The Heir of Kilfinnan | Page 9

you dare to speak to me in that way?" exclaimed the
priest. "You will be going over to the Protestants, and then the curse of
Saint Patrick and all the holy saints will rest upon you,--you too, who
are born to be a priest of the holy faith. Look; you were marked before
you came into the world with the emblem of our faith, and if your
mother had followed the wishes of her true friends, you would even
now be training for the priesthood, instead of being a poor fisher-boy,
as you now must be for ever, and nothing more." The priest as he spoke
seized Dermot's hand, and bared his arm to the shoulder. There,
curiously enough, above the elbow, was a red mark which might easily
have been defined as a cross.
The boy drew away his hand indignantly: "I tell you, Father O'Rourke,
I am as true a son of the Holy Church as ever I was. Mr Jamieson is no
bigot; he gives me instruction, but does not ask me to turn to his faith,

and yet, Father O'Rourke, I tell you, to my mind it is a pure and holy
faith, whatever you may say to the contrary."
The boy spoke boldly and proudly, as he again drew down the sleeve of
his shirt.
Many years before, when the red mark on Dermot's arm had first been
seen by the neighbours, it was suggested that it was evidently placed
there as a sign from heaven that he should become a priest, and that in
all probability he would rise to be a bishop, if not a cardinal. When,
however, Dermot grew a little older, and the idea was suggested to him,
he indignantly refused to accept the offers made him. In the first place,
nothing would induce him to leave his mother, and in the second, he
had no ambition to become like Father O'Rourke, for whom it must be
confessed, that at a very early age the boy had entertained a
considerable antipathy. Even with the widow, though she was ignorant
and superstitious, Father O'Rourke had never been a favourite; still
when she could get so far as the chapel, she went to hear mass, and
attended confession, as did her neighbours. The feeling which governed
her was fear, rather than love for the parish priest. Father O'Rourke was
excessively indignant at being thus addressed by the young fisher-boy.
He turned from him, however, to his mother, and began to pour out his
abuse on her head. He had not proceeded far, however, when Dermot
again sprang to his feet.
"Father O'Rourke!" he exclaimed; "you may say what you like to me;
you may curse me, and if you like you may threaten me with
excommunication even, but do not lift up your tongue against my poor
old mother. There are things a man can bear and some he ought not to
bear, and I tell you, boy as I am, I will not have her spoken against.
Your words may frighten her, and she may fancy that your curses may
fall upon her head, but I tell you when uttered against a poor helpless
widow, they will fall back on him who dares to speak them. There,
Father O'Rourke, I have had my say, and I defy you."
The priest had never before been spoken to in this manner by one of his
flock, and he found no words to reply. At first he felt inclined to
anathematise both the widow and her son, but doubts as to the effects it

might produce upon Dermot restrained him, or perhaps a better feeling
came into his heart.
"Very well, boy, remember I have warned you," he exclaimed, "I have
told you that by going to that Protestant minister, you may be led to
turn heretic, and forsake our holy faith, and if you should, do not forget
the heavy curses that will follow you. I do not wish you ill, nor do I
wish your mother ill, but I cannot stand by and see one of my flock
carried the downward way to destruction."
Having thus delivered himself, Father O'Rourke left the hut and took
the path up the steep glen, which led inland from the sea.
Often Dermot's mind reverted to the days when the castle was inhabited,
and he thought of the beautiful and kind ladies he had seen there, and of
the fair little girl who had smiled so sweetly when she spoke to him. He
felt the immeasurable distance between them and him, and yet he
longed for their return, that he might gaze on them at a distance, and
again hear their voices. He was generally too much occupied to go to
the castle to inquire when the Earl was