At that moment a low irregular noise came from within the broken-down building.
‘There’s also a baby in there,’ said Liam, trying the door. ‘Come on, Tommy. Hold your neck-scarf up to your nose and help me with this door. Something has been put against the inside to stop it opening.’
The ‘something’ turned out to be the body of a man, his swollen face choked almost black, lips drawn back from his teeth in a frightening snarl. Other bodies lay sprawled about the floor, their fearful expressions and clawed fingers evidence of an agonised death.
The smell in here was so overwhelming that Liam retched uncontrollably. He located the baby, clutched in the arms of its dying mother. They were the only two left alive in the cabin, and within minutes there was only one. It was as though the emaciated and helpless mother had clung desperately to life until she saw her baby taken to safety. As Liam eased the baby from her arms, her eyes flickered open and looked up at him. Her whole body tensed as she tried to say something. But when her mouth opened it was the result of a sudden obscene convulsion that ended when she relaxed in death, her eyes still staring at Liam.
He recoiled in horror and, clutching the baby, stumbled outside with Tommy Donaghue.
Norah McCabe took the baby from her son and wrinkled her nose at the dirty rags in which it was wrapped. Peeling them off, she threw them to the ground and wrapped her own shawl about the naked cottier boy.
Norah McCabe took the baby home with her, and while Tommy Dongahue scoured the village to obtain some milk Liam sought out Father Clery and took the priest to the charnel-house on the hill.
Together they dragged out the bodies of eight adults from the broken-down cottage, but could find no means of identifying any one of them.
‘This is a bad business,’ said the priest. ‘It’s typhus – the black fever – right enough, and I hope for the sake of Kilmar that we can contain it up here on the hill. It is not unknown for this disease to wipe out whole communities. When we have finished our business up here I want you to go home and take off all the clothes you are wearing and put them to soak for a day in strong salt water. Tell your mother and Tommy Donaghue to do the same. But first we have another duty to perform.’
The priest and the fisherman visited each of the twenty or so derelict cabins on the hill and were horrified by what they found there. Every cabin was occupied by starving cottiers, and the fever was raging in more than half of them.
‘Dear God!’ exclaimed the priest. ‘What is to be done about them? They need a doctor and food urgently.’
‘They need someone up here caring for them,’ said Liam. ‘But we can’t ask anyone in Kilmar to put the lives of themselves and their families at risk. Perhaps Eugene can think of something.’
Father Clery frowned. ‘It would not be fair to ask him. He is an old man who is sorely in need of help himself; a burden like this might well break him. But we can’t deal with the black fever by ourselves. Liam, will you go to see if the Earl is at Inch House? He could send to Dublin for help.’
Liam remembered the last occasion he had been to the great house and was reluctant to agree.
‘Please, Liam. Unless something is done urgently the fever will spread through the whole of County Wexford. It will hit fishermen and the Earl’s estate workers as well as the cottiers.’
Reluctantly, Liam said he would go to Inch House, but first he went home to put on his London clothes, remembering the suspicious gate-keeper.
Tommy Donaghue had obtained some goat’s milk, and Norah McCabe solved the problem of feeding the tiny baby by the simple expediency of dipping coarse linen in the bowl of milk and allowing the child to suck the milk from the cloth. It was messy but effective and, as Liam set off for Inch House, women neighbours were coming to the house with baby clothes and to make foolish noises at the undernourished infant. Their brief joy was short-lived. The baby had been starved for days and its tiny stomach was unaccustomed to such rich fare. It died four hours later, watched by the helpless fisherwomen and attended by Bridie O’Keefe.
The Earl of Inch’s gate-keeper seemed not to recognise Liam. Touching his hat and calling Liam ‘sir’, he came out to escort him to the house, taking him without question to the front door of the great house. If he wondered why a gentleman should come calling without either horse or carriage, he asked no questions.
The butler at the house had a better memory and he retained a tight grip on the heavy front door as he informed Liam that the Earl was out of the country.
‘That is all right. I will receive Mr McCabe.’
To Liam’s astonishment and dismay, as the butler stepped back out of the way Caroline pushed the door open wide and stood before him.
‘Liam, how wonderful to see you again.’ She took both his hands in hers and leaned back to look up at him. ‘You are looking well … as handsome as ever. But what are we doing talking here? Come inside.’
‘I came to see your brother … the Earl.’
This was a meeting Liam had looked forward to with a confused mixture of anticipation and dread. Seeing her again sent the blood racing through his veins and he thought she must feel his hands trembling in hers.
‘My brother is not here, so you will have to speak with me instead. Is that so difficult for you, Liam?’
Still holding one of his hands, Caroline led the way to the library, ignoring the disapproval on the butler’s face.
‘There! Isn’t this better?’ Caroline closed the library door behind them, and before Liam could reply she turned quickly to him and kissed him on the lips. Her lips lingered upon his, but when he did not respond she stepped back and studied his face seriously.
‘Are you still angry with me, Liam? After all these months? What if I tell you I have missed you desperately?’
Liam tried to think of something to say, something meaningful, but all that came through the turmoil inside him was ‘How is your husband?’ The question was foolish and childishly cruel. He saw the hurt in her eyes and would have given anything to take the words back again.
‘I deserved that, didn’t I, Liam? Richard is working in Dublin. I came here to Inch House because I hoped I might see you again. I have been carrying on your good work in London, Liam … raising money for your starving cottiers. I have collected thousands of pounds for your fund. Does that please you?’
Liam remembered the reason for his visit to Inch House.
‘I came here to see the Earl on an urgent matter. Do you know when he will be back?’
Caroline shrugged. ‘Perhaps not until the summer. Is there anything I can do?’
Liam looked at the beautiful and elegant woman standing before him and thought of the cottier women dressed in rags, lying filthy and ill in their stinking hovels.
‘No, Caroline. I don’t think there is anything you can do. The cottiers on Kilmar hill have gone down with the black fever. I … we … were hoping the Earl could arrange for a doctor and some help to come in and prevent the fever from spreading.’
Caroline’s mood became one of immediate concern. ‘Typhus. So close to here? That is dreadful news – but, as it happens, I can help you.’
‘You? How?’
His disbelief both amused and saddened her.
‘I told you I have been working hard for your cause, Liam. Not only have I been raising money, but I have also paid for two doctors from the Society of Friends to come to Ireland and serve where they are most needed. They are in Dublin at this very moment. I will send for them to come to Kilmar immediately. Will you be there to show them where these poor wretches are lying?’
Liam nodded. ‘Me or Father Clery. It is very kind of you, Caroline—’
‘Kind? Oh no, Liam, I am as selfish as any other woman.’
He thought she was about to reach out and touch him. Instead, she turned away and moved to the window, looking out over closely trimmed lawns toward the sea, visible in the distance through gaps in the Lebanon cedars, planted when the house was built many years before.
‘How is you brother, Liam?’
‘I haven’t seen him since I returned to Ireland.’
Her words stirred up the feeling of guilt that had been nagging at him for some weeks. He ought to go to the Wicklow mountains to try to find Dermot. The last news of his brother had come from a tinker who had passed through Kilmar, and it had been cautious rather than comforting.
‘What a mess our country is in, Liam. Oh yes, I am as Irish as you. I was born in this house and, though I have spent most of my life away, my heart is here. More than ever recently.’
‘Then you will be doing your countrymen and women a great service by bringing in those doctors.’
‘Of course.’ Caroline turned back toward him. ‘I will send a horseman with a message immediately. He will be in Kilmar tomorrow.’
‘Thank you, Caroline.’ Warmed by her ready help, and aware that he had hurt her, he added, ‘It has been nice to meet you again.’
‘Has it, Liam? Has it really?’
There was an eager pleading in her voice.
‘Yes.’
She was watching his face, and now she gave a short laugh. ‘Don’t say things just to be polite to me, Liam. Spare me that, please. We were lovers – remember?’
She moved closer to him. ‘Yes. I can see you remember, Liam. I will have to be satisfied with that for now, but when you wake in the night for no apparent reason think of me, Liam. The chances are I will be thinking of you, too.’
She reached out and touched his face gently. ‘And now you must leave me. Your cottiers need help.’
Chapter Eighteen
The following day proved to be an eventful one in Kilmar. In the morning Liam, Tommy Donaghue and Father Clery took food to the sick cottiers on the hill. In return, the cottiers promised to stay clear of Kilmar village, though few of them had the strength to do anything else. Four more typhus victims had died during the night while sharing their blankets with the living. Liam and Father Clery pulled the corpses outside to await burial, then did what little was possible for the others.
Their tasks occupied the whole of the morning, and they had returned to the village and Liam was preparing his boat for half a day’s fishing when a small boy came running into the village shouting that soldiers were coming.
The news gave Liam an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but he refused to be panicked. He could have put to sea with Tommy Donaghue, but if the soldiers intended searching the houses once again he did not want his mother to be in the house on her own. Stowing’ his fishing gear in his boat, he secured it and went home.
He and Tommy had almost reached the cottage when the soldiers entered the village. He heard a shout of ‘That’s them. That’s the two who were with the priest,’ and looking back saw a soldier pointing at him.
‘Stop, or you will be shot!’ the officer in charge called, and to Liam’s dismay he saw it was the Scots captain and the same company of men who had paid the last destructive visit to Kilmar. Quickly he reached out and pulled Tommy Donaghue to a halt.
‘He means what he says, Tommy. Stand still or they will shoot us.’
‘What for? We’ve done nothing wrong!’ Tommy Donaghue argued, but he wisely stayed where he was.
The officer came along the narrow street toward them and his face showed his disappointment. ‘It was very sensible of you to do as you were told,’ he said. ‘Although a musket-ball is far less expensive than a trial.’
‘A trial for what? We’ve done nothing.’
‘Nothing you thought anyone could see,’ corrected the Captain. ‘Unfortunately for you I decided to send a man ahead of us with a powerful telescope. He saw you taking food up the hill to those derelict cottages. I knew if I bided my time I would learn where your brother and the others were hiding.’
Now Liam knew the reason for the officer’s strange behaviour he felt greatly relieved.
‘I’m afraid you’ve made a mistake, Captain. There are no fugitives on the hill. Only poor cottiers – and the black fever.’
‘There have been no reports of fever in Wexford. Save your breath. You’ll need it for the march to Dublin.’
The officer turned to his men. ‘Four of you stay here and guard these men. Take no chances. If they try to escape, shoot them. Sergeant, detail two more men to arrest the priest. You come with me and deploy the men around the hill before we move in on those cottages.’
Liam became seriously alarmed. ‘Captain, we are trying to contain the fever in those cottages. If your men go searching through them, they are likely to pick up the fever and spread it from here to Dublin.’
Liam’s words had their effect upon the soldiers of the Scots regiment and they looked uneasy, but the Captain had already made his decision.
‘Take these men inside the house and allow no one to talk to them,’ he instructed his men, ignoring Liam’s pleas. ‘We’ve got other things to do.’
A few minutes later Father Clery was brought to the McCabe cottage to join Liam and Tommy Donaghue. He, too, was protesting angrily, but all to no avail. The soldiers had their instructions and they would obey them to the letter.
‘I only hope Eugene does nothing foolish,’ said the priest as he paced the room under the watchful eyes of their guards. ‘He went after the officer in an attempt to bring him back and I fear he was in a terrible temper.’
It seemed an age before anything happened to relieve the priest’s anxiety. Then one of the guards looked through the window and said the others were returning. The three prisoners were taken outside to meet them, and one look at the faces of the soldiers told Liam that the men had seen for themselves what black fever could do to anyone unfortunate enough to contract the disease.
Eugene Brennan was with the soldiers and he was shaken by what he had seen on the hill. He was angry, too, and his anger was directed against the Scots officer. Liam could see the old MP berating the disbelieving Captain every step of the way along the road.
‘Well, are you satisfied?’ Liam addressed the Captain as soon as he came within hearing. ‘I trust you let your nose tell you the truth of what I said and did not allow your men to come in contact with the cottiers.’
‘The damned fool had his men tramp through every cabin. They even examined the bodies they found to be sure they weren’t wanted men. Liam, I have seen some awful sights in my life, but nothing to compare with the inside of those cabins up there.’
‘If you take the fever back to the barracks in Dublin, you’ll be responsible for killing more of your soldiers than any Irishman,’ said Father Clery to the Captain. ‘And you will not be able to say you weren’t warned.’
‘I did what needed to be done,’ said the officer stubbornly. ‘And I am still not convinced that you and these other two don’t know where the fugitives are hiding. Mr Brennan has spoken on your behalf and I am releasing you, Father Clery. The others will come back to Dublin for questioning.’
There was an immediate protest from every one of the men involved, with Eugene Brennan’s voice booming out that he would vouch for the innocence of Liam and Tommy Donaghue, but the Scots captain was adamant. He was taking Liam and Tommy Donaghue back to Dublin. It mattered not that there was no evidence to link them with the raid on the wagons. The Coercion Bill was being used as Eugene Brennan had predicted it would be. The Irish were being brought to heel.
The argument grew more and more heated, and the officer had just ordered his men to surround the two prisoners when a carriage bumped and swayed its way recklessly along the narrow street, forcing the soldiers to give ground or be bowled over.
Stopping close to Liam and Tommy Donaghue, the carriage door was thrown open before the coachman could climb down from his high seat and Caroline was handed out, followed by two doctors and the district relief organiser for the Society of Friends.
‘What is happening, Liam? Why are all these soldiers here?’
Liam took a step toward her, but one of the Scots soldiers immediately barred his way with the thirty-nine
-inch barrel of his musket.
Eugene Brennan was taken by surprise by Lady Caroline’s unexpected arrival; he had not been told about Liam’s meeting with her, but the old MP knew of her affection for Liam and was prepared to take full advantage of it on this occasion.
‘This fool of a captain is arresting Liam and taking him off to Dublin. He thinks he had something to do with that raid on the wagons.’
‘I’m taking him to Dublin for questioning, ma’am. He’s not being arrested.’
‘Do not play with words, Captain. You are taking this man against his will, therefore he is being arrested. You will accept my word that Liam McCabe was a guest in my London house when this raid took place and release him immediately.’
‘I am sorry, ma’am, but I have given my orders. Captain James Brody, at your service—’
‘And I am Lady Caroline Dudley, sister of the Earl of Inch. My husband, Sir Richard Dudley, has recently arrived in Ireland on behalf of the Treasury to check upon the absurdly high cost of maintaining the Army in this country. I am quite sure that he would be most displeased to hear that a captain and—how many men do you have with you … a hundred? That so many men are wasting their time and Treasury money when they could be gainfully employed elsewhere in these troubled times.’
The Scots captain hurriedly abandoned all his principles. The officer’s mess in Dublin was buzzing with the news of Sir Richard Dudley’s arrival. The baronet held a position in the Treasury important enough to wipe out a whole regiment with a single stroke of his pen. During his visit, generals would be running around him as though they were mere messenger-boys. It was unthinkable that he, a junior captain, should go against the wishes of that official’s wife. Captain James Brody capitulated unconditionally.
‘I am obliged for your kind assistance, my lady. I trust you and your husband will have a most enjoyable stay in Ireland.’
While the Captain and Caroline were talking, the tall Scots sergeant moved closer to Liam. When it became apparent that Liam and Tommy Donaghue were to be released, the Sergeant moved quickly to Liam’s side and pressed a handful of small coins upon him.
The Music Makers Page 17