XL.  CONCLUSION

We must now return to Dunmore, and say a few parting words of the Kellys and Anty Lynch; and then our task will be finished.

It will be remembered that that demon of Dunmore, Barry Lynch, has been made to vanish:  like Lord Kilcullen, he has gone abroad; he has settled himself at an hotel at Boulogne, and is determined to enjoy himself.  Arrangements have been made about the property, certainly not very satisfactory to Barry, because they are such as make it necessary for him to pay his own debts; but they still leave him sufficient to allow of his indulging in every vice congenial to his taste; and, if he doesn’t get fleeced by cleverer rogues than himself—­which, however, will probably be the case—­he will have quite enough to last him till he has drunk himself to death.

After his departure, there was nothing to delay Anty’s marriage, but her own rather slow recovery.  She has no other relatives to ask, no other friends to consult.  Now that Barry was gone she was entirely her own mistress, and was quite willing to give up her dominion over herself to Martin Kelly.  She had, however, been greatly shaken; not by illness only, but by fear also—­her fears of Barry and for Barry.  She still dreamed while asleep, and thought while awake, of that horrid night when he crept up to her room and swore that he would murder her.  This, and what she had suffered since, had greatly weakened her, and it was some time before Doctor Colligan would pronounce her convalescent.  At last, however, the difficulties were overcome; all arrangements were completed.  Anty was well; the property was settled; Martin was impatient; and the day was fixed.

There was no bishop, no duchess, no man-cook, at the wedding-party given on the occasion by Mrs Kelly; nevertheless, it was, in its way, quite as grand an affair as that given by the countess.  The widow opened her heart, and opened her house.  Her great enemy, Barry Lynch, was gone—­clean beaten out of the field—­thoroughly vanquished; as far as Ireland was concerned, annihilated; and therefore, any one else in the three counties was welcome to share her hospitality.  Oh, the excess of delight the widow experienced in speaking of Barry to one of her gossips, as the “poor misfortunate crature!” Daly, the attorney, was especially invited, and he came.  Moylan also was asked, but he stayed away.  Doctor Colligan was there, in great feather; had it not been for him, there would probably have been no wedding at all.  It would have been a great thing if Lord Ballindine could have been got to grace the party, though only for ten minutes; but he was at that time in Switzerland with his own bride, so he could not possibly do so.

“Well, ma’am,” said Mrs Costelloe, the grocer’s wife, from Tuam, an old friend of the widow, who had got into a corner with her to have a little chat, and drink half-a-pint of porter before the ceremony,—­“and I’m shure I wish you joy of the marriage.  Faux, I’m tould it’s nigh to five hundred a-year, Miss Anty has, may God bless and incrase it!  Well, Martin has his own luck; but he desarves it, he desarves it.”