"Old Dan Murphy; then we are as safe as we can be," said Terence, rising and whistling. "You really did make me feel uncomfortable, you have such a queer way; but if it is Dan Murphy, he will give father any amount of time. Why, they are the best of friends."
"Well, father went to see him on the subject--I happen to know that--and I don"t think he has given him time. There is something wrong, anyhow--I don"t know what; but there _is_ something very wrong, and I mean to find out tomorrow."
"Nora, if I were you I wouldn"t interfere. You are only a young girl, and these kind of things are quite out of your province. Father has pulled along ever since you and I were born. Most Irish gentlemen are poor in these days. How can they help it? The whole country is going to ruin; there is no proper trade; there is no proper system anywhere. The tenants are allowed to pay their rent just as they please----"
"As if we could harry them," said inconsistent Nora. "The poor dears, with their tiny cots and their hard, hard times. I"d rather eat dry bread all my days than press one of them."
"If these are your silly views, you must expect our father to be badly off, and the property to go to the dogs, and everything to come to an end," said the brother in a discontented tone. "But there, I say once more that you have exaggerated in this matter; there is nothing more wrong than there has been since I can remember. I am glad I am going to England; I am glad I am going to be out of it all for a bit."
"You going to England--you, Terry?"
"Yes. Don"t you know? Our Uncle George Hartrick has asked me to stay with him, and I am going."
"And you can go? You can leave us just now?"
"Why, of course; there will be fewer mouths to feed. It"s a good thing every way."
"But Uncle George is a rich man?"
"What of that?"
"I mean he lives in a big place, and has heaps and heaps of money,"
said Nora.
"So much the better."
"You cannot go to him _shabby_. What are you going to do for dress?"
"Mother will manage that."
"Mother!" Nora leaped up from the window-ledge and stood facing her brother. "You have spoken to mother?"
"Of course I have. Dear me, Nora, you are getting to be quite an unpleasant sort of girl."
"You have spoken to mother," repeated Nora, "and she has promised to help you? How will she do it?"
Terence moved restlessly.
"I suppose she knows herself how she will do it."
"And you will let her?" said Nora--"you, a man, will let her? You know she has no money; you know she has nothing but her little trinkets, and you allow her to sell those to give you pleasure? Oh, I am ashamed of you! I am sorry you are my brother. How can you do it?"
"Look here, Nora, I won"t be scolded by you. After all, I am your elder, and you are bound, at any rate, to show me decent outward respect. If you only mean to talk humbug of this sort I am off to bed."
Terence rose from his place on the window-ledge, and, without glancing at Nora, left the room. When he did so she clasped her hands high above her head, and sat for a moment looking out into the night. Her face was quivering, but no tears rose to her wide-open eyes. After a moment she turned, and began very slowly to undress.
"I will see the Banshee tomorrow, if it is possible," she whispered under her breath. "If ruin can be averted, it shall be. I don"t mind leaving the place; I don"t mind starving. I don"t mind _anything_ but that look on father"s face. But father"s heart shall not be broken; not while Nora O"Shanaghgan is in the world."
CHAPTER VI.
THE CAVE OF THE BANSHEE.
At ten o"clock on the following evening two eager excited girls might have been seen stealing down a narrow path which led to Murphy"s Cove. Murphy"s Cove was a charming little semicircular bay which ran rather deeply into the land. The sand here was of that silvery sheen which, at low tide, shone like burnished silver. The cove was noted for its wonderful sh.e.l.ls, producing many cowries and long sh.e.l.ls called pointers.
In the days of her early youth Nora had explored the treasures of this cove, and had secured a valuable collection of sh.e.l.ls, as well as very rare seaweeds, which she had carefully dried. Her mother had shown her how to make seaweeds and sh.e.l.ls into baskets, and many of these amateur productions adorned the walls of Nora"s bedroom.
All the charm of these things had pa.s.sed away, however; the time had come when she no longer cared to gather sh.e.l.ls or collect seaweeds.
She felt that she was turning very fast into a woman. She had all an Irish girl"s high spirits; but she had, added to these, a peculiarly warm and sensitive heart. When those she loved were happy, no one in all the world was happier than Nora O"Shanaghgan; but when any gloom fell on the home-circle, then Nora suffered far more than anyone gave her credit for.
She had pa.s.sed an anxious day at home, watching her father intently, afraid to question him, and only darting glances at him when she thought he was not looking. The Squire, however, seemed cheerful enough, plodding over his land, or arranging about the horses, or doing the thousand-and-one small things which occupied his life.
Mrs. O"Shanaghgan seemed to have forgotten all about the mortgage, and was eagerly discussing ways and means with Terence. Terence avoided Nora"s eyes, and rode off early in the evening to see the nearest tailor. It was not likely that this individual could make a fitting suit for the young heir to O"Shanaghgan; but the boy must have something to travel in, and Mrs. O"Shanaghgan gave implicit directions as to the London tailor whom he was to visit as soon as he reached the Metropolis.
"For you are to look your best, and never to forget that you are my son," was her rejoinder; and Terence forgot all about Nora"s words on the previous evening. He was to start in two days" time. Even Nora became excited over his trip and in her mother"s account of her Uncle Hartrick.
"I wish you were going, Nora," said the mother. "I should be proud of you. Of course you are a little rough colt; but you could be trained;" and then she looked with sudden admiration at her handsome daughter.
"She has a face in a thousand," she thought, "and she is absolutely unconscious of her beauty."
At five o"clock Nora had started off in the pony-trap to visit her friend Biddy. The trap had been brought back by one of the numerous gossoons who abounded all over O"Shanaghgan, and Biddy and Nora had a few hours before the great secret expedition was to take place. And now the time had come. The girls had put on thick serge petticoats, short jackets, and little tight-fitting caps on their heads. There was always a breeze blowing round that extreme corner of the Atlantic.
Never did the finest summer day find the waves calm there. Nora and Biddy had been accustomed to these waves since their earliest girlhood, and were not the least afraid. They stood now waiting in the little cove, and looking round wonderingly for the appearance of Mike and Neil upon the scene. They were to bring the boat with them. The girls were to wade through the surf to get into it, and Biddy was stooping down to take off her shoes and stockings for the purpose.
"Dear, dear!" she cried. "Do you see that ugly bank of clouds just behind the moon? I hope my lady moon is not going to hide herself; we can do nothing in the cave if we have not light."
"But the cave is dark, surely?"
"Yes. But don"t you know there is a break in the cliffs above, just in the center? And it is down there the moon sends its shafts when it is at the full; it is there the Banshee will meet us, if we are to see her at all. The shafts from the moon will only enter the cave at midnight. I have counted the times, and I know everything."
"I want to see the Banshee so badly," said Nora.
"You won"t be frightened, then, Nora?"
"Frightened? No. Not of our own Banshee."
"They say," began Biddy, "that if you see a spirit, and come face to face with it, you are good for--"
"What?" said Nora.
"If you hold out during the year you have seen the spirit, you are good to live for another ten; but during that first year you are in extreme danger of dying. If you escape that fate, however, and are whole and sound, you will be quite safe to live for ten more years.
They say nothing can send you out of the world; not sickness, nor accidents, nor fire, nor water; but the second year you are liable to an accident, and the year after to a misfortune; then in the fourth year your luck turns--in the fourth year you find gold, in the fifth year health, in the sixth year beauty. Oh, I would give anything to be beautiful!"
"You are very well as you are, Biddy."
"Very well as I am? What nonsense! Look at my turned-up nose." Here Biddy pressed her finger on the feature in question.