The dwelling of Bodagh Buie O'Brien, to which Connor is now directing
his steps, was a favorable specimen of that better class of farm-houses
inhabited by our most extensive and wealthy agriculturists. It was a
large, whitewashed, ornamentally thatched building, that told by its
external aspect of the good living, extensive comforts, and substantial
opulence which prevailed within. Stretched before its hall-door was a
small lawn, bounded on the left by a wall that separated it from the
farm-yard into which the kitchen door opened. Here were stacks of hay,
oats, and wheat, all upon an immense scale, both as to size and number;
together with threshing and winnowing machines, improved ploughs, carts,
cars, and all the other modern implements of an extensive farm. Very
cheering, indeed, was the din of industry that arose from the clank of
machinery, the grunting of hogs, the cackling of geese, the quacking
of ducks, and all the various other sounds which proceeded from what at
first sight might have appeared to be rather a scene of confusion, but
which, on closer inspection, would be found a rough yet well--regulated
system, in which every person had an allotted duty to perform. Here
might Bodagh Buie be seen, dressed in a gray broad-cloth coat, broad
kerseymere breeches, and lambs' wool stockings, moving from place to
place with that calm, sedate, and contented air, which betokens an easy
mind and a consciousness of possessing a more than ordinary share
of property and influence. With hands thrust into his small-clothes
pockets, and a bunch of gold seals suspended from his fob, he issued his
orders in a grave and quiet tone, differing very little in dress from an
absolute _Squireen_, save in the fact of his Caroline hat being rather
scuffed, and his strong shoes begrimed with the soil of his fields or
farm-yard. Mrs. O'Brien was, out of the sphere of her own family, a
person of much greater pretension than the Bodagh her husband; and,
though in a different manner, not less so in the discharge of her duty
as a wife, a mother, or a mistress. In appearance, she was a large, fat,
good-looking woman, eternally in a state of motion and bustle, and, as
her education had been extremely scanty, her tone and manner, though
brimful of authority and consequence, were strongly marked with that
ludicrous vulgarity which is produced by the attempt of an ignorant
person to accomplish a high style of gentility. She was a kind-hearted,
charitable woman, however; but so inveterately conscious of her station
in life, that it became, in her opinion, a matter of duty to exhibit
a refinement and elevation of language suitable to a matron who could
drive every Sunday to Mass on her own jaunting car. When dressed on
these Occasions in her rich rustling silks, she had, what is called in
Ireland, a comfortable _flaghoola_ look, but at the same time a carriage
so stiff and rustic, as utterly overcame all her attempts, dictated
as they were by the simplest vanity, at enacting the arduous and awful
character of a Squireen's wife. Their family consisted of a son and
daughter; the former, a young man of a very amiable disposition, was, at
the present period of our story, a student in Maynooth College, and
the latter, now in her nineteenth year, a promising pupil in a certain
seminary for young ladies, conducted by that notorious Master of Arts,
Little Cupid. Oona, or Una, O'Brien, was in truth a most fascinating and
beautiful brunette; tall in stature, light and agile in all her motions,
cheerful and sweet in temper, but with just as much of that winning
caprice, as was necessary to give zest and piquancy to her whole
character. Though tall and slender, her person was by no means thin;
on the contrary, her limbs and figure were very gracefully rounded,
and gave promise of that agreeable fulness, beneath or beyond which no
perfect model of female proportion can exist. If our readers could get
one glance at the hue of her rich cheek, or fall for a moment under the
power of her black mellow eye, or witness the beauty of her white teeth,
while her face beamed with a profusion of dimples, or saw her while in
the act of shaking out her invincible locks, ere she bound them up with
her white and delicate hands--then, indeed, might they understand why no
war of the elements could prevent Connor O'Donovan from risking life and
limb sooner than disappoint her in the promise of their first meeting.
Oh that first meeting of pure and youthful love! With what a glory is it
ever encircled in the memory of the human heart! No matter how long or
how melancholy the lapse of time since its past existence may be, still,
still, is it remembered by our feelings when the recollection of every
tie but itself has departed. The charm, however, that murmured its
many-toned music through the soul of Una O'Brien was not, upon the
evening in question, wholly free from a shade of melancholy for which
she could not account; and this impression did not result from any
previous examination of her love for Connor O'Donovan, though many
such she had. She knew that in this the utmost opposition from both her
parents must be expected; nor was it the consequence of a consciousness
on her part, that in promising him a clandestine meeting, she had taken
a step which could not be justified. Of this, too, she had been aware
before; but, until the hour of appointment drew near, the heaviness
which pressed her down was such as caused her to admit that the
sensation, however painful and gloomy, was new to her, and bore a
character distinct from anything that could proceed from the various
lights in which she had previously considered her attachment. This was,
moreover, heightened by the boding aspect of the heavens and the dread
repose of the evening, so unlike anything she had ever witnessed before.
Notwithstanding all this, she was sustained by the eager and impatient
buoyancy of first affection; which, when imagination pictured the
handsome form of her young and manly lover, predominated for the time
over every reflection and feeling that was opposed to itself. Her mind,
indeed, resembled a fair autumn landscape, over which the cloud-shadows
may be seen sweeping for a moment, whilst again the sun comes out and
turns all into serenity and light.
The place appointed for their interview was a small paddock shaded by
alders, behind her father's garden, and thither, with trembling limbs
and palpitating heart, did the young and graceful daughter of Bodagh
Buie proceed.
For a considerable time, that is to say, for three long years before
this delicious appointment, had Connor O'Donovan and Una been wrapped
in the elysium of mutual love. At mass, at fair, and at market, had they
often and often met, and as frequently did their eyes search each other
out, and reveal in long blushing glances the state of their respective
hearts. Many a time did he seek an opportunity to disclose what he felt,
and as often, with confusion, and fear, and delight, did she afford him
what he sought. Thus did one opportunity after another pass away, and as
often did he form the towering resolution to reveal his affection if
he were ever favored with another. Still would some disheartening
reflection, arising from the uncommon gentleness and extreme modesty
of his character, throw a damp upon his spirit. He questioned his own
penetration; perhaps she was in the habit of glancing as much at others
as she glanced at him. Could it be possible that the beautiful daughter
of Bodagh Buie, the wealthiest man, and of his wife, the proudest woman,
within a large circle of the country, would love the son of Fardorougha
Donovan, whose name had, alas, become so odious and unpopular? But then
the blushing face, and dark lucid eyes, and the long earnest glance,
rose before his imagination, and told him that, let the difference in
the character and the station of their parents be what it might, the
fair dark daughter of O'Brien was not insensible to him, nor to the
anxieties he felt.
The circumstance which produced the first conversation they ever had
arose from an incident of a very striking and singular character. About
a week before the evening in question, one of Bodagh Buie's bee-skeps
hived, and the young colony, though closely watched and pursued,
directed their course to Fardorougha's house, and settled in the mouth
of the chimney. Connor, having got a clean sheet, secured them, and was
about to submit them to the care of the Bodagh's servants, when it
was suggested that the duty of bringing them home devolved on himself,
inasmuch as he was told they would not remain, unless placed in a new
skep by the hands of the person on whose property they had settled.
While on his way to the Bodagh's he was accosted in the following words
by one of O'Brien's servants:
“Connor, there's good luck before you, or the bees wouldn't pick you out
amongst all the rest o' the neighbors. You ought to hould up your head,
man. Who knows what mainin's in it?”
“Why, do you b'lieve that bees sittin' wid one is a sign o' good luck?”
“Surely I do. Doesn't every one know it to be thrue? Connor, you're a
good-lookin' fellow, an' I need scarcely tell you that we have a purty
girl at home; can you lay that an' that together? Arrah, be my sowl,
the richest honey ever the same bees'll make, is nothin' but alloways,
compared wid that purty mouth of her own! A honey-comb is a fool to it.”
“Why, did you ever thry, Mike?”
“Is it me? Och, och, if I was only high enough in this world, maybe I
wouldn't be spakin' sweet to her; no, no, be my word! thry, indeed, for
the likes o' me! Faith, but I know a sartin young man that she does be
often spakin' about.”
Connor's heart was in a state of instant commotion.
“An' who--who is he--who is that sartin young man, Mike?”
“Faith, the son o' one that can run a shillin' farther than e'er another
man in the country. Do you happen to be acquainted wid one Connor
O'Donovan, of Lisnamona?”
“Connor O'Donovan--that's good, Mike--in the mane time don't be goin' it
on us. No, no;--an' even if she did, it isn't to you she spake about any
one, Michael ahagur!”
“No, nor it wasn't to me--sure I didn't say it was--but don't you know
my sister's at sarvice in the Bodagh's family? Divil the word o' falsity
I'm tellin' you; so, if you haven't the heart to spake for yourself, I
wouldn't give knots o' straws for you; and now, there's no harm done I
hope--moreover, an' by the same token, you needn't go to the trouble o'
puttin' up an advertisement to let the parish know what I've tould you.”
“Hut, tut, Mike, it's all folly. Una Dhun O'Brien to think of
me!--nonsense, man; that cock would never fight.”
“Very well; divil a morsel of us is forcin' you to b'lieve it. I suppose
the mother o' you has your _wooden spoon_ to the fore still. I'd kiss
the Bravery you didn't come into the world wid a silver ladle in your
mouth, anyhow. In the mane time, we're at the Bodagh's--an' have an eye
about you afther what you've heard--_Nabocklish!_”
This, indeed, was important intelligence to Connor, and it is probable
that, had he not heard it, another opportunity of disclosing his passion
might have been lost.
Independently of this, however, he was not proof against the popular
superstition of the bees, particularly as it appeared to be an augury
to which his enamored heart could cling with all the hope of young and
passionate enthusiasm.
Nor was it long till he had an opportunity of perceiving that she whose
image had floated in light before his fancy, gave decided manifestations
of being struck by the same significant occurrence. On entering the
garden, the first person his eye rested upon was Una herself, who,
as some of the other hives were expected to swarm, had been engaged
watching them during the day. His appearance at any time would have
created a tumult in her bosom, but, in addition to this, when she heard
that the bees which had rested on Connor's house, had swarmed from _her
own hive_, to use the words of Burns--
She looked--she reddened like the rose,
Syne pale as ony lily,
and, with a shy but expressive glance at Connor, said, in a low hurried
voice, “These belong to me.”
Until the moment we are describing, Connor and she, notwithstanding that
they frequently met in public places, had never yet spoken; nor could
the words now uttered by Una be considered as addressed to him, although
from the glance that accompanied them it was sufficiently evident that
they were intended for him alone. It was in vain that he attempted to
accost her; his confusion, her pleasure, his timidity, seemed to unite
in rendering him incapable of speaking at all. His lips moved several
times, but the words, as they arose, died away unspoken.
At this moment, Mike, with waggish good-humor, and in a most laudable
fit of industry, reminded the other servants, who had been assisting
to secure the bees, that as they (the bees) were now safe, no further
necessity existed for their presence.
“Come, boys--death-alive, the day's passin'--only think. Miss Una, that
we have all the hay in the Long-shot meadow to get into cocks yet, an'
here we're idlin' an' ghosther--in' away our time like I dunna what.
They're schamin', Miss Una--divil a thing else, an' what'll the masther
say if the same meadow's not finished to--night?”
“Indeed, Mike,” replied Una--; “if the meadow is to be finished this
night, there's little time to be lost.”
“Come, boys,” exclaimed Mike, “you hear what Miss Una says--if it's
to be finished to-night there's but little time to be lost--turn
out--march. Miss Una can watch the bees widout our help. Good evenin',
Misther Donovan; be my word, but you're entitled to a taste o' honey any
way, for bringing back Miss Una's bees to her.”
Mike, after having uttered this significant opinion relative to his
sense of justice, drove his fellow-servants out of the garden, and left
the lovers together. There was now a dead silence, during the greater
part of which, neither dared to look at the other; at length each
hazarded a glance; their eyes met, and their embarrassment deepened in
a tenfold degree. Una, on withdrawing her gaze, looked with an air of
perplexity from one object to another, and at length, with downcast
lids, and glowing cheeks, her eyes became fixed on her own white and
delicate finger.
“Who would think,” said she, in a voice tremulous with agitation, “that
the sting of a bee could be so painful.”
Connor advanced towards her with a beating heart. “Where have you been
stung, Miss O'Brien?” said he, in a tone shaken out of it's fulness by
what he felt.
“In the finger,” she replied, and she looked closely into the spot as
she uttered the words.
“Will you let me see it?” asked Connor.
She held her hand towards him without knowing what she did, nor was it
till after a strong effort that Connor mastered himself so far as to ask
her in which finger she felt the pain. In fact, both saw at once that
their minds were engaged upon far different thoughts, and that their
anxiety to pour out the full confession of their love was equally deep
and mutual.
As Connor put the foregoing question to her, he took her hand in his.
“In what finger?” she replied, “I don't--indeed--I--I believe in
the--the--but what--what is this?--I am very--very weak.”
“Let me support you to the summer--house, where you can sit,” returned
Connor, still clasping her soft delicate hand in his; then, circling her
slender waist with the other, he helped her to a seat under the thick
shade of the osiers.
Una's countenance immediately became pale as death, and her whole frame
trembled excessively.
“You are too weak even to sit without support,” said Connor, “your
head is droopin'. For God's sake, lean it over on me! Oh! I'd give ten
thousand lives to have it on my breast only for one moment!”
Her paleness still continued; she gazed on him, and, as he gently
squeezed her hand, a slight pressure was given in return. He then drew
her head over upon his shoulder, where it rather fell than leaned; a
gush of tears came from her eyes, and the next moment, with sobbing
hearts, they were encircled in each other's arms.
From this first intoxicating draught of youthful love, they were
startled by the voice of Mrs. O'Brien calling upon her daughter, and,
at the same time, to their utter dismay, they observed the portly dame
sailing, in her usual state, down towards the arbor, with an immense
bunch of keys dangling from her side.
“Oonagh, Miss--Miss Oonagh--where are you, Miss, Ma Colleen?--Here's
a litther,” she proceeded, when Una appeared, “from Mrs. Fogarty, your
school-misthress, to your fadher--statin' that she wants you to
finish your Jiggraphy at the dancin', wid a new dancin'--teacher from
_Dubling_. Why--Eah! what ails you, Miss, Ma Colleen? What the dickens
wor you cryin' for?”
“These nasty bees that stung me,” returned the girl. “Oh, for goodness
sake, mother dear, don't come any farther, except you wish to have a
whole hive upon you!”
“Why, sure, they wouldn't sting any one that won't meddle wid them,”
replied the mother in a kind of alarm.
“The sorra pin they care, mother--don't come near them; I'll be in, by
an' by. Where's my father?”
“He's in the house, an' wants you to answer Mrs. Fogarty, statin' feder
you'll take a month's larnin' on the _flure_ or not.”
“Well, I'll see her letter in a minute or two, but you may tell my
father he needn't wait--I won't answer it to-night at all event's.”
“You must answer it on the nail,” replied her mother, “becase the
messager's waitin' in the kitchen 'ithin.”
“That alters the case altogether,” returned Una, “and I'll follow you
immediately.”
The good woman then withdrew, having once more enjoined the daughter to
avoid delay, and not to detain the messenger.
“You must go instantly,” she said to Connor. “Oh, what would happen me
if they knew that I lov--that I--” a short pause ensued, and she blushed
deeply.
“Say, what you were goin' to say,” returned Connor; “Oh, say that one
word, and all the misfortunes that ever happened to man, can't make me
unhappy! Oh, God! an' is it possible? Say that word--Oh! say it--say
it!”
“Well, then,” she continued, “if they knew that I love the son of
Fardorougha Donovan, what would become of me? Now go, for fear my father
may come out.”
“But when will I see you again?”
“Go,” said she anxiously; “go, you can easily see me.”
“But when?--when? say on Thursday.”
“Not so soon--not so soon,” and she cast an anxious eye towards the
garden gate.
“When then--say this day week.”
“Very well--but go--maybe my father has heard from the servants that you
are here.”
“Dusk is the best time.”
“Yes--yes--about dusk; under the alders, in the little green field
behind the garden.”
“Show me the wounded finger,” said he with a smile, “before I go.”
“There,” said she, extending her hand; “but for Heaven's sake go.”
“I'll tell you how to cure it,” said he, tenderly; “honey is the
medicine; put that sweet finger to your own sweeter lip--and,
afterwards, I'll carry home the wound.”
“But not the medicine, _now_,” said she, and, snatching her hand from
his, with light, fearful steps, she fled up the garden and disappeared.
Such, gentle reader, were the circumstances which brought our young and
artless lovers together in the black twilight of the singularly awful
and ominous evening which we have already described.
Connor, on reaching the appointed spot, sat down; but his impatience
soon overcame him; and, while hurrying to and fro, under the alders,
he asked himself in what was this wild but rapturous attachment to
terminate? That the proud Bodagh, and his prouder wife, would never
suffer their beautiful daughter, the heiress of all their wealth, to
marry the son of Fardorougha, the miser, was an axiom, the truth of
which pressed upon his heart with a deadly weight. On the other hand,
would his father, or rather could he, change his nature so far as to
establish him in life, provided Una and he were united without the
consent of her parents? Alas! he knew his father's parsimony too well;
and, on either hand, he was met by difficulties that appeared to him
to be insurmountable. But again came the delightful and ecstatic
consciousness, that, let their parents act as they might, Una's heart
and his were bound to each other by ties which, only to think of, was
rapture. In the midst of these reflections, he heard her light foot
approach, but with a step more slow and melancholy than he could have
expected from the ardor of their love.
When she approached, the twilight was just sufficient to enable him to
perceive that her face was pale, and tinged apparently with melancholy,
if not with sorrow. After the first salutations were over, he was
proceeding to inquire into the cause of her depression, when, to his
utter surprise, she placed her hands upon her face, and burst into a fit
of grief.
Those who have loved need not be told that the most delightful office
of that delightful passion is to dry the tears of the beloved one who
is dear to us beyond all else that life contains. Connor literally
performed this office, and inquired, in a tone so soothing and full
of sympathy, why she wept, that her tears for a while only flowed the
faster. At length her grief abated, and she was able to reply to him.
“You ask me why I am raying,” said the fair young creature; “but,
indeed, I cannot tell you. There has been a sinking of the heart upon me
during the greater part of this day. When I thought of our meeting I
was delighted; but again some heaviness would come over me that I can't
account for.”
“I know what it is,” replied Connor, “a very simple thing; merely the
terrible calm an' blackness of the evenin'. I was sunk myself a little.”
“I ought to cry for a better reason,” she returned. “In meeting you I
have done--an' am doing--what I ought to be sorry for--that is, a wrong
action that my conscience condemns.”
“There is nobody perfect, my dear Una,” said Connor; “an' none without
their failins; they have little to answer for that have no more than
you.”
“Don't flatter me,” she replied; “if you love me as you say, never
flatter me while you live; I will always speak what I feel, and I hope
you'll do the same.”
“If I could spake what I feel,” said he, “you would still say I
flattered you--it's not in the power of any words that ever were spoken,
to tell how I love you--how much my heart an' soul's fixed upon you.
Little you know, my own dear Una, how unhappy I am this minute, to see
you in low spirits. What do you think is the occasion of it? Spake now,
as you say you will do, that is, as you feel.”
“Except it be that my heart brought me to meet you tonight contrary to
my conscience, I do not know. Connor, Connor, that heart is so strongly
in your favor, that if you were not to be happy neither could its poor
owner.”
Connor for a moment looked into the future, but, like the face of the
sky above him, all was either dark or stormy; his heart sank, but the
tenderness expressed in Una's last words filled his whole soul with a
vehement and burning passion, which he felt must regulate his destiny in
life, whether for good or evil. He pulled her to his breast, on which
he placed her head; she looked up fondly to him, and, perceiving that he
wrought under some deep and powerful struggle, said in a low, confiding
voice, whilst the tears once more ran quietly down her cheeks, “Connor,
what I said is true.”
“My heart's burnin'--my heart's burnin'!” he exclaimed. “It's not love I
feel for you, Una--it's more than love; oh, what is it--Una, Una, this I
know, that I cannot live long without you, or from you; if I did, I'd go
wild or mad through the world. For the last three years you have never
been out of my mind, I may say awake or asleep; for I believe a night
never passed during that time that I didn't drame of you--of the
beautiful young crature. Oh! God in heaven, can it be thrue that she
loves me at last? Say them blessed words again, Una; oh, say them again!
But I'm too happy--I can hardly bear this delight.”
“It is true that I love you, and if our parents could think as we do,
Connor, how easy it would be for them to make us happy, but--”
“It's too soon, Una; it's too soon to spake of that. Happy! don't we
love one another? Isn't that happiness? Who or what can deprive us of
that? We are happy without them; we can be happy in spite of them; oh,
my own fair girl! sweet, sweet life of my life, and heart of my heart!
Heaven--heaven itself would be no heaven to me, if you weren't with me!”
“Don't say that, Connor dear; it's wrong. Let us not forget what is
due to religion, if we expect our love to prosper. You may think this
strange from one that has acted contrary to religion in coming to meet
you against the will and knowledge of her parents; but beyond that, dear
Connor, I hope I never will go. But is it true that you've loved me so
long?”
“It is,” said he; “the second Sunday in May next was three years, I
knelt opposite you at mass. You were on the left hand side of the altar,
I was on the right; my eyes were never off you; indeed, you may remember
it.”
“I have a good right,” said she, blushing and hiding her face on his
shoulder. “I ought to be ashamed to acknowledge it, an' me so young at
the time; little more than sixteen. From that day to this, my story has
been just your own. Connor, can you tell me how I found it out but I
knew you loved me?”
“Many a thing was to tell you that, Una dear. Sure my eyes were never
off you, whenever you wor near me; an' wherever you were, there was
I certain to be too. I never missed any public place if I thought you
would be at it, an' that merely for the sake of seein' you. An', now
will you tell me why it was that I could 'a sworn you lov'd me?”
“You have answered for us both,” she replied. “As for me, if I only
chance to hear your name mentioned my heart would beat; if the talk was
about you I could listen to nothing else, and I often felt the color
come and go on my cheek.”
“Una, I never thought I could be born to such happiness. Now that I know
that you love me, I can hardly think that it was love I felt for you all
along; it's wonderful--it's wonderful!”
“What is so wonderful?” she inquired.
“Why, the change that I feel since knowin' that you love me; since I had
it from your own lips, it has overcome me--I'm a child--I'm anything,
anything you choose to make me; it was never love--it's only since I
found you loved me that my heart's burnin' as it is.”
“I'll make you happyr if I can,” she replied, “and keep you so, I hope.”
“There's one thing that will make me still happier than I am,” said
Connor.
“What is it? If it's proper and right I'll do it.”
“Promise me that if I live you'll never marry any one else than me.”
“You wish then to have the promise all on one side,” she replied with a
smile and a blush, each as sweet as ever captivated a human heart.
“No, no, no, my darling Una, _acushla gra gal machree_, no! I will
promise the same to you.”
She paused, and a silence of nearly a minute ensued.
“I don't know that it's right, Connor; I have taken one wrong step as it
is, but, well as I love you, I won't take another; whatever I do I must
feel that it's proper. I'm not sure that this is.”
“Don't you say you love me, Una?”
“I do; you know I do.”
“I have only another question to ask; could you, or would you, love me
as you do, and marry another?”
“I could not, Connor, and would not, and will not. I am ready to
promise; I may easily do it; for God knows the very thought of marrying
another, or being deprived of you, is more than I can bear.”
“Well, then,” returned her lover, seizing her hand, “I take God to
witness that, whilst you are alive an' faithful to me, I will never
marry any woman but yourself. Now,” he continued, “put your right hand
into mine, and say the same words.”
She did so, and was in the act of repeating the form, “I take God to
witness----” when a vivid flash of lightning shot from the darkness
above them, and a peal of thunder almost immediately followed, with an
explosion so loud as nearly to stun both. Una started with terror, and
instinctively withdrew her hand from Connor's.
“God preserve us!” she exclaimed; “that's awful. Connor, I feel as if the
act I am goin' to do is not right. Let us put it off at all events, till
another time.”
“Is it because there comes an accidental brattle of thunder?” he
returned. “Why, the thunder would come if we were never to change a
promise. You have mine, now, Una dear, an' I'm sure you wouldn't wish
me to be bound an' yourself free. Don't be afraid, darling; give me your
hand, an' don't tremble so; repeat the words at wanst, an' let it be
over.”
He again took her hand, when she repeated the form in a distinct, though
feeble voice, observing, when it was concluded,
“Now, Connor, I did this to satisfy you, but I still feel like one who
has done a wrong action. I am yours now, but I cannot help praying to
God that it may end happily for us both.”
“It must, darling Una--it must end happily for us both. How can it be
otherwise? For my part, except to see you my wife, I couldn't be happier
than I am this minute; exceptin' that, my heart has all it wished for.
Is it possible--Oh! is it possible that this is not a dream, my heart's
life? But if it is--if it is--I never more will wish to waken.”
Her young lover was deeply affected as he uttered these words, nor was
Una proof against the emotion they produced.
“I could pray to God, this moment, with a purer heart than I ever had
before,” he proceeded, “for makin' my lot in life so happy. I feel that
I am better and freer from sin than I ever was yet. If we're faithful
and true to one another, what can the world do to us?”
“I couldn't be otherwise than faithful to you,” she replied, “without
being unhappy myself; an' I trust it's no sin to love each other as
we do. Now let us----God bless me, what a flash! and here's the rain
beginning. That thunder's dreadful; Heaven preserve us! It's an awful
night! Connor, you must see me as far as the corner of the garden; as
for you, I wish you were safe at home.”
“Hasten, dear,” said he, “hasten; it's no night for you to be out in,
now that the rain's coming. As for me, if it was ten times as dreadful I
won't feel it. There's but one thought--one thought in my mind, and that
I wouldn't part with for the wealth of the universe.”
Both then proceeded at a quick puce until they reached the corner
of Bodagh's garden, where, with brief but earnest reassurances of
unalterable attachment, they took a tender and affectionate farewell.
It is not often that the higher ranks can appreciate the moral beauty of
love as it is experienced by those humbler classes to whom they deny
the power of feeling in its most refined and exalted character. For our
parts we differ so much from them in this, that, if we wanted to give an
illustration of that passion in its purest and most delicate state, we
would not seek for it in the saloon or the drawing--room, but among the
green fields and the smiling landscapes of rural life. The simplicity
of humble hearts is more accordant with the unity of affection than any
mind can be that is distracted by the competition of rival claims upon
its gratification. We do not say that the votaries of rank and fashion
are insensible to love; because, how much soever they may be conversant
with the artificial and unreal, still they are human, and must, to a
certain extent, be influenced by a principle that acts wherever it can
find a heart on which to operate. We say, however, that their love, when
contrasted with that which is felt by the humble peasantry, is languid
and sickly; neither so pure, nor so simple, nor so intense. Its
associations in high life are unfavorable to the growth of a healthy
passion; for what is the glare of a lamp, a twirl through the insipid
maze of the ball-room, or the unnatural distortions of the theatre,
when compared to the rising of the summer sun, the singing of birds,
the music of the streams, the joyous aspect of the varied landscape, the
mountain, the valley, the lake, and a thousand other objects, each of
which transmits to the peasant's heart silently and imperceptibly that
subtle power which at once strengthens and purifies the passion?
There is scarcely such a thing as solitude in the upper ranks, nor an
opportunity of keeping the feelings unwasted, and the energies of
the heart unspent by the many vanities and petty pleasures with which
fashion forces a compliance, until the mind falls from its natural
dignity, into a habit of coldness and aversion to everything but the
circle of empty trifles in which it moves so giddily. But the enamored
youth who can retire to the beautiful solitude of the still glen to
brood over the image of her he loves, and who, probably, sits under the
very tree where his love was avowed and returned; he, we say, exalted
with the fulness of his happiness, feels his heart go abroad in gladness
upon the delighted objects that surround him, for everything that
he looks upon is as a friend; his happy heart expands over the whole
landscape; his eye glances to the sky; he thinks of the Almighty
Being above him, and though without any capacity to analyze his own
feelings--love--the love of some humble, plain but modest girl--kindles
by degrees into the sanctity and rapture of religion.
Let not our readers of rank, then, if any such may honor our pages with
a perusal, be at all surprised at the expression of Connor O'Donovan
when, under the ecstatic power of a love so pure and artless as that
which bound his heart and Una's together, he exclaimed, as he did,
“Oh! I could pray to God this moment with a purer heart than I ever had
before!” Such a state of feeling among the people is neither rare nor
anomalous; for, however, the great ones and the wise ones of the world
may be startled at our assertion, we beg to assure them that love and
religion are more nearly related to each other than those, who have
never felt either in its truth and purity, can imagine.
As Connor performed his journey home, the thunder tempest passed
fearfully through the sky; and, though the darkness was deep and
unbroken by anything but the red flashes of lightning, yet, so strongly
absorbed was his heart by the scene we have just related, that he
arrived at his father's house scarcely conscious of the roar of elements
which surrounded him.
The family had retired to bed when he entered, with the exception of his
parents, who, having felt uneasy at his disappearance, were anxiously
awaiting his return, and entering into fruitless conjectures concerning
the cause of an absence so unusual.
“What,” said the alarmed mother, “what in the wide world could keep him
so long out, and on sich a tempest as is in it? God protect my boy
from all harm an' danger, this fearful night! Oh, Fardorougha, what 'ud
become of us if anything happened him? As for me--my heart's wrapped up
in him; wid--out our darlin' it 'ud break, break, Fardorougha.”
“Hut; he's gone to some neighbor's an' can't come out till the storm is
over; he'll soon be here now that the thunder an' lightnin's past.”
“But did you never think, Fardorougha, what 'ud become of you, or what
you'd do or how you'd live, if anything happened him? which the Almighty
forbid this night and forever! Could you live widout him?”
The old man gazed upon her like one who felt displeasure at having a
contingency so painful forced upon his consideration. Without making
any reply, however, he looked thoughtfully into the fire for some time,
after which he rose up, and, with a querulous and impatient voice, said,
“What's the use of thinkin' about sich things? Lose him! why would I
lose him? I couldn't lose him--I'd as soon lose my own life--I'd rather
be dead at wanst than lose him.”
“God knows your love for him is a quare love, Fardorougha,” rejoined the
wife; “you wouldn't give him a guinea if it 'ud save his life, or allow
him even a few shillings now an' then, for pocket-money, that he might
be aquil to other young boys like him.”
“No use, no use in that, except to bring him into drink an' other bad
habits; a bad way, Honora, of showin' one's love for him. If you had
your will you'd spoil him; I'm keepin' whatsomever little shillin's
we've scraped together to settle him dacently in life; but, indeed,
that's time enough yet; he's too young to marry for some years to come,
barrin' he got a fortune.”
“Well, one thing, Fardorougha, if ever two people were blessed in a good
son, praise be God we are that!”
“We are, Honor, we are; there's not his aquil in the parish--_achora
machree_ that he is. When I'm gone he'll know what I've done for him.”
“Whin you're gone; why, Saver of arth, sure you wouldn't keep him out
of his---- husth!----here he is, God be thanked! poor boy he's safe. Oh,
thin, _vich no Hoiah_, Connor jewel, were you out undher this terrible
night?”
“Connor, _avich machree_,” added the father, “you're lost! My hand to
you, if he's worth three hapuns; sthrip an' throw my Cothamore about
you, an' draw in to the fire; you're fairly lost.”
“I'm worth two lost people yet,” said Connor, smiling; “mother, did you
ever see a pleasanter night?”
“Pleasant, Connor, darlin'! Oh thin it's you may say so, I'm sure!”
“Father, you're a worthy--only your Cothamore's too scimpt for me.
Faith, mother, although you think I'm jokin', the devil a one o' me is;
a pleasanter night--a happier night I never spent. Father, you ought to
be proud o' me, an' stretch out a bit with the cash; faith, I'm nothin'
else than a fine handsome young fellow.”
“Be me soul an' he ought to be proud out of you, Connor, whether you're
in arnest or not,” observed the mother, “an' to stretch out wid the
_arrighad_ too if you want it.”
“Folly on, Connor, folly on! your mother'll back you, I'll go bail, say
what you will; but sure you know all I have must be yours yet, acushla.”
Connor now sat down, and his mother stirred up the fire, on which she
placed additional fuel. After a little time his manner changed, and a
shade of deep gloom fell upon his manly and handsome features. “I don't
know,” he at length proceeded, “that, as we three are here together,
I could do betther than ask your advice upon what has happened to me
to-night.”
“Why, what has happened you, Connor?” said the mother alarmed; “plase
God, no harm, I hope.”
“Who else,” added the father, “would you be guided by, if not by your
mother an' myself?”
“No harm, mother, dear,” said Connor in reply to her; “harm! Oh! mother,
mother, if you knew it; an' as for what you say, father, it's right;
what advice but my mother's an' yours ought I to ask?”
“An' God's too,” added the mother.
“An' my heart was nevir more _ris_ to God than it was', an' is this
night,” replied their ingenuous boy.
“Well, but what has happened, Connor?” said his father; “if it's
anything where our advice can serve you, of coorse we'll advise you for
the best.”
Connor then, with a glowing heart, made them acquainted with the
affection which subsisted between himself and Una O'Brien, and ended by
informing them of the vow of marriage which they had that night solemnly
pledged to each other.
“You both know her by sight,” he added, “an' afther what I've sed, can
you blame me for sayin' that I found this a pleasant and a happy night?”
The affectionate mother's eyes filled with tears of pride and delight,
on hearing that her handsome son was loved by the beautiful daughter of
Bodagh Buie, and she could not help exclaiming, in the enthusiasm of the
moment,
“She's a purty girl--the purtiest indeed I ever laid my two livin' eyes
upon, and by all accounts as good as she's purty; but I say that, face
to face, you're as good, ay, an' as handsome, Fardorougha, as she is.
God bless her, any way, an' mark her to grace and happiness, _ma colleen
dhas dhun_.”
“He's no match for her,” said the father, who had listened with an
earnest face, and compressed lips, to his son's narrative; “he's no
match for her--by four hundred guineas.”
Honora, when he uttered the previous part of his observation, looked
upon him with a flash of indignant astonishment; but when he had
concluded, her countenance fell back into its original expression. It
was evident that, while she, with the feelings of a woman and a mother,
instituted a parallel between their personal merits alone, the husband
viewed their attachment through that calculating spirit which had
regulated his whole life.
“You're thinkin' of her money now,” she added; “but remimber,
Fardorougha, that it wasn't born wid her. An' I hope, Connor, it's not
for her money that you have any grah for her?”
“You may swear that, mother; I love her little finger betther than all
the money in the king's bank.”
“Connor, avich, your mother has made a fool of you, or you wouldn't
spake the nonsense you spoke this minute.”
“My word to you, father, I'll take all the money I'll get; but what am I
to do? Bodagh Buie an' his wife will never consent to allow her to marry
me, I can tell you; an' if she marries me without their consent, you
both know I have no way of supportin' her, except you, father, assist
me.”
“That won't be needful, Connor; you may manage them; they won't see her
want; she's an only daughter; they couldn't see her want.”
“An' isn't he an only son, Fardorougha?” exclaimed the wife. “An' my
sowl to happiness but I believe you'd see him want.”
“Any way,” replied her husband, “I'm not for matches against the consint
of parents; they're not lucky; or can't you run away wid her, an' thin
refuse marryin' her except they come down wid the cash?”
“Oh, father!” exclaimed Connor, “father, father, to become a villain!”
“Connor,” said his mother, rising up in a spirit of calm and mournful
solemnity, “never heed; go to bed, achora, go to bed.”
“Of coorse I'll never heed, mother,” he replied; “but I can't help
sayin' that, happy as I was awhile agone, my father is sendin' me to bed
with a heavy heart. When I asked your advice, father, little I thought
it would be to do--but no matter; I'll never be guilty of an act that
'ud disgrace my name.”
“No, avillish,” said his mother, “you never will; God knows it's as much
an' more than you an' other people can do, to keep the name we have in
decency.”
“It's fine talk,” observed Fardorougha, “but what I advise has been done
by hundreds that wor married an' happy afterwards; how--an--iver you
needn't get into a passion, either of you; I'm not pressin' you,'
Connor, to it.”
“Connor, achree,” said his mother, “go to bed, an' instead of the advice
you got, ax God's; go, avillish!”
Connor, without making any further observation, sought his
sleeping-room, where, having recommended himself to God, in earnest
prayer, he lay revolving all that had occurred that night, until the
gentle influence of sleep at length drew him into oblivion.
“Now,” said his mother to Fardorougha, when Connor had gone, “you must
sleep by yourself; for, as for me, my side I'll not stretch on the same
bed wid you to-night.”
“Very well, I can't help that,” said her husband; “all I can say is
this, that I'm not able to put sinse or prudence into you or Connor;
so, since you won't be guided by me, take your own coorse. Bodagh Buie's
very well able to provide for them--; an' if he won't do so before they
marry, why let Connor have nothing to say to her.”
“I'll tell you what, Fardorougha, God wouldn't be in heaven, or you'll
get a cut heart yet, either through your son or your money; an' that it
may not be through my darlin' boy, O, grant, sweet Saver o' the earth,
this night! I'm goin' to sleep wid Biddy Casey, an' you'll find a clane
nightcap on the rail o' the bed; an', Fardorougha, afore you put it an,
kneel down an' pray to God to change your heart--for it wants it--it
wants it.”
In Ireland the first object of a servant man, after entering the
employment of his master, is to put himself upon an amicable footing
with his fellow-servants of the other sex. Such a step, besides being
natural in itself, is often taken in consequence of the _esprit du
corps_ which prevails among persons of that class. Bartle Flanagan,
although he could not be said to act from any habit previously acquired
in service, went to work with all the tact and adroitness of a veteran.
The next morning, after having left the barn where he slept, he
contrived to throw himself in the way of Biddy Duggan, a girl, who,
though vain and simple, was at the same time conscientious and honest.
On passing from the barn to the kitchen, he noticed her returning from
the well with a pitcher of water in each hand, and as it is considered
an act of civil attention for the male servant, if not otherwise
employed, to assist the female in small, matters of the kind, so did
Flanagan, in his best manner and kindest voice, bid her good-morning and
offer to carry home the pitcher.
“It's the least I may do,” said he, “now that I'm your fellow-servant;
but before you go farther, lay down your burden, an' let us chat
awhile.”
“Indeed,” replied Biddy, “it's little we expected ever to see your
father's son goin' to earn his bread undher another man's roof.”
“Pooh! Biddy! there's greater wondhers in the world than that, woman
alive! But tell me--pooh--ay, is there a thousand quarer things--but I
say, Biddy, how do you like to--live wid this family?”
“Why, troth indeed, only for the withered ould leprechaun himself, divil
a dacenter people ever broke bread.”
“Yet, isn't it a wondher that the ould fellow is what he is, an' he so
full o' money?”
“Troth, there's one thing myself wondhers at more than that.”
“What, Biddy? let us hear it.”
“Why, that you could be mane an' shabby! enough to come as a sarvint to
ate the bread of the man that ruined yees!”
“Biddy,” replied Flanagan, “I'm glad! you've said it; but do you think
that I have so bad a heart as too keep revinge in against an inimy? How
could I go to my knees at night, if I--no, Biddy, we must be Christians.
Well! let us drop that; so you tell me this mother an' son are kind to
you.”
“As good-hearted a pair as ever lived.”
“Connor, of course, can't but be very kind to so good-looking a girl as
you are, Biddy,” said Bartle, with a knowing smile.
“Very kind! good-looking! ay, indeed, I'm sure o' that, Bartle; behave!
an' don't be gettin' an wid any o' your palavers. What 'ud make Connor
be kind to the likes of me, that way?”
“I don't see why you oughtn't an' mightn't--you're as good as him, if it
goes to that.”
“Oh, yis, indeed!”
“Why, you know you'r handsome.”
“Handsome,” replied the vain girl, tightening her apron-strings, and
assuming a sly, coquettish look; “Bartle, go 'an mind your business, and
let me bring home my pitchers; it's time the breakwist was down. Sich
nonsense!”
“Very well, you're not, thin; you've a bad leg, a bad figure, an' a bad
face, an' it would be a terrible thing all out for Connor O'Donovan to
fall in consate wid you.”
“Well, about Connor I could tell you something;--me! tut! go to
the sarra;--faix, you don't know them that Connor's afther, nor the
collogin' they all had about it no longer ago than last night itself.
I suppose they thought I was asleep, but it was like the hares, wid my
eyes open.”
“An' it's a pity, Biddy, ever the same two eyes should be shut. Begad,
myself is beginning to feel quare somehow, when I look at them.”
A glance of pretended incredulity was given in return, after which she
proceeded--
“Bartle, don't be bringin' yourself to the fair wid sich folly. My eyes
is jist as God made them; but I can tell you that before a month o'
Sundays passes, I wouldn't be surprised if you seen Connor married
to--you wouldn't guess!”
“Not I; divil a hap'orth I know about who he's courtin'.”
“No less than our great beauty, Bodagh Buie's daughter, Una O'Brien.
Now, Bartle, for goodness sake, don't let this cross your lips to a
livin' mortal. Sure I heard him tellin' all to the father and mother
last night--they're promised to one another. Eh! blessed saints, Bartle,
what ails you? you're as white as a sheet. What's wrong? and what did
you start for?”
“Nothin',” replied Flanagan, coolly, “but a stitch in my side. I'm
subject to that--it pains me very much while it lasts, and laves me
face, as you say, the color of dimity; but about Connor, upon my throth,
I'm main proud to hear it; she's a purty girl, an' besides he'll have a
fortune that'll make a man of him. I am, in throth, heart proud to
hear it. It's a pity Connor's father isn't as dacent as himself. Arrah,
Biddy, where does the ould codger keep his money?”
“Little of it in the house any way--sure, whenever he scrapes a guinea
together he's away wid it to the county ---- county ---- och, that
countryman that keeps the money for the people.”
“The treasurer; well, much good may his thrash do him, Biddy, that's
the worst I wish him. Come now and I'll lave your pitchers at home, and
remember you owe me something for this.”
“Good will, I hope.”
“That for one thing,” he replied, as they went along; “but we'll talk
more about it when we have time; and I'll thin tell you the truth about
what brought me to hire wid Fardorougha Donovan.”
Having thus excited that most active principle called female curiosity,
both entered the kitchen, where they found Connor and his mother in
close and apparently confidential conversation--Fardorougha himself
having as usual been abroad upon his farm for upwards of an hour before
any of them had risen.
The feelings with which they met that morning at breakfast may be easily
understood by our readers without much assistance of ours. On the part
of Fardorougha there was a narrow, selfish sense of exultation, if not
triumph, at the chance that lay before his son of being able to settle
himself independently in life, without the necessity of making any
demand upon the hundreds which lay so safely in the keeping of the
County Treasurer. His sordid soul was too deeply imbued with the love
of money to perceive that what he had hitherto looked upon as a proof
of parental affection and foresight, was nothing more than a fallacy
by which he was led day after day farther into his prevailing vice.
In other words, now that love for his son, and the hope of seeing him
occupy a respectable station in society, ought to have justified the
reasoning by which he had suffered himself to be guided, it was apparent
that the prudence which he had still considered to be his duty as a
kind parent, was nothing else than a mask for his own avarice. The idea,
therefore, of seeing Connor settled without any aid from himself, filled
his whole soul with a wild, hard satisfaction, which gave him as much
delight as perhaps he was capable of enjoying. The advice offered to
his son on the preceding night appeared to him a matter so reasonable in
itself, and the opportunity offered by Una's attachment so well adapted
for making it an instrument to work upon the affections of her parents,
that he could not for the life of him perceive why they should entertain
any rational objection against it.
The warm-hearted mother participated so largely in all that affected the
happiness of her son, that, if we allow for the difference of sex and
position, we might describe their feelings as bearing, in the character
of their simple and vivid enjoyment, a very remarkable resemblance.
This amiable woman's affection for Connor was reflected upon Una
O'Brien, whom she now most tenderly loved, not because the fair girl was
beautiful, but because she had plighted her troth to that Son who had
been during his whole life her own solace and delight.
No sooner was the morning meal concluded, and the servants engaged at
their respective employments, than Honor, acting probably under Connor's
suggestion, resolved at once to ascertain whether her husband could so
far overcome his parsimony as to establish their son and Una in life;
that is, in the event of Una's parents opposing their marriage, and
declining to render them any assistance. With this object in view, she
told him, as he was throwing his great-coat over his shoulders, in order
to proceed to the fields, that she wished to speak to him upon a matter
of deep importance.
“What is it?” said Fardorougha, with a hesitating shrug, “what is it?
This is ever an' always the way when you want _money_; but I tell you
I have no money. You wor born to waste and extravagance, Honor, an'
there's no curin' you. What is it you want? an' let me go about my
business.”
“Throw that ould threadbare Cothamore off o' you,” replied Honor, “and
beg of God to give you grace to sit down, an' have common feeling and
common sense.”
“If it's money to get cloes either for yourself or Connor, there's no
use in it. I needn't sit; you don't want a stitch, either of you.”
Honor, without more ado, seized the coat, and, flinging it aside, pushed
him over to a seat on which she forced him to sit down.
“As heaven's above me,” she exclaimed, “I dunna what come over you at
all, at all. Your money, your thrash, your dirt an' filth, ever, ever,
an' for evermore in your thought, heart and sowl. Oh, Chierna! to think
of it, an' you know there is a God above you, an' that you must meet
Him, an' that widout your money too!”
“Ay, ay, the money's what you want to come at; but I'll not sit here to
be hecthor'd. What is it, I say again, you want?”
“Fardorougha ahagur,” continued the wife, checking herself, and
addressing him in a kind and affectionate voice, “maybe I was spakin'
too harsh to you, but sure it was an' is for your own good. How an'
ever, I'll thry kindness, and if you have a heart at all, you can't but
show it when you hear what I'm goin' to say.”
“Well, well, go an,” replied the pertinacious husband; “but--money--ay,
ay, is there. I feel, by the way you're comin' about me, that there is
money at the bottom of it.”
The wife raised her hands and eyes to heaven, shook her head, and after
a slight pause, in which she appeared to consider her appeal a hopeless
one, she at length went on in an earnest but subdued and desponding
spirit--
“Fardorougha, the time's now come that will show the world whether you
love Connor or not.”
“I don't care a pin about the world; you an' Connor know well enough
that I love him.”
“Love for one's child doesn't come out merely in words, Fardorougha;
actin' for their benefit shows it better than spakin'. Don't you grant
that?”
“Very well, may be I do, and again may be I don't; there's times when
the one's better than the other; but go an; may be I do grant it.”
“Now tell me where in this parish, ay, or in the next five parishes to
it, you'd find sich a boy for a father or mother to be proud out of, as
Connor, your own darlin' as you often cau him?”
“Divil a one, Honor; _damnho_ to the one; I won't differ wid you in
that.”
“You won't differ wid me! the divil thank you for that. You won't
indeed! but could you, I say, if you wor willin'?”
“I tell you I could _not_.”
“Now there's sinse an' kindness in that. Very well, you say you're
gatherin' up all the money you can for him.”
“For him--him,” exclaimed the unconscious miser, “why, what do you
mane--for--well--ay--yes, yes, I did say for him; it's for him I'm
keeping it--it is, I tell you.”
“Now, Fardorougha, you know he's ould enough to be settled in life on
his own account, an' you heard last night the girl he can get, if you
stand to him, as he ought to expect from a father that loves him.”
“Why, last night, thin, didn't I give my--”
“Whist, ahagur! hould your tongue awhile, and let me go on. Thruth's
best--he dotes on that girl to such a degree, that if he doesn't get
her, he'll never see another happy day while he's alive.”
“All _feasthalagh_, Honor--that won't pass wid me; I know otherwise
myself. Do you think that if I hadn't got you, I'd been unhappy
four-an'-twenty hours, let alone my whole life? I tell you that's
_feasthalagh_, an' won't pass. He wouldn't eat an ounce the less if he
was never to get her. You seen the breakfast he made this mornin';
I didn't begrudge it to him, but may I never stir if that Flanagan
wouldn't ate a horse behind the saddle; he has a stomach that'd require
a king's ransom to keep it.”
“You know nothing of what I'm spakin' about,” replied his wife. “I
wasn't _Una dhas dhun_ O'Brien in my best days; an' be the vestment, you
warn't Connor, that has more feelin', an' spirit, an' generosity in the
nail of his little finger than ever you had in your whole carcass. I
tell you if he doesn't get married to that girl he'll break his heart.
Now how can he marry her except you take a good farm for him, and stock
it dacently, so that he may have a home sich as she desarves to bring
her to?”
“How do you know but they'll give her a fortune when they find her bent
on him?”
“Why, it's not unpossible,” said the wife, immediately changing her
tactics, “it's not impossible, but I can tell you it's very unlikely.”
“The best way, then, in my opinion, 'ud be to spake to Connor about
breaking it to the family.”
“Why, that's fair enough,” said the wife. “I wondher myself I didn't
think of it, but the time was so short since last night.”
“It is short,” replied the miser, “far an' away too short to expect
any one to make up their mind about it. Let them not be rash themselves
aither, for I tell you that when people marry in haste, they're apt to
have time enough to repint at laysure.”
“Well, but Fardorougha acushla, now hear me, throth it's thruth and
sinse what you say; but still, avourneen, listen; now set in case
that the Bodagh and his wife don't consint to their marriage, or to
do anything for them, won't you take them a farm and stock it bravely?
Think of poor Connor, the darlin' fine fellow that he is. Oh, thin,
Saver above, but it's he id go to the well o' the world's end to ase
you, if your little finger only ached. He would, or for myself, and yet
his own father to trate him wid sich--”
It was in vain she attempted to proceed; the subject was one in which
her heart felt too deep an interest to be discussed without tears. A
brief silence ensued, during which Fardorougha moved uneasily on his
seat, took the tongs, and mechanically mended the fire, and, peering at
his wife with a countenance twitched as if by _tic douloureux_,
stared round the house with a kind of stupid wonder, rose up, then sat
instantly down, and in fact exhibited many of those unintelligible and
uncouth movements, which, in person of his cast, may be properly
termed the hieroglyphics of human action, under feelings that cannot be
deciphered either by those on whom they operate, or by those who witness
them.
“Yes,” said he, “Connor is all you say, an' more--an' more--an'--an'--a
rash act is the worst thing he could do. It's betther, Honor, to spake
to him as I sed, about lettin' the matther be known to Una's family out
of hand.”
“And thin, if they refuse, you can show them a ginerous example, by
puttin' them into a dacent farm. Will you promise me that, Fardorougha?
If you do, all's right, for they're not livin' that ever knew you to
braak your word or your promise.”
“I'll make no promise, Honor; I'll make no promise; but let the other
plan be tried first. Now don't be pressin' me; he is a noble boy, and
would, as you say, thravel round the earth to keep my little finger from
pain; but let me alone about it now--let me alone about it.”
This, though slight encouragement, was still, in Honor's opinion,
quite as much as, if not more, than she expected. Without pressing him,
therefore, too strongly at that moment, she contented herself with a
full-length portrait of their son, drawn with all the skill of a mother
who knew, if her husband's heart could be touched at all, those points
at which she stood the greatest chance of finding it accessible.
For a few days after this the subject of Connor's love was permitted to
lie undebated, in the earnest hope that Fardorougha's heart might have
caught some slight spark of natural affection from the conversation
which had taken place between him and Honor. They waited, consequently,
with patience for some manifestation on his part of a better feeling,
and flattered themselves that his silence proceeded from the struggle
which they knew a man of his disposition must necessarily feel in
working up his mind to any act requiring him to part with that which
he loved better than life, his money. The ardent temperament of Connor,
however, could ill brook the pulseless indifference of the old man; with
much difficulty, therefore, was he induced to wait a whole week for the
issue, though sustained by the mother's assurance, that, in consequence
of the impression left on her by their last conversation, she was
certain the father, if not urged beyond his wish, would declare himself
willing to provide for them. A week, however, elapsed, and Fardorougha
moved on in the same hard and insensible spirit which was usual to him,
wholly engrossed by money, and never, either directly or indirectly,
appearing to remember that the happiness and welfare of his son were at
stake, or depending upon the determination to which he might come.
Another half week passed, during which Connor had made two unsuccessful
attempts to see Una, in order that some fixed plan of intercourse
might be established between them, at least until his father's ultimate
resolution on the subject proposed to him should be known. He now felt
deeply distressed, and regretted that the ardor of his attachment had so
far borne him away during their last meeting, that he had forgotten to
concert measures with Una for their future interviews.
He had often watched about her father's premises from a little before
twilight until the whole family had gone to bed, yet without any chance
either of conversing with her, or of letting her know that he was in the
neighborhood. He had gone to chapel, too, with the hope of seeing
her, or snatching a hasty opportunity of exchanging a word or two, if
possible; but to his astonishment she had not attended mass--an omission
of duty of which she had not been guilty for the last three years. What,
therefore, was to be done? For him to be detected lurking about the
Bodagh's house might create suspicion, especially after their interview
in the garden, which very probably had, through the officiousness of
the servants, been communicated to her parents. In a matter of such
difficulty he bethought him of a confidant, and the person to whom the
necessity of the ease directed him was Bartle Flanagan. Bartle, indeed,
ever since he entered into his father's service, had gained rapidly upon
Connor's good will, and on one or two occasions well-nigh succeeded
in drawing from him a history of the mutual attachment which subsisted
between him and Una. His good humor, easy language, and apparent
friendship for young O'Donovan, together with his natural readiness of
address, or, if you will, of manner, all marked him out as admirably
qualified to act as a confidant in a matter which required the very tact
and talent he possessed.
“Poor fellow,” thought Connor to himself, “it will make him feel more
like one of the family than a servant. If he can think that he's trated
as my friend and companion, he may forget that he's ating the bread of
the very man that drove him an' his to destruction. Ay, an' if we're
married, I'm not sure but I'll have him to give me away too.”
This resolution of permitting Flanagan to share his confidence had been
come to by Connor upon the day subsequent to that on which he had last
tried to see Una. After his return home, disappointment on one hand, and
his anxiety concerning his father's liberality on the other, together
with the delight arising from the certainty of being beloved, all kept
his mind in a tumult, and permitted him to sleep but little. The next
day he decided on admitting Bartle to his confidence, and reposing this
solemn trust to his integrity. He was lying on his back in the
meadow--for they had been ricking the hay from the lapcocks--when that
delicious languor which arises from the three greatest provocatives to
slumber, want of rest, fatigue, and heat, so utterly overcame him, that,
forgetting his love, and all the anxiety arising from it, he fell into a
dreamless and profound sleep.
From this state he was aroused after about an hour by the pressure of
something sharp and painful against his side, near the region of the
heart, and on looking up, he discovered Bartle Flanagan standing over
him with pitchfork in his hand, one end of which was pressed against
his breast, as if he had been in the act of driving it forward into his
body. His face was pale, his dark brows frightfully contracted, and
his teeth apparently set together, as if working over some fearful
determination. When Connor awoke, Flanagan broke out into a laugh that
no language could describe. The character of mirth which he wished
to throw into his face, jarred so terrifically with his demoniacal
expression when first seen by Connor, that, even unsuspecting as he
was, he started up with alarm, and asked Flanagan what was the matter.
Flanagan, however, laughed on--peal after peal succeeded--he tossed the
pitchfork aside, and, clapping both his hands upon his face, continued
the paroxysms until he recovered his composure.
“Oh,” said he, “I'm sick, I'm as wake as a child wid laughin'; but, Lord
bless us, after all, Connor, what is a man's life worth whin he has an
enemy near him? There was I, ticklin' you wid the pitchfork, strivin'
to waken you, and one inch of it would have baked your bread for life.
Didn't you feel me, Connor?”
“Divil a bit, till the minute before I ris.”
“Then the divil a purtier jig you ever danced in your life; wait till I
show you how your left toe wint.”
He accordingly lay down and illustrated the pretended action, after
which he burst out into another uncontrollable fit of mirth.
“'Twas just for all the world,” said he, “as if I had tied a string to
your toe, for you groaned an' grunted, an' went on like I dunna what;
but, Connor, what makes you so sleepy to-day as well as on Monday last?”
“That's the very thing,” replied the unsuspicious and candid young man,
“that I wanted to spake to you about.”
“What! about sleepin' in the meadows?”
“Divil a bit o' that, Bartle, not a morsel of sleepin' in the meadows is
consarned in what I'm goin' to mintion to you. Bartle, didn't you tell
me, the day you hired wid my father, that you wor in love?”
“I did, Connor, I did.”
“Well, so am I; but do you know who I'm in love with?”
“How the divil, man, could I?”
“Well, no swerin', Bartle; keep the commandments, my boy. I'll tell
you in the mane time, an' that's more than you did me, you
close-mouth-is-a-sign-of-a-wise-head spalpeen!”
“Did you ever hear tell of one _Colleen dhas dhun_ as she's called,
known by the name Una or Oona O'Brien, daughter to one Bodagh Buie
O'Brien, the richest man, barin' a born gentleman, in the three
parishes?”
“All very fair, Connor, for you or any one else to be in love wid
her--ay, man alive, for myself, if it goes to that--but, but, Connor,
avouchal, are you sure that sure you'll bring her to be in love wid
you?”
“Bartle,” said Connor, seriously and after a sudden change in his whole
manner, “in this business I'm goin' to trate you as a friend, and a
brother. She loves me, Bartle, and a solemn promise of marriage has
passed between us.”
“Connor,” said Bartle, “it's wondherful, it's wondherful! you couldn't
believe what a fool I am--fool! no, but a faint-hearted, cowardly
villain.”
“What do you mane, Bartle? what the dickens are you drivin' at!”
“Driven at! whenever I happen to have an opportunity of makin' a drive
that id--but! I'm talkin' balderdash. Do you see here, Connor,” said he,
putting his hand to his neck, “do you see here?”
“To be sure I do. Well, what about there?”
“Be my sowl, I'm very careful of--but!--sure I may as well tell you the
whole truth--I sed I was in love; well, man, that was thrue, an',” he
added in a low, pithy whisper, “I was near--no, Connor, I won't but
go an; it's enough for you to know that I was an' am in love, an' that
it'll go hard wid me if ever any one else is married to the girl I'm in
love wid. Now that my business is past, let me hear yours, poor fellow,
an' I'm devilish glad to know, Connor, that--that--why, tunder an' ouns,
that you're not as I am. Be the crass that saved us, Connor, I'm glad of
that!”
“Why, love will set you mad, Bartle, if you don't take care of
yourself; an', faith, I dunna but it may do the same with myself, if I'm
disappointed. However, the truth is, you must sarve me in this business.
I struv to see her twiste, but couldn't, an' I'm afraid of bein' seen
spyin' about their place.”
“The truth is, Connor, you want to make me a go-between--a blackfoot;
very well, I'll do that same on your account, an' do it well, too, I
hope.”
It was then arranged that Flanagan, who was personally known to some of
the Bodagli's servants, should avail himself of that circumstance, and
contrive to gain an interview with Una, in order to convey her a letter
from O'Donovan. He was further enjoined by no means to commit it to the
hands of any person save those of Una herself, and, in the event of his
not being able to see her, then the letter was to be returned to Connor.
If he succeeded, however, in delivering it, he was to await an answer,
provided she found an opportunity of sending one; if not, she was to
inform Connor, through Flanagan, at what time and place he could see
her. This arrangement having been made, Connor immediately wrote the
letter, and, after having despatched Flanagan upon his errand, set
himself to perform, by his individual labor, the task which his father
had portioned out for both. Ere Bartle's return, Fardorougha came to
inspect their progress in the meadow, and, on finding that the servant
was absent, he inquired sharply into the cause of it.
“He's gone on a message for me,” replied Connor, with the utmost
frankness.
“But that's a bad way for him to mind his business,” said the father.
“I'll have the task that you set both of us finished,” replied the son,
“so that you'll lose nothin' by his absence, at all events.”
“It's wrong, Connor, it's wrong; where did you sind him to?”
“To Bodagh Buie's wid a letter to Una.”
“It's a waste of time, an' a loss of work; about that business I have
something to say to your mother an' you to--night, afther the supper,
when the rest goes to bed.”
“I hope, father,you'll do the dacent thing still.”
“No; but I hope, son, you'll do the wise thing still; how--an--ever let
me alone now; if you expect me to do anything, you mustn't drive me as
your mother does. To-night we'll make up a plan that'll outdo Bodagh
Buie. Before you come home, Connor, throw a stone or two in that gap,
to prevent the cows from gettin' into the hay; it won't cost you much
throuble. But, Connor, did you ever see sich a gut as Bartle has?
He'll brake me out o'house an' home feedin' him; he has a stomach for
ten-penny-nails; be my word it 'ud be a charity to give him a dose of
oak bark to make him dacent; he's a divil at aitin', an' little good may
it do him!”
The hour of supper arrived without Bartle's returning, and Connor's
impatience began to overcome him, when Fardorougha, for the first time,
introduced the subject which lay nearest his son's heart.
“Connor,” he began, “I've been thinkin' of this affair with Una O'Brien;
an' in my opinion there's but one way out of it; but if you're a fool
an' stand in your own light, it's not my fault.”
“What is the way, father?” inquired Connor.
“The very same I tould your mother an' you before--run away wid her--I
mane make a runaway match of it--then refuse to marry her unless they
come down wid the money. You know afther runnin' away wid you nobody
else ever would marry her; so that rather than see their child
disgraced, never fear but they'll pay down on the nail, or maybe bring
you both to live wid 'em.”
“My sowl to glory, Fardorougha,” said the wife, “but you're a bigger an'
cunninner ould rogue than I ever took you for! By the scapular upon me,
if I had known how you'd turn out, the sorra carry the ring ever you'd
put on my finger!”
“Father,” said Connor, “I must be disobedient to you in this at all
events. It's plain you'll do nothing for us; so there's no use in sayin'
anything more about it. I have no manes of supportin' her, an' I swear
I'll never bring her to poverty. If I had money to carry me, I'd go to
America an' thry my fortune there; but I have not. Father, it's too hard
that you should stand in my way when you could so easily make me happy.
Who have you sich a right to assist as your son--your only son, an' your
only child too?”
This was spoken in a tone of respect and sorrow at once impressive
and affectionate. His fine features were touched with something beyond
sadness or regret, and, as the tears stood in his eyes, it was easy to
see that he felt much more deeply for his father's want of principle
than for anything connected with his own hopes and prospects. In fact,
the tears that rolled silently down his cheeks were the tears of shame
and sorrow for a parent who could thus school him to an act of such
unparalleled baseness. As it was, the genius of the miser felt rebuked
by the natural delicacy and honor of his son; the old man therefore
shrunk back abashed, confused, and moved at the words which he had
heard--simple and inoffensive though they were.
“Fardorougha,” said the wife, wiping her eyes, that were kindling into
indignation, “we're now married goin' an--”
“I think, mother,” said Connor, “the less we say about it now the
better--with my own good will I'll never speak on the subject.”
“You're right, avourneen,” replied the mother; “you're right; I'll say
nothing--God sees it's no use.”
“What would you have me do?” said the old man, rising and walking' about
in unusual distress and agitation; “you don't know me--I can't do it--I
cant do it. You say, Honor, I don't care about him--I'd give him my
blood--I'd give him my blood to save a hair of his head. My life an'
happiness depinds on him; but who knows how he an' his wife might
mismanage that money if they got it--both young an' foolish? It wasn't
for nothing it came into my mind what I'm afeard will happen to me yet.”
“And what was that, Fardorougha?” asked the wife.
“Sich foreknowledge doesn't come for nothing, Honor. I've had it
an' felt it hangin' over me this many a long day, that I'd come to
starvation yit; an' I see, that if you force me to do as you wish, that
it 'ill happen. I'm as sure of it as that I stand before you. I'm an
unfortunate man wid sich a fate before me; an' yet I'd shed my blood for
my boy--I would, an' he ought to know that I would; but he wouldn't ax
me to starve for him--would you, Connor, avick machree, would you ax
your father to starve? I'm unhappy--unhappy--an' my heart's breakin'!”
The old man's voice failed him as he uttered the last words; for the
conflict which he felt evidently convulsed his whole frame. He wiped his
eyes, and, again sitting down, he wept bitterly and in silence, for many
minutes.
A look of surprise, compassion, and deep distress passed between Connor
and his mother. The latter also was very much affected, and said,
“Fardorougha, dear, maybe I spake sometimes too cross to you; but if I
do, God above knows it's not that I bear you ill will, but bekase I'm
troubled about poor Connor. But I hope I won't spake angry to you again;
at all events, if I do, renumber it's only the mother pladin' for her
son--the only son an' child that God was plazed to sind her.”
“Father,” added Connor, also deeply moved, “don't distress yourself
about me--don't, father dear. Let things take their chance; but come or
go what will, any good fortune that might happen me wouldn't be sweet if
it came by givin' you a sore heart.”
At this moment the barking of the dog gave notice of approaching
footsteps; and in a few moments the careless whistle of Bartle Flanagan
was heard within a few yards of the door.
“This is Bartle,” said Connor; “maybe, father, his answer may throw some
light upon the business. At any rate, there's no secret in it; we'll all
hear what news he brings us.”
He had scarcely concluded when the latch was lifted, but Bartle could
not enter.
“It's locked and bolted,” said Fardorougha; “as he sleeps in the barn I
forgot that he was to come in here any more to-night--open it, Connor.”
“For the sake of all the money you keep in the house, father,” said
Connor, smiling, “it's hardly worth your while to be so timorous; but
God help the county treasurer if he forgot to bar his door--Asy, Bartle,
I'm openin' it.”
Flanagan immediately entered, and, with all the importance of a
confidant, took his seat at the fire.
“Well, Bartle,” said Connor, “what news?”
“Let the boy get his supper first,” said Honor; “Bartle, you must be
starved wid hunger.”
“Faith, I'm middlin' well, I thank you, that same way,” replied Bartle;
“divil a one o' me but's as ripe for my supper as a July cherry; an' wid
the blessin' o' Heaven upon my endayvors I'll soon show you what good
execution is.”
A deep groan from Fardorougha gave back a fearful echo to the truth of
this formidable annunciation.
“Aren't you well, Fardorougha?” asked Bartle.
“Throth I'm not, Bartle; never was more uncomfortable in my life.”
Flanagan immediately commenced his supper, which consisted of flummery
and new milk--a luxury among the lower ranks which might create envy in
an epicure. As he advanced in the work of destruction, the gray eye
of Fardorougha, which followed every spoonful that entered his mouth,
scintillated like that of a cat when rubbed down the back, though from
a directly opposite feeling. He turned and twisted on the chair, and
looked from his wife to his son, then turned up his eyes, and appeared
to feel as if a dagger entered his heart with every additional dig of
Bartle's spoon into the flummery. The son and wife smiled at each other;
for they could enjoy those petty sufferings of Fardorougha with a great
deal of good-humor.
“Bartle,” said Connor, “what's the news?”
“Divil a word worth telling; at laste that I can hear.”
“I mane from Bodagh Buie's.”
Bartle stared at him; “Bodagh Buie's!--what do I know about Bodagh Buie?
are you ravin'?”
“Bartle,” said Connor, smiling, “my father and mother knows all about
it--an' about your going to Una with the letter. I have no secrets from
them.”
“Hoot toot! That's a horse of another color; but you wouldn't have me,
widout knowin' as much, to go to betray trust. In the mane time, I may
as well finish my supper before I begin to tell you what-som-ever I
happen to know about it.”
Another deep groan from Fardorougha followed the last observation.
At length the work of demolition ceased, and after Honor had put past
the empty dish, Bartle, having wiped his mouth, and uttered a hiccup or
two, thus commenced to dole out his intelligence:--
“Whin I wint to the Bodagh's,” said Bartle, “it was wid great
schamin' an' throuble I got a sight of Miss Una at all, in regard of
--(hiccup)--in regard of her not knowin' that there was any sich message
for her--(hiccup). But happenin' to know Sally Laffan, I made bould to
go into the kitchen to ax, you know, how was her aunt's family up
in Skelgy, when who should I find before me in it but Sally an' Miss
Una--(hiccup). (Saver of earth this night! from Fardorougha.) Of coorse
I shook hands wid her--wid Sally, I mane; an', 'Sally,' says I, 'I was
sent in wid a message from the masther to you; he's in the haggard an'
wants you.' So, begad, on---(hiccup) out she goes, an' the coast bein'
clear, 'Miss Una,' says I, 'here's a scrap of a letther from Misther
Connor O'Donovan; read it, and if you can write him an answer, do; if
you haven't time say whatever you have to say by me.' She go--(hiccup)
she got all colors when I handed it to her; an' run away, say--in' to
me, 'wait for a while, an' don't go till I see you.' In a minute or
two Sally comes in agin as mad as the dickens wid me, 'The curse o' the
crows an' you!' says she, 'why did you make me run a fool's erran' for
no rason? The masther wasn't in the haggard, an' didn't want me good or
bad.'”
“Bartle,” said the impatient lover, “pass all that over for the present,
an' let us know the answer, if she sent any.”
“Sent any! be my sowl, she did so! Afther readin' your letther, an'
findin' that she could depind on me, she said that for fear of any
remarks bein' made about my waitin', espishally as I live at present
in this family, it would be better she thought to answer it by word o'
mouth. 'Tell him,' said she, 'that I didn't think he wa--(hiccup) (Queen
o' heaven!) was so dull an' ignorant o' the customs of the country, as
not to know that whin young people want to see one another they stay
away from mass wid an expectation that'--begad, I disremimber exactly
her own words; but it was as much as to say that she staid at home on
last Sunday expectin' to see you.”
“Well, but Bartle, what else?--short an' sweet, man.”
“Why, she'll meet you on next Thursday night, God willin', in the same
place; an' whin I axed her where, she said you knew it yourself.”
“An' is that all?”
“No, it's not all; she sed it 'ud be better to mention the thing to
her father. Afther thinkin' it over she says, 'as your father has the
na--(hiccup) '(Saints above!) the name of being so rich, she doesn't
know if a friend 'ud interfere but his consint might be got;' an' that's
all I have to say about it, barrin' that she's a very purty girl, an' I'd
advise you not to be too sure of her yet, Bartle. So now I'm for the
barn--Good night, Far--(hiccup) (at my cost, you do it!) Fardorougha.”
He rose and proceeded to his sleeping--place in the barn, whither
Connor, who was struck by his manner, accompanied him.
“Bartle,” said O'Donovan, “did you take anything since I saw you last?”
“Only a share of two naggins wid my brother Antony at Peggy Finigan's.”
“I noticed it upon you,” observed Connor; “but I don't think they did.”
“An' if they did, too, it's not high thrason, I hope.”
“No; but, Bartle, I'm obliged to you. You've acted as a friend to me,
an' I won't forget it to you.”
“An' I'm so much obliged to you, Connor, that I'll remimber your
employin' me in this the longest day I have to live. But, Connor?”
“Well, Bartle.”
“I'd take the sacrament, that, after all, a ring you'll never put on
her.”
“And what makes you think so, Bartle?”
“I don't--I do--(hiccup) don't know; but somehow something or another
tells it to me that you won't; others is fond of her, I suppose, as well
as yourself; and of coorse they'll stand betune you.”
“Ay, but I'm sure of her.”
“But you're not; wait till I see you man and wife, an' thin I'll say so.
Here's myself, Bartle, is in love, an' dhough I don't expect ever the
girl will or would marry me, be the crass of heaven, no other man will
have her. Now, how do you know but you may have some one like me--like
me, Connor, to stand against you?”
“Bartle,” said Connor, laughing, “your head's a little moidher'd; give
me your hand; whish! the devil take you, man! don't wring my fingers
off. Say your prayers, Bartle, an' go to sleep. I say agin I won't
forget your kindness to me this night.”
Flanagan had now deposited himself upon his straw bed, and, after having
tugged the bedclothes about him, said, in the relaxed, indolent voice of
a man about to sleep,
“Good night, Connor; throth my head's a little soft to-night--good
night.”
“Good night, Bartle.”
“Connor?”
“Well?”
“Didn't I stand to you to-night? Very well--goo--(hiccup) good night.”
On Connor's return, a serious conclave was held upon the best mode of
procedure in a manner which presented difficulties that appeared to be
insurmountable. The father, seizing upon the advice transmitted by Una
herself, as that which he had already suggested, insisted that the most
judicious course was to propose for her openly, and without appearing to
feel that there was any inferiority on the part of Connor.
“If they talk about wealth, Connor,” said he, “say that you are my son,
an' that--that--no--no--I'm too poor for such a boast, but say that you
will be able to take good care of anything you get.”
At this moment the door, which Connor had not bolted, as his father
would have done, opened, and Bartle, wrapped in the treble folds of a
winnow--cloth, made a distant appearance.
“Beg pardon, Connor; I forgot to say that Una's brother, the young
priest out o' Maynooth, will be at home from his uncle's, where it
appears he is at present; an' Miss Una would wish that the proposal 'ud
be made while he's at his father's. She says he'll stand her friend,
come or go what will. I forgot, begad, to mintion it before--so beg
pardon, an' wishes you all good--night!”
This information tended to confirm them in the course recommended by
Fardorougha. It was accordingly resolved upon that he (Fardorougha)
himself should wait upon Bodagh Buie, and in the name of his son
formally propose for the hand of his daughter.
To effect this, however, was a matter of no ordinary difficulty, as they
apprehended that the Bodagh and his wife would recoil with indignation
at the bare notion of even condescending to discuss a topic which, in
all probability, they would consider as an insult. Not, after all, that
there existed, according to the opinion of their neighbors, such a vast
disparity in the wealth of each; on the contrary, many were heard
to assert, that of the two Fardorougha had the heavier purse. His
character, however, was held in such abhorrence by all who knew him, and
he ranked, in point of personal respectability and style of living,
so far beneath the Bodagh, that we question if any ordinary occurrence
could be supposed to fall upon the people with greater amazement than
a marriage, or the report of a marriage, between any member of the two
families. The O'Donovans felt, however, that it was better to make
the experiment already agreed on, than longer to remain in a state of
uncertainty about it. Should it fail, the position of the lovers, though
perhaps rendered somewhat less secure, would be such as to suggest, as
far as they themselves were concerned, the necessity of a more prompt
and effectual course of action. Fardorougha expressed his intention of
opening the matter on the following day; but his wife, with a better
knowledge of female character, deemed it more judicious to defer it
until after the interview which was to take place between Connor and Una
on the succeeding Thursday. It might be better, for instance, to make
the proposal first to Mrs. O'Brien herself, or, on the other hand, to
the Bodagh; but touching that and other matters relating to what was
proposed to be done, Una's opinion and advice might be necessary.
Little passed, therefore, worthy of note, during the intermediate time,
except a short conversation between Bartle and Connor on the following
day, as they returned to the field from dinner.
“Bartle,” said the other, “you wor a little soft last night; or rather a
good deal so.”
“Faith, no doubt o' that--but when a man meets an old acquaintance or
two, they don't like to refuse a thrate. I fell in wid three or four
boys--all friends o' mine, an' we had a sup on account o' what's
expected.”
As he uttered these words, he looked at Connor with an eye which seemed
to say--you are not in a certain secret with which I am acquainted.
“Why,” replied Connor, “what do you mane, Bartle? I thought you were
with your brother--at laste you tould me so.”
Flanagan started on hearing this.
“Wid my brother,” said he--“why, I--I--what else could I tell you? He
was along wid the boys when I met them.”
“Took a sup on account o' what's expected!--an' what's the manin'o'
that, Bartle?”
“Why, what would it mane--but--but--your marriage?”
“An' thunder an' fury?” exclaimed Connor, his eyes gleaming; “did you
go to betray trust, an' mintion Una's name an' mine, afther what I tould
you?”
“Don't be foolish, Connor,” replied Flanagan; “is it mad you'd have me
to be? I said there was something expected soon, that 'ud surprise them;
and when they axed me what it was--honor bright! I gave them a knowin'
wink, but said notion'. Eh! was that breakin' trust? Arrah, be me sowl,
Connor, you don't trate me well by the words you spoke this blessed
minute.”
“An' how does it come, Bartle, my boy, that you had one story last
night, an' another to-day?”
“Faix, very aisily, bekase I forget what I sed last night--for sure
enough I was more cut than you thought--but didn't I keep it well in
before the ould couple?”
“You did fairly enough; I grant that--but the moment you got into the
barn a blind man could see it.”
“Bekase I didn't care a button wanst I escaped from the eye of your
father; anyhow, bad luck to it for whiskey; I have a murdherin' big
heddick all day afther it.”
“It's a bad weed, Bartle, and the less a man has to do with it, the less
he'll be throubled afther wid a sore head or a sore conscience.”
“Connor, divil a one, but you're the moral of a good boy; I dunna a
fault you have but one.”
“Come, let us hear it.”
“I'll tell you some day, but not now, not now--but I will tell you--an'
I'll let you know the raison thin that I don't mintion it now; in the
mane time I'll sit down an take a smoke.”
“A smoke! why, I never knew you smoked.”
“Nor I, myself, till last night. This tindher--box I was made a present
of to light my pipe, when not near a coal. Begad, now that I think of
it, I suppose it was smokin' that knocked me up so much last night, an'
mide my head so sick to-day.”
“It helped it, I'll engage; if you will take my advice, it's a custom
you won't larn.”
“I have a good deal to throuble me, Connor; you know I have; an' what we
are brought down to now; I have more nor you'd believe to think of; as
much, any way, as'll make this box an' steel useful, I hope, when I'm
frettin'.”
Flanagan spoke truth, in assuring Connor that the apology given for
his intoxication on the preceding night had escaped his memory. It was
fortunate for him, indeed, that O'Donovan, like all candid and ingenuous
persons, was utterly devoid of suspicion, otherwise he might have
perceived, by the discrepancy in the two accounts, as well as by
Flanagan's confusion, that he was a person in whom it might not be
prudent to entrust much confidence.