The Black Prophet Part 22

"Why," replied the other, "if you take my advice, you'll keep from him at all events. He's cursin' an' abusin' you ever since you went, and won't allow one of us even to name you."

"Troth, an' it only shows his sense; for I desarved nothing else at his hands. However, if what you say is true, I'm afeared he's not long for this world, and that his talkin' sense at last is only the lightening before death, poor gintleman! I can stay no longer from him, any how, let him be as he may; an' G.o.d pardon me for my ongrat.i.tude in desartin'

him like a villain as I did."

He then walked into the parlor; and as the prophet was beckoned as far as the hall, he had an opportunity of witnessing the interview which took place between this extraordinary pair. Jemmy, before entering, threw aside his bundle and his hat, stripped off his coat, and in a moment presented himself in the usual striped cotton jacket, with sleeves, which he alway's wore. Old d.i.c.k was in the act of letting fly an oath at something, when Jemmy, walking in, just as if nothing had happened, exclaimed--

"Why, thin, Mother o' Moses, is it at the ould work I find you? Troth, it's past counsel, past grace wid you--I'm afraid you're too ould to mend. In the manetime, don't stare as if you seen a ghost--only tell us how is that unfortunate leg of yours?"

"Why--eh?--ay,--oh, ah,--you're back are you?--an' what the devil brought you here again?--eh?"

"Come now, keep yourself quiet, you onpenitent ould sinner, or it'll be worse for you. How is your leg?"

"Ah, you provokin' ould rascal--eh?--so you are back?"

"Don't you see I am--who would stick to you like myself, afther all?

Troth I missed your dirty tongue, bad as it is--divil a thing but rank pace and quietness I was ever in since I seen you last."

"And devil a scoundrel has had the honesty to give me a single word of abuse to my face since you left me."

"And how often did I tell you that you couldn't depind upon the crew that's around you--the truth's not in them--an' that you ought to know.

However, so far as I am concerned, don't fret--Grod knows I forgive you all your folly and _feasthalaga_, (* nonsense,) in hopes always that you'll mend your life in many respects. You had meself before you as an example, though I say it, that ougtn't to say it, but you know you didn't take pattern by me as you ought."

"Shake hands, Jemmy; I'm glad to see you again; you were put to expense since you went."

"No, none; no, I tell you."

"But I say you were."

"There, keep yourself quiet now; no I wasn't; an' if I was, too, what is it to you?"

"Here, put that note in your pocket."

"Sorra bit, now," replied Jemmy, "to plaise you," gripping it tightly at the same time as he spoke; "do you want to vex me again?"

"Put it in your pocket, sirra, unless you want me to break your head."

"Oh, he would," said Jemmy, looking with a knowing face of terror towards Tom Booth and the Prophet,--"it's the weight of his cane I'd get, sure enough--but it's an ould sayin' an' a true one, that when the generosity's in, it must come out. There now, I've put it in my pocket for you--an' I hope you're satisfied. Devil a sich a tyrant in Europe,"

said he, loudly, "when he wishes--an' yet, after all," he added, in a low, confidential voice, just loud enough for his master to hear,--"where 'ud one get the like of him? Tom Booth, desire them to fetch warm water to the study, till I dress his poor leg, and make him fit for business."

"Here is Donnel Dhu," replied Booth, "waitin' for law business."

"Go to the windy, Donnel," said Jemmy, with an authoritative air; "go to your ground; but before you do--let me know what you want."

"I'll do no such thing," replied the Prophet; "unless to say, that it's a matter of life an' death."

"Go out," repeated Jemmy, with brief and determined authority, "an wait till it's his honor's convanience, his full convanience, to see you. As dark a rogue, sir," he continued, having shoved the Prophet outside, and slapped the door in his face; "and as great a schamer as ever put a coat on his back. He's as big a liar too, when he likes, as ever broke bread; but there's far more danger in him when he tells the truth, for then you may be sure he has some devil's design in view."

d.i.c.k-o'-the-Grange, though vulgar and eccentric, was by no means deficient in shrewdness and common sense--neither was he, deliberately, an unjust man; but, like too many in the world, he generally suffered his prejudices and his interests to take the same side. Having had his leg dressed, and been prepared by Jemmy for the business of the day, he took his place, as usual, in the chair of justice, had the window thrown open, and desired the Prophet to state the nature of his business.

The latter told him that the communication must be a private one, as it involved a matter of deep importance, being no less than an affair of life and death.

This startled the magistrate, who, with a kind of awkward embarra.s.sment, ordered, or rather requested Jemmy to withdraw, intimating that he would be sent for, if his advice or opinion should be deemed necessary.

"No matther," replied Jemmy; "the loss will be your own; for sure I know the nice hand you make of law when you're left to yourself. Only before I go, mark my words;--there you stand, Donnel Dhu, an' I'm tellin' him to be on his guard against you--don't put trust, plaise your honor, in either his word or his oath--an' if he's bringin' a charge against any one, give it in favor of his enemy, whoever he is. I hard that he was wanst tried for robbery, an' I only wondher it wasn't for murdher, too; for in troth and sowl, if ever a man has both one and the other in his face, he has. It's known to me that he's seen now and then colloguin'

an' skulkin' behind the hedges, about dusk, wid red Rody Duncan, that was in twiste for robbery. Troth it's birds of a feather wid them--and I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see them both swing from the same rope yet. So there's my carrecther of you, you villain," he added, addressing M'Gowan, at whom he felt deeply indignant, in consequence of his not admitting him to the secret of the communication he was about to make.

Henderson, when left alone with the Prophet, heard the disclosures which the latter made to him, with less surprise than interest. He himself remembered the circ.u.mstances perfectly well, and knew that on the occasion of Condy Dalton's former arrest, appearances had been very strong against him. It was then expected that he would have disclosed the particular spot in which the body had been concealed, but as he strenuously persisted in denying any knowledge of it, and, as the body consequently could not be produced, they were obliged of necessity to discharge him, but still under strong suspicions of his guilt.

The interview between Henderson and M'Gowan was a long one; and the disclosures made were considered of too much importance for the former to act without the co-operation and a.s.sistance of another magistrate. He accordingly desired the Prophet to come to him on the following day but one, when he said he would secure the presence of a Major Johnson; who was also in the commission, and by whose warrant old Condy Dalton had been originally arrested on suspicion of the murder. It was recommended that every thing that had transpired between them should be kept strictly secret, lest the murderer, if made acquainted with the charge which was about to be brought home to him, should succeed in escaping from justice. Young d.i.c.k, who had been sent for by his father, recommended this, and on those terms they separated.

CHAPTER XV. -- A Plot and a Prophecy.

Our readers cannot forget a short dialogue which took place between Charley Hanlon and the strange female, who has already borne some part in the incidents of our story. It occurred on the morning she had been sent to convey the handkerchief which Hanlon had promised to Sarah M'Gowan, in lieu of the Tobacco-Box of which we have so frequently made mention, and which, on that occasion, she expected to have received from Sarah. After having inquired from Hanlon why Donnel Dhu was called the Black Prophet, she asked:

"But could he have anything to do with the murdher?"

To which Hanlon replied, that "he had been thinkin' about that, an' had some talk, this mornin', wid a man that's livin' a long time--indeed, that was born a little above the place, an' he says that the Black Prophet, or M'Gowan, did not come to the neighborhood till afther the murdher."

Now this person was no other than Red Rody Duncan, to whom our friend Jemmy Branigan made such opprobrious allusion in the character of the Black Prophet to d.i.c.k-o'-the-Grange. This man, who was generally known by the sobriquet of Red Body, had been for some time looking after the situation of bailiff or driver to d.i.c.k-o'-the-Grange; and as Hanlon was supposed to possess a good deal of influence with young d.i.c.k, Duncan very properly thought he could not do better than cultivate his acquaintance. This was the circ.u.mstance which brought them together at first, and it was something of a dry, mysterious manner which Hanlon observed in this fellow, when talking about the Prophet and his daughter, that caused him to keep up the intimacy between them.

When Donnel Dhu had closed his lengthened conference with Henderson, he turned his steps homewards, and had got half-way through the lawn, when he was met by Red Rody. He had, only a minute or two before, left young d.i.c.k, with whom he held another short conversation; and as he met Rody, d.i.c.k was still standing within about a hundred yards of them, cracking his whip with that easy indolence and utter disregard of everything but his pleasures, which chiefly const.i.tuted his character.

"Don't stand to spake to me here," said the Prophet; "that young scoundrel will see us. Have you tried Hanlon yet, and will he do? Yes or no?"

"I haven't tried him, but I'm now on way to do so."

"Caution!"

"Certainly; I'm no fool, I think. If we can secure him, the business may be managed aisily; that is, provided the two affairs can come off on the same night."

"Caution, I say again."

"Certainly; I'm no fool, I hope. Pa.s.s on."

The Prophet and he pa.s.sed each other very slowly during this brief dialogue; the former, when it was finished, pointing naturally towards the Grange, or young d.i.c.k, as if he I had been merely answering a few questions respecting some person about the place that the other was going to see. Having pa.s.sed the Prophet, he turned to the left, by a back path that led to the garden, where, in fact, Hanlon was generally to be found, and where, upon this occasion, he found him. After a good deal of desultory chat, Rody at last inquired if Hanlon thought there existed any chance of his procuring the post of bailiff.

"I don't think there is, then, to tell you the truth," replied Hanlon; "old Jemmy is against you bitterly, an' Masther Richard's interest in this business isn't as strong as his."

"The blackguard ould villain!" exclaimed Rody; "it will be a good job to give him a dog's knock some night or other."

"I don't see that either," replied Hanlon; "Ould Jemmy does a power of good in his way; and indeed many an act of kindness the master himself gets credit for that ought to go to Jemmy's account."

"But you can give me a lift in the drivers.h.i.+p, Charley, if you like."