Free The Secret Generations by John Gardner Page B

guess.’
    ‘ The next few years’ll see it happen, Bridget. For good or ill, this is the crucial time. If they force through this Home Rule Bill, the Protestants – the Unionists and Orangemen – will not have it. It’s already been said in Belfast, and in Dublin, that if the Bill goes through, the Unionists will form a Protestant government in Belfast. We’ve heard it all before. Didn’t the present British Home Secretary’s pox-ridden father, Lord Randolph Churchill, say long ago that, if the Bill passed, then Ulster would fight, and Ulster would be right?’
    ‘ I’m not one for studying the politics of it.’
    ‘ No, well, he did say it, and they would fight. Only they would not be right. We deserve a united Ireland, ruled by ourselves, governed by ourselves.’ The dead laugh again, as he spoke in Gaelic, ‘ Sinn Fein ’ – Ourselves alone.
    ‘ Ourselves alone,’ Bridget laughed back, in his face. ‘And what do you expect ourselves alone to do? Massacre all the Protestants here and in the nine counties? Kill the English? Butcher the soldiers, and be butchered?’
    He tightened the pressure on her arm. ‘Look now; whichever way it goes, the thing must be finished soon – within the next few years. Maybe sooner. Now you listen. If that Bill is passed, then we’ll get what we’ve always wanted, though there’ll be trouble. Fighting, yes; and killing as well. For if the Bill doesn’t pass this time, then the Republicans will rise up and pass it of their own accord. The feelings are high, and they’ll run even stronger…’
    ‘ You and your kind will see to that, I’ve no doubt.’
    ‘ Then have no doubt. There’s hatred flowing again. Arms are already being brought in. If the Bill passes there’ll be fighting; and if it doesn’t pass there’ll be revolution in this green country. Either way, the storm’ll break. Sooner rather than later.’
    ‘ So what has it to do with me? I shall be here, at Glen Devil, and probably see my husband slaughtered…’
    ‘ There’s no need for that. Many English will hold to our cause, because it’s right. There are two things, though, Bridget Kinread…’
    ‘ Railion!’ She corrected sharply.
    ‘ To me, it’s Kinread until your husband’s proved otherwise. You see to it that your Englishman knows which side to butter his bread.’
    She gave a shrug that could have meant anything.
    O’Connell continued: ‘And there’s more to it than persuading Malcolm Railton to keep the butter right side up, and not put his country’s plight on the long finger. I know of his family. I know what they are, who they are, and what they do.’
    ‘ So?’
    ‘ So, they’re full of power: diplomats, military men, and politicians. Doubtless you’ll be visiting them, or they’ll be coming to Glen Devil. This is the second thing, Bridget – you’ll hear talk from them; and you will be hearing things. You understand me?’
    ‘ I understand you’re asking me to spy for you; report to you.’
    He shook his head. ‘I’m not asking. That is what you will do. Anything of value; any crumb of information you pick up from the tables of your grand new English relatives; anything of importance to the cause of Ireland, you will pass on to us. You follow?’
    She shrugged, giving a half nod, knowing it was a sign of commitment, yet not wanting to know.
    ‘Good.’ This time the smile almost reached his eyes. ‘You only have to tell young Michael Bergin, out in your father’s stable yard, and I shall arrange to see you privately. When you’ve moved to Glen Devil, there’ll be someone else there, employed by your husband, who’ll offer the same service. Nobody else need know.’
    She stepped away, telling him to go.
    ‘Nobody, Bridget,’ his hand on the door, ‘will ever guess where the information comes from; but you can be our lifeline… Otherwise…’
    ‘ You’ll kill me; just as you’ll kill my English husband.’
    ‘ Only if you make that necessary.’ He