"It would be worse than murdher," she exclaimed, "to do so. No--prepare him by your advice, Fardorougha, ay, and by your example, to be firm--and tell him that his mother expects he will die like an innocent man--n.o.ble and brave--and not like a guilty coward, afeard to look up and meet his G.o.d."
Infidels and hypocrites, so long as their career in vice is unchecked by calamity, will no doubt sneer when we a.s.sure them, that Fardorougha, after leaving his wife that morning once more to visit his son, felt a sense of relief, or, perhaps we should say, a breaking of faint light upon his mind, which, slight as it was, afforded him more comfort and support than he ever hoped to experience. Indeed, it was almost impossible for any heart to exist within the influence of that piety which animated his admirable wife, and not catch the holy fire which there burned with such purity and brightness.
Ireland, however, abounds with such instances of female piety and fort.i.tude, not, indeed, as they would be made to appear in the unfeminine violence of political turmoil, in which a truly pious female would not embroil herself; but in the quiet recesses of domestic life--in the hard struggles against poverty, and in those cruel visitations, where the G.o.dly mother is forced to see her innocent son corrupted by the dark influence of political crime, drawn within the vortex of secret confederacy, and subsequently yielding up his life to the outraged laws of that country which he a.s.sisted to distract. It is in scenes like these that the unostentatious magnanimity of the pious Irish wife or mother may be discovered; and it is here where, as the night and storms of life darken her path, the holy fort.i.tude of her heart shines with a l.u.s.tre proportioned to the depth of the gloom around her.
When Fardorougha reached the town in which his ill-fated son occupied the cell of a felon, he found to his surprise that, early as were his habits, there were others whose movements were still more early than his own. John O"Brien had come to town--been with his attorney--had got a memorial in behalf of Connor to the Irish government, engrossed, and actually signed by more than one--half of the jury who tried him--all before the hour of ten o"clock. A copy of thi"s doc.u.ment, which was written by O"Brien himself, now lies before us, with the names of all the jurors attached to it; and a more beautiful or affecting piece of composition we have never read. The energy and activity of O"Brien were certainly uncommon, and so, indeed, were his motives. As he himself told Fardorougha, whom he met as the latter entered the town--
"I would do what I have done for Connor, although I have never yet exchanged a syllable with him. Yet, I do a.s.sure you, Fardorougha, that I have other motives--which you shall never know--far stronger than any connected with the fate of your son. Now, don"t misunderstand me."
"No," replied the helpless old man, who was ignorant of the condition of his sister, "I will not, indeed--I"d be long sarry."
O"Brien saw that any rational explanation he might give would be only thrown away upon a man who seemed to be so utterly absorbed and stupefied by the force of his own sufferings.
"Poor old man," he exclaimed, as Fardorougha left him, to visit Connor; "see what affliction does? There are thousands now who pity you--even you, whom almost every one who knew you, cursed and detested."
Such, indeed, was the fact. The old man"s hardness of heart was forgotten in the pity that was produced by the dreadful fate which awaited his unhappy son. We must now pa.s.s briefly over occurrences which are better understood when left to the reader"s imagination.
John O"Brien was not the only one who interested himself in the fate of Connor. Fardorougha, as a matter of course, got the priest of the parish, a good and pious man, to draw up a memorial in the name, as he said, of himself and his wife. The gentry of the neighborhood, also, including the members of the grand jury, addressed government on his behalf--for somehow there was created among those who knew the parties, or even who heard the history of their loves, a sympathy which resulted more from those generous impulses that intuitively perceive truth, than from the cooler calculations of reason. The heart never reasons--it is, therefore, the seat of feeling, and the fountain of mercy; the head does--and it is probably on that account the seat of justice, often of severity, and not unfrequently of cruelty and persecution, Connor himself was much relieved by that day"s interview with his father. Even he could perceive a change for the better in the old man"s deportment.
Fardorougha"s praises of Honor, and his strong allusions to the support and affection he experienced at her hands, under circ.u.mstances so trying, were indeed well calculated to prepare "her n.o.ble boy," as she truly called him, for the reception of the still more n.o.ble message which she sent him.
"Father," said he, as they separated that day, "tell my mother that I will die as she wishes me; and tell her, too, that if I wasn"t an innocent man, I could not do it. And oh, father," he added, and he seized his hands, and fell upon his neck, "oh, father dear, if you love me, your own Connor--and I know you do--oh, then, father dear, I say again, be guided in this heavy affliction by my dear mother"s advice."
"Connor," returned the old man, deeply affected, "I will. I had made my mind up to that afore I saw you at all to-day. Connor, do you know what I"m beginning to think?"
"No, father dear, I do not."
"Why, then, it"s this, that she"ll be the manes of savin" your father"s soul. Connor, I can look back now upon my money--all I lost--it was no doubt terrible--terrible all out. Connor, my rint is due, and I haven"t the manes of meetin" it."
Alas! thought the boy, how hard it is to root altogether out of the heart that principle which inclines it to the love of wealth!
"At any rate, I will take your advice, Connor, and be guided by your mother. She"s very poorly, or she"d be wid you afore now; but, indeed, Connor, her health is the occasion of it--it is--it is!"
Fardorougha"s apology for his wife contained much more truth than he himself was aware of at the time he made it. On returning home that night he found her considerably worse, but, as she had been generally healthy, he very naturally ascribed her illness to the affliction she felt for the fate of their son. In this, however, he was mistaken, as the original cause of it was unconnected with the heavy domestic dispensation which had fallen upon them. So far as she was concerned, the fate of her boy would have called up from her heart fresh energy and" if possible a higher order of meek but pious courage.--She would not have left him unsustained and uncherished, had the physical powers of the mother been able to second the sacred principles with which she met and triumphed over the trial that was laid upon her.
It was one evening about ten days after O"Donovan"s conviction that Bodagh Buie O"Brien"s wife sat by the bedside of her enfeebled and languishing daughter. The crisis of her complaint had pa.s.sed the day before; and a very slight improvement, visible only to the eye of her physician, had taken place. Her delirium remained much as before; sometimes returning with considerable violence, and again leaving reason, though feeble and easily disturbed, yet when unexcited by external causes, capable of applying its powers to the circ.u.mstances around her. On this occasion the mother, who watched every motion and antic.i.p.ated every wish of the beloved one, saw that she turned her eye several times upon her as if some peculiar anxiety distressed her.
"Una, jewel," she at length inquired, "is there anything you want, colleen maehree; or anything I can do for you?"
"Come near me, mother," she replied, "come near me."
Her mother approached her still more nearly.
"I"m afraid," she said, in a very low voice, "I"m afraid to ask it."
"Only wait for a minute or two," said her mother, "an" John will--but here"s the doctor"s foot; they wor spakin" a word or two below; an" whisper, darlin" o" my heart, sure John has something to tell you--something that will"--
She looked with a searching anxiety into her mother"s face; and it might have been perceived that the morning twilight of hope beamed faintly but beautifully upon her pale features. The expression that pa.s.sed over them was indeed so light and transient that one could scarcely say she smiled; yet that a more perceptible serenity diffused its gentle irradiation over her languid countenance was observed even by her mother.
The doctor"s report was favorable.
"She is slowly improving," he said, on reaching the parlor, "since yesterday; I"m afraid, however, she"s too weak at present to sustain this intelligence. I would recommend you to wait for a day or two, and in the meantime to a.s.sume a cheerful deportment, and to break it to her rather by your looks and manner than by a direct or abrupt communication."
They promised to observe his directions; but when her mother informed them of the hint she herself threw out to her, they resolved to delay the matter no longer; and John, in consequence of what his mother had led her to expect, went to break the intelligence to her as well as he could. An expectation had been raised in her mind, and he judged properly enough that there was less danger in satisfying it than in leaving her just then in a state of such painful uncertainty.
"Dear Una," said he, "I am glad to hear the doctor say that you are better."
"I think I am a little," said she.
"What was my mother saying to you, just now, before the doctor was with you? But why do you look at me so keenly, Una?" said he, cheerfully; "it"s sometime since you saw me in such a good humor--isn"t it?"
She paused for a moment herself; and her brother could observe that the hope which his manner was calculated to awaken, lit itself into a faiut smile rather visible in her eyes than on her features.
"Why, I believe you are smiling yourself, Una."
"John," said she, earnestly, "is it good?"
"It is, darling--he won"t die."
"Kiss me, kiss me," she said; "may eternal blessings rest upon you!"
She then kissed him affectionately, laid her head back upon the pillow, and John saw with delight that the large tears of happiness rolled in torrents down her palo cheeks.
It was indeed true that Connor O"Donovan was not to die. The memorials which had reached government from so many quarters, backed as they were by very powerful influence, and detailing as they did a case of such very romantic interest, could scarcely fail in arresting the execution of so stern and deadly a sentence. It was ascertained, too, by the intercourse of his friends with government, that the judge who tried his case, notwithstanding the apparent severity of his charge, had been moved by an irresistible impulse to save him, and he actually determined from the beginning to have his sentence commuted to transportation for life.
The happy effect of this communication on Una O"Brien diffused a cheerful spirit among her family and relatives, who, in truth, had feared that her fate would ultimately depend upon that of her lover.
After having been much relieved by the copious flood of tears she shed, and heard with composure all the details connected with the mitigation of his sentence, she asked her brother if Connor"s parents had been yet made acquainted with it.
"I think not," he replied; "the time is too short."
"John," said the affectionate girl, "oh, consider his mother; and think of the misery that one single hour"s knowledge of this may take away from her heart! Go to her, my dear John, and may all the blessings of heaven rest upon you!"
"Good--by, then, Una dear; I will go."
He took her worn hand in his, as he spoke, and, looking on her with affectionate admiration, added--
"Yes! good-by, my darling sister; believe me, Una, that I think if there"s justice in Heaven, you"ll have a light heart yet."
"It is very light now," she returned, "compared with what it was; but go, John, don"t lose a moment; for I know what they suffer."
Her mother, after John"s departure for Fardorougha"s, went up to sit with her; but she found that the previous scene, although it relieved, had exhausted her. In the course of a few minutes their limited dialogue ceased, and she sank into a sound and refreshing sleep, from which she did not awaken until her brother had some time returned from the execution of his pious message. And piously was that message received by her for whose misery the considerate heart of Una O"Brien felt so deeply. Fardorougha had been out about the premises, mechanically looking to the manner in which the business of his farm had been of late managed by his two servants, when he descried O"Brien approaching the house at a quick if not a hurried pace. He immediately went in and communicated the circ.u.mstance to his wife.
"Honor," said he, "here is Bodagh Buie"s son comin" up to the house--what on earth can bring the boy here?"
This was the first day on which his wife had been able to rise from her sick bed. She was consequently feeble, and, physically speaking, capable of no domestic exertion. Her mind, however, was firm as ever, and prompt as before her calamity to direct and overlook, in her own sweet and affectionate manner, whatever required her superintendence.
"I"m sure I don"t know, Fardorougha," she replied. "It can"t, I hope, be wid bad news--they thravel fast enough--an" I"m sure the Bodagh"s son wouldn"t take pleasure in bein" the first to tell them to us."
"But what can bring him, Honor? What on earth can bring the boy here now, that never stood undher our roof afore?"
"Three or four minutes, Fardorougha, will tell us. Let us hope in G.o.d it isn"t bad. Eh, Saver above, it wouldn"t be the death of his sister--of Connor"s Oona! No," she added, "they wouldn"t send, much less come, to tell vis that; but sure we"ll hear it--we"ll hear it; and may G.o.d give us stringth to hear it right, whether it"s good or bad! Amin, Jasus, this day!"