Part 46 (1/2)
”And why did you do so, Sir Robert?”
”Why, Mr. Folliard, to save your daughter.”
The old man paused.
”Ah,” he exclaimed, ”that is a bad business--I mean for you; Sir Robert; but we will talk it over. You shall stop and dine with me; I want some one to talk with--some one who will support me and keep me in spirits;”
and as he spoke he sobbed bitterly. ”I wish to G.o.d,” he exclaimed, ”that neither I nor Helen--my dear Helen--had ever seen that fellow's face.
You will dine with me, Bob?”
”I will, upon the strict condition that you keep yourself quiet, and won't seem to understand any thing.”
”Would you recommend me to lock her up?”
”By no means; that would only make matters worse. I shall dine with you, but you must be calm and quiet, and not seem to entertain any suspicions.”
”Very well, I shall; but what has become of our lunch? Touch the bell.”
This hint sent Lanigan downstairs, who met the butler coming up with it.
”Why, Pat,” said he, ”what kept you so long with the lunch?”
”I was just thinking,” replied Pat, ”how it would be possible to poison that ugly, ill-made, long-legged scoundrel, without poisoning my master.
What's to be done, Lanigan? He will marry this darlin' in spite of us.
And sure, now we have our privileges once more, since this great Earl came to rule over us; and sure, they say, he's a greater gentleman than the king himself. All I can say is, that if this same Sir Robert forces the Cooleen Baum to such an unnatural marriage, I'll try a dose, hit or miss, for a cowheel anyway.”
Lanigan laughed, and the butler pa.s.sed on with the lunch.
We may state here that the squire, notwithstanding his outspoken manner against Popery, like a terrible reverend baronet not long deceased, who, notwithstanding his discovery of the most awful Popish plots, and notwithstanding the most extravagant denunciations against Popery, like him, we say, the old squire seldom had more than one or two Protestant servants under his roof. Pat hated Longshanks, as he termed him, as did all the household, which, indeed, was very natural, as he was such a notorious persecutor of their religion and their clergy.
Lanigan lost no time in acquainting Reilly with what he had heard, and the heart of the latter palpitated with alarm on hearing that the next day but one was likely to join his _Cooleen Bawn_, by violent and unnatural proceedings, to the man whom she so much detested. He felt that it was now time to act in order to save her. Arrangements were consequently made between them as to the time and manner of their escape, and those arrangements, together with the dialogue he had overheard, Lanigan communicated to the _Cooleen Bawn_.
The squire on that day experienced strange alternations of feeling.
His spirits seemed to rise and sink, as the quicksilver in the gla.s.s is affected by the state of the atmosphere. He looked into the future with terror, and again became, to the astonishment of his guest--we now talk of their conduct after dinner--actuated by some thought or impulse that put him into high spirits. Whitecraft, cool and cautious, resolved to let him have his way; for the squire was drinking deeply, and the Burgundy was good and strong.
”Bob, my boy,” said he, ”you don't drink, and that is a bad sign. You have either a bad head of late, or a bad heart, which is worse. Hang you, sir, why don't you drink? I have seen you lay lots of my guests under the table when you were quite cool; but now, what are you at? They can't run away to-night. Helen doesn't know that the discovery has been made. And now, Bob, you dog, listen to me, I say--would you have had the manliness and courage to expose yourself for the sake of a pretty girl as he did?--that is--here's a b.u.mper to Helen! Curse you, will nothing make you drink? No, faith, he hadn't seen Helen at the time; it was for a worthless old fellow like me that he exposed himself; but no matter, you may be right; perhaps it was a plot to get acquainted with her.
Still, I'm not sure of that; but if it was, I'll make him smart.”
After dinner the squire drank deeply--so deeply, indeed, that Whitecraft was obliged to call up some of the male servants to carry him to his chamber and put him to bed. In this task Lanigan a.s.sisted, and thanked his stars that he was incapacitated from watching the lovers, or taking any means to prevent their escape. As for Whitecraft, thought he, I will soon send him about his business. Now, this gentleman's suspicions were the more deeply excited, in consequence of Helen's refusal to meet him at either lunch or dinner, a refusal which she gave on the plea of indisposition. He had therefore made up his mind to watch the motions of _Cooleen Bawn_, and he would have included Reilly in his surveillance were it not that Lanigan informed him of what he termed the mysterious disappearance of the under-gardener.
”What!” exclaimed Whitecraft, ”is he gone?”
”He has gone, Sir Robert, and he left his week's wages behind him, for he never came to the steward to ask it. And now, Sir Robert, to tell you the truth, I'm not sorry he's gone; he was a disagreeable old fellow, that n.o.body could make either head or tail of; but, Sir Robert, listen--wait, sir, till I shut the door--it will soon be getting dusk: you know you're not liked in the country, and now that we--I mean the Catholics--have the countenance of Government, I think that riding late won't be for your health. The night air, you know, isn't wholesome to some people. I am merely givin' you a hint, Sir Robert, bekaise you are a friend of my masther's, and I hope for your own sake you'll take it.
The sooner you mount your horse the better; and if you be guided by me, you'll try and reach your own house before the darkness sets in. Who knows what Reilly may be plotting? You know he doesn't like a bone in your honor's skin; and the Reillys are cruel and desperate.”
”But, Lanigan, are you aware of any plot or conspiracy that has been got up against my life?”
”Not at all, your honor; but I put it to yourself, sir, whether you don't feel that I'm speaking the truth.”
”I certainly know very well,” replied the baronet, ”that I am exceedingly unpopular with the Popish party; but, in my conduct towards them, I only carried out the laws that had been pa.s.sed against them.”