Now by the ordinance of time and nature the old earl was quietly
gathered to his forbears--to Gilles de Kyteler, who came over to
Ireland with Strongbow; to Piers Kyteler, who could run against a horse
for five miles; to Dame Alice Kyteler, whose name is still used to
frighten little children; to Fulke, or the bastard Kyteler, who joined
with Silken Thomas in rebellion; Hugh, who lost the family money in the
South Sea Bubble; to another Pierce, who backed Boxer Donelly, the
Irishman, against the English champion, Cooper, for a thousand
pounds--and won!--to Hugh, who grew rare tulips, and to Patrick, of
whom it was said he was the stupidest man in Ireland. Some one has
written a book about the family; possibly it's worth reading, probably
not.
And now of the family of the Earls of Mount Kyteler there was only one
left, the Lady Margery Kyteler, and she was alone in the world.
Except for the ordinary natural grief for the old earl, whom she loved
and liked, she did n't mind being alone. Mount Kyteler had now only
seven servants, an ancient cook and two equally ancient maids, a
gardener so ancient as to need an assistant, who was himself so verging
on the ancient that it was a puzzle as to what assistance he could
give. There were a couple of lads in the stable, lads of fifty, a
groom, and a coachman, the coachman assuming the livery of butler on
great occasions, such as in Horse Show Week. Ancient grumbling people
they all were, who were united only in this, that they loved her.
Among themselves there were always ancient grudges, present fights.
And instead of her ruling them, they ruled her with a terrible tyranny.
The old cook below-stairs was forever complaining of the great work to
be done, and refusing to have any help given her.
"Is it bringing in another you 'd be and me here child and woman for
fifty years? Twelve years old I was when they brought me into the
pantry and set me to cleaning knives, and now it's on top of me you 'd
be bringing some streel you 'd be getting out of a register's office, a
woman does be following the tinkers to the Country Wicklow, mad with
love. Och, to think of the insult put on me this day! _Wirra, is
thrue_!"
"Sure, it 's only to help you, Peggy."
"And what help would I be needing, me that's the fine, supple woman, in
the prime o' my years! Ne'er a day over sixty I am, and thirty hard
years' work in me still."
"But you were complaining, Peggy."
"Sure, 't was only to keep my mind active I was."
The old gardener could be terrible, with his face like an apple and his
bent back. He watched her as he might watch a thieving boy.
"Now, if it's a thing you 'd be wanting chrysanthemums, my lady, would
n't it be the right and proper thing for you to be coming to me, that's
the head gardener of this garden, and if it's a thing there 's
chrysanthemums in it, you 'll get them, and if it's a thing there 's no
chrysanthemums in it, you won't."
"I thought I 'd save you trouble, Darby."
"And what trouble would you be saving me, my Lady, by destroying the
symmetry of the design? All the work that 's on me, and ne'er a hand's
turn do I get from the young fellow that's the assistant. Devil the
hand's turn he 's done in all the forty-three years he 's been here,
barring playing the bagpipes in the greenhouse and talking about the
good ould times. I mind the time your grandfather was in it, my
Lady--a real gentleman him. He would n't put a hand on an apple, or a
gooseberry itself, without asking the head gardener's permission."
Also were the two ancient maids problems in their way. They were
forever sniffing at each other, and complaining of each other to
Margery.
"If your Ladyship would be so kind as to give Rose Ann a tip about her
conduct, 't would be a mercy so. For the queer way she does be acting
with the postman is no credit to this house at all. New ribbons in her
cap, indeed, looking for love, when she ought to be making her peace
with God and man."
But Rose Ann had the same story.
"If your Ladyship pleases, a wee word to Ellen would not be out of the
way. 'T is the postman, your Ladyship, has been complaining bitterly.
'Ma'am,' says he to me, 'would you be telling a secret?' 'If so be as
I know it,' says I, 'I will.' 'Is that one,' says he, 'right in her
head?' 'Is it Ellen you mean?' says I. ''T is that same,' says he.
''T is that has been puzzling myself, but why do you ask?' say I. ''T
is the dirty look she has in her eye,' says he, 'and the queer
conversation is at her. "'T is the world's wonder you never married,"
she does be telling me, "and you the fine lad you are."' Your Ladyship
should speak to her. You should so."
"I will, Rose Ann."
But worst of all were the quarrels between the coachman and the groom.
The coachman was a fine, florid man, and the groom was a wizened little
troll who had once been a jockey. The coachman was always in decent
black, the groom in corduroys. They were forever arguing on
everything, from politics to horses. Once Lady Margery had come into
the yard to see the groom stepping around like a bantam boxer, his
hands up, his feet tapping the ground like a dancer's.
"Put up your hands!" he was shouting. "Put up your hands!"
"Go 'way t' the divil out o' that!"
"Come on if you 're fit! Come on if you 're man enough! I 'll give
you a beating you 've been spoiling for for the last thirty years."
"Go 'way t' the divil out o' that!"
"I will not go 'way out o' that. It's fight I want. I 'm boiling mad
for one clout at your ugly gob."
"Will you whisht!" The coachman had seen Lady Margery.
"I will not whisht. Put up your hands! I 'll not stop till I 'm dug
out of ye!"
"Kelleher, Brady, what's this?"
The groom dropped his fighting attitude and pulled off his cap.
"'T is just a foolish wee argument we were having, m'lady. I was
telling this bloody old cod--begging your pardon, m'lady, for giving
him his right name--that Lynchehaun the murderer was by rights a cousin
to my mother's people, and he said that it was n't in either side of my
family to produce a fine murdering man like the same Lynchehaun. So I
up and gives him a tip about himself and his drunken old mother...."
"Kelleher!"
"Not that I know anything about her, m'lady, but I just thought that if
he had any pride, it would cut him to the quick!"