not the
+prayer which should be oftenest on our lips, 'Lead us not, O God, into
+temptation?' Women are perverse, choosing always the left one, when
+they ought to take the right turning; and with the perversity of women
+Doreen chose at once to accept the most distasteful phase of the
+situation. She took it for granted that Terence was in the wrong,
+instead of more prudently suspending her judgment till his return from
+France.
+
+The feet of her cousin were cloven. He wore a tail and smelt of
+brimstone. She stood still beside a paling as she thought of him, and
+shook it in a rage with both her hands, while a vague feeling of
+uneasiness came over her in that she should care so much that Terence
+should prove the Judas. Yet was she not quite justified in her dismay?
+Was it not natural that her faith in truth and goodness should be
+thrown out of gear by such low calculating turpitude? Clutching the
+gnarled paling, the unhappy lady bowed her face on it and burst into
+sobs which shook her to the centre.
+
+Five hundred guineas! That was the sharpest of the many thongs which
+smote her. She had declined to look at the sordid motive--it was so
+very mean and vile. But now it clamoured with open palms at the gates
+of her brain, and shouted deafeningly. Vulgar money troubles are at
+the bottom of everything that's base! What a pity that there should be
+such a thing as money! Five hundred guineas! How small--how miserable
+a sum! He was always in debt, she knew: to such easy-going creatures
+as he always seemed to be, debt was a state of nature. But could he
+have sunk so low as this? Was he capable, for five hundred guineas, of
+suddenly assuming a noble love of motherland, which was a farce--of
+laying a gin for the feet of persons who had never injured him--nay,
+whom he reckoned among his dearest friends? For the wretched price of
+five hundred guineas, could he look her--his cousin, almost his
+sister--in the face, and endeavour to steal her heart, that he might
+stick it on a pole for the amusement of fellow-traitors? Traitor!
+Arch-traitor--wretch! Tears having come to her relief, Doreen sat on
+the grass and wept, and felt like the wounded beast within the covert.
+
+Piecing scraps together, with the key which my lady had furnished,
+many cloudy matters became clear. My lady was proud and prejudiced,
+but her pride revolted against treachery. If not, why had she suddenly
+warned her niece to see that her correspondence was not tampered with?
+Who should tamper with it? Not Jug, or Biddy, or Phil. They were
+children of the soil, who knew not treachery. How could my lady know
+of any tampering of theirs? No! It was against Terence--the son whom
+my lady loved not--whose unworthy proceedings filled her aristocratic
+soul with repugnance--that she had warned her niece. Lord Clare knew
+the very wording of Theobald's last letter--through whom? Through
+Terence, of course--for five hundred guineas--alas! alas!
+
+All of a sudden a new idea struck Doreen, and she sat up, her cheeks
+blanched and tear-stained. The traitor had worked well for the
+degrading pittance. He had succeeded in hoodwinking the society as
+well as herself. He was now at Brest, with every secret in his
+possession--every detail--every aspiration--cut and dried--in cold
+black and white--and she it was who had despatched him. The Emmetts,
+Russell, Bond, were doomed men. Their young lives were unconsciously
+sacrificed by her. There was no end to the blood for which she would
+be answerable. The cycle of her frenzied thoughts came back to the
+point at which she started. She had been trifling like some innocent
+child with burning brands which had scorched her. Not herself alone.
+Her life was her own, for better or for worse. When she should be
+called to appear before the throne to account for her deeds, she would
+be asked, 'Why broke you your father's heart for a chimera? why did
+you lead Emmett, Russell, Bond, by your wiles to the scaffold? Who
+were you to set yourself up as a teacher? To lure honest men, like a
+siren, to destruction? What could her faltering answer be? I meant
+well. I acted for the best. I was presumptuous. I am sorry.... Can
+regret undo the injuries which are due to our presumption? No. The
+wretched Doreen was crushed by an overwhelming sense of her own
+littleness and failure. There was nothing for it but to kneel down and
+cry, 'I have sinned;' to clasp her sorrow and take it to the north,
+there to hold vigils of unfruitful repentance, whilst praying humbly
+to be released from earth. The wilds of Glas-aitch-e should be her
+covert. Into it she would creep like a stricken doe. If the White
+Pilgrim would obey her summons, with what gratitude she would cling to
+his filmy raiment! If he refused to hearken to her pleading--why then
+she must, kneeling on the stones, endure unto the end with such
+meekness as a vengeful heaven might vouchsafe to her.
+
+The wild paroxysm past, she got up and returned with trailing feet
+towards the Abbey. Her limbs were aching from contact with dank
+herbage: her brogues and stockings soiled with clinging mud. A
+drizzling veil was settling on the earth, which looked, as far as ken
+might reach, dun-toned and colourless. Raising dazed eyes, she beheld
+a slim figure moving with rapid strides, and recognised young Robert
+from afar.
+
+What could he be doing? Was he also crushed in spirit, as weary of the
+world as she; wandering in search of peace? or on one of his many
+missions of private charity?
+
+He had been to the Abbey in quest of her; was told by a garden-lad
+that she had passed through the wooden postern, and had tracked her
+wanderings from hut to hut.
+
+'They are going too far!' he said abruptly, with bent brows, as he
+turned to walk back with her. 'Already the squireens are abroad,
+imitating their fellows in the north. Dublin's in a ferment. It needs
+but the coming of the French to settle the affair at a blow. Every
+magistrate has received orders to raise twenty men to preserve the
+peace in place of the militia, should these be ordered to the coast.
+But they overreach themselves. Decent people are so furious at the
+tactics of Lord Clare, that even the militia are dying to turn against
+the Government. Cassidy says so, who should know, seeing that he keeps
+up a friendship with the Castle. I speak to-night at the Debating
+Club. Look at these notes,' he added, smiling. '"Recipe to make a
+Rebel! Take one loyal subject uninfluenced by pension; burn his house
+over his head; murder his wife and babes before his eyes; march away
+with such plunder as you choose to save from the flames----" But what
+is the matter? You look ill!'
+
+'I am leaving Dublin almost at once,' Doreen said, 'and am glad of it.
+If there is one power which has the gift of withering up the soul, it
+is treachery! I am sick of the world. Go to your brother. Tell him the
+cause is lost. One who held all their secrets has betrayed them--for
+five hundred guineas; that is their value in his eyes.'
+
+Here the girl broke into wild laughter--she who never laughed; and
+Robert looked at her in surprise, with a sense of coldness, creeping.
+Then, with a hectic spot upon each cheek, she eased her breast with
+words; recounted all she knew, and much more which was conjecture,
+though in her perturbed state she was not aware of it. Explained that
+they were all dupes of Terence's false _bonhomie_--that he had coldly
+and deliberately played a part; had, as it were, eaten their bread and
+salt, and then stabbed them in the back. In the midst of the hideous
+recital, her voice choked in a great gulp, and clasping her hot face
+with her hands, she burst into a flood of tears.
+
+Ardent young Robert was shocked, but not convinced. Terence! whom
+every one loved for his bright eyes, through which shone forth an
+honest soul. To whom Robert and fellow-undergraduates looked up as to
+a _preux chevalier_ in the matter of grouse-shooting and the beguiling
+of the wily trout. He could not believe such a thing, and would not.
+Lord Clare was capable of any amount of lying. His ways were so
+tortuous that they were difficult to follow. His spies were legion,
+who ferreted out everything. No doubt Phil and Biddy had been watched;
+they had billed and cooed too loudly as they had handed the pikes over
+the wall. Terence was unduly heedless about money; his friends
+frequently declared that he didn't know its value. It was absolutely
+out of the question that he should suddenly be tempted to do so crafty
+and mean a thing. As for the delegates of the society being betrayed
+and their secrets known, there was nothing new in that. Had they not,
+months ago, been arrested at his own chambers, their papers seized,
+themselves arbitrarily imprisoned, and afterwards as arbitrarily
+released? He could not fathom the tactics of the executive, the youth
+was forced to confess, for their movements seemed planned to
+circumvent each other. The rank and file were being captured by dozens
+and hanged, while the commanders and organisers of the scheme were
+permitted to remain at large.
+
+It was not unpleasing to Doreen to hear her cousin defended; but she
+shook her head.
+
+'If the French were to come now,' she said, 'they might set things
+right; but then they must come in force; and Terence, having gone to
+Brest, would probably clinch the irresolution of Hoche, and
+effectually decide him not to come at all. Verily, the world and its
+affairs were vexation of spirit; conspiracy a disheartening game;
+Ireland an accursed land, foredoomed to eternal misery.'
+
+By the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary, stood a group
+of peasants, who humbly bowed to Miss Wolfe, then returned to the
+dirge of lamentation which her appearance had interrupted.
+
+'Jug Coyle, what is the matter?' Doreen inquired; for she recognised
+in a heaving heap before her the shattered remains of that lady.
+
+'Whisht! acushla!' a man whispered. 'Let her tears flow. Sure she's
+burned out of house and home. Her cabin's desthroyed. The sodgers--bad
+luck to 'em!--have taken her bit of bacon and the dhrop of potteen
+the quality used to loike, and thin they began to turn up the
+pratey-garden, and Biddy gave a yelp and wanted to run to the Little
+House, but the blagyards gagged her mouth with an ould rag, and tuk
+her away screeching.'
+
+'The "Irish Slave" destroyed?' inquired Robert.
+
+'Yes, your honour,' replied the man, lowering his voice as he glanced
+around. 'But they didn't find much. Phil, Masther Terence's man, came
+down from the Abbey to give the office, and most of the pike-heads
+were tossed over the wall, till we can put 'em back to-night. Wake up,
+Jug, and spake with the lady. Sure the shock has druv the collough
+crazy. When the thatch was all ablaze we went up to Madam Gillin, who
+always has the kind word and bit and sup; but she said she could do
+nothing, and bade us come to you.'
+
+'To me!' echoed Doreen, bitterly. 'Am I not too a Catholic, and
+helpless?'
+
+'But it's your father's the great gintleman,' urged the fellow
+coaxingly, as he twisted his corbeen between his horny hands. 'If ye'd
+spake the word, acushla----'
+
+'My father!' Doreen groaned, breaking abruptly through the knot of
+suppliants. 'What can he do? He is sending me away. I'll pray to God
+for you; but He has been deaf this long while.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                          WE PIPED UNTO YOU.
+
+
+So the "Irish Slave" was destroyed by fire, and its hapless occupant,
+finding that no redress might be obtained through, Miss Wolfe, crawled
+to the Little House, where she was taken in by its kind mistress, who
+in her turn received, a few minutes later, a visit from Major Sirr. He
+pointed out with deferential politeness to the good-humoured dame
+that, as a Catholic possessing property, it was scarcely wise to
+harbour traitors, whereat the stout lady broke into her hearty laugh
+and invited him to lunch.
+
+'Is it me, meejor, that causes the Secret Council to shiver in their
+shoes,' she asked, 'with a Protestant daughter to go bail for me, and
+meeself, all but the fine airs, an aristocrat? Not but what Ollam
+Fodlah, mee ancestor, was better than the best of the stuck-up
+crathers! I'm a "no-party woman," as all the world knows, just as the
+buckramed bag-o'-bones at the Abbey foreninst us is a "no-popery
+woman." Let my ould collough be; she was my nurse, and won't trouble
+any one for long. Come in. Ye shall taste a gulp of my fine claret
+just to show there's no spite betune us--the very same, on my word of
+honour, as Justice Carleton and Judge Clonmel have such a tooth for.'
+
+And Major Sirr pledged his hostess in his best manner, with a smirk on
+his thin features and a worldly twinkle glimmering from under his
+bushy brows, and departed presently to report at the Castle that Madam
+Gillin was a staunch loyalist who had miraculously escaped the taint
+which poisoned most ladies of her creed.
+
+When he had departed, the good lady's face lost its dimples and grew
+long.
+
+'That wicked fellow will bring them all to the gallows,' she muttered
+to herself, frowning at some one she saw in her mind's eye who was not
+Major Sirr. 'And my lips are sealed! It's a fearsome thing to have to
+watch what's going on, and not dare speak a word of warning. If he
+only didn't know that I take Norah to the mass! Yet I'm bound to do my
+best for the child's soul, though my lord would have her brought up a
+Protestant. Sure Father Daly said I must bring the pet to chapel for
+her soul's sake as well as mine.'
+
+Then Madam Gillin, who was dividing the sheep from the goats in the
+matter of faded frippery in an untidy cupboard, resigned herself to
+unwonted meditation, with lines of gravity about her mouth which
+seldom rested there, as she recalled the day some time since, when he
+whom she had looked upon as friend unveiled himself to her in drunken
+frenzy as a viper; when she had stared into his big jolly face with an
+expression that had sobered him, while he explained that for the
+future she must do as she was bidden, or else all sorts of penalties
+would swoop upon her for tampering with the religion of a Protestant.
+On that occasion he fairly terrified her, and she kept the secret as
+to his being a viper in disguise, though it sickened her to think of
+it o' nights. She recalled the scene now for the thousandth time, and
+shuddered; and her best frock slipped out of her hands on the dirty
+floor while she contemplated that genial pleasant boon companion as
+she and only a few others knew him. Norah found her standing absently
+among crumpled gauzes when she returned from a jaunt to Dublin, and
+rallied her mother on her looks, with a smacking kiss like a
+whip-crack.
+
+'Have ye heard a banshee, mamma?' she asked. 'See! I've done all the
+commissions. Feathers a foot long, lovely flowers for our skirts, and
+gloves to cover the elbow. I met Shane upon the road, and we went
+together; but I could not wheedle him into coming to the ball, though
+I did my best. He said the grand ladies frightened him--bored him more
+likely. He's mighty timid for a Blaster. It's a wonder he's not afraid
+of _me_.'
+
+As the girl surveyed herself archly in the glass, she perceived why
+her lover feared her not. Indeed there was little of the grand style
+about the colleen. A rosy cheek; a liquid merry eye; a large ripe
+mouth, and an impudent upturned nose. No classical belle was poor
+Norah--only a healthy, comely wench--just such an one as would be
+likely to enchain a man with no loftier aspirations than Glandore's.
+
+Though mamma was inclined to be glum, her daughter was in the highest
+spirits; for before her was the delicious prospect of the ball (such
+gaieties were becoming rarer and more rare), and she was quite
+convinced, from what Shane had said, that that spiteful cat the
+countess had lied when conversing at Crow Street with Lady Camden. It
+was true, certainly, that he was going away for a few weeks. It
+appeared that he had duties to perform, and she liked him too well to
+stand in the way of his duties. But as to that sinful, deceitful,
+odious story about bringing home a bride, the notion was quite too
+foolish. He had sworn as much with entrancing kisses, and was she not
+delighted to believe him? Why, there would be only two ladies of the
+party, he averred. Did his little goose suppose that he could lead his
+own mother to the altar? As for Doreen, the idea was quite as
+preposterous. Her frigid ways and tiresome national wrongs were not to
+his taste at all. Therefore Miss Norah was quite content, though she
+had just bidden her lover farewell. She would see him no more for
+several months, perhaps; for, to avoid attending a ball where
+objectionable fine ladies would congregate, my lord had settled to
+ride as _avant courier_ to Drogheda, to superintend the preparations
+at the inn where my lady and the household were to sojourn.
+
+Though the volcano was heaving in portentous fashion, society seemed
+of one mind as to dancing jigs upon it to the last. Upon formal
+proclamation of martial law, the yeomanry had thrown off all disguise.
+The squireens were ruffianly through ignorance, their betters through
+self-interest, for it was easy to detect which way the wind was
+blowing. The chancellor was plainly for harsh measures. 'I will make
+these Irish as tame as cats,' he was heard incautiously to say. It was
+to be a war of class against class, in which both parties were
+artistically goaded by dark suspicions and deftly-spread falsehoods.
+Internecine strife is always remarkable for a display of the vilest
+passions. It seems as if the flow of gall is the more bitter from the
+difficulty of first pumping it to the surface. Major Sirr and his gang
+took to prowling in the night-houses--to making evening raids on
+taverns--a species of political crimping which was fruitful of
+brilliant hawls. Lists were even despatched to the Staghouse by Mr.
+Secretary Cooke that the town-major's lambs might study them, and
+'pencil off such as they deemed dangerous to the country.' Bands of
+armed squireens sallied out in the mad frolics begot by drink, to
+'give their opinion' to the disaffected, and the result was such a
+succession of night-brawls that Lord Clare was sorry and hurt.
+
+'What are we to do with these depraved turbulent creatures?' he
+plaintively inquired of the cabinet. And one and all--Arthur Wolfe
+even reluctantly consenting--admitted that stringent measures were
+imperative, or anarchy would surely supervene. So an order went forth
+that none should appear in Dublin streets after eight o'clock p.m.,
+unless armed with a special permit to do so. The theatres were closed.
+The city was in a state of siege, as though really Hoche were at its
+gates.
+
+But this was too dull for my lords and my ladies, who were not given
+to reading books, and had no intention that annoyance should fall upon
+themselves. They met for cards at one another's houses, their sedans
+protected by retinues of servants; but this was a poor pastime to
+folks who were accustomed to the public dances of Fishamble
+Street--the sumptuous entertainments at the Castle. They grumbled that
+this premature alarm was ridiculous. The French were not in Ireland,
+though the 'Shan van Vocht' was wont lyrically to declare at all hours
+of the day that they were on the sea. As for the United Irishmen, they
+were a 'Bugaboo.' With the troops which had been sent over any
+attempted rising could be frustrated at once; but they would not be so
+stupid as to rise--the tongues of these foul-mouthed patriots were
+more killing than their swords. My Lord Clare must be losing his
+nerve, he was not severe enough. They--the lords, urged by their
+ladies--would see that a proper spirit of terror was instilled into
+the scum, so that even if called on by their chiefs to rise, they
+would sit like beaten hounds--their tails between their legs. Lord
+Clare looked at Lord Camden from under his beetling penthouse. Lord
+Camden looked at Lord Clare and hummed, and hawed, and shuffled. For
+the unfortunate gentleman who represented majesty, though he lived as
+much as he could, like some Japanese monarch behind screens, could not
+hide himself so well but that unpleasant speeches reached his ears. He
+had consented tacitly to make a Guy Fawkes of himself, and permit the
+bearers of the pageant to explode malodorous squibs under his nose;
+but when the evil savours choked him he winced in tribulation. He grew
+to hate his tormentor well-nigh as much as the people did, which was
+no little. But Lord Clare's day of triumph seemed in nowise on the
+wane--everything went as he wished it to go. His ruthless bearing had
+made him a despot in the imbecile senate. His colleagues, forgetting
+their rank, their country, and their dignity, yielded to the spell of
+his dictation as a fascinated bird drops before the snake. The letters
+of congratulation which he received from Pitt and others were
+accumulating within his escritoire. So soon as he should have tamed
+the tiger-Irish, how great would his reward be! He saw in the
+distance a vision no longer dim. An English peerage. A position in the
+English House of Lords, where great statesmen should listen to his
+periods--where Nestors should encourage his ambition. There seemed no
+end to the gorgeous vista. Why not some day assume the place of Pitt
+himself, who, though young, was (at least the world said so) eaten up
+by debauchery and excess? And what was there which stood 'twixt
+himself and this glorious prospect? His own country, its interests,
+its safety, its political existence--nothing more! Pooh! Time works
+wonders. Things were going well. If those idiots would only fall upon
+the swords which were held out to them, there was no knowing what
+might not be accomplished. The Hibernian lords and gentlemen were in a
+fair way of exhibiting themselves to the odium of the world. Having
+danced their infernal dance at the bidding of those who clutched the
+purse-strings, they would make a sorry figure when the latter spurned
+them in disgust. What would they do then? Only sink lower still, and
+become more abject, till the pit of degradation should know no deeper
+depth. That was the way to work on them! To hold out threats that
+pensions would not be paid unless certain dirty work was done. To
+declare then that it was much too dirty--that by disobeying
+instructions they had forfeited the right to sit in the presence of
+decent people; that, having gone so far, all sense of respect must be
+abandoned; that, honour being lost, nothing was left to them but
+money; that with their own guilty hands they must cut the throat of
+their legislature, and drown remorse so long as the blood-money should
+last. This was to be the crowning edifice of my Lord Clare's scheme;
+and Mr. Pitt laughed a sardonic laugh as he tied a wet towel round his
+throbbing temples. He had got very drunk and lost at whist, had the
+gay young British premier; but the excellence of this conceit caused
+him to grin, despite his headache.
+
+'This Irishman,' he laughed, 'talks monstrous fine about the low ebb
+to which the Irish lords have sunk--forgetting that his own place is
+lower still than theirs; but he does his burrowing with rare ability.'
+
+So Lord Clare worked and wormed with consummate diplomacy and tact,
+while those who employed him despised their tool in increasing ratio
+with his success; and Lord Camden's seat of thorns became daily more
+galling, and the silly mice gambolled with a recklessness which
+compelled pity--and old Father Time hurried on, afraid to look behind
+him.
+
+My lords and my ladies, finding Dublin very dull, began to vent their
+spleen. The chancellor therefore saw that he must break the ice, which
+had been freezing up too rapidly. He announced, accordingly, that the
+Castle festivities would not be postponed, as had been intended. The
+grand ball, usually given on Christmas Eve, would take place a week
+later instead--no other change would result from the threatening state
+of affairs. Gentlemen, however, were requested to wear their swords;
+for all sorts of rumours were abroad, which the executive sincerely
+hoped were merely the invention of the enemy. How any enemy could be
+so heartless as to plot and conspire against so angelic an executive,
+etc., etc., as usual.
+
+That the great ball was really to take place, was hailed with
+universal delight. Everybody knows St. Patrick's hall--its magnificent
+proportions, the suite of state-rooms to which it leads; the splendid
+staircases, balconies, lobbies; ideal spots for flirtation--or
+conspiracy. All parties, patriotic and the reverse, rejoiced at
+prospect of this _fete_, for several reasons.
+
+Sirr and his Battalion of Testimony were becoming so
+ubiquitous--informers had a way of turning up so unexpectedly--that it
+grew daily more difficult to hit on a place of meeting secure from
+their spying presence. Of course only gentlemen and ladies 'to the
+backbone' could expect to gain admittance to Castle dinners and
+concerts; but with the St. Patrick balls it was otherwise. These
+assemblies bore so official a character that respectable citizens of
+all denominations were certain of receiving an invitation. Lord Clare,
+aware of this, had made his calculations. The United Irishmen were
+sure to be there in force; it would not be his fault if they did not
+flounder into a hole.
+
+It was for this ball on New Year's Eve that Norah Gillin had gone
+forth to purchase ribbons and plumes. It was for this ball that my
+Lady Glandore had waited--after which she and Miss Wolfe were to start
+for Donegal, changing their gala-dresses at the first stage upon the
+road.
+
+Sara, who burned to see Robert and hear how his red-hot speech at the
+debating society had been received, importuned her father with unusual
+eagerness to take her to this ball. Was his little primrose becoming
+worldly? he inquired, with a gloomy smile. No, no! Twinkling feet
+should go with light hearts. Whose hearts might be light at this awful
+crisis? His girl must stop at home and say her prayers for Erin, and
+he would soothe himself and her by strains on the violoncello. That
+instrument was constantly in his hand now, whenever he was at home;
+and folks trembled as they passed by at night, for sure such dreadful
+sounds must come from the damned in agony!
+
+Mr. Curran was exceeding sick at heart. His friend Wolfe upbraided him
+constantly for too openly opposing Government; whilst, on the other
+hand, anonymous letters arrived by dozens, abusing him for
+lukewarmness in the cause. He shook his head at the latter, muttering,
+as he tossed them into the fire, 'Blind fools! Mine is the waiting
+game. Ye'll be glad enough by-and-by that I stood neutral!'
+
+But on the morning of the 29th a report came to the lawyer's ears
+which filled him with amazement. He put aside his beloved violoncello,
+and trotted to Dublin to see Emmett, Russell, Bond. The report was
+true, he found. Vainly he argued and protested--vowed that to save
+them from their madness he must go and tell Lord Clare. No! He would
+not betray them, but would go and intercede. The chancellor was not at
+home to him, though he saw him come from behind a curtain; so,
+retiring disconsolately to the Priory, he bade Sara fetch out her
+gewgaws, as he must even take her to the Castle after all.
+
+St. Patrick's hall was crowded when he and his child entered it--she
+in a white muslin dress, with a single frilling round its short skirt,
+a scarf of soft green about her neck, for the night was bitter, and
+the dancing-room beset by draughts. It was a gay assemblage, for
+General Lake (who had arrived recently) and all his staff were present
+in glittering English uniforms, which were not to be outdone in
+splendour by the officers of Irish militia. Even Mr. Curran's
+unmartial figure was buckramed in gold and scarlet, for was not he too
+an officer of the Lawyer's corps, which forbade its members to wear
+mufti?
+
+The national love of parade showed strongly in the martial costume
+which the sons of Erin donned. Sumptuous embroidery was scattered
+with a lavish hand over cuffs, high collars, padded breasts, and
+tight-fitting pantaloons; while some regiments, whose colonels
+boasted of picturesque proclivities, were grand in the matter of
+shoulder-knots and becoming scarves around the waist. The effect was
+enhanced by contrast, for metal ornaments were little used at that day
+to adorn the dresses of the fair, who with towering ostrich feathers,
+silken fillets, lofty wreaths of flowers, could afford to resign to
+their lords and masters the glories of gold and silver. Variety of
+texture, too, heightened the fine effect; for whilst men were swathed
+quite stiff in gold-laced coats and voluminous cravats, young ladies
+wore as little as possible, and that of thinnest gauze or crape, and
+their mammas the scantiest quantity of shot or patterned silk.
+
+The scene was the more animated for the strangeness of its component
+parts. Irish patriotic belles were putting forth all their attractions
+to pump young English exquisites--aides-de-camp to Lake or
+Abercromby--to entrap them into unguarded statements, which might
+convey useful information to their brothers. General Lake himself was
+literally besieged by beauty, who lavished before that vain person the
+fascination of neat ankles, the flash of diamond eyes, the charms of
+pouting bosoms--in order to wring from him, in spite of caution, some
+hint of the intentions of the military. This was a game open to both
+parties. Aides-de-camp were instructed to ensnare their partners as to
+the plans of the United Irishmen; to discover, if possible, under the
+mask of innocent flirtation, who the acting delegates were, what were
+their views, their capacities, their characters; but it must be
+admitted that the weak sex generally had the best of it, for
+hot-headed youth is apt to be distracted by externals, and the costume
+of the period was characterised by peculiarities which were calculated
+to mislead young men.
+
+This practice of seeking the society of political opponents for the
+purpose of discovering secrets, and of frustrating designs by sly
+hand-pressure or furtive kissing behind doors, was one quite after the
+burrowing heart of the astute lord chancellor, who stood smiling by
+the side of the throne, his dapper figure clothed in official costume,
+his neat limbs displaying their roundness in black silk breeches and
+stockings. He was chatting with my Lady Glandore, who with Doreen
+sat close to Lady Camden, directing her attention to some prettier
+girl than usual--(where are more to be found than in the Irish
+capital?)--some peculiar headdress or _outre_ garment. Nothing could
+seem more guileless than he, as he busied his pure soul with
+trifles--the colour of a shoe--the fashion of a sash. When Curran and
+Sara entered he changed colour, muttering ere he recovered himself:
+'What brings him here, I wonder?'
+
+He was not left long in suspense; for the lawyer bowed before the
+Viceroy, made straight for my lady's bench, and having deposited Sara
+by Doreen, began to speak abruptly in undertones.
+
+'I tried to see you to-day, my lord, and could not. We were friends
+once, though it is long since we quarrelled. Yet I feel impelled to
+make one more protest. You are driving this unhappy country to the
+brink of a great tragedy. You, and you alone, are responsible for
+this. It is not yet too late, but to-morrow it may be. Reflect, Lord
+Clare, while yet there's time!'
+
+Curran grasped the chancellor's arm in his earnestness.
+
+'Do you refer to the United Irishmen?' drawled the latter.
+
+'Do not despise your enemy, my lord. That association at first was
+small,' pursued Curran, 'the earth seemed to drink it as a rivulet. A
+thousand streams, through the secret windings of the earth, found
+their way to one source and swelled its waters; it is prepared now to
+burst forth as a great river--what will its cataracts not sweep away?
+It is you, my lord, who will have aggravated sedition into rebellion.'
+
+'Dear, dear!' smiled Lord Clare. 'Do you, too, listen to their
+claptrap? I say to you, as I've said openly all along, nothing can be
+more lenient than the executive! We stand simply on the defensive. I
+don't mind telling you in confidence,' he continued, eyeing his
+companion askance, 'that there is a plot which is to be carried out at
+this very ball to-night, for kidnapping his excellency and your humble
+servant, and locking us up somewhere quite cosy and comfortable.
+Audacious and clever, is it not? Yes, we have all the details--indeed,
+we had them yesterday, which may account to you for the muster of
+troops in the yard below, and the display of scarlet on the stairs and
+in the corridors. Clever, but, oh dear, how wild! I hope for their own
+sakes that the troops will daunt them; for nothing could come of this
+but an unseemly scuffle which would distress the ladies. Would you
+like to hear the rest of the plot? If these fools shall succeed in
+possessing themselves of our valuable carcases, a rocket is to be sent
+up from the corner of Ormond's quay, when two parties will start
+simultaneously--one to seize the artillery at Chapelizod, the other to
+surprise Newgate and Kilmainham. You look astonished. Well you may,
+for it is indeed astonishing.'
+
+Curran looked deeply pained, but made no reply. The chancellor's cold
+flippant tones pierced his heart like knives. How could a band of
+unwary, warm-hearted, impulsive fellows, who were prepared to dare all
+for motherland, cope with this hard calculating schemer? Truly, it was
+well for them that _he_ was there. The feeblest arm may be nerved by
+wrong for miracles. It was news of this rash project which had changed
+his plans as to the ball. He saw at a glance that it was
+impracticable. He had explained this to those whom it concerned; that
+it was an impossible compromise between those of the Directory who
+wished to wait, and those others who were for commencing a regular war
+this winter, which could be productive of nothing but disaster. The
+enthusiasm of the delegates had simply exasperated him. The God of
+battles, they said, was always on the side of right! Was He? Such had
+not been the experience of Mr. Curran's schooling. All he could do was
+to intercede with those in power--to make a final call on their
+humanity; and if that failed, humbly to bend the knee to Providence.
+
+He was moving away when Lord Clare stopped him.
+
+'Mr. Curran,' he said, with a winning show of teeth, 'as you said, we
+once were friends; why not again? It's not my fault, mind. The heroic
+role no doubt is charming; but, believe me, fitted more for
+adolescence than for men in middle life. You aim at becoming the
+champion of the oppressed. You will come to grief with them, I fear.'
+
+'In a general intoxication the most grievous of offenders is he who
+passes the cup, refusing to be degraded,' snapped the lawyer.
+
+'Rebuking by importunate sobriety the indecent revelry around--eh, Mr.
+Curran?' laughed the chancellor. 'That's a fit finish to your period,
+I think. What a mistake it is when orators forget that they are not
+always addressing juries or constituents.'
+
+As the lawyer plunged into the crowd, Lord Clare muttered:
+
+'Damn him, he can't be bought; let us try what traps will do.' Then
+cried with the artlessness of infancy, 'Miss Wolfe! Miss Wolfe! What
+makes you look so animated? The statue has come to life while I've
+been gossiping with that eccentric friend of ours.'
+
+Pupil of Machiavelli! He knew as well as did Doreen, though his back
+was turned--for he had a way of looking aslant like a hare--that a
+party of young men had just appeared in the grand doorway, who not
+long since were suffering as traitors. Tom Emmett and his associates
+presented themselves before their natural enemy, the Viceroy; then
+retired into a side-room to deliberate. Things were going wrong, yet
+the Emmetts did not despair. Tom had fought with all his might in
+council against the kidnapping scheme--in vain--and was no little
+relieved when he discovered that the massing of troops about the
+Castle had rendered this plot abortive. As they marched up the grand
+staircase the delegates scrutinised each soldier who stood upright and
+impassive on each step. One hummed between his teeth of a 'green
+bough,' but met with no response. The executive fell into no errors.
+These soldiers, ostensibly placed there as a new spectacle for Dublin
+eyes, belonged to a regiment just landed, who could not by any
+possibility know aught about a green bough, or care about it, or
+bestow mysterious sidewinks upon such as chose to babble of it. The
+mine had through treachery of some sort been countermined. Those two
+parties who were waiting in ambush for a signal must wait and shiver
+in the cold; there could be no starting either for Chapelizod or
+Kilmainham. Perhaps they would all agree now to place firmer faith in
+their chief--to trust to the judgment of him who stood in the shoes of
+Tone. Why, the French might be under weigh by this time. A pretty
+thing it would be if upon his landing Hoche found the ground already
+cut from beneath his feet by the precipitancy of his Irish allies!
+They had been awaiting intelligence for weeks. Terence would return
+anon with news--something tangible on which to build up future
+edifices.
+
+At mention of Terence a shade of coldness came over the faces of some
+of the young men. Cassidy--who was in splendid military garb, which
+made his stalwart figure look like a modern Mars--had joined them on
+their entry; and chid them severely now for daring to be suspicious of
+Mr. Crosbie.
+
+'What matters it,' he asked, 'about his brother's views? Brothers
+usually take up opinions as diametrically opposed as possible, as
+though to establish a family balance.' He himself who spoke, whom none
+would presume to suspect, had angled after Councillor Crosbie as an
+invaluable accession to their ranks; had angled in vain for long,
+till the Orr atrocity had roused even him. He, Cassidy, their old
+boon-companion, who would give his lifeblood for any of them, would go
+bail for the honesty of Terence. 'His honesty, forsooth! The suspicion
+was ludicrous. What had he to gain by joining them, in proportion
+with what he lost? He, an aristocrat, who might be Earl of Glandore
+to-morrow--his brother being the fighting champion of the Cherokees.'
+
+Robert followed suit with grateful glances at Cassidy. 'Their faith
+had been shaken by Miss Wolfe, than whom there was no patriot more
+earnest. But they must remember that Miss Wolfe, masculine and shrewd
+as by whiffs she seemed, was a woman who was, like all women, guided
+by her heart rather than her head. Terence, for aught he knew, might
+have been worshipping at some other shrine than hers, which, to a
+woman's mind, would be quite excuse enough for allowing private malice
+to trip up public good. Terence had been his (Robert's) friend for
+years. Aye, and Tom's too. They must beg the members of the Irish
+Directory to avoid hasty decisions which afterwards they might repent.
+Terence should have been back ere this, no doubt; but when he did
+arrive he would show good reason for delay.'
+
+This discussion was carried on in whispers in the little drawing-room
+through which a flirting couple strolled now and then on the way to
+the buffet. Therefore Cassidy, who of late had begun to assume a
+whimsically patriarchal air in his communion with the delegates,
+because he was by a few years their senior, thought it prudent to
+stroll up and down the room now and again, lest haply his ubiquitous
+friend Sirr should be lurking behind a shutter, or the lord chancellor
+himself be squatting under a chair. The situation, to our modern
+minds, is well-nigh impossible to realise. Traitors wandering close
+under the viceregal nose, which they had arranged that very night to
+tweak; traitors who were marked men, yet who were allowed to be at
+large; who made no pretence to loyalty, who openly admitted that they
+panted to see the tricolour; that when this hour should come their
+vengeance would be like a thunderbolt. Spies, too, in all directions,
+and families rent in twain by greed of gold, and rare examples of
+honesty. Brothers against brothers, fathers against sons, daughters
+against mothers; yet all dancing and smirking together on the powder
+magazine which might be fired at any moment.
+
+Cassidy deemed it prudent to keep watch and ward, to be sure that no
+eavesdroppers were listening to the squabbles of the delegates; and,
+in wheeling his big body round, caught sight of a new figure entering
+the ball-room.
+
+Could it be? Terence! returned from Cork, looking handsome and well in
+the dress of the Lawyer's corps. The jealous giant ground his teeth as
+he marked him pressing gently through the crowd to make his bow,
+smiling his bright smile to his numerous friends, then turning to the
+left to where his relations sat. Doreen affected not to see him,
+Cassidy perceived with glee. She would not speak to him at all. She
+was busy arranging Sara's scarf about her neck. This was prime. He
+must see what happened next. Alas! the devil gets hold of the best
+of us through jealousy! So, whispering, 'Whisht! boys--here's
+Terence--returned!' he hurried to observe what was passing, pursued
+shortly after by the others, who for a second had been transfixed by
+the sudden appearance of the man about whose conduct they were
+quarrelling.
+
+'Hope you enjoyed yourself at Cork. The sea-breeze has done you good,'
+my lady was saying in frigid accents to her son; for she resented the
+unfailing good-humour of this boy who was always respectfully dutiful,
+as if he were not the seed of his mother's long remorse. It was the
+thought of him that had sent the crows to plough furrows on her face;
+that kept her awake sometimes all through the dreary night. If he had
+only reviled her, she would have preferred it to this studied
+courtesy. If he would only complain--but her conscience was leading
+her astray. He knew nothing, except that she loved him not. Why should
+he revile her? She had promised Lord Clare to caution him about his
+conduct; therefore she asked him to sit beside her. But for once he
+appeared undutiful, for he hurriedly postponed the invitation.
+
+'I want to talk to you, Terence; sit by me,' she said.
+
+'Presently, mother,' he answered. 'I will come back by-and-by; there
+is business that must be seen to.'
+
+Then turning his back on her, he looked towards Doreen. She was so
+much occupied with that scarf of Sara's that it engrossed all her
+attention. She would not look up.
+
+'I have come back, Doreen,' he whispered. 'Have you nothing to ask
+me?'
+
+She raised her brown eyes to his for a moment. 'Nothing!' she said,
+then resumed her occupation.
+
+Biting his lip he turned away, to be received in the exuberant embrace
+of his dear Cassidy, behind whom came trooping Tom Emmett and Robert;
+Russell, Bond, and others hanging back waveringly, as if not quite
+certain how they should act. Was he not an aristocrat? Had not Miss
+Wolfe warned them? Was it not too likely that he should be playing a
+double game? How difficult a task it was to separate friends from
+foes!
+
+Terence, despite his cousin's ill-humour, was in great spirits.
+Eagerly he conducted his friends into a remote boudoir. He was dying
+to tell his news, and to hear theirs. So earnest was he, so strong a
+ring of truth was in his voice, that the delegates could doubt no
+more. Bond, Russell, gathered round as anxiously as the two Emmetts.
+Cassidy's broad visage was alight with grins. He slapped his thigh in
+huge delight as Terence unfolded his budget. He had been treated with
+every civility at Brest. Hoche, his fears removed, was taking up the
+matter with all his might; his rival, young Buonaparte, was getting on
+too well. Both these generals were straining every nerve to outstrip
+each other. The Irish envoy had seen Tone in his uniform as general de
+brigade. He was to sail in the expedition aboard the _Indomptable_.
+The force was of fifteen sail of the line, ten frigates, and seven
+transports. There was some diversity of opinion as to the plan to be
+pursued, for Admiral Gardner was cruising in the Channel with the
+English fleet, and, crowded as the ships were with troops, it was well
+to avoid a sea-fight if possible. The message to the Irish Directory
+was that their allies might be expected at any moment--_where_, it was
+impossible to say--for much would depend on events, and it was taken
+for granted that on the first signal the country would rise _en
+masse_. Terence, indeed, was surprised that nothing had yet taken
+place, for when he left Brest on the 10th all was ready, the men
+embarked--thirteen thousand strong--the etat-major prepared to follow.
+He, the envoy, had been compelled to travel through England, which had
+delayed his coming; but he had ridden as fast as possible, lest all
+should be over before he could arrive.
+
+'Started at last!' exclaimed Robert, full of glee.
+
+'Ready to start twenty days ago!' ejaculated Emmett, with a long face.
+'Please God no evil has befallen them.'
+
+The conspirators looked one at the other uneasily. What if that
+English fleet should have intercepted the convoy?
+
+'They've bin weather-bound,' Cassidy declared with confidence. 'Bad
+news flies quickly. If the English had done anything, we should have
+had them crowing over us long since.'
+
+'There were fogs in the Channel, I remarked that,' assented Terence.
+'I went down into the great cabin of the _Indomptable_ on the evening
+of the tenth, to wish the officers God-speed. It was an exhilarating
+spectacle. The ceiling was a mass of firelocks; the candlesticks were
+bayonets, stuck in the table. A fine band was playing the
+"Marseillaise;" the officers, in full fig, were lounging about, some
+playing cards, some singing to the time--all full of hope. As my boat
+rowed me away, the effect of the grand hymn on the water, diminishing
+as the black hull seemed flitting into haze, was delicious. It is
+surprising, though, that they delay so long.'
+
+The colloquy was interrupted by a general move to supper. It might
+create suspicion if they were to stand too long aloof from the
+company.
+
+Arthur Wolfe plucked Curran by the sleeve, as he met him, in
+mid-stream, and whispered in his ear:
+
+'I saw you talking to Lord Clare. Ye've not been insulting him, I
+trust? Take the advice of your friend. Do not make an enemy of him,
+for he'll have it all his own way by-and-by, depend on it.'
+
+Curran shrugged his shoulders with contempt.
+
+'Intelligence of some sort has arrived,' continued the
+attorney-general, gravely. 'Lord Camden was called away half an hour
+ago, and sent presently for Clare, who was rubbing his hands and
+smiling when the two came back again. I overheard him say, "With your
+permission, I'll announce it after supper. It will make a good
+impression."'
+
+'It's something cruel, then,' returned Curran, sadly. 'It's always
+something cruel when the chancellor looks pleased!'
+
+Supper was served in the picture-gallery which adjoins St. Patrick's
+hall, and it was a splendid _coup d'[oe]il_ that met your eye as you
+crossed the threshold. Two long lines of snowy cloth, illuminated by
+myriads of wax-lights in massive silver candelabra, vanished in
+perspective like the iridescent path cloven by a ship at night-time.
+Great piles of fruit and flowers gave relief to the scarlet and gold
+masses of the uniforms, broken as they were, in regular sequence, by
+the plumes and dresses of the ladies; whilst the general richness of
+effect was still further heightened by dark rows of feathery palms and
+large-leaved shrubs, which served as a sombre background.
+
+At the centre of the chief table, the Countess of Glandore occupied
+the place of honour beside the Viceroy, faced by Lord Clare, with Lady
+Camden on his right and Doreen on his left. On glancing down the
+table, my lady perceived with rage that the chances of the rush had
+placed Sara upon one side of Terence, while--(was this accident, or
+fate?)--the other was occupied by Madam Gillin! The young man seemed
+highly amused by his elderly companion, who--two monstrous ostrich
+feathers nodding over her the while--was vowing by her soul and body
+that she couldn't touch another skelp of jelly--no, not the tiniest
+wee bit--unless somebody fed her with a spoon; which Terence, entering
+into the humour of the situation, proceeded immediately to do, amid
+the laughter and applause of all his neighbours.
+
+The human animal being apt to run after bellwethers, it may be looked
+upon as natural that this strange conduct of a respectable matron was
+speedily imitated by the girls. They vowed one and all, at this end of
+the table, with a unanimity which looked like an epidemic, that they
+must be fed with spoons; and fed they were accordingly, by amorous
+sons of Mars, whose blood bubbled to their brains at close contact
+with perfumed curls; whilst their cheeks glowed, fanned by fragrant
+breath, and their eyes were dazzled by snowy busts thrown back, their
+nerves thrilled by fairy little kicks from elfin feet and pinches from
+pink fingers, in the course of this bringing-up by hand of grown-up
+bantlings.
+
+Claret and champagne assisting, it must be admitted that at this end
+of the table the hilarity was more joyous than genteel. My lady looked
+thitherward several times with frowns, for in her day men, when they
+worshipped Bacchus, did so when the ladies had withdrawn. Then it
+mattered little what jests were bandied, what coarse freedom used. But
+it shocked her that a sabbat such as this should take place in the
+presence of his Majesty's representatives, of high-born dames and
+dowagers, of young girls who were presumably innocent, and that her
+own son should set it going.
+
+'That boy is a thorn in my side,' she reflected, with grim resentment.
+'He has never brought me anything but trouble from the moment of his
+birth till now. I promised to reason with him, and he has declined
+even to hear me speak. On his own shoulders then let the burthen of
+the future lie.'
+
+The Countess of Glandore, stung by the humiliation which her pride was
+just then suffering, irritated as it was by the canker which had
+poisoned the maternal milk in her breast so long, almost wished, in a
+throb of wickedness, that her second-born might entangle himself
+irrevocably. Her evil monitor whispered that if he were to die or
+disappear, the numbing dread which had sallowed her life would be
+buried in his grave. So are we impelled by little puffs of wind, when
+we have once started in the ice-sleigh down the slippery incline hewn
+out like a steel ribbon, our vision blinded by snow swirls and the
+rapidity of transit, till with amaze we find ourselves at the bottom
+with a jerk, not knowing what urged us on the road.
+
+When Madam Gillin had convinced her beau that she could take no more
+jelly without choking, he desisted from his well-meant efforts, and
+the two began to converse on a pleasantly easy-going basis.
+
+'Indeed, ye're a strapping chap,' she declared, with a tap of her fan
+and a great laugh, 'although ye're a bad neighbour. I like your face,
+and I'm a quare body. Would ye make me a promise now, just to plase a
+fanciful old woman? I wouldn't have an oath, there are too many,
+about, worse luck! Ye would? Promise me, then, on your honour, that if
+ever ye get into a scrape, in which I can be of service, ye'll come to
+the Little House? Now didn't I say I was a quare woman, and you almost
+a stranger? You're a lad of your word, I know.' Then she added,
+exchanging her tone of banter for a serious whisper: 'Maybe I know
+more of ye than ye think, with the lock of hair cut away behind. Ye've
+taken up the cause. Bedad, I can't blame ye, though I'm sad for your
+sake. Mum's the word. We're strangers till you need me. Hush! They are
+watching us.'
+
+Terence had scarcely recovered his surprise at the eccentric conduct
+of Madam Gillin, before there was a clattering of glasses and a hum,
+then a dead stillness of respect, for the Viceroy had risen on his
+legs.
+
+He mumbled slavish platitudes anent the virtues of his gracious
+Majesty. No doubt everybody present was in the habit of reading the
+_Gazette_. Of course they were, for they loved their sovereign, and
+were thankful for the privilege of watching, with respectful awe, his
+daily movements. He was at Weymouth, indulging in warm baths; so was
+her Majesty Queen Charlotte, and so likewise were their august
+children the Princesses. For his part, he, the unworthy representative
+of so perfect and enlightened and generally admirable a monarch, could
+scarcely peruse without tears the simple bulletin of that household.
+'This morning the Princess Amelia walked, with her gouvernante, on the
+sands, to study the wonders of the shore. The Princesses Augusta and
+Elizabeth rode for two hours, on their Shetland ponies, whilst their
+Majesties were enjoying a bath!' Indeed it was a high privilege for a
+nation to have daily before its eyes so pure and noble an example of
+unsullied virtue, of innocent enjoyment and sterling worth. With
+heartfelt thankfulness for the blessing bestowed by Providence, he
+would propose the health of 'The King and Queen--God bless them!'
+upstanding, with all the honours.
+
+All this time claret and champagne had been freely going the rounds.
+The roses had deepened from pink to damask on the cheeks of the Dublin
+fair--the young officers of yeomanry and militia had reached the stage
+of aberration which follows thirst and precedes coma. Standing on
+their chairs the better to let loose their bursting loyalty, they
+drank the health of their Majesties; whilst others--amongst whom some
+of our friends were--raised their glasses with a flourish, muttering
+as they did so, 'Remember Orr!'
+
+Terence, with his arm round Sara, who shrank at the uproarious din,
+took her glass, and, pressing to his lips the place where hers had
+touched it, whispered in her ear--then in that of Madam Gillin: 'To
+the diffusion of Light--may it break upon us soon!'
+
+Then--silence being with difficulty restored--Lord Clare stood up to
+speak.
+
+He surveyed the assemblage for a moment, casting his eagle eye on one
+and then another as though to consider how best to touch the
+sympathies and flick the raws of so incongruous a gathering. The
+attention of all was riveted on his smiling face, for a murmur had
+flitted along the lines like a breeze over corn, which was an echo of
+Arthur Wolfe's surmise. There was something behind--some intelligence
+of moment--the divulging of which the all-powerful lord chancellor had
+expressly reserved to himself.
+
+'It is nearly twelve o'clock,' he said at length, in the rasping voice
+which set so many people's teeth on edge. 'We have gone through a year
+of trouble and anxiety, and are on the eve of a new one, which, I
+trust, will prove vastly different from that which is now dying. I
+will venture to propose a toast to you--gentlemen and ladies
+all--which may at first seem a riddle--but which you will, I know, all
+join with me in drinking, trusting to a satisfactory solution. I beg
+you to drink to the Wind.'
+
+The chancellor paused--one white hand upon his hip--to mark the effect
+of his exordium. Young' officers banged applause upon the table, not
+knowing why they did it, save that the leading spirit who guided
+them seemed to expect the silence to be broken. Arthur Wolfe made
+bread-pills with feverish absentness. Curran placed his hand behind
+his ear, and leaned forward with impatient anxiety. Doreen sat, her
+hands folded in her lap, staring before her into space.
+
+'I give you the Wind,' the chancellor went on, with the clear coldness
+of a glacier rivulet 'because those who deplore the evil which has
+gathered of late like a mist over our unhappy country, will have to
+thank the wind for driving it away, and leaving a clear atmosphere.
+Alas! I cannot say that the horizon is as yet quite clear--small
+cloudlets float still upon the waters--but those heavy banks of rain,
+which we have all feared would drench us presently, are in mercy put
+to rout, and it is the wind that we have to thank for it. "The French
+are on the sea, said the Shan van Vocht." So runs the ditty which was
+in all careless mouths to-day. Well! I am authorised by his
+excellency's goodness to tell you that the French _are_ on the
+sea--but flying back to their native ports by this time in every phase
+of discomfiture and distress.'
+
+A pause--while the doves shivered. Girls drew their feet into safety
+under chairs, and pushed away--shuddering--the importunate hands of
+British aides-de-camp.
+
+'Some among you,' innocently insinuated the speaker, 'may possibly be
+aware that the French have been preparing for some time past to make a
+descent upon our coasts, and I tell you now (danger being over) that
+supposing they could have evaded the English fleet and landed in
+force, much difficulty might have resulted. But thanks to the wind
+which has blown persistently for days, although they did escape for
+awhile the vigilance of the English admiral, yet are they, by heaven's
+mercy, routed and put to flight, after beating about in the offing for
+well-nigh a week.'
+
+Again the speaker paused to mark the success of his efforts. Curran,
+like Arthur, was rolling pills of bread upon the tablecloth; the young
+ladies, so demonstratively lively but a few moments before, were
+glancing at each other with blanched lips. Mrs. Gillin was sitting
+bolt upright, her trembling fingers making sad havoc with her fan. A
+low hum of dismay passed along the tables. The sound seemed to tickle
+my Lord Clare's ear. He waited for a moment or so, and fixed his eye
+upon Miss Wolfe as he took up the thread of his discourse.
+
+'Yes!' he said with exultation. 'The French fleet has come and gone!
+The menacing danger has faded harmlessly away. It started 15,000
+strong. Tempests arose, such as are always at the beck of Britain when
+invasion threatens her rights, which scattered the Gallic fleet.
+Hoche--who was to do such wonders--was aboard the admiral's ship;
+General Wolfe Tone (who by-the-bye will certainly, though he dubs
+himself general, bring himself to the gallows) was aboard another. The
+flower of Republican valour was packed like herrings between decks.
+Where now are those gawdy cohorts? Making for Brest as fast as fear
+can drive them. I pray that the King's admiral may intercept them in
+their flight!'
+
+The chancellor's little oration came upon the party like a
+thunderclap. There was no more flirting now, or dallying with taper
+waists. Doreen, at mention of her hero, woke with a start from
+reverie. Her lids quivered for a second, and shrank as though her eyes
+were blinded by the lightning. She cast one wild glance of reproach at
+her cousin--then was herself again--a trifle paler maybe; but
+otherwise the staid, impassive maiden whose grave austerity so awed
+the turbulent squireens. The Emmetts and their friends seemed stunned.
+Their hopes were blasted now, as it appeared, for ever. It would have
+been better not to have waited for tardy assistance so feebly
+administered. At times of deep anguish, thoughts whirl through the
+brain in vivid flashes. Tom Emmett saw at once that the executive had
+won a double victory. The bugbear which had threatened them was
+dissolved and gone. The members of the Irish Directory, who had been
+for acting at once, would turn now upon their comrades with a
+plausible appearance of justice, and revile them for having allowed
+precious moments to slip by. The breach in the national bulwark, which
+had been showing in dangerous fissures, would be rent into chasms
+now--the edifice, which had taken such anxious pains to rear, would
+crumble into dust. It was the oppressor's hour of triumph. Ireland's
+fate was sealed. Such were the gloomy thoughts which crushed the
+leader of the patriots. With the majority of the party present it
+was far otherwise. A mighty huzza shook the rafters--another and
+another--like waves rolling in to shore. The officers of yeomanry and
+militia saw before them a bright perspective of lawlessness, wherein
+the Helots would be handed over to their mercy--to smite, and revile,
+and torture, and kill--wherein their daughters would become a
+legitimate prey, their flocks and herds a booty, their household gods
+an appanage. Now was the time come when it behoved them to display
+their zeal. So thought the squireens, so also thought the lords their
+leaders, who hoped that they might earn extra pensions by accepting
+the bait that was held out. So the glittering assemblage rose with one
+accord--on the chairs--even on the tables, and the luckless professors
+of a different creed were compelled to follow suit, as small stones
+are dashed along at the mercy of the breakers. With shouts, with
+frantic wavings of swords and handkerchiefs--supporting each other as
+they swayed in their excitement---the lord-lieutenant's guests drank
+to the wind, and, at the same time, to the new year, which was thus
+heralded to the Irish capital in noise and drunken tumult.
+
+The chancellor had turned up a trump and played it skilfully. With
+smiles on their faces and despair in their hearts, the Dublin belles
+returned to the dancing-hall. But the innate ruffianism of the
+yeomanry officers had been let loose by wine and frenzy. The girls
+fled to their brothers for protection--their excellencies retired to
+their own apartments m a hurry. A youth with down upon his lip seized
+the green scarf of pretty Sara, and wrenched it from her neck with a
+brutal jest.
+
+'What do you hide?' he gibed. 'That lily bosom may not be hidden by
+the rebel colour--off with it!'
+
+The youth sprawled prone at once, felled by a blow between the eyes.
+Sara shrieked, and clung to a protecting arm. It was Terence who had
+knocked him down, and who was soon the centre of a _melee_. Madam
+Gillin's feathers were seen tossing in the throng, while her voice
+added to the hubbub.
+
+'In the days of Brian Buroo,' she wailed, 'bejewelled leedies might
+walk alone from one end to t'other of Innisfail! Now, faith, we can't
+be safe even in Pat's hall!'
+
+My lady and Doreen made the best of their way to their coach. The
+soldiers stood in motionless rows upon the stairs, as though there was
+no brawl above. Their captain had hurried to the chancellor to ask if
+he should clear the hall.
+
+'No!' was the laughing reply. 'Their blood is hot--a little phlebotomy
+won't hurt them. Let be! let be! It's not a good omen for the year
+though, that it should dawn in bloodshed!'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                           AWAY TO DONEGAL.
+
+
+The countess was much scandalised at the scene from which she had
+escaped, and favoured her niece with decided opinions on the subject,
+as six horses dragged the carriage through the night along the road to
+Drogheda.
+
+'This will give you a notion, my dear,' she said, 'of the results of
+letting low people have too much of their own way. I confess that Lord
+Clare's conduct surprises me. If your friends the United Irishmen were
+to obtain the upper hand for a few days, they would disgrace
+themselves and disgust the world. You can't expect wisdom from a
+Helot-class.'
+
+'It was not my friends who misbehaved themselves to-night,' Doreen
+retorted, 'but yours; the vulgar squireens and half-mounted gentry,
+who belong to the dominant party.'
+
+'They certainly should have learnt manners from their betters,'
+acquiesced my lady, lowering her standard. She had seen but little of
+the world of late, had been content to view events through coloured
+glasses, and the hasty glimpse of garish daylight which had just
+flashed out saddened and shocked her. She began unconsciously to
+wonder whether Lord Clare had always spoken the truth. It would be
+hard, she felt, to lose faith in her old friend. Then the tangle of
+long-rooted prejudice, parted for an instant, closed round her again.
+'Well, well! the squireens might possibly be more brutish than was
+desirable; but they were at least Protestants, and as such, superior
+to the Helots over whom they tyrannized!'
+
+This reflection was a comfort to my lady; for she was not a bad woman,
+but one whose sympathies had been narrowed by the hardness of the
+world, and who had grown as uncharitable as many excellent people are
+who, professing to be more enlightened than their neighbours, are
+certain that they only are right, and all those who differ from them
+wrong.
+
+Doreen lay back on the cushions, too sore in mind and body to carry on
+the argument. All that she could distinctly realise was that hope had
+flown away; that Theobald had been near at hand and was gone; that
+perhaps he had been captured and executed. What must he have suffered
+to have been within touch of motherland, only to be swept back again
+to sea! Hope, forsooth! What is hope? too often but long-drawn
+disappointment in disguise!
+
+The party jerked and jolted over the interminable road. The hostelries
+at Drogheda and Dundalk were full. It was well that my lord had ridden
+forward, for so many families were beginning to steal out of Dublin
+that, as an ostler put it, there was a 'furious penury of beds.'
+
+At Derry they were compelled to leave the great family coach, for
+there was only a rough track along each wild bank of Lough Swilly, at
+whose mouth--its feet laved by the Atlantic--stood the island home of
+the pirate earls of Ennishowen. Their yacht lay ready in Rathmelton
+harbour; but Shane said he preferred riding across the bog to Malin
+Head, whence a boat would transport him in no time to Glas-aitch-e;
+and Doreen offered to ride too, even in his company--so anxious was
+she in her numbed condition to divert her thoughts by exercise. My
+lady--her projects being what they were--was little likely to object
+to a prolonged _tete-a-tete_ which might assist in the realisation of
+cherished wishes; but her own riding-days were over, she said. She
+would take the yacht, and would not be sorry of a few hours' solitude.
+Poor mother! She was sacrificing more to her elder-born than he would
+probably ever know, in revisiting the ill-omened place--where that
+which darkened her life had been accomplished--where everything would
+prattle of that past time which it had been a never-ending struggle to
+forget. She desired to look again on the weather-worn parapets and
+slender watch-tower of Glas-aitch-e Castle alone, lest her face should
+betray her feelings, and hint at the secret which had blanched her
+hair before its time.
+
+The triangular peninsula which lies 'twixt Lough Swilly and Lough
+Foyle has been known, time out of mind, as Ennishowen; has belonged to
+the pirate earls for centuries, who, by reason of their craft, built
+themselves a fortress years ago on the sea as more convenient than a
+dwelling on mainland. It was a territory well suited to such masters,
+for, by guarding its narrow neck, it could be converted into an
+impenetrable fastness which was protected by sheer cliffs to seaward,
+whilst its internal features rendered it a foolhardy proceeding to
+attempt to invade it from the land side. Hence its population was a
+peculiar one, differing in many respects from the other dwellers in
+Donegal. When James I. planted Ulster with staunch Protestants, the
+ousted Catholics fled, some to Connaught, some to the extreme points
+of the north-western county where nothing flourished but wild birds. A
+large number took refuge in Ennishowen, where they embraced the trade
+of fishing, eking out a precarious existence by rearing flocks of
+geese upon the barren moors, whilst their wives wove frieze for
+clothing. An independent, warm-hearted, frugal, superstitious colony,
+extremely poor but decent, accustomed from the cradle to endure all
+hardships with a cheerful mien, too far removed from the world to know
+aught of Orangeism. Imbued with the clannish feeling which elsewhere
+had nearly vanished, they looked to Glas-aitch-e with reverence as to
+a holy shrine, and fully believed that the bodyguard of Sir Amorey
+were sleeping by their horses in the sea-caves ready to defend the
+fortress if peril dared to threaten it. It was evident that if the
+disease, which Lord Clare was so fond of discussing, should take a
+serious turn in the north, it would be well for the chiefs to be among
+their followers, at least those who were friendly with the Government;
+for a timely word might prevent much trouble--a timely order be of
+incalculable service. My Lord Glandore, then, carried with him the
+blessings of the executive, with sundry vague promises of good things
+in store for him if he showed prudence, and directions as to how his
+time would be best spent; namely, in cajoling the peasants to put
+their shoulders to the wheel for the speedy erection of beacons along
+the seaboard. The recent Gallic escapade (for Hoche's expedition was
+really nothing more) taught the executive a lesson. Happily the fleet,
+or a portion of it, had been driven upon the coast of Bantry, whose
+inhabitants, being disinclined to rebellion, looked on the tricolour
+with the eye of unconcern. But for the blessed wind, the expedition
+might have landed on some more friendly spot, and be half-way to
+Dublin before the Viceroy heard anything about it. The enemy must not
+have such a chance again. Martello towers must be built within short
+distances all round the coast. On the apparition of the tricolour a
+fire must be kindled, which should be the signal for a second on the
+summit of the next tower, and so on; so that in case of danger a
+girdle of fires would encircle the island, warning the soldiery in all
+directions--speeding intelligence to the capital in the twinkling of
+an eye.
+
+My Lord Glandore was to busy himself with this matter so far as
+Donegal was concerned, and his sense of self-importance was so far
+tickled and amused that for awhile he endured, without too much
+swearing, the temporary separation from his Norah.
+
+So my lady sailed up Lough Swilly, marking the new forts of Rathmullen
+and Knockalla, of Duneen and Inch, which gave to it a resemblance to a
+shark's mouth with teeth set raggedly in either jaw; whilst her son
+and niece started in the twilight before sunrise with a wild ride
+before them of forty miles and more. First they passed rows of
+mud-huts in straggling knots beside the way, which became more sparse
+as they advanced; crazy hovels whose rotten roofs were kept together
+by hay-ropes--thatch dyed to richness by decay, adorned with dry tufts
+of oats and barley, wafted in the summertime from some less forbidding
+spot. Their ears could catch the clicking of a homely loom within as
+they passed, ere the housewife, low-browed and heavy-jowled, came to
+her door to gape at the unusual sight of strangers, an amusement in
+which she was speedily joined by a pack of naked children, then by her
+goodman, who rose as if out of a dung-heap--a dudheen between his
+coarse lips, a long coat of faded homespun on his back.
+
+Presently the road became a mere track upon the heather, which,
+leaving the lough to the left, struck out across the hills inland--a
+wheel-track over a vast expanse of purple prairie, now deep-indented
+in the bog, now barely discernible on a plateau of rock--impression of
+the rude carts of the turf-cutters across the mountains. No human
+dwelling might be seen for miles; no human figure, save perhaps an
+elfish child plying knitting-needles on a stone as she watched her
+herd of geese for fear of foxes--an uncanny, shock-pated pixie who
+seemed half-sister to the herons that were scrutinising their
+portraits in the pools.
+
+Mountain succeeded mountain with a great heaving like that of the
+ocean hard-by, sometimes in an unbroken wave of black and russet;
+sometimes rent into a gorge where it had been torn by a strong
+convulsion, with overhanging crags of grey and twisted trees bent awry
+by the sea-blasts. Sometimes in the hazy distance might be detected a
+string of circular stains of a blacker colour than the rest--tarns in
+the moorland, home of the silver trout. Bushy and reedy some--some
+tawny with the paled glories of dead water-lilies. Then would the
+scene change to a bleak spread of stones--flat stones of monster size,
+with rifts like rivulets between, choked thick with feathery herbage.
+It was as though the rubbish left from the creation of the world had
+been carted and shot out there--a secluded medley of unconsidered
+trifles, of no value or consequence to the human race. Then again
+would the stones give place to water--morasses of peat sodden with
+salt ooze which quaked under the weight of the traveller, the
+hoof-marks of his horse bubbling with slimy wash as he splashed on his
+uncertain way; troops of scurrying fowl starting up before him,
+protesting loudly as they fled at the irruption into their cherished
+solitude.
+
+Shane and Doreen arrived by-and-by at the summit of a hill-crest, from
+which the northern half of the promontory lay spread like a map before
+them. Just below was a white speck--the village of Carndonagh--beyond,
+a row of lakes, tiny mirrors set in the hill-flank--on either side the
+jagged lines of Loughs Foyle and Swilly, varied with many a peaked
+headland and jutting point and shelving bay scooped out of the living
+rock. In front, a flat stretch on which cloud-shadows were playing
+hide-and-seek--a bopeep dance of subtly-chequered tones; and away
+still farther, looming through the mist, the bluffs of Malin Head, the
+extreme limit, to the north, of Ireland. As they looked, the mists
+melted in eddying swirls of gold, unveiling an expanse of immense and
+lonely sea, dotted with fairy islets strewn in a ravelled fringe--the
+long span of the blue-green Atlantic, marked with a line of white
+where it seethed and moaned and lashed without ceasing against the
+foot of the beetling cliff.
+
+'What a lovely spot!' Doreen exclaimed, as she sniffed the brisk
+breeze; 'how wild--how desolate--how weirdly fair! Not the vestige of
+a dwelling as far as eye can reach--except that speck below us.'
+
+Unpoetic Shane had been busy counting the wildfowl, watching the
+hawks, marking the sublime slow wheeling of a pair of eagles far away
+in ether heavenward. At the call of his cousin he brought his thoughts
+down to earth, and cried out:
+
+'By the Hokey! a nice coast for the French to land upon. I wish them
+joy of it if they try. If they do we shall be in the thick of it, for
+look! You can just discern Glas-aitch-e---that dot in the sea, no
+bigger than a pin's point--between Dunaff and Malin. A fleet would
+have to pass close by us that was making either for Lough Swilly or
+Lough Foyle. But come--a canter down the hill, and we will see what we
+can get to eat. This sharp air gives one a plaguy appetite!'
+
+Doreen spoke truly, for Ennishowen is weirdly fair. The atmosphere of
+winter gave the desolation she had passed through a special charm. The
+ponderous banks of rolling steel-grey clouds, which had only just been
+conquered by a battling sun, gave a ghastly beauty to its wildness.
+Dun and steel-grey, sage-green and russet-brown, with here and there a
+bit of genuine colour--a vivid tuft of the Osmunda fern. Such
+chromatic attributes were well in harmony with the intense stillness,
+broken only by the rustle now and then of whirring wings, or the sharp
+boom of the frightened bittern. But beyond Carndonagh the face of
+nature changed--or would have, if it had been summer--for bleak
+elevated moorland and iron gorge vary but little with the season,
+whilst lower-lying districts are more privileged. During the warm
+months the track between Carndonagh and Malin is like a garden--an
+oasis of rich, damp, dewy verdure from the ever-dripping vapours of
+the Atlantic--an expanse of emerald mead saturated with the moisture
+of the ocean. Every bush and bank breaks forth in myriad flowers. Each
+tarn is edged with blossom, each path is tricked with glory. It is as
+if Persephone had here passed through the granite-bound gates of hell,
+and had dropped her garland at its portals. White starry water-lilies
+clothe the lakelets. The bells of the fuschia-hedges glow red from
+beneath a burthen of honeysuckle and dog-roses; orange-lilies and
+sheets of yellow iris cast ruddy reflections into the streams, while
+purple heather and patches of wild heartsease vie with each other in a
+friendly struggle to mask the wealth of green.
+
+Strabagy Bay cuts deep into the peninsula. A rider must skirt its edge
+with patience, rewarded now and again by some vision of surprise, as
+he finds himself at a turn in the pathway on the summit of a precipice
+1200 feet above the water, or in a sheltered cove where waves of
+_celadon_ and malachite plash upon a tawny bed. At one point, if the
+tide happens to be in, he must sit and await its ebb; for the only
+passage is by a ford across the sand, which is dangerous to the
+stranger at high-water. Not so to the dwellers in this latitude, for
+they speed like monkeys along the overhanging crags, or like the
+waddling penguins and sea-parrots that are padding yonder crannies
+with the softest down from off their breasts for the behoof of a yet
+unborn brood.
+
+Towards Malin Head the ground rises gradually from a shingly beach
+till it breaks off abruptly to seaward in a sheer wall of quartz and
+granite--a vast frowning face, vexed by centuries of tempest, battered
+by perennial storms, comforted by the clinging embrace of vegetation,
+red and russet heath of every shade, delicate ferns drooping from
+cracks and fissures, hoary lichens, velvet mosses, warm-tinted
+cranesbill; from out of which peeps here and there the glitter of a
+point of spar, a stain of metal or of clay, a sparkling vein of ore.
+The white-crested swell which never sleeps laps round its foot in
+curdled foam; for the bosom of the Atlantic is ever breathing--heaving
+in arterial throbs below, however calm it may seem upon the surface.
+Away down through the crystal water you can detect the blackened base
+resting on a bank of weed--dense, slippery citrine hair, swinging in
+twilit masses slowly to and fro, as if humming to itself, under the
+surface, of the march of Time, whose hurry affects it not; for what
+have human cares, human soul-travail, human agony, to do with this
+enchanted spot, which is, as it were, just without the threshold of
+the world? The winter waves, which dash high above the bluffs in
+spray, have fretted, by a perseverance of many decades, a series of
+caverns half-submerged; viscous arcades, where strange winged
+creatures lurk that hate the light; beasts that, hanging like some
+villanous fruit in clusters, blink with purblind eyes at the fishes
+which dart in and out, fragments of the sunshine they abhor; at the
+invading shoals of seals, which gambol and turn in clumsy sport, with
+a glint of white bellies as they roll, and a shower of prismatic gems.
+
+In June the salmon arrive in schools, led each by a solemn pioneer,
+who knows his own special river; and then the fisher-folk are busy. So
+are the seals, whose appetite is dainty. Yet the hardy storm-children
+of Ennishowen love the seals although they eat their fish--for their
+coats are warm and soft to wear; their oil gives light through the
+long winter evenings for weaving of stuff and net-mending. There is a
+superstition which accounts for their views as to the seals; for they
+believe them to be animated by the souls of deceased maiden-aunts. It
+is only fair, in the inevitable equalisation of earthly matter, that
+our maiden-aunts should taste of our good things, and that we in our
+turn should live on theirs.
+
+A mile from the shore--at Swilly's mouth--stands Glas-aitch-e Island,
+a mere rock, a hundred feet above sea-level, crowned by an antique
+fortress, which was modernised and rendered habitable by a caprice of
+the late lord. At the period which now occupies us, it consisted of a
+dwelling rising sheer from the rock on three sides; its rough walls
+pierced by small windows, and topped by a watch-tower, on which was an
+iron beacon-basket. The fourth side looked upon a little garden,
+where, protected by low scrub and chronically asthmatic trees, a few
+flowers grew unkempt--planted there by my lady when she first visited
+the place as mistress. On this side, too, was a little creek which
+served as harbour for the boats--a great many boats of every sort and
+size; for the only amusement at Glas-aitch-e was boating, with a cast
+for a salmon or a codling now and again, and an occasional shot at a
+seal or cormorant.
+
+My lady arrived there in the yacht, and spent her afternoon alone as
+she wished, for it was late at night before Shane and Doreen were
+rowed across--the latter wearied by the long ride, but calmed in
+spirit by communing with nature.
+
+It was with a gloomy face and set lips that the Countess of Glandore
+wandered from room to room, all damp and chill from long neglect, each
+chair and table telling its own tale, each faded carpet and curtain
+whispering of the hated past, with its desperate anguish of
+humiliation. For this was the heart-chord which twanged most painfully
+in my lady's breast upon revisiting the place again. 'Set right the
+wrong while yet there is time'--how often had that wailing cry echoed
+in her ears! Yet while there still was time that wrong was never
+righted; for my lady had been so humbled, so abased, so utterly
+wrenched and mangled, during the year she had dwelt upon that island
+with my lord, that she revolted, with indignant protest, at a
+possibility of having to traverse the dark Valley of the Shadow yet
+again.
+
+As she looked at the chairs and tables, the whole bitterness of that
+degradation flooded back on her. She recalled how, sobbing on that
+sofa, she had prayed for death with scorching tears; how, standing by
+that casement, the sublime panorama of Donegal had been shut out by
+boiling drops of agony.
+
+She sat down on an old chair, and looked back upon her life since last
+she touched its worm-eaten woodwork. A life lulled sometimes to a half
+forgetfulness, which was nearer to positive happiness than she ever
+expected to attain. The reflection returned again and again to her,
+that what had been done was my lord's fault, not hers--that she had
+acquiesced as the weaker vessel, and had washed her hands of the
+consequences. But then, several times, her peace had been rudely
+broken by vague terror of troubles renewed.
+
+Would she be able to avert them? Would her puny woman's arm be strong
+enough to grapple with Fate? Events certainly looked threatening.
+Terence had involved himself in a forlorn hope. What if he should
+fall? My lady rose hastily, and flinging wide the window, panted there
+for breath. She realised, with a tingling horror of abasement, that if
+he fell, her own burthen would be lightened--that far away, muffled in
+her inmost soul, there was a voice babbling a hint that it would be a
+mercy if he fell. Her own son! It was a mother's inner voice that
+spoke! She pressed her face helplessly upon the tattered curtain, as
+she had used to do when imploring a release, and groaned aloud--it was
+well that the others had not yet arrived.
+
+Then, her mental vision sharpened by this pang, she wandered on,
+oblivious of the stories murmured by the tables and the chairs--for
+she was peering with all her might into the future now. Things were
+going crooked. There could be no denying that. She had schemed for the
+best. What would come of her scheming? Shane was deplorably difficult
+to manage--looked so like his father sometimes when angered, that she
+recoiled as she remembered the expression of his visage when she
+moaned over her fate to him upon this very spot all those years ago.
+He grew daily more difficult to manage, did Shane; because he was a
+Cherokee, a Hellfire; and it stands to reason that an important
+attribute for a Hellfire to cultivate must be a scorn of maternal
+lecturing and fiddlefaddle.
+
+Lady Glandore (taught by a rough apprenticeship) quite admitted this;
+but looked forward now with satisfaction to the taming his spirit
+would undergo through a judiciously prolonged residence on a barren
+rock, with no one to uphold him in resistance to her will. Here he had
+no bully-Blasters to oppose a check to her influence. He would have
+nobody to talk to but the fisherfolk, save when he sailed down the
+lough to Letterkenny to be entertained by the squireens in garrison.
+
+She did not fear their influence--poor country oafs! She gauged the
+inherent weakness of Shane's nature, which cloaked itself under a mask
+of fierceness; she knew his overbearing, swashbuckling ways would sink
+into a minor key of mewing if they had no encouraging sympathy from
+without. She knew better than really to believe that 'absence makes
+the heart grow fonder.' Nonsense! The heart is too selfish a thing to
+feed long upon itself or shadows. If she could only manage to keep
+Shane here long enough, he would become as meek as a lamb, and would
+cease to bleat of Norah in his dreams.
+
+On one side things were going crooked, no doubt, but on the other they
+were preternaturally straight. Could they be expected to remain so?
+
+Arthur Wolfe, whose self-interest told him to stay on in Dublin and
+watch events, was only too thankful to throw a responsibility on his
+sister (in whom he trusted), who, oddly enough, was gracious as to the
+burthen. He might have been compelled to leave Ireland for Doreen's
+sake--to take her away out of a false position, and so sacrifice the
+opportunity of rapid advancement, which is the marked characteristic
+of a turbulent time.
+
+But this difficulty was got rid off by packing the girl off to
+Donegal. He could drift where expediency drove, unshackled, to add to
+his darling's fortune. Nothing could be more satisfactory to her
+father's peace of mind; nothing could jump better with my lady's
+long-established plan of joining these two incongruous cousins in holy
+matrimony. Shut up in idleness in Glas-aitch-e (for the building of
+Martello towers could not really engross his attention), what else
+could he do but fall a victim to the charms of his handsome cousin?
+
+One little ghost of doubt yet lingered in my lady's mind, which she
+did her best to exorcise. Doreen was dreadfully pigheaded. What if
+moping were to render her more obstinate? She was not a Blaster or a
+Cherokee, but a stern-browed damsel, with much romance, tempered by a
+little common-sense, and an awkward tendency to rely upon her own
+judgment. Being a woman, too, she would probably detect at once
+another woman's web, such as might hope to escape the scrutiny of male
+observation. Was it possible that she might choose to upset all her
+aunt's elaborate scaffolding, after all?
+
+She had her own reasons for determining to tie Shane, wealthy Lord
+Glandore though he might be, to somebody with money. What a pity that
+he declined polite society, where complaisant heiresses were to be met
+with who would joyfully take his coronet, and afterwards obey his
+mother. Circumstances had so ordained it that there was absolutely no
+available or possible heiress for him but this stiff-necked Catholic.
+
+It is exasperating, is it not, to mark how people persist in opposing
+that which others think is best for them? The prejudiced, warped
+Countess of Glandore must have had urgent motives indeed for the
+prosecution of her project to account for the way in which she was
+stooping from her pedestal. Doreen was sharp enough to recognise this
+fact, and was never weary of marvelling at the enigma which seemed
+ever and anon to languish, then to spring to new life again. But Lady
+Glandore, when her mind was made up, could be obstinate too, though
+she had suffered much buffeting in life's conflict. That these two
+cousins were to be drawn together somehow, she was resolved.
+Opposition would come probably from Doreen's side, not Shane's. When
+her friends of the forlorn hope were slain and gone, she would surely
+succumb from mere despair.
+
+My lady was glad, then, when she meditated on Lord Clare's hints as to
+the certain fate of the United Irishmen. It was distressful, though,
+that her own son should be amongst them. Was it distressful, or a
+relief? Would his mother be sorry if word came that he was dead?
+
+My lady buried her face in the curtain yet again, and rocked her bowed
+form and wrung her hands. There is a phase of self-hatred and
+upbraiding which is more poignant than any physical pain, from which
+we emerge more wrecked and broken after each fresh access, and pray
+more desperately to be set free from torment.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                            GLAS-AITCH-E.
+
+
+The nautico-arcadian life of Glas-aitch-e restored Doreen's mental
+equilibrium by degrees, which had been sorely shaken by recent
+proceedings in Dublin. There she had come to ask herself whether there
+could be indeed a God with eyes to see and ears to hear, or whether
+the new-fangled creed was the correct one, which spoke of a mysterious
+principle--a species of magnet--in accordance with whose influence, as
+a dumb machine, the affairs of the world marched in established
+sequence. But in the front of this superb nature it was impossible to
+hold any such cold-blooded theory. When on waking she opened her
+casement to drink the brine-laden air, her youthful vigour got the
+better of her sorrows. She marked, stretching on the one hand as fare
+as ken could reach, the wondrous _silhouette_ of mountains, rising
+tier behind tier in its series of morning changes from jetty black to
+purple and then orange; or, not so far away, the chameleon cliffs
+whose varieties of effect were endless. She watched the seals tumbling
+in flocks; the guillemots and gannets at play, and shrieking petrels,
+Cassandras of the deep; and the eagles that had their eyrie in the
+dizzy crags of Malin-Head, disdaining low companionship. Then peering
+down from her window-sill, straight as a plummet-line, into that
+wondrously pellucid ripple, she mused of the legends of the place
+concerning the McSweenys--kings of those parts; known as the McSwynes
+of the unconquered axe, till Sir Amorey set his foot upon their necks;
+of how the rude chieftains had built themselves this fortalice,
+defended by three rows of concentric battlements, and had held it in
+the teeth of Corsair-fleets till the awful day of retribution for long
+thieving, when Sir Amorey Crosbie came--himself the greatest thief; of
+how, by stratagem, he lured the defendants out upon the narrow strip
+of sand which the waves leave bare at ebb, then scaled the rocks upon
+the other side with all his merry men, and watched with laughter while
+the garrison perished in the rising waters; of how their bracelets and
+ornaments and collars of gold were washed up from time to time to
+attest the truth of the story; of how the elfin-guard were sleeping
+even now within circumjacent caves, to clatter forth in force when
+wanted. If that were true, sure they would have come out long since,
+seeing what their motherland had suffered. Yet, after all, not so: for
+this wild region had naught to do with the throes which had racked
+Erin's frame for seven centuries. It was cut off, severed as by a
+spell from the world's troubles and its tragedies.
+
+Doreen felt this strongly when she went among the people on the
+mainland. Not one of them could speak anything but Gaelic--their
+mental ken saw nothing beyond the arrival of the salmon, or the number
+of distressful rents in a new fishing-net. They talked with awe of the
+sleeping bodyguard; had pricks of conscience when they slew their
+maiden-aunts; looked with compassion on Miss Wolfe when she entered
+upon mundane arguments. Vainly she strove to persuade them that the
+treasures which the waves threw up were relics of the Spanish
+Armada--a portion of which was shattered in these ironbound creeks and
+gullies. They preferred to believe in the McSwynes, and did; yet for
+all that they came to adore Doreen, who was of their own faith; who
+never shot her coracle upon the beach but she was sure to be
+surrounded forthwith by a bevy of dancing, screaming imps that
+sprawled upon the sand, that sidled up to have their heads patted like
+little tame nut-brown birds; then fluttered off to herald out the fact
+that the good lady had arrived ashore. The people loved her, and she
+loved the people. The Irish heart is so warm, that a very little
+kindness will win it--for that very reason, perhaps, their English
+foes have chosen to repulse the gift, as one of too easy attainment to
+be worth the winning!
+
+Once or twice she was persuaded by her cunning aunt to accompany Shane
+along the northern coast in the yacht. He was making a prodigious fuss
+about the Martello towers, and it would amuse her to explore the bays
+and inlets. Once--only once--she sailed down Lough Swilly, when her
+cousin went thither to examine the forts of Knockalla and Inch; and
+was royally entertained at the barracks of Letterkenny, by the amateur
+soldiers quartered there. It was like returning into Hades after a
+glimpse of the stars. The sheepish looks and bungling compliments of
+the squireens could not hide from her that this was the fabric from
+which the yeomanry were cut who hanged the people and burnt their
+cottages.
+
+At Letterkenny the world began again--the wicked, cruel world.
+Inwardly she prayed that at least the harmless folks of Ennishowen
+might be spared, though all the isle beside should have to pass under
+the yoke. But the sight of these ruffians in uniform made her quail
+for them. Since Fate debarred her from the right of joining her people
+in their suffering, she would close her ears to their cries if she
+could, and return into the world no more.
+
+The gentry about Derry and Antrim were divided upon all subjects
+except ruffianism. On this point they were in surprising concord. They
+were for the most part Presbyterians. The republican nature of their
+tenets disposed them to join the United Irishmen, and many entered
+heartily into the conspiracy, until Government agents demonstrated
+that the triumph of the popular party would bring with it Catholic
+emancipation.
+
+Now the Ulster men of the middle and upper class were Orange as well
+as Presbyterian. They looked upon a Catholic as a toad--an unclean
+thing which had no business to be created--which must be hurried out
+of life without delay, as a lesson to their Maker to make such
+mistakes no more.
+
+Therefore, upon this fact being made quite plain to them, their
+patriotic ardour cooled amazingly, and they bade fair to rival the
+excesses of their brethren down south.
+
+At this very dinner a tipsy young 'half-mounted' told as a fine joke a
+tale of what had happened at Armagh when he went there 't'other day to
+buy a horse. A certain rapscallion,' he said, 'was suspected of having
+some gunpowder concealed, contrary to the mandate of his Majesty.
+Shots had been heard in the neighbourhood of his cabin--that was
+enough. He denied the charge, and so must be made to confess. How was
+it done? Mighty ingeniously, i' faith! He was hung up by the heels
+with a rope full of twist, by which means he whirled round most
+laughably, like a bird before the fire; while the soldiers lashed him
+with their belts to make him speak. But his stupid old father spoiled
+the joke; for upon his son calling on him for help he up with a
+turf-spade and broke a soldier's pate open; upon which, of course, the
+old fool had to be disembowelled.' The other sparks laughed with great
+he-haws at; this funny anecdote, till one of them, looking at Miss
+Wolfe, thought 'maybe the leedy didn't loike it.' And Shane, surprised
+that his stiff cousin should be such a milksop, changed the subject to
+the building of his towers. The stone being handy, they would take but
+little time, he said. So soon as his task was complete he would send
+down the yacht for these agreeable young sons of Mars, and entertain
+them at his quaint old castle.
+
+'It was indeed moighty koind in his lordship, to be sure; anything
+they could do to obleege,' etc., etc. So there was a great shaking of
+hands and display of newly-acquired military salutes, and everybody
+was charmed with everybody, except Doreen, who voted them bears and
+brutes, whilst they thought her stuck-up.
+
+After this episode, nothing could induce her to revisit Letterkenny.
+She spent her time in daydreams, drifting about in her coracle for
+hours, to return dripping wet, but, in a hazy way, more than half
+content. There is never much snow in Ennishowen, because brine is
+inimical to snow; but in winter there is much rain and mist and dense
+sea-fog, which penetrates to the bones and chills them. When the
+revolving cycle brought fine weather, she liked to establish herself
+by her window, to watch the strange glory of the dawn, sitting, as she
+smilingly observed, in her 'Grianan,' or sun-chamber. And what a
+spectacle it was to lull a vexed spirit into peace! First, as light
+crept near, she was aware of nothing but a vast sheet of pearl--above,
+below, around--without line to mark where earth or sea joined heaven.
+Her enchanted prison seemed the centre of an orient jewel, through
+which the light of heaven filtered dimly. She occupied a magician's
+castle, suspended by mystic agency in a translucent ether of opal hue.
+The illusion was complete, for presently tiny cloudlets of rose and
+grey flecked the space above, to be repeated in dappled reflections on
+the still mirror below, which as yet knew no rim. Cloudlets overhead;
+cloudlets far down, under the hanging castle. Then, by imperceptible
+degrees, the opal flushed to brass with spots of tarnish (where
+seaweed banks shone through). Then a ridge of palest pink loomed into
+shape from nothingness, warming slowly to blood-red, and darkening to
+Tyrian purple--and the misty film was rent and crumbled, and lo! there
+was the rim to the still mirror--the glorious rim of that noble
+mountain-chain, now turned to a sharply-defined deep-blue--in unison
+with sky and water.
+
+Doreen was comforted for the day when nature chose thus to open the
+casket for her; and rowed, or fished over the garden parapet, and was,
+by reason of her new peacefulness, more soft than heretofore with her
+aunt; and even strove sometimes to make herself agreeable to Shane. My
+lady marked the improvement as a good omen of success, but was not
+quite satisfied; for there was mixed with the damsel's good behaviour
+a cool indifference which suggested a carelessness of what should next
+befall.
+
+When Shane was cross (alas! he grew crosser as he grew bored),
+Doreen's face never lost its calm. If it had, her aunt would have felt
+more easy, for it would have shown that the young lady noticed her
+cousin's moods. But no; she was kindly and polite--was not even
+shocked, as his mother was, when my lord made a boon-companion of the
+skipper of his yacht, hobbing and nobbing till both master and man
+were magnificently drunk. My lady was really displeased at this, for
+it wounded her pride that the head of the house should condescend to
+such companionship. Squireens from Letterkenny would have been better;
+but then they might have made love to the young lady, and my lady had
+settled in her mind that nobody must do that but Shane.
+
+Poor mother! How earnestly she schemed, and how little came of her
+scheming! With what angelic self-denial she endured the ghostly
+whisperings of the chairs and tables, which would keep babbling of
+that past, however much she stopped her ears. Shane made no effort to
+woo his cousin. On the contrary, her superior manners and serene airs
+provoked him, by causing him to feel how inferior he himself was to
+her. Norah never made him feel this, for she did dreadfully vulgar
+things sometimes, for which he liked her as he chid her--things
+which would have made his mother's white hair stand straight up on
+end--tricks which the colleen had learnt from her good-natured
+plebeian mamma. Now he never would have dared to chide Miss Wolfe; for
+even in her wildest escapades--when conversing with mysterious young
+men at night, or galloping helter-skelter over the country--she
+carried matters with so high a hand that even my lady herself was
+routed. Indeed Shane, though far enough off, was nearer to love than
+she was, for he felt something akin to a good wholesome hatred of his
+cousin, whilst she was only indifferent to him.
+
+The fact was, that Shane, not being fond of booklore, became sullen
+and fiercely sulky, as week followed week and he found himself a
+prisoner with no prospect of release. He had a suspicion that he had
+been trapped. Yet, while he revolted at the thought of it, his nature
+was too weak to permit of his shaking himself free without, at least,
+somebody's friendly countenance.
+
+Now and then he ventured to suggest that there really was no reason
+why they should not return to Strogue. The French fiasco had put an
+end to danger from the Continent, as well as to the pretensions of the
+United Irishmen. What was his mother's opinion? Surely she must be
+tired of being cooped up, much as she seemed to love the place--(love
+it! poor lady!)--for she never went on shore among the benighted
+Catholics, being content, as a change, to make a solemn progress on
+the lough on calm days, rowed by ten sturdy rowers. Should her son
+order the yacht to take in bag and baggage? Should he send a messenger
+on horseback, to announce their proximate arrival in Dublin?
+
+To all of these insidious proposals my lady merely opposed a quiet
+negative, producing budgets from her pocket--voluminous letters from
+Lord Clare--upon the events which were passing in the capital.
+
+According to him, affairs grew worse and worse, instead of better. The
+perverseness of his countrymen was appalling to an enlightened mind.
+There was no knowing what might happen. His dear old friend's second
+son was behaving ill. Happily, the loyal behaviour of the elder one
+would be counted as righteousness to the family, by a forgiving and
+benignant Government.
+
+'It was evident from this,' she declared, with a decision there was no
+gainsaying, 'that Shane must do as he was doing. Terence might choose
+to disgrace himself; so Shane's conduct must be all the more
+immaculate.' (My lady's voice did not falter as she discussed this
+delicate matter. Doreen merely frowned and turned away.) 'It was the
+duty of Shane, for the sake of the honour of the Glandores, to keep
+staunch to the side of Government--the side of law and order--and the
+best way of doing that was by stopping where he was.'
+
+Shane groaned in spirit, but submitted, and cursed the patriots by all
+his gods--empty-headed, crack-brained fools--who thus stood betwixt
+him and pleasure. He pined for Norah, for Cherokee suppers, Blaster
+orgies. Why, he was almost forgetting what a duel was like! His rapier
+was rusting on the wall. He became crabbed in his enforced idleness;
+pinched viciously the satin skins of his pet dogs, instead of stroking
+them; took more and more to claret; was constantly making trips to
+Letterkenny.
+
+With the exception of Lord Clare's occasional budgets, the party
+received little news, save garbled accounts from Letterkenny barracks.
+My lady insisted upon reading her own letters aloud, for the benefit
+of her niece; but that young person heeded not the chancellor's
+prosing, being serenely occupied in following the gyrations of a
+seamew, or the eccentric movements of a fishing cormorant, so that
+oft-reiterated abuse of her friends troubled her temper in nowise; and
+her aunt marvelled how it could be that the froward girl should have
+become proper and submissive, like well-behaved young ladies.
+
+Is it not singular how to some people we unaccountably and invariably
+are impelled to show only the ugly or seamy side, which forms part of
+all our characters, and how to others we, without special effort,
+always turn the best? My lady and Doreen, though they dwelt together,
+never really knew each other. At times Doreen considered my lady mad;
+always harsh and disagreeable; while it was never given to my lady to
+detect the unselfish devotion and the strong worship of all that is
+beautiful and free, and the overpowering horror of all that is unjust
+and base, which was the better phase of her niece's character.
+
+As for the newspapers, nothing could be gleaned from them. So soon as
+a paper became popular, it was acquired by money or threats (with the
+exception of Tom Emmett's, which ran its rigs unchecked), and
+patriotism gave way to padding. There was little Irish intelligence.
+The Dublin prints might as well have been edited at Sierra Leone; and
+Doreen turned with impatience from their dulness. She received few
+letters herself, for there was no one to write to her except the
+proscribed, and, of course, it would not do for treasonable
+correspondence to pass through the hands of Lord Glandore, who amused
+himself by sailing to Rathmelton for the bag. There was no convenient
+shebeen here, where notes might cunningly be dropped; no useful Biddy
+or Jug Coyle--not even a handy cabin; for, whilst the peasantry round
+Dublin were one and all ready to do anything for the cause, those of
+Ennishowen cared not about it. And she was not sorry for this. With
+the French fiasco her hopes had melted--she knew too well the
+discordant elements which composed the Irish Directory. All that had
+kept its members together had been the expectation of French
+assistance--now that that was over they would fall asunder, and
+Cinderella would sit down again amongst the ashes. And was it not
+indeed better so? The wrath of God was kindled, for some reason which
+she knew not, against unhappy motherland. Was it not better, then,
+that her sons should accept their bondage with meekness rather than
+waste their blood uselessly? Doreen's contentment sprang in the first
+instance from the nipping of despair. A moment comes to us in our sore
+trouble, when we fold our arms and murmur, 'By God's mercy there is a
+limit to the sense of feeling. We have reached that limit, and will
+feel no more;' and, strange as it may seem, with that resolve comes an
+impression of calm, which, in its way, is a sort of negative
+happiness. We have lost something, we are bereft of something which
+above all things we valued, yet we seem vaguely better for the loss.
+It is like the expression of peace which all blind faces wear, though
+their most precious treasure has been stolen--the sense of sight.
+
+Doreen shrank from probing her own feelings with regard to Terence.
+Certainly his conduct distressed her more than seemed warranted by
+circumstances. She did not love him. No, not so bad as that, happily.
+She liked him as a fond sister might like a brother many years her
+junior, with a good-humoured satisfaction when he did well--for
+instance, when he made a splendid leap out hunting, or a particularly
+felicitous shot with his gun; and a feeling of pained displeasure when
+he did ill. And she told herself that he had behaved very ill, so ill
+that the fact of his existence must be erased from the tablets of her
+memory. That he should prove to be so double-dyed a traitor, so
+despicable and dastardly a schemer, filled her soul with horror.
+
+Being a hero-worshipper, she had always despised him in a kindly
+superior way, for he was sleek and contented and commonplace, blessed
+with a good digestion; had looked on his grovelling contentment with
+pity, and is not pity contempt clothed in tenderness? To have been so
+interesting Manfred must have had a terrible digestion; while as for
+the Corsair, I know that in private he suffered from dyspepsia. Whilst
+taking it for granted that Terence was too easy-going ever to become
+truly heroic, his cousin had warmed to him on the night at the
+theatre, when his indignation induced him to take the oath. That all
+that fervour should have been craftily assumed for the purpose of
+deceit was too repulsive a subject for reflection, and she put it from
+her. Maybe if she had calmly brought her mind to bear on it, she might
+have perceived that she was hasty, and have remembered that it is not
+right to condemn criminals unheard. But she had caught a glimpse of
+two ugly facts, and withdrew her gaze from them at once without
+further inquiry.
+
+Somebody was a traitor. The delegates had been betrayed more than once
+under the cloak of friendship. My lady had told her distinctly (or in
+her haste she thought so) that Terence had done the evil deed, for the
+paltry wage of five hundred pounds. She had deemed that her cousin at
+least was honest, and before thrusting his image from her sight, had
+felt, with a soreness for which she could not account, that she would
+have been very, very glad if she could have pronounced him innocent.
+Doreen, though she diverted her attention from the painful subject,
+was wondrously interested--down in her inmost heart--in the guilt or
+innocence of Terence, and felt a feeble flutter there, whose cause, if
+she had understood it, would have disgusted her. As it was, the
+flutter in time died a natural death, and, disillusioned, she sank
+into the apathetic condition of one who drifts and is content to
+drift--a rudderless resignation which is beyond despondency--an utter
+hopelessness with which his behaviour, though she wist it not, may
+have had something to do.
+
+Not long after her arrival at Glas-aitch-e she received a letter from
+her father, in which was enclosed another, with whose seal the upright
+gentleman had refrained from tampering. It was brought to him by an
+aged crone, who extracted a solemn promise that he would not open it.
+
+'If ye promise,' she said, 'I'll believe ye, Arthur Wolfe, for ye're a
+good man, or ye would not be given so good a child.'
+
+The eccentricity of the speech pleased the attorney-general, who sent
+on the letter. It was from his godson Theobald, and Doreen recognised
+with gratitude the delicate tact which induced her father to pretend
+that he did not know from whom it came. It removed from her mind the
+portion of its load which was endured on his behalf; for the young
+hero was safe. His vessel escaped as by a miracle through the centre
+of the English fleet. Hoche too was safe. Both were to join the army
+of the Sambre and Meuse at once. He spoke no more of help from France;
+was evidently as disappointed as Miss Wolfe was. The dream was over.
+His sword belonged to the French Republic now, his uniform was that of
+a French general. He must carve a name for himself among the ranks of
+the foes of France. Doreen thanked God that his pure young life had
+not been idly thrown away. Might it be reserved for glorious deeds on
+behalf of Erin in the future? It was not likely. Better far that he
+too should have abandoned hope; for Ireland was prostrate, never to
+rise either in his lifetime or in hers. All they could do was to bear
+as humbly as they might, shading their eyes from cruel sights--waiting
+as serenely as was possible for the call to a less hateful world.
+
+So Doreen considered the seabirds and the transparent deeps, and
+patted little savages on the pate, and smiled her quiet smile, and
+made believe to be tranquilly resigned; though all the while she was
+entranced--numbed as by a spell.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                        SMITTEN WITH SERPENTS.
+
+
+Doreen was wrong. The French did not abandon so lightly their scheme
+of striking at Albion through Cinderella. They revictualled their
+fleet, made good the damage done by winds and waves, and looked
+forward to the accomplishment of their object within half a year or so
+of their first failure. To make victory doubly sure, a second fleet
+was got together in the Texel, under the command of the solid
+Dutchman, De Winter, who agreed with the Gallic Directory that
+now was the time or never; for the British navy was utterly
+disorganised--there were mutinies among the sailors at Plymouth and at
+Portsmouth, and one more serious still, under Parker, at the Nore.
+What moment could be better chosen for conveying an army to Ireland
+than one in which the mistress of the seas lay crippled; when the
+Channel--unusual circumstance--was open to the world? Wolfe Tone,
+however, did not recover his enthusiasm. The conduct of his brethren
+at home, when friendly vessels were in the offing, had been
+reprehensible--pusillanimous. Instead of rising and making a vigorous
+effort for freedom, those who pretended to be their chiefs had
+bickered and shilly-shallied among themselves--a sight to command the
+scorn of honest men--and the young hero was profoundly discouraged. He
+began to doubt his countrymen; yet would he not desert them though
+they seemed inclined to desert themselves, but joined the Texel fleet,
+under Daendels and De Winter, hoping and praying for the best. It was
+a fine fleet of fifteen sail of the line and ten frigates. If the wind
+would only blow fair--if the shoals and sandbanks of the Texel were
+once safely passed--then success was certain. For Admiral Duncan, who
+was watching, had but a few vessels under his command, and even some
+of these were called home in consequence of the Nore troubles.
+
+'Hurry then!' cried De Winter and old Daendels. 'Ship the troops, and
+let us be off.'
+
+The troops were shipped--everything was ready; but Daendels and De
+Winter whistled vainly for a fair wind. The elements, as usual, were
+on the side of England. Before, there had been too much wind; now, not
+a breath stirred the air. The sea was a dead calm. The admirals and
+generals marched up and down the deck--beautiful--in blue, with
+rainbow sashes, and hats prodigious with great plumes of the three
+colours. But no breeze moved a feather of the plumes. Exasperated,
+they descended to the cabin to while away the time with music, while
+the precious sand was dripping in the glass. De Winter had a pretty
+talent on the flute, as also had Tone, and so these two warriors
+obliged the company with duets--artistic trills and variations--what a
+strange spectacle! But by-and-by their patience oozed out of the
+flute-holes--they cursed themselves, and flung about the music in a
+passion; and indeed the clerk of the weather was vexing. June was
+merging into July--the mutinies were being put down--the golden
+opportunity was slipping visibly away; Lord Bridport cruised out with
+a fleet to watch the French at Brest; Duncan's handful became a
+squadron, swinging idly at the Texel's mouth; the soldiers,
+unaccustomed to close packing, showed signs of sickness; the
+provisions were sensibly diminishing; unless fortune should choose to
+turn her wheel with speed this expedition would be a greater fiasco
+even than the other.
+
+Meanwhile there was a panic amongst the friends of Government in
+Dublin, who knew not that the elements were fighting for them. The
+position of England was most critical. Should this new enterprise
+succeed, what chance of succour could there be from Britain? None. She
+had quite enough to do to cope with her own difficulties. There were
+forty thousand soldiers who had been drafted into Ireland by degrees;
+but could these be relied on? The Hessians were beery brutal wretches,
+who would probably turn coward at a pinch. The Scotch and English
+regiments made no secret of their abhorrence of the attitude of the
+native yeomanry. As for the militia, it was disaffected, and would
+certainly fling itself into the balance on the side of probable
+success. The people were fiercely sullen--in a dangerous mood, like
+rats prepared to spring. If the French should come and be victorious,
+they would rally like one man round the tricolour, and then woe to the
+small knot of tyrants! Not one of the ascendency party could hope to
+escape. Not a Protestant lord or lady in the land but would be hacked
+in pieces with the inevitably accompanying atrocities of internecine
+strife. It was an awful prospect. My lords, who had been blindly
+following the lead of the executive, looked uneasily towards the
+Castle. They had done as they were bidden, aided by promises and
+pensions--but of what use is a pension when your throat is cut? Were
+they to be protected from the growling rabble--these hereditary
+legislators, who had abused their trust--these amateur colonels who
+had disgraced their cloth--this venal degraded senate which was a
+byword among senates? Members of both Houses were nervous. Had
+their zeal led them perhaps too far? Would it be better to hedge a
+little--to permit the miserable cottagers to exist in peace? The Privy
+Council debated long and anxiously. Lord Camden was frightened at the
+acts which were perpetrated in his name. Mr. Speaker ventured to
+remark that a line of commendation from Mr. Pitt, and a promise of
+help in case of need, would be consoling to his coadjutors. Arthur
+Wolfe became plunged in melancholy. He was drifting on a stream which
+sickened him, towards a palpable goal which he contemplated with
+terror. Was there no escape from the horror that was looming? He
+looked to Lord Clare as to a helmsman who is responsible for the
+safety of the crew.
+
+But Lord Clare's nerves did not desert him at this crisis. His clear
+intellect told him that it was too late for hedging; now there was no
+retreat. King George hated the Catholics, and would smile on those who
+evilly entreated them. Mr. Pitt had sketched out a plan of action long
+ago, which must be carried out faithfully to the letter. Mr. Pitt had
+decided that Cinderella must be put on the rack; that her limbs must
+be given a good wrenching; and that afterwards--so soon as she should
+know by experience what agony really is--she should be tucked up
+cosily and made comfortably bedridden for the rest of her natural
+existence. It stood to reason that she would scream--so would you or I
+if thus surgically treated; but when once we grow used to it, there is
+a charm about being bedridden. People come to amuse us--to feed us
+with dainty things; they coddle us and comfort us, and we are really
+not unhappy. Therefore, although these unfortunate mutinies had
+somewhat complicated the case, it would never do to blench at so
+critical a moment. Having put his hand to the wheel, my lord
+chancellor knew that he must look steadily forward, and not backward.
+His countrymen must be taught that any _regime_ would be better than
+the one under which they groaned; the senate must be made so to commit
+itself that it could never raise its head again so long as the world
+rolled; then what would be easier than to consummate the original
+plan, to abolish the senate, and absorb Ireland by stratagem into the
+body of a complete British empire--one and indivisible?
+
+So wrote the chancellor to Mr. Pitt, who replied in courteous
+language; for his chief puppet was jumping admirably: he would soon be
+battered and worn out--would then have to be replaced by another. But
+the doll was not past service yet--it was still gay and bright with
+paint; was still capable of dancing: so Mr. Pitt wrote civil letters
+to Lord Clare, bidding him not to stick at trifles. Thus supported,
+Lord Clare spoke clearly at the Council Board. Desperate diseases must
+be met with desperate remedies, he said. Arthegal, figure of justice
+in the Faery Queen, is armed with an iron flail. The people are
+furious, are they? Then they must be made more furious still. When you
+want to tame a lion do you pat him? No, or he would rend you. You
+strike him with whips--touch him with red-hot irons. To be governed he
+must be ruled by fear; and so is it with the people of this island.
+Having gone as far as we have, it will never do to show that we're
+afraid of them. They must be ground down--must be rendered so passive
+by exhaustion that, French or no French, they will be too weak to do
+much harm. In the first place we'll arrest those lads again who have
+been playing the fool too long. We will make a plunge at the leaders,
+so that if the Gauls should happen to arrive, they will find nobody in
+authority to co-operate with them.
+
+Lord Camden endorsed these sentiments, mumbling platitudes about
+self-preservation; that it has unpleasant duties, but that many
+unpleasant things have to be done, etc., etc., and the council broke
+up; my Lord Clare strutting forth to give his orders, Arthur Wolfe
+moving slowly homeward with a worn and troubled face. Then by deft
+hints and nods and winks, my Lord Clare brought those who served him
+to know what was expected of them. He rallied the members of the
+Houses on their nervousness.
+
+'You wear his Majesty's uniform, my lords and gentlemen,' he said. 'I
+presume you would not wish to be mere carpet-knights. The Irish always
+were good fighters. You will defend the King's rights if it comes to a
+brush with the rabble?' He gave the squireens to understand that they
+were fine jovial fellows, with a strong sense of humour and a subtle
+appreciation of a practical joke. 'Now that recent invention of
+yours,' he observed airily, 'of wringing confession from a man by
+hanging him, then cutting him down before his soul has had time to
+escape, is vastly droll!'
+
+Thereupon the jolly boys, determined to win yet further commendation,
+and delighted to give vent unrestrained to the native brutality of
+uneducated man, set their wits to work and gave birth to other
+inventions. We know that a demand invariably creates a supply. The
+gentlemen of the yeomanry vied one with the other in cultivation of
+their inventive faculty and the result was an array of practical
+jokes, novel and splendid indeed! Even the great French reign of
+terror was thrown into the shade. The French, as we all know, are not
+inventive or witty. A guillotine--a constant flow of blood and falling
+heads; a boat with a trap-door to drown people by the dozen--amusing
+rather for a minute, then nauseously dull and monotonous. The jolly
+Irish boys were much wittier than this, and more ingenious; and yet,
+by one of the strange chances of history, people shudder still over
+Robespierre and Marat and their doings, and are absolutely careless
+and ignorant as to what was done at home not ninety years ago.
+
+Lady Camden grew terrified at reports which reached her ears. Lord
+Camden shut himself up at the Viceregal Lodge, and promenaded the
+Ph[oe]nix Park, round which was a protecting military cordon. Lords
+and ladies left Dublin furtively. Some for England--some for their
+family acres in the far west; impelled--some by fear--some by the
+promptings of the chancellor--a few only by a sense of duty to their
+tenantry.
+
+A certain earl set up a triangle in his barrack-yard, and was never
+weary of flaying the backs of the neighbouring peasants. To such
+lengths went he and his, that an English colonel, also quartered
+there, was forced to expostulate with his lordship, to the chagrin of
+the latter. My Lord Downshire retired to his hills, and kept his
+regiment within bounds. Indeed, he and my Lord Powerscourt were
+severely rebuked by the chancellor--the latter especially; for he
+dared to say that his tenants had been armed at his own expense for
+the protection of property, not for the commission of murders--upon
+which the chancellor groaned aloud; for this was a malignant example
+to others. My Lord Powerscourt, however, was not to be persuaded. He
+locked up his grand house in Dublin, and revisited it no more until
+the legislative struggle took place which concluded the century.
+
+Nothing could be more dismal than the Irish capital now. There was a
+species of curfew at sunset, after which few ventured in the street.
+Major Sirr and his myrmidons glided hither and thither on their
+devilish errand of cajoling men to their destruction. It was the
+business of these miscreants to provide victims for the lash by any
+means. Bands of drunken yeomanry awoke the midnight echoes with their
+shouting as they returned from breaking into a dwelling, or from
+flogging victims in the riding-school. For Claudius Beresford's
+riding-school had been turned by one of the practical jokes into a
+torture-chamber, where men, kidnapped on mere suspicion, were dragged
+and tied up, and lacerated without mercy night and day; whilst
+scurrying passers-by fled onward with their fingers in their ears.
+Some died under the lash--some swooned, to wake up idiots
+afterwards--some recovered, to wear till death livid welts upon their
+backs and inextinguishable hatred in their hearts.
+
+My Lady Camden, growing more and more apprehensive--for her lord's
+babble was incoherent--resolved to go down into the city and see for
+herself what passed there. She drove her four ponies along Ormond
+Quay, which was as deserted as if the town were plague-stricken; they
+swerved, and well-nigh upset her ladyship, for a single naked figure
+came tearing round a corner with wild yells and windmill arms, who,
+rushing past, flung himself over the parapet into the Liffey.
+Helter-skelter behind him came the hounds--in scarlet coats and
+pipe-clayed cross-belts--but the lady-lieutenant saw them not. The
+agonised victim of a joke wore a pitched cap upon his head, which was
+set ablaze and was grilling his living brains. This pleasantry was
+spoiled, for the wretch had presence of mind left to seek oblivion in
+the water. But another joke succeeded, which bade fair to end badly
+for the jokers. The Viceroy's lady lay back in a dead faint. Her
+ponies galloped along the street with her, their reins catching round
+their legs. The joke might have ended in the breaking of her
+excellency's precious neck. As soon as possible after this episode,
+she retired to England, and my Lord Clare made capital out of the
+circumstance. Were not the people behaving disreputably, when even the
+wife of the King's representative had thought it necessary to take
+refuge in flight? There had been, he averred, a new project to storm
+Kilmainham and set the criminals at liberty. To what a horrid nation
+was it his destiny to belong!
+
+It is not surprising that at this juncture he should have found an
+annoying stumbling-block in Curran. That worthy could do nothing but
+protest; but people who protest can make themselves very disagreeable,
+especially if they chance to peer further than the mob, and choose to
+tell what they see. Cassandra was only a mad woman, but we all know
+how unpleasant she could make herself. Curran had a clear head, a
+sharp wit, a biting tongue, and he exercised all three in the House of
+Commons, much to Lord Clare's displeasure. Now we have all learned
+that as we mount the rungs of the social ladder, society bows more and
+more before conventionality. Such a thing is 'vulgar'--such another
+'low;' why or wherefore nobody can tell, though it probably arises
+from the fact that the more rarified the atmosphere, the more
+artificial become those who breathe it, the less liable to think for
+themselves, the more ready to lean on others' crutches, the more
+likely to be shocked at the enunciation of new problems, which they
+are too idle or too prejudiced or too stupid or too sluggish to
+trouble about sifting for themselves. It might be taken for granted
+that the senators of both Houses were aware--down in their
+soul-caves--how base was their line of conduct. But for the sake of
+their own interest, they had agreed to fence themselves about with a
+quickset of make-belief, for the concealment of their shame and the
+protection of their phantom-honour. It was a very vexatious thing,
+then, for a man who was gifted with an epigrammatic way of
+crystallising truths to make a snuffy little Solomon Eagle of
+himself--to persist in uncovering cancers which were decorously
+sheeted over, to unveil sores which were neatly trimmed about with
+sham roses.
+
+Lord Clare, in his wrath, resolved to make another attempt to crush
+the viper. He set a specially rowdy band of jokers at free quarters at
+the Priory. They rollicked about, frightened Sara out of her wits,
+drank the lawyer's best whisky; but that vexed him not, for he was
+incorrigibly hospitable. He locked himself into his bedroom with his
+child, and droned out, to soothe her, a fantasia on the violoncello.
+It may possibly have soothed Sara (though she was in awful trepidation
+lest young Robert should ride up and perceive how she was insulted),
+but it most certainly succeeded in irritating the jovial sons of Mars
+in the dining-parlour below. They yelled to Curran to come forth. He
+came. They took his violoncello and smashed it into bits. Sara quailed
+lest her father's choler should outstrip his reason; but he only
+murmured:
+
+'They are actors, playing parts which are set down for them;' and
+addressing them, said, with scorching contempt: 'Sirs, you are sent
+here to insult, under his own roof, a man old enough to be your
+parent, and a young lady whose health is delicate. I sorrow to think
+that you are Irish, and that the fine cloth you wear should not
+exclusively be used by gentlemen.' Then, passing through their midst,
+he saddled his nag, and, trotting into town, related his story to his
+friend Arthur Wolfe.
+
+The attorney-general was terribly distressed. This stream, on whose
+bosom he had elected to sail, was taking him--whither? He flew to Ely
+Place, scolded the chancellor in terms which made the autocrat
+stare--in such terms of burning reproach that the latter saw he had
+made a blunder; that he had outstripped prudence, and sulkily signed
+the order to remove the obnoxious soldiery.
+
+But he was not to be turned from his purpose by any maundering
+sentimentality on the part of the attorney-general. It was necessary,
+was it, to leave Mr. Curran alone? That was a pity, but all the more
+reason for a display of energy in another quarter. In pursuance of his
+determination, so sweetly expressed in metaphor, to tame the lion with
+blows and hot irons, Lord Clare proceeded, as chancellor of the
+University, to hold a visitation there, in order publicly to deplore
+the doings of the undergraduates.
+
+The worthy gentleman was pained, he said. Alma Mater had taken the
+fell disease, the contagious epidemic (there could be no doubt about
+it), the only remedy against the spread of which was cautery. A number
+of students were ignominiously expelled; foremost amongst them Robert
+Emmett, (who was conspicuous for a tendency to inconvenient argument,)
+although his tutor, Mr. Graves, pleaded hard for him. Robert, filled
+with glee, rushed off to his brother's office to tell the glorious
+news--that he, boy though he were, had been deemed worthy of the
+martyr's crown. But when he reached the place he found that there were
+to be other martyrs besides himself. For the second time the house of
+his brother Tom was attacked and gutted. As he turned into the street,
+the presses were being pitched out of window, the types strewn in the
+mire, the tables and office-stools broken up to make a bonfire.
+Knitting his brows, he crossed his arms and stood watching the
+yeomanry at play; then wheeling about, he made the best of his way to
+Cutpurse Row, where, in the cellar of a crazy tenement, the patriots
+were accustomed to assemble, instead of riding out to the 'Irish
+Slave,' as they used more warily to do, before the destruction of the
+shebeen.
+
+Russell, Bond, Dease, and others were there, delegates of the society
+for Dublin and its environs. Robert, looking round, perceived Cassidy
+fidgeting in a corner. Terence was not present. Cassidy observed this,
+and growled with disappointment between his teeth.
+
+Tom Emmett was finishing a speech, wherein he declared to his audience
+that his opinions were changed. The French were coming; were, indeed,
+expected hourly. But it would not do to wait for them, as on a late
+disastrous occasion; a blow must be struck, a heavy and united blow.
+If the French came to follow it up, so much the better. The shocking
+behaviour of the friends of Government was becoming hourly more
+unbearable; the outrages committed by soldiers at free-quarters daily
+more flagrant and atrocious. He spoke with Irish hyperbole and a
+burning fervour of conviction which just suited the temper of his
+hearers.
+
+'We must heed no more,' he cried, 'the glare of hired soldiery or
+aristocratic yeomanry. War, and war alone, must occupy every mind and
+every hand in Ireland, till its oppressed soil be purged of all its
+enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen! vengeance on your oppressors! Remember
+the crimes of years! Remember their burnings, their torturings, their
+legal murders! Remember Orr!'
+
+At the end of a long peroration he paused for breath; and Cassidy, who
+was evidently anxious to 'catch the speaker's eye,' trolled forth in
+his rich voice the words which were becoming familiar to every one's
+lips:
+
+
+                    '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!'
+
+
+All present took up the chorus, and looked towards the giants as
+though waiting for the next verse; but he raised his hand for silence,
+and said:
+
+'Bedad, ye're right, friends. The sword's the only thing for poor Pat.
+But be careful now. Where's the young lordling who makes himself so
+busy?'
+
+'Councillor Crosbie should have been here,' returned a delegate.
+'Maybe he's bin detained.'
+
+Cassidy smiled a smile of meaning, and leisurely surveying the knot of
+men before him, replied with a dry cough:
+
+'Maybe he has! Let's hope it's upon honest business. I've come here to
+give ye a word of warning, a friendly hint I gleaned up at the Castle.
+I'd advise none of yez to go back to their own homes this day.'
+
+'Why? Speak out, man. We are all friends here,' said Tom Emmett,
+calmly.
+
+'Becase ye'll chance to find visitors if you do,' was the blunt
+rejoinder. 'Now I'm off.'
+
+Robert Emmett eagerly corroborated the giant's hint. He had seen the
+soldiery but now in his brother's house. It was likely that if one was
+attacked, the dwellings of the rest would likewise receive a visit. It
+would never do for the prime movers in the conspiracy all to be
+trapped. Perhaps it was a false alarm, though. At Tom Emmett's a
+seditious print was published, which it was a wonder had been spared
+so long. The case of the delegates was different, for strict secrecy
+had been maintained concerning them. None save the members themselves
+knew who formed the central committee. Government spies had no means
+of knowing their names. In this at least they were cautious. That they
+had all taken the oath, was neither here nor there. If Government
+intended of a sudden to lay hands upon every Irishman who had taken
+the oath, they would do well to follow Herod's example at once, and
+order a general massacre. No, no. It was absolutely impossible that
+either my Lords Clare or Camden, or Secretary Cooke, could possibly
+know who all the leading spirits were by whose agency the vast machine
+of conspiracy was set in motion. Tom Emmett must disappear for a
+while. His paper put him too much _en evidence_. It was good of
+faithful Cassidy to keep his ears open. Blunderer though he was, and
+lamentable as had more than once been the fruit of his blundering, yet
+was he now and then most useful, and deserved a special vote of thanks
+from the Directory, which then and there they passed on him.
+
+Apparently he was modest as well as virtuous, for in the cackle which
+followed his announcement he departed, his flat face aglow, his eyes
+twinkling with satisfaction at their compliments.
+
+'So Emmett's paper was to be stopped at last,' they said one to
+another. 'The only marvel was that it should have been permitted so
+prolonged an existence. The last mouth which had lifted up its voice
+to speak the truth was to be gagged. It was indeed time to draw the
+sword.
+
+Then Robert proudly told of his expulsion from Alma Mater; of my Lord
+Clare's overbearing mien at the visitation; of the many warm hands
+which had gripped his, as, disgraced but proud, he quitted the
+quadrangle.
+
+Tom, his eye kindling with emotion, laid his hand upon his younger
+brother's head.
+
+'Robert,' he said, 'what e'er betide, if, in the conflict which is
+imminent, we two be separated, the one who survives will be proud of
+him who's fallen. We shall conquer. Erin shall be free! But many must
+first lay down their lives for her! I pray God that it may be His
+pleasure to spare yours!'
+
+Robert turned white, though his heart was stout. He was brave with the
+highest of all bravery, for though the sight of a cut finger made him
+ill, yet was he determined now to face the sea of blood, if need were,
+without blenching. His was a higher courage than that common one which
+looks on danger without fear. He knew that in action he should be in
+mortal dread; but he knew too that, upheld by duty, he would
+nevertheless be always in the van. A thought crossed his mind which
+brought with it a momentary tremor. When the fiery cross was at last
+lighted--when the hands of kinsmen were at each other's throats--when
+Dublin was burning--her gutters running red--what would be the fate of
+delicate sensitive natures like that of Sara--of sweet, pale Sara
+Curran, round whose form his heart-strings were softly wrapping
+themselves? What if he were to fall? what if fortune should not smile
+upon the patriots? He was quite aware that Heaven frequently delights
+in persecuting those who do well, and showering favours on the most
+undeserving, almost offering a premium for evildoing. Therefore,
+however just the cause of Erin, it was possible that her probation was
+not over--in such a case what would become of Sara, and such as her?
+Dear gentle Primrose! He thrust the unwelcome thought aside. There
+were enough lugubrious subjects which might not be escaped, without
+wilfully conjuring up baleful images. He returned the pressure of his
+brother's hand, and with ardent eyes upraised, broke out into song
+once more, in which all joined solemnly, as though offering up a
+war-hymn:
+
+
+             'What shelter's right? The sword!
+              What makes it might? The sword!
+              What strikes the crown of tyrants down--
+              And answers with its flash the frown?
+                                          The sword!'
+
+
+Truly there must have been something ill-omened about this special
+hymn. For the second time it served to cloak the advancing footsteps
+of the enemy. For the second time it was interrupted by the rap of the
+same unfriendly fingers.
+
+Somebody was knocking--somebody gave the password 'Mr. Green.' It must
+be Terence. He had promised to come, in order that a military scheme
+of his might be discussed; one of which Emmett approved highly, though
+stupid Cassidy had affected to laugh at it. Certainly it must be
+Terence, who bade fair to become the leader they had all been sighing
+for so long in vain. Why did not some one run and open the door? It is
+but poor manners to keep a gentleman waiting in the street. Robert was
+hastening to do so--for he loved Terence dearly--when he was stopped
+by the old woman who kept the house.
+
+'Whisht! Master Robert, darlint,' she said in a terrified whisper.
+'Sure, I looked from the garret window and saw the glint of bayonets.
+For the love of the Holy Mother have a care!'
+
+Swiftly the boy climbed the stairs and looked out. The hag's aged eyes
+had not deceived her. The street was surrounded by a cordon of
+soldiers, who stopped passengers at either end at the bayonet's point.
+A guard of yeomanry was stationed at the front door; another at the
+private back-entrance, which was accessible by a tortuous passage into
+a side-street. A short person with hooked beak, eyes too close
+together, shaded by brows which met in a tuft over his nose, was
+knocking. It was Major Sirr. How could he know of this back-entrance?
+How did he know that the watchword was 'Mr. Green'? There was of a
+surety hideous treachery somewhere!
+
+Robert returned to his comrades and told them who was outside. Then
+Cassidy had been muddleheaded once again! The news he had brought was
+worse than none, for it was misleading. Instead of bidding them escape
+forthwith from Cutpurse Row, he had told them to avoid their homes.
+The houses was surrounded. _The secret back entrance upon which they
+relied was known_. Who was the Judas?
+
+Having revealed so much, how much more might he not reveal? With
+troubled brain and clouded eye Tom Emmett looked on one and then
+another of the haggard faces before him.
+
+The knocking continued. Some step must be taken. Happily half a dozen
+of the delegates were absent. The town-major might smoke out the nest.
+Some of the hornets were abroad. This was a mercy. The entire brood
+would not be taken. Who were the absent ones? Terence! Tom Emmett
+wrung his hands together as the light broke on him. How blind! It was
+to him Cassidy had vaguely pointed. What a snake in the grass, with
+his clever military plan and pinchbeck enthusiasm! Tom remembered now
+the behaviour of Miss Wolfe to her cousin at the ball. Her veiled
+warnings. She was as true as steel. Alas! She could aid them no longer
+with her counsels. She had seen through her cousin, and, her family
+feeling coming into jarring juxtaposition with her devotion to unhappy
+Erin, had retired from the field, too deeply wounded to take any
+further part in the affray. Yes! It must be Councillor Crosbie who was
+the Judas. Tom Emmett saw it now that it was too late. In a few hasty
+words he conveyed his impression to his brother.
+
+Robert opened his mouth indignantly to defend the councillor; but he
+only sighed, for, from whatever side the treachery came, it was
+soul-wearing. His forebodings of a few minutes since crowded up again
+like visions in a nightmare. A pitfall had been cunningly prepared for
+the patriots to their undoing. A few were yet abroad who might take a
+responsible part, but this was a withering blow. Treachery? Of course
+there was. It was altogether a bewildering occupation to pass trusted
+characters and names in mental review with an eye to the detection of
+the traitor. That there was a traitor there could now be no doubt, but
+Robert swore to himself with sturdy faith, that, be he whom he might,
+his name was not Terence Crosbie!
+
+The knocking became louder--more peremptory. There was no escape.
+There was nothing for it but submission. With dry lustrous eyes Tom
+Emmett bade his brother go and open the door.
+
+There would be a trial--a court-martial. Vain mockery! Would the
+result be execution--or lifelong servitude--or banishment? The
+chief of the Irish Directory felt the humbling conviction that he was
+not fit for his post. Like Phaeton he had leapt into the sun-chariot.
+He had been fooled and toyed with. The precious deposit whose
+care he had presumptuously accepted was shattered through his
+fault--yes--certainly through his fault. He should have been more
+cautious in accepting Crosbie's overtures. Precious lives would now be
+sacrificed--the cause gravely compromised, if not altogether ruined.
+Execution--lifelong servitude? How wildly did Tom Emmett long at this
+moment for the former--how gladly would he have hugged the rope--how
+joyfully would he even have walked to the riding-school where
+Beresford and his fellow-devils carried on their fiendish work! Any
+personal pain--the more poignant the more welcome! Anything which
+might rouse the hapless patriot from the grinding weight which crushed
+him now, as prone on his face he lay sobbing on a form.
+
+Many an encouraging hand was laid upon his shoulder.
+
+'Cheer up, man! we're in the same boat,' the delegates murmured. 'It's
+the chance of war--of an ignoble war waged in the dark against honest
+men by an ignoble adversary. Fortune is cruel to us; but we'll snap
+our fingers in her face. If we are to die, let us die as men--not in
+tears like women. Rouse up, Tom! rouse up, boy! Put on a good front.
+Open the door, Robert. If they have learned to probe thus deeply in
+our secrets, they will know more--enough to hang us every one. There's
+no good in battling with them.'
+
+Major Sirr entered, and saluted his victims with one of the elaborate
+military evolutions which had become the vogue. Tom Emmett started
+from the form, and held himself erect. A paper caught his eyes. He
+clutched and tore it into fragments.
+
+'Gentlemen, you are my prisoners!' Major Sirr said, with a portentous
+sword-wave. 'It's no good resisting. I'm glad to see you know better
+than to resist. Here is my warrant--made out in all your names. We
+will go, if you please, in the first instance to Castle-yard; then to
+Kilmainham, where you'll meet your friends.' He smiled at Tom Emmett
+with a sinister smile, and stirred the fluttering fragments of paper
+with his swordpoint. 'What's this?' he said, the tuft of eyebrows
+wrinkling down his nose. 'I know what it is--a list of your precious
+society, I dare say. Ye're mighty fond of waging war on paper,
+gentlemen! Look here now! All we want to know of ye we do know--or
+could speedily learn. I might have those bits picked up and glued
+together. But I won't, for 'tisn't worth my while. There! Come,
+gentlemen, march! Dease--where's Dease? I saw him but now. We mustn't
+lose him, for he's a docthor, and Kilmainham's terrible full of sick!
+Dease, where are yez? I have him on the list.'
+
+But the delegate who answered to the name of Dease had no intention of
+visiting Kilmainham. Upon the first entrance of Sirr, he had withdrawn
+in the confusion to an upper room, and making use of his surgical
+knowledge, had severed the femoral artery. When the soldiers found him
+he was dying; which aggravated Sirr no little, who was proud of his
+masterly treatment of the hornet's nest.
+
+'Come, put out a nimble leg!' he cried crossly. 'We've parleyed too
+long. To business! to business!'
+
+Between a double file of soldiers the delegates were marched off, down
+several streets, to Castle-yard, while the populace looked on,
+dull-browed. They attempted no rescue. It is probable that few
+realised what band it was which was being thus openly conducted to its
+fate (many such bands passed along Dublin streets)--that few were
+aware that in this little knot were centred the hopes of deliverance
+for which all were praying.
+
+They were gone. Only Robert Emmett and Major Sirr were left behind.
+
+'Am I to go with you? I will go,' Robert said.
+
+The major looked at him, and gave way to a sepulchral cachinnation.
+Then by his action he belied the language he had used just now. With
+the greatest care and deliberation he stooped and picked up the torn
+scraps of paper. When they were bestowed to his satisfaction in a
+wallet, he looked at Robert and laughed again, wrinkling his sinister
+eyebrow tuft:
+
+'Adieu, my lad! and good luck!' he grunted. 'No, no! We don't want you
+yet, my little cockatrice! All in good time--when ye're fledged!
+Good-bye! or rather _au revoir!_'
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                    MR. CURRAN LEAVES PARLIAMENT.
+
+
+Major Sirr's ill-timed mirth rankled in Robert's bosom. He was not
+worth taking, then! Yet Lord Clare had deemed him dangerous enough to
+justify expulsion from Alma Mater. Lord Clare. What did he intend
+doing with this last haul of the net? That document which Sirr had
+picked up so carefully would provide him with such a list of country
+members as would satisfy for awhile even his rapacious gullet.
+
+Would he hang them all, or be content, for the present, to cage them
+as he did before? No. Times were changed since then. He was
+deliberately scourging the land with scorpions. No mercy might be
+expected at his hands. Was Tom Emmett to be hanged? Was he to suffer
+an ignominious death before he had had time to strike a blow for
+motherland? That would be too hard. It must be prevented somehow. It
+was providential that the younger brother should not have been
+kidnapped too. It was a miraculous intervention, for duty shone clear
+before him. He must obtain the release of the patriots, even if to do
+so he should have to kneel at King George's feet. Intercession must be
+made. At the thought the lad's courage rose. He would go and consult
+Curran on the subject.
+
+As he hurried on down Dame Street, he strove to comb his tangled
+thoughts into some symmetry. Who could the Judas be who wore his mask
+so deftly? Sirr's Battalion of Testimony was spreading to huge
+proportions; the Staghouse by Kilmainham, where the wolves dwelt,
+could scarcely hold them now. Doubtless there was a secret service as
+well as this public one so insolently flaunted.
+
+'Of whom does it consist?' Robert kept asking himself. 'Of whom? The
+friends of our hearts--the wives of our bosoms. It is awful to think
+how, when a country is well stirred up, the mud will rise to the
+surface!' Then, ruminating as he went, he thought of Terence, and
+murmured mournfully, 'Could it be he? I pray not, for I love him as a
+brother!'
+
+A shadow lay stretched before him. With a shudder he turned aside to
+avoid the effigy of a good man, who by a singular caprice of history
+has been elected high-priest of a mean purblindness, which he above
+all others would himself have most abhorred. William III.'s effigy, in
+its incongruous classical costume, is no whit more contemptible than
+some of his admirers have tried to make his character. But such is the
+way of the world. We set up a pole, and drape it with our own
+sentiments, then kneel down to worship, crying, 'How perfect is our
+idol!' Of course it is; for the drapery is woven, as a spider's web
+is, from out of our own bowels; what can be so perfect as that we have
+ourselves created, however loosely it may hang on the support we have
+selected to bear it?
+
+Turning away from the Juggernaut of Orangeism, Robert beheld the
+subject of his thoughts, and the man of whom he was in search. Mr.
+Curran and his ex-junior were standing in earnest talk under the
+colonnade of the senate-house. The rush of events had changed both
+men even in their externals. The older one seemed shrunken and
+grey-skinned. His unkempt elf-locks were more wild, his uncleanly
+linen more disordered, his eye more bright and restless, than of yore.
+
+Those who knew him well perceived that he was torn in sunder by two
+antagonistic selves. He yearned in secret for the success of the
+popular movement; he peered out anxiously for the first glimmering
+white sail in the offing; his soul bled for his country's misery; he
+longed to know precisely the patriot leaders' plan, that his keen
+brain might advise upon it--yet he railed at and derided those very
+leaders to their faces, spoke scoffingly of France, declared that all
+was hopeless; snapped up any incautious delegate who spoke to him too
+openly of the society.
+
+The reason for his odd conduct is obvious. His judicial mind--expert
+in weighing evidence--had seen long ago that the combatants were
+ill-matched--that it was Honesty fighting against Guile. It was
+possible--just possible--that Heaven for once would change its usual
+tactics, and permit Honesty to come off the conqueror. It was
+possible--but oh, how improbable! Curran saw that so soon as Honesty
+had tumbled into the Slough of Despond, the firm grasp of a friend who
+was a paradox would be needed to pull him out; of one who should be
+protected by the glamour of his own virtue against the dagger of the
+murderer, even as medieval saints are mythically supposed to have been
+protected against the torments of the caldron and the wheel. Such a
+peculiar and delicate position Curran actually occupied.
+
+As we have seen, he remained in close friendship with Emmett and the
+rest, and also with such important people in the opposite camp as the
+Glandores, without the faintest suspicion of treachery falling on him.
+He fearlessly rose and poured forth such denunciations against the
+executive in parliament, as would have brought any other man to
+Kilmainham and its minuet. But for all that, the informer dared not
+point his finger at him; even Lord Clare was convinced that he must be
+endured or bought--not browbeaten.
+
+Once or twice he had been hustled in the street, but had curbed his
+peppery nature by a sublime effort. His life was of more value to his
+country than that of many drunken rufflers. He quietly refused to
+fight now with any such paltry ruffians.
+
+Councillor Crosbie was more altered than his chief; the expression of
+his face was changed. As Robert surveyed it he endured the compunction
+of remorse, in that for an instant he had doubted him. If Doreen had
+not been perversely haughty, she could not have accepted her aunt's
+garbled tale so readily. But then her spirit was wrung awry by
+long-continued crooning over wrongs; and being unhealthily sensitive,
+was predisposed to look out for evil. She had seen so much trouble
+that she had come to believe there could be nothing else in store.
+
+Terence's face had lost the open laugh of careless _bonhomie_ which
+had vexed her--which was so well suited to its Irish cast of
+features--by which I do not mean the confined forehead and coarsely
+gaping mouth, which make many of our countrymen so uncomely--but the
+highly-coloured, cheery face, with ruddy lips, which when they are
+parted display a row of dazzling teeth. His eye, whose unruly dancing
+defied fate, was strangely at variance now with the moody brow, till
+lately so unwrinkled; while a reckless swagger, which was a new
+characteristic, spoke of a bitterness and chafing defiance which a
+green tabinet necktie, with bows ostentatively displayed, served but
+further to accentuate. He stood in earnest converse with Mr. Curran,
+who sourly shook his head. Just out of earshot faithful Phil leaned
+against the wall, firing-iron in hand, watching his master in his
+dog-like fashion--sporting also, in humble imitation, a rag of green
+about his neck.
+
+Rapidly Robert unfolded his budget. The visitation at Trinity was mere
+child's play; not so this wholesale arrest. Even Curran forgot his
+customary caution, and put quick sharp questions as his face grew
+greyer. Emmett, Russell, Bond, were in prison, then. They would be
+tried--how? The law courts were closed and silent. By court-martial?
+Hardly. Lord Clare was too clever for that. Given the heads of a
+conspiracy who had grievously compromised themselves, he would of
+course get up a pompous series of mock state trials, with 'juries of
+the right sort' to bring the pageant to a predetermined end, and so
+justify and whitewash his arbitrary acts in the world's eyes. This was
+what he would do.
+
+'The patriots should be defended!' Curran swore. He would defend them
+himself, no matter at what personal risk; in spite of any amount of
+threatening. The bursts of eloquence which before now had startled his
+audience to conviction, should be nothing to the burning words by
+which he would wring these unselfish lives from the jaws of death.
+
+It was for this that he had rested on his oars so long. He had
+defended many of the proscribed with varying success. But these were
+the chiefs, the head and front of the offending. He felt that the
+power was there, a precious gift direct from God. He would blast the
+witness, whoever he might be, as he sat upon the table, till even a
+jury of the right sort would not dare to convict upon his evidence; he
+would paint in vivid colours what he and his fellows were--wretches
+who, buried as men, had slept in the tomb till their hearts festered
+and dissolved--to be dug up thereafter as informers.
+
+He bade Robert be of good cheer, and listened, with a kindly arm about
+the lad's neck, to his project of going to England. He would go to the
+fountain-head, vowed Robert, for no mercy could be expected here; he
+would waylay Mr. Pitt himself--would force himself into the Royal
+presence--would compel England to listen to a recital of her sister's
+tribulations. The English could not know what was going forward--the
+King, whom people dubbed good King George, could not know of it. If he
+did, he was a hypocrite who ought to be unmasked--but of course he did
+not. The ardent lad quivered with excitement and noble fervour, while
+the little lawyer felt himself invaded by pity. The poor boy persisted
+in believing that Right was sure to triumph. He believed that his
+story would rouse the English to interference--Mr. Pitt to contrition
+for excessive sinfulness--that it would melt like snow the prejudices
+of the most ignorant and pigheaded monarch who ever occupied a throne.
+Poor lad! In spite of all he saw, his illusions had not yet been taken
+from him. Some people require an operation with pincers. The dreadful
+moment had yet to come when he would wake up and know with certainty
+that his doll's inside was bran.
+
+'My boy,' the lawyer said, 'the impulse is excellent. Go, and prosper,
+if the Fates will it so. To tell the truth, I believe more in my
+powers of oratory here than yours over yonder. I ought to have special
+interest in you,' he pursued, with a sad smile, 'though it's to the
+lowering of my own conceit. I made the discovery this morning--what
+owls we old fogies are!--that it is not for the sake of my brilliant
+conversation that you young butterflies choose to flutter about the
+Priory. Upon my word, I used to think it was, and that your taste was
+vastly fine.'
+
+Robert's face assumed a guilty hue, and he lowered his eyes.
+
+'Nay--don't blush, man!' returned the elder, whilst Terence looked
+from one to the other curiously. 'When the spring comes, birds will
+mate even on battle-fields! The perseverance of nature, despite
+obstacles, is incorrigible! Would ye believe it, Terence? A girl to
+whom I'm a bit partial flung herself into my arms this very morning
+with shrieks, declaring that if all a foolish servant told her was
+true, and Ireland doomed to be a slaughter-house, one crathur at least
+must be saved--who was not her papa! She expects me, I suppose, to
+build an ark for this new deluge, and take in of every animal two
+after his kind.'
+
+'Oh, sir!' Robert murmured timidly. 'If things go well----'
+
+'No, sir,' returned Curran, with sudden roughness. 'Things aren't like
+to go well. Do not deceive yourself or her. You, for one, are nearer
+to the gallows than the bridal bed! When Ireland is free, when my lord
+chancellor is higher even than he is--as high as Haman--then maybe
+we'll talk of such follies, but not till then. Meanwhile, mark you,
+the gates of the Priory open to you no more. There shall be no more
+dangling after my Primrose till the crisis is over, for better or for
+worse. Get ye gone, now, and good luck betide ye! There must be a
+power of it somewhere, for here we've got ne'er a scrap.'
+
+Young Robert did as he determined; and so for awhile we shall not look
+on him. In London he was kept dallying by a judicious diet of delusive
+hopes in accordance with a suggestion from the Irish chancellor, who
+wished him kept well in tow, lest haply he might turn out useful
+later. Amuse this baby brand, he wrote; manage him cleverly, and lull
+him for a few months to sleep.
+
+Sara saw him no more. He came no more to the Priory, and she was glad
+of it. The child was dazed and bewildered by the reports which reached
+her through the servants. She made no pretence of comprehending
+politics. She only knew that so long as Robert remained away, he would
+be kept safe out of the perilous vortex. She had faith in her father's
+genius, and in his power, if need were, to protect both himself and
+her; yet woke she up sometimes in the night with a cry, having dreamed
+that misfortune had befallen Robert. She could not shake off a
+foreboding that, young and excitable as he was, he would entangle
+himself in the toils; and so it was with a whimsical thankfulness that
+she heard that he whom she worshipped was gone, and joyfully counted
+the months of his absence.
+
+When Robert broke in upon the converse under the colonnade, Master
+Phil did not at first take heed of him, for that worthy, who was
+always ready to touch his hunting-cap with good-humour to any of his
+master's friends, was in rueful contemplation of a fact which had
+lately come to his knowledge--namely, that red-haired Biddy was not
+true to him--that the colleen who had enthralled his affections was
+sadly misbehaving herself among the soldiery. Honest Phil was not
+specially quick-witted, yet he could put two and two together after a
+clumsy fashion, and he saw darkly with sorrow that the carroty-polled
+virgin could scarcely have been ever true if she could thus brazenly
+go over to the enemy. He revolved the facts in his mind that she it
+was who had been Miss Wolfe's post-office--that it was she who with
+him had carried out the pike-packing in the armoury, which had so
+oddly been discovered; that she it was who had wormed secrets out of
+him--the honest but incautious youth--which she might or might not
+hold _in terrorem_ now over the heads of those whom he loved best.
+There was but too much proof of the frail fair one's delinquency. When
+the Irish Slave was sacked, she had rushed yelping to the Little
+House, giving tongue with such vociferous howls that two soldiers
+speedily pursued and brought her back, and finally carried her off
+kicking--a special prize. For a long while her disconsolate adorer
+(when not on duty in surveillance over his master) searched high and
+low for her. Had anybody beheld a beautiful creature with ruddy locks
+of gold?--to see which would be to adore for ever--and so forth.
+
+But as time went on, his master's self-appointed duties became so
+engrossing and erratic that the servant was fain to sacrifice his
+private interests altogether for the nonce, trusting that some day the
+fair creature would turn up entrancingly spotless--constant to her
+swain. It was with no slight pang, then, that on that very morning he
+had recognised a well-known back and followed it--a broad square back
+covered now with purple velvet, surmounted by the well-known locks,
+which were shaded by a wondrous hat and feathers. The apparition led
+him to the riding-school!--the dreadful hall of torment which people
+shuddered at as they went by. Too much amazed to realise what he did,
+he followed still. She entered--so did he. Noisily she was embraced at
+once by a dozen half-drunken men in uniform, and returned their
+salutes with strict impartiality. He was thunderstruck! Then with
+terror, from his sheltered nook, he surveyed the scene.
+
+Screams for mercy made his blood run cold. Two men lay panting on a
+heap of straw; one quite old and feeble, released but recently from
+the lash. The elder would evidently soon be quit of his destroyers,
+for his lips were blue and his eyes glazed. The other, roused by a
+shout of laughter, stirred his head to curse his tormentors. This was
+enough for them. What a fine opportunity for a newly-developed joke!
+Quick--some gunpowder! Biddy poured some into two outstretched, palms.
+Rub it well into his hair--with a will now, Biddy--for it's shock, and
+will hold a prime dose. Now, stand well aside while we fire it with a
+long match. Horror-stricken, Phil escaped--his slow brains chaotic in
+unaccustomed whirl. What should he do? His charmer had developed into
+a fiend. Was she who had enthralled his affections the one who was at
+the bottom of all the mischief--the arch-betrayer of secrets? She had
+been in everybody's confidence--Miss Wolfe's (God bless her!), Mr.
+Cassidy's, Master Terence's--all! The snake in the grass, whose
+existence puzzled the gentry so. Could it be she? Had he not better
+speak out and tell them? No. They were conversing so earnestly. It was
+not his place to interrupt his betters. The intelligence would keep.
+He would make a clean breast of all he suspected to his master in
+private.
+
+And his betters had good cause for the earnestness of their talk. When
+Mr. Grattan threw up his parliamentary seat, Curran had twitted him
+for loss of temper. But now his turn was come. He had spoken out
+rashly in the debate, which was still droning on--had distributed
+rhetorical slaps in the face, which caused the friends of Government
+to wince. Then one, bolder than the rest, interrupted the flow of his
+eloquence by saying:
+
+'We're growing warm. Will any gintleman tell us an anecdote to bring
+us into a better temper?' And then Curran, flying in a rage, declared
+that he was wasting the energies which would serve him better in
+another place, and proceeded to abdicate with scorn his seat as
+member.
+
+Terence, when he heard of it, doubted the wisdom of the move, and
+begged leave to know, as nearly as he might, what the orator had said.
+
+'I charged them openly,' was the simple reply, 'with their corrupt
+practices. I charged them with a systematic endeavour to undermine the
+constitution in violation of the law of the land. I charged them with
+being public malefactors, public criminals. Then I was called to
+order, and I repeated the charge even yet more strongly, bawling out:
+"Why not expel me now? Why not send me to the bar of the Lords? Going
+out, I will repeat the accusation, and the winds shall carry it--that
+the ministers are traitors, who should be publicly impeached--and,
+advancing to the bar of the Lords, I will repeat it there. If I am to
+suffer in the public cause, I will go further than my prosecutors in
+virtue as in danger."'
+
+'That wasn't wise, for nothing could come of it but noise,' Terence
+said, shaking his head at his old mentor. 'This is the time not for
+talk, but action.'
+
+'It may happen,' returned the other gently, 'that the boys of action
+may come to need the help of a silver tongue--after all! I know not
+for certain how far ye're in it, Terence; and it's best I shouldn't
+know. Any way, I'm glad ye're not like your brother, who's a
+half-caste in character, more than half Englishman. You, at any rate,
+are not ashamed,' he continued slily, 'of going to _tay_ with your
+mammy, or of perambulating by the _say_ with a colleen asthore! I wish
+ye'd keep clear of this, though.'
+
+'Would you have had me stand by--a _man_--a cold spectator of events?
+Would you have me show the white feather now, when so many have been
+kidnapped? No--I know you would not,' Terence said, looking in the
+little lawyer's eyes (into which the tears started) with a hand placed
+on either shoulder.
+
+Curran said nothing for a few moments, then, blowing his nose,
+whispered rapidly:
+
+'If there's naught to be gained by noise, my boy, still less will
+foolhardiness avail us. Why will you wear that gorgeous scarf of
+green? If you are to do man's work, do not act like a baby. There's
+only you and Cassidy left now to give directions to the country
+delegates. I don't know much, and it's not my business; but I can see
+now the tail of the Erin-go-bragh order sparkling within your vest.
+Two hands fraternally gripped. How lamentably childish, when so much
+may depend on you! Erin's cause will be none the less well served, I
+warrant, for fewer gewgaws on the persons of her sons. Too much green
+ribbon, Terence! Every man among you sports a green ribbon, and has
+some compromising paper in his pocket! Why, here's a roll in yours.
+For shame!'
+
+'That's the military plan,' Terence returned, 'which I was to have
+shown to-day to our friends. It was a mercy, certainly, that you
+detained me here, or else----'
+
+'You would have fallen a sacrifice to overweening prudence! Therein
+lies Erin's curse. Her sons are faithful enough, and earnest enough;
+but they're all impractical and scatter-brained.'
+
+'Faithful, are they?' echoed Terence, mournfully. 'So many traitors
+walk among us, that no one can swear any day whether he's like to
+sleep or hang at night!'
+
+'Traitors!' repeated Curran between his teeth, as he turned his head.
+'Yes. Traitors galore! There walks the arch-traitor. Lucifer among his
+cohorts.'
+
+Lord Clare was coming up the steps towards the lobby of the House of
+Commons, surrounded by a bevy of obsequious gentlemen who had rushed
+round to the 'Lords' entrance,' in Westmoreland Street, to warn the
+chancellor that dreadful things were happening. His hatchet face wore
+an evil expression which, melting away, gave place to beaming looks
+when he perceived before him his hated enemy.
+
+'Ah! Mr. Curran. Taking the air? You're looking well, Terence,' he
+cried in his rasping voice, holding out a hand to each. 'Anything
+doing in the Commons? Not much to do, eh? Dull times. Sad--sad times,
+my friends! Dangerous, too; very dangerous.'
+
+'You are right there, my lord,' returned the lawyer, curtly. 'Tyrants
+should remember that secret murder is the special weapon of the weak
+against the strong.'
+
+The chancellor bit his lip, then showed his teeth again. He would not
+lose his temper. But it was singularly ill-mannered of this demagogue
+to try and make a scene in the public colonnade!
+
+'I have warned you solemnly before, my lord, of what you are doing!'
+went on the sturdy little man. 'You play with awkward weapons. Take
+care they don't slip and cut you. The Staghouse overflows with guests,
+I know. Yet more than one has lately disappeared.'
+
+'Consigned to Moiley?' laughed Lord Clare. 'Well, they weigh, I
+suppose, like wise men, the risks of their position against its
+advantages. We are quits. For I have warned you too. You'll get
+nothing by your present attitude, I do assure you. It is lamentable to
+see a clever man so waste his opportunity. I am sure if Terence's
+mother was here she would say the same. You believe in her, I think,
+though you've always done me the injury to mistrust me.'
+
+Here he gave a friendly nod to Terence, who took no heed of it.
+
+'Would you have me tie my countrymen in bundles?' inquired Curran, 'to
+raise myself to wealth and to remorse? The envy of fools--the contempt
+of the wise. No! Come what may, I will mourn over and console them;
+aye, and rebuke them too when they act against themselves.'
+
+'Which is pretty frequently the case!' returned Lord Clare. 'I assure
+you I weep quite as much as you can over my country's misfortunes!'
+
+Mr. Curran waxed peppery, for he hated humbug.
+
+'And yet, my lord,' he sneered, 'your glittering optic is so dry that
+the finest gunpowder might be dried on it!'
+
+This was uphill work; but the chancellor still smiled, though a hectic
+spot showed upon his cheekbone; for the squireens around were
+beginning to hee-haw, and he felt he was playing _le role ridicule_.
+
+'It is a sad thing, when the interests of millions are placed at the
+mercy of one man's selfish ambition--or error, if you prefer it--for
+what is individual ambition but error?'
+
+'Selfish ambition!' echoed Lord Clare, grandly. 'I have the honour to
+be a chosen servant of the King, and as such I humbly strive to do my
+duty--nothing more.'
+
+'You owe no allegiance to the land that gave you birth? I tell you, my
+lord, here before these gentlemen, that as chancellor you are
+betraying those rights which you have sworn to maintain; that you are
+involving Government in disgrace--a kingdom in consternation; that
+you are sacrificing to your own avarice and vanity every sacred duty,
+every solemn engagement which binds you to yourself, your country, and
+your God!'
+
+'Mr. Curran!' cried the chancellor, drawing back.
+
+But the little man was not to be stopped now; his blood was up, and
+his eyes flashed fire.
+
+'You are too arrogant to learn a lesson from history. Think why the
+royal ship of France went down. That of England labours now. "Throw
+the people overboard," say you, and such as you, "and ballast with
+abuses." Blind pilot! Throw your abuses overboard, say I, and ballast
+with your people!'
+
+Lord Clare was getting very much the worst of it. He could not
+prematurely broach the question of a Union before all these people. He
+scarce knew how to act.
+
+'You are bent on tieing Ireland to England--I can see through you.
+What is the price to be?'
+
+'You are forcing a quarrel on me!' stammered the chancellor, who was
+scarlet. 'I call these gentlemen to witness that it is so; why, I know
+not, for I never injured you!'
+
+'You are stabbing your mother and mine to death! Is that no injury?'
+returned the other, sternly crossing his arms. 'If it were possible to
+collect the innocent blood which you have shed and are shedding into
+one great reservoir, your lordship might have a good long swim in it.
+As wicked a game as it is short-sighted. When you guillotine a man you
+get rid of an individual, it's true, but you make all his friends and
+relations your enemies for ever.'
+
+Things had gone too far to remain as they were. The wily chancellor,
+much as he deprecated appearing in open antagonism to the popular
+demagogue, was obliged for his own sake--for that of the Government
+which he represented--to take up the gauntlet which was tossed to him.
+If Lord Glandore, King of Cherokees, had only been present, he would
+have had the satisfaction of at last superintending the duel, the
+compromise of which, on a previous occasion, had so mortified him.
+
+All agreed that the trifling matter had better be settled off-hand
+with as little delay as possible, for the shades of evening were
+closing in, and it is a pity that pretty bullet-practice should be
+spoiled by darkness. Terence of course offered himself as second to
+his ex-chief, while my lord beckoned to our old friend Cassidy, who
+happened to come upon the scene, and was only too delighted at the
+honour which was thus conferred by a chancellor of Ireland upon one
+who, however useful and fascinating, was no better socially than a
+'half-mounted.'
+
+Lord Clare proposed an immediate adjournment to Leinster Lawn, where
+the affair might be quietly concluded without witnesses; but his
+second would not hear of it. No, indeed! It was not often that he
+would have the opportunity of showing himself off as best man to so
+high a dignitary, and was by no means inclined to hide his light under
+a bushel. Stephen's Green was the place, quite close and handy. Among
+the trees there was a splendid spot for sport. In his delight he
+clapped his brother second on the back, vowing that it would be only
+right for them to have a tilt upon their own account!
+
+To this Terence demurred, however, marvelling why the friendly giant
+should show such an itching to have a shot at him. That worthy seemed
+singularly aggrieved at his offer being refused, but consoled himself
+by grumbling:
+
+'I thought you were more game! No mather--when the principals have
+done, we might have a turn. I remember when Lord Mountgarret was
+winged at the first fire, that his son tuk his place, not to
+disappoint the audience. And we all thought it mighty polite and
+proper in the gintleman.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+                              THE DUEL.
+
+
+When they had had time to reflect, both combatants were equally sorry
+for the fracas. Curran was specially meek, and apologised humbly to
+his second, as they walked arm-in-arm to the trysting-place.
+
+'Indeed, and I'm an old fool,' he admitted. 'Nothing, as you said, can
+come of this sort of thing but noise. I can't afford to be kilt, for
+I'll be wanted later.' Then a thought came as a gleam of comfort. 'If
+I could kill my man,' he said, 'that would be doing good service to
+ould Ireland. But the devil looks after his own. He's much more likely
+to make daylight through me.'
+
+Lord Clare was more than annoyed; he was seriously disturbed. If he
+were to kill Curran, his position would be fraught with difficulty.
+The mob loved Curran; they would certainly tear to pieces the man who
+slew him. If he, by chance, escaped, he would be able to show his face
+no more; and, having ceased to be useful, the authorities in London
+would certainly throw him over. Was this wretched little pigmy always
+to cross his path? Lord Clare ground out a curse, and determined (with
+a hasty prayer to his tutelary deity with the horns and hoofs) that if
+the first fire turned out harmless, he would declare his honour
+satisfied, and decline a second shot. Meanwhile he improved
+the shining moments--Cassidy having rushed off to fetch the
+barking-irons--by sending a special messenger to Ely Place, to order a
+saddled horse to be brought to the mall in Stephen's Green; a
+precaution in favour of escape, in case an accident should happen to
+the popular favourite.
+
+Speedily as challenge had followed insult, he saw with chagrin that
+there was no hope of keeping the matter secret. The altercation had
+been witnessed by several gownsmen who happened to be passing out of
+the Commons, and who, rushing across the road to Trinity, had bawled
+to all whom it interested that 'Curran was about to pistol the
+chancellor to Hades.'
+
+The news flew like wildfire from court to court, for the
+undergraduates bore the latter no goodwill, by reason of the recent
+visitation. They poured out like a flock of rooks, and were already
+perched on wall and branch when the interested parties arrived.
+
+There were not two opinions as to which way they hoped the affair
+would end. Of the chancellor's enemies among the scum, there was no
+slight sprinkling, Phil having also rushed away to announce to sundry
+cronies that there was going to be great sport. Lord Clare regretted
+his choice of a second. He had selected him as likely to obey his
+principal, instead of leading him, as he had a right to do; but he
+reckoned without the pugnacity which underlies the Irish character,
+and which is certain to burst forth on the first symptom of a row. How
+could Cassidy guess (who was, by nature, blundering and muddle-pated),
+that my lord chancellor really wished to back out of his challenge?
+Was he not an Irishman? That he was no coward all the world knew. The
+giant put down his peculiar manner to an ultra-refinement of courtesy
+and high-breeding, and was specially anxious to allow him to air his
+politeness without losing a point. He was extremely obstinate,
+therefore, declining to listen to anything his principal proposed--so
+peremptorily, indeed, that he would have marvelled at his own
+audacity, but for a conviction that he was doing what was expected of
+him.
+
+'Ground! gintlemen, ground!' he cried in delight, as a sort of
+salutation. 'Blow measurement! We'll hip the puny babbler, my lord!
+Hip him--hip--hip! Bedad, your lordship's puce silk coat is in your
+favour. The daylight's waning. I can hardly distinguish your figure
+from the grass. Sure it's dewy, and your shoes are thin. Stand on my
+roquelaure. 'Twill prevent your taking could!'
+
+'Damn his officiousness!' muttered his principal, with a scowl.
+
+Mr. Curran met with such an ovation from the heavy flight of rooks in
+the trees, as his small figure loomed in the twilight, that his
+spirits rose again. His temporary humility was gone. He, too, was a
+Hibernian war-horse, with a love for the clarion's bray, although his
+bouts were more in the way of arguments than cudgel-playing. The idea
+of shooting down, with his own dusky hand, Ireland's recreant son, her
+bitterest foe, might well raise his spirits.
+
+Charlotte Corday, even though she did her country transcendant
+service, cannot be acquitted of the charge of murder. It is not
+_convenable_ for a young lady to enter the bath-room of an unprotected
+gentleman, and, having lodged a knife in his flesh, to retire behind a
+curtain and await her fate. But here was an analogous case, without
+its indecorous elements. A frowsy-looking mouse had bearded a gorgeous
+lion, and told him the simple truth about himself, which more timorous
+animals were content to whisper behind his back. That lion, taking
+offence, had challenged his small foe to mortal combat. Well, the
+mouse would try to slay that lion, and, the combat being on equal
+terms, there was no murder about the business at all; a case of
+retribution, simply. David and Goliath--nothing more. Anything more
+_convenable_ could not possibly be seen.
+
+So Mr. Curran became quite jubilant, and seeming, to his surprise, to
+detect something which looked like the hesitation of fear, set himself
+to taunt the fine-looking gentleman opposite, who made really a
+splendid appearance in his exquisitely-fitting silken clothes, with a
+large diamond glimmering in a soft fall of lace, another in his
+hat-loop; while, as for the silver-hilted _couteau de chasse_ which
+dangled from a silver belt, nothing could be more perfect in
+workmanship, more chaste and elegant in design.
+
+'Is the _State-doctor_ ready?' shouted Mr. Curran, who was in highest
+spirits by this time, amid crows of merriment. 'Sure he's always
+prescribing _steel_ to his patient; bad luck to him!'
+
+'Is it steel?' retorted Cassidy, whose principal pretended not to
+hear. 'Here's steel for ye! The prettiest irons in all Leinster; a
+gift to me from Lord Glandore. Twelve inches long they are. Tear and
+owns! but they're lovely boys; as bright as moonbames. If they could
+spake, they'd thank ye for giving them their liberty. Why, they've not
+been aired these six weeks.'
+
+'Take care,' Terence observed, laughing; 'the one ye're flourishing is
+at full-cock.'
+
+'Then full-cock your own, and let's blaze,' retorted the other,
+readily; which sally produced a yell from the rookery.
+
+'If Mr. Curran will apologise----' Lord Clare began, glancing
+nervously round, for it was nearly dark, and the mob was thickening
+fast.
+
+'Ah! Go on, now; it's joking ye're,' shouted Cassidy, holding his
+sides. 'Your lordship's too polite entirely. Sure ye couldn't do it.
+Here are the rules laid down by the Knights of Tara, which you know
+may not be broke' (taking a small manuscript book out of his
+voluminous breeches-pocket). 'See No. 7: "No apology can be accepted
+after the parties meet, without a fire." Come, gintlemin. Proceed,
+proceed. Ould locks--barrels and stocks! Go on, _du_ now! Here are
+your pair of bullies, nicely primed, my lord.'
+
+'One will be sufficient, probably,' frowned his principal.
+
+'Rule 33,' retorted the glib fire-eater: '"You may not be satisfied
+till two shots are fired at least, unless the apologiser hands the
+other a cane and submits to a good beating."'
+
+'That's a Galway rule, which doesn't obtain in Dublin,' Terence
+remarked. 'Not that my principal means to apologise; far from it.'
+
+'Irish blackguard is one of our staple manufactures,' suggested Mr.
+Curran, to keep the ball rolling; but his adversary was imperturbable.
+He was a cur as well as a tyrant, then?
+
+'Listen to me, my lord,' cried the sturdy advocate, crossing his arms.
+'In 1173, MacMurrough betrayed the land to Strongbow, as you are
+betraying it now to Pitt, and received the wages of sin. Take a lesson
+from history. Hunted by despair, he died by his own hand. Under Henry
+II. England and Ireland were for a moment one. But England grew sick
+of the faint smell of the shambles, and abandoned her slave. Much good
+did that Union do!'
+
+Lord Clare was stung to desperation. Openly to talk of a Union at this
+juncture might be productive of incalculable harm.
+
+'Make haste, make haste!' he said pettishly. 'We don't want all the
+metropolis to look at us.'
+
+The first shot did no mischief. The chancellor fired wide, his
+wandering bullet creating a transitory excitement in a knot of
+bystanders. Mr. Curran's pierced his adversary's coat.
+
+'The devil looks after his own, I might have known it,' he muttered,
+tossing away one pistol and raising the other. 'The gentleman stands
+too far off. Let him come closer. I can't see him.'
+
+Lord Clare approached nearer, and again fired wildly; while his
+opponent was so diabolically deliberate, that he could not help
+observing through the stillness of expectation: 'It won't be your
+fault if you don't kill me, Curran!'
+
+'Did ye ever hear tell of Moran's collar?' inquired the advocate, as,
+closing one eye and screwing up his mouth into an O, he covered the
+chancellor. 'It was worn by justices in ould days, and had the
+wondrous property of contracting or relaxing according to his just or
+unjust conduct. How mightily it would have choked your lordship!'
+
+Curran fired at last. The chancellor staggered, but recovered himself.
+
+'A hit!' shouted Curran.
+
+'A hit, a hit!' yelled the rooks, in the gathering darkness. One
+piping bird-voice cried above the rest, 'Moiley shall eat him!'
+
+A multitude of friends vied with each other in sympathy for the
+chancellor. Cassidy supported him, despite his struggles, on his knee,
+while one ripped open his small clothes and another produced a probe.
+
+On the fair skin there was a dark mark--a tiny trickle of blood like a
+pin's scratch. The sight of it produced a murmur of astonishment. Lord
+Clare could conceal his fury no longer.
+
+'Damn you all! Damn you, I say! for a pack of donkeys!' he cried,
+almost foaming. 'It's the gingerbread nuts that I eat in the long
+debate--they've saved me from a bullet-wound--there--laugh away, and
+get you gone--I've danced too long already to your asinine piping!'
+
+'One more blaze, my lord?' coaxed Cassidy, unconvinced, amid general
+tittering.
+
+But he was not long unconvinced. He saw _that_ in his principal's eye
+which reduced him to lowliness at once, and he bowed his head as the
+wounded warrior quoted with majesty Rule 22:
+
+'"If a wound agitates the nerves and makes the hand shake, the
+business must end for that day at least." The gingerbread nuts have
+made my hand shake: at all events you may take it so, if you please.
+Provoke me no longer--clear away this rabble of idiots at once, or I
+tell you plainly, Mr. Cassidy, that you'll be sorry for it.'
+
+The giant could not but perceive that his principal really was
+frantic, and hastened to obey his behests.
+
+'Well, well,' he meditated. 'I'd rather be badly wounded than be saved
+by gingerbread nuts! It's an ignominious accident, and laughable, and
+the chancellor cannot bear being laughed at.'
+
+Cassidy busied himself in 'claring the coorse,' as he termed it; and
+while he did so, the aggrieved chancellor watched him with a sullen
+and lowering gaze. It was quite dark by this time.
+
+'Terence,' he said presently, with unaccustomed kindness in his voice,
+'come hither. You dislike me, I know; and no wonder, prejudiced as you
+necessarily are by the company you choose to keep. Yet, for your
+mother's sake, I fain would be your friend. You are a plucky fellow. I
+honour pluck, and genuinely like you, for yourself, in spite of you.
+I'm not so bad as I'm painted. Few people are. I'll give you a bit of
+advice. Act on it.'
+
+Curran approached to listen (comforted, though he had not killed his
+enemy, by the axiom he was so fond of quoting, that the devil, who is
+more powerful than the best of men, looks after his own). He was
+amazed to behold quite a human look on the dragon's face. The
+toothsome smile, so redolent of falseness, was gone; the hatchet lines
+had curled themselves up into a mask which really resembled
+_bonhomie_. Can grapes grow on thistles? Was it possible that this
+adamantine nature could be softened? Wonders will never cease,
+although some people do say that there's nothing new under the sun.
+Curran listened, trying to follow the direction of those wandering
+eyes in the obscurity which he could not pierce.
+
+'Terence,' the chancellor said, 'you have a foe--unscrupulous and
+bitter--who will ruin you if possible. I know not why. Be very
+careful, or you will come to ruin. One foe in the dark is worse than a
+score by day. You have slighted that enemy somehow. You are on the
+edge of quicksand; once beyond the brink, you must be swallowed up.
+For your dear mother's sake I will save you while I can. But I may not
+be here always. A thousand things might happen. It's due to her as
+well as to yourself to keep yourself free from obloquy. Think how her
+pride would suffer. Take off that ridiculous necktie.'
+
+Honest Phil was also listening with craned neck and goggle eyes.
+
+'It must be Biddy. She hates Master Terence, does she?' he muttered to
+himself. 'Why? maybe she thought him comely, and he would have naught
+to do wid her, being so tight entranced by Mistress Doreen, God bless
+her! Faix, she's a bad lot--taking to sodgers! And I thought her fit
+for Paradise. I saw her just now by the quickset beyant, in her velvet
+hat and feathers, and my lord saw her too, no doubt. I'll tell the
+masther who 'tis that's working the mischief, and set his mind at
+rest.'
+
+'Half-confidences are worse than none, my lord,' blurted out Curran.
+'If you'd really do the lad a turn, speak out. Why give him a nut to
+crack?'
+
+'Betwixt you and me, sir,' Clare said with hauteur, 'there can be
+nothing but animosity. I try to make things as pleasant as I can, and
+you publicly insult me. I purposely fire wide; you try all you know to
+kill me. I would gladly have been your friend.'
+
+'Begorra! such a friend,' growled Curran, 'as I'd help out of mee
+cabin with mee boot! But never mind us. We're talking of this lad.
+Who's his enemy--who is it that's playing devil's capers among honest
+men? We know that they're not all saints who use holy water!'
+
+Lord Clare was still looking away into the darkness, while Phil
+followed the direction of his glance, and said nothing.
+
+'Don't press him,' Terence said, with coldness as chilling as the
+chancellor's. 'If he chooses to make confession for conscience' sake,
+so be it---I will be under no personal obligation to his clemency.'
+
+'Silly boy! I want to save you, and, like the other asses, you pose
+and mouth heroics!' Clare said impatiently. 'Your name was on the list
+of those scatter-brains who were caged to-day, but I struck it through
+with my own pen. Yet I tell you fairly that if you commit yourself
+beyond a certain point, I shall be powerless to protect you. I should
+bring more odium than I dare upon the Government, if I were
+instrumental in stringing up a lot who deserve the rope, and saving
+the worst of all because he happened to be my old friend's son. I
+can't do more than I am doing. Even Mr. Curran here should tell you
+that. I tell you that you have an enemy who would gladly destroy you.
+You must guess who it is. Who is there whom you have injured? I tell
+you further that Lord Camden has signed a warrant for your arrest,
+which I believe is in his bureau. He deplores with me that one of the
+aristocracy should be a cause of scandal. But he may be called upon to
+permit execution of that warrant, and, acting as you do, I don't see
+how he can refuse to let justice take its course. Had you no enemy it
+might probably lie snug enough. But that enemy will ferret it out ere
+long, I fear. My boy, I earnestly implore you to leave the country.
+Every port shall be left open. Go to Paris--Vienna--Rome--anywhere. If
+you are short of funds I will provide them--come! I would so gladly
+see you gone,' he concluded after a pause, during which Terence's
+heart was touched, and Curran stared at this new aspect of the lord
+chancellor. 'For if I mistake not, such events will happen here ere
+long as will cause the best-balanced mind to quake.'
+
+What a pity that he uttered those last few words! Curran beheld again
+the well-known Lord Clare. Terence became hot with resentment.
+
+'If you are preparing a St. Bartholomew,' he said, 'why should I be
+specially favoured? Murderer!'
+
+'Murderer?' echoed Curran, with a scorn which incensed the chancellor.
+'Worse than murderer! Common butcher of your fellows! You have netted
+the leaders--you will goad the leaderless sheep to leap after them.
+You will drive them to rise against you. Then you'll massacre them for
+rising. You'll turn your artillery against the helpless peasants.
+You'll mow them down like grass. You know their peculiarities--so far
+you are Irish. With a cudgel or a shillalagh there's none can beat
+'em. But they're bad at firearms. Firearms! The use of gunpowder's
+been forbidden them for ever so many years!'
+
+'On my honour, it's provoking to save people despite themselves,'
+affirmed the exasperated chancellor. 'If the boy's hanged it'll be
+your fault, Curran.'
+
+'I wish for no mercy,' said moody Terence, 'from such hands as yours,
+my lord. I remember Orr. So will you on your death-bed. Here comes
+Cassidy again. Come, Mr. Curran, we'll stroll to his chambers for a
+glass of claret.'
+
+The trio departed together arm-in-arm, and Lord Clare looked after
+their retreating figures with extreme vexation as, mounting his horse,
+he rode slowly to Ely Place.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                       THE BIRD AND THE FOWLER.
+
+
+The three allies retired to Cassidy's chambers, to laugh at their ease
+over Lord Clare's discomfiture.
+
+'Bedad! he's losing his nerve,' Cassidy asserted, as he poured a ruby
+bumper down his throat. 'Did ye see how wild he aimed--like a gossoon
+that had never blazed? Maybe he's of the same kidney as the spalpeen
+in the play who betune the sheets is frighted by the Banshees.'
+
+'Richard the Third at Bosworth?' suggested Mr. Curran. 'If he gets his
+deserts the chancellor's death-bed will be a fearsome spectacle.'
+
+'It must be an awful thing to have innocent blood upon your
+conscience,' Terence mused. 'Yet how many are there among us now whose
+arms are steeped in it to the shoulder! Is it not strange that
+confessions of murder are nearly always of some single case? Wholesale
+murderers don't seem to be so troubled. The heart must be callous, I
+suppose, before it becomes capable of wholesale murder. Hence
+Shakespeare was wrong as to his ghosts on Bosworth Field. Richard
+slept undisturbed the sleep of the infantine and just.'
+
+Cassidy seized the bottle, and poured himself out another bumper. 'I
+hate this city at night!' he said. 'Since General Lake's curfew order,
+it is like a sepulchre. I vow it's pleasant to hear the patrol, or the
+jolly sodger-boys returning home. What, Mr. Curran, are you off? These
+are ticklish times for night-journeys. Be not too venturesome. Better
+stop here. Sure I'll be glad to give you hospitality till morning.'
+
+'And leave my Primrose to fret alone at home? No, thank you. She'll be
+dying to hear how her favourite is going on. I must say I'm as
+relieved as she can be that he should leave for England. One
+half-fledged victim saved at any rate out of the nest from the maw of
+Moiley.'
+
+'What was Lord Clare talking of when I came up?' asked the giant,
+abruptly.
+
+'He was advising this imprudent young gentleman to make for other
+shores,' grunted Curran, strapping on spatterdashes for his ride; 'and
+he was right.'
+
+'You know you don't think so in your heart,' Terence retorted. 'With
+Tom Emmett and others at Kilmainham, it is more necessary than ever
+that Cassidy here and I should be vigilant. We've put our hands to the
+rudder, you know. We must summon hither some of the head men from
+Cork, at once. If Cassidy agrees with me, we'll write the letters
+before morning. It is essential that the gaps in the central committee
+should be filled up.'
+
+'Can't you see how you are playing into their hands? Poor flies, whose
+feet stick in the web!' Curran sneered. 'You break from one mesh to
+catch in the next. Each time you break away, the struggle becomes
+harder; because the spider gums his lines, and your legs are sticky
+with the gluten! Little by little, by small crafty hawls, the
+executive are draining the society of all its master-minds. When they
+shall be safely snared; when no leaders with any pretension to worth
+are left, then they'll bring about a rising. The plan shows intimate
+knowledge of Irish nature capped by British phlegm. It's enough to
+make a man with his wits about him pitch himself headlong down the
+nearest well.'
+
+'We will be very prudent,' Terence said. 'Yet of what avail is
+prudence with secret sleuthhounds on our track?'
+
+Honest Phil, who had been squatting in a corner on the floor, with his
+gaze fixed upon his master, could bear this talk no longer.
+
+'Faix! it's meeself that knows who 'tis. Ochone! sad's the day, I know
+it,' he murmured in the voice of tribulation.
+
+The three turned eagerly round. 'You know who 'tis!' they cried out in
+chorus.
+
+Then Phil related all he knew of Biddy--interlarding the narrative
+with many groans, in that the golden-tressed darling of his heart
+should, by turning out such a shocking monster, seem to impugn his
+taste.
+
+Cassidy emptied the claret bottle, then flung it on the ground in his
+boisterous way--swearing, with ogrish snapping of the jaws, that he'd
+be even with the traitress; that he would throttle her with his own
+big fingers.
+
+Knitting his brows Mr. Curran walked up and down, his hands behind his
+back. Terence stared at his henchman, bewildered by this new light.
+
+After a pause Mr. Curran spoke. 'Phil's right and wrong,' he said.
+'The woman may have betrayed much. But now her teeth are drawn--that's
+as regards the present, I mean. What a labyrinth it is! She may rake
+up old stories of the past, of which "juries of the right sort" will
+make the properest use--but she can tell nothing that has happened
+since the "Irish Slave" was burnt.'
+
+'Her mother Jug Coyle's still living at the Little House,' Cassidy
+suggested; 'maybe she----'
+
+'Impossible. We know now that after the destruction of the shebeen
+this precious young lady went to live in barracks with the soldiers.'
+
+'Murther! and I've kissed her often,' the giant sighed with
+contrition, as though by that unlucky fact virtue must have gone out
+of him.
+
+'Anyways,' added Terence, 'she could never have had a hand in the
+arrest at Cutpurse Row. Somebody supplied a list of delegates. Who was
+it? It's terrible not to know!'
+
+'Therein lies the hopelessness of the whole affair,' declared Mr.
+Curran, preparing to depart. 'Blindman's-buff's nothing to it. With
+such wriggling in the grass it's simply putting honest heads into the
+wild beast's mouth for nothing. I won't say what I should think about
+it were circumstances otherwise. But as the wretched case stands, it
+would be a great load off my mind, my dear boy, if you were out of the
+_bagarre_.'
+
+Cassidy scrutinised the face of Terence narrowly, who wore a look of
+moody uncertainty. 'Councillor Curran's right,' he said at length.
+'Better show a clean pair of heels, and save your neck.'
+
+The young man glanced up in anger, and the other smiled with a
+good-humoured nod.
+
+'It was kind of Lord Clare,' Curran went on, walking hither and
+thither, much perturbed--'it certainly was kind of him to speak as he
+did. Maybe he's not so bad as I think. If so, the Lord forgive me!
+That there should be a warrant for you ready signed is not surprising.
+Warrants are pretty nearly dead letters just now, but it would not do
+to kidnap the brother of Lord Glandore without proper authority; and
+this secret foe that he spoke about is too sharp to do things
+unwarily. Once taken, your life's not worth a pin's fee with the
+Staghouse crew, ready to swear anything, and some one prepared to
+dictate. Who have ye ever injured, Terence?--think.'
+
+'My Lord Clare said all that!' exclaimed Cassidy, disconcerted.
+Plunging his hands deep in his breeches-pockets, he whistled 'The
+Sword' softly to himself, while an expression of concern puckered his
+jolly lineaments.
+
+'The hopes of the society will centre on you now,' the giant observed
+presently. 'As it is, the peculiarity of the attitude ye have taken
+these several months past, combined with your exalted rank, makes your
+position dangerous. The society'll look to you, now that Emmett and
+the rest are gone. Though all my heart's with it, it's little real use
+myself'll be, worse luck--I'm stupid. Theobald told me so. Tom
+Emmett's often called me a blundering booby.'
+
+This confession was made with such deprecating humility that Terence
+was touched, and held out his hand.
+
+'You wrong yourself,' he said. 'Cheer up. We'll stand by each other.
+But I'm not above taking good advice.'
+
+'Ye'll go?' his two friends said, in different cadence.
+
+'No, no!' replied Terence. 'That may not be. It's plain my duty's
+here, and here I'll remain. But Emmett and the others were foolhardy;
+for the future I'll keep myself concealed. We'll knead together a new
+directory at once. A great responsibility has fallen on my shoulders
+for which I am not fitted; yet I'll do my best, and play my part as
+others do. It is possible, as you say, that the delegates will look up
+to me. They'll want to be kept together--no easy task. Would that Miss
+Wolfe were here to help!' he concluded, sighing.
+
+A malignant shadow flitted across the giant's face, and faded. 'Hide!'
+he echoed, with a bluntness which sounded a little like a taunt.
+'Where can ye hide, and Sirr not find ye?'
+
+'I'll go home to Strogue to-morrow, and then----'
+
+'The first place they would go to if you were wanted,' objected
+Curran.
+
+'Only to look over some papers and destroy them. I know of a safe
+place where they'll not find me.'
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed the giant, with a tinge of curiosity, 'and you've
+papers to destroy at Strogue?'
+
+'Here is a scheme I've drawn out for the capture of Dublin. The lords
+of the Privy Council----'
+
+'Put it away!' roared the choleric little lawyer. 'Is it the back of
+me ye want to see? I won't know these things, since I still wear the
+King's silk gown, yet ye're for ever flourishing them under my nose!'
+
+In a tantrum Mr. Curran departed, like a small snuff-scented
+whirlwind, accompanied by Phil, who went to fetch his horse.
+
+Terence and Cassidy exchanged glances, and burst into peals of
+laughter.
+
+'What a character it is!' Cassidy declared, as he busied himself with
+the brewing of cold punch--a grave matter, in which his companion too
+was soon equally engrossed.
+
+'A good brew,' Terence announced, presently, amid solemn silence.
+'We'll sit up all night, for there's much to be done. To-morrow I
+shall vanish from the world--in the body.'
+
+'It's curious that you should ever have turned Croppy, Master
+Terence,' the giant mused, as with cuffs turned up he peeled the
+lemons. 'You--a member of the Englishry, who may become my Lord
+Glandore to-morrow--fond as his lordship is of fighting. But then, of
+course, ye'd change your politics. Sure your head'll come to be worth
+a big lot, if the rising doesn't succeed--a power of money, surelie!'
+
+'But it _shall_ succeed!' returned Terence, cheerily, 'Then it will be
+our turn to offer rewards. What will Lord Clare be worth, think you?'
+
+'He'll never fly,' asserted the giant, eyeing his punch with lazy
+satisfaction. 'When Ould Ireland's fought her fight and conquered,
+we'll find he's died game in the streets somewhere. His behaviour on
+the Green to-night was quare, though--devilish quare!--It's absent in
+the body ye say ye'll be?' he asked, after a pause; 'but present in
+the spirit, I hope, for Erin's sake?'
+
+'Never fear! One more glass of punch, and then to work. You think
+the first place Sirr would look for me would be at Strogue? But if,
+seeing the danger, I had fled from Strogue? Where would he search
+for me then? In the liberties about St. Patrick's--the Wicklow
+Hills--anywhere but in the neighbourhood of Strogue. Yet no
+neighbourhood could be so convenient. Men go fishing there in little
+boats, and may land from time to time without causing suspicion. If
+there was an alarm, it would be strange if I could not conceal myself
+among the rocks, or get across to Ireland's Eye, and baffle pursuers
+somehow till I was fetched away.'
+
+'It's a pity, councillor, that the shebeen was burnt!'
+
+'Better than the shebeen, old friend! Now I'll tell you a secret. You
+can keep a secret? Of course you can, for my sake and that of the good
+cause. That old figure of fun, Mrs. Gillin--whom my mother hates, for
+some odd reason--has, for some other odd reason, taken a fancy to me.
+That's funny, isn't it? She told me one day, that if ever I needed
+help which she could give, I might rely on her. Now where could I
+better conceal myself than at the Little House? It's within easy
+access of Dublin. No one is aware that I even know her, for we haven't
+exchanged more than half a dozen words in our lives. Though she's a
+Catholic, her daughter isn't; and, being anxious to make that young
+person my Lady Glandore, she naturally is interested in the
+aristocratic party. At the same time she feels the position of her
+co-religionists. I've been credibly informed so. Isn't that a good
+idea? Her place is in a manner sacred. She's a friend of all the
+judges.'
+
+Cassidy ruminated, and whistled a soft air.
+
+'A capital idea indeed! Then ye'll disappear, and I'll not see ye,
+maybe, for months--that is, till the signal's given.'
+
+'How so?'
+
+'Madam Gillin and I aren't friends. She'd not like to see me hanging
+about her doors. It wouldn't be prudent, neither. You'll be afther
+playing your big part while I play my little one. I'm right with the
+Castle people, as yourself knows well. Sirr likes me, so does
+Secretary Cooke. I'll ingratiate myself still more wid 'em. When the
+signal comes, maybe we might take the lord-lieutenant in his bed. It's
+worth considering. Anyhow, I'd better seem cool with the society. I
+won't come to the Little House. Don't talk to her of me--'twould vex
+the mistress.'
+
+Terence trimmed the lamp, knitting his brows the while.
+
+'I hardly like your intimacy with the Castle-folk,' he said. 'It seems
+scarcely manly to worm out their secrets under a mask of friendship.'
+
+Cassidy burst into one of his great laughs.
+
+'Oh murther, Master Terence!' he cried, wiping the tears from his
+eyes. 'Ye'll never win Erin's battles if ye're so lofty. We must fight
+men wid their own weapons if we'd beat 'em. That's true generalship.
+They set their spies on us. We set ours on them. That's quits, I know,
+though I am a booby. Take your pen now. Here's a list of the country
+delegates: mark out who ye think'll be best, while I brew another
+bowl.'
+
+'No more, Cassidy, my friend! Let's keep our heads clear for
+business.'
+
+'Be aisy! One more'll do neither of us harm.'
+
+It was five o'clock before Terence was satisfied with his work. He had
+a task which was uncongenial to his habits, for he was more skilful
+with the rod or gun than with ink; and it was a matter of grievous
+slavery and toil to draw up a series of letters, such as should
+explain clearly to the country leaders of the United Irishmen the full
+bearing of the late disaster.
+
+Tom Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, were in duress. A temporary
+arrangement must be come to, lest the French should arrive and find
+the patriots chaotic. No time was to be lost, for they might appear at
+any moment, when it would be above all things needful that French and
+Irish should be prepared to act in concert without loss of time. He,
+the writer (old college-friend as they knew of the incarcerated
+leaders, late special envoy also to France), was willing to co-operate
+with the rest in forming a provisional committee, etc., etc.
+
+Wearied and worn out with the unaccustomed mental effort, he dropped
+the pen at last from his stiffened fingers, and, wrapping his
+riding-cloak around him, sank well-nigh at once into deep slumber;
+while Cassidy, instead of following so good an example, placed the
+bundle of letters in his long-flapped pocket, and stood for a minute
+looking down upon the sleeper.
+
+'The dark colleen may never be mine,' he muttered between his teeth,
+while he wagged his bullet-head; 'but she'll not be yours neither, my
+fine fellar!' Then, peering out into the silent street which was
+paling wan in the early dawn, he stole forth on tiptoe, over the body
+of Phil, lying prostrate across the passage, and opening the door
+stealthily, made the best of his way towards the Castle.
+
+The day was half spent before Terence woke. The giant, who could turn
+his hand to most things, washed and aglow with health, was busily
+preparing breakfast: broiling steaks over a fire, fussing hither and
+thither as merry as a grig, assisted by Phil, who was kept on the
+broad grin by his lively sallies.
+
+'The commander-in-chief of the national army is taking it out of
+Murphy while he can!' he roared in his jolly voice. 'Well, let him
+lie, God bless him! By-and-by it's little he'll see of Murphy--riding
+about all night along the ranks to encourage his troops for the
+battle. What! awake, Master Terence? I've bin up this long while. Your
+letters are on the road. I've tidied up the room, and opened some
+tipple for your meal. What'll I get from ye, gineral? Is it your
+_eu-de-shamp_ that ye'll be making me? It's glad I'll be of the
+office. I've bad news, though, for ye too. I met Sirr just now, who
+was on the prowl. The French expedition's come to grief again! No
+mather! we'll fight now for ourselves--bad luck to the mounseers, they
+are chicken-hearted! That at least is the official news, arrived from
+London a few hours ago.'
+
+Terence rubbed his eyes and stared, unable on first awaking to realise
+such disastrous intelligence. Then he dipped his head in a basin of
+water which Phil presented to him, tidied his dress, combed out his
+long hair, and caught it back with a ribbon in the accustomed manner.
+After that he set to work upon a luscious steak with the energy of
+youth, and washed it down with claret, while Cassidy, too, made pretty
+play with knife and fork--both of them too preoccupied for speech.
+
+Another French fiasco! How strangely fortune favoured England! This
+time the fleets had remained weather-bound, unable to start at all
+until the golden moments were gone--till opportunity had slid into the
+past. It was too bad. Terence's blood boiled whilst he assuaged his
+tremendous appetite--so did Cassidy's, finding vent as usual in loud
+oaths and noisy execrations.
+
+After breakfast the two shook hands and parted--when to meet
+again?--when and how?--under what strangely altered auspices? It was
+agreed that the members of the new Directory should communicate in the
+first instance with Terence, in person, somewhere on the shore near
+the Little House where he was to hide. The letters would speedily
+reach their destinations, Cassidy assured him. This new turn of events
+might induce Government to take active measures of some kind. What
+would they do? Repent them of their evil ways and take to leniency,
+or, thinking they had their victim quite at their mercy, still further
+goad and harass her? What would Terence's private enemy do--he of whom
+my Lord Clare so mysteriously spoke?
+
+With so many spies about, it was almost inevitable that the active
+part that the young councillor was playing would become known to
+Government. Would they wink at this backsliding of an aristocrat--or
+would they make an example of him by putting a heavy price upon his
+head? Be that as it might, it would never do, in Cassidy's opinion,
+for him to share the fate of Emmett and the others. The giant was
+vehement on this point. He must go into hiding forthwith, and employ
+the most extreme precautions lest Sirr should discover his lair.
+Cassidy, being known as his friend, would make a point of never taking
+the air in that direction. He would hang about the Castle
+ostentatiously, and report what he might have to say to some prominent
+member of the society, who would take up his abode in Dublin. Indeed
+he thought it would be wise to abuse the society in public--to declare
+that once he had been seduced by specious argument into joining it,
+but that now he saw the error of his ways, and sang 'Peccavi.'
+
+Much as he disliked his method, Terence was obliged to confess that
+the giant was right, and felt at the same time a small internal
+marvelling in that he was really shrewd and rather astute--by no means
+the hopeless bungler that Emmett had considered him.
+
+He took hearty leave of his friend, and, accompanied by Phil, made the
+best of his way to Strogue. It was a gloomy place to live alone in, as
+he had discovered since the departure of the family. Even his
+brother's sneers and his mother's coldness were better than this
+chilling solitude. He lived at this time in his own little chambers in
+the 'young men's wing' under the armoury, gaining access to them by
+his own private door, so that the Abbey was to all intents and
+purposes shut up, being only inhabited by a few old retainers who
+dwelt away over the stable-yard at the other side of the house. To his
+dismay his things had been disturbed--he detected the fact at once. By
+whom? How tiresome old family servants are! Disobeying orders, they
+will rummage and clean by fits and starts, regardless of the havoc
+they innocently make. Then Terence remembered that neither old Kathy
+nor her spouse, Tim the coachman, were more given to cleanliness than
+Irish domestics usually are.
+
+This must have been a sudden and most inconvenient gush of virtue! He
+would at once give Tim and Kathy a vigorous bit of his mind. They
+should be convinced for ever after that obedience is the most cardinal
+of all the virtues as far as servants are concerned, standing indeed
+before cleanliness. They should shiver and quake in their shoes after
+the jobation their young master would administer. But instead of
+quaking they both lifted up their voices and howled, swearing that
+young masther was distraught. Go among his bits of things indeed! Not
+they. Sorra a haporth of dusting had they done. Why should they, since
+master agreed with them that it was waste of labour? Kathy had stepped
+in to make the bed, but finding it undisturbed, had stepped out again
+at once. Then somebody else must have been there. Who could have an
+interest in the few scraps of property which were of no value at all
+except to their owner? The fishing-rods were overset--the cupboards
+had been rifled--the precious collection of hackles (apple of Phil's
+eye) were strewn on the floor as if somebody had been in haste,
+searching for some special object which he could not find.
+
+The owner of the treasures began to look grave. Who would steal his
+things--things moreover which were not worth stealing? None of the
+peasantry about. Irish peasants, though they will pick off their man
+blithely from behind a stone, are little given to petty pilfering.
+
+Terence looked around, and his heart beat fast. Nothing had been taken
+except--his papers! Rough drafts of manifestoes, over which, in the
+hot zeal of youth, he had consumed the oil of midnight. Projects for
+the capture of the gaols--rough plans; the very documents which, being
+compromising and not particularly useful, he had come hither to
+destroy. How silly and imprudent not to have destroyed them sooner!
+
+Sirr for months past had been in the habit of making forcible entries
+into houses, on the chance of unearthing treason. What more likely
+than that he should think of making a perquisition upon Councillor
+Crosbie, who flaunted his opinions before the world in the outward
+form of a green tabinet neckerchief? Fool--babyish dolt! Idiot! Every
+one had spoken about that necktie. In a passion he tore it from his
+throat, and hurled it out of the open window. Conduct more childish
+still! The evil was done. Could it be remedied? His smooth forehead
+puckered itself into wrinkles as he strove to remember what the bundle
+of documents contained. Three forms of manifesto--to be printed and
+placarded so soon as Dublin should be taken. The rules and regulations
+of the society. A memorandum of prominent members--oh, horror! He knew
+he had been suspected of treachery by some. This list, incautiously
+kept, might bring about the death of many. Would he not be guilty, by
+gross carelessness, of their murder? Would they not have a right to
+curse him as they swung?
+
+For a while his spirit was invaded by the same rush of unworthiness
+which had so unnerved Tom Emmett when he was arrested. He too felt the
+bitter sense of upbraiding humiliation with which Tom had asked
+himself what right had one, who was incapable of common prudence, to
+traffic thus rashly with the lives of other men? Do his duty! Was it
+his duty to put himself forward in this affair, or was it merely a
+culpable personal vanity disguised as self-sacrifice? He strove
+earnestly to settle that question--so earnestly that Phil, who watched
+him, was aghast at his distress, and endeavoured by humble barks and
+frolicking: to cheer his master from the dumps. To no purpose. With
+grief be it admitted that his master cursed him roundly, abused him
+with such unnecessary harshness that the poor fellow slunk away with
+tears in his eyes, under pretence of fetching the green kerchief. Big
+drops of sweat stood on the young man's brow. His brains had never in
+all his years been so tried as during the last few months. Only those
+usually unused to thought can tell of the dreadful addled feeling of
+helplessness which comes upon the muddled intellect during its first
+feeble struggles into work.
+
+After a time he grew calmer, as the one bright point stood out
+distinctly. It was not the vanity of power--the attribute of
+Jack-in-office, which had galvanised his careless nature into serious
+purpose. Look at it how he would, he was clearly above such meanness.
+He had no personal ambition--that was what Doreen had constantly
+dinned into his ears with scorn--and he had wished that, to please
+her, he could have become ambitious. But it was out of the question.
+He liked the world--its bright sun, its flowers, its myriad life--but
+with no desire for exclusive possession of its delights. He was not
+discontented with his lot, even though his brother was rude sometimes,
+and his mother cold and unaffectionate. His only troubles had been his
+trivial debts; they alone had stirred his brains to scheming, and he
+had borne them good-humouredly as his share of the ills of life. He
+thought Doreen bewitching--deliriously delightful. Her he would fain
+possess as his own--his very own. There was nothing specially
+ambitious in that; for the lowly sparrow, as well as the stately fowl
+of Cochin, is justified in seeking out a mate--the best who will
+accept him. No; he was indolently, comfortably content to take the
+world as he found it, making excuses for its bumps, palliating its
+disagreeables--until that time when his eyes had been opened as though
+scales had fallen from them. Since then he was an altered man; sobered
+by the shock of suddenly perceiving the precipice on which his country
+stood. At first he had refused to gauge the depth of the abyss; it was
+so much pleasanter to turn aside to dally with the flowers. Then the
+upright courage which had hitherto lain dormant spoke, bidding him
+mark Erin's loveliness--commanding him to stretch out his hand to stay
+her tottering form, whispering sternly that if she fell before his
+eyes without an effort made to save, the guilt of her shattered limbs
+would haunt him for evermore.
+
+No! His conscience absolved him of personal ambition. If Erin were
+saved through his agency he would be content to retire again into the
+background--well-paid by her grateful smile. His error had been great,
+because its consequences might be serious. But humanity is prone to
+error. Youth must learn experience by stumbling. A man must expect to
+receive many stabs who fights with a concealed enemy. He must practise
+prudence, make no movement without exceeding caution; but at the best
+what a disheartening conflict--what a one-sided fight!
+
+Terence had received two blows this very day. France could not be
+depended on for help. Twice within less than a year had she made
+herself a laughing-stock. And now--this capture of his papers, which,
+if the foe were relentless, would compromise him hopelessly. It was
+more than ever needful to conceal himself, if his life were to be of
+real use before he laid it down. Trouble seasons the character
+quickly. The young man was already beginning to calculate expediencies
+with gravity and precision. If he was spared, time might make of him a
+valuable champion.
+
+He whistled Phil, who came up fawning like a hound that is forgiven.
+
+'Follow me. And whatever you do, keep your tongue within your teeth,'
+he said. Then calling Kathy, he flung to her the key of his little
+door, remarking that he was called to Cork on business, and might be
+long detained. If my lady should write (alas! she never wrote) the
+letters might wait.
+
+Then, followed by his faithful henchman who shouldered his fire-iron
+as though meaning business, he turned out of the great gate up the
+by-lane which led, before meandering elsewhere, to the back-entrance
+of the Little House; rung the bell, and waited to see the mistress.
+
+Madam Gillin answered it in person, bedizened in a weird wrapper, a
+wisp of soiled crape wound over the curl-papers about her head and
+under her chin like a cerecloth. Her sleeves were tucked up above the
+elbow. In her hand she bore a rolling-pin; her fingers wore a cuticle
+of dough. Expressing no surprise, she remarked simply:
+
+'I expected you before this. There is no one in the house but myself,
+Norah, and the collough, my ould nurse. She's to be trusted. Ye're
+welcome, and your man. Come here, Norah; kiss your brother-in-law as
+will be some day. You may kiss me too, for I mean to be your
+aunt-in-law. Look me in the eyes. A handsome fellar! I know more of
+you than ye'll ever know yourself, unless the Holy Mother wills it.
+Come in, for we may be watched; and bar the door.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+                      THE RISING OP THE TEMPEST.
+
+
+Nothing could be kinder than the stout homely lady's treatment of her
+guest. He seemed to have a sad sort of fascination for her. He caught
+her watching him sometimes with a queer expression of pity, which
+broke into amicable grins and head-shakings so soon as she found
+herself detected. Norah, too, turned out to be a good-natured,
+unpretentious creature.
+
+On the whole, Terence was not surprised at his brother's choice,
+considering what a terror that truculent individual betrayed for
+high-bred damosels, and how little he was able to appreciate the
+refined fascinations of the haughty, calm Doreen.
+
+'It stood to reason,' so Terence argued, 'that if he were blind to the
+existence of a divinity who, in semblance of a mortal maid, abode by
+his fireside, then, of course, his senses must be gross, and nothing
+would suit him but a house-wench.'
+
+Despite the draggled ball-room finery in which Norah elected to array
+herself for breakfast, in honour of the guest, he could not but
+perceive that she was no better than a serving-wench in mistress's
+attire. But then she was a cheery, pleasant house-wench, instead of a
+designing, cross one, as might have been the case. So he clasped her
+to his bosom, and the twain were soon fast friends.
+
+In the kitchen things did not go so smoothly. Phil's orders were that
+he must never go out by daylight; so he sat in the kitchen all day
+long, staring at Jug Coyle, the collough, who sat muttering and
+growling as she stared at him.
+
+For many years, when mistress of the 'Irish Slave,' Jug had nourished
+a resentment against this unoffending youth, shaking a lean fist at
+him as he passed her door, muttering a curse when he called in for
+'the laste taste in life of the crayther.'
+
+Why? Because she was a collough and he a farrier; or, if he wasn't,
+why should he wield a firing-iron? Colloughs have always hated
+farriers, time out of mind, because they are rival practitioners in
+the art of medicine, and the colloughs nourish a vague belief that, in
+the days of the Bound Towers, the herbalists were lady-doctors, and
+that they enjoyed an undisputed sway over both kine and gentlefolk
+until Crummell introduced the veterinary as a special branch of
+AEsculapian science.
+
+He tried to ingratiate himself with the old dame by playing Peter to
+her Nurse; but she scorned to be so wheedled, remarking curtly, when
+he was particularly civil:
+
+'The curse of Crummell light on yez, breed, seed, and branch, ye
+villainous cow-doctor. The Lord planted our cures in the fields before
+there was no 'pothecaries.'
+
+Which remark being usually irrelevant, not to say incomprehensible, he
+met it by a good-tempered nod, which brought the irate lady to the
+extreme of patience.
+
+The days dragged on thus but slowly. Madam Gillin was a strange
+mixture of bravery and pusillanimity. As we have seen, she stood in
+terror of a particular gentleman, because he had discovered that she
+took her Protestant child to mass, and had threatened to expose the
+awful secret. Such a matter would disturb no one at the present day;
+but at that time it was a heinous sin, which would have pointed the
+sinner out for some practical joking on the part of the Protestant
+squireens. At the same time she fearlessly harboured one who was a
+marked man, upon whose head shortly a price might be set, who might
+drag her with him to ruin, if the worst came to the worst; and all
+because she had sworn an oath once to a dying paramour, and had
+watched, with anger mingled with sorrow, the career of the child she
+had promised to protect.
+
+Knowing Ireland's wrongs better than he did, and learning from hearsay
+how proud-stomached a boy he was, she had always dreaded that which
+actually came to pass. She and Curran agreed that it would be
+deplorable if he joined the popular party; but as both secretly leaned
+in that direction, they could not discountenance him for having the
+courage to maintain, in face of danger, what they felt to be the
+rightful cause. For all their sakes, however, she acted with feminine
+tact. She kept him a close prisoner in a garret while it was day,
+sitting alone herself in the garden during fine weather, where all who
+passed along the high-road might perceive a strange figure they were
+little likely to forget. At night she took him out under personal
+escort to take the air, bidding Phil march forty yards in front and
+whistle at the first hint of danger, while Norah fulfilled the same
+office behind; Jug meanwhile being strictly enjoined to allow no
+strange foot to cross the threshold, under any pretence whatever.
+
+In the course of these walks they wandered by the shore, coming quite
+accidentally, sometimes, upon a group of fishermen, who bowed to the
+young man with respect, and conversed with him in long and earnest
+whispers. It transpired by-and-by that some of the ubiquitous
+informers were beginning to turn their attention to the rage for
+fishing which seemed to have arisen about Strogue Point. Then Madam
+Gillin forbade even the solace of these nocturnal wanderings.
+
+It became known that many of the marked ones were journeying to and
+fro, in a suspicious and mysterious manner, between Wexford and Dublin
+and the adjacent districts. It also became a matter of public scandal
+that the object of the journeys was to commune with a personage of
+rank, the only one who dared to prefer his country to his class.
+Unwise conspirators began to babble of a lordling who would shortly
+lead them to certain victory--who, English though he might be by
+lineage, did not forget how many centuries of sojourn bound his family
+to the sister island. They spoke with gratitude and pride of this
+_rara avis_, all the more incautiously, perhaps, because they knew him
+to be safely hidden beyond the ken of Sirr and of his bloodhounds.
+
+Now as week followed week, and month glided after month, it chanced
+that my Lord Clare departed to the bath of Harrogate to drink the
+waters for his health. By a singular coincidence, Mr. Pitt also
+travelled thitherward. It was, of course, a coincidence; but folks did
+say--well, no matter what they said.
+
+When Lord Clare returned to the Irish metropolis, he discovered, with
+concern, that the secret committee of Lords--the Wehmgericht who still
+performed in the shadow unholy and illegal deeds--had requested the
+Viceroy to issue a certain warrant.
+
+Lord Camden, rather pleased for once to act upon his separate account,
+mumbled that the lords were quite right to keep their own nest clean;
+that it was shocking to think that one of their body should so
+fearfully misbehave himself. He went further. Other younger sons of an
+adventurous turn might follow this pernicious example. Not only must
+he be taken forthwith, but must also be made an example of. His
+brother might object possibly--that nice loyal young nobleman, who had
+assisted in building many Martello towers; but his outcry, should he
+presume to make one, must be stopped by timely courtesy. The Glandores
+of Strogue were earls; why should they not be created marquises?
+
+So my Lord Camden delivered the warrant, which had for long been lying
+in his escritoire, to Major Sirr, and offered, as well, a reward of a
+thousand guineas for the culprit, alive or dead.
+
+Quite a tremor went through both Houses. One of the nobles! This was
+serious. A few thousand peasants, more or less, mattered to nobody;
+but it was a pity to touch the _noblesse_. Then they talked of
+Lafayette, who was a marquis, whilst this was only an earl's younger
+son, and soon felt quite comfortable; even applauded the Viceroy's
+timely severity.
+
+Lord Clare was more troubled, when he learned these things, than his
+enemies would have deemed possible. He wrote to his dear old friend at
+Glas-aitch-e, bidding her not grieve too much. It was done in his
+absence. He dared not openly interfere in favour of her misguided son,
+but would make a personal request to Mr. Pitt to urge his Majesty to
+clemency. He had done much work for Mr. Pitt (forgetting to state how
+dirty that work was); and no doubt his boon would be granted. If not,
+still must his loving mother not despair. Prison bars might be sawn;
+turnkeys were very shortsighted. There were boats about, and men to
+man them.
+
+He never doubted for a moment that the reward would be claimed. How
+blind both Curran and his _protege_ had been not to guess his
+transparent riddle! My lady wrote back in course of time, deploring,
+in bitter terms, the blow which had befallen the family; the dart
+which had transfixed her heart. And my Lord Clare was no little amazed
+to perceive, or to seem to perceive, that my lady took her anguish
+calmly. Either she was a Stoic, or more unfeeling as to her offspring
+than he liked to consider a lady to be who was also his old friend.
+
+Thus did events unroll themselves, till one fine day a party of
+yeomanry, more intoxicated even than they usually were, took it into
+their wise heads to investigate the Little House. Happily the
+chatelaine was at home to defend her penates, whilst old Jug shrieked
+maledictions on the party like a frantic Chorus. Madam Gillin stoutly
+(in both senses of the word) spread her redundant charms across her
+entrance-stone, daring them one and all to come forward and strike a
+woman. She threatened them--Catholic though she was--with the
+vengeance of the Bar. Was she not the chosen ally of my Lords Clonmell
+and Carleton--those gay and festive judges--who held her company and
+her wine in such deservedly high esteem? Did not even the gradually
+saddening attorney-general--Mr. Arthur Wolfe--count her among his
+friends? Woe be to the military gentlemen who should outrage her
+sacred hearth. They might come in and do their worst, for she had
+naught to hide. What could she have to hide? But she warned them, in
+very positive language indeed, that they would rue the day they did
+it. They were abashed, but loath to retire, after drunken blustering,
+before a mere woman's tongue. Such a woman and such a tongue! Would
+she give the boys some drink? the captain coaxingly suggested. She
+pertinently retorted that if they or some of their kidney had not
+already destroyed the shebeen, which she had set up for the benefit of
+arid throats, drink might be got in plenty without stealing it from a
+lone woman. Yet would she even give them drink if they'd promise to be
+off. Not special drink, such as the judges drank, but some other, by
+no means despicable.
+
+She showed the officers into the dining-parlour; produced for them a
+few bottles of undeniable Lafitte, bidding Norah act Hebe (who
+objected not at all), and ordering Jug to distribute jorums of whisky
+among the common men upon the lawn. It soon became an orgie. One man
+said something rude to Jug about her erring Biddy with the carroty
+poll, which sent the hag into a fury. If Biddy was sliding from the
+straight path, the sin must lie on her head, not her mother's. They
+were spalpeens, she yelled, who would rot some time--the sooner the
+better. When should come Judgment-day they would not awake, ne'er a
+recreant sowl of them, having long ago been absorbed by lean pigs that
+were their betters. One man bade her keep a civil tongue, or it would
+be the worse for her. A riot ensued, which the mistress of the
+dwelling hurried forth to quell. Before the officers could interfere,
+Madam Gillin had received a scratch upon her arm, which she exhibited
+in the moonlight, swearing she was 'kilt entirely,' with an
+accompaniment of screams from Norah, who was really terrified. The
+judges should hear of the outrage--my lords Clonmell and Carleton--she
+vociferated, and the rapscallions should be drummed out of the
+regiment for insulting lone women who had friends among the great. The
+party stole away, ashamed of the din, but Madam Gillin made capital of
+the incident. Bandaging her arm in bloody linen, she drove into the
+capital, laid a complaint there, and made believe to see a surgeon.
+Every day for many days she drove into town and back again, closely
+draped in shawls, with ensanguined bandages exposed. Long ago she
+perceived that if Terence was to consent to continued imprisonment,
+his mind must be set at rest by communication with the Directory. He
+chafed so in his cage that she dreaded sometimes whether he might not
+escape in the night while the kindly gaoleress slept. Therefore,
+knowing what a hue-and-cry there was after him--or rather after the
+unlucky thousand pounds reward--she became in some sort a conspirator
+herself, going daily to and fro to see her doctor, who was no other
+than one of the new delegates, and who thus was enabled to commune
+with the lordling in spite of Sirr and his battalion of watchers.
+
+There was a lull of expectation in Dublin. Reports flew over the
+city--no one could tell how or whence they came--reports which set
+quiet citizens quivering in their beds. Hints of murder, rapine,
+kidnapping, explosion. Rumour swept howling over the city. The Castle
+would be blown into the air; it was known that the train was laid,
+that the match was ready. The lives of the Viceroy and his ministers
+were not worth a groat. What wonder if loyal yeoman souls were yet
+further set aflame? What wonder if the terrified senate acquiesced
+without murmuring at the line of action which the loyalists pursued.
+Soon so many prospective victims choked the alleys of the
+Riding-school that extra triangles had to be set up elsewhere. The
+Royal Exchange itself echoed with the thud of the cat; the screams of
+the victims for mercy could be heard in the viceregal apartments hard
+by. Happily for Lady Camden's peace of mind, she had fled long since.
+Soldiers were sent out at free quarters to the right and left, with
+hints that it would be well that their hosts should not forget their
+coming. Virgins were tossed naked in blankets, while their fathers and
+brothers were compelled to watch their shame. The pitch-cap was in
+daily use; gunpowder was exploded in the hair. A new and splendid jest
+was invented by a merry dog. Why not _picket_ the recalcitrant scum?
+What better joke than to poise an insolent fellow barefoot upon a
+pointed stake? His movements would be mirth-inspiring--so grotesque
+and comical! The only drawback was (as experiment showed) that he
+fainted all too soon. No; decidedly there was nothing better than the
+old-fashioned lash. Men swooned under it no doubt; some died; some
+went raving mad. But even when these misfortunes chanced there was
+diversion to be had from the expectant moans of those who were
+awaiting a like fate. Some even lost consciousness before they were
+tied up at all. Such a lack of humorous perception was disgusting.
+Why, a rat in a pit gives sport, though his fate is predetermined. A
+man, though low-born, should shame to be less plucky than a rat! It
+was rather amusing, and salutary to a certain point in its results, to
+shoot down children--babes and sucklings--before their mothers' eyes.
+Yet no! there was so little variety in the behaviour of the mothers.
+They all rocked themselves and stretched their palms to heaven. It was
+monotonous and dull. Even the imagination of the squireens, spurred as
+it was by enterprising colonels, began to flag. Perhaps, after all,
+they were not so very much more witty or more inventive than the
+French in the Reign of Terror. Their superiors grew ashamed of them,
+forgetting that in our imperfect state there is a limit to the human
+intellect. They grew ashamed of their own dearth of ingenuity, being
+by this time so swinish and sodden with alcohol and blood-quaffing,
+that the English and Scotch regiments turned their backs on them,
+declining to associate with their Irish comrades at all, even under
+stress of orders and of whisky.
+
+Winter had come again; not white this time, but red--a dusky red, by
+reason of the shadow of that thunderous cloud which, bloated now, was
+on the eve of bursting. If there is a limit set to the torturing
+ingenuity of fiends, so is there--by Divine ordinance--to the
+endurance even of slaves. A roar swept across the land--a roar of
+expostulation with the Most High in that He had slept too long. Sure
+man was not created only for the sake of torment. Children were not
+born merely to be ripped asunder--virgins to be ravished--men to be
+done to death by inches? Why, whilst the sun smiled on earth for good
+and bad alike--its glory heightened by a casual vapour-fleck--was
+Ireland alone exempted from the boon of light? The last trump had not
+yet sounded. Why was Erin alone to be a hell? Messengers moved like
+ants on the earth's surface. Something was preparing. After many
+delays and feints the real crisis was at hand at last. The cloud,
+three years ago no bigger than a hand, blackened the horizon. Even the
+chancellor's stony face grew wan--his nature of adamant faltered--when
+he surveyed the darkened heavens, hushed in an awful stillness, and
+waited for what might come. For a moment he trembled like Frankenstein
+before the monster he had fashioned.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XII.
+
+                               DANGER.
+
+
+Through Madam Gillin Terence heard of these things, and was fretted
+beyond measure in his seclusion. The plot was ripe. Vague tales of
+succour were wafted from France, but the conspirators knew better now
+than to lean on broken reeds. They were resolved to make a frantic
+effort on their own account, independent of extraneous aid. Men can
+die but once. Death by rope or musket-ball would be preferable to such
+life as this--life with a brutal soldiery at free quarters in the
+houses; with triangles in every barrack-yard, each bearing its
+quivering burthen. Details had been laboriously gone into by Terence
+and the Wexford chiefs. The project was complete in all its details.
+The counties were to rise simultaneously at a given signal. The
+Viceroy and the members of his privy council were each to be captured
+in his bed. A detachment was to seize the artillery at Chapelizod; a
+second was to storm Kilmainham and set free the patriot leaders. It
+was the old plan which had always proved abortive; could it be brought
+to fruition now? Horses would be in waiting, so that each leader could
+escape and scamper off to assume the post allotted to him. The men
+were enthusiastic, the Wexford chiefs declared, and built great hopes
+on the fact of having a noble in their ranks. The only objection which
+Terence's anxious eye could detect was that the lower order among the
+priests were assuming an authority to which they were not entitled;
+one which, by reason of their want of education, might prove
+mischievous. Tone, in all his letters, had always laid stress upon
+this point.
+
+'Keep the priests out of it,' he had constantly written to Miss Wolfe
+(Terence remembered it now). 'They will mean well, but are
+outrageously illiterate and given to fable, which might have a
+pernicious effect, their influence being enormous.'
+
+A certain Father Roche and a Father Murphy were never weary of writing
+letters, suggesting changes, offering wild advice. It would be well
+for the Church militant to be nipped in the bud. The leaders now in
+Kilmainham should be warned to see to this. Councillor Crosbie would
+have liked more muskets and a supply of gunpowder. What a pity it was
+that the French attempts had failed! After all, it was perhaps better
+as it was. The pike was the weapon for Pat; and though many had been
+captured, the land was bristling with them. Cars, too, would be
+useful for barricades. The small farmers must be told to keep their
+market-cars in constant readiness. Terence's eye scanned the details.
+They were not to be improved. All was ready.
+
+Nothing remained but to fix a day. New Year's Eve was suggested, in
+order that the year 1798 might be well begun. It was amazing and
+disheartening to find how impossible it was for Pat to keep a secret.
+A week before the old year expired, proclamations appeared on all the
+walls, which showed that Government was aware of what was doing. Each
+householder was commanded, under pain of flogging, to chalk a list on
+the outer door of the persons who dwelt upon his premises; with the
+exception (so ran the quaint document) of those who might be suffering
+from pecuniary embarrassment, whose names were to be transmitted
+privately to the Lord Mayor. He was likewise bidden to see that no one
+under his roof went forth into the street between nine at night and
+five in the morning. Could the conspirators doubt that somehow their
+every movement was reported?
+
+Madam Gillin, who, strive to control herself as she would, was
+feverishly excited about the future, discussed the plot in all its
+bearings with her guest when shutters were shut and curtains drawn. It
+was a marvel, she declared, that his retreat had remained so long
+undiscovered. It was a narrow escape though, when the yeomanry
+arrived; but that was evidently due to accident. There was no cause to
+suspect treachery there. It spoke well for the country chiefs--at
+least the few who had been let into the secret; for a thousand pounds
+is a tidy nest-egg--a by no means despicable windfall. She liked those
+leaders whom she had seen when pretending to visit her doctor in
+Dublin. The best of them was a certain Mr. Bagenal Harvey--a nice
+gintleman--one of the few who has much personal property at stake.
+'He's prudent too, for an Irishman. And so are you, my child!' she
+remarked, laying a plump hand affectionately on his arm. 'You've never
+even told your mother where you're hid. I verily believe she hates me
+so that, if she knew, she'd write and tell the chancellor!'
+
+'I fear she doesn't care,' returned Terence, sadly. 'Nor does Doreen.'
+
+The strange look of compassion flitted across the face of his hostess
+which he had observed there before. She muttered something which he
+did not catch, but he knew by the tone that it was uncomplimentary to
+her ladyship.
+
+'You mustn't think ill of my lady,' he said, with an attempt at
+cheerfulness. 'Indeed, she so dotes on Shane that there's no room in
+her heart for poor me! He quite filled up that shrine before ever I
+came into the world. If I thought she would have been anxious, I would
+have informed her. But nobody cared, so I told nobody--except one.'
+
+'You told some one! Who was that?'
+
+'A trusty old friend of long standing--true as gold, if a little
+stupid--Tim Cassidy. By-the-bye, he said you didn't like him. He's
+good, but not clever; though I've been a little shaken of late as to
+the weakness of his intellect. It's wonderful how circumstances bring
+people out!'
+
+Madam Gillin sat bolt upright, her fat hands clasped round her fat
+knees.
+
+'You told _him!_' she cried aghast.
+
+'Yes. Do not fear. He's playing a useful game, if a shady one. Each of
+us must do what he can, you know.'
+
+Mrs. Gillin was so taken aback that, to conceal her emotion, she
+retired abruptly from the garret, and stared out of the landing-window
+to consider this intelligence.
+
+'A useful game for _himself_,' she murmured. '_He_ knows--he who has
+wrecked them all--and has left this one here so long with a thousand
+pounds upon his head! What can he mean? Can he in this be sincere? No.
+The days of miracles are past.'
+
+Madam Gillin had seen our friend Cassidy once without his jovial mask.
+It is astonishing how deceived we are in people! We may live with them
+on familiar terms for years, and discover at last by a gleam that
+their real selves are quite other from what we thought. Sometimes the
+gleam never comes at all. How many sons are there who never knew their
+mothers? How many mothers who have never known their sons--the real
+person with the veil withdrawn? Madam Gillin had seen Cassidy once
+when he was himself, and felt satisfied that he could never be true
+except to his own interests. Then this new position which looked the
+darker for the light she could throw on it, twisted itself in her
+mind, displaying all its facets. _He_ knew that the young man, on whom
+so much depended, had been lying for weeks and weeks in ambush at the
+Little House. Why did he leave him there? Was he waiting for the
+reward to be doubled? When the moment arrived for her _protege_ to be
+taken--when he chose to speak, what would become of HER? He would
+surely ruin her. Could the judges save her from the penalties which
+would accrue from taking a Protestant under age to mass, as well as
+harbouring an arch-rebel?
+
+'Well, I can't help it,' she said aloud, mentally tossing up the
+sponge. 'I've done what I thought right. It's difficult to see the
+way. He must be got out of this while there's time, and New Year's Eve
+so near, too! Oh that I had learnt this before!' Painful misgivings
+possessed her mind. 'Pray God and the Holy Mother that the poor boy
+may be spared!' she whispered. 'Knowing what I do, it's bitterly sorry
+I am for him. That proud mother of his will burn for what she's doing
+some time or other, though she's happy now.'
+
+Mrs. Gillin, argus-eyed as she thought herself, could not know that
+the chatelaine of Strogue had already passed through a part of the
+travail of her punishment. She had to judge by the face, which was a
+mask--the face which was stony and cold enough--as cold as a face of
+marble.
+
+Suddenly (as she meditated) the buxom lady saw something which caused
+her to crouch down and draw hastily back from the window.
+
+'It's come!' she murmured; 'I felt it _here_ in my heart. What a mercy
+that he told me, or it would have come on us unawares! Norah!' she
+called with caution down the stairs, 'send Phil up here this minute.'
+Then she sped to the garret. 'My lad,' she said quickly, 'hurry now!
+Get through the trap on to the roof. Phil must do the same. I'll tidy
+the place in a jiffy! Ye can both lie cosy in the valley of the roof.'
+
+'What's the matter?' asked Terence, without moving.
+
+'Matter enough. There's a party coming down the road. I'll stake my
+head it's Sirr or some of them. They're coming to look for you!'
+
+'Then give them some of your Lafitte, my second mother!' laughed
+Terence, carelessly, 'and pack them about their business.'
+
+'No,' Mrs. Gillin said, 'I can't explain now. They must go over the
+house, and be convinced that ye're not in it; and to-night we'll pack
+ye somewhere else for safety.'
+
+There was no withstanding her energy. The two young men obeyed their
+peremptory hostess, marvelling much at her. It was Sirr, sure enough.
+His peculiar stoop could be recognised a mile off. Behind him were a
+dozen redcoats.
+
+Mrs. Gillin was snipping dead twigs with a large pair of scissors; she
+wore a loose green kerchief over her turban, so unbecomingly arranged
+that it was evident she expected no visitors. Norah was dutifully
+holding a basket. How idle of the gardener to have neglected to trim
+those hedges! Old Jug sat crooning in the wintry sun, her eyes
+twinkling like beads from under a tangle of sandy elf-locks and
+flopping cap, her favourite dudheen between her lips.
+
+'Misthress dear!' she croaked between two puffs of smoke, 'it's the
+meejor.'
+
+But that lady was too much absorbed in gardening to hear.
+
+'Good-day, madam,' quoth Sirr, wrinkling down his brow-tufts with a
+smirk, and saluting in military fashion.
+
+'Bless the pigs, meejor! is it you?' she cried, throwing down her
+scissors. 'Ye've called to ask after my arm? It's mighty kind! The
+ruffin gave my poor hand a terrible wrench, and sprains are slow to
+cure. The bleeding's stopped this long while, but the docthor's eating
+the sowl out of me. I go to be bandaged three times a week. It's not
+your boys, meejor, that would outrage a leedy so!'
+
+Major Sirr was disconcerted, and began to stammer:
+
+'Glad ye're better, madam--hugely glad! I would not for the world do
+anything disagreeable to a lady--but business is business, isn't it?'
+
+'What's up?' cried the amazed little woman.
+
+'I'm here, I regret to say, on painful business. May we come inside?
+Thank you!'
+
+'The meejor's always welcome,' affably returned the other, with one of
+those superb but ceremonious curtseys wherewith she was wont to
+electrify the Viceroy. Then, plucking off the kerchief, she whispered
+audibly to Norah, 'Begorrer, it's rooned we are! To be seen with a
+square of green silk round mee ould noddle! But the meejor won't
+tell.'
+
+Major Sirr observed with sorrow that the lady was not so cordial as
+usual. There was an air of suspicious virtue with the ears set back
+which distressed him, for he was really partial to her, though he
+loved her claret better.
+
+''Tis with deepest pain----' he was beginning, when she cut him short.
+
+'Give tongue!' she said curtly. 'What ails you?'
+
+This was a slap in the face. He was accustomed to be fondled and
+caressed by those whom it was his painful duty to flay alive. She
+could not be so hoighty-toighty if afraid.
+
+'You are right,' he returned; 'business is business. I regret to say I
+must search your house, for I've reason to know that Councillor
+Crosbie is concealed here. I advise you to produce him, and have done
+with it.'
+
+Oh, Major Sirr! Major Sirr! You should have sent your better-half to
+cope with Mrs. Gillin. What are a dozen men against one woman, in a
+battle of wits? What are two dozen men against one woman whose blood
+is roused, who stands like a tigress 'twixt her whelp and danger?
+
+Major Sirr expected her to change colour, to betray at least a quiver
+of the lip, a tremor of the fingers; then, recovering herself, to deny
+largely and pour forth claret with effusion. Such signs would have
+been the sure tokens of guilt, and he would have known how to act
+accordingly.
+
+Instead of this she stabbed him, rather too hard for playfulness, with
+her scissors, and skipped away laughing with elephantine grace. Then
+wagging her turban at him (which was wofully awry), she set her hands
+akimbo on her high waistband, thereby sending her elbows almost to the
+level of her ears, and remarked with unusual bluntness:
+
+'Pah! ye stink of the Staghouse! Stale blood and brains! Go on,
+hangman; do your worst. Mr. Crosbie _was_ here--has been here for
+weeks. I won't deny, since ye know all about it. If ye hadn't been a
+dolt, ye'd have found him long ago. Why, he walked out with Norah each
+evening on the shore. He was here when the yeoman blackguards wounded
+and hurt my arm. Do ye think, if it was otherwise, I'd have stooped to
+give them drink? Not likely! Mr. Crosbie _was_ here, but the bird's
+flown. You may well look glum. Sorra a drop of the crathur your men'll
+get out of me this day. Go, search the house; turn it inside out. He
+lived in the right-hand garret. Ye'll find some of his things about,
+though he's in Wexford by this time. Here are all my keys (except the
+cellar key). Search!'
+
+This was disheartening. Behaviour coarse and rude. But duty is duty.
+Sirr stooped to pick up the keys, which had been tossed to his feet,
+and, wrapping himself in a rag of dignity, proceeded to examine the
+premises. It was as she said. There was no one there, though there
+were signs of recent occupation. Ruefully the major looked into the
+dining-parlour. There were no nice things laid out for his behoof.
+
+'I've only done my duty,' he urged, as he clutched the virtuous lady's
+fat hand. 'Don't be cross with me. I'm glad my mission's failed,
+though I should have won a thousand by it--there!'
+
+But she shook him off and swept away, murmuring over her shoulder,
+with sniffing nostrils, that she had done with him; would never meet
+him as a friend again (though her house was open to examination
+whensoever he was anxious for an outrage); that she would take it as a
+personal favour if he would save her the pain of cutting him dead in
+public; for under no conditions whatsoever would she consent to
+condone this insult.
+
+Sirr was sorry, but shrugged his shoulders. He ordered his men to
+march on to Strogue. Perhaps the culprit was not gone to Wexford, but
+was lying perdu in the vaults of the ancient Abbey. Mrs. Gillin
+screamed to old Jug, from an upper window, to run round to Larry in
+the farm-buildings, and bid him bring out the carriage. She must go to
+Dublin to the doctor. Her nerves were rooned now, as well as her
+spirits and poor arm.
+
+Then, closing the window, she called on the fugitives to come forth.
+
+'There's no time to be lost,' she said. 'Sirr suspects nothing, but
+the other will. The serpent! He is capable of coming down himself, in
+a friendly way, to spend the evening; and that's more than I could
+endure, even for you.'
+
+'Of whom do you speak?' asked Terence, bewildered.
+
+'Don't chatter!' interrupted the kind lady. ''Twill be twilight in an
+hour or so. You must get out of this before Sirr gets back, and
+reports to the other what he's done. Then the brute may come, and
+welcome. It'll be a pleasure to laugh at him. Sirr'll be an hour or so
+rummaging through the Abbey. Meanwhile you'll take my place in the
+coach. You're just my size and figure. Your arm looks awful bad. You
+want a doctor sadly. But that gossoon there; he can't go too, as I've
+always gone alone. Unlucky! He can't stay, either; that's certain.
+What'll we do at all?' She tore off the soiled turban to rub her head,
+for the better coaxing of her ingenuity. Presently she clapped her
+hands. 'That's it. Ye'll go separate to the same rendezvous. You,
+Phil, shall go first, for ye must walk. It's like a masquerade in the
+good old times; yet my heart is dreadful sore--ochone!'
+
+Rapidly Madam Gillin produced some sailor-slops which her own boatman
+used to wear when she took her pleasure on the bay. 'Phil will wear
+these and start at once,' she explained. 'His face must not be seen;
+it's too well known. In the boathouse yonder he'll find a coil of
+rope. He must bear it on his shoulders as a motive, and let a loop or
+two fall over his forehead. Be off now, and be careful. Take a knife,
+in case of accidents. Ye must be clear off before Sirr returns from
+the Abbey. If by ill-luck ye were to come face to face, stab at his
+legs. He wears a coat of mail. _I felt it with my scissors_. Away!'
+
+Phil departed, quite glad of the excitement, delighted to break
+through his long and weariful incarceration.
+
+Terence was packed in the celebrated wrapper, which once to see was
+never to forget. A beaver bonnet and veil covered his head. An arm was
+deftly bandaged. He stepped into the coach, drew up the glasses, and
+leaning back in the shadow as the coachman whipped his horses, began
+to collect his thoughts. Whew! What a whirl it was! Why dear Madam
+Gillin should suddenly become nervous, and wag her plumes so, he could
+not imagine. Unpleasant things are ofttimes for the best. Concealed in
+the capital itself he would be all the better able to superintend in
+person the proceedings of New Year's Eve. Yes! It was quite fortunate
+that she should thus have sent him off. He would see some of the
+delegates that very evening; concert passwords and signals. Five
+minutes' talk is worth a dozen letters. He would send round for
+Cassidy, who, faithful to his _role_, should be able to unravel for
+them the ins and outs of the Castle tactics, some of which seemed
+hazy. He would---- What was that? Sirr and his men! Then they had not
+lingered at the Abbey, but had started Dublinwards before him? No
+matter. All was right. The major had peered into the carriage, and,
+perceiving the wounded arm and well-known wrapper, had turned away his
+head abruptly. How cleverly Mrs. Gillin had managed the whole thing!
+Why had she taken such a fancy to him? If he were her own son, she
+could not be more loving and considerate.--What was that? A man
+bending under a load. Phil, of course. How slow he walked! Sirr's men
+seemed stepping out. Please Heaven they would not overtake him. No.
+And if they did, what then? A boor with a burthen of rope. A guilty
+conscience; how it racks and torments us about nothing!
+
+Hark! a sound--audible through the rumbling coach-wheels. A shout--a
+cry! Unable to resist the impulse, Terence lowered a glass and
+protruded his head, with the beaver bonnet and veil. Great heavens!
+The soldiers had gained on Phil, whose burthen impeded movement; had,
+from sheer brutality, torn it from him and disclosed his features. He
+had been recognised! Sirr saw through the trick, and shook his fist
+with balked fury. He was gesticulating in the road. Some soldiers were
+hailing the coach from afar, but Larry whipped his horses with a will.
+Some more, jumping a ditch, had broken through a hedge and vanished.
+Poor Phil! he would be murdered. Was it not base to leave him thus
+unaided? Yet--the Cause. Terence felt that his life was not his own.
+Eagerly he looked backwards as the road took a loop-turn. He must see
+the last of poor Phil--probably the very last of his faithful
+henchman. Phil had ceased struggling. Terence drew in his head, and,
+man though he was, burst into a flood of tears. Poor, faithful Phil!
+What a sad end!
+
+Half-way betwixt Strogue and Dublin the road leaves the shore, and
+winds inland with an intricate series of doubles--arranged so for the
+benefit of certain small villa-holders, round whose tiny properties
+the way meanders. Terence forgot this fact, so absorbed was he in the
+fate of his attached servant, otherwise he would have seen his danger,
+and, throwing off his disguise, would have trusted to a hare's tactics
+in the open. But, clad in woman's attire, he was weeping like a woman,
+and bemoaning his fate, when the carriage came to a standstill with a
+shock. A detachment of soldiers, taking a short cut, had come upon the
+carriage, and, springing on the bits, had thrust back the horses on
+their haunches.
+
+Deception was futile now. Dragging off the ignoble bonnet and wrapper,
+Terence sprang lightly out, and drawing a pistol, prepared to barter
+his life against as many of the foe as possible.
+
+One man shot poor Larry on his box, lest he should take part in the
+scuffle; another hamstrung the off-horse, which whinnied, and leaped
+up with pain. The shot was answered by a hulloo and rush of feet.
+Through the hedge-gap appeared Sirr, breathless but foaming, urging on
+his men, two of whom dragged Phil, an inert mass, between them.
+
+'Murther!' groaned Phil. 'That the masther should be tuk, and through
+me!'
+
+'Yes,' jeered Sirr; 'we have him now. Having detected you, I knew at
+once that he could not be far off!'
+
+Terence discharged his pistols with good effect. A man fell to each of
+them. Then, drawing a dagger, he leaned his back against a tree.
+
+Sirr, as his way was on these occasions, withdrew to the rear, content
+with egging on his hounds from a safe distance. The men waited for a
+second, watching the eye of the man who stood at bay. Phil saw his
+opportunity, and took it. With a jerk he freed himself, stabbed one
+fellow, and, lunging at another, slipped, and tumbled on the moist
+earth. But he was not to be thus foiled. Wriggling along the ground,
+he reached Major Sirr, and slashed him across both legs, who,
+springing into the air with a howl, tossed away the sword-cane that he
+had unsheathed and fell disabled. Phil caught it, and stabbed the
+shrieking major again and again till it broke. 'Right she was!' he
+said; 'the dastard does wear mail!'
+
+The diversion seemed likely to save Terence, who, turning, sped
+swiftly along the furrows, favoured by sinking twilight.
+
+'Run, masther, run!' Phil screamed. 'Please the Lord, he'll be safe
+yet.'
+
+'Dead or alive!' howled Sirr, who clawed the ground with his fingers
+in his pain.
+
+A man levelled his musket and fired. Terence turned like a top,
+dropped on his knees, then struggling up, moved on as swiftly as
+before. Another fired, but missed. The fugitive flew on, but not so
+fast. A mere youth outstripped him, and stooping down in front,
+tripped him by the feet. Both fell heavily. The bigger of the two
+being uppermost--his right arm swinging loose--made a desperate effort
+to throttle the boy with his left hand. It took several men, pressing
+his chest with heavy muskets, to tear his prey from him, and bind him
+in such a way as to prevent further resistance.
+
+Terence and Phil were taken to the provost, whilst Sirr (vowing
+vengeance especially against the latter) was borne away to have the
+wounds dressed which disfigured his comely calves.
+
+Madam Gillin sat at home in a perspiration, waiting for news. No news!
+That looked well. It was dawn before she sought her couch, determined
+to try and sleep. A hubbub aroused the three occupants of the Little
+House. What was it? eight o'clock! An enormous detachment of soldiers'
+wives, with kettles, equipage, and baggage, demanding hospitality,
+producing an official order to that effect. Free quarters; and for
+women, too--the dirty, drunken drabs! Madam Gillin clasped her fat
+hands in anguish. Then the stratagem must have been discovered. One
+had been taken--which? or both? Oh, Heaven! Would no one tell her?
+
+A blowsy wife, more compassionate than the rest, said that all the
+world knew by this time that the meejor had won the big reward.
+
+Madam Gillin tightened her lips, and said no more, while Jug whistled
+lamentations through her gums. 'It's the curse of Crummell on the
+farriers--breed, seed, and branch. If he'd gone alone he'd have been
+safe.' Which, in all probability, was true enough, though not because
+Phil chose to wield a firing-iron. But Madam Gillin would not listen
+to her nurse. Poor lad! To be taken without striking a blow--without
+even the threadbare satisfaction which belongs to a leader of forlorn
+hopes--of laying down life, perhaps, but at a heavy price. What an
+unjust world it is! Mrs. Gillin felt it more and more.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                              THE HURRY.
+
+
+Mr. Pitt's scheme was doing well. Protestants and Catholics, the upper
+and the lower class, having been successfully set at each other's
+throats--the leading spirits of the popular party being snugly
+caged--the executive thought the moment come to harvest their Dead-sea
+apples. The capture of Terence was accomplished at a fortunate moment;
+for things had gone too far now for the project of resistance to be
+tamely abandoned. The proposed rising was perforce postponed that the
+harried Directory might for a fourth time reorganise itself. Ill-luck
+haunted that Directory. Tone, inaugurator of the society, was a
+broken-spirited exile; Emmett, Neilson, Russell, Bond, zealous
+disciples of their prophet, languished in Kilmainham; the Honourable
+Terence Crosbie (most promising blossom on the stem) lay
+wounded--delirious from fever--within the provost. None of the
+projectors of rebellion were permitted to take part in it; yet it was
+evident that the days of meek endurance were at an end. The places of
+the absent were supplied by men, ambitious but incapable: small
+country gentlemen of limited attainment, or farmers of little culture,
+who were speedily swallowed by the flood, to be supplanted in turn by
+furious fanatics, as ignorant but more unscrupulous than they.
+
+Nothing was attempted on New Year's Eve. January and February passed;
+March and April came, and were gone. Lord Clare wondered whether he
+had been too precipitate, and digested Sully's saying: 'Pour la
+populace ce n'est jamais par envie d'attaquer qu'elle se souleve, mais
+par impatience de souffrir.' Had the people not suffered enough yet?
+The yeomanry motto had been, 'Soyons freres, ou je t'assomme!' and
+nobly they had acted on it. The people glared and showed their fangs,
+ready and willing for the fray; but they were leaderless. Those who in
+the emergency affected to command, racked by indecision, put off the
+important moment. Rebel and royalist frowned silently one at the
+other, lance in rest, both itching to go to work, both declining the
+odium of the first move. It was the last brief lull of stillness
+before the bursting of the storm--of the storm which had been so long
+in bursting. Dublin was uncertain how to proceed. If the Croppies
+would rise and gain one decisive victory, then Dublin, joining them
+openly, would turn and tear its rulers. On the other hand, should the
+Croppies encounter tribulation the capital would grovel at the
+mumbling Viceroy's feet, presenting both cheeks to the smiter with
+expressions of Christian meekness.
+
+It was an anxious time for the lord-lieutenant and his Privy Council.
+
+To the chancellor's disgust General Abercromby (who supplanted
+Carhampton), on whom he had counted for friendly co-operation as
+commander of the forces, chose this awkward period of uncertainty to
+retire.
+
+'Nothing,' he bluffly said, 'could justify the behaviour of
+Government. If the two Houses of Parliament chose to turn their
+motherland into a slaughter-house, dire retribution would be sure to
+fall upon them some day. At all events he, a stranger, would have
+nothing to do with political crimes.' And so he went away; and the
+supreme command was accepted _pro tem_, by General Lake, till such
+time as a fit substitute could be selected.
+
+The attitude of pugnacious Pat, eager for the fight, but lance in
+rest, could not be permitted to endure. That those who were wont to
+tread on the tails of each other's coats at Donnybrook should in
+incongruous fashion assume patience like that of St. Simon Stylites
+was merely an insult to their masters. A little more humour must be
+displayed by the friends of England--a few more jokes, quite broad
+ones now. A dozen or so of judicious murders, a grand confiscation of
+poor men's cattle, a few more virgins ravished--a real sharp touch of
+the spur, in fact. The jokers acted with a will, and the desired
+effect was gained. Kildare rose on the 23rd of May. Simultaneous
+attacks of a timorous kind were made on various strongholds, of which
+one only could be pronounced successful. The barrack of Prosperous was
+surprised in the night, the commandant killed, and a few officers
+sacrificed, the place committed to the flames. This was encouraging,
+and Government could well afford the loss of a few lives. But the
+rebels needed a deal of spurring; they were still too craven for an
+important venture; their hands were unnerved; their blood was chilled
+by fear of treachery. Oh! degenerate scions of turbulent Keltic kings!
+
+The boys of Kildare, who were the first, casting distrust aside, to
+take the field, had been ground too low to allow the lamp of
+patriotism to burn steadily. After an abortive effort of a few days
+they sued for mercy. Slaves of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of
+water, they were doomed to be; their leaders saw it now, and roundly
+told them so, and they retorted on their leaders. Both indeed were
+sadly below the mark. If those who endeavoured to command were unable
+to manage their rabble, the latter were no better than the most
+innocent of savages. In presence of the foe they forgot the little
+drilling they had learned, danced forward like children, with hats on
+pikes and wild gestures of defiance, and tumbled pellmell over each
+other, hit or alarmed at the first blare of musketry. The business of
+the disciplined cohorts was simply to stand quiet until the gibbering
+simpletons advanced to an easy distance; then to cut them down as the
+sickle mows the corn, in serried heaps upon the furrows. The boys of
+Kildare sued for mercy, and were graciously informed that if they
+would come to the Gibbet-Rath on the Curragh, within given hours on a
+certain day, and there deliver up all weapons of offence, they might
+be permitted to return to bondage and be happy. They came, having been
+assured that General Dundas had received permission from the Castle to
+show clemency. Thirteen cartloads of pikes were delivered on the
+plain. General Duff, who, assisted by the colonel of the Foxhunters,
+was acting for Dundas, bade the rebels make of these a heap, and
+confessing on their knees their insolence and wickedness, beg the
+King's pardon humbly. The craven wretches obeyed, for no vestige of
+courage was left in them. Bereft even of the courage to die, they
+kneeled, praying that the agony of death might be past. They kneeled,
+with misery too intense for speech, on the great plain, with heads
+bowed and hands clutched together--a spectacle of human abjectness
+harrowing enough to have made the angels weep.
+
+'Charge!' shouted General Duff, 'and spare no rebel!'
+
+The obedient Foxhunters (so called from the brushes they wore in their
+helmets) hacked down with their sabres the defenceless peasants to the
+number of three hundred and more. There were eighty-five widows in one
+single street of Kildare that afternoon. It is but fair to say that no
+part of the infamy of this splendid joke attaches to General Dundas,
+for the massacre was shown to have taken place without his knowledge
+or consent. Duff and the colonel of the Foxhunters must bear the brunt
+of it alone, along with other jests of equal brilliancy. A few of the
+victims managed to scuttle off, hiding in furze-bushes or behind
+walls, and reached Kildare at nightfall, to tell the tale of butchery.
+A woman who lay ill ten miles off, woke (so it is said) from a vision
+of her husband weltering in gore, and nothing would appease her but
+that her daughter and aged father should go forth to seek him. They
+were met by knots of country-folk flying along the road in wildest
+excitement.
+
+'Bad news, old man!' they wailed as they pursued their course
+like a whirl of wraiths. 'Our friends lie kilt--God rest their
+sowls--_all_--on the Curragh, this day!'
+
+Old man and grandchild harnessed a horse and car, determined to
+learn more. The gloaming rested on the plain when they reached the
+Gibbet-Rath.
+
+Two hundred bodies were turned over before they came upon the one they
+sought. Its hands moved, in an effort to stanch a wound with a remnant
+of an old cravat, and in the increasing darkness they chanced to
+observe the flutter. But for that movement, where so many around were
+still, they might have passed by their bread-winner. Filled with
+thankfulness in that he yet lived, they stretched him on the car, for
+prudence' sake in corpse-like attitude, shaded his eyes with a hat,
+sprinkled some soiled hay over his prostrate form, and hurried home in
+haste. But a rumour somehow got wind that 'the Croppies were getting
+alive again,' and so the military were sent round to scour the
+adjacent country to make certain that no such untoward circumstance
+occurred.
+
+Two men belonging to the Ancient Britons approached the hut at
+midnight where this man lay, snatched by a marvel from the jaws of
+Death.
+
+'What!' one said, 'that Croppy living still?'
+
+'Yes, your honour,' replied the sick wife, with meekness. 'The Lord
+has been pleased to grant the boy a longer day.'
+
+'Come, come!' was the jocose retort. 'He'll be best out of misery, for
+he can't possibly recover. Leastways, his curing will be tedious to an
+ailing wife like you.' And the wretch pistolled him in cold blood then
+and there, while the frenzied widow shrieked for mercy, and the
+daughter strove to shield him with her own body in the ecstasy of her
+despair.
+
+This carnival on the Gibbet-Rath finally snuffed out Kildare; but
+Wexford, which was made of different materials, rose up to take her
+place. The men of Wexford belonged to another caste, had different
+hair and features, were of a fiercer nature than the Kelts. They rose
+with one accord, their blood stirred to fever-frenzy by the
+intelligence which drifted down to them. Kildare had disgraced the
+emerald flag; it should be the privilege of Wexford to retrieve its
+tarnished honour. They would set an example to pusillanimous counties
+that still hesitated about rising. War to the knife! no quarter given!
+Such should be their watchword. Proudly let the green banner wave.
+Victory or Death!
+
+These raw but doughty warriors meant business. They set about
+establishing themselves, therefore, in true military array; and in the
+first instance collected their strength into two detachments, the
+first of which, mustering three thousand men, encamped on Killthomas
+Hill, where three hundred of the yeomanry gave them battle and
+obtained a bloodless victory. Not quite bloodless though, for one
+Lieutenant Bookey lost his life, and his indignant comrades offered to
+his manes (after a massacre on Killthomas Hill which was only
+business) the sacrifice of several Popish chapels and at least a
+hundred Catholic dwellings on their next day's march. This had the
+auspicious effect of infuriating to delirium the second and greater
+camp, whose leading spirits saw that, for them and theirs, their motto
+was but too prophetic a one. Unless they were prepared to see their
+faith stamped out, there was clearly nothing for the men of Wexford
+but Death or Victory.
+
+Like desperate men as they were, they set about accomplishing the
+latter straightway. On the rising ground of Oulart, distant eight
+miles from Wexford town, they rallied round the green at least four
+thousand strong. With proud defiance and undaunted mien they beheld
+the enemy's approach--red coats dimmed by dust and mist, and bayonets
+glimmering. They awaited the onset with stern determination, and--fled
+helter-skelter on the first attack. The yeomanry pursued with shouts
+and jeers, following fast over rock and boulder, sweeping the rebels
+before them as a broom sweeps chaff. But, arrived at the summit of the
+hill, a hint came to the insurgents that cavalry lay in ambush on the
+other side to intercept their flight. Cavalry! To their untutored
+minds a charge of horsemen meant instant annihilation, whilst they
+were quite resolved to live--for Victory. They rallied, turned on the
+disordered and breathless pursuers, and charging downward with their
+pikes, bore all before them. Taken by surprise, out of breath,
+disorganised, none of the quondam pursuers survived to tell of their
+defeat, save the lieutenant-colonel, a sergeant, and three privates.
+Many of the rebels succumbed, but what mattered that? Those who
+remained alive were masters of the situation. Theirs was the prestige
+of having beaten the royalist soldiers in the open field. Numbers had
+vanquished discipline; ignorance had made science of none effect; the
+spirits of the enemy were lowered in proportion to their own triumph.
+Hosts of peasants, lukewarm hitherto through fear, flocked to join the
+victors. Mustering now quite four thousand strong, and burning to add
+new leaves of laurel to their chaplet, they marched with childish
+gesture, intoning as they marched the 'Marseillaise,' to storm the
+town of Enniscorthy.
+
+Those who led them saw that if the God of battles would continue to
+favour them, their condition might be greatly improved, even to the
+point of rendering their unwieldy host truly formidable. The capture
+of Enniscorthy would aid the insurgents much, for that place (twelve
+miles or so from Wexford) is bisected by the Slaney, whose ebb and
+flow permits vessels of light tonnage to approach the bridge which
+unites the two portions of the town. Hence it was certain to be well
+stocked with useful things, lying there for transmission up the
+country. It might contain ammunition too--a precious find indeed--for
+the Wexford men were good shots with a gun, accustomed to earn a
+modest wage by shooting waterfowl for the markets of Dublin and of
+Cork, in consequence of which they had obtained exemption from the
+more vexatious clauses of the Gunpowder Act. If Enniscorthy should
+fall into their hands they would find themselves provided, too, with a
+splendid camping-ground called Vinegar Hill, which rose adjacent to
+the city. At their leisure they might take ship, and, sailing down the
+Slaney, seize the town of Wexford--a seaport with a magnificent
+harbour. What a pity the French had been so unfortunate! How gladly
+they would have welcomed the tricolour as it glided through the narrow
+entrance which admits into that glorious anchorage!
+
+Certain intelligence arrived at Enniscorthy that it would be attacked
+on the 28th at midday. The drums beat to arms; the garrison took their
+posts. The North Cork Militia occupied the bridge; cavalry were posted
+in the leading street; a detachment of yeomanry occupied an elevation
+three or four hundred yards in front of the chief gate. On perceiving
+the latter, the insurgent column halted and deployed, extending
+largely to the right and left, to outflank the small band before them,
+and cut it off from the town. Then they moved forward, driving cattle
+in advance of them, opening at the same time a well-directed fire. The
+yeomanry, perceiving their tactics, retired within the walls, covered
+by a charge of cavalry which, whilst dispersing a band that was
+pressing them too closely, came itself to tribulation by reason of the
+cattle. A second body, with a second lot of kine, made for a gate to
+westward, which was protected by a tributary stream. The ford had
+previously been deepened, and was considered dangerous enough to act
+as its own defence. A gigantic priest, who wore a broad crossbelt and
+a dragoon's sabre swinging, was equal to the occasion:
+
+'Drive in the cattle, boys, and swarm over their backs!'
+
+No sooner said than done. Goaded by pikes the animals rushed headlong
+into the gulf, and the rebels, crossing the palpitating bridge, crept
+unperceived into the town, which was by this time a mass of flame. The
+disaffected inhabitants picked off the soldiery from their windows;
+fired their own houses to burn them out when the royalists sought
+protection there; dragged away frieze-coated bodies, that the carnage
+might not discourage the survivors; while women and young girls, in
+the heroism born of excitement, ran hither and thither among the
+bullets, administering new courage in the welcome shape of whisky. The
+streets were so involved in smoke that the yeomen could not perceive
+the rebels till they felt their pikes within their flesh. The whirling
+flame flared in such a sheet as to unite in a seething arch over their
+heads--singeing the bearskin of their caps, scorching their very hair
+and eyelashes. After a conflict wherein for three hours each inch was
+savagely disputed, the loyalists found themselves pushed backwards
+into the central square. 'Victory!' hallooed the insurgents--just a
+little bit too soon. A heavy discharge from the market-house made them
+waver. Profiting by their recoil, cavalry and infantry rallied. Their
+discipline stood them in good stead at the turning of the tide. They
+dashed forward; drove the huge wave in a vast roll before them, which
+ebbed across the bridge, down the straight street, away out of the
+town--a turbulent maelstrom of discomfited fugitives. Though the
+rebels were for the time repulsed, it was certain that they would
+return again on the morrow and sweep the place clean by sheer weight
+of numbers. The little garrison was weakened by half its strength. The
+loyalists, unwitting of the insidious purpose of Lord Clare, loudly
+blamed the executive for leaving so inadequate a force to battle with
+so immense a mob. It was a pernicious want of forethought which would
+cost many lives. A strong force of regulars, they complained, and this
+Hurry would be over in two days at most. Guileless loyalists of
+Enniscorthy! After all the labour of incubation, it was not fitting
+that the trouble should be too brief. The chancellor's twitter of
+conscience was past, and his hand was steady on the plough again, to
+force it through roots and stones. The iron, being drawn, might not be
+sheathed again before it had cut into the writhing soul of Erin
+ineffaceably. She must remember the Hurry to the end of her existence,
+as an awful sample of the terrors which would fall even yet more
+heavily upon her if she should dare again to rouse the wrath of her
+elder sister. Consistently, therefore, till the lesson was complete,
+two hundred regulars or so were always expected to cope with two
+thousand rebels; and, even with those odds against them, the former,
+more frequently than not, obtained the upper hand. In the present
+instance, however, it was not so; for it was clear that the loyalists
+must desert the town or be killed to a man. In the mid-hour of night,
+lighted by the afterglow of conflagration, they retreated without
+warning to Wexford--a melancholy train; bearing their women and their
+wounded on their horses; leaving infants by the wayside, while the
+aged sank down from weariness and were abandoned to the tender mercies
+of the mob.
+
+On the 1st of June the great camping-ground hard-by Enniscorthy
+presented a strange picture, occupied as it had then become by an
+armed host of ten thousand men, independent of a grand array of
+camp-followers, suttlers, women and children, who flocked in from all
+quarters to applaud the defenders of their hearths. From a military
+point of view, Vinegar Hill is strong. High grounds are crowned by a
+cone of bold ascent, capped by a ruined mill, while the cultivated
+fields beneath are divided into small enclosures, intersected by stone
+walls and trenches. For defence by irregular troops who trusted rather
+to numbers than to skill, such a position was particularly favourable;
+for the enclosures afforded safe cover for skirmishers, who could
+watch the approach of an enemy whilst they remained themselves unseen.
+The appearance of the singular mushroom-bed which speedily sprouted up
+was extremely picturesque, in keeping with the wildness of guerilla
+warfare. Tents of the Donnybrook pattern rose on all sides. Vinegar
+Hill was intended to become a temporary home; for the chiefs were
+resolved that this should be the centre of their operations until such
+time as they could be masters of the Castle. Long avenues of bent
+wattles like straggling caterpillars of every hue crawled up the
+slope, covered with the spoils of Enniscorthy--patchwork-quilts,
+sheets, ripped sacks, rugs, blankets. At intervals a smaller edifice,
+crowned by an old brush and swinging lantern, invited to a temporary
+shebeen. If an old pot dangled too, it was a sign that food might also
+be procured there; though, the weather being warm, the soup-caldrons
+were usually placed without, that all the ragged host might lick their
+lips over the good things which tumbled into them for a ragout. Nor
+were the more aesthetic pleasures of the eye and ear neglected. The
+organ of Enniscorthy church and its peal of bells were brought thither
+in state for some one or other to jangle upon night and day; whilst as
+for flags, the camp was alive with them, of every colour except
+orange, bearing each a rude harp without a crown. One, conspicuous
+above the rest, was black, with the cognisance M. W. S. in white; and
+this the loyalists in their charity chose to unriddle as 'Murder
+without sin,' whereas its real meaning was 'Marksmen of Wexford and of
+Shelmalier.' Among the throng might be observed men in the King's
+uniform--bright spots in the mass of brown. Such soldier prisoners as
+the crew had taken were treated well and guarded with care, for they
+were of the greatest value as drill-sergeants, and might be seen day
+and night plodding up and down with awkward squads, into whom they
+were striving to instil the first germs of military science. What an
+unmanageable mob it was! swelling hourly through the constant influx
+of recruits, not one of whom possessed the faintest idea of
+discipline; each one of whom had a predilection for poteen and a
+dim suspicion of the incompetence of his leaders. It was at this
+juncture that the weak, well-intentioned country gentlemen, who had
+striven to occupy the empty shoes of their imprisoned betters, were
+swept into the shade by the unscrupulous influence of the lower
+clergy--uncultured, ferocious creatures, whose worst passions were
+aroused by the burning of their chapels, the desecration of their
+altars; men who scrupled not to play upon the vulgar superstition of a
+half-savage multitude for the gaining of a cherished end. They became
+hideous tyrants--such men as the priests of Tallat and of Boulovogue;
+merciless as their persecutors had been without mercy. Inflamed by
+wrong and intoxicated by a little brief authority, they were guilty of
+enormities which, at a quieter moment, they would themselves have
+surveyed with horror. The higher Catholic clergy withstood the force
+of the current, and, resisting temptation, publicly disapproved and
+deplored their acts; yet who (looking on the picture calmly at this
+distance of time) will throw the first stone at them? The multitude
+had, with deliberate art, been stung to madness. The bad passions of
+their teachers had been stirred in their most vital place. If the
+people were as ignorant as their own cattle, who was accountable for
+it? England, through the cruel enactments of centuries. If the members
+of the inferior priesthood were debased and wicked, who made them so?
+England, by persecuting them without ceasing, by forbidding their
+minds to be illumined by education--England, by her accursed Penal
+Code.
+
+The original champions being caged, three Catholic priests. Fathers
+Murphy, Kearnes, and Roche, overturning established authority, assumed
+the conduct of affairs, and set about the organising of their army.
+What had been hitherto a conflict of classes tinged with a religious
+bias, became now a purely religious crusade, accompanied by all the
+crimes which, through the history of the world, have been intimately
+associated with religion. What an inscrutable vision it is--that of
+the stately Spirit walking through earth's story, her fair features
+distorted, her white robes edged with blood, her pure skirts soiled by
+the vilest lees of the human heart--_always!_
+
+The new leaders divided their host into three divisions, with each a
+special mission. The first, under Father Kearnes, was to possess
+itself of Newtown Barry. This expedition proved abortive. The second,
+under Father Roche (which, owing to lack of space on Vinegar Hill, was
+encamped at Carrickbyrne with an outpost at Scullabogue), was to
+attack New Ross, then, proceeding northward, was to join the third
+body in a grand attempt on Dublin. This plan was plausible enough, for
+Gorey, Arklow, and Wicklow were weakly garrisoned, and, should those
+citadels give way, the road to the capital lay open--undefended. Perry
+of Inch and Father Murphy (who commanded the third division) were
+mighty men of valour. The latter swore by the Holy Mother that he was
+invulnerable, carrying bullets in his pockets to prove the miracle.
+Chances seemed fairly in favour of success. The garrison of Gorey, for
+instance, numbered but a hundred and thirty men. What could they hope
+to do--disciplined though they were--against a rabble of six thousand?
+They did what was wisest under the circumstances; called temerity to
+their aid, and essayed to brazen out the difficulty of their position.
+Instead of waiting to be attacked, they rushed out upon the road,
+raising such clouds of summer dust that the advancing rebels,
+supposing reinforcements to have arrived, turned and fled in terror.
+The advanced guard of the insurgents slinking off, had taken the
+courage from the rest. Each man vied with his neighbour in the race,
+and the Irish peasant is wondrous fleet of foot.
+
+Father Kearnes' detachment met with more grave misfortune than this
+merely temporary rout. The simultaneous attempt upon New Ross
+(nineteen miles from Wexford) was the hardest-fought day of the entire
+Hurry--one, too, which will be darkened through all time by the memory
+of a deplorable outrage. The object in gaining possession of New Ross
+was the same as had induced the taking of Enniscorthy. For as the one
+stood on the Slaney, with water-access to Wexford Harbour, so did the
+other command water also, standing as it did upon the Nore and Barrow,
+within similar distance of the important port of Waterford. New Ross,
+too, was placed on the very border of Kilkenny. All the disaffected in
+that county were expected to join the insurgents in a united gigantic
+effort to win so fine a jewel; for, as soon as it was captured,
+nothing would have been easier than to drop down to Waterford, which
+loved not the Castle joss; which was weakly garrisoned, and tempting
+to boot in the way of plunder. But this well-balanced scheme was
+frustrated and made of no effect by the god of war's ill-temper. Sure
+he's as fickle and as false as Fortune is--that arrant feckless jade!
+And has not her excuse neither--being a man, who, by reason of his
+sex, should be above lowering his dignity by feminine whimsies. On
+this 5th of June he got out of bed on the wrong side (in consequence
+of being called so early maybe), and the plan against New Ross
+miscarried. At 3 a.m. Bagenal Harvey, who commanded in conjunction
+with Father Roche, despatched a flag of truce, imploring the garrison
+not to provoke rapine by useless resistance. He bade them look up at
+the heights which commanded the town, and count the myriads whose
+frieze turned the landscape dun. For the good of all 'twere better to
+surrender at once, rather than uselessly to sacrifice precious life. A
+letter worthy of the kindly soft-hearted gentleman who wrote it.
+
+The flag of truce was slain. His name was Furlong, a popular man. The
+insurgents, watching from above, beheld him lying prone--shot through
+the heart by an outpost sentinel. With fury they upbraided Harvey as
+an old dame for his ill-timed courtesy, vowing that they would obey no
+one but the priest that day. Maddened by the sight of that single
+corpse lying far below upon its face, they poured with the
+overwhelming impulse of a destroying flood unexpectedly set free down
+the steep declivity--an avenging awful host, numbering twenty
+thousand--and battered in the Three-bullet Gate. If the huge force
+could have been divided by scientific skill, an attack might have been
+made on the three gates at once, and every loyalist would have
+miserably perished. But even the priest was powerless to cope with the
+boiling throng. Yelling and screaming, by mere weight they drove in
+the pickets; cavalry went down like barley; nothing could withstand
+the avalanche. In vain the principal thoroughfare of New Ross was
+swept by the steady fire of artillery, which, falling on a dense mass
+of men wedged tight together in a narrow street, shore down the
+column's head as often as it rose. The legend of the dragon's teeth
+was realised that day; as fast as row drooped over row, so did other
+rows spring up, propelled by a giant force behind. One fanatic pushed
+to the gun's very muzzle, and, plunging in his hat and wig, cried,
+'Come on, boys! her mouth's stopped!' The next moment he was blown
+into the air, but the gun was trodden down, dismounted--rendered
+useless; and the yeomanry retired under shelter. If the Croppies had
+obeyed their priest, all would have gone well. But much as they adored
+their Church, much as they longed for beatific rest in Paradise, they
+at this moment loved mundane whisky more. They plundered the houses of
+meat and drink, broached barrels in the market-place, poured fiery
+rivers of consolation down their parched gullets. In vain Mr. Harvey
+begged them to desist; in vain Father Roche threatened them with
+purgatorial ills. They snapped their fingers at their God and at His
+minister. Had they not already suffered hell? Well, then, they were
+used to it. Its terrors had ceased to fill their souls with dread.
+
+The royalist commandant was amazed at what he saw. It was a
+Pandemonium--but one whose horrors were evanescent. He only had to
+wait under his shelter. One little hour of drunken madness such as
+this, and the day would be his after all, in spite of apparently
+adverse destiny. The insurgents thought no more of a foe who had only
+retired out of sight down a by-street. They laughed and sang, and
+danced, and whirled in idiot frenzy; then fell into the gutter--drunk!
+By three in the afternoon such of the mob as could totter were hunted
+out of the town--those who remained were handed over to the tormentor.
+In the alleys and byways bodies choked the path three deep; two
+thousand more were borne away on carts. New Ross remained to his
+Majesty King George; but the terrors of the black 5th of June were not
+yet over. The gates were closed on the expulsion of the rabblement so
+quickly that many stragglers among the royalists were left without to
+batter on the wood in vain. The wounded amongst them were mercilessly
+piked, unless by a Romanist shibboleth they could 'bless themselves.'
+If they could go through the formula they might be saved--if not, they
+would, as a natural consequence, be butchered. A woman, vagrant in the
+turmoil, beheld a wounded friend who was a Protestant, and knew that
+he could not pass the ordeal. She knelt by him, whispered some words
+which he repeated, and for that time was saved. But a more awful
+vengeance than this in the lanes around New Ross had been already
+wreaked away at Scullabogue. I have mentioned above that Kearnes'
+detachment had come from Carrickbyrne, close to which lies
+Scullabogue; but I did not mention that at that place there was a
+goodly barn--strong, well-built--which was excellently useful as a
+prison-house, and at this time contained some three hundred and twenty
+prisoners--men, women, and children.
+
+When the tide at New Ross began to turn against the insurgents, Father
+Roche--whose reason had toppled, who was mad in that his influence had
+shrivelled away from him--swore to be revenged somehow, not on his own
+erring flock, but on those whom the ill-conditioned god of war was
+permitting to win the day! It was one of those awful moments when
+blinding ferocity dictates unchecked, which make one almost believe in
+the existence of Lucifer; when the human tendency to evil seems to
+pile itself up into a monument of what wickedness may be able to
+accomplish. A messenger was despatched to Scullabogue with a command
+to immolate the prisoners. Their gaoler, appalled at this cold-blooded
+order, refused to obey it unless the directions were more explicit.
+These arrived in due course, very clear indeed. 'The priest says the
+prisoners must be put to death.' There was no disobeying this.
+Croppies took off their long coats to carry out the priest's decree.
+The handful of men were brought out and shot; the doors were firmly
+barred; the barn was set ablaze there is no use in going into detail.
+
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+By-and-by the flames slackened; the fire smouldered with fetid smoke;
+all was still within. The three hundred innocent women and children
+had been consumed as a holocaust on the altar of his majesty King
+George; who, large-minded man, was consistently without mercy for the
+Isle which God had given to his keeping; who was pitiless for the
+professors of a faith which did not agree with his own fancy; who, by
+reason of his policy regarding Ireland, must be held accountable for
+the tragedy which took place on that fifth of June within the barn at
+Scullabogue.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                              VAE VICTIS!
+
+
+After all, Scullabogue was but a retaliation for the eccentricities of
+the Gibbet-Rath, where the upper class had given the lower a harsh
+lesson in the amenities of warfare. The effect of any great breach of
+the law of order is always to throw out of gear the minds of those who
+come within its influence, which disturbance varies in form according
+to the mental state of the individual affected. The sensitive shrink
+appalled; those whose latent propensities to violence are usually kept
+within bounds by the law of order escape from its trammels. A large
+part of the community is kept to decent courses by fear of social
+regulations. It needs but the disturbing force of war, aided by the
+example of crime in superiors, to weaken this compelling sense of
+discipline and let loose the natural passions.
+
+But let us hurry on; the tale is distressing still, though time has
+masked it with a veil of ninety years.
+
+A body of insurgents succeeded in taking Wexford, whose garrison
+evacuated it, retiring to Duncannon in disorder. The loyalists there
+who had howled over the loss of Enniscorthy, and were still in the
+dark as to the tactics of the Executive, grew furious. What was this?
+The Helots were ousting their lords and masters, were daring to be
+successful; even presumed to follow the example of the squireens, who
+had set the fashion of practical jokes. What is fun in one person may
+become impudence in another. Pitch-caps and half hangings were met by
+_carding_--a bit of genuine humour, whereby the rebels proceeded to
+tear the backs of their prisoners with boards stuck full of nails. So
+long as the loyalists had it their own way the conceit was amusing;
+now it became revoltingly vulgar. Retaliations and reprisals followed
+thick on one another. It was no longer a struggle of man against man,
+but of beast against beast--worse, of savage against savage.
+
+Murphy's detachment, which, it will be remembered, fled precipitately
+at sight of a cloud of dust, rallied, and hung about the neighbourhood
+watching the moment to attack. They got horses how they could; sacked
+and burned private dwellings, whose rare spoils in the way of books
+were converted into saddles, with hay-ropes for stirrups. For
+ammunition they used pebbles or hardened balls of clay, and by
+pounding the necessary materials in mortars, fabricated a kind of
+gunpowder which, while fresh, served its purpose well enough. Two or
+three cannons which they had captured were mounted on jaunting-cars,
+and exploded in awkward fashion by means of wisps of straw in guise of
+matches. Strange men, in half priestly garb, arose among the dragons'
+teeth, wearing one a helmet, another a clerical head-piece or
+discarded bearskin; vying one with the other in ferocious
+recklessness. It was now a religious crusade indeed, Protestant
+against Catholic, Catholic against Protestant, to the very death.
+Theological quibbles were forcibly disentangled.
+
+The little garrison of Gorey, which had done such good service by
+sallying out and frightening the rebels, begged for reinforcements.
+Such a deed of prowess as was theirs may not, without serious hazard,
+be repeated twice. It would be awkward for Gorey to fall just now, for
+it was on the high road to the capital, and an accident might produce
+fatal riots there. Therefore, although it was not in accordance with
+the plan laid down, it was resolved at the Castle to assist Gorey. One
+Walpole, a carpet-knight, connected by blood with my lord Camden, was
+sent out to try his wings; and he caracoled upon his excursion as, in
+a non-hunting district, one might go out to exterminate a batch of fox
+cubs. Carelessly he led his reinforcements, enlivening the way with
+buoyant jest, as if the enemy was too contemptible to be really
+dangerous; neglecting the commonest precautions, though warned of his
+rashness by his officers. At a spot called Tubbineering the aspect of
+the landscape, flat hitherto, changes. The road leaves the open, and
+plunges between high banks, with wide ditches at their bases, and rows
+of close bushes on their tops. Dense hedges intersect the fields,
+which (in the month of June) are thick with luxuriant foliage, while
+the ground is occupied by rich potato-crops, standing corn, and waving
+grass, affording ample concealment for such as may choose to lurk in
+it.
+
+Through this defile Walpole led his men towards Gorey, carolling his
+stave, piping his little song, in close column, without flanking
+parties or skirmishers. The infantry were well advanced. As the road
+narrowed the progress of the column became slow and difficult.
+Suddenly, from the enclosures, a wild yell burst forth, accompanied by
+a rain of musketry. The carpet-knight fell on the first fire. The
+confusion was tremendous; to fight or to retreat impossible. The
+height and mazy number of the fences made the ground most favourable
+for bandit warfare, as the long pikes of the insurgents reached
+well-nigh across the narrow road, and those who escaped the first fire
+were perforated from behind by invisible assailants. The surprise of
+the troops was complete. Dragoons and infantry rolled in hopeless
+confusion one on the other. They were butchered to a man. The
+victorious rebels followed up their advantage, and hastened to occupy
+Gorey, but alas! cajoled by whisky the men of Father Murphy were no
+more tractable than the men of Father Roche. Vainly he set mattrasses
+against the cellar-doors, in hopes that these would escape their
+scrutiny. But the instinct of Pat would find out a cellar-door on the
+pitchiest night. Regardless of the father's exhortations, Pat hurried
+to put that in his mouth which should steal away his brains--aye, and
+his hopes too--and remained in a frantic paroxysm of drunkenness for
+five whole days and nights.
+
+Now, had this triumphant detachment (twenty thousand strong it was)
+marched straight on Arklow, then on Wicklow, both would certainly have
+given way without an effort, and Father Murphy's ambition might have
+been gratified of sleeping in my lord Camden's bed. But as the
+elements fought for England, so did the unstable Irish nature combat
+on the side of the Executive. There was a panic, of course, in Dublin.
+The Senate tore up Dame Street to the Castle, begging, with tears,
+that their valuable lives might not be placed in jeopardy. And the
+Privy Council, perceiving that things might be going just a little too
+far, graciously acceded to the humble petition of the faithful Lords
+and Commons, and despatched reinforcements southwards.
+
+At this moment the position of the insurgents was by no means a
+despicable one, despite the weakness of their leaders. The failure at
+New Ross had compelled them for the time to abandon their attack on
+Waterford. But they held Enniscorthy and its river, and Wexford with
+its noble harbour; while, for a base of operations, nothing could have
+been better than Vinegar Hill. To the north, too, they held Gorey,
+which was almost, from their point of view, the key of the capital
+itself. The hedges along the Dublin road were alive with disaffected
+peasants, who were longing for an opportunity of joining the advancing
+host. Arklow was half garrisoned, Wicklow scarcely garrisoned at all.
+If the rebel host had, ignoring whisky, marched straight northward,
+the march would have been an exultant progress of heroes, swelled as
+it proceeded by a torrent of exhilarated patriots.
+
+But now the mice had played enough. They had nibbled the cheese and
+made unpleasant holes in it. It was time for the cat to pounce, and to
+pounce with a will. How dared these arrogant mice make holes in his
+Majesty's cheese? Arklow would be the next point--of course it
+would--so soon as the victors of Gorey could tear themselves away from
+alcohol. Five days of constant intoxication is trying to the most
+vigorous frame. Five days of cessation of hostilities is eminently
+convenient to an enemy who desires to act unflurried. Dublin was
+frightened out of its wits; the heads of the Catholic clergy were
+indignant and ashamed. Those lords and gentlemen who did not happen to
+be slaves of Lord Clare, or pensioners of England, shut themselves up
+in their country mansions to brood over their grief. Erin was in the
+convulsions which precede dissolution. The Executive--calculating
+spectators of the agony--deemed it time to come to her succour,
+provided she would swear an oath to behave herself for ever and ever
+more. The Executive shook its wig and declared that to stop so awful a
+scandal any means were permissible. Instead of dribbling
+reinforcements by two or three hundred at a time, and so feeding the
+hopes of the rebels with sham victories, the Privy Council promised
+that the whole military strength at their command should be put in
+motion to punish the iniquitous with a severe and righteous sternness.
+Lord Clare assumed a picturesque attitude, in which sorrow was
+elegantly blended with anger--like that aggressive angel who never
+sinned, and who, glorying in the fact, postured with his waving sword
+at the gates of Eden. Lord Camden mumbled, as usual, that the whole
+affair was 'really too awful;' that he was glad her ladyship was safe;
+that he ought to be elevated to at least a dukedom as a reward for his
+prodigious services. The Protestant inhabitants of Wexford, whose
+lives for the last week or so had resembled those of the chosen people
+by the waters of Babylon, must instantly be relieved, he gurgled.
+Enniscorthy must be retaken; the camp at Vinegar Hill, and the hill
+itself, if necessary, must be blown into smithereens. Small men had
+been good enough for small work. Now General Lake himself, Commander
+of the Forces _pro tem_., must head the Royal troops; the loyal Lords
+and Commons had no need to knock their knees together, their precious,
+honourable lives were in no real danger--never had been. General Lake
+and his men would set matters straight in a trice.
+
+Having torn them at last from the whisky-bottle of Capua, Father
+Murphy led his forces against Arklow. His men were dispirited,
+unnerved by excessive carousing. Their heads ached; they felt unwell.
+Murphy and some other warrior-priests said mass for them as they stood
+bareheaded in the June sunlight, with nature smiling around.
+
+'It was a holy war,' Murphy said. 'They had been guilty of
+backsliding; but man is weak and temptation is great; he would pray to
+the Holy Mother for them, that the cause might not suffer through
+their sin. He who addressed them, was, as they knew, invulnerable.
+These myriad bullets which he held in his hand had passed through his
+coat' ('See, boys, the holes!'), 'but could not hurt his skin. 'Twas
+the Holy Mother who watched over him and them. He would lead the van.
+Sure they would follow their priest--their pastor--their friend--their
+gineral!'
+
+With howls of ecstatic and repentant fervour they cried out that they
+would. He had always led them to victory, their doughty priest! One
+more, two more successes, and Dublin would be theirs; then the whole
+country would unite; the Sassenagh would be driven into the sea; the
+object of the crusade would be accomplished--and through them,
+miserable sinners though they were.
+
+They marched against Arklow on the 9th, and were repulsed thence with
+awful slaughter. The Royalists lost sixty men, the rebels left a
+thousand corpses stark upon the grass--amongst them, Murphy the
+invulnerable. With dismay and despair they beheld his body roasted by
+the enlightened foe; in the gloaming they saw devils, in the guise of
+yeomen, dancing round the steaming corpse; fiends cleaning their boots
+with the fat that dripped from it. With howls of superstitious horror
+now they scurried away in the darkness, over field and hedge and
+fosse, through dyke and brake, in an agony of desperate fear quite
+different from a battle-panic, and arrived at length at the rendezvous
+like madmen, panting, incoherent, to tell their fearsome story.
+
+Orders were issued to the Royalist forces to hold themselves in
+readiness. They had been ready for months past. A grand combined
+attack was to be made upon the rebel base, at Vinegar Hill, on the
+21st of June. Lock, stock, and barrel, these insolent varlets were to
+be stamped out of existence, without parleying, as a warning to all
+traitors. Eight generals (no less) and twenty thousand soldiers were
+to take part in this glorious field-day. Why had this force lain idle
+hitherto? Why were driblets despatched to contend with myriads? It was
+now the 10th. With a cunning steadiness of purpose, almost too wicked
+even for humankind, ten days were permitted to elapse before the final
+blow was struck. Ten days of inaction--ten days of rumination over the
+awful future--ten days wherein to become utterly disorganised, and to
+commit such deeds as a carefully-fanned flame of accumulated hate and
+the hopelessness of unutterable despair should dictate. The insurgents
+saw themselves on the eve of destruction, taught by a bitter past that
+there was no hope or chance of mercy. Flung out of the pale of
+humanity, they were to be hunted down like vermin--like vermin then
+they would fly at the throats of the hunters, and do all the harm they
+could ere they received the _coup de grace_. A scene of horror
+commenced at Wexford, and endured during these ten days, over which we
+will draw a veil. Those who know aught of this spasm in Irish history
+will have been already sickened by the deeds on Wexford Bridge, and
+will be glad to be spared a new recital of them. Suffice it, that if
+General Lake had started immediately after the repulse of Arklow,
+these deeds would never have been committed. The desperate wretches
+would never have entered on their carnival of carnage; would never
+have been guilty of the crimes which, like Scullabogue and other
+nightmares, must all lie at good Farmer George's door.
+
+The eight generals and the twenty thousand soldiers set off at last.
+Lake's plan was committed to paper in the clearest black and white. A
+simultaneous attack was to be made on Wexford and Enniscorthy, while
+the main body directed its attention to Vinegar Hill, which was to be
+carefully surrounded in order that no vermin might escape. If this
+delectable plan had been successfully carried out, the rebels would
+have been netted and slaughtered by thousands; but that Providence
+which had slept so long, which had been so blind to human wrongs, so
+deaf to human prayers, awoke at last and prevented this wicked thing.
+At the critical moment two brigades were missing, the circle was
+incomplete, and, after a feeble cannonade, the rebel masses retired
+through the gap left by the missing links, to spread terror in the
+streets of Enniscorthy. Lake was furious. All that ingenuity could
+suggest had been brought to bear upon his plan. It is provoking when
+accident upsets our craftiest calculations. He had the mortification
+to perceive that he had not crushed the rebellion so completely as he
+had wished--by driving all the malcontents off the face of the earth.
+He abused his generals, but they showed that the fault was none of
+theirs; a higher power had checked their movements. Moore had met
+accidentally with a small detachment of rebels, who engaged him at
+Foulke's Mill; Needham, with a vivid remembrance of the disaster at
+Tubberneering, had moved through gorges with caution, delayed now and
+again by the errors of disaffected guides, the sulky inaction of
+impressed drivers. Lake might swear, but these were the facts. It was
+a pity; for, with the exception of the two missing links, the Royalist
+columns behaved admirably. They arrived at their posts in the nick of
+time. The rebels, in spite of their strong position, did little
+damage, for they aimed, as usual, too high. The priestly warriors
+acted with undaunted bravery, exhorting their men, horsewhipping them,
+even pistolling some who were endeavouring to seek safety in flight.
+
+Father Roche was everywhere at once, clad in his vestments, with a
+brass helmet on his head. Father Clinch, of Enniscorthy, a man of huge
+stature, was conspicuous upon the hill; his broad cross-belts and
+large white horse were constantly looming through the smoke; his hat,
+with a crucifix stuck in it, was visible in six places at a time.
+
+But no amount of desperate personal valour could save the doomed
+crowds. They fell back on Enniscorthy; sued there for mercy, in vain.
+They promised, as the men of Wexford had just done, to lay down their
+arms and return to their allegiance. Lake retorted by an offer of
+terms which were impossible of acceptance, and continued his bloody
+work. Every foot of Enniscorthy was stubbornly disputed, every yard
+was fiercely contested. The bridge was cleared at last. The jostling,
+shrieking mob spread itself upon the plain; their bodies lay heaped
+about the fields.
+
+So the eight generals were crowned with laurels. The entire struggle
+had lasted a month, which might have been put down in two days. The
+enemy was finished off at a single blow--at last--a worthy enemy! An
+honourable triumph! Disciplined forces had fought successfully against
+a rabble so besotted as to believe that a blessed bit of paper round
+the neck would make them bullet-proof; so ignorant as to run after
+falling shells and pick them up, wondering, as they did so, what the
+strange things were that 'spat at them.'
+
+When Scotland chose to rise, her misguided antics were repressed at
+once. Her leaders met the fate which they had courted, and there was
+an end of the matter. With Ireland it was otherwise. The freaks of her
+unstable nature were coldly calculated on; gins were set for her
+sliding feet; she fell into a trap, and grievous was her punishment.
+When the Americans rose against British misrule, their commanders were
+always treated with military courtesy. In Ireland masters and men were
+strung up side by side, or shot down, without a 'by your leave,' like
+dogs. Till the horror of a war of classes was intensified by the
+grafting on it of religious fanaticism, the opinions of the
+malcontents were of the broadest kind. All they demanded was social
+equality and freedom of conscience. Their demands were met by blows.
+Innocent and harmless men were lacerated by petty tyranny and wanton
+ill-usage, till they could endure no more. Then prudence was thrown to
+the winds. It was like the herd of maddened swine rushing headlong
+down a precipice into the gulf.
+
+As far as concerns the 'Hurry,' the example of massacre was set in the
+first instance by the 'Party of Order.' The rebels tried sometimes to
+proselytise; the Royalists were content to murder. The Royalists were
+never anything but cruel. The rebels hovered strangely 'twixt lenity
+and cruelty, according to the humour of the moment. With the supposed
+advantage of a little education, the squireens out-heroded the conduct
+of those who were quite ignorant; whereby we may gather that a little
+knowledge is as fatal as a little of anything else; for their scraps
+of education, instead of tempering their native savagery, merely
+served to instil into their warped minds an idea of superiority and
+dominion.
+
+So far as the Croppies were concerned, the rebellion ended with the
+clever feat of General Lake. The few who escaped his vengeance spread
+themselves over the country in predatory bands. Some sought refuge in
+the Wicklow hills; some perished miserably as banditti; few ever
+returned to their homes. It was not death so much that the Irish
+peasant feared. His life was wretched. He had been brought up to
+consider that three kinds of death were natural--first, in his bed;
+secondly, by hanging at assize time; thirdly, of collapse when the
+potato crop went wrong. He could face death. _It was torture that he
+dreaded_--the pitch-caps, the picketings, the roastings alive, the
+lash. These it was that made a savage and a coward of him.
+
+So far as the executive was concerned, the rebellion was by no means
+over. Gordon, a Protestant clergyman and reliable witness, tells us
+that 'more than fell in battle in Wexford were slain afterwards in
+cold blood.' Those who would not surrender were hunted down; those who
+did were strung up without a form of trial. Vinegar Hill became
+_elastic_ through the numberless victims who had found rest and a
+merciful oblivion beneath its sod.
+
+So soon as massacre, in garb of war, had done her work, judicial
+murder commenced on a more extended scale. When the appetite of Ate
+was sated in the country, she moved with the Eumenides--faithful and
+obedient maids of honour--to the capital, for change of air and scene.
+
+
+                           END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III), by
+Lewis Wingfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE, VOL. II ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38862.txt or 38862.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38862/
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/38862.zip b/38862.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50775ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38862.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..818236d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #38862 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38862)