“He is, and is a trusty member of our society, as I hope you will be even yet.”
“Pardon me,” said I; “had Tim been dead, I promised him to fight for Ireland. As it is, I am bound to my king.”
“Well,” said he, with a shrug, “that is no concern of mine. As to your spying on our meeting—all’s fair in love and war. You will, no doubt, make use of what you have heard against us.”
“That I certainly shall not do,” said I. “I am a poor man, but I am at least a gentleman. To protect the lady I love I shall certainly try; but to betray those whose gallantry and chivalry have spared me to do it, I certainly shall not. Besides, apart from my obligations to you, I am already sworn to secrecy.” And I told him how I had once been forced to take the oath of the society, and had already got the length of pledging myself to secrecy before a happy diversion saved me from the rest.
“Well, Gallagher,” said he, stopping short and extending his hand with that engaging smile which, rebel as he was, knit my soul to him, “I do not say but, were I in your shoes, I should feel compelled to act as you do. It is a delicate position. When we meet again it may be with drawn swords. Meanwhile, luck go with your wooing, and may it turn out as happy as my own.”
This kindness quite humbled and abashed me. I had been guilty of meanness and disloyalty, and this noble way of passing it over took all the conceit out of me.
I returned crestfallen, with slow steps, to the captain’s hotel. Even the news of Tim’s safety failed to inspirit me. “The most charming lady in Ireland,” were the words that rang in my ears; and who was I—common seaman, sneak, and cadger—to aspire to such as her? Would she, I wondered, ever care to take a flower from me as she had taken one from Captain Lestrange that morning?
I was half minded to beg Captain Swift for leave to remain behind in Dublin. But then the thought of the peril that threatened her urged me to go forward. At least I could die for her.
At the door of the hotel a person in plain clothes, but evidently a soldier, touched me on the shoulder.
“I see you are a friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald,” said he with a smirk.