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Suddenly a passion of remorse roused him out of his semi-stupefaction. "Michael, Michael!" he said, his voice hoarse, broken. "Don't say such a thing! Are you sure?" Michael nodded. "I'm sure. I got it from one that's known Erris Boyne and his first wife and girl one that was a servant to them both in past days. He's been down to Limerick to see Mrs. Llyn and the beautiful daughter.
"You tell me you saw Dyck Calhoun do this to an undefended man you tell me this!" Sheila's anger was justified in her mind. That Dyck Calhoun should "I did not see Dyck Calhoun strike him," gasped the woman. "I did not say that. Dyck Calhoun did not kill Erris Boyne!" "My God! oh, my God!" said Sheila with ashen lips, but a great light breaking in her eyes. "Dyck Calhoun did not kill Erris Boyne!
Erris Boyne, who was eighteen years older than Dyck, laughed, flicked a little pinch of snuff at his nose with his finger. "Dear lad, of course I'll come and fetch you," he said. "There's many a man has done worse than lead a gay stripling like you into pleasant ways. Bring along any loose change you have, for it may be a night of nights."
Her repugnance of the woman was as nothing beside her splendid feeling of relief. It was as though the gates of hell had been closed and the curtains of heaven drawn for the eyes to see. Six years of horrible shame wiped out, and a new world was before her eyes. This woman who had killed Erris Boyne must now suffer. She must bear the ignominy which had been heaped upon Dyck Calhoun's head.
"What alliance is there between Brian and her?" asked O'Donnell softly. "Brian has given her service, and I have," Cathbarr flung up his head. "Our men lie in Gorumna Castle, there are ships coming from Erris and the isles, and if Brian be slain we shall bear on this hold and give no quarter. We have four hundred men now, and five ships are coming from the North."
"I don't know what you mean, sir, but I'll tell you this none that knows you would believe you'd murder Erris Boyne or anny other man." Dyck wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I suppose you speak the truth, Michael, but it isn't people who've known me that'll try me; and I can't tell all." "Why not, if it'll help you?" "I can't of course I can't. It would be disgrace eternal." "Why?
He laid a hand on himself now, though it was not easy to do so. "It was not the luck of Enniscorthy that sent Erris Boyne to his doom," he said, however, with anger in his mind, for Dyck's calm boldness stirred the worst in him. He thought he saw in him an exultancy which could only come from his late experiences in the field. It was as though he had come to triumph over the governor.
"Then I want to tell you that I killed Erris Boyne with this hand I killed him." She raised her skinny hand up, and her eyes became glazed. "He had used me vilely and I struck him down. He was a bad man." "You let an innocent man bear punishment, you struck at one who did you no harm, and you spoiled his life for him. You can see that, can't you?"
She was slender, buoyant in movement yet composed, and her voice was like her daughter's, clear, gentle, thrilling. Her mind and heart were given up to Sheila and Sheila's future. That was why a knowledge of the tragedy that had come to Dyck Calhoun troubled her as she had not been troubled since the day she first learned of Erris Boyne's infidelity to herself.
Her daughter did not know that Erris Boyne was her father, and she must not know in any case not yet; but if Dyck was condemned, it was almost sure he would be hanged. She wondered about Boyne's widow, whose name did not appear in the paragraph she had seen. She knew that Noreen was beautiful, but that he had married far beneath him socially.
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