Conyers that he thought that it was safe, and that
either Mr. Conyers himself must have accompanied the troops, who would by
this time have unquestionably arrived there, or that some officer, aware
that the owner of the house was a friend, and with sufficient authority
over the men to prevent its destruction, must be in command.
In the morning, he had a long talk with her. He suggested that she and
her daughter should accompany him into Limerick, and be sent, with a flag
of truce, across the bridge to join her husband in William's camp. This,
however, she positively declined to accede to.
"In the first place," she said, "I consider that it is my duty to nurse
the men who suffered for our sake. In the next place, after what we went
through last night, I refuse absolutely to place myself and my daughter
in the hands of the ruffians who disgrace the cause of William. Hitherto,
as a Protestant, I have been an adherent of that cause, as has my
husband. Henceforth, I am an Irishwoman, and as such abhor a cause which
can employ such instruments, and inflict such atrocities upon Ireland. I
will write a letter to my husband, telling him exactly what has happened,
and how we have been preserved, and say that nothing will induce me to
trust myself and Claire among William's troops, but that I shall remain
on this side of the Shannon.
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