The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"Borrow, George
General
The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"
Borrow, George
Adventure stories; England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
war—in other words, certain sums of money which they had raised for their
enterprise. Murtagh was deemed the best qualified person in Ireland to
be entrusted with the delicate office of getting their money from them.
Having received his instructions, he invited the leaders to his parsonage
amongst the mountains, under pretence of deliberating with them about
what was to be done. They arrived there just before nightfall, dressed
in red, yellow and green, the colours so dear to enthusiastic Irishmen;
Murtagh received them with great apparent cordiality, and entered into a
long discourse with them, promising them the assistance of himself and
order, and received from them a profusion of thanks. After a time
Murtagh, observing, in a jocular tone, that consulting was dull work,
proposed a game of cards, and the leaders, though somewhat surprised,
assenting, he went to a closet, and taking out a pack of cards, laid it
upon the table; it was a strange dirty pack, and exhibited every mark of
having seen very long service. On one of his guests making some remarks
on the “ancientness” of its appearance, Murtagh observed that there was a
very wonderful history attached to that pack; it had been presented to
him, he said, by a young gentleman, a disciple of his, to whom, in
Dungarvon times of yore, he had taught the Irish language, and of whom he
related some very extraordinary things; he added that he, Murtagh, had
taken it to —, where it had once the happiness of being in the hands of
the Holy Father; by a great misfortune, he did not say what, he had lost
possession of it, and had returned without it, but had some time since
recovered it; a nephew of his, who was being educated at — for a priest,
having found it in a nook of the college, and sent it to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account