“Yet live,” said Ormond; “I hope — I trust — you will live many years to be happy, and to make others so: your strength seems quite re-established — you have all the appearance of health.”
Sir Herbert smiled, but shook his head.
“My dear Ormond, do not trust to outward appearances too much. Do not let my friends entirely4 deceive themselves. I know that my life cannot be long — I wish, before I die, to do as much good as I can.”
The manner in which these words were said, and the look with which they were accompanied, impressed Ormond at once with a conviction of the danger, fortitude5, and magnanimity of the person who spoke6 to him. The hectic7 colour, the brilliant eye, the vividness of fancy, the superiority of intellectual powers, the warmth of the affections, and the amiable8 gentleness of the disposition9 of this young man, were, alas10! but so many fatal indications of his disease. The energy with which, with decreasing bodily and increasing mental strength, he pursued his daily occupations, and performed more than every duty of his station, the never-failing temper and spirits with which he sustained the hopes of many of his friends, were but so many additional causes of alarm to the too experienced mother. Florence, with less experience, and with a temper happily prone11 to hope, was more easily deceived. She could not believe that a being, whom she saw so full of life, could be immediately in danger of dying. Her brother had now but a very slight cough — he had, to all appearance, recovered from the accident by which they had been so much alarmed when they were in England. The physicians had pronounced, that with care to avoid cold, and all violent exertion13, he might do well and last long.
To fulfil the conditions was difficult; especially that which required him to refrain from any great exertion. Whenever he could be of service to his friends, or could do any good to his fellow-creatures, he spared neither mental nor bodily exertion. Under the influence of benevolent14 enthusiasm, he continually forgot the precarious15 tenure16 by which he held his life.
It was now the middle of winter, and one stormy night a vessel17 was wrecked19 on the coast near Annaly. The house was at such a distance from that part of the shore where the vessel struck, that Sir Herbert knew nothing of it till the next morning, when it was all over. No lives were lost. It was a small trading vessel, richly laden20. Knowing the vile21 habits of some of the people who lived on the coast, Sir Herbert, the moment he heard that there was a wreck18, went down to see that the property of the sufferers was protected from those depredators, who on such occasions were astonishingly alert. Ormond accompanied him, and by their joint22 exertions23 much of the property was placed in safety under a military guard. Some had been seized and carried off before their arrival, but not by any of Sir Herbert’s tenants24. It became pretty clear that the neighbours on Sir Ulick O’Shane’s estate were the offenders25. They had grown bold from impunity26, and from the belief that no jantleman “would choose to interfere27 with them, on account of their landlord.”
Sir Herbert’s indignation rose. Ormond pledged himself that Sir Ulick O’Shane would never protect such wretches28; and eager to assist public justice, to defend his guardian29, and, above all, to calm Sir Herbert and prevent him from over-exerting himself, he insisted upon being allowed to go in his stead with the party of military who were to search the suspected houses. It was with some difficulty that he prevailed. He parted with Sir Herbert; and, struck at the moment with his highly-raised colour, and the violent heat and state of excitation he was in, Ormond again urged him to remember his own health, and his mother and sister.
“I will — I do,” said Sir Herbert; “but it is my duty to think of public justice before I think of myself.”
The apprehension30 Ormond felt in quitting Sir Herbert recurred31 frequently as he rode on in silence; but he was called into action and it was dissipated. Ormond spent nearly three hours searching a number of wretched cabins from which the male inhabitants fled at the approach of the military, leaving the women and children to make what excuses and tell what lies they could. This the women and children executed with great readiness and ability, and in the most pity-moving tones imaginable.
The inside of an Irish cabin appears very different to those who come to claim hospitality and to those who come to detect offenders.
Ormond having never before entered a cabin with a search-warrant, constable32, or with the military, he was “not up to the thing”— as both the serjeant and constable remarked to each other. While he listened to the piteous story of a woman about a husband who had broken his leg from a ladder, sarving the masons at Sir Herbert’s lighthouse, and was lying at the hospital, not expected, [Footnote: Not expected to live.] the husband was lying all the time with both his legs safe and sound in a potato furrow33 within a few yards of the house. And the child of another eloquent34 matron was running off with a pair of silver-mounted pistols taken from the wreck, which he was instructed to hide in a bog-hole, snug35 — the bog-water never rusting36. In one hovel — for the houses of these wretches who lived by pillage37, after all their ill-gotten gains, were no better than hovels — in one of them, in which, as the information stated, some valuable plunder38 was concealed39, they found nothing but a poor woman groaning40 in bed, and two little children; one crying as if its heart would break, and the other sitting up behind the mother’s bolster41 supporting her. After the soldiers had searched every place in vain, even the thatch42 of the house, the woman showing no concern all the while, but groaning on, seeming scarce able to answer Mr. Ormond’s questions — the constable, an old hand, roughly bid her get up, that they might search the bed; this Ormond would not permit:— she lay still, thanking his honour faintly, and they quitted the house. The goods which had been carried off were valuable, and were hid in the straw of the very bed on which the woman was lying.
As they were returning homewards after their fruitless search, when they had passed the boundary of Sir Ulick’s and had reached Sir Herbert’s territory, they were overtaken by a man, who whispered something to the serjeant which made him halt, and burst out a laughing; the laugh ran through the whole serjeant’s guard, and reached Ormond’s ears; who, asking the cause of it, was told how the woman had cheated them, and how she was now risen from her bed, and was dividing the prize among the lawful43 owners, “share and share alike.” These lawful owners, all risen out of the potato furrows44, and returning from the bogs45, were now assembled, holding their bed of justice. At the moment the serjeant’s information came off, their captain, with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, was drinking, “To the health of Sir Ulick O’Shane, our worthy46 landlord — seldom comes a better. The same to his ward3, Harry47 Ormond, Esq., and may his eyesight never be better nor worse.”
Harry Ormond instantly turned his horse’s head, much provoked at having been duped, and resolved that the plunderers should not now escape. By the advice of serjeants and constables48, he dismounted, that no sound of horses’ hoofs49 might give notice from a distance; though, indeed, on the sands of the sea-shore, no horses’ tread, he thought, could be heard. He looked round for some one with whom he could leave his horse, but not a creature, except the men who were with him, was in sight.
“What can have become of all the people?” said Ormond: “it is not the workmen’s dinner-hour, and they are gone from the work at the lighthouse; and the horses and cars are left without any one with them.” He went on a few paces, and saw a boy who seemed to be left to watch the horses, and who looked very melancholy50. The boy did not speak as Ormond came up. “What is the matter?” said Ormond: “something dreadful has happened — speak!”
“Did not you hear it, sir?” said the boy: “I’d be loth to tell it you.”
“Has any thing happened to —”
“Sir Herbert — ay — the worst that could. Running to stop one of them villains51 that was making off with something from the wreck, he dropped sudden as if he was shot, and — when they went to lift him up — But you’ll drop yourself, sir,” said the boy.
“Give him some of the water out of the bucket, can’t ye?”
“Here’s my cap,” said the serjeant. Ormond was made to swallow the water, and, recovering his senses, heard one of the soldiers near him say, “’Twas only a faint Sir Herbert took, I’ll engage.”
The thought was new life to Ormond: he started up, mounted his horse, and galloped52 off — saw no creature on the road — found a crowd at the gate of the avenue — the crowd opened to let him pass, many voices calling as he passed to beg him to send out word. This gave him fresh hopes, since nothing certain was known: he spurred on his horse; but when he reached the house, as he was going to Sir Herbert’s room he was met by Sir Herbert’s own man, O’Reilly. The moment he saw O’Reilly’s face, he knew there was no hope — he asked no question: the surgeon came out, and told him that in consequence of having broke a blood-vessel, which bled internally, Sir Herbert had just expired — his mother and sister were with him. Ormond retired53 — he begged the servants would write to him at Dr. Cambray’s — and he immediately went away.
Two days after he had a note from O’Reilly, written in haste, at a very early hour in the morning, to say that he was just setting out with the hearse to the family burial-place at Herbert — it having been thought best that the funeral should not be in this neighbourhood, on account of the poor people at Annaly being so exasperated54 against those who were thought to be the immediate12 occasion of his death. Sir Herbert’s last orders to O’Reilly were to this effect —“to take care, and to have every thing done as privately55 as possible.”
No pomp of funeral was, indeed, necessary for such a person. The great may need it — the good need it not: they are mourned in the heart, and they are remembered without vain pageantry. If public sorrow can soothe56 private grief — and surely in some measure it must — the family and friends of this young man had this consolation57; but they had another and a better.
It is the triumph of religion and of its ministers to be able to support the human heart, when all other resources are of little avail. Time, it is true, at length effaces58 the recollection of misfortune, and age deadens the sense of sorrow. But that power to console is surely far superior in its effect, more worthy of a rational and a social being, which operates — not by contracting or benumbing our feelings and faculties59, but by expanding and ennobling them — inspiring us, not with stoic60 indifference61 to the pains and pleasures of humanity, but with pious62 submission63 to the will of Heaven — to the order and orderer of the universe.
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1
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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2
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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7
hectic
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| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
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8
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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17
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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21
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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28
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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31
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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32
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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33
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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34
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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36
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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37
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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38
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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39
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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40
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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41
bolster
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| n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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42
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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43
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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44
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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45
bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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46
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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47
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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48
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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49
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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51
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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52
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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53
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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54
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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56
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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57
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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58
effaces
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| v.擦掉( efface的第三人称单数 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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60
stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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61
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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62
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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