Here now was wit against wit, or at least cunning against cunning.
Nancy, the adroit, hazarded an a.s.sertion of which she was not certain, in order to probe the baronet, and place him in a position by which she might be able by his conduct and manner to satisfy herself whether her suspicions were well-founded or not.
"But how do you know, my good girl, that I and Gillespie were out that night?"
It is unnecessary to repeat here circ.u.mstances with which the reader is already acquainted. Nancy gave him the history of Mrs. Morgan"s sudden illness, and all the other facts already mentioned.
"But there is one thing that I still cannot understand," replied the baronet, "which is, that the disappearance of Miss Gourlay was never mentioned to me until I inquired for her maid, whom I wished to speak with."
"But sure that"s very natural, sir," replied Nancy; "the reason we didn"t speak to you upon the subject was because we thought that it was your honor who brought her away; and that as you took such a late hour in the night for it, you didn"t wish that we should know anything about it."
The baronet"s eye fell upon her severely, as if he doubted the truth of what she said. Nancy"s eye, however, neither avoided his nor quailed before it. She now spoke the truth, and she did so, in order to prevent herself and the other servants from incurring his resentment by their silence.
"Very well," observed Sir Thomas, calmly, but sternly. "I think you have spoken what you believe to be the truth, and what, for all you know, may be the truth. But observe my words: let this subject be never breathed nor uttered by any domestic in my establishment. Tell your fellow-servants that such are my orders; for I swear, if I find that any one of you shall speak of it, my utmost vengeance shall pursue him or her to death itself. That will do." And he signed to her to retire.
CHAPTER XVIII. Dunphy visits the County Wicklow
--Old Sam and his Wife.
It was about a week subsequent to the interview which the stranger had with old Dunphy, unsuccessful as our readers know it to have been, that the latter and his wife were sitting in the back parlor one night after their little shop had been closed, when the following dialogue took place between them:
"Well, at all events," observed the old man, "he was the best of them, and to my own knowledge that same saicret lay hot and heavy on his conscience, especially to so good a master and mistress as they were to him. The truth is, Polly, I"ll do it."
"But why didn"t he do it himself?" asked his wife.
"Why?--why?" he replied, looking at her with his keen ferret eyes--"why, don"t you know what a weak-minded, timorsome creature he was, ever since the height o" my knee?"
"Oh, ay," she returned; "and I hard something about an oath, I think, that they made him take."
"You did," said her husband; "and it was true, too. They swore him never to breathe a syllable of it until his dying day--an" although they meant by that that he should never reveal it at all, yet he always was of opinion that he might tell it on that day, but on no other one. And it was his intention to do so."
"Wasn"t it an unlucky thing that she happened to be out when he could do it with a safe conscience?" observed his wife.
"They almost threatened the life out of the poor creature," pursued her husband, "for Tom threatened to murder him if he betrayed them; and Ginty to poison him, if Tom didn"t keep his word--and I believe in my sowl that the same devil"s pair would a" done either the one or the other, if he had broken his oath. Of the two, however, Ginty"s the worst, I think; and I often believe, myself, that she deals with the devil; but that, I suppose, is bekaise she"s sometimes not right in her head still."
"If she doesn"t dale with the devil, the devil dales with her at any rate," replied the other. "They"ll be apt to gain their point, Tom and she."
"Tom, I know, is just as bitther as she is," observed the old man, "and Ginty, by her promises as to what she"ll do for him, has turned his heart altogether to stone; and yet I know a man that"s bittherer against the black fellow than either o" them. She only thinks of the luck that"s before her; but, afther all, Tom acts more from hatred to him than from Ginty"s promises. He has no bad feelin" against the young man himself; but it"s the others he"s bent on punishing. G.o.d direct myself, I wish at any rate that I never had act or hand in it. As for your time o" life and mine, Polly, you know that age puts it out of our power ever to be much the betther one way or the other, even if Ginty does succeed in her devilry. Very few years now will see us both in our graves, and I don"t know but it"s safer to lave this world with an aisy conscience, than to face G.o.d with the guilt of sich a black saicret as that upon us."
"Well, but haven"t you promised them not to tell?"
"I have--an" only that I take sich delight in waitin" to see the black scoundrel punished till his heart "ll burst--I think I"d come out with it. That"s one raison; and the other is, that I"m afraid of the consequences. The law"s a dangerous customer to get one in its crushes, an" who can tell how we"d be dealt with?"
"Troth, an" that"s true enough," she replied.
"And when I promised poor Edward on his death-bed," proceeded the old man, "I made him give me a sartin time; an" I did this in ordher to allow Ginty an opportunity of tryin" her luck. If she does not manage her point within that time, I"ll fulfil my promise to the dyin" man."
"But, why," she asked, "did he make you promise to do it when he could--ay, but I forgot. It was jist, I suppose, in case he might be taken short as he was, and that you wor to do it for him if he hadn"t an opportunity? But, sure, if Ginty succeeds, there"s an end to your promise."
"Well, I believe so," said the old man; "but if she does succeed, why, all I"ll wondher at will be that G.o.d would allow it. At any rate she"s the first of the family that ever brought shame an" disgrace upon the name. Not but she felt her misfortune keen enough at the time, since it turned her brain almost ever since. And him, the villain--but no matter--he, must be punished."
"But," replied the wife, "wont Ginty be punishin" him?"
"Ah, Polly, you know little of the plans--the deep plans an" plots that he"s surrounded by. We know ourselves that there"s not such a plotter in existence as he is, barin" them that"s plottin" aginst him. Lord bless us! but it"s a quare world--here is both parties schamin" an"
plottin" away--all bent on risin" themselves higher in it by pride and dishonesty. There"s the high rogue and the low rogue--the great villain and the little villain--musha! Polly, which do you think is worst, eh?"
"Faith, I think it"s six o" one and half-a-dozen of the other with them.
Still, a body would suppose that the high rogue ought to rest contented; but it"s a hard thing they say to satisfy the cravin"s of man"s heart when pride, an" love of wealth an" power, get into it."
"I"m not at all happy in my mind, Polly," observed her husband, meditatively; "I"m not at aise--and I won"t bear this state of mind much longer. But, then, again, there"s my pension; and that I"ll lose if I spake out. I sometimes think I"ll go to the country some o" these days, and see an ould friend."
"An where to, if it"s a fair question?"
"Why," he replied, "maybe it"s a fair-question to ask, but not so fair to answer. Ay! I"ll go to the country--I"ll start in a few days--in a few days! No, savin" to me, but I"ll start to-morrow. Polly, I could tell you something if I wished--I say I have a secret that none o" them knows--ay, have I. Oh, G.o.d pardon me! The d----d thieves, to make me, me above all men, do the blackest part of the business--an" to think o" the way they misled Edward, too--who, after all, would be desavin" poor Lady Gourlay, if he had tould her all as he thought, although he did not know that he would be misleadin" her. Yes, faith, I"ll start for the country tomorrow, plaise G.o.d; but listen, Polly, do you know who"s in town?"
"Arra, no!--how could I?"
"Kate M"Bride, so Ginty tells me; she"s livin" with her."
"And why didn"t she call to see you?" asked his wife. "And yet G.o.d knows it"s no great loss; but if ever woman was cursed wid a step-daughter, I was wid her."
"Don"t you know very well that we never spoke since her runaway match with M"Bride. If she had married c.u.mmins, I"d a" given her a purty penny to help him on; but instead o" that she cuts off with a sojer, bekaise he was well faced, and starts with him to the Aist Indies. No; I wouldn"t spake to her then, and I"m not sure I"ll spake to her now either; and yet I"d like to see her--the unfortunate woman. However, I"ll think of it; but in the mane time, as I said, I"ll start for the country in the mornin"."
And to the country he did start the next morning; and if, kind reader, it so happen that you feel your curiosity in any degree excited, all you have to do is to take a seat in your own imagination, whether outside or in, matters not, the fare is the same, and thus you will, at no great cost, be able to accompany him. But before we proceed further we shall, in the first place, convey you in ours to the ultimate point of his journey.
There was, in one of the mountain districts of the county Wicklow, that paradise of our country, a small white cottage, with a neat flower plot before, and a small orchard and garden behind. It stood on a little eminence, at the foot of one of those mountains, which, in some instances, abut from higher ranges. It was then bare and barren; but at present presents a very different aspect, a considerable portion of it having been since reclaimed and planted. Scattered around this rough district were a number of houses that could be cla.s.sed with neither farm-house nor cabin, but as humble little buildings that possessed a feature of each. Those who; dwelt in them held in general four or five acres of rough land, some more, but very few less; and we allude to these small tenements, because, as our readers are aware, the wives of their proprietors were in the habit of eking out the means of subsistence, and paying their rents, by nursing illegitimate children or foundlings, which upon a proper understanding, and in accordance with the usual arrangements, were either transmitted to them from the hospital of that name in Dublin, or taken charge of by these women, and conveyed home from that establishment itself. The children thus nurtured were universally termed parisheens, because it was found more convenient and less expensive to send a country foundling to the hospital in Dublin, than to burden the inhabitants of the parish with its maintenance. A small sum, ent.i.tling it to be received in the hospital, was remitted, and as this sum, in most instances, was levied off the parish, these wretched creatures were therefore called parisheens, that is, creatures! aided by parish allowance.
The very handsome little cottage into which we are about to give the reader admittance, commanded a singularly beautiful and picturesque view. From the little elevation on which it stood could be seen the entrancing vale of Ovoca, winding in its inexpressible loveliness toward Arklow, and diversified with green meadows, orchard gardens, elegant villas, and what was sweeter! than all, warm and comfortable homesteads, more than realizing our conceptions of Arcadian happiness and beauty.
Its precipitous sides were clothed with the most enchanting variety of plantation; whilst, like a stream of liquid light, the silver Ovoca shone sparkling to the sun, as it followed, by the harmonious law of nature, that graceful line of beauty which characterizes the windings of this unrivalled valley. The cottage which commanded this rich prospect we have partially described. It was white as snow, and had about it all those traits of neatness and good taste which are, we regret! to say, so rare among, and so badly understood by, our humbler countrymen. The front walls were covered by honeysuckles, rose trees, and wild brier, and the flower plot in front was so well stocked, that its summer bloom would have done credit to the skill of an ordinary florist. The inside of this cottage was equally neat, clean, and cheerful. The floor, an unusual thing then, was tiled, which gave it a look of agreeable warmth; the wooden vessels in the kitchen were white with incessant scouring, whilst the pewter, bra.s.s, and tin, shone in becoming rivalry. The room you entered was the kitchen, off which was a parlor and two bedrooms, besides one for the servant.
As may be inferred from what we have said, the dresser was a perfect treat to look at, and as the owners kept a cow, we need hardly add that the delightful fragrance of milk which characterizes every well-kept dairy, was perfectly ambrosial here. The chairs were of oak, so were the tables; and a large arm-chair, with a semicircular back, stood at one side of the clean hearth, whilst over the chimney-piece hung a portrait of General Wolfe, with an engraving of the siege of Quebec. A series of four silver medals, enclosed in red morocco cases, having the surface of each protected by a gla.s.s cover, hung from a liliputian rack made of mahogany, at once bearing testimony to the enterprise and gallantry of the owner, as well as to the manly pride with which he took such especial pains to preserve these proud rewards of his courage, and the ability with which he must have discharged his duty as a soldier. On the table lay a large Bible, a Prayer-book, and the "Whole Duty of Man,"
all neatly and firmly, but not ostentatiously bound. Some works of a military character lay upon a little hanging shelf beside the dresser.
Over this shelf hung a fishing-rod, unscrewed and neatly tied up; and upon the top of the other books lay one bound with red cloth, in which he kept his flies. On one side of the window sills lay a backgammon box, with which his wife and himself amused themselves for an hour or two every evening; and fixed in recesses intended for the purpose, Sam Roberts, for such was his name, having built the house himself, were comfortable cupboards filled with a variety of delft, several curious and foreign ornaments, an ostrich"s egg, a drinking cup made of the polished sh.e.l.l of a cocoanut, whilst crossed saltier-wise over a portrait of himself and of his wife, were placed two feathers of the bird of paradise, const.i.tuting, one might imagine, emblems significant of the happy life they led. But we cannot close our description here.
Upon the good woman"s bosom, fastened to her kerchief, was a locket which contained a portion of beautiful brown hair, taken from the youthful head of a deceased son, a manly and promising boy, who died at the age of seventeen, and whose death, although it did not and could not throw a permanent gloom over two lives so innocent and happy, occasioned, nevertheless, periodical recollections of profound and bitter sorrow. Old Sam had his locket also, but it was invisible; its position being on that heart whose affections more resembled the enthusiasm of idolatry than the love of a parent. His wife was a placid, contented looking old woman, with a complexion exceedingly hale and fresh for her years; a shrewd, clear, benevolent eye, and a general air which never fails to mark that ease and superiority of manner to be found only in those who have had an enlarged experience in life, and seen much of the world. There she sits by the clear fire and clean, comfortable hearth, knitting a pair of stockings for her husband, who has gone to Dublin. She is tidily and even, for a woman of her age, tastefully dressed, but still with a sober decency that showed her good sense. Her cap is as white as snow, with which a well-fitting brown stuff gown, that gave her a highly respectable appearance, admirably contrasted. She wore an ap.r.o.n of somewhat coa.r.s.e muslin, that seemed, as it always did, fresh from the iron, and her hands were covered with a pair of thread mittens that only came half-way down the fingers. Hanging at one side was a three-cornered pincushion of green silk, a proof at once of a character remarkable for thrift, neatness, and industry.
Whilst thus employed, she looks from time to time through a window that commanded a prospect of the road, and seems affected by that complacent expression of uneasiness which, whilst it overshadows the features, never disturbs their benignity. At length, a good-looking, neat girl, their servant, enters the cottage with a can of new milk, for she had been to the fields a-milking; her name is Molly Byrne.
"Molly," said her mistress, "I wonder the master has not come yet. I am getting uneasy. The coach has gone past, and I see no appearance of him."
"I suppose, then, he didn"t come by the coach, ma"am."
"Yes, but he said he would."
"Well, ma"am, something must "a prevented him."
"Molly," said her mistress, smiling, "you are a good hand at telling us John Thompson"s news; that is, any thing we know ourselves."