Gerald had drawn up three copies of a statement containing a precis of the case, and he handed one of these to the lord lieutenant, saying: 

“As the story is a somewhat long one, my lord, I have written it down, in order that you might read it at your leisure.”

“I will certainly do so, Mr. O’Carroll.  I should like to be personally acquainted with the details of the matter.  It will doubtless excite a considerable stir.  It is, I believe, the first time that a supporter of the Government has had to defend his title against one of the family that fought on the other side.”

“It is hardly a case of royalist and rebel, sir, but the deliberate action of a man suppressing all knowledge of the existence of his own nephew, in order that he might himself obtain the property of his dead brother.

“I have no doubt that, had it been known that I was in existence, I should still have been thrust aside in order to reward his adhesion to the cause of William, but that would have made his position intolerable.  As one who has changed his religion and his politics, he is regarded as a traitor by the people of the barony, and avoided by all the gentry round; but the feeling would have been infinitely stronger, if it had been known that he was keeping his own nephew out of his inheritance.  My father was, as I understand, immensely popular, and I doubt whether his brother would have dared to show his face within fifty miles of Kilkargan, had it been known that not only was he a traitor, but a usurper.”

The lord lieutenant smiled.

“I am not surprised at your warmth, Mr. O’Carroll; but, unfortunately, your case is not a solitary one.  There are thousands of men in Ireland who have suffered for the deeds of their fathers.  However, I shall understand the case better when I have read your statement.”

It was evident to Gerald that the lord chief justice, who had taken a leading part in the prosecution and punishment of persons known to be favourable to the Jacobite cause, was not altogether pleased with Lord Godolphin’s letter.

“A strange affair,” he said.  “A strange and, as it appears to me, an unfortunate business.

“However, sir,” he went on, with a changed tone; “I shall certainly do my best to see justice done, in accordance with his lordship’s request.  I will read carefully through this statement of your claim, and, after considering it, place it in the hands of the crown lawyers.

“But it seems to me that your own position here is a strange one, and that you yourself are liable to arrest, as a member of a family whose head was one of the late king’s strongest adherents.”

“My own position, sir, is regulated by this document, bearing the signature of the queen and her chief minister;” and he laid the official paper before Cox.

“That certainly settles that question,” the latter said, after perusing it.  “Of course I shall, for my own satisfaction, read your statement; but I do not wish to see any documents or proofs you may possess in the matter.  These you must, of course, lay before your counsel.  I think I can’t do better than give you a letter to Mr. Counsellor Fergusson, with whom you can go into all particulars, and who will advise you as to the course that you had best take.”