Part 26 (1/2)
On starting, he looked with vague terror on his brother, fearing, but not comprehending, his question.
”What is it, Anthony?” he inquired. ”Oh, for that matther,” replied the other, ”nothin' at all: think of what I said to you any how; swear through thick an' thin, if you have a regard for your own health, or for your childher. Maybe I had betther repate it again for you?” he continued, eyeing him with mingled fear and suspicion. ”Dennis, as a friend, I bid you mind yourself this day, an' see you don't bring aither of us into throuble.”
There lay before the Ca.s.sidys' houses a small flat of common, trodden into rings by the young horses they were in the habit of training. On this level s.p.a.ce were a.s.sembled those who came, either to clear their own character from suspicion, or to witness the ceremony. The day was dark and lowering, and heavy clouds rolled slowly across the peaks of the surrounding mountains; scarcely a breath of air could be felt; and, as the country people silently approached, such was the closeness of the day, their haste to arrive in time, and their general anxiety, either for themselves or their friends, that almost every man, on reaching the spot, might be seen taking up the skirts of his ”cothamore,” or ”big coat,” (the peasant's handkerchief), to wipe the sweat from his brow; and as he took off his dingy woollen hat, or caubeen, the perspiration rose in strong exhalations from his head.
”Michael, am I in time?” might be heard from such persons, as they arrived: ”did this business begin yit?”
”Full time, Larry; myself's here an hour ago but no appearance of anything as yit. Father Farrell and Squire Nicholson are both in Ca.s.sidys' waitin' till they're all gother, whin they'll begin to put thim through their facins. You hard about what they've got?”
”No; for I'm only on my way home from the berril of a _cleaveen_ of mine, that we put down this mornin' in the Tullyard. What is it?”
”Why man alive, it's through the whole parish _inready_;”--he then went on, lowering his voice to a whisper, and speaking in a tone bordering on dismay.
The other crossed himself, and betrayed symptoms of awe and astonishment, not un-mingled with fear.
”Well,” he replied, ”I dunna whether I'd come here, if I'd known that; for, innocent or guilty, I would'nt wish to be near it. Och, may G.o.d pity thim that's to come acra.s.s it, I espis.h.i.+ly if they dare to do it in a lie!”
”They needn't, I can tell yez both,” observed a third person, ”be a hair afeard of it, for the best rason livin', that there's no thruth at all in the report, nor the Ca.s.sidys never thought of sindin' for anything o'
the kind: I have it from Larry Ca.s.sidy's own lips, an' he ought to know best.” The truth is, that two reports were current among the crowd: one that the oath was to be simply on the Bible; and the other, that a more awful means of expurgation was resorted to by the Ca.s.sidys. The people, consequently, not knowing which to credit, felt that most painful of all sensations--uncertainty.
During the period which intervened between their a.s.sembling and the commencement of the ceremony, a spectator, interested in contemplating the workings of human nature in circ.u.mstances of deep interest, would have had ample scope for observation. The occasion was to them a solemn one. There was little conversation among them; for when a man is wound up to a pitch of great interest, he is seldom disposed to relish discourse. Every brow was anxious, every cheek blanched, and every, arm folded: they scarcely stirred, or when they did, only with slow abstracted movements, rather mechanical than voluntary. If an individual made his appearance about Ca.s.sidy's door, a sluggish stir among them was visible, and a low murmur of a peculiar character might be heard; but on perceiving that it was only some ordinary person, all subsided again into a brooding stillness that was equally singular and impressive.
Under this peculiar feeling was the mult.i.tude, when Meehan and his brother were seen approaching it from their own house. The elder, with folded arms, and hat pulled over his brows, stalked grimly forward, having that remarkable scowl upon his face, which had contributed to establish for him so diabolical a character. Denis walked by his side, with his countenance strained to inflation;--a miserable parody of that sullen effrontery which marked the unshrinking miscreant beside him.
He had not heard of the ordeal, owing to the caution of Anthony: but, notwithstanding his effort at indifference, a keen eye might have observed the latent anxiety of a man who was habitually villanous, and naturally timid.
When this pair entered the crowd, a few secret glances, too rapid to be noticed by the people, pa.s.sed between them and their accomplices. Denis, on seeing them present, took fresh courage, and looked with the heroism of a bl.u.s.terer upon those who stood about him, especially whenever he found himself under the scrutinizing eye of his brother. Such was the horror and detestation in which they were held, that on advancing into the a.s.sembly, the persons on each side turned away, and openly avoided them: eyes full of fierce hatred were bent on them vindictively, and ”curses, not loud, but deep,” were muttered with indignation which nothing but a divided state of feeling could repress within due limits.
Every glance, however, was paid back by Anthony with interest, from eyes and black s.h.a.ggy brows tremendously ferocious; and his curses, as they rolled up half smothered from his huge chest, were deeper and more diabolical by far than their own. He even jeered at them; but, however disgusting his frown, there was something truly apalling in the dark gleam of his scoff, which threw them at an immeasurable distance behind him, in the power of displaying on the countenance the worst of human pa.s.sions.
At length Mr. Nicholson, Father Farrell, and his curate, attended by the Ca.s.sidys and their friends, issued from the house: two or three servants preceded them, bearing a table and chairs for the magistrate and priests, who, however, stood during the ceremony. When they entered one of the rings before alluded to, the table and chairs were placed in the centre of it, and Father Farrell, as possessing most influence over the people, addressed them very impressively.
”There are,” said he, in conclusion, ”persons in this crowd whom we know to be guilty; but we will have an opportunity of now witnessing the lengths to which crime, long indulged in, can carry them. To such people I would say beware! for they know not the situation in which they are placed.”
During all this time there was not the slightest allusion made to the mysterious ordeal which had excited so much awe and apprehension among them--a circ.u.mstance which occasioned many a pale, downcast face to clear up, and resume its usual cheerful expression. The crowd now were a.s.sembled round the ring, and every man on whom an imputation had been fastened came forward, when called upon, to the table at which the priests and magistrate stood uncovered. The form of the oath was framed by the two clergymen, who, as they knew the reservations and evasions commonest among such characters, had ingeniously contrived not to leave a single loophole through which the consciences of those who belonged to this worthy fraternity might escape.
To those acquainted with Irish courts of justice there was nothing particularly remarkable in the swearing. Indeed, one who stood among the crowd might hear from those who were stationed at the greatest distance from the table, such questions as the following:--
”Is the thing in it, Art?”
”No; 'tis nothin' but the law Bible, the magistrate's own one.”
To this the querist would reply, with a satisfied nod of the head, ”Oh is that all? I heard they war to have it;” on which he would push himself through the crowd until he reached the table, where he took his oath as readily as another.
”Jem Hartigan,” said the magistrate to one of those persons, ”are you to swear?”
”Faix, myself doesn't know, your honor; only that I hard them say that the Ca.s.sidys mintioned our names along wid many other honest people; an'
one wouldn't, in that case, lie under a false report, your honor, from any one, when we're as clear as them that never saw the light of anything of the kind.”
The magistrate then put the book into his hand, and Jem, in return, fixed his eye, with much apparent innocence, on his face: ”Now, Jem Hartigan,” etc, etc., and the oath was accordingly administered. Jem put the book to his mouth, with his thumb raised to an acute angle on the back of it; nor was the smack by any means a silent one which he gave it (his thumb).