The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume TwoCarleton, William
General
The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“'No,' says I; 'you have the advantage of me.'
“'Do you know any one here?' says he again.
“'Well, I can't say I do,' says I; 'you don't belong to this part of the
country.'
“'If we did, Cannie,' said the spokesman, 'it isn't face to face, in the
open day, we'd spake to you.'
“'An' what is it you have to say to me?' I axed; for, to tell you the
truth, I was beginnin' to get unaisy someway.
“'Nothing to you; but we've been tould that you're well acquainted wid
Procthor Purcel, and that you know a young man, by name M'Carthy, that
stops for the present wid Mr. Magistrate O'Driscol.'
“'I do,' says myself; 'I'll not deny but I know them all well--I mane in
the way o' business--for I call there often to sell my goods.'
“'Well,' said the spokesman, 'will you give that letther,' handin' me
this, 'to Mr. M'Carthy?'” and as the pedlar spoke he placed the note
in M'Carthy's hands. “'Do so,' says the fellow, 'as soon as you can--if
possible, widout an hour's delay. It consarns himself and it consarns
me--can I depend on you to do this?' I said I would: and now there's the
letther---my message is delivered.”
M'Carthy read as follows:--“Francis M'Carthy, as you regard the life of
the man that saved yours last night, you won't breathe a syllable about
seein' a young man's corpse last night in the shebeen-house, nor about
anything that happened to you in it, till you hear further from me. If
you're grateful, and a gintleman, you won't; but if you're a traitor,
you will. Your friend, as you act in this.”
“Now, Mr. Frank,” said the, pedlar, “as you know the danger that's about
you, I say that unless you get out o' the counthry at wanst, you'll only
have a hand in your own death if anything happens. You're, goin' now,
I suppose, to Mr. Purcel's; if you are--if it wouldn't be
troublesome--jist say that the Cannie Soogah will call there in the
coorse o' the mornin' for breakfast.”
He then turned off by a different road; and M'Carthy proceeded at, a
very slow pace towards the proctor's, which lay in a right line between
the house to which the White-boy had brought him and O'Driscol's. As
he reached the back yard, by which he intended to enter, anxious to get
himself washed before any of them should see him--he was met by Mogue,
who after a glance or two recognized him at once by his shooting-dress.
“Why thin, good fortune to me, Misther Frank, is this you?”
“It is, Mogue; but I have no time to speak to you now. Only get me soap
and a towel till I wash my face at the pump here. These are strange
times, Mogue, and that was a very suspicious place of refuge to which
you brought me; however, it will go hard or we shall make Mr. Frank
Finnerty speak out, and to some purpose too. Get me soap and towel
quick---I do not wish to be seen with this diabolical-looking face upon
me.”
“That I may be blest, sir, but the same face surprises me. Wisha, then,
Mr. Frank, might one ax--”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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