We stood shivering on the steps, and watched Himself and O’Grady climb into one of the lorries. Himself was wrapped up well enough; but I had a pang at the sight of O’Grady, who was elderly and had on a threadbare overcoat and scarf.
Mrs. Slaney denounced the British Government until the last sounds of the wheels had died away. I listened dazed. A plait of Mrs. O’Grady’s hair hung down her back. The spell was broken by Mrs. Slaney retreating upstairs; but with a bound Mrs. O’Grady outstripped her, and towered above her with her hands raised over her head.
“God forgive you for a wicked old woman! God forgive you, for I never will. You’re a wicked, wicked woman, Mrs. Slaney. Do you hear me?”
“Hush, Mrs. O’Grady!” Mrs. Fitzgerald urged. “Hush. You’ll say something you’ll be sorry for later. Mrs. O’Grady, be quiet.”
“Be quiet! I cannot with himself all perishing of the cold. And the cough on his chest something awful. It’s dead he’ll be before he reaches the Castle. You wicked, wicked woman, you were after knowing those bullets were there.” Her voice rose and cracked, and she became inarticulate.
“Now, Mrs. O’Grady, pull yourself together,” ordered Mrs. Slaney, sharply. “Pull yourself together at once. You’re hysterical. O’Grady will come out of this all right, he’ll come to no harm. Indeed, it will be good for them both to experience what hundreds of our splendid young men are suffering every day. Come upstairs and I’ll give you a little wine. Come up all of you. It’s things like this, trials, that bring us close together. Mrs. Fitzgerald will tell you that. It is trials that have united Ireland.”
Mrs. O’Grady mouthed words that never came. We could only catch an occasional croak of “wicked old woman.”
“We’d better go along, too,” said Mrs. Fitzgerald, “for Mrs. O’Grady’s sake. We little thought when we watched Desmond drive away that night that the next person would be your husband.”
“No, and I don’t quite know what to do about it, or who to go to.”
“You’ll go to the Castle the first thing in the morning. And if you can’t do any good, I should suggest finding a Unionist solicitor. I can only send you to Sinn Feiners, and they have all been mixed up in court-martial cases, which make them useless as far as the Castle is concerned. If you could get a Unionist for your husband it would be better. You must do everything quickly. Ammunition is a serious charge.”