Part 45 (1/2)
Chapter 19: In Search of a Family.
On the following day, Desmond left the brigade, and, followed by Mike, rode for Madrid, where was still lying a letter which had arrived, some months before, from England. He had not asked for it to be forwarded, for if he had been killed, and it had been found on him, it might do his memory a great disservice, as it would seem that he had been in correspondence with the British. The letter, which contained an enclosure, was, to his surprise, from Lord G.o.dolphin. It ran:
Dear Captain Kennedy:
Partly at the request of the Earl of Galway, and still more from my own remembrance of your conduct, in that affair you know of, and of the silence that you maintained concerning it, I have pleasure in sending you a safe conduct to visit Ireland on private affairs. The earl tells me that you have rendered him the greatest of services, and this alone should cancel the fact that you have been serving against us in Flanders and Spain. For this, and your conduct to myself, I can promise you that should you, at any time while I am in power, decide to remain in Ireland, I will obtain for you a full and complete pardon, and a restoration to all your rights as an Irish subject of the queen. I will also obtain a reversal of any attainders or acts of confiscation that may have been pa.s.sed against your family, on your giving your promise that you will not take part in any secret plots or conspiracies against the reigning family, though, in the event of a general rising in Ireland, with the a.s.sistance perhaps of a French army, you would be at liberty to choose your own course of action, without incurring more pains and penalties than those which might befall any native of Ireland waging war against the queen.
As both G.o.dolphin and Marlborough were known to be by no means unfavourably disposed to the cause of the Stuarts, Desmond was hardly surprised at the latter part of this intimation. Though he had but small hopes of being enabled to remain permanently at home, it was yet very welcome to him. Certainly, if he remained in Ireland he would consider himself bound to hold himself aloof from all Jacobite plots, although, if the country rose and a French army landed, he would, unless he considered the cause a hopeless one, draw his sword on behalf of him whom he considered as his lawful sovereign.
”It is not sorry I am, your honour, to be turning my back on this country,” Mike said, as they rode out from the gate. ”The wine is good, which is more than I can say for anything else in it, except that the people are good Catholics.”
”I am starting a longer journey than you think, Mike. I am only going to the duke, now, to ask for a year's leave; though I do not think that I shall be absent more than a few months.”
”And where are you going, your honour, if I may make so bold as to ask?”
”I am going to Ireland, Mike.”
Mike looked at him with astonishment.
”To Ireland, your honour? Sure they will hang you, before you set your foot a week in the country.”
”I have obtained a safe conduct, Mike, from Lord G.o.dolphin. You remember him, the n.o.bleman we kidnapped?”
”Sure I remember him, your honour; and he has given you a safe conduct? It is in luck you are, to be going back to Ireland again.”
”It is not a visit of pleasure, Mike. I am going over to try to ascertain to which branch of my family I belong.”
”And what can it matter, your honour? It's a good name you have made for yourself out here.”
”I have done well enough, Mike, but I am tired of being asked, by almost every officer I meet, about my family, when in fact I know nothing myself.”
”Well, Captain, it does not seem to me worth troubling about, for if you don't know who they are, it is little they can have done for you.”
”It would seem so, Mike. There is a mystery about the whole affair, and I want to get to the bottom of it.”
He rode silently for some distance. He knew that Mike would go through fire and water for him, and that, simple as he seemed, he had no ordinary amount of shrewdness; and he determined to tell him all he knew, especially as he intended to take him to Ireland with him.
”Mike,” he said at last, ”I suppose you would like to pay a visit to Ireland, also?”
”I should that,” Mike said, emphatically. ”I was but eighteen when I came out here to enlist in the brigade--that is twelve years ago now, and it is few people would be likely to know me again.”
”Well, I am thinking of taking you with me, Mike; and, as possibly you may be of use in my search, I will tell you my story.”
And he related the history of his youth.
”He must be an unfeeling baste, to treat you like that,” Mike exclaimed indignantly. ”Sure I know the name, and have heard him spoken of as a traitor who had gone over to the enemy, and turned Protestant to save his estate.”
”That is how you would hear him spoken of, Mike, for it is true; but as to his treatment of me, it all depends whether I was forced upon him by threats, or was taken by him out of friends.h.i.+p to my father. If it were the first of these reasons, he cannot be blamed for keeping me at a distance. If the second, he certainly ought to have behaved differently. But neither explains why he, a supporter of the usurper, should have sent me out to France to fight against the English. It is a hard nut to crack.”