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OF
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
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THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
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B IRcvcl.
BY
HAWLEY SMART,
Author of
"Bkebzie Lakoton," "Social Binners," "Hard Likes," "Fkoji
Post to Finish," "Bad to Beat," "Cleverly Won," &c.,&c.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON
V. V. WHITE & Co.,
31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1888.
PRINTED BY
KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
AND KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.
Sty $"3
I/, %
CONTENTS
OHAP. TACE
I. — " A Nationalist Conclave "... 1
II. — "A Sisterly Skirmish" ... 17
III. — "Tiii: Boycotting of the Hunt" . 32
IV. — '• Ann; nu BATTL1 . . . . Wl
V. — "A Field Dw in thb House" . . 64
VI. — "Thekk's \ Iv'eckonini; to Come" . 79
VII.— "The .Mi rdeb oi Ri \n " ... 94
VIII. — " Cassidy iwkks to the Mountains" . lit'.)
IX. — " Proscribed in nu. Eottbe of God" . 125
X. — '■ l.'i STAINED FOB THB GBAND MILITARY " 140
XI. — " Bi Els Mother's Death Bed" . . L59
XII. — "Shut fob Shot" .... 178
XIII. — "Good-bye co Rathkelly" . . . 197
XIV. — "What's Breach oi Privilege" . . 216
XV. — "Mr. Ripley's Riding School" . 282
XVI. — "The Soldiers' Blue Ribbon" . . 258
.
THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
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T
THE MASTER OF lUTIfKELLY
CHAPTER I.
"A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE."
Miki: Casmdv, like a dog who lias fought,
lies in his cabin licking his wounds, and
brooding over his wrongs. He has received
notice to quit his farm ; and his hatred of the
Eyres has become so morbid that it almost
amounts to a disease. Ryan and Terence
Flynn, too, have awakened the fiercest
animosity in his breast, not because he
has fought with them — bad-tempered man
though he was he had all the national respect
for a free fight — but they had interfered with
his scheme of vengeance. Then, too, he had
been exposed to the jeers of some of Mr.
vol. n. 18
2 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Casey's adherents, who had lost their money
over the defeat of the Eepealer. Unfortu-
nately for himself, he possessed a bragging
tongue, and a great weakness for whiskey,
and after two or three glasses of punch,
was much given to boasting of what he could
do or would do, and so on.
Now he had given out very ostentatiously
before the race, that whatever might win
it would not be Eory, capping the asser-
tion with a strong expletive, and the remark :
" He'd moind that." Whatever he had in-
tended doing, the result had only been a
lively scrimmage, in which he and his friends
had got decidedly the worst of it. Naturally
given to speechifying, and taking consider-
ably more interest in politics than in work,
Mike Cassidy had for years been known as
an orator of the shebeen house, or as we de-
scribe it in England, a " pothouse politician."
The doctrines of the League exactly suited
him, the idea of paying no rent found much
"A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." :*
favour in his eyes; and if like the leaders of
the movement, he could a! lain the blessed
privilege of being comfortably paid for the
indulgence of his natural garrulitv, lie would
have considered himself to have attained a ter-
restrial paradise. lie had gradually become
a well-known and trustworthy subordinate of
the chiefs of the conspiracy ; he had been
personally made known to Messrs. Last and
( larmody ; he was just such an instrument as
these terrorizers required. An unscrupulous,
discontented, had tempered man was a tool
ready-made to their hands. The work that
McDermot had initialed must be continued.
"It is necessary, me bhoy, to cut the
combs of these landlords a bit ; and the most
still necked ould tvrant amongst them in
these parts is Ratcliffe Kyre. Bedad, he
thinks he owns the people, as well as the
land."
"That's so," rejoined Mr. Last, "and their
wives an' daughters, too, because ye don't
IS*
4 THE MASTER 0E BATHKELLY.
happen to be one of themselves, they turn up
their noses at ye, as if ye were so much dirt
under their feet."
Mr. Last is still a little sore about his un-
fortunate debut at the Callowtown ball ; so
it came to pass that these two illustrious
senators, when not impeding the business of
the nation by their interminable prolixity at
St. Stephen's, rushed across the Channel and
indulged in inflammatory harangues, flavoured
with as much sedition as they deemed prudent
to put into them, the result of their exertions
being that Callowtown and its neighbour-
O CD
hood were simmering with indignation against
all law and order, and regarded the landed
proprietors in their midst pretty much as
the " Sans Culottes ' : did the old French
nobility in '93.
Mike Cassidy registers a solemn vow to him-
self, that the Eyans and Terence Flynn shall
be made to pay dearly for interfering between
him and his projected vengeance on his land-
"A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE."
lord. Ee is still haunted by the idea, too,
thai Terence must know all about his attempt
on Mr. Eyre's Life. True, he has never heard
anybody even whisper that Mr. Eyre has
been shot at, and that of itself Mike Cassidy
regards as a " quare tiling." Naturally
suspicious, and rendered doublv so bv being
aware thai he has placed himself within the
clutches of the law, Cassidy cannot help
fancying that Mr. Eyre is only biding his
time to throw him into prison on a capital
charge. Again and again he wonders what
he can have dropped on the road that night
which Terence possessed himself of, and
mighl lead to his identification. If he could
think over it calmly, he would see that what-
ever he mighl have done there could be no
evidence against him, and men in these days
are not hung upon conjecture. Whatever
.Mr. Eyre or Terence might think, they
neither of them had seen him at the time the
shot was fired; but, callous as some murderers
6 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
are to fear or remorse for their crimes, this
immunit}^ is not given to all of them, and
Cassidy felt it were good for him if both Mr.
Eyre and Flynn were, what he euphoniously
termed, " got rid of."
Cassidy was in this uncomfortable state of
mind when he received a message from
McDermot bidding him come up to his house,
as there was a subject of national importance
to be discussed. This man was a very pro-
minent member of the League, and one in
whom they placed considerable reliance ; a
combative man, and who had warned the Hark-
hallow Hunt off his lands without prompting
from anyone, but this had suggested to Messrs.
Carmodv and Last the striking of a tremen-
dous blow at the landlords in a body, and
their idea was nothing less than the boy-
cotting of the llarkhallow Hunt.
" Landlordism must be stamped out," said
Mr. Carmody. " Popular opinion would be
against us if we put them under the soil they
••A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." ?
have stolen, bul we'll do the next thing to
it, we'll destroy all their amusements, and
make their lives a burthen to them ; and
what's more, we'll bring them pretty close to
the workhouse to wind up with."
When Cassidy arrived at McDermot's, he
found a little conclave assembled in that
worthy's parlour, who were discussing this
subject, with much animation and also much
spirits and water, and it was speedily agreed
amongst them that the mandates of their lead-
ers should be carried out, and the Harkhallow
Hunt boycotted without delay. Except as a
political demonstration there could be nothing
more uncalled-for ; it was the very end of
the hunting season, it was doubtful whether
the hounds would meet half-a-dozen times
more, and therefore it would have been easy
to give Mr. Eyre notice that permission to
hunt over their lands would be withdrawn for
tin; future, and this, signed by a majority of
the farmers of the country, would necessitate
8 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
liis giving up the hounds that his family had
hunted so loin?. But that would not at all
have suited Messrs. Carrnody and Last. They
had confided to McDermot what they wanted
done, and that was that a regular mob should
turn out at one of the advertised meets, and
peremptorily forbid even the drawing of a
cover. They were exhorted to use both sticks
and stones should their mandamus not be
obeyed, and with all the casuist^ of the old
story of " don't nail his ear to the pump,
bhoys," were urged to proceed to no violence,
though, as Mr. Last bombastically observed,
" If airy of your bloated oppressors get hurt
in opposing the will of a down-trodden
people, their blood be upon their own head ! ' :
Nothing could have chimed in more
harmoniously with Mike Cassidy's feelings
than lending a hand in a little plot of this
description.
" He's a grate man intoirely, is that
Misther Carrnody. It's a swate idea,
"A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." 9
McDermot, and it's mcself '11 be deloi urlited
to take a hand at the game. I only hope ould
Eyre will be out himself. And you too,
McDermot, ye've a little account with him
to square up, he has not paid for that clip on
the head he gave ye as yet. What's foive
pound for breaking in a fellow-craythur's
skull? A rock or two in one's pockets,
bhoys, will be moighty convanient that
mornin', our sticks, of course, unless anny
gintleman has a preference for a Hail, which
is a swate weapon in a crowd, and moight be
handy amongst the dogs."
It was months since Mike Cassidy had
been so genial amongst his neighbours. As
McDermot said when reporting progress to
Mr. Last :
" Michael Cassidy is an invaluable recruit,
only anxious for active employment, and one
we can rely upon for annything."
Late events had thoroughly opened
Ratcliffe Eyre's eyes to the signs of the
10 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
times. A period of oreat agricultural
depression had swept over the United King-
dom, and landlords far and wide had been
compelled to grant a considerable abatement
of rent. There was downright distress
amongst the farmers, and they were no better
off in many parts of England than they were
in Ireland, but they bore it very differently
in the two countries. The English farmer
finding it impossible, even at reduced rent,
to get a living out of agriculture, gave up his
farm and started to earn his bread in some
other fashion. The Irish farmer, on the
contrar}^, clung to his land, and, even if he
could, was forbidden to pay rent by a
perfectly illegal organisation. Eyre recog-
nised at once that professional agitators for
their own purposes had initiated a war of
classes, and that the strife between landlord
and tenant was likely to grow bitter until the
government mustered up courage to restore
law and order with a firm hand. lie was
"A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." 11
not the man to blench from the conflicl ;
beaten he miidit be, but there was no doubt
about it lie would fi^ht.
From the stand the fight at the brook had
certainly been visible, but none of the
spectators had in any way connected it with
the race. That there had been what some of
the gentlemen called, " a little difference of
opinion," going on by the water was patent
to all the on-lookers, but nobody troubled
themselves much about such a trifling matter.
The race was going on, and by the time that
was finished the battle had about died out, still
it was hardly to be supposed that the story
of the fray would not reach the ears of the
Rathkelly ladies before long. Xorah ran
down to the Castle the next day to con-
gratulate her young mistress on her victory.
"Ah, we were all so plazed, Miss Katie,
you can't think, to hear thai Rory had won.
We couldn't see from where we were, and I
was so frightened at the light besides. To
12 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
think of the villains trying to prevent your
horse from winning ! "
"Why, what do you mean, Norah?"
enquired Miss Eyre.
" I don't quite know how he heard it."
replied the girl, " but Terence did hear some-
how that Mike Cassidy had sworn that your
horse shouldn't win, and he tould father, and
shure enough when the Captain was bringing
Eory down to the brook, Cassidy jumped out
on the course and was going to baulk him,
and father caught hold of him, and then they
fought, an' then Terence went to help father,
an some of the other bhoys went to help
Cassidy, an' then it seemed as if everybody
went to help one side or another, an' for a
few minutes they bate each other dreadful.
An' Terence got his head broke, an' father
can't move his left arm this mornin'. But
it's all right, the Captain got Eory in first,
long life to him ! an' you won, Miss Katie,
you won ! "
•A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." 13
" Do you mean to tell us," said Mrs. Helton,
" that Cassidy dared attempt to interfere with
my sister's horse ? "
"Yes, indeed," replied the girl; "an'
father said afterwards that Miss Katie owed
quite as much to Terence as she did to
Captain Sturton."
" You're quite sure of all this, Xorah ? "
said Mrs. 13elton. " Your father, for instance,
didn't catch hold of Cassidy because he
thought lie was going to interfere witli the
horse ? "
"Ah! no, Ma'am — he an' Terence ki:
Cassidy was up to something, an' they just
went: an' stood by him to prevent whativer
he was going to do. He's under notice to
quit, ye see, Ma'am, and he swore no horse out
of the masther's stables should win the race
this year."
When Mr. Eyre heard the account of the
fight by the brook from his daughter, , a grim
smile flickered round his mouth.
14 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
" I shall have to settle accounts with that
scoundrel," he said, " before we part, and I've
a presentiment he'll be paid in full."
" Shall you have him up before the magis-
trates ? " enquired Mrs. Belton.
" I've nothing to have him up for, Gracie.
Whatever he might have intended, thanks to
Tim By an, he didn't carry it out. There's
one thing I am delighted to hear, and that is
that Mr. Casey and his friends dropped a good
bit of money over the Eepealer."
" But surely Cassidy ought to be punished,
Papa?" said Katie.
" I've a tolerably long score to settle with
him some of these days," rejoined her father.
" Yes," he continued to himself, " it will be a
case, before we've done, Mike Cassidy, of
your life or mine, and you needn't think, if
the chance is given me, that I shall stay my
hand."
In consequence of Norah's story, Eyre
walked up to Ryan's cabin, and had half-an-
'A NATIONALIST CONCLAVE." 15
hour's talk with the farmei and his wife.
Ryan corroborated his daughter's story in
every respect. Terence had told him just
before the race of what Cassidy had openly
declared, that " he would take care Miss
Eyre's horse didn't win," that seeing Cassidy
with two or three companions close by the
water jump, he and Terence had got near him
to prevent mischief, and that he had no doubt
as to what were Cassidy's intentions when he
sprang out of the crowd. As for the re-
mainder of the story, Tim Ryan only laughed,
and added :
" Well, thin, yer honour, we just kept him
busy till the race was over."
Ratcliffe Eyre also wrote a note to Sturton,
tellini:' what he had heard, and asking him
whether he considered there was any truth in
it. Sturton enclosed the two notes that he
had received, one of which Xorah at once
identified as beiim in Terence's handwriting
.-i
but the other was in an unknown hand.
16 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Sturton further said that he had no doubt
whatever of what Cassid}^'s intentions were,
and that both Blake and Chester held similar
views. He had also talked over the thing
with Power, but the rider of Kate Kearney
said he was too far behind at that part of the
race to see what happened. " I am very glad,"
concluded Sturton, " that my unknown
friend has been identified. If he interferes
in politics to the extent you tell me he does,
he is likely sooner or later to bring himself in
contact with the troops, and if so, the oppor-
tunity may be given me of reciprocating
his polite intentions."
Michael Cassidy's labours in the cause of
the League had so far resulted in a broken
head and the fierce enmity of two men not
likely to spare him when their turn came.
CHAPTER II.
" A SISTERLY SKIRMISH."
Tom Chester was getting not a little dissatis-
fied with the way his affairs were going, He
had been beaten in the steeplechase, but he
did not so much mind that, Loadstone had
run a good horse and quite justified his
owner's good opinion of him. Then again,
.Miss Eyre had won, and that was all as it
should be, but the young lady's conduct as
regarded himself was very much the reverse,
lie was very much in love, and very much in
earnest, but he could not conceal from himself
that he was not making the progress in her
good opinion that he could wish. She ordered
him about in pretty imperious fashion, still
there was no disguising the fact that, though
it delighted her to play the tyrant, she showed
VOL. II. It)
18 THE MASTEE OE KATHKELLY.
no signs of her heart being touched by his
devotion. Mrs. Belton, looking on at the
comedy with an amused smile, murmured to
herself : " The saucy chit, he stands too much
in awe of her. Ah, Mr. Chester, if I didn't
think it unwise to interfere, I could give you
a valuable hint or two, just now."
The true state of the case had never in the
least dawned upon Mrs. Belton. It never
occurred to her that her young sister could
have fallen in love with her own old admirer.
There was nothing at all singular in it to an
unprejudiced observer, but it never entered
Mrs. Belton's head that it could be so, other-
wise such a quick-witted woman as herself
would have arrived at some inkling of the
truth. She thought it a pity that the girl
did not fancy Mr. Chester, he was an eligible
parti, and Mrs. Belton, whose eyes had
been gradually opened to the present state
of the countrv, saw that rents in Ireland
were becoming a very precarious source of
-A SISTERLY SKIRMISH." L9
income to landowners. Katie might do a
good deal worse than engage herself to a
man in Chester's position, and then a smile
played round Mrs. Belton's lips as she
thought, " I'm sure I was willing to engage
myself to a man without half his advantages,
if he had only asked me, but then," she con-
tinued, with a queer little mon*', " I was over
head and ears in love with him and that does
make a difference. "
Mrs. Belton comes down to breakfast one
morning looking so radiant that both her
father and sister involuntarily look at her for
an explanation of her glad tidings.
"It's delightful, father. Georire is on his
wav home, savs that he shall be in London
almost as soon as I net this. I shall just
have time for a good gallop from Hallater
Gorse next Thursday, and then I must 1 run
over to meet him."
" Why, I thought you did not expect him
till late in the autumn ?" cried Katie.
19*
20 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
" No. The regiment is ordered home
six months before its time, and that makes
all the difference. I've got my house for
six months, and even now I don't know where
we shall be quartered."
"Well, I shall be very sorry to lose
you, Gracie," said Mr. Eyre, " but I suppose
you and Belton will have to determine where
you're to live. You must run over and pay
us another visit."
" Of course, father," replied Mrs. Belton,
laughing. " You'll see me here the next
hunting-season, at all events. The first thing
George will have to do, will be to buy me a
horse that can hold its own with these
steeplechaser ■<?."
Eatcliffe Eyre made no reply to his
daughter's badinage, xllready he had a dim
foreboding that the days were fast approach-
ins which would witness the extinction of the
Ilarkhallow Hunt. Though he had no idea
how very close at hand they actually were, he
•■A SISTERLY SKIK.MI^II." 21
thought the extreme badness of the times
might before long necessitate the practising
of economy. And though the giving up of
the hounds he regarded as a thing not to be
resorted to except in the last extremity, yet he
conceived it might even possibly come to that.
On the afternoon of the day that Mrs.
Belton had announced her approaching
departure, Sturton and Chester called at Rath-
kelly. The latter had been assiduous in his
visits ever since he had first made the Eyres'
acquaintance, and was cordially welcomed by
all of them, even including Miss Eyre, who, if
she did not care for him in the way he wished,
was not at all insensible to the glory of
parading the captive of her bow and spear.
Sturton on the other hand, popular though he
was with its inmates, rarely put in an appear-
ance at Kathkelly Castle, but when he did the
result was pretty sure to make Miss Eyre
rather hard upon her admirer, and some-
what petulant with her sister. It was,
22 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
perhaps, a little exasperating for the girl.
Sturton persistently ignored the fact that she
had grown up. He treated her with the easy
condescension one might use to a child, and
devoted himself entirely to Mrs. Belton. To
a hot-tempered young lady like Miss Eyre
this was simply maddening, and those imme-
diately about her, although they might be
ignorant of the cause, could not doubt that
she was much dissatisfied about something.
" And so you're really going, Mrs. Belton ? "
exclaimed Sturton. " I saw in one of the
military papers that the regiment had got its
orders rather unexpectedly. I wondered
then whether it would make any difference in
your plans."
" Oh, yes ! '" she replied. " I must go to
London, if it's only to arrange where we are
to pitch our tent next. I am afraid you can't
enlighten me ? "
" No," replied Sturton, " but I have no
doubt that the agents can. Call in at Cox's
■■ A SISTERLY SKIRMISH."
when you reach town ; depend upon it they
will know."
"Thanks Captain Sturton. One last
gallop from Ballater Gorse, on Thursday, and
then I'm off. Come and see the last of me.
I don't ride now-a-davs like Katie. As for
ing the last of her, I suppose we shall all
do that ten minutes after we find.*'
" You needn't be disagreeable, Grade,"
replied Miss Eyre, " because I happened to
have the best of you last time we met there.
- is dreadfully jealous of my horsemanship,
Mr. Chester."
" Well, you can ride, you know," rejoined
Chester vaguely, with a dim idea that he was
getting into stormy water.
" Yes," observed Sturton quietly, " Miss
Eyre can ride, and when she is on Iiory, is
riding about the best horse in the Hunt. But
whal matters who is first, or who is not?
Never fear, Mrs. Belton, but what you'll ride
with an escort the last day that c We find him
24 THE MAS PER OF RATHKELLY.
in Ballater Gorse.' If you leave your escort
behind, well we can't help it. I shall do my
best not to be in that plight."
" No fear," replied Miss Eyre capriciously,
" though I don't suppose you would make
any attempt to keep alongside of me?"
" Ah ! You're very difficult to catch, you
see," rejoined Sturton laughing, and with a
half-mocking bow.
Katie's mouth twitched, and it was with
some difficulty that she suppressed the sharp
retort that rose to her lips. Why did this
man persist in treating her like a petulant
school-girl? She had felt inclined to rejoin:
" Yes, you would break your neck for Grade's
sake, but not canter up the avenue for mine."
Still, hot-headed as she was, a general sense
of the fitness of things made the words die
away upon her lips.
" Mr. Chester," she exclaimed, " come and
see my flowers."
It was the early days of April, and not
■■A SISTERLY SKIRMISH." 25
likely, unless the flowers took llie form of
crocuses or violets, that there could be any
to see ; and a faint smile played about Mrs.
Belton's lips, as she thought she com-
prehended her sister's rather too transpari
manoeuvre.
" Well," she said to herself, " it's the grand
audacity of seventeen. Katie has walked her
young man off on the most bare faced pretext
that ever }'Oung woman invented."
Mr. Chester also took this view of the case,
but he was speedily destined to be unde-
ceived ; the object of his admiration, when
she had gol him into the garden, turned out
to be in anything but an amiable frame of
mind. She was arbitrary, contradictory, and
let him say what he would it never was riirht.
In short, by the time their twenty minutes'
stroll was over, Tom Chester had about come
to the conclusion that Miss Eyre was qoI for
him. lie was as much in love as ever, but
he thought that the asking this imperious
26 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
maiden to marry him would be simply hope-
less on his part.
"I don't think she cares for any other
fellow," he muttered to himself; "but,
hang it all ! it's pretty clear she don't care
a straw about me. I'd better ride a wait-
ing race than go in and be said ' no ' to,
right off."
One must be a good deal older than Tom
Chester to adhere to these arbitrary rules.
When one's heart is deeply interested one's
head is apt to get a little confused, and the
finish of a man's first love affair, like the
finish of his first race, is likely to be charac-
terised by much want of coolness and judg-
ment.
"You think badly of the state of the
country, Captain Sturton ? " said Mrs. Belt on,
after Chester and her sister had left the
drawing-room.
" Yes," he replied, " I do. Norah Ryan's
story is perfectly true. I have no earthly
•A SISTERLY SKIRMISH." 27
doubt that, but for the interposition of her
father, there would have been an attempt
made to upset me at the brook. Xot aimed
at me personally, of course, but simply
because I was riding a horse belonuinii to an
Eyre."
" You surely don't think my father in any
danger ? " said Mrs. Belton anxiously.
" Xo, but it's hard to say what may be the
result of such inflammatory harangues as
Messrs. Last and Carmody indulge in. The
rents I'm afraid will give trouble," continued
Sturton. "And now, if you'll allow me, I'll
ring for our horses. I see Chester is coming
back from his botanical walk," and he glanced
mischievously at Mrs. Belton.
"It's not quite good-bye,*' replied Grace,
ignoring his look. "I shall expect to see you
both at Ballater Gorse on Thursday."
" "Without doubt," said Chester, who by
this time had re-entered the room, and then
the two men made their adieux.
28 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
" Well, Katie," said Mrs. Belton, " I hope
Mr. Chester was pleased with "
" What ? " replied the girl sharply, as her
sister hesitated.
" The flowers, my dear. They must have
taken a good deal of finding. What did he
say to you ? "
"What should he say to me?" returned
Miss Eyre demurely. " Mr. Chester's conver-
sation is never very brilliant, and I think
perhaps to-day it was rather below the
average."
" Nonsense, you know what I mean, Katie,
anyone can see that the man is over head
and ears in love with you. He only wants a
little encouragement to ask vou to be his
wife."
"Ah! he don't want any encourage-
ment," replied the girl quickly, "it's just
all I can do to keep him from speaking
now."
" And why don't you let him speak ? he's a
-A SISTERLY SKIRMISH." 29
good-looking, gentlemanly young man ; and
you might do worse, if you fancy him."
" It's a terrible thing to be a younger
sister," was Miss Eyre's irrelevant remark.
" Why so ? " asked Mrs. Belton.
" Because the elder ones think they have a
right to manage your love affairs for you."
" Nothing of the sort, you foolish girl. I
don't want to interfere. I was only giving
you a little bit of advice."
"That's just what people say when they
mean to make themselves extra disagreeable,"
said Miss Eyre.
" It's the first word I've said to you on the
subject, and we'll not revert to it ; though
what you can see to dislike in Mr. Chester
I can't imagine."
"I didn't say I disliked him," rejoined
Katie.
" Then you have no business to play shilly-
shally with him. You can't keep a man on
and oil' in this fashion."
30 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
" I really don't see, Grace, that it's any
business of yours," rejoined Miss Eyre angrily.
"Perhaps I don't know my own mind. I'm
very young, as everyone is always reminding
me. In another ten years or so, you'll per-
haps admit that I am grown up."
" Do as you like, my dear. I have said my
say," rejoined Mrs. Belton, rising. " There's
nothing to be angry about."
" I'm not in the least angry," exclaimed
Miss Eyre, whose flushed face hardly con-
firmed the assertion; "but whether 1 like or
dislike Mr. Chester is a matter that concerns
only him and me."
" Quite so," rejoined Mrs. Belton, as she
left the room.
Katie, indeed, was very angry — angry with
herself, because she had allowed her fancy to
stray into a strong feeling for a man who
apparently had no regard for her ; angr}-,
also, because she felt the justice of her sister's
reproaches about her treatment of Chester,
•• \ SISrERLY SKIRMISH." 31
and very angry with Grace, because she
possessed thai power of attracting Sturton
which seemed utterly denied to herself.
" Why will they persist that I am so
young?" exclaimed Katie fiercely. "I shall
be seventeen next month, and I've been
mistress of Eathkelly for the last two years."'
CHAPTER III.
"the boycotting of the hunt."
" By Jove ! what a lovely morning," re-
marked Chester, as he and Sturton, enveloped
in loose overcoats, spun merrily along in a
docf-cart to meet their horses at Ballater
Gorse.
"It is, Tom. I don't know whether it is
quite our last day ; but I'm afraid it's the last
season of the Harkhallow Hunt."
"Good heavens! what do you mean?"
said Chester. " Old Eyre may be a ricketty
life ; but I take it his son will carry on the
hounds. Why, it's a family appanage. The
Eyres have had the Harkhallow for fourscore
years or more."
" Yes," replied Sturton slowly, as he took
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUflT."
his cigar from his lips; "but if half I hear
from Blake and others be true, all these men
will be stone broke before two years are
over their heads. What can they do? Their
tenants can pay, but the League won't let
them, under threat of boycotting — new-
fashioned name for excommunication, murder
or mutilation. Good lord! to think in the
days of the nineteenth century that any such
tyranny as this should be submitted to by the
people."
" Ah, come, it's not so bad as that," re-
turned Chester. " Eyre don't look as if he
was hard up yet. And, bless your soul,
his claret and his daughter are things to
dream of."
" Fancy you dream about that last, Tom,
perhaps more than is good for you. You
can't mean, seriously, to think of that petulanl
school-in rl ? "
" She has rather a quick temper. I like
'em like that," replied Chester, as he flicked
vol. ii. 20
Si THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
his horse a little spitefully, drawing a smile
from his observant companion, who saw
how that luckless animal was doing penance
for Miss Eyre's iniquities. " As for school-
girl, it's nonsense to call her that. Why,
she's out. We met her at the Callowtown
Ball."
" Crept out," rejoined Sturton, laughing.
" It's a way those precocious little monkeys
have, even when there is a determined mother
to hold such impulses in check, much more
when there isn't ; but, never mind Miss
Eyre, her charms or her tantrums. There,
my boy, is Ballater Gorse, and a goodly
concourse of habits and red coats by the
side of it ; but halloa ! " and as he spoke,
Sturton raised himself in the trap, and,
steadying himself by the rail, continued —
" What the devil is the meaning of all that
mob in the background ? "
" Awful crowd to see the last crack meet
of the season," said Chester.
••THE BOYCOTTING OF THE BUNT." 30
" No, no, Tom/' replied Sturton, quickly.
" It's a good deal more than that ; neither
yon nor I ever saw so many foot-people
about at a meet of the Ilarkhallow. What's
the row up there, William ? " he continued, as
the dog-cart pulled up at the gate of a field,
and a smart-looking English groom led their
horses up there.
" Don't know, sir," replied the man, as he
touched his hat to his master. " They do
say," and he lowered his voice in perfectly
awe-struck tones — " thai they ain't going to
allow the hounds to draw the cover. Ireland
is a cpueer place, but that can't be true, sir,
can it ? "
" All right, you can take the trap home,"
and, without further remark, Sturton passed
through the gate and, followed by his com-
panion, cantered towards the cover.
It was a curious sight, a bright spring
April morning, the very day on which to
burv the hunting season, a day on which
20*
36 THE MASTEE OF EATHKELLY.
one's red coat not onlv looked but felt all too
warm, a languid day, an inert day, one in
which you felt neither man, horse, nor
hound could be expected to do their best,
a dav, to those gathered, round Ballater
Gorse, on which it seemed a storm was im-
pending. The hounds had not yet arrived,
but there were two different groups gathered
about the cover, watching each other with
grave suspicion and lowering looks. On
the one side were the followers of the Hark-
hallow Hunt, clad in their pink, and looking
at the grim-visaged mob that confronted
them in such reckless, devil-may-care
fashion as Eupert's Cavaliers might have
worn on the eve of Naseby fight. On the
other, a crowd of uneducated peasants,
goaded to madness by the inflammatory
harangues of such pinchbeck patriots as
Carmodv and Last.
These paid politicians, who earn their
miserable living by playing on the passions of
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT." ■ ■:
ili«' people, always remind me of the old
story of the trumpeter who, when captured,
was so promptly condemned to death by the
king, which seemed to those around him
such very harsh jus; ice, on which the
monarch defended his judgment by saying :
"Though bhe man wasn'l bo fighl meant,
Be deserved to be banged for bis heartless excitement,
Himself in the fraj doing nothing at all."
An Irish M.P., undergoing three months'
imprisonment for preaching sedition, rends
the very heavens with his cries for justice on
his persecutors, albeit his sentence and in-
carceration is probably limited to that time.
In less favoured countries, the political
agitator who seeks to pitchfork himself into
office by preaching the overthrowing of things
as they arc, is apt to reap some years' im-
prisonment as his reward. Still he don't
whimper about it alter the manner of his
Hibernian brother.
Jack Blake and the men clustered round
38 THE MASTEE OF EATHKELLY.
him had no earthly doubt that the mob
meant mischief, that the peasantry turned out
in considerable numbers for the crack meet
was well known to them, but they were not
given to muster in such numbers as were
present to-day, nor were they wont to hang
together with a sullen scowl on their brows,
and not endeavour to mingle with the gentle-
men of the Hunt. In former days it had
been — " God save yer honour. Shure the bay
horse looks as if the day would be neither
too fast or too long for him," or " Glory be to
God, I niver saw yerself and the black mare
lookin' betther, — 'twill be rale murther if ye
don't get a gallop to-day."
Blake, Power, and some of the leading
men of the hunt, were in animated conver-
sation as the two officers rode up.
" It's unlucky," exclaimed Blake, " they
might have let us finish the season peace-
ably, but these fellows mean a row. I can
see McDermot is amongst them. It's a pity.
'lllK BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT." 39
The ladies from Rathkelly will no doubt
arrive with the hounds, and most likely
Ratclifte Eyre will be out himself."
" But McDermot is neither owner nor
tenant of the Gorse, nor the land surrounding
it, is he?" enquired Sturton, who had just
come up in time to hear the speaker's last
words.
"No," said Blake ; "but I don't think that
will make much difference. These fellows
mean business and won't trouble their heads
much about whether they have a right to
interfere or not."
" That being the case, I should stand no
nonsense," replied Sturton.
"That's just what will come to pass,"
replied Power, laughing. " I'm afraid the
result will be unsatisfactory. A free fight,
half a score of hounds more or less injured,
and no sport."
" There'll be only one consolation," said
Blake, laughing. "We can't be summo
40 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
this time. By the way, Sturton, I don't see
him just now, but there was a fellow amongst
the crowd there who ought to interest you,
and that is Mike Cassidy."
" Ah ! " said Sturton ; " the blackguard
who meant to have unhorsed me on Callow-
town race-course. I should like to have a
good look at him."
" Here come the hounds," cried Chester,
" and Mr. Eyre is with them himself."
"That settles it," observed Power. "It
was not likely, but just possible, if he had
not been out, they might have let us draw
the cover. Now there'll be a fight for it. I'm
sorry Mrs. Blake is out."
" My wife is a Galway girl," said Blake
grimly, " and has heard the rattle of the
sticks before now; but, for all that, I wish
she and the other ladies were at home."
It was quite evident, from the stern ex-
pression of Mr. Eyre's face, that he had either
had due notice of what was before him or
•■ THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT." 41
that he already grasped the situation, lie
rode up and saluted his friends, and it was
clear at once, as those who knew him best felt
it would be, that he had no intention of yield-
ing without a blow to the hostile demonstra-
tion. Looking at his watch, he said, "Time's
up. We'll give the laggards ten minuti -
grace, gentlemen, and then we'll draw."
As he finished speaking, McDermot,
accompanied by a bodyguard of half-a-dozen
strapping young fellows, came forward and
exclaimed in stentorian tones:
"We warn yez, Misther Eyre, we'll have
no more o' this. We're toired of you an'
your dogs, an' your friends, llurroo, bhoy> !
down with landlords and fox-hunting! "
"I have come to hunt," rejoined RatclifFe
Eyre, in clear, resolute tones, " and I mean to
do it. You've not the slightest right to in-
terfere with us, and if you do, you must take
the consequences, ami perhaps get a worse
headache than you got Last time."
42 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
" Maybe yerself won't come off so aisy to-
day. As for the law, it's moighty little
satisfaction we ^ot out of it last toime. We'll
take it into our own hands to-day. Ye've
been warned, and the whole pack of yez had
best take yerselves off at onest. There's
those amongst us have purty long accounts
to settle with some o' } T e."
"Do you think, you scoundrel, that I'll
be dictated to by you as to whether I hunt
or don't hunt ? As I've told you before, this
is not your land, and you interfere with us at
your peril ! Throw in the hounds, O'Eeilly."
The crowd of peasantry had gradually
edged up to its advanced deputation, and
there was an ugly gripping of sticks and a
thrusting of hands into pockets in search of
the stones with which most of them were
lined, when like a "bolt from the blue,"
Katie Eyre, mounted on Ivory, dashed in
between the contending parties. Till this she
had been with the other ladies in the back-
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT.' 43
ground, whilst all the men of the hunt were
clustered about her father.
" What do you mean by this ? " she ex-
claimed. " Haven't your fathers, aye, and your
grandfathers, run, cheered, and in the good
limes ridden to, the Harkhallow Hounds ?
What better friends to the sport were
there ever than the peasantry all round
Callowtown? Where are the cowards that
urge you on to this ? Not here, I am quite
sure," she cried, with a mocking laugh.
" Messrs. Last and Carmody have too much
regard for their precious skins to be at the
head of you now ! "
" By Jove," muttered Sturton to himself,
" that girl looks positively handsome." And
Katie was a figure fair to gaze upon, as
she sat there, with head erect, her usually
pale cheeks Hushed with excitement, and
her blue eyes Hashing defiance upon her
opponents.
" Go back, miss," growled one of the men
11 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
fiercely, "we don't want to hurt you or the
other ladies."
"And that's just what you do," rejoined
Katie. "What right have you to interfere
with our day's pleasure, because a coward
from over the water tells you to do so ? '
" Toimes are changed," rejoined the hoarse
voice of McDeimot. " We've done with the
Eyres of Eathkelly, with the Blakes, and the
Powers, who have been suckin' the life-blood
out of us intirely for years."
" Go back, Katie, at once," said her father,
sternly — so sternly indeed as she had never
yet known him to speak to her. " You have
no business to leave your sister. Blake, you
had best tell your wife and the other ladies
to ride back to Eathkelly."
" All right," was the reply. " I'll be back
in time for the fun, never fear. Come along,
Katie. What a general you would make ! ' ;
And so saying, he took hold of Eory's bridle
and turned him towards the rear.
"Till: BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT." 13
Katie threw one imploring glance at her
father, 1ml a most emphatic "Go!" bursl
from Mr. Eyre's lips, and in another minute
or so she had rejoined Mrs. Blake and her
sister.
"Mrs. Helton," exclaimed I Hake, as he rode
up, " your father has sent me to tell yon to
ride home at once, and Jennie, yon must ride
back to Rathkelly with them.''
" Ah ! Jack yon will take care of yourself ? "
exclaimed pretty little Mrs. Blake, who, in
spite of having been born a Galway girl, was
still not equal to contemplating a proximate
chance of her husband's head being broken
with that stoicism he had oiven her credit
for.
"Don't you be frightened, little woman;
they won't hurt me, though perhaps I shall
hurt one or two of them. As for Katie here,
if she had only been a bit stronger, I'm not
sure we shouldn't have kept her with us, 1
Eyre's orders arc imperative, Mrs. licit on,
46 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
and you really are much better out of the
way."
" I suppose so," said Gracie. She had not
been a soldier's wife for eight years without
knowing; what it was to have her husband
ordered on the war-path, and knew that at
such times women had best do as they are
told and restrain their feelings.
" We shall be very anxious till we see you
all back at Rathkelly," she continued, and
turning her horse's head, she rode slowly
back towards the highway, followed by Mrs.
Blake and Katie.
That their day's sport would be ruined the
gentlemen thought was most probable. Even
if they succeeded in finding a fox, the
probability was that he would be mobbed by
the excited crowd round the cover, but they
were determined not to give in without a
fight for it, and being mounted and armed
with their hunting crops, considered them-
selves quite a match for the sticks of their
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT.'' 17
opponents. But there was one factor they
never dreamt of being used against them, and
that was — stones ! In the beautiful grass
meadows that surrounded the cover, no one
could certainly have expected the appearance
of such missiles, but the greater part of the
mob had arrived with their pockets fairly
filled, and some of them had even gone so far
as to bring small bags of these primitive
projectiles. No sooner were the hounds
thrown into cover than McDermot and his
party let fly a volley of stones at their
mounted adversaries, hitting a few of both
men and horses.
For a moment the gentlemen were taken
aback, and then Efcatcliffe Eyre's voice rang
out even above the yells of his opponents :
" Charge the scoundrels home ! " he cried,
and setting spurs to his horse, he set the
example by riding straight at McDermot.
But that worthy, after the experience he had
j '
had on his own farm, had, in conjunction with
48 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Cassidy, devised new tactics. As the horse-
men neared them they broke and fled in all
directions, but only for a little distance, and
then turned and resumed their stonimr with
greater vigour than ever. They were most
impartial in the distribution of their missiles,
hurling them at either hound or horseman, as
they got the opportunit}^ and the consequence
was that bruises and ugly blows became rife
amongst the gentlemen, while, as Jack Blake
pathetically expressed it afterwards, " it was
mighty hard for us even to get a clip at the
blackguards ! "
Amongst those who distinguished them-
selves prominently on the side of the red-coats
were both Blake and Eyre, but the most
vengeful horsemen of them all, and the one
whose hunting crop, perhaps, did heaviest
execution, was Harold Sturton. Had he
known Mike Cassidy by sight, it might have
gone hard with that worthy, but the glance he
had had of him during the race had been so
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE Iir.viv 49
transient that he could not be sure of his man.
It must not be supposed that MeDermot's
followers did not turn pretty fiercely
upon their assailants when driven to bay,
and use their sticks pretty vigorously, but
the horsemen as a rule had the best of it at
close quarters. Still, as the battle proceeded,
it was evident that the gentlemen were setting
the worst of it. Contusions and bleeding
heads were rife amongst them. The blood is
streaming from the head of the Master of
Kathkclly. Jack Blake's face shows a heavy
bruise on it, whilst young Chester, although
he is only aware that he has been hit heavily
in the side with a stone, is riding with a
broken rib. Such few hounds as had showed
themselves outside the cover were mostly
crippled, when suddenly comes from the
far edge of the gorse a yell, and a cheery
" Gone away," in O'Reilly's voice. The fox
lias broke, and with three or four couple of
hounds close upon his heels, speeds away
VOL. II. 21
50 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLT.
amidst a volley of stones to more secluded
quarters. One or two of his immediate
attendants utter dismal yelps as the missiles
strike them. Another second and the
huntsman blunders out of the gorse into the
field, and — fatal mistake ! — pauses for a
moment to " blow 'em away." Crash ! comes a
volley of stones, one of which strikes him so
violently in the abdomen that he turns sick
and faint, and is near falling from his saddle.
A savao-e veil of exultation shows that his foes
are aware that he is disabled, and half-a-dozen
men rush furiously forward to drag him
from his horse, but Sturton, Blake, and two
or three more charge rapidly to his rescue,
and for a few minutes the hunting crops deal
out grim punishment to their assailants, then
the gentlemen fall back upon their main body,
bearing off the wounded man with them.
" It's no use," exclaimed Power, " there's
a rare, straight-going fox, gone away with five
of your darlings, Eyre, close at his brush, as
"THE BOYCOTTING OF THE HUNT.' 51
for the remainder they are scattered far and
wide."
" Yes, and not a soul with the leaders, ex-
cept young Ted, the second whip," said Blake.
We must give it up, Eyre. O'Reilly is so
hurt he can hardly keep his saddle. His horn
has been lost in the scrimmage, and as for the
hounds God knows whether you'll ever see
half of them a^ain."
" And shan't want to, poor brutes," rejoined
KatclifFe Evre sternlv. " Thank von all for
standing by me, and assisting, gentlemen, at
the funeral of the JIarkhallow Hunt! '
And amidst the yells and jeers of their
opponents, Eyre and his friends rode slowly
away.
V35V
■ » 1 •
21
CHAPTER IV.
"AFTER the battle."
There was little conversation amongst the
members of the Harkhallow when they
regained the highway. Men who have had
the worst of the fray are rarely talkative,
and most of them bore more or less marks of
the conflict. Two of their number, indeed,
were suffering considerably ; a stone had
cut Eatcliffe Eyre's head open, and he had
lost a good deal of blood ; the excitement had
kept him going at the time, but he was
bejnnnino- to feel weak and somewhat dazed
now, and was glad to take a pull from a
flask, which was proffered him. O'Eeilly,
too, was in great pain and in much
distress about his hounds being scattered far
and wide and lie unable even to attempt to
;«aiteb Tin-: iiatti. e." 53
gel tin in together again. Ratcliffe Eyr
words, too, had a gloomy significance, when
he told them they had been present at the
funeral of the Ilarkhallow Hunt. It was not
the mere threat of an angry man, a hasty
decision that he might be probably induced
to reconsider, but they all knew that if the
people, in obedience to the mandates of the
League, maintained the attitude they had
assumed that morning, neither Ratcliffe Eyre
nor anyone else could hunt hounds in that
country again.
"Good bye, Eyre, old man," exclaimed
Power, " I turn ofT here. I hope you will be
none the worse for that clip over the head
to-morrow. You've lost more blood than is
good for any of us as we get on in life.
Take my advice, leave ' the matariala ' alone
to-night and stick to the claret. - '
By twos and threes the party fell ofT, till at
last there were only those bound for
ltathkelly left riding together.
54 THE MASTER OF RATH KELLY.
" It was a mighty pretty fight while it
lasted," remarked the irrepressible Blake to
Sturton, by whose side he was riding. " It
was the stones that beat us. Who would have
thought of the spalpeens filling their pockets
with them before they came to Ballater Gorse ?
As for that villain McDermot, he was like an
eel, all over the place, and, hard though I
tried, I never succeeded in getting a crack at
him. Did you come across your friend
Cassidy ? "
" I'm afraid not,*' rejoined the other. "I
hit out pretty hard at a good many of them,
in the hope that I might be settling that little
debt I owe him, but I'm bound to say that I
came across no face that reminded me of the
man I saw at the brook."
" Ah, the thief," rejoined Blake, laughing,
" his head is still tender from that welt of
Ryan's stick. He'd be a little shy of putting
it in danger this morning."
" I suppose," said Sturton, " what Eyre
"AFTEB III IJ BATTLE."
said is about the case ; we have attended the
very last meet of the Harkhallow ? "
" Kut a doubl about it," replied Blake, as
his face fell. "It's a beautiful country, and,
oli, dear ! what a lot of fun I've had in it, but
it's all over now. Great heavens! fancy
the country without hunting!"
"And without the money spent in it that
a well-done pack represents," rejoined Sturton
drily.
< >n arrival at Rathkelly they found the
ladies in a state of great anxiety, which the
appearance of the little cavalcade was not
calculated to allay.
.Mr. Eyre indeed looked worn and ghastly,
and the blood stained handkerchief which
had been hound round his head at a wet
ditch they happened to pass on their way
home, had by no means tended to improve
his appearance.
The huntsman, too, was palpably in great
pain; and, in spite of his protestations, Mrs.
56 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Blake viewed with dismay a very ugly bruise
on her husband's cheek.
Tom Chester was also very pale, although
he steadily declined to admit that he had
received more than a " crack in the ribs."
Mrs. Belton at once took command of her
father.
" Get him to bed as quick as you can,"
said [Sturton, " and I'll send Conolly over as
soon as I get back."
" But surely you're not going home ? You
and Mr. Chester must stay here for the
night after all this turmoil," rejoined Mrs.
Belton.
" Ten thousand thanks — no. I shall be
doing better service in the way I mention;
besides, Chester won't admit he's hurt, but I
know he is in great pain." And then Sturton
turned to say good-bye to the others.
" It's the most disgraceful business ever
heard of," llamed forth Miss Eyre. " And I
suppose, in such a turmoil as that, no one
"AFTJEB THE BATTI 57
could see whose hand it was threw that stone
at my father ? "
" Xo, I don't think any of us could tell you
that."
" You seem to be the only one of the party
that has escaped without injury, Captain
Sturton. How was that ? "
" Well, perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it
was prudence. I didn't put myself so pro-
minently forward as Miss Kyre."
She gave a contemptuous toss of her
head.
"Why will he always treat me like a
child? 5 ' she muttered. " Xo, Captain Sturton,"
she said with supreme disdain. " I do know
better than that. I know very well you were
in the front of the light. You take care of
yourself — nonsense I "
" Then I suppose it was luck,"' replied
Sturton, acknowledging Miss Eyre's compli-
ment by a mocking bow. " And now we
must really say good-bye, for I've promised
58 THE MASTER OF RATHE ELL Y.
to send Conolly to see your father at once.
It's just as well a doctor should have a look
at him. I don't suppose he wants anything
more than keeping quiet, but it's as well to
be on the safe side."
Another minute and he and Chester had
swung themselves into their saddles, though
the slight spasm that shot across the latter 's
face showed the trifling effort cost him some
pain.
" I'm afraid you caught a nasty one in the
ribs, Tom," said Sturton, as the pair turned
out of the Bathkelly gates. " As for me,
although I'm not marked externally, I'm
bruised all over. Smart idea of the beggars
to have those stones. Well! we've had our
last day's hunting in Ireland, and I daresay
you think it's as well."
"My side is rather painful," replied Chester;
" but wasn't Miss Eyre splendid ? By Jove,
she looked a girl to die for ! "
" She did look rather well," said Sturton
'•AFTER Till-: BATTLE."
" and showed pluck. I never even thoughl
her good-looking before."
" Good-looking," repeated Chester, " why 1
think she is the prettiest girl I ever saw."
v * All right, Tom," said the other, laughing,
" but you see you're quite gone about her,
and L'ni not. By Jove ! here's a bit of luck.
Here's Conolly. J low are you doctor ?"
"Flourishing like a bay t ree," replied the
doctor, " which, it strikes me, is more than
you are, Mr. Chester. I heard from a fellow
I met on the road that there had been the
divil's own row at Ballater Gorse, and that
there were cracked crowns lying around thick
as blackberries in autumn. Is it tlirue ? ):
"It is so," replied Sturton, "there has
been about the freest fight thai ever you saw.
There's plenty of work for you, doctor, but in
the first instance, I want you to go straight
to Rathkelly. Mr. Eyre has got his head cut
open, and poor O'Reilly, I'm afraid, is even
more seriously hurt."
60 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
"All right! I'll be there in a jifley ; one
moment, can I do anything for either of you
before I go ? "
" No, thanks," replied Chester, " I shall do
very well till I get to barracks."
" Ah ! and there of course your own
surgeons will look after you," said Conolly,
and the doctor put his horse into a smart
canter and disappeared.
McDermot and Cassidy were in ecstasies at
their triumph. True, many of their followers
had been roughly handled by the gentlemen,
but the leaders of the mob had been as
sparing of their persons as those who had
counselled the boycotting of the hounds, and
Messrs. Carmody and Last were strongly of
opinion that they owed it to their constituents
to take great care of themselves. Both
McDermot and Cassidy, more especially the
latter, were animated by a spirit of vengeance,
and the two men harangued their followers,
and urged them to do their work thoroughly.
"AFTEB THE BATTLE." Gl
" Show 'em you're in earnest, bhoys," roared
Cassidy, "anddon'l let a dog of the pack ever
get back to Rathkelly," and the excited
peasantry, inflamed to madness by the violent
speeches they had lately listened to, and
intoxicated by their success, spread about
the country, killing or mutilating every luck-
less hound they could lay hands upon.
The Indians of the Far West inflict
nameless tortures on their enemies when
they fall into their hands, but they do not
extend their animosity to dumb creatures.
As for the second whip, he was a plucky
young fellow, and had received short but
decisive orders from the huntsman before the
hounds were thrown into cover.
"Bear in mind, Ted,'" said thai functionary,
"thai yez has uothing to do with the row.
Get away with the hounds if you can, and
stick to them.'' And Ted had strictly obeyed
orders, to the utter neglecl of his more
Legitimate functions, and finally, after a
62 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
rattling gallop of some three or four miles,
during which the three couple of hounds he
had with him were always very close upon
their fox, pulled him down in the open.
The final ceremonies over, Ted bethought
himself of what he was to do next. There
wasn't a soul with him, and from what he
had seen he felt sure that there would be
no further hunting that day. Clearly he
thought his duty was to pick up as many
hounds as he possibly could, and make the
best of his way back to Kathkelly ; and with
this object he commenced blowing his horn,
but if a few stray hounds heard him, so did
a sjood many half-maddened peasants, and it
speedily became palpable to the lad, that
unless he used considerable discretion, neither
he nor the hounds with him would ever reach
Rathkelly that night, nor, as far as the hounds
were concerned, probably ever reach Itath-
kelly at all. He was none too soon, for the
peasantry were craftily hemming him in, and
"AFTEB THE BATTLE." 63
without more ado he started with such hounds
as he had at his heels, and struck out straight
for the Castle, where he eventually arrived
with a mere remnant of the pack thai had
left it in the morning.
It was the last day of tin- Harkhallow Hunt,
and neither horn nor hound have been heard
in that country since.
,2 .-vi? \ (.j
s
CHAPTER V.
" A FIELD DAY IN THE HOUSE."
It was a gala night in the House of Commons.
The most eminent orator of the age has risen
early in the evening, and, though once more
for over an hour and a half his audience hung
entranced upon his utterances, demonstrated
that language is given us to conceal our
thoughts. More explicit than usual, upon
this occasion he is supposed to admit that
law and order in England and law and
order in Ireland are by no means the same
thing, and furthermore vaguely suggests that
of two evils it is better to choose the less,
and to submit to robbery without resistance
for fear murder should come of it, forgetting
'Do
that meek submission to anarchy and
'■A FIELD DAY [N l'iii: BOUSE." 65
(Inference to the clamour of windy mob
orators, is only characteristic of nations in
their decadence.
Dan Carmody has distinguished himself .-is
usual in the course of the evening by audibly
alluding to the Government as " a set of Tory
skunks,' a flower of Language which had
nearly procured him the honour of being
named by the Speaker, his escape being
dne to the fact thai those who called him to
order, though positive that the term came
from the Irish benches, were not quite sin-
as to who was the actual delinquent.
Mr. Last had already made his deb&t in the
House, and demonstrated that the Honourable
.Member for Callowtown was a fluent speaker
of the old conventional type. J lis oral inn
might be described as froth, fizzle, and inter-
minable.
" Sort of fellow to whom the new
Closure rules seem peculiarly adapted/' was
the criticism of the Honourable Amnions
vol. ii. 22
06 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Danby, as lie strolled out of the room to
soothe his feelings with a cisrar. " Kegular
boot-eater, that fellow, no doubt."
" What the deuce do you mean, 'Gus ? '
inquired one of his intimates.
" Been studying up this Irish question,
don't you know?" rejoined the Honourable
Augustus — "gone through a regular course
of Lever's novels ; know all about
' The finest pisantry on a fruitful sod,
Fighting like divils for conciliation,
And hating each other for the love of God.'
A boot-eater up in the Far West means a jury-
man who will dine off those useful articles
before he assents to any verdict but his own.
Should think Last is that sort of fellow."
The Honourable Augustus Danby was a
capital type of a certain class in the House
of Commons. He never spoke himself, lie
often wondered how the deuce fellows could
have so much to say about a thing ! Was
wont to asseverate, "Never knew a fellow
•A FIELD DAY IN' THE BOUSE." 67
who talked much who did anything. Look
at a street row,'' he continued, philosophi-
cally, " whenever they talk much they don't
fight. A Johnnie who brags awfully about
his hunting or shooting in the smoking-room
over night, you never hear much of the next
day. Don't understand it myself, but think
we should gel on a -nod deal quicker if we
had a good deal less jaw."
The Honourable Augustus Dauby mighl
not be very clever, but at the same time
there is a very large proportion of educated
people outside the House of Commons who
are coming very much to his way of
thinking.
" Bedad ! me bhoy," said Dan Carmody, as
lie entered the smo king-room shortly after-
wards with James Last, "you fetched 'em.
If it hadn't been for the cussed rules these
murthering Tories have passed, you'd have
knocked 'em silly ! "
"It's a shame, Dan, I tell ye. If it hadn't
68 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
been for that midnight closure business, I
could have gone on aisily till two. Will we
get Home Eule, do ye think ? "
Dan Carmody closed his right eye signifi-
cantly, as, hailing a passing waiter, he de-
manded " six of Irish hot."
"Home Eule!" he said. "What do we
want with it ? Isn't this good enough for ye ?
The pay is dacent, and the place is moighty
convanient for a gintleman to take his chop
in and enjoy himself. Home Eule — God
forbid ! This place is good enough for me
anny way."
" Well, I'm satisfied," said Mr. Last. " But
won't they be expectin' something the other
side St. George's Channel ? "
" Not they. Shure, payin' no rint is good
enough for thim. We'll £et our orders from
New York, or else maybe they'll send a few
bhoys across to get up another dynamite
scare. As for the people in Ireland, they've
been expecting the Millennium ever since I
-A 11 1 : 1 . 1 » PAY IN ill]-; BOUSE." ''J
can recollect ; and the bigger orders vou
draw upon their imagination, tin,- more the
poor divils believe in you."
"Slow work this," said Mr. Danby to his
confidential friend ; " think polities a mi-take
myself. Think I shall turn 'em up as soon
as this Parliament is kicked out. They were
before my time, but can't understand what
made, fellows like Palmerston, Lord Derby,
and Lord George Bentinck take to this sort
of thing; and talk about the best club in
London, win' if any of the Johnnies at the
Heliotrope used the sort of language that the
chaps here habitually use to each other, why,
dash it all ! they would be cast out of the
community! "
" Come on, 'Gus," replied his friend, laugh-
ing, "we will go down to the Heliotrope,
and see how they're betting on the Guineas."
And with that, these two distinguished
senators left the house, and hailed the near, si
hansom.
70 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
The Honourable Augustus Danbv, a younger
son of the Earl of Eottondene, had been
pitchforked into a borough through the
family interest, not in the least because he
aspired to take a part in the government of
his country, but simply because the borough
of Cracksley always had been held by a
scion of the Eottondene family.
As the Honourable Augustus was totally
dependent upon his noble father, and had
manifested neither disposition nor ability to
earn his own living, he naturally acquiesced
in the paternal mandate ; but the whole
thing was, to him, a blank and inexplicable
mystery. He voted straight enough with his
party ; he never troubled the House with his
own eloquence ; and it was ever a source of
astonishment to him how the deuce a fellow
could have so much to say.
As the two young men entered the
smoking-room of the Heliotrope, Danby's eye
was caught by a slight, dark man, who, with
"A FIELD DAY IN THE HOUSE." 71
his back to the fire, was recounting an
adventure of some sort to the two or tin
men seated round it.
" You must have Lad a lively mornii
remarked one of his auditors.
" Bather," was the reply. It was about
the hottest time I ever had in the country ;
and they make it pretty lively for us soldiers,
too, during the elections."
" llulloa, Sturton ! " exclaimed Danbv,
" why, I haven't seen you for ages ! "
" No," rejoined the other, as he shook
hands. " I'm a soldier on the other side
St. George's Channel. And pretty dull work
it is. I was just telling these fellows thai
the League, in its wisdom, has put down
hunting in the part I come from, and simply
stoned us all, hounds included, out of the
held last time we met."
" Hum go, that; always understood the
Irish were about the most sporting people
out."
72 THE MASTER OF BATHKELLY.
(i So they are," rejoined Sturton, " if they
were only let alone. However, I think the
League is getting towards the end of its
tether. Of course, it'll die hard. These
fellows would sooner go spouting about the
country than work for their living."
" Yes," remarked Danby. " I've always
noticed that the ' friends of the people ' have
a great dislike to work, and to soap and
water."
Sturton laughed, as he replied, " You don't
quite understand it.
' If loving the people is Canaan in view.
It's Canaan, paid quarterly, to have 'em love you.'
But what are you people doing here ? "
" If you mean at Westminster," said
Danby, " it's the same old game. Eminent
politicians in opposition, anxiously demon-
strating how much better they could govern
the country than our fellows. Eminent poli-
ticians in office, quite satisfied with the way
"A FIELD DAY IN II IK II
they do it themselves, and quite determined
not to give them a chance if they can
help it.
" What a minister you'll make, when your
time comes," said ISturton.
" None of your chaff, Harold," replied the
senator. " Could have given them a wrinkle,
though, the other night. They go taxing all
sorts of things which cost quite enough
money as it is. If they'd only tax talk and
bad Language, we should contribute pretty
handsomelv to the revenue down at St.
Stephen's."
" Well, we shouldn't set much out of vou,
at all events," rejoined Sturton.
" No," replied Danby placidly. "I'm that
blessing to niv country — a silent member.
Come over for lung ? "
"I've got a month's leave," said Sturton,
"but the regiment is coming across in a few
weeks ; Portsmouth, or Aldershot, I believe,
beiiiii our destination."'
74 THE MASTER OE RATHKELLY.
Sturton had left Conroy, indeed, about a week
after assisting at what its master aptly termed
" the funeral of the Harkhallow Hunt." Mrs.
"Belton, who had postponed her departure for
a few days on account of her father's injuries,
had gladly accepted his escort to London.
Mr. Eyre was pronounced by Conolly pretty
well himself again before Grace left, but she
saw clearly that life at Eathkelly was about
to become very hard for her father and sister,
and, indeed, all their neighbours ; about the
suppression of the League there could be no
eventual doubt.
EatclifFe Eyre, indeed, might well take
a gloomy view of the situation. Although
a little shaken, about a week saw him
thoroughly recovered from the blow on his
head. If it was a severe blow to his vanity,
to give up the hounds, yet in somewise the
excuse was opportune. He was not the sort
of man to have a goodly balance at his
banker's, and money was beginning to be
- .\ I [ELD DAY IN THE II"' 3E." 76
very shorl with Mr. Eyre, lie had publicly
announced his abandonment of the Hark-
li;illow country, and within a week the debris
of his pack, and nearly all the horses, had
been despatched to Dublin for sale, Rory,
a driving horse, and his own hack being all
he had retained out of his numerous stud.
"Well, papa," said Katie, '-the fun was
about over for this year, but how we're to
j*et on next season I'm sure I don't know.
Just fancy Rathkelly without hunting! The
Blakes, too, talk seriously of going away.
.Mr. Blake says they have stopped huntii
and he has no doubt they'll take the shooting
into their own hands immediately ; and, as
he says, it's no fun living in a country where
all amusements are prohibited."
"We must just make the best of things,
Katie," replied Mr. Eyre. "Times are very
hard for us all round, but I shall get on very
well with my people if the League don't come
between us. As for that fellow Cassidy, he i-
76 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
a bitter, bad lot ; and out he goes as soon as
his time is up."
" I never liked them, papa, neither himself
nor his wife ; and Norah tells me that he is
making a deal of mischief about the country."
A still steady and constant visitor at Katk~
kelly was Tom Chester ; and if persistent de-
votion could serve a man in such case, he
deserved to succeed. Mrs. Belton had been
sorely tempted to once more plead his cause
with her wilful sister, but prudence at last
prevailed. " We have already quarrelled over
it," she said to herself, " and I declared I
would never allude to the subject again.
I shouldn't so much mind about that, but I
honestly believe that I should -do Mr. Chester
no service by pressing his cause. Katie is
missing a chance which most likely won't
come to her again."
It is rather a waste of time to advocate
the claims of one man for favourable con-
sideration when a young lady happens to be
"A FIELD DAY IN THE EOUfi 77
in love with another. But Grace had no
suspicion of her sister's infatuation for
Sturton. There certainly was not much to
indicate any feeling of thai kind between the
pair. Sturton never had paid her any
marked attention, and invariably treated her
as a school-girl, whom he had known from
a child. Grace remembered her sister a
hot-tempered little girl of eight or nine ;
she regarded her now as a girl still possessed
of a rather uncontrollable temper, and much
spoiled from want of control and guidan<
Norah could have enlightened her as to tin'
real state of affairs, but then ECatie confided a
good deal more to her foster-sister than she
did to Grace. It is true that Katie had never
even whispered her secret to Norah, but the
girl was far too quick witted not to discover
her young mistress's passion for Harold
Sturton, carefully concealed in her own
breast though she might deem it. Poor
Katie! to the very last Mrs. Belton was
78 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
destined to arouse her jealousy. She was, of
course, aware that Grace travelled to London
under Stur ton's escort.
" It's disgraceful," she exclaimed. " Quite
an arranged thing. She ought to be ashamed
of herself. A married woman. I only wish
her husband knew," and then this stern
young moralist whimpered a little, and
bitterly lamented that she was not in Mrs.
Belton's place !
CHAPTER VI.
"there's a reckoning to come."
Tim Ryan and Terence are both now
marked men in the barony. They both
steadfastly refuse to join the League and are
already subject to various menaces on that
point. They have been both warned that if
they do not obey its dictates it will be the
worse for them, and — spurred on by com-
mands from America — the League has been
unusually active around Callowtown of late.
The Council in New York are insisting thai
they must have more to show for their
money. They do not consider that the reign
of terror which has been established is
being carried out with sufficient severity.
Examples must be made of those who refus
compliance with the mandates of the League,
80 THE MASTEE OF EATHKELLY.
and Messrs. Last and Carmody have in con-
sequence been delivering still more inflam-
matory harangues, if possible, than before. A
stringent No-rent manifesto has been issued,
and solemn warning given that any infringe-
ment of this command will be visited heavily
on the culprit.
" What's Misther Last got to do with mv
pa} T ing my rint ? that's a thing between me
and the Masther. He's taken a cood bit
off, and though times are hard I can manage
to pay yet, glory be to God ! And to think of
their stopping the hunting ! I never thought
to see the day when the bhoys would stone
the hounds, the dumb craythurs ! "
" Mike Cassidy is one of the worst of the
lot. He's never forgiven us for that day on
the race-course, when the black-hearted thief
tried to stop Miss Katie's horse."
" Ah ! 'twas a gay afternoon that," said
Ryan, laughing ; " it was a swate bit of a
scrimmage while it lasted, it just gave a flavour
"THEBES A RECKONING TO COME." Bl
to the whisky afterwards, and then Rory won
afther all."
"'Twas :i mighty pleasant clay," replied
Terence, with a smile, ;i^ he thoughl of what
a fuss his sweetheart had made with him, for
Norah, after she had once got over her
dismay at his cracked crown, thoiudit she
couldn't make too much of her lover after
the staunch way in which he had stood by
her father. " That's a nice lot of beasts you
picked up last market day."
" 'Deed, and they are," rejoined the farmer.
" Keep is scarce the other side Callowtown.
They are a bit low in flesh, but they will soon
come round on my grass Land."
" Divil a fear of that ! Everyone knows
yours is the best grass farm in the barony,
Mr. Ryan."
''• It's good land ! It's good land ! " said
the farmer complacently, " and, Terence, I
got the bastes a rale bargain. I'll turn a
bit of monev over that lot."
vol. ii. 23
82 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
" Well ! threatened men live long," re-
marked Terence, " and as for Mike Cassidy,
he may bluster a good deal, but I don't think
he'll dare meddle with either of us."
" At all events," replied Ryan, " we are
not going to be tould what we are to do by
the likes of Mike Cassidy. I did hear though,"
he continued, dropping his voice, " that Mike
had joined the Moonlighters."
" I believe that's so," rejoined Terence,
" the cowardly brutes, who have no idea of
the fun of a rale fight."
But, though Terence Flynn spoke in this
light-hearted, careless fashion, he was quite
aware that things were looking rather serious
for both himself and Eyan. lie knew that
there was an organised force of Moonlighters
sworn to do the bidding of the League, and
though their identity was kept a profound
secret, there were several young men on the
country side who were suspected of belonging
to the association, and, amongst others, Mike
"THERE'S A RECKONING TO COME."
Cassidy. Several outrages had been reported
of Late as the work of these midnight visitors,
and though Terence was as daring a young
fellow as might be, still, what chance had a
man who was suddenly set upon by eight or
ten others, all armed? It seemed intolerable
to him that a stranger like -Mr. Last, whom
they had never even seen till a few months ago,
should com.' here, 10 Callowtown, and inter-
fere between the county gentlemen and their
tenants.
Those who joined the League had to
contribute to its support, and — as far as
Terence made out — to pay such men as
Carmodyfor meddling in their private affairs ;
and yet he knew, in defiance of the law, that
the League had retaliated brutallv on those
who had refused to join it.
It was a beautiful spring morning when —
a few days after the above conversation —
Farmer Ryan emerged from his cabin door,
and took a long breath of the deli(
23*
SI THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
air, which already brought a savour of the
coming summer.
" Gran' weather, after the rain, Mary," he
shouted back into the house. " It will bring
the grass on apace, we shall have it over our
ankles before we know where we are. Ill
just slip up, my woman, to the top field, and
have a look at the bastes." And with that, and
blithely whistling " The Hare in the Corn,"
Tim Ryan strode gaily along up to his best bit
of pasture. When he reached the gate he
stopped aghast, and a savage execration
escaped his lips.
" My poor bastes ; sliure the divils needn't
have tortured you for not joining the
League!' and, opening the gate, he passed
through, and with eyes sparkling with anger
and grief, contemplated his nine unfortunate
bullocks tailless and bleeding, but that was
not the sole extent of the mischief that had been
wrought in the night, for Mary Ryan's two
milch cows lay helplessly houghed besides.
"THERE'S a BECKONING TO COME."
" The wife will be real mad when she hears
Eileen and Kathleen, the two best milkers
aboul here, are as good as dead, for there's
nothing lefl now bul to nut the poor craythurs
out of their misery."
Tim Ryan was right ; when he got home and
told the wife his news, she at first burst, ii i
its at the loss of her pets, but this was
followed by a storm of invectives, chiefly
levelled at Mike Cassidy.
Of course, Tim would go to the poliss !
A murthering scoundrel like that was not to
- about unpunished, she hoped, indade
there was no use in having prisons, if the
likes of him were not to be put in thim ! Did
Tim mane to bate the blackguard himself?
She wouldgive him a bit of her mind next
time she met him ! Ah, may be let him feel
the weight of her hand besides !
" It's him, the thief, that's a1 the bottom of
it, I've no doubt; but he'll swear he knows
nothing about it. And, T doubt, we'll not
SO THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
manage to bring it home to him ! No fear,
but what I'll thry, Mary ; 'deed, and if I can't
take the law on him, sure I can give him a
bating because he didn't do it! "
The news of the mutilation of Eyan's cattle
spread rapidly through the district, and there
was considerable popular sympathy evoked
on his behalf. It was whispered about that
Cassidy knew something of it. But, for all
that, no one would come forward and testify
to such knowledge. There could be little
doubt that the perpetrators of the outrage
were pretty well known all through the
country side. Still it was well known that
any one who came forward and gave infor-
mation would be a marked man, and the
terrorism of the League was so dreaded
that honest men feared to incur its dis-
pleasure.
Eatclifle Eyre, in his double capacity of
landlord and magistrate, was especially active
in his endeavours to trace out the offenders.
"THERE'S A RECKONING TO COM!:." 87
1 !<• would have done so in any case, but tin-
fact that .Mike. Cassidy was supposed to be
one of (hem gave additional zest to the
pursuit. With this recalcitrant, tenant tin'
Master of Rathkelly had vowed to have a
sti in day of reckoning, lie knew he was a
prominent member of the League. He had
seen him amongst the mob that shouted for
Mr. Last at the Callowtown election. He had
seen him prominent amongst the boycotters
of the Harkhallow Hunt, lie certainly could
not prove that it was Cassidy's hand that
fired that shot at him on his way home from
Callowtown, but liatclille Eyre had no doubt
in his own mind that it was so. lie was
equally convinced of Cassidy's guilt on this
occasion, and offered a liberal reward to any
one who would come forward and give
evidence which might lead to the conviction
of the offenders. But the peasantry remained
silent, and, despite the Master of Rathkelly's
firm belief that the names of the Moonlighters
SS THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
were well known, he could get no information
concerning them.
Katie, who inherited in some measure her
father's passionate and overbearing disposi-
tion, which her bringing-up had still further
tended to foster, was furious at the .dastardly
outrage.
" I wouldn't have Cassidy another hour on
the estate, papa, if I were you."
" I won't, my dear," rejoined her father.
" I must have him there till his notice
expires. I'd have him in gaol this minute if
I could only get evidence against him."
Threats break no bones, and in such
matters as this the secrets of the League were
well kept. When it came to assassination the
saving of their own skins usually led to
considerable desire to turn informer amongst
most of those concerned.
But the days slip by, and though the people
bowed to the decision of the League — more
especially as regarded the non-payment of rent
"THERE'S A RECKONING TO COME."
— yet they did not subscribe to the support 01
thai patriotic institution in the manner that the
leaders of the movement had hoped for. The
Council in New York, for instance, expressed
themselves very much disgusted that these
mm-generate Irishmen contributed so sparely
to the funds necessary to procure the freedom
of their country. They grumbled ominously,
and declared that four- fifths of the money that
supported the movement came from America.
" Nor," continued the Council, in a dispatch
sent to the chiefs of the Irish party, " are your
acts equal to your words. You make brave
speeches, but your followers don't act up to
them; brave words, but we want substan-
tiality. We must have something stronger
than the mutilation of cattle. Strike home!
and Lei us hear thai you have rid yourselves
of some of your persecutors. Make the
authority of the League thoroughly respecte I .'
It ought to be made dear that the man who
fails to join the League carries his life in his
90 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
hand. See to this, and see to it speedily, or
we must send over men more fitted for the
work."
And so the speeches of Irish members got
more and more inflammatory. Moonlighters
were organised over many parts of the
country, and the subordinate chiefs of the
League got the significant hint to strike terror
into the hearts of their oppressors. But,
unfortunately, a marked change had come
over the state of affairs. The English
government was sternly determined to restore
law and order in Ireland, and though the
Council in New York might bluster, and the
Irish chiefs harangue — and go to prison for
so haranguing — more terror had been struck
into the hearts of the National League than
into those of the recognised guardians of law
and order. That there should be some defiant
expiring flickers was to be expected, but
there was to be seen looming in the future
an end to that profitable patriotism on which
'•THERE'S A RECKONING TO COME." 91
men like Messrs. Carmody and Last had so
bravely milled it for some time.
About a week after the outrage on his
farm. Ryan happened to come across Cassidy
on the road. He was about to pass him
without speaking, not because they had
fought at Callowtown, but for the reason that
a bitter animosity had sprung up between the
two men. Mike Cassidy was in the humour
to enjoy the revenge, which, if he had not
taken an actual part in, had been doubtless
wreaked on Ryan at his instigation.
With a sneer on his face, he exclaimed in
jeering tones :
"The top of the morning to you, Misther
Ryan, sure it's foine weather for the gri
and there's the divil's own demand for ox-
tails they tell me."
The blood rushed into Tim Ryan's head,
and his eyes glittered with fury as he
exclaimed :
" By my sowl, Mike Cassidy, if I only felt
92 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
shure ye'cl done it, I'd bate the life out of ye
this minute ! Be a man, now, and own up to
it if ye did! I'll swear not to take the law of
ye ! \V e'll settle this quarrel betune our two
selves, here and now."
" Ah ! what would I know about the
docking of yer bastes ? Shure I heard of it
like everyone else. 'Dade it's just the talk of
the country side."
" There's a reckoning to come between you
and me, Mike Cassidy. I'll know the truth
about them cows some day, and look to
yerself if I find that you have had a hand
m it.
" Ye'd betther look to yerself," retorted the
other. " I tould you what would come of
going against the League, so don't blame me
for it. Look to yerself, me man, or worse
may come of it ! We're going to stand no
more nonsense in these parts, and, as Misther
Last says, there's only two ways about it,
hem as is not for us is against us."
"THERE'S A RECKONING TO COME."
" To the divil with your National League!
What have I to do with a lot of strangers
from across the wather, who come over here
and pretend to manage our afliiirs for us ?
More likely 'tis for what they can get, the
blood-suckers!" and Tim Ryan's fingers fairly
itched as he gripped his stick tight and
wished he'd some fair pretext for quarrelling
with the other.
"I'll wish ye good morning, Mist her Ryan,"
said Cassidy, with a bow of mock politeness.
" I meant it friendly, and I can only hope
ye'll not regret having quarrelled with the
League."
And with a grin upon his face that very
nearly brought 1! van's stick about his
shoulders, Mr. Cassidy went on his way.
CHAPTEK VII.
" THE MURDER OF RYAN."
McDermot was the head man of the branch
of the League that ruled in the Kathkelly
district, and a few days after Cassidy's
encounter with Eyan the former received
a summons to attend a meeting at McDer-
mot's house, for the discussion of important
affairs which would be laid before them.
Cassidy was in high spirits at this. lie was
in that frame of mind which would make
it a pleasure to wreak his spite on
nearly every man in the barony. He had
never been popular, and the part he had
taken of late as an adherent of the League
had still further conduced to his unpopularity.
The summons to McDermot's he knew was
■• I'll!-: MURDEB OF RYAN."
the prelude to what lie termed " business."
Ai a meeting there, as we know, the boy-
cotting of the hounds had been determined
on, similarly at McDermot's house had gone
forth the fiat for the mutilation of Ryan's
cattle. It was quite blithely that Mike
Cassidy tramped up to McDermot's in
obedience to his chief's command, lie
had many ends to gratify, and had little
doubt that something would be decided on
a1 this meeting which would serve his turn.
If he could stir the minds of this branch
council to take anion againsl Terence Flynn,
he would do so. lie haled Flynn as only
one man can ha,-.' another whom lie regards
as possessing a secret of his, which carries a
noose at the end of it, and — although, as we
know erro ly — he believed Terence
know more or less of his attempt on .V
Eyre's life. Hundreds of times had
puzzled his brain to know what it was t!
rence had found in the road. Had
96 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
known that it was simply a case of that con-
science "that doth make cowards of us all,"
that Terence had picked up nothing, he
would have been much surprised.
When they were all comfortably assembled
in McDermot's parlour, that gentleman rose,
and proceeded to inform them that the
orders of the League had been very im-
perfectly carried out in that neighbourhood,
and that nowhere had they been so badly
obeyed as in the Eathkelly barony. Michael
Cassidy was the only one of the council
who was a tenant of the tyrant Eyre, and
he intended to call on him to give informa-
tion concerning his brother tenants on that
estate. The League had thought it necessary to
give orders that no further rents should be
paid to their oppressors, and — " Gontlemen !
ye'd have thought every wan would have
been only too happy to comply with such a
demand ! "
Considerable applause from the half-score
"THE BIURDEB OF RYAN." 97
members present, and a cry from Cassidy:
"The divil a ha'penny have / parted with
to the old nagur! but there's thim as has ! '
"Now," continued .Melh-rmot, "we can't
have this going on ! We gave thai spalpeen
Ryan a hint the other night, that he'd bet t her
not go against the League, but begorrah ! our
chief says this rint-paying musl be put a stop
to! Hints seem no use." They say," and
here he lowered his voice, " we must make
an example ! "
The laughter was at once stilled, and the
men's faces became grave, for what this meant
was only too patent to all of them. Still, men
who will torture dumb creatures have no moral
objection to murder. It resolves itself into
a sheer case of their own physical safety.
Cassidy's eyes gleamed and sparkled vindic-
tively. His opportunity had come. Be was
aboul to be questioned as to which of the
L'athkelly tenants had paid their rents, and
nothing was easier than to denounce the
VOL. II. 2 \
98 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
two men he most hated — Ryan and Terence
Fl} 7 nn. In the case of the former he had
good grounds for saying so. The man had
gone direct to the agent, and there could
be no more reasonable conclusion, but with
Terence it was different. Most of the tenantry
believed he had, but it was pure conjecture.
He had been much more guarded in his
proceedings than Kyan, and if he had gone
to the agent's it had not been openly.
" Now, Cassidy," exclaimed McDermot,
" Who are thim as has ? "
"Evan has paid "his rint, bad cess to him."
" You know this for certain," said
McDermot."
" Shure there isn't a bhoy in the barony
but what knows it."
" Who else ? "
" Terence Flynn."
" And yez know this for shure ? ' : once
again asked McDermot.
"It's not known loike the other, but I
-Till: MURDEB OF RYAN." 99
know it. II.- is a sly Pox, thai Flynn, but by
jabers he don't fool me."
And now came a low muttered conference
between RicDermol and his companions. The
two farmers denounced by Cassidy had long
■ ■
been marked men by the League on account
of their declining to join or subscribe to it,
and gradually this Irish Vehmgerichl came
to the conclusion that, in accordance with the
orders of their chief, no better example could
be made than Timothy Ryan! — a well-to-do
man, and an old tenant — and it was accord-
ingly agreed amongsl them thai he should
"visited." Tins, in the mellifluous Languj
of the League, meant mui I, or near akin
to it.
" Now," said McDermot, " we'll do this of
course in the regular fashion. I'll just write
down the name of the bhoys tor the job, and
av course by our oath the names oiusl never
pass our lips. The bhoys then will each g
their notice that they're wanted, and it would
•J-
100 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
be best they shouldn't know whose in it till
they're all mustered." McDermot then pro-
duced a pencil and a piece of paper, and
slowly and with much thought proceeded to
write down some half-score of names. His
labours were finished at last, and he then
passed the list round to his companions. It
so happened that the last man to receive the
list was Cassidy, and he could not suppress a
slight start as he saw his own name at the
top of it. 'Twas not that his thoughts
towards Eyan were not quite sufficiently
murderous, but somehow he had arrived at
the conclusion that he had done his share of
moonlighting work, that he had now got a
seat on the Branch Council, and could do
away with the objects of his dislike by
deputy, which had the advantage of being
equally efficacious, and very much safer.
"You don't seem to like the job," said
McDermot, "maybe it's afraid ye are?"
" Sorra a bit," replied Cassidy, "but faith!
"THE MUEDEE OF RYAN." 101
I thought I'd done my share of moonlighting
of late."
" So ye have, Mike! so ye have! " replied
McDermot, "and right well ye've clone it!
But ye see we always pick the names pretty
well from distant parts of the district, and we
must have one man in who knows the ground
and all about it. Now, no man knows Ryan's
holding 1 tetter than you/'
"Thrue for ye, Misther McDermot! and
there's nobody hates him worse in the whole
barony. - '
"Bedad, ye're the very boy for the
business !"
This illegal tribunal having thus briefly
disposed of the life of one of their fellows,
proceeded to pass the whiskey about and
otherwise enjoy themselves. As they were
leaving at the end of the entertainment,
Cassidy took McDermot aside for one momenl
and whispered into his ear :
"Ye want no half measures, I suppose?"
102 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY"
" We want an example, Mike ; we have
put it in your hands, and ye'll do what ye
think best."
Mike Cassidy nodded, and as he strolled
home, said to himself, " If I make an example
this time, I'll take moighty good care I'll make
another before long. I don't feel quite aisy
whilst Terence Flynn is walking round."
Ryan was sitting moodily at supper with
his wife, brooding over his heavy losses ; they
were in truth very considerable to a man of
his station, and the badness of the times only
made them more severely felt. He had paid
his rent in defiance of the League, but much
reduced though it was, yet it seemed a big
sum of money to part with at present, and
now on the top of it came the loss of the two
cows. Suddenly there was a tap at the door,
and on Mrs. Ivy an unbolting it her daughter
entered. Although formally appointed Miss
Katie's maid, she constantly obtained leave to
run up and visit her parents.
"THE MURDER OF RYAN." 1 13
"How grave you look, father," she ex-
claimed as she kissed him.
"It's enough to make a man look grave,
Norah, to have his .stock trated as mine wor !
It's hard work enough to set along without
having your property desthroyed."
"Yes, indeed," exclaimed Mary Ryan;
"between the times and the League, Lord
knows what will become of us."
"I'd break every bone in that Cassidv's
body,*' said the farmer savagely. "I'm sorry
I didn't when I met the baste a few days
back."
"Have you heard anything, father? Do
you know for certain 'twas him ? Have you
any evidence that he was one of them ? The
Masther swears he'd put him in jail if he
could only prove it against him."
"No," replied Ryan, ' ; I can't prove it;
but I'm as sure he'd a hand in it as there's a
sun in J leaven! I suppose you're moighty
quiet at the Castle now ? "
104 THE MASTER OF BATHKELLY.
" Yes ; since Mrs. Belton left, and Captain
Sturtou went on leave, we have but few
visitors. Mr. Chester comes oftener than any-
one. He's moighty sweet on Miss Katie."
" And she ? " inquired Mrs. Eyan eagerly,
with all a woman's interest in a love affair.
" Doesn't care a snap of her fingers about
him. It's a pity, for he's a fine-looking young
man." And then the conversation drifted into
desultory channels appertaining to the
domestic of both Castle and cabin.
Norah's visit had cheered her parents up
not a little. They had very few visitors now.
They were not boycotted, but the neighbours
were afraid to be intimate, and drop in on
people who were under the ban of the League.
Time slipped away, and when JSTorah rose to
go, her mother suggested that she had better
O ' CO
stay and sleep in her old room, little think-
ing what a terrible night the luckless girl
was destined to pass. Ryan looked carefully
to the fastenings of door and window before
"THE MUKDEB OF RYAN." 10B
they retired to rest. Since the mutilation of
his cattle, he had begun to take these pre-
cautions — things about which he had been
very careless previously. Another half-hour,
and the whole family wen; in bed and asleep.
How long a time had elapsed, Ryan had no
idea, but he was suddenly aroused from
slumber by the splintering of glass and the
crashing of woodwork, lie sprang from his
bed, and hastily throwing on a few things,
snatched up an old double-barrelled gun
from a corner of the room, and exclaim-
ing: "There's somebody broken into the
house, Mary ! ' rushed down the stairs. As he
entered the kitchen, he was confronted by
seven or eight men with black crape over
their faces, armed with guns and sticks.
Ryan took in the situation at a glance. He
saw that he was " visited." Quick as thought
he threw his gnu to his shoulder ; but
prompt though he was, his assailants were
prompter still, and before he could pull the
100 THE MASTEE OF RATHKELLY.
trigger one of them had fired, and a heavy-
charge of shot struck him in the leg, and
stretched him on the ground, whilst a voice
exclaimed : " Take that as a receipt for your
rint, you ould villain ! "
At the report of the gun, Mary Ryan
dashed down the stairs to her husband's
assistance. As she entered the room, she
stumbled over her husband's prostrate form,
just as a voice called out, " Finish him ! ' :
Two or three shots were immediately
fired at the wounded man. A sharp cry
escaped Mary Eyan, and she screamed out :
" You've murthered him, ye villains."
Her mother's cry and the shots brought
Norali flying down the staircase. As she stood
aghast in the doorway, half blind with the
smoke, the apparent leader of the band ex-
claimed : " Best to finish the whole accursed
brood," and levelled his gun at her. As he
did so, one of his companions struck it up
and cried :
• I BE MUKDEE OF RYAN." 107
"Damn it all! Lave the colleen aloni
There was a flight struggle 1 ((.'tween the two
men, during which the crape fell from the
face of the man who wanted to shoot her,
and Xorali recognized Cassidy. Thinking her
hour was com.', she covered her face with
her hands, and prepared to meet her doom.
Another second and the gun was fired, the
charge burying itself innocuously in the roof
of the cabin. Still the girl stood, her face
buried in her hands, expecting every moment
to be her last. Minutes passed, and at Last
Nbrah ventured to raise her head and steal a
look around. The intruders had disappeared,
whilst at her feet lay the motionless forms of
her father and mother.
Norah sank upon the ground by their side,
and, slight experience as she had of death,
knew that payment of rent would never
trouble her father more, but her mothi r,
though wounded, was already coming to her
senses. A bitterer night in the course of hi r
108 THE MASTER OF BATHKELLY.
life it may be hoped that Norah By an is never
destined to have than that when she watched
by the corse of her murdered father and
tended her wounded mother till the sun rose.
eXs
-4-
CHAPTER VIII.
" CASSIDY TAKES TO THE MOUNTAINS."
When morning dawned, Nbrah felt that she
must go in search of help. The girl was worn
out with watching, and her nerves were
ittered by the terrible scene she had "one
through. Her mother, too, required the
doctor's aid and, though bearing her sufferings
1 travel}-, added to her daughter's misery by
her ceaseless enquiries for her husband. Why
did not Timothy com \ to her? it was unlike
him not to be by her bedside when she was
ill. Ah, was he hurt, too ? And poorXorali
felt that .she could not break to her Luckli
mother that Timothy Ryan would never utter
word, cross or kind, to an}- human being again.
e had composed her father's blood-stained
110 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
corse and covered his face decorously with a
cloth, and now she propped her mother up in
bed, dressed her and told her she must leave
her for a little, then wrapping her shawl
around her head she sped to the parish
doctor to entreat his help for her mother.
Xext she went to a neighbour with whom she
was on intimate terms, to ask one of the girls
to come over and help her in her sore need,
to comfort her in her great sorrow. Molly
Byrne willingly assented, and was preparing
to accompany Norah when Mr. Byrne appeared
upon the threshold. He listened gravely while
Molly briefly narrated the particulars of the
tragedy of the previous night, as she had just
gathered them from Norah, and then in a
a
somewhat husky voice and with a shamefaced
expression he said :
" Take off your shawl, girl ; I'll not have
vou mixed up in this business. Norah Ryan,
no one can be more sorry for you than I am.
Me heart just bleeds for your throuble. Your
LSSIDY TAKES TO THE MOUNTAIN ' 111
father, poor fellow, rest his sowl," and li
Mr. Byrne crossed himself , " was as straight a
man over a deal or a tumbler as anny in tl
barony, but I dursn't let Molly go with you.
You understand ? "
Bui she did not. She stood like one dazed
— how could anyone refuse her help in such
sore trouble as hers ? A low cry from Molly
as she hurst into tears first brought the
terrible fact home to her — that fact whi
Mr. Byrne had recognised as soon as he had
heard her story — that sin- was proscribed, that
the National League had exercised that pn\.
of excommunication which even the To;
have renounced for the last century and which
is solemnly >l< nounced&s inhuman, un-Christian-
like and unjustifiable, by the presenl occupa
of the chair of St. Peter. The cruellesl
weapon of the Middle Ages has hern repro-
duced in the nineteenth century: so much for
the progress of civilization !
Molly pn — 1 Ikt hand, bul \'<>rah snatcl
112 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
it impatiently away. Shrouding her head in
her shawl, she uttered no word, but passed out
and went home to her dead — dead whom no
man might bury. There the poor girl fairly
broke down, and as she crouched by her dead
father's side her passionate sobs fairly drowned
the low wailing of her mother. The doctor :
oh, yes, she could depend upon him. Dr.
Connolly had put his foot down firmly fromthe
first, and announced that he should give his
services whenever they were required, whether
those who called to him for aid were excom-
municated or not. He would chance his life
— a doctor was continuallv doing that — but
should the League make his residence in the
barony impossible, he would go. He could
get on much better without the people than
they could without him.
But, bar the doctor, who dared come to her
help? She had to nurse one parent and bury
the other as best she might, and a shiver ran
through the cirl's frame and she once more
"CASSIDY TAKES TO THE MOUNTAINS." 113
bowed her head, as she felt that her trouble
was greater than she could bear. Suddenly
there was a noise of wheels in the lane out-
side. "The docther ! " she -murmured, and
rose to open the door for him.
" Oh, my poor darling ! " exclaimed Katie
Eyre, as she caught her foster sister in her
arms, and kissed her passionately. " We
have just heard at the Castle of — of — what's
happened. The cowards ! I never saw papa
mad with anger before ; he swears he'll never
rest till he's brought the murderers to justice.
Oh ! Nbrah, Xorah " — and here Miss Eyre
fairly broke down and mingled her tears with
the fatherless girl's.
"Now," she continued, after indulging in a
good cry, "I have brought the waggonette
up, and papa says that you and your mother
are to come down to the Castle. Xo one," she
added, dropping her voice, "will dare help
you here."
"Xo," rejoined Xorah, sadly; "I asked
vol. ii. 25
114 THE MASTER OE EATIIKELLY.
Molly Byrne to come and stay with me a bit,
but her father wouldn't let her. He said he
dursn't."
" This self -constituted Vehmgericht is
shameful," cried Kate.
Miss Eyre was well read in Scott's novels,
and reminiscences of Anne of Gierstein
flashed across her mind.
" I passed Doctor Connolly on my way up,"
she continued. " He told me your mother
was wounded, too, and that we were to wait
till he had been here ; and papa, too, said he
should be up in the course of the morning,
but he had got one or two things to see to
first. I think," she added, softly, " it was
something about your father's death."
Here their conversation was interrupted by
the arrival of the doctor, who, after an
examination of Mrs. Ryan, briefly pointed
out to Miss Eyre that the carrying off of the
wounded woman and Norah to the Castle was
impracticable ! First of all, it would not be
kSSIDY TAKES TO THE MOUNTAINS." 115
prudenl to move Mrs. Ryan for two or three
days! "And besides," continued the doctor,
" there must be a coroner's inquest, and poor
Ryan cannot be left unwatched."
Both girls at once saw that the doctor's
reasons were unanswerable, and it was settled
accordingly that Mrs. Ryan and Norah should
remain in their own home till after the
funeral. The doctor still lingered, and the
reason why he did so soon became apparent.
Ratclifle Eyre, accompanied by a magistrate
and a posse of policemen, soon arrived on the
scene. It was speedily settled that the cottage
should be put under the protection of the police,
and that a coroner's inquest should be held on
tin' body of Timothy Ryan the next day.
"I'm going to ask you one question,
Xorah," said Uatcliffe Eyre, "and don't
answer it unless you like. Did von recognise
any of your father's murderers, and if so will
you give evidence against them ?"
" I recognised one," replied Nbrah, firmly,
25*
116 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
" and I'll swear against him before anv court
of justice in the counthry."
When Norah gave her evidence the next
day she swore unhesitatingly that Michael
Cassidy fired the shot that killed her father.
She had known him for years ! The crape
dropped from his face and she saw him
distinctly, and the result was a verdict of
wilful murder against Michael Cassidy and
others unknown.
Cassidy 's cabin had been closely watched
by the police from the hour they heard of the
crime. He was known as a notorious leader of
the National League, and was suspected of
beino- concerned in more than one of the
local outrages which had been perpetrated.
But it was useless ; it was the first time
Cassidy had been actually concerned in a
murder, and he had a wholesome dread of the
consequences. Me had not gone home after
the crime, but had betaken himself with all
haste to the mountains ; and it was well for
"CASSLDY TAKES TO THE Moi N l'AINs. "■ 117
him that he had clone so, for Ratcliffe J'.;.
had sworn to hang him as high as Hainan,
and was relentless as ;i sleuth-hound on his
t rail, but when a man reaches the Alsatia of
the mountains in that country, especially when
covered by the ssgis of the League, it is
hard to lay him by the heels, be his hands
steeped never so deep in blood.
The depths of Ratcliffe Eyre's nature were
stirred to their utmost by Ryan's murder.
The Master of Rathkelly had been a listless
man since his wife's death, but recent events
had roused him from his apathy. Abov<' all
did he resent the interference of this
American-nominated crew, who call them-
selves the representatives of the Irish Nation,
and whose power was sustained by murder,
mutilation, and proscription. Ryan had b
an old and favourite tenant, and as we know,
through his wife having nursed Miss Katie,
the bonds had been further strengthened
between the family and the Castle.
118 THE MASTER OF BATHKELLY.
Eyre was of the kind that, under such
circumstances, don't waste time grieving
over the dead. He had vowed to avenge
the death of his tenant, and with all the
tenacity of his nature he hounded on the
police to arrest the fugitive whom the dead
man's daughter had solemnly sworn was her
father's assassin. Pressed for monev too,
as he was, he was lavish of it in this cause ;
and so fiercely was the hunt conducted, that
again and again Cassidy escaped the clutches
of the police, or EatclifTe Eyre and his
myrmidons, by a bare half-hour. But if the
desire for vengeance was unslaked in one
man, a dogged spirit of savage resentment
was aroused in the other.
If Eyre thirsted to bring Cassidy to
account for his crime, Cassidv on the other
hand hungered for vengeance on the Master
of Rathkelly, and to settle matters with
Terence Elynn.
The League were much struck with the
1 ISSIDY TAKES TO THE MOUNTAINS." L19
impression thai their first blow had produced,
and were resolved to supplement it as
speedily as possible with a second, which
they concluded would place the whole
districl prostrate al their feet. Thai Cassiay
was in constant communication with the
local branch of the League, need scarcely
be said. A man like him, placed without
the pale, and with a verdict of wilful murder
recorded against him, was an emissary they
were only too glad to have at their disposal ;
and Mike Cassidy fiercely argued, that if it
had been necessary to make an example of
Ryan for paying his rent, it was no less
necessary to do so with Terence Flynn.
True, they had not the direct proof against
linn that they had hail against Ryan, but
there could be no moral doubt but that he
was a like offender. " And," continued
Alike, in his argument, "if the League is to
Live, it must make its ordthers respected."
There were those presi at a! the meeting
120 THE .MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
who, though they did not venture to say so,
thought that the counsel of a man with a
rope round his neck should be taken with
some misgiving. But, flushed with the
success of their first £>reat outrage, McDermot
and the majority of the local council agreed
that a second blow could not be struck too
soon, and, yielding to the arguments of the
blood-stained Cassidv, it was determined that
Terence Flynn should follow poor Ryan to
the land of shades.
By this time Xorah and her mother had
been moved down to the Castle. The cabin
was locked up, and the farm — one of the best
on the estate — stood untenanted. Mrs. Ryan
was too ill to manage it, even if she had been
competent ; but she wished to resign it,
though both she and her landlord well knew
that no man on the country side would dare
offer himself as a tenant. Eyre, too, could
not help noticing that his tenantry looked
askance at him whenever he came across
"CASSIDY TAXES TO THE MOUNTAINS." l-l
them. It was not the look of sullen dislil
and hatred, it was the furtive look of men
who dared no longer acknowledge him. Eyre
was far too shrewd a man not to understand
this.
"Not boycotted yet," he muttered to him-
self, " but on the verge of it."
The Master of Rathkelly was right. If he
had not as yet been proscribed, his case had
been taken into consideration. He was one
of the landlords whom the League most
detested in that locality, on account of his
haughly defiance of their authority. He was
now adding to his misdemeanours by shelter-
ing the wife and daughter of their latest
victim, and by the strenuous eflorts he was
making to apprehend the murderer. It
went for nothing in his behalf that Mrs.
Ryan and Norah were two helpless women,
to whom no one else dared oiler help
in their hour of need. Nor was it to be
taken into consideration that, as an active
122 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
magistrate, Eatcliffe Eyre was doing no
more than his duty in endeavouring to
apprehend a criminal who richly deserved
to expiate his offending. McDermot and
his friends marked the relentless pertinacity
with which Eyre pursued his quarry, and
it somewhat perturbed them. Such an
active upholder of the law would interfere
not a little with their schemes. The apostles
of anarchy and disorder stood some chance
of seeing their followers cowed by the up-
holding of the statute book, and that in-
fringement of the sixth commandment should
be speedily followed by the dispensation of
the stern old Mosaic law — " An eye for an
eye," "A tooth for a tooth," "A life for a
life," a doctrine extremely inconvenient to
the professors of assassination.
It need hardly be said that no threats or
fear of the League kept Terence from con-
stantly going down to Kathkelly, and Norah
clung to him in her sorrow, and leant on him
■ I iSSIVY TAKES 'I" THE M01 MAINS.- L23
more than she had ever done in the days
before her father's death. All the girl's
coquettish ways had vanished, and her pale
sad face looked fondly up at her lover in a
manlier that made Terence's heart ache.
The young man's very nature seemed changed ;
he had been excessively shocked at the brutal
murder of Ryan, and was perfectly aware that
his own turn might come next. His mother,
too, was ailing, and the Ryan tragedy had
been a tremendous shock to her. They had
been close neighbours and intimate frier
from (lie day Timothy b'yan brought his bride,
then a slip of a colleen, home. Terence felt
that he now held his home on a most pre-
carious tenure, not from any difference with
his landlord, but on accounl of this unlicensed
body who had taken on themselves to arbi-
trate between the owners of land and their
tenants. ]( they would only leave him in pea
during his mother's life-time— she was a
weak old woman now and her days in i
121 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
world were not likelv to be of km" duration
— he would be content, lie would make
a home for himself in some other country
where the League should cease from troubling
and workers were at peace.
" No, Terence," his sweetheart would say,
" I am yours whenever you can claim me. I
won't marry you now ; if I did I should
only bring the Moonlighters upon you. I
should, perhaps, see you dead at my feet,
unless in their mercy they killed me too.
We must wait for betther times, darlint."
Terence Flynn kissed and comforted the
girl. In good truth, he knew Norah was far
safer under IxatclifTe Eyre's roof than she
could be under his own, and that the girl
had identified the assassin of her father, and
was prepared to give evidence against him,
was now known all through the country.
C1IA1TER IX.
"PROSCRIBED IN Till: HOUSE OF GOD.''
It is a big night at Westminster. Govern-
ment is intent on passing what their opponents
stigmatize as a Coercion Act, but which, in
the eyes of all logical, thinking men, is simply
an act to compel the better observance of law
and order in Ireland. Honorable members
for Ireland dissent in a manner which, to
paraphrase Wordsworth, is as "four score
groaning like one." Eminent Orator, more
firmly possessed than ever with the idea that
the salvation of the kingdom depends on his
shortly being restored to power, ami utterly
oblivious of the repressive measures he
took under similar eirenmstances some fi W
126 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
years ago, thunders forth, " We do not now, as
in the days described by Lord Cornwallis,
employ torture and murder as instruments of
Irish Government."
Flippant junior ornament to the Treasury
Bench springs to his feet, and jerks in the
observation: "Quite so, but the National
League do." Eminent Orator rising in his
wrath, proceeds to administer a severe castiga-
tion to his juvenile commentator, which only
produces a titter from the culprit's friends,
and a whispered observation that " Dandy
Church had drawn the old 'un again ! "
That Messrs. Last, Carmody, and other Irish
patriots, had much to say on the subject, it
is needless to mention, though the pacification
of Ireland, perhaps, was not exactly the thin^
these gentlemen wanted. The tranquillizing
of Ireland meant the collapse of the National
League, and, to men like Las1 and Carmody,
this meant the doing away with their business.
Politics is a game which requires a cool head,
- PROSCRIBED IN THE HOUSE OF GOD." U7
but though the chiefs may play as calmly as
if they were at the chess table, yet they are
compelled to trust in a greal measure to their
subordinates, and the chiefs of the Irish
Brigade must have more than once cursed the
excessive zeal of their too zealous supporters.
Eminenl Orator having confided to the
Eouse that his utterances of three or four
years ago had been altogether mi-understood ;
and having, after an eloquent speech of an
hour and forty-five minutes, left his hearers
still more fogged than before as to whit
might be his sentiments on the Irish, or
indeed, any other question, sat down amid
tumultuous cheering. His auditor- clear on
one point only, to wit, thai he was quite ready
to assume office again whenever he could
manage to oust the occupants of the Treasury
Bench from their presenl position. .Air.
hast distinguished himself by a speech which
for fatuous iteration surpassed everything he
had yet achieved, while I Ian ( !armody exhibited
123 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
a command of vituperation exceeding all yet
known at St. Stephen's, and after having been
called to order some half-dozen times, finally
attained the distinction of being suspended
for a month.
Party feeling runs high. Nobody concerns
themselves much about the violent diatribes
of the Irish Press, but the Eadical papers
rave about the shameful interference with
" the liberties of the subject " — good stock
phrase, which has done duty now for some
centuries. Flippant junior ornament of
Treasury Bench suggests in smoking-room that
the Pads have not quite mastered the phrase,
the bill is to suppress " the liberties taken by
the subject," that murder, as the bard of the
Ingoldsbys puts it, is t( coming it strong," and
the awful tragedy of the Ryans is a charge
which the Irish Brigade find easier to
disown than to extenuate. But even the
efforts of the paid patriots of Hibernia could
do no more than delay the bill. Its passing
"PROSCRIBED IX Till-: BOUSE OF GOD." 129
was inevitable, and passed it accordingly was
by what the Radical prints pleasantly stigma-
tized as a brutal Conservative majority. And
then the prophets went out into the byeways
and prophesied that Home Iinle could not be
long delayed — prophesying after the manner
of their race thai which they wished to come
to pass. The prophets of Ireland were perhaps
an exception to this rule, neither wishing nor
expecting that this dubious boon should be
bestowed upon their country.
When the news came across St. George's
Channel that the Crimes Act was passed,
Messrs McDermot, Cassidy and Co., although
slightly disconcerted, were by no means
seriously so. They had seen this sort of thing
before. The law of the English parliament,
after having been enforced in half-hearted
fashion for a year or two, had been usually done
away with by the new Government that had
superseded the old, and things went on once
more in the old fashion, and the National
vol. n 26
130 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
League once more ruled over all Ireland, with
the exception of Ulster. Messrs McDermot,
Cassidy and Co., their heads a little turned
by the terror they had caused in the district,
and the almost complete rule they had
obtained over the entire community, meditated
deeply on striking one more blow to con-
solidate their dominion. That Cassidy should
take this line was but natural. He had
denounced Terence Flynn, and to do away
with him and, if possible, with Norah Eyan and
the Master of Eathkelly, would gratify not
only his private hatred but, as he believed, do
away with all witnesses of his crimes.
Messrs Carmody and Last are rather aghast
at the promptitude with which their followers
have responded to their inflammatory
harangues. The word has been passed
through the Irish ranks that it is inexpedient
for the present to excite the people, that for
the present all outrage is to be discouraged,
and Moonlighters are at a discount. It is
- PROSCRIBED IN THE HOUSE OF GOD." 131
sy to fire the prairie, but what man can
aires! the flames? Kindle the passions of the
people, and don'1 be surprised if they are
speedily out of your hand ! Messrs. Last and
Carmody had set a conflagration going round
Callowtown which they were now powerless
to restrain. Crafty McDermot found in it
the indulgence of two passions apt to be dear
to mosl men, power and the greed of gold,
for a fair sprinkling of money from America
passed through those close-clutching lingers
of his, and neither he nor the fugitive Cassidy
were inclined to stop in their career of inti-
midation. A reign of terror must be always
progressive! Let those who groan under it
once cease to fear, and the tyranny is dead.
Nbrah Ryan, so far, has hardly set foot
outside the gates of Kathkelly Castle. The
Police Officer has frankly told her that her
life is no longer safe; and insists upon
that, when she wishes to iro outside its
gates, she should do so under a police
26*
132 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
escort. He further counsels Mr. Eyre to put
himself under similar protection ; but the
stern Master of Kathkelly replied fiercely
that there never was an Eyre yet whose
hand couldn't keep his head, and that if the
Moonlighters paid him a visit it would pro-
bably be " bad " for the Moonlighters ! The
officer could only shake his head, for he
knew well that Katclifle Eyre was a marked
man by the League ; and that the strenuous
attempts that he not only had made, but was
yet making, to apprehend the assassin,
Cassidy, had still further inflamed them
against him.
One thing that Norah was very anxious
about was to attend mass. She longed to
ask comfort from her Maker, and to make
arrangements with the priest that sundry
masses should be said for the soul of her
murdered father. She was dreadfully nervous
about this, her first appearance in public.
She could not forget her ^reat friend, Molly
"PROSCRIBED IN THE BOUSE OF GOD." 133
Byrne, had noi been allowed to come to her
in her trouble. Surely her neighbours would
show some sympathy for a girl Left fatherless
under such terrible circumstances. How if
they all shrank from her? She wondered
how she should bear it, if they did. She
confided her fears to her young mistress,
and high-spirited Katie at once exclaimed :
" They can never be such cowards, Nbrah!
thouLih that terror of the League is a thing
one never could have believed in if one
had not seen it ! I will go with vou. I am
not of your faith — but that does not matter —
there can be no reason why I shouldn't sit
beside you."
So when Sunday came, the two girls
started — under police escort — for the chapel,
which stood about a mile from Rathkelly.
They arrived there in good time, and seated
themselves quietly in by no means promi-
nent places. Gradually the building began
to fill, and Xorah, whose head was bent, and
134 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
her face buried in her hands, was not at first
recognized by the congregation ; but Miss
Eyre's face was fully exposed, and, of course,
perfectly well known to everyone in the
chapel. It naturally attracted attention to
her companion, and soon it was whispered
around that Norah Ryan was in their midst !
A hurried consultation took place, and then
the men, with one accord, rose and walked
silently out of the chapel. Norah cowered
on her knees, but not so Miss E} T re ! She
rose to her feet, and, with flushed face, and
her little head thrown well back, looked
defiantly at the men as they filed past her.
To do them justice, not one dared meet (ho
dark blue eyes that flashed with such ineffable
scorn. Hardly had the men disappeared,
when an ominous flutter was seen amongst
the women. Another two minutes, and they
had followed the example of their lords and
masters ; and the officiating priest, with the
two girls, were left the sole tenants of the
"TKOSCKIBED IN THE EOUSE OF GOl'." 136
building. Norah's prayers were soon said, and
her interview with the priest was soon over.
As soon as they were outside the chapel,
Miss Eyre's wrath found vent, and in no
measured terms did she denounce the
cowardly agitators who were ruining her
country.
"Ah! what have I done?" said Norah,
sobbing ; " they have killed my father, and
now they have cast me out from among them
as if I was a leper, and only because I tould
it was Cassidy done it. What girl could do
otherwise ? "
"Hush! Norah," said Miss Eyre. "It's
horrible to think that men can treat a woman
in such a manner ! The head of your ( Jhurch
pronounces it unjustifiable before God, and I
think that I have heard that the greal
Austrian general who treated the Hungarian
women in some such fashion was well hooted
by the crowd when he came to London."
\or;ih walked on in silence; the girl was
136 THE MASTER OF E ATI! KELLY.
perfectly dazed by the position in which she
found herself. Her father dead ! her home
broken up ! the cattle all maimed and muti-
lated, and herself a pariah in her own little
world ! She could not understand it ; what
had brought all these horrors on her head ?
As far as she could make out, her poor
father's sole ofTence had been the paying
what he owed. Norah had been brought up
with a somewhat indistinct idea that there
were divers pains and penalties incumbent on
those who did not pay their debts. And the
policy of the Land League puzzled her poor
little brains as it did those of many others.
Eatcliffe Eyre was furious when he heard
the shameful story of that morning. " They
may beat me," he said ; " they have alienated
my tenants ! they have boycotted my hounds !
they have attempted — ah ! never mind that !
— but, by the Living God, I'll never bow
my neck to the orders of the League !
Whatever happens, I'll play the game out,
■■ i'i;osci;ii;]-;i> in THE HOUSE of goi>." I \i
and, if it comes to the worst, I'll look for a
home on the other side of St. George's
( lhannel."
From this out there was no disguise about
the enmity between Ratcliffe Eyre and the
League. Although he still scorned the aid
of the police, the bolts, bars, and fastenii
of the house were jealously looked to every
evening. Greatly as the establishment 1
been reduced, yet the two or three old
servitors who were left were men he could
thoroughly rely on. The old butler, who had
been in his service from his youth and who
had periodically given warning during the
last twenty years, could not possibly have
pictured to himself any other place than that
he held at Rathkelly Castle, and to do him
justice, though his wages were more irregu-
larly paid than they had ever been before, he
never even hinted at leaving the service of
his life-time. Poor < I'Reilly had partially re-
covered from the skirmish at Ballater Goh .
138 THE MASTER OF EATII KELLY.
and though his vocation was gone, still hung
about the place, looking after the two or
three horses that yet remained, and doing
any odd jobs that might come to his hand.
Mr. Eyre had lately insisted on his sleeping
in the house. Both he and the butler were
old men, but they understood how to handle
firearms, and both guns and pistols were
plentiful at Rathkelly. The garrison indeed
was stronger than the outside world gave
it credit for ; O'Reilly, though an elderly
man could shoot, and veterans of the Old
Guard had before now proved themselves
more than a match for the wild onslaught of
the conscripts. One more auxiliary might
perhaps be counted. Miss Katie, amongst her
many unfeminine accomplishments, reckoned
considerably dexterity in the use of both
pistol and shot-gun, and with her daring
temper might prove a very useful recruit
should the Castle be laid siege to in earnest.
As for the Master, there was never a man in
'•PROSCRIBED IN THE HOUSE OFGOJ'.' I '
lip' barony but would shrink from meeting
him face to face. Although getting on in
years, his fierce, ruthless temper and ex-
cellence in all manner of field sports, whether
with horse, rod, or gun, was a tradition in
the country, and nobody doubted that the
man who in fair fighl attempted Ratcliffe
Eyre's life carried his own in his hand.
The route had come at last, and the — th
had received orders to proceed to Cork, and
thence embark for Bristol, Aldershot being
their final destination. The distracted state of
the country made no difference to this arram
ment, as the place of the — th was at once
taken by another of Her Majesty's regiments.
Such officers as had been on visiting terms
with the Rathkelly people hastened to pay
their farewell visits, but none had been so
intimate at the Castle as Sturton and Tom
Chester, and these two drove over somew]
sadly to make their adieux.
"It's not leaving the country, Tom, one
140 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
feels'sorry for. In the old days, for a sports-
man one could ask no better quarters ; but,
as we've seen, that's all over now. But I'm
real sorry for those we are going to say good-
bye to. Eyre's a marked man, and must be
a well-nigh ruined one to boot ; and it's hard
lines on that girl."
" I'd take care of her fast enough, if she
would onlv give me the right," rejoined
young Chester.
" Don't despair, Tom. She's young, and
don't know what she likes, as yet."
" She knows what she doesn't, though,"
replied the other moodily ; " and the minute
I try to speak seriously to her she laughs it
off, and evades coming to the point."
" Well, you'll have a chance to-day," re-
joined Sturton. " The Master is certain to
go in for a talk with me, and that will leave
} r ou a clear field with the young lad}'." And
here they pulled up at the gates of Eathkelly.
CHAPTER X.
" RETAINED FOR THE GRAND MILITARY."
Tin-: — th have arrived at the permanent
barracks at Aldershot, and ere Sturton has
been a couple of days in the camp, he is
apprised that Colonel Helton's regiment of
Hussars has been telegraphed as on its way
up Channel, and may be hourly expected.
Be wonders what the Beltons will do. Will
Mrs. Belton join her husband, or will s
continue to keep on that house in London?
Although his feelings for Grace can hardly
be yet said to be extinguished, he is quite
aware that it is utterly dead on her side : thai
she likes him as an old friend, but nothing
more. Still, he thinks if the Beltons set up
their menage there, it will make that great
142 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
dust-ridden camp considerably more endur-
able. Being an enthusiastic soldier is one
thing - , but it is quite compatible with a desire
that your surroundings, when oIF duty, should
be pleasant. Aldershot, though healthy, is
rather trying in one respect, the weather
never quite suits it ; either the plague of dust
or mud predominates.
But Sturton was not left loner in doubt on
that point ; no sooner had the — th Hussars
marched into camp than he left his card on
their mess, and called pointedly on their
Colonel. As an old friend of his wife and
her family, Belton received him cordially,
and told him that Grace would join him there
as soon as he had got a house ready for her.
"As for the youngsters, he added, "it's just
time they went to a small school of some
sort. I don't hold with rearing boys at home,
they grow up soft. Times are pretty bad, I
fancy, all around Rathkelly?"
" I should say they couldn't be worse,"
"RETAINED FOB ill!: GRAND_MILITARY." U3
rejoined Sturton, "only I feel sure they will
be. Thanks to the League, all reliance
between man and man is destroyed, and no
one would be rash enough to invesl capital
in a country so torn by internal dissension ;
luil Mrs. Belton can tell you all this better
than I can. I'll say good-bye now, Colonel, for
no doubt you've lots to arrange at present.''
"Good-bye. -Mind you come and see us
when we're settled."'
To this Sturton gave a hearty assent, and
so the two men parted.
There was one man at Aldershot to whom
the salt seemed to have lost its savour, and
that was Tom Chester, lie had nerved him-
self to have it out with Katie Eyre that Last
day at Kathkelly, and though she had parried
the attack laughingly, as long as she could,
he had compelled her to listen to him. The
girl had been serious enough then, and more
sweet and gentle with him than she had
ever been before. I'-ni she had told him
144 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
firmly, though softly, it never could be ;
that she had a great esteem for him,
should always be proud to count him among
her friends, but that she had no love to
give him such as he deserved, and she hoped
he might one clay win
No one who knew Katie would have given
her credit for the feeling and trood taste she
displayed in declining her first offer.
" I have asked you too soon," said Tom,
in the bitterness of his disappointment. " If
I had only given you more time you
mii^ht "
" No, Mr. Chester," interrupted the girl
eagerly, as her face flushed. " It would have
been all the same ; I could never be your
wife."
" I suppose there's someone you like
better," replied the young man moodily.
" Mr. Chester," cried Katie indignantly,
and crimsoning up to the roots of her hair
in spite of herself.
"RETAINED FOR THE GRAND MILITARY." [45
"I beg pardon," he replied, "I had no
business to say that. I am afraid there's
nothing more for me to say than good bye,
and wish you all happiness in the future,"
and he stretched forth his hand.
Miss Eyre took it in silence, but made no
reply. And so finished Tom Chester's wooing
at Rathkelly.
Colonel Belton lost very little time in
establishing himself in a house at no great
distance from the permanent barracks, where
Grace at once joined him. Sturton and Tom
Chester speedily became intimates of the
Belton menage, and to the latter Grace was
always exceedingly gracious. She had a
pretty accurate inkling of how it had fared
with him at Rathkelly, and felt that he had
deserved to have sped better in his love
chase. "A foolish child, that sister of mine,"
thought Grace, judging her as the experien*
matron usually does the girl who declines an
advantageous settlement, quite forgetting the
VOL. n. 27
146 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
time when she had her ideal of love's young
dream, and ways and means were as nothing
compared to two hearts beating in unison.
Well, that phase does not last long, and it
is as well, perhaps, for the hearts don't beat
quite so evenly when' there is trouble about
meeting the weekly bills.
" I am afraid things are going from bad to
worse with papa," said Mrs. Belton to Sturton,
one afternoon, as he loitered by the side of
her tea-table.
"It's the same with the landed interest
everywhere. Here, they endeavour to make
the best of it ; in Ireland, they make the
worst of it. This incessant agitation does
no good."
"No. My poor Aunt Jemima — such a
handsome old woman she is, papa used always
to say none of us girls were in it with Aunt
Jim — she had a nice little income for a
spinster, but she's had to give up her house,
sell her furniture, and take refuge in a second
" RETAINED FO] GRAND MT1.TTARY." 117
rate London boarding-house. Hard lines at
her age, and no assurance that her income
won't vanish altogether."
Sturton made no reply, lie had no com-
fort to suggest, and thought indeed thai
nothing was more likely to happen than th
Miss Jemima should find the humble pittance
she counted on had disappeared.
" How does Katie bear up against all this
trouble?" continued Mrs. Belton. w - .She
must find life getting somewhat sad at
Rathkelly."
"She's astonished me by the way she
faces it. I regarded her till quite lately as
a rather precocious child, but circumstances
seem to have made her a woman all at
once."
"Yes," said Mrs. Belton musingly, "lean
fancy that. It often is so. Some of our
most butterfly officers in India turned out
veritable paladins when the tug came. Never
believe your dandies can't tight, or that your
27*
148 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
girls have not a dash of the Maid of Sara-
gossa in them when tried."
" No," replied Sturton. " I've gone through
my baptism of fire, and seen a young one,
who was almost the butt of the regiment,.
lead on his men through a 'feu cVenfer ' as
recklessly as any Bayard could have done."
" Mr. Chester was very sweet on her, was
he not ? "
" You can't expect me to tell secrets out
of school," rejoined Sturton laughing.
" No reason you should," said Mrs. Belton.
" I know he was. Pity she couldn't fancy
him. He was a good match for her."
" Plenty of time to set that right," replied
Sturton. "If Tom is in earnest, he won't
take a girl's first rebuff for an answer."
" He'll get none other," said Grace. " I'm
sorry for it, but she'll never marry Mr.
Chester ; good thing, though, it would be
for her."
" Why not ? "
'•RETAINED FOB THE GRAND -MILITARY." 149
"Oh! I can't say. We know these things
intuitively. You men are so stupid."
" Perhaps so," returned Sturton, as he rose
to take leave. " I can only retort that your sex
are so incomprehensible, which is a confession
of ignorance about the most interesting study
of our lives."
"Very prettily put. Good-bye, Captain
Sturton. Mind you come again before long.
George wants to see you about a bit of
riding. You mayn't understand us, but
when you've to reckon with your fellows
in a race you certainly require no prompt-
ing."
"Whal is it? " enquired Sturton briefly.
" You must see him, but 1 think he wants
vou to ride something For him in the Grand
Military. The two or three we have in
the regiment, that are fair horsemen, are
engaged on their own account, and George is
a good stone too heavy. Come in and
him about it."
150 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
" Certainly. If he can't do better I'll be
his substitute with pleasure."
"Do better," laughed Mrs. Belton. "No
affectation of modesty, sir. You won for
Katie, mind you do as much for me."
Mrs. Belton saw no more of Sturton for
two or three days, and was just beginning to
wonder what had become of him, when the
truant made his appearance.
" I have run in to say good-bye," he
exclaimed. " I am off this evening. General
Carnegie, who was my first chief, has just got
the Western command, and he has offered to
take me on his staff."
" We shall be sorry to lose you, but I
suppose it is a good thing for you," rejoined
Mrs. Belton.
" Yes," he replied. " Next to being on
active service, one's best chance of getting on
nowadays is staff work of some sort."
" I suppose so," she said, musingly, " but
you must see George before you go. I think
"RETAINED FOB THE GRAND MILITARY." 151
I heard him come in just now,"' and so saying
Mrs. Belton touched the bell, and told the
servant to let his master know Captain
Stnrton was in t lie drawing-room.
The colonel entered the room in a few
minutes. A tall, line-looking man, the beau
ideal of a dragoon if somewhat tall for an
hussar. He congratulated Sturton as they
shook hands, saying: "I heard of it at the
Adjutant-General's odi -Nice thing for
you, and Carnegie, as yon know, is a
h! good fellow. Grace told you I'd a
favour to ask of you — that I want you to
ride for me in the Grand Military in
spring 1
"Yes, and I told Mrs. Helton I would. I
> 1 1 a 1 1 have no trouble with Carnegie about a
week's leave for the 'Soldiers' races,' I'm
sure."
" It's very good of you. The horse should
have a very decenl chance, but I was at my
wit's end for a jock. I've bin in India SO
152 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
long I've rather lost touch of the gentlemen
riders."
" Never fear. Captain Sturton won't fail
us," said Mrs. Belton, gaily.
" JSTo ; but even if I did }-ou know how to
replace me."
" Indeed, I do not," rejoined Grace.
" Yes, if anything unforeseen should
prevent niy riding, ask Tom Chester."
"Mr. Chester!"
" Yes, you saw him ride his first steeple-
chase, Mrs. Belton. He was riding an
awkward horse, only just schooled to a bank
country, and the pair ran green. Still he
rode that race right well till he fell into the
usual novice's error, he was a little too eager
to get home ; he'll do better next time."
"Yes," said Grace, "I recollect it very
well, and there was a moment when papa
thought Loadstone would win."
" Just so," replied Sturton, laughing, "and
the time's not far ofT when they will not only
"RETAINED FOB THE GRAND MILITARY." 153
cry ' Chester wins,' but he will win. In racing
slang, Mrs. Belton, 'Never let him run
loose.' "
" That means always back him for a little,"
rejoined Mrs. Helton.
" Exactly. The colonel knows what I
mean. And now good-bye to both of you,"
and with a cordial pressure of the hands
Sturton took his departure.
That .Mrs. Belton in her letters home should
mention that the — th were quartered at
Aldershot, and (hat she saw a good deal of
Sturton and Chester, was but natural. Katie
in her now lonely lite received this intelligence
with morbid jealousy.
"Does she want them all?" she murmured,
angrily, perfectly regardless of the fact that
one of them, at all events, she had herself
ected. "It's too bad of Grace. She's
married herself, and I'm sure it'-- bad form to
keep a lot of men dangling about her."'
Katie Eyre had set her passionate little
154 THE MASTEE 0E EATHKELLY.
heart on one man, and it was gall and ver-
juice to her to think that this man apparently
preferred her married sister to herself. There
had been no doubt about it ; while the — th
had been quartered at Conroy, Sturton had
taken much more pleasure in Mrs. Belton's
society than in her own. He had been
courteous enough, but the amused smile
which had occasionally pla} 7 ed about his lips
at her petulance had irritated her to madness.
He would regard her as a child, and Katie,
somewhat precocious for her years, felt that,
whatever she might look, she had become a
woman. Girls of her ai>e can be very much
in earnest in their first love-dream, and that
the object of their worship should fail to
recognize the prize he has won naturally
exasperates them. " Were it not for Grace,"
Kate argued, " Captain Sturton would have
been at my feet long ago. As it was he
could not forget that old affair of years gone
b} T , and it was scandalous," she said passion-
"RETAILED FOE THE GEAND MILITAEY." 155
ately to herself, "that Mrs. BeltoD should
strive to keep alive thai old attachment."
.Miss Eyre was, as we know, by no means
accurate in her deductions ; we are not wont
to be at seventeen ; and when our love
affairs at thai age do nol run smooth, whi
they rarely do, are wont to rail bitterly
against those either real or imaginary, whom
we conceive to have interfered with them.
We fall in love in those days usually with the
ideal, we drape our idol in robes of our own
weaving, and rage to find it insensible to
the incense we burn before it. Later on
we have learnt better, and expect, at all
events, more or less reciprocity from the out-
set. Life, as Mrs. Belton justly surmised,
was very dull for Katie just now. and the
girl had little to do but to grind her white
teeth and fume, after the manner of most
disappointed young women.
Times indeed were going very hard with
the districl all round C'allowtown. The iron
156 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
yoke of the League was upon them, and they
were groaning under a despotism such as had
not been known in the United Kingdom
during the century. Good old tenants who
had been on friendly terms with their land-
lords, such as those on the Eathkelly barony,
were beginning to murmur. Their landlords
had endeavoured to meet the bad times by a
deduction of thirty or more per cent, in their
rents, and they had been seduced into rebellion
against their old masters by the promise of
holding their farms rent-free. If they were to
pay this assessed rent to the League, as more
than one of them grumbled, " I'd as soon pay
it to ould Eyre himself ; he was a good sort,
anny way ! and at all events, if we paid him we
ran no risk of eviction ! it's little McDermot
could do for us if that came about, nor that
Last and Dan Carmody either." They might
get drunk with enthusiasm at the fervid
harangues of their leaders, but the farmers
generally had no very great respect for them,
"BETAINED FOB THE GRAND MILITARY." 157
they were beginning to recognize that this
political dream, although a very comfortable
thing for those — well, let us say engaged in
promoting it — should it be carried out,
would make their labourers their ma
Communism, or the redistribution of pro-
pert}-, is always in favour of the gentleman
who has least. The Crimes Act had passed,
and the question was whether the Government
would dare to make use of it now they had
obtained the power. Blustering subordinates
like McDermot, trembling for their pocket-
money, argued that it should be met by a
strong counter demonstration on the part of
" a down-throdden" nationality. And though
their more astute leaders mmht counsel
prudence privately, yet most assuredly
their public harangues were not calculated
to impress it.
As the old French defender of capital
punishment said, it was k ' messieurs Les
assassins!" who commenced! And it was
15S THE MASTER OF EATIIKELLY.
getting high time that the moonlight mur-
derer should be emphatically convinced that
the rope awaited him if convicted, and that
mutilation, boycotting, and such crimes would
also be taken prompt cognizance of by the
law. And as these manifold offences meet
their deserts once more arises that well-worn
national cry of " Justice for Oireland !"
^g)
CHAPTER XL
■• BY HIS MOTHER'S DEATH BED."
K.vrt i.int. Eyre continues his search for
Cassidy with untiring perseverance, and as
Jack Blake said to his wife, "if the bring-
Lng of -Moonlighters to justice were always
carried out with the persistence Eyre has
brought to the task, faith they would find
murder too dangerous an amusement to
indulge in."' There was a heavy reward,
offered by Government, for Mike's appre-
hension, which, combined with the unflagging
raids of the police amongst the mountains,
made the criminal's position almost un-
endurable ; again and again he had got
notice of Che approach of his pursuers, onl}
just in time to escape falling into the toils
160 THE MASTER 0? RATHKELLY.
— still whisky was plenty in the Galtees
and though hard hunted Cassidy was like
a wolf at bay yearning only to rend the
hunters before he died — if die he must.
That the Nationalists should endeavour to
make capital even out of this was only to
be expected. McDermot and others exclaimed
loudly against the brutal tyranny of the
Master of Bathkelly in " hounding a man
to his doom." Good stock property expres-
sion of Dan Carmody's this, which had
been appropriated by his admirers.
The consequence of all these rides through
the mountains in pursuit of the murderer, was
that Batcliffe Eyre got to know the police
much more intimately than he had done
previously ; the officer especially was a very
smart officer and an intelligent man.
"Mr. Eyre," he said one day as they were
riding home, after another unsuccessful raid
in the Galtees. " You really ought not to
move about without an escort. We know
"BY JI is MOTHER'S DEATH BED." 16]
a good deal we don't talk of, and though
I can't say that any attack has been
actually planned upon you, yet, I do know
that you're a marked man and that your
lif^ may be attempted any time."
"Thank you, Collins," was the stern reply,
"I cany my escort here," and Eatcliffe Eyre
just touched his breast pocket.
" May I ask if you were ever shot at ? "
asked the officer, and he looked keenly at
his companion as he put the question.
' : Why do you ask ? " rejoined the other.
"I'll tell you/' replied the officer.
"When you were brought before the bench
at Callowtown, about that business of McDer-
mot's, il came to my knowledge, from a source
that I could depend upon, that this man
Cassidy had bragged in his cups, the night.
b fore, that you shouldn't sleep in Eathkelly
on the morrow, that if the magistrates didn't
prevent you, he would, that it would be lucky
for you if you were put in prison, and a deal
VOL. II. I'S
162 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
more bras? of that sort. I knew his lease was
out and that you had given him due notice
that you wouldn't renew. Putting this and
that together, I honestly thought that your
life was in danger that afternoon, and I
ordered a couple of my men to follow you
pretty closely. However, you slipped away
so quickly that you got much more start
than we intended. However, for all that, I
don't suppose you were ever more than a
quarter of a mile in front of them. Just
before they came to Stapleton's plantation
they heard a shot, and at once pushed rapidly
forward. They saw nothing of you, but
shortly after passing the plantation met
Terence Flynn, who told them you had just
passed, riding quickly. They continued to
follow you till they came to the gates of
Rathkelly, and then, as they could see
nothing of you, rode quietly away. I saw
Flynn myself some days afterwards; like my
men, he had heard the shot, but knew
"BY HIS MOTHER'S DEA1 II BED." 163
nothing more, and we both kept our
thoughts to ourselves. There are only two
men who really know the story of tl
shot Mr. Eyre, that's yourself and the
man who fired it."
Ratcliffe Eyre listened attentively to the
officer's story. Yes, he recollected thai
shot, and had never doubled whose was the
finger thai pulled the trigger ; but he made
no reply to his companion's question, and
thoimli the latter scanned his featui
O
narrowly, he could make nothing out of
Eyre's stern impassable face. Once more
the officer urged the advisability of Mr.
Eyre's putting himself under police pro-
tection.
" You see, sir, when they've once commit-
ted murder — have taken to the mountains
and are hard hunted — the}' are apt to •.
tigerish like. This fellow, Cassidy's, chief
diversion now consists in attending secrel
meetings of the League, where he is made a
28*
161 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
bit of a hero of, and listens to the most inflam-
matory harangues. It's my impression that
when a man has once committed a cold-
blooded murder of this kind he don't stick
very much at a second. I fancy Cassidy will
give more trouble yet before we catch him."
However, once more the owner of Eathkelly
declined police protection, and with a friendly
nod to the officer and his men, turned of!
on his homeward way.
Mr. McDermot, in the meantime, was more
determined than ever that it was expedient
another blow should be struck. It had been
determined to do so, and what good was there
in delaying. Wasn't Mike Cassidy just the
boy for the job, and wouldn't he lead them as
he had done before. Mr. McDermot, like his
betters, was consulting his own interest in
consolidating the Fiei^n of Terror, and had no
intention of risking his own neck in the carry-
ing out of his schemes. He fancied a few
more midnight murders would thoroughly
- BY HIS MOTHERS DEATH BED." 165
cow the authorities, and could not perceive
thai if the Government only resolutely carried
out the Crimes Act, the death of the League
was a mere matter of time. What he chiefly
feared was the contributions from America
falling short, and lie was aware thai their
supporters over there expected a show for
heir money.
" What are we waiting for ? " exclaimed
the blatant orator. " Wasn'1 it decided thai
'Ferry Flynn should be the next example,
and be jabers, the sooner it's done the
tther."
" Poor divil ! " exclaimed another member
of the Committee, " they tell me his ould
mother is dvin'."
" An' what if she is?" replied Mr. McDer-
mot. " Is an ould woman's life to stand
betune us and thegreal caus s of our counthry.
No, bhoys, a few weeks can't matther to her,
and I tell ye days, nav hours, does to us. Pass
the whiskey some of yez,shure talkin's dhry
166 THE MASTER OF EATEKELLY.
work,'' said the orator as he sat clown, " it's
doin' we ought to be."
As far as Mr. McDermot was concerned he
took care to confine himself strictly to the
former branch of patriotism.
The member of the Callowtown District
Committee was correcthy informed. Mrs.
Flynn, who had long been a delicate woman,
had never got over the shock she had re-
ceived on hearing of the terrible fate of her
old neighbour, Tim Eyan. She had taken it
into her head, and not as we know without
good grounds, that a similar destiny threat-
ened her Terence. There was no doubt about
it, the old lady was sinking fast, and her son
knew it as well as she. The doctor had told
him that morning that his mother's hours
were numbered. He had loved her well, and
as far as mere age went she might still have
reckoned on several years yet to come, but
she had been ailing a Ion"' time. A nervous
anxiety lest aught should befall Terence, and
'• BY BIS MOTHER'S DEATfl BED." 167
• should find herself left desolate in the
land, had worn the thread of her existence to
ii - thinnest.
"Thanks, Biddy, darlint," she murmured
to an old gossip who was tenderly nursing
her, "it's little inure ye can do for me than
just close the eyes of me, but I'd loike just to
say good-bye to the boy. Send him to me,
alanah ! and just wait in the next room while [
have a last word with him."
Terence came promptly in obedience to his
mother's summons, and sat himself down by
her bedside.
" Wisht, deai-," she murmured, as she took
his strom;- youn > muscular hand between her
own thin, withered palms. " Ye must'nt grieve
for me, Terry, for I'm well out of a world
that these new men are making harder loi-
ns day by day. Listen, darlint, to what I've
got to say to you. As soon as you have lain
me by the side of your father, promise me to
give lip the place, and give up the eounthry.
168 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Your father's people, like the Ryan's there,
have been in the land now many, man} T years,
but these strangers will let you stay here no
longer. You must go, Terry, dear, lest worse
happens to you. There's no home for ye in
the ould counthry. Promise me '
" I cannot lave Norah," he replied slowly.
" No," rejoined Mrs. Flynn, " I'd neither
wish it nor ask it. Take her with ye, dear.
I love her. I can't say more, my chest's that
throublesome. Kiss me, Terry, and thin I'll
thry and get a little sleep."
Terence laid his lips to his mother's pale
cheek ; he was conscious that the chills of
death were already gathering fast around
her; and soon she sank into a gentle slumber
with his hand clasped in her own. Fainter
and fainter grew the respiration, and more
than once the young man gazed wistfully at
the still face and wondered whether his
mother was yet alive. At last came a faint
spasm, a slight convulsive pressure of the
•' i;V HIS MOTHER'S DEATB BED." 109
hand and Terence knew thai his moth
soul was sped. Ee called Mrs. Mahoney
and begged her to render the first sad offices
to the dead, and that done, suggested that -'
had better go home while daylight lasted;
thanked her for her kindness and said he
would keep vigil over Ids mother's remains
that night himself.
Terence sat brooding far into the night,
and thinking over his mother's last words.
She was rmht, he must go ; must leave the
old cabin he'd been born in, the old holding
7 O
on which he'd been reared. It was hard,
times were bad it was true, but he could
manage to get a living out of the land if he
was not interfered with. He knew too well
that what had happened to poor Ryan might
be his own lot any night. Even if Nbrah
would consent it would be madness to bring
her home here as his wife. He knew" full
well that there was a black mark against him
in the books of the League. And as for
170 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Norali, had she not dared to identify the
murderer of her father ? It was little likely
that they would be left to enjoy a long lease
of the old holding.
" No," he thought sadly, " there was
nothing for it but to go, and after I have laid
my mother in her grave as soon as I can
persuade Norah to come with me I'll
try my luck the other side St. George's
Channel."
Suddenly a slight noise arrested his
attention. It came from the room downstairs,
and it flashed across him that in the first
flush of the emotions caused by his loss he
had taken little heed to the fastenings of door
or window when he let Mrs. Mahoney out. He
could hear the door open, a shuffling of
footsteps, the low muttering of voices, and
knew full well that the Moonlighters were
upon him. Suddenly up the staircase came
a gruff voice :
" Where are yez, Terence Flyiin ? " it asked.
■• i;V BIS MOTHERS DEATB BED." 171
"Here with ray dead," was the brief
n joinder.
Once more he could hear a muffled
discussion going on and then the Bame voice
thai he had heard before and which, though
disguised, he recognised as Cassidy's, said in
slightly raised tones :
" Go 'long with your doubts, didn't we
come here to do't ? "
"Terence Flynn," shouted a voice once
more up the staircase. "Come down at
oncst, or it'll be the worst for yez."
Be threw a quick glance round the room ;
he had no firearms or he might have held I
stair. There was no weapon but an old
blackthorn, once his father's. He snatched
it from the wall where it hung, gripped it
close and then his reply rang out clear and
loud :
" If you have no mercy for the living," he
said, " in common dacency ye might resp
the dead. Law me alone bhoys to-nighl
172 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
with me sorrow and I'Jl swear by the Virgin
that yez shall find me in the cabin alone
to-morrow night an' I'll not open me lips to a
sowl in the manewhile."
" It's purty fools yon be takin' us for,
Terence Flynn," said the former speaker, with
a gruff laugh. " Would the fox come back
to the hen-roost the next night, if the farmer
let him go ? Come down, I say, we've a ques-
tion or two to ask you ! "
Terence paused ; and once more his eye
moved round the room ; to go down that stair
washe knew to qo to his doom. Ah ! there was
the window, it would be easy for an active
man to drop from that to the ground ; and,
though they had doubtless men on the watch
outside, yet he could trust to the fleetest foot
in the barony, if he once got safely through
them ; his mother had been dead some hours,
life was sweet, and had he not Norah still to
take care of in this world? His mind was
made up ; the living before the dead. They
"BY HIS MOTHER'S DEATH BED." 173
would surely respect his mother's remains;
he would i ry it.
"Two minutes, boys," he called out down
the Btaircase. "(Jive me time to say one
prayer by her bedside," and with that he
crossed the room and opened the lattic
"Troth; it would be hard to grudge him
that," said Cassidy, with a brutal chuckle,
'• for if iver a man had need of a prayer, its
Terence Flynn this minnit."
The ruffian little thought that he himself
had more need to make his shrift than his
intended victim.
Noiselessly, Flynn dropped from the win-
dow and stole along the shadow of the house.
lie could see no sentries, but guessed for all
that they were there; he knew that he had
no time to spare, for thai his escape must be
, 'lily discovered. He had made up his
mind that Rathkelly was the nearest place
where he could hope for refuge.
Cassidy, meanwhile, became impatient.
174 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
Though without any idea that his victim had
escaped him. " You're a long time making
your pace, I'm thinkin','' jeered the ruffian,
" and we must throuble ye not to keep us
waitin' much longer."
At this moment, Terence sprang out into
the moonlight, and started like a deer straight
across country for Rathkelly. As he had
supposed, the cabin was watched from the
outside, and before he had gone thirty yards,
a man sprang from behind a hedge at no
great distance, and immediately discharged a
gun at him, which conveyed to his comrades
inside an intimation that Terence had fled.
" Tare an' owns," thundered Cassidy, as
he rushed up the staircase ; " the divil has
slipepd us." One glance round the chamber,
one look at the open window, and the ruffian
came blundering down again.
" Follow him, bhoys ; follow him, and use
your guns, bhoys. It'll niver do to let him
go free now."
"BY BIS MOTHER 3 DEATH BED." 175
In an instant, the whole gang had poured
out of the house, and after exchanging a
■
hurried word with their sentries, started in
hot pursuit. Cassidy, and one or two of his
baud, knew thai their chance of coming up
with Terence was slight, unless they could
contrive to wound him. He was the best
runner in the district, and though they could
■ him speeding along not above a hundred
yards a-head, even Cassidy felt that the
nice of any of his companions hitting
Terence at thai distance was slight. Suddenly
an idea shot across bis crafty brain; he knew
the country as well as Terence did, and, from
the direction the latter was heading, made no
doubt but what Rathkelly Castle was his
point. He would not blow his m or run
the risk of arousing the district by any
further tiring ; they should ih>'j; their prey at
a distance, just to convince him that he was
right in his surmise; and then, Cassidy
thought, an hour before daybreak, they would
17G THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
attack the Castle itself. What a grand blow
this would be to strike for the League ! After
that, they would be bound to fill his pockets
and send him to America ; he was getting
very tired of playing hide and seek with
the police in the mountains. Then, again,
the ruffian thought what a glorious vengeance
he would take on those he termed his foes,
Terence Elynn and the Master of Rathkelly :
he would settle scores with the two of them,
and if a stray shot should happen to put an
end to Koran Eyan ; well, she would be re-
leased from a wicked world, and it would be
no great matter. They had only two men to
fear inside the house, even if they did'nt
manage to surprise them — Terence Flynn and
Mr. Eyre — and at thought of the Master
Mike Cassidy winced a little. There was a
deep-rooted tradition in the barony, that the
Eyres were dangerous to face in their hour of
wrath. As for the old butler, he did not
count for much; while O'Reilly, the hunts-
'T.V BIS MOTHER'S DEATH BED." 177
man, had beeD a cripple ever since the day
the hunt was boycotted at Ballater Gorse.
Mike Oassidv's descent of Avruns had been
rapid since we first met him. Then he was
a lazy, discontented farmer, neudectincr his
business to dabble in politics. Xow, thanks
to the inflammatory teaching of Messrs.
Carmody and Last, and their subordinates,
aggravated by indulgence in shebeen oratory
and unlimited whiskey, he had become a
murderous, drunken, unscrupulous ruffian.
*B£§\&^ -j>
VOL. II. 29
CHAPTEE XII.
" SHOT FOR SHOT.'"
Before Terence had covered half the dis-
tance to Eathkellv Castle he discovered that
he had outstripped his pursuers, and that
when they were once aware of his destina-
tion they should dare to continue pursuit
was a thing that never entered his head.
That any party of Moonlighters who ever
started in search of scalps should dare " to
beard the lion in his den, the Master in his
hold," was a thing past Terence's compre-
hension. The great problem to him was
to obtain entrance to Eathkellv without
disturbing the family. He had paid many a
visit to his sweetheart since she had taken
up her residence at the Castle. He knew
"SHOT FOR SHOT." 179
the window of her chamber, which was cloa ■
to her young mistress's room, and the ques-
tion was, how to arouse Nbrah without
waking Miss Eyre or any other of the in-
mates. If he could do that, he might Bafely
count on shelter till morning, and pardon
for his intrusion when his story was told.
To tap at a window on the ground floor, or
to throw a handful of gravel at the required
casement should it be above, is the recognized
tiling in such cases, with no harm likely to
come of it in an ordinary peaceable country,
but in a district suffering under "tic Terror''
o
like that of Callowtown, it was quite possible
that the disturbed inmate, if of nervous tem-
perament, might fire first, and ask whit it
was that the would-be intruder want ■ I
afterwards. Old Flannigan, the butler, very
likely indeed, under existing circumstances,
to empty the family blunderbuss to sta
with if abruptly aroused from his slumbers
Such considerations as these troubled
180 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Terence but little, still, lie did know that his
pursuers, if he had distanced them for the
present, were probably close upon his trail,
and that should he fail to obtain admittance to
the castle, he was as like to die without that
house as but many minutes before he had
been to do so in his own. Picking up a
handful of gravel he threw it lightly against
the casement of his betrothed with a result
he was hardly prepared for. Another window
was sharply thrown up, and a voice, which
Terence recognized at once, sternly demanded :
" What the devil do you want, and who
are you ? "
" Terence Flynn, your honour. My
mother died to-night, Heaven rest her
sowl, and the Moonlighters are hunting me
this minute."
" Go round to the side door. I think I
can trust you, but remember, I shall
be armed, and if there's any sign of
treachery "
"SHOT FOE SHOT." L81
" Niv( r moind the side door. Av ye think
that of me I'm besl Lefl outside. (ii »l for-
give your honour for thinking so badly of
me
" Do as I it'll you, go round to the si
door," was the stern response, and Terence
bowed meekly to Mr. Eyre's decree, as most
of his tenants had been wont to, ere the
salvation of their country was preached to
them from New York.
Another moment, and the door in question
was opened, and very much to Terence's
astonishment, not by Mr. Eyre, but by
O'Reilly. The old huntsman, although crip-
pled for life, was si ill as dauntless as in the
dayswhen he followed straight in the wake of
his darlings, lie and the Master had,
speak, rehearsed this scene previously, and
thoroughly settled in what manner that side
door should be opened. As Terence stepped
across die threshold into the full glare of
O'Reilly's lantern, he became conscious of
182 THE MASTER OF BATHKELLY.
the figure of " the Masther " standing in the
shadow and covering the door with a cocked
revolver. Mr. Eyre might well give the caution
" beware of treachery," for the leader of any
attack of that nature would have to face the
fire of as deadly a hand as ever drew
trigger.
" Tut up the bolts, O'Keilly, and now
come up, Terence, and let one know what
brought you here. You'll excuse my re-
ceiving you with all the honours," said Mr.
Eyre, with a bitter laugh, " but we can't be
certain of our visitors in these times. Now,
what is it ? "
" Shure the mother is lying dead in the old
home, and I've had to fly for my loife.
Cassidy's out at the head of a large party of
Moonlighters. I'd have been a dead man
this mini lit av I hadn't given thim the slip
and had the foot of them."
" And you've come here for refuge."
" That's so, your honour. I'd no wheres
"SH(W EOE SHOT." 183
else to go. They're too many intoirely,
.-.ii" ihc\ Ve all guns."
"Very good, Terence. Of course, 1*11
stand by you if they follow you here "
" Follow me here,"' cried Terence. " Oeh!
they'd niver dare do ilia:," and the young
man Looked at Mr. Eyre with undisguis
amazemenl at the bare idea of such a thing.
"Perhaps not," replied Mr. Eyre. '• 1
can only say you'll have to fight for your
life like the rest of ns if they do. Now,
O'Reilly, show him some [dace to sleep."
Flynn followed the old huntsman, who had
long since been moved away from his old
quarters over the stables to a room which had
been specially chosen as likely to contribute
to the defence of the house. It was on the
first floor, and its bay mullioned window,
projecting a little., commanded a flank lire of
the small door. Since the murder of Ryan,
Mr. Eyre had put his house iii quite a
defensive state. A few months back it had
184 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
been easy to get into the house in a dozen
different ways, but now it was not so. Mr.
Eyre, wisely recognising that such a barrack
of a building could not possibly be defended
by so small a garrison, had, by bolt, bar and
barricade, cut off one wino; of the house
completely from the rest, and to this citadel
the family now retreated at nightfall, and
were, the Master considered, in a position to
offer a stout resistance to any attack they
might reasonably expect. A feeble garrison
no doubt ; but dauntless, with one exception,
and that was Norah Eyan. The poor girl
seemed utterly broken down by her troubles ;
she struggled bravely against it, but her nerves-
had not as yet recovered the shock of seeing
her father murdered before her eyes, while
she had suffered from the subsequent scene in
the chapel as any human being must suffer,
who is ruthlessly and shamefully cast out, not
only from the community but almost from
the very church itself. Even old Flannigan,
"SHOT FOB shot." 185
the butler, although not much to be count- I
upon, was brim full of fight, and had be
allotted a fowling piece with which,
the Master observed, "he might with luck
perhaps hit something." Had Mike Cassidy
known the preparations made for the recep-
tion of Moonlighters, lie would probably have
reconsidered his determination of attacking
the castle.
Cassidy, having recalled his followers from
their pursuit of Terence, proceedel back to
the cabin, tenanted now only by the dead
woman. Th sre, after rummaging aboul until
they had found Terence's modest store of
whisky, they sat down, and Cassidy unfolded
his scheme. He expatiated upon the weak-
ness of the garrison, and upon the tremendous
eflfed such an attack would have "It's d
just punishing a tinant, bhoys, but it's
punishing a landlord fur daring to receive
thim," but despite his arguments there was
considerable demur amongsl his followers al
186 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
the idea of attacking the castle. His band, as
before said, consisted chiefly of men from a
distance, but there were two or three who came
from around Callowtown, and these it was
who did not seem to fancy facing the Master
of Rathkelly.
" It's loike to be a tough job," said one of
them doggedly. " The Eyres have ever
been ill to meddle with. Ould Eyre will die
like a fox, foighting, an' he'll lave his marks
on some of us, niver fear."
The speaker had made an impression, and
Cassidy saw with unconcealed dissatisfaction,
that he had done so, but, like so many of us,
Murphy did not recognise when he had said
enough. He did'nt know when to stop.
" Besides," he continued, " if we put a
man like Eyre of Eathkelly out of the way,
they'll raise such a hue and cry all through
country side we'll be hunted down."
" To the devil with yer doubts," inter-
rupted Cassidy roughly. " Ye've about as
"SHOT FOE SHOT." 1S7
much heart, Murphy, as a soft-roed herring
D'ye think any of thim can raise the counthry
or scour the mountains like him ye've
just mentioned. Ye may trust my word for
that," said tin- ruffian, with a brutal laugh.
" Ye may take my word for that ; and, by
the powers, Moike Cassidy ought to know."
'I here were meaning glances exchanged
between the men. There was not one among
them who did not know how fiercely hunted
Cassidy had been in the last few weeks ; and,
that Ratcliffe Eyre had been the life and
soul of that lierce pursuit. Murphy's speech
recoiled upon himself; and Cassidy had shown
good cause why a blow should be struck at
the .Master of Eathkelly. It turned the scale,
and it was voted by a large majority that
Cassidy's scheme should be carried out.
" We'll not need to start till the moon is
down," said that ruffian ; " and, in the mean-
time, this is moighty pleasant whiskey of
Misther Flynn's. Don't spare it, bhoys. It's
188 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
not loikely the family will have much further
use for it," and Mr. Cassidy indulged in a
boisterous laugh at his own brutal jest.
The moon was down, and it wanted, still,
close upon two hours of day-break, when,
flushed with whiskey, Cassidy and his half-
drunken band set forth for the castle.
There was some slight inclination amongst
his followers to indulge in ribald jest and
laughter, which was promptly checked by
their leader, in the first instance — and the
recollection of their errand, in the second.
Should they fail to surprise the Master of
Eathkelly, there was a general feeling that —
terminate as it might — there would lit' no
such one-sided battle as they were accus-
tomed to; and that some of themselves, as
well as their victims, might be stark and
stiff when the sun rose. Piloted by their
leader and those belonging to the district,
they made their way swiftly and stealthily
over the ground that intervened between
-shot FOB SHOT."
Flynn's cottage and their destination. The
• was all in darkn ss. The closest in-
sction failed to discover any sign of a life
within the mansion. The inmates were ap-
parently all locked in slumber, and little
apprehensive of such a thing as a night-
tack.
" 'Tis as I thought, bhoys," whispered
i Jassidy. " Auld Eyre, in his moightiness,
never drames we'd dare favour his worship
witli a call. Flynn's in there, we know, and
we have got to have him out ; and when we
have lain him and his landlord out on the
lawn here, maybe folks will understand
they'd best not quarrel with the League."
But how to get in? That — if they only
found the inmates asleep -there could be any
difficulty about this had never occurred to
Cassidy, or those who knew the ways of
Etathkelly Castle. They were perfectly un-
aware of how the house had been barricaded
of late, and many a win' low on the ground-
190 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
floor — which they had looked upon as offering
easy access — was now found, not only bolted
and barred, but evidently closed also with
thick heavy planking inside.
Cassidy knew the house perhaps as well as
any of them ; and after listening attentively
to the report of his scouts, said :
" There's only the one way, bhoys ! Ye
moidit as well kick against the gates of
Callowtown goal, as thry the front door ; but
the side door, opening on to the garden,
that's just the place we'll have 'em ! I've
noticed the boults and the locks there,
many's the toime ! and they were just good
enough never to think of strengthening —
and just bad enough to be niver a bit
of use when anny one meant to smash the
doors in ! Take a look round some of yez !
Maybe ye'll find a pole of some sort ! that'll
do to drive the door in with. If not Murphy
and one or two of yez have hatchets — cut me
down a young tree and bring it here."
"SHOT FOB SHOT." 19!
Still in Bpite of the stealthy attempt on the
windows, in spile of the low whispering in
front oi the house, there was no sign of lit'''
within the building, and yet for all that qui
ears and keen, pitiless cyo^, were noting every
preliminary movemenl of the assailants.
Ratcliffe Eyre, having dismissed the ol I
huntsman and Terence to their slumbers, I
taken upon himself to keep watch and ward
for the night. That Terence had failed to
awaken Nbrah was attributed to the circum-
stance that, under the new arrangements, her
room had been changed. Mr. Evre, wli -
restlessness in these days knew no bounds, was
tin: one person who heard Terence's signal,
and having aroused O'Reilly, he admitted him
in the manner we have seen. He did not
believe that the Moonlighters would dare to
attack Rathkellv, but he was not going to
throw a chance away, and his pill
quickened at the bare idea of having it i
face to face with Mike I'assidv.
192 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Mike Cassidy was cunning as a fox. He had
been perfectly right in his conjecture and
that the weakness of the lock and bolts of the
side door had been somwhat overlooked by
Mr. Eyre when putting his house in a state of
defence. It was not that they had escaped
his e}'e altogether, but he thought that they
would serve for the present. As for knock-
ing and demanding entrance, Cassidy knew
the Master better than that. To knock would
be to arouse the inmates, the reply he felt
sure would be a shot. The extreme silence
and the darkness in which the house was
shrouded, gave him hopes of effecting a
surprise. His scheme was to dash in the
door with his improvised battering ram,
rush up stairs and capture the little garrison
before they were fairly aroused from their
slumbers. He was however very far out in
his calculations. The Moonlighters had
hardly made their appearance on the lawn
which ran on the west side of the house,
"SHOT FOE SHOT." 193
before Ratcliffe Eyre discovered them. Bis
preparations for an attack of this sort had
been already determined: the one light in
the house was in a bath-room oil' his own
chamber. Rapidly and silently he went from
room to room and roused his household, what
each was to do in case of this emergency had
long ago been settled, and both men and
women repaired armed to tin-irrespective posts,
Even Katie carried a light fowling-piece.
Mr. Eyre's orders were imperative. "Not
a light to be shown, not a shot to be fired
till I give the orders. Then, from where I
have placed you, keep up a lire on those
trying to break into the house until you hear
from me. We must not make the mistake of
firing until we have a clear case of burglary
against them." For himself the Master had
reserved a roving commission, and with a
revolver in one hand and a dark lantern in
the other, besides a second revolver thrusl
into a silk handkerchief round his wais ,
VOL. II. ."> (l
194 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLT.
the Master looked a very awkward customer
to intrude upon without his own consent.
Mr. Eyre's room had two windows. The one
jutted out, and commanded a flank view of
the small door, the other looked out over
the lawn on the west side the mansion, and
it was from this latter that the Master stood
watching as well as he could the proceedings
of the Moonlighters. He could not see them
very well at first, but could make out that
they were somewhat puzzled at finding the
doors and windows of the house so well
secured. They were doubtless, he thought,
holding council among themselves about
what they should do. They would probably
decide that breaking into Rathkelly was a
stiffer nut to crack than they had thought
it; but no, they showed no signs of going
away. What could they be waiting for.
The mystery is soon solved. Four of the
assailants, bearing amongst them a young-
tree, join the main body.
EOT FOB silniv l. -
" Damnation ! ' exclaimed Ratcliffe Eyre,
"I never thought of that. The bolts and
liars will never stand it." One more glance
and his resolution was taken. Quick as
thought he ran down the stairs, placed the
lantern in an angle of the wall, and drew
back the slide, so that the light should fall
full upon the sill the moment the door should
be burst in. It was the same tactics lie had
resorted to in admitting Terence Flynn, onlv
against a crowd of men he would not let
O'Keillv run the risk of carrying the lantern.
There was an ominous silence for some few
minutes outside, he could hear a low mur-
muring of voices from where he stood in the
shadow some few steps up the staircase, then
a hoarse low voice exclaimed : ' ; Now, bhovs,
all together ! "'
There was a quick rush of footsteps and the
young tree was crashed against the door, bolts
and bars were shivered like touchwood, and
the entrance to Rathkelly is won.
30*
196 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
"Fire!' thundered BatclifFe Eyre from
his coign of vantage, and three or four shots
were discharged from the upper windows
which, together with their hardly expected
success, somewhat checked the rush of the
marauders. " Forward ! " shouted their
leader as he sprang towards the stairs.
Clear as a clarion BatclifFe Eyre's voice
rose above the din. " Shot for shot, Mike
Cassidy," he exclaimed, " and may the Lord
have mercy upon your soul ! " The crack of
the Master's revolver rami through the air
and Cassidy fell back with a bullet through
his brain.
^J^mf gjj)
^
CHAPTEB XIII.
" GOOD-BYE TO RATHKELLY."
( Iowed by the fall of their leader, with two or
three of their number wounded by the
Unexpected (ire from the upper windows,
and startled to find the household most
completely prepared to receive them,
Cassidy's followers shrank back. To hesitate
under those circumstances meanl to be beaten ;
again the deadly revolver twice rang nut
from the staircase and another of the
assailants felt his arm scored by a bullet. It
is enough, the Moonlighters recoil, an-
other shot or two from the upper windows
quickened their pace, and in another minute
or two their retreat bade fair to di rate
198 THE MASTEE OF E ATE KELLY.
into a " sauve qui pent" and when the sun
rose, the shattered doorway and the corpse of
Mike Cassidy stretched prone in the passage
were the sole traces left of an attack which,
but for the precautions and watchfulness of
the Master, might have found Eathkelly the
scene of as sanguinary a holocaust as ever
stained the South of Ireland.
Mr. Eyre and Terence stood side hw side
looking at the dead man.
" It's no mercy your honour, he deserved at
either your hands or mine. It's no fault of
his I'm not lying like himself at my own
threshold, and though it's mere guess-work
on my part, I'm thinking ye'd niver have
reached home that day ye were up before
the magisthrates if his hand had been as thrue
as yer honour's."
" You're right, Terence, I have good
reason to believe it was ' shot for shot ' and
Mike Cassidy had his first. And now off you
go to the police-station, tell them all about
"GOOD-IJVK TO KATHKELLY." 199
this, and say the officer had better come
up at once. These rascals have been too
roughly handled to think about anything
but saving their own skins for the present.
There are two or three of them badly marked.
As for you, you had better take up your
quarters here. There is plenty of room, and
though I don't think they will dare pay
you another visit, it's no use risking it."
The officer soon arrived at the castle in
obedience to Mr. Eyre's message.
"Ah, sir," he said as he looked at tin-
traces of the fray. "I urged you to put
yourself under our protection."
" Upon my soul," laughed Katclifle Eyre,
"I think we've done pretty fairly without it.
There lies the murderer we've been seouriic-
the country for for weeks. I felt it was a
duel to the death between us and it's over
vou see."
At that instant Katie and her foster-sister
made their appearance.
200 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
" Papa," she said, "scold this foolish girl
for me, and tell her not to talk nonsense."
" What is it ? " enquired Mr. Eyre.
"Oh, she is talking all sorts of nonsense
of how she brings death and sorrow on all
she comes across."
" Look ! " cried Norah, covering her face
after glancing for an instant at the dead man;
" there's another. I must leave you all.
Good-bye, Mr Eyre and thank you kindly,
but it's blood, all blood, I walk through it —
I carry it with me — it will be your turn next
Terence dear, maybe — God knows. My
poor head, I can hear the shots still. It's
Mike Cassidy leading them. He'll show no
mercy."
" Take her to bed," said Mr. Eyre sternly.
" You ought to have known better, Katie,
than to let her be still about. The girl's
distraught. It's all been too much for her.
Ber nerves have given way altogether."
" But papa, dear, I didn't know."
IOD-BYE TO RATHKELLY." 201
"Flurried yourself a bit, no doubt.
Terence take your .sweetheart away and hand
her over to her mother. By Heavens ! these
are no times for women to face," cried Eyre,
as the girls, escorted by Terence, re! in- 1.
'• My daughter has Lots of pluck, but her
eves are bolting out of her head this
morning. Xo wonder, after last night's
work. If the house had been unprepared
and the shooting not pretty straight, how
many of us do you think would have seen
the sun rise ? "
"I can't say," replied the officer gravely,
"but f doubt whether either yourself or
l'lynn would."
" Xo fear,"' replied the Master of Eathkelly,
with a "riia smile. "We fought for our
lives, as 1 mean some of my last night's
visitors to do Still. There are two or tin
winged birds to pick up yet."
.Mr. Barton rubbed his hands. He was
•i thoroughly good-he man, but it is
202 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
the instinct of the police officer to track the
criminal, as it is that of the lawyer to press
for a conviction, or the hound to strain on
the trail of his quarry.
Mr. Eyre was a magistrate who had of late
aroused much reverence in his breast. His
dauntless courage and untiring energy had
made a great impression on Mr. Barton ;
and with Mr. Eyre's assistance he felt very
sanguine of bringing the offenders to justice.
In this, however, it may be at once said the
officer was doomed to disappointment. The
2reat bodvof the Moonlighters had come from
a distance, and the two or three of the band
who lived in the neighbourhood had not been
recognised by either Terence or the Master
of Eathkelly. The wounded, whether badly
hurt or not, had contrived to get off, and
were by this in all probability spirited out
of the immediate district ; but if both police
and magistrates were thoroughly baffled and
could lay their hands on no one to call to
"GOOD-BYE TO RATHXELLY." 203
account for the Rathkelly outrage, yet the
Leaguers, and especially McDermot, were
much disconcerted at the results of their
coup. They had meant to strike a blow
which should paralyse the action of the
Government, and make them afraid to use
the powers so lately conferred upon them by
Parliament.
They were mistaken : for the first time they
found the Crimes Act firmly, though fairly,
carried out, and soon awoke to the fact that
the half-hearted administration which had
characterised the authorities in the use of
such powers formerly was by no means the
manner in which the present men intended
carrying them out. Xot only was the district
proclaimed, but shebeen politicians, like
Mr. McDermot, and also their illustrious
representatives with seats at St. Stephen's,
were made clearly to understand thai
although the right of public meeting was
by no means suspended, yet that public meet-
201 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
ing for the promotion of illegal purposes
would no longer be tolerated, and that in-
flammatory speeches, tending to produce a
breach of the peace, would infallibly result
in the speedy imprisonment of the offender.
There was one weapon left to the myrmidons
of Messrs. Last and Carmody 5 and McDermot
speedily issued a ukase of proscription
against Eatcliffe Eyre and all within the walls
of Eathkelly, a decree pronounced by the
Head of the Eoman Catholic Church as
contrary to the laws of God and man.
Eatclifle Eyre smiled grimly when he
found that he was boycotted, but he had
not as yet fully recognised the iron tyranny
of the League, and could not have believed
that not a tenant on his estate dared supply
him with milk, butter, eggs, etc. lie and his
might have starved for all the supplies he
could have procured in his own neighbour-
hood ; the very shopkeepers in Callowtown,
with whom he -had dealt for years, looked
'•i;onI».i;vi: to RATHKELLY." 205
askance at any inmate of his house, and if
they served him, did so by stealth.
He was in no danger of starvation, for the
authorities were quite as resolute in the
support of law and order as the League in
their subversion. Provisions were forwarded
regularly from a distance, and the police took
good care that tins.- safely reached their
destination; and as the Master of Kathkelly
remarked to Jack 1 Slake, who, in spite of the
menacing missives that had been sent him,
had ridden over to see his old friend :
"There's stuff enough in the cellars to
stand a live years' siege. But the sentence
of excommunication is as hard to struggle
against as in the days of King John." A few
months back and he had been almost a mis-
anthrope, caring for no other society than
that of his daughter Katie, but the arrival of
Mrs. Belton and the coming of Sturton to
Conroy, had roused him considerably, and
the excitement caused by his untiring efforts
206 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
to avenge Eyan's murder, had supplied the
stimulant he wanted. He felt desire now to
mix again with his fellows, to, in sober
fashion, resume the pursuits of his younger
days ; but, except a few old friends like
Blake, he saw nobody, and he knew that
even these had received warning that he was
proscribed, and that they had been threatened
with a like fate should they dare to hold
intercourse with him. Shooting and fishing
are poor fun when prosecuted under a guard
of policemen, and the end of it was that
Ra*cliffe Eyre got very much bored with the
situation. Katie, too, was beginning to look
worn with the strain that had been lately put
upon her, and as for Norah, although she
had recovered from her light-headedness, she
was pitiably broken down in nerves and
general health, and Doctor Connolly said point
blank : " I can do no more Tor her. She will
never recover here ; she wants complete
chance of scene and the assurance that she is
••(.iooD-IJYK TO RATH KELLY." 207
beyond the power of the Land League. Here
her mind conjures up some new danger, day
and night, and though, as I honestly believe,
Mr. Eyre, there is not a house in the country
less likely to be meddled with again than
yours, you will never make her think that."
Mr. Eyre was a man of decision. His mind
was soon made up. "The hounds are gone,
and the horses too, pretty well. The three
that are left I will send up to Dycer's. I'll
Lock up this old barrack, leave my agent to
manage things for me, and I'll take a small
cottage near London. God knows what 1
shall do when I get there. There'll be little
enough left to keep the lot of us, and I don't
know what I'm lit for even if I wasn't almost
too old to get anything. Now comes the
question. What am I to do with these two
old men? Mrs. ITyini and Xorah are all the
servants we shall want. 1 can't cut Flannigan
adrift, so 1 suppose he'll have to come with us ;
but what can I do with O'Eeilly? The poor
208 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
old man is too crippled to do a day's work
either in the saddle or anywhere else. I must
talk to Jack Blake about it."
As for Katie, she heard with dismav her
father's idea of abandoning Eathkelly and
migrating to the vicinity of London. She
puckered up her pretty brows and listened
with earnest attention as Mr. Eyre proceeded
to explain to her the painfully diminished
state of his income. " To live here as I used
to do in the days when you were a little
thing has been long impossible, but I tell you
of late things have been so bad, it's getting
hard work to live here at all. What I must
try and do is this. Let the old place if I can
— it's worth somebody's while to take for
the sake of the shoo tin" and fishing 1 — the
people here will have no object in interfer-
ing with a stranger who comes for that
purpose. The land, the rents and the leases
will be no business of his, and we ou^ht to
get enough for it to be a considerable help
"GOOD-BYE TO RATHKELLY." 209
to us in England. As for the horses, they
must go."
" What ! not Rory, papa "
"V«'s, indeed, Ic>rv and all. It is a case
my dear, now, of living, not luxuries."
" Oh, papa ! " cried Katie, " I never thought
to part with Rory as long as he lived. Don't
speak to me any more now, I want to think
it all out. To leave my old home is bad
enough, but to part with my pet horse is
worse. I'm not afraid of being poor, you
knew that," and with these words, Katie
slipped out of the room.
It is ever so ; when that miserable cry of
retrenchment comes to us, there is always
some superfluity, the abandonment of which
wrings our withers harder than all tin: rest.
Similarly too, a thing which we have had
at our command half our lifetime, and never
desired, we suddenly conceive a longing for,
when we find it all at once beyond our reach.
Katie wenl straight to her own room, drew
vol. ii. 31
210 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
her pet chair to the window and sat down to
think things seriously over. Poor, she
wondered, how poor. She asserted no more
than the truth, when she said she was not
afraid of being poor ; but she dearly loved
her father, and the thought that he at
his age might have to do without the
comforts that he had been all his life
accustomed to, troubled the girl greatly.
What could she do to prevent this; money,
money, she must earn money, but how ?
What could she do, that people would pay
her to do it. Yes, she supposed she could
make a good housemaid if she set resolutely
to work ; but then housemaids could hardly
be said to make money. She was no good
with her needle, besides women did not
make money by that. She was no fool,
she could sing a little and play a little,
had a smattering of languages, but she knew
very well that she was not fitted to teach even
the smattering she knew to anj^one else. And
"GOOD-BYE TO RATHKELLY." 211
Rorv ! Of course lie must go. If they had
barely money to live upon, how could they
afford to keep a horse? Money! money,
again, what could she do to earn money,
and once more severely and critically Katie
went through the small roll of her accom-
plishments. " No," she said ruefully at last, " I
can make money at none of these things, I
can do nothing but ride." Suddenly her face
lit up. "Ride! ah, why shouldn't I teach that.
I don't know how much, but I do know thai
both in Dublin and London ladies pay for
riding lessons, and I do think I have heard
pay pretty well. I think that mighl do. ^ i -
if T can only manage to get pupils, Eory and
I mighl earn enough to keep ourselves and
help papa too," and springing to her feet, the
girl clapped her hands and then rushed off in
her own impetuous fashion to intercede in
Efcory's behalf with her father.
" Papa dear," she cried as she rushed into
her father's sanctum, where Mr. Eyre sat busy
31*
212 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
at a table covered with papers, " you've told
me the horses must all go, even Eory. I want
you to do this for me, let us take Eory across
to London, you will be able to sell him quite
as well there, as in Dublin, will you not ? ' :
" I should think so ; probably better, they've
more money there Katie, than we have here."
" And it won't cost very much to take him
across."
" No, nothing worth considering," said Mr.
Eyre, in the easy tone of a man still unused
to the consideration of such minor details.
" Then papa, I want you to promise that
we shall take Eory with us, and if before he
has been three months in London, he is not
earning his own living, then I'll not say a
word against his being sold."
" Why, what on earth are }'Ou thinking of
Katie," exclaimed her father. " You can't set
up a hansom cab on your own account, you
know. However, you shall have your wish,
upon one condition — that is, you let me know
••cOfiD-UVE TO KATHKELLY." 213
as soon as you find your scheme is hopeless.
Horses cost a good deal to keep in London,
remember."
" Thanks, papa dear," said flu- girl, kissing
him, and highly elated at this idea that had
occurred to her, Katie next ran off to tell
Norah they were all going to leave Rath-
kelly.
Nbrah's face (lushed with pleasure and her
eyes sparkled at the news. She had no
regrets at leaving her old home; that, and
the district in which she had been born and
bred, were accursed in her eves.
She knew herself surrounded by men who
had shed her father's blood, who thirsted for.
her lover's, and at whose bidding sentence of
excommunication had been passed agaii
herself; men whose bitter enmity and callous-
ness to crime had even led them to attack
Kathkelly. The girl had been very ill, and
two or three days after the attack on the
castle, had wandered a great deal in her
214 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
talk. Though better, she was still far from
convalescent, and the doctor declared a
complete change of scene would do far
more for her recovery than anything else.
" Going to lave Kathkelly, Miss Katie.
What all of us ? "
" Yes. Papa and I are going to live near
London, and you, your mother, and Flannigan
are to come with us."
" And Terence, Miss Katie, shure you'll
take him too ? ' :
' : He will come across with us, Norah, but
papa and I are very poor now ; he will have
to take care of himself."
" Oh, he'll do that, niver fear," said the
girl brightly. " He's sent away all his stock
and sold it, indeed except for me, he'd have
been gone before this. The League won't let
him live here."
" Ah, well, that's all settled. And now all
you've got to do is to set to work and grow
strong."
- D-BYE TO RATHKELLY." 215
"An' I'm Dot to lave you, Misa Katie.
I'm so glad, an' I'll thry me best to get well
and help as quick as possible."
"Mind you do," said Miss Eyre, as she
kissed her patient."
. -~ a
CHAPTER XIV.
" what's breach of privilege ? "
The CallowLown Committee of The League
were not a little dismayed at the utter defeat
of their emissaries. They had intended to
confound the Government by their audacity,
to show them that the Crimes Act, far from
suppressing, simply increased crime. Cassidy
had gone beyond his instructions. The idea
was magnificent ! it was sublime ! After being
foiled in his attempt to assassinate Flynn
by the latter's flight it was a great and darins
conception to think of plucking him forth to
meet his doom from the sanctuary of Eath-
kelly Castle. Successful, Michael Cassidy
would have stood forth as one of the saviours
"WHAT'S BREACH OB PRIVILEGE 217
of his oppressed country. As it was, lie had
laid down his life in its behalf, and it be-
hoved all good patriots to pray for the soul
of the martyr. Such was the bombastic
language used by the organs of the League,
and those minor Lights of oratory, Messrs.
McDermot and Co. Nevertheless, they
could not disguise from themselves that the
tyranny which they had so rapidly built up in
County Blarney, bid fair to tumble to pieces
with almost similar celerity. The fungus is
both noxious and of quick growth, but it is
short-lived and very perishable. The steady
patrolling of police and soldiers through the
country was making moonlighting as dan-
gerous to those who practised it as to those
on whom it was practised. Open air meet-
ings were attended in force by the police as
well as the patriot, and those reckless and
imflammatory harangues, in which Messrs.
Carmody and Last, were wont to indulge,
promptly interfered with. The orator of
218 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
the platform found himself at length held
responsible for the effect of his words.
It might be all very well to represent
Cassidy as a martyr who died for the cause,
but around Callowtown, where Eyan had
been well known, it was hard to make the
people consider him anything but a brutal
ruffian who had met his deserts for one
murder in attempting to commit a second.
" It's a despotism worse than Eussiau,"
said Mr. McDermot, " when a few gentlemen
can't convane themselves under the blue
vault of heaven, for the exchange of political
sentiments " —here the speaker looked round
for applause — " at all events," he resumed, " I
presume the police, the blackgairds can't
interfere with our takin' a glass of punch
together."
Mr. McDermot, finding the use of violent
language in the open air was at present
attended with unpleasant results, had called
together a meeting of the leading Nationalists
•• WI1ATS BREACH OF PRIVILEGE 219
of his district al his own house, where liberty
of speech was nut what he called " resthricted,"
which meant thai the most violent and sedi-
tious language could be used with impunity.
One great object was to rebuke the people
generally for remissness in subscribing to the
Funds of the League. Secondly, to appease a
spirit of discontent that was rapidly spread-
ing amongst the peasantry "We must stand
shoulther to shoulther in the prisent crisis
an' we'll soon get our own again."
What the speaker had meant exactly by
this latter sentiment he would have been
much puzzled to explain, but Mr. McDermot,
like many other patriots, was remarkably
fond of hearing his own voice. "Now,
Murphy, you for one, I'm tould, have In en
grumbling at the state of things ! Is is thrue
ye said we'd have done betther not to do
away with the hounds/'
"It's just that I'm thinking,' - replied the
accused: "the toimes was hard thin, but
220 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
money was more plentiful annyway, before
we druv them out of the counthry. The
gontlemen of the Harkhallow spent a power
of money amongst us ; av we paid ould
Eyre for his land, he paid us for what we
grew on it ! "
" Howld your wisht, Pat Murphy ; I'm
downright ashamed of ye. Where's yez
patriotism I'd be glad to know ? "
" Where yours would be," retorted Mr.
Murphy, " av ye weren't paid for it."
This bold remark was received with rather
varied views by the little meeting. About
half of them were on the Callowtown Com-
mittee, and by these the speaker was regarded
with considerable disfavour. To sneer at
the patriotism of the League, or make light
of its authority, would never do. There were
snug little pickings to be had by those who
once qot their hand in the money baq-s. On
the other hand, that half the meeting who
were not upon the committee, sympathised
"WHAT'S BREACH <)F PRIVILEGE?" 221
with Murphy, and chuckled considerably at
his sharp retort. For a mom int,McDerinot was
disconcerted, and taking advantage thereof
his opponent continued; "When we paid
onr rints to Misther Eyre they came back to
us more or less ; when we pay them to the
League they don't come back, whativer else
becomes of them ? '
( )nce ausain there was a murmur of
applause, and a voice exclaimed : " There was
at all evints some business in those toimes,
there's divil a bit now," bat the blustering.
INIcI )ermot rose to the occasion, lie felt he had
caught a Tartar. Ee was quite aware that
this same Murphy, far from being actually
hostile to the League, had taken part in the
attack upon Flynn's cottage, and afterwards
on Kathkelly. lie, indeed, was the man who
had raised a. protest against attempting the
castle, which Cassidy had successfully com-
bated.
" If it's for funning ye are, Misther Murphy,
222 THE MASTEE OF RATIIKELLY.
I'll not baulk ye ! What's the use of talking
serious to a man who's dyin' for his joke.
We'll just lave the discussion at present, and
discuss, bhoys, the subject on which Irishmen
differ but little, and that's the punch. Punch
is moighty like politics, bhoys, some loikes it
with one lump of sugar, some loikes it with
two."
" Bedad, if ye loike your punch loike your
politics, McDermot, it's a good three you'll be
takin','' said Murphy. This allusion to the
current report that McDermot was the well-
paid servant of the League, was received
with a broad grin, and more than ever con-
vinced McDermot of his prudence in putting
politics on one side for the present.
*****
" What's going on inside ? " enquired his
fidus Achates of the Honourable Augustus
Danby as that exceedingly bored young
gentleman, lounged into the smoking-room of
•'WIIATS BREACH OF PRIVILEGE 223
the House of Commons, towards the very
end of the session.
" Row about breach of privilege," was the
reply, as ]\Ir. Danby threw himself down upon
the sofa by his friend, and proceeded to light
a cigarette. " Never can make out what the
deuce they mean by breach of privilege
myself."
"Can't you," rejoined his friend drily.
"Just one of the few things I do understand.
Look here, I'll explain it in a minute. I call
you a liar in Bond Street; you knock me
down, which is all in the nature of tiling.
I call you a liar in the House of Commons;
you knock me down and if's a breach of
privilege."
"License to use bad language, I am
gradually beginning to understand, our
senatorial privileges."
"And that's more than some of these
fellow^ do their sartorial responsibili-
ties," returned his friend. "Can't think
224 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
myself where the deuce they get such
coats."
Eminent orator meanwhile in the chamber
is fluently assuring his hearers that what he
is reported to have said two or three years
ago has been grossly misrepresented, and
further what he really said has been painfully
misunderstood. He then further sets to work
with untiring assiduity to the ungrateful task
of washing the blackamoor white, and bespat-
tering the unsullied ermine of the Bench,
and although those who hear him may deplore
the direction his rhetoric has taken, yet all
must admit that there is no diminishing of
the old fire, and that the passionate declama-
tion flows as freely from his lips as in days of
yore.
Eatclifle Eyre has carried out his resolution ;
he has torn up his old life by the roots, left
Eathkelly behind him, and established him-
self and family in a small cottage at Hamp-
stead. Mrs. Ryan and Norah sufficed to do
•■ WHAT'S BREACH OF PRIVILEGE?" 238
the work of the house, and Flannigan,
though, as Mr. Eyre admits, a superfluity,
relinquishing his butler's position once so
tenaciously adhered to, has descended to
boot-cleaning. Of the whole household
none of them so conscious of their fallen
fortunes as Mr. Flannigan. He had no
longer even his old crony, Mrs. Martin, to
grumble to. and had always accustomed him-
self to look down upon the Ryans, arguing
il that it wasn't dacent for upper-servants to
demane themselves with mere tinantry."
Katie eared little for the smallness of their
means, although, as her father was obliged
to confide to her, his income was reduced to
an extent he had never even contemplated ;
but she was worried too. She was beginning
to discover however good the wares you may
have to sell the difficulty there IS of finding a
market for them in modern Babylon. She
had perfectly made up her mind that the
sole way in which she could earn money was
vol. n. 32
226 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
by riding. It was, to use her own expression,
" the one thing I'm good at." And the only
way she saw to utilising that accomplishment
was by teaching ladies to ride. Even if she
had had a connection it would have been im-
possible for her to start upon her own
account : that would require a regular
establishment, horses, grooms, etc., and she,
she had no capital, only Eory, and her own
skill and pluck to depend upon. Again and
again did she call at livery stable keepers'
and at riding schools to ask if they could
give her employment as a riding mistress.
They listened civilly and attentively to what
she had to say, but one and all shook their
heads, and regretted that they were unable
to help her to a situation such as she sought.
The girl had been clever, too. She had called
mounted on Eory, and attired in the most
workmanlike hat and habit. If she could
not get a berth for herself, she was often
asked to put a price upon her horse, and
••WHAT'S BREACH OF PRIVILEGE?" 227
upon more than one occasion had been bid
what she regarded as a good price for him.
Katie wa^ in despair; she could not bear the
i Lea of parting with Rory, and yet unless she
could gel something to do it must be so.
The expense of a horse standing at livery in
London was a serious consideration when
household expenses had to be closely
calculated.
Suddenly a queer idea came into her head
which, for a moment, crimsoned her cheeks.
" I don't care," she said, " there can be no
harm in it. I've known him from a child
and there is nobody else to help me. Papa
has not been in London for so lonir that he
knows little more about it than I do, while
as for George Belton, I don'1 like to ask him,
for one thing, and I know he wouldn't help
me if I did. lie would ask me to com \
down ami slay with them at Aldershol and
bring Rory, as if that was any good. I want
to make money. Xo ; I'd rather apply to
:;■:
228 THE MASTER OE RATHKELLY.
Captain Sturton than George; lie is more
likely to help me, and if he tries, there's little
he wouldn't succeed in," and then Katie, iii
her own impetuous fashion, rushed to her
desk and sat down to write her letter.
" Dear Captain Sturton," she began, and
then for a minute or two the girl bit her
pen and wondered how she was to go on.
This letter was not quite so easy to write as
she had fancied before she sat down. At
last the inspiration seemed to seize her ; she
dipped her pen in the ink and dashed off her
note without further hesitation. " I appeal
to you as an old friend of my family and
because I am in sore need of advice. But I
must ask you, in the first place, to think of
me no longer as a child. Eemeinber, I am
in my eighteenth year, and that the troubles
we have gone through lately have been cal-
culated to transform a girl into a woman in a
very short time. You have heard of the
'•WHAT'S BREACH OF PRIVILEGE ? ' 220
attack upon Rathkelly, and how we had to
fighl for (Mir very lives; only that papa had
taken (he precautions to have the house well
barricaded it is impossible to say what might
have happened. It is needless to tell you
that we arc in very reduced circumstances.
You know our part of Ireland too well not
to understand that under the reign of the
League no landlord can hope to get his rents.
I want to earn money. I want you, if you
can, to put me in the way of doing so. Can
you recommend me as riding mistress in a
riding school ? What sort of a horsewoman
I am you know, and I can promise you that
I will not flinch from work. One thing more
— you will say I have neither patience nor
temper to turn schoolmistress, but ah!
Captain Sturton, believe me, late events have
sobered me completely. If you can help me in
this, I know you will. Papa is well, and bears
our changed circumstances a great deal better
'l.an I could have hoped, but Flannigan cannot
230 THE MASTER OE RATHKELLY.
forget the c splendours of Eathkelly.' As for
poor O'Eeilly, we left him behind. Mr. Blake
promised to take care of him, and without
his hounds, I fancy one place is much the
same to him as another. Hoping to hear
from } t ou soon, and assuring you I am ter-
ribly in earnest about this scheme, believe me
with kind regards from us both,
" Yours most sincere!}',
"Katie Eyre."
When Sturton received this letter he was
more struck by Katie E} r re than he had ever
been yet. He had admired her hot-headed
courage when she boldly confronted the mob
that day at Ballater Gorse, but this was
a courage that men of Harold Sturton's
temperament put a much higher value upon
than that fiery daring that men display when
their blood is up and their pulse is stirred.
" It is one thing," he would say, " to take a big
fence when hounds are literally flying before
•WHAT'S BREACH OF PRIVILEGE?" 231
you, it is another thing to jump a six-foot
wall in cold blood. That girl is crrit to the
back-bone, she don't whimper but faces the
change in her fortunes as pluckily as any
woman can do. Nothing mercenary about
her either, no other girl in her place would
have turned up her nose at Tom Chester
a good fellow and a good match for her.
Well I think I can do her a real turn here.
Ripley is under considerable obligations to
me, I should think his school is one of the
very best in town ; if he can't give or find her
the berth she want's there's no one in London
can."
=fb
-F
cc
CHAPTER XV.
MR. EIPLEY S KIDING-SCHOOL.
Katie speedily received a reply to her letter.
It was plain, straight-forward and to the point.
He expressed regret but no surprise at their
altered circumstances, and said how pleased
he was to find they bore their misfortunes so
bravely.
" You are quite right," he continued,
" when the luck goes against us in this way
the only thing is to face it and help ourselves.
You want to make money, and, I think, have
rightly selected the way in which you can do
it best. I need scarcely say I am sorry the
necessity has arisen, otherwise there are many
Irish ladies more to be pitied than you at
"MR. RIPLEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL."
present. Teaching riding is, I should think,
as pleasant an occupation as you could have
hit upon. You will find it a little mono-
tonous, all work is, and teaching in particular,
but I should think the line you've picked out
less than any. If you will take the enclosed
letter to its address, Ripley will help you if he
can, I am sure, and I know he'll stretch a
point or two to oblige me. If he can't do it
I don't know who to go to, but I trust he can.
With kind regards to your father. Believe
me, dear Miss Eyre,
" Most sincerely yours,
" Harold Sturton.
" P. S. I have unholy regrets that I was
not in the fight at Rathkelly. Like your
father L had a reckoning to settle with Mike
Cassidy. Bowever, he seems to have been
paid in full."
Armed with this missive, Katie proceeded
at once to Mr. Ripley's establishmenl at
234 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Paddington. Mr. Eipley was a livery stable
keeper on a large scale, and supplied the
public with carriages and riding horses freely
as long as they could pay for them. He had
an extensive connection and did a very good
business. Attached to his establishment was
a large riding-school, and that also was a
very thriving concern. Mr. Eipley never
lacked well-to-do pupils, and many of the
young ladies who figured in Eotten Eow had
gone through their novitiate at Eipley's.
Not that that gentleman taught himself, but
he had competent masters who undertook
that duty. Mr. Eipley read Sturton's note
attentively and then looked Katie over with
a critical but approving eye. Miss Eyre had
ridden from Hampstead, as was her custom,
in search of the situation she required.
Like most of his calling Eipley was a bit of
a horse-dealer, and after his brief examination
of the rider, his eve travelled with
undisguised admiration over the horse.
"Mi;. RIPLEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL." i 5
"The Captain has been a good friend to
me," he replied at length, "and I'd always
go a good bit out of my way to oblige him.
Now, Miss, a man don't want half an eye to
e yon can ride, and the Captain is not the
man to send yon to me on this errand if }'0U
couldn't. "Would you mind coming into the
school right off, there's a class on now.
Just let me see you take your place amongst
them and see how you manage a horse.
])arcsav neither you nor your horse were
ever in a school before ? "
" No," replied Katie, and then Mr. Ripley
forthwith led the way into the riding-school.
Eory was a temperate horse, and therefore
Miss Eyre had no trouble in keeping the
place assigned to her amongst the other
young ladies.
At the termination of the lesson, Mr.
Ripley came forward and said :
" Now, Miss Eyre, just for form's sake, I
should like to see you over the hurdles. If
236 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
you can't trust your own horse, have one of
mine."
" My own is a thoroughly broken hunter,"
said Katie, smiling.
" The big hurdles, or the little," asked
Ripley.
" The big," rejoined Miss Eyre, determined
to run no risks of losing an appointment for
want of displaying her talent.
The big hurdles were accordingly put up,
no very alarming leaps to a girl like Katie,
accustomed to figure in the first flight across
country. Eory negotiated them in fault-
less fashion, amidst a murmur of applause
from the young ladies who had just dis-
mounted, and were grouped around the door
to witness the performance.
" Capital, Miss Eyre," exclaimed Eipley, as
he walked forward into the centre of the
school. " Now," he continued, lowering his
voice, " I think I can promise to do what you
want. There is no more doubt, of course,
"MR. RIPLEY'S RIDING-8CH00L." 237
about your being able to ride than there is
about your horse being able to jump. It
isn't that— but one may be able to do a
thing, and yet not be able to teach it.
Business is business. If you will ride in the
sehool for a fortnight, and pay close attention
to the riding master whatever you may
think, I can nearly promise you a situation,
as riding mistress. I want one to accompany
my more advanced pupils in the Park. One
thing I must point out to you : — Some young
ladies sit their horse gracefully from the
very first, and are no trouble; while
others require incessant correction for a long
time. I want your eye to get trained to
that."
It was accordingly settled that Katie
should ride in the school lor a fortnight, and
if, at the end of that time, she gave satis-
faction, she was to lie appointed riding
mistress al a fixed salary.
Katie had great determination, and though
238 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
she chafed occasionally, at being pulled up
and checked by the riding-master, she reso-
lutely kept her lips shut, and at the end of
the fortnight was pronounced one of the most
docile pupils that had ever been through the
school ; and her instructor was not a little
puzzled as to what had brought her there ; but
Mr. Eipley would never have got together the
prosperous business he had done had he not
also been a capital judge of human nature.
To ensure her being treated with much con-
sideration, Sturton had thought proper to
confide to him a hint of Miss Eyre's previous
position. Mr. Eipley really did want a nice-
looking, lady-like woman for the purpose he
specified. Miss Eyre, he saw at a glance —
} r oung though she was — was the very person
lie was looking for. Two questions shot
through Eipley 's mind. She was a lady by
birth, would she not be above her work?
Secondly, had she patience? And the fort-
night's discipline he had prescribed, he
"MR. IUI'LKVS I1IDINU-.SCH00L." 239
thought would be a pretty fair test of these
points.
.Miss Eyre was very pleased with her newly
attained position. She. was fairly popular with
her pupils, and was delighted to find that she
could earn quite sufficient money to keep liory,
and proud at being further able to contribute
towards the household expens s. The two
slight drawbacks to her present situation were,
that Mr. Ripley never could refrain from
attempting to buy Rory, and also that she
was perpetually being asked to ride other horses
in the Park instead of her own. Like all
persons who have dealings with the noble
quadruped, her employer felt instinctively
that it behoved him to get. a pull of some
shape in their mutual contract. Miss Eyre
was a fine horsewoman and gifted with
beautiful hands not only naturally but with
reference to dealing with a. horse's mouth.
Mr. Ripley knew thai a great many of his
hacks would be much improved by Miss
240 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
Eyre's handling, and could not resist the
temptation of getting a bit of horse-breaking
thrown in gratis ; the result was that Katie
felt she had very little use for Ror}% and
though still resolute as ever not to part with
him, yet grudged the expense of keeping him
to do nothing. If she was to ride Ripley's
horses, and it seemed now that there was
always something that they wished Miss Eyre
"just to give a canter to," she might as well
send Rory to her sister. Mrs. Belton had told
her, as soon as she heard that the horse had
been brought to London, that she would
always take charge of him if wanted. Alder-
shot was close by, and as colonel of a cavalry
regiment Belton had plenty of stable room
at his disposal. Accordingly Katie took
advantage of her sister's offer and sent
Rory down to Aldershot.
-V- 4E> 4k 4k 4k
«J? *JP TP ^T flP
Excitement is running high in our Great
military station, for time has slipped away
"ME. RIPLEY'S RIDIKG-SCflOOL." 241
since the Eyres left Rathkelly and settled at
Hampstead. Winter is or should be past and
gone, and we are on the verge of the race for
the soldiers' bine ribbon. This year it is to
be decided on the slopes of Esher. That
Aldershot should be pretty full of talk and
conversation concerning it, was but natural ;
at least half-a-dozen of the candidates were
the property of nun quartered there and were
being trained in the vicinit\\
Sturton has got leave from Plymouth, and
is staying for a week with his regiment, and no
one was more keenly interested. Sturton is a
man who likes to win at whatever the game
he may be playing, and though he undoubtedly
can bear defeat without a sign of vexation,
yet he would prefer looking on, to standing
a forlorn chance. He had promised to ride
for Belton and was assured that his mount
was a good horse, but he was curious to
judge for himself on this point.
"What's the regiment doing?" asked
VOL. II. Z.\
242 THE MASTER OF KATHKELLY.
Sturton, of one of his old cronies. " Is any-
one running anything. Have any of you
got one fit to go ? "
" We've only one to do battle for us, that
horse of Chester's that he rode at Callow-
town."
" Of course, Loadstone ! Well what does
he say about him ? " enquired Sturton.
"I don't know," rejoined the other. " It's
a rum thing, but Tom is a changed man. He
has turned mysterious and won't talk. I don't
know what has come to him. He has never
been the same since we left Ireland. Perhaps
the whiskey this side of the Channel don't suit
him."
" Do you know who is to ride Loadstone ? "
" Yes ; and that's all I know about him.
Tom rides himself, but whether the horse is
doing well, and whether Tom fancies his
chance or not, he has confided to nobody."
That his old subaltern was somewhat
changed, Sturton discovered before he had
"MR. RIPLEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL." 243
talked with him ten minutes, bul nothing to
the extent that he had been represented. He
certainly was rather graver — graver and
more silent than he was wont to be — but that
Sturton could account for; he knew that
('holer had been very much in earnest in
his low for Katie Eyre ; and that his want of
success in thai affair had been a severe blow to
him. " However," he had reflected, " he'll get
over it in course of time. I only hope, poor
beggar, it won't take him so lonir as it has
done me."
Sturton was putting up in a vacant quarter
next to Chester's, and before turning in, he
strolled into the hitter's room for a final talk
and cigar.
" So, you're going to have a shy at the big
chase, Tom. Do you fancy your chance ? '
"Yes"; replied the other, "very much!
Loadstone is wonderfully well, and I've tried
him a good bit better than I thought him ; I
mean to back him to win a good stake, and it
33*
244 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
will be the fault of the man, not the horse, if
it doesn't come off."
" Never fear, Tom ; you're not likely to
forget the lesson of last year ; don't be in too
great a hurry to get home," and then the
conversation drifted into different channels —
but one thing puzzled both men, when they
separated. The name of Katie Eyre had
never been mentioned between them. Chester
never for a moment supposed that Sturton
could have heard anything about the Eyres
down at Plymouth ; while Sturton, on his part,
thought that Katie might not care to have
her present employment talked about. Al-
though neither of the men knew it, that young
lady was domiciled within about a couple of
miles of the camp at that minute. Katie had
stuck most resolutely to her work for the
last few months; and, though Mrs. Belton had
given her many an invitation to run down
to Aldershot, she had steadily refused them
all. But she had heard much of the glories
"MR, RIPLEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL." 245
of Sandown, and she had never seen a Grand
Military. Ber brother-in-law had a horse
running in this one, and, what was more.
Captain Sturton was going to ride. She was
entitled to a short holiday, she would claim
it now. Another thing, why shouldn't her
father go too. It would be a nice outing for
him; and as Katie said with a laugh, "No
man ever enjoyed a bit of divarsion more. '
So she wrote to Grace, and speedily received
a reply to the effect that Mrs. Belton would
be only too delighted to put them both up for
the week. A brief absence from her duties
was easily arranged with Mr. Ripley, and the
same evening that saw Sturton's appearance
at the mess of his old regiment Mr. and Miss
Eyre sat down at the Belton's dinner table.
Sturton had found a note waiting for
him on his arrival at Aldershot from Mrs.
Belton, asking him to dine with them
the next day, and, accordingly, he stepped
into a fly next evening to fulfil that engage-
2J6 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
ment. He was a little surprised that- Chester
was not also asked ; but, finally supposed that
Belt on wanted to have a Ion" talk with -him
about the forthcoming: race, and then'dis-
missed the subject from his mind. Belton, no
doubt, did not wish Chester to be present at
their conversation. He was in good time,
and when he entered the drawing-room,
Harold Sturton was for once takenTfairly
aback. A young lady came forward to greet
him that carried his memor} r back to a Cal-
lowtown ball of many years ago. He knew
perfectlv well that the young lady he was
shaking hands with was Katie Eyre, but he
could not help murmuring to himself, " how
like," as he did so. To have taken one sister
for the other would have been impossible,
but the resemblance between Katie and Mrs.
Belton had increased verv much of late, and
those who remembered Grace at her first ball
would certainly have pronounced Katie very
like what she was then. To people who saw
"MR, RIPLEY'S RIDINC-mHooL." 247
lier constantly this growing Likeness to
(Jracc was imperceptible, but Sturton, it musl
be borne in mind, had not seen Miss Eyre for
close upon a twelvemonth, and this year
had transformed the school-girl into a woman.
He sat down beside her, and asked her how
she Liked her new vocation?
"Very much," replied Katie. "I never
expected to make so much money nor find
work come so easy. Mr. Ripley is very kind
and considerate, and except that he cov
my horse dreadfully I've nothing to say
againsl him. No, except a stupid pupil now
and again, I've really nothing to grumble
at."
Here the entrance of Mrs. Belton, follow
by her father, interrupted their conversation.
" I've no one to nieel you, I 'aptain Sturton.
We're quite a family party. We have none
of us seen you for ever so lone, especially my
father and Katie, and then, you know, we all
want to talk horse, and that might bore
248 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
people not so interested as we are in the race
of to-morrow."
" Yes," laughed Belton, who had just made
his appearance. "Horse is the prevailing
topic in Aldershot at present. How are you,
Sturton ? ' fit,' I hope ? Now, if you will take
Katie, we'll go to dinner."
They were a very cheery party, as, indeed,
they were bound to be. The Colonel was a
man who gloried in garrison races, and had
been a very fair performer until he get rather
too heavy to ride. He was very sanguine
about carrying off the Gold Cup, and in high
spirits in consequence. Katie was thoroughly
enjoying her well-earned holiday, while Mr.
Eyre seemed to have thrown the "hard
times ' : behind him, and looked ten years
younger than in those latter days at Kath-
kelly.
" Well, Sturton," he exclaimed, " you won
for the family last year ; you'll have to do
the same for us to-morrow. Here, George,
"MR. RIPLEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL.* 249
we must all drink this toasl ; here's Buccess to
the Nabob."
The toast was laughingly drunk and then
Colonel Helton replied gaily :
"Well, to rci urn thanks now would be a
little premature, but the horse is really as fit
as he can be made, and I do think has a tremen-
dous chance. We've tried him to be ten
pounds better than Rory — that's good
enough, isn't it."
"There must have been something wrong
aboul the trial," exclaimed Miss Eyre. "I'm
sure you haven't got a horse ten pounds
better than Rory."
"Perhaps not," replied the Colonel. " How-
ever, that's what we make it. That'll do
Sturton, won't it ? "
" I'm afraid not. Your pet is a good little
horse, Miss Eyre, but the Nabob will have
to meet one to-morrow that is quite that much
better than Rory."
"What's that ? " enquired Mrs. Belton.
250 THE MASTEE OF RATHKELLY.
" One that you saw behind him at Callow-
town, that, I fancy, you'll never see behind
him again — Loadstone."
"What, that horse of Chester's?" said
Mr. Eyre. " By Jove, Sturton, you're right.
If he hadn't made a mistake at that last
bank, Loadstone would have won easily."
" Yes," replied Sturton. " He could have
come away from me any time in the race.
Tom tells me he has had a thoroughly satis-
factory preparation at Melwood's. You'll
see, he won't fall this time. I always back
my own mount, but I mean to save on
Loadstone, and should recommend everyone
else to do the same."
" What do you think of Katie ? " asked
Mrs. Belton of Sturton, when, their cigarettes
finished, the gentlemen had joined the ladies
in the drawing-room. " Don't you see a great
change in her ? "
"Very great. She has, so to speak, grown
up all of a sudden ; how pluckily she has
"MB I ; 1 1 LEY'S RIDING-SCHOOL." 251
faced her troubles, and how very like -
has grown to yourself."
"Ah! you see it, so they tell me with the
advantage of being a dozen vears my junior.
It's a quare thing as the)- say in the old
country, bul [ declare poverty seems to have
agreed with Papa and Katie. Papa has i
been in such spirits for years, they tell me,
as he is now thai he lias very little money to
live upon. While, as for Katie, it has knocked
all the nonsense out of her. All the old
petulance has gone, and, thanks to you, she
is working bravely for her living, and enjoys
doing it." And here Mrs. Belton moved away
to speak to her father, and Sturton soon found
himself laughing and talking with Miss Eyre,
who amused him immensely by her account
of the doings of the riding school, and
Ripley's numerous and subtle endeavours to
buy Eory.
As Katie undressed thai evening, she
thought with a smile of that little dinner at
252 THE MASTEE OF EATHKELLY.
Rathkelly about a year ago, at which she had
been so intensely dissatisfied. A triumphant
little smile played about her lips as she took
a last peep in" the glass and murmured,
"Well, I can't complain that he took no
notice of me this time ! "
As for Harold Sturton, as he drove back to
camp, he was plunged into intense thought.
" Deuced odd," he said to himself. " My
life, like history, seems about to repeat
itself."
Q^:H'ffV .^
CHAPTER XVI.
" THE soldiers' blue ribbon."
A fine bright day towards the end of March,
a day for furs and ulsters, a day on which,
though the wind was, as might have been
expected, in the East, it had moderated its
vagaries, while the bright sun had an
exhilarating effect upon the gay throng
mustered on the lawn at Sandown. A great
gathering this for the soldiers. Men from all
parts of the kingdom have flocked to Esher
on the chance of meeting old comrades, and
to see the Gold Cup run for. Pretty well all
the gentlemen riders in the country are
gathered there, and the army has always
contributed a large contingent to swell the
25 i THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
ranks of these last. Luncheons ! There are
luncheons all over the course, from the Club
Booms at the back of the stand to the
innumerable drags the other side of the
course. Whatever its shortcomings may be
upon service, the soldiers take care there
shall be no shortcomings in the commissariat
department when they go racing. There is a
goodly gathering of pretty women from
town, and a strong muster from the sur-
rounding country, all looking their best and
their brightest. It was just the sort of day
which gave ladies both a colour and an
appetite, and this latter their male belongings
stand in much need of on the day of the
Grand Military, when everyone is expected
to lunch at least three or four times.
The Eyres and Beltons had arrived at
Sandown in good time, and the Colonel's
carriage had taken up an excellent position
on the far side of the course. Sturton
speedily joined them there, and the Colonel
"THE SOLDIERS* BLUE RIBBON." 255
at once exclaimed, " Have you seen the
Nabob?"
"Yes," he replied, "I've just come from
the paddock. Your groom has done him
ry justice, but you've no pull over Load-
stone in that resprct. lie looks line as a
star and trained to an hour. They are back-
ing him in there," and Sturton nodded his
head in the direction of the ring, "for pounds,
shillings, and pence, and only that Chester is
an unknown man between the flags, the
partisans of Melwood's stable would have to
be content with a short price, llow do you
do, Miss Eyre. I only hope I shall be as
lucky to-day as I was at Callowtown."
" I've every confidence in you,*' said
Mrs. Helton. "Don't forget you're to dine
with us again to celebrate, I hope, your
victory."
" Yes, ' the Cup ' must be christened," re-
marked Katie.
•• A rather premature counting of chickens,
256 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
eh, Sturton ? " cried Mr. Eyre. " It would
be odd if Chester turned the tables on you."
" Nothing more probable, and if I can't
"win I hope he may. Please Tom awfully.
He's dangerous to-day. Not cock-a-hoop,
but quietly confident. Now I'm off. You
know my superstition about first out"
"First in," said Mrs. Belton. " Au
revoir."
Sturton made his wa}^ rapidly to where the
Nabob was walking about, and was quickly
in the saddle. True to his eld whim, he was
about to head the procession out of the
paddock, when Belton suddenly called to him.
Sturton checked his horse onlv to hear that
the Colonel had backed Loadstone also for
a little. But during this slight pause Chester
passed him, and when they filed out on to
the course Loadstone was leading.
" That looks ominous," exclaims Mrs. Belton,
as the horses walked past the stand.
" Very," said Katie, in a low voice.
■•Tin-; >o:.i»ii:i;s' hluk ribbon."
The girl was quite as anxious that the
Nabob sliould win as her sister, but from a
different motive. Mrs. Belton wished the
horse to win, Katie was only desirous of the
man's success.
Although Sturton had this whim, and was
just a little annoyed with Belton for having
caused him to miss gratifying it, he was the
last man to be cast down because the augury
was unfavourable. It was somewhat on the
principle of the old whist-player's remark on
winning the cut and choice of seats : " I don't
believe myself in the luck of the hinges, but
we may as well have 'em for all that."
The preliminary canter is soon over, and
as they go by, the followers of Mel wood's
stable are well pleased with the long, slashing
stride of their pet. " If he can but ride him,
if he can only hold him," they murmur, " he'll
win easy enough, never fear."
Loadstone, as Sturton knew, had always
been a hot horse, but Chester had given his
vol. ii. 34
258 THE MASTER OF EATHKELLY.
old mentor no hint of the tactics he meant to
pursue. As they walked down to the post
Sturton commented on the lame sums of
money for which Loadstone had been backed.
"Yes," replied Chester. "I'm standing
him for a good stake myself, but I told them
in the stable from the very first that I
intended to ride him, so that if I muff it, they
have no business to blame me if it's a case of
spilt milk."
Arrived at the post the lot were speedily
despatched on their journey, and no sooner
had they settled down than Loadstone was
seen at the head of affairs, and there he re-
mained till somewhere about a mile had been
covered, when he was pulled back. Sturton,
who had made up his mind that this was
the most dangerous horse in the race, at first
hoped that Loadstone had somewhat over-
powered his rider, but he soon saw that
Chester deemed it more judicious to give his
horse his head than to fight with him, but that
"THE SOLDIERS' BLUE RIBBON."
for all that he had not at all lost control over
him. A mile from home Sturton, who had
been Lying off, begins to creep to the front,
the Xabob is {joins well and jumping fault-
Lessly, but as his rider comes alongside
Loadstone, he sees that he is full of running
and still pulling hard at his bridle.
"I'm done," remarks the captain to him-
self. "If his horse doesn't make a mistake,
Chester can't lose, and though Loadstone is
7 o
pulling he is jumping in motl temperate
fashion." By the time they near the last
fence there are only three left in it, and
Chester is palpably in raring parlance, " lying
over " his two opponents.
"It was the Last fence did him before,"
muttered Sturton. "I'll not throw up the
sponge till I've seen him over that."
Bui ( Shester had tiol forgol ten the Lesson
■
at Callowtown. He pulled his horse well
together at the Last jump, and, safely owr,
just shook him up and sailed in an easy
260 THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY.
"winner by seven or eight lengths. A good
race for second money ending in the defeat
of the Nabob b} r a neck.
"Oh dear, oh dear!" exclaimed Mrs.
Belton, " this is a terrible blow. What shall
we do, Katie ? And to think we have asked
Captain Sturton to dinner too."
" It is very sad," said Miss Eyre, with mock
gravity. " It amounts to a domestic bereave-
ment. Last night we quite reckoned that
Gold Cup as one of the famiky."
" Oh, well ! " laughed her father. "I dare-
say we shall bear up against it. I think one
has pleasanter times with empty pockets than
with full ones," with which cheery, but very
Hibernian remark, and an exclamation that
he was dying with hunger, Mr. Eyre plunged
into a plethoric looking hamper.
Mr. Eyre proved a true prophet. It would
have been difficult fur five people to be
merrier than were Mrs. Belton and her
guests that evening, and as the sisters went
"THE SoLDIEKS' BLUE KIDD" >N." 261
upstairs that night alter Sturton's departure,
the former said, "you've had the best of I
a good deal to-day, Katie. I've lost tin-
Gold Cup and you, my dear, have won some-
thing a good deal better worth keeping."
" Oh, Grace," rejoined the girl, as she ran
oil' to her own room.
Terence Flynn soon found employment in
the vicinity of Hampstead, and was very
shortly in a position to oiler Norah a home,
but neither of them have any disposition to
return to the " ould counthry."
HIE EM).
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