The Macdermots

I c THE MACDERMOTS OF BALLYCLORAN, BY l MB. A. TROLLOPE. VOL. III. LONDON: THOMAS CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 72, MORIMER --ST., CAVENDISH . Sq. 184'7. -J' L THE MACDEBMOTS OF BALLYCLORAN, CHAPTER I, AS story-tellers of every description have, from time immemorial, been considered free from thoae nicetiee by wl~ichall attempts in the nobler clames of literature me, or should be restrained, WCI cousider no apology neces- sary for requesting the reader to leq over with us the pace of four montha ; but still, before we continue our- talo from that date, it mill be as well that we should give a short ‘ outlino of the principal events which pro- duced tho state in which the oircumlstances of the Mucderrnots will then be found, and we VOL, m. B t Y are sorry to say that they were not such W -; 1 could ofer much coneolntion to them. It mill be remembered that Pat Brady WM commissioned by hia master to take Uasher’s body to the police station at carrick, in Fred. BroWn’B gig. This commission he promptly performed, and also thnt of restoring tho gig to its owner ; and after having thus completed his master’a behests like n good Hervmt, ho paid B visit on his awn account to Mr. Keegnn. Although it was late, he still found that active gentletnan up, and gnvo him a tolorulbly accurate account of what had hnppcnod nt Bnllycloran, adding that the young lnaetcr had gone off to join the boys, nt lasto tlrnt’t3 what he mpposed he’d be nf‘ther I~ow.’’ As soon as Kecgan’s surpisu was :l littlo ribatad, ’ he perceived that the affir would probably act a~ x stapping-atone, on whicl]* ho might walk into Bdycloran aven sooncr than 110 had hitherto thought to do, and whcn, SIIono OF BALLYCLORAN. 3 ~f the jurors at the Coronervs inquest, on the next morning, he saw that poor Lamy had evidently fillen into absolute idiotcy, and heard that Thady hnd, in fact, escapedz he instantly determined to take auoh legal. steps on behalf of his father-in-law wodd put the property under his management ; and this, accordingly, he did. The proper steps for proving the old man to be of un- sound mind would have been attended with very great expense ; inatend of doing this, he got himself made receiver over the property, md doternlined to arrest Larry, which, in hi^ existing state, he conceived he ehould have no ciifficulty in doing. Here, however, he found llimself very mucl1 mistaken, for nothing could induce the old man to leavc his own room, or ao muoh as allow the front door to be unlocked. Mnry Bmdy still continued to at- tend l~imovary day, returning homo to her Iluebancl after sunset, and she found him very n3 4 THE MACDERMOTS easy to manage in every partionlar, ELB long as he waa allowed to have his own way in this. He had quite lost the triumpbant feeling which led him to boast in the streets of CRP rick, after leaving the inquest, that he had escaped from Flnnnelly's power, and that he would never have to pay him nnothor farthing ; for now if be heard a strange step, ho fancied it to be a bailiff's, ancl if there waa the slightest noise in the house, ho thought that an attempt was being made to drag him off by violence. It was a Iniserable eight to seo the old man, thin, wan, and worn ouf, sitting during that cold winter, by a €mv sods o4 turf, with the door of his own room ajar, watching the front door, from morning till night, to see that no one opencd it. Beforo Clnistmas he bad his bed brought down into the aame room, in order that ho might not be betrayed into the hands of his enemies in CYTS OF BALLYCLOW. 5 the morning before he \.va8 ap, and from that time no inducement could prevail on him to Peave the room for a mornont. During this time his poverty was very great, the tenante had been served with legal notices to pay neither to him nor to Thady any portion of their mnts, and consequently pro- visions wem very low and very scarce at Bal- lyclornn ; in fact, had it not been for the kind- ness of father John Tony, Mr. McKeon, and Coundlor Wobb, whom property wm od- joining to R:lllycloran, Lnrry would have been starved into a surrender. Mr. Webb went so far na to interfere with Mr. Reqpn, and to poht out to him that in all humanity he . should stay his proceedings till after Therlp'6 trial, but ICoegan replied tbnt he was only acting for Mr. Flannelly, who waa determined to have the matter settled at once ; that all bo wanted waa his own, ahd that bo had drctddy waited too long, to be expected ta wait longer. i 6 THE NACDBXMOTB When Keegan found that Larry Mmderrnbt in spite of his infirmities, was too wary to be caught ; he endeavoured to bribe Mary to open the door to bis emiaaariea, srad to bc- J tray &e old man, but though Mary was very fond of money, she was too honest forthis, I and she replied to the attorney by telling him, that for all the money in the bank of Carri&, she wouldn’t be the one to trate the odd blood that way,” and Larry aonecquently still held out at Ballyclorsn, living on the chance prosents of his friende, who sent him at one time 8 few stone of potatoes, at another a pound of tea, then a bit of bacon, or a few bottles of whiskey ; this Isst, howevtsr, was confided to Mary, with injunctions not to allow him too frcquently to have recourso to the only comforter that was loft to him. Though Ireegnn failed to gain admieaion into the house, and not boing abLe to get tho proprietor into his hands, could not put himself into dmlute possession of the estate, atill he could c10 That he pleased with the IandH, and he was not long in availing himself d’the power. In January he served notices on dl the tenants that unless the whole ap pears weh paid on or before the end of the next monih, they would be ejected, and to many of those who held portions of the better part of the land, he sent summary notices to quit on the first of May next following. These noticea were all served by Pat, who assured the tenants that he only performed tho duties which he had now undertaken that he might look after Mr. Ihzldy’e interests, and &E, as he said, there could be no use in life in his refusing to do it, for av’ he didn’t another would, and the tenants would be no betther, und Be a dale the worse.” These things by no means tended to make Keegan’s name popular on the estate, parti- oulady at Drumleesh, where tho tenants but ill propared to pay their rent by small portions at t~ time, were utterly confounded at 8 THE MACDERMOTB the idea of having to pay up the arrear8 in a lump ; but Pat assured him that although they were surly and sullen, they gave no Bigne or shewed any determination of having reomme to violence, or of openly*rebelling against the authority of their new Imd- lord. Pat, however, knew but little of what W~R going on amongst them now. Although they found no absolute fault with the arguments mbich he used for acting on Mr. ICeegan’s behdf, still he soon discovered that the tenants had withdrawn their confidence from him, and that they looked upon him rathor as the servant of their now tyrant, than as the friend to whom they had bcon accugtomod to turn, when they wanted any little favour, or extended time from their old master. 110 had moreover discontinuod his vieits to Mrs. Mul- ready’s, and had for a long time aocn nothing of Joe Reynolds and his set, who spo~zt;meet of their time in Auglmashol, or nt any rata Y KOTS W? BALLYCLORAN, 9 awny from Drumleosh. Pat therefore really - know but little of the feelings to which Mr. Iieegan’s rncasures had given rise, and come- quently managed to deceive his master very eRectually. Joe Reynolds had been altogether unable to account for Thady’s sudden disappearance from Augbucubhel ; at first he thought he must Bnve been talren prisoner by aome of the police, whilst ronrning about in the neigh- bourhood, and although he ultimately heard that father John and he llnd gone together to Counsellor Webb’s, still he neyer could learn how Thady had fallen into-the pri~st’~ bands. Joe, however, did not forget that Thady had done what he considercd the good scrvioe of ridding the country of Ussher, and he swore thut he would repay it by punkhing tho man, who in his. estimation was robbing Thady of hie right and his property ; he had long since dccltlrod at Mrs. Mulrcady’s, aa W0 are alrvnro, that if Thady would come over ~6 S d 10 9€iE MACDERMOTS and join his party, Keegan should not come .opon the estate with impunity, and he WBB now determined to keep his word. Eeegan, trusting to the wsurmce of Pat, that the tenanta were all quiet and peaceable, at length began to go among them himself and had, about the beginning of Pebruary, once cw twice ridden over portions of the property.

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