As they were about to sit down to
dinner on that day, a telegram, re-directed from Kilgobbin,
reached Kearney’s hand. It bore the date
of that morning from Plmnuddm Castle, and was signed
‘Atlee.’ Its contents were these:
’H. E. wants to mark the Kilgobbin defence
with some sign of approval. What shall it be?
Reply by wire.’
‘Read that, and tell us what you think of it.’
‘Joe Atlee at the Viceroy’s
castle in Wales!’ cried the other. ’We’re
going up the ladder hand over head, Mr. Kearney!
A week ago his ambition was bounded on the south by
Ship Street, and on the east by the Lower Castle Yard.’
‘How do you understand the despatch?’
asked Kearney quickly.
’Easily enough. His Excellency
wants to know what you’ll have for shooting
down three I think they were three Irishmen.’
‘The fellows came to demand
arms, and with loaded guns in their hands.’
’And if they did! Is not
the first right of a man the weapon that defends him?
He that cannot use it or does not possess it, is a
slave. By what prerogative has Kilgobbin Castle
within its walls what can take the life of any, the
meanest, tenant on the estate?’
’I am not going to discuss this
with you; I think I have heard most of it before,
and was not impressed when I did so. What I asked
was, what sort of a recognition one might safely ask
for and reasonably expect?’
’That’s not long to look
for. Let them support you in the county.
Telegraph back, “I’m going to stand, and,
if I get in, will be a Whig whenever I am not a Nationalist.
Will the party stand by me?"’
‘Scarcely with that programme.’
‘And do you think that the priests’
nominees, who are three-fourths of the Irish members,
offer better terms? Do you imagine that the men
that crowd the Whig lobby have not reserved their
freedom of action about the Pope, and the Fenian prisoners,
and the Orange processionists? If they were not
free so far, I’d ask you with the old Duke, How
is Her Majesty’s Government to be carried on?’
Kearney shook his head in dissent.
‘And that’s not all,’
continued the other; ’but you must write to the
papers a flat contradiction of that shooting story.
You must either declare that it never occurred at
all, or was done by that young scamp from the Castle,
who happily got as much as he gave.’
‘That I could not do,’ said Kearney firmly.
‘And it is that precisely that
you must do,’ rejoined the other. ’If
you go into the House to represent the popular feeling
of Irishmen, the hand that signs the roll must not
be stained with Irish blood.’
‘You forget; I was not within fifty miles of
the place.’
’And another reason to disavow
it. Look here, Mr. Kearney: if a man in a
battle was to say to himself, I’ll never give
any but a fair blow, he’d make a mighty bad
soldier. Now, public life is a battle, and worse
than a battle in all that touches treachery and falsehood.
If you mean to do any good in the world, to yourself
and your country, take my word for it, you’ll
have to do plenty of things that you don’t like,
and, what’s worse, can’t defend.’
‘The soup is getting cold all
this time. Shall we sit down?’
‘No, not till we answer the
telegram. Sit down and say what I told you.’
‘Atlee will say I’m mad.
He knows that I have not a shilling in the world.’
‘Riches is not the badge of
the representation,’ said the other.
‘They can at least pay the cost of the elections.’
’Well, we’ll pay ours
too not all at once, but later on; don’t
fret yourself about that.’
‘They’ll refuse me flatly.’
’No, we have a lien on the fine
gentleman with the broken arm. What would the
Tories give for that story, told as I could tell it
to them? At all events, whatever you do in life,
remember this that if asked your price
for anything you have done, name the highest, and take
nothing if it’s refused you. It’s
a waiting race, but I never knew it fail in the end.’
Kearney despatched his message, and
sat down to the table, far too much flurried and excited
to care for his dinner. Not so his guest, who
ate voraciously, seldom raising his head and never
uttering a word. ’Here’s to the new
member for King’s County,’ said he at last,
and he drained off his glass; ’and I don’t
know a pleasanter way of wishing a man prosperity than
in a bumper. Has your father any politics, Mr.
Kearney?’
’He thinks he’s a Whig,
but, except hating the Established Church and having
a print of Lord Russell over the fireplace, I don’t
know he has other reason for the opinion.’
’All right; there’s nothing
finer for a young man entering public life than to
be able to sneer at his father for a noodle. That’s
the practical way to show contempt for the wisdom
of our ancestors. There’s no appeal the
public respond to with the same certainty as that
of the man who quarrels with his relations for the
sake of his principles, and whether it be a change
in your politics or your religion, they’re sure
to uphold you.’
’If differing with my father
will ensure my success, I can afford to be confident,’
said Dick, smiling.
‘Your sister has her notions about Ireland,
hasn’t she?’
’Yes, I believe she has; but
she fancies that laws and Acts of Parliament are not
the things in fault, but ourselves and our modes of
dealing with the people, that were not often just,
and were always capricious. I am not sure how
she works out her problem, but I believe we ought to
educate each other; and that in turn, for teaching
the people to read and write, there are scores of
things to be learned from them.’
‘And the Greek girl?’
’The Greek girl’ began
Dick haughtily, and with a manner that betokened rebuke,
and which suddenly changed as he saw that nothing in
the other’s manner gave any indication of intended
freedom or insolence ’The Greek is
my first cousin, Mr. Donogan,’ said he calmly;
’but I am anxious to know how you have heard
of her, or indeed of any of us.’
’From Joe Joe Atlee!
I believe we have talked you over every
one of you till I know you all as well
as if I lived in the castle and called you by your
Christian names. Do you know, Mr. Kearney’ and
his voice trembled now as he spoke ’that
to a lone and desolate man like myself, who has no
home, and scarcely a country, there is something indescribably
touching in the mere picture of the fireside, and
the family gathered round it, talking over little
homely cares and canvassing the changes of each day’s
fortune. I could sit here half the night and
listen to Atlee telling how you lived, and the sort
of things that interested you.’
‘So that you’d actually like to look at
us?’
Donogan’s eyes grew glassy,
and his lips trembled, but he could not utter a word.
‘So you shall, then,’
cried Dick resolutely. ’We’ll start
to-morrow by the early train. You’ll not
object to a ten miles’ walk, and we’ll
arrive for dinner.’
’Do you know who it is you are
inviting to your father’s house? Do you
know that I am an escaped convict, with a price on
my head this minute? Do you know the penalty
of giving me shelter, or even what the law calls comfort?’
’I know this, that in the heart
of the Bog of Allen, you’ll be far safer than
in the city of Dublin; that none shall ever learn who
you are, nor, if they did, is there one the
poorest in the place would betray you.’
‘It is of you, sir, I’m
thinking, not of me,’ said Donogan calmly.
’Don’t fret yourself about
us. We are well known in our county, and above
suspicion. Whenever you yourself should feel that
your presence was like to be a danger, I am quite
willing to believe you’d take yourself off.’
’You judge me rightly, sir,
and I am proud to see it; but how are you to present
me to your friends?’
’As a college acquaintance a
friend of Atlee’s and of mine a gentleman
who occupied the room next me. I can surely say
that with truth.’
‘And dined with you every day
since you knew him. Why not add that?’
He laughed merrily over this conceit,
and at last Donogan said, ’I’ve a little
kit of clothes something decenter than
these up in Thomas Street, N, Mr.
Kearney; the old house Lord Edward was shot in, and
the safest place in Dublin now, because it is so notorious.
I’ll step up for them this evening, and I’ll
be ready to start when you like.’
‘Here’s good fortune to
us, whatever we do next,’ said Kearney, filling
both their glasses; and they touched the brims together,
and clinked them before they drained them.