It was easier than Arabella
had expected. Exhausted by her efforts, Lady Ballinmore
could offer little resistance. She might have been asleep, so still she lay in
her lonely room, but her eyes were wide open; by the clear starlight Arabella could see their stare.
“Poor William,” she murmured over and
over, “forgive me ..... forgive
me.”
It went on like a litany. Arabella had to bend close to catch the words. They meant
nothing to her, probably a lament for a long ago lover, she thought. The sick
woman never noticed her, her mind was travelling its own tortured way. When Arabella lifted the pillow from her face the prayer had
ended, but the eyes still stared, glassily. Arabella
settled the pillow under the dead woman's head and stole silently from the
room.
“My dark Rose,” he whispered, holding
her close, “what a woman you are! What a woman!”
And what a woman she was on that
night, so tender and so passionate, so well worth waiting for. So well worth keeping for his own, forever. None should take
her from him now; no obstacle should stand in his way.
There was no obstacle. As they breakfasted tête-à-tête, a frightened maid brought them the
news. Arabella was all sweet sympathy. The physician,
summoned immediately, had no reason for suspicion; her ladyship had looked very
ill at the reception; he had advised her to take life easy and she had
disobeyed. The more eminent physician in
Arabella had scored two triumphs in one night;
she had obliterated the lady who stood in her way; she had obliterated the
thought of Caroline from her lord's lusty eye, for what was a cold, coy girl
compared with a woman of experience? If she knew how to play the lover, she
also knew how to play the comforter. She was tender, solicitous, understanding,
always by Lord Ballinmore’s side. It was unthinkable
that she should return to Fermoy and leave him
grieving. Instead she took charge of immediate, distressing details with
splendid efficiency, leaving him undisturbed by the nasty little facts of
death. Of course Nick was summoned from Kildare and was on his way. But every
minute counted for Arabella as she wove her womanly
charm about the bereaved husband.
Louise Marsmain,
the Lady Ballinmore, was laid to rest in the family
vault. The funeral service, held in the little family chapel within the
grounds, was private. Across his mother's coffin as it lay in state, Nick
caught Arabella's glance. Behind her hastily assumed
mourning veil she was watching his. Maybe it was the chill, musty air of the
chapel which made him shudder, maybe it was foreboding. Damn that woman! Why
was she here? Damn his foolish father who had allowed her to assume such
intimacy with the family! He strove to fix his attention on the funeral
service, failing that, on his father's grief-stricken face. He felt no
sympathy. If the tears were of remorse, then they were well shed. There was no
remorse on Arabella's face. Why should there be?
Among the bequests of the deceased
lady, and the only one of any significance, since she had few personal
possessions, was that of her carefully garnered hoard of gold pieces. Over the
years, they had amounted to a tidy fortune. Her last request was that the money
should be used to purchase for her son, Arthur Nicholas, an army command
commensurate with his station in life.
It was what Nick Marsmain
had waited so long for. Nothing but the best would satisfy him and now it was
within his grasp. With war looming the colonelcy of a dashing regiment appealed
mightily to him. He need not wander forever in the mists of
The coast was clear and all plain
sailing but for two women; Caroline who was innocent and headstrong, Arabella who was scheming and ruthless. He must have
Caroline as his wife; he must have an heir for Ballinmore;
the thought, with a French war looming, was obsessive. He must detach Arabella from his father; she was young enough to bear
children, heirs for Ballinmore; he must make her his
mistress again ..... here in
his father's house. He smiled at her across his mother's bier. It was the old
captivating smile that charmed her more than any man's. Their eyes locked in a
look of passionate intensity. The solemn room with its empty books reverberated
with the mating call of jungle beasts.
Tonight Arabella
would share his bed. One day soon he would see Seveny ..... the ambitious, conscientious soldier with no strings he
could pull; he had him in a cleft stick. As for Ferriter,
dare he ask repayment of old debts? Not now. Ferriter
could go to hell. The means mattered not so long as the ends were served ..... the twin gods of land
and lineage.
If Caroline wondered why, in the days
following Lady Ballinmore's burial, Nick did not pay
a call, she persuaded herself that family affairs
constrained him. She tried to curb her impatience, but it was not easy;
February had been a long, dull month. The cosy, prettily furnished house,
Lucy’s passivity and Gerard's grave preoccupation with duty began to weigh like
manacles. She longed to ride away, taking the road as it came till the old
tower of Dunalla rose against the wide waste of sea.
The glitter of gold on the water ..... the glitter of gold under the bloody stone by the hearth of Dunalla; one day soon she would need it. She would not be
entirely dowerless ..... and
no man would marry her for her dowry; it was a proud thought. She had no inkling
of the goings-on at
Rose O'Shaughnessy Drynan
had weathered the winter well, but cramped in spirit. With the first whip of
March wind, she felt a stir of fierce activity in her bones. That mad child,
Caroline, had been given her head too long. She could .....
and probably would ..... go
her own way. But she must return Turlough’s coach;
the very thought of a redcoat riding like a prince in that elegant vehicle
maddened her. Martin had been more than decent about the horses, they were
growing more valuable every day, but no bargain had been struck and it was time
they came back to Moybranach. Seveny
and his ilk could not have all the best, whatever they might think.
She had the gig brought out and,
wrapped in her greatcoat, she drove like a fury over
to Dunalla. Owen saw her arrive and knew she meant
business. There would be something for him to do. Well, it would be a change
from foddering the pony and fetching water and turf and potatoes for old
Bridget.
Rose summoned him with a crack of her
whip.
“I want you to go on an errand, Owen.
You never travelled much. Now's your chance. It's a
long journey.”
“Where to, ma'am?”
“To Fermoy
in the
“I do that, ma'am, it's
right plain you make it an' no mistake. But when .....?”
“In the morning, first thing. And you're to lose no time on the
road. I'll wait here with Bridget till you come back.”
Owen hesitated, scratching his head
“I'll be a brave while away, ma'am
..... that's if I'm to walk it.”
“Arrah man,
it's a poor sample of an O’Shaughnessy you are. When did one of them hesitate
at the prospect of a journey over land or sea; covered the continent of
“You don't mind stayin'
with Bridget? She's so stiff she can hardly fend for herself
..... fetch the turf ..... carry
water ..... fodder the pony.”
“I’ll stay all right. Do you think I'd
leave the old home without a caretaker? That Picton
woman would be back, sure as goodness; they say she's on the fidget. She'd be
running the place ..... sitting
in the chieftain's chair ..... casting her spells till
the place wouldn't be safe for an O'Shaughnessy to live in.”
“She wouldn't come back, would she?”
“Wouldn't she? Wouldn't she always
from the minute she set eyes on my brother Turlough.
Wasn't she fair out of her mind with the notion of being the chieftain's bride?
The outlaw's bride! An oul' cod of a romantic she
always was in spite of her prim and proper ways. I'll stay, Owen, you get ready
to go.”
“I'll start in the mornin',
ma'am,” Owen said, his heart quailed at the prospect of the journey.
The journey turned out easier than the
prospect. He soon found the way to whistle and sing his way into the cabins and
into the hearts of the people who dwelt in them or travelled the road. It was
only a few days till he strolled into the town of