DOREEN'S PLANS.
It is proverbial that the preaching of the wisest sage may be reckoned
as naught in its influence on a young man's fancy when opposed by a
siren's smile. Doreen had never, during the years of her sojourn at
the Abbey, tried to enlist Terence on the side of her oppressed
people. It would have been disloyal to have done so. But now that his
long-careless heart had taken the flame of its own accord, it was not
likely she should attempt to extinguish it. Having communed with Tom
Emmett, she directed her admirer to ride forthwith to Cork, ostensibly
on professional business, slip thence with secrecy across the water to
see Hoche, and then return with as little delay as might be. He was to
tell the French general that ten thousand soldiers were expected--that
less than five thousand would be useless--that arms without soldiers
would be refused, because a rising would be the immediate consequence
of a landing of arms, and it was not thought desirable to turn the
attempt, which should be made in force, into a desultory species of
Chouannerie. Further, he was to employ all his eloquence to ensure a
speedy start, declaring that Erin yearned to break her bonds, that a
small nucleus of regular troops was all that was required to start
with, as the peasantry were prepared to rise if sure of being properly
led.
These orders being succinctly given by a demure girl with rich dark
hair and a touching sadness of expression, was it probable that the
diatribes of an insignificant little person with shaggy elf-locks and
questionable linen should meet with even common courtesy? Curran
argued with his junior contrary to his own convictions, striving by
forensic imagery to save him from the vortex if he could; declared
that nothing but ruin could possibly come of a rising; that the
popular cause was hopeless; that the French would possibly make a
temporary disturbance to spite perfidious Albion, but that so soon as
it should suit their interests, Erin would be blandly restored to the
avenger, to reap the reward of her temerity. What sympathy could
France have for Ireland? What recked the Directory, or Hoche, or
Buonaparte (the clever young general who was becoming celebrated),
whether Erin was a slave or not? Other nations as interesting as the
Irish were slaves, and would remain so. Just now Hoche was warm upon
the subject because he was jealous of Buonaparte and eager for rival
laurels. Granted that he were victorious, he would soon weary of what
to him must be a worthless and precarious possession, would carry it
to market in a treaty of peace, and surrender it to expiate by yet
more grinding servitude the false hopes which were born only to
perish. But Mr. Curran (who didn't quite believe all this in his heart
of hearts) might as well have talked to the trees in his own Priory
orchard.
'You'll be dragged farther than you intend,' he urged. 'Your vanity
will induce you to take an active part, and then you'll be punished by
the revolting slavery entailed by a mob command.'
It was all in vain. Terence went away, and his chief gave out that he
had despatched him on business to Cork.
The unfortunate Orr was hanged, and the result quite pleased the
chancellor. A thrill of horror ran through all but the most callous.
The oath anent the bough was taken by hundreds in desperation. The
toast 'Remember Orr!' became a watchword. People shook their heads,
wondering what would come of it. Riots grew more frequent, which were
suppressed or not according to caprice. Major Sirr's Battalion of
Testimony lived on the fat of the land, for there was no difficulty in
unearthing traitors, now that the spirit of recklessness had gone
forth. Lord Clare pretended to be pained. The ingratitude and
wickedness of his countrymen--their hardened fits of daring--made him
blush, he vowed. The country was in danger, the yeomanry must bestir
themselves, England must send regiments too steady to be undermined;
if the people were so disgracefully unruly, martial law would have to
be proclaimed. He deeply grieved to suggest such a thing, but the
majesty of the executive, whose gravest sin was leniency, must at all
hazards be respected.
The capital was quite in a fever, shivering as pigeons do in their
cote when they feel the electric current. Every one was looking
towards France. Was that armament which was assembling at Brest
intended for their coasts? If the fleet were to appear in the offing,
how would Government behave? It seemed evident enough how they would
behave, for troops kept pouring in from England. Hessians,
Highlanders, Englishmen, under command of Lord Carhampton, arrived by
shiploads, and, spreading over the counties, were placed at free
quarters in the cottages. Dublin and the great towns undertook to look
to themselves. The armed squireens, yeomanry, fencibles, strutted in
scarlet in the streets, clothed in the bully airs which characterise
brief authority.
The burning zeal of Orangeism was let loose in all its excess of
wildness, and a fanatical orgy commenced--a saturnalia of fiends who
acted in the name of religion--which endured for two whole years. Men,
who in the past had made themselves objectionable to Government, were
not forgotten now. Even the semblance of moderation was tossed aside.
They were delivered to privileged marauders, to be kept under lock and
key and ultimately sacrificed in the 'confusion of the times;' whilst
as for private enemies, nothing was easier than to charge such an one
with treason, and lay him low by purchasing the good offices of an
informer. People went openly to the Staghouse, where the 'band of
testimony' were kennelled, just as in our modern days they go to
Scotland Yard to engage the services of a detective.
In the military mania which revived (how different from the Volunteer
movement! the first was an impulse towards good; the latter a carnival
of demons), everybody sported a uniform. The Bar chose its special
facings, so did the 'prentices, so did the adherents of each opulent
grandee. My Lord Powerscourt armed his tenants, but retained them in
the hills of Wicklow, declaring that his contingent was not to be
made a rabble of aggression. Even the Catholics deemed it prudent
to don the red coat in self-defence, as a disguise; and went forth
rebel-hunting, sometimes to lay violent hands on their own brethren.
But the warriors somehow invariably took the wrong road, or
discovered, upon reaching their destination, that gossoons had run
forward to give warning. The Right Honourable Claudius Beresford, not
to be outdone in zeal, set up a riding-school on Marlborough Green,
which later on assumed infamous notoriety as a torture-chamber. Here
the yeomen met to try their horses, to accustom them to the sound of
drum and clarion, to break a friendly bottle. Dublin assumed the
aspect of a garrison; the country of a vast camp.
Still my lord-chancellor vapoured airily of 'martial law;' not that it
signified much practically whether such were declared or no, but it
was as well to accustom polite ears to the words before they became
legal facts.
The arch-conspirators being unaccountably set free, without any
promises having been extorted from them, they naturally set to work at
once to take advantage of the general simmering, and the peculiar
condition of society was favourable to the attainment of their ends.
More than ever now was the anomaly made manifest which has been hinted
at before, namely, the promiscuous mixing in convivial intercourse of
persons of the most opposite views. At time-serving Arthur Wolfe's,
for instance, Clare hobbed and nobbed with the disaffected; such,
that is, as had not gone so far as to frighten the well-meaning
attorney-general. At Strogue Abbey, again, he chatted quite amicably
with Curran, who was never weary of abusing him in Parliament, or
strolled in the rosary with Cassidy, who was known to be a United
Irishman. But the strangest scene of all was the Beaux-walk in
Stephen's Green, more especially on a fine Sabbath, when the _beau
monde_ appeared in glory. The mall, where carriages paraded, ran at
that time along the north side, between a low wall and an impregnable
haha, or dyke; and there, on a Sunday afternoon, might be seen the
strangest medley of muslins and chip hats, fine coaches and swinging
noddies, mingled with cross-belts and helmets and military plumes and
gear; might be heard the wildest diversity of opinions openly broached
and bandied. Horse-races took place sometimes as an ostensible reason
for the gathering, and none marvelled to behold those who were
prisoned traitors a week ago arm in arm with Government officials, or
to hear acquaintances joking each other on the inconvenience of
getting hanged. Thus it failed specially to shock young Robert as a
piece of bad taste, when, walking with other undergraduates, if a
friend rallied him about his brother's newspaper, and the certain fate
which must befall its owner; though it must be admitted that such was
not the case with Sara, who moaned and shuddered with dismay, like a
rabbit in a den of serpents. Tom Emmett's newspaper was openly
published now twice a week, and no one interfered with it, though it
sought out the joints of Lord Clare's harness; and the chief of the
Directory was weak enough to imagine that his foe had grown afraid of
him for his boldness in pointing at injustice. Other newspapers were
gagged or bribed; why should his be privileged? Tom Emmett and Bond
and the rest held their secret meetings as heretofore, and strolled in
the Beaux-walk, and talked treason, like hot-pated Patlanders, to the
top of their bent, oblivious of the claw of the cat, because it
remained uplifted--poor guileless band of mice! They met frequently
and talked earnestly, and squabbled not a little among themselves, for
their opinions were divided on a point--a most important point, upon
which unanimity was essential--no less a one than the grand basis of
future operations.
Bond and Russell and others argued that misgovernment had come to such
a pass, that it might be endured no more without merited disgrace.
These bully squireens, these venal, brow-beating grandees, must be
shown, before more harm was done, that there must be a bound to their
arrogance.
If a tide be bravely stemmed, it will rage awhile; then settle within
its limits. Were the French coming? French or no French, the people
must rise; observant Europe would applaud, for even unfortunate
heroism commands respect and pity; pike-heads by thousands lurked
beneath potato plots, pike-poles in myriads were stacked under
thatched roofs. Surely the spirit of the ancient kings would animate
their sons in this emergency!
Most of the conspirators were for doing something definite at once.
Tom Emmett and his brother were in favour of delay.
'We have waited so long,' Tom said, 'that a few weeks more will make
little difference, save in the increased exasperation of the people.
Lord Clare was obliged by public opinion to set us free. We must do
our duty as men. With French assistance success is certain; without
it, more than doubtful. Wait, at least, till Terence Crosbie's
return--the young aristocrat who has taken up our cudgels. We shall be
none the worse for waiting; and now that he has been baptised into the
true cause, his presence will be valuable in our councils. The
labourer who entered the vineyard at the last hour was not deprived of
his reward. We are terribly weak in military capacity; maybe Heaven,
who has awakened so late in the day a scion of a noble house, may
point to him as a future leader. Wait at least and see him.'
Young Robert enthusiastically seconded his brother's motion, for his
instinctive dread of bloodshed impelled him to postpone the decisive
moment; and he was possessed, besides, with a strong belief in
Terence, whom he had known intimately during his sojourn at the
Priory. Russell and the others obstinately combated the point, urged
thereto by youthful jealousy and wounded self-esteem. True, none of
the council were of mature years; but to be lectured and prated at by
this boy Robert, who was yet a student in Alma Mater, was an indignity
which it behoved them to resent.
Doreen, who, after her noteworthy row upon the bay, threw aside the
appearance of apathy she had assumed, saw this new danger with
concern. Torn well-nigh to death already by factions of many kinds,
was Erin to sit by and see her last forlorn hope, her last bodyguard
of champions, scattered by the same curse? Miss Wolfe became seized by
a frenzy for galloping across country. Her horses were constantly
brought back to the stable with their coats turned, their flanks
heaving, their skins reeking with foam.
'No doubt the girl was crazed,' my lady averred, as constantly as she
marked the grooming of the animals from her bedroom window-seat. 'Why
could she not ride like a well-brought-up young person in the green
alleys of the Ph[oe]nix, or amble on the mall of Stephen's Green?'
My lady did not know that Doreen met separately, at certain cottages,
the different members of the Directory; that she prayed and exhorted
each one, as though he were alone to blame, to wisdom and a sacrifice
of paltry vanity; and that she came away from each interview with such
a dread of impending failure--a distrust of these budding
generalissimos--that it required the most reckless gallops, with a
dangerous fence or two _en route_, to calm her nerves sufficiently to
meet my lady's scrutiny with the accustomed mask of composure on her
face.
At the Abbey she had little to complain of now, for all were too busy
to take much heed of her. Shane, with a prospect of departing
northward, which rumours of accumulating outrages seemed to make more
and more urgent, shilly-shallied and delayed, and selected guns and
fishing-rods, and invited little knots of Cherokees, and spent more
and more time at the Little House, as though the effort to tear
himself away from Dublin delights and beloved Norah were too much for
his resolution.
Under the circumstances he was not likely to trouble his cousin with
attentions; and Doreen breathed freely again so far as her private
affairs were concerned, for she perceived that this project of her
aunt's was fading into a vision which never would and never could be
realised. Any one who watched might see that Shane was desperately
smitten with Norah, and Doreen was in no wise jealous. Norah was a
nice girl, Doreen determined, who was worthy to become a countess, and
she would help to make her happy as much as she could.
My lady's fancies were mere whimsies. If the marriage could be
accomplished, she would of course come in time to like her new
daughter-in-law. Many domineering old ladies object to eligible
maidens, merely because they have not fixed on them themselves.
Miss Wolfe, in her regained independence of thought, felt half
inclined to carry it beyond her own concerns, to speak openly to
Shane, to go and call on Norah, or meet her as if by chance, and
declare that she had come over to the enemy.
But the little love-idyl was destined to an interruption, whether she
interfered or not; for Glandore was pledged to go to the north--to
tear himself from the arms of metaphoric Capua. Would he remain
faithful to his lady-love, when removed from the direct influence of
her attractions? The notion of his going, Doreen remembered with a
quiet sense of fun, was her own; and selfishly glad she was to have
been so inspired, for away at Ennishowen his thoughts would be
diverted into a new channel. Even if he did not learn there to forget
Norah, his mind would certainly be freed from vague visions of his
absent cousin. Thus she, in any case, would be safe. Situated as the
concerns of the patriots were, all her own energies would be needed on
the spot--for without some one to threaten and cajole, the bundle was
sure to fall to pieces.
She would be glad, therefore, when the establishment at the Abbey
should break up, when all the vans and horses and carriages should
migrate to Donegal, leaving her--a waif--behind, with nothing to
attend to but serious business.
Of course when my lady and her son started for Ennishowen, she would
return to her old home in Dublin. She would inhabit once more her
little bedroom in Molesworth Street, and would make herself so
necessary to her father by fond artful prodigalities of love and
tenderness, as to prevent him from ever allowing her to leave him any
more. It was all very well, when she was a child, to send her to abide
with her aunt, but now she was a woman, and her place was with her
father. Then a small inward voice whispered, which caused her heart to
beat quick time:
'What if, by my loving influence, I might change at length his views?
He is weak, but so kind and excellent; he leans on my aunt because
hers is the more masculine nature of the two; and he yearns for
support and countenance. Why should he not come to lean on me? My will
is as strong as hers--our mutual affection unstained by a difference,
unruffled by a ripple! Oh! if I could persuade him that there are
nobler aspirations than mere gathering of gold. That if, instead of
money-grubbing to make me a fortune (well-meaning, tender father!) he
would spend all he has freely for his country's sake, I would love him
all the more dearly for my beggary; what if, by constant dropping on
the stone of obstinacy, I could bring him to feel this--how happy, how
truly happy, we might come to be together!'
Then, in less exalted moments of reflection, she felt that she
deceived herself, that this might never be; that if she elected, in
theory, to embrace for a holy cause the vow of poverty in her own
person, she had no right to force her convictions upon a man whose
glass of life was more than half run out, whose life ran in a groove,
and who had so distinct a predilection for flesh-pots. Well, without
going to extremes, it would be a joy to guide him just a little, to
prevent his truckling too glaringly to Castle influence. If only he
were not attorney-general and prosecutor for the Crown!' When the
French expedition shall have arrived,' she thought, 'and swept this
wicked Government into the sea, how intense a satisfaction will it be
to say to the Irish Directory, "Spare at least my father, for my sake!
I have worked heart and soul in the cause; you owe me this boon, the
only one I ask of you!"'
Certainly, from every point of view it seemed necessary for the young
lady to separate herself from the Abbey and her prejudiced aunt with
all speed, and assume her proper place in her own home.
Hence for more reasons than one she looked forward to the forthcoming
break in the Abbey _menage_ as to the commencement of a new era of
reviving hope and usefulness, and quite longed for Shane's departure
with all his bags and baggage.