“No, Nic, I’m not a bit hardened; I only look now at things from a sensible point of view, and say to myself, ‘Here are these men who have done wrong, and the law has sent them out for a punishment; those who are very bad will be unable to do any more mischief, while those who have any good in them have chances given them to lead a new life.’ Why some of them are getting to be well-to-do bodies, Nic, and married and have children, who will grow up better people in a new land. Don’t you fret about the convicts, boy; but take them as you find them. When you have to do with the bad ones, keep them at a distance; and when you have to do with the good and repentant, just shut your eyes to the past and open them as wide as you can to the future. Sure, Nic, I’m the governor’s lady with a title, and everybody’s glad to be my friend, yourself included, my boy; but how do I know what I might have been if I hadn’t been tenderly cared for when I was young? You’ll like some of the transported people, Nic, my boy. I’ve got some out there whom I look upon as friends, and just because I see that they’ve put the past behind, and are doing what these sailor lads do here, keeping a bright look-out ahead. Yes, Nic, they’re looking to the future, and so am I and you. What a place this world would be if we hadn’t a future before us every one! There, you will not fret nor worry yourself about any dangers we are likely to meet with from the convicts now.”
“Oh no,” said Nic eagerly; “you have done me no end of good, Lady O’Hara. But—”
“Well, but what, boy? Out with it, and don’t hesitate.”
“Are they ever likely to rise against us over there, or here aboard ship?”
“Sure, I don’t know, Nic,” said Lady O’Hara coolly. “Very likely, my boy. They are always thinking about it, I know.”
“But if they do?”
“Well, we shall just have to rise too, and teach them manners. We’ve got right on our side, and they haven’t; so we are sure to win.”
“But you don’t seem at all alarmed, in spite of all that I have said.”
“Sure, and why should I be, Nic, or you either? They may rise, and a hole may burst out in the bottom of the ship, and we may run upon a rock, and there may be a storm, and there are plenty of other maybe’s, Nic. But let them be, my dear boy. You and I have got our duty to do, and let’s do it, and while we’re doing that, leave all the rest. Nic, boy, faith’s a grand thing. I’m full of it, and ye’re just a little wanting; so get it as fast as ye can; it’s a fine thing in the making of a true man.”