"Not at present, Charley," said he, "I am in a thoughtful mood, and generally prefer a lonely stroll on such a beautiful evening as this."
He accordingly went out, and bent his I steps by a long, rude green lane, which extended upwards of half a mile across a rich! country, undulating with fields and meadows. This was terminated by a clump of, hawthorn trees, then white and fragrant with their lovely blossoms, which lay in rich profusion on the ground. Contiguous to this was a small but delightful green glen, from the side of which issued one of those beautiful spring wells for which the country is so celebrated.
Over a verdant little hill, which concealed this glen and the well we mention, from a few humble houses, or rather a decenter kind of cabins, was visible a beaten pathway by which the inhabitants of this small hamlet came for their water. Upon this, shaded as he was by the trees, he steadily kept his eye for a considerable time, as if in the expectation of some person who had made an appointment to meet him. Half an hour had nearly elapsed--the shades of evening were now beginning to fall, and he had just come to the resolution of retracing his steps, with a curse of disappointment on his lips, when, on taking another, and what he intended to be a last glance at the pathway in question, he espied the individual for whom he waited. This was no other than the young beauty of the neighborhood--Grace Davoren. She was tripping along with a light and merry step, lilting an Irish air of a very lively character, to which she could scarcely prevent herself from dancing, so elastic and buoyant were her spirits. On coming to the brow of the glen she paused a moment and cast her eye searchingly around her, but seemed after the scrutiny to hesitate about proceeding farther.
Woodward immediately showed himself, and after beckoning to her, proceeded toward the well. She still paused, however, as if irresolute; but after one or two significant gestures on his part, she descended with a slow and apparently a timid step, and in a couple of minutes stood beside the well. The immediate purport of their conversation is not essential to this narrative; but, indeed, we presume that our readers may give a very good guess at it without any a.s.sistance from us. The beautiful girl was young, and credulous, and innocent, as might naturally be inferred from the confusion of her manner, and the tremulous tones of her voice, which, indeed, were seductive and full of natural melody. Her heart palpitated until its beatings might be heard, and she trembled with that kind of terror which is composed of apprehension and pleasure. That a gentleman--one of the quality--could condescend to feel any interest in a humble girl like her, was what she could scarcely have dreamed; but when he told her of her beauty, the natural elegance and symmetry of her figure, and added that he loved her better than any girl, either high or low, he had ever seen, she believed that his words were true, and her brain became almost giddy with wonder and delight. Then she considered what a triumph it was over all her female acquaintances, who, if they knew it, would certainly envy her even far more than they did already. After about half an hour"s conversation the darkness set in, and she expressed an apprehension lest some of her family should come in quest of her--a circ.u.mstance, she said, which might be dangerous to them both. He then prevailed on her to promise another meeting, which at length she did; but on his taking leave of her she asked him by which way he intended to go home.
"I came by the old green path," said he, "but intend to turn down the glen into the common road."
"O, don"t go that way," said she; "if you do, you"ll have to pa.s.s the haunted house, ay, and maybe, might meet the _Shan-dhinne-dhuv_."
"What is that," said he.
"O, Lord save us, sir," said she, "did you never hear of the _Shan-dhinne-dhuv?_ A spirit, sir, that appears about the haunted house in the shape of a black ould man, and they say that n.o.body lives long afther seein" him three times."
"Yes; but did he ever take any person"s life?"
"They say so, sir."
"When? How long ago?"
"Indeed, I can"t tell that, sir; but sure every one says it."
"Well, what every one says must be true," he replied, smiling. "I, however, am not afraid of him, as I never go unarmed; and if I happen to meet him, trust me I will know what mettle he"s made of before we part, or whether he belongs to this world or the other."
He then went down the glen, by the bottom of which the road went; and at a lonely place in a dark angle of it this far-famed spirit was said to appear.
This vain, but simple girl, the pride of her honest parents and all her simple relations and friends, took up her pitcher and proceeded with an elated heart by the pathway house. We say her heart was elated at the notion of having engaged the affections of a handsome, young, and elegant gentleman, but at the same time she felt a secret sense of error, if not of guilt, in having given him a clandestine meeting, and kept an appointment which she knew her parents and brothers would have heard with indignation and shame. She was confident, however, in her own strength, and resolved in her mind that Woodward"s attachment for her never should terminate either in her disgrace or "ruin." There were, however, many foolish and pernicious ballads sung about that period at the hearths of the peasantry, in which some lord or squire of high degree was represented to have fallen in love with some beautiful girl of humble life, whom he married in spite of his proud relations, and after having made her a lady of rank, and dressed her in silks and satins, gold rings and jewels, brought her home to his castle, where they lived in grandeur and happiness for the remainder of their lives.
The simple-minded girl began to imagine that some such agreeable destiny might be reserved for herself; and thus endeavored, by the deceitful sophistry of a credulous heart, and proud of her beauty, to palliate her conduct amidst the accusations of her own conscience, which told her she was acting wrong.
She had now got about half way home, when she saw an individual approach her at a rapid pace; and as the moon had just risen, his figure was distinctly before her, and she immediately felt a strong impression of terror and alarm. The individual in question was young, tall, and muscular; his person had in it every symptom of extraordinary activity and vigor. His features, however, were not at all such as could be termed handsome; so far from that, they were rude and stern, but not without a wild and disagreeable dignity. His eyes were at all times fierce and fiery, and gave unequivocal indications of a fierce and fiery spirit. He wore a pair of rude pantaloons that fitted closely to his finely made limbs, a short jacket or Wyliecoat that also fitted closely to his body, over which he wore the usual cloak of that day, which was bound about his middle with a belt and buckle, in which was stuck a middogue, or, as it ought to be written, _meadoige_, and p.r.o.nounced _maddogay_. He wore a kind of cap or _barrad_, which, as well as his cloak, could, by being turned inside out, instantly change his whole appearance, and mislead his pursuers--for he was the outlaw. Such was the startling individual who now approached her, and at whose fierce aspect she trembled--not less from her knowledge of the natural violence of his character than from a consciousness of her interview with Woodward.
"Well, Granua (Grace)," said he, quickly and with some vehemence, "where have you been?"
"At the well," she replied; "have you eyes in your head? Don"t you see my pitcher?"
"I do; but what kept you there so long? and why is your voice tremblin", as if you wor afeard, or did something wrong? Why is your face pale, too?--it"s not often so."
"The Lord save us, Shawn," replied Grace, attempting to treat those pointed interrogatories with a jocular spirit, "how can you expect me to answer such a catechize as you"re puttin" to me at wanst."
"Answer me, in the mane time," he replied; "I"ll have no doubling, Granua."
"Has anything vexed you, Shawn?"
"_Chorp an diaoul!_ tell me why you staid so long at the well"--and as he spoke his eyes flashed with resentment and suspicion.
"I didn"t stay long at it."
"I say you did. What kept you?"
"Why, bekaise I didn"t hurry myself, but took my time. I was often longer."
"You were spakin" to some one at the well."
"Ah, thin, Shawn, who would I be spakin" to?"
"Maybe I know--I believe I do--but I want now to know whether you"re a liar, as I suspect you to be, or whether you are honest enough to tell the truth."
"Do you suspect me, then?"
"I do suspect you; or rather I don"t--bekaise I know the truth. Answer me--who were you spakin" with?"
"Troth," said she, "I was lookin" at your sweetheart in the well,"
meaning her own shadow, "and was only asking her how she did."
"You danced with _Harry-na-Suil Balor_ last night?"
"I did; because the gentleman axed me--and why would I refuse him?"
"You whispered in a corner with him?"
"I did not," she replied; "how could I when the room was so throng?"
"Ay, betther in a throng room than a thin one; ay, and you promised to meet him at the well to-night; and you kept your word."
A woman"s courage and determination to persist in falsehood are never so decided and deliberate as when she feels that the suspicion expressed against her is true. She then gets into heroics and attempts to turn the tables upon her opponent, especially when she knows, as Miss Davoren did on this occasion, that he has nothing but suspicion to support him. She knew that her lover had been at the bonfire, and that his friends must have seen her dance with Woodward; and this she did not attempt to deny, because she could not; but as for their tryst at the well, she felt satisfied, from her knowledge of his jealous and violent character, that if he had been aware of it, it would not have been by seeking the fact through the medium of his threats and her fears that he would have proceeded. Had he seen Woodward, for instance, and herself holding a secret meeting in such a place and at such an hour, she concluded justly that the _middogue_ or dagger, for the use of which he had been already so celebrated, would have been brought into requisition against either one or both.
"I"ll talk no more to you," she replied, with a flushed face; "for even if I tould you the truth, you wouldn"t believe me. I did meet him, then; are you satisfied now?"
This admission was an able stroke of policy on her part, as the reader will soon perceive.
"O," he exclaimed, with a bitter, or, rather, a furious expression of face, "_dar manim_, if you had, you wouldn"t dare to confess as much.
But listen to me; if I ever hear or know, to my own satisfaction, that you meet him, or keep his company, or put yourself in his power, I"ll send six inches of this "--and he pulled out the glittering weapon--"into your heart and his; so now be warned and avoid him, and don"t bring down my vengeance on you both."
"I don"t see what right you have to bring me over the coals about any one. My father was forcin" me to marry you; but I now tell you to your teeth, that I never had the slightest intention of it. No! I wouldn"t take the wealth of the barony, and be the wife of sich a savage murdherer. No man wid blood upon his hands and upon his sowl, as you have--a public robber, a murdherer, an outlaw--will ever be my husband.
What right have you to tell me who I"m to spake to, or who I"m not to spake to?"
"Ah," he replied, "that wasn"t your language to me not long ago."
"But you were a different boy then from what you are now. If you had kept your name free from disgrace and blood, I might have loved you; but I cannot love a man with such crimes to answer for as you have."
"You accuse me of shedding blood," he replied; "that is false. I have never shed blood nor taken life; but, on the contrary, did all in my power to prevent those who have placed me at their head from doin" so.
Yet, when they did it in my absence, and against my orders, the blame and guilt is charged upon me because I am their leader. As for anything else I have done, I do not look upon it as a crime; let it rest upon the oppression that drove me and others to the wild lives we lead. We are forced to live now the best way we can, and that you know; but as to this gentleman, you mustn"t spake to him at any rate," he proceeded; "why should you? What "ud make a man so high in life, and so far above you as he is, strive to become acquainted with you, unless to bring about your ruin to gratify his own bad pa.s.sions? Think of it, and bring it home to your heart. You have too many examples before your eyes, young as you are, of silly girls that allow themselves to be made fools of, and desaved and ruined by such scoundrels as this. Look at that unfortunate girl in the mountains there--Nannie Morrissey; look at her father hanged only for takin" G.o.d"s just revenge, as he had a right to do, on the villain that brought destruction upon her and his innocent family, and black shame upon their name that never had a spot upon it before. After these words you may now act as you like; but remember that you have got _Shawn-na-Middogue"s_ warning, and you ought to know what that is."
He then started off in the same direction which Woodward had taken, and Grace, having looked after him with considerable indignation on her own part and considerable apprehension on behalf of Woodward, took up her pitcher and proceeded home.
She now felt herself much disturbed, and experienced that state of mind which is often occasioned by the enunciation of that which is known to be truth, but which, at the same time, is productive of pain to the conscience, especially when that conscience begins to abandon the field and fly from its duty.
Woodward, as he had intended, preferred the open and common road home, although it was much longer, rather than return by the old green lane, which was rugged and uneven, and full of deep ruts, dangerous inequalities, and stumps of old trees, all of which rendered it not only a disagreeable, but a dangerous, path by night. Having got out upon the highway, which here, and until he reached near home, was, indeed, solemn-looking and lonely, not a habitation except the haunted house being visible for upwards of two miles, he proceeded on his way, thinking of his interview with Grace Davoren. The country on each side of him was nearly a desert; a gray ruin, some of whose standing and isolated fragments a.s.sumed, to the excited imagination of the terrified peasants as they pa.s.sed it by night, the appearance of supernatural beings, stood to the left, in the centre of an antiquated church-yard, in which there had not been a corpse buried for nearly half a century--a circ.u.mstance which always invests a graveyard with a more fearful character. As Woodward gazed at these still and lonely relics of the dead, upon which the faint rays of the moon gleamed with a spectral and melancholy light, he could not help feeling that the sight itself, and the a.s.sociations connected with it, were calculated to fill weak minds with strong feelings of supernatural terror. His, however, was not a mind accessible to any such impressions; but at the same time he could make allowance for them among those who had seldom any other notions to guide them on such subjects than those of superst.i.tion and ignorance.