The Dead Boxer / The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two

erate Nell M'Collum, provided he kept a strict watch upon all her motions. The magistrate instantly admitted both the force and ing

c terms, expressed their conviction of his guilt, and the natural consequence resulting from this was, that he found himself expelled from his paternal roof, and absolutely put out of caste. The tide of ill-fame, in fact, set in so strongly against him, that Ellen, startled as she had been by his threat of taking

He might claim the right to receive the sum of fifty guineas, provided no man in the town could be found to accept his challenge within a given period. A champion, if tradition be true, had the privilege of fixing only the place, not the mode and regulations of battle. Accordingly the scene of contest uniformly selected by the Dead Boxer was the church-yard of the town, beside a new made grave, dug at his expense. The epithet of the Dead Boxer had been given to him, in consequence of a cer

Boxer, however, appeared to be exceedingly anxious to gratify this natural propensity. He walked out from the head inn, where he had stopped, attended by his servant, merely, it wo

t sporting characters among the nobility and gentry of the country, fighting-peers, fire-eaters, snuff-candle squires, members of the hell-fire and jockey clubs, gaugers, gentlemen tinners, bluff yeomen, laborers, cudgel-players, parish pugilists, men of renown within a district of ten square miles, all jostled each other in hurrying to see, and if possible to have speech of, the Dead Boxer. Not a word was spoken that day, except with reference to him, nor a conversation introduced, the topic of which was not the Dead Boxer. In the town every window was filled with persons standing to get a view

nd fearful in the association produced by these strains of death and the fatality of encountering him. This chall

witnessing her mild and gentle deportment, ever for a moment conceived her capable of living with him in any other character, his conduct to her, however, was brutal in the extreme, nor was his open and unmanly cruelty lessened by the misfortune of her having lost the money which he had accumulated. With Nell M'Collum he was also acquainted, for he had given orders that she should be admitted to him whenever she deemed it necessary. Nell, though now at large, found her motions wa

is favor, yet there still existed among the public, particularly in the faction that was hostile to him, enough of doubt, openly expressed, to render it a duty to avoid him; particularly when this formidable suspicion was joined to the notorious fact of his cowardice in the rencounter with Meehaul Neil. Both subjects were therefore discussed with probably an equal interest; but it is quite certain that the rumor of Lamh Laudher's cowardice would alone have occasione

this peculiarity in the interest which she took in Ellen's distress, that it was only a return of sympathy which Ellen felt in the unhappy woman's sufferings. The conduct of her husband was indefensible; for while he treated her with shameful barbarity, it was evident that his bad passions and his judgment were at variance, with respect to the estimate which he formed of her character. In her honesty he placed every confidence, and permitted her to manage his money and regulate his expenses; but this was merely because her frugality and economic habits gratified his parsimony, and fostered one of his

ous to this the hag had been several times with his wife, on whom she laid serious injunctions never to disclose to her husband the relationship between them. The woman had never done so, for in fact the acknowledgement of Nell, as her mot

e, when Nell entered,

distance from her side, supported by her staff, and her gray glittering eyes fixed

'm watched myself-an' Ellen's watched. He has hardly a house to put his head in; but nabockish! I'll bring you an' him toge

anny. I won't give him t

er Creestha, will you, whin you know what

ho, gr

afeard to tell you, f

strike an Obeah-wo-ma

l play between

ry of h

e other, "an' young-far young

ke live coals, "go on-I'll murder him, but not till-yes, I'll murder him at a blow-I will; but no-not till you se

is the money-is in other hands. Lord presa

er resembling that of a man who was ready to sink to pe

e it is? I suspect that your landlord's daughter, his real sweetheart, knows something about it; but thin,

man-can it be possible-no-well-I'll murder him, though; but can it be possi

then, an' I used to say, when I called to see her, that you wor a beauty, barrin' the face. Sure enough, there was no lie in that. Well, that was before you tuck to the fightin'; but I'm

r; "don't-but do get

erry on the charm ever I'll get you till you show more spunk. Yo

f the room; nor could any entreaty on the part of the D

ld have given him greater satisfaction than the removal of a woman whom he no longer loved, except for those virtues which enabled him to accumulate money. And now, too, had he an equal interest in the removal of his double rival, whom, besides, he considered the spoliator of his hoarded property. The loss of this money certainly stung him to the soul, and caused his unfortunate wife to suffer a tenfold degree of persecution and misery. When to this we add his sudden p

to the north side muffled like himself in a cloak, which he immediately recognized to be that of his wife. His teeth became locked together with the most deadly resentment; his features twitched with the convulsive spasms of rage, and his nostrils were distended as if his victims stood already within his grasp. He instantly threw himself over the wall, and nothing but the crashing weight of his tread could have saved the lives of the two

r the circumstances, Lamh Laudher desire

he, "I am murder

nd back, if you murder him I will take care you shall su

, in reply; "why, what is

hrown back the cloak from her featur

id the black, "and so may he. C

poke, and drew her over t

a kiss in return. Here, young fellow," said he to Lamh Laudher, with a sense of

on the temple, as the reply of Lamh Laudher, and dead was the crash of h

you knew it! John, I have been the manes of your disgrace and suffering, but I am willing to do what I can to remedy that. In your disgrace, Ellen will be ready, in four days from this, to become your wife. John, come to meet me no more. I

him at the Dead Boxer, and appeared

im again; but-yes, Ellen, yes-God bless you for the words you've s

n words at our meetin' in the Quarry; it was a small suspi

y. I love you too well ever to see you blush for your husband. My mind's made up-so say n

ollowed by a gush of tears, "I know that there is not one of them,

and clear, an' without spot, can you be my wife. Good nigh

wn room, his rage appeared quite ungovernable; he stormed, stamped, and raved on reflecting that any one was able to knock him down. He called f

my face is black, she thinks me a fool. Furies! I neither

ll not know. As to who she is, you needn't ax-she won't be long troublin' you; an' in regard to myself, I'm what you see me. Arra, dher

ou come from

that was what prevented her

who she is? I'm tired

he was fit to wait upon herself. Warn't you then sarvant to the ould lord, an' didn't I make her marry you, something against her will, t

do you know what he did? He knocked me down, granny-struck me sense

, if it was known, his name would be higher up than ever. Be my sowl, any how, that was t

clue to the money-bring this fellow in my way, as yo

e nothin

ha

's s

r die, then;

re. I can do every thing but that. I have a son myself, an' my hands is tied against b

we understand one anot

that for yourse