Adventure stories; England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction; Irish -- England -- Fiction
We had dinner there all together at mid-day, and I invited Father
Donovan to come out and see the town with me, which he did. The
peaceful father clung to my arm in a kind of terror at what he was
witnessing, for he was as innocent of the ways of a big town as if he
had been a gossoon from a hedge-school in Ireland. Yet he was mightily
interested in all he saw, and asked me many thousand questions that
day, and if I did not know the correct answer to them, it made no
differ to Father Donovan, for he did not know the answer himself and
took any explanation as if it was as true as the gospels he studied
and preached.
Daylight was gone before we got back to the house he lodged in, and
nothing would do but I must come in and have a bit of supper, although
I told him that supper would be waiting for me at the "Pig and
Turnip." It had been agreed between us that we would travel together
as far as Rye, and that there I should see him off on his tempestuous
voyage to Dunkirk or Calais, as the case might be. The old man was
mightily delighted to find that our ways lay together through the
south of England. He was pleased to hear that I had determined on my
rights through the courts of law, with no more sword-playing and
violence, which, to tell the truth, until it reached its height, the
old man was always against; although, when a quarrel came to its
utmost interesting point, I have seen Father Donovan fidget in his
cassock, and his eyes sparkle with the glow of battle, although up
till then he had done his best to prevent the conflict.
It was getting late when I neared the "Pig and Turnip," and there was
a good deal of turmoil in the streets. I saw one or two pretty
debates, but, remembering my new resolution to abide by law and order,
I came safely past them and turned up the less-frequented street that
held my inn, when at the corner, under the big lamp, a young man with
something of a swagger about him, in spite of the meanness of his
dress, came out from the shadow of the wall and looked me hard in the
face.
"Could you direct me, sir, to a hostelry they call the 'Pig and
Turnip'?" he asked with great civility.
"If you will come with me," said I, "I'll bring you to the place
itself, for that's where I'm stopping."
"Is it possible," he said, "that I have the honour of addressing The
O'Ruddy?"
"That great privilege is yours," said I, coming to a standstill in the
middle of the street, as I saw the young man had his sword drawn and
pressed close against his side to allay suspicion. I forgot all about
law and order, and had my own blade free of the scabbard on the
instant; but the young man spoke smoothly and made no motion of
attack, which was very wise of him.
"Mr. O'Ruddy," he says, "we are both men of the world and sensible men
and men of peace. Where two gentlemen, one down on his luck and the
other in prosperity, have a private matter to discuss between them, I
think this discussion should take place quietly and in even tones of
voice."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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