Dark Rosaleen Read Online Free PDF

land cannot support the people then the people must perish. So leave well alone and let matters take their course. As Malthus so wisely observed, life and death must balance. A problem such as this is best solved nature’s way.’
    The diners were pleased with that. They nodded and murmured their assent and raised their glasses to toast the Reverend’s wise words. The shy Captain Shelley, seeming to regret his impetuosity, bowed his head and said nothing more.
    Kate then heard herself speak, her words echoing as if she was at the end of a very long and narrow corridor, words almost stifled by the rage inside her.
    ‘And by natural means we must assume, Dr Martineau, that you are advocating death by starvation, death by disease. Entire families evicted from their homes and left to freeze to death in the ditches.’
    Sir William choked on his wine. ‘Kathryn, you will please remember who you are and whose company you are in.’
    But Martineau held up his hand once more and spoke to the wall above Sir William’s head as if he was addressing a congregation.
    ‘No! Sir William. Forgive me but we are among the young and impressionable and it would be entirely wrong and even dangerous for Miss Kathryn to be encouraged by Captain’s Shelley’s false illusions. We have a duty to enlighten them both.’
    He turned his chair to Kate so that her father might not see the menace in his eyes. Already he knew of her riding excursions alone into the countryside and what she was witnessing on the roads and in the villages. His Church was a network of spies and informants, ministers and vergers and all those who could be relied on to listen and watch for any suspicion of treason to God or government and report it directly to him. He lowered his voice as if he wanted only her to hear.
    ‘The greater evil we have to contend with, young lady, is not the physical evil of the famine but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent nature of the Irish themselves. We are not God but the servants of God. We cannot divine a solution. Only He, in his mercy, can do that. But the law is man-made and the law demands that rents are paid and the landlords quite properly, within that law, must use whatever force is necessary to evict those who will not or cannot pay.’
    He leant nearer. She could smell eau de cologne and saw he had dabbed face powder on his cheeks to hide the mass of blue veins. A gold crucifix swung like a pendulum across his purple vest. It was hypnotic. His nearness suffocated her. She asked him in almost a whisper, ‘Even if it means they must live in holes in the ground and eat rats?’
    Martineau smiled. His voice now was soft and comforting, almost seductive. ‘Kathryn, it is possible to hear this tale of sorrow too often. Nothing changes in Ireland, nor will it in our lifetime. It is the old habitual mass of want, the fixed tide of distress that never ebbs. The Catholic peasant is always hungry, whether the potato fails or not, and the rogues are famous for offering a multitude of reasons why. What is important, my dear, is that they should not be deprived of knowing that they are suffering from an application of God’s providence and I trust their priests are making that very clear to them.’
    Then, so abruptly it startled her, he turned and, raising his voice, addressed the table guests again.
    ‘We must not exaggerate the number of evictions. There are mischief-makers enough who will have you believe what they want you to believe and they will happily add a dozen noughts to any number you care to mention. The Irish knave is the best practised liar in Christendom. Rest assured, gentlemen, and I have it on good authority, that there are no more and no less evictions than is normal at this time of the year.’
    ‘You lie,’ Kate said loudly.
    Sir William rose from his chair. ‘Kathryn, your behaviour is abominable. You will leave us now, at once.’
    She did not move. ‘It’s a lie, Father, and you know it