“‘Put on your hat, my father desires it,’ says my Lord Colambre.
The _ould_ lord made a sign to that purpose, but was too full
to speak. ‘Where’s your father?’ continues my young lord. ‘He’s
very _ould_, my lord,’ says I.--’ I didn’t _ax_ you how _ould_ he
was,’ says he; ‘but where is he?’--‘He’s behind the crowd below,
on account of his infirmities; he couldn’t walk so fast as the
rest, my lord,’ says I; ‘but his heart is with you, if not his
body.’--‘I must have his body too: so bring him bodily before
us; and this shall be your warrant for so doing,’ said my lord,
joking: for he knows the _natur_ of us, Paddy, and how we love a
joke in our hearts, as well as if he had lived all his life in
Ireland; and by the same token will, for that _rason_, do what he
pleases with us, and more may be than a man twice as good, that
never would smile on us.
“But I’m telling you of my father. ‘I’ve a warrant for you,
father,’ says I; ‘and must have you bodily before the justice, and
my lord chief justice.’ So he changed colour a bit at first; but
he saw me smile. ‘And I’ve done no sin,’ said he; ‘and, Larry, you
may lead me now, as you led me all my life.’
“And up the slope he went with me as light as fifteen; and when we
got up, my Lord Clonbrony said, ‘I am sorry an old tenant, and a
good old tenant, as I hear you were, should have been turned out
of your farm.’
“‘Don’t fret, it’s no great matter, my lord,’ said my father. ‘I
shall be soon out of the way; but if you would be so kind to speak
a word for my boy here, and that I could afford, while the life is
in me, to bring my other boy back out of banishment.’
“‘Then,’ says my Lord Clonbrony, ‘I’ll give you and your sons
three lives, or thirty-one years, from this day, of your former
farm. Return to it when you please. And,’ added my Lord Clonbrony,
‘the flaggers, I hope, will be soon banished.’ Oh, how could
I thank him--not a word could I proffer--but I know I clasped
my two hands, and prayed for him inwardly. And my father was
dropping down on his knees, but the master would not let him; and
_obsarved_ that posture should only be for his God. And, sure
enough, in that posture, when he was out of sight, we did pray for
him that night, and will all our days.
“But, before we quit his presence, he called me back, and bid me
write to my brother, and bring you back, if you’ve no objections,
to your own country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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