FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   >>  
and hangings they had removed from their late residence, and with the aid of glass in the casements and some other indispensable repairs, and a thorough airing, they made the rooms they had selected just habitable, as a rude and temporary shelter. CHAPTER III The Priest's Adventures in the Glen At first, of course, they saw or heard little of their father. In general, however, they knew that his plan was to procure some employment in France, and to remove them there. Their present strange abode was only an adventure and an episode, and they believed that any day they might receive instructions to commence their journey. After a little while the pursuit relaxed. The government, I believe, did not care, provided he did not obtrude himself, what became of him, or where he concealed himself. At all events, the local authorities showed no disposition to hunt him down. The young ladies' charges on the little forfeited property were paid without any dispute, and no vexatious inquiries were raised as to what had become of the furniture and other personal property which had been carried away from the forfeited house. The haunted reputation of the castle--for in those days, in matters of the marvellous, the oldest were children--secured the little family in the seclusion they coveted. Once, or sometimes twice a week, old Laurence, with a shaggy little pony, made a secret expedition to the city of Limerick, starting before dawn, and returning under the cover of the night, with his purchases. There was beside an occasional sly moonlit visit from the old parish priest, and a midnight mass in the old castle for the little outlawed congregation. As the alarm and inquiry subsided, their father made them, now and then, a brief and stealthy visit. At first these were but of a night's duration, and with great precaution; but gradually they were extended and less guarded. Still he was, as the phrase is in Munster, "on his keeping." He had firearms always by his bed, and had arranged places of concealment in the castle in the event of a surprise. But no attempt nor any disposition to molest him appearing, he grew more at ease, if not more cheerful. It came, at last, that he would sometimes stay so long as two whole months at a time, and then depart as suddenly and mysteriously as he came. I suppose he had always some promising plot on hand, and his head full of ingenious treason, and lived on the sickly and exciting die
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   >>  



Top keywords:

castle

 
disposition
 

property

 
forfeited
 

father

 

subsided

 
expedition
 

inquiry

 

starting

 

Limerick


stealthy

 
shaggy
 

secret

 

duration

 

Laurence

 

midnight

 

purchases

 
occasional
 

parish

 

priest


moonlit

 

congregation

 

outlawed

 

returning

 

months

 
depart
 
suddenly
 

mysteriously

 
suppose
 

treason


sickly
 

exciting

 

ingenious

 

promising

 
cheerful
 

Munster

 

keeping

 

firearms

 
phrase
 

gradually


precaution

 
extended
 

guarded

 

arranged

 

molest

 
appearing
 

attempt

 
places
 

concealment

 

surprise