Part 30 (1/2)

CHAPTER XVII

THE LIMIT

If there was one man more sorry than another that the Morristown rising had been nipped in the bud it was Luke Asgill. It stood to his credit that, though he had never dared to cross Flavia's will, he had tried, and honestly tried, to turn James McMurrough from the attempt. But even while doing this, he had known--as he had once told James with bitter frankness--that his interest lay in the other scale; he had seen that had he attended to it only, he would not have dissuaded The McMurrough, but, on the contrary, would have egged him on, in the a.s.surance that the failure of the plot would provide his one best chance of winning Flavia. A score of times, indeed, he had pictured, and with rapture, the inevitable collapse. In the visions of his head upon his bed he had seen the girl turn to him in the wreck of things--it might be to save her brother's life, it might be to save her tender feet from the stones of foreign streets. And in the same dream he had seen himself standing by her, alone against the world; as, to do him justice, he would have stood, no matter how sharp the stress or great the cost.

He had no doubt that he would be able to save her--in spite of herself and whatever her indiscretion. For he belonged to a cla.s.s that has ever owned inordinate power in Ireland: the cla.s.s of the middlemen with roots in either camp--a grandam, who, perchance, still softens her clay on the old cabin hearth, while a son preens it with his betters in Trinity College. Such men carry into the ruling ranks their knowledge of the modes of thought, the tricks and subterfuges of those from whom they spring; and at once astute and overbearing, hard and supple, turn the needs of rich and poor to their own advantage, and rise on the common loss. Asgill, with money to lend in the town, and protections to grant upon the bog, with the secrets of two worlds in his head or in his deed-box, could afford to await with confidence the day when the storm would break upon Morristown, and Flavia, in the ruin of all about her, would turn to him for rescue.

Keen therefore was his chagrin when, through the underground channels which were in his power, he heard two days after the event, and in distant Tralee, what had happened. Some word of a large Spanish s.h.i.+p seen off the point had reached the mess-room; but only he knew how nearly work had been found for the garrison: only he, walking about with a smooth face, listened for the alarm that did not come. For a wonder he had been virtuous, he had given James his warning; yet he had seen cakes and ale in prospect. Now, not only was the treat vanished below the horizon, but stranger news, news still less welcome, was whispered in his ear. The man whom he had distrusted from the first, the man against whom he had warned The McMurrough, had done this. More, in spite of the line he had taken, the man was still at Morristown, if not honoured, protected, and if not openly triumphant, master in fact.

Luke Asgill swore horribly. But Colonel Sullivan had got the better of him once, and he was not to be duped again by this Don Quixote's mildness and love of peace. He knew him to be formidable, and he took time to consider before he acted. He waited a week and examined the matter on many sides before he took horse to see things with his own eyes. Nor did he alight at the gate of Morristown until he had made many a resolution to be wary and on his guard.

He had reason to call these to mind before his foot was well out of the stirrup, for the first person he saw, after he had bidden his groom take the horses to the stable, was Colonel Sullivan. Asgill had time to scan his face before they met in the middle of the courtyard, the one entering, the other leaving; and he judged that Colonel John's triumph did not go very deep. He was looking graver, sadder, older; finally--this he saw as they saluted one another--sterner.

Asgill stepped aside courteously, meaning to go by him. But the Colonel stepped aside also, and so barred his way. ”Mr. Asgill,” he said--and there was something of the martinet in his tone--”I will trouble you to give me a word apart.”

”A word apart?” Asgill answered. He was taken aback, and do what he could the Colonel's grave eyes discomposed him. ”With all the pleasure in life, Colonel. But a little later, by your leave.”

”I think now were more convenient, sir,” the Colonel answered, ”by your leave.”

”I will lay my cloak in the house, and then----”

”It will be more convenient to keep your cloak, I'm thinking,” the Colonel rejoined with dryness. And either because of the meaning in his voice or the command in his eyes, Asgill gave way and turned with him, and the two walked gravely and step for step through the gateway.

Outside the Colonel beckoned to a ragged urchin who was playing ducks and drakes with his naked toes. ”Go after Mr. Asgill's horses,” he said, and bid the man bring them back.”

”Colonel Sullivan!”

The Colonel did not heed his remonstrance. ”And follow us!” he continued. ”Are you hearing, boy? Go then.”

”Colonel Sullivan,” Asgill repeated, his face both darker and paler--for there could be no doubt about the other's meaning--”I'm thinking this is a strange liberty you're taking. And I beg to say I don't understand the meaning of it.”

”You wish to know the meaning of it?”

”I do.”

”It means, sir,” Colonel John replied, ”that the sooner you start on your return journey the better!”

Asgill stared. ”The better you will be pleased, you mean!” he said. And he laughed harshly.

”The better it will be for you, I mean,” Colonel John answered.

Asgill flushed darkly, but he commanded himself--having those injunctions to prudence fresh in his mind. ”This is an odd tone,” he said. ”And I must ask you to explain yourself further, or I can tell you that what you have said will go for little. I am here upon the invitation of my friend, The McMurrough----”

”This is not his house.”

Asgill stared. ”Do you mean----”

”I mean what I say,” the Colonel answered. ”This is not his house, as you well know.”