Fardorougha, The Miser Part 45

"Buddha Bee--You 'ave wan iv our boys in for abjection an' rubbry--an'

it seems is resolved to pa.r.s.equte the poor boy at the nuxt 's.h.i.+zers--now dhis is be way av a dalikit hint to yew an' yoos that aff b.u.t.t wan spudh av his blud is spiled in quensequence av yewr pa.r.s.equtin' im as the winther's comin' on an' the wether gettin' cowld an' the long nights settin' in yew may as well prapare yewr caughin an' not that same remimber you've a praty dother an may no more about her afore you much shoulder.

"Simon Pettier Staeught."

This and several others of the same cla.s.s were served upon the Bodagh, with the intention of intimidating him from the prosecution of Flanagan.

They had, however, quite mistaken their man. The Bodagh, though peaceable and placable, had not one atom of the coward in his whole composition. On the contrary, he was not only resolute in resisting what he conceived to be oppressive or unjust, but he was also immovably obstinate in anything wherein he fancied he had right on his side. And even had his disposition been inclined to timidity or pliancy, his son John would have used all his influence to induce him to resist a system which is equally opposed to the laws of G.o.d and of man, as well as to the temporal happiness of those who are slaves to the terrible power which, like a familiar devil, it exercises over its victims under the hollow promise of protection.

PART VIII. AND LAST.

As the Bodagh and his son took the usual legal steps to forward the prosecution, it was but natural that they should calculate upon the evidence of Dandy Duffy, Ned M'Cormick, and Alick Nulty. John O'Brien accordingly informed them, on the very night of the outrage, that his father and himself would consider them as strong evidence against Bartle Flanagan, and call upon them as such. This information placed these young men in a position of incredible difficulty and danger. They knew not exactly at that moment how to proceed consistently with the duty which they owed to society at large, and that which was expected from them by the dark combination to which they were united. M'Cormick, however, begged of John O'Brien not to mention their names until the day after the next, and told him if he could understand their reason for this request, he would not hesitate to comply with it.

O'Brien, who suspected the true cause of their reluctance, did not on this occasion press them further, but consented to their wishes, and promised, not to mention their names, even as indirectly connected with the outrage, until the time they had specified had elapsed.

In the course of the following day Nogher M'Cormick presented himself to the Bodagh and his son, neither of whom felt much difficulty in divining the cause of his visit.

"Well," said Nogher, after the first usual civilities had pa.s.sed, "glory be to G.o.d, gintlemen, this is desperate fine weather for the season--barrin' the wet"

John smiled, but the plain matter-of-fact Bodagh replied,

"Why, how the devil can you call this good weather, neighbor, when it's raining for the last week, night and day?"

"I do call it good weather for all that," returned Nogher, "for you ought to know that every weather's good that G.o.d sends."

"Well," said the Bodagh, taken aback a little by the Nogher's piety, "there's truth in that, too, neighbor."

"I am right," said Nogher, "an' it's nothin' else than a sinful world to say that this is bad weather, or that's bad weather--bekase the Scriptur says, 'wo be to thee----'"

"But, pray," interrupted John, "what's your business with my father and me?"

Nogher rubbed down his chin very gravely and significantly,

"Why," said he, "somethin' for your own good, gentlemen."

"Well, what is that?" said John, anxious to bring him to the point as soon as possible.

"The truth, gentlemen, is this--I'm an ould man, an' I hope that I never was found to be anything else than an honest one. They're far away this day that could give me a good carrechtur--two o' them anyhow I'll never forget--Connor an' his mother; but I'll never see them agin; an' the ould man too, I never could hate him, in regard of the love he bore his son. Long, long was the journey he tuck to see that son, an', as he tould me the day he whint into the s.h.i.+p, to die in his boy's arms; for he said heaven wouldn't be heaven to him, if he died anywhere else."

Nogher's eyes filled as he spoke, and we need scarcely say that neither the Bodagh nor his son esteemed him the less for his attachment to Connor O'Donovan and his family.

"The sooner I end the business I come about to-day," said he, "the better. You want my son Ned, Dandy Duffy, an' Alick Nulty, to join in givin' evidence against blaggard Bartle Flanagan. Now the truth is, gintlemen, you don't know the state o' the country. If they come into a court of justice against him, their lives won't be worth a traneen. Its aginst their oath, I'm tould, as Ribbonmen, to prosecute one another; an' from hints I resaved, I'm afraid they can't do it, as I said, barrin' at the risk o' their lives."

"Father," said John, "as far as I have heard, he speaks nothing but truth."

"I believe he does not," rejoined the Bodagh, "an', by my sowl, I'll be bound he's an honest man--upon my credit, I think you are, M'Cormick."

"I'm thankful to you, sir," said Nogher.

"I'm inclined to think further," said John, "that we have proof enough against Flanagan without them."

"Thin, if you think so, John, G.o.d forbid that we'd be the manes of bringin' the young men into throuble. All I'm sorry for is, that they allowed themselves to be hooked into sich a dark and murdherous piece of villainy."

"I know, sir, it's a bad business," said Nogher, "but it can't be helped now; no man's safe that won't join it."

"Faith, and I won't for one," replied the Bodagh, "not but that they sent many a threat to me. Anything against the laws o' the counthry is bad, and never ends but in harm to them that's consamed in it."

"M'Cormick," added the son, "villain as Flanagan is, we shall let him once more loose upon society, sooner than bring the lives of your son, and the two other young men into jeopardy. Such, unhappily, is the state of the country, and we must submit to it."

"I thank you, sir," said Nogher. "The truth is, they're sworn, it seems, not to prosecute one another, let whatever may happen; an' any one of them that breaks that oath--G.o.d knows I wish they'd think of others as much as they do of it--barrin' a stag that's taken up, an' kep safe by the Government, is sure to be knocked on the head."

"Say no more, M'Cormick," said the Bodagh's inestimable son, "say no more. No matter how this may terminate, we shall not call upon them as evidences. It must be so, father," he added, "and G.o.d help the country in which the law is a dead letter, and the pa.s.sions and bigoted prejudices of disaffected or seditious men the active principle which impresses its vindictive horrors upon society! Although not myself connected with them, I know their oath, and--but I say no more.

M'Cormick, your friends are safe; we shall not, as I told you, call upon them, be the result what it may; better that one guilty should escape, than that three innocent persons should suffer."

Nogher again thanked him, and having taken up his hat, was about to retire, when he paused a moment, and, after some consideration with himself, said--

"You're a scholar, sir, an'--but maybe I'm sayin' what I oughtn't to say--but sure, G.o.d knows, it's all very well known long ago."

"What is it, M'Cormick?" asked John; "speak out plainly; we will not feel offended."

"'Twas only this, sir," continued Nogher, "I'm an unlarned man; but he would write to you may be--I mane Connor--an' if he did, I'd be glad to hear--but I hope I don't offind you, sir. You wouldn't think of me, may be, although many and many's the time I nursed him on these knees, an'

carried him about in these arms, an he cried--ay, as G.o.d is my judge, he cried bitterly--when, as he said, at the time--'Nogher, Nogher, my affectionate friend, I'll never see you more.'"

John O'Brien shook him cordially by the hand, and replied--"I will make it a point to let you know anything that our family may hear from him."

"An' if you write to him, sir, just in a single line, to say that the affectionate ould friend never forgot him."

"That, too, shall be done," replied John; "you may rest a.s.sured of it."

The Bodagh, whose notions in matters of delicacy and feeling were rough but honest, now rang the bell with an uncommon, nay, an angry degree of violence.

"Get up some spirits here, an' don't be asleep. You must take a gla.s.s of whiskey before you go," he said, addressing Nogher.

"Sir," replied Nogher, "I'm in a hurry home, for I'm _aff_ my day's work."

"By ---, but you must," rejoined the

Bodagh; "and what's your day's wages?"

"Ten pence."

"There's half-a-crown; an' I tell you more, you must come an' take a _cot--tack_ undher me, and you'll find the change for the betther, never fear."

In point of fact in was so concluded, and Nogher left the Bodagh's house with a heart thankful to Providence that he had ever entered it.

The day of Flanagan's trial, however, now approached, and our readers are fully aware of the many chances of escaping justice which the state of the country opened to him, notwithstanding his most atrocious villainy. As some one, however, says in a play--in that of Oth.e.l.lo, we believe--"G.o.d is above all," so might Flanagan have said on this occasion. The evidence of Biddy Nulty, some of the other servants, and the Bodagh, who identified some of the notes, was quite sufficient against him, with respect to the robbery. Nor was any evidence adduced of more circ.u.mstantial weight than Kitty Lowry's, who, on being satisfied of Flanagan's designs against Una, and that she was consequently no more than his dupe, openly acknowledged the part she had taken in the occurrences of the night on which the outrages were committed. This confession agreed so well with Bartle's character for caution and skill in everything he undertook, that his object in persuading her to leave the hall door open was not only clear, but perfectly consistent with the other parts of his plan. It was a capital crime; and when fame once more had proclaimed abroad that Bartle Flanagan was condemned to be hanged for robbing Bodagh Buie, they insisted still more strongly that the sentence was an undeniable instance of retributive justice. Striking, indeed, was the difference between his deportment during the trial, and the manly fort.i.tude of Connor O'Donovan, when standing under as heavy a charge at the same bar.

The moment he entered the dock, it was observed that his face expressed all the pusillanimous symptoms of the most unmanly terror. His brows fell, or rather hung over his eyes, as if all their muscular power had been lost--giving to his countenance not only the vague sullenness of irresolute ferocity, but also, as was legible in his dead small eye, the cold calculations of deep and cautious treachery; nor was his white, haggard cheek a less equivocal a.s.surance of his consummate cowardice.

Many eyes were now turned upon him; for we need scarcely say that his part of a case which created so much romantic interest as the conviction of Connor O'Donovan, and the history it developed of the mutual affection which subsisted between him and Una, was by no means forgotten. And even if it had, his present appearance and position would, by the force of ordinary a.s.sociation, have revived it in the minds of any then present.