human
Well, Jones, how are you;--and how are the girls, and how is Frank, and how is that young pickle, Master Florian? These questions were answered by others of a similar nature.
gpt
How are the girls, and how is Mrs. Blake, and what is going on here at Carnlough?
human
Faith, then, things ain't going on a bit too well, said Mr. Blake.
gpt
Abatement, abatement, nothing but abatement! Nobody abates me anything. I have to pay all family charges just the same as ever. What would they say if I was to take away my wife and girls, shut up Carnlough, and go and live in France? I could give them some abatement then and be a richer man. But how would they like to have Carnlough empty?
human
There's no danger of that, I think.
gpt
Upon my word, I don't know. The girls are talking of it, and when they begin to talk of a thing, I am very likely to do it. And Mrs. Blake is quite ready.
human
You wouldn't leave the country?
gpt
That's just it. I'll stay if they'll let me. If they'll pay me rent enough to enable me to live here comfortably, I'll not desert them. But if they think that I'm to keep up the place on borrowed money, they'll find their mistake. I didn't mind ten per cent. for the last two years, though I have taken to drinking whisky punch in my old age, instead of claret and sherry. And I don't mind ten per cent. for this year, though I am sorely in want of a young horse to carry me. But if the ten per cent. is to go on, or to become twenty per cent. as one blackguard hinted, I shall say good-bye to Carnlough. They may fight it out then with Terry Daly as they can. Now, Terry Daly was the well-known agent for the lands of Carnlough.
human
What has brought you over here to-day? asked Mr. Blake.
gpt
I can see with half an eye that there is some fresh trouble.
human
Indeed there is.
gpt
I have heard what they did with your sluices. That's another trick they've learnt out of County Mayo. When a landlord is not rich enough to give them all that they want, they make the matter easier by doing the best they can to ruin him. I don't think anything of that kind has been done at Carnlough.
human
There is worse than that,
gpt
The devil there is! They have not mutilated any of your cattle?
human
No, there is nothing of that kind. The only enemy I've got about the place, as far as I know, is one Pat Carroll. It was he and others, whom he paid to serve him, that have let the waters in upon the meadows. Eighty acres are under water at this moment. But I can bear that like a man. The worst of that is, that all the neighbours should have seen him do it, and not one of them have come forward to tell me.
gpt
That is the worst, said Mr. Blake.
human
There must be some terrible understanding among them, some compact for evil, when twenty men are afraid to tell what one man has been seen to do. It's fearful to think that the priests should not put a stop to it. How is Master Florian getting on with his priest?
gpt
It's about him that I have come to speak to you,
human
About Florian?
gpt
Yes; indeed. When I tell you my story, I think you will understand that I would tell it to no one but yourself in County Galway. I fear that Florian saw the men at work upon the flood gates.
human
And will he not tell the truth?
gpt
You must remember that I cannot say that I know anything. The boy declares that he saw nothing; that he knows nothing. I have no evidence; but his sisters are sure that it is so. Edith says that he certainly was present when the gates were removed. She only judges from his manner and his countenance.
human
What made her suspect him?
gpt
Only that she saw him when the news was brought to us. Edith is not ill-natured. She would not be prone to make a story against her brother.
human
If Edith says so, it is so,
gpt
I don't quite say that. I only mean to express my conviction that she intends to get at the truth.
human
I'll wager my life upon her, said Mr. Blake.
gpt
As to the other;--well, you know, Jones, that he has turned Roman Catholic.
human
That means nothing, said the distressed father.
gpt
He is only ten years old. Of course he's a fool for his pains; but he would not on that account do such a deed as this.
human
I don't know. You must remember that he will be telling everything to the priests.
gpt
We have two priests about us, said Mr. Jones,
human
Not Father Giles certainly,
gpt
Then down with us at Ballintubber there is Father Malachi.
human
I know him too, said Mr. Blake.
gpt
He would not interfere with a boy like Florian. Is there no one else? What curate lives with Father Malachi?
human
There is none with him at Ballintubber. One Brosnan lives with Father Giles.
gpt
That man is a firebrand, said Mr. Blake.
human
He is a wretched politician, always preaching up Home Rule.
gpt
But I do not think that even he would teach a boy to deceive his own father in such a matter as this.
human
I am not sure, said Blake.
gpt
It is very difficult to get at the vagaries of mind in such a man as Mr. Brosnan. But what do you intend to do?
human
I have come to you for advice. But remember this:--in my present frame of mind, the suspicion that I feel as to poor Florian is ten times worse to me than the loss of all my meadows. If I could find out Edith to have been wrong, I should be at once relieved of the great trouble which sits heaviest at my heart.
gpt
I fear that Edith is right,
human
You are prejudiced a little in her favour. Whatever she says you will think right.
gpt
You must weigh that, and take it for what it's worth, said Mr. Blake.
human
We know that the boy has got himself into bad hands. You do not suspect him of a desire to injure you?
gpt
Oh, no!
human
But he has seen these men do it, and now refuses to tell you. They have terrified him.
gpt
He is not a cowardly boy,
human
But they have made him swear an oath that he will not tell. There has been something of that sort. What does he say himself?
gpt
Simply that he knows nothing about it.
human
But how does he say it? Does he look you in the face? A boy of that kind may lie. Boys do--and girls also. When people say they don't, they know nothing about it; but if it's worth one's while to look at them one can generally tell when they're lying. I'm not a bit afraid of a boy when he is lying,--but only of one who can lie as though he didn't lie.
gpt
I think that Florian is lying, said Mr. Jones slowly;
human
Then Edith is right; and I am right when I swear by her.
gpt
But what am I to do with him? If, as I suppose, he saw Pat Carroll do the mischief, he must have seen others with him. If we knew who were the lot, we could certainly get the truth out of some of them, so as to get evidence for a conviction.
human
Can't he be made to speak?
gpt
How can I make him? It will be understood all about Morony that he has been lying. And I feel that it is thought that he has made himself a hero by sticking to his lie. If they should turn upon him? Mr. Blake sat silent but made no immediate reply.
human
It would be better for me to let the whole thing slide. If they were to kill him!
gpt
They would not do that. Here in County Galway they have not come to that as yet. There is not a county in all Ireland in which such a deed could be done, said Mr. Blake, standing up for his country.
human
Are you to let this ruffian pass unpunished while you have the power of convicting him? I think that you are bound to punish him. For the sake of your country you are bound to do so.
gpt
And the boy?
human
He is but ten years old, and will soon live it down. And the disgrace of the lie will be drowned in the triumph of telling the truth at last. We should all feel,--I should feel,--that he would in such case deserve well, rather than ill, of his father and of me, and of all of us. Besides you had some idea of sending him to school in England. Here Mr. Jones shook his head, intending to indicate that no such expensive step as that would be possible after the loss incurred by the flooding of the eighty acres.
gpt
At any rate my advice to you is to make him declare the truth. I think little harm of a boy for lying, but I do think harm of those who allow a lie to pass unnoticed.
human
I do suppose that father has gone to Carnlough, to consult with Mr. Blake about this affair of the flood.
gpt
What can Mr. Blake know about it?
human
I suppose he means to ask about you. It is quite clear, Florian, that no one in the house believes you.
gpt
Peter does.
human
You mean that Peter thinks you are right to stand to the lie now you have told it. More shame for Peter if he does.
gpt
You wouldn't have a fellow go and put himself out of favour with all the boys through the country? There is a horrible man that wears a mask--