Laws in Conflict by Cora Harrison Read Free Book Online

this alien city. It was important, she thought, that James Lynch, the mayor, should recognize her status and appreciate that she was well qualified in law. Valentine Blake was a charmer, of course, and used to ladies falling for his attractions. He was teasing his sister now about sending Walter on a long sea voyage to toughen him up and laughing at her protestations that Walter caught cold easily.
    ‘You should be like those Roman mothers who exposed their baby sons out on the hillside – the ones that survived were the only ones that were worth rearing,’ he said.
    ‘Spartan mothers, I think,’ put in Mara. Walter’s mother was looking quite distressed, her eyes filling with tears at the thought.
    ‘Spartan? Oh well . . .’ Valentine was not really embarrassed by his mistake, but he made a big show of hiding his face in his hands and shaking his head disbelievingly – all to the amusement of the young people.
    ‘But there was a Roman, Lucius Junius Brutus, who agreed to the execution for conspiracy against the Republic of his own two sons,’ said Hugh consolingly.
    ‘Yes, there was nothing soft about these ancient Romans,’ agreed Mara. It was brave of Hugh to speak out, she thought. His English was very much poorer than that of the other scholars, but he himself was often teased by Moylan and Aidan for mistakes like that so he probably felt sorry for Valentine. He was a nice boy, not as clever as the others, but blessed with a sensitive nature.
    ‘Walter and I will take off one night in my ship and fight the Ottomans; these wretched Turks are spoiling the trade,’ declared Valentine with an arm around his nephew’s shoulders. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Walter? And then you’ll have a use for that fancy dagger that I brought you. Now let’s follow James. The Brownes will soon be here.’
    He ushered them down the road towards the water.
    Blake’s Castle was very splendid. In fact, thought Mara, it was the most splendid and the largest building that she had seen that day. It was newly built, her host had told her, and even in the dim light of evening, the white surface of the limestone walls, towers and battlements shone and glittered – almost as white as quartz. It was in a wonderful position, with the restless blue and white inlet of the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop and surrounded by neat gardens, well walled and guarded from any marauders. Above its gates was a stone shield, with the figure of a cat standing out in bold relief and painted black. Beneath it were the words “
Virtus sola Nobilitat
” pricked out in gold and black, and Mara wondered cynically whether it was true that virtue alone ennobled the merchant princes of Galway, or whether successful trading played its part.
    The interior matched the glamour of the exciting exterior of the building. As Mara walked through the front door, held open by her host, she stopped abruptly and gave a quick gasp of astonishment. The hall was magnificent. An enormous, mullioned window of clear glass was set into the western wall and its diamond-shaped panes framed vignettes of the turbulent, white-capped green waves and of the colourful sails and small black boats that rode them.
    ‘Got this marble all the way from Connemara – brought it down in my own ship,’ said Valentine as Mara’s eyes went to the spectacular floor which mirrored the colour of the ocean outside the windows. The whole expanse was tiled in grey-green marble, flecked here and there with subtle pinpoints of cream.
    ‘It’s perfect,’ said Mara admiringly. She bent down and touched the glossily smooth surface. Brigid would like this floor, she thought. Her housekeeper always complained about the work of keeping clean the rough, flagstoned slabs that formed the floors of the school and the Brehon’s house at Cahermacnaghten.
    ‘Valentine was always a boy who wanted perfection,’ said Margaret fondly. ‘Second best was never good enough for him. Spoilt, he was, with myself