James Casey entered and clasped Matty in his arms; and half a dozen athletic fellows and one old and debauched-looking man followed, and the door was immediately closed after their entry.
Andy stood in amazement while Casey and Matty caressed each other; and the old man said in a voice tremulous with intoxication, “A very pretty filly, by jingo!”
“I lost no time the minute I got your message, Matty,” said Casey, “and here's the Father ready to join us.”
“Ay, ay,” cackled the old reprobate—“hammer and tongs!—strike while the iron's hot!—I'm the boy for a short job”; and he pulled a greasy book from his pocket as he spoke.
This was a degraded clergyman, known in Ireland under the title of “Couple-Beggar,” who is ready to perform irregular marriages on such urgent occasions as the present; and Matty had contrived to inform James Casey of the desperate turn affairs had taken at home, and recommended him to adopt the present plan, and so defeat the violent measure of her father by one still more so.
A scene of uproar now ensued, for Andy did not take matters quietly, but made a pretty considerable row, which was speedily quelled, however, by Casey's bodyguard, who tied Andy neck and heels, and in that helpless state he witnessed the marriage ceremony performed by the “couple-beggar,” between Casey and the girl he had looked upon as his own five minutes before.
In vain did he raise his voice against the proceeding; the “couple-beggar” smothered his objections in ribald jests.
“You can't take her from me, I tell you,” cried Andy.
“No; but we can take you from her,” said the “couple-beggar”; and, at the words, Casey's friends dragged Andy from the cottage, bidding a rollicking adieu to their triumphant companion, who bolted the door after them and became possessor of the wife and property poor Andy thought he had secured.
To guard against an immediate alarm being given, Andy was warned on pain of death to be silent as his captors bore him along, and he took them to be too much men of their word to doubt they would keep their promise. They bore him through a lonely by-lane for some time, and on arriving at the stump of an old tree, bound him securely to it, and left him to pass his wedding-night in the tight embraces of hemp.