O'Neill family

“ ROBERT—If I had no other excuse for going on Uncle Dick's ship but just my health, I'd stay right here and start in plowing.
ANDREW—Can't be done. No use in your talking that way, Rob. Farming ain't your nature. There's all the difference shown in just the way us two feel about the farm. I like it, all of it, and you—well, you like the home part of it, I expect; but as a place to work and grow things, you hate it. Ain't that right?
ROBERT—Yes, I suppose it is. I've tried to take an interest but—well, you're the Mayo branch of the family, and I take after Ma and Uncle Dick. ”

“ Then, laying his hand on the reins as if impelled by irresistible curiosity, “I suppose your uncle is very angry with Willy?”
I assented.
“Ah! very naturally; but, upon my soul, I think it was as much his own fault as any one else’s. He never could get on with his own family, you know. There was your poor father, now—the dearest fellow in the world—my greatest friend—though, of course, he was a good deal older than I,” O’Neill threw in parenthetically,—“he never hit it off with him. He hasn’t spoken to me for years past because{231} I backed up Owen when he got into trouble with his father ”

“ He remembered having found out in some way, from some papers in the drowned Englishman's pockets or somewhere, that the name of Woolly Billy's mother, before her marriage, was not Johnson, but O'Neill. Of course that discrepancy, he realized, might be easily explained, but his quick suspicions, sharpened by his devotion to the child, were aroused.
"We are not a rich family, by any means, Mr. Blackstock," continued the stranger, after a pause. "But we have enough to be able to reward handsomely those who have befriended us. ”

“ EMILY— [With her false air of innocence.] Curt acts so funny, doesn't he? Did you notice how emphatic he was about its being impossible? And he said Martha seemed to him to be acting queer lately—with him, I suppose he meant.
ESTHER—He certainly appeared put out when he heard she'd gone motoring with Big.
JAYSON— [Moodily.] This dislike of the very mention of children. It isn't like Curt, not a bit.
JOHN—There's something rotten in Denmark somewhere. This family will yet live to regret having accepted a stranger—
SHEFFIELD— [Mollifyingly—with a judicial air.] Come now! ”

“ You may not like your husband too much. I can't say I liked the Colonel particularly. He took snuff, and no woman in the world could keep him in clean pocket handkerchiefs. But when a sensible person has got something at stake, she puts up with things. And that's what you must do. He who wants fresh eggs must raise his own chickens, you know."
Aunt Bridget ran on for some time longer, telling me of my father's anger, which was not a matter for much surprise, seeing how he had built himself upon my marriage, and how he had expected that I should have a child, a son, to carry on the family. ”

“ Then there would no longer be any possibility of establishing a family and that would disturb his plans. No matter! We can set Curphy to work ourselves."
"But I have seen Mr. Curphy also," I said.
"And what did he say?"
I told him what the lawyer had said and he was aghast.
"Good heavens! What an iniquity! In England too! But never mind! There are other countries where this relic of the barbaric ages doesn't exist. We'll go there. We must get you a divorce somehow."
My time had come. I could keep back the truth no longer.
"But Martin," I said, "divorce is impossible for me—quite impossible." ”

“ Curphy, speaking through his long beard, congratulated my father and my husband equally on the marriage, and gave it as his opinion that there could be no better use for wealth than to come to the rescue of an historic family which had fallen on evil times and only required a little money to set it on its feet again. ”

“ You're coming soon, aren't you, Rob?
ROBERT—Yes. I'll be right down. [ANDREW and the CAPTAIN leave. RUTH puts MARY on the ground and hides her face in her hands. Her shoulders shake as if she were sobbing. ROBERT stares at her with a grim, somber expression. MARY walks backward toward ROBERT, her wondering eyes fixed on her mother.]
MARY— [Her voice vaguely frightened, taking her father's hand.] Dada, Mama's cryin', Dada.
ROBERT— [Bending down and stroking her hair—in a voice he endeavors to keep from being harsh.] No, she isn't, little girl. The sun hurts her eyes, that's all. ”

“ Excuse me, Andy. This rotten headache has my nerves shot to pieces.
ANDREW— [Mumbling.] It's all right, Rob—long as you're not sore at me.
ROBERT—Where did Uncle Dick disappear to this morning?
ANDREW—He went down to the port to see to things on the Sunda. He said he didn't know exactly when he'd be back. I'll have to go down and tend to the ship when he comes. That's why I dressed up in these togs.
MARY— [Pointing down the hill to the left.] See Dada! Mama! Mama! [She jumps to her feet and starts to run down the path.] ”

“ I'd have taken it on the spot, only I couldn't leave Uncle Dick in the lurch, and I'd promised you folks to come home. But I'm going back there very soon, you bet, and then you watch me get on! [He slaps ROBERT on the back.] But don't you think it's a big chance, Rob?
ROBERT—It's fine—for you, Andy.
ANDREW—We call this a farm—but you ought to hear about the farms down there—ten square miles where we've got an acre. It's a new country where big things are opening up—and I want to get in on something big before I die. That job I'm offered'll furnish the wedge. ”

“ She's my child as much as yours. A fine one you are to be telling folks how to do things, you—— [She bites her lips. Husband and wife look into each other's eyes with something akin to hatred in their expressions; then RUTH turns away with a shrug of affected indifference.] All right, take care of her then, if you think it's so easy. You'll be whipping her yourself inside of a week. [She walks away into the kitchen.]
ROBERT— [Smoothing MARY'S hair—tenderly.] We'll show Mama you're a good little girl, won't we? ”

“ Aunt Bridget was talking in doleful tones to Lady Margaret about my mother, saying she had promised her on her death-bed to take care of her child and had been as good as her word, always putting me before her own daughter, although her ladyship would admit that Betsy was a handsome girl, and, now that his lordship was married, there were few in the island that were fit for her.
"Why no, Mrs. MacLeod," said my husband, after another significant glance at his friend, "I dare say you've not got many who can make enough to keep a carriage?" ”

“ The commons of London are rising to help us, and the king will not hold out when he sees——but no matter. Tell me how you have fared. When I left Sudley, to join the commons, you were taken charge of by your brother, who, no doubt, placed you here with your friend Lucy, on her marriage with Wells——"
"Stephen!" said the galleyman, from below.
"Good heavens! I must go. Bless you, Margaret!—bless you! I will see you again soon! May God keep ye both!" Gently laying down the still sleeping babe, he tore himself from the arms of his weeping wife, and rushed down the stairs. ”

“ I was awakened by a hurried knocking at my door, and by an impatient voice crying:
"Mary! Mary! Get up! Let me in!"
It was Aunt Bridget who had arrived in my husband's automobile. When I opened the door to her she came sailing into the room with her new half-moon bonnet a little awry, as if she had put it on hurriedly in the dim light of early morning, and, looking at me with her cold grey eyes behind their gold-rimmed spectacles, she began to bombard me with mingled ridicule and indignant protest. ”

“ MARTHA—Marriage isn't only the man. It's children. Wouldn't you like to have children?
LILY— [Turning to her bluntly.] Wouldn't you?
MARTHA— [ Confused. ] But—Lily—
LILY—Oh, I know it wasn't practicable as long as you elected to wander with Curt—but why not now when you've definitely settled down here? I think that would solve things all round. If you could present Father with a grandson, I'm sure he'd fall on your neck. He feels piqued at the John and Esther families because they've had a run of girls. A male Jayson! ”

“ I wasn't looking for Andy, Smarty, if that's what you mean. I was looking for you.
ROBERT—Because I'm going away tomorrow?
RUTH—Because your mother was anxious to have you come home and asked me to look for you. I just wheeled Ma over to your house.
ROBERT— [Perfunctorily.] How is your mother?
RUTH— [A shadow coming over her face.] She's about the same. She never seems to get any better or any worse. Oh, Rob, I do wish she'd pick up a little or—— or try to make the best of things that can't be helped. ”

“ You'll have to sit on my chest, and that wouldn't help my health any. Come on, Andy. Don't play the fool. I want to talk to you, and I'm going to. [With a grim smile.] A dying man has some rights, hasn't he?
ANDREW— [With a shudder.] Don't talk that way, for God's sake! Remember. [He helps ROB to the chair between his own and RUTH'S.] Easy now! There you are! Wait, and I'll get a pillow for you. [He goes into the bedroom. ROBERT looks at RUTH who shrinks away from him in terror. ROBERT smiles bitterly. ANDREW comes back with the pillow which he places behind ROBERT'S back.] ”

“ ROBERT—Andy! Don't! You're only making it worse.
ANDREW— [Sulkily.] I don't care. I've done my share of work here. I've earned my right to quit when I want to. [Suddenly overcome with anger and grief; with rising intensity.] I'm sick and tired of the whole damn business. I hate the farm and every inch of ground in it. I'm sick of digging in the dirt and sweating in the sun like a slave without getting a word of thanks for it. [Tears of rage starting to his eyes—hoarsely.] I'm through, through for good and all; and if Uncle Dick won't take me on his ship, I'll find another. ”

“ I stand here as free as any man of you, and no one shall compel me to become a slave.—But it is to you, foul murderer!" glancing fiercely on Calverley, who shrank from his gaze—"it is to you I owe this! Were my poor mother's death, my own ruin, and the loss of my farm and my home, not enough, that you continue to hunt me down like a wild beast?"
"Honest man," said Neville, mildly, "you are described in the king's writ as a bondman of his grace; and two men have this day deposed that you acknowledged yourself as Lord de Boteler's villein, and swore fealty to him in his own court." ”

“ Lay aside that lance and hearken to the words of her who bore thee, and nourished thee. Oh, bring not sorrow and ruin on thyself and her! What would be the bitterness of my dying moments if my son lived not to lay me beside his father?—if thy Margaret was left to mourn in lowly widowhood—and, perhaps, to fall beneath the base arts of Calverley! Oh, my son, my son, by the soul of thy dead father, and by the blessing of thy mother, resist not!—Hark! they come—they come! Haste, Stephen—Give me the weapon."
Holgrave, shocked and agitated, could only think of raising his mother from her knees. ”

“ Half an hour afterwards Aunt Bridget came to me in my mother's room. Never in my life before had I been pleased to see her. She, at least, would see my situation with a woman's eyes. But I was doomed to another disappointment.
"Goodness me, girl," she cried, "what's this your father tells me? One of your own guests, is it? That one with the big eyes I'll go bail. Well, serve you right, I say, for bringing a woman like that into the house with your husband—so smart and such a quality toss with her. If you were lonely coming home why didn't you ask your aunt or your first cousin? ”

“ You're not as big a nut as you'd like to make out. You'd better not say anything to Uncle Dick about spells and things when you're on the ship. He'll likely chuck you overboard for a Jonah. [He jumps down from fence.] I'd better run along. I've got to wash up some as long as Ruth's Ma is coming over for supper.
ROBERT— [Pointedly—almost bitterly.] And Ruth.
ANDREW— [Confused—looking everywhere except at ROBERT—trying to appear unconcerned.] Yes, Pa did say she was staying too. Well, I better hustle, I guess, and—— [He steps over the ditch to the road while he is talking.] ”

“ You know as well as I do that it wasn't Mary who made me ill, but you—you, who reproached me and taunted me about my child until my heart itself had to bleed. For seven years you have been doing that, and now you are disposing of my darling over my head without consulting me. Has a mother no rights in her own child—the child she has suffered for, and loved and lived for—that other people who care nothing for it should take it away from her and send it into a foreign country where she may never see it again? ”

“ If I haven't got a son I've got a son-in-law, and when I get a grandson he'll be the richest man that ever stepped into Castle Raa, and the uncrowned king of Ellan."
At that there was a tempest of cheers, which, mingling with the clamour of the storm, made a deafening tumult.
"They're saying a dale nowadays about fathers and children—daughters being separate beings, and all to that. But show me the daughter that could do better for herself than my gel's father has done for her. She has a big fortune, and her husband has a big name, and what more do they want in this world anyway?" ”

“ RUTH— [Nods her head, and then breaks forth rebelliously.] She never stops nagging. No matter what I do for her she finds fault. She's growing more irritable every day. Oh, Rob, you've no idea how hard it is living there alone with her in that big lonely house. It's enough to drive anyone mad. If only Pa was still living—— [She stops as if ashamed of her outburst.] I suppose I shouldn't complain this way. I wouldn't to any one but you. [She sighs.] Poor Ma, Lord knows it's hard enough for her—having to be wheeled around in a chair ever since I was born. ”