‘I’m glad he’s better than they made him out,’ said Miss Betty to herself, in a tone of calm soliloquy; ‘and he’ll not be worse for some of the home truths I told him.’ And with this she drew on her silk mittens, and arranged her cap composedly, while she waited for Kate’s arrival.
As for poor Kearney, other troubles were awaiting him in his study, where he found his son and Mr. Holmes, the lawyer, sitting before a table covered with papers. ‘I have no head for business now,’ cried Kearney. ‘I don’t feel over well to-day, and if you want to talk to me, you’ll have to put it off till to-morrow.’
‘Mr. Holmes must leave for town, my lord,’ interposed Dick, in his most insinuating tone, ‘and he only wants a few minutes with you before he goes.’
‘And it’s just what he won’t get. I would not see the Lord-Lieutenant if he was here now.’
‘The trial is fixed for Tuesday the 19th, my lord,’ cried Holmes,’ and the National press has taken it up in such a way that we have no chance whatever. The verdict will be “Guilty,” without leaving the box; and the whole voice of public opinion will demand the very heaviest sentence the law can pronounce.’
‘Think of that poor fellow O’Shea, just rising from a sick-bed,’ said Dick, as his voice shook with agitation.
‘They can’t hang him.’
‘No, for the scoundrel Gill is alive, and will be the chief witness on the trial; but they may give him two years with prison labour, and if they do, it will kill him.’
‘I don’t know that. I’ve seen more than one fellow come out fresh and hearty after a spell. In fact, the plain diet, and the regular work, and the steady habits, are wonderful things for a young man that has been knocking about in a town life.’
‘Oh, father, don’t speak that way. I know Gorman well, and I can swear he’d not survive it.’