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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38863-8.txt b/38863-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1076cbb --- /dev/null +++ b/38863-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7751 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (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. III, (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + + + + +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. III. + + + + + + LONDON: + + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1879. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + + + + + + + 'God of Vengeance! smite us + With Thy shaft sublime, + If one bond unite us + Forged in fraud or crime. + But if humbly kneeling + We implore Thine ear, + For our rights appealing-- + God of Nations! Hear!' + + + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + + CHAPTER + + I. SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL. + + II. MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT. + + III. SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY. + + IV. THE SHAMBLES. + + V. THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH. + + VI. APRÈS LA MORT, LE MÉDECIN. + + VII. SUSPENSE. + + VIII. EAVESDROPPING. + + IX. PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE. + + X. CONSIGNED TO MOILEY. + + XI. ATÉ. + + XII. MOILEY'S LAST MEAL. + + TO THE READER. + + LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL. + + +If the cits of Dublin during this time were in the throes of +apprehension and suspense, the Lords and Commons were enduring the +agonies of evil conscience. They regretted that parliament had not +been prorogued in order that they might have pretended ignorance as to +what was passing; for they felt that the world was pointing the finger +of derision at them. Not that the English world--the _beau monde_ that +is--cared one way or the other. In London it was always difficult to +arouse interest in the affairs of a remote colony, whose ways were +like those of Madagascar. The Viceroy's bleatings appeared weekly in +the _Gentlemen's Magazine_, and coffee-house critics barely glanced at +them, for they were always the same. His excellency was always +lamenting the misbehaviour of the populace; was always delighted to +report that four or five hundred rebels had on such a day been sent to +another sphere. The scraps of poetry that stood cheek by jowl beside +this gabble were infinitely more amusing to the critics. Rhapsodies on +Chloe's shoe-string--a ravishing account of the last balloon ascent. +But these delectable topics failed to amuse young Robert Emmett, whose +heart, during weary weeks, was feeding on itself in the English +metropolis. On his arrival there, he had been kindly taken by the hand +by my Lord Moira, who had held a seat in the Houses of both countries, +and who, shocked at what he heard, rose up in his place and protested +that it was time for the British public to interfere. A member +suggested lightly that there was an Irish parliament whose province it +was to look after such matters. Lord Moira hung his head. He knew too +well how low that parliament had fallen--how mean-spirited were those +who were haggling over the price of their birthright. + +The sneers of the Londoners were hard to bear. The dangers which +seemed to menace the Irish senators terrified their timid souls. +From the 24th to the 31st of May no mail-coach had arrived in Dublin. +There was no news save what the Viceroy chose to dribble out; bonfires +were seen upon the Wicklow hills. Awful reports were circulating +hourly--reports that warrior priests were in possession of Arklow; had +arrived at Bray; were at their very gates. If such should prove to be +the case, then was the career ended of the faithful Lords and Commons. +The sulky scowls of the Liberty-boys boded no good. There would be a +massacre of the Innocents. What could Heaven be about to allow its +chosen and elect to suffer such gnawing torments? The scum had been +evilly ill-treated; but not enough, it seemed, to make them meek and +mild. If they were beaten now, they should receive an extra trouncing +for presuming in this egregious manner to alarm their betters. Then +General Lake started with his army; all the regulars went with him. +The capital was handed over to the custody of four thousand yeomen, +who--drunken, dissolute, uncurbed--proceeded to make hay while the +blood-red sun was shining. Major Sirr and his Staghouse bloodhounds +were a power in the state. From being town-major, a title scarcely +legible in the list of public encumbrances, Sirr became invested, +through the usefulness of his bully band, with all the real powers of +the most absolute authority. He was growing rich, for among other +trades he was a licensed victualler, owned Nelly's Coffee-house, and +obtained the lucrative monopoly of supplying wines to prisoners. He +was also a virtuoso; remitted triangle-torture, and sold tickets to +his victims for extra light and air, in exchange for orders upon +hapless wives for pictures, bric-a-brac, and household stuff. How, +when so many came to a violent end, did such a monster escape +assassination? Because one of his first rules of conduct was to push +forward somebody else to perform a dangerous job. When his hounds had +pulled down the quarry, then would he come forward and strike an +attitude upon the body of the hunted beast. It is in the hot-bed of +public calamity that such fungi grow quick to ripeness. So soon as the +counties rose to arms and caused a panic, the life and liberty of +every man was at his disposal. If one offended him, he charged him +with high treason and swept him off to prison, and a court-martial. +Just now, to be accused was much the same as to be convicted. One day, +a professor of language was seized and carted to the Riding-school to +receive five hundred lashes because a letter was found in his pocket +written in the French tongue. Another day (all this before the month +of May was out), a gentleman was pistolled in the street by an +intoxicated yeoman because his hair was cut short. Of course he was a +'Croppy'! It transpired afterwards that he was an invalid recovering +from fever. Another time, a party broke into a baker's shop at dawn, +demanding bread. The oven had not long been lighted--the baking was +not complete. No matter; his Majesty's servants would eat the dough +half-baked--aye, and wash it down as it stuck in the throat with a +jorum of raw whisky. Strange to relate, the whole party was taken ill. +Of course the villanous Croppies had poisoned the servants of his +Majesty. An example should be made of the malignants! (How fond were +these pioneers of a new era of making examples!) The baker and his +wife and his two sons were dragged into the street and shot down, +without time for shriving, in front of their own door. + +Lieutenant Hepenstall, as a type of his class, rose to unenviable +celebrity. He stood six feet two, was strong and broad--could lift a +ton. The expression of his face was mild as milk--the blackness of his +heart was dark as hell. Full of zeal for his Majesty's service, he +took to hanging on his own brawny back those persons whose +physiognomies he judged to be characteristic of rebellion. First, he +knocked down his man to quiet him. His garters did duty as handcuffs. +His cravat was a convenient rope. With a powerful chuck he drew his +victim's head as high as his own and trotted about with his burden, +considerately advising him to pray for King George, since prayers +would be wasted on his own damned Popish soul, till the gulping +wretch's neck was broken. Is it any marvel that the bullet, the sabre, +the lash, the halter, should have been met by the pike, the scythe, +the hatchet, and the firebrand? + +Major Sirr became all-powerful, and shortly after Terence's mishap had +words with Cassidy. He came to look on his old ally with a feeling +akin to contempt, for he considered a man mean-spirited who had not +the courage of his own iniquity. The time was over now when masks were +comfortable wearing. He, Major Sirr, had never stooped to wear one; if +Cassidy intended to feather his nest, now was the time, or never. He +roundly told him so when the giant called in at the major's lodgings +to claim his portion of the £1,000 reward. The latter's brow-tufts +came down over his nose; he laughed a sardonic laugh and shook his +pear-shaped head. He was specially spiteful over this reward, by +reason of the slashes he had received from Phil. True, they were mere +flesh-wounds; but he resented having his legs carved about in this +reckless way by an amateur surgeon. + +'If ye'd have your part of the money,' he said, with incisive scorn, +'come and claim it in the public street. Don't come to me in the dead +o' night as though the bumbailiffs were creeping at your heels.' + +He held by his decision, and the two cronies quarrelled. Indeed they +were very near a duel; but Cassidy, with commendable prudence, +observed, 'There is enough discord already among the patriots, so +don't let us fall into a similar mistake.' They snarled and showed +their teeth, like dogs; then made it up, as wisdom dictated. + +Cassidy could not well explain the reasons for his secrecy. He +could not say that if he were known to have accepted her cousin's +blood-money there would be an impassable gulf 'twixt him and Doreen +for ever. Sirr would have only gibed in that a man who was such a +rascal should be sighing after an honest wench; so he gave up the +blood-money. Cassidy was very undecided at this moment. Prudence +whispered that the major's counsel was good. He knew, too, that as +things were going, he could not wear his mask much longer. What was he +to do? Unless he were careful he would fall between two stools. Doreen +had never given her clumsy admirer any encouragement; would probably +refuse him even though he hoarded mines of gold. Was she not rich +herself? If he could not have Doreen, it would be quite as well to +have money; and he could not earn his proper wage without openly +joining the Battalion of Testimony. It was a very delicate question. +Would it not be best to sound Miss Wolfe once more? Maidens are coy. +Some who are prepared to take us if we persevere, require much wooing. +Maybe the fair Doreen was one of these. On second thoughts he did not +quite think she was, with her calm bearing and solemn eyes; but at all +events it was worth the trial. No harm could come of that. + +He determined, therefore, to make a journey to Glas-aitch-é, and trim +his sails according to the wind that blew there. Meanwhile it was a +dirty trick that his old ally had played him. Yet, after all, it +mattered little. The sweetness of revenge is better than guineas. His +long-concealed loathing for his unconscious rival had found vent at +last, and he felt the better for it, independent of any considerations +of pelf. The odious, good-tempered, bright-visaged, careless young +councillor! He dared to aspire to Doreen, did he? The same words as +the giant had muttered as he stood before the sleeper, he spoke again +through his grinding teeth. If he could not have the maid himself, the +councillor should not have her. That unlucky person was sick unto +death in duress, with the gallows looming close at hand. There was +comfort--great comfort in that. The thousand pounds might go to the +devil--or to Major Sirr. Decidedly it would be well to make a trip +northward, for though he played his game cunningly and let out useless +Castle secrets with much vapouring, yet were the chiefs of the popular +party beginning to suspect him. Even unsuspicious Tom Emmett, whom he +had been to see in Kilmainham gaol a few days back, twitted him with +his liberty. The double game was no longer possible. He would have to +make up his mind presently either to assume the palm of martyrdom for +Doreen's sake, with a pardon in his portfolio for past delinquencies, +or, flinging off boldly all disguise, to pocket the guineas and the +obloquy which were the portion of the Staghouse crew. + +The sufferings of the Lords and Commons were endured also in full +measure by the Privy Council, who found themselves in a quandary. Lord +Moira's little agitation in London was not without its effect, +although folks did sneer at the wild Irish. On leaving St. Stephen's, +the head of opposition linked his arm in my Lord Moira's, and begged +to inquire whether he had not been drawing on his imagination. + +'Your countrymen are so dreadfully imaginative, you know!' he said +plaintively. 'I never forget the story of "potatoes and point" that +somebody told me. So Irish! What is it? Oh! some notion of a Hibernian +feast on a frugal scale in the far west, where the guests sat in a +circle, each with his potato, which was dipped from time to time to +give it flavour into a pot of salt in the middle. When the salt began +to fail, each potato was _pointed_ at the relish instead of being +dipped in it, which many declared to be an economical improvement, for +imagination did the rest! The Irish, you know, pull the long-bow +terribly, and disconcert you by themselves believing their own lies.' + +Being at last persuaded that Lord Moira's details were facts which had +taken place lately, and would take place each day for months, unless +summarily stopped, Mr. Pitt's rival expressed much delight. This was a +hole in the harness of Mr. Pitt, of which he would proceed straightway +to make the most brilliant use. But Mr. Pitt saw the pair walking +together, and, divining at once the subject of their discourse, +resolved to forestall any rude suggestions which might be made. He +wrote accordingly to Lord Clare, expressing surprise at the reports, +bidding him act with discretion--tempering a just firmness with +lenity; deploring and disapproving a waste of life; suggesting fewer +executions and more close imprisonment. The chancellor was annoyed at +being thus interfered with. He was doing his work steadily and well. +It was all very fine for an English minister to prate in platitudes, +at a distance, about firmness and lenity. He would reap the full +benefit of the transaction when it was completed, whilst his tools in +Ireland were laying in a harvest of opprobrium. Then, as his mind +worked, the look of anxiety cleared from Lord Clare's face. What +happened to the rest of the Privy Council mattered little to him. _He_ +was the guiding pilot. To _him_ must come honours, an English peerage, +a seat at St. Stephen's. There might he give a loose rein to his +ambition. This letter, though, might prove useful in the matter of +Terence Crosbie. The Viceroy's prerogative of mercy should be +exercised first of all in the case of the misguided youth, son of the +old friend who persisted in remaining so singularly cold as to his +fate. Why were my lady's letters so cold? he wondered. Never mind. Her +son should be saved, if possible, without more parley. + +His plan, however, met with unexpected resistance from Lord Camden, +who was usually so ductile. To his amazement that effete person +declined altogether to interfere. Vainly the chancellor browbeat him, +employing those artifices of language and manner which were wont to +make him quiver. The more he argued the more the Viceroy mumbled. Like +all weak natures, he could be wofully obstinate at times in the wrong +place. He had worked himself up to consider the unhappy Terence as his +own private victim, because, in his case, he had acted on his own +authority for once, and had even been visited with the sublime +inspiration of the reward. He clung to his victim with the tenacity of +a bulldog; nothing should wrest from his lips the savoury morsel. For +his part, he declared, he thought Mr. Pitt barely civil. He desired +these hopeless Irish people to be well kept under, and yet he gave +vent to windy phrases which his coadjutors in Dublin could not +possibly act upon, without changing their course and becoming +laughing-stocks. He, for one, declined to stultify himself. As for +this sprig of nobility who had disgraced the ermine and dirtied his +nest, it was essential above all things to make an example of him, +lest any other misguided youth of the same rank should be deluded +enough to follow his pernicious lead. + +Lord Clare, like a good diplomat, dropped the subject for that time, +and went on to speak of the other imprisoned leaders. What was to be +done with them? Could they be executed? No! It would be impolitic to +martyrise them too openly, for they were well known in Dublin as +patriotic and single-minded young men who led blameless lives. +Moreover it was evident from this epistolary hint that Mr. Pitt would +object to such a proceeding. + +'I'd try 'em by court-martial!' mumbled the Viceroy from the head of +the council board, taking snuff. + +'State prisoners!' retorted Arthur Wolfe with unusual warmth, from the +bottom. 'Better not go through the farce of trial at all.' + +The Viceroy glared, and the chancellor bit his lip. Why could not +Arthur Wolfe hold his stupid tongue? Lord Clare felt more than ever +that this weak-minded friend must be got out of the way somehow. On +him, as attorney-general, would of course fall the duties of crown +prosecutor. Dear, dear! people seemed to throw obstacles in his way on +purpose, as though his task were not entangled enough already! All +this considered, these members of the Directory, over whose capture +there had been such crowing, seemed disposed to revenge themselves by +becoming white elephants. They could not be hanged _en masse_ without +creating scandal; it was not even certain that they would be convicted +if brought to trial, for against several of their number very little +tangible evidence could be brought. Their names on a list--their +presence at a meeting. This was not enough. Of course the Battalion +could be brought forward with fictitious evidence--but Lord Clare +shrank from this, except as a last resource. Besides, they were not to +be hanged--that was settled. What then could be done with them? A +light punishment, as for a misdemeanour, would drive the Orangemen to +madness, who were shouting for blood, after the manner of religious +bigots. Petty larceny and high treason could not be placed on the same +level. Could not somebody suggest something? + +'I have an idea,' mild Arthur Wolfe murmured, as he nervously gnawed a +pen. 'Banishment might be proposed to them, on conditions which might +be made to look like mutual accommodation. For instance, make them +confess their offences and explain the ins and outs of their scheme, +in order that it may be guarded against in future. By confession they +would show the world that we've not been tilting against windmills. +Surely the establishment of the traitorous conspiracy by the testimony +of the principal actors in it might be fairly taken as an equivalent +for the lives of a few men, without loss of dignity on our part?' + +The chancellor mused. The notion was ingenious. The Viceroy drew a +picture of a gallows on his paper, and gabbled of court-martials in an +injured tone. + +'Very pretty, but they would not consent,' affirmed Lord Clare, at +last. + +'I think they would,' returned the attorney-general, blushing. 'In +fact, the idea is not mine. Tom Emmett suggested it to me.' + +'You've been to see them?' + +'Yes. I've been to Kilmainham and to Newgate. It's a shocking sight,' +answered Arthur Wolfe, kindling, 'to see decent men loaded with irons, +mixed up with thieves, insulted hourly by the low janissaries of Major +Sirr! The poor fellows are so shocked at the accounts which reach +them, and see so plainly the futility of struggling now, that they +would do anything, I think, to stop the effusion of blood.' + +'If they would consent to banishment for life, and let us into the +secrets of the society, we should be well out of the job,' the +chancellor decided. 'Curran shall be sent to put it to the rascals. +The blackguard has influence with them. Meanwhile we will turn on the +screw by bringing the worst to trial. Sure Mr. Pitt must not mind just +a few being strung up.' + +So it was provisionally arranged; but the affair did not run on +wheels. The patriots were captious, held out for special terms, +dictated alterations in the proposed agreement, behaved in a flippant +manner--not meekly and decorously as people should who feel the hemp +about their necks. + +'It must be understood,' they declared, 'that they were to mention no +names, criminate no person; that after an examination before the +secret committee of Lords, upon the intentions and aims of the United +Irish Society, they were to be sent to America, as Tone had been +before them.' Here was insolence! This in order, of course, that they +might join Tone in France, and stir up the French again. Contumacious +traitors! + +The chancellor became exceeding wroth. The screw must be twisted with +a vengeance, he said. 'What a pity that they could not be hanged _en +masse!_ One or two at any rate must suffer--just to teach the others +to behave themselves.' Lord Camden suggested Terence, the malignant +aristocrat, as a good victim; but the chancellor fenced the matter +off, and overruled his excellency. Arthur Wolfe implored and +begged--vowed that the words would choke his utterance as he made his +opening speech--swore that he could not, would not, come forward to +prosecute--even so far forgot himself as to fling the pens and paper +about, and beard the Privy Council with upbraiding words. Then my Lord +Camden absolutely cackled. Mr. Speaker and Mr. Prime Sergeant laid +their hands upon their swords. How indecent! Luckily they sat with +closed doors. Here was a split in the cabinet when unity was so +essential. Lord Clare's harsh voice rose above the hubbub. He coerced +them all to order with verbal whips, like the keeper of some +menagerie. The animals, cowed, lay down and growled. The peace was +kept for this once, but the astute chancellor perceived that something +must be done with promptitude, or the whole of his beautiful fabric, +which only needed a roof now to finish it, would come tumbling about +his ears. Truly he deserved well of his master, for he laboured hard. +He discovered that the excellent, the humane, Arthur Wolfe was too +good and clever for his position--almost too good for this world; and +so he was graciously put on the shelf--I mean the Bench--and raised to +the peerage of Kilwarden, _en attendant_ a front seat in heaven. As my +Lord Kilwarden we shall know him for the future--the same weak +well-meaning man as ever--compelled to listen to false witness from +his high chair, but unable to interfere because his mouth was stopped +by the fur which trimmed his coronet. The solicitor-general, Toler, +was promoted to the vacant place, and proved to be a prosecutor 'of +the right sort,' a fitting _pendant_ to the jury, in the state-trials +which commenced immediately in the sessions-house in Green Street, +hard by Newgate prison. + +These proceedings followed each other with the celerity which marked +the chief events of '98. The rebels had thrown down their gauntlet on +the 23rd of May. By the 1st of June, Kildare was quieted. It was on +the 11th of June that the court was first opened for the trial of the +patriots, whose chief advocate was Curran; whilst horrible reports +were arriving hourly from Wexford, which were made the most of, to +keep the jury up to the mark. The moment which the little lawyer had +prophetically seen was come, when he of the silver tongue was to stand +forth and boldly wrestle for noble human life with the demons of +Treachery and Malice. The brave little man shrank not from the task, +fraught as it was with personal danger to himself. He bore a charmed +life. The prisoners in their beds at Newgate could hear his earnest +tones in the hot night through opened windows, haranguing the jury +till daylight; could detect the trotting of his pony as he returned in +the morning to the Priory--no longer hospitably open as of yore, but +bolted and barred, with shutters closed and loopholed, in a besieged +condition, for timid Sara's sake. That which occupied the +sessions-house in Green Street was the only civil tribunal which +existed during this troublous time. Except in the instances of the six +state-trials, there was no law in town or country but martial law, +which is terrible enough even when fairly administered; how much more +awful then when conducted, as it was, by excited Irishmen--rabid with +religious fury, heated by rancour and revenge. + +Events had marched quickly. The chancellor had nothing to complain of, +for, with a few trifling checks, everything went well enough. The +people had been maddened into committing themselves. All classes were +at sixes and sevens. The menagerie was in a chaotic condition. The +wolf snarled at the hyena, the bear showed his tusks at the tiger-cat. +The senate was as degraded as its bitterest foe could desire. But what +an exasperating world it is! How true the trite old maxim about the +slip 'twixt cup and lip! Lord Clare saw (not far off, neither) the +abolition of the Irish parliament. He heard his own voice ringing +along the rafters of the English House of Lords. He pictured himself +high in office--why not premier some day? But all of a sudden an event +occurred which had never entered into his calculations--a rap came on +his knuckles, swift and agonising, which woke him from his vision to +see that it was air. + +That agitation of Lord Moira's went farther in its effect than its +author dreamed. Mr. Pitt perceived at once that it must cause him to +change his tactics, and with presence of mind he resolved to do so +instantly. 'How lucky,' he mused, as he sat under the comb of his +friseur after a night's debauch, 'that this dust was not stirred up +sooner! Now it matters not. The effect I wish produced is made, and +can't be unmade. But I must disavow the acts that made it. The thing +has gone so far now that it must run along to the end by the force of +its own impetus.' Then he reflected that it would not be amiss to +write a warning to Lord Clare, which might be brought up against him +later. He would let things go on quietly till other arrangements were +completed, then announce his new purpose as a surprise, and act upon +it on the instant. + +So it came about that the English premier disarmed the opposition by +recalling at a few hours' notice the then Viceroy, Lord Camden, and +despatching to Ireland at once--with an energy that did him credit--a +new one, who was instructed to carry on the work on a new principle. +Lord Clare was thunderstruck. When the news came, his face lengthened +by an ell. He thought not of broken puppets, which, having served +their purpose, are tossed upon the dust-heap. A new Viceroy! Just at +this crisis, too, when more than ever unity was strength. What if the +new Viceroy should have a will of his own to clash with the lord +chancellor's? That was unlikely, for Lord Clare was essentially a +leader of men. He had coerced many viceroys, and thoroughly understood +the business. There was no reason for supposing that this one would be +more stubborn than the others. But he would of necessity come raw to +his work, would have to be taught, which would create delay. It was +very provoking. Yet, after all, there was a good side even to this +dilemma. Strong-willed or not, he would have to leave things alone +during his pupilage. For the present he could not interfere much. Yet, +turn the situation over as he would, my Lord Clare could not but see +that Mr. Pitt had made a fool of him; and it was with some misgiving +that the chancellor went down in state to Kingstown to make his bow to +his new master. + +Mr. Pitt's choice was a most judicious one. He had to look for a man +who was brave and honest, high-spirited, clear-headed--the antithesis +to Camden. Some one who knew something of affairs, who was a +soldier--in order that at this difficult juncture the reins of +government and the command of the forces should be in one firm grasp. +Some one who was experienced in the world's ways, who would be too +wise to run a-muck or do anything Quixotic. Who would pull things +straight gradually and with circumspection, so as not to stop the ball +before it reached its goal, and yet who was too conspicuous for virtue +for the opposition to jut forth the tongue at him. Just such a man was +the Marquis Cornwallis, who had recently earned glorious laurels in +India; whom all the world respected because he was upright as well as +worldly-wise. + +The preparations of the new Viceroy had been made in secret. +Therefore, the word of command being given, he started off, like the +good soldier that he was, at a moment's notice, and arrived at +Kingstown towards the end of June. As a salve to his predecessor's +feelings, a nephew of Lord Camden's was attached as chief +secretary--the young Viscount Castlereagh, who, report said, was +promising. Lord Clare met the party with a toothsome smile, in all the +bravery of tightly-fitting silk upon his dapper limbs, his rustling +robes stiffened with gold lace, his lappeted wig powdered with +perfumed flour. The viceregal state-coach was not in waiting, he +regretted to say. The rapidity of his excellency's coming was +extraordinary! My Lord Camden, who was living within a cordon of +guards away in the Ph[oe]nix Park, had not yet resigned it. But his +own poor coach was there (the one which cost four thousand guineas); +if his excellency would so far honour him as to take a seat in it, it +would be the proudest moment in the life of his humble servant. + +Lord Cornwallis, thinking it a good opportunity of studying the +notorious chancellor, accepted graciously; and the two jogged +together along the high-road to Dublin, preceded by a body of the +Liberty-rangers, who appeared to the military optic a sad set of +clodpoles. Lord Clare descanted on the beauty of the scenery, the +loveliness of Dublin Bay, the delights of summer weather. Sure, his +excellency must have had a splendid passage. Was he never sick? Lucky +man! Never, never? This good beginning was a fine omen for the future. +Might his career in Ireland win his Majesty's approval! and so on, and +so forth. Vapid compliments! Lord Clare made himself as pleasant as he +possibly could, and congratulated himself rather on his success. It is +a fortunate circumstance that we do not abide in the Palace of Truth. +The first impression which the coercer of viceroys left upon the mind +of Lord Cornwallis, was one of a cruel eye, painfully glittering +teeth, a smile to be distrusted, a voice which went through him like a +knife. + +'What of the people?' he asked somewhat abruptly; for he knew more +than he liked about Lake's plans, and feared lest the obloquy which +must attend them should be pinned to the new _régime_. + +'The people!' echoed his companion, in a tone which spoke +volumes--'the people! Ah, well! They've offended the King, and are +having a hard time of it. To-morrow they will have a very hard time +indeed, but no worse than they deserve; for by nightfall, if all goes +well--why should it go ill?--a few hours hence, Wexford and +Enniscorthy will be taken, the camp at Vinegar Hill will be a +Golgotha--this deplorable folly will be at an end.' + +Lord Cornwallis gave a sigh of relief. He had come expecting to see +unpleasant sights, to be for the nonce a bandager instead of a carver +of wounds. If the chancellor spoke truly, then was he indeed in luck, +for the horrors attending this 'Golgotha,' as his companion +picturesquely put it, would naturally be considered to belong to Lord +Camden's vice-royalty, not his. + +The cavalcade which had been rattling along came to a standstill. The +Liberty-rangers, with oaths and curses, were striving to force a +passage through a kneeling crowd which occupied the way; but the +peasants who formed the crowd seemed to have no feeling as they knelt +there in the middle of the road, with hats off and heads bowed down. + +Vainly were the horses urged, vainly did the postilions, with artful +flips of their long knotted lashes, strive to tickle into +sensitiveness the soft bare arms of girls--their white necks, from +which the hair was braided. They knelt there and moved not. + +Lord Cornwallis looked out at the spectacle in surprise, and lowered +the window-glass with a bang to bid the postilions respect the sex, in +terms of indignant remonstrance. What singular people! So silent; they +might be stone. His ear caught a distant wailing, very faint--a long +way off--and a peculiar sound which recalled long-forgotten memories +of youth. The falling of a flail--yes, that was it. A lightning-flash, +of the past revealed to his mind's eye a warm-coloured, familiar +threshing-floor, in which he used to play ere he grew hardened by +war's vicissitudes. He remembered, as though it were yesterday, the +chequered sunlight on the grain, the merry hum of life, the stalwart +fellows raising their brawny arms in clock-like rhythm. He heard again +the buzz of insects, the booming of gauze-winged beetles along the +hedgerows; the exhilarating murmur which sings of teeming nature--of +glorious summer. Why were these peasants turned to stone? + +Lord Clare, forgetting himself, craned out of his window, and presumed +at the very start to counter-order his chief's commands. + +'Go on!' he screamed. 'Get through this riff-raff!' + +Lord Cornwallis roughly bade him hold his peace. + +'It's only a flogging,' the chancellor apologised. + +'And this is the silent protest of the people! Have they sunk to +this?' cried the Viceroy hoarsely, pulling at his cravat to ease the +lump that was in his throat. 'Poor creatures! Ground down so low that +they can protest only by their silence--a reverent silence, like that +of onlookers at a martyrdom! Who is acting here? Call him forward.' + +Presently an aide-de-camp returned through an archway with the +sheriff. The aide's eyes were full of tears. He was a youth new to +Ireland. This pathetic method of protesting was strangely, weirdly +tragic! He had noted how, as the far-off moaning continued, and the +thuds poured down in an unrelenting shower, these fair young necks had +winced in concert, though no murmur passed their lips. Yet when the +postilions flicked them, calling up red marks upon the skin, they made +no movement, nor uttered cry. All their feeling was for the suffering +victim on the triangle, in the barrack-yard yonder, whose life the cat +was slowly beating out of him. None was left for a paltry personal +smart, which lasts a second and is gone. + +'What are you doing there?' asked the frowning Viceroy. + +''Deed it's a Croppy being flogged till he tells the truth, as is the +rule,' returned the sheriff confidentially, with grins. He knew not +the bluff speaker, but respected the golden coach. + +'Learn then, in time, lest your own bones suffer for it,' retorted +Lord Cornwallis, 'that I am his Majesty's new representative. That my +first order on arriving in your capital shall be to put down corporal +punishment in any form whatever, unless sanctioned and signed for by +me.' + +The sheriff knew not what to make of it. This the new Viceroy, and +these his orders? He merely bowed and smirked, taking his cue from my +Lord Clare. + +A very old man in a long frieze coat, seeming to read some sort of +unusual sympathy in the flushed weather-beaten face of the last +speaker, advanced to the carriage-window with a grotesque salute. + +'What can we do for you, my man?' quoth the bluff soldier, in the hope +of some answering quip which should warm away the chill which rested +on his heart. + +'Plaze, yer honour!' quavered the aged man, with a vacant smile of +senility, 'sure I'd loike, if it moight be, for my two lads foreninst +the barriks there, as are sufferin', to be hanged at onst! And, av ye +plaze, might I go up too? Wid the blessing of God, I'd loike to shake +a fut wid my boys!' + +Lord Cornwallis pulled up the window with a jerk; and Lord Clare +thought the omen not quite so good which marked the arrival of the new +Viceroy. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT. + + +Lord Clare's previsions were justified in the first instance. The new +Viceroy was obliged to refrain from positive interference for a time, +in order that he might study the chaos and consider his future course. +News of the affair of Vinegar Hill reached him on the second day after +his arrival, and he thanked Heaven in that he was spared any +participation in the maltreatment of the south. But the first week in +August brought unexpected news, which compelled his excellency to look +about him with promptitude. The French--bugaboo that had given his +predecessor sleepless nights, only to prove afterwards the most vulgar +of post-c[oe]nal nightmares--were actually present in the flesh at +last. An army had landed on the north-western coast; so the news ran +which had flitted round the seaboard in a circle of flame. A veritable +army had landed at Killala under false colours, flying a mendacious +Union Jack: veterans to the number of twelve hundred, who had fought +in Italy under Napoleon. + +These at least were worthy foes whose presence set his martial blood +tingling. The hero of Vinegar Hill was despatched with all speed to +the northwest, while the Viceroy assembled his forces to follow him. +Three frigates only, bearing twelve hundred veterans! A handful. Was +this the _avant-garde_ of the invading army? Where was the rest of the +fleet? Scattered as usual by wind, or delayed by some accidental +circumstance? General Lake sent intelligence to his chief that this +handful really composed the entire force, which was commanded by one +Humbert, who had come on a fool's errand, without money or provisions, +trusting to Tone's assurance that the countryfolk would rally round +him so soon as he unfurled the tricolour. 'He would make short work of +the adventurers,' he wrote, 'with the help of the "Ancient Britons" +and the "Foxhunters." It would hardly be necessary for his excellency +to appear in person, for the brush would be over before he could +arrive.' + +The French met the royalists at Castlebar, where the latter were +disgracefully defeated. Humbert, delighted by his easy victory, +occupied the town during eight days, astonishing the people by a +courtesy to which they were little accustomed. So long as he commanded +there no house-burnings were heard of; no ravishing of maidens, or +pillaging of household goods. The peasantry poured into his camp, but +they were worse than of no service to him--a half-savage horde of idle +lookers-on, who howled and danced and quarrelled. The respectable +portion of the community held aloof, for Protestants could have no +sympathy with a French invader, while the higher class of Catholics +looked askance at Free-thinkers who had once been in the bosom of +their Church. Moreover, the horrors of Wexford were yet ringing in +their ears--horrors concerning which there could be no doubt, for the +Foxhunters, smeared with fraternal gore, were in their midst, who were +by no means inclined to put their firebrand under a bushel. Nor was it +long ere they gave a taste of their quality. They bade the fisherfolk +upon the coasts to declare for one side or the other at once, and +terrified the harmless people so that many tried to seek refuge in the +caverns which, as at Ennishowen, burrow under the western cliffs. Many +scores were drowned in the attempt, their bodies washed up upon the +rocks. It was not possible (no reinforcements arriving from France) +that Humbert could maintain his position at Castlebar. Perceiving his +peril, he made an effort to move northward, under the impression that +if he could succeed in avoiding a decisive action, Tone would soon +come with succour. + +The forces of General Lake dogged his steps, amusing themselves with +the native hordes who hung upon their skirts; and if ever blood atoned +for treason, then were those western counties washed white as wool. +Sword and halter were used with unsparing hand. An order went forth +that any man in a frieze coat might be sabred, without questions +asked. A certain noble colonel's humour was so broad that for a +second time he was publicly rebuked; on this occasion by Colonel +Campbell--whose nephew became afterwards Lord Clyde. + +Humbert and his men surrendered very shortly, and, cursing the people +they had come to save, were marched to Dublin as prisoners of war. So +ended the third French folly. + +Now hie we to Donegal with Cassidy, who, after the arrival of the new +Viceroy, saw more distinctly than ever how advisable would be a short +absence. Whilst artfully pretending that he could not keep a secret, +or conceal an emotion, or resist temptation, Mr. Cassidy was, as you +possibly have by this time discovered, a far-sighted, cold-hearted +schemer. A hypocrite is not necessarily one who conceals vice behind a +semblance of virtue. He belonged to a branch of the same stem who +makes a vice which he has no objection to show a stalking-horse to +cover a darker and more profitable vice which it is essential he +should hide. It was clear to him, after a very few hours' experience +of the new-comer, that my Lords Clare and Cornwallis did not agree. +There would be a tussle for power, during which the smaller fry would +be wise to remain quiescent. Lord Cornwallis, whose hands were full in +other ways, showed no signs of desiring to interfere in the matter of +the patriots; could not, indeed, do so without a dangerous stretch of +prerogative, for they were in the grip of the law, or rather of the +antic creature who for the nonce assumed the name; but he made no +secret of his contempt of the Lords and Commons, and his unspeakable +abhorrence of the behaviour of the yeomanry. More than this he dared +not do as yet, for it was evidently not his policy to quarrel with +the ascendency party; so he shut his eyes to the gymnastics in the +Riding-school, and popped his august head under the bedclothes with a +groan, when the screams of the victims in the Exchange hard by +penetrated to his chamber in the Castle. His path was thick with +flints. He complained bitterly of his position in letters to an old +brother-in-arms. 'The characteristics of society here,' he wrote, 'are +cruelty, intemperance, and profligacy. There is no trick too mean or +too impudent for an Irish politician; no deed too wicked for an Irish +soldier. These last are ferocious in the extreme, when poor creatures +armed or unarmed come into their power. Murder is their favourite +pastime. The conversation of all the principal persons in the country +tends to encourage this system of blood, and the talk even at my own +table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it, turns on +hanging, shooting, burning, etc.; and if a priest has been put to +death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company. So much for +Ireland and my wretched situation.'[1] + + +---------------------------- + +Footnote 1: Marquis Cornwallis to Major-Gen. Ross, Correspondence, +vol. ii. 369 _et seq_. + +---------------------------- + + +In their exuberant loyalty the Lords and Commons made a solemn +procession to do homage before a statue of that noble character, +George I., which was set up in Dawson Street. Their chancellor +strutted in front, followed by Mr. Speaker and Prime Sergeant. But His +Excellency declined to take part in the edifying pageant--even +muttered something uncomplimentary about a pack of donkeys. Lord +Clare, in his anger at the soldier's want of polish, was unwise enough +to threaten that he would lodge complaints on the subject. Decidedly +it was prudent for those whose nests required feathering to retire +into the background until the difficulty was adjusted. + +Cassidy rode northward, scanning as he went the numerous signs of +recent outrage. In the towns he was stopped and eagerly questioned, +for coaches and mail-bags were erratic. Rumour was garrulous, and +frequently contradicted herself. He, too, was interested in +obtaining information, for the citizens of Dublin know nothing of the +northern rising, except that it had been quickly put down with very +little trouble. He learnt that in the north, as in the south, the +collapse had come chiefly from lack of leaders; for preachers +could not be suddenly transmuted into generals, or traders into +commanders-in-chief. There had been a half-heartedness about the whole +business, arising from mutual distrust. The atrocities of Wexford +shocked the Northern Presbyterians, who were only told of the excesses +of the Catholics. Derry, too, was jealous of Down, Antrim of both. On +the other hand, the Hessian mercenaries irritated all classes--it was +the armed occupation of a conquered territory by a swinish conqueror. +The flame was skilfully fanned. Amnesty for political offences was +vaguely spoken of, which soon merged into sanguinary denunciation, and +concluded in the devotion of whole towns to fire and sword. The people +knew not how to act. If Wexford was subdued, the lash would surely +fall on their backs to punish them for their known detestation of the +Sassanagh. It would be better, then, to rise, some argued, so as at +least to gain something in exchange for inevitable punishment. And so, +undisciplined and ill-led, Antrim rose and was crushed; then Down took +the field, to suffer a like fate. It was the old, sad story over again +of Wexford, without Father Roche or the priest of Boulavogue. The +insurrection was evanescent; accompanied by much intermittent bravery +on the part of the peasants, much imbecility on the part of the +leaders, awful retribution on the part of the Hessians and squireens. +Cassidy found everywhere the feeling which Lord Clare had worked for, +and was overwhelmed with admiration at the cleverness of the +chancellor. Every one was mourning for a brother or a son. A gloom of +failure hung like a pall over the peasantry. The tradesmen of the +towns had lost all self-confidence, and were bowed in humiliation. +Their lives were so miserable that they cared no more what happened; +the iron heel had crushed them both in body and soul. The few whose +spirit yet flickered formed themselves into banditti, who for years +continued to infest the mountains and wild tracts. How difficult are +such memories to eradicate; how tenacious and how spreading are their +roots! What a long array of sedatives may be required to blot out the +remembrance of a crime of such portentous magnitude as this which we +are contemplating! + +Meanwhile the dreamland of Ennishowen knew nothing of these things. +The fairy islet of Glas-aitch-é seemed defended from outer evil by a +spell, which gave the sleeping knights in the sea-caves no cause for +waking. The seals rolled over on the blue-green waves as though the +world were not full of sorrow; the eagles soared high up in ether, +dazzled by the glory of the sun. As month followed month my lady saw +that her pet project was brought no nearer to realisation than in the +old days of Strogue; that it was further off, indeed; for Shane had +grown as coldly indifferent to his cousin as she was to him. He made +no love to her, did not seem to see her; the intercourse of those whom +my lady longed to see acting as lovers was as calm as that between a +brother and a sister. It was exasperating. + +My lady hugged her religion, which taught her that those who follow +the national faith were capable of any crime. She gloated over the +narrative of the horrors on Wexford Bridge; thanked God that she was +not so bad as other people; affected a certain journal recently +printed by a missionary who had preached Christ's doctrine--or what he +took to be such--to the benighted heathen, in which was written: 'Had +much sweet enjoyment to-day in reading a sermon on the justice of God +in the damnation of sinners.' Her letters brought her news which by +degrees changed, so it seemed, the whole tenor of her way of thinking. +At least Doreen thought so as she surveyed her aunt, who appeared now +to act in spasms of contradictory impulse. At one moment the world was +apparently to her so black that there was nothing for it but to sit +down without hope to await the welcome end. At another moment she +became feverishly-restless and energetic, chafing evidently under some +hidden goad which was too bitter to be endured with outward calm. +Doreen watched her with increasing interest; for Time, which was +changing my lady, had changed her too, by removing the apathetic +dreaminess that had, upon arriving in the north, lulled the torn +fibres of her disillusioned nature with the anodyne which follows +disappointment. As events unfolded themselves, the two ladies changed +places. My lady, so imperious and impatient of contradiction, became +apathetic, but with an uncanny resignation which increased her age all +at once by at least ten years. The proud foot, instead of disdaining +the earth as it used to do, lost its elasticity and dragged upon the +ground. The incipient look of terror for which her eyes had always +been remarkable, developed into the amaze of one who has seen a ghost +face to face, while the skin round them was dry and burning, and +darkened to a purplish brown. For hours and hours would she sit, like +one inanimate, staring at that ghost which she only could behold, +turning with a nervous start if a door or window were opened suddenly. +Sometimes--but that was seldom--her surcharged heart found relief in +tears; not soothing dew, but water which burned new furrows down her +wasted cheek. It was evident that there was some awful weight upon her +mind, which was growing heavier--was squeezing her life-blood out by +drops. + +Doreen set herself to wonder what this could mean. It looked like the +effort of an anguished soul to fly from memory and hoodwink remorse. +Yet why should the punctiliously upright dowager be possessed by so +dire a visitation? The old lady (really old now, though her years were +but fifty-three) kept muttering to herself when she thought she was +alone; then looked fiercely up, with glaring eyes like coals, from a +suspicion that she might have betrayed something. Once her niece +caught her in an excess of what seemed like madness--babbling some +frantic words out loud through a thick silken kerchief which she held +against her mouth. It was clear that there was some secret which was +bursting to come out--that was devouring her piecemeal--and that she +adopted this strange way of giving vent to it. Her sufferings must +indeed be terrible, Miss Wolfe thought, if that marble pride was +powerless to conceal them. No human frame may bear for long such +wrenching. Either the stern countess must go raving mad, or else she +would certainly soon die. + +One night when (sleepless herself) Doreen rose to listen at her aunt's +door, she caught, amid inarticulate babble, the oft-repeated words, +'Terence--Shane!' muttered in such tones of anguish, that, shivering, +she crept back to bed, warned as by chilling vapour from the threshold +of a secret which 'twere better not to know. Terence--Shane! Her two +sons, then, were at the bottom of the mystery--the two sons who in +their mother's mind stood on such different platforms. Doreen watched +on, but still found no clue to the labyrinth. The countess seemed +sometimes, she observed, to be much occupied with her project--that +wild notion, unpractical in the beginning, which events had made even +more incongruous--of uniting these cousins who had so little in common +at the first, and who had now between them the gulf of the late +rebellion. Then she would seem by a mental reaction to recoil from the +idea, and do her best to prevent the two from meeting who, as it was, +so seldom met. Perhaps the lady really had a brain affection, Miss +Wolfe's mind suggested to her at times. Perhaps she, Doreen, was +trying to solve a riddle to which there was no solution. All whom it +concerned knew only too well that my lady disliked her second son. It +was preposterous to suppose that his joining the popular party should +affect his mother in this manner. It was natural that her pride should +be hurt, because he flouted her known opinions and embraced the tenets +of those whom she chose to consider as unworthy of consideration. But +that she should be absolutely sinking under the agony of the disgrace +was altogether out of the question. When the news came that, after +eluding pursuit for a long while, he had been taken, seriously +wounded, and incarcerated in the provost, she showed no emotion; while +her niece, who professed to hate him, was dreadfully distressed in +spite of herself. The struggle which had been tearing the old lady +appeared to have worn itself out. She appeared to have resigned +herself at last to accept the inevitable, to be too fatigued with the +fight for her intellect to be capable of a new impression. The ghost +had been looked in the face--the ghost which, ever since the late lord +died, had been hovering more or less near to her. She had felt his +scathing breath upon her cheek; she was under the gaze of a basilisk, +whose scorching fascination reduced her will to coma. Should the news +come that her son was publicly hanged like a felon, with all outward +tokens of ignominy, it could stir her now to no visible emotion. The +coldness which in her letters surprised Lord Clare was not one of +indifference, but of a despair which had ended in collapse. She +disliked her son, yet it was his fate that was corroding her life +away. Why was that? If Shane, the well-beloved, had been in similar +plight, the wreck, so far as she was concerned, could not have been +greater--nay, nor so great. Then her agony would have found vent in +indignation; she would have done something wherein might be detected, +through a veil, the old imperious ways of the chatelaine of Strogue. +But this utter breakdown--this abject wreck--and all about one for +whom she could not pretend to care! Here was an enigma which puzzled +Miss Wolfe more and more, serving to abstract her somewhat from her +own private woes. + +The same motive, singularly enough, had wrought the change in both the +ladies--Terence, the hapless councillor, who lay now under shadow of +the gallows. At the time of the discovery of the pikes, when his +mother's careless words had suggested to the high-spirited damsel that +her cousin had sold the cause for gold, she had had a glimmering +suspicion that her heart was no longer fancy free--that it had gone +forth without the asking to one whom it was now her duty to contemn. +At least there was a vague whisper (thrust aside at once) within her +of the fact, which had caused her to comport herself in a way which at +a calmer moment her judgment would have rejected. Then, many causes +coalescing into one, she had devoted herself to birds and boating, +under a delusion which she strove hard to accept as truth, that +because they were beyond her helping she cared no more for her +ill-used people, or for the champions who in their weak way would have +defended them. It has been shown that she sank into a condition of +apathy--of mental numbness--which had about it a sort of negative +enjoyment. Then came news of events in the south--garbled offensive +news sent up from Letterkenny barracks--news which filled Shane's +animal soul with glee, and caused him, abandoning the ladies, to rush +off on his own account to emulate the antics of his class. This +intelligence struck on the maiden's heart like so many reiterated +blows, and, breaking the charm, produced a queer kind of hope. Was it +possible after all that Terence could have behaved so shamefully? If +not, then how was the matter of the pikes to be explained? Possibly +this was another mesh in the net which Judas had been weaving--the +many-headed Judas--to catch the tripping feet of all the patriots. The +maiden had been too hot to ask for an explanation. Had she wronged her +cousin, or not? A strange bubbling of joy welled up within her at the +thought that a doubt was possible; but this she repressed with guilty +vehemence. It was no time for joy or hope. Then the news dribbled in +of Wexford and Scullabogue--the awful crimes committed by the +Catholics, without so much as a whisper of the Protestant outrages at +Carlow and the Gibbet-Rath; and she longed with a wild longing to go +south once more. Was it possible that these reports were true? At the +worst, they must be much exaggerated. But men are only human. Drive +them too hard, and they inevitably turn to beasts. It is only the +purest metal which comes improved out of the crucible; and how rare +that metal! If the reports were true, how the men of Wexford must have +suffered! It was with a whimsical feeling of distress that she marked +her aunt's growing indifference with reference to these reports. Time +was when my lady would have chewed the cud of Scullabogue, extracting +therefrom a savoury text on which to found a discourse upon the sins +of the scarlet woman, pointing innuendoes at her niece such as might +quiver in her Papist soul. Doreen would rather have endured this +pillory than see the old lady so undone. Nor Scullabogue, nor Carlow, +nor the iniquitous Fathers Roche or Murphy, Kearnes or Clinch, could +rouse her from her lethargy any more, or distract her attention from +the contemplation of her ghost. + +Doreen determined to write to her father about the countess, whose +state really grew quite alarming: there was no use in talking to Shane +about it; he was quite too besotted. Granted that she cared little for +her second son, it was astonishing (for she was not hard-hearted) that +my lady should evince no desire to nurse her boy, who was lying +wounded in a prison cell. Lord Clare was no doubt doing all that was +kind; yet a mother's hand on a sick pillow is likely to be even more +soothing to an invalid than a lord chancellor's. But as her soul +became more shrivelled she pointedly avoided even the mention of +Terence's name, and showed general signs of a peevish querulousness, +which was alien to her strong character. It did not seem to strike my +lady that it was time to pack up and return to Strogue; maybe she knew +that her ghost would pursue her thither, and felt callous as to where +she abode or what she did, provided that there was no escape from the +petrifying phantom. + +Doreen had another reason for imploring her father to use his +influence as to the return of the family to Dublin. The intelligence +of the state-trials moved the damsel much. Her people, it was evident, +were to bow under their burden in obedience to Heaven's decree. In +their travail she might be of use to the patriots--still more to their +distressed wives and families. She wrote, therefore, pointing out that +no one could dream of conspiring now, and that, so far as she was +concerned, it was idle to detain her a prisoner. + +One day my lord returned from his accustomed cruise down Lough Swilly +in huge delight. The circle of flame, which had swept past this +portion of the coast as well as others, had informed the dwellers in +Ennishowen that peril threatened somewhere. Then had come suspense and +vague rumours of the French nightmare, which people put from them at +once as idle chatterings of a danger that was over. My lord had sailed +from tower to tower--those stalwart towers whose creation he had +himself superintended--but no keeper could tell him more than that he +had lit his bonfire upon seeing one blazing to westward, and that his +own warning had been answered by a similar blaze to eastward. The +soldier-sprigs of Letterkenny even could say nothing positive. It was +reported that the French had come at last, they said; but at this +eleventh hour the notion was absurd. Doreen's heart had leaped within +her. The French! Was Theobald with them? She condescended to coax and +wheedle Shane, and put forth all her blandishments to obtain more +positive information. Suspense was racking her. She even offered to go +with him on his yacht, and be civil to those horrible bumpkins in +uniform, if he would sail forthwith to Letterkenny and discover +something tangible. He went alone; but wrung from her a promise that +if he organised an aquatic _fête_ shortly, to which he proposed to +invite the aforesaid bumpkins, she would cast aside her reserve, and +make herself agreeable to them. + +'You know, Doreen,' he said, 'that my lady's breaking up. She looks +like a ghoul. By the Hokey, she'd frighten 'em all away! and it's +devilish dull here for a young man like me. For political reasons I've +borne the penance all this weary time. But may I be well triangled if +I put up with it much longer.' + +Though the speech was rude, as conveying a hint to his cousin that her +constant presence by no means made up to him for the vanished orgies +of Cherokees and Blasters, yet did she smile her sweetest smile on +him. It proved that she need never dread being tormented with his +attentions; and so she promised, and he went. He was several days +absent; then returned, as I have said, in huge delight. The festival +was organised. The squireens were much _obleeged_, and would make +a point of responding to his lordship's _feevour_. It was to take +place in ten days. Doreen must see to details. They would dine +in the low-arched hall, and take their claret in the garden. What +pleasanter than to enjoy the delicious autumn air, laden as it was +with health-inspiring brine? + +Doreen commanded herself sufficiently to listen to his prattle. What +was my lord's _fête_ to her--the odious boozing boors! She was pining +for political news--was about, losing all patience, to interrupt her +cousin--when, to her surprise and delight, he stopped of his own +accord with a string of oaths, vowing that in this accursed +hole he was forgetting his manners. He had picked up a guest at +Letterkenny--one whom she used to like. He jerked his thumb over his +shoulder towards the yacht. She looked, and beheld--Cassidy--the old +friend and true, who was as hearty and as jolly as ever, with his +roguish twinkle and double-chin, smiling and waving salutations to +her! Cassidy, who had promised once to be a friend--on that day after +his silly declaration by the kennels! Cassidy, escaped by some kindly +turn of fate from the ills which had fallen on the rest! He would know +everything, could tell her private details of persons whose names she +dared scarce mention to herself. + +This was a delightful surprise. Dropping her ordinary coldness, she +advanced quickly to him with flushed cheek and both hands extended. He +read in her face that she was genuinely glad to see him, and thanked +his stars that he had bethought himself of trying once again. She had +been coy--needed persistent wooing--was, like all women, a born +coquette. He held both her trembling little brown hands in his, and +would have kissed her if grinning Shane had not been looking on. She +liked him. There could be no doubt of it. The sweet lovely minx--brown +as a berry--all the lovelier and the browner for long exposure to the +sun and blustering blast and wholesome air. She had betrayed herself, +the demure siren! The Castle and its people might go to the devil now. +He need not trouble to feather his nest. She evidently loved him +enough to take him as he was, and had gold enough for both. He +mentally resolved to choose the first opportunity to put the tender +question in due form. Pretty, stately creature! What a charm there was +in the toss of her shapely head, the tawny depths of her solemn eyes! + +Her first question somewhat disconcerted the amorous giant. + +'How is Terence?' she asked, recovering her usual calm. + +He glanced suspiciously down, but there was no tremulousness about the +serene face such as his own coming had provoked. It was natural to ask +after a cousin who was once a playfellow, and was now on the threshold +of an ignominious death. + +''Deed, and he's bad, acushla!' he returned bluntly; then, with an +affectionate hand-squeeze, followed beckoning Shane to pay his +respects to my lady. + +With heartfelt thankfulness the girl, who went with them, listened to +Shane's budget of gossip, as he tumbled it out, a confused medley, for +his mother's benefit. This French expedition was but the wild freak of +an adventurer unwisely brave. He and all his men--Frenchmen all--were +gone in chains to Dublin, a mirth-provoking spectacle for the good +townspeople, who were getting weary of badgered Croppies. The boys at +Letterkenny were coming to his little _fête_--he was to send the yacht +and a whole fleet of boats for them. It would be rare fun! + +By-the-bye, Sir Borlase Warren and some English ships of war were +cruising somewhere close by--their mission to prevent another French +band from landing, if another leader should be found as foolhardy as +this Humbert. That was not likely. Sir Borlase would have his cruise +for nothing. The laws of hospitality demanded that he should be +entertained. Shane had left a message at the tower on Fanad Head to +the effect that Lord Glandore would be glad to be civil to Sir +Borlase. Maybe he and his officers would grace the prospective _fête_. +With this Shane descended to the cellar, to look out some bottles of +prime claret for the delectation of Cassidy. Being but a half-mounted, +my lord had consistently treated that personage at Strogue with +indulgent patronage mingled with hauteur; but now he was so tired of +getting drunk alone, or with the rough skipper of his yacht, that he +condescended to kill a fatted calf for the behoof of the new arrival. + +So the third French expedition had gone off like a damp squib! Doreen +was in nowise sorry for the prisoners. Faithless as the French had +been, great in promises which were never fulfilled, it served them +right to be punished for their folly. But she was deeply thankful that +Tone was not among them. It rather surprised her, till she reflected +that her young hero was wise beyond his years, and far-sighted too. He +saw, no doubt, as she did, that the moment was come and gone; that +there was nothing for it but endurance now. He was galloping in his +general's uniform on the banks of the Rhine, or perchance was one of +Buonaparte's staff in Egypt or elsewhere. He had slaved with the +power of a young Samson for motherland; but treachery had done her +work--Samson was shorn. He could do no more. Like her, he could only +wait. It was a mercy that his life was spared. + +Cassidy's presence was certainly a relief to all, by introducing a new +element of interest into a household devoured by ennui. He was so gay +and willing. It was a pleasure to hear his rich voice carolling one of +the dreamy songs of Ireland, as he caught fish for breakfast over the +garden parapet. Even my lady had a wintry smile for him. Shane dragged +him out with glee to look at the Martello towers, to shoot a seal, to +have a blaze at the puffins about Malin Head. The cheery, pleasant +creature! Sir Borlase and his fleet sailed by. The admiral's boat, +manned by its natty crew in dazzling white garments, shot to the +staircase hewn from the living rock, to scrape acquaintance with the +hermits of Glas-aitch-é. He thought he had never seen so singular a +household. The scared aristocratic-looking lady, with snowy locks and +deep furrows of sorrow ploughed on her faded cheeks--each line in the +fretwork of whose brow told of carking care, each rustle of whose +silken robe spoke of overweening pride; the beautiful tall gipsy, with +pride as great as hers, which was tempered by a serene sadness that +became her beauty well. And dwelling with this pair of cold, haughty +women, two men of such a different stamp! The young lord, a reckless +devil evidently, and fierce, despite his somewhat effeminate figure +and tiny hands; given, too, to the modish vice, as was evidenced by +the coarsening of his fine features. And then, culminating surprise, +the great jolly giant--type of a rollicking Pat--vulgar and humorous; +who somehow was of much commoner clay than his three companions, who +yet treated him with indulgent friendliness. What a strange life this +quartet must be leading? the admiral mused, as he went upon his way. +They would repay careful study. He had no particular orders as to his +cruise, except that he was to watch the northern coast. He would +inspect the inlets of Lough Foyle, and then come back again. Why were +they leading this odd hermit life? Decidedly it would be worth while +to examine them more closely. The maiden and the giant went about +together a good deal, he remarked, in two frail coracles, side by +side--paddling among banks of heavy seaweed, landing on the strand to +visit cottagers, skirting the beetling cliff in search of rare ferns +and lichens. Could they be about to make a match of it? Some of the +most happy couples are composed of the most conflicting elements. Yet +it did seem a pity for a refined girl like this to unite herself to a +common farmer-fellow! + +My lady, too, remarked the apparent flirtation, and frowned. 'What's +bred in the bone will come out,' she muttered, as, sitting on the +marble seat among the straggling flowers, she basked in the sun. 'It's +the blood of her mother. She has a predilection for common people. +That is why she went on so shamefully at Strogue, consorting with the +sons of old Doctor Emmett, who, in his way, was a good man, in +preference to cousin Shane!' Then, remembering the behaviour of her +second son, she contemplated her ghost again. 'That he should come to +a shameful end,' she groaned, wringing her hands together. 'Is this a +direct judgment on me? Did my husband foresee this when he spoke upon +his death-bed? Had I acted as I ought, would Terence have been saved?' + +Doreen was so accustomed to be led by her wayward will that it did not +strike her that she was doing anything peculiar in going thus about +with Cassidy. She occupied her boat, he his; sure, nothing could be +more proper. She had always looked upon him as on a Newfoundland dog, +whose rough gambols are amusing, and courted his society now to hear +details of her Dublin friends without interruption from her aunt. She +learned much that was true and much that was false. With grief she +listened to the weary tale of treachery, marvelling with Cassidy as to +who the traitor was. She burned with indignation at the conduct of the +executive, observing that there is an unwritten law in accordance with +which the ignorant are to be protected from themselves; not coaxed to +crime and then murdered for it. For some reason of his own, the giant +avoided the mention of Terence; and Doreen respected his delicacy, for +she thought that perchance he had ill things to tell of him, and she +shrank from hearing them; clinging rather to her present state of +doubt. + +One day as they drifted on the glassy sea--the one pensive, with +her chin upon her hands, the other distracted by his increasing +passion--Cassidy remarked that her coracle was leaking, that a tiny +rift had been cut in the side by a jagged stone, and that the water +was lapping in unawares. He swore there was peril--lost his head in an +absurd manner--while she smiled. Why did she not choose to come out +with him in a bigger boat? These frail cockle-shells were ridiculous! +What greater delight could there be for him than to row so precious a +burthen? + +'I prefer my liberty,' was her demure reply, as she measured her +distance to the islet, and then the incoming water. 'If I put my +strength into it I shall get safely home, so don't excite yourself.' + +With rare skill she plied the light oars, baring her shapely arms +and stretching them to their full length, and arrived at the +staircase-foot out of breath, but safe, ere the coracle had time to +fill. + +'There!' she said in smiling triumph, as she stood on the slippery +step, her ripe lips half opened, her bosom heaving. 'Am I not quite +fit for the _rôle_ of an old maid? Can I not look after myself without +a protector?' + +Cassidy, with emotion, was as breathless as she. 'Like the poor Irish +boys,' he blurted out, 'you should be protected against yourself. When +you are my wife you shan't play such pranks!' + +Doreen, who was moving up the steps, turned swiftly and looked down at +him. There was pained wonder in her tawny eyes--scornful anger in the +knitted arches of her brow. + +'Mr. Cassidy!' she said, panting. 'Oh, I'm so sorry! Is this my fault? +I thought it was quite understood that your former nonsense was mere +passing fancy. Never, never speak like that again, or I must tell my +aunt, who will turn you out of doors. Indeed, after this, I'm very, +very sorry, but the sooner you go away the better!' + +Her face was crimson. Gathering up her skirts, and thereby displaying +a silver buckled brogue and ribbed woollen stocking, she tripped +lightly up the flight and was gone, leaving her forlorn admirer to see +to the boats alone. + +Was it for good or ill that she went away so hurriedly? Would it have +been better for her to have beheld the true man without his mask? She +could scarcely be more pained and astonished than she was already. She +was not intentionally a coquette. The manner of her bringing up and +the atmosphere of melancholy by which she was enwrapped, caused her to +think it possible to be on platonic terms with men upon a purely +brotherly basis. Neither Tone nor the Emmetts had dreamed of making +love to her. She did not consider her own beauty and the inflammable +nature of the Hibernian heart--that is, when it is not fully engrossed +already by national grievances. Perhaps she would look on Cassidy as +he really was ere long--most probably indeed--for as he bent down to +tie the boats, the water reflected a villainous expression of +countenance, whilst he swore under his breath to be revenged for +having been tricked and fooled by a born jilt. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY. + + +When she observed a marked coolness 'twixt Doreen and the guest, my +lady frowned more and more. _Amantium, iræ!_ This was worse and worse. +Was this boor to take the damsel from under Shane's nose? It occurred +to her that it was time to shake off her lethargy. Ghost or no ghost, +it would not do for this 'half-mounted gentleman' to carry off the +prize after which she had stooped for years to scheme herself, for +reasons of her own. As it seemed slipping from her fingers, it +appeared to grow in value; and the importance of the danger exorcised +the ghost for the time being. Shane's interests should not be made to +suffer through his mother's indifference. The list of charges against +the hapless dowager was full enough without that. So soon as the +_fête_ to the squireens was over, she would return to Strogue. Why did +she ever leave it to come to this accursed spot? She became once more +the imperial countess--roused herself--went hither and thither to see +that the family name was not dishonoured by the preparations for +hospitality--suggested changes for the better--had the garden roofed +in with curtains, and tables spread there in cool shadow. It would be +nice, she affirmed, for the gentlemen to enjoy the unrivalled panorama +of the Donegal mountains whilst sipping the equally unrivalled claret +of their host. + +Doreen, who on reflection was grievously annoyed anent the folly of +her large admirer, was taken by surprise when she beheld this new +phase in her aunt's demeanour. She was a kaleidoscope, but certainly +not mad. No judge on the bench was more sane than she. The corroding +gloom was still there, but lightened; no longer engrossing its victim +as it had done. Power had been given by some mysterious agency to +shake off the weight. Who might solve the riddle? Was the cause of her +agony actually gone? It could not be remorse, then. The gloom which +remained was exhaustion after pain. Doreen gave it up, and resigned +herself to the consideration of tarts and puddings for the benefit of +chawbacons. + +The grand day came, and with it the squireens, who were turned to +stone by the aspect of my lady, as by a gorgon's head. Despite the +chill which hangs over the sea at sunrise, their warm hands became +more and more clammy in Medusa's awful presence. She wore a stiff +brocade cut in an obsolete fashion, with a broad sash and full white +fichu loosely knotted behind. As a gorgon she was a success. Never in +the palmy days of Dublin Castle had she struck terror into the bosoms +of _débutantes_ as she did now into the innermost souls of these raw +youths. They mopped their brows, rubbed their moist hand-palms on +their small clothes of kerseymere, tugged at their tight vests, felt +nervously whether their pigtails were hanging straight over the tall +coat-collars which sawed their ears, stumbled over their swords, +demeaned themselves after the manner of awkward youth when in a +paroxysm of timidity. She curtseyed like Queen Elizabeth, with high +nose exalted, and they shrank back in a wave affrighted; only to ebb +again in renewed fear, having well-nigh knocked down the lovely Miss +Wolfe who was making a dignified entrance by another door. Those two +haughty women together in one room were quite too much for them. With +relief they sat down to a sort of improvised breakfast, for the shadow +of tables would conceal their shoes, the country make of which had +already been remarked by the younger lady's eagle eye. Conscience +makes fools of us. Doreen cared not about their shoes, nor saw them. +She merely thought the young men a set of oafs, and was displeased, in +that they should have arrived too early. By prearranged programme they +were to be taken to inspect the towers; then to view the English +fleet, by kind permission of Sir Borlase; then they were to return to +dinner, to get as intoxicated as if they were 'gentlemen to the +backbone,' sleep off their orgy, and return in the morning to +Letterkenny barracks. An excellent programme, no doubt, wherewith to +while away an autumn holiday--but a still better one had been prepared +for them by destiny. + +While the party was at breakfast, the stillness became broken by an +odd concussion in the air. A dull series of unequal thuds a long way +off, which reverberated on the waves, that seemed to bear them onward +in muffled throbs. What could cause the strange sensation which acted +on the nerves with such irritating effect? It was not thunder. Nobody +present had ever been in battle, or they would have recognised the +singular sound, which is indescribable, and which, having once been +heard, may never be forgotten. It was part of the programme that they +should be shown a fleet. Fortune was lavish, and decided to show them +two. The English fleet was in the offing; _so was the French_. At +dawn, Sir Borlase (whose squadron amounted to nine vessels) had been +no little taken aback by the appearance of four ships hurrying through +the mist. On descrying the glint of his white sails these ships tacked +and made off, confessing by the movement, though they showed no +colours, that they represented an enemy. He instantly gave orders to +stow away the holiday gear and clear for action--despatching a message +to my Lord Glandore, to announce that he was gone away on business, +but that he might return in time for dinner, and bring some extra +guests with him. + +The French! How silly was the Grande Nation! When energy and +promptitude might have lost Ireland to England, they hung about and +dawdled and did nothing. When the critical time was passed, they +seemed suddenly to have awakened and to be resolved to rush wilfully +by driblets into the open jaws of death. When Humbert landed a few +days before, he had at least the advantage of surprise. Warned by his +bit of lunacy, English squadrons were despatched all round the +seaboard to guard the coast; and yet a handful of adventurers could +still be found to attempt to seize a country that wanted them no more! + +When the admiral's message came, Cassidy glanced sideways at Doreen. +She turned pale, and, to the relief of the squireens, retired indoors. + +The opening of Lough Swilly is one of the most perilous points for +seamen who are ignorant of its peculiarities, even on an iron-bound +coast which everywhere is dangerous. At ebb there are long stretches +of low water, broken here and there into surf by banks of underlying +rock. When the French ships strove to flee before Sir Borlase (there +were only four--the rest of the expedition being, as usual, nowhere), +the French commander recognised the fact that, being caught in a trap, +he must stand at bay with one to ensure the escape of the other +three. He had one big and heavy man-of-war which floundered--badly +piloted--like an unwieldy whale, nearer and nearer to the cliff. The +English admiral was bearing down on him. There was no time to tranship +men--to leave the monster to its fate--empty--an idle prey. With +intrepid courage he signalled his other ships to retreat through +shallow water, resolved alone to honour his country's flag, which was +now unfurled, by a desperate but hopeless defence. + +Sir Borlase despatched a razee and a frigate after the fugitives. They +flitted into distance, and were seen no more. Then, the black monster +having been surrounded by five smaller foes, one of the most obstinate +engagements began that was ever fought upon the ocean. The occupants +of the island could mark all that passed, for the returning tide +drifted the helpless hulk closer and more close inland, and they, as +it were, occupied a front place at the entrance of the lough wherefrom +to view the spectacle. It was most exciting. Even my lady's dulled +eyes sparkled as they had not done for years. Shane--almost +delirious--the cicatrice on his forehead standing forth like a +stain--whooped and hallooed and clapped his hands and danced +fandangoes on the parapet, and would have tumbled headlong over the +garden wall into the sea, if the giant had not held his skirts. Who +should be a better judge of such matters than the King of Cherokees? +The squireens forgot their nervousness, became oblivious of country +shoes, of ill-made pigtails, and red ears and knuckles, whooping and +hallooing like a pack of hounds, in echo to the whooping of their +host. Some (but these were very forward) even clutched Medusa's +dress--pinched Queen Bess's arm--in their eagerness that the +white-haired lady should not lose a point in the struggle. + +For six hours the doomed monster laboured, heaving on the shallow +waves, drifting within a stone's throw of Malin Head. Figures could be +detected through the smoke, scurrying hither and thither in blue +uniforms, with gestures of command or encouragement. Two, more busy +than the rest, were on the poop, rushing forward--aft--conspicuous in +the front of peril for gold-laced sleeves, huge hats and feathers, +loose hair after the French mode. Masts and rigging crashed and +crumbled--the ponderous hull winced and swayed with repeated shocks, +while the surge lapped creamy round its prow. The roar of artillery +now was deafening. + +'If they don't take care,' Shane screamed, as though his warning could +be heard, 'that blundering hull will jam the little vessels against +the rocks!' + +With a desperate energy which compelled the sympathy even of the +squireens, the doomed ship returned fire for fire, though her sails +and cordage clung about her in ribbons; though her shattered ribs +yawned at each new stroke; though her scuppers flowed with blood; +though her decks were piled with corpses. As the smoke swirled away in +eddies, the two in hats and plumes could still be seen exposing +themselves recklessly, ordering up hammocks and spare sails to stuff +into widening gaps. The cannonade of Sir Borlase rang among the +sea-caves, bringing thence whirring troops of bats, which dashed in +their terror in the faces of the combatants, then dropped dazed into +the sucking swell. The frightened fisher-folk looked on furtively at +first from holes and clefts, then fled inland, leaving their precious +nets and boats as a spoil for the spoiler. The death-struggle of the +monster was painful to look upon, as it swung heavily and shivered +whilst blow succeeded blow. It was a gallant monster, for the tattered +tricolour still dangled over the gap where once the rudder was--a +valiant monster! Enemy though he might be who was receiving a final +battering, few could look without pity on his death-throes--for he was +dying game. + +Gurgling foam-whipped water began to pour into the hold of the big +ship, which now lay so close at hand that her name was visible in +florid carving on her poop--_Hoche_. The name of Tone's friend and +Buonaparte's rival, who had died but a few months ago, of consumption, +on the Rhine. She was a dismantled wreck--nothing but a dark battered +hull. Her batteries were dumb; dismounted. The tattered tricolour went +down, as a signal that she struck. The banging of Sir Borlase ceased. +The sudden stillness, after so long-drawn a hubbub, was painful to the +ear. The squireens clasped each other's hands and embraced in their +excitement, whilst Shane drew forth his jewelled timepiece. + +'By the Hokey! but it's a glorious sight!' he gasped, flapping his +face with a dainty handkerchief; for a spectacle such as this touched +the finest chord in his nature. 'Six hours, as I live; and it seems +scarce six minutes. The sun is high in the heavens, though you can't +see him for the smoke, save as a saffron disk. They are fine fellows, +mounseers though they be; we'll give them a hearty cheer when Sir +Borlase brings them to dinner. On my honour, I half wish they had +conquered!' + +Doreen, at the commencement of the action, had withdrawn alone to the +watch-tower where the fire-bucket stood, and remained there clutching +it with a heavy dread. What a relief it had been to her mind to think +that the French had given up all thoughts of invasion! Something told +her that that big rolling hulk, caught in shallow water as an unwieldy +fish may be, was the flagship. Who might there be on board? When the +roaring ended and silence supervened, she was still at her post of +vantage, concealed from the sight of the excited mob below by the +rolling masses of vapour, which hung like winding-sheets upon the sea. +She stood there as in a trance--motionless in the body, though her +mind worked with exceeding swiftness--till, after a lapse of time, the +sound of measured oars made itself audible, approaching gradually, +with regular plodding rhythm; and then a row of boats, headed by the +admiral's, loomed at the stone staircase-foot. She woke with a shudder +to a Babel of shouts and laughter, and slowly descended from her +eyrie, trembling with mortal apprehension. + +'Mounseers, every man Jack!' Sir Borlase was saying, cheerily. + +'Thank God!' was the fervent echo in Doreen's bosom. + +'The French-Irish boys are conspicuous for their absence when it comes +to blows for Ireland,' went on the admiral. 'Quite right, too; for we +couldn't treat 'em as prisoners of war, you know. There's not a man +among my prisoners, thank the Lord, who's not a Parleyvoo.' + +Doreen appeared in the small battlemented garden, but stood aside, out +of respect to the vanquished braves. They passed her by in their blue +full-skirted coats and voluminous neckcloths and queer cocked hats and +plumes; some bleeding, some reeling like drunken men, some with heads +bowed and livid faces, some with a poor assumption of jauntiness--all +smirched and powder-blackened. + +They passed between two scarlet hedges, along the avenue which the +squireens opened for them, into the low entrance-hall, and there +waited in knots. There could not be the smallest chance of escape; +therefore no guard was set. Generous Sir Borlase was sorry for the men +who had fought so well. This little courtesy was due to such brave +soldiers. They might wander where they listed on the islet, while the +British admiral was arranging what was to be done with them. + +Lord Glandore busied him exceedingly; held important conferences with +Sir Borlase and the commandant of the squireens. If the poor fellows +were to be captured at all, it was a stroke of luck for him that they +should have been taken within his jurisdiction. They should be packed +off, by-and-by, in his own yacht to Rathmullen; he would go himself +with the escort. The commandant at Letterkenny would send them on to +Dublin; he, too, would ride thither. It would be wonderful if he did +not receive an English marquisate as reward for his brilliant +services. Meanwhile it behoved him to play _Grand Seigneur_. If there +was one thing which could create a passing spirit of real generosity +in his shallow nature, it was the sight of personal prowess. He always +loved a good duel, a good cock-fight, a successful bear-baiting. Had +he not been in the habit of fighting endless duels himself for a mere +bubble reputation? His own rapier was rusty now from want of use; but, +please the pigs, he would start afresh next week in the metropolis, +and resume his crown and sceptre as King of Cherokees. This contest on +the sea had been a delightful affair; the vanquished should quaff +their fill of his very best claret--aye, the very primest. As he +descended to the cellar he beheld Doreen doing woman's work. She was a +kind creature, though stuck-up. She had summoned the maids with linen +and water. They were moving quietly among the groups, whilst she, with +high-bred courtesy, was whispering gentle words of consolation. + +There, in a remote corner, sat the two who had behaved so gallantly. +Their fine scarlet capes and cuffs, and gold-bedizened hats, +proclaimed them to be of the highest military rank. One was nursing +his knee and whistling softly, as his mind wandered far away; the +other was bent forward; his hands were clasped over his face; hot +tears were trickling between his fingers. + +'Be of good cheer,' the lively first one murmured; 'we shall see _la +belle France_ again, no fear. We shall be ransomed by-and-by. You will +again behold your wife and little ones.' + +Doreen swept with stately grace to where they sat. + +'Are either of the gentlemen hurt?' she inquired in French. + +He who was bowed down looked up. She dropped the pitcher which she +held, and staggered against the wall. + +'Theobald--_here!_' she whispered. + +Alas! Yes. It was Theobald Wolfe Tone--thinner, paler, with all the +youth gone out of him. + +'It was not thus that I had expected to return,' he said in French, +with a sorry smile. 'Yet what matters it? _Le temps et le malheur ont +flêtri mon âme!_' + +Doreen speedily recovered her self-possession. + +'How culpably rash!' she muttered. 'There is no one that knows you in +this place who would betray you; you will pass for a Frenchman. I will +warn Shane, that he may not show surprise. That you should have come +at last! Too late--too late!' + +My lady, who was always the first to think of etiquette, suggested +that the officers of high rank should occupy the reception-rooms. It +was showing scant civility to leave them in the hall, like lacqueys. +By-and-by, when the repast was served, they should be shown by their +hostess, in person, to the places of honour. + +Miss Wolfe gladly echoed her aunt's suggestion, for she was burning to +talk to Theobald, yet dared not in this public place, under the eyes +of awestricken oafs. + +'Mademoiselle's goodness almost makes us thank defeat,' observed +Tone's companion, with a Parisian bow. 'If all the ladies in Ireland +are like her, it will be a sad moment for us when we come to be +exchanged. As for our melancholy friend here, he need surely not be +recognised. His appearance is worthy of the uniform he wears, his +accent will pass muster; he has quite acquired the _je ne sais quoi_ +of the Boulevard. We begged of him not to risk himself, but he would; +and here he is--_que voulez-vous?_' + +Yes, here he was; there was no doubt of that dreadful fact. In wrath +(which the Parisian thought became her style of loveliness) she rated +him in whispers for his folly, charging him with flying in the face of +Providence, with being selfish and unkind. + +Theobald listened, while his eyes wandered over the blue line of +mountains, glittering now through rifts of driving smoke in the +prismatic haze of a hot afternoon. + +'I could not help it,' he said, with slow despondency. 'I knew we +could not succeed. The English Government was informed of our +starting. It was an attempt to resuscitate a flame quenched beyond +power of rekindling. Yet I felt it my duty, if the Directory sent but +a corporal's guard, to go and die with them. The hand of the +executioner shall never be laid on me. If my time has come, it has +come.' + +This dejection was terrible to witness. Veering round, after the way +of woman, Doreen took his hand in hers, and, stroking it, nestled by +his side. + +The Parisian felt himself _de trop_, and, humming a gay air, turned +his attention to the landscape. It was a relief to his sense of _les +convenances_ when a fourth person entered the drawing-room. + +It was Cassidy, whose face underwent a series of rapid changes as he +recognised his brother-in-law. He had ceased to be the jovial, jolly, +willing Cassidy. There had been a spiteful peevishness about him for +days past, which surprised Miss Wolfe no little. The milk of his +good-humour had turned sour. She thought it singular that her refusal +to become his wife could alter a man's nature so. + +'You!' was all that the giant could find breath to say, as with fists +thrust deep into his breeches-pockets and thick legs straddled wide, +he stared at the apparition. + +Theobald held out his hand, but he whose sister he had married did not +take it. His mind was seething with new ideas. What an unexpected way +had now presented itself of, at one stroke, making his fortune and +revenging himself on this haughty minx! + +'You!' he repeated again, after a pause, as though he could scarce +trust his eyesight. + +'Hush!' Doreen said; 'we must keep the secret.' + +Cassidy stared sourly at her, and laughed a short sharp laugh. She +looked up at him in growing apprehension, for he appeared to her +without his mask, and she could not comprehend the change. + +'Ireland lies soaked in blood,' he said, 'through you. You've come to +look upon your work?' + +Theobald started. 'I always designed open and honest warfare,' he +murmured; 'not brigandage and murder! The eighteen thousand victims +murdered by Alva did not stifle the birth of Holland's liberty. From +every drop of my blood and that of those who lay down their lives for +the holy cause there shall arise a patriot to avenge our death.' + +'Ye're right. When ye get to Dublin ye'll be hanged. A short shrift +and a dog's death!' was the blunt rejoinder. + +'No, no!' cried Doreen, her face blanching. + +'I am prepared to pay the penalty of unsuccess,' Tone answered. +'Washington succeeded. Kosciusko failed. I staked my all with a view +to the liberation of this wretched land. I have courted Poverty. I +leave my beloved wife--your poor sister, Cassidy--unprotected, my +children fatherless. That's what unmans me. After so much, it will be +little further effort to sacrifice my life.' + +'It shall not be!' Doreen cried. + +Tone smiled sadly. 'From the days of Llewellyn of Wales, and Wallace +of Scotland, England has never shown generosity to a fallen enemy.' + +'He has come as a French general,' exclaimed Miss Wolfe with creeping +fear; 'who will betray his incognito?' + +'It may become my duty,' returned the giant, dryly. + +The blood left the girl's face and lips. Scales fell from her eyes. +Here was the Judas who had sold to the gallows one by one, with the +cold crafty deliberation of a devil, the men who had trusted him--who +had clasped his hand in friendship. She saw it all now. With the +lucidity which comes over our minds in moments of extreme trouble, she +beheld in lurid links of fire the chain complete. The discovery of the +pikes in the armoury; in the potato ground of the 'Irish Slave'; the +two-fold betrayal of the council of the society; the town-major's +knowledge of its members, and its passwords; the taking of Terence--of +Terence--_who_ was innocent! + +She could do nothing but writhe under the blow, twisting her fingers +together in speechless helplessness. + +There was such an intensity of disgust expressed in the movement, that +the giant cleared his throat with a shade of embarrassment. + +'Miss Doreen,' he said, 'will ye speak to me in private?' + +Her white lips moved and shaped the word--'No.' + +'Ye'd better,' he urged, 'indeed ye had.' A dead silence still. +Revengeful rage disturbed his brain. Foolish woman! she could scarcely +expect him to speak out, and clinch a bargain before the victim's +face. + +'Ye'll repent it,' he growled. 'Would ye have a poor man fling his +chances away? This fellow's life is worth two thousand guineas and a +seat in parliament. I'd give that up and welcome, if ye'd unsay the +words, colleen, that ye spoke the other day!' + +What a strange mixture he was of the lion and hyena. The tenderness +which he strove to throw into his voice, and the leer in his eye, +explained to the patriot the purport of those words. With indignation +he turned on his wife's brother. + +'Wretch!' Theobald cried, 'who has a hand for every man--a heart for +himself alone! Would you dare ask her to sell herself for me? Sooner +than that, I'd walk downstairs and tell my name myself to the English +admiral.' + +Doreen's mind was overset by the discovery she had made. She felt sick +and giddy, for the world was sliding from beneath her feet. She looked +at one, then at the other, without clearly understanding what was +said. + +'You are a common informer!' was all she could bring forth. + +Cassidy lost his temper. It is aggravating when your overtures of +compromise are scornfully repulsed. + +'Have it your own way, then!' he laughed, with a reckless snap of the +finger, which the Parisian deemed ill-bred in the presence of a lady. +'Mind, if you are hanged it will be your own fault. A man must live. +Would ye have me rob the mail? Mine's as honest a trade as any other. +Sure, don't the Lords and Commons think it mighty honourable, and my +Lord Clare too; or why do they make so much of us? It's a rebel that +ye are, Theobald. Rebels are no judges of what's honest and what's +not.' + +With this half-apology for having at last decided which course of two +opposite ones should guide him in the future, the giant left the room +with heavy strides--to return a few minutes later as if nothing +unpleasant had occurred, with a cheery warning that dinner would be +ready soon. + +The Parisian, who had been quite baffled in his attempt to understand +the scene, gave a sigh of satisfaction. These persons, who seemed old +acquaintances, had been indulging in a family quarrel and had made it +up again. His knowledge of the English tongue was limited; but he did +understand 'dinner,' and after the excitement of the morning was +afflicted with inconvenient appetite. + +Punctiliously polite, the countess and her son came upstairs presently +to conduct their unfortunate guests with solemn ceremony to the +banquet which was spread below. Neither showed any sign of recognising +Theobald. Shane, being dull of comprehension, had looked to his +mother, taking his cue from her. By virtue of his uniform the stranger +was a general; by virtue of this morning's fight he was unfortunate. +Vanquished braves of high military rank cannot be treated with too +much courtesy. + +With the quieting of the excitement their fear of Medusa lowered again +on the squireens. One or two of them indeed were tremblingly conscious +of having seized the Gorgon's arm and shaken it. These humbly chose +the lowest place at the long table which occupied the garden's length, +whilst all stood up and hid their hands and shoes as host and hostess +passed. + +Sir Borlase was in immense spirits. He declared himself grieved to +break up so pleasant a gathering, but in the gloaming his prisoners +must go. His Majesty should certainly hear of my lord's exemplary +conduct. He pledged the two French generals who (Commodore Bompart +being slain in action) had managed the ship so intrepidly. He tried to +explain himself in broken French jargon to them. Both shrugged their +shoulders and smiled to the nodding of their heavy plumes, giving +thereby to understand that he had the advantage in languages, but that +they considered his speech to be complimentary. 'Lar Bel Fraunce!' he +kept repeating, winking his grey eye and poking their ribs with a +finger, and tossing off bumper after bumper, laughing the while +consumedly, as though all must perceive that the sentiment was witty, +and he a model jester (an English joker, not an Irish one). + +Doreen sat next to Theobald. The waning sun, creeping in blotches +through the improvised awning, touched her neck with gold, showing +that warm blood circulated under the rich skin. But for this homage of +the sun the squireens might have taken her for a victim of Medusa, so +frozen was her manner. She was like one magnetised, who, her power of +volition being gone, is obeying the dictates of a foreign power. Meats +were brought to her; she tasted them. Claret was poured into her +goblet. As through a film she saw the weatherbeaten visage of Sir +Borlase moping at her. With mechanical movement she mowed at him in +return. + +'Your pretty daughter's going to faint,' whispered the admiral to the +dowager. 'Such sights as I provided for you this morning are all very +well for males; but females--except Spaniards and low-class +Frenchwomen--don't care about such things. She supervised the dressing +of the wounds--Heaven bless her! 'Twas a strain on a delicate nature. +She looks ill and overwrought.' + +The countess remarked curtly that Sir Borlase was very good, without +condescending to explain that the girl was not her daughter. She knew +well the cause of the poor maiden's anguish, and felt both for him and +her. The constant contemplation of late of her own private spectre had +softened her. Terence on a gallows, who, but for circumstances over +which his mother _had_ control, might have ended so differently, was +burned on her brain as a scathing reproach for ever. Theobald, whom +she was used to contemplate as a crackbrained enthusiast, assumed a +new interest in her eyes. There was about him a deep-seated +hopelessness which is a gruesome sight in a man of thirty-six, and the +contemplation of it struck a chord of sympathy in her. The case of +Terence she shrank from considering at all. But this young man whose +existence was no reproach: she might feel pity for him without +stabbing her own soul with red-hot daggers by the impulse. + +Things were going as smoothly as could be expected. Shane's little +party had developed into a banquet which would become historical. Her +firstborn would receive honours from the King which should +counterbalance the disgrace wherewith the second seemed destined to +endow his family. The French prisoners of war would be exchanged in +time, returning to the bosoms of their distracted loves unhurt. There +was nothing really, my lady decided in her mind, to make her niece +break down, who was wont to be so unduly self-reliant. She looked like +a corpse. My lady, who formerly was discomfited in hand-to-hand +encounters, began to wonder whether she might conquer after all, and +bring about the match for which she yearned. + +At the other end of the long table Cassidy kept the company in a roar. +Now that he shilly-shallied no longer, his native spirits had come +back to him. His jests were racy, of the soil, and coarse--just such +as could be appreciated by squireens who were far enough removed from +the grandees to give free rein to their hilarity. They voted him the +funniest dog; threw themselves forward in a 'Haw-haw!' and flung +themselves back with a 'Hee-hee!' slapped their kerseymere shorts; +wagged their heads, and giggled, without any tremor now as to the sit +of pigtails over high collars. Would the radiant boy come and stop at +Letterkenny? He should have the run of the barracks; should be free to +go peasant-baiting whensoever he listed. Horses should become his +without regard to whom they belonged. His life should be one round of +jollity and junketing, if he only would come and sit down at +Letterkenny. + +'Ah, now, lads, be asy!' he cried, betwixt two sallies. 'Do yez think +the likes o' me can stop up here? It's Dublin that's crying for me +this blessed minute, and won't be comforted. To Dublin I return +to-morrow. Good luck to yez for kind wishes, though. By my sowl, and +if there isn't a friend up yonder on whom I've not clapped eyes this +long time!' + +The repast was over. The countess was sweeping the crumbs out of her +lap preparatory to leaving the gentlemen to the superior attractions +of the bottle, when she perceived Cassidy, glass in hand, making his +way along to the upper end where she sat enthroned. Doreen perceived +him too, and losing all self-control, dropped her head upon the table +with a moan. + +'Mr. Wolfe Tone, I think?' Cassidy shouted out in his big voice. +'Bedad, ye're welcome home! It's long since we met.' + +The shade of Banquo broke up with no greater quickness the feast of +King Macbeth than did this guileless little speech the party of Lord +Glandore. The squireens rose to their feet with one accord; craned out +their necks, with jaws dropped and eyes goggling. + +Hesitating but for a second, Theobald threw down his cards. + +'My name is Theobald Wolfe Tone!' he admitted calmly, and stood +waiting for what would follow. + +'What a pity!' sighed the English admiral; then, holding forth his +hand, 'Ignorance is bliss sometimes,' he said, scowling at the +importunate giant. 'Ye're a brave young man. I won't say what I think +of _him_. I can't help it--can I?' + +But Cassidy, having assumed his role, was not to be so easily scowled +down. 'I've done my duty to his Majesty,' he said, very loud; 'and I +call on you, Sir Borlase Warren, to report the fact that I denounced +that traitor!' + +The squireens twittered like scarlet birds. A vanquished foreign brave +was one thing, a proscribed rebel--the very head and front of the +Directory's offending--quite another. Their temporary gentleness was +past; their native savagery bloomed forth again. + +'Bind him!' one bawled, 'lest he thry to drown himself, and rob good +Mr. Cassidy of the reward.' + +'When we get him to Letterkenny,' howled another, 'we'll put irons on +him before he starts south. Ah! the spalpeen! the rogue! the beast! +the pig!' + +A chorus of expletives poured forth. Even the presence of Medusa was +forgotten. + +One fetched a rope and bound it roughly round his limbs. With a burst +of indignation he turned for protection to the English admiral. 'I +wear the uniform of the Great Republic. Let it not be disgraced!' he +pleaded. + +'I can't help it, poor lad!' returned Sir Borlase, with disgust. 'If +you're Wolfe Tone, ye're a subject of Britain, in arms against the +King, and will surely suffer as a traitor. As for these ruffians, I am +powerless. They, and such as they, have long ago shamed their country +and their cloth.' + +'Then their bonds,' Theobald answered calmly, as he took off his coat, +'shall never degrade the insignia of the free nation I have served.' + +Bound hand and foot, he was conveyed to the cabin of the yacht and +placed under lock and key. Sir Borlase took no pains to disguise his +opinion of the squireens. Bidding farewell to the countess, he retired +abruptly with his suite, while the commandant of Letterkenny busied +himself with the bestowal of the prisoners. My Lord Glandore, feeling +like second fiddle, bethought him that the beacon had not been lighted +whose mission was to speed to Dublin news of a French invasion, just +as, two hundred years before, the lighting of tar-barrels had +signalled the coming of the Armada. He remedied the omission without +delay. + +The fleet of boats passed down Lough Swilly without danger, though +clouds obscured the moon and stars--for the circle of fire was +complete, cutting out the dark skyline of each crag, marking the +position of each tower with a special wave of light. The chain was as +complete (turning the sky to crimson) as the chain of the giant's +treachery. As she looked out on it from her window, Doreen pressed +feverish fingers to her burning head; then packed her clothes together +in hot haste. At cockcrow the family was to start for the capital. She +felt that, once there, she could do something--she knew not what. +Terence and Tone could not both be sacrificed. Was ever human +wickedness so base as that of this false friend? + +Decidedly Mr. Cassidy was master of the situation. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE SHAMBLES. + + +When it became known in Dublin that the apostle of Irish Liberty had +come and was taken, the gloom which saddened the city was yet further +deepened. The citizens went about their business with weary tread and +pinched lips. The Terror which reigned in Paris under Jacobin rule, or +in Rome under Tiberius and Nero, was not more crushing than that which +rocked Erin in its iron arms towards the end of this awful year. +Comparing Jacobins with Orangemen, the palm for cruelty may safely be +assigned to the latter. Both factions might plead the excuse of +extreme peril; but the danger of invasion by the armies of the +Coalition which brought about the diabolical delirium of the Jacobins +was greater than the danger to which the Irish ascendency party was +exposed: and it must be remembered too that the Jacobin party was +almost entirely composed of men taken from the lowest ranks, whereas +many of the most iniquitous Irish terrorists were persons of the +highest social position and fair education. The ferocity of the +Jacobins, again, was in a slight degree redeemed by fanaticism. Their +objects were not entirely selfish. They murdered aristocrats, not only +because they hated them, but because they imagined them to stand in +the way of a millennium which, according to Rousseau, was awaiting the +acceptance of regenerated mankind. + +Essex Bridge was fringed with heads as whilom London Bridge was; +though faithful friends, when they found a chance, stole and buried +them. There was a rage for trials by court-martial; a constant outcry +for more victims. A mania for mimicking the Bench took possession of +the military, officers of inferior rank vying with each other in an +assumption of judicial functions. Whilst my Lords Carleton and +Kilwarden and Messrs. Curran and Toler were plodding through a legal +farce at the Sessions-House, talking through night after night to +'juries of the right sort,' the gentlemen of the yeomanry at the +Exchange were making the shortest possible work of the lives under +their control. Once dragged thither, conviction followed arrest as the +day the night. The sun was not allowed to set upon the accused. +Although prepared to close his eyes to much, the new Viceroy found his +patience and temper sorely tried; and at last, in spite of +expostulation in high quarters, issued general orders condemning the +conduct of the soldiery. He failed to see, he declared, how torture +could be a good opiate, and was even foolish enough to suggest that +banishment for a short term of years would serve all the state +purposes quite as well as hanging. To this the incensed chancellor +retorted by reams of jeremiads addressed to Mr. Pitt, wherein he laid +stress on the new troubles which would inevitably come on all good +Protestants in consequence of such deplorable backsliding from Lord +Camden's able system. In his turn Lord Cornwallis pointed out the +reasons for his conduct. Private enemies were daily in the most +unblushing manner haled before courts-martial and consigned to Moiley. +Some of the lesser gentry even went so far as openly to plunder the +country houses whose owners had fled from them in fear. The behaviour +of underlings was subversive of all discipline. They held back +documents unless paid for honesty; Sirr admitted that what was planned +by his superiors in council was made of none effect in his own office. +The chancellor scored one. Lord Cornwallis found himself compelled to +apologise for his leniency. He received a rap upon the knuckles from a +Gr--t P--rs--n--ge in a letter which may be found in the Cornwallis +correspondence, and sat down to pour out his vexations to an old +brother-in-arms, as his way was when specially provoked. 'My conduct,' +he wrote, 'gets me abused by both sides, being too coercive for the +one, too lenient for the other; but my conscience approves.' + +The more we look into the matter, the more assured do we become that +the true marplot was the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge. The first gentleman in +the land set a fatal example to the Orangemen. By virtue of the royal +purple he was all-wise, despite his ignorance. He was a Protestant. +Ergo, those who presumed to be anything else must be well trounced for +their contumely. If the law was not rigorous enough already, its cords +must be double-knotted, for the flagellation of those who dared to +disagree with M--j--sty. Good King George, who hated Catholics in as +insane a manner as James II. hated Protestants, was determined that so +long as he clutched the sceptre, their bread should be bitter in their +mouths. Lord Cornwallis was as convinced as Mr. Pitt, that the key to +Irish troubles was the Penal Code. But the King flew in a rage at the +bare mention of Catholic Emancipation; so the Viceroy was obliged to +bow his head with a good grace, as Mr. Pitt had done long ago; as even +the leader of the opposition had found himself compelled to do. At +this juncture Marplot went further than usual; for instead of merely +insisting in general terms that the Papists must be evilly entreated, +he personally meddled in the fate of the state-prisoners, with whose +long-continued persecution the Viceroy had shown signs of interfering. + +It had been decided, as we have seen, on the motion of Arthur Wolfe, +that it would be well to negotiate with the state-prisoners. Mr. +Curran had been employed as go-between, and, in accordance with his +advice, the young men incarcerated at Kilmainham undertook to disclose +the principles and ramifications of their society, upon certain +well-defined conditions. Curran pointed out to them that the grand +fiasco which is known as the 'Hurry' had removed for the present all +chance of freeing Ireland, and they saw with pain that blood was being +made to flow in rivers. To stem that torrent by all means available +was clearly their first duty now. At first the negotiations broke +down, but a few executions brought the patriots to their senses. They +accordingly drew up for the benefit of Government an account of the +rise, progress, and proceedings of the United Irishmen, adding an +opinion that a general amnesty to all but ringleaders would do much to +tranquillise the public mind. They agreed that it would be best for +the ruling spirits to submit to banishment, and it was settled that a +number of excepted persons should migrate to America and stop there. +But now Marplot intervened. The King declined to permit traitors to +cross the Atlantic, and the American minister, to please the King, +also declared that such an arrangement could not answer. The Viceroy +urged that the members of the Directory had completed their portion of +the compact, and that it would be disgraceful if Government did not +follow suit. It could not be helped, was the brief response. The +executive must crawl out of the difficulty as it best might. Mr. +Curran was frantic; Lord Clare jubilant. Tom Emmett and the others +only smiled. Had they ever expected anything from England except +wickedness? She was perjured and forsworn. What could an extra crime +or two signify to one who was notoriously a murderess? + +The Privy Council anxiously debated as to the neatest way out of the +dilemma. Of course his Majesty must be humoured. The state-trials must +run their course, but with exceeding tact of management. Mr. Pitt +threatened his puppets with a beating, if they blundered. Juries of +the right sort must be told not to exaggerate their functions, or Lord +Moira (who was woefully independent) might stir up a new pother at St. +Stephen's. + +Lord Cornwallis was sulky, for he appreciated the falseness of his +position; but, having accepted the viceroyalty, he considered it his +duty to retain it until at least the special object for which he had +come could be accomplished. His experience and native shrewdness told +him that a return to the tactics of his predecessor would be fraught +with the gravest dangers to both countries. Fate had picked him out to +play the mediator; he would do his best, even though fettered by the +ignoble desires of the King. If he failed in his task, the fault would +be Marplot's, not his. + +After considerable wrangling, it was decided to deny that the +Directory had carried out their portion of the agreement. Government +was to have been let in to the secrets of the society. The paper which +was drawn up was no better than a panegyric of sedition. A piece of +hair-splitting this, for which the chancellor took to himself much +credit. So the state-trials droned along, while the vagaries of +drumhead justice kept the world awake. Several of those at Kilmainham +were condemned, despite the compact, and suffered; the rest, giving up +all for lost, cared little now what was to be their destiny. + +Lord Clare made a great effort on behalf of Terence, but received no +encouragement, either from the Viceroy or the English premier. Both +said that it would never do to make an exception in favour of one +whose sins were the more scarlet on account of his position in +society. He must take his trial like the rest. There was no help for +it. If his friends could manipulate the jury, that was their own +affair. + +The chancellor looked grave, for, adept though he was in manipulating +juries, he knew of a foe of Terence's who would do what he could to +ruin him; and he was more and more mystified at the behaviour of the +young man's family. Neither my lady nor Lord Glandore seemed to +realise the position of affairs. Would they calmly endure while one of +their noble name was being strung up as a felon? It seemed so. The +young lord was a brilliant specimen of the Irish House of Peers. But +surely he would not carry his slavish complaisance so far as to +sacrifice his only brother to the English dragon? Lord Clare did not +know what to make of it. His own influence was terribly on the wane. +He went to see Terence at the provost, and found Curran there, +who eyed him with undisguised impertinence, and gibed about +gingerbread-nuts. But the chancellor kept his temper this time. He was +no longer the all-powerful despot. A new Herod had arisen, who did not +choose to recognise Joseph. He found himself thwarted by his new +master at every turn. Fortune is a cruel jade! The owner of the golden +coach found himself compelled to lower himself to petty plotting like +ordinary men. He suggested to Curran that it would be well to push on +Councillor Crosbie's trial with all speed. The little lawyer, instead +of meeting him half-way, answered bluntly that the young man's wound +was not healed; that the vultures were strangely impatient to devour +his flesh; that, though the young patrician's life was by no means +merry, he would be no party to shortening it. + +Lord Clare grew impatient, and retorted with hauteur: + +'You can have naught to do with fixing the date of trial. I was merely +asking your opinion.' + +And Curran, with suspicious looks, inquired the reason of his +impatience. That there was a reason was evident. Would the other show +his hand? No. The other held his peace, and, sighing fretfully, +departed. + +Events must shape themselves as Fortune chose to dictate. He could not +humiliate himself before his enemy by stating what he knew of Cassidy, +and explaining the wisdom of settling the young man's case during the +absence from Dublin of that person. So Curran, unaware of pitfalls dug +by jealousy, returned sadly to the cell where Terence lay tossing in +his fever, almost wishing that the wound might prove mortal. + +Always fond of him, by reason of his genial nature, the little +advocate had been drawn very close to Terence by events. Their mutual +friends were perishing around them; Terence himself was grievously +compromised. Now he was to be tried for his life. With what result? +Alas, there could be little doubt. Weak men, who while success was +probable might be trusted to cling together, were anxious now to save +themselves by making a clean breast of all they knew. Curran's +instinct told him that somebody or other would surely stand up to +prove the military position which his unlucky junior had arrogated to +himself; to babble of his interviews on the shore near the Little +House; of his arrangements for the capture of Dublin by surprise; +which, but for his own timely taking, would certainly have been +carried out. + +Of course the advocate who had won such forensic distinction as was +his would do his very best for a client who was so dear to his heart +as this one; but what he could do was little after all, fighting, as +he always was, against packed juries and false-witnesses. His wondrous +eloquence and marvellous versatility had indeed more than once torn a +doomed man from the gallows by exciting passions of such force as to +conquer even the violence of fear and greed by which the juries were +beset; but such miracles were not to be counted on, and it was with +gloomy thoughts that the lawyer looked forward to the contest. What +arguments, for instance, could have prevailed in the case of Orr, +whose life was juggled away between two bumpers? After all, perhaps +the proceedings of courts-martial were less bad than these legal +masquerades. For in the purely military tribunal there was no doubt as +to how the case would go from the beginning. Was it not better that +time and breath should be economised, when cases were so notoriously +prejudged? So it came about that Curran, in profound dejection, looked +down upon the young man whom he loved, and prayed that he might die of +his wound. + +But in this case, as in a good many others, prayers received no +answer. The yeoman, when he fired at Terence to prevent his escape, +broke his arm by the shot. Neglect, and the amenities of Major Sirr, +produced fever and inflammation, which the dampness of the provost did +not tend to improve. + +Mrs. Gillin (who had been enduring purgatory on her own account at the +hands of drunken soldiers' wives at free-quarters) stuck sturdily to +her _protégé_, however. She hung about the antechambers of the great; +worried the judges who in happier days had been her guests; importuned +them for leave of free access to the invalid, till they wished they +had never seen the claret she had lavished on them; and, as obstinate +women generally do, carried her point. She nursed the patient in his +fever with untiring devotion; amazed the gaolers almost into civility; +even assailed the terrible major himself in his stronghold, taunting +him with ugly words and scathing epithets, till he too wished he had +never beheld the dreadful woman. She insisted that an invalid should +have a cell to himself, instead of being crowded up with malodorous +peasants in a low den deprived of air; arrived three times a week with +good things for him in baskets, which Cerberus allowed to pass without +investigation; and dragged him, whom she had sworn to watch over, by +main force to convalescence. Once or twice he had begged that his +servant Phil might be permitted to keep him company, but on this point +the major was obdurate. His calves still bore the cicatrices cut on +them by the farrier's knife, and the major was not one to forgive an +injury. He bore in mind, too, that but for his coat of mail he would +have been left dead upon the road that day. Phil, therefore, was set +apart for private torment; was not even handed over to the tender +mercies of a court-martial. + +Mrs. Gillin, for Terence's sake, commissioned old Jug to discover news +of him, who went about her business in mysterious fashion, declining +to divulge what she discovered, until one day, some months after his +disappearance, she told her protectress, with weird mutterings, that +'the boy was near his end.' + +'How's that?' her mistress asked, frowning. 'Ye look as if ye were +glad that ill should come to him. How's that?' + +''Cause he's a farrier and I'm a collough, as my people have been ever +since Ollam Fodlah's day. He's near his end; the curse of Crummell has +lit on him. Sure, it's well whipped he's been on the triangles these +many times, foreninst the Royal Exchange beyant. The boy's broke, body +and sowl; but the young masther'll see him soon enough. I'm tould the +two'll be thried togither, for a murderous assault first on the +town-meejor, who was doing his duty, when he skelped 'em up, and then +for treason afther. Weren't they always togither, masther and man? +'Twould be quare if they were thried separate.' + +Terence was convalescent when summer gave place to autumn. Unlike his +former cheery hustling self, he sat at his window for whole mornings, +gazing into a world of his own, as he leaned his wan face on his thin +hand, smiling a faint smile when his kind nurse attempted to rouse +him. She came more seldom by degrees, for indeed the poor lady's own +life was thickening with disasters. The drunken soldiers' wives +(specially selected by Major Sirr for their virago qualities) made a +hell of her cosy little home, afflicting her daughter Norah beyond +measure. There was no telling whether they might not, in a riotous +freak, set the place ablaze if its mistress did not stop at home to +watch them. Verily, even my lady's grudge might have been partially +effaced, could she have beheld the tribulations which fell upon her +ancient rival. Terence, then, lingered on, living a hermit life, whose +solitude was broken sometimes by garbled tales of dread, such as his +keepers chose to report to him. The world looked black, without a +streak of light. He marvelled, in the vague dizzy way of an invalid +recovering from illness, whether it would not be best to make an end +of it at once. He felt the indifference as to death which +distinguishes the faith of Buddha; longed to join the ranks of those +who, more blest than he, were marched past his door never to return; +envied even the victims of the Foxhunters on the Gibbet-Rath; looked +forward to his own trial as a release. + +With a bare bodkin who shall fardels carry? His was bare indeed. Worn +through, and through--the stuffing gone. The sharp corners of the +fardels were ploughing into his back. He longed to lay them down and +be at rest. Sometimes he dreamed of Doreen, but not as of one who +might be his in this life. He appreciated now what at one time he had +contemned as girlish hysteria. Who might presume to talk of love amid +the horrors of carnage, where victims had been done to death by +hundreds with scarce an effort at defence? If he might live (his youth +would assert its rights now and again for a brief instant), then +perhaps--perhaps----What? No. He was doomed to die, and knew it--and +was glad; for life deprived of all illusions and all flower-blossoms +is a hideous thing. His turn would come, and shortly. It was merely a +matter of days--of a little patience. The 'scrag-boy,' who wore a +demon's dress, with a hump and a horned mask that none might guess who +did the hangman's work, was a familiar object in the prison-yard +below. He had placed the halter over many a gallant head, though +not as yet around a noble's neck. Well! that honour would soon be +his--very soon--the sooner the better. With what a bitter laugh did +Terence contemplate the honour which awaited the overworked +functionary! Now and again he wished it might be given to him to look +into Doreen's eyes once more. Their solemn depths would give him +courage to face the great _peut-être_. Courage! With self-upbraiding +he spurned the thought, walking round his cell as swiftly as heavy +irons would permit. Courage, forsooth! He lacked not courage. 'Twere +better that the two should meet no more on this accursed soil. In +another world they would wander together in perpetual sunshine, by +purling brooks, under softly waving trees--but would they? Was there +another world? The spirit of the young man was so bruised that he +hoped there might not be; and, his illusion being gone, he yearned for +_rest_ only--unceasing--eternal--the long unbroken sleep without a +waking. He shrank from the occasional visits of Lord Clare, who had +brought his country to this pass--even deprecated those of his friend +Curran with a new-born peevishness; for in the face of his old ally he +could trace tell-tale lines of weary watching and despondency, which +spoke with eloquent meaning of the darkness outside the prison walls; +whispering of the universal sorrow he would so gladly have forgotten. +Curran became nervous about him, fearing lest his mind should give +way. Solitude, and such thoughts to brood over as his were, are good +for no man. It was with a sense of relief therefore that the little +man heard one day that a companion was to be quartered on the +councillor. Who that comrade was to be he wist not; any companionship +would be better for him than none. When that comrade came, Terence was +feeding on his griefs, as usual. The door opened with the clatter and +craunch of keys and bolts which no longer vexed him; a slight figure +in a full-skirted coat was pushed in without ceremony, who groped his +way and stumbled in the half-obscurity as the door clanged-to again. +Terence looked up with the slow glance of one whose faculties are +corroded--rough with rust. His eyes met other eyes from which the +light of hope had fled. It was Theobald who was to be Terence's new +companion. + +This unexpected meeting, under auspices so different from those which +smiled upon their parting two short years before at Brest, unmanned +them both. With sobs they were locked in one another's arms. Then, +sitting side by side and hand in hand each told his tale in whispers. +Which of the two stories was the saddest? Both their young lives were +equally undone, and for nothing. True sympathy is like the brush of an +angel's wing. They communed far on into the night, and the hearts of +both were lightened. + +From the moment of his capture, Tone felt a conviction that his race +was run. On his road to Dublin indignities were heaped on him--he was +heavily ironed, as though so frail an unarmed creature could beat down +bristling bayonets. He knew that as an _émigré rentré_ he must suffer, +and accepted his fate with calmness. + +It was a singular cavalcade which journeyed south from Donegal. There +was a posse of rollicking yeomen to guard the prisoners, headed by +Lord Glandore (in the blue and orange uniform of the Hillsborough +club), at whose right hand rode Cassidy. My lord was not certain +whether to be offended with the squireen or not. With regard to +Theobald, he had, as usual, followed his mother's cue, who, when she +set eyes on him, determined instantly that he should not be betrayed +through her. Shane's good impulse bade him follow suit. He had known +the fellow when a youth. To jump upon the fallen is at best a dirty +trick. But there was no doubt that such voluntary blindness was more +romantic than expedient. By the help of the English admiral, Shane +fully intended to make capital out of this sea-fight, and win for +himself an English peerage, and possibly some convenient sinecures. As +it was, he was already rich and great. But the richer we are, the +poorer we often believe ourselves to be. Shane fancied himself quite a +pauper--a worthy subject for eleemosynary grants. Now, supposing that +Tone had left Glas-aitch-é with the other prisoners unrecognised, +there were ten chances to one against his so escaping in Dublin. A +start of surprise, an involuntary exclamation, would have aroused +suspicion and settled his fate; and then what would have been said of +the candidate for charity who, knowing the traitor well, had failed to +denounce him? There was little doubt that Government would have +laughed at my lord's craving for an English peerage--that he would +have sighed for a pension in vain. On the whole he was not sorry that +Cassidy should have shown himself a man of the world by exhibiting +such laudable presence of mind. Tone had been denounced under his roof +(he would make the most of this), but not by him, therefore was his +conscience clear. Nothing could be better. On the whole he concluded +to be charmed with Cassidy, chattering with him as he rode, and +laughing at the giant's stories with a condescension that filled the +latter's soul with joy. The giant took occasion to instil fears into +the selfish mind of my lord with reference to Terence. How would his +Majesty look on the brother of a rebel? Of course it follows not that +one brother should wield the smallest influence over another. But +would the King admit this; or would he frown on the elder, despite his +grovelling, because of the sins of the audacious junior? The sins of +the fathers are to be visited on the children--at least the Jews have +said so; but nothing has been said about the enormities of one brother +being visited on another. Such a rule would be very inconvenient. Now +Shane had never shown any genuine affection for Terence. Under no +circumstances whatever was he prepared to make a personal sacrifice +for him. Why should he? Cassidy's hints therefore fell upon fertile +ground. His selfishness took alarm. Indifference turned to +indignation. He had languidly regretted that Terence should be making +such a fool of himself. He must bear the brunt of his own faults, and +so on. Now he was consumed with rage in that his younger brother +should show so little proper feeling as, for some silly crotchet, to +jeopardise his senior's interests. It was vastly good of Cassidy to +mention the subject, but he had better say nothing about it to my +lady, who was hipped and out of sorts--not to say cross. My lord would +make a point of assuring His new Excellency, so soon as he should +arrive in the metropolis, of his undying devotion to existing +Government and his abhorrence of his misguided brother's crimes. + +My lady and Doreen in the family coach brought up the rear of the +procession. Neither was inclined for talk--the minds of both being +busy with netting plans--so each looked out of her own window +listlessly. + +For several weeks Terence and Theobald occupied the same cell--visited +almost daily by Councillor Curran. The latter explained that Miss +Wolfe, lately arrived in town, was burning to obtain access to them, +but that her father peremptorily forbade her doing so. She sent them +tender messages of hope, which both knew were futile, but which they +answered verbally with thanks, pens and ink being withheld from them. +Signs were not wanting that they were marked out as chief offenders, +for precautions were taken in their case which were neglected in that +of others. + +Curran's reports of the state-trials were not encouraging. The jury +were being skilfully manipulated into a likeness of independence. +Three of the chiefs suffered in turn; two escaped. Terence was the +sixth. With reference to him, which line would the jurors be +instructed to take? The executive were dumb upon the subject. They +also dallied with the life of Tone, till Doreen and his other friends +became almost sanguine. As a French general he might perhaps be +claimed by France, in which case England would certainly submit. Of +course they would claim him. Yet how sluggish they were while a noble +life was shaking in the balance! Theobald himself was the only one who +never doubted. He rose quietly, and squeezed the hand of his companion +without a word or gesture of surprise, when at length, on the 10th of +November, the turnkey opened the door, and bade him 'Come!' for, being +a soldier, he was not to be honoured with a state-trial--and he was +glad of it. + +The court-martial which was to cut his span was held in the +cavalry-barracks, the roads leading to which were thronged by anxious +watchers, amongst whom professional wakers were prominent like ravens. +Tone wore the uniform of a chef de brigade. His calm air and firm +deportment favourably impressed his judges. He was every inch a +soldier. Would he plead guilty or not guilty? + +'I will give the court no useless trouble,' the prisoner replied when +questioned. 'From my earliest youth, I have looked on the connection +between Ireland and Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and have +felt convinced that while it lasted my country could not be happy. +That Ireland was unable alone to throw off the yoke I knew. I +therefore looked for aid wherever it was to be found. I sought +in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my +fellow-countrymen from----' + +The president interrupted the prisoner, bidding him refrain from +improper language. Had he any reason to assign why sentence should not +be passed on him? + +'I have spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am +prepared to face the consequences,' Tone answered. 'You do your duty. +I have done mine. All I would ask is, that the court would adjudge me +a soldier's death. In consideration of the uniform I wear, I claim to +be shot by a platoon of grenadiers.' + +Then sentence of death was passed in usual form--the manner of it to +be afterwards arranged--and Tone was led back to the cell from whence +he came, where Terence was eagerly awaiting his return. + +Dublin sank into stupor when the news leaked out, for all classes +respected the single-minded young martyr of Irish liberty. Curran was +the first to arrive at Strogue with the sad intelligence--his eyes +red, his face worn. Doreen turned her head away, too sorrowful for +tears. My lady sat in a trance as though she heard nothing, for the +temporary energy which had brought her to town had waned; the ghost at +her elbow fanned her with his pinions, mesmerised her free-will. As +for Sara, she gave way to hysterical weeping. Sara was domesticated +now at Strogue. Her father's position, by reason of his attitude at +the state-trials, was one of peril. It was quite likely that some day +the Priory might be sacked by enraged Orangemen. Sara was no longer +safe there. Curran brought the evil tidings to the family circle, but +with it a crumb of comfort. The sentence was illegal; for, holding no +commission under King George, Theobald should have been tried by civil +law with the other state-prisoners. It was painfully true that, +intoxicated by impunity, no one cared now whether a thing was legal or +not. Hundreds of peasants and traders of the lower class were +sacrificed every day by the military tribunals, which was all very +well for the minnows. But Theobald's case was different, Curran +explained. He was a big fish. People would discuss the ins and outs of +his arraignment. The French must be communicated with, and adjured to +claim their general. Meanwhile time must be gained somehow. Curran +would move for the case to be tried before the Court of King's Bench, +which was sitting at the Sessions-House under the presidency of +Doreen's father. This would give a week or two's respite--for +Terence's trial was next upon the list, and that could be postponed by +legal art. + +The good lawyer trotted back to Dublin. For a whole day he interviewed +influential persons--strove to obtain votes and money; but the torpor +of fear chilled every heart. Not a finger would any of the cits stir +for Tone--who had sacrificed his all for them. Then Councillor Curran, +determined not to be beaten, went to the Sessions-House alone, and +summoned my Lord Kilwarden, by virtue of his office, to claim the body +of his godson. My lord gladly responded to the challenge. He +despatched his sheriff to the provost-marshal, demanding that the +culprit should be resigned to him; but that functionary declined to +give up his prisoner. Curran groaned in spirit. His last chance was +the Viceroy; but his excellency refused to interfere. There was +nothing more to be done--absolutely nothing! The little lawyer wended +his way back to Strogue in the evening, quite exhausted. + +Doreen listened as he unfolded his budget, and, the last remnant of +her artificial apathy melting away, girded up her loins for a +struggle. She was not prepared, she said, to see the game so tamely +given up. Tone first--then Terence! No, not without a supreme effort +to save them. He of the silver tongue had failed? Well, then, she +would even go now herself, and try what a simple woman's pleading +could accomplish. She rose up straightway--it would not do to go quite +alone--and bade Sara put on her habit. The two girls would force +themselves into the presence of Lord Cornwallis, and wring those +precious lives from the executioner. In the first instance they would +importune the chancellor. Perhaps he would go with them and add his +weight. Though it was growing dark, Curran offered no resistance. It +was a last chance; their sacred mission should protect the maidens. +Out of delicacy he had refrained from telling them that Theobald was +cast for execution on the morrow. + +But Doreen remained not long in ignorance. First she directed her +course to the provost, at whose forbidding portals she found a stout +woman quarrelling with a sentry. On perceiving the riders the woman +rushed into the road, and clung to Doreen's skirts. + +'They'll kill him in the morning, acushla!' she cried, weeping, 'and +then they'll kill the other! It's your cousin that they'll be +murdering, and his wicked old mother sits like a carved stock. I know +your purty face, though we've never spoke a word. Sure, ye're the +judge's child. Go, now, and spake with him. Stay! I'll go too, for +it's the gift of the gab that comes from heaven. They'll be clever if +they beat the two of us!' + +It was Madam Gillin, who had been refused admittance to the cell of +her _protégé_ because his comrade lay under sentence of death, and had +not yet been removed to solitude. + +Thus was it, in the chaos produced by misrule, that these dissimilar +members of an oppressed religion became acquainted at last. They had +met so frequently over sick-beds or at Castle festivities that they +seemed to be quite old friends, till the sound of an unfamiliar voice +told them that it was not so. Is it not ofttimes thus? Do we not know +a person so well by sight that every turn of expression seems to bind +us to him till we hear his voice, which strikes us as strange, and, +finding no echoing chord within our hearts, warns us that we are +strangers? + +The attention of the three ladies was arrested by a hubbub within the +provost. There was a sound of chains, then the chaunt arose in chorus +which was become, through the irony of fate, so piteous a mockery: + + + 'What rights the brave? The sword! + What frees the slave? The sword!' + + +Alas, alas! There was no sword now but that of an avenging tyrant; +when might it be sheathed? Sara screened her face with her hand and +cowered over her saddle-bow, for a dearly loved voice had been wont to +sing that song. With deep thankfulness she remembered that the +Destroying Angel who had been so busy was kind at least to her. It +might have been Robert clanking his chains within that door. Thank +Heaven, he was far away across the sea in London--safe! Sara, +guiltily glad in the midst of so much sorrow, reined in her +horse, which shied upon the sudden opening of the door. Another +voice--whose well-known richness sent a thrill through the bosoms of +Doreen and Gillin--trolled forth in answer the Orange Hymn of +'Croppies, lie down.' The singer stood with burly legs, like pillars, +across the threshold, a huge dark shadow against the light behind--a +shadow of evil to both Gillin and Doreen--Cassidy. + +'Lie down, dogs! or ye'll have a taste of the triangles!' he bellowed +over his shoulder in his racy brogue, ere he perceived that he was +watched. + +Miss Wolfe's brow contracted, for this was the Cassidy without the +mask, whose aspect at Glas-aitch-é had affected her like a snake; who +had sold Theobald deliberately; whose real self was so different from +the other one that would fain have been her lover. Presently he was +aware of horses' hoofs, and recognised in the stream of radiance which +poured across the road the brown velvet habit which he had been wont +idiotically to sigh after. The sight of it did not improve his temper. +He troubled not to assume the mask again, for the die was cast for +better or for worse--by her. He was now an openly protected ruffian, a +patronised Orange braggadocio. Rollicking, disrespectful, he jerked a +thumb to his hat and grinned at Miss Wolfe. + +'Leedies on a party of pleasure?' he jeered. 'Faix, Miss Doreen, ye're +fond of singing-birds. I'd bring ye insoide, but 'tisn't clean enough. +'Deed it's not, now. I'll have it swept to-morrow. Is it Councillor +Crosbie ye're afther trying to peep at? I wouldn't, if I were you, for +he's not the purty boy at whom ye used to lower your eyelids.' + +Doreen replied with studied calmness: 'You do well to drop disguise, +Mr. Cassidy, since I know you as you are. If they are in your care, +God help them!' + +The marble beauty! Her scorn ate into his flesh like vitriol. He had, +with long patience, shown a fictitious better side to her in vain. It +was with fiendish pleasure that he exposed the real one. + +But the contempt which knitted the maiden's brow and distended her +finely-cut nostrils proved too much for the giant's pot-valour. He +tried to wink with the slyness which used to keep supper-tables in a +roar, but shrank under her steady glance, and retiring with a growl, +discomfited, slammed the door. Then, the spell removed, cursing +himself and her, he went through a pantomime of anathema, battering +the panels from within with heavy fists till the turnkeys ran out, +supposing him to have been attacked. + +'She treats me like dirt!' he gnashed out between foul oaths. 'Yet, +plaze the Lord, I'll brand myself on her memory till her dying day. +Damn her! A fight, is it? A fight be it--deadly--to the last gasp. +We'll see if her ladyship will be so hoity-toity then!' + +The frown passed not from the maiden's face with the vanishing of +Cassidy. _He_ there, in apparent authority! His presence boded little +good to either of the dear prisoners. + +What a queer character was Cassidy's! Outwardly merry and +good-humoured, he was by nature coldly fierce, calculating, callous. +Reckless of life himself, its value to others made no impression on +him. Playful and unpitying, commanding the smile and heeding not the +sigh, he was a human paradox. The more Doreen considered him the less +could she understand such a person, being herself true and impulsive +and open as the day. + +'We will go to Ely Place at once,' she said hurriedly. 'Lord Clare +must and shall help us.' + +The ladies walked their horses in order that panting Mrs. Gillin might +tell all she knew. Tone's doom was fixed. Of that she was sure. +Neither the chancellor nor anybody else could avert his passing. But +Terence--so careless and so joyous a short while ago--his case was +harrowing. Both were specially interested in him. Madam Gillin had +heard for certain that his trial was to come on within a week, and +that his henchman had been well triangled only a few hours since to +extort evidence against his master. His butchers had even stopped +their practical joke at intervals in order to give him time to pull +his thoughts together. Did he say anything? Nothing that the narrator +was aware of. Her nurse, old Jug, witnessed the scourging, and +scurried home all of a tremble at the horrid spectacle. In her +presence he had writhed and shrieked for mercy--had gnawed his tongue +lest it should escape control--had swooned--and was then tossed upon +some straw--half dead, but faithful so far. + +Sara clung to her saddle-pommel as she listened, lest she too should +swoon; and it dawned upon Doreen that they were out on a fool's +errand. Life is a bitter gift to many; yet, charged as we are with +illusory hopes, what suffering must be ours ere we master its full +bitterness! She came out imagining that mercy was alive, that justice +was only torpid, that she could plead with human creatures to whom +justice and mercy were precious. How mad! For mercy she saw with +terrible clearness the triangle; for justice, the shade of Cassidy. +The Valley of the Shadow was of weary length, and she was groping in +it darkly still. Nothing could come of this expedition; of that she +felt convinced. Tone and Terence would be hanged. Terence, who held +her heart--she knew it now with no tinge of shame, and gloried in it. +She promised herself to be present at his trial, strengthening him by +her sympathy. He might not be hers in this world. She had refused the +boon of his affection when he had offered it; had presumed to preach +to him--worse--had doubted him. Blind, fatuous girl! How justly +punished! He was to die a martyr, blessed in that his life was to be +in mercy shortened. She would tend his lowly bed, plant flowers on it, +then take the veil and spend in prayer and vigil such days as it might +be her lot to linger through. They would not be many. Heaven was very +deaf. Surely this little boon of a speedy flitting might be vouchsafed +to her jaded spirit? The tendency to asceticism which is buried more +or less deep in all of us was asserting itself in this dark hour over +Doreen. She looked forward to the cloister and the monastic habit with +exultation. + +By the time the party turned into Ely Place, Doreen had lost her +courage and her hope. She felt as shy almost as Sara--panted only for +the swift coming of the shot that she might stagger away into the +covert. + +Strange! There was a party at Lord Clare's. All the windows were ruddy +with light, filtering through cosy curtains. Incongruous spectacle! +Sedans were ranged in rows; their bearers could be heard yelling in an +adjacent tavern. The entry-door was wide open lacqueys in sumptuous +liveries hurried in and out; there was a clatter of knives and forks, +the popping of corks and shouts of laughter. + +Miss Wolfe was aghast. This contingency had not occurred to her. It +never struck her that at such a moment men could be found who were +capable of making merry. + +'Let us go home!' timid Sara urged. 'What can we do? It's dreadful!' + +Mrs. Gillin laughed bitterly, and clutched Miss Wolfe's bridle. + +'Do you know what they're at?' she whispered, glancing round lest any +one should hear her. 'It's a merry-making, true enough; but there's +business at the bottom of it. I know more than I'm supposed to know, I +tell you. The members of the Houses are chap-fallen. Their consciences +are working inconveniently. Dinners are being organised by those in +office to raise their drooping "sowls," in case, at the last moment, +they should waver in their allegiance. We know what they're driving +at--sure, it's splendid! The friends of Government dine together and +drink toasts, and hob and nob with lusty choruses, and swill claret as +pigs swill wash, to keep their loyalty at boiling-point. While the +friends of Erin sit in ashes, and the scrag-boy's worn to the bone +with villain's work! It's a quare world, isn't it, Miss Wolfe?' + +The little party was beginning to enlist attention. Women on horseback +did not often linger out so late. The gold braid upon their habits, +the plumes in their hats, proclaimed their superior position. +Obsequious yeomen sprang up as though out of the ill-paved street; +lackeys surrounded them. What could be done for their honours? Sure, +half the aristocracy was pledging my lord chancellor. Glorious, gay +dogs! Was aught amiss? Sure, 'twas a pity to spoil fun! Which of 'em +did the ladies want to see? A private hint might be conveyed to the +lucky ones. + +The soldiers leered at the ladies who dared to be out at such a time +of night--with stringent orders as to curfew, too! It was like the +impudence of their craft to dare seek their gallants at the +chancellor's own door. Reckless, bold baggages! Insolent, good-looking +hussies! Madam Gillin was preparing for a fray. She was a good hand at +bandying retorts, and perceived at once the suspicions of the +bystanders; but she was not destined to show her prowess on this +occasion, for the astonished hall-porter recognised the ladies, and +waddled out to welcome them as quickly as amazement and short breath +would permit. + +'Is it Miss Wolfe, good luck? Sure his lordship your father's here. +Will I call him?' + +'No. I wish to see Lord Clare,' Doreen stammered, her courage oozing +strangely. 'Don't tell him that 'tis I.' + +Sara, who all along had been supported in this singular adventure by +the valiance of her friend, saw that Doreen was breaking down. The +amazon--the cool, calm heroine! If she gave way, then must the case +indeed be desperate. The poor gentle little thing instantly broke +down, too, in most lamentable fashion. Tears rolled down her cheeks; +blonde elf-locks hung over her eyes. She was a piteous object, if a +lovely one, to look upon, and refused all Madam Gillin's rough +attempts at comforting. + +Lord Clare came forth with a napkin in his hand. A silhouette, with +arm upraised, appeared on the window-curtain, and the thick, quavering +voice of Lord Glandore rang out above the din of glasses. 'A toast! A +toast!' he shouted. 'The Hero of the Nile, who has taught the French +their bearings!' Doreen shivered. An English toast from the lips of +Terence's brother. Alas! it signified little now what should befall +the French. Ireland was beyond succour. Summoning together with a +desperate effort the shreds of her wavering purpose, she implored the +chancellor to go at once with her to the Castle. If the matter were +clearly explained, the Viceroy would exert his right of clemency. Tone +might be saved. At least his passing might be postponed, which +practically would come to the same thing. The trial of Terence might +also be put off. In the confusion of troublous days like these, a few +weeks make all the difference. A little time works wonders; each grain +of trickling sand is priceless. + +Lord Clare lifted the two girls from their saddles; bade a groom take +the horses to his stable, and prepare a coach forthwith. + +'Come within,' he said gravely. 'It is not fitting that you should +play the knight-errant thus; you might be insulted. What would your +father think of it?' + +He paced up and down his study in silent meditation until the carriage +was announced, while Madam Gillin's clack was stilled by awe, and the +two girls watched his every movement with breathless eagerness. Then, +striking his hands together as though his web of thought were +complete, he stood opposite to Doreen with a glance less like the +alligator's than his was usually. + +'I've done my best already with Lord Cornwallis,' he said; 'but he +heeds me no more than a crazy table. I begged him to quash this last +trial; to show leniency with regard to your cousin. He retorted that +he was forbidden to be lenient; that he had promised to let the trials +run their course; that I had myself to thank for it, having complained +of him to Mr. Pitt. I cannot stop this trial. Mr. Pitt is as +ungrateful, I find, as other men. He made use of me, then flung me +aside without the least compunction. I see it now--too late. As for +the other----' + +Doreen sank on her knees before the chancellor. + +'As for Tone,' he went on, severely, 'it is right and fit that he +should die. I would not move a finger to save him from the hangman. +The mischief-maker! Come, my carriage shall take you back to Strogue. +An officer shall ride behind to protect it.' Then, seeing how +distressed she looked, he took her hand, and continued, in a kinder +voice, 'I'm not so heartless as you imagine. Girls should not trouble +their pretty heads with politics, which they are unable to understand. +You think it very shocking to be giving feasts at such a time? Yet +both your cousin Shane and your father are here for state reasons. +These festivities have a political meaning. Now, get you home and go +to bed to refresh your roses. My word! Madam Gillin, if I mistake not? +A strange companion for my lady's niece! Good-night. For his sake I +will not tell your father of this escapade.' + +And so the maiden's effort was as vain as the little lawyer's was. She +sat sedate and still as the coach rattled on, murmuring once, in an +undertone, 'That I, who never kneel to any one but God, should have +knelt at that man's feet in vain!' She thought of Theobald. What was +he doing? Was he praying, or sleeping a last sleep? It must need all a +soldier's courage to walk calmly to a scaffold. A cause should be a +good one that has power to produce such martyrs. + + + * * * * * + + +While Curran and Doreen were straining every nerve for him, Tone +stared moodily out into his prison-yard and watched the building of a +new gallows there. 'A soldier's end was all I asked,' he sighed, 'and +they even deny me that small grace.' + +In the evening he took a tender farewell of Terence, and moved into an +adjoining cell, which, as for a distinguished person who was condemned +to death, had been set apart for him. + +'Let us sit together to the last,' Terence objected, with a mournful +smile. 'Why should we be parted who are both hovering on the confines +of eternity? Well, come in and look at me again before you go.' + +Theobald embraced his friend with clinging warmth, and whispering once +more, 'We shall meet again,' withdrew. When the gaolers came to lead +him to the gallows-foot they were too late. His body lay cold upon the +pallet. An ensanguined mark was on his throat. He had escaped the +scrag-boy--cheated 'Jack the Breath-stopper'--and was gone! + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH. + + +Though Shane roared out gay toasts to the health of Nelson, he was by +no means happy in his mind. No dwelling could be more disagreeable +than Strogue. His supposed participation in the capture of the +arch-martyr was speedily punished by the people. His cattle were +houghed. It happened to be a late season; all his corn was cut and +trampled in one night by unseen avengers. He was in constant dread of +Moiley, of being sent to his account from behind a hedge--ignominious +exit for a king of Cherokees. He even felt inclined to do as many +fellow-proprietors did, namely, to barricade himself in his Abbey and +endure a state of siege till better times should come. In order to +curry favour with the executive he underlined his open disavowal of +his brother's acts, spoke flippantly of traitors; an unfeeling course +which did not raise him in the esteem of blunt Lord Cornwallis. That +nobleman expressed his opinion of Pat in no measured terms, vowing, as +testily he poked the fire, that the Irish were unfit to govern +themselves; that, independent of the benefit which would accrue to +England, the sooner a legislative union could be brought about, the +better it would be for Ireland herself. The few months of his +residence in Dublin had melted all his scruples on that head. On +principle, Mr. Pitt's game was an iniquitous one. There could be no +two opinions as to that. But the new Viceroy was not long in +discovering that a union would materially improve the condition of the +people by freeing them from the persecution of bigoted factions, +provided that the King could only be brought to allow that the +Catholics should be permitted to exist. After all, how could a scuffle +about a union affect the lower orders? Under home-rule were they not +always slaves? Did they not profess to hate the yoke of English and +Anglo-Irish equally? It would be a change of masters; a change from +tyranny to mildness; for it was understood by Lord Cornwallis that the +Reign of Terror had been brought about to disgust the country with its +ruling classes; and that that result being attained, a skilfully +contrasted millennium was to be inaugurated instantly. The members of +the senate had been cajoled, with a few exceptions, into disgracing +themselves beyond redemption. Could they be coaxed a stage lower--just +one? Possibly. The Marquis Cornwallis, so far as his private honour +was concerned, drew the line at this. He would supervise the stew, +without direct personal interference in its brewing. It did not behove +a man who had won immortal laurels in the field, to stoop to put salt +on the tails of the Irish Lords and Commons. No! That unworthy work +must be done by the chancellor and such others as were ready to paddle +in the _cloaca_. This is how it was that, despite the paling of his +star, my Lord Clare was giving dinners--symposia intended to act as +birdlime to fluttering legislators--feasts at which hints were dropped +of the future emoluments that awaited the complaisant. Mr. Pitt's ball +was rolling steadily to the goal, while my Lord Clare swept clear its +course. The bloody drama was all but concluded now. One more trial and +the pageant at the Sessions-House would come to a close, and those who +had escaped so far would probably be permitted to disappear in the +medley. Nearly all had been tried who could be safely sentenced; there +were some left whom it would be best not to try. The last serious +state-trial must be got over without more ado--a trial complicated by +private venom and a series of false statements which were twisted into +attempted murder as well as treason; a trial which must be so +conducted as to bear sifting by the opposition, examination by the +scrutiny of Europe--a trial wherein both sides would wrestle with all +their strength and cunning. Which was to enact Jacob, and which the +angel? + +Theobald Wolfe Tone having vanished from the scene, the eyes of Dublin +were still turned fearfully to the selfsame cell at the provost, +wherein the companion of his last hours lingered. The people counted +the moments that were left to him. Coronachs were crooned in secret +before their time in many a cabin, with beatings of the breast. None +doubted but that Charon, resting on his oars, awaited his next fare +with confidence. As Terence himself expressed it--he stood on an +isthmus between two lives. If one was desperately turbid, was it not +better cheerfully to turn his back on it, and plunge with courage into +the other? + +Strogue Abbey from within, was no more pleasant to its owner than from +without. Doreen's serenity, which for years had made Shane +uncomfortable, assumed now a preternatural repulsion. Odours as of +gravecloths seemed to emanate from her garments. The phosphorescence +of the charnel-house was a nimbus to her head. Her brow was circled by +the calm that appertains not to mundane matters; which chills the +creeping souls of those who cling to earth. Instead of being shocked +that Theobald should have evaded the offices of the scrag-boy, she was +content. Her hero was beyond the reach of vulgar slings and arrows. +His fretted rope was snapped; the boundary was passed, the inevitable +plunge taken, and he slept. A few brief days of swiftly speeding hours +and Terence would be conveyed with him in the boat of Charon, who was +waiting, to a less rugged shore. A little, little patience, and he too +would sleep. Then she, less blessed than they, would withdraw from the +troubles that weighed her down, and, meekly kneeling, would await the +unveiling of the White Pilgrim. What a message was his! 'Home to the +homeless; to the restless rest!' Doreen's manner had something awful +about it which scared another besides Shane--poor Sara, whose Robert +was unscathed and well. The cairngorm eyes of the elder damsel were +opened to their full width with the far-seeing blindness of a +somnambulist. Her obstinate moods and perverse waywardness were +quelled. She went about her avocations with mechanical deliberation; +dusted her cousin's fishing-rods and guns in his little sanctum, +as if he were only gone away upon a visit; wore her best clothes to +please her aunt; tendered regularly each morning to cousin Shane a +corpse-cheek whose coldness took away the little appetite which he +could boast of; conversed calmly about events--all but the one event, +which for that matter each member of the household was equally +desirous to shun. Strogue was full of spectres, and they rattled their +bones in grim concert. + +Councillor Curran, who looked like a moulting bird, grey-skinned, +unkempt, essayed to speak words of comfort; but she seemed not to +understand. What comfort could there be for one whose fairest prospect +was the cloister and the grave? Theobald had passed; a procession of +young shades like Banquo's sons had passed; Terence was prepared to +join the shadowy convoy into spirit-land. Why prate of comfort? Had +not Mr. Curran done all that might be done by man to prevent this +hideous nightmare? Then he murmured something of a postponement--of a +delay which might save the life of the last victim; but Doreen only +shook her graceful head. It was better, she averred, to put aside +illusions, and look straight into Truth's hard face. The postponement +of the trial was impossible, and it was better so, for a speedy end +was the best boon for a true Irishman to pray for. Mr. Curran's heart +died within him to hear this girl, in the full flush of youth and +beauty, speaking of this life as though existence had no charms. + +If his stately cousin was a kill-joy in the household, Shane's mother +was no better than she. My lady alternated between fevered activity, +without apparent object, and helpless lassitude. Her own ghost kept +faithful watch and ward over the countess. When Lord Clare told her +gently that all hope of saving her son was gone, she gave herself +over to the phantom hand and foot; and her old friend blamed himself +for rushing, as we all have a proneness to do, to hasty conclusions +of blame. It was evident that my lady was not indifferent to the +fate of her younger-born. On the contrary, she was overwhelmed +by a remorseful, fascinating ecstasy, which haunted her day and +night--something connected with Terence in the past, which took from +his mother the power to reason in clear sequence. She blinked like a +white owl in the great chair in the tapestry saloon, heeding goers or +comers no more than drifting leaves--engrossed all day by withering +meditation till Doreen announced to her that it was time for bed. Then +she permitted herself to be undressed and laid upon her back without a +word, and blinked on at the ceiling through the still hours; and then +was dressed and propped up again in the great chair. Some said she was +broken; some that her circulation was weak; some that paralysis was +imminent. Lord Clare and Curran alone amongst her friends perceived +that it was her mind that was diseased--that there was a rooted sorrow +festering there which no mortal hand might have strength to pluck +away. + +News of the countess's state was brought by Shane to the Little House, +whither he escaped whene'er he could, to forget his dismal home in the +company of Norah. But his welcome there was no longer what it used to +be, even though through his good offices the dreadful infliction of +soldiers' wives had been removed. Madam Gillin felt too strongly the +heartless selfishness of Lord Glandore to be decently civil to him, +even though by civility her child might win a coronet. For a host of +reasons, her sympathies were all with Terence. When Shane talked +querulously about his mother, she listened eagerly, seeing in fancy +the dying man at Daly's, who implored his stern wife to save herself +from the torment he then suffered. But she would not. Nemesis, if slow +of foot, is sure--her vengeance complete, if tardy. + +The fatal day in due course arrived which was big with the fate of +Terence. Curran implored Doreen to stop at home--in vain. Her resolve +was immutable. Since her cousin's trial could not be postponed, she +decided to see the last of him whom she had dared to doubt. Under +escort of the little advocate, she entered the Sessions-House, and +took her seat close to the dock. When the inevitable sentence should +come to be spoken, the brown hand which he loved best in all the world +would grasp his firmly. His courage would not waver. He was too good +and true for that. But he should in that supreme moment read the love +that went out from her, and with it a promise that she would not stay +long behind. + +Her father was to occupy the bench with my Lord Carleton. Toler +(bully, butcher, and buffoon), whose nose was like a scarlet +pincushion well studded, was down for the prosecution; he of the +silver tongue for the defence. The hall was close and inconvenient; +its murky skylight thick with dust, its jaundiced walls sallow and +blotched with damp. A lofty seat was prepared for the judges under a +canopy at one end, surmounted by the royal arms. Below this were three +crazy benches for counsel and attorneys; then came an open space on +the floor of the hall; then a barrier enclosing a small pen, which was +intended for public use, but which was already more than half +monopolised by soldiers of the yeomanry. On the right side of the +counsellors' benches was the dock; on the left, the jury-paddock, and +a low table with a chair on it for the accommodation of witnesses. +These, till they were wanted, leaned against the wall behind, +conversing in loud tones with other members of the Battalion of +Testimony, or fawning with fulsome scrapings about Major Sirr, who, +with the pompous airs of a jack-in-office, acted as master of the +judicial ceremonies. Government tried to make proceedings look less +dirty by making much of the informers; did its best to dignify them in +the eyes of those who were selected to decide the fate of the accused. +These men, as all the world knew, were capable of anything, deeming +that he was a pitiful fellow who, to please his master, would stick at +a little perjury. + +Curran marked uneasily that the battalion was in great force to-day. +Was it out of curiosity, or were they here on business? Long impunity +had developed all the native ferocity and brazenness of these +Staghouse demons. They wore new modish suits of clothes, with +fashionable bows of ribbon at the knee, provided at Government +expense. They looked sleek and well-to-do, for they were sumptuously +fed and boarded, and provided with three guineas a day for +pocket-money. Cockahoop was the jovial crew, for the band was too +compact and strong to fear Moiley now; though time was when one of the +number who was ill dared not take his medicine, lest haply he should +find his quietus in it. Those times were past. The people were cowed +and trampled. These men had, for a fee, sworn away the lives of their +brothers and then fathers. Moiley had over-eaten herself--was languid +through repletion. There was no room in her maw even for a strangled +informer. They were growing rich, budding into proprietors; some +screening their names under an alias from infamy some too callous to +feel any shame at all. Which of the rowdy knot was to do the work +to-day? Since the battalion had become so highly trained, Lord Clare's +ingenious invention with respect to the testimony of a single witness +was a dead letter. That the oath of one person should, at a pinch, +consign a man to the scrag-boy was a wholesome and judicious rule that +was likely to save much trouble. But when you have a whole pack of +hounds at your command, each one taught to yelp at a given signal, it +is pretty sport to watch their tricks. Besides, a pile of testimony, +more or less irrelevant and contradictory, has an improving effect +upon a jury. The Irish are eminently superstitious. These trials +sometimes lasted through the night. Men were apt to get frightened at +shadows on the wall, at the flickering candles with their guttering +winding-sheets. It was well to pile Pelion upon Ossa, to crush out any +stray drop of pity. A heap of evidence confused and dazed them. Many +crawled home after sentence was pronounced, fully persuaded that they +had only done their duty--that so many witnesses, each with his pat +story, must of a surety have spoken truth; that they had earned their +honest stipend without injuring their souls. + +Which of the rowdy knot--and how many--were to do the work to-day? +Cassidy--finely dressed in a grand coat of padusoy, with a posy in his +breast, and a new bobwig--was lolling on the counsellors' bench +cracking jests with Major Sirr, behind whom stood a bevy of admirers. +The presence of those two boded no good to either prisoner. The +town-major, indeed, had openly told Curran that if his defence was too +clever it would be the worse for him; to which the little man had +replied, with a finger-snap, 'In court a liar, in the street a bully, +in the gaol a fiend--you shall reap your reward, meejor! I don't care +_that_ for you or your murderers by the Book!' and so had left him. He +was used to threats, and took no heed of them. They might as well have +hoped to drive the stars from heaven by violence as to frighten John +Curran into abandoning a client. And they were not mere clients +for whom he had been pleading, for whose sake he risked his life +during these trials. They were dear friends whom he loved, whom as +brother-patriots he honoured. Some, despite his impassioned oratory, +were slaughtered; others he saved. Ministers were secretly afraid of +that silver tongue; for his burning words were reported and +circulated, despite the efforts of the executive. All the world +respected Curran; his exhortations wormed themselves into men's minds, +and warmed into fruition there. + +The Sessions-House in Green Street was filled with a strange company +that day, as people forced themselves in till it was crammed. There +was a buzz of expectation, which rose into a hubbub and fell again. +The dock remained empty, though the morning had passed to noon. The +heaviness in the air was sickening, by reason of the densely-packed +assembly and moist garments; for the sun was veiled, the weather +gloomy. A drizzling rain began to fall. Madam Gillin, in gaudy +attire--a sight to kill parrots with envy--elbowed a passage through +the mob, closely followed by old Jug, who, with her mistress, sat near +Doreen. What an odd condition of society was this of Dublin! The +prisoners who would stand at the bar presently were closely connected, +either by ties of blood or friendship, with advocates, judges, and +many more in the surrounding audience. It was quite a family-party. + +Mr. Curran reflected that no judge could be more partial than Lord +Kilwarden; that some among the jury, with whom he was to intercede, +were his own cronies. Yet was he not happy about his case. Lord Clare, +for once, would have juggled in opposition to his usual principles; +but Lord Clare's hands were tied through his own act. Through his own +intervention the Viceroy had promised not to dip his finger in the +Staghouse caldron till the cooking was complete. If the Viceroy +declined to interfere, no one else could take the initiative. It was a +deadlock. A pebble or two, if authorities napped for a moment, might +have been inserted to make a wheel veer awry. How was it that the said +wheel insisted upon keeping its accustomed track, and that extra +celerity was even given to its motion? Some one unseen was pushing. +Who was it? If higher powers were debarred from inserting pebbles, +there was, unhappily, nothing to prevent interested inferiors from +exerting private pressure. Curran felt that Cassidy and Sirr were at +the bottom of this. What a cruel chance for Mr. Curran's client that +neither Viceroy nor Chancellor could interfere! + +How much longer was the delay to last? It was three o'clock. Sirr and +Cassidy had retired and returned refreshed. Curran sent out for +sandwiches, which he divided with the ladies. Old Jug somehow seemed +feverishly excited; nodding and mumbling to herself, moping and +mowing, muttering weird incantations, which were impressed on the air +with a gnarled finger. Mrs. Gillin ate her meat with a relish, in +spite of grief. There are some appetites which no trouble may +vanquish. + +Doreen was in a trance-like state. Her skin was mottled, her eyes a +dusky fire, surrounded by dark discs; a singular, unearthly smile +played about her lips. To please her friend the advocate, she strove +to eat, but her throat was contracted by spasms. She looked +appealingly to him, and Curran took the food away with a sigh. + +Toler came over to discuss matters with his adversary. All this was +woefully illegal; but what did that matter? It was a melancholy +comfort that a tattered remnant of the robe of Justice yet remained. +Maybe in time, with coaxing, the lady would come back to Ireland. Who +might tell what would happen next? + +'Will ye inform me, Toler,' Curran interrupted, 'who your witnesses +are? I'm quite in a muzz, I tell ye.' + +Toler clapped the little man upon the back, and roared with hoarse +laughter. + +'That's the critical brook in the steeple-chase, mee boy!' he +chuckled. 'We rely on a surprise to confound the prisoners. But I'll +tell ye this, ould chap. Sirr, for some reason, is bent upon a +conviction. Nothing you can say will make a difference. So cut it +short, and let us out of this nasty hole. Be good-natured, and keep +your breath to cool your porridge.' + +So his suspicions were correct. Sirr was at the bottom of this, +impelled by revenge for those slashes on his calves; urged too, +probably, by Cassidy, who had made it up with the town-major. What +could they gain by surprising the prisoners? Truly, the mechanism of +the law was lamentably out of gear. + +At last there was a stamping without--a surge of feet--a murmur of +commiseration in the street. The judges, clad in crimson, took their +places. Lord Carleton, ponderous and overbearing; Lord Kilwarden, +nervous and subdued, with wrinkled brow and downcast visage--the one +determined to do his duty, the other to avoid it if he could. Shortly +afterwards a side-door opened. Terence and his henchman, Phil, were +thrust into the dock. Terence peered round with contracted pupils, +unable to distinguish friends from foes in the dim haze. He saw not +Doreen, though she was close below. She clasped her hands upon her +breast to still a rising sob when she marked how changed he was. Fever +had paled his ruddy cheek, shrunken his burly frame. It was not that +which shocked her, for that was to be expected. It was the uncanny +glitter, the reflection through open portals of a radiance belonging +to another world--the look she had last seen in Tone, the glimmer of +the grave--that it was which caused her heart to bound. He stood +erect, one hand resting on the rail, the other supported by a green +scarf about his neck. Even his gaoler had remonstrated as he dressed +that morning: 'Don't wear such things. Why prejudice the coort?' To +which he had answered, smiling: 'The cause is already judged. It +matters not what I wear; Erin will be green again when I rest under +her sod--all the greener for her recent soaking.' + +In striking contrast to his quiet dignity was the behaviour of his +faithful henchman. He walked crooked and stiff, by reason of the +whippings he had undergone. Jug Coyle scrutinised him with meaning +from beneath her penthouse brows, and seemed satisfied. The trim, +obliging, smiling Phil was transmuted into another and quite untidy +person. 'Twas not only pain that caused his steps to waver; there +could be no doubt about it--he was _drunk!_ + +Terence was woundily annoyed; a flush of anger overspread his face as +he placed his arm about his companion to check his stumbling, and gave +him a savage shaking. Phil drunk, at such a time, who used to be so +good and sober! He had not improved under the town-major's auspices. +This was no doubt one of the arch-devil's tricks to turn a solemn and +impressive scene into a subject for laughter and contempt. It was a +pity Phil was not more strong-minded. Had he disguised himself in +liquor to steal a march upon his fears? The poor fellow was ignorant +and underbred; fortitude was hardly to be expected from such as he. +The jury sitting opposite had their orders. Perhaps it was as well for +Phil that he could drown the knowledge of the present. On the morrow +it would all be over--blessed morrow! Both he and his master would +know by dawn the secret which oppresses all of us. + +But Major Sirr appeared as surprised as the rest of the watchful +audience, and was even heard to utter unseemly execrations. Who had +dared to give his pet victim drink? It was no part of his intention +that his troubles should be soothed. On the contrary, he had kept a +surprise in store which was meant to be wormwood to the hapless +creature. + +After a deal of whispering and wig-shaking, counsel for prosecution +plunged forthwith into the matter of the town-major's calves, and the +shocking behaviour of certain ruffians to an upright gintleman, with +the connivance of certain leedies, who should be nameless. + +Toler's inflamed visage glowered at Madam Gillin; but she tossed her +head and tittered. She dreaded not free-quarters, or the visits of +virago soldiers' wives, now that Lord Glandore was back to protect +Norah. Toler might bray any fiddlefaddle that he chose. Sure my Lord +Carleton, up there in the fine robes, had been mighty glad, once on a +time, to spend his evenings at her cosy house. So counsel, discovering +that he made no impression on her (she had always abstained from +inviting him, which made him spiteful), droned on about his client's +wrongs--for he had but done his duty in capturing such notorious +rebels--his excellent qualities and virtues, the services he had done +the state, the wicked wounds upon his calves. Was the law, which all +respected so much, to leave a faithful servant without protection? And +so on and so forth, in a tangle of verbosity, for an hour and more. + +Irritated possibly by his husky voice, Phil's conduct grew more and +more outrageous, drawing on him marks of indignant disapprobation from +my Lord Carleton, a look of pained bewilderment from Lord Kilwarden. +'Was ever anything so indecent?' clamoured the members of the +battalion, in loud whispers. 'Face to face with conviction, too! He +had put himself beyond the pale of mercy. The brute ought to be +scragged untried. He reeked of whisky, the besotted pig!' The odour of +it, they vowed, reached their shocked nostrils across the court. In +truth, he did comport himself after an intoxicated fashion. It was as +much as his master could do to keep him in tolerable order. His legs +were in constant motion. He sang and talked in a low tone, +occasionally breaking into convulsive fits of laughter; grimacing and +nodding his head to the witnesses, as one by one they sat on the table +and swore away his life. + +As the case proceeded--crushingly against the prisoners, who were +proved beyond a doubt to have taken and administered the oath, to have +worn green orders, and otherwise misbehaved themselves--his mood +altered. He was getting over the madness of his drink. That was a +mercy. Soon he would drop into a maudlin sleep, and his master might, +unheedful of the monotonous and confused proceedings, take refuge from +this mockery within himself until the verdict came. How dreary and how +long was all this useless evidence! The case looked as if it would +last for ever. What an array of witnesses--and what lies they told! At +this rate it would be morning before the judges pronounced sentence. +Already it was dark. Candles flared in rough iron sockets. The red +judges loomed like lurid phantoms; the jury were haggard in the +flickering smoke. Mr. Curran leaned back in his seat exhausted, his +neck supported on his clasped hands--resolved to husband his strength +for a great effort by-and-by. + +Drunken, disgraceful Phil became quiet. Old Jug, whose keen vision +naught escaped, suggested to an usher to let him have a chair. He sank +into the seat, his chin buried in his breast. His face was blue (was +it the effect of light?), his pupils dilated, his breathing +stertorous. The air was sickeningly close. Sweat stood in drops upon +his forehead. Could he be fainting? No. He rallied, and commenced +muttering again. + +The hours went by, and yet the farce continued. No jot of the informal +formalities was omitted. Those who had resolved to hang the prisoners +were evidently determined that there should be no lack of +justification for it. Half the battalion had told their story. Curran +listened, and said nothing (what was the use of cross-examining these +men?) till he saw the big figure of Lieutenant Hepenstall advance. +Then, turning to the judges, he grunted: + +'They're not content with witnesses, my lords; they've brought in the +Walking Gallows, to work them off at once! Sure, isn't it convanient +and obleeging?' + +Time moved on steadily. Terence was as upright and motionless as a +statue. He had learned by this time who was sitting near. A small +brown hand had fluttered into his, to tell by occult pressure its own +sweet tale. Doreen was as still as he. + +Drunken Phil tore open his shirt, gasping. How dense the air was! It +was cruel to drag out the proceedings thus. His head was heavy--he +could not hold it up; so, resting his fingers on the dock-rail, he +laid his wet face on them. By degrees he sank into a snoring slumber, +his limbs twitching now and then with a tremulous convulsion. The +visage of old Jug was illumined with a mysterious satisfaction. Not +one of his movements escaped her keen observation; she drank in every +shiver. Presently she plucked her mistress by the robe, and, like a +wild woman, whispered something in her ear. Madam Gillin, who, +overpowered by heat, had been dozing, woke with a cry, and turned her +affrighted gaze from Phil to her nurse and back again. + +'Is it thrue, Jug--is it, by the Holy Mother?' she asked, in an awed +whisper. + +'Thrue 'tis, by mee sowl!' returned the other. 'He is a farrier, isn't +he? And Crummell's curse is on the likes of him, isn't it? He begged +the ould collough for a root, and she gave it; and, by St. Patrick, +'twas well done!' + +In deep agitation Mrs. Gillin motioned Curran to her side. She saw it +all. It was by her own order that Jug had visited the farrier. +Farriers and colloughs are national foes. Phil--faithful fellow!--had +begged the collough to exercise her skill in herbs on him. He could +bear hanging--had thus far endured the lash. But torture may be pushed +beyond our power of bearing. Rather than run a risk of betraying the +master whom he worshipped, he had taken poison, and was dying. + +Curran's genius embraced at once the new element in the situation. It +struck him instantly that by this sacrifice the poor fellow might +perhaps unwittingly have saved his master. When did he take the +poison? How long would it be before its work would be accomplished? If +he were to fall dead--there--in the dock, before the court assembled, +under the eye of the public, it would create such a sensation that the +trial would be perforce adjourned. The harrowing details of the +suicide would then be spread abroad; they would do much to bring the +vile cruelties of the yeomanry home in all their loathsomeness to the +British mind, which was so culpably indifferent as to what happened in +this colony. There would be a revulsion--an energetic protest. In the +confusion Terence might be saved! Poor faithful Phil! He knew not the +extent of the service that he rendered. His life would not be +sacrificed in vain! + +'How much longer will the poison take to work?' Curran whispered in +Jug's ear. 'What was it?' + +'Sure, it was a tiny root of water-drop wort. Like an illigant +parsnip, faith! How much longer? An hour perhaps--maybe two--certainly +not more than three.' + +It was eleven at night. Toler had two more witnesses to call, he said. +If cross-examined they might be made to detain the court for an hour +or so. After that the silver tongue must move to good purpose--must +toy with argument and rhetoric till the doomed man dropped. + +The virtuous ire of the town-major was kindled. + +'The drunken brute is asleep!' he called out. 'What an insult to the +court! Sure, he'll have a long sleep enough when Moiley eats him. Wake +him up!' + +Major Sirr was particularly anxious that he should be aware who the +next witness was. By dint of shaking, the ushers roused the prisoner +from lethargy. With brows painfully knitted he tried to raise his +leaden lids, beheld with dilated pupils a blurred vision on the table; +sank again without recognition into unconsciousness. Jug too +beheld--and gave a low growl. + +The new witness was Croppy Biddy; she of the russet locks, who since +the burning of the 'Irish Slave' had given herself up to drink and to +debauchery--who was become one of the shining Staghouse lights--one of +the pet agents of an honourable executive--the Joan of Arc of the +Battalion of Testimony. She was dressed like a lady, in a costly +beaver with ostrich plume, and a laced riding-dress--the same as she +was wont to wear when galloping at the head of a troop of dragoons in +search of food for Moiley. No longer a slattern serving-wench in a low +shebeen, but a paid and honoured favourite of Government; a lying, +drunken, brazen hyæna. This was an admirable joke of Major Sirr's. +What a pity it was that it should miscarry! What humour could be more +sly and delicate than to clinch a man's fate by the false witness of +her whom he had elected to love? Yet, thanks to some officious idiot +or other, the bit of fun was spoiled. Biddy was there--saucy, pert, +shameless, ready to go any lengths; but her lover was asleep, with his +chin upon his breast. The surprise missed fire. + +As it turned out, though, the joke was just the least bit too racy. +The loud giggling laugh, the palpable untruths flung carelessly about +by Biddy, shocked and disgusted the entire audience. Lord Kilwarden +turned red, and bowed his face over his papers; even Lord Carleton +coughed; and there was an angry murmur from the public who packed the +floor. + +Mr. Curran, no longer listless and dejected--for hope had revived +again--turned the wretched woman round his finger; ensnared her with +soft suggestions; led her floundering along from perjury to perjury, +turned her inside out; then with a sarcastic bow to Toler, +congratulated him upon his witness. By skilful fence half an hour was +gained. Counsel for prosecution glared at Sirr. Was this the way to +train up witnesses? Biddy was hustled off the table, for her training +was lamentably incomplete. There was one more yet to come. It was to +be hoped he would do away with the bad impression she had left. + +This time it was Doreen's turn to utter a stifled cry, while her +fingers clasped more closely those of Terence. Had that wretch no +compunction? Had he no mercy--this villain who had wriggled himself by +specious arts into the confidence of honest men--this snake in +the grass--this bravo who, smilingly looking in your face, could +coldly choose the most fitting moment for stabbing you? It was +Cassidy--actually Cassidy, who before her, before Lord Kilwarden, +before Curran, could get upon the table to swear away the life of him +whom he had called friend. + +Even the little advocate, whose faith in the innate goodness of human +nature was not strong, was staggered. + +'I've heard of assassination by sword and dagger,' he muttered; 'but +here is a ruffian who would dip the Evangelists in blood!' The giant +took the Testament and kissed it. + +'Why make him swear at all?' scoffed Mr. Curran. 'Why let a +murderer's touch pollute the purity of the Gospel? Well! if you will +go through the mockery, let it be, I pray you, on the symbol of his +profession--the knife.' + +Cassidy scowled down on the sturdy scoffer, and looked round at his +comrades with an air of reproachful innocence, which was speedily +answered by a burst of menace and a clash of arms from the yeomanry +behind, accompanied by threatening looks and gestures. Mr. Curran, +drawing himself up to the full of his small stature, fixed his eyes +sternly on them, and exclaimed in a loud voice: + +'You may assassinate me, gentlemen, but you shall never intimidate +me!' + +This was a scandal. Things were going ill. Lord Carleton came to the +rescue. + +'Beware, Mr. Curran,' he said, 'lest you forfeit your gown. A little +more of such unseemly language and I shall commit you.' + +'Then we shall both have the consolation, my lord,' Curran retorted, +with a bow, 'of reflecting that I'm not the worst thing you have +committed.' + +Lord Carleton looked up with wonder at the skylight. What was the +world coming to? He glanced at Lord Kilwarden, who leaned on his +elbow, taking no share in the business, his eyes shaded with his hand. + +Counsel for prosecution played skilfully on his witness--an admirable +witness, who merely answered questions, instead of blurting forth rash +and inconvenient statements. Mr. Curran cross-examined him as +cleverly, but with little effect. He could elicit nothing new or +special. People were accustomed to find themselves handed over to the +scrag-boy by their most intimate friends. Mr. Curran, indeed, was +tedious to lay such stress on the point. The jury shuffled on their +seats. Lord Carleton yawned. New candles were placed in the sockets by +attentive ushers. At this rate it would certainly be morning before +the affair was settled. + +Very monotonous and very dreary! A rat-tat of subdued voices in +question and reply. The paled candles dim and wan through a mist of +collected breath--a stifling, noisome atmosphere of clammy heat which +made the temples of all to throb, the ears to sing. Though the case +was one of palpitating interest, men's strength gave way, women felt +ill and dizzy. Lord Carleton, to keep his wits clear, inhaled the +fumes from a sponge dipped in vinegar. Mrs. Gillin sniffed at the rue +upon the dock-rail. + +Still Terence stood erect and pallid--motionless. Still Phil's +respiration laboured with stertorous snores. His teeth chattered at +intervals, as if from cold; his fingers twitched, his knees trembled. +Was it the effect of light? his eyes seemed protruding from their +sockets. But there were no signs of the end yet. + +It was past midnight when he of the silver tongue arose for the +defence, and people roused themselves to listen, for they were +accustomed to expect from him rapid electrical transitions from +passion to passion, from the deepest emotions which agitate the soul +to the liveliest combinations of sportive imagery; whimsical +metaphors, such as at one moment seemed culled from the dunghill, at +the next to be snatched from heaven. He implored the jury to consider +the reputation of the witnesses who had striven to wreck these men. He +entreated them to consider what objects save the highest and most pure +could have induced a noble to desert his ease and risk his neck for +Erin. + +'Do you dare,' he cried, in crystal accents which rang with startling +clearness along the cobwebbed rafters, 'in a case of life and death, +of honour and of infamy, to credit a vile informer--the perjurer of a +hundred oaths--a beast whom pride, or honour, or religion cannot bind? +He dresses like a gentleman--the tones of his soft voice savour of +growing authority. He measures his value by the coffins of his +victims, and, in the field of evidence, appreciates his fame as an +Indian savage does in fight by the number of scalps with which he can +swell his triumphs!' + +The advocate laid stress upon the awful responsibilities of a jury; +striving to wring their consciences, though he knew that each man +among them had received his wage. He knew that nothing he could say +would make them waver. Yet now he had a new courage and a new hope +that distilled jewels from his lips, which almost caused the degraded +jurymen to blench. From time to time as his eloquent periods rolled +out in majestic waves, he turned an anxious eye upon the farrier whom +Jug sat watching with the gaze of a lynx, How she had botched the job! +How long the soul wrestled ere it could burst its bonds! + +Then, to the amazement of Toler, he lost his temper with the jury, and +told them unpleasant truths, rating them soundly for their sins. His +opponent thought he must be mad to rage where it was so evidently his +interest to conciliate. But Madam Gillin listened and nodded approval; +for she knew that it was only a matter of gaining time, and that as +there was to be no verdict there was no use in blarneying the jurors. +With what eloquence he talked! His words seemed to flicker in +sunlight--a kaleidoscope of gems, some rough, some polished, strung +loosely on a cord. + +'Life can present no situation,' the orator said, 'wherein the human +power of man can be so divinely exerted as yours should be now; and if +any labours can peculiarly attract the approving eye of Heaven, it is +when God looks down on a human being assailed by human turpitude; +struggling with practices against which the Deity placed His special +canon, when He said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy +neighbour; thou shalt not kill!" We embrace the principles of the +British constitution; and when I look on you, the proudest benefit of +that constitution, I am relieved from the fears of advocacy, since I +place my clients under the influence of its sacred shade. This is not +the idle sycophancy of words. It is not crying, "Lord! Lord!" but +doing "the will of my Father who is in heaven!" If my clients had been +arraigned before a jury of Cornhill shopkeepers, they would ere now be +in their lodgings. The law of England suffers no man to be openly +butchered in a court of justice. The law of England recognises the +innate blackness of the human heart--the possibility of villains +thirsting for the blood of their fellow-creatures; and the people of +Ireland have but too good cause to be acquainted with that thirst. At +the awful foot of Eternal Justice I call on you to acquit these men. +Their characters have been given. Nothing could be more pure. In the +name of Justice I implore you to interpose, while there is time, +between the wanton perjurer and his ensanguined feast; that in the +next life your reward may be more lasting than the perishable crown +which the ancients gave to those who saved a fellow-citizen in battle. +Your own turns may come, for the informer has bowels for himself +alone! If it should be the fate of any of you to count the moments of +captivity, in sorrow and in pain, pining in a dungeon's damps, may you +find refuge in the recollection of the example you this day set to +those who may be called to pass judgment on your lives! Recollect too +that there is another, more awful tribunal than any upon earth, which +we must all some day approach, before which the best of us will have +occasion to look back to what little good he has done this side the +grave. I do pray that Eternal Justice may record the deed you are +about to do, and give to you the full benefit of your claims to an +undying reward, a requital in mercy upon your souls!' + +The growing fog, the deep silence, the midnight hour, the flickering +candles, enhanced the effect of Mr. Curran's words, which were spoken +with a rapt solemnity that sent a thrill of awe through his +impressionable audience. The vision of a wrathful angel with a fiery +sword rose before their excited imagination--of an avenging God who +knew that they, the jury, were bought. Women rocked themselves and +wrung their hands, and stuffed ends of shawls into their mouths to +check their wailing. The jurymen hovered 'twixt greed and fear. The +advocate paused for an instant, to wipe his brow, and to allow his +sentences to sink into their minds. + +There was a hum of muffled talk, of groans and lamentation, before +which the moaning in the court was hushed. It came from the dock. Phil +was awake and sensible; had risen on his tottering feet, was swaying +from side to side as he clung to his young master. Terence saw now +that he had wronged his henchman, who was not drunk, but ill. His +features were livid, his lips blue, so was his swollen tongue; his +teeth rattled as in ague; his eyes saw nothing, though they stared +painfully; a steam ascended from his hair. + +'Master Terence!' Phil gasped, with thick effort, 'I could not help +your being taken--though it was--it was my fault. They pushed the +heap--of rope--off of my head. They shall get ne'er a word out +of me--ne'er a one--though they flay me to the bone. Master +Terence--master--will ye forgive----' + +Phil staggered and slid from the grasp of his fellow prisoner to the +floor, and lay there on his face. + +'One of your victims appears to be insensible,' Mr. Curran remarked +shortly. + +''Deed it seems so,' acquiesced Lord Carleton, peering through his +glasses. 'A very indecent exhibition. Does there chance to be e'er a +doctor in the coort?' + +One of the jurymen was an apothecary. He left the box and turned the +prostrate figure over. + +'Can ye speak with assurance of the man's state?' demanded the judge. + +'He is near his end, my lord,' answered the juryman. + +'Is he now--are ye sure?' What with the heat, and what with the +untoward incident, my Lord Carleton was puzzled. No help could he get +from Lord Kilwarden, who leaned with his elbow on the desk and his +eyes shaded by his hand. + +'Open the windy!' puffed the judge. 'For the Lord's sake let's have a +little air; maybe he's only sick. Can ye rouse him to hear his +judgment?' + +The apothecary laid a palm upon his patient's heart. + +'I cannot, my lord,' he replied. 'The man is dead!' + +Already powerfully impressed by the surroundings and the lawyer's +warning, the people could endure no more. A panic seized them. They +rushed to the doors as though stifled by some fell miasma, and battled +to get out. The women screamed that they were being trodden under +foot; the men rained frantic blows upon the doors, tearing clothes and +fingers as they dragged them down. It was a scene of unreasoning +frenzy, such as none who were involved in it might ever forget. The +angel with the fiery sword was there; though invisible, his presence +could be felt. Lord Carleton ordered the remaining prisoner's removal. +Doreen's robe gleamed white in the first tinge of morning as, standing +by his side, she wound her arms about his neck. By-and-by Curran +gently disentangled them, and led her to her father, whilst dragoons +formed round the patriot, and cleared a passage for him through the +mob. + +'More men to secure him in Kilmainham--there'll be a rescue!' bawled +Cassidy, who was driven to overmastering wrath by the posture of Miss +Wolfe, under his very nose. + +'Fear nothing,' Terence replied; 'I will go quietly.' + +Lord Kilwarden and Curran bore the maiden to a coach, and carried her +back to Strogue. Both were so filled with thankfulness for this +reprieve that they shook hands again and again, while Miss Wolfe lay +speechless in the carriage-corner. Her nerves had been strung to +extreme tension for the worst. Sudden joy is more hard to bear than +sorrow. The finely tempered steel which had withstood so many +assaults, gave way under the last shock. She remained long oblivious +of the world's affairs, tenderly nursed by Sara, who wondered, as day +followed day, whether her reason would ever return from the far-off +groves in which it wandered. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + APRÈS LA MORT, LE MÉDECIN. + + +The chancellor was glad and sorry. Glad in that the son of his old +friend should be reprieved, whereby (as he supposed) her great trouble +would be lightened; sorry that so singular a scandal should have +attended this trial--a scandal which would not make the completion of +his task the easier. But the ball was so near its goal--it had +gathered such velocity in transit--that it would take a very grave +obstacle at this stage seriously to impede its course. So the +chancellor gave up being sorry, and was altogether glad that the trial +had ended as it did. He reflected, however, that something would have +to be done to entice the public mind away from gyves and bolts, and +prepare it for the beginning of millennium. The _Gentleman's Magazine_ +of that particular date happened to contain an account of a sojourn of +the royal family at Weymouth, with minute details of how the Princess +Amelia did tambour-work, while his Majesty, with his own august hands, +was deigning to fry sprats for supper. Lord Clare saw his way to a +delicate bit of flattery. He had the arcadian tale printed off and +posted on the walls of Dublin, that loyal minds might be edified and +touched by the simple manners of their sovereign; but (as was become +usual) the chancellor was thwarted by the Viceroy, who said the whole +thing was fudge, and ordered the placards to be pulled down. The Privy +Council censured Lord Kilwarden for his pusillanimous behaviour at the +trial, alleging that it was a pity to see a man high in office who +showed so little resource in an emergency; but at the same time they +decided _nem. con_. that there must be no more state-trials. The story +of Phil's dramatic end would certainly be reported in London, with +additions, and my Lord Moira would be sure to make the most of it. Mr. +Pitt would certainly be angry at the _contretemps_. From first to last +it was a miserable business which could not, unfortunately, be hushed +up. In spite of the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge searching questions would be +asked. Mr. Pitt must somehow be placed in a position to state that +suffering Erin had gone through her operation and was comfortably +bedridden for the remainder of her days. To this end the members of +the Irish senate must be brought back from the state of siege in +ancestral castles, which they were pleased to call 'villegiatura,' +without delay; by threats, and bribes, and promises they must be +induced to haggle no more over their mess of pottage. Ireland must +seem to retire from the world with a good grace, and be tucked snugly +up between the sheets for evermore. Lord Clare was satisfied that the +decisive moment had arrived, for the country was quiet enough now for +the question of union to be freely ventilated. It was delightfully +quiet--with the silence of the tomb. The lords, he was convinced, were +ready for anything, provided they were well paid. When they were +assured that patriotism and interest were directly antagonistic, the +former was certain to come off second best. Lord Clare informed the +Viceroy that the proposition might be put at once and carried, if only +His Excellency would be a little civil to the senate. + +But His Excellency hated tortuous groping; he abhorred the Irish +peers; begged that he might not be asked even to sniff the noisome +broth. When he came over he attached to his person a young Irishman of +parts, who was not squeamish. The chancellor had also shown that +he was not squeamish. These two Irishmen--my Lords Clare and +Castlereagh--must do all the broth-stirring; the sooner the brew was +ready, the sooner they would receive their wages--the sooner would he, +the Viceroy, be enabled to leave the wretched country and go home. +Once the union carried, every one would be delighted--except the +Irish; and even they, in due time, would come to be glad also. Lord +Clare's eye kindled with satisfaction. He beheld the possibility, if +this captious Viceroy would only depart, of himself returning to his +former position. He saw himself again the awful statesman, before whom +courtiers should salaam, as they used to do; he saw his ambitious +vision (obscured for an instant) realised at last. There were only a +few more yards of mud to wallow through before reaching _terra firma_, +and then he would take a bath and, by dint of scrubbing, appear no +more dirty than his fellows. So he made up his mind, as Lord +Cornwallis declined to help, to manage the caldron in conjunction with +Lord Castlereagh, and the pair were quite engrossed by the phases of +their hellish cookery. + +There was one matter that was hemmed round with grievous difficulties, +which had not yet been settled, and which troubled every member of the +Privy Council not a little. What was to be done with those leaders of +the United Irishmen who were still awaiting trial at Kilmainham? What +was to be done with Tom Emmett, Russell, Neilson--what with the +arch-traitor Terence Crosbie? It was evident that a repetition of the +fiasco of the other day must on no account be risked; they must not be +tried. Neither must they remain at Kilmainham, for it was probable +that they had relations with the outer world, that they were plotting +still, and might possibly give more trouble by-and-by by organising a +new Directory. There was no object now in allowing them to plot. On +the contrary, once the union carried, it was essential that Ireland +should be at peace. Lord Clare knew perfectly well, while he prated +about peace, that he had wilfully hailed the silence of a cowed nation +as a restoration of contented tranquillity. He knew very well that if +the English army and the soldier Viceroy were removed, and the leaders +permitted to scheme on, the country would be in as much danger as +ever; that, union or no union, millennium could not supervene until +time should blot away the nefarious means employed. What could be done +with these dangerous conspirators? They could not be tried and +executed; they could not be released, or kept in Ireland, or shipped +to America. As white elephants, they daily became more cumbersome; it +was a pity that gaol-fever would not take them off. But they were +provokingly well, in spite of privation and suffering. Their wings +must be cut somehow. Couriers posted to and fro between London and +Holyhead, bearing despatches on this difficult point. While Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were making final preparations for the union, +Lord Cornwallis was striving to devise a plan which should not be too +glaring an example of broken faith. He implored. He begged. He +threatened. Good King George was as tractable as usual. The odious +villains were either Papists, or Protestant defenders of Papists, +which was worse. The apostasy of these Protestants was more grievous +than the sin of Popery itself. They should receive no mercy. No +compact with such rascals could be binding. He would not have them +banished across seas, where they might achieve some measure of +happiness. They must be kept in duress as scarecrows--an awful warning +to other ruffians. There was no moving him. At last ministers gave +way, and it being decided that the white elephants should be shipped +to Scotland, commissioners were appointed to select a suitably +unpleasant spot where they might languish without danger to the +community. + +There is a fortress on the extremity of a tongue of land which juts +into the Moray Firth, the country round about which is destitute of +houses or of trees--a dreary, forsaken desert devoid of vegetation. +The very place! The obdurate ruffians should be transported to Fort +George, as soon as it could be made strong enough to keep them safe. + +Meanwhile the Viceroy was guilty of an act of politic clemency which +would have put the King in a bad temper if he had known of it. He +determined that, as several months must elapse before the fortress +would be ready, it would be well to permit the arch-villain Terence to +go home--on parole--provided he would give his word to plot no more. +The circumstances of his reprieve were producing a profound impression +in society. The romantic devotion of the servant--the imminent danger +of the master--were so dramatic, that high-born dames regretted their +absence from the moving spectacle. They professed to be vastly +interested in a young man who could call forth such a proof of +affection from another, and vowed that it was a shame he should be +sacrificed. Sure, Moiley ought to be content with a nice hecatomb +selected from the lower classes. Lord Cornwallis perceived that here +was a good opportunity of paying the nobles a compliment. They were so +important a factor in the matter of the union, that it was well to +conciliate them as a body; and what better way was there of doing so +than by treating one of their order with indulgence? He therefore +intimated to Lord Clare that he was inclined to do what he might to +please him--that he saw the mistake he had made in allowing Lord +Glandore's brother to be tried--that he, Lord Clare, might, if he +wished it, inform the dowager countess of a special favour that was in +store for one of her known loyalty--namely, that she might expect to +have the custody of her erring child until the time of his vanishing +from Ireland. + +Lord Clare was charmed, and hurried to Strogue with the good news. My +lady was a riddle, whose behaviour was always different from what +might be expected. He knew that Terence's danger had placed her on a +gridiron where she was consuming slowly, and naturally concluded that +her joy at his reprieve would culminate when she was told that she +might keep him near her for a while. This extraordinary young man, for +whom a servant would sacrifice his life, must needs be tenderly +beloved by the mother to whom he owed his birth. If she was in +raptures she had a queer method of displaying her feelings. Her cheek +turned a shade more pale than usual. Bowing her head as under a new +blow, she murmured, 'It is well.' + +Though he knew and esteemed the countess, Lord Clare's acquaintance +with my lady was not so intimate as ours. He had not seen her at +Glas-aitch-é, when every chair and table was babbling of what had +happened there. He did not look on her when with a spasm of +self-reproach she discovered that the undoing of her second son would +not be so heartrending as it ought to be. He did not know that in face +of Terence's doom she was torn by two distinctly opposite emotions; +that while his fate crushed her as a judgment for past sin, it also +brought a sense of relief. He was not aware that with his death a +burthen of long-endured apprehension would have been lightened, +whereby her tortured soul might attain a semblance of rest at last. + +We soon make up our minds to the inevitable. My lady had made up her +mind that Terence was to die. Her pangs of conscience were bitter, but +the dreadful thing was settled; no influence of hers could affect the +youth's fate now, whatever it might have done in the past. So low was +she fallen that she found some poor relief in that. But this new, +unexpected freak of Fortune brought all the bitterness of her trouble +back again; and with a sigh she roused her distempered faculties from +lethargy and bestirred herself--for the dreary battle was, as it +seemed, not over yet. The implacable phantom kept whispering in her +ear that it was not too late even now to set right the wrong; that +there still was time if she would force those stubborn knees to bend +and abase her pride. + +My lady loathed herself for the thoughts which held possession of her +mind. When the chancellor brought his news, she concealed the sudden +turbulence within. Strangely enough, the mother's sympathies, even at +that moment, were not for Terence--the son who had escaped the +halter--but for Shane; and a great fear for him leaped up in her +heart, to the crushing out of natural feeling. Terence was snatched +from the grave as by a miracle. A foreboding took strong hold of my +lady's mind that this was for a purpose--that Heaven, not satisfied +with the penance of a lifetime, was determined that she should blab +out to the world the secret which, lying on her bosom, had seared her +life. Oh! why did she not accept her punishment all those years ago, +when the task would not have been so hard? The earth had been no +pleasant place of sojourn to my lady. When she thought of all she had +borne since the old lord's death--of the utter futility of the +penance--she became rebellious, and gnashed her teeth at the simpering +portrait of him who had got off so easily. She rebelled against the +iron sternness of Heaven. She was to bend her proud knees, was +she--and confess? Her whitened hair and ashen cheeks were not to be +taken into account? Very well, then. She defied Heaven; religion was a +delusion and a snare; the Lord of Heaven unduly just. Tossing her +favourite tracts into the fire, she swore she would not be driven to +speak, though the ruin of her soul should be the penalty. At the time +when it was decided that Terence was to die, she spent the long hours +in reverie over the past--in poignant regret that he should have to be +thus sacrificed. She reflected that if she had spoken all those years +ago he would never have joined the popular side--would never have +risked his neck--of that she felt assured; and so she felt in some +sort as though she had herself handed him over to the scrag-boy. It +was an awful thought, and it had weighed down her intellect. But now +came a revulsion. It was not to be so. He was to live as a reproach. +Heaven was hounding her down, so she stood at bay. If Heaven had +accepted the penance of a life without requiring that the original +transgression should be cancelled by confessing it she would gladly +have borne the penance to the end of a long weary existence. But that +the penance should not be accepted in any way as an equivalent, was +maddening to her sense of justice. She bestirred herself; sat no +longer dreaming the days away. The household whispered that my lady +was herself again, that the joy of her son's reprieve was accountable +for the happy change. All thought this save Gillin, who knew her +secret. That excellent person scratched her untidy head with a comb +and pondered. What did the wicked old woman mean to do? There was more +mischief brewing--of that she felt quite sure. Well, Terence was saved +from the gallows by direct interposition from above. He was not +intended to be made a sacrifice, any more than Isaac was when his +father's faith was tried. A few months remained to him before he was +to be taken to his Scottish prison. If my lady should allow him to go +there, without making an effort to prevent it--why then she, Madam +Gillin, would open her mouth and speak. Her lips had been closed +over-long. Had she not sworn an oath beside that deathbed? It would +become her bounden duty to interfere, if the countess lacked courage +so to do. + +It was touching that in moments of severest trial my lady should +always have been engrossed by the interests of her black sheep. She +always thought of Shane rather than of herself; and he gave her little +satisfaction in return for this great love. Never very white, he was +daily growing darker. One evil thought engenders another; one evil +deed makes a second necessary: we were all taught that in earliest +infancy, and Shane's condition was in accordance with the rule. His +prowess in the past as King of Cherokees had brought him little blame +in public estimation, for the Glandores had been fire-eaters time out +of mind, and the Irish love a spark with mettle in him. But his +conduct since he departed for Glas-aitch-é was on many sides +disapproved as shady. The Viceroy openly showed his mean opinion of +him. His tenants had protested by injuring his cattle and destroying +his crops. He was proud, was Shane, as well as naturally reckless, and +was fond of notoriety. He resented the Viceroy's treatment, and was +furious with the tenants; and became more wrathful still with Terence, +to whose ill-advised conduct he imputed his own growing unpopularity. +What was the use of having mixed himself up in the odium of Tone's +capture if his brother was to cut the ground from under his feet? It +was but too probable that he might whistle both for an English peerage +and comforting bits in the way of sinecures; and all because of +Terence. Was it not enough to provoke a saint--much more an Irish +earl, who considered himself a pauper? Lord Cornwallis was unkind and +rude. My Lord Glandore complained of his uncivil treatment to Lord +Clare. The chancellor, with an eye to business, soothed his +_amour-propre_, and roundly told the Viceroy in private that he must +constrain himself to be civil to the peers. Then he broke ground to +Shane with reference to the union, explaining that he might put +himself quite right if he would work with the executive in this +matter. He must promise his vote in the House of Lords and all his +influence in the Commons, and then his gracious Majesty would +doubtless give substantial proofs of his approval. Shane promised that +he would follow this worldly-wise advice. As my Lord Clare so cogently +observed, the union was arranged--was to all intents and purposes a +_fait accompli_. Lord Glandore's influence could not prevent the end, +even if that peer should elect to be disinterested. What a lack of +common prudence would he show then, if for a crotchet he should bar +himself out of Tom Tiddler's ground! His brother's ruin showed the +result of crotchets. There would be fine pickings. The Chancellor gave +his word as to that, adding at the same time that the man is a fool +who strains at gnats. Shane therefore was as easily talked over as +many another of his order. Lord Clare was quite certain about the +success of his project, but thought that it would perhaps be well to +sound my lady in order that she might not through inadvertence undo +his work. + +Now, as we know, she had lived the life of a recluse, looking at +political events, in most cases, through the chancellor's spectacles, +half-awakened now and then by the diatribes of Mr. Curran. But she +thought his web was a wicked piece of work when now he displayed its +woof to her; and objected strongly to his design of mixing her +firstborn in his scheming. It was grievous to her that the dear dark +wool of the dusky sheep should be further blackened. My lady got rid +of her importunate old friend by saying she would speak to Shane as to +the using of his influence; and, left alone, sat wondering what she +ought to do. It was a bitter thing to think of the proud name being +held up to obloquy. Yet there were reasons why valuable titbits must +not be refused idly by the idol of her heart. If only that old +abortive project could be carried out! If only Shane was safely +married to his cousin! Was it too late to make another effort? My lady +perceived dimly that Shane was repelled by the damsel--and no wonder. +The passions of this earth seemed gone, burnt away, consumed, by the +action on her mind of past events. Doreen sat on a heap of ashes, +enclosed in a rarified atmosphere of her own. But, for all that, +another trial must be made; matters were becoming desperate; my lady +began to fear that she was not strong enough to fight against Heaven. +She would see Shane, and speak very seriously to him forthwith. + +It was no easy matter now to get hold of Shane. Since his return to +Dublin he had plunged deeper and deeper into excess--partly from +having been mewed up so long, partly to drown the voice of the inner +monitor, partly because of the forbidding chilliness of his own +fireside and the presence there of his gloomy brother. The Blasters, +who during the reign of terror had been busy with the triangles; the +Cherokees, who had been dispersed about the country with their +regiments, returned now to the capital, to sit for the last time in +the Irish Parliament, by order of the chancellor; and glorious were +the nights they passed together whilst awaiting the decisive moment. +The hounds of Strogue were brought again into requisition. My lord and +his boon companions amused themselves with cub-hunting--careering with +wild shrieks across the land--past cabins, the shoulders of whose +occupants were disfigured with livid weals--past huts whose inmates +cursed the cavalcade as it swept by. They rode all day. They drank and +fought all night. My lady had to bide her time in order to lay hands +upon her son. Verily, it seemed little probable that his infatuated +lordship could be induced, even by her entreaties, to pull up in full +career for the sake of wooing the cousin who frightened him! + +As though in furtherance of the unrelenting measures of Heaven, both +sons were received now as guests at the Little House, and equally +insulted their parent by making no secret of going there. The scraping +of their feet was visible on the wall which divided the two +properties. My lady could not but admit that Fate took pleasure in +deliberately thwarting her arrangements. Why, when so many Catholics +came to ruin in the Hurry, was this horrible woman allowed to escape +scot-free? After she had been caught in the act, too, of harbouring +traitors! Was it that through her (the only one on earth who had power +to do so) the secret she kept so hungrily should be blabbed forth upon +the housetops? Sure, a mark of Fate's finger could be detected here. +But my lady was all the more determined to be obstinate. She would go +on scheming, and wrestle with all her puny strength, shaking her +broken spear-haft till finally put out of misery. If Fate was resolved +to kill her, she would die hard, fighting to the very last. + +Terence, being free--on parole--moped about the Abbey, never moving +beyond its boundaries, save when he went to the Little House to +converse with its kind hostess. His life was finished, although he was +not destined to wing away at present. The reprieve brought to him no +rapture, much as his heart was touched by the devotion of poor Phil. +He was like one who has passed through the anguish of drowning; who +has subsided into the ecstatic state, made beautiful by coloured +lights, which precedes dissolution. Like those who have been at this +point plucked from the waters, he returned with reluctance to the +world, conscious only of its pain and trouble. After the first short +shock of astonishment, which set his head reeling, he experienced +nothing but unalloyed regret, although the mere fact of life is +intoxicating to the young. His peace was made with his Maker. He had +been privileged to look through the Golden Gate, only to be thrust +cruelly back again into the darkness of this world. Had he but +followed Theobald's example, all would have been over now--he would be +walking with his brother patriots in Paradise. He was satisfied that +his life would be of no further use. He saw little of his mother--as +little as possible, indeed, for on his arrival from Kilmainham she had +tendered a frigid hand in a way that brought tears into his eyes. My +lady's attempt to appear glad was rendered heart-rending by its +ill-success. Was it her fault if her affections were so engrossed by +Shane that there was no corner left for Terence? He saw through the +little mummery at once, and avoided her without stopping to seek for +reasons; and she, on her side, was relieved, for every fibre of energy +within her was strung now for the unequal contest with Fate on Shane's +behalf, which she perceived with prophetic ken to be inevitable. + +Curran and Sara stayed on at the Abbey, to the satisfaction of the +inmates, whose skeletons rattled with less deafening jangle in the +presence of strangers. Doreen was glad of Sara for a nurse. My lady, +who always liked Curran, and who was being crushed into humility by +impending Nemesis, was sorry to see how aged he was, and hoped that +the quiet of the Abbey might do for him what it might never do for +her. He lingered on to see the most of Terence, declaring that, the +union passed and the prisoners gone, he would turn his back on the +land he had loved too well, and crave six feet of earth from the +United States. He trotted up and down the alleys of the rosary with +his ex-junior, the hearts of both too full for speech. They would part +soon, never again to meet in this world. They had been involved in +dangers and supreme soul-conflicts, which knit hearts together more +closely than a decade of conventional maundering. Both had been sorely +tried, and had come out the better for the fire. The tenderness the +twain felt one for the other was that of two strong natures, generous +and pure--an equable, staunch tenderness, swayed by no violent +passion, founded on the sure basis of esteem and confidence, such as +may never be attained in any love of man for woman. + +This was the attitude of the two friends one to the other, in the +interval that preceded the day which was to decide the fate of +Ireland. Doreen was too ill to see any one. The orders of the doctor +were stringent as to the necessity of extreme quiet for her. Sara +issued forth now and again with bulletins; then returned to her post. +Madam Gillin bearded the tigress in her lair by sending openly to +inquire after the invalid. One morning Sara, neglecting her patient, +came tripping forth, well rolled in furs, with unseemly gladness in +her face--unseemly levity in her demeanour: + +'What _do_ you think, papa?' she said, flinging her arms round Mr. +Curran. 'I've got a letter to say he's coming home!' + +'_He?_ To whom do you refer?' demanded her father, who declined to +admit that for his child there was but one 'he.' + +'Robert, of course!' she replied, with shy reproach. 'Do read!' + +Her father read, then handed the note to Terence gloomily. The maid +had her gladness to herself. It was not a wise letter; one written +evidently by an enthusiastic but rash, person, who, having been absent +during the Hurry, could put faith still in the mirage of Irish +freedom; who had not laid to heart the awful lesson of the year that +was expiring. He spoke with indignation of the way he was duped in +London; of the impossibility of getting at his Majesty, who was as +inaccessible to him as any potentate of Old Japan. For months he was +kept dallying in ante-chambers, he complained. His funds would have +failed but for good Lord Moira. But now he was coming back to receive +the mantle of Theobald, which intuition told him was to fit his +shoulders; to bid farewell to brother Tom ere he departed; then to +study the ground with a fresh eye. + +Her father looked at Sara, as he pushed the blonde cocoons from off +her bright young forehead. Blind girl to be so glad; she who before +was more wisely jubilant in that her lover should be removed from +danger. Her delight, indeed, was infantine and unalloyed; for all day +long the patriots were declaring that everything was lost, that all +was over. There was no reason, then, why she should look forward to +future complications. + +'Use all the power you have, my Primrose,' he adjured his daughter, +with sad earnestness, 'to keep him away yet awhile. The mantle of +Theobald, forsooth! We know that it is red and clammy. The shamrock +must be transplanted to another soil. Tell him not to come, I say. So +soon as the ship sails for Fort George, you and I will go and meet him +in London.' + +Sara seemed bewildered, as the smile faded from her face. What could +her parent mean? Sure, it was but natural to come and take a last look +at a beloved brother ere he went away? Whatever Robert's intentions +were, she knew that they were good and noble. The mantle of Theobald +meant love of motherland--no more. Everybody was painfully convinced +that the time for armed resistance was gone and past; that England +held the reins well in hand, and meant to hold them. + +The excitement when the grand day arrived was great in Dublin, while +the provinces looked on with unconcern. The brew of my Lords +Castlereagh and Clare had cost them sleepless nights. The Viceroy, as +head-cook, made believe to supervise, but he held a perfumed kerchief +to his august nose; there was no need for special exertion on his +part, for his deputies were by this time familiar with the receipt. By +the middle of the ensuing year at latest, every detail would be +arranged; and then he would be able to depart, his mission +accomplished, out of an atmosphere that poisoned him. But my Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were only bunglers after all. They had not +fathomed the baseness of the senate--the yawning depth of its abyss of +greed. Certain members of both Houses turned round at the last minute. +Some said that their consciences smote them; others admitted that +their rapacity was not satisfied. After a sitting of twenty-one hours +the measure was lost; and my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, baffled +where success seemed certain, looked foolish. + +Every one was disgusted. Lord Cornwallis apologised for the muddle to +the British Cabinet. Odd straitlaced people, he explained, rose all of +a sudden to the surface, who, if they had appeared sooner, might have +done much to stop the ball. It was like the legend of Sodom and +Gomorrah. 'Peradventure three righteous men might be found,' and so +on. The affair would have to be postponed for a few months in order +that the three righteous men might be tampered with. Of course the +three righteous men had their price. My Lord Powerscourt had emerged +from his Wicklow mountains to protest from his place against the +sinful measure, and a shamefaced knot rallied round him--a nucleus of +lords who objected to the bartering of freedom against a cartload of +cheap mirrors and bead-necklaces. But retribution fell upon that +ill-advised Lord Powerscourt before the setting of the sun that day. A +national rabble who sallied forth from the Liberties to wreak +vengeance on those who dared to vote for union, by a trifling error +attacked Powerscourt House in William Street, and broke its windows +and smashed its sculptured ornaments. They did not desist till some +one explained that it appertained to a peer who all along had +steadfastly set his face against the orgies of his fellows; against +bloodshed, murder, and torture; and against Lord Clare. But, arrah! +what was broke could be mended, and it was good for trade. Three +cheers for Lord Powerscourt! He must acknowledge the warmth of Pat's +nature, and make the best of the mistake. + +Terence learned with heartfelt satisfaction, mingled with surprise and +contrition in that he had wronged his brother so, that Lord Glandore +had not voted with Government. My lady, he knew, was shocked with the +entire proceeding. Perchance to her influence was this happy result +due? Be that as it might, the heart of the younger was drawn towards +his brother. They never cared much for each other--they looked on the +world from a different standpoint. Since the Hurry, a marked coldness +and spitefulness was evident in Shane's demeanour. But he was not so +bad as he seemed, or so selfish, Terence assured himself. At all +events he was repentant--regretted doubtless the part he played with +reference to Theobald, though too haughty to admit it. He, Terence, +was going away so soon--never, in all probability, to look upon +Ireland or his family again--that it behoved him to carry as few +regrets as might be to his prison. He must bid adieu to the world with +a clear conscience--at enmity with no man, least of all his brother. +He resolved to make the first advance to Shane; to congratulate him on +his conduct even at this eleventh hour--to exhort him to resist +temptation 'twixt this and the next attempt--to beg him to take care +that he, though the measure would of course be carried sooner or +later, was in nowise mixed up with the Iscariots. To this laudable end +he strove to throw himself upon his elder's path, and met him face to +face in the stable-yard on the very next day after the first failure. + +Shane tried to avoid the gloomy _trouble-fête_, but finding that +impossible, came forward with as _debonair_ a swagger as a racking +headache and impaired digestion would permit. His aspect spoke more of +claret and its effects than of repentance. The coat of cream-coloured +cut velvet that he wore was rent in several places; two of the +filigree gold buttons had been wrenched away; his satin pantaloons +were smirched with dirt; his handsome face was inflamed and bloated. +What a contrast between the brothers now! Their characteristics seemed +inverted from those which marked them in former days. Then Terence had +shown too much of the florid farmer, too much of the bovine contented +animal breadth which men exhibit who live much in the open air and +look on cattle. Then nothing could be more refined and elegant than +Shane--with his miniature figure, his faultless limbs and tiny hands, +his clean-cut features whereon sat the expression of command which +marks a man for one to whom authority is an undisputed birthright. Now +the pair had changed places. Shane's lineaments were losing their fine +lines by reason of sucking at a bottle; the look of command was +departing with his self-respect: whilst Terence, in a dress of studied +simplicity, as upright and square as usual, had assumed a carriage of +reserved haughtiness. His locks had lost their brilliant colour, so +had his cheeks, through care. That silvery sheen from the other world +still glittered in his eye. The rollick of exuberant good-humour and +enjoyment of life was exchanged for a sober melancholy. His voice even +was lowered a semitone. His individuality had slipped into the minor +key. + +'Shane,' he said, 'I am so very glad, old fellow. I should have felt +it sorely if you had espoused this measure. Of course it's not my +business to try to direct your opinions; but now that it's all over +for the present, I can't help telling you I'm glad.' + +Shane passed across his throbbing temples a hand which was soiled with +the dust of last night's cards, and shrank backward from his brother's +advance. 'You are a nice one,' he sneered, 'to direct my opinions. +_You_--who but for an accident would have danced the minuet like a +peasant! We've been starting a new club--the Blazers--two days and +nights! I'm losing my nerve. This won't do. Too young to be so shaky. +I'll go to bed.' + +He endeavoured to escape. His two pet pointers, Eblana and Aileach, +came bounding towards him with yelps which woke the echoes of the +yard. Terence felt that there was a mistake somewhere. His brother was +upon his guard, as though he expected to be reviled. + +'Am I wrong, Shane?' he cried, as the blood bubbled to his face. 'You +didn't--did you vote with Government yesterday?' + +'What if I did, _Croppy?_' was my lord's surly rejoinder. + +Terence winced. 'Do not use harsh words,' he implored. 'Remember that +where I go my life must be passed in retrospect. Pray do not let me +carry away any memories of you but kind ones.' + +'Why gibe at me then?' said sulky Shane. + +'I--gibe? Is it likely I should jest?' + +'Yes, gibe?' repeated Shane, his anger kindling, while the cicatrice +stood forth purple upon his forehead. 'You know that I've been +tricked. I was at the new club among a set of merry dogs, and gave +orders to a porter at the house to fetch me when I was wanted. He +didn't come; I didn't vote; and when I offered just now to run him +through, he pleaded that he was a follower of yours, and could not +possibly do that to which you would object. You! And now you come +preaching like a parson! Curse you!' + +Terence was deeply moved. His own brother, then, was itching for his +share of the silver pieces. It was due to accident alone that he had +not disgraced himself. Lord Glandore growled out in exasperation: 'The +chancellor will not speak to me!' and, raising the toy-whip he held, +made as though he would strike his brother, giving at the same moment +a kick which sent Eblana howling to the kennels. Terence recoiled from +the threatened blow. At the same instant the lattice of my lady's +chamber was flung open, and she, in the imperious voice of other days, +cried, 'Shane! come here at once!' + +Now the first-born whom she adored so fondly was accustomed to yield +to her when in an imperious mood. He felt guilty now and out of sorts, +knowing that he was desperately in the wrong. In a sneaking manner, +therefore, he threw away his switch, and, kicking aside the other +hound, entered his mother's presence, clasping his splitting temples +with both his palms. + +She was sweeping up and down as she used to do, before she took to +feeble blinking in the great chair. Emotion of some kind troubled her +so much that she could scarcely speak. Half frightened, Shane asked if +he should fetch some water. + +She shook her head and muttered 'No.' Then, finding voice, she adjured +him in jerky sentences which burned her tongue, to treat his brother +with kindness during the short time they could be together. 'A time +may come,' she said, 'when you will bitterly regret idle taunts. Do +not lay up for yourself the fruits of remorse. I have eaten of them +all my life, and know what they are like.' + +'What nonsense!' Shane exclaimed fretfully. 'You're always blowing +bladders into balloons! Don't bother. The Croppy and I will soon part +to meet no more. Then perhaps you'll put aside these foolish terrors! +I think your brain is softening.' + +'Foolish terrors!' wailed the countess. + +After a moment of reflection she turned sharply round as though urged +by a power beyond control. 'Shane!' she cried, stretching out her arms +lest he should stop her; 'oh! if you only knew what I have endured for +your sake! Listen to me----' then, sinking back on the window-seat, +she drew up her limbs together, murmuring in a tone of such anguish as +fairly alarmed her first-born: 'No, no! I cannot! I _will not!_ It is +too much!' + +Shane recovered his self-possession. 'The poor thing's head's +deranged,' he thought; and feeling that he had been wanting in respect +just now, he stooped down and kissed her as she crouched like a bundle +on the cushions. + +This unusual display of affection seemed to revive his mother. She +twined her quivering arms about him, and, dragging him to her side, +whispered: 'My darling--for my sake who have gone through sore travail +on your account--oh! be kind to Terence--be very, very kind. If you +knew all, you would be--but you shall never know. I will bear all +myself. My hand shall never pour sorrow on your head!' + +The words of mystery perplexed my lord, who, never very bright, was +still confused with drink. He was about to ask questions; perceiving +which my lady spoke abruptly. 'Shane,' she whispered, stroking his +hair with clinging affection, 'do you know what is the fondest wish of +your old mother? If I saw you well married I could die content. When +you were so infatuated with that horrid girl down yonder, you did not +know what pain you gave me.' + +'Why?' demanded Shane, the scar on his brow deepening in hue. 'She's a +good girl, and I like her still. There's nothing against her that I'm +aware of. I hate your bread-and-butter misses!' Had the young man been +sober he would not have dared so to speak; but wine gave him courage +to say that to which Norah urged him daily. 'I'll marry Norah if I +like,' cried her stout champion. 'I know you've got some silly notion +about Doreen. Why, I can't think. I don't want to marry her, and she +doesn't want to marry me; and I won't do it--that's flat. Is it you or +I who would marry her? I suppose I may follow my own wishes on the +subject.' + +His mother crouched down on the cushions again and moaned, while her +first-born stopped short in wonderment. What a pother, to be sure! Her +nerves must be the centre of some disease, for he had said naught to +warrant such an access of pain! He could not make it out. At length, +by way of applying a soothing plaster, he said: 'There, there! don't +fret so. Maybe I'll die a bachelor, and the Croppy'll inherit. Will +that please you? Come, sit up and smile at me.' + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + SUSPENSE. + + +Doreen was a fine subject, truly, for matrimonial scheming! Sara, +faithful little nurse, hovered round her bed while she battled +with delirium--spoke words of encouragement to Lord Kilwarden, who +watched his daughter's state with grief. What was the use of all his +trimming--his cautious steering--his dallying with Apollyon, if she +for whose sake alone he desired wealth and titles was beyond caring +for the treasures of this life? But the fond father's prayers +were answered. Her splendid constitution soon brought her back to +health--she was not one of those who die broken-hearted; but it was +soon manifest to all who watched her that she, like Terence, looked on +her life as done. She spent her time in watching the boats on Dublin +Bay--aware, in hazy fashion, of Sara's prattle. She asked after Tom +Emmett and the others, as one might after old friends who are crippled +for life--who are labouring under some incurable malady. Terence spent +many moments of placid enjoyment, conversing with his cousin in the +little bedroom which overlooked the rosary; but neither ever spoke a +word of love. The brief interval of freedom was speeding quick away. +The works at Fort George were progressing rapidly. A very few weeks +and the prisoners would depart, to begin a new existence in a howling +wilderness. She told him her plans, with such details as he might +ponder over in his solitude, promising to carry them out to the letter +as a sacred duty, in order that he might calculate with certainty what +she was doing at such and such an hour. The notion of taking the veil +was in a calmer moment given up. What need to take the veil? What +difference could a vow make to one whose heart was dead? Her vigorous +energy must find scope; in tending others she would forget herself. +She would, thanks to Lord Kilwarden's savings, play the Lady Bountiful +in Dublin, for the benefit of the sufferers from the Reign of Terror. +Scarce a family of the lower class but the yeomanry had left their +brand on it. Fatherless children--widowed wives--cried out from the +Vale of Tears. Sure, those who were taken--who had been shot down like +dogs or had perished under torture in the Riding-school--were better +off than they, if their end was to be starvation in a gutter! Lord +Kilwarden murmured that it should be as she wished. She should return +and live with him in town, and do with his money as she listed. The +subject of the union interested Doreen deeply. She could talk of it +without rancour as a thing that was inevitable. Her life was done +because that of Mother Erin was over, and of her faithful sons. So she +discussed the prospects of the union as she would have discussed a +funeral. Kilwarden and his child were not agreed upon the subject. Her +father, after serious deliberation, was in favour of the measure, and +thus expressed himself, while Curran, pretending to be buried in a +book, sniffed and hemmed. + +'Events,' he said, 'have clearly shown how unstable is our nature. +Only twenty years ago we showed a serried front, and were as one in +the cause of freedom; but a little wedge was inserted--and see! To +what an end we've come! For we have come to an end--there is no use +discussing that. The one drop of satisfaction which is given to us in +the goblet of gall is that an assembly will vanish into space which +has reached the lowest depth of human degeneracy. Its members--as all +Europe knows--consider the station they hold as a portion of private +property, not as a public trust. The scorn of Lord Cornwallis is not +undeserved.' + +To this Curran objected with vehemence: 'My good friend! is that a +reason why your union should answer? You cannot glue two pieces of +board together unless the joint be clean. You cannot unite two men +indissolubly, unless the cement be virtue. How then two countries, +between which rolls a sea of blood more wide than the Atlantic?' + +But Arthur Lord Kilwarden had followed events with a keen scrutiny, +and none were more appalled than he at the way the senate had jigged +to my Lord Clare's piping. 'Whichever way,' he affirmed sadly, 'you +look at the proceedings of your parliament, the sight is equally +distressing. If the English parliament could be convinced that our +interests are really bound up with theirs, they would come to look on +us in time as part and parcel of themselves, instead of treating us +like savages. Indeed, the Irish Lords and Commons are showing clearly +that the English estimate of them is the right one. Practically their +birthright is disposed of. It is merely a matter of terms. + +Then Curran murmured doleful things about the extinction of the Irish +name and the days of the Round Towers, and the parties, as usual, +agreed to differ. + +There was one side of the matter which was gratifying to Doreen, +namely, the conduct of her own people. The Viceroy was undisguisedly +in favour of inserting in this Union Bill a clause for the abrogation +of the penal statutes; but, as might have been expected, the King +dashed his pen through it. The Catholics emancipated indeed? +Fiddle-de-dee! Never, while that large-minded monarch should survive. +His stupidity produced a hitch. Then the Catholic lords came +forward--there were but seven--and begged that state interests should +be consulted before that of their own faith. The effect produced was +good, for the dignity of the situation lay not with stupid George. +Although they seemed to be sacrificing themselves unduly, yet they +scored one in the eyes of Europe, and public opinion decided that +their attitude of noble neutrality would reap its reward ere long. +Doreen was glad of this, although for her part she would wish to +struggle against union to the last. If it must take place, it must; +but she agreed with Terence that eternal obloquy would be the +portion of those who were responsible for the end. It was with +dissatisfaction, then, that she listened to his tidings about Shane. +It was by an accident, due to the involuntary influence of his younger +brother, that he escaped degradation at the first voting? This was +terrible news! The duty of the younger man was plainly written, she +pointed out with a spark of her old animation. Before withdrawing to +consummate his martyrdom, he must speak earnestly, seriously, to the +misguided earl--implore him on his knees, if need were, not to +disgrace the name which had descended unsullied from Sir Amorey. 'If +you show him,' she said, 'the chasm into which he is about to fall, +his better instincts will drag him back. Neither his vanity nor +avarice must be played on by the chancellor for the furtherance of +that wicked end. + +Terence replied that not only had he no influence over his brother, +but that the latter might be goaded by his interference into doing +precisely that which they all deprecated, out of spite. It would be +better to trust to Providence. 'How can I bid him not disgrace the +family?' he concluded, gently smiling. 'Would he not retort that I +have done worse than he can do, by placing my neck within the halter?' + +There was something in this, certainly, Doreen admitted. But it was +not a moment for petty vanity--it was a time for general humiliation. +Terence must humble himself to bear meekly the taunts of Lord +Glandore, content in that he was doing his duty. In the solitude of +Fort George it would be a comforting episode to dwell upon--instead of +brooding always over Erin's death-throes. + +One evening, at this point of the discussion, which was renewed again +and again before Terence could make up his mind to risk a storm, +blonde Sara, who, sitting hard by, was wont to listen to pros and cons +which dazed her in respectful silence, laid down her needle, and +startled the disputants by saying, 'Are you quite sure that she is in +her death-throes?' + +Doreen patted her arm as you might that of a precocious child, and +said, with her moonlit smile, 'Have you a doubt, dear Sara?' + +'I have no opinion,' responded the simple maid; 'but Robert does not +think so, and he knows.' + +The curiosity of her listeners was aroused. The ardent young +enthusiast was about to return, in spite of Curran's wishes to the +contrary, to take a last look at Tom ere he sailed away. What were +these opinions of his that imparted so grandmotherly an air to the +gentle Primrose? + +'I've had another letter,' quoth the sapient maiden. 'He doesn't agree +with you at all. Hark. He says: "Notwithstanding the darkness of our +prospect, I seem to see a light. We must rise to the level of the +situation, as our fathers did in '82. We are unworthy of the name of +nation if by combination we cannot frustrate the Sassanagh's designs. +Other and better men have pioneered the way; be mine the bright +result: there shall be no union. The more I see of the English, the +more I detest them. In coffee-houses they elbow me to the wall. If I +were a red Indian they could not treat me and my country with greater +disdain!"' + +The idea that her Robert was not appreciated imbued the maid with such +indignation as sat in comical fashion on her sweet, soft features. The +hearts of both those who looked at her yearned towards this fragile +flower. They had been strong and sturdy, yet were they utterly undone. +Was this girl to pass, too, under the yoke? Doreen, in a gush of +compassion, seized her slight figure in her arms and strained it to +her breast, murmuring, as she did so, 'No, child; oh no, no! Not you +too! Surely the pyre is piled high enough; the smoke of it blackens +the heavens. The land is drenched; it can drink no more. Write to him, +my dearest, and adjure him not to hope. Write and forbid his coming.' + +Both Terence and Doreen were painfully aware that the element of +sedition was dormant, not conquered. They were convinced, too, that +the struggle was useless--were ready to bow to the consummation of +Lord Clare's strategy, provided that they might stand aloof from among +the traitors. If it were useless, why renew the struggle? Why help to +bring upon the land again the horrors of the Hurry? Both Terence and +Doreen saw through the cloak of Robert's mysterious words, though Sara +apparently did not. Yet surely he could not be so utterly distracted +as to intend again to raise the standard of revolt? The whole aspect +of the case was changed since '98. Napoleon was too much bent on +Continental laurels to allow France to think of Ireland. Money was +scarce; merchants cautious; the people cowed. The Presbyterians were +irritated by the Wexford massacre; the Catholics indignant at the +supposed desertion of the northerners. A pretty time to think of +flying to arms! No; Robert could not be so mad. But what did he mean, +then? Was his combination to be a bloodless contest, such as was +brought to a successful issue by the Volunteers? Combination, +forsooth! It was not possible for Irishmen ever to combine for more +than a few minutes together. Sara evidently had no notion that her +Robert could imply a resort to arms, or she would not be purring in +this kittenish fashion. As it was, she shook off the embrace of her +dear friend, and was very angry in that she showed anxiety to keep +Robert away, now that all danger to his sacred head, was past. She +waxed exceeding wroth, begging to know why Doreen presumed to question +Robert's wisdom; then, scalded by her own tears, she drooped into the +arms of the older girl, registering a desire to be dead--a petition +with which Heaven has been wearied by natives of Ireland time out of +mind. + +'I will see to her,' Doreen whispered. 'Now, do you go down, _to +please me_, Terence. You will never regret having done your best to +turn Glandore. If you succeed, what blessed visions will paint the +walls of your prison-cell! Go and speak seriously to Shane, for all +our sakes.' + +Terence pressed his cousin's hand and promised. If it was his fate to +languish through a long life on the cold crags of Moray Firth, that +placid air of calm, the light of those solemn eyes, should soothe him +to the last upon his pilgrimage. He was greedily laying up a store of +precious memories. The time was growing very short. Orders must come +very soon for that final parting. Whate'er befel, he promised himself +to follow to the end his guiding star. Heaven would inspire him with +words which should save his brother from himself. Doreen was right, as +she always was. He strolled leisurely across to the stable-yard to +inquire whether my lord had returned from hunting. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + EAVESDROPPING. + + +The Eumenides galloped in full cry after my lady. Their quarry was run +down, scrambled up and staggered on again--was near the end of the run +now. When Shane, apple of his mother's eye, gave the last unconscious +stab, she bore it without wincing, and sat up and attempted a wintry +smile, as he had bidden her. The goblet which, through her strength of +character, she had been able to push aside during many years, was held +at her lips by a ruthless hand, and must be drained. There was no help +for it. She must go and grovel before the hated Gillin, and pray her +in mercy to remove the obnoxious Norah. There was nothing else for it. +Schemes had miscarried, plots had fallen through. What a sorry +spectacle is a harried mortal in the death-grip of the hags of Até! + +Even a year's absence at Glas-aitch-é had not blurred the memory of +Norah in the heart of the young prodigal. Gillin still beguiled him to +the Little House--the knavish, cruel woman! What steadiness of purpose +she had shown all through her relentless course! And now she was +waiting in her den with cool assurance to consummate her fiendish +work. What a terrible thing to have to bow down and implore mercy from +this common, vulgar wretch! Would she even now, with her rival at her +feet, be merciful? Or would she, with the inherent ungenerosity of a +low nature, spurn and deride the victim? Be that as it might, the +ordeal must be assayed. It was no use to shake the fist at serene +heaven in the impotence of rage. That would in nowise mend matters, +and was silly besides. My lady resolved at last to take her cup and +drink the draught, since there was no avoiding it. For several days +she waited, hoping against hope for a means of escape. None came. She +accepted the position, put on her hood, and sallied forth on the +self-same afternoon upon which Terence decided to speak out to Shane. + +Madam Gillin, in her amazement, swept down the jam-pots which she was +stowing in a cupboard when Norah tore breathless up the stairs to +announce that a leedy was coming up the walk who was no other than the +Countess of Glandore. + +'Holy Mother!' she ejaculated. The moment was come then--at last! and +the two were to speak out, face to face. It could only be on one +subject--an unpleasant interview. What could induce the countess now +to strike her colours, and come of her own accord, who for years had +declined to acknowledge her neighbour's existence? The haughty +countess must be hard pressed indeed to humble herself in this wise. +Peeping through shutter-chinks, she beheld the stately figure of my +lady--as straight as an arrow, shrouded in a silken wrapper, moving +slowly towards her door, and screamed out orders to Jug to get out her +best gown instantly, and place some wine on the parlour table. + +My lady was kept waiting for fully half an hour, while the mistress of +the Little House was arranging her war-paint, during which time she +had leisure to glance round the adornments of the chamber--bright, +big, showy, glowing and rubicund, blatant with varnished newness--so +different from the cobwebbed dignity of the black oak and tapestry at +the Abbey. The ceiling was painted in the Italian style, with clouds +on cerulean ether like bits of cotton-wool. The floor was thickly +carpeted, the windows heavily curtained--for the judges, when they +came to carouse with their gay hostess, liked what was snug and cosy. +Over the chimney-piece were two portraits, side by side, at which my +lady frowned--the late Lord Glandore and Norah. The woman was +evidently shameless, to place my lord's portrait so _en evidence_. +This long delay was, no doubt, a premeditated insult. The original of +the second portrait, conscious that it was rude of her mamma to be so +long in dressing, skimmed down the stairs and banged open the door to +make a good-humoured apology, but closed it quickly and retreated--the +aspect of the old lady was so forbidding as she stood upright in the +centre of the floor, with thin nose pinched and bent brows scowling. +If the squireens of Letterkenny had been frightened by the gorgon's +stony face when she strove to be gracious, how much more awful did she +appear now, when grilling on the coals of humiliation. + +By-and-by, with a prodigious rattle, Madam Gillin swam in and +curtseyed. If there was to be a passage of arms, she was determined +not to be taken at a disadvantage. Fortune had denied her the grand +air which goes with blue blood and coronets, but she was resolved to +make up for the want of it by a display of external magnificence. +Though warm and moist with the exertion of plunging into grandeur at +so short a notice, she looked mighty fine in her best red satin, made +very tight and short, with a Roman emperor in cameo grinning on the +high waistband, and another nodding from her hair. The ruddy tint of +her mature charms vied with the ruby of the satin and the redness of +the turban, and came by no means badly out of the conflict. + +When arrayed in the garments of ceremony, Madam Gillin, despite the +stoutness of her figure, could be extremely dignified. With a second +curtsey and a sweep round of the left foot, she bade the visitor +welcome to her poor home, and pointed a mittened forefinger at a +chair. + +'It's honoured that I am entirely, by your leedyship's condescension,' +she said, wagging the turban affably. 'Might I offer some sherry-wine, +or would your leedyship prefer clart? or a dhrop of prime poteen? The +judges, bless you, prefer clart. Sure, Jug'll bring a cake in a jiffy, +for drink's bad on an empty stomach.' + +The countess responded by a freezing bow. How hard it was to begin! +Yet, having come, she must needs speak out. This ungenerous foe was +exaggerating her own defects with intention, in order to make the task +more difficult; was pretending to believe that her neighbour had +'dropped in' by a friendly impulse, just to scrape a tardy +acquaintance over a glass of wine. The next words of the enemy showed +that it was so. + +'Your leedyship's sons are quite old cronies here,' she remarked. +'They often honour my tipple, and find it good; faith, it's the same +as their dear papa used to like, poor fellow!' Here she nodded +solemnly at the portrait, lest my lady should not have noticed it. +'And fine boys they are, though the eldest is a bit skittish. Your +leedyship has reason to be proud of them--specially the younger.' + +It was as the countess expected. The woman was brutal and pitiless and +devoid of shame. Each word, each movement, was an outrage, a barb +hurled with studied purpose. Nothing could come of an interview begun +upon these lines; it would be better to cut it short, ere self-control +was lost. My lady had not moved from her position on the centre of the +floor, not choosing to notice the invitation to be seated. Gathering +her wrapper close, with a haughty movement of white fingers, she said +abruptly, as she turned to go: + +'Woman! I have lowered myself in order to conjure you to consider what +you do. You have harmed me, Mrs. Gillin, as much as you could ever +since I first set eyes on you, although I never did you hurt. You +robbed me of my husband, and flaunted your prize all over Dublin, and +I bore my cross without a word, because one may not touch pitch +without being one's self defiled. You encouraged my second son in his +folly; pushed him down the incline till you nearly brought him to the +gallows; and now you are determined, if you can, to bring young +Glandore to ruin. You are a devil--not a woman! Hate me, if you will, +for I would prefer your hatred to your friendship; but surely you +cannot hate _him_, or you would not hang his portrait there. Even if +he did you any wrong, of which I am ignorant, forbear to wreak +vengeance on his children. I never understood your motives. What can +you gain by compassing all this mischief?' + +'Whom did yon say I wished to bring to ruin?' sneered the scarlet +lady, unabashed. + +The pale face of the countess flushed crimson, and she proceeded as if +the words stuck in her throat: + +'This hideous marriage must be prevented; you know why as well as I +do. Think of the wreck to which you would bring these innocent lives. +Remember, at least, that the girl is your own child, poor thing. Feel +pity for her, if you can summon none for the other.' + +'I have as much pity for my child as you for yours!' Madam Gillin +retorted, with meaning. 'When his neck was in danger, you never +stirred a finger-nail.' + +My lady stopped at the door to make one more effort. + +'You have deliberately brought those two together, though I have +strained every nerve to keep them apart. Dare you stand by and see +them married?' + +'If the childer like each other, faix, it's not me as'll spoil the +fun!' returned her tormentor. + +My lady groaned and made as if she would speak again, but Mrs. +Gillin's fat back was turned; she was improving the position of the +cameos, by means of a mirror on the wall. + +Lady Glandore adjusted her hood on her white hair, and moved swiftly, +with bowed head, away from the Little House; while Madam Gillin, +detaching her gorgeous turban, turned quickly round with a grin, so +soon as she was fairly gone, and watched her from behind a shutter. +The good lady was troubled in her mind, and stood staring down the +walk, as the grin faded, long after the muffled figure had departed. +At length she clapped the errant comb into its place upon her head, +and murmured: + +'I'm a devil, not a woman, am I? Sure that cap fits best on your own +pate. Rather than speak out, you'd let that lad be whipped off to Fort +George, would you? Just as you would have let him be hanged--mother +without a heart! It's Lucifer's pride ye have, every ha'porth of it. +Well, my lips have been closed long enough.' Then, nodding to the +picture over the chimney-piece, she added aloud: 'Have I kept my word +with ye? Ye wished it all set right, bad man, when Satan pinched ye. +Who was it that was always bidding ye to see to it yourself, and ye +wouldn't? And her pride is as great as yours. Never fear; it shall be +set right by me; for I like the boy for himself as well as for my +oath. Before the sun's set I'll go to Ely Place and tell my Lord Clare +something that'll astonish him.' + +'Tell him what, mamma?' asked Norah, who was dying to learn what had +taken place. + +'Never mind, child!' grunted madam, as she squeezed the impudent young +lady's peachen cheek. 'What d'ye think that stiff old bag-o'-bones +said just now? That I didn't love my girl; and that I'd do her wanton +harm.' + +'She lied!' retorted prompt Norah. + +'Faith, ye're right!' agreed her mother, with a smacking kiss. 'Order +round the shay, and come and help me to take off my toggery.' + +My lady sped rapidly away. The ordeal--short and sharp--more bitter +even than she dreamed--was over; the draught was swallowed--in vain. +Gillin's taunts had shrivelled her soul like branding-irons. It +behoved her to arrange her features before returning to the Abbey, +lest some one should detect the troubled aspect of the chatelaine and +make guesses at its cause, which might possibly come near the truth. +As courage failed and resolution waned, her secret struggled the +harder to come forth. With the self-consciousness of guilt she seemed +to feel it emblazoned on her forehead, where all who ran might read. + +Instead of returning by the grand drive which was but at the distance +of a stone's-throw, she followed the main road, skirted the wall that +bounded her rival's grounds, and re-entered Strogue from the back, by +the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary. + +The thrusts of the full-blown champion in red satin were few; but they +went home, and smarted still. My lady's ears tingled yet as she walked +between the tall beech hedges. We are conscious often of doing wrong, +but decline to look upon our fault, and coax ourselves to disbelieve +in its existence by persistently turning our attention to more +pleasing objects. But when another individual, whose human voice we +can't shut out, brays forth the story of the sin with trumpet +clearness, we seem to wake up as to a new appreciation of its +enormity, which comes like a fresh revelation of turpitude. Thus was +it with my lady in this instance. She was well aware that her +treatment of Terence, from the beginning, was below the level of just +solicitude; that latterly, though his position as a traitor awaiting +punishment had weighed her down, yet she had acquiesced, with a +weakness which was itself a fault, in the prejudged sentence, and had +been prepared to hear that the scrag-boy's work was done without +attempting personally to move in the matter. Conscience whispered once +or twice that by virtue of her rank she ought to force admittance to +the Castle. Nay! that she ought to have hurried long ago to London, +and have wrested her boy's life from the King's clemency; have dogged +his Majesty to Weymouth; have stormed him in retirement; and have even +tossed the sprats that he was frying into the flames if he took refuge +in his wonted obstinacy. In a hazy way she knew all this full well. +She knew, indistinctly, that the scrag-boy had become to her warped +soul a harbinger of peace; and afraid of seeing too much on the glass +which conscience held, had shut her eyes and breathed on it till the +Present should become Past, and thereby irretrievable. But Gillin's +words could not be shut out after so simple a fashion. She had hinted +a few moments since, with scathing irony, that even if she sacrificed +her own child in cold blood on the altar of Nemesis, her conduct would +be no worse than my lady's had been to her second son. And my lady's +conscience echoed the speech with loud applause. She looked now +straight into her own heart, and was appalled at what she saw there; +she hearkened to the upbraidings of the monitor, and admitted that his +reproaches were deserved--that even the travail of an embittered life +was not an atonement sufficient for its crime. + +It is an awful moment when a nature built on pride begins to +crumble. The crash follows swiftly on the warning. Extremes tumble +together; the loftier the edifice the more complete its collapse. +The upbraidings of the monitor--harsh, unrelenting, awfully +distinct--dinned in my lady's ears as she paced with muffled head +between the hedges of the rosary. Presently she heard a murmur. No! +That was not conscience. Those were human voices--the voices of her +sons--arguing in a high key. Great heavens! they were quarrelling. + +With a stealthy step, holding her mantle in close folds lest its +rustle should betray the presence of an eavesdropper, she stole along +under the lofty hedge. + +Shane was in his hunting-suit. He was surrounded by his hounds. They +sniffed about and rolled on the damp grass, making their toilet in dog +fashion, to clean their muddy backs. Eblana and Aileach sat on their +hams gazing at their master with wistful heads poised on one side. +Shane stood facing his mother, who marked that the muscles of his face +were twitching, while his limbs shook with passion. Terence had his +back to her--a tall, quiet figure, distinct against a faded sky which +was faint with the glare of a departed sun. His broad, square +shoulders stood out distinctly from a light background of misty hedge, +of blotted, translucent pink, and pale yellow, and blue-green, across +which streamed a troop of darkling phantoms--crows cawing off to +roost. + +Shane's hunting-whip sawed the air, as he passed it from one nervous +hand to the other. He was always so ready with his whip. It seemed as +much as he could do to withhold its sinuous thong from off his +brother. Terence was speaking. My lady held her breath to listen. + +'I speak to you as from the grave,' he said. 'My life is done. A week +or two at most, and my place will be vacant--my shadow will darken the +threshold of my ancestors no more. Take care, my brother! When you +look on my empty seat let the sad memory of me be precious on your +hearth, untarnished by regret. You are the head of the house. Do not +forget the responsibilities to which you are born. Look at the +tapestry in the drawing-room, and follow the example of your fathers. +Do your duty by them; be without fear and without reproach. Do not +earn for yourself among the family pictures an empty frame from which +posterity shall have wrenched the portrait.' + +'Peace! I will not bear your prosing!' hissed the young earl. 'You are +no better than a felon. You've wrecked yourself through your own +folly, and now would inflict your broken-backed morality on me. I told +you once you were no better than a "half-mounted." Ye're not so good. +As for your insolent advice, _that_ for it! I'll tell you this much, +to set your mind at rest. I've made it up with my Lord Cornwallis by +explaining that the mistake was due to you. I've pledged my own vote +to Government, and all the influence that I can bring to bear. Two of +the boroughs I hold will be disfranchised, in return for which I am to +have money down.' + +'Oh, remember!' broke in Terence. 'That it's blood-money, which +carries a curse with it. That it will come out of Irish coffers. By a +refinement of barbarity it is Erin who will have to pay the ruffians +who will slay her!' + +'Pooh!' retorted Shane, with a finger-snap. 'Whatever your worship's +views may be, I will vote _for union_--there! Not that it can signify +to yon one way or t'other, so soon as you have been carted off to +Scotland.' + +'Then after this,' returned Terence, with hot reproach, 'you should +quarter an auctioneer's hammer with the arms of old Sir Amorey; since, +like a superannuated chest of drawers, you are to be knocked down to +the lowest bidder!' + +My lady could endure the spectacle no longer of her two sons +threatening each other in the gloaming with swollen veins, face close +to face. With a ghostly sigh which startled the disputants she hurried +towards the house. The brothers searched but found no one, and +cast uneasy glances at each other. What was it? Could it be the +banshee--messenger of ill? + +Terence, regretting his sharp speech, strode with abrupt strides away, +lest he might be provoked to still more regretable discourse, +across the little flower-plot, past the sun-dial, through the hall, +to his own chamber, wherein he locked himself, among the guns and +fishing-rods; while Shane, who was athirst, followed more slowly, like +a shepherd with his flock, and turned into the dining-room in search +of drink. + +Now Miss Wolfe, whose bedroom, it will be remembered, overlooked the +flower-plot, and was opposite to the dining-room, was sitting at her +window awaiting Terence's return with tidings of a successful +ambassage. Of course Shane would be persuaded to see the error of his +ways, and agree not to vote with Government. She was no little +surprised to behold my lady, usually so majestic, hurry in a scared +manner through the golden grille; then Terence; then Shane with all +his hounds about him. Something was afoot; what could have happened? +All three seemed strangely troubled. No! It was but a coincidence +exaggerated by the distorted fancy of a convalescent into something +serious. She was about to close the curtains when she was further +astonished by seeing my lady rush into the dining-room with frantic +gestures and fall prostrate on the ground before her son. She saw Lord +Glandore turn round and try to raise his mother, but she only wrung +her hands and wept, while her lips moved quickly. Two lighted candles +were on the table; the winter evening was shadowing in with a blue +glamour; the small flower-plot was packed with hounds that sniffed +about with uneasy muzzles, for Shane had slammed-to the golden grille +after him and forgotten them. + +What were they talking about down there?--only some burning question +could engross them thus. It was more than the curiosity of a daughter +of Eve might resist. Snatching up a cloak Doreen stole downstairs, out +into the garden, hushing the dogs in a whisper that their noisy +greetings might not betray her presence. + +My lady's subdued words came dimly to her through the glass. She +cowered close to the window, nursing Eblana's head in her lap with +furtive pats, for that pampered beast was importunate in his +demonstrative caresses, and whined a protest against neglect. What my +lady said sent a sharp thrill through Miss Wolfe. Forgetting all +caution in astonishment, she rose and pressed her scared face against +the pane, but mother and son were too fully occupied to heed any but +themselves, as my lady poured forth at last the pent-up gall which had +poisoned a life of promise, and her helpless first-born sat in a +stupor, thunderstruck. + +'Do not curse your old mother!' my lady implored, with a humility +which jarred upon his nerves. 'Have pity on her that she should have +to tell her shame. I would gladly have gone to the tomb as your father +did, carrying my secret--I would have hugged it close for your sake. +But the hand of God is heavy on me--it will out! You must know the +truth--alas, alas!--even if you curse me! It was not my fault--indeed +it was not--it was all your father's; and he went to his rest, whilst +I remained to bear the penalty. He carried me off; you know that much. +He was a member of the abduction-club. Placing me in a coach with a +scarf about my mouth, he threatened me with a pistol if I should let +down the glass and scream. Then I was borne away to Ennishowen, to the +islet of Glas-aitch-é. Oh, Shane! I endured the pang of living there +again for your sake--do not judge me harshly! We dwelt there a year, +then returned to Dublin to assume our position in society. We were +married in the blue bedroom by the parson of Letterkenny; but, Shane, +it was not my fault! Your father was fierce as you are--you are his +image, but more unstable. I was as an infant under his iron will; how +could I resist him? The parson of Letterkenny married us--_the night +before we came back to Dublin_.' + +My lady buried her face in her thin hands and sobbed, while Shane +looked on. He could not comprehend. + +Finding that her son said no kind word to ease the bitter task, his +mother went on in a hoarse voice--even and unbroken now by sobs--with +eyes fixed doggedly upon the ground. + +'I implored him--oh! how I implored him--again and again, I did +indeed--to send for the parson before your birth. He was reckless. At +length he seemed touched by my distress, and sent. The parson was laid +up with gout, but promised to be with us on the morrow. Then--it was +too late--and my lord put it off again, saying that it didn't matter, +and that nobody would know. I hoped that he was right, and was +comforted. When, six years later, Terence was born, the case was +altered. We both saw it--alas! too late; he felt it as much as I. But +after all, you were the first-born--a ceremony delayed could not alter +that. It was not fair that you should suffer for what was but an act +of negligence. We discussed the matter anxiously, and my lord decided +to bury the secret. No one would suspect, or think to examine the date +of the register, if we agreed to hold our peace. We never spoke of +it--never--but we saw it in each other's eyes; and from that moment I +lost his love--he was always looking with regret on Terence in a way +which maddened me, while I clung to you. You were the child of sorrow. +I suffered much for you on that accursed island; and then that--that +woman cast her meshes over him. My lord changed his mind before he +died--desired me to noise the tale abroad to all the world. I could +not--my pride revolted--and my love for you. None knew the secret +except one--that harlot!--my lord was faithless in that as in all +other things!' + +My lady's voice died away, as a host of grim recollections crowded on +her memory. Presently she looked up in alarm, for Shane had made no +comment. The cicatrice upon his brow stood out. She put forth her +hands; he seized her by the wrists and flung her down. Without +resistance she sank moaning backwards on the floor. Turning on his +seat, he poured out a tumblerful of wine and drank it off; then--the +whole truth breaking at last upon his slow intellect--he tore his +hair, growling, and smote himself upon the head, and staggered round +the room with reeling steps. Doreen did not try to hide herself, she +was transfixed with wonder; yet though she showed like a vision in +hoar-frost, impressed upon the casement, he saw her not. He was only +aware that there was another Lord Glandore--who would return his +contumely with interest--that his own portion was beggary and a +bend-sinister. No wonder if the phantom of this new prospect churned +and curdled his besotted brain. + +'He'll hate me and take my property and title!' he muttered through +his teeth again and again, in querulous cadence. 'What's to become of +_me_--what's to become of _me?_ I might as well be shot as beggared.' + +My lady rose from the floor, haggard and gaunt, and passed her long +fingers through her hair. The selfish cruelty of him for whose sake +she had gone through the torture was better for her than kindness +would have been. A little sympathy and she would have become +hysterical. Like a sharp fillip, it strung her nerves. That from which +she had shrunk so long was here in all its accumulated fulness. Well! +it was part of a penance; so much was past that the remainder could +matter little. + +'Not so,' she said mournfully; and Shane, clinging to a reed, returned +to his seat and drew her towards him. + +'The secret may rest where it is,' she continued, placing a loving +hand upon his head. 'No one living knows of it save you and I and--and +that woman. If she meant to speak, she would have spoken long since. +It may come out some day, and Terence will claim what the law will +call his own, and possibly revenge himself on you for having kept him +unwittingly from its enjoyment. But you shall not be brought to +beggary. Alas! my deary, you are unfitted to battle with the world. +Two things must be done--and done at once--betide afterwards what may. +You must marry Doreen. She is an heiress, and the only one available. +Your own mode of life has kept others from your path, though you might +have chosen among hundreds. Her father would be glad, I know, and she +is too much broken by recent afflictions to offer resistance when +strong pressure is brought to bear on her.' + +'Government has offered me forty-five thousand pounds for my vote and +influence in the coming contest,' Lord Glandore observed presently, +with a sinister smile. 'It is imminent. If Croppy can only be kept in +the dark till then!' + +My lady bent down and kissed him, while lines of anxious thought +gathered round her mouth. She was in the slough--up to the neck--out +of which it was impossible to struggle. Under happier auspices she +would have recoiled from the suggestion of cold-blooded barter. But +helpless Shane's position must be assured by hook or crook while there +was yet time. It struck his mother that Gillin--when she should +discover that her outrageous designs for Norah were foiled--might blab +the secret as a last shaft of vengeance. She determined that for the +present, at least, the odious creature must be humoured for prudence' +sake. It was with a dreary sort of satisfaction that she found her +turbulent favourite was become suddenly so malleable. What signified +the unsullied shields of departed Crosbies? Unblemished honour will +not renew exhausted tissues. It is well for those to prate who have +never been tempted. Shane, like the rest, must sell his mess of +pottage at the best market--_his_ so long as it was not claimed. Then +the idea flashed upon my lady as she meditated, 'Terence is marked out +for an arch-traitor. He was not convicted--yet is he sentenced. If his +claims were to be admitted now, his property (as that of one +attainted) would be forfeit to the state! Better far that Shane should +keep it.' Scruples were manifestly absurd. A brilliant suggestion of +the devil this--which went far to reconcile my lady to existing +circumstances. + +There was silence between mother and son. The thoughts of both were +best left unspoken. Both were absorbed in their own dreams. Eblana's +cold muzzle awoke Doreen from her reverie. She glided up the steps +into the hall, crept with caution past the door of the dining-room, +made for the young men's wing, where, in his own nest, Terence was +brooding in despondency over his blank future. + +He had nothing wherewith to reproach himself. Nothing! Of that he was +quite certain. It had been his duty to lay the question of union +clearly before his brother, who, as head of the house, must adjudicate +thereon upon his own judgment. The responsibility lay with him. +Whichever way he chose to act, no dishonour could accrue to the +younger from his decision, so long as he, Terence, had first +registered his private protest. Shane had been most insulting--had +stooped even to mock at his brother's deplorable condition. But that +was of no moment. When we stand upon life's brink we can afford to +contemn the foolish lapping of the waves. It mattered not a rush what +Shane might say or think. Yet that scene in the rosary was not one of +the rainbow-hued visions which were to fresco into warmth the cold +walls of his prison-cell at Fort George. Knowing his brother's temper, +it would have been more wise not to kick against the pricks. Perhaps, +situated as Terence was, he would have done better not to speak at +all--but it is difficult in the prime of life and manhood to accept at +once your position as a corpse. + +The handle of his door was turned and shaken. It was an agitated hand +that shook it--a woman's hand--for his hearing, sharpened by +excitement, detected the sough of silk, the unsteady grope of fingers +fumbling above a handle's usual place. His heart beat fast. Was the +yearning of his soul to be gratified? Was it his mother, who, so cold +and forbidding hitherto, had selected the long wintry interval +previous to the last meal of the day to come and whisper with kisses +of how she loved and pitied him? + +He turned the key. To his surprise Doreen, who entered swiftly, +double-locked the door, and, tossing away her mantle, stood before him +with a smile upon her lips, which he had supposed was gone for ever. +Her bosom heaved as she held out her two brown hands to him. + +'Terence, it's _you_ who are Lord Glandore!' she panted. 'Shane +repulsed you when you spoke to him. I know it! He is ready to accept +their blood-money; he is scheming basely for it at this moment; but he +shall be exposed in time. It is your duty to turn the bastard out!' + +Terence deemed that his star had left its course; for she stood, like +a distracted dark Ophelia, on the verge of laughter and of tears; +dashing the drops from her cheek with one hand, while the other crept +shyly into her cousin's and remained there. + +She told him quickly all she had heard and seen--all that was made +plain by the light of what she heard and saw. She told him, with +disdainful lip, of how her cousin had repulsed the whitehaired +suppliant; how he had whined, complaining; how his mother, fortified +by that engrossing love--transfigured, ennobled by it despite her +sin--had risen from her knees like a queen to comfort him. + +Terence listened--one leg crossed over the other to support his elbow, +while his chin rested on his hand--and instead of joining in her +exultant joy, he only grew more gloomy. What was this will-o'-the-wisp +that railed in such foolish fashion? At _him_ whose heart was dead, +whose career was done, upon whom the gate of a lifelong prison was +about to close, who was too weary to be very sorry for his own +undoing? Silly will-o'-the-wisp, who, clad in siren-guise, thought +thus to lure him back to love of life! He listened to Doreen's +narrative in moody thought, plucking no consolation thence. It was a +poignant subject of regret that her usually incisive common-sense +should be bewitched by this vulgar tempter. After all, a woman's +judgment may never be relied on. It must be his office, then, to +rebuke her folly, and show where his true duty lay. + +A great love, indeed--a sublime love! A love which is a crown of +glory, but which was in this instance a wreath doomed to be wasted on +the sterile rock. Shane cared for no one but himself. Was inclined +even to spurn this love--nay, had dared brutally to repulse it, +because it could not accomplish impossibilities. Not a drop from the +precious phial had ever leaked out for Terence--not a single drop. And +he would have prized it so! Yet was his duty carved plainly out; and +with the gaze of one who belongs to another world, he saw it--through +foliage and matted briars--with clear vision. + +'It appears that I might perhaps save our name,' he said slowly, while +he nursed his knee, 'from being mixed up with those of the recreants. +What is the price? Reflect, dear Doreen! If we were not beyond the +influence of mundane hopes and longings, would you advise me to act +thus? Would you----' + +'Can there be any doubt?' cried impetuous Doreen, with flashing eyes. +'Did we not agree this very afternoon that Shane must be worked on not +to disgrace his lineage. Now it is in your hands. Surely you could +not----' + +'Hush, hush, my dearest!' Terence responded gently. 'Remember that we +are to lay up no store of evil memories! At Fort George I am to think +of you as the star that has guided my thoughts upward. Reflect calmly +now! In order that Shane--poor misguided fellow!--may not drag us into +the ranks of the Iscariots, I should have to make good my rights +before the world. To accomplish that, I should have to brand with +obloquy my mother's fair fame, which in the world's eyes is spotless. +Should I thus keep untarnished the honour of the Crosbies? No! The +question of Ireland's fate is in God's keeping, not in ours. His +decrees seem hard to our purblind vision, yet must we bow to them. +Forget what you discovered. Let this be as though it had never been.' + +The girl's colour went and came; she looked earnestly at her cousin, +as with prosaic action he nursed his knee. + +'You are right,' she murmured at length. 'Do you know, my love, that I +dared to despise you once? I said you could never be a hero!' + +'Hero!' Terence echoed, with a laugh. 'I have looked into the other +world too closely to care now for this. We have passed through the +fire, Doreen, have we not? and bear its traces on our flesh. God grant +that it has purged away the worser part from both of us!' + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE. + + +Madam Gillin called many times at Ely Place in her anxiety to astonish +the chancellor, but failed to find him--for the best of all reasons, +that he was not there. Again and again she rapped with the big brass +knocker--always to receive the same answer, 'His lordship is in +England.' Time was moving on; reports arrived in succession that the +works at Fort George were progressing; that they were well-nigh +finished; that they were complete. The unhappy exiles would be drafted +off directly, and Madam Gillin was determined to astonish Lord Clare +before that moment came. What on earth could he be doing in England? +He was an Irishman, if a bad one, and ought to stop at home. She was +on the point of packing up a valise to pursue him across the Channel, +when Jug brought the tidings that my Lord Clare's coach was on its way +to Kingstown, and that therefore its master must be expected back. + +The chancellor frowned ominously when he beheld his eccentric +acquaintance ensconced in his favourite chair. The butler apologised. +The lady would take no denial, he explained. She had nearly worn out +the knocker. He could not turn out one of the sex by neck and +shoulders. Maybe it was really something of weight that made her so +persistent. But my Lord Clare was quite another man from when he went +to London, and was in no mood to brook liberties. He had seen Mr. Pitt +there; had, much to the amusement of that gentleman, reviled my Lord +Cornwallis, his policy, and his blunt manner; had explained away the +fiasco at the first voting for union, and had been graciously +received. Mr. Pitt had smiled on him while Mr. Fox sneered; had hinted +that if he and Lord Castlereagh did their work cleverly there would be +no end to the honours which his Majesty would heap on them. They must +not be discouraged, but slave away--hammer and tongs--till the object +was achieved. After all, it was at this juncture merely a matter of a +little tact. As an earnest of future favour, my Lord Clare was created +Baron Fitzgibbon in the Peerage of England, and returned home an inch +taller and three times as overbearing as he had shown himself before. + +Once the union arranged, Lord Cornwallis would depart; Lord Clare +would resume his lofty position in Irish politics, and from his new +place in the English House of Lords would coerce British politicians +on special subjects, as he had browbeaten a succession of British +viceroys. But before this delicious dream could be realised there was +much to be done, which required careful manipulation. Lord Castlereagh +had kept him _au courant_ during his absence of what passed in Dublin. +He was aware that, fired by indignation at the breaking of the compact +and the condemnation of his brother, untried, to penal servitude, +young Robert had left London abruptly and gone home. The young +cockatrice, as he elected to call him, meant mischief--would +certainly give trouble--and at an inconvenient moment. He must be +watched--bagged--gagged--swept away like a tiresome fly. It would +not do to have insurrections now. He was aware that the Irish +parliament--servile hitherto--was playing pranks and kicking up its +heels, raising the price of its suicide, to the annoyance of Lord +Castlereagh and the rage of Lord Cornwallis. He had seen a letter from +the Viceroy to the Duke of Portland, wherein the former pleaded once +more for the emancipation of the Catholics, declaring that if they +were kept out in the cold, the important measure which was to be a new +bulwark to England would have a foundation of sand; vowing that he was +sick of dirty water; that if there was no prospect of getting out of +the country he would offer earnest prayers to Heaven for immediate +death. Mr. Pitt, when he showed this letter to Lord Clare, spoke +openly without mincing matters. The King was obdurate about the +Catholics. Lord Clare knew that. They must be cajoled, however; led on +by specious promises and then betrayed; treated in fact after the +ingenious fashion in which Lord Clare had shown himself so consummate +a master in the matter of the compact with the state prisoners. The +Irish Chancellor, primed by Lord Castlereagh, explained the +difficulties of the situation with crystal clearness to Mr. Pitt. It +was now merely a matter of £ s. d. How much or how little didn't +signify, since the blood-money was to be supplied by the victim +herself. The Lords and Commons having made the plunge, were +totally divested of all shame. They made use of a small party of +anti-unionists as a lever to dig out more gold; swearing that they +would all go over to that party unless their demands were complied +with in all their greed. Thus was it with the upper class. The lower +class was apathetic and hopeless--all except a few United Irishmen, +who were making a new attempt to attain their ends by stirring up +discord and division. The anti-unionists were leaving no stone +unturned to inflame the spirit of the people. But the spirit was gone +out of them. There would be a tussle for it, no doubt. It would be +well for decorum's sake to postpone the conclusion of the business for +a few months, for it would look bad for the senators who were to be +freshly bought to seem to change their opinions too suddenly. Europe +would laugh if men who declared in April that union meant destruction +were in May to turn round and vote in favour of it. Finally Mr. Pitt +sent his tool home again, bidding him be discreet and diligent, and +laughed in his sleeve so soon as his back was turned. + +Lord Clare was puffed out with self-importance when he strutted into +his house and found Madam Gillin ensconced there as though she were +its mistress. Taking no heed of his frowns, she wagged her feathers +with satisfaction, and straightway unfolded her budget. He was as much +astonished as she could possibly desire. Shane then was illegitimate, +and Terence the true Lord Glandore! This was the clue to much which +had seemed inexplicable in my lady. Poor old friend! how she must have +suffered--and she innocent, except in aiding and abetting her husband +when it was too late to do anything else. It was evident that, born of +the same parents, it was a cruel law which would treat one brother +(and the elder one too) as a pariah for lack of a few sentences droned +through the nose. It was natural that a mother should feel this +strongly, and in a wrong-headed feminine way make difficulties greater +in her efforts to gloze them over. But the old lord was right when he +spoke the warning. His sons were only boys; they might have stepped +into their legal places then without much harm resulting. But now +after the long lapse of years, the situation wore another aspect. +Shane had grown to manhood--to the prime of life--under the impression +that he was true master of wealth and broad acres. His life had taken +its permanent shape. It would be a smashing blow to him were his +brother to come forward and claim his own. The position of Terence too +was a singularly unhappy one. He had been bitterly wronged. Of that +there could be no doubt, and his mother must have walked on red-hot +ploughshares when she beheld him going straight to ruin. If he had +been acknowledged as 'my lord' he would have done, of course, as the +majority of lords did--would never have thought of joining the popular +party, would not now be preparing to leave his country--a +brokenhearted exile. For even the most virtuous in the Upper House +were content at this juncture to remain neutral. Poor, poor old +friend! What anguish must have been hers when she contemplated all +this, as she must have done daily, without having strength to say the +words she should have said! Actually she had been doomed to watch her +own son drifting into the dark waters, and with her own hands to cut +the rope which might have saved him. No wonder if her hair was +white--her face of ashen pallor. No wonder if she was haunted by a +ghost who never left her side. Mrs. Gillin's story actually took away +the breath of the chancellor as his mind wandered through the fields +of the past, putting this and that together, fitting pieces of a +puzzle into their places which hitherto had defied his skill. + +In the first place he was moved with pity for the Countess of +Glandore. Sure, her sufferings--dragged out and intensified instead of +being healed by Time--would have turned long ago a less steady brain +than hers. Poor lady! at this very moment her trials were at their +acme. The son who had been so much wronged was about to depart on his +sad journey. Would she have the courage to let him go without speaking +the truth? And if she spoke the truth, what line would he take? It was +a pity he had not been hanged in the ordinary course of events. He +would then have gone to his grave in ignorance of the wrong done to +him. The knot would have been severed. For, failing Terence, the title +would be extinct; and, bastard or not, my lady's conscience would have +been at rest with regard to Shane's inheriting. As he turned over the +tangled mass he could not decide for which of the three he ought to be +most sorry. Their cruel case touched the good portion of his heart--in +which there was room for compassion for these three persons, whom he +had known intimately for years; two of whom had grown up before his +eyes. Shane's case was a most dreadful one. But not more cruel than +Terence's. All things considered, it would be best that Terence should +never learn the truth, or Shane either. Things had gone so far that +nothing but evil could come of their positions being reversed. + +This was the verdict of the chancellor, and a worldly-wise one too. +For he knew not that my lady's overburthened soul had already vomited +forth the truth; that she had confessed to Shane, now, several weeks +ago. This was his verdict, and Mrs. Gillin was reluctantly compelled +to admit that he was right. But he, on the other hand, fully agreed +with her that something must be done forthwith for Terence. The +Viceroy must be spoken to, the King even must be interviewed--a pardon +gained for the doomed exile without telling him the cause of it. By +being deprived of a fortune which was legally his, he had been +fearfully wronged. For the sake of others it would be well that he +should never know how much. All things considered, his was a case for +clemency. His Majesty, who was jealous of the ermine, and loved not to +see it dragged through the mud, would appreciate at once the +peculiarities with which the case was invested. But to hoodwink +suspicion he must be advised to avoid too abrupt a pardon, such as +should set the tongues of busybodies clacking. Terence must in a +careless way be left behind when the vessel sailed, which was now +lying ready in the Liffey. He must be made to promise to conspire no +more, and then be given to understand quietly that his misdeeds would +be graciously forgotten. + +Gillin went away content, and with a light heart. She had fulfilled +her promise of protecting the son of her old lover. Shane, it was +decided, was still to be Lord Glandore. Norah's mamma might now, with +an easy conscience, set about the clinching of that match which she +considered would be beneficial to her child. My lady's reluctant +consent could be wrung from her by fear of her secret becoming known. +She might even be told in plain words that her own evil imagination +had conjured up baseless phantoms--that Norah was born two months +before her mother made the acquaintance of the late lord, and that she +had been brought up a Protestant by his desire simply for the sake of +evading certain clauses in the Penal Code, which might jeopardise his +legacy to a Catholic. + +Madam Gillin had seen through my lady's terrors upon this point all +along, and had played on them to revenge herself for the stern +chatelaine's contemptuous airs. For the same cause she had first +imagined a match between the two young people, which their own +inclinations seemed inclined to ratify. It would be rare sport to +bring the haughty woman to the dust, and compel her to accept Norah as +a daughter! It would be, too, a spectacle of ineffable delight to see +Norah make her appearance at a drawing-room by the _entrée_ by virtue +of her rank as countess! The fascinating idea took possession of the +worthy woman; yet shrank she not from that to which she considered +herself bound by oath. She would have kicked over with her own fat +foot, if need were, the palace she had built, and have thought no more +of Norah as mistress of Strogue Abbey and the possible intimate friend +of a lady-lieutenant; but she was none the less charmed to find that +duty and delight were not incompatible, that Lord Clare was decided in +his opinion that Shane must still wear the coronet. + +Lord Clare considered and reconsidered the strange embroglio whilst +refreshing his inner man with chicken-pasty for a long business talk +with Castlereagh. There were several reasons why Shane must not be +ousted now. What with pugnacious waifs and strays from the broken +ranks of the United Irishmen; what with the honesty of a small band of +senators, and the rapacity of the remainder, there would be a very +pretty fight ere this union could be jotted down in history. To make +success certain consummate tact would be required, as well as a full +purse. Every vote would be of enormous worth; Castlereagh in his +latest bulletin had computed the votes of ordinary M.P.'s at £5000 a +head. The title of Glandore carried with it parliamentary pressure +of many kinds; direct or indirect influence over constituencies, as +well as weight in the Upper House. If all this influence were +transferred from Shane to Terence, it would be used on the wrong side. +He would certainly join Lords Downshire and Powerscourt and other +troublesome persons, who dared to flout the King; would sneer at +English marquisates and be faithful to the errors which beset an +heir-presumptive. It behoved the chancellor to be cunning on this as +on other points. There was no telling what might happen next, in so +singularly involved a complication as this of the Glandore family. Two +points only were quite apparent. Terence, the real earl, must not go +into captivity. Shane, the sham earl, must be retained in his +position, at least until he had borne his share in securing the +success of the Great Measure. + +When Castlereagh arrived presently at Ely Place, he disturbed his +colleague's complacency by hints of difficulty independent of money or +of votes. Not only was the scatter-brained school-lad Robert Emmett +back in Ireland (this was no news); but he was showing that he was a +cockatrice indeed. All his acts were watched, his intentions known; +but he was doing considerable damage already to the cause of +Government, and bade fair to make himself still more objectionable. He +was actually starting the foolish old plots again which had only been +allowed to run their course at all for state reasons, and which were +now altogether preposterous and out of date. He prated of tying +together the ravelled strands of the confederacy. Major Sirr had +intelligence of midnight meetings of the good old kind, with passwords +which everybody knew. Had even seen a wonderful green uniform, with a +cocked hat like a merry-andrew's at a fair, which was being +manufactured for the younger Emmett. + +'The boy is an honest boy,' Lord Castlereagh averred. 'He is simply +running his head against a wall. It would be well to save him from the +effects of his own lunacy, if possible; a strait waistcoat would fit +him better than his fancy dress.' + +This was annoying news, but it was not all. The state of the country +was unsafe, and Lord Cornwallis was of opinion that, unless the +measure could speedily be finished off, difficulties might arise which +it was the interest of all parties to avoid. Time was when the lash +and halter were salutary instruments; but now it was essential that +they should be used no more. Agrarian outrages were becoming ominously +frequent. Not only property was in danger, but life too. Not merely +the life of the low scum, which of course didn't matter, but the +precious lives of lords and ladies. Some lords, indeed, the +remembrance of whose performances on the triangle made them specially +unpopular, had been obliged to surround their mansions with foreign +troops, and were delighted to escape from the homes of their +forefathers to the safer atmosphere of Dame Street and the Castle. Was +not that awkward? Even that was not all! Here was something worse. At +the time when the English militia regiments were drafted into Ireland +for the protection of the proprietors, it was agreed that their +enforced stay should not exceed a certain period, with option of +eventually returning home or lingering on as might be deemed +convenient. The specified time was up now. In a wild chorus--as eager +as the Viceroy's private solo--they all declared that they would not +remain on Irish soil a moment longer than they could help. Even the +strong influence of Lord Cornwallis, who kept his solo for his private +bedchamber when his nightcap was on, could only obtain a month or +two's delay. Things were shaky. Another Hurry might be brought about +unless those in office were careful and it would be monstrous +inconvenient if such a contingency were to take place. + +This, according to Lord Castlereagh's account, was in the future. Let +us look at the present, which was sad enough. + +The melancholy convoy started for Fort George. Women, children, and +strong men crowded to the quay, and wept as the martyrs were wafted to +their prison. Young Robert Emmett was seen to wave his hand from a +window towards Tom, who stood at the ship's bows to take his last look +at Erin. So soon as the vessel was out of sight, the young man kneeled +down by the open casement with both arms aloft, and swore an oath +there to repel the Sassenagh yet, or perish in the attempt. Many of +those who were wearily plodding homeward recognised his figure and his +action, and, kneeling too, registered their vows in concert. All the +first leaders of the United Irishmen who were not dead were on board +that transport; and Robert, left alone, set to work with a will (as +Castlereagh graphically put it) to batter his head against a wall. He +engaged mysterious premises, decayed warehouses in back slums, from +out of which came by-and-by the hum of many voices, the clang of many +anvils. The Battalion of Testimony peeped through the keyholes, and +were mightily amused. This infantile echo of the preparations of '96 +and '97 was diverting--a right jovial jest--a jolly jape! They related +to Major Sirr and his crony, Cassidy, all they had seen and heard, and +those worthies roared too, till tears of exhausted merriment ran down +their cheeks. + +The young enthusiast's guileless arrangements for driving the +Englishry into the sea were ridiculous, no doubt. He kept the details +of them to himself, never telling those who loved him of them. As they +were not in the habit of looking through keyholes, they knew not that +he was working in earnest; that he had determined in his own mind, +should the union pass, to make the first shaking out of the united +flag upon the Castle his signal for attack; when a handful of +scatter-brains, as unpractical as himself, should storm the Castle, +kill the Viceroy, proclaim Ireland free, and the Act of Union a +valueless piece of dirty parchment. Jack Cade's rabblement was no whit +more laughable an assemblage than the army which Robert proposed to +lead to victory. The authorities consulted as to what should be done +with him, and decided that it would be safer to allow him to stir up a +little dust in the metropolis than to drive him into the provinces, +where he really might give serious trouble. It would be better to let +the affair come to a head at once, while the English militia and my +Lord Cornwallis were still at hand. It was fortunate for Government +that Robert kept his secret so well; for if his friends had been aware +of his guileless plots, they would have applied at once to the +Viceroy, who would have had no alternative but to lock up the +firebrand and allow the coals to smoulder. Not even to Sara did he +speak openly; though he certainly did let out vague hints which +frightened the damsel not a little; not even to Terence did he speak +at all--to Terence, who remained quietly in seclusion at the Abbey for +months after the vessel sailed, wondering if he was forgotten, or +whether he was set apart to head a second convoy. + +As for Doreen, so soon as her amazement had abated (which resulted +from the eavesdropping), it gave place to a feeling of uneasiness. Her +aunt had spoken of the disposal of her hand as a matter of +convenience, for the benefit of Shane; and she now deciphered all the +riddle which had seemed so crabbed and contradictory. With +apprehension she awaited a change in the young lord's demeanour, +expected him to play the lover, and be miserable, as orthodox suitors +are. He was undoubtedly most miserable, but he made no attempt to play +the lover. Although she knew it not, her own manner was the maiden's +safeguard. Cousin Shane, who had always been repelled by her cold +ways, felt that he might as well try to make love to a dead body as to +this full-blooded girl, who, like Terence, announced that her life was +done. Have we not read somewhere of a certain prince who espoused an +ice-maiden for the sake of her dowry? She clasped him in her arms, and +froze him slowly. Just such a bride would Miss Wolfe be to Shane. And +yet he saw that his mother was right. If Terence were somehow to learn +the secret, and to claim his own, what would become of his +illegitimate brother? His mother was right, as she always was. Lord +Kilwarden's nest-egg would keep the wolf from the door. What a pity it +could not be his without the burthen of the accompanying ice-maiden! +As he looked round he decided reluctantly that there was no other rock +to make for; that he must force his inclinations, give up Norah, +possess himself of Doreen; but the sight of her dreary face and +listless demeanour was always enough to put to rout his most firm +resolve--the while he cursed himself for his repulsion. My lady's +ghost was his companion now as well as hers. It communed with him in +the night; it whispered to him by day. The countess perceived the +leaven of fear working within him, and her burthen became, if +possible, more heavy on her back. Irresistible impulse had impelled +her to confess. An indistinct dread of open rupture between the +brothers had forced her to give Shane a reason for more considerate +behaviour towards Terence. But the shot, she found, had entirely +missed its mark. Shane was not a good man; he was gross, brutal, and +endowed with none of the attributes of the serpent. He was not like +Cassidy, for instance. If he hated a person, all the world might know +it. By virtue of his bringing-up as Chief of Blasters and King of +Cherokees, he was terribly handy with rapier and pistol; could send +his closest friend to Hades without compunction; but then it must be +done according to the rules set down by the Knights of Tara, and in +open battle, with paces marked out and seconds looking on. Like many +selfish men, he could be good-natured so long as affability was cheap. +But how grievously had my lady been mistaken in supposing that fear +would induce civility to Terence, in proportion to the wrong that he +was doing him. On the contrary, by the light of my lady's confession, +he saw Terence from such an aspect, that his hitherto colourless +dislike was turned, at once to fiercest hate. Terence was his +junior--one, too, who had brought himself, by his own acts, to +shipwreck, and had done much besides to spoil his elder's prospects. +And this fellow--six years younger than himself--was to take the bread +out of his mouth, because, forsooth, their father and mother had +postponed the mouthing of a few words! + +From Shane's point of view it was monstrously unjust. By right of +father and of mother he was Lord Glandore. He could not--would +not--be commonly civil to this fellow, who might, some of these days, +eject him from all that made life pleasant. Vainly his unhappy mother +argued. The case, he persisted, stood thus, and no otherwise. She +could not alter what was done, if she talked till Doomsday. Vainly she +vowed that the secret lay between him and her and Mrs. Gillin. He must +not be rude to Mrs. Gillin, or jilt her daughter, all at once. That +amourette must be allowed to dwindle by slow degrees, till it should +fade out from sheer lack of sustenance. Meanwhile he must make up to +Doreen and be civil to Terence, trusting that events would shape +themselves rightly after all. If the worst came to the worst, his +mother would speak solemnly to Terence, reminding him of the oath he +made by his father's death-bed that he would be loyal to the +elder-born, and adjure him not to stain his soul by perjury. At +mention of that circumstance Shane pished and pshawed, for at best it +was an oath wrung wrongfully from a little lad; and he felt with +dismay that if she was inclined to cling to such broken reeds as that, +her hopes could not be so rosy as she pretended. Sometimes, in +despair, he determined to throw up the game; to seek better fortune in +some foreign service; to offer his sword and courage to Austria or +Prussia; then, in reckless mood, he would veer round, swearing that he +would hold by his coronet till it was torn out of his grasp; that the +grave would be preferable to disgrace and beggary. This mood assumed +after a while the upper hand; and under its influence he did things +which capped his earlier fame as King of Cherokees, and bade fair to +land him in a madhouse. + +He gave way more and more to drink. His conduct became daily less +trammelled by accepted rules. He took up a passion for hunting in the +night. To his dogs, who followed their noses, it was all one whether +they tracked their prey by rays of sun or moon. To carry out my Lord +Glandore's conceit, however, it was necessary to provide flambeaux. A +number of servants, well mounted, led the way with torches over drain +and wall, and the shuddering cottiers, startled from sleep by a +nocturnal 'Tallyho!' turned round again to resume their broken rest, +muttering that it was not hell let loose, only mad Glandore. + +Perhaps his uncertain future urged him to break his neck like a +gentleman; perhaps he only sought in oddity a refuge from his muddled +thoughts. At any rate, he soon became the talk of Dublin, and his +mother grew daily more haggard and more wan. + +Among the men whom Shane met every day in the capital was Mr. Cassidy, +who, by dint of haymaking during the brief time when the sun shone, +had materially improved his position in life. Hand and glove with +Major Sirr, who watched young Robert like a lynx, and whose private +duties on behalf of union were no less important than they had been in +preceding years, he managed to stuff his nest with comfortable +wadding, manufactured chiefly from bank-notes. He took care that +Government should know that but for him Tone would have escaped, and +Terence possibly, and many others. He cultivated the powerful, bullied +the timid, flattered the vain, duped the credulous, amused the +convivial. He received a handsome pension (as depository of awkward +secrets), which raised him for ever above the rank of a half-mounted +to that of a gentleman to the backbone; received splendid presents +from suspected persons who quaked before a vision of Fort George; laid +money by; was altogether a prosperous individual, with a band of spies +under his own orders--the flower and pride of the Staghouse garden. +And prosperity sat well upon his jolly features. Impunity gave him +_aplomb_. His clothes were handsome, his entertainments festive. He +could sing a song or crack a bottle against any man alive. He was not +puffed up by success. It was but natural that he should be elected by +acclamation a Cherokee; a Blaster; that he should be welcomed among +the set of drunken, swearing, fighting daredevils by Shane, their +leader, who had always been his patron. The influence of so merry a +blade was sure to become great amongst the rackety M.P.'s, who would +shortly be called upon to vote. Promises of great things to come were +freely made by the chancellor and his colleague Castlereagh, if those +who inclined to backsliding were well kept to the sticking-point. + +Now a very brilliant idea burst at the right moment from the brain of +Mr. Cassidy--an idea which showed that he understood the foibles of +his countrymen, and well knew how best to play on them. Watchful +Europe decided some time before that the Irish senate was hopelessly +disgraced, and branded its members with a verdict of moral cowardice. +They could not with truth deny the soft impeachment, yet they +attempted to justify themselves by showing that physically at least +they were no cowards. Shane was but one example out of many. 'Fighting +Fitzgerald' was even more wild than he. The palm of perfect +Cherokeeism was awarded to Lord Glandore in some measure from +consideration of his rank. The Lords and Commons made up for the moral +cowardice, of which they were notoriously guilty, by an extra amount +of blustering and ruffling. They were aristocratic bravoes. Their +hands were always on their swords. What better opportunity for a +little 'play' than diversity of political opinion? Mr. Cassidy +(newly elected to Daly's, hard by the senate-house) proposed +that covers should be laid there every day, at Government expense, +for--say--thirty or forty guests at least, who could thus be counted +upon, on an emergency, to swell the ranks of the Government party in +either House; and who, inflamed with wine and enthusiasm, would be +delighted to shoot down, or spit, on shortest notice, any unwise +person who should disagree from the opinions of their amphitryon. +This project was thought ingenious, and was acted on. The feasts +were known as 'pistol-dinners,' and took place--either at Daly's +or in a committee-room adjoining, until their _raison d'être_ had +ceased--under the superintendence of Mr. Cassidy, who, wise enough to +assume for a purpose a lower seat, placed this or that lord _en +evidence_, as circumstances seemed to dictate. It was only natural +that he should push forward as much as possible his patron, Lord +Glandore; and the latter, as he grew more reckless and more +claret-stained, came to glory in the unenviable privilege, and to put +trust in the cheery friend who once was proud to be his slave. + +He told him his passing woes, asked his advice, and sometimes took it. +If you are sorely troubled, and in your anxiety to conceal that you +are losing your nerve, force yourself on to preposterous deeds of +prowess, there is much comfort to be obtained from the sympathetic +ring of a jolly voice, the warm clasp of a shoulder-of-mutton hand. +Cassidy, too, was so open and so innocent--so easily seen through. +Lord Glandore felt a sort of disdain for him, dubbing him, with +patrician condescension, a big grown-up baby, and so forth--even +whilst he clutched for support the giant's burly arm. And Cassidy was +no whit offended, laughing more loudly than ever as his patron's jests +waxed broader--till the windows shook again, and the sound-waves +carried a shimmer of his braying from Daly's to the House of Peers. + +Sometimes Lord Clare deigned to encourage his satellites by appearing +in person, during an interval of debate, at a pistol-dinner, whilst +Lord Castlereagh was entertaining on a grand scale at home. Then were +toasts drunk with three times three--Government toasts, to which the +chancellor responded in a voice broken by emotion, with a lowly visage +and hand pressed on heart; toasts which were borne on the air out of +open windows to the ears of passers-by, who, scowling, hurried away. +Then, fired by his hints, the pot-valiant heroes would rush forth and +run a-muck--a right jovial way of finishing an evening from the point +of view of a Cherokee; and the chancellor, protesting that the boys +really were too lively and amusing, would return to the House alone by +the private covered way. + +One evening, when appearing amongst them to announce that the crisis +was close at hand, he professed to be mightily alarmed by the +proceedings of the opposition party. These were in the habit of +meeting at my Lord Charlemont's, and on this occasion, he said with +sorrow, they had dared to insult the King, in the person of his +ministers, by burning himself and Lord Castlereagh in effigy in the +middle of Stephen's Green. The chancellor said that it was most unkind +and inconsiderate. Yet with Christian meekness he implored the +faithful servants of his Majesty to take no notice of the outrage. The +result was as he intended. With a wild war-whoop the lords and M.P.'s +rose up from dinner, dragging the tablecloth with them in their zeal, +and rushed off to Stephen's Green to fight it out. The anti-unionists +were speedily put to flight, for they were few. By this means, and +such tricks as this, did the crafty minister strive to browbeat the +timid, many of whom, unassailable from any other point, were to be +coerced into submission by the bullet-test. + +Two only of the diners remained behind--both of whom were usually in +the very van--Lord Glandore and Cassidy. The former was much out of +sorts. The latter, certain that there was something on his mind, lay +in wait to discover what it could be. He was very fond of penetrating +other people's mysteries, was Mr. Cassidy--for it is astonishing how +an ingenious mind can turn them to its own advantage--and Mr. Cassidy +was always on the prowl to pick up stray wadding for his nest. He +therefore, with a look of concern, sat down beside my lord, whose face +lay on his arms upon the table, and rallied him about his evident +depression. + +'Come, come!' he cried, with a pat of his great hand. 'Sure your +lordship's head was not well seasoned in its youth. What ails ye? The +claret's good enough.' + +'I wish I could be drowned in it!' Shane muttered with despondency; +'and then there'd be an end. There was a Duke of Clarence killed that +way, you know--lucky fellow!' + +'Is it kilt? 'Deed and your lordship won't come to so mean a death, +I'll warrant; though ye're mighty careless of your life--more than I'd +be if all you have was mine.' + +Shane started up with a fierce glare. Everybody's chance arrows seemed +winged to stick into his flanks. But he saw nothing in the giant's +flat, round visage but an engaging air of humour and unguarded +openness. What a good-natured face! Shane, weaker than his mother, +yearned for sympathy and consolation; the secret she had carried so +long with heroic fortitude ate into his softer fibre, and devoured +him. He was at his small wits' end to know how to act. Cassidy's warm +heart and kindly friendship might perchance suggest something. Out of +the mouths of babes and sucklings wisdom has come ere now. Acting on +the impulse, Shane, with maudlin tears, swore his dear friend to +solemn secrecy, and amidst a coruscation of cries and curses, blurted +out the story which we wot of. + +'What a cruel, cruel world it was!' he wailed, 'and what a bitter fate +was his! He would certainly come to be a beggar--would be thrown out +upon the world an outcast, he, who was not fitted to battle with +it--for my lady was very queer in her ways, would be certain to tell +Terence some day, just as she had told him. Why had she ever told him? +wicked and unnatural mother to cause him such harrowing grief! Why was +not Terence hanged? Why didn't they send him to Fort George? Once +taken out of sight, the chances of my lady's blabbing would be +lessened.' + +Cassidy sat listening to his rambling lamentations, with his +china-blue eyes staring vacantly; then hummed to himself the words of +the old song while his nimble brain was working: + + + 'A jackdaw noble, glittering in the plumes + Of the old race, whose honours he assumes!' + + +'My lady--my lady! It's always your mother ye're bothering about,' +he said presently. 'Sure, your lordship's not tied to my lady's +apron-string!' + +But Shane's babble, once set going, was not to be stemmed by pertness. +He proceeded to unfold all her suggestions, mingled with his own +doubts and hopes and fears; and as he talked on, new ideas sprang into +shape, which hitherto had lain indistinct and dormant. He told of +Doreen and her fortune, and how he would like to marry her if he could +get rid of her directly afterwards--of how fortunate it was that he +had sold his parliamentary interest so well--of how Terence had +rebuked him on that subject, and what a crackbrained lunatic he +was--girt round with old-fashioned prejudice--beset with starched +quirks and rubbish. + +Cassidy's eyes twinkled, for he detected a glittering piece of wadding +which would suit his nest right well--a precious piece of wadding made +of revenge and self-interest interwoven--a rare piece of wadding which +should be his if craft could win it. + +'Would Miss Wolfe have your lordship?' he said carelessly; 'sure, it's +many a colleen that'd jump at your refined appearance, let alone your +wealth. But she----' the sentence remained unfinished, out of respect. +He would not make disagreeable remarks to his patron for anything +whatever. He therefore whistled in a deprecating and provoking manner, +while the latter echoed pettishly: + +'But she--what?' + +'Maybe I'd best not tell ye! Well--if ye will have it--she--I fear +she's sweet upon another gintleman--that's bad?' + +Shane was fairly startled. It had never struck him that she could have +already given herself away--to whom? As her form began to appear +shadowy, he, with the usual inconsistency of man, began to hanker +wildly after the ice-maiden--not for herself of course, but for the +money-box. + +'It's not possible!' he cried. + +''Deed 'tis!' returned the other, with compassion. 'She's deep in love +with Councillor Crosbie. I've known it this long while.' + +Shane ground his teeth and sprang upon his feet. This last blow was +too much. What! this interloper was going to rob him of his birthright +and his name, and, not content with that, was also going to take the +precious ice-maiden, whose paltry little stockingful would at least +keep hunger from the pauper's door. In an access of rage Shane paraded +up and down the club-room like a tiger. Inflamed by his own critical +condition he lashed himself into savage unreasoning passion, and +Cassidy whistled softly before the fire, with his big legs stretched +out and his fists deep in his pockets, until the young man should have +attained the requisite degree of heat. Then, when he judged the +patient's temper to be sufficiently exasperated, he passed his arm +through his, and in a low coaxing voice poured poison in his ear while +the two walked. Sure, his lordship must take the bull by the horns and +act promptly, unless he was satisfied to sit with hands before him and +lose all. He must take measures to prevent Master Terence from seeing +any more of his mother or of Miss Doreen until something could be +definitely settled. + +Shane half understood, and his blood tingled. + +How did his lordship's father espouse her ladyship? Was it not after +the then prevailing fashion of high-spirited Irish gentlemen? Did he +not carry her off before all competitors, as many another noble member +of the Abduction Club had carried away his bride? True, the Abduction +Club had ceased to exist five and twenty years ago; but in the present +unsettled condition of the country, there was no reason why a leaf +should not be taken from its book. Lord Kilwarden would hush the +matter up, which would merely be a little scandal, strictly limited +within the family circle. Miss Doreen would be Madam Shane: good luck +to the winsome colleen! Her money would be his--so would be the +forty-five thousand pounds for which he had sold his vote. Come what +might, then, there would be no need to talk of drowning himself in +claret--of being thrust forth a beggar in the world. + +Shane listened and brightened up. The abduction idea was good, and +jumped with his Irish romance. He would marry the ice-maiden without +having to woo her--a proceeding that he knew he could not accomplish. +But how about Terence? He would interfere--knight of the rueful +countenance though he professed to be. My lady too--what should +prevent her from speaking before these arrangements could be carried +out? The ruinous words were on the tip of her tongue. Terence was at +Strogue, and bound to remain there. He could not leave the grounds +without breaking his parole. + +Cassidy was delivered of a real inspiration; and nothing could be +easier than to carry it out. Did not the chancellor say only an hour +ago that the tussle was close at hand--that the Great Measure was to +be again brought forward without delay? Well then. Master Terence must +disappear. Nonsense! No _sbirri_ in long cloaks as in an opera. Major +Sirr and faithful Cassidy could manage that. He could be locked up by +an error of orders just for a little. Was he not a state-prisoner on +parole? and was not the younger Emmett--foolish young scapegrace, who +thought he concealed his identity under the name of Hewitt--busily +preparing to dash his head against a wall? What easier than to suggest +that Councillor Crosbie--already so gravely compromised--had broken +his parole and gone off to join the baby-conspirators? The Battalion +would come up by dozens to swear it. They would minutely describe +where and how--the other side of the country--they had captured him a +second time; would claim rewards for doing so. Afterwards he should be +forthcoming without a hair of his head being injured--his affectionate +brother need not fear for his life. Apologies would be made if need +were (for Government seemed determined to treat him very leniently), +and all would be right as a trivet. Whether any one would speak or no, +so that later on he might assume his title, was an after +consideration. By the time he was released, Lord Glandore would have +voted; Doreen would be Madam Shane; Lord Kilwarden would have blessed +his children. The matter would be settled--Shane would be safely +provided for. If the rumour of the councillor's escape and the +breaking of his parole were deftly managed, his own friends would be +disgusted; his mother, even, would see that confession would not help +matters; Government would wash its hands of so determined a Croppy, +when, the measure carried, his influence would be null and void. It +would be very much more likely than not that those who could speak +would irrevocably decide--after the escapade which they would father +on him--that the secret must be kept for ever. + +Shane was amazed and delighted. The babe and suckling had spoken +wisdom indeed--admirable! Verily the best plans are the most simple +ones, and nothing could be simpler than this. It was not possible more +cleverly to meet every difficulty, to countercheck every contingency, +than by this subtle scheme. He promised himself in the future to make +Terence a splendid allowance as a salve to his own conscience--so soon +as he held his portion of the blood-money, and Doreen's stocking and +his marquisate, and a certainty that nobody would blab. So easily are +we inclined to believe what suits us that his bugbear vanished into +the air. Terence would never know. The crisis past, the prospective +marquis would score a point before the world by laying claim to his +brother's liberty, feigning to demand it for state services, instead +of promotion in the peerage. Of course everybody would applaud so +gracious, so affectionate an act. He would receive both favours. The +clouds which threatened to smother him were melting unaccountably +before a magic wand. How strange that the man who had power to work so +potent a spell should be stupid blundering Cassidy! + +He clasped the giant warmly by the paw, vowing eternal gratitude if he +would see to this at once. Would he also consider as to what favour +the prospective Marquis of Glandore should ask the Government for his +dear friend--his excellent friend--his saviour? + +Cassidy laughed with a great guffaw, which was not all innocence, at +the change which his suggestions had worked. It was just possible that +things would not turn out quite as the future marquis saw them. In a +case of abduction there may be a rescue. The rescuer may carry off the +prize. What if Doreen, instead of becoming by main force Madam Shane, +were to return to the world as Madam Cassidy? The giant had an eye to +that stocking, not for his patron but himself. He also had a consuming +desire to possess its mistress--all the more that she had twice +refused him; that she had declined his acquaintance altogether since +the little party at Glas-aitch-é. It would be a fine revenge to +possess her by right of conquest--a fine revenge on her and on the +odious Terence. No; it was hardly likely that the giant intended to +permit Miss Wolfe to become Madam Shane. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + CONSIGNED TO MOILEY. + + +When the fatal moment arrived, Dublin was agog. The influence of the +lords, so dearly purchased, was brought to bear with all its force +upon the members, for whose return to parliament they were +responsible. Jupiter was showering gold on Danæ, resolved to +consummate the sacrifice of her virtue. Debate followed debate with +unequal success. First one side considered that the day was theirs; +then the other triumphed; then the pistol-heroes rushed forth, and +howled and swaggered, and pinked their men, and returned to go on with +the argument which had been dropped in their excitement. In fact, both +parties seemed agreed as to one point only, viz., their determination +to behave in as undignified a manner as might be. It was the old story +of physical bullying doing its best to conceal moral cowardice and +turpitude--a scene of hectoring and license and vulgar abuse and +uproar, which shamed both parties in equal measure. + +Lord Cornwallis had done his best. In the course of the year which +elapsed between the two attempts to carry the union he made two state +progresses--one in the southern counties and the other in the north, +and preached the millennium according to St. Pitt. Clare and +Castlereagh both laboured on in town as sure no negro slaves ever +laboured; and yet when the time came all was still provokingly +uncertain. This Irish senate was unutterably vile. Having surrendered +its scrap of virtue, it repudiated, like an irreclaimable strumpet, +even the maxim of honour amongst thieves. It was clear that further. +delay would only make matters worse by inducing senators to open their +mouths yet wider. Portentous debates occupied the Commons; the House +frequently sat all night, breaking up only at midday. Members declared +that they must give up the ghost or have a holiday; some sought refuge +among pillows and boluses from the Herculean labours of the House, +while others dragged themselves, like martyrs to the stake, through +the dense masses of the populace that had taken possession of College +Green, to cheer non-unionists with vociferous shouts, and hurl mud and +putrid eggs at unpopular legislators. On Lord Castlereagh fell the +onus of wielding the thunderbolts of Jove, and he acquitted himself of +the task most excellently. Like the chancellor, he had the 'gift of +the gab;' was not particular as to the language he employed; was well +versed in forensic Billingsgate; could return anyone, in sledge-hammer +fashion, a Roland for his Oliver. The modest were overwhelmed by +flights of astounding rhapsody; the patriotic silenced by brazen lies; +the uncertain routed by bewildering irony. As the dogmatic chancellor +(now that he no longer feared the Viceroy) trampled the peerage under +his feet, so did the clever chief secretary discomfit the Commons. +Money was poured forth lavishly; threats and promises were distributed +with profuse hands. The tussle was sharp, but none could doubt which +side would in the end prove victorious. Concerning Grattan (the man of +'82), Lord Cornwallis wrote that he was no better than an old doll. +The jaws of the ancient lion were toothless. 'Grattan,' he said, +'degraded as he is in the opinion of the respectable portion of the +community, yet has a certain influence with the Roman Catholics of +Dublin, who are disaffected, and hate British connection.' Of Curran +also he felt no dread, for the little man was no longer in +parliament--his silver tongue was gagged; he was apparently worn out +by his efforts on behalf of the state-prisoners--was sickening (as he +put it) with a 'constitutional dejection of the heart, which could +find no remedy in water or in wine.' No wonder if he felt unwell. He +saw members moved, like beasts, in droves--a picture of human +degradation never equalled since Nebuchadnezzar went to grass. + +Practically the question was already settled long before young Robert +looked out for the running up of the new flag. Not but what the Dublin +populace were quite prepared for riot. They seized private carriages +and tossed them into the Liffey; marched about with political +effigies, and danced round the bonfires which consumed them. All this +was very harmless vapouring in the eyes of those who yet heard the +shrieks of the victims of '98--yet saw the Reign of Terror, with its +pitch-caps, its cardings, its picketings, and triangles. No one took +heed of the street mobs, even though my Lord Clare himself, in his +carelessness, came once quite near to danger. It was on the morning of +one of the last struggles. The debate had lasted, without a pause, for +eighteen hours, and the members were wearily dispersing, when the +crowd manifested a desire to 'shilloo' the speaker, who had behaved +with refreshing patriotism. His horses were taken from his carriage, a +hundred men dashed forward to seize the pole. At this moment the lord +chancellor appeared upon the steps, with insolent chin in air, dressed +in his great flapped wig and rustling laced robes. 'Harness him to the +carriage!' cried a wag. My Lord Clare started round with an indignant +reprimand; but perceiving from his vantage-ground a sea of some ten +thousand threatening heads, he retreated backwards with caution, as a +countryman might do before a bull, flourishing a toy-pistol in his +hand, with which he swore to blow out the brains of the first man who +came within six paces of him. The extraordinary pageant moved slowly +along; so singular a spectacle that it tickled the humorous side of +the Hibernian character--the lord chancellor of Ireland walking +backwards through the mud, holding up his robes with one hand lest he +should trip over them, pointing with the other a tiny firearm at ten +thousand enemies. Sure, this alone was a glorious triumph for King +Mob. Choosing his moment, he whisked with a swift dash into a house, +the door of which withstood the battering of myriad kicks until Lord +Clare made good his escape by a back way. But there were mobs and +mobs, in Dublin as elsewhere. This one happened to be a good-tempered +mob, for the patriotic speaker had gained a point that day. But there +were other mobs abroad made up of desperate men--of men whose skins +bore the scars of the Riding-school, whose hearths were desolate, +whose homes were bereft of dear ones. It was to these, and such as +these, whom no jests could soften, that young Robert looked for the +realisation of his dream. His natural fear of bloodshed was washed +away by the woes that had been the portion of his friends. He clung to +the notion that the mantle of Theobald had fallen on his shoulders; +that as Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, so, for some +Divine reason, Theobald was punished; and that he, Robert, was to play +the part of Joshua. His green uniform failed to please him. A new one +was designed--gorgeous--of scarlet, faced with green and laced with +gold. He tried it on in secret before a glass, and minced hither and +thither to see what the figure would look like that was to storm the +Castle and kill Cornwallis in his bed. Yet, for all these childish +pranks, none could be more earnest than he, or more genuinely prepared +to do or die. The hordes of banditti which still infested Wicklow were +taken into partnership. On the signal of a rocket they were to rush to +their posts. Some were to seize the desecrated Senate-house; others to +attack Chapelizod; others to secure important streets. Young Robert +reserved to himself and a selected band of braves the sacred right of +storming the Castle and pulling down the objectionable ensign. + +To one only of his friends did he confide a vague suspicion of his +intentions as they approached maturity. That one was gentle Sara, whom +he bound by awful oaths, though she was in nowise fitted for a +heroine, to divulge nothing of what she knew, but to keep her chamber, +and pray there for his success. The poor child knelt by her virgin +bed, and prayed and wept with terrible forebodings. Truth to tell, he +told her very little. What was this venture which was to produce such +marvels? What means could he employ to prevent the parliament from +voting. Would he come to stand in the dock as so many had done who +were now at rest? No. By Divine mercy he had been kept in England +during the awful agony--had been specially preserved from peril. It +could not have been in sport that the beloved undergraduate had been +withheld from temptation--merely to be dashed down at last, when the +tide of bloodshed was stemmed? No, no! Sara, with scared eyes, swept +the ripples of flaxen hair from off her pure girlish brow, and rebuked +herself for want of trustful faith as she folded her hands together +and tried to pray. But her mind wandered. She could not help seeing in +memory the distracted gestures of the trail of widows--of the wives +who were worse than widows, for their husbands languished in lifelong +duress. Who was she that she might hope to fare better than they? She +was a feeble girl, who loved her father and her lover, and had no room +in her being for more than that. If any evil befel Robert, what would +become of her? Could she hope to rally? She was not one of those who +bend before a storm and rise again but little the worse for buffeting. +She was one of the sensitive sort, who may linger for a brief space +perhaps before they wither. Even strong, haughty-browed Doreen was +broken by what she had passed through. What if Sara were likewise +summoned at the last moment to pass under the yoke? She would succumb +at once. She prayed for help, and implored mercy with the desperate +energy of a young creature who clings to the sweets of life, while +tears rained down her cheeks. Doreen, looking for her by-and-by, found +the maid lying on the floor asleep, and sobbing as she slept, with +reddened lids and trembling baby lips. What was it that ailed her? +Doreen inquired tenderly. Silly chit! to allow a dream to vex her +thus. Sara said 'Yes, it was a dream;' and sent a prayer to heaven +that an idle dream--no more--the fearsome vision might prove to be. + +Doreen went upstairs to seek her friend, because the shadow of trouble +still hung over the inmates of Strogue Abbey, and at the best it was +not a gay house to be alone in. Now solitude reigned in its +reception-rooms, for Curran shut himself in his chamber to forget the +impending union; Shane was madly rollicking in Dublin; Terence had +disappeared, and my lady had taken to her bed. + +Yes, Terence had disappeared; none knew how or whither. Shane +professed bitter anger, and cried out about family disgrace, till, on +meeting the calm eye of Miss Wolfe fixed on him, he stammered and was +silent. As for her, she knew not what to think. Perceiving his +mother's grief, had he, in his chivalry, withdrawn himself, lest his +presence should add poignancy to it? But how about the breaking of his +parole? Sure, he was too honourable a man to do such a thing! She went +and took counsel of Madam Gillin, who scratched her head and looked +serious. This was a trick of Cassidy's--of that she felt quite +certain, for that worthy had shown private spite in the way he had +tried to run the young man down before. Yet what could be his object +now? She soothed Doreen's anxiety as much as possible, affecting +herself to be quite comfortable on the subject; but privately resolved +to make another attack upon the chancellor as soon as his mind was +free about the union, if the vanished one did not return. So Doreen +waited in suspense, tending her aunt, who seemed very ill, and her +young friend, who was singularly disturbed and wretched; while Mr. +Curran moped, and the Abbey was as gloomy as a sepulchre. + +Soon the one engrossing subject occupied every mind, to the exclusion, +for the moment, of all others. A mob, by no means so good-tempered as +that which had pursued Lord Clare, gathered about the House at the +second reading of the bill, and assumed so threatening an attitude +that the military were called out, who fired a volley among the +people, and so dispersed them. Strange beacons were seen at night upon +the Wicklow Hills. Rumour whispered that something was afoot. Timid +people wished that the crisis was well over. Major Sirr and his lambs +made a raid on a certain house, where they found a hundred bottles +filled with powder, several bushels of musket-balls, meshes of tow +mixed with tar and gunpowder, a large quantity of pikes. Of these they +took quiet possession, and drove away, without seeking to follow the +matter up. Did this point to a new conspiracy? M.P.s asked each other. +How deeply laid was it? By whom organised? Why had no arrests followed +the discovery of the stores? Rumour said that the ill-conditioned +brother of Lord Glandore was plotting again; that he had broken his +parole, notwithstanding the extreme kindness with which he had been +treated. Well, well! Some folks were born to the halter--as some are +to the purple, and others to misfortune. The sooner the great measure +was carried, and the fate of Ireland decided, the better it would be +for all parties. So said the members, as for the last time they +strolled under the shadow of the Senate-house. + +That last day was one of breathless excitement. All knew that the +affair was settled; yet they waited, as if in expectation of a +miracle. False reports flew hither and thither in distracting numbers. +Messengers rode out with bulletins hour by hour to Strogue and other +important country places, where fine ladies waited. Lord Clare, taking +a lesson from his recent predicament, surrounded the House with +cavalry. Foot-soldiers, with matches burning, lined the colonnades. No +demonstration of popular feeling was permitted. Those who were about +to cancel the national charter were well protected; yet seemed they +ill at ease. Many anti-unionists, seeing how hopeless was the case, +withdrew with sad looks before the third reading of the bill; others, +urged by a morbid curiosity, waited for the curtain's drop. The +lobbies were crammed; the galleries crowded. A monotonous murmur ran +along the benches. Some were ashamed, some shameless, some--too +late--sorrow-smitten. Among the latter was Lord Kilwarden, who +despatched a courier to his daughter to say that he would stop to the +last. + +So the hours waned, and it was night ere Doreen's father arrived at +Strogue. He was deeply, miserably dejected. So much so, that his +daughter marvelled at him. + +'It's all over!' he cried, in indignation mingled with contrition. +'The men who forgot their country have slain _her_, that she may not +survive to remember _them_. The slave's collar has been slipped +on--its lock snapped to for ever! But there's something yet to come. I +have a hint from Clare that there will probably be more trouble +to-morrow. Glandore told me the same thing just now, who has it, he +says, from the Staghouse people, who are sure to know. Lord Cornwallis +will have taken his measures, doubtless, for as a soldier he is above +praise. I have business with him to-morrow, so we had better return at +once to Dublin.' + +'Now?' Doreen said, in wonder. + +'You are not afraid?' her father asked, with a weak smile. 'My coach +is below. Its liveries are well known. No one would harm me, thank +Heaven!' + +Afraid? Doreen was not given to physical fear. Then her father +explained that Shane was coming home, and with him Cassidy and some +more choice spirits, who were to close the lower rooms of the Abbey +and remain on the defensive, lest the anti-unionists should attempt +revenge. + +'You will be equally safe here or in Dublin, dear,' Lord Kilwarden +said. 'But I seem to think that you would prefer my company to that of +cousin Shane.' + +Locked up with Shane--and Cassidy! No, indeed. Knowing what she knew, +that would be too dreadful. Thanking her father with a look, she +fetched a shawl, kissed pale Sara, and, bidding her be of good cheer, +for the Abbey would be well protected, climbed into the coach, which +started forthwith for Dublin. + +'If Glandore is cautious, so will we be,' remarked Lord Kilwarden, +with an attempt at cheerfulness. 'Wanderers may be hanging about the +high-road, waiting for a signal in the morning. See, the beacons are +all alight along the hilltops! Do they not remind you of the time--not +so long ago--when we were expecting a French invasion? I trust the +Viceroy has been warned, for he does not comprehend our mercurial +temperament, and Sirr's people are strangely apathetic. A new regime +has begun to-night, my love, which I hope may in time bring peace to +our distracted land. My vote went for union, for I know that we are +unstable, but excellent if wisely controlled. The Scotch, you will +remember, hated their union at first. England has her way at last, so +her rule will soften, and Erin will be at peace. I know you are too +Irish to agree with me, Doreen. The young are always apt to judge +hastily of their elders, without considering that the gulf that +divides them is one of experience as well as years.' + +It was seldom that Lord Kilwarden became expansive on this delicate +subject with his daughter. Even between those who love each other +much, there are subjects that are best left alone. But he was +loquacious this evening, seeming anxious to deprecate a harsh verdict +on her part. His recent emotion set loose his tongue, and he chatted +softly on, explaining his motives and his views--he who was usually so +silent and reserved--as the coach rumbled over the rough by-road, +which led to the capital by a circuitous route. + +When its wheels died away in the distance, Sara sat down to meditate. +Robert, then, who had spoken in parables, was planning something which +would place him in peril. Perhaps she would look on him no more. She +tried to realise what that would mean for her. During the months when +he was in England she was glad not to see him, looking forward to a +happier day when he would be all hers, as side by side and hand in +hand they would stroll down the hill's shadowed side to the churchyard +at its base. She had often wondered which of them would first be +summoned hence--picturing a cosy hearth with two aged figures in the +chimney-corner, who, their career over, were awaiting a release. On +such occasions she had always decided that they would be so old--so +old--that a day or two only could possibly intervene between their +flitting. After clinging so closely one to the other, in joy and +sorrow, through a prolonged probation, but a brief space could keep +the pair asunder ere they were joined again for all eternity. So had +the simple damsel dreamed, and had been happy in her castle-building, +withdrawing her mind to the love-labour of that delicious task, from +the tragic scenes in which she wandered--in them, not of them--like +one in a mesmeric trance. But now, in the oppressive stillness, she +sat resolutely down to look upon herself as a possible actor in the +tragedy; to look for her own image among the troop of women who +importuned Heaven to call them hence. She tried to think of herself as +she had seen the widows whilst gazing on their swinging husbands--as +she had seen the mothers--stony, tearless, with their murdered sons +across their knees. But it was not possible. There are situations so +opposed to the order of things that we cannot realise them. Her mind's +retina declined to accept the image--threw it back again as one +contrary to nature; and yet it was all but certain that Robert--the +sensitive, the ardent, the enthusiastic--had deliberately placed his +foot upon the bridge of stars which conducts by a track of light to +the Walhalla--which leads by the rugged path of torment and of +martyrdom to the platform of immortality. She strove, with all the +resolution she could muster, to conjure up the dreadful picture, +but succeeded only in making her head spin round. Taking up a +taper--nervous by reason of the silence of night and her lugubrious +mental exercise--she thought she would pay a visit to her father, and +look in at my lady's door to announce Doreen's abrupt departure, and +prepare the invalid for the noisy coming of Shane and of his guests. + +She moved through the chintz sitting-room--past the dark staircase, +grim in the flicker of her candle with the panoplies of swords and +antique armour--into the great hall with its black oak panels, and was +turning to the left, where a rise of a few sculptured steps led into +my lady's bedchamber, when her attention was arrested by a noise. What +was that? A hum and subdued clatter--growing louder--louder--as it +approached. It must be Shane and his convoy--many horsemen, judging by +the sound. Was the danger then so pressing? Her heart beat fast. They +would bring certain news, that was some comfort; anything was better +than lying on this rack. + +Yes, it was Shane's party. There was a ring of many hoofs as the +riders wheeled round the turn of the avenue on the crisp gravel under +the ancient archway into the stable-yard. Shane's voice could be +plainly detected adjuring his guests to abstain from needless noise, +since the countess lay ill. Leaving their horses there, they came +round to the front on foot, where Sara met them, unbarring the door +herself, an apparition of innocence against the background of that +gloomy hall. There was Shane, somewhat the worse for liquor, flushed +and wild, his hair unribboned, his boots caked thick with mud; and +Cassidy smart and neat in a riding-coat, with capes of many colours, +and a high-peaked hat of silvery beaver--wondrous fine; and half a +dozen followers, evidently not of gentle birth, who bowed with +servility to the young lady and sidled cringing along the wall. + +The vision of Sara surprised them not a little. 'This was not proper +in ticklish times,' Cassidy cried out, after the authoritative manner +of a parent. 'Young ladies should not open doors alone at night. +How did she know that the party were not Croppies, intent on +murder--villainous rapscallions who ought to be strung up, every man +jack of 'em? There were hosts of such about. What was Miss Wolfe +thinking of--she who had a head upon her shoulders--to permit of such +imprudence?' + +'Where were the servants?' Shane shouted, forgetful of his mother's +health. 'Wine, wine! at once; and beds for these honest gentlemen. +They were come to stop for a few days, and must be treated well.' + +Sara struck the bell to summon the servants, and said that Doreen had +started an hour since for Dublin--with her father. + +Shane and Cassidy exchanged glances, and both looked put out. 'Gone to +Dublin! where--what for?' stammered Shane, disconcerted. 'I told my +uncle this very day that I intended to bring some friends to help to +defend the house, that his anxiety on her account might be at rest. +How imprudent--how silly--how provoking--when the Croppies are +mustering along the quays!' + +Cassidy frowned him to silence. Where did her father take her? Sure, +he would bring her back again? How was it they had not met his +carriage on the road? + +'They were gone to the Castle,' responded Sara, beginning to be +frightened, 'where they would doubtless be quite safe. What was this +about Croppies along the quays? Oh! would they please tell her +something? People seemed all agreed to keep things back, as if she +were a child. Croppies, did he say? Were not Croppies put down long +since? Who was their leader?' + +'Croppies 'tis,' grunted Cassidy. 'They'll be at it by this time, the +fools! Who's their leader? That young donkey Emmett, who'll swing for +it--the idiot!' + +Sara clung to a heavy piece of furniture. Like cold steel the +certainty cut through her brain that her edifice of cards, erected in +simple faith, would fall--had tumbled ere this perhaps; that the +tender intercourse of years was not to be; that she was destined to +bear her portion of the common cross. She was all at once convinced +that Robert and she would never meet upon this globe again. She +essayed to speak, but her head whirled; lights danced with shifting +colours before her eyes; the floor seemed to heave and rise in +billows--yet she did not faint. The servants had brought candles which +burned blue and dim and danced up and down, changing to red and green +and violet a long way off. She was aware somehow that after a brief +consultation Shane had countermanded the claret--that his obsequious +friends had received new orders--that the party, donning cloaks again, +had mounted and gone clattering away by the unused by-road. The +hall-door--wide open--admitted a chill gust which set the candles +guttering, but revived her perturbed faculties. Staggering against the +doorpost, the girl watched the beacons on the hills, as, fed with +furze, they flared up and glowed awhile, then dwindled and died out +one by one. She looked across the bay towards Dublin, which was like +an anthill possessed by glow-worms, beyond a black abyss. With +straining eyes she looked. What would she not have given to know what +was passing there? Was Cassidy merely playing off an untimely jest on +her by saying what he did? No. Her sick heart whispered that it was +all true. Robert's mysterious parable of good things in store clung +cold about her heart like a dead hand. Perhaps at this very instant he +was being slain--better even that than that he should be taken and +undergo the mockery of justice, and pass as others passed--upon the +scaffold. Oh! that ardent face--transfigured and inspired by his pure +enthusiasm--was she indeed no more to look on it? Was she--see! what +was that! A rocket soared into the air from the glow-worms' hill, +turning the deep blue to sable, and bursting, vanished in a shower of +sparks. What could that mean? It must be a signal. What did it +portend? Sara swung-to the heavy door, and, drooping on a sofa, sat +down and waited. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + ATÉ. + + +Robert (or Mr. Hewitt, for so was he enrolled among the chalked-up +inmates of the lodging where he dwelt) betrayed no less emotion than +the rest of Dublin citizens when the word flew from mouth to mouth +that as an independent nation Ireland was extinguished. He and a few +trusty followers were waiting for the official announcement of +Ireland's disgrace in their depot--a shambling set of outhouses +situated near Merchant's Quay. Sirr's raid, whereby he captured so +much material, was annoying no doubt; but Robert was full of his star +and the mantle that Theobald had thrown to him. + +Of course when the Castle was captured, Dublin would surrender without +a blow. He had his scheme prepared, which was instilled into the minds +of the Wicklow banditti. They were to creep to their posts at +nightfall and await his signal--a rocket; then to rush from different +points upon the Castle, choosing the narrowest streets in order that +if attacked their peculiar style of warfare might prove effective. In +a narrow passage, he argued, the pike--a weapon nine feet long--is +more telling than a musket with its bayonet. The people in the houses +might of course be expected to take part against the military, and +give them a warm reception from the housetops with a galling fire of +bricks and coping-stones. If necessary they might be employed in +dragging up the pavement in the rear of the King's troops, to expose +the new-made drains as pitfalls. In any case the regulars, thrown into +confusion, would roll over each other, and, helpless in a choked +thoroughfare, might be piked and stoned to a man. At prearranged +turnings, barriers were to be thrown up, constructed of carts, doors, +hogsheads. This would be done in a few seconds by the willing help of +surrounding inhabitants. In all cases the pikemen were bidden to +advance at a brisk trot that weight might counterbalance defective +discipline; intrepid men being stationed at the ends of every rank to +keep the masses compact and prevent wavering. + +Robert's own position (and the rallying-point in case of retreat) was +to be the watch-house which stood on the Old Bridge, and which +commanded the narrow entry by which troops would come, if sent for, +from Chapelizod. From the tower which crowned the watch-house he would +send up his rocket; then, allowing time for the marching of the +different divisions to their respective posts, he would leave a +sufficient body there to hold the bridge, and hurry to the Castle +gates, lest some one might steal the envied privilege of dragging down +the detested flag. Elaborate were his arrangements in theory with +regard to barricades. Beams had been left lying about with prearranged +carelessness, ready to be picked up and slung at a moment's notice. As +he donned his uniform--scarlet coat with gold epaulettes, white vest, +pantaloons of tender grey--his first-lieutenant (one Quigley, a baker, +who rejoiced exceedingly in a huge green plume) remarked with regret +that perhaps their object would have been best achieved by taking a +hint from Fawkes. 'Nothing could have been easier, and if successful +more complete. Sure, it was the want of a reform in the senate that +had brought Erin to this plight. The senate destroyed, she might begin +again on the basis of '82, with hope refreshed and a clean slate.' + +Robert looked with displeasure at his truculent lieutenant. + +'What! There were women in the galleries. Destroy the innocent with +the guilty, by the hundred?' + +'Haven't they kilt thousands--women and children galore--bad luck to +'em!' retorted the bellicose baker. 'After all, there was no fear of +the escape of the guilty now. The hand of the avenger should seek out +the recreants and put them to the edge of the sword--stem, root, and +branch; their houses should be heaps of stones; their homes be made +desolate. The world would applaud the vengeance of the downtrodden!' + +Robert was displeased by his lieutenant's views. He who by +constitutional instinct so dreaded bloodshed, had battled with his +fears and girded on the sword of Joshua, carried above physical +antipathies by the sacred cause of the oppressed. Yet was it with a +secret terror that he listened to such language as that of the +gentleman with the green plume. It filled him with loathing. Thank +Heaven that he, the chief, was there to keep the men in order, and +temper justice with mercy! The goddess of justice, he believed, should +appear white and shining, not dabbled with the gore of those who had +done no wrong. So he tried to reason with himself. The work of Joshua, +if the legend was to be believed, had been a bloody one, which +ascended with a sweet savour of sacrifice in the nostrils of a +vengeful Deity. If it was the will of stern Justice that the sinful +brethren should be slaughtered, and with them the innocent, why, then +responsibility was taken from his hands, and it would be presumption +to attempt to dictate. + +It was not without a certain trepidation that Robert scanned the +timepiece, watching its moving hands. The Commons were still +sitting--the farce was not quite over. An hour or two might elapse +before the hateful flag was run up to its place. He employed the time +in exhorting his followers--there were only fifty of them--to behave +with continence to the conquered foe. + +'Some of us,' he said, 'may be called to join the band of those who +have already given their lives on the scaffold, or on the field. Let +not that distress you. Right is on our side if we commit no crimes. +Eternal fame is worth more than a few years on this sad earth. The +reputation of the few who fall in our holy cause will abide after +them, a precious legacy to those whom they love and honour, to those +whom they have snatched from slavery--for whom they are proud to +perish.' + +He talked himself into an exalted fervour, which swept away his +scruples. His followers, too, were caught by his enthusiasm. They +vowed that no evil deed should smirch their banner; that what they +fought for was liberty--the hacking off of chains; that they would +give to Europe an example of high-minded patriotism,' unblemished by +petty license. + +Robert was relieved and grateful. It was close on midnight when he +drew his sword, and crying, 'Boys, come on!' dashed forth into the +street. Though so late, the citizens were not in bed, but standing at +their doors and windows discoursing of that which was now an +accomplished fact. They looked at the insignificant knot that ran +cheering past with consternation. + +What manner of men were these who carried sheaves of pikes? What was +this youth in martial garb, who waved over his head a sabre? Robert +and his lieutenants harangued the citizens, distributed weapons, +dragged some who wavered to the depot, where they would find arms and +ammunition. They were soon the centre of a delirious crowd, who jumped +and sang and danced like maniacs. The lad's hopes beat high, his face +beamed with excitement. Heaven had answered promptly; recruits were +gathering like sand. Women and children rushed about screaming; wives +tugged at their husbands' garments, imploring them to come away, lest +peradventure their end should be the gallows. Some one called out that +the soldiery were upon them, and then the warriors just now so valiant +fled with precipitation up alleys, courts and lanes, dropping their +pikes, tearing at those in front who impeded their flight, rolling +over and over in the frenzy of their haste to wriggle out of +musket-range. Brutality and cowardice are the corollaries of slavery; +both made themselves conspicuous on this dreadful night. + +Finding that it was a false alarm (for the soldiers were on guard half +a mile away, about the Senate-house), those who a moment since were +crouching behind their wives, surged out again as if to protest by +deeds against involuntary panic, and ran with yells after the youth in +scarlet. To the Old Bridge was a few paces. They gave a prolonged howl +as they came in sight of it, which echoed and re-echoed along the +Liffey banks, and penetrated even to the Castle, where Lord +Cornwallis, his mind relieved in that the work was done, was +congratulating the smirking chancellor on the final success of the +grand measure. Both started and looked at one another. What a strange +uproar! Could it be thunder? Lord Clare opened the casement and peered +out. A rocket rose into the air and burst; another howl--louder, more +prolonged than the first one. Lord Clare closed the window quietly and +shrugged his shoulders, muttering, as he secured the hasp: + +'Sirr was right, then. I really could scarce credit that they should +be such idiots. Yet are they silly enough for anything.' Then turning +with a sour smile to the Viceroy, he said: 'Thank goodness, it's well +over. This ferment is not worth considering. How can I do otherwise +than blush at being an Irishman? My Lord Castlereagh thinks, as I do, +that the work we have this day finished is a subject for universal +thanksgiving.' + +Singularly enough, the sympathy of the Viceroy was not with his +colleagues my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, but with those who were by +this time brandishing their pikes in Thomas Street, for he pitied the +deluded people sorely whose flame of rebellion against the inevitable +was making this last melancholy flicker. + +The Union was a fact now. It was done; and would ultimately, so soon +as sores were healed, be productive of much good, for the people would +be protected by a distant but temperate master against the turbulent +raging of their own factions. But for all that, this desperate handful +who preferred death to slavery, were more worthy of respect than the +polished gentleman before him who had sold his own brethren into +bondage. So thought the Viceroy; but Lord Cornwallis, bluff soldier +though he was, had learned to school his features. He therefore +contented himself with observing that nocturnal rioting must be put +down, and that the chancellor had better accept a bed in the Castle, +considering that if he ventured out among the rioters he would +certainly be torn to pieces. Then glancing down into Castle-yard, +which was full of soldiers, he bade his guest good-night, and retired +to the solitude of his own chamber. + +Arrived at the Old Bridge, Robert let off his rocket, while the +ever-increasing crowd gibbered and hallooed. The night was very dark. +In the transient flare the expectant mob beheld a martial figure that +glittered with gold braid, waving a big sword. A grand figure +entirely--who was he? no matter. With him they would fall or conquer, +they declared, though the majority of the mob were hazy as to the work +which there was to do. The word was given and rippled along the ranks: +'To the Castle, to slay the tyrant!' 'To the Castle, to the Castle!' +they all yelled and bellowed helter-skelter up Thomas Street, for the +object was plain and praiseworthy--to storm the palace of the Viceroy. +Robert led the way, brandishing his immense blade; the bellicose baker +looked after the rear. Both exhorted as many as were within hearing to +steadiness and calm. But those behind pushed those who were in front. +It was as much as Robert could do to keep his feet. Vainly he bawled. +Nobody heard him any more, for all were chattering like excited +monkeys; nobody in the dense blackness could distinguish his uniform. +He had let a torrent loose, but could not guide it. Half-way up Thomas +Street he became conscious of a diversion--the pressure to the front +became weaker--something unexpected was happening at the farther +extremity of the thoroughfare. The mob were gesticulating--heaving to +and fro. Was it a surprise? Were the military come in from Chapelizod? +Had they beaten down the little watch-house garrison, or had +they--forewarned--approached the scene of action by another route? The +bellicose lieutenant would need assistance and counsel--pray Heaven he +was staunch! Their leader buffeted with the mob, but they heeded him +not. It was essential that he should see what was passing, that he +should fly to the succour of his second in command, who was battling +with this human maelstrom. How dark the night was! The moon, which was +at the full, was clouded over. Raising himself on the steps of a +house, he strained his eyes over the sea of faces and detected little +lights--flambeaux apparently, which tossed and floundered, then went +out. This could be no military attack. The men must be committing some +outrage upon persons who had fallen into their hands--innocent persons +possibly, who, according to the tenets of the baker, were to suffer +for the transgressions of the guilty. Robert was in an agony, for the +monster he had conjured into life refused to hearken to his chiding. +He cried that the cause must not be sullied, that pure-souled patriots +must not play the night-assassin; but his voice was as the buzzing of +an insect. 'Forward!' he shouted till he was hoarse; 'forward to the +Castle!' He might as well have shouted to the ocean. Those about him +pushed and elbowed, screaming wild oaths and execrations; for, unable +to see what was going on, they were half-fearful of treachery, +half-anxious to bear their part. Despite his gay accoutrement Robert +found himself crushed against a railing, till his ribs threatened to +collapse under the pressure. With a supreme effort he shook himself +free, and fell backwards through a doorway. He recognised it--how +lucky! It led by a narrow alley into the adjoining road, which ran +parallel with Thomas Street. Sure, this was another mark of Heaven's +approbation; for by following it he could skirt the mob, and, running +round, discover the cause of the diversion. The adjoining road was +empty; the terrified householders had closed their doors and shutters +and, trembling, were peeping through the chinks. Painful experience +had taught them caution. As he sped along, his feet pattering +strangely in the solitude, Robert could catch the murmur, as of water +dashing upon rocks, over the roofs, a house-thickness off. Running +with all his speed, he turned the corner and flung himself against the +rolling swell; beheld with despair a coach--one whose liveries he knew +of old--rocking and swaying in danger of being upset, while the horses +plunged wildly and the coachman sat paralysed, with a pistol at his +ear. The door had been rent from its hinges; the silken curtains hung +in tatters. One of the occupants, a man of fine presence and middle +age, had been dragged out, and lay upon the stones surrounded by a +crew of savages. The other, a woman, leaned out of the carriage, +imploring help in dumb show for the man upon the ground. Convulsed +with horror, Robert forced a passage with the flat of his sabre. One +light--the single flambeau which had escaped extinguishing--threw a +ghastly glare on the surge of scowling ruffians. Blood trickled from +the forehead of the man upon the ground; upon his black satin vest and +smallclothes, upon his cambric shirt, as he strove to rise. He +staggered up, clutching at a wheel, and waved his hand to obtain a +hearing. 'Good people,' he panted, but his words reached those only +who stood close by, 'I have never done you harm. I am Kilwarden, chief +justice of the King's Bench.' + +'Justice!' gibed the baker. 'She's gone long since where you shall +follow her!' + +The mob, which had ebbed in a momentary recoil, flowed forward again +with a rush. A dozen pikes were poised and fell. Doreen, who could see +what passed within the circle, tossed her helpless arms and filled the +night air with shrieks; while Robert, distracted, beat his breast and +tore his hair. + +A sharp ring of hoofs clattered on the road--nearer--nearer--nearer +still. A band of horsemen were approaching at a gallop from the quay; +behind--in the distance--a host of cavalry; from the opposite +direction the tramp of many feet. The Castle-gates had been opened; +the infantry were pouring forth; the mob, finding itself hemmed in, +smote right and left in a frantic effort to escape. + +The smaller band of horsemen, headed by Shane and Cassidy, were the +first to reach the coach. They drew their _couteaux-de-chasse_, and, +beating aside the unwieldy pikes, which were too long for such close +quarters, trampled the insurgents down. + +'The lady, Lord Glandore!' Cassidy shouted. 'Now's your time!' + +'Oh, save her!' raved Robert, in remorse. 'My God, what have I done? +Save her, Lord Glandore!' + +Shane stretched out his hand towards his cousin. Chance was favouring +him. Under pretext of protecting her, the project planned by the giant +could without difficulty be accomplished now. Doreen shrank back. + +'Begone!' she wailed, filled with the anguish of that heap upon the +ground. 'What have you done with your brother--bastard!' + +Shane winced, as from a whip-cut on the cheek. She, too, then knew the +fatal secret; but it mattered not, for she was in his power. The +military were closing in upon the mob. In the scurry and the darkness +he would bear her far away. He was well known; what more natural than +that her cousin should rescue the bereaved Miss Wolfe from such a +scene? + +Dismounting, he strode over the corpse of Lord Kilwarden, and calling +on his friends to rally round the coach, prepared to withdraw it from +the _melée_. + +Upon hearing the name, twice repeated, the man who had held the pistol +to the coachman's ear turned sharply round. + +'You then are Lord Glandore?' he asked. 'The curse of God has found +you, murderer! You and a few like you slew my father four years agone +in sport on Stephen's Green! Do you recall it? He was only an old +man--a shoemaker. Maybe you don't, for you've done many such deeds, +and you were drunk!' + +Shane thrust the importunate babbler aside, and ordered the coachman +to urge on his horses. + +'I've waited for my revenge all this while, my lord,' muttered the +man, 'and you don't escape me now.' + +Raising his pistol with steady aim, he shot Shane through the heart, +and, diving, vanished in the crowd. + +Cassidy was taken aback. Hitherto everything had moved according to +his desire. Were his well-constructed schemes to be disconcerted now? +He looked up the street and down the street at the compact bodies of +troops advancing, then with a rage of longing at Doreen. Yes! his plan +was overthrown; a new one must spring out of its ashes. Shane, by +virtue of his cousinship, might have borne the young lady with safety +through the ranks. He, Cassidy, could hope for no such privilege. +Well, better luck next time. But it would not do to lose his footing +at Strogue Abbey. _Le roi est mort; vive le roi!_ He bethought him of +a certain prisoner within the provost, kidnapped the other day, whose +position was quite changed by that untoward pistol-shot. All things +considered, Mr. Cassidy could not have acted with more wisdom than he +did. He left Doreen to the tender mercies of the soldiery, and spurred +with utmost speed towards the provost. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + + MOILEY'S LAST MEAL. + + +Doreen speedily recovered her presence of mind, shaken for an instant +by the sudden shock of the predicament in which she found herself. The +ringleaders of the riot were, with a few exceptions, netted. The young +officers of militia, many of whom had danced at balls with the +beautiful Miss Wolfe, were loud in their outcry over the tragedy, +vociferous in promises of vengeance. Would she wish the rascals to be +lashed, or would pitchcaps please her fancy? The malefactors should +swing, every one; that would be a comfort to her, no doubt. +Excruciating cats should be manufactured to oblige her. No punishment +could be too severe for wretches who had dared to kill two members of +the peerage. Where should they take their beautiful charge? Would she +go to the Castle, or to her lamented parent's mansion? Wherever Venus +liked, there would Mars escort her. Disciplined by sorrow, Doreen +could even at this dark hour consider the grief of others before her +own. The Countess of Glandore was sick and shattered. Since Terence's +vanishing she had returned to the condition of an owl; what would be +the effect on her frayed nerves of the sudden death of her favourite +son? Doreen decided, postponing the consideration of her own loss, to +drive at once to Strogue, lest tidings should reach her aunt more +abruptly than her state would warrant. + +It was dawn when Miss Wolfe reached the Abbey--the cold raw dawn of +early summer, when nature asserts her right to live despite the +tyranny of winter--and she was seized with a new pain on entering the +hall; for wan Sara was sitting where she had sank down, to await she +knew not what. Alas! for her, too, was she a bearer of evil tidings, +and Sara read them on her face, and sighed. The look of deep +compassion told but too plainly that her worst forebodings were +realised; and that, as a daughter of Erin, she must accept her +place in the grim procession of the bereaved. She did not ask for +news--preferred, indeed, to hear none, for what news was there that +could bring aught but misery? Like a tired child she closed her eyes, +and clung to the older maiden in a mute entreaty not to be left alone. +This speechless sorrow was painful to witness. The offices of Miss +Wolfe were needed elsewhere, for there was another in the stricken +household who must be attended to before the sad _cortège_ should +arrive. My lady would have to be told that she had lost both a brother +and a son. It was with relief then that she heard a creaking on the +stairs and perceived Mr. Curran coming down, who, by his appearance, +had evidently not been to bed. She, who had learned what loss is, knew +the full value of a father's love. Beckoning him to his daughter, she +disentangled the cold fingers from about her neck and went away to my +lady's bedroom. + +Mr. Curran was himself in dolorous mood. Extremely troubled by the +rocket which he too had seen, and by hints which, during the past +week, had reached him through the proprietress of the Little House, he +had been unable to sleep. Groaning in spirit he saw the shambles +reopened; the reign of terror recommenced. His country was dead now; +Moiley had eaten her up to the last crumb. Might not the sacrifice of +her existence bring peace unto her sons? As leaning his cheek upon his +hand he sat looking across the tranquil bay at the twinkling lights +beyond, his heart became exceeding sorrowful while he reviewed the +efforts of his life. Memory stood by in a sable robe. Though he had +held himself erect whilst others grovelled; though his courage had +remained unshaken whilst others quaked and fawned; how little--how +very little--it had been given to him to accomplish! Yet there was +nothing he had wittingly left undone. His political honour was so +bright that malice could detect no stain on it. He had worked for +others--not for himself. Instead of lifting himself as he might have +done above the stormy agitation of his time, he had clung to the +heaving of the wave--to rise and fall with it--perchance to be dashed +with it upon a rock--with how little result--how little--how very +little! Yet he saw not how he could have acted otherwise. As dawn +began to sparkle on the bay, he took up a book to change the current +of his pondering--a volume of the grand Greek poets. It opened at the +'Seven Against Thebes,' and he read thoughts which were a painful echo +of his own. 'The happiest destiny is never to have been born; the next +best to return quickly to the nothingness from which we came.' Grand +old Titan Æschylus! Was that all his genius could discern? Never to +have been born! Was that the conviction of the great philosopher? Mr. +Curran looked out on the panorama stretched before him, as fair a +prospect as man may desire to look upon. The glittering waters were +strewn with flakes of silver; the looming hills steeped in a golden +haze. The beautiful world! Was its beauty a mockery of human +trouble--no more? It seemed so. Those lovely hills were teeming with +desperate men, reduced by the branding-iron of oppression to the +condition of wild beasts. In the blue shadow of those picturesque +ravines were cottages--charred, unroofed, deserted. That fairy +city that mirrored its whiteness in the bay--glistering, +silver-crowned--had been but t'other day the scene of perhaps the most +hideous carnival of human wickedness which ever disgraced humanity. +Perchance even at this very instant, while the wizened little man was +gazing out so dreamily, fresh horrors were being enacted. Truly, +'twere the happiest of destinies never to have looked on the false +sheen of the sepulchre at all. But though we may drag at them, the +tough fibres of existence are deeply imbedded in our flesh. + +Mr. Curran, from his station, marked the return of Lord Kilwarden's +coach--the pallid concern of the servants, who were speaking in hushed +tones, as though in the awful presence of the Pilgrim. He went +downstairs to learn what had happened. It was worse than he expected. +Deluded Robert--insane enthusiast! Alas! The advocate would have to +stand forth yet once again and wrestle for a life; would have to rouse +himself from his dejection to do all that was possible to save this +lad. With the urgent need for action Mr. Curran recovered his mental +steadiness. He resolved to seek tidings at once of Robert and of +Terence; to raise his voice in their behalf. Were both concerned in +the disastrous riot? Were both captured? had both escaped? As he rode +past the Little House, Madam Gillin called out that she had something +to say. Anxious, on account of Terence's disappearance, the kind lady +had sent Jug into town for several days past to ferret out the truth. +The hag had discovered that men had been remarked loitering about the +Abbey gates; that Terence one evening had been observed by a passing +peasant to emerge into the road and go to the water's edge; that there +he had been accosted by these self-same suspicious men, who had a boat +with them. It was certain that Terence had never been seen in the +neighbourhood of young Robert's _depôt_, or in the _mélée_ of last +night. Hence it was clear that he had departed. Where and why? Was it +of his own accord? As for Robert, he was not among the captives. Jug +examined them every one, as, heavily ironed, they were marched to +Kilmainham in detachments. A man in a uniform plastered thick with +gold was rowed out to sea by four sturdy rowers an hour or two ago. In +all probability that man was Robert, who had provided for his escape +by means of one of the many vessels that were cruising in the Channel. +Utterly mad in all other ways, he had shown prudence and forethought +in this. He was gone. His noble young life would not be thrown away +for nothing--he whose sin was too fond a love for unhappy motherland. + +Mr. Curran gave a sigh of thankfulness. Small mercies keep us from +breaking down at times. This was good news, at any rate. With courage +revived, he could go to the Castle now and demand with a high hand +that inquiries as to the fate of Terence should be set afoot. If +anything unpleasant was said about Emmett, he could snap his fingers +in the Viceroy's face--for the boy was gone, thank goodness, out of +his clutches. Moiley would grind her gums for her last morsel in vain. +The hungry ogress! She had eaten Ireland and quaffed the best blood of +Ireland's children. Her appetite was delicate, it seemed, and +clamoured for the best. She declined to lunch off the Battalion of +Testimony. The flesh of Sirr and Cassidy was bitter, and she spat it +out. She absolutely refused even to nibble, much less to swallow, +either of these honest gentlemen. + +At mention of Cassidy, Gillin, whose cheeks had puckered into dimples +at Curran's badinage, grew grave again. She felt, scarcely knowing +why, that Cassidy had something to do with the affair of Terence, who +was Earl of Glandore, secret or no secret, now. The difficulty had +been solved in a quite unexpected manner; and in her heart of hearts +the worthy woman was glad, though she would have to abandon her desire +of seeing Norah adorning the assembly of the _élite_. Ah! deary me, +she sighed to herself. There were other fish in the sea. Norah was a +comely colleen, who would get a good husband somehow--maybe a better +one than Shane would ever have made, though he was lord of broad acres +and had a coronet to bestow on the girl who touched his fancy. But +where was the new Earl of Glandore? Curran trotted off to make it his +business to find out. + +This last armed attempt to free Ireland was the vulgarest and weakest +of riots, which would never have been recorded, or have occupied any +place in history at all, but for the unfortunate murder of the Lord +Chief Justice and his nephew. Their fate--especially that of Lord +Kilwarden, who was a kindhearted gentleman--demanded a scapegoat. +Foolish young Robert was the first cause of the disaster. It was +essential that he should be held up as an example. Could anything be +more provoking than that he should get away? Perhaps he was not +gone--perhaps he had landed somewhere. The town-major was commanded to +scour the country in all directions. His battalion was well paid and +had been very idle of late. It was time that its members should do +some service to earn their bread-and-butter. Such were the orders +which issued from the Castle, and Curran knew well that they did not +emanate from Lord Cornwallis. He was not much surprised, therefore, +after crossing Castle-yard, to be ushered into a morning-room, +garnished with a huge bureau, at which was sitting, in handsome black +velvet trimmed with sable fur, the Chancellor. + +Lord Clare beheld with evident pleasure the entrance of his enemy, the +man who had been his stumbling-block through his career; for this was +the moment of his triumph. He held out his jewelled fingers with a +polished bow; rasped out a welcome in his least pleasant voice; and +explained that, in the overflow of labour which sprang from the +details of yesterday's Great Measure and last night's deplorable +catastrophe, both Viceroy and Chief Secretary were so worked off their +legs that they had been delighted to accept of his poor services for +the transaction of ordinary business. + +Lord Clare was rather sorry for Kilwarden, though he had always +despised him as a nincumpoop. But this transient cloud of annoyance +was dissipated by the sun of yesterday's success and the new vista of +power which it opened to his ambition; and Curran looked at him in +wonder as he strutted and fussed about, with the comical majesty of a +raven. + +It has been observed that the greatest political and religious crimes +are due to public spirit out of gear. The Irish chancellor was +probably honest in his conviction that union was the best thing for +Ireland, and it was not his fault if his duty and his interest jumped +in the same direction. His standard of morals was so low that the +desperate patriotism of such men as Tone or Terence, or Robert Emmett, +were as unknown tongues to him. He despised Kilwarden, though he liked +him, because he was weak; but he hated Curran with all his heart, +because, while brave as any lion, ho had an inconvenient knack of +putting his finger on the chancellor's weak places. But Lord Clare was +so jubilant this morning that he was prepared to be generous even to +this enemy. Difficulties were over; he could almost feel the flapping +of the united banner overhead, almost hear the packing of the trunks +of my Lord Cornwallis. He observed, too, that the crab-apple features +of the little man before him seemed old and dried; that the eyes were +glazed which used to flash with fire and dance with fun. He was one of +the fools whose heart was broken over a chimera; of course the +successful statesman could afford to be generous to so pitiable a +wreck. So he said: + +'Delighted to see my respected Curran--friend, I suppose, I may not +say? Ah! well. You always wronged me, my good fellow. Civility was +never among your faults. But demagogues would lose half their prestige +if they were not crabbed. No wonder you are rude, for you have lost +all your tricks. Had you not, in a huff, thrown up your seat in +parliament, you might have done much to hurt us; and that makes you +spiteful, I suppose. What do you gain by this ghastly display of +martyrdom? Believe me, Curran, that if you are too good for the world +you live in, it will be more comfortable to yourself as well as others +to go out of it. That's why Wolfe Tone helped himself out of it, I +presume, and I for one am vastly obleeged to him. Talking of that +reminds me of last night's folly--a sad affair--a sad affair; but +can't be helped, you know. A drop of trouble in the sea of bliss which +yesterday's decision gave us. You don't feel quite that way? Ah! well. +People's opinions differ, don't they? The one I'm most distressed +about is our old friend the countess. She will feel that fellow's fate +most terribly, the more so that he was a ne'er-do-well; though there +are reasons why it's best as it is. Your _protégé_ is the holder of +the family honours now?' + +Curran nodded, wondering what his enemy was aiming at; while the +latter, scanning his features, perceived with pleasure that my lady's +secret had never been divulged to him. It was well that that secret +should lie in as few hands as possible. + +'Where is Terence?' Curran inquired bluntly. + +'Terence! I know not,' replied the other, in his turn surprised. 'Has +anything befallen him?' + +'You _really_ do not? Then it's Cassidy who's done it,' cried out +Curran. 'He's been kidnapped for some hellish purpose!' + +Knowing Cassidy as he did, the chancellor looked disturbed. It was +quite possible that this worthy might be up to his tricks again. Had +not he, Lord Clare, warned the young man against him once, when he was +too stupid to take the hint? This scoundrel was still then, with, some +dark intent, pursuing him. Why had he not been told of this before? It +was most serious. Terence kidnapped, evidently by Cassidy! It would +never do. Would the countess have to bewail both sons? Not if her old +friend could help it. Touching a gong, he gave rapid directions that +every prison in Dublin should be searched immediately for the missing +prisoner; that, if found, he was to be taken back at once to Strogue, +whither the chancellor would proceed in his coach, in the company of +his esteemed friend. + +But the proposed drive, during which Lord Clare promised himself to +twit his fallen foe, was not to be. At the bottom of the stairs he was +assailed by a troop of suitors, who would not be refused. Reluctantly +he was compelled to allow Curran to trot off on his pony, promising to +follow in an hour, at most. + +The lawyer rode along, marvelling at the sphynxlike chancellor. Here +was a man who reeked of the blood of the peasantry; who would, if he +could, have burned all the Catholics in one vast bonfire, and who yet +was capable of feeling emotion on behalf of a white-haired old friend. +Then he thought of his dear daughter Sara, who seemed stunned by last +night's catastrophe. Did she care so much, then, for this lad? It was +fortunate that he should have been able to escape. That would save +Sara much agony. She would have to be taken abroad for change of +scene, and, peradventure, in a foreign land might find the brook of +Lethe. How glad her father would be if he too might find it; but that +was past wishing for. He was too old to receive new impressions, while +Sara would speedily forget. + +With shoulders rounded and head bowed, Mr. Curran trotted back to +Strogue. Feeling that he was no longer able to fight as he used to do, +it was a wonderful relief to think that Robert was gone away. Time was +when it was exhilarating to break a lance with my Lord Clare. But the +sturdy advocate had received his passport for the undiscovered +country, and, but for Sara's sake, was little inclined to murmur if he +were required to use it soon. It was clear to him that there must be +an exodus--to America--anywhere. He and Sara should be the first to +go; and perhaps he might be permitted to linger on until her future +was in some way assured. + +He trotted along the road, absorbed in sorrowful considerations, +until, just as he passed under the hedge which belonged to the Little +House, he was rudely roused from reverie. Madam Gillin was +gesticulating like a madwoman. + +'Hist!' she whispered. 'The boy's not gone! Whillaloo! 'Twas the baker +that escaped! It's at Strogue he is this cursed minute. The candle's +there, the moth is booming round it! Maybe there's time still. Bid him +be off, jewel, do; and I'll keep watch lest any come. Jug's looking +out on the back road.' + +'Murther!' ejaculated Curran, wide awake now. 'They're scouring the +country for him. Oh, the silly lad!' And beating his pony with +unwonted vehemence, the lawyer galloped through the park-gates, along +the short turn of avenue which led to the Abbey, and, leaving the +astonished animal to recover how he could, hurried up the steps into +the hall. + +The door was idly swinging, but no one was visible in the vestibule +nor in the dining-room, nor in Miss Wolfe's boudoir. Hark! Subdued +voices, murmuring further on, in the tapestry-saloon. He moved +quickly thither, and, standing on the threshold, stamped his feet +in the impotent fury of his wrath. There was Robert--haggard and +unkempt--still in the pinchbeck uniform, torn and bespattered now, +with a peasant's frieze-coat thrown over it--a ridiculous disguise. He +was kneeling by a couch whereon lay Sara, her face turned towards him, +her eyes fixed full on his with a wild unreasoning longing, while he +chafed her hands and kissed them. The tall and graceful figure of +Doreen leaned against the sculptured garlands of the mantelpiece, as +she gave the homage of silent sympathy to the voiceless parting of +this pair, while her mind wandered in the cypressed graveyard of her +own sorrow. That heap of black satin, prone under the carriage-wheels, +would never leave her memory so long as life should last. Stroke had +succeeded stroke, and she winced no more. + +All three looked up when Curran stamped his feet, and Robert advanced +towards him timidly. + +'I have done wrong, terribly wrong, sir,' he said, with a sigh. 'I can +make no atonement, except by laying down my life.' + +'A useful sacrifice, truly!' the incensed lawyer rejoined. 'You don't +think of _her_--whom you are killing!' + +'The breath of the tomb is on me!' implored the lad, with a dry mouth. +'Spare any addition to my misery. I was infatuated, too certain of +success, and knew she would be so glad when I succeeded. Those +lives--those lives! Would success have blotted out the recollection of +them? I go, and it is well that I should go, though I leave to so many +a legacy of sorrow.' + +There was a dreamy resignation about the youth, as of one who does +wrong and leaves others to bear the brunt, which infuriated Curran. If +ever there was a moment for promptitude to the exclusion of +dreaminess, this was that moment, for the sake of others as well as +himself; and here he stood, soliloquising like a Hamlet--the +unpractical dangerous dreamer! + +'You might have got away, and did not,' said the lawyer, tartly. 'Do +you know that the country is being scoured for you--that if you are +taken the scrag-boy will make short work of you? You don't care, +maybe. Is it nothing to us--to _her?_' + +'Perhaps there is still time. Get ye gone by the postern in the +rosary. The peasantry are staunch. You might lie in a cabin under the +bed-furniture till night, and then steal out to sea under cover of the +darkness.' + +'If I fall into their hands I will speak my own defence, sir,' +murmured Emmett, without moving. + +'And much good may it do you--fool!' shouted the enraged councillor. +'Don't stand shilly-shallying here like a great goose. Sara, order him +to go. If he's hanged you'll have yourself to thank for it.' + +Sara took no heed, but lay back, watching the dear youth--as white as +wax, like one in a trance. + +There was a turmoil in the next room, a rustle of silk, an upsetting +of chairs, and Mrs. Gillin darted through the doorway. 'Is he gone?' +she asked. 'Then it's too late! There's a body of sodgers marching in. +They are surrounding the house.' + +Robert passed his hands through his matted hair. His belief in his +star was gone. He was plainly not destined to be a Joshua. He panted +to join those who had crossed the rubicon. On the boundary-line of the +other life we are apt to plunge into a selfish beatitude, forgetting +the trouble which our exit may entail on those whom we leave behind. + +In a few moments his fate was fixed. The regular tramp of disciplined +men was heard on the gravel with a ring of matchlocks. Then a figure +darkened the casement. It was Major Sirr demanding admittance. Robert +opened the window himself, and the town-major's lambs streamed in. +Doreen gave a sharp exclamation of surprise--for one of the group was +Cassidy--another, who came forward with arms outstretched, was +Terence--safe and sound. + +The town-major's bushy eyebrows came down upon his nose, as, grinning, +he struck Robert on the shoulder. 'Do you recollect, young fellow,' he +railed, 'how anxious you twice were to be arrested? I told you then +that your turn would come soon enough. It has come now, and I hope you +are satisfied, though I fear I shan't keep you long.' + +Robert Emmett bowed absently, as if he but half-heard, and, kneeling +by Sara's chair again, muttered--forgetful of lookers-on: 'Oh, my +love--my love. Do we part thus? I hoped to have been a prop, round +which your affections might have clung; but a rude blast has snapped +it--they have fallen across a grave!' Then, twining her fair hair +about his fingers with affectionate regret, he fell a dreaming, whilst +Madam Gillin gulped down her sobs. + +'I go into my cold and silent tomb,' he whispered, as he stroked the +baby-fingers of his mistress. My lamp of life is nearly extinguished; +the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom.' + +Major Sirr perceived with his usual tact that this sentimental scene +was producing a bad impression, and must be interrupted. The extreme +youth and woe-begone appearance of Robert--his half-distracted, +half-inspired look--moved the spectators to tears. Surely he was too +young--too much of a visionary--to be held really accountable for the +storm that he had raised. As to the frail girl, she appeared to be +beyond sublunary cares. Lulled by angel-strains, she was gazing upon a +world which has nothing in common with ours--what she saw was +beautiful, and true, and real--the people flitting round her couch +were the unreal shades. The town-major tapped his prisoner's arm, and +begged him to make haste. 'I must obey orders,' he said. 'They are +straightforward, and concise as Lord Clare's always are. I've brought +one prisoner here, and must take another hence. Come along!' + +Mrs. Gillin, unhooking a pair of scissors from her girdle, between +convulsive hiccups, handed them to Doreen. The one woman understood +the other's thought. Doreen gently cut the longest tress from Sara's +golden head and pressed it into Robert's palm. + +'Thanks,' he said, with a quiver of the lip. 'I will wear this in my +bosom when I mount the scaffold. I am ready, gentlemen, and will not +detain you. Before I leave the world--and I leave it now when I leave +my friends--I have one request to make. May the charity of oblivion be +accorded to my memory! Let no one write my epitaph; for as no man who +knows my motives dares now to vindicate them, let not prejudice or +ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in peace, and my tomb +remain uninscribed!' + +This would never do. Major Sirr grasped him roughly by the coat-tail +to drag his prisoner away. The soldiers, accustomed to the business, +closed in quickly. But ere Robert went, Mr. Curran, with tears +streaming down his rugged features, placed his arms about his neck, +and held him in a long embrace. + +Then was the last of Moiley's victims marched away under a strong +guard, and the rest were left to their own sombre meditations. A +stillness of oppression fell on all as Curran, Terence, and Doreen +gathered round prostrate Sara. Mr. Cassidy found himself awkwardly +situated, for nobody took any notice of him. Vainly his boots creaked, +while he coughed behind his hand. Mrs. Gillin was no longer afraid, +for she as well as others saw that, the tussle over, the final +clearing away of Catholic disabilities was only a matter of time--that +even if he launched the thunderbolt at her, in terror of which she had +held her peace concerning what she knew of him, it would signify +little. With the Union a new era was dawning--all the Catholics felt +that--one in which Irish and English interests would grow to be the +same in the future, when the sea of blood was bridged--one in which +the last vile fragments of the Penal Code must soon be swept away--a +relic of the dark ages. Even if Mr. Cassidy were to declare publicly +that she took her Protestant daughter with her to the mass, it was +possible she might escape tribulation for the enormity. So Mr. Cassidy +coughed at her in vain. Curran had never liked him. Doreen knew too +much of him. It was a satisfaction to all, himself included, when, +with a clumsy excuse, he twirled his fine beaver and backed himself +out of the apartment. + +The old earl, his parent, smirked from his frame upon the new wearer +of the coronet. Was the simper more full of meaning than it used to +be, or was it merely the limner's conventional flattery? The desire +expressed with such solemnity upon his deathbed was accomplished; the +wrong was righted now--at last. + +An unconscious mesmeric sympathy beyond their own volition fixed the +gaze of three people upon that portrait of the wicked earl, while the +same thought struck each of them in turn. Doreen withdrew her eyes, +and they fell on Terence, who nodded, and striding towards his +mother's bedchamber, opened the door softly and entered. Though the +day was bright and mild there was a large fire on the hearth, before +which crouched my lady, wrapped in a loose white wrapper, supported by +many pillows. The windows were dimmed to twilight. Shane's favourite +hounds, Aileach and Eblana, sat on their haunches with their muzzles +on her lap, in wistful expectancy of that which they might never see. +She took no notice of the intruder, supposing that it was Doreen, till +recognising a heavier footstep and a dreaded voice, she shrank away +from him with a moan, as if she had received a blow. + +'Mother!' Terence began. + +My lady crawled along the carpet on her knees--a bundle of loose +draperies--her head bent down, her white hair straggling, towards her +son, who recoiled. The aspect of this piteous ruin--this soul-stricken +wreck, the mainspring of whose life was broken, whose courage had +ebbed quite away--suffused the heart of Terence with unutterable pity. +He raised his mother in his stalwart arms, and pressing his warm lips +to hers, whispered: + +'Hush, hush! I know all. You have but one child now. Bless me!' + + + * * * * * + + +But little more remains to be told. Evil, though it seemeth to +flourish like the bay-tree, doth not always prosper in the long run. +Lord Cornwallis turned his back on Ireland, glad to depart. Cassidy +and Sirr came to blows, and fought a duel on the subject of Terence's +release. For those worthies had arranged to share together the reward +which Shane was to have given for their little service. But Shane's +murder altered the face of matters, and Cassidy, with a presence of +mind which did him honour, flew off at once to set free the new Lord +Glandore and claim the merit of having done so. The town-major, +however, knew his man. The giant's endeavours were fruitless, and Sirr +found him blustering at the provost-gate when, in obedience to Lord +Clare's behest, he came, with feigned surprise, to carry the new lord +back to his ancestral home. Sirr saw through his crony's intention, +and branded him hotly with being 'no gintleman,' and a 'mean fellow;' +whereupon the two met on Stephen's Green, and, after a few passes, +declared 'honour satisfied.' The nests of both were well feathered. +One became noted for pious works; the other set up as a patron of art, +and formed the finest collection of snuff-boxes in the three kingdoms. + +Robert Emmett was hanged in Thomas Street, and met his fate with +fortitude. The same enthusiasm which allured him to his doom enabled +him to support with serene courage its utmost rigour. His extreme +youth and well-known talents filled the spectators with grief. He sang +'The Sword' with a firm and mellow voice, which never quailed till, +the board on which he stood being tilted up, he was set free to join +the band that were impatiently awaiting him beyond the Styx. + +Lord Clare's ambition was not gratified. He who had been so +unprincipled and arrogant, so insolent and overbearing, his cleverness +no longer needed, was tossed aside by his employers. He carried his +pretensions into the English senate, and was ignominiously insulted +there by his Grace the Duke of Bedford. Pitt gave him no comfort, +observing with a yawn that he was sorry his lordship was a failure; +that he would do well, perhaps, to return to Ireland. He who had so +deceived was himself betrayed. For a few years he lingered in +obscurity, being heard on one occasion, when near his end, to mutter +with sombre meaning: 'Earl and Lord Chancellor! It would have been +better for Ireland if I had lived a sweep!' He died--some said of +chagrin, and some of remorse. Showers of dead cats were thrown upon +his coffin. His last eager directions were that his papers should be +carefully destroyed unread. + +Lord Castlereagh, as all the world knows, cut his throat. + +Government, acting on the advice of the Marquis Cornwallis, accorded a +free pardon to the new Lord Glandore, whose romantic history softened +King George's heart--even though he added yet another to his sins by +marrying a Catholic. It is possible that his Majesty's ire might have +found vent in a seizure of the property of the incorrigible traitor; +but, happily for the latter and for the nation, the King's few wits +deserted him, and he was shut up--as he should have been many years +before. + +Lord and Lady Glandore sojourned abroad awhile, basking in the +softness of a kindlier clime. They had suffered too much in Ireland to +feel aught but pain in dwelling there. Moreover, they had those under +their care whose sorrow hung over them, whilst theirs was at length +assuaged. + +The old countess and the Currans travelled over Europe with them. My +lady never fully rallied. Though her son and daughter lavished every +attention upon her which affection could dictate, the ghost was never +laid, the startled expression never departed from her face. When they +were present she tried to assume cheerfulness; but if one or other +came on her unawares, it was to feel that her heart was not with +them--that it was buried in the vault on the verge of Dublin Bay, by +the side of the unlucky Shane. + +Curran did rally to a certain extent, and returned to Ireland to win +new esteem as Master of the Rolls. But that was long after gentle Sara +died, an event which caused Doreen deep grief, though Terence reminded +her that it was for the best. Her reason went from her, so that she +never knew of Robert's fate, but would sit crooning the weird ditties +of her native land for hours together, and hearken for his coming with +a vacant glee that was heartrending to those who loved her: and all +who knew her loved gentle Sara. Slowly she faded and sank to +rest--peacefully, serenely, with no last buffeting against the +trammels of this life--as an infant sinks into refreshing slumber. To +her, if not to others, was Heaven kind. Though she was given a cross +to bear, yet she never felt its weight, nor knew that she stood in the +ranks of the bereaved. It was of her that a gifted poet sang: + + + 'Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest + When they promise a glorious morrow; + They'll shine o'er her sleep like a smile from the West, + From her own loved island of sorrow!' + + + + + TO THE READER. + + +It has been the habit of novelists, for some reason or another with +which we have nothing to do at present, to associate the Irish +character with rollicking fun, naïve bungling, and mighty fine tastes +of the brogue; and it occurred to me some time since that English +readers who are surfeited with orthodox Hibernian jollities might be +glad, for a change, to look on Pat from his shadowed side; to +contemplate his dreary pilgrimage through the Valley of the Shadow of +Death; to pause for a moment over the events which have bound round +his character with sorrow and hedged him about with grief. The history +of Ireland has been so perverted by mendacious faction that the truth +lies deeply interred. Protestant has vilified Catholic, and Catholic +Protestant, to the extent which is inevitably associated with +religious rancour. My sympathies being specially with neither party, I +have endeavoured to weigh the evidence in a free and independent +spirit, and have come to the conclusion, as might have been expected, +that both were in a measure right and both wrong, considering that +both were actuated by grievances of a more or less awful character, +which, being tinged by a colour of religion, drove them both to +madness and excess. + +One of the chief difficulties with which an historical novelist has to +contend, is the question how far imagination may be permitted +successfully to fight with fact. Conversely, even reverend historians +are beset by this trouble. Walter Scott, Chateaubriand, Michelet, +hardly allow us to separate romance from history, and history from +romance. + +Being desirous of giving a true picture of a time, clothed in romantic +garb, I, in my last novel, conscientiously pointed out the +peccadilloes which lay cunningly in ambush in its chapters; and, being +still anxious to keep my conscience clear, I deem it advisable now to +repeat the process. + +In the construction of this work I was deliberately guilty of two +crimes, both of which, I consider, are attended with extenuating +circumstances. + +The first concerns the compact between the Executive and the +state-prisoners, and is a sin of omission; for although the facts and +the disgraceful behaviour of the English King and Government are +truthfully related, it did not suit the scheme of the story to enter +into all the motives which impelled the United Irishmen to sacrifice +their feelings, and agree to so singular an arrangement. The rebel +leaders submitted to examination by the secret council in hopes of +saving the life of Oliver Bond; but as Oliver Bond was not one of my +chosen puppets, I considered it permissible to leave him in his grave. + +The second crime is one of much greater enormity. To suit the purpose +of the weft, I have presumed to ante-date Emmett's rising by two years +and a half. The United standard first waved over Dublin Castle on +January 1,1801, whilst Emmett's riot did not take place till July, +1803. But I hold that, for the purposes of romance, the romancist may +be permitted to draw events together, though he is in no case to be +allowed to transpose them. At the time of the Union Robert Emmett was +away in France on treasonable business; but it is in every way +probable that if he had been in Ireland he would have acted as I have +made him act. There is ample testimony to prove that the dwellers in +the country (as opposed to the dwellers in the towns) were ready as +early as the winter of '79 to make a new attempt if they could have +found a leader, and that they waited for two years simply because +Emmett did not call them to arms till then. + +Lord Cornwallis writes to General Ross under date of 1779: 'We have +every reason to believe that the French are undertaking a serious +attack, and from the most authentic channels we learn that the +disaffected are more active than ever in swearing and organising the +southern provinces.'[2] And again later: 'That the French will +persevere in their attempt to invade Ireland there can be no doubt, +and if they should succeed, which God forbid, in establishing a war in +this country,'[3] etc. At page 86 we find, 'Though the new Directory +was never fully formed, yet the spirit of rebellion was carefully kept +alive--the flame subtly fanned--till it burst out in 1803 under Robert +Emmett.' H. Alexander, Esq., writes to the Rt. Hon. T. Pelham under +date January, 1800, that 'Dublin is much and seriously agitated.' + + +---------------------------- + +Footnote 2: Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 56. + +Footnote 3: Ibid., p. 60. + + +---------------------------- + + +My portrait of Lord Clare differs in some respects from the usual +conception of that statesman; but I have diligently studied everything +concerning him which was attainable, and am convinced that his +character was as it is here depicted. + +I gratefully take this opportunity of thanking the Press for the +unanimously indulgent manner in which they treated 'Lady Grizel'--with +one exception, that of a certain weekly print whose _raison d'être_ is +its scurrility; and I further embrace this occasion of reminding the +anonymous critic of the said ill-natured print that facts may be +slightly distorted for a set purpose rather than through ignorance, +and that the critic doth not transcendently exalt either his wisdom or +his attainments by pointing out with magnificent scorn that such an +event took place in January instead of March; for Macaulay's +celebrated schoolboy could do as much or more in a diligent half-hour +by the help of that invaluable book 'The Encyclop[oe]dia of +Chronology.' For the special benefit of the said sapient critic, +however, I append to this discourse a list of the works upon Irish +affairs to which I have been indebted, in order that he too may +improve his mind, and be the better prepared to hold up to derision +the rents and slits in my poor pasteboard armour. + + LEWIS WINGFIELD. + + Garrick Club, + _July_, 1879. + + + * * * + + + LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED IN THE COURSE + OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS STORY. + + +Barrington's Personal Sketches, 3 vols. +Barrington's Historic Memoirs of Ireland, 2 vols. +Madden's Irish Political Literature, 2 vols. +Madden's United Irishmen, 4 vols. +Croker's Memoirs of Holt, 2 vols. +Gilbert's History of Dublin, 3 vols. +Maxwell's Irish Rebellion, 1 vol. +Curran's Speeches, 1 vol. +Hardy's Memoirs of Charlemont, 2 vols. +Memoirs and Journals of Wolfe Tone, 2 vols. +Life and Times of Geo. R. Fitzgerald, 1 vol. +Fitz Patrick's Sham Squire, 1 vol. +Fitz Patrick's Ireland before the Union, 1 vol. +Curran's Life, by his son, 2 vols. +Philips's Curran and Contemporaries, 1 vol. +Memoirs of the Earl of Clare, 2 vols. +Walsh's Ireland Ninety Years Ago, 1 vol. +The Spirit of the Nation, 1 vol. +Cornwallis Correspondence, 3 vols. +Castlereagh Correspondence, 3 vols. +Gentleman's Magazine, vols. 53 to 72--19 vols. +Memoirs of Captain Rock, 1 vol. +Father Burke's Refutation of Froude, 1 vol. +Goldwin Smith's Irish History And Character, 1 vol. +Ladies' Museum and Polite Repository, 6 vols. +Martin's Before and After the Union, 1 vol. +Sufferings of Charles Jackson at Wexford. June, 1798, 1 vol. + + + PAMPHLETS. + +Both Sides of the Gutter. +Irish Catholics in 1725. +Ireland: A Satire. +Account of Ireland: A Letter. +Aphorisms Relating to the Kingdom of Ireland. +Causes of the Rebellion, 1799. + + + + THE END. + + + + * * * * * + BILLING AND SON'S, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _S. & H_. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 38863-8.txt or 38863-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38863/ + +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. 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A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the +Union. Vol. III.</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> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (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. III, (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + + + + +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. III.</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 Vengeance! smite us</p> +<p class="t1">With Thy shaft sublime,</p> +<p class="t0">If one bond unite us</p> +<p class="t1">Forged in fraud or crime.</p> +<p class="t0">But if humbly kneeling</p> +<p class="t1">We implore Thine ear,</p> +<p class="t0">For our rights appealing--</p> +<p class="t1">God of Nations! Hear!'</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOL. III.</h2> +<br> +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%; font-weight:bold"> +<colgroup><col style="width:10%; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td><span class="sc2">CHAPTER</span></td> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td>I.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>II.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>III.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IV.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">THE SHAMBLES.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>V.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">APRÈS LA MORT, LE MÉDECIN.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">SUSPENSE.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">EAVESDROPPING.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IX.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>X.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">CONSIGNED TO MOILEY.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">ATÉ.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">MOILEY'S LAST MEAL.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_reader" href="#div1_reader">TO THE READER.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> </td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_list" href="#div1_list">LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED.</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">SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">If the cits of Dublin during this time were in the throes of +apprehension and suspense, the Lords and Commons were enduring the +agonies of evil conscience. They regretted that parliament had not +been prorogued in order that they might have pretended ignorance as to +what was passing; for they felt that the world was pointing the finger +of derision at them. Not that the English world--the <i>beau monde</i> that +is--cared one way or the other. In London it was always difficult to +arouse interest in the affairs of a remote colony, whose ways were +like those of Madagascar. The Viceroy's bleatings appeared weekly in +the <i>Gentlemen's Magazine</i>, and coffee-house critics barely glanced at +them, for they were always the same. His excellency was always +lamenting the misbehaviour of the populace; was always delighted to +report that four or five hundred rebels had on such a day been sent to +another sphere. The scraps of poetry that stood cheek by jowl beside +this gabble were infinitely more amusing to the critics. Rhapsodies on +Chloe's shoe-string--a ravishing account of the last balloon ascent. +But these delectable topics failed to amuse young Robert Emmett, whose +heart, during weary weeks, was feeding on itself in the English +metropolis. On his arrival there, he had been kindly taken by the hand +by my Lord Moira, who had held a seat in the Houses of both countries, +and who, shocked at what he heard, rose up in his place and protested +that it was time for the British public to interfere. A member +suggested lightly that there was an Irish parliament whose province it +was to look after such matters. Lord Moira hung his head. He knew too +well how low that parliament had fallen--how mean-spirited were those +who were haggling over the price of their birthright.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sneers of the Londoners were hard to bear. The dangers which +seemed to menace the Irish senators terrified their timid souls. +From the 24th to the 31st of May no mail-coach had arrived in Dublin. +There was no news save what the Viceroy chose to dribble out; bonfires +were seen upon the Wicklow hills. Awful reports were circulating +hourly--reports that warrior priests were in possession of Arklow; had +arrived at Bray; were at their very gates. If such should prove to be +the case, then was the career ended of the faithful Lords and Commons. +The sulky scowls of the Liberty-boys boded no good. There would be a +massacre of the Innocents. What could Heaven be about to allow its +chosen and elect to suffer such gnawing torments? The scum had been +evilly ill-treated; but not enough, it seemed, to make them meek and +mild. If they were beaten now, they should receive an extra trouncing +for presuming in this egregious manner to alarm their betters. Then +General Lake started with his army; all the regulars went with him. +The capital was handed over to the custody of four thousand yeomen, +who--drunken, dissolute, uncurbed--proceeded to make hay while the +blood-red sun was shining. Major Sirr and his Staghouse bloodhounds +were a power in the state. From being town-major, a title scarcely +legible in the list of public encumbrances, Sirr became invested, +through the usefulness of his bully band, with all the real powers of +the most absolute authority. He was growing rich, for among other +trades he was a licensed victualler, owned Nelly's Coffee-house, and +obtained the lucrative monopoly of supplying wines to prisoners. He +was also a virtuoso; remitted triangle-torture, and sold tickets to +his victims for extra light and air, in exchange for orders upon +hapless wives for pictures, bric-a-brac, and household stuff. How, +when so many came to a violent end, did such a monster escape +assassination? Because one of his first rules of conduct was to push +forward somebody else to perform a dangerous job. When his hounds had +pulled down the quarry, then would he come forward and strike an +attitude upon the body of the hunted beast. It is in the hot-bed of +public calamity that such fungi grow quick to ripeness. So soon as the +counties rose to arms and caused a panic, the life and liberty of +every man was at his disposal. If one offended him, he charged him +with high treason and swept him off to prison, and a court-martial. +Just now, to be accused was much the same as to be convicted. One day, +a professor of language was seized and carted to the Riding-school to +receive five hundred lashes because a letter was found in his pocket +written in the French tongue. Another day (all this before the month +of May was out), a gentleman was pistolled in the street by an +intoxicated yeoman because his hair was cut short. Of course he was a +'Croppy'! It transpired afterwards that he was an invalid recovering +from fever. Another time, a party broke into a baker's shop at dawn, +demanding bread. The oven had not long been lighted--the baking was +not complete. No matter; his Majesty's servants would eat the dough +half-baked--aye, and wash it down as it stuck in the throat with a +jorum of raw whisky. Strange to relate, the whole party was taken ill. +Of course the villanous Croppies had poisoned the servants of his +Majesty. An example should be made of the malignants! (How fond were +these pioneers of a new era of making examples!) The baker and his +wife and his two sons were dragged into the street and shot down, +without time for shriving, in front of their own door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lieutenant Hepenstall, as a type of his class, rose to unenviable +celebrity. He stood six feet two, was strong and broad--could lift a +ton. The expression of his face was mild as milk--the blackness of his +heart was dark as hell. Full of zeal for his Majesty's service, he +took to hanging on his own brawny back those persons whose +physiognomies he judged to be characteristic of rebellion. First, he +knocked down his man to quiet him. His garters did duty as handcuffs. +His cravat was a convenient rope. With a powerful chuck he drew his +victim's head as high as his own and trotted about with his burden, +considerately advising him to pray for King George, since prayers +would be wasted on his own damned Popish soul, till the gulping +wretch's neck was broken. Is it any marvel that the bullet, the sabre, +the lash, the halter, should have been met by the pike, the scythe, +the hatchet, and the firebrand?</p> + +<p class="normal">Major Sirr became all-powerful, and shortly after Terence's mishap had +words with Cassidy. He came to look on his old ally with a feeling +akin to contempt, for he considered a man mean-spirited who had not +the courage of his own iniquity. The time was over now when masks were +comfortable wearing. He, Major Sirr, had never stooped to wear one; if +Cassidy intended to feather his nest, now was the time, or never. He +roundly told him so when the giant called in at the major's lodgings +to claim his portion of the £1,000 reward. The latter's brow-tufts +came down over his nose; he laughed a sardonic laugh and shook his +pear-shaped head. He was specially spiteful over this reward, by +reason of the slashes he had received from Phil. True, they were mere +flesh-wounds; but he resented having his legs carved about in this +reckless way by an amateur surgeon.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If ye'd have your part of the money,' he said, with incisive scorn, +'come and claim it in the public street. Don't come to me in the dead +o' night as though the bumbailiffs were creeping at your heels.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He held by his decision, and the two cronies quarrelled. Indeed they +were very near a duel; but Cassidy, with commendable prudence, +observed, 'There is enough discord already among the patriots, so +don't let us fall into a similar mistake.' They snarled and showed +their teeth, like dogs; then made it up, as wisdom dictated.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy could not well explain the reasons for his secrecy. He +could not say that if he were known to have accepted her cousin's +blood-money there would be an impassable gulf 'twixt him and Doreen +for ever. Sirr would have only gibed in that a man who was such a +rascal should be sighing after an honest wench; so he gave up the +blood-money. Cassidy was very undecided at this moment. Prudence +whispered that the major's counsel was good. He knew, too, that as +things were going, he could not wear his mask much longer. What was he +to do? Unless he were careful he would fall between two stools. Doreen +had never given her clumsy admirer any encouragement; would probably +refuse him even though he hoarded mines of gold. Was she not rich +herself? If he could not have Doreen, it would be quite as well to +have money; and he could not earn his proper wage without openly +joining the Battalion of Testimony. It was a very delicate question. +Would it not be best to sound Miss Wolfe once more? Maidens are coy. +Some who are prepared to take us if we persevere, require much wooing. +Maybe the fair Doreen was one of these. On second thoughts he did not +quite think she was, with her calm bearing and solemn eyes; but at all +events it was worth the trial. No harm could come of that.</p> + +<p class="normal">He determined, therefore, to make a journey to Glas-aitch-é, and trim +his sails according to the wind that blew there. Meanwhile it was a +dirty trick that his old ally had played him. Yet, after all, it +mattered little. The sweetness of revenge is better than guineas. His +long-concealed loathing for his unconscious rival had found vent at +last, and he felt the better for it, independent of any considerations +of pelf. The odious, good-tempered, bright-visaged, careless young +councillor! He dared to aspire to Doreen, did he? The same words as +the giant had muttered as he stood before the sleeper, he spoke again +through his grinding teeth. If he could not have the maid himself, the +councillor should not have her. That unlucky person was sick unto +death in duress, with the gallows looming close at hand. There was +comfort--great comfort in that. The thousand pounds might go to the +devil--or to Major Sirr. Decidedly it would be well to make a trip +northward, for though he played his game cunningly and let out useless +Castle secrets with much vapouring, yet were the chiefs of the popular +party beginning to suspect him. Even unsuspicious Tom Emmett, whom he +had been to see in Kilmainham gaol a few days back, twitted him with +his liberty. The double game was no longer possible. He would have to +make up his mind presently either to assume the palm of martyrdom for +Doreen's sake, with a pardon in his portfolio for past delinquencies, +or, flinging off boldly all disguise, to pocket the guineas and the +obloquy which were the portion of the Staghouse crew.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sufferings of the Lords and Commons were endured also in full +measure by the Privy Council, who found themselves in a quandary. Lord +Moira's little agitation in London was not without its effect, +although folks did sneer at the wild Irish. On leaving St. Stephen's, +the head of opposition linked his arm in my Lord Moira's, and begged +to inquire whether he had not been drawing on his imagination.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Your countrymen are so dreadfully imaginative, you know!' he said +plaintively. 'I never forget the story of "potatoes and point" that +somebody told me. So Irish! What is it? Oh! some notion of a Hibernian +feast on a frugal scale in the far west, where the guests sat in a +circle, each with his potato, which was dipped from time to time to +give it flavour into a pot of salt in the middle. When the salt began +to fail, each potato was <i>pointed</i> at the relish instead of being +dipped in it, which many declared to be an economical improvement, for +imagination did the rest! The Irish, you know, pull the long-bow +terribly, and disconcert you by themselves believing their own lies.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Being at last persuaded that Lord Moira's details were facts which had +taken place lately, and would take place each day for months, unless +summarily stopped, Mr. Pitt's rival expressed much delight. This was a +hole in the harness of Mr. Pitt, of which he would proceed straightway +to make the most brilliant use. But Mr. Pitt saw the pair walking +together, and, divining at once the subject of their discourse, +resolved to forestall any rude suggestions which might be made. He +wrote accordingly to Lord Clare, expressing surprise at the reports, +bidding him act with discretion--tempering a just firmness with +lenity; deploring and disapproving a waste of life; suggesting fewer +executions and more close imprisonment. The chancellor was annoyed at +being thus interfered with. He was doing his work steadily and well. +It was all very fine for an English minister to prate in platitudes, +at a distance, about firmness and lenity. He would reap the full +benefit of the transaction when it was completed, whilst his tools in +Ireland were laying in a harvest of opprobrium. Then, as his mind +worked, the look of anxiety cleared from Lord Clare's face. What +happened to the rest of the Privy Council mattered little to him. <i>He</i> +was the guiding pilot. To <i>him</i> must come honours, an English peerage, +a seat at St. Stephen's. There might he give a loose rein to his +ambition. This letter, though, might prove useful in the matter of +Terence Crosbie. The Viceroy's prerogative of mercy should be +exercised first of all in the case of the misguided youth, son of the +old friend who persisted in remaining so singularly cold as to his +fate. Why were my lady's letters so cold? he wondered. Never mind. Her +son should be saved, if possible, without more parley.</p> + +<p class="normal">His plan, however, met with unexpected resistance from Lord Camden, +who was usually so ductile. To his amazement that effete person +declined altogether to interfere. Vainly the chancellor browbeat him, +employing those artifices of language and manner which were wont to +make him quiver. The more he argued the more the Viceroy mumbled. Like +all weak natures, he could be wofully obstinate at times in the wrong +place. He had worked himself up to consider the unhappy Terence as his +own private victim, because, in his case, he had acted on his own +authority for once, and had even been visited with the sublime +inspiration of the reward. He clung to his victim with the tenacity of +a bulldog; nothing should wrest from his lips the savoury morsel. For +his part, he declared, he thought Mr. Pitt barely civil. He desired +these hopeless Irish people to be well kept under, and yet he gave +vent to windy phrases which his coadjutors in Dublin could not +possibly act upon, without changing their course and becoming +laughing-stocks. He, for one, declined to stultify himself. As for +this sprig of nobility who had disgraced the ermine and dirtied his +nest, it was essential above all things to make an example of him, +lest any other misguided youth of the same rank should be deluded +enough to follow his pernicious lead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare, like a good diplomat, dropped the subject for that time, +and went on to speak of the other imprisoned leaders. What was to be +done with them? Could they be executed? No! It would be impolitic to +martyrise them too openly, for they were well known in Dublin as +patriotic and single-minded young men who led blameless lives. +Moreover it was evident from this epistolary hint that Mr. Pitt would +object to such a proceeding.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I'd try 'em by court-martial!' mumbled the Viceroy from the head of +the council board, taking snuff.</p> + +<p class="normal">'State prisoners!' retorted Arthur Wolfe with unusual warmth, from the +bottom. 'Better not go through the farce of trial at all.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The Viceroy glared, and the chancellor bit his lip. Why could not +Arthur Wolfe hold his stupid tongue? Lord Clare felt more than ever +that this weak-minded friend must be got out of the way somehow. On +him, as attorney-general, would of course fall the duties of crown +prosecutor. Dear, dear! people seemed to throw obstacles in his way on +purpose, as though his task were not entangled enough already! All +this considered, these members of the Directory, over whose capture +there had been such crowing, seemed disposed to revenge themselves by +becoming white elephants. They could not be hanged <i>en masse</i> without +creating scandal; it was not even certain that they would be convicted +if brought to trial, for against several of their number very little +tangible evidence could be brought. Their names on a list--their +presence at a meeting. This was not enough. Of course the Battalion +could be brought forward with fictitious evidence--but Lord Clare +shrank from this, except as a last resource. Besides, they were not to +be hanged--that was settled. What then could be done with them? A +light punishment, as for a misdemeanour, would drive the Orangemen to +madness, who were shouting for blood, after the manner of religious +bigots. Petty larceny and high treason could not be placed on the same +level. Could not somebody suggest something?</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have an idea,' mild Arthur Wolfe murmured, as he nervously gnawed a +pen. 'Banishment might be proposed to them, on conditions which might +be made to look like mutual accommodation. For instance, make them +confess their offences and explain the ins and outs of their scheme, +in order that it may be guarded against in future. By confession they +would show the world that we've not been tilting against windmills. +Surely the establishment of the traitorous conspiracy by the testimony +of the principal actors in it might be fairly taken as an equivalent +for the lives of a few men, without loss of dignity on our part?'</p> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor mused. The notion was ingenious. The Viceroy drew a +picture of a gallows on his paper, and gabbled of court-martials in an +injured tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Very pretty, but they would not consent,' affirmed Lord Clare, at +last.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I think they would,' returned the attorney-general, blushing. 'In +fact, the idea is not mine. Tom Emmett suggested it to me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You've been to see them?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes. I've been to Kilmainham and to Newgate. It's a shocking sight,' +answered Arthur Wolfe, kindling, 'to see decent men loaded with irons, +mixed up with thieves, insulted hourly by the low janissaries of Major +Sirr! The poor fellows are so shocked at the accounts which reach +them, and see so plainly the futility of struggling now, that they +would do anything, I think, to stop the effusion of blood.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If they would consent to banishment for life, and let us into the +secrets of the society, we should be well out of the job,' the +chancellor decided. 'Curran shall be sent to put it to the rascals. +The blackguard has influence with them. Meanwhile we will turn on the +screw by bringing the worst to trial. Sure Mr. Pitt must not mind just +a few being strung up.'</p> + +<p class="normal">So it was provisionally arranged; but the affair did not run on +wheels. The patriots were captious, held out for special terms, +dictated alterations in the proposed agreement, behaved in a flippant +manner--not meekly and decorously as people should who feel the hemp +about their necks.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It must be understood,' they declared, 'that they were to mention no +names, criminate no person; that after an examination before the +secret committee of Lords, upon the intentions and aims of the United +Irish Society, they were to be sent to America, as Tone had been +before them.' Here was insolence! This in order, of course, that they +might join Tone in France, and stir up the French again. Contumacious +traitors!</p> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor became exceeding wroth. The screw must be twisted with +a vengeance, he said. 'What a pity that they could not be hanged <i>en +masse!</i> One or two at any rate must suffer--just to teach the others +to behave themselves.' Lord Camden suggested Terence, the malignant +aristocrat, as a good victim; but the chancellor fenced the matter +off, and overruled his excellency. Arthur Wolfe implored and +begged--vowed that the words would choke his utterance as he made his +opening speech--swore that he could not, would not, come forward to +prosecute--even so far forgot himself as to fling the pens and paper +about, and beard the Privy Council with upbraiding words. Then my Lord +Camden absolutely cackled. Mr. Speaker and Mr. Prime Sergeant laid +their hands upon their swords. How indecent! Luckily they sat with +closed doors. Here was a split in the cabinet when unity was so +essential. Lord Clare's harsh voice rose above the hubbub. He coerced +them all to order with verbal whips, like the keeper of some +menagerie. The animals, cowed, lay down and growled. The peace was +kept for this once, but the astute chancellor perceived that something +must be done with promptitude, or the whole of his beautiful fabric, +which only needed a roof now to finish it, would come tumbling about +his ears. Truly he deserved well of his master, for he laboured hard. +He discovered that the excellent, the humane, Arthur Wolfe was too +good and clever for his position--almost too good for this world; and +so he was graciously put on the shelf--I mean the Bench--and raised to +the peerage of Kilwarden, <i>en attendant</i> a front seat in heaven. As my +Lord Kilwarden we shall know him for the future--the same weak +well-meaning man as ever--compelled to listen to false witness from +his high chair, but unable to interfere because his mouth was stopped +by the fur which trimmed his coronet. The solicitor-general, Toler, +was promoted to the vacant place, and proved to be a prosecutor 'of +the right sort,' a fitting <i>pendant</i> to the jury, in the state-trials +which commenced immediately in the sessions-house in Green Street, +hard by Newgate prison.</p> + +<p class="normal">These proceedings followed each other with the celerity which marked +the chief events of '98. The rebels had thrown down their gauntlet on +the 23rd of May. By the 1st of June, Kildare was quieted. It was on +the 11th of June that the court was first opened for the trial of the +patriots, whose chief advocate was Curran; whilst horrible reports +were arriving hourly from Wexford, which were made the most of, to +keep the jury up to the mark. The moment which the little lawyer had +prophetically seen was come, when he of the silver tongue was to stand +forth and boldly wrestle for noble human life with the demons of +Treachery and Malice. The brave little man shrank not from the task, +fraught as it was with personal danger to himself. He bore a charmed +life. The prisoners in their beds at Newgate could hear his earnest +tones in the hot night through opened windows, haranguing the jury +till daylight; could detect the trotting of his pony as he returned in +the morning to the Priory--no longer hospitably open as of yore, but +bolted and barred, with shutters closed and loopholed, in a besieged +condition, for timid Sara's sake. That which occupied the +sessions-house in Green Street was the only civil tribunal which +existed during this troublous time. Except in the instances of the six +state-trials, there was no law in town or country but martial law, +which is terrible enough even when fairly administered; how much more +awful then when conducted, as it was, by excited Irishmen--rabid with +religious fury, heated by rancour and revenge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Events had marched quickly. The chancellor had nothing to complain of, +for, with a few trifling checks, everything went well enough. The +people had been maddened into committing themselves. All classes were +at sixes and sevens. The menagerie was in a chaotic condition. The +wolf snarled at the hyena, the bear showed his tusks at the tiger-cat. +The senate was as degraded as its bitterest foe could desire. But what +an exasperating world it is! How true the trite old maxim about the +slip 'twixt cup and lip! Lord Clare saw (not far off, neither) the +abolition of the Irish parliament. He heard his own voice ringing +along the rafters of the English House of Lords. He pictured himself +high in office--why not premier some day? But all of a sudden an event +occurred which had never entered into his calculations--a rap came on +his knuckles, swift and agonising, which woke him from his vision to +see that it was air.</p> + +<p class="normal">That agitation of Lord Moira's went farther in its effect than its +author dreamed. Mr. Pitt perceived at once that it must cause him to +change his tactics, and with presence of mind he resolved to do so +instantly. 'How lucky,' he mused, as he sat under the comb of his +friseur after a night's debauch, 'that this dust was not stirred up +sooner! Now it matters not. The effect I wish produced is made, and +can't be unmade. But I must disavow the acts that made it. The thing +has gone so far now that it must run along to the end by the force of +its own impetus.' Then he reflected that it would not be amiss to +write a warning to Lord Clare, which might be brought up against him +later. He would let things go on quietly till other arrangements were +completed, then announce his new purpose as a surprise, and act upon +it on the instant.</p> + +<p class="normal">So it came about that the English premier disarmed the opposition by +recalling at a few hours' notice the then Viceroy, Lord Camden, and +despatching to Ireland at once--with an energy that did him credit--a +new one, who was instructed to carry on the work on a new principle. +Lord Clare was thunderstruck. When the news came, his face lengthened +by an ell. He thought not of broken puppets, which, having served +their purpose, are tossed upon the dust-heap. A new Viceroy! Just at +this crisis, too, when more than ever unity was strength. What if the +new Viceroy should have a will of his own to clash with the lord +chancellor's? That was unlikely, for Lord Clare was essentially a +leader of men. He had coerced many viceroys, and thoroughly understood +the business. There was no reason for supposing that this one would be +more stubborn than the others. But he would of necessity come raw to +his work, would have to be taught, which would create delay. It was +very provoking. Yet, after all, there was a good side even to this +dilemma. Strong-willed or not, he would have to leave things alone +during his pupilage. For the present he could not interfere much. Yet, +turn the situation over as he would, my Lord Clare could not but see +that Mr. Pitt had made a fool of him; and it was with some misgiving +that the chancellor went down in state to Kingstown to make his bow to +his new master.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Pitt's choice was a most judicious one. He had to look for a man +who was brave and honest, high-spirited, clear-headed--the antithesis +to Camden. Some one who knew something of affairs, who was a +soldier--in order that at this difficult juncture the reins of +government and the command of the forces should be in one firm grasp. +Some one who was experienced in the world's ways, who would be too +wise to run a-muck or do anything Quixotic. Who would pull things +straight gradually and with circumspection, so as not to stop the ball +before it reached its goal, and yet who was too conspicuous for virtue +for the opposition to jut forth the tongue at him. Just such a man was +the Marquis Cornwallis, who had recently earned glorious laurels in +India; whom all the world respected because he was upright as well as +worldly-wise.</p> + +<p class="normal">The preparations of the new Viceroy had been made in secret. +Therefore, the word of command being given, he started off, like the +good soldier that he was, at a moment's notice, and arrived at +Kingstown towards the end of June. As a salve to his predecessor's +feelings, a nephew of Lord Camden's was attached as chief +secretary--the young Viscount Castlereagh, who, report said, was +promising. Lord Clare met the party with a toothsome smile, in all the +bravery of tightly-fitting silk upon his dapper limbs, his rustling +robes stiffened with gold lace, his lappeted wig powdered with +perfumed flour. The viceregal state-coach was not in waiting, he +regretted to say. The rapidity of his excellency's coming was +extraordinary! My Lord Camden, who was living within a cordon of +guards away in the Phœnix Park, had not yet resigned it. But his +own poor coach was there (the one which cost four thousand guineas); +if his excellency would so far honour him as to take a seat in it, it +would be the proudest moment in the life of his humble servant.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis, thinking it a good opportunity of studying the +notorious chancellor, accepted graciously; and the two jogged +together along the high-road to Dublin, preceded by a body of the +Liberty-rangers, who appeared to the military optic a sad set of +clodpoles. Lord Clare descanted on the beauty of the scenery, the +loveliness of Dublin Bay, the delights of summer weather. Sure, his +excellency must have had a splendid passage. Was he never sick? Lucky +man! Never, never? This good beginning was a fine omen for the future. +Might his career in Ireland win his Majesty's approval! and so on, and +so forth. Vapid compliments! Lord Clare made himself as pleasant as he +possibly could, and congratulated himself rather on his success. It is +a fortunate circumstance that we do not abide in the Palace of Truth. +The first impression which the coercer of viceroys left upon the mind +of Lord Cornwallis, was one of a cruel eye, painfully glittering +teeth, a smile to be distrusted, a voice which went through him like a +knife.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What of the people?' he asked somewhat abruptly; for he knew more +than he liked about Lake's plans, and feared lest the obloquy which +must attend them should be pinned to the new <i>régime</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The people!' echoed his companion, in a tone which spoke +volumes--'the people! Ah, well! They've offended the King, and are +having a hard time of it. To-morrow they will have a very hard time +indeed, but no worse than they deserve; for by nightfall, if all goes +well--why should it go ill?--a few hours hence, Wexford and +Enniscorthy will be taken, the camp at Vinegar Hill will be a +Golgotha--this deplorable folly will be at an end.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis gave a sigh of relief. He had come expecting to see +unpleasant sights, to be for the nonce a bandager instead of a carver +of wounds. If the chancellor spoke truly, then was he indeed in luck, +for the horrors attending this 'Golgotha,' as his companion +picturesquely put it, would naturally be considered to belong to Lord +Camden's vice-royalty, not his.</p> + +<p class="normal">The cavalcade which had been rattling along came to a standstill. The +Liberty-rangers, with oaths and curses, were striving to force a +passage through a kneeling crowd which occupied the way; but the +peasants who formed the crowd seemed to have no feeling as they knelt +there in the middle of the road, with hats off and heads bowed down.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vainly were the horses urged, vainly did the postilions, with artful +flips of their long knotted lashes, strive to tickle into +sensitiveness the soft bare arms of girls--their white necks, from +which the hair was braided. They knelt there and moved not.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis looked out at the spectacle in surprise, and lowered +the window-glass with a bang to bid the postilions respect the sex, in +terms of indignant remonstrance. What singular people! So silent; they +might be stone. His ear caught a distant wailing, very faint--a long +way off--and a peculiar sound which recalled long-forgotten memories +of youth. The falling of a flail--yes, that was it. A lightning-flash, +of the past revealed to his mind's eye a warm-coloured, familiar +threshing-floor, in which he used to play ere he grew hardened by +war's vicissitudes. He remembered, as though it were yesterday, the +chequered sunlight on the grain, the merry hum of life, the stalwart +fellows raising their brawny arms in clock-like rhythm. He heard again +the buzz of insects, the booming of gauze-winged beetles along the +hedgerows; the exhilarating murmur which sings of teeming nature--of +glorious summer. Why were these peasants turned to stone?</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare, forgetting himself, craned out of his window, and presumed +at the very start to counter-order his chief's commands.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Go on!' he screamed. 'Get through this riff-raff!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis roughly bade him hold his peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's only a flogging,' the chancellor apologised.</p> + +<p class="normal">'And this is the silent protest of the people! Have they sunk to +this?' cried the Viceroy hoarsely, pulling at his cravat to ease the +lump that was in his throat. 'Poor creatures! Ground down so low that +they can protest only by their silence--a reverent silence, like that +of onlookers at a martyrdom! Who is acting here? Call him forward.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Presently an aide-de-camp returned through an archway with the +sheriff. The aide's eyes were full of tears. He was a youth new to +Ireland. This pathetic method of protesting was strangely, weirdly +tragic! He had noted how, as the far-off moaning continued, and the +thuds poured down in an unrelenting shower, these fair young necks had +winced in concert, though no murmur passed their lips. Yet when the +postilions flicked them, calling up red marks upon the skin, they made +no movement, nor uttered cry. All their feeling was for the suffering +victim on the triangle, in the barrack-yard yonder, whose life the cat +was slowly beating out of him. None was left for a paltry personal +smart, which lasts a second and is gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What are you doing there?' asked the frowning Viceroy.</p> + +<p class="normal">''Deed it's a Croppy being flogged till he tells the truth, as is the +rule,' returned the sheriff confidentially, with grins. He knew not +the bluff speaker, but respected the golden coach.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Learn then, in time, lest your own bones suffer for it,' retorted +Lord Cornwallis, 'that I am his Majesty's new representative. That my +first order on arriving in your capital shall be to put down corporal +punishment in any form whatever, unless sanctioned and signed for by +me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The sheriff knew not what to make of it. This the new Viceroy, and +these his orders? He merely bowed and smirked, taking his cue from my +Lord Clare.</p> + +<p class="normal">A very old man in a long frieze coat, seeming to read some sort of +unusual sympathy in the flushed weather-beaten face of the last +speaker, advanced to the carriage-window with a grotesque salute.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What can we do for you, my man?' quoth the bluff soldier, in the hope +of some answering quip which should warm away the chill which rested +on his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Plaze, yer honour!' quavered the aged man, with a vacant smile of +senility, 'sure I'd loike, if it moight be, for my two lads foreninst +the barriks there, as are sufferin', to be hanged at onst! And, av ye +plaze, might I go up too? Wid the blessing of God, I'd loike to shake +a fut wid my boys!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis pulled up the window with a jerk; and Lord Clare +thought the omen not quite so good which marked the arrival of the new +Viceroy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare's previsions were justified in the first instance. The new +Viceroy was obliged to refrain from positive interference for a time, +in order that he might study the chaos and consider his future course. +News of the affair of Vinegar Hill reached him on the second day after +his arrival, and he thanked Heaven in that he was spared any +participation in the maltreatment of the south. But the first week in +August brought unexpected news, which compelled his excellency to look +about him with promptitude. The French--bugaboo that had given his +predecessor sleepless nights, only to prove afterwards the most vulgar +of post-cœnal nightmares--were actually present in the flesh at +last. An army had landed on the north-western coast; so the news ran +which had flitted round the seaboard in a circle of flame. A veritable +army had landed at Killala under false colours, flying a mendacious +Union Jack: veterans to the number of twelve hundred, who had fought +in Italy under Napoleon.</p> + +<p class="normal">These at least were worthy foes whose presence set his martial blood +tingling. The hero of Vinegar Hill was despatched with all speed to +the northwest, while the Viceroy assembled his forces to follow him. +Three frigates only, bearing twelve hundred veterans! A handful. Was +this the <i>avant-garde</i> of the invading army? Where was the rest of the +fleet? Scattered as usual by wind, or delayed by some accidental +circumstance? General Lake sent intelligence to his chief that this +handful really composed the entire force, which was commanded by one +Humbert, who had come on a fool's errand, without money or provisions, +trusting to Tone's assurance that the countryfolk would rally round +him so soon as he unfurled the tricolour. 'He would make short work of +the adventurers,' he wrote, 'with the help of the "Ancient Britons" +and the "Foxhunters." It would hardly be necessary for his excellency +to appear in person, for the brush would be over before he could +arrive.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The French met the royalists at Castlebar, where the latter were +disgracefully defeated. Humbert, delighted by his easy victory, +occupied the town during eight days, astonishing the people by a +courtesy to which they were little accustomed. So long as he commanded +there no house-burnings were heard of; no ravishing of maidens, or +pillaging of household goods. The peasantry poured into his camp, but +they were worse than of no service to him--a half-savage horde of idle +lookers-on, who howled and danced and quarrelled. The respectable +portion of the community held aloof, for Protestants could have no +sympathy with a French invader, while the higher class of Catholics +looked askance at Free-thinkers who had once been in the bosom of +their Church. Moreover, the horrors of Wexford were yet ringing in +their ears--horrors concerning which there could be no doubt, for the +Foxhunters, smeared with fraternal gore, were in their midst, who were +by no means inclined to put their firebrand under a bushel. Nor was it +long ere they gave a taste of their quality. They bade the fisherfolk +upon the coasts to declare for one side or the other at once, and +terrified the harmless people so that many tried to seek refuge in the +caverns which, as at Ennishowen, burrow under the western cliffs. Many +scores were drowned in the attempt, their bodies washed up upon the +rocks. It was not possible (no reinforcements arriving from France) +that Humbert could maintain his position at Castlebar. Perceiving his +peril, he made an effort to move northward, under the impression that +if he could succeed in avoiding a decisive action, Tone would soon +come with succour.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forces of General Lake dogged his steps, amusing themselves with +the native hordes who hung upon their skirts; and if ever blood atoned +for treason, then were those western counties washed white as wool. +Sword and halter were used with unsparing hand. An order went forth +that any man in a frieze coat might be sabred, without questions +asked. A certain noble colonel's humour was so broad that for a +second time he was publicly rebuked; on this occasion by Colonel +Campbell--whose nephew became afterwards Lord Clyde.</p> + +<p class="normal">Humbert and his men surrendered very shortly, and, cursing the people +they had come to save, were marched to Dublin as prisoners of war. So +ended the third French folly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now hie we to Donegal with Cassidy, who, after the arrival of the new +Viceroy, saw more distinctly than ever how advisable would be a short +absence. Whilst artfully pretending that he could not keep a secret, +or conceal an emotion, or resist temptation, Mr. Cassidy was, as you +possibly have by this time discovered, a far-sighted, cold-hearted +schemer. A hypocrite is not necessarily one who conceals vice behind a +semblance of virtue. He belonged to a branch of the same stem who +makes a vice which he has no objection to show a stalking-horse to +cover a darker and more profitable vice which it is essential he +should hide. It was clear to him, after a very few hours' experience +of the new-comer, that my Lords Clare and Cornwallis did not agree. +There would be a tussle for power, during which the smaller fry would +be wise to remain quiescent. Lord Cornwallis, whose hands were full in +other ways, showed no signs of desiring to interfere in the matter of +the patriots; could not, indeed, do so without a dangerous stretch of +prerogative, for they were in the grip of the law, or rather of the +antic creature who for the nonce assumed the name; but he made no +secret of his contempt of the Lords and Commons, and his unspeakable +abhorrence of the behaviour of the yeomanry. More than this he dared +not do as yet, for it was evidently not his policy to quarrel with +the ascendency party; so he shut his eyes to the gymnastics in the +Riding-school, and popped his august head under the bedclothes with a +groan, when the screams of the victims in the Exchange hard by +penetrated to his chamber in the Castle. His path was thick with +flints. He complained bitterly of his position in letters to an old +brother-in-arms. 'The characteristics of society here,' he wrote, 'are +cruelty, intemperance, and profligacy. There is no trick too mean or +too impudent for an Irish politician; no deed too wicked for an Irish +soldier. These last are ferocious in the extreme, when poor creatures +armed or unarmed come into their power. Murder is their favourite +pastime. The conversation of all the principal persons in the country +tends to encourage this system of blood, and the talk even at my own +table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it, turns on +hanging, shooting, burning, etc.; and if a priest has been put to +death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company. So much for +Ireland and my wretched situation.'<a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="normal">In their exuberant loyalty the Lords and Commons made a solemn +procession to do homage before a statue of that noble character, +George I., which was set up in Dawson Street. Their chancellor +strutted in front, followed by Mr. Speaker and Prime Sergeant. But His +Excellency declined to take part in the edifying pageant--even +muttered something uncomplimentary about a pack of donkeys. Lord +Clare, in his anger at the soldier's want of polish, was unwise enough +to threaten that he would lodge complaints on the subject. Decidedly +it was prudent for those whose nests required feathering to retire +into the background until the difficulty was adjusted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy rode northward, scanning as he went the numerous signs of +recent outrage. In the towns he was stopped and eagerly questioned, +for coaches and mail-bags were erratic. Rumour was garrulous, and +frequently contradicted herself. He, too, was interested in +obtaining information, for the citizens of Dublin know nothing of the +northern rising, except that it had been quickly put down with very +little trouble. He learnt that in the north, as in the south, the +collapse had come chiefly from lack of leaders; for preachers +could not be suddenly transmuted into generals, or traders into +commanders-in-chief. There had been a half-heartedness about the whole +business, arising from mutual distrust. The atrocities of Wexford +shocked the Northern Presbyterians, who were only told of the excesses +of the Catholics. Derry, too, was jealous of Down, Antrim of both. On +the other hand, the Hessian mercenaries irritated all classes--it was +the armed occupation of a conquered territory by a swinish conqueror. +The flame was skilfully fanned. Amnesty for political offences was +vaguely spoken of, which soon merged into sanguinary denunciation, and +concluded in the devotion of whole towns to fire and sword. The people +knew not how to act. If Wexford was subdued, the lash would surely +fall on their backs to punish them for their known detestation of the +Sassanagh. It would be better, then, to rise, some argued, so as at +least to gain something in exchange for inevitable punishment. And so, +undisciplined and ill-led, Antrim rose and was crushed; then Down took +the field, to suffer a like fate. It was the old, sad story over again +of Wexford, without Father Roche or the priest of Boulavogue. The +insurrection was evanescent; accompanied by much intermittent bravery +on the part of the peasants, much imbecility on the part of the +leaders, awful retribution on the part of the Hessians and squireens. +Cassidy found everywhere the feeling which Lord Clare had worked for, +and was overwhelmed with admiration at the cleverness of the +chancellor. Every one was mourning for a brother or a son. A gloom of +failure hung like a pall over the peasantry. The tradesmen of the +towns had lost all self-confidence, and were bowed in humiliation. +Their lives were so miserable that they cared no more what happened; +the iron heel had crushed them both in body and soul. The few whose +spirit yet flickered formed themselves into banditti, who for years +continued to infest the mountains and wild tracts. How difficult are +such memories to eradicate; how tenacious and how spreading are their +roots! What a long array of sedatives may be required to blot out the +remembrance of a crime of such portentous magnitude as this which we +are contemplating!</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the dreamland of Ennishowen knew nothing of these things. +The fairy islet of Glas-aitch-é seemed defended from outer evil by a +spell, which gave the sleeping knights in the sea-caves no cause for +waking. The seals rolled over on the blue-green waves as though the +world were not full of sorrow; the eagles soared high up in ether, +dazzled by the glory of the sun. As month followed month my lady saw +that her pet project was brought no nearer to realisation than in the +old days of Strogue; that it was further off, indeed; for Shane had +grown as coldly indifferent to his cousin as she was to him. He made +no love to her, did not seem to see her; the intercourse of those whom +my lady longed to see acting as lovers was as calm as that between a +brother and a sister. It was exasperating.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady hugged her religion, which taught her that those who follow +the national faith were capable of any crime. She gloated over the +narrative of the horrors on Wexford Bridge; thanked God that she was +not so bad as other people; affected a certain journal recently +printed by a missionary who had preached Christ's doctrine--or what he +took to be such--to the benighted heathen, in which was written: 'Had +much sweet enjoyment to-day in reading a sermon on the justice of God +in the damnation of sinners.' Her letters brought her news which by +degrees changed, so it seemed, the whole tenor of her way of thinking. +At least Doreen thought so as she surveyed her aunt, who appeared now +to act in spasms of contradictory impulse. At one moment the world was +apparently to her so black that there was nothing for it but to sit +down without hope to await the welcome end. At another moment she +became feverishly-restless and energetic, chafing evidently under some +hidden goad which was too bitter to be endured with outward calm. +Doreen watched her with increasing interest; for Time, which was +changing my lady, had changed her too, by removing the apathetic +dreaminess that had, upon arriving in the north, lulled the torn +fibres of her disillusioned nature with the anodyne which follows +disappointment. As events unfolded themselves, the two ladies changed +places. My lady, so imperious and impatient of contradiction, became +apathetic, but with an uncanny resignation which increased her age all +at once by at least ten years. The proud foot, instead of disdaining +the earth as it used to do, lost its elasticity and dragged upon the +ground. The incipient look of terror for which her eyes had always +been remarkable, developed into the amaze of one who has seen a ghost +face to face, while the skin round them was dry and burning, and +darkened to a purplish brown. For hours and hours would she sit, like +one inanimate, staring at that ghost which she only could behold, +turning with a nervous start if a door or window were opened suddenly. +Sometimes--but that was seldom--her surcharged heart found relief in +tears; not soothing dew, but water which burned new furrows down her +wasted cheek. It was evident that there was some awful weight upon her +mind, which was growing heavier--was squeezing her life-blood out by +drops.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen set herself to wonder what this could mean. It looked like the +effort of an anguished soul to fly from memory and hoodwink remorse. +Yet why should the punctiliously upright dowager be possessed by so +dire a visitation? The old lady (really old now, though her years were +but fifty-three) kept muttering to herself when she thought she was +alone; then looked fiercely up, with glaring eyes like coals, from a +suspicion that she might have betrayed something. Once her niece +caught her in an excess of what seemed like madness--babbling some +frantic words out loud through a thick silken kerchief which she held +against her mouth. It was clear that there was some secret which was +bursting to come out--that was devouring her piecemeal--and that she +adopted this strange way of giving vent to it. Her sufferings must +indeed be terrible, Miss Wolfe thought, if that marble pride was +powerless to conceal them. No human frame may bear for long such +wrenching. Either the stern countess must go raving mad, or else she +would certainly soon die.</p> + +<p class="normal">One night when (sleepless herself) Doreen rose to listen at her aunt's +door, she caught, amid inarticulate babble, the oft-repeated words, +'Terence--Shane!' muttered in such tones of anguish, that, shivering, +she crept back to bed, warned as by chilling vapour from the threshold +of a secret which 'twere better not to know. Terence--Shane! Her two +sons, then, were at the bottom of the mystery--the two sons who in +their mother's mind stood on such different platforms. Doreen watched +on, but still found no clue to the labyrinth. The countess seemed +sometimes, she observed, to be much occupied with her project--that +wild notion, unpractical in the beginning, which events had made even +more incongruous--of uniting these cousins who had so little in common +at the first, and who had now between them the gulf of the late +rebellion. Then she would seem by a mental reaction to recoil from the +idea, and do her best to prevent the two from meeting who, as it was, +so seldom met. Perhaps the lady really had a brain affection, Miss +Wolfe's mind suggested to her at times. Perhaps she, Doreen, was +trying to solve a riddle to which there was no solution. All whom it +concerned knew only too well that my lady disliked her second son. It +was preposterous to suppose that his joining the popular party should +affect his mother in this manner. It was natural that her pride should +be hurt, because he flouted her known opinions and embraced the tenets +of those whom she chose to consider as unworthy of consideration. But +that she should be absolutely sinking under the agony of the disgrace +was altogether out of the question. When the news came that, after +eluding pursuit for a long while, he had been taken, seriously +wounded, and incarcerated in the provost, she showed no emotion; while +her niece, who professed to hate him, was dreadfully distressed in +spite of herself. The struggle which had been tearing the old lady +appeared to have worn itself out. She appeared to have resigned +herself at last to accept the inevitable, to be too fatigued with the +fight for her intellect to be capable of a new impression. The ghost +had been looked in the face--the ghost which, ever since the late lord +died, had been hovering more or less near to her. She had felt his +scathing breath upon her cheek; she was under the gaze of a basilisk, +whose scorching fascination reduced her will to coma. Should the news +come that her son was publicly hanged like a felon, with all outward +tokens of ignominy, it could stir her now to no visible emotion. The +coldness which in her letters surprised Lord Clare was not one of +indifference, but of a despair which had ended in collapse. She +disliked her son, yet it was his fate that was corroding her life +away. Why was that? If Shane, the well-beloved, had been in similar +plight, the wreck, so far as she was concerned, could not have been +greater--nay, nor so great. Then her agony would have found vent in +indignation; she would have done something wherein might be detected, +through a veil, the old imperious ways of the chatelaine of Strogue. +But this utter breakdown--this abject wreck--and all about one for +whom she could not pretend to care! Here was an enigma which puzzled +Miss Wolfe more and more, serving to abstract her somewhat from her +own private woes.</p> + +<p class="normal">The same motive, singularly enough, had wrought the change in both the +ladies--Terence, the hapless councillor, who lay now under shadow of +the gallows. At the time of the discovery of the pikes, when his +mother's careless words had suggested to the high-spirited damsel that +her cousin had sold the cause for gold, she had had a glimmering +suspicion that her heart was no longer fancy free--that it had gone +forth without the asking to one whom it was now her duty to contemn. +At least there was a vague whisper (thrust aside at once) within her +of the fact, which had caused her to comport herself in a way which at +a calmer moment her judgment would have rejected. Then, many causes +coalescing into one, she had devoted herself to birds and boating, +under a delusion which she strove hard to accept as truth, that +because they were beyond her helping she cared no more for her +ill-used people, or for the champions who in their weak way would have +defended them. It has been shown that she sank into a condition of +apathy--of mental numbness--which had about it a sort of negative +enjoyment. Then came news of events in the south--garbled offensive +news sent up from Letterkenny barracks--news which filled Shane's +animal soul with glee, and caused him, abandoning the ladies, to rush +off on his own account to emulate the antics of his class. This +intelligence struck on the maiden's heart like so many reiterated +blows, and, breaking the charm, produced a queer kind of hope. Was it +possible after all that Terence could have behaved so shamefully? If +not, then how was the matter of the pikes to be explained? Possibly +this was another mesh in the net which Judas had been weaving--the +many-headed Judas--to catch the tripping feet of all the patriots. The +maiden had been too hot to ask for an explanation. Had she wronged her +cousin, or not? A strange bubbling of joy welled up within her at the +thought that a doubt was possible; but this she repressed with guilty +vehemence. It was no time for joy or hope. Then the news dribbled in +of Wexford and Scullabogue--the awful crimes committed by the +Catholics, without so much as a whisper of the Protestant outrages at +Carlow and the Gibbet-Rath; and she longed with a wild longing to go +south once more. Was it possible that these reports were true? At the +worst, they must be much exaggerated. But men are only human. Drive +them too hard, and they inevitably turn to beasts. It is only the +purest metal which comes improved out of the crucible; and how rare +that metal! If the reports were true, how the men of Wexford must have +suffered! It was with a whimsical feeling of distress that she marked +her aunt's growing indifference with reference to these reports. Time +was when my lady would have chewed the cud of Scullabogue, extracting +therefrom a savoury text on which to found a discourse upon the sins +of the scarlet woman, pointing innuendoes at her niece such as might +quiver in her Papist soul. Doreen would rather have endured this +pillory than see the old lady so undone. Nor Scullabogue, nor Carlow, +nor the iniquitous Fathers Roche or Murphy, Kearnes or Clinch, could +rouse her from her lethargy any more, or distract her attention from +the contemplation of her ghost.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen determined to write to her father about the countess, whose +state really grew quite alarming: there was no use in talking to Shane +about it; he was quite too besotted. Granted that she cared little for +her second son, it was astonishing (for she was not hard-hearted) that +my lady should evince no desire to nurse her boy, who was lying +wounded in a prison cell. Lord Clare was no doubt doing all that was +kind; yet a mother's hand on a sick pillow is likely to be even more +soothing to an invalid than a lord chancellor's. But as her soul +became more shrivelled she pointedly avoided even the mention of +Terence's name, and showed general signs of a peevish querulousness, +which was alien to her strong character. It did not seem to strike my +lady that it was time to pack up and return to Strogue; maybe she knew +that her ghost would pursue her thither, and felt callous as to where +she abode or what she did, provided that there was no escape from the +petrifying phantom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen had another reason for imploring her father to use his +influence as to the return of the family to Dublin. The intelligence +of the state-trials moved the damsel much. Her people, it was evident, +were to bow under their burden in obedience to Heaven's decree. In +their travail she might be of use to the patriots--still more to their +distressed wives and families. She wrote, therefore, pointing out that +no one could dream of conspiring now, and that, so far as she was +concerned, it was idle to detain her a prisoner.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day my lord returned from his accustomed cruise down Lough Swilly +in huge delight. The circle of flame, which had swept past this +portion of the coast as well as others, had informed the dwellers in +Ennishowen that peril threatened somewhere. Then had come suspense and +vague rumours of the French nightmare, which people put from them at +once as idle chatterings of a danger that was over. My lord had sailed +from tower to tower--those stalwart towers whose creation he had +himself superintended--but no keeper could tell him more than that he +had lit his bonfire upon seeing one blazing to westward, and that his +own warning had been answered by a similar blaze to eastward. The +soldier-sprigs of Letterkenny even could say nothing positive. It was +reported that the French had come at last, they said; but at this +eleventh hour the notion was absurd. Doreen's heart had leaped within +her. The French! Was Theobald with them? She condescended to coax and +wheedle Shane, and put forth all her blandishments to obtain more +positive information. Suspense was racking her. She even offered to go +with him on his yacht, and be civil to those horrible bumpkins in +uniform, if he would sail forthwith to Letterkenny and discover +something tangible. He went alone; but wrung from her a promise that +if he organised an aquatic <i>fête</i> shortly, to which he proposed to +invite the aforesaid bumpkins, she would cast aside her reserve, and +make herself agreeable to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You know, Doreen,' he said, 'that my lady's breaking up. She looks +like a ghoul. By the Hokey, she'd frighten 'em all away! and it's +devilish dull here for a young man like me. For political reasons I've +borne the penance all this weary time. But may I be well triangled if +I put up with it much longer.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Though the speech was rude, as conveying a hint to his cousin that her +constant presence by no means made up to him for the vanished orgies +of Cherokees and Blasters, yet did she smile her sweetest smile on +him. It proved that she need never dread being tormented with his +attentions; and so she promised, and he went. He was several days +absent; then returned, as I have said, in huge delight. The festival +was organised. The squireens were much <i>obleeged</i>, and would make +a point of responding to his lordship's <i>feevour</i>. It was to take +place in ten days. Doreen must see to details. They would dine +in the low-arched hall, and take their claret in the garden. What +pleasanter than to enjoy the delicious autumn air, laden as it was +with health-inspiring brine?</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen commanded herself sufficiently to listen to his prattle. What +was my lord's <i>fête</i> to her--the odious boozing boors! She was pining +for political news--was about, losing all patience, to interrupt her +cousin--when, to her surprise and delight, he stopped of his own +accord with a string of oaths, vowing that in this accursed +hole he was forgetting his manners. He had picked up a guest at +Letterkenny--one whom she used to like. He jerked his thumb over his +shoulder towards the yacht. She looked, and beheld--Cassidy--the old +friend and true, who was as hearty and as jolly as ever, with his +roguish twinkle and double-chin, smiling and waving salutations to +her! Cassidy, who had promised once to be a friend--on that day after +his silly declaration by the kennels! Cassidy, escaped by some kindly +turn of fate from the ills which had fallen on the rest! He would know +everything, could tell her private details of persons whose names she +dared scarce mention to herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a delightful surprise. Dropping her ordinary coldness, she +advanced quickly to him with flushed cheek and both hands extended. He +read in her face that she was genuinely glad to see him, and thanked +his stars that he had bethought himself of trying once again. She had +been coy--needed persistent wooing--was, like all women, a born +coquette. He held both her trembling little brown hands in his, and +would have kissed her if grinning Shane had not been looking on. She +liked him. There could be no doubt of it. The sweet lovely minx--brown +as a berry--all the lovelier and the browner for long exposure to the +sun and blustering blast and wholesome air. She had betrayed herself, +the demure siren! The Castle and its people might go to the devil now. +He need not trouble to feather his nest. She evidently loved him +enough to take him as he was, and had gold enough for both. He +mentally resolved to choose the first opportunity to put the tender +question in due form. Pretty, stately creature! What a charm there was +in the toss of her shapely head, the tawny depths of her solemn eyes!</p> + +<p class="normal">Her first question somewhat disconcerted the amorous giant.</p> + +<p class="normal">'How is Terence?' she asked, recovering her usual calm.</p> + +<p class="normal">He glanced suspiciously down, but there was no tremulousness about the +serene face such as his own coming had provoked. It was natural to ask +after a cousin who was once a playfellow, and was now on the threshold +of an ignominious death.</p> + +<p class="normal">''Deed, and he's bad, acushla!' he returned bluntly; then, with an +affectionate hand-squeeze, followed beckoning Shane to pay his +respects to my lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">With heartfelt thankfulness the girl, who went with them, listened to +Shane's budget of gossip, as he tumbled it out, a confused medley, for +his mother's benefit. This French expedition was but the wild freak of +an adventurer unwisely brave. He and all his men--Frenchmen all--were +gone in chains to Dublin, a mirth-provoking spectacle for the good +townspeople, who were getting weary of badgered Croppies. The boys at +Letterkenny were coming to his little <i>fête</i>--he was to send the yacht +and a whole fleet of boats for them. It would be rare fun!</p> + +<p class="normal">By-the-bye, Sir Borlase Warren and some English ships of war were +cruising somewhere close by--their mission to prevent another French +band from landing, if another leader should be found as foolhardy as +this Humbert. That was not likely. Sir Borlase would have his cruise +for nothing. The laws of hospitality demanded that he should be +entertained. Shane had left a message at the tower on Fanad Head to +the effect that Lord Glandore would be glad to be civil to Sir +Borlase. Maybe he and his officers would grace the prospective <i>fête</i>. +With this Shane descended to the cellar, to look out some bottles of +prime claret for the delectation of Cassidy. Being but a half-mounted, +my lord had consistently treated that personage at Strogue with +indulgent patronage mingled with hauteur; but now he was so tired of +getting drunk alone, or with the rough skipper of his yacht, that he +condescended to kill a fatted calf for the behoof of the new arrival.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the third French expedition had gone off like a damp squib! Doreen +was in nowise sorry for the prisoners. Faithless as the French had +been, great in promises which were never fulfilled, it served them +right to be punished for their folly. But she was deeply thankful that +Tone was not among them. It rather surprised her, till she reflected +that her young hero was wise beyond his years, and far-sighted too. He +saw, no doubt, as she did, that the moment was come and gone; that +there was nothing for it but endurance now. He was galloping in his +general's uniform on the banks of the Rhine, or perchance was one of +Buonaparte's staff in Egypt or elsewhere. He had slaved with the +power of a young Samson for motherland; but treachery had done her +work--Samson was shorn. He could do no more. Like her, he could only +wait. It was a mercy that his life was spared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy's presence was certainly a relief to all, by introducing a new +element of interest into a household devoured by ennui. He was so gay +and willing. It was a pleasure to hear his rich voice carolling one of +the dreamy songs of Ireland, as he caught fish for breakfast over the +garden parapet. Even my lady had a wintry smile for him. Shane dragged +him out with glee to look at the Martello towers, to shoot a seal, to +have a blaze at the puffins about Malin Head. The cheery, pleasant +creature! Sir Borlase and his fleet sailed by. The admiral's boat, +manned by its natty crew in dazzling white garments, shot to the +staircase hewn from the living rock, to scrape acquaintance with the +hermits of Glas-aitch-é. He thought he had never seen so singular a +household. The scared aristocratic-looking lady, with snowy locks and +deep furrows of sorrow ploughed on her faded cheeks--each line in the +fretwork of whose brow told of carking care, each rustle of whose +silken robe spoke of overweening pride; the beautiful tall gipsy, with +pride as great as hers, which was tempered by a serene sadness that +became her beauty well. And dwelling with this pair of cold, haughty +women, two men of such a different stamp! The young lord, a reckless +devil evidently, and fierce, despite his somewhat effeminate figure +and tiny hands; given, too, to the modish vice, as was evidenced by +the coarsening of his fine features. And then, culminating surprise, +the great jolly giant--type of a rollicking Pat--vulgar and humorous; +who somehow was of much commoner clay than his three companions, who +yet treated him with indulgent friendliness. What a strange life this +quartet must be leading? the admiral mused, as he went upon his way. +They would repay careful study. He had no particular orders as to his +cruise, except that he was to watch the northern coast. He would +inspect the inlets of Lough Foyle, and then come back again. Why were +they leading this odd hermit life? Decidedly it would be worth while +to examine them more closely. The maiden and the giant went about +together a good deal, he remarked, in two frail coracles, side by +side--paddling among banks of heavy seaweed, landing on the strand to +visit cottagers, skirting the beetling cliff in search of rare ferns +and lichens. Could they be about to make a match of it? Some of the +most happy couples are composed of the most conflicting elements. Yet +it did seem a pity for a refined girl like this to unite herself to a +common farmer-fellow!</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady, too, remarked the apparent flirtation, and frowned. 'What's +bred in the bone will come out,' she muttered, as, sitting on the +marble seat among the straggling flowers, she basked in the sun. 'It's +the blood of her mother. She has a predilection for common people. +That is why she went on so shamefully at Strogue, consorting with the +sons of old Doctor Emmett, who, in his way, was a good man, in +preference to cousin Shane!' Then, remembering the behaviour of her +second son, she contemplated her ghost again. 'That he should come to +a shameful end,' she groaned, wringing her hands together. 'Is this a +direct judgment on me? Did my husband foresee this when he spoke upon +his death-bed? Had I acted as I ought, would Terence have been saved?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was so accustomed to be led by her wayward will that it did not +strike her that she was doing anything peculiar in going thus about +with Cassidy. She occupied her boat, he his; sure, nothing could be +more proper. She had always looked upon him as on a Newfoundland dog, +whose rough gambols are amusing, and courted his society now to hear +details of her Dublin friends without interruption from her aunt. She +learned much that was true and much that was false. With grief she +listened to the weary tale of treachery, marvelling with Cassidy as to +who the traitor was. She burned with indignation at the conduct of the +executive, observing that there is an unwritten law in accordance with +which the ignorant are to be protected from themselves; not coaxed to +crime and then murdered for it. For some reason of his own, the giant +avoided the mention of Terence; and Doreen respected his delicacy, for +she thought that perchance he had ill things to tell of him, and she +shrank from hearing them; clinging rather to her present state of +doubt.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day as they drifted on the glassy sea--the one pensive, with +her chin upon her hands, the other distracted by his increasing +passion--Cassidy remarked that her coracle was leaking, that a tiny +rift had been cut in the side by a jagged stone, and that the water +was lapping in unawares. He swore there was peril--lost his head in an +absurd manner--while she smiled. Why did she not choose to come out +with him in a bigger boat? These frail cockle-shells were ridiculous! +What greater delight could there be for him than to row so precious a +burthen?</p> + +<p class="normal">'I prefer my liberty,' was her demure reply, as she measured her +distance to the islet, and then the incoming water. 'If I put my +strength into it I shall get safely home, so don't excite yourself.'</p> + +<p class="normal">With rare skill she plied the light oars, baring her shapely arms +and stretching them to their full length, and arrived at the +staircase-foot out of breath, but safe, ere the coracle had time to +fill.</p> + +<p class="normal">'There!' she said in smiling triumph, as she stood on the slippery +step, her ripe lips half opened, her bosom heaving. 'Am I not quite +fit for the <i>rôle</i> of an old maid? Can I not look after myself without +a protector?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy, with emotion, was as breathless as she. 'Like the poor Irish +boys,' he blurted out, 'you should be protected against yourself. When +you are my wife you shan't play such pranks!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, who was moving up the steps, turned swiftly and looked down at +him. There was pained wonder in her tawny eyes--scornful anger in the +knitted arches of her brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mr. Cassidy!' she said, panting. 'Oh, I'm so sorry! Is this my fault? +I thought it was quite understood that your former nonsense was mere +passing fancy. Never, never speak like that again, or I must tell my +aunt, who will turn you out of doors. Indeed, after this, I'm very, +very sorry, but the sooner you go away the better!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Her face was crimson. Gathering up her skirts, and thereby displaying +a silver buckled brogue and ribbed woollen stocking, she tripped +lightly up the flight and was gone, leaving her forlorn admirer to see +to the boats alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Was it for good or ill that she went away so hurriedly? Would it have +been better for her to have beheld the true man without his mask? She +could scarcely be more pained and astonished than she was already. She +was not intentionally a coquette. The manner of her bringing up and +the atmosphere of melancholy by which she was enwrapped, caused her to +think it possible to be on platonic terms with men upon a purely +brotherly basis. Neither Tone nor the Emmetts had dreamed of making +love to her. She did not consider her own beauty and the inflammable +nature of the Hibernian heart--that is, when it is not fully engrossed +already by national grievances. Perhaps she would look on Cassidy as +he really was ere long--most probably indeed--for as he bent down to +tie the boats, the water reflected a villainous expression of +countenance, whilst he swore under his breath to be revenged for +having been tricked and fooled by a born jilt.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When she observed a marked coolness 'twixt Doreen and the guest, my +lady frowned more and more. <i>Amantium, iræ!</i> This was worse and worse. +Was this boor to take the damsel from under Shane's nose? It occurred +to her that it was time to shake off her lethargy. Ghost or no ghost, +it would not do for this 'half-mounted gentleman' to carry off the +prize after which she had stooped for years to scheme herself, for +reasons of her own. As it seemed slipping from her fingers, it +appeared to grow in value; and the importance of the danger exorcised +the ghost for the time being. Shane's interests should not be made to +suffer through his mother's indifference. The list of charges against +the hapless dowager was full enough without that. So soon as the +<i>fête</i> to the squireens was over, she would return to Strogue. Why did +she ever leave it to come to this accursed spot? She became once more +the imperial countess--roused herself--went hither and thither to see +that the family name was not dishonoured by the preparations for +hospitality--suggested changes for the better--had the garden roofed +in with curtains, and tables spread there in cool shadow. It would be +nice, she affirmed, for the gentlemen to enjoy the unrivalled panorama +of the Donegal mountains whilst sipping the equally unrivalled claret +of their host.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, who on reflection was grievously annoyed anent the folly of +her large admirer, was taken by surprise when she beheld this new +phase in her aunt's demeanour. She was a kaleidoscope, but certainly +not mad. No judge on the bench was more sane than she. The corroding +gloom was still there, but lightened; no longer engrossing its victim +as it had done. Power had been given by some mysterious agency to +shake off the weight. Who might solve the riddle? Was the cause of her +agony actually gone? It could not be remorse, then. The gloom which +remained was exhaustion after pain. Doreen gave it up, and resigned +herself to the consideration of tarts and puddings for the benefit of +chawbacons.</p> + +<p class="normal">The grand day came, and with it the squireens, who were turned to +stone by the aspect of my lady, as by a gorgon's head. Despite the +chill which hangs over the sea at sunrise, their warm hands became +more and more clammy in Medusa's awful presence. She wore a stiff +brocade cut in an obsolete fashion, with a broad sash and full white +fichu loosely knotted behind. As a gorgon she was a success. Never in +the palmy days of Dublin Castle had she struck terror into the bosoms +of <i>débutantes</i> as she did now into the innermost souls of these raw +youths. They mopped their brows, rubbed their moist hand-palms on +their small clothes of kerseymere, tugged at their tight vests, felt +nervously whether their pigtails were hanging straight over the tall +coat-collars which sawed their ears, stumbled over their swords, +demeaned themselves after the manner of awkward youth when in a +paroxysm of timidity. She curtseyed like Queen Elizabeth, with high +nose exalted, and they shrank back in a wave affrighted; only to ebb +again in renewed fear, having well-nigh knocked down the lovely Miss +Wolfe who was making a dignified entrance by another door. Those two +haughty women together in one room were quite too much for them. With +relief they sat down to a sort of improvised breakfast, for the shadow +of tables would conceal their shoes, the country make of which had +already been remarked by the younger lady's eagle eye. Conscience +makes fools of us. Doreen cared not about their shoes, nor saw them. +She merely thought the young men a set of oafs, and was displeased, in +that they should have arrived too early. By prearranged programme they +were to be taken to inspect the towers; then to view the English +fleet, by kind permission of Sir Borlase; then they were to return to +dinner, to get as intoxicated as if they were 'gentlemen to the +backbone,' sleep off their orgy, and return in the morning to +Letterkenny barracks. An excellent programme, no doubt, wherewith to +while away an autumn holiday--but a still better one had been prepared +for them by destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">While the party was at breakfast, the stillness became broken by an +odd concussion in the air. A dull series of unequal thuds a long way +off, which reverberated on the waves, that seemed to bear them onward +in muffled throbs. What could cause the strange sensation which acted +on the nerves with such irritating effect? It was not thunder. Nobody +present had ever been in battle, or they would have recognised the +singular sound, which is indescribable, and which, having once been +heard, may never be forgotten. It was part of the programme that they +should be shown a fleet. Fortune was lavish, and decided to show them +two. The English fleet was in the offing; <i>so was the French</i>. At +dawn, Sir Borlase (whose squadron amounted to nine vessels) had been +no little taken aback by the appearance of four ships hurrying through +the mist. On descrying the glint of his white sails these ships tacked +and made off, confessing by the movement, though they showed no +colours, that they represented an enemy. He instantly gave orders to +stow away the holiday gear and clear for action--despatching a message +to my Lord Glandore, to announce that he was gone away on business, +but that he might return in time for dinner, and bring some extra +guests with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The French! How silly was the Grande Nation! When energy and +promptitude might have lost Ireland to England, they hung about and +dawdled and did nothing. When the critical time was passed, they +seemed suddenly to have awakened and to be resolved to rush wilfully +by driblets into the open jaws of death. When Humbert landed a few +days before, he had at least the advantage of surprise. Warned by his +bit of lunacy, English squadrons were despatched all round the +seaboard to guard the coast; and yet a handful of adventurers could +still be found to attempt to seize a country that wanted them no more!</p> + +<p class="normal">When the admiral's message came, Cassidy glanced sideways at Doreen. +She turned pale, and, to the relief of the squireens, retired indoors.</p> + +<p class="normal">The opening of Lough Swilly is one of the most perilous points for +seamen who are ignorant of its peculiarities, even on an iron-bound +coast which everywhere is dangerous. At ebb there are long stretches +of low water, broken here and there into surf by banks of underlying +rock. When the French ships strove to flee before Sir Borlase (there +were only four--the rest of the expedition being, as usual, nowhere), +the French commander recognised the fact that, being caught in a trap, +he must stand at bay with one to ensure the escape of the other +three. He had one big and heavy man-of-war which floundered--badly +piloted--like an unwieldy whale, nearer and nearer to the cliff. The +English admiral was bearing down on him. There was no time to tranship +men--to leave the monster to its fate--empty--an idle prey. With +intrepid courage he signalled his other ships to retreat through +shallow water, resolved alone to honour his country's flag, which was +now unfurled, by a desperate but hopeless defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Borlase despatched a razee and a frigate after the fugitives. They +flitted into distance, and were seen no more. Then, the black monster +having been surrounded by five smaller foes, one of the most obstinate +engagements began that was ever fought upon the ocean. The occupants +of the island could mark all that passed, for the returning tide +drifted the helpless hulk closer and more close inland, and they, as +it were, occupied a front place at the entrance of the lough wherefrom +to view the spectacle. It was most exciting. Even my lady's dulled +eyes sparkled as they had not done for years. Shane--almost +delirious--the cicatrice on his forehead standing forth like a +stain--whooped and hallooed and clapped his hands and danced +fandangoes on the parapet, and would have tumbled headlong over the +garden wall into the sea, if the giant had not held his skirts. Who +should be a better judge of such matters than the King of Cherokees? +The squireens forgot their nervousness, became oblivious of country +shoes, of ill-made pigtails, and red ears and knuckles, whooping and +hallooing like a pack of hounds, in echo to the whooping of their +host. Some (but these were very forward) even clutched Medusa's +dress--pinched Queen Bess's arm--in their eagerness that the +white-haired lady should not lose a point in the struggle.</p> + +<p class="normal">For six hours the doomed monster laboured, heaving on the shallow +waves, drifting within a stone's throw of Malin Head. Figures could be +detected through the smoke, scurrying hither and thither in blue +uniforms, with gestures of command or encouragement. Two, more busy +than the rest, were on the poop, rushing forward--aft--conspicuous in +the front of peril for gold-laced sleeves, huge hats and feathers, +loose hair after the French mode. Masts and rigging crashed and +crumbled--the ponderous hull winced and swayed with repeated shocks, +while the surge lapped creamy round its prow. The roar of artillery +now was deafening.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If they don't take care,' Shane screamed, as though his warning could +be heard, 'that blundering hull will jam the little vessels against +the rocks!'</p> + +<p class="normal">With a desperate energy which compelled the sympathy even of the +squireens, the doomed ship returned fire for fire, though her sails +and cordage clung about her in ribbons; though her shattered ribs +yawned at each new stroke; though her scuppers flowed with blood; +though her decks were piled with corpses. As the smoke swirled away in +eddies, the two in hats and plumes could still be seen exposing +themselves recklessly, ordering up hammocks and spare sails to stuff +into widening gaps. The cannonade of Sir Borlase rang among the +sea-caves, bringing thence whirring troops of bats, which dashed in +their terror in the faces of the combatants, then dropped dazed into +the sucking swell. The frightened fisher-folk looked on furtively at +first from holes and clefts, then fled inland, leaving their precious +nets and boats as a spoil for the spoiler. The death-struggle of the +monster was painful to look upon, as it swung heavily and shivered +whilst blow succeeded blow. It was a gallant monster, for the tattered +tricolour still dangled over the gap where once the rudder was--a +valiant monster! Enemy though he might be who was receiving a final +battering, few could look without pity on his death-throes--for he was +dying game.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gurgling foam-whipped water began to pour into the hold of the big +ship, which now lay so close at hand that her name was visible in +florid carving on her poop--<i>Hoche</i>. The name of Tone's friend and +Buonaparte's rival, who had died but a few months ago, of consumption, +on the Rhine. She was a dismantled wreck--nothing but a dark battered +hull. Her batteries were dumb; dismounted. The tattered tricolour went +down, as a signal that she struck. The banging of Sir Borlase ceased. +The sudden stillness, after so long-drawn a hubbub, was painful to the +ear. The squireens clasped each other's hands and embraced in their +excitement, whilst Shane drew forth his jewelled timepiece.</p> + +<p class="normal">'By the Hokey! but it's a glorious sight!' he gasped, flapping his +face with a dainty handkerchief; for a spectacle such as this touched +the finest chord in his nature. 'Six hours, as I live; and it seems +scarce six minutes. The sun is high in the heavens, though you can't +see him for the smoke, save as a saffron disk. They are fine fellows, +mounseers though they be; we'll give them a hearty cheer when Sir +Borlase brings them to dinner. On my honour, I half wish they had +conquered!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen, at the commencement of the action, had withdrawn alone to the +watch-tower where the fire-bucket stood, and remained there clutching +it with a heavy dread. What a relief it had been to her mind to think +that the French had given up all thoughts of invasion! Something told +her that that big rolling hulk, caught in shallow water as an unwieldy +fish may be, was the flagship. Who might there be on board? When the +roaring ended and silence supervened, she was still at her post of +vantage, concealed from the sight of the excited mob below by the +rolling masses of vapour, which hung like winding-sheets upon the sea. +She stood there as in a trance--motionless in the body, though her +mind worked with exceeding swiftness--till, after a lapse of time, the +sound of measured oars made itself audible, approaching gradually, +with regular plodding rhythm; and then a row of boats, headed by the +admiral's, loomed at the stone staircase-foot. She woke with a shudder +to a Babel of shouts and laughter, and slowly descended from her +eyrie, trembling with mortal apprehension.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mounseers, every man Jack!' Sir Borlase was saying, cheerily.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Thank God!' was the fervent echo in Doreen's bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The French-Irish boys are conspicuous for their absence when it comes +to blows for Ireland,' went on the admiral. 'Quite right, too; for we +couldn't treat 'em as prisoners of war, you know. There's not a man +among my prisoners, thank the Lord, who's not a Parleyvoo.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen appeared in the small battlemented garden, but stood aside, out +of respect to the vanquished braves. They passed her by in their blue +full-skirted coats and voluminous neckcloths and queer cocked hats and +plumes; some bleeding, some reeling like drunken men, some with heads +bowed and livid faces, some with a poor assumption of jauntiness--all +smirched and powder-blackened.</p> + +<p class="normal">They passed between two scarlet hedges, along the avenue which the +squireens opened for them, into the low entrance-hall, and there +waited in knots. There could not be the smallest chance of escape; +therefore no guard was set. Generous Sir Borlase was sorry for the men +who had fought so well. This little courtesy was due to such brave +soldiers. They might wander where they listed on the islet, while the +British admiral was arranging what was to be done with them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Glandore busied him exceedingly; held important conferences with +Sir Borlase and the commandant of the squireens. If the poor fellows +were to be captured at all, it was a stroke of luck for him that they +should have been taken within his jurisdiction. They should be packed +off, by-and-by, in his own yacht to Rathmullen; he would go himself +with the escort. The commandant at Letterkenny would send them on to +Dublin; he, too, would ride thither. It would be wonderful if he did +not receive an English marquisate as reward for his brilliant +services. Meanwhile it behoved him to play <i>Grand Seigneur</i>. If there +was one thing which could create a passing spirit of real generosity +in his shallow nature, it was the sight of personal prowess. He always +loved a good duel, a good cock-fight, a successful bear-baiting. Had +he not been in the habit of fighting endless duels himself for a mere +bubble reputation? His own rapier was rusty now from want of use; but, +please the pigs, he would start afresh next week in the metropolis, +and resume his crown and sceptre as King of Cherokees. This contest on +the sea had been a delightful affair; the vanquished should quaff +their fill of his very best claret--aye, the very primest. As he +descended to the cellar he beheld Doreen doing woman's work. She was a +kind creature, though stuck-up. She had summoned the maids with linen +and water. They were moving quietly among the groups, whilst she, with +high-bred courtesy, was whispering gentle words of consolation.</p> + +<p class="normal">There, in a remote corner, sat the two who had behaved so gallantly. +Their fine scarlet capes and cuffs, and gold-bedizened hats, +proclaimed them to be of the highest military rank. One was nursing +his knee and whistling softly, as his mind wandered far away; the +other was bent forward; his hands were clasped over his face; hot +tears were trickling between his fingers.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Be of good cheer,' the lively first one murmured; 'we shall see <i>la +belle France</i> again, no fear. We shall be ransomed by-and-by. You will +again behold your wife and little ones.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen swept with stately grace to where they sat.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Are either of the gentlemen hurt?' she inquired in French.</p> + +<p class="normal">He who was bowed down looked up. She dropped the pitcher which she +held, and staggered against the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Theobald--<i>here!</i>' she whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alas! Yes. It was Theobald Wolfe Tone--thinner, paler, with all the +youth gone out of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It was not thus that I had expected to return,' he said in French, +with a sorry smile. 'Yet what matters it? <i>Le temps et le malheur ont +flêtri mon âme!</i>'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen speedily recovered her self-possession.</p> + +<p class="normal">'How culpably rash!' she muttered. 'There is no one that knows you in +this place who would betray you; you will pass for a Frenchman. I will +warn Shane, that he may not show surprise. That you should have come +at last! Too late--too late!'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady, who was always the first to think of etiquette, suggested +that the officers of high rank should occupy the reception-rooms. It +was showing scant civility to leave them in the hall, like lacqueys. +By-and-by, when the repast was served, they should be shown by their +hostess, in person, to the places of honour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe gladly echoed her aunt's suggestion, for she was burning to +talk to Theobald, yet dared not in this public place, under the eyes +of awestricken oafs.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mademoiselle's goodness almost makes us thank defeat,' observed +Tone's companion, with a Parisian bow. 'If all the ladies in Ireland +are like her, it will be a sad moment for us when we come to be +exchanged. As for our melancholy friend here, he need surely not be +recognised. His appearance is worthy of the uniform he wears, his +accent will pass muster; he has quite acquired the <i>je ne sais quoi</i> +of the Boulevard. We begged of him not to risk himself, but he would; +and here he is--<i>que voulez-vous?</i>'</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, here he was; there was no doubt of that dreadful fact. In wrath +(which the Parisian thought became her style of loveliness) she rated +him in whispers for his folly, charging him with flying in the face of +Providence, with being selfish and unkind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald listened, while his eyes wandered over the blue line of +mountains, glittering now through rifts of driving smoke in the +prismatic haze of a hot afternoon.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I could not help it,' he said, with slow despondency. 'I knew we +could not succeed. The English Government was informed of our +starting. It was an attempt to resuscitate a flame quenched beyond +power of rekindling. Yet I felt it my duty, if the Directory sent but +a corporal's guard, to go and die with them. The hand of the +executioner shall never be laid on me. If my time has come, it has +come.'</p> + +<p class="normal">This dejection was terrible to witness. Veering round, after the way +of woman, Doreen took his hand in hers, and, stroking it, nestled by +his side.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Parisian felt himself <i>de trop</i>, and, humming a gay air, turned +his attention to the landscape. It was a relief to his sense of <i>les +convenances</i> when a fourth person entered the drawing-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Cassidy, whose face underwent a series of rapid changes as he +recognised his brother-in-law. He had ceased to be the jovial, jolly, +willing Cassidy. There had been a spiteful peevishness about him for +days past, which surprised Miss Wolfe no little. The milk of his +good-humour had turned sour. She thought it singular that her refusal +to become his wife could alter a man's nature so.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You!' was all that the giant could find breath to say, as with fists +thrust deep into his breeches-pockets and thick legs straddled wide, +he stared at the apparition.</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald held out his hand, but he whose sister he had married did not +take it. His mind was seething with new ideas. What an unexpected way +had now presented itself of, at one stroke, making his fortune and +revenging himself on this haughty minx!</p> + +<p class="normal">'You!' he repeated again, after a pause, as though he could scarce +trust his eyesight.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hush!' Doreen said; 'we must keep the secret.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy stared sourly at her, and laughed a short sharp laugh. She +looked up at him in growing apprehension, for he appeared to her +without his mask, and she could not comprehend the change.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ireland lies soaked in blood,' he said, 'through you. You've come to +look upon your work?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald started. 'I always designed open and honest warfare,' he +murmured; 'not brigandage and murder! The eighteen thousand victims +murdered by Alva did not stifle the birth of Holland's liberty. From +every drop of my blood and that of those who lay down their lives for +the holy cause there shall arise a patriot to avenge our death.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ye're right. When ye get to Dublin ye'll be hanged. A short shrift +and a dog's death!' was the blunt rejoinder.</p> + +<p class="normal">'No, no!' cried Doreen, her face blanching.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I am prepared to pay the penalty of unsuccess,' Tone answered. +'Washington succeeded. Kosciusko failed. I staked my all with a view +to the liberation of this wretched land. I have courted Poverty. I +leave my beloved wife--your poor sister, Cassidy--unprotected, my +children fatherless. That's what unmans me. After so much, it will be +little further effort to sacrifice my life.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It shall not be!' Doreen cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Tone smiled sadly. 'From the days of Llewellyn of Wales, and Wallace +of Scotland, England has never shown generosity to a fallen enemy.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'He has come as a French general,' exclaimed Miss Wolfe with creeping +fear; 'who will betray his incognito?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'It may become my duty,' returned the giant, dryly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The blood left the girl's face and lips. Scales fell from her eyes. +Here was the Judas who had sold to the gallows one by one, with the +cold crafty deliberation of a devil, the men who had trusted him--who +had clasped his hand in friendship. She saw it all now. With the +lucidity which comes over our minds in moments of extreme trouble, she +beheld in lurid links of fire the chain complete. The discovery of the +pikes in the armoury; in the potato ground of the 'Irish Slave'; the +two-fold betrayal of the council of the society; the town-major's +knowledge of its members, and its passwords; the taking of Terence--of +Terence--<i>who</i> was innocent!</p> + +<p class="normal">She could do nothing but writhe under the blow, twisting her fingers +together in speechless helplessness.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was such an intensity of disgust expressed in the movement, that +the giant cleared his throat with a shade of embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Miss Doreen,' he said, 'will ye speak to me in private?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Her white lips moved and shaped the word--'No.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ye'd better,' he urged, 'indeed ye had.' A dead silence still. +Revengeful rage disturbed his brain. Foolish woman! she could scarcely +expect him to speak out, and clinch a bargain before the victim's +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ye'll repent it,' he growled. 'Would ye have a poor man fling his +chances away? This fellow's life is worth two thousand guineas and a +seat in parliament. I'd give that up and welcome, if ye'd unsay the +words, colleen, that ye spoke the other day!'</p> + +<p class="normal">What a strange mixture he was of the lion and hyena. The tenderness +which he strove to throw into his voice, and the leer in his eye, +explained to the patriot the purport of those words. With indignation +he turned on his wife's brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Wretch!' Theobald cried, 'who has a hand for every man--a heart for +himself alone! Would you dare ask her to sell herself for me? Sooner +than that, I'd walk downstairs and tell my name myself to the English +admiral.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen's mind was overset by the discovery she had made. She felt sick +and giddy, for the world was sliding from beneath her feet. She looked +at one, then at the other, without clearly understanding what was +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are a common informer!' was all she could bring forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy lost his temper. It is aggravating when your overtures of +compromise are scornfully repulsed.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Have it your own way, then!' he laughed, with a reckless snap of the +finger, which the Parisian deemed ill-bred in the presence of a lady. +'Mind, if you are hanged it will be your own fault. A man must live. +Would ye have me rob the mail? Mine's as honest a trade as any other. +Sure, don't the Lords and Commons think it mighty honourable, and my +Lord Clare too; or why do they make so much of us? It's a rebel that +ye are, Theobald. Rebels are no judges of what's honest and what's +not.'</p> + +<p class="normal">With this half-apology for having at last decided which course of two +opposite ones should guide him in the future, the giant left the room +with heavy strides--to return a few minutes later as if nothing +unpleasant had occurred, with a cheery warning that dinner would be +ready soon.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Parisian, who had been quite baffled in his attempt to understand +the scene, gave a sigh of satisfaction. These persons, who seemed old +acquaintances, had been indulging in a family quarrel and had made it +up again. His knowledge of the English tongue was limited; but he did +understand 'dinner,' and after the excitement of the morning was +afflicted with inconvenient appetite.</p> + +<p class="normal">Punctiliously polite, the countess and her son came upstairs presently +to conduct their unfortunate guests with solemn ceremony to the +banquet which was spread below. Neither showed any sign of recognising +Theobald. Shane, being dull of comprehension, had looked to his +mother, taking his cue from her. By virtue of his uniform the stranger +was a general; by virtue of this morning's fight he was unfortunate. +Vanquished braves of high military rank cannot be treated with too +much courtesy.</p> + +<p class="normal">With the quieting of the excitement their fear of Medusa lowered again +on the squireens. One or two of them indeed were tremblingly conscious +of having seized the Gorgon's arm and shaken it. These humbly chose +the lowest place at the long table which occupied the garden's length, +whilst all stood up and hid their hands and shoes as host and hostess +passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Borlase was in immense spirits. He declared himself grieved to +break up so pleasant a gathering, but in the gloaming his prisoners +must go. His Majesty should certainly hear of my lord's exemplary +conduct. He pledged the two French generals who (Commodore Bompart +being slain in action) had managed the ship so intrepidly. He tried to +explain himself in broken French jargon to them. Both shrugged their +shoulders and smiled to the nodding of their heavy plumes, giving +thereby to understand that he had the advantage in languages, but that +they considered his speech to be complimentary. 'Lar Bel Fraunce!' he +kept repeating, winking his grey eye and poking their ribs with a +finger, and tossing off bumper after bumper, laughing the while +consumedly, as though all must perceive that the sentiment was witty, +and he a model jester (an English joker, not an Irish one).</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen sat next to Theobald. The waning sun, creeping in blotches +through the improvised awning, touched her neck with gold, showing +that warm blood circulated under the rich skin. But for this homage of +the sun the squireens might have taken her for a victim of Medusa, so +frozen was her manner. She was like one magnetised, who, her power of +volition being gone, is obeying the dictates of a foreign power. Meats +were brought to her; she tasted them. Claret was poured into her +goblet. As through a film she saw the weatherbeaten visage of Sir +Borlase moping at her. With mechanical movement she mowed at him in +return.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Your pretty daughter's going to faint,' whispered the admiral to the +dowager. 'Such sights as I provided for you this morning are all very +well for males; but females--except Spaniards and low-class +Frenchwomen--don't care about such things. She supervised the dressing +of the wounds--Heaven bless her! 'Twas a strain on a delicate nature. +She looks ill and overwrought.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess remarked curtly that Sir Borlase was very good, without +condescending to explain that the girl was not her daughter. She knew +well the cause of the poor maiden's anguish, and felt both for him and +her. The constant contemplation of late of her own private spectre had +softened her. Terence on a gallows, who, but for circumstances over +which his mother <i>had</i> control, might have ended so differently, was +burned on her brain as a scathing reproach for ever. Theobald, whom +she was used to contemplate as a crackbrained enthusiast, assumed a +new interest in her eyes. There was about him a deep-seated +hopelessness which is a gruesome sight in a man of thirty-six, and the +contemplation of it struck a chord of sympathy in her. The case of +Terence she shrank from considering at all. But this young man whose +existence was no reproach: she might feel pity for him without +stabbing her own soul with red-hot daggers by the impulse.</p> + +<p class="normal">Things were going as smoothly as could be expected. Shane's little +party had developed into a banquet which would become historical. Her +firstborn would receive honours from the King which should +counterbalance the disgrace wherewith the second seemed destined to +endow his family. The French prisoners of war would be exchanged in +time, returning to the bosoms of their distracted loves unhurt. There +was nothing really, my lady decided in her mind, to make her niece +break down, who was wont to be so unduly self-reliant. She looked like +a corpse. My lady, who formerly was discomfited in hand-to-hand +encounters, began to wonder whether she might conquer after all, and +bring about the match for which she yearned.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the other end of the long table Cassidy kept the company in a roar. +Now that he shilly-shallied no longer, his native spirits had come +back to him. His jests were racy, of the soil, and coarse--just such +as could be appreciated by squireens who were far enough removed from +the grandees to give free rein to their hilarity. They voted him the +funniest dog; threw themselves forward in a 'Haw-haw!' and flung +themselves back with a 'Hee-hee!' slapped their kerseymere shorts; +wagged their heads, and giggled, without any tremor now as to the sit +of pigtails over high collars. Would the radiant boy come and stop at +Letterkenny? He should have the run of the barracks; should be free to +go peasant-baiting whensoever he listed. Horses should become his +without regard to whom they belonged. His life should be one round of +jollity and junketing, if he only would come and sit down at +Letterkenny.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Ah, now, lads, be asy!' he cried, betwixt two sallies. 'Do yez think +the likes o' me can stop up here? It's Dublin that's crying for me +this blessed minute, and won't be comforted. To Dublin I return +to-morrow. Good luck to yez for kind wishes, though. By my sowl, and +if there isn't a friend up yonder on whom I've not clapped eyes this +long time!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The repast was over. The countess was sweeping the crumbs out of her +lap preparatory to leaving the gentlemen to the superior attractions +of the bottle, when she perceived Cassidy, glass in hand, making his +way along to the upper end where she sat enthroned. Doreen perceived +him too, and losing all self-control, dropped her head upon the table +with a moan.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mr. Wolfe Tone, I think?' Cassidy shouted out in his big voice. +'Bedad, ye're welcome home! It's long since we met.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The shade of Banquo broke up with no greater quickness the feast of +King Macbeth than did this guileless little speech the party of Lord +Glandore. The squireens rose to their feet with one accord; craned out +their necks, with jaws dropped and eyes goggling.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hesitating but for a second, Theobald threw down his cards.</p> + +<p class="normal">'My name is Theobald Wolfe Tone!' he admitted calmly, and stood +waiting for what would follow.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What a pity!' sighed the English admiral; then, holding forth his +hand, 'Ignorance is bliss sometimes,' he said, scowling at the +importunate giant. 'Ye're a brave young man. I won't say what I think +of <i>him</i>. I can't help it--can I?'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Cassidy, having assumed his role, was not to be so easily scowled +down. 'I've done my duty to his Majesty,' he said, very loud; 'and I +call on you, Sir Borlase Warren, to report the fact that I denounced +that traitor!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The squireens twittered like scarlet birds. A vanquished foreign brave +was one thing, a proscribed rebel--the very head and front of the +Directory's offending--quite another. Their temporary gentleness was +past; their native savagery bloomed forth again.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Bind him!' one bawled, 'lest he thry to drown himself, and rob good +Mr. Cassidy of the reward.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'When we get him to Letterkenny,' howled another, 'we'll put irons on +him before he starts south. Ah! the spalpeen! the rogue! the beast! +the pig!'</p> + +<p class="normal">A chorus of expletives poured forth. Even the presence of Medusa was +forgotten.</p> + +<p class="normal">One fetched a rope and bound it roughly round his limbs. With a burst +of indignation he turned for protection to the English admiral. 'I +wear the uniform of the Great Republic. Let it not be disgraced!' he +pleaded.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I can't help it, poor lad!' returned Sir Borlase, with disgust. 'If +you're Wolfe Tone, ye're a subject of Britain, in arms against the +King, and will surely suffer as a traitor. As for these ruffians, I am +powerless. They, and such as they, have long ago shamed their country +and their cloth.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then their bonds,' Theobald answered calmly, as he took off his coat, +'shall never degrade the insignia of the free nation I have served.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Bound hand and foot, he was conveyed to the cabin of the yacht and +placed under lock and key. Sir Borlase took no pains to disguise his +opinion of the squireens. Bidding farewell to the countess, he retired +abruptly with his suite, while the commandant of Letterkenny busied +himself with the bestowal of the prisoners. My Lord Glandore, feeling +like second fiddle, bethought him that the beacon had not been lighted +whose mission was to speed to Dublin news of a French invasion, just +as, two hundred years before, the lighting of tar-barrels had +signalled the coming of the Armada. He remedied the omission without +delay.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fleet of boats passed down Lough Swilly without danger, though +clouds obscured the moon and stars--for the circle of fire was +complete, cutting out the dark skyline of each crag, marking the +position of each tower with a special wave of light. The chain was as +complete (turning the sky to crimson) as the chain of the giant's +treachery. As she looked out on it from her window, Doreen pressed +feverish fingers to her burning head; then packed her clothes together +in hot haste. At cockcrow the family was to start for the capital. She +felt that, once there, she could do something--she knew not what. +Terence and Tone could not both be sacrificed. Was ever human +wickedness so base as that of this false friend?</p> + +<p class="normal">Decidedly Mr. Cassidy was master of the situation.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">THE SHAMBLES.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When it became known in Dublin that the apostle of Irish Liberty had +come and was taken, the gloom which saddened the city was yet further +deepened. The citizens went about their business with weary tread and +pinched lips. The Terror which reigned in Paris under Jacobin rule, or +in Rome under Tiberius and Nero, was not more crushing than that which +rocked Erin in its iron arms towards the end of this awful year. +Comparing Jacobins with Orangemen, the palm for cruelty may safely be +assigned to the latter. Both factions might plead the excuse of +extreme peril; but the danger of invasion by the armies of the +Coalition which brought about the diabolical delirium of the Jacobins +was greater than the danger to which the Irish ascendency party was +exposed: and it must be remembered too that the Jacobin party was +almost entirely composed of men taken from the lowest ranks, whereas +many of the most iniquitous Irish terrorists were persons of the +highest social position and fair education. The ferocity of the +Jacobins, again, was in a slight degree redeemed by fanaticism. Their +objects were not entirely selfish. They murdered aristocrats, not only +because they hated them, but because they imagined them to stand in +the way of a millennium which, according to Rousseau, was awaiting the +acceptance of regenerated mankind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Essex Bridge was fringed with heads as whilom London Bridge was; +though faithful friends, when they found a chance, stole and buried +them. There was a rage for trials by court-martial; a constant outcry +for more victims. A mania for mimicking the Bench took possession of +the military, officers of inferior rank vying with each other in an +assumption of judicial functions. Whilst my Lords Carleton and +Kilwarden and Messrs. Curran and Toler were plodding through a legal +farce at the Sessions-House, talking through night after night to +'juries of the right sort,' the gentlemen of the yeomanry at the +Exchange were making the shortest possible work of the lives under +their control. Once dragged thither, conviction followed arrest as the +day the night. The sun was not allowed to set upon the accused. +Although prepared to close his eyes to much, the new Viceroy found his +patience and temper sorely tried; and at last, in spite of +expostulation in high quarters, issued general orders condemning the +conduct of the soldiery. He failed to see, he declared, how torture +could be a good opiate, and was even foolish enough to suggest that +banishment for a short term of years would serve all the state +purposes quite as well as hanging. To this the incensed chancellor +retorted by reams of jeremiads addressed to Mr. Pitt, wherein he laid +stress on the new troubles which would inevitably come on all good +Protestants in consequence of such deplorable backsliding from Lord +Camden's able system. In his turn Lord Cornwallis pointed out the +reasons for his conduct. Private enemies were daily in the most +unblushing manner haled before courts-martial and consigned to Moiley. +Some of the lesser gentry even went so far as openly to plunder the +country houses whose owners had fled from them in fear. The behaviour +of underlings was subversive of all discipline. They held back +documents unless paid for honesty; Sirr admitted that what was planned +by his superiors in council was made of none effect in his own office. +The chancellor scored one. Lord Cornwallis found himself compelled to +apologise for his leniency. He received a rap upon the knuckles from a +Gr--t P--rs--n--ge in a letter which may be found in the Cornwallis +correspondence, and sat down to pour out his vexations to an old +brother-in-arms, as his way was when specially provoked. 'My conduct,' +he wrote, 'gets me abused by both sides, being too coercive for the +one, too lenient for the other; but my conscience approves.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The more we look into the matter, the more assured do we become that +the true marplot was the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge. The first gentleman in +the land set a fatal example to the Orangemen. By virtue of the royal +purple he was all-wise, despite his ignorance. He was a Protestant. +Ergo, those who presumed to be anything else must be well trounced for +their contumely. If the law was not rigorous enough already, its cords +must be double-knotted, for the flagellation of those who dared to +disagree with M--j--sty. Good King George, who hated Catholics in as +insane a manner as James II. hated Protestants, was determined that so +long as he clutched the sceptre, their bread should be bitter in their +mouths. Lord Cornwallis was as convinced as Mr. Pitt, that the key to +Irish troubles was the Penal Code. But the King flew in a rage at the +bare mention of Catholic Emancipation; so the Viceroy was obliged to +bow his head with a good grace, as Mr. Pitt had done long ago; as even +the leader of the opposition had found himself compelled to do. At +this juncture Marplot went further than usual; for instead of merely +insisting in general terms that the Papists must be evilly entreated, +he personally meddled in the fate of the state-prisoners, with whose +long-continued persecution the Viceroy had shown signs of interfering.</p> + +<p class="normal">It had been decided, as we have seen, on the motion of Arthur Wolfe, +that it would be well to negotiate with the state-prisoners. Mr. +Curran had been employed as go-between, and, in accordance with his +advice, the young men incarcerated at Kilmainham undertook to disclose +the principles and ramifications of their society, upon certain +well-defined conditions. Curran pointed out to them that the grand +fiasco which is known as the 'Hurry' had removed for the present all +chance of freeing Ireland, and they saw with pain that blood was being +made to flow in rivers. To stem that torrent by all means available +was clearly their first duty now. At first the negotiations broke +down, but a few executions brought the patriots to their senses. They +accordingly drew up for the benefit of Government an account of the +rise, progress, and proceedings of the United Irishmen, adding an +opinion that a general amnesty to all but ringleaders would do much to +tranquillise the public mind. They agreed that it would be best for +the ruling spirits to submit to banishment, and it was settled that a +number of excepted persons should migrate to America and stop there. +But now Marplot intervened. The King declined to permit traitors to +cross the Atlantic, and the American minister, to please the King, +also declared that such an arrangement could not answer. The Viceroy +urged that the members of the Directory had completed their portion of +the compact, and that it would be disgraceful if Government did not +follow suit. It could not be helped, was the brief response. The +executive must crawl out of the difficulty as it best might. Mr. +Curran was frantic; Lord Clare jubilant. Tom Emmett and the others +only smiled. Had they ever expected anything from England except +wickedness? She was perjured and forsworn. What could an extra crime +or two signify to one who was notoriously a murderess?</p> + +<p class="normal">The Privy Council anxiously debated as to the neatest way out of the +dilemma. Of course his Majesty must be humoured. The state-trials must +run their course, but with exceeding tact of management. Mr. Pitt +threatened his puppets with a beating, if they blundered. Juries of +the right sort must be told not to exaggerate their functions, or Lord +Moira (who was woefully independent) might stir up a new pother at St. +Stephen's.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis was sulky, for he appreciated the falseness of his +position; but, having accepted the viceroyalty, he considered it his +duty to retain it until at least the special object for which he had +come could be accomplished. His experience and native shrewdness told +him that a return to the tactics of his predecessor would be fraught +with the gravest dangers to both countries. Fate had picked him out to +play the mediator; he would do his best, even though fettered by the +ignoble desires of the King. If he failed in his task, the fault would +be Marplot's, not his.</p> + +<p class="normal">After considerable wrangling, it was decided to deny that the +Directory had carried out their portion of the agreement. Government +was to have been let in to the secrets of the society. The paper which +was drawn up was no better than a panegyric of sedition. A piece of +hair-splitting this, for which the chancellor took to himself much +credit. So the state-trials droned along, while the vagaries of +drumhead justice kept the world awake. Several of those at Kilmainham +were condemned, despite the compact, and suffered; the rest, giving up +all for lost, cared little now what was to be their destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare made a great effort on behalf of Terence, but received no +encouragement, either from the Viceroy or the English premier. Both +said that it would never do to make an exception in favour of one +whose sins were the more scarlet on account of his position in +society. He must take his trial like the rest. There was no help for +it. If his friends could manipulate the jury, that was their own +affair.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor looked grave, for, adept though he was in manipulating +juries, he knew of a foe of Terence's who would do what he could to +ruin him; and he was more and more mystified at the behaviour of the +young man's family. Neither my lady nor Lord Glandore seemed to +realise the position of affairs. Would they calmly endure while one of +their noble name was being strung up as a felon? It seemed so. The +young lord was a brilliant specimen of the Irish House of Peers. But +surely he would not carry his slavish complaisance so far as to +sacrifice his only brother to the English dragon? Lord Clare did not +know what to make of it. His own influence was terribly on the wane. +He went to see Terence at the provost, and found Curran there, +who eyed him with undisguised impertinence, and gibed about +gingerbread-nuts. But the chancellor kept his temper this time. He was +no longer the all-powerful despot. A new Herod had arisen, who did not +choose to recognise Joseph. He found himself thwarted by his new +master at every turn. Fortune is a cruel jade! The owner of the golden +coach found himself compelled to lower himself to petty plotting like +ordinary men. He suggested to Curran that it would be well to push on +Councillor Crosbie's trial with all speed. The little lawyer, instead +of meeting him half-way, answered bluntly that the young man's wound +was not healed; that the vultures were strangely impatient to devour +his flesh; that, though the young patrician's life was by no means +merry, he would be no party to shortening it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare grew impatient, and retorted with hauteur:</p> + +<p class="normal">'You can have naught to do with fixing the date of trial. I was merely +asking your opinion.'</p> + +<p class="normal">And Curran, with suspicious looks, inquired the reason of his +impatience. That there was a reason was evident. Would the other show +his hand? No. The other held his peace, and, sighing fretfully, +departed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Events must shape themselves as Fortune chose to dictate. He could not +humiliate himself before his enemy by stating what he knew of Cassidy, +and explaining the wisdom of settling the young man's case during the +absence from Dublin of that person. So Curran, unaware of pitfalls dug +by jealousy, returned sadly to the cell where Terence lay tossing in +his fever, almost wishing that the wound might prove mortal.</p> + +<p class="normal">Always fond of him, by reason of his genial nature, the little +advocate had been drawn very close to Terence by events. Their mutual +friends were perishing around them; Terence himself was grievously +compromised. Now he was to be tried for his life. With what result? +Alas, there could be little doubt. Weak men, who while success was +probable might be trusted to cling together, were anxious now to save +themselves by making a clean breast of all they knew. Curran's +instinct told him that somebody or other would surely stand up to +prove the military position which his unlucky junior had arrogated to +himself; to babble of his interviews on the shore near the Little +House; of his arrangements for the capture of Dublin by surprise; +which, but for his own timely taking, would certainly have been +carried out.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course the advocate who had won such forensic distinction as was +his would do his very best for a client who was so dear to his heart +as this one; but what he could do was little after all, fighting, as +he always was, against packed juries and false-witnesses. His wondrous +eloquence and marvellous versatility had indeed more than once torn a +doomed man from the gallows by exciting passions of such force as to +conquer even the violence of fear and greed by which the juries were +beset; but such miracles were not to be counted on, and it was with +gloomy thoughts that the lawyer looked forward to the contest. What +arguments, for instance, could have prevailed in the case of Orr, +whose life was juggled away between two bumpers? After all, perhaps +the proceedings of courts-martial were less bad than these legal +masquerades. For in the purely military tribunal there was no doubt as +to how the case would go from the beginning. Was it not better that +time and breath should be economised, when cases were so notoriously +prejudged? So it came about that Curran, in profound dejection, looked +down upon the young man whom he loved, and prayed that he might die of +his wound.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in this case, as in a good many others, prayers received no +answer. The yeoman, when he fired at Terence to prevent his escape, +broke his arm by the shot. Neglect, and the amenities of Major Sirr, +produced fever and inflammation, which the dampness of the provost did +not tend to improve.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin (who had been enduring purgatory on her own account at the +hands of drunken soldiers' wives at free-quarters) stuck sturdily to +her <i>protégé</i>, however. She hung about the antechambers of the great; +worried the judges who in happier days had been her guests; importuned +them for leave of free access to the invalid, till they wished they +had never seen the claret she had lavished on them; and, as obstinate +women generally do, carried her point. She nursed the patient in his +fever with untiring devotion; amazed the gaolers almost into civility; +even assailed the terrible major himself in his stronghold, taunting +him with ugly words and scathing epithets, till he too wished he had +never beheld the dreadful woman. She insisted that an invalid should +have a cell to himself, instead of being crowded up with malodorous +peasants in a low den deprived of air; arrived three times a week with +good things for him in baskets, which Cerberus allowed to pass without +investigation; and dragged him, whom she had sworn to watch over, by +main force to convalescence. Once or twice he had begged that his +servant Phil might be permitted to keep him company, but on this point +the major was obdurate. His calves still bore the cicatrices cut on +them by the farrier's knife, and the major was not one to forgive an +injury. He bore in mind, too, that but for his coat of mail he would +have been left dead upon the road that day. Phil, therefore, was set +apart for private torment; was not even handed over to the tender +mercies of a court-martial.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin, for Terence's sake, commissioned old Jug to discover news +of him, who went about her business in mysterious fashion, declining +to divulge what she discovered, until one day, some months after his +disappearance, she told her protectress, with weird mutterings, that +'the boy was near his end.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'How's that?' her mistress asked, frowning. 'Ye look as if ye were +glad that ill should come to him. How's that?'</p> + +<p class="normal">''Cause he's a farrier and I'm a collough, as my people have been ever +since Ollam Fodlah's day. He's near his end; the curse of Crummell has +lit on him. Sure, it's well whipped he's been on the triangles these +many times, foreninst the Royal Exchange beyant. The boy's broke, body +and sowl; but the young masther'll see him soon enough. I'm tould the +two'll be thried togither, for a murderous assault first on the +town-meejor, who was doing his duty, when he skelped 'em up, and then +for treason afther. Weren't they always togither, masther and man? +'Twould be quare if they were thried separate.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence was convalescent when summer gave place to autumn. Unlike his +former cheery hustling self, he sat at his window for whole mornings, +gazing into a world of his own, as he leaned his wan face on his thin +hand, smiling a faint smile when his kind nurse attempted to rouse +him. She came more seldom by degrees, for indeed the poor lady's own +life was thickening with disasters. The drunken soldiers' wives +(specially selected by Major Sirr for their virago qualities) made a +hell of her cosy little home, afflicting her daughter Norah beyond +measure. There was no telling whether they might not, in a riotous +freak, set the place ablaze if its mistress did not stop at home to +watch them. Verily, even my lady's grudge might have been partially +effaced, could she have beheld the tribulations which fell upon her +ancient rival. Terence, then, lingered on, living a hermit life, whose +solitude was broken sometimes by garbled tales of dread, such as his +keepers chose to report to him. The world looked black, without a +streak of light. He marvelled, in the vague dizzy way of an invalid +recovering from illness, whether it would not be best to make an end +of it at once. He felt the indifference as to death which +distinguishes the faith of Buddha; longed to join the ranks of those +who, more blest than he, were marched past his door never to return; +envied even the victims of the Foxhunters on the Gibbet-Rath; looked +forward to his own trial as a release.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a bare bodkin who shall fardels carry? His was bare indeed. Worn +through, and through--the stuffing gone. The sharp corners of the +fardels were ploughing into his back. He longed to lay them down and +be at rest. Sometimes he dreamed of Doreen, but not as of one who +might be his in this life. He appreciated now what at one time he had +contemned as girlish hysteria. Who might presume to talk of love amid +the horrors of carnage, where victims had been done to death by +hundreds with scarce an effort at defence? If he might live (his youth +would assert its rights now and again for a brief instant), then +perhaps--perhaps----What? No. He was doomed to die, and knew it--and +was glad; for life deprived of all illusions and all flower-blossoms +is a hideous thing. His turn would come, and shortly. It was merely a +matter of days--of a little patience. The 'scrag-boy,' who wore a +demon's dress, with a hump and a horned mask that none might guess who +did the hangman's work, was a familiar object in the prison-yard +below. He had placed the halter over many a gallant head, though +not as yet around a noble's neck. Well! that honour would soon be +his--very soon--the sooner the better. With what a bitter laugh did +Terence contemplate the honour which awaited the overworked +functionary! Now and again he wished it might be given to him to look +into Doreen's eyes once more. Their solemn depths would give him +courage to face the great <i>peut-être</i>. Courage! With self-upbraiding +he spurned the thought, walking round his cell as swiftly as heavy +irons would permit. Courage, forsooth! He lacked not courage. 'Twere +better that the two should meet no more on this accursed soil. In +another world they would wander together in perpetual sunshine, by +purling brooks, under softly waving trees--but would they? Was there +another world? The spirit of the young man was so bruised that he +hoped there might not be; and, his illusion being gone, he yearned for +<i>rest</i> only--unceasing--eternal--the long unbroken sleep without a +waking. He shrank from the occasional visits of Lord Clare, who had +brought his country to this pass--even deprecated those of his friend +Curran with a new-born peevishness; for in the face of his old ally he +could trace tell-tale lines of weary watching and despondency, which +spoke with eloquent meaning of the darkness outside the prison walls; +whispering of the universal sorrow he would so gladly have forgotten. +Curran became nervous about him, fearing lest his mind should give +way. Solitude, and such thoughts to brood over as his were, are good +for no man. It was with a sense of relief therefore that the little +man heard one day that a companion was to be quartered on the +councillor. Who that comrade was to be he wist not; any companionship +would be better for him than none. When that comrade came, Terence was +feeding on his griefs, as usual. The door opened with the clatter and +craunch of keys and bolts which no longer vexed him; a slight figure +in a full-skirted coat was pushed in without ceremony, who groped his +way and stumbled in the half-obscurity as the door clanged-to again. +Terence looked up with the slow glance of one whose faculties are +corroded--rough with rust. His eyes met other eyes from which the +light of hope had fled. It was Theobald who was to be Terence's new +companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">This unexpected meeting, under auspices so different from those which +smiled upon their parting two short years before at Brest, unmanned +them both. With sobs they were locked in one another's arms. Then, +sitting side by side and hand in hand each told his tale in whispers. +Which of the two stories was the saddest? Both their young lives were +equally undone, and for nothing. True sympathy is like the brush of an +angel's wing. They communed far on into the night, and the hearts of +both were lightened.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the moment of his capture, Tone felt a conviction that his race +was run. On his road to Dublin indignities were heaped on him--he was +heavily ironed, as though so frail an unarmed creature could beat down +bristling bayonets. He knew that as an <i>émigré rentré</i> he must suffer, +and accepted his fate with calmness.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a singular cavalcade which journeyed south from Donegal. There +was a posse of rollicking yeomen to guard the prisoners, headed by +Lord Glandore (in the blue and orange uniform of the Hillsborough +club), at whose right hand rode Cassidy. My lord was not certain +whether to be offended with the squireen or not. With regard to +Theobald, he had, as usual, followed his mother's cue, who, when she +set eyes on him, determined instantly that he should not be betrayed +through her. Shane's good impulse bade him follow suit. He had known +the fellow when a youth. To jump upon the fallen is at best a dirty +trick. But there was no doubt that such voluntary blindness was more +romantic than expedient. By the help of the English admiral, Shane +fully intended to make capital out of this sea-fight, and win for +himself an English peerage, and possibly some convenient sinecures. As +it was, he was already rich and great. But the richer we are, the +poorer we often believe ourselves to be. Shane fancied himself quite a +pauper--a worthy subject for eleemosynary grants. Now, supposing that +Tone had left Glas-aitch-é with the other prisoners unrecognised, +there were ten chances to one against his so escaping in Dublin. A +start of surprise, an involuntary exclamation, would have aroused +suspicion and settled his fate; and then what would have been said of +the candidate for charity who, knowing the traitor well, had failed to +denounce him? There was little doubt that Government would have +laughed at my lord's craving for an English peerage--that he would +have sighed for a pension in vain. On the whole he was not sorry that +Cassidy should have shown himself a man of the world by exhibiting +such laudable presence of mind. Tone had been denounced under his roof +(he would make the most of this), but not by him, therefore was his +conscience clear. Nothing could be better. On the whole he concluded +to be charmed with Cassidy, chattering with him as he rode, and +laughing at the giant's stories with a condescension that filled the +latter's soul with joy. The giant took occasion to instil fears into +the selfish mind of my lord with reference to Terence. How would his +Majesty look on the brother of a rebel? Of course it follows not that +one brother should wield the smallest influence over another. But +would the King admit this; or would he frown on the elder, despite his +grovelling, because of the sins of the audacious junior? The sins of +the fathers are to be visited on the children--at least the Jews have +said so; but nothing has been said about the enormities of one brother +being visited on another. Such a rule would be very inconvenient. Now +Shane had never shown any genuine affection for Terence. Under no +circumstances whatever was he prepared to make a personal sacrifice +for him. Why should he? Cassidy's hints therefore fell upon fertile +ground. His selfishness took alarm. Indifference turned to +indignation. He had languidly regretted that Terence should be making +such a fool of himself. He must bear the brunt of his own faults, and +so on. Now he was consumed with rage in that his younger brother +should show so little proper feeling as, for some silly crotchet, to +jeopardise his senior's interests. It was vastly good of Cassidy to +mention the subject, but he had better say nothing about it to my +lady, who was hipped and out of sorts--not to say cross. My lord would +make a point of assuring His new Excellency, so soon as he should +arrive in the metropolis, of his undying devotion to existing +Government and his abhorrence of his misguided brother's crimes.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady and Doreen in the family coach brought up the rear of the +procession. Neither was inclined for talk--the minds of both being +busy with netting plans--so each looked out of her own window +listlessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">For several weeks Terence and Theobald occupied the same cell--visited +almost daily by Councillor Curran. The latter explained that Miss +Wolfe, lately arrived in town, was burning to obtain access to them, +but that her father peremptorily forbade her doing so. She sent them +tender messages of hope, which both knew were futile, but which they +answered verbally with thanks, pens and ink being withheld from them. +Signs were not wanting that they were marked out as chief offenders, +for precautions were taken in their case which were neglected in that +of others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran's reports of the state-trials were not encouraging. The jury +were being skilfully manipulated into a likeness of independence. +Three of the chiefs suffered in turn; two escaped. Terence was the +sixth. With reference to him, which line would the jurors be +instructed to take? The executive were dumb upon the subject. They +also dallied with the life of Tone, till Doreen and his other friends +became almost sanguine. As a French general he might perhaps be +claimed by France, in which case England would certainly submit. Of +course they would claim him. Yet how sluggish they were while a noble +life was shaking in the balance! Theobald himself was the only one who +never doubted. He rose quietly, and squeezed the hand of his companion +without a word or gesture of surprise, when at length, on the 10th of +November, the turnkey opened the door, and bade him 'Come!' for, being +a soldier, he was not to be honoured with a state-trial--and he was +glad of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">The court-martial which was to cut his span was held in the +cavalry-barracks, the roads leading to which were thronged by anxious +watchers, amongst whom professional wakers were prominent like ravens. +Tone wore the uniform of a chef de brigade. His calm air and firm +deportment favourably impressed his judges. He was every inch a +soldier. Would he plead guilty or not guilty?</p> + +<p class="normal">'I will give the court no useless trouble,' the prisoner replied when +questioned. 'From my earliest youth, I have looked on the connection +between Ireland and Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and have +felt convinced that while it lasted my country could not be happy. +That Ireland was unable alone to throw off the yoke I knew. I +therefore looked for aid wherever it was to be found. I sought +in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my +fellow-countrymen from----'</p> + +<p class="normal">The president interrupted the prisoner, bidding him refrain from +improper language. Had he any reason to assign why sentence should not +be passed on him?</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am +prepared to face the consequences,' Tone answered. 'You do your duty. +I have done mine. All I would ask is, that the court would adjudge me +a soldier's death. In consideration of the uniform I wear, I claim to +be shot by a platoon of grenadiers.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Then sentence of death was passed in usual form--the manner of it to +be afterwards arranged--and Tone was led back to the cell from whence +he came, where Terence was eagerly awaiting his return.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dublin sank into stupor when the news leaked out, for all classes +respected the single-minded young martyr of Irish liberty. Curran was +the first to arrive at Strogue with the sad intelligence--his eyes +red, his face worn. Doreen turned her head away, too sorrowful for +tears. My lady sat in a trance as though she heard nothing, for the +temporary energy which had brought her to town had waned; the ghost at +her elbow fanned her with his pinions, mesmerised her free-will. As +for Sara, she gave way to hysterical weeping. Sara was domesticated +now at Strogue. Her father's position, by reason of his attitude at +the state-trials, was one of peril. It was quite likely that some day +the Priory might be sacked by enraged Orangemen. Sara was no longer +safe there. Curran brought the evil tidings to the family circle, but +with it a crumb of comfort. The sentence was illegal; for, holding no +commission under King George, Theobald should have been tried by civil +law with the other state-prisoners. It was painfully true that, +intoxicated by impunity, no one cared now whether a thing was legal or +not. Hundreds of peasants and traders of the lower class were +sacrificed every day by the military tribunals, which was all very +well for the minnows. But Theobald's case was different, Curran +explained. He was a big fish. People would discuss the ins and outs of +his arraignment. The French must be communicated with, and adjured to +claim their general. Meanwhile time must be gained somehow. Curran +would move for the case to be tried before the Court of King's Bench, +which was sitting at the Sessions-House under the presidency of +Doreen's father. This would give a week or two's respite--for +Terence's trial was next upon the list, and that could be postponed by +legal art.</p> + +<p class="normal">The good lawyer trotted back to Dublin. For a whole day he interviewed +influential persons--strove to obtain votes and money; but the torpor +of fear chilled every heart. Not a finger would any of the cits stir +for Tone--who had sacrificed his all for them. Then Councillor Curran, +determined not to be beaten, went to the Sessions-House alone, and +summoned my Lord Kilwarden, by virtue of his office, to claim the body +of his godson. My lord gladly responded to the challenge. He +despatched his sheriff to the provost-marshal, demanding that the +culprit should be resigned to him; but that functionary declined to +give up his prisoner. Curran groaned in spirit. His last chance was +the Viceroy; but his excellency refused to interfere. There was +nothing more to be done--absolutely nothing! The little lawyer wended +his way back to Strogue in the evening, quite exhausted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen listened as he unfolded his budget, and, the last remnant of +her artificial apathy melting away, girded up her loins for a +struggle. She was not prepared, she said, to see the game so tamely +given up. Tone first--then Terence! No, not without a supreme effort +to save them. He of the silver tongue had failed? Well, then, she +would even go now herself, and try what a simple woman's pleading +could accomplish. She rose up straightway--it would not do to go quite +alone--and bade Sara put on her habit. The two girls would force +themselves into the presence of Lord Cornwallis, and wring those +precious lives from the executioner. In the first instance they would +importune the chancellor. Perhaps he would go with them and add his +weight. Though it was growing dark, Curran offered no resistance. It +was a last chance; their sacred mission should protect the maidens. +Out of delicacy he had refrained from telling them that Theobald was +cast for execution on the morrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Doreen remained not long in ignorance. First she directed her +course to the provost, at whose forbidding portals she found a stout +woman quarrelling with a sentry. On perceiving the riders the woman +rushed into the road, and clung to Doreen's skirts.</p> + +<p class="normal">'They'll kill him in the morning, acushla!' she cried, weeping, 'and +then they'll kill the other! It's your cousin that they'll be +murdering, and his wicked old mother sits like a carved stock. I know +your purty face, though we've never spoke a word. Sure, ye're the +judge's child. Go, now, and spake with him. Stay! I'll go too, for +it's the gift of the gab that comes from heaven. They'll be clever if +they beat the two of us!'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Madam Gillin, who had been refused admittance to the cell of +her <i>protégé</i> because his comrade lay under sentence of death, and had +not yet been removed to solitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus was it, in the chaos produced by misrule, that these dissimilar +members of an oppressed religion became acquainted at last. They had +met so frequently over sick-beds or at Castle festivities that they +seemed to be quite old friends, till the sound of an unfamiliar voice +told them that it was not so. Is it not ofttimes thus? Do we not know +a person so well by sight that every turn of expression seems to bind +us to him till we hear his voice, which strikes us as strange, and, +finding no echoing chord within our hearts, warns us that we are +strangers?</p> + +<p class="normal">The attention of the three ladies was arrested by a hubbub within the +provost. There was a sound of chains, then the chaunt arose in chorus +which was become, through the irony of fate, so piteous a mockery:</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +'What rights the brave? The sword!<br> +What frees the slave? The sword!'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Alas, alas! There was no sword now but that of an avenging tyrant; +when might it be sheathed? Sara screened her face with her hand and +cowered over her saddle-bow, for a dearly loved voice had been wont to +sing that song. With deep thankfulness she remembered that the +Destroying Angel who had been so busy was kind at least to her. It +might have been Robert clanking his chains within that door. Thank +Heaven, he was far away across the sea in London--safe! Sara, +guiltily glad in the midst of so much sorrow, reined in her +horse, which shied upon the sudden opening of the door. Another +voice--whose well-known richness sent a thrill through the bosoms of +Doreen and Gillin--trolled forth in answer the Orange Hymn of +'Croppies, lie down.' The singer stood with burly legs, like pillars, +across the threshold, a huge dark shadow against the light behind--a +shadow of evil to both Gillin and Doreen--Cassidy.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Lie down, dogs! or ye'll have a taste of the triangles!' he bellowed +over his shoulder in his racy brogue, ere he perceived that he was +watched.</p> + +<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe's brow contracted, for this was the Cassidy without the +mask, whose aspect at Glas-aitch-é had affected her like a snake; who +had sold Theobald deliberately; whose real self was so different from +the other one that would fain have been her lover. Presently he was +aware of horses' hoofs, and recognised in the stream of radiance which +poured across the road the brown velvet habit which he had been wont +idiotically to sigh after. The sight of it did not improve his temper. +He troubled not to assume the mask again, for the die was cast for +better or for worse--by her. He was now an openly protected ruffian, a +patronised Orange braggadocio. Rollicking, disrespectful, he jerked a +thumb to his hat and grinned at Miss Wolfe.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Leedies on a party of pleasure?' he jeered. 'Faix, Miss Doreen, ye're +fond of singing-birds. I'd bring ye insoide, but 'tisn't clean enough. +'Deed it's not, now. I'll have it swept to-morrow. Is it Councillor +Crosbie ye're afther trying to peep at? I wouldn't, if I were you, for +he's not the purty boy at whom ye used to lower your eyelids.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen replied with studied calmness: 'You do well to drop disguise, +Mr. Cassidy, since I know you as you are. If they are in your care, +God help them!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The marble beauty! Her scorn ate into his flesh like vitriol. He had, +with long patience, shown a fictitious better side to her in vain. It +was with fiendish pleasure that he exposed the real one.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the contempt which knitted the maiden's brow and distended her +finely-cut nostrils proved too much for the giant's pot-valour. He +tried to wink with the slyness which used to keep supper-tables in a +roar, but shrank under her steady glance, and retiring with a growl, +discomfited, slammed the door. Then, the spell removed, cursing +himself and her, he went through a pantomime of anathema, battering +the panels from within with heavy fists till the turnkeys ran out, +supposing him to have been attacked.</p> + +<p class="normal">'She treats me like dirt!' he gnashed out between foul oaths. 'Yet, +plaze the Lord, I'll brand myself on her memory till her dying day. +Damn her! A fight, is it? A fight be it--deadly--to the last gasp. +We'll see if her ladyship will be so hoity-toity then!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The frown passed not from the maiden's face with the vanishing of +Cassidy. <i>He</i> there, in apparent authority! His presence boded little +good to either of the dear prisoners.</p> + +<p class="normal">What a queer character was Cassidy's! Outwardly merry and +good-humoured, he was by nature coldly fierce, calculating, callous. +Reckless of life himself, its value to others made no impression on +him. Playful and unpitying, commanding the smile and heeding not the +sigh, he was a human paradox. The more Doreen considered him the less +could she understand such a person, being herself true and impulsive +and open as the day.</p> + +<p class="normal">'We will go to Ely Place at once,' she said hurriedly. 'Lord Clare +must and shall help us.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The ladies walked their horses in order that panting Mrs. Gillin might +tell all she knew. Tone's doom was fixed. Of that she was sure. +Neither the chancellor nor anybody else could avert his passing. But +Terence--so careless and so joyous a short while ago--his case was +harrowing. Both were specially interested in him. Madam Gillin had +heard for certain that his trial was to come on within a week, and +that his henchman had been well triangled only a few hours since to +extort evidence against his master. His butchers had even stopped +their practical joke at intervals in order to give him time to pull +his thoughts together. Did he say anything? Nothing that the narrator +was aware of. Her nurse, old Jug, witnessed the scourging, and +scurried home all of a tremble at the horrid spectacle. In her +presence he had writhed and shrieked for mercy--had gnawed his tongue +lest it should escape control--had swooned--and was then tossed upon +some straw--half dead, but faithful so far.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara clung to her saddle-pommel as she listened, lest she too should +swoon; and it dawned upon Doreen that they were out on a fool's +errand. Life is a bitter gift to many; yet, charged as we are with +illusory hopes, what suffering must be ours ere we master its full +bitterness! She came out imagining that mercy was alive, that justice +was only torpid, that she could plead with human creatures to whom +justice and mercy were precious. How mad! For mercy she saw with +terrible clearness the triangle; for justice, the shade of Cassidy. +The Valley of the Shadow was of weary length, and she was groping in +it darkly still. Nothing could come of this expedition; of that she +felt convinced. Tone and Terence would be hanged. Terence, who held +her heart--she knew it now with no tinge of shame, and gloried in it. +She promised herself to be present at his trial, strengthening him by +her sympathy. He might not be hers in this world. She had refused the +boon of his affection when he had offered it; had presumed to preach +to him--worse--had doubted him. Blind, fatuous girl! How justly +punished! He was to die a martyr, blessed in that his life was to be +in mercy shortened. She would tend his lowly bed, plant flowers on it, +then take the veil and spend in prayer and vigil such days as it might +be her lot to linger through. They would not be many. Heaven was very +deaf. Surely this little boon of a speedy flitting might be vouchsafed +to her jaded spirit? The tendency to asceticism which is buried more +or less deep in all of us was asserting itself in this dark hour over +Doreen. She looked forward to the cloister and the monastic habit with +exultation.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the time the party turned into Ely Place, Doreen had lost her +courage and her hope. She felt as shy almost as Sara--panted only for +the swift coming of the shot that she might stagger away into the +covert.</p> + +<p class="normal">Strange! There was a party at Lord Clare's. All the windows were ruddy +with light, filtering through cosy curtains. Incongruous spectacle! +Sedans were ranged in rows; their bearers could be heard yelling in an +adjacent tavern. The entry-door was wide open lacqueys in sumptuous +liveries hurried in and out; there was a clatter of knives and forks, +the popping of corks and shouts of laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Miss Wolfe was aghast. This contingency had not occurred to her. It +never struck her that at such a moment men could be found who were +capable of making merry.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Let us go home!' timid Sara urged. 'What can we do? It's dreadful!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin laughed bitterly, and clutched Miss Wolfe's bridle.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do you know what they're at?' she whispered, glancing round lest any +one should hear her. 'It's a merry-making, true enough; but there's +business at the bottom of it. I know more than I'm supposed to know, I +tell you. The members of the Houses are chap-fallen. Their consciences +are working inconveniently. Dinners are being organised by those in +office to raise their drooping "sowls," in case, at the last moment, +they should waver in their allegiance. We know what they're driving +at--sure, it's splendid! The friends of Government dine together and +drink toasts, and hob and nob with lusty choruses, and swill claret as +pigs swill wash, to keep their loyalty at boiling-point. While the +friends of Erin sit in ashes, and the scrag-boy's worn to the bone +with villain's work! It's a quare world, isn't it, Miss Wolfe?'</p> + +<p class="normal">The little party was beginning to enlist attention. Women on horseback +did not often linger out so late. The gold braid upon their habits, +the plumes in their hats, proclaimed their superior position. +Obsequious yeomen sprang up as though out of the ill-paved street; +lackeys surrounded them. What could be done for their honours? Sure, +half the aristocracy was pledging my lord chancellor. Glorious, gay +dogs! Was aught amiss? Sure, 'twas a pity to spoil fun! Which of 'em +did the ladies want to see? A private hint might be conveyed to the +lucky ones.</p> + +<p class="normal">The soldiers leered at the ladies who dared to be out at such a time +of night--with stringent orders as to curfew, too! It was like the +impudence of their craft to dare seek their gallants at the +chancellor's own door. Reckless, bold baggages! Insolent, good-looking +hussies! Madam Gillin was preparing for a fray. She was a good hand at +bandying retorts, and perceived at once the suspicions of the +bystanders; but she was not destined to show her prowess on this +occasion, for the astonished hall-porter recognised the ladies, and +waddled out to welcome them as quickly as amazement and short breath +would permit.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it Miss Wolfe, good luck? Sure his lordship your father's here. +Will I call him?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'No. I wish to see Lord Clare,' Doreen stammered, her courage oozing +strangely. 'Don't tell him that 'tis I.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara, who all along had been supported in this singular adventure by +the valiance of her friend, saw that Doreen was breaking down. The +amazon--the cool, calm heroine! If she gave way, then must the case +indeed be desperate. The poor gentle little thing instantly broke +down, too, in most lamentable fashion. Tears rolled down her cheeks; +blonde elf-locks hung over her eyes. She was a piteous object, if a +lovely one, to look upon, and refused all Madam Gillin's rough +attempts at comforting.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare came forth with a napkin in his hand. A silhouette, with +arm upraised, appeared on the window-curtain, and the thick, quavering +voice of Lord Glandore rang out above the din of glasses. 'A toast! A +toast!' he shouted. 'The Hero of the Nile, who has taught the French +their bearings!' Doreen shivered. An English toast from the lips of +Terence's brother. Alas! it signified little now what should befall +the French. Ireland was beyond succour. Summoning together with a +desperate effort the shreds of her wavering purpose, she implored the +chancellor to go at once with her to the Castle. If the matter were +clearly explained, the Viceroy would exert his right of clemency. Tone +might be saved. At least his passing might be postponed, which +practically would come to the same thing. The trial of Terence might +also be put off. In the confusion of troublous days like these, a few +weeks make all the difference. A little time works wonders; each grain +of trickling sand is priceless.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare lifted the two girls from their saddles; bade a groom take +the horses to his stable, and prepare a coach forthwith.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Come within,' he said gravely. 'It is not fitting that you should +play the knight-errant thus; you might be insulted. What would your +father think of it?'</p> + +<p class="normal">He paced up and down his study in silent meditation until the carriage +was announced, while Madam Gillin's clack was stilled by awe, and the +two girls watched his every movement with breathless eagerness. Then, +striking his hands together as though his web of thought were +complete, he stood opposite to Doreen with a glance less like the +alligator's than his was usually.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I've done my best already with Lord Cornwallis,' he said; 'but he +heeds me no more than a crazy table. I begged him to quash this last +trial; to show leniency with regard to your cousin. He retorted that +he was forbidden to be lenient; that he had promised to let the trials +run their course; that I had myself to thank for it, having complained +of him to Mr. Pitt. I cannot stop this trial. Mr. Pitt is as +ungrateful, I find, as other men. He made use of me, then flung me +aside without the least compunction. I see it now--too late. As for +the other----'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen sank on her knees before the chancellor.</p> + +<p class="normal">'As for Tone,' he went on, severely, 'it is right and fit that he +should die. I would not move a finger to save him from the hangman. +The mischief-maker! Come, my carriage shall take you back to Strogue. +An officer shall ride behind to protect it.' Then, seeing how +distressed she looked, he took her hand, and continued, in a kinder +voice, 'I'm not so heartless as you imagine. Girls should not trouble +their pretty heads with politics, which they are unable to understand. +You think it very shocking to be giving feasts at such a time? Yet +both your cousin Shane and your father are here for state reasons. +These festivities have a political meaning. Now, get you home and go +to bed to refresh your roses. My word! Madam Gillin, if I mistake not? +A strange companion for my lady's niece! Good-night. For his sake I +will not tell your father of this escapade.'</p> + +<p class="normal">And so the maiden's effort was as vain as the little lawyer's was. She +sat sedate and still as the coach rattled on, murmuring once, in an +undertone, 'That I, who never kneel to any one but God, should have +knelt at that man's feet in vain!' She thought of Theobald. What was +he doing? Was he praying, or sleeping a last sleep? It must need all a +soldier's courage to walk calmly to a scaffold. A cause should be a +good one that has power to produce such martyrs.</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-align:center; letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">While Curran and Doreen were straining every nerve for him, Tone +stared moodily out into his prison-yard and watched the building of a +new gallows there. 'A soldier's end was all I asked,' he sighed, 'and +they even deny me that small grace.'</p> + +<p class="normal">In the evening he took a tender farewell of Terence, and moved into an +adjoining cell, which, as for a distinguished person who was condemned +to death, had been set apart for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Let us sit together to the last,' Terence objected, with a mournful +smile. 'Why should we be parted who are both hovering on the confines +of eternity? Well, come in and look at me again before you go.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald embraced his friend with clinging warmth, and whispering once +more, 'We shall meet again,' withdrew. When the gaolers came to lead +him to the gallows-foot they were too late. His body lay cold upon the +pallet. An ensanguined mark was on his throat. He had escaped the +scrag-boy--cheated 'Jack the Breath-stopper'--and was gone!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Though Shane roared out gay toasts to the health of Nelson, he was by +no means happy in his mind. No dwelling could be more disagreeable +than Strogue. His supposed participation in the capture of the +arch-martyr was speedily punished by the people. His cattle were +houghed. It happened to be a late season; all his corn was cut and +trampled in one night by unseen avengers. He was in constant dread of +Moiley, of being sent to his account from behind a hedge--ignominious +exit for a king of Cherokees. He even felt inclined to do as many +fellow-proprietors did, namely, to barricade himself in his Abbey and +endure a state of siege till better times should come. In order to +curry favour with the executive he underlined his open disavowal of +his brother's acts, spoke flippantly of traitors; an unfeeling course +which did not raise him in the esteem of blunt Lord Cornwallis. That +nobleman expressed his opinion of Pat in no measured terms, vowing, as +testily he poked the fire, that the Irish were unfit to govern +themselves; that, independent of the benefit which would accrue to +England, the sooner a legislative union could be brought about, the +better it would be for Ireland herself. The few months of his +residence in Dublin had melted all his scruples on that head. On +principle, Mr. Pitt's game was an iniquitous one. There could be no +two opinions as to that. But the new Viceroy was not long in +discovering that a union would materially improve the condition of the +people by freeing them from the persecution of bigoted factions, +provided that the King could only be brought to allow that the +Catholics should be permitted to exist. After all, how could a scuffle +about a union affect the lower orders? Under home-rule were they not +always slaves? Did they not profess to hate the yoke of English and +Anglo-Irish equally? It would be a change of masters; a change from +tyranny to mildness; for it was understood by Lord Cornwallis that the +Reign of Terror had been brought about to disgust the country with its +ruling classes; and that that result being attained, a skilfully +contrasted millennium was to be inaugurated instantly. The members of +the senate had been cajoled, with a few exceptions, into disgracing +themselves beyond redemption. Could they be coaxed a stage lower--just +one? Possibly. The Marquis Cornwallis, so far as his private honour +was concerned, drew the line at this. He would supervise the stew, +without direct personal interference in its brewing. It did not behove +a man who had won immortal laurels in the field, to stoop to put salt +on the tails of the Irish Lords and Commons. No! That unworthy work +must be done by the chancellor and such others as were ready to paddle +in the <i>cloaca</i>. This is how it was that, despite the paling of his +star, my Lord Clare was giving dinners--symposia intended to act as +birdlime to fluttering legislators--feasts at which hints were dropped +of the future emoluments that awaited the complaisant. Mr. Pitt's ball +was rolling steadily to the goal, while my Lord Clare swept clear its +course. The bloody drama was all but concluded now. One more trial and +the pageant at the Sessions-House would come to a close, and those who +had escaped so far would probably be permitted to disappear in the +medley. Nearly all had been tried who could be safely sentenced; there +were some left whom it would be best not to try. The last serious +state-trial must be got over without more ado--a trial complicated by +private venom and a series of false statements which were twisted into +attempted murder as well as treason; a trial which must be so +conducted as to bear sifting by the opposition, examination by the +scrutiny of Europe--a trial wherein both sides would wrestle with all +their strength and cunning. Which was to enact Jacob, and which the +angel?</p> + +<p class="normal">Theobald Wolfe Tone having vanished from the scene, the eyes of Dublin +were still turned fearfully to the selfsame cell at the provost, +wherein the companion of his last hours lingered. The people counted +the moments that were left to him. Coronachs were crooned in secret +before their time in many a cabin, with beatings of the breast. None +doubted but that Charon, resting on his oars, awaited his next fare +with confidence. As Terence himself expressed it--he stood on an +isthmus between two lives. If one was desperately turbid, was it not +better cheerfully to turn his back on it, and plunge with courage into +the other?</p> + +<p class="normal">Strogue Abbey from within, was no more pleasant to its owner than from +without. Doreen's serenity, which for years had made Shane +uncomfortable, assumed now a preternatural repulsion. Odours as of +gravecloths seemed to emanate from her garments. The phosphorescence +of the charnel-house was a nimbus to her head. Her brow was circled by +the calm that appertains not to mundane matters; which chills the +creeping souls of those who cling to earth. Instead of being shocked +that Theobald should have evaded the offices of the scrag-boy, she was +content. Her hero was beyond the reach of vulgar slings and arrows. +His fretted rope was snapped; the boundary was passed, the inevitable +plunge taken, and he slept. A few brief days of swiftly speeding hours +and Terence would be conveyed with him in the boat of Charon, who was +waiting, to a less rugged shore. A little, little patience, and he too +would sleep. Then she, less blessed than they, would withdraw from the +troubles that weighed her down, and, meekly kneeling, would await the +unveiling of the White Pilgrim. What a message was his! 'Home to the +homeless; to the restless rest!' Doreen's manner had something awful +about it which scared another besides Shane--poor Sara, whose Robert +was unscathed and well. The cairngorm eyes of the elder damsel were +opened to their full width with the far-seeing blindness of a +somnambulist. Her obstinate moods and perverse waywardness were +quelled. She went about her avocations with mechanical deliberation; +dusted her cousin's fishing-rods and guns in his little sanctum, +as if he were only gone away upon a visit; wore her best clothes to +please her aunt; tendered regularly each morning to cousin Shane a +corpse-cheek whose coldness took away the little appetite which he +could boast of; conversed calmly about events--all but the one event, +which for that matter each member of the household was equally +desirous to shun. Strogue was full of spectres, and they rattled their +bones in grim concert.</p> + +<p class="normal">Councillor Curran, who looked like a moulting bird, grey-skinned, +unkempt, essayed to speak words of comfort; but she seemed not to +understand. What comfort could there be for one whose fairest prospect +was the cloister and the grave? Theobald had passed; a procession of +young shades like Banquo's sons had passed; Terence was prepared to +join the shadowy convoy into spirit-land. Why prate of comfort? Had +not Mr. Curran done all that might be done by man to prevent this +hideous nightmare? Then he murmured something of a postponement--of a +delay which might save the life of the last victim; but Doreen only +shook her graceful head. It was better, she averred, to put aside +illusions, and look straight into Truth's hard face. The postponement +of the trial was impossible, and it was better so, for a speedy end +was the best boon for a true Irishman to pray for. Mr. Curran's heart +died within him to hear this girl, in the full flush of youth and +beauty, speaking of this life as though existence had no charms.</p> + +<p class="normal">If his stately cousin was a kill-joy in the household, Shane's mother +was no better than she. My lady alternated between fevered activity, +without apparent object, and helpless lassitude. Her own ghost kept +faithful watch and ward over the countess. When Lord Clare told her +gently that all hope of saving her son was gone, she gave herself +over to the phantom hand and foot; and her old friend blamed himself +for rushing, as we all have a proneness to do, to hasty conclusions +of blame. It was evident that my lady was not indifferent to the +fate of her younger-born. On the contrary, she was overwhelmed +by a remorseful, fascinating ecstasy, which haunted her day and +night--something connected with Terence in the past, which took from +his mother the power to reason in clear sequence. She blinked like a +white owl in the great chair in the tapestry saloon, heeding goers or +comers no more than drifting leaves--engrossed all day by withering +meditation till Doreen announced to her that it was time for bed. Then +she permitted herself to be undressed and laid upon her back without a +word, and blinked on at the ceiling through the still hours; and then +was dressed and propped up again in the great chair. Some said she was +broken; some that her circulation was weak; some that paralysis was +imminent. Lord Clare and Curran alone amongst her friends perceived +that it was her mind that was diseased--that there was a rooted sorrow +festering there which no mortal hand might have strength to pluck +away.</p> + +<p class="normal">News of the countess's state was brought by Shane to the Little House, +whither he escaped whene'er he could, to forget his dismal home in the +company of Norah. But his welcome there was no longer what it used to +be, even though through his good offices the dreadful infliction of +soldiers' wives had been removed. Madam Gillin felt too strongly the +heartless selfishness of Lord Glandore to be decently civil to him, +even though by civility her child might win a coronet. For a host of +reasons, her sympathies were all with Terence. When Shane talked +querulously about his mother, she listened eagerly, seeing in fancy +the dying man at Daly's, who implored his stern wife to save herself +from the torment he then suffered. But she would not. Nemesis, if slow +of foot, is sure--her vengeance complete, if tardy.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fatal day in due course arrived which was big with the fate of +Terence. Curran implored Doreen to stop at home--in vain. Her resolve +was immutable. Since her cousin's trial could not be postponed, she +decided to see the last of him whom she had dared to doubt. Under +escort of the little advocate, she entered the Sessions-House, and +took her seat close to the dock. When the inevitable sentence should +come to be spoken, the brown hand which he loved best in all the world +would grasp his firmly. His courage would not waver. He was too good +and true for that. But he should in that supreme moment read the love +that went out from her, and with it a promise that she would not stay +long behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her father was to occupy the bench with my Lord Carleton. Toler +(bully, butcher, and buffoon), whose nose was like a scarlet +pincushion well studded, was down for the prosecution; he of the +silver tongue for the defence. The hall was close and inconvenient; +its murky skylight thick with dust, its jaundiced walls sallow and +blotched with damp. A lofty seat was prepared for the judges under a +canopy at one end, surmounted by the royal arms. Below this were three +crazy benches for counsel and attorneys; then came an open space on +the floor of the hall; then a barrier enclosing a small pen, which was +intended for public use, but which was already more than half +monopolised by soldiers of the yeomanry. On the right side of the +counsellors' benches was the dock; on the left, the jury-paddock, and +a low table with a chair on it for the accommodation of witnesses. +These, till they were wanted, leaned against the wall behind, +conversing in loud tones with other members of the Battalion of +Testimony, or fawning with fulsome scrapings about Major Sirr, who, +with the pompous airs of a jack-in-office, acted as master of the +judicial ceremonies. Government tried to make proceedings look less +dirty by making much of the informers; did its best to dignify them in +the eyes of those who were selected to decide the fate of the accused. +These men, as all the world knew, were capable of anything, deeming +that he was a pitiful fellow who, to please his master, would stick at +a little perjury.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran marked uneasily that the battalion was in great force to-day. +Was it out of curiosity, or were they here on business? Long impunity +had developed all the native ferocity and brazenness of these +Staghouse demons. They wore new modish suits of clothes, with +fashionable bows of ribbon at the knee, provided at Government +expense. They looked sleek and well-to-do, for they were sumptuously +fed and boarded, and provided with three guineas a day for +pocket-money. Cockahoop was the jovial crew, for the band was too +compact and strong to fear Moiley now; though time was when one of the +number who was ill dared not take his medicine, lest haply he should +find his quietus in it. Those times were past. The people were cowed +and trampled. These men had, for a fee, sworn away the lives of their +brothers and then fathers. Moiley had over-eaten herself--was languid +through repletion. There was no room in her maw even for a strangled +informer. They were growing rich, budding into proprietors; some +screening their names under an alias from infamy some too callous to +feel any shame at all. Which of the rowdy knot was to do the work +to-day? Since the battalion had become so highly trained, Lord Clare's +ingenious invention with respect to the testimony of a single witness +was a dead letter. That the oath of one person should, at a pinch, +consign a man to the scrag-boy was a wholesome and judicious rule that +was likely to save much trouble. But when you have a whole pack of +hounds at your command, each one taught to yelp at a given signal, it +is pretty sport to watch their tricks. Besides, a pile of testimony, +more or less irrelevant and contradictory, has an improving effect +upon a jury. The Irish are eminently superstitious. These trials +sometimes lasted through the night. Men were apt to get frightened at +shadows on the wall, at the flickering candles with their guttering +winding-sheets. It was well to pile Pelion upon Ossa, to crush out any +stray drop of pity. A heap of evidence confused and dazed them. Many +crawled home after sentence was pronounced, fully persuaded that they +had only done their duty--that so many witnesses, each with his pat +story, must of a surety have spoken truth; that they had earned their +honest stipend without injuring their souls.</p> + +<p class="normal">Which of the rowdy knot--and how many--were to do the work to-day? +Cassidy--finely dressed in a grand coat of padusoy, with a posy in his +breast, and a new bobwig--was lolling on the counsellors' bench +cracking jests with Major Sirr, behind whom stood a bevy of admirers. +The presence of those two boded no good to either prisoner. The +town-major, indeed, had openly told Curran that if his defence was too +clever it would be the worse for him; to which the little man had +replied, with a finger-snap, 'In court a liar, in the street a bully, +in the gaol a fiend--you shall reap your reward, meejor! I don't care +<i>that</i> for you or your murderers by the Book!' and so had left him. He +was used to threats, and took no heed of them. They might as well have +hoped to drive the stars from heaven by violence as to frighten John +Curran into abandoning a client. And they were not mere clients +for whom he had been pleading, for whose sake he risked his life +during these trials. They were dear friends whom he loved, whom as +brother-patriots he honoured. Some, despite his impassioned oratory, +were slaughtered; others he saved. Ministers were secretly afraid of +that silver tongue; for his burning words were reported and +circulated, despite the efforts of the executive. All the world +respected Curran; his exhortations wormed themselves into men's minds, +and warmed into fruition there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Sessions-House in Green Street was filled with a strange company +that day, as people forced themselves in till it was crammed. There +was a buzz of expectation, which rose into a hubbub and fell again. +The dock remained empty, though the morning had passed to noon. The +heaviness in the air was sickening, by reason of the densely-packed +assembly and moist garments; for the sun was veiled, the weather +gloomy. A drizzling rain began to fall. Madam Gillin, in gaudy +attire--a sight to kill parrots with envy--elbowed a passage through +the mob, closely followed by old Jug, who, with her mistress, sat near +Doreen. What an odd condition of society was this of Dublin! The +prisoners who would stand at the bar presently were closely connected, +either by ties of blood or friendship, with advocates, judges, and +many more in the surrounding audience. It was quite a family-party.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran reflected that no judge could be more partial than Lord +Kilwarden; that some among the jury, with whom he was to intercede, +were his own cronies. Yet was he not happy about his case. Lord Clare, +for once, would have juggled in opposition to his usual principles; +but Lord Clare's hands were tied through his own act. Through his own +intervention the Viceroy had promised not to dip his finger in the +Staghouse caldron till the cooking was complete. If the Viceroy +declined to interfere, no one else could take the initiative. It was a +deadlock. A pebble or two, if authorities napped for a moment, might +have been inserted to make a wheel veer awry. How was it that the said +wheel insisted upon keeping its accustomed track, and that extra +celerity was even given to its motion? Some one unseen was pushing. +Who was it? If higher powers were debarred from inserting pebbles, +there was, unhappily, nothing to prevent interested inferiors from +exerting private pressure. Curran felt that Cassidy and Sirr were at +the bottom of this. What a cruel chance for Mr. Curran's client that +neither Viceroy nor Chancellor could interfere!</p> + +<p class="normal">How much longer was the delay to last? It was three o'clock. Sirr and +Cassidy had retired and returned refreshed. Curran sent out for +sandwiches, which he divided with the ladies. Old Jug somehow seemed +feverishly excited; nodding and mumbling to herself, moping and +mowing, muttering weird incantations, which were impressed on the air +with a gnarled finger. Mrs. Gillin ate her meat with a relish, in +spite of grief. There are some appetites which no trouble may +vanquish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was in a trance-like state. Her skin was mottled, her eyes a +dusky fire, surrounded by dark discs; a singular, unearthly smile +played about her lips. To please her friend the advocate, she strove +to eat, but her throat was contracted by spasms. She looked +appealingly to him, and Curran took the food away with a sigh.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toler came over to discuss matters with his adversary. All this was +woefully illegal; but what did that matter? It was a melancholy +comfort that a tattered remnant of the robe of Justice yet remained. +Maybe in time, with coaxing, the lady would come back to Ireland. Who +might tell what would happen next?</p> + +<p class="normal">'Will ye inform me, Toler,' Curran interrupted, 'who your witnesses +are? I'm quite in a muzz, I tell ye.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Toler clapped the little man upon the back, and roared with hoarse +laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">'That's the critical brook in the steeple-chase, mee boy!' he +chuckled. 'We rely on a surprise to confound the prisoners. But I'll +tell ye this, ould chap. Sirr, for some reason, is bent upon a +conviction. Nothing you can say will make a difference. So cut it +short, and let us out of this nasty hole. Be good-natured, and keep +your breath to cool your porridge.'</p> + +<p class="normal">So his suspicions were correct. Sirr was at the bottom of this, +impelled by revenge for those slashes on his calves; urged too, +probably, by Cassidy, who had made it up with the town-major. What +could they gain by surprising the prisoners? Truly, the mechanism of +the law was lamentably out of gear.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last there was a stamping without--a surge of feet--a murmur of +commiseration in the street. The judges, clad in crimson, took their +places. Lord Carleton, ponderous and overbearing; Lord Kilwarden, +nervous and subdued, with wrinkled brow and downcast visage--the one +determined to do his duty, the other to avoid it if he could. Shortly +afterwards a side-door opened. Terence and his henchman, Phil, were +thrust into the dock. Terence peered round with contracted pupils, +unable to distinguish friends from foes in the dim haze. He saw not +Doreen, though she was close below. She clasped her hands upon her +breast to still a rising sob when she marked how changed he was. Fever +had paled his ruddy cheek, shrunken his burly frame. It was not that +which shocked her, for that was to be expected. It was the uncanny +glitter, the reflection through open portals of a radiance belonging +to another world--the look she had last seen in Tone, the glimmer of +the grave--that it was which caused her heart to bound. He stood +erect, one hand resting on the rail, the other supported by a green +scarf about his neck. Even his gaoler had remonstrated as he dressed +that morning: 'Don't wear such things. Why prejudice the coort?' To +which he had answered, smiling: 'The cause is already judged. It +matters not what I wear; Erin will be green again when I rest under +her sod--all the greener for her recent soaking.'</p> + +<p class="normal">In striking contrast to his quiet dignity was the behaviour of his +faithful henchman. He walked crooked and stiff, by reason of the +whippings he had undergone. Jug Coyle scrutinised him with meaning +from beneath her penthouse brows, and seemed satisfied. The trim, +obliging, smiling Phil was transmuted into another and quite untidy +person. 'Twas not only pain that caused his steps to waver; there +could be no doubt about it--he was <i>drunk!</i></p> + +<p class="normal">Terence was woundily annoyed; a flush of anger overspread his face as +he placed his arm about his companion to check his stumbling, and gave +him a savage shaking. Phil drunk, at such a time, who used to be so +good and sober! He had not improved under the town-major's auspices. +This was no doubt one of the arch-devil's tricks to turn a solemn and +impressive scene into a subject for laughter and contempt. It was a +pity Phil was not more strong-minded. Had he disguised himself in +liquor to steal a march upon his fears? The poor fellow was ignorant +and underbred; fortitude was hardly to be expected from such as he. +The jury sitting opposite had their orders. Perhaps it was as well for +Phil that he could drown the knowledge of the present. On the morrow +it would all be over--blessed morrow! Both he and his master would +know by dawn the secret which oppresses all of us.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Major Sirr appeared as surprised as the rest of the watchful +audience, and was even heard to utter unseemly execrations. Who had +dared to give his pet victim drink? It was no part of his intention +that his troubles should be soothed. On the contrary, he had kept a +surprise in store which was meant to be wormwood to the hapless +creature.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a deal of whispering and wig-shaking, counsel for prosecution +plunged forthwith into the matter of the town-major's calves, and the +shocking behaviour of certain ruffians to an upright gintleman, with +the connivance of certain leedies, who should be nameless.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toler's inflamed visage glowered at Madam Gillin; but she tossed her +head and tittered. She dreaded not free-quarters, or the visits of +virago soldiers' wives, now that Lord Glandore was back to protect +Norah. Toler might bray any fiddlefaddle that he chose. Sure my Lord +Carleton, up there in the fine robes, had been mighty glad, once on a +time, to spend his evenings at her cosy house. So counsel, discovering +that he made no impression on her (she had always abstained from +inviting him, which made him spiteful), droned on about his client's +wrongs--for he had but done his duty in capturing such notorious +rebels--his excellent qualities and virtues, the services he had done +the state, the wicked wounds upon his calves. Was the law, which all +respected so much, to leave a faithful servant without protection? And +so on and so forth, in a tangle of verbosity, for an hour and more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Irritated possibly by his husky voice, Phil's conduct grew more and +more outrageous, drawing on him marks of indignant disapprobation from +my Lord Carleton, a look of pained bewilderment from Lord Kilwarden. +'Was ever anything so indecent?' clamoured the members of the +battalion, in loud whispers. 'Face to face with conviction, too! He +had put himself beyond the pale of mercy. The brute ought to be +scragged untried. He reeked of whisky, the besotted pig!' The odour of +it, they vowed, reached their shocked nostrils across the court. In +truth, he did comport himself after an intoxicated fashion. It was as +much as his master could do to keep him in tolerable order. His legs +were in constant motion. He sang and talked in a low tone, +occasionally breaking into convulsive fits of laughter; grimacing and +nodding his head to the witnesses, as one by one they sat on the table +and swore away his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the case proceeded--crushingly against the prisoners, who were +proved beyond a doubt to have taken and administered the oath, to have +worn green orders, and otherwise misbehaved themselves--his mood +altered. He was getting over the madness of his drink. That was a +mercy. Soon he would drop into a maudlin sleep, and his master might, +unheedful of the monotonous and confused proceedings, take refuge from +this mockery within himself until the verdict came. How dreary and how +long was all this useless evidence! The case looked as if it would +last for ever. What an array of witnesses--and what lies they told! At +this rate it would be morning before the judges pronounced sentence. +Already it was dark. Candles flared in rough iron sockets. The red +judges loomed like lurid phantoms; the jury were haggard in the +flickering smoke. Mr. Curran leaned back in his seat exhausted, his +neck supported on his clasped hands--resolved to husband his strength +for a great effort by-and-by.</p> + +<p class="normal">Drunken, disgraceful Phil became quiet. Old Jug, whose keen vision +naught escaped, suggested to an usher to let him have a chair. He sank +into the seat, his chin buried in his breast. His face was blue (was +it the effect of light?), his pupils dilated, his breathing +stertorous. The air was sickeningly close. Sweat stood in drops upon +his forehead. Could he be fainting? No. He rallied, and commenced +muttering again.</p> + +<p class="normal">The hours went by, and yet the farce continued. No jot of the informal +formalities was omitted. Those who had resolved to hang the prisoners +were evidently determined that there should be no lack of +justification for it. Half the battalion had told their story. Curran +listened, and said nothing (what was the use of cross-examining these +men?) till he saw the big figure of Lieutenant Hepenstall advance. +Then, turning to the judges, he grunted:</p> + +<p class="normal">'They're not content with witnesses, my lords; they've brought in the +Walking Gallows, to work them off at once! Sure, isn't it convanient +and obleeging?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Time moved on steadily. Terence was as upright and motionless as a +statue. He had learned by this time who was sitting near. A small +brown hand had fluttered into his, to tell by occult pressure its own +sweet tale. Doreen was as still as he.</p> + +<p class="normal">Drunken Phil tore open his shirt, gasping. How dense the air was! It +was cruel to drag out the proceedings thus. His head was heavy--he +could not hold it up; so, resting his fingers on the dock-rail, he +laid his wet face on them. By degrees he sank into a snoring slumber, +his limbs twitching now and then with a tremulous convulsion. The +visage of old Jug was illumined with a mysterious satisfaction. Not +one of his movements escaped her keen observation; she drank in every +shiver. Presently she plucked her mistress by the robe, and, like a +wild woman, whispered something in her ear. Madam Gillin, who, +overpowered by heat, had been dozing, woke with a cry, and turned her +affrighted gaze from Phil to her nurse and back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it thrue, Jug--is it, by the Holy Mother?' she asked, in an awed +whisper.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Thrue 'tis, by mee sowl!' returned the other. 'He is a farrier, isn't +he? And Crummell's curse is on the likes of him, isn't it? He begged +the ould collough for a root, and she gave it; and, by St. Patrick, +'twas well done!'</p> + +<p class="normal">In deep agitation Mrs. Gillin motioned Curran to her side. She saw it +all. It was by her own order that Jug had visited the farrier. +Farriers and colloughs are national foes. Phil--faithful fellow!--had +begged the collough to exercise her skill in herbs on him. He could +bear hanging--had thus far endured the lash. But torture may be pushed +beyond our power of bearing. Rather than run a risk of betraying the +master whom he worshipped, he had taken poison, and was dying.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran's genius embraced at once the new element in the situation. It +struck him instantly that by this sacrifice the poor fellow might +perhaps unwittingly have saved his master. When did he take the +poison? How long would it be before its work would be accomplished? If +he were to fall dead--there--in the dock, before the court assembled, +under the eye of the public, it would create such a sensation that the +trial would be perforce adjourned. The harrowing details of the +suicide would then be spread abroad; they would do much to bring the +vile cruelties of the yeomanry home in all their loathsomeness to the +British mind, which was so culpably indifferent as to what happened in +this colony. There would be a revulsion--an energetic protest. In the +confusion Terence might be saved! Poor faithful Phil! He knew not the +extent of the service that he rendered. His life would not be +sacrificed in vain!</p> + +<p class="normal">'How much longer will the poison take to work?' Curran whispered in +Jug's ear. 'What was it?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Sure, it was a tiny root of water-drop wort. Like an illigant +parsnip, faith! How much longer? An hour perhaps--maybe two--certainly +not more than three.'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was eleven at night. Toler had two more witnesses to call, he said. +If cross-examined they might be made to detain the court for an hour +or so. After that the silver tongue must move to good purpose--must +toy with argument and rhetoric till the doomed man dropped.</p> + +<p class="normal">The virtuous ire of the town-major was kindled.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The drunken brute is asleep!' he called out. 'What an insult to the +court! Sure, he'll have a long sleep enough when Moiley eats him. Wake +him up!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Major Sirr was particularly anxious that he should be aware who the +next witness was. By dint of shaking, the ushers roused the prisoner +from lethargy. With brows painfully knitted he tried to raise his +leaden lids, beheld with dilated pupils a blurred vision on the table; +sank again without recognition into unconsciousness. Jug too +beheld--and gave a low growl.</p> + +<p class="normal">The new witness was Croppy Biddy; she of the russet locks, who since +the burning of the 'Irish Slave' had given herself up to drink and to +debauchery--who was become one of the shining Staghouse lights--one of +the pet agents of an honourable executive--the Joan of Arc of the +Battalion of Testimony. She was dressed like a lady, in a costly +beaver with ostrich plume, and a laced riding-dress--the same as she +was wont to wear when galloping at the head of a troop of dragoons in +search of food for Moiley. No longer a slattern serving-wench in a low +shebeen, but a paid and honoured favourite of Government; a lying, +drunken, brazen hyæna. This was an admirable joke of Major Sirr's. +What a pity it was that it should miscarry! What humour could be more +sly and delicate than to clinch a man's fate by the false witness of +her whom he had elected to love? Yet, thanks to some officious idiot +or other, the bit of fun was spoiled. Biddy was there--saucy, pert, +shameless, ready to go any lengths; but her lover was asleep, with his +chin upon his breast. The surprise missed fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">As it turned out, though, the joke was just the least bit too racy. +The loud giggling laugh, the palpable untruths flung carelessly about +by Biddy, shocked and disgusted the entire audience. Lord Kilwarden +turned red, and bowed his face over his papers; even Lord Carleton +coughed; and there was an angry murmur from the public who packed the +floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran, no longer listless and dejected--for hope had revived +again--turned the wretched woman round his finger; ensnared her with +soft suggestions; led her floundering along from perjury to perjury, +turned her inside out; then with a sarcastic bow to Toler, +congratulated him upon his witness. By skilful fence half an hour was +gained. Counsel for prosecution glared at Sirr. Was this the way to +train up witnesses? Biddy was hustled off the table, for her training +was lamentably incomplete. There was one more yet to come. It was to +be hoped he would do away with the bad impression she had left.</p> + +<p class="normal">This time it was Doreen's turn to utter a stifled cry, while her +fingers clasped more closely those of Terence. Had that wretch no +compunction? Had he no mercy--this villain who had wriggled himself by +specious arts into the confidence of honest men--this snake in +the grass--this bravo who, smilingly looking in your face, could +coldly choose the most fitting moment for stabbing you? It was +Cassidy--actually Cassidy, who before her, before Lord Kilwarden, +before Curran, could get upon the table to swear away the life of him +whom he had called friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even the little advocate, whose faith in the innate goodness of human +nature was not strong, was staggered.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I've heard of assassination by sword and dagger,' he muttered; 'but +here is a ruffian who would dip the Evangelists in blood!' The giant +took the Testament and kissed it.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Why make him swear at all?' scoffed Mr. Curran. 'Why let a +murderer's touch pollute the purity of the Gospel? Well! if you will +go through the mockery, let it be, I pray you, on the symbol of his +profession--the knife.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy scowled down on the sturdy scoffer, and looked round at his +comrades with an air of reproachful innocence, which was speedily +answered by a burst of menace and a clash of arms from the yeomanry +behind, accompanied by threatening looks and gestures. Mr. Curran, +drawing himself up to the full of his small stature, fixed his eyes +sternly on them, and exclaimed in a loud voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">'You may assassinate me, gentlemen, but you shall never intimidate +me!'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a scandal. Things were going ill. Lord Carleton came to the +rescue.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Beware, Mr. Curran,' he said, 'lest you forfeit your gown. A little +more of such unseemly language and I shall commit you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then we shall both have the consolation, my lord,' Curran retorted, +with a bow, 'of reflecting that I'm not the worst thing you have +committed.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Carleton looked up with wonder at the skylight. What was the +world coming to? He glanced at Lord Kilwarden, who leaned on his +elbow, taking no share in the business, his eyes shaded with his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Counsel for prosecution played skilfully on his witness--an admirable +witness, who merely answered questions, instead of blurting forth rash +and inconvenient statements. Mr. Curran cross-examined him as +cleverly, but with little effect. He could elicit nothing new or +special. People were accustomed to find themselves handed over to the +scrag-boy by their most intimate friends. Mr. Curran, indeed, was +tedious to lay such stress on the point. The jury shuffled on their +seats. Lord Carleton yawned. New candles were placed in the sockets by +attentive ushers. At this rate it would certainly be morning before +the affair was settled.</p> + +<p class="normal">Very monotonous and very dreary! A rat-tat of subdued voices in +question and reply. The paled candles dim and wan through a mist of +collected breath--a stifling, noisome atmosphere of clammy heat which +made the temples of all to throb, the ears to sing. Though the case +was one of palpitating interest, men's strength gave way, women felt +ill and dizzy. Lord Carleton, to keep his wits clear, inhaled the +fumes from a sponge dipped in vinegar. Mrs. Gillin sniffed at the rue +upon the dock-rail.</p> + +<p class="normal">Still Terence stood erect and pallid--motionless. Still Phil's +respiration laboured with stertorous snores. His teeth chattered at +intervals, as if from cold; his fingers twitched, his knees trembled. +Was it the effect of light? his eyes seemed protruding from their +sockets. But there were no signs of the end yet.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was past midnight when he of the silver tongue arose for the +defence, and people roused themselves to listen, for they were +accustomed to expect from him rapid electrical transitions from +passion to passion, from the deepest emotions which agitate the soul +to the liveliest combinations of sportive imagery; whimsical +metaphors, such as at one moment seemed culled from the dunghill, at +the next to be snatched from heaven. He implored the jury to consider +the reputation of the witnesses who had striven to wreck these men. He +entreated them to consider what objects save the highest and most pure +could have induced a noble to desert his ease and risk his neck for +Erin.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do you dare,' he cried, in crystal accents which rang with startling +clearness along the cobwebbed rafters, 'in a case of life and death, +of honour and of infamy, to credit a vile informer--the perjurer of a +hundred oaths--a beast whom pride, or honour, or religion cannot bind? +He dresses like a gentleman--the tones of his soft voice savour of +growing authority. He measures his value by the coffins of his +victims, and, in the field of evidence, appreciates his fame as an +Indian savage does in fight by the number of scalps with which he can +swell his triumphs!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The advocate laid stress upon the awful responsibilities of a jury; +striving to wring their consciences, though he knew that each man +among them had received his wage. He knew that nothing he could say +would make them waver. Yet now he had a new courage and a new hope +that distilled jewels from his lips, which almost caused the degraded +jurymen to blench. From time to time as his eloquent periods rolled +out in majestic waves, he turned an anxious eye upon the farrier whom +Jug sat watching with the gaze of a lynx, How she had botched the job! +How long the soul wrestled ere it could burst its bonds!</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, to the amazement of Toler, he lost his temper with the jury, and +told them unpleasant truths, rating them soundly for their sins. His +opponent thought he must be mad to rage where it was so evidently his +interest to conciliate. But Madam Gillin listened and nodded approval; +for she knew that it was only a matter of gaining time, and that as +there was to be no verdict there was no use in blarneying the jurors. +With what eloquence he talked! His words seemed to flicker in +sunlight--a kaleidoscope of gems, some rough, some polished, strung +loosely on a cord.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Life can present no situation,' the orator said, 'wherein the human +power of man can be so divinely exerted as yours should be now; and if +any labours can peculiarly attract the approving eye of Heaven, it is +when God looks down on a human being assailed by human turpitude; +struggling with practices against which the Deity placed His special +canon, when He said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy +neighbour; thou shalt not kill!" We embrace the principles of the +British constitution; and when I look on you, the proudest benefit of +that constitution, I am relieved from the fears of advocacy, since I +place my clients under the influence of its sacred shade. This is not +the idle sycophancy of words. It is not crying, "Lord! Lord!" but +doing "the will of my Father who is in heaven!" If my clients had been +arraigned before a jury of Cornhill shopkeepers, they would ere now be +in their lodgings. The law of England suffers no man to be openly +butchered in a court of justice. The law of England recognises the +innate blackness of the human heart--the possibility of villains +thirsting for the blood of their fellow-creatures; and the people of +Ireland have but too good cause to be acquainted with that thirst. At +the awful foot of Eternal Justice I call on you to acquit these men. +Their characters have been given. Nothing could be more pure. In the +name of Justice I implore you to interpose, while there is time, +between the wanton perjurer and his ensanguined feast; that in the +next life your reward may be more lasting than the perishable crown +which the ancients gave to those who saved a fellow-citizen in battle. +Your own turns may come, for the informer has bowels for himself +alone! If it should be the fate of any of you to count the moments of +captivity, in sorrow and in pain, pining in a dungeon's damps, may you +find refuge in the recollection of the example you this day set to +those who may be called to pass judgment on your lives! Recollect too +that there is another, more awful tribunal than any upon earth, which +we must all some day approach, before which the best of us will have +occasion to look back to what little good he has done this side the +grave. I do pray that Eternal Justice may record the deed you are +about to do, and give to you the full benefit of your claims to an +undying reward, a requital in mercy upon your souls!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The growing fog, the deep silence, the midnight hour, the flickering +candles, enhanced the effect of Mr. Curran's words, which were spoken +with a rapt solemnity that sent a thrill of awe through his +impressionable audience. The vision of a wrathful angel with a fiery +sword rose before their excited imagination--of an avenging God who +knew that they, the jury, were bought. Women rocked themselves and +wrung their hands, and stuffed ends of shawls into their mouths to +check their wailing. The jurymen hovered 'twixt greed and fear. The +advocate paused for an instant, to wipe his brow, and to allow his +sentences to sink into their minds.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a hum of muffled talk, of groans and lamentation, before +which the moaning in the court was hushed. It came from the dock. Phil +was awake and sensible; had risen on his tottering feet, was swaying +from side to side as he clung to his young master. Terence saw now +that he had wronged his henchman, who was not drunk, but ill. His +features were livid, his lips blue, so was his swollen tongue; his +teeth rattled as in ague; his eyes saw nothing, though they stared +painfully; a steam ascended from his hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Master Terence!' Phil gasped, with thick effort, 'I could not help +your being taken--though it was--it was my fault. They pushed the +heap--of rope--off of my head. They shall get ne'er a word out +of me--ne'er a one--though they flay me to the bone. Master +Terence--master--will ye forgive----'</p> + +<p class="normal">Phil staggered and slid from the grasp of his fellow prisoner to the +floor, and lay there on his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">'One of your victims appears to be insensible,' Mr. Curran remarked +shortly.</p> + +<p class="normal">''Deed it seems so,' acquiesced Lord Carleton, peering through his +glasses. 'A very indecent exhibition. Does there chance to be e'er a +doctor in the coort?'</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the jurymen was an apothecary. He left the box and turned the +prostrate figure over.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Can ye speak with assurance of the man's state?' demanded the judge.</p> + +<p class="normal">'He is near his end, my lord,' answered the juryman.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is he now--are ye sure?' What with the heat, and what with the +untoward incident, my Lord Carleton was puzzled. No help could he get +from Lord Kilwarden, who leaned with his elbow on the desk and his +eyes shaded by his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Open the windy!' puffed the judge. 'For the Lord's sake let's have a +little air; maybe he's only sick. Can ye rouse him to hear his +judgment?'</p> + +<p class="normal">The apothecary laid a palm upon his patient's heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I cannot, my lord,' he replied. 'The man is dead!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Already powerfully impressed by the surroundings and the lawyer's +warning, the people could endure no more. A panic seized them. They +rushed to the doors as though stifled by some fell miasma, and battled +to get out. The women screamed that they were being trodden under +foot; the men rained frantic blows upon the doors, tearing clothes and +fingers as they dragged them down. It was a scene of unreasoning +frenzy, such as none who were involved in it might ever forget. The +angel with the fiery sword was there; though invisible, his presence +could be felt. Lord Carleton ordered the remaining prisoner's removal. +Doreen's robe gleamed white in the first tinge of morning as, standing +by his side, she wound her arms about his neck. By-and-by Curran +gently disentangled them, and led her to her father, whilst dragoons +formed round the patriot, and cleared a passage for him through the +mob.</p> + +<p class="normal">'More men to secure him in Kilmainham--there'll be a rescue!' bawled +Cassidy, who was driven to overmastering wrath by the posture of Miss +Wolfe, under his very nose.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Fear nothing,' Terence replied; 'I will go quietly.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Kilwarden and Curran bore the maiden to a coach, and carried her +back to Strogue. Both were so filled with thankfulness for this +reprieve that they shook hands again and again, while Miss Wolfe lay +speechless in the carriage-corner. Her nerves had been strung to +extreme tension for the worst. Sudden joy is more hard to bear than +sorrow. The finely tempered steel which had withstood so many +assaults, gave way under the last shock. She remained long oblivious +of the world's affairs, tenderly nursed by Sara, who wondered, as day +followed day, whether her reason would ever return from the far-off +groves in which it wandered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">APRÈS LA MORT, LE MÉDECIN.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor was glad and sorry. Glad in that the son of his old +friend should be reprieved, whereby (as he supposed) her great trouble +would be lightened; sorry that so singular a scandal should have +attended this trial--a scandal which would not make the completion of +his task the easier. But the ball was so near its goal--it had +gathered such velocity in transit--that it would take a very grave +obstacle at this stage seriously to impede its course. So the +chancellor gave up being sorry, and was altogether glad that the trial +had ended as it did. He reflected, however, that something would have +to be done to entice the public mind away from gyves and bolts, and +prepare it for the beginning of millennium. The <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> +of that particular date happened to contain an account of a sojourn of +the royal family at Weymouth, with minute details of how the Princess +Amelia did tambour-work, while his Majesty, with his own august hands, +was deigning to fry sprats for supper. Lord Clare saw his way to a +delicate bit of flattery. He had the arcadian tale printed off and +posted on the walls of Dublin, that loyal minds might be edified and +touched by the simple manners of their sovereign; but (as was become +usual) the chancellor was thwarted by the Viceroy, who said the whole +thing was fudge, and ordered the placards to be pulled down. The Privy +Council censured Lord Kilwarden for his pusillanimous behaviour at the +trial, alleging that it was a pity to see a man high in office who +showed so little resource in an emergency; but at the same time they +decided <i>nem. con</i>. that there must be no more state-trials. The story +of Phil's dramatic end would certainly be reported in London, with +additions, and my Lord Moira would be sure to make the most of it. Mr. +Pitt would certainly be angry at the <i>contretemps</i>. From first to last +it was a miserable business which could not, unfortunately, be hushed +up. In spite of the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge searching questions would be +asked. Mr. Pitt must somehow be placed in a position to state that +suffering Erin had gone through her operation and was comfortably +bedridden for the remainder of her days. To this end the members of +the Irish senate must be brought back from the state of siege in +ancestral castles, which they were pleased to call 'villegiatura,' +without delay; by threats, and bribes, and promises they must be +induced to haggle no more over their mess of pottage. Ireland must +seem to retire from the world with a good grace, and be tucked snugly +up between the sheets for evermore. Lord Clare was satisfied that the +decisive moment had arrived, for the country was quiet enough now for +the question of union to be freely ventilated. It was delightfully +quiet--with the silence of the tomb. The lords, he was convinced, were +ready for anything, provided they were well paid. When they were +assured that patriotism and interest were directly antagonistic, the +former was certain to come off second best. Lord Clare informed the +Viceroy that the proposition might be put at once and carried, if only +His Excellency would be a little civil to the senate.</p> + +<p class="normal">But His Excellency hated tortuous groping; he abhorred the Irish +peers; begged that he might not be asked even to sniff the noisome +broth. When he came over he attached to his person a young Irishman of +parts, who was not squeamish. The chancellor had also shown that +he was not squeamish. These two Irishmen--my Lords Clare and +Castlereagh--must do all the broth-stirring; the sooner the brew was +ready, the sooner they would receive their wages--the sooner would he, +the Viceroy, be enabled to leave the wretched country and go home. +Once the union carried, every one would be delighted--except the +Irish; and even they, in due time, would come to be glad also. Lord +Clare's eye kindled with satisfaction. He beheld the possibility, if +this captious Viceroy would only depart, of himself returning to his +former position. He saw himself again the awful statesman, before whom +courtiers should salaam, as they used to do; he saw his ambitious +vision (obscured for an instant) realised at last. There were only a +few more yards of mud to wallow through before reaching <i>terra firma</i>, +and then he would take a bath and, by dint of scrubbing, appear no +more dirty than his fellows. So he made up his mind, as Lord +Cornwallis declined to help, to manage the caldron in conjunction with +Lord Castlereagh, and the pair were quite engrossed by the phases of +their hellish cookery.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was one matter that was hemmed round with grievous difficulties, +which had not yet been settled, and which troubled every member of the +Privy Council not a little. What was to be done with those leaders of +the United Irishmen who were still awaiting trial at Kilmainham? What +was to be done with Tom Emmett, Russell, Neilson--what with the +arch-traitor Terence Crosbie? It was evident that a repetition of the +fiasco of the other day must on no account be risked; they must not be +tried. Neither must they remain at Kilmainham, for it was probable +that they had relations with the outer world, that they were plotting +still, and might possibly give more trouble by-and-by by organising a +new Directory. There was no object now in allowing them to plot. On +the contrary, once the union carried, it was essential that Ireland +should be at peace. Lord Clare knew perfectly well, while he prated +about peace, that he had wilfully hailed the silence of a cowed nation +as a restoration of contented tranquillity. He knew very well that if +the English army and the soldier Viceroy were removed, and the leaders +permitted to scheme on, the country would be in as much danger as +ever; that, union or no union, millennium could not supervene until +time should blot away the nefarious means employed. What could be done +with these dangerous conspirators? They could not be tried and +executed; they could not be released, or kept in Ireland, or shipped +to America. As white elephants, they daily became more cumbersome; it +was a pity that gaol-fever would not take them off. But they were +provokingly well, in spite of privation and suffering. Their wings +must be cut somehow. Couriers posted to and fro between London and +Holyhead, bearing despatches on this difficult point. While Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were making final preparations for the union, +Lord Cornwallis was striving to devise a plan which should not be too +glaring an example of broken faith. He implored. He begged. He +threatened. Good King George was as tractable as usual. The odious +villains were either Papists, or Protestant defenders of Papists, +which was worse. The apostasy of these Protestants was more grievous +than the sin of Popery itself. They should receive no mercy. No +compact with such rascals could be binding. He would not have them +banished across seas, where they might achieve some measure of +happiness. They must be kept in duress as scarecrows--an awful warning +to other ruffians. There was no moving him. At last ministers gave +way, and it being decided that the white elephants should be shipped +to Scotland, commissioners were appointed to select a suitably +unpleasant spot where they might languish without danger to the +community.</p> + +<p class="normal">There is a fortress on the extremity of a tongue of land which juts +into the Moray Firth, the country round about which is destitute of +houses or of trees--a dreary, forsaken desert devoid of vegetation. +The very place! The obdurate ruffians should be transported to Fort +George, as soon as it could be made strong enough to keep them safe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the Viceroy was guilty of an act of politic clemency which +would have put the King in a bad temper if he had known of it. He +determined that, as several months must elapse before the fortress +would be ready, it would be well to permit the arch-villain Terence to +go home--on parole--provided he would give his word to plot no more. +The circumstances of his reprieve were producing a profound impression +in society. The romantic devotion of the servant--the imminent danger +of the master--were so dramatic, that high-born dames regretted their +absence from the moving spectacle. They professed to be vastly +interested in a young man who could call forth such a proof of +affection from another, and vowed that it was a shame he should be +sacrificed. Sure, Moiley ought to be content with a nice hecatomb +selected from the lower classes. Lord Cornwallis perceived that here +was a good opportunity of paying the nobles a compliment. They were so +important a factor in the matter of the union, that it was well to +conciliate them as a body; and what better way was there of doing so +than by treating one of their order with indulgence? He therefore +intimated to Lord Clare that he was inclined to do what he might to +please him--that he saw the mistake he had made in allowing Lord +Glandore's brother to be tried--that he, Lord Clare, might, if he +wished it, inform the dowager countess of a special favour that was in +store for one of her known loyalty--namely, that she might expect to +have the custody of her erring child until the time of his vanishing +from Ireland.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare was charmed, and hurried to Strogue with the good news. My +lady was a riddle, whose behaviour was always different from what +might be expected. He knew that Terence's danger had placed her on a +gridiron where she was consuming slowly, and naturally concluded that +her joy at his reprieve would culminate when she was told that she +might keep him near her for a while. This extraordinary young man, for +whom a servant would sacrifice his life, must needs be tenderly +beloved by the mother to whom he owed his birth. If she was in +raptures she had a queer method of displaying her feelings. Her cheek +turned a shade more pale than usual. Bowing her head as under a new +blow, she murmured, 'It is well.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Though he knew and esteemed the countess, Lord Clare's acquaintance +with my lady was not so intimate as ours. He had not seen her at +Glas-aitch-é, when every chair and table was babbling of what had +happened there. He did not look on her when with a spasm of +self-reproach she discovered that the undoing of her second son would +not be so heartrending as it ought to be. He did not know that in face +of Terence's doom she was torn by two distinctly opposite emotions; +that while his fate crushed her as a judgment for past sin, it also +brought a sense of relief. He was not aware that with his death a +burthen of long-endured apprehension would have been lightened, +whereby her tortured soul might attain a semblance of rest at last.</p> + +<p class="normal">We soon make up our minds to the inevitable. My lady had made up her +mind that Terence was to die. Her pangs of conscience were bitter, but +the dreadful thing was settled; no influence of hers could affect the +youth's fate now, whatever it might have done in the past. So low was +she fallen that she found some poor relief in that. But this new, +unexpected freak of Fortune brought all the bitterness of her trouble +back again; and with a sigh she roused her distempered faculties from +lethargy and bestirred herself--for the dreary battle was, as it +seemed, not over yet. The implacable phantom kept whispering in her +ear that it was not too late even now to set right the wrong; that +there still was time if she would force those stubborn knees to bend +and abase her pride.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady loathed herself for the thoughts which held possession of her +mind. When the chancellor brought his news, she concealed the sudden +turbulence within. Strangely enough, the mother's sympathies, even at +that moment, were not for Terence--the son who had escaped the +halter--but for Shane; and a great fear for him leaped up in her +heart, to the crushing out of natural feeling. Terence was snatched +from the grave as by a miracle. A foreboding took strong hold of my +lady's mind that this was for a purpose--that Heaven, not satisfied +with the penance of a lifetime, was determined that she should blab +out to the world the secret which, lying on her bosom, had seared her +life. Oh! why did she not accept her punishment all those years ago, +when the task would not have been so hard? The earth had been no +pleasant place of sojourn to my lady. When she thought of all she had +borne since the old lord's death--of the utter futility of the +penance--she became rebellious, and gnashed her teeth at the simpering +portrait of him who had got off so easily. She rebelled against the +iron sternness of Heaven. She was to bend her proud knees, was +she--and confess? Her whitened hair and ashen cheeks were not to be +taken into account? Very well, then. She defied Heaven; religion was a +delusion and a snare; the Lord of Heaven unduly just. Tossing her +favourite tracts into the fire, she swore she would not be driven to +speak, though the ruin of her soul should be the penalty. At the time +when it was decided that Terence was to die, she spent the long hours +in reverie over the past--in poignant regret that he should have to be +thus sacrificed. She reflected that if she had spoken all those years +ago he would never have joined the popular side--would never have +risked his neck--of that she felt assured; and so she felt in some +sort as though she had herself handed him over to the scrag-boy. It +was an awful thought, and it had weighed down her intellect. But now +came a revulsion. It was not to be so. He was to live as a reproach. +Heaven was hounding her down, so she stood at bay. If Heaven had +accepted the penance of a life without requiring that the original +transgression should be cancelled by confessing it she would gladly +have borne the penance to the end of a long weary existence. But that +the penance should not be accepted in any way as an equivalent, was +maddening to her sense of justice. She bestirred herself; sat no +longer dreaming the days away. The household whispered that my lady +was herself again, that the joy of her son's reprieve was accountable +for the happy change. All thought this save Gillin, who knew her +secret. That excellent person scratched her untidy head with a comb +and pondered. What did the wicked old woman mean to do? There was more +mischief brewing--of that she felt quite sure. Well, Terence was saved +from the gallows by direct interposition from above. He was not +intended to be made a sacrifice, any more than Isaac was when his +father's faith was tried. A few months remained to him before he was +to be taken to his Scottish prison. If my lady should allow him to go +there, without making an effort to prevent it--why then she, Madam +Gillin, would open her mouth and speak. Her lips had been closed +over-long. Had she not sworn an oath beside that deathbed? It would +become her bounden duty to interfere, if the countess lacked courage +so to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was touching that in moments of severest trial my lady should +always have been engrossed by the interests of her black sheep. She +always thought of Shane rather than of herself; and he gave her little +satisfaction in return for this great love. Never very white, he was +daily growing darker. One evil thought engenders another; one evil +deed makes a second necessary: we were all taught that in earliest +infancy, and Shane's condition was in accordance with the rule. His +prowess in the past as King of Cherokees had brought him little blame +in public estimation, for the Glandores had been fire-eaters time out +of mind, and the Irish love a spark with mettle in him. But his +conduct since he departed for Glas-aitch-é was on many sides +disapproved as shady. The Viceroy openly showed his mean opinion of +him. His tenants had protested by injuring his cattle and destroying +his crops. He was proud, was Shane, as well as naturally reckless, and +was fond of notoriety. He resented the Viceroy's treatment, and was +furious with the tenants; and became more wrathful still with Terence, +to whose ill-advised conduct he imputed his own growing unpopularity. +What was the use of having mixed himself up in the odium of Tone's +capture if his brother was to cut the ground from under his feet? It +was but too probable that he might whistle both for an English peerage +and comforting bits in the way of sinecures; and all because of +Terence. Was it not enough to provoke a saint--much more an Irish +earl, who considered himself a pauper? Lord Cornwallis was unkind and +rude. My Lord Glandore complained of his uncivil treatment to Lord +Clare. The chancellor, with an eye to business, soothed his +<i>amour-propre</i>, and roundly told the Viceroy in private that he must +constrain himself to be civil to the peers. Then he broke ground to +Shane with reference to the union, explaining that he might put +himself quite right if he would work with the executive in this +matter. He must promise his vote in the House of Lords and all his +influence in the Commons, and then his gracious Majesty would +doubtless give substantial proofs of his approval. Shane promised that +he would follow this worldly-wise advice. As my Lord Clare so cogently +observed, the union was arranged--was to all intents and purposes a +<i>fait accompli</i>. Lord Glandore's influence could not prevent the end, +even if that peer should elect to be disinterested. What a lack of +common prudence would he show then, if for a crotchet he should bar +himself out of Tom Tiddler's ground! His brother's ruin showed the +result of crotchets. There would be fine pickings. The Chancellor gave +his word as to that, adding at the same time that the man is a fool +who strains at gnats. Shane therefore was as easily talked over as +many another of his order. Lord Clare was quite certain about the +success of his project, but thought that it would perhaps be well to +sound my lady in order that she might not through inadvertence undo +his work.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, as we know, she had lived the life of a recluse, looking at +political events, in most cases, through the chancellor's spectacles, +half-awakened now and then by the diatribes of Mr. Curran. But she +thought his web was a wicked piece of work when now he displayed its +woof to her; and objected strongly to his design of mixing her +firstborn in his scheming. It was grievous to her that the dear dark +wool of the dusky sheep should be further blackened. My lady got rid +of her importunate old friend by saying she would speak to Shane as to +the using of his influence; and, left alone, sat wondering what she +ought to do. It was a bitter thing to think of the proud name being +held up to obloquy. Yet there were reasons why valuable titbits must +not be refused idly by the idol of her heart. If only that old +abortive project could be carried out! If only Shane was safely +married to his cousin! Was it too late to make another effort? My lady +perceived dimly that Shane was repelled by the damsel--and no wonder. +The passions of this earth seemed gone, burnt away, consumed, by the +action on her mind of past events. Doreen sat on a heap of ashes, +enclosed in a rarified atmosphere of her own. But, for all that, +another trial must be made; matters were becoming desperate; my lady +began to fear that she was not strong enough to fight against Heaven. +She would see Shane, and speak very seriously to him forthwith.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was no easy matter now to get hold of Shane. Since his return to +Dublin he had plunged deeper and deeper into excess--partly from +having been mewed up so long, partly to drown the voice of the inner +monitor, partly because of the forbidding chilliness of his own +fireside and the presence there of his gloomy brother. The Blasters, +who during the reign of terror had been busy with the triangles; the +Cherokees, who had been dispersed about the country with their +regiments, returned now to the capital, to sit for the last time in +the Irish Parliament, by order of the chancellor; and glorious were +the nights they passed together whilst awaiting the decisive moment. +The hounds of Strogue were brought again into requisition. My lord and +his boon companions amused themselves with cub-hunting--careering with +wild shrieks across the land--past cabins, the shoulders of whose +occupants were disfigured with livid weals--past huts whose inmates +cursed the cavalcade as it swept by. They rode all day. They drank and +fought all night. My lady had to bide her time in order to lay hands +upon her son. Verily, it seemed little probable that his infatuated +lordship could be induced, even by her entreaties, to pull up in full +career for the sake of wooing the cousin who frightened him!</p> + +<p class="normal">As though in furtherance of the unrelenting measures of Heaven, both +sons were received now as guests at the Little House, and equally +insulted their parent by making no secret of going there. The scraping +of their feet was visible on the wall which divided the two +properties. My lady could not but admit that Fate took pleasure in +deliberately thwarting her arrangements. Why, when so many Catholics +came to ruin in the Hurry, was this horrible woman allowed to escape +scot-free? After she had been caught in the act, too, of harbouring +traitors! Was it that through her (the only one on earth who had power +to do so) the secret she kept so hungrily should be blabbed forth upon +the housetops? Sure, a mark of Fate's finger could be detected here. +But my lady was all the more determined to be obstinate. She would go +on scheming, and wrestle with all her puny strength, shaking her +broken spear-haft till finally put out of misery. If Fate was resolved +to kill her, she would die hard, fighting to the very last.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence, being free--on parole--moped about the Abbey, never moving +beyond its boundaries, save when he went to the Little House to +converse with its kind hostess. His life was finished, although he was +not destined to wing away at present. The reprieve brought to him no +rapture, much as his heart was touched by the devotion of poor Phil. +He was like one who has passed through the anguish of drowning; who +has subsided into the ecstatic state, made beautiful by coloured +lights, which precedes dissolution. Like those who have been at this +point plucked from the waters, he returned with reluctance to the +world, conscious only of its pain and trouble. After the first short +shock of astonishment, which set his head reeling, he experienced +nothing but unalloyed regret, although the mere fact of life is +intoxicating to the young. His peace was made with his Maker. He had +been privileged to look through the Golden Gate, only to be thrust +cruelly back again into the darkness of this world. Had he but +followed Theobald's example, all would have been over now--he would be +walking with his brother patriots in Paradise. He was satisfied that +his life would be of no further use. He saw little of his mother--as +little as possible, indeed, for on his arrival from Kilmainham she had +tendered a frigid hand in a way that brought tears into his eyes. My +lady's attempt to appear glad was rendered heart-rending by its +ill-success. Was it her fault if her affections were so engrossed by +Shane that there was no corner left for Terence? He saw through the +little mummery at once, and avoided her without stopping to seek for +reasons; and she, on her side, was relieved, for every fibre of energy +within her was strung now for the unequal contest with Fate on Shane's +behalf, which she perceived with prophetic ken to be inevitable.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran and Sara stayed on at the Abbey, to the satisfaction of the +inmates, whose skeletons rattled with less deafening jangle in the +presence of strangers. Doreen was glad of Sara for a nurse. My lady, +who always liked Curran, and who was being crushed into humility by +impending Nemesis, was sorry to see how aged he was, and hoped that +the quiet of the Abbey might do for him what it might never do for +her. He lingered on to see the most of Terence, declaring that, the +union passed and the prisoners gone, he would turn his back on the +land he had loved too well, and crave six feet of earth from the +United States. He trotted up and down the alleys of the rosary with +his ex-junior, the hearts of both too full for speech. They would part +soon, never again to meet in this world. They had been involved in +dangers and supreme soul-conflicts, which knit hearts together more +closely than a decade of conventional maundering. Both had been sorely +tried, and had come out the better for the fire. The tenderness the +twain felt one for the other was that of two strong natures, generous +and pure--an equable, staunch tenderness, swayed by no violent +passion, founded on the sure basis of esteem and confidence, such as +may never be attained in any love of man for woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the attitude of the two friends one to the other, in the +interval that preceded the day which was to decide the fate of +Ireland. Doreen was too ill to see any one. The orders of the doctor +were stringent as to the necessity of extreme quiet for her. Sara +issued forth now and again with bulletins; then returned to her post. +Madam Gillin bearded the tigress in her lair by sending openly to +inquire after the invalid. One morning Sara, neglecting her patient, +came tripping forth, well rolled in furs, with unseemly gladness in +her face--unseemly levity in her demeanour:</p> + +<p class="normal">'What <i>do</i> you think, papa?' she said, flinging her arms round Mr. +Curran. 'I've got a letter to say he's coming home!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'<i>He?</i> To whom do you refer?' demanded her father, who declined to +admit that for his child there was but one 'he.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Robert, of course!' she replied, with shy reproach. 'Do read!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Her father read, then handed the note to Terence gloomily. The maid +had her gladness to herself. It was not a wise letter; one written +evidently by an enthusiastic but rash, person, who, having been absent +during the Hurry, could put faith still in the mirage of Irish +freedom; who had not laid to heart the awful lesson of the year that +was expiring. He spoke with indignation of the way he was duped in +London; of the impossibility of getting at his Majesty, who was as +inaccessible to him as any potentate of Old Japan. For months he was +kept dallying in ante-chambers, he complained. His funds would have +failed but for good Lord Moira. But now he was coming back to receive +the mantle of Theobald, which intuition told him was to fit his +shoulders; to bid farewell to brother Tom ere he departed; then to +study the ground with a fresh eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her father looked at Sara, as he pushed the blonde cocoons from off +her bright young forehead. Blind girl to be so glad; she who before +was more wisely jubilant in that her lover should be removed from +danger. Her delight, indeed, was infantine and unalloyed; for all day +long the patriots were declaring that everything was lost, that all +was over. There was no reason, then, why she should look forward to +future complications.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Use all the power you have, my Primrose,' he adjured his daughter, +with sad earnestness, 'to keep him away yet awhile. The mantle of +Theobald, forsooth! We know that it is red and clammy. The shamrock +must be transplanted to another soil. Tell him not to come, I say. So +soon as the ship sails for Fort George, you and I will go and meet him +in London.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara seemed bewildered, as the smile faded from her face. What could +her parent mean? Sure, it was but natural to come and take a last look +at a beloved brother ere he went away? Whatever Robert's intentions +were, she knew that they were good and noble. The mantle of Theobald +meant love of motherland--no more. Everybody was painfully convinced +that the time for armed resistance was gone and past; that England +held the reins well in hand, and meant to hold them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The excitement when the grand day arrived was great in Dublin, while +the provinces looked on with unconcern. The brew of my Lords +Castlereagh and Clare had cost them sleepless nights. The Viceroy, as +head-cook, made believe to supervise, but he held a perfumed kerchief +to his august nose; there was no need for special exertion on his +part, for his deputies were by this time familiar with the receipt. By +the middle of the ensuing year at latest, every detail would be +arranged; and then he would be able to depart, his mission +accomplished, out of an atmosphere that poisoned him. But my Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were only bunglers after all. They had not +fathomed the baseness of the senate--the yawning depth of its abyss of +greed. Certain members of both Houses turned round at the last minute. +Some said that their consciences smote them; others admitted that +their rapacity was not satisfied. After a sitting of twenty-one hours +the measure was lost; and my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, baffled +where success seemed certain, looked foolish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one was disgusted. Lord Cornwallis apologised for the muddle to +the British Cabinet. Odd straitlaced people, he explained, rose all of +a sudden to the surface, who, if they had appeared sooner, might have +done much to stop the ball. It was like the legend of Sodom and +Gomorrah. 'Peradventure three righteous men might be found,' and so +on. The affair would have to be postponed for a few months in order +that the three righteous men might be tampered with. Of course the +three righteous men had their price. My Lord Powerscourt had emerged +from his Wicklow mountains to protest from his place against the +sinful measure, and a shamefaced knot rallied round him--a nucleus of +lords who objected to the bartering of freedom against a cartload of +cheap mirrors and bead-necklaces. But retribution fell upon that +ill-advised Lord Powerscourt before the setting of the sun that day. A +national rabble who sallied forth from the Liberties to wreak +vengeance on those who dared to vote for union, by a trifling error +attacked Powerscourt House in William Street, and broke its windows +and smashed its sculptured ornaments. They did not desist till some +one explained that it appertained to a peer who all along had +steadfastly set his face against the orgies of his fellows; against +bloodshed, murder, and torture; and against Lord Clare. But, arrah! +what was broke could be mended, and it was good for trade. Three +cheers for Lord Powerscourt! He must acknowledge the warmth of Pat's +nature, and make the best of the mistake.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence learned with heartfelt satisfaction, mingled with surprise and +contrition in that he had wronged his brother so, that Lord Glandore +had not voted with Government. My lady, he knew, was shocked with the +entire proceeding. Perchance to her influence was this happy result +due? Be that as it might, the heart of the younger was drawn towards +his brother. They never cared much for each other--they looked on the +world from a different standpoint. Since the Hurry, a marked coldness +and spitefulness was evident in Shane's demeanour. But he was not so +bad as he seemed, or so selfish, Terence assured himself. At all +events he was repentant--regretted doubtless the part he played with +reference to Theobald, though too haughty to admit it. He, Terence, +was going away so soon--never, in all probability, to look upon +Ireland or his family again--that it behoved him to carry as few +regrets as might be to his prison. He must bid adieu to the world with +a clear conscience--at enmity with no man, least of all his brother. +He resolved to make the first advance to Shane; to congratulate him on +his conduct even at this eleventh hour--to exhort him to resist +temptation 'twixt this and the next attempt--to beg him to take care +that he, though the measure would of course be carried sooner or +later, was in nowise mixed up with the Iscariots. To this laudable end +he strove to throw himself upon his elder's path, and met him face to +face in the stable-yard on the very next day after the first failure.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane tried to avoid the gloomy <i>trouble-fête</i>, but finding that +impossible, came forward with as <i>debonair</i> a swagger as a racking +headache and impaired digestion would permit. His aspect spoke more of +claret and its effects than of repentance. The coat of cream-coloured +cut velvet that he wore was rent in several places; two of the +filigree gold buttons had been wrenched away; his satin pantaloons +were smirched with dirt; his handsome face was inflamed and bloated. +What a contrast between the brothers now! Their characteristics seemed +inverted from those which marked them in former days. Then Terence had +shown too much of the florid farmer, too much of the bovine contented +animal breadth which men exhibit who live much in the open air and +look on cattle. Then nothing could be more refined and elegant than +Shane--with his miniature figure, his faultless limbs and tiny hands, +his clean-cut features whereon sat the expression of command which +marks a man for one to whom authority is an undisputed birthright. Now +the pair had changed places. Shane's lineaments were losing their fine +lines by reason of sucking at a bottle; the look of command was +departing with his self-respect: whilst Terence, in a dress of studied +simplicity, as upright and square as usual, had assumed a carriage of +reserved haughtiness. His locks had lost their brilliant colour, so +had his cheeks, through care. That silvery sheen from the other world +still glittered in his eye. The rollick of exuberant good-humour and +enjoyment of life was exchanged for a sober melancholy. His voice even +was lowered a semitone. His individuality had slipped into the minor +key.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Shane,' he said, 'I am so very glad, old fellow. I should have felt +it sorely if you had espoused this measure. Of course it's not my +business to try to direct your opinions; but now that it's all over +for the present, I can't help telling you I'm glad.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane passed across his throbbing temples a hand which was soiled with +the dust of last night's cards, and shrank backward from his brother's +advance. 'You are a nice one,' he sneered, 'to direct my opinions. +<i>You</i>--who but for an accident would have danced the minuet like a +peasant! We've been starting a new club--the Blazers--two days and +nights! I'm losing my nerve. This won't do. Too young to be so shaky. +I'll go to bed.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He endeavoured to escape. His two pet pointers, Eblana and Aileach, +came bounding towards him with yelps which woke the echoes of the +yard. Terence felt that there was a mistake somewhere. His brother was +upon his guard, as though he expected to be reviled.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Am I wrong, Shane?' he cried, as the blood bubbled to his face. 'You +didn't--did you vote with Government yesterday?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What if I did, <i>Croppy?</i>' was my lord's surly rejoinder.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence winced. 'Do not use harsh words,' he implored. 'Remember that +where I go my life must be passed in retrospect. Pray do not let me +carry away any memories of you but kind ones.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Why gibe at me then?' said sulky Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I--gibe? Is it likely I should jest?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Yes, gibe?' repeated Shane, his anger kindling, while the cicatrice +stood forth purple upon his forehead. 'You know that I've been +tricked. I was at the new club among a set of merry dogs, and gave +orders to a porter at the house to fetch me when I was wanted. He +didn't come; I didn't vote; and when I offered just now to run him +through, he pleaded that he was a follower of yours, and could not +possibly do that to which you would object. You! And now you come +preaching like a parson! Curse you!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence was deeply moved. His own brother, then, was itching for his +share of the silver pieces. It was due to accident alone that he had +not disgraced himself. Lord Glandore growled out in exasperation: 'The +chancellor will not speak to me!' and, raising the toy-whip he held, +made as though he would strike his brother, giving at the same moment +a kick which sent Eblana howling to the kennels. Terence recoiled from +the threatened blow. At the same instant the lattice of my lady's +chamber was flung open, and she, in the imperious voice of other days, +cried, 'Shane! come here at once!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the first-born whom she adored so fondly was accustomed to yield +to her when in an imperious mood. He felt guilty now and out of sorts, +knowing that he was desperately in the wrong. In a sneaking manner, +therefore, he threw away his switch, and, kicking aside the other +hound, entered his mother's presence, clasping his splitting temples +with both his palms.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was sweeping up and down as she used to do, before she took to +feeble blinking in the great chair. Emotion of some kind troubled her +so much that she could scarcely speak. Half frightened, Shane asked if +he should fetch some water.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head and muttered 'No.' Then, finding voice, she adjured +him in jerky sentences which burned her tongue, to treat his brother +with kindness during the short time they could be together. 'A time +may come,' she said, 'when you will bitterly regret idle taunts. Do +not lay up for yourself the fruits of remorse. I have eaten of them +all my life, and know what they are like.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'What nonsense!' Shane exclaimed fretfully. 'You're always blowing +bladders into balloons! Don't bother. The Croppy and I will soon part +to meet no more. Then perhaps you'll put aside these foolish terrors! +I think your brain is softening.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Foolish terrors!' wailed the countess.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a moment of reflection she turned sharply round as though urged +by a power beyond control. 'Shane!' she cried, stretching out her arms +lest he should stop her; 'oh! if you only knew what I have endured for +your sake! Listen to me----' then, sinking back on the window-seat, +she drew up her limbs together, murmuring in a tone of such anguish as +fairly alarmed her first-born: 'No, no! I cannot! I <i>will not!</i> It is +too much!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane recovered his self-possession. 'The poor thing's head's +deranged,' he thought; and feeling that he had been wanting in respect +just now, he stooped down and kissed her as she crouched like a bundle +on the cushions.</p> + +<p class="normal">This unusual display of affection seemed to revive his mother. She +twined her quivering arms about him, and, dragging him to her side, +whispered: 'My darling--for my sake who have gone through sore travail +on your account--oh! be kind to Terence--be very, very kind. If you +knew all, you would be--but you shall never know. I will bear all +myself. My hand shall never pour sorrow on your head!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The words of mystery perplexed my lord, who, never very bright, was +still confused with drink. He was about to ask questions; perceiving +which my lady spoke abruptly. 'Shane,' she whispered, stroking his +hair with clinging affection, 'do you know what is the fondest wish of +your old mother? If I saw you well married I could die content. When +you were so infatuated with that horrid girl down yonder, you did not +know what pain you gave me.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Why?' demanded Shane, the scar on his brow deepening in hue. 'She's a +good girl, and I like her still. There's nothing against her that I'm +aware of. I hate your bread-and-butter misses!' Had the young man been +sober he would not have dared so to speak; but wine gave him courage +to say that to which Norah urged him daily. 'I'll marry Norah if I +like,' cried her stout champion. 'I know you've got some silly notion +about Doreen. Why, I can't think. I don't want to marry her, and she +doesn't want to marry me; and I won't do it--that's flat. Is it you or +I who would marry her? I suppose I may follow my own wishes on the +subject.'</p> + +<p class="normal">His mother crouched down on the cushions again and moaned, while her +first-born stopped short in wonderment. What a pother, to be sure! Her +nerves must be the centre of some disease, for he had said naught to +warrant such an access of pain! He could not make it out. At length, +by way of applying a soothing plaster, he said: 'There, there! don't +fret so. Maybe I'll die a bachelor, and the Croppy'll inherit. Will +that please you? Come, sit up and smile at me.'</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">SUSPENSE.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Doreen was a fine subject, truly, for matrimonial scheming! Sara, +faithful little nurse, hovered round her bed while she battled +with delirium--spoke words of encouragement to Lord Kilwarden, who +watched his daughter's state with grief. What was the use of all his +trimming--his cautious steering--his dallying with Apollyon, if she +for whose sake alone he desired wealth and titles was beyond caring +for the treasures of this life? But the fond father's prayers +were answered. Her splendid constitution soon brought her back to +health--she was not one of those who die broken-hearted; but it was +soon manifest to all who watched her that she, like Terence, looked on +her life as done. She spent her time in watching the boats on Dublin +Bay--aware, in hazy fashion, of Sara's prattle. She asked after Tom +Emmett and the others, as one might after old friends who are crippled +for life--who are labouring under some incurable malady. Terence spent +many moments of placid enjoyment, conversing with his cousin in the +little bedroom which overlooked the rosary; but neither ever spoke a +word of love. The brief interval of freedom was speeding quick away. +The works at Fort George were progressing rapidly. A very few weeks +and the prisoners would depart, to begin a new existence in a howling +wilderness. She told him her plans, with such details as he might +ponder over in his solitude, promising to carry them out to the letter +as a sacred duty, in order that he might calculate with certainty what +she was doing at such and such an hour. The notion of taking the veil +was in a calmer moment given up. What need to take the veil? What +difference could a vow make to one whose heart was dead? Her vigorous +energy must find scope; in tending others she would forget herself. +She would, thanks to Lord Kilwarden's savings, play the Lady Bountiful +in Dublin, for the benefit of the sufferers from the Reign of Terror. +Scarce a family of the lower class but the yeomanry had left their +brand on it. Fatherless children--widowed wives--cried out from the +Vale of Tears. Sure, those who were taken--who had been shot down like +dogs or had perished under torture in the Riding-school--were better +off than they, if their end was to be starvation in a gutter! Lord +Kilwarden murmured that it should be as she wished. She should return +and live with him in town, and do with his money as she listed. The +subject of the union interested Doreen deeply. She could talk of it +without rancour as a thing that was inevitable. Her life was done +because that of Mother Erin was over, and of her faithful sons. So she +discussed the prospects of the union as she would have discussed a +funeral. Kilwarden and his child were not agreed upon the subject. Her +father, after serious deliberation, was in favour of the measure, and +thus expressed himself, while Curran, pretending to be buried in a +book, sniffed and hemmed.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Events,' he said, 'have clearly shown how unstable is our nature. +Only twenty years ago we showed a serried front, and were as one in +the cause of freedom; but a little wedge was inserted--and see! To +what an end we've come! For we have come to an end--there is no use +discussing that. The one drop of satisfaction which is given to us in +the goblet of gall is that an assembly will vanish into space which +has reached the lowest depth of human degeneracy. Its members--as all +Europe knows--consider the station they hold as a portion of private +property, not as a public trust. The scorn of Lord Cornwallis is not +undeserved.'</p> + +<p class="normal">To this Curran objected with vehemence: 'My good friend! is that a +reason why your union should answer? You cannot glue two pieces of +board together unless the joint be clean. You cannot unite two men +indissolubly, unless the cement be virtue. How then two countries, +between which rolls a sea of blood more wide than the Atlantic?'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Arthur Lord Kilwarden had followed events with a keen scrutiny, +and none were more appalled than he at the way the senate had jigged +to my Lord Clare's piping. 'Whichever way,' he affirmed sadly, 'you +look at the proceedings of your parliament, the sight is equally +distressing. If the English parliament could be convinced that our +interests are really bound up with theirs, they would come to look on +us in time as part and parcel of themselves, instead of treating us +like savages. Indeed, the Irish Lords and Commons are showing clearly +that the English estimate of them is the right one. Practically their +birthright is disposed of. It is merely a matter of terms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Curran murmured doleful things about the extinction of the Irish +name and the days of the Round Towers, and the parties, as usual, +agreed to differ.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was one side of the matter which was gratifying to Doreen, +namely, the conduct of her own people. The Viceroy was undisguisedly +in favour of inserting in this Union Bill a clause for the abrogation +of the penal statutes; but, as might have been expected, the King +dashed his pen through it. The Catholics emancipated indeed? +Fiddle-de-dee! Never, while that large-minded monarch should survive. +His stupidity produced a hitch. Then the Catholic lords came +forward--there were but seven--and begged that state interests should +be consulted before that of their own faith. The effect produced was +good, for the dignity of the situation lay not with stupid George. +Although they seemed to be sacrificing themselves unduly, yet they +scored one in the eyes of Europe, and public opinion decided that +their attitude of noble neutrality would reap its reward ere long. +Doreen was glad of this, although for her part she would wish to +struggle against union to the last. If it must take place, it must; +but she agreed with Terence that eternal obloquy would be the +portion of those who were responsible for the end. It was with +dissatisfaction, then, that she listened to his tidings about Shane. +It was by an accident, due to the involuntary influence of his younger +brother, that he escaped degradation at the first voting? This was +terrible news! The duty of the younger man was plainly written, she +pointed out with a spark of her old animation. Before withdrawing to +consummate his martyrdom, he must speak earnestly, seriously, to the +misguided earl--implore him on his knees, if need were, not to +disgrace the name which had descended unsullied from Sir Amorey. 'If +you show him,' she said, 'the chasm into which he is about to fall, +his better instincts will drag him back. Neither his vanity nor +avarice must be played on by the chancellor for the furtherance of +that wicked end.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence replied that not only had he no influence over his brother, +but that the latter might be goaded by his interference into doing +precisely that which they all deprecated, out of spite. It would be +better to trust to Providence. 'How can I bid him not disgrace the +family?' he concluded, gently smiling. 'Would he not retort that I +have done worse than he can do, by placing my neck within the halter?'</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something in this, certainly, Doreen admitted. But it was +not a moment for petty vanity--it was a time for general humiliation. +Terence must humble himself to bear meekly the taunts of Lord +Glandore, content in that he was doing his duty. In the solitude of +Fort George it would be a comforting episode to dwell upon--instead of +brooding always over Erin's death-throes.</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening, at this point of the discussion, which was renewed again +and again before Terence could make up his mind to risk a storm, +blonde Sara, who, sitting hard by, was wont to listen to pros and cons +which dazed her in respectful silence, laid down her needle, and +startled the disputants by saying, 'Are you quite sure that she is in +her death-throes?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen patted her arm as you might that of a precocious child, and +said, with her moonlit smile, 'Have you a doubt, dear Sara?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have no opinion,' responded the simple maid; 'but Robert does not +think so, and he knows.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The curiosity of her listeners was aroused. The ardent young +enthusiast was about to return, in spite of Curran's wishes to the +contrary, to take a last look at Tom ere he sailed away. What were +these opinions of his that imparted so grandmotherly an air to the +gentle Primrose?</p> + +<p class="normal">'I've had another letter,' quoth the sapient maiden. 'He doesn't agree +with you at all. Hark. He says: "Notwithstanding the darkness of our +prospect, I seem to see a light. We must rise to the level of the +situation, as our fathers did in '82. We are unworthy of the name of +nation if by combination we cannot frustrate the Sassanagh's designs. +Other and better men have pioneered the way; be mine the bright +result: there shall be no union. The more I see of the English, the +more I detest them. In coffee-houses they elbow me to the wall. If I +were a red Indian they could not treat me and my country with greater +disdain!"'</p> + +<p class="normal">The idea that her Robert was not appreciated imbued the maid with such +indignation as sat in comical fashion on her sweet, soft features. The +hearts of both those who looked at her yearned towards this fragile +flower. They had been strong and sturdy, yet were they utterly undone. +Was this girl to pass, too, under the yoke? Doreen, in a gush of +compassion, seized her slight figure in her arms and strained it to +her breast, murmuring, as she did so, 'No, child; oh no, no! Not you +too! Surely the pyre is piled high enough; the smoke of it blackens +the heavens. The land is drenched; it can drink no more. Write to him, +my dearest, and adjure him not to hope. Write and forbid his coming.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Both Terence and Doreen were painfully aware that the element of +sedition was dormant, not conquered. They were convinced, too, that +the struggle was useless--were ready to bow to the consummation of +Lord Clare's strategy, provided that they might stand aloof from among +the traitors. If it were useless, why renew the struggle? Why help to +bring upon the land again the horrors of the Hurry? Both Terence and +Doreen saw through the cloak of Robert's mysterious words, though Sara +apparently did not. Yet surely he could not be so utterly distracted +as to intend again to raise the standard of revolt? The whole aspect +of the case was changed since '98. Napoleon was too much bent on +Continental laurels to allow France to think of Ireland. Money was +scarce; merchants cautious; the people cowed. The Presbyterians were +irritated by the Wexford massacre; the Catholics indignant at the +supposed desertion of the northerners. A pretty time to think of +flying to arms! No; Robert could not be so mad. But what did he mean, +then? Was his combination to be a bloodless contest, such as was +brought to a successful issue by the Volunteers? Combination, +forsooth! It was not possible for Irishmen ever to combine for more +than a few minutes together. Sara evidently had no notion that her +Robert could imply a resort to arms, or she would not be purring in +this kittenish fashion. As it was, she shook off the embrace of her +dear friend, and was very angry in that she showed anxiety to keep +Robert away, now that all danger to his sacred head, was past. She +waxed exceeding wroth, begging to know why Doreen presumed to question +Robert's wisdom; then, scalded by her own tears, she drooped into the +arms of the older girl, registering a desire to be dead--a petition +with which Heaven has been wearied by natives of Ireland time out of +mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I will see to her,' Doreen whispered. 'Now, do you go down, <i>to +please me</i>, Terence. You will never regret having done your best to +turn Glandore. If you succeed, what blessed visions will paint the +walls of your prison-cell! Go and speak seriously to Shane, for all +our sakes.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence pressed his cousin's hand and promised. If it was his fate to +languish through a long life on the cold crags of Moray Firth, that +placid air of calm, the light of those solemn eyes, should soothe him +to the last upon his pilgrimage. He was greedily laying up a store of +precious memories. The time was growing very short. Orders must come +very soon for that final parting. Whate'er befel, he promised himself +to follow to the end his guiding star. Heaven would inspire him with +words which should save his brother from himself. Doreen was right, as +she always was. He strolled leisurely across to the stable-yard to +inquire whether my lord had returned from hunting.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">EAVESDROPPING.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Eumenides galloped in full cry after my lady. Their quarry was run +down, scrambled up and staggered on again--was near the end of the run +now. When Shane, apple of his mother's eye, gave the last unconscious +stab, she bore it without wincing, and sat up and attempted a wintry +smile, as he had bidden her. The goblet which, through her strength of +character, she had been able to push aside during many years, was held +at her lips by a ruthless hand, and must be drained. There was no help +for it. She must go and grovel before the hated Gillin, and pray her +in mercy to remove the obnoxious Norah. There was nothing else for it. +Schemes had miscarried, plots had fallen through. What a sorry +spectacle is a harried mortal in the death-grip of the hags of Até!</p> + +<p class="normal">Even a year's absence at Glas-aitch-é had not blurred the memory of +Norah in the heart of the young prodigal. Gillin still beguiled him to +the Little House--the knavish, cruel woman! What steadiness of purpose +she had shown all through her relentless course! And now she was +waiting in her den with cool assurance to consummate her fiendish +work. What a terrible thing to have to bow down and implore mercy from +this common, vulgar wretch! Would she even now, with her rival at her +feet, be merciful? Or would she, with the inherent ungenerosity of a +low nature, spurn and deride the victim? Be that as it might, the +ordeal must be assayed. It was no use to shake the fist at serene +heaven in the impotence of rage. That would in nowise mend matters, +and was silly besides. My lady resolved at last to take her cup and +drink the draught, since there was no avoiding it. For several days +she waited, hoping against hope for a means of escape. None came. She +accepted the position, put on her hood, and sallied forth on the +self-same afternoon upon which Terence decided to speak out to Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">Madam Gillin, in her amazement, swept down the jam-pots which she was +stowing in a cupboard when Norah tore breathless up the stairs to +announce that a leedy was coming up the walk who was no other than the +Countess of Glandore.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Holy Mother!' she ejaculated. The moment was come then--at last! and +the two were to speak out, face to face. It could only be on one +subject--an unpleasant interview. What could induce the countess now +to strike her colours, and come of her own accord, who for years had +declined to acknowledge her neighbour's existence? The haughty +countess must be hard pressed indeed to humble herself in this wise. +Peeping through shutter-chinks, she beheld the stately figure of my +lady--as straight as an arrow, shrouded in a silken wrapper, moving +slowly towards her door, and screamed out orders to Jug to get out her +best gown instantly, and place some wine on the parlour table.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady was kept waiting for fully half an hour, while the mistress of +the Little House was arranging her war-paint, during which time she +had leisure to glance round the adornments of the chamber--bright, +big, showy, glowing and rubicund, blatant with varnished newness--so +different from the cobwebbed dignity of the black oak and tapestry at +the Abbey. The ceiling was painted in the Italian style, with clouds +on cerulean ether like bits of cotton-wool. The floor was thickly +carpeted, the windows heavily curtained--for the judges, when they +came to carouse with their gay hostess, liked what was snug and cosy. +Over the chimney-piece were two portraits, side by side, at which my +lady frowned--the late Lord Glandore and Norah. The woman was +evidently shameless, to place my lord's portrait so <i>en evidence</i>. +This long delay was, no doubt, a premeditated insult. The original of +the second portrait, conscious that it was rude of her mamma to be so +long in dressing, skimmed down the stairs and banged open the door to +make a good-humoured apology, but closed it quickly and retreated--the +aspect of the old lady was so forbidding as she stood upright in the +centre of the floor, with thin nose pinched and bent brows scowling. +If the squireens of Letterkenny had been frightened by the gorgon's +stony face when she strove to be gracious, how much more awful did she +appear now, when grilling on the coals of humiliation.</p> + +<p class="normal">By-and-by, with a prodigious rattle, Madam Gillin swam in and +curtseyed. If there was to be a passage of arms, she was determined +not to be taken at a disadvantage. Fortune had denied her the grand +air which goes with blue blood and coronets, but she was resolved to +make up for the want of it by a display of external magnificence. +Though warm and moist with the exertion of plunging into grandeur at +so short a notice, she looked mighty fine in her best red satin, made +very tight and short, with a Roman emperor in cameo grinning on the +high waistband, and another nodding from her hair. The ruddy tint of +her mature charms vied with the ruby of the satin and the redness of +the turban, and came by no means badly out of the conflict.</p> + +<p class="normal">When arrayed in the garments of ceremony, Madam Gillin, despite the +stoutness of her figure, could be extremely dignified. With a second +curtsey and a sweep round of the left foot, she bade the visitor +welcome to her poor home, and pointed a mittened forefinger at a +chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's honoured that I am entirely, by your leedyship's condescension,' +she said, wagging the turban affably. 'Might I offer some sherry-wine, +or would your leedyship prefer clart? or a dhrop of prime poteen? The +judges, bless you, prefer clart. Sure, Jug'll bring a cake in a jiffy, +for drink's bad on an empty stomach.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess responded by a freezing bow. How hard it was to begin! +Yet, having come, she must needs speak out. This ungenerous foe was +exaggerating her own defects with intention, in order to make the task +more difficult; was pretending to believe that her neighbour had +'dropped in' by a friendly impulse, just to scrape a tardy +acquaintance over a glass of wine. The next words of the enemy showed +that it was so.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Your leedyship's sons are quite old cronies here,' she remarked. +'They often honour my tipple, and find it good; faith, it's the same +as their dear papa used to like, poor fellow!' Here she nodded +solemnly at the portrait, lest my lady should not have noticed it. +'And fine boys they are, though the eldest is a bit skittish. Your +leedyship has reason to be proud of them--specially the younger.'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was as the countess expected. The woman was brutal and pitiless and +devoid of shame. Each word, each movement, was an outrage, a barb +hurled with studied purpose. Nothing could come of an interview begun +upon these lines; it would be better to cut it short, ere self-control +was lost. My lady had not moved from her position on the centre of the +floor, not choosing to notice the invitation to be seated. Gathering +her wrapper close, with a haughty movement of white fingers, she said +abruptly, as she turned to go:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Woman! I have lowered myself in order to conjure you to consider what +you do. You have harmed me, Mrs. Gillin, as much as you could ever +since I first set eyes on you, although I never did you hurt. You +robbed me of my husband, and flaunted your prize all over Dublin, and +I bore my cross without a word, because one may not touch pitch +without being one's self defiled. You encouraged my second son in his +folly; pushed him down the incline till you nearly brought him to the +gallows; and now you are determined, if you can, to bring young +Glandore to ruin. You are a devil--not a woman! Hate me, if you will, +for I would prefer your hatred to your friendship; but surely you +cannot hate <i>him</i>, or you would not hang his portrait there. Even if +he did you any wrong, of which I am ignorant, forbear to wreak +vengeance on his children. I never understood your motives. What can +you gain by compassing all this mischief?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Whom did yon say I wished to bring to ruin?' sneered the scarlet +lady, unabashed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pale face of the countess flushed crimson, and she proceeded as if +the words stuck in her throat:</p> + +<p class="normal">'This hideous marriage must be prevented; you know why as well as I +do. Think of the wreck to which you would bring these innocent lives. +Remember, at least, that the girl is your own child, poor thing. Feel +pity for her, if you can summon none for the other.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have as much pity for my child as you for yours!' Madam Gillin +retorted, with meaning. 'When his neck was in danger, you never +stirred a finger-nail.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady stopped at the door to make one more effort.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You have deliberately brought those two together, though I have +strained every nerve to keep them apart. Dare you stand by and see +them married?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If the childer like each other, faix, it's not me as'll spoil the +fun!' returned her tormentor.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady groaned and made as if she would speak again, but Mrs. +Gillin's fat back was turned; she was improving the position of the +cameos, by means of a mirror on the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lady Glandore adjusted her hood on her white hair, and moved swiftly, +with bowed head, away from the Little House; while Madam Gillin, +detaching her gorgeous turban, turned quickly round with a grin, so +soon as she was fairly gone, and watched her from behind a shutter. +The good lady was troubled in her mind, and stood staring down the +walk, as the grin faded, long after the muffled figure had departed. +At length she clapped the errant comb into its place upon her head, +and murmured:</p> + +<p class="normal">'I'm a devil, not a woman, am I? Sure that cap fits best on your own +pate. Rather than speak out, you'd let that lad be whipped off to Fort +George, would you? Just as you would have let him be hanged--mother +without a heart! It's Lucifer's pride ye have, every ha'porth of it. +Well, my lips have been closed long enough.' Then, nodding to the +picture over the chimney-piece, she added aloud: 'Have I kept my word +with ye? Ye wished it all set right, bad man, when Satan pinched ye. +Who was it that was always bidding ye to see to it yourself, and ye +wouldn't? And her pride is as great as yours. Never fear; it shall be +set right by me; for I like the boy for himself as well as for my +oath. Before the sun's set I'll go to Ely Place and tell my Lord Clare +something that'll astonish him.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Tell him what, mamma?' asked Norah, who was dying to learn what had +taken place.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Never mind, child!' grunted madam, as she squeezed the impudent young +lady's peachen cheek. 'What d'ye think that stiff old bag-o'-bones +said just now? That I didn't love my girl; and that I'd do her wanton +harm.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'She lied!' retorted prompt Norah.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Faith, ye're right!' agreed her mother, with a smacking kiss. 'Order +round the shay, and come and help me to take off my toggery.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady sped rapidly away. The ordeal--short and sharp--more bitter +even than she dreamed--was over; the draught was swallowed--in vain. +Gillin's taunts had shrivelled her soul like branding-irons. It +behoved her to arrange her features before returning to the Abbey, +lest some one should detect the troubled aspect of the chatelaine and +make guesses at its cause, which might possibly come near the truth. +As courage failed and resolution waned, her secret struggled the +harder to come forth. With the self-consciousness of guilt she seemed +to feel it emblazoned on her forehead, where all who ran might read.</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of returning by the grand drive which was but at the distance +of a stone's-throw, she followed the main road, skirted the wall that +bounded her rival's grounds, and re-entered Strogue from the back, by +the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary.</p> + +<p class="normal">The thrusts of the full-blown champion in red satin were few; but they +went home, and smarted still. My lady's ears tingled yet as she walked +between the tall beech hedges. We are conscious often of doing wrong, +but decline to look upon our fault, and coax ourselves to disbelieve +in its existence by persistently turning our attention to more +pleasing objects. But when another individual, whose human voice we +can't shut out, brays forth the story of the sin with trumpet +clearness, we seem to wake up as to a new appreciation of its +enormity, which comes like a fresh revelation of turpitude. Thus was +it with my lady in this instance. She was well aware that her +treatment of Terence, from the beginning, was below the level of just +solicitude; that latterly, though his position as a traitor awaiting +punishment had weighed her down, yet she had acquiesced, with a +weakness which was itself a fault, in the prejudged sentence, and had +been prepared to hear that the scrag-boy's work was done without +attempting personally to move in the matter. Conscience whispered once +or twice that by virtue of her rank she ought to force admittance to +the Castle. Nay! that she ought to have hurried long ago to London, +and have wrested her boy's life from the King's clemency; have dogged +his Majesty to Weymouth; have stormed him in retirement; and have even +tossed the sprats that he was frying into the flames if he took refuge +in his wonted obstinacy. In a hazy way she knew all this full well. +She knew, indistinctly, that the scrag-boy had become to her warped +soul a harbinger of peace; and afraid of seeing too much on the glass +which conscience held, had shut her eyes and breathed on it till the +Present should become Past, and thereby irretrievable. But Gillin's +words could not be shut out after so simple a fashion. She had hinted +a few moments since, with scathing irony, that even if she sacrificed +her own child in cold blood on the altar of Nemesis, her conduct would +be no worse than my lady's had been to her second son. And my lady's +conscience echoed the speech with loud applause. She looked now +straight into her own heart, and was appalled at what she saw there; +she hearkened to the upbraidings of the monitor, and admitted that his +reproaches were deserved--that even the travail of an embittered life +was not an atonement sufficient for its crime.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is an awful moment when a nature built on pride begins to +crumble. The crash follows swiftly on the warning. Extremes tumble +together; the loftier the edifice the more complete its collapse. +The upbraidings of the monitor--harsh, unrelenting, awfully +distinct--dinned in my lady's ears as she paced with muffled head +between the hedges of the rosary. Presently she heard a murmur. No! +That was not conscience. Those were human voices--the voices of her +sons--arguing in a high key. Great heavens! they were quarrelling.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a stealthy step, holding her mantle in close folds lest its +rustle should betray the presence of an eavesdropper, she stole along +under the lofty hedge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane was in his hunting-suit. He was surrounded by his hounds. They +sniffed about and rolled on the damp grass, making their toilet in dog +fashion, to clean their muddy backs. Eblana and Aileach sat on their +hams gazing at their master with wistful heads poised on one side. +Shane stood facing his mother, who marked that the muscles of his face +were twitching, while his limbs shook with passion. Terence had his +back to her--a tall, quiet figure, distinct against a faded sky which +was faint with the glare of a departed sun. His broad, square +shoulders stood out distinctly from a light background of misty hedge, +of blotted, translucent pink, and pale yellow, and blue-green, across +which streamed a troop of darkling phantoms--crows cawing off to +roost.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane's hunting-whip sawed the air, as he passed it from one nervous +hand to the other. He was always so ready with his whip. It seemed as +much as he could do to withhold its sinuous thong from off his +brother. Terence was speaking. My lady held her breath to listen.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I speak to you as from the grave,' he said. 'My life is done. A week +or two at most, and my place will be vacant--my shadow will darken the +threshold of my ancestors no more. Take care, my brother! When you +look on my empty seat let the sad memory of me be precious on your +hearth, untarnished by regret. You are the head of the house. Do not +forget the responsibilities to which you are born. Look at the +tapestry in the drawing-room, and follow the example of your fathers. +Do your duty by them; be without fear and without reproach. Do not +earn for yourself among the family pictures an empty frame from which +posterity shall have wrenched the portrait.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Peace! I will not bear your prosing!' hissed the young earl. 'You are +no better than a felon. You've wrecked yourself through your own +folly, and now would inflict your broken-backed morality on me. I told +you once you were no better than a "half-mounted." Ye're not so good. +As for your insolent advice, <i>that</i> for it! I'll tell you this much, +to set your mind at rest. I've made it up with my Lord Cornwallis by +explaining that the mistake was due to you. I've pledged my own vote +to Government, and all the influence that I can bring to bear. Two of +the boroughs I hold will be disfranchised, in return for which I am to +have money down.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, remember!' broke in Terence. 'That it's blood-money, which +carries a curse with it. That it will come out of Irish coffers. By a +refinement of barbarity it is Erin who will have to pay the ruffians +who will slay her!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Pooh!' retorted Shane, with a finger-snap. 'Whatever your worship's +views may be, I will vote <i>for union</i>--there! Not that it can signify +to yon one way or t'other, so soon as you have been carted off to +Scotland.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Then after this,' returned Terence, with hot reproach, 'you should +quarter an auctioneer's hammer with the arms of old Sir Amorey; since, +like a superannuated chest of drawers, you are to be knocked down to +the lowest bidder!'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady could endure the spectacle no longer of her two sons +threatening each other in the gloaming with swollen veins, face close +to face. With a ghostly sigh which startled the disputants she hurried +towards the house. The brothers searched but found no one, and +cast uneasy glances at each other. What was it? Could it be the +banshee--messenger of ill?</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence, regretting his sharp speech, strode with abrupt strides away, +lest he might be provoked to still more regretable discourse, +across the little flower-plot, past the sun-dial, through the hall, +to his own chamber, wherein he locked himself, among the guns and +fishing-rods; while Shane, who was athirst, followed more slowly, like +a shepherd with his flock, and turned into the dining-room in search +of drink.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Miss Wolfe, whose bedroom, it will be remembered, overlooked the +flower-plot, and was opposite to the dining-room, was sitting at her +window awaiting Terence's return with tidings of a successful +ambassage. Of course Shane would be persuaded to see the error of his +ways, and agree not to vote with Government. She was no little +surprised to behold my lady, usually so majestic, hurry in a scared +manner through the golden grille; then Terence; then Shane with all +his hounds about him. Something was afoot; what could have happened? +All three seemed strangely troubled. No! It was but a coincidence +exaggerated by the distorted fancy of a convalescent into something +serious. She was about to close the curtains when she was further +astonished by seeing my lady rush into the dining-room with frantic +gestures and fall prostrate on the ground before her son. She saw Lord +Glandore turn round and try to raise his mother, but she only wrung +her hands and wept, while her lips moved quickly. Two lighted candles +were on the table; the winter evening was shadowing in with a blue +glamour; the small flower-plot was packed with hounds that sniffed +about with uneasy muzzles, for Shane had slammed-to the golden grille +after him and forgotten them.</p> + +<p class="normal">What were they talking about down there?--only some burning question +could engross them thus. It was more than the curiosity of a daughter +of Eve might resist. Snatching up a cloak Doreen stole downstairs, out +into the garden, hushing the dogs in a whisper that their noisy +greetings might not betray her presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady's subdued words came dimly to her through the glass. She +cowered close to the window, nursing Eblana's head in her lap with +furtive pats, for that pampered beast was importunate in his +demonstrative caresses, and whined a protest against neglect. What my +lady said sent a sharp thrill through Miss Wolfe. Forgetting all +caution in astonishment, she rose and pressed her scared face against +the pane, but mother and son were too fully occupied to heed any but +themselves, as my lady poured forth at last the pent-up gall which had +poisoned a life of promise, and her helpless first-born sat in a +stupor, thunderstruck.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Do not curse your old mother!' my lady implored, with a humility +which jarred upon his nerves. 'Have pity on her that she should have +to tell her shame. I would gladly have gone to the tomb as your father +did, carrying my secret--I would have hugged it close for your sake. +But the hand of God is heavy on me--it will out! You must know the +truth--alas, alas!--even if you curse me! It was not my fault--indeed +it was not--it was all your father's; and he went to his rest, whilst +I remained to bear the penalty. He carried me off; you know that much. +He was a member of the abduction-club. Placing me in a coach with a +scarf about my mouth, he threatened me with a pistol if I should let +down the glass and scream. Then I was borne away to Ennishowen, to the +islet of Glas-aitch-é. Oh, Shane! I endured the pang of living there +again for your sake--do not judge me harshly! We dwelt there a year, +then returned to Dublin to assume our position in society. We were +married in the blue bedroom by the parson of Letterkenny; but, Shane, +it was not my fault! Your father was fierce as you are--you are his +image, but more unstable. I was as an infant under his iron will; how +could I resist him? The parson of Letterkenny married us--<i>the night +before we came back to Dublin</i>.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady buried her face in her thin hands and sobbed, while Shane +looked on. He could not comprehend.</p> + +<p class="normal">Finding that her son said no kind word to ease the bitter task, his +mother went on in a hoarse voice--even and unbroken now by sobs--with +eyes fixed doggedly upon the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I implored him--oh! how I implored him--again and again, I did +indeed--to send for the parson before your birth. He was reckless. At +length he seemed touched by my distress, and sent. The parson was laid +up with gout, but promised to be with us on the morrow. Then--it was +too late--and my lord put it off again, saying that it didn't matter, +and that nobody would know. I hoped that he was right, and was +comforted. When, six years later, Terence was born, the case was +altered. We both saw it--alas! too late; he felt it as much as I. But +after all, you were the first-born--a ceremony delayed could not alter +that. It was not fair that you should suffer for what was but an act +of negligence. We discussed the matter anxiously, and my lord decided +to bury the secret. No one would suspect, or think to examine the date +of the register, if we agreed to hold our peace. We never spoke of +it--never--but we saw it in each other's eyes; and from that moment I +lost his love--he was always looking with regret on Terence in a way +which maddened me, while I clung to you. You were the child of sorrow. +I suffered much for you on that accursed island; and then that--that +woman cast her meshes over him. My lord changed his mind before he +died--desired me to noise the tale abroad to all the world. I could +not--my pride revolted--and my love for you. None knew the secret +except one--that harlot!--my lord was faithless in that as in all +other things!'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady's voice died away, as a host of grim recollections crowded on +her memory. Presently she looked up in alarm, for Shane had made no +comment. The cicatrice upon his brow stood out. She put forth her +hands; he seized her by the wrists and flung her down. Without +resistance she sank moaning backwards on the floor. Turning on his +seat, he poured out a tumblerful of wine and drank it off; then--the +whole truth breaking at last upon his slow intellect--he tore his +hair, growling, and smote himself upon the head, and staggered round +the room with reeling steps. Doreen did not try to hide herself, she +was transfixed with wonder; yet though she showed like a vision in +hoar-frost, impressed upon the casement, he saw her not. He was only +aware that there was another Lord Glandore--who would return his +contumely with interest--that his own portion was beggary and a +bend-sinister. No wonder if the phantom of this new prospect churned +and curdled his besotted brain.</p> + +<p class="normal">'He'll hate me and take my property and title!' he muttered through +his teeth again and again, in querulous cadence. 'What's to become of +<i>me</i>--what's to become of <i>me?</i> I might as well be shot as beggared.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady rose from the floor, haggard and gaunt, and passed her long +fingers through her hair. The selfish cruelty of him for whose sake +she had gone through the torture was better for her than kindness +would have been. A little sympathy and she would have become +hysterical. Like a sharp fillip, it strung her nerves. That from which +she had shrunk so long was here in all its accumulated fulness. Well! +it was part of a penance; so much was past that the remainder could +matter little.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Not so,' she said mournfully; and Shane, clinging to a reed, returned +to his seat and drew her towards him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The secret may rest where it is,' she continued, placing a loving +hand upon his head. 'No one living knows of it save you and I and--and +that woman. If she meant to speak, she would have spoken long since. +It may come out some day, and Terence will claim what the law will +call his own, and possibly revenge himself on you for having kept him +unwittingly from its enjoyment. But you shall not be brought to +beggary. Alas! my deary, you are unfitted to battle with the world. +Two things must be done--and done at once--betide afterwards what may. +You must marry Doreen. She is an heiress, and the only one available. +Your own mode of life has kept others from your path, though you might +have chosen among hundreds. Her father would be glad, I know, and she +is too much broken by recent afflictions to offer resistance when +strong pressure is brought to bear on her.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Government has offered me forty-five thousand pounds for my vote and +influence in the coming contest,' Lord Glandore observed presently, +with a sinister smile. 'It is imminent. If Croppy can only be kept in +the dark till then!'</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady bent down and kissed him, while lines of anxious thought +gathered round her mouth. She was in the slough--up to the neck--out +of which it was impossible to struggle. Under happier auspices she +would have recoiled from the suggestion of cold-blooded barter. But +helpless Shane's position must be assured by hook or crook while there +was yet time. It struck his mother that Gillin--when she should +discover that her outrageous designs for Norah were foiled--might blab +the secret as a last shaft of vengeance. She determined that for the +present, at least, the odious creature must be humoured for prudence' +sake. It was with a dreary sort of satisfaction that she found her +turbulent favourite was become suddenly so malleable. What signified +the unsullied shields of departed Crosbies? Unblemished honour will +not renew exhausted tissues. It is well for those to prate who have +never been tempted. Shane, like the rest, must sell his mess of +pottage at the best market--<i>his</i> so long as it was not claimed. Then +the idea flashed upon my lady as she meditated, 'Terence is marked out +for an arch-traitor. He was not convicted--yet is he sentenced. If his +claims were to be admitted now, his property (as that of one +attainted) would be forfeit to the state! Better far that Shane should +keep it.' Scruples were manifestly absurd. A brilliant suggestion of +the devil this--which went far to reconcile my lady to existing +circumstances.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was silence between mother and son. The thoughts of both were +best left unspoken. Both were absorbed in their own dreams. Eblana's +cold muzzle awoke Doreen from her reverie. She glided up the steps +into the hall, crept with caution past the door of the dining-room, +made for the young men's wing, where, in his own nest, Terence was +brooding in despondency over his blank future.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had nothing wherewith to reproach himself. Nothing! Of that he was +quite certain. It had been his duty to lay the question of union +clearly before his brother, who, as head of the house, must adjudicate +thereon upon his own judgment. The responsibility lay with him. +Whichever way he chose to act, no dishonour could accrue to the +younger from his decision, so long as he, Terence, had first +registered his private protest. Shane had been most insulting--had +stooped even to mock at his brother's deplorable condition. But that +was of no moment. When we stand upon life's brink we can afford to +contemn the foolish lapping of the waves. It mattered not a rush what +Shane might say or think. Yet that scene in the rosary was not one of +the rainbow-hued visions which were to fresco into warmth the cold +walls of his prison-cell at Fort George. Knowing his brother's temper, +it would have been more wise not to kick against the pricks. Perhaps, +situated as Terence was, he would have done better not to speak at +all--but it is difficult in the prime of life and manhood to accept at +once your position as a corpse.</p> + +<p class="normal">The handle of his door was turned and shaken. It was an agitated hand +that shook it--a woman's hand--for his hearing, sharpened by +excitement, detected the sough of silk, the unsteady grope of fingers +fumbling above a handle's usual place. His heart beat fast. Was the +yearning of his soul to be gratified? Was it his mother, who, so cold +and forbidding hitherto, had selected the long wintry interval +previous to the last meal of the day to come and whisper with kisses +of how she loved and pitied him?</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned the key. To his surprise Doreen, who entered swiftly, +double-locked the door, and, tossing away her mantle, stood before him +with a smile upon her lips, which he had supposed was gone for ever. +Her bosom heaved as she held out her two brown hands to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence, it's <i>you</i> who are Lord Glandore!' she panted. 'Shane +repulsed you when you spoke to him. I know it! He is ready to accept +their blood-money; he is scheming basely for it at this moment; but he +shall be exposed in time. It is your duty to turn the bastard out!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence deemed that his star had left its course; for she stood, like +a distracted dark Ophelia, on the verge of laughter and of tears; +dashing the drops from her cheek with one hand, while the other crept +shyly into her cousin's and remained there.</p> + +<p class="normal">She told him quickly all she had heard and seen--all that was made +plain by the light of what she heard and saw. She told him, with +disdainful lip, of how her cousin had repulsed the whitehaired +suppliant; how he had whined, complaining; how his mother, fortified +by that engrossing love--transfigured, ennobled by it despite her +sin--had risen from her knees like a queen to comfort him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Terence listened--one leg crossed over the other to support his elbow, +while his chin rested on his hand--and instead of joining in her +exultant joy, he only grew more gloomy. What was this will-o'-the-wisp +that railed in such foolish fashion? At <i>him</i> whose heart was dead, +whose career was done, upon whom the gate of a lifelong prison was +about to close, who was too weary to be very sorry for his own +undoing? Silly will-o'-the-wisp, who, clad in siren-guise, thought +thus to lure him back to love of life! He listened to Doreen's +narrative in moody thought, plucking no consolation thence. It was a +poignant subject of regret that her usually incisive common-sense +should be bewitched by this vulgar tempter. After all, a woman's +judgment may never be relied on. It must be his office, then, to +rebuke her folly, and show where his true duty lay.</p> + +<p class="normal">A great love, indeed--a sublime love! A love which is a crown of +glory, but which was in this instance a wreath doomed to be wasted on +the sterile rock. Shane cared for no one but himself. Was inclined +even to spurn this love--nay, had dared brutally to repulse it, +because it could not accomplish impossibilities. Not a drop from the +precious phial had ever leaked out for Terence--not a single drop. And +he would have prized it so! Yet was his duty carved plainly out; and +with the gaze of one who belongs to another world, he saw it--through +foliage and matted briars--with clear vision.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It appears that I might perhaps save our name,' he said slowly, while +he nursed his knee, 'from being mixed up with those of the recreants. +What is the price? Reflect, dear Doreen! If we were not beyond the +influence of mundane hopes and longings, would you advise me to act +thus? Would you----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Can there be any doubt?' cried impetuous Doreen, with flashing eyes. +'Did we not agree this very afternoon that Shane must be worked on not +to disgrace his lineage. Now it is in your hands. Surely you could +not----'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hush, hush, my dearest!' Terence responded gently. 'Remember that we +are to lay up no store of evil memories! At Fort George I am to think +of you as the star that has guided my thoughts upward. Reflect calmly +now! In order that Shane--poor misguided fellow!--may not drag us into +the ranks of the Iscariots, I should have to make good my rights +before the world. To accomplish that, I should have to brand with +obloquy my mother's fair fame, which in the world's eyes is spotless. +Should I thus keep untarnished the honour of the Crosbies? No! The +question of Ireland's fate is in God's keeping, not in ours. His +decrees seem hard to our purblind vision, yet must we bow to them. +Forget what you discovered. Let this be as though it had never been.'</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl's colour went and came; she looked earnestly at her cousin, +as with prosaic action he nursed his knee.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are right,' she murmured at length. 'Do you know, my love, that I +dared to despise you once? I said you could never be a hero!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hero!' Terence echoed, with a laugh. 'I have looked into the other +world too closely to care now for this. We have passed through the +fire, Doreen, have we not? and bear its traces on our flesh. God grant +that it has purged away the worser part from both of us!'</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Madam Gillin called many times at Ely Place in her anxiety to astonish +the chancellor, but failed to find him--for the best of all reasons, +that he was not there. Again and again she rapped with the big brass +knocker--always to receive the same answer, 'His lordship is in +England.' Time was moving on; reports arrived in succession that the +works at Fort George were progressing; that they were well-nigh +finished; that they were complete. The unhappy exiles would be drafted +off directly, and Madam Gillin was determined to astonish Lord Clare +before that moment came. What on earth could he be doing in England? +He was an Irishman, if a bad one, and ought to stop at home. She was +on the point of packing up a valise to pursue him across the Channel, +when Jug brought the tidings that my Lord Clare's coach was on its way +to Kingstown, and that therefore its master must be expected back.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chancellor frowned ominously when he beheld his eccentric +acquaintance ensconced in his favourite chair. The butler apologised. +The lady would take no denial, he explained. She had nearly worn out +the knocker. He could not turn out one of the sex by neck and +shoulders. Maybe it was really something of weight that made her so +persistent. But my Lord Clare was quite another man from when he went +to London, and was in no mood to brook liberties. He had seen Mr. Pitt +there; had, much to the amusement of that gentleman, reviled my Lord +Cornwallis, his policy, and his blunt manner; had explained away the +fiasco at the first voting for union, and had been graciously +received. Mr. Pitt had smiled on him while Mr. Fox sneered; had hinted +that if he and Lord Castlereagh did their work cleverly there would be +no end to the honours which his Majesty would heap on them. They must +not be discouraged, but slave away--hammer and tongs--till the object +was achieved. After all, it was at this juncture merely a matter of a +little tact. As an earnest of future favour, my Lord Clare was created +Baron Fitzgibbon in the Peerage of England, and returned home an inch +taller and three times as overbearing as he had shown himself before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once the union arranged, Lord Cornwallis would depart; Lord Clare +would resume his lofty position in Irish politics, and from his new +place in the English House of Lords would coerce British politicians +on special subjects, as he had browbeaten a succession of British +viceroys. But before this delicious dream could be realised there was +much to be done, which required careful manipulation. Lord Castlereagh +had kept him <i>au courant</i> during his absence of what passed in Dublin. +He was aware that, fired by indignation at the breaking of the compact +and the condemnation of his brother, untried, to penal servitude, +young Robert had left London abruptly and gone home. The young +cockatrice, as he elected to call him, meant mischief--would +certainly give trouble--and at an inconvenient moment. He must be +watched--bagged--gagged--swept away like a tiresome fly. It would +not do to have insurrections now. He was aware that the Irish +parliament--servile hitherto--was playing pranks and kicking up its +heels, raising the price of its suicide, to the annoyance of Lord +Castlereagh and the rage of Lord Cornwallis. He had seen a letter from +the Viceroy to the Duke of Portland, wherein the former pleaded once +more for the emancipation of the Catholics, declaring that if they +were kept out in the cold, the important measure which was to be a new +bulwark to England would have a foundation of sand; vowing that he was +sick of dirty water; that if there was no prospect of getting out of +the country he would offer earnest prayers to Heaven for immediate +death. Mr. Pitt, when he showed this letter to Lord Clare, spoke +openly without mincing matters. The King was obdurate about the +Catholics. Lord Clare knew that. They must be cajoled, however; led on +by specious promises and then betrayed; treated in fact after the +ingenious fashion in which Lord Clare had shown himself so consummate +a master in the matter of the compact with the state prisoners. The +Irish Chancellor, primed by Lord Castlereagh, explained the +difficulties of the situation with crystal clearness to Mr. Pitt. It +was now merely a matter of £ s. d. How much or how little didn't +signify, since the blood-money was to be supplied by the victim +herself. The Lords and Commons having made the plunge, were +totally divested of all shame. They made use of a small party of +anti-unionists as a lever to dig out more gold; swearing that they +would all go over to that party unless their demands were complied +with in all their greed. Thus was it with the upper class. The lower +class was apathetic and hopeless--all except a few United Irishmen, +who were making a new attempt to attain their ends by stirring up +discord and division. The anti-unionists were leaving no stone +unturned to inflame the spirit of the people. But the spirit was gone +out of them. There would be a tussle for it, no doubt. It would be +well for decorum's sake to postpone the conclusion of the business for +a few months, for it would look bad for the senators who were to be +freshly bought to seem to change their opinions too suddenly. Europe +would laugh if men who declared in April that union meant destruction +were in May to turn round and vote in favour of it. Finally Mr. Pitt +sent his tool home again, bidding him be discreet and diligent, and +laughed in his sleeve so soon as his back was turned.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare was puffed out with self-importance when he strutted into +his house and found Madam Gillin ensconced there as though she were +its mistress. Taking no heed of his frowns, she wagged her feathers +with satisfaction, and straightway unfolded her budget. He was as much +astonished as she could possibly desire. Shane then was illegitimate, +and Terence the true Lord Glandore! This was the clue to much which +had seemed inexplicable in my lady. Poor old friend! how she must have +suffered--and she innocent, except in aiding and abetting her husband +when it was too late to do anything else. It was evident that, born of +the same parents, it was a cruel law which would treat one brother +(and the elder one too) as a pariah for lack of a few sentences droned +through the nose. It was natural that a mother should feel this +strongly, and in a wrong-headed feminine way make difficulties greater +in her efforts to gloze them over. But the old lord was right when he +spoke the warning. His sons were only boys; they might have stepped +into their legal places then without much harm resulting. But now +after the long lapse of years, the situation wore another aspect. +Shane had grown to manhood--to the prime of life--under the impression +that he was true master of wealth and broad acres. His life had taken +its permanent shape. It would be a smashing blow to him were his +brother to come forward and claim his own. The position of Terence too +was a singularly unhappy one. He had been bitterly wronged. Of that +there could be no doubt, and his mother must have walked on red-hot +ploughshares when she beheld him going straight to ruin. If he had +been acknowledged as 'my lord' he would have done, of course, as the +majority of lords did--would never have thought of joining the popular +party, would not now be preparing to leave his country--a +brokenhearted exile. For even the most virtuous in the Upper House +were content at this juncture to remain neutral. Poor, poor old +friend! What anguish must have been hers when she contemplated all +this, as she must have done daily, without having strength to say the +words she should have said! Actually she had been doomed to watch her +own son drifting into the dark waters, and with her own hands to cut +the rope which might have saved him. No wonder if her hair was +white--her face of ashen pallor. No wonder if she was haunted by a +ghost who never left her side. Mrs. Gillin's story actually took away +the breath of the chancellor as his mind wandered through the fields +of the past, putting this and that together, fitting pieces of a +puzzle into their places which hitherto had defied his skill.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the first place he was moved with pity for the Countess of +Glandore. Sure, her sufferings--dragged out and intensified instead of +being healed by Time--would have turned long ago a less steady brain +than hers. Poor lady! at this very moment her trials were at their +acme. The son who had been so much wronged was about to depart on his +sad journey. Would she have the courage to let him go without speaking +the truth? And if she spoke the truth, what line would he take? It was +a pity he had not been hanged in the ordinary course of events. He +would then have gone to his grave in ignorance of the wrong done to +him. The knot would have been severed. For, failing Terence, the title +would be extinct; and, bastard or not, my lady's conscience would have +been at rest with regard to Shane's inheriting. As he turned over the +tangled mass he could not decide for which of the three he ought to be +most sorry. Their cruel case touched the good portion of his heart--in +which there was room for compassion for these three persons, whom he +had known intimately for years; two of whom had grown up before his +eyes. Shane's case was a most dreadful one. But not more cruel than +Terence's. All things considered, it would be best that Terence should +never learn the truth, or Shane either. Things had gone so far that +nothing but evil could come of their positions being reversed.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the verdict of the chancellor, and a worldly-wise one too. +For he knew not that my lady's overburthened soul had already vomited +forth the truth; that she had confessed to Shane, now, several weeks +ago. This was his verdict, and Mrs. Gillin was reluctantly compelled +to admit that he was right. But he, on the other hand, fully agreed +with her that something must be done forthwith for Terence. The +Viceroy must be spoken to, the King even must be interviewed--a pardon +gained for the doomed exile without telling him the cause of it. By +being deprived of a fortune which was legally his, he had been +fearfully wronged. For the sake of others it would be well that he +should never know how much. All things considered, his was a case for +clemency. His Majesty, who was jealous of the ermine, and loved not to +see it dragged through the mud, would appreciate at once the +peculiarities with which the case was invested. But to hoodwink +suspicion he must be advised to avoid too abrupt a pardon, such as +should set the tongues of busybodies clacking. Terence must in a +careless way be left behind when the vessel sailed, which was now +lying ready in the Liffey. He must be made to promise to conspire no +more, and then be given to understand quietly that his misdeeds would +be graciously forgotten.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gillin went away content, and with a light heart. She had fulfilled +her promise of protecting the son of her old lover. Shane, it was +decided, was still to be Lord Glandore. Norah's mamma might now, with +an easy conscience, set about the clinching of that match which she +considered would be beneficial to her child. My lady's reluctant +consent could be wrung from her by fear of her secret becoming known. +She might even be told in plain words that her own evil imagination +had conjured up baseless phantoms--that Norah was born two months +before her mother made the acquaintance of the late lord, and that she +had been brought up a Protestant by his desire simply for the sake of +evading certain clauses in the Penal Code, which might jeopardise his +legacy to a Catholic.</p> + +<p class="normal">Madam Gillin had seen through my lady's terrors upon this point all +along, and had played on them to revenge herself for the stern +chatelaine's contemptuous airs. For the same cause she had first +imagined a match between the two young people, which their own +inclinations seemed inclined to ratify. It would be rare sport to +bring the haughty woman to the dust, and compel her to accept Norah as +a daughter! It would be, too, a spectacle of ineffable delight to see +Norah make her appearance at a drawing-room by the <i>entrée</i> by virtue +of her rank as countess! The fascinating idea took possession of the +worthy woman; yet shrank she not from that to which she considered +herself bound by oath. She would have kicked over with her own fat +foot, if need were, the palace she had built, and have thought no more +of Norah as mistress of Strogue Abbey and the possible intimate friend +of a lady-lieutenant; but she was none the less charmed to find that +duty and delight were not incompatible, that Lord Clare was decided in +his opinion that Shane must still wear the coronet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare considered and reconsidered the strange embroglio whilst +refreshing his inner man with chicken-pasty for a long business talk +with Castlereagh. There were several reasons why Shane must not be +ousted now. What with pugnacious waifs and strays from the broken +ranks of the United Irishmen; what with the honesty of a small band of +senators, and the rapacity of the remainder, there would be a very +pretty fight ere this union could be jotted down in history. To make +success certain consummate tact would be required, as well as a full +purse. Every vote would be of enormous worth; Castlereagh in his +latest bulletin had computed the votes of ordinary M.P.'s at £5000 a +head. The title of Glandore carried with it parliamentary pressure +of many kinds; direct or indirect influence over constituencies, as +well as weight in the Upper House. If all this influence were +transferred from Shane to Terence, it would be used on the wrong side. +He would certainly join Lords Downshire and Powerscourt and other +troublesome persons, who dared to flout the King; would sneer at +English marquisates and be faithful to the errors which beset an +heir-presumptive. It behoved the chancellor to be cunning on this as +on other points. There was no telling what might happen next, in so +singularly involved a complication as this of the Glandore family. Two +points only were quite apparent. Terence, the real earl, must not go +into captivity. Shane, the sham earl, must be retained in his +position, at least until he had borne his share in securing the +success of the Great Measure.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Castlereagh arrived presently at Ely Place, he disturbed his +colleague's complacency by hints of difficulty independent of money or +of votes. Not only was the scatter-brained school-lad Robert Emmett +back in Ireland (this was no news); but he was showing that he was a +cockatrice indeed. All his acts were watched, his intentions known; +but he was doing considerable damage already to the cause of +Government, and bade fair to make himself still more objectionable. He +was actually starting the foolish old plots again which had only been +allowed to run their course at all for state reasons, and which were +now altogether preposterous and out of date. He prated of tying +together the ravelled strands of the confederacy. Major Sirr had +intelligence of midnight meetings of the good old kind, with passwords +which everybody knew. Had even seen a wonderful green uniform, with a +cocked hat like a merry-andrew's at a fair, which was being +manufactured for the younger Emmett.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The boy is an honest boy,' Lord Castlereagh averred. 'He is simply +running his head against a wall. It would be well to save him from the +effects of his own lunacy, if possible; a strait waistcoat would fit +him better than his fancy dress.'</p> + +<p class="normal">This was annoying news, but it was not all. The state of the country +was unsafe, and Lord Cornwallis was of opinion that, unless the +measure could speedily be finished off, difficulties might arise which +it was the interest of all parties to avoid. Time was when the lash +and halter were salutary instruments; but now it was essential that +they should be used no more. Agrarian outrages were becoming ominously +frequent. Not only property was in danger, but life too. Not merely +the life of the low scum, which of course didn't matter, but the +precious lives of lords and ladies. Some lords, indeed, the +remembrance of whose performances on the triangle made them specially +unpopular, had been obliged to surround their mansions with foreign +troops, and were delighted to escape from the homes of their +forefathers to the safer atmosphere of Dame Street and the Castle. Was +not that awkward? Even that was not all! Here was something worse. At +the time when the English militia regiments were drafted into Ireland +for the protection of the proprietors, it was agreed that their +enforced stay should not exceed a certain period, with option of +eventually returning home or lingering on as might be deemed +convenient. The specified time was up now. In a wild chorus--as eager +as the Viceroy's private solo--they all declared that they would not +remain on Irish soil a moment longer than they could help. Even the +strong influence of Lord Cornwallis, who kept his solo for his private +bedchamber when his nightcap was on, could only obtain a month or +two's delay. Things were shaky. Another Hurry might be brought about +unless those in office were careful and it would be monstrous +inconvenient if such a contingency were to take place.</p> + +<p class="normal">This, according to Lord Castlereagh's account, was in the future. Let +us look at the present, which was sad enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">The melancholy convoy started for Fort George. Women, children, and +strong men crowded to the quay, and wept as the martyrs were wafted to +their prison. Young Robert Emmett was seen to wave his hand from a +window towards Tom, who stood at the ship's bows to take his last look +at Erin. So soon as the vessel was out of sight, the young man kneeled +down by the open casement with both arms aloft, and swore an oath +there to repel the Sassenagh yet, or perish in the attempt. Many of +those who were wearily plodding homeward recognised his figure and his +action, and, kneeling too, registered their vows in concert. All the +first leaders of the United Irishmen who were not dead were on board +that transport; and Robert, left alone, set to work with a will (as +Castlereagh graphically put it) to batter his head against a wall. He +engaged mysterious premises, decayed warehouses in back slums, from +out of which came by-and-by the hum of many voices, the clang of many +anvils. The Battalion of Testimony peeped through the keyholes, and +were mightily amused. This infantile echo of the preparations of '96 +and '97 was diverting--a right jovial jest--a jolly jape! They related +to Major Sirr and his crony, Cassidy, all they had seen and heard, and +those worthies roared too, till tears of exhausted merriment ran down +their cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young enthusiast's guileless arrangements for driving the +Englishry into the sea were ridiculous, no doubt. He kept the details +of them to himself, never telling those who loved him of them. As they +were not in the habit of looking through keyholes, they knew not that +he was working in earnest; that he had determined in his own mind, +should the union pass, to make the first shaking out of the united +flag upon the Castle his signal for attack; when a handful of +scatter-brains, as unpractical as himself, should storm the Castle, +kill the Viceroy, proclaim Ireland free, and the Act of Union a +valueless piece of dirty parchment. Jack Cade's rabblement was no whit +more laughable an assemblage than the army which Robert proposed to +lead to victory. The authorities consulted as to what should be done +with him, and decided that it would be safer to allow him to stir up a +little dust in the metropolis than to drive him into the provinces, +where he really might give serious trouble. It would be better to let +the affair come to a head at once, while the English militia and my +Lord Cornwallis were still at hand. It was fortunate for Government +that Robert kept his secret so well; for if his friends had been aware +of his guileless plots, they would have applied at once to the +Viceroy, who would have had no alternative but to lock up the +firebrand and allow the coals to smoulder. Not even to Sara did he +speak openly; though he certainly did let out vague hints which +frightened the damsel not a little; not even to Terence did he speak +at all--to Terence, who remained quietly in seclusion at the Abbey for +months after the vessel sailed, wondering if he was forgotten, or +whether he was set apart to head a second convoy.</p> + +<p class="normal">As for Doreen, so soon as her amazement had abated (which resulted +from the eavesdropping), it gave place to a feeling of uneasiness. Her +aunt had spoken of the disposal of her hand as a matter of +convenience, for the benefit of Shane; and she now deciphered all the +riddle which had seemed so crabbed and contradictory. With +apprehension she awaited a change in the young lord's demeanour, +expected him to play the lover, and be miserable, as orthodox suitors +are. He was undoubtedly most miserable, but he made no attempt to play +the lover. Although she knew it not, her own manner was the maiden's +safeguard. Cousin Shane, who had always been repelled by her cold +ways, felt that he might as well try to make love to a dead body as to +this full-blooded girl, who, like Terence, announced that her life was +done. Have we not read somewhere of a certain prince who espoused an +ice-maiden for the sake of her dowry? She clasped him in her arms, and +froze him slowly. Just such a bride would Miss Wolfe be to Shane. And +yet he saw that his mother was right. If Terence were somehow to learn +the secret, and to claim his own, what would become of his +illegitimate brother? His mother was right, as she always was. Lord +Kilwarden's nest-egg would keep the wolf from the door. What a pity it +could not be his without the burthen of the accompanying ice-maiden! +As he looked round he decided reluctantly that there was no other rock +to make for; that he must force his inclinations, give up Norah, +possess himself of Doreen; but the sight of her dreary face and +listless demeanour was always enough to put to rout his most firm +resolve--the while he cursed himself for his repulsion. My lady's +ghost was his companion now as well as hers. It communed with him in +the night; it whispered to him by day. The countess perceived the +leaven of fear working within him, and her burthen became, if +possible, more heavy on her back. Irresistible impulse had impelled +her to confess. An indistinct dread of open rupture between the +brothers had forced her to give Shane a reason for more considerate +behaviour towards Terence. But the shot, she found, had entirely +missed its mark. Shane was not a good man; he was gross, brutal, and +endowed with none of the attributes of the serpent. He was not like +Cassidy, for instance. If he hated a person, all the world might know +it. By virtue of his bringing-up as Chief of Blasters and King of +Cherokees, he was terribly handy with rapier and pistol; could send +his closest friend to Hades without compunction; but then it must be +done according to the rules set down by the Knights of Tara, and in +open battle, with paces marked out and seconds looking on. Like many +selfish men, he could be good-natured so long as affability was cheap. +But how grievously had my lady been mistaken in supposing that fear +would induce civility to Terence, in proportion to the wrong that he +was doing him. On the contrary, by the light of my lady's confession, +he saw Terence from such an aspect, that his hitherto colourless +dislike was turned, at once to fiercest hate. Terence was his +junior--one, too, who had brought himself, by his own acts, to +shipwreck, and had done much besides to spoil his elder's prospects. +And this fellow--six years younger than himself--was to take the bread +out of his mouth, because, forsooth, their father and mother had +postponed the mouthing of a few words!</p> + +<p class="normal">From Shane's point of view it was monstrously unjust. By right of +father and of mother he was Lord Glandore. He could not--would +not--be commonly civil to this fellow, who might, some of these days, +eject him from all that made life pleasant. Vainly his unhappy mother +argued. The case, he persisted, stood thus, and no otherwise. She +could not alter what was done, if she talked till Doomsday. Vainly she +vowed that the secret lay between him and her and Mrs. Gillin. He must +not be rude to Mrs. Gillin, or jilt her daughter, all at once. That +amourette must be allowed to dwindle by slow degrees, till it should +fade out from sheer lack of sustenance. Meanwhile he must make up to +Doreen and be civil to Terence, trusting that events would shape +themselves rightly after all. If the worst came to the worst, his +mother would speak solemnly to Terence, reminding him of the oath he +made by his father's death-bed that he would be loyal to the +elder-born, and adjure him not to stain his soul by perjury. At +mention of that circumstance Shane pished and pshawed, for at best it +was an oath wrung wrongfully from a little lad; and he felt with +dismay that if she was inclined to cling to such broken reeds as that, +her hopes could not be so rosy as she pretended. Sometimes, in +despair, he determined to throw up the game; to seek better fortune in +some foreign service; to offer his sword and courage to Austria or +Prussia; then, in reckless mood, he would veer round, swearing that he +would hold by his coronet till it was torn out of his grasp; that the +grave would be preferable to disgrace and beggary. This mood assumed +after a while the upper hand; and under its influence he did things +which capped his earlier fame as King of Cherokees, and bade fair to +land him in a madhouse.</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave way more and more to drink. His conduct became daily less +trammelled by accepted rules. He took up a passion for hunting in the +night. To his dogs, who followed their noses, it was all one whether +they tracked their prey by rays of sun or moon. To carry out my Lord +Glandore's conceit, however, it was necessary to provide flambeaux. A +number of servants, well mounted, led the way with torches over drain +and wall, and the shuddering cottiers, startled from sleep by a +nocturnal 'Tallyho!' turned round again to resume their broken rest, +muttering that it was not hell let loose, only mad Glandore.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps his uncertain future urged him to break his neck like a +gentleman; perhaps he only sought in oddity a refuge from his muddled +thoughts. At any rate, he soon became the talk of Dublin, and his +mother grew daily more haggard and more wan.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among the men whom Shane met every day in the capital was Mr. Cassidy, +who, by dint of haymaking during the brief time when the sun shone, +had materially improved his position in life. Hand and glove with +Major Sirr, who watched young Robert like a lynx, and whose private +duties on behalf of union were no less important than they had been in +preceding years, he managed to stuff his nest with comfortable +wadding, manufactured chiefly from bank-notes. He took care that +Government should know that but for him Tone would have escaped, and +Terence possibly, and many others. He cultivated the powerful, bullied +the timid, flattered the vain, duped the credulous, amused the +convivial. He received a handsome pension (as depository of awkward +secrets), which raised him for ever above the rank of a half-mounted +to that of a gentleman to the backbone; received splendid presents +from suspected persons who quaked before a vision of Fort George; laid +money by; was altogether a prosperous individual, with a band of spies +under his own orders--the flower and pride of the Staghouse garden. +And prosperity sat well upon his jolly features. Impunity gave him +<i>aplomb</i>. His clothes were handsome, his entertainments festive. He +could sing a song or crack a bottle against any man alive. He was not +puffed up by success. It was but natural that he should be elected by +acclamation a Cherokee; a Blaster; that he should be welcomed among +the set of drunken, swearing, fighting daredevils by Shane, their +leader, who had always been his patron. The influence of so merry a +blade was sure to become great amongst the rackety M.P.'s, who would +shortly be called upon to vote. Promises of great things to come were +freely made by the chancellor and his colleague Castlereagh, if those +who inclined to backsliding were well kept to the sticking-point.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now a very brilliant idea burst at the right moment from the brain of +Mr. Cassidy--an idea which showed that he understood the foibles of +his countrymen, and well knew how best to play on them. Watchful +Europe decided some time before that the Irish senate was hopelessly +disgraced, and branded its members with a verdict of moral cowardice. +They could not with truth deny the soft impeachment, yet they +attempted to justify themselves by showing that physically at least +they were no cowards. Shane was but one example out of many. 'Fighting +Fitzgerald' was even more wild than he. The palm of perfect +Cherokeeism was awarded to Lord Glandore in some measure from +consideration of his rank. The Lords and Commons made up for the moral +cowardice, of which they were notoriously guilty, by an extra amount +of blustering and ruffling. They were aristocratic bravoes. Their +hands were always on their swords. What better opportunity for a +little 'play' than diversity of political opinion? Mr. Cassidy +(newly elected to Daly's, hard by the senate-house) proposed +that covers should be laid there every day, at Government expense, +for--say--thirty or forty guests at least, who could thus be counted +upon, on an emergency, to swell the ranks of the Government party in +either House; and who, inflamed with wine and enthusiasm, would be +delighted to shoot down, or spit, on shortest notice, any unwise +person who should disagree from the opinions of their amphitryon. +This project was thought ingenious, and was acted on. The feasts +were known as 'pistol-dinners,' and took place--either at Daly's +or in a committee-room adjoining, until their <i>raison d'être</i> had +ceased--under the superintendence of Mr. Cassidy, who, wise enough to +assume for a purpose a lower seat, placed this or that lord <i>en +evidence</i>, as circumstances seemed to dictate. It was only natural +that he should push forward as much as possible his patron, Lord +Glandore; and the latter, as he grew more reckless and more +claret-stained, came to glory in the unenviable privilege, and to put +trust in the cheery friend who once was proud to be his slave.</p> + +<p class="normal">He told him his passing woes, asked his advice, and sometimes took it. +If you are sorely troubled, and in your anxiety to conceal that you +are losing your nerve, force yourself on to preposterous deeds of +prowess, there is much comfort to be obtained from the sympathetic +ring of a jolly voice, the warm clasp of a shoulder-of-mutton hand. +Cassidy, too, was so open and so innocent--so easily seen through. +Lord Glandore felt a sort of disdain for him, dubbing him, with +patrician condescension, a big grown-up baby, and so forth--even +whilst he clutched for support the giant's burly arm. And Cassidy was +no whit offended, laughing more loudly than ever as his patron's jests +waxed broader--till the windows shook again, and the sound-waves +carried a shimmer of his braying from Daly's to the House of Peers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sometimes Lord Clare deigned to encourage his satellites by appearing +in person, during an interval of debate, at a pistol-dinner, whilst +Lord Castlereagh was entertaining on a grand scale at home. Then were +toasts drunk with three times three--Government toasts, to which the +chancellor responded in a voice broken by emotion, with a lowly visage +and hand pressed on heart; toasts which were borne on the air out of +open windows to the ears of passers-by, who, scowling, hurried away. +Then, fired by his hints, the pot-valiant heroes would rush forth and +run a-muck--a right jovial way of finishing an evening from the point +of view of a Cherokee; and the chancellor, protesting that the boys +really were too lively and amusing, would return to the House alone by +the private covered way.</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening, when appearing amongst them to announce that the crisis +was close at hand, he professed to be mightily alarmed by the +proceedings of the opposition party. These were in the habit of +meeting at my Lord Charlemont's, and on this occasion, he said with +sorrow, they had dared to insult the King, in the person of his +ministers, by burning himself and Lord Castlereagh in effigy in the +middle of Stephen's Green. The chancellor said that it was most unkind +and inconsiderate. Yet with Christian meekness he implored the +faithful servants of his Majesty to take no notice of the outrage. The +result was as he intended. With a wild war-whoop the lords and M.P.'s +rose up from dinner, dragging the tablecloth with them in their zeal, +and rushed off to Stephen's Green to fight it out. The anti-unionists +were speedily put to flight, for they were few. By this means, and +such tricks as this, did the crafty minister strive to browbeat the +timid, many of whom, unassailable from any other point, were to be +coerced into submission by the bullet-test.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two only of the diners remained behind--both of whom were usually in +the very van--Lord Glandore and Cassidy. The former was much out of +sorts. The latter, certain that there was something on his mind, lay +in wait to discover what it could be. He was very fond of penetrating +other people's mysteries, was Mr. Cassidy--for it is astonishing how +an ingenious mind can turn them to its own advantage--and Mr. Cassidy +was always on the prowl to pick up stray wadding for his nest. He +therefore, with a look of concern, sat down beside my lord, whose face +lay on his arms upon the table, and rallied him about his evident +depression.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Come, come!' he cried, with a pat of his great hand. 'Sure your +lordship's head was not well seasoned in its youth. What ails ye? The +claret's good enough.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'I wish I could be drowned in it!' Shane muttered with despondency; +'and then there'd be an end. There was a Duke of Clarence killed that +way, you know--lucky fellow!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Is it kilt? 'Deed and your lordship won't come to so mean a death, +I'll warrant; though ye're mighty careless of your life--more than I'd +be if all you have was mine.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane started up with a fierce glare. Everybody's chance arrows seemed +winged to stick into his flanks. But he saw nothing in the giant's +flat, round visage but an engaging air of humour and unguarded +openness. What a good-natured face! Shane, weaker than his mother, +yearned for sympathy and consolation; the secret she had carried so +long with heroic fortitude ate into his softer fibre, and devoured +him. He was at his small wits' end to know how to act. Cassidy's warm +heart and kindly friendship might perchance suggest something. Out of +the mouths of babes and sucklings wisdom has come ere now. Acting on +the impulse, Shane, with maudlin tears, swore his dear friend to +solemn secrecy, and amidst a coruscation of cries and curses, blurted +out the story which we wot of.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What a cruel, cruel world it was!' he wailed, 'and what a bitter fate +was his! He would certainly come to be a beggar--would be thrown out +upon the world an outcast, he, who was not fitted to battle with +it--for my lady was very queer in her ways, would be certain to tell +Terence some day, just as she had told him. Why had she ever told him? +wicked and unnatural mother to cause him such harrowing grief! Why was +not Terence hanged? Why didn't they send him to Fort George? Once +taken out of sight, the chances of my lady's blabbing would be +lessened.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy sat listening to his rambling lamentations, with his +china-blue eyes staring vacantly; then hummed to himself the words of +the old song while his nimble brain was working:</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +'A jackdaw noble, glittering in the plumes<br> +Of the old race, whose honours he assumes!'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">'My lady--my lady! It's always your mother ye're bothering about,' +he said presently. 'Sure, your lordship's not tied to my lady's +apron-string!'</p> + +<p class="normal">But Shane's babble, once set going, was not to be stemmed by pertness. +He proceeded to unfold all her suggestions, mingled with his own +doubts and hopes and fears; and as he talked on, new ideas sprang into +shape, which hitherto had lain indistinct and dormant. He told of +Doreen and her fortune, and how he would like to marry her if he could +get rid of her directly afterwards--of how fortunate it was that he +had sold his parliamentary interest so well--of how Terence had +rebuked him on that subject, and what a crackbrained lunatic he +was--girt round with old-fashioned prejudice--beset with starched +quirks and rubbish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy's eyes twinkled, for he detected a glittering piece of wadding +which would suit his nest right well--a precious piece of wadding made +of revenge and self-interest interwoven--a rare piece of wadding which +should be his if craft could win it.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Would Miss Wolfe have your lordship?' he said carelessly; 'sure, it's +many a colleen that'd jump at your refined appearance, let alone your +wealth. But she----' the sentence remained unfinished, out of respect. +He would not make disagreeable remarks to his patron for anything +whatever. He therefore whistled in a deprecating and provoking manner, +while the latter echoed pettishly:</p> + +<p class="normal">'But she--what?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Maybe I'd best not tell ye! Well--if ye will have it--she--I fear +she's sweet upon another gintleman--that's bad?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane was fairly startled. It had never struck him that she could have +already given herself away--to whom? As her form began to appear +shadowy, he, with the usual inconsistency of man, began to hanker +wildly after the ice-maiden--not for herself of course, but for the +money-box.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's not possible!' he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">''Deed 'tis!' returned the other, with compassion. 'She's deep in love +with Councillor Crosbie. I've known it this long while.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane ground his teeth and sprang upon his feet. This last blow was +too much. What! this interloper was going to rob him of his birthright +and his name, and, not content with that, was also going to take the +precious ice-maiden, whose paltry little stockingful would at least +keep hunger from the pauper's door. In an access of rage Shane paraded +up and down the club-room like a tiger. Inflamed by his own critical +condition he lashed himself into savage unreasoning passion, and +Cassidy whistled softly before the fire, with his big legs stretched +out and his fists deep in his pockets, until the young man should have +attained the requisite degree of heat. Then, when he judged the +patient's temper to be sufficiently exasperated, he passed his arm +through his, and in a low coaxing voice poured poison in his ear while +the two walked. Sure, his lordship must take the bull by the horns and +act promptly, unless he was satisfied to sit with hands before him and +lose all. He must take measures to prevent Master Terence from seeing +any more of his mother or of Miss Doreen until something could be +definitely settled.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane half understood, and his blood tingled.</p> + +<p class="normal">How did his lordship's father espouse her ladyship? Was it not after +the then prevailing fashion of high-spirited Irish gentlemen? Did he +not carry her off before all competitors, as many another noble member +of the Abduction Club had carried away his bride? True, the Abduction +Club had ceased to exist five and twenty years ago; but in the present +unsettled condition of the country, there was no reason why a leaf +should not be taken from its book. Lord Kilwarden would hush the +matter up, which would merely be a little scandal, strictly limited +within the family circle. Miss Doreen would be Madam Shane: good luck +to the winsome colleen! Her money would be his--so would be the +forty-five thousand pounds for which he had sold his vote. Come what +might, then, there would be no need to talk of drowning himself in +claret--of being thrust forth a beggar in the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane listened and brightened up. The abduction idea was good, and +jumped with his Irish romance. He would marry the ice-maiden without +having to woo her--a proceeding that he knew he could not accomplish. +But how about Terence? He would interfere--knight of the rueful +countenance though he professed to be. My lady too--what should +prevent her from speaking before these arrangements could be carried +out? The ruinous words were on the tip of her tongue. Terence was at +Strogue, and bound to remain there. He could not leave the grounds +without breaking his parole.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy was delivered of a real inspiration; and nothing could be +easier than to carry it out. Did not the chancellor say only an hour +ago that the tussle was close at hand--that the Great Measure was to +be again brought forward without delay? Well then. Master Terence must +disappear. Nonsense! No <i>sbirri</i> in long cloaks as in an opera. Major +Sirr and faithful Cassidy could manage that. He could be locked up by +an error of orders just for a little. Was he not a state-prisoner on +parole? and was not the younger Emmett--foolish young scapegrace, who +thought he concealed his identity under the name of Hewitt--busily +preparing to dash his head against a wall? What easier than to suggest +that Councillor Crosbie--already so gravely compromised--had broken +his parole and gone off to join the baby-conspirators? The Battalion +would come up by dozens to swear it. They would minutely describe +where and how--the other side of the country--they had captured him a +second time; would claim rewards for doing so. Afterwards he should be +forthcoming without a hair of his head being injured--his affectionate +brother need not fear for his life. Apologies would be made if need +were (for Government seemed determined to treat him very leniently), +and all would be right as a trivet. Whether any one would speak or no, +so that later on he might assume his title, was an after +consideration. By the time he was released, Lord Glandore would have +voted; Doreen would be Madam Shane; Lord Kilwarden would have blessed +his children. The matter would be settled--Shane would be safely +provided for. If the rumour of the councillor's escape and the +breaking of his parole were deftly managed, his own friends would be +disgusted; his mother, even, would see that confession would not help +matters; Government would wash its hands of so determined a Croppy, +when, the measure carried, his influence would be null and void. It +would be very much more likely than not that those who could speak +would irrevocably decide--after the escapade which they would father +on him--that the secret must be kept for ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane was amazed and delighted. The babe and suckling had spoken +wisdom indeed--admirable! Verily the best plans are the most simple +ones, and nothing could be simpler than this. It was not possible more +cleverly to meet every difficulty, to countercheck every contingency, +than by this subtle scheme. He promised himself in the future to make +Terence a splendid allowance as a salve to his own conscience--so soon +as he held his portion of the blood-money, and Doreen's stocking and +his marquisate, and a certainty that nobody would blab. So easily are +we inclined to believe what suits us that his bugbear vanished into +the air. Terence would never know. The crisis past, the prospective +marquis would score a point before the world by laying claim to his +brother's liberty, feigning to demand it for state services, instead +of promotion in the peerage. Of course everybody would applaud so +gracious, so affectionate an act. He would receive both favours. The +clouds which threatened to smother him were melting unaccountably +before a magic wand. How strange that the man who had power to work so +potent a spell should be stupid blundering Cassidy!</p> + +<p class="normal">He clasped the giant warmly by the paw, vowing eternal gratitude if he +would see to this at once. Would he also consider as to what favour +the prospective Marquis of Glandore should ask the Government for his +dear friend--his excellent friend--his saviour?</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy laughed with a great guffaw, which was not all innocence, at +the change which his suggestions had worked. It was just possible that +things would not turn out quite as the future marquis saw them. In a +case of abduction there may be a rescue. The rescuer may carry off the +prize. What if Doreen, instead of becoming by main force Madam Shane, +were to return to the world as Madam Cassidy? The giant had an eye to +that stocking, not for his patron but himself. He also had a consuming +desire to possess its mistress--all the more that she had twice +refused him; that she had declined his acquaintance altogether since +the little party at Glas-aitch-é. It would be a fine revenge to +possess her by right of conquest--a fine revenge on her and on the +odious Terence. No; it was hardly likely that the giant intended to +permit Miss Wolfe to become Madam Shane.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">CONSIGNED TO MOILEY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When the fatal moment arrived, Dublin was agog. The influence of the +lords, so dearly purchased, was brought to bear with all its force +upon the members, for whose return to parliament they were +responsible. Jupiter was showering gold on Danæ, resolved to +consummate the sacrifice of her virtue. Debate followed debate with +unequal success. First one side considered that the day was theirs; +then the other triumphed; then the pistol-heroes rushed forth, and +howled and swaggered, and pinked their men, and returned to go on with +the argument which had been dropped in their excitement. In fact, both +parties seemed agreed as to one point only, viz., their determination +to behave in as undignified a manner as might be. It was the old story +of physical bullying doing its best to conceal moral cowardice and +turpitude--a scene of hectoring and license and vulgar abuse and +uproar, which shamed both parties in equal measure.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis had done his best. In the course of the year which +elapsed between the two attempts to carry the union he made two state +progresses--one in the southern counties and the other in the north, +and preached the millennium according to St. Pitt. Clare and +Castlereagh both laboured on in town as sure no negro slaves ever +laboured; and yet when the time came all was still provokingly +uncertain. This Irish senate was unutterably vile. Having surrendered +its scrap of virtue, it repudiated, like an irreclaimable strumpet, +even the maxim of honour amongst thieves. It was clear that further. +delay would only make matters worse by inducing senators to open their +mouths yet wider. Portentous debates occupied the Commons; the House +frequently sat all night, breaking up only at midday. Members declared +that they must give up the ghost or have a holiday; some sought refuge +among pillows and boluses from the Herculean labours of the House, +while others dragged themselves, like martyrs to the stake, through +the dense masses of the populace that had taken possession of College +Green, to cheer non-unionists with vociferous shouts, and hurl mud and +putrid eggs at unpopular legislators. On Lord Castlereagh fell the +onus of wielding the thunderbolts of Jove, and he acquitted himself of +the task most excellently. Like the chancellor, he had the 'gift of +the gab;' was not particular as to the language he employed; was well +versed in forensic Billingsgate; could return anyone, in sledge-hammer +fashion, a Roland for his Oliver. The modest were overwhelmed by +flights of astounding rhapsody; the patriotic silenced by brazen lies; +the uncertain routed by bewildering irony. As the dogmatic chancellor +(now that he no longer feared the Viceroy) trampled the peerage under +his feet, so did the clever chief secretary discomfit the Commons. +Money was poured forth lavishly; threats and promises were distributed +with profuse hands. The tussle was sharp, but none could doubt which +side would in the end prove victorious. Concerning Grattan (the man of +'82), Lord Cornwallis wrote that he was no better than an old doll. +The jaws of the ancient lion were toothless. 'Grattan,' he said, +'degraded as he is in the opinion of the respectable portion of the +community, yet has a certain influence with the Roman Catholics of +Dublin, who are disaffected, and hate British connection.' Of Curran +also he felt no dread, for the little man was no longer in +parliament--his silver tongue was gagged; he was apparently worn out +by his efforts on behalf of the state-prisoners--was sickening (as he +put it) with a 'constitutional dejection of the heart, which could +find no remedy in water or in wine.' No wonder if he felt unwell. He +saw members moved, like beasts, in droves--a picture of human +degradation never equalled since Nebuchadnezzar went to grass.</p> + +<p class="normal">Practically the question was already settled long before young Robert +looked out for the running up of the new flag. Not but what the Dublin +populace were quite prepared for riot. They seized private carriages +and tossed them into the Liffey; marched about with political +effigies, and danced round the bonfires which consumed them. All this +was very harmless vapouring in the eyes of those who yet heard the +shrieks of the victims of '98--yet saw the Reign of Terror, with its +pitch-caps, its cardings, its picketings, and triangles. No one took +heed of the street mobs, even though my Lord Clare himself, in his +carelessness, came once quite near to danger. It was on the morning of +one of the last struggles. The debate had lasted, without a pause, for +eighteen hours, and the members were wearily dispersing, when the +crowd manifested a desire to 'shilloo' the speaker, who had behaved +with refreshing patriotism. His horses were taken from his carriage, a +hundred men dashed forward to seize the pole. At this moment the lord +chancellor appeared upon the steps, with insolent chin in air, dressed +in his great flapped wig and rustling laced robes. 'Harness him to the +carriage!' cried a wag. My Lord Clare started round with an indignant +reprimand; but perceiving from his vantage-ground a sea of some ten +thousand threatening heads, he retreated backwards with caution, as a +countryman might do before a bull, flourishing a toy-pistol in his +hand, with which he swore to blow out the brains of the first man who +came within six paces of him. The extraordinary pageant moved slowly +along; so singular a spectacle that it tickled the humorous side of +the Hibernian character--the lord chancellor of Ireland walking +backwards through the mud, holding up his robes with one hand lest he +should trip over them, pointing with the other a tiny firearm at ten +thousand enemies. Sure, this alone was a glorious triumph for King +Mob. Choosing his moment, he whisked with a swift dash into a house, +the door of which withstood the battering of myriad kicks until Lord +Clare made good his escape by a back way. But there were mobs and +mobs, in Dublin as elsewhere. This one happened to be a good-tempered +mob, for the patriotic speaker had gained a point that day. But there +were other mobs abroad made up of desperate men--of men whose skins +bore the scars of the Riding-school, whose hearths were desolate, +whose homes were bereft of dear ones. It was to these, and such as +these, whom no jests could soften, that young Robert looked for the +realisation of his dream. His natural fear of bloodshed was washed +away by the woes that had been the portion of his friends. He clung to +the notion that the mantle of Theobald had fallen on his shoulders; +that as Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, so, for some +Divine reason, Theobald was punished; and that he, Robert, was to play +the part of Joshua. His green uniform failed to please him. A new one +was designed--gorgeous--of scarlet, faced with green and laced with +gold. He tried it on in secret before a glass, and minced hither and +thither to see what the figure would look like that was to storm the +Castle and kill Cornwallis in his bed. Yet, for all these childish +pranks, none could be more earnest than he, or more genuinely prepared +to do or die. The hordes of banditti which still infested Wicklow were +taken into partnership. On the signal of a rocket they were to rush to +their posts. Some were to seize the desecrated Senate-house; others to +attack Chapelizod; others to secure important streets. Young Robert +reserved to himself and a selected band of braves the sacred right of +storming the Castle and pulling down the objectionable ensign.</p> + +<p class="normal">To one only of his friends did he confide a vague suspicion of his +intentions as they approached maturity. That one was gentle Sara, whom +he bound by awful oaths, though she was in nowise fitted for a +heroine, to divulge nothing of what she knew, but to keep her chamber, +and pray there for his success. The poor child knelt by her virgin +bed, and prayed and wept with terrible forebodings. Truth to tell, he +told her very little. What was this venture which was to produce such +marvels? What means could he employ to prevent the parliament from +voting. Would he come to stand in the dock as so many had done who +were now at rest? No. By Divine mercy he had been kept in England +during the awful agony--had been specially preserved from peril. It +could not have been in sport that the beloved undergraduate had been +withheld from temptation--merely to be dashed down at last, when the +tide of bloodshed was stemmed? No, no! Sara, with scared eyes, swept +the ripples of flaxen hair from off her pure girlish brow, and rebuked +herself for want of trustful faith as she folded her hands together +and tried to pray. But her mind wandered. She could not help seeing in +memory the distracted gestures of the trail of widows--of the wives +who were worse than widows, for their husbands languished in lifelong +duress. Who was she that she might hope to fare better than they? She +was a feeble girl, who loved her father and her lover, and had no room +in her being for more than that. If any evil befel Robert, what would +become of her? Could she hope to rally? She was not one of those who +bend before a storm and rise again but little the worse for buffeting. +She was one of the sensitive sort, who may linger for a brief space +perhaps before they wither. Even strong, haughty-browed Doreen was +broken by what she had passed through. What if Sara were likewise +summoned at the last moment to pass under the yoke? She would succumb +at once. She prayed for help, and implored mercy with the desperate +energy of a young creature who clings to the sweets of life, while +tears rained down her cheeks. Doreen, looking for her by-and-by, found +the maid lying on the floor asleep, and sobbing as she slept, with +reddened lids and trembling baby lips. What was it that ailed her? +Doreen inquired tenderly. Silly chit! to allow a dream to vex her +thus. Sara said 'Yes, it was a dream;' and sent a prayer to heaven +that an idle dream--no more--the fearsome vision might prove to be.</p> + +<p class="normal">Doreen went upstairs to seek her friend, because the shadow of trouble +still hung over the inmates of Strogue Abbey, and at the best it was +not a gay house to be alone in. Now solitude reigned in its +reception-rooms, for Curran shut himself in his chamber to forget the +impending union; Shane was madly rollicking in Dublin; Terence had +disappeared, and my lady had taken to her bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, Terence had disappeared; none knew how or whither. Shane +professed bitter anger, and cried out about family disgrace, till, on +meeting the calm eye of Miss Wolfe fixed on him, he stammered and was +silent. As for her, she knew not what to think. Perceiving his +mother's grief, had he, in his chivalry, withdrawn himself, lest his +presence should add poignancy to it? But how about the breaking of his +parole? Sure, he was too honourable a man to do such a thing! She went +and took counsel of Madam Gillin, who scratched her head and looked +serious. This was a trick of Cassidy's--of that she felt quite +certain, for that worthy had shown private spite in the way he had +tried to run the young man down before. Yet what could be his object +now? She soothed Doreen's anxiety as much as possible, affecting +herself to be quite comfortable on the subject; but privately resolved +to make another attack upon the chancellor as soon as his mind was +free about the union, if the vanished one did not return. So Doreen +waited in suspense, tending her aunt, who seemed very ill, and her +young friend, who was singularly disturbed and wretched; while Mr. +Curran moped, and the Abbey was as gloomy as a sepulchre.</p> + +<p class="normal">Soon the one engrossing subject occupied every mind, to the exclusion, +for the moment, of all others. A mob, by no means so good-tempered as +that which had pursued Lord Clare, gathered about the House at the +second reading of the bill, and assumed so threatening an attitude +that the military were called out, who fired a volley among the +people, and so dispersed them. Strange beacons were seen at night upon +the Wicklow Hills. Rumour whispered that something was afoot. Timid +people wished that the crisis was well over. Major Sirr and his lambs +made a raid on a certain house, where they found a hundred bottles +filled with powder, several bushels of musket-balls, meshes of tow +mixed with tar and gunpowder, a large quantity of pikes. Of these they +took quiet possession, and drove away, without seeking to follow the +matter up. Did this point to a new conspiracy? M.P.s asked each other. +How deeply laid was it? By whom organised? Why had no arrests followed +the discovery of the stores? Rumour said that the ill-conditioned +brother of Lord Glandore was plotting again; that he had broken his +parole, notwithstanding the extreme kindness with which he had been +treated. Well, well! Some folks were born to the halter--as some are +to the purple, and others to misfortune. The sooner the great measure +was carried, and the fate of Ireland decided, the better it would be +for all parties. So said the members, as for the last time they +strolled under the shadow of the Senate-house.</p> + +<p class="normal">That last day was one of breathless excitement. All knew that the +affair was settled; yet they waited, as if in expectation of a +miracle. False reports flew hither and thither in distracting numbers. +Messengers rode out with bulletins hour by hour to Strogue and other +important country places, where fine ladies waited. Lord Clare, taking +a lesson from his recent predicament, surrounded the House with +cavalry. Foot-soldiers, with matches burning, lined the colonnades. No +demonstration of popular feeling was permitted. Those who were about +to cancel the national charter were well protected; yet seemed they +ill at ease. Many anti-unionists, seeing how hopeless was the case, +withdrew with sad looks before the third reading of the bill; others, +urged by a morbid curiosity, waited for the curtain's drop. The +lobbies were crammed; the galleries crowded. A monotonous murmur ran +along the benches. Some were ashamed, some shameless, some--too +late--sorrow-smitten. Among the latter was Lord Kilwarden, who +despatched a courier to his daughter to say that he would stop to the +last.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the hours waned, and it was night ere Doreen's father arrived at +Strogue. He was deeply, miserably dejected. So much so, that his +daughter marvelled at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">'It's all over!' he cried, in indignation mingled with contrition. +'The men who forgot their country have slain <i>her</i>, that she may not +survive to remember <i>them</i>. The slave's collar has been slipped +on--its lock snapped to for ever! But there's something yet to come. I +have a hint from Clare that there will probably be more trouble +to-morrow. Glandore told me the same thing just now, who has it, he +says, from the Staghouse people, who are sure to know. Lord Cornwallis +will have taken his measures, doubtless, for as a soldier he is above +praise. I have business with him to-morrow, so we had better return at +once to Dublin.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Now?' Doreen said, in wonder.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You are not afraid?' her father asked, with a weak smile. 'My coach +is below. Its liveries are well known. No one would harm me, thank +Heaven!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Afraid? Doreen was not given to physical fear. Then her father +explained that Shane was coming home, and with him Cassidy and some +more choice spirits, who were to close the lower rooms of the Abbey +and remain on the defensive, lest the anti-unionists should attempt +revenge.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You will be equally safe here or in Dublin, dear,' Lord Kilwarden +said. 'But I seem to think that you would prefer my company to that of +cousin Shane.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Locked up with Shane--and Cassidy! No, indeed. Knowing what she knew, +that would be too dreadful. Thanking her father with a look, she +fetched a shawl, kissed pale Sara, and, bidding her be of good cheer, +for the Abbey would be well protected, climbed into the coach, which +started forthwith for Dublin.</p> + +<p class="normal">'If Glandore is cautious, so will we be,' remarked Lord Kilwarden, +with an attempt at cheerfulness. 'Wanderers may be hanging about the +high-road, waiting for a signal in the morning. See, the beacons are +all alight along the hilltops! Do they not remind you of the time--not +so long ago--when we were expecting a French invasion? I trust the +Viceroy has been warned, for he does not comprehend our mercurial +temperament, and Sirr's people are strangely apathetic. A new regime +has begun to-night, my love, which I hope may in time bring peace to +our distracted land. My vote went for union, for I know that we are +unstable, but excellent if wisely controlled. The Scotch, you will +remember, hated their union at first. England has her way at last, so +her rule will soften, and Erin will be at peace. I know you are too +Irish to agree with me, Doreen. The young are always apt to judge +hastily of their elders, without considering that the gulf that +divides them is one of experience as well as years.'</p> + +<p class="normal">It was seldom that Lord Kilwarden became expansive on this delicate +subject with his daughter. Even between those who love each other +much, there are subjects that are best left alone. But he was +loquacious this evening, seeming anxious to deprecate a harsh verdict +on her part. His recent emotion set loose his tongue, and he chatted +softly on, explaining his motives and his views--he who was usually so +silent and reserved--as the coach rumbled over the rough by-road, +which led to the capital by a circuitous route.</p> + +<p class="normal">When its wheels died away in the distance, Sara sat down to meditate. +Robert, then, who had spoken in parables, was planning something which +would place him in peril. Perhaps she would look on him no more. She +tried to realise what that would mean for her. During the months when +he was in England she was glad not to see him, looking forward to a +happier day when he would be all hers, as side by side and hand in +hand they would stroll down the hill's shadowed side to the churchyard +at its base. She had often wondered which of them would first be +summoned hence--picturing a cosy hearth with two aged figures in the +chimney-corner, who, their career over, were awaiting a release. On +such occasions she had always decided that they would be so old--so +old--that a day or two only could possibly intervene between their +flitting. After clinging so closely one to the other, in joy and +sorrow, through a prolonged probation, but a brief space could keep +the pair asunder ere they were joined again for all eternity. So had +the simple damsel dreamed, and had been happy in her castle-building, +withdrawing her mind to the love-labour of that delicious task, from +the tragic scenes in which she wandered--in them, not of them--like +one in a mesmeric trance. But now, in the oppressive stillness, she +sat resolutely down to look upon herself as a possible actor in the +tragedy; to look for her own image among the troop of women who +importuned Heaven to call them hence. She tried to think of herself as +she had seen the widows whilst gazing on their swinging husbands--as +she had seen the mothers--stony, tearless, with their murdered sons +across their knees. But it was not possible. There are situations so +opposed to the order of things that we cannot realise them. Her mind's +retina declined to accept the image--threw it back again as one +contrary to nature; and yet it was all but certain that Robert--the +sensitive, the ardent, the enthusiastic--had deliberately placed his +foot upon the bridge of stars which conducts by a track of light to +the Walhalla--which leads by the rugged path of torment and of +martyrdom to the platform of immortality. She strove, with all the +resolution she could muster, to conjure up the dreadful picture, +but succeeded only in making her head spin round. Taking up a +taper--nervous by reason of the silence of night and her lugubrious +mental exercise--she thought she would pay a visit to her father, and +look in at my lady's door to announce Doreen's abrupt departure, and +prepare the invalid for the noisy coming of Shane and of his guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">She moved through the chintz sitting-room--past the dark staircase, +grim in the flicker of her candle with the panoplies of swords and +antique armour--into the great hall with its black oak panels, and was +turning to the left, where a rise of a few sculptured steps led into +my lady's bedchamber, when her attention was arrested by a noise. What +was that? A hum and subdued clatter--growing louder--louder--as it +approached. It must be Shane and his convoy--many horsemen, judging by +the sound. Was the danger then so pressing? Her heart beat fast. They +would bring certain news, that was some comfort; anything was better +than lying on this rack.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, it was Shane's party. There was a ring of many hoofs as the +riders wheeled round the turn of the avenue on the crisp gravel under +the ancient archway into the stable-yard. Shane's voice could be +plainly detected adjuring his guests to abstain from needless noise, +since the countess lay ill. Leaving their horses there, they came +round to the front on foot, where Sara met them, unbarring the door +herself, an apparition of innocence against the background of that +gloomy hall. There was Shane, somewhat the worse for liquor, flushed +and wild, his hair unribboned, his boots caked thick with mud; and +Cassidy smart and neat in a riding-coat, with capes of many colours, +and a high-peaked hat of silvery beaver--wondrous fine; and half a +dozen followers, evidently not of gentle birth, who bowed with +servility to the young lady and sidled cringing along the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The vision of Sara surprised them not a little. 'This was not proper +in ticklish times,' Cassidy cried out, after the authoritative manner +of a parent. 'Young ladies should not open doors alone at night. +How did she know that the party were not Croppies, intent on +murder--villainous rapscallions who ought to be strung up, every man +jack of 'em? There were hosts of such about. What was Miss Wolfe +thinking of--she who had a head upon her shoulders--to permit of such +imprudence?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Where were the servants?' Shane shouted, forgetful of his mother's +health. 'Wine, wine! at once; and beds for these honest gentlemen. +They were come to stop for a few days, and must be treated well.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara struck the bell to summon the servants, and said that Doreen had +started an hour since for Dublin--with her father.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane and Cassidy exchanged glances, and both looked put out. 'Gone to +Dublin! where--what for?' stammered Shane, disconcerted. 'I told my +uncle this very day that I intended to bring some friends to help to +defend the house, that his anxiety on her account might be at rest. +How imprudent--how silly--how provoking--when the Croppies are +mustering along the quays!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy frowned him to silence. Where did her father take her? Sure, +he would bring her back again? How was it they had not met his +carriage on the road?</p> + +<p class="normal">'They were gone to the Castle,' responded Sara, beginning to be +frightened, 'where they would doubtless be quite safe. What was this +about Croppies along the quays? Oh! would they please tell her +something? People seemed all agreed to keep things back, as if she +were a child. Croppies, did he say? Were not Croppies put down long +since? Who was their leader?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Croppies 'tis,' grunted Cassidy. 'They'll be at it by this time, the +fools! Who's their leader? That young donkey Emmett, who'll swing for +it--the idiot!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara clung to a heavy piece of furniture. Like cold steel the +certainty cut through her brain that her edifice of cards, erected in +simple faith, would fall--had tumbled ere this perhaps; that the +tender intercourse of years was not to be; that she was destined to +bear her portion of the common cross. She was all at once convinced +that Robert and she would never meet upon this globe again. She +essayed to speak, but her head whirled; lights danced with shifting +colours before her eyes; the floor seemed to heave and rise in +billows--yet she did not faint. The servants had brought candles which +burned blue and dim and danced up and down, changing to red and green +and violet a long way off. She was aware somehow that after a brief +consultation Shane had countermanded the claret--that his obsequious +friends had received new orders--that the party, donning cloaks again, +had mounted and gone clattering away by the unused by-road. The +hall-door--wide open--admitted a chill gust which set the candles +guttering, but revived her perturbed faculties. Staggering against the +doorpost, the girl watched the beacons on the hills, as, fed with +furze, they flared up and glowed awhile, then dwindled and died out +one by one. She looked across the bay towards Dublin, which was like +an anthill possessed by glow-worms, beyond a black abyss. With +straining eyes she looked. What would she not have given to know what +was passing there? Was Cassidy merely playing off an untimely jest on +her by saying what he did? No. Her sick heart whispered that it was +all true. Robert's mysterious parable of good things in store clung +cold about her heart like a dead hand. Perhaps at this very instant he +was being slain--better even that than that he should be taken and +undergo the mockery of justice, and pass as others passed--upon the +scaffold. Oh! that ardent face--transfigured and inspired by his pure +enthusiasm--was she indeed no more to look on it? Was she--see! what +was that! A rocket soared into the air from the glow-worms' hill, +turning the deep blue to sable, and bursting, vanished in a shower of +sparks. What could that mean? It must be a signal. What did it +portend? Sara swung-to the heavy door, and, drooping on a sofa, sat +down and waited.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">ATÉ.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Robert (or Mr. Hewitt, for so was he enrolled among the chalked-up +inmates of the lodging where he dwelt) betrayed no less emotion than +the rest of Dublin citizens when the word flew from mouth to mouth +that as an independent nation Ireland was extinguished. He and a few +trusty followers were waiting for the official announcement of +Ireland's disgrace in their depot--a shambling set of outhouses +situated near Merchant's Quay. Sirr's raid, whereby he captured so +much material, was annoying no doubt; but Robert was full of his star +and the mantle that Theobald had thrown to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course when the Castle was captured, Dublin would surrender without +a blow. He had his scheme prepared, which was instilled into the minds +of the Wicklow banditti. They were to creep to their posts at +nightfall and await his signal--a rocket; then to rush from different +points upon the Castle, choosing the narrowest streets in order that +if attacked their peculiar style of warfare might prove effective. In +a narrow passage, he argued, the pike--a weapon nine feet long--is +more telling than a musket with its bayonet. The people in the houses +might of course be expected to take part against the military, and +give them a warm reception from the housetops with a galling fire of +bricks and coping-stones. If necessary they might be employed in +dragging up the pavement in the rear of the King's troops, to expose +the new-made drains as pitfalls. In any case the regulars, thrown into +confusion, would roll over each other, and, helpless in a choked +thoroughfare, might be piked and stoned to a man. At prearranged +turnings, barriers were to be thrown up, constructed of carts, doors, +hogsheads. This would be done in a few seconds by the willing help of +surrounding inhabitants. In all cases the pikemen were bidden to +advance at a brisk trot that weight might counterbalance defective +discipline; intrepid men being stationed at the ends of every rank to +keep the masses compact and prevent wavering.</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert's own position (and the rallying-point in case of retreat) was +to be the watch-house which stood on the Old Bridge, and which +commanded the narrow entry by which troops would come, if sent for, +from Chapelizod. From the tower which crowned the watch-house he would +send up his rocket; then, allowing time for the marching of the +different divisions to their respective posts, he would leave a +sufficient body there to hold the bridge, and hurry to the Castle +gates, lest some one might steal the envied privilege of dragging down +the detested flag. Elaborate were his arrangements in theory with +regard to barricades. Beams had been left lying about with prearranged +carelessness, ready to be picked up and slung at a moment's notice. As +he donned his uniform--scarlet coat with gold epaulettes, white vest, +pantaloons of tender grey--his first-lieutenant (one Quigley, a baker, +who rejoiced exceedingly in a huge green plume) remarked with regret +that perhaps their object would have been best achieved by taking a +hint from Fawkes. 'Nothing could have been easier, and if successful +more complete. Sure, it was the want of a reform in the senate that +had brought Erin to this plight. The senate destroyed, she might begin +again on the basis of '82, with hope refreshed and a clean slate.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert looked with displeasure at his truculent lieutenant.</p> + +<p class="normal">'What! There were women in the galleries. Destroy the innocent with +the guilty, by the hundred?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Haven't they kilt thousands--women and children galore--bad luck to +'em!' retorted the bellicose baker. 'After all, there was no fear of +the escape of the guilty now. The hand of the avenger should seek out +the recreants and put them to the edge of the sword--stem, root, and +branch; their houses should be heaps of stones; their homes be made +desolate. The world would applaud the vengeance of the downtrodden!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert was displeased by his lieutenant's views. He who by +constitutional instinct so dreaded bloodshed, had battled with his +fears and girded on the sword of Joshua, carried above physical +antipathies by the sacred cause of the oppressed. Yet was it with a +secret terror that he listened to such language as that of the +gentleman with the green plume. It filled him with loathing. Thank +Heaven that he, the chief, was there to keep the men in order, and +temper justice with mercy! The goddess of justice, he believed, should +appear white and shining, not dabbled with the gore of those who had +done no wrong. So he tried to reason with himself. The work of Joshua, +if the legend was to be believed, had been a bloody one, which +ascended with a sweet savour of sacrifice in the nostrils of a +vengeful Deity. If it was the will of stern Justice that the sinful +brethren should be slaughtered, and with them the innocent, why, then +responsibility was taken from his hands, and it would be presumption +to attempt to dictate.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not without a certain trepidation that Robert scanned the +timepiece, watching its moving hands. The Commons were still +sitting--the farce was not quite over. An hour or two might elapse +before the hateful flag was run up to its place. He employed the time +in exhorting his followers--there were only fifty of them--to behave +with continence to the conquered foe.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Some of us,' he said, 'may be called to join the band of those who +have already given their lives on the scaffold, or on the field. Let +not that distress you. Right is on our side if we commit no crimes. +Eternal fame is worth more than a few years on this sad earth. The +reputation of the few who fall in our holy cause will abide after +them, a precious legacy to those whom they love and honour, to those +whom they have snatched from slavery--for whom they are proud to +perish.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He talked himself into an exalted fervour, which swept away his +scruples. His followers, too, were caught by his enthusiasm. They +vowed that no evil deed should smirch their banner; that what they +fought for was liberty--the hacking off of chains; that they would +give to Europe an example of high-minded patriotism,' unblemished by +petty license.</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert was relieved and grateful. It was close on midnight when he +drew his sword, and crying, 'Boys, come on!' dashed forth into the +street. Though so late, the citizens were not in bed, but standing at +their doors and windows discoursing of that which was now an +accomplished fact. They looked at the insignificant knot that ran +cheering past with consternation.</p> + +<p class="normal">What manner of men were these who carried sheaves of pikes? What was +this youth in martial garb, who waved over his head a sabre? Robert +and his lieutenants harangued the citizens, distributed weapons, +dragged some who wavered to the depot, where they would find arms and +ammunition. They were soon the centre of a delirious crowd, who jumped +and sang and danced like maniacs. The lad's hopes beat high, his face +beamed with excitement. Heaven had answered promptly; recruits were +gathering like sand. Women and children rushed about screaming; wives +tugged at their husbands' garments, imploring them to come away, lest +peradventure their end should be the gallows. Some one called out that +the soldiery were upon them, and then the warriors just now so valiant +fled with precipitation up alleys, courts and lanes, dropping their +pikes, tearing at those in front who impeded their flight, rolling +over and over in the frenzy of their haste to wriggle out of +musket-range. Brutality and cowardice are the corollaries of slavery; +both made themselves conspicuous on this dreadful night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Finding that it was a false alarm (for the soldiers were on guard half +a mile away, about the Senate-house), those who a moment since were +crouching behind their wives, surged out again as if to protest by +deeds against involuntary panic, and ran with yells after the youth in +scarlet. To the Old Bridge was a few paces. They gave a prolonged howl +as they came in sight of it, which echoed and re-echoed along the +Liffey banks, and penetrated even to the Castle, where Lord +Cornwallis, his mind relieved in that the work was done, was +congratulating the smirking chancellor on the final success of the +grand measure. Both started and looked at one another. What a strange +uproar! Could it be thunder? Lord Clare opened the casement and peered +out. A rocket rose into the air and burst; another howl--louder, more +prolonged than the first one. Lord Clare closed the window quietly and +shrugged his shoulders, muttering, as he secured the hasp:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Sirr was right, then. I really could scarce credit that they should +be such idiots. Yet are they silly enough for anything.' Then turning +with a sour smile to the Viceroy, he said: 'Thank goodness, it's well +over. This ferment is not worth considering. How can I do otherwise +than blush at being an Irishman? My Lord Castlereagh thinks, as I do, +that the work we have this day finished is a subject for universal +thanksgiving.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Singularly enough, the sympathy of the Viceroy was not with his +colleagues my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, but with those who were by +this time brandishing their pikes in Thomas Street, for he pitied the +deluded people sorely whose flame of rebellion against the inevitable +was making this last melancholy flicker.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Union was a fact now. It was done; and would ultimately, so soon +as sores were healed, be productive of much good, for the people would +be protected by a distant but temperate master against the turbulent +raging of their own factions. But for all that, this desperate handful +who preferred death to slavery, were more worthy of respect than the +polished gentleman before him who had sold his own brethren into +bondage. So thought the Viceroy; but Lord Cornwallis, bluff soldier +though he was, had learned to school his features. He therefore +contented himself with observing that nocturnal rioting must be put +down, and that the chancellor had better accept a bed in the Castle, +considering that if he ventured out among the rioters he would +certainly be torn to pieces. Then glancing down into Castle-yard, +which was full of soldiers, he bade his guest good-night, and retired +to the solitude of his own chamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">Arrived at the Old Bridge, Robert let off his rocket, while the +ever-increasing crowd gibbered and hallooed. The night was very dark. +In the transient flare the expectant mob beheld a martial figure that +glittered with gold braid, waving a big sword. A grand figure +entirely--who was he? no matter. With him they would fall or conquer, +they declared, though the majority of the mob were hazy as to the work +which there was to do. The word was given and rippled along the ranks: +'To the Castle, to slay the tyrant!' 'To the Castle, to the Castle!' +they all yelled and bellowed helter-skelter up Thomas Street, for the +object was plain and praiseworthy--to storm the palace of the Viceroy. +Robert led the way, brandishing his immense blade; the bellicose baker +looked after the rear. Both exhorted as many as were within hearing to +steadiness and calm. But those behind pushed those who were in front. +It was as much as Robert could do to keep his feet. Vainly he bawled. +Nobody heard him any more, for all were chattering like excited +monkeys; nobody in the dense blackness could distinguish his uniform. +He had let a torrent loose, but could not guide it. Half-way up Thomas +Street he became conscious of a diversion--the pressure to the front +became weaker--something unexpected was happening at the farther +extremity of the thoroughfare. The mob were gesticulating--heaving to +and fro. Was it a surprise? Were the military come in from Chapelizod? +Had they beaten down the little watch-house garrison, or had +they--forewarned--approached the scene of action by another route? The +bellicose lieutenant would need assistance and counsel--pray Heaven he +was staunch! Their leader buffeted with the mob, but they heeded him +not. It was essential that he should see what was passing, that he +should fly to the succour of his second in command, who was battling +with this human maelstrom. How dark the night was! The moon, which was +at the full, was clouded over. Raising himself on the steps of a +house, he strained his eyes over the sea of faces and detected little +lights--flambeaux apparently, which tossed and floundered, then went +out. This could be no military attack. The men must be committing some +outrage upon persons who had fallen into their hands--innocent persons +possibly, who, according to the tenets of the baker, were to suffer +for the transgressions of the guilty. Robert was in an agony, for the +monster he had conjured into life refused to hearken to his chiding. +He cried that the cause must not be sullied, that pure-souled patriots +must not play the night-assassin; but his voice was as the buzzing of +an insect. 'Forward!' he shouted till he was hoarse; 'forward to the +Castle!' He might as well have shouted to the ocean. Those about him +pushed and elbowed, screaming wild oaths and execrations; for, unable +to see what was going on, they were half-fearful of treachery, +half-anxious to bear their part. Despite his gay accoutrement Robert +found himself crushed against a railing, till his ribs threatened to +collapse under the pressure. With a supreme effort he shook himself +free, and fell backwards through a doorway. He recognised it--how +lucky! It led by a narrow alley into the adjoining road, which ran +parallel with Thomas Street. Sure, this was another mark of Heaven's +approbation; for by following it he could skirt the mob, and, running +round, discover the cause of the diversion. The adjoining road was +empty; the terrified householders had closed their doors and shutters +and, trembling, were peeping through the chinks. Painful experience +had taught them caution. As he sped along, his feet pattering +strangely in the solitude, Robert could catch the murmur, as of water +dashing upon rocks, over the roofs, a house-thickness off. Running +with all his speed, he turned the corner and flung himself against the +rolling swell; beheld with despair a coach--one whose liveries he knew +of old--rocking and swaying in danger of being upset, while the horses +plunged wildly and the coachman sat paralysed, with a pistol at his +ear. The door had been rent from its hinges; the silken curtains hung +in tatters. One of the occupants, a man of fine presence and middle +age, had been dragged out, and lay upon the stones surrounded by a +crew of savages. The other, a woman, leaned out of the carriage, +imploring help in dumb show for the man upon the ground. Convulsed +with horror, Robert forced a passage with the flat of his sabre. One +light--the single flambeau which had escaped extinguishing--threw a +ghastly glare on the surge of scowling ruffians. Blood trickled from +the forehead of the man upon the ground; upon his black satin vest and +smallclothes, upon his cambric shirt, as he strove to rise. He +staggered up, clutching at a wheel, and waved his hand to obtain a +hearing. 'Good people,' he panted, but his words reached those only +who stood close by, 'I have never done you harm. I am Kilwarden, chief +justice of the King's Bench.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Justice!' gibed the baker. 'She's gone long since where you shall +follow her!'</p> + +<p class="normal">The mob, which had ebbed in a momentary recoil, flowed forward again +with a rush. A dozen pikes were poised and fell. Doreen, who could see +what passed within the circle, tossed her helpless arms and filled the +night air with shrieks; while Robert, distracted, beat his breast and +tore his hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">A sharp ring of hoofs clattered on the road--nearer--nearer--nearer +still. A band of horsemen were approaching at a gallop from the quay; +behind--in the distance--a host of cavalry; from the opposite +direction the tramp of many feet. The Castle-gates had been opened; +the infantry were pouring forth; the mob, finding itself hemmed in, +smote right and left in a frantic effort to escape.</p> + +<p class="normal">The smaller band of horsemen, headed by Shane and Cassidy, were the +first to reach the coach. They drew their <i>couteaux-de-chasse</i>, and, +beating aside the unwieldy pikes, which were too long for such close +quarters, trampled the insurgents down.</p> + +<p class="normal">'The lady, Lord Glandore!' Cassidy shouted. 'Now's your time!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Oh, save her!' raved Robert, in remorse. 'My God, what have I done? +Save her, Lord Glandore!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane stretched out his hand towards his cousin. Chance was favouring +him. Under pretext of protecting her, the project planned by the giant +could without difficulty be accomplished now. Doreen shrank back.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Begone!' she wailed, filled with the anguish of that heap upon the +ground. 'What have you done with your brother--bastard!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane winced, as from a whip-cut on the cheek. She, too, then knew the +fatal secret; but it mattered not, for she was in his power. The +military were closing in upon the mob. In the scurry and the darkness +he would bear her far away. He was well known; what more natural than +that her cousin should rescue the bereaved Miss Wolfe from such a +scene?</p> + +<p class="normal">Dismounting, he strode over the corpse of Lord Kilwarden, and calling +on his friends to rally round the coach, prepared to withdraw it from +the <i>melée</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon hearing the name, twice repeated, the man who had held the pistol +to the coachman's ear turned sharply round.</p> + +<p class="normal">'You then are Lord Glandore?' he asked. 'The curse of God has found +you, murderer! You and a few like you slew my father four years agone +in sport on Stephen's Green! Do you recall it? He was only an old +man--a shoemaker. Maybe you don't, for you've done many such deeds, +and you were drunk!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Shane thrust the importunate babbler aside, and ordered the coachman +to urge on his horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I've waited for my revenge all this while, my lord,' muttered the +man, 'and you don't escape me now.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Raising his pistol with steady aim, he shot Shane through the heart, +and, diving, vanished in the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cassidy was taken aback. Hitherto everything had moved according to +his desire. Were his well-constructed schemes to be disconcerted now? +He looked up the street and down the street at the compact bodies of +troops advancing, then with a rage of longing at Doreen. Yes! his plan +was overthrown; a new one must spring out of its ashes. Shane, by +virtue of his cousinship, might have borne the young lady with safety +through the ranks. He, Cassidy, could hope for no such privilege. +Well, better luck next time. But it would not do to lose his footing +at Strogue Abbey. <i>Le roi est mort; vive le roi!</i> He bethought him of +a certain prisoner within the provost, kidnapped the other day, whose +position was quite changed by that untoward pistol-shot. All things +considered, Mr. Cassidy could not have acted with more wisdom than he +did. He left Doreen to the tender mercies of the soldiery, and spurred +with utmost speed towards the provost.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">MOILEY'S LAST MEAL.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Doreen speedily recovered her presence of mind, shaken for an instant +by the sudden shock of the predicament in which she found herself. The +ringleaders of the riot were, with a few exceptions, netted. The young +officers of militia, many of whom had danced at balls with the +beautiful Miss Wolfe, were loud in their outcry over the tragedy, +vociferous in promises of vengeance. Would she wish the rascals to be +lashed, or would pitchcaps please her fancy? The malefactors should +swing, every one; that would be a comfort to her, no doubt. +Excruciating cats should be manufactured to oblige her. No punishment +could be too severe for wretches who had dared to kill two members of +the peerage. Where should they take their beautiful charge? Would she +go to the Castle, or to her lamented parent's mansion? Wherever Venus +liked, there would Mars escort her. Disciplined by sorrow, Doreen +could even at this dark hour consider the grief of others before her +own. The Countess of Glandore was sick and shattered. Since Terence's +vanishing she had returned to the condition of an owl; what would be +the effect on her frayed nerves of the sudden death of her favourite +son? Doreen decided, postponing the consideration of her own loss, to +drive at once to Strogue, lest tidings should reach her aunt more +abruptly than her state would warrant.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was dawn when Miss Wolfe reached the Abbey--the cold raw dawn of +early summer, when nature asserts her right to live despite the +tyranny of winter--and she was seized with a new pain on entering the +hall; for wan Sara was sitting where she had sank down, to await she +knew not what. Alas! for her, too, was she a bearer of evil tidings, +and Sara read them on her face, and sighed. The look of deep +compassion told but too plainly that her worst forebodings were +realised; and that, as a daughter of Erin, she must accept her +place in the grim procession of the bereaved. She did not ask for +news--preferred, indeed, to hear none, for what news was there that +could bring aught but misery? Like a tired child she closed her eyes, +and clung to the older maiden in a mute entreaty not to be left alone. +This speechless sorrow was painful to witness. The offices of Miss +Wolfe were needed elsewhere, for there was another in the stricken +household who must be attended to before the sad <i>cortège</i> should +arrive. My lady would have to be told that she had lost both a brother +and a son. It was with relief then that she heard a creaking on the +stairs and perceived Mr. Curran coming down, who, by his appearance, +had evidently not been to bed. She, who had learned what loss is, knew +the full value of a father's love. Beckoning him to his daughter, she +disentangled the cold fingers from about her neck and went away to my +lady's bedroom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran was himself in dolorous mood. Extremely troubled by the +rocket which he too had seen, and by hints which, during the past +week, had reached him through the proprietress of the Little House, he +had been unable to sleep. Groaning in spirit he saw the shambles +reopened; the reign of terror recommenced. His country was dead now; +Moiley had eaten her up to the last crumb. Might not the sacrifice of +her existence bring peace unto her sons? As leaning his cheek upon his +hand he sat looking across the tranquil bay at the twinkling lights +beyond, his heart became exceeding sorrowful while he reviewed the +efforts of his life. Memory stood by in a sable robe. Though he had +held himself erect whilst others grovelled; though his courage had +remained unshaken whilst others quaked and fawned; how little--how +very little--it had been given to him to accomplish! Yet there was +nothing he had wittingly left undone. His political honour was so +bright that malice could detect no stain on it. He had worked for +others--not for himself. Instead of lifting himself as he might have +done above the stormy agitation of his time, he had clung to the +heaving of the wave--to rise and fall with it--perchance to be dashed +with it upon a rock--with how little result--how little--how very +little! Yet he saw not how he could have acted otherwise. As dawn +began to sparkle on the bay, he took up a book to change the current +of his pondering--a volume of the grand Greek poets. It opened at the +'Seven Against Thebes,' and he read thoughts which were a painful echo +of his own. 'The happiest destiny is never to have been born; the next +best to return quickly to the nothingness from which we came.' Grand +old Titan Æschylus! Was that all his genius could discern? Never to +have been born! Was that the conviction of the great philosopher? Mr. +Curran looked out on the panorama stretched before him, as fair a +prospect as man may desire to look upon. The glittering waters were +strewn with flakes of silver; the looming hills steeped in a golden +haze. The beautiful world! Was its beauty a mockery of human +trouble--no more? It seemed so. Those lovely hills were teeming with +desperate men, reduced by the branding-iron of oppression to the +condition of wild beasts. In the blue shadow of those picturesque +ravines were cottages--charred, unroofed, deserted. That fairy +city that mirrored its whiteness in the bay--glistering, +silver-crowned--had been but t'other day the scene of perhaps the most +hideous carnival of human wickedness which ever disgraced humanity. +Perchance even at this very instant, while the wizened little man was +gazing out so dreamily, fresh horrors were being enacted. Truly, +'twere the happiest of destinies never to have looked on the false +sheen of the sepulchre at all. But though we may drag at them, the +tough fibres of existence are deeply imbedded in our flesh.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran, from his station, marked the return of Lord Kilwarden's +coach--the pallid concern of the servants, who were speaking in hushed +tones, as though in the awful presence of the Pilgrim. He went +downstairs to learn what had happened. It was worse than he expected. +Deluded Robert--insane enthusiast! Alas! The advocate would have to +stand forth yet once again and wrestle for a life; would have to rouse +himself from his dejection to do all that was possible to save this +lad. With the urgent need for action Mr. Curran recovered his mental +steadiness. He resolved to seek tidings at once of Robert and of +Terence; to raise his voice in their behalf. Were both concerned in +the disastrous riot? Were both captured? had both escaped? As he rode +past the Little House, Madam Gillin called out that she had something +to say. Anxious, on account of Terence's disappearance, the kind lady +had sent Jug into town for several days past to ferret out the truth. +The hag had discovered that men had been remarked loitering about the +Abbey gates; that Terence one evening had been observed by a passing +peasant to emerge into the road and go to the water's edge; that there +he had been accosted by these self-same suspicious men, who had a boat +with them. It was certain that Terence had never been seen in the +neighbourhood of young Robert's <i>depôt</i>, or in the <i>mélée</i> of last +night. Hence it was clear that he had departed. Where and why? Was it +of his own accord? As for Robert, he was not among the captives. Jug +examined them every one, as, heavily ironed, they were marched to +Kilmainham in detachments. A man in a uniform plastered thick with +gold was rowed out to sea by four sturdy rowers an hour or two ago. In +all probability that man was Robert, who had provided for his escape +by means of one of the many vessels that were cruising in the Channel. +Utterly mad in all other ways, he had shown prudence and forethought +in this. He was gone. His noble young life would not be thrown away +for nothing--he whose sin was too fond a love for unhappy motherland.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Curran gave a sigh of thankfulness. Small mercies keep us from +breaking down at times. This was good news, at any rate. With courage +revived, he could go to the Castle now and demand with a high hand +that inquiries as to the fate of Terence should be set afoot. If +anything unpleasant was said about Emmett, he could snap his fingers +in the Viceroy's face--for the boy was gone, thank goodness, out of +his clutches. Moiley would grind her gums for her last morsel in vain. +The hungry ogress! She had eaten Ireland and quaffed the best blood of +Ireland's children. Her appetite was delicate, it seemed, and +clamoured for the best. She declined to lunch off the Battalion of +Testimony. The flesh of Sirr and Cassidy was bitter, and she spat it +out. She absolutely refused even to nibble, much less to swallow, +either of these honest gentlemen.</p> + +<p class="normal">At mention of Cassidy, Gillin, whose cheeks had puckered into dimples +at Curran's badinage, grew grave again. She felt, scarcely knowing +why, that Cassidy had something to do with the affair of Terence, who +was Earl of Glandore, secret or no secret, now. The difficulty had +been solved in a quite unexpected manner; and in her heart of hearts +the worthy woman was glad, though she would have to abandon her desire +of seeing Norah adorning the assembly of the <i>élite</i>. Ah! deary me, +she sighed to herself. There were other fish in the sea. Norah was a +comely colleen, who would get a good husband somehow--maybe a better +one than Shane would ever have made, though he was lord of broad acres +and had a coronet to bestow on the girl who touched his fancy. But +where was the new Earl of Glandore? Curran trotted off to make it his +business to find out.</p> + +<p class="normal">This last armed attempt to free Ireland was the vulgarest and weakest +of riots, which would never have been recorded, or have occupied any +place in history at all, but for the unfortunate murder of the Lord +Chief Justice and his nephew. Their fate--especially that of Lord +Kilwarden, who was a kindhearted gentleman--demanded a scapegoat. +Foolish young Robert was the first cause of the disaster. It was +essential that he should be held up as an example. Could anything be +more provoking than that he should get away? Perhaps he was not +gone--perhaps he had landed somewhere. The town-major was commanded to +scour the country in all directions. His battalion was well paid and +had been very idle of late. It was time that its members should do +some service to earn their bread-and-butter. Such were the orders +which issued from the Castle, and Curran knew well that they did not +emanate from Lord Cornwallis. He was not much surprised, therefore, +after crossing Castle-yard, to be ushered into a morning-room, +garnished with a huge bureau, at which was sitting, in handsome black +velvet trimmed with sable fur, the Chancellor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare beheld with evident pleasure the entrance of his enemy, the +man who had been his stumbling-block through his career; for this was +the moment of his triumph. He held out his jewelled fingers with a +polished bow; rasped out a welcome in his least pleasant voice; and +explained that, in the overflow of labour which sprang from the +details of yesterday's Great Measure and last night's deplorable +catastrophe, both Viceroy and Chief Secretary were so worked off their +legs that they had been delighted to accept of his poor services for +the transaction of ordinary business.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare was rather sorry for Kilwarden, though he had always +despised him as a nincumpoop. But this transient cloud of annoyance +was dissipated by the sun of yesterday's success and the new vista of +power which it opened to his ambition; and Curran looked at him in +wonder as he strutted and fussed about, with the comical majesty of a +raven.</p> + +<p class="normal">It has been observed that the greatest political and religious crimes +are due to public spirit out of gear. The Irish chancellor was +probably honest in his conviction that union was the best thing for +Ireland, and it was not his fault if his duty and his interest jumped +in the same direction. His standard of morals was so low that the +desperate patriotism of such men as Tone or Terence, or Robert Emmett, +were as unknown tongues to him. He despised Kilwarden, though he liked +him, because he was weak; but he hated Curran with all his heart, +because, while brave as any lion, ho had an inconvenient knack of +putting his finger on the chancellor's weak places. But Lord Clare was +so jubilant this morning that he was prepared to be generous even to +this enemy. Difficulties were over; he could almost feel the flapping +of the united banner overhead, almost hear the packing of the trunks +of my Lord Cornwallis. He observed, too, that the crab-apple features +of the little man before him seemed old and dried; that the eyes were +glazed which used to flash with fire and dance with fun. He was one of +the fools whose heart was broken over a chimera; of course the +successful statesman could afford to be generous to so pitiable a +wreck. So he said:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Delighted to see my respected Curran--friend, I suppose, I may not +say? Ah! well. You always wronged me, my good fellow. Civility was +never among your faults. But demagogues would lose half their prestige +if they were not crabbed. No wonder you are rude, for you have lost +all your tricks. Had you not, in a huff, thrown up your seat in +parliament, you might have done much to hurt us; and that makes you +spiteful, I suppose. What do you gain by this ghastly display of +martyrdom? Believe me, Curran, that if you are too good for the world +you live in, it will be more comfortable to yourself as well as others +to go out of it. That's why Wolfe Tone helped himself out of it, I +presume, and I for one am vastly obleeged to him. Talking of that +reminds me of last night's folly--a sad affair--a sad affair; but +can't be helped, you know. A drop of trouble in the sea of bliss which +yesterday's decision gave us. You don't feel quite that way? Ah! well. +People's opinions differ, don't they? The one I'm most distressed +about is our old friend the countess. She will feel that fellow's fate +most terribly, the more so that he was a ne'er-do-well; though there +are reasons why it's best as it is. Your <i>protégé</i> is the holder of +the family honours now?'</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran nodded, wondering what his enemy was aiming at; while the +latter, scanning his features, perceived with pleasure that my lady's +secret had never been divulged to him. It was well that that secret +should lie in as few hands as possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Where is Terence?' Curran inquired bluntly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Terence! I know not,' replied the other, in his turn surprised. 'Has +anything befallen him?'</p> + +<p class="normal">'You <i>really</i> do not? Then it's Cassidy who's done it,' cried out +Curran. 'He's been kidnapped for some hellish purpose!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Knowing Cassidy as he did, the chancellor looked disturbed. It was +quite possible that this worthy might be up to his tricks again. Had +not he, Lord Clare, warned the young man against him once, when he was +too stupid to take the hint? This scoundrel was still then, with, some +dark intent, pursuing him. Why had he not been told of this before? It +was most serious. Terence kidnapped, evidently by Cassidy! It would +never do. Would the countess have to bewail both sons? Not if her old +friend could help it. Touching a gong, he gave rapid directions that +every prison in Dublin should be searched immediately for the missing +prisoner; that, if found, he was to be taken back at once to Strogue, +whither the chancellor would proceed in his coach, in the company of +his esteemed friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the proposed drive, during which Lord Clare promised himself to +twit his fallen foe, was not to be. At the bottom of the stairs he was +assailed by a troop of suitors, who would not be refused. Reluctantly +he was compelled to allow Curran to trot off on his pony, promising to +follow in an hour, at most.</p> + +<p class="normal">The lawyer rode along, marvelling at the sphynxlike chancellor. Here +was a man who reeked of the blood of the peasantry; who would, if he +could, have burned all the Catholics in one vast bonfire, and who yet +was capable of feeling emotion on behalf of a white-haired old friend. +Then he thought of his dear daughter Sara, who seemed stunned by last +night's catastrophe. Did she care so much, then, for this lad? It was +fortunate that he should have been able to escape. That would save +Sara much agony. She would have to be taken abroad for change of +scene, and, peradventure, in a foreign land might find the brook of +Lethe. How glad her father would be if he too might find it; but that +was past wishing for. He was too old to receive new impressions, while +Sara would speedily forget.</p> + +<p class="normal">With shoulders rounded and head bowed, Mr. Curran trotted back to +Strogue. Feeling that he was no longer able to fight as he used to do, +it was a wonderful relief to think that Robert was gone away. Time was +when it was exhilarating to break a lance with my Lord Clare. But the +sturdy advocate had received his passport for the undiscovered +country, and, but for Sara's sake, was little inclined to murmur if he +were required to use it soon. It was clear to him that there must be +an exodus--to America--anywhere. He and Sara should be the first to +go; and perhaps he might be permitted to linger on until her future +was in some way assured.</p> + +<p class="normal">He trotted along the road, absorbed in sorrowful considerations, +until, just as he passed under the hedge which belonged to the Little +House, he was rudely roused from reverie. Madam Gillin was +gesticulating like a madwoman.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hist!' she whispered. 'The boy's not gone! Whillaloo! 'Twas the baker +that escaped! It's at Strogue he is this cursed minute. The candle's +there, the moth is booming round it! Maybe there's time still. Bid him +be off, jewel, do; and I'll keep watch lest any come. Jug's looking +out on the back road.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Murther!' ejaculated Curran, wide awake now. 'They're scouring the +country for him. Oh, the silly lad!' And beating his pony with +unwonted vehemence, the lawyer galloped through the park-gates, along +the short turn of avenue which led to the Abbey, and, leaving the +astonished animal to recover how he could, hurried up the steps into +the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The door was idly swinging, but no one was visible in the vestibule +nor in the dining-room, nor in Miss Wolfe's boudoir. Hark! Subdued +voices, murmuring further on, in the tapestry-saloon. He moved +quickly thither, and, standing on the threshold, stamped his feet +in the impotent fury of his wrath. There was Robert--haggard and +unkempt--still in the pinchbeck uniform, torn and bespattered now, +with a peasant's frieze-coat thrown over it--a ridiculous disguise. He +was kneeling by a couch whereon lay Sara, her face turned towards him, +her eyes fixed full on his with a wild unreasoning longing, while he +chafed her hands and kissed them. The tall and graceful figure of +Doreen leaned against the sculptured garlands of the mantelpiece, as +she gave the homage of silent sympathy to the voiceless parting of +this pair, while her mind wandered in the cypressed graveyard of her +own sorrow. That heap of black satin, prone under the carriage-wheels, +would never leave her memory so long as life should last. Stroke had +succeeded stroke, and she winced no more.</p> + +<p class="normal">All three looked up when Curran stamped his feet, and Robert advanced +towards him timidly.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I have done wrong, terribly wrong, sir,' he said, with a sigh. 'I can +make no atonement, except by laying down my life.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'A useful sacrifice, truly!' the incensed lawyer rejoined. 'You don't +think of <i>her</i>--whom you are killing!'</p> + +<p class="normal">'The breath of the tomb is on me!' implored the lad, with a dry mouth. +'Spare any addition to my misery. I was infatuated, too certain of +success, and knew she would be so glad when I succeeded. Those +lives--those lives! Would success have blotted out the recollection of +them? I go, and it is well that I should go, though I leave to so many +a legacy of sorrow.'</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a dreamy resignation about the youth, as of one who does +wrong and leaves others to bear the brunt, which infuriated Curran. If +ever there was a moment for promptitude to the exclusion of +dreaminess, this was that moment, for the sake of others as well as +himself; and here he stood, soliloquising like a Hamlet--the +unpractical dangerous dreamer!</p> + +<p class="normal">'You might have got away, and did not,' said the lawyer, tartly. 'Do +you know that the country is being scoured for you--that if you are +taken the scrag-boy will make short work of you? You don't care, +maybe. Is it nothing to us--to <i>her?</i>'</p> + +<p class="normal">'Perhaps there is still time. Get ye gone by the postern in the +rosary. The peasantry are staunch. You might lie in a cabin under the +bed-furniture till night, and then steal out to sea under cover of the +darkness.'</p> + +<p class="normal">'If I fall into their hands I will speak my own defence, sir,' +murmured Emmett, without moving.</p> + +<p class="normal">'And much good may it do you--fool!' shouted the enraged councillor. +'Don't stand shilly-shallying here like a great goose. Sara, order him +to go. If he's hanged you'll have yourself to thank for it.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Sara took no heed, but lay back, watching the dear youth--as white as +wax, like one in a trance.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a turmoil in the next room, a rustle of silk, an upsetting +of chairs, and Mrs. Gillin darted through the doorway. 'Is he gone?' +she asked. 'Then it's too late! There's a body of sodgers marching in. +They are surrounding the house.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert passed his hands through his matted hair. His belief in his +star was gone. He was plainly not destined to be a Joshua. He panted +to join those who had crossed the rubicon. On the boundary-line of the +other life we are apt to plunge into a selfish beatitude, forgetting +the trouble which our exit may entail on those whom we leave behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a few moments his fate was fixed. The regular tramp of disciplined +men was heard on the gravel with a ring of matchlocks. Then a figure +darkened the casement. It was Major Sirr demanding admittance. Robert +opened the window himself, and the town-major's lambs streamed in. +Doreen gave a sharp exclamation of surprise--for one of the group was +Cassidy--another, who came forward with arms outstretched, was +Terence--safe and sound.</p> + +<p class="normal">The town-major's bushy eyebrows came down upon his nose, as, grinning, +he struck Robert on the shoulder. 'Do you recollect, young fellow,' he +railed, 'how anxious you twice were to be arrested? I told you then +that your turn would come soon enough. It has come now, and I hope you +are satisfied, though I fear I shan't keep you long.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert Emmett bowed absently, as if he but half-heard, and, kneeling +by Sara's chair again, muttered--forgetful of lookers-on: 'Oh, my +love--my love. Do we part thus? I hoped to have been a prop, round +which your affections might have clung; but a rude blast has snapped +it--they have fallen across a grave!' Then, twining her fair hair +about his fingers with affectionate regret, he fell a dreaming, whilst +Madam Gillin gulped down her sobs.</p> + +<p class="normal">'I go into my cold and silent tomb,' he whispered, as he stroked the +baby-fingers of his mistress. My lamp of life is nearly extinguished; +the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Major Sirr perceived with his usual tact that this sentimental scene +was producing a bad impression, and must be interrupted. The extreme +youth and woe-begone appearance of Robert--his half-distracted, +half-inspired look--moved the spectators to tears. Surely he was too +young--too much of a visionary--to be held really accountable for the +storm that he had raised. As to the frail girl, she appeared to be +beyond sublunary cares. Lulled by angel-strains, she was gazing upon a +world which has nothing in common with ours--what she saw was +beautiful, and true, and real--the people flitting round her couch +were the unreal shades. The town-major tapped his prisoner's arm, and +begged him to make haste. 'I must obey orders,' he said. 'They are +straightforward, and concise as Lord Clare's always are. I've brought +one prisoner here, and must take another hence. Come along!'</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Gillin, unhooking a pair of scissors from her girdle, between +convulsive hiccups, handed them to Doreen. The one woman understood +the other's thought. Doreen gently cut the longest tress from Sara's +golden head and pressed it into Robert's palm.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Thanks,' he said, with a quiver of the lip. 'I will wear this in my +bosom when I mount the scaffold. I am ready, gentlemen, and will not +detain you. Before I leave the world--and I leave it now when I leave +my friends--I have one request to make. May the charity of oblivion be +accorded to my memory! Let no one write my epitaph; for as no man who +knows my motives dares now to vindicate them, let not prejudice or +ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in peace, and my tomb +remain uninscribed!'</p> + +<p class="normal">This would never do. Major Sirr grasped him roughly by the coat-tail +to drag his prisoner away. The soldiers, accustomed to the business, +closed in quickly. But ere Robert went, Mr. Curran, with tears +streaming down his rugged features, placed his arms about his neck, +and held him in a long embrace.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then was the last of Moiley's victims marched away under a strong +guard, and the rest were left to their own sombre meditations. A +stillness of oppression fell on all as Curran, Terence, and Doreen +gathered round prostrate Sara. Mr. Cassidy found himself awkwardly +situated, for nobody took any notice of him. Vainly his boots creaked, +while he coughed behind his hand. Mrs. Gillin was no longer afraid, +for she as well as others saw that, the tussle over, the final +clearing away of Catholic disabilities was only a matter of time--that +even if he launched the thunderbolt at her, in terror of which she had +held her peace concerning what she knew of him, it would signify +little. With the Union a new era was dawning--all the Catholics felt +that--one in which Irish and English interests would grow to be the +same in the future, when the sea of blood was bridged--one in which +the last vile fragments of the Penal Code must soon be swept away--a +relic of the dark ages. Even if Mr. Cassidy were to declare publicly +that she took her Protestant daughter with her to the mass, it was +possible she might escape tribulation for the enormity. So Mr. Cassidy +coughed at her in vain. Curran had never liked him. Doreen knew too +much of him. It was a satisfaction to all, himself included, when, +with a clumsy excuse, he twirled his fine beaver and backed himself +out of the apartment.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old earl, his parent, smirked from his frame upon the new wearer +of the coronet. Was the simper more full of meaning than it used to +be, or was it merely the limner's conventional flattery? The desire +expressed with such solemnity upon his deathbed was accomplished; the +wrong was righted now--at last.</p> + +<p class="normal">An unconscious mesmeric sympathy beyond their own volition fixed the +gaze of three people upon that portrait of the wicked earl, while the +same thought struck each of them in turn. Doreen withdrew her eyes, +and they fell on Terence, who nodded, and striding towards his +mother's bedchamber, opened the door softly and entered. Though the +day was bright and mild there was a large fire on the hearth, before +which crouched my lady, wrapped in a loose white wrapper, supported by +many pillows. The windows were dimmed to twilight. Shane's favourite +hounds, Aileach and Eblana, sat on their haunches with their muzzles +on her lap, in wistful expectancy of that which they might never see. +She took no notice of the intruder, supposing that it was Doreen, till +recognising a heavier footstep and a dreaded voice, she shrank away +from him with a moan, as if she had received a blow.</p> + +<p class="normal">'Mother!' Terence began.</p> + +<p class="normal">My lady crawled along the carpet on her knees--a bundle of loose +draperies--her head bent down, her white hair straggling, towards her +son, who recoiled. The aspect of this piteous ruin--this soul-stricken +wreck, the mainspring of whose life was broken, whose courage had +ebbed quite away--suffused the heart of Terence with unutterable pity. +He raised his mother in his stalwart arms, and pressing his warm lips +to hers, whispered:</p> + +<p class="normal">'Hush, hush! I know all. You have but one child now. Bless me!'</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-align:center; letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">But little more remains to be told. Evil, though it seemeth to +flourish like the bay-tree, doth not always prosper in the long run. +Lord Cornwallis turned his back on Ireland, glad to depart. Cassidy +and Sirr came to blows, and fought a duel on the subject of Terence's +release. For those worthies had arranged to share together the reward +which Shane was to have given for their little service. But Shane's +murder altered the face of matters, and Cassidy, with a presence of +mind which did him honour, flew off at once to set free the new Lord +Glandore and claim the merit of having done so. The town-major, +however, knew his man. The giant's endeavours were fruitless, and Sirr +found him blustering at the provost-gate when, in obedience to Lord +Clare's behest, he came, with feigned surprise, to carry the new lord +back to his ancestral home. Sirr saw through his crony's intention, +and branded him hotly with being 'no gintleman,' and a 'mean fellow;' +whereupon the two met on Stephen's Green, and, after a few passes, +declared 'honour satisfied.' The nests of both were well feathered. +One became noted for pious works; the other set up as a patron of art, +and formed the finest collection of snuff-boxes in the three kingdoms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert Emmett was hanged in Thomas Street, and met his fate with +fortitude. The same enthusiasm which allured him to his doom enabled +him to support with serene courage its utmost rigour. His extreme +youth and well-known talents filled the spectators with grief. He sang +'The Sword' with a firm and mellow voice, which never quailed till, +the board on which he stood being tilted up, he was set free to join +the band that were impatiently awaiting him beyond the Styx.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Clare's ambition was not gratified. He who had been so +unprincipled and arrogant, so insolent and overbearing, his cleverness +no longer needed, was tossed aside by his employers. He carried his +pretensions into the English senate, and was ignominiously insulted +there by his Grace the Duke of Bedford. Pitt gave him no comfort, +observing with a yawn that he was sorry his lordship was a failure; +that he would do well, perhaps, to return to Ireland. He who had so +deceived was himself betrayed. For a few years he lingered in +obscurity, being heard on one occasion, when near his end, to mutter +with sombre meaning: 'Earl and Lord Chancellor! It would have been +better for Ireland if I had lived a sweep!' He died--some said of +chagrin, and some of remorse. Showers of dead cats were thrown upon +his coffin. His last eager directions were that his papers should be +carefully destroyed unread.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Castlereagh, as all the world knows, cut his throat.</p> + +<p class="normal">Government, acting on the advice of the Marquis Cornwallis, accorded a +free pardon to the new Lord Glandore, whose romantic history softened +King George's heart--even though he added yet another to his sins by +marrying a Catholic. It is possible that his Majesty's ire might have +found vent in a seizure of the property of the incorrigible traitor; +but, happily for the latter and for the nation, the King's few wits +deserted him, and he was shut up--as he should have been many years +before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord and Lady Glandore sojourned abroad awhile, basking in the +softness of a kindlier clime. They had suffered too much in Ireland to +feel aught but pain in dwelling there. Moreover, they had those under +their care whose sorrow hung over them, whilst theirs was at length +assuaged.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old countess and the Currans travelled over Europe with them. My +lady never fully rallied. Though her son and daughter lavished every +attention upon her which affection could dictate, the ghost was never +laid, the startled expression never departed from her face. When they +were present she tried to assume cheerfulness; but if one or other +came on her unawares, it was to feel that her heart was not with +them--that it was buried in the vault on the verge of Dublin Bay, by +the side of the unlucky Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">Curran did rally to a certain extent, and returned to Ireland to win +new esteem as Master of the Rolls. But that was long after gentle Sara +died, an event which caused Doreen deep grief, though Terence reminded +her that it was for the best. Her reason went from her, so that she +never knew of Robert's fate, but would sit crooning the weird ditties +of her native land for hours together, and hearken for his coming with +a vacant glee that was heartrending to those who loved her: and all +who knew her loved gentle Sara. Slowly she faded and sank to +rest--peacefully, serenely, with no last buffeting against the +trammels of this life--as an infant sinks into refreshing slumber. To +her, if not to others, was Heaven kind. Though she was given a cross +to bear, yet she never felt its weight, nor knew that she stood in the +ranks of the bereaved. It was of her that a gifted poet sang:</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">'Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest</p> +<p class="t2">When they promise a glorious morrow;</p> +<p class="t0">They'll shine o'er her sleep like a smile from the West,</p> +<p class="t2">From her own loved island of sorrow!'</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_reader" href="#div1Ref_reader">TO THE READER.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It has been the habit of novelists, for some reason or another with +which we have nothing to do at present, to associate the Irish +character with rollicking fun, naïve bungling, and mighty fine tastes +of the brogue; and it occurred to me some time since that English +readers who are surfeited with orthodox Hibernian jollities might be +glad, for a change, to look on Pat from his shadowed side; to +contemplate his dreary pilgrimage through the Valley of the Shadow of +Death; to pause for a moment over the events which have bound round +his character with sorrow and hedged him about with grief. The history +of Ireland has been so perverted by mendacious faction that the truth +lies deeply interred. Protestant has vilified Catholic, and Catholic +Protestant, to the extent which is inevitably associated with +religious rancour. My sympathies being specially with neither party, I +have endeavoured to weigh the evidence in a free and independent +spirit, and have come to the conclusion, as might have been expected, +that both were in a measure right and both wrong, considering that +both were actuated by grievances of a more or less awful character, +which, being tinged by a colour of religion, drove them both to +madness and excess.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the chief difficulties with which an historical novelist has to +contend, is the question how far imagination may be permitted +successfully to fight with fact. Conversely, even reverend historians +are beset by this trouble. Walter Scott, Chateaubriand, Michelet, +hardly allow us to separate romance from history, and history from +romance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Being desirous of giving a true picture of a time, clothed in romantic +garb, I, in my last novel, conscientiously pointed out the +peccadilloes which lay cunningly in ambush in its chapters; and, being +still anxious to keep my conscience clear, I deem it advisable now to +repeat the process.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the construction of this work I was deliberately guilty of two +crimes, both of which, I consider, are attended with extenuating +circumstances.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first concerns the compact between the Executive and the +state-prisoners, and is a sin of omission; for although the facts and +the disgraceful behaviour of the English King and Government are +truthfully related, it did not suit the scheme of the story to enter +into all the motives which impelled the United Irishmen to sacrifice +their feelings, and agree to so singular an arrangement. The rebel +leaders submitted to examination by the secret council in hopes of +saving the life of Oliver Bond; but as Oliver Bond was not one of my +chosen puppets, I considered it permissible to leave him in his grave.</p> + +<p class="normal">The second crime is one of much greater enormity. To suit the purpose +of the weft, I have presumed to ante-date Emmett's rising by two years +and a half. The United standard first waved over Dublin Castle on +January 1,1801, whilst Emmett's riot did not take place till July, +1803. But I hold that, for the purposes of romance, the romancist may +be permitted to draw events together, though he is in no case to be +allowed to transpose them. At the time of the Union Robert Emmett was +away in France on treasonable business; but it is in every way +probable that if he had been in Ireland he would have acted as I have +made him act. There is ample testimony to prove that the dwellers in +the country (as opposed to the dwellers in the towns) were ready as +early as the winter of '79 to make a new attempt if they could have +found a leader, and that they waited for two years simply because +Emmett did not call them to arms till then.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Cornwallis writes to General Ross under date of 1779: 'We have +every reason to believe that the French are undertaking a serious +attack, and from the most authentic channels we learn that the +disaffected are more active than ever in swearing and organising the +southern provinces.'<a name="div2Ref_02" href="#div2_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> And again later: 'That the French will +persevere in their attempt to invade Ireland there can be no doubt, +and if they should succeed, which God forbid, in establishing a war in +this country,'<a name="div2Ref_03" href="#div2_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a> etc. At page 86 we find, 'Though the new Directory +was never fully formed, yet the spirit of rebellion was carefully kept +alive--the flame subtly fanned--till it burst out in 1803 under Robert +Emmett.' H. Alexander, Esq., writes to the Rt. Hon. T. Pelham under +date January, 1800, that 'Dublin is much and seriously agitated.'</p> + +<p class="normal">My portrait of Lord Clare differs in some respects from the usual +conception of that statesman; but I have diligently studied everything +concerning him which was attainable, and am convinced that his +character was as it is here depicted.</p> + +<p class="normal">I gratefully take this opportunity of thanking the Press for the +unanimously indulgent manner in which they treated 'Lady Grizel'--with +one exception, that of a certain weekly print whose <i>raison d'être</i> is +its scurrility; and I further embrace this occasion of reminding the +anonymous critic of the said ill-natured print that facts may be +slightly distorted for a set purpose rather than through ignorance, +and that the critic doth not transcendently exalt either his wisdom or +his attainments by pointing out with magnificent scorn that such an +event took place in January instead of March; for Macaulay's +celebrated schoolboy could do as much or more in a diligent half-hour +by the help of that invaluable book 'The Encyclopœdia of +Chronology.' For the special benefit of the said sapient critic, +however, I append to this discourse a list of the works upon Irish +affairs to which I have been indebted, in order that he too may +improve his mind, and be the better prepared to hold up to derision +the rents and slits in my poor pasteboard armour.</p> + +<p class="right">LEWIS WINGFIELD.</p> +<div style="margin-right:80%;"> +<p class="center"><span class="sc">Garrick Club</span>,<br> +<i>July</i>, 1879.</p> +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="W10"> +<br> + +<h2><a name="div1_list" href="#div1Ref_list">LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED IN THE COURSE<br> +OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS STORY.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Barrington's Personal Sketches</span>, 3 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Barrington's Historic Memoirs of Ireland</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Madden's Irish Political Literature</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Madden's United Irishmen</span>, 4 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Croker's Memoirs of Holt</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Gilbert's History of Dublin</span>, 3 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Maxwell's Irish Rebellion</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Curran's Speeches</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Hardy's Memoirs of Charlemont</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Memoirs and Journals of Wolfe Tone</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Life and Times of Geo. R. Fitzgerald</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Fitz Patrick's Sham Squire</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Fitz Patrick's Ireland before the Union</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Curran's Life, by his son</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Philips's Curran and Contemporaries</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Memoirs of the Earl of Clare</span>, 2 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Walsh's Ireland Ninety Years Ago</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">The Spirit of the Nation</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Cornwallis Correspondence</span>, 3 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Castlereagh Correspondence</span>, 3 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Gentleman's Magazine</span>, vols. 53 to 72--19 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Memoirs of Captain Rock</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Father Burke's Refutation of Froude</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Goldwin Smith's Irish History And Character</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Ladies' Museum and Polite Repository</span>, 6 vols.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Martin's Before and After the Union</span>, 1 vol.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Sufferings of Charles Jackson at Wexford. June</span>,, 1798, 1 vol.</p> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PAMPHLETS.</h3> +<br> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Both Sides of the Gutter</span>.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Irish Catholics in 1725</span>.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Ireland: A Satire</span>.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Account of Ireland: A Letter</span>.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Aphorisms Relating to the Kingdom of Ireland</span>.</p> +<p class="continue"><span class="sc">Causes of the Rebellion, 1799</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Marquis Cornwallis to Major-Gen. Ross, Correspondence, +vol. ii. 369 <i>et seq</i>.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_02" href="#div2Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 56.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_03" href="#div2Ref_03">Footnote 3</a>: Ibid., p. 60.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W90"> +<h5>BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. +<i>S. & H</i>.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 38863-h.htm or 38863-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38863/ + +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. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (of III) + A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union + +Author: Lewis Wingfield + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + + + + +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. III. + + + + + + LONDON: + + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1879. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + + + + + + + 'God of Vengeance! smite us + With Thy shaft sublime, + If one bond unite us + Forged in fraud or crime. + But if humbly kneeling + We implore Thine ear, + For our rights appealing-- + God of Nations! Hear!' + + + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + + CHAPTER + + I. SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL. + + II. MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT. + + III. SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY. + + IV. THE SHAMBLES. + + V. THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH. + + VI. APRES LA MORT, LE MEDECIN. + + VII. SUSPENSE. + + VIII. EAVESDROPPING. + + IX. PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE. + + X. CONSIGNED TO MOILEY. + + XI. ATE. + + XII. MOILEY'S LAST MEAL. + + TO THE READER. + + LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. + + + + + + + MY LORDS OF STROGUE. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + SAWDUST IN THE CHANCELLOR'S DOLL. + + +If the cits of Dublin during this time were in the throes of +apprehension and suspense, the Lords and Commons were enduring the +agonies of evil conscience. They regretted that parliament had not +been prorogued in order that they might have pretended ignorance as to +what was passing; for they felt that the world was pointing the finger +of derision at them. Not that the English world--the _beau monde_ that +is--cared one way or the other. In London it was always difficult to +arouse interest in the affairs of a remote colony, whose ways were +like those of Madagascar. The Viceroy's bleatings appeared weekly in +the _Gentlemen's Magazine_, and coffee-house critics barely glanced at +them, for they were always the same. His excellency was always +lamenting the misbehaviour of the populace; was always delighted to +report that four or five hundred rebels had on such a day been sent to +another sphere. The scraps of poetry that stood cheek by jowl beside +this gabble were infinitely more amusing to the critics. Rhapsodies on +Chloe's shoe-string--a ravishing account of the last balloon ascent. +But these delectable topics failed to amuse young Robert Emmett, whose +heart, during weary weeks, was feeding on itself in the English +metropolis. On his arrival there, he had been kindly taken by the hand +by my Lord Moira, who had held a seat in the Houses of both countries, +and who, shocked at what he heard, rose up in his place and protested +that it was time for the British public to interfere. A member +suggested lightly that there was an Irish parliament whose province it +was to look after such matters. Lord Moira hung his head. He knew too +well how low that parliament had fallen--how mean-spirited were those +who were haggling over the price of their birthright. + +The sneers of the Londoners were hard to bear. The dangers which +seemed to menace the Irish senators terrified their timid souls. +From the 24th to the 31st of May no mail-coach had arrived in Dublin. +There was no news save what the Viceroy chose to dribble out; bonfires +were seen upon the Wicklow hills. Awful reports were circulating +hourly--reports that warrior priests were in possession of Arklow; had +arrived at Bray; were at their very gates. If such should prove to be +the case, then was the career ended of the faithful Lords and Commons. +The sulky scowls of the Liberty-boys boded no good. There would be a +massacre of the Innocents. What could Heaven be about to allow its +chosen and elect to suffer such gnawing torments? The scum had been +evilly ill-treated; but not enough, it seemed, to make them meek and +mild. If they were beaten now, they should receive an extra trouncing +for presuming in this egregious manner to alarm their betters. Then +General Lake started with his army; all the regulars went with him. +The capital was handed over to the custody of four thousand yeomen, +who--drunken, dissolute, uncurbed--proceeded to make hay while the +blood-red sun was shining. Major Sirr and his Staghouse bloodhounds +were a power in the state. From being town-major, a title scarcely +legible in the list of public encumbrances, Sirr became invested, +through the usefulness of his bully band, with all the real powers of +the most absolute authority. He was growing rich, for among other +trades he was a licensed victualler, owned Nelly's Coffee-house, and +obtained the lucrative monopoly of supplying wines to prisoners. He +was also a virtuoso; remitted triangle-torture, and sold tickets to +his victims for extra light and air, in exchange for orders upon +hapless wives for pictures, bric-a-brac, and household stuff. How, +when so many came to a violent end, did such a monster escape +assassination? Because one of his first rules of conduct was to push +forward somebody else to perform a dangerous job. When his hounds had +pulled down the quarry, then would he come forward and strike an +attitude upon the body of the hunted beast. It is in the hot-bed of +public calamity that such fungi grow quick to ripeness. So soon as the +counties rose to arms and caused a panic, the life and liberty of +every man was at his disposal. If one offended him, he charged him +with high treason and swept him off to prison, and a court-martial. +Just now, to be accused was much the same as to be convicted. One day, +a professor of language was seized and carted to the Riding-school to +receive five hundred lashes because a letter was found in his pocket +written in the French tongue. Another day (all this before the month +of May was out), a gentleman was pistolled in the street by an +intoxicated yeoman because his hair was cut short. Of course he was a +'Croppy'! It transpired afterwards that he was an invalid recovering +from fever. Another time, a party broke into a baker's shop at dawn, +demanding bread. The oven had not long been lighted--the baking was +not complete. No matter; his Majesty's servants would eat the dough +half-baked--aye, and wash it down as it stuck in the throat with a +jorum of raw whisky. Strange to relate, the whole party was taken ill. +Of course the villanous Croppies had poisoned the servants of his +Majesty. An example should be made of the malignants! (How fond were +these pioneers of a new era of making examples!) The baker and his +wife and his two sons were dragged into the street and shot down, +without time for shriving, in front of their own door. + +Lieutenant Hepenstall, as a type of his class, rose to unenviable +celebrity. He stood six feet two, was strong and broad--could lift a +ton. The expression of his face was mild as milk--the blackness of his +heart was dark as hell. Full of zeal for his Majesty's service, he +took to hanging on his own brawny back those persons whose +physiognomies he judged to be characteristic of rebellion. First, he +knocked down his man to quiet him. His garters did duty as handcuffs. +His cravat was a convenient rope. With a powerful chuck he drew his +victim's head as high as his own and trotted about with his burden, +considerately advising him to pray for King George, since prayers +would be wasted on his own damned Popish soul, till the gulping +wretch's neck was broken. Is it any marvel that the bullet, the sabre, +the lash, the halter, should have been met by the pike, the scythe, +the hatchet, and the firebrand? + +Major Sirr became all-powerful, and shortly after Terence's mishap had +words with Cassidy. He came to look on his old ally with a feeling +akin to contempt, for he considered a man mean-spirited who had not +the courage of his own iniquity. The time was over now when masks were +comfortable wearing. He, Major Sirr, had never stooped to wear one; if +Cassidy intended to feather his nest, now was the time, or never. He +roundly told him so when the giant called in at the major's lodgings +to claim his portion of the L1,000 reward. The latter's brow-tufts +came down over his nose; he laughed a sardonic laugh and shook his +pear-shaped head. He was specially spiteful over this reward, by +reason of the slashes he had received from Phil. True, they were mere +flesh-wounds; but he resented having his legs carved about in this +reckless way by an amateur surgeon. + +'If ye'd have your part of the money,' he said, with incisive scorn, +'come and claim it in the public street. Don't come to me in the dead +o' night as though the bumbailiffs were creeping at your heels.' + +He held by his decision, and the two cronies quarrelled. Indeed they +were very near a duel; but Cassidy, with commendable prudence, +observed, 'There is enough discord already among the patriots, so +don't let us fall into a similar mistake.' They snarled and showed +their teeth, like dogs; then made it up, as wisdom dictated. + +Cassidy could not well explain the reasons for his secrecy. He +could not say that if he were known to have accepted her cousin's +blood-money there would be an impassable gulf 'twixt him and Doreen +for ever. Sirr would have only gibed in that a man who was such a +rascal should be sighing after an honest wench; so he gave up the +blood-money. Cassidy was very undecided at this moment. Prudence +whispered that the major's counsel was good. He knew, too, that as +things were going, he could not wear his mask much longer. What was he +to do? Unless he were careful he would fall between two stools. Doreen +had never given her clumsy admirer any encouragement; would probably +refuse him even though he hoarded mines of gold. Was she not rich +herself? If he could not have Doreen, it would be quite as well to +have money; and he could not earn his proper wage without openly +joining the Battalion of Testimony. It was a very delicate question. +Would it not be best to sound Miss Wolfe once more? Maidens are coy. +Some who are prepared to take us if we persevere, require much wooing. +Maybe the fair Doreen was one of these. On second thoughts he did not +quite think she was, with her calm bearing and solemn eyes; but at all +events it was worth the trial. No harm could come of that. + +He determined, therefore, to make a journey to Glas-aitch-e, and trim +his sails according to the wind that blew there. Meanwhile it was a +dirty trick that his old ally had played him. Yet, after all, it +mattered little. The sweetness of revenge is better than guineas. His +long-concealed loathing for his unconscious rival had found vent at +last, and he felt the better for it, independent of any considerations +of pelf. The odious, good-tempered, bright-visaged, careless young +councillor! He dared to aspire to Doreen, did he? The same words as +the giant had muttered as he stood before the sleeper, he spoke again +through his grinding teeth. If he could not have the maid himself, the +councillor should not have her. That unlucky person was sick unto +death in duress, with the gallows looming close at hand. There was +comfort--great comfort in that. The thousand pounds might go to the +devil--or to Major Sirr. Decidedly it would be well to make a trip +northward, for though he played his game cunningly and let out useless +Castle secrets with much vapouring, yet were the chiefs of the popular +party beginning to suspect him. Even unsuspicious Tom Emmett, whom he +had been to see in Kilmainham gaol a few days back, twitted him with +his liberty. The double game was no longer possible. He would have to +make up his mind presently either to assume the palm of martyrdom for +Doreen's sake, with a pardon in his portfolio for past delinquencies, +or, flinging off boldly all disguise, to pocket the guineas and the +obloquy which were the portion of the Staghouse crew. + +The sufferings of the Lords and Commons were endured also in full +measure by the Privy Council, who found themselves in a quandary. Lord +Moira's little agitation in London was not without its effect, +although folks did sneer at the wild Irish. On leaving St. Stephen's, +the head of opposition linked his arm in my Lord Moira's, and begged +to inquire whether he had not been drawing on his imagination. + +'Your countrymen are so dreadfully imaginative, you know!' he said +plaintively. 'I never forget the story of "potatoes and point" that +somebody told me. So Irish! What is it? Oh! some notion of a Hibernian +feast on a frugal scale in the far west, where the guests sat in a +circle, each with his potato, which was dipped from time to time to +give it flavour into a pot of salt in the middle. When the salt began +to fail, each potato was _pointed_ at the relish instead of being +dipped in it, which many declared to be an economical improvement, for +imagination did the rest! The Irish, you know, pull the long-bow +terribly, and disconcert you by themselves believing their own lies.' + +Being at last persuaded that Lord Moira's details were facts which had +taken place lately, and would take place each day for months, unless +summarily stopped, Mr. Pitt's rival expressed much delight. This was a +hole in the harness of Mr. Pitt, of which he would proceed straightway +to make the most brilliant use. But Mr. Pitt saw the pair walking +together, and, divining at once the subject of their discourse, +resolved to forestall any rude suggestions which might be made. He +wrote accordingly to Lord Clare, expressing surprise at the reports, +bidding him act with discretion--tempering a just firmness with +lenity; deploring and disapproving a waste of life; suggesting fewer +executions and more close imprisonment. The chancellor was annoyed at +being thus interfered with. He was doing his work steadily and well. +It was all very fine for an English minister to prate in platitudes, +at a distance, about firmness and lenity. He would reap the full +benefit of the transaction when it was completed, whilst his tools in +Ireland were laying in a harvest of opprobrium. Then, as his mind +worked, the look of anxiety cleared from Lord Clare's face. What +happened to the rest of the Privy Council mattered little to him. _He_ +was the guiding pilot. To _him_ must come honours, an English peerage, +a seat at St. Stephen's. There might he give a loose rein to his +ambition. This letter, though, might prove useful in the matter of +Terence Crosbie. The Viceroy's prerogative of mercy should be +exercised first of all in the case of the misguided youth, son of the +old friend who persisted in remaining so singularly cold as to his +fate. Why were my lady's letters so cold? he wondered. Never mind. Her +son should be saved, if possible, without more parley. + +His plan, however, met with unexpected resistance from Lord Camden, +who was usually so ductile. To his amazement that effete person +declined altogether to interfere. Vainly the chancellor browbeat him, +employing those artifices of language and manner which were wont to +make him quiver. The more he argued the more the Viceroy mumbled. Like +all weak natures, he could be wofully obstinate at times in the wrong +place. He had worked himself up to consider the unhappy Terence as his +own private victim, because, in his case, he had acted on his own +authority for once, and had even been visited with the sublime +inspiration of the reward. He clung to his victim with the tenacity of +a bulldog; nothing should wrest from his lips the savoury morsel. For +his part, he declared, he thought Mr. Pitt barely civil. He desired +these hopeless Irish people to be well kept under, and yet he gave +vent to windy phrases which his coadjutors in Dublin could not +possibly act upon, without changing their course and becoming +laughing-stocks. He, for one, declined to stultify himself. As for +this sprig of nobility who had disgraced the ermine and dirtied his +nest, it was essential above all things to make an example of him, +lest any other misguided youth of the same rank should be deluded +enough to follow his pernicious lead. + +Lord Clare, like a good diplomat, dropped the subject for that time, +and went on to speak of the other imprisoned leaders. What was to be +done with them? Could they be executed? No! It would be impolitic to +martyrise them too openly, for they were well known in Dublin as +patriotic and single-minded young men who led blameless lives. +Moreover it was evident from this epistolary hint that Mr. Pitt would +object to such a proceeding. + +'I'd try 'em by court-martial!' mumbled the Viceroy from the head of +the council board, taking snuff. + +'State prisoners!' retorted Arthur Wolfe with unusual warmth, from the +bottom. 'Better not go through the farce of trial at all.' + +The Viceroy glared, and the chancellor bit his lip. Why could not +Arthur Wolfe hold his stupid tongue? Lord Clare felt more than ever +that this weak-minded friend must be got out of the way somehow. On +him, as attorney-general, would of course fall the duties of crown +prosecutor. Dear, dear! people seemed to throw obstacles in his way on +purpose, as though his task were not entangled enough already! All +this considered, these members of the Directory, over whose capture +there had been such crowing, seemed disposed to revenge themselves by +becoming white elephants. They could not be hanged _en masse_ without +creating scandal; it was not even certain that they would be convicted +if brought to trial, for against several of their number very little +tangible evidence could be brought. Their names on a list--their +presence at a meeting. This was not enough. Of course the Battalion +could be brought forward with fictitious evidence--but Lord Clare +shrank from this, except as a last resource. Besides, they were not to +be hanged--that was settled. What then could be done with them? A +light punishment, as for a misdemeanour, would drive the Orangemen to +madness, who were shouting for blood, after the manner of religious +bigots. Petty larceny and high treason could not be placed on the same +level. Could not somebody suggest something? + +'I have an idea,' mild Arthur Wolfe murmured, as he nervously gnawed a +pen. 'Banishment might be proposed to them, on conditions which might +be made to look like mutual accommodation. For instance, make them +confess their offences and explain the ins and outs of their scheme, +in order that it may be guarded against in future. By confession they +would show the world that we've not been tilting against windmills. +Surely the establishment of the traitorous conspiracy by the testimony +of the principal actors in it might be fairly taken as an equivalent +for the lives of a few men, without loss of dignity on our part?' + +The chancellor mused. The notion was ingenious. The Viceroy drew a +picture of a gallows on his paper, and gabbled of court-martials in an +injured tone. + +'Very pretty, but they would not consent,' affirmed Lord Clare, at +last. + +'I think they would,' returned the attorney-general, blushing. 'In +fact, the idea is not mine. Tom Emmett suggested it to me.' + +'You've been to see them?' + +'Yes. I've been to Kilmainham and to Newgate. It's a shocking sight,' +answered Arthur Wolfe, kindling, 'to see decent men loaded with irons, +mixed up with thieves, insulted hourly by the low janissaries of Major +Sirr! The poor fellows are so shocked at the accounts which reach +them, and see so plainly the futility of struggling now, that they +would do anything, I think, to stop the effusion of blood.' + +'If they would consent to banishment for life, and let us into the +secrets of the society, we should be well out of the job,' the +chancellor decided. 'Curran shall be sent to put it to the rascals. +The blackguard has influence with them. Meanwhile we will turn on the +screw by bringing the worst to trial. Sure Mr. Pitt must not mind just +a few being strung up.' + +So it was provisionally arranged; but the affair did not run on +wheels. The patriots were captious, held out for special terms, +dictated alterations in the proposed agreement, behaved in a flippant +manner--not meekly and decorously as people should who feel the hemp +about their necks. + +'It must be understood,' they declared, 'that they were to mention no +names, criminate no person; that after an examination before the +secret committee of Lords, upon the intentions and aims of the United +Irish Society, they were to be sent to America, as Tone had been +before them.' Here was insolence! This in order, of course, that they +might join Tone in France, and stir up the French again. Contumacious +traitors! + +The chancellor became exceeding wroth. The screw must be twisted with +a vengeance, he said. 'What a pity that they could not be hanged _en +masse!_ One or two at any rate must suffer--just to teach the others +to behave themselves.' Lord Camden suggested Terence, the malignant +aristocrat, as a good victim; but the chancellor fenced the matter +off, and overruled his excellency. Arthur Wolfe implored and +begged--vowed that the words would choke his utterance as he made his +opening speech--swore that he could not, would not, come forward to +prosecute--even so far forgot himself as to fling the pens and paper +about, and beard the Privy Council with upbraiding words. Then my Lord +Camden absolutely cackled. Mr. Speaker and Mr. Prime Sergeant laid +their hands upon their swords. How indecent! Luckily they sat with +closed doors. Here was a split in the cabinet when unity was so +essential. Lord Clare's harsh voice rose above the hubbub. He coerced +them all to order with verbal whips, like the keeper of some +menagerie. The animals, cowed, lay down and growled. The peace was +kept for this once, but the astute chancellor perceived that something +must be done with promptitude, or the whole of his beautiful fabric, +which only needed a roof now to finish it, would come tumbling about +his ears. Truly he deserved well of his master, for he laboured hard. +He discovered that the excellent, the humane, Arthur Wolfe was too +good and clever for his position--almost too good for this world; and +so he was graciously put on the shelf--I mean the Bench--and raised to +the peerage of Kilwarden, _en attendant_ a front seat in heaven. As my +Lord Kilwarden we shall know him for the future--the same weak +well-meaning man as ever--compelled to listen to false witness from +his high chair, but unable to interfere because his mouth was stopped +by the fur which trimmed his coronet. The solicitor-general, Toler, +was promoted to the vacant place, and proved to be a prosecutor 'of +the right sort,' a fitting _pendant_ to the jury, in the state-trials +which commenced immediately in the sessions-house in Green Street, +hard by Newgate prison. + +These proceedings followed each other with the celerity which marked +the chief events of '98. The rebels had thrown down their gauntlet on +the 23rd of May. By the 1st of June, Kildare was quieted. It was on +the 11th of June that the court was first opened for the trial of the +patriots, whose chief advocate was Curran; whilst horrible reports +were arriving hourly from Wexford, which were made the most of, to +keep the jury up to the mark. The moment which the little lawyer had +prophetically seen was come, when he of the silver tongue was to stand +forth and boldly wrestle for noble human life with the demons of +Treachery and Malice. The brave little man shrank not from the task, +fraught as it was with personal danger to himself. He bore a charmed +life. The prisoners in their beds at Newgate could hear his earnest +tones in the hot night through opened windows, haranguing the jury +till daylight; could detect the trotting of his pony as he returned in +the morning to the Priory--no longer hospitably open as of yore, but +bolted and barred, with shutters closed and loopholed, in a besieged +condition, for timid Sara's sake. That which occupied the +sessions-house in Green Street was the only civil tribunal which +existed during this troublous time. Except in the instances of the six +state-trials, there was no law in town or country but martial law, +which is terrible enough even when fairly administered; how much more +awful then when conducted, as it was, by excited Irishmen--rabid with +religious fury, heated by rancour and revenge. + +Events had marched quickly. The chancellor had nothing to complain of, +for, with a few trifling checks, everything went well enough. The +people had been maddened into committing themselves. All classes were +at sixes and sevens. The menagerie was in a chaotic condition. The +wolf snarled at the hyena, the bear showed his tusks at the tiger-cat. +The senate was as degraded as its bitterest foe could desire. But what +an exasperating world it is! How true the trite old maxim about the +slip 'twixt cup and lip! Lord Clare saw (not far off, neither) the +abolition of the Irish parliament. He heard his own voice ringing +along the rafters of the English House of Lords. He pictured himself +high in office--why not premier some day? But all of a sudden an event +occurred which had never entered into his calculations--a rap came on +his knuckles, swift and agonising, which woke him from his vision to +see that it was air. + +That agitation of Lord Moira's went farther in its effect than its +author dreamed. Mr. Pitt perceived at once that it must cause him to +change his tactics, and with presence of mind he resolved to do so +instantly. 'How lucky,' he mused, as he sat under the comb of his +friseur after a night's debauch, 'that this dust was not stirred up +sooner! Now it matters not. The effect I wish produced is made, and +can't be unmade. But I must disavow the acts that made it. The thing +has gone so far now that it must run along to the end by the force of +its own impetus.' Then he reflected that it would not be amiss to +write a warning to Lord Clare, which might be brought up against him +later. He would let things go on quietly till other arrangements were +completed, then announce his new purpose as a surprise, and act upon +it on the instant. + +So it came about that the English premier disarmed the opposition by +recalling at a few hours' notice the then Viceroy, Lord Camden, and +despatching to Ireland at once--with an energy that did him credit--a +new one, who was instructed to carry on the work on a new principle. +Lord Clare was thunderstruck. When the news came, his face lengthened +by an ell. He thought not of broken puppets, which, having served +their purpose, are tossed upon the dust-heap. A new Viceroy! Just at +this crisis, too, when more than ever unity was strength. What if the +new Viceroy should have a will of his own to clash with the lord +chancellor's? That was unlikely, for Lord Clare was essentially a +leader of men. He had coerced many viceroys, and thoroughly understood +the business. There was no reason for supposing that this one would be +more stubborn than the others. But he would of necessity come raw to +his work, would have to be taught, which would create delay. It was +very provoking. Yet, after all, there was a good side even to this +dilemma. Strong-willed or not, he would have to leave things alone +during his pupilage. For the present he could not interfere much. Yet, +turn the situation over as he would, my Lord Clare could not but see +that Mr. Pitt had made a fool of him; and it was with some misgiving +that the chancellor went down in state to Kingstown to make his bow to +his new master. + +Mr. Pitt's choice was a most judicious one. He had to look for a man +who was brave and honest, high-spirited, clear-headed--the antithesis +to Camden. Some one who knew something of affairs, who was a +soldier--in order that at this difficult juncture the reins of +government and the command of the forces should be in one firm grasp. +Some one who was experienced in the world's ways, who would be too +wise to run a-muck or do anything Quixotic. Who would pull things +straight gradually and with circumspection, so as not to stop the ball +before it reached its goal, and yet who was too conspicuous for virtue +for the opposition to jut forth the tongue at him. Just such a man was +the Marquis Cornwallis, who had recently earned glorious laurels in +India; whom all the world respected because he was upright as well as +worldly-wise. + +The preparations of the new Viceroy had been made in secret. +Therefore, the word of command being given, he started off, like the +good soldier that he was, at a moment's notice, and arrived at +Kingstown towards the end of June. As a salve to his predecessor's +feelings, a nephew of Lord Camden's was attached as chief +secretary--the young Viscount Castlereagh, who, report said, was +promising. Lord Clare met the party with a toothsome smile, in all the +bravery of tightly-fitting silk upon his dapper limbs, his rustling +robes stiffened with gold lace, his lappeted wig powdered with +perfumed flour. The viceregal state-coach was not in waiting, he +regretted to say. The rapidity of his excellency's coming was +extraordinary! My Lord Camden, who was living within a cordon of +guards away in the Ph[oe]nix Park, had not yet resigned it. But his +own poor coach was there (the one which cost four thousand guineas); +if his excellency would so far honour him as to take a seat in it, it +would be the proudest moment in the life of his humble servant. + +Lord Cornwallis, thinking it a good opportunity of studying the +notorious chancellor, accepted graciously; and the two jogged +together along the high-road to Dublin, preceded by a body of the +Liberty-rangers, who appeared to the military optic a sad set of +clodpoles. Lord Clare descanted on the beauty of the scenery, the +loveliness of Dublin Bay, the delights of summer weather. Sure, his +excellency must have had a splendid passage. Was he never sick? Lucky +man! Never, never? This good beginning was a fine omen for the future. +Might his career in Ireland win his Majesty's approval! and so on, and +so forth. Vapid compliments! Lord Clare made himself as pleasant as he +possibly could, and congratulated himself rather on his success. It is +a fortunate circumstance that we do not abide in the Palace of Truth. +The first impression which the coercer of viceroys left upon the mind +of Lord Cornwallis, was one of a cruel eye, painfully glittering +teeth, a smile to be distrusted, a voice which went through him like a +knife. + +'What of the people?' he asked somewhat abruptly; for he knew more +than he liked about Lake's plans, and feared lest the obloquy which +must attend them should be pinned to the new _regime_. + +'The people!' echoed his companion, in a tone which spoke +volumes--'the people! Ah, well! They've offended the King, and are +having a hard time of it. To-morrow they will have a very hard time +indeed, but no worse than they deserve; for by nightfall, if all goes +well--why should it go ill?--a few hours hence, Wexford and +Enniscorthy will be taken, the camp at Vinegar Hill will be a +Golgotha--this deplorable folly will be at an end.' + +Lord Cornwallis gave a sigh of relief. He had come expecting to see +unpleasant sights, to be for the nonce a bandager instead of a carver +of wounds. If the chancellor spoke truly, then was he indeed in luck, +for the horrors attending this 'Golgotha,' as his companion +picturesquely put it, would naturally be considered to belong to Lord +Camden's vice-royalty, not his. + +The cavalcade which had been rattling along came to a standstill. The +Liberty-rangers, with oaths and curses, were striving to force a +passage through a kneeling crowd which occupied the way; but the +peasants who formed the crowd seemed to have no feeling as they knelt +there in the middle of the road, with hats off and heads bowed down. + +Vainly were the horses urged, vainly did the postilions, with artful +flips of their long knotted lashes, strive to tickle into +sensitiveness the soft bare arms of girls--their white necks, from +which the hair was braided. They knelt there and moved not. + +Lord Cornwallis looked out at the spectacle in surprise, and lowered +the window-glass with a bang to bid the postilions respect the sex, in +terms of indignant remonstrance. What singular people! So silent; they +might be stone. His ear caught a distant wailing, very faint--a long +way off--and a peculiar sound which recalled long-forgotten memories +of youth. The falling of a flail--yes, that was it. A lightning-flash, +of the past revealed to his mind's eye a warm-coloured, familiar +threshing-floor, in which he used to play ere he grew hardened by +war's vicissitudes. He remembered, as though it were yesterday, the +chequered sunlight on the grain, the merry hum of life, the stalwart +fellows raising their brawny arms in clock-like rhythm. He heard again +the buzz of insects, the booming of gauze-winged beetles along the +hedgerows; the exhilarating murmur which sings of teeming nature--of +glorious summer. Why were these peasants turned to stone? + +Lord Clare, forgetting himself, craned out of his window, and presumed +at the very start to counter-order his chief's commands. + +'Go on!' he screamed. 'Get through this riff-raff!' + +Lord Cornwallis roughly bade him hold his peace. + +'It's only a flogging,' the chancellor apologised. + +'And this is the silent protest of the people! Have they sunk to +this?' cried the Viceroy hoarsely, pulling at his cravat to ease the +lump that was in his throat. 'Poor creatures! Ground down so low that +they can protest only by their silence--a reverent silence, like that +of onlookers at a martyrdom! Who is acting here? Call him forward.' + +Presently an aide-de-camp returned through an archway with the +sheriff. The aide's eyes were full of tears. He was a youth new to +Ireland. This pathetic method of protesting was strangely, weirdly +tragic! He had noted how, as the far-off moaning continued, and the +thuds poured down in an unrelenting shower, these fair young necks had +winced in concert, though no murmur passed their lips. Yet when the +postilions flicked them, calling up red marks upon the skin, they made +no movement, nor uttered cry. All their feeling was for the suffering +victim on the triangle, in the barrack-yard yonder, whose life the cat +was slowly beating out of him. None was left for a paltry personal +smart, which lasts a second and is gone. + +'What are you doing there?' asked the frowning Viceroy. + +''Deed it's a Croppy being flogged till he tells the truth, as is the +rule,' returned the sheriff confidentially, with grins. He knew not +the bluff speaker, but respected the golden coach. + +'Learn then, in time, lest your own bones suffer for it,' retorted +Lord Cornwallis, 'that I am his Majesty's new representative. That my +first order on arriving in your capital shall be to put down corporal +punishment in any form whatever, unless sanctioned and signed for by +me.' + +The sheriff knew not what to make of it. This the new Viceroy, and +these his orders? He merely bowed and smirked, taking his cue from my +Lord Clare. + +A very old man in a long frieze coat, seeming to read some sort of +unusual sympathy in the flushed weather-beaten face of the last +speaker, advanced to the carriage-window with a grotesque salute. + +'What can we do for you, my man?' quoth the bluff soldier, in the hope +of some answering quip which should warm away the chill which rested +on his heart. + +'Plaze, yer honour!' quavered the aged man, with a vacant smile of +senility, 'sure I'd loike, if it moight be, for my two lads foreninst +the barriks there, as are sufferin', to be hanged at onst! And, av ye +plaze, might I go up too? Wid the blessing of God, I'd loike to shake +a fut wid my boys!' + +Lord Cornwallis pulled up the window with a jerk; and Lord Clare +thought the omen not quite so good which marked the arrival of the new +Viceroy. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + MR. CASSIDY IS IN DOUBT. + + +Lord Clare's previsions were justified in the first instance. The new +Viceroy was obliged to refrain from positive interference for a time, +in order that he might study the chaos and consider his future course. +News of the affair of Vinegar Hill reached him on the second day after +his arrival, and he thanked Heaven in that he was spared any +participation in the maltreatment of the south. But the first week in +August brought unexpected news, which compelled his excellency to look +about him with promptitude. The French--bugaboo that had given his +predecessor sleepless nights, only to prove afterwards the most vulgar +of post-c[oe]nal nightmares--were actually present in the flesh at +last. An army had landed on the north-western coast; so the news ran +which had flitted round the seaboard in a circle of flame. A veritable +army had landed at Killala under false colours, flying a mendacious +Union Jack: veterans to the number of twelve hundred, who had fought +in Italy under Napoleon. + +These at least were worthy foes whose presence set his martial blood +tingling. The hero of Vinegar Hill was despatched with all speed to +the northwest, while the Viceroy assembled his forces to follow him. +Three frigates only, bearing twelve hundred veterans! A handful. Was +this the _avant-garde_ of the invading army? Where was the rest of the +fleet? Scattered as usual by wind, or delayed by some accidental +circumstance? General Lake sent intelligence to his chief that this +handful really composed the entire force, which was commanded by one +Humbert, who had come on a fool's errand, without money or provisions, +trusting to Tone's assurance that the countryfolk would rally round +him so soon as he unfurled the tricolour. 'He would make short work of +the adventurers,' he wrote, 'with the help of the "Ancient Britons" +and the "Foxhunters." It would hardly be necessary for his excellency +to appear in person, for the brush would be over before he could +arrive.' + +The French met the royalists at Castlebar, where the latter were +disgracefully defeated. Humbert, delighted by his easy victory, +occupied the town during eight days, astonishing the people by a +courtesy to which they were little accustomed. So long as he commanded +there no house-burnings were heard of; no ravishing of maidens, or +pillaging of household goods. The peasantry poured into his camp, but +they were worse than of no service to him--a half-savage horde of idle +lookers-on, who howled and danced and quarrelled. The respectable +portion of the community held aloof, for Protestants could have no +sympathy with a French invader, while the higher class of Catholics +looked askance at Free-thinkers who had once been in the bosom of +their Church. Moreover, the horrors of Wexford were yet ringing in +their ears--horrors concerning which there could be no doubt, for the +Foxhunters, smeared with fraternal gore, were in their midst, who were +by no means inclined to put their firebrand under a bushel. Nor was it +long ere they gave a taste of their quality. They bade the fisherfolk +upon the coasts to declare for one side or the other at once, and +terrified the harmless people so that many tried to seek refuge in the +caverns which, as at Ennishowen, burrow under the western cliffs. Many +scores were drowned in the attempt, their bodies washed up upon the +rocks. It was not possible (no reinforcements arriving from France) +that Humbert could maintain his position at Castlebar. Perceiving his +peril, he made an effort to move northward, under the impression that +if he could succeed in avoiding a decisive action, Tone would soon +come with succour. + +The forces of General Lake dogged his steps, amusing themselves with +the native hordes who hung upon their skirts; and if ever blood atoned +for treason, then were those western counties washed white as wool. +Sword and halter were used with unsparing hand. An order went forth +that any man in a frieze coat might be sabred, without questions +asked. A certain noble colonel's humour was so broad that for a +second time he was publicly rebuked; on this occasion by Colonel +Campbell--whose nephew became afterwards Lord Clyde. + +Humbert and his men surrendered very shortly, and, cursing the people +they had come to save, were marched to Dublin as prisoners of war. So +ended the third French folly. + +Now hie we to Donegal with Cassidy, who, after the arrival of the new +Viceroy, saw more distinctly than ever how advisable would be a short +absence. Whilst artfully pretending that he could not keep a secret, +or conceal an emotion, or resist temptation, Mr. Cassidy was, as you +possibly have by this time discovered, a far-sighted, cold-hearted +schemer. A hypocrite is not necessarily one who conceals vice behind a +semblance of virtue. He belonged to a branch of the same stem who +makes a vice which he has no objection to show a stalking-horse to +cover a darker and more profitable vice which it is essential he +should hide. It was clear to him, after a very few hours' experience +of the new-comer, that my Lords Clare and Cornwallis did not agree. +There would be a tussle for power, during which the smaller fry would +be wise to remain quiescent. Lord Cornwallis, whose hands were full in +other ways, showed no signs of desiring to interfere in the matter of +the patriots; could not, indeed, do so without a dangerous stretch of +prerogative, for they were in the grip of the law, or rather of the +antic creature who for the nonce assumed the name; but he made no +secret of his contempt of the Lords and Commons, and his unspeakable +abhorrence of the behaviour of the yeomanry. More than this he dared +not do as yet, for it was evidently not his policy to quarrel with +the ascendency party; so he shut his eyes to the gymnastics in the +Riding-school, and popped his august head under the bedclothes with a +groan, when the screams of the victims in the Exchange hard by +penetrated to his chamber in the Castle. His path was thick with +flints. He complained bitterly of his position in letters to an old +brother-in-arms. 'The characteristics of society here,' he wrote, 'are +cruelty, intemperance, and profligacy. There is no trick too mean or +too impudent for an Irish politician; no deed too wicked for an Irish +soldier. These last are ferocious in the extreme, when poor creatures +armed or unarmed come into their power. Murder is their favourite +pastime. The conversation of all the principal persons in the country +tends to encourage this system of blood, and the talk even at my own +table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it, turns on +hanging, shooting, burning, etc.; and if a priest has been put to +death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company. So much for +Ireland and my wretched situation.'[1] + + +---------------------------- + +Footnote 1: Marquis Cornwallis to Major-Gen. Ross, Correspondence, +vol. ii. 369 _et seq_. + +---------------------------- + + +In their exuberant loyalty the Lords and Commons made a solemn +procession to do homage before a statue of that noble character, +George I., which was set up in Dawson Street. Their chancellor +strutted in front, followed by Mr. Speaker and Prime Sergeant. But His +Excellency declined to take part in the edifying pageant--even +muttered something uncomplimentary about a pack of donkeys. Lord +Clare, in his anger at the soldier's want of polish, was unwise enough +to threaten that he would lodge complaints on the subject. Decidedly +it was prudent for those whose nests required feathering to retire +into the background until the difficulty was adjusted. + +Cassidy rode northward, scanning as he went the numerous signs of +recent outrage. In the towns he was stopped and eagerly questioned, +for coaches and mail-bags were erratic. Rumour was garrulous, and +frequently contradicted herself. He, too, was interested in +obtaining information, for the citizens of Dublin know nothing of the +northern rising, except that it had been quickly put down with very +little trouble. He learnt that in the north, as in the south, the +collapse had come chiefly from lack of leaders; for preachers +could not be suddenly transmuted into generals, or traders into +commanders-in-chief. There had been a half-heartedness about the whole +business, arising from mutual distrust. The atrocities of Wexford +shocked the Northern Presbyterians, who were only told of the excesses +of the Catholics. Derry, too, was jealous of Down, Antrim of both. On +the other hand, the Hessian mercenaries irritated all classes--it was +the armed occupation of a conquered territory by a swinish conqueror. +The flame was skilfully fanned. Amnesty for political offences was +vaguely spoken of, which soon merged into sanguinary denunciation, and +concluded in the devotion of whole towns to fire and sword. The people +knew not how to act. If Wexford was subdued, the lash would surely +fall on their backs to punish them for their known detestation of the +Sassanagh. It would be better, then, to rise, some argued, so as at +least to gain something in exchange for inevitable punishment. And so, +undisciplined and ill-led, Antrim rose and was crushed; then Down took +the field, to suffer a like fate. It was the old, sad story over again +of Wexford, without Father Roche or the priest of Boulavogue. The +insurrection was evanescent; accompanied by much intermittent bravery +on the part of the peasants, much imbecility on the part of the +leaders, awful retribution on the part of the Hessians and squireens. +Cassidy found everywhere the feeling which Lord Clare had worked for, +and was overwhelmed with admiration at the cleverness of the +chancellor. Every one was mourning for a brother or a son. A gloom of +failure hung like a pall over the peasantry. The tradesmen of the +towns had lost all self-confidence, and were bowed in humiliation. +Their lives were so miserable that they cared no more what happened; +the iron heel had crushed them both in body and soul. The few whose +spirit yet flickered formed themselves into banditti, who for years +continued to infest the mountains and wild tracts. How difficult are +such memories to eradicate; how tenacious and how spreading are their +roots! What a long array of sedatives may be required to blot out the +remembrance of a crime of such portentous magnitude as this which we +are contemplating! + +Meanwhile the dreamland of Ennishowen knew nothing of these things. +The fairy islet of Glas-aitch-e seemed defended from outer evil by a +spell, which gave the sleeping knights in the sea-caves no cause for +waking. The seals rolled over on the blue-green waves as though the +world were not full of sorrow; the eagles soared high up in ether, +dazzled by the glory of the sun. As month followed month my lady saw +that her pet project was brought no nearer to realisation than in the +old days of Strogue; that it was further off, indeed; for Shane had +grown as coldly indifferent to his cousin as she was to him. He made +no love to her, did not seem to see her; the intercourse of those whom +my lady longed to see acting as lovers was as calm as that between a +brother and a sister. It was exasperating. + +My lady hugged her religion, which taught her that those who follow +the national faith were capable of any crime. She gloated over the +narrative of the horrors on Wexford Bridge; thanked God that she was +not so bad as other people; affected a certain journal recently +printed by a missionary who had preached Christ's doctrine--or what he +took to be such--to the benighted heathen, in which was written: 'Had +much sweet enjoyment to-day in reading a sermon on the justice of God +in the damnation of sinners.' Her letters brought her news which by +degrees changed, so it seemed, the whole tenor of her way of thinking. +At least Doreen thought so as she surveyed her aunt, who appeared now +to act in spasms of contradictory impulse. At one moment the world was +apparently to her so black that there was nothing for it but to sit +down without hope to await the welcome end. At another moment she +became feverishly-restless and energetic, chafing evidently under some +hidden goad which was too bitter to be endured with outward calm. +Doreen watched her with increasing interest; for Time, which was +changing my lady, had changed her too, by removing the apathetic +dreaminess that had, upon arriving in the north, lulled the torn +fibres of her disillusioned nature with the anodyne which follows +disappointment. As events unfolded themselves, the two ladies changed +places. My lady, so imperious and impatient of contradiction, became +apathetic, but with an uncanny resignation which increased her age all +at once by at least ten years. The proud foot, instead of disdaining +the earth as it used to do, lost its elasticity and dragged upon the +ground. The incipient look of terror for which her eyes had always +been remarkable, developed into the amaze of one who has seen a ghost +face to face, while the skin round them was dry and burning, and +darkened to a purplish brown. For hours and hours would she sit, like +one inanimate, staring at that ghost which she only could behold, +turning with a nervous start if a door or window were opened suddenly. +Sometimes--but that was seldom--her surcharged heart found relief in +tears; not soothing dew, but water which burned new furrows down her +wasted cheek. It was evident that there was some awful weight upon her +mind, which was growing heavier--was squeezing her life-blood out by +drops. + +Doreen set herself to wonder what this could mean. It looked like the +effort of an anguished soul to fly from memory and hoodwink remorse. +Yet why should the punctiliously upright dowager be possessed by so +dire a visitation? The old lady (really old now, though her years were +but fifty-three) kept muttering to herself when she thought she was +alone; then looked fiercely up, with glaring eyes like coals, from a +suspicion that she might have betrayed something. Once her niece +caught her in an excess of what seemed like madness--babbling some +frantic words out loud through a thick silken kerchief which she held +against her mouth. It was clear that there was some secret which was +bursting to come out--that was devouring her piecemeal--and that she +adopted this strange way of giving vent to it. Her sufferings must +indeed be terrible, Miss Wolfe thought, if that marble pride was +powerless to conceal them. No human frame may bear for long such +wrenching. Either the stern countess must go raving mad, or else she +would certainly soon die. + +One night when (sleepless herself) Doreen rose to listen at her aunt's +door, she caught, amid inarticulate babble, the oft-repeated words, +'Terence--Shane!' muttered in such tones of anguish, that, shivering, +she crept back to bed, warned as by chilling vapour from the threshold +of a secret which 'twere better not to know. Terence--Shane! Her two +sons, then, were at the bottom of the mystery--the two sons who in +their mother's mind stood on such different platforms. Doreen watched +on, but still found no clue to the labyrinth. The countess seemed +sometimes, she observed, to be much occupied with her project--that +wild notion, unpractical in the beginning, which events had made even +more incongruous--of uniting these cousins who had so little in common +at the first, and who had now between them the gulf of the late +rebellion. Then she would seem by a mental reaction to recoil from the +idea, and do her best to prevent the two from meeting who, as it was, +so seldom met. Perhaps the lady really had a brain affection, Miss +Wolfe's mind suggested to her at times. Perhaps she, Doreen, was +trying to solve a riddle to which there was no solution. All whom it +concerned knew only too well that my lady disliked her second son. It +was preposterous to suppose that his joining the popular party should +affect his mother in this manner. It was natural that her pride should +be hurt, because he flouted her known opinions and embraced the tenets +of those whom she chose to consider as unworthy of consideration. But +that she should be absolutely sinking under the agony of the disgrace +was altogether out of the question. When the news came that, after +eluding pursuit for a long while, he had been taken, seriously +wounded, and incarcerated in the provost, she showed no emotion; while +her niece, who professed to hate him, was dreadfully distressed in +spite of herself. The struggle which had been tearing the old lady +appeared to have worn itself out. She appeared to have resigned +herself at last to accept the inevitable, to be too fatigued with the +fight for her intellect to be capable of a new impression. The ghost +had been looked in the face--the ghost which, ever since the late lord +died, had been hovering more or less near to her. She had felt his +scathing breath upon her cheek; she was under the gaze of a basilisk, +whose scorching fascination reduced her will to coma. Should the news +come that her son was publicly hanged like a felon, with all outward +tokens of ignominy, it could stir her now to no visible emotion. The +coldness which in her letters surprised Lord Clare was not one of +indifference, but of a despair which had ended in collapse. She +disliked her son, yet it was his fate that was corroding her life +away. Why was that? If Shane, the well-beloved, had been in similar +plight, the wreck, so far as she was concerned, could not have been +greater--nay, nor so great. Then her agony would have found vent in +indignation; she would have done something wherein might be detected, +through a veil, the old imperious ways of the chatelaine of Strogue. +But this utter breakdown--this abject wreck--and all about one for +whom she could not pretend to care! Here was an enigma which puzzled +Miss Wolfe more and more, serving to abstract her somewhat from her +own private woes. + +The same motive, singularly enough, had wrought the change in both the +ladies--Terence, the hapless councillor, who lay now under shadow of +the gallows. At the time of the discovery of the pikes, when his +mother's careless words had suggested to the high-spirited damsel that +her cousin had sold the cause for gold, she had had a glimmering +suspicion that her heart was no longer fancy free--that it had gone +forth without the asking to one whom it was now her duty to contemn. +At least there was a vague whisper (thrust aside at once) within her +of the fact, which had caused her to comport herself in a way which at +a calmer moment her judgment would have rejected. Then, many causes +coalescing into one, she had devoted herself to birds and boating, +under a delusion which she strove hard to accept as truth, that +because they were beyond her helping she cared no more for her +ill-used people, or for the champions who in their weak way would have +defended them. It has been shown that she sank into a condition of +apathy--of mental numbness--which had about it a sort of negative +enjoyment. Then came news of events in the south--garbled offensive +news sent up from Letterkenny barracks--news which filled Shane's +animal soul with glee, and caused him, abandoning the ladies, to rush +off on his own account to emulate the antics of his class. This +intelligence struck on the maiden's heart like so many reiterated +blows, and, breaking the charm, produced a queer kind of hope. Was it +possible after all that Terence could have behaved so shamefully? If +not, then how was the matter of the pikes to be explained? Possibly +this was another mesh in the net which Judas had been weaving--the +many-headed Judas--to catch the tripping feet of all the patriots. The +maiden had been too hot to ask for an explanation. Had she wronged her +cousin, or not? A strange bubbling of joy welled up within her at the +thought that a doubt was possible; but this she repressed with guilty +vehemence. It was no time for joy or hope. Then the news dribbled in +of Wexford and Scullabogue--the awful crimes committed by the +Catholics, without so much as a whisper of the Protestant outrages at +Carlow and the Gibbet-Rath; and she longed with a wild longing to go +south once more. Was it possible that these reports were true? At the +worst, they must be much exaggerated. But men are only human. Drive +them too hard, and they inevitably turn to beasts. It is only the +purest metal which comes improved out of the crucible; and how rare +that metal! If the reports were true, how the men of Wexford must have +suffered! It was with a whimsical feeling of distress that she marked +her aunt's growing indifference with reference to these reports. Time +was when my lady would have chewed the cud of Scullabogue, extracting +therefrom a savoury text on which to found a discourse upon the sins +of the scarlet woman, pointing innuendoes at her niece such as might +quiver in her Papist soul. Doreen would rather have endured this +pillory than see the old lady so undone. Nor Scullabogue, nor Carlow, +nor the iniquitous Fathers Roche or Murphy, Kearnes or Clinch, could +rouse her from her lethargy any more, or distract her attention from +the contemplation of her ghost. + +Doreen determined to write to her father about the countess, whose +state really grew quite alarming: there was no use in talking to Shane +about it; he was quite too besotted. Granted that she cared little for +her second son, it was astonishing (for she was not hard-hearted) that +my lady should evince no desire to nurse her boy, who was lying +wounded in a prison cell. Lord Clare was no doubt doing all that was +kind; yet a mother's hand on a sick pillow is likely to be even more +soothing to an invalid than a lord chancellor's. But as her soul +became more shrivelled she pointedly avoided even the mention of +Terence's name, and showed general signs of a peevish querulousness, +which was alien to her strong character. It did not seem to strike my +lady that it was time to pack up and return to Strogue; maybe she knew +that her ghost would pursue her thither, and felt callous as to where +she abode or what she did, provided that there was no escape from the +petrifying phantom. + +Doreen had another reason for imploring her father to use his +influence as to the return of the family to Dublin. The intelligence +of the state-trials moved the damsel much. Her people, it was evident, +were to bow under their burden in obedience to Heaven's decree. In +their travail she might be of use to the patriots--still more to their +distressed wives and families. She wrote, therefore, pointing out that +no one could dream of conspiring now, and that, so far as she was +concerned, it was idle to detain her a prisoner. + +One day my lord returned from his accustomed cruise down Lough Swilly +in huge delight. The circle of flame, which had swept past this +portion of the coast as well as others, had informed the dwellers in +Ennishowen that peril threatened somewhere. Then had come suspense and +vague rumours of the French nightmare, which people put from them at +once as idle chatterings of a danger that was over. My lord had sailed +from tower to tower--those stalwart towers whose creation he had +himself superintended--but no keeper could tell him more than that he +had lit his bonfire upon seeing one blazing to westward, and that his +own warning had been answered by a similar blaze to eastward. The +soldier-sprigs of Letterkenny even could say nothing positive. It was +reported that the French had come at last, they said; but at this +eleventh hour the notion was absurd. Doreen's heart had leaped within +her. The French! Was Theobald with them? She condescended to coax and +wheedle Shane, and put forth all her blandishments to obtain more +positive information. Suspense was racking her. She even offered to go +with him on his yacht, and be civil to those horrible bumpkins in +uniform, if he would sail forthwith to Letterkenny and discover +something tangible. He went alone; but wrung from her a promise that +if he organised an aquatic _fete_ shortly, to which he proposed to +invite the aforesaid bumpkins, she would cast aside her reserve, and +make herself agreeable to them. + +'You know, Doreen,' he said, 'that my lady's breaking up. She looks +like a ghoul. By the Hokey, she'd frighten 'em all away! and it's +devilish dull here for a young man like me. For political reasons I've +borne the penance all this weary time. But may I be well triangled if +I put up with it much longer.' + +Though the speech was rude, as conveying a hint to his cousin that her +constant presence by no means made up to him for the vanished orgies +of Cherokees and Blasters, yet did she smile her sweetest smile on +him. It proved that she need never dread being tormented with his +attentions; and so she promised, and he went. He was several days +absent; then returned, as I have said, in huge delight. The festival +was organised. The squireens were much _obleeged_, and would make +a point of responding to his lordship's _feevour_. It was to take +place in ten days. Doreen must see to details. They would dine +in the low-arched hall, and take their claret in the garden. What +pleasanter than to enjoy the delicious autumn air, laden as it was +with health-inspiring brine? + +Doreen commanded herself sufficiently to listen to his prattle. What +was my lord's _fete_ to her--the odious boozing boors! She was pining +for political news--was about, losing all patience, to interrupt her +cousin--when, to her surprise and delight, he stopped of his own +accord with a string of oaths, vowing that in this accursed +hole he was forgetting his manners. He had picked up a guest at +Letterkenny--one whom she used to like. He jerked his thumb over his +shoulder towards the yacht. She looked, and beheld--Cassidy--the old +friend and true, who was as hearty and as jolly as ever, with his +roguish twinkle and double-chin, smiling and waving salutations to +her! Cassidy, who had promised once to be a friend--on that day after +his silly declaration by the kennels! Cassidy, escaped by some kindly +turn of fate from the ills which had fallen on the rest! He would know +everything, could tell her private details of persons whose names she +dared scarce mention to herself. + +This was a delightful surprise. Dropping her ordinary coldness, she +advanced quickly to him with flushed cheek and both hands extended. He +read in her face that she was genuinely glad to see him, and thanked +his stars that he had bethought himself of trying once again. She had +been coy--needed persistent wooing--was, like all women, a born +coquette. He held both her trembling little brown hands in his, and +would have kissed her if grinning Shane had not been looking on. She +liked him. There could be no doubt of it. The sweet lovely minx--brown +as a berry--all the lovelier and the browner for long exposure to the +sun and blustering blast and wholesome air. She had betrayed herself, +the demure siren! The Castle and its people might go to the devil now. +He need not trouble to feather his nest. She evidently loved him +enough to take him as he was, and had gold enough for both. He +mentally resolved to choose the first opportunity to put the tender +question in due form. Pretty, stately creature! What a charm there was +in the toss of her shapely head, the tawny depths of her solemn eyes! + +Her first question somewhat disconcerted the amorous giant. + +'How is Terence?' she asked, recovering her usual calm. + +He glanced suspiciously down, but there was no tremulousness about the +serene face such as his own coming had provoked. It was natural to ask +after a cousin who was once a playfellow, and was now on the threshold +of an ignominious death. + +''Deed, and he's bad, acushla!' he returned bluntly; then, with an +affectionate hand-squeeze, followed beckoning Shane to pay his +respects to my lady. + +With heartfelt thankfulness the girl, who went with them, listened to +Shane's budget of gossip, as he tumbled it out, a confused medley, for +his mother's benefit. This French expedition was but the wild freak of +an adventurer unwisely brave. He and all his men--Frenchmen all--were +gone in chains to Dublin, a mirth-provoking spectacle for the good +townspeople, who were getting weary of badgered Croppies. The boys at +Letterkenny were coming to his little _fete_--he was to send the yacht +and a whole fleet of boats for them. It would be rare fun! + +By-the-bye, Sir Borlase Warren and some English ships of war were +cruising somewhere close by--their mission to prevent another French +band from landing, if another leader should be found as foolhardy as +this Humbert. That was not likely. Sir Borlase would have his cruise +for nothing. The laws of hospitality demanded that he should be +entertained. Shane had left a message at the tower on Fanad Head to +the effect that Lord Glandore would be glad to be civil to Sir +Borlase. Maybe he and his officers would grace the prospective _fete_. +With this Shane descended to the cellar, to look out some bottles of +prime claret for the delectation of Cassidy. Being but a half-mounted, +my lord had consistently treated that personage at Strogue with +indulgent patronage mingled with hauteur; but now he was so tired of +getting drunk alone, or with the rough skipper of his yacht, that he +condescended to kill a fatted calf for the behoof of the new arrival. + +So the third French expedition had gone off like a damp squib! Doreen +was in nowise sorry for the prisoners. Faithless as the French had +been, great in promises which were never fulfilled, it served them +right to be punished for their folly. But she was deeply thankful that +Tone was not among them. It rather surprised her, till she reflected +that her young hero was wise beyond his years, and far-sighted too. He +saw, no doubt, as she did, that the moment was come and gone; that +there was nothing for it but endurance now. He was galloping in his +general's uniform on the banks of the Rhine, or perchance was one of +Buonaparte's staff in Egypt or elsewhere. He had slaved with the +power of a young Samson for motherland; but treachery had done her +work--Samson was shorn. He could do no more. Like her, he could only +wait. It was a mercy that his life was spared. + +Cassidy's presence was certainly a relief to all, by introducing a new +element of interest into a household devoured by ennui. He was so gay +and willing. It was a pleasure to hear his rich voice carolling one of +the dreamy songs of Ireland, as he caught fish for breakfast over the +garden parapet. Even my lady had a wintry smile for him. Shane dragged +him out with glee to look at the Martello towers, to shoot a seal, to +have a blaze at the puffins about Malin Head. The cheery, pleasant +creature! Sir Borlase and his fleet sailed by. The admiral's boat, +manned by its natty crew in dazzling white garments, shot to the +staircase hewn from the living rock, to scrape acquaintance with the +hermits of Glas-aitch-e. He thought he had never seen so singular a +household. The scared aristocratic-looking lady, with snowy locks and +deep furrows of sorrow ploughed on her faded cheeks--each line in the +fretwork of whose brow told of carking care, each rustle of whose +silken robe spoke of overweening pride; the beautiful tall gipsy, with +pride as great as hers, which was tempered by a serene sadness that +became her beauty well. And dwelling with this pair of cold, haughty +women, two men of such a different stamp! The young lord, a reckless +devil evidently, and fierce, despite his somewhat effeminate figure +and tiny hands; given, too, to the modish vice, as was evidenced by +the coarsening of his fine features. And then, culminating surprise, +the great jolly giant--type of a rollicking Pat--vulgar and humorous; +who somehow was of much commoner clay than his three companions, who +yet treated him with indulgent friendliness. What a strange life this +quartet must be leading? the admiral mused, as he went upon his way. +They would repay careful study. He had no particular orders as to his +cruise, except that he was to watch the northern coast. He would +inspect the inlets of Lough Foyle, and then come back again. Why were +they leading this odd hermit life? Decidedly it would be worth while +to examine them more closely. The maiden and the giant went about +together a good deal, he remarked, in two frail coracles, side by +side--paddling among banks of heavy seaweed, landing on the strand to +visit cottagers, skirting the beetling cliff in search of rare ferns +and lichens. Could they be about to make a match of it? Some of the +most happy couples are composed of the most conflicting elements. Yet +it did seem a pity for a refined girl like this to unite herself to a +common farmer-fellow! + +My lady, too, remarked the apparent flirtation, and frowned. 'What's +bred in the bone will come out,' she muttered, as, sitting on the +marble seat among the straggling flowers, she basked in the sun. 'It's +the blood of her mother. She has a predilection for common people. +That is why she went on so shamefully at Strogue, consorting with the +sons of old Doctor Emmett, who, in his way, was a good man, in +preference to cousin Shane!' Then, remembering the behaviour of her +second son, she contemplated her ghost again. 'That he should come to +a shameful end,' she groaned, wringing her hands together. 'Is this a +direct judgment on me? Did my husband foresee this when he spoke upon +his death-bed? Had I acted as I ought, would Terence have been saved?' + +Doreen was so accustomed to be led by her wayward will that it did not +strike her that she was doing anything peculiar in going thus about +with Cassidy. She occupied her boat, he his; sure, nothing could be +more proper. She had always looked upon him as on a Newfoundland dog, +whose rough gambols are amusing, and courted his society now to hear +details of her Dublin friends without interruption from her aunt. She +learned much that was true and much that was false. With grief she +listened to the weary tale of treachery, marvelling with Cassidy as to +who the traitor was. She burned with indignation at the conduct of the +executive, observing that there is an unwritten law in accordance with +which the ignorant are to be protected from themselves; not coaxed to +crime and then murdered for it. For some reason of his own, the giant +avoided the mention of Terence; and Doreen respected his delicacy, for +she thought that perchance he had ill things to tell of him, and she +shrank from hearing them; clinging rather to her present state of +doubt. + +One day as they drifted on the glassy sea--the one pensive, with +her chin upon her hands, the other distracted by his increasing +passion--Cassidy remarked that her coracle was leaking, that a tiny +rift had been cut in the side by a jagged stone, and that the water +was lapping in unawares. He swore there was peril--lost his head in an +absurd manner--while she smiled. Why did she not choose to come out +with him in a bigger boat? These frail cockle-shells were ridiculous! +What greater delight could there be for him than to row so precious a +burthen? + +'I prefer my liberty,' was her demure reply, as she measured her +distance to the islet, and then the incoming water. 'If I put my +strength into it I shall get safely home, so don't excite yourself.' + +With rare skill she plied the light oars, baring her shapely arms +and stretching them to their full length, and arrived at the +staircase-foot out of breath, but safe, ere the coracle had time to +fill. + +'There!' she said in smiling triumph, as she stood on the slippery +step, her ripe lips half opened, her bosom heaving. 'Am I not quite +fit for the _role_ of an old maid? Can I not look after myself without +a protector?' + +Cassidy, with emotion, was as breathless as she. 'Like the poor Irish +boys,' he blurted out, 'you should be protected against yourself. When +you are my wife you shan't play such pranks!' + +Doreen, who was moving up the steps, turned swiftly and looked down at +him. There was pained wonder in her tawny eyes--scornful anger in the +knitted arches of her brow. + +'Mr. Cassidy!' she said, panting. 'Oh, I'm so sorry! Is this my fault? +I thought it was quite understood that your former nonsense was mere +passing fancy. Never, never speak like that again, or I must tell my +aunt, who will turn you out of doors. Indeed, after this, I'm very, +very sorry, but the sooner you go away the better!' + +Her face was crimson. Gathering up her skirts, and thereby displaying +a silver buckled brogue and ribbed woollen stocking, she tripped +lightly up the flight and was gone, leaving her forlorn admirer to see +to the boats alone. + +Was it for good or ill that she went away so hurriedly? Would it have +been better for her to have beheld the true man without his mask? She +could scarcely be more pained and astonished than she was already. She +was not intentionally a coquette. The manner of her bringing up and +the atmosphere of melancholy by which she was enwrapped, caused her to +think it possible to be on platonic terms with men upon a purely +brotherly basis. Neither Tone nor the Emmetts had dreamed of making +love to her. She did not consider her own beauty and the inflammable +nature of the Hibernian heart--that is, when it is not fully engrossed +already by national grievances. Perhaps she would look on Cassidy as +he really was ere long--most probably indeed--for as he bent down to +tie the boats, the water reflected a villainous expression of +countenance, whilst he swore under his breath to be revenged for +having been tricked and fooled by a born jilt. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + SHANE'S LITTLE PARTY. + + +When she observed a marked coolness 'twixt Doreen and the guest, my +lady frowned more and more. _Amantium, irae!_ This was worse and worse. +Was this boor to take the damsel from under Shane's nose? It occurred +to her that it was time to shake off her lethargy. Ghost or no ghost, +it would not do for this 'half-mounted gentleman' to carry off the +prize after which she had stooped for years to scheme herself, for +reasons of her own. As it seemed slipping from her fingers, it +appeared to grow in value; and the importance of the danger exorcised +the ghost for the time being. Shane's interests should not be made to +suffer through his mother's indifference. The list of charges against +the hapless dowager was full enough without that. So soon as the +_fete_ to the squireens was over, she would return to Strogue. Why did +she ever leave it to come to this accursed spot? She became once more +the imperial countess--roused herself--went hither and thither to see +that the family name was not dishonoured by the preparations for +hospitality--suggested changes for the better--had the garden roofed +in with curtains, and tables spread there in cool shadow. It would be +nice, she affirmed, for the gentlemen to enjoy the unrivalled panorama +of the Donegal mountains whilst sipping the equally unrivalled claret +of their host. + +Doreen, who on reflection was grievously annoyed anent the folly of +her large admirer, was taken by surprise when she beheld this new +phase in her aunt's demeanour. She was a kaleidoscope, but certainly +not mad. No judge on the bench was more sane than she. The corroding +gloom was still there, but lightened; no longer engrossing its victim +as it had done. Power had been given by some mysterious agency to +shake off the weight. Who might solve the riddle? Was the cause of her +agony actually gone? It could not be remorse, then. The gloom which +remained was exhaustion after pain. Doreen gave it up, and resigned +herself to the consideration of tarts and puddings for the benefit of +chawbacons. + +The grand day came, and with it the squireens, who were turned to +stone by the aspect of my lady, as by a gorgon's head. Despite the +chill which hangs over the sea at sunrise, their warm hands became +more and more clammy in Medusa's awful presence. She wore a stiff +brocade cut in an obsolete fashion, with a broad sash and full white +fichu loosely knotted behind. As a gorgon she was a success. Never in +the palmy days of Dublin Castle had she struck terror into the bosoms +of _debutantes_ as she did now into the innermost souls of these raw +youths. They mopped their brows, rubbed their moist hand-palms on +their small clothes of kerseymere, tugged at their tight vests, felt +nervously whether their pigtails were hanging straight over the tall +coat-collars which sawed their ears, stumbled over their swords, +demeaned themselves after the manner of awkward youth when in a +paroxysm of timidity. She curtseyed like Queen Elizabeth, with high +nose exalted, and they shrank back in a wave affrighted; only to ebb +again in renewed fear, having well-nigh knocked down the lovely Miss +Wolfe who was making a dignified entrance by another door. Those two +haughty women together in one room were quite too much for them. With +relief they sat down to a sort of improvised breakfast, for the shadow +of tables would conceal their shoes, the country make of which had +already been remarked by the younger lady's eagle eye. Conscience +makes fools of us. Doreen cared not about their shoes, nor saw them. +She merely thought the young men a set of oafs, and was displeased, in +that they should have arrived too early. By prearranged programme they +were to be taken to inspect the towers; then to view the English +fleet, by kind permission of Sir Borlase; then they were to return to +dinner, to get as intoxicated as if they were 'gentlemen to the +backbone,' sleep off their orgy, and return in the morning to +Letterkenny barracks. An excellent programme, no doubt, wherewith to +while away an autumn holiday--but a still better one had been prepared +for them by destiny. + +While the party was at breakfast, the stillness became broken by an +odd concussion in the air. A dull series of unequal thuds a long way +off, which reverberated on the waves, that seemed to bear them onward +in muffled throbs. What could cause the strange sensation which acted +on the nerves with such irritating effect? It was not thunder. Nobody +present had ever been in battle, or they would have recognised the +singular sound, which is indescribable, and which, having once been +heard, may never be forgotten. It was part of the programme that they +should be shown a fleet. Fortune was lavish, and decided to show them +two. The English fleet was in the offing; _so was the French_. At +dawn, Sir Borlase (whose squadron amounted to nine vessels) had been +no little taken aback by the appearance of four ships hurrying through +the mist. On descrying the glint of his white sails these ships tacked +and made off, confessing by the movement, though they showed no +colours, that they represented an enemy. He instantly gave orders to +stow away the holiday gear and clear for action--despatching a message +to my Lord Glandore, to announce that he was gone away on business, +but that he might return in time for dinner, and bring some extra +guests with him. + +The French! How silly was the Grande Nation! When energy and +promptitude might have lost Ireland to England, they hung about and +dawdled and did nothing. When the critical time was passed, they +seemed suddenly to have awakened and to be resolved to rush wilfully +by driblets into the open jaws of death. When Humbert landed a few +days before, he had at least the advantage of surprise. Warned by his +bit of lunacy, English squadrons were despatched all round the +seaboard to guard the coast; and yet a handful of adventurers could +still be found to attempt to seize a country that wanted them no more! + +When the admiral's message came, Cassidy glanced sideways at Doreen. +She turned pale, and, to the relief of the squireens, retired indoors. + +The opening of Lough Swilly is one of the most perilous points for +seamen who are ignorant of its peculiarities, even on an iron-bound +coast which everywhere is dangerous. At ebb there are long stretches +of low water, broken here and there into surf by banks of underlying +rock. When the French ships strove to flee before Sir Borlase (there +were only four--the rest of the expedition being, as usual, nowhere), +the French commander recognised the fact that, being caught in a trap, +he must stand at bay with one to ensure the escape of the other +three. He had one big and heavy man-of-war which floundered--badly +piloted--like an unwieldy whale, nearer and nearer to the cliff. The +English admiral was bearing down on him. There was no time to tranship +men--to leave the monster to its fate--empty--an idle prey. With +intrepid courage he signalled his other ships to retreat through +shallow water, resolved alone to honour his country's flag, which was +now unfurled, by a desperate but hopeless defence. + +Sir Borlase despatched a razee and a frigate after the fugitives. They +flitted into distance, and were seen no more. Then, the black monster +having been surrounded by five smaller foes, one of the most obstinate +engagements began that was ever fought upon the ocean. The occupants +of the island could mark all that passed, for the returning tide +drifted the helpless hulk closer and more close inland, and they, as +it were, occupied a front place at the entrance of the lough wherefrom +to view the spectacle. It was most exciting. Even my lady's dulled +eyes sparkled as they had not done for years. Shane--almost +delirious--the cicatrice on his forehead standing forth like a +stain--whooped and hallooed and clapped his hands and danced +fandangoes on the parapet, and would have tumbled headlong over the +garden wall into the sea, if the giant had not held his skirts. Who +should be a better judge of such matters than the King of Cherokees? +The squireens forgot their nervousness, became oblivious of country +shoes, of ill-made pigtails, and red ears and knuckles, whooping and +hallooing like a pack of hounds, in echo to the whooping of their +host. Some (but these were very forward) even clutched Medusa's +dress--pinched Queen Bess's arm--in their eagerness that the +white-haired lady should not lose a point in the struggle. + +For six hours the doomed monster laboured, heaving on the shallow +waves, drifting within a stone's throw of Malin Head. Figures could be +detected through the smoke, scurrying hither and thither in blue +uniforms, with gestures of command or encouragement. Two, more busy +than the rest, were on the poop, rushing forward--aft--conspicuous in +the front of peril for gold-laced sleeves, huge hats and feathers, +loose hair after the French mode. Masts and rigging crashed and +crumbled--the ponderous hull winced and swayed with repeated shocks, +while the surge lapped creamy round its prow. The roar of artillery +now was deafening. + +'If they don't take care,' Shane screamed, as though his warning could +be heard, 'that blundering hull will jam the little vessels against +the rocks!' + +With a desperate energy which compelled the sympathy even of the +squireens, the doomed ship returned fire for fire, though her sails +and cordage clung about her in ribbons; though her shattered ribs +yawned at each new stroke; though her scuppers flowed with blood; +though her decks were piled with corpses. As the smoke swirled away in +eddies, the two in hats and plumes could still be seen exposing +themselves recklessly, ordering up hammocks and spare sails to stuff +into widening gaps. The cannonade of Sir Borlase rang among the +sea-caves, bringing thence whirring troops of bats, which dashed in +their terror in the faces of the combatants, then dropped dazed into +the sucking swell. The frightened fisher-folk looked on furtively at +first from holes and clefts, then fled inland, leaving their precious +nets and boats as a spoil for the spoiler. The death-struggle of the +monster was painful to look upon, as it swung heavily and shivered +whilst blow succeeded blow. It was a gallant monster, for the tattered +tricolour still dangled over the gap where once the rudder was--a +valiant monster! Enemy though he might be who was receiving a final +battering, few could look without pity on his death-throes--for he was +dying game. + +Gurgling foam-whipped water began to pour into the hold of the big +ship, which now lay so close at hand that her name was visible in +florid carving on her poop--_Hoche_. The name of Tone's friend and +Buonaparte's rival, who had died but a few months ago, of consumption, +on the Rhine. She was a dismantled wreck--nothing but a dark battered +hull. Her batteries were dumb; dismounted. The tattered tricolour went +down, as a signal that she struck. The banging of Sir Borlase ceased. +The sudden stillness, after so long-drawn a hubbub, was painful to the +ear. The squireens clasped each other's hands and embraced in their +excitement, whilst Shane drew forth his jewelled timepiece. + +'By the Hokey! but it's a glorious sight!' he gasped, flapping his +face with a dainty handkerchief; for a spectacle such as this touched +the finest chord in his nature. 'Six hours, as I live; and it seems +scarce six minutes. The sun is high in the heavens, though you can't +see him for the smoke, save as a saffron disk. They are fine fellows, +mounseers though they be; we'll give them a hearty cheer when Sir +Borlase brings them to dinner. On my honour, I half wish they had +conquered!' + +Doreen, at the commencement of the action, had withdrawn alone to the +watch-tower where the fire-bucket stood, and remained there clutching +it with a heavy dread. What a relief it had been to her mind to think +that the French had given up all thoughts of invasion! Something told +her that that big rolling hulk, caught in shallow water as an unwieldy +fish may be, was the flagship. Who might there be on board? When the +roaring ended and silence supervened, she was still at her post of +vantage, concealed from the sight of the excited mob below by the +rolling masses of vapour, which hung like winding-sheets upon the sea. +She stood there as in a trance--motionless in the body, though her +mind worked with exceeding swiftness--till, after a lapse of time, the +sound of measured oars made itself audible, approaching gradually, +with regular plodding rhythm; and then a row of boats, headed by the +admiral's, loomed at the stone staircase-foot. She woke with a shudder +to a Babel of shouts and laughter, and slowly descended from her +eyrie, trembling with mortal apprehension. + +'Mounseers, every man Jack!' Sir Borlase was saying, cheerily. + +'Thank God!' was the fervent echo in Doreen's bosom. + +'The French-Irish boys are conspicuous for their absence when it comes +to blows for Ireland,' went on the admiral. 'Quite right, too; for we +couldn't treat 'em as prisoners of war, you know. There's not a man +among my prisoners, thank the Lord, who's not a Parleyvoo.' + +Doreen appeared in the small battlemented garden, but stood aside, out +of respect to the vanquished braves. They passed her by in their blue +full-skirted coats and voluminous neckcloths and queer cocked hats and +plumes; some bleeding, some reeling like drunken men, some with heads +bowed and livid faces, some with a poor assumption of jauntiness--all +smirched and powder-blackened. + +They passed between two scarlet hedges, along the avenue which the +squireens opened for them, into the low entrance-hall, and there +waited in knots. There could not be the smallest chance of escape; +therefore no guard was set. Generous Sir Borlase was sorry for the men +who had fought so well. This little courtesy was due to such brave +soldiers. They might wander where they listed on the islet, while the +British admiral was arranging what was to be done with them. + +Lord Glandore busied him exceedingly; held important conferences with +Sir Borlase and the commandant of the squireens. If the poor fellows +were to be captured at all, it was a stroke of luck for him that they +should have been taken within his jurisdiction. They should be packed +off, by-and-by, in his own yacht to Rathmullen; he would go himself +with the escort. The commandant at Letterkenny would send them on to +Dublin; he, too, would ride thither. It would be wonderful if he did +not receive an English marquisate as reward for his brilliant +services. Meanwhile it behoved him to play _Grand Seigneur_. If there +was one thing which could create a passing spirit of real generosity +in his shallow nature, it was the sight of personal prowess. He always +loved a good duel, a good cock-fight, a successful bear-baiting. Had +he not been in the habit of fighting endless duels himself for a mere +bubble reputation? His own rapier was rusty now from want of use; but, +please the pigs, he would start afresh next week in the metropolis, +and resume his crown and sceptre as King of Cherokees. This contest on +the sea had been a delightful affair; the vanquished should quaff +their fill of his very best claret--aye, the very primest. As he +descended to the cellar he beheld Doreen doing woman's work. She was a +kind creature, though stuck-up. She had summoned the maids with linen +and water. They were moving quietly among the groups, whilst she, with +high-bred courtesy, was whispering gentle words of consolation. + +There, in a remote corner, sat the two who had behaved so gallantly. +Their fine scarlet capes and cuffs, and gold-bedizened hats, +proclaimed them to be of the highest military rank. One was nursing +his knee and whistling softly, as his mind wandered far away; the +other was bent forward; his hands were clasped over his face; hot +tears were trickling between his fingers. + +'Be of good cheer,' the lively first one murmured; 'we shall see _la +belle France_ again, no fear. We shall be ransomed by-and-by. You will +again behold your wife and little ones.' + +Doreen swept with stately grace to where they sat. + +'Are either of the gentlemen hurt?' she inquired in French. + +He who was bowed down looked up. She dropped the pitcher which she +held, and staggered against the wall. + +'Theobald--_here!_' she whispered. + +Alas! Yes. It was Theobald Wolfe Tone--thinner, paler, with all the +youth gone out of him. + +'It was not thus that I had expected to return,' he said in French, +with a sorry smile. 'Yet what matters it? _Le temps et le malheur ont +fletri mon ame!_' + +Doreen speedily recovered her self-possession. + +'How culpably rash!' she muttered. 'There is no one that knows you in +this place who would betray you; you will pass for a Frenchman. I will +warn Shane, that he may not show surprise. That you should have come +at last! Too late--too late!' + +My lady, who was always the first to think of etiquette, suggested +that the officers of high rank should occupy the reception-rooms. It +was showing scant civility to leave them in the hall, like lacqueys. +By-and-by, when the repast was served, they should be shown by their +hostess, in person, to the places of honour. + +Miss Wolfe gladly echoed her aunt's suggestion, for she was burning to +talk to Theobald, yet dared not in this public place, under the eyes +of awestricken oafs. + +'Mademoiselle's goodness almost makes us thank defeat,' observed +Tone's companion, with a Parisian bow. 'If all the ladies in Ireland +are like her, it will be a sad moment for us when we come to be +exchanged. As for our melancholy friend here, he need surely not be +recognised. His appearance is worthy of the uniform he wears, his +accent will pass muster; he has quite acquired the _je ne sais quoi_ +of the Boulevard. We begged of him not to risk himself, but he would; +and here he is--_que voulez-vous?_' + +Yes, here he was; there was no doubt of that dreadful fact. In wrath +(which the Parisian thought became her style of loveliness) she rated +him in whispers for his folly, charging him with flying in the face of +Providence, with being selfish and unkind. + +Theobald listened, while his eyes wandered over the blue line of +mountains, glittering now through rifts of driving smoke in the +prismatic haze of a hot afternoon. + +'I could not help it,' he said, with slow despondency. 'I knew we +could not succeed. The English Government was informed of our +starting. It was an attempt to resuscitate a flame quenched beyond +power of rekindling. Yet I felt it my duty, if the Directory sent but +a corporal's guard, to go and die with them. The hand of the +executioner shall never be laid on me. If my time has come, it has +come.' + +This dejection was terrible to witness. Veering round, after the way +of woman, Doreen took his hand in hers, and, stroking it, nestled by +his side. + +The Parisian felt himself _de trop_, and, humming a gay air, turned +his attention to the landscape. It was a relief to his sense of _les +convenances_ when a fourth person entered the drawing-room. + +It was Cassidy, whose face underwent a series of rapid changes as he +recognised his brother-in-law. He had ceased to be the jovial, jolly, +willing Cassidy. There had been a spiteful peevishness about him for +days past, which surprised Miss Wolfe no little. The milk of his +good-humour had turned sour. She thought it singular that her refusal +to become his wife could alter a man's nature so. + +'You!' was all that the giant could find breath to say, as with fists +thrust deep into his breeches-pockets and thick legs straddled wide, +he stared at the apparition. + +Theobald held out his hand, but he whose sister he had married did not +take it. His mind was seething with new ideas. What an unexpected way +had now presented itself of, at one stroke, making his fortune and +revenging himself on this haughty minx! + +'You!' he repeated again, after a pause, as though he could scarce +trust his eyesight. + +'Hush!' Doreen said; 'we must keep the secret.' + +Cassidy stared sourly at her, and laughed a short sharp laugh. She +looked up at him in growing apprehension, for he appeared to her +without his mask, and she could not comprehend the change. + +'Ireland lies soaked in blood,' he said, 'through you. You've come to +look upon your work?' + +Theobald started. 'I always designed open and honest warfare,' he +murmured; 'not brigandage and murder! The eighteen thousand victims +murdered by Alva did not stifle the birth of Holland's liberty. From +every drop of my blood and that of those who lay down their lives for +the holy cause there shall arise a patriot to avenge our death.' + +'Ye're right. When ye get to Dublin ye'll be hanged. A short shrift +and a dog's death!' was the blunt rejoinder. + +'No, no!' cried Doreen, her face blanching. + +'I am prepared to pay the penalty of unsuccess,' Tone answered. +'Washington succeeded. Kosciusko failed. I staked my all with a view +to the liberation of this wretched land. I have courted Poverty. I +leave my beloved wife--your poor sister, Cassidy--unprotected, my +children fatherless. That's what unmans me. After so much, it will be +little further effort to sacrifice my life.' + +'It shall not be!' Doreen cried. + +Tone smiled sadly. 'From the days of Llewellyn of Wales, and Wallace +of Scotland, England has never shown generosity to a fallen enemy.' + +'He has come as a French general,' exclaimed Miss Wolfe with creeping +fear; 'who will betray his incognito?' + +'It may become my duty,' returned the giant, dryly. + +The blood left the girl's face and lips. Scales fell from her eyes. +Here was the Judas who had sold to the gallows one by one, with the +cold crafty deliberation of a devil, the men who had trusted him--who +had clasped his hand in friendship. She saw it all now. With the +lucidity which comes over our minds in moments of extreme trouble, she +beheld in lurid links of fire the chain complete. The discovery of the +pikes in the armoury; in the potato ground of the 'Irish Slave'; the +two-fold betrayal of the council of the society; the town-major's +knowledge of its members, and its passwords; the taking of Terence--of +Terence--_who_ was innocent! + +She could do nothing but writhe under the blow, twisting her fingers +together in speechless helplessness. + +There was such an intensity of disgust expressed in the movement, that +the giant cleared his throat with a shade of embarrassment. + +'Miss Doreen,' he said, 'will ye speak to me in private?' + +Her white lips moved and shaped the word--'No.' + +'Ye'd better,' he urged, 'indeed ye had.' A dead silence still. +Revengeful rage disturbed his brain. Foolish woman! she could scarcely +expect him to speak out, and clinch a bargain before the victim's +face. + +'Ye'll repent it,' he growled. 'Would ye have a poor man fling his +chances away? This fellow's life is worth two thousand guineas and a +seat in parliament. I'd give that up and welcome, if ye'd unsay the +words, colleen, that ye spoke the other day!' + +What a strange mixture he was of the lion and hyena. The tenderness +which he strove to throw into his voice, and the leer in his eye, +explained to the patriot the purport of those words. With indignation +he turned on his wife's brother. + +'Wretch!' Theobald cried, 'who has a hand for every man--a heart for +himself alone! Would you dare ask her to sell herself for me? Sooner +than that, I'd walk downstairs and tell my name myself to the English +admiral.' + +Doreen's mind was overset by the discovery she had made. She felt sick +and giddy, for the world was sliding from beneath her feet. She looked +at one, then at the other, without clearly understanding what was +said. + +'You are a common informer!' was all she could bring forth. + +Cassidy lost his temper. It is aggravating when your overtures of +compromise are scornfully repulsed. + +'Have it your own way, then!' he laughed, with a reckless snap of the +finger, which the Parisian deemed ill-bred in the presence of a lady. +'Mind, if you are hanged it will be your own fault. A man must live. +Would ye have me rob the mail? Mine's as honest a trade as any other. +Sure, don't the Lords and Commons think it mighty honourable, and my +Lord Clare too; or why do they make so much of us? It's a rebel that +ye are, Theobald. Rebels are no judges of what's honest and what's +not.' + +With this half-apology for having at last decided which course of two +opposite ones should guide him in the future, the giant left the room +with heavy strides--to return a few minutes later as if nothing +unpleasant had occurred, with a cheery warning that dinner would be +ready soon. + +The Parisian, who had been quite baffled in his attempt to understand +the scene, gave a sigh of satisfaction. These persons, who seemed old +acquaintances, had been indulging in a family quarrel and had made it +up again. His knowledge of the English tongue was limited; but he did +understand 'dinner,' and after the excitement of the morning was +afflicted with inconvenient appetite. + +Punctiliously polite, the countess and her son came upstairs presently +to conduct their unfortunate guests with solemn ceremony to the +banquet which was spread below. Neither showed any sign of recognising +Theobald. Shane, being dull of comprehension, had looked to his +mother, taking his cue from her. By virtue of his uniform the stranger +was a general; by virtue of this morning's fight he was unfortunate. +Vanquished braves of high military rank cannot be treated with too +much courtesy. + +With the quieting of the excitement their fear of Medusa lowered again +on the squireens. One or two of them indeed were tremblingly conscious +of having seized the Gorgon's arm and shaken it. These humbly chose +the lowest place at the long table which occupied the garden's length, +whilst all stood up and hid their hands and shoes as host and hostess +passed. + +Sir Borlase was in immense spirits. He declared himself grieved to +break up so pleasant a gathering, but in the gloaming his prisoners +must go. His Majesty should certainly hear of my lord's exemplary +conduct. He pledged the two French generals who (Commodore Bompart +being slain in action) had managed the ship so intrepidly. He tried to +explain himself in broken French jargon to them. Both shrugged their +shoulders and smiled to the nodding of their heavy plumes, giving +thereby to understand that he had the advantage in languages, but that +they considered his speech to be complimentary. 'Lar Bel Fraunce!' he +kept repeating, winking his grey eye and poking their ribs with a +finger, and tossing off bumper after bumper, laughing the while +consumedly, as though all must perceive that the sentiment was witty, +and he a model jester (an English joker, not an Irish one). + +Doreen sat next to Theobald. The waning sun, creeping in blotches +through the improvised awning, touched her neck with gold, showing +that warm blood circulated under the rich skin. But for this homage of +the sun the squireens might have taken her for a victim of Medusa, so +frozen was her manner. She was like one magnetised, who, her power of +volition being gone, is obeying the dictates of a foreign power. Meats +were brought to her; she tasted them. Claret was poured into her +goblet. As through a film she saw the weatherbeaten visage of Sir +Borlase moping at her. With mechanical movement she mowed at him in +return. + +'Your pretty daughter's going to faint,' whispered the admiral to the +dowager. 'Such sights as I provided for you this morning are all very +well for males; but females--except Spaniards and low-class +Frenchwomen--don't care about such things. She supervised the dressing +of the wounds--Heaven bless her! 'Twas a strain on a delicate nature. +She looks ill and overwrought.' + +The countess remarked curtly that Sir Borlase was very good, without +condescending to explain that the girl was not her daughter. She knew +well the cause of the poor maiden's anguish, and felt both for him and +her. The constant contemplation of late of her own private spectre had +softened her. Terence on a gallows, who, but for circumstances over +which his mother _had_ control, might have ended so differently, was +burned on her brain as a scathing reproach for ever. Theobald, whom +she was used to contemplate as a crackbrained enthusiast, assumed a +new interest in her eyes. There was about him a deep-seated +hopelessness which is a gruesome sight in a man of thirty-six, and the +contemplation of it struck a chord of sympathy in her. The case of +Terence she shrank from considering at all. But this young man whose +existence was no reproach: she might feel pity for him without +stabbing her own soul with red-hot daggers by the impulse. + +Things were going as smoothly as could be expected. Shane's little +party had developed into a banquet which would become historical. Her +firstborn would receive honours from the King which should +counterbalance the disgrace wherewith the second seemed destined to +endow his family. The French prisoners of war would be exchanged in +time, returning to the bosoms of their distracted loves unhurt. There +was nothing really, my lady decided in her mind, to make her niece +break down, who was wont to be so unduly self-reliant. She looked like +a corpse. My lady, who formerly was discomfited in hand-to-hand +encounters, began to wonder whether she might conquer after all, and +bring about the match for which she yearned. + +At the other end of the long table Cassidy kept the company in a roar. +Now that he shilly-shallied no longer, his native spirits had come +back to him. His jests were racy, of the soil, and coarse--just such +as could be appreciated by squireens who were far enough removed from +the grandees to give free rein to their hilarity. They voted him the +funniest dog; threw themselves forward in a 'Haw-haw!' and flung +themselves back with a 'Hee-hee!' slapped their kerseymere shorts; +wagged their heads, and giggled, without any tremor now as to the sit +of pigtails over high collars. Would the radiant boy come and stop at +Letterkenny? He should have the run of the barracks; should be free to +go peasant-baiting whensoever he listed. Horses should become his +without regard to whom they belonged. His life should be one round of +jollity and junketing, if he only would come and sit down at +Letterkenny. + +'Ah, now, lads, be asy!' he cried, betwixt two sallies. 'Do yez think +the likes o' me can stop up here? It's Dublin that's crying for me +this blessed minute, and won't be comforted. To Dublin I return +to-morrow. Good luck to yez for kind wishes, though. By my sowl, and +if there isn't a friend up yonder on whom I've not clapped eyes this +long time!' + +The repast was over. The countess was sweeping the crumbs out of her +lap preparatory to leaving the gentlemen to the superior attractions +of the bottle, when she perceived Cassidy, glass in hand, making his +way along to the upper end where she sat enthroned. Doreen perceived +him too, and losing all self-control, dropped her head upon the table +with a moan. + +'Mr. Wolfe Tone, I think?' Cassidy shouted out in his big voice. +'Bedad, ye're welcome home! It's long since we met.' + +The shade of Banquo broke up with no greater quickness the feast of +King Macbeth than did this guileless little speech the party of Lord +Glandore. The squireens rose to their feet with one accord; craned out +their necks, with jaws dropped and eyes goggling. + +Hesitating but for a second, Theobald threw down his cards. + +'My name is Theobald Wolfe Tone!' he admitted calmly, and stood +waiting for what would follow. + +'What a pity!' sighed the English admiral; then, holding forth his +hand, 'Ignorance is bliss sometimes,' he said, scowling at the +importunate giant. 'Ye're a brave young man. I won't say what I think +of _him_. I can't help it--can I?' + +But Cassidy, having assumed his role, was not to be so easily scowled +down. 'I've done my duty to his Majesty,' he said, very loud; 'and I +call on you, Sir Borlase Warren, to report the fact that I denounced +that traitor!' + +The squireens twittered like scarlet birds. A vanquished foreign brave +was one thing, a proscribed rebel--the very head and front of the +Directory's offending--quite another. Their temporary gentleness was +past; their native savagery bloomed forth again. + +'Bind him!' one bawled, 'lest he thry to drown himself, and rob good +Mr. Cassidy of the reward.' + +'When we get him to Letterkenny,' howled another, 'we'll put irons on +him before he starts south. Ah! the spalpeen! the rogue! the beast! +the pig!' + +A chorus of expletives poured forth. Even the presence of Medusa was +forgotten. + +One fetched a rope and bound it roughly round his limbs. With a burst +of indignation he turned for protection to the English admiral. 'I +wear the uniform of the Great Republic. Let it not be disgraced!' he +pleaded. + +'I can't help it, poor lad!' returned Sir Borlase, with disgust. 'If +you're Wolfe Tone, ye're a subject of Britain, in arms against the +King, and will surely suffer as a traitor. As for these ruffians, I am +powerless. They, and such as they, have long ago shamed their country +and their cloth.' + +'Then their bonds,' Theobald answered calmly, as he took off his coat, +'shall never degrade the insignia of the free nation I have served.' + +Bound hand and foot, he was conveyed to the cabin of the yacht and +placed under lock and key. Sir Borlase took no pains to disguise his +opinion of the squireens. Bidding farewell to the countess, he retired +abruptly with his suite, while the commandant of Letterkenny busied +himself with the bestowal of the prisoners. My Lord Glandore, feeling +like second fiddle, bethought him that the beacon had not been lighted +whose mission was to speed to Dublin news of a French invasion, just +as, two hundred years before, the lighting of tar-barrels had +signalled the coming of the Armada. He remedied the omission without +delay. + +The fleet of boats passed down Lough Swilly without danger, though +clouds obscured the moon and stars--for the circle of fire was +complete, cutting out the dark skyline of each crag, marking the +position of each tower with a special wave of light. The chain was as +complete (turning the sky to crimson) as the chain of the giant's +treachery. As she looked out on it from her window, Doreen pressed +feverish fingers to her burning head; then packed her clothes together +in hot haste. At cockcrow the family was to start for the capital. She +felt that, once there, she could do something--she knew not what. +Terence and Tone could not both be sacrificed. Was ever human +wickedness so base as that of this false friend? + +Decidedly Mr. Cassidy was master of the situation. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE SHAMBLES. + + +When it became known in Dublin that the apostle of Irish Liberty had +come and was taken, the gloom which saddened the city was yet further +deepened. The citizens went about their business with weary tread and +pinched lips. The Terror which reigned in Paris under Jacobin rule, or +in Rome under Tiberius and Nero, was not more crushing than that which +rocked Erin in its iron arms towards the end of this awful year. +Comparing Jacobins with Orangemen, the palm for cruelty may safely be +assigned to the latter. Both factions might plead the excuse of +extreme peril; but the danger of invasion by the armies of the +Coalition which brought about the diabolical delirium of the Jacobins +was greater than the danger to which the Irish ascendency party was +exposed: and it must be remembered too that the Jacobin party was +almost entirely composed of men taken from the lowest ranks, whereas +many of the most iniquitous Irish terrorists were persons of the +highest social position and fair education. The ferocity of the +Jacobins, again, was in a slight degree redeemed by fanaticism. Their +objects were not entirely selfish. They murdered aristocrats, not only +because they hated them, but because they imagined them to stand in +the way of a millennium which, according to Rousseau, was awaiting the +acceptance of regenerated mankind. + +Essex Bridge was fringed with heads as whilom London Bridge was; +though faithful friends, when they found a chance, stole and buried +them. There was a rage for trials by court-martial; a constant outcry +for more victims. A mania for mimicking the Bench took possession of +the military, officers of inferior rank vying with each other in an +assumption of judicial functions. Whilst my Lords Carleton and +Kilwarden and Messrs. Curran and Toler were plodding through a legal +farce at the Sessions-House, talking through night after night to +'juries of the right sort,' the gentlemen of the yeomanry at the +Exchange were making the shortest possible work of the lives under +their control. Once dragged thither, conviction followed arrest as the +day the night. The sun was not allowed to set upon the accused. +Although prepared to close his eyes to much, the new Viceroy found his +patience and temper sorely tried; and at last, in spite of +expostulation in high quarters, issued general orders condemning the +conduct of the soldiery. He failed to see, he declared, how torture +could be a good opiate, and was even foolish enough to suggest that +banishment for a short term of years would serve all the state +purposes quite as well as hanging. To this the incensed chancellor +retorted by reams of jeremiads addressed to Mr. Pitt, wherein he laid +stress on the new troubles which would inevitably come on all good +Protestants in consequence of such deplorable backsliding from Lord +Camden's able system. In his turn Lord Cornwallis pointed out the +reasons for his conduct. Private enemies were daily in the most +unblushing manner haled before courts-martial and consigned to Moiley. +Some of the lesser gentry even went so far as openly to plunder the +country houses whose owners had fled from them in fear. The behaviour +of underlings was subversive of all discipline. They held back +documents unless paid for honesty; Sirr admitted that what was planned +by his superiors in council was made of none effect in his own office. +The chancellor scored one. Lord Cornwallis found himself compelled to +apologise for his leniency. He received a rap upon the knuckles from a +Gr--t P--rs--n--ge in a letter which may be found in the Cornwallis +correspondence, and sat down to pour out his vexations to an old +brother-in-arms, as his way was when specially provoked. 'My conduct,' +he wrote, 'gets me abused by both sides, being too coercive for the +one, too lenient for the other; but my conscience approves.' + +The more we look into the matter, the more assured do we become that +the true marplot was the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge. The first gentleman in +the land set a fatal example to the Orangemen. By virtue of the royal +purple he was all-wise, despite his ignorance. He was a Protestant. +Ergo, those who presumed to be anything else must be well trounced for +their contumely. If the law was not rigorous enough already, its cords +must be double-knotted, for the flagellation of those who dared to +disagree with M--j--sty. Good King George, who hated Catholics in as +insane a manner as James II. hated Protestants, was determined that so +long as he clutched the sceptre, their bread should be bitter in their +mouths. Lord Cornwallis was as convinced as Mr. Pitt, that the key to +Irish troubles was the Penal Code. But the King flew in a rage at the +bare mention of Catholic Emancipation; so the Viceroy was obliged to +bow his head with a good grace, as Mr. Pitt had done long ago; as even +the leader of the opposition had found himself compelled to do. At +this juncture Marplot went further than usual; for instead of merely +insisting in general terms that the Papists must be evilly entreated, +he personally meddled in the fate of the state-prisoners, with whose +long-continued persecution the Viceroy had shown signs of interfering. + +It had been decided, as we have seen, on the motion of Arthur Wolfe, +that it would be well to negotiate with the state-prisoners. Mr. +Curran had been employed as go-between, and, in accordance with his +advice, the young men incarcerated at Kilmainham undertook to disclose +the principles and ramifications of their society, upon certain +well-defined conditions. Curran pointed out to them that the grand +fiasco which is known as the 'Hurry' had removed for the present all +chance of freeing Ireland, and they saw with pain that blood was being +made to flow in rivers. To stem that torrent by all means available +was clearly their first duty now. At first the negotiations broke +down, but a few executions brought the patriots to their senses. They +accordingly drew up for the benefit of Government an account of the +rise, progress, and proceedings of the United Irishmen, adding an +opinion that a general amnesty to all but ringleaders would do much to +tranquillise the public mind. They agreed that it would be best for +the ruling spirits to submit to banishment, and it was settled that a +number of excepted persons should migrate to America and stop there. +But now Marplot intervened. The King declined to permit traitors to +cross the Atlantic, and the American minister, to please the King, +also declared that such an arrangement could not answer. The Viceroy +urged that the members of the Directory had completed their portion of +the compact, and that it would be disgraceful if Government did not +follow suit. It could not be helped, was the brief response. The +executive must crawl out of the difficulty as it best might. Mr. +Curran was frantic; Lord Clare jubilant. Tom Emmett and the others +only smiled. Had they ever expected anything from England except +wickedness? She was perjured and forsworn. What could an extra crime +or two signify to one who was notoriously a murderess? + +The Privy Council anxiously debated as to the neatest way out of the +dilemma. Of course his Majesty must be humoured. The state-trials must +run their course, but with exceeding tact of management. Mr. Pitt +threatened his puppets with a beating, if they blundered. Juries of +the right sort must be told not to exaggerate their functions, or Lord +Moira (who was woefully independent) might stir up a new pother at St. +Stephen's. + +Lord Cornwallis was sulky, for he appreciated the falseness of his +position; but, having accepted the viceroyalty, he considered it his +duty to retain it until at least the special object for which he had +come could be accomplished. His experience and native shrewdness told +him that a return to the tactics of his predecessor would be fraught +with the gravest dangers to both countries. Fate had picked him out to +play the mediator; he would do his best, even though fettered by the +ignoble desires of the King. If he failed in his task, the fault would +be Marplot's, not his. + +After considerable wrangling, it was decided to deny that the +Directory had carried out their portion of the agreement. Government +was to have been let in to the secrets of the society. The paper which +was drawn up was no better than a panegyric of sedition. A piece of +hair-splitting this, for which the chancellor took to himself much +credit. So the state-trials droned along, while the vagaries of +drumhead justice kept the world awake. Several of those at Kilmainham +were condemned, despite the compact, and suffered; the rest, giving up +all for lost, cared little now what was to be their destiny. + +Lord Clare made a great effort on behalf of Terence, but received no +encouragement, either from the Viceroy or the English premier. Both +said that it would never do to make an exception in favour of one +whose sins were the more scarlet on account of his position in +society. He must take his trial like the rest. There was no help for +it. If his friends could manipulate the jury, that was their own +affair. + +The chancellor looked grave, for, adept though he was in manipulating +juries, he knew of a foe of Terence's who would do what he could to +ruin him; and he was more and more mystified at the behaviour of the +young man's family. Neither my lady nor Lord Glandore seemed to +realise the position of affairs. Would they calmly endure while one of +their noble name was being strung up as a felon? It seemed so. The +young lord was a brilliant specimen of the Irish House of Peers. But +surely he would not carry his slavish complaisance so far as to +sacrifice his only brother to the English dragon? Lord Clare did not +know what to make of it. His own influence was terribly on the wane. +He went to see Terence at the provost, and found Curran there, +who eyed him with undisguised impertinence, and gibed about +gingerbread-nuts. But the chancellor kept his temper this time. He was +no longer the all-powerful despot. A new Herod had arisen, who did not +choose to recognise Joseph. He found himself thwarted by his new +master at every turn. Fortune is a cruel jade! The owner of the golden +coach found himself compelled to lower himself to petty plotting like +ordinary men. He suggested to Curran that it would be well to push on +Councillor Crosbie's trial with all speed. The little lawyer, instead +of meeting him half-way, answered bluntly that the young man's wound +was not healed; that the vultures were strangely impatient to devour +his flesh; that, though the young patrician's life was by no means +merry, he would be no party to shortening it. + +Lord Clare grew impatient, and retorted with hauteur: + +'You can have naught to do with fixing the date of trial. I was merely +asking your opinion.' + +And Curran, with suspicious looks, inquired the reason of his +impatience. That there was a reason was evident. Would the other show +his hand? No. The other held his peace, and, sighing fretfully, +departed. + +Events must shape themselves as Fortune chose to dictate. He could not +humiliate himself before his enemy by stating what he knew of Cassidy, +and explaining the wisdom of settling the young man's case during the +absence from Dublin of that person. So Curran, unaware of pitfalls dug +by jealousy, returned sadly to the cell where Terence lay tossing in +his fever, almost wishing that the wound might prove mortal. + +Always fond of him, by reason of his genial nature, the little +advocate had been drawn very close to Terence by events. Their mutual +friends were perishing around them; Terence himself was grievously +compromised. Now he was to be tried for his life. With what result? +Alas, there could be little doubt. Weak men, who while success was +probable might be trusted to cling together, were anxious now to save +themselves by making a clean breast of all they knew. Curran's +instinct told him that somebody or other would surely stand up to +prove the military position which his unlucky junior had arrogated to +himself; to babble of his interviews on the shore near the Little +House; of his arrangements for the capture of Dublin by surprise; +which, but for his own timely taking, would certainly have been +carried out. + +Of course the advocate who had won such forensic distinction as was +his would do his very best for a client who was so dear to his heart +as this one; but what he could do was little after all, fighting, as +he always was, against packed juries and false-witnesses. His wondrous +eloquence and marvellous versatility had indeed more than once torn a +doomed man from the gallows by exciting passions of such force as to +conquer even the violence of fear and greed by which the juries were +beset; but such miracles were not to be counted on, and it was with +gloomy thoughts that the lawyer looked forward to the contest. What +arguments, for instance, could have prevailed in the case of Orr, +whose life was juggled away between two bumpers? After all, perhaps +the proceedings of courts-martial were less bad than these legal +masquerades. For in the purely military tribunal there was no doubt as +to how the case would go from the beginning. Was it not better that +time and breath should be economised, when cases were so notoriously +prejudged? So it came about that Curran, in profound dejection, looked +down upon the young man whom he loved, and prayed that he might die of +his wound. + +But in this case, as in a good many others, prayers received no +answer. The yeoman, when he fired at Terence to prevent his escape, +broke his arm by the shot. Neglect, and the amenities of Major Sirr, +produced fever and inflammation, which the dampness of the provost did +not tend to improve. + +Mrs. Gillin (who had been enduring purgatory on her own account at the +hands of drunken soldiers' wives at free-quarters) stuck sturdily to +her _protege_, however. She hung about the antechambers of the great; +worried the judges who in happier days had been her guests; importuned +them for leave of free access to the invalid, till they wished they +had never seen the claret she had lavished on them; and, as obstinate +women generally do, carried her point. She nursed the patient in his +fever with untiring devotion; amazed the gaolers almost into civility; +even assailed the terrible major himself in his stronghold, taunting +him with ugly words and scathing epithets, till he too wished he had +never beheld the dreadful woman. She insisted that an invalid should +have a cell to himself, instead of being crowded up with malodorous +peasants in a low den deprived of air; arrived three times a week with +good things for him in baskets, which Cerberus allowed to pass without +investigation; and dragged him, whom she had sworn to watch over, by +main force to convalescence. Once or twice he had begged that his +servant Phil might be permitted to keep him company, but on this point +the major was obdurate. His calves still bore the cicatrices cut on +them by the farrier's knife, and the major was not one to forgive an +injury. He bore in mind, too, that but for his coat of mail he would +have been left dead upon the road that day. Phil, therefore, was set +apart for private torment; was not even handed over to the tender +mercies of a court-martial. + +Mrs. Gillin, for Terence's sake, commissioned old Jug to discover news +of him, who went about her business in mysterious fashion, declining +to divulge what she discovered, until one day, some months after his +disappearance, she told her protectress, with weird mutterings, that +'the boy was near his end.' + +'How's that?' her mistress asked, frowning. 'Ye look as if ye were +glad that ill should come to him. How's that?' + +''Cause he's a farrier and I'm a collough, as my people have been ever +since Ollam Fodlah's day. He's near his end; the curse of Crummell has +lit on him. Sure, it's well whipped he's been on the triangles these +many times, foreninst the Royal Exchange beyant. The boy's broke, body +and sowl; but the young masther'll see him soon enough. I'm tould the +two'll be thried togither, for a murderous assault first on the +town-meejor, who was doing his duty, when he skelped 'em up, and then +for treason afther. Weren't they always togither, masther and man? +'Twould be quare if they were thried separate.' + +Terence was convalescent when summer gave place to autumn. Unlike his +former cheery hustling self, he sat at his window for whole mornings, +gazing into a world of his own, as he leaned his wan face on his thin +hand, smiling a faint smile when his kind nurse attempted to rouse +him. She came more seldom by degrees, for indeed the poor lady's own +life was thickening with disasters. The drunken soldiers' wives +(specially selected by Major Sirr for their virago qualities) made a +hell of her cosy little home, afflicting her daughter Norah beyond +measure. There was no telling whether they might not, in a riotous +freak, set the place ablaze if its mistress did not stop at home to +watch them. Verily, even my lady's grudge might have been partially +effaced, could she have beheld the tribulations which fell upon her +ancient rival. Terence, then, lingered on, living a hermit life, whose +solitude was broken sometimes by garbled tales of dread, such as his +keepers chose to report to him. The world looked black, without a +streak of light. He marvelled, in the vague dizzy way of an invalid +recovering from illness, whether it would not be best to make an end +of it at once. He felt the indifference as to death which +distinguishes the faith of Buddha; longed to join the ranks of those +who, more blest than he, were marched past his door never to return; +envied even the victims of the Foxhunters on the Gibbet-Rath; looked +forward to his own trial as a release. + +With a bare bodkin who shall fardels carry? His was bare indeed. Worn +through, and through--the stuffing gone. The sharp corners of the +fardels were ploughing into his back. He longed to lay them down and +be at rest. Sometimes he dreamed of Doreen, but not as of one who +might be his in this life. He appreciated now what at one time he had +contemned as girlish hysteria. Who might presume to talk of love amid +the horrors of carnage, where victims had been done to death by +hundreds with scarce an effort at defence? If he might live (his youth +would assert its rights now and again for a brief instant), then +perhaps--perhaps----What? No. He was doomed to die, and knew it--and +was glad; for life deprived of all illusions and all flower-blossoms +is a hideous thing. His turn would come, and shortly. It was merely a +matter of days--of a little patience. The 'scrag-boy,' who wore a +demon's dress, with a hump and a horned mask that none might guess who +did the hangman's work, was a familiar object in the prison-yard +below. He had placed the halter over many a gallant head, though +not as yet around a noble's neck. Well! that honour would soon be +his--very soon--the sooner the better. With what a bitter laugh did +Terence contemplate the honour which awaited the overworked +functionary! Now and again he wished it might be given to him to look +into Doreen's eyes once more. Their solemn depths would give him +courage to face the great _peut-etre_. Courage! With self-upbraiding +he spurned the thought, walking round his cell as swiftly as heavy +irons would permit. Courage, forsooth! He lacked not courage. 'Twere +better that the two should meet no more on this accursed soil. In +another world they would wander together in perpetual sunshine, by +purling brooks, under softly waving trees--but would they? Was there +another world? The spirit of the young man was so bruised that he +hoped there might not be; and, his illusion being gone, he yearned for +_rest_ only--unceasing--eternal--the long unbroken sleep without a +waking. He shrank from the occasional visits of Lord Clare, who had +brought his country to this pass--even deprecated those of his friend +Curran with a new-born peevishness; for in the face of his old ally he +could trace tell-tale lines of weary watching and despondency, which +spoke with eloquent meaning of the darkness outside the prison walls; +whispering of the universal sorrow he would so gladly have forgotten. +Curran became nervous about him, fearing lest his mind should give +way. Solitude, and such thoughts to brood over as his were, are good +for no man. It was with a sense of relief therefore that the little +man heard one day that a companion was to be quartered on the +councillor. Who that comrade was to be he wist not; any companionship +would be better for him than none. When that comrade came, Terence was +feeding on his griefs, as usual. The door opened with the clatter and +craunch of keys and bolts which no longer vexed him; a slight figure +in a full-skirted coat was pushed in without ceremony, who groped his +way and stumbled in the half-obscurity as the door clanged-to again. +Terence looked up with the slow glance of one whose faculties are +corroded--rough with rust. His eyes met other eyes from which the +light of hope had fled. It was Theobald who was to be Terence's new +companion. + +This unexpected meeting, under auspices so different from those which +smiled upon their parting two short years before at Brest, unmanned +them both. With sobs they were locked in one another's arms. Then, +sitting side by side and hand in hand each told his tale in whispers. +Which of the two stories was the saddest? Both their young lives were +equally undone, and for nothing. True sympathy is like the brush of an +angel's wing. They communed far on into the night, and the hearts of +both were lightened. + +From the moment of his capture, Tone felt a conviction that his race +was run. On his road to Dublin indignities were heaped on him--he was +heavily ironed, as though so frail an unarmed creature could beat down +bristling bayonets. He knew that as an _emigre rentre_ he must suffer, +and accepted his fate with calmness. + +It was a singular cavalcade which journeyed south from Donegal. There +was a posse of rollicking yeomen to guard the prisoners, headed by +Lord Glandore (in the blue and orange uniform of the Hillsborough +club), at whose right hand rode Cassidy. My lord was not certain +whether to be offended with the squireen or not. With regard to +Theobald, he had, as usual, followed his mother's cue, who, when she +set eyes on him, determined instantly that he should not be betrayed +through her. Shane's good impulse bade him follow suit. He had known +the fellow when a youth. To jump upon the fallen is at best a dirty +trick. But there was no doubt that such voluntary blindness was more +romantic than expedient. By the help of the English admiral, Shane +fully intended to make capital out of this sea-fight, and win for +himself an English peerage, and possibly some convenient sinecures. As +it was, he was already rich and great. But the richer we are, the +poorer we often believe ourselves to be. Shane fancied himself quite a +pauper--a worthy subject for eleemosynary grants. Now, supposing that +Tone had left Glas-aitch-e with the other prisoners unrecognised, +there were ten chances to one against his so escaping in Dublin. A +start of surprise, an involuntary exclamation, would have aroused +suspicion and settled his fate; and then what would have been said of +the candidate for charity who, knowing the traitor well, had failed to +denounce him? There was little doubt that Government would have +laughed at my lord's craving for an English peerage--that he would +have sighed for a pension in vain. On the whole he was not sorry that +Cassidy should have shown himself a man of the world by exhibiting +such laudable presence of mind. Tone had been denounced under his roof +(he would make the most of this), but not by him, therefore was his +conscience clear. Nothing could be better. On the whole he concluded +to be charmed with Cassidy, chattering with him as he rode, and +laughing at the giant's stories with a condescension that filled the +latter's soul with joy. The giant took occasion to instil fears into +the selfish mind of my lord with reference to Terence. How would his +Majesty look on the brother of a rebel? Of course it follows not that +one brother should wield the smallest influence over another. But +would the King admit this; or would he frown on the elder, despite his +grovelling, because of the sins of the audacious junior? The sins of +the fathers are to be visited on the children--at least the Jews have +said so; but nothing has been said about the enormities of one brother +being visited on another. Such a rule would be very inconvenient. Now +Shane had never shown any genuine affection for Terence. Under no +circumstances whatever was he prepared to make a personal sacrifice +for him. Why should he? Cassidy's hints therefore fell upon fertile +ground. His selfishness took alarm. Indifference turned to +indignation. He had languidly regretted that Terence should be making +such a fool of himself. He must bear the brunt of his own faults, and +so on. Now he was consumed with rage in that his younger brother +should show so little proper feeling as, for some silly crotchet, to +jeopardise his senior's interests. It was vastly good of Cassidy to +mention the subject, but he had better say nothing about it to my +lady, who was hipped and out of sorts--not to say cross. My lord would +make a point of assuring His new Excellency, so soon as he should +arrive in the metropolis, of his undying devotion to existing +Government and his abhorrence of his misguided brother's crimes. + +My lady and Doreen in the family coach brought up the rear of the +procession. Neither was inclined for talk--the minds of both being +busy with netting plans--so each looked out of her own window +listlessly. + +For several weeks Terence and Theobald occupied the same cell--visited +almost daily by Councillor Curran. The latter explained that Miss +Wolfe, lately arrived in town, was burning to obtain access to them, +but that her father peremptorily forbade her doing so. She sent them +tender messages of hope, which both knew were futile, but which they +answered verbally with thanks, pens and ink being withheld from them. +Signs were not wanting that they were marked out as chief offenders, +for precautions were taken in their case which were neglected in that +of others. + +Curran's reports of the state-trials were not encouraging. The jury +were being skilfully manipulated into a likeness of independence. +Three of the chiefs suffered in turn; two escaped. Terence was the +sixth. With reference to him, which line would the jurors be +instructed to take? The executive were dumb upon the subject. They +also dallied with the life of Tone, till Doreen and his other friends +became almost sanguine. As a French general he might perhaps be +claimed by France, in which case England would certainly submit. Of +course they would claim him. Yet how sluggish they were while a noble +life was shaking in the balance! Theobald himself was the only one who +never doubted. He rose quietly, and squeezed the hand of his companion +without a word or gesture of surprise, when at length, on the 10th of +November, the turnkey opened the door, and bade him 'Come!' for, being +a soldier, he was not to be honoured with a state-trial--and he was +glad of it. + +The court-martial which was to cut his span was held in the +cavalry-barracks, the roads leading to which were thronged by anxious +watchers, amongst whom professional wakers were prominent like ravens. +Tone wore the uniform of a chef de brigade. His calm air and firm +deportment favourably impressed his judges. He was every inch a +soldier. Would he plead guilty or not guilty? + +'I will give the court no useless trouble,' the prisoner replied when +questioned. 'From my earliest youth, I have looked on the connection +between Ireland and Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and have +felt convinced that while it lasted my country could not be happy. +That Ireland was unable alone to throw off the yoke I knew. I +therefore looked for aid wherever it was to be found. I sought +in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my +fellow-countrymen from----' + +The president interrupted the prisoner, bidding him refrain from +improper language. Had he any reason to assign why sentence should not +be passed on him? + +'I have spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am +prepared to face the consequences,' Tone answered. 'You do your duty. +I have done mine. All I would ask is, that the court would adjudge me +a soldier's death. In consideration of the uniform I wear, I claim to +be shot by a platoon of grenadiers.' + +Then sentence of death was passed in usual form--the manner of it to +be afterwards arranged--and Tone was led back to the cell from whence +he came, where Terence was eagerly awaiting his return. + +Dublin sank into stupor when the news leaked out, for all classes +respected the single-minded young martyr of Irish liberty. Curran was +the first to arrive at Strogue with the sad intelligence--his eyes +red, his face worn. Doreen turned her head away, too sorrowful for +tears. My lady sat in a trance as though she heard nothing, for the +temporary energy which had brought her to town had waned; the ghost at +her elbow fanned her with his pinions, mesmerised her free-will. As +for Sara, she gave way to hysterical weeping. Sara was domesticated +now at Strogue. Her father's position, by reason of his attitude at +the state-trials, was one of peril. It was quite likely that some day +the Priory might be sacked by enraged Orangemen. Sara was no longer +safe there. Curran brought the evil tidings to the family circle, but +with it a crumb of comfort. The sentence was illegal; for, holding no +commission under King George, Theobald should have been tried by civil +law with the other state-prisoners. It was painfully true that, +intoxicated by impunity, no one cared now whether a thing was legal or +not. Hundreds of peasants and traders of the lower class were +sacrificed every day by the military tribunals, which was all very +well for the minnows. But Theobald's case was different, Curran +explained. He was a big fish. People would discuss the ins and outs of +his arraignment. The French must be communicated with, and adjured to +claim their general. Meanwhile time must be gained somehow. Curran +would move for the case to be tried before the Court of King's Bench, +which was sitting at the Sessions-House under the presidency of +Doreen's father. This would give a week or two's respite--for +Terence's trial was next upon the list, and that could be postponed by +legal art. + +The good lawyer trotted back to Dublin. For a whole day he interviewed +influential persons--strove to obtain votes and money; but the torpor +of fear chilled every heart. Not a finger would any of the cits stir +for Tone--who had sacrificed his all for them. Then Councillor Curran, +determined not to be beaten, went to the Sessions-House alone, and +summoned my Lord Kilwarden, by virtue of his office, to claim the body +of his godson. My lord gladly responded to the challenge. He +despatched his sheriff to the provost-marshal, demanding that the +culprit should be resigned to him; but that functionary declined to +give up his prisoner. Curran groaned in spirit. His last chance was +the Viceroy; but his excellency refused to interfere. There was +nothing more to be done--absolutely nothing! The little lawyer wended +his way back to Strogue in the evening, quite exhausted. + +Doreen listened as he unfolded his budget, and, the last remnant of +her artificial apathy melting away, girded up her loins for a +struggle. She was not prepared, she said, to see the game so tamely +given up. Tone first--then Terence! No, not without a supreme effort +to save them. He of the silver tongue had failed? Well, then, she +would even go now herself, and try what a simple woman's pleading +could accomplish. She rose up straightway--it would not do to go quite +alone--and bade Sara put on her habit. The two girls would force +themselves into the presence of Lord Cornwallis, and wring those +precious lives from the executioner. In the first instance they would +importune the chancellor. Perhaps he would go with them and add his +weight. Though it was growing dark, Curran offered no resistance. It +was a last chance; their sacred mission should protect the maidens. +Out of delicacy he had refrained from telling them that Theobald was +cast for execution on the morrow. + +But Doreen remained not long in ignorance. First she directed her +course to the provost, at whose forbidding portals she found a stout +woman quarrelling with a sentry. On perceiving the riders the woman +rushed into the road, and clung to Doreen's skirts. + +'They'll kill him in the morning, acushla!' she cried, weeping, 'and +then they'll kill the other! It's your cousin that they'll be +murdering, and his wicked old mother sits like a carved stock. I know +your purty face, though we've never spoke a word. Sure, ye're the +judge's child. Go, now, and spake with him. Stay! I'll go too, for +it's the gift of the gab that comes from heaven. They'll be clever if +they beat the two of us!' + +It was Madam Gillin, who had been refused admittance to the cell of +her _protege_ because his comrade lay under sentence of death, and had +not yet been removed to solitude. + +Thus was it, in the chaos produced by misrule, that these dissimilar +members of an oppressed religion became acquainted at last. They had +met so frequently over sick-beds or at Castle festivities that they +seemed to be quite old friends, till the sound of an unfamiliar voice +told them that it was not so. Is it not ofttimes thus? Do we not know +a person so well by sight that every turn of expression seems to bind +us to him till we hear his voice, which strikes us as strange, and, +finding no echoing chord within our hearts, warns us that we are +strangers? + +The attention of the three ladies was arrested by a hubbub within the +provost. There was a sound of chains, then the chaunt arose in chorus +which was become, through the irony of fate, so piteous a mockery: + + + 'What rights the brave? The sword! + What frees the slave? The sword!' + + +Alas, alas! There was no sword now but that of an avenging tyrant; +when might it be sheathed? Sara screened her face with her hand and +cowered over her saddle-bow, for a dearly loved voice had been wont to +sing that song. With deep thankfulness she remembered that the +Destroying Angel who had been so busy was kind at least to her. It +might have been Robert clanking his chains within that door. Thank +Heaven, he was far away across the sea in London--safe! Sara, +guiltily glad in the midst of so much sorrow, reined in her +horse, which shied upon the sudden opening of the door. Another +voice--whose well-known richness sent a thrill through the bosoms of +Doreen and Gillin--trolled forth in answer the Orange Hymn of +'Croppies, lie down.' The singer stood with burly legs, like pillars, +across the threshold, a huge dark shadow against the light behind--a +shadow of evil to both Gillin and Doreen--Cassidy. + +'Lie down, dogs! or ye'll have a taste of the triangles!' he bellowed +over his shoulder in his racy brogue, ere he perceived that he was +watched. + +Miss Wolfe's brow contracted, for this was the Cassidy without the +mask, whose aspect at Glas-aitch-e had affected her like a snake; who +had sold Theobald deliberately; whose real self was so different from +the other one that would fain have been her lover. Presently he was +aware of horses' hoofs, and recognised in the stream of radiance which +poured across the road the brown velvet habit which he had been wont +idiotically to sigh after. The sight of it did not improve his temper. +He troubled not to assume the mask again, for the die was cast for +better or for worse--by her. He was now an openly protected ruffian, a +patronised Orange braggadocio. Rollicking, disrespectful, he jerked a +thumb to his hat and grinned at Miss Wolfe. + +'Leedies on a party of pleasure?' he jeered. 'Faix, Miss Doreen, ye're +fond of singing-birds. I'd bring ye insoide, but 'tisn't clean enough. +'Deed it's not, now. I'll have it swept to-morrow. Is it Councillor +Crosbie ye're afther trying to peep at? I wouldn't, if I were you, for +he's not the purty boy at whom ye used to lower your eyelids.' + +Doreen replied with studied calmness: 'You do well to drop disguise, +Mr. Cassidy, since I know you as you are. If they are in your care, +God help them!' + +The marble beauty! Her scorn ate into his flesh like vitriol. He had, +with long patience, shown a fictitious better side to her in vain. It +was with fiendish pleasure that he exposed the real one. + +But the contempt which knitted the maiden's brow and distended her +finely-cut nostrils proved too much for the giant's pot-valour. He +tried to wink with the slyness which used to keep supper-tables in a +roar, but shrank under her steady glance, and retiring with a growl, +discomfited, slammed the door. Then, the spell removed, cursing +himself and her, he went through a pantomime of anathema, battering +the panels from within with heavy fists till the turnkeys ran out, +supposing him to have been attacked. + +'She treats me like dirt!' he gnashed out between foul oaths. 'Yet, +plaze the Lord, I'll brand myself on her memory till her dying day. +Damn her! A fight, is it? A fight be it--deadly--to the last gasp. +We'll see if her ladyship will be so hoity-toity then!' + +The frown passed not from the maiden's face with the vanishing of +Cassidy. _He_ there, in apparent authority! His presence boded little +good to either of the dear prisoners. + +What a queer character was Cassidy's! Outwardly merry and +good-humoured, he was by nature coldly fierce, calculating, callous. +Reckless of life himself, its value to others made no impression on +him. Playful and unpitying, commanding the smile and heeding not the +sigh, he was a human paradox. The more Doreen considered him the less +could she understand such a person, being herself true and impulsive +and open as the day. + +'We will go to Ely Place at once,' she said hurriedly. 'Lord Clare +must and shall help us.' + +The ladies walked their horses in order that panting Mrs. Gillin might +tell all she knew. Tone's doom was fixed. Of that she was sure. +Neither the chancellor nor anybody else could avert his passing. But +Terence--so careless and so joyous a short while ago--his case was +harrowing. Both were specially interested in him. Madam Gillin had +heard for certain that his trial was to come on within a week, and +that his henchman had been well triangled only a few hours since to +extort evidence against his master. His butchers had even stopped +their practical joke at intervals in order to give him time to pull +his thoughts together. Did he say anything? Nothing that the narrator +was aware of. Her nurse, old Jug, witnessed the scourging, and +scurried home all of a tremble at the horrid spectacle. In her +presence he had writhed and shrieked for mercy--had gnawed his tongue +lest it should escape control--had swooned--and was then tossed upon +some straw--half dead, but faithful so far. + +Sara clung to her saddle-pommel as she listened, lest she too should +swoon; and it dawned upon Doreen that they were out on a fool's +errand. Life is a bitter gift to many; yet, charged as we are with +illusory hopes, what suffering must be ours ere we master its full +bitterness! She came out imagining that mercy was alive, that justice +was only torpid, that she could plead with human creatures to whom +justice and mercy were precious. How mad! For mercy she saw with +terrible clearness the triangle; for justice, the shade of Cassidy. +The Valley of the Shadow was of weary length, and she was groping in +it darkly still. Nothing could come of this expedition; of that she +felt convinced. Tone and Terence would be hanged. Terence, who held +her heart--she knew it now with no tinge of shame, and gloried in it. +She promised herself to be present at his trial, strengthening him by +her sympathy. He might not be hers in this world. She had refused the +boon of his affection when he had offered it; had presumed to preach +to him--worse--had doubted him. Blind, fatuous girl! How justly +punished! He was to die a martyr, blessed in that his life was to be +in mercy shortened. She would tend his lowly bed, plant flowers on it, +then take the veil and spend in prayer and vigil such days as it might +be her lot to linger through. They would not be many. Heaven was very +deaf. Surely this little boon of a speedy flitting might be vouchsafed +to her jaded spirit? The tendency to asceticism which is buried more +or less deep in all of us was asserting itself in this dark hour over +Doreen. She looked forward to the cloister and the monastic habit with +exultation. + +By the time the party turned into Ely Place, Doreen had lost her +courage and her hope. She felt as shy almost as Sara--panted only for +the swift coming of the shot that she might stagger away into the +covert. + +Strange! There was a party at Lord Clare's. All the windows were ruddy +with light, filtering through cosy curtains. Incongruous spectacle! +Sedans were ranged in rows; their bearers could be heard yelling in an +adjacent tavern. The entry-door was wide open lacqueys in sumptuous +liveries hurried in and out; there was a clatter of knives and forks, +the popping of corks and shouts of laughter. + +Miss Wolfe was aghast. This contingency had not occurred to her. It +never struck her that at such a moment men could be found who were +capable of making merry. + +'Let us go home!' timid Sara urged. 'What can we do? It's dreadful!' + +Mrs. Gillin laughed bitterly, and clutched Miss Wolfe's bridle. + +'Do you know what they're at?' she whispered, glancing round lest any +one should hear her. 'It's a merry-making, true enough; but there's +business at the bottom of it. I know more than I'm supposed to know, I +tell you. The members of the Houses are chap-fallen. Their consciences +are working inconveniently. Dinners are being organised by those in +office to raise their drooping "sowls," in case, at the last moment, +they should waver in their allegiance. We know what they're driving +at--sure, it's splendid! The friends of Government dine together and +drink toasts, and hob and nob with lusty choruses, and swill claret as +pigs swill wash, to keep their loyalty at boiling-point. While the +friends of Erin sit in ashes, and the scrag-boy's worn to the bone +with villain's work! It's a quare world, isn't it, Miss Wolfe?' + +The little party was beginning to enlist attention. Women on horseback +did not often linger out so late. The gold braid upon their habits, +the plumes in their hats, proclaimed their superior position. +Obsequious yeomen sprang up as though out of the ill-paved street; +lackeys surrounded them. What could be done for their honours? Sure, +half the aristocracy was pledging my lord chancellor. Glorious, gay +dogs! Was aught amiss? Sure, 'twas a pity to spoil fun! Which of 'em +did the ladies want to see? A private hint might be conveyed to the +lucky ones. + +The soldiers leered at the ladies who dared to be out at such a time +of night--with stringent orders as to curfew, too! It was like the +impudence of their craft to dare seek their gallants at the +chancellor's own door. Reckless, bold baggages! Insolent, good-looking +hussies! Madam Gillin was preparing for a fray. She was a good hand at +bandying retorts, and perceived at once the suspicions of the +bystanders; but she was not destined to show her prowess on this +occasion, for the astonished hall-porter recognised the ladies, and +waddled out to welcome them as quickly as amazement and short breath +would permit. + +'Is it Miss Wolfe, good luck? Sure his lordship your father's here. +Will I call him?' + +'No. I wish to see Lord Clare,' Doreen stammered, her courage oozing +strangely. 'Don't tell him that 'tis I.' + +Sara, who all along had been supported in this singular adventure by +the valiance of her friend, saw that Doreen was breaking down. The +amazon--the cool, calm heroine! If she gave way, then must the case +indeed be desperate. The poor gentle little thing instantly broke +down, too, in most lamentable fashion. Tears rolled down her cheeks; +blonde elf-locks hung over her eyes. She was a piteous object, if a +lovely one, to look upon, and refused all Madam Gillin's rough +attempts at comforting. + +Lord Clare came forth with a napkin in his hand. A silhouette, with +arm upraised, appeared on the window-curtain, and the thick, quavering +voice of Lord Glandore rang out above the din of glasses. 'A toast! A +toast!' he shouted. 'The Hero of the Nile, who has taught the French +their bearings!' Doreen shivered. An English toast from the lips of +Terence's brother. Alas! it signified little now what should befall +the French. Ireland was beyond succour. Summoning together with a +desperate effort the shreds of her wavering purpose, she implored the +chancellor to go at once with her to the Castle. If the matter were +clearly explained, the Viceroy would exert his right of clemency. Tone +might be saved. At least his passing might be postponed, which +practically would come to the same thing. The trial of Terence might +also be put off. In the confusion of troublous days like these, a few +weeks make all the difference. A little time works wonders; each grain +of trickling sand is priceless. + +Lord Clare lifted the two girls from their saddles; bade a groom take +the horses to his stable, and prepare a coach forthwith. + +'Come within,' he said gravely. 'It is not fitting that you should +play the knight-errant thus; you might be insulted. What would your +father think of it?' + +He paced up and down his study in silent meditation until the carriage +was announced, while Madam Gillin's clack was stilled by awe, and the +two girls watched his every movement with breathless eagerness. Then, +striking his hands together as though his web of thought were +complete, he stood opposite to Doreen with a glance less like the +alligator's than his was usually. + +'I've done my best already with Lord Cornwallis,' he said; 'but he +heeds me no more than a crazy table. I begged him to quash this last +trial; to show leniency with regard to your cousin. He retorted that +he was forbidden to be lenient; that he had promised to let the trials +run their course; that I had myself to thank for it, having complained +of him to Mr. Pitt. I cannot stop this trial. Mr. Pitt is as +ungrateful, I find, as other men. He made use of me, then flung me +aside without the least compunction. I see it now--too late. As for +the other----' + +Doreen sank on her knees before the chancellor. + +'As for Tone,' he went on, severely, 'it is right and fit that he +should die. I would not move a finger to save him from the hangman. +The mischief-maker! Come, my carriage shall take you back to Strogue. +An officer shall ride behind to protect it.' Then, seeing how +distressed she looked, he took her hand, and continued, in a kinder +voice, 'I'm not so heartless as you imagine. Girls should not trouble +their pretty heads with politics, which they are unable to understand. +You think it very shocking to be giving feasts at such a time? Yet +both your cousin Shane and your father are here for state reasons. +These festivities have a political meaning. Now, get you home and go +to bed to refresh your roses. My word! Madam Gillin, if I mistake not? +A strange companion for my lady's niece! Good-night. For his sake I +will not tell your father of this escapade.' + +And so the maiden's effort was as vain as the little lawyer's was. She +sat sedate and still as the coach rattled on, murmuring once, in an +undertone, 'That I, who never kneel to any one but God, should have +knelt at that man's feet in vain!' She thought of Theobald. What was +he doing? Was he praying, or sleeping a last sleep? It must need all a +soldier's courage to walk calmly to a scaffold. A cause should be a +good one that has power to produce such martyrs. + + + * * * * * + + +While Curran and Doreen were straining every nerve for him, Tone +stared moodily out into his prison-yard and watched the building of a +new gallows there. 'A soldier's end was all I asked,' he sighed, 'and +they even deny me that small grace.' + +In the evening he took a tender farewell of Terence, and moved into an +adjoining cell, which, as for a distinguished person who was condemned +to death, had been set apart for him. + +'Let us sit together to the last,' Terence objected, with a mournful +smile. 'Why should we be parted who are both hovering on the confines +of eternity? Well, come in and look at me again before you go.' + +Theobald embraced his friend with clinging warmth, and whispering once +more, 'We shall meet again,' withdrew. When the gaolers came to lead +him to the gallows-foot they were too late. His body lay cold upon the +pallet. An ensanguined mark was on his throat. He had escaped the +scrag-boy--cheated 'Jack the Breath-stopper'--and was gone! + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE ALTAR OF MOLOCH. + + +Though Shane roared out gay toasts to the health of Nelson, he was by +no means happy in his mind. No dwelling could be more disagreeable +than Strogue. His supposed participation in the capture of the +arch-martyr was speedily punished by the people. His cattle were +houghed. It happened to be a late season; all his corn was cut and +trampled in one night by unseen avengers. He was in constant dread of +Moiley, of being sent to his account from behind a hedge--ignominious +exit for a king of Cherokees. He even felt inclined to do as many +fellow-proprietors did, namely, to barricade himself in his Abbey and +endure a state of siege till better times should come. In order to +curry favour with the executive he underlined his open disavowal of +his brother's acts, spoke flippantly of traitors; an unfeeling course +which did not raise him in the esteem of blunt Lord Cornwallis. That +nobleman expressed his opinion of Pat in no measured terms, vowing, as +testily he poked the fire, that the Irish were unfit to govern +themselves; that, independent of the benefit which would accrue to +England, the sooner a legislative union could be brought about, the +better it would be for Ireland herself. The few months of his +residence in Dublin had melted all his scruples on that head. On +principle, Mr. Pitt's game was an iniquitous one. There could be no +two opinions as to that. But the new Viceroy was not long in +discovering that a union would materially improve the condition of the +people by freeing them from the persecution of bigoted factions, +provided that the King could only be brought to allow that the +Catholics should be permitted to exist. After all, how could a scuffle +about a union affect the lower orders? Under home-rule were they not +always slaves? Did they not profess to hate the yoke of English and +Anglo-Irish equally? It would be a change of masters; a change from +tyranny to mildness; for it was understood by Lord Cornwallis that the +Reign of Terror had been brought about to disgust the country with its +ruling classes; and that that result being attained, a skilfully +contrasted millennium was to be inaugurated instantly. The members of +the senate had been cajoled, with a few exceptions, into disgracing +themselves beyond redemption. Could they be coaxed a stage lower--just +one? Possibly. The Marquis Cornwallis, so far as his private honour +was concerned, drew the line at this. He would supervise the stew, +without direct personal interference in its brewing. It did not behove +a man who had won immortal laurels in the field, to stoop to put salt +on the tails of the Irish Lords and Commons. No! That unworthy work +must be done by the chancellor and such others as were ready to paddle +in the _cloaca_. This is how it was that, despite the paling of his +star, my Lord Clare was giving dinners--symposia intended to act as +birdlime to fluttering legislators--feasts at which hints were dropped +of the future emoluments that awaited the complaisant. Mr. Pitt's ball +was rolling steadily to the goal, while my Lord Clare swept clear its +course. The bloody drama was all but concluded now. One more trial and +the pageant at the Sessions-House would come to a close, and those who +had escaped so far would probably be permitted to disappear in the +medley. Nearly all had been tried who could be safely sentenced; there +were some left whom it would be best not to try. The last serious +state-trial must be got over without more ado--a trial complicated by +private venom and a series of false statements which were twisted into +attempted murder as well as treason; a trial which must be so +conducted as to bear sifting by the opposition, examination by the +scrutiny of Europe--a trial wherein both sides would wrestle with all +their strength and cunning. Which was to enact Jacob, and which the +angel? + +Theobald Wolfe Tone having vanished from the scene, the eyes of Dublin +were still turned fearfully to the selfsame cell at the provost, +wherein the companion of his last hours lingered. The people counted +the moments that were left to him. Coronachs were crooned in secret +before their time in many a cabin, with beatings of the breast. None +doubted but that Charon, resting on his oars, awaited his next fare +with confidence. As Terence himself expressed it--he stood on an +isthmus between two lives. If one was desperately turbid, was it not +better cheerfully to turn his back on it, and plunge with courage into +the other? + +Strogue Abbey from within, was no more pleasant to its owner than from +without. Doreen's serenity, which for years had made Shane +uncomfortable, assumed now a preternatural repulsion. Odours as of +gravecloths seemed to emanate from her garments. The phosphorescence +of the charnel-house was a nimbus to her head. Her brow was circled by +the calm that appertains not to mundane matters; which chills the +creeping souls of those who cling to earth. Instead of being shocked +that Theobald should have evaded the offices of the scrag-boy, she was +content. Her hero was beyond the reach of vulgar slings and arrows. +His fretted rope was snapped; the boundary was passed, the inevitable +plunge taken, and he slept. A few brief days of swiftly speeding hours +and Terence would be conveyed with him in the boat of Charon, who was +waiting, to a less rugged shore. A little, little patience, and he too +would sleep. Then she, less blessed than they, would withdraw from the +troubles that weighed her down, and, meekly kneeling, would await the +unveiling of the White Pilgrim. What a message was his! 'Home to the +homeless; to the restless rest!' Doreen's manner had something awful +about it which scared another besides Shane--poor Sara, whose Robert +was unscathed and well. The cairngorm eyes of the elder damsel were +opened to their full width with the far-seeing blindness of a +somnambulist. Her obstinate moods and perverse waywardness were +quelled. She went about her avocations with mechanical deliberation; +dusted her cousin's fishing-rods and guns in his little sanctum, +as if he were only gone away upon a visit; wore her best clothes to +please her aunt; tendered regularly each morning to cousin Shane a +corpse-cheek whose coldness took away the little appetite which he +could boast of; conversed calmly about events--all but the one event, +which for that matter each member of the household was equally +desirous to shun. Strogue was full of spectres, and they rattled their +bones in grim concert. + +Councillor Curran, who looked like a moulting bird, grey-skinned, +unkempt, essayed to speak words of comfort; but she seemed not to +understand. What comfort could there be for one whose fairest prospect +was the cloister and the grave? Theobald had passed; a procession of +young shades like Banquo's sons had passed; Terence was prepared to +join the shadowy convoy into spirit-land. Why prate of comfort? Had +not Mr. Curran done all that might be done by man to prevent this +hideous nightmare? Then he murmured something of a postponement--of a +delay which might save the life of the last victim; but Doreen only +shook her graceful head. It was better, she averred, to put aside +illusions, and look straight into Truth's hard face. The postponement +of the trial was impossible, and it was better so, for a speedy end +was the best boon for a true Irishman to pray for. Mr. Curran's heart +died within him to hear this girl, in the full flush of youth and +beauty, speaking of this life as though existence had no charms. + +If his stately cousin was a kill-joy in the household, Shane's mother +was no better than she. My lady alternated between fevered activity, +without apparent object, and helpless lassitude. Her own ghost kept +faithful watch and ward over the countess. When Lord Clare told her +gently that all hope of saving her son was gone, she gave herself +over to the phantom hand and foot; and her old friend blamed himself +for rushing, as we all have a proneness to do, to hasty conclusions +of blame. It was evident that my lady was not indifferent to the +fate of her younger-born. On the contrary, she was overwhelmed +by a remorseful, fascinating ecstasy, which haunted her day and +night--something connected with Terence in the past, which took from +his mother the power to reason in clear sequence. She blinked like a +white owl in the great chair in the tapestry saloon, heeding goers or +comers no more than drifting leaves--engrossed all day by withering +meditation till Doreen announced to her that it was time for bed. Then +she permitted herself to be undressed and laid upon her back without a +word, and blinked on at the ceiling through the still hours; and then +was dressed and propped up again in the great chair. Some said she was +broken; some that her circulation was weak; some that paralysis was +imminent. Lord Clare and Curran alone amongst her friends perceived +that it was her mind that was diseased--that there was a rooted sorrow +festering there which no mortal hand might have strength to pluck +away. + +News of the countess's state was brought by Shane to the Little House, +whither he escaped whene'er he could, to forget his dismal home in the +company of Norah. But his welcome there was no longer what it used to +be, even though through his good offices the dreadful infliction of +soldiers' wives had been removed. Madam Gillin felt too strongly the +heartless selfishness of Lord Glandore to be decently civil to him, +even though by civility her child might win a coronet. For a host of +reasons, her sympathies were all with Terence. When Shane talked +querulously about his mother, she listened eagerly, seeing in fancy +the dying man at Daly's, who implored his stern wife to save herself +from the torment he then suffered. But she would not. Nemesis, if slow +of foot, is sure--her vengeance complete, if tardy. + +The fatal day in due course arrived which was big with the fate of +Terence. Curran implored Doreen to stop at home--in vain. Her resolve +was immutable. Since her cousin's trial could not be postponed, she +decided to see the last of him whom she had dared to doubt. Under +escort of the little advocate, she entered the Sessions-House, and +took her seat close to the dock. When the inevitable sentence should +come to be spoken, the brown hand which he loved best in all the world +would grasp his firmly. His courage would not waver. He was too good +and true for that. But he should in that supreme moment read the love +that went out from her, and with it a promise that she would not stay +long behind. + +Her father was to occupy the bench with my Lord Carleton. Toler +(bully, butcher, and buffoon), whose nose was like a scarlet +pincushion well studded, was down for the prosecution; he of the +silver tongue for the defence. The hall was close and inconvenient; +its murky skylight thick with dust, its jaundiced walls sallow and +blotched with damp. A lofty seat was prepared for the judges under a +canopy at one end, surmounted by the royal arms. Below this were three +crazy benches for counsel and attorneys; then came an open space on +the floor of the hall; then a barrier enclosing a small pen, which was +intended for public use, but which was already more than half +monopolised by soldiers of the yeomanry. On the right side of the +counsellors' benches was the dock; on the left, the jury-paddock, and +a low table with a chair on it for the accommodation of witnesses. +These, till they were wanted, leaned against the wall behind, +conversing in loud tones with other members of the Battalion of +Testimony, or fawning with fulsome scrapings about Major Sirr, who, +with the pompous airs of a jack-in-office, acted as master of the +judicial ceremonies. Government tried to make proceedings look less +dirty by making much of the informers; did its best to dignify them in +the eyes of those who were selected to decide the fate of the accused. +These men, as all the world knew, were capable of anything, deeming +that he was a pitiful fellow who, to please his master, would stick at +a little perjury. + +Curran marked uneasily that the battalion was in great force to-day. +Was it out of curiosity, or were they here on business? Long impunity +had developed all the native ferocity and brazenness of these +Staghouse demons. They wore new modish suits of clothes, with +fashionable bows of ribbon at the knee, provided at Government +expense. They looked sleek and well-to-do, for they were sumptuously +fed and boarded, and provided with three guineas a day for +pocket-money. Cockahoop was the jovial crew, for the band was too +compact and strong to fear Moiley now; though time was when one of the +number who was ill dared not take his medicine, lest haply he should +find his quietus in it. Those times were past. The people were cowed +and trampled. These men had, for a fee, sworn away the lives of their +brothers and then fathers. Moiley had over-eaten herself--was languid +through repletion. There was no room in her maw even for a strangled +informer. They were growing rich, budding into proprietors; some +screening their names under an alias from infamy some too callous to +feel any shame at all. Which of the rowdy knot was to do the work +to-day? Since the battalion had become so highly trained, Lord Clare's +ingenious invention with respect to the testimony of a single witness +was a dead letter. That the oath of one person should, at a pinch, +consign a man to the scrag-boy was a wholesome and judicious rule that +was likely to save much trouble. But when you have a whole pack of +hounds at your command, each one taught to yelp at a given signal, it +is pretty sport to watch their tricks. Besides, a pile of testimony, +more or less irrelevant and contradictory, has an improving effect +upon a jury. The Irish are eminently superstitious. These trials +sometimes lasted through the night. Men were apt to get frightened at +shadows on the wall, at the flickering candles with their guttering +winding-sheets. It was well to pile Pelion upon Ossa, to crush out any +stray drop of pity. A heap of evidence confused and dazed them. Many +crawled home after sentence was pronounced, fully persuaded that they +had only done their duty--that so many witnesses, each with his pat +story, must of a surety have spoken truth; that they had earned their +honest stipend without injuring their souls. + +Which of the rowdy knot--and how many--were to do the work to-day? +Cassidy--finely dressed in a grand coat of padusoy, with a posy in his +breast, and a new bobwig--was lolling on the counsellors' bench +cracking jests with Major Sirr, behind whom stood a bevy of admirers. +The presence of those two boded no good to either prisoner. The +town-major, indeed, had openly told Curran that if his defence was too +clever it would be the worse for him; to which the little man had +replied, with a finger-snap, 'In court a liar, in the street a bully, +in the gaol a fiend--you shall reap your reward, meejor! I don't care +_that_ for you or your murderers by the Book!' and so had left him. He +was used to threats, and took no heed of them. They might as well have +hoped to drive the stars from heaven by violence as to frighten John +Curran into abandoning a client. And they were not mere clients +for whom he had been pleading, for whose sake he risked his life +during these trials. They were dear friends whom he loved, whom as +brother-patriots he honoured. Some, despite his impassioned oratory, +were slaughtered; others he saved. Ministers were secretly afraid of +that silver tongue; for his burning words were reported and +circulated, despite the efforts of the executive. All the world +respected Curran; his exhortations wormed themselves into men's minds, +and warmed into fruition there. + +The Sessions-House in Green Street was filled with a strange company +that day, as people forced themselves in till it was crammed. There +was a buzz of expectation, which rose into a hubbub and fell again. +The dock remained empty, though the morning had passed to noon. The +heaviness in the air was sickening, by reason of the densely-packed +assembly and moist garments; for the sun was veiled, the weather +gloomy. A drizzling rain began to fall. Madam Gillin, in gaudy +attire--a sight to kill parrots with envy--elbowed a passage through +the mob, closely followed by old Jug, who, with her mistress, sat near +Doreen. What an odd condition of society was this of Dublin! The +prisoners who would stand at the bar presently were closely connected, +either by ties of blood or friendship, with advocates, judges, and +many more in the surrounding audience. It was quite a family-party. + +Mr. Curran reflected that no judge could be more partial than Lord +Kilwarden; that some among the jury, with whom he was to intercede, +were his own cronies. Yet was he not happy about his case. Lord Clare, +for once, would have juggled in opposition to his usual principles; +but Lord Clare's hands were tied through his own act. Through his own +intervention the Viceroy had promised not to dip his finger in the +Staghouse caldron till the cooking was complete. If the Viceroy +declined to interfere, no one else could take the initiative. It was a +deadlock. A pebble or two, if authorities napped for a moment, might +have been inserted to make a wheel veer awry. How was it that the said +wheel insisted upon keeping its accustomed track, and that extra +celerity was even given to its motion? Some one unseen was pushing. +Who was it? If higher powers were debarred from inserting pebbles, +there was, unhappily, nothing to prevent interested inferiors from +exerting private pressure. Curran felt that Cassidy and Sirr were at +the bottom of this. What a cruel chance for Mr. Curran's client that +neither Viceroy nor Chancellor could interfere! + +How much longer was the delay to last? It was three o'clock. Sirr and +Cassidy had retired and returned refreshed. Curran sent out for +sandwiches, which he divided with the ladies. Old Jug somehow seemed +feverishly excited; nodding and mumbling to herself, moping and +mowing, muttering weird incantations, which were impressed on the air +with a gnarled finger. Mrs. Gillin ate her meat with a relish, in +spite of grief. There are some appetites which no trouble may +vanquish. + +Doreen was in a trance-like state. Her skin was mottled, her eyes a +dusky fire, surrounded by dark discs; a singular, unearthly smile +played about her lips. To please her friend the advocate, she strove +to eat, but her throat was contracted by spasms. She looked +appealingly to him, and Curran took the food away with a sigh. + +Toler came over to discuss matters with his adversary. All this was +woefully illegal; but what did that matter? It was a melancholy +comfort that a tattered remnant of the robe of Justice yet remained. +Maybe in time, with coaxing, the lady would come back to Ireland. Who +might tell what would happen next? + +'Will ye inform me, Toler,' Curran interrupted, 'who your witnesses +are? I'm quite in a muzz, I tell ye.' + +Toler clapped the little man upon the back, and roared with hoarse +laughter. + +'That's the critical brook in the steeple-chase, mee boy!' he +chuckled. 'We rely on a surprise to confound the prisoners. But I'll +tell ye this, ould chap. Sirr, for some reason, is bent upon a +conviction. Nothing you can say will make a difference. So cut it +short, and let us out of this nasty hole. Be good-natured, and keep +your breath to cool your porridge.' + +So his suspicions were correct. Sirr was at the bottom of this, +impelled by revenge for those slashes on his calves; urged too, +probably, by Cassidy, who had made it up with the town-major. What +could they gain by surprising the prisoners? Truly, the mechanism of +the law was lamentably out of gear. + +At last there was a stamping without--a surge of feet--a murmur of +commiseration in the street. The judges, clad in crimson, took their +places. Lord Carleton, ponderous and overbearing; Lord Kilwarden, +nervous and subdued, with wrinkled brow and downcast visage--the one +determined to do his duty, the other to avoid it if he could. Shortly +afterwards a side-door opened. Terence and his henchman, Phil, were +thrust into the dock. Terence peered round with contracted pupils, +unable to distinguish friends from foes in the dim haze. He saw not +Doreen, though she was close below. She clasped her hands upon her +breast to still a rising sob when she marked how changed he was. Fever +had paled his ruddy cheek, shrunken his burly frame. It was not that +which shocked her, for that was to be expected. It was the uncanny +glitter, the reflection through open portals of a radiance belonging +to another world--the look she had last seen in Tone, the glimmer of +the grave--that it was which caused her heart to bound. He stood +erect, one hand resting on the rail, the other supported by a green +scarf about his neck. Even his gaoler had remonstrated as he dressed +that morning: 'Don't wear such things. Why prejudice the coort?' To +which he had answered, smiling: 'The cause is already judged. It +matters not what I wear; Erin will be green again when I rest under +her sod--all the greener for her recent soaking.' + +In striking contrast to his quiet dignity was the behaviour of his +faithful henchman. He walked crooked and stiff, by reason of the +whippings he had undergone. Jug Coyle scrutinised him with meaning +from beneath her penthouse brows, and seemed satisfied. The trim, +obliging, smiling Phil was transmuted into another and quite untidy +person. 'Twas not only pain that caused his steps to waver; there +could be no doubt about it--he was _drunk!_ + +Terence was woundily annoyed; a flush of anger overspread his face as +he placed his arm about his companion to check his stumbling, and gave +him a savage shaking. Phil drunk, at such a time, who used to be so +good and sober! He had not improved under the town-major's auspices. +This was no doubt one of the arch-devil's tricks to turn a solemn and +impressive scene into a subject for laughter and contempt. It was a +pity Phil was not more strong-minded. Had he disguised himself in +liquor to steal a march upon his fears? The poor fellow was ignorant +and underbred; fortitude was hardly to be expected from such as he. +The jury sitting opposite had their orders. Perhaps it was as well for +Phil that he could drown the knowledge of the present. On the morrow +it would all be over--blessed morrow! Both he and his master would +know by dawn the secret which oppresses all of us. + +But Major Sirr appeared as surprised as the rest of the watchful +audience, and was even heard to utter unseemly execrations. Who had +dared to give his pet victim drink? It was no part of his intention +that his troubles should be soothed. On the contrary, he had kept a +surprise in store which was meant to be wormwood to the hapless +creature. + +After a deal of whispering and wig-shaking, counsel for prosecution +plunged forthwith into the matter of the town-major's calves, and the +shocking behaviour of certain ruffians to an upright gintleman, with +the connivance of certain leedies, who should be nameless. + +Toler's inflamed visage glowered at Madam Gillin; but she tossed her +head and tittered. She dreaded not free-quarters, or the visits of +virago soldiers' wives, now that Lord Glandore was back to protect +Norah. Toler might bray any fiddlefaddle that he chose. Sure my Lord +Carleton, up there in the fine robes, had been mighty glad, once on a +time, to spend his evenings at her cosy house. So counsel, discovering +that he made no impression on her (she had always abstained from +inviting him, which made him spiteful), droned on about his client's +wrongs--for he had but done his duty in capturing such notorious +rebels--his excellent qualities and virtues, the services he had done +the state, the wicked wounds upon his calves. Was the law, which all +respected so much, to leave a faithful servant without protection? And +so on and so forth, in a tangle of verbosity, for an hour and more. + +Irritated possibly by his husky voice, Phil's conduct grew more and +more outrageous, drawing on him marks of indignant disapprobation from +my Lord Carleton, a look of pained bewilderment from Lord Kilwarden. +'Was ever anything so indecent?' clamoured the members of the +battalion, in loud whispers. 'Face to face with conviction, too! He +had put himself beyond the pale of mercy. The brute ought to be +scragged untried. He reeked of whisky, the besotted pig!' The odour of +it, they vowed, reached their shocked nostrils across the court. In +truth, he did comport himself after an intoxicated fashion. It was as +much as his master could do to keep him in tolerable order. His legs +were in constant motion. He sang and talked in a low tone, +occasionally breaking into convulsive fits of laughter; grimacing and +nodding his head to the witnesses, as one by one they sat on the table +and swore away his life. + +As the case proceeded--crushingly against the prisoners, who were +proved beyond a doubt to have taken and administered the oath, to have +worn green orders, and otherwise misbehaved themselves--his mood +altered. He was getting over the madness of his drink. That was a +mercy. Soon he would drop into a maudlin sleep, and his master might, +unheedful of the monotonous and confused proceedings, take refuge from +this mockery within himself until the verdict came. How dreary and how +long was all this useless evidence! The case looked as if it would +last for ever. What an array of witnesses--and what lies they told! At +this rate it would be morning before the judges pronounced sentence. +Already it was dark. Candles flared in rough iron sockets. The red +judges loomed like lurid phantoms; the jury were haggard in the +flickering smoke. Mr. Curran leaned back in his seat exhausted, his +neck supported on his clasped hands--resolved to husband his strength +for a great effort by-and-by. + +Drunken, disgraceful Phil became quiet. Old Jug, whose keen vision +naught escaped, suggested to an usher to let him have a chair. He sank +into the seat, his chin buried in his breast. His face was blue (was +it the effect of light?), his pupils dilated, his breathing +stertorous. The air was sickeningly close. Sweat stood in drops upon +his forehead. Could he be fainting? No. He rallied, and commenced +muttering again. + +The hours went by, and yet the farce continued. No jot of the informal +formalities was omitted. Those who had resolved to hang the prisoners +were evidently determined that there should be no lack of +justification for it. Half the battalion had told their story. Curran +listened, and said nothing (what was the use of cross-examining these +men?) till he saw the big figure of Lieutenant Hepenstall advance. +Then, turning to the judges, he grunted: + +'They're not content with witnesses, my lords; they've brought in the +Walking Gallows, to work them off at once! Sure, isn't it convanient +and obleeging?' + +Time moved on steadily. Terence was as upright and motionless as a +statue. He had learned by this time who was sitting near. A small +brown hand had fluttered into his, to tell by occult pressure its own +sweet tale. Doreen was as still as he. + +Drunken Phil tore open his shirt, gasping. How dense the air was! It +was cruel to drag out the proceedings thus. His head was heavy--he +could not hold it up; so, resting his fingers on the dock-rail, he +laid his wet face on them. By degrees he sank into a snoring slumber, +his limbs twitching now and then with a tremulous convulsion. The +visage of old Jug was illumined with a mysterious satisfaction. Not +one of his movements escaped her keen observation; she drank in every +shiver. Presently she plucked her mistress by the robe, and, like a +wild woman, whispered something in her ear. Madam Gillin, who, +overpowered by heat, had been dozing, woke with a cry, and turned her +affrighted gaze from Phil to her nurse and back again. + +'Is it thrue, Jug--is it, by the Holy Mother?' she asked, in an awed +whisper. + +'Thrue 'tis, by mee sowl!' returned the other. 'He is a farrier, isn't +he? And Crummell's curse is on the likes of him, isn't it? He begged +the ould collough for a root, and she gave it; and, by St. Patrick, +'twas well done!' + +In deep agitation Mrs. Gillin motioned Curran to her side. She saw it +all. It was by her own order that Jug had visited the farrier. +Farriers and colloughs are national foes. Phil--faithful fellow!--had +begged the collough to exercise her skill in herbs on him. He could +bear hanging--had thus far endured the lash. But torture may be pushed +beyond our power of bearing. Rather than run a risk of betraying the +master whom he worshipped, he had taken poison, and was dying. + +Curran's genius embraced at once the new element in the situation. It +struck him instantly that by this sacrifice the poor fellow might +perhaps unwittingly have saved his master. When did he take the +poison? How long would it be before its work would be accomplished? If +he were to fall dead--there--in the dock, before the court assembled, +under the eye of the public, it would create such a sensation that the +trial would be perforce adjourned. The harrowing details of the +suicide would then be spread abroad; they would do much to bring the +vile cruelties of the yeomanry home in all their loathsomeness to the +British mind, which was so culpably indifferent as to what happened in +this colony. There would be a revulsion--an energetic protest. In the +confusion Terence might be saved! Poor faithful Phil! He knew not the +extent of the service that he rendered. His life would not be +sacrificed in vain! + +'How much longer will the poison take to work?' Curran whispered in +Jug's ear. 'What was it?' + +'Sure, it was a tiny root of water-drop wort. Like an illigant +parsnip, faith! How much longer? An hour perhaps--maybe two--certainly +not more than three.' + +It was eleven at night. Toler had two more witnesses to call, he said. +If cross-examined they might be made to detain the court for an hour +or so. After that the silver tongue must move to good purpose--must +toy with argument and rhetoric till the doomed man dropped. + +The virtuous ire of the town-major was kindled. + +'The drunken brute is asleep!' he called out. 'What an insult to the +court! Sure, he'll have a long sleep enough when Moiley eats him. Wake +him up!' + +Major Sirr was particularly anxious that he should be aware who the +next witness was. By dint of shaking, the ushers roused the prisoner +from lethargy. With brows painfully knitted he tried to raise his +leaden lids, beheld with dilated pupils a blurred vision on the table; +sank again without recognition into unconsciousness. Jug too +beheld--and gave a low growl. + +The new witness was Croppy Biddy; she of the russet locks, who since +the burning of the 'Irish Slave' had given herself up to drink and to +debauchery--who was become one of the shining Staghouse lights--one of +the pet agents of an honourable executive--the Joan of Arc of the +Battalion of Testimony. She was dressed like a lady, in a costly +beaver with ostrich plume, and a laced riding-dress--the same as she +was wont to wear when galloping at the head of a troop of dragoons in +search of food for Moiley. No longer a slattern serving-wench in a low +shebeen, but a paid and honoured favourite of Government; a lying, +drunken, brazen hyaena. This was an admirable joke of Major Sirr's. +What a pity it was that it should miscarry! What humour could be more +sly and delicate than to clinch a man's fate by the false witness of +her whom he had elected to love? Yet, thanks to some officious idiot +or other, the bit of fun was spoiled. Biddy was there--saucy, pert, +shameless, ready to go any lengths; but her lover was asleep, with his +chin upon his breast. The surprise missed fire. + +As it turned out, though, the joke was just the least bit too racy. +The loud giggling laugh, the palpable untruths flung carelessly about +by Biddy, shocked and disgusted the entire audience. Lord Kilwarden +turned red, and bowed his face over his papers; even Lord Carleton +coughed; and there was an angry murmur from the public who packed the +floor. + +Mr. Curran, no longer listless and dejected--for hope had revived +again--turned the wretched woman round his finger; ensnared her with +soft suggestions; led her floundering along from perjury to perjury, +turned her inside out; then with a sarcastic bow to Toler, +congratulated him upon his witness. By skilful fence half an hour was +gained. Counsel for prosecution glared at Sirr. Was this the way to +train up witnesses? Biddy was hustled off the table, for her training +was lamentably incomplete. There was one more yet to come. It was to +be hoped he would do away with the bad impression she had left. + +This time it was Doreen's turn to utter a stifled cry, while her +fingers clasped more closely those of Terence. Had that wretch no +compunction? Had he no mercy--this villain who had wriggled himself by +specious arts into the confidence of honest men--this snake in +the grass--this bravo who, smilingly looking in your face, could +coldly choose the most fitting moment for stabbing you? It was +Cassidy--actually Cassidy, who before her, before Lord Kilwarden, +before Curran, could get upon the table to swear away the life of him +whom he had called friend. + +Even the little advocate, whose faith in the innate goodness of human +nature was not strong, was staggered. + +'I've heard of assassination by sword and dagger,' he muttered; 'but +here is a ruffian who would dip the Evangelists in blood!' The giant +took the Testament and kissed it. + +'Why make him swear at all?' scoffed Mr. Curran. 'Why let a +murderer's touch pollute the purity of the Gospel? Well! if you will +go through the mockery, let it be, I pray you, on the symbol of his +profession--the knife.' + +Cassidy scowled down on the sturdy scoffer, and looked round at his +comrades with an air of reproachful innocence, which was speedily +answered by a burst of menace and a clash of arms from the yeomanry +behind, accompanied by threatening looks and gestures. Mr. Curran, +drawing himself up to the full of his small stature, fixed his eyes +sternly on them, and exclaimed in a loud voice: + +'You may assassinate me, gentlemen, but you shall never intimidate +me!' + +This was a scandal. Things were going ill. Lord Carleton came to the +rescue. + +'Beware, Mr. Curran,' he said, 'lest you forfeit your gown. A little +more of such unseemly language and I shall commit you.' + +'Then we shall both have the consolation, my lord,' Curran retorted, +with a bow, 'of reflecting that I'm not the worst thing you have +committed.' + +Lord Carleton looked up with wonder at the skylight. What was the +world coming to? He glanced at Lord Kilwarden, who leaned on his +elbow, taking no share in the business, his eyes shaded with his hand. + +Counsel for prosecution played skilfully on his witness--an admirable +witness, who merely answered questions, instead of blurting forth rash +and inconvenient statements. Mr. Curran cross-examined him as +cleverly, but with little effect. He could elicit nothing new or +special. People were accustomed to find themselves handed over to the +scrag-boy by their most intimate friends. Mr. Curran, indeed, was +tedious to lay such stress on the point. The jury shuffled on their +seats. Lord Carleton yawned. New candles were placed in the sockets by +attentive ushers. At this rate it would certainly be morning before +the affair was settled. + +Very monotonous and very dreary! A rat-tat of subdued voices in +question and reply. The paled candles dim and wan through a mist of +collected breath--a stifling, noisome atmosphere of clammy heat which +made the temples of all to throb, the ears to sing. Though the case +was one of palpitating interest, men's strength gave way, women felt +ill and dizzy. Lord Carleton, to keep his wits clear, inhaled the +fumes from a sponge dipped in vinegar. Mrs. Gillin sniffed at the rue +upon the dock-rail. + +Still Terence stood erect and pallid--motionless. Still Phil's +respiration laboured with stertorous snores. His teeth chattered at +intervals, as if from cold; his fingers twitched, his knees trembled. +Was it the effect of light? his eyes seemed protruding from their +sockets. But there were no signs of the end yet. + +It was past midnight when he of the silver tongue arose for the +defence, and people roused themselves to listen, for they were +accustomed to expect from him rapid electrical transitions from +passion to passion, from the deepest emotions which agitate the soul +to the liveliest combinations of sportive imagery; whimsical +metaphors, such as at one moment seemed culled from the dunghill, at +the next to be snatched from heaven. He implored the jury to consider +the reputation of the witnesses who had striven to wreck these men. He +entreated them to consider what objects save the highest and most pure +could have induced a noble to desert his ease and risk his neck for +Erin. + +'Do you dare,' he cried, in crystal accents which rang with startling +clearness along the cobwebbed rafters, 'in a case of life and death, +of honour and of infamy, to credit a vile informer--the perjurer of a +hundred oaths--a beast whom pride, or honour, or religion cannot bind? +He dresses like a gentleman--the tones of his soft voice savour of +growing authority. He measures his value by the coffins of his +victims, and, in the field of evidence, appreciates his fame as an +Indian savage does in fight by the number of scalps with which he can +swell his triumphs!' + +The advocate laid stress upon the awful responsibilities of a jury; +striving to wring their consciences, though he knew that each man +among them had received his wage. He knew that nothing he could say +would make them waver. Yet now he had a new courage and a new hope +that distilled jewels from his lips, which almost caused the degraded +jurymen to blench. From time to time as his eloquent periods rolled +out in majestic waves, he turned an anxious eye upon the farrier whom +Jug sat watching with the gaze of a lynx, How she had botched the job! +How long the soul wrestled ere it could burst its bonds! + +Then, to the amazement of Toler, he lost his temper with the jury, and +told them unpleasant truths, rating them soundly for their sins. His +opponent thought he must be mad to rage where it was so evidently his +interest to conciliate. But Madam Gillin listened and nodded approval; +for she knew that it was only a matter of gaining time, and that as +there was to be no verdict there was no use in blarneying the jurors. +With what eloquence he talked! His words seemed to flicker in +sunlight--a kaleidoscope of gems, some rough, some polished, strung +loosely on a cord. + +'Life can present no situation,' the orator said, 'wherein the human +power of man can be so divinely exerted as yours should be now; and if +any labours can peculiarly attract the approving eye of Heaven, it is +when God looks down on a human being assailed by human turpitude; +struggling with practices against which the Deity placed His special +canon, when He said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy +neighbour; thou shalt not kill!" We embrace the principles of the +British constitution; and when I look on you, the proudest benefit of +that constitution, I am relieved from the fears of advocacy, since I +place my clients under the influence of its sacred shade. This is not +the idle sycophancy of words. It is not crying, "Lord! Lord!" but +doing "the will of my Father who is in heaven!" If my clients had been +arraigned before a jury of Cornhill shopkeepers, they would ere now be +in their lodgings. The law of England suffers no man to be openly +butchered in a court of justice. The law of England recognises the +innate blackness of the human heart--the possibility of villains +thirsting for the blood of their fellow-creatures; and the people of +Ireland have but too good cause to be acquainted with that thirst. At +the awful foot of Eternal Justice I call on you to acquit these men. +Their characters have been given. Nothing could be more pure. In the +name of Justice I implore you to interpose, while there is time, +between the wanton perjurer and his ensanguined feast; that in the +next life your reward may be more lasting than the perishable crown +which the ancients gave to those who saved a fellow-citizen in battle. +Your own turns may come, for the informer has bowels for himself +alone! If it should be the fate of any of you to count the moments of +captivity, in sorrow and in pain, pining in a dungeon's damps, may you +find refuge in the recollection of the example you this day set to +those who may be called to pass judgment on your lives! Recollect too +that there is another, more awful tribunal than any upon earth, which +we must all some day approach, before which the best of us will have +occasion to look back to what little good he has done this side the +grave. I do pray that Eternal Justice may record the deed you are +about to do, and give to you the full benefit of your claims to an +undying reward, a requital in mercy upon your souls!' + +The growing fog, the deep silence, the midnight hour, the flickering +candles, enhanced the effect of Mr. Curran's words, which were spoken +with a rapt solemnity that sent a thrill of awe through his +impressionable audience. The vision of a wrathful angel with a fiery +sword rose before their excited imagination--of an avenging God who +knew that they, the jury, were bought. Women rocked themselves and +wrung their hands, and stuffed ends of shawls into their mouths to +check their wailing. The jurymen hovered 'twixt greed and fear. The +advocate paused for an instant, to wipe his brow, and to allow his +sentences to sink into their minds. + +There was a hum of muffled talk, of groans and lamentation, before +which the moaning in the court was hushed. It came from the dock. Phil +was awake and sensible; had risen on his tottering feet, was swaying +from side to side as he clung to his young master. Terence saw now +that he had wronged his henchman, who was not drunk, but ill. His +features were livid, his lips blue, so was his swollen tongue; his +teeth rattled as in ague; his eyes saw nothing, though they stared +painfully; a steam ascended from his hair. + +'Master Terence!' Phil gasped, with thick effort, 'I could not help +your being taken--though it was--it was my fault. They pushed the +heap--of rope--off of my head. They shall get ne'er a word out +of me--ne'er a one--though they flay me to the bone. Master +Terence--master--will ye forgive----' + +Phil staggered and slid from the grasp of his fellow prisoner to the +floor, and lay there on his face. + +'One of your victims appears to be insensible,' Mr. Curran remarked +shortly. + +''Deed it seems so,' acquiesced Lord Carleton, peering through his +glasses. 'A very indecent exhibition. Does there chance to be e'er a +doctor in the coort?' + +One of the jurymen was an apothecary. He left the box and turned the +prostrate figure over. + +'Can ye speak with assurance of the man's state?' demanded the judge. + +'He is near his end, my lord,' answered the juryman. + +'Is he now--are ye sure?' What with the heat, and what with the +untoward incident, my Lord Carleton was puzzled. No help could he get +from Lord Kilwarden, who leaned with his elbow on the desk and his +eyes shaded by his hand. + +'Open the windy!' puffed the judge. 'For the Lord's sake let's have a +little air; maybe he's only sick. Can ye rouse him to hear his +judgment?' + +The apothecary laid a palm upon his patient's heart. + +'I cannot, my lord,' he replied. 'The man is dead!' + +Already powerfully impressed by the surroundings and the lawyer's +warning, the people could endure no more. A panic seized them. They +rushed to the doors as though stifled by some fell miasma, and battled +to get out. The women screamed that they were being trodden under +foot; the men rained frantic blows upon the doors, tearing clothes and +fingers as they dragged them down. It was a scene of unreasoning +frenzy, such as none who were involved in it might ever forget. The +angel with the fiery sword was there; though invisible, his presence +could be felt. Lord Carleton ordered the remaining prisoner's removal. +Doreen's robe gleamed white in the first tinge of morning as, standing +by his side, she wound her arms about his neck. By-and-by Curran +gently disentangled them, and led her to her father, whilst dragoons +formed round the patriot, and cleared a passage for him through the +mob. + +'More men to secure him in Kilmainham--there'll be a rescue!' bawled +Cassidy, who was driven to overmastering wrath by the posture of Miss +Wolfe, under his very nose. + +'Fear nothing,' Terence replied; 'I will go quietly.' + +Lord Kilwarden and Curran bore the maiden to a coach, and carried her +back to Strogue. Both were so filled with thankfulness for this +reprieve that they shook hands again and again, while Miss Wolfe lay +speechless in the carriage-corner. Her nerves had been strung to +extreme tension for the worst. Sudden joy is more hard to bear than +sorrow. The finely tempered steel which had withstood so many +assaults, gave way under the last shock. She remained long oblivious +of the world's affairs, tenderly nursed by Sara, who wondered, as day +followed day, whether her reason would ever return from the far-off +groves in which it wandered. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + APRES LA MORT, LE MEDECIN. + + +The chancellor was glad and sorry. Glad in that the son of his old +friend should be reprieved, whereby (as he supposed) her great trouble +would be lightened; sorry that so singular a scandal should have +attended this trial--a scandal which would not make the completion of +his task the easier. But the ball was so near its goal--it had +gathered such velocity in transit--that it would take a very grave +obstacle at this stage seriously to impede its course. So the +chancellor gave up being sorry, and was altogether glad that the trial +had ended as it did. He reflected, however, that something would have +to be done to entice the public mind away from gyves and bolts, and +prepare it for the beginning of millennium. The _Gentleman's Magazine_ +of that particular date happened to contain an account of a sojourn of +the royal family at Weymouth, with minute details of how the Princess +Amelia did tambour-work, while his Majesty, with his own august hands, +was deigning to fry sprats for supper. Lord Clare saw his way to a +delicate bit of flattery. He had the arcadian tale printed off and +posted on the walls of Dublin, that loyal minds might be edified and +touched by the simple manners of their sovereign; but (as was become +usual) the chancellor was thwarted by the Viceroy, who said the whole +thing was fudge, and ordered the placards to be pulled down. The Privy +Council censured Lord Kilwarden for his pusillanimous behaviour at the +trial, alleging that it was a pity to see a man high in office who +showed so little resource in an emergency; but at the same time they +decided _nem. con_. that there must be no more state-trials. The story +of Phil's dramatic end would certainly be reported in London, with +additions, and my Lord Moira would be sure to make the most of it. Mr. +Pitt would certainly be angry at the _contretemps_. From first to last +it was a miserable business which could not, unfortunately, be hushed +up. In spite of the Gr--t P--rs--n--ge searching questions would be +asked. Mr. Pitt must somehow be placed in a position to state that +suffering Erin had gone through her operation and was comfortably +bedridden for the remainder of her days. To this end the members of +the Irish senate must be brought back from the state of siege in +ancestral castles, which they were pleased to call 'villegiatura,' +without delay; by threats, and bribes, and promises they must be +induced to haggle no more over their mess of pottage. Ireland must +seem to retire from the world with a good grace, and be tucked snugly +up between the sheets for evermore. Lord Clare was satisfied that the +decisive moment had arrived, for the country was quiet enough now for +the question of union to be freely ventilated. It was delightfully +quiet--with the silence of the tomb. The lords, he was convinced, were +ready for anything, provided they were well paid. When they were +assured that patriotism and interest were directly antagonistic, the +former was certain to come off second best. Lord Clare informed the +Viceroy that the proposition might be put at once and carried, if only +His Excellency would be a little civil to the senate. + +But His Excellency hated tortuous groping; he abhorred the Irish +peers; begged that he might not be asked even to sniff the noisome +broth. When he came over he attached to his person a young Irishman of +parts, who was not squeamish. The chancellor had also shown that +he was not squeamish. These two Irishmen--my Lords Clare and +Castlereagh--must do all the broth-stirring; the sooner the brew was +ready, the sooner they would receive their wages--the sooner would he, +the Viceroy, be enabled to leave the wretched country and go home. +Once the union carried, every one would be delighted--except the +Irish; and even they, in due time, would come to be glad also. Lord +Clare's eye kindled with satisfaction. He beheld the possibility, if +this captious Viceroy would only depart, of himself returning to his +former position. He saw himself again the awful statesman, before whom +courtiers should salaam, as they used to do; he saw his ambitious +vision (obscured for an instant) realised at last. There were only a +few more yards of mud to wallow through before reaching _terra firma_, +and then he would take a bath and, by dint of scrubbing, appear no +more dirty than his fellows. So he made up his mind, as Lord +Cornwallis declined to help, to manage the caldron in conjunction with +Lord Castlereagh, and the pair were quite engrossed by the phases of +their hellish cookery. + +There was one matter that was hemmed round with grievous difficulties, +which had not yet been settled, and which troubled every member of the +Privy Council not a little. What was to be done with those leaders of +the United Irishmen who were still awaiting trial at Kilmainham? What +was to be done with Tom Emmett, Russell, Neilson--what with the +arch-traitor Terence Crosbie? It was evident that a repetition of the +fiasco of the other day must on no account be risked; they must not be +tried. Neither must they remain at Kilmainham, for it was probable +that they had relations with the outer world, that they were plotting +still, and might possibly give more trouble by-and-by by organising a +new Directory. There was no object now in allowing them to plot. On +the contrary, once the union carried, it was essential that Ireland +should be at peace. Lord Clare knew perfectly well, while he prated +about peace, that he had wilfully hailed the silence of a cowed nation +as a restoration of contented tranquillity. He knew very well that if +the English army and the soldier Viceroy were removed, and the leaders +permitted to scheme on, the country would be in as much danger as +ever; that, union or no union, millennium could not supervene until +time should blot away the nefarious means employed. What could be done +with these dangerous conspirators? They could not be tried and +executed; they could not be released, or kept in Ireland, or shipped +to America. As white elephants, they daily became more cumbersome; it +was a pity that gaol-fever would not take them off. But they were +provokingly well, in spite of privation and suffering. Their wings +must be cut somehow. Couriers posted to and fro between London and +Holyhead, bearing despatches on this difficult point. While Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were making final preparations for the union, +Lord Cornwallis was striving to devise a plan which should not be too +glaring an example of broken faith. He implored. He begged. He +threatened. Good King George was as tractable as usual. The odious +villains were either Papists, or Protestant defenders of Papists, +which was worse. The apostasy of these Protestants was more grievous +than the sin of Popery itself. They should receive no mercy. No +compact with such rascals could be binding. He would not have them +banished across seas, where they might achieve some measure of +happiness. They must be kept in duress as scarecrows--an awful warning +to other ruffians. There was no moving him. At last ministers gave +way, and it being decided that the white elephants should be shipped +to Scotland, commissioners were appointed to select a suitably +unpleasant spot where they might languish without danger to the +community. + +There is a fortress on the extremity of a tongue of land which juts +into the Moray Firth, the country round about which is destitute of +houses or of trees--a dreary, forsaken desert devoid of vegetation. +The very place! The obdurate ruffians should be transported to Fort +George, as soon as it could be made strong enough to keep them safe. + +Meanwhile the Viceroy was guilty of an act of politic clemency which +would have put the King in a bad temper if he had known of it. He +determined that, as several months must elapse before the fortress +would be ready, it would be well to permit the arch-villain Terence to +go home--on parole--provided he would give his word to plot no more. +The circumstances of his reprieve were producing a profound impression +in society. The romantic devotion of the servant--the imminent danger +of the master--were so dramatic, that high-born dames regretted their +absence from the moving spectacle. They professed to be vastly +interested in a young man who could call forth such a proof of +affection from another, and vowed that it was a shame he should be +sacrificed. Sure, Moiley ought to be content with a nice hecatomb +selected from the lower classes. Lord Cornwallis perceived that here +was a good opportunity of paying the nobles a compliment. They were so +important a factor in the matter of the union, that it was well to +conciliate them as a body; and what better way was there of doing so +than by treating one of their order with indulgence? He therefore +intimated to Lord Clare that he was inclined to do what he might to +please him--that he saw the mistake he had made in allowing Lord +Glandore's brother to be tried--that he, Lord Clare, might, if he +wished it, inform the dowager countess of a special favour that was in +store for one of her known loyalty--namely, that she might expect to +have the custody of her erring child until the time of his vanishing +from Ireland. + +Lord Clare was charmed, and hurried to Strogue with the good news. My +lady was a riddle, whose behaviour was always different from what +might be expected. He knew that Terence's danger had placed her on a +gridiron where she was consuming slowly, and naturally concluded that +her joy at his reprieve would culminate when she was told that she +might keep him near her for a while. This extraordinary young man, for +whom a servant would sacrifice his life, must needs be tenderly +beloved by the mother to whom he owed his birth. If she was in +raptures she had a queer method of displaying her feelings. Her cheek +turned a shade more pale than usual. Bowing her head as under a new +blow, she murmured, 'It is well.' + +Though he knew and esteemed the countess, Lord Clare's acquaintance +with my lady was not so intimate as ours. He had not seen her at +Glas-aitch-e, when every chair and table was babbling of what had +happened there. He did not look on her when with a spasm of +self-reproach she discovered that the undoing of her second son would +not be so heartrending as it ought to be. He did not know that in face +of Terence's doom she was torn by two distinctly opposite emotions; +that while his fate crushed her as a judgment for past sin, it also +brought a sense of relief. He was not aware that with his death a +burthen of long-endured apprehension would have been lightened, +whereby her tortured soul might attain a semblance of rest at last. + +We soon make up our minds to the inevitable. My lady had made up her +mind that Terence was to die. Her pangs of conscience were bitter, but +the dreadful thing was settled; no influence of hers could affect the +youth's fate now, whatever it might have done in the past. So low was +she fallen that she found some poor relief in that. But this new, +unexpected freak of Fortune brought all the bitterness of her trouble +back again; and with a sigh she roused her distempered faculties from +lethargy and bestirred herself--for the dreary battle was, as it +seemed, not over yet. The implacable phantom kept whispering in her +ear that it was not too late even now to set right the wrong; that +there still was time if she would force those stubborn knees to bend +and abase her pride. + +My lady loathed herself for the thoughts which held possession of her +mind. When the chancellor brought his news, she concealed the sudden +turbulence within. Strangely enough, the mother's sympathies, even at +that moment, were not for Terence--the son who had escaped the +halter--but for Shane; and a great fear for him leaped up in her +heart, to the crushing out of natural feeling. Terence was snatched +from the grave as by a miracle. A foreboding took strong hold of my +lady's mind that this was for a purpose--that Heaven, not satisfied +with the penance of a lifetime, was determined that she should blab +out to the world the secret which, lying on her bosom, had seared her +life. Oh! why did she not accept her punishment all those years ago, +when the task would not have been so hard? The earth had been no +pleasant place of sojourn to my lady. When she thought of all she had +borne since the old lord's death--of the utter futility of the +penance--she became rebellious, and gnashed her teeth at the simpering +portrait of him who had got off so easily. She rebelled against the +iron sternness of Heaven. She was to bend her proud knees, was +she--and confess? Her whitened hair and ashen cheeks were not to be +taken into account? Very well, then. She defied Heaven; religion was a +delusion and a snare; the Lord of Heaven unduly just. Tossing her +favourite tracts into the fire, she swore she would not be driven to +speak, though the ruin of her soul should be the penalty. At the time +when it was decided that Terence was to die, she spent the long hours +in reverie over the past--in poignant regret that he should have to be +thus sacrificed. She reflected that if she had spoken all those years +ago he would never have joined the popular side--would never have +risked his neck--of that she felt assured; and so she felt in some +sort as though she had herself handed him over to the scrag-boy. It +was an awful thought, and it had weighed down her intellect. But now +came a revulsion. It was not to be so. He was to live as a reproach. +Heaven was hounding her down, so she stood at bay. If Heaven had +accepted the penance of a life without requiring that the original +transgression should be cancelled by confessing it she would gladly +have borne the penance to the end of a long weary existence. But that +the penance should not be accepted in any way as an equivalent, was +maddening to her sense of justice. She bestirred herself; sat no +longer dreaming the days away. The household whispered that my lady +was herself again, that the joy of her son's reprieve was accountable +for the happy change. All thought this save Gillin, who knew her +secret. That excellent person scratched her untidy head with a comb +and pondered. What did the wicked old woman mean to do? There was more +mischief brewing--of that she felt quite sure. Well, Terence was saved +from the gallows by direct interposition from above. He was not +intended to be made a sacrifice, any more than Isaac was when his +father's faith was tried. A few months remained to him before he was +to be taken to his Scottish prison. If my lady should allow him to go +there, without making an effort to prevent it--why then she, Madam +Gillin, would open her mouth and speak. Her lips had been closed +over-long. Had she not sworn an oath beside that deathbed? It would +become her bounden duty to interfere, if the countess lacked courage +so to do. + +It was touching that in moments of severest trial my lady should +always have been engrossed by the interests of her black sheep. She +always thought of Shane rather than of herself; and he gave her little +satisfaction in return for this great love. Never very white, he was +daily growing darker. One evil thought engenders another; one evil +deed makes a second necessary: we were all taught that in earliest +infancy, and Shane's condition was in accordance with the rule. His +prowess in the past as King of Cherokees had brought him little blame +in public estimation, for the Glandores had been fire-eaters time out +of mind, and the Irish love a spark with mettle in him. But his +conduct since he departed for Glas-aitch-e was on many sides +disapproved as shady. The Viceroy openly showed his mean opinion of +him. His tenants had protested by injuring his cattle and destroying +his crops. He was proud, was Shane, as well as naturally reckless, and +was fond of notoriety. He resented the Viceroy's treatment, and was +furious with the tenants; and became more wrathful still with Terence, +to whose ill-advised conduct he imputed his own growing unpopularity. +What was the use of having mixed himself up in the odium of Tone's +capture if his brother was to cut the ground from under his feet? It +was but too probable that he might whistle both for an English peerage +and comforting bits in the way of sinecures; and all because of +Terence. Was it not enough to provoke a saint--much more an Irish +earl, who considered himself a pauper? Lord Cornwallis was unkind and +rude. My Lord Glandore complained of his uncivil treatment to Lord +Clare. The chancellor, with an eye to business, soothed his +_amour-propre_, and roundly told the Viceroy in private that he must +constrain himself to be civil to the peers. Then he broke ground to +Shane with reference to the union, explaining that he might put +himself quite right if he would work with the executive in this +matter. He must promise his vote in the House of Lords and all his +influence in the Commons, and then his gracious Majesty would +doubtless give substantial proofs of his approval. Shane promised that +he would follow this worldly-wise advice. As my Lord Clare so cogently +observed, the union was arranged--was to all intents and purposes a +_fait accompli_. Lord Glandore's influence could not prevent the end, +even if that peer should elect to be disinterested. What a lack of +common prudence would he show then, if for a crotchet he should bar +himself out of Tom Tiddler's ground! His brother's ruin showed the +result of crotchets. There would be fine pickings. The Chancellor gave +his word as to that, adding at the same time that the man is a fool +who strains at gnats. Shane therefore was as easily talked over as +many another of his order. Lord Clare was quite certain about the +success of his project, but thought that it would perhaps be well to +sound my lady in order that she might not through inadvertence undo +his work. + +Now, as we know, she had lived the life of a recluse, looking at +political events, in most cases, through the chancellor's spectacles, +half-awakened now and then by the diatribes of Mr. Curran. But she +thought his web was a wicked piece of work when now he displayed its +woof to her; and objected strongly to his design of mixing her +firstborn in his scheming. It was grievous to her that the dear dark +wool of the dusky sheep should be further blackened. My lady got rid +of her importunate old friend by saying she would speak to Shane as to +the using of his influence; and, left alone, sat wondering what she +ought to do. It was a bitter thing to think of the proud name being +held up to obloquy. Yet there were reasons why valuable titbits must +not be refused idly by the idol of her heart. If only that old +abortive project could be carried out! If only Shane was safely +married to his cousin! Was it too late to make another effort? My lady +perceived dimly that Shane was repelled by the damsel--and no wonder. +The passions of this earth seemed gone, burnt away, consumed, by the +action on her mind of past events. Doreen sat on a heap of ashes, +enclosed in a rarified atmosphere of her own. But, for all that, +another trial must be made; matters were becoming desperate; my lady +began to fear that she was not strong enough to fight against Heaven. +She would see Shane, and speak very seriously to him forthwith. + +It was no easy matter now to get hold of Shane. Since his return to +Dublin he had plunged deeper and deeper into excess--partly from +having been mewed up so long, partly to drown the voice of the inner +monitor, partly because of the forbidding chilliness of his own +fireside and the presence there of his gloomy brother. The Blasters, +who during the reign of terror had been busy with the triangles; the +Cherokees, who had been dispersed about the country with their +regiments, returned now to the capital, to sit for the last time in +the Irish Parliament, by order of the chancellor; and glorious were +the nights they passed together whilst awaiting the decisive moment. +The hounds of Strogue were brought again into requisition. My lord and +his boon companions amused themselves with cub-hunting--careering with +wild shrieks across the land--past cabins, the shoulders of whose +occupants were disfigured with livid weals--past huts whose inmates +cursed the cavalcade as it swept by. They rode all day. They drank and +fought all night. My lady had to bide her time in order to lay hands +upon her son. Verily, it seemed little probable that his infatuated +lordship could be induced, even by her entreaties, to pull up in full +career for the sake of wooing the cousin who frightened him! + +As though in furtherance of the unrelenting measures of Heaven, both +sons were received now as guests at the Little House, and equally +insulted their parent by making no secret of going there. The scraping +of their feet was visible on the wall which divided the two +properties. My lady could not but admit that Fate took pleasure in +deliberately thwarting her arrangements. Why, when so many Catholics +came to ruin in the Hurry, was this horrible woman allowed to escape +scot-free? After she had been caught in the act, too, of harbouring +traitors! Was it that through her (the only one on earth who had power +to do so) the secret she kept so hungrily should be blabbed forth upon +the housetops? Sure, a mark of Fate's finger could be detected here. +But my lady was all the more determined to be obstinate. She would go +on scheming, and wrestle with all her puny strength, shaking her +broken spear-haft till finally put out of misery. If Fate was resolved +to kill her, she would die hard, fighting to the very last. + +Terence, being free--on parole--moped about the Abbey, never moving +beyond its boundaries, save when he went to the Little House to +converse with its kind hostess. His life was finished, although he was +not destined to wing away at present. The reprieve brought to him no +rapture, much as his heart was touched by the devotion of poor Phil. +He was like one who has passed through the anguish of drowning; who +has subsided into the ecstatic state, made beautiful by coloured +lights, which precedes dissolution. Like those who have been at this +point plucked from the waters, he returned with reluctance to the +world, conscious only of its pain and trouble. After the first short +shock of astonishment, which set his head reeling, he experienced +nothing but unalloyed regret, although the mere fact of life is +intoxicating to the young. His peace was made with his Maker. He had +been privileged to look through the Golden Gate, only to be thrust +cruelly back again into the darkness of this world. Had he but +followed Theobald's example, all would have been over now--he would be +walking with his brother patriots in Paradise. He was satisfied that +his life would be of no further use. He saw little of his mother--as +little as possible, indeed, for on his arrival from Kilmainham she had +tendered a frigid hand in a way that brought tears into his eyes. My +lady's attempt to appear glad was rendered heart-rending by its +ill-success. Was it her fault if her affections were so engrossed by +Shane that there was no corner left for Terence? He saw through the +little mummery at once, and avoided her without stopping to seek for +reasons; and she, on her side, was relieved, for every fibre of energy +within her was strung now for the unequal contest with Fate on Shane's +behalf, which she perceived with prophetic ken to be inevitable. + +Curran and Sara stayed on at the Abbey, to the satisfaction of the +inmates, whose skeletons rattled with less deafening jangle in the +presence of strangers. Doreen was glad of Sara for a nurse. My lady, +who always liked Curran, and who was being crushed into humility by +impending Nemesis, was sorry to see how aged he was, and hoped that +the quiet of the Abbey might do for him what it might never do for +her. He lingered on to see the most of Terence, declaring that, the +union passed and the prisoners gone, he would turn his back on the +land he had loved too well, and crave six feet of earth from the +United States. He trotted up and down the alleys of the rosary with +his ex-junior, the hearts of both too full for speech. They would part +soon, never again to meet in this world. They had been involved in +dangers and supreme soul-conflicts, which knit hearts together more +closely than a decade of conventional maundering. Both had been sorely +tried, and had come out the better for the fire. The tenderness the +twain felt one for the other was that of two strong natures, generous +and pure--an equable, staunch tenderness, swayed by no violent +passion, founded on the sure basis of esteem and confidence, such as +may never be attained in any love of man for woman. + +This was the attitude of the two friends one to the other, in the +interval that preceded the day which was to decide the fate of +Ireland. Doreen was too ill to see any one. The orders of the doctor +were stringent as to the necessity of extreme quiet for her. Sara +issued forth now and again with bulletins; then returned to her post. +Madam Gillin bearded the tigress in her lair by sending openly to +inquire after the invalid. One morning Sara, neglecting her patient, +came tripping forth, well rolled in furs, with unseemly gladness in +her face--unseemly levity in her demeanour: + +'What _do_ you think, papa?' she said, flinging her arms round Mr. +Curran. 'I've got a letter to say he's coming home!' + +'_He?_ To whom do you refer?' demanded her father, who declined to +admit that for his child there was but one 'he.' + +'Robert, of course!' she replied, with shy reproach. 'Do read!' + +Her father read, then handed the note to Terence gloomily. The maid +had her gladness to herself. It was not a wise letter; one written +evidently by an enthusiastic but rash, person, who, having been absent +during the Hurry, could put faith still in the mirage of Irish +freedom; who had not laid to heart the awful lesson of the year that +was expiring. He spoke with indignation of the way he was duped in +London; of the impossibility of getting at his Majesty, who was as +inaccessible to him as any potentate of Old Japan. For months he was +kept dallying in ante-chambers, he complained. His funds would have +failed but for good Lord Moira. But now he was coming back to receive +the mantle of Theobald, which intuition told him was to fit his +shoulders; to bid farewell to brother Tom ere he departed; then to +study the ground with a fresh eye. + +Her father looked at Sara, as he pushed the blonde cocoons from off +her bright young forehead. Blind girl to be so glad; she who before +was more wisely jubilant in that her lover should be removed from +danger. Her delight, indeed, was infantine and unalloyed; for all day +long the patriots were declaring that everything was lost, that all +was over. There was no reason, then, why she should look forward to +future complications. + +'Use all the power you have, my Primrose,' he adjured his daughter, +with sad earnestness, 'to keep him away yet awhile. The mantle of +Theobald, forsooth! We know that it is red and clammy. The shamrock +must be transplanted to another soil. Tell him not to come, I say. So +soon as the ship sails for Fort George, you and I will go and meet him +in London.' + +Sara seemed bewildered, as the smile faded from her face. What could +her parent mean? Sure, it was but natural to come and take a last look +at a beloved brother ere he went away? Whatever Robert's intentions +were, she knew that they were good and noble. The mantle of Theobald +meant love of motherland--no more. Everybody was painfully convinced +that the time for armed resistance was gone and past; that England +held the reins well in hand, and meant to hold them. + +The excitement when the grand day arrived was great in Dublin, while +the provinces looked on with unconcern. The brew of my Lords +Castlereagh and Clare had cost them sleepless nights. The Viceroy, as +head-cook, made believe to supervise, but he held a perfumed kerchief +to his august nose; there was no need for special exertion on his +part, for his deputies were by this time familiar with the receipt. By +the middle of the ensuing year at latest, every detail would be +arranged; and then he would be able to depart, his mission +accomplished, out of an atmosphere that poisoned him. But my Lords +Clare and Castlereagh were only bunglers after all. They had not +fathomed the baseness of the senate--the yawning depth of its abyss of +greed. Certain members of both Houses turned round at the last minute. +Some said that their consciences smote them; others admitted that +their rapacity was not satisfied. After a sitting of twenty-one hours +the measure was lost; and my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, baffled +where success seemed certain, looked foolish. + +Every one was disgusted. Lord Cornwallis apologised for the muddle to +the British Cabinet. Odd straitlaced people, he explained, rose all of +a sudden to the surface, who, if they had appeared sooner, might have +done much to stop the ball. It was like the legend of Sodom and +Gomorrah. 'Peradventure three righteous men might be found,' and so +on. The affair would have to be postponed for a few months in order +that the three righteous men might be tampered with. Of course the +three righteous men had their price. My Lord Powerscourt had emerged +from his Wicklow mountains to protest from his place against the +sinful measure, and a shamefaced knot rallied round him--a nucleus of +lords who objected to the bartering of freedom against a cartload of +cheap mirrors and bead-necklaces. But retribution fell upon that +ill-advised Lord Powerscourt before the setting of the sun that day. A +national rabble who sallied forth from the Liberties to wreak +vengeance on those who dared to vote for union, by a trifling error +attacked Powerscourt House in William Street, and broke its windows +and smashed its sculptured ornaments. They did not desist till some +one explained that it appertained to a peer who all along had +steadfastly set his face against the orgies of his fellows; against +bloodshed, murder, and torture; and against Lord Clare. But, arrah! +what was broke could be mended, and it was good for trade. Three +cheers for Lord Powerscourt! He must acknowledge the warmth of Pat's +nature, and make the best of the mistake. + +Terence learned with heartfelt satisfaction, mingled with surprise and +contrition in that he had wronged his brother so, that Lord Glandore +had not voted with Government. My lady, he knew, was shocked with the +entire proceeding. Perchance to her influence was this happy result +due? Be that as it might, the heart of the younger was drawn towards +his brother. They never cared much for each other--they looked on the +world from a different standpoint. Since the Hurry, a marked coldness +and spitefulness was evident in Shane's demeanour. But he was not so +bad as he seemed, or so selfish, Terence assured himself. At all +events he was repentant--regretted doubtless the part he played with +reference to Theobald, though too haughty to admit it. He, Terence, +was going away so soon--never, in all probability, to look upon +Ireland or his family again--that it behoved him to carry as few +regrets as might be to his prison. He must bid adieu to the world with +a clear conscience--at enmity with no man, least of all his brother. +He resolved to make the first advance to Shane; to congratulate him on +his conduct even at this eleventh hour--to exhort him to resist +temptation 'twixt this and the next attempt--to beg him to take care +that he, though the measure would of course be carried sooner or +later, was in nowise mixed up with the Iscariots. To this laudable end +he strove to throw himself upon his elder's path, and met him face to +face in the stable-yard on the very next day after the first failure. + +Shane tried to avoid the gloomy _trouble-fete_, but finding that +impossible, came forward with as _debonair_ a swagger as a racking +headache and impaired digestion would permit. His aspect spoke more of +claret and its effects than of repentance. The coat of cream-coloured +cut velvet that he wore was rent in several places; two of the +filigree gold buttons had been wrenched away; his satin pantaloons +were smirched with dirt; his handsome face was inflamed and bloated. +What a contrast between the brothers now! Their characteristics seemed +inverted from those which marked them in former days. Then Terence had +shown too much of the florid farmer, too much of the bovine contented +animal breadth which men exhibit who live much in the open air and +look on cattle. Then nothing could be more refined and elegant than +Shane--with his miniature figure, his faultless limbs and tiny hands, +his clean-cut features whereon sat the expression of command which +marks a man for one to whom authority is an undisputed birthright. Now +the pair had changed places. Shane's lineaments were losing their fine +lines by reason of sucking at a bottle; the look of command was +departing with his self-respect: whilst Terence, in a dress of studied +simplicity, as upright and square as usual, had assumed a carriage of +reserved haughtiness. His locks had lost their brilliant colour, so +had his cheeks, through care. That silvery sheen from the other world +still glittered in his eye. The rollick of exuberant good-humour and +enjoyment of life was exchanged for a sober melancholy. His voice even +was lowered a semitone. His individuality had slipped into the minor +key. + +'Shane,' he said, 'I am so very glad, old fellow. I should have felt +it sorely if you had espoused this measure. Of course it's not my +business to try to direct your opinions; but now that it's all over +for the present, I can't help telling you I'm glad.' + +Shane passed across his throbbing temples a hand which was soiled with +the dust of last night's cards, and shrank backward from his brother's +advance. 'You are a nice one,' he sneered, 'to direct my opinions. +_You_--who but for an accident would have danced the minuet like a +peasant! We've been starting a new club--the Blazers--two days and +nights! I'm losing my nerve. This won't do. Too young to be so shaky. +I'll go to bed.' + +He endeavoured to escape. His two pet pointers, Eblana and Aileach, +came bounding towards him with yelps which woke the echoes of the +yard. Terence felt that there was a mistake somewhere. His brother was +upon his guard, as though he expected to be reviled. + +'Am I wrong, Shane?' he cried, as the blood bubbled to his face. 'You +didn't--did you vote with Government yesterday?' + +'What if I did, _Croppy?_' was my lord's surly rejoinder. + +Terence winced. 'Do not use harsh words,' he implored. 'Remember that +where I go my life must be passed in retrospect. Pray do not let me +carry away any memories of you but kind ones.' + +'Why gibe at me then?' said sulky Shane. + +'I--gibe? Is it likely I should jest?' + +'Yes, gibe?' repeated Shane, his anger kindling, while the cicatrice +stood forth purple upon his forehead. 'You know that I've been +tricked. I was at the new club among a set of merry dogs, and gave +orders to a porter at the house to fetch me when I was wanted. He +didn't come; I didn't vote; and when I offered just now to run him +through, he pleaded that he was a follower of yours, and could not +possibly do that to which you would object. You! And now you come +preaching like a parson! Curse you!' + +Terence was deeply moved. His own brother, then, was itching for his +share of the silver pieces. It was due to accident alone that he had +not disgraced himself. Lord Glandore growled out in exasperation: 'The +chancellor will not speak to me!' and, raising the toy-whip he held, +made as though he would strike his brother, giving at the same moment +a kick which sent Eblana howling to the kennels. Terence recoiled from +the threatened blow. At the same instant the lattice of my lady's +chamber was flung open, and she, in the imperious voice of other days, +cried, 'Shane! come here at once!' + +Now the first-born whom she adored so fondly was accustomed to yield +to her when in an imperious mood. He felt guilty now and out of sorts, +knowing that he was desperately in the wrong. In a sneaking manner, +therefore, he threw away his switch, and, kicking aside the other +hound, entered his mother's presence, clasping his splitting temples +with both his palms. + +She was sweeping up and down as she used to do, before she took to +feeble blinking in the great chair. Emotion of some kind troubled her +so much that she could scarcely speak. Half frightened, Shane asked if +he should fetch some water. + +She shook her head and muttered 'No.' Then, finding voice, she adjured +him in jerky sentences which burned her tongue, to treat his brother +with kindness during the short time they could be together. 'A time +may come,' she said, 'when you will bitterly regret idle taunts. Do +not lay up for yourself the fruits of remorse. I have eaten of them +all my life, and know what they are like.' + +'What nonsense!' Shane exclaimed fretfully. 'You're always blowing +bladders into balloons! Don't bother. The Croppy and I will soon part +to meet no more. Then perhaps you'll put aside these foolish terrors! +I think your brain is softening.' + +'Foolish terrors!' wailed the countess. + +After a moment of reflection she turned sharply round as though urged +by a power beyond control. 'Shane!' she cried, stretching out her arms +lest he should stop her; 'oh! if you only knew what I have endured for +your sake! Listen to me----' then, sinking back on the window-seat, +she drew up her limbs together, murmuring in a tone of such anguish as +fairly alarmed her first-born: 'No, no! I cannot! I _will not!_ It is +too much!' + +Shane recovered his self-possession. 'The poor thing's head's +deranged,' he thought; and feeling that he had been wanting in respect +just now, he stooped down and kissed her as she crouched like a bundle +on the cushions. + +This unusual display of affection seemed to revive his mother. She +twined her quivering arms about him, and, dragging him to her side, +whispered: 'My darling--for my sake who have gone through sore travail +on your account--oh! be kind to Terence--be very, very kind. If you +knew all, you would be--but you shall never know. I will bear all +myself. My hand shall never pour sorrow on your head!' + +The words of mystery perplexed my lord, who, never very bright, was +still confused with drink. He was about to ask questions; perceiving +which my lady spoke abruptly. 'Shane,' she whispered, stroking his +hair with clinging affection, 'do you know what is the fondest wish of +your old mother? If I saw you well married I could die content. When +you were so infatuated with that horrid girl down yonder, you did not +know what pain you gave me.' + +'Why?' demanded Shane, the scar on his brow deepening in hue. 'She's a +good girl, and I like her still. There's nothing against her that I'm +aware of. I hate your bread-and-butter misses!' Had the young man been +sober he would not have dared so to speak; but wine gave him courage +to say that to which Norah urged him daily. 'I'll marry Norah if I +like,' cried her stout champion. 'I know you've got some silly notion +about Doreen. Why, I can't think. I don't want to marry her, and she +doesn't want to marry me; and I won't do it--that's flat. Is it you or +I who would marry her? I suppose I may follow my own wishes on the +subject.' + +His mother crouched down on the cushions again and moaned, while her +first-born stopped short in wonderment. What a pother, to be sure! Her +nerves must be the centre of some disease, for he had said naught to +warrant such an access of pain! He could not make it out. At length, +by way of applying a soothing plaster, he said: 'There, there! don't +fret so. Maybe I'll die a bachelor, and the Croppy'll inherit. Will +that please you? Come, sit up and smile at me.' + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + SUSPENSE. + + +Doreen was a fine subject, truly, for matrimonial scheming! Sara, +faithful little nurse, hovered round her bed while she battled +with delirium--spoke words of encouragement to Lord Kilwarden, who +watched his daughter's state with grief. What was the use of all his +trimming--his cautious steering--his dallying with Apollyon, if she +for whose sake alone he desired wealth and titles was beyond caring +for the treasures of this life? But the fond father's prayers +were answered. Her splendid constitution soon brought her back to +health--she was not one of those who die broken-hearted; but it was +soon manifest to all who watched her that she, like Terence, looked on +her life as done. She spent her time in watching the boats on Dublin +Bay--aware, in hazy fashion, of Sara's prattle. She asked after Tom +Emmett and the others, as one might after old friends who are crippled +for life--who are labouring under some incurable malady. Terence spent +many moments of placid enjoyment, conversing with his cousin in the +little bedroom which overlooked the rosary; but neither ever spoke a +word of love. The brief interval of freedom was speeding quick away. +The works at Fort George were progressing rapidly. A very few weeks +and the prisoners would depart, to begin a new existence in a howling +wilderness. She told him her plans, with such details as he might +ponder over in his solitude, promising to carry them out to the letter +as a sacred duty, in order that he might calculate with certainty what +she was doing at such and such an hour. The notion of taking the veil +was in a calmer moment given up. What need to take the veil? What +difference could a vow make to one whose heart was dead? Her vigorous +energy must find scope; in tending others she would forget herself. +She would, thanks to Lord Kilwarden's savings, play the Lady Bountiful +in Dublin, for the benefit of the sufferers from the Reign of Terror. +Scarce a family of the lower class but the yeomanry had left their +brand on it. Fatherless children--widowed wives--cried out from the +Vale of Tears. Sure, those who were taken--who had been shot down like +dogs or had perished under torture in the Riding-school--were better +off than they, if their end was to be starvation in a gutter! Lord +Kilwarden murmured that it should be as she wished. She should return +and live with him in town, and do with his money as she listed. The +subject of the union interested Doreen deeply. She could talk of it +without rancour as a thing that was inevitable. Her life was done +because that of Mother Erin was over, and of her faithful sons. So she +discussed the prospects of the union as she would have discussed a +funeral. Kilwarden and his child were not agreed upon the subject. Her +father, after serious deliberation, was in favour of the measure, and +thus expressed himself, while Curran, pretending to be buried in a +book, sniffed and hemmed. + +'Events,' he said, 'have clearly shown how unstable is our nature. +Only twenty years ago we showed a serried front, and were as one in +the cause of freedom; but a little wedge was inserted--and see! To +what an end we've come! For we have come to an end--there is no use +discussing that. The one drop of satisfaction which is given to us in +the goblet of gall is that an assembly will vanish into space which +has reached the lowest depth of human degeneracy. Its members--as all +Europe knows--consider the station they hold as a portion of private +property, not as a public trust. The scorn of Lord Cornwallis is not +undeserved.' + +To this Curran objected with vehemence: 'My good friend! is that a +reason why your union should answer? You cannot glue two pieces of +board together unless the joint be clean. You cannot unite two men +indissolubly, unless the cement be virtue. How then two countries, +between which rolls a sea of blood more wide than the Atlantic?' + +But Arthur Lord Kilwarden had followed events with a keen scrutiny, +and none were more appalled than he at the way the senate had jigged +to my Lord Clare's piping. 'Whichever way,' he affirmed sadly, 'you +look at the proceedings of your parliament, the sight is equally +distressing. If the English parliament could be convinced that our +interests are really bound up with theirs, they would come to look on +us in time as part and parcel of themselves, instead of treating us +like savages. Indeed, the Irish Lords and Commons are showing clearly +that the English estimate of them is the right one. Practically their +birthright is disposed of. It is merely a matter of terms. + +Then Curran murmured doleful things about the extinction of the Irish +name and the days of the Round Towers, and the parties, as usual, +agreed to differ. + +There was one side of the matter which was gratifying to Doreen, +namely, the conduct of her own people. The Viceroy was undisguisedly +in favour of inserting in this Union Bill a clause for the abrogation +of the penal statutes; but, as might have been expected, the King +dashed his pen through it. The Catholics emancipated indeed? +Fiddle-de-dee! Never, while that large-minded monarch should survive. +His stupidity produced a hitch. Then the Catholic lords came +forward--there were but seven--and begged that state interests should +be consulted before that of their own faith. The effect produced was +good, for the dignity of the situation lay not with stupid George. +Although they seemed to be sacrificing themselves unduly, yet they +scored one in the eyes of Europe, and public opinion decided that +their attitude of noble neutrality would reap its reward ere long. +Doreen was glad of this, although for her part she would wish to +struggle against union to the last. If it must take place, it must; +but she agreed with Terence that eternal obloquy would be the +portion of those who were responsible for the end. It was with +dissatisfaction, then, that she listened to his tidings about Shane. +It was by an accident, due to the involuntary influence of his younger +brother, that he escaped degradation at the first voting? This was +terrible news! The duty of the younger man was plainly written, she +pointed out with a spark of her old animation. Before withdrawing to +consummate his martyrdom, he must speak earnestly, seriously, to the +misguided earl--implore him on his knees, if need were, not to +disgrace the name which had descended unsullied from Sir Amorey. 'If +you show him,' she said, 'the chasm into which he is about to fall, +his better instincts will drag him back. Neither his vanity nor +avarice must be played on by the chancellor for the furtherance of +that wicked end. + +Terence replied that not only had he no influence over his brother, +but that the latter might be goaded by his interference into doing +precisely that which they all deprecated, out of spite. It would be +better to trust to Providence. 'How can I bid him not disgrace the +family?' he concluded, gently smiling. 'Would he not retort that I +have done worse than he can do, by placing my neck within the halter?' + +There was something in this, certainly, Doreen admitted. But it was +not a moment for petty vanity--it was a time for general humiliation. +Terence must humble himself to bear meekly the taunts of Lord +Glandore, content in that he was doing his duty. In the solitude of +Fort George it would be a comforting episode to dwell upon--instead of +brooding always over Erin's death-throes. + +One evening, at this point of the discussion, which was renewed again +and again before Terence could make up his mind to risk a storm, +blonde Sara, who, sitting hard by, was wont to listen to pros and cons +which dazed her in respectful silence, laid down her needle, and +startled the disputants by saying, 'Are you quite sure that she is in +her death-throes?' + +Doreen patted her arm as you might that of a precocious child, and +said, with her moonlit smile, 'Have you a doubt, dear Sara?' + +'I have no opinion,' responded the simple maid; 'but Robert does not +think so, and he knows.' + +The curiosity of her listeners was aroused. The ardent young +enthusiast was about to return, in spite of Curran's wishes to the +contrary, to take a last look at Tom ere he sailed away. What were +these opinions of his that imparted so grandmotherly an air to the +gentle Primrose? + +'I've had another letter,' quoth the sapient maiden. 'He doesn't agree +with you at all. Hark. He says: "Notwithstanding the darkness of our +prospect, I seem to see a light. We must rise to the level of the +situation, as our fathers did in '82. We are unworthy of the name of +nation if by combination we cannot frustrate the Sassanagh's designs. +Other and better men have pioneered the way; be mine the bright +result: there shall be no union. The more I see of the English, the +more I detest them. In coffee-houses they elbow me to the wall. If I +were a red Indian they could not treat me and my country with greater +disdain!"' + +The idea that her Robert was not appreciated imbued the maid with such +indignation as sat in comical fashion on her sweet, soft features. The +hearts of both those who looked at her yearned towards this fragile +flower. They had been strong and sturdy, yet were they utterly undone. +Was this girl to pass, too, under the yoke? Doreen, in a gush of +compassion, seized her slight figure in her arms and strained it to +her breast, murmuring, as she did so, 'No, child; oh no, no! Not you +too! Surely the pyre is piled high enough; the smoke of it blackens +the heavens. The land is drenched; it can drink no more. Write to him, +my dearest, and adjure him not to hope. Write and forbid his coming.' + +Both Terence and Doreen were painfully aware that the element of +sedition was dormant, not conquered. They were convinced, too, that +the struggle was useless--were ready to bow to the consummation of +Lord Clare's strategy, provided that they might stand aloof from among +the traitors. If it were useless, why renew the struggle? Why help to +bring upon the land again the horrors of the Hurry? Both Terence and +Doreen saw through the cloak of Robert's mysterious words, though Sara +apparently did not. Yet surely he could not be so utterly distracted +as to intend again to raise the standard of revolt? The whole aspect +of the case was changed since '98. Napoleon was too much bent on +Continental laurels to allow France to think of Ireland. Money was +scarce; merchants cautious; the people cowed. The Presbyterians were +irritated by the Wexford massacre; the Catholics indignant at the +supposed desertion of the northerners. A pretty time to think of +flying to arms! No; Robert could not be so mad. But what did he mean, +then? Was his combination to be a bloodless contest, such as was +brought to a successful issue by the Volunteers? Combination, +forsooth! It was not possible for Irishmen ever to combine for more +than a few minutes together. Sara evidently had no notion that her +Robert could imply a resort to arms, or she would not be purring in +this kittenish fashion. As it was, she shook off the embrace of her +dear friend, and was very angry in that she showed anxiety to keep +Robert away, now that all danger to his sacred head, was past. She +waxed exceeding wroth, begging to know why Doreen presumed to question +Robert's wisdom; then, scalded by her own tears, she drooped into the +arms of the older girl, registering a desire to be dead--a petition +with which Heaven has been wearied by natives of Ireland time out of +mind. + +'I will see to her,' Doreen whispered. 'Now, do you go down, _to +please me_, Terence. You will never regret having done your best to +turn Glandore. If you succeed, what blessed visions will paint the +walls of your prison-cell! Go and speak seriously to Shane, for all +our sakes.' + +Terence pressed his cousin's hand and promised. If it was his fate to +languish through a long life on the cold crags of Moray Firth, that +placid air of calm, the light of those solemn eyes, should soothe him +to the last upon his pilgrimage. He was greedily laying up a store of +precious memories. The time was growing very short. Orders must come +very soon for that final parting. Whate'er befel, he promised himself +to follow to the end his guiding star. Heaven would inspire him with +words which should save his brother from himself. Doreen was right, as +she always was. He strolled leisurely across to the stable-yard to +inquire whether my lord had returned from hunting. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + EAVESDROPPING. + + +The Eumenides galloped in full cry after my lady. Their quarry was run +down, scrambled up and staggered on again--was near the end of the run +now. When Shane, apple of his mother's eye, gave the last unconscious +stab, she bore it without wincing, and sat up and attempted a wintry +smile, as he had bidden her. The goblet which, through her strength of +character, she had been able to push aside during many years, was held +at her lips by a ruthless hand, and must be drained. There was no help +for it. She must go and grovel before the hated Gillin, and pray her +in mercy to remove the obnoxious Norah. There was nothing else for it. +Schemes had miscarried, plots had fallen through. What a sorry +spectacle is a harried mortal in the death-grip of the hags of Ate! + +Even a year's absence at Glas-aitch-e had not blurred the memory of +Norah in the heart of the young prodigal. Gillin still beguiled him to +the Little House--the knavish, cruel woman! What steadiness of purpose +she had shown all through her relentless course! And now she was +waiting in her den with cool assurance to consummate her fiendish +work. What a terrible thing to have to bow down and implore mercy from +this common, vulgar wretch! Would she even now, with her rival at her +feet, be merciful? Or would she, with the inherent ungenerosity of a +low nature, spurn and deride the victim? Be that as it might, the +ordeal must be assayed. It was no use to shake the fist at serene +heaven in the impotence of rage. That would in nowise mend matters, +and was silly besides. My lady resolved at last to take her cup and +drink the draught, since there was no avoiding it. For several days +she waited, hoping against hope for a means of escape. None came. She +accepted the position, put on her hood, and sallied forth on the +self-same afternoon upon which Terence decided to speak out to Shane. + +Madam Gillin, in her amazement, swept down the jam-pots which she was +stowing in a cupboard when Norah tore breathless up the stairs to +announce that a leedy was coming up the walk who was no other than the +Countess of Glandore. + +'Holy Mother!' she ejaculated. The moment was come then--at last! and +the two were to speak out, face to face. It could only be on one +subject--an unpleasant interview. What could induce the countess now +to strike her colours, and come of her own accord, who for years had +declined to acknowledge her neighbour's existence? The haughty +countess must be hard pressed indeed to humble herself in this wise. +Peeping through shutter-chinks, she beheld the stately figure of my +lady--as straight as an arrow, shrouded in a silken wrapper, moving +slowly towards her door, and screamed out orders to Jug to get out her +best gown instantly, and place some wine on the parlour table. + +My lady was kept waiting for fully half an hour, while the mistress of +the Little House was arranging her war-paint, during which time she +had leisure to glance round the adornments of the chamber--bright, +big, showy, glowing and rubicund, blatant with varnished newness--so +different from the cobwebbed dignity of the black oak and tapestry at +the Abbey. The ceiling was painted in the Italian style, with clouds +on cerulean ether like bits of cotton-wool. The floor was thickly +carpeted, the windows heavily curtained--for the judges, when they +came to carouse with their gay hostess, liked what was snug and cosy. +Over the chimney-piece were two portraits, side by side, at which my +lady frowned--the late Lord Glandore and Norah. The woman was +evidently shameless, to place my lord's portrait so _en evidence_. +This long delay was, no doubt, a premeditated insult. The original of +the second portrait, conscious that it was rude of her mamma to be so +long in dressing, skimmed down the stairs and banged open the door to +make a good-humoured apology, but closed it quickly and retreated--the +aspect of the old lady was so forbidding as she stood upright in the +centre of the floor, with thin nose pinched and bent brows scowling. +If the squireens of Letterkenny had been frightened by the gorgon's +stony face when she strove to be gracious, how much more awful did she +appear now, when grilling on the coals of humiliation. + +By-and-by, with a prodigious rattle, Madam Gillin swam in and +curtseyed. If there was to be a passage of arms, she was determined +not to be taken at a disadvantage. Fortune had denied her the grand +air which goes with blue blood and coronets, but she was resolved to +make up for the want of it by a display of external magnificence. +Though warm and moist with the exertion of plunging into grandeur at +so short a notice, she looked mighty fine in her best red satin, made +very tight and short, with a Roman emperor in cameo grinning on the +high waistband, and another nodding from her hair. The ruddy tint of +her mature charms vied with the ruby of the satin and the redness of +the turban, and came by no means badly out of the conflict. + +When arrayed in the garments of ceremony, Madam Gillin, despite the +stoutness of her figure, could be extremely dignified. With a second +curtsey and a sweep round of the left foot, she bade the visitor +welcome to her poor home, and pointed a mittened forefinger at a +chair. + +'It's honoured that I am entirely, by your leedyship's condescension,' +she said, wagging the turban affably. 'Might I offer some sherry-wine, +or would your leedyship prefer clart? or a dhrop of prime poteen? The +judges, bless you, prefer clart. Sure, Jug'll bring a cake in a jiffy, +for drink's bad on an empty stomach.' + +The countess responded by a freezing bow. How hard it was to begin! +Yet, having come, she must needs speak out. This ungenerous foe was +exaggerating her own defects with intention, in order to make the task +more difficult; was pretending to believe that her neighbour had +'dropped in' by a friendly impulse, just to scrape a tardy +acquaintance over a glass of wine. The next words of the enemy showed +that it was so. + +'Your leedyship's sons are quite old cronies here,' she remarked. +'They often honour my tipple, and find it good; faith, it's the same +as their dear papa used to like, poor fellow!' Here she nodded +solemnly at the portrait, lest my lady should not have noticed it. +'And fine boys they are, though the eldest is a bit skittish. Your +leedyship has reason to be proud of them--specially the younger.' + +It was as the countess expected. The woman was brutal and pitiless and +devoid of shame. Each word, each movement, was an outrage, a barb +hurled with studied purpose. Nothing could come of an interview begun +upon these lines; it would be better to cut it short, ere self-control +was lost. My lady had not moved from her position on the centre of the +floor, not choosing to notice the invitation to be seated. Gathering +her wrapper close, with a haughty movement of white fingers, she said +abruptly, as she turned to go: + +'Woman! I have lowered myself in order to conjure you to consider what +you do. You have harmed me, Mrs. Gillin, as much as you could ever +since I first set eyes on you, although I never did you hurt. You +robbed me of my husband, and flaunted your prize all over Dublin, and +I bore my cross without a word, because one may not touch pitch +without being one's self defiled. You encouraged my second son in his +folly; pushed him down the incline till you nearly brought him to the +gallows; and now you are determined, if you can, to bring young +Glandore to ruin. You are a devil--not a woman! Hate me, if you will, +for I would prefer your hatred to your friendship; but surely you +cannot hate _him_, or you would not hang his portrait there. Even if +he did you any wrong, of which I am ignorant, forbear to wreak +vengeance on his children. I never understood your motives. What can +you gain by compassing all this mischief?' + +'Whom did yon say I wished to bring to ruin?' sneered the scarlet +lady, unabashed. + +The pale face of the countess flushed crimson, and she proceeded as if +the words stuck in her throat: + +'This hideous marriage must be prevented; you know why as well as I +do. Think of the wreck to which you would bring these innocent lives. +Remember, at least, that the girl is your own child, poor thing. Feel +pity for her, if you can summon none for the other.' + +'I have as much pity for my child as you for yours!' Madam Gillin +retorted, with meaning. 'When his neck was in danger, you never +stirred a finger-nail.' + +My lady stopped at the door to make one more effort. + +'You have deliberately brought those two together, though I have +strained every nerve to keep them apart. Dare you stand by and see +them married?' + +'If the childer like each other, faix, it's not me as'll spoil the +fun!' returned her tormentor. + +My lady groaned and made as if she would speak again, but Mrs. +Gillin's fat back was turned; she was improving the position of the +cameos, by means of a mirror on the wall. + +Lady Glandore adjusted her hood on her white hair, and moved swiftly, +with bowed head, away from the Little House; while Madam Gillin, +detaching her gorgeous turban, turned quickly round with a grin, so +soon as she was fairly gone, and watched her from behind a shutter. +The good lady was troubled in her mind, and stood staring down the +walk, as the grin faded, long after the muffled figure had departed. +At length she clapped the errant comb into its place upon her head, +and murmured: + +'I'm a devil, not a woman, am I? Sure that cap fits best on your own +pate. Rather than speak out, you'd let that lad be whipped off to Fort +George, would you? Just as you would have let him be hanged--mother +without a heart! It's Lucifer's pride ye have, every ha'porth of it. +Well, my lips have been closed long enough.' Then, nodding to the +picture over the chimney-piece, she added aloud: 'Have I kept my word +with ye? Ye wished it all set right, bad man, when Satan pinched ye. +Who was it that was always bidding ye to see to it yourself, and ye +wouldn't? And her pride is as great as yours. Never fear; it shall be +set right by me; for I like the boy for himself as well as for my +oath. Before the sun's set I'll go to Ely Place and tell my Lord Clare +something that'll astonish him.' + +'Tell him what, mamma?' asked Norah, who was dying to learn what had +taken place. + +'Never mind, child!' grunted madam, as she squeezed the impudent young +lady's peachen cheek. 'What d'ye think that stiff old bag-o'-bones +said just now? That I didn't love my girl; and that I'd do her wanton +harm.' + +'She lied!' retorted prompt Norah. + +'Faith, ye're right!' agreed her mother, with a smacking kiss. 'Order +round the shay, and come and help me to take off my toggery.' + +My lady sped rapidly away. The ordeal--short and sharp--more bitter +even than she dreamed--was over; the draught was swallowed--in vain. +Gillin's taunts had shrivelled her soul like branding-irons. It +behoved her to arrange her features before returning to the Abbey, +lest some one should detect the troubled aspect of the chatelaine and +make guesses at its cause, which might possibly come near the truth. +As courage failed and resolution waned, her secret struggled the +harder to come forth. With the self-consciousness of guilt she seemed +to feel it emblazoned on her forehead, where all who ran might read. + +Instead of returning by the grand drive which was but at the distance +of a stone's-throw, she followed the main road, skirted the wall that +bounded her rival's grounds, and re-entered Strogue from the back, by +the wooden postern which gave access to the rosary. + +The thrusts of the full-blown champion in red satin were few; but they +went home, and smarted still. My lady's ears tingled yet as she walked +between the tall beech hedges. We are conscious often of doing wrong, +but decline to look upon our fault, and coax ourselves to disbelieve +in its existence by persistently turning our attention to more +pleasing objects. But when another individual, whose human voice we +can't shut out, brays forth the story of the sin with trumpet +clearness, we seem to wake up as to a new appreciation of its +enormity, which comes like a fresh revelation of turpitude. Thus was +it with my lady in this instance. She was well aware that her +treatment of Terence, from the beginning, was below the level of just +solicitude; that latterly, though his position as a traitor awaiting +punishment had weighed her down, yet she had acquiesced, with a +weakness which was itself a fault, in the prejudged sentence, and had +been prepared to hear that the scrag-boy's work was done without +attempting personally to move in the matter. Conscience whispered once +or twice that by virtue of her rank she ought to force admittance to +the Castle. Nay! that she ought to have hurried long ago to London, +and have wrested her boy's life from the King's clemency; have dogged +his Majesty to Weymouth; have stormed him in retirement; and have even +tossed the sprats that he was frying into the flames if he took refuge +in his wonted obstinacy. In a hazy way she knew all this full well. +She knew, indistinctly, that the scrag-boy had become to her warped +soul a harbinger of peace; and afraid of seeing too much on the glass +which conscience held, had shut her eyes and breathed on it till the +Present should become Past, and thereby irretrievable. But Gillin's +words could not be shut out after so simple a fashion. She had hinted +a few moments since, with scathing irony, that even if she sacrificed +her own child in cold blood on the altar of Nemesis, her conduct would +be no worse than my lady's had been to her second son. And my lady's +conscience echoed the speech with loud applause. She looked now +straight into her own heart, and was appalled at what she saw there; +she hearkened to the upbraidings of the monitor, and admitted that his +reproaches were deserved--that even the travail of an embittered life +was not an atonement sufficient for its crime. + +It is an awful moment when a nature built on pride begins to +crumble. The crash follows swiftly on the warning. Extremes tumble +together; the loftier the edifice the more complete its collapse. +The upbraidings of the monitor--harsh, unrelenting, awfully +distinct--dinned in my lady's ears as she paced with muffled head +between the hedges of the rosary. Presently she heard a murmur. No! +That was not conscience. Those were human voices--the voices of her +sons--arguing in a high key. Great heavens! they were quarrelling. + +With a stealthy step, holding her mantle in close folds lest its +rustle should betray the presence of an eavesdropper, she stole along +under the lofty hedge. + +Shane was in his hunting-suit. He was surrounded by his hounds. They +sniffed about and rolled on the damp grass, making their toilet in dog +fashion, to clean their muddy backs. Eblana and Aileach sat on their +hams gazing at their master with wistful heads poised on one side. +Shane stood facing his mother, who marked that the muscles of his face +were twitching, while his limbs shook with passion. Terence had his +back to her--a tall, quiet figure, distinct against a faded sky which +was faint with the glare of a departed sun. His broad, square +shoulders stood out distinctly from a light background of misty hedge, +of blotted, translucent pink, and pale yellow, and blue-green, across +which streamed a troop of darkling phantoms--crows cawing off to +roost. + +Shane's hunting-whip sawed the air, as he passed it from one nervous +hand to the other. He was always so ready with his whip. It seemed as +much as he could do to withhold its sinuous thong from off his +brother. Terence was speaking. My lady held her breath to listen. + +'I speak to you as from the grave,' he said. 'My life is done. A week +or two at most, and my place will be vacant--my shadow will darken the +threshold of my ancestors no more. Take care, my brother! When you +look on my empty seat let the sad memory of me be precious on your +hearth, untarnished by regret. You are the head of the house. Do not +forget the responsibilities to which you are born. Look at the +tapestry in the drawing-room, and follow the example of your fathers. +Do your duty by them; be without fear and without reproach. Do not +earn for yourself among the family pictures an empty frame from which +posterity shall have wrenched the portrait.' + +'Peace! I will not bear your prosing!' hissed the young earl. 'You are +no better than a felon. You've wrecked yourself through your own +folly, and now would inflict your broken-backed morality on me. I told +you once you were no better than a "half-mounted." Ye're not so good. +As for your insolent advice, _that_ for it! I'll tell you this much, +to set your mind at rest. I've made it up with my Lord Cornwallis by +explaining that the mistake was due to you. I've pledged my own vote +to Government, and all the influence that I can bring to bear. Two of +the boroughs I hold will be disfranchised, in return for which I am to +have money down.' + +'Oh, remember!' broke in Terence. 'That it's blood-money, which +carries a curse with it. That it will come out of Irish coffers. By a +refinement of barbarity it is Erin who will have to pay the ruffians +who will slay her!' + +'Pooh!' retorted Shane, with a finger-snap. 'Whatever your worship's +views may be, I will vote _for union_--there! Not that it can signify +to yon one way or t'other, so soon as you have been carted off to +Scotland.' + +'Then after this,' returned Terence, with hot reproach, 'you should +quarter an auctioneer's hammer with the arms of old Sir Amorey; since, +like a superannuated chest of drawers, you are to be knocked down to +the lowest bidder!' + +My lady could endure the spectacle no longer of her two sons +threatening each other in the gloaming with swollen veins, face close +to face. With a ghostly sigh which startled the disputants she hurried +towards the house. The brothers searched but found no one, and +cast uneasy glances at each other. What was it? Could it be the +banshee--messenger of ill? + +Terence, regretting his sharp speech, strode with abrupt strides away, +lest he might be provoked to still more regretable discourse, +across the little flower-plot, past the sun-dial, through the hall, +to his own chamber, wherein he locked himself, among the guns and +fishing-rods; while Shane, who was athirst, followed more slowly, like +a shepherd with his flock, and turned into the dining-room in search +of drink. + +Now Miss Wolfe, whose bedroom, it will be remembered, overlooked the +flower-plot, and was opposite to the dining-room, was sitting at her +window awaiting Terence's return with tidings of a successful +ambassage. Of course Shane would be persuaded to see the error of his +ways, and agree not to vote with Government. She was no little +surprised to behold my lady, usually so majestic, hurry in a scared +manner through the golden grille; then Terence; then Shane with all +his hounds about him. Something was afoot; what could have happened? +All three seemed strangely troubled. No! It was but a coincidence +exaggerated by the distorted fancy of a convalescent into something +serious. She was about to close the curtains when she was further +astonished by seeing my lady rush into the dining-room with frantic +gestures and fall prostrate on the ground before her son. She saw Lord +Glandore turn round and try to raise his mother, but she only wrung +her hands and wept, while her lips moved quickly. Two lighted candles +were on the table; the winter evening was shadowing in with a blue +glamour; the small flower-plot was packed with hounds that sniffed +about with uneasy muzzles, for Shane had slammed-to the golden grille +after him and forgotten them. + +What were they talking about down there?--only some burning question +could engross them thus. It was more than the curiosity of a daughter +of Eve might resist. Snatching up a cloak Doreen stole downstairs, out +into the garden, hushing the dogs in a whisper that their noisy +greetings might not betray her presence. + +My lady's subdued words came dimly to her through the glass. She +cowered close to the window, nursing Eblana's head in her lap with +furtive pats, for that pampered beast was importunate in his +demonstrative caresses, and whined a protest against neglect. What my +lady said sent a sharp thrill through Miss Wolfe. Forgetting all +caution in astonishment, she rose and pressed her scared face against +the pane, but mother and son were too fully occupied to heed any but +themselves, as my lady poured forth at last the pent-up gall which had +poisoned a life of promise, and her helpless first-born sat in a +stupor, thunderstruck. + +'Do not curse your old mother!' my lady implored, with a humility +which jarred upon his nerves. 'Have pity on her that she should have +to tell her shame. I would gladly have gone to the tomb as your father +did, carrying my secret--I would have hugged it close for your sake. +But the hand of God is heavy on me--it will out! You must know the +truth--alas, alas!--even if you curse me! It was not my fault--indeed +it was not--it was all your father's; and he went to his rest, whilst +I remained to bear the penalty. He carried me off; you know that much. +He was a member of the abduction-club. Placing me in a coach with a +scarf about my mouth, he threatened me with a pistol if I should let +down the glass and scream. Then I was borne away to Ennishowen, to the +islet of Glas-aitch-e. Oh, Shane! I endured the pang of living there +again for your sake--do not judge me harshly! We dwelt there a year, +then returned to Dublin to assume our position in society. We were +married in the blue bedroom by the parson of Letterkenny; but, Shane, +it was not my fault! Your father was fierce as you are--you are his +image, but more unstable. I was as an infant under his iron will; how +could I resist him? The parson of Letterkenny married us--_the night +before we came back to Dublin_.' + +My lady buried her face in her thin hands and sobbed, while Shane +looked on. He could not comprehend. + +Finding that her son said no kind word to ease the bitter task, his +mother went on in a hoarse voice--even and unbroken now by sobs--with +eyes fixed doggedly upon the ground. + +'I implored him--oh! how I implored him--again and again, I did +indeed--to send for the parson before your birth. He was reckless. At +length he seemed touched by my distress, and sent. The parson was laid +up with gout, but promised to be with us on the morrow. Then--it was +too late--and my lord put it off again, saying that it didn't matter, +and that nobody would know. I hoped that he was right, and was +comforted. When, six years later, Terence was born, the case was +altered. We both saw it--alas! too late; he felt it as much as I. But +after all, you were the first-born--a ceremony delayed could not alter +that. It was not fair that you should suffer for what was but an act +of negligence. We discussed the matter anxiously, and my lord decided +to bury the secret. No one would suspect, or think to examine the date +of the register, if we agreed to hold our peace. We never spoke of +it--never--but we saw it in each other's eyes; and from that moment I +lost his love--he was always looking with regret on Terence in a way +which maddened me, while I clung to you. You were the child of sorrow. +I suffered much for you on that accursed island; and then that--that +woman cast her meshes over him. My lord changed his mind before he +died--desired me to noise the tale abroad to all the world. I could +not--my pride revolted--and my love for you. None knew the secret +except one--that harlot!--my lord was faithless in that as in all +other things!' + +My lady's voice died away, as a host of grim recollections crowded on +her memory. Presently she looked up in alarm, for Shane had made no +comment. The cicatrice upon his brow stood out. She put forth her +hands; he seized her by the wrists and flung her down. Without +resistance she sank moaning backwards on the floor. Turning on his +seat, he poured out a tumblerful of wine and drank it off; then--the +whole truth breaking at last upon his slow intellect--he tore his +hair, growling, and smote himself upon the head, and staggered round +the room with reeling steps. Doreen did not try to hide herself, she +was transfixed with wonder; yet though she showed like a vision in +hoar-frost, impressed upon the casement, he saw her not. He was only +aware that there was another Lord Glandore--who would return his +contumely with interest--that his own portion was beggary and a +bend-sinister. No wonder if the phantom of this new prospect churned +and curdled his besotted brain. + +'He'll hate me and take my property and title!' he muttered through +his teeth again and again, in querulous cadence. 'What's to become of +_me_--what's to become of _me?_ I might as well be shot as beggared.' + +My lady rose from the floor, haggard and gaunt, and passed her long +fingers through her hair. The selfish cruelty of him for whose sake +she had gone through the torture was better for her than kindness +would have been. A little sympathy and she would have become +hysterical. Like a sharp fillip, it strung her nerves. That from which +she had shrunk so long was here in all its accumulated fulness. Well! +it was part of a penance; so much was past that the remainder could +matter little. + +'Not so,' she said mournfully; and Shane, clinging to a reed, returned +to his seat and drew her towards him. + +'The secret may rest where it is,' she continued, placing a loving +hand upon his head. 'No one living knows of it save you and I and--and +that woman. If she meant to speak, she would have spoken long since. +It may come out some day, and Terence will claim what the law will +call his own, and possibly revenge himself on you for having kept him +unwittingly from its enjoyment. But you shall not be brought to +beggary. Alas! my deary, you are unfitted to battle with the world. +Two things must be done--and done at once--betide afterwards what may. +You must marry Doreen. She is an heiress, and the only one available. +Your own mode of life has kept others from your path, though you might +have chosen among hundreds. Her father would be glad, I know, and she +is too much broken by recent afflictions to offer resistance when +strong pressure is brought to bear on her.' + +'Government has offered me forty-five thousand pounds for my vote and +influence in the coming contest,' Lord Glandore observed presently, +with a sinister smile. 'It is imminent. If Croppy can only be kept in +the dark till then!' + +My lady bent down and kissed him, while lines of anxious thought +gathered round her mouth. She was in the slough--up to the neck--out +of which it was impossible to struggle. Under happier auspices she +would have recoiled from the suggestion of cold-blooded barter. But +helpless Shane's position must be assured by hook or crook while there +was yet time. It struck his mother that Gillin--when she should +discover that her outrageous designs for Norah were foiled--might blab +the secret as a last shaft of vengeance. She determined that for the +present, at least, the odious creature must be humoured for prudence' +sake. It was with a dreary sort of satisfaction that she found her +turbulent favourite was become suddenly so malleable. What signified +the unsullied shields of departed Crosbies? Unblemished honour will +not renew exhausted tissues. It is well for those to prate who have +never been tempted. Shane, like the rest, must sell his mess of +pottage at the best market--_his_ so long as it was not claimed. Then +the idea flashed upon my lady as she meditated, 'Terence is marked out +for an arch-traitor. He was not convicted--yet is he sentenced. If his +claims were to be admitted now, his property (as that of one +attainted) would be forfeit to the state! Better far that Shane should +keep it.' Scruples were manifestly absurd. A brilliant suggestion of +the devil this--which went far to reconcile my lady to existing +circumstances. + +There was silence between mother and son. The thoughts of both were +best left unspoken. Both were absorbed in their own dreams. Eblana's +cold muzzle awoke Doreen from her reverie. She glided up the steps +into the hall, crept with caution past the door of the dining-room, +made for the young men's wing, where, in his own nest, Terence was +brooding in despondency over his blank future. + +He had nothing wherewith to reproach himself. Nothing! Of that he was +quite certain. It had been his duty to lay the question of union +clearly before his brother, who, as head of the house, must adjudicate +thereon upon his own judgment. The responsibility lay with him. +Whichever way he chose to act, no dishonour could accrue to the +younger from his decision, so long as he, Terence, had first +registered his private protest. Shane had been most insulting--had +stooped even to mock at his brother's deplorable condition. But that +was of no moment. When we stand upon life's brink we can afford to +contemn the foolish lapping of the waves. It mattered not a rush what +Shane might say or think. Yet that scene in the rosary was not one of +the rainbow-hued visions which were to fresco into warmth the cold +walls of his prison-cell at Fort George. Knowing his brother's temper, +it would have been more wise not to kick against the pricks. Perhaps, +situated as Terence was, he would have done better not to speak at +all--but it is difficult in the prime of life and manhood to accept at +once your position as a corpse. + +The handle of his door was turned and shaken. It was an agitated hand +that shook it--a woman's hand--for his hearing, sharpened by +excitement, detected the sough of silk, the unsteady grope of fingers +fumbling above a handle's usual place. His heart beat fast. Was the +yearning of his soul to be gratified? Was it his mother, who, so cold +and forbidding hitherto, had selected the long wintry interval +previous to the last meal of the day to come and whisper with kisses +of how she loved and pitied him? + +He turned the key. To his surprise Doreen, who entered swiftly, +double-locked the door, and, tossing away her mantle, stood before him +with a smile upon her lips, which he had supposed was gone for ever. +Her bosom heaved as she held out her two brown hands to him. + +'Terence, it's _you_ who are Lord Glandore!' she panted. 'Shane +repulsed you when you spoke to him. I know it! He is ready to accept +their blood-money; he is scheming basely for it at this moment; but he +shall be exposed in time. It is your duty to turn the bastard out!' + +Terence deemed that his star had left its course; for she stood, like +a distracted dark Ophelia, on the verge of laughter and of tears; +dashing the drops from her cheek with one hand, while the other crept +shyly into her cousin's and remained there. + +She told him quickly all she had heard and seen--all that was made +plain by the light of what she heard and saw. She told him, with +disdainful lip, of how her cousin had repulsed the whitehaired +suppliant; how he had whined, complaining; how his mother, fortified +by that engrossing love--transfigured, ennobled by it despite her +sin--had risen from her knees like a queen to comfort him. + +Terence listened--one leg crossed over the other to support his elbow, +while his chin rested on his hand--and instead of joining in her +exultant joy, he only grew more gloomy. What was this will-o'-the-wisp +that railed in such foolish fashion? At _him_ whose heart was dead, +whose career was done, upon whom the gate of a lifelong prison was +about to close, who was too weary to be very sorry for his own +undoing? Silly will-o'-the-wisp, who, clad in siren-guise, thought +thus to lure him back to love of life! He listened to Doreen's +narrative in moody thought, plucking no consolation thence. It was a +poignant subject of regret that her usually incisive common-sense +should be bewitched by this vulgar tempter. After all, a woman's +judgment may never be relied on. It must be his office, then, to +rebuke her folly, and show where his true duty lay. + +A great love, indeed--a sublime love! A love which is a crown of +glory, but which was in this instance a wreath doomed to be wasted on +the sterile rock. Shane cared for no one but himself. Was inclined +even to spurn this love--nay, had dared brutally to repulse it, +because it could not accomplish impossibilities. Not a drop from the +precious phial had ever leaked out for Terence--not a single drop. And +he would have prized it so! Yet was his duty carved plainly out; and +with the gaze of one who belongs to another world, he saw it--through +foliage and matted briars--with clear vision. + +'It appears that I might perhaps save our name,' he said slowly, while +he nursed his knee, 'from being mixed up with those of the recreants. +What is the price? Reflect, dear Doreen! If we were not beyond the +influence of mundane hopes and longings, would you advise me to act +thus? Would you----' + +'Can there be any doubt?' cried impetuous Doreen, with flashing eyes. +'Did we not agree this very afternoon that Shane must be worked on not +to disgrace his lineage. Now it is in your hands. Surely you could +not----' + +'Hush, hush, my dearest!' Terence responded gently. 'Remember that we +are to lay up no store of evil memories! At Fort George I am to think +of you as the star that has guided my thoughts upward. Reflect calmly +now! In order that Shane--poor misguided fellow!--may not drag us into +the ranks of the Iscariots, I should have to make good my rights +before the world. To accomplish that, I should have to brand with +obloquy my mother's fair fame, which in the world's eyes is spotless. +Should I thus keep untarnished the honour of the Crosbies? No! The +question of Ireland's fate is in God's keeping, not in ours. His +decrees seem hard to our purblind vision, yet must we bow to them. +Forget what you discovered. Let this be as though it had never been.' + +The girl's colour went and came; she looked earnestly at her cousin, +as with prosaic action he nursed his knee. + +'You are right,' she murmured at length. 'Do you know, my love, that I +dared to despise you once? I said you could never be a hero!' + +'Hero!' Terence echoed, with a laugh. 'I have looked into the other +world too closely to care now for this. We have passed through the +fire, Doreen, have we not? and bear its traces on our flesh. God grant +that it has purged away the worser part from both of us!' + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + PREPARATIONS FOR THE SACRIFICE. + + +Madam Gillin called many times at Ely Place in her anxiety to astonish +the chancellor, but failed to find him--for the best of all reasons, +that he was not there. Again and again she rapped with the big brass +knocker--always to receive the same answer, 'His lordship is in +England.' Time was moving on; reports arrived in succession that the +works at Fort George were progressing; that they were well-nigh +finished; that they were complete. The unhappy exiles would be drafted +off directly, and Madam Gillin was determined to astonish Lord Clare +before that moment came. What on earth could he be doing in England? +He was an Irishman, if a bad one, and ought to stop at home. She was +on the point of packing up a valise to pursue him across the Channel, +when Jug brought the tidings that my Lord Clare's coach was on its way +to Kingstown, and that therefore its master must be expected back. + +The chancellor frowned ominously when he beheld his eccentric +acquaintance ensconced in his favourite chair. The butler apologised. +The lady would take no denial, he explained. She had nearly worn out +the knocker. He could not turn out one of the sex by neck and +shoulders. Maybe it was really something of weight that made her so +persistent. But my Lord Clare was quite another man from when he went +to London, and was in no mood to brook liberties. He had seen Mr. Pitt +there; had, much to the amusement of that gentleman, reviled my Lord +Cornwallis, his policy, and his blunt manner; had explained away the +fiasco at the first voting for union, and had been graciously +received. Mr. Pitt had smiled on him while Mr. Fox sneered; had hinted +that if he and Lord Castlereagh did their work cleverly there would be +no end to the honours which his Majesty would heap on them. They must +not be discouraged, but slave away--hammer and tongs--till the object +was achieved. After all, it was at this juncture merely a matter of a +little tact. As an earnest of future favour, my Lord Clare was created +Baron Fitzgibbon in the Peerage of England, and returned home an inch +taller and three times as overbearing as he had shown himself before. + +Once the union arranged, Lord Cornwallis would depart; Lord Clare +would resume his lofty position in Irish politics, and from his new +place in the English House of Lords would coerce British politicians +on special subjects, as he had browbeaten a succession of British +viceroys. But before this delicious dream could be realised there was +much to be done, which required careful manipulation. Lord Castlereagh +had kept him _au courant_ during his absence of what passed in Dublin. +He was aware that, fired by indignation at the breaking of the compact +and the condemnation of his brother, untried, to penal servitude, +young Robert had left London abruptly and gone home. The young +cockatrice, as he elected to call him, meant mischief--would +certainly give trouble--and at an inconvenient moment. He must be +watched--bagged--gagged--swept away like a tiresome fly. It would +not do to have insurrections now. He was aware that the Irish +parliament--servile hitherto--was playing pranks and kicking up its +heels, raising the price of its suicide, to the annoyance of Lord +Castlereagh and the rage of Lord Cornwallis. He had seen a letter from +the Viceroy to the Duke of Portland, wherein the former pleaded once +more for the emancipation of the Catholics, declaring that if they +were kept out in the cold, the important measure which was to be a new +bulwark to England would have a foundation of sand; vowing that he was +sick of dirty water; that if there was no prospect of getting out of +the country he would offer earnest prayers to Heaven for immediate +death. Mr. Pitt, when he showed this letter to Lord Clare, spoke +openly without mincing matters. The King was obdurate about the +Catholics. Lord Clare knew that. They must be cajoled, however; led on +by specious promises and then betrayed; treated in fact after the +ingenious fashion in which Lord Clare had shown himself so consummate +a master in the matter of the compact with the state prisoners. The +Irish Chancellor, primed by Lord Castlereagh, explained the +difficulties of the situation with crystal clearness to Mr. Pitt. It +was now merely a matter of L s. d. How much or how little didn't +signify, since the blood-money was to be supplied by the victim +herself. The Lords and Commons having made the plunge, were +totally divested of all shame. They made use of a small party of +anti-unionists as a lever to dig out more gold; swearing that they +would all go over to that party unless their demands were complied +with in all their greed. Thus was it with the upper class. The lower +class was apathetic and hopeless--all except a few United Irishmen, +who were making a new attempt to attain their ends by stirring up +discord and division. The anti-unionists were leaving no stone +unturned to inflame the spirit of the people. But the spirit was gone +out of them. There would be a tussle for it, no doubt. It would be +well for decorum's sake to postpone the conclusion of the business for +a few months, for it would look bad for the senators who were to be +freshly bought to seem to change their opinions too suddenly. Europe +would laugh if men who declared in April that union meant destruction +were in May to turn round and vote in favour of it. Finally Mr. Pitt +sent his tool home again, bidding him be discreet and diligent, and +laughed in his sleeve so soon as his back was turned. + +Lord Clare was puffed out with self-importance when he strutted into +his house and found Madam Gillin ensconced there as though she were +its mistress. Taking no heed of his frowns, she wagged her feathers +with satisfaction, and straightway unfolded her budget. He was as much +astonished as she could possibly desire. Shane then was illegitimate, +and Terence the true Lord Glandore! This was the clue to much which +had seemed inexplicable in my lady. Poor old friend! how she must have +suffered--and she innocent, except in aiding and abetting her husband +when it was too late to do anything else. It was evident that, born of +the same parents, it was a cruel law which would treat one brother +(and the elder one too) as a pariah for lack of a few sentences droned +through the nose. It was natural that a mother should feel this +strongly, and in a wrong-headed feminine way make difficulties greater +in her efforts to gloze them over. But the old lord was right when he +spoke the warning. His sons were only boys; they might have stepped +into their legal places then without much harm resulting. But now +after the long lapse of years, the situation wore another aspect. +Shane had grown to manhood--to the prime of life--under the impression +that he was true master of wealth and broad acres. His life had taken +its permanent shape. It would be a smashing blow to him were his +brother to come forward and claim his own. The position of Terence too +was a singularly unhappy one. He had been bitterly wronged. Of that +there could be no doubt, and his mother must have walked on red-hot +ploughshares when she beheld him going straight to ruin. If he had +been acknowledged as 'my lord' he would have done, of course, as the +majority of lords did--would never have thought of joining the popular +party, would not now be preparing to leave his country--a +brokenhearted exile. For even the most virtuous in the Upper House +were content at this juncture to remain neutral. Poor, poor old +friend! What anguish must have been hers when she contemplated all +this, as she must have done daily, without having strength to say the +words she should have said! Actually she had been doomed to watch her +own son drifting into the dark waters, and with her own hands to cut +the rope which might have saved him. No wonder if her hair was +white--her face of ashen pallor. No wonder if she was haunted by a +ghost who never left her side. Mrs. Gillin's story actually took away +the breath of the chancellor as his mind wandered through the fields +of the past, putting this and that together, fitting pieces of a +puzzle into their places which hitherto had defied his skill. + +In the first place he was moved with pity for the Countess of +Glandore. Sure, her sufferings--dragged out and intensified instead of +being healed by Time--would have turned long ago a less steady brain +than hers. Poor lady! at this very moment her trials were at their +acme. The son who had been so much wronged was about to depart on his +sad journey. Would she have the courage to let him go without speaking +the truth? And if she spoke the truth, what line would he take? It was +a pity he had not been hanged in the ordinary course of events. He +would then have gone to his grave in ignorance of the wrong done to +him. The knot would have been severed. For, failing Terence, the title +would be extinct; and, bastard or not, my lady's conscience would have +been at rest with regard to Shane's inheriting. As he turned over the +tangled mass he could not decide for which of the three he ought to be +most sorry. Their cruel case touched the good portion of his heart--in +which there was room for compassion for these three persons, whom he +had known intimately for years; two of whom had grown up before his +eyes. Shane's case was a most dreadful one. But not more cruel than +Terence's. All things considered, it would be best that Terence should +never learn the truth, or Shane either. Things had gone so far that +nothing but evil could come of their positions being reversed. + +This was the verdict of the chancellor, and a worldly-wise one too. +For he knew not that my lady's overburthened soul had already vomited +forth the truth; that she had confessed to Shane, now, several weeks +ago. This was his verdict, and Mrs. Gillin was reluctantly compelled +to admit that he was right. But he, on the other hand, fully agreed +with her that something must be done forthwith for Terence. The +Viceroy must be spoken to, the King even must be interviewed--a pardon +gained for the doomed exile without telling him the cause of it. By +being deprived of a fortune which was legally his, he had been +fearfully wronged. For the sake of others it would be well that he +should never know how much. All things considered, his was a case for +clemency. His Majesty, who was jealous of the ermine, and loved not to +see it dragged through the mud, would appreciate at once the +peculiarities with which the case was invested. But to hoodwink +suspicion he must be advised to avoid too abrupt a pardon, such as +should set the tongues of busybodies clacking. Terence must in a +careless way be left behind when the vessel sailed, which was now +lying ready in the Liffey. He must be made to promise to conspire no +more, and then be given to understand quietly that his misdeeds would +be graciously forgotten. + +Gillin went away content, and with a light heart. She had fulfilled +her promise of protecting the son of her old lover. Shane, it was +decided, was still to be Lord Glandore. Norah's mamma might now, with +an easy conscience, set about the clinching of that match which she +considered would be beneficial to her child. My lady's reluctant +consent could be wrung from her by fear of her secret becoming known. +She might even be told in plain words that her own evil imagination +had conjured up baseless phantoms--that Norah was born two months +before her mother made the acquaintance of the late lord, and that she +had been brought up a Protestant by his desire simply for the sake of +evading certain clauses in the Penal Code, which might jeopardise his +legacy to a Catholic. + +Madam Gillin had seen through my lady's terrors upon this point all +along, and had played on them to revenge herself for the stern +chatelaine's contemptuous airs. For the same cause she had first +imagined a match between the two young people, which their own +inclinations seemed inclined to ratify. It would be rare sport to +bring the haughty woman to the dust, and compel her to accept Norah as +a daughter! It would be, too, a spectacle of ineffable delight to see +Norah make her appearance at a drawing-room by the _entree_ by virtue +of her rank as countess! The fascinating idea took possession of the +worthy woman; yet shrank she not from that to which she considered +herself bound by oath. She would have kicked over with her own fat +foot, if need were, the palace she had built, and have thought no more +of Norah as mistress of Strogue Abbey and the possible intimate friend +of a lady-lieutenant; but she was none the less charmed to find that +duty and delight were not incompatible, that Lord Clare was decided in +his opinion that Shane must still wear the coronet. + +Lord Clare considered and reconsidered the strange embroglio whilst +refreshing his inner man with chicken-pasty for a long business talk +with Castlereagh. There were several reasons why Shane must not be +ousted now. What with pugnacious waifs and strays from the broken +ranks of the United Irishmen; what with the honesty of a small band of +senators, and the rapacity of the remainder, there would be a very +pretty fight ere this union could be jotted down in history. To make +success certain consummate tact would be required, as well as a full +purse. Every vote would be of enormous worth; Castlereagh in his +latest bulletin had computed the votes of ordinary M.P.'s at L5000 a +head. The title of Glandore carried with it parliamentary pressure +of many kinds; direct or indirect influence over constituencies, as +well as weight in the Upper House. If all this influence were +transferred from Shane to Terence, it would be used on the wrong side. +He would certainly join Lords Downshire and Powerscourt and other +troublesome persons, who dared to flout the King; would sneer at +English marquisates and be faithful to the errors which beset an +heir-presumptive. It behoved the chancellor to be cunning on this as +on other points. There was no telling what might happen next, in so +singularly involved a complication as this of the Glandore family. Two +points only were quite apparent. Terence, the real earl, must not go +into captivity. Shane, the sham earl, must be retained in his +position, at least until he had borne his share in securing the +success of the Great Measure. + +When Castlereagh arrived presently at Ely Place, he disturbed his +colleague's complacency by hints of difficulty independent of money or +of votes. Not only was the scatter-brained school-lad Robert Emmett +back in Ireland (this was no news); but he was showing that he was a +cockatrice indeed. All his acts were watched, his intentions known; +but he was doing considerable damage already to the cause of +Government, and bade fair to make himself still more objectionable. He +was actually starting the foolish old plots again which had only been +allowed to run their course at all for state reasons, and which were +now altogether preposterous and out of date. He prated of tying +together the ravelled strands of the confederacy. Major Sirr had +intelligence of midnight meetings of the good old kind, with passwords +which everybody knew. Had even seen a wonderful green uniform, with a +cocked hat like a merry-andrew's at a fair, which was being +manufactured for the younger Emmett. + +'The boy is an honest boy,' Lord Castlereagh averred. 'He is simply +running his head against a wall. It would be well to save him from the +effects of his own lunacy, if possible; a strait waistcoat would fit +him better than his fancy dress.' + +This was annoying news, but it was not all. The state of the country +was unsafe, and Lord Cornwallis was of opinion that, unless the +measure could speedily be finished off, difficulties might arise which +it was the interest of all parties to avoid. Time was when the lash +and halter were salutary instruments; but now it was essential that +they should be used no more. Agrarian outrages were becoming ominously +frequent. Not only property was in danger, but life too. Not merely +the life of the low scum, which of course didn't matter, but the +precious lives of lords and ladies. Some lords, indeed, the +remembrance of whose performances on the triangle made them specially +unpopular, had been obliged to surround their mansions with foreign +troops, and were delighted to escape from the homes of their +forefathers to the safer atmosphere of Dame Street and the Castle. Was +not that awkward? Even that was not all! Here was something worse. At +the time when the English militia regiments were drafted into Ireland +for the protection of the proprietors, it was agreed that their +enforced stay should not exceed a certain period, with option of +eventually returning home or lingering on as might be deemed +convenient. The specified time was up now. In a wild chorus--as eager +as the Viceroy's private solo--they all declared that they would not +remain on Irish soil a moment longer than they could help. Even the +strong influence of Lord Cornwallis, who kept his solo for his private +bedchamber when his nightcap was on, could only obtain a month or +two's delay. Things were shaky. Another Hurry might be brought about +unless those in office were careful and it would be monstrous +inconvenient if such a contingency were to take place. + +This, according to Lord Castlereagh's account, was in the future. Let +us look at the present, which was sad enough. + +The melancholy convoy started for Fort George. Women, children, and +strong men crowded to the quay, and wept as the martyrs were wafted to +their prison. Young Robert Emmett was seen to wave his hand from a +window towards Tom, who stood at the ship's bows to take his last look +at Erin. So soon as the vessel was out of sight, the young man kneeled +down by the open casement with both arms aloft, and swore an oath +there to repel the Sassenagh yet, or perish in the attempt. Many of +those who were wearily plodding homeward recognised his figure and his +action, and, kneeling too, registered their vows in concert. All the +first leaders of the United Irishmen who were not dead were on board +that transport; and Robert, left alone, set to work with a will (as +Castlereagh graphically put it) to batter his head against a wall. He +engaged mysterious premises, decayed warehouses in back slums, from +out of which came by-and-by the hum of many voices, the clang of many +anvils. The Battalion of Testimony peeped through the keyholes, and +were mightily amused. This infantile echo of the preparations of '96 +and '97 was diverting--a right jovial jest--a jolly jape! They related +to Major Sirr and his crony, Cassidy, all they had seen and heard, and +those worthies roared too, till tears of exhausted merriment ran down +their cheeks. + +The young enthusiast's guileless arrangements for driving the +Englishry into the sea were ridiculous, no doubt. He kept the details +of them to himself, never telling those who loved him of them. As they +were not in the habit of looking through keyholes, they knew not that +he was working in earnest; that he had determined in his own mind, +should the union pass, to make the first shaking out of the united +flag upon the Castle his signal for attack; when a handful of +scatter-brains, as unpractical as himself, should storm the Castle, +kill the Viceroy, proclaim Ireland free, and the Act of Union a +valueless piece of dirty parchment. Jack Cade's rabblement was no whit +more laughable an assemblage than the army which Robert proposed to +lead to victory. The authorities consulted as to what should be done +with him, and decided that it would be safer to allow him to stir up a +little dust in the metropolis than to drive him into the provinces, +where he really might give serious trouble. It would be better to let +the affair come to a head at once, while the English militia and my +Lord Cornwallis were still at hand. It was fortunate for Government +that Robert kept his secret so well; for if his friends had been aware +of his guileless plots, they would have applied at once to the +Viceroy, who would have had no alternative but to lock up the +firebrand and allow the coals to smoulder. Not even to Sara did he +speak openly; though he certainly did let out vague hints which +frightened the damsel not a little; not even to Terence did he speak +at all--to Terence, who remained quietly in seclusion at the Abbey for +months after the vessel sailed, wondering if he was forgotten, or +whether he was set apart to head a second convoy. + +As for Doreen, so soon as her amazement had abated (which resulted +from the eavesdropping), it gave place to a feeling of uneasiness. Her +aunt had spoken of the disposal of her hand as a matter of +convenience, for the benefit of Shane; and she now deciphered all the +riddle which had seemed so crabbed and contradictory. With +apprehension she awaited a change in the young lord's demeanour, +expected him to play the lover, and be miserable, as orthodox suitors +are. He was undoubtedly most miserable, but he made no attempt to play +the lover. Although she knew it not, her own manner was the maiden's +safeguard. Cousin Shane, who had always been repelled by her cold +ways, felt that he might as well try to make love to a dead body as to +this full-blooded girl, who, like Terence, announced that her life was +done. Have we not read somewhere of a certain prince who espoused an +ice-maiden for the sake of her dowry? She clasped him in her arms, and +froze him slowly. Just such a bride would Miss Wolfe be to Shane. And +yet he saw that his mother was right. If Terence were somehow to learn +the secret, and to claim his own, what would become of his +illegitimate brother? His mother was right, as she always was. Lord +Kilwarden's nest-egg would keep the wolf from the door. What a pity it +could not be his without the burthen of the accompanying ice-maiden! +As he looked round he decided reluctantly that there was no other rock +to make for; that he must force his inclinations, give up Norah, +possess himself of Doreen; but the sight of her dreary face and +listless demeanour was always enough to put to rout his most firm +resolve--the while he cursed himself for his repulsion. My lady's +ghost was his companion now as well as hers. It communed with him in +the night; it whispered to him by day. The countess perceived the +leaven of fear working within him, and her burthen became, if +possible, more heavy on her back. Irresistible impulse had impelled +her to confess. An indistinct dread of open rupture between the +brothers had forced her to give Shane a reason for more considerate +behaviour towards Terence. But the shot, she found, had entirely +missed its mark. Shane was not a good man; he was gross, brutal, and +endowed with none of the attributes of the serpent. He was not like +Cassidy, for instance. If he hated a person, all the world might know +it. By virtue of his bringing-up as Chief of Blasters and King of +Cherokees, he was terribly handy with rapier and pistol; could send +his closest friend to Hades without compunction; but then it must be +done according to the rules set down by the Knights of Tara, and in +open battle, with paces marked out and seconds looking on. Like many +selfish men, he could be good-natured so long as affability was cheap. +But how grievously had my lady been mistaken in supposing that fear +would induce civility to Terence, in proportion to the wrong that he +was doing him. On the contrary, by the light of my lady's confession, +he saw Terence from such an aspect, that his hitherto colourless +dislike was turned, at once to fiercest hate. Terence was his +junior--one, too, who had brought himself, by his own acts, to +shipwreck, and had done much besides to spoil his elder's prospects. +And this fellow--six years younger than himself--was to take the bread +out of his mouth, because, forsooth, their father and mother had +postponed the mouthing of a few words! + +From Shane's point of view it was monstrously unjust. By right of +father and of mother he was Lord Glandore. He could not--would +not--be commonly civil to this fellow, who might, some of these days, +eject him from all that made life pleasant. Vainly his unhappy mother +argued. The case, he persisted, stood thus, and no otherwise. She +could not alter what was done, if she talked till Doomsday. Vainly she +vowed that the secret lay between him and her and Mrs. Gillin. He must +not be rude to Mrs. Gillin, or jilt her daughter, all at once. That +amourette must be allowed to dwindle by slow degrees, till it should +fade out from sheer lack of sustenance. Meanwhile he must make up to +Doreen and be civil to Terence, trusting that events would shape +themselves rightly after all. If the worst came to the worst, his +mother would speak solemnly to Terence, reminding him of the oath he +made by his father's death-bed that he would be loyal to the +elder-born, and adjure him not to stain his soul by perjury. At +mention of that circumstance Shane pished and pshawed, for at best it +was an oath wrung wrongfully from a little lad; and he felt with +dismay that if she was inclined to cling to such broken reeds as that, +her hopes could not be so rosy as she pretended. Sometimes, in +despair, he determined to throw up the game; to seek better fortune in +some foreign service; to offer his sword and courage to Austria or +Prussia; then, in reckless mood, he would veer round, swearing that he +would hold by his coronet till it was torn out of his grasp; that the +grave would be preferable to disgrace and beggary. This mood assumed +after a while the upper hand; and under its influence he did things +which capped his earlier fame as King of Cherokees, and bade fair to +land him in a madhouse. + +He gave way more and more to drink. His conduct became daily less +trammelled by accepted rules. He took up a passion for hunting in the +night. To his dogs, who followed their noses, it was all one whether +they tracked their prey by rays of sun or moon. To carry out my Lord +Glandore's conceit, however, it was necessary to provide flambeaux. A +number of servants, well mounted, led the way with torches over drain +and wall, and the shuddering cottiers, startled from sleep by a +nocturnal 'Tallyho!' turned round again to resume their broken rest, +muttering that it was not hell let loose, only mad Glandore. + +Perhaps his uncertain future urged him to break his neck like a +gentleman; perhaps he only sought in oddity a refuge from his muddled +thoughts. At any rate, he soon became the talk of Dublin, and his +mother grew daily more haggard and more wan. + +Among the men whom Shane met every day in the capital was Mr. Cassidy, +who, by dint of haymaking during the brief time when the sun shone, +had materially improved his position in life. Hand and glove with +Major Sirr, who watched young Robert like a lynx, and whose private +duties on behalf of union were no less important than they had been in +preceding years, he managed to stuff his nest with comfortable +wadding, manufactured chiefly from bank-notes. He took care that +Government should know that but for him Tone would have escaped, and +Terence possibly, and many others. He cultivated the powerful, bullied +the timid, flattered the vain, duped the credulous, amused the +convivial. He received a handsome pension (as depository of awkward +secrets), which raised him for ever above the rank of a half-mounted +to that of a gentleman to the backbone; received splendid presents +from suspected persons who quaked before a vision of Fort George; laid +money by; was altogether a prosperous individual, with a band of spies +under his own orders--the flower and pride of the Staghouse garden. +And prosperity sat well upon his jolly features. Impunity gave him +_aplomb_. His clothes were handsome, his entertainments festive. He +could sing a song or crack a bottle against any man alive. He was not +puffed up by success. It was but natural that he should be elected by +acclamation a Cherokee; a Blaster; that he should be welcomed among +the set of drunken, swearing, fighting daredevils by Shane, their +leader, who had always been his patron. The influence of so merry a +blade was sure to become great amongst the rackety M.P.'s, who would +shortly be called upon to vote. Promises of great things to come were +freely made by the chancellor and his colleague Castlereagh, if those +who inclined to backsliding were well kept to the sticking-point. + +Now a very brilliant idea burst at the right moment from the brain of +Mr. Cassidy--an idea which showed that he understood the foibles of +his countrymen, and well knew how best to play on them. Watchful +Europe decided some time before that the Irish senate was hopelessly +disgraced, and branded its members with a verdict of moral cowardice. +They could not with truth deny the soft impeachment, yet they +attempted to justify themselves by showing that physically at least +they were no cowards. Shane was but one example out of many. 'Fighting +Fitzgerald' was even more wild than he. The palm of perfect +Cherokeeism was awarded to Lord Glandore in some measure from +consideration of his rank. The Lords and Commons made up for the moral +cowardice, of which they were notoriously guilty, by an extra amount +of blustering and ruffling. They were aristocratic bravoes. Their +hands were always on their swords. What better opportunity for a +little 'play' than diversity of political opinion? Mr. Cassidy +(newly elected to Daly's, hard by the senate-house) proposed +that covers should be laid there every day, at Government expense, +for--say--thirty or forty guests at least, who could thus be counted +upon, on an emergency, to swell the ranks of the Government party in +either House; and who, inflamed with wine and enthusiasm, would be +delighted to shoot down, or spit, on shortest notice, any unwise +person who should disagree from the opinions of their amphitryon. +This project was thought ingenious, and was acted on. The feasts +were known as 'pistol-dinners,' and took place--either at Daly's +or in a committee-room adjoining, until their _raison d'etre_ had +ceased--under the superintendence of Mr. Cassidy, who, wise enough to +assume for a purpose a lower seat, placed this or that lord _en +evidence_, as circumstances seemed to dictate. It was only natural +that he should push forward as much as possible his patron, Lord +Glandore; and the latter, as he grew more reckless and more +claret-stained, came to glory in the unenviable privilege, and to put +trust in the cheery friend who once was proud to be his slave. + +He told him his passing woes, asked his advice, and sometimes took it. +If you are sorely troubled, and in your anxiety to conceal that you +are losing your nerve, force yourself on to preposterous deeds of +prowess, there is much comfort to be obtained from the sympathetic +ring of a jolly voice, the warm clasp of a shoulder-of-mutton hand. +Cassidy, too, was so open and so innocent--so easily seen through. +Lord Glandore felt a sort of disdain for him, dubbing him, with +patrician condescension, a big grown-up baby, and so forth--even +whilst he clutched for support the giant's burly arm. And Cassidy was +no whit offended, laughing more loudly than ever as his patron's jests +waxed broader--till the windows shook again, and the sound-waves +carried a shimmer of his braying from Daly's to the House of Peers. + +Sometimes Lord Clare deigned to encourage his satellites by appearing +in person, during an interval of debate, at a pistol-dinner, whilst +Lord Castlereagh was entertaining on a grand scale at home. Then were +toasts drunk with three times three--Government toasts, to which the +chancellor responded in a voice broken by emotion, with a lowly visage +and hand pressed on heart; toasts which were borne on the air out of +open windows to the ears of passers-by, who, scowling, hurried away. +Then, fired by his hints, the pot-valiant heroes would rush forth and +run a-muck--a right jovial way of finishing an evening from the point +of view of a Cherokee; and the chancellor, protesting that the boys +really were too lively and amusing, would return to the House alone by +the private covered way. + +One evening, when appearing amongst them to announce that the crisis +was close at hand, he professed to be mightily alarmed by the +proceedings of the opposition party. These were in the habit of +meeting at my Lord Charlemont's, and on this occasion, he said with +sorrow, they had dared to insult the King, in the person of his +ministers, by burning himself and Lord Castlereagh in effigy in the +middle of Stephen's Green. The chancellor said that it was most unkind +and inconsiderate. Yet with Christian meekness he implored the +faithful servants of his Majesty to take no notice of the outrage. The +result was as he intended. With a wild war-whoop the lords and M.P.'s +rose up from dinner, dragging the tablecloth with them in their zeal, +and rushed off to Stephen's Green to fight it out. The anti-unionists +were speedily put to flight, for they were few. By this means, and +such tricks as this, did the crafty minister strive to browbeat the +timid, many of whom, unassailable from any other point, were to be +coerced into submission by the bullet-test. + +Two only of the diners remained behind--both of whom were usually in +the very van--Lord Glandore and Cassidy. The former was much out of +sorts. The latter, certain that there was something on his mind, lay +in wait to discover what it could be. He was very fond of penetrating +other people's mysteries, was Mr. Cassidy--for it is astonishing how +an ingenious mind can turn them to its own advantage--and Mr. Cassidy +was always on the prowl to pick up stray wadding for his nest. He +therefore, with a look of concern, sat down beside my lord, whose face +lay on his arms upon the table, and rallied him about his evident +depression. + +'Come, come!' he cried, with a pat of his great hand. 'Sure your +lordship's head was not well seasoned in its youth. What ails ye? The +claret's good enough.' + +'I wish I could be drowned in it!' Shane muttered with despondency; +'and then there'd be an end. There was a Duke of Clarence killed that +way, you know--lucky fellow!' + +'Is it kilt? 'Deed and your lordship won't come to so mean a death, +I'll warrant; though ye're mighty careless of your life--more than I'd +be if all you have was mine.' + +Shane started up with a fierce glare. Everybody's chance arrows seemed +winged to stick into his flanks. But he saw nothing in the giant's +flat, round visage but an engaging air of humour and unguarded +openness. What a good-natured face! Shane, weaker than his mother, +yearned for sympathy and consolation; the secret she had carried so +long with heroic fortitude ate into his softer fibre, and devoured +him. He was at his small wits' end to know how to act. Cassidy's warm +heart and kindly friendship might perchance suggest something. Out of +the mouths of babes and sucklings wisdom has come ere now. Acting on +the impulse, Shane, with maudlin tears, swore his dear friend to +solemn secrecy, and amidst a coruscation of cries and curses, blurted +out the story which we wot of. + +'What a cruel, cruel world it was!' he wailed, 'and what a bitter fate +was his! He would certainly come to be a beggar--would be thrown out +upon the world an outcast, he, who was not fitted to battle with +it--for my lady was very queer in her ways, would be certain to tell +Terence some day, just as she had told him. Why had she ever told him? +wicked and unnatural mother to cause him such harrowing grief! Why was +not Terence hanged? Why didn't they send him to Fort George? Once +taken out of sight, the chances of my lady's blabbing would be +lessened.' + +Cassidy sat listening to his rambling lamentations, with his +china-blue eyes staring vacantly; then hummed to himself the words of +the old song while his nimble brain was working: + + + 'A jackdaw noble, glittering in the plumes + Of the old race, whose honours he assumes!' + + +'My lady--my lady! It's always your mother ye're bothering about,' +he said presently. 'Sure, your lordship's not tied to my lady's +apron-string!' + +But Shane's babble, once set going, was not to be stemmed by pertness. +He proceeded to unfold all her suggestions, mingled with his own +doubts and hopes and fears; and as he talked on, new ideas sprang into +shape, which hitherto had lain indistinct and dormant. He told of +Doreen and her fortune, and how he would like to marry her if he could +get rid of her directly afterwards--of how fortunate it was that he +had sold his parliamentary interest so well--of how Terence had +rebuked him on that subject, and what a crackbrained lunatic he +was--girt round with old-fashioned prejudice--beset with starched +quirks and rubbish. + +Cassidy's eyes twinkled, for he detected a glittering piece of wadding +which would suit his nest right well--a precious piece of wadding made +of revenge and self-interest interwoven--a rare piece of wadding which +should be his if craft could win it. + +'Would Miss Wolfe have your lordship?' he said carelessly; 'sure, it's +many a colleen that'd jump at your refined appearance, let alone your +wealth. But she----' the sentence remained unfinished, out of respect. +He would not make disagreeable remarks to his patron for anything +whatever. He therefore whistled in a deprecating and provoking manner, +while the latter echoed pettishly: + +'But she--what?' + +'Maybe I'd best not tell ye! Well--if ye will have it--she--I fear +she's sweet upon another gintleman--that's bad?' + +Shane was fairly startled. It had never struck him that she could have +already given herself away--to whom? As her form began to appear +shadowy, he, with the usual inconsistency of man, began to hanker +wildly after the ice-maiden--not for herself of course, but for the +money-box. + +'It's not possible!' he cried. + +''Deed 'tis!' returned the other, with compassion. 'She's deep in love +with Councillor Crosbie. I've known it this long while.' + +Shane ground his teeth and sprang upon his feet. This last blow was +too much. What! this interloper was going to rob him of his birthright +and his name, and, not content with that, was also going to take the +precious ice-maiden, whose paltry little stockingful would at least +keep hunger from the pauper's door. In an access of rage Shane paraded +up and down the club-room like a tiger. Inflamed by his own critical +condition he lashed himself into savage unreasoning passion, and +Cassidy whistled softly before the fire, with his big legs stretched +out and his fists deep in his pockets, until the young man should have +attained the requisite degree of heat. Then, when he judged the +patient's temper to be sufficiently exasperated, he passed his arm +through his, and in a low coaxing voice poured poison in his ear while +the two walked. Sure, his lordship must take the bull by the horns and +act promptly, unless he was satisfied to sit with hands before him and +lose all. He must take measures to prevent Master Terence from seeing +any more of his mother or of Miss Doreen until something could be +definitely settled. + +Shane half understood, and his blood tingled. + +How did his lordship's father espouse her ladyship? Was it not after +the then prevailing fashion of high-spirited Irish gentlemen? Did he +not carry her off before all competitors, as many another noble member +of the Abduction Club had carried away his bride? True, the Abduction +Club had ceased to exist five and twenty years ago; but in the present +unsettled condition of the country, there was no reason why a leaf +should not be taken from its book. Lord Kilwarden would hush the +matter up, which would merely be a little scandal, strictly limited +within the family circle. Miss Doreen would be Madam Shane: good luck +to the winsome colleen! Her money would be his--so would be the +forty-five thousand pounds for which he had sold his vote. Come what +might, then, there would be no need to talk of drowning himself in +claret--of being thrust forth a beggar in the world. + +Shane listened and brightened up. The abduction idea was good, and +jumped with his Irish romance. He would marry the ice-maiden without +having to woo her--a proceeding that he knew he could not accomplish. +But how about Terence? He would interfere--knight of the rueful +countenance though he professed to be. My lady too--what should +prevent her from speaking before these arrangements could be carried +out? The ruinous words were on the tip of her tongue. Terence was at +Strogue, and bound to remain there. He could not leave the grounds +without breaking his parole. + +Cassidy was delivered of a real inspiration; and nothing could be +easier than to carry it out. Did not the chancellor say only an hour +ago that the tussle was close at hand--that the Great Measure was to +be again brought forward without delay? Well then. Master Terence must +disappear. Nonsense! No _sbirri_ in long cloaks as in an opera. Major +Sirr and faithful Cassidy could manage that. He could be locked up by +an error of orders just for a little. Was he not a state-prisoner on +parole? and was not the younger Emmett--foolish young scapegrace, who +thought he concealed his identity under the name of Hewitt--busily +preparing to dash his head against a wall? What easier than to suggest +that Councillor Crosbie--already so gravely compromised--had broken +his parole and gone off to join the baby-conspirators? The Battalion +would come up by dozens to swear it. They would minutely describe +where and how--the other side of the country--they had captured him a +second time; would claim rewards for doing so. Afterwards he should be +forthcoming without a hair of his head being injured--his affectionate +brother need not fear for his life. Apologies would be made if need +were (for Government seemed determined to treat him very leniently), +and all would be right as a trivet. Whether any one would speak or no, +so that later on he might assume his title, was an after +consideration. By the time he was released, Lord Glandore would have +voted; Doreen would be Madam Shane; Lord Kilwarden would have blessed +his children. The matter would be settled--Shane would be safely +provided for. If the rumour of the councillor's escape and the +breaking of his parole were deftly managed, his own friends would be +disgusted; his mother, even, would see that confession would not help +matters; Government would wash its hands of so determined a Croppy, +when, the measure carried, his influence would be null and void. It +would be very much more likely than not that those who could speak +would irrevocably decide--after the escapade which they would father +on him--that the secret must be kept for ever. + +Shane was amazed and delighted. The babe and suckling had spoken +wisdom indeed--admirable! Verily the best plans are the most simple +ones, and nothing could be simpler than this. It was not possible more +cleverly to meet every difficulty, to countercheck every contingency, +than by this subtle scheme. He promised himself in the future to make +Terence a splendid allowance as a salve to his own conscience--so soon +as he held his portion of the blood-money, and Doreen's stocking and +his marquisate, and a certainty that nobody would blab. So easily are +we inclined to believe what suits us that his bugbear vanished into +the air. Terence would never know. The crisis past, the prospective +marquis would score a point before the world by laying claim to his +brother's liberty, feigning to demand it for state services, instead +of promotion in the peerage. Of course everybody would applaud so +gracious, so affectionate an act. He would receive both favours. The +clouds which threatened to smother him were melting unaccountably +before a magic wand. How strange that the man who had power to work so +potent a spell should be stupid blundering Cassidy! + +He clasped the giant warmly by the paw, vowing eternal gratitude if he +would see to this at once. Would he also consider as to what favour +the prospective Marquis of Glandore should ask the Government for his +dear friend--his excellent friend--his saviour? + +Cassidy laughed with a great guffaw, which was not all innocence, at +the change which his suggestions had worked. It was just possible that +things would not turn out quite as the future marquis saw them. In a +case of abduction there may be a rescue. The rescuer may carry off the +prize. What if Doreen, instead of becoming by main force Madam Shane, +were to return to the world as Madam Cassidy? The giant had an eye to +that stocking, not for his patron but himself. He also had a consuming +desire to possess its mistress--all the more that she had twice +refused him; that she had declined his acquaintance altogether since +the little party at Glas-aitch-e. It would be a fine revenge to +possess her by right of conquest--a fine revenge on her and on the +odious Terence. No; it was hardly likely that the giant intended to +permit Miss Wolfe to become Madam Shane. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + CONSIGNED TO MOILEY. + + +When the fatal moment arrived, Dublin was agog. The influence of the +lords, so dearly purchased, was brought to bear with all its force +upon the members, for whose return to parliament they were +responsible. Jupiter was showering gold on Danae, resolved to +consummate the sacrifice of her virtue. Debate followed debate with +unequal success. First one side considered that the day was theirs; +then the other triumphed; then the pistol-heroes rushed forth, and +howled and swaggered, and pinked their men, and returned to go on with +the argument which had been dropped in their excitement. In fact, both +parties seemed agreed as to one point only, viz., their determination +to behave in as undignified a manner as might be. It was the old story +of physical bullying doing its best to conceal moral cowardice and +turpitude--a scene of hectoring and license and vulgar abuse and +uproar, which shamed both parties in equal measure. + +Lord Cornwallis had done his best. In the course of the year which +elapsed between the two attempts to carry the union he made two state +progresses--one in the southern counties and the other in the north, +and preached the millennium according to St. Pitt. Clare and +Castlereagh both laboured on in town as sure no negro slaves ever +laboured; and yet when the time came all was still provokingly +uncertain. This Irish senate was unutterably vile. Having surrendered +its scrap of virtue, it repudiated, like an irreclaimable strumpet, +even the maxim of honour amongst thieves. It was clear that further. +delay would only make matters worse by inducing senators to open their +mouths yet wider. Portentous debates occupied the Commons; the House +frequently sat all night, breaking up only at midday. Members declared +that they must give up the ghost or have a holiday; some sought refuge +among pillows and boluses from the Herculean labours of the House, +while others dragged themselves, like martyrs to the stake, through +the dense masses of the populace that had taken possession of College +Green, to cheer non-unionists with vociferous shouts, and hurl mud and +putrid eggs at unpopular legislators. On Lord Castlereagh fell the +onus of wielding the thunderbolts of Jove, and he acquitted himself of +the task most excellently. Like the chancellor, he had the 'gift of +the gab;' was not particular as to the language he employed; was well +versed in forensic Billingsgate; could return anyone, in sledge-hammer +fashion, a Roland for his Oliver. The modest were overwhelmed by +flights of astounding rhapsody; the patriotic silenced by brazen lies; +the uncertain routed by bewildering irony. As the dogmatic chancellor +(now that he no longer feared the Viceroy) trampled the peerage under +his feet, so did the clever chief secretary discomfit the Commons. +Money was poured forth lavishly; threats and promises were distributed +with profuse hands. The tussle was sharp, but none could doubt which +side would in the end prove victorious. Concerning Grattan (the man of +'82), Lord Cornwallis wrote that he was no better than an old doll. +The jaws of the ancient lion were toothless. 'Grattan,' he said, +'degraded as he is in the opinion of the respectable portion of the +community, yet has a certain influence with the Roman Catholics of +Dublin, who are disaffected, and hate British connection.' Of Curran +also he felt no dread, for the little man was no longer in +parliament--his silver tongue was gagged; he was apparently worn out +by his efforts on behalf of the state-prisoners--was sickening (as he +put it) with a 'constitutional dejection of the heart, which could +find no remedy in water or in wine.' No wonder if he felt unwell. He +saw members moved, like beasts, in droves--a picture of human +degradation never equalled since Nebuchadnezzar went to grass. + +Practically the question was already settled long before young Robert +looked out for the running up of the new flag. Not but what the Dublin +populace were quite prepared for riot. They seized private carriages +and tossed them into the Liffey; marched about with political +effigies, and danced round the bonfires which consumed them. All this +was very harmless vapouring in the eyes of those who yet heard the +shrieks of the victims of '98--yet saw the Reign of Terror, with its +pitch-caps, its cardings, its picketings, and triangles. No one took +heed of the street mobs, even though my Lord Clare himself, in his +carelessness, came once quite near to danger. It was on the morning of +one of the last struggles. The debate had lasted, without a pause, for +eighteen hours, and the members were wearily dispersing, when the +crowd manifested a desire to 'shilloo' the speaker, who had behaved +with refreshing patriotism. His horses were taken from his carriage, a +hundred men dashed forward to seize the pole. At this moment the lord +chancellor appeared upon the steps, with insolent chin in air, dressed +in his great flapped wig and rustling laced robes. 'Harness him to the +carriage!' cried a wag. My Lord Clare started round with an indignant +reprimand; but perceiving from his vantage-ground a sea of some ten +thousand threatening heads, he retreated backwards with caution, as a +countryman might do before a bull, flourishing a toy-pistol in his +hand, with which he swore to blow out the brains of the first man who +came within six paces of him. The extraordinary pageant moved slowly +along; so singular a spectacle that it tickled the humorous side of +the Hibernian character--the lord chancellor of Ireland walking +backwards through the mud, holding up his robes with one hand lest he +should trip over them, pointing with the other a tiny firearm at ten +thousand enemies. Sure, this alone was a glorious triumph for King +Mob. Choosing his moment, he whisked with a swift dash into a house, +the door of which withstood the battering of myriad kicks until Lord +Clare made good his escape by a back way. But there were mobs and +mobs, in Dublin as elsewhere. This one happened to be a good-tempered +mob, for the patriotic speaker had gained a point that day. But there +were other mobs abroad made up of desperate men--of men whose skins +bore the scars of the Riding-school, whose hearths were desolate, +whose homes were bereft of dear ones. It was to these, and such as +these, whom no jests could soften, that young Robert looked for the +realisation of his dream. His natural fear of bloodshed was washed +away by the woes that had been the portion of his friends. He clung to +the notion that the mantle of Theobald had fallen on his shoulders; +that as Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, so, for some +Divine reason, Theobald was punished; and that he, Robert, was to play +the part of Joshua. His green uniform failed to please him. A new one +was designed--gorgeous--of scarlet, faced with green and laced with +gold. He tried it on in secret before a glass, and minced hither and +thither to see what the figure would look like that was to storm the +Castle and kill Cornwallis in his bed. Yet, for all these childish +pranks, none could be more earnest than he, or more genuinely prepared +to do or die. The hordes of banditti which still infested Wicklow were +taken into partnership. On the signal of a rocket they were to rush to +their posts. Some were to seize the desecrated Senate-house; others to +attack Chapelizod; others to secure important streets. Young Robert +reserved to himself and a selected band of braves the sacred right of +storming the Castle and pulling down the objectionable ensign. + +To one only of his friends did he confide a vague suspicion of his +intentions as they approached maturity. That one was gentle Sara, whom +he bound by awful oaths, though she was in nowise fitted for a +heroine, to divulge nothing of what she knew, but to keep her chamber, +and pray there for his success. The poor child knelt by her virgin +bed, and prayed and wept with terrible forebodings. Truth to tell, he +told her very little. What was this venture which was to produce such +marvels? What means could he employ to prevent the parliament from +voting. Would he come to stand in the dock as so many had done who +were now at rest? No. By Divine mercy he had been kept in England +during the awful agony--had been specially preserved from peril. It +could not have been in sport that the beloved undergraduate had been +withheld from temptation--merely to be dashed down at last, when the +tide of bloodshed was stemmed? No, no! Sara, with scared eyes, swept +the ripples of flaxen hair from off her pure girlish brow, and rebuked +herself for want of trustful faith as she folded her hands together +and tried to pray. But her mind wandered. She could not help seeing in +memory the distracted gestures of the trail of widows--of the wives +who were worse than widows, for their husbands languished in lifelong +duress. Who was she that she might hope to fare better than they? She +was a feeble girl, who loved her father and her lover, and had no room +in her being for more than that. If any evil befel Robert, what would +become of her? Could she hope to rally? She was not one of those who +bend before a storm and rise again but little the worse for buffeting. +She was one of the sensitive sort, who may linger for a brief space +perhaps before they wither. Even strong, haughty-browed Doreen was +broken by what she had passed through. What if Sara were likewise +summoned at the last moment to pass under the yoke? She would succumb +at once. She prayed for help, and implored mercy with the desperate +energy of a young creature who clings to the sweets of life, while +tears rained down her cheeks. Doreen, looking for her by-and-by, found +the maid lying on the floor asleep, and sobbing as she slept, with +reddened lids and trembling baby lips. What was it that ailed her? +Doreen inquired tenderly. Silly chit! to allow a dream to vex her +thus. Sara said 'Yes, it was a dream;' and sent a prayer to heaven +that an idle dream--no more--the fearsome vision might prove to be. + +Doreen went upstairs to seek her friend, because the shadow of trouble +still hung over the inmates of Strogue Abbey, and at the best it was +not a gay house to be alone in. Now solitude reigned in its +reception-rooms, for Curran shut himself in his chamber to forget the +impending union; Shane was madly rollicking in Dublin; Terence had +disappeared, and my lady had taken to her bed. + +Yes, Terence had disappeared; none knew how or whither. Shane +professed bitter anger, and cried out about family disgrace, till, on +meeting the calm eye of Miss Wolfe fixed on him, he stammered and was +silent. As for her, she knew not what to think. Perceiving his +mother's grief, had he, in his chivalry, withdrawn himself, lest his +presence should add poignancy to it? But how about the breaking of his +parole? Sure, he was too honourable a man to do such a thing! She went +and took counsel of Madam Gillin, who scratched her head and looked +serious. This was a trick of Cassidy's--of that she felt quite +certain, for that worthy had shown private spite in the way he had +tried to run the young man down before. Yet what could be his object +now? She soothed Doreen's anxiety as much as possible, affecting +herself to be quite comfortable on the subject; but privately resolved +to make another attack upon the chancellor as soon as his mind was +free about the union, if the vanished one did not return. So Doreen +waited in suspense, tending her aunt, who seemed very ill, and her +young friend, who was singularly disturbed and wretched; while Mr. +Curran moped, and the Abbey was as gloomy as a sepulchre. + +Soon the one engrossing subject occupied every mind, to the exclusion, +for the moment, of all others. A mob, by no means so good-tempered as +that which had pursued Lord Clare, gathered about the House at the +second reading of the bill, and assumed so threatening an attitude +that the military were called out, who fired a volley among the +people, and so dispersed them. Strange beacons were seen at night upon +the Wicklow Hills. Rumour whispered that something was afoot. Timid +people wished that the crisis was well over. Major Sirr and his lambs +made a raid on a certain house, where they found a hundred bottles +filled with powder, several bushels of musket-balls, meshes of tow +mixed with tar and gunpowder, a large quantity of pikes. Of these they +took quiet possession, and drove away, without seeking to follow the +matter up. Did this point to a new conspiracy? M.P.s asked each other. +How deeply laid was it? By whom organised? Why had no arrests followed +the discovery of the stores? Rumour said that the ill-conditioned +brother of Lord Glandore was plotting again; that he had broken his +parole, notwithstanding the extreme kindness with which he had been +treated. Well, well! Some folks were born to the halter--as some are +to the purple, and others to misfortune. The sooner the great measure +was carried, and the fate of Ireland decided, the better it would be +for all parties. So said the members, as for the last time they +strolled under the shadow of the Senate-house. + +That last day was one of breathless excitement. All knew that the +affair was settled; yet they waited, as if in expectation of a +miracle. False reports flew hither and thither in distracting numbers. +Messengers rode out with bulletins hour by hour to Strogue and other +important country places, where fine ladies waited. Lord Clare, taking +a lesson from his recent predicament, surrounded the House with +cavalry. Foot-soldiers, with matches burning, lined the colonnades. No +demonstration of popular feeling was permitted. Those who were about +to cancel the national charter were well protected; yet seemed they +ill at ease. Many anti-unionists, seeing how hopeless was the case, +withdrew with sad looks before the third reading of the bill; others, +urged by a morbid curiosity, waited for the curtain's drop. The +lobbies were crammed; the galleries crowded. A monotonous murmur ran +along the benches. Some were ashamed, some shameless, some--too +late--sorrow-smitten. Among the latter was Lord Kilwarden, who +despatched a courier to his daughter to say that he would stop to the +last. + +So the hours waned, and it was night ere Doreen's father arrived at +Strogue. He was deeply, miserably dejected. So much so, that his +daughter marvelled at him. + +'It's all over!' he cried, in indignation mingled with contrition. +'The men who forgot their country have slain _her_, that she may not +survive to remember _them_. The slave's collar has been slipped +on--its lock snapped to for ever! But there's something yet to come. I +have a hint from Clare that there will probably be more trouble +to-morrow. Glandore told me the same thing just now, who has it, he +says, from the Staghouse people, who are sure to know. Lord Cornwallis +will have taken his measures, doubtless, for as a soldier he is above +praise. I have business with him to-morrow, so we had better return at +once to Dublin.' + +'Now?' Doreen said, in wonder. + +'You are not afraid?' her father asked, with a weak smile. 'My coach +is below. Its liveries are well known. No one would harm me, thank +Heaven!' + +Afraid? Doreen was not given to physical fear. Then her father +explained that Shane was coming home, and with him Cassidy and some +more choice spirits, who were to close the lower rooms of the Abbey +and remain on the defensive, lest the anti-unionists should attempt +revenge. + +'You will be equally safe here or in Dublin, dear,' Lord Kilwarden +said. 'But I seem to think that you would prefer my company to that of +cousin Shane.' + +Locked up with Shane--and Cassidy! No, indeed. Knowing what she knew, +that would be too dreadful. Thanking her father with a look, she +fetched a shawl, kissed pale Sara, and, bidding her be of good cheer, +for the Abbey would be well protected, climbed into the coach, which +started forthwith for Dublin. + +'If Glandore is cautious, so will we be,' remarked Lord Kilwarden, +with an attempt at cheerfulness. 'Wanderers may be hanging about the +high-road, waiting for a signal in the morning. See, the beacons are +all alight along the hilltops! Do they not remind you of the time--not +so long ago--when we were expecting a French invasion? I trust the +Viceroy has been warned, for he does not comprehend our mercurial +temperament, and Sirr's people are strangely apathetic. A new regime +has begun to-night, my love, which I hope may in time bring peace to +our distracted land. My vote went for union, for I know that we are +unstable, but excellent if wisely controlled. The Scotch, you will +remember, hated their union at first. England has her way at last, so +her rule will soften, and Erin will be at peace. I know you are too +Irish to agree with me, Doreen. The young are always apt to judge +hastily of their elders, without considering that the gulf that +divides them is one of experience as well as years.' + +It was seldom that Lord Kilwarden became expansive on this delicate +subject with his daughter. Even between those who love each other +much, there are subjects that are best left alone. But he was +loquacious this evening, seeming anxious to deprecate a harsh verdict +on her part. His recent emotion set loose his tongue, and he chatted +softly on, explaining his motives and his views--he who was usually so +silent and reserved--as the coach rumbled over the rough by-road, +which led to the capital by a circuitous route. + +When its wheels died away in the distance, Sara sat down to meditate. +Robert, then, who had spoken in parables, was planning something which +would place him in peril. Perhaps she would look on him no more. She +tried to realise what that would mean for her. During the months when +he was in England she was glad not to see him, looking forward to a +happier day when he would be all hers, as side by side and hand in +hand they would stroll down the hill's shadowed side to the churchyard +at its base. She had often wondered which of them would first be +summoned hence--picturing a cosy hearth with two aged figures in the +chimney-corner, who, their career over, were awaiting a release. On +such occasions she had always decided that they would be so old--so +old--that a day or two only could possibly intervene between their +flitting. After clinging so closely one to the other, in joy and +sorrow, through a prolonged probation, but a brief space could keep +the pair asunder ere they were joined again for all eternity. So had +the simple damsel dreamed, and had been happy in her castle-building, +withdrawing her mind to the love-labour of that delicious task, from +the tragic scenes in which she wandered--in them, not of them--like +one in a mesmeric trance. But now, in the oppressive stillness, she +sat resolutely down to look upon herself as a possible actor in the +tragedy; to look for her own image among the troop of women who +importuned Heaven to call them hence. She tried to think of herself as +she had seen the widows whilst gazing on their swinging husbands--as +she had seen the mothers--stony, tearless, with their murdered sons +across their knees. But it was not possible. There are situations so +opposed to the order of things that we cannot realise them. Her mind's +retina declined to accept the image--threw it back again as one +contrary to nature; and yet it was all but certain that Robert--the +sensitive, the ardent, the enthusiastic--had deliberately placed his +foot upon the bridge of stars which conducts by a track of light to +the Walhalla--which leads by the rugged path of torment and of +martyrdom to the platform of immortality. She strove, with all the +resolution she could muster, to conjure up the dreadful picture, +but succeeded only in making her head spin round. Taking up a +taper--nervous by reason of the silence of night and her lugubrious +mental exercise--she thought she would pay a visit to her father, and +look in at my lady's door to announce Doreen's abrupt departure, and +prepare the invalid for the noisy coming of Shane and of his guests. + +She moved through the chintz sitting-room--past the dark staircase, +grim in the flicker of her candle with the panoplies of swords and +antique armour--into the great hall with its black oak panels, and was +turning to the left, where a rise of a few sculptured steps led into +my lady's bedchamber, when her attention was arrested by a noise. What +was that? A hum and subdued clatter--growing louder--louder--as it +approached. It must be Shane and his convoy--many horsemen, judging by +the sound. Was the danger then so pressing? Her heart beat fast. They +would bring certain news, that was some comfort; anything was better +than lying on this rack. + +Yes, it was Shane's party. There was a ring of many hoofs as the +riders wheeled round the turn of the avenue on the crisp gravel under +the ancient archway into the stable-yard. Shane's voice could be +plainly detected adjuring his guests to abstain from needless noise, +since the countess lay ill. Leaving their horses there, they came +round to the front on foot, where Sara met them, unbarring the door +herself, an apparition of innocence against the background of that +gloomy hall. There was Shane, somewhat the worse for liquor, flushed +and wild, his hair unribboned, his boots caked thick with mud; and +Cassidy smart and neat in a riding-coat, with capes of many colours, +and a high-peaked hat of silvery beaver--wondrous fine; and half a +dozen followers, evidently not of gentle birth, who bowed with +servility to the young lady and sidled cringing along the wall. + +The vision of Sara surprised them not a little. 'This was not proper +in ticklish times,' Cassidy cried out, after the authoritative manner +of a parent. 'Young ladies should not open doors alone at night. +How did she know that the party were not Croppies, intent on +murder--villainous rapscallions who ought to be strung up, every man +jack of 'em? There were hosts of such about. What was Miss Wolfe +thinking of--she who had a head upon her shoulders--to permit of such +imprudence?' + +'Where were the servants?' Shane shouted, forgetful of his mother's +health. 'Wine, wine! at once; and beds for these honest gentlemen. +They were come to stop for a few days, and must be treated well.' + +Sara struck the bell to summon the servants, and said that Doreen had +started an hour since for Dublin--with her father. + +Shane and Cassidy exchanged glances, and both looked put out. 'Gone to +Dublin! where--what for?' stammered Shane, disconcerted. 'I told my +uncle this very day that I intended to bring some friends to help to +defend the house, that his anxiety on her account might be at rest. +How imprudent--how silly--how provoking--when the Croppies are +mustering along the quays!' + +Cassidy frowned him to silence. Where did her father take her? Sure, +he would bring her back again? How was it they had not met his +carriage on the road? + +'They were gone to the Castle,' responded Sara, beginning to be +frightened, 'where they would doubtless be quite safe. What was this +about Croppies along the quays? Oh! would they please tell her +something? People seemed all agreed to keep things back, as if she +were a child. Croppies, did he say? Were not Croppies put down long +since? Who was their leader?' + +'Croppies 'tis,' grunted Cassidy. 'They'll be at it by this time, the +fools! Who's their leader? That young donkey Emmett, who'll swing for +it--the idiot!' + +Sara clung to a heavy piece of furniture. Like cold steel the +certainty cut through her brain that her edifice of cards, erected in +simple faith, would fall--had tumbled ere this perhaps; that the +tender intercourse of years was not to be; that she was destined to +bear her portion of the common cross. She was all at once convinced +that Robert and she would never meet upon this globe again. She +essayed to speak, but her head whirled; lights danced with shifting +colours before her eyes; the floor seemed to heave and rise in +billows--yet she did not faint. The servants had brought candles which +burned blue and dim and danced up and down, changing to red and green +and violet a long way off. She was aware somehow that after a brief +consultation Shane had countermanded the claret--that his obsequious +friends had received new orders--that the party, donning cloaks again, +had mounted and gone clattering away by the unused by-road. The +hall-door--wide open--admitted a chill gust which set the candles +guttering, but revived her perturbed faculties. Staggering against the +doorpost, the girl watched the beacons on the hills, as, fed with +furze, they flared up and glowed awhile, then dwindled and died out +one by one. She looked across the bay towards Dublin, which was like +an anthill possessed by glow-worms, beyond a black abyss. With +straining eyes she looked. What would she not have given to know what +was passing there? Was Cassidy merely playing off an untimely jest on +her by saying what he did? No. Her sick heart whispered that it was +all true. Robert's mysterious parable of good things in store clung +cold about her heart like a dead hand. Perhaps at this very instant he +was being slain--better even that than that he should be taken and +undergo the mockery of justice, and pass as others passed--upon the +scaffold. Oh! that ardent face--transfigured and inspired by his pure +enthusiasm--was she indeed no more to look on it? Was she--see! what +was that! A rocket soared into the air from the glow-worms' hill, +turning the deep blue to sable, and bursting, vanished in a shower of +sparks. What could that mean? It must be a signal. What did it +portend? Sara swung-to the heavy door, and, drooping on a sofa, sat +down and waited. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + ATE. + + +Robert (or Mr. Hewitt, for so was he enrolled among the chalked-up +inmates of the lodging where he dwelt) betrayed no less emotion than +the rest of Dublin citizens when the word flew from mouth to mouth +that as an independent nation Ireland was extinguished. He and a few +trusty followers were waiting for the official announcement of +Ireland's disgrace in their depot--a shambling set of outhouses +situated near Merchant's Quay. Sirr's raid, whereby he captured so +much material, was annoying no doubt; but Robert was full of his star +and the mantle that Theobald had thrown to him. + +Of course when the Castle was captured, Dublin would surrender without +a blow. He had his scheme prepared, which was instilled into the minds +of the Wicklow banditti. They were to creep to their posts at +nightfall and await his signal--a rocket; then to rush from different +points upon the Castle, choosing the narrowest streets in order that +if attacked their peculiar style of warfare might prove effective. In +a narrow passage, he argued, the pike--a weapon nine feet long--is +more telling than a musket with its bayonet. The people in the houses +might of course be expected to take part against the military, and +give them a warm reception from the housetops with a galling fire of +bricks and coping-stones. If necessary they might be employed in +dragging up the pavement in the rear of the King's troops, to expose +the new-made drains as pitfalls. In any case the regulars, thrown into +confusion, would roll over each other, and, helpless in a choked +thoroughfare, might be piked and stoned to a man. At prearranged +turnings, barriers were to be thrown up, constructed of carts, doors, +hogsheads. This would be done in a few seconds by the willing help of +surrounding inhabitants. In all cases the pikemen were bidden to +advance at a brisk trot that weight might counterbalance defective +discipline; intrepid men being stationed at the ends of every rank to +keep the masses compact and prevent wavering. + +Robert's own position (and the rallying-point in case of retreat) was +to be the watch-house which stood on the Old Bridge, and which +commanded the narrow entry by which troops would come, if sent for, +from Chapelizod. From the tower which crowned the watch-house he would +send up his rocket; then, allowing time for the marching of the +different divisions to their respective posts, he would leave a +sufficient body there to hold the bridge, and hurry to the Castle +gates, lest some one might steal the envied privilege of dragging down +the detested flag. Elaborate were his arrangements in theory with +regard to barricades. Beams had been left lying about with prearranged +carelessness, ready to be picked up and slung at a moment's notice. As +he donned his uniform--scarlet coat with gold epaulettes, white vest, +pantaloons of tender grey--his first-lieutenant (one Quigley, a baker, +who rejoiced exceedingly in a huge green plume) remarked with regret +that perhaps their object would have been best achieved by taking a +hint from Fawkes. 'Nothing could have been easier, and if successful +more complete. Sure, it was the want of a reform in the senate that +had brought Erin to this plight. The senate destroyed, she might begin +again on the basis of '82, with hope refreshed and a clean slate.' + +Robert looked with displeasure at his truculent lieutenant. + +'What! There were women in the galleries. Destroy the innocent with +the guilty, by the hundred?' + +'Haven't they kilt thousands--women and children galore--bad luck to +'em!' retorted the bellicose baker. 'After all, there was no fear of +the escape of the guilty now. The hand of the avenger should seek out +the recreants and put them to the edge of the sword--stem, root, and +branch; their houses should be heaps of stones; their homes be made +desolate. The world would applaud the vengeance of the downtrodden!' + +Robert was displeased by his lieutenant's views. He who by +constitutional instinct so dreaded bloodshed, had battled with his +fears and girded on the sword of Joshua, carried above physical +antipathies by the sacred cause of the oppressed. Yet was it with a +secret terror that he listened to such language as that of the +gentleman with the green plume. It filled him with loathing. Thank +Heaven that he, the chief, was there to keep the men in order, and +temper justice with mercy! The goddess of justice, he believed, should +appear white and shining, not dabbled with the gore of those who had +done no wrong. So he tried to reason with himself. The work of Joshua, +if the legend was to be believed, had been a bloody one, which +ascended with a sweet savour of sacrifice in the nostrils of a +vengeful Deity. If it was the will of stern Justice that the sinful +brethren should be slaughtered, and with them the innocent, why, then +responsibility was taken from his hands, and it would be presumption +to attempt to dictate. + +It was not without a certain trepidation that Robert scanned the +timepiece, watching its moving hands. The Commons were still +sitting--the farce was not quite over. An hour or two might elapse +before the hateful flag was run up to its place. He employed the time +in exhorting his followers--there were only fifty of them--to behave +with continence to the conquered foe. + +'Some of us,' he said, 'may be called to join the band of those who +have already given their lives on the scaffold, or on the field. Let +not that distress you. Right is on our side if we commit no crimes. +Eternal fame is worth more than a few years on this sad earth. The +reputation of the few who fall in our holy cause will abide after +them, a precious legacy to those whom they love and honour, to those +whom they have snatched from slavery--for whom they are proud to +perish.' + +He talked himself into an exalted fervour, which swept away his +scruples. His followers, too, were caught by his enthusiasm. They +vowed that no evil deed should smirch their banner; that what they +fought for was liberty--the hacking off of chains; that they would +give to Europe an example of high-minded patriotism,' unblemished by +petty license. + +Robert was relieved and grateful. It was close on midnight when he +drew his sword, and crying, 'Boys, come on!' dashed forth into the +street. Though so late, the citizens were not in bed, but standing at +their doors and windows discoursing of that which was now an +accomplished fact. They looked at the insignificant knot that ran +cheering past with consternation. + +What manner of men were these who carried sheaves of pikes? What was +this youth in martial garb, who waved over his head a sabre? Robert +and his lieutenants harangued the citizens, distributed weapons, +dragged some who wavered to the depot, where they would find arms and +ammunition. They were soon the centre of a delirious crowd, who jumped +and sang and danced like maniacs. The lad's hopes beat high, his face +beamed with excitement. Heaven had answered promptly; recruits were +gathering like sand. Women and children rushed about screaming; wives +tugged at their husbands' garments, imploring them to come away, lest +peradventure their end should be the gallows. Some one called out that +the soldiery were upon them, and then the warriors just now so valiant +fled with precipitation up alleys, courts and lanes, dropping their +pikes, tearing at those in front who impeded their flight, rolling +over and over in the frenzy of their haste to wriggle out of +musket-range. Brutality and cowardice are the corollaries of slavery; +both made themselves conspicuous on this dreadful night. + +Finding that it was a false alarm (for the soldiers were on guard half +a mile away, about the Senate-house), those who a moment since were +crouching behind their wives, surged out again as if to protest by +deeds against involuntary panic, and ran with yells after the youth in +scarlet. To the Old Bridge was a few paces. They gave a prolonged howl +as they came in sight of it, which echoed and re-echoed along the +Liffey banks, and penetrated even to the Castle, where Lord +Cornwallis, his mind relieved in that the work was done, was +congratulating the smirking chancellor on the final success of the +grand measure. Both started and looked at one another. What a strange +uproar! Could it be thunder? Lord Clare opened the casement and peered +out. A rocket rose into the air and burst; another howl--louder, more +prolonged than the first one. Lord Clare closed the window quietly and +shrugged his shoulders, muttering, as he secured the hasp: + +'Sirr was right, then. I really could scarce credit that they should +be such idiots. Yet are they silly enough for anything.' Then turning +with a sour smile to the Viceroy, he said: 'Thank goodness, it's well +over. This ferment is not worth considering. How can I do otherwise +than blush at being an Irishman? My Lord Castlereagh thinks, as I do, +that the work we have this day finished is a subject for universal +thanksgiving.' + +Singularly enough, the sympathy of the Viceroy was not with his +colleagues my Lords Clare and Castlereagh, but with those who were by +this time brandishing their pikes in Thomas Street, for he pitied the +deluded people sorely whose flame of rebellion against the inevitable +was making this last melancholy flicker. + +The Union was a fact now. It was done; and would ultimately, so soon +as sores were healed, be productive of much good, for the people would +be protected by a distant but temperate master against the turbulent +raging of their own factions. But for all that, this desperate handful +who preferred death to slavery, were more worthy of respect than the +polished gentleman before him who had sold his own brethren into +bondage. So thought the Viceroy; but Lord Cornwallis, bluff soldier +though he was, had learned to school his features. He therefore +contented himself with observing that nocturnal rioting must be put +down, and that the chancellor had better accept a bed in the Castle, +considering that if he ventured out among the rioters he would +certainly be torn to pieces. Then glancing down into Castle-yard, +which was full of soldiers, he bade his guest good-night, and retired +to the solitude of his own chamber. + +Arrived at the Old Bridge, Robert let off his rocket, while the +ever-increasing crowd gibbered and hallooed. The night was very dark. +In the transient flare the expectant mob beheld a martial figure that +glittered with gold braid, waving a big sword. A grand figure +entirely--who was he? no matter. With him they would fall or conquer, +they declared, though the majority of the mob were hazy as to the work +which there was to do. The word was given and rippled along the ranks: +'To the Castle, to slay the tyrant!' 'To the Castle, to the Castle!' +they all yelled and bellowed helter-skelter up Thomas Street, for the +object was plain and praiseworthy--to storm the palace of the Viceroy. +Robert led the way, brandishing his immense blade; the bellicose baker +looked after the rear. Both exhorted as many as were within hearing to +steadiness and calm. But those behind pushed those who were in front. +It was as much as Robert could do to keep his feet. Vainly he bawled. +Nobody heard him any more, for all were chattering like excited +monkeys; nobody in the dense blackness could distinguish his uniform. +He had let a torrent loose, but could not guide it. Half-way up Thomas +Street he became conscious of a diversion--the pressure to the front +became weaker--something unexpected was happening at the farther +extremity of the thoroughfare. The mob were gesticulating--heaving to +and fro. Was it a surprise? Were the military come in from Chapelizod? +Had they beaten down the little watch-house garrison, or had +they--forewarned--approached the scene of action by another route? The +bellicose lieutenant would need assistance and counsel--pray Heaven he +was staunch! Their leader buffeted with the mob, but they heeded him +not. It was essential that he should see what was passing, that he +should fly to the succour of his second in command, who was battling +with this human maelstrom. How dark the night was! The moon, which was +at the full, was clouded over. Raising himself on the steps of a +house, he strained his eyes over the sea of faces and detected little +lights--flambeaux apparently, which tossed and floundered, then went +out. This could be no military attack. The men must be committing some +outrage upon persons who had fallen into their hands--innocent persons +possibly, who, according to the tenets of the baker, were to suffer +for the transgressions of the guilty. Robert was in an agony, for the +monster he had conjured into life refused to hearken to his chiding. +He cried that the cause must not be sullied, that pure-souled patriots +must not play the night-assassin; but his voice was as the buzzing of +an insect. 'Forward!' he shouted till he was hoarse; 'forward to the +Castle!' He might as well have shouted to the ocean. Those about him +pushed and elbowed, screaming wild oaths and execrations; for, unable +to see what was going on, they were half-fearful of treachery, +half-anxious to bear their part. Despite his gay accoutrement Robert +found himself crushed against a railing, till his ribs threatened to +collapse under the pressure. With a supreme effort he shook himself +free, and fell backwards through a doorway. He recognised it--how +lucky! It led by a narrow alley into the adjoining road, which ran +parallel with Thomas Street. Sure, this was another mark of Heaven's +approbation; for by following it he could skirt the mob, and, running +round, discover the cause of the diversion. The adjoining road was +empty; the terrified householders had closed their doors and shutters +and, trembling, were peeping through the chinks. Painful experience +had taught them caution. As he sped along, his feet pattering +strangely in the solitude, Robert could catch the murmur, as of water +dashing upon rocks, over the roofs, a house-thickness off. Running +with all his speed, he turned the corner and flung himself against the +rolling swell; beheld with despair a coach--one whose liveries he knew +of old--rocking and swaying in danger of being upset, while the horses +plunged wildly and the coachman sat paralysed, with a pistol at his +ear. The door had been rent from its hinges; the silken curtains hung +in tatters. One of the occupants, a man of fine presence and middle +age, had been dragged out, and lay upon the stones surrounded by a +crew of savages. The other, a woman, leaned out of the carriage, +imploring help in dumb show for the man upon the ground. Convulsed +with horror, Robert forced a passage with the flat of his sabre. One +light--the single flambeau which had escaped extinguishing--threw a +ghastly glare on the surge of scowling ruffians. Blood trickled from +the forehead of the man upon the ground; upon his black satin vest and +smallclothes, upon his cambric shirt, as he strove to rise. He +staggered up, clutching at a wheel, and waved his hand to obtain a +hearing. 'Good people,' he panted, but his words reached those only +who stood close by, 'I have never done you harm. I am Kilwarden, chief +justice of the King's Bench.' + +'Justice!' gibed the baker. 'She's gone long since where you shall +follow her!' + +The mob, which had ebbed in a momentary recoil, flowed forward again +with a rush. A dozen pikes were poised and fell. Doreen, who could see +what passed within the circle, tossed her helpless arms and filled the +night air with shrieks; while Robert, distracted, beat his breast and +tore his hair. + +A sharp ring of hoofs clattered on the road--nearer--nearer--nearer +still. A band of horsemen were approaching at a gallop from the quay; +behind--in the distance--a host of cavalry; from the opposite +direction the tramp of many feet. The Castle-gates had been opened; +the infantry were pouring forth; the mob, finding itself hemmed in, +smote right and left in a frantic effort to escape. + +The smaller band of horsemen, headed by Shane and Cassidy, were the +first to reach the coach. They drew their _couteaux-de-chasse_, and, +beating aside the unwieldy pikes, which were too long for such close +quarters, trampled the insurgents down. + +'The lady, Lord Glandore!' Cassidy shouted. 'Now's your time!' + +'Oh, save her!' raved Robert, in remorse. 'My God, what have I done? +Save her, Lord Glandore!' + +Shane stretched out his hand towards his cousin. Chance was favouring +him. Under pretext of protecting her, the project planned by the giant +could without difficulty be accomplished now. Doreen shrank back. + +'Begone!' she wailed, filled with the anguish of that heap upon the +ground. 'What have you done with your brother--bastard!' + +Shane winced, as from a whip-cut on the cheek. She, too, then knew the +fatal secret; but it mattered not, for she was in his power. The +military were closing in upon the mob. In the scurry and the darkness +he would bear her far away. He was well known; what more natural than +that her cousin should rescue the bereaved Miss Wolfe from such a +scene? + +Dismounting, he strode over the corpse of Lord Kilwarden, and calling +on his friends to rally round the coach, prepared to withdraw it from +the _melee_. + +Upon hearing the name, twice repeated, the man who had held the pistol +to the coachman's ear turned sharply round. + +'You then are Lord Glandore?' he asked. 'The curse of God has found +you, murderer! You and a few like you slew my father four years agone +in sport on Stephen's Green! Do you recall it? He was only an old +man--a shoemaker. Maybe you don't, for you've done many such deeds, +and you were drunk!' + +Shane thrust the importunate babbler aside, and ordered the coachman +to urge on his horses. + +'I've waited for my revenge all this while, my lord,' muttered the +man, 'and you don't escape me now.' + +Raising his pistol with steady aim, he shot Shane through the heart, +and, diving, vanished in the crowd. + +Cassidy was taken aback. Hitherto everything had moved according to +his desire. Were his well-constructed schemes to be disconcerted now? +He looked up the street and down the street at the compact bodies of +troops advancing, then with a rage of longing at Doreen. Yes! his plan +was overthrown; a new one must spring out of its ashes. Shane, by +virtue of his cousinship, might have borne the young lady with safety +through the ranks. He, Cassidy, could hope for no such privilege. +Well, better luck next time. But it would not do to lose his footing +at Strogue Abbey. _Le roi est mort; vive le roi!_ He bethought him of +a certain prisoner within the provost, kidnapped the other day, whose +position was quite changed by that untoward pistol-shot. All things +considered, Mr. Cassidy could not have acted with more wisdom than he +did. He left Doreen to the tender mercies of the soldiery, and spurred +with utmost speed towards the provost. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + + MOILEY'S LAST MEAL. + + +Doreen speedily recovered her presence of mind, shaken for an instant +by the sudden shock of the predicament in which she found herself. The +ringleaders of the riot were, with a few exceptions, netted. The young +officers of militia, many of whom had danced at balls with the +beautiful Miss Wolfe, were loud in their outcry over the tragedy, +vociferous in promises of vengeance. Would she wish the rascals to be +lashed, or would pitchcaps please her fancy? The malefactors should +swing, every one; that would be a comfort to her, no doubt. +Excruciating cats should be manufactured to oblige her. No punishment +could be too severe for wretches who had dared to kill two members of +the peerage. Where should they take their beautiful charge? Would she +go to the Castle, or to her lamented parent's mansion? Wherever Venus +liked, there would Mars escort her. Disciplined by sorrow, Doreen +could even at this dark hour consider the grief of others before her +own. The Countess of Glandore was sick and shattered. Since Terence's +vanishing she had returned to the condition of an owl; what would be +the effect on her frayed nerves of the sudden death of her favourite +son? Doreen decided, postponing the consideration of her own loss, to +drive at once to Strogue, lest tidings should reach her aunt more +abruptly than her state would warrant. + +It was dawn when Miss Wolfe reached the Abbey--the cold raw dawn of +early summer, when nature asserts her right to live despite the +tyranny of winter--and she was seized with a new pain on entering the +hall; for wan Sara was sitting where she had sank down, to await she +knew not what. Alas! for her, too, was she a bearer of evil tidings, +and Sara read them on her face, and sighed. The look of deep +compassion told but too plainly that her worst forebodings were +realised; and that, as a daughter of Erin, she must accept her +place in the grim procession of the bereaved. She did not ask for +news--preferred, indeed, to hear none, for what news was there that +could bring aught but misery? Like a tired child she closed her eyes, +and clung to the older maiden in a mute entreaty not to be left alone. +This speechless sorrow was painful to witness. The offices of Miss +Wolfe were needed elsewhere, for there was another in the stricken +household who must be attended to before the sad _cortege_ should +arrive. My lady would have to be told that she had lost both a brother +and a son. It was with relief then that she heard a creaking on the +stairs and perceived Mr. Curran coming down, who, by his appearance, +had evidently not been to bed. She, who had learned what loss is, knew +the full value of a father's love. Beckoning him to his daughter, she +disentangled the cold fingers from about her neck and went away to my +lady's bedroom. + +Mr. Curran was himself in dolorous mood. Extremely troubled by the +rocket which he too had seen, and by hints which, during the past +week, had reached him through the proprietress of the Little House, he +had been unable to sleep. Groaning in spirit he saw the shambles +reopened; the reign of terror recommenced. His country was dead now; +Moiley had eaten her up to the last crumb. Might not the sacrifice of +her existence bring peace unto her sons? As leaning his cheek upon his +hand he sat looking across the tranquil bay at the twinkling lights +beyond, his heart became exceeding sorrowful while he reviewed the +efforts of his life. Memory stood by in a sable robe. Though he had +held himself erect whilst others grovelled; though his courage had +remained unshaken whilst others quaked and fawned; how little--how +very little--it had been given to him to accomplish! Yet there was +nothing he had wittingly left undone. His political honour was so +bright that malice could detect no stain on it. He had worked for +others--not for himself. Instead of lifting himself as he might have +done above the stormy agitation of his time, he had clung to the +heaving of the wave--to rise and fall with it--perchance to be dashed +with it upon a rock--with how little result--how little--how very +little! Yet he saw not how he could have acted otherwise. As dawn +began to sparkle on the bay, he took up a book to change the current +of his pondering--a volume of the grand Greek poets. It opened at the +'Seven Against Thebes,' and he read thoughts which were a painful echo +of his own. 'The happiest destiny is never to have been born; the next +best to return quickly to the nothingness from which we came.' Grand +old Titan AEschylus! Was that all his genius could discern? Never to +have been born! Was that the conviction of the great philosopher? Mr. +Curran looked out on the panorama stretched before him, as fair a +prospect as man may desire to look upon. The glittering waters were +strewn with flakes of silver; the looming hills steeped in a golden +haze. The beautiful world! Was its beauty a mockery of human +trouble--no more? It seemed so. Those lovely hills were teeming with +desperate men, reduced by the branding-iron of oppression to the +condition of wild beasts. In the blue shadow of those picturesque +ravines were cottages--charred, unroofed, deserted. That fairy +city that mirrored its whiteness in the bay--glistering, +silver-crowned--had been but t'other day the scene of perhaps the most +hideous carnival of human wickedness which ever disgraced humanity. +Perchance even at this very instant, while the wizened little man was +gazing out so dreamily, fresh horrors were being enacted. Truly, +'twere the happiest of destinies never to have looked on the false +sheen of the sepulchre at all. But though we may drag at them, the +tough fibres of existence are deeply imbedded in our flesh. + +Mr. Curran, from his station, marked the return of Lord Kilwarden's +coach--the pallid concern of the servants, who were speaking in hushed +tones, as though in the awful presence of the Pilgrim. He went +downstairs to learn what had happened. It was worse than he expected. +Deluded Robert--insane enthusiast! Alas! The advocate would have to +stand forth yet once again and wrestle for a life; would have to rouse +himself from his dejection to do all that was possible to save this +lad. With the urgent need for action Mr. Curran recovered his mental +steadiness. He resolved to seek tidings at once of Robert and of +Terence; to raise his voice in their behalf. Were both concerned in +the disastrous riot? Were both captured? had both escaped? As he rode +past the Little House, Madam Gillin called out that she had something +to say. Anxious, on account of Terence's disappearance, the kind lady +had sent Jug into town for several days past to ferret out the truth. +The hag had discovered that men had been remarked loitering about the +Abbey gates; that Terence one evening had been observed by a passing +peasant to emerge into the road and go to the water's edge; that there +he had been accosted by these self-same suspicious men, who had a boat +with them. It was certain that Terence had never been seen in the +neighbourhood of young Robert's _depot_, or in the _melee_ of last +night. Hence it was clear that he had departed. Where and why? Was it +of his own accord? As for Robert, he was not among the captives. Jug +examined them every one, as, heavily ironed, they were marched to +Kilmainham in detachments. A man in a uniform plastered thick with +gold was rowed out to sea by four sturdy rowers an hour or two ago. In +all probability that man was Robert, who had provided for his escape +by means of one of the many vessels that were cruising in the Channel. +Utterly mad in all other ways, he had shown prudence and forethought +in this. He was gone. His noble young life would not be thrown away +for nothing--he whose sin was too fond a love for unhappy motherland. + +Mr. Curran gave a sigh of thankfulness. Small mercies keep us from +breaking down at times. This was good news, at any rate. With courage +revived, he could go to the Castle now and demand with a high hand +that inquiries as to the fate of Terence should be set afoot. If +anything unpleasant was said about Emmett, he could snap his fingers +in the Viceroy's face--for the boy was gone, thank goodness, out of +his clutches. Moiley would grind her gums for her last morsel in vain. +The hungry ogress! She had eaten Ireland and quaffed the best blood of +Ireland's children. Her appetite was delicate, it seemed, and +clamoured for the best. She declined to lunch off the Battalion of +Testimony. The flesh of Sirr and Cassidy was bitter, and she spat it +out. She absolutely refused even to nibble, much less to swallow, +either of these honest gentlemen. + +At mention of Cassidy, Gillin, whose cheeks had puckered into dimples +at Curran's badinage, grew grave again. She felt, scarcely knowing +why, that Cassidy had something to do with the affair of Terence, who +was Earl of Glandore, secret or no secret, now. The difficulty had +been solved in a quite unexpected manner; and in her heart of hearts +the worthy woman was glad, though she would have to abandon her desire +of seeing Norah adorning the assembly of the _elite_. Ah! deary me, +she sighed to herself. There were other fish in the sea. Norah was a +comely colleen, who would get a good husband somehow--maybe a better +one than Shane would ever have made, though he was lord of broad acres +and had a coronet to bestow on the girl who touched his fancy. But +where was the new Earl of Glandore? Curran trotted off to make it his +business to find out. + +This last armed attempt to free Ireland was the vulgarest and weakest +of riots, which would never have been recorded, or have occupied any +place in history at all, but for the unfortunate murder of the Lord +Chief Justice and his nephew. Their fate--especially that of Lord +Kilwarden, who was a kindhearted gentleman--demanded a scapegoat. +Foolish young Robert was the first cause of the disaster. It was +essential that he should be held up as an example. Could anything be +more provoking than that he should get away? Perhaps he was not +gone--perhaps he had landed somewhere. The town-major was commanded to +scour the country in all directions. His battalion was well paid and +had been very idle of late. It was time that its members should do +some service to earn their bread-and-butter. Such were the orders +which issued from the Castle, and Curran knew well that they did not +emanate from Lord Cornwallis. He was not much surprised, therefore, +after crossing Castle-yard, to be ushered into a morning-room, +garnished with a huge bureau, at which was sitting, in handsome black +velvet trimmed with sable fur, the Chancellor. + +Lord Clare beheld with evident pleasure the entrance of his enemy, the +man who had been his stumbling-block through his career; for this was +the moment of his triumph. He held out his jewelled fingers with a +polished bow; rasped out a welcome in his least pleasant voice; and +explained that, in the overflow of labour which sprang from the +details of yesterday's Great Measure and last night's deplorable +catastrophe, both Viceroy and Chief Secretary were so worked off their +legs that they had been delighted to accept of his poor services for +the transaction of ordinary business. + +Lord Clare was rather sorry for Kilwarden, though he had always +despised him as a nincumpoop. But this transient cloud of annoyance +was dissipated by the sun of yesterday's success and the new vista of +power which it opened to his ambition; and Curran looked at him in +wonder as he strutted and fussed about, with the comical majesty of a +raven. + +It has been observed that the greatest political and religious crimes +are due to public spirit out of gear. The Irish chancellor was +probably honest in his conviction that union was the best thing for +Ireland, and it was not his fault if his duty and his interest jumped +in the same direction. His standard of morals was so low that the +desperate patriotism of such men as Tone or Terence, or Robert Emmett, +were as unknown tongues to him. He despised Kilwarden, though he liked +him, because he was weak; but he hated Curran with all his heart, +because, while brave as any lion, ho had an inconvenient knack of +putting his finger on the chancellor's weak places. But Lord Clare was +so jubilant this morning that he was prepared to be generous even to +this enemy. Difficulties were over; he could almost feel the flapping +of the united banner overhead, almost hear the packing of the trunks +of my Lord Cornwallis. He observed, too, that the crab-apple features +of the little man before him seemed old and dried; that the eyes were +glazed which used to flash with fire and dance with fun. He was one of +the fools whose heart was broken over a chimera; of course the +successful statesman could afford to be generous to so pitiable a +wreck. So he said: + +'Delighted to see my respected Curran--friend, I suppose, I may not +say? Ah! well. You always wronged me, my good fellow. Civility was +never among your faults. But demagogues would lose half their prestige +if they were not crabbed. No wonder you are rude, for you have lost +all your tricks. Had you not, in a huff, thrown up your seat in +parliament, you might have done much to hurt us; and that makes you +spiteful, I suppose. What do you gain by this ghastly display of +martyrdom? Believe me, Curran, that if you are too good for the world +you live in, it will be more comfortable to yourself as well as others +to go out of it. That's why Wolfe Tone helped himself out of it, I +presume, and I for one am vastly obleeged to him. Talking of that +reminds me of last night's folly--a sad affair--a sad affair; but +can't be helped, you know. A drop of trouble in the sea of bliss which +yesterday's decision gave us. You don't feel quite that way? Ah! well. +People's opinions differ, don't they? The one I'm most distressed +about is our old friend the countess. She will feel that fellow's fate +most terribly, the more so that he was a ne'er-do-well; though there +are reasons why it's best as it is. Your _protege_ is the holder of +the family honours now?' + +Curran nodded, wondering what his enemy was aiming at; while the +latter, scanning his features, perceived with pleasure that my lady's +secret had never been divulged to him. It was well that that secret +should lie in as few hands as possible. + +'Where is Terence?' Curran inquired bluntly. + +'Terence! I know not,' replied the other, in his turn surprised. 'Has +anything befallen him?' + +'You _really_ do not? Then it's Cassidy who's done it,' cried out +Curran. 'He's been kidnapped for some hellish purpose!' + +Knowing Cassidy as he did, the chancellor looked disturbed. It was +quite possible that this worthy might be up to his tricks again. Had +not he, Lord Clare, warned the young man against him once, when he was +too stupid to take the hint? This scoundrel was still then, with, some +dark intent, pursuing him. Why had he not been told of this before? It +was most serious. Terence kidnapped, evidently by Cassidy! It would +never do. Would the countess have to bewail both sons? Not if her old +friend could help it. Touching a gong, he gave rapid directions that +every prison in Dublin should be searched immediately for the missing +prisoner; that, if found, he was to be taken back at once to Strogue, +whither the chancellor would proceed in his coach, in the company of +his esteemed friend. + +But the proposed drive, during which Lord Clare promised himself to +twit his fallen foe, was not to be. At the bottom of the stairs he was +assailed by a troop of suitors, who would not be refused. Reluctantly +he was compelled to allow Curran to trot off on his pony, promising to +follow in an hour, at most. + +The lawyer rode along, marvelling at the sphynxlike chancellor. Here +was a man who reeked of the blood of the peasantry; who would, if he +could, have burned all the Catholics in one vast bonfire, and who yet +was capable of feeling emotion on behalf of a white-haired old friend. +Then he thought of his dear daughter Sara, who seemed stunned by last +night's catastrophe. Did she care so much, then, for this lad? It was +fortunate that he should have been able to escape. That would save +Sara much agony. She would have to be taken abroad for change of +scene, and, peradventure, in a foreign land might find the brook of +Lethe. How glad her father would be if he too might find it; but that +was past wishing for. He was too old to receive new impressions, while +Sara would speedily forget. + +With shoulders rounded and head bowed, Mr. Curran trotted back to +Strogue. Feeling that he was no longer able to fight as he used to do, +it was a wonderful relief to think that Robert was gone away. Time was +when it was exhilarating to break a lance with my Lord Clare. But the +sturdy advocate had received his passport for the undiscovered +country, and, but for Sara's sake, was little inclined to murmur if he +were required to use it soon. It was clear to him that there must be +an exodus--to America--anywhere. He and Sara should be the first to +go; and perhaps he might be permitted to linger on until her future +was in some way assured. + +He trotted along the road, absorbed in sorrowful considerations, +until, just as he passed under the hedge which belonged to the Little +House, he was rudely roused from reverie. Madam Gillin was +gesticulating like a madwoman. + +'Hist!' she whispered. 'The boy's not gone! Whillaloo! 'Twas the baker +that escaped! It's at Strogue he is this cursed minute. The candle's +there, the moth is booming round it! Maybe there's time still. Bid him +be off, jewel, do; and I'll keep watch lest any come. Jug's looking +out on the back road.' + +'Murther!' ejaculated Curran, wide awake now. 'They're scouring the +country for him. Oh, the silly lad!' And beating his pony with +unwonted vehemence, the lawyer galloped through the park-gates, along +the short turn of avenue which led to the Abbey, and, leaving the +astonished animal to recover how he could, hurried up the steps into +the hall. + +The door was idly swinging, but no one was visible in the vestibule +nor in the dining-room, nor in Miss Wolfe's boudoir. Hark! Subdued +voices, murmuring further on, in the tapestry-saloon. He moved +quickly thither, and, standing on the threshold, stamped his feet +in the impotent fury of his wrath. There was Robert--haggard and +unkempt--still in the pinchbeck uniform, torn and bespattered now, +with a peasant's frieze-coat thrown over it--a ridiculous disguise. He +was kneeling by a couch whereon lay Sara, her face turned towards him, +her eyes fixed full on his with a wild unreasoning longing, while he +chafed her hands and kissed them. The tall and graceful figure of +Doreen leaned against the sculptured garlands of the mantelpiece, as +she gave the homage of silent sympathy to the voiceless parting of +this pair, while her mind wandered in the cypressed graveyard of her +own sorrow. That heap of black satin, prone under the carriage-wheels, +would never leave her memory so long as life should last. Stroke had +succeeded stroke, and she winced no more. + +All three looked up when Curran stamped his feet, and Robert advanced +towards him timidly. + +'I have done wrong, terribly wrong, sir,' he said, with a sigh. 'I can +make no atonement, except by laying down my life.' + +'A useful sacrifice, truly!' the incensed lawyer rejoined. 'You don't +think of _her_--whom you are killing!' + +'The breath of the tomb is on me!' implored the lad, with a dry mouth. +'Spare any addition to my misery. I was infatuated, too certain of +success, and knew she would be so glad when I succeeded. Those +lives--those lives! Would success have blotted out the recollection of +them? I go, and it is well that I should go, though I leave to so many +a legacy of sorrow.' + +There was a dreamy resignation about the youth, as of one who does +wrong and leaves others to bear the brunt, which infuriated Curran. If +ever there was a moment for promptitude to the exclusion of +dreaminess, this was that moment, for the sake of others as well as +himself; and here he stood, soliloquising like a Hamlet--the +unpractical dangerous dreamer! + +'You might have got away, and did not,' said the lawyer, tartly. 'Do +you know that the country is being scoured for you--that if you are +taken the scrag-boy will make short work of you? You don't care, +maybe. Is it nothing to us--to _her?_' + +'Perhaps there is still time. Get ye gone by the postern in the +rosary. The peasantry are staunch. You might lie in a cabin under the +bed-furniture till night, and then steal out to sea under cover of the +darkness.' + +'If I fall into their hands I will speak my own defence, sir,' +murmured Emmett, without moving. + +'And much good may it do you--fool!' shouted the enraged councillor. +'Don't stand shilly-shallying here like a great goose. Sara, order him +to go. If he's hanged you'll have yourself to thank for it.' + +Sara took no heed, but lay back, watching the dear youth--as white as +wax, like one in a trance. + +There was a turmoil in the next room, a rustle of silk, an upsetting +of chairs, and Mrs. Gillin darted through the doorway. 'Is he gone?' +she asked. 'Then it's too late! There's a body of sodgers marching in. +They are surrounding the house.' + +Robert passed his hands through his matted hair. His belief in his +star was gone. He was plainly not destined to be a Joshua. He panted +to join those who had crossed the rubicon. On the boundary-line of the +other life we are apt to plunge into a selfish beatitude, forgetting +the trouble which our exit may entail on those whom we leave behind. + +In a few moments his fate was fixed. The regular tramp of disciplined +men was heard on the gravel with a ring of matchlocks. Then a figure +darkened the casement. It was Major Sirr demanding admittance. Robert +opened the window himself, and the town-major's lambs streamed in. +Doreen gave a sharp exclamation of surprise--for one of the group was +Cassidy--another, who came forward with arms outstretched, was +Terence--safe and sound. + +The town-major's bushy eyebrows came down upon his nose, as, grinning, +he struck Robert on the shoulder. 'Do you recollect, young fellow,' he +railed, 'how anxious you twice were to be arrested? I told you then +that your turn would come soon enough. It has come now, and I hope you +are satisfied, though I fear I shan't keep you long.' + +Robert Emmett bowed absently, as if he but half-heard, and, kneeling +by Sara's chair again, muttered--forgetful of lookers-on: 'Oh, my +love--my love. Do we part thus? I hoped to have been a prop, round +which your affections might have clung; but a rude blast has snapped +it--they have fallen across a grave!' Then, twining her fair hair +about his fingers with affectionate regret, he fell a dreaming, whilst +Madam Gillin gulped down her sobs. + +'I go into my cold and silent tomb,' he whispered, as he stroked the +baby-fingers of his mistress. My lamp of life is nearly extinguished; +the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom.' + +Major Sirr perceived with his usual tact that this sentimental scene +was producing a bad impression, and must be interrupted. The extreme +youth and woe-begone appearance of Robert--his half-distracted, +half-inspired look--moved the spectators to tears. Surely he was too +young--too much of a visionary--to be held really accountable for the +storm that he had raised. As to the frail girl, she appeared to be +beyond sublunary cares. Lulled by angel-strains, she was gazing upon a +world which has nothing in common with ours--what she saw was +beautiful, and true, and real--the people flitting round her couch +were the unreal shades. The town-major tapped his prisoner's arm, and +begged him to make haste. 'I must obey orders,' he said. 'They are +straightforward, and concise as Lord Clare's always are. I've brought +one prisoner here, and must take another hence. Come along!' + +Mrs. Gillin, unhooking a pair of scissors from her girdle, between +convulsive hiccups, handed them to Doreen. The one woman understood +the other's thought. Doreen gently cut the longest tress from Sara's +golden head and pressed it into Robert's palm. + +'Thanks,' he said, with a quiver of the lip. 'I will wear this in my +bosom when I mount the scaffold. I am ready, gentlemen, and will not +detain you. Before I leave the world--and I leave it now when I leave +my friends--I have one request to make. May the charity of oblivion be +accorded to my memory! Let no one write my epitaph; for as no man who +knows my motives dares now to vindicate them, let not prejudice or +ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in peace, and my tomb +remain uninscribed!' + +This would never do. Major Sirr grasped him roughly by the coat-tail +to drag his prisoner away. The soldiers, accustomed to the business, +closed in quickly. But ere Robert went, Mr. Curran, with tears +streaming down his rugged features, placed his arms about his neck, +and held him in a long embrace. + +Then was the last of Moiley's victims marched away under a strong +guard, and the rest were left to their own sombre meditations. A +stillness of oppression fell on all as Curran, Terence, and Doreen +gathered round prostrate Sara. Mr. Cassidy found himself awkwardly +situated, for nobody took any notice of him. Vainly his boots creaked, +while he coughed behind his hand. Mrs. Gillin was no longer afraid, +for she as well as others saw that, the tussle over, the final +clearing away of Catholic disabilities was only a matter of time--that +even if he launched the thunderbolt at her, in terror of which she had +held her peace concerning what she knew of him, it would signify +little. With the Union a new era was dawning--all the Catholics felt +that--one in which Irish and English interests would grow to be the +same in the future, when the sea of blood was bridged--one in which +the last vile fragments of the Penal Code must soon be swept away--a +relic of the dark ages. Even if Mr. Cassidy were to declare publicly +that she took her Protestant daughter with her to the mass, it was +possible she might escape tribulation for the enormity. So Mr. Cassidy +coughed at her in vain. Curran had never liked him. Doreen knew too +much of him. It was a satisfaction to all, himself included, when, +with a clumsy excuse, he twirled his fine beaver and backed himself +out of the apartment. + +The old earl, his parent, smirked from his frame upon the new wearer +of the coronet. Was the simper more full of meaning than it used to +be, or was it merely the limner's conventional flattery? The desire +expressed with such solemnity upon his deathbed was accomplished; the +wrong was righted now--at last. + +An unconscious mesmeric sympathy beyond their own volition fixed the +gaze of three people upon that portrait of the wicked earl, while the +same thought struck each of them in turn. Doreen withdrew her eyes, +and they fell on Terence, who nodded, and striding towards his +mother's bedchamber, opened the door softly and entered. Though the +day was bright and mild there was a large fire on the hearth, before +which crouched my lady, wrapped in a loose white wrapper, supported by +many pillows. The windows were dimmed to twilight. Shane's favourite +hounds, Aileach and Eblana, sat on their haunches with their muzzles +on her lap, in wistful expectancy of that which they might never see. +She took no notice of the intruder, supposing that it was Doreen, till +recognising a heavier footstep and a dreaded voice, she shrank away +from him with a moan, as if she had received a blow. + +'Mother!' Terence began. + +My lady crawled along the carpet on her knees--a bundle of loose +draperies--her head bent down, her white hair straggling, towards her +son, who recoiled. The aspect of this piteous ruin--this soul-stricken +wreck, the mainspring of whose life was broken, whose courage had +ebbed quite away--suffused the heart of Terence with unutterable pity. +He raised his mother in his stalwart arms, and pressing his warm lips +to hers, whispered: + +'Hush, hush! I know all. You have but one child now. Bless me!' + + + * * * * * + + +But little more remains to be told. Evil, though it seemeth to +flourish like the bay-tree, doth not always prosper in the long run. +Lord Cornwallis turned his back on Ireland, glad to depart. Cassidy +and Sirr came to blows, and fought a duel on the subject of Terence's +release. For those worthies had arranged to share together the reward +which Shane was to have given for their little service. But Shane's +murder altered the face of matters, and Cassidy, with a presence of +mind which did him honour, flew off at once to set free the new Lord +Glandore and claim the merit of having done so. The town-major, +however, knew his man. The giant's endeavours were fruitless, and Sirr +found him blustering at the provost-gate when, in obedience to Lord +Clare's behest, he came, with feigned surprise, to carry the new lord +back to his ancestral home. Sirr saw through his crony's intention, +and branded him hotly with being 'no gintleman,' and a 'mean fellow;' +whereupon the two met on Stephen's Green, and, after a few passes, +declared 'honour satisfied.' The nests of both were well feathered. +One became noted for pious works; the other set up as a patron of art, +and formed the finest collection of snuff-boxes in the three kingdoms. + +Robert Emmett was hanged in Thomas Street, and met his fate with +fortitude. The same enthusiasm which allured him to his doom enabled +him to support with serene courage its utmost rigour. His extreme +youth and well-known talents filled the spectators with grief. He sang +'The Sword' with a firm and mellow voice, which never quailed till, +the board on which he stood being tilted up, he was set free to join +the band that were impatiently awaiting him beyond the Styx. + +Lord Clare's ambition was not gratified. He who had been so +unprincipled and arrogant, so insolent and overbearing, his cleverness +no longer needed, was tossed aside by his employers. He carried his +pretensions into the English senate, and was ignominiously insulted +there by his Grace the Duke of Bedford. Pitt gave him no comfort, +observing with a yawn that he was sorry his lordship was a failure; +that he would do well, perhaps, to return to Ireland. He who had so +deceived was himself betrayed. For a few years he lingered in +obscurity, being heard on one occasion, when near his end, to mutter +with sombre meaning: 'Earl and Lord Chancellor! It would have been +better for Ireland if I had lived a sweep!' He died--some said of +chagrin, and some of remorse. Showers of dead cats were thrown upon +his coffin. His last eager directions were that his papers should be +carefully destroyed unread. + +Lord Castlereagh, as all the world knows, cut his throat. + +Government, acting on the advice of the Marquis Cornwallis, accorded a +free pardon to the new Lord Glandore, whose romantic history softened +King George's heart--even though he added yet another to his sins by +marrying a Catholic. It is possible that his Majesty's ire might have +found vent in a seizure of the property of the incorrigible traitor; +but, happily for the latter and for the nation, the King's few wits +deserted him, and he was shut up--as he should have been many years +before. + +Lord and Lady Glandore sojourned abroad awhile, basking in the +softness of a kindlier clime. They had suffered too much in Ireland to +feel aught but pain in dwelling there. Moreover, they had those under +their care whose sorrow hung over them, whilst theirs was at length +assuaged. + +The old countess and the Currans travelled over Europe with them. My +lady never fully rallied. Though her son and daughter lavished every +attention upon her which affection could dictate, the ghost was never +laid, the startled expression never departed from her face. When they +were present she tried to assume cheerfulness; but if one or other +came on her unawares, it was to feel that her heart was not with +them--that it was buried in the vault on the verge of Dublin Bay, by +the side of the unlucky Shane. + +Curran did rally to a certain extent, and returned to Ireland to win +new esteem as Master of the Rolls. But that was long after gentle Sara +died, an event which caused Doreen deep grief, though Terence reminded +her that it was for the best. Her reason went from her, so that she +never knew of Robert's fate, but would sit crooning the weird ditties +of her native land for hours together, and hearken for his coming with +a vacant glee that was heartrending to those who loved her: and all +who knew her loved gentle Sara. Slowly she faded and sank to +rest--peacefully, serenely, with no last buffeting against the +trammels of this life--as an infant sinks into refreshing slumber. To +her, if not to others, was Heaven kind. Though she was given a cross +to bear, yet she never felt its weight, nor knew that she stood in the +ranks of the bereaved. It was of her that a gifted poet sang: + + + 'Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest + When they promise a glorious morrow; + They'll shine o'er her sleep like a smile from the West, + From her own loved island of sorrow!' + + + + + TO THE READER. + + +It has been the habit of novelists, for some reason or another with +which we have nothing to do at present, to associate the Irish +character with rollicking fun, naive bungling, and mighty fine tastes +of the brogue; and it occurred to me some time since that English +readers who are surfeited with orthodox Hibernian jollities might be +glad, for a change, to look on Pat from his shadowed side; to +contemplate his dreary pilgrimage through the Valley of the Shadow of +Death; to pause for a moment over the events which have bound round +his character with sorrow and hedged him about with grief. The history +of Ireland has been so perverted by mendacious faction that the truth +lies deeply interred. Protestant has vilified Catholic, and Catholic +Protestant, to the extent which is inevitably associated with +religious rancour. My sympathies being specially with neither party, I +have endeavoured to weigh the evidence in a free and independent +spirit, and have come to the conclusion, as might have been expected, +that both were in a measure right and both wrong, considering that +both were actuated by grievances of a more or less awful character, +which, being tinged by a colour of religion, drove them both to +madness and excess. + +One of the chief difficulties with which an historical novelist has to +contend, is the question how far imagination may be permitted +successfully to fight with fact. Conversely, even reverend historians +are beset by this trouble. Walter Scott, Chateaubriand, Michelet, +hardly allow us to separate romance from history, and history from +romance. + +Being desirous of giving a true picture of a time, clothed in romantic +garb, I, in my last novel, conscientiously pointed out the +peccadilloes which lay cunningly in ambush in its chapters; and, being +still anxious to keep my conscience clear, I deem it advisable now to +repeat the process. + +In the construction of this work I was deliberately guilty of two +crimes, both of which, I consider, are attended with extenuating +circumstances. + +The first concerns the compact between the Executive and the +state-prisoners, and is a sin of omission; for although the facts and +the disgraceful behaviour of the English King and Government are +truthfully related, it did not suit the scheme of the story to enter +into all the motives which impelled the United Irishmen to sacrifice +their feelings, and agree to so singular an arrangement. The rebel +leaders submitted to examination by the secret council in hopes of +saving the life of Oliver Bond; but as Oliver Bond was not one of my +chosen puppets, I considered it permissible to leave him in his grave. + +The second crime is one of much greater enormity. To suit the purpose +of the weft, I have presumed to ante-date Emmett's rising by two years +and a half. The United standard first waved over Dublin Castle on +January 1,1801, whilst Emmett's riot did not take place till July, +1803. But I hold that, for the purposes of romance, the romancist may +be permitted to draw events together, though he is in no case to be +allowed to transpose them. At the time of the Union Robert Emmett was +away in France on treasonable business; but it is in every way +probable that if he had been in Ireland he would have acted as I have +made him act. There is ample testimony to prove that the dwellers in +the country (as opposed to the dwellers in the towns) were ready as +early as the winter of '79 to make a new attempt if they could have +found a leader, and that they waited for two years simply because +Emmett did not call them to arms till then. + +Lord Cornwallis writes to General Ross under date of 1779: 'We have +every reason to believe that the French are undertaking a serious +attack, and from the most authentic channels we learn that the +disaffected are more active than ever in swearing and organising the +southern provinces.'[2] And again later: 'That the French will +persevere in their attempt to invade Ireland there can be no doubt, +and if they should succeed, which God forbid, in establishing a war in +this country,'[3] etc. At page 86 we find, 'Though the new Directory +was never fully formed, yet the spirit of rebellion was carefully kept +alive--the flame subtly fanned--till it burst out in 1803 under Robert +Emmett.' H. Alexander, Esq., writes to the Rt. Hon. T. Pelham under +date January, 1800, that 'Dublin is much and seriously agitated.' + + +---------------------------- + +Footnote 2: Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 56. + +Footnote 3: Ibid., p. 60. + + +---------------------------- + + +My portrait of Lord Clare differs in some respects from the usual +conception of that statesman; but I have diligently studied everything +concerning him which was attainable, and am convinced that his +character was as it is here depicted. + +I gratefully take this opportunity of thanking the Press for the +unanimously indulgent manner in which they treated 'Lady Grizel'--with +one exception, that of a certain weekly print whose _raison d'etre_ is +its scurrility; and I further embrace this occasion of reminding the +anonymous critic of the said ill-natured print that facts may be +slightly distorted for a set purpose rather than through ignorance, +and that the critic doth not transcendently exalt either his wisdom or +his attainments by pointing out with magnificent scorn that such an +event took place in January instead of March; for Macaulay's +celebrated schoolboy could do as much or more in a diligent half-hour +by the help of that invaluable book 'The Encyclop[oe]dia of +Chronology.' For the special benefit of the said sapient critic, +however, I append to this discourse a list of the works upon Irish +affairs to which I have been indebted, in order that he too may +improve his mind, and be the better prepared to hold up to derision +the rents and slits in my poor pasteboard armour. + + LEWIS WINGFIELD. + + Garrick Club, + _July_, 1879. + + + * * * + + + LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED IN THE COURSE + OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS STORY. + + +Barrington's Personal Sketches, 3 vols. +Barrington's Historic Memoirs of Ireland, 2 vols. +Madden's Irish Political Literature, 2 vols. +Madden's United Irishmen, 4 vols. +Croker's Memoirs of Holt, 2 vols. +Gilbert's History of Dublin, 3 vols. +Maxwell's Irish Rebellion, 1 vol. +Curran's Speeches, 1 vol. +Hardy's Memoirs of Charlemont, 2 vols. +Memoirs and Journals of Wolfe Tone, 2 vols. +Life and Times of Geo. R. Fitzgerald, 1 vol. +Fitz Patrick's Sham Squire, 1 vol. +Fitz Patrick's Ireland before the Union, 1 vol. +Curran's Life, by his son, 2 vols. +Philips's Curran and Contemporaries, 1 vol. +Memoirs of the Earl of Clare, 2 vols. +Walsh's Ireland Ninety Years Ago, 1 vol. +The Spirit of the Nation, 1 vol. +Cornwallis Correspondence, 3 vols. +Castlereagh Correspondence, 3 vols. +Gentleman's Magazine, vols. 53 to 72--19 vols. +Memoirs of Captain Rock, 1 vol. +Father Burke's Refutation of Froude, 1 vol. +Goldwin Smith's Irish History And Character, 1 vol. +Ladies' Museum and Polite Repository, 6 vols. +Martin's Before and After the Union, 1 vol. +Sufferings of Charles Jackson at Wexford. June, 1798, 1 vol. + + + PAMPHLETS. + +Both Sides of the Gutter. +Irish Catholics in 1725. +Ireland: A Satire. +Account of Ireland: A Letter. +Aphorisms Relating to the Kingdom of Ireland. +Causes of the Rebellion, 1799. + + + + THE END. + + + + * * * * * + BILLING AND SON'S, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY. + _S. & H_. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Lords of Strogue Vol. III, (of III), by +Lewis Wingfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LORDS OF STROGUE VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 38863.txt or 38863.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/6/38863/ + +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. 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