midnight
She had a bitter tongue , and once it was set agoing no one was safe from it -- not the holiest nor purest was beyond its defilement . It was about this time that the labourers began to think the young master rather more important than the old one ; but for their connivance , James Rooney could never have been drawn into Fenianism . The conspiracy was just the thing to fascinate the boy 's impressionable heart . The poetry , the glamour of the romantic devotion to Mother Country fed his starved idealism ; the midnight drillings and the danger were elements in its attraction . James Rooney drilled with the rest , swore with them their oaths of fealty to Dark Rosaleen , was out with them one winter night when the hills were covered with snow , and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth from the capture which sent some of his friends into penal servitude . Mrs. Rooney 's amazed contempt when she found that her eldest son was among ` the boys ' was a study in character . The lad was not compromised openly ; and though the police had their suspicions , they had nothing to go upon , and the matter ended in a domiciliary visit which put Mrs. Rooney in a fine rage , for she had a curious subservient ambition to stand well with the gentry .