"And why can we not fight our own battles, without aid from France?"
said Mark, boldly. "If we really are worthy of independence, are we not able to win it?"
"Because there"s traitors among us," said Mary--replying before Lanty could interpose--"because there"s traitors that would turn again us if we were not sure of victory; but when they see we have the strong hand, as well as the good cause, they"ll be sure to stand on the safe side."
"I don"t care for that," said Mark. "I want no such allies as these.
I say, if we deserve our liberty, we ought to be strong enough to take it."
"There"s many think the same way as yourself," said Lanty, quietly. "I heard the very words you said from one of the delegates last week. But I don"t see any harm in getting help from a friend when the odds is against you."
"But I do; and great harm too. What"s the price of the a.s.sistance?--tell me that."
"Oh, make your mind easy on that score. The French hate the English, whether they love us or no."
"And why wouldn"t they love us," said Mary, half angry at such a supposition, "and we all Catholics? Don"t we both belong to the ould ancient church? and didn"t we swear to destroy the heretics wherever we"d find them? Ay, and we will, too!"
"I"m with you, whatever come of it," said Mark, after a few seconds of thought. "I"m with you; and if the rest have as little to live for, trust me, they"ll not be pleasant adversaries."
Overjoyed at this bold avowal, which consummated the success they desired, they led Mark back into the cabin, and pledged, in a b.u.mper, the "raal O"Donoghue."
CHAPTER XXI. THE RETURN OF THE ENVOY.
Sir Marmaduke Travers and his daughter had pa.s.sed a morning of great uneasiness at the delay in Frederic"s return. Noon came, and yet no appearance of him. They wandered along the road, hoping to meet him, and at last turned homeward with the intention of despatching a servant towards Carrig-na-curra, fearing lest he should have missed his way. This determination, however, they abandoned, on being told by a countryman, that he had seen the horse young Travers rode still standing at the gate of the "castle."
A feeling of curiosity to hear his son"s account of the O"Donoghues, mingled with the old man"s excitement at his absence; and, as the day declined, and still no sign of his return, he walked every now and then to the door, and looked anxiously along the road by which he expected his approach. Sybella, too, was not without her fears, and though vague and undefined, she dreaded a possible collision between the hot-blood of Mark and her brother. The evening of her first arrival was ever present to her mind; and she often thought of what might have then occurred, had Frederic been present.
They had wearied themselves with every mode of accounting for his delay, guessed at every possible cause of detention, and were at length on the point of sending a messenger in search of him, when they heard the tramp of a horse coming, not along the high road, but, as it seemed, over the fields in front of them. A few minutes more of anxious expectancy, and Frederic, with his horse splashed and panting, alighted beside them.
"Well, you certainly have a very pretty eye for a country, father," said he, gaily. "That same line you advised, has got three as rasping fences as I should like to meet with."
"What do you mean, boy?" said Sir Marmaduke, as much puzzled at the speech as the reader himself may feel.
"Simply, sir, that though the cob is a capital horse, and has a great jump in him, that I"d rather have day-light for that kind of thing; and I really believe the ragged fellow you sent for me, chose the stiffest places. I saw the rascal grinning when I was coming up to the mill-stream."
"Messenger!--ragged fellow! The boy is dreaming."
"My dear Frederic, we sent no messenger. We were, indeed, very anxious at your delay, but we did not despatch any one to meet you."
Frederic stared at both the speakers, and then repeated, in astonishment, the last words--"Sent no messenger!" but when they once more a.s.sured him of the fact, he gave the following account of his return:---
"It was very late when I left the castle. I delayed there the whole day; but scarcely had I reached the high-road, when a wild-looking fellow, with a great pole in his hand, came up to me, and cried out,
""Are you for the Lodge?" "Yes," said he, answering himself, "you are her brother. I"m sent over to tell you, not to go back by the road, for the bridge is down; but you"re to come over the fields, and I"ll show you the way.""
"Supposing the fellow was what he a.s.sumed to be--your messenger, I followed him; and, by George, it was no joking matter; for he leaped like a deer, and seemed to take uncommon pleasure in pitting himself against the cob. I should have given up the contest, I confess, but that the knave had me in his power. For, when it grew dark, I knew not which way to head, until, at length, he shouted out--
""There"s the Lodge now, where you see the light." And after that, what became of himself I cannot tell you."
"It was Terry, poor Terry," cried Sybella.
"Yes, it must have been Terry," echoed her father. "And is this Terry retained to play Will-o"-the-Wisp?" asked Fred; "or is it a piece of amateurship?"
But both Sir Marmaduke and Sybella were too deeply engaged in canva.s.sing the motive for this strange act, to pay due attention to his question.
As Frederic was but little interested in his guide, nor mindful of what became of him, they were not able to obtain any clue from him as to what road he took; nor what chance there was of overtaking him.
"So then this was a piece of "politesse," for which I am indebted to your friend Terry"s own devising," said Fred, half angrily. "The fellow had better keep out of my way in future."
"You will not harm him, Fred, you never could, when I tell you of his gallant conduct here."
"My sweet sister, I am really wearied of this eternal theme--I have heard of nothing but heroism since my arrival. Once for all, I concede the matter, and am willing to believe of the Irish, as of the family of Bayard, that all the men are brave--and all the women virtuous. And now, let us to dinner."
"You have told us nothing of your visit to the enchanted castle, Fred,"
said his sister, when the servants had withdrawn, and they were once more alone; "and I am all impatience to hear of your adventures there."
"I confess, too," said Sir Marmaduke, "I am not devoid of curiosity on the subject--let us hear it all."
"I have little to recount," said Frederic, with some hesitation in his manner; "I neither saw the O"Donoghue, as they call him, nor his brother-in-law--the one was in bed, the other had gone to visit some sick person on the mountain. But I made acquaintance with your prieux-chevalier, Sybella: a fine-looking young fellow, even now wasted with sickness; he was there with an elder brother, an insolent kind of personage--half peasant, all bully."
"He was not wanting in proper respect to _you_" said Sir Marmaduke. "I trust, Mark, he was aware of who you were?"
"Faith, sir, I fancy he cared very little on the subject; and had I been a much more important individual, he would have treated me in the same way--a way, to say the least of it, not over-burthened with courtesy."
"Had you any words together, boy?" said Sir Marmaduke, with an evident anxiety in his look and voice.
"A mere interchange of greeting," replied Fred, laughing, "in which each party showed his teeth, but did not bite withal. I unhappily mistook him for a game-keeper--and worse still, told him so, and he felt proportionably angry at the imputation--preferring, probably, to be thought a poacher. He is a rude coa.r.s.e fellow," said he with a changed voice, "with pride to be a gentleman--but not breeding nor manner to enact the character."
"The visit was, after all, not an agreeable one," said Miss Travers, "and I am only surprised how you came to prolong it. You spent the whole day there."
Although there was not the slightest degree of suspicion insinuated by this remark, Fred stole a quick glance at his sister, to see if she really intended more than the mere words implied. Then, satisfied that she had not, he said in a careless way--
"Oh, the weather broke; it came on a heavy snow-storm; and as the younger brother pressed me to remain, and I had no fancy to face the hurricane, I sat down to a game of chess."
"Chess! Indeed, Fred, that sounds very humanizing. And how did he play?"
"It was not with him I played," answered he, hesitatingly.
"What---with the elder?"
"No, nor him either; my antagonist was a cousin--I think they called her cousin."
"Called _her_," said Sybella, slyly. "So then, Master Fred, there was a lady in the case. Well, we certainly have been a long while coming to her."
"Yes, she has lately arrived--a day or two ago--from some convent in the Low Countries, where she has lived since she was a child."
"A strange home for her," interposed Sir Marmaduke. "If I do not misconceive them greatly, they must be very unsuitable a.s.sociates for a young lady educated in a French convent."