“Look here, father,” said Standish sternly; “you must never allude to
anything that you forced me to say then. It was a dream of mine, and now
it is past.”
“You can hold your head higher than that now, my boy,” said The
Macnamara proudly. “You're not a beggar now, Standish; money's in the
family.”
“As if money could make any difference,” said Standish.
“It makes all the difference in the world, my boy,” said The Macnamara;
but suddenly recollecting his principles, he added, “That is, to some
people; but a Macnamara without a penny might aspire to the hand of
the noblest in the land. Oh, here she comes--the bright snowdhrop of
Glenmara--the arbutus-berry of Craig-Innish; and her father too--oh, why
did he turn to the Saxons?”
The Macnamara, Prince of Innishdermot, Chief of the Islands and Lakes,
and King of all Munster, was standing with his son in the coffee-room of
the hotel, having just come ashore from the steamer that had brought him
out to the Cape. The patriot had actually left his land for the first
time in his life, and had proceeded to the colony in search of his son,
and he found his son waiting for him at the dock gates.
That first letter which Standish received from his father had indeed
been very piteous, and if the young man had not been so resolute in his
determination to work, he would have returned to Innishdermot once more,
to comfort his father in his trials. But the next mail brought a second
communication from The Macnamara to say that he could endure no longer
the desolation of the lonely hearth of his ancestral castle, but would
set out in search of his lost offspring through all the secret places
of the earth. Considering that he had posted this letter to the definite
address of his offspring, the effect of the vagueness of his expressed
resolution was somewhat lessened.
Standish received the letter with dismay, and Colonel Gerald himself
felt a little uneasiness at the prospect of having The Macnamara
quartered upon him for an uncertain period. He was well aware of the
largeness of the ideas of The Macnamara on many matters, and in regard
to the question of colonial hospitality he felt that the views of the
hereditary prince would be liberal to an inconvenient degree. It was
thus with something akin to consternation that he listened to the
eloquent letter which Standish read with flushed face and trembling
hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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