Plot
In a pretentious but
half-ruined house in County Leitrim called "Ballycloran" lived Larry Macdermot,
senile at fifty; Thady, his well-meaning but ignorant son, who acted as his
father's agent; and a daughter, Feemy. She considered herself engaged to
Captain Ussher, a police officer charged with the detection and destruction of
the illegal potheen stills scattered throughout the
neighboring mountains, and who was, quite naturally, hated by the local
peasants.
Ballycloran had been built by Joe Flannelly of
Carrick who, as his bills had never been paid, held a mortgage on the estate.
His son-in-law Hyacinth Keegan, an attorney who aspired to become a country
gentleman by acquiring the property, threatened to evict the Macdermots and
swore to make beggars of the whole family. The tenants hated him almost as much
as they did Ussher.
Joe Reynolds, leader of a
gang of potheen distillers, plotted to kill Ussher
and tried in vain to persuade Thady to join them, but Thady's
confidential, servant Pat Brady had become Hyacinth Keegan's spy and
stool-pigeon, and succeeded in involving him in the conspiracy. Thady
distrusted Ussher thoroughly but was unable to prevent his frequent visits to
Feemy, although he suspected that Ussher did not intend to marry his sister.
When the Captain was given a promotion that would take him out of the county,
Feemy confessed that she was bearing his child and begged him to marry her. He
claimed that was impossible, but arranged to take her with him. By chance Thady
surprised them as they were departing and, believing that Feemy was being
abducted against her will, struck Ussher and killed him. He was tried,
convicted of murder and hanged. During the trial Feemy died and their father
became completely insane.
GEROULD,
WINIFRED GREGORY;
A GUIDE TO TROLLOPE.
© 1948 Princeton University Press,
1976 renewed PUP
Reprinted by permission of
Url: http://www.anthonytrollope.com/
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés
López
©Davinia Moreno Arroyo
Universitat de Valčncia
Press
damoa2@alumni.uv.es