“I don’t want to stay,” said I; “I was a fool to come.”
“You will be still more a fool to go,” said he. “Sit down; eyes are on us already. Life may be nothing to you, but it is everything to me.”
He spoke so eagerly, almost piteously, that I felt sorry for him, and for his sake more than my own took the seat at his side.
At that moment there entered the room a noble-looking young man, at sight of whom every one present rose to his feet and uncovered.
“It’s Lord Edward himself!” exclaimed my companion, still trembling.
Lord Edward! I had heard of him before. It was he whose letter I had carried four years ago to Deputé Duport on behalf of the unfortunate Sillery; and it was he on whom just now the eyes of all Irish rebels were turned for guidance and hope in the desperate enterprise on which they were embarked.
There was something fascinating in his open frank countenance and the half reckless, joyous air with which he carried himself. The assembly, which, till he arrived, had been sombre and mysterious, lit up under his presence into enthusiasm and eagerness.
He had news to give and receive; and as I sat and listened I came to learn more of the state of Ireland in half-an-hour than a week in Dublin would have taught me.
The fuel was ready for the torch. The United Irishmen were organised and drilled in every county. The English garrison was becoming day by day more slack and contemptible. What traitors there were were known and marked. The dawn was in the sky. A little more patience, a little more sacrifice, a little more self-restraint, and the hour of Ireland’s liberty would soon strike.
But it was not in generalities like these that the speaker moved my admiration most. It was when the meeting came to consider the state of the rebel organisation in various parts that the soldier and general shone out in him, and convinced me that if any man could carry the movement through he would. The present meeting, as I understood, consisted of delegates from the north, where people were beginning to grow impatient for the signal to rise; and where, as some one boasted, one hundred thousand men were ready even now to move on Dublin and drive the English garrison into the sea.