'And the French will be here in force--the veterans of the Republic.'
'The French, the French!' growled Curran. 'Say that they land and beat the armies of King George, which I much doubt; will they not soon weary of a precarious possession, and, carrying you to market in some treaty of peace, barter you away to be well scourged? I vow I have no patience with you, grieved though I be for the humble order of the people, who from lack of education are easily deluded. Depend upon it, your acts are all known in London. By the time you are ready, the towns will seethe with British troops. I tremble to think of the result.'
'Would ye have us turn the cheek like good Christians, then?' jeered the giant, who, under influence of wine, was becoming warm. 'Are the sons of the ancient kings meekly to become galley-slaves?'
'What would I have ye do?' retorted the host, who perceived with wrath that he was being driven into a corner. 'I'd have ye keep a civil tongue, and talk no treason till ye're outside my privet-hedge. If ye do not, I'll report what's been said to Clare; I will, upon my honour, to save ye from worse folly.'
The sturdy little man looked as if he were quite capable of carrying out his threat. If he were to disclose all he knew of them, it would be terrible indeed.
Cassidy, the claret mounting to his muddled brain, seized a decanter with the laudable intention of belabouring his host with it.
'A traitor!' he muttered fiercely. 'That's the lowest beast that crawls. If ye spake ere a word of us, I'll pistol ye in the street!'
The lawyer looked calmly up at the menacing giant and laughed. 'Put it down, big baby,' he said. 'You dare to think me half-hearted because I won't take a pike and try to knock down St. Patrick's. Does any man in Ireland love Erin more than I? Learn, fool, that men have different functions assigned to them. Do your best, if God wills it so. When the battle's lost ye'll want me to bind your gashes. I've listened to much rubbish this afternoon. Now you, in your turn, listen to the truth, which is bad enough--ochone! I know that all your martial goings-out and comings-in are reported one by one; I know that they are broidured and embellished before they cross the sea. I have reason to suspect--I admit I cannot prove it yet--that such cooked accounts are given of your doings as actually to alarm the British cabinet. You are playing into Pitt's hands. I have heard that they even talk of "martial-law" as possible. If they come to that, the Lord be merciful to our poor Erin!'
Mr. Curran's head sank on his breast, and tears ran down his rugged cheeks; while the conspirators glanced one at the other with pallid faces. Martial law! rough and ready tribunals presided over by the tools of England! Sure their host's terrors must carry him away. And yet he might be right, judging from the past. It was quite possible that they were being deliberately driven to the shambles in cold blood--like victims marked out for slaughter by some savage despot. Cassidy laid down the decanter, and began to stammer apologies for his petulance.
The noise of voices at high words brought Sara into the room, who, frightened at the sudden dread which seemed to have invaded the party, clung to her father, while she turned an inquiring glance to the undergraduate.