‘And destroy the Church,’ chimed in the priest.
‘Humph!’ muttered Gorman, who seemed to imply, Is this all you can lay to his charge? ‘Has he escaped? asked he suddenly.
‘Up to this he has,’ said Miller. ‘I was talking to the constabulary chief this afternoon, and he told me that the fellow is sure to be apprehended. He has taken to the open bog, and there are eighteen in full cry after him. There is a search-warrant, too, arrived, and they mean to look him up at Kilgobbin Castle.’
‘To search Kilgobbin Castle, do you mean?’ asked Gorman.
‘Just so. It will be, as I perceive you think it, a great offence to Mr. Kearney, and it is not impossible that his temper may provoke him to resist it.’
‘The mere rumour may materially assist his son’s election,’ said the priest slyly.
‘Only with the party who have no votes, Father Luke,’ rejoined Miller. ‘That precarious popularity of the mob is about the most dangerous enemy a man can have in Ireland.’
‘You are right, sir,’ said the priest blandly. ‘The real favour of this people is only bestowed on him who has gained the confidence of the clergy.’
‘If that be true,’ cried Gorman, ‘upon my oath I think you are worse off here than in Austria. There, at least, we are beginning to think without the permission of the Church.’
‘Let us have none of your atheism here, young man,’ broke in his aunt angrily. ‘Such sentiments have never been heard in this room before.’