Kearney flushed up to the eyes, and laying his hand on the other’s shoulder, said, ‘This is exactly what I have done. I have told my sister that you are the noted Daniel Donogan, United Irishman and rebel.’
‘But only to your sister?’
‘To none other.’
‘She‘ll not betray me, I know that.’
‘You are right there, Donogan. Here’s how it happened, for it was not intended.’ And now he related how the name had escaped him.
‘So that the cousin knows nothing?’
‘Nothing whatever. My sister Kate is not one to make rash confidences, and you may rely on it she has not told her.’
‘I hope and trust that this mistake will serve you for a lesson, Mr. Kearney, and show you that to keep a secret, it is not enough to have an honest intention, but a man must have a watch over his thoughts and a padlock on his tongue. And now to something of more importance. In your meeting with Walpole, mind one thing: no modesty, no humility; make your demands boldly, and declare that your price is well worth the paying; let him feel that, as he must make a choice between the priests and the nationalists, we are the easier of the two to deal with: first of all, we don’t press for prompt payment; and, secondly, we’ll not shock Exeter Hall! Show him that strongly, and tell him that there are clever fellows amongst us who’ll not compromise him or his party, and will never desert him on a close division. Oh dear me, how I wish I was going in your place.’
‘So do I, with all my heart; but there’s ten striking, and we shall be late for breakfast.’