"Surely, you can"t suppose for a moment, my dear Una, that I, your brother, who, by the way, have never opened my lips to him, could deliberately convey such a message."
"It must be conveyed in some manner; I"m resolved on that."
"The best plan," said the other, "is to find out whatsoever attorney they employ, and then to discover, if possible, whether his father has furnished sufficient funds for his defence. If he has, your offer is unnecessary; and if not, a private arrangement may be made with the attorney of which n.o.body else need know anything."
"G.o.d bless you, John! G.o.d bless you!" she replied; "that is far better; you have been a good brother to your poor Una--to your poor unhappy Una!"
She leaned her head on a table, and wept for some time at the trying fate, as she termed it, which hung over two beings so young and so guiltless of any crime. The brother soothed her by every argument in his power, and, after gently compelling her to dry her tears, expressed his intention of going early the next day to ascertain whether or not any professional man had been engaged to conduct the defence of her unfortunate lover.
In effecting this object there was little time lost on the part of young O"Brien. Knowing that two respectable attorneys lived in the next market town, he deemed it best to ascertain whether Fardorougha had applied to either of them for the purposes aforementioned, or, if not, to a.s.sure himself whether the old man had gone to any of those pettifoggers, who, rather than appear without practice, will undertake a cause almost on any terms, and afterwards inst.i.tute a lawsuit for the recovery of a much larger bill of costs than a man of character and experience would demand.
In pursuance of the plan concerted between them, the next morning found him rapping, about eleven o"clock, at the door of an attorney named Kennedy, whom he asked to see on professional business. A clerk, on hearing his voice in the hall, came out and requestedm him to step into a back room, adding that his master, who was engaged, would see him the moment he had despatched the person then with him. Thus shown, he was separated from O"Halloran"s office only by a pair of folding doors, through which every word uttered in the office could be distinctly heard; a circ.u.mstance that enabled O"Brien unintentionally to overhear the following dialogue between the parties:
"Well, my good friend," said Kennedy to the stranger, who, it appeared, had arrived before O"Brien only a few minutes, "I am now disengaged; pray, let me know your business."
The stranger paused a moment, as if seeking the most appropriate terms in which to express himself.
"It"s a black business," he replied, "and the worst of it is I"m a poor man."
"You should not go to law, then," observed the attorney. "I tell you beforehand you will find it is devilish expensive."
"I know it," said the man; "it"s open robbery; I know what it cost me to recover the little pences that wor sometimes due to me, when I broke myself lending weeny trifles to strugglin" people that I thought honest, and robbed me aftherwards."
"In what way can my services be of use to you at present? for that I suppose is the object of your calling upon me," said Kennedy.
"Oh thin, sir, if you have the grace of G.o.d, or kindness, or pity in your heart, you can sarve me, you can save my heart from breakin"!"
"How--how, man?--come to the point."
"My son, sir, Connor, my only son, was taken away from his mother an"
me, an" put into jail yesterday mornin", an" he innocent; he was put in, sir, for burnin" Bodagh Buie O"Brien"s haggard, an" as G.o.d is above me, he as much burnt it as you did."
"Then you are Fardorougha Donovan," said the attorney; "I have heard of that outrage; and, to be plain with you, a good deal about yourself.
How, in the name of heaven, can you call yourself a poor man?"
"They belie me, sir, they"re bitther enemies that say I"m otherwise."
"Be you rich or be you poor, let me tell you that I would not stand in your son"s situation for the wealth of the king"s exchequer. Sell your last cow; your last coat; your last acre; sell the bed from under you, without loss of time, if you wish to save his life; and I tell you that for this purpose you must employ the best counsel, and plenty of them.
The a.s.sizes commence on this day week, so that you have not a single moment to lose. Think now whether you love your son or your money best."
"Saver of earth, amn"t I an unhappy man! every one sayin" I have money, an" me has not! Where would I get it? Where would a man like me get it?
Instead o" that, I"m so poor that I see plainly I"ll starve yet; I see it"s before me! G.o.d pity me this day! But agin, there"s my boy, my boy; oh, G.o.d, pity him! Say what"s the laste, the lowest, the very lowest you could take, for defendin" him; an" for pity"s sake, for charity"s sake, for G.o.d"s sake, don"t grind a poor, helpless, ould man by extortion. If you knew the boy--if you knew him--oh, afore my G.o.d, if you knew him, you wouldn"t be apt to charge a penny; you"d be proud to sarve sich a boy."
"You wish everything possible to be done for him, of course."
"Of coorse, of coorse; but widout extravagance; as asy an" light on a poor man as you can. You could shorten it, sure, an" lave out a grate dale that "ud be of no use; nu" half the paper "ud do; for you might make the clerks write close--why, very little "ud be wanted if you wor savin"."
"I can defend him with one counsel if you wish; but, if anxious to save the boy"s life, you ought to enable your attorney to secure a strong bar of the most eminent lawyers he can engage."
"An" what "ud it cost to hire three or four of them?"
"The whole expenses might amount to between thirty and forty guineas."
A deep groan of dismay, astonishment, and anguish, was the only reply made to this for some time.
"Oh, heavens above!" he screamed, "what will--what will become of me!
I"d rather be dead, as I"ll soon be, than hear this, or know it at all.
How could I get it? I"m as poor as poverty itself! Oh, couldn"t you feel for the boy, an" defend him on trust; couldn"t you feel for him?"
"It"s your business to do that," returned the man of law, coolly.
"Feel for him; me! oh, little you know how my heart"s in him; but any way, I"m an unhappy man; everything in the world wide goes against me; but--oh, my darlin" boy--Connor, Connor, my son, to be tould that I don"t feel for you--well you know, avourneen machree--well you know that I feel for you, and "ud kiss the track of your feet upon the ground: Oh, it"s cruel to tell it to me; to say sich a thing to a man that his heart"s braakin" widin him for your sake; but, sir, you sed this minute that you could defend him wid one lawyer?"
"Certainly, and with a cheap one, too, if you wish; but, in that case, I would rather decline the thing altogether."
"Why? why? sure if you can defind him chapely, isn"t it so much saved?
isn"t it the same as if you definded him at a higher rate? Sure, if one lawyer tells the truth for the poor boy, ten or fifteen can do no more; an" thin maybe they"d cra.s.s in an" puzzle one another if you hired too many of them."
"How would you feel, should your son be found guilty; you know the penalty is his life. He will be executed."
O"Brien could hear the old man clap his hands in agony, and in truth he walked about wringing them as if his heart would burst.
"What will I do?" he exclaimed; "what will I do? I can"t lose him, an" I won"t lose him! Lose him! oh G.o.d, oh G.o.d, it is to lose the best son and only child that ever man had! Wouldn"t it be downright murdher in me to let him be lost if I could prevint it? Oh, if I was in his place, what wouldn"t he do for me, for the father that he always loved!"
The tears ran copiously down his furrowed cheeks; and his whole appearance evinced such distraction and anguish as could rarely be witnessed.
"I"ll tell you what I"ll do," he added; "I"ll give you fifty guineas after my death if you"ll defind him properly."
"Much obliged," replied the other; "but in matters of this kind we make no such bargains."
"I"ll make it sixty, in case you don"t axe it now."
"Can you give me security that I"ll survive you? Why, you are tough-looking enough to outlive me."
"Me tough!--no, G.o.d help me, my race is nearly ran; I won"t be alive this day twelve months--look at the differ atween us."
"This is idle talk," said the attorney; "determine on what you"ll do; really my time is valuable, and I am now wasting it to no purpose."
"Take the offer--depind on"t it"ll soon come to you."
"No, no," said the other, coolly; "not at all; we might shut up shop if we made such _post obit_ bargains as that."
"I"ll tell you," said Fardorougha; "I"ll tell you what;" his eyes gleamed with a reddish, bitter light; and he clasped his withered hands together, until the joints cracked, and the perspiration teemed from his pale, sallow features; "I"ll tell you," he added--"I"ll make it seventy!"
"No."
"Aighty!"
"No."