Free Great Irish Short Stories by Unknown

their haste to arrive in time, and their general anxiety, either for themselves or their friends, that almost every man on reaching the spot might be seen taking up the skirts of his cothamore, or “big coat” (the peasant’s handkerchief), to wipe the sweat from his brow; and as he took off his dingy woollen hat, or caubeen, the perspiration rose in strong exhalations from his head.
    “Michael, am I in time?” might be heard from such persons as they arrived. “Did this business begin yit?”
    “Full time, Larry; myself ’s here an hour ago, but no appearance of anything as yit. Father Farrell an’ Squire Nicholson are both in Cassidy’s, waitin’ till they’re all gother, whin they’ll begin to put thim through their facins. You hard about what they’ve got?”
    “No; for I’m only on my way home from the berril of a cleaveen 8 of mine, that we put down this morning’ in Tullyard. What is it?”
    “Why, man alive, it’s through the whole parish inready!” He then went on, lowering his voice to a whisper, and speaking in a tone bordering on dismay.
    The other crossed himself, and betrayed symptoms of awe and astonishment, not unmingled with fear.
    “Well,” he replied, “I dunna whether I’d come here if I’d known that; for, innocent or guilty, I wouldn’t wish to be near it. Och, may God pity thim that’s to come acrass it, espishly if they dare to do it in a lie!”
    “They needn’t, I can tell yees both,” observed a third person, “be a hair afeard of it, for the best rason livin’, that there’s no thruth at all in the report, nor the Cassidys never thought of sindin’ for anything o’ the kind. I have it from Larry Cassidy’s own lips, an’ he ought to know best.”
    The truth is that two reports were current among the crowd: one, that the oath was to be simply on the Bible; and the other, that a more awful means of expurgation was to be resorted to by the Cassidys. The people, consequently, not knowing which to credit, felt the most painful of all sensations—uncertainty.
    During the period which intervened between their assembling and the commencement of the ceremony, a spectator, interested in contemplating the workings of human nature in circumstances of deep interest, would have had ample scope for observation. The occasion was to them a solemn one. There was little conversation among them; for when a man is wound up to a pitch of great interest, he is seldom disposed to relish discourse. Every brow was anxious, every cheek blanched, and every arm folded: they scarcely stirred, or when they did, only with slow, abstracted movements, rather mechanical than voluntary. If an individual made his appearance about Cassidy’s door, a sluggish stir among them was visible, and a low murmur of a peculiar character might be heard; but on perceiving that it was only some ordinary person, all subsided again into a brooding stillness that was equally singular and impressive.
    Under this peculiar feeling was the multitude when Meehan and his brother were seen approaching it from their own house. The elder, with folded arms, and hat pulled over his brows, stalked grimly forward, having that remarkable scowl upon his face which had contributed to establish for him so diabolical a character. Denis walked by his side, with his countenance strained to inflation—a miserable parody of that sullen effrontery which marked the unshrinking miscreant beside him. He had not heard of the ordeal, owing to the caution of Anthony, but notwithstanding his effort at indifference, a keen eye might have observed the latent anxiety of a man who was habitually villainous and naturally timid.
    When this pair entered the crowd, a few secret glances, too rapid to be noticed by the people, passed between them and their accomplices. Denis, on seeing them present, took fresh courage, and looked with the heroism of a blusterer upon those who stood about him, especially whenever he found himself under the scrutinizing