"You see the disgrace that"s put on me!"
"He"ll come yet, sir," said Andy.
"No, he won"t!" cried Dwyer, "I see he won"t. He wanted to get everything his own way, and he thinks to disgrace me in doing what he likes, but he shan"t;" and he struck the table fiercely. "He goes back of his bargain now, thinkin" I"ll give in to him; but I won"t. Friends and neighbours, here"s the lease of the three-cornered field below there and a snug little cottage, and it"s ready for my girl to walk in with the man that will have her! If there"s a man among you here that"s willing, let him say the word, and I"ll give her to him!"
Matty tried to protest, but her father silenced her with a terrible look. When old Dwyer"s blood was up, he was capable of murder. No guest dared to speak.
"Are yiz all dumb?" shouted Dwyer. "It"s not every day a farm and a fine girl falls in a man"s way."
Still no one spoke, and Andy thought they were using Dwyer and his daughter badly.
"Would I do, sir?" he timidly said.
Andy was just the last man Dwyer would have chosen, but he was determined that someone should marry the girl, and show Casey "the disgrace should not be put on him." He called up Andy and Matty, and asked the priest to marry them.
"I can"t, if your daughter objects," said Father Phil.
Dwyer turned on the girl, and there was the devil in his eye.
"I"ll marry him," said Matty.
So the rites and blessings of the Church were dispensed between two persons who an hour before had never given a thought to each other. Yet it was wonderful with what lightness of heart Matty went through the honours consequent on a peasant bridal in Ireland. She gaily led off the dance with Andy, and the night was far spent before the bride and bridegroom were escorted to the cottage which was to be their home.
Matty sat quiet, looking at the fire, while Andy bolted the door; but when he tried to kiss her she leaped up furiously.
"I"ll crack your silly head if you don"t behave yourself," she cried, seizing a stool and brandishing it above him.
"Oh, wirra, wirra!" said Andy. "Aren"t you my wife? Why did you marry me?"
"Did I want owld Jack Dwyer to murther me as soon as the people"s backs was turned?" said Matty. "But though I"m afraid of him, I"m not afraid of you!"
"Och!" cried poor Andy, "what"ll be the end of it?"
There was a tap at the door as he spoke, and Matty ran and opened it.
In came James Casey and half a dozen strong young fellows. Behind them crept a reprobate, degraded priest who got his living and his name of "Couple-Beggar" by performing irregular marriages. The end of it was that Matty was married over again to Casey, whom she had sent for while the dancing was going on. Poor Andy, bound hand and foot, was carried out of the cottage to a lonely by-way, and there he pa.s.sed his wedding-night roped to the stump of an old tree.
_IV.--Andy Gets Married Again_
Misfortunes now acc.u.mulated on Andy"s head. At break of day he was released from the tree-stump by Squire Egan, who was riding by with some bad news for the man he thought was now a happy bridegroom. Owing to an indiscreet word dropped by our simple-minded hero, a gang of smugglers, who ran an illicit still on the moors, had gathered something about Andy stealing the letters from the post-office and Squire Egan burning them.
They had already begun to blackmail the squire, and in order to defeat them it was necessary to get Andy out of the country for some time. So nothing could be done against Casey.
And, on going home to prepare for a journey to England with a friend of the squire"s, Andy found his mother in a sad state of anxiety. His pretty cousin, Oonah, was crying in a corner of the room, and Ragged Nance, an unkempt beggar-woman, to whom the Rooneys had done many a good turn, was screaming, "I tell you Shan More means to carry off Oonah to-night. I heard them laying the plan for it."
"We"ll go to the squire," sobbed Mrs. Rooney. "The villain durst not!"
"He"s got the squire under his thumb, I tell you," replied Ragged Nance.
"You must look after yourselves. I"ve got it," she said, turning to Andy. "We"ll dress him as a girl, and let the smugglers take him."
Andy roared with laughter at the notion of being made a girl of. Though Shan More was the blackguardly leader of the smugglers who were giving the squire trouble, Andy was too taken up with the fun of being transformed into the very rough likeness of a pleasing young woman to think of the danger. It was difficult to give his angular form the necessary roundness of outline; but Ragged Nance at last padded him out with straw, and tied a bonnet on his head to shade his face, saying, "That"ll deceive them. Shan More won"t come himself. He"ll send some of his men, and they"re all dhrunk already."
"But they"ll murdher my boy when they find out the chate," said Mrs.
Rooney.
"Suppose they did," exclaimed Andy stoutly; "I"d rather die, sure, than the disgrace should fall upon Oonah there."
"G.o.d bless you, Andy dear!" said Oonah.
The tramp of approaching horses rang through the stillness of the night, and Oonah and Nance ran out and crouched in the potato tops in the garden. Four drunken vagabonds broke into the cottage, and, seeing Andy in the dim light clinging to his mother, they dragged him away and lifted him on a horse, and galloped off with him.
As it happened, luck favoured Andy. When he came to the smugglers" den, Shan More was lying on the ground stunned, and his sister, Red Bridget, was tending him; in going up the ladder from the underground whisky-still, he had fallen backward. The upshot was that Andy was left in charge of Red Bridget. But, alas! just as he was hoping to escape, she penetrated through his disguise. More unfortunately still, Andy was, with all his faults, a rather good-looking young fellow, and Red Bridget took a fancy to him, and the "Couple-Beggar" was waiting for a job.
Smugglers" whisky is very strong, and Bridget artfully plied him with it. Andy was still rather dazed when he reached home next morning.
"I"ve married again," he said to his mother.
"Married?" interrupted Oonah, growing pale. "Who to?"
"Shan More"s sister," said Andy.
"Wirasthru!" screamed Mrs. Rooney, tearing her cap off her head. "You got the worst woman in Ireland."
"Then I"ll go and "list for a sojer," said he.
_V.--Andy Gets Married a Third Time_
It was Father Phil that brought the extraordinary news to Squire Egan.
"Do you remember those two letters that Andy stole from the post-office, and that someone burnt?" he asked, with a smile.
"I"ve been meaning to tell you, father, that one was for you," said the squire, looking very uncomfortable.
"Oh, Andy let it out long ago," said the kindly old priest. "But the joke is that by stealing my letter Andy nearly lost a t.i.tle and a great fortune. Ever heard of Lord Scatterbrain? He died a little time ago, confessing in his will that it was he that married Mrs. Rooney, and deserted her."
"So Handy Andy is now a lord!" exclaimed the squire, rocking with laughter.
Andy took it like a true son of the wildest and most eccentric of Irish peers. On getting over the first shock of astonishment, he broke out into short peals of laughter, exclaiming at intervals, that "it was mighty quare." When, after much questioning, his wishes in regard to his new life were made clear, it was found that they all centred on one object, which was "to have a goold watch."
The squire was perplexed what to do with a great n.o.bleman of this sort, and at last he got a kinsman, d.i.c.k Dawson, who loved fun, to take Andy under his especial care to London. When they arrived there it was wonderful how many persons were eager to show civility to his new lordship, and he who as Handy Andy had been cried down all his life as a "stupid rascal," "a blundering thief," "a thick-headed brute," suddenly acquired, under the t.i.tle of Lord Scatterbrain, a reputation for being "vastly amusing, a little eccentric, perhaps, but so droll."
All this was very delightful for Andy--so delightful that he quite forgot Red Bridget. But Red Bridget did not forget him.
"Lady Scatterbrain!" announced the servant one day; and in came Bridget and Shan More and an attorney.