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AN EYE FOR AN EYE
for a tooth!” Though she was for a while detained in prison it
was impossible to prosecute her — even with a view to an acquittal on the ground of insanity; and while the question was
under discussion among the lawyers, provision for her care
and maintenance came from another source.
As also it did for the poor girl. For a while everything was
done for her under the care of Father Marty; — but there was
another Earl of Scroope in the world, and as soon as the story was known to him and the circumstances had been made
clear, he came forward to offer on behalf of the family whatever assistance might now avail them anything. As months
rolled on the time of Kate O’Hara’s further probation came,
but Fate spared her the burden and despair of a living infant.
It was at last thought better that she should go to her father
and live in France with him, reprobate though the man was.
The priest offered to find a home for her in his own house at
Liscannor; but, as he said himself, he was an old man, and one
who when he went would leave no home behind him. And
then it was felt that the close vicinity of the spot on which her
lover had perished would produce a continued melancholy
that might crush her spirits utterly. Captain O’Hara therefore
was desired to come and fetch his child — and he did so, with
many protestations of virtue for the future. If actual pecuniary comfort can conduce to virtue in such a man, a chance
was given him. The Earl of Scroope was only too liberal in
the settlement he made. But the settlement was on the daughter and not on the father; and it is possible therefore that some
gentle restraint may have served to keep him out of the deep
abysses of wickedness.
251
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
The effects of the tragedy on the coast of Clare spread beyond Ireland, and drove another woman to the verge of insanity. When the Countess of Scroope heard the story, she shut
herself up at Scroope and would see no one but her own servants. When the succeeding Earl came to the house which was
now his own, she refused to admit him into her presence, and
declined even a renewed visit from Miss Mellerby who at that
time had returned to her father’s roof. At last the clergyman of
Scroope prevailed, and to him she unburdened her soul —
acknowledging, with an energy that went perhaps beyond
the truth, the sin of her own conduct in producing the catastrophe which had occurred. “I knew that he had wronged
her, and yet I bade him not to make her his wife.” That was
the gist of her confession and she declared that the young
man’s blood would be on her hands till she died. A small cottage was prepared for her on the estate, and there she lived in
absolute seclusion till death relieved her from her sorrows.
And she lived not only in seclusion, but in solitude almost to her death. It was not till four years after the occurrences which have been here related that John fourteenth Earl of
Scroope brought a bride home to Scroope Manor. The reader need hardly be told that that bride was Sophie Mellerby.
When the young Countess came to live at the Manor the old
Countess admitted her visits and at last found some consolation in her friend’s company. But it lasted not long, and then
she was taken away and buried beside her lord in the chancel of the parish church.
When it was at last decided that the law should not interfere at all as to the personal custody of the poor maniac who
252
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
had sacrificed everything to avenge her daughter, the Earl of
Scroope selected for her comfort the asylum in which she still
continues to justify from morning to night, and, alas, often all
the night long, the terrible deed of which she is ever thinking.
“An eye for an eye,” she says to the woman who watches her.
“Oh, yes, ma’am; certainly.”
“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth! Is it not so?
An eye for an eye!”
Литературно-художественное издание
Anthony Trollope
An Eye for an Eye
Выпускающий редактор: H. Головлева
Компьютерная верстка: А. Дятлов
Художественное оформление: М. Соколова
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Проект осуществлён с помощью технологий
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Подписано в печать 10.01.2019
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