MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH.
Three or four days after the occurrences narrated in the last
chapter, Mr. Jones got on to his car and had himself driven down to
Carnlough, the seat of Mr. Thomas Blake, a gentleman living about two
miles the other side of Tuam. To reach Carnlough he had a journey to
make of about ten miles, and as he seldom went, in these days, so far
away from home, the fact of his going was known to all the household.
"Father is going to Carnlough," Florian said to Peter, the butler.
"What is he going for?"
"'Deed, then, Master Flory, who can tell that? Mr. Blake is a very
old friend of master's."
"But why is he going now? It isn't often he goes to Carnlough; and
when he does go, he is sure to say why."
"I shouldn't wonder af he's going to ax him as to how he shall get
rid of the waters."
"He knows that better than Mr. Blake can tell him."
"Or maybe he's going to inquire how he shall cotch a hould of Pat
Carroll."
It was evident, from the butler's answers, that all the world at
Morony Castle felt that at present Mr. Jones could engage himself on
no other subject than that of the flood.
"I wish father wouldn't think so much about the flood. After all,
what's L500? It won't ruin a man like my father."
But the butler showed by his visage that he regarded L500 as a
very serious matter, and that he was not at all astonished by the
occupation which it gave to his master's thoughts.
Mr. Blake, of Carnlough, was the first Irishman with whom Mr. Jones
had become acquainted in the County Galway. It was through his
instance, indeed, that the Morony and Ballintubber properties had
been bought, so that the acquaintance must have been well established
before the purchase had been made. Mr. Blake was a man of good
property, who, in former years, had always been regarded as popular
in the county. He was a Protestant, but had not made himself odious
to the Roman Catholics around him as an Orangeman, nor had he ever
been considered to be hard as a landlord. He thought, perhaps, a
little too much of popularity, and had prided himself a little
perhaps, on managing "his boys"--as he called the tenants--with
peculiar skill. Even still he could boast of his success, though
there had arisen some little difficulties as to rent over at
Carnlough; and, indeed, he was frightened lest some of the evil ways
which had begun to prevail in the neighbouring parts of County Mayo,
should make their way into County Galway.
Mr. Blake and Mr. Jones had been very intimate. It had been at Mr.
Blake's instance that Mr. Jones had been brought on to the Grand
Jury. But latterly they had not seen very much of each other. Mr.
Jones, since the death of his wife, did not go frequently to Galway,
and Carnlough was a long distance for a morning's drive. But on this
occasion Mr. Jones drove himself over simply with the view of making
a morning call. "Well, Jones, how are you;--and how are the girls,
and how is Frank, and how is that young pickle, Master Florian?"
These questions were answered by others of a similar nature. "How
are the girls, and how is Mrs. Blake, and what is going on here at
Carnlough?" There was no inquiry after the eldest son, for it was Mr.
Blake's misfortune that he had no male child to inherit his property.
"Faith, then, things ain't going on a bit too well," said Mr. Blake.
"Abatement, abatement, nothing but abatement! Nobody abates me
anything. I have to pay all family charges just the same as ever.
What would they say if I was to take away my wife and girls, shut
up Carnlough, and go and live in France? I could give them some
abatement then and be a richer man. But how would they like to have
Carnlough empty?"
"There's no danger of that, I think."
"Upon my word, I don't know. The girls are talking of it, and when
they begin to talk of a thing, I am very likely to do it. And Mrs.
Blake is quite ready."
"You wouldn't leave the country?"
"That's just it. I'll stay if they'll let me. If they'll pay me rent
enough to enable me to live here comfortably, I'll not desert them.
But if they think that I'm to keep up the place on borrowed money,
they'll find their mistake. I didn't mind ten per cent. for the last
two years, though I have taken to drinking whisky punch in my old
age, instead of claret and sherry. And I don't mind ten per cent. for
this year, though I am sorely in want of a young horse to carry me.
But if the ten per cent. is to go on, or to become twenty per cent.
as one blackguard hinted, I shall say good-bye to Carnlough. They may
fight it out then with Terry Daly as they can." Now, Terry Daly was
the well-known agent for the lands of Carnlough. "What has brought
you over here to-day?" asked Mr. Blake. "I can see with half an eye
that there is some fresh trouble."
"Indeed there is."
"I have heard what they did with your sluices. That's another trick
they've learnt out of County Mayo. When a landlord is not rich enough
to give them all that they want, they make the matter easier by doing
the best they can to ruin him. I don't think anything of that kind
has been done at Carnlough."
"There is worse than that," said Mr. Jones sorrowfully.
"The devil there is! They have not mutilated any of your cattle?"
"No, there is nothing of that kind. The only enemy I've got about the
place, as far as I know, is one Pat Carroll. It was he and others,
whom he paid to serve him, that have let the waters in upon the
meadows. Eighty acres are under water at this moment. But I can bear
that like a man. The worst of that is, that all the neighbours should
have seen him do it, and not one of them have come forward to tell
me."
"That is the worst," said Mr. Blake. "There must be some terrible
understanding among them, some compact for evil, when twenty men are
afraid to tell what one man has been seen to do. It's fearful to
think that the priests should not put a stop to it. How is Master
Florian getting on with his priest?"
"It's about him that I have come to speak to you," said Mr. Jones.
"About Florian?"
"Yes; indeed. When I tell you my story, I think you will understand
that I would tell it to no one but yourself in County Galway. I fear
that Florian saw the men at work upon the flood gates."
"And will he not tell the truth?"
"You must remember that I cannot say that I know anything. The boy
declares that he saw nothing; that he knows nothing. I have no
evidence; but his sisters are sure that it is so. Edith says that he
certainly was present when the gates were removed. She only judges
from his manner and his countenance."
"What made her suspect him?" asked Mr. Blake.
"Only that she saw him when the news was brought to us. Edith is
not ill-natured. She would not be prone to make a story against her
brother."
"If Edith says so, it is so," said Mr. Blake, who among all Edith's
admirers was one of the most ardent.
"I don't quite say that. I only mean to express my conviction that
she intends to get at the truth."
"I'll wager my life upon her," said Mr. Blake. "As to the
other;--well, you know, Jones, that he has turned Roman Catholic."
"That means nothing," said the distressed father. "He is only ten
years old. Of course he's a fool for his pains; but he would not on
that account do such a deed as this."
"I don't know. You must remember that he will be telling everything
to the priests."
"We have two priests about us," said Mr. Jones, "and I would trust
them in anything. There is Father Giles at Headford, and he is as
fair a man as any clergyman of our own could be. You cannot imagine
that he would give such advice to my boy?"
"Not Father Giles certainly," said the other man.
"Then down with us at Ballintubber there is Father Malachi."
"I know him too," said Mr. Blake. "He would not interfere with a boy
like Florian. Is there no one else? What curate lives with Father
Malachi?"
"There is none with him at Ballintubber. One Brosnan lives with
Father Giles."
"That man is a firebrand," said Mr. Blake. "He is a wretched
politician, always preaching up Home Rule."
"But I do not think that even he would teach a boy to deceive his own
father in such a matter as this."
"I am not sure," said Blake. "It is very difficult to get at the
vagaries of mind in such a man as Mr. Brosnan. But what do you intend
to do?"
"I have come to you for advice. But remember this:--in my present
frame of mind, the suspicion that I feel as to poor Florian is ten
times worse to me than the loss of all my meadows. If I could find
out Edith to have been wrong, I should be at once relieved of the
great trouble which sits heaviest at my heart."
"I fear that Edith is right," said Mr. Blake.
"You are prejudiced a little in her favour. Whatever she says you
will think right."
"You must weigh that, and take it for what it's worth," said Mr.
Blake. "We know that the boy has got himself into bad hands. You do
not suspect him of a desire to injure you?"
"Oh, no!" said the father.
"But he has seen these men do it, and now refuses to tell you. They
have terrified him."
"He is not a cowardly boy," said Mr. Jones, still standing up for his
son.
"But they have made him swear an oath that he will not tell. There
has been something of that sort. What does he say himself?"
"Simply that he knows nothing about it."
"But how does he say it? Does he look you in the face? A boy of that
kind may lie. Boys do--and girls also. When people say they don't,
they know nothing about it; but if it's worth one's while to look at
them one can generally tell when they're lying. I'm not a bit afraid
of a boy when he is lying,--but only of one who can lie as though he
didn't lie."
"I think that Florian is lying," said Mr. Jones slowly; "he does not
look me in the face, and he does not lie straightforward."
"Then Edith is right; and I am right when I swear by her."
"But what am I to do with him? If, as I suppose, he saw Pat Carroll
do the mischief, he must have seen others with him. If we knew who
were the lot, we could certainly get the truth out of some of them,
so as to get evidence for a conviction."
"Can't he be made to speak?" asked Mr. Blake.
"How can I make him? It will be understood all about Morony that
he has been lying. And I feel that it is thought that he has made
himself a hero by sticking to his lie. If they should turn upon him?"
Mr. Blake sat silent but made no immediate reply. "It would be better
for me to let the whole thing slide. If they were to kill him!"
"They would not do that. Here in County Galway they have not come
to that as yet. There is not a county in all Ireland in which such
a deed could be done," said Mr. Blake, standing up for his country.
"Are you to let this ruffian pass unpunished while you have the power
of convicting him? I think that you are bound to punish him. For the
sake of your country you are bound to do so."
"And the boy?" said Mr. Jones hoarsely.
"He is but ten years old, and will soon live it down. And the
disgrace of the lie will be drowned in the triumph of telling the
truth at last. We should all feel,--I should feel,--that he would
in such case deserve well, rather than ill, of his father and of me,
and of all of us. Besides you had some idea of sending him to school
in England." Here Mr. Jones shook his head, intending to indicate
that no such expensive step as that would be possible after the loss
incurred by the flooding of the eighty acres. "At any rate my advice
to you is to make him declare the truth. I think little harm of a
boy for lying, but I do think harm of those who allow a lie to pass
unnoticed." So saying Mr. Blake ended the meeting, and took Mr. Jones
away to see Mrs. Blake and the girls.
"I do suppose that father has gone to Carnlough, to consult with Mr.
Blake about this affair of the flood." It was thus that Ada spoke to
her brother Florian, when he came to her discussing the matter of
their father's absence.
"What can Mr. Blake know about it?" said Florian.
"I suppose he means to ask about you. It is quite clear, Florian,
that no one in the house believes you."
"Peter does."
"You mean that Peter thinks you are right to stand to the lie now you
have told it. More shame for Peter if he does."
"You wouldn't have a fellow go and put himself out of favour with all
the boys through the country? There is a horrible man that wears a
mask--" Then he remembered, and stopped himself. He was on closer
terms with Ada than with Edith, but not on terms so close as to
justify his whispering a word about the man in the mask.
"Where did you see the man in the mask?" asked Ada. "Who is the man
in the mask?"
"I don't know."
"But you know where you saw him. You must know that. What did the man
in the mask say to you?"
"I am not going to tell you anything about him," said the boy. "I
am not going to have my secrets got out of me in that way. It isn't
honest. Nobody but a Protestant would do it." So saying Florian left
his sister, with the tale of the man in the mask only half told.