"Armstrong," said Frank, "I have just heard the most horrid story that ever came to my ears. That wretch, Barry Lynch, has tried to induce Doctor Colligan to poison his sister!"

"What!" shouted Armstrong; "to poison his sister?"

"Gently, Mr Armstrong; pray don't speak so loud, or it'll be all through the country in no time."

"Poison his sister!" repeated Armstrong. "Oh, it'll hang him! There's no doubt it'll hang him! Of course you'll take the doctor's information?"

"But the doctor hasn't tendered me any information," said Frank, stopping his horse, so that Armstrong was able to get close up to his elbow.

"But I presume it is his intention to do so?" said the parson.

"I should choose to have another magistrate present then," said Frank.

"Really, Doctor Colligan, I think the best thing you can do is to come before myself and the stipendiary magistrate at Tuam. We shall be sure to find Brew at home to-day."

"But, my lord," said Colligan, "I really had no intention of doing that. I have no witnesses. I can prove nothing. Indeed, I can't say he ever asked me to do the deed: he didn't say anything I could charge him with as a crime: he only offered me the farm if his sister should die.

But I knew what he meant; there was no mistaking it: I saw it in his eye."

"And what did you do, Doctor Colligan, at the time?" said the parson.

"I hardly remember," said the doctor; "I was so flurried. But I know I knocked him down, and then I rushed out of the room. I believe I threatened I'd have him hung."

"But you did knock him down?"

"Oh, I did. He was sprawling on the ground when I left him."

"You're quite sure you knocked him down?" repeated the parson.

"The divil a doubt on earth about that!" replied Colligan. "I tell you, when I left the room he was on his back among the chairs."

"And you did not hear a word from him since?"

"Not a word."

"Then there can't be any mistake about it, my lord," said Armstrong.

"If he did not feel that his life was in the doctor's hands, he would not put up with being knocked down. And I'll tell you what's more--if you tax him with the murder, he'll deny it and defy you; but tax him with having been knocked down, and he'll swear his foot slipped, or that he'd have done as much for the doctor if he hadn't run away. And then ask him why the doctor knocked him down?--you'll have him on the hip so."

"There's something in that," said Frank; "but the question is, what is Doctor Colligan to do? He says he can't swear any information on which a magistrate could commit him."

"Unless he does, my lord," said Armstrong, "I don't think you should listen to him at all; at least, not as a magistrate."

"Well, Doctor Colligan, what do you say?"

"I don't know what to say, my lord. I came to your lordship for advice, both as a magistrate and as a friend of the young man who is to marry Lynch's sister. Of course, if you cannot advise me, I will go away again."

"You won't come before me and Mr Brew, then?"

"I don't say I won't," said Colligan; "but I don't see the use. I'm not able to prove anything."

"I'll tell you what, Ballindine," said the parson; "only I don't know whether it mayn't be tampering with justice--suppose we were to go to this h.e.l.l-hound, you and I together, and, telling him what we know, give him his option to stand his trial or quit the country? Take my word for it, he'd go; and that would be the best way to be rid of him.

He'd leave his sister in peace and quiet then, to enjoy her fortune."

"That's true," said Frank; "and it would be a great thing to rid the country of him. Do you remember the way he rode a-top of that poor b.i.t.c.h of mine the other day--Goneaway, you know; the best b.i.t.c.h in the pack?"

"Indeed I do," said the parson; "but for all that, she wasn't the best b.i.t.c.h in the pack: she hadn't half the nose of Gayla.s.s."

"But, as I was saying, Armstrong, it would be a great thing to rid the country of Barry Lynch."

"Indeed it would."

"And there'd be nothing then to prevent young Kelly marrying Anty at once."

"Make him give his consent in writing before you let him go," said Armstrong.

"I'll tell you what, Doctor Colligan," said Frank; "do you get into your own gig, and follow us on, and I'll talk the matter over with Mr Armstrong."

The doctor again returned to his buggy, and the parson to his own seat, and Lord Ballindine drove off at a pace which made it difficult enough for Doctor Colligan to keep him in sight.

"I don't know how far we can trust that apothecary," said Frank to his friend.

"He's an honest man, I believe," said Armstrong, "though he's a dirty, drunken blackguard."

"Maybe he was drunk this evening, at Lynch's?"

"I was wrong to call him a drunkard. I believe he doesn't get drunk, though he's always drinking. But you may take my word for it, what he's telling you now is as true as gospel. If he was telling a lie from malice, he'd be louder, and more urgent about it: you see he's half afraid to speak, as it is. He would not have come near you at all, only his conscience makes him afraid to keep the matter to himself. You may take my word for it, Ballindine, Barry Lynch did propose to him to murder his sister. Indeed, it doesn't surprise me. He is so utterly worthless."

"But murder, Armstrong! downright murder; of the worst kind; studied--premeditated. He must have been thinking of it, and planning it, for days. A man may be worthless, and yet not such a wretch as that would make him. Can you really think he meant Colligan to murder his sister?"

"I can, and do think so," said the parson. "The temptation was great: he had been waiting for his sister's death; and he could not bring himself to bear disappointment. I do not think he could do it with his own hand, for he is a coward; but I can quite believe that he could instigate another person to do it."

"Then I'd hang him. I wouldn't raise my hand to save him from the rope!"

"Nor would I: but we can't hang him. We can do nothing to him, if he defies us; but, if he's well handled, we can drive him from the country."

The lord and the parson talked the matter over till they reached Dunmore, and agreed that they would go, with Colligan, to Barry Lynch; tell him of the charge which was brought against him, and give him his option of standing his trial, or of leaving the country, under a written promise that he would never return to it. In this case, he was also to write a note to Anty, signifying his consent that she should marry Martin Kelly, and also execute some deed by which all control over the property should be taken out of his own hands; and that he should agree to receive his income, whatever it might be, through the hands of an agent.

There were sundry matters connected with the subject, which were rather difficult of arrangement. In the, first place, Frank was obliged, very unwillingly, to consent that Mr Armstrong should remain, at any rate one day longer, in the country. It was, however, at last settled that he should return that night and sleep at Kelly's Court. Then Lord Ballindine insisted that they should tell young Kelly what they were about, before they went to Barry's house, as it would be necessary to consult him as to the disposition he would wish to have made of the property. Armstrong was strongly against this measure,--but it was, at last, decided on; and then they had to induce Colligan to go with them.

He much wished them to manage the business without him. He had had quite enough of Dunmore House; and, in spite of the valiant manner in which he had knocked its owner down the last time he was there, seemed now quite afraid to face him. But Mr Armstrong informed him that he must go on now, as he had said so much, and at last frightened him into an unwilling compliance.

The three of them went up into the little parlour of the inn, and summoned Martin to the conference, and various were the conjectures made by the family as to the nature of the business which brought three such persons to the inn together. But the widow settled them all by a.s.serting that "a Kelly needn't be afeared, thank G.o.d, to see his own landlord in his own house, nor though he brought an attorney wid him as well as a parson and a docther." And so, Martin was sent for, and soon heard the horrid story. Not long after he had joined them, the four sallied out together, and Meg remarked that something very bad was going to happen, for the lord never pa.s.sed her before without a kind word or a nod; and now he took no more notice of her than if it had been only Sally herself that met him on the stairs.

x.x.xV. MR LYNCH BIDS FAREWELL TO DUNMORE

Poor Martin was dreadfully shocked; and not only shocked, but grieved and astonished. He had never thought well of his intended brother-in-law, but he had not judged him so severely as Mr Armstrong had done. He listened to all Lord Ballindine said to him, and agreed as to the propriety of the measures he proposed. But there was nothing of elation about him at the downfall of the man whom he could not but look on as his enemy: indeed, he was not only subdued and modest in his demeanour, but he appeared so reserved that he could hardly be got to express any interest in the steps which were to be taken respecting the property. It was only when Lord Ballindine pointed out to him that it was his duty to guard Anty's interests, that he would consent to go to Dunmore House with them, and to state, when called upon to do so, what measures he would wish to have adopted with regard to the property.