Thomas Carleton

“ They went together in the 'Fly' on Tuesday night last to Dublin; a' followed in the 'Flash of Lightning,' and seen them in conversation. Dandy Dulcimer, who is your friend—For God's sake, Sir Thomas, be quiet. You'll shake me—a-a-ach—Sir—Thom-a-as—w-wi-will you not take my—my —li-life——”
“You lie like a villain, you most contemptible reptile,” shouted the other. “My daughter, sirrah, never eloped with an adventurer. She never eloped at all, sir. She durst not elope. She knows what my vengeance would be, sirrah. ”

“ An' he would be as good a man as ever yet there's been,
Or else let go forever, an' sink in the sea of sin.
[75]
An' I knew, whatever efforts might carry him or fail,
There was only one could help God to turn the waverin' scale;
An' I skulked away in a hurry—I was bound to do my part—
To get the mother, who carries the key to Thomas' heart.
She's gettin' old an' feeble, an' childish in her talk;
An' we've no horse an' buggy, an' she will have to walk ”

“ CARLETON, HUGH, Viscount Carleton (1739–1826) , lord chief justice of Ireland, eldest son of Francis Carleton of Cork, by Rebecca, daughter of John Lanton, was born 11 Sept. 1739. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and being called to the Irish bar became solicitor-general in 1779, and lord chief justice of the common pleas in 1787. In 1789 he was created Baron Carleton of Amer, and in 1797 Viscount Carleton of Clare, Tipperary. He became lord chief justice in 1800, and the same year was chosen one of the twenty-eight representative peers of Ireland. ”

“ M'Carthy, I'm a'most fairly knocked up myself, havin' been down the counthry and through the hills the greater part of the day. I have a great number of cattle to look afther, an' am seldom off my foot.”
“Don't, sir,” said his wife, in tones which were now perfectly intelligible to him, “don't ax poor Frank to go wid you tonight; you'll be as well widout him, especially as the night's so bright and clear; he's tired indeed, and, be the same token, I don't like to be here in the clouds of the night, wid nobody wid me but myself.” ”

“ My young friend, however, is at the present—you remember as in pasenti, Edward—only an ensign, but, please God, old as some of us are, Mrs. M. to wit—ahem! we will live to shake hands with him as captain yet.”
“You mean, of course, my dear,” said his wife, “that I will live to do so; the youngest, as the proverb has it, lives longest. No man, Mr. Roberts, will more regret the improbability of verifying his own wishes than Mr. Mainwaring.”
“Ah, Martha! you're always too hard for me,” he replied, laughing. ”

“ Lucre! Protestant and True Blue forever—hurra!”
“The true Church forever, Father M'Cabe, the jewel that you war! Give the horse the spurs, avourneen. Sowl, Paddy, but the bodagh parson has the advantage of him in the cappul. Push on, your reverence; you have the divil and the parson against you, for the one's drivin' on the other.”
“Cross the corner of the Barny Mother's meadow, Mr. Lucre, and wheel in at the garden ditch; your horse can do it, although you ride the heaviest weight. Lay on him, sir, and think of Protestant Ascendancy. King William against Popery and wooden shoes; hurra!” ”

“ I am,” he added, in a low and guarded whisper, “Frank M'Carthy: as you hope for mercy from God and life from man, listen! The door will be broken in in a few minutes; but if you are guided by me, you may yet be safe. Blacken your face forthwith, Alick; and here is a shirt marked with blood too—a circumstance that will give you more security—which I have brought you.”
“Frank M'Carthy,” exclaimed Julia, “and a Whiteboy! Oh, yes, be advised by him, Alick; as for me, I care not how soon death comes—I have little to live for now!” ”

“ Darby, fill Tom a bumper of whiskey—not that—I say the large glass, you scoundrel.”
“Throth, Captain, 'tisn't my heart 'ud hindher me to give him the largest in the house; but I have a conscientious scruple against doin' what I believe isn't right. My Bible tells me—. Well, well, sure I'm only obeying orders. Here, Tom,” he added, handing him the large bumper.
“Confound the fellow,” said Val; “ever since he has become a convert to Mr. Lucre there's no getting a word out of him that hasn't religion in it.” ”

“ Good-bye, boys; good-bye, M'Carthy—and I say, Jack and Alick, be on your sharps and don't let them lads do you—d'ye mind now?—keen's the word.”
He then got on his comfortable jaunting-car, and drove off to wait, according to appointment, upon the Rev. Jeremiah Turbot, D.D.
“Mogue Moylan,” said John, “will you go out and tell them fellows that I and Alick will be in the office presently—and do you hear? tell them to look like men, and not so much like murderers that came to take our lives. Say we'll be in the office presently, and that we hope it's not excuses they're fetching us.” ”

“ The fellow is so impudent that he will take no rebuff.”
“By the way, father, where does M'Carthy stop, now that he is in the country?” asked Alick, with some hesitation, and a brow a little heightened in color.
“For the present,” replied the other, “he stops with our friend, O'Driscol, the new magistrate. Faith, it's a shove-up for O'Driscol to get on the Bench. Halloo! there's M'Carthy's knock—I'm sure I know it.”
The proctor was right; but notwithstanding his quickness and sagacity, there was another individual in the room at that moment who recognized it sooner than he did. ”

“ In this man's voice, M'Carthy, to his infinite delight, once more recognized that of his unknown well-wisher. Be this as it may, he and the other two left the house, and, as the reader is no doubt interested in their movements, we shall permit him to follow them to the dining-room of the shooting-lodge, where the meeting had just been held.
“Very well, then,” he proceeded, “it is so best, as none of us can become a traitor against the rest. Shew me your pistols; for, as I'm an ould soger, I'll regulate them for you better than you'll be able to do yourselves.” ”

“ Carleton, what a change it has brought in your daughter, Rose! I remember her as a charming child, and behold, I met her the other afternoon at a little tea—why, Mr. Carleton, I assure you I could scarcely believe my eyes. A young lady—grown-up, self-possessed, a half-dozen young men around her. Why, I was amazed. The passage of time—”
He half paused; perhaps, if the truth were told, Henry Carleton half broke in upon him. “Yes,” the banker agreed, “it passes, as you say. And it’s valuable, Van Socum. We can’t afford to waste it, any of us.” ”

“ M'Carthy then gave him a brief, and by no means a detailed account of the danger he had passed.
“Well,” said the other, “everything's clear enough when it's known; but, as it's clear that you have enemies in the neighborhood, I think the wisest thing you could do would be to lave it at wanst.”
“Such, in fact, is my determination,” replied M'Carthy; “no man, I believe, who is marked ought to remain in the country; that is, when he has no local duties that demand his presence in it, as I have not.”
“You are right, sir ”

“ Henry Carleton had now perfectly regained his self-possession. He gazed at the young man with benevolence in his eye. “Yes, yes,” he assented, a little dreamily, “love, of course; that’s the great essential. With that I thoroughly agree. And yet, while with me Rose’s wishes are the first consideration—no, rather I should say the only consideration—still, as I understand you to say yourself, it must equally be a point of proper pride with every man to know that he is earning an honest living, amply sufficient for all future needs. I take it that you would hardly quarrel with that, Mr. Vaughan?” ”

“ Adding to the fact that the young man was late, the further information that Henry Carleton felt tolerably sure he was coming to ask some sort of favor of him, we behold the heights to which it is possible for a man to rise. ”

“ It’s not a pleasant thing to hear. But it is true. He’s not away on business. He goes there constantly. In fact, if you care to see him, I dare say you would find him there now.”
The words struck home. For an instant the girl stood gazing at him, as if she would have spoken; then quickly turned, and left the room.
A chance shaft sometimes cleaves to the very center of the mark. At the hour and minute [Pg 325] when Marjory Graham was leaving Henry Carleton’s office, Jack Carleton sat with Jeanne Satterlee in the parlor of the little cottage at Eversley. ”

“ The old lady looked at him with a very peculiar expression of countenance; I thought she smiled, but never did a smile appear to me so pregnant with bitterness and cursing scorn. “Ay,” said she, “there goes the well-fed heretic, that neither fasts nor prays—his God is his belly—they have the fat of the land for the present, your Reverence, but wait a bit. In the mane time, we had betther get in here a little, till this shower passes—you see the sun's beginnin' to brighten behind the rain, so it can't last long: and a bit of breakfast will do none of us any harm.” ”

“ At this moment a servant entered, saying, “The horses are at the door, gentlemen.”
“Come some other day, M'Mahon,” said Fethertonge; “do you not see that we are going out to ride now—going on our canvass? Come to my office some other day; Mr. Chevydale will remain for a considerable time in the country now, and you need not feel so eager in the matter.”
“Yes, come some other day, Mr.—Mr.—ay—M'Mahon; if there are leases to sign, of course I shall sign them; I am always anxious to do my duty as a landlord. Come, or rather Fethertonge here will manage it. You know I transact no business here ”

“ Is Captain Wilson gone? Then, peace be with him; it's a pity he wasn't on the right side, for he's not the worst of them. Phaddhy, where are you?”
“Why, yer Reverence,” replied Katty, “he's got a little unwell, and jist laid down his head a bit.”
“Katty,” said Father Con, “you had better get a couple of the men to accompany Father Philemy home; for though the night's clear, he doesn't see his way very well in the dark—poor man, his eye-sight's failing him fast.”
“Then, the more's the pity, Father Con. Here, Denis, let yourself and Mat go home wid Father Philemy.” ”

“ Owen, as we said, was prompt in following up his determinations. After breakfast they saw the agent and his father, for both lived together. Old Rogerson had been intimately acquainted with the M'Carthys, and, as Frank had anticipated, used his influence with the agent in procuring for the son of his old friend and acquaintance the farm which he sought.
“Jack,” said the old gentleman, “you don't probably know the history and character of the Tubber Derg M'Carthys so well as I do. No man ever required the written bond of a M'Carthy ”

“ At that instant, two or three of the leaders of the people were in commotion with that gentleman, one of them resting his hand upon his horse's neck, and the other so close to him that his words could be distinctly heard.
“Captain G——s,” said the latter, “don't be afraid—meek yourself aisy—not a hair of your head, nor any of the police, will be touched; we only want the process-server; let him be given up, and you will be safe.”
“Sooner than give him up to you,” he replied, “we will, every man of us, part with our lives. Sacrifice us you may, but we will never surrender our charge.” ”

“ Jack Carleton’s eyebrows were raised half grimly, half ruefully. Something of a kind of hysterical humor seemed to him to exist in the idea of asking a man with such seriousness whether or not he was eager to die. “Yes,” he returned, “you can assume that. That’s a good point to start with.”
There was something in his tone, despite the solemnity of the discussion, that made Henry Carleton force a sickly smile, which faded almost before it had come. “And second,” he said, “you’ll keep quiet as long as any one else will.” ”

“ Surely Henry Carleton’s little evening had been enjoyed to the full by every one. And, as it chanced, even the humblest actor in it was to have his share of luck. Tom Satterlee, with some two thirds of his journey to Mr. Sheldon’s accomplished, suddenly gripped the reins more tightly as a warning blast fell on his ears, and a moment later a big motor whizzed past him from the rear. Instantly he recognized the chauffeur, driving alone, and the next moment his cheerful hail had brought the motor to a halt. ”

“ This person, with a case of pistols in his breast, compels him, as it were, to put himself under his protection; and he conducts him into a remote isolated shebeen-house, where, no doubt, there is a meeting of Whiteboys every night in the week. The M'Carthy spirit is, proverbially, brave and intrepid, but we are bound to say, that notwithstanding its hereditary intrepidity, our young friend would have given the wealth of Europe to have found himself at that moment one single mile away from the bed on which he lay. ”

“ I speak significantly. There are perplexities in all human events, and the cardinal hinge of fate is forever turning. Now I must withdraw; but in, the meantime I will be found taking a serenade behind the garden, if I am wanted.”
“Brian,” said the father, “get the bottle; we can't on this night, any way, talk to Owen Connor, or to anybody else, wid dhry lips.”
The bottle was accordingly got, and Owen, with no very agreeable anticipations, found himself compelled to introduce a very hazardous topic.
Denis, as he said, continued to walk to and fro behind the garden. ”