"G.o.d bless you, asth.o.r.e, for thim words! and they"re thrue--thrue as the gospel, arrah what are you both so proud of? I defy you to get the aquil of my son in the barony of Lisnamona, either for face, figure or temper!
I say he"s fit to be a husband for as good a gill as ever stood in your daughter"s shoes; an" from what I hear of her, she"s as good a girl as ever the Almighty put breath in. G.o.d bless you, young man, you"re a credit yourself to any parents."
"An" we have nothin" to say aginst your son, nor aginst your wife aither," replied the Bodagh; "an" if your own name was as clear----if you wor looked upon as they are--tut, I"m spakin" nonsense! How do I know whether ever your son and my daughter spoke a word to one another or not?"
"I"ll go bail Oona never opened her lips to him," said her mother; "I"ll go bail she had more spirit."
"An" I"ll go bail she can"t live widout him, an" will have him whether you like it or not," said Fardorougha.
"Mother," observed John, "will you and my father come into the next room for a minute--I wish to say a word or two to each of you; and will you, Fardorougha, have the goodness to sit here till we return?"
"Divil a notion," replied O"Donovan, "I have of stirrin" my foot till the thing"s settled one way or other."
"Now," said young O"Brien, when they got into the back parlor, "it"s right that you both should know to what length the courtship between Una and Connor O"Donovan has gone."
"Coortship! _Vich no hoiah!_ sure she wouldn"t go to coort wid the son o" that ould schamer."
"I"m beginning to fear that it"s too thrue," observed the Bodagh; "and if she has--but let us hear John."
"It"s perfectly true, indeed, mother, that she has," said the son. "Yes, and they are both this moment pledged, betrothed, promised, solemnly promised to each other; and in my opinion the old man within is acting a more honorable part than either of you give him credit for."
"Well, well, well," exclaimed the mother; "who afther that would ever thrust a daughter? The girl that we rared up as tindher as a chicking, to go to throw herself away upon the son of ould Fardorougha Donovan, the misert! Confusion to the ring ever he"ll put an her! I"d see her stretched (dead) first."
"I agree with you in that, Bridget," said the husband; "if it was only to punish her thrachery and desate, I"ll take good care a ring will never go on them; but how do you know all this, John?"
"From Una"s own lips, father."
The Bodagh paced to and fro in much agitation; one hand in his small--clothes pocket, and the other twirling his watch-key as rapidly as he could. The mother, in the meantime, had thrown herself into a chair, and gave way to a violent fit of grief.
"And you have this from Una"s own lips?"
"Indeed, father, I have; and it is much to her credit that she was candid enough to place such confidence in her brother."
"Pledged and promised to one another. Bridget, who could believe this?"
"Believe it! I don"t believe it--it"s only a schame of the hussy to get him. Oh, thin, Queen of Heaven this day, but it"s black news to us!"
"John," said the father, "tell Una to come down to us."
"Father, I doubt that"s rather a trying task for her. I wish, you wouldn"t insist."
"Go off, sir; she must come down immediately, I"ll have it from her own lips, too."
Without another word of remonstrance the son went to bring her down.
When the brother and sister entered the room, O"Brien still paced the floor. He stood, and, turning his eyes upon his daughter with severe displeasure, was about to speak, but he appeared to have lost the power of utterance; and, after one or two ineffectual attempts, the big tears fairly rolled down his cheeks.
"See, see," said the mother, "see what you have brought us to. Is it thrue that you"re promised to Fardorougha"s son?"
Una tottered over to a chair, and the blood left her cheeks; her lips became dry, and she gasped for breath.
"Why, don"t you think it worth your while to answer me?" continued the mother.
The daughter gave a look of deep distress and supplication at her brother; but when she perceived her father in tears, her head sank down upon her bosom.
"What! what! Una," exclaimed the Bodagh, "Una--" But ere he could complete the question, the timid creature fell senseless upon the floor.
For a long time she lay in that friendly trance, for such, in truth, it was to a delicate being, subjected to an ordeal so painful as that she was called upon to pa.s.s through. We have, indeed, remarked that there is in the young, especially in those of the softer s.e.x, a feeling of terror, and shame, and confusion, when called upon by their parents to disclose a forbidden pa.s.sion, that renders its avowal perhaps the most formidable task which the young heart can undergo. It is a fearful trial for the youthful, and one which parents ought to conduct with surpa.s.sing delicacy and tenderness, unless they wish to drive the ingenuous spirit into the first steps of falsehood and deceit.
"Father," said John, "I think you may rest satisfied with what you witness; and I am sure it cannot make you or mother happy to see poor Una miserable."
Una, who had been during the greater part of her swoon supported in her weeping and alarmed mother"s arms, now opened her eyes, and, after casting an affrighted look about the room, she hid her face in her mother"s bosom, and exclaimed, as distinctly as the violence of sobbing grief would permit her:
"Oh, mother dear, have pity on me! bring me up stairs and I will tell you."
"I do, I do pity you," said the mother, kissing her; "I know you"ll be a good girl yet, Oona."
"Una," said her father, placing his hand gently on her shoulder, "was I ever harsh to you, or did I--"
"Father dear," she returned, interrupting him, "I would have told you and my mother, but that I was afraid."
There was something so utterly innocent and artless in this reply, that each of the three persons present felt sensibly affected by its extreme and childlike simplicity.
"Don"t be afraid of me, Una," continued the Bodagh, "but answer--me truly, like a good girl, and I swear upon my reputation, that I won"t be angry. Do you love the son of this Fardorougha?"
"Not, father, because he"s Fardorougha"s son," said Una, whose face was still hid in her mother"s bosom; "I would rather he wasn"t."
"But you do love him?"
"For three years he has scarcely been out of my mind."
Something that might be termed a smile crossed the countenance of the Bodagh at this intimation.
"G.o.d help you for a foolish child!" said he; "you"re a poor counsellor when left to defend your own cause."
"She won"t defend it by a falsehood, at all events," observed her trustworthy and affectionate brother.
"No, she wouldn"t," said the mother; "and I did her wrong a while ago, to say that she"d schame anything about it."
"And are you and Connor O"Donovan promised to aich other?" inquired the father again.
"But it wasn"t I that proposed the promise," returned Una.
"Oh, the desperate villain," exclaimed her father, "to be guilty of such a thing! but you took the promise Una--you did--you did--I needn"t ask."
"No," replied Una.
"No!" reechoed the father; "then you did not give the promise?"
"I mean," she rejoined, "that you needn"t ask."